Fish Report: More Local eBay Memorabilia - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

More Local eBay Memorabilia - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

More Local eBay Memorabilia

The above license plate tag advertising Wentz Chevrolet in Anna brought to mind a very early memory (I was three) when my Dad purchased a brand new ’51 Chevy from the dealership and the car had the same tag offered on eBay. Actually my very first memory was going out with Mom in our old pre-war 1937 Chevy on a cold February morning and the car wouldn’t start. Dad eventually had to hand crank it to get it started, after which we drove to Wentz’s in Anna to pick out a new car from their lot, trading in the old ’37. Probably just needed a battery, but no doubt Mom said enough is enough with the old clunker.

1937 and 1951 Chevrolet

The above eBay offerings related to Ft. Loramie places of business were all favorites of my parents. Vogelsang’s, the Ft. Loramie Hotel and Earl’s Island were great places to eat (and drink) around town, all demolished in recent years. Ray Larger and his brother Ralph picked up the cans of milk like those pictured below each day that were stored in a tank of cool water after milking the cows to keep the milk fresh. And feed for those milk cows (plus hogs and chickens) came from Holthaus Elevator, also since demolished. Our family’s Holthaus Elevator knife had been sharpened so many times, most of the name had disappeared. And Borchers Store as depicted in an old advertising flyer shown above was without a doubt, the most frequently used place of business by Mom & Dad. Here’s a previous blogpost about the Borchers brothers, owners of the store.

One of my favorite eBay offerings about local memorabilia is the postcard below of St. Augustine’s church in Minster. Since we had many relatives on both sides of the family who lived in Minster, we frequently attended a baptism, first communion, wedding or funeral at the beautiful church. Our relatives would brag that they had the only double steeple church in the area, but Dad would reply that St. Michael’s steeple was the tallest.

Speaking of Minster, wonder if the current owners of Bud’s Pizza would honor the old token shown below. It may be worth as much as a pizza! And there’s the interesting photo below of Minster's old Crescent Theater on the cover of a 1980 vinyl record featuring Jim Prenger and his Dive Bar Stars! Their songs are still on YouTube.