September-October - Amherst Historical Society

The Grindstone
September/October 2015
First Annual Chili Cook-off & Car Show
Entries
Visit the village.
Tour the buildings.
Sample a variety of
chili and vote for
your favorite!
Amherst Fire Department
Amherst Police Department
Amherst Garden Club
Brew Kettle
Cornerstone Church
Saturday September 19, 2015
Amherst Historical Society Sandstone Village
11:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
Admission $ 5.00 Children under 6 Free
Buildings Open for Tours
October 24 & October 25
5:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.
Final Tour begins at
8:00 P.M.
2014 Event: Madeline Dean-Dielman,
Angela LaRosa and Anthony Restifo
share the eerie tale of Gore Orphanage.
Fourth Annual
By My Lantern’s Light Fall Event
Amherst Historical Society
Sandstone Village
Lantern carrying guides will
lead groups of ten through the
village to listen to storytellers
relate early area tales, some
based on fact, many slightly
embellished.
Following the tour refreshments will be served in the
Grange Hall where pictures
can be taken in front of a fall
décor.
Each tour lasts approximately
an hour and all children must
be accompanied by an adult.
Winning Trophies
Awarded at 4:00 P.M.
Admission
$3.00 per person
Children under 5 Free
2014 Event: Norm Miller’s presentation of
the Devil and the Blacksmith thrilled young
and old alike!
President’s letter by Charlie Marty
Summer Greetings,
Summer has arrived and is in full swing. Tours are happening in the Village and we
thank all of the docents for working the different locations to make the "tourists'" stay
enjoyable.
Charlie Marty
The school plaques/bell display is almost completed. Our fountain will soon be erected in the grassy
area between the driveway and the gazebo. This will be a wonderful addition to the grounds. The
German Fest was a success once again.
Terry and Jim Wilhelm have been making lighting updates throughout the Village. They have been
installing LED lamps to save us money, in the long run. The Pit Restaurant is very busy during the nice
weather. Stop on down and have a great meal. The Car Show/ Chili Cook off is planned for September.
As you can see, summertime is a very busy time for the Amherst Historical Society. Come check us out.
Historically yours,
Charlie.
Hello all, it appears that summer has finally happened here at the end of July. Although it was a wet spring and
early summer we had a successful field season at the Burrell Orchard site working in conjunction with the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Under Dr. Brian Redmond, Curator and Head of The Department of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Director of FARC; we further explored a 4000year-old Native American habitation site. Excavations at Burrell Orchard began in 2008 and continued again last
year. This years excavations further uncovered evidence of archaic structures, possibly houses. These discoveries are significant as only a handful of these structures exist between the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley regions. It was particularly exciting this field season as the Cleveland Plain Dealer and WKSU both came out to
do extensive media pieces on our work, and FOX News picked up on the plain dealers article and ran it nationally. You can go to this link, (http://www.cleaveland.com/avon-lake/index.ssf/2015/07museum teams unearth
4000-year.htlm)or just Google “4000 year old house floor in Ohio”. Either way you will get multiple links to
articles that have been either written or reposted across the web.
We will be looking at some of the artifacts from this particular site during upcoming lab sessions in the fall so if
you are interested in joining us please check out our website at www.firelandsarchaeology.org, or find us on
Facebook as the “Firelands Archaeological Research Center”, we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Brian L. Scanlan
President
Firelands Archaeological Research Center
2
DO YOU REMEMBER?......
The smell of burning leaves?
The sound of a noisy recess in a schoolyard?
The taste of fresh donuts from Bert’s Cookie Jar?
The sight of the especially beautiful autumn leaves you saved?
Vivienne Bickley
The five senses all bring back memories of earlier autumn days, however, psychologists
claim the sense of smell can bring back memories much better than the other senses. I find that seeing
old photos beats someone’s apple pie aroma. Better still, I’ve always seemed to attach songs to people
and they are the best reminders for me. Even tho I never hear these songs on the radio any more I still
identify people to them:
My Dad: “My Wonderful One” always softened my mother up.
