MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 21 MILES OF SEATS The PageTurnsHorseshoe10026 MAKING HISTORY New PageMeganCEOWood36 Ohio’sCELERYVILLESaladBowlPage40PLACE OF JOYFUL GATHERING Cleveland’sKaramuHousePage32
2 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 Contents SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 21 Miles of Seats—The Horseshoe Turns 100 A Place of Joyful Gathering—Cleveland’s Karamu House Remains Committed To Progress in the Arts, Bridging Communities Making History—Q&A with New Executive Director & CEO Megan Wood Celeryville—Ohio’s Salad Bowl IN EACH ISSUE ContentsFromOur Editors What’s Your Story? In the HistoricNewsSites & Museums At the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Online FeaturedEventsEvents & Exhibits I Wish I’d Been There Young Eyes on the Past Reviews Cover: Ohio Stadium, as illustrated by student Fred Machetanz on the cover of the Oct. 5, 1929, Wittenberg-Ohio State game day program. Born in Kenton, Ohio, Machetanz became a renowned Alaskan artist. Opened in 1922, the ’Shoe celebrates 100 years this fall. See page 26. The Ohio State University Archives Vol. 61, No. 4 TomBillEDITORSEichenbergerWolfCONTRIBUTORSAnthonyBerzonskiBellaCzajkowskiRandyEdwardsTimFeranBobHunterADVISORYBOARDDonnaDeBlasio Youngstown State University Nishani Frazier Miami University Robert Genheimer Cincinnati Museum Center Stephen George Ohio History Connection Alex Hastie Ohio v. the World George Ironstrack Miami University Chester Pach Ohio University Roger Pickenpaugh Historian and Author Daniel Rivers The Ohio State University Truda Shinker Ohio History Connection 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 © 2022 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. MAGAZINE 40263236244615161920464850 Moving? Contact us at membership@ohiohistory.org or 800.686.1545 to share your new address. THANKS TO OUR OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION STRATEGIC PARTNERS: Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at @OhioHistory The Ohio History Connection is a
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21 Miles of Seats
Cleveland’s Karamu House is one of the first largely African American legitimate theatre companies in the United States, established in 1915 as the Playhouse Settlement by two Oberlin College graduates who sought to create a space where people of different races, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds could find common ground.
Making History Q&A WITH NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO MEGAN WOOD
CLEVELAND’S KARAMU HOUSE REMAINS COMMITTED TO PROGRESS IN THE ARTS, BRIDGING COMMUNITIES
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Megan Wood recently made history, becoming the first woman named to the position of Ohio History Connection executive director & CEO. Learn about her vision for the Ohio History Connection in this Q&A with Echoes Magazine Editor Bill Eichenberger.
Engineering professor Thomas E. French served on the athletic board when The Ohio State University prepared to make what were termed “substantial” improvements to little Ohio Field in 1908. He was in the process of explaining work that would include replacing an ugly board fence and raising the seating capacity from 4,200 to 6,100 in the Alumni Quarterly when he dropped this bomb: “The dream of a magnificent concrete stadium in a horse-shoe shape may be realized sooner than anyone would expect.”
THE HORSESHOE TURNS 100
A Place of Joyful Gathering
Celeryville OHIO’S SALAD BOWL Ever since Dutch immigrants settled there in the 1890s, the dark, rich, moist soil near Willard, Ohio—called muck and once described as “a hideous swamp”—has yielded lettuces, peppers and other salad vegetables, along with herbs like parsley, cilantro and mustard. For generations, the labor-intensive harvest has been aided by Hispanic farm workers who arrive annually to work alongside local residents in supplying major grocery chains throughout the East.
F The Ohio History Connection is in the business of preserving and sharing our state’s rich history. Last month, Megan Wood made history, when she became the first woman to serve as executive director and CEO in our organization’s 137-year existence. She started work on Aug. 1. Wood took time out to answer our questions (see page 36) and didn’t miss a beat when we asked for her favorite object in our collection of 1.7 million-plus objects.
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’s your first memory of the ’Shoe?” Here are some of your responses: What ’s “
A GAME WITH DAD
4 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
It says something about how history’s sometimes told that less has been written about these workers, many of whom lived out their lives divided between the Celeryville migrant camps and their winter homes in Texas or Mexico. This issue includes a modest attempt to bring their story to light.
FogleBrian
Probably the best time I had at Ohio Stadium was in 1996 for the Notre Dame game. It’s the only game my father and I went to together. My father was a great man. He owned his own mechanic shop, so he rarely took Saturdays off. I was able to come up with two tickets and said, “Dad, you want to go?” He said, “Hell yes! I’ll close the shop.” The atmosphere was so loud and electric. The game was a huge matchup. Ohio State ranked fourth and Notre Dame ranked fifth in the country at the time. Eddie George’s 61-yard run in the fourth quarter really got the crowd fired up. It was such a beautiful day in Columbus for a Buckeye football game. I could tell my dad really enjoyed himself. —Brian Fogle, Columbus
FROM OUR EDITORS
Hard to believe there was a time when Ohio State football took a back seat to Yale and Harvard when it came to attendance and stadium size. During the 1910s, the Buckeyes played at Ohio Field.
F Cleveland’s Karamu House (see page 32) had a well-known relationship with poet, novelist and playwright Langston Hughes during the mid-20th century.Butthat’s not all—we were interested to learn that Zora Neale Hurston and Lorraine Hansberry distinguished themselves at the arts center, too. So did Ruby Dee, Robert Guillaume, Ron O’Neal, Bill Cobbs, Ivan Dixon, Minnie Gentry and, more recently, James Pickens of Grey’s Anatomy, Imani Hakim of Everybody Hates Chris and Debra Byrd, vocal coach and arranger for American Idol.
After winning consecutive Western Conference titles in 1916 and 1917, and drawing an estimated 20,000 standing-room-only crowd in 1919 for a game against Illinois (with 40,000 more fans outside Ohio Field straining for a glimpse of the action), it became clear that The Ohio State University needed a bigger stadium. That stadium, now lovingly called the ’Shoe, turns 100 this fall. (See page 26.)
F The story of Celeryville (see page 40) has been told before, usually from the perspective of the immigrant Dutch farmers who drained a bog in Huron County and created multigenerational farm businesses. It’s a great story, worth retelling, and we’ve tried to give voice to the Hispanic farm laborers, too, many of whom have multigenerational stories of their own, of working hard to help bring the fruits of these farms to market.
“We have a print by Cincinnati artist Charley Harper that depicts a beaver and a wood duck from two perspectives, above the beaver and under the wood duck,” Wood says. “It was used as a cover for an Ohio natural history textbook, and the original recently came into our collection. I love his work and I also love that tie to Ohio’s natural history, which is an integral part of our work.”
Brian Fogle’s home is a shrine to the Buckeyes.
I started Ohio State fall quarter 1961, in pre-pharmacy. Ohio State had a home game with Michigan on Nov. 25, 1961, as always the last game of the regular season. I did not have a ticket, but bought a scalped ticket outside the open end of the Horseshoe for $3. (A little different from current prices.) It was really cold in C Deck, but fullback Bob Ferguson set a record, and scored four touchdowns as Ohio State beat the “school up North” 50–20 and became the unchallenged Big Ten champion. But the Ohio State faculty voted against sending the team to the Rose Bowl, which caused a major eruption in Columbus. A sizable crowd of students (including me) marched to the residence of OSU President Novice Fawcett on campus to discuss this oversight, then to the Statehouse in downtown Columbus. Amazing memories of my first three months at Ohio State.
My first visit to the ’Shoe was Homecoming 1973, the last weekend of October. My best friend and I had hitchhiked down from Bowling Green State University for the weekend to take in the festivities and hang out with high school friends. One of them lived in the southwest corner of the stadium, which was then a dorm for agriculture honors students. We spent Friday night in his room. On Saturday morning, he led us to the doorway into the concourse, advised us to sit in Block O since they didn’t check tickets—we had none—and said that if anyone asked, he didn’t know us! Off we went to enjoy the game in Block O, flashing the colored cards as directed and watching the Buckeyes take care of Northwestern 60–0.
My family moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in the fall of 1955 and I enrolled in high school. Later that fall, our band director arranged a field trip to see the Ohio State Marching Band practice. In 1955, the band used the parking lot on the west side of Ohio Stadium as its practice field. The best place to watch was at the top of the stadium in C Deck. Our high school band arrived at the top of C Deck and watched the university band for a while. It was the first time I, a clarinet player, had ever seen TBDBITL. Not seeing any clarinets, I exclaimed, “Where are the woodwinds?!”
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 5 Your Story? THE OSU ‘ SHOE
—Kristi Leeth, Springfield
My first visit to the ’Shoe was in autumn 1968. I spent my freshman year at OSU. I enjoyed attending the football games. I sat in the bleachers at the south end of the field and was in attendance when Rex Kern led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten championship.
WHAT’S YOUR STORY? Saturday mornings when mother would pack sandwiches and drinks and our family would head to the stadium. Even though my feet barely extended beyond the seat, we enjoyed picnicking in the stadium, watching the band and watching the Buckeyes!
—Lesley Schaab, Columbus REX KERN IN COMMAND
—Frank Jenkins, London PICNICS AT THE ’SHOE
BOB FERGUSON RUNS WILD
THE ONLY TWO-TIME HEISMAN WINNER
I have a lot of memories of the ’Shoe! I would say my first memory was when I was a little boy. My dad was an usher and would take me to games. I even remember seeing Archie Griffin! It still amazes me that he is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner. He was a beast on the field! I will also say that the Best Damn Band in the Land was always one of my favorites. I would always, and still do, get tears in my eyes when they come out of the tunnel. I get a feeling like I could be out there playing! It is truly something special when you are a lifelong Buckeye fan. And today, at 53, I still get that feeling! We are about to go on a national championship run—I believe a lot of people are going to be jumping on board with this team. I’m glad I’ve been with them all along!
In the 1950s, my parents moved to Columbus when my father assumed a position at Ohio State. I remember many 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: What’s your favorite Thanksgiving recipe? Something that’s been in your family for generations? Send it to us and tell us why you like it. 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.
—Roger D. Braun, West Chester, PA
—Pete Sanderson, Columbus SOMETHING IS MISSING!
—Patricia D. Gold, Bexley IT’S COLD UP NORTH I lived in one of the towers when I went to Ohio State in 1970. Walking past the ’Shoe in the winter was so windy and so cold. I ushered at Mershon Auditorium on High Street, so I had to walk that way. My tiny roommate was from Arkansas and wore a maxi-coat because she barely coped with our freezing winters. Being in design, she had to walk past the ’Shoe to some classes. She would nearly get blown away as the wind caught her long coat like a sail and she always drawled when she got home, “My gawd! How do you people stand it!”
—Rebecca Travis, Chandlersville HOMECOMING 1973
—Russell Crouse, Columbus HOW DO YOU SPELL OHIO? My first visit to the ’Shoe was in 2005. Our children were two and five and they both learned to spell O-H-I-O with the hand motions that day. They have never forgotten!
In the News
“Megan was the clear choice among a large and diverse pool of national candidates,” says Charles R. Moses, president of the Ohio History Connection board of trustees. “She represents the Ohio History Connection’s ongoing commitment to cultivating talent within its own ranks. Her vision for the organization is in line with the board’s, and she is the ideal leader to guide the Ohio History Connection into its next era as we continue our enduring mission of embracing the present, sharing the past and transforming the future.”
NATIONWIDE SEARCH
“I believe in the power of history as a way to better understand ourselves and our place in this world,” Wood says. “I plan to help the Ohio History Connection embrace its role of sharing Ohio’s diverse stories and making Ohio communities better as a partner with other government, nonprofit and private partners. The Ohio History Connection will continue to grow as a vibrant organization that improves every community we touch by cultivating pride, encouraging economic development and bringing people Learntogether.”more about the Ohio History Connection’s new executive director and CEO in a Q&A with Megan Wood on page 36 in this issue of Echoes Magazine
6 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
The board of trustees has named Megan Wood, 41, of Worthington as the Ohio History Connection’s new executive director and CEO, effective Aug. 1. She succeeds Burt Logan, executive director and CEO of the Ohio History Connection for the past 13 years, who’s moved into the role of executive consultant to the board of trustees and will retire in early 2023 as he had announced earlier this year.
Megan Wood, pictured here at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, is the Ohio History Connection’s new executive director and CEO. Director of cultural resources since 2019, she’s the first woman to lead the organization. I believe in the power of history as a way to better understand ourselves and our place in this world.
“I am pleased that the Ohio History Connection will be led by Ohioan Megan Wood,” says Gov. Mike DeWine. “Ohio has an important and remarkable past, and with Megan Wood as the new CEO, the Ohio History Connection will continue to ensure that Ohio’s many historic places and fascinating stories reach a wide variety of audiences.”
