Ft. Loramie Main Street and Beyond - 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.

Ft. Loramie - Main Street and Beyond

Last week’s blog entry about Ralph Vogelsang got me thinking about all the various proprietors of Ft. Loramie business establishments along Main street and beyond. As a kid, I enjoyed going with Dad when he had to get livestock feed at one of the local mills. While the grain he brought to the mill was being ground into feed, Dad would invariably run errands at the various shops along Main street pictured in the above aerial photo looking north from on top of the Loramie Mill, owned by John Siegel. My favorite place to stop was the Romie Sporting Goods & Shoe Repair shop, run by Al Romie. While Dad would have Al fix a pair of worn work shoes, I would check out all the new baseball gloves, bats, balls and bikes, so I’d know exactly what to ask Santa for Christmas.

After leaving Romie’s, we might stop at the Ft. Loramie Furniture store ran by Dad’s brother Frank and his brother-in-law Jerry Slonkosky. My uncle Frank always called me Dividend (rather than David). It wasn’t until years later that I discovered what the heck the nickname meant!

Next, we would sometimes head for Albers Hardware and Lumber store, owned by Bill and John Albers. Dad’s nickname for John was Johnny Circle Saw because of his quick, screeching voice that sounded like a saw cutting through lumber. I miss those good old fashioned hardware stores like Albers. The big box stores aren’t the same.

Next to Albers was Morrie Frey’s barber shop, who also doubled as the town cop. His shop was located on Elm street near St. Michael’s church and across from the Fire Department. One time when Dad was getting a haircut, the fire siren blew and Morrie and to leave in the middle of the cut for the fire. The engine would roar out of the station, with all the volunteers in close pursuit behind the truck. The Ft. Loramie Appliances store as also located nearby, owned by Leo Goubeaux, another volunteer fireman pictured below.

Occasionally, Dad would have to go the Bank, where I loved looking into the big vault and was impressed with the bank manager, whose name escapes me, all dressed up in his pin stripe suit and vest. But I do recall the friendly teller, Joan Wappelhorst, as she was an older sister to a classmate of mine.

Willman’s department store, ran by brothers Joe and Frank Willman, two old timers who owned the large building on the right along Main Street in the photo below. They had a nice selection of assorted candy bars and bubble gum in the back, and also Topp’s baseball cards. About all I remember about the rest of the store is the old wooden floors creaked to high heaven, especially on the second floor, where I always had a fear of falling through.

And no visit to town would be complete without going into Busse’s meat market for some of their world famous sausage. The owners were Lud and Alvin Busse, two brothers who were as different as night and day. Lud looked like and talked like Casey Stengel, while Alvin bore a strong resemblance to Babe Ruth, at least in my young imagination enamored with baseball. 

It was always interesting going into the men’s wear shop ran by Joe Turner, a tall guy who was a star Loramie basketball player in the early days of the team. Joe was a great supporter of local sports and a true, dapper gentleman. Another good basketball player in town was Carl Borchers, who ran the Dairy King next door to Turners, but Dad never wanted to stop there. Darn! But Mom loved the place and took us there many times, especially after little league games.

Gaier’s Garage and a Sohio gas station on the north end of town were owned by respectively by Gus Gaier and Phil (Aloys) Ernst, who was Dad’s uncle and God father. The sons of Gus and Phil were all characters, with the Gaier boys as the town hot rodders and Tom Ernst the town comedian. The station was the hang out for all the retirees from around town to be entertain by Tom. The stories told at that place over the years could be fodder for a really interesting book. In fact, the Ft Loramie Historical Association has just such a book for sale on their website entitled Ft. Loramie - Main Street and Beyond. The photos with this blog came from their website as well.

But no trip to town was complete without a visit to Borchers' grocery store, as Mom always seemed to need something for a recipe she was making for supper that night. Bill and Bus Borchers were the proprietors, whom I wrote about in this blog last fall.

The owners of all these local shops were memorable characters whom Dad and I enjoyed being around and hearing their stories. It was through sharing many of these memories that the Fish Report asked me a year ago to begin posting to their Blog. It’s been fun, and the feedback’s been great, so look for more stories in the future.