Former Schmitz-Horning Company Building Destroyed by Fire

By Janet Dodrill

The Schmitz-Horning Company building, Cleveland, Ohio, about 1925. (Schmitz family archives)

In April 2011 when I began my research into family-owned Schmitz-Horning Company (Cleveland, Ohio, 1905-1960), a prominent high-end mural and wall covering manufacturer and printer (co-founded and run by my great-grandfather and later by my grandfather), two things happened. First, I discovered a black and white photograph of the building from around 1925 in our family documents. Second, after Googling the building’s address of 777 E. 82nd Street in Cleveland, search results showed it was being occupied by an industrial chemical company, and the building looked well maintained from the photo on Google street view.

777 E. 82nd Street, Cleveland, Ohio
Photo: Google, 2007

Excited about the find, it was my intention to go see the building. Several months rolled by and I Googled the business address again and many recent articles dated June 27, 2011 came up stating that an accidental fire had destroyed the building, most likely started by roofers, drawing 60 firefighters from 15 departments — a triple three alarm fire! Fortunately, no one was injured.

Fire at 777 E. 82nd Street, Cleveland, Ohio
Photo: Cleveland.com, June 27, 2011

Initially, the owner announced plans to rebuild on the same site but renovated offices were built directly across the street in other facilities owned by the company. The site where the building once stood is today a lot for parking and storage of machinery and equipment.

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Experience Fremont Street

By Janet Dodrill

Vegas Vik, the famous Vegas neon cowboy, is seen in this Fremont Street Experience image.

The famous Fremont Street sits in Old Las Vegas (Glitter Gulch), and is home to some of Vegas’s first casinos and hotels (like the Golden Nugget). In the early 1990s Fremont Street was closed for construction of the Fremont Street Experience — a 90-foot high barrel LED vault canopy, spanning four blocks in length. The canopy covers the outdoor streets of the existing hotels and casinos.

While I was there I saw two (light) shows, Bon Jovi at 9:00 p.m. and The Who at 10:00 p.m. The street was alive with people enjoying the Vegas night life, including two free concerts at different locations under the canopy.

As a show begins, the outdoor casino building lights shut off, and the canopy comes alive in an animated light show, choreographed to music.

Below are some photos from my experience on Fremont Street!

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV.

Resources:

Wikipedia, Fremont Street

Wikipedia, Fremont Street Experience

Photos © Janet Dodrill

Old Cleveland Postcards

By Janet Dodrill

Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, postcard

Recently, by going through family photos, albums and scrapbooks, these three old Cleveland postcards of Euclid Avenue, University Circle and the Hollenden building, were discovered, passed down through our family. I love old Cleveland pictures, and it is even interesting seeing the written correspondence and stamps on some of them.

People crave nostalgia, and Clevelander’s enjoy anything Cleveland! Progress in civilization changes things so quickly, which we can mostly tell by looking back.

I’ve noticed, working in the graphics industry, that back in the day of keylines, typesetting,

University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio, postcard

hand-lettering and illustration (for me it was 1970s through early 1990s), we strived to achieve a polished high end look that was difficult to manufacture by hand. Then when the desktop publishing-capable computers were introduced it seemed to be the answer to our hopes. We could generate clean text and grab clip art graphics. However, by the late 1990s fonts were being created with a hand-written or grunge look. Stock illustration was less sleek and more stroked and textured. We sought a more natural look from our computer layouts, and for the visuals to appear to be more authentic.

Hollenden Building, Cleveland Ohio, postcard

I have found a similar comparison with the direction of cameras and photography. Over time we have made many improvements to cameras and photographic imagery. From tin to plates to film to now digital cameras with ever-increasing megapixels and other features. How ironic that we get software and app filters to give us an old sepia tone or vintage look.

The innovative Instagram, available first, offered a multiple digital image filter app that could be applied from a phone or tablet and posted on the world wide web for millions to see and took off in popularity. And there are many more other apps that now do the same thing, most recently Twitter and Flickr.

Seeing old postcards is still special. That is when the imagery was the best it could be. It brings us back to a time when we had other priorities. You can just tell by these postcards that the fancy architecture shown would have drawn visitors to Cleveland, and that people were out catching cable cars, operating their horse-drawn carriages while going downtown to shop or work at their businesses, and other things of the day. It starts-off our imaginations when we look at them.

Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, postcard

University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio, postcard

Hollenden Building, Cleveland, Ohio, postcard

Details in Everyday Hustle Worth Realizing

By Janet Dodrill

Hannah Building Elevator, Cleveland, OH

View from rear lobby in the Hannah Building, looking out onto E. 14th Street & Prospect Avenue

For the past few weeks I worked on a project in downtown Cleveland at the Hannah Building, 1422 Euclid Avenue. This time of year there has been extreme weather conditions, snow and cold, and in addition to traveling to my destination, I had to navigate and locate a place for suitable parking, finding a nearby open lot. Coming from and having worked mostly in the suburbs, I am not city-savvy. So the big adventure of each day, the necessary punctuality, and the chin-sinking wind had me hurrying to work, out of the car, and scurrying down the city sidewalk and into a rear entrance of building on East 14th Street through a revolving door. Then a ‘hello’ to the guard, and up the elevator to my assigned office.

Lighting fixture at the Hannah Building

It wasn’t until the 10th day on the project that I saw one of the three sets of gorgeous elevator doors before me, and later the grand fixtures in this back lobby of this classy nostalgic building. It raised the value of the whole experience and caused me to smile and lift my chin before stepping onto it for the three days to follow.