September/October 2020

MAGAZINE

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020 OHIO WINS NO MATTER WHAT

1100 ROCK & ROLL BLVD

1955 OHIO TURNPIKE

REMEMBER THE MAINE

The 1920 Campaign for the Presidency

Cleveland’s Rock Hall Turns 25

World’s Most Modern Superhighway

Ohio’s Spanish-American War Artifacts

Page 22

Page 28

Page 34

Page 40

MAGA ZINE

Cover: Ohio was a sure winner in the presidential election of 1920, when both the Republican and Democratic candidates were from the Buckeye State: Sen. Warren G. Harding of Marion, left, and Gov. James M. Cox of Dayton, right. See page 22.

Ohio History Connection Archival Collections

Vol. 59, No. 5 EDITORS

Bill Eichenberger Tom Wolf CONTRIBUTORS

Thomas Crowl

Contents S E P T E M B E R & O C T O B E R 2020

22

Ohio Wins No Matter What— The 1920 Presidential Campaign

28

1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard— Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Turns 25

34

World’s Most Modern Superhighway— The 1955 Ohio Turnpike

40

Remember the Maine— Ohio’s Spanish-American War Artifacts

Erin Esmont Bill Pickard

I N E AC H I S S U E

Cur tis Schieber David A . Simmons Katie Swett Sydni Wil son ADVISORY BOARD

Donna DeBlasio Youn gstown St ate Unive r sit y

Nishani Frazier Miami Unive r sit y

Rober t G enheimer Cin cinn ati Muse um Ce nte r

Stephen G eorge O hio Histor y Conne c tion

Alex Hastie O hio v. the World

G eorge Ironstrack Miami Unive r sit y

Chester Pach O hio Unive r sit y

Roger Pickenpaugh Historian an d Auth or

2 4 4 6 15 16 17 19 46 48 50

Contents From Our Editors What’s Your Story?

In the News Historic Sites & Museums At the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Online Events Featured Events & Exhibits I Wish I’d Been There Young Eyes on the Past Reviews

Daniel Rivers T he O hio St ate Unive r sit y

Erin Wingfield O hio Histor y Conne c tion

THANKS TO OUR OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION STRATEGIC PARTNERS: Echoes Magazine (ISSN 0012-933X) is published bimonthly and distributed by the Ohio History Connection as a benefit of Ohio History Connection membership.

Editorial Offices: Ohio History Connection, Ohio History Center, 800 E. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43211-2474 Phone 844.836.0012 • Email echoes@ohiohistory.org Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Echoes Magazine, Ohio History Connection, Ohio History Center, 800 E. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43211-2474 Entire contents © 2020 by the Ohio History Connection.

All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted or electronically reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. The Ohio History Connection accepts no responsibility for facts and opinions expressed by the authors.

2 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Moving?

Contact us at membership@ohiohistory.org or 800.686.1545 to share your new address.

The Ohio History Connection is a

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OhioHistory

Ohio Wins No Matter What

22

THE 1920 CAMPAIGN FOR THE PRESIDENCY With Democratic, Republican and Prohibition candidates all from Ohio, the Buckeye State stood to win in the 1920 presidential election no matter what. Add in the ballots of millions of women who won the vote on Aug. 18—just 11 weeks before the Nov. 2 election—and you have a recipe for one interesting campaign season.

1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME TURNS 25

28

Three decades after Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed gave rock ‘n’ roll its name, the music inspired an organization to preserve its history. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established in New York City in 1983, though it would be another 11 years before the foundation found a permanent home with the opening of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland on Sept. 1, 1995.

World’s Most Modern Superhighway THE OHIO TURNPIKE

34

When the $326-million Ohio Turnpike opened in 1955, it was dubbed the “World’s Most Modern Superhighway” with good reason. The modern interstate highway system was still a few years in the future, and with two non-stop lanes westbound, two eastbound and service plazas offering gas, repairs, gift shops, coffee shops and sit-down dining, there was nothing like it in the Buckeye State.

Remember the Maine

40

OHIO’S SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR ARTIFACTS The 1898 explosion that destroyed the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor led to the cry “Remember the Maine!” and the Spanish-American War. After the war, communities petitioned Congress for mementos from the battleship to use as memorials.

As a result, pieces of the Maine are scattered all over Ohio and beyond, though not everyone got what they hoped for.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

3

FROM OUR EDITORS Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates a significant anniversary this year, its 25th. You can read about the anniversary in the story 1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Turns 25, by Curtis Schieber, on page 28.

The piece brought back fond memories for one of us—the one who had the privilege another lifetime ago of covering the opening of the Rock Hall for The Columbus Dispatch.

What struck the Dispatch’s music critic during the opening festivities were the number of reporters and music writers from around the world covering the weekend’s events.

In a conversation at the time, Yasuki Matsumoto of Kyodo News Service USA said that two significant events in 1964 changed the landscape of Japanese society. “In 1964 we opened the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo, which linked the islands. And in 1964 the Beatles came to Japan.

“Those two events marked the beginning of a new era, a modern era, for Japan.”

Lauren Rigoulet, a reporter for Paris’s international newspaper, Liberation, explained that France was in the process of mandating that radio stations play indigenous music, not rock ‘n’ roll.

“There is resistance to rock ‘n’ roll in France,” she said, “resistance to this kind of cultural invasion from America.

“Beginning in January 1996, it will be law that all radio stations in France must play at least 40% French-speaking music.”

But rock ‘n’ roll could not be stopped. In subsequent years, French radio stations did play 40% French-speaking music—from midnight to 8 a.m.

The Rock Hall folks involved with the historic launch insisted to any reporter who would listen that, “This is not going to be a Hard Rock Cafe.” They made good on that promise from the very beginning.

In two 12-minute videos called Mystery Train, the Rock Hall did an admirable job representing all of the music’s most important influences, from the blues and country music to regional genres such as Cajun, western swing and folk.

Bruce Springsteen was featured in the second part of Mystery Train, explaining to viewers that, “Elvis (Presley) freed your body; Bob Dylan freed your mind.”

Rock ‘n’ roll: the world revolutions continue.

You won’t lose value on your Ohio History Connection membership while our museums and attractions are closed to visitors.

We’re extending expiration dates!

4 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

What’s In every issue of Echoes Magazine, we feature the stories of Ohio History Connection members and other Ohioans to stoke memories and shed light on our shared past.

For this issue, we asked,

“ What is the first movie you remember seeing at a drive-in? Describe your experience.”

Here are some of your responses: MA AND PA KETTLE The movie was Ma and Pa Kettle.

It was at the Amanda Drive-In, which was along the Blanchard River in Hancock County, and mosquitoes were very thick.

—John and Helen Rose, Arlington

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP My parents did not have me until they were 40. It was a mixed blessing.

Having 40 years of life experience, my mom and dad helped me gain an interest in history, namely the Great Depression and World War II. They were also wonderful about exposing me to magnificent old movies from the likes of Clark Gable, Bette Davis and the Marx Brothers. On the other hand, my parents could be incredibly old-fashioned. They believed in early bedtime for kids, which meant we never did any fun activities at night.

That included drive-in movies. I did not see a drive-in movie until I was 16.

My older brother and his friend invited me to join them one Friday night. We crammed into the friend’s tiny Chevette and headed for the 3-C Drive-In. The feature that night was Humanoids from the Deep. It was as bad as it sounds, a

Your Story?

DRIVE-IN MOVIES

Ohio Memory | Toledo Lucas County Public Library

grade B horror film featuring a well-pasthis-prime Vic Morrow. No sooner had the film started when the sky opened up.

For 90 minutes, I sat in that sardine can car, craning my neck to see the screen through the torrential downpour. I was miserable. When it was all over, I actually wanted to do it again, and I did, with much more enjoyable results.

—Jim Hutter, Columbus

101 DALMATIANS My first drive-in movie was 101 Dalmatians with my entire family.

I thought the best part was the cupcakes my mom made to bring to the drive-in, the Starglow, near Middletown.

—Rose Hume, Upper Arlington

SUPERMAN I was a quite young and constant tagalong to my teenage brothers.

Everywhere they went, I went. So when the first Superman movie came out at the local drive-in, I got to go. Nothing like sitting on the big armrest of a ‘77 Riviera, watching a man in tights save the world.

—Donna Marie Oklok, Columbus

SON OF FLUBBER The only movies we saw as kids were at the drive-in. We went to Miles East Main in Reynoldsburg. I will guess that Son of Flubber was my first movie.

—Mark Wyatt, Columbus

M*A*S*H The first movie I saw at a drive-in was M*A*S*H in the summer of 1970, going into my senior year at Middletown Fenwick High School. It was so funny that I went back the next night to see it again.

Today I guess you’d just binge watch on Netflix, which has replaced binge watching on cable TV, VHS and DVDs. —John Kiesewetter, Fairfield

THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST I saw The Shakiest Gun in the West with Don Knotts—saw it in my PJs.

Sundance Kid Drive-In, Oregon, Ohio, about 1994

TOP GUN

PAINT YOUR WAGON

In the summer of 1986, I was 18, and a frequent Friday or Saturday night out with my pals was seeing Top Gun at the Springmill Drive-In in Mansfield.

Watched the movie the first two times and screwed around the next eight or so. It was a great escape. A few notable memories: got my very first car that summer, a 1979 Buick Skylark; learned I was extremely claustrophobic, as I was once chosen to be the guy who was sneaked in, stashed in the trunk; and discovered that a 12-pack of beer fit perfectly in a hollowed-out 60-count cassette case.

In the summer of ‘70, I saw Paint Your Wagon at a Columbus drivein with a bunch of my relatives.

We had a blast watching the movie.

When I saw the movie a few years ago, I was disappointed that it wasn’t as enjoyable as it was that one summer night.

—Kim Niswander, Johnstown

SNOW WHITE The earliest drive-in movie I recall was Snow White at age 6 with my cousins in a huge early-1970s station wagon. My mom brought popcorn in a paper grocery bag, which we enjoyed in our pajamas. I remember this because I had an appendicitis attack during the movie! Mom thought I simply had a tummy ache from the popcorn. Nope! Had it removed the next day.

—Theresa Sharp, Columbus

—John Koury, Thunder Road

WHAT’S YOUR STORY? We want to know your stories, so in every issue of Echoes Magazine we ask you a question, then run selected answers in the following issue. Here’s the question for November & December: November 5 is National Doughnut Day. What was the best doughnut shop in your hometown? Describe the atmosphere there and the doughnuts.

Email your story responses (50 to 150 words) by Sept. 10 to echoes@ohiohistory.org or, if you follow us on Facebook, send us a Facebook message.

—Tom Mattix OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

5

In the News SITE OF FIRST GAME IN THE NFL

Cradle of Professional Football

Along the walkway between the parking lot and Howell Field at Triangle Park, 2860 Ridge Ave., Dayton

What has become today’s National Football League was “born” in Ohio a century ago this fall. Visiting Canton or Dayton? Check out these Ohio Historical Markers.

THE CRADLE OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Near Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2121 George Halas Dr., N.W., Canton On September 17, 1920, representatives from ten professional football teams met in Canton and formed the American Professional Football Association, which in 1922 became the National Football League (NFL). Pro football evolved from club football in the 1890s, and by the early 1900s had begun to spread across the country, concentrating in the Midwest. Jim Thorpe, the first nationally prominent pro, started with the Canton Bulldogs—an early pro football power—in 1915. In 1959, Canton citizens launched a wellorganized and ultimately successful effort to have their city, “the cradle of professional football,” designated as the site of a monument to the sport’s historic stars. The Professional Football Hall of Fame opened on September 7, 1963, inducting seventeen charter members. The Hall of Fame interprets and promotes the study of the role of professional football in American culture.

6 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

On October 3, 1920, the first game matching two professional teams of the American Professional Football Association, a league that would become the National Football League (NFL), was held on this field within Triangle Park. In that game, the Dayton Triangles defeated the Columbus Panhandles 14–0. The Triangles’ Lou Partlow scored the first touchdown and George “Hobby” Kinderdine kicked the first extra point. Three factories founded by Dayton businessmen Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering sponsored the Dayton Triangles team. The factories were the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), Dayton Metal Products Company (D.M.P.Co.), and Domestic Engineering Company (DECO), later called Delco-Light. They formed an industrial triangle of plants in downtown Dayton.

Explore Ohio Historical Markers throughout the Buckeye State at remarkableohio.org.

Ohio History Connection | remarkableohio.org

OHIO HISTORICAL MARKERS

OHIO HISTORICAL MARKERS

Remarkable Ohio The Ohio History Connection's familiar brown-and-gold Ohio Historical Markers dot the Buckeye State. No doubt you've spotted one or more on your travels. Maybe there's even one near your home.

Have you ever wondered where they all are or what they all say?

You can see them all by traveling no farther than Remarkable Ohio, a website that features all of the Ohio Historical Markers, where they're located, what they say and pictures most, some with additional photos. Sort by county (plan you own driving tour) or by a topic of interest to you, or just browse and enjoy the amazing Ohio stories they share! Find Remarkable Ohio at remarkableohio.org.

Murphy Theatre | Joni Streber

Murphy Theatre, Wilmington

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Landmark Theatres Open Doors Online Sept. 11–20 Discover Ohio’s amazing heritage as historic theatres across our state host special online tours and virtual events during Ohio Open Doors, Fri., Sept. 11, through Sun., Sept. 20.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOKS

From Victorian-era opera houses still in use today to opulent movie palaces of the 1920s restored to present live entertainment in communities all across our state, you can explore fascinating venues that reflect Ohio’s rich heritage in the performing arts. Many are offering behind-the-scenes looks online that aren’t ordinarily available. All online Ohio Open Doors events are free, and most are special one-day-only opportunities.

The Ohio History Connection created Ohio Open Doors in 2016 to promote and inspire pride in Ohio’s heritage and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on Oct. 15, 1966, the Act has proven instrumental in transforming the face of communities from coast to coast, establishing the legal framework and incentives to preserve

historic buildings, landscapes and archaeological sites. It drives economic revitalization by attracting investment, supporting small business, stabilizing neighborhoods and creating jobs. ”Ohio Open Doors shares stories of important landmarks right in our backyard, highlighting the history and unique nature of some of Ohio’s most treasured historic places,” says Burt Logan, executive director and CEO of the Ohio History Connection.

