Avon Lake Mayor John Picken with Ed Mitchell
and Don Ames during the Sesquicentennial
celebration in Avon Lake, 1969. View image.
The Avon Lake Collection
Avon Lake, Ohio is a city of 23,000 in the northeast corner of Lorain County, Ohio. It is 18 miles from downtown Cleveland and follows the shore of Lake Erie for five miles. An agricultural area that became a vacation destination, an industrial powerhouse and a commuter's haven, our history goes back over 200 years, and we have photos in this collection as far back as the 1890s.
Featuring historic photos of homes, farms, businesses, schools, churches, community events and organizations, the Avon Lake Collection includes images from the Cleveland Press Collection, as well as many donated and loaned to us by organizations, businesses, and individuals who live here or have family ties here.
The Avon Lake Public Library and the Avon Lake Historical Society worked together to collect these photos over the past three years, resulting in Images of America: Avon Lake (Arcadia Publishing, 2011). Many photos are here that did not appear in the book, and we continue to receive further donations and loans. If you have something "Avon Lake" you would like to share with the world, or if you want to help us upload and describe photos, contact us if you are interested. We provide training, follow-up and feedback.
In addition, we are proud to present the entirety of Milburn Walker's 1965 book, The Avon Lake Story with the kind permission of the publisher, the Kiwanis Club of Avon Lake.
*Copyright policy for use of photos from this collection
This project was made possible by Gerry Vogel, Assistant Director, Avon Lake Public Library, Bill Barrow, Kif Francis, Joanne Cornelius, Lauren Felder and all the fine staff at the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University. Kent State MLIS candidate Gabriel Venditti, with the assistance of veteran Cleveland Memory Project volunteer Kathy Franzinger, provided training and documentation and set some standards for Library staff and volunteers to continue the work.
Much thanks to Library staff: Kathy Diamond, Nadge Herceg and Karen Scott.
Volunteer uploaders are Kim Krock, Marianna Vargane-Nagy, Heather Cosentino, Lisa French-Thomas and Patricia Belcastro.
KSU-MLIS candidate Jessica Williams scanned and uploaded this collection as her practicum project.