NEW CEO Megan Wood Makes History
Wood emerged as the Ohio History Connection’s new leader after a nationwide search yielded a deep pool of diverse and talented candidates from elite institutions across the country.
POWER OF HISTORY
FIRST WOMAN CEO Wood, who’s served as director of cultural resources for the Ohio History Connection since 2019, is the first woman to lead the private, nonprofit organization, established in 1885. The Ohio History Connection functions as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology, natural history and historic architecture across a network of 58 sites, collection of 1.8 million collections items and hundreds of exhibits.
VARIETY OF SESSIONS
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 7 LOCAL HISTORY Local Historians Meet
Jeffries has collaborated on several public history projects, including serving as lead scholar and primary scriptwriter for the $27 million renovation and redesign of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He regularly shares his expertise on African American history and contemporary Black politics through public lectures, op-eds and interviews with print, radio and television news outlets, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN and MSNBC. He’s also contributed to several documentary film projects as a featured on-camera scholar, including the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise.
Sept. 30-Oct. 1
“HARD HISTORY”
His commitment to teaching “hard history” led him to edit Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, a collection of essays by leading civil rights scholars and teachers that explores how to teach civil rights history accurately and effectively, and to host the podcast Teaching Hard History, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The conference concludes on Saturday with two workshops designed to help you think about how your museum can grow its audience by becoming more inclusive. Join Art Possible Ohio for a discussion of accessibility in programs and organizational structure and Equitas Health Institute to learn more about LGBTQ+ people and ways to welcome them to your site as visitors, volunteers and staff.
HASAN JEFFRIES KEYNOTES
More than 150 students, parents and teachers attended the Windows of Stories Youth Art Awards at the Ohio History Center, hosted by Angela Pace, director of community affairs for WBNS-10TV. The awards honored Columbus City Schools students who entered the Poindexter Village Windows of Stories Art Challenge, sponsored by The Columbus Foundation. All of the students received a certificate celebrating their achievement, and the top three winners in grades K–8 and 9–12 received cash awards. Winning entries are on display in the windows of Poindexter Village in Columbus while work is underway to convert the buildings to museum use. See a catalog of the students’ artwork at ohiohistory. org/windows.
Associate Professor of History Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University is this year’s keynote speaker, sponsored by Ohio “JeffriesHumanities.exemplifies the idea of being the change you wish to see in the world as he teaches, researches and writes about the African American experience from a historical perspective,” says Hedler. “Jeffries takes great pride in opening students’ minds to new ways of understanding the past and He’spresent.”received many awards for his creativity and effectiveness, including Ohio State’s highest commendation for teaching, the Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER Visit ohiolha.org for the full program and to register. Questions? Call 800.686.6124 or email ohiolha@ohiohistory.org
POINDEXTER VILLAGE
Windows of Stories
The Ohio Local History Alliance Annual Meeting & Conference returns to an in-person format on Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Quest Conference Center in Westerville, just north of TheColumbus.meeting is an annual gathering of Ohioans active in local history, especially through local historical societies, museums and related organizations. Two days of sessions are offered. Friday’s sessions are in collaboration with the Society of Ohio Archivists.
“Our conference theme, Be the Change, allows us to highlight ways that history museums can become more active in our communities and be agents for increasing justice for all through their outreach, exhibits and programs,” says Dr. Betsy Hedler of the Ohio History Connection and Ohio Local History Alliance executive secretary. “We’ve planned a wide variety of sessions. They’ll include presentations on recognizing and sharing African American history, strategic planning and fundraising, building internship programs, improving advocacy and social media strategies, caring for collections, and innovative ways to use collections to help you tell a story and connect to your community,” Hedler says.
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From 173-year-old Bear’s Mill near Greenville to Marion’s 1928 Palace Theatre and the 1962 Mater Dei Chapel at Cincinnati’s Mount St. Joseph University, you can explore fascinating places that reflect Ohio’s rich heritage—some opening especially for Ohio Open Doors events or offering behind-thescenes looks that aren’t ordinarily available. All Ohio Open Doors events are free, and most are special one-day-only opportunities.
“Regardless of where Ohio students placed in the contest, we are extremely proud of their hard work, perseverance and incredible historical research, during yet another virtual year,” says Samantha Rubino, the Ohio History Connection’s state coordinator for History Day.
The Ohio History Connection organizes History Day in Ohio annually in cooperation with regional sponsors throughout the state.
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.
EXPLORE TREASURED PLACES
8 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 HISTORY DAY Students Compete Online
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 sponsored by the Ohio History Connection and by more than 170 partnering organizations that are hosting events in communities across the Buckeye State.
MANY IN NATIONAL REGISTER
Connection PASSPORT 50OVERSITESINSIDE! ROAD TRIP? BringPassport!Your $2 + Shipping and Handling Free/Ohio History Connection Member (Members call 800.686.1545) AT THE OHIO HISTORY CENTER & OHIO VILLAGE BOOK YOUR PARTY TODAY! events@ohiohistory.org614.297.2475 OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION MEMBERS RECEIVE A 15% DISCOUNT ON FACILITY RENTALS.
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.
“As one contest year comes to a close, another one opens,” Rubino says. The 2023 National History Day theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas. Learn more about the 2023 season, including how to get involved as a teacher, student, volunteer or judge, at ohiohistory. org/historyday or 800.686.6124
YOU’RE INVITED
Landmarks Open Their Doors Sept. 9–18
Forty-eight hundred students took part in this year’s Ohio History Day program and more than 1,100 competed in Ohio History Day contests at the regional and state levels. Of those, 65 went on to the National History Day contest online June 12–18. To see Ohio’s national contest results, visit ohiohistory. org/historyday , click on “Contest Information,” and scroll down to “2022 National Contest Results.” This year, one Ohio entry won the national History of the Physical Sciences & Technology special prize.
Discover Ohio’s amazing heritage as historic buildings and landmarks across our state open their doors to you for special tours and events during Ohio Open Doors, Friday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, Sept. 18.
PLAN YOUR VISIT Find a full calendar with dates and times of Ohio Open Doors events and learn more about Ohio Open Doors at ohiohistory.org/ opendoors . Learn more about the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office at ohiohistory.org/shpo Ohio History
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 9 Cincinnati Observatory Palace Theatre, Marion Daniel Hertzler House, SpringfieldWarrenLeMay|WikimediaCommons Christopher L. Riley | Wikimedia CommonsNyttend | Wikimedia Commons
CLEVELAND • CUYAHOGA COUNTY MONMOUTH BUILDING 11619 Euclid Ave. Located in Cleveland’s cultural district, University Circle, the 1915 Monmouth Building has streetlevel retail and 21 apartments on the upper floors. Designed by Cleveland architects Steffens and Steffens, it’s faced in richly ornamented white-glazed terra cotta on the Euclid Avenue and East 116th Place elevations. East 116th Place is a street of historic apartment buildings and some new residential construction. The Monmouth Building faces the Cleveland Institute of Art in a vibrant district with a mix of new construction and historic buildings.
CLEVELAND • CUYAHOGA COUNTY EUCLID AVENUE HISTORIC DISTRICT (BOUNDARY INCREASE) 1835 to 1937 Prospect Ave. East A change in the boundary of the Euclid Avenue Historic District adds five buildings on the north side of Prospect Avenue from 18th Street to 21st Street to the historic district: the Stuyvesant Motor Company Building; the Union Prospect Garage, related to the Union Building on Euclid Avenue; the Kennedy Building; and the Mercantile Building and Garage. The district’s period of significance has been extended to 1971 to include the Modernist trend downtown after World War II, as reflected in the 1969 Continental Bank Building and 1971 Cleveland Trust Tower by Marcel Breuer.
RoughlyDISTRICTbounded by West Lake and West Tuscarawas avenues, 2nd St. NW, 1st St. NW, 3rd St. NW, 6th St. NW and 8th St. BarbertonNW was planned in the early 1890s as a model industrial community. Akron industrialist O.C. Barber chose the location based upon its proximity to several railroads and to the Ohio & Erie Canal. He had the town planned and platted and invested “over a million dollars in new factory buildings” before making lots available for sale through the Barberton Land and Improvement Co. The primary residential district was laid out around 22-acre Lake Anna Park. Along with Jeannette and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, it was one of three “magic cities” established in 1889, 1890 and 1891, so named because they seemed to appear overnight. All three were wildly successful from their inceptions, attracting labor-intensive industries and the large workforces needed to staff them. All three had overlapping investors and the same promoter/development manager. The Barberton Downtown Historic District stands out by its formal plan with Lake Anna as a focal point, in comparison to the slightly earlier Jeannette and Charleroi, described as planned without attention to aesthetics or innovation.
10 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 HISTORIC PRESERVATION Recent Ohio Additions to the National Register of Historic Places
DAYTON • MONTGOMERY COUNTY O.P. BOYER’S SONS FUNERAL HOME 609 W. Riverview Ave. The Boyer family had been at the forefront of undertaking in Dayton since the 1860s when they had this mortuary built in 1925 near Dayton’s Grafton Hill neighborhood. It reflects the 20thcentury transition from funerals and wakes held at the homes of the deceased to services in commercial
CLEVELAND • CUYAHOGA COUNTY MOUNT AUBURN SCHOOL 10110 Mount Auburn Ave. Named a City of Cleveland Landmark in 2005, the 1922 Mount Auburn School in the Woodland Hills neighborhood is an example of the work of Walter McCornack, architect for the city’s board of education from 1914 to 1925. The three-story Moorish Revival elementary school features extensive use of ornamental brickwork and a pair of limestone porches with marble and brick inlay. An example of the schoolbuilding type called the I-plan, it reflects McCornack’s approach to meeting the needs of the district’s fast-growing student population in a decade when Cleveland was the nation’s fifth-largest city.
CINCINNATI • HAMILTON COUNTY EVANSTON HISTORIC DISTRICT Montgomery Road between Brewster and Rutland avenues A neighborhood business district of 19 buildings dating from 1885 to 1960, the Evanston Historic District is associated with the story of community planning and development in Cincinnati, and with Black history in the Queen City. It reflects the mid-20th century, when urban renewal, public housing projects and interstate highway construction affected the neighborhood. While planners wanted the district to serve interstate highway customers, Evanston residents moved to protect it and maintain a neighborhood focus. The district is a microcosm of local community development, city planning and racial relations history in the 19th and 20th centuries.
BARBERTON • SUMMIT COUNTY BARBERTON DOWNTOWN HISTORIC
VIBRANT DOWNTOWNS
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program is administered in partnership with the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office. The office determines whether a building qualifies as historic and whether rehab plans comply with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, guidelines used nationwide to foster work that’s sympathetic to older buildings.
WILL LEVERAGE ABOUT $564 MILLION Developers aren’t issued the tax credit until construction is complete and all program requirements are verified. Together, the projects are expected to leverage about $564 million in private investments.
YELLOW SPRINGS • GREENE COUNTY ANTIOCH COLLEGE FINE ARTS 405BUILDINGCorry St. Designed and built in the milieu of the 1960s to early 1970s, Antioch’s Fine Arts Building is an early work by Ant Farm and SouthCoast. A San Francisco-based counter-culture media, art and architecture group, Ant Farm was active from 1968 to 1978, and may be best known for the Amarillo, Texas, art installation Cadillac Ranch. Considered avantgarde at the time, Antioch’s fine arts teaching and studio facility opened in 1972. An unusual example of early avant-garde architecture in the region, it’s emblematic of an era of optimism and growth for Antioch College.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has announced that the state will aid in rehabilitating 38 historic buildings in 19 communities by offering nearly $40 million in tax credits as part of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program.
“Preserving historic buildings is one tool we can use to build vibrant downtowns and create opportunity on our main streets throughout the state,” says Gov. DeWine. The awards will assist private developers in rehabbing historic buildings in downtowns and neighborhoods, many of which are vacant and generating little economic activity. The rehabbed historic buildings are expected to drive further investment and interest in adjacent properties.
LEARN MORE Learn more and find a list of all 38 projects at development.ohio. gov. Click on “Historic Preservation Tax Credit,” then “View a list of approved Round 28 projects.”
All National Register photos courtesy State Historic Preservation Office establishments like this one. Commissioned by Louis Boyer and designed by Dayton architect Arthur Geyer in the Second Renaissance Revival style, the funeral home operated at this location until 1979. According to Wright State University Libraries, which holds Boyer Funeral Home records from 1905 to 1995 (Attention, genealogists!), “notable Daytonians who temporarily rested at Boyer’s Funeral Home include John H. Patterson, James M. Cox, Charles F. Kettering, Orville Wright and George H. Mead.”
