VHS BASKETBALL 1954: This is a bad pic of Vermilion’s Varsity basketball team from 1954. It appeared (as is obvious) in the March 19th edition of the school newspaper, The Compass.

I was only able to recognize 3 of the team members: Bruce White (4), Denny Miskow (12) and Larry Bartlome (5). The other team members (according to the newspaper) are Ray Riggleman, Dick Gergel, Bob Kroll, Gary Lafollette and Larry Flanders – but I don’t know who is who.

I remember Miskow because I thought of him as being a big guy. I remember Bruce White because he was the older brother of my good friend, the late Stu White. And I remember Bartlome because he (along with his younger brother Cliff) were always exceptional athletes.

A note with the pic says that Gary LaFollette later took over Flanders place on the team. I assume that was because Flanders had been injured in some way.

The caption beneath the photo was jumbled so badly it’s difficult to tell who’s who. Fortunately, I knew the three guys I mentioned or I’d really been in the dark.

VHS CLASS REUNION: Will be held July 15-16, 2016, for the VHS Class of 66....they need addresses,email, etc. Folks can call Carolyn Hill @:440-967-2821 or email her: carolyn_hill20@hotmail.com.

TOM’S HOUSE: The lower pic has appeared in past “Views” editions. It was taken at the back corner of my friend Tom Rodgers’s home when he lived on the southwest corner of Grand and Ohio streets. It’s the little house across from the E&R Church.

I believe that somewhere I have all the names of the children pictured, but I do not recall all of them at this precise moment.

The little boy (back left) is Tom’s big brother Wade. Next to him is Pete Neiding. The little girl just below Wade is Pete’s sister Patty. And the little guy in the front row (right) is Tom Rodgers. The bigger boy behind Tom is (I think) Cliff Bartlome.

The shed to the right of the kids is still there. When we were kids Tom kept a darkroom in the shed. Tom was (and remains) a very bright person.

Those were good neighborhood kids and good neighborhood times back in the 1950s.

Vol. XI, No. 30. – VERMILION, OHIO, THURSDAY, January 2, 1908 – PHONE 19

COURT NOTES

An amendment to the supplemental petition in the case of the West Huron Sporting Club by which it is sought to have Charles Dildine made a party defendant.

The petition sets forth that Dildine claims to have a contract with the officer of the sporting club as superintendent and watchmen of the grounds and buildings, and that said contract is not expire until next spring, and that he will not vacate the clubhouse where he is now living until that time. The plaintiff states that there is no position of superintendent nor has the board of directors the right to create the office, but only to employ agents and servants, and that since Dildine has been employed he has taken game off the premises for his personal gain. The petition further states that the club’s property is in the control of a receiver and that he has employed an agent to protect the premises, and ask that Dildine be made party so that his rights may be ascertained.

Motion has been filed by the defendant in the case of J.P. Esch against the Lake Shore Electric wherein it asks the petition be made more definite.

That L. S. & M. S. Railway Co., has filed its answer in the action begun against it by the village of Huron, wherein the plaintiff seeks to establish a grade crossing for a street in a new allotment.

Marriage Licenses.

William Henry Smith, 28, Toledo, and Evaline Perry, 21, Vermilion.

A Correction.

We were in misinformed when we stated that the Lakeside Inn was closed. That popular Inn is still open for the accommodation of the public. In the spring a change of location will probably be made.

Calendars In Great Demand.

We thought when we placed our order for calendars last summer that we would be abundantly supplied. We had 65 of office size and about 425 for home use, and found ourselves in trouble as soon as we began their distribution. We could not supply all our customers and friends but made them go just as far as they would, since everybody has seen and admired them, we have heard of a great many who were disappointed at not receiving calendars.

So we wired in order last Wednesday night for 200 more hope to receive them early next week. With these we think there will be enough to supply one to each family. We are glad you like them.

Cordially yours,

The Erie County Banking Co.,

E. L. Coen, cashier.

Anti-saloon Meeting.

