Vermilion Ohio, A Good Place to Live
SHOPTALK: On my home desk this week is a cool pic of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s airship the “Pilgrim” that visited Vermilion during the regatta in 1925. Since the start of what has now become a traditional Goodyear P.R. program the company has named its blimps after the U.S. winners of the America's Cup yacht race. When the mast, called a belly mooring, was developed in 1930 it allowed cross-country operations of the airships independent of permanent hangars. And with the name of the tire company painted on the side of the ship the custom of Goodyear blimps “barnstorming” communities across these United States of America was officially begun. I also have a few pix taken from the airship over the town.
On the shoptop this week is the passport pic of Vermilionite Daisy Halloran – her first name was actually Beatrice. Daisy graduated from VHS in 1921 and passed on in 1953 (I don’t know the cause of her death). She was the daughter of James E. and Mable Halloran who lived near Hanover Square when she was born. In later years Mable kept a home on the east side of State Street two doors north of the old schoolhouse building. That house is now gone.
We have Daisy’s book of memories at the museum. It contains some great pix and some of her great memories.
MOVING ALONG: I am, as they used to write in old newspaper articles, “on the gain”. For several weeks I’ve been pretty low – just barely able to function properly. But I’m now beginning to feel close to normal again. I’m thinking that in a week or two I’ll be able to do some of the physical things I’ve been unable to attack since acquiring my spanking new 2017 hip. For a time I felt like I was walking around inside a cloud.
Historically,
OLD BUT NOT TOO OLD: I was just looking through some of my old pix the other day and came across this pic of what was (at the time) the long term membership of Vermilion’s Congregational Church.
Speaking for myself it doesn’t seem so long ago that I shot this pic. But I guess it was because at least 11 of those pictured have gone on to their final reward.
At the time of this pic Nettie Welch had been a member of the church longer than anyone in or out of the pic.
For anyone interested I have an audio file of Nettie when she spoke at a Vermilion Area Archival Society meeting some years back. It’s very interesting (of course).
I remember the Sunday that I took this pic, but I don’t recall the precise reason. I know that I had a bit of trouble getting the group in the frame of my little Canon digital camera.
All of those pictured contributed (or continue) substantially to the community of Vermilion.
I’m happy I got the pic.
REMEMBERING RICHARD J. JOHNSON: Some who know me may already understand that I do not like telephones. However, out of practical necessity my wife and I do have a landline, and now, of course, we both have cell phones. From my narrow point of view one of the saving features of either device during the last decade or so, however, is something called “caller id”. This means that unless I recognize a caller I seldom answer the phone. It also means that, on occasion, I can also ignore a call when I do recognize the source: I’m just a “Please leave a message” sort a guy.
Anyway, last Saturday morning my cell phone started singing (phones don’t just ring anymore) and I surprised myself by answering it almost immediately. That’s because the caller id told me that the caller was a ghost from my past – a person I’d not seen nor heard of or from since the summer of 1965. “Richard Johnson” was the name boldly printed on my cell.
There may still be a few folks about Vermilion who remember Richard “Dick” Johnson. The short story is that in the yesteryear (c. 1960-66) he owned and operated a local eatery called the Kountry Kitchen. That restaurant was located where Vermilion’s Old Prague restaurant is currently (2017) located.
Now the long story, which fans out in several directions, is: Dick, a “Michigander”, from the St. Joseph part of that state, was born to Hazel and Charles Johnson in 1935. Following a 4-year stint in the U.S. Navy he was attending Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio when he somehow fell to working for a local meat cutter named Ellis Lehner and his son James. It was always my understanding that their business was a little meat market / deli type business. Coincidentally another student attending the university at that time was a fella name Laurence A. Bettcher. Bettcher’s father, Louis (again coincidentally) was a successful entrepreneur / die maker / inventor who had been actively involved in the repair and manufacture of tools for the meat processing industry since WWII.