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 11
ELYRIA • LORAIN COUNTY ROBINSON BUILDING 401 to 415 Broad St. Built in 1873, the Italianate-style Robinson Building had gained a reputation by the 1950s as “an antique eyesore.” In an effort to inspire downtown beautification and re-establish the building’s prominence and profitability, the owner completed an extensive renovation in 1961 designed by Cleveland-based architects Visnapuu & Gaede. The modernized building has a granite veneer at the basement and first-floor levels, with a curtain wall of windows and textured blue aluminum panels above. One of the most noteworthy examples of modernism in Elyria’s downtown, the redesigned Robinson Building was lauded in local periodicals and received a national award from Buildings magazine in 1965.
State Tax Credits Help Rehab 38 Buildings
The Ohio Department of Development has awarded $39,874,792 in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits for projects in Akron, Berea, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Delaware, Elyria, Lakewood, Marietta, Marion, Middletown, North Canton, Ravenna, Sandusky, Shawnee, Toledo and Van Wert.
But he relented and won the election. He resigned his military commission on June 9, 1865, to take his seat in Congress. By this time, the war was over and Reconstruction was just beginning. During his term in Congress, Hayes usually supported the Radical Republicans’ goals for Reconstruction. Hayes also helped to develop the Library of Congress.
Rutherford B. Hayes Oct. 4, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of President Rutherford B. Hayes. This biographical sketch of Hayes is from Ohio History Central, our online encyclopedia of Ohio history. President Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on Oct. 4, 1822. His parents had moved to Ohio from Vermont in 1817. Hayes’s father, Rutherford Hayes Jr., was a farmer and whiskey distiller, and died two months before his son’s birth. As a result, Hayes’s mother, Sophia Birchard Hayes, and her brother, Sardis Birchard, raised Hayes and his sister Fanny. Hayes received an excellent education. He began attending school while in Delaware, before enrolling in a Methodist seminary (a private high school) in Norwalk, Ohio. He also attended a private school in Middletown, Connecticut, that later became part of Wesleyan University. He received his degree from Kenyon College in 1842. Deciding that he wanted to become a lawyer, Hayes attended Harvard College and graduated in 1845. Hayes returned to Ohio and opened a law practice in Lower Sandusky, now known as Fremont, Ohio. Hayes chose this small community because his uncle, Sardis Birchard, lived there. Lower Sandusky didn’t have a significant amount of work for a young attorney. After several years, Hayes chose to relocate his practice to Cincinnati, where he was much more successful. Originally associated with the Whig Party, Hayes became involved with the new Republican Party because of his opposition to slavery.
Rutherford B. Hayes (seated on the bench) and family at Spiegel Grove about 1890.
Lucy W. and Rutherford B. Hayes and Mr. H. Smith (seated) on the verandah at Spiegel Grove, probably in the 1880s.
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12 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 OHIO STORIES
MARRIED IN 1852 On Dec. 30, 1852, Hayes married Lucy Ware Webb of Chillicothe, Ohio. Lucy Webb had graduated from the Wesleyan Women’s College of Cincinnati. The couple had eight children: seven sons and one daughter. Hayes continued to practice law, eventually becoming Cincinnati’s city solicitor in 1858. When the Civil War began in 1861, Hayes volunteered for the military. Ohio Gov. William Dennison appointed him as a major in the Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Hayes eventually rose to the rank of major general during the war, and he was wounded several times. Because of his military service, Ohio Republicans decided that he was a good candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1864. Hayes resisted the nomination, stating, “An officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer ... ought to be scalped.”
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ELECTED PRESIDENT IN 1876
Although Hayes was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1866, he soon resigned. The Republican Party had nominated him for governor of Ohio in 1867, in part because of his position on Reconstruction. The opposition candidate was Democrat Allen G. Thurman. The key issue of the campaign was whether African Americans should be given the right to vote. Supporting African American suffrage, Hayes was successful in his campaign for governor. He won re-election against George H. Pendleton in 1869. During his two terms as governor, Hayes supported Ohio’s ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He also helped reform the state’s mental hospitals and school system. Although the Republican Party wanted Hayes to run for a third term in 1871, he retired from politics and returned to his home called Spiegel Grove, near Fremont Hayes’s retirement from politics was brief. Republicans convinced Hayes to run for governor in 1875 against Democratic candidate William Allen. Once again, Hayes was successful. It was the first time that an Ohio governor had been elected to a third term.
THREE-TERM GOVERNOR OF OHIO
Hayes’s strong record as a Republican governor in Ohio made him appealing to national Republicans. They chose Hayes as their candidate for the presidency in 1876. In the presidential election of 1876, Hayes campaigned against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, who was governor of New York. The election was closely fought, and in the end, Tilden won the popular vote by approximately 250,000 votes. In spite of this outcome, a dispute arose in the Electoral College. The voting returns from South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Oregon were contested. If Hayes received the Electoral College votes from these states, he would win the election by a single vote (185 to 184), even though he had lost the popular vote.
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The U.S. Congress appointed a special commission to determine how the disputed votes were to be counted. Initially, seven Democrats, seven Republicans and one independent served on the committee. The independent eventually withdrew, and the Congress selected a Republican to replace him. The special committee voted to give Hayes all of the disputed Electoral College votes. The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate still had to agree to the committee’s decision. The Republicandominated Senate quickly ratified the committee’s recommendations. The Democrats in the House planned to filibuster, refusing to let the issue come to a vote. To ensure Hayes’s election, Republican leaders negotiated an agreement with Southern Democrats in the House. The Republicans agreed to remove federal troops policing the South as soon as Hayes became president and to appoint at least one Southerner to the Hayes cabinet. Southern Democrats accepted this agreement and Hayes won all of the disputed electoral votes. This agreement became known as the Compromise of 1877 and formally brought Reconstruction to an end.
SOUGHT TO REFORM PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PRISONS
LEARN MORE Learn more about visiting the Hayes home, museum and library and find upcoming 200th birthday events at rbhayes.org . Ohio History Connection members enjoy free regular admission.
As president, Hayes helped begin a federal civil service system in the United States. His administration also worked to improve the nation’s monetary system. Hayes hoped to create more support for the Republican Party among white Southerners, but this goal wasn’t Hayes’sfulfilled. wife, Lucy, had her own goals. She refused to allow alcohol to be served in the White House and acquired the nickname “Lemonade Lucy.” The president supported his wife on this issue. Hayes had promised from the beginning that he would not seek a second term as president. He retired to his home in Fremont in 1881. Hayes continued to work for reform of public education and prisons, among a number of other interests. He died at Spiegel Grove on Jan. 17, 1893. Both he and his wife are buried on the estate. Today, the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums are open to the public and researchers.
Lucas’s death on June 10, 2022, is a true loss for Ohio.
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES
During his travels around the state, Lucas developed a passion for historical markers. He and his wife, Karen, decided to create the Robert W. and Karen W. Lucas Ohio Historical Marker Fund to support new markers in the Appalachian “Bobregion.and Karen’s generosity ensures that we’ll be able to continue this important public history initiative,” says Ann Ruege, the Ohio History Connection’s chief development officer. “We’re a better organization because Bob was a part of it.”
Conestoga’s $40,000 Gift Benefits Reimagined Ohio Village Conestoga members are volunteers who raise funds to help the Ohio History Connection achieve our mission: Sparking discovery of Ohio’s stories. This year, $40,000 raised by Conestoga members has been presented to Ohio Village to support the creation of a more diverse set of storylines so visitors can discover more inclusive stories about Ohio’s early history. Ohio Village also plans to improve visitor accessibility, install streetscape features and extend the season.
JOIN CONESTOGA
Conestoga provides a variety of opportunities for its more than 180 members to visit historic places, enjoy special programs and socialize with fellow history lovers. In the past year, members visited historic places including the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center and the Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites. Ohio History Alive! programs focused on John Brown, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Toni Morrison and presidents Grant, Hayes, McKinley and Harding as well as other topics. Similarly interesting trips and programs are planned this year. Since its inception, Conestoga has raised more than $787,000 to support Ohio History Connection programs, historic sites and the Ohio History Fund. The group’s annual spring fundraiser helps generate a large part of these funds through event reservations, raffle ticket purchases and donations.
While Lucas was board president from 2016 to 2018, he made it his mission to visit every one of the Ohio History Connection’s 50-plus sites around the state. He also tirelessly made phone calls, introductions and personal visits to further the work of preserving and sharing history. Just before his death, the board awarded Lucas the rare honor of lifetime trustee. “We haven’t awarded that title to many people,” says Tom Chema, immediate past board president.
14 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 BEQUEST FOR MARKERS
Conestoga’s year begins with its membership drive, which is now underway. A Conestoga membership, which includes a one-year membership in the Ohio History Connection, costs $100 for a single membership and $150 for a couple. Conestoga membership also includes reciprocal benefits at more than 1,000 institutions through the North American Reciprocal Museum program. To learn more about membership in Conestoga, contact Abby Reynolds, development officer and Conestoga liaison, at 614.297.2320 or areynolds@ohiohistory.org.
“I met Bob not long after I arrived at the Ohio History Connection in late 2009. As we worked together during the following years, his genuine love for Ohio history became increasingly apparent,” remembers Burt Logan, the longtime executive director and CEO of the Ohio History Connection, who transitioned into the role of executive consultant to the board of trustees Aug. 1. “He was as interested in the local occurrence that affected a township or a neighborhood as he was in the broader events with statewide or national significance. To him, history was multidimensional, with each component offering its unique contribution. He championed that belief through reaching out to connect others to Ohio history, his passion for historic markers, his zeal for fundraising and in many other ways.”
PASSION FOR MARKERS
“We wanted to make sure he understood how much we valued his service.”
IT TAKES A VILLAGE!
Robert W. and Karen W. Lucas Ohio Historical Marker Fund As a lifelong Ohioan, Bob Lucas loved making connections, and he loved his state. He combined these loves as a member of the Ohio History Connection board of trustees for nine years and as one of the organization's mightiest champions for decades.
LOVE FOR HISTORY
VISITED EVERY SITE
Conestoga is pleased to help Ohio Village work toward its goal of becoming the Midwest’s premier living history attraction.
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 15 CENTRAL OHIO SOUTHWEST OHIO SOUTHEAST OHIO NORTHWEST OHIO Historic Sites & Museums OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION NORTHEAST OHIO Armstrong Air & Space Museum Cedar Bog Nature Preserve Cooke-Dorn House Fallen Timbers Battlefield Memorial Park Fort Amanda Memorial Park Fort Jefferson Memorial Park Fort Meigs Fort Recovery Museum & Monument Glacial Grooves Geological Preserve Hayes Presidential Library & Museums Indian InscriptionMill Rock Petroglyphs Johnston Farm & Indian Agency Lockington Locks Custer Monument Fort QuakerMuseumMcCookLaurensHouseofCeramicsYearlyMeeting House (Open by Appointment) & Free Labor Store/Benjamin Lundy House (Preservation in Progress • Not Open) Schoenbrunn Village Shaker Historical Museum Tallmadge YoungstownChurchHistorical Center of Industry & Labor Zoar Village Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries & Nature Preserve Hanby House Logan OhioNewarkElmEarthworksHistoryCenter & Ohio Village Poindexter Village Historic Site (Preservation in Progress • Not Open) Shrum WahkeenaMoundNature Preserve Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites Big Bottom Memorial Park Buckeye BuffingtonFurnaceIslandBattlefield Memorial Park Campus Martius Museum John & Annie Glenn Museum Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve National Road & Zane Grey Museum Ohio River Museum Our House Tavern Adena Mansion & Gardens Davis Memorial Nature Preserve Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve Fort Hill Earthworks & Nature Preserve Harriet Beecher Stowe House John Rankin House Miamisburg Mound National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Paul Laurence Dunbar House Serpent Mound Story Mound U.S. Grant Birthplace U.S. Grant Boyhood Home & Schoolhouse William Henry Harrison Tomb30.20.18.12.10.8.6.4.2.1.3.5.7.9.11.13.14.15.16.17.19.21.22.23.24.25.26.27.28.29.31.32.33. 44.40.38.34.35.36.37.39.41.42.43.45.4647. 48.49.50.51.52.53.54.55.56. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free regular admission to these Ohio History Connection sites. Before traveling, visit ohiohistory.org/sites to confirm hours and any special requirements.
