Vermilion Historical Society - Articles

The History of Vermilion's Library

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 03:32:00 +0000

One hundred years ago, Vermilion’s first public library was officially established when the Vermilion school board appointed a new board of trustees to oversee a town library.

Those are the facts. But there’s so much more to this story, which has been archived by Ritter Public Library, local historian Rich Tarrant of the Vermilion History Museum and the Vermilion Area Archival Society.

The story actually begins with a small group of women determined to bring a public library to their town. These women persisted in their dream to see a public library established in the village of Vermilion. For nearly 40 years, they worked to bring books to the town, then make the books available to all who were interested, and finally – despite the turmoil of the years leading up to and including the Great Depression – to raise the money to establish the Vermilion Public Library.

1877 A Prequel

In 1877, before Vermilion had a library of any kind, it had a reading room – a public location where citizens could go to read shared materials. Vermilion’s local newspaper, “The Vermilion Bugle”, announced, “Three cheers for the reading room! A great success!

“Yes, indeed! The Reading Room project is a success, and Vermilion may hereafter pride herself as regards this… The nice, large and commodious room in the front part of the Sturdevant block (on Liberty Avenue) has been refitted and rendered convenient for the purpose. Tables will be made for receiving the periodicals and papers and everything possible will be done to make it comfortable.

“A number of excellent papers have been secured free gratis and others will undoubtedly be had in the same manner. It is to be free to all who desire to drop in and spend a short time profitably, but, of course, all donations will be gratefully received. This is certainly a time for all to show their generosity by contributing liberally to the enterprise. Take hold friends.”

1901 The Beginning

In 1901, the small fishing village of Vermilion was growing. The Lake Shore Electric railway had come through town providing a link to Toledo and Cleveland and that same summer, there was another special delivery.

Two gentlemen from Oberlin, recorded in history as Mr. Upton and Mr. MacIntosh, had solicited 100 people to sign up for a library, according to the town newspaper. About 200 books were delivered to the Nuhn and Trinter’s store on what is now Main Street.

“The books are ready to give out,” the paper noted in August, 1901. “Each member has the privilege of drawing one book at a time and retaining it for a period of two weeks. The books are nicely bound and a large percent of them right up to date. In fact, the selection is very good indeed.”

So before Vermilion had a public library, interested townspeople could pay to belong to what was known as a “subscription” library. This first library was the project of a small group of devoted women.

Here’s how it began:

In 1893, a women’s club was formed in Vermilion. It was called Sorosis, a branch of the first professional women’s club in the U.S.

The name Sorosis comes from the Latin word meaning sisterhood. The clubs were established to further the educational and social activities of women and “to bring together for mutual helpfulness, representative women in art, literature, science and kindred pursuits.”

The club’s motto was, “There is a woman at the head of all great things.”

Linda Ehrnschwender, information desk associate at Ritter Public Library, researched the club’s history. “It is said that at least 75 percent of all of the first libraries in towns all over America were founded due to the persistence of women in these clubs,” according to Ann Dodds Costello, author of “Smart Women: The Search for America’s All-Women Study Clubs”. In Vermilion, two hardworking women were members of the local Sorosis Club. Their families still reside in our town.

Mary Shaw became the mother of current lifelong resident Judy Williams and grandmother of the Karen Rossi family.

Bessie Roscoe was the wife and partner of Pearl Roscoe, owner, editor and publisher of Vermilion’s newspaper, “The Vermilion News”. Bessie became the grandmother of Rich Tarrant, who today serves as proprietor of the Vermilion History Museum on Grand Street.Roscoe

Bessie and her husband Pearl recorded the growth of Vermilion’s library in dozens of articles written for the newspaper. And shining through every article was clear support for the library from the newspaper’s publishers.

In 1901, an editorial in the paper stated, “It has been suggested that the subject of a library be brought before the public. We are of the opinion that this would be a good thing.

“A library not only gives the citizens of the community an opportunity of enjoyable and profitable reading, but gives the pupils of the schools a chance to obtain helps in their work which are too expensive for each to purchase.

“There are several ways in which such a library might be started. There are probably few families but what have one or two good readable books which they would gladly donate to push the thing along. Again, during the summer, the hundreds of visitors would be pleased and probably contribute their mite toward such an institution.”

In 1902, the idea of a library had taken root, with lots of help from the Roscoes.

“We now have the prospects of having a library in Vermilion,” according to “The Vermilion News” in December, 1902, “something that every village or city needs. It enables a person to have a considerable quantity of reading at a small cost.

“We can while away winter evenings to no better advantage, especially during the stormy weather, than to sit by our own fireside and read some good books. It not only relieves our minds of the cares of the day but also brings bodily refreshment as well.”

It’s clear the Roscoes could appreciate the warmth of a good book on a cold evening. They also knew the value of a good bargain.

“Already between 50 and 60 persons have become members of this Library Association and anyone who wishes may join by paying the required amount. Another feature is the cheapness. Where can we find so much good reading for so little money?

“Think this matter over and don’t delay,” the newspaper urged. “Join the subscribers’ library at the earliest opportunity. Don’t wait to be invited personally.”

Through the early 1900s, Vermilion’s subscribers’ library consisted of shelves of books housed in various local businesses. In 1903, the books were located at Penning’s News Stand and then at Harris’ Drug Store.

“We have a good start for a library,” the paper stated that year, “and if those interested will be patient and give their undivided support to a home institution, we will in a few years have a library to which we can point with pride… At the present price at which good books can be purchased, $1 per year should be sufficient.”

The newspaper was sure Vermilion could handle the task.

“We believe the people of Vermilion are capable of selecting their own books and not dependent on someone with a well-learned lesson concerning up-to-date reading. A comparison of our home library with any other of similar size will furnish the doubter with much food for thought. With a home library, we pay for the books and have the privilege of reading them, besides they remain in the village for the use of others.

“Think the matter over and put your name down for another year. Also, try to induce your neighbor to do likewise.”

Just a few months later, the books moved to Nielsen’s Jewelry Store. In 1904, there were 66 members “with others joining daily.”

“The Vermilion News” reported, “The library is in splendid condition after one year’s use. Not a single book of the entire 160 or 170 books but that (are) in this library or in use by some member that can be accounted for.”

But overdue fines already existed!

“Each member of the association should read the rules governing the use of books, which they will find pasted on the inside cover of each book, thus avoiding any misunderstanding that might arise concerning the payment of fines for keeping a book overtime, etc.”

To ease community relations, a notice from the association admonished, “Remember that it is the Association that governs this and not the Librarian neither the Custodian of the books.”

In 1907, Bessie Roscoe was president of the Subscribers’ Library Association. The subscription price for a year was $1. “We feel assured that any person can get their money’s worth. Do not wait to be asked to subscribe but call on the secretary or send money to her and receive your card.” Members were also busy fundraising. “A concert will be given for the benefit of the library at the town hall next Thursday,” according to an announcement in the newspaper. DryGoods

In 1908, the books moved from the jewelry store to the Guy Davis dry goods store on the northwest corner of Grand and Liberty streets (currently site of Friendship Park). Lending hours were one afternoon a week and Saturday evenings.