MANY IN NATIONAL REGISTER

The Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office administers the National Historic Preservation Act in Ohio. Many of the landmarks featured in Ohio Open Doors events are in the National Register of Historic Places, which the National Historic Preservation Act created.

Ohio Open Doors is cosponsored by partnering organizations in communities across the Buckeye State.

TRAVEL

Ohio Literary Trail The Ohioana Library Association’s new Ohio Literary Trail shines a spotlight on Ohio’s role in shaping culture and literature worldwide.

Discover our state’s rich literary landscape through landmark destinations, Ohio Historical Markers that recognize literary achievements, and book festivals dedicated to readers and writers. The trail is organized by geographic regions for convenient selfguided driving tours. Learn more at ohioana.org.

Subscribe to our free weekly enews for current information and updates from the Ohio History Connection. Sign up at ohiohistory.org/enews.

Find Ohio Open Doors virtual events at ohiohistory.org/ opendoors starting Fri., Sept. 11.

Learn more about the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office at ohiohistory. org/shpo.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

7

OCTAGON EARTHWORKS

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

Ohio Supreme Court Will Hear Octagon Earthworks Appeal

Part of the Newark Earthworks, remnants of a 2,000-year-old complex that’s the largest set of geometric earthworks ever known, Octagon Earthworks encloses 50 acres and has eight walls, each measuring about 550 feet long and from five to six feet high.

It’s a National Historic Landmark and Ohio’s official prehistoric monument. The Newark Earthworks served social, ceremonial and astronomical functions for American Indians of the ancient Hopewell Culture who built them.

On Tues., July 7, the Ohio Supreme Court announced that it would hear an appeal by Newark’s Moundbuilders Country Club regarding the Octagon Earthworks lease. Oral arguments will be presented before all seven justices.

At this time, the precise schedule is unknown.

TO ENSURE FULL PUBLIC ACCESS

Our guiding principles throughout this process have been to ensure full public access to Octagon Earthworks, while also ensuring that Moundbuilders Country Club receives just compensation for the value of the lease. We are unwavering in our belief that the Octagon Earthworks must be accessible to all. This position has been affirmed by the Licking County Common Pleas Court and upheld by the Fifth District Court of Appeals, and we look forward to making our case to the Ohio Supreme Court.

On Jan. 29, 2020, Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool’s ruling that the Ohio History Connection has the authority to acquire the lease at the Octagon Earthworks, and that the acquisition is both necessary and for a public purpose.

After the ruling, Moundbuilders Country Club filed notice with the Ohio Supreme Court that it intended to appeal the finding by the Fifth District Court. Citing the club’s pending appeal, Judge Branstool postponed the jury trial that will determine the value of the lease until after the Ohio Supreme Court returns the case to Licking County Common Pleas Court, which could take up to a year or more.

8 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

The Ohio History Connection has owned Octagon Earthworks since 1933. Moundbuilders Country Club holds a long-term lease on the site that would not expire until 2078. The Ohio History Connection is seeking to acquire the lease to make the Octagon Earthworks fully accessible to the public in association with the nomination of Ohio’s ancient Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

As we move forward in our ongoing effort to make the Octagon Earthworks fully accessible to all, we will continue to provide you with regular updates on our progress.

LEARN MORE

For more information, visit ohiohistory.org/octagon. Learn more about the nomination of Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, including Octagon Earthworks, for designation as a World Heritage Site at worldheritageohio.org.

Explore the Octagon Earthworks during a special open house on Sun., Oct. 18. See page 19.

HISTORY DAY

National Results Are In Sat., June 20, concluded the barrier-breaking 2020 National History Day contest year. “From holding a few in-person contests, then quickly switching to a virtual platform, this year has shown just how important history is—and how Ohio’s students rose to the challenge to share their impressive research,” says Samantha Rubino, the Ohio History Connection’s state coordinator for Ohio History Day “In total, we had over 6,500 students participate in the program and over 1,700 compete in Ohio History Day regional and state contests,” she says. “Of those, 63 went on to the National History Day contest, which took place virtually from June 14th to 20th.”

FOUR OHIO STUDENTS PLACE IN TOP 10

In the National History Day competition, Ohio had four entries place in the top 10 of the documentary, paper and website categories. Two of those were in the top three: second place in Senior Paper and second place in Senior Individual Documentary.

“Regardless of where Ohio’s students placed in the contest, we are extremely proud of their hard

North Bass School

work, perseverance and incredible historical research during an unprecedented year,” Rubino says. For more about this year’s contest and to watch the virtual awards ceremony, visit nhd.org/ virtual2020.

HISTORY DAY 2021 GETS UNDERWAY

As one contest year comes to a close, another contest year begins. The 2021 National History Day theme is Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.

Visit ohiohistoryday.org and click on “Contest Information” to learn more about the 2021 National History Day theme and find the Ohio History Day theme sheet and topic guide.

To see a list of Ohio’s 2020 National History Day finalists, visit ohiohistoryday.org and click on “Contest Information” then “National Contest”.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Recent Ohio Additions to the National Register of Historic Places ISLE ST. GEORGE • OTTAWA COUNTY NORTH BASS SCHOOL 515 Kenny Rd.

North Bass School is associated with the history of education in Isle St. George, North Bass Island and the Lake Erie islands. The 1952 building is called a teacherage, which is a purpose-built one-room school with a residence for the teacher. North Bass School was in continuous operation until 2005, when the last students on North Bass Island moved to high school at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island.

The North Bass Local School District was the last to operate a one-room school in Ohio.

Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office

PAINESVILLE • LAKE COUNT Y DOWNTOWN PAINESVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT Veterans Park, 22 Liberty St., 7 Richmond St., 7–71 N. Park Pl., 30–100 S. Park Pl., 15–34 S. St. Clair St., 105–270 Main St., excluding 177 Main St., 8–124 N. State St., 1–83 S. State St., excluding 54 S. State St.

The Downtown Painesville Historic District is associated with the history of commerce and government in Painesville. The district includes the 1909 Lake County Courthouse designed

by Cleveland architect J. Milton Dyer in a style called Beaux Arts Classicism, a major influence on American architecture at the time.

Other buildings in the district date from 1838, when the oldest one was constructed (currently one of the Joughin Hardware buildings) through 1967, when the Key Bank building at the corner of Main and State streets was completed.

Downtown Painesville Historic District OHIOHIS TORY.ORG 9 Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office

Rankin House, Ripley

OHIO HEROES

John P. Parker and John Rankin Ripley, Ohio, faces Kentucky from the north bank of the Ohio River in Brown County, east of Cincinnati.

In the years before the Civil War, Ripley was a point of entry to Ohio’s Underground Railroad—a loose-knit network of “conductors” and other allies for fugitives from slavery on their way North. Many early citizens of Ripley were involved in this covert activity, and as such are rightly regarded as heroes. Among them, two in particular, one black and one white, stand out.

JOHN P. PARKER

John Parker was an active participant in the Underground Railroad in Ohio and helped fugitives from slavery escape to freedom in the years before the American Civil War. Parker was born on Feb. 2, 1827, in Norfolk, Virginia. His mother was enslaved and his father was a free white man. When John Parker was eight years old, he was sold to a doctor in Mobile, Alabama, who taught him to read and write. Many states had

10 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

John Parker House, Ripley

laws prohibiting the education of slaves. Many slaveholders believed that education would encourage slaves to run away as they became more knowledgeable about the world around them. An educated slave also removed a primary justification slaveholders often cited for slavery—that African Americans supposedly were incapable of becoming educated. Nevertheless, the doctor allowed Parker to become educated and apprentice at a local iron foundry. Later, Parker was held in slavery by one of the doctor’s patients. When Parker was 18 years old, he purchased his freedom with money that he earned while working at the foundry.

Parker eventually moved to the North. He briefly worked in Indiana and in Cincinnati at several iron foundries. In 1848, Parker established a general store at Beachwood Factory, Ohio. In 1850, he settled in Ripley along the Ohio River. There, he opened his own foundry. He also became active in the Underground Railroad. Parker commonly traveled across the Ohio River to Kentucky to help fugitives escape to the North. He routinely took them to John Rankin, another abolitionist who lived in Ripley, who

hid them and assisted them in their journey. During the Civil War, Parker served as a recruiter for the 27th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops.

With the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution and the end of slavery in 1865, Parker devoted his energies to his foundry business. Over the course of his life, Parker was the owner or president of the Ripley Foundry and Machine Co. and the Phoenix Foundry. Parker died on Jan. 30, 1900.

There is no known photograph of John P. Parker.

JOHN RANKIN

John Rankin was a Presbyterian minister and a prominent member of the Underground Railroad network which aided fugitives from slavery in the years before the Civil War. Rankin was born on Feb. 4, 1793, in Tennessee. He attended Washington College in Virginia and became a minister in the Presbyterian Church. Rankin dedicated his life to abolishing slavery in America. In 1818, Rankin formed an antislavery society in Carlisle, Kentucky. Slavery was legal in Kentucky, and Rankin

Ohio History Connection Archival Collections

John P. Parker Historical Society

John and Jane Rankin

was criticized for his views. He eventually moved to Ripley. Slavery was illegal in Ohio. While many Ohioans opposed the ending of slavery, the people of the state were generally more receptive to abolitionists than their neighbors in Kentucky.

In Ripley, Rankin served as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad and opened his home to African Americans seeking freedom. His home stood on a 300-foot-high hill that overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal fugitives in Kentucky with a lantern, letting them know when it was safe to cross the river. He kept them hidden until it was safe for them to travel farther north.

The United States Constitution and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 permitted slaveholders to reclaim fugitives, even in a free state like Ohio. To truly gain their freedom, they had to leave the United States. Underground Railroad stops provided fugitives with safe houses all the way to Canada. Rankin gave shelter and food to as many as 2,000 freedom seekers during his career with the Underground Railroad. Harriet Beecher Stowe immortalized Rankin’s efforts in her

book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Rankin’s home was the first stop in Ohio for Eliza, one of the book’s main characters, as she sought freedom in the North.

Rankin spent most of his life in Ohio as a Presbyterian minister.

He helped establish the Free Presbyterian Church of America, which prohibited slaveholders from becoming members. Rankin also helped form an antislavery society in New York and established the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society in 1835.

In 1829, he established Ripley College. At its peak, the college had 250 students. In 1831, Rankin enrolled the first African American student in the school. Many of the college’s students came from Kentucky and did not share Rankin’s abolitionist views. Some students left Ripley College and did not return. Rankin also lectured across the North for the American AntiSlavery Society. He was often the victim of mob violence. Rankin died on March 18, 1886, in Ironton, Ohio.

These biographies are based on those in Ohio History Central, our online encyclopedia of Ohio history.

Discover many more great Ohioans and many more stories of Ohio history at ohiohistorycentral.org.

LEARN MORE

Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad, by Ann Hagedorn, shares the story of Ripley and its underground activity.

His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad, edited

by Stuart Seely Sprague, is John Parker’s story as transcribed by a reporter in the 1880s.

Visit the riverfront home of John Parker and hilltop home of John Rankin, both now museums and National Historic Landmarks, the highest designation awarded to historic places by the United States.

Much of the old river town of Ripley is a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Find more about visiting the Parker House on the John P. Parker House Facebook page or at johnparkerhouse.net. Learn more about visiting the Rankin House at ohiohistory.org/rankin.

You may also enjoy the National Park Service travel itinerary Aboard the Underground Railroad at nps. gov/nr/travel/underground.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

11

Courtesy Melanie A. Adams

LOCAL HISTORY

Ohio Local History Alliance Meets Oct. 1–3 Online “When the Ohio Local History Alliance Education Committee picked History is Happening Now as the theme for our 2020 conference, we never expected that it would be quite so on-the-nose,” says Ohio Local History Alliance Executive Secretary Betsy Hedler.

“Since mid-March, it’s been impossible to ignore that we’re living through one of those moments that historians will study, write and create exhibits about.

From the global pandemic to the ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism, much that we once took for granted has changed or been challenged.”

The Ohio Local History Alliance Annual Meeting will be held this year on the scheduled dates, Oct. 1–3. However, due to the ongoing pandemic and its effect on the finances of Ohio Local History Alliance members and member organizations, Hedler says the Annual Meeting will be held virtually this year.

NETWORK WITH LOCAL HISTORIANS

The online Annual Meeting will include social time to network with fellow Ohioans active in local history, presentation of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Awards and lots of great sessions on topics ranging from creating video tours to self-guided tours at house museums and from how to research a historic house to reacting to a disaster in collections storage—and beyond.

The conference theme was chosen to encourage local historians to think about the relevance of local history organizations in Ohio communities, and ways to work collaboratively on a historical narrative that includes everyone in

12 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Melanie A. Adams the community. There is a thread of these sessions running through the conference, including presentations on African-American community archives, working with American Indian communities, oral history projects, women’s history, working with youth volunteers and a collaborative discussion, “Relevance in a World with Bigger Problems.”

11 years. In that role, she addressed the social and cultural concerns of the St. Louis community and oversaw more than 700 community programs each year, including events with more than 100 partners. Adams was president of the Association of Midwest Museums from 2014 to 2016 and currently serves on the board of the American Association for State and Local History.

SMITHSONIAN’S ANACOSTIA MUSEUM DIRECTOR KEYNOTES

To keynote, the Ohio Local History Alliance will welcome Melanie A. Adams of the Anacostia Community Museum as this year’s plenary speaker, sponsored by Ohio Humanities. Adams became director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum in 2019.

She previously served as deputy director of learning initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society.

With more than 25 years of community engagement experience in museums and higher education, Adams is dedicated to bringing stakeholders together to address community issues. From 2016 to 2019, she led efforts at the Minnesota Historical Society to develop strategic partnerships, audiences and resources within local communities. Prior to her time at the Minnesota Historical Society, she was managing director of the Missouri Historical Society for

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER

To learn more about the Ohio Local History Alliance Annual Meeting and register, visit the Ohio Local History Alliance website, ohiolha.org, or email ohiolha@ohiohistory.org.

