Decade by Decade 1815-2015

A Rich History of Being

1815 ydy 2015

x A s h l a n d, O h i o Learn More | 800.882.1548 | www.ashland.edu

April 12, 1823 - Uniontown is renamed Ashland after renowned stateman Henry Clay’s estate in Kentucky in order to get a U.S. Post Office.

August 21, 1828 - First boat reaches Massillon, Ohio on the Ohio Canal.

Wheat and other farm product prices from Ashland triple overnight.

December 30, 1834 - J.C. Gilikson publishes Ashland’s first newspaper; The Ashland Herald,

January 30, 1852 - The first hanging takes place in Ashland. Edward Steingraver was executed for murdering Clarinda Vantilburg.

Dec. 26, 1857 - Main Street is lit with gas lamps for the first time, and the Ashland Gas Light Co. is founded.

July 28, 1858 - Old Town Hall, the first of its kind, located at Center and Main streets, is dedicated.

April 27, 1865 - The steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River as it is carrying home about 200 from Ashland County. The event is overlooked because President Lincoln died two weeks earlier.

x March 12, 1844 - Ashland receives its charter from the state and officially becomes incorporated, allowing Ashland to operate with greater political autonomy and self-governance.

March 28, 1845 - Ashland’s first council wraps up its first fiscal year with expenditures of $28.15 and had a balance on hand of $21.65.

March 7, 1846 - The old stone Methodist church begins to function as the first courthouse in Ashland.

April 6, 1846 - Ashland becomes the county seat of Ashland County, Ohio.

Ashland was the state’s 86th county.

1870 - F.E. Myers is born when Francis Enoch Myers begins selling farm equipment on Main Street and hires his brother, Philip Andrew Myers.

March 14, 1874 - A temperance movement had swept Ashland in the winter of 1873 and on this day in 1874, the businessmen of the town signed a petition to stop the sale of intoxicants.

February 20, 1878 - A group of Brethren leaders and church members hand-write the charter for Ashland College at Maple Grove Church north of Ashland. The college opened in 1879.

1882 - The Anchors amateur baseball team wins a national championship at Rock Island, Ill., with Jack Topping and Ernie Beam pitching for the team.

Nov. 5, 1939 - Montgomery School is dedicated. The school consolidated 11 one or two-room schoolhouses in Montgomery Township at the time.

October 29, 1887 - Ashland Times editor William H. Reynolds is killed in a courtroom in Nankin.

March 16, 1893 - The new Erie Railway depot is completed on Cottage Street, replacing the Orange Street depot that had burned in 1891.

August 15, 1941 - Ashland’s first parking meters are installed. The meters were installed on Main Street and portions of Center Street.

December 31, 1899 - The Star Telephone Co. is formed as the first telephone service in Ashland. An early employee was Charles Kettering.

May 18, 1947 - WATG-FM begins broadcasting on 100.7. A Goodyear airship with a sign that read “smooth FM” flew over the area.

May 28, 1912 - Samaritan Hospital is officially dedicated. It was made possible through the efforts and generosity of Jesse Lewis Clark.

Dec. 17, 1920 - Associated Charities is incorporated with a mission to “render relief to the worthy poor of the city.”

1923 - The Ashland County Fair moves to its permanent home, the current fairgrounds on Claremont Avenue. The land came from farmer C. Jay Latter.

May 12, 1927 - The John A McDowell Auditorium is dedicated.

April 1, 1930 - The population of Ashland exceeds 10,000 for the first time, according to the 1930 census. At the time, F.E. Myers and Brother Co. had 600 employees and owned 12 acres of factories in the city.

March 5, 1955 - The 134-car New Jersey 77 split in two (at the 90th car) when a burned out axle caused it to derail.

May 15, 1977 - Glen Clayton presides over his last commencement as Ashland College president. When he started in 1948, the college had four buildings, 300 students and assets of $4 million.

It had grown to 36 buildings, 2,000 students and assets of $30 million.

Sept. 19, 1981 - The Faultless men’s fastpitch softball team finishes second in the ASA National Fastpitch Softball Tournament in St. Joseph, Missouri.

July 4, 1990 - With the launch of about a dozen balloons on Freer Field as part of the city’s 175th anniversary celebration, Ashland BalloonFest begins.

Nov. 14, 1991 - The U.S. 250 bypass around Ashland opens, , ending a 19-year wait.

x

July 28, 1815 - William Montgomery’s plat of a village known as Uniontown is approved in Columbus.

May 31, 1957 - United Appeal, later United Way, is organized in Ashland by a charity fund-raising group formerly called the Community Chest.

Nov. 20, 1960 - The current Ashland High School breaks ground on south side of town and the former high school becomes the junior high school.

July 29, 1966 - Abbott Laboratories of North Chicago, Illinois, agrees to acquire all the assets of Faultless Rubber Co. of Ashland in exchange for 110,554 common shares of Abbott.

July 7, 1971 - City council passes an ordinance and resolution to proceed with the five-year, $1.9 million Claremont Avenue improvement project that widened the street from two lanes to four.

June 10, 2000 - The new Ashland Police Department and Municipal Court facility is dedicated in the new Justice Center on East Main Street.

Aug. 6, 2000 - A tornado touches down west of town in the vicinity of Township Road 1353. No deaths or major injuries were reported.

October 2008 - Ashland’s Archway Cookies ceases operations in October 2008.

Ashland officials, including Mayor Glen Stewart, convinced Lance Inc. to purchase Archway and restart production at the Ashland plant in December 2008.

March 29, 2013 - The Ashland University women’s basketball team defeats Dowling College 71-56 in the NCAA Division II national championship.

Decade by Decade We hope you enjoy what we called internally our “History Book”.

It is not a ‘history’ in the academic sense, but rather a series of stories with semi-random highlights of the previous twenty decades, with the occaisional photo thrown in.

Contributers Courtney Day, Chris Weidinger, Dan Kubacki ,Joe Pelletier, Jarred Opatz, Irv Oslin, Alicia Moherman, Mike Buettner, Devon Brabenec, Alexandra Mellen, Tom Puskar, Denise Ritter, Ted Daniels and Joe Durbin

1815-1825

8 T he end of the War of 1812 in February 1815 cleared the way for the more rapid settlement of north-central Ohio.

While none of the actual fighting between the Americans and British and their Native American allies during the 2 1/2-year war took place in this area, the Copus massacre occurred in September 1812 in Mifflin Township in which five settlers and three soldiers were killed by Native Americans. This gave many pioneers pause about attempting to settle in the area.

The killings of the Rev. James Copus and the others were in revenge for renegade American troops burning the Greentown Indian village along the Black Fork, despite promises that if the Delawares and Mingos left peaceably with American troops and temporarily moved west, their village would be protected. American officers had persuaded Copus, who had good relations with the Indians, to speak with tribal leaders on their behalf. Feeling betrayed, several Indians escaped and attacked the settlers and troops sent to protect them.

One of the first settlers to arrive after the 1815 end to the War of 1812 was William Montgomery, who laid out 40 lots on the plot of land near where a lone cabin stood. The cabin was owned by David Carter, and they agreed to create a new town together.

The new settlement would bear the name of Montgomery’s childhood home in Pennsylvania — Uniontown.

Once Montgomery completed his own cabin, he felt confident enough

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to journey to Columbus and request that his plat be approved as an official town. His request was accepted and

were Perrysville, June 10, 1812; Loudonville, Aug. 6, 1814, and Jeromesville, Feb. 14, 1815.

The transition to Ashland When Uniontown was founded, Ohio had only been an official state for 12 years and still bore the wild characteristics of its past life as the ferociously unchecked Northwest Territory. There was very little development and new

This sketch shows the first cabin built in the area by David Carter Sr. in 1811 or 1812.

Carter worked with Montgomery to establish Uniontown.

From William Duff’s “One Hundred Years of Ashland.”

Uniontown was officially born on July 28, 1815. It become the fourth town in the territory that would eventually become Ashland County. The first three

faces were slow to trickle in to lend their support to Carter and Montgomery.

In 1821, a full six years after its founding, Uniontown consisted of only 15

families, a saw mill, a distillery and a tannery. These conditions were immediately noticed by two of the newest additions to the town: pioneer Francis Graham and the Rev. Thomas Beer.

Beer immediately lamented the absence of a church in Uniontown, but Graham had other matters pressing upon his mind. He was far more concerned with the absence of an official post office in Uniontown.

The American postal service can date back to 1692 when rough letters were sent between colonists, and the first official postal service was established by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in 1792.

The postal service was a well-established system and Graham was positive that the absence of an official post office was stunting Uniontown’s ability to grow in the “modern” world.

This harsh reality galvanized Graham into action.

Graham sent a petition to Ohio’s congressional representative, John Sloan.

Sloan received it and immediately agreed with its argument: Uniontown must have a post office at once. There was just one sticking point, however.

As Sloan was preparing to establish the office in Uniontown, he realized that there already were two other Ohio towns that had chosen the name Uniontown. In an effort to stave off confusion, Sloan himself suggested that the name be changed to Ashland.

Sloan chose Ashland as that was the name of the Kentucky estate belonging to his friend and a popular member of the Whig party, Henry Clay.

On April 12, 1823, Ashland, Ohio officially got its post office and Francis Graham was named its first postmaster.

And so it transpired that Ashland was both christened and connected to the wider world because of one man’s insistence that its people get their mail in 1821.

Samaritan Regional Health System - Established 1912

War road: Ashland’s first arrivals

used to make a variety of secondary prod1815 saw both the ucts, including founding of Unioncandies, baked town and the end goods and, most of the worst conflict of all, syrup. mathat the fledgling ple syrup could United States had experienced since be made relativethe Revolutionary ly easily in the War: The War of Uniontown area, 1812. and the emphasis Known by some quickly became as, “The second This map of Uniontown from 1818 shows additional lots to the 40 that were in William Montgomery’s 40-lot plat. quantity over From Betty Plank’s “Historic Ashland County II.” war with England” quality as more the war of 1812 rerelated, but they do know that William and more families began to settle, its and more farms quired greater mobility of the Ameri- Montgomery was the grantor (seller) tannery and sawmill could not employ tried producing the commodity. can people for the purposes of trans- for each of the 40 lots. them all, so family farms became the Ashland became a curious combinaporting troops and supplies. One of After James Montgomery’s initial norm and one particularly sweet prodtion of rubber-faced leather workers those roads ran to the young town of purchase, things began to snowball uct rose to prominence.

Mansfield. It was barely more than a and familiar family names begin to ap- Sugar began to become a profitable covered in sawdust, and aggressive well-trodden path of mud and rocks, pear in the records. crop for the farmers of Uniontown to syrup manufacturers drenched in sugbut along its route it passed through Early landowners were the Urie fam- produce. Some sugar-making families ar.

Uniontown. ily, who worked as blacksmiths; the of the area included the Crouse family, What the town needed desperately, The traffic on the supply road to Man- Grubb family, who made cabinets; and the Proudfits and the Huffmans. however, was to develop its merchant sfield exposed hundreds of soldiers to the Markley brothers, who purchased For many of the city’s infant years, economy. Answering that call would the new town and after the war, many a substantial plot of land in the north- sugar was the top seller in town. It was be Graham. of them remembered it and set out to ern section of Graham came to Uniontown just settle in its borders.

Uniontown. Other before the town changed its name to Uniontown was attractive to these landowner names Ashland in 1821, and discovered in his settlers for several reasons. There was that still sound own words, “A village of about 14 or work in the form of a burgeoning saw- familiar today are 15 families, two distilleries, one sawmill and tannery, and creating a new Sloane, Figley, mill, a tannery, a wheelwright shop, a town from the ground up was an attrac- Vantilberg, Swinblacksmith and a physician.” tive prospect, but the most important eford and Gardresource that early Uniontown offered ner.

Graham registered the need for storeto the incoming settlers was land. front in the town, so he rented a room Land was everything to American Life on the farm: in a building belonging to Joseph early economics citizens during the early days of westSheets for $1 a week. The building ward expansion, and Uniontown was In its early days, stood on what is now the corner of no exception.

Uniontown was a Main and Center Streets.

Montgomery and Carter had 40 plots production econAshland began its life as collaboof land ready to sell, but the first pur- omy. The sawmill rations among entrepreneurial men chase was not made until three years and the tannery Merchant Francis Graham was the driving force behind getting Montgomery, Carter, Graham, Beer after the founding of the town. served as the two Uniontown a post office. However, it required changing the In 1818, James Montgomery pur- biggest employers name of the town since two other Uniontowns existed in Ohio. and others. Its initial name — Unionchased Lot No. 1 from William Mont- and monetary en- Graham was rewarded for his efforts and was named the first town — may have been changed, but gomery for exactly $25. Genealogists gines in the area. postmaster of Ashland in 1823. that spirit of collaboration still lives on However, as more still are unsure if the two men were From A.J. Baughman’s “History of Ashland County.” in the city’s inhabitants 200 years later.

Samaritan Regional Health System - Established 1912

3

1826-1834

8 D uring Ashland’s second decade, the small village grew as more pioneers continued to stream westward to find the land of new opportunity. Some passing through, would decide to stay and settle in.

The original plat laid out by William Montgomery was filled with houses and structures, so additional lots were added. Many of the original rough-hewed cabins were replaced by fancier, framed houses and a few brick buildings began to appear.

In 1830, the population of Ashland had grown to 235, according to H.S. Knapp’s 1863 book, “A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County.”

Several grist mills and sawmills powered by water were built, Additional stores opened to serve the needs of residents and those passing through on their way west. Doctors and lawyers and mechanics added to the community’s commerce.

Churches grow Churches also were growing in the village during this time. Several Presbyterian families were among the earliest settlers of the area that would become Ashland.

In 1817, Montgomery Church was formed, and it later was renamed to Hopewell. A log building about a mile west of town was built in 1819. Up until that time, the founders met in homes.

In the early 1830s, membership rose to nearly 140, and during that time parishioners left to form congregations in Savannah, Or-

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ange Township and Olivesburg.

As the area’s population grew, it was decided to move the church building into the village and in 1836, a new and commodious house of worship was erected,” according to Knapp’s book A few years later, 40 members of the Hopewell congregation left the church in how hymns should sung, and established church that became First Presbyterian Church.

First newspaper is published In 1834, the first newspaper was published in Ashland. The Ashland Herald printed its first edition on Dec. 30 with J.C, Gilkison as the publisher. It was neutral in politics. The Herald had a fair amount of advertising, including merchants L.M. Pratt and Granger & Campbell, John P. Reznor, an insurance agent for the Columbus Insurance Co., and the Golden Eagle Hotel.

According to Knapp’s book, Gilkinson said he “agrees to receive in payment for the Herald, flour, cornmeal, wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, rags, firewood and pork.” The Herald was published for 9 months before suspending publication.

Shortly after the Herald folded, printer Joshua Ruth started the Ohio Globe, which was published for about a year.

Women of early Ashland According to Belle Mansfield Wiest’s “Horse and Buggy Days, An informal account of activities in Ashland Ohio from 1815 to 1908,” the women of early Ashland had a “progressive” social life: “They had quiltings, rag sewings,

and they found time to take their sewing and spend the day with a neighbor and talk things over. They boil their own soap in the backyard and carried a good sample to their nearest neighbor.

“When the time came for getting ready to make apple butter, all the women of the town would be invited in to pare and core apples. The next day the apples would be boiled into apple butter. A neighbor would drop in now and then to see how the butter was getting along. If it were getting too thick, it

soon would be time to take it off the fire.

“There were the babies to look after, for certainty the baby-habit was the style; large families were the fashion. Remedies were exchanged and recommended during sickness.”

Arrival of Johnny Appleseed

Some of those apples that the pioneer ladies of Ashland made apple butter likely came from trees planted years earlier by one of the most famous — and perhaps oddest — characters in local history — John Chapman or better known as Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny Appleseed is one of the true legendary figures of the American frontier, and particularly of Ohio and Indiana history.

Little is know about his early life, other than he was born sometime between 1770 and 1775 in Massachusetts. As a young man, he came west via Pittsburgh with a brother, and ended up in Marietta on the Ohio River.

He was deeply spiritually having converted as a young man to the Swedenborg faith, and he always carried tracts.

While the folklore of Johnny Appleseed focuses on the free-spirDuring the 1915 Ashland centennial, local schoolchildren hearty barefooted donated nickels to pay for this monument honoring Johnny ited, with Appleseed and early pioneers. The monument was original- frontiersman ly at East Main Street and Cleveland Avenue but later was tattered clothes, moved to Brookside Park. he was actually From the Ashland County Historical Society. an entrepreneur of

Brethren Care Village - Established 1972

sorts, anticipating the needs of future settlers of the Ohio country.

Beginning about 1795, Chapman with almost a missionary zeal collected seeds from cider mills in the autumn, and then in the spring would travel through the wilderness following the rivers and streams of Ohio and later Indiana.

He would stop along the way to clear small patches of rich loamy soil, building primitive brush fences and plant his apple seeds. He would return periodically to tend to the growing sapling in his nurseries, pruning the trees so they would be symmetrical.

In the early 1800s, his travels would bring him to up the Mohican River and its tributaries, including the Black Fork and Jerome Fork, to what would later become Ashland County. Beginning in 1812, and continuing through 1826, there is documentable evidence that of Chapman nurseries planted and maintained in what were Green, Mifflin, Mohican and Orange townships, according to Robert Price’s “Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth,” published in 1954 by Indiana University Press.

One example is a recorded lease for one-half acre in Orange Township, S.E. Quarter, Section 27, Township 20, Range 16. “Leased April 22, 1826 by John Oliver, landlord, to John Chapman, tenant, a piece of ground ‘where the said John Chapman plants fruit.’

Term 40 years. Payment 20 apple trees.”

Settlers claiming a homestead in the Ohio frontier were required to establish residency. That meant clearing land, building a cabin, planting crops and starting an orchard. Apples were a popular choice. And Johnny Appleseed would provide the pioneers sapling trees from his network of nurseries.

His usual charge of a “fip-penny-bit” a piece for each sapling. But since money was scarce, and if the settler couldn’t pay in currency, Johnny would take in trade old clothing or by taking a note payable at some future date.

Chapman and his apple-planting followed the settlers west, and eventually his network of apple nurseries stretched from the Ohio River to Lake Erie and west towards Fort Wayne, Indiana, and from there south toward central Indiana.

Chapman’s visits to Ashland In the 1820s and 1830s, Chapman passed through the Ashland area at least twice a year, according to Hal D. Sheaffer, volunteer at the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center near Mifflin.

Sheaffer, who has become a bit of a an expert on Johnny Appleseed and the War of 1812 period in Ohio, said Chapman would head from Marietta, where he had family, each spring and work his way toward Fort Wayne, Indiana, where other family members had settled. He then would make the return trip in the fall, tending his nurseries. He also would visit with farmers and friends along the way, checking on the orchards planted from his saplings.

At least two of those orchards were in what eventually would become Ashland, according to Wiest’s 1908 book.

One was on the north side of Ashland, where Sandusky and Pleasant streets meet, and was known as the Public Orchard. “This was a place where once children could get apples without calling it stealing, although the land was owned by the late J.F. Sprengle,” Wiest wrote.

Bill Sample, who has been involved with the restoration of the Siler Farm as a historical site, says research his group has done indicates that an old orchard along Jamison Creek might be an Appleseed orchard.

There is documented evidence that Chapman traveled along Jamison Creek, upon which the Siler Farm is located behind the Justice Center south of East Main Street.

The Siler farm was originally settled by John Yeisley in the late 1820s.

Sample said it’s believed the Yeisley

family possibly belonged to the Swedenborg sect. Representatives of the Johnny Appleseed Education Center and Museum at Urbana University have examined the trees and say they are about the right age and type to possibly be “Johnny” trees, Sample said.

One of the last — if not the last — officially documented “Johnny tree” is located just west of Savannah on the Dick Algeo farm, which has been in his family since the 1830s. Chapman was a frequent visitor to the Algeo’s descendants, and planted an apple orchard there, according to Tom Kruse, an Ashland County Park District volunteer and mayor of Savannah. He said there might still be one other “Johnny” tree located in Indiana.

John Chapman died March 11, 1845, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As

Main Street and Cleveland Avenue.

More than a thousand schoolchildren donated a nickel each to help pay for construction of the monument, which was later moved to Brookside Park.

Studebaker family

Another monument a few miles east of town on U.S. 250, marks where one of Ashland’s most noteworthy families once called home.

In 1835, John Studebaker and wife, Rebecca, arrived in a carriage pulled by a team of four horses with then six of 10 children. They were coming from Pennsylvania and had purchased a 160-acre farm.

Studebaker eventually turned to blacksmithing. He turned out iron parts for wooden wagons produced by neighbor George Myers.

