Elmore, Ohio rides into the twentieth century

I first heard about Elmore, Ohio when I read a ghost story about the village's headless motorcycle rider. That mysterious story may be just a village legend, but trains, automobile, bicycles and a turnpike had a lot to do with Elmore's ride into and through the twentieth century.

Elmore developed during the 1820s and 1830s as a settlement established by pioneers like Israel Harrington near the site of an old supply depot established by General William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812.

The coming of a railroad line through the village and building of a train depot in 1869 spurred Elmore's economic growth through the latter half of the nineteenth century.

A sign at the edge of town notes the importance of bicycle and automobile manufacturing to the development of Elmore.

Harmon Becker moved to Elmore in 1869 with his family and established a saw mill and stave factory in the village with his sons James and Burton.

The Beckers capitalized on the increasing popularity of bicycles during the late 1800s by becoming bicycle manufacturers in 1892. That year, the bicycle company employed 50 workers to produce 500 bikes.

The Beckers soon expanded the company by purchasing an empty organ factory in nearby Clyde.

Elmore bicycles became popular nationally and sold for $100. By 1898, the company employed 80 workers to produce 1,500 bicycles.

The Beckers switched to building automobiles in 1898 because they did not want to sell to the American Bicycle Company, a trust formed to control competition, supply and prices.

The first Elmore car hit the road by 1900. By 1903, the company produced three cars per day.

The Beckers stressed having a valve-less motor that did not require cranking in its advertising.

The Beckers liked the lightweight two-stroke engine because they felt making smaller cars would boost sales. The 1904 Elmore Convertible Runabout, the company's smallest automobile, seated four and sold for $650, making it one of the most economical cars on the market.

Elmore automobiles also performed well in the long-distance automobile races popular in the early 1900s. An Elmore Pathfinder won a race from New York to the site of St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 to the surprise of many people, and the company's cars continued to fare well in races over the next few years.

William C. Durant, founder of General Motors, purchased the company in 1909 to become a division of GM.

By 1910, the Elmore was no more when GM ousted Durant and streamlined GM by cutting divisions to stabilize its finances.

The Harris-Elmore Library in Elmore displays one of the company's bicycles and an Elmore auto. The Plymouth Historical Museum in Plymouth, Michigan also displays an Elmore auto.

See vintage photos of Elmore bikes, cars and advertising materials at Ohio Memory, a site by the Ohio Historical Society and state library, or the Sandusky County Scrapbook site.

Elmore sustained another blow to its economic well being in 1949 when passenger service ceased at the train station. Trains ceased rolling altogether through Elmore by the early 1970s.

The old train depot remains a source of pride in Elmore as the lovingly restored home to the village's museum and the Elmore Historical Railroad Club.

Building of the Ohio Turnpike through the area in the 1950s adversely affected Elmore and many places closed as traffic bypassed the area.

The turnpike also reduced a plot of land owned by Joe and Marie Schedel. The avid gardeners created a Japanese-style garden and built a summer home on their remaining property. Today, the Schedel Arboretum and Gardens is a public attraction and botanical preserve of national note.

Today, Elmore is a 1,500-resident village with a downtown consisting of several blocks of commercial, retail and industrial businesses. Victorian-style lamp posts and signs downtown hark back to the village's earlier success as a railroad and manufacturing center.

Elmore parks are home to the refurbished train depot and a restored 1860s-era log cabin. A scenic rail -to-trail route used by runners, bicyclists, walkers and inline skaters passes by the depot as part of Ohio's North Coast Inland Trail.

You can learn more about Elmore's earliest history at the historic Harrington Cemetery a few blocks outside of downtown Elmore.

Elmore's location about 25 miles southeast of Toledo gives residents easy access to big city amenities, but its location along the Portage River in the heart of northern Ohio farm country also gives residents and visitors an opportunity to enjoy small-town life.