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION

MELODY YOUNG

Members Elect Two Trustees

Young has 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has held a variety of management roles in Ross, Fairfield, Hocking and Franklin counties. Her areas of expertise are in guest services, human resource management, sales and facilities operations. In her current role as director of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau, Young works to make Ross County a premier tourism destination.

Ohio History Connection members have elected two new trustees, Jen Miller of Columbus, and Melody Young of Laurelville. Each will serve a three-year term.

JEN MILLER

Miller has extensive experience in nonprofit leadership, public engagement and cultural programming. She began her career as an intern at the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio. At Music in the Air, she produced outdoor concerts and festivals, such as Short North Sunday, the Jazz, Rhythm and Food Festival and Festival Latino.

While with the King Arts Complex, Miller produced programs to explore issues such as domestic violence, AIDS/HIV and racial stereotypes in popular culture. She has also served as chapter director of Sierra Club Ohio, where she worked for public land, water and air protections. Currently, she serves as executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, educating Ohioans on civics and electoral participation.

Miller has a master’s degree in arts administration, education and policy, and a degree from The Ohio State University John Glenn College of Public Affairs. While at Ohio State, she was a University Fellow and published research in several national and international peerreviewed academic journals on the need for cultural institutions to address issues of social justice. She has bachelor’s degrees from Capital University in vocal music and history, with a minor in ethnic studies.

She serves on a number of boards in the Ross County area that include the Tecumseh Outdoor Drama, Majestic Theatre, Ohio’s Appalachian Country, Ross County Convention Facilities Authority, Kiwanis and the World Heritage Ohio Steering Committee.

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION

It’s Official Since 2014, we’ve been doing business as the Ohio History Connection. In June, Ohio History Connection members voted to make it legal, allowing us to bring contracts, legal documents and some other places where we were still required to go

by Ohio Historical Society in line with our new name, Ohio History Connection. Thanks for your approval of this small change, which allows us to go

by Ohio History Connection in everything we do.

Leaving the Ohio History Connection board are James A. Wilson of Bexley, who served from 2011 to 2020, and Nancy Shaw Goldsmith of Shaker Heights, who served from 2019 to 2020.

2020–2021 OFFICERS

The board has elected the following officers for the coming year: Thomas V. Chema of Westlake, President; James F. Dicke II of New Bremen, Vice President; Elizabeth A. Weibel of Chagrin Falls, Vice President; Suhas Kakde of Dayton, Treasurer; and Charles R. Moses of Dublin, Secretary.

Additional trustees include C. Ellen Connally, Cleveland; Loann W. Crane, Columbus; Jon T. Elsasser, Zoar; Chief Billy W. Friend, Wyandotte, Oklahoma; James B. Hadden, Columbus; Alex Hastie, Grandview Heights; Richard F. Hillis, Powell; Robert W. Lucas, Pemberville; Charles R. Moses, Dublin; Michael G. Rapp, Blue Ash; Robert M. Roach, Upper Arlington; and Gregory H. Simpson, Milford.

GENEALOGY WORKSHOPS

NOW ONLINE ATTEND FROM ANYWHERE! Find our full 2020 schedule and register online at ohiohistory.org/genealogy

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

13

OHIO HISTORY SERVICE CORPS

MAKE NEW FRIENDS

Ten Begin Year of Service

Become Part of Conestoga’s History

Starting in mid-September, 10 new AmeriCorps members will be taking part in the Ohio History Connection’s Ohio History Service Corps in the Athens, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Oberlin, Portsmouth, Warren, Wauseon and Youngstown areas. Their year of service is made possible by a $152,903 grant from Ohio’s commission on service and volunteerism, ServeOhio.

Launched in 2010, the Ohio History Service Corps is one of just two history-related Americorps programs in the country. Participants serve for one year to help meet local history- and preservation-related needs, compiling information about historic places and architectural landmarks, organizing and digitizing museum collections, promoting professional standards and best practices and building the capacity of history-related organizations. For the 2020–2021 service year, the Ohio History Connection is one of 26 organizations receiving a total of $8.8 million in AmeriCorps funding to Ohio.

Nationwide, AmeriCorps programs involve more than 80,000 people in service each year through more than 21,600 organizations. Members receive a living allowance and those who complete 1,700 hours of service earn a $6,095 Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to help pay for college or pay back student loans.

Since 1994, more than 1 million men and women have served in AmeriCorps, providing more than 1.4 billion hours of service and earning more than $3.3 billion in scholarships, more than $1 billion of which has been used to pay back student loan debt.

Learn more at ohiohistory.org/ americorps, serveohio.org and nationalservice.gov.

Now’s a great time to join Conestoga, the Ohio History Connection’s volunteer fundraising support group. Since 1986, Conestoga members have raised more than $700,000 to support Ohio History Connection initiatives in Columbus and across the state.

As a Conestoga member, in addition to enjoying all the benefits of Ohio History Connection membership, you'll also enjoy free programs tailored especially for Conestoga members. This year’s programs include a mix of virtual and socially distanced in-person events, as well as a book club and tours of outdoor sites. Conestoga membership includes a one-year membership in the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, giving you free member admission at more than 1,000 museums across North America.

Join Conestoga today and make new friends, connect more closely with Ohio history and become part of a group of people who share a deep appreciation for Ohio’s rich history and the well-being of the Ohio History Connection as its steward. For more information and a list of this year’s activities, visit ohiohistory.org/conestoga or contact Truda Shinker of the Ohio History Connection’s Development Office at 614.297.2334 or tshinker@ohiohistory.org.

presents

SLEEPY HOLLOW FRI., OCT. 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 5 & 8:30 P.M. OHIO HISTORY CENTER COLUMBUS See a different spooktacular movie every Friday night in October, plus drive-thru scenes in the spirit of All Hallows’ Eve.

OCTOBER • ONLINE— ATTEND FROM ANYWHERE! Explore the spooky (but-not-toospooky) world of Ohio Village on All Hallows’ Eve and hear The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

SAT., OCT. 3 • 7–8:30 P.M. ONLINE—ATTEND FROM ANYWHERE! 21+? Enjoy an autumn mix of Halloween cocktails (we’ll teach you how to make them) and haunting Ohio ghost tales.

Get required advance tickets at ohiohistory.org/allhallows

14 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

O HI O HIS TO RY CO NNEC T I O N

Historic Sites & Museums NORTHWEST OHIO 1. Armstrong Air & Space Museum 2. Cedar Bog Nature Preserve 3. Cooke-Dorn House 4. Fallen Timbers Battlefield Memorial Park 5. Fort Amanda Memorial Park 6. Fort Jefferson Memorial Park 7. Fort Meigs 8. Fort Recovery Museum & Monument 9. Glacial Grooves Geological Preserve 10. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums 11. Indian Mill 12. Inscription Rock Petroglyphs 13. Johnston Farm & Indian Agency 14. Lockington Locks

NORTHEAST OHIO 15. Custer Monument 16. Fort Laurens 17. McCook House 18. Museum of Ceramics 19. Quaker Yearly Meeting House 20. Schoenbrunn Village 21. Shaker Historical Museum 22. Tallmadge Church 23. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 24. Zoar Village

SOUTHWEST OHIO 33. Adena Mansion & Gardens 34. Davis Memorial Nature Preserve 35. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve 36. Fort Hill Earthworks & Nature Preserve

CENTRAL OHIO

37. Harriet Beecher Stowe House

SOUTHEAST OHIO

38. John Rankin House 39. Miamisburg Mound

47. Big Bottom Memorial Park 48. Buckeye Furnace

26. Hanby House

40. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

27. Logan Elm

41. Paul Laurence Dunbar House

50. Campus Martius Museum

28. Newark Earthworks

42. Serpent Mound

51. John & Annie Glenn Museum

29. Ohio History Center & Ohio Village

43. Story Mound

52. Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve

30. Shrum Mound

44. U.S. Grant Birthplace

53. National Road & Zane Grey Museum

31. Wahkeena Nature Preserve

45. U.S. Grant Boyhood Home & Schoolhouse

54. Ohio River Museum

32. Warren G. Harding Home & Memorial

46. William Henry Harrison Tomb

55. Our House Tavern

25. Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries & Nature Preserve

49. Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park

Some Ohio History Connection museums and attractions have reopened. Others remain closed. Before traveling, visit ohiohistory.org/sites or call 800.840.6127 to confirm what's open, hours and any special requirements.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

15

P R O G R A M S & E X H I B I T S AT T H E

Ohio History Center & Ohio Village

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most Ohio History Center & Ohio Village programs have moved online.

See pages 17–18. Before traveling to visit the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village, we recommend that you first visit ohiohistory.org/sites or call 800.686.6124 to confirm hours and any special requirements.

All Ohio History Center & Ohio Village programs and events currently require advance registration. To register or confirm that a specific Ohio History Center & Ohio Village program will take place as scheduled, call 800.686.1541.

Our online calendar offers more upto-date information about programs and events at the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village. Find it at ohiohistory.org/ calendar.

All Ohio History Center & Ohio Village visitors including Ohio History Connection members must reserve timed tickets in advance at ohiohistory.org/ openinfo.

Ohio History Center & Ohio Village admission is $13, $11/ages 60+, $7/ages 4–12. Ohio History Connection members and ages 3 & under enjoy free admission.

Masks are required at all indoor locations on the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village campus and are highly encouraged in outdoor locations. Please practice social distancing and proper hand washing.

Questions? Call 800.686.6124.

ALL HALLOWS’ EVE PRESENTS

Sleepy Hollow Drive-In FRI., OCT 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30 FIRST SHOWING 5 P.M. SECOND SHOWING 8:30 P.M. Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Parking Lot 4 See a different spooktacular movie every Friday night in October plus drive-thru scenes in the spirit of All Hallows' Eve. Advance tickets required. $40/car non-member ticket sales open Tues., Sept. 8. $25/ car Ohio History Connection member ticket sales open Aug. 31. 800.686.1541, reservations@ohiohistory.org or ohiohistory.org/allhallows

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Ohio–Champion of Sports ONGOING Ohio History Center, Columbus Ohio—Champion of Sports features more than 70 stories and 35 oral histories covering more than 25 sports ranging from baseball, football and basketball to roller derby, skateboarding and e-gaming. The exhibit showcases the Ohio athletes, coaches, owners and fans at the center of the action and explores sports through the themes of Character, Adversity, Innovation, Identity, Tradition and Victory—values that relate to the human condition—to connect a broad audience to Ohio’s national sports history. You can test your basketball skills at the Wall of Hoops, record a “victory dance” to share with family and friends, run an obstacle course and record your own “One Minute Legends” sports story.

Sponsors The Harry C. Moores Foundation Pro Football Hall of Fame Community Partner Columbus Recreation and Parks Department

16 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Suffrage Centennial

Votes for Women— 100 Years of Change ONGOING Ohio History Center, Columbus Votes for Women commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Through the voices of Ohio women, explore women’s activism in the suffrage movement and other related social movements—such as voting and citizenship—from the 19th century to the present. Featured are a suffrage parade blouse, jacket and sashes worn in the 1910s by Mary Stuart Andrews of Warren, who worked for the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, and a suffrage parade banner made in 1910

by Columbus Sign Co.

1950s—Building the American Dream ONGOING Ohio History Center, Columbus Get a look at life in the 1950s. Peek in the closets and snoop in the drawers of a real, fully furnished Lustron steel house made right here in Ohio. From the contents of the cupboards to the news on TV and the toys in the yard, this exhibit is a fascinating journey back in time.

World War I Display ONGOING Ohio History Center, Columbus See equipment, weapons, uniforms and memorabilia commemorating the centennial of World War I.

Creative Ohio— Artists, Artwork & Their Inspiration ONGOING Ohio History Center, Columbus Through pieces from Ohio History Connection collections, explore the artwork, inspiration and creative processes of four Ohio artists—PaulHenri Bourguignon (1906–1988), Emerson Burkhart (1905–1969), William Hawkins (1895–1990) and Josephine Klippart (1848–1936)—and create your own artistic masterpiece!

Support provided by the Erika Bourguignon Charitable Trust

Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Hours Echoes Magazine goes to the printer about three weeks before you receive it.

When our September & October issue went to press in August, the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village in Columbus remained closed due to the COVID-19 Red Alert Level 3 Public Emergency in Franklin County.

Most of us continue working from home and we do not expect the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village to reopen while Franklin County remains at Level 3 or higher.

When Franklin County drops below Level 3, a decision about reopening may follow. For the most current information about Ohio History Center & Ohio Village hours, visit ohiohistory.org/openinfo, email info@ohiohistory.org or call 800.686.6124.

Shop our Ohio History Store online 24/7 at ohiohistorystore.com.

AT T E N D FROM A N Y W H E R E !

Online Events ONLINE YEAR OF THE WOMAN DISCUSSION SERIES

School’s Open.

Watch Out for Kids.

WEDS., SEPT. 2 F 7–8:30 P.M F ONLINE DISCUSSION BEGINS AT 7 P.M. F RSVP FOR LINK 4 Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 This online discussion will look for connections among three fictional mid-19th-century girls: Pearl from Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Eva and Topsy from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Find suggested readings under “Join the Discussion—Year of the Woman Discussion Series” at stowehousecincy.org. Led

by John Getz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Xavier University, and various copresenters. Advance registration required. $5 suggested donation. 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org ONLINE

Ohio Open Doors SEPT. 11–20 STATEWIDE—YOU’RE INVITED! See page 7.

ONLINE

R BAH, HUMBUG! R While you may be disappointed, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that Uncle Scrooge has canceled our popular Dickens Dinners in Ohio Village for 2020.

Look for more about Dickens of a Christmas, our annual holiday event, in the November & December issue of Echoes Magazine.

Latino Genealogy Webinar SAT., SEPT. 19 F 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Hosted by the Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Explore how to trace Latino roots in the United States with Nicole Martinez-LeGrand, Multicultural Collections Coordinator for the Indiana Historical Society. Learn the history of Latino immigration in the early 20th century and how to use online sources— both free and subscription—to discover Latino ancestors. Free with required advance registration. 800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/genealogy

by adding some “powerhouse” native plants. Add long-term, low-maintenance beauty to your landscape with tough native shrubs, trees, perennials and grasses.

