Disappearing history: Former department store in Elyria once served as city hall

After Sears moved from the Broad Street location to Midway Mall, in the early 1970s the building became the site of Elyria City Hall. Although originally conceived as a temporary location for the city hall, the former Sears building served in that capacity until a new city hall was opened in 2004. The building was razed in 2013.Photo provided by Bob Ebert and Bill Bird, Lorain County Historical Society   As a small boy anything shiny fascinated Bill Bird.Now executive director of Lorain County Historical Society, 284 Washington Ave., Elyria, Bird recalls visiting a Sears Roebuck & Co. store at 226 Middle Ave., Elyria.“They had a lot of tools in a section of it,” said Bird, 69. “As a young boy I was fascinated by shiny things. Everybody shopped downtown.  The mall didn’t exist.  “I was intrigued by Sears. They had a downstairs and you could enter from the back. They had a nice entrance. You could come off the sidewalk of Second Street and go into the store.”   The building started as a couple of stores, he said.   “I don’t have this memory per se, but I read about it. The taller part of the building, it would be the left side, that originally was the Harry H. Smith store. It was a pretty extensive department store. Before World War II, people really went there for their Christmas shopping. They stayed open extra late.”   In an interview, a relative of Smith recalled the store marked down prices on Christmas Eve, and people flocked there, Bird said.  “Sometime, I’m going to say 1911-ish, Harry (Smith) was quite a promoter. He staged a wedding in his store front. I believe the couple who agreed to it received furnishings for their home. There was a pretty good crowd in front of the store to watch this wedding,” Bird said, “with horses.”

            George D. Strom of Elyria, who was born in 1940 and lived his whole life in the city, said Sears acquired the Smith building in about 1938.   “That store was actually a combination of two old brick buildings,” said Strom, a trustee emeritus of Lorain County Historical Society and a former president who served the organization for many years. “Smith Home Furnishings Co., and another store.   “Sears were the ones that put the 1938 art deco façade on front,” Strom said. “It had art deco staircases. It was really a nice store. All of the other stores on Broad Street were so antique looking. Sears was a nice, modern store.”   At first it didn’t incorporate the farm implement store, but they purchased the rights to the building behind it on Second Street.    “At Christmas time it was always the toy area in the back,” Strom said. “They had the Lionel trains set up back there – I was always intrigued by them – and the bicycles.”  His earliest memories of the store begin about age 6, visiting with his father to buy socks and underwear on the first floor and to browse items for the home in the basement, he said. Furniture was on the second floor. Parking posed a challenge for the youngster.  “The curbs were high because of horses and wagons,” Strom said. “They didn’t change them yet. We angle parked. We shopped.”   Later he rode his bike to the store.  “I spent a lot of time in the toy section,” Strom said. In addition to Lionel, American Flyer trains and erector sets were popular then, he said.  “My dad bought one of my (Lionel) trains at the Firestone store on Broad Street where Marco’s Pizza is now, and one at Sears,” Strom said. “I was thrilled with them. I still have them. I’ve become a Lionel enthusiast and I have a number of them now. Lionel made some really fabulous trains.   “I rode my bicycle to watch the (Harry S.) Truman campaign train go through Elyria,” Strom said. “I saw him in 1948. People back then didn’t worry about kids riding their bikes. I rode all over town.”  At age 14, Strom was hired by a J.C. Penney store across the street where Shane Furniture is now, he said. There he learned competitive marketing strategies. The two retail establishments watched each other closely.  “Once Penney’s developed a major retail presence on Broad Street, Sears had to follow. They moved to that location and expanded to other buildings in response to the great presence of J.C. Penney.  “That became a lead store for Penney’s,” Strom said. “Whitman Boulevard in Elyria was named for a nephew of J.C. Penney. I met J.C. Penney when I worked there. He would come to the building.   “Penney’s had a whole third floor dedicated just to Scouting,” Strom said.

      Midway Mall was built about 1966 in Elyria and attracted both major stores.   Sears’ move from downtown to the mall created a void of activity, Bird said.   In 1971 city leaders rededicated the building as Elyria City Hall, he said.   “I didn’t have a whole lot of occasion to visit City Hall until I started here,” Bird said. “Then I would go visit the mayor and a municipal judge who were on our board. It was always kind of weird to go in there. You remember stuff when you’re a kid. I have vivid memories from my childhood because there wasn’t so much cluttering your mind then.   “When I did go in there I would have these flashbacks: Oh, yeah. We used go in here for this and that thing,” Bird said. “City hall was a good repurposing of the building. I’m sad that this building could not be repurposed.”  

      After the city renovated a former city hall and moved in 2004, the former Sears building was razed in 2013, he said. It’s now a grassy area.   “The mayor is calling it Pioneer Plaza,” Bird said. “It’s a farmers market and possibly there are arts connected with it.”