In 1954 the elder Bettcher had invented an electric powered handheld knife that could be used to easily clean scraps of meat off bones during meat processing. It is a device that substantially improved both the efficiency and profit margins of those involved in the meat processing industry. Although I lack specific details it may be that it was during that time (c.1958) that the paths of Bettcher, Lehner, Lehner and Johnson crossed.
By the year 1960 Bettcher Industries had located a plant in the former Sharpnack Chevrolet building on Liberty Avenue in Vermilion west of the place where Rudy’s Bar and Grill is now located. Also by that time Jim, the younger Lehner, had taken a position with the company. At that time a little restaurant called the Dairy Bar (now the Prague) had closed and was waiting a new tenant. It was then that Lehner purchased the property and called upon his friend, Dick Johnson, who had recently graduated from Ohio Wesleyan to come to Vermilion and open a restaurant in that space.
Johnson was well suited for the business. Not only could he could cook, bake and keep the books (his degree was in mathematics), he was also a very capable butcher. Moreover, because of his relationship with the Bettcher Company he had some of the best meat processing equipment available to him. And, thus, for a majority of the next five years Dick’s business that was eventually named the “Kountry Kitchen” was nursed, cursed and molded into one of the best (food quality wise) restaurants in the area. It was not a fancy place – unless you count the banana plant at the back of the dining room as being fancy – but it was a place where once could enjoy a great dinner at a reasonable price. It was also a place where I spent a majority of my work and social time throughout high school and beyond mentored by Johnson.
I really don’t know precisely what took place after I entered the Army in 1965. But when I returned home in February of 1967 the restaurant was gone. And so, too, was my friend and mentor Richard Johnson. While here he married a local girl and the couple had a son. But other than that, I was at a loss to know what became of him. I always thought he’d pop up again somewhere in the years ahead. After all, he’d been a high profile businessperson – a true talent. As such it was hard to believe that anyone like him could just vanish. But he did. And then…
Last Saturday his named appeared on my cell phone. Uncharacteristically, I answered. And it certainly was Richard Johnson. But it was not as I’d hoped, my mentor. It was his son. Still I held on to the hope that his father was nearby. But the truth was that Dick had bit the proverbial dust back in “eleven or twelve” as his son put it. Young Richard went on to vaguely tell me a few details of his dad’s life in the years following his departure from town – at least as best he knew of them. Little of what I learned was what I expected.
I ended the call prematurely, but politely. I needed to absorb all I’d learned. I intend to call him back someday. But perhaps it’s best that I leave it alone for now. In many respects he was a very existentialist person. I do recall that he was forever saying things like, “When you leave a place never go back.” It’s not a philosophy that I subscribe to, but it most certainly seems to have been one that he did. And while I doubt that he’d ever have admitted it, or intended, he did leave his footprint in Vermilion’s yesteryear. His name was Richard J. Johnson.
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...
Mrs. Henry Emmery Brownhelm, was horribly mangled in the teeth of a mower while mowing hay Friday afternoon. She was driving a span of colts when they became frightened and threw Mrs. Emmery from the mowing machine seat.
She alighted upon the teeth of the machine and her body was hideously carved. The teeth cut gash after gash until the team in their flight jumped a fence could go no further.
Workers in adjoining fields, who saw the start of the horrible accident, turned from the scene. When the team stopped after jumping the fence they rush to the woman’s assistance.
Dr. Englebry was called. While the cuts will disfigure her for life hopes are being entertained for her recovery. Mrs. Emery was formerly Miss Febach and is a prominent young esteemed resident of this community.
During the severe electrical storm of Tuesday afternoon the barn owned by William Lutz at Brownhelm Station, was struck by lightning and totally destroyed together with its contents. Gus Emerick held a lease on the barn and had nearly finished haying about fifty tons in the barn, besides a harvester, mower, wagons and a large number of farming implements. Loss amounts to about $4000, with an insurance of $700 on the building and a small insurance on contents.
Allen Norris conductor at the Lake Shore Electric, in charge of the baggage, owns a large American Eagle which he captured last Sunday and has the bird prisoner in his barn in the rear of his residence in Fremont. Mr. Norris secured the bird after a hard fight near Vermilion. During the fight the bird got caught in a fence and was soon fastened securely and placed on board the car. – Reg.