1912 A Partnership

By the beginning of the 1900s, in Sandusky, the women of the city had organized their own library, taking advantage of a grant from Andrew Carnegie to build a permanent home for their collection. In 1912, the Sandusky Library Association made an agreement with Erie County Commissioners to grant full use of its collection to every resident in the county.

“The Vermilion News” reported, “The library at Sandusky (is) sending us a list of one hundred books with a general invitation to the public to use them freely.” At that time, “A librarian was appointed at a salary of fifty dollars per year, paid from the county fund.”

According to a Sandusky newspaper, Vermilion’s county library station was located in a private home and the librarian was Mrs. L.H. McQueen.

1918 A Library of Our Own

In 1918, Vermilion’s library became official!

The president of Vermilion’s school board, A.C. Hofrichter, appointed the first library board of trustees, making it possible for the town to begin receiving state funds available for public libraries.

According to a report written by local resident Addie Rust, Bessie Roscoe and Mary Shaw were chosen from the Sorosis Club, Bertha Nieding and Maria Smith were selected from Vermilion High School Alumni, and Mamie Thompson and Addie herself were chosen from the Village of Vermilion. Rev. Howard Lynch, pastor of the Congregational Church, was also appointed.

Bessie Roscoe would continue to serve on the library board for the next 26 years.

Ella Buttner was librarian for a year and in 1920, Cora McQueen became librarian. In 1935, Rust said that McQueen “has held that position ever since, some fifteen years and this past two weeks is the only time she has been off duty, and that on account of illness.”

Betty Trinter, author of “The Way It Was: Vermilion 1807-1984”, takes over the story now:

“Their goal was a public library building to house the books and periodicals that through the years had been donated by Vermilion citizens, and more recently been offered by the Sandusky Library system. Until this goal was reached, Mr. C.A. Mattison, local jeweler, offered the use of his rooms two days a week.

“It wasn’t long before money raising efforts began. A concert was held at the Opera House (all home talent), and sometime later the Congregational Church had a Maypole Dance in the town hall, put on by the children, under the direction of Mrs. Hattie Ries and Mamie Thompson.”

By 1920, the village of Vermilion was bustling. It was host to thousands of summer visitors who came to picnic and play at the popular Crystal Beach Park. And town leaders were making plans, Trinter wrote.

“Then came a new idea, the proposal of a $25,000 brick building in Exchange Park to be used as a gym, library and a memorial to the Vermilion soldiers and sailors.”

According to Trinter, the town voted down plans for the new building, but the library board persisted in its search for a more permanent home.

In 1920, the Vermilion Public Library began renting space in a building that also housed a photography studio owned by Rudy Moc.

This first official library building was located on the east side of Grand Street just north of the railroad tracks. Trinter wrote, “At an earlier date, it had been a blacksmith shop. The pleasant frame building with the skylight on one side was often referred to as the reading room.”

On Dec. 4, 1920, a formal opening was held and “Mrs. Shaw donated curtains for the windows and the room was set in order for the guests,” Addie Rust reported.

During those first few years, Rust wrote, “The amount from the taxes was not enough to carry on the work so various plans were discussed as to how to increase the funds and several social affairs were given.

“A community party was held in the town hall with refreshments served in the parlors of the Congregational Church, proceeds $20.10; Mrs. W.G. Hauff kindly came to our rescue and on two different occasions gave an entertainment, the proceeds … which she very gladly turned over to the board; and the Good Government League gave $174.50.”

Other donations during those years came from the Sorosis Club and “The Vermilion News”, as well as local residents. In 1929, Moc moved to Lorain and the library board purchased the building on Grand Street for $1,550.

Some Pointed Nudging

During this period, historian Rich Tarrant records, his grandmother Bessie spent her days working at the news desk, writing, answering calls and tending to the business needs of the paper and the print shop. The family apartment was upstairs and her two daughters, Ella and Alice, often joined their mother on the first floor as she worked.

Ella grew up to become business manager and lead news writer for the paper, as well as Rich’s mother. He recalls his mother recounting a running back-and-forth conversation between Bessie and a man named George Ritter.

Anytime Bessie would encounter Ritter, who’d grown up in Bess at her desk town and was at that time establishing a very successful law practice in Toledo, she’d be sure to remind him of the library’s financial need. The book collection was growing and the board hoped to replace its modest wood-frame building with a modern structure built specifically for the needs of a library.

According to Tarrant, Bessie’s repeated reminders went unanswered. Nevertheless, the board continued to save and invest, scrimp on spending, and hold fundraisers including concerts and other community entertainments.

Tarrant points out how especially difficult this might have been in the early 1930s. The stock market crash of 1929 kicked off a severe worldwide economic depression that lasted throughout the coming decade. Personal income, tax revenue and profits dropped, and unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25 percent.

During these years of strife, “The Vermilion News” reported, “The Library Board spent many hours planning and cutting corners to add to their building fund. Miss Ida McCague, although not a member of the board, saved many pennies for the building fund by obtaining copies of the latest books, slightly used, at a lower price… Mrs. Pearl Roscoe obtained the magazine subscriptions for the library, giving them the benefit of the publishers discount, which helped swell the building fund.”

1934 A Home of Its Own

Despite the woes of the national economy, by 1934 the library board felt it had saved enough to construct a new building. The existing wooden building was dragged to the back of the property and later sold, and a new, brick building was erected in its place in early 1935.

According to local newspaper reports, some of the labor Grand on the building was provided through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which was established by President Franklin Roosevelt to support the unemployed. Local contractor W. Tischer was in charge of the project.

“The building will be 32 x 48 with a nine-foot basement under all and will comply strictly to state code. It will be a one-story affair of brick and tile, well lighted,” the paper said. The building still exists, as The Old Vermilion Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast.

Staunch support continued to stream from the Roscoes through the pages of “The Vermilion News”.

“Does a Library in Vermilion Mean Anything to You?” reads the headline in a story from September, 1935. “Patrons of the public library are being served from the new building this week although there is considerable finishing work to be done and still some unpaid bills, which the board is very anxious to clear up before the formal opening next month.” After listing several donations ranging from $1 to $5, the article reminded, “There is still plenty of room for contributions.”

The new building was officially opened with a formal InsideGrandceremony on Oct. 19, 1935. Paul Noon, the state librarian, attended from Columbus with some “splendid advice. He admonished the board that a library is not a Sunday School and books and magazines in popular demand should be selected.”

1930s and ’40s Time of Growth and Loss

Janet Ford, Vermilion’s library director from 1981-2015, said furniture for the new building was built to specifications and at low cost at the Ohio State Reformatory. In 1936, Cora McQueen resigned because of poor health and Jean Lawless, “who was trained in library work”, became the next librarian.

The town continued to grow. In the mid-30s, all Vermilion students attended school at a newly expanded brick building on South Street. The wooden lighthouse that stood at the mouth of the Vermilion River was replaced with a new, “modern” structure made of steel.

