Vermilion Ohio, A Good Place to Live
SHOPTALK: On my home desk this week is an interesting pic of Crystal Gardens at Vermilion’s old Crystal Beach Amusement Park being prepared for some function on a mid-summer day.
While I remember the dance hall / roller rink and the park quite well I hardly knew them as well as many other folks who visited the park over the years. I never attended a dance there. In fact I don’t recall going into the hall proper during the summer. There was an area toward the back / north end of the building where refreshments were sold and where coats were kept. I now assume there were restrooms there as well.
During the winter I did skate the rink. Occasionally, my friend Frank Homitz and I would have one of our parents take us to the place and we’d skate. I was never a good skater, and I admired those people, young and old, who were really talented. I was more of a sidewalk skater (jumping cracks and bumps).
One year – the year JFK was running for President – I attended a Republican rally at the rink for …
ME, ME, ME:On the shoptop this week is 3 mes. I did this pic trick several years ago because it humored me. It’s not really hard to accomplish. It’s just something fun to try. I had no idea I was so chunky until I took this pic. At least I look happy.
DROPPED SERVICES: I’m not real happy this week. We subscribe to Spectrum / aka Time Warner services for our TV, net and television services. The television works fine: The rest not at all.
As ye can see we can get along without those things. On the other hand we’ve no choice. The cable people can get to us – well – they can get to us when they can get to us. Customer service is obviously not their top priority.
From my point-of-view this is a FCC problem. But having said that I am very aware of the fact that customer service is not, and never has been, one of their fine suits either.
Dealing with any communications company puts me to mind of being trapped in a Kafka novel: the irony being their inability to effectively communicate – especially among themselves. They seem hell bent on self-destruction.
If you happen to see one of those Spectrum commercials on television don’t be fooled. All those happy people are actors.
DROPPED UPDATE: The very next day the repairman arrived. He was 25 years old and extremely competent and polite. He spent about 2 hours changing the cable outside our home from the pole to the house. He reshaped our system in the house so we no longer have 2 miles of cable stuffed behind our television – and everything works great.
I have to confess that I had stretched the truth just a bit the last time I contacted their customer service. I told them that I wrote for a newspaper and really needed the Internet service. I also told them that I was without any telephone service – even the phone I had called them with was borrowed.
Truthfully, I do write for the local weekly newspaper. And truthfully, I used a cell phone to call them. Anyway they placed me on a fast track for service; they came on time; and they permanently fixed the problem.
I still think they could’ve done better. I hope they treat all their customers like they eventually treated me.
Historically,
HAPPY VHS GALS 1920: What an odd pose. My assumption is that there was some personal (to the girls) reason behind it that we’ll never really know.
Vermilionite Marlene Calvert-Feldkamp was kind enough to provide the pic of the girls posing just outside the State Street School back in 1920. She also provided the names:
L-R Are: Catherine Reiber-Burdue, Alma Kishman-Bradley, Margaret Fitzgerald-Cullen, Ruth Nuhn-Justice and Blanche Hurlburt-Ridenauer. The photo is dated November 17, 1920.
I think these last names are correct. I’m not real certain about Mrs. Burdue, but the birth date matches the rest of the girls 1905/06.
I guess – those were the days.
BURNING INTO THE 20TH CENTURY: During the early years of the 20th century there were a number of very significant fires in Vermilion. In December of 1903 nearly all the buildings on the west side of Division (now Main) Street, just south of the railroad tracks, went up in flames. And just seven years later, on April 1, 1910, twenty-two cottages at Linwood Park were lost in a raging inferno that was stoked by high winds, a shortage of water and choked pumps on the town’s fire fighting equipment. Remarkably, no lives were lost during any of these conflagrations.
It is important to understand that during these years the primary lighting and heating source for most folks was either coal, wood or some form of very flammable liquid. Marry such things to the human condition and it’s a veritable wonder that such fires weren’t more prevalent. On the other hand, having a crackerjack volunteer fire department was, is and remains very advantageous too.
On Monday August 31, 1931 the fire bell rang out again. This time the alarm was for Linwood Park where a 3-story cottage (aka Friendship Apartments) owned by one Rev. Fassinger of Warren, Pennsylvania and an adjoining cottage (aka Forest Nook) owned by Miss Agnes Gray and a Miss Kistler of St. Louis were in flames. Mrs. Fassinger and a Mrs. William Dornhern of Pittsburg along with her two children were in the Friendship Apartments – and Agnes and Anna Gray, along with Myrtle Wiley were in the other cottage.
