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Bocky and the Visions at George May Ford – August 23, 1965
For a local, standalone Lorain Ford Dealership, George May Ford had some pretty creative promotions in the 1960s to draw in potential customers. They included "a gun-toting' cowboy" and a cowgirl...
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Formal Opening of Oberlin Inn – August 1955
Seventy years ago this month the new Oberlin Inn (shown above) held its formal opening. Below you see the coverage of the story by the Lorain Journal on August 1, 1955.According to the article, the new...
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St. John Catholic School in South Lorain Opens – Fall 1954
A familiar sight to those making a trip out to South Lorain to shop at Hills Dept. Store (like us) was St. John Catholic School, located at Grove Avenue and 36th Street. It was another one of those...
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Labor Day 1955
Here's wishing all of you a safe and happy Labor Day!Above you see the full-page sponsored ad celebrating the holiday on Monday, Sept. 5, 1955. Of the more than 60 organizations listed, there are...
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Nickel Hot Dogs at Hills – Labor Day 1965
I don't know if it had the same disastrous result as the infamous 10-Cent Beer Night at Cleveland Stadium, but 5-Cent Hot Dogs at Hills on Labor Day 1965 was probably a pretty popular promotion....
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Spitzer Motors Ad – Sept. 1, 1955
Car advertisements in the Lorain Journal in the 1950s seemed to consist of two types: ads prepared by the automobile manufacturers that only needed the local dealership's name added, and ads put...
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Hills Bros. Coffee Ad – Sept. 4, 1945
Back when everybody read a newspaper every day, advertisers had to come up with a way to cut through the clutter to grab the reader. After all, we've all seen how every page of the Lorain Journal from...
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Protect the School Children – 1946
School's back in session so it's a good time to post a few vintage safety ads. Below is one of those full-page ads with sponsors that the Lorain Journal used to run around holidays. This one appeared...
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Gray Drug Ad – Sept. 1955
Although Top Value Stamps haven't existed since the company went out of business in the early 1980s, there are plenty of Baby Boomers who remember them. Krogers seems to have been the store that many...
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Reddy's "Growing With Lorain" Ads – 1945
Back in the summer of 1945 – with the war winding down – the Ohio Public Service Company launched an interesting little series of ads. Entitled "Growing With Lorain," the ads provided a historical...
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On Area Movie Screens – Sept. 7, 1955
Seventy years ago this was the movie and entertainment page of the Lorain Journal on September 7, 1955. It's an odd assortment, that's for sure. Of course, the movie that leaps out at you is No Greater...
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9/11 Anniversary
For today, the 24th anniversary of September 11th, I decided to post some front pages from the day after the horrific event.It's a sad reminder of the terror we all felt that day, and the days that...
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Kmart's Raccoon Mascot - Sept. 1975
Did you know that Kmart once had a cartoon raccoon mascot for their 'Building Materials' advertisements?I didn't either. But there he was, wearing a painters cap emblazoned with a large 'K,' in several...
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Rick Kurish Looks at Amherst Twp. Schoolhouses
I have a few posts scheduled for this week dealing with one-room schoolhouses, and I thought I'd lead off with a post that is – to put it in school terms – tardy.Longtime blog contributor Rick Kurish...
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Two Little Red Brick Schoolhouse Teachers Retire – 1950s
That's Mrs. Eppley in the back row on the far right, in front of the old red brick schoolhouse that stood on the NE corner of Meister and Leavitt Roads.Near the bottom of yesterday's blog post about...
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Building Red Brick Schoolhouses
The construction of the little red brick schoolhouses in Lorain County was handled pretty much like it is now, with the first step being the solicitation of bids from contractors.Below are several...
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One-Room Schoolhouse Clippings 1921 – 1951
As noted in yesterday's post, many of Lorain County's one-room schoolhouses (brick or stone) dated back to the 1870s. But we weren't too far into the 20th Century when the handwriting was on the wall...
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Reddy for School – Sept. 1940
Before I dismiss blog class this week, let's pay a visit to our favorite electrical sprite, Reddy Kilowatt. Reddy's here with a special back-to-school message in an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal...
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99 Years Ago Today – Sept. 22, 1926
I was going to do one of my standard "What was going on in Lorain 100 years ago today?" posts, but the Sept. 22, 1925 edition of the Lorain Journal wasn't available. But the same day in 1926 was – so...
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Nickoloff Builders "Heavenly Home" Ad – Sept. 11, 1965
Longtime readers of this blog know that I like to post old model homes ads. They're usually interesting because they provide a snapshot of what was important to home buyers at that time in history.As...
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On Area Movie Screens – Sept. 1954: "Dragnet"
I'm a big "Dragnet" fan, so I couldn't resist posting this ad from the Lorain Journal movie page of Sept. 17, 1954. The big screen adaptation of Dragnet was the first movie based on a TV show (paving...
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Lorain's Own Mermaid at Weeki Wachee, Fl – Follow Up
Debby Circa 1961 at Florida's Treasure Island(Photo courtesy Florida Memory)Remember when I wrote about Debby Poore, the former Lorain County resident who in the early 1960s fulfilled her goal of...
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State Route 76 Relocation Plans Unveiled – Sept. 1965
Sixty years ago, the state highway presented its plans for the relocation of State Route 76 (today's State Route 83) through Avon Lake, Avon and North Ridgeville. The front page above of the Sept. 1,...
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Hamster Hijinks
Did you have a favorite pet when you were a kid?I remember wanting a dog very badly. But Mom (who had a dog when she was growing up) said they were too much work. Plus, she was not the type to have a...
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Ohio Turnpike Opens Tonight at Midnight – 1955
The Ohio Turnpike opened 70 years ago tonight at midnight, marking October 1, 1955 as the official day that it opened. As the article below from the Lorain Journal of Sept. 30, 1955 notes, "The longest...
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