(Continued from last week) The bus-trolley collision on Jan. 22, 1929, in a blinding snowstorm, claimed the lives of 19 people. The crash took place on the railroad crossing at Baur Rd. and what was then called Monroeville Rd., now Route 20. The far reaching effect of the tragedy altered the course of Bellevue’s history. In an […]
It has been nearly three-quarters of a century since an electrically powered mass transit system linking Bellevue with Fremont, Norwalk, Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit was finally dismantled. A book, The Lake Shore Electric Railway Story, authored by Herbert H. Harwood and Robert S. Korach, details the life and death of the Lake Shore Railway. What […]
(Continued from last week) With the end of the war, the salt market collapsed. Supplies became excessive and prices fell, hurting all producers. Flagler was especially hard hit because his firm was so large. What was more, salt producers began to form alliances and consolidate as they struggled to remain solvent. Flagler went bankrupt in the […]
(Continued from last week) Above all, Flagler was a man of contradictions. He could be ruthless in business deals that built Standard Oil into an empire but loving to a favorite pet. He could go home without fail every evening for almost two decades to care for his sickly wife, and then make decisions that sacrificed […]
The November 1989 issue of Ohio Magazine provided an interesting glimpse of the rise of Henry M. Flagler in the business world. The writer, David C. Wagman, began his story with the compliment to the former Bellevue resident: “When you say ‘Standard Oil,’ most people hear ‘John D. Rockefeller.’ However, it was not a solo […]
The historic trip of Charles Dickens and his wife through this section aboard the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad coach was depicted in a pageant which was part of the Flat Rock centennial celebration in August 1941. Included in the above photo are, left to right, Wesley Lodge, Harold Royer, Carlton Kinney as Dickens […]
Bellevue’s Fourth of July celebration in 1903 drew a huge crowd at the Four County Fairgrounds. The grounds were then located in the vicinity of Sheffield and Brinker streets. It was an extremely hot day with the temperature reaching in the high 90s. The crowd, of course, was a thirsty one and looked around for […]
Bellevue Gazette editor Harry Tuck records his first ride in a “real automobile.” Editor Tuck recalled, “Some time ago we had a ride in a gasoline coach which reminded us very much of going to church in a big wagon with a board laid across the box in the near vicinity of the hind axletree […]