The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Digging into the city’s history
Sheffield Lake residents examine historic memororabilia from chest
The stories of discovering the old dusty trunk in the attic came to life as some Sheffield Lake residents rediscovered some of the city’s past.
A treasure of items donated by Tom Jordan, the grandson of former Sheffield Lake Mayor Sidney W. Jordan, are capturing the imagination of Sheffield Lake community members as they examine three generations of historical memorabilia documenting the city’s early years.
“Now, these articles they talked about, for example, when the Domonkas Library was built, they also in this paperwork talked about when the Old West Shore Club that was here was torn down, and the building we’re in now was built,” said Rosa Gee, who is a Sheffield Lake Councilat-Large member.
Tom Jordan donated the documents to the city in an effort to keep Sheffield Lake’s history alive for future generations, Gee said.
The chest was filled with election literature, City Council minutes, community initiatives, photos and old copies of The Morning Journal (then known as The Lorain Journal) documenting life in Sheffield Lake dating back to the 1930s.
Mayor Jordan
First elected in 1949, Sidney Jordan was the eighth mayor of
the city.
He served for six years during the city’s early transition away from being a village.
Voters elected Jordan to be mayor may after serving four terms on Council.
The Morning Journal documented some of Sidney Jordan’s early initiatives as well as some hiccups, as evidenced by a Nov. 4, 1951 article about the city’s “lost” fire truck that finally was located in Battle Creek, Mich., where it was found sitting outside a farm belonging to the president of the company contracted by the city.
“Tom Jordan had it stored,” Gee said. “Because originally, some of this stuff was his grandfather Sidney Jordan’s, and he was a mayor in the early 50s in Sheffield Lake and then from Sidney’s hands, it went into Tom Jordan Sr.’s hands.
“And after he passed on, Tom Jordan Jr. got it. So, we are grateful that Tom (Jr.) said, ‘hey, it’s time to pull this out.’ And we’re going to try and sort everything out, and we’re also going to check and see if he has more things.”
Three generations
Gee, who serves as Council’s representative to the Joyce E. Hanks Community Center and organizes Monday Morning Coffee with Sheffield Lake seniors, said she hopes to work to catalogue and document the items.
Sheffield Lake recently unveiled a new $300,000 facelift to the community center, which included a 2,100-square-foot expansion in addition to an exterior gazebo.
Gee said she hopes to recruit volunteers interested in exploring Sheffield Lake’s history to properly identify the items and the individuals in the photos to preserve them for the community in a display cabinet.
The group has begun laminating several newspaper articles and hopes to hold an open house for the community.
Gee is encouraging others with old photos or stories to share for a future oral history project.