Our pleasant school grounds at present look as if a cyclone at present look as if a fair sized cyclon had been at work there, but this aspect will soon be changed. The basement for the addition has been dug and the concrete work is well underway. The work will be hustled along and it is hoped that the rooms will be ready by the beginning of the school year.
Young Valentine Fries who with his girl wife disappeared from near Fries Landing several weeks ago has been heard from and will receive an allowance of $200 per month until he reaches the age of 21. His retreat was not made public.
About 1000 retail liquor dealers and five breweries and enforced out in the 18th internal revenue district of Ohio.
Expert approval for the proposed street railway line from Oberlin to Amherst, via South Amherst, has been secured from consulting engineers and it seems probable that this project, more than 10 years old, will finally be pushed to completion. Advice was given at against the proposal to extend the line to Lorain, Oak Point being the more probable eventual terminal.
Edward Payson Weston left New York March 17 to walk across the continent in 100 days exclusive of Sundays arrived at Oakland at 9 PM July 14, five days behind schedule time.
LOST – From an automobile between Rocky River Vermilion three suitcases. Any information leading to recovery of same will be liberally rewarded. Address, A. G. Avery, 1289 E. 82nd St., Cleveland, O.
Farmers picnic at Crystal Beach Aug. 7.
Rubbish hauling next week Tuesday, July 20.
BORN – Saturday, July 10, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Trinter.
Mrs. John Ries of Lorain is the guest of her mother Mrs. G. E. Whitmore today.
The line for the proposed Electric Ry. to Cedar Point from Rye Beach was staked out Monday.
Mrs. Louis Ritter was called to Cleveland the first of the week by the death of her sister Mrs. Oswald.
It is estimated that 5000 spectators were present at the launching of the G. A. Tomlinson at Lorain Saturday. She was christened by Mrs. Tomlinson, wife of the man for whom the boat is named.
C. Roscoe visited in Norwalk and Milan this week.
Fred Diehl reported the loss of some $62 between here and Lorain Sunday night. He thinks his pocket was picked on the electric car.
Lewis Ackerman, age 12 of Bogert’s corners, was caught between the wheel and the machine of a cabbage planter Saturday and was severely lacerated.
Mrs. Louise Ritter has undertaken the care of her eight-year-old niece, Mary Oswald, whose mother died in Cleveland last week. Mrs. Ritter has raised a large family of her own, and we are sure the motherless child will be tenderly cared for.
The foundations are laid for the new house being erected by Mrs. Mary Quigley.
MARRIED – Cleveland Sunday evening, Arthur J. Giddings of Vermilion and Miss Nellie Hagans of Coshocton.
Lewis Heller is temporarily employed at the Wakeman telegraph office.
The Big Four Dancing Club will resume their popular 5-cent dances Saturdays, commencing July 31.
Ralph the 10-year-old son of Adam Kolbe received some severe bruises while helping to haul a load of furniture to Lorain. He was brushed from the load in passing under the overhead bridge.
H. N. Steele, a prominent businessman died at his home on the Ridge Tuesday afternoon. He was born in 1845, was married to Ellen Gawn September 20, 1867. Seven children were born to them, three of whom are living.
Charles Hamilton is putting in under grade where the L. S. E. crosses under the Nickel Plate at Slater’s Grove.
There is trouble among the stockholders of the Fruit Box Co. The court is been asked to decide.
L.H. Smith was appointed deputy fire marshal for this district salary of $1500 a year.
The recent rains have been of great benefit to growing crops in this facility.
Mrs. Andrews horse that was so badly caught on a barbwire fence the fourth, was improving at last reports. Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Hales had a miraculous escape the fourth by Mrs. Andrews horse becoming frightened at an automobile coming toward them at full speed and large flags flying. The horse became frightened and ran into a barbed wire fence it could be released only by cutting the fence away. The ladies were neither of them hurt and neither the harness or buggy injured.
Work is progressing on the old church on the corner of Church Street and is being converted into a dwelling house by Mr. Chas Heald who has purchased the property.