We’ll discuss familiar favorites like purple coneflowers and oakleaf hydrangeas, and you’ll meet new treasures like blue vervain, winterberry and the pagoda dogwood.

You’ll receive detailed plants lists, general care guidelines and local resources to help you find your new favorite native plants. $15, Free/Ohio History Connection member. Advance registration required.

800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/classes ONLINE

Women of King Records SUN., SEPT. 20 F 4 P.M. Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 In this online presentation, learn about the history of women at Cincinnati’s legendary King Records Studio, from blues and country to rhythm and blues. $7. Advance registration required.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org ONLINE ALL HALLOWS’ EVE PRESENTS

Boohio Village OCTOBER Explore the spooky (but-not-too-spooky) world of Ohio Village on All Hallows’ Eve and hear The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Free with required advance registration.

800.686.1541, reservations@ohiohistory. org or ohiohistory.org/allhallows ONLINE

Ohio Local History Alliance Annual Meeting THURS., OCT. 1–SAT., OCT. 3 See page 12.

ONLINE

ONLINE

Native Plants for Residential Landscapes SAT., SEPT. 19 F 2–4 P.M. Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Turn your backyard into a pollinator paradise and a destination for songbirds and other wildlife

Virtual Ohio Archaeology Month THURS., OCT. 1–SAT., OCT. 31 Hosted by the Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Our annual Archaeology Day expands to a month and moves online so you can access programming from OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

17

anywhere! Learn about Ohio archaeology through lectures, programs and activities you can enjoy from the comfort of home. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/ archaeologymonth ONLINE ALL HALLOWS’ EVE PRESENTS

Spooky Spirits SAT., OCT. 3 F 7–9:30 P.M.

Hosted by Ohio Village, Columbus 21+? Enjoy an autumn mix of Halloween cocktails (we'll teach you how to make them) and haunting Ohio ghost tales.

Advance registration required. $15, Free/ Ohio History Connection member.

800.686.1541, reservations@ohiohistory. org or ohiohistory.org/allhallows ONLINE YEAR OF THE WOMAN DISCUSSION SERIES

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Scary Great-Niece WEDS., OCT. 7 F 7–8:30 P.M. F ONLINE DISCUSSION BEGINS AT 7 P.M. F RSVP FOR LINK 4 Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 Get into the Halloween spirit by studying two Gothic short stories, The Yellow Wallpaper and The Giant Wisteria, by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s great-niece Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who became famous for her own varied accomplishments. Find suggested readings under “Join the Discussion— Year of the Woman Discussion Series” at stowehousecincy.org. Led by John Getz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Xavier University, and various co-presenters. $5 suggested donation. Advance registration required. 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org ONLINE

Civil War Records Webinar SAT., OCT. 10 F 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Hosted by the Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Join Civil War expert John Haas to learn how to find records of your ancestors. What battles did they fight in? What was camp life like? Haas will discuss Ohio History Connection collections you can find at the Ohio History Center that may help answer these questions. Advance registration required. $20, $15/Ohio History Connection member. 800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/genealogy

18 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

ONLINE

World War II Records Webinar SAT., OCT. 24 F 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Hosted by the Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Listen as World War II expert John Haas vividly describes the February 1945 Battle of Manila during World War II. Commanded by Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler of Marysville, Ohio, the 37th Infantry Division included many Ohioans who helped recapture Manila, capital of the Philippines. Haas will also share how to research World War II military records. Advance registration required. $20, $15/Ohio History Connection member. 800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/genealogy ONLINE SEMI-COLON BOOK CLUB

Invisible Women SAT., OCT. 24 F NOON Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 Join us online to discuss the book Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. $5 suggested donation. Advance registration required.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org ONLINE

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author, Abolitionist, and Painter?

SUN., OCT. 25 F 4–5 P.M. Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati After the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe painted a number of canvases of Florida oranges and in 1867 she bought an orange grove in Mandarin, Florida.

At the time, buying former plantations and transforming them into smaller cotton farms and orange groves was considered a charitable act. Stowe, like many northerners, believed an orange industry would foster a more egalitarian atmosphere in Florida and supplant industries tarnished by slave systems.

Get a look at Stowe’s artistic training and learn how her paintings merged with her political efforts to represent the promise of a New South. $7. Advance registration required. 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org

ONLINE YEAR OF THE WOMAN DISCUSSION SERIES

Tips for Holiday Entertaining with the Martha Stewarts of the 19th Century WEDS., NOV. 4 F 7–8:30 P.M. F ONLINE DISCUSSION BEGINS AT 7 P.M. F RSVP FOR LINK 4 Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 This online discussion will share Harriet Beecher Stowe’s and her sister Catherine’s advice for making the perfect home for the holidays. See how much of it works for you! Find suggested readings under “Join the Discussion—Year of the Woman Discussion Series” at stowehousecincy. org. Led by John Getz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Xavier University, and various co-presenters. $5 suggested donation. Advance registration required.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org ONLINE EXHIBIT

Suffrage Centennial

Ohio Women Vote— 100 Years of Change THROUGH DEC. 31 Visit resources.ohiohistory.org/omeka/ exhibits/show/suffrage Ohio Women Vote—100 Years of Change commemorates the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, when many women won the right to vote, and celebrates the century of women’s activism that followed. Created by the Ohio History Connection with support from Ohio Humanities and the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, Ohio Women Vote began as a traveling exhibit intended to visit communities throughout our state in 2020. While the pandemic has interfered with that plan, no force could ever stop the women you’ll see featured in this exhibit and we couldn’t let anything stop their stories from reaching you. We invite you to explore this exhibit from the comfort of your own home. Click links throughout to learn more about featured images, see full-length oral history interviews or read related blog posts.

F E AT U R E D O H I O H I S T O R Y C O N N E C T I O N

Events & Exhibits Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person programs may be subject to rescheduling or may move online.

Before traveling to attend any program, we recommend that you first visit ohiohistory.org/sites or call 800.840.6127 to confirm hours and any special requirements.

Most programs and events at Ohio History Connection sites currently require advance registration. To register or confirm that a specific program will take place as scheduled, call the number or visit the website listed after each program below.

Our online calendar offers more upto-date information about programs and events at Ohio History Connection historic sites and museums. Find it at ohiohistory.org/calendar.

Most Ohio History Connection historic sites and museums are managed by local partner organizations. Masks are required at all indoor locations and are highly encouraged in outdoor locations.

Please practice social distancing and proper hand washing.

Questions? Call 800.840.6127.

STATEWIDE

Ohio History Fund Grants Application Deadline THURS., OCT. 1 Funded by donations made on Ohio tax returns, the History Fund is a competitive matching grants program for qualifying nonprofits and local government entities.

Learn more and get application forms at ohiohistory.org/historyfund or 614.297.2341.

remnants of a 2,000 year-old complex that’s the largest set of geometric earthworks ever known, Octagon Earthworks encloses 50 acres and has eight walls, each measuring about 550 feet long and from five to six feet high.

It’s a National Historic Landmark and Ohio’s official prehistoric monument.

The Newark Earthworks served social, ceremonial and astronomical functions for American Indians of the ancient Hopewell Culture who built them. You’re invited to experience the expansive Octagon Earthworks during daylight hours. Ohio History Connection staff will be on-site at Octagon Earthworks and the Great Circle Earthworks from noon to 4 p.m. to answer questions about the Newark Earthworks and the proposed UNESCO World Heritage List nomination. 740.344.0498

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

2020 Art of Soul!

Juried Art Show SAT., SEPT. 26– SAT., FEB. 27, 2021 10 A.M.–4 P.M. Exhibit at King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave., Columbus 4 Sponsored

by National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce See a juried show of works by artists from across the U.S. that depicts the theme of Impact as it relates to the African diaspora and African American culture. The annual show is judged by a panel of local, regional and national art professionals.

Free. 800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/ naamcc

NORTHEAST OHIO NORTHEAST OHIO

CENTRAL OHIO

Archaeology School Day & Revolutionary War School Day

Octagon Earthworks Open House

THURS., OCT. 15 & FRI., OCT. 16 9 A.M.–2 P.M. Fort Laurens Museum, near Bolivar This special event is open to all public, private and homeschool students. $7/ student with one free adult per group.

Each additional adult is $7. All teachers are

CENTRAL OHIO

SUN., OCT. 18 SITE OPEN 7 A.M.–8 P.M. OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION STAFF ONSITE NOON–4 P.M. Octagon Earthworks, 125 N. 33rd St., Newark 4 Part of the Newark Earthworks, F

free. Advance registration required by Oct. 12. 800.262.6195 or fortlaurens.org

Zoar & the Presidents School Day FRI., OCT. 16 F 9 A.M.–2 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 This special event is open to all public, private and homeschool students. $7/student with one free adult per group. Each additional adult is $7.

Advance registration required by Oct. 11.

800.262.6195

Zoar Ghost Tours FRI., OCT. 23 & 30 F SAT., OCT. 24 & 31 6–8:30 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 Tour this wellpreserved 19th-century village by lantern light as the ghosts of Zoar share their haunting tales. $15/ages 12 & over. Advance registration required.

800.262.6195

NORTHWEST OHIO NORTHWEST OHIO

History Roundtable with Mike Gilbert SAT., SEPT. 12, 19 & 26 & OCT. 10, 17 & 24 F 10–11:30 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Hear local historian Mike Gilbert discuss a variety of topics during this popular series. 4 Sept. 12: The Great Black Swamp. Sept. 19: Lost Towns of Northwest Ohio. Sept. 26: The Influence of News Media on the American Presidency. Oct. 10: Fremont Area Native American Burial Grounds and Township Cemeteries. Oct. 17: A History of Fremont City Schools. Oct. 24: A Road Map of Ohio Ghost Stories. $5 per session or $25 for all six. Advance registration required.

800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org KIDS DAYS @ HAYES

Grounds of Spiegel Grove SAT., SEPT. 12 F 1–2:30 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Kids can go on a scavenger hunt on the grounds of the Hayes estate, Spiegel Grove, and complete a craft project in the museum OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

19

auditorium. $5. No charge for adults who bring kids to this program. Advance registration required by 5 p.m. Sept.

10. 800.998.7737 or 419.332.2081 WORKSHOP

Beginning Tinsmithing SAT., SEPT. 26 F 10 A.M.–3 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Gain a basic working knowledge of 18th- and early19th-century tinsmithing. We’ll cover the use of hand tools, stakes and forms, and you’ll learn the development and layout of patterns and several construction techniques. Make and take your own creations. All tools, tinplate and materials are included. We’ll be using soldering irons and thin, sometimes sharp, pieces of tinplate. There is a risk of burns and cuts. Wear full-length pants and closedtoe shoes for your safety. $60, $55/Ohio History Connection member. Advance registration required. 800.283.8916

Wreath-Laying at the Hayes Tomb SUN., OCT. 4 F 1 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 In honor of 19th president Rutherford B. Hayes’s birthday on Oct. 4, the president will send U.S. military representatives to lay a wreath at the Hayes Tomb on the grounds of Spiegel Grove, the 25-acre Hayes estate. The ceremony will feature comments by military representatives and Hayes Presidential Library & Museums Executive Director Christie Weininger, the playing of taps and a salute with rifles. Free. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Beginning Genealogy Class TUES., OCT. 6 F 9:30–11 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Learn how to get started on tracing your family history.

Head Librarian John Ransom and Librarian Pat Breno will highlight resources you can use, including ones available at Hayes Presidential Library. $10. Advance registration required. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Garrison Ghost Walk FRI., OCT. 16 & 23 F SAT. OCT. 17 & 24 7 P.M.–MIDNIGHT Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Tour the fort with your 1812 guide after dark and encounter the spookier side of this historic place. The

20 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

whole family will enjoy hearing tales from the past, and while the ghosts may not be real, the fun certainly is! $12/ages 13+, $6/student. Buy required advance tickets starting Sept. 1. Ticket sales are online only, with a credit card. No sales at the door.

800.283.8916 or fortmeigs.org KIDS DAYS @ HAYES

Civil War Camp SAT., OCT. 24 F 11 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Kids can experience life in a Civil War camp, meet soldiers and witness historical demonstrations. $5.

No charge for adults who bring kids to this program. Advance registration required by 5 p.m. Oct. 22. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Spirit Stories at Spiegel Grove FRI., OCT. 30 F 7–10 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Have a frightful night with a lantern walk through Spiegel Grove. Hear guides share regional ghost stories beneath the nighttime sky as you walk through the wooded grounds. Take your picture with “spirits,” enjoy s’mores at the campfire and more. Buy required advance tickets at rbhayes.org/events.

800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Ohio—An Unnatural History THROUGH SAT., OCT. 31 Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Explore legendary creatures and spooky tales from across Ohio and get a look at the role of folklore in our culture.

Included with regular admission: $20/ site pass (Hayes Home + Museum), $13/ Museum-only, $5/ages 6–12, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

The Press and The Presidency STARTS FRI., SEPT. 11 Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Since George Washington, presidents have had to respond to negative press and use media to their advantage. Explore how the press and presidency have coexisted throughout American history in this special exhibit, included with regular admission: $20/ site pass (Hayes Home + Museum), $13/ Museum-only, $5/ages 6–12, Free/Ohio

History Connection member or ages 5 & under. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

SOUTHEAST OHIO SOUTHEAST OHIO

Brunch with Mark Twain SAT., SEPT. 26 F 9–11 A.M. Hosted by the Ohio River Museum on the Sternwheeler Valley Gem, Marietta Enjoy a breakfast buffet, two-hour cruise on the sternwheeler Valley Gem and live entertainment by Mark Twain. Proceeds benefit Marietta’s Campus Martius Museum and Ohio River Museum. $30.

Advance registration required by Sept. 18.

800.860.0145 or mariettamuseums.org BROWN BAGGIN’ THRU HISTORY

Recent Archaeological Developments in the Ohio Valley FRI., OCT. 2 F NOON–1 P.M. Campus Martius Museum, Marietta Learn about fascinating new archaeological discoveries in the area from Dr. Jerrel “Jerry” Anderson, longtime chair of Blennerhassett Historical Foundation’s Archaeology Committee. Free. 800.860.0145 or mariettamuseums.org

Appraisal Clinic SAT., NOV. 7 F 10 A.M.–2 P.M. Campus Martius Museum, Marietta For a $5 per item donation, experienced antiques and fine art appraiser Andrew Richmond will help you identify and value your family heirlooms, prized objects and garage-sale finds. Proceeds benefit Campus Martius Museum.