Three of the Studebakers sons — Clem, John M., and Peter — also learned the blacksmithing trade. But during the tough financial times in the 1850s, the three brothers moved After their farming ventures faltered, the Studebakers turned to west to South blacksmithing, making parts for wagons built by George Myers.

Bend, Indiana.

In the 1850s, three sons moved west to South Bend, Indiana, first making horse-drawn vehicles and later automobiles. There they started From the Ashland County Historical Society. their own blacksmith shop, evenGeorge W. Hill wrote in his 1876 tually becoming the world’s largest “History of Ashland County” about producer of horse-drawn vehicles. In Chapman, “He seems to have been 1904, the company moved into the specially fitted by Providence to pre- manufacturing of the Studebaker gaspare the wilderness for the recep- oline-powered automobiles. The last tion of emigration and civilization.” Studebaker car was produced in 1966.

The contributions of Johnny Apple- The sons of neighbor Myers — Franseed to the Ashland area were recog- cis E. Myers and Phillip A. Myers nized during the city’s 1915 centennial — also got involved in their dad’s celebration when school children dedi- wagon business and other farm-recated a monument to Johnny Appleseed lated devices, eventually moving and Ashland County’s pioneers at East into the manufacture of pumps.

Brethren Care Village - Established 1972

5

1836-1845

8 A shland County looked very different in 1836 than in 1845, growing in physical and political directions. Ashland was beginning to assert itself in unique ways in the yet-to-be-formed county that would be named after it.

One of the areas of growth came in secondary education in the late 1830s.

That’s when a private secondary school started by a teacher eventually became Ashland Academy. During its more than 10 years of existence, Ashland

Academy had “a high reputation at home and abroad.” Its influence continued long after it closed in 1850 and public high schools replaced private academies.

Another area of growth was in the city’s infrastructure with the town’s first mayor, Charles R. Deming. During his tenure from 1844 to 1846, Deming, who established one of the town’s first stores in the 1830s, issued an ordinance to construct sidewalks along Main Street and grade the street.

Churches also grew during this timeframe. One of those churches was Trinity Lutheran Church, which had its beginnings in the 1820s but didn’t have a location or denomination-affiliation until the late 1830s. All this growth from 1836 to 1845 helped lead to the establishment of Ashland County in 1846 and played a key part in Ashland being chosen as the county seat.

Ashland Academy This decade also saw the rise of secondary education for an elite group of students with the opening of Ashland Academy, which soon gained a statewide reputation as a strong academic institution.

In 1838, professor Samuel McClure began teaching a private secondary

school, and from that grew Ashland Academy the following year. The two-story school stood where the old high school and Ashland Middle School now stands.

Nearby, a three-story dormitory housed the academy’s out-of-town pupils.

“It is not too much to say that Ashland owes all the consequences it has attained and its success in local conflicts with rival towns to the Ashland Academy,” H.S. Knapp wrote in his 1863 county history. “The town for many years was known abroad only through this popular institution of learning.”

Had it not been for the academy, Knapp postulated, “the rude inn, the blacksmith, weaver, tailor, shoeshop and distillery would have marked very nearly the culminating point in the

This 1846 drawing by Henry Howe has the Ashland Academy in the background (two-story columned building). In the foreground to the left is the old stone Methodist church that later served as the county’s first courthouse. The church on the right is the Presbyterian Church. This is the area where the courthouse and jail were later built.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

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Hedstrom Plastics - Established 1913

town’s prosperity.”

Robert Fulton was the academy’s first principal, the Rev. R.R. Sloan was assistant principal and Jane E. (née Coulter) Sloan was the first preceptress of the ladies’ department.

In 1844, Lorin Andrews, the second white man born in Ashland, already known for his speaking skills, became principal. He was no older than 25, and he quickly became a statewide force for public education. Later at age 35, he became president of Kenyon College in 1854.

Private academies like Ashland Academy were the precursors to public high schools, and the academy was closed in 1850 when Ashland Union School began.

But historians agree the impact of Ashland’s academy well outlived its years of operation.

“Ashland Academy had a very successful career of over 10 years, during which it sustained a high reputation at home and abroad,” George Hill wrote in his 1880 history of Ashland County. “Very few academic institutions of Ohio can furnish a roll of scholars containing more influential and leading men, as teachers, attorneys, physicians, men of science and politicians.”

Incorporation and first mayor Charles R. Deming, Ashland’s first mayor, was a rising figure in Ashland business, establishing one of the town’s early stores in 1835, offering general merchandise as well as wool and lumber for sale. His prominence figured into owning a residence on Fourth Street, then called Cass Avenue, at Cottage Street, a prestigious residential area at that time.

Deming served as the first mayor of Ashland from March 12, 1844, the date on the charter incorporating the village of Ashland, to 1846. Before this, the

Lorin Andrews became principal of the Ashland Academy at the age of 25 in 1844. He moved on and became a statewide leader in education, being named president of Kenyon College in 1854 at the age of 35.

From Ashland County Historical Society.

Montgomery Township trustees had conducted the business of the village.

Also in 1844, Deming issued an ordinance to construct sidewalks along Main Street, as well as to grade the street. The sidewalks were supposed to be 10 feet wide and made of sandstone or brick, according Wiest’s history.

That year’s total expenses in the village were $28.85, and the balance was $21.65, according to a sesquicentennial booklet, so Ashland spent a little over half of what it made.

Deming continued to be active in civic affairs after he left office.

The first meeting of Ashland Masonic Lodge No. 151 was May 7, 1847, and Deming was appointed the first Master of the lodge. In the 1860s, he moved west to Illinois and died in 1903.

formed county.

In the early 1840s, Hayesville was an appealing candidate.

The Vermillion Institute had just been created, and proved “the feeling of higher education of the people in the township,” historian William Duff reported.

The post office, which began in 1827, was well established. Hayesville also boasted a physician (the well-known Dr. Harrison Armstrong) and a blacksmith.

“Hayesville, a thriving community, seat of the Vermillion Institute, was a strong competitor against Ashland for the seat of justice,” Duff wrote in his “History of Ashland Ohio.”

But Ashland matched all those offerings, plus a grain mill, a larger population (about 1,300) and a more central location within the county. And another attractive thing: money to spend.

Before the vote, Ashland conducted an independent assessment and offered $5,000 to fund the construction of county buildings like a courthouse and jail.

But the people of the county still had to decide.

The roots of Trinity Though it didn’t have an official lo-

Lobbying for county seat

In the years leading up to Ashland County’s formation in 1846, Ashland and Hayesville, both in Richland County at the time, looked like strong candidates to claim the seat of a newly

Hedstrom Plastics - Estab-

The Rev. W.J. Sloan was pastor of the Lutheran German Reformed Church when it moved into a former brewery building.

From Ashland County Historical Society.

cation and denomination until the late 1830s, the history one of Ashland’s oldest churches began in the early 1820s, when the first German immigrants to the area worshipped in their homes, barns, schoolhouses and in outdoor gatherings.

A small group of Lutherans and Baptists first began to worship at Neff Church, a log cabin that stood beside what is now Troy Road and Eastlake Drive. The fledgling church was called the German Lutheran and Presbyterian Reformed Church of Montgomery Township, Richland County (Ashland didn’t become a county until 1846).

In 1839, a congregation of about 30 members formed Lutheran German Reformed Church, which was accepted into the East Ohio Synod in 1840.

The group purchased a structure that was formerly a brewery on Orange and Third street to be the congregation’s physical home.

As the church continued to grow, a new building was raised in 1852 on the north side of West Third Street between Orange and Church streets. The congregation had more than 100 members by 1861, and during the Civil War years, the church was reorganized as the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ashland.

A fire ignited in the church in April 1883, which destroyed the building and many early church records. Worship services were held in the courthouse and Opera House until a new building was opened and dedicated in 1885 at the corner of Church and Third streets.

This was also the time when the name “Trinity” began being used to identify the congregation.

Trinity Lutheran Church has been at its Center Street location since 1963.

Its current congregation includes more than 1,600 members.

lished 1913

7

1846-1855

8 T he majority of the territory that eventually would form Ashland County originally was part of Richland County. Over the years, residents in those far eastern townships and villages had petitioned to break off from Richland County, which geographically was one of the larger counties in Ohio at the time.

Possible strategies for this included an Ellsworth County with the county seat of Sullivan; Mohican County with Loudonville as the seat; Vermillion County with Hayesville; and Jerome, Orange or Savannah counties with various county seats. But these petitions never made it all the way through the process.

Finally, a petition to create a new coun-

ty made to the Ohio General Assembly.

But it took two tries for it to be approved.

While the Ohio House of Representatives approved the petition twice, the Ohio Senate defeated it the first time around.

On Feb. 24, 1846, the petition passed the Senate by an 18-15 margin. The new county, consisting of 15 townships from Richland, Huron, Lorain and Wayne Counties, was created. It covered about 400 square miles.

Mifflin, Milton, Clear Creek, Hanover, Green Vermillion, Montgomery and Orange townships were taken out the Richland County territory.

Ruggles Township was added from

Huron County while Troy and Sullivan townships were added from Lorain County.

Jackson, Perry, Mohican and Lake townships came from Wayne County.

Ashland becomes the county seat

The next step was establishing which town would become the county seat and where county government buildings would be erected.

On Monday, April 6, 1846, Ashland and Hayesville were the two up for vote. By 680 votes, Ashland won, so the county would share its name. The final tally was 2,682 for Ashland and 2,002 for Hayesville.

The first county building built after Ashland was established as the county seat was the county jail (left). The courthouse was completed in 1853.

Courthouse square was the center of community activities for years. From Caldwell’s “Atlas of Ashland Co. Ohio.”

8

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On that same April election day, voters elected the first county commissioners, auditor, treasurer, prosecuting attorney, sheriff, recorder and surveyor.

iff to announce to the people his last words: “I am not guilty of this crime imputed to me.”

As he was bound and prepared for the rope, he asked the minister to urge the gathered people in both English and German to avoid sins and vices that would lead them only to ruin. A hood was than placed over his head and the noose around his neck.

Charles Steingraver was dropped down the gallows at 1:15 p.m., and hung by his neck for about an hour and was then pronounced dead. The crowd quietly dispersed.

The first county buildings

The next and most immediate step was the construction of county buildings.

The first of these was the county jail.

Jail construction began in 1847 and was completed the next year. The first sheriff and his family actually lived in the jail building.

Ozias S. Kinney was the architect, and he completed it at a cost to the county of no more than $14,000. It also contained space for county offices, and the attic was used as a Masonic lodge room for Ashland Lodge No. 115 F.&A.M. Kinney was also the architect and project manager for the new courthouse. Before its construction, an old stone church that had been built by Methodists served as an interim court house. Construction on a new building began in 1851 and was completed in 1853, with the first session of court being held on Nov. 7.

The courthouse cost the county approximately $20,000.

Both buildings sat in “court house square” on Second Street where the current courthouse is located. It was the center of Ashlanders’ social events, and hangings.

The last of the first wave of county buildings was a county infirmary, which was constructed in 1849 by architects Sylvester Alger and George W. Urie.

First murder case, hanging

With both a jail and a courthouse, Ashland became the center for dispensing justice in the new county.

In 1851, Charles Steingraver came to trial to face the first murder charges that had ever been filed in the newly formed county.

He stood in the stone Methodist church that was serving as the court house, accused of killing Clarinda Vantilburg, a 10-year-old blind girl.

Circus comes to town

Before the formation of Ashland County, the area was part of Richland, Wayne, Huron and Lorain counties.

T-G graphic.

Vantilburg’s parents left her in Steingraver’s care while they left to travel to Perrysburg to attend a Sunday School celebration.

It was widely believed by many that the murder was committed by Steingraver while he was attempting to rape the child, but Steingraver attested that he was innocent of all charges throughout the trial.

Bolivar Kellogg was the prosecuting attorney, and the defense was taken up

by John S. Fulton of Ashland and Jacob Brinkerhoff of Mansfield. Brinkerhoff was a member of the United States Congress.

This did appear to help Steingraver. The jurors in the case declared him guilty of murder in the first degree.

Steingraver’s defense team wanted a new trial but was refused.

Steingraver was sentenced to be hanged on Friday January, 30, 1852, between noon and 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

According to a report from the Ohio

Union, dated Feb. 4, 1852, Steingraver’s hanging was a well-attended event with a crowd estimated at 8,000 to 12,000.

People from every part of Ashland county came to witness the execution, many of whom traveled far.

Law enforcement and military personnel were out in force to guard the execution grounds and ward off any violent protests or attempts to stop the proceedings.

Steingraver was led out from his cell at exactly noon by the sheriff and five ministers. He ascended the steps of the gallows with a rigid determination and nothing in his demeanor betrayed that he had any sense of dread over what was about to occur.

It wasn’t until the minsters began their prayers over him that Steingraver shed a tear, a tear that than turned into rolling waves of sobs that rocked his entire frame.

He regained his composure as the prayers subsided and instructed the sher-

Barnum’s Circus made its first appearance in Ashland on Aug. 8, 1852. The big tent was put up on East Washington Street.

In later years, two or three circuses might come to town in the summertime.

“Large crowds gathered on the streets. It was a general holiday for the town folks as well as the country folks,” Belle Mansfield Wiest wrote in “Horse & Buggy Days, An informal account of activities in Ashland, Ohio from 1815 to 1908.”

In 1852, Ashland’s first bank was incorporated, under the names of Luther, Crall & Co. It later became the First National Bank.

In November 1853, the first Ashland Street Fair was held, and it was called a big success. “Ten thousand people, it was said, attended, and the exhibition off cattle was equal to the State Fair,” Wiest wrote.

And it the fall of 1855, the Ashland Lyceum was founded as the town’s first literary society for the purpose of debating questions, reading essays and hearing lectures. It met weekly and invited both men and women to join.

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9

1856-1865

8 A shland’s defining event in the decade between 1856 and 1865 — in fact, the nation’s defining event in these years — was the Civil War. Ashlanders witnessed great heroes and great tragedies. They made sacrifices and continued in spite of it all.

Even before the Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, some in Ohio were looking ahead to a conflict between the states.

The first call for recruits came three days later, on April 15, and Ashland County raised one company — about

100 men -—that joined the 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment. Thomas J. Kenney, an Ashland lawyer, led it for much of its service. It saw early action against the South and was known for being the first regiment to cross the Ohio River into southern territory. It also participated in the first battle of the war at Philippi on June 30, 1861, though some count it only as a skirmish.

Soldiers from Ohio numbered 310,654 during the Civil War. The town of Ashland’s 1860 population was 1,736, according to Caldwell’s Atlas. “Judging

This panel of the Ashland County Fallen Heroes Memorial at Ashland Cemetery records the 314 veterans from the county who lost their lives in the Civil War. From the Times-Gazette / Tom Puskar

10

from the number of regiments of men from Ashland County that are recorded in Knapp’s 1864 Ashland County History,” historian Betty Plank wrote, “there could not have been too many young men left behind.”

Ashland boys took their places in several other Ohio regiments in the months ahead, including one or multiple companies in the 23rd, 65th, 82nd, 87th, 102nd, 120th, 163rd and 196th.

At first, some in the North were confident of a quick victory. But after the battle — or “disaster,” author F.H. Mason calls it — of Bull Run in July 1861, when the Confederate Army routed the Union Army, many realized the war would be a long haul.

With this in mind, the 42nd OVI assembled in the following fall months.

Col. James A. Garfield led it, and Ashland provided two companies.

Whatever notions of battlefield glory and heroic returns that existed at the beginning of the war were gone by the time the 42nd Regiment was formed.

These men who joined up “must give up the plans and pursuits of civil life, settle down to the work of becoming soldiers in deadly earnest and be thankful if at the end of the struggle they were left alive,” Mason, himself a member of the 42nd, wrote. “ ‘For three years or during the war,’ was a serious and comprehensive proposition to the farmer boy who had left his field, the student who had abandoned his unfinished course of study, and to the father who had left wife and babies dependent for support upon his meagre pittance as a soldier. ... The war that the country had expected to see decided by a single battle had gone from bad to worse.”

The first wave of recruits came from Hiram College at the inspiration of Garfield, then Ohio Senate president.

Garfield traveled the state mustering men, and on Nov. 1, 1861, he visited Ashland. Large numbers joined up af-

ter his visit, having watched the formation of Ashland’s 42nd OVI Company C on Sept. 10.

Hometown heroes

Garfield’s visit spawned Company H and fired up a providential leader. Seth M. Barber was superintendent of the public schools in Ashland when Garfield and Company C’s Captain T.C. Bushnell encouraged men to enlist at a meeting in the courthouse. Barber at first hesitated because of his duties in town, but “his indecision was brief. On the day after the meeting ... he signed the enlistment roll, and his example was followed by every boy in the school capable of carrying a gun.”

By the end of the month, the company was filled to capacity of 100, and Barber was made captain. He commanded until the battle of Vicksburg in 1863, when he lost a leg to a battle wound and returned home.

The 42nd saw 11 battles, lost 21 in battle and had 343 wounded.

While the troops were at war, those home in Ashland did their part. “A group of women organized to do what they could for the soldiers,” Plank quotes from a newspaper article. They made bandages and sewing kits, enlisting the town’s two sewing machines for help. They were generous in donating to those whose head of household had gone to fight, and at one point $3,000 was in the aid fund.

Another Ashland hero, possibly the greatest in its history, also was an educator. Plank said about him, “I found that Lorin Andrews may well have been Ashland’s most successful native son.”

Andrews was the second white person born in Ashland on April 1, 1819. He established a name for himself across the state and farther as he became president of Kenyon College, near Mount Vernon, in 1854, at the age of 35. He was offered the presidency at Iowa

Hawkins Fresh Foods - Established 1955

State University and was given an honorary law doctorate by Princeton.

In February 1861, Andrews became the first man from Ohio to volunteer for the Civil War. A.J. Baughman wrote in his History of Ashland County, “believing war inevitable, he offered his services to Governor (William) Dennison.” Dennison made him a captain, and he raised a company in Knox County for the OVI. Tragedy extends beyond war

Before Andrews even saw action, he contracted typhoid fever while with his troops. He returned to Ashland and stayed there until he died Sept. 18, 1861, at the age of 42. “The death shocked the state,” Plank wrote. The bell at Kenyon College chapel rang 42 times, and he was buried on its campus.

Death soon became a sudden and common occurrence in Ashland, the state and the nation. Ohio lost 11,200 soldiers in battle in five years. Many were transported back to their hometowns for burial, but more than 6,000 were left dead on the battlefields. Another 13,000 lost their lives to illnesses and injuries.

A village in Vermillion Township even earned the name Widowville after the war. As many as a dozen women living in the tiny community lost their husbands, Plank recorded.

Even when the war ended on April 9, 1865, the tragedy for Ashland area residents wasn’t over.

Before dawn on the morning of April 27, the Sultana, a steamboat, was transporting released prisoners of war to their homes in the north. It was overloaded with more than 2,000 people when the boilers exploded, setting the boat on fire and toppling the smokestacks. Many soldiers couldn’t swim, and others were injured and couldn’t escape.

“Many were maimed (in the explosion), others were scalded to death,” Baughman writes. “The whole steamer took fire and in the light there were pic-

Eighteen days after the Civil War ended, 14 Ashland County soldiers were among the estimated 1,700 released prisoners of war who were killed when the steamboat Sultana exploded on April 27, 1865.

From the Library of Congress.

tured scenes that tongue can never tell.

“Brave men, men who had faced rebel guns, men who had met the deadly fire of the enemy, were now helpless.”

The disaster claimed around 1,700 lives, though the actual number remains a mystery. Fourteen of the dead soldiers were from Ashland County.

For weeks afterward, lists circulated, containing names of the dead, the alive and the mistakenly categorized. Reports in Ashland newspapers continued to at least May 11 — but never on the front page.

On April 14, not two weeks earlier, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. His death the next day overshadowed the tragedy of the Sultana.

In total, 314 Ashland County residents died while serving in the Civil War. Happenings and happenstances

Between 1861 and 1865, little occupies the history books except stories and facts relating to war. But in the five years before the great conflict, Ashland experienced several significant events.

The years 1857 and 1858 were especially busy.

The title for a new cemetery was dedicated July 26, 1857, but its origins spanned several years before that. The grounds next to the Hopewell Church had been used as a cemetery until it became too full. In 1855, Bolivar W. Kellogg, an area prosecuting attorney, collected 92 signatures of residents to buy a new lot, and the next year the Ashland Cemetery Association was founded.

It purchased 10 acres from Lorin Andrews’ father’s estate, the site of today’s cemetery on West Main Street. Kellogg was the first to be buried there.