William Scott, aged 11 son of A. L. Scott of 3634 Lafayette St., Denver fell from a freight train near Henderson, Wednesday morning while it was running on a high-speed. His skull was fractured in two places so that death resulted. On the discovery of the accident the train was stopped and he was brought to brighten. Dr. Alexander did all that could be done for him and a cot was prepared to take him to Denver hospital when he expired. His parents who have been touring the Pacific were found at Los Angeles and are expected home tomorrow, which is the earliest they can arrive.
With his brothers and sisters Willy has been staying with his grandmother, Mrs. Sherart and with other relatives at Brighton. Wednesday morning with his cousin, Arthur Lee and others he started for the farm H. B. Pierce. Leaving the smaller children to go their way, Willie, Arthur and George went along the track where they brought some candy, which was the purpose of their trip to Henderson. They ran from the store to the track where the train was standing climbed up a few steps on the side of the cars. After the train started the Gaylord boy got off. Somewhere about a mile from Henderson Willie lost his hold and fell. Arthur witnessed the fall and jumped. The conductor, who was on the top of a car, saw Willie lying near the track and stopped the train, bring both boys to Brighton. Coroner James MacKeon will hold an inquiry but it is quite certain that the conditions are about as stated. Late in the evening Mr. and Mrs. Scott were located at Los Angeles are now hurrying home. Pending their arrival no arrangements for the funeral have been made.
Funeral notice ans obituary will be published later. Mr. Mrs. Scott have the heartfelt sympathy of the entire community.
He was the nephew of John and Ed Sherod and of Mrs. F. V. Pelton of this place.
Hmmmmmm....
FIRE AT CICCO'S: This is a companion piece with the article below...
Trudy can be contacted at: tla8849@aol.com
CICCO: Just out of idle curiosity I began doing a little research into the life of late Vermilionite Lewis Cicco. Some readers will recognize the name because Mr. Cicco once had a nice restaurant near the lake on West Lake Road just a mile or so from town. It disappeared in a spectacular nighttime fire in 1958. At that time it was being renovated into a private home. Cicco had sold the place two years earlier. Until I began researching I was under the (wrong) impression that it was still a restaurant. By 58 Mr. C was selling real estate and living somewhere along Risden Road.
In any case Cicco was the real deal: born in Italy on April 5, 1902 by 1908 he was living in Lorain, Ohio with his father Pietro and mother Mary. His father worked in the steel mill. By the time he was 17 he had joined his dad at the mill. But by the time he reached his 28th birthday he was working at the shipyards (i.e. the American Shipbuilding Co.) Some sources indicate that he worked for American Ship for 30 years. If that is the case he may have continued working for them after he’d purchased, and was operating, his restaurant in Vermilion.
In 1928 he was a member of Lorain’s Prohibition Enforcement Squad. On September 27 of that year he fired 3 shots at an auto he thought to be operated by bootleggers on the East 31st Street Bridge. One of the bullets evidently ricocheted and struck a passenger in the back seat. It was a 22 year-old girl named Betty Heywood. Cicco was charged for the shooting and suspended from his police job. After a jury trial he was fined $5 and costs for the infraction. The incident was widely publicized. And while he was reinstated to the job he resigned the position.
Described as some as a big, friendly guy with a knack for making friends he was a natural in the restaurant business and opened Cicco’s Edgewater Restaurant in 1938. The eatery did rather well easily earning a positive reputation as a great dining spot (for spaghetti & fish dinners) along with providing catering and a meeting place for local civic groups, etc.
In 1956 he sold the property to a Lorain man named John Kochan. In late December of 1958 as Kochan as plumbers were in the process of repairing the heating system for residential use place went up in flames. Although volunteer firemen from Vermilion, Huron and Berlin Heights worked tirelessly to stop the fire inclement weather made the task impossible.