All Hallows’ Eve at Ohio Village Sat., Oct. 8, 15, 22 & 29 • 5:30–9:30 F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F
SAT., SEPT. 3 & SUN., SEPT. 4 9 A.M.–5 P.M. Grounds of the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village, Columbus 4 See more than two dozen teams from across the nation compete by 19th-century rules for vintage base ball’s Ohio Cup. Enjoy special activities for kids, including old-time games and sports, and try your hand at base ball, 1860s-style, with our own Ohio Village Muffins. Included with Ohio History Center & Ohio Village admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory. org/village HISTORY AFTER HOURS Night in the 1890s
OHIO VILLAGE Explore Life in the 1890s
OHIO VILLAGE Victorian Sci-Fi & Invention Weekend
SAT., SEPT. 17 • 1–4 P.M. Join us to learn about Latino heritage with Elena Foulis, associate director of The Ohio State University Center for Ethnic Studies, who’ll speak about the process of creating her book, Latin@ Stories Across Ohio, a bilingual oral history documenting Latino life in the Buckeye State. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory. org/celebrando OHIO HISTORY CENTER Ask a QuiltsCurator—andClothing
WEDS.–SUN. THROUGH SUN., OCT. 30 10 A.M.–5 P.M. (CLOSED SEPT. 23–25 & SAT, OCT. 8, 15, 22 & 29) Get a look at life in the 1890s. Make the rounds of village homes and businesses to catch up on the gossip (most don’t have a phone), poke your head in on the chickens, use chalk to write on slate, play parlor games and maybe try one of those newfangled bicycles at Barrington’s. Some days are busy, some are quieter, though someone’s always up to something! 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/village VINTAGE BASE BALL TOURNAMENT Ohio Cup
SAT., SEPT. 24 • 1–3 P.M. Do you have an older quilt or item of clothing that you wish you knew more about? Meet our textiles and clothing curatorial team to learn more about clothing and quilts in your own collection. Dust off your grandmother’s wedding dress and air out your family quilts so we can work together to solve those mysteries of history! Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124
SAT., SEPT. 17 & SUN., SEPT. 18 10 A.M.–5 P.M. On this special weekend, see how Ohioans of the 1890s imagined that homes of the future would look, catch vintage science fiction films in the Town Hall, see chemistry experiments in the pharmacy and explore some of the era’s most intriguing inventions in our handson gadget room. While in town, stop by the schoolhouse, shop the Emporium, visit the blacksmith and play old-time games on the village green. Included with Ohio History Center & Ohio Village admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/village OHIO HISTORY CENTER
OHIO HISTORY CENTER Ohio Archaeology Day SAT., OCT. 1 • 10 A.M.–4 P.M. Fascinated by archaeology? Meet and talk with Ohio History Connection archaeologists and our partners in archaeology from across the Buckeye State. See artifacts spanning more than 10,000 years, try related hands-on activities, tour the new exhibit Indigenous Wonders of Our World and bring your archaeological artifacts for free help in identifying them. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124
PROGRAMS & EXHIBITS AT THE & Ohio Village
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*Museum admission is $16; $14/ages 60+ or student with ID; $10/ages 4–12. Ohio History Connection members and ages 3 & under enjoy free admission.
SPEAKER: JERI DIEHL-CUSACK White House Ghosts and Other D.C. Hauntings SAT., OCT. 22 • 1 P.M. Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Why’s a British soldier still lingering around the White House? Is that William Henry Harrison rummaging around in the attic? Which former first ladies are sometimes
Ohio CenterHistory
SAT., SEPT. 10 • 7–10 P.M. Ohio Village, Columbus 4 Explore Ohio Village after hours. Enjoy special access to buildings, mingle with Ohioans of the 1890s and try your hand at old-time games and activities. Food and drink available for purchase. 21+. $25, $20/Ohio History Connection member. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/afterhours
ACelebrando—Dialogueon Latino and Hispanic Communities
OHIO VILLAGE HALLOWEEN FUN All Hallows’ Eve SAT., OCT. 8, 15, 22 & 29 5:30–9:30 P.M. Enjoy an evening of 1890s-style family fun, with fortunetelling, crafts, games, pumpkin carving, creepy (but not too creepy) characters roaming Ohio Village and a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by the bonfire. $18, $14/ages 4–12, $13/Ohio History Connection member, $9/member ages 4–12, Free/ ages 3 & under. Member tickets on sale now. Non-member tickets on sale Tues., Sept. 6. All visitors, including members, must reserve tickets in advance at 800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/ hallows.
World War I Display ONGOING See equipment, weapons, uniforms and memorabilia commemorating the centennial of World War I.
OHIO HISTORY CENTER & OHIO VILLAGE
Votes for Women— 100 Years of Change
ONGOING 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 hands-on exhibit is a fascinating journey back in time.
ONGOING 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.
ONGOING Indigenous Wonders of Our World looks at eight 2,000-year-old Hopewell earthworks in Ohio: Fort Ancient, near Oregonia and Lebanon; Newark’s Great Circle and Octagon; and Hopewell Mound Group, Mound City, Hopeton Earthworks, Seip Earthworks and High Bank Works, all near Chillicothe. Unique in the world, they’re the focus of a nomination now underway proposing that they be named World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The exhibit looks at mathematical similarities among them, their enormous scale and their alignments to the solstices and/or the 18.6-year lunar cycle. An immersive component allows you to experience the astronomical alignments.
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, and record your own “One Minute Legends” sports story.
OPEN BY APPOINTMENT
Plaza Cafe
Ohio—Champion of Sports ONGOING 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.
ONGOING 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.
Speaker Jeri Diehl-Cusack’s lifelong interest in U.S. presidents and first ladies inspires her to seek out presidential haunts. Come to hear her share what she's learned, but only if you dare. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124
OPEN WEDS.–SUN. 11 A.M.–2 P.M. The Plaza Cafe serves grab-n-go salads, sandwiches, sides and desserts, coffee, tea, juices and Pepsi products. Ohio History Connection members save 10% at the Plaza Cafe. Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Hours spotted in the East Room or White House garden? Who was that tapping on Harry Truman’s bedroom door?
the1950s—BuildingAmericanDream
18 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 Museum WEDS.–SUN. 10 A.M.–5 P.M. CLOSED MON.–TUES. CLOSES AT 4 P.M. SAT., OCT. 8, 15, 22 & OHIO29 HISTORY STORE CLOSED SEPT. 30–OCT. 4 Ohio Village THROUGH OCT. 30: WEDS.–SUN. 10 A.M.–5 P.M. CLOSED MON.–TUES. CLOSED SEPT. 23-25 CLOSED OCT. 8, 15, 22 & 29, OPENING AT 5:30 P.M. FOR ALL HALLOWS’ EVE Third Floor Research Room
CLOSEDTHURS.WEDS.ohiohistory.org/learn/archives-libraryONLY12:30–3P.M.&FRI.10A.M.–3P.M.SAT.–TUES.
Creative Ohio— Artists, Artwork & Their Inspiration
FEATURED EXHIBITS • • • Indigenous Wonders of Our World—The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks
March Through Time SAT., NOV. 12 • 10 A.M.–5 P.M. Travel through time as you explore the rich military history of Ohio, America and the world! Living-history reenactors representing soldiers of the Middle Ages through modern day will be on hand in the museum throughout the day. Enjoy a variety of related hands-on activities, and explore the world of miniature war-gaming, employing your knowledge of strategy and history on the board-gaming table. New this year: In Ohio Village, step back to the year 1946 to explore life from the perspective of service members returning from World War II. See what Ohio was like when they returned, and talk with them about their experiences. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/march
Online Events
ATTEND FROM ANYWHERE! History Roundtable with Mike Gilbert SAT., SEPT. 10, 17, 24, OCT. 8, 15 & 22 • 10–11:30 A.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Attend History Roundtable online or in person. See page 21.
MEMBER VIP The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—What Is It and Why Is It Important? MON., OCT. 3 • 3 P.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by the Ohio History Connection’s Membership Department 4 Join us as members of our archaeology staff offer an in-depth look at NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. We’ll learn more about this legislation, why it’s important and how it affects the Ohio History Connection. Free to Ohio History Connection members with advance registration: ohiohistory.org/nagpra.
Just Mercy SAT., OCT. 29 • 10–11:30 A.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati 4 Attend Semi-Colon Book Club discussions online or in person. See page 25.
MEMBER VIP Rutherford B. Hayes 200th Birthday Celebration
MEMBER VIP The Ohio History Connection Battle Flag Collection
SEMI-COLON BOOK CLUB
TUES., NOV. 8 • 3 P.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by the Ohio History Connection’s Membership Department 4 Join History Curator Cliff Eckle for an in-depth look at the Ohio History Connection’s collection of Civil War battle flags. Learn why the flags were created, how they were used in battle, how the Ohio History Connection acquired the collection and how we care for the flags. To register, visit ohiohistory. org/flagcollection.Reserve your tickets early for our popular Dickens Dinners and Buffets in Ohio Village in December, as they sell out quickly. Tickets go on sale to members Sept. 19, before they go on sale to nonmembers Sept. 26.
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TUES., SEPT. 27 • 3 P.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by the Ohio History Connection’s Membership Department 4 Learn about President Rutherford B. Hayes, his family, his home and his 25-acre estate, Spiegel Grove. Staff from Hayes Presidential Library & Museums will share the inside scoop on our 19th president and the great activities they’ve planned this October to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth. Get a behind-thescenes peek at one of our most popular sites! Free to Ohio History Connection members with advance registration: ohiohistory.org/hayes200 Presidential History Book Club WEDS., SEPT. 28 & OCT. 26 NOON–1 P.M. Online—Attend from Anywhere! Hosted by Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Attend this free book club online or in person. See page 21.
Apfelfest SAT.,
NORTHEAST OHIO The Hall Way FRI., SEPT. 16 • NOON–1:30 P.M. Museum of Ceramics, East Liverpool Known for teapots and Autumn Leaf dinnerware, Hall China Co.—the last large pottery maker in East Liverpool, Ohio—closed in 2021. This event will celebrate Hall’s 119 years with a talk showlike format. Guests will include recent management, past administrators and pottery workers. Additionally, there’ll be an exhibit of still life paintings of Hall ware. Free. 800.600.7180, 330.386.6001 or MuseumOfCeramics@gmail.com Ohio Open Doors SAT., SEPT. 17 • NOON–4 P.M. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 4 Get a sneak peek at work on a model steel mill. Free. 330.941.1314 or youngstownohiosteelmuseum.org
Fifty Years of Work in the Spanish-Speaking Community THURS., SEPT. 22 • 6 P.M. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 4 Free with reservations. 330.941.1314 or youngstownohiosteelmuseum.org OCT. 8 & SUN., OCT. 9 11 A.M.–4 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 Join us for a weekend filled with apples, apple cider, apple treats, demonstrations and fall-related vendors. 800.262.6195 or historiczoarvillage.com OCT. 21, 3:30–5 P.M.: PEERLESS SAT., OCT. 22, 11 A.M.–NOON:
CITY.