My Mother:”Oh Hel Oh Hel Oh Helen please be mine” it was
her name and Dad used to tease her with the song.
My husband, Len: “ As Time Goes By” was “our” song.
An old boyfriend sang to me: “I Can’t Get Started With You.”
Unfortunately, a song going thru my head recently when I read a certain page in the newspaper is
“ That Old Gang of Mine.” “Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered” has always brought up memories of the
first days of my first born’s life, because it was popular 65 years ago and it fit exactly how I felt about the
responsibility of a baby for the first time!
Autumn always brings back memories of our own school days. I can visualize my first grade
classroom clearly even to my drawing on the wall depicting a cat that sneaked into our classroom (we
were so thrilled.) An embarrassing moment (why are they always so memorable?) of reading about an
owl in my first grade Reader and continuing the “ooooo” way too long and finally being stopped by Miss
Dolbear. I could tell she thought it was funny and maybe just maybe, she allowed me to go on longer
than she should have.
I remember the feel of swinging on our playground swings, standing, "pumping up” by myself. Then
when I tried to sit down I missed the seat, so I dragged my knees in the gravel until the swing finally
stopped. I dragged my bloody knees to the office, where the sports coach of the high school poured
iodine and put huge patches on my knees. He told me I was a “good soldier” for not crying so I was
feeling honored, coming from our coach we all idolized. When I got home from school, my mother was
frazzled because I had a dance recital in two days. Actually after mom’s scrubbing away all that iodine
and taking off the huge bandages, I did tap dance tho with stiff knees and scabs.
Mentioning “Bert’s donuts” reminds me of an evening I had invited my sister-in -laws and niece to
join me in a diet club we called V.I.P. for “Vamoose Idle Pounds” (not original). After weighing in and
exercising, who should come in but Len, my husband, bearing a bakery box about two feet long and
18”wide! Fresh out of the oven- - -Bert’s Cookie Jar donuts- - -every type to tempt and tantalize. There
went all the good intentions and he was so pleased at his little prank! I was the only hold-out --well,
actually, I’m the only one that ate just one. (Sorry to admit I broke down.)
My childhood adoration of the beautiful autumn leaves never died and as an adult I ironed my
choices on long strips of waxed paper and hung them in our picture window. Why should kids have all
the fun. All of us adults griped at being forbidden to burn leaves in the autumn, but we got used to it
even tho the aroma had been enjoyed for many years.
The sound of children, happy that it was recess time, carried several blocks away to my home in the
days before I went back to work. It reminded me of the fun of jumping rope (remember “Hot Pepper”
and “Double Dutch”?) jacks, rick-racks and just plain “Tag”?
Remember the song “Memories?” At this stage I live for them. Did I ever tell you I know all the lyrics
to about 600 songs and many more only partial lyrics. Wish my brain was filled with something more
worthwhile.
P.S. I’ve said this many times in recent years after reading or watching the news:
Whatever happened to COMMON sense?
3
AMHERST HISTORICAL SOCIETY
GERMAN FEST IN THE VILLAGE
On Saturday August 8 the village was filled with visitors, young and old, enjoying the German heritage of
Amherst. There was ethnic delicacies, Bavarian beer, spirited polka music and high stepping dancing!
Families visited the village buildings learning about life “in the good old days” from society docents.
Youngsters enjoyed their planned activities while others pursued the various fundraising raffles available for
just the price of a ticket.
The weather was perfect! It was a special fun filled “Wunderbar” Day!
There were ethnic dishes
and pastries to enjoy.
A surprise visit from Jamie Brod,
And a variety of raffles to choose
from and hopefully win!
Lorain International Festival
2015 Miss Germany.
Face painting was a big hit with the youngsters as well as the
variety of activities and games planned for all ages!
The Donauschwabische Blaskapelle
Brass Band performing Ein Prosit
( raise your glasses) an authentic
German toast.
