Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Aerial View of Cleveland Road from 1955



This aerial image was taken by photographer and pilot Tom Root in October of 1955. Several houses can be seen on Avondale Street, south of Cleveland Road. What is now the Sandusky Inn and Suites at 1530 Cleveland Road was the Siesta Motel in 1955. Right across the street from the Siesta Motel was Foster Chevrolet, Inc. Lake Erie Gifts & Décor is now located at the site of the former Foster Chevrolet location. Awnings can be seen on the front of the Pfefferkorn Awning Co., located at 1610 Cleveland Rd. (Several businesses are located at the site of the former Pfefferkorn Awning Co. today.) To the east of Pfefferkorn Awning was the Hickory Barbecue, at 1616 Cleveland Road, which no longer stands.

Thomas F. Root, a self taught photographer from Plymouth, Ohio, took aerial photographs in northwest Ohio for more than sixty years. After renting a plane for several years, Mr. Root purchased his own plane in 1968. Root would open the window of the airplane, bank the plane, and take the photographs out of the side of the plane. Tom Root retired in 2001, and in 2008, he transferred a portion of his collection to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

3 comments:

Nate said...

Are those photos searchable online anywhere?

Sandusky Library Archives Research Center said...

We have probably said this before, but we hope to have an online database of the majority of our archival collections available soon. Unfortunately, we can't confirm a timetable right now, but we are optimistic that it will be up before the end of this year, hopefully very soon. We will post an announcement on this blog when it goes live.

Sandusky Library Archives Research Center said...

One more thing -- the Tom Root aerial photos are in the early stage of scanning and cataloging. Only about one-tenth of the images have been scanned, and staffing and other commitments have prevented us form moving faster on this project. We hope to eventually have more equipment and volunteers available to work on this (and other) projects.