Optional museum admission is additional.

800.860.0145 or mariettamuseums.org

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Celebrating The Pioneers THROUGH SUN., NOV. 1 Campus Martius Museum, Marietta See a special exhibit based on the new book The Pioneers, by David McCullough.

The Ordinance of 1787 opened a vast wilderness west of the Ohio River for settlement, spurring “Ohio fever.” Members of the Ohio Company of Associates, a real estate company formed in Massachusetts in 1786, led the way. Get a look at the lives and personalities of some of the people mentioned in the book, and see personal objects associated with them.

Included with museum admission: $7, $4/

ages 6–college with ID, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under.

800.860.0145 or mariettamuseums.org

SOUTHWEST OHIO SOUTHWEST OHIO

Harvest Gathering of the Crops SAT., SEPT. 19 F NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon 4 Learn about pioneer cooking methods and food preservation and see demonstrations of making hominy, stringing beans, grinding corn and other seasonal activities. Drop in on this outdoor program hosted by Keith Bengston in Fort Ancient’s garden throughout the afternoon. We’ll be following state guidelines on social distancing. $7, $6 ages 6–17 or 60+, Free/ Ohio History Connection member or ages 6 & under. Outdoor-only admission (no museum access): $8/carload. 800.283.8904 or fortancient.org

Wilderness Skills SAT., OCT. 10 F NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon4 Learn how to set traps, tan hides and make jerky, among other skills of living in the natural world. Drop in on this outdoor program hosted by Keith Bengston in Fort Ancient’s garden throughout the afternoon. We’ll be following state guidelines on social distancing. $7, $6 ages 6–17 or 60+, Free/ Ohio History Connection member or ages 6 & under. Outdoor-only admission (no museum access): $8/carload. 800.283.8904 or fortancient.org

Trees Please SAT., OCT. 17 F NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon Learn to identify trees, how to measure them, how foresters count trees, what the importance of each species is and how they’re used. Drop in on this outdoor program hosted by Keith Bengston in Fort Ancient’s garden throughout the afternoon.

We’ll be following state guidelines on social distancing. $7, $6 ages 6–17 or 60+, Outdoor-only admission (no museum access): $8/carload, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 6 & under.

800.283.8904 or fortancient.org

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • • Suffrage Centennial

“The Cause Dearer to Me Than Any Other in the World”— Isabella Beecher Hooker & Suffrage THROUGH SUN., NOV. 29 Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati Learn about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s youngest sister, Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822–1907), who wrote articles and essays, founded the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association and helped organize the 1870 National Woman Suffrage Association Convention. Though she died before women got the vote, her legacy played a large role in adoption of the 19th Amendment. Included with museum admission: $7, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org

African Americans Fighting for a Double Victory ONGOING F WEDS.–SAT. F 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce4 Explore the many ways African Americans served our country during World War II, and get a look at the impact black veterans had on postwar advances in civil rights. Included with museum admission: $6, $5/senior, $3/ ages 6–17, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under. 800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc

Behind the Mask— Black Power in Comics ONGOING F WEDS.–SAT. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 Interest in black comic book characters is exploding, thanks to the hugely successful Marvel film Black Panther. In this exhibit, explore the painful and triumphant history of African Americans in comic books. Included with museum admission: $6, $5/senior, $3/ ages 6–17, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under. 800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc

What’s in Your Attic? Selections from the Permanent Collection ONGOING F WEDS.–SAT. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 See milestones of museum history and get a look at some of the fascinating history, art and pop culture items in our collection.

Included with National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center admission: $6, $5/senior, $3/ages 6–17, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under.

800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc

Suffrage Centennial

Queens of the Heartland OPENING SAT., AUG. 29 F WEDS.–SAT. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 Explore life stories of 30 accomplished African American women with ties to Ohio. Born between 1825 and 1991, all are either natives of the Buckeye State or chose to come to the first free state in the Northwest Territory in search of an education, a place in society or an occupation. The exhibit features portrait illustrations of all 30 women by New York-based artist Nicole Washington. Included with museum admission: $6, $5/senior, $3/ages 6–17, Free/Ohio History Connection member or ages 5 & under. 800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc Queens of the Heartland is sponsored in part by the Ohio Arts Council

2020 Art of Soul!

Juried Art Show SAT., SEPT. 26– SAT., FEB. 27, 2021 10 A.M.–4 P.M. Exhibit at King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave., Columbus 4 Sponsored

by National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce See page 19.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

21

Top: Sen. Warren G. Harding talks to a woman in a crowd gathered near his front porch in Marion. Bottom: Warren and Florence Harding stand in line to cast their ballots on Tues., Nov. 2, 1920.

Ohio Wins No Matter What OHIO AND THE 1920 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BY BILL EICHENBERGER

I

f either the Republican or Democratic candidate won the 1920 presidential election, two things would be guaranteed: the president would be from Ohio and a newspaperman.

Warren G. Harding, who’d been in politics since 1899 as a state senator, lieutenant governor and U.S. senator, owned the Marion Star from 1884 through his death in 1923.

His opponent, James M. Cox, a popular three-time governor of Ohio, bought the Dayton Evening News in 1898, renaming it the Dayton Daily News a week later. (Cox is the Cox in media powerhouse Cox Communications, which was later purchased by Cox Enterprises.)

The election was the only time two Ohioans—three if you count Prohibition Party candidate Aaron S. Watkins—ran against each other.

Both candidates’ journeys to their respective party’s nominations were shrewd and calculated. Harding did not attend the Republican National Convention. Cox did not attend the Democratic National Convention. (It was deemed unseemly back then.)

Harding won on the 10th ballot at the Republican National Convention and Cox on the 44th ballot at the Democratic National Convention.

FRONT PORCH CAMPAIGN But as much as the two candidates had in common, their campaigns couldn’t have been more different. Harding decided to run a “front porch” campaign like his hero William McKinley, who ran in 1896 from his own front porch. People came by the thousands to Harding’s hometown, Marion, to hear him speak.

Cox, on the other hand, traveled the country from coast to coast, taking his campaign “to the people,” visiting “every doubtful state.” Before it was over, Cox had been to 36 states, covered 22,000 miles and delivered 394 official speeches.

Sherry Hall is the site manager at the Warren G. Harding Home and Memorial in Marion.

Though Harding had stiff competition for the nomination (including two future presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover), he was hardly an anonymous candidate.

A POLITICAL VETERAN “He’d been in politics for 20 years and in the U.S. Senate since 1915,” Hall says. “Adding to that, Harding was a very popular speaker, a good speaker in demand at Republican clubs throughout the country.

In his papers we have dozens of letters inviting him to speaking engagements.”

Cox may not be as well-known today, but in the 1910s he was influential in the Dayton area and at the national level in the Democratic Party.

All images Ohio History Connection Archival Collections except where noted.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

23

Mary Kay Mabe, a professor at Sinclair Community College near Dayton, teaches a History of Ohio course and has read everything she can get her hands on about James Cox.

UNDERAPPRECIATED “It’s really a shame he’s not better-known,” Mabe says. “Even in Dayton he’s something of a forgotten figure. He was just so private and didn’t really have anyone to promote his image after he died. But during his day, he was a champion of his community and stood shoulder to shoulder with business leaders such as inventors Charles F. Kettering and John H. Patterson.”

Harding only had one significant misstep on his way to the Republican nomination, but it was one that nearly derailed his campaign. He suffered an embarrassing drubbing in the Indiana primary, failing to secure a single delegate, and threatened to quit the race before his wife, Florence, interceded.

In one version of the story, she asked her husband, “Warren Harding, what do you think you’re doing?”

Then she picked up the telephone receiver and yelled “You tell (Harding campaign manager) Harry Daugherty … that we’re in this fight until hell freezes over.”

24 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

HARDING REBOUNDS Harding rebounded with a speech in Boston that would, according to Harding biographer John Dean, “resonate throughout the 1920 campaign and history.”

Dean says Harding entered the Indiana primary only reluctantly and was convinced by his wife to stay in the fight.

“In his speech in Boston,” Dean says, “Harding assessed what the nation needed in the next president: ‘America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not

Left: A cartoon from the Chicago Tribune depicts Harding courting Tennessee in what was then considered for Democrats “the solid South.” Harding took Tennessee and became the first Republican president to win even one of the 11 states of the former Confederacy.

Right: Ohio was in the catbird seat for the 1920 presidential election: no matter who won, the president would be from Ohio. In this cartoon, “Miss Ohio,” wooed by both candidates, confides, “I could be happy with either.”

Library of Congress

submergence in internationality but sustainment in triumphant nationality.’

“It was pure Harding, who often used such wordplay in his editorials for the Marion Star. Everyone but newspaper columnist H.L. Mencken liked it.”

PEACE WITH HONOR Meanwhile, Cox was running (with his vice presidential candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt) on the campaign poster promises of “Peace with Honor” and “Peace~Progress~Prosperity.” This made sense. For two decades, Cox had been a leading Progressive Era Democrat.

In his book, James M. Cox: Journalist and Politician, historian James E. Cebula writes that Cox’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was an effort to “broaden the base of the Democratic party.” The speech “reflected his orderly outlook toward voting blocs.”

So Cox “urged ratification of the women’s suffrage amendment. He believed that the progressive nature of the Democratic platform would appeal to women’s ‘natural’ humanitarianism.”

He was more circumspect about Prohibition, Cebula contends. “Rather than alienate the drys, he ignored the question (altogether).”

Mabe says Cox—often considered a ‘wet’ candidate— walked a fine line. “He told voters, ‘If Prohibition is the law, then I will uphold the law.’”

But it was always going to be an uphill battle for Cox, who was in the unenviable position of needing to court then-president Woodrow Wilson’s support while distancing himself from Wilson’s proudest achievement, the very unpopular League of Nations, which had been voted down by the Senate.

It didn’t help matters, either, that Socialist party candidate Eugene V. Debs and Democratic stalwart William Jennings Bryan regularly attacked Cox. (Debs eventually garnered more than 900,000 votes.)

Both candidates talked on the trail about the notion of America First, which means something different today than it did in 1920, Hall says.

“The phrase has been used a lot,” Hall says. “In fact, Woodrow Wilson ran on America First. But when Harding talked about America First, he did not mean America Alone. He felt strongly that America should be an example for the world, that it should help the rest of the world. He’d say, ‘We want to work with the rest of the world.’”

Gov. James M. Cox of Ohio and Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York arriving at the White House for a conference with the president in 1920.

THE ADVERTISING AGE Perhaps not surprisingly, given that both Harding and Cox owned newspapers, the 1920 election is often said to have been the first campaign in the Advertising Age. “When Harding was told about the availability of Albert Lasker to assist his campaign, he was all for it, and gave Lasker authority to employ his skills,” Dean says.

“Lasker was the head of Lord & Thomas, a Chicagobased advertising firm. As his biographer notes, Lasker introduced many of the modern political advertising techniques in 1920. Lasker used radio, newspapers, magazines, movie clips, sound recordings and billboards to sell Warren Harding to American voters.”

In the end, Harding won in a landslide that 100 years later seems inevitable. Harding, who was one of the most popular presidents ever, died during his third year in office. Scandals that came to light after Harding passed—Teapot Dome and his marital infidelity— tarnished his reputation.

That still irks Hall.

THE WORST PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME? “The biggest myth about Harding is that his presidency didn’t accomplish anything,” Hall says. “He authorized

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

25

Wright State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives

Both Cox and Harding were newspapermen, but Harding enjoyed the best press during the 1920 campaign. “Harding had a unique rapport with newsmen covering his campaign,” says Harding biographer John Dean. “It will be recalled that he built a special office behind his home for newsmen during the campaign.”

the Veterans Bureau, the precursor to the VA. He provided soldiers returning from the war retraining to help them reenter the workforce. He authorized the Bureau of the Budget and gave the country a coordinated federal budget for the first time.”

John Dean concurs.

“Unquestionably the greatest myth about Harding is that he was one of America’s worst presidents, and that he was corrupt,” he says. “Most scholars I have talked with about Harding—including those who often vote in ranking presidents for national publications— know almost nothing about Harding.

“When I wrote my biography of Harding (published in Times Books’ American Presidents series in 2004) for historian and the series editor Arthur Schlesinger Jr., whose father had started the first presidential ranking that made Harding one of our worst presidents, I found that he knew almost nothing about Harding.”

Rather, Dean says, Harding was “one of the nation’s better presidents, reversing the racism of his predecessor, accomplishing the first great disarmament treaty, creating the Bureau of the Budget which placed the federal government on a strong fiscal footing and ushering in the Roaring Twenties.”

26 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Warren G. Harding by Marion native John Dean is a lively, well-researched and succinct biography of Ohio’s last president. In chapters such as “Young Harding,” “Editor, Publisher, and Apprentice Politician,” “The 1920 Campaign” and “Death and Disgrace,” Dean resurrects Harding’s reputation and entertains while doing it.

In 1985, historian James E. Cebula published James M. Cox: Journalist and Politician, following the Daytonian’s life from childhood through newspaper ownership, his three terms as governor and his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1920.

Sherry Hall is the author of Warren G. Harding & the Marion Daily Star: How Newspapering Shaped a President. Rather than treat Harding’s newspapering as a footnote, Hall’s book presents Harding “as he saw himself: as a newspaperman.” Harding remains the only member of the Fourth Estate to occupy the White House.

James M. Cox’s memoir, Journey Through My Years, is a flawed-but-engaging recollection. In his Foreword, Cox explains, “yet what I saw, not what I did, is the important thing (here).”

Library of Congress

“WE WORKED. WE WAITED. WE WON.” Though 35 of the required 36 states had ratified the 19th Amendment by the end of March 1920, approval by a 36th state still remained uncertain in August, and suffragist Alice Paul wasn’t taking any chances.

On Aug. 14, she exhorted both Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox to bring the amendment home.

“There is every evidence that the national leaders of both political parties have up to this time put their shoulders to the wheel,” she said, adding, “the result will depend entirely upon the efforts of Governor Cox and Senator Harding and the national parties.”