4
School Marm, Shirley Young, describing
an average day in an 1890’s classroom.
The big tent was filled to capacity with toe
tapping listeners, many raising their
glasses, while others finishing their dinners.
And there was dancing...and more
dancing...to polkas, waltzes and
marches.
The Amherst Garden Club Sandstone Village Gardens Story
In 2009, a member of the Amherst Garden Club was visiting a museum in Cleveland and picked up a brochure
describing museums in northeast Ohio. The first museum featured was the Amherst Historical Society Sandstone
Village and Gardens. Special mention was made of the village’s large Victorian Garden, which had been
maintained by the Amherst Garden Club since 2001. Interestingly, it was also at this time the Garden Club
realized the Victorian Garden was in dire need of renovation and in the spring of 2010, the members potted all the
plants from the garden, stored them in their homes, and rid the 52 x 25 foot area of weeds and debris.
In the interim, garden member, Elaine Manges, redesigned the southern end of the
Victorian Garden to include a traditional geometric design featuring stepping stones
and an iridescent gazing ball. With the help of several young men from St. Joseph
School and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the garden club
members placed the stepping stones and planted several varieties of new
perennials along with the plants potted earlier in the spring. When completed, the
south end of the garden contained sun-loving plants such as lobelia, rudbekia,
echinacea, phlox, daylilies, heliopsis, Russian sage, roses, peony, hydrangea, rose
of sharon and lilac.
Then in 2013 an extension to the south half began to be planned in memory of Alice
Mizer Stewart, a recent president of the Garden Club, who had passed away of cancer
in February of the year. Today a 25 by 25 foot garden is in bloom with many colorful
varieties of perennials and annuals. Featured in the southwest corner of the garden is
a replica grindstone engraved with “Alice’s Garden” as well as a sandstone bench for
visitors to sit and enjoy a scenic view of the village and its gardens. Also in 2013 the
northern half of the Victorian Garden received its renovation when an old plum tree,
which provided shade for the many varieties of foliage, died and was replaced with a
“Prairiefire” crabapple tree.
In 2011 the Amherst Garden Club renovated the flower beds surrounding the
Harris Dute house. A variety of daylilies are displayed in the west flower bed,
while the south side bed contains Japanese anemone, hosta, Solomon’s Seal,
coral bells and terns, shaded by a large ash tree. Along the sunnier south side
are coneflowers, zinnias, coral bells, daisies, anise hyssop and a assortment of
herbs. The east side, which is actually the front entrance has a assortment of
flowers in a blue and yellow color scheme as well as some colorful zinnias.
The front entrance of the Quigley is also maintained by the Amherst Garden Club.
As visitors approach the village its the first garden that comes into view with its
eye-catching display of Blue Angel hostas, Persian Market daylilies, white
alyssum, blue salvia, Autumn Bride heuchera, dark orange petunias and
chartreuse sweet potato vines streaming along the sandstone wall erected in front
of the museum.
For many years, the members of the Amherst Garden Club have been the caretakers of three separate garden
areas on the Sandstone Village grounds. It is the goal of the Amherst Garden Club to provide visitors to the
Amherst Sandstone Village beautiful gardens which offer constantly changing displays of color, form, and texture
as the seasons unfold throughout the year.
Membership to the Amherst Garden Club is open to anyone who wishes to join them in this endeavor.
If interested, please contact Sherryl, Amherst Garden Club president, at 988-2163
5
The Fire Wire
By James Henry Wilhelm, Assistant Fire Chief
Amherst Fire Department
The Elyria Republican. December 25, 1885
Christmas was a quiet day in North Amherst, but about half past one o'clock on Saturday morning
Jim Wilhelm
there was an alarm of fire. The Park House, kept by R. I. Wolcott, was probably set on fire for
plunder and the whole structure was burned to ashes. Two sneak thieves were apprehended for robbing Miss Kate
Davis, a boarder at the Park House, of a valuable watch and other jewelry, amounting to some $200.00 or
more. They were brought before Mayor Redington, who bound them over to the next term of court.
