Lorain Historical Society
Carnegie Center Building.
The entrance is in the back, as is parking.
The entrance is in the back, as is parking.
Stairs to the second floor, where the vast majority of exhibits reside.
Closeup photo of Toni Morrison hanging on one of the museum's walls.
Artifacts of Unknown Provenance
This hard hat belonged to Jack Beck from the steel mill's Quality Control Department.
Inside the Museum
Lorain served as the home of many newspapers throughout its history.
Early Lorain History Exhibit
Deborah Schwepe-Trumbold wore this this Slovak princess dress at the 1973 Lorain International Festival Princess Competition. She won second place. Her mother made the dress.
Steel Mill History Exhibit
Model of the USS Lorain
A model made by Dave Klamer of Lorain's iconic light house.
When I arrived at the Lorain County Historical Society’s (LHS) museum and offices, the door was locked. I saw a car in the lot and thought maybe someone forgot to unlock it, so I knocked. No less a person than the LHS’s executive director, Barbara Piscopo, answered. She informed me that the museum was closed for the Memorial Day Weekend. Seeing my disappointment, she said I could pop in and go through really quick while she was there. Had I paid closer attention to the LSH’s website, I’d have seen it was closed for the holiday. Thanks Barbara!
The Lorain Historical Society occupies the Carnegie Center Building. Built in 1903 using money from the Carnegie Foundation, it served as Lorain’s first public library, which moved to a larger location in 1957. One of those who worked in the original building was a Black high school page named Cleo Ardelia Wofford. Later admitting she didn’t reshelve books as quickly as she ought to have because she spent too much time reading them, she found it fascinating how different writers said the same things in so many different ways.
The Lorain Historical Society occupies the Carnegie Center Building. Built in 1903 using money from the Carnegie Foundation, it served as Lorain’s first public library, which moved to a larger location in 1957. One of those who worked in the original building was a Black high school page named Cleo Ardelia Wofford. Later admitting she didn’t reshelve books as quickly as she ought to have because she spent too much time reading them, she found it fascinating how different writers said the same things in so many different ways.
Born in Lorain on February 18, 1931, she graduated from high school in 1949 and headed off to Howard University where she earned a BA in English in 1953. While here she began going by her nickname, Toni. She went on to earn an MA in American literature at Cornell University. In 1958 she married Harrold Morrison, and although she divorced him in 1964, she kept his last name through the rest of her life.
Toni Morrison started her career as an editor at the book publisher Random House, eventually become its first Black senior editor. In 1970, she published her first book, The Bluest Eye, which was set in Lorain. She followed this with a string of award-winning novels. The Song of Solomon (1977) won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her 1983 novel Beloved stayed on the New York Times Bestseller List for twenty-five weeks and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She died at the age of eighty-eight on August 18, 2019. A historical marker about her and some of her works stands outside the Carnegie Center Building.
The first exhibit I looked at during my whirlwind tour of the museum was a display about Lorain’s newspapers. It serves as an ode to the freedom of speech and the importance of journalism. Somewhat jarringly, the information sign next to it is about Virginian history, giving an overview of how tobacco was America’s first cash crop, its relation the slavery, and how it initiated trade with America’s indigenous population. While interesting, it’s not clear how it connects to Lorain’s own history.
Toni Morrison started her career as an editor at the book publisher Random House, eventually become its first Black senior editor. In 1970, she published her first book, The Bluest Eye, which was set in Lorain. She followed this with a string of award-winning novels. The Song of Solomon (1977) won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her 1983 novel Beloved stayed on the New York Times Bestseller List for twenty-five weeks and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She died at the age of eighty-eight on August 18, 2019. A historical marker about her and some of her works stands outside the Carnegie Center Building.
The first exhibit I looked at during my whirlwind tour of the museum was a display about Lorain’s newspapers. It serves as an ode to the freedom of speech and the importance of journalism. Somewhat jarringly, the information sign next to it is about Virginian history, giving an overview of how tobacco was America’s first cash crop, its relation the slavery, and how it initiated trade with America’s indigenous population. While interesting, it’s not clear how it connects to Lorain’s own history.
Beside this was is an information sign about the conflict in Ohio between Native Americans and American settlers that ended in 1794 when Anthony Wayne defeated their effort to eject these invaders at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. From that win came the Treaty of Greenville, which split parts of Ohio into land for Americans and Native Americans but ultimately resolved nothing. Tensions flared up again during the War of 1812, which ended the last effort of Ohio’s native people to oust the unwanted settlers. Possibly I missed it, but I didn’t see any information signs explaining how this connected to Lorain’s history, either. To be fair, the museum offers guided tours and it may well do just that.
