Lakewood Lore

Stouffer family's prominent role here is remembered

A nostalgic look at the Stouffer Tower City Plaza Hotel as well as a glimpse into the life of Vernon Stouffer will be presented at Lakewood Historical Society's next general meeting.

Speaker will be Laura B. Cherni, who is director of public relations for the hotel, which has just completed a $37 million renovation and this year is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

The anniversary milestone plus the March announcement of the sale of this historic property to the New World Hotel Co. Of Hong Kong, rekindles memories of what an integral part of the social scene of Lakewood the Vernon Stouffer family once was.

At a neighborhood party in Lakewood, Vernon met Gertrude (Trudy) Dean. They were married in 1928. For years the couple lived on Beach Road in Lakewood's Clifton Park. They had two daughters and a son.

Vernon owned a 57-foot yacht "Gemini" that once belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. During the summers, he moored it at Clifton Park lagoon alongside his boathouse.

Some remember Vernon for his seeming contradictions. He was a modest soft-spoken, diminutive man who refused to make public speeches. Yet he was on the boards of 20 different corporations and held numerous key civic posts.

He used to usher at old League Park and then grew up to own the Cleveland Indians (1966-72) and to save the team from moving its franchise out of town.

He headed a chain of restaurants and hotels, and expanded into the frozen food business. The hotel on Public Square, bought in 1978, eventually became one of 44 Stouffer hotels in the United States, Caribbean and Mexico.

His company was valued at $120 million when it was merged with Litton Industries in 1967. It was worth even more when it became part of Nestle Alimentana, a Swiss concern, in 1973.

Though he made an indelible mark in business, sports and philanthropy, his beginnings were not auspicious.

About 1915, Vernon's father, Abraham Stouffer, opened a small stand in the downtown Arcade, selling buttermilk and pie baked by Mahala Stouffer, Vernon's mother.

That stand was the forerunner of the Stouffer Co., founded by Vernon, his brother Gordon, and their father in 1924. That same year the family opened at East Ninth and Euclid the first of its many restaurants.

Credit for initial success went to mother Mahala's home recipes, notably the one for her hot Dutch apple pie.

"Mom always insisted on using lard in making her pie crusts, and she used nothing but fresh apples," Vernon once told a reporter.

Vernon's brother and business partner Gordon died in 1956. Vernon's son James, a native Lakewoodite, rose in the ranks of the company, but left it in 1968, resigning as president of the restaurant and inns division.

Afterward, James became a partner in Cleveland Development Co., owner of Catawba Island Club and its marina. James was named to the Lakewood Hospital board of trustees in 1969, sold his Lakewood home on Kirtland Lane in '72, and died at age 47 in 1979.

Vernon the philanthropist made substantial contributions to scores of Cleveland area institutions. Among them were the Northern Ohio Opera Association, the Old Stone Church, to which he belonged; the YMCA, the Bluecoats, Inc., which he helped organize, and the Cleveland Zoological Society.

It was agreed that no one did more for the zoo. (He once make an African safari to round up animals for it.)

Vernon died in 1974 at age 72 after a heart attack. At the time of his death, he and wife Gertrude lived in an apartment at Winton Place on Lakewood's Gold Coast, where they had "his" and "hers" kitchens.

One active Lakewoodite who remembers well the halcyon days of the Stouffers in Louise Monson. Her husband John, born in Lakewood and senior vice president of Ostendorf-Morris Co., is a Stouffer nephew. His mother and Gertrude Stouffer were sisters.

Louise recalled that the sisters' mother Helen Dean, originally from Newark, Ohio, loved to come to Lakewood in the early days as a small girl.

"In a horse-drawn carriage, it took Helen and her parents two days and two nights to make the trip from Newark, and when they arrived, they stayed at the Nicholson House, Lakewood's oldest home." Louise said.

In more recent years this same grand old Nicholson House where Gertrude Stouffer's mother stayed has been the recipient of a $15,000 grant from the Stouffer Foundation for help with restoration work.

Louise also remembers that Helen Dean eventually became a close friend of famed Lakewood historian Margaret Manor Butler and contributed in the funding necessary to move our city's oldest stone house from Detroit Avenue to its present location in Lakewood Park, where it is now a museum.

The Monsons live in a historic 22-room Lakewood mansion that has ballroom on the third floor. It is located on a 3 1/2-acre Edgewater Drive property overlooking Lake Erie and, through the years, has been a showplace in our community.

"Just about every Lakewood organization has been here at least once," Louise pointed out with a prideful smile.

During Lakewood's 1989 centennial year, 1,400 people visited the home as part of the Garden Club-Historical Society tour. During the Stouffer years, Louise's ready and generous hospitality earned her the nickname of "Lakewood's Party Lady."

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post May 20, 1993. Reprinted with permission.

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