The Baptist Church, standing about 35 feet from the Park House, had a narrow escape on Saturday morning. The
rod that supported the vane on the tower was so intensely heated as to set fire to the wooden ball which supported it.
To extinguish the fire it became necessary to demolish the spire. Although the church escaped taking fire at every
other point, yet every pane of glass in 2 windows on the east side next to the hotel, was fractured into unnumbered
sections, most of which still remain in the sash. The building was insured 2 years ago last October. A misapprehension that the policy was for the term of 3 years led to a lapse of the policy and was not discovered until after the
damage had been done.
The Park House Hotel sat on the north west corner of North Main and Milan Ave, believed to have been built by Captain Stanton Sholes. After the fire George Aschenbach purchased the land and built the house that stands today, however there was another fire in this home later on in years, but that’s another story. This house was used and owned by
the Amherst Eagles Club for many years, now owned by Paul Bires.
The Curious Curators
Charlie Marty, Matt Nahorn, Joan Rosenbusch & Ralph Zilch
Working in a museum can be a lot like a box of chocolates... "you never know what you will get." Over the
years we have received many acquisitions from Amherst families and friends that we need to catalogue. This
can be a long and tedious job but it is necessary to be able to evaluate and record where the donation came
from, its value (if possible), who donated it and then to consign a number to it for identification purposes.
Over the years many people have been working on this project and it is inevitable that as methods change
(from writings in ledgers to computer entries) transformation will become so much more effective. Computers
are now our best friend as they make it easy to locate information regarding the artifacts that we receive.
Thanks to Carol Hiltabidel, Diane Nahorn and Joan Rosenbusch the job is getting done slowly but surely.
We are looking for volunteers who are even slightly computer savvy to help us out. The camaraderie can't be
beat and it is a very interesting job combing through the various curios that the Amherst Historical Society has
gathered over the years.
6
An Oral History
A series of oral histories were given by Amherst residents in 1976 and transcribed by Dorothy Stahl in 1992.
Many are short, one to two pages, others five to eight pages, and will be appearing from time to time in upcoming
Grindstones.
Bill Edwards
My name is Bill Edwards, I live at 156 Walnut Drive in Amherst. My father’s name was Bert Edwards and was born
in England. My mother's name was Edith Hahn, she was born in Vermilion, Ohio of German descent. I remember
when Lorain had the big tornado. I was about 8 years old at the time.
They were building the stone church at the corner of S. Main St. and Elyria Avenue. It rained so hard the water came
rushing out of the culvert on Johnson's Hill. The sky was yellow in color. That night the Fire Department took all the
cans of soup from all the stores in Amherst. The cans were opened, heated and put in 10 gal. milk cans. They took it
to Lorain and it was the first hot soup they had had. My father was a volunteer fireman for 25 years. He was in it
when they had the big train wreck on the west side. He left during the Depression and moved to a farm on North
Ridge in Brownhelm.
I acted as a volunteer fireman for 28 years. Before Amherst had a water tower, they had cisterns in various places in
town. These cisterns were made out of stone and mortar, so they could hold water. There were cisterns at Minerva and
Elyria Ave. One in front of the Congregational Church, one at Church Street and Tenney Avenue and one at West
Martin and North Main Street. They were all filled in with dirt when the streets were paved.
Many fires were started when people installed a stove pipe to the second floor or to the bedrooms. The stove pipe
would separate and cause a fire. Many fires were started by putting coal oil on the already lighted fire. Fires also
started in chimneys because they were full of soot.
When the Coliseum burned in Lorain, it was located in Black River Township. The Amherst Fire Department came ,
but the Lorain Fire Department would not come because it was one block out of the Lorain City limits.
I lived a block away from Central School on West Street. I could leave when the first bell rang and could get to school
on time. Some of my classmates during the school years were Dr. Roy Schaeffer, Fred Ebbs and Fred Wilhelm.