A union meeting will be held at the town hall next Sunday evening at 7 o'clock. The meeting will be addressed by either Rev. A. J. Williamson, supt. of the Northern District of the Ohio Anti-saloon League or Rev. John S. Rutledge. In either case a fine services assured. Mr. Williamson has never spoken here. Mr. Rutledge has and Vermilion knows him as an inspiring speaker. Doubtless we shall hear something of the county local option effort now at the front of the League's work. Well-informed workers believe the measure will be carried and that all but ten of the eighty-eight counties will go dry. Let the hall be filled next Sunday evening with the citizens of the village and vicinity.

_{[VV. Ed. Note: This is of some historical interest. Some persons my know that the grassroots of the Prohibition Movement began in Oberlin, Ohio. The anti-saloonists were aplenty in good old Vermilion. Maybe it rubbed off on the college students. I find the Prohibition movement a good deal more interesting than the bootlegging era that followed the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919. That’s because more than a few of the proponents of the amendment were drinkers.]}

Jailed.

Clarence Kuhl indulged in a New Year's disturbance and John Nuhn’s saloon yesterday and was locked up. This morning he was sentenced to 30 days in the county jail.

Dividend Paid.

Stockholders of the Erie County Banking Company have just received checks for their 31st consecutive dividend. The Bank has made a most creditable record, having never paid less than 3% semiannually and paying 3 1/2% regularly each January and July for the past seven or eight years.

An Informal Dinner.

Ms. Leanna Shadduck gave an informal dinner party Tuesday at 1 o'clock at the home of her grandmother, Mrs. Emma Thompson. Justice was done to a bounteous dinner ending with real "English plum pudding". The following guests were present: Bertha E Neiding, Laura Walper, Nellie M Klaar, May Lawrence, Lydia E. Trinter and Mattie M Merrill.

Shot While Hunting

While near stony point, Rudolf Monk of Oak Harbor is a cousin of Roy Malher’s shot while on hunting with Roy, last Thursday. He was slightly in advance of his cousin who slipped and fell discharging his gun into Monk’s hip. It is reported that the young men want to Vermilion where Dr. Englebry cared for him. Later he was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital where operation was performed and about 80 shot removed.

Who Can Beat It?

We mean the hands and that C.B. Parsons brought to this office the other evening. It was about 6 1/2 inches in circumference and 3 inches long. It weighed about ¼ lb. If anyone's hens can compete successfully with this particular hen we would like to know it.

Correspondence

AMHERST

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Fuller Saturday, December 28 son.

Miss Ruby Mr. Benjamin Schaffer are on the sick list.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cook, Saturday a son.

Mrs. Joseph Gawne is still very ill.

August Michael lost a valuable cow Thursday.

The last meeting of the old Council was held Saturday night.

Charles Hahn South Amherst has moved to Milan and will conduct a blacksmith shop there.

Mr. and Mrs. Ephaim [sic] Towne are rejoicing over the arrival of a fine boy, which arrived at their home last Thursday.

Mrs. Anna Scott received a message last week telling her of the death of her only brother at Manchester Mass. She and her son left for there to attend the funeral.

The foreigners residing in the old Baumhardt house on the west side had another fight last week and as a result one of the borders contributed to the village treasury. The landlord too had a fine to pay.

Frank Wolf who is been working the Cross farm for the past year, and the owner, Professor Sweet of Oberlin asked the court to settle their differences last week. A receiver was appointed has taken charge of the property.

The following is copied from the Amherst section of Lorain News: The rabies are still affecting the flock of sheep belonging to J.L. Whiton and several more have died while others show signs of infection. Saturday, Henry Bechtel a neighbor lost a valuable cow, which apparently died of the rabies. It is feared that many animals in that vicinity have been bitten and there is no telling how many more may die. Dr. Turner has received a letter from the State Board of Health saying the brain of the sheep has been analyzed and found that death was due to rabies, confirming the analysis of Dr. Turner. Dogs in that vicinity are known to have been bitten by other dogs sometime ago and the matter will be brought before the trustees. Meanwhile Mr. Whiton continues to lose his sheep. 10 are now dead.

STRONG'S CORNERS

The Christmas exercises in the church were well attended.

Frank Dollard and Frank Miller are cutting wood for V. Leimbach.

Mr. Ed Huesner is rushing the season with plowing every day.

For Sale – Cow and calf at Mr. V Leimbach's.

