'Fifty and Counting' Mentor at 2013

Drive the streets of Mentor and it is easy to forget that the city you see today is relatively young.  In fact on December 18 of this year it will be celebrating just its fiftieth anniversary.  Prior to 1963, Mentor whose name was taken from Greek literature was a village, a township, America's Nurseryland, and much more.  Mentor's website alludes to a heritage tour.  Let's recall some local landmarks as Mentor celebrates 50.  Here are just a few of the often overlooked historical city landmarks in our daily travels about town.

• Mentor's oldest home is located at 7597 Center Street
• The first public library building sits at Center Street and Nowlen Street
• Mentor's first manufacturing plant - Hart Nut & Washer Company (aka Mentor Knitting Mills, Lake Shore Chemical Company, Columbia Match Factory) still stands on Station Street
• Col. Warren Corning's c.1832 Dickey Farm on Mentor Avenue still stands today and was purchased by James A. Garfield in the 1800's.
• Fire Station #1 on Jackson Street is now a museum
• Wildwood - J. Oliver House c. 1908 on Little Mountain is a link to the Mentor's Gilded Age
• Wayside and C. Merkel (1916), Klyn (1921), J. Fracci (1922), Wyat and Castello (1925), Bosley (1928) were all nurserymen who made Mentor - America's Nursery Center for decades.
• Mentor Lumber c. 1922 still exists
• Center Street School (former Mentor Village School) c. 1914
• Village Hall and Gramma 'G'
• Havel salvages the George Ball estate greenhouse and relocates it as part of his business in 1937
• Headlands State Park (former Painesville Beach -1952-53) begins in '55, closed in '57, reopened in '67
• Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve
• Mentor Yacht Club c. 1926
• Mentor Marsh is dedicated by Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1973

As 2013 unfolds we will continue to celebrate Mentor's '50th' and its place in county history and local lore.