SUN., OCT. 16 Newark Earthworks, Newark 4 Explore all three segments of these expansive earthworks built by ancient American Indians: Great Circle, Octagon Earthworks and Wright Earthworks will be fully open daylight to dusk, with staff on hand to answer questions at Great Circle and Octagon from noon to 4 p.m. Free. No reservations needed. 614.297.2653 or ebartlett@ohiohistory.org
20 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 Events & Exhibits FEATURED OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION Ohio Open Doors FRI., SEPT. 9–SUN., SEPT. 18 Statewide 4 See page 8. APPLICATION DEADLINE Ohio History Fund Grants TUES., SEPT. 27 Know of a worthy history- or preservation-related project that could benefit from an Ohio History Fund grant? Find application forms at ohiohistory. org/historyfund or call 800.686.6124 or 614.298.2000 Ohio Local History Alliance Annual Meeting & Conference FRI., SEPT. 30–SAT., OCT. 1 Quest Conference Center, Westerville See page CENTRAL7.OHIO See also Ohio History Center & Ohio Village, pages 16–18. First Friday Tour of the Great Circle FRI., SEPT. 2, OCT. 7 & NOV. 4 • 12:30 P.M. Newark Earthworks, Newark 4 Tour the Great Circle with an Ohio History Connection guide. Hear about its construction roughly 2,000 years ago by American Indians, its purpose and its inclusion in a pending nomination of Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Many programs and events at Ohio History Connection museums and attractions require advance registration. To register, call the number or visit the website listed with each program. Our online calendar offers more upto-date information about programs and events at Ohio History Connection museums and attractions. Find it at ohiohistory.org/calendar Questions? Call 800.840.6127 to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Free. Meet at the map in front of the Great Circle Museum. 614.297.2653 or ebartlett@ ohiohistory.org
Newark Earthworks Open House
EXACT CHANGE Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 4 330.941.1314 or youngstownohiosteelmuseum.org Ghost Tours FRI. & SAT., OCT. 21, 22, 28, & 29 TOURS START EVERY 15 MINUTES BEGINNING AT 6:30 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 Tour Zoar by lantern light as the ghosts of this 19th-century German separatist community share their haunting tales. $15/person. Advance registration required: 800.262.6195 or com/event/ghost-tourshistoriczoarvillage. REEDER HISTORY SYMPOSIUM Transportation, Movement and Mobility THURS., OCT. 27 & FRI., OCT. 28 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 330.941.1314, alfluker@ysu.edu or youngstownohiosteelmuseum.org FEATURED EXHIBITS • • • Hooked Rug Exhibit THROUGH SAT., OCT. 15 FRI. & SAT. 10 A.M.–5 P.M. McCook House, Carrollton 4 This Civil War museum will be resplendent in color and patterns, reflecting the hookedrug artistry of local residents and their ancestors. $3, $2/child, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.600.7172 NORTHEAST OHIO CENTRAL STATEWIDEOHIO
FALL LITERARY FESTIVAL Film Screenings FRI.,
SPEAKER SERIES
SAT., SEPT. 10 • 10 A.M. Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, between Springfield and Urbana 4 With Jeff Davis. $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 937.484.3744 or cedarbognp.org Digging Into the Past SAT., SEPT. 24 • NOON–4:30 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Students age 8–14 can participate in a mock, multi-layer archaeological dig, learning the basic techniques of uncovering, cataloguing and examining artifacts from the Paleolithic to the battlefields of the 19th century. Parents are encouraged to accompany students. $12.50 with required advance registration: 800.283.8916, 419.874.4121 or info@fortmeigs.org
AUTHOR TALK: MARY STOCKWELL Interrupted Odyssey—Ulysses S. Grant and the American Indians SUN., SEPT. 25 • 3 P.M. Nazarene Family Center, 401 E. Boundary St., Fort Recovery 4 Hosted by Fort Recovery Museum 4 Books available for purchase and signing. Free. 419.375.4384 or fortrecoverymuseum.com
SAT., SEPT. 10, 17, 24, OCT. 8, 15 & 22 10–11:30 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont, or Online 4 Hear teacher and historian Mike Gilbert share stories of local and national history during this popular series on six Saturdays. Sept. 10: Abraham Lincoln. Sept. 17: Amelia Earhart. Sept. 24: John C. Fremont. Oct. 8: Rutherford B. Hayes. Oct. 15: Valley of the Kings. Oct. 22: Things That Go Bump in the Night. $25/all six or $5/program. Advance registration and pre-payment required. 800.998.7737, 419.332.2081 , jmayle@ rbhayes.org or rbhayes.org
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RUTHERFORD B. HAYES PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUMS
SEPT. 28 & OCT. 26: Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose. Free. 800.998.7737, 419.332.2081 or admin@rbhayes.org Attend Presidential History Book Club in person or online. To join from your computer, smartphone or tablet, visit join/128601789global.gotomeeting.com/ . The access code is 128-601-789. Questions? Contact dmclochlin@rbhayes.org.
SELF-GUIDED TOUR Mellow Yellow Walk SUN., SEPT. 18 • NOON–2 P.M. Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, between Springfield and Urbana 4 Naturalists will be on the boardwalk to answer questions. $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 937.484.3744 or cedarbognp.org
Fall Celebration SAT., OCT. 1 • NOON–5 P.M. Johnston Farm & Indian Agency, Piqua Board the canal boat General Harrison NORTHWEST OHIO
Museums&LibraryPresidentialHayesB.Rutherford
SAT., SEPT. 10, OCT. 8 & NOV. 12 9:30–11:30 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 This monthly program for grades K–3 celebrates the 200th birthday of President Hayes, which is Oct. 4. Each month highlights an important time in the president’s life and features a different activity. The format is open house-style, so kids can stop by any time between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Free. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org
Presidential History Book Club WEDS., SEPT. 28 & OCT. 26 NOON–1 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont, or Online 4 Read and discuss books about the presidency at this free book club. Bring your lunch if you’d like.
History Roundtable with Mike Gilbert
Rutherford B. Hayes 200th Birthday Celebration
Bhutanese-Nepali Neighbors— Photographs by Tariq Tarey THROUGH SUN., OCT. 30 Bimeler Museum, Zoar Village, Zoar Experience a modern story of immigration with parallels to the story of Zoar. Learn about the brave journeys that have brought more than 20,000 Bhutanese-Nepali refugees to central Ohio, through 30 portraits by Columbus photographer Tariq Tarey. Included with Zoar Village admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.262.6195 or historiczoarvillage.com Bhutanese-Nepali Neighbors: Photographs by Tariq Tarey was developed with support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council; The Columbus Foundation; the Ohio Arts Council; Jewish Family Services; the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education; United Way of Central Ohio; Puffin Foundation West, Ltd.; and Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services.
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Lantern Tours FRI., SEPT. 30 • 7–9:30 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 This twohour tour by candlelight focuses on the American Army of 1812 and its activities once the sun has set. $16, $12/senior, $10/ student, $2/Ohio History Connection member. Advance registration required: 800.283.8916 419.874.4121 or info@ fortmeigs.org
The 60 Years’ War for Ohio— Wayne’s Legion SAT., SEPT. 17 • 9:30 A.M.–7 P.M. SUN., SEPT. 18 • 9:30 A.M.–5 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 This living history encampment commemorates those military actions of the 1790s that laid the groundwork for Ohio’s eventual statehood. While at Fort Meigs, visit the Legacy of Freedom museum exhibit and see the 1795 Treaty of Greenville wampum belt associated with the founding of the modern state of Ohio. $10, $8/senior, $5/ student, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 800.283.8916, 419.874.4121 or info@fortmeigs.org
Second Saturdays R 4 Kids
NORTHWEST OHIO Reptiles and Amphibians
FRI. & SAT., OCT. 21, 22, 28 & 29 7–10:30 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Chill to a spinetingling seasonal storytelling event. Follow your guide by candlelight into the grounds of this landmark military camp to visit five isolated campfires, each hosted by a storyteller who’ll share dark, gruesome or sordid tales of the War of 1812 on the Ohio frontier. 800.283.8916 or info@fortmeigs.org
FRI., OCT. 7 & SAT., OCT. 8 • 7–9 P.M. Cedar Bog, between Springfield and Urbana
FRI., SEPT. 2 • 10 A.M.–8 P.M. Our House Tavern Museum, Gallipolis See quilting demonstrations, new and old quilts on exhibit, plus a display of jacquard coverlets woven in the 1840s and 1850s by Jay A. VanVleck of Gallipolis. Free. 800.752.2618, 740.446.0586 or “Our House Museum” on Facebook Haunted History in Pine Street Cemetery
World at MiniatureWarWar-Gaming Day
Veterans Day FRI., NOV. 11 • 9 A.M.–5 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Veterans enjoy free admission to the Rutherford B. Hayes home and museum on Veterans Day. The first tour is at 9 a.m., and the last is at 4 p.m. The research library will be closed. 800.998.7737, 419.332.2081 or admin@ rbhayes.org
Join us for a family friendly night walk along our jack-o-lantern-lit boardwalk, where naturalists at learning stations will tell you about some of the creatures found at Cedar Bog. Enjoy not-so-scary stories around the bonfire. Food and beverages available. $6/ person. Advance registration required. 937.484.3744 or cedarbognp.org Garrison Ghostwalk
Life in Early Ohio
SAT., OCT. 1 & SUN., OCT. 2 9:30 A.M.–5 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Visit on this special weekend and see masters in blacksmithing, candle dipping, tinsmithing, leather and harness making, soap making, rope production, woodworking, farming and many more frontier skills. $10, $8/senior, $5/student, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 800.283.8916 or info@fortmeigs.org
Civil War Winter Camp
SAT., NOV. 5 • 9:30 A.M.–4 P.M. Fort Meigs, Perrysburg 4 Through tabletop military strategy games, learn and experience the challenges facing military commanders throughout history, from ancient to modern. This event is open to the entire family and suitable for a wide range of ages. $5, $4/senior, $3/student, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 800.283.8916, 419.874.4121 or info@fortmeigs.org
For the full Ohio Village Muffins schedule visit ohiohistory.org/muffins. ohiohistory.org/village
Learn about famous local people of the of Piqua at 12:30, 2:30 or 4 p.m. to see what “canawlers” saw as they traveled across western Ohio at four miles an hour by mule-drawn boat in the autumn of 1845. Take part in harvest-season activities at the restored home of U.S. Indian Agent John Johnston, hear stories of events that took place at the Johnston Farm and visit the Historic Indian & Canal Museum. $9, $8/senior, $4/student, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 937.773.2522 or johnstonfarmohio.com
Included with Ohio Village admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. Sat., Sept. 3 & Sun., Sept. 4 9 a.m.–5 p.m. VINTAGE BASE BALL FESTIVAL
SOUTHEAST OHIO
FRI., OCT. 28 • 7–9 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Enjoy a spooky evening with lantern tours through the dark wooded grounds of the Hayes estate, Spiegel Grove. Advance registration required: 800.998.7737 419.332.2081 or admin@ rbhayes.org
SOUTHEAST OHIO Quilt Show
SAT., OCT. 22 • TIMES TBA Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Experience what life was like for Rutherford B. Hayes’s 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry while it was camped for the winter. In the afternoon, soldiers will give free infantry demonstrations on the grounds of the Hayes estate. They'll also offer afternoon and evening lantern tours of a recreated Civil War winter camp (timed tickets required). The outdoor tours last about 50 minutes. Please dress for the weather. $10, $8/Ohio History Connection member. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org
ONGOING Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 From the aged veterans who walked on the fields of Gettysburg to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 1913, to modern enthusiasts who use vacation time reliving famous battles or scouring Civil War antique shows, this exhibit explores the history of how people have chosen to—and still choose to—remember the Civil War. Featuring items from Hayes collections, the exhibit also shares information about Civil War reenacting and memorabilia collecting. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org
FEATURED EXHIBITS • • • Mustering Memory—160 Years of Saluting the Civil War
Spirit Stories at Spiegel Grove
22 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 Boo in the Bog
SAT., OCT. 29 • 3–5 P.M. Pine Street Cemetery, Gallipolis 4 Sponsored by Our House Tavern Museum and Bossard Memorial Library, Gallipolis
Circle
ULYSSES S. GRANT BICENTENNIAL Touring Ulysses S. Grant’s Hometown on Foot SAT., SEPT. 17 • 10 A.M. U.S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown Tour Grant’s hometown with historian Dr. Ned Lodwick and hear stories about Grant’s childhood. Many of the places he frequented still stand. Free. usgrantboyhoodhome.org
The Last Days of U.S. Grant
SAT., SEPT. 17 • PERIOD MUSIC WITH PEDIGO STRING BAND: 1 P.M. | PRESENTATION: 2 P.M. United Methodist Church, 217 S. Main St., Georgetown 4 Hear Ben Kemp of New York’s Ulysses S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site share the story of Grant’s last days in his cottage in Wilton, New York. Free. usgrantboyhoodhome.org
SOUTHWEST OHIO OCT. 1 & 2 Life in Early Ohio, Fort Meigs Oct. 8, 15, & 29 5:30–9:30 p.m. 6
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 23 past interred in Pine Street Cemetery, from members of the “French 500” who settled Gallipolis in 1787 to Civil War veterans and more. Come in costume if you like—prizes will be awarded. Free. 800.752.2618, 740.446.0586 or “Our House Museum” on Facebook SOUTHWEST OHIO Art with Skip SAT., SEPT. 3 • NOON–2 P.M. Education Center, Adena Mansion & Gardens, Chillicothe 4 Chillicothe artist Skip Hathaway will offer an art class for children of all ages. Art supplies provided. Children must have an adult chaperone. Free. 740.779.1500 info@adenamansion. com or adenamansion.com Fall Nature Discovery Tour SAT., SEPT. 10 • 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon 4 Join Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist Rick Hoffman to walk the trails of Fort Ancient and get an introduction to the plants, bugs, trees and wildlife. Included with Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/senior or student, Free/ Ohio History Connection member.
The Harvest Gathering of the Crops SAT., SEPT. 17 • NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon Explore pioneer cooking and food preservation with demonstrations on making hominy, stringing beans and grinding corn. Drop in on this allafternoon activity in the garden with Keith Bengtson of the Ohio History Connection. Included with Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/senior or student, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.283.8904 or ohiohistory.org/fortancient
ohiohistory.org/hallows800.686.1541 NOW ON EXHIBIT 800.686.6124 ohiohistory.org/wonders
Nocturnal Walk and Talk SAT., SEPT. 24 • 6:30–8:30 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon 4 Join Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist Rick Hoffman for a photo review of all the critters we have in Ohio that move about outside after dark, followed by a night hike in the woods to discover what’s moving about after sunset at Fort Ancient. Come dressed for the weather and hiking. Advance registration required. $7, $6/ senior or student, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.283.8904 or ohiohistory.org/fortancient
ADVANCE TICKETS REQUIRED MEMBER SALES NOW OPEN Nonmember Sales Open Tues., Sept.