Seymour Leimbach's a successful horseman. He will be ready to wait upon anybody that wishes to have their horses trained and guarantee to do a good job.

Raymond Gibson is cutting wood for Henry Baker present.

Alvin Shoop has recently purchased a new horse.

Our rural carrier is having a vacation at present.

Charles Woofley will move his family on his new farm Monday, December 30 – 07, at Bartow Crs.

Trustees were in this place Friday looking at a piece of road recently made.

AXTEL

Mrs. Jane Trinter is on the sick list.

Mr. Leon Normando was a visitor at Fred Kuhlman's Monday.

Mr. Myron Frisbey is home from the lakes.

Mrs. A.H. Armstrong is suffering from a severe attack of quinsy.

Mrs. C Kroph has been on the sick list.

Lapp and Lawless have moved their gas driller to Mr. Joseph Myers where they expect to drill a well.

PARCEL POST

MR. EDITOR: –

In your last issue you referred to the government giving the country parcel post and you stated that it would give the farmers a chance to get the supplies from large city mail-order houses and make Storeless towns. Now if you know the facts I think you would not have made that statement, as that is not the intention of the P. O. Department. This is what the P. M. General recommends: we can now mail a parcel to a foreign country weighing 11 pounds at a charge of $.12 per pound and at home we can mail from one town to another only 4 pounds and $.16 per pound, so he wants to give the people of this country the same privilege. 11 pounds at $.12 per pound, but the merchant in a town where an R.F.D. originates from, can mail the 11 pound package to a patron of one of the routes from his town at a cost of $.25 or five cents for the first pound and two cents a pound up to 11 pounds. So who will get the benefit of Parcel Post, the home merchant who can mail 11 pounds for $.25 or the city mail-order house who must pay $1.32 for 11 pound package?

A READER

_{[VV. Ed. Note: Roscoe was adamant about keep local trade local. I don’t doubt, nor do I question, this reader’s logic. And I’m glad that Roscoe thought enough of it to print it. But over the long haul the Editor was right – and the stores disappeared. But that is the price we paid and continue to pay for progress.]}

Locals.

Mrs. Burton Parsons and children are visiting at Dr. Bond’s.

WANTED – Correspondent at Brownhelm. Write for particulars.

MARRIED – William H Smith of Toledo in this Evaline Perry of Vermillion by Rev. J.W.H. Brown, on Friday evening, December 27.

Mrs. Mary Fischer accompanied her son Henry and family to their home and Webbville, Ky., the first of the week.

Capt. Geo Cuddeback of Lorain as just returned to his home from St. Joseph's Hospital where he underwent an operation for appendicitis. He is getting along nicely.

Free Show Coming – Hot Springs Remedy Co., will play at vermilion Opera House all next week beginning Tuesday, January 7. Admission free to all first night. Come early.

Warren Baldwin, James Quigley, Cort Simons, Sam Linglebach, Thomas Bottomley and George Long spent New Year's at Cleveland.

And now Damn Rumor says Local Option is on the way. Yet we are told that some of the its strongest advocates enjoy their bowl of punch.

Wanted – 100 hogs that Krapp market.

Geo B Krapp has put in a bone crusher and will have it running next week.

FOUND – Chain and Gold Crucifix. Owner call at NEWS office and prove property and pay for advertising.

Capt. and Mrs. Hill entertained company from Montgolia [sic], Indiana, New Year's.

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Matt and son of Huron are spending some time at the home of Dr. Bond.

BIRMINGHAM

Members of the M. E. Church gave an entertainment for the benefit of the church last Saturday evening consisting of recitations, a play in a Farce, which was a very funny one. Music consisting of a trombone, Coronet and flute from Berlin Heights with Mr. Frank Chandler of Birmingham accompanied by piano. The piano was played by Mrs. Church who is a very fine player. Everyone did well.

The scholars presented their teachers of the different grade something nice for Xmas.

Skating is very good on the river and a good many take advantage of the beautiful evenings to have a good time.

Our schools are out until the 6th of January.

A car was chartered and 52 people went to Cleveland to the Hippodrome Tuesday for matinee and evening plays.

Bakery and meet market are closed as the proprietors have gone on the excursion.