Four days later, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment—by the narrowest of margins, a tie-breaking vote in the House—and women’s suffrage was, finally, at hand.

Women didn’t wait around wondering what to do next.

On Oct. 1, roughly 12,000 women traveled across the Midwest to Marion to meet Harding on his front porch.

In its September 2018 newsletter, Friends of the Harding Home reported that the “newly enfranchised women voters, including immigrants, working women, housewives, members of trade unions, and religious, fraternal and social groups, gathered with high school girls and college students at Sen. Warren Harding’s front porch during his presidential campaign.

“With the 19th Amendment ratified just six weeks before, the women now were in position to present their plank of policies to Harding. His opponent, Gov. James Cox of Ohio, was next on their list.”

Sherry Hall, the Ohio History Connection’s site manager at

Gathered for news photographers on the steps of the Statehouse, a delegation of suffragists led by Alice Paul met with Ohio governor and presidential candidate James Cox in July 1920 about Tennessee's impending vote on the 19th Amendment.

Marion’s Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites, says securing the right to vote didn’t guarantee equality or respect. “After the election, some folks said women voted for Harding because he had pretty eyes, which I find offensive.

Others said that women simply voted as their husbands voted.”

But one thing is certain: 8 million more Americans voted in 1920 than had voted in 1916. And it didn’t matter why women voted for this candidate or that candidate.

“It isn’t necessarily that women’s numbers affected the outcome,” says Ohio History Connection Curator of Manuscripts Karen Robertson, “but once they were able to vote, the issues they cared about had to be considered to court their vote.

“The most commonly discussed example of this is the 1921 Sheppard-Towner Act, which provided federal funding for maternity and child care.”

The women who visited Marion on Social Justice Day in 1920 carried signs saying things like “We worked.

We waited. We won.” or “We are 2,000 strong for Senator and Mrs. Harding.”

The Woman Citizen, a nationally recognized suffrage publication, summed up the day, writing, “One thing was settled by Mr. Harding’s speech to the women on Social Justice Day, and that is that the advent of women in politics has already borne fruit and that the things in which they are most deeply interested will have a new place in the world now that they have votes.”

LEARN MORE Read Karen Robertson’s blog post about Social Justice Day at ohiohistory.org/justice

We are 2,000 strong for Senator and Mrs. Harding.

1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard

THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME TURNS 25 BY CURTIS SCHIEBER

28 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

“

A

”

nyone who says rock ‘n’ roll is a fad … has rocks in the head.

—ALAN FREED

Three decades after Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed gave rock ‘n’ roll its name, the music inspired an organization to preserve its history. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established in New York City in 1983 by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records; Jann Wenner, co-founder of Rolling Stone Magazine; record executive Seymour Stein; and a handful of other music business heavies. The group borrowed TV producer Bruce Brandwen’s idea—and eventually acquired the copyright for a series of broadcasts that became much, much more.

It would be another 11 years before the foundation found a permanent home, though, with the opening ceremony for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland Sept. 1, 1995. The foundation and museum have separate boards of directors in New York and Cleveland, yet both anniversaries are significant, according to museum CEO Greg Harris.

“The establishment of the foundation 37 years ago was a massive statement about the importance of rock ‘n’ roll and the maturity of the industry,” Harris says. “The museum is remarkable in that the people of the state of Ohio rallied and built it and have successfully operated it, and that 13 million people have visited over the last 25 years.”

EARLY CONTROVERSY Both the foundation and the museum have been plagued by controversies from the start.

The very idea of a music based on the quixotic, restless energy of youth being enshrined in a museum run by rich industry types seemed a contradiction; Cleveland won out over other candidates for the museum’s locale, including Chicago, Memphis, Philadelphia and New York; the governing boards at first seemed at odds, highlighted by induction ceremonies that were held in the Big Apple for all but two of the first 23 classes; and it was years before Clevelanders served on the New York board.

The most damning criticism, though, was the choices for inductees. Ask a friend about the Hall and you’re likely to receive a litany of bands that haven’t made the cut and artists who have but shouldn’t have.

Images courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

29

This photograph was taken on July 28, 1994, at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s “topping off” ceremony, a builder’s rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure.

“As for growing pains or controversy over the years,” board member Alec Wightman says, “whether it be about the location of the hall or the identity of inductees—or not—or where the ceremonies are held, much of that is simply old news at this point.”

The Columbus attorney and concert promoter is a former chair of the Cleveland “crew” and former member of the New York steering organization.

were waiting for Brandwen’s rights to the name “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” to expire.

“LESS OF A SHRINE, MORE OF AN EXPERIENCE”

“No, and frankly, in my tenure that is not accurate.

John has done incredible things and underneath it he is a passionate fan and believes in the power of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Harris, who has been CEO since 2012, believes the museum can be “less of a shrine and more of an experience.” He has the “street cred” and academic experience to back that up. He was road manager for Philly roots rocker Ben Vaughn in the 1980s, owned the Philadelphia Record Exchange and has a master’s degree in history with an emphasis on museums and folk culture. He advanced at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown (“in many ways it set the standard for all others,” he says) over 14 years to become vice president of development.

The question of big money and industry domination is a bit thornier, though. Joe Hagan’s bio of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone suggests Brandwen’s idea to film induction ceremony concerts was hijacked.

The first several years the ceremonies were filmed but not broadcast, because the foundation’s founders

30 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

When Wenner retired as head of the New York board this January, he was replaced by John Sykes, iHeartMedia’s president of entertainment enterprises.

Harris insists the media mega-conglomerate bigwig’s appointment didn’t mean money and power still rule the roost.

WHY CLEVELAND? Cleveland became a candidate for the museum because local DJ Alan Freed is credited with naming the new music in the 1950s and because the city’s Moondog Coronation Ball is purported to be the first major rock ‘n’ roll concert. There was more, though.

“Like most things in life,” says Wightman, “if you have trouble answering the question, follow the money.”

Cleveland, under mayor and later governor George Voinovich, put together a public-private partnership to pony up $65 million. After famed architect I.M. Pei (who designed the Louvre expansion) had signed on, the city raised it to $92 million.

The exterior of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland.

Thirty-two years later, under Harris, the museum kicked off a $55 million expansion in December 2016 called “Museum 2.0: Rock Hall Remixed and Remastered.”

“We’ve spent the last three years completely transforming our indoor and outdoor space,” says Harris. “We now have a vibrant outdoor plaza with food trucks and a beer garden, an entire Hall of Fame floor, an immersive theater, new galleries, new website, new ticketing, new entry experience, new restaurant, renovated retail, etc.

George Clinton (left) and bassist Larry Graham (right) and Parliament Funkadelic perform Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland Stadium on Sept. 2, 1995.

“We now want to connect our museum with our neighboring Great Lakes Science Center to form a lakefront museum campus,” Harris says. And they are interviewing architects to expand the late Pei’s masterpiece. It is estimated the museum brings $200 million a year to the state of Ohio.

As for the induction ceremonies, Wightman credits Harris and 2009 foundation chair Joel Peresman for earning Cleveland hosting rights. “The inductions were first opened to the public in 2009 at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium,” Harris remembers, “where they

Visitors view Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee signatures in the gallery on the museum’s third floor.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

31

were also held in 2012, 2015 and 2018. They have been so successful in Cleveland that they will now be held there every other year.”

HARD CHOICES So the toughest nut for the Hall to crack remains the selection of inductees. During its 36 years, the Hall of Fame has inducted 330 members, including musicians, producers, business types and more. Just 233 of those are performers. It doesn’t take a parent of twins to see that there will be jealousy and millions of disappointed fans at the announcement each year.

This year’s inductees were Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, T. Rex and the Doobie Brothers. Nominated but not chosen were Dave Matthews Band, Motorhead, Kraftwerk, MC5, Todd Rundgren and 10 others.

The internet and social media are littered with disgruntled fans, bands and writers. It’s a no-win situation for the Hall.

THE ROAD TO INDUCTION The process begins with a nominating committee made up of two- to three-dozen musicians, industry people, writers and DJs. They present 15 to 17

names, says Harris. The names are passed on to around 1,000 voters, who include all of the past inductees and both boards. In an effort to include some public input, the Hall instituted a “fan vote” in 2013 based on the Heisman Trophy model. As with that award, though, the collective popular choice receives just one of the thousand final votes.

Everyone seems to have a favorite act that’s been snubbed. Colin Gawel, lead singer for Columbus band Watershed, put together a Cheap Trick cover band called “Why Isn’t Cheap Trick in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?” For five years, it played free concerts in Columbus and Cleveland around induction time.

With donations, he took out print ads advocating for the band. Gawel’s tribute band was out of work when Cheap Trick finally was inducted in 2016. All along it was good-natured, says Gawel.

“The controversy means people care,” says Harris.

“We embrace it.” Like the restless and rebellious music itself, it seems rock fans may never be entirely satisfied.

Alan Freed once said, “Let’s face it, rock ‘n’ roll is bigger than all of us,” which could well serve as the motto for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Al Green and Aretha Franklin perform Freeway of Love at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Sept. 2, 1995.

32 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

Rock fans congregate in the hallway outside the museum’s gallery, which features the newest inductee class exhibit as well as videos and playlists for each artist.

Curtis Schieber owned Used Kids Records in the 1980s and promoted concerts in Columbus. He became music editor for Columbus Alive! and later a reviewer and columnist for The Columbus Guardian and The Columbus Dispatch, to which he continues to contribute after more than 25 years. He has hosted a specialty radio show on WWCD, CD102.5-FM since January 1991.

In The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years, music journalist Holly GeorgeWarren provides an in-depth retrospective of “the hallowed temple of rock and roll.”

She directs her critical eye to every musician, writer, producer and performer inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during its first 25 years. The book also features transcriptions of acceptance and induction speeches from the Hall’s archives.

Wondering how Cleveland became the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum rather than Memphis, New York or Los Angeles? Deanna R. Adams answers the question in Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Roots.

The Arcadia Publishing title includes chapters titled, “Blame it on the Deejays,” “Radio Wars,” “Clubs and Venues That Rocked” and “Genres of Rock, Cleveland Style.”

Let’s face it, rock ‘n’ roll is bigger than all of us.

Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen perform Dylan’s Forever Young at the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Sept. 2, 1995.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

33

A Chevrolet pick-up truck approaches a toll booth on the Ohio Turnpike. The patrol car on the left is a Dodge Coronet, which was powered by a 354-cubic inch Hemi engine boasting 340 horsepower.

34 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Courtesy of Ohio Turnpike Commission

World’s Most Modern Superhighway THE OHIO TURNPIKE

BY ERIN ESMONT

I

t was a frigid March weekend in 1965 when Harlan Adkins first stepped inside an Ohio Turnpike toll booth.

The small structure had no heat, and he was freezing.

He thought that picking up shifts as a toll booth operator would be a good way to supplement his wages as a machine operator at the General Metals Powder Co. He had a young family to support.

After two shifts in the toll booth, he went home and told his wife, Belva, he didn’t think it was the job for him.

Give it another try, she suggested.

“I went back on Sunday and, well, I’ve been back there ever since,” he said during a phone interview in July, shortly after resuming shifts curtailed by the pandemic.

EXIT 193 Adkins, 84, of Ravenna, collects payments from motorists passing through Exit 193 at Ravenna and holds the distinction of being the Ohio Turnpike’s longest-serving employee.

His longevity is just a decade shy of the turnpike itself, which marks 65 years of operation this October.

The observance arrives in the midst of a 100-year pandemic that brought dramatic drops in traffic and tolls in the spring.

Traffic patterns crept back up to just below normal as summer approached.

Full-time employees kept their jobs and alternated work weeks; part-time employees like Adkins worked less or not at all, per usual in winter.

When Adkins returned to his toll booth in late June, masks, gloves and Plexiglas became standard issue.

Executive Director Ferzan Ahmed put a premium on worker and customer safety, shuttering service plazas during the worst weeks. Many—but not all—reopened by summer with reduced hours.

THE MODERN TOLL ROAD In 1940, Pennsylvania led the nation in designing and building a modern toll road. Ohio transportation officials and business leaders saw the economic potential.

Images courtesy of Ohio History Connection Archival Collections unless otherwise noted.

Ohio Turnpike Map and Guide, 1960s

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

35

They envisioned an east-west corridor in the northern part of the state that would link to Pennsylvania’s and connect to Indiana. Truckers could move food and goods at top speeds on uncongested roadways.

And not a moment too soon. The postwar boom sped up consumer car-buying, and the shift to suburban living made owning one essential. It wasn’t long before existing roads were clogged with stop-and-go traffic.

The Ohio General Assembly created the Ohio Turnpike Commission in 1949 to build a turnpike with the latest safety features—center divisions, ample shoulder widths, sensible grades, long sight distances and multiple lanes in each direction— financed by revenue bonds.

MOVING THE EARTH It took vision and grit—and enormous earth-moving equipment—to claw at tons of dirt and rock and push it into something resembling a roadway. Giant cranes hoisted iron and steel girders hundreds of feet in the air to span rivers and valleys.

The turnpike opened in two sections on different dates. The first became operational on Dec. 1, 1954, a 22-mile section connecting to the Pennsylvania Turnpike—a first between two major toll routes.

When the rest was completed on Oct. 1, 1955, it capped a mammoth construction project that at its peak employed more than 10,000 workers powering 2,300 bulldozers, graders, loaders and other roadbuilding equipment, according to Brian Newbacher, the turnpike’s public information officer.

For maximum dramatic effect, and to meet a tight deadline, the turnpike opening happened at 12:01 a.m., under a full harvest moon, one newspaper noted, as reporters and photographers captured the action.

Throngs of people gathered to hear Gov. Frank Lausche’s remarks accompanied by the Bryan High School band and choir, while cars, bumper to bumper, waited to ease down the road behind a state patrol car.

A deliveryman from Chicago got stuck trying to cross the center strip and had to wait 90 minutes for a tow truck. His truck bed was full of furniture destined for the service plazas.

Mrs. Nina Johnson, an Angola, Indiana, housewife, was first in line, arriving early to be the first paying customer, according to the Toledo Blade.

