Portage Trail – 1941 by Dick Salmon

One street we knew in ’41 has been explored before

As we recalled the Front Street stores and looked in every door.

We walked the street from south to north and to the start again,

Reviewing old establishments that we knew “way back when.”

 

Another street of equal rank can be remembered though:

It crossed the river mid-between Broad Boulevard and Stow.

The Indian knew this trail well. He carried his canoe,

To shorten the route and miss the falls is what he had to do.

 

So, starting at the river bank, let’s walk the western trail:

Walsh Lumber Company’s ‘Number Seven’ (it said so on the mail).

Beside the northwest corner was a cleaning firm, now gone;

Ideal Cleaners was the name its trade depended on.

 

A little store was right next door where we could eat and drink;

The Portage Trail Lunch, it was. That’s where we’d sit and think.

What’s now The Falls Press was once the Falls News. Do you remember it?

It once was Summit Publishing, the city’s favorite.

 

A Doctor Orth was next in line, a most respected man;

Cuyahoga Valley Savings & Loan was not an “also ran.”

Do you recall the old pool hall where we chalked up the cue?

The name was Esquire Billiards and we racked up quite a few.

 

And now we go from playing pool to soldiers from the war;

Here’s where they held their meetings, on the first and second floor

For VFW occupied the building next door.

And the Burgan-Hibbard Hardware Store we can’t again explore.

 

Leo Bormuth was the man who knew just what to do –

He bought and sold discarded stuff, none of it was new.

Leo’s Swap Shop was the name with which he did succeed –

A dollar down, a dollar per, would get you what you’d need.

 

The Falls Reporter printed news for every family;

Bill Bauman was the editor (and owner, too, was he)

Robert Trout reported there with capability;

He’s now in local politics, a man of high degree.

 

Now who was next? – ’twas three M.D.’s. Can you recall them all?

There’s Pittenger and Breckinridge (diplomas on the wall).

Shoemaker too was always there, seated in his chair;

He’d check your pulse and everything else when you were in his care.

 

Now, let’s walk up and cross the street to Number Two-Three-O;

The Falls Art Institute was there, a well-known studio.

Alice Hudson’s mother taught us kids the proper use of art;

(Perhaps no famous names were made but at least we had a start).

 

At Second Street, on our return, we see Ohio Bell;

It stays the same through all the years. W know this building well.

AT&T is also there, the parent company;

The cost was low when you said ‘hello’ (or some formality).

 

Then to the right on Second Street; a government building here.

The cornerstone says 1940. Why, that was just last year!

Two of the workers stationed there, totting mail with ease,

Where Leland Smith and Homer Salmon (city and RFD’s).

 

And Harvey Bourroughs also was a mailman that year;

His son, the dentist, had his office down on Front Street here.

This building stands as strong as when the concrete was still new;

In 1988, you know the mail still goes through.

 

The kids would often borrow books, their knowledge to enforce,

From Taylor Library across the street. It was their only source.

The library now is up on Broad – more grand than e’er before –

An edifice to store the lore for school kids to explore.

 

The southeast corner, across the street – Now what is this we see?

A Pullman car on Portage Trail? – Now this could never be.

But sure enough, a dining car – Falls Diner yet, no less!

In those good days the coffee cup was sometimes bottomless.

 

The Falls Tap Room and Roth’s Brass Rail were customers o’er and o’er.

At this place where they bought their booze, the old State Liquor Store.

And one more doctor in the Falls that we should not forget

Was one who had his office here. His name? Dr. Pettet.

 

The Western Union Telegraph was also stationed here;

We’d send our loved ones messages with loads and loads of cheer.

And Allen’s Dry Cleaners is on the last, it’s recessed far below,

Right down the flight of concrete steps (just ask the ones who know).

 

We’ve seen the stores and brought to mind a memory or two;

Relived a year, a happy year, when skies were always blue.

And soon we’ll take another walk in another part of town –

The Cuyahoga Falls of yesteryear, our home of great renown.

~ Dick Salmon – 1988