A FRIEND: Here is a picture that will jog a few memories; The Liberty Theater. This particular photograph was taken by PRoscoe in (about) 1935. At this time a young Spencer Tracy and the ill-fated Jean Harlow were starring in a film called Riff Raff. "Cash Nite" was every Wednesday, and a person could win $10 if they had the lucky ticket number.
Before the "Roaring Twenties" exploded with the stock market crash the building next door (left) had been the Vermilion Banking Company. It housed the Williams' Law Offices until a few years ago.
The building once can just see to the right housed a number of different stores/offices. I can barely remember when the building was shared by two things: Western Union was on the left and/or east side, and The News Gift Shop, owned by Bessie Roscoe, was on the other (west) side. During the 1950's a kid's restaurant occupied the building. It was called the Goody-Goody Bar. The bulding now belongs to the ages.
I've scanned this picture from a Vermilion Millenium Calendar I produced over four years ago. It is one of the only (good) photographs I've seen of this building when it was the theater. Today the building houses (I can't remember the name) a music/radio type store. I understand that he projectors remain in the building.
A neat photograph. During most of my life a ticket to see a movie and a box of popcorn were both one dime. And before we headed home on a Sunday afternoon we could get an ice cream cone at Hart's Drug Store for another ten cents.
GEORGE NIEDING: Slowly do I move through my grandfather's (PRoscoe) color slides from the early/mid 1940's. One has to understand that part (or perhaps most) of what he was doing with these particular pictures was experimenting with color. It was a relatively new medium at that time. (I looked it up) The process was being developed by the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, N.Y. It was called "Kodaslide".
This is an afternoon picture of Roscoe's next door neighbor, George Nieding (note the spelling). Nieding lived in the house just south of the Vermilion News printshop and offices on Grand Street directly behind the Vermilion Township Hall and the old Congregational Church.
I don't remember Mr. Nieding but do remember something of his wife, Nell. Somewhere I recall that the Mr. was a professional painter - house painter that is. And after working on a story for the Vermilion Photojournal this week I found that he was also the custodian at the Townhall at one time.
What interests me in the pic is the church. Today it houses the Millet Auction House. Without this picture it would be rather easy for me to forget just how beautiful that church one was. It had a bell that was made in Paul Revere's Foundry. I remember it (the sound), and also have a picture in my mind of Presdee Morgan pulling on the rope to sound it. He was a slight man and I always had the impression that that rope was going to pick him right up off the floor.
GOOD GULF: I've no idea as to the reason Roscoe took this picture. It was probably of little interest to him, and he may have been annoyed by the fact that the passing auto was blurred. But like the portrait of G. Nieding in his garden this moves the old memory bank.
I know some of the history of this the northwest corner of Liberty and Grand Streets. The building that occupied the corner before this had been destroyed in a fire some years earlier. The downstairs had been "Gyp" Martin's Pontiac Dealership. The upstairs rooms had been occupied by a cosmetics firm owned by Leonard Osberg. When Osberg became Vermilion's Mayor he also kept his office in the building. It, in fact, burned when Osberg was Mayor.
Martin built this building on the ashes of the old. One can plainly see from all the glass (windows) that it was designed to be an auto dealership. And somewhere in the craggy depths of my mind I recall that Kaiser-Frasier Automobiles were once sold from the location. But for a great deal of time it was a Gulf gas station.
I always found the architecture fascinating. It was a very pure 1940's look with very very few sharp edges. One can also see it in the design of autos from that era.
Today it is an ambulance garage. The modifications to the outside of the structure are from the "Good-Grief" School of Architecture.
STATE STREET SCHOOL: I truly do like this shot of State Street School in its prime. This rendition is taken from yet another PRoscoe photograph. The school located on State Street (a.k.a. Route 60/State Road) just north of the Nickel Plate Railroad tracks was built in 1874. The cost? $18,000. The stone in the front lawn is the same one now found in front of South Street School.
For most of my lifetime it housed the Basic Food Materials Inc. The school this replaced was located on the site now occupied by Vermilion's Township Hall. Additions to this building were made as enrollments increased. Originally it was about half the size you see in this photo.