Five months later, on Dec. 26, 1857, Main Street was lit with gas lamps for the first time. Before that, tallow candles or lard lamps had been used.

“Lamplighters would make their rounds at eventide to turn the lights on, and again at about 10 p.m. to turn them out again,” a Times-Gazette article from 1965 reported. John Stevenson became the first Ashland Gas Light Co. president that year.

On July 28, 1858, Old Town Hall was dedicated. It was the first town hall Ashland had and sat at Center and Main streets. The total project cost was $10,000. It was first used as an election office, prison and storeroom, among other things.

Ashland women’s happenings in the 1850s included sewing groups. One Betty Plank article describes a gathering of women who met to sew their rags together into strips, which would then be wound into a ball. They competed to see who could make the largest ball, and later, they used them for braided rugs. The events would last all afternoon and include dinner.

Main and Orange streets were paved with cobblestones in 1863 during the war. They remained until 1898, according to Fred Hayes, a former Myers employee, until they were torn up, crushed and reused as a base for the new brick streets.

Some odd weather

Almanac listings in Knapp’s history gave a record high for the years around 1860 as 104 degrees on July 14, 1859, and the record low 24 below zero on Jan. 12, 1857. The area averaged 85 rainy days and 23 snowy.

However 1859 beat the law of averages, recording some of the oddest weather in the county’s first 50 years.

A cold snap on June 4 brought snow to the area, and the next morning, people saw “more than a common frost,” according to Jacob Ihrig, who lived in Wayne County at that time.

“It was a severe freeze. The ice was one-half to three-eighths of an inch thick. Everything froze of the plant kind. Wheat and rye froze in the blossom, corn in the stalk, potatoes and vines froze to the ground.” That wasn’t the end of it. Frost came again on July 4, Aug. 11 and Aug. 28. By the end, every month had experienced at least one day of it.

Hawkins Fresh Foods - Established 1955

11

The original Brookside swimming pool was built in 1927 by a group of invested stockholders.

It was replaced by the current pool,

Shown here in 1915, Highland Boulevard was developed by local local attorney Harry A. Mykrantz between Center Street and Eastern Avenue. Today the distinctive boulevard design still remains.

This is Claremont Avenue at Town Creek when it was a tree-lined residential street. In the 1950s, development began to creep up the hill, with the Municipal building replacing the homes on the right. In the early 1970s, the street was widened to four lanes.

12

Then & Now

In 1910, the Methodist Church anchored the northwest corner of Sandusky and Cottage Streets. It’s still the same today, except for the First United Methodist Church is in a newer building, built in the 1950s.

Among the many local organizations founded in the 1920s was the Ashland Country Club in 1923. After becoming a public course two years ago and being renamed the Ashland Golf Club, the old clubhouse was torn down and replaced by a smaller one that houses the pro shop and a restaurant.

The YMCA moved to its current location on Miller Street in 1957. The building on Myers Field was constructed for $477,000.

Several additions have expanded the facilities and its offerings over the years.

Then & Now

13

1866-1875 I

8

n the decade following the Civil War, Ashland continued to grow and the values of its people shifted.

A statewide temperance movement gained traction in Ashland with a crusade in March 1873 that resulted in the closing of the towns’s saloons for a few months.

Meanwhile, common school public education had become the norm and academies of higher education were growing in popularity. These academies proved to be the precursor to high schools, and the first Ashland High School was constructed in 1874.

The decade also brought a few setbacks, including an epidemic of disease among horses and a fire at a prominent downtown hotel.

played the organ and the Ashland band played the processional music.

The ceremony was ended abruptly by a commotion resulting from the sound of a gunshot. It was discovered that a man in the crowd had a revolver in his pocket during the event, and the gun had gone off accidentally and shot a woman who was seated nearby. The

woman, Sadie DeShong, sustained a flesh wound to the leg and was out of commission for several weeks.

In her informal history of Ashland, Belle Mansfield Weist quoted one of the newspapers of the day as saying, “Let it be a warning to all never to carry weapons of this kind in the family circle, on funeral occasions or to church.”

Temperance Crusade In late 1873 and early 1874, a temperance movement swept the state, reaching Ashland with a visit from Eliza Daniel Stewart, a temperance leader also known as “Mother Stewart,” in March 1874.

Decoration Day Ashland joined the rest of the country in observing the first Decoration Day in May 1868 to honor fallen Union soldiers, but the local ceremony was overshadowed by a shooting accident on the cemetery lawn.

The precursor to Memorial Day, Decoration Day was established by a proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic. General James Garfield, who later became the 20th president of the United States, spoke at Arlington National Cemetery.

In Ashland, a platform was erected in the cemetery for Captain T. C. Bushnell of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry to serve as the orator. The choir sang “Crown, Crown the Pale Hero” under the direction of J.H. Borron, E.L. Voke

14

“It was called the Crusade. All winter long the temperance agitation was at white heat,” Wiest wrote.

Area pastors preached temperance and meetings took place on weekdays to organize. The day after hearing from Mother Stewart at one of the meetings, women of the town planned a street crusade.

While their husbands gathered at church to pray for their success, 92 women made the rounds throughout town urging businesses to sign a pledge not to sell or give away alcohol or intoxicants. Some druggists signed the pledge, but hotel and saloon owners refused.

In his centennial history of Ashland, William Duff wrote that the women visited a saloon and smashed it and that it was rumored the saloon owner’s wife assisted in the destruction.

At midnight on March 11, church bells rang out declaring the seven saloon owners in the town had reached agreement to discontinue liquor sales starting March 14.

The saloons closed for a short time and then reopened in July of that year after city council rejected an ordinance to make liquor sales illegal.

The first high school

F.E. Myers stayed at the McNulty House when he first left his parents’ home. The prominent hotel in downtown Ashland caught fire in 1873. The hotel later was named The Hemingway and then became the location of Gilbert Furniture Store.

From Caldwell’s “Atlas of Ashland Co. Ohio.”

Also in 1874, construction began on the first Ashland High School. The school was completed the following year and quickly became a source of pride for the town.

At a cost of about $32,000, the building faced Cottage Street and was located about where Ashland Middle School’s McDowell Auditorium now stands, on the same site as the former Ashland Academy and Ashland Union School.

This first public high school in the county opened at a time when the desire for secondary education was growing rapidly and several acade-

The Good Sheperd - Established 1956

mies were operating throughout the county.

In his 1880 history of the county, George Hill listed the 1875 high school enrollment in the county as 1,306. Hill wrote that enrollment numbers for the common schools and the high school showed that the community was valuing education and literacy more than ever before.

The first Ashland High School had four classrooms on each of two floors as well as a single third floor classroom, which was called “the nest.”

The building was added onto several times over the years, and the portion from 1874 was demolished in 1926 to make way for McDowell Auditorium and gymnasium, which opened in 1927.

Continued growth By 1870, the population of Ashland was about 2,600. The city grew to include what was termed the Willis Addition, a section of land southwest of the existing town to about the intersection of Broad and Quarry streets.

New blocks were being built downtown, including the Lepper Block, which was occupied by J. Cahn and Company and the S.W. Black building and Ashland Times building.

The decade also marked the beginning of one of Ashland’s largest manufacturers, F.E. Myers & Bro. Co. In 1870, Francis Enoch Myers left his home east of Ashland and took a job selling dry goods for $2 per week, plus room and board at the McNulty House. A short time later, F.E. Myers began selling farm equipment, and using his commission he was able to open his own shop.

He hired his brother, Philip Andrew Myers, as a salesman.

P.A. Myers later patented a double-acting force pump — which produced a steady stream of water rather

The first Ashland High School was built in 1874. Located about where Ashland Middle School’s McDowell Auditorium now stands, the building had four classrooms on each of two floors as well as a single third-floor classroom, which was called “the nest.”

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

than short spurts — and the brothers began manufacturing and selling pumps.

Another innovation of the time was the milkman. Prior to the 1870s, many people in Ashland kept a cow and sold milk to their neighbors. In 1873, a new ordinance restricting the areas in which cows could be kept prompted townspeople to sell their cows and turn to the milkman for their deliveries.

a horse that could be driven any distance and at one time a Newfoundland dog carried the mail between Hayesville and Ashland,” Duff said. He went on to surmise the outbreak must have

been short-lived as the Hayesville Fair went off without a hitch that October.

Another setback to the city’s progress occurred the following year with a fire at a prominent downtown hotel, the McNulty House. The hotel later was named The Hemingway and then became the location of Gilbert Furniture Store.

Just before the Ashland Times went to press on February 20, 1873, the McNulty House caught fire. Townspeople grabbed buckets and formed a bucket brigade in an attempt not only to save the four-story building in the heart of downtown Ashland but also to prevent the blaze from spreading to other buildings. Eventually, the volunteer fire department was able to contain the fire.

While the Mcnulty house suffered about $3,000 damage, the adjacent buildings were saved and the newspaper declared the fire could have been much worse.

Setbacks to progress Ashlanders were at that time heavily reliant on horses as a means of transportation, so a widespread outbreak of an epizootic disease in 1872 had a significant impact on the town.

“A great many horses died, and others could not be used for a long time,” William Duff wrote in his 1915 centennial history of Ashland, adding that another animal disease outbreak in 1914 did not compare to the epidemic of 1872.

“When the epidemic was at its height it was well nigh impossible to obtain

Philip Andrew Myers, left, and Francis Enoch Myers are pictured together in this undated photo. The pair began F.E. Myers & Bro. Co. in 1870 selling farm equipment and later making pumps. The company became of one of Ashland’s largest manufacturers.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

The Good Sheperd - Established 1956

15

1876-1885

8 T he decade from 1876 to 1885 was a time of highs and lows for Ashland. The population was growing steadily — from 2,600 in 1870 to 3,000 in 1880 — and it was a time not only of exciting new beginnings but also of growing pains.

Those 10 years saw the birth of Ash-

also were two disastrous fires in those years, one of which included the burning of city hall.

The dawn of Ashland College

Ashland College opened its doors to its first group of students Sept. 17, 1879. The new school began the year

Third Street by the same architect using the same bricks that were fired in a kiln on campus. That church burned in 1933, about 20 years before fire destroyed Founders Hall, and some bricks from the church were used to construct walkways at the college.

The college also had ties to Ashland City Church, which later became Park Street Brethren Church. The church began in a chapel in Founders Hall just as the college was opening, and the head of the college was also the church’s pastor. Students were required to attend the church, which was created for Brethren moving to town because of the new college who did

Ashland College opened its doors to its first group of students Sept. 17, 1879. The first two buildings were the old Founders Hall and the first dormitory, Allen Hall.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

land College, coupled with the rise in prominence of the local Brethren church. The period also marked the start of organized sports in town, with a local amateur baseball team winning a national championship title.

But also in that decade Ashland was the site of a violent riot when the last executions at the county courthouse drew a crowd more than twice the city’s population at the time. There

16

with 60 students, and enrollment grew to 102 students by the academic year’s end.

In the early days the college had just two buildings — the original Founders Hall, which later burned and was rebuilt, and the first dormitory, Allen Hall.

At the same time, those buildings were constructed, First Presbyterian Church was being constructed on West

not want to travel to Brethren churches in the country like Maple Grove and Dickey.

As Ashland rose in prominence in the Brethren community, the city was chosen as the site for an annual meeting of the Dunkard Church of the United States in early June 1881. About 8,000 people descended on the city for the meeting, and tents were set up throughout the college grounds to ac-

commodate the crowds.

The last local hangings Three years later, a similarly-sized crowd gathered in town for a far less festive reason — a double execution by hanging — and the event quickly became a riot.

“Never in its history has Ashland been filled with such a reckless mob,” wrote Belle Mansfield Wiest, who lived in Ashland at the time and later wrote an informal history of the city’s early years.

George Andrew Horn and William Henry Gribben killed Henry Williams by striking him with a stone and an ax in the early hours of March 25, 1883 in Polk. The three men were intoxicated and had gotten into an argument in West Salem earlier that evening, and the murder occurred when the parties arrived back in Polk.

Horn and Gribben were sentenced to death, and the execution was set for May 16, 1884 on a gallows outside the courthouse.

About 8,000 people from Ashland, Polk and surrounding areas gathered to watch, but only about 150 people had tickets and were admitted into a fenced enclosure to witness the hangings.

Those on the outside of the enclosure protested loudly and violently, attempting to tear down the fence. Police and an assembled militia sent by governor were unable to maintain order.

People began to throw stones and take bayonets from the militia. One man lit a piece of paper and attempted to start a fire.

As the sheriff proceeded with the executions, little could be heard over the roar of the crowd.

“The mob broke down the strong iron fence as if it had been made of toothpicks,” Wiest wrote, and the fence fell just as the men were pronounced dead.

The fence never was replaced, and

Lutheran Village of Ashland - Established 1956

Loudonville, New Pittsburg, West Salem, Ganges, Orange, Jeromesville, Rome, Pavonia and Savannah.

Meanwhile, the city was growing rapidly and its corporation line was extended. Fifth, sixth and seventh streets were opened between Orange and Union streets and a bridge was built on Arthur Street to connect the south side of town with Main Street.

Rising from the ashes

to save their properties.

In addition to all the property lost, the fire claimed many important records, such as early histories of the city.

Bonds were issued to build a new town hall, which took about a year to construct and opened in 1882.

The new Opera House, which replaced the original one that had burned, also opened in 1882. The first show following the reopening, “The Celebrated Case,” was a flop, but it was followed a few days later by the Little Corrine Co., which packed the house.

In 1883, another fire began at Second and Church streets and spread to take out 20 buildings.

“The square bounded by Orange, Second, Church and Third was a sheet of flames, except for T.M. Beer’s building,” local historian William Duff wrote in his 1915 book marking the city’s centennial..

Each building was rebuilt, and the former frame structures were replaced by more substantial, brick buildings.

There were several fires during this time, leading to substantial losses but also to the construction of more modern structures.

In 1879, the flax mill burned. Then the following year, on June 6, 1880, town hall caught fire as a result of a spark from a nearby chimney. The fire spread through the northeast part of the city, burning barns, shops, outhouses and A limited number of tickets for the hanging of Horn and Gribbon were issued, allowing access to the enclosed area where the gallows were erected. fences.

As many as 25 structures were burnFrom the Ashland County Historical Society. ing at once, and residents used everythe incident resulted in the state leg- tennial costume party in 1876 marking thing from pails to kettles in attempts islature passing a law that all capital the United States 100th birthday and a punishment be carried out in the peni- New Year’s gala in 1884.

The New Year’s celebration at the tentiary in Columbus.

Masonic Hall was organized by the Sports and leisure men of the town, who wished to thank the women who regularly planned soAround the same time, organized cial gatherings. The reception featured sports began in Ashland with the local lavish decorations, an orchestra conAnchors amateur baseball team taking cert and dancing. a national title.

“The gowns worn by the ladies on this The team won the national amateur occasion have never been surpassed in championship at Rock Island, Illinois, Ashland,” Wiest wrote. “There were in 1882 with Jack Topping and Ernie many out-of-town guests. The men Beam pitching for the team. have the credit of making Ashland ring In summer 1885, a baseball diamond with gaiety for one day in 1884.” was laid out in the center of the fair- The women reciprocated the followgrounds track, and many came out to ing month with a Leap Year party. watch the games.

A “Mardi Gras Day” was held by area George Andrew Horn and William Henry Gribben were sentenced to death In addition to baseball, bicycling, roll- businessmen in August 1885, bringing for the murder of Henry Williams. The gallows were placed west of the county er polo and ice skating and sleighing to town what was called the grandest jail between the courthouse in an area enclosed by a high fence. The execution on were all the rage. parade in Ashland’s history. Floats May 16, 1884, drew a large crowd and turned into a riot when the crowd tried to break down the enclosure.

There were some prominent celebra- were created by local businesses and From the Ashland County Historical Society. tions during the era, including a cen- manufacturers, and bands came from

Lutheran Village of Ashland - Established 1956

17

1886-1895

8 N ew technologies dramatically changed life in Ashland between 1886 and 1895 — a decade that saw the first electric lights, the first water plant and the first brickpaved street.

Quality of life also improved with the opening of a new train depot and the city’s first public library.

Meanwhile, the newspaper business was thriving and competitive, and a local newspaper editor was shot and killed in a courtroom after being sued for libel.

The first electric lights

Following a successful test of the new electric plant, the townspeople were invited downtown for a grand opening on a Saturday evening in April 1891, when one of the local weekly newspa-

pers boasted businesses were to be lit “brighter than day.”

“The workmen are engaged in putting in the arc lights in some stores and hotels and Ashland will be better lighted Saturday night than it ever was before,” The Ashland Press reported April 23. “It is hoped that many from the surrounding country will come to see the first gleam of the electric lights, for it will be an important step in the history of Ashland.”

A few days after the opening, the newspaper reported a large number of beetles were attracted to the new lights and getting caught in the globes.

Townspeople reported they were seeing types of bugs they had never seen before.

The city had contracted with Ashland Gas Co. to furnish the electric lights

for 10 years. When the contract was up, the city was not ready to renew it, and the city was plunged back into darkness for the first time in a decade.

Eventually, a new contract was approved and the city was lit once again.

The first public library After much talk from townspeople and many newspaper editorials about the need for a library for community use, a library association was formed to meet the demand for public access to books and periodicals.

The first public library and reading room opened its doors March 13, 1893, on the second floor of a Main Street building with Sarah Arthur as the first librarian.

“The room is reached by ascending the Opera House stairs and turning right. It is nicely furnished and carpeted and above all is very well stocked with a supply of excellent reading matter,” The Ashland Press reported.

About 75 people visited the reading room on its opening day, and newspaper circles and churches donated periodicals to complement the selection of books.

On March 16, 1893, the new Erie Railway depot was completed on Cottage Street, replacing the Orange Street depot that had burned in 1891.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

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On Nov. 5, 1888, former United States president Rutherford B. Hayes was in Ashland as the speaker at the dedication of the courthouse square’s soldiers’ monument, which was a gift from Mary Freer.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

That same year, Orange Street became the first road in Ashland to be paved with bricks. The project required 230,000 bricks at a cost of $12.50 per thousand.

Though petitions for the paving of Claremont Avenue and Center Street circulated shortly after Orange Street was bricked, no additional streets were paved until Main Street in 1898.

A debate that had been raging since the 1870s about whether the town should be “wet” or “dry” came to a vote in 1886 with a liquor election.

The wets won, reversing an agreement of the town’s businessmen not to sell alcohol following a temperance crusade in 1874.

On Nov. 5, 1888, former United States president Rutherford B. Hayes was in Ashland as the speaker at the dedication of the courthouse square’s

Olivesburg General Store - Established 1840

Soldiers’ Monument, which was a gift from Mary Freer. That same year, Freer donated the clock in the tower to the new Methodist church at Cottage and Sandusky streets. She also gave Ashland County the children’s home.

Business and industry Meanwhile, veterinarian Gilbert Hess was creating animal remedies and Jesse Clark was a salesman for F.E. Myers. The pair met when Clark sold a pump to Hess, and a friendship developed that led to a business partnership in 1894.

In a small stable off Second Street, Hess and Clark started their first manufacturing plant. The company grew to employ upward of 250 people by 1915.

On March 16, 1893, the new Erie Railway depot was completed on Cottage Street, replacing the Orange

best of grace,” The Ashland Press reported upon the new depot’s opening.

“The building is well adapted to its purpose and an ornament to the town.”

As the growth of railways sped travel, standard time was implemented across the country. Ashland’s public schools and the town clock were set to standard time in 1893, but the people continued to operate on “sun time,” going to school and work at the same times they did before the change.

Meanwhile, the newspaper business was thriving in Ashland in the late 19th century. The city already had competition among weekly newspapers, and in 1892, Ashland’s first daily newspaper, Ashland Daily News, was started.

On Oct. 29, 1887, Ashland Times editor William H. Reynolds was killed in a courtroom in Orange Township Hall in Nankin.

As the city grew, a new water source was needed. Voters approved a bond issue for a water works plant, and in March 1895, the city awarded the contract to Snyder and Williams of Dayton for about $45,000.

Street depot that had burned in 1891.

The old depot was so crowded and overused, the people of Ashland almost felt it a relief when it burned.

“The change from the former cramped up quarters to the present and commodious headquarters was made with the

The newspaper had been sued for $7,000 for libel by a defendant, C.D. Mason, and the editor was summoned to the court as a witness in the case against Mason.

In the middle of the trial, the defendant reportedly attempted to strike the

editor with a chair, and the editor hit the defendant with his cane.

The defendant’s brother, J.R. Mason, who was on the witness stand, then drew a revolver from his pocket and fired two shots at Reynolds.

When the news reached Ashland, the Times reported, the townspeople were stricken with grief and business nearly ceased.

