Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1949-02-04
ERIE ORDNANCE DEPOT BOOSTS
IACARNE POST OFFICE STATUS

LAtAhNE E--A SllEnIfy osSl
grown crossroads settlement, La
carne has become known far and
wide as the home of Erie Ordnance
Depot, Oldest Ordinance owned and
operated establishment in Ohio.
The post is better known to many
as Erie Proving Ground, its desig-
nation during the past two World
war periods.
Oddly enough, Erie Ordnance
Depot, permanent Department of
the Army installation, is not re-
ally in Lacarne, nu: is located on
the shores Of Lake Erie on U. S.
Route 2, some two miles north Of
the northernmost perimeter of La
carne.
A community of nearly $50 resi-
dents, Lacarne is the only village
in 104 year old Erie Township of
historic Ottawa County. Origin
ally Erie Township was a part of
Franklin County whose original
north boundary line was Lake
Erie. In shape, Erie Township
looks like right angled triangle
with the Portage River as the
southern side and Lake Erie's
coast as the hypotenuse.
Erie Ordnance Depot, embrac-
ing 1900 acres of Erie Townships
a400 acres, has dominated the life
Of Lacarne ever since the farms
and marshiands were purchased
from descendants of pioneer
settlers by the Ordnance Depart
ment early in 1918.
Capt. Hugh M. Emerson, repre-
senting the Ordnance Department,
and later to become first Com
manding Officer of Erie, complet-
ed formal negotiations for the pur-
chase Of the two square miles of
acreage, for total of $3.50, ,5S2.95.
Farms were bought from the
Moore, Whiting, Barnes, Kirk, AL
lyn and Snider families, and from
1913 until today these same names
appear on the personnel roster Of
Erie Ordnance Depot.
Nearly one-half Of the male
adults of Lacarne are employees
Of Erie Ordnance Depot at the
present time. Other residents COM
mute to more distant industrial
plants. Gone with the progress
of modern times are the pickle
cannery, box factory and farmers
elevator which once offered en-
ployment to many Lacarne resi-
dents. Now the towns business
centers in one grocery store oper-
ated by the owner, the post office
dependent for its volume of bust
ness on Erie Ordnance Depot, and
independent business enterprises,
conducted all over the county, by
residents. There is a centralized
eight-grade elementary school, the
pupils transferring to nearby Oak
Harbor and Port Clinton for high
school edueations.
During the past war period,
when the military of Erie Ord
nance Depot, and of neighboring
Camp Perry, also in Erie Town
ship, necessarily reached record
strengths, many wives of soldiers,
temporarily stationed at one of the
two posts, found welcome in the
homes of Lacarne.
It is true that Lacarne has been
dependent on Erie Ordnance De-
pot for making its name familiar
in distant cities. However. Erie
Township offered definite advan-
tages for the establishment and
consequent growth of an Ordnance
post. It's inland location was de-
sirable for immunity from enemy
naval raids; it was close to tool
manufacturing towns; it was near
the gun production cities; it pro-
vided wide firing range over
Lake Erie; it embraced a level
site, and the immediate surround
ings We're sparsely settled, mini
MIXING risk of damage and patrol.
ing and guarding of the grounds;
and it was close to an extensive
railway system so that a large