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And what a great story about Steele Mansion. I just LOVE that old architecture and would give my eye teeth for an 18th century Colonial! I'm so glad someone was able to save that beautiful building; unfortunately, most of us ordinary folks can't afford the price tag to renovate those old homes -- or they are located way out in the boonies (I'm talking population less than 1000!) so economically it's difficult to even make a B&B - or whatever - pay for itself. So sad as they say a lot about the history of America.
yeah, the Steele Mansion restoration was a costly undertaking to say the least. The owners appear to be a family with deep pockets. I've read of their background in stories over the years and it sounds like they're very high achievers in whatever they do. I guess you have to be in order to successfully pull off a project like the Steele Mans. Certainly not for the faint-hearted (like me ) However, as I had mentioned earlier, there still are a lot of historic homes left in the area of more modest proportions that become available, and that wouldn't require such massive restoration, at what are probably reasonable prices compared to other parts of the country. Keep looking!
Hmmm - maybe I'll try to touch base with her. I wonder what her pricetag would be? What a kick that would be!
I have seen a number of colonial or victorian homes for sale in FH. There aren't too many places in the country anymore where you can find that kind of architecture for a reasonable price - like I said unless it's way out in the boonies somewhere (which means you can't need a job if you buy one).
Gosh I haven't heard of Hedda Hopper for a long time - she was a very interesting and flamboyant personality, wasn't she?
Hmmm - maybe I'll try to touch base with her. I wonder what her pricetag would be? What a kick that would be!
I have seen a number of colonial or victorian homes for sale in FH. There aren't too many places in the country anymore where you can find that kind of architecture for a reasonable price - like I said unless it's way out in the boonies somewhere (which means you can't need a job if you buy one).
Gosh I haven't heard of Hedda Hopper for a long time - she was a very interesting and flamboyant personality, wasn't she?
here's an old listing of the kind of thing I'm talking about. This home in Painesville was sold and was obviously a real "fixer-upper," but as you can see the price was more than reasonable--
Hedda Hopper, who died over 50 years ago, was really flamboyant. Back in her day, before TV and social media and Hollywood information 24/7, gossip columnists had real power. I found a mention of her infamous hats on Fairport's Finnish Museum website in connection to the owners at the time. Still can't find the relationship Hopper had with them, though--
"Many pages of history have been established over the years since the first caretakers, Carroll and Margaret Mitchell with her Hedda Hopper hats, took responsibility. Many responsible citizens have cared and served at the museum."
here's an old listing of the kind of thing I'm talking about. This home in Painesville was sold and was obviously a real "fixer-upper," but as you can see the price was more than reasonable--
Hedda Hopper, who died over 50 years ago, was really flamboyant. Back in her day, before TV and social media and Hollywood information 24/7, gossip columnists had real power. I found a mention of her infamous hats on Fairport's Finnish Museum website in connection to the owners at the time. Still can't find the relationship Hopper had with them, though--
"Many pages of history have been established over the years since the first caretakers, Carroll and Margaret Mitchell with her Hedda Hopper hats, took responsibility. Many responsible citizens have cared and served at the museum."
Another personal discovery:
<<Designed by Jonathan Goldsmith, the tower was built on a foundation of solid concrete. The structure itself is made of two stone walls, with a hollow space between the walls. The tower never sweats. It is a fantastic structure. >>
Never knew Goldsmith designed the Fairport Light House (Fairport has two light houses; this one, the more famous one, is built on land, not on the end of a breakwall).
Jonathan Goldsmith died in 1848. I wonder if he really designed a lighthouse built in 1871. Perhaps the 1871 lighthouse used the original design of the 1825 lighthouse, perhaps designed by Goldsmith.
I also didn't know the prehistoric history of the Grand River (from the first linked article):
<<
The Grand River flows out into Lake Erie, with its primal source or headwaters beginning in West Virginia. Originally, John related, the Grand River's mouth in Fairport was six miles wide after the ice age and spread up to and included the Mentor Lagoon area. Later its divided waters became the smaller Grand River and the larger Ohio River.>>
I find it hard to believe that the source of the Grand River ever was in West Virginia; I couldn't find any documentation for this, and it's hard to understand how any river could bypass the Ohio River.