ULYSSES S. GRANT BICENTENNIAL
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 150TH Dunbar Literary SUN., SEPT. 11, OCT. 9 & NOV. 13 2–4 P.M. Paul Laurence Dunbar House, Dayton Participate in a dialogue led by Omope Carter Daboiku surrounding Dunbar’s poetry and how it has influenced authors today. Free. 937.225.7705 or ohiohistory. org/dunbar
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MeigsFort OHIO VILLAGE PRESENTS Sat.,
SPEAKER: DR. ROBERT RIORDAN
SAT., OCT. 8 • NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon Learn techniques of hunting, fishing, tanning and trapping, with Keith Bengtson of the Ohio History Connection, including how to set traps, tan hides and make jerky. Please dress for the weather, as we’ll be outdoors throughout the afternoon. Included with Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/ senior or student, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.283.8904 or ohiohistory.org/fortancient
Archaeological Findings at Fort Ancient SAT., OCT. 1 • 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon Archaeologist Dr. Robert Riordan will discuss American Indians of the ancient Hopewell culture and his research findings at Fort Ancient, one of Ohio’s major ancient Hopewell sites. Advance registration required. Included with Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/senior or student, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.283.8904 or ohiohistory. org/fortancient Brigade of the American Revolution
ULYSSES S. GRANT BICENTENNIAL U.S. Grant’s Story SAT., OCT. 15 • 6 P.M. Gaslight Theater, 110 E. State St., Georgetown 4 See living history specialist Curt Fields share the story of Ulysses S. Grant’s life in an entertaining one-man show, with Civil War-era music by Steve and Lisa Ball. Free. usgrantboyhoodhome.org Across the state, the Ohio History Connection oversees 58 historic sites and museums located in 40 include:whichcounties, 33 historic sites 12 museums acres of land sitesarchaeological lockscanal 4 bridgesmajor 2 300boatsbuildings built from 1788–2013 4 natural history sites Support Ohio history while giving the gift of day trips and weekend fun to your family and friends. Visit ohiohistory.org/giftmembership or call 800.686.1545 for more info.
MEMBERSHIPS MAKE Great Gifts!
Sat., Oct. 1 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Dig archaeology? Find real archaeologists on hand with special displays and related hands-on activities. Bring your own finds to learn more about them. OHIO Ohio History 800.686.6124Center ohiohistory.org/archaeologyday If your Echoes Magazine ever fails to arrive, or arrives damaged, please let us know at 800.686.1545 or ohiohistory.orgmembership@
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24 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
SAT., OCT. 1 • 9 A.M.–5 P.M. SUN., OCT. 2 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Adena Mansion & Gardens, Chillicothe Be on hand when the Brigade of the American Revolution brings the Revolutionary War to life. See unit drills, rifle demonstrations, mock battles and 18th-century cooking. Begin the process of finding Revolutionary War ancestors at the Daughters of the American Revolution information table and GALLIPOLIS, SEPT. 2 Quilt Show, Our House Tavern Museum enjoy more Revolutionary War-related activities throughout the weekend. Free with $10 single-day parking or $15 twoday parking. 800.319.7248, 740.772.1500 or info@adenamansion.com Wilderness Skills
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Craft and Crop for a Cause SAT., NOV. 12 • 9 A.M.–9 P.M. Adena Mansion & Gardens, Chillicothe Circleville’s Creative Chaos and Chillicothe’s Adena Mansion & Gardens partner to host a crafting crop. Each crafter will receive a welcome gift and have the opportunity to create a fun make-and-take with Creative Chaos, which will have shopping available as well. Throughout the day, we’ll award door prizes. Lunch, dinner and snacks provided. $60/crafter. Reservations and advance payment required. Proceeds benefit Mansion & Gardens programming. created by artists from across the United States in response to this year’s theme, Black Love. Also on exhibit : African Americans Fighting for a Double Victory; Behind the Mask— Black Power in Comics; Queens of the Heartland; Rhythm of Revolution; and What’s in Your Attic? Selections from Our Permanent Collection, including a special mini-exhibit, Playing with Identity—Selections from the Lillian M. Bartok Black Doll Collection. 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
Paul Laurence Dunbar— Diamond of the Gem City THROUGH SUN., JAN. 8 FRI.–SUN. 10 A.M.–4 P.M. Visitor Center, Paul Laurence Dunbar House, Dayton 4 See a new exhibit exploring Paul Laurence Dunbar’s life, work and legacy. Born in Dayton in 1872, Dunbar became one of America’s greatest poets, whose work later fueled a Black literary revolution. His life was marked by personal triumph and inherited trauma, both of which left indelible impressions on the world around him. This exhibit puts that life in context and positions him within a community of African American activists including Alice DunbarNelson, Hallie Quinn Brown, Frederick Douglass and Brig. Gen. Charles Young, framing him not just as a hero, but also as a human whose flaws help tell a more complete version of our American story. Free. 937.225.7705 or ohiohistory.org/dunbar See Base Ball (Yes, Two Words) Played by 19th-Century Rules! ohiohistory.org/muffins 800.686.6124 2022 HOME & AWAY SCHEDULE
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 25 “OHIOHISTORY”TEXT to 44-321 ONLINE ohiohistory.org/give OHIOSCANMAILHISTORYCONNECTION 800 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, OH 43211 SEMI-COLON BOOK CLUB Just Mercy SAT., OCT. 29 • 10–11:30 A.M. Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati, or Online 4 Join Dr. Cheli Reutter of the Stowe House board for a discussion of the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. $5. Advance registration required. Attend in person or online. 513.751.0651 , friends@ stowehousecincy.org or org/semi-colon-club.htmlstowehousecincy. Trees, Please SAT., NOV. 5 • NOON–4 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon 4 Study trees and forest ecology with Keith Bengtson of the Ohio History Connection. Learn how to identify trees and measure them, how each type is used and how foresters count all the trees of a type in a given area. Included with Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/senior or student, Free/Ohio History Connection member. Scrapbooking Crop FRI., NOV. 4–SUN., NOV. 6 • FRI. & SAT. 9 A.M.–9 P.M. • SUN. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Adena Mansion & Gardens, Chillicothe Join us for a three-day retreat and scrapbook those wonderful memories of families, friends, vacations and more. You’ll have a personal six-foot table with electrical and Wi-Fi access. Vendors will be on hand Friday and Saturday, and everyone will receive a welcome gift and be eligible to win door prizes. Friday and Saturday include lunch, dinner and snacks. Sunday includes snacks. $130/person includes all three days or $60/Friday, $60/Saturday and $25/Sunday. Reservations and advance payment required: 800.319.7248 or info@adenamansion.com.
Adena
educational
800.319.7248 or info@ adenamansion.com FEATURED EXHIBITS • • • 2022 Art of Soul! Juried Art Show EXHIBIT OPENING SAT., OCT. 15 ON EXHIBIT SAT., OCT. 15–FEB. 25 WEDS.–SAT. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 See an annual juried exhibit featuring works
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 150TH
21 Miles of Seats
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“It is hoped that this is only the beginning of the final Ohio Field. The fence will be continued around the entire enclosure, with perhaps behind the bleachers a concrete wall paneled for bronze tablets to be left by future classes; and with the continued splendid financial management and the support of the alumni, the dream of a magnificent concrete stadium in a horse-shoe shape may be realized sooner than anyone would expect.”
Building a stadium that large for a school that had never drawn more than 17,000 to a game seemed like a crazy idea.
The bomb landed with a thud. There was no explosion or even a puff of smoke. No one besides French could foresee a huge concrete stadium in Ohio State’s future. There were days when the school’s football team drew minuscule crowds that couldn’t support a neighborhood flea market. The school belonged to the Ohio Athletic Conference. Student enrollment stood at The2,686.firstconcrete stadiums in major league baseball, Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field and Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, were still a year away.
Michigan, the Midwest’s oldest and most successful football power, had only recently expanded Ferry Field to 18,000 seats. It was made of wood and brick. Only Harvard, in the heart of the college footballmad East, could boast of a big (34,000 seats) concrete stadium. It had been built in 1903. Ohio State didn’t live in that world. New bleachers had just been added to the east side of Ohio Field, located west of High Street and south of Woodruff Avenue, in 1904, increasing seating capacity to a whopping 2,000.
E ngineering drawing professor Thomas E. French served on the athletic board when The Ohio State University prepared to make what were termed “substantial” improvements to little Ohio Field –where the Ohio State Buckeyes football team played – in 1908. The Mansfield, Ohio, native was in the process of explaining work that would include replacing an ugly board fence and raising the seating capacity from 4,200 to 6,100 in the Alumni Quarterly when he dropped this bomb:
THE HORSESHOE TURNS 100 BY BOB HUNTER
Ohio State joined the Western Conference (today’s Big Ten) in 1912 and interest in the team exploded with the arrival of Chic Harley and his teammates in 1916. The school won conference championships in 1916 and 1917 and almost won another in 1919, success that led to several additions, both temporary and permanent, to Ohio Field.
French, who became the school’s faculty representative to the Western Conference in 1912 and served until 1944, had become even more sure of his vision. The 12,268 fans who attended the Wisconsin game at Ohio Field in 1916 broke the school attendance record by more than 4,000.
“The distance around the outside of the stadium is a little more than one-third of a mile. It will be 167 feet high and have box seats accommodating 1700 people. If seats were stretched out in a straight line they would come within four miles of extending from Columbus to Delaware. Entrance will be gained through 56 stairways feeding into 112 aisles, a sufficient circulation capacity to empty the stadium in seven minutes. Tickets can be taken at 83 entrances.”
French pulled out the plans Smith had drawn for a 50,000-seat horseshoe-shaped stadium that could also accommodate a 220-yard running track. French’s dream had become St. John’s now; the athletic director asked Smith to hike capacity to at least 60,000 or as many seats as his plans could accommodate. Smith squeezed in 63,000.
In that context, it’s worth pondering the improbability of French’s dream being realized with the opening of Ohio Stadium 100 years ago, in 1922. A mere 14 years after French uttered those prophetic words, the concrete horseshoe-shaped stadium he envisioned materialized on the east bank of the Olentangy River, on bottom land the School of Agriculture had used to raise corn and other crops. And here’s the kicker: It seated 63,000. To be sure, a lot had happened in those 14 years.
The board of trustees met in February 1917 and “looked with favor” on building a 40,000-seat bowl-shaped stadium in the woods to the west of Ohio Field. School president William Oxley Thompson embraced the proposal until he saw the plans and realized the stadium would stand 10 feet taller than the new library and occupy 10 times as much area. He also worried about the impact the growing number of automobiles would have on campus on game day and asked university architect Joseph Bradford to find another Bradfordlocation.proposed
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AN DREAM
With no sign of the important numbers, the Ohio State trustees approved construction of a new Right: The ’Shoe under construction.
IMPROBABLE
28 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
“When the 1916 season came, with seat orders totaling over twice the number that could be crowded in, some real action was started,” French wrote. “After proposing and abandoning various schemes for rebuilding the old field, there were advanced by the director (of athletics, Lynn St. John) the idea of building a bowl in the adjacent woods and keeping the old field for track and baseball.”
Even given increasing crowd sizes and student enrollment (up to 8,813 in 1920–1921), that 63,000seat capacity would have seemed like sheer lunacy to many. The University of Wisconsin had just erected Camp Randall Stadium in 1917 with an initial capacity of 10,000. Michigan was making plans to expand Ferry Field from 21,000 to 42,000 in 1921. Only Yale, which opened the 70,000-seat Yale Bowl in 1914, had a college stadium this large. So the principals—French, St. John, Smith and Thompson—didn’t initially share this number with the public. Convincing citizens to fund a new stadium with an unknown capacity takes some effort, as a huge story in The Columbus Dispatch on the second day of the campaign shows. Under a subhead “21 Miles of Seats,’’ the paper offered seemingly every statistical figure but the one that matters:
TEN FEET TALLER THAN THE LIBRARY
SHEER LUNACY
the Olentangy River flood plain at the northwest corner of campus, the spot Ohio Stadium occupies today. While most of the football players were off to war in 1918, French continued to pursue his dream, asking architecture department colleague Howard Dwight Smith to draw up plans for a horseshoe-shaped stadium. When the 1919 Illinois game at Ohio Field drew an overflow crowd of 17,000—with more fans perched in trees surrounding the field—nearly everyone boarded French’s once-lonely bandwagon. St. John said after the game that “between 55,000 and 60,000 seats could have been sold,” which sounds like a man laying the groundwork for a grandiose dream.