BEAUTIFUL, SAFE, COMFORTABLE On the eve of the official opening, The Cleveland Press reported: “It’s a beautiful road, a safe road and a comfortable road, and it is important economically to hundreds of thousands of citizens. It was built without politics, without graft and with no variation from strict principle.”

36 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

FINISHED IN 38 MONTHS The turnpike was finished on time and $8 million under budget, the newspaper reported.

At first, getting everyone on the same page wasn’t easy—idea to inception was fraught with political maneuvering, legal bickering and Ohio Supreme Court rulings.

“There were fights between suppliers, fights between whole industries. There was a terrible row about service plazas,” The Cleveland Press reported.

One man—James W. Shocknessy—was credited with having the sharp focus and discipline needed to finish the 241-mile turnpike in a remarkable 38 months. He served as the turnpike’s first chair, wielding considerable authority, as detailed in The Cleveland Press in 1955: “The contractors he rode herd on, the politicians he pushed aside, the compromisers he hooted down—all these hate him. Even his staff got awfully sick of him at times. They were fed up with his playing king. But he never let them down.”

To commemorate his efforts, the turnpike officially bears his name.

Toll booth operator Harlan Adkins wasn’t at the opening ceremony, but says his father-in-law, state trooper Robert Jones, was.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR Adkins told of a memorable encounter Jones had with a nervous, first-time turnpike driver.

An older woman had second thoughts as her car approached the enormous twin two-lane bridge over the Cuyahoga River Valley.

It spanned 2,650 feet and reached 175 feet above the valley floor.

Ohio Turnpike Toll Card, about 1965

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

37

She chickened out and refused to drive over it, Adkins recalled, so his father-in-law got into the driver’s seat of her car and drove her to the other side. (He walked back across the bridge, which has since been demolished and replaced, Adkins says.)

From his toll booth perch, Adkins has witnessed many changes: When he started, there were no lunch breaks, and bathroom breaks on the midnight shift meant posting a sign on the booth – “Be back in 5 minutes.”

There were only 17 gates along the entire turnpike; now there are 31. Service plazas then featured sit-down restaurants, many operated by Howard

Johnson’s, a popular chain of the era, advertised as the “Host of the Highways.” Now, mostly fast-food establishments and 7-Elevens serve on-the-go eaters.

The expansion of the turnpike from two lanes to three was a massive and tricky multi-year undertaking, Ahmed says, that involved widening 160 miles of roads and bridges while traffic still flowed.

Adkins remembers when toll booth operators wore two different uniforms—one in summer and one in winter—topped with a police-officer-style cap. (Today, they wear black pants and gray shirts.) When women started working there, they wore skirts until pants became an acceptable option.

Soon toll booths featured heating and air conditioning that made seasonal changes bearable. The advent of the E-Z Pass in 2009 meant Adkins conversed with fewer motorists, but a large number of drivers still slow down to pay and say hello.

Adkins expects to be in the toll booth this fall, but he’s thinking seriously about retiring in December. He tried to retire once before, but staring at four walls didn’t suit him.

38 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

“I just don’t want to sit at home and have nothing to do,” he says.

Erin Esmont is a freelance writer and editor. An Ohio native, she worked at newspapers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. She lives in Columbus with her family.

Cuyahoga Ri

ver Twin Brid

ges, about 19

55

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE Read more about the Ohio Turnpike at ohioturnpike.org/about-us/history, a succinct overview of the building and opening of the toll road in 1955.

In a section titled “From Babylon to Westgate,” the website explains, “The Ohio Turnpike is actually a modern version of an ancient form of travel. Toll roads are at least 2,700 years old.”

Ohio T urnpike

Ser vice

Plaza,

a b o ut

1 955

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

39

40 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Photo: Library of Congress | Overlay: Naval History and Heritage Command

Remember the Maine OHIO’S SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR ARTIFACTS

BY DAVID A. SIMMONS

T

hroughout American history, battle cries have stirred numbers of ordinarily peaceful citizens toward armed conflict. When the USS Maine was commissioned in 1895, it lay at the cusp of American naval technology—a 324-foot steel battleship with four breech-loading 10-inch rifles and half a dozen lesser guns scattered about the vessel.

THE MAINE AND CUBA

Cleveland Metroparks

But innovative construction was not why “Remember the Maine” still resonates more than a century later. Instead, events leading up to the brief hostilities between Spain and the United States placed it at the center of one of American naval history’s unresolved controversies.

Throughout the late 1890s, tensions ran high between Spain’s extraordinarily repressive colonial government in Cuba and the rebel forces determined to gain independence at any cost. By early 1898, the jittery American consul general to Cuba, ex-Confederate general Fitzhugh Lee, was increasingly worried about U.S. assets on the volatile island.

President William McKinley Jr., however, leaned strongly toward pacifism—the sight of piled up corpses from the Civil War still haunted him after more than three decades.

Still, in January, the pair combined efforts to order the USS Maine to Havana. Sending the battleship to Cuba involved considerable risk and had heavy overtones of provocation.

So the explosion on the night of Feb. 15 that destroyed the Maine—killing 252 seamen outright while the ship was quietly moored to a harbor buoy—could have been predicted. And the reaction of many in the American public to the event was also not a surprise.

The New York Journal, published by William Randolph Hearst, had long circulated stories of Spanish colonial atrocities in Cuba, and the paper immediately jumped on the wagon of those placing blame for the explosion squarely with Spain.

War sentiment within the nation rose precipitously.

Above: Dedicated in 1913 and moved to its present site in 1948, the Battleship Maine Memorial near the entrance to Washington Park in Newburgh Heights, Ohio, features a piece of the ship's conning tower and a porthole.

Left: The Maine was powered by coal-burning steam engines. Some suggested that the placement of ammunition magazines immediately adjacent to several coal bunkers in the original design may have accidentally caused an explosion.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

41

CAREFUL CONSIDERATION

RETRIEVING THE REMAINS

President McKinley was more circumspect, insisting before rushing to judgment that a naval court of inquiry be held to determine whether the vessel’s destruction was from internal causes—an accident— or external ones, meaning a mine. A Naval Board of Inquiry was quickly set up and, after reviewing evidence for a month, officially blamed the Maine’s loss on a mine. Within a month, Spain and the United States were at war.

After the war, the wreck of the Maine remained in the Havana Harbor, where nagging questions persisted over the actual cause of the explosion. Numerous European naval specialists had been quick to raise questions about the court of inquiry’s decision, suggesting that a design flaw in the placement of coal bunkers adjacent to ammunition magazines could have caused an accidental explosion.

The United States was largely unprepared for the conflict. While the navy had built significant technological achievements like the Maine since the end of the Civil War, it was still relatively small, and the army was short of staffing, equipment and training.

Harbor officials requested removal of the navigation hazard caused by the wreck. Furthermore, the remains of the American sailors had never been repatriated, and numerous patriotic organizations around the nation were petitioning Congress for mementos from the vessel for memorial use.

What the nation lacked in military strength, however, it tried to make up for in enthusiasm. The famous charge up San Juan Hill by Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders was still a month in the future when William Cotton, a Columbus hatmaker, gave a stereopticon talk on the Maine explosion and other scenes in Cuba at a local masonic hall.

Not until 1910 did Congress authorize recovery funds.

The following year, an American steel company built a cofferdam unprecedented in its scale and depth around the wreck to expose the remains for careful examination by naval experts. President William Howard Taft appointed a new five-man Naval Board of Inspection and Survey.

He was repeatedly interrupted by hisses and cheers depending on how well the topic reflected on America’s fortunes. The fighting in the SpanishAmerican War, including battles on land and sea, was over before the summer ended, and peace was declared prior to the New Year.

After reviewing the physical evidence and considering all the views of those suggesting an accidental cause, the board affirmed the basic finding of the 1898 court: a mine caused the explosion.

Canton City Parks | Doug Foltz, Photographer

Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

42 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Half of the ship was intact enough to refloat, so it was towed out into the ocean nearby and sunk with full

Left: This capstan from the USS Maine is in Fremont's Rutherford B. Hayes Museum.

Right: A veterans’ group orchestrated the effort to obtain a USS Maine artifact in martyred president William McKinley’s hometown of Canton, Ohio.

Now located in Westbrook Veterans Memorial Park, what was the base of the vessel’s conning tower became our state’s largest fragment.

Library of Congress

The explosion of the Maine on Feb. 15, 1898, while it lay anchored to a harbor buoy in Havana had international implications. Even after two official courts of inquiry, the precise cause remains controversial more than a century later.

military honors “appropriate to mark the end of a fighting ship.”

Still, a significant amount of wreckage was left behind to redistribute to those demanding memorials.

A 1912 editorial in Scientific American was quick to emphasize that since only municipalities and military associations could receive pieces—avoiding exploitation by “professional showmen”—the “dignity of the nation” would be preserved.

Eventually, the War Department filled a warehouse at the Washington Navy Yard with material, where remnants could be reviewed and selected for installation around the country. So many took advantage of the opportunity that today naval historians joke that the USS Maine is the longest vessel in American history since pieces of it can literally be found from coast to coast.

OHIO’S PREMIER COLLECTOR Col. Webb C. Hayes, son of President Rutherford B. Hayes and a veteran of the headquarters staff during the 1898 Cuban invasion, prominently lobbied for

Maine artifacts. He made his requests through city officials in Fremont, where the Hayes family’s estate, Spiegel Grove, was located, and through the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Col. Hayes had been among the first state commissioners appointed to erect a monument commemorating the centennial of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory in Lake Erie over British naval forces during the War of 1812. At one time, a naval museum was planned as part of the memorial, and Hayes aggressively sought artifacts from a variety of sources, including the Maine.

By 1917, the museum concept at the Perry memorial had been abandoned, and as a consequence, multiple pieces of the vessel eventually found their way into the collections of Hayes Presidential Library & Museums in Fremont.

Two elements of the ship’s deck equipage, a capstan and accompanying driveshaft, can be found today displayed in the Hayes Museum’s weapons gallery.

Other smaller items, such as a piece of steel rope and several cog gears, are in storage.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

43

Naval History and Heritage Command

The mainmast of the Maine dominated the wreckage in Havana Harbor, and American sailors were allowed to place a flag at half-mast upon it. The mast itself ended up at Arlington National Cemetery.

Demand for Maine artifacts seemed relentless, so Navy Yard artisans melted down components so mangled as to be virtually indistinguishable to create commemorative plaques. Plaques of this type were reportedly sent to Dayton, Berea and Elyria, and also ended up in the Hayes collections.

CITY CLAIMS Larger components of the Maine were placed in several Ohio cities. A Spanish-American War veterans group in Canton, President McKinley’s hometown, obtained a 25-ton fragment of the ship’s superstructure, taken from the base of the conning tower.

Originally it was placed in the city park near the McKinley National Memorial, where the assassinated president was entombed in 1907, but in recent years it was relocated to the Westbrook Veterans Memorial Park on the west side of I-77.

The War Department donated a slightly smaller Maine fragment, a 6,700-pound truncated segment of a mast and a porthole cover, to the city of Cleveland in 1912.

44 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

It was mounted in a traffic triangle in Washington Park, a Cleveland Metroparks site in Newburgh Heights, in 1948.

OHIO’S ODDEST MAINE ARTIFACT Probably the oddest Maine artifact to make its way to Ohio—along with the story surrounding it—was Capt.

Charles Sigsbee’s enameled-steel bathtub. Frank B. Willis, U.S. representative for the district that included Urbana, obtained the tub for his constituents in that city.

When the tub was delivered and put on display on the Champaign County Courthouse lawn, the Cincinnati Enquirer published an article poking fun at the gift.

Urbana clubwomen became indignant at the ridicule and demanded that the gift be returned. In its place, they insisted on a more respectably militaristic artifact, like a 10-inch shell casing. (If that was ever delivered, its whereabouts is no longer known.)

E. Lincoln Groves, mayor of Findlay, also in Willis’s district, jumped at the chance to claim the unwanted Maine artifact, by then ignominiously relegated to the Urbana mayor’s chickencoop. Findlay considered itself uniquely qualified to identify “a realistic patriotic use” of the unusual relic “for the admiration of future generations.”

Library of Congress

The crew of the Maine consisted of 355 officers and men. Some 267 of them never left Havana Harbor alive.

City newspapers solicited suggestions from local residents. Some took the question seriously, but others couldn’t resist a bit of levity. Distinguishing between the two can be hard from a century-long perspective.

One doctor, for example, suggested installing the tub in the courthouse yard by christening it with champagne like a battleship!

Not until late winter of 1913 did the tub arrive in Findlay, and, by then, the novelty had largely worn off. Set in a city hall corner while awaiting a permanent location, the tub was mistaken for a coal bin and piled full.

That led to cries of desecration and inspired a local veterans group to raise funds for a respectable display under glass in the courthouse. In 1960, Hancock County offered the artifact to Findlay College’s new museum. But the glass case was quickly repurposed for other displays and the tub was consigned to storage. When the college museum folded in 1971, the tub finally found an honored place in the Hancock Historical Museum’s exhibits in Findlay.

Spanish-American War. While short in duration, the war fostered an unprecedented period of military and economic ascendancy for the United States that still has implications for us today.

David A. Simmons recently retired after 44 years as a historian with the Ohio History Connection, having worked in the State Historic Preservation Office and on the staff of Timeline and Echoes Magazine.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE For more information on the USS Maine and its place in American history, read A Ship to Remember: The Maine and the Spanish-American War by Michael Blow and Remembering the Maine by Peggy and Harold Samuels. Find a comprehensive listing of Maine artifacts on the Spanish-American War Centennial website spanamwar.com.

Today, a multitude of Maine artifacts remains to connect Buckeyes to the events leading up to the

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

45

I Wish I’d Been There THE 125TH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY— THE BIRTH OF THE TIGERS BY THOMAS CROWL

The September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga in north Georgia was the largest Civil War engagement fought west of the Alleghenies.

For Col. Emerson Opdycke’s 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry—Mahoning Valley boys—it would be their initiation to war.

On the morning of the battle’s second day, Sept. 20, Confederate forces broke through the Union line. Part of the rebel assault reached a cornfield on the Dyer farm, which offered a clear path into the rear of the beleaguered Union Army of the Cumberland.

