Vermilion Ohio, A Good Place to Live
SHOPTALK: On my desks this week are Vermilion Schools related items. On the shoptop is a cool pic of Bill Haber and Chuck Barber – both longtime custodians for the school system.
Bill was born in Vermilion around 1903. He worked as a custodian for the schools for 42 years retiring in 1971. When he retired he was made an honorary graduate of VHS. He was, as most custodians seems to be, a great guy. He died at 81 after a brief illness.
Chuck was born in 1905. Following the footsteps of his father (also named Chuck – and also beloved by all the students in the schools) he worked for them for 40 years. In 1945 he was appointed head custodian. He died in 1964 after an illness of 5 months. He only reached the age of 58 years.
These are the guys that I remember, who did everything (and a good deal more) around the Vermilion Schools when I was growing up.
On my home desk this week is a pic that I think I’ve used in Views before. It’s the VHS Class of 1946. My oldest brother, Billy, was a member of this group. (He’s pictured bottom right.) I knew a few of the people.
Jack “Tiny” Ballog (1st row, 3rd guy down) was kind of a hero type guy to me. Jack was a bachelor who, to me anyway, always seemed to be living the good life. He had a good paying job (I think he was a crane operator for U.S. Steel.) He also had at one time a car – a ’56 Ford Crown Victoria – that I greatly admired.
Unfortunately, he died at age 52 in his home on Perry Street – alone. So I guess his life wasn’t as great as I had thought.
Another guy I liked was James “Jimmy” Dean. (pictured top left.) I liked him because he was smart and adventurous. Back in the ‘60s he operated the projectors at the Liberty Theatre. At the time he was palling around with another fella named George Belden. George was either retired or on leave from the service. On New Year Eve back in about 1962 Jimmy and George put on wet suits, strapped on oxygen tanks, broke though the ice on the Vermilion River (by the waterworks) and welcomed in the New Year underwater.
Great guys all.
A NEW WEB PAGE: I’ve been wanting to use audio and video on the page for several months. But for technical reasons (mostly the fact that I’m getting older and, unlike myself, the tech field is always getting younger, newer, improved and better) It only took me two days to initialize this thing to my satisfaction. To date I’ve not been able to showcase some of the great stuff I’ve found. So…
I’ve begun to put together a new website for the specific purpose of showcasing some videos and audio recordings pertaining to Vermilion that we’ve collected over the years.
The initial page is very rudimentary – but it still has some nice stuff on it. It’s tentatively called the Vermilion History Museum Audio / VideoTheatre
The good thing about these items is that I don’t have to write too much about the pieces. I think folks will enjoy the page over time. I’ve got a good deal of material to add. It’ll take a little time. But it will hopefully become both fun and informative.
A NEW LENS I just acquired a wide-angle lens for my Nikon camera. It takes a bit of getting-used-to. The photo at the top of my aforementioned new webpage was taken using that lens. It seems like it gets a little out of focus on the sides.
I really wanted it so I can get a better wide-angle pic of the cottages at the Olympic Club after the leaves are gone. Local artist Janet Waggoner told me that if she had such a pic she might be able to do a nice drawing / watercolor of the club for me. I thought that would be cool.
I have a copy of a real nice watercolor poster she has done for a Vermilion poster with all the various buildings on it. I really can’t say enough positive stuff about it. My assumption is that the poster will be available for purchase in the very near future.
Anyway, I have the new lens. So we’ll see what comes of it.
Historically,
VHS ’39: Alice Risdon-Stuckey stopped into the museum a few days back with a box of items pertaining (mostly) to her parents, Glenn and Pearl Klucas-Risdon. Glenn graduated in 1932 – and Pearl (as is obvious) was in the Class of 1939.
If you look over the names and faces in this class I think you’ll find some familiar ones: Annabelle Derby-Kuhnle; Ivar Ford (Janet Ford’s dad), Roy Kneisel, Yvonne Smith-Boyd and others. The names I mention are those I knew. You may have known some, or all, the others. Most of the names are familiar to me. I’m assuming that Grace and Gladys Nuhn were twins. They really look alike.
This is really a nice class pic.
VERMILION’S BOY SCOUTS: The organization we all recognize as the Boy Scouts of America was formally incorporated by Chicago publisher/entrepreneur William Dickson Boyce (1858-1929) on February 8, 1910 in the District of Columbia. Of approximately 55,062 troops now in existence in our nation it may be that Vermilion’s BSA Troop #2 was among the first organized in the U.S. The Vermilion troop was established in 1912 by Reverend W.K. Williams who was then pastor of Vermilion’s First Congregational Church.