The Ohio State University held a parade in downtown Columbus to launch its community fundraising campaign to build Ohio Stadium. State game day programs from the 1920s and 1930s.
30 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
Students play baseball in the shadow of the new stadium under construction, 1921.
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Bob Hunter is the author of 11 books including Road to Wapatomica: A Modern Search for the Old Northwest and Thurberville, which examines James Thurber’s relationship with his hometown of Columbus. Hunter served as sports columnist for the last 24 years of his more than 40year career at The Columbus Dispatch. He is a native of Hamilton, Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio University. He’s been a member of the board of trustees of the Columbus Historical Society since 2011.
A chapter on the ’Shoe in my 2012 book Saint Woody: The History and Fanaticism of Ohio State Football offers a lot of details about the stadium and its construction. The book will be released in paperback this fall by the University of Nebraska Press.
DEDICATION GAME
It’s the notion that the stadium would never be filled that seems crazy now.
On Jan. 20, 1921, just over three months after the campaign started, organizers announced that the monetary goal had been reached. And now that the money had been raised, the trustees had to approve the plan, including the now-transparent 63,000 Buildingcapacity.astadium
There are two chapters on the stadium in my 2008 book Chic: The Extraordinary Rise of Ohio State Football and the Tragic Schoolboy Athlete Who Made It Happen. One is called “Dreams of the Shoe” and the other “The Stadium Rises.”
A good nuts-and-bolts history of the stadium’s background, plans, fundraising, construction, etc., can be found in James E. Pollard’s book Ohio State Athletics, 1879–1959. Chapter 10 is titled “The Stadium and Its Aftermath.”
Temporary seats had to be erected at the south end of the horseshoe (eventual site of the South Stands) for the dedication game against Michigan on Oct. 21, 1922, when an estimated 72,500 attended. But the first game against Ohio Wesleyan on Oct. 7 drew only 25,000, and from 1925 to 1934, average attendance was mostly in the 25,000 to 40,000 range. So Mendenhall and his fellow critics had their way for a while. But a century later, no one questions the grandiose visions of French and St. John; the Buckeyes have averaged more than 100,000 in attendance for the past 20 seasons (not counting COVID-19-marred 2020 and 2021), more than 80,000 per game since 1968 and more than 70,000 per game since 1946.
I recommend the 1999 documentary movie The Birth of Ohio Stadium, directed by Brent Greene and narrated by Philip Bosco. It ran on PBS and is still available at WOSU on PBS Passport.
When the campaign kicked off with a Stadium Week celebration on Oct. 16, 1920, a billboard on Capitol Square showed a drawing of the stadium accompanied by the phrase, “The magnet which will draw the rest of the world to Columbus.” This clearly would be no ordinary stadium project.
LEARN MORE WATCH Scan this QR code with your phone’s camera to watch a short companion video and get a 100th anniversary look at Ohio Stadium on The Ohio State University campus in Columbus, home of the Buckeyes.
AN INVITATION TO THE WORLD
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 31 stadium on university property, but refused to pay for it. Thompson didn’t want to ask the legislature for money, hoping to save its favors for academic projects, so he, St. John and French hatched a public campaign to raise $1 million for the project.
LEARN MORE Bob Hunter suggests: Ohio State offers tours of Ohio Stadium. You can schedule one at ohiostadiumtours.com.
that large for a school that had never drawn more 17,000 to a game seemed like a crazy idea, and Dr. Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, the first member of the school’s original 1871 faculty and the only surviving member of that pioneer group, immediately announced that he would oppose the plan. Mendenhall argued that the stadium would be too large and would never be filled and insisted that capacity not exceed 35,000. He also worried about the reliability of concrete and proposed that the new structure be made of brick. Mendenhall lost, obviously, but his smaller capacity clearly fit the school’s then-current needs more than the mammoth structure that St. John envisioned.
C entury-old Karamu House has stood the tests of time, challenging the social fabric through the arts since its inception.
CLEVELAND’S KARAMU HOUSE REMAINS COMMITTED TO PROGRESS IN THE ARTS, BRIDGING COMMUNITIES BY BELLA CZAJKOWSKI
Karamu House was established in 1915 by two social workers, Russell and Rowena Woodham Jelliffe. Oberlin College graduates, they sought to create a space where people of different races, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds could find common ground.
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THE ROARING THIRD
The Jelliffes’ main ambition was to build community, and they used art as a tool to do so.
Top left: Actors in the dressing room at Karamu House, 1983.
Bottom left: Art studio at Karamu House, 1968 Right: Thelma Williams, Nanette Decker and Yvetta Cley in The Me Nobody Knows, 1972.
All images not otherwise credited courtesy Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University
“That social justice through-line has really been what has continued to move Karamu forward since its inception,” Shareef says.
Still, while Karamu House is well-known as one of the first largely African American legitimate theatre companies in the United States, it actually got its start as more of a social services organization, says Aseelah Shareef, vice president and chief operating officer of Karamu House. The Playhouse Settlement, the organization’s original name, was the first integrated settlement in Cleveland.
A Place of GatheringJoyful
The Playhouse Settlement was originally located in a neighborhood called The Roaring Third, where surrounding residents were displeased by its progressive integration practices. The original building mysteriously burned down, but Shareef says no one was ever formally found responsible for the crime.
The arts center is situated in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood and is considered the nation’s oldest producing African American theatre. Today, more than 100 years later, its mission remains true to its roots—serving as a cultural beacon and advocate for social justice in Ohio and beyond.
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Holly Holsinger, chair and associate professor in Cleveland State University’s department of theatre and dance, agrees that Karamu House’s reach extends well beyond its immediate neighborhood.
“There’s not a theatrical person in the United States with any significant knowledge who’s never heard of Karamu,” Scott says. “It’s just that culturally impactful.”
Scott points to the longevity of Karamu House and its impressive roster of alumni, including Hughes, as factors that make the organization a standout in the arts.
Even after decades in operation, Karamu House still serves as a beacon of artistic excellence. Shareef says it serves three main functions: to produce professional theatre, provide arts education and host community programs for all people.
Still, both Holsinger and Scott also recognize the localized benefits and opportunities Karamu House offers its students—in working on theatre productions—and to the city of Cleveland at large.
“Karamu is the first and best example of African American-centered theatre,” Holsinger says. “A great gift to the city.”
THE FIRST AND BEST OF ITS KIND
Other alumni of Karamu House include author Zora Neale Hurston, playwright Lorraine Hansberry and Grey’s Anatomy’s James Pickens Jr. It played a significant role in the Harlem Renaissance.
Jerrold Scott, producer and chair of the department of theatre at Case Western Reserve University, says Karamu has had a massive impact on the theatre profession as a whole—well beyond Cleveland and even the United States.
Shareef emphasizes that while Karamu House seeks to elevate the Black experience, the organization is for everyone. She says visitors may wonder: What is the Black experience? How can they become good neighbors and allies and friends, not only to Black people but in all BarbaraNormarelationships?Powell(left)andBowman,in Paint Your Wagon, 1963. Nightclub scene from Guys and Dolls, 1957 Scene from the 1959 Karamu House production of Jamaica Byron Jones and Deborah Caldwell in Shango de Ima, 1982.
34 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
The operation then moved to its current location and a naming contest was held in 1941, Shareef says. Hazel Mountain Walker, who was the first Black woman to serve as a school principal in Cleveland and an actress at the organization, had the winning entry with Karamu House, which means “a place of joyful gathering” in Swahili.
“My feeling is not only should a Negro theatre, if we want to use that term, do plays by and Negroes,aboutbut it should do plays slanted toward the community in which it exists.”
Karamu House has historically placed an emphasis on visual arts, theatre and dramatic arts, including dance, Shareef says. It’s also a community space and training ground for arts education.
Ohio Historical Marker at Karamu House
NOTABLE ALUMNI Karamu House has various notable alumni, including playwright Langston Hughes, who, in 1961 noted that “it is a cultural shame that a great country like America, with 20 million people of color, has no primarily serious colored theatre. There isn’t. Karamu is the very nearest thing to it.
IN SEARCH OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Bella Czajkowski is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University, where she majored in journalism and served as editor-in-chief of The Lantern. Currently studying at Columbia University, she’s an editorial intern for the American School Board Journal.
Below: Karamu dance director Joan Hartshorne (far right) with dancers and spectators in the dance studio, 1972 It’s OK for me to walk in these doors and be a Black woman every single day. That for me is priceless.
LibraryPublicCleveland
LEARN MORE Read a short piece on Karamu House in Case Western Reserve University’s online Encyclopedia of Cleveland History at ohiohistory.org/karamu1 Visit the Karamu House website at karamuhouse.org.
LEARN MORE
Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Shareef says, Karamu House’s operations were reenergized and reinvigorated. In the wake of the racial reckoning, Karamu received support from various stakeholders: corporations, philanthropies and individuals, who all agreed it was time to become allies and partners in social justice work.
“The light has been shined. It’s one of those places where you can’t look away anymore. We have no choice; our society cannot afford to look away,” Shareef says. As far as the modern-day culture at the center is concerned, Shareef says Karamu House offers a setting for her to be exactly, and unapologetically, who she is every day. “Karamu really is a family. Honestly, there are very few opportunities that Black people in America have to work in a space where bringing your whole self is acceptable. Like completely acceptable. It’s OK for me to walk in these doors and be a Black woman every single day. That for me is priceless.”
“We think about the Black experience. We think about the American experience. They’re intertwined. They can’t be separated. And this is a great place for someone to come and learn about that experience.”
History is sometimes the simple equation of current events plus time.
Ohio plays a central role in almost any American story, and even in stories that pre-date America. During the ancient Hopewell period, for instance, the sites in what we now call Ohio were central places for people across the continent to travel to and bring materials. It was a gathering place of great importance.
“The power of museums and historical sites is to really bring the past into your imagination,” Wood says. “When I visited those places growing up, I could imagine myself stepping into the past and being connected, not distant from it.
Q&A
Finally, I see Ohio as the bellwether state. Beyond having a swing-state role in elections, I think there are other things about Ohio that tell a larger story about the nation. I think of things like Ohio’s contributions to the Civil War and post-Civil War politics (so many presidents!); the women who were central to movements like suffrage, civil rights and temperance, all from Ohio; the quick rise and decline of the canals; cities that became part of the Rust Belt and are now undergoing revitalization. These things were all pieces and reflections of a larger national and international story. WITH THE OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION’S NEW CEO, MEGAN WOOD
Wood, 41, is the first woman to lead the Ohio History Connection in the organization’s nearly 140-year existence. She assumes her job at an exciting and challenging time for the field of history and for museums and other similar cultural institutions.
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Echoes: How do you see Ohio’s place in our nation’s history?
While the country started with 13 colonies, the mold for what the country would look like beyond the 13 colonies was created in 1787 with the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory. Ohio (and the territory) is really the beginning of America as we understand it today.
For me, the ability to have an emotionally charged connection to the past, often by encountering the real places or objects, makes history come to life.”
A merican industrialist Henry Ford once said that history “means nothing to me,” adding, “History is bunk.”
So it’s ironic, then, that Megan Wood, the Ohio History Connection’s new executive director and CEO, first fell in love with history at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village as a small child.
Making History
Echoes Magazine posed these questions to Wood to give members a chance to meet the new CEO and learn about her approach to history.
MW: I think of Ohio in a few ways: the heart of it all, the beginning of the Northwest Territory and as the bellwether state.
MW: One of the most important things we can do at the Ohio History Connection is to connect with the people whose history we are sharing. That means all of us. In the case of ancient American Indians, for instance, the more we connect with the tribes, the more stories and understanding we can share about artifacts and sites that Western scholars would never understand. Our archaeologists have many stories of working with tribal members on previously unidentified objects from 2,000 years ago, during which time they provided a different understanding of an object because, say, it is similar to a tool or a cultural object that is still used by the tribe.
MW: I have always been really interested in women’s history and in learning the names of women who weren’t traditionally in my textbooks growing up. I am especially interested in women’s history around the turn of the 20th century.
MW: I remember learning about the Great Depression and wondering if people ever laughed back then. This curiosity probably came from the photographs that Works Progress Administration photographers took of the Dust Bowl. What I didn’t understand at first was the photos’ intent, which was to show the rest of the country just how dire things were at the time, that they were living through an environmental and economic crisis. The photographs reminded me that these people were real human beings who led full lives. We’ve lived through some historic times of our own, our “stay at home” during the pandemic. I’d laugh with my family—about frustrations, about absurdities or just about day-to-day things. And as I laughed, I remember thinking ‘people had to have laughed during the Great Depression, because they were just people.’
MW: Memory and emotions are linked, and the types of events that any of us enjoy recalling are usually tied to our strongest personal emotions.
