The following was shared by Joyce Alig, President of the Mercer County Historical Society:
Betty Rhodes, Van Wert, saw the 1970 list of businesses on West Bank Road in the January 11, 2018 “Our Old Bookcase.” She marked where Joe and Vi Graham had Cottages at # 739 West Bank Road, just past Carter Villa on the Lake in 1970. She sent me this photograph and story:
“The photo was of the members of the Grand Lake Motorcycle Club, most of them members of the American Motorcycle Association. Joe and Vi Graham had a shop along West Bank and that is where the club met. I do not remember exactly where this picture of the club picnic was taken.”
Members of the Grand Lake Motorcycle Club met at the shop of Joe and Vi Graham, on West Bank Road. The photo is dated 1946.
She listed a few names in the front row: second bike: Bob and Betty Rhodes; third bike, Gene Behm; seventh bike, Joe and Vi Graham (owners of the shop on West Bank Road), and the twelfth bike, Nick Brown and Nina. In the second row, the eighth bike, John (in white shirt) and Eileen (in dark blouse) Brown; eleventh bike, Charles W. Price (white T-shirt seated on the bike).
If you recognize these Members of the Grand Lake Motorcycle Club, or have stories to tell, you may
write Betty Rhodes, 1048 Grand Prix Dr., Van Wert, OH 45891. I am sure that she will be glad to hear from you. You are also welcome to send any information or stories to me and I will share them with her. This is a great story in the 1940’s, following World War II.
We will have to put together an exhibit of the Post Cards, Photographs, and Stories you are sending about West Bank Road, to accompany the November 11, exhibit of Mercer County’s Post Cards and Post Marks. You are invited to help with this West Bank Road Exhibit, and/or to be Volunteer Hosts for the afternoon. Let me know if you are interested in helping to preserve the History of West Bank Road, as a part of preserving the History of Mercer County, Ohio, for the Sunday, November 11, Exhibit.
[Mercer County Historical Society President Joyce Alig, may be contacted at 3054 Burk-St. Henry Road, Saint Henry, OH 45883, or histalig@bright.net or 419-678-2614]