^yeah, I was surprised about the lighthouse and Goldsmith too. Although there are of course a limited number of his buildings left, I didn't realize there was one in my old neighborhood (the North End, aka "the hood") when I was growing up. At the far northeast corner of Painesville is the Washington Skinner house (on the corner of North State St. & Skinner Ave, and still the only large historic home in a sea of very modest, and largely nondescript, dwellings from the early 20th century and beyond). When it was built in the mid-19th century, on a bluff overlooking the Grand River, it must have been quite impressive. I assume it must have been one of Goldsmith's last projects, since the architecture appears to be Italianate, no? His earlier homes were of a Federal & Greek Revival design--aka the renowned "Western Reserve" look. I always remember it as an apartment building. Looks better now than it did in the 60's (it was covered in hideous brown shingles back then!). Good the current owners are taking care of it--
Last edited by formerlyofpainesville; 10-19-2017 at 04:40 PM..
I don't know much about Painseville but Fairport Harbor has its share of charm. I could see it being a pleasant place to live.
I can vouch for that. I grew up in the eastern Cleveland suburb of Wickliffe and moved to Fairport Harbor in 1999, due to a death in my family which forced me to leave my home of 40 years. I've lived in a very small (one bedroom) apartment in Fairport 18 years and enjoy it here immensely (especially in the summer), although I must say it took me a long time to get used to living in a very small town as opposed to a large suburban city (Wickliffe's population was 15000+ when I left there; it is now something on the order of 12000, and dropping like a stone). The reason I moved here rather than to another city is that, when I discovered I would have to move in '99, I had always wanted to live in a small town. Fairport Harbor is that small town, and I intend to stay here as long as I can (see my "status" entry at the top of the forum's home page). This is a town that takes some getting used to if you come here from a suburb (Fairport is not considered part of the Greater Cleveland area), but believe me, it is well worth it.
This is a town that takes some getting used to if you come here from a suburb (Fairport is not considered part of the Greater Cleveland area), but believe me, it is well worth it.
Greater Cleveland refers to the Cleveland MSA, which includes Lake County. So Fairport Harbor, located in the lakeshore center of Lake County, just north of the county seat of Painesville, definitely is considered part of Greater Cleveland.
Fairport punches way above its weight as a community. Although a village of only just over 3,000 residents, Fairport has its own school system, its own police force, its own library, a port authority, and even its own water utility.
The village likely could save much money by consolidating these functions into larger neighboring operations, or even allowing itself to be annexed, but the village's voters/residents remain fiercely independent and will likely bear almost any burden to remain so.
However, Fairport Harbor residents have great interaction with surrounding communities, and persons from Painesville, Fairport Harbor, Painesville Township, etc., move back and forth between the communities, belong to many of the same organizations (such as the excellent Fairport Harbor Senior Center), and certainly know each other, often from a young age. So, Fairport Harbor definitely is not an island in Lake County. It's more akin to a place that knowledgeable Lake County residents visit to go some place different.
The Fairport Harbor Mardi Gras on July 4th weekend still remains one of the most popular festivals in Lake County. It also probably features what now is the best parade in Lake County.
Greater Cleveland refers to the Cleveland MSA, which includes Lake County. So Fairport Harbor, located in the lakeshore center of Lake County, just north of the county seat of Painesville, definitely is considered part of Greater Cleveland.