Initially the troop was comprised of nearly 30 boys. Their first uniforms were impractical copies of US Army uniforms of the era and were quickly discarded and replaced by a more practical one designed by the British founder of world-wide scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell (1847-1941). The early scouts wore knickers with leggings, and a button-down coat with a metal insignia. Both the scouts and their leaders wore the rank they earned on their campaign (“Smokey the Bear”) hats. Scout leaders were then allowed to earn merit badges and rank along with the boys.
In the early 1920’s the BSA modernized their uniforms to a style familiar to that of today’s scouts. The coats and leggings were dropped, and neckerchiefs became an additional accessory. In the summer shorts and knee socks were worn. During the colder months the boys wore knickers and knee socks - trousers replacing the knickers in 1944. The campaign hats were commonly used until 1944 when the field cap (then used by soldiers in World War 2) was added.
The uniforms on the scouts in the accompanying photo reflect the BSA dress changes which came about in the 1920’s. The boys standing at attention for Pearl Roscoe’s camera in front of the Vermilion News office on Grand Street during early spring of 1926 were likely Vermilion’s BSA Troop #2’s very first Eagle Scouts. The young man on the left is Louis Gegenheimer, and beside him is Frank Blattner.
Gegenheimer was the son of Captain and Mrs. Charles Gegenheimer and Blattner was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Blattner. Both families and their sons are / were well known and respected families in our community.
In the realm of scouting Eagle is the highest level/honor that can be achieved. To become an Eagle Scout in the 1920’s each candidate was asked to demonstrate skill and knowledge, and obtain merit badges, in 21 separate fields of endeavor that ran from taxidermy, to carpentry, to aviation, to astronomy etc. One of the benefits of mastering these skills was to enable each Eagle an ability to accept responsibility both in local and national emergencies (among other things). Attaining this rank was no small matter in 1926 - nor is it today.
I have vivid recollections of Frank Blattner in his later years [I can actually remember the sound of his voice]. Frank was a well-spoken, very candid, fellow who always seemed to have a pipe in his mouth. He was a master plumber with Brushaber and lived near the tracks on Washington Street with his wife and daughter.
Of Louis Gegenheimer, I have no luculent memory. I understand that he graduated from Case University and worked for the Timken Roller Bearing Company in Cleveland. The family, forever, lived in a tidy home on Exchange Street. There were seven children in the family. One of his sisters was Edna Hull (Englebry and Hull Coal Co.) - who, incidentally, is Vermilion resident Lucile Clark’s mother. Another sister, some may recall was Vermilionite Alice Jane McClurkin, an all-around nice lady and very talented writer and musician.
But I digress. Frank and Louis were the first of what eventually became numerous scouts to achieve the rank of Eagle in Vermilion. It may interest folks to know that the original troop still exists. Today it is Troop #477 led by Vermilion native Larry E. Howell, and it is still sponsored by the Vermilion U.C.C. Congregational Church.
YESTERYEAR'S NEWS: The following clips are dictated transcriptions from past issues of The Vermilion News. I think you will find them both interesting and fun...
To the voters of Vermilion and the public in general. Several of my friends have asked me to reply to the different matters offered by the parties backing the other side in this campaign, others of my friends have advised absolute silence.
My work at all times in administering the office, has been like an open book, whatever mistakes I have made you have been able to see them, as I have done nothing behind closed doors. I have never done anything but what I thought was for the best interest of Vermilion, if I have erred at times, it is no more than other men have done before me and will continue as no man is perfect.
As far as the morals of the town are concerned, I challenge the other side to show a town or village with better.
As for getting in a business way what belongs to the village from the different public corporations, having received franchises in the past, I feel that we have done as well, if not better than our neighbors, and the result of the last franchise, the fruits of which are so far-reaching that the future only will tell. I am not going quarrel with my opponents for the reason that I consider it the TRUE dignity of men not to quarrel. I have given this advice to so many others in my capacity as Mayor, and I now feel that is up to me take my own medicine. As for what the Mayor of Sandusky said, all I can say in return is, Mr. Mayor clean up your own door yard before you say anything of ours.
