Lorain's Puerto Rican Community – August 1951

If you grew up in Lorain on the West Side (like me), you pretty much knew that there were a lot of Puerto Ricans that lived in South Lorain. But except for when we went to that part of town to go to Hills, Pic-Way Shoes, etc., we didn't have a lot of contact with them. 

It was only when I got to Admiral King High School that I became more much aware of them. Joining a Puerto Rican salsa band (which I wrote about here) enabled me to become much more familiar and comfortable with the Puerto Rican community.

Many of us probably didn't know why there was such a big Puerto Rican population in South Lorain. How did they end up out there? The selection of articles below, from a series written by Richard J. Maloy that ran in the Journal in August 1951, explains it very well.

This first article from August 6, 1951 is sort of an introduction to the Puerto Rican colony in South Lorain.

This second article from August 7, 1951 explains how US Steel, working with the Puerto Rican government, recruited Puerto Ricans in 1947 to help stabilize their workforce. It tells how the first wave of workers lived in dormitories adjacent to National Tube (as the mill was known back then).