It seems that Mrs. Dornhern had risen early to light the oil stove to heat water for washing clothes. She then returned to bed and was reading to her husband when their daughter, who had been asleep on the third floor, called down to tell her that she smelled smoke. Initially, Mrs. D. ignored her daughter. But when she called down again she arose, started for the first floor, and was met by smoke and flames.
Meanwhile the Forest Nook cottage families were still in bed. By the time they understood the situation the only things they managed to save were themselves. While Miss Gray had grabbed a coat and a suitcase of clothing she had placed it on the ground too near the fire and flames, and it, too, was consumed.
It is very likely that firefighters vividly remembered the horrendous 1910 Linwood fire. And though the two cottages in this event were destroyed the Vermilion Fire Department led by Chief W.A. Tischer did manage to contain it to just the two buildings. The loss was estimated to have been around $5000 with the contents equaling that amount.
Unlike the 1910 fire there were several casualties related to this one. Vermilion’s Fire Chief suffered a painful gash on the arm when a burning branch hit him. Also, the Lorain Fire Department, that had been called to assist and to insure that the fire did not spread, crashed into a car at the bridge at Beaver Creek injuring five members of their department. Fortunately, their services were not needed.
In a letter written one day following the fire a young lady who had been staying at Linwood described the fire to her mother: “…[The fire] Started with the kerosene stoves and after the fire was going good you could hear the different stoves explode (the oil tanks I mean). The cottages were a mass of flames from the ground up to the great big tree over 100 years old…It’s a good thing it didn’t happen today instead of yesterday, as there is a high wind blowing from the back…”
On September 11, 1931 a local newspaper ran an article noting that Park representatives had met with J. Gessner of the Northland Construction Company to talk about further extension of a water main for added protection in the Park. But better yet, about a year later natural gas was brought to the park significantly reducing the need and / or the desire to use kerosene, oil, coal or wood as a regular fuel. The Twentieth Century – the Age of Extremes and Possibilities – was surely now underway.
YESTERYEAR'S NEWS: The following clips were orally transcribed from past issues of The Vermilion News. I think you will find them both interesting and fun...
John Bernarcz is, the Hungarian was drowned Sunday off Crystal Beach by the capsizing boat in which he and three companions were riding. Bernarcz lost his hat overboard and in attempting to recover it managed to capsize the boat throwing all into the water. Boatmen saved his companions but Bernarcz was drowned. Messrs Berkhart and Showalter and others dragged for the body but without success. Late Monday Bernarcz’s brother and an undertaker from Cleveland hired Cassius Birch who after three hours located the body about 200 feet from the beach. Later the body was taken to the undertakers and Tuesday was taken to Cleveland. Bernarcz was 23 years of age unmarried, and a coal miner by occupation. He had come to Cleveland to spend a few days with a brother and came to Vermilion with him to the picnic. William Berkhart and the Showalter brothers have the past two years saved a member number from drowning, a number of others have also saved lives along the river and lake here.
The cold storage plant of Oscar Haise, located on the farm about a mile east of Birmingham was destroyed by fire at 5 o'clock this morning. The cause of the fire is unknown. The building contained a large quantity of apple crates and barrels and is considerable loss to the owner.
Chris Haldeman a nickel Plate Bridge painter of this place met with serious and perhaps fatal accident while at work Thursday. He, with a fellow workmen, was standing on a staging, when the plank broke throwing them to the ground. His back was badly hurtha visited him several times. Last evening the attending physician gave hope of his recovery.
His companion escaped with a broken wrist.
Strickland's wonderful dog circus will be given at the Crystal Theatre Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings June 17, 18, 19. You will see the best trained dogs ever sown in Vermilion. Go and take the children. New films each night. 10c to all.
A man claiming to be Frank Adams of Pittsburgh, rented the little room between the Krapp market and Kothe’s Ice Cream Parlors and set up a small watch and jewelry repair outfit. Last Thursday afternoon he quietly packed up his outfit including several watches and some jewelry etc., belonging to customers, purchased a ticket for Lorain and disappeared. An attempt made to locate him failed.
Monday the county commissioners transferred $865.61 from the dog fund to the Humane Society.
Salima Bridge was granted a separation from George W. Bridge Monday by Judge Reed.
In the case of the Diamond Cheese company vs. G. O. Green, for money only the following, entry was made by the Judge Reed on his docket Monday: “Default of judgment for $315.46 with costs."
Adam J. Stoll, former president of the Sandusky Board Of Public service and treasurer–elect Erie County entered a plea of guilty before Judge Reed in the Court of Common Pleas Tuesday afternoon to a charge of padding the payroll and rendering false statement to a public official, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for one year at hard labor, and to pay cost of prosecution. Mr. Stoll returned to the board $1040, the extent to which it is claimed he overdrew.