Ms. Steele gave me one of her famous lectures on discipline which straightened mo out.
In the old days, we could have a big night on town for $1.00. .15cents bought a gallon of gas, two gallons would take
you to Elberta or Crystal Beach, where all the big bands would play. The admission was .25 cents each and to top off
the evening, ice cream sodas were .15 cents. Back in those days we had a good time sharing with each other.
Ms. Beller was my 5th grade teacher and Ms. Kelch taught arithmetic in the eighth grade.
Editor’s Note:
Anyone interested in giving an oral history, please call Donna at the historical society office: 988-7255.
7
T H E AM H E R S T H IS T O R IC A L S O C IE T Y
1 1 3 S O U T H L AK E S T R E E T
AMHERST, OH 44001
PHONE: 440-988-7255
F AX : 4 4 0 - 9 8 8 - 2 9 5 1
E M A IL : AM H E R S T H IS T O R Y @ C E N TU R Y T E L .N E T
WEB:
W W W . AM H E R S TH IS T O R IC AL S O C IE T Y . O R G
Non-Profit Org
U.S. Postage
Paid
Amherst, OH
Permit No. 4
T H E AM H E R S T H IS T O R IC A L S O C IE T Y
B O AR D O F D IR E C T O R S
Jami Anderson
Col. Matthew Nahorn
Paul Bires
Bob Pallante
John Diedrich
Kelly Post
Carol Hiltabidel
Chip Rathwell
Kathy Dean-Dielman
Joan Rosenbusch
Charlie Marty
Jim Wilhelm
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
ADDRESS LABEL
Ralph Zilch
The Amherst Historical Society wishes to acknowledge
a charitable remainder trust created by Mr. Evan Nord
and administrated by
The Community Foundation of Lorain County.
Grindstone edited by Bob & Martha Pallante
and Donna Rumpler, Printed by SQP Print Center
Special Thanks and Acknowledgments to our 2015 Sponsors and Volunteers
Monetary Sponsors
$1,000 Level
Marilyn Jenne
Nord Family Foundation
Mercy Foundation of Lorain County
$50.00 to $250.00 Level
O’Toole, McLaughlin, Dooley & Pecora Co.LPA
Nordson Corporation
Dovin and Reber Jones Funerals & Cremation Center
Ziggy’s Sports Bar & Grill
Live Oak Engine Co. #2
Steve Sayers
Dr. Scott IIiff, DDS
Dr. Lee Schmitt, DDS
Junction Beverage
Raffle Basket Sponsors
Amherst Arabica
Amherst Cinema
Basket of Blessings
Cleveland Zoo
Columbus Zoo
Raffle Basket Sponsors
Do or Dye Salon
ETC. Boutique & Gifts
Fire Chief Wayne Northeim
Fire Chief Jim Wilhelm
Fire Chief Greg Knoll
Giuseppe’s Wine Cellar
Hot Dog Heaven
John Diedrich
Lilly Krebs
Marie Robinson
Martha Pallante
Olde Town Pizza
Pam Faragher
Precision Automotive
Ron’s Barber Shop
Sliman Chrysler, Dodge
Sweets by Maggie!
The Mermaid Tale
Your Deli
Vermilion Farm Market
Zilch Florist
Docents/Volunteers
Amy Pallante
Bill & Shirley Provident
Bernie Doane
Docents/Volunteers
Bill Huffman
Bob & Martha Pallante
Carol & Paul Hiltabidel
Charlie Marty
Charlie Wearsch
Chip Rathwell
Dave & Karen Kukucka
Dennis & Gerry Armstrong
Don & Jami Anderson
Donna Breckenridge
Elaine Breen
Erin Lynch
Jan Orseno
Joan Rosenbusch
Judy Uszak
Jeannie Rice
John Dietrich
Kay Clark
Kelly Post
Lilly Krebs
Matt Nahorn
Patty Paterchak
Ralph Zilch
Ruth Haff
Shirley Young
U.S. Bank Employees