Economic Boom or Environmental Bust? The Perry Nuclear Power Plant

(Above left): Illustration of the Western Reserve Nursery (L. Green, Proprietor) located in Perry, Ohio in the 1870s.  Western Reserve was one of many nurseries that enabled Lake County to earn the title, "Nursery Capital of the World." (Above center): Employees of Cole Nurseries working on peach trees in the early 1900s.  By the turn of the century, specialized agriculture dominated the landscape and established itself as a major employer in Lake County.  (Above right): Over a century after the first nurseries were founded in Lake County, the nursery business remained a mainstay in Perry, Ohio.  While some nurseries in Mentor and Painesville had closed their doors by 1970, agriculture continued to dominate the Perry economy.  Here, Dick West of West's Orchards surveys damage caused by a late frost.