Sherry Spenzer

The Avon Lake Story Continues Sherry Spenzer

Written in celebration of Avon Lake's Bicentennial, "The Avon Lake Story Continues" follows the path of this city's evolution, beginning with its settlement on Erie's shore in 1819. Once the northern half of Avon, Ohio, Avon Lake severed itself from that township, and instituted its own government by 1917. The Lake Shore Electric Railway fostered the thriving city, but legend and lore, handed down by generations, built its character. Its tiny cemetery holds much history, and its earliest residents have left their names on the city's streets. The railway's car barn became the Saddle Inn Hotel and Restaurant, and hosted such luminaries as Arthur Fiedler, James Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. Guy Lombardo played at the legendary Lake Road Inn, and a tiny bar "grew" on a moonless night after city fathers denied proposed expansion of the pint-size establishment. History comes alive, and takes on entertaining qualities, as Avon Lake's story indeed continues.