Every kid in Ellet knew who lived in that house.
No bigger than a shed, a brightly decorated cottage stands tall in the memories of Akron baby boomers.
Visiting the Santa Claus house at Eastgate Plaza was a beloved Christmas ritual during the 1950s and 1960s.
Beneath glowing lights, sparkling garlands and wafting carols, Ellet children braved the cold and lined up on the sidewalk to see Santa at the Canton Road shopping center.
Kriss Kringle sat on a carved throne inside the wooden house, which was assembled every year on a platform in the front parking lot outside Woolworth and Gray Drug.
In 1952, Akron developer Francis E. Rottmayer opened Eastgate, the first such plaza in Summit County and one of the earliest in Ohio. The $2 million center’s early tenants included J.C. Penney, W.E. Wright, Acme, Kroger, Shulan’s Jewelers, Carter Shoe Co., Rosen’s Bake Shop, Moore Auto, Evans Savings, Tip-Top Laundry and Eastgate Bowling.
Many Ellet natives might be surprised to learn that Rottmayer (1904-1989), an expert carpenter, personally designed and built the Santa Claus house, along with Santa’s chair and sleigh.
The red, white and green cottage featured curtained windows, little flower boxes, toy-lined shelves, scrollwork and carved railings with a Christmas tree motif.
Stored in the Eastgate basement during the offseason, the structure was easy to take apart and put together.
Rottmayer, a native of Germany, took a special joy in entertaining children during Christmas at the plaza.
“He always made a big production of Santa coming,” recalled Rottmayer’s daughter Susan Suthers, a Medina resident. “It was really crowded. Kids were all over the place.”
One year, Santa arrived triumphantly by helicopter. Another year, he climbed down a ladder from atop the plaza.
“They had jingling on the roof and then they had reindeer,” Suthers said. “You could see a little bit of a sleigh hanging over.”
When the big man in the red suit and black boots finally set foot on the ground, Suthers was just as amazed as everyone else in the crowd.
“I don’t know how he got up there,” she said. “My dad didn’t tell me. I believed in Santa at the time.”
Lasting memories
Robert Gulledge, 62, of Goodyear Heights, who grew up on Hawk Avenue in Ellet, remembers the excitement of going to Eastgate when he was a pupil at Windemere Elementary School.
“Around Thanksgiving, workers would close off several parking spaces in the front row of the shopping center and build the house,” recalled Gulledge, a 1968 Ellet High School graduate.
“Kids would wait in long lines to visit with Santa, while their parents could shop at Woolworth’s or J.C. Penney’s for gifts. The Santa house at Eastgate Plaza provided the children of the Ellet community with lasting memories of Christmas and their visit with Santa.”
When it was cold and snowy, youngsters wore coats, hats, boots, gloves, mittens and earmuffs while waiting to ascend the ramp, follow the railing and enter the house.
Elf assistants ushered in children to sit on Santa’s lap, tell him what they wanted for Christmas and have their photographs taken — if their parents wanted to buy pictures.
Kids could also do a little window shopping before or after the visit. The Woolworth’s downstairs store, which opened in 1957, was a popular stop for children at Eastgate.
“The toys were right downstairs in the basement,” Gulledge said.
West Akron resident Steve Pryseski, 53, a language arts teacher and yearbook adviser at Ellet High School, grew up on Stevenson Avenue about four blocks from Eastgate. He could walk to the shopping center with his sister Joyce and brother David.
“I do remember it was completely, completely decked out with strings of lights all the way across the plaza,” said Pryseski, a 1977 Ellet graduate. “That little house always seemed to stick up. It was one of those things you could see as you arrived.”
The interior of the house, painted in gaudy colors, became a little cramped when more than one sibling got in the picture.
There was no guarantee that children would get what they requested for Christmas, but candy canes were a consolation prize at the exit.
“There was always a little token gift bag of candy, a tiny little thing, after you visited Santa,” Pryseski said.
Repeat visits
The Rev. David Weyrick, 57, pastor at Stow Presbyterian Church, grew up on Yerrick Road in Ellet and has vivid memories of visiting Eastgate at Christmas when he was a pupil at Hatton Elementary.
“What was really cool about the Eastgate Santa was you got to see him more than once,” Weyrick said. “So you could wait in line a second time if you forgot something. Or your mother could say, ‘No, you’ve already seen him once.’ ”
In downtown Akron, children enjoyed the comfort of waiting indoors to visit Santa at O’Neil’s or Polsky’s department stores. But isn’t the North Pole supposed to be cold?
“An outside Santa Claus, now that was the real thing,” Weyrick joked, adding “Tough Ellet kids!”
When children arrived at the wood throne, “it was like you were seeing the king or something,” he said.
It’s funny what sticks in the mind of a 5-year-old boy.
Weyrick distinctly recalls looking up at Santa and noticing that his facial hair wasn’t completely white.
“I still remember the top of the mustache area being this brownish-orangish color, and thinking that was sort of strange,” he said. “Then I realized years later that was probably nicotine or cigar smoke.”
After a couple of decades of Christmases, Rottmayer retired the Santa Claus house at Eastgate. He moved the wood to his Medina home, reassembled it next to a pond and used it as a changing booth for swimmers.
“That’s why I remember the details of it,” Suthers said.
The holiday house no longer exists, but Suthers’ brother has incorporated some of the carved railings into his shed, preserving the last relics of a beloved Ellet building that used to be magical at Christmas.
Thousands of baby boomers met Santa Claus for the first time at Eastgate Plaza.
“That’s where I went each year,” Suthers said. “A lot of my friends say they remember when they were kids they were there to see Santa.”
Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of The Rest Is History: True Tales From Akron’s Vibrant Past, a book from the University of Akron Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.