He was taken to Columbus at once and by good behavioral will be free next April.
Reinhardt Hermann the Lorain man charged with attempted rape on a little girl pled guilty before Judge Hayden and was sentenced to Mansfield reformatory indefinitely.
George Daniels of Elyria was the guest of Amherst friends Sunday.
BORN – To Mr. and Mrs. George Brace, Sunday, June 13, a son.
BORN – To Mr. and Mrs. James Jamison of S. Amherst, Wednesday, June 9, a son.
The Odd Fellows are having a new skylight put in their hall.
Bernard Stoltz has returned home from the Massillon hospital.
At the ballgame Sunday, Miss Horner of Elyria was struck in the mouth by a ball. She was not seriously hurt.
A box of oranges was stolen Wednesday night from Ritchie's fruit store. It is hoped a stop will soon be put to such thefts as it has been going on for some time.
The Ohio Stone Cutting Company of Cleveland are erecting the building 50 x 80 at the Ohio Quarries to be used for cutting and dressing stone for large building contracts.
The Amherst Grocery company opened their grocery to the public Monday.
The program for the Fourth of July celebration has been prepared. About $200 worth of fireworks of been purchased.
Instructions have been given the street committee to scrape the streets on Fourth of July morning so that the streets will be in good shape for the races.
Monday afternoon Harmon Gutro noticed a fire on the roof of the Catholic Church. The fire alarm was quickly sounded and the blaze extinguished before much damage was done.
777.Calvin Whitney late president of the A.B. Chase Piano Company, Norwalk, left about $125,000 to Ohio Wesleyan.
Warden Jones proposes to place live wires all around the State Prison. He would have the walls carry hidden wires that would stun on attempting to escape and give a general alarm. Two escapes have been made very recently.
Offer officer Charles Graham and Matthew Reiser were seriously wounded by Deputy Marshal Fred Edmonds Monday who, it is said was crazy drunk. Edmonds used a corn knife for a weapon. He had chased his wife and two children from the house earlier. The parties reside at Oberlin.
Charles Heidloff will move his family here from Cleveland in the near future. They will occupy the house of recently vacated by A. W. Burrows family.
A gas well is being put down on the farm of M. J. Trinter.
Captain Full is home for a short visit. He and Mrs. Full are attending commencement at Sandusky.
A party of 17 Western Reserve students are expected at the Maudelton this afternoon for a weeks outing.
Capt. Walper is home for a short visit with his family.
Mayor Williams and daughters were in Cleveland Monday attending Barnum & Bailey's.
Dr. J. W. Boss of Birmingham will start Monday, June 21, for New York City where he will take postgraduate medical work. He will be gone about two months. Dr. Thomas of Lakeside Hospital Cleveland will take his place in the meantime.
Miss Hattie Nieding of the class of ‘09 VHS won the scholarship at Ohio Wesleyan, Delaware having the highest number of points by two (18), of any of the class. We congratulate Miss Hattie upon her success.
Miss Clara Snider of Elyria went to Lakeside Hospital Cleveland the first of the week where she will undergo an operation. Miss Snyder [sic] is a sister of Mrs. G. P. Wahl and has visited here many times. Her many friends anxiously await the result.
F. O. Baldwin is improving his place by doing some painting.
There's quite a little excitement in our burg. A detective is in our midst.
777.
Saturday evening the biggest share of Axtel’s young men paid a visit to the Diamond Cheese Factory and from what we hear entered a Cheese eating contest. The cheese must have been okay, as all did justice devouring it; after which a few select solos were rendered.
Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Baumhart and little son David, Mrs. Blackwell and Miss Roma Philby spent Tuesday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler Washburn who are staying with Mrs. Wallace during the absence of the latter's husband.
Liva Brown says milk hauling is lonesome business without company.
After over 50 years spent as an honored member of the Grand Army and one of the chief figures in the Memorial Day service in the little town of Berlin Hts., Henry Davis alias George Benedict, alias Henry Sharp, was arrested and brought to Toledo yesterday by Deputy United States Marshal Owen says the Toledo Times.
Davis was arrested on a warrant issued as a result of secret indictment turned against him Wednesday by the federal grand jury charging the old soldier with making a false affidavit to obtain a pension for his service during the Civil War.
Davis is aged 71 years. He was enlisted when the war first broke out in a New York regiment of volunteers under the name of Henry Davis. After a few months he deserted, so it is charged. Later he reenlisted under the name of George Benedict served through though war till the end, receiving an honorable discharge. For his second enlistment he received the bounty offered by the government for volunteers.