The entire front page of the newspaper’s next edition was devoted to the story, featuring a diagram of the courtroom and the headline, “MURDERED!” Water works plant As the city continued to grow, a new water In 1886, the original county jail was replaced by a source was needed, and voters approved a bond structure across Second Street. It was built at the cost of issue for a water works $24,000, and also served as the residence for the sheriff and his family. It served as the jail until the mid-1970s. In plant.

1978 after much community debate, it was razed. First Materials in the projMerit Bank now sits on the site. ect’s specifications inFrom the Ashland County Historical Society. cluded 1,190 tons of cast iron pipe, 111 hydrants, Bonds were sold at 5 percent interest 58 valves, two pumping engines, two boilers a supply reservoir and a brick and were paid off between 1896 and 1918. pumping station.

It was a major undertaking, drawing In March 1895, City Council awardinterest from contractors and bankers ed the water works contract to Snyalike.

“For the past three days the hotels der and Williams of Dayton for about have been crowded to their utmost ca- $45,000. pacity in order to take care of the large The city purchased farmland east number of men interested in the sale of town and nine shallow wells were of bonds and the letting of the water- drilled, providing a sufficient water works contract,” The Ashland Times supply for the growing town. These reported in January 1895.

First National Bank of Ashland was wells were near the location of the the winning bidder for the bonds. city’s current well-field.

Olivesburg General Store - Established 1840

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1896-1905

8 A shland was growing at at the dawn of the 20th Century, as the population increased from 1,300 in 1846 to three times that in 1900 when the census counted 4,087 residents.

The invention of the telephone in the mid 1870s paved the way for increased communication and networking in a growing nation, and in 1896, the Peoples Telephone Co. was estab-

porated Star, buying out the Peoples Telephone Co. that same year. There were only about 30 telephones in Ashland at that time.

Star installed its first common battery switchboard at the corner of Church and Second streets, which served as the company’s headquarters until 1952. In 1905, at an annual stockholders meeting, Star leadership announced there were 934 phones in

Consider this Star ad from 1915: “Can you afford to be without a telephone?

A few years ago, a telephone was regarded as a luxury which only the well-to-do could afford. Today it is a necessity in every home, the cheapest of all modern conveniences that are offered to the public today.”

Star Telephone Co. bought the Wadsworth Telephone Co. in 1906 and continued until 1948, when Northern Ohio Telephone Co. purchased Star. Dial service was first used in May 1952, with former Star employee Charles Kettering placing the first call. By that time, 7,325 telephones were in service in Ashland. What was once Star Telephone Co. has been Frontier Communications since 2010, having changed to General Telephone Co. of Ohio (1975), GTE North (1988) and Verizon Communications (2000).

Telephone service wasn’t the only new utilitie available to town residents.

In 1902, a sewer system was built in the city. And in September 1902, Ashland and Logan Natural Gas & Fuel Co. agreed to a contract to bring the first natural gas service to town residents. Things were really heating up.

Laying new rails to Ashland

The Star Telephone Co. was incorporated in 1899, when the company bought out the Peoples Telephone Co. While there were only 30 telephones in Ashland at that time, by 1905, there were 934 phones in Ashland and 230 phones in the county. Star’s switchboard was located at Church and Second streets, shown here in 1905.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

lished as the first telephone exchange in Ashland. But it was not the last.

Samuel H. Grabill, who was raised near Hayesville, formed Star Telephone Co. in 1898, and by 1899 Grabill, George A. Ullman, Joseph R. Swartz and George R. Freer incor-

20

Ashland and 230 phones in service in the county.

While in its early years, the telephone was once considered a luxury, but in fewer than two decades, newspapers ran advertisements that sought to put a phone in every home and business.

As the 19th century gave way to the 20th century, railroads were the most advanced means of transportation, commerce and travel in the United States. In January 1898, Ashland & Wooster Railroad president Horace Camp approved the first surveying to build his promised extension of the line from Jeromesville then (Jeromeville) to Ashland.

After some preliminary track work was delayed, the construction of the line turned aggressive in the spring of 1899. A trestle was even built over

the Jerome Fork as the track layers advanced to Ashland.

In August 1899, the company held an employee picnic for railroad workers at Sampsel’s Grove Park as the work entered Ashland. But as crews advanced toward Union Street and the proposed terminus near F.E. Myers Co., the A&W had planned to cross the Erie Railroad line and found its path blocked by a fence. While the heads of the companies deliberated, Camp finally ordered his workers to tear down the fence and finish the line one afternoon, finishing in 2 1/2 hours while a crowd cheered them on.

The A&W was completed in time for the Ashland Fair on Sept. 6-8, 1899, and the railroad promoted excursions from Ashland to Jeromesville and Custaloga Junction in southwest Wayne County. The junction joined the Pennsylvania Railroad – which had stops in Mansfield, Perrysville, Loudonville, Lakeville, Shreve and Wooster – and the A&W was able to easily deliver residents from those towns to Ashland Fair, with crowds even confined to boxcars when one of the passenger coaches was damaged the first day of the fair.

Ashland organized a celebration of the completion of the A&W to Ashland on Oct. 12, 1899. A “Welcome” banner was hung on Main Street, bands and the firing of artillery cannons greeted passengers of trains that arrived in Ashland on the A&W, and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people visited Ashland for the celebration.

The event included speeches from F.E. Myers and a Toledo mayor who campaigned for governor, a massive group dinner, a parade and evening fireworks.

Camp sold the Ashland & Wooster Railroad in 1903 to Charles French, who according to Ashland railroad historian Bill Snyder dazzled in-

Denbow - Gasche Funderal Home - Established 1841

vestors and residents with his grand railroad schemes but hardly followed through with his promises. French consolidated the A&W and Richland and Mahoning Railroad into the Lake and River Railway Co., even promising to extend the line north of Ashland to Savannah, New London and eventually Norwalk.

But French bankrupted the railroad, abandoned the northern expansion and moved his family to California to “build” more railroads and escape his con artist reputation he had earned in Ohio. The Lake and River Railway was sold to Calvary Morris in May 1904, and the Ashland & Western Railroad Co. was formally organized in June of that year. The railroad eventually became the Lorain, Ashland & Southern Railroad under Joseph Ramsey the following decade.

The close and reopening of Ashland College Faced with mounting debt, declining enrollment and wavering support from the Brethren Church, Ashland College closed in 1896, less than 20 years after the school adopted its charter.

But Ashland College only lay dormant for a short time, as a group of administrators including John Allen Miller and J.C. Mackey reopened the institution in 1898. The Board of Trustees sold 18 lots of school property to help pay off debts, and Miller, chosen as president in 1899, hired new faculty (some of whom volunteered), recruited new students and continued to whittle down the school’s debt.

Ashland College historian Dale Stoffer wrote in “A Gleam of Shining Hope” that Miller’s efforts created a “newfound optimism” on campus that repaired the college’s reputation, increased student enrollment and re-

debt by 1908.

A millionaire homecoming and the first automobile

The Ashland & Wooster Railroad was completed from Jeromesville to Ashland in 1899, just in time for the Ashland Fair on Sept. 6-8. The A&W depot, pictured here at the turn of the century, was built on Union Street. The railroad connected Ashland to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Custaloga Junction near Wooster.

From Bill Snyder

discovered support from the Brethren Church and Ashland community.

By January 1902, Ashland College was debt-free, had a $25,000 endowment and student enrollment surpassed 100. The college held a banquet in the campus chapel to celebrate

the turnaround, and Miller was honored for his leadership.

In 1903, Ashland College constructed a new gym, and even though the school debt grew again to $11,452 in 1907, the Brethren Church focused its fundraising efforts and eradicated the

Main Street is shown here in the early 1900s. The beginning of the 20th century brought a sewer system and natural gas to Ashlanders by 1902, and the first automobile was driven through the city in 1899.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

In September 1897, Ashland held a homecoming celebration that attracted hundreds of former residents that returned to celebrate with former neighbors. The event included a picnic, a concert, a banquet and an evening ball.

In attendance was Ashland’s homegrown VIP family, the Studebakers, who made the trip from South Bend, Indiana, to celebrate the homecoming. The Studebakers lived a few miles outside of Ashland from 1835 to 1850, when the family owned a wagon shop and were neighbors of the Myers family.

In February 1852, brothers Henry and Clem Studebaker opened a new wagon shop, H&C Studebaker in South Bend. Throughout the turn of the century, the Studebakers developed their first electric car in 1902 in Detroit, and their first gas-powered model in 1904. By 1919, the Studebaker Corporation had ended wagon manufacturing at South Bend.

The first automobile reportedly seen in Ashland was a Winton in 1899, driven by a couple who was passing through on their honeymoon. The first Ashlander to have his own automobile was Dr. R.C. Kinnaman, a physician. Kinnaman had the car transported to Ashland on the Erie Railroad line. Other first automobile owners included Dr. W.M. McClellan and G.J. Leonhart. In time, the Studebaker Corporation opened a dealership in Ashland operated by Charles Downs.

Denbow - Gasche Funderal Home - Established 1841

21

1906-1915

8 T he decade leading up to the city’s centennial gave Ashland residents even more to celebrate.

Developments between 1906 and 1915 included the establishment of The Home Company, N. Strauss & Son clothiers, Samaritan Hospital and Faultless Rubber Co. To accommodate a growing city and its industry, a new Ashland High School building was constructed at Cottage and West Fourth streets.

The Home Co. opens in 1910 The 1910 opening of The Home Co. at East Main and Center streets gave the city the best of both worlds — a locally owned department store linked to big city markets.

Word had it that local business leaders saw the store, located in the Myers Building, as a way to discourage their wives from traveling out of town to shop. A passage from a booklet published circa 1914 by the Cleveland, Southwestern & Columbus Railway to promote the cities it served, would seem to bear this out.

“Today Ashland people have no reason for going out of town to shop and outof-town people have every advantage of coming to Ashland to trade,” it read.

“Great assortments of merchandise such as you would expect to find only in larger cities are carried by this store, whose buyers make semi-annual visits to the great Eastern markets and keep in close touch with styles and values … ” The Home Co. was formed by the merger of two downtown dry goods stores — Beech & Brown and Shinn, Stockwell & Co. The basement, first and second floors were dedicated to

22

retail sales while the third and fourth floors served as office space for doctors, attorneys and others. The store featured modern amenities such as elevators and a device for transporting cash from the sales floors to a cashier’s desk on a balcony between the first and second floors. (In different accounts it has been referred to as a cable cash carrier and pneumatic tube system.)

hands several times in the 1980s, was renovated and converted in 1997 into the Ashland Essex House, a government-subsidized apartment building for residents 55 years of age and older.

N. Strauss & Son established

On a much smaller scale, the decade also saw the establishment of N. Strauss & Son, a downtown clothier.

A malfunctioning train led to the establishment of a business that served Ashland for four generations. Nathan Strauss of Louisville, Kentucky, was passing through town in the late 19th century when his train was delayed for repairs. While walking through downtown Ashland, he met Jacob Cahn,

Samaritan Hospital opened in May 1912 due to the generosity of Jesse Lewis Clark.

It was located on the edge of town on the Center Street hill. Inspired by a Sunday School lesson on the parable of the Good Samaritan, Clark said the hospital “is a place where rich and poor alike can be cared for.”

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

Sixty years later, big-city malls and an increasingly mobile population rendered The Home Co. obsolete and it closed in 1970. Today, the former Home Co. building continues to serve city residents. The building, which changed

the proprietor of a downtown clothing store. (Cahn also was the city’s first mayor.)

Strauss went to work for Cahn and, in 1878, became a partner. Cahn retired in 1909 and Strauss took over, operating

the store at 43 W. Main St., under his family name. The store was moved in 1963 to 47 W. Main St. His son, grandson and great grandson — Albert, Nathan and Mark, respectively — continued the tradition until the store closed its doors in 1991.

The elder Nathan Strauss also was active in the community, helping found the volunteer fire department and serving as fire chief.

Samaritan Hospital built in 1912

Inspired by a lesson he taught in Sunday school about the Good Samaritan, local entrepreneur Jesse Lewis Clark established Samaritan Hospital in 1912.

Clark was a salesman for the F.E. Myers and Brother Co., which initiated a pump-manufacturing dynasty in town, and later co-founded Dr. Hess & Clark, a livestock feed and remedy manufacturer. He also founded the local chapter of the American Red Cross and headed a campaign to establish a local branch of the YMCA. With the support of his wife, Mary, and others, he built the original Samaritan Hospital on Center Street. In addition to serving as a medical facility, a nursing school was established there.

The opening ceremony was a huge occasion, with extra trains scheduled into town, businesses closed and downtown Ashland festooned with decorations.

Heavy rains forced the relocation of the opening ceremony to the Opera House.

“The hospital is to be a place where rich and poor alike can be cared for, and it must be open at all times to those of Ashland County in need of hospital services, but not able to pay for them,” Clark vowed at the ceremony.

Costs back then were $1 a day for a room, $2-$4 for a private room, $1.50 for an emergency room visit and $1 more if X-rays were needed.

The original structure was razed during a hospital expansion project in the 1970s. In 2012, the hospital cele-

Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce - Established 1909 Ashland Area Council for Economic Development - Ashland Main Street

brated its 100th anniversary.

Rubber goods manufacturing

The decade between 1905 and 1915 also saw a key development in one of the city’s staple industries — rubber goods manufacturing. Tom W. Miller Sr., a teacher and the son of a Summit County blacksmith and carriage maker, brought part of his Akron-based rubber goods business to Ashland. Here he teamed up with H.B. Camp and, in 1907, formed the Faultless Rubber Co. By 1915, the Faultless complex on East Fourth Street employed 400 people and its modern plant boasted several safety features, including drive belt guards, improved lighting and ventilation, fire escapes and fireproof doors.

By 1965, Faultless Rubber Co. occupied 8.5 acres and opened another plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The following year, it was acquired by Abbott Laboratories, which spun it off in 2004, making Ashland operations part of Hospira Inc. The plant closed in 2007, idling 500 workers. Its baby bottle nipple production was taken over by Novatex North America, a subsidiary of German-based Novatex GmbH. Novatex built a plant north of town in the Ashland Business Park.

School system expands

As the city approached its centennial, the school system experienced growing pains and, in 1915, a new high school was built at Cottage and West Fourth streets.

It was built in front of the original high school building, which was constructed in 1874 and razed in 1925.

The “new” Ashland High School was built at a cost of $100,000. A north wing was added in 1922 and a south wing in 1924. McDowell Auditorium, which fronts to Church Street, was added in 1927.

The high school originally housed

students in grades 7-12. After a new Ashland High School building was constructed in 1962 on Katherine Avenue, the Cottage Street structure was converted to a junior high school.

This decade also saw the construction of three elementary schools — Arthur Street School in 1907 and Pleasant Street and Lincoln schools in 1911.

A manufacturing center

When 1915 rolled around, the city celebrated its centennial in grand fashion.

The population had grown to 10,000 — about half the current population — and the city had established itself as a manufacturing center.

City leaders threw a homecoming party June 26 through 31 that included parades, fireworks, exhibits, a baseball tournament, a 3-mile “marathon” footrace, an automobile hill-climb competition on Claremont Avenue, and an elaborate pageant depicting the city’s history up to that point.

Arthur Vanosdall, who served on the homecoming committee, recalled in a 1965 newspaper article penned by local historian Betty Plank, that a tent large enough to seat 3,000 was erected at the site of what is now the County Office Building at West Main and Cottage streets. It must have been a huge tent because, in addition to the 3,000 spectators, the pageant cast numbered nearly 500.

The automobile hill climb was open to anyone in town who owned a car and featured three classes, 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder vehicles. In each category, the first-place driver won $2. Each of the runners-up received five gallons of gasoline.

To commemorate the occasion, residents built a replica of the Daniel Carter Sr. cabin on the courthouse lawn and dedicated a monument to Ashland County’s pioneers and Johnny Appleseed at East Main Street and Cleveland Avenue. More than a thousand school-

With Main Street decked in pennants, Ashland celebrated its 100th birthday in 1915 with a variety of festivities including parades, fireworks, exhibits and a historical pageant. Historic relics were displayed in the new high school building on Cottage Street.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

children donated a nickel each to help pay for construction of the monument, which was later moved to Brookside Park.

Historical relics were displayed in the

new high school on Cottage Street and 47 local manufacturers displayed their wares in a “Made In Ashland” exhibition in booths around the courthouse square.

The Home Co., formed by the consolidation of two dry good stores, was the anchor of downtown retail for 60 years. The store, located in the Myers Building at Center and Main streets, occupied the basement, first and second floors. The third and fourth floors were office space for doctors, attorneys and others.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce - Established 1909 Ashland Area Council for Economic Development - Ashland Main Street

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7

The evening of July, 4, 1969 storm cells dumped from 8 to 16 inches across Ashland County in a 24-hour period. As a result, the dam at the Ashland Reservoir northeast of the city collapsed the next day, suddenly releasing 110 million gallons of water. The Richard Dunham family of four were trapped in their van in high water on Interstate 71 north of U.S. 250. In the photo at left, State Highway Patrol Trooper Roger Teague holds a tow rope while standing on top of the stranded van.

In the top right photo, Larry Aber and Trooper Frank Iley hold onto the line. At bottom right, the family rides to safety on the Aber’s Garage tow truck. The rush of water from the dam break, flooded farmland downstream along the Jerome Fork.

Downtown, Town Creek spilled out of its banks, flooding businesses and washing away cars in the surrounding parking lots.

Four people drowned in the flood in Ashland County.

From the Times - Gazette / Chic Knight

24

The Flood of 1969

7

Numerous fires have destroyed landmark Ashland buildings and churches over the years. Perhaps the most notable was the Oct. 19, 1952 fire that destroyed the original Founders Hall, the main building on the Ashland College campus at the time, threatening the very existence of the institution. Fires earlier in the 20th Century included a February 1903 blaze that destroyed the original Opera House at the corner of Center and Main streets. The Opera House was rebuilt in 1904 and stood on the site for nearly another 50 years. Two years later, a January 1906 fire destroyed a four-story storage and shipping building at the F.E. Myers and Brothers Company plant. During Memorial Day weekend of 1998, the Coburn Inc. warehouse on Miller Street went up in flames, fueled by all the paper goods stored in the structure. And in a bit of irony, the former F.E. Myers plant on the northside of downtown has been struck by two major fires in the early 21st Century. Now owned by Pump House Ministries, fires in 2008 and 2013 destroyed major sections of the complex.

From the Ashland County Historical Society / Times-Gazette.

Notable Fires

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1916-1925 I

8

t was a transformative era in American history.

More than 100,000 Americans died overseas during World War I. Women were granted the right to vote.

Prohibition took center stage. The Pro-

gressive era was in full swing.

It was a transformative time in Ashland, too. The 1916 to 1925 years were full of new beginnings and newfound camaraderie.

Ashlanders returned from the grisly

Great War and formed organizations like the VFW, Harry Higgins Post of the American Legion, Noon Lions Club, Rotary Club and the Elks.

Associated Charities also formed in the 1916-1925 era, and the Ashland Country Club was established. Dr. Louis Pete held his first concert, setting the tone for Ashland’s musical future. And the Ashland County Fairgrounds settled into its new home on Claremont Avenue, where it has welcomed locals each summer for the last century.

A crowd estimated at 8,000 gathered at the Erie Depot on Cottage Street, Sept. 29, 1917, to send off Ashland’s Co. E off to deployment during World War I. From the Ashland County Historical Society

26

And Ashland grew a little bit closer in the years after World War I. Remembering the ultimate sacrifices Not to be forgotten, though, is Ashland’s part during the Great War. Faultless Rubber Co., one of the nation’s leading rubber manufacturers, created the first medical tubing for intravenous administration on the battlefield.

F.E. Myers Co. converted its facility to manufacture ammunition during the war.

And hundreds of Ashland County men signed on to fight in the war — 23 of who died overseas.

The name of the last local man to die in the war will be familiar to Ashlanders today: Harry Higgins.

Higgins, a member of Ashland’s Company E, died in France on Nov. 11, 1918 — the same day Germany agreed to an armistice to officially end the war.

Word hadn’t yet spread of Higgins’ death, so the Nov. 13 edition of The Ashland Press offered a massive headline that read: “Ashland’s Celebration of Glorious Victory.”

The paper described in detail the day-long celebration as workers from Myers, Faultless, Hess & Clark and Eagle Rubber left their factories to join the parades on Main Street. There was music (offered by “the Ashland and Hayesville bands, drum corps from this city and Jeromesville”), whistles and fireworks throughout the county. There was even an effigy of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, which was burned and buried.