The library collection, which comprised 7,000 items in 1935, was growing too. In the 1940s, a patron could browse nautical books on the Wakefield Shelf, art and music items from the Glen Johnson Memorial collection, and books about South America on the Pittman Memorial Shelf. A shelf of technical books for the layman was also added.

In 1946, Bessie Roscoe died and a memorial fund was established to benefit the library. Tarrant regrets that his grandmother didn’t live to see George Ritter’s great gift to the town.

1950s A New Era

World events continued to affect life in Vermilion and the progress of its library, according to Ford’s research. In Toledo, George Ritter had made a very important move in 1925. He became legal counsel to the founder of the Willys-Overland Co. in Toledo, which in the 1920s was the second largest automobile manufacturing plant in America.

After years of turmoil for the company, Ritter was part of a team in 1936 that helped re-organize it. Learning from opportunities missed by Willys during World War I, they led a changeover that helped the company become the first manufacturing plant to be converted to war production, saving the company and also thousands of local jobs.

During the 1940s, the company produced gas shells, bullet cores, treads for tanks and gun hoists. But most Jeep importantly, the company produced one of the most valuable U.S. military machines – the Jeep.

Throughout this period, Ritter served as vice president and general counsel. After the war, in 1948, Ritter purchased the estate of the now-deceased founder, John Willys. His fortune was made.

In the 1950s, George Ritter began sharing his wealth. Did he remember his conversations over the years with Bessie Roscoe? In 1954, Ritter contacted the Vermilion library board with an offer to fund a new, larger building as a tribute to his parents.

He donated $150,000 in cash plus enough to purchase an additional 10 feet of land and $50,000 to purchase marble for the front and for six pillars. Correspondence between Ritter and the building architects show they chose pink marble over white, thinking the white marble wouldn’t retain its whiteness over the years.

The new building would have space for 25,000 books.

Its design was modeled after a mansion built by Joseph Swift along the Vermilion River south of town, in an area known locally as Swift’s Hollow. LibertyA local newspaper said in 1958, “One of Ohio’s prominent early homes, resplendent in state history, will ‘live’ again in the Vermilion area when the new Ritter Memorial Library here is constructed.”

More than 30 tons of marble from Georgia would be crated in wood and trucked to Vermilion, along with 31 tons of limestone from Alabama. Each of the six columns across the front of the building would be assembled from three, precision-machined pieces weighing 3,500 pounds.

In the new building, “The Vermilion News” reported, “reading areas for adults and children will be separated by a screen. In addition to the main room, there will be a community meeting room furnished with a motion picture screen.”

“As good lighting is deemed important for better reading,” a news article said, the building would have fluorescent lights from Vermilion’s own F.W. Wakefield Brass Co.

Development of the project would not proceed without controversy, however. Before the first shovel of dirt was dug, trouble occurred as the school board, agent for the library, attempted to acquire the desired property along Liberty Avenue.

Local businessman Guy Walker owned a car dealership with lots on the corner of Washington and Liberty. He didn’t want to give up his option to expand his business and objected strongly when the school board consulted with the Erie County prosecutor about exercising its right to acquire the land over Walker’s objections. After a heated debate that was played out through letters to the local newspaper, the conflict was resolved and construction of the library got underway.

On a sunny day in May, 1958, a large group of residents gathered at the construction site as George and Mary Ritter returned to town to lay the building’s cornerstone.GRitter

Ritter told the crowd of his boyhood wish that Vermilion could have a library and tipped his hat to the women of the town, noting that it was through their efforts that the first library was established.

“He pointed out that his parents had instilled in him early the belief in the American ideals of equal opportunity for success through integrity and industry, and the responsibility of each person to maintain these ideals for succeeding generations,” according to the newspaper.

The same year he told a group at Baldwin-Wallace College that he wanted to honor his parents “who showed me the opportunities for a poor boy in America. They also taught me that there are responsibilities as well as opportunities, and I resolved to render certain public services.”

As part of the ceremony in Vermilion, a sealed box was placed behind the cornerstone. In it are documents and newspaper stories and also a sealed letter written by George Ritter with instructions that it not be opened for 100 years.

In December of 1958 during a snowfall, residents of Vermilion pitched in to move about 16,000 library books to their new home. Youths, members of the Lions Club, the Piston Pushers, the Vermilion Junior Civic Club and others transported boxes and furniture from Grand Street to Liberty Avenue, where women worked re-shelving the collection.

Although Bessie Roscoe had long since passed away, her spirit was still alive in the beautiful building – the new children’s department was furnished in part thanks to funds from the Bessie Roscoe Memorial Fund.

1960s, ’70s and ’80s Still Growing

In the early 1960s, the library had about 23,000 volumes and the new community room was well-used for recitals, films and various meetings. Librarian Delores Warburton showed a series of travelogue films during the winter months. But by 1966, the collection had outgrown its shelves and the community room was converted to a reference room.

In 1977, George Ritter returned to the library board of trustees with an offer to help fund an expansion of the building. Talks began but in 1979, Ritter died. He included Ritter Public Library in his will and asked that an addition be named to honor his sister, Allie.

Construction began in 1982, adding about 5,000 square feet and creating a second entrance on the north side of the building on Ferry Street, which allowed for easier access for handicapped patrons. A small community room provided seating for about 35 people and a new skylight joined the old and new sections, creating a sense of openness.

George Ritter’s will also named the library as beneficiary of a trust that will continue to provide income to the library in perpetuity. In 1985, his generosity was once again a boon to Vermilion residents. Proceeds from the trust, amounting to $20,000, allowed the library to purchase membership in the CLEVNET library partnership, which gives Ritter customers access to 12 million items from 44 different library systems across northern Ohio.

1990s Technology Arrives

By 1990, the library had once again outgrown its space. The building was not wired for technology, nor was there a practical division of space for the different areas of the collection. Trustees conducted a survey of current and future needs, and determined the building could be expanded again, this time out to the property lines with a partial basement.

This time, trustees sought support from the community. For the first time since the library was established, two issues were put before the voters. One was a bond issue to build the expansion and the second was an operating levy to help with the daily expenses. In November 1992, both issues passed.

To prepare for construction, the entire library was moved to the old Valley View School on Beechview Drive in 1993 and was operated from that facility for one year. In November 1994, the library re-opened on Liberty Avenue. Vermilion City Council agreed to close Washington Street to the west and property was purchased for additional parking.

2000s Center of the Community

With an eye to the future, library trustees bought property in 2002 on Liberty Avenue immediately east of the current building for future expansion. The property had been the site of the Dick Baker Dodge car dealership. The library began using the old car showroom there – which became known as the annex – to provide increased meeting space for community groups.

After four years of increasing use, however, the annex was badly in need of repairs. Trustees had to decide if they should repair and remodel or if it would be more cost-effective to raze the building and construct new space.

A public survey in 2006 showed residents wanted more from their library – more meeting space, more public computers and more space for teens and other services. In November 2007, voters approved two issues. A new bond issue for new construction replaced the previous bond, which had been paid off early. And the library’s continuing operating levy was replaced, to be collected at current property values.

The annex was demolished in December 2008 and construction of the new addition, including a second floor and partial basement, got underway in March 2009. The project was completed and celebrated with a grand opening ceremony in March 2010.