The city of Lorain traces its roots back a trading post established by Azariah Beeb and Nathan Perry in 1807 that evolved into the unincorporated village of Black River. When incorporated in 1874, it did so under the name Charleston Village. When it became a city in 1896, its named changed to Lorain because Charleston was already taken. Whatever its appellation, it struggled economically until the arrival of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1873. B&O trains brought coal from the south that was put onto ships in Lorain’s harbor and taken to other points in the Great Lakes. The arrival the east-west Nickel Plate Railroad in 1881 made Lorain an important freight stop.
The city of Lorain traces its roots back a trading post established by Azariah Beeb and Nathan Perry in 1807 that evolved into the unincorporated village of Black River. When incorporated in 1874, it did so under the name Charleston Village. When it became a city in 1896, its named changed to Lorain because Charleston was already taken. Whatever its appellation, it struggled economically until the arrival of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1873. B&O trains brought coal from the south that was put onto ships in Lorain’s harbor and taken to other points in the Great Lakes. The arrival the east-west Nickel Plate Railroad in 1881 made Lorain an important freight stop.
The city boomed with the opening of Johnson Steel in 1894 followed by a shipyard in 1897. An information sign says that “between 1890 and 1900, Lorain’s population increased by 230 percent, fueled largely by immigrants from Eastern Europe who filled mill and shipyard jobs. In the early 1920s, the National Tube Company recruited Mexican workers, establishing a community that has thrived for more than a century.”
Johnson Steel became the Lorain Steel Company, which in turn became part of the behemoth U.S. Steel. The National Tube Company was a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel became Lorain Cuyahoga Works in 1969, USX Corporation in 1986, and USS/Kobe in 1989. In 1999 it split into two companies, Lorain Tubular Steel Operations run by U.S. Steel, and Republic Engineered Products, then Republic Steel. Both plants now sit idle.
Johnson Steel became the Lorain Steel Company, which in turn became part of the behemoth U.S. Steel. The National Tube Company was a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel became Lorain Cuyahoga Works in 1969, USX Corporation in 1986, and USS/Kobe in 1989. In 1999 it split into two companies, Lorain Tubular Steel Operations run by U.S. Steel, and Republic Engineered Products, then Republic Steel. Both plants now sit idle.
Lorain’s shipyard began as Cleveland Ship Building, then became the American Ship Building Company, or AmShip, in 1900. During World War II, the yard constructed fourteen cargo ships under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. An information sign says in 1944 it built the USS Lorain, “the first commissioned ship of the U.S. Navy to be named for the city.” The Navy loaned this Tacoma-class frigate to the Coast Guard, which made her a weather patrol vessel. In 1983 AmShip’s owner, George Steinbrenner (also the Yankees owner), shut the shipyard down and moved it to Florida.
In 1956, the Ford Motor Company bought land in the city to build the Lorain Assembly Plant, which brought with it another opportunity for workers to become part of the burgeoning middle class. Ford shuttered the plant in 2005, leaving 1,200 without jobs. During its forty-seven years of operation, the plant produced 8 million vehicles that included the Fairlane, F-series truck, Falcon, Comet, Econoline van, Cougar, and Thunderbird.
Not surprisingly, the loss of all this industry resulted in Lorain’s depopulation, which dropped from a peak of 78,185 in 1970 to 65,211 in 2020. However, immigrants are currently repopulating it as well as reviving its economy, a phenomenon Lorain has seen before. Between the 1880s and 1920s immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe became the city’s majority that consisted of some fifty-five different ethnicities including Slovaks, Italians, Greeks, Romanians, Poles, Romanians, and the even some from the Middle East. The influx of African Americans during World War II and Puerto Ricans after it added to this cultural melting pot.🕜
In 1956, the Ford Motor Company bought land in the city to build the Lorain Assembly Plant, which brought with it another opportunity for workers to become part of the burgeoning middle class. Ford shuttered the plant in 2005, leaving 1,200 without jobs. During its forty-seven years of operation, the plant produced 8 million vehicles that included the Fairlane, F-series truck, Falcon, Comet, Econoline van, Cougar, and Thunderbird.
Not surprisingly, the loss of all this industry resulted in Lorain’s depopulation, which dropped from a peak of 78,185 in 1970 to 65,211 in 2020. However, immigrants are currently repopulating it as well as reviving its economy, a phenomenon Lorain has seen before. Between the 1880s and 1920s immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe became the city’s majority that consisted of some fifty-five different ethnicities including Slovaks, Italians, Greeks, Romanians, Poles, Romanians, and the even some from the Middle East. The influx of African Americans during World War II and Puerto Ricans after it added to this cultural melting pot.🕜