Earl Kendig was another Ashland boy killed in the war. The 23-yearold son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kendig, who lived on Cottage Street, was killed during a battle in France’s Argonne Forest.

Kingston of Ashland - Established 1989

William J. McCurdy, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.L. McCurdy, was another casualty. He died in France of lumbar pneumonia three months into his tour.

World War I items on display at Ashland County Historical Society include Ray Keen’s New Testament, Cpl. Cecil B. Bull’s drinking cup, Lt. Luther Frentz’s wristwatch and Harry Mann’s Purple Heart medal.

On Christmas Day 1918, the Ashland Press reported that Higgins would receive posthumous medals for his service, saying: “His memory, like that of all the other brave young men who gave their lives that civilization might endure, will be cherished by all who knew them and the pages of history will tell of the part these Ohio soldiers had in some of the greatest battles of the most terrible of all wars.”

By August 1919, most of Ashland’s veterans had found their way home.

One of them, J.B. Blue, began a campaign to start a local post of the American Legion, a veterans organization which was founded a few months earlier.

It was a hit.

Ashland’s Post 88 had 17 members sign the charter, and the number of members jumped to 115 in less than a month. William Chalmers was elected the first commander, and it was decided to name the post after Higgins.

By 1946, the Legion had more than 600 members. To this day, it sponsors Ashland’s Post 88 Legion baseball squad in the summer and continues its “Sons of the Legion” squadron for children of Legionnaires.

Statewide, the American Legion was one of the major supporters in the creation of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

When the Times-Gazette published its sesquicentennial newspaper in 1965, 11 original members of the Ashland post were still around: Merrell Barr, Lawrence Ferguson, Fred Wal-

ters, Fred Rudy, Roscoe Dennis, Paul Fritzinger, Lloyd Mowery, Locke Mason, Ray Keen, Earl Leed and Harry Shenberger Sr. A different-looking Ashland It was indeed the Roaring Twenties era in parts of America, but Ashland wasn’t quite there yet.

It was only in 1918 or 1919 that Ashland had its first paved road — Heltman Avenue, just off of Eastern Avenue. The Times-Gazette’s sesquicentennial edition reported that contractor H.S. Scott paved the road with concrete. Even into the 1920s, only Cottage and Ohio streets were the only paved roads in the north part of town.

It was trains, not streetcars, that crisscrossed the city in this era. There was a railroad junction on Cleveland Avenue, and the LA&S (Lorain, Ashland & Southern) depot was on Union Street, not far south of the Erie-Lackawanna line.

Union Street looked a lot different in those days, the Times-Gazette reported in a 1976 retrospective. There was a match factory on the north side, and across the street was a coal and cement business owned by Art Blackford, who was well-known for engraving the phrase “Keep Sweet” onto his sidewalk jobs.

Cloyd Miller, who lived on Wick Avenue, told the Times-Gazette that the old theaters always had Main Street hopping.

He and his wife would walk to Colonial Theatre and pay five cents to see the “Perils of Pauline” serial starring Pearl White, then trot over to the late show at the Grand Theater (located near where the old Gilbert Furniture building is now).

The Palace Theater was at 114 E. Main Street and opened in 1921. It’s narrow lobby featured a pond with

gold fish and little ducks and geese..

The Ashland Opera House was another source of entertainment in the early 1920s, Miller said, with minstrel shows and musical comedies.

And before the new courthouse was built in, a small park was located beside the old one with walkways, benches and a small bandstand for the occasional concert.

The F.E. Myers Company was still headquartered on Center Street until a massive fire in 1921. The company then moved to its sprawling facility on the north side of town.

J.C. Penney opened its location on Main Street in 1924, joining a thriving area of clothing stores that also included the Home Co. and men’s clothing stores like Cassel, Stone and Hartsel.

Another fun tidbit about Ashland life in that era: A scare of Spanish influenza struck Ashland in 1918, the Ashland Press reported, that canceled all church services for five straight weeks.

Groups and clubs One of Ashland’s oldest philanthropic traditions dates back nearly a century.

Associated Charities, officially incorporated in 1920, has been offering Christmas toys to families in need around the holidays for 95 years. In the last few years, the welfare agency handed out toys to about 500 families in the county. The founding board members were G.M. Morr, F.W. Walter, G.A. Cassel, D.S. Benninghof, Edith (Feeny) Heffelfinger and W.L. Kershaw. Morr was the founding president.

Ashland’s chapter of Lions International was installed in November of 1920. W.L. Rybolt was named the first president, and the Lions were considered the first to outline a plan for Brookside Park. The Lions were also integral in passing the bond issue to

erect the new county courthouse, lobbying locals at every gas station and grocery in the county before the vote.

Two years later, another civic organization was formed: Ashland’s Rotary Club. In 1922, Rotary began with 23 members. Among them were Ashland Superintendent John A. McDowell, writer and Ashland historian William A. Duff, banker George R. Freer and industrialists P.A. Myers and J.L. Clark Rotary continues to offer scholarships to Ashland County students each year, and is also well known for its funnel cakes during the Ashland County Fair each summer.

Another group to come about in the era was the Ashland Elks. A celebration on Nov. 21, 1918, initiated 45 new members, and Tracey S. Brindle was named the first exalted ruler. The Elks acquired their present location at 402 Center St. in 1919, where they have remained for nearly a decade.

Speaking of the County Fair …

In 1923, Ashland County had four annual fairs: North Ashland County Agricultural in Nova, Loudonville Free Fair, Central Ashland County Fair in Hayesville and the Ashland County Fair.

But the Ashland County Fair (with roots dating to 1851) still was a street fair — it didn’t have a dedicated space.

That changed in 1923 when C. Jay Latter sold part of his farm between Baney Road and Claremont Avenue to a group of 40 shareholders that became Ashland Fair and Race. Co. Among those shareholders were Walter Stubbs, Walter Baney, J.S. Sattler, John Pittinger, Glenn W. Metcalf and James F. Shriver.

With room to grow, the Ashland County Fair did just that.

Kingston of Ashland - Established 1989

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1926-1935

8 O n the steps of Founders Hall at Ashland University, they prayed.

In 1931, the Brethren faculty prayed for the community. They prayed for the record-low number of students enrolled at the school. They prayed for the staff.

But mostly, they prayed for an end to the Great Depression.

Some faculty even gave up their pay completely to other university employees.

As Ashland Chautauqua put it in its 2006 production focused on the financial crisis: “Ashland University prayed its way through the Depression.”

The city of Ashland did some praying too.

Time of giving despite tough times

And in a way, those prayers were answered. Because the industrial boom of the last few decades had made millions of dollars for magnates like John C. Myers and J.L. Clark, and both men weren’t afraid to give money back to Ashland.

It was later discovered that Myers offered all sorts of loans to employees, local businesses and folks who were struggling through the Depression — many of which went unpaid. He continued to employ locals at Myers and Brother Pump Co., some of which went to a three-day-a-week schedule to avoid layoffs.

Myers continued to donate to Ashland High School’s music department. By

The John A. McDowell Auditorium was dedicated on May 12, 1927 at the Ashland High School. It not only served as the city’s cultural center for almost 90 years, the high school and middle school basketball teams called its stage home court. McDowell hosted its final concert in April.

From the Times-Gazette / Joe Pelletier

1935, the school owned $58,000 worth of musical instruments. Perhaps more importantly, in 1927 Myers had paid for materials to build John A. McDowell Auditorium.

Clark, who opened Samaritan Hospital two decades earlier, inspired donations among those that had money. During a Rotary Club meeting with members from Ashland, Loudonville and New London, Clark called for Rotarians to donate to the Community Chest.

“There will be no suffering in Ashland County because of you and other citizens,” Clark said. “You will have an opportunity to give as you have never given before. You will be asked to give, not as you have prospered, but give if you’ve got it. Because it has to be done.”

Unemployment runs rampant

While Ashland suffered through the Great Depression, there were still plenty of entertainment options. Air races were popular during the era. On xxxxx xxx , 1933, several thousand spectators gathered at the Ashland Airport, which stretched between U.S. 250 and Ohio 511, for the National Guard show.

From the Ashland County Airport.

28

Hess & Clark and the Myers Co. continued to employ hundreds of local folks, but unemployment still ran rampant throughout the city.

In November 1931, The Times-Gazette reported that 400 men were registered as unemployed. Forty of those men were promised work on construction of the city reservoir, but employment for

Trinity Lutheran Church - Established 1839

the remaining 360 was hard to promise.

The Chamber of Commerce arranged the Give-A-Job Club, where unemployed men could call and find work — maybe a day, maybe a week’s worth.

Job listings looked something like this: “Housework for Mrs. F.E. Horn, 519 Samaritan Ave.; Clean cistern for Althaus Print Shop (Orange Street); Set up stove for Mrs. Mary Davis, 254 Cleveland Ave; Drive truck for Mets Auto Supplies (East Main St.).”

Meager salaries also led Eagle Rubber Co. employees to strike, and an American Federation of Labor organizer spoke before 100 Ashlanders in the 1930s, decrying the exploitation of factory workers in Ashland. They’ve “been exploited to within an inch of their lives,” he said, according to a Times-Gazette historical piece from 1994.

Charity was a driving force in Ashland.

About 2,860 sacks of flour given to the Red Cross were ground by the Loudonville mill. Half a million bales of cotton were given to Ashland County residents for cloth.

Mrs. George Thurn conducted a cooking school from the stage of the opera house, Betty Plank described in a 2009 “Historic Ashland” column for the Times-Gazette. Thurn told housewives how to stretch their food budget by following menus she distributed.

Thelma Messner was in charge of organizing women to mend old clothing to be given to the needy. Seamstresses were to meet at the building at Second and Orange streets, where the Times-Gazette was before moving to its new home on Second Street.

Some things continue as usual Some things went on as usual: the Ashland County Fair still was a hit (admission was 25 cents), and the F.E. Myers Co. welcomed 125 of its salesmen for the annual sales meeting at F.E.’s mansion on Center Street.

The Times-Gazette published “Letters to Santa Claus” on Dec. 23, 1930: “I am a little girl 5 years old,” wrote Margaret Sweet of West Third Street.

In Ashland, writers, historians, lawyers and teachers also were employed through the WPA to create archives and history books. One was “Ashland’s

The cornerstone for the current First Presbyterian Church building was laid in 1933. The new church on West Third Street replaced the previous 1883 structure, which burned down.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

“I would like a little piano and a little stove with pans and a nice doll baby with curly hair and anything else you want to bring your little girl.” Galen Rodish of Sherman Avenue asked for a “steel wagon and an accordion horn and army tank, a drawing slate and anything else you wish to bring me — and lots of nuts and candy.”

Ashland also benefited from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. The WPA granted 8.5 million jobs across America, and locally employed 248 Ashland County residents. The big project was Charles Mill Lake Dam, which made Mifflin an active place during the Great Depression. At the time, the village had four saloons. WPA workers also built the Pleasant Hill Lake Dam near Perrysville.

Eternity Acres,” a review of cemeteries in the county.

City still saw growth Despite the Great Depression, the 1926 to 1935 era also marked a time of significant growth in the city. In 1930, the population of Ashland exceeded 10,000 for the first time.

The era also saw the construction of two of Ashland’s most recognizable settings: Ashland County Courthouse and John A. McDowell Auditorium.

First came the courthouse, which was dedicated on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1929 — only a month or so before the start of the Great Depression.

Loudonville native and General Motors executive Charles F. Kettering spoke during the ceremony, as did future Ohio Gov. Martin L. Davey.

Special seats were given to 14 Civil War veterans, as well as Mrs. T.M. Beer, who witnessed the dedication of the original courthouse in 1853.

The mottoes that appear on the interior walls (and remain to this day), “Obedience to the law is liberty” and “There is no virtue so great as justice,” were chosen from submissions to the Ashland Times-Gazette.

Construction cost the county $315,000, and the Ashland Lions Club was credited with helping pass the .348-mill levy to build the courthouse by visiting every general store and filling station in the county to inform voters.

John A. McDowell Auditorium came eight years later, and was dedicated on May 12, 1927.

To this day, it has served as the home for Ashland Symphony Orchestra and Ashland High School’s drama productions. In years past, it filled to capacity for school dances, graduation ceremonies and the annual Ashland-Mansfield basketball game. Just this year, McDowell Auditorium was the setting for a wedding of a former student: Alyssa Weisenstein.

“When you’re in there from grades seven through 12, you’re in there for gym classes and games and everything,” former Ashland High basketball player Ed Fulton told the Times-Gazette in 2011. “... It became part of your life, McDowell Auditorium.”

The facility was named after John A. McDowell, the longest-tenured superintendent of Ashland City Schools (19 years). McDowell oversaw the construction of four elementary schools in the city: Lincoln, Arthur, Pleasant and Osborn.

McDowell Auditorium will close along with Ashland Middle School at the conclusion of the school year.

Trinity Lutheran Church - Established 1839

29

1936-1945

8 A shlanders pressed on through the Great Depression and found themselves united with the rest of the country in global conflict. The 1936 to 1945 decade included the World War II and the city’s biggest train disaster in the 20th Century.

Once Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, the war began in earnest in Europe, though the United

Times-Gazette reported the selection of the Ashland County Draft Board, a five-member board selected to conduct conscription from an estimated 4,443 eligible registrants in Ashland County. Throughout Ohio, approximately 859,000 men were eligible for the draft.

On Oct. 2, members of Ashland County’s Draft Board were announced, which the Times-Gazette described as

A train hauling 23 gasoline-laden tanker cars derailed on the Erie Railroad line on Sept.

24, 1943, between Cottage and Union streets. The accident caused a gasoline explosion that illuminated the sky above Ashland in flames and heavily damaged several downtown buildings, including the Eagle Rubber Co. From the Ashland County Historical Society

States remained neutral. But that didn’t mean Americans were idle. With the passage of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, the federal government began a national peacetime conscription, which required men ages 21 to 45 to register and, if selected, serve one year in the military.

In October 1940, the Ashland

30

five volunteers who were not politically active and represented “each section of the county.” Those members were T.E. Shinn, of Ashland, owner of Shinn’s Clothing and former member of the Ohio National Guard; Harry R. Shenberger, of Ashland, a veteran of World War I and secretary and treasurer of Ashland Country Club; Glenn

E. Falkner, of Ashland, a World War I veteran and factory superintendent at Faultless Rubber Co.; John Kauffman, of Polk, former mayor of the village and cashier of Polk State Bank; and C.E. Budd, of Loudonville, dean of the Draft Board and former high school principal and superintendent of Loudonville Schools.

Weeks ahead of the draft, the Times-Gazette reported Ashland’s Company E of the Ohio National Guard saw an average of four enlistments per week. This was allegedly a bit of strategy on the part of the new recruits.

“Most of the enlistments are prompted by a desire of young men who think they will be drafted to assure themselves a place in company of soldiers from their local communities. If drafted, they would take a chance of being sent to a company of men from different localities.”

On Oct. 16, 1940, 3,448 men signed draft registration cards in Ashland County out of the estimated 4,443 eligible registrants. The Times-Gazette reported the initial tally was comprised of county residents and men passing through Ashland County that day. On the day of the registration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation’s class of registrants, estimated at more than 16 million Americans: “Today’s registration for training and service is the keystone in the arch of our national defense.”

On Oct. 15, 1940, Company E entered federal service as Co. E., 2nd Battalion, 145 Infantry, and transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. In February 1942, the company shipped to the South Pacific and served at Guadacanal and Bougainville in the Solomons and Philippines with the Ohio 37th Infantry Division.

The United States officially entered World War II with the Dec. 7, 1941 at-

tack on Pearl Harbor.

Shifts in manufacturing

During the war, several Ashland manufacturers altered production to make in-demand wartime materials and supplies. In 1940, the federal government put an end to the rubber toy industry, decreeing that all available natural rubber was to be manufactured into “essential wartime necessities and equipment for the armed forces.”

In response to the feds, Eagle Rubber Co. produced a number of rubber products, including CO2 and oral-inflated life belts, churning out 3,000 belts a day at the height of the war.

Eagle also made seven- and 10-person rubberized landing boats, bags for food and delousing, instrument cases and ponchos. In the fall of 1945, the U.S. government lifted the rubber toy ban and Eagle Rubber Co. returned to manufacturing its former goods.

F.E. Myers Co. continued its pump production during the war, according to Ashland historian Cloyd McNaull.

Myers built firefighting pumps that were used by Army and Air Force bases as well as smaller delousing pumps with knapsack sprayers used on Allied soldiers and prisoners of war. Myers machinists also produced arms for the military, specifically artillery shell casings that were packaged and shipped elsewhere to be filled with gunpowder.

A.L. Garber Publishing Co. contributed to the war effort by printing troop training literature, technical manuals and maps. Starting in 1942, Garber began printing classified printed material for the military, and such work required all plant employees to be screened, carry identification and be monitored by armed guards who patrolled the grounds.

In July 1945, Garber received the Navy Commendation Award for Printers for its “faithful and unselfish ser-

Grace Brethren Church - Established 1913

vice” in publishing military manuals and documents. The Ashland printing company was one of only five printers in the country to receive the award during World War II.

ger car until a replacement station was completed a year later.

Changing entertainment landscape

Attack on Ashland?

On Sept. 24, 1943, an eastbound train with 23 tanker cars crossed Cottage Street on the Erie Railroad line at 11:05 p.m., when the trucks of the fourth tanker were ripped loose from the car, derailing the train and spilling 230,000 gallons of flaming gasoline between Cottage and Union streets.

The first explosions were heard around 11:15 p.m., and the leaking gasoline ignited in flames that leapt 200 feet in the air. The fire from the wreckage could be seen for miles, including the Ashland County Fairgrounds and as far as Fitchville by motorists returning from Ashland High School’s football game with Norwalk.

Ashland firefighters battled the blaze through the night and were aided by departments from Mansfield, Shelby, Wooster, Norwalk, Polk, West Salem, Hayesville, Lodi and Medina. Initial newspaper reports said the fire caused an estimated $250,000 in damage, including destroying the Eagle Rubber Co. war factory and the Erie Railroad freight house and damaging Erie’s passenger station on Cottage Street.

Ed Kestner, of Savannah, was stopped at the railroad crossing at Cottage Street when the tank car truck tore away from the tanker and crashed into his car. Kestner and his five passengers survived the accident. “It all happened so fast I’m not sure what happened,” Kestner told the Times-Gazette. “I guess I’m a lucky fellow.”

At the height of World War II, some residents first believed the Erie accident was an enemy attack. Within a week, Eagle Rubber Co. resumed production of war materials, and in Oc-

The A.L. Garber Co. manufactured various military print materials during WWII, including manuals and later classified information.

The company honored its employees who were in the armed forces during the war with this Honor Wall that was erected outside the factory.

From the Ashland County Historical Society

tober, Ashland Fire Chief Paul Soles asked City Council to approve the purchase of fire equipment specifically

designed to fight gasoline and oil fires.

The Erie Railroad Co. replaced its destroyed freight station with a passen-

The Ashland Schine’s Theater opened on Center Street on March 27, 1942.

The venue could seat 1,500 guests and entertain with new movies and live shows. Tickets ranged between 10 and 40 cents for shows.

From the Ashland County Historical Society

The 1936 to 1945 decade was a time of changing landscape in Ashland entertainment.

The Opera House, a downtown destination for some of the best live entertainment and films since 1882 through the turn of the century, was to be closed by the end of February 1941 by order of City Council. According to the Times-Gazette, the State Industrial Commission required extensive repairs be done on the building in order to keep it open. The building would later be demolished in 1958.

But while one Ashland arts hub took a final bow, several new attractions were born.

In 1937, Kate Myers donated 9.93 acres to the City of Ashland to expand Brookside Park. That expansion was later used to build the Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell that opened in 1949.

Ashland Symphony Orchestra began its first full season in 1937 under the direction of Dr. Louis E. “Doc” Pete, performing regularly until 1943, when the group was disbanded because of World War II. The Ashland Schine’s Theater opened on Center Street on March 27, 1942, a 1,500-seat theater that debuted with new movies, news reports, a Bugs Bunny cartoon and even a live performance by Buddy Ebsen. Tickets cost 10 cents for children 12 years old and younger, and adult prices included 30 cents for matinees and 40 cents for evening shows.

Just this past April, a local group announced ambitious four-year plan to restore the theater to its original glory.

It has been closed since 2010 when the last movies where shown there.

Grace Brethren Church - Established 1913

31

1946-1955 L

8

ife in America during the first decade of the Cold War was one of contradiction. World War II had just ended, the middle class was expanding and more families were beginning to realize the “American Dream.” It was a time of material prosperity, but also it was a time of guarded optimism.

America’s former WWII ally, the Soviet Union, was now her opposition in a nuclear arms race.