The expansion added 18,000 square feet of new space, including a new community room and other meeting spaces; a 26-station computer lab; and expanded spaces for children, teens and adults.

Ritter became the first public library in Ohio to earn a gold award for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) when the U.S. Green Building Council recognized the many green designs in the building addition in 2011. The designs include a rain garden in the front yard and a green roof, a porous parking lot, a cistern, and energy-efficient lighting and heating and cooling systems.

Today, the library is the only location in Vermilion providing free access to the internet on public computers. Residents use free internet at Ritter more than 100 times every day.

Ritter has more than 350 visits every day and serves about1,250 people every month with public programs, classes, storytimes, meeting space and more.

As Ritter Public Library celebrates its centennial in 2018, we recognize Bessie Roscoe and the women of the village, hometown son George Ritter, and also the residents of Vermilion today who continue to make the library the center of our community.

The History Of McGarvey's

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

Many people do not know, or remember, that the restaurant known as McGarvey's was originally built, owned and operated by Charles Helfrich. That was in 1929, shortly after the new bridge was built across the river. The old bridge crossed a little south of the present location.

Mr. Helfrich operated a small boat and canoe rental business on the east side of the river. The proposed new bridge nearly touched his building and also diverted traffic away from it. So he purchased the land just north of the new bridge and built a restaurant and boat rental business there. Home cooked dinners, sandwiches and homemade pies were the first attractions. The business prospered and Helfrich's became a busy place. The canoe and boat business were also thriving. Canoeing on the river was a popular pastime in those days, especially on Sunday afternoons.

In 1934 Mr. Helfrich died and two years later Mrs. Helfrich sold the enterprises to Charlie McGarvey's. After his death, Mrs. McGarvey sold her husband's business to Charles Solomon, son of Eddie Solomon. The restaurant was one of the most well known eating places along the lake shore, popular with both "landlubbers" and boaters.

In the year 2000, the Vermilion Port Authority purchased the McGarvey's property and razed the building. The property became a transient marina and restaurant named Red Clay on the River, now Quaker Steak & Lube.

Lester A. Pelton

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

Lester Allan Pelton (September 5, 1829 – March 14, 1908), considered to be the father of modern day hydroelectric power, is one the most famous inventors of American history. Pelton invented the impulse water turbine. Lester Pelton was born in Vermillion, Ohio in 1829. His father was a farmer. He lived on Risden Road and attended the Cuddeback School on the northwest corner of Risden and Lake Roads. He had seven siblings. His grandfather, Captain Josiah S. Pelton, located in Vermilion in 1818. In ill health, his oldest son, Josiah S. Jr., assumed the role of family patriarch. The family prospered and all figured prominently in the development of Vermilion in business and government. But it was Lester who would become world famous.

When Lester grew up he decided to travel by wagon train to California. He was a quiet person who liked to study and read books. At first he went to Sacramento and became a fisherman. He was not successful at fishing so he decided to move. He went to Camptonville in Nevada County after he heard about a gold discovery along the North Fork of the Yuba River.

In 1860 all types of mining were going on, placer, hardrock, and hydraulic. Pelton did not want to be a miner so he decided to improve mining methods. He watched, studied, and learned about methods needed to power hydraulic mining. Hardrock mines also needed power to lower the men into the mines, bring up the ore cars, and return the workers to the surface at the end of their shift. Power was also needed to operate rock crushers, stamp mills, pumps, and machinery.

At the time the steam engine was used by many mines for their main power source, but the hillsides were running out of wood and trees. The Empire Mine in Grass Valley used about twenty cords of wood a day. Pelton knew the forests were disappearing so he began thinking about inventing a water wheel. In 1878 he experimented with several types of wheels.

According to a 1939 article by W. F. Durand of Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering, "Pelton's invention started from an accidental observation, some time in the 1870s. Pelton was watching a spinning water turbine when the key holding its wheel onto its shaft slipped, causing it to become misaligned. Instead of the jet hitting the cups in their middle, the slippage made it hit near the edge; rather than the water flow being stopped, it was now deflected into a half-circle, coming out again with reversed direction. Surprisingly, the turbine now moved faster. That was Pelton's great discovery. In other turbines the jet hit the middle of the cup and the splash of the impacting water wasted energy."

As the story goes, Pelton was further inspired one day when chasing a stray cow from his landlady’s yard. He hit the cow on the nose with water and the water split, circled the cows nostrils and came out at the outer edge. This gave him an idea. He rushed to his workshop and began to make a water wheel with split metal cups. The wheel was proven to be the best and most efficient in a competition. The Nevada City Foundry began to manufacture the wheels and ship them all over the world.

The Pelton wheel introduced an entirely new physical concept to water turbine design (impulse as opposed to reaction), and revolutionized turbines adapted for high head sites. Up until this time, all water turbines were reaction machines that were powered by water pressure. Pelton's invention was powered by the kinetic energy of a high velocity water jet.

A patent was granted in 1889 to Pelton, and he later sold the rights to the Pelton Water Wheel Company of San Francisco. Today Pelton wheels are used worldwide for hydroelectric power with not much change in design from the original wheels. Later evolutions of the Pelton turbine were the Turgo turbine, first patented by in 1919 by Gilkes, and the Banki turbine. Pelton was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. His invention is on display in museums throughout the world, including the Smithsonian.

Pelton and his family are buried in Maple Grove Cemetery on Mason Road in Vermilion, Ohio. His birthplace home has been fully restored by Tom and Jean Beach. The Lester Allan Pelton Historical marker is located at Cuddeback Cemetery, Risden and Lake Roads, Vermilion Township. The marker reads: "Lester Allan Pelton" Lester Allan Pelton, "the Father of Hydroelectric Power," was born on September 5, 1829, a quarter of a mile northwest of this site. He spent his childhood on a farm a mile south of this site and received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse that once sat north of this site. In the spring of 1850, he and about twenty local boys, left for California during the great gold rush west. Pelton did not find gold, but instead invented what was commonly known as "the Pelton Water-Wheel," which produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California in 1887. The Water-Wheel was patented on August 27, 1889. Currently variations of it are still commonly used to generate electric power throughout the world. Pelton died in California on March 14, 1908. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Vermilion.

Capt. Austin & The Friendship Schooner

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 03:30:00 +0000

During the Revolutionary War in the late 1700s many Connecticut residents were burned out of their homes by the raiding British. To compensate these citizens for their losses, the Connecticut Assembly awarded the "Sufferers" 500,000 acres in the western most portion of the Western Reserve, which came to be known as the Firelands. Settlement was slow due to the remoteness of the tract and the difficulties in reaching it. Capt. William Austin, of New London Connecticut, was one of the first settlers in Vermilion. He arrived with his family in 1809 and built a home a half mile west of the mouth of the Vermillion River which flows into Lake Erie. His wife, Elizabeth, was the first white woman in Vermilion.

The greater part the lake’s southern shore was at one time occupied by a tribe of Indians called the Eries. The word translates to ‘cat’, likely in reference to the wild cat or panther that once roamed the area. The lake was referred to as “Lake of the Cat” by the Indians. Vermilion was named by Native Americans for the red clay along the river banks. Oulanie Thepy (Red Creek) in the Indian’s language was translated by early French explorers as “Vermilion River.”