After the war he was made a member of the Grand Army settled at Berlin Heights, where he was revered as one of the men who had fought for his country.
And now after all these years the long arm of the law has reached out to claim him on the strength of facts unearthed by the Secret Service as to his war record.
It is said the old man is more to be pitied to censored, as he did not realize what he did making the false affidavit.
Hmmmmmm....
A REPEAT: Just catching up on the past...
Trudy can be contacted at: tla8849@aol.com
BOO [HOO]: It is probably no coincidence that the festival of Halloween and election day are so close together. Halloween originally celebrated as the Celtic festival Samhain (pronounced "sah-win") commemorated the end of the harvest season. It was a time when some thought the boundaries between the worlds of the dead and the living overlapped, and the dead guys “w-w-would” return and pester the living. To appease / mimic the undead - living folks took to the wearing of costumes / masks at that time of year. It was hard to tell them apart. Speaking for just myself, of course, both events sound an awful lot alike. It’s scary.
The reality is that life - often stranger than fiction - can also be more frightening. Don’t believe me? Take another look at candidates currently running for political offices. According to television commercials most of these people are either terribly psychotic or just plain stupid. But setting all that aside I will relate to thee a very true story from the past that is as loathsome as it is frightening. And though it did not take place in Vermilion it did take place in Ohio - in a yesteryear. It all begins with the text of a letter dated January 22, that was received by a gentlemen in a nearby city in 1910 which read as follows:
“Dear Sir: - I have a secret that I presume you do not know; what I reveal to you is certainly true. I witnessed it myself. I had the secret over forty years.
When your father died his corpse did not rest in the grave until twelve o’clock the first night. I saw it taken from the grave by three doctors - they are all dead now. I will give their names: [Note: the names were not published with the text of the missive]. I will describe the whole as I saw it. They dug down into the grave, broke open the coffin, put an iron hook into his under jaw, raised the corpse, took it by the arms, dragged it over a rail fence at the south side to a large elm, (that tree is yet standing there.) They cut the flesh from the bones, put them into a casket, carried them to the office of (name also omitted.) In due time the bones were cleaned and wired together into a skeleton. I have seen it many times. It was in the possession of (name omitted) to his death. If you would dig to the bottom of the old grave you would find no bones.”
The letter, which very vividly depicts “grave robbing”, had a Cleveland postmark, but was not [surprise, surprise] signed. And while I’ve no idea if the son of the allegedly uninterred gentleman took the advice of the note’s author [I pray he did not] there was one rather glaring mistake in it. If the letter writer had been keeping his secret for “forty years” he was either a lousy mathematician or a liar. On the other hand, if he was a learned political aspirant he may just have been used to stretching the truth to fit the circumstance. Because what he actually wrote was that he’d been living with “the secret over forty years”. Ergo; “over forty years” could certainly be discerned by good logisticians as being the same as fifty-eight years.
Some say that the practice of grave robbing in Ohio, for the purpose of selling the bodies to Cleveland medical institutions to train professionals, was a common practice in the mid-19th century. That may - or may not - be the precise truth. And if it was done at all it was both a very frightening and despicable thing to have done no matter the reason. Which brings me back to the principle analogy of this essay: That it is probably no coincidence that the festival of Halloween and election day are so close together. Boo [hoo]!
…but Sandusky seems to have been the central and prominent point and the base of all operations on the island. From here all prisoners were placed on boats and conveyed to the island, and, furthermore, all supplies were obtained here - The establishment of a prisoner's depot on Johnson's Island was brought about through the energy and exertions of a few of the leading business men of Sandusky, who at once saw that such a station would be of great value to trade in the city, and that the officers' quarters would be in and about the town rather than on the island.
The officer of the war department to whom was entrusted the duty of selecting a site for the depot was inclined to favor Detroit, and came to this city mainly in fulfillment of a duty and not that he desired to locate the place of detention here; but the business men accorded him such a warm reception, and showed a willingness to give the enterprise such substantial aid that the agent could not well do otherwise than accept the offers made him.
The guarding force for this important point was made up, in the main, of Ohio troops, prominent among which was the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment; therefore the history of that regiment, a portion of which was from Erie county, is closely associated with the events that transpired during the occupancy of the island for the purposes stated, and will be written in connection therewith. A still greater interest and importance was given this locality during the years of the war, through the exploits of John Yates Beall, who made a fruitless attempt to rescue the prisoners on the island, which attempt will be found detailed in these pages, together with an account of the execution of that daring young officer.