The first military action during that first decade happened on June 25, 1951, when Soviet-backed North Korean soldiers streamed across the 38th parallel into the pro-Western territory

of the Republic of Korea. In July of that year, American troops joined the Korean conflict, which lasted until 1953.

Twelve Ashland County residents were among 54,246 Americans who lost their lives during the war Another 7,500 American servicemen remain unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, life in Ashland during the years between 1946 and 1955 were ones of progress.

Ashland hits the airwaves Before WNCO-FM was North Central Ohio’s country music radio sta-

tion, it was known as WATG-FM. Ashland’s first radio station officially went on air May 18, 1947, to much fanfare. Flanked by station owners who also were the publishers of the Ashland-Times Gazette, Reed Page of Page Chevrolet flipped the transmitter switch during a brief ceremony that marked the opening of the long-awaited radio station.

Ashland residents were made aware of the station’s arrival nearly two years before it went actually went on air. The Times-Gazette’s Edgar Koehl and Robert M. Beer heavily promoted WAGT in the form of advertising and newspaper articles, according to Broadcasting Magazine, a news journal for the broadcasting industry.

“Newspaper advertising space alone amounted to almost $3,000” Broadcasting reported.

“Before the station even took to the air, it had already sponsored a football guessing contest, a softball team,

a lawn bowling team and a boxing show,” the broadcasting journal reported. “It even went so far as to have a Goodyear airship fly over the area displaying an electric sign reading ‘Smooth FM.’ ” Ashlanders who turned their radio dials to 100.7 FM that first Sunday heard “Reflections by Duff,” which featured the musings of T-G columnist and local historian William A. Duff; a sermonette that was delivered by the Rev. W.F. Koepplin of Peach Lutheran Church and sponsored by the Ashland Ministerial Association, and the dramatic production of “Strange Wills,” starring actor Warren Williams.

Beer was the station’s general manager and, according to Broadcasting, was supported by a staff of 11, which included engineers, a program director, commercial manager, news editor, control operator, three announcer-control operators and two secretaries.

Music fills Brookside Park

On June 23, 1949, the Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell opened with an orchestra performance under the direction of Ashland’s music man – Dr. Louis E. Pete. It was Pete’s dream to build a band shell in Brookside Park. Kate Myers, widow of philanthropist Guy C. Myers, agreed to fund the $112,000 project in honor of her late husband.

From the Ashland County Historical Society.

32

There have always been music performances at Brookside Park, but the Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell made performances a little more elegant.

Before the band shell, musicians performed on a wooden stage that was erected near the baseball fields, pavilions and playgrounds.

In 1947, Louis E. Pete, got the idea to build a band shell on recently acquired land at Brookside Park. The legendary high school music teacher and founder of Ashland Symphony Orchestra wrote a letter to the Ashland Times-Gazette explaining his vision. When Kate Myers, the widow of philanthropist Guy C. Myers, heard about Pete’s idea, she agreed to fund the $112,000 project in honor of her

Real Estate Showcase - Established 1973

late husband.

The band shell was designed to hold a 100-piece band and entertain up to 3,000 guests. The Times-Gazette at the time of its opening described it as “acoustically perfect.”

On June 23, 1949, the Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell opened with an inaugural performance, complete with Doc Pete the “Music Man” conducting an orchestra. The next day, the band shell was formerly dedicated and a second concert that featured Ashland High School’s a cappella choir took place.

Founder’s Hall fire In 1949, the Ohio Industrial Commission deemed the circular staircase in Founder’s Hall of Ashland College to be a fire hazard. The college had to spend more than $75,000 to replace the steps and make other improvements to Founder’s Hall and the neighboring Allen Hall in order to meet the code set up by the commission, according to a report in the Times-Gazette.

Hundreds of students had trekked up and down those stairs for 70 years, according to Betty Plank’s book, Historic Ashland County. “Following the academic year of 1949, the steps were removed and new classrooms and offices were created. A modern steel stairwell was constructed on the east side of the building,” Plank wrote. “The old staircase was cut into pieces and offered to alumni who had a sentimental attachment to it.”

Students returned to a renovated Founder’s Hall in the fall of 1950.

Just two years later, on Oct. 19, 1952, an early morning fire ripped through the 75-year-old building. Although no official cause was determined, the fire was believed to be the result of spontaneous combustion in the ceiling of

the third-floor art department room or defective wiring, according to the Times-Gazette report.

Strong winds and limited water pressure hampered the firemen from six communities. The newspaper reports that 20 minutes after the fire alarm went off, the fire had consumed the roof at the rear of the building flames began spreading through the second floor. “Five minutes later, with a roar, the belfry collapsed and plunged down into the center of the holocaust,” according to the Times-GaThe circular staircase was a signature feature in the original zette story. A crowd Founder’s Hall on the Ashland College campus. In 1949, the of approximately Ohio Industrial Commission deemed it a fire hazard. The stair2,000 watched as case was replaced with a steel staircase on the building’s east the fire continued end. A fire destroyed Founder’s Hall three years later. to steadily move From the Ashland County Historical Society down the building that housed the colmany, and there was a very real poslege’s science, education, business, sibility that the college would have language, speech, radio, art, home to shutter its doors after such devaseconomics department and the stutation. dent recreation center.

Clayton called a campus meeting the At the time of the fire, a conservative day after the fire to solicit suggestions estimate of the damage to the building and its contents was more than on what to do.

“The response was electric and $200,000, according to the T-G. The defining moment of Glenn L. spontaneous,” Clayton was quoted in Clayton’s presidency came in the af- “A Gleam of Shining Hope.” “... Stutermath of the fire, wrote Dale Stof- dents offered to stay on campus and fer, in his book “A Gleam of Shining to help with the cleanup, faculty volunteered their help, and townspeople Hope.”

The fire had dashed the hopes of offered machinery, pumps, electric

motors and labor too.”

Jersey City 77 derails in Ashland Early on the Saturday morning of March 5, 1955, the Jersey City 77 split in two when a burned-out axle caused the train to derail on the Erie tracks north of downtown.

The Times-Gazette reported at the time that six of the train’s freight cars careened down an embankment north of Ninth Street. One of the six cars burst open, spilling “rear auto axles into the mud and down a steep embankment about three-quarters of a mile east of the Ashland depot,” reported the Times-Gazette.

The train was traveling its route from Jersey City, N.J., to Marion when the axle overheated and caused a wheel to drop, derailing 12 of its 134 cars.

Only cars six were seriously damaged.

The derailment, which caused thousands of dollars in damage, took out utility poles and cut communications for an hour and half. Crews started making repairs within a few minutes of the accident.

At the time, the T-G reported that the eastbound track was cleared almost immediately and was open for traffic that afternoon, but the westbound track was in need of repair and was expected to remain closed to traffic until the following Monday.

No injuries were reported. In fact, the section of the train that derailed was so far back, neither the conductor nor the engineer were shaken up, according to the T-G. Since the engine and first 90 cars were unaffected by the accident, they were able to continue their journey by 10:30 a.m. the morning of the accident.

Real Estate Showcase - Established 1973

33

1956-1965

8 M any of the memorable highlights of the late 1950s and early 1960s involved Ashland High School.

In 1962, Ashland High School settled into a new, spacious home on Katherine Avenue.

Along with the new facility came a new basketball arena (Arrow Arena) and a new football field and track (Community Stadium).

It was a major step forward from an overcrowded building on Cottage Avenue, which also received renovations, after the 1959 district vote that agreed to fund a new high school.

According to “The History of Ashland City Schools,” a book recent-

ly published by students of Edison and Taft primary schools, the district purchased the 47.86 acres of land off Katherine Avenue from Clifford Gongwer for $97,027.58.

In all, the cost of the new high school was about $3.3 million.

Groundbreaking was Nov. 20, 1960, and students in grades 10-12 were welcomed into the building two years later.

The education landscape changed tremendously throughout the county as well in this era — Dale Roy School was dedicated in December 1961, and consolidations occurred with the Loudonville-Perrysville, Mapleton, Hillsdale and Black River school systems.

Construction on the section of Interstate 71 through Ashland County began in 1961 with the local stretch opening in 1962. It also rerouted much of the traffic that used to travel through Ashland on U.S. 42 – one of the primary routes between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

From Cloyd McNaull.

34

“The King and I” Five years earlier, Ashland became the first high school in the country to perform “The King and I” — the lead roles played memorably by Jon Nicodemus (a future English professor at the University of Cincinnati) and Carol Boyer.

Ashland High School had presented its first play production, “Brigadoon” in 1956. The next year, director Bill Mast and orchestra conductor “Doc” Louis Pete tackled what was then an unprecedented challenge.

“The King and I” by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe had opened on Broadway in 1947, but hadn’t yet been released for amateur productions in the 1950s. Dr. Pete first reached out to the producers, according to Betty Plank’s third volume of “Historic Ashland,” and Mast, who was studying for his master’s degree at Columbia University, followed up.

Mast also made a connection with the leading costume house in New York.

When the costumes arrived in Ashland, they supposedly had names of Broadway actors sewn into them.

Musicals still were a relatively new thing to high school productions, and students were bussed in from all over Ohio to watch the play. It received national exposure, as photos of Nicodemus and Boyer made the cover of an amateur drama magazine.

The show had a cast of 93 and orchestra of 35, and “Historic Ashland” reports that 4,000 people attended the shows.

Principal John E. Hartzler later said: “This event will be one of the most significant and best remembered learning experiences the participants will have enjoyed during their entire school year.

This intensive effort is devoted without the motivation for an ‘A’ or ‘B’ on a report card. When we can put into effect devices which demonstrate com-

parable effectiveness in other areas, education will have taken a big step forward.”

First state championship On the eve of one of the significant days in Ashland High School sports history, golf coach Rex Benton was watching his squad practice in Columbus.

It was 1962, the day before the state golf championship at the Ohio State University Golf Club. As the practice round ended, a young man walked up to Benton.

“Coach, your team looks real good,” he said, as the story goes. “They have patience. I think they’ll win this thing.”

Benton was gracious to the stranger, and he later asked a spectator who it was.

“Oh, that’s an Ohio State golfer,” the spectator responded. “Jack Nicklaus.”

OK, maybe those weren’t the exact words — maybe the anecdote has taken some dramatic liberties in the last half-century.

But two things are true. One, it was indeed a 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus who approached Benton that day. Two, Ashland High School won its first state championship the following day.

The 1962 Division I state championship was earned by the foursome of Dave Deever, Jim Nordstrom, Rich McConaghy and Bob Miller.

Life in Ashland Most Ashland High School graduates from this era already have had their 50th anniversary reunion, and this year marks the golden anniversary for the class of 1965.

So what was Ashland like back then?

Betty Plank reported in her “Historic Ashland” column for the Times-Gazette that among the 36 restaurants in Ashland in 1959 were Bob-Lou Bar,

Home Hardware - Established 1947

Cub 42, Frank’s Friendly Tavern, Horn’s Diner, The Griddle, Nibble Nook, Lyn-Way, The Stall, Cottage Restaurant, Ashland Restaurant, Hop Off Inn and Village Restaurant.

Ashland still had Greyhound bus service and a drive-in theater, and the phone book listed 13 barber shops and 21 beauty parlors.

Ashland Sanitary Dairy remained a popular spot, and had nine home and retail delivery routes in 1965.

Mayors in that era included Paul Chorpening (1954-57), Don T. Hostettler (1958-61) and Richard H. Paxton (1962-1965). In 1956, Chorpening and staff moved from its Second Street office to the new municipal building on Claremont Avenue.

The YMCA also opened at its present location on Miller Street in 1957 on land given to the city by P.A. Myers.

In 1963, Trinity Lutheran Church moved from its original location at Church and Second Streets to its sprawling Center Street complex, part of which is the mansion of P.A. Myers.

Ashland also saw a tough stretch of winter weather in the early 1960s. In December 1962, Ashland had its worst snowstorm in a decade. A year later, the city encountered the worst cold snap of the century, hitting temperatures as low as minus-20 degrees.

In 1963, Ashland also held the first of three Balloon Festivals (an iteration before Ashland’s BalloonFest began in 1990) on downtown streets. The city declared itself the “Balloon Capital of the World,” and claimed to supply all the balloons used at Disneyland and Disney World.

Ashland also watched one of the largest national tragedies occur up the road on U.S. 250 in 1963, when 63 residents of Golden Age Nursing Home in Fitchville died in a morning fire. The fire likely would have made national headlines, but it occurred Nov. 22, 1963 —

the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. And as the United State’s role in Vietnam escalated in the early 1960s, Ashlanders began to pay increasing attention to the conflict half-a-world away.

Ashland’s philanthropic efforts saw a major development in this era. United Way, which began as United Appeal, had its start in 1957. The group was established by a fundraising crew known as the Community Chest, which played a major philanthropic role helping Ashland through the Great Depression.

Path more traveled When Interstate 71, a product of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act, came shooting through four-miles east of Downtown Ashland in 1962, it changed the town in more ways than one.

At that time, the only buildings located between I-71 and the U.S. 42 bypass was the Montgomery school building and a series of farms. Today its a bustling commercial strip.

Interstate 71 made Ashlanders’ access to the shopping, entertainment and cul-

In 1962, Ashland High School students moved into their sparkling new school building located at the corner of King Road and Katherine Avenue. The old high school downtown on Cottage Street became the Ashland Junior High School. The spacious 48-acre campus, including a new football stadium, was a big change from the old high school building that was crammed onto less than a city block.

From the Ashland City Schools.

tural offerings of particularly Cleveland and Columbus far easier. While it took a little less than three hours to reach downtown Cleveland via U.S. 42 through Medina, now it takes a bit more than an hour.

Construction on “freeway” began in 1959, and started in Ashland County in 1961. The interstate opened in sections (Ashland in 1962), and it was completed across Ohio -— including final stretches through Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Another major derailment occurred on the Erie-Lackawanna —in 1975. It cut Railroad north of downtown on July 5, 1961. Thirty-six cars The interstate also derailed between the Erie Depot and Union Street. marked the beginNo injuries were reported. ning of the end for From the Ashland County Historical Society. the local railways.

Before I-71, a package from Cincinnati could take as long as two weeks to reach Ashland by rail, former Myers Co. employee Cloyd McNaull recalled in the Times-Gazette’s 2015 “Progress: Milestones” edition.

“By truck it’d be overnight,” McNaull said. “That’s what doomed the rail system pretty quickly.”

Ashland also saw another major train derailment north of downtown in 1961.

It was the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, which had a major derailment two decades earlier in 1943. On July 5, 1961, 36 cars derailed between the Erie Depot and the Union Street overpass. It tied up firefighters for 48 hours, and the major work was in safely extricating a butane gas car near the bottom of the derailment pile. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

Home Hardware - Established 1947

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Ashland’s first airport, dating back to the early days of aviation, was located on the city’s northwest side along U.S. 250 about where Hershey’s Store and Lockit is located today. In 1970, the Ashland County Airport was dedicated three miles northeast of the city at 700 Township Road 1102.

Ashland College experienced a building boom from 1966-1972, and another building spree expanded the footprint of the campus east and west with the addition of a new business school and education college buildings, senior apartments, a recreation center and athletic complex featuring Jack Miller Stadium.

Arthur Street School was built in 1907, originally containing eight classrooms. It was remodeled and expanded in 1940, and served as an elementary school until 1981. It is now the Ashland City Schools Central Office, housing the offices of the district’s top administrators.

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Then & Now

The original front section of the Ashland High School was built in 1914. After high school students moved to the new Ashland High School in 1962, the building became Ashland Junior High School. Later called the Ashland Middle School, it closed in May 2015 with theopening of a new middle school next to the high school.

In the 1920s, interurban line ran down the middle of the bricked Main Street, and it appears automobile parking was becoming a problem. The old Gilbert’s Furniture Store building (on the right) is still among the largest Main Street buildings.

7 The corner of Cottage and Second streets has been the center of county government since the county’s founding in 1846. The first permanent courthouse was completed in 1853. Its replacement was dedicated in 1929 and continues housing the courts and other county offices today.

Then & Now

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1966-1975

8 T he Vietnam War era was a time of growth, change and turmoil in America. It was much the same story in Ashland from 1966 to 1975.

The 10-year period was a time of growth for the city and Ashland College, particularly along the Claremont Avenue corridor. It was a time of pride as new buildings went up and new businesses moved in. And it also was a giddy time at the college as it continued to grow and the men’s basketball team made its name known nationally.

But like the rest of Ohio around it and the country, there turmoil as the war became more and more unpopular and the administration of President Richard Nixon was ensnarled in the Watergate scandal.

Businesses expand, new post office dedicated

As the calendar flipped from the 1960s to the ’70s, Ashland was growing. The 1970 U.S. Census found the city’s population just 98 people shy of 20,000.

And it was a period of great growth for business and industry.

Between 1966 and 1975, F.E Myers & Bro. Co., Hyco Inc., Cresco Manufacturing, Archway Home Style Cookies, Timken Roller Bearing, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Liqui-Box, Hydr-O-Matic Pump Co. and Fautless Rubber Co. all announced building or expansion plans in Ashland.

Beyond businesses, the city was growing in other ways. Providing the city a new source of revenue, Ashland residents voted 2,519 to 1,857 in favor of a five-year, 0.7 percent city income tax

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on the May 2, 1967, primary ballot.

Three years after U.S. Rep. Robert Secrest, who represented Ashland in Congress, called the city’s 1916-built post office on Cottage Street that was built in 1916 and called it “the most obsolete for a city the size of Ashland to be found anywhere,” a new post office was dedidcated on Claremont Avenue in May 1968. The new building increased the space available from 5,700 to 16,000 square feet with another 4,416 square feet for parking.

Adding to the city’s recreational offerings, Hidden Valley Construction Co. of Massillon was awarded a $117,400 contract on Aug. 23, 1968, to build a nine-hole municipal golf course in Brookside Park. On June 5, 1974, city council voted to grant the mayor permission to file a grant application for $150,000 to build an additional nine holes at Brookside Golf Course.

Claremont Avenue improvements

Several significant projects got their start in 1969, but perhaps most significant were plans to improve Claremont Avenue. That cleared the way for the development of a new retail area that competed with downtown’s Main Street.

After getting tentative approval for the project from the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads in 1966, the first public hearing on a $1.4 million improvement project to widen the street from two to four 12-foot-wide lanes was conducted Jan. 29, 1969. A traffic study conducted in May 1968 found average daily usage of Claremont varied from 8,420 to 11,003 vehicles per day. Officials believed four

lanes were needed for any traffic in excess of 9,000 vehicles per day.

Preliminary plans called for new lighting, 6-inch curbs and 6-foot sidewalks from Main Street to Smith Road. For the section from Smith to Baney Road, no sidewalks were planned.

It took more than two years, but finally on June 14, 1972, Mansfield Flooring and Paving Co. was the low bidder for construction of the Claremont Avenue project with a bid of $1.242 million.

Just beyond the widening project, in 1969, Kroger opened a new grocery at 2310 Claremont Ave. where customers could buy fryer chicken breasts for 26 cents a pound, bread at four loaves for a dollar, bologna for 59 cents a pound and ice cream or orange juice for 59 cents a half-gallon.

Late in 1975, plans for a shopping center with a Kmart in the area along Claremont Avenue between Hydr-O-Matic Pump and Westview Drive were announced.

Along Center Street, one of the city’s other main arteries, the former F.E. Myers house at College Avenue and Center Street was torn down in August 1975. Ashland College had been using it to house its music department. The structure was purchased by the Good Shepherd Home, which built the Good Shepherd Villas on the corner..

Ironically, in December 1975, the city announced that a portion of Center Street from near Washington Street to just north of Vernon Avenue had been given final approval by the state Historic Preservation Board for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

City grows in many ways

Growth also was apparent in other parts of the city in 1969. Ashland City Schools and Ashland College announced plans to add 1,200 more seats to Community Stadium. A new greenhouse was planned for the high school

horticulture program.

Armstrong Utilities Inc. signed an agreement to build a 240-foot-tall antenna that would bring 12 channels of community antenna television to Ashland for $4.45 a month.

In March, Mayor Don Hostettler got approval from city council to purchase the McNaull Building on Cleveland Avenue for $33,000 to use as a site for a future city fire station. In June, city council OK’d plans for a new $360,000, 27,000-square-foot, two-story building to house the fire department. On March 13, 1971, hundreds of people attended dedication ceremonies for the fire station.

Proving it also was growing to the north, on April 2, 1969, the city proposed annexing 340 acres of land between U.S. 250 and Ohio 511 for a light industrial park. In May 1974, city council gave its OK for a $2.4 million project to reroute 250 across the northern part of the city.