While working as chef at the Vogue Room Restaurant on Colorado Avenue in Lorain he fell ill. And two weeks later, on April 15,1959 – his 57th birthday - Lewis Cicco died and was laid to rest at Maple Grove Cemetery near Vermilion, O. He left behind his wife, Edith, and two children Harriet and Richard. Edith died in Oberlin in 1973. Son Richard followed in 1985. Harriet (aka) Ketti, Kettiluigina Maria died in 2014.
As fate would have it I came to know both Richard and Ketti quite well. Both were interesting personalities. In short, they both lived their lives at what I can only describe as being “full throttle.” I believe that Ketti’s personal epitaph (she was cremated and her ashes remain in Georgia) speaks quite well for both her and her brother: “I was here, I made my mark, and now am gone.”
God rest them all.
…month of September, 1864, although prior to that it was well known that the Canadian side of the lake swarmed with agents of the rebel government and sympathizing residents, subjects of England, w h o were ever willing to lend aid to the Confederate cause in an under-handed manner, but were not so willing to participate in open, warlike hostilities.
The plan of rescue that led to the open attempt on the 19th of September was conceived by John Yates Beall. He was to conduct the operations from the Canada side while one Cole was entrusted with the work of gaining the confidence of the officers at Sandusky, and particularly of the commanding officers of the gun-boat Michigan, that lay in the waters of Sandusky Bay in the immediate vicinity of the island. The Michigan was the only government boat then acting in the defense of the island, and with an ample crew of marines, and her eighteen guns she could repel any attack that might be made, especially when acting in conjunction with the guard force of infantry and artillery on the island and at Sandusky. The first step, therefore, in accomplishing the main undertaking was to obtain control of the boat, and this was the part of the programme [sic] assigned to Cole. He is well remembered by many of the present residents of Sandusky as an active and energetic fellow, possessing education beyond the average, a fine conversationalist, and a royal entertainer. He made a prodigal use of his money, with which commodity he appeared to be abundantly supplied. He dined and wined the officers of the Michigan and sought to ingratiate himself wholly in their favor. But in the chivalrous acts of this daring young fellow he rather overdid the matter, and Yankee cunning proved more than a match for his arts. When he thought he had the officers just about where he wanted them the picture reversed, and the officers had Cole just where they wanted him, and he fell a prisoner into their hands and custody.
Cole arranged a wine party at the time that affairs were expected to culminate, and the liquor was heavily drugged, but the officers never partook of his bounty, and instead of their falling victims to his plans he himself fell into theirs.
The plans of Beall were equally well formed but through the failure of Cole's were also futile so far as carrying out the main effort was concerned. Beall, with a few rough characters, took passage on the steamer Philo Parsons, as that boat was making her passage between Detroit, the islands and Sandusky, and at Maiden, in Canada, twenty other men also came on board having as baggage a heavy and well bound box. This was not an unusual circumstance and nothing was thought of it. After passing from the landing place at Kelley's Island the men approached the clerk of the boat, who in the absence of the captain seems to have been in command, and with revolvers pointed at him demanded a surrender. The others at once opened the box and provided themselves with revolvers and knives sufficient for a small arsenal. Without…
JUST POLITICS: Here are some political items from Vermilion’s not too distant past. The pen in the upper part of the pencil box is advertising Elizabeth Wakefield for Judge. The other items – Joe Ryan’s qualifications for Judge of the 6th Appellate District and Elizabeth Sheehe’s pencil advertising her mayoral bid. Sheehe was the town’s first female mayor. It wasn’t a glass ceiling she broke. It was steel.
A customer at Green's Gourmet Grocery marveled at the proprietor's quick wit and intelligence.
"Tell me, Green, what makes you so smart?"
"I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone," Green replies, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear. "But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant."
"You sell them here?" the customer asks.
"Only $4 apiece," says Green.
The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.
"You didn't eat enough, " says Green. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads.
Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry. "Hey, Green," he says, "You're selling me fish heads for $4 a piece when I can buy the whole fish for $2. You're ripping me off!"
"You see?" says Green. "You're schmarter already."
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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- Sir Francis Bacon
Vol. 15. Issue 19 - July 15, 2017
Archive Issue #748
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