well, Baker definitely has a connection ... and one of the cars IS a Baker (the one with the parasol top, which I did mistakenly identified as a White ... So I apologize for my mistake, the car in question is actually the Crawford's 1904 Baker Newport Runabout). When I first saw it in the picture, I thought it was the White, but it's not ... though there probably shouldn't be any White connection to Lakewood. As far as I know, Thomas White, who founded the White Sewing Machine Company, lived in Cleveland, and even was a Cleveland City Councilman for a time ... the automotive business was spun off by his sons Walter, Rollin, and Windsor ... Rollin was the engineer, and Walter was the sales leader ... Rollin left the business in 1914. I'm pretty sure Walter lived in Cleveland Heights, and ended up dying in a car accident at Cedar and Fairmount in the late 1920s. The company was foundering, and later merged with Studebaker, though later it emerged as an independent company.
Though there is a White tie to Baker ... Rollin White joined with Walter Baker to help develop his electric car, and also helped set up the American Ball Bearing Company in 1895 to produce axles for horse-drawn wagons, and later automobiles.
The blue car on the right does sort of have a Baker tie, in that the car is a Baker Raulang, probably from 1915, because by that time, Baker had merged with Rauch and Lang, as electric car sales waned a great deal (the big issue then, much like now, was the range allowed by the batteries, and surprisingly, the range back then for an electric car is pretty similar to what an electric car today would get). He also built one of the fastest cars in the world at that time, the Baker Torpedo, which could hit speeds faster than 75mph. Though Mr. Hass must've seen that car in a picture, because the Crawford removed that one from the collection some time ago.
But the 1904 Baker is still definitely in the collection, and it's a beautiful car, with a canvas umbrella top (with tassles attached) and a wicker seat! It was meant to be a lady's car, and it WAS a lady's car, owned by Mrs. Fred White ... again, related to the White family (and also the Norton family). See a pic of the car in the museum at
http://cleveland.about.com/od/cleveland ... ford_5.htm
Though Walter lived in Lakewood, his production facility was on the east side until 1905, when he moved to West 83rd ... so the '04 Baker is an eastside car, sadly enough!
Next to the Baker Raulang and the 04 Baker is a Winton ... I'm not sure of the actual year, because that particular image is taken from a photograph of Alexander Winton standing next to one of his cars ... Though I can't entirely see all the detail in the picture on Jim's photoblog, I do see a guy standing next to the car, and he appears to have a hat and a mustache ... so I think it's Winton, because I've seen an indentical photo of that scene. Behind the three cars is another Winton, one of his famed "Bullet" cars. It's unclear from the photo, so I can't tell if it's Bullet No. 1 or Bullet No. 2, but I think it's No. 1, because of the hump of the engine cover over the engine. Bullet No. 2 is a bit of a longer and sleeker car, because Winton actually bolted two of his four-cylinder engines together to create effectively the first 8-cylinder car. It's pretty impressive. Both Bullets are actually owned by the Smithsonian, but are now on exhibit at the Crawford, and have been there for probably more than 20 years (The Smithsonian has limited exhibit space, so they were happy to get them out of storage and have them with us at the Crawford, rather than gathering dust in their warehouse). The Smithsonian also has another Winton, the 1903 Winton which was the first car to drive across the US ... but they wouldn't let us have it, because it's a centerpiece of their new transportation exhibit.
And Winton of course lived in Lakewood ... and his plant was just outside Lakewood, at 10601 Berea Road, part of which survives as Roman Chariot customizing!
And of course bringing up the rear is the Crawford's lovely yellow-tan 1922 Templar, which really is a beautiful car, small and sporty! And like all Templars, it came standard with a Kodak camera (which is still in the Crawford's collection as well).
It's great that this west-side nod to Cleveland's automotive history is in the mural, especially as most of the big Cleveland car companies were located on the east side (Jordan, Chandler, Peerless, White). Interestingly enough, Cleveland is still a "car town" because of all the production facilities here for the Big 3 ... and most of them are West of the Cuyahoga!
Hopefully the mural will spawn interest in various aspects of Lakewood's history ... who knows, maybe even one of these days the Crawford could loan out the Templar for display within the completed library!
