Celebrating Our Past at the Library

Showing the agricultural heritage of Ridgeville Township; one of 4 paintings done in 2007 by artist David J. Pavlak.

In October 2007, Elyria artist David J. Pavlak was commissioned to paint 4 HUGE (and amazing) historical paintings (about 6’ X 8’ each), and they were installed at the 4-year-old North Ridgeville Branch Library on Bainbridge Road. All four paintings are hanging high above the floor, up near the ceiling, throughout the library.

And each painting shows a different aspect of the historical or agricultural heritage of Ridgeville Township, which is now (since 1960) the City of North Ridgeville.

Look UP for them next time you visit the Library! (Courtesy North Ridgeville Historial Society).

: The C.C. Benjamin General Store at Fields Corners, Butternut Ridge (Lorain Rd.) and Root Road in the south-ern part of Ridgeville Township (now North Ridgeville). This store, like one or two others on the same site, was destroyed by fire and then replaced. A 2007 painting by artist David J. Pavlak, based on a circa 1912 photo-graph.

: The District No. 9 “Snow Road” one-room schoolhouse, built in 1859 on what’s now Jaycox Road, just south of Mill Road. Now a museum owned by the N.R. Historical Society, open for tours the LAST Sunday of each month, May to October, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. A 2007 painting by artist David J. Pavlak.

: The Shawville railroad station on the north side of the tracks at Avon-Belden Road (formerly called Center Rd. or Station Rd., and later Route 76 and now Route 83). The station was in service from the 1850’s to about 1948; and this station was moved in 1950 to Elyria, where it’s now used as a small business. A 2007 painting by artist David J. Pavlak.