School Superintendents over the years were: J.O. Versoy (1881-1893); Charles Grove (1893-1896); C.W. Sloan (1895-1899); J.C. Seeman (1899-1910); A.L. Irey (1910-1914); R.F. Sellers a(1914-1917); W.H. Mitchell (1917-1924);G.C. Imhoff (1924-1926; George Snyder (1926-1946); and then C.K. Dewitt held the position from 1946 well into the 1960's.
I use this photograph for various reasons. One of them is to ask those who might have old Vermilion Highschool "Log" or annual books moving from 1963 back to the beginning of time to please consider giving them to the Ritter Public Library or the Vermilion Area Archival Society. You can retain ownership. The objective is to insure that these documents are preserved and available to the public for historic purposes.
The information they contain may seem rather trite, but this is hardly the case. If you will take a look at the following photograph of an old Vermilion highschool class you will note that it is a very nice picture - but we don't know who the people are in it. I, among others, would like to see that information preserved and made available upon request. These were human beings folks. They need to have names. It's okay for collectors to collect such things but I find it in very poor taste when they are placed in a collector's scrapbook for no other reason than because they are antiques. Things like that eventually end up in the trash when those who inherit them from their collectors don't know what they are or, more importantly, don't care.
AN OLD NEW THING: This is to introduce another link from this webpage to a site I've just begun to put together about the The Wreck of The Niles #152 just west of Vermilion on August 4, 1906. Note that this site is not complete. I'm presently working on a casualty list and some other detailed information re: this incident. Eventually it will become a more extensive and permanent reference piece like the Gore Orphanage piece. All of the information contained on this site today has been published in the Verrmilion Photojournal. Like many of the things I produce for the newspaper the article was/is more or less a highly condensed version of an event. This will be the first in-depth look at this tragedy (that I know of) available to the public. At the time it happened it was the single worst accident of its kind on the Lake Shore Electric's rail system. I hope you enjoy the story. And, perhaps, there is some youngster out there who is looking for material from which to draw a school history report.
CLASS REUNION UPDATES: Again members of the Vermilion High School Class of 1959; your class reunion will be held between October 8 and 10, 2004 here in town. Those looking for more information on the subject can now visit the Class of '59 website by clicking on the highlighted text. To my knowledge Roger Boughton is responsible for this site. I will mention that a visit to this particular website is worth ones time. Maybe you didn't belong to this class, but I'm sure you know someone who does. And I think you'll enjoy reading some of their memories of those days. Note that Roger will not be sending out a newsletter by snail-mail any longer. The webpage will be the reunion notification/information center from now on. He's got new stuff on line as he gets it - and it's interesting. So take time to go there.
Also Buffalo Bill Hlavin has asked me to find a 1958 football program for him. I'll look. But I'll also ask class members tuned into this site to also look and let Bill, Roger, or myself know if you have one.
Dale Wendell, in sunny Arizona, told me that his class (VHS 1944) will also be having a reunion this summer. Just this day (1-24-04) Dale let me know that it will be held on Sunday, July 25, 2004 at the Vermilion Fish and Game.
Dale also tells me that he and his wife are coming home by car. They're anxious to visit with their new grandchild in Elyria. Mary Louise "Tootie" Reisinger told me that Dale wasn't coming. Because we communicate back and forth on a regular basis on the net I knew better. Tootie was pleased to know he'd be in town this summer.
As news regarding these activities comes to my attention it will appear on this web page. So stay tuned.
From a long way around the planet comes a message about the VHS Reunion of the Class of 1954. Their Reunion is planned for the 17th of July, 2004 at the Amvets Post on Route 60. I've also heard (2-14-04) from George Hoffman of this class who now lives in Sandusky. He and four fellow classmates are putting this reunion together.
Also the VHS Classes of 1963, 64, & 65 are still looking for a number of people. Many are around. But it's not real easy to round-up all that information. If you've not yet received a notice re: that reunion count yourself among the missing and report in to either Ruthie Bauman Tanner or me on the net. Ruth's email address is: Ruthbt45@yahoo.com
The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the bookmarks. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine let me know and I'll send them to you.
Links to other sites on the Web
Vol.2, Issue 7, May 8, 2004
© 2004 Rich Tarrant