Possibly the largest project in terms of dollars occurred at Samaritan Hospital, where, on Nov. 17, 1975, about 250 people attended a ground-breaking ceremony for a $9.4 million expansion.

The project was expected to be completed in January 1978.

Earlier in the decade, the hospital opened the two-story Samaritan Medical Clinic at Hillcrest Drive and Eastern Avenue in 1972. Also early in 1972, it was announced that Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing would end more than 60 years of service and close its doors in June 1974.

Beyond the city limits, Ashland County Airport was officially dedicated with an open house and air show in July 1970 and in March 1971, the new countywide landfill opened, marking compliance with state-ordered regulations prohibiting open burning and dumping.

Not all the news was good, however.

On June 6, 1969, the Erie Lackawanna

Donley Ford Lincoln of Ashland - Established 1977

Railroad announced it was discontinuing passenger rail service to Ashland.

And in a problem that would span four decades, voters in the Ashland City Schools district twice defeated a bond issue for a new middle school. In November 2012, it finally passed.

Flood of 1969

While businesses and buildings were changing the face of Ashland, possibly the most significant event during the era was provided by Mother Nature as a holiday surprise on July 4, 1969.

Drenching rains of 8 inches over a 24hour period wreaked one of the worst disasters in the history of the city with a state of emergency declared July 5, 1969.

People awoke July 5 to find flooded basements, washed-out roads and bridges, reports of missing people, property damage and ... more rain.

Most observers said it was the worst flood in the city since March 25, 1913.

Rain caused the spillway at the reservoir north of town to break loose, pouring an estimated 100 million gallons of water into the city where it rose to at least four feet deep on Cleveland Avenue. The city lost use of its water supply because the treatment plant was under water. Exacerbating the problem, high water and swift currents caused two water lines to break in the area of Town Creek under Claremont Avenue and Center Street, with 2 million gallons of water lost.

By Tuesday, July 8, 1969, the water was back on for the first time since the Saturday flood, but only for washing of faces and hands and toilet use. Washing clothes still was prohibited and water for drinking had to be picked up at water stations around the city and then boiled.

The only stores permitted to be open were groceries, drug stores and service stations and the city was under a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

Damage at the reservoir was estimated at $225,000 and $1.9 million in the city, according to the city engineer’s office. At least 33 people died across the state, including four drowning victims in Ashland County.

Finally, at 6 a.m. Thursday, July 10, 1969, the state of emergency was lifted. With the curfew over, businesses reopened and the ban on washing and bathing was lifted, but residents were reminded to keep boiling water for drinking use.

Transition time for Ashland College

Ashland College also added to the changing landscape along Claremont Avenue with a construction boom during the 10-year period.

From 1966 to 1972, Clark and Kilhefner halls, the Physical Education Center and Conard Field House, four new fraternity houses, Andrews Hall, Kem and Amstutz halls, John C. Myers Convocation Center, the Arts and Humanities Building and Center for the Arts and the University Library popped up on campus.

But with the building boom came financial problems for the college. While the school’s administration and board projected student enrollment to increase, it actually began to decline in the 1970s with the end of the Vietnam War draft. The board’s plan was to add 150 students per year and build a campus capable of serving 3,300 students by 1978.

Student enrollment topped out at 2,750 in 1970 and then began a steady decline. Combined with the cost of financing the building program, the drop in enrollment put a strain on the budget, leading to staff cuts and deferred maintenance of dorms and other buildings during the 1970s.

The college also was not immune from the antiwar sentiment that was sweeping the country as the decade of

the 1970s opened. Just a few days after Ohio National Guard troops shot and killed four student protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, comedian Bob Hope was scheduled to perform at AC. Hope was closely aligned with the administration of President Richard Nixon and he was to be introduced at the college by Gov. James Rhodes, the man who ordered the National Guard to Kent State. Hearing of his appearance, college students from across the state were urged to descend on AC for a protest.

On May 8, two days before Hope was to appear, a homemade bomb was discovered in the first-floor men’s room in the student center on campus. Despite the fact 8,000 tickets had been sold, AC President Glenn L. Clayton canceled Hope’s appearance and closed the campus for a week.

AC men’s hoops program shines

From 1965 to 1971, Wooster native Bill Musselman put the men’s basketball team on the national map with his combination of pregame ballhandling drills set to the tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Keep the Ball Rollin’ ” and “Higher and Higher.” Dunking, a light show, colorful uniforms and shoes and a team bench painted gold completed the picture. And a stifling matchup zone defense became the Eagle trademark during the era.

It all earned the programs a four-page, full-color spread in the Dec. 15, 1969, issue of Sports Illustrated.

Musselman’s teams featured height and many recruits from outside the state of Ohio. He even went so far as to include one player on the team who was much more well-known for his ballhandling tricks than his basketball skills.

“They had one guy on the team, George Schauer, basically just to do ballhandling tricks,” John Miller, Musselman’s half-brother said in an article

for the Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame website. “He couldn’t really play a lick, but he could spin that ball like no one else I’ve seen since, flip it up under his arm and all kinds of stuff. They’d have the crowd in a frenzy before the game even started.”

But the pregame show wouldn’t have meant much without success on the court and Musselman’s teams excelled there as well. His Eagle teams had an .845 winning percentage with 109 wins and 20 losses, and reached the NCAA college tournament four times. His 1968-69 team allowed just 33.9 points per game, and on Feb. 19, 1969, with a 20-1 record, the Ashland College men’s basketball team was voted No. 1 in the UPI national poll.

The Eagles finished with a 23-2 regular season record for the best mark in school history up to that time. And they held on to their No. 1 national ranking, edging out Fairmont State in the final UPI poll. Associated Press also voted the Eagles No. 1 at the end of the regular season.

Looking to back up their poll title on the court, the Eagles earned a spot as Mid-East Regional tournament hosts and advanced to the national tournament with a pair of wins.

First up for AC was Illinois State and the Eagles handled the Redbirds, 4135. But as it did the year before, the dream season ended there as first the Eagles lost 58-48 to No. 4 Southwest Missouri State and then fell 53-51 to American International in the national consolation game to finish fourth in the country.

As the 10-year period from 1966 to 1975 wrapped up, America’s involvement in Vietnam came to an end with the retreat out of Saigon. Fourteen Ashland County residents were killed in the Vietnam War. But with the war over, Ashland turned the page and began another decade in its 200-year history.

Donley Ford Lincoln of Ashland - Established 1977

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1976-1985

8 A couple of “Where were you?” moments occurred in Ashland during the 1976 to 1985 decade.

The first one was the Blizzard of 1978, which struck Jan. 26 and paralyzed the city, county and state for several days after that.

The second one was President Ronald Reagan’s visit May 9, 1983, the only time an incumbent president has visited Ashland.

Reagan’s stop at Ashland College was one of several big moments for the college during the 1976 to 1985 decade. The 1984 visit by Vice President George Bush and Glenn Clayton’s memorable tenure as the college’s president came to an end in 1977 after nearly 30 years were a couple other highlights for AC.

sfield Weather Service office. Because he was snowed in, Jacob was reporting from his home in Ashland, he told the Times-Gazette.

By 7 a.m., Ashland Mayor Don Richey declared a state of emergency in the city and asked all retail businesses to close, which most did. All area schools and most industries closed.

Montgomery Elementary School was dubbed “Montgomery Hilton” because it served as an emergency shelter for more than 300 stranded motorists from Interstate 71.

The wind-driven snow storm also dropped utility lines, knocked trees and limbs onto the ground and into buildings, broke windows and caused scattered power outages.

Because of the terrible conditions, repair crews couldn’t get to the sources of power outages. Telephone service also went down for many in the area.

That night and the next day, National Guardsmen, city firefighters and law enforcement workers and members

Barometer foretells blizzard Most people who were living in Ashland on Thursday, Jan. 26, 1978, haven’t forgotten where they were when the worst winter storm in Ohio history hit shortly before dawn.

On Jan. 25, the weather was calm with moderate seasonal temperatures, but Cleveland television meteorologist Dick Goddard reported during the 11 p.m. newscast that the conditions were right for a major blizzard. He said he had never seen the barometer drop so drastically.

Ashland recorded an all-time low barometric pressure reading of 28.95 inches the next day, according to Ed Jacob, who was in charge of the Man-

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Marking the only time an incumbent president visited Ashland, President Ronald Reagan inaugurated Ashland College’s John Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs on May 9, 1983. A year later, Vice President George Bush spoke at the second Ashbrook dinner.

From Tom Roepke.

An hour later, Gov. James A. Rhodes did the same for the state.

Winds registered at least 45 mph, the temperature dipped to 3 below zero with a wind chill factor of 50 degrees below zero and the visibility was zero. Those conditions closed all local roads, including Interstate 71, and left many motorists who ignored travel warnings stranded on area roads.

of the Johnny Appleseed Four-WheelDrive Club, escorted by front-end loaders and graders, were out on emergency calls. Food and supply drops were organized via National Guard helicopter to county fire departments.

To help get through the unforgettable blizzard, a number of people let firefighters and law enforcement employees use their snowmobiles and four-

wheel drive vehicles. Many neighbors helped each other and families took in stranded strangers.

By Friday, City Street Department crews began to clear streets of snow drifts with two front-end loaders. They also helped clear access to Samaritan Hospital.

Because of all the snow drifts, Richey didn’t end the city’s state of emergency until Saturday evening even though the winds and snow had subsided by Friday evening. Before the city’s state of emergency was lifted, Lee Telles, who raised Siberian Huskies, hitched three of them to a dog sled and rode down Second Street. The moment was captured in a T-G photo.

Most schools didn’t resume school until Wednesday, almost a week after the blizzard started.

Cost for snow removal and rescue missions across the state was about $20 and agricultural losses in Ohio were estimated at $64, which included property damage and animal loss.

Ashland County farmers lost almost $1 million because of the blizzard, according to Cal Knight, county extension agent for agriculture. Knight estimated an average loss of about $1,300 on dairy farms where milk had to dumped because milk trucks were unable to get to many farms.

While an estimated 30 people died across the state due to the blizzard, there weren’t any weather-related deaths in Ashland or the county.

Historic presidential visit by Reagan The other “Where were you?” moment of the decade was much more of a joyous remembrance.

While future and former presidents had visited Ashland before, none visited while he was in the White House.

That changed on the night of May 9, 1983, when Reagan came to town.

LSS Home Health Care - Established 2013

And it hasn’t happened since then.

Reagan pretty much only stayed long enough to give a 25-minute speech at Ashland College’s John C. Myers Convocation Center to inaugurate fund raising for the newly created John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs.

Lines began forming outside the convocation center hours before the event for the 1,400 who attended .

And crowds started forming along the streets of Reagan’s expected motorcade route by mid-afternoon.

At about 5:40 p.m., Reagan landed at Mansfield Lahm Airport in Air Force One. Then he flew by helicopter to Ashland High School. From there, he was driven by motorcade to AC for his 7 p.m. scheduled speech. He flew out of Lahm a little after 9 p.m.

For the most part, the president and his wife, Nancy, accompanied by a host of staff members and Secret Service agents, received a warm welcome.

There were bands playing, banners welcoming them and several thousand red, white and blue balloons floating overhead. There were a few protesters with signs opposing Reagan’s economic and nuclear weapons policies.

Joseph R. Shultz, president of the college, said Reagan was first invited to speak at AC in 1980 as the commencement speaker before he was elected president that year.

When he was asked again after the 1982 death of U.S. Rep. John M. Ashbrook, Reagan agreed to come. The invitation was made after members of the Ashbrook family agreed to the concept of establishing the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs.

Reagan shared many of the same conservative principals with Ashlander Ashbrook.

Vice President Bush comes to town A year later, AC was back in the na-

tional spotlight when Vice President George Bush delivered a tribute to Ashbrook in front of about 700 people at the second annual John M. Ashbrook Memorial Dinner on May 3, 1984.

Bush called Ashbrook’s death “a loss to our country, a loss to the cause of freedom and a loss to the conservative movement.”

Clayton retires as AC president Another memorable AC moment came in 1977 when Clayton retired after nearly 30 years as the college’s president, the longest tenure of any president at the college.

During his tenure, Clayton conferred degrees on more than 6,000 students.

On May 15, 1977, his last commencement ceremony as president, he conferred degrees on almost 400 graduates.

Addressing them from the front lawn of Founders Hall, Clayton compared their achievement to his plans for retirement the following month. He advised them to consider their commencement not as completion of a goal but as “a brief arrival at a point in life toward a new allusive goal in the future.”

Four years after he became president, a fire destroyed the schools administration and main classroom building, and many thought that might put an end to Ashland College. Instead, Clayton rallied support to rebuild Founders Hall, which started a period of unprecedented growth on the campus. When he started in 1948, the college had four buildings, 300 students and assets of about $4 million. At his retirement, it had grown to 36 buildings, 2,000 students and total assets of $30 million.

City marks nation’s bicentennial Not all the big moments of 1976 to

On Jan. 26, 1978, one of the worst winter storms slammed Ohio. The Blizzard of ’78 shut down Ashland for three days by blowing and drifting snow.

From the Times-Gazette.

1985 involved the college or the Blizzard of 1978.

In 1976, the city did a number of things to mark the nation’s bicentennial. One was to identify Ashland County farms that had been in the same family for 100 years or more.

Forty were identified. About 70 people living on farms that had been in their families for at least 100 years gathered for a photo that year.

In 1979, current owners Anita and Ray Weaver bought the Candy and Nut Shoppe from longtime owners Marshall and Ruby Picking. The business had been in the Picking family since 1935.

National fastpitch success When the 1980s came around, one the top highlights came in September 1981 when the Faultless men’s fastpitch softball team finished second the ASA National Fastpitch Softball Tournament in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was the highest national tournament finish for the team.

The Rubbermen lost 1-0 in the second national championship game of the double-elimination tourney to Decatur (Illinois) to finish with a 5-2 tourney record and an 87-25 record for the season, the most wins ever for the Faultless team. Faultless lost in the 11th inning on a game-winning RBI single in the top of the 11th inning by Decatur.

“We lost and the guys are unhappy, and it’s tough to accept knowing a hit can win it all,” said player/manager Mike Van Dine after the game in the Times-Gazette article about the championship. “It will take a few days or a week to realize how close we were.

We were the home team and any kind of break can give us a win, but you have to go back and realize that no one expected us to accomplish what we did and be proud of the fact that we are just as good as any of the best in the nation.”

But the decade of 1976 to 1985 was mostly defined by the two “Where were you?” moments on Jan. 26, 1978, and May 9, 1983.

LSS Home Health Care - Established 2013

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1986-1995 I

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t was a time of celebrations for Ashland. The 1986 to 1995 decade also saw the beginning of BalloonFest, the opening of the U.S. 250 bypass, the filming of parts of a major motion picture and the establishment of Ashland County Community Foundation in the city.

Spreng, who chaired the 175th anniversary committee. “We decided it would be fun to celebrate with a hot air balloon ascension.

“We had a dozen or so hot air balloons for that first event,” Spreng said of the first BalloonFest. “Everyone was excited about it. It was a beautiful sight.”

BalloonFest created from BalloonFest was a variation of a previ175th anniversary ous celebration, the Balloon Festival, that also took place during a special city anniThe biggest celebration came in the versary — the 150th anniversary in 1965. middle of the decade and led to the cre- That celebration, which only lasted a few ation of BalloonFest — the city’s 175th years, celebrated the city’s toy balloon anniversary in 1990. manufacturing and the city being known “We were working on ideas on how as the “Balloon Capital of the World” in to celebrate the 175th and someone the 1960s. mentioned hot air balloons,” said Rick The 175th celebration, which took place July 4 through 8, also had Civil War re-enactors, an ice cream social at Ashland County Historical Society Museum and an Ashland Symphony Orchestra concert at Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell.

Also, the Lettermen performed at Community Stadium, quilts were displayed

by Uniontown Quilters along with a parade of vehicles from Goldwing Motorcycle Club, which was having a state BalloonFest has its roots in Ashland’s 175th birthday cele- meeting at Ashland bration in 1990. There were a dozen hot-air balloons that County Fairgrounds. first year, and it proved so popular that it became an annual Cleveland television highlight of summer in Ashland. personalities Big

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Chick and Little John, Dick Goddard and Neil Zercher visited.

A time capsule was buried in front of the Municipal Building. Children 8 to 12 years old who could trace their ancestry in Ashland County to the Civil War or earlier were invited to witness the burial of the time capsule.

All five days of activities were rain-free.

That was especially needed for the hot air balloon ascension, which was so popular during the 175th anniversary that Spreng said, “people started saying we need to do it again.”

“We added balloons the next year and vendors,” said Spreng, who chaired the event in the early years. “We didn’t have vendors on the field that first year.”

By 1993, the single-day event grew to three days, and the Times-Gazette started printing its annual preview section for it.

A few years later, it had almost 30 balloons, which is about what it has today. It peaked in the mid-2000s with nearly 40 balloons.

Many of the events from the 175th anniversary — the ice cream social, symphony concert at the band shell, etc. — have continued to be a part of BalloonFest, which has had many other events throughout the years.

“It has been fun to see it grow,” said Spreng, who hasn’t been involved in running the event for several years, but still sponsors a balloon each year. “The neat thing about it is the families. You can go out on (Freer Field) on Friday and Saturday and see families enjoying themselves. It’s become a family tradition.”

In addition to the 175th anniversary for the city, other celebrations during the 1986 to 1995 decade included the 100th anniversary of Ashland Public Library in 1993 and a reunion of all past YMCA board members, trustees and campaign workers in 1991.

U.S. 250 bypass opens Not all the decade’s big events were

anniversaries and reunions. In 1989, Ashland College became Ashland University; astronaut Robert Springer, an Ashland High School graduate, was part of a space mission; and the U.S. 250 bypass around Ashland opened in 1991.

Ohio Department of Transportation originally set September as the date for completion of the construction of the U.S. 250 bypass. It was moved to Nov. 2 because more fill than anticipated was needed underneath the new road and some bridge pilings ended up having to be longer than expected. The last major component of the project was the construction of the interchange at U.S. 250 and U.S. 42, which is being reconstructed and scheduled to be completed this November.

The U.S. 250 bypass opened on Nov. 14, ending a 19-year wait.

The push for it began in 1972 to get the heavy truck traffic off of Cottage Avenue and Main Street. Detailed plans were first drawn up in 1974. Area residents continued lobbying efforts during the 1970s and 1980s. Their efforts finally paid off in October 1989 when then-Gov. Richard Celeste announced its construction would take place.

The project also included widening U.S. 250 between Interstate 71 and U.S. 42 to four lanes.

Richmond shines in NASCAR Another highlight of the decade came in 1986 when Ashland native Tim Richmond won seven NASCAR races and finished third in the Winston Cup points race. The same year, he was named NASCAR’s Driver of the Year with his No. 25 Chevy, sponsored by Folger’s Coffee.

Richmond, who was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1980, was inducted into the Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and inducted into the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Talladega in 2002.

While he was one of its 50 greatest driv-

Hospice of North Central Ohio - Established 1989

ers, Richmond also was a controversial figure in NASCAR. On Aug. 13, 1989, Richmond died of complications brought on by AIDS when he was 34 years old.

ESPN aired a story about his life in 2010 titled “Tim Richmond: To the Limit” as part of its “30 for 30” documentary series.

“He was an outsider to the NASCAR world who stood out for his natural talent, charisma and emergence in 1986 as a star and rival to Dale Earnhardt,” ESPN Film executive producer John Dahl wrote in an e-mail to the Times-Gazette in 2010 before airing of the “30 for 30” documentary. “But before Magic Johnson, Arthur Ashe and others, he became a face of the devastation of HIV and AIDS. In his short NASCAR career, Richmond won 13 Winston Cup races.

Bush visits day before 1988 election Maybe the most memorable event may have been George H.W. Bush’s visit to the city on the eve of his election as president on Nov. 6, 1988.

Bush, who would defeat Michael Dukakis the next day to become the 41st president of the United States, spoke to a crowd of 4,500 at Ashland College. College officials said there probably were another 4,000 who couldn’t get into to hear the speech.

Last-minute scheduling Sunday brought Bush, who was the vice president at the time, to the key state of Ohio on that Monday before the election. But why Ashland? According to the Times-Gazette article on the event, north-central Ohio’s Republican clout led by former state Sen. Tom Van Meter and others was some of the reason for the stop on Ashland. Van Meter was chairman of the Ohio Steering Committee for Bush and a member of the national steering committee at the time, and recommended Ashland College for a final Ohio stop in Bush’s campaign.

All available police officers were called to special duty that morning to help with crowd and traffic control.

Kates Gymnasium had all the flavor of a national political showdown with signs, banners and balloons. A large crowd waited outside the gym to wave goodbye as a 20-car caravan drove from the college parking lot toward Mansfield Lahm Airport for his next campaign stop.