Capt. William Austin was a man of energy and built the first schooner along the river in 1812. She was the “Friendship”, a schooner of the times, about a fifty footer registered at 57 tons in Cleveland in 1817. Where the ship was built is not exactly known but the builders chose a flat place along the riverside. This most certainly had to be near the foot of Huron Street where the later shipyard stood when ship building became the main industry in the village. Small schooners were ideal for scudding along the lake shore bringing in supplies from Buffalo and other ports. They were as large as the natural river bars would allow and enough cargo capacity to supply the needs of the early settlements.

Mr. Austin, a Master Seaman, made nineteen trips a year to Newfoundland, Canada and Spain. He was known for having visited every port on the globe.

Many settlers left the area during the War of 1812 and did not return until after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victory over the British fleet. Capt. Austin was not one of them. He remained in Vermilion and sailed the famous “Friendship” during and after the War of 1812. He carried soldiers to the battle on the Peninsula. This famous naval battle was fought in the waters of Lake Erie just a few miles from South Bass Island. It marks the only time in history that a British naval fleet ever surrendered and inspired the Star Spangled Banner and the song we know today as our National Anthem.

In 1821 Capt. Austin built the first stone house in Vermilion. He opened the first public house at or near the mouth of the Vermillion River. The first religious meeting in Vermilion was held at his home.

The captain was a very genial man, but it was unsafe to cross him. His rule aboard his ship was to have everything in its place. Any deviation from this rule resulted in certain punishment.

He would never admit to flatteries and was as outspoken and abrupt as honest. On one occasion when a man attempted to get favor by appealing to his pride, saying to him how obliging and clever a man he was, the captain replied, "CLEVER!, CLEVER! SO IS THE DEVIL SO LONG AS YOU PLEASE HIM."

He was a full believer in premonitions and warnings from unseen agents, and believed he was always warned of danger by a raving white horse in his dreams.

Around 1814 he was on his way to Detroit with several merchants as passengers. It was a delightful Indian summer day. On the way to the Islands the old white horse paid him a furious visit in his sleep, and about noon he tied up in Put- Away- Bay. The passengers were indignant; fine day, fair wind, and nothing to hinder but the old man's obstinacy or laziness. But he was immovable, not a foot would he stir out of the harbor that day. Just after nightfall came a furious snow storm and gales which so frequently destroyed ships and numerous lives on Lake Erie. In the morning the deck was covered with a foot of snow, and the wind was blowing a hurricane outside the harbor. His passengers were now very thankful for the escape, and the next day with a fair sky they landed safely in Detroit.

Once as he was returning to America, the ship making good way with a favorable wind, he retired after dinner and fell asleep. The old white horse came, with mouth wide open and in great fury. The captain bounded from his bunk, hastened to the deck, and sang out "about ship in an instant!" The order was instantly obeyed and when the ship rounded the fog, the breakers were less than eighty rods ahead, and the iron bound coast of Labrador in plain sight just beyond. Ten minutes more and "we would have never been heard of again" said the captain.

Under the protection of his white horse, Capt. Austin never met with a serious disaster, and had escaped very many.

28 years after Capt. Austin built the legendary “Friendship” schooner, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the two piers at the mouth of the river which provided the bar depth builders needed to take crafts to sea. Thus began the "Golden Age" of ship building on the river, in tune with the great demand for shipping on the lakes. In a period of 36 years 48 large lake schooners were built. This provided jobs and growth for the community. The harbor was a beehive of activity and the sound of the maul on caulking iron was a musical note that rang throughout the valley. The schooner was the "work horse" and a very important transportation means in the opening of the vast Great Lakes Country. They reigned supreme until a new form of transportation arrived along shore, the steam railroad.

Capt. William Austin couldn't have known in 1812 that his ship would become a cherished symbol of a town that had not yet even been incorporated. The “Friendship” schooner flies on Vermilion’s official flag and welcomes visitors on our city signage.

Phoebe Judson: Pioneer

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:32:00 +0000

Phoebe Goodell Judson grew up in Vermillion, Ohio. Her pioneer story begins when she married her husband Holden Allen Judson. After three years of matrimony they both decided "to obtain from the government of The United States a grant of land that "Uncle Sam" had promised to give to the head of each family who settled in this new country." With this the Judson's set out to pursue the vast uncultivated wilderness of the Puget Sound, which at that time was a part of Oregon. They departed March 1,1853. As Pheobe Judson recollects, "The time set for departure was March 1st, 1853. Many dear friends gathered to see us off. The tender "good-byes' were said with brave cheers in the voices, but many tears from the hearts."

Born Phoebe Newton Goodell on October 25, 1831, Phoebe was born in Ancaster, Canada, the second eldest of eleven children with her twin sister Mary Weeks Goodell, and named after her father's sister, Phebe Goodell. Her parents were Jotham Weeks "J. W." Goodell, a Presbyterian minister descended from British colonists, and Anna Glenning "Annie" Bacheler. In 1837 her family emigrated to Vermilion, Ohio, where she and her siblings where raised.

On June 20, 1849, at the age of 17, Phoebe married Holden Allen Judson (born mid-1827), with whom she had grown up. (Holden's only sibling, Lucretia "Trecia" Judson, had been a close friend of Phoebe's in Vermilion.) The Judsons lived in Holden's parents' home in Vermilion. Their first child, Anna "Annie" Judson, was born the following year.

Following the Donation Land Claim Act, the Goodells traveled to the Oregon Territory in 1851, leaving Phoebe and her elder brother William behind. Phoebe's twin sister Mary and her fiancé Nathan W. Meloy settled in Willamette, Oregon and J. W. Goodell named and established the town of Grand Mound, Washington with his wife and younger children, where he took up a job as postmaster and part-time minister alongside George Whitworth.

Inspired by her family, and Holden's desire for independence from his parents, Phoebe set off for the month-old Washington Territory with Holden and Annie on March 1, 1853, a few days following her brother William's wedding to Maria Austin, both of whom would take the same Westward route the following year and witness the Ward Massacre. They left Ohio and, traveling on the Overland Trail once they passed Kansas City, made their way west with a small party of others. The journey in and of itself was an adventure given the primitive conditions and threat of an Indian attack. But late in June the party did pause for a day at La Bonta Creek in southeastern Wyoming when Phoebe gave birth to a son, Charles LaBonta Judson.

Phoebe Judson was the first non-Indian woman to settle in the Lynden area and became known as the "Mother of Lynden" during the half century that she lived there.

Pioneering in Washington Territory

The Judsons arrived at their new home in Grand Mound (Thurston County) in October 1853. About 1856 they moved to near Claquato (Lewis County) and late in 1858 moved to Olympia when Holden was elected to the territorial legislature on the Democratic ticket. They would remain in Olympia for nearly eight years. Holden served at least two terms in the legislature, and subsequently operated a store in Olympia.