For the following account of the history of the Johnson's Island Prisoners' Depot, and the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment we are indebted to the work entitled "Ohio in the War," edited by Mr. Whitelaw Reid, now of the New York Tribune. The narrative was compiled and written so soon after the close of the war that it is doubtful whether any additional facts can be stated, even at this time; therefore we copy literally from Mr. Reid, granting him full credit for the original production.
"The One Hundred and Twenty-eighth-Ohio, although chiefly occupied in guard duty within the borders of the State, was an organization of three years' troops, enlisted and mustered into the United States service, the same as other volunteer troops, and was liable to service wherever required. It attained minimum strength on the 25th of December, 1863, and consisted of four companies, before known as the Hoffman Battalion, raised at different times in 1862. At and before the time of forming the regiment the Hoffman Battalion was under the command of a lieutenant-colonel and major. Six new companies were mustered in at Camp Taylor, near Cleveland, between the 8th and 15th of January, 1864. The four old companies had been on duty at Johnson's Island nearly all the time since their muster-in, but had frequently…
RARE PATCH: Pre-war Air Corps Specialty Rank with one stripe in dark winter pattern: This Air Corps Technician patch was used for only a short time pre-WWII and were used for different branches in the Army. Short-lived but authorized until about 1942.
The museum acquired this patch from Vermilionites Mary Lynn and Frank Homitz. It is my understanding that the patch belonged to Mary Lynn’s Uncle Ken Myers. I guess the military had a hard time trying to place her uncle because his feet were so large. How that worked with the Army Air Force back then is anyone’s guess.
The patch is rare.
Two little boys in first grade were chosen to be the leads in their first school play. It was to be a Shakespearean play. The first boy was to say "My fair maiden... I have come to snatch a kiss and fill your soul with hope."
The second little boy was to reply by saying, "Hark, a pistol shot."
Well, on opening night in the school auditorium, the two little boys were a bit nervous, knowing that all the seats were going to be filled with grown ups.
The teacher told them to take their places on the stage and to remember to speak very loud as soon as the curtain goes up.
The curtain rose and looking out upon the audience the two boys were terrified. They stood there staring out at the audience, frozen. So the teacher whispered for them to begin. The first boy yelled out these unforgettable words:
"My fair maiden... I have come to kiss your snatch!! And fill your hole with soap."
The second boy yelled..."Hark! A shistol pot! A postle shidd! A shiddle pot!" He turned and while fleeing the stage screamed: "AAAAARGH! I never wanted to be in this stupid play anyway!."
The audience was howling.
LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: After giving it much thought this link has been "put-down". During the last year most of the folks who used to use this page as a bulletin board have acquired their own and, consequently, no longer need this forum from "Views". I have, however, kept links (in the links section) to Larry Hohler's "Hope Homes" in Kenya - and to Bette Lou Higgins' Eden Valley Enterprises sites. They are historically and socially relevant projects. I suggest that you visit these sites on a regular basis to see "what's shakin'".
Persons interested in the history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway (which was the subject of a recent past podcast series) - "the greatest electaric railway system on the planet" may want to go to Amazon.com and purchase a book called "Images of Rail - Lake Shore Electric Railway". It was put together by Thomas J. Patton with the help of my friends DENNIS LAMONT and ALBERT DOANE. It'd make a nice gift.
Another great book with Vermilion Roots is, "Grandma's Favorites: A Compilation of Recipes from MARGARET SANDERS BUELL by Amy O'Neal, ELIZABETH THOMPSON and MEG WALTER (May 2, 2012). This book very literally will provide one with the flavor of old Vermilion. And ye can also find it at Amazon.com. Take a look.
MARY WAKEFIELD BUXTON'S LATEST BOOK "The Private War of William Styron" is available in paper back for $15.00 with tax and can be purchased locally at Buxton and Buxton Law Office in Urbanna, ordered from any book store, Amazon.com or Brandylane Publishing Company. A signed, hard back edition may be purchased from Mrs. Buxton directly for $30.00 by writing her at Box 488, Urbanna, VA 23175 and including $6.00 for tax, postage and packaging.
THE BEAT GOES ON: This page is generated by a 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 links. 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 check the new archives links below.
If you're looking for my old links section (pictured) I've replaced it with a pull-down menu (visible in the small box next to the word "Go"). If you're looking for links to more Vermilion history check that menu.
How the old links menu looked
P.O. Box 437
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-8397
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- George Bernard Shaw
Vol. 15. Issue 15 - June 17, 2017
Archive Issue #744
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