It would be his third-to-last rally of his 1988 campaign. He took the stage at Ashland College at 11:14 a.m., finished at 11:28 a.m. and then was quickly whisked off to Texas for more campaigning. He was accompanied by his wife, Barbara, and introduced by AC student Stephanie Van Meter.

Likely the main reason things went so smoothly for the visit was that Bush had tentatively been scheduled to visit AC during an Ohio tour on Oct. 26. He also had spoken at the college in 1984 for its Ashbrook Memorial Dinner.

‘Shawshank Redemption’ films some scenes in town Ashland was back in the national spotlight when parts of the movie “Shawshank Redemption” was filmed in the city in 1993. The movie was released in 1994.

When it was being filmed in 1993, the T-G reported at least 100 people pulled up chairs for a rare opportunity to watch the film crews work on a major motion picture in Ashland.

Parts of Main and Orange streets were blocked off while police officers kept non-actors away from the former Huntington National Bank building, where a scene was being shot. The film’s publicist refused to disclose to a reporter the significance of the bank scene when Andy Dufresne withdraws the money he has laundered for the warden.

Revival’s 2 Thrift Store also was used in the movie for a train station scene.

One local man, Dale LaRue, even

played a short, but significant role in the movie.

LaRue was a 38-year-old sergeant with the Ashland post of the State Highway Patrol in 1993 when “Shawshank” was filming at the Ohio State Reformatory.

One day, a movie representative stopped in the patrol office and asked if anyone was interested in being in the film. LaRue and his fellow officers drove to Mansfield, received special haircuts to fit the movie’s time period and were dressed as Maine state troopers before finally reaching the set.

That day, the filming schedule called for capturing the scene where officers search a creek for evidence of Dufresne’s escape from prison.

LaRue’s famous screentime comes when a photographer snaps a black-andwhite photograph of LaRue holding up the rock hammer Dufresne used to escape.

People still visit Ashland to see where these scenes were filmed during “Shawshank Redemption” anniversary celebrations.

Ashland County Community Foundation established The decade ended with the start of arguably one of the most significant creations in the community — Ashland County Community Foundation, which was certified by the state as a public charity in fall 1995.

“The planning process actually started about two years before that,” said Lucille Ford, president of the organization until a few years ago when she became the president emerita. “It started with a small group of volunteers.

“We realized philanthropic dollars in the community were going to national organizations, which was fine, but we wanted to keep more of those dollars in the community,” Ford added.

That group of volunteers was an Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce stra-

Ashland native Tim Richmond was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1980 before moving to race the stock cars of NASCAR. In 1986, he was named NASCAR Driver of the Year after winning seven races. He died from complications from AIDs in 1989 at the age of 34.

From the Times-Gazette / Steve Stokes.

tegic planning committee.

With a lot of volunteer help, Ashland County Community Foundation not only was established but eventually was able to raise enough money to move into its current location at 300 College Ave., Ford said.

Since its inception, more than $7 million has been returned to the area via 294 donor-established funds. More than 6,000 donors have made current and deferred gifts totaling more than $26 million.

Ford said one of the many highlights during the foundation’s 20 years was being involved in helping bring the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center to town.

“The community was so responsive to the concept of creating a substantial opportunity with choices for those who have philanthropic goals,” Ford said. “It has been a pile of fun, a pile of challenges and a pile of community support.

Hospice of North Central Ohio - Established 1989

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1996-2005

8 O n the brink of the 21st Century, man and nature altered the face of the city. The former Home Company department store, a city landmark that had opened in 1910, was revived in 1997 as an apartment building for senior citizens. In May 1998, a major fire destroyed a west side warehouse. Less than two years later, a tornado ripped through the center of town.

Between 1999 and 2001, the Police Department, Municipal Court, County Sheriff’s Office and County Jail moved out of downtown, which had just undergone a major beautification project. In the early years of the 21st century, the city was reeling from the closing of its manufacturing plants and mayor Bill Strine responded by launching an ambitious economic development program.

And, in November 2012, voters finally approved a new tax levy to fund construction of new facilities for Ashland City Schools.

Essex House opens in Home Company building After the Home Company closed its doors for good in 1970, the landmark building at Center and East Main streets remained in limbo for 15 years. The office space on the upper floors remained in use for several years after the store closed, then the building sat vacant.

During that time, there was much speculation among local civic and business leaders on whether it would be feasible to save the building or whether it made more sense to tear it down. In 1984, Ashland County Common Pleas Court ordered the building put up for sheriff’s

44

sale. Over the next 10 years, it changed hands a half-dozen times.

Proposals for saving the building included converting it into low-income housing. However, some people — including Mayor Doug Cellar — argued that the building lacked parking for residents.

An apparent solution to that problem was submitted in December 1995, when the Ashland Essex House Limited Partnership purchased the building and proposed to turn it into housing for low-income seniors, who were less likely to drive. Mayor Cellar later came out in favor of the project.

While the renovation was in the works, in 1996 the Home Company Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In December 1997, Essex House officially opened. Among its first residents was Florence Francisco, who had worked in the Home Company children’s department in the early 1960s.

At an open house in March 1998, the basement community room was named “The Cellar Room” in the mayor’s honor.

Coburn warehouse fire On a Saturday afternoon on Memorial Day weekend 1998, the Coburn Inc. warehouse on Miller Street went up in flames. The blaze started in a trash bin on a loading dock and quickly spread through the paper goods warehouse, which had its sprinkler system disconnected at the time.

Smoldering cardboard wafted through the neighborhoods, some if it traveling

as far as U.S. 42. Flames could be seen as far away as Mansfield and I-71.

“Personnel from Abbott Laboratories (on West Fourth Street) were stationed on the roof to watch for burning debris landing on the roof,” Ashland Fire Department Capt. Tom Smith told the Times-Gazette.

The loss of the structure and contents was estimated at $7 million. That does not include $195,000 damage to a nearby structure. Thirty employees had been working there, though the warehouse was closed at the time of the fire. Coburn’s base of operations was at its plant near Hayesville.

across a three-mile path west to east, leaving a path of destruction through residential neighborhoods and downtown.

Roofs were torn off and large trees shredded, bringing down power lines.

Town creek was clogged with limbs and other debris. Downtown and the West Main Street corridor — including Ashland Cemetery and nearby homes — bore the brunt of the damage.

National Guard troops happened to be in town and volunteered to help patrol the city, but looting was not an issue.

Law enforcement agencies reported that sightseers were the biggest problem.

There were no weather-related deaths and the timing of the tornado might have kept injuries to a minimum.

“Overall we had quite a lot of storm-related damage, but we were lucky we didn’t have any major injuries,” Ashland Police Chief William Miracle told A F-1 tornado skipped through Ashland Sunday evening Aug. 6, 2000, starting west of town and following West Main the Times-Gazette.

Street through downtown, shredding large trees and power Thousands of resilines along its path. No deaths or serious injuries were dents in the city and reported. Insurance agent Rick Spreng assesses the county were withdamage in the West Main Street residential areas. out electricity but From the Times-Gazette. most were restored by midweek. That A 13-year-old boy had started the blaze. included the County Office Building at He was found delinquent, placed under West Main and Cottage streets, which numerous sanctions, ordered to pay res- was closed on the Monday after the titution and sentenced to 90 days in the storm. However, the County Jail, which Juvenile Detention Center. was housed in the basement, remained open for business. It had a backup genTornado causes extensive damage erator.

Local organizations, churches, and It was 10:45 p.m. on a Sunday night, individuals — including the Salvation Aug. 6, 2000, when a tornado touched Army, Ashland Chapter of the Ameridown west of town in the vicinity of can Red Cross and Ashland University Township Road 1353. The F-1 tornado — chipped in to help with the cleanup with 75 to 110 mph winds hopscotched and to provide relief for residents who

Ashland-Wooster Drive-in - Established 1957

suffered losses.

On the Saturday after the tornado, the Ashland County Ministerial Association conducted a community service of thanksgiving at Grace Brethren Church on West Main Street.

“It will be a sense of thanksgiving for those who helped each other,” said senior pastor Thom Gibson of First Christian Church. “Between us we thought it would be a good thing to do and bring folks together to reaffirm life.”

Downtown Streetscape project The tornado didn’t damage the infrastructure, including decorative lampposts and commemorative pavers that had been installed a year earlier as part of the $1.5 million downtown Streetscape project.

The project was spearheaded by Mayor Doug Cellar, city council and civic leaders to make downtown more attractive to businesses and families.

The project included some underground infrastructure improvements such as filling in old vaults and window wells beneath the sidewalks, rerouting wiring underground and replacing water service lines into buildings where needed.

A few downtown property owners had renovated their buildings in the meantime.

Streetscape hit a few speed bumps along the way — being delayed by issues with bidding, planning, construction and a changing of the guard at the city engineering department. However, the project was completed and, on Sept.

29, 1999, Streetscape was officially dedicated with a ceremony on Center Street.

Mayor Doug Cellar handed out pieces of the ceremonial ribbon to several people, including Chester Yoder.

Yoder, a colorful character, was a oneman downtown beautification program.

For years, he took it upon himself to sweep the sidewalks in warmer months

and shovel and salt them in the winter, endearing himself to merchants, community leaders and residents. On New Year’s Eve 2009, Yoder died of cancer at the age of 58. About a week before he died, Yoder was presented with a commendation from Mayor Bill Strine for his dedicated service to the city.

cob Fridline, now retired, spoke at the June 2000 dedication ceremony. “This isn’t about the building,” he said. “It’s about the people and the work that goes on inside the building. If people don’t have confidence about what goes on inside this building, it’s nothing more than bricks and mortar.”

Jail, Municipal Court move

Economic Development Department established

Well before the turn of the century, the Ashland Police Department, Municipal Court, Sheriff’s Office and County Jail were running out of room. The PD and Muni Court were housed in the Municipal Building on Claremont Avenue, which was constructed in 1955. The SO and jail occupied space in the County Office Building at West Main and Cottage streets, which had once served as a federal building and housed the U.S. Post Office.

Through the mid 1980s and the 1990s, the city and county conducted studies and discussed alternatives, including combining facilities and moving operations 1.5 miles away. The latter met with resistance from the downtown business community. After the city purchased a 14-acre property that had once been a drive-in movie theater on East Main Street, opponents challenged the proposed move with a referendum. On May 5, 1998, voters supported the move to East Main Street by a count of 2,348 to 2,288. Seven months earlier, voters supported a county tax levy to pay for a new jail.

Ultimately, the city built a new combined Police Department and Municipal Court facility on the East Main Street property and sold the western portion to the county, which built a Sheriff’s Office and Jail complex The Police Department and Muni Court facility was dedicated June 10, 2000.

The Sheriff’s Office and Jail officially opened Feb. 24, 2001.

Longtime Municipal Court Judge Ja-

When Mayor Bill Strine stepped down at the end of 2007, halfway through his second term, he cited the creation of the city Economic Development Depart-

townships and with Ashland University.

In January 2003, city council voted to pay Martin Irvine about $60,000 a year to head the new Economic Development Department. The department was housed in the renovated basement of the Municipal Building, where the Police Department had been.

Although hampered by a stagnant economy, the economic development efforts met with some success, including the acquisition of land and creation of a 209-acre business park on the north end of town. Several businesses moved in and remain in operation today.

Ashland along with the rest of the world was stunned by the terrorist attacks on Sept.

11, 2001. Community prayer services where held and motorists, fearing a gasoline shortages clogged local filling stations in the hours after the attack. Eight Ashland County servicemen have died so far in the war on terror.

From the Times-Gazette

ment as one of his major accomplishments.

Soon after he initially took office in 2002, Strine made good on his word to create a taxpayer-funded department dedicated to luring new businesses to town and assisting existing companies.

His strategy included improving relationships among the cidty, county and

The city Economic Development Department evolved into the Ashland Area Council for Economic Development.

AACED was established in December 2005 as a public-private partnership dedicated to strengthening the local county economy through business retention and expansion, business recruitment, and enhancing the quality of life.

Ashland-Wooster Drive-in - Established 1957

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2006-2015

8 T he last 10 years has been a decade of change as Ashland looks forward to its future.

In advance of the Great Recession that defined much of the decade, local manufacturing continued to evolve.

In February 2006, Hospira Inc., which had roots in Faultless Rubber, announced it would close its Ashland plant by the end of 2007, eliminating nearly 500 jobs. Novatex, a German corporation that founded Novatex North America, opened a plant in Ashland’s new business park in May 2007 and resumed production of several Hospira product lines, including baby bottle nipples.

Ashland’s Business Park continued to grow over the years as Novatex

North America was joined by Ohio Electric Control, Ashland Conveyor Products and Barbasol, which opened a 78,000-square-foot shaving cream production plant in 2010. Barbasol later expanded the plant in 2012 to a 160,000-square-foot facility that employs about 70 workers.

In October 2008, Ashland was seemingly dealt another blow when Archway Cookies suddenly closed its plant, filed for bankruptcy and left 300 employees without work. But Mayor Glen Stewart, working with the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce and Ashland Area Council for Economic Development, helped clear the way for Lance Inc. to purchase Archway in bankruptcy court and re-

The Ashland University women’s basketball team won the NCAA Division II national championship on March 29, 2013. The Eagles defeated Dowling College 71-56 in the final, a year after a runner-up finish in an overtime loss in the 2011-12 championship.

From the Times-Gazette / Tom Puskar

46

sume production in December 2008.

Significant change has extended to the local health care industry, as Samaritan Hospital, which opened in May 1912 and has remained independent ever since, announced in March 2015 plans to sign a letter of intent to join Cleveland-based University Hospitals. How this will affect the 55-bed local hospital that has been a part of more than half of Ashland’s history remains to be seen.

U.S. 250 corridor As the city moved into the 21st century, Ashland expanded its borders eastward along U.S. 250 toward Interstate 71.

In 2004, the city of Ashland and Montgomery Township fostered a tax-sharing agreement that paved the way for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 250. In August 2006, WalMart opened the new store and closed its Baney Road location, which overlooked U.S. 42. Much of the retail activity that had clustered around the old Wal-Mart store followed, moving out to the East Main Street-U.S. 250 corridor, joining Fin Feather Fur Outfitters, Buehler’s Fresh Foods and Home Depot, who had preceded WalMart. Closer toward downtown along East Main Street, Samaritan Regional Health System opened a new administration building in the old Harlow’s store and Sherwin Williams moved its store across the street. The overall expansion of the corridor has forced the city and the Ohio Department of Transportation to restructure the intersection at U.S. 250 and U.S. 42, beginning this summer to deal with the heavier traffic flow.

And back at the corner of U.S. 42 and Baney Road, the old Ashland Square Plaza sat largely vacant for several years after Wal-Mart moved out east,

becoming an eyesore. However, Scott Conery of Enterprise Parkway Leasing bought the old shopping center and has renovated it, turning the old Wal-Mart store into a manufacturing facility for the growing Hedstrom Plastics, and the old J.C. Penney store into Hedstrom’s company headquarters. The rest of the space is nearly filled by a variety of companies.

Expansions in education The 2006 decade also was a time of educational expansion, both with the flurry of building activity at Ashland University and the construction of new elementary and middle school buildings in Ashland City Schools.

After opening the Dauch College of Business and Economics in 2003, Ashland University christened the Schar College of Education, Recreation Center and Rybolt Sport Sciences Center in May 2006, renovated the Kettering Science Center in September 2006 and opened the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex and Jack Miller Stadium in September 2009.

In the aftermath of the multimillion-dollar building projects, however, the university began facing financial problems in 2013 and experienced the first of several rounds of budget cuts. University officials cited declining enrollment issues, and in September 2013, announced plans to reduce tuition by $10,000 in a bid to increase enrollment. That same year, Moody’s Investor Service notified the university that it had downgraded $33 million of the school’s bond debt, believing default a possibility.

In January 2014, AU President Frederick Finks announced his retirement.

William Crothers served as interim president during the past year, stepping down when Carlos Campo, took over June 1.

Spreng-Smith Agency - Established 1950

After multiple failed levy tries to build new school buildings, the Ashland City Schools finally succeeded on Nov. 6, 2012, when district voters passed a 3.7-mill bond issue to fund the construction of a new middle school, kindergarten through third grade elementary school and the addition of a new auditorium at Ashland High School. The projects began in earnest when ground was broken on the sites in April 2014, with both schools scheduled to open this fall.

Ashland High School’s new auditorium was opened in April. The Robert M. and Janet L. Archer Auditorium replaces McDowell Auditorium, which was dedicated May 12, 1927, at the former high school and current middle school site. Once the new school buildings open, crews will demolish the current middle school and Montgomery, Lincoln and Osborn elementary schools.

Giving hearts and the Kroc Center Ashland received an $18 million grant in 2006 from the Ray and Joan Kroc estate to build a Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. At the time, Ashland was the smallest city to receive a Kroc Center, beating out Staten Island, Boston, Philadelphia and more than 20 other applicants.

As part of receiving the $18 million grant from Joan Kroc and the Salvation Army, Ashland committed to raising $2.3 million in matching funds. Community fundraising surpassed that goal and exceeded $3.2 million, which included $1 million contributed by a state capital bill. The Ashland Kroc Center opened on East Liberty Street in April 2009.

Throughout the decade, Ashland’s philanthropic attitude was never more evident than by the dollars donated to

Ashland Mayor Bill Strine speaks to residents and shoppers at the opening of WalMart on U.S. 250 in August 2006. The company opened a Supercenter closer to Interstate 71 and closed its former store that sat at South Baney Road and U.S. 42.

From the Times-Gazette.

United Way of Ashland County and poured back into the community.

At the start of 2015, current United Way executive director Ev DeVaul announced the organization raised $1,073,721 in 2014, surpassing United Way’s campaign fundraising goal for the eighth-straight year.

an 88-82 overtime loss to Shaw a year earlier in the title game.

Senior forward Kari Daugherty earned Division II Player of the Year

honors for the second-straight season while 18th-year AU head coach Sue Ramsey picked up her 400th career win and 300th win at AU along the way.

Ashland captured its second-straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title (21-1 record), then claimed a second consecutive GLIAC Tournament crown at home. The Eagles also won the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament at home again, clinching their trip to the Elite Eight with a 72-63 win over Wayne State in front of 2,832 raucous fans in Kates Gymnasium.

The team ended the year with a 43game home win streak before finishing its business in San Antonio with victories over Gannon (74-63), Western Washington (66-54) and Dowling.

Coach Ramsey retired after the 2014-15 season with 20 years as the winningest women’s basketball coach in AU history.

A season to savor After an NCAA Division II national runner-up finish to end the 2011-12 season, the Ashland University women’s basketball team had already captured the community’s heart as they entered the 2012-13 season.

The Eagles lost just one key contributor from the previous 33-2 season, and they came out and won their first 24 games before eventually capping a 37-1 season with the school’s first win in a national championship game March 29, 2013.

Ashland rolled past Dowling College (New York) with a 71-56 win for the crown, erasing the heartache from

After receiving an $18 million grant in 2006 from the Ray and Joan Kroc estate to build a Kroc Center in Ashland, the community raised a $3.2 million match.

The center opened on East Liberty Street in April 2009.

From the Times-Gazette

Spreng-Smith Agency - Established 1950

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This publication would not have been possible without the help of countless people.

7 At the top of the list, is the staff at the Ashland County Historical Society -- Chris Box, Suzy Wilson, Marsha Lash and Jane Sponsler.

They supplied much of the resource material and many of the photographs included in this book.

And they answered numerous queries from multiple Times-Gazette staffers almost daily over the past two months. In addition, a special thank you goes out to Barb Queer, Sharlene (Cuda) Baker Ingmand, Sally E. Zody Spreng and David Lee, who have enhanced the historical society’s photo collection with access to their private postcard collections, including some printed here.

Others who provided invaluable assistance include: Betty Plank, author of three volumes of “Historic Ashland County” and Times-Gazette columnist.

Jan Archer, who with assistance from Betty Plank, produced “A Timeline of 200 Memorable Events in Ashland, Ohio’s History” for the 2015 Bicentennial Celebration.

Cloyd McNaull, local historian and expert on numerous subjects.

Hal Sheaffer, Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center Kristie Donelson and Sarah Kearns, Ashland Public Library.

Barbara H. Hart, Ashland County Chapter Ohio Genealogical Society Bill Snyder, local railroad historian and author.

Denny Baum, Ashland County Airport David Roepke, Ashland University Archives.

Tom Roepke, photographer Dusty Sloan, Ashland University Sports Information Dave Kowalka, local storyteller Larry Stine, longtime part-time Times-Gazette sports writer And anyone else who we forgot or failed to mention.