In 1866 the Judsons moved to Whidbey Island, where Holden may have operated another store. By the end of the 1860s, their biological family was complete. They had four children: Annie (1850-1937), Charles (1853-1933), George (1859-1891), and Mary "Mollie" (1862-1894). (A fifth child, Carrie, died of whooping cough one month and one day after birth in 1869.) But note the distinction "biological family," because the Judsons would subsequently adopt an additional 11 children.

On March 1, 1870, the Judsons left Whidbey Island, bound for Lynden. They traveled by the steamer Mary Woodruff to Whatcom (now part of Bellingham), then obtained three canoes, with two Indians apiece, to paddle, pole, and portage them up the Nooksack River to Lynden.

The Judsons moved into a rough log cabin that they had acquired in an unusual trade with Colonel James Alexander Patterson, the first white settler in Lynden. Patterson had built the cabin in 1860, and he and his Native American wife had lived there for most of the decade. But at some point in the late 1860s his wife left him, and he began to search for a foster home for his two young daughters. By this time he was a frequent visitor to the Judson’s home on Whidbey Island. Patterson made an offer to the Judsons that he would swap his home and land in what was then known among the settlers as "Nooksack" or "Nootsack" if the Judsons would care for his two daughters, Dollie (age 7 in March 1870) and Nellie (age 4 in March 1870) until they came of age. The Judsons agreed, and Patterson executed a quitclaim deed to his land in favor of Phoebe Judson in March 1870.

The Judsons settled into what Phoebe Judson would famously refer to as her "ideal home." It was located just south of 6th and Front streets, near the southwestern edge of today’s Judson Street Alley, and had a view of the Nooksack River, which at the time ran farther north than it does today. Holden became postmaster of Lynden in 1873, and Phoebe was asked to select the name of the new town. She chose a name that she had heard from a poem, Hohenlinden, written by Thomas Campbell, which begins "On Linden, when the sun was low ..." But she changed the "i" in Linden to "y" because she felt it looked prettier.

Aunt Phoebe, the Mother of Lynden

Since Phoebe Judson was the first white woman in Lynden, she became known as the "Mother of Lynden," and her presence in the community was established. Almost from the beginning she was called "Aunt Phoebe," someone you went to when you needed something, be it a pail of buttermilk or help during childbirth. She also became known for writing letters to the Bellingham Bay Mail during the 1870s, describing the joys of life as a "Pioneer’s Wife," as she usually signed her letters.

But she was more that that. She took a considerably more active role in the community than did many women of the day. During the 1870s log jams plagued the Nooksack River, preventing steamers from making their way upriver to Lynden. One of the biggest jams was downriver from Lynden, near what is today Ferndale. In March 1876 Phoebe began to solicit funds for the removal of the jam. Aided by a $50 donation from Holden, $1,500 was raised by the end of April from settlers in Sehome and Whatcom (both now part of Bellingham) as well as from settlers along the river. Phoebe also suggested that the man who donated the most work on the jam be given votes for a county office. History doesn’t record whether or not this happened, but work on the jam began, and it was gone by early 1877.

Phoebe’s son George Judson platted Lynden in 1884, and as the town site developed, the Judsons donated parts of their land for churches, schools, a printing office, a blacksmith shop, and for various private purposes. They also built the Judson Opera House in the late 1880s, and when it was completed in 1889 it became the community nexus for lectures, entertainment, and celebrations.

Phoebe has been described as a gregarious crusader for many causes. Known as religious, she took an active role in her opposition to saloons in early-day Lynden. But she is also known for taking an active role in the early development of its churches and schools. She arguably became more well-known than her husband, Holden, perhaps because she outlived him by 26 years and had the opportunity to accomplish more, and perhaps also because of her book of her life, A Pioneer’s Search for an Ideal Home, which was first published in 1925, the year before her death.

During the 1880s the Judsons moved to a new two-story frame home on the north side of Front Street, midway between 5th and 6th streets. Holden died there on October 26, 1899, and Phoebe peacefully passed away there on January 16, 1926, having remained physically active and mentally alert until the time of her death. Services were held two days later, and the entire city of Lynden shut down to mark the occasion: Stores were closed, schools were dismissed, and hundreds of people from miles around made the pilgrimage to pay final tribute to the "Mother of Lynden."

The Simon Kenton Boulder

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:32:00 +0000

One of the first explorers of the Vermilion area was Simon Kenton (April 3, 1755 - April 29, 1836,) a famous United States frontiersman and friend of the renowned Daniel Boone, the infamous Simon Girty, and the valiant Spencer Records.

Simon Kenton was born in the Bull Run Mountains, Prince William County, Virginia to Mark Kenton Sr. (an immigrant from Ireland) and Mary Miller Kenton. In 1771, at the age of 16, thinking he had killed a man in a jealous rage, he fled into the wilderness of Kentucky and Ohio, and for years went by the name "Simon Butler."

Kenton served as a scout against the Shawnee in 1774 in the conflict between Native Americans and European settlers later labeled Dunmore's War. In 1777, he saved the life of his friend and fellow frontiersman, Daniel Boone, at Boonesborough, Kentucky. The following year, Kenton was in turn rescued from torture and death by Simon Girty.

Kenton served on the famous 1778 George Rogers Clark expedition to capture Fort Sackville and also fought with "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War in 1793-94.

In 1782, he returned to Virginia and found out the victim had lived and readopted his original name.

In 1784 Kenton chiseled his name, S. Kenton 1784, on a boulder about 2 miles south of the Vermilion River mouth on the southern border of the old Rossman farm in a spot about 600' east of the State Road.

Presumably, Kenton marked the boulder to substantiate his claim to a 4 square mile area surrounding the river mouth, a likely settlement someday. Kenton claimed similar areas throughout the State but lost his claims due to his lack of education. He was too early and too ignorant of drawing up legal claims of his discoveries.

We do have the satisfaction of knowing that he was the first to find and realize that the Vermilion River would some day be the nucleus of a growing community. How right he was!

In 1937 the Vermilion Centennial "Stone Committee" discovered the stone. The stone now stands as a memorial to Kenton at the Ritter Library.

Kenton moved to Urbana, Ohio in 1810, and achieved the rank of brigadier general of the Ohio militia. He served in the War of 1812 as both a scout and as leader of a militia group in the Battle of the Thames in 1813.

Simon Kenton had 6 children in his second marriage. Kenton died in New Jerusalem, Ohio (in Logan County) and was first buried there. His body was later moved to Urbana, Ohio.

He died a poor man and might have been governor if he had had the proper background. As it was, though, he was an outstanding explorer in the Ohio wilderness and his efforts added considerably to the opening of the country to the settlers.

The History of VOL's Historic Ballroom

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

In 1919 a group of investors from the Cleveland area purchased a wooded property with 600 feet of Lake Erie frontage in tiny “Vermilion-on-the-Lake”, Ohio. They cleared the land, and using the very logs they felled, built an approximately 10,000 square foot private community center known as the Vermilion-on-the-Lake Clubhouse.

The big bands of that era were soon accompanied by couples dancing on polished hardwood floors beneath a glittering globe. Those original hardwood floors, framed by the original log walls, are still there today. Soon, “Vermilion-on-the-Lake” became a summer playground and a sparkling jewel for well-to-do residents of western Cleveland.