Union Brig. Gen. Thomas Wood saw the cornfield swarming with Confederates and instantly recognized the danger. To buy time for the shattered Union army to rally, Wood ordered the brigade of Col. Charles Harker to attack "as one throws a piece of meat to a savage dog to gain time," as one veteran among the outnumbered bluecoats put it.

Before Harker’s brigade was completely deployed, an impatient Wood ordered the 125th Ohio and the 64th Ohio regiment—organized in Mansfield by William T. Sherman’s brother, John—to rush forward and seize a rail fence 150 yards to the front at the north end of the cornfield.

“AIM LOW, AIM WELL , WASTE NO SHOTS” Opdycke reminded his men to “aim low, aim well, waste no shots.” The 125th went forward at the doublequick march. At the fence, the Ohioans pulled the rails into a low breastwork and delivered volleys of musketry into a brigade of advancing Texans, who fell 46 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

back, stunned. One Texan remembered that cornfield as “the meanest, most unsatisfactory place” he had experienced during the entire war.

AN “IMMENSE” VOICE Wood next ordered Opdycke to have the regiments fix bayonets, form four ranks and charge into the cornfield.

When the order came, Opdycke’s neophyte soldiers realized they were vastly outnumbered and hesitated. The men looked to Opdycke, who spurred his horse to the front, raised his hat and, in a voice described as “immense,” ordered the advance.

steely glare. Gesturing with his sword, Opdycke—a stern disciplinarian—shouted above the din of the battle, “Back to your posts until I order you away!”

Flanked on the right, and with enemy regiments—veterans of Gettysburg— closing on their front, Opdycke’s men questioned their chances. The 64th Ohio on the 125th’s left retired.

Still Opdycke held the 125th in place, a single federal regiment facing the onslaught. Lt. Charles Clark, the youngest officer, was waving one of the flags when a musket ball knocked him down, his life saved by his silver pocket watch.

“WHIP US THEY CAN NEVER!” His face streaked with sweat and grime, Clark shouted to Opdycke, “They may outflank and kill us, but whip us, they can never!” This was what Opdycke wanted, to infuse his boys with the confidence that they could stand and fight the best the Confederacy had to offer.

The Ohioans charged, firing by rank, for 400 yards to an old fence in a copse of trees where all but the officers lay prone on the ground. Harker’s two other regiments fell in on the right of Opdycke’s men to complete a battle line that spanned the field. The officers could see another longer and stronger line of troops in the distance. The Yankees were unsure whether they were friend or foe, so Harker had the regimental color bearers stand and uncase their flags. The response from that distant line was a shower of musket balls that eliminated all doubt.

When the enemy was just 100 yards away, Opdycke directed his men in an orderly retreat to the new Union line on Snodgrass Hill a half mile in the rear, a further demonstration that “the power of discipline prevailed where Opdycke commanded.”

SIX COLOR BEARERS FALL

The 125th went on to be known for its courage and discipline on battlefields from Missionary Ridge to Atlanta and Franklin, Tennessee. Their defining moment at Chickamauga appears in bronze relief on the regimental monument, which is capped by a snarling granite tiger. On that day, a group of ordinary young men became a regiment of soldiers who, despite the danger and hardships, never failed to do their duty.

The Confederate line advanced on Harker’s thin line, halting only to fire an occasional volley. Six color bearers from the 125th fell in a matter of minutes. The flags were perforated by bullets, and the regimental flagstaff was cut in two.

Harker’s two regiments on the 125th’s right flank fell back in confusion with heavy casualties.

The 125th’s Company A rose to follow, but froze under Opdycke’s

At least 18 men from the 125th were killed in the cornfield, and countless others were wounded.

Wood said Opdycke’s men fought like tigers, and they became known as “Opdycke’s Tigers.”

COURAGE AND DISCIPLINE

I wish I’d been there.

#3

Thomas Crowl

is a retired veterinarian, nonfiction author and historian. He has published articles in History Magazine, Man at Arms, Timeline and other magazines. He is the author of Murder of a Journalist: The True Story of the Death of Donald Ring Mellett and Opdycke's Tigers in the Civil War.

LEARN LEARNMORE MORE

To Battle for God and the Right: The Civil War Letterbooks of Emerson Opdycke (eds. John E. Haas and Glenn V. Longacre) is a collection of letters that Opdycke sent back home to his wife, Lucy, during the Civil War. The letters afford readers “the immediacy of the action as it unfolded” and provide “a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a soldier.”

Opdycke’s Tigers were a force in the Western theatre from the summer of 1863 through the end of 1864. Read more about Opdycke and the 125th’s exploits in Civil War High Commands

by David J. Eicher and John H. Eicher, For Cause & For Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin by Eric A. Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp and Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders by Ezra J. Warner.

Ohio History Connection Archival Collections

The Chickamauga Campaign: A Mad Irregular Battle is a three-volume history by David Powell that picks up the story from the Union crossing of the Tennessee River on Aug. 22 through its engagement with the Confederates Sept. 18–20, 1863.

Help conserve Ohio’s Civil War battle flags. To contribute to the Ohio History Connection’s Save the Flags fund, email donations@ohiohistory. org or call 800.647.6921.

Top: The national colors of the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The flag lists the 125th’s biggest battles, including Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Peach Tree and Rocky Face Ridge.

Bottom: The 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment monument at Chickamauga National Battlefild.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG 47Crowl Thomas

Gideon v. Wainwright: A Landmark Case YO U N G E Y E S O N T H E PA S T BY SYDNI WILSON

In the initial stages of creating my website for History Day, I narrowed my focus to civil and criminal rights in the U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v.

Wainwright.

In it, the court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney to defendants who are unable to afford their own.

As simple as the case may seem at a glance, the project was rather challenging to implement. The case seemed unambiguous, the court’s verdict transparent. I had worked on a previous project for National History Day based on Loving v.

Virginia, a landmark civil rights decision of the Supreme Court.

As I proceeded with my project on Gideon, I learned more about criminal rights and the significance of the Sixth Amendment.

economic barriers for the rights of the accused and applied the Sixth Amendment to the citizens of the United States.

A PERFECT SOLUTION?

My research was founded on numerous journals, articles and even legal documents. Most of the time, I started from secondary sources and then scavenged for primary sources.

For instance, once I learned about the legacy of Gideon, I could not truthfully state that the verdict afforded fairness in every subsequent case. Though the court’s conclusion significantly advanced criminal rights, the ruling had derivative flaws that seeped through the law and influenced future criminal sentences.

Even if one receives a lawyer, the heavy workload of public defenders and the various priorities and talents of an attorney contribute to the verdict of a trial and can have a negative impact on the accused. So, though equality is established where everyone may obtain an attorney, it is a lawyer’s performance that determines one’s innocence or guilt.

GIVING BOTH SIDES

Defending Gideon is a half-hour video produced by the Constitution Project and released in 2013. The film “highlights the importance of a system that guarantees representation for all.”

The Constitution Project at the Project on Government Oversight

48 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

For my project, I felt that I must address Gideon’s modern obstacles to show both sides of its legacy. I had a slight fear that this revelation would defeat my website’s thesis and its purpose. But, if anything, I believe it strengthened my argument with my acknowledgement that Gideon did not guarantee absolute justice.

With this in consideration, my competing desires served as my inspiration and supported my project’s purpose: to detail how Gideon v. Wainwright broke

A highlight of my website’s creation was introducing video and audio clips, and portions of newspapers.

Honestly, uploading these excerpts had complications. But, viewing my overall product, I can say that without a doubt I enjoyed listening to, watching and reading these fragments that provide details of the social context before, during and after Gideon.

LEARNING THE L ANGUAGE OF L AW At the time, I took advanced placement U.S. Government and Politics, and being in this class, I used a lot of the vocabulary we learned, which may not have been familiar to others. This is a major reason why I included numerous explanations and footnotes. Overall, I tried to be as precise and consistent as I could on my website, especially when it came to the formatting of each page. I also did everything in my power to make sure it looked efficient and pleasing to the eye.

I received advice and support from my government teacher throughout my entire process, as well as from my peers and from

National Archives

state coordinators of Ohio History Day. So I thank them for their inspiration and encouragement.

I would also like to say that I am grateful for National History Day and the wonderful opportunities it provides to students like me. I have developed the knowledge of creating a website from the two years I have participated in these contests, and my gratitude for all mentioned is bountiful.

Sydni Wilson is a senior at Maysville High School in Zanesville. She has studied Spanish for five years, and this is her first year taking only College Credit Plus and advanced placement courses. She has been a National History Day qualifier for two years in a row, and is involved in Rotary and National Honor Society. She has attended a Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar and “enjoys spending quality time with my cat.”

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

You can listen to the oral arguments for Gideon v.

Wainwright at oyez.org/ cases/1962/155.

View Sydni’s website at site.nhd.org/14130862/home.

A handwritten petition for a writ of certiorari (a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal from a lower court) from Clarence Gideon to the Supreme Court on Jan. 5, 1962.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

49

Reviews

Shop our Ohio History Store at ohiohistorystore.com for these titles and more.

BOOK

The Daughters of Erietown: A Novel by Connie Schultz Drawing on her roots in northeast Ohio for her first novel, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Connie Schultz serves up a multi-generational saga of a working family set in fictional Erietown, Ohio.

Looking through the windows of the McGinty family home, we witness a half century of social change in America. The interplay of gender, class and ethnicity is a fascinating constant in racially segregated Erietown. Set in the heyday of union strength, the novel depicts Brick McGinty’s union membership as central to family identity. Vivid period details anchor the McGintys firmly in their historical context: Ada’s quilting bee, the “Jack & Jesus” wall in the dining room of this Irish-American family, Ellie McGinty’s beehive hairdo, the softball league, the Women’s Guild, food, music, games and more. We see parents dictate their children’s choice of playmates in order to carry out feuds or signal status. Not until she goes off to college does daughter Sam meet people who don’t know anyone who fought in Vietnam.

This hopeful story of family experience is peopled with interesting characters whose lives are rife with unresolved contradictions.

Brick both requires and resents wife Ellie’s financial dependence, while Ellie learns that her compliance has not safeguarded her marriage. Sam is conflicted about her professional success and the very real prospect of upward mobility.

Misunderstanding and secrets can survive within a relationship for decades. Love is often imperfect, may fail us many times, yet it endures, and is in the end still what matters most.

Schultz is unsparing about the impact of early choices. Brittle in his 20s with his sense of the road not taken, Brick is hungry for adulation and attention, which bodes trouble ahead. He becomes an authoritarian husband and father, but keenly aware that his sphere of influence is limited to home and union.

While Brick’s actions drive the plot, the book’s rewarding core is the warm relationships among the women of Erietown throughout their hardworking lives: Ellie, her grandmother Ada, her aunt Nessa, daughter Sam, best friend Mardee and others.

Communication and emotional support bolster resilience, aid understanding and may even provide a route to peace of mind

and acceptance of change. Perhaps the most complex and satisfying arc, both humorous and touching, is between Ellie and Sam. Ellie worries that the child Sam’s obvious leadership ability is unfeminine, chiding her gently “you don’t always have to be in charge.” Much later, we enjoy watching Ellie devour early feminist works such as Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room, courtesy of Sam. Brick and Ellie make many mistakes but manage to raise children with the confidence to forge their own paths; Sam and Reilly grow up without the violence and abandonment their parents suffered as children. Brick cannot pass on his prejudices. Sam has black friends, and Reilly’s lunch pail is for him just a container, not the symbol of defeat it is for his father. Most gratifyingly, while we see two generations abandon their dreams, we know that the last will continue pursuing theirs.

—Katie Swett, Ohio History Connection

BOOK

The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution by Stephen Heyman It’s interesting how littleambulance driver in WWI France, Heyman to Malabar, the farm he established in his known Ohioan Louis establishes early that Bromfield was cut from native Richland County in 1939. Malabar Bromfield is today. A classic Lost Generation cloth. Driven by is the heart of the Bromfield story, and Pulitzer Prize-winning restlessness, filled with unbounded energy, fittingly, half of The Planter is dedicated best-selling novelist Bromfield wrote his first novel in 1924 and to it. The reader will be struck by how courted by Hollywood, the next year found him in Paris, at the Bromfield was reshaped by Malabar into a celebrated expatriate center of the expatriate movement. But as a true man of the soil: he remade himself member of the Lost his literary successes piled up, Bromfield as an impassioned, often angry advocate Generation, an agricultural pioneer with sensed that his true calling might not lie of ecology and conservation. an outspoken passion for the land, a with a pen, but with a plow. “I have half a According to Heyman, Bromfield made conservationist with the fervor of an suspicion that I shall end up a horticulturist “his greatest impact not on the page but in evangelical, Bromfield is a true American rather than a novelist” he wrote to a friend. the soil.” Perhaps his legacy, then, is not in character, one long overdue for rediscovery. In 1930, his family moved to the village of the literary works that once brought him Simply put, Bromfield’s life is a biographer’s Senlis, where, fascinated by the “French way” fame and fortune, but with the causes dream. And Stephen Heyman’s excellent of planting, he created a lush and bountiful that he put his name to, causes that live new The Planter of Modern Life is just the garden that became the center of the social on in the environmental and organic food expansive and deeply researched biography world of the expats. movements that followed. that such a life demands.

The Senlis garden was the genesis of an —Matt Benz, Ohio History Connection Opening with Bromfield arriving as an agrarian vision that Bromfield would bring 50 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2020

Ohio History Connection Archival Collections

##

Born in Morgan County in southeast Ohio, renowned artist and illustrator Howard Chandler Christy (1872– 1952) created this poster used in Warren G. Harding’s 1920 presidential campaign. See Ohio Wins No Matter What—The 1920 Campaign for the Presidency, page 22.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

51

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION 800 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, OH 43211-2474 ohiohistor y.org

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID COLUMBUS, OH PERMIT No. 1157

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

OHIO

VIRTUAL

ONLINEATTEND FROM ANYWHERE!

Thurs., Oct. 1–Sat., Oct. 31 Some programs may require online registration in advance

The Ohio History Center’s annual Archaeology Day moves online and expands to a full month! Meet Ohio archaeologists and explore archaeology through special Archaeology Month programs, presentations and activities, all from the comfort of home.

ohiohistory.org/archaeologymonth