I stand corrected. However, I think it is worth noting that, although it is part of the Cleveland MSA (as I found out when I looked up Fairport Harbor on Wikipedia the other day), Fairport, being the small town it is (the population as of the last census was just under 3,100), is hardly ever mentioned by the Cleveland news media (except, of course, the Lake County News-Herald) unless something big happens here, such as the natural gas explosions and fires in 2010; in fact, the village has been referred to more than once as "Northeast Ohio's best kept secret". Another clue that Fairport Harbor is not a so-called "island", completely set off from the Cleveland area, is the fact that the village gets its electricity from Akron-based First Energy, which of course is the greater Cleveland area's electric utility. Fairport does not use Painesville's electric power plant because the latter is too small to serve both the city of Painesville and the village of Fairport Harbor; I found this out from my first landlord (now deceased), who was an electrician. I thought for some time that, living in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, population 3,094, I was in "the middle of nowhere", until I saw a news report on NBC Nightly News tonight about a small town in Montana that is, as the report put it, "the furthest (one) can get from big-city America". The town is Glasgow, Montana, population 3,360; it is literally hundreds of miles from anywhere (for instance, it is over 200 miles from the nearest large city in Montana), and in fact is over 1,000 miles from Chicago. So even though Fairport Harbor is small from a population and land area standpoint (this village has only 1.1 square miles (!) of land area), is 30 miles from downtown Cleveland and some 40 miles from the city's TV and radio towers in the southwestern suburb of Parma, we are nowhere near "in the middle of nowhere["] as is Glasgow, Montana. The downtown Cleveland area is only a 30- to 40-minute drive from here, but it is a very long drive for anyone living in the next county (Cuyahoga) southwest of Lake and beyond (I don't drive), so I haven't been anywhere near downtown Cleveland in years, and I rarely see anyone from outside my own area since I don't get out much.
I stand corrected. However, I think it is worth noting that, although it is part of the Cleveland MSA (as I found out when I looked up Fairport Harbor on Wikipedia the other day), Fairport, being the small town it is (the population as of the last census was just under 3,100), is hardly ever mentioned by the Cleveland news media (except, of course, the Lake County News-Herald) unless something big happens here, such as the natural gas explosions and fires in 2010; in fact, the village has been referred to more than once as "Northeast Ohio's best kept secret". Another clue that Fairport Harbor is not a so-called "island", completely set off from the Cleveland area, is the fact that the village gets its electricity from Akron-based First Energy, which of course is the greater Cleveland area's electric utility. Fairport does not use Painesville's electric power plant because the latter is too small to serve both the city of Painesville and the village of Fairport Harbor; I found this out from my first landlord (now deceased), who was an electrician. I thought for some time that, living in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, population 3,094, I was in "the middle of nowhere", until I saw a news report on NBC Nightly News tonight about a small town in Montana that is, as the report put it, "the furthest (one) can get from big-city America". The town is Glasgow, Montana, population 3,360; it is literally hundreds of miles from anywhere (for instance, it is over 200 miles from the nearest large city in Montana), and in fact is over 1,000 miles from Chicago. So even though Fairport Harbor is small from a population and land area standpoint (this village has only 1.1 square miles (!) of land area), is 30 miles from downtown Cleveland and some 40 miles from the city's TV and radio towers in the southwestern suburb of Parma, we are nowhere near "in the middle of nowhere["] as is Glasgow, Montana. The downtown Cleveland area is only a 30- to 40-minute drive from here, but it is a very long drive for anyone living in the next county (Cuyahoga) southwest of Lake and beyond (I don't drive), so I haven't been anywhere near downtown Cleveland in years, and I rarely see anyone from outside my own area since I don't get out much.
Painesville City only uses its electric power plant to generate electricity for a couple weeks every year, typically in August when electricity demand peaks. It purchases most of its power these days, but also owns diverse generating resources, from small interests in Ohio River hydroelectric plants to coal generation facilities in Illinois.
Painesville's power plant uses coal. By operating it for a few weeks each year, Painesville somehow saves a fortune on its transmission costs.
Painesville's electric rates are lower than First Energy. It's customer base includes parts of Concord and Painesville Townships, Perry Township and North Perry Village.
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) However, as I had mentioned earlier, there still are a lot of historic homes left in the area of more modest proportions that become available, and that wouldn't require such massive restoration, at what are probably reasonable prices compared to other parts of the country. Keep looking!