These pre-Depression era high rollers purchased summer cottages throughout the area and shared access to the clubhouse’s 600-foot pristine and sandy beach. Ladies with parasols strolled the boardwalk of the “Atlantic City of the Midwest”. As late as the 1950’s, top-notch entertainment attracted society’s elite to the “V.O.L.” to see the big bands of the day, including the leading edge sounds of the “Chuck Berry Trio” performing their hit “Maybellene” one summer Tuesday night in 1955.

But, alas, the luster faded. Rising lake levels reclaimed the pristine beach, the economy turned sour and many lot owners looked to sell. Maintenance waned and the original owners agreed to deed the property over to the “Vermilion-on-the-Lake Lot Owners Association”.

During the 1960’s “Vermilion-on-the-Lake”, which had been an incorporated village, was annexed by the then “Village of Vermilion” to create the current “City of Vermilion”.

The VOL (Vermilion-on-the-Lake) Historic Community Center remains today one of the only wedding venue's still situated on Lake Erie's shore. The 'VOL CLubhouse', as it has been called, demands only modest rental fees which assist the effort to save and renovate this historic building.

The Vermilion-on-the-Lake Historic Community Center Charitable Trust is a non-profit corporation formed under the laws of the State of Ohio as a service organization. Besides the restoration and operation of the Historic Community Center, their mission includes community service, involvement in the security of the area through our "Block Watch" program, providing a venue for community fellowship and political discussion, and providing education to our citizens about the history and culture of our area.

Through an affiliation with the Lorain County Historical Society, they seek to emphasize the historic nature of this unique building and encourage the businesses and foundations tasked with preserving our heritage to lend a hand in restoring the Historic Community Center to its once glorious condition.

VOL Historic Community Center is located at 3780 Edgewater Blvd, Vermilion, Ohio 44089.

The History Of The Vermilion Lagoons

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

Louis Wells, a Cleveland contractor, began the Vermilion Lagoons project as a means of keeping his men busy during the Great Depression of the 1930s. By 1931 the first house and the beach house had been built and the lagoons were dredged and most of the wooden piling secured.

The first house was located just to the south and west of the beach house on the Erie Lagoon and belonged to a Mr. Comstock, a real estate salesman and employee of Wells Realty Company. A "building boom" took place in the mid 1930s and by 1940 all of the houses on Anchorage Way, at least one house on Willow Lane, and most of the houses on the portion of Portage Drive located on the north side of the Erie Lagoon had been constructed. The first year-round residents, the Lester Kishman family, moved into their new home in April of 1937.

The Lagoons was not mostly permanent residents until the 1950s. Another "building boom" began during this period and it was at this time that Park Drive, the last road to be developed, experienced growth. To the townspeople of Vermilion, the people of the Lagoons were often known as "swamp dwellers" or "swamp rats." They were also thought to be slightly crazy for wanting to live so close to the water. At times, this has indeed meant being in the water rather than by the water.

Along with the residential development came the recreational in the form of the Vermilion Yacht Club. Mr. Wells deeded the land on the tip and south side of Anchorage Way to the Yacht Club with one stipulation - no alcoholic beverages could be served or sold on the premises of the club itself. The originators of the Vermilion Yacht Club were all former members of the Cleveland Yacht Club seeking a more secluded anchorage.

Besides the obviously great boat dockage and the beach on the Lake, the uniqueness of the Lagoons is in the uniformity of the architecture of all buildings found there. The charm of Cape Cod homes, all white with dark roofs and shutters, amid trees (mostly all willows in the beginning) and fronting on lagoons is undeniable and gives to the Vermilion Lagoons its own inimitable flavor.

East Charity Shoal Lighthouse

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

The steamship Rosedale was built at Sunderland, England in 1888 and on her maiden run completed the first ever direct voyage from London to Chicago via the St. Lawrence River and Welland Canal. This accomplishment caused great excitement in the American maritime community, as it proved that grains from the elevators in Chicago, and other ports on the Great Lakes, could be shipped to London without transshipment. Though her first sailing caused a stir, every trip did not turn out quite so well. On December 5, 1897, the Rosedale grounded upon the rocks of East Charity Shoal during a northwest gale. The vessel was abandoned to her underwriters, but was eventually towed off by a wrecking company, and, after being rebuilt, returned to service.

During the summer of 1900, John C. Churchill, Jr. visited Charity Shoal to survey and chart the outlying spur known as East Charity Shoal. This hazard, which was about 3,000 feet long and at some points covered by just ten feet of water, lay in the line of transit for vessels using the St. Lawrence River and was thus a great peril to navigation. Later that year, the Lighthouse Board moved to mark the obstacle and issued the following Notice to Mariners: “Notice is hereby given that a nun buoy painted red and numbered 2 has been placed in twenty feet of water to mark the easterly edge of East Charity shoal, Lake Ontario, New York. This buoy is about 1 3/8 miles E.S.E. of Charity shoal gas buoy. It is recommended that vessels bound to or from the main channel of the St. Lawrence river, and using the passage between Galloo and Main Duck Islands, should keep to the eastward of this buoy.”

This navigational buoy didn’t prevent all mishaps, as in October of 1912 the steamer Rock Ferry ran aground on East Charity Shoal, and tugs had to be dispatched in an attempt to free her. The Lighthouse Service eventually opted for a more permanent method of marking the shoal, and in May of 1934 newspapers in upstate New York advertised that sealed proposals would be accepted by the Superintendent of Lighthouses in Buffalo for a “timber crib-concrete superstructure” on East Charity Shoal.

The Walls Company was selected as the contractor for the project and had completed enough of the structure so that a temporary light was established on the south side of the crib on November 24, 1934. The foundation consisted of a fifty foot square crib, whose height varied from eleven to fourteen feet to fit the shoal. Constructed ashore in an inverted position, the crib was launched, righted, towed to the site, and sunk in place using stone and interlocking blocks of pre-cast concrete. A reinforced concrete slab was placed over the entire pier and atop this a one-story deckhouse, also of reinforced concrete and octagonal in form, was built to support an octagonal iron tower. After the tower was installed on the deckhouse in 1935, a fourth-order Fresnel lens was placed in the tower’s lantern room and, using acetylene as the illuminant, a 1,300 candlepower light was produced at a focal plane of fifty-two feet above low water depth. The entire project, including riprap to protect the foundation, cost $95,125.

The octagonal iron tower at East Charity Shoal has the distinction of having served at two stations and on two different Great Lakes. It was first installed in 1877 at the end of a pier in Vermilion, Ohio to mark the entrance to the Vermilion River from Lake Erie. After the beacon had been in service for over fifty years, two teenage brothers, who lived next to the harbor, noticed that the lighthouse had developed a lean after the pier had been damaged by an ice storm. The father of the two boys contacted the Lighthouse Service, and not long thereafter the heavy tower was replaced by a much lighter automated tower.

