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In Hawes’s day, commemorative markers and plaques usually were made from wood, which rotted, or iron, which rusted. Hawes not only pioneered the use of more durable cast aluminum, but he also developed a proprietary font and signature layout that continue to impart the “Sewah look” to markers today. “Our lettering style is a modification of the old Caslon font, with serifs that give ‘f’ and ‘g’ a particularly different appearance,” Smith says. “People like its uniqueness.”
Anatomy of an Ohio Historical Marker by Damaine Vonada Unique ornamentation: Outline of Ohio flanked by Buckeye leaves and nuts.
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Color scheme: Brown plate; medium green leaves; shades of nutmeg and tobacco for nuts; gold letters.
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Sewah Studio’s proprietary lettering and distinctive “leatherette” textured background.
After retiring in 1953, Hawes sold Sewah Studios to Smith’s grandfather, Gerald Smith, who constructed its plant in 1959. With separate areas for every aspect of production, the facility is effectively several different businesses — pattern design, typesetting, metal shop, foundry, and painting operation — under one roof. “Each department of Sewah Studios has its own expertise,” Smith says. The Smith family’s acquisition of Sewah Studios coincided with the dawn of interstate highways, which, in turn, awakened demand for markers as tools for touting history and promoting tourism. Soon after Ohio’s
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Construction: Sturdy cast aluminum with a tough powdercoated finish.
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Sewah numbering code: 9-5 indicates the ninth historical marker in Ohio’s fifth county alphabetically (Athens).
Mounting post: Octagonal extruded aluminum, typically 7 feet long with 3 feet inserted in the ground.
Sesquicentennial Commission began installing blue, Ohioshaped signs displaying tidbits of information at municipal corporation limits in 1953, it also instigated a historical marker project focusing on significant people, places, and events. Today, Local History Services at the Ohio History Connection (OHC) administers both the Corporate Limits Markers and Ohio Historical Markers programs. Sewah Studios made the first Ohio Historical Marker in 1957, titled “PORTAGE PATH.” It was erected in Akron at the site of an important carrying place between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers; six decades later, that aluminum marker is still standing.
New markers stand ready in the powder coating booth. 26
OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • SEPTEMBER 2017
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According to Andy Verhoff, a marker funding grant coordinator at Local History Services, OHC records from December 1955 confirm that Sewah Studios also originated the pattern for Ohio’s signs. “The marker committee’s minutes show that Sewah Studios submitted two designs,” says Verhoff, “and the members chose design No. 1, which incorporates the shape of the state supported on each side by clusters of Buckeyes.”
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