Dobbins Lane Picture Show

by Christine Lorraine Morgan, February 28, 2026

As a young adult I was able to grasp relevant, historic things going on around me, and I carried a film camera with me everywhere I went for this reason.

When I heard that Erie’s bayfront was about to undergo some sort of big “development” I drove to what was supposedly the oldest street in Erie to document what it looked like. Although I wasn’t certain it would be affected, it was relevant to capture this lovely, serene thoroughfare before it might be gone.

So my daughter and I hopped in my very first car, an old Nova, and voila! That’s what these pictures are all about.

These 1986 photos show Dobbins Lane and what it previously looked like along the west bayfront just west of State Street.

The stones shown here were very unique, as explained on a historical marker that was previously located on the bayfront.

According to that marker, “Dobbins Lane -This type of Medina cut-stone block pavement was used on Erie streets in the eighteen hundreds before either asphalt or concrete. Erected by the Erie County Historical Society in 19?”

My first car, this Nova, and my little girl and I toured the bayfront in 1986 with a roll of film and a determination to capture what Erie’s Dobbins Lane looked like.

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