314 Ridge Road

314 Ridge Road. Downtown Ridgeway Business Improvement Area. This building at 314 Ridge Road was built as a butcher shop circa 1910, and by 1913 was owned by Henry Boulding. At that time Ridgeway did not have electrical service, so to provide refrigeration in the store there was an ice house out back which would be piled with blocks of ice brought from Lake Erie and packed in sawdust. Those blocks of ice would stay frozen all summer long, and be brought indoors a few at a time to cool the indoor ice boxes. R.M. Disher in his book "Robbie" describes the bringing of ice from the lake as a kind of exciting winter parade "with blocks of ice on flat-topped bob sleighs pulled by great teams of horses festooned with cheery bells. People from miles around with sleighs joined the procession and kids rode back and forth standing on the bob runners." , By the 1940's the business was owned by the Winn family, and in 1947 was told to Ruby Cooper who owned it until at least 1978. Over the years she advertised groceries, hand crafts, gifts, clothing, and paperback novels. But Ruby Cooper's was best known for penny candy and many Ridgeway residents have fond memories of stopping in there for a little bag of gobstoppers or other sweets for 5 cents. Dezzy's Pizza (Robert Desmarais) was located here through the 1990's, and substantial renovations were done when it opened as the Latte Kaffe (Heather Lennie in 2008). It was purchased by Denine and Teny Scheiche in 2015, and Shan Harper opened her business J.E. Harper Travel that same year., Research and text by Ada Shek