I have always tried to be fair and impartial; I have never passed sentence on anyone before hearing the testimony of both sides. With malice towards none, and charity for all, I am your most humble servant.
H. R. Williams.
There are several candidates out for election as delegates to the Constitutional convention. They are A. L. Hoover of Avery. His plan is to do away with needless restrictions upon legislative power, without the risk of the courts rendering them void as being unconstitutional. To balance this increase in power he advocates a corresponding increase in accountability of the legislature to the people by giving the latter power to direct legislation under the form of initiative and referendum only to be used when the legislature fails to respond to the manifestations of the popular will. This would tend to make the legislature our agents instead of our guardians to do as they please. He believes the liquor question should be left to the people.
Dr. Maxwell of Sandusky stands for Initiative and Referendum and Recall. E. B. King, who opposes the recall in case of judges.
R. B. Fisher, says on his cards, Initiative Referendum and Recall, (when property saddled and bridled.)
The farmers of Brownhelm Township have organized and agreed that they will allow no nonresidents to hunt on their land. All trespassers will be prosecuted.
By order of committee,
Sam Bacon, Chairman
BORN – to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Surance, a daughter, Monday, Oct. 30, 1911.
Great success was attended in the first half day’s business of the postal bank. Seven deposits amounted to $70 were received. Also a number of stamp cards were issued.
Waldo Foote of Amherst was taken to the asylum at Massillon Friday, having been declared insane by April the probate court, Thursday morning.
A vast number of tools stolen from the cut stone co. have been recovered by searching the home of Joseph Janrik hundreds of dollars’ worth of tools and belting were found in the search Monday.
Missing for a week, the body of Gustav Schnask, 30, foreman for the Ohio quarries company at Amherst was found Sunday morning by a searching party, dangling on a wire looped over the limb of a tree in Walker’s woods near No. 6 quarry.
Schnask resigned his job a week ago Monday, stating that he was going to leave Amherst. He had been morose and moody for some time.
Leaving the quarry last Monday after drawing his pay he waved his dinner pail to the fellow workers and shouted goodbye. Later he was seen at Merthe’s Crossing going toward home.
When he failed to return to the home of the sister, Mrs. Fred Schultz with whom he lived, a party was organized and search the woods and surrounding fields, but no trace could be found of the missing man.
Sunday morning a party under the direction of John Koepp started out and two little nephews Victor and Alvin Schnask begged to go with them and were allowed to go.
As the men were passing through the woods of George Walker, one of the nephews shouted “Here is Uncle Gust standing by a tree.”
The party rushed to the place and found the body hanging to a tree by a piece of heavy wire. The wire was carefully wrapped around the limb the other was looped around the neck of Schnask.
The weight of the body hanging for many days had bent the limb so that the feet touched the ground, the body being in an upright position.
Everything indicated that the act was deliberate and carefully plan. In his pocket was the paycheck received from the quarry and other articles he usually carried. His dinner pail was found nearby.
Coroner Miller was called and the body was taken to Baker’s undertaking parlors where the funeral was held Monday afternoon.
His father and one sister with whom he resided survive him.
About a year ago Schnask suffered an attack of temporary insanity and jumped out of a second-story window, clad in his night clothes and was pursued several blocks before being captured.
His brother was killed several years ago near Collingwood. Cut to pieces by the cars. As to how he came there was never solved and the facts surrounding his death always remained a mystery.
- Lorain News
Mrs. Siebert Leimbach is reported quite ill at her home in Brownhelm.
Next Tuesday is RUBBISH DAY according to schedule.
Mrs. J. Barry is reported quite ill.
C. Kropf who was reported missing in last week’s issue returned home Thursday evening after having been away for 24 hours. He had been in Elyria, Lorain and other places.
Miss Margaret Knott was brought home today from St. Joseph’s Hospital where she has been for five weeks past.
I have purchased the paper hanging painting business of Chas. W Krapp, I am now prepared to do any kind of work in this line promptly in first class manner. I have been in the employ of H. E. Rose, one of the best house decorators in the section for the past 10 years and will continue doing the same high-grade work as I did when in his employ. Soliciting a share of your patronage, I am yours for business.
Henry J. Ries.
BORN – To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Funk, a son, Friday, Oct. 27, 1911.
BORN – to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Fleming a pair of twins a boy and girl, Thursday, Oct. 26, ‘11.
Mr. Mrs. W. B. Houseman and daughter Clara spent Saturday and Sunday with Mrs. Housman’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Bottomley at Vermilion.