The residents of Vermilion were fond of the old red and white pierhead beacon, and when the octagonal tower was taken away it was as if a member of the community had been lost. Years later, after his childhood home had been converted into the Inland Seas Maritime Museum, Ted Wakefield, one of the two boys who had noticed the lean, championed a fundraising drive to build a replica of the 1877 tower for the museum grounds. His dream was realized during the summer of 1991, when a crane lifted the newly cast tower onto its prepared foundation overlooking Lake Erie.

For years, Vermilionites did not know the fate of the 1877 lighthouse. Most thought it had ended up on the scrap heap, but the real answer was revealed to Vermilion when Olin M. Stevens, of Columbus, Ohio, visited the Inland Seas Maritime Museum. Stevens came seeking additional information on his grandfather, Olin W. Stevens, who was a third generation lighthouse keeper, and when he learned the museum was trying to determine the fate of the 1877 tower, he realized he had just recently found the answer. While searching for information on his ancestors to give to his grandchildren, Stevens opened an old trunk and discovered a newspaper article that told about the service of his grandfather at Tibbetts Point Lighthouse. A portion of the article read, “Altho this is his first duty on Lake Ontario, Charity Shoal light, visible from the Tibbett's Point headland, is an old friend. The tower upholding the gas lamp on Charity formerly was under Keeper Stevens’ charge at Vermilion, near Lorain. Victim of an ice shove, it was salvaged and taken to Buffalo, where it was assigned to Charity.” The mystery had been solved.

Although the East Charity Shoal Lighthouse was never manned, it was still responsible for saving the life of at least one individual. Dr. Joseph G. Reidel, a 37-year-old physician from Syracuse, was sailing on Lake Ontario with his wife and Dr. and Mrs. W. Hall of Watertown on August 5, 1955, when winds estimated at 70mph struck their dragon class sloop. Dr. Reidel was washed overboard by the wind-whipped sea and for an hour was able to tread water and keep sight of the sailboat while his wife and friends desperately tried to rescue him or get him a lifejacket. Neither effort was successful, and Dr. Reidel was presumed lost. As it started to get dark, Reidel noticed the glint of a lighthouse and decided to swim towards it. Reidel swallowed a lot of water and suffered leg cramps for a stretch of forty minutes, but as he struggled to stay afloat he kept repeating to himself, “This can’t happen to me but it will unless I get there.”

After more than eight hours in the water, Reidel pulled himself up onto the pier at East Charity Shoal. Exhausted, he soon fell asleep and was rescued at 5:30 a.m. the following morning by three fishermen. Reidel was eventually taken to Cape Vincent, where he was reunited with his wife and friends.

Though alone and surrounded by a vast body of water, East Charity Shoal Lighthouse will always be cherished by the residents of Vermilion and a grateful physician from Syracuse.

In July of 2008, the East Charity Shoal Lighthouse was declared surplus by the Coast Guard and pursuant to the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 was "made available at no cost to eligible entities defined as federal, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations for education, park, recreation, cultural, or historic preservation purposes."

Copyright 2001-2008 Lighthousefriends.com

The Life of George Ritter

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:31:00 +0000

George Ritter was born in Vermilion on June 30, 1886. His father John had come to Vermilion from Meckbach, Hesse Cassel, Germany in 1882, living first with his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Lingelbach. John established himself as a tailor, married Louise Hauth and together they had six children.

George attended his first three years of school at the schoolhouse once located in Hanover Square. He graduated from Vermilion High School with the class of 1902.

“The Vermilion News” reported, “As do most of the young people of our town, Mr. Ritter spent many happy boyhood days playing and working along the river.

“As a youth, he learned to string twine and make gill nets and, as old timers around town will tell you, George became the fastest stringer along the lake and could turn our more nets than anyone.” In this way, he earned money for college.

He attended Baldwin University and Cleveland Law School, and although he received his law degree in 1906, he had to wait nearly a year to be admitted to the bar because he had not yet reached the age of 21, according to a newspaper story written by Vermilion’s Sarah Welker.

Ritter married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Fowler of Berlin Heights, in 1911 and began his law practice in Sandusky. The couple moved to Toledo in 1913, where Ritter became a partner in the firm of Kohn, Ritter, Northup and McMahon. In 1917, he organized his own firm with Leland Gardner.

Ritter told Welker that he had originally intended to serve in public office. In fact, he was Toledo city law director in 1928. He gave up public service, though, and became more involved in his law career which “finally resulted in financial success beyond any thought of my youth,” he said.

Ritter had helped reorganize the struggling Willys-Overland Co. which was once the second-largest automobile manufacturing plant in America. He became legal counsel to the founder in 1925 and in 1936, he helped guide the company through a change-over that made Willys the first manufacturing plant to be converted to war production.

Although Ritter’s fortune was made, he remained active in his law firm, Ritter, Boesel, Robinson and Marsh.

“I then decided I would try to do something to symbolize my original ambitions to do something for the public,” Ritter told Welker. “I could not see any better way to do it than through fostering religion and education. After a number of years of study, I can still see no better way to do something for my community and my country.”

Thus began the Ritters’ years of philanthropy.

They funded construction of the Ritter Planetarium at the University of Toledo, the Ritter Library at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea; a dormitory at Lake Erie College in Painesville (where Mary attended); and the Ohio Legal Center at Ohio State University.

Ritter’s best known legacy is the building that houses Vermilion’s public library and which is named in tribute to his parents. Ritter grew up during the time Andrew Carnegie was funding construction of public libraries across the country, and it was said George was disappointed that Vermilion wasn’t included.

George served on the board at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Hospital, the YMCA and was a trustee of Baldwin-Wallace College. Mary served as a trustee at Lake Erie College. They donated an organ to the Congregational church in Vermilion and funds for the Fowler Memorial Room at the Berlin Heights Congregational Church.

Ritter was a member of many clubs and organizations and won many honors including from the Ohio Bar Association and Rotary Clubs International. He has been named to the Vermilion High School Hall of Fame.

Although the Ritters lived in Toledo and spent winters in Florida, in the 1950s they still maintained a family home in Vermilion on Main Street (the house is just north of the Main Street Soda Grill) and spent many weekends there during summers.

They travelled abroad and indulged their interest in antique furniture. George was also a golfer and enjoyed hunting and fishing, both in Florida and as a member of the Castalia Trout Club.

The couple had no children. George died on June 23, 1979, just days before he would have celebrated his 93rd birthday and his 68th wedding anniversary. Mary died the next month at the age of 93.

In his will, Ritter left money for construction of an addition to the library building, which was completed in 1983 and named in memory of his sister, Allie.

His will also directed that a trust fund be established for the library. Money from the trust enabled the library to purchase membership in the CLEVNET library consortium in 1985, and it continues to be a source of funding today.

George also left money in his will to provide a full, four-year scholarship at Baldwin-Wallace College for a young man graduating from either Ottawa Hills High School in Toldeo or George’s own alma mater, Vermilion High School.

The town of Vermilion will hear from George Ritter yet again.

There is a sealed box placed in the southwest corner of the library building behind the cornerstone. In the box is a letter from Ritter with instructions that it not be opened for 100 years. In 2058, residents may open the letter for a final message from the library’s great benefactor.