_{"Among my fondest memories of Vermilion are summer days
when Mr. Rathbun had fresh produce displayed in bins outside,
and just beneath, the windows..."}

RATHBUN: Asked numerous times as to the reason I’ve never used any photographs of the old Rathbun store (currently the Knotty Pine restaurant) with my weekly scribblings my answer was hardly complex. I had none. At least I didn’t until last Saturday (08/18/12) when Vermilionite Margaret A. Wakefield Worcester, the building’s current owner, provided me with those accompanying this essay.

Margaret was kind enough to provide me with five photographs that I subsequently fashioned into twelve, and refined into the three that make up the single photo presented. The single photo of the interior is actually two separate snapshots that I combined into one because it is essentially the way the core of the store appeared back in the 1950s and early 60s – or at least it’s the way I remember it in my memory bank. The only thing missing in that particular portrait is George Rathbun himself sitting in the chair to the left of the refrigerator toward the back of the store puffing on a cigar or his pipe.

Until I wrote some about Mr. Rathbun in October of 2008 (VPJ 10/16/08) I had only known him as the nice old guy who kept a tidy grocery store on the main street in our town – and the fellow who paid me a half-dollar every time I mowed the lawn at his home on Ferry Street during the summer. (Some of the rooms of the Ritter Public Library now rest on the site of his house, garage, and lawn.) Anyway, I was honestly surprised to discover that as a young man he had sailed on the Great Lakes, and been so proficient that he quickly attained First Mate status. But successful or not, by 1910 he’d left the big boats, married a very pretty Vermilion girl named Hattie Abel, and was “Captaining” the gill-netter J.H. Driscoll from the Port of Vermilion.

Why he gave up fishing and entered into the grocery business is unknown (by this writer). That commercial fishing is both a tough and ofttimes dangerous business is a given. And that this is especially true on Lake Erie where the shallow lake is prone to rapid and violent change during stormy weather is also a well-known fact. On the other hand, it may well be that the change in occupation was more a matter of sensible economics than anything else. Through the years the Rathbun store was both very popular and busy. My eldest brother, Billy, and Rathbun’s grandson, Dave, both delivered groceries for the store on their bicycles as youngsters and can attest to the lively nature of the business.

Among my fondest memories of Vermilion are summer days when Mr. Rathbun had fresh produce displayed in bins outside, and just beneath, the windows of the store. The interior of the place, as seen in the photo, was illuminated mostly by sunlight, and had a most pleasant odor of fresh vegetables intermingled with fresh air. On the counter to the right, next to an old adding machine, was a glass case covering a wheel of cheese with a few slabs missing. And if you asked George for an item like a box of Wheaties or Kleenex on the upper shelf of one of the display cases, he’d take a long pole with a little hook on the end, and neatly snatch from shelf so it landed in his arms.

“Them” were certainly the days. Tis the Vermilion I, along with a few other people, was fortunate enough to know as a child – along with Hart’s Drug Store, Litman’s News Stand, Paul’s Snack Shop, Pete and Jud’s Barbershop, the White Inn, the Dairy Bar, the old Trinter house, Tony’s Shoe store, and the Ohio Edison showroom and business office. They’ve all passed now into the yesteryear. Gone, but never ever forgotten.

_{Ref: Special Thanks to M.A.W. Worcester; Vermilion Photojournal 10/16/08; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 08/23/12.}

CHECKS & BALANCES: The Vermilion Banking Company was organized between 1906-07 by a group of prominent Vermilion men. The new bank building opened in 1907 on Liberty Avenue in the building currently (2016) occupied by a business called the “Wine Vault”. [A clever little name derived from the fact that there is a vault in the building.]

Going through some papers in a drawer at the museum last week I cam across this old checkbook. It appears that only one check had been written from the book. The bank folded during the era we now call “The Great Depression” (1929-1939).

In some places the bank was known (as this checkbook shows) as “The Vermilion Banking Co.”. But the official name was “The Bank of Vermillion Company”.

I also found my grandfather’s leather bound bank deposit book from the bank. His last deposit was made on December 27, 1932. I note that he subsequently opened a bank account with The Cleveland Trust Company in April of 1933.

Interesting stuff…