By a ruling announced by Attorney General Hogan, neither candidates nor committees will be permitted, under the Kimball corrupt practices act, to use carriages or autos to convey voters to the polls on election day. The attorney general holds that a man may, if he wish, convey a friend who is unable to walk, to the voting place, but this must be done without compensation and without any idea of influencing the vote. The familiar line of hacks and autos at voting places will be missing this year as a result of the ruling.
In an opinion handed down Monday Hogan held that the Kimball corrupt practices act applies to the delegates to the Constitutional convention as well as other candidates in the coming election. Candidates for delegates may have but one worker at the polls and their expenses are limited as provided under the new law.
Mrs. Ralph Godfrey was brought home Saturday from St. Joseph’s Hospital, Lorain, where four weeks ago she underwent an operation for appendicitis.
Margaret Driver who was operated upon last week at Sandusky Hospital, is reported some better.
Carl Kneisel and Eva Marsh attended a Halloween party at Mr. Dwight Hardy’s. They report a fine time.
Ethel Hayes has so far recovered from her recent illness as to be able to get out.
Sheriff Rueter and Charles Johnson of Sandusky were in town on business Monday.
Ms. Cleo Leimbach is confined to her bed with ulcers of the stomach, but is improving very rapidly. Dr. Boss has the case.
The Leimbach Brothers have purchased a cornhusker and are kept very busy.
Many of the friends of Miss Peabody were entertained at a Halloween party Tuesday evening. The evening was spent in games and music. A delicious lap lunch was served.
Several young men are suffering the consequences of Halloween pranks although on a whole evening passed quietly. Two witch parades were featured during the early evening one of which gave everyone considerable amusement. The ringing of a false fire alarm a little past 1 o’clock Wednesday would not prove such a joke if the party or parties who did it were given the full extent of the law.
…ganizing a medical society agreeable to said act. It is expected that there will be a general attendance of physicians of this district, as the eleventh section of the act provides that no person, other than members of one of the medical societies in this State, shall be permitted to practice physic or surgery after the Ist of July next. DANIEL TILDEN.
"Norwalk, April 10, 1824."
The Clarion, in its issue of June 2d following, contains the following report relative to the proceedings had in pursuance of the above notice:
“COMMUNICATION. — Agreeable to the act on the 25th instant, came on at Norwalk the first meeting of the Fourteenth Medical Society in this State. The meeting was full, and upon the whole we were much pleased with the respectable display of parchment. At three o'clock the gentlemen proceeded to organize by choosing Dr. Tilden, of Norwalk, president; Dr. Anderson, of San dusky, vice-president; Dr. Mantor, of Elyria, secretary; Dr. Fay, of Milan, treasurer; Dr. Lucas, of Uniontown, Dr. C. G. Miller, of Mansfield, Dr. Baker, of Florence, Dr. Sanders, of Peru, Dr. Strong, of Bloomingville, censors.
Officers for 1825. — Dr. Nathan H. Mantor, president; Dr. John B. Johnson, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Dr. George G. Baker, Dr. Moses C. Sanders, Dr. Daniel Tilden, Dr. Eli Dresback and Dr. Charles E. Ford, censors.
Officers for 1826. - Dr. Moses C. Sanders, president; Dr. George Anderson, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Drs. George G. Baker, Daniel Tilden, Nathan H. Mantor, Daniel Brainard, junior, and Joel Luther, censors.
Officers for 1827. — Dr. Allen G. Miller, president; Dr. George G. Baker, vice-president; Dr. A. B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Drs. George G. Baker, William F. Kittredge, Moses C. Sanders, Daniel Tilden and Eli Dresback, censors.
Officers for 1828. — Dr. George G. Baker, president; Dr. Moses C. Sanders, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Drs. William F. Kittredge, Allen G. Miller, Eber W. Hubbard, Moses C. Sanders and Daniel Tilden, censors.
Officers for 1829. — Dr. Moses C. Sanders, president; Dr. Daniel Tilden, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer;
Drs. George G. Baker, Nathan H. Mantor, William F. Kittredge, William W. Nugent and Henry Kuhn, censors.
At a meeting of the society held in 1830, a resolution was adopted approving of the efforts then being made for the suppression of intemperance. During the year Dr. George Anderson was the president, but no further mention of the proceedings of this society are found, and it is probable that the organization was not maintained much later than the year 1830.
In 1828 the practicing physicians of Huron county were as follows: George…
FREEMASONRY IN VERMILION: Freemasonry, most simply defined, is a brotherhood commonly called Masons that sponsor social and charitable activities within their respective communities, while maintaining a focus on belief in God and brotherhood. More often than not their charitable work within a community is without the knowledge of the general public. Its origins go back to the local fraternities of stonemasons of the fourteenth century. Among their number are men from all walks of life. There are over 2 million Masons in North America and nearly 5 million worldwide.
On November 7, 1868 a dispensation was granted to a group of men to form a Masonic Order / a lodge in Vermilion, Ohio that would be known as Ely Lodge. The lodge was named in honor of Herman Ely Jr. (1830-1894), the son of the founder of the city of Elyria, Ohio. Herman Jr. had been an outstanding Mason in northern Ohio during, and some years following, the American Civil War. Professionally, he was a successful banker and realtor. In 1852 he helped promote the building of the Junction railroad across northern Ohio. It was later known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. The same rails still pass through the town.
In the year 1869 a record of the work of the lodge was examined by a committee on Charters and Dispensation in a session of the Grand Lodge at Springfield, Ohio, and a charter was granted to the Ely Lodge on October 20th assigning it the number 424. The lodge was therefore “officially founded” on November 1, 1869 in a room in the Gaylord and Merrill building on the northwest corner of Liberty and Main streets.
That December Vermilion Dr. F.C. McConnelly was elected Master at their first regular election. He is mentioned here because he held the post of Worthy Master for 18 of the next 21 years – until his death in 1890. Moreover, they were, according to some historians “without a doubt, the most trying of its [the lodge’s] existence.” Among those trials was a September 7, 1870 fire that destroyed the building in which the Lodge was located, along with all its records, furniture, and other valuables.
Following the fire members of the Lodge were afforded a meeting room provided by fellow Mason, “Bro.” L. Body over his hardware store. [Location unknown.] In March of 1871 a room was secured atop the new Gaylord and Merrill building that had been built on the site of the original. That building is currently (2014) the home of the Main Street Soda Grill – formerly Hart’s Corner Drug Store. But in 1876 they left that location and moved to rooms provided by their "Bro.” N. Wagner on the corner of Ohio and Division (now Main) streets. [Note: Whether this refers to the house on the southwest corner of Ohio and Main streets or a building no longer in existence is unknown.] But no matter; four years later the Lodge returned to it’s former place in Gaylord and Merrill building leasing a room from B.S. Horton for $50 at a savings of $30 per month. In 1892 a new block was to be constructed on the southwest side of Division (Main) and Liberty streets by Captain Edison. Thereupon the lodge offered to rent the second floor of the new building for a decade with an annual rent of $100, with an option to extend the lease for another 10 years thereafter. Captain Edison accepted their offer and “Bro.” F.H. Rae was given the task of planning the arrangement of the lodge rooms. The Lodge opened on January 1, 1893.
For a time the Lodge membership considered building a new Masonic Temple. When the federal government – in 1923 – was selling the Light Keepers home on the southwest corner of Grand and Liberty streets, members formed a company and purchased the property for that purpose. But in 1926 when they were presented with an opportunity to purchase the block where they were located they jumped at the prospect. Now in possession of the entire second floor of the building they remodeled and enlarged the old temple banquet and clubrooms – and there, with of course various physical alterations, it remains to this day. And though faces change, as do the dates on the calendar the mission of serving God and community persist.
There I was is sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink and gulps it down in one swig.
"Well, whatcha gonna do about it?" he says, menacingly, as I burst into tears.
"Come on, man," the biker says, "I didn't think you'd CRY. I can`t stand to see a man crying."
"This is the worst day of my life," I say. "I'm a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don't have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my old lady in bed with the gardener and then my dog bit me."
"So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all, I buy a drink, I drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve; then you, you jack-ass, show up and drink the whole thing! But enough about me, how's your day going?"
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 “Tripping: A Writer’s Journeys.” Signed copies of her new book can be purchased for $15.00 at the Southside Sentinel office or by mail by writing Rappahannock Press, Box 546, Urbanna, VA and adding $6.00 to cover mailing costs and tax. Contact:glongest@ssentinel.com.
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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Vol. 17. Issue 35 - November 2, 2019
Archive Issue #868
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