MW: To uncover historical narratives, you need a really deep history and close re-reading of documents and what they uncover. I was always inspired by the work of people like Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ( A Midwife’s Tale) or James Deetz (In Small Things Forgotten) that takes a look at different types of evidence in order to tell new stories. The lesson being that there is more evidence of the past than we might think there is.
Echoes: Do you have a personal interest in some particular aspect or period of Ohio history?
MW: I envision us in a future where Ohio has a site inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and where we’ve really optimized America 250 to bring people together to appreciate their local, state and national history. I envision us making an intentional impact in every community we work with by cultivating pride, encouraging economic development or simply bringing people together.
Echoes: It’s important to remember that the figures who “make” history are human beings first, isn’t it?
When I started to study women’s history in college and realized that there were fascinating methods for uncovering the stories of those who weren’t in traditional historical narratives, it made me curious to understand what else was missing from our history.
38 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
Echoes: Where do you think the Ohio History Connection will be in, say, five or 10 years?
The then-second chief of the Shawnee Tribe (now chief), Ben Barnes, and one of our archaeologists, Brad Lepper, co-wrote a scholarly paper on round objects that were originally described as marbles and that resemble the pieces American Indians used to make drums.
I remember a professor saying, ‘women have always been there,’ and I found that very powerful. You can take women and replace any other identity, too. When we add to a story, it becomes a better story. More importantly, it is more accurate and allows more people to see themselves in the past.
Echoes: And in recent years, historians have been unearthing slave narratives that were deemed insignificant 150 years ago.
Echoes: So much of our history has remained hidden, hasn’t it? The earliest history of American Indians, the narratives of the enslaved in the 19th century or the legacy of Mexican migrants in the 1970s working the celery fields in northern Ohio.
History is sometimes the simple equation of current events plus time.
Echoes: When we ask readers to write in to Echoes Magazine for the ‘What’s Your Story?’ feature, we get the biggest responses when we ask about an event people remember like the Blizzard of ’78 or their first experience at Ohio Stadium. Why is that?
Remember, some of our sites close for the winter at the end of October, so plan your visits for the next few weeks if you’re so inclined!
The sense of being together, to witness a moment of the past, was very powerful. That’s how our organization, with our amazing partners, can really shine.
I think we’re challenged to create experiences, programs and engagements that connect and bring people together. It feels like the world is full of things that pull us apart, create separation or accentuate our differences.InMay,Iattended the kickoff for the 250th anniversary of Schoenbrunn Village in New Philadelphia. Our site management partner, Dennison Railroad Depot, planned a tremendous program that brought together the community, members of many Delaware tribes from the U.S. and Canada, and Moravian clergy and Theremembers.was a great sense of community. We were able to celebrate the uniqueness of Schoenbrunn while also commemorating the tragedy that befell many at Schoenbrunn and later at Gnadenhutten (The Gnadenhutten massacre was the killing in 1782 of 96 pacifist American Indians by U.S. militiamen from IPennsylvania.)imaginethat
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 39
people in that room had differing political opinions and identities, but the sense of being together, to witness a moment of the past, was very powerful. That’s how our organization, with our amazing partners, can really shine.
Visit ohiohistory.org/sites
The human history that connects bog to farmer to Mexican street food takes place over 130 years and is a story of immigration, agriculture, settlement and celery. The geological history covers a far greater time span, too long for our purposes here, so we’ll start just 20,000 years ago, when the most recent of the continental glaciers ended its advance. As the ice sheet withdrew, the Great Lakes took their modern shape, leaving behind shallow depressions of freshwater wetlands, including a bog that once covered some 13,000 acres near present-day Willard, in Huron County. For centuries, shallow-water plants grew, died and decayed there, gradually filling the empty lakebed and creating fertile conditions for sphagnum moss, ferns, sedges and other northern bog plants. Native Americans hunted there, and huge flocks of passenger pigeons roosted in the hardwood forest at the edge of the bog. Eventually, European settlers moved in and called the area “New Haven Marsh” or “Huron Bog” or—in the words of one of its first surveyors—“a hideous place,” filled with swamp rattlesnakes and mosquitos. “I have sunk a post in hell today,” wrote the surveyor, Almon Ruggles.
OHIO’S SALAD BOWL
Others saw promise in the boggy basin, and with good reason. Centuries of decaying vegetation created soils with organic content of 30-40%, explains Robert Filbrun, manager of The Ohio State University’s Muck Crops Research Station in Willard. Soils with high organic content that has mostly decomposed are called “muck.” In some parts of the former Huron bog, the muck is 15 feet deep and black as coal. In dry seasons, the muck was prone to catch fire, and could burn for weeks.
OTHERS SAW PROMISE
I f you’ve ever been inclined to ponder the outsized influence of geography on human history (and who hasn’t?), you might be at least a little curious about the connection between an ancient bog in north central Ohio, 19th-century Dutch farmers and the tortas for sale at this summer’s parish festival of St. Francis Xavier Church in Willard.
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BY RANDY EDWARDS
40 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
Celeryville
Top right: Robert Filbrun, manager of The Ohio State University’s Muck Crops StationResearchinWillard. Bottom right: Sandra Iracheta, left, with her brother, Carlos, and their parents, Irma and Reynaldo Iracheta. All four have worked the muck fields in Celeryville. Sandra heads the Hispanic ministry at St. Francis Xavier Church in Willard.
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Bottom:
Top: Celeryville’s first Dutch families arrived in the 1890s, lured away from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Working fields of greens in the July heat.
THE MIGRANT CIRCUIT
The U.S. has always had an ambivalent relationship with Hispanic farm workers, however, and after the war, another federal initiative led to the largest mass deportations in American history. It didn’t bring an end to the use of Hispanic labor, however, whether documented or not.
“We can be planting from March through August and harvesting from May through November,” Wiers says. For decades, that work was done by migrant workers from Appalachia or by high school students. In 1978, in a story in the Sandusky Register, farmer Jordan Holthouse was quoted as saying, “All of our employees come from a nine-mile radius,” mostly from area schools. By then, however, significant changes already had come to farm labor in America, dating back to World War II, when labor shortages caused crops to be left to rot in the field. An executive order created the Bracero Program in 1942, leading to agreements between the U.S. and Mexico that allowed millions of Mexicans to work legally in the United States on short-term contracts. By 1964, more than four million Mexicans had been recruited to work on American farms and railroads.
SUPPLYING MAJOR GROCERY CHAINS
The farms supply major grocery chains throughout the East, and while advances in technology have transformed storage, shipping and other aspects of produce farming, one fact remains unchanged: produce is fragile, and most must be planted and harvested by hand. It’s a back-breaking endeavor and seasonal, which makes it hard for the farmers to find workers. But many are needed, and for months at a time.
“With muck soils, we’re basically growing on a compost pile,” Filbrun says. “As it is breaking down, it has a very high level of nitrogen available to the plant.” This makes the soil especially well-suited for growing vegetables like lettuces, peppers, squash and celery. But to plant crops, you must remove the standing water, and the first man to try to drain this swamp went bankrupt in 1893 digging the first drainage ditch. The next owner, H.C. Johnson, formed the Ohio Celery Company and did his best before turning to a group of immigrants that Johnson thought knew a thing or two about working flooded land: the Dutch. In March 1896, a train arrived in Willard carrying 14 men, 10 women and 25 children. The families, all Dutch immigrants, had been recruited from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where celery had been grown in similar soil since the 1860s. They brought with them wagons, horses, cattle and farm implements and soon set about the challenging task of draining Huron Bog. Together, they founded a crossroads town just south of Willard that became known as Celeryville.
The Mexican parents of Maria Goeser were recruited to the migrant circuit during World War II. “From Wisconsin to Michigan to Ohio down to Arkansas. That was the route they took,” says Goeser, who recently retired from a 30-year career advocating for migrants at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. They eventually settled in Ohio, she says, after a poor harvest left them without enough money to return home. As the Hispanic migrant circuit evolved and expanded, many brought their families. Sandra Iracheta, who first came to Willard with her migrant farm family when
EARLY YEARS WERE FILLED WITH HARDSHIP Henry Wiers was among those first settlers, with a farm of five acres. The early years were filled with hardship as the immigrant families struggled to obtain credit, drain the land and establish reliable transportation to markets. As the new century dawned, however, the farms prospered and the families established their own Christian school and Celeryville’s first church, where sermons were preached solely in Dutch. By 1934, 37 families farmed 210 acres of celery on 27 farms. Big families. Small farms. Reliable labor came from the prolificacy of the farm families, says Tyler Wiers, 35, the fifth generation of his family to farm Celeryville’s muck. Over the years, however, many farmers sold their land, and the number of families raising crops in Celeryville diminished. Today, three families descended from the original Dutch immigrants—named Wiers, Buurma and Holthouse—farm what’s also been called Ohio’s “salad bowl.” The Wiers family cultivates about 3,000 acres, growing sweet corn, lettuces, peppers and other vegetables, along with herbs like parsley, cilantro and mustard. Just about everything but celery, which was abandoned in the 1990s after a blight.
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MANY STAY IN THE AREA
44 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
At 23, Iracheta decided she didn’t want the same life for her four children and settled in Willard, where she’s raising them. Her father and brother still work the fields, so she sees extended family for six months of the year.
When she was a child, she says, Xavier had but one Spanish-speaking Mass per month. Now the pastor, the Rev. Michael Diemer, offers a Spanish-speaking Mass each week. At least two other churches in Willard offer Spanish services as well. There are two Spanish grocery stores and several Mexican restaurants, and the school system has become better at integrating Spanish-speaking students, she Theresays.have been bumps in the road. In 2017, a festival to welcome seasonal workers, planned by the Willard Chamber of Commerce, was sidelined by the political climate surrounding the 2016 presidential election. In 2018, raids on companies with undocumented employees, including one in nearby Sandusky, added to the tensions. As hostilities toward undocumented workers increased, the number of families coming north for the harvest diminished, and now most of the seasonal worker demand, at Wiers’ and other farms, is met through the H-2a guest worker program, which allows foreigners to work legally in the U.S. on short-term contracts. These are mostly single men or those who leave their families behind.
INFLUENCE REMAINS Still, as more Hispanic families settle in the area, their influence will remain. It’s obvious in July at the parish festival at St. Francis Xavier, a school fundraiser, where more than a third of the students are of Hispanic descent. The festival features Mexican music, soccer and traditional dancers; slushies made with Latin American fruit juices; and popular Mexican street foods including tortas, a sort of Mexican sub sandwich. Tyler, left, and Ben Wiers standing in a field of tomatillo on their family’s 3,000 acres of farmland. Of Dutch descent, five generations of the Wiers family have farmed the muck.
The Rev. Father Michael Diemers of St. Francis Xavier Church in Willard says the Mass in Spanish each week. St. Francis is one of several churches in Willard that hold services in Spanish.
Willard and the surrounding region have become more welcoming even as the Hispanic immigrants have changed the town, says Iracheta, now the director of the Hispanic ministry at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Willard and also on the staff at PathStone Corp., a nonprofit that supports farm workers.
she was nine, began working for Wiers Farm at 15. For 14 years, she lived the annual rotation: six months in Ohio, six at the family’s home in Brownsville, Texas. She mostly remembers these years fondly. “Every year, we would be excited on the trip up, because we’d see friends we hadn’t seen for months,” she says. But school was hard, because the Iracheta children would split their time between schools in Willard and in Texas. Or they brought school assignments to study when not working in the fields.
Many Hispanic people have joined her in settling in Willard and Huron County. They find jobs at some of the larger local employers, like Pepperidge Farm bakery or the Stanley Black and Decker factory. Some have gone on to own their own businesses, while others go to college and move to other parts of the country. But many stay in the area. Willard’s 12% Hispanic population is three times the state average. Huron County, with a 7% Hispanic population, ranks seventh among Ohio counties.
This year the weather was bright and sunny, the crowd included both Hispanic and non-Hispanic members of the community and the festival raised more than $6,000 for the school—$1,000 coming from sale of the tortas alone.
LEARN MORE
Dutch farmers left their homeland in the late 1890s to farm muck in Midwestern states such as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Read more about the Dutch migration at Calvin University’s “Origins Online” at ohiohistory.org/muck3
The Library of Congress has a resource page where you can learn about the 1942 Bracero Program, a series of diplomatic accords between Mexico and the United States that permitted millions of Mexican men to work legally in the United States on short-term labor contracts. See ohiohistory.org/muck2.
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In her book, Undocumented Lives, Ana Raquel Minian tells the “untold stories of Mexican migration” to the United States beginning in the early 1970s. In the book, published in 2020 by Harvard University Press, Minian explores “this unique chapter in the history of Mexican migration … drawing on private letters, songs and oral testimony to re-create the experience of circular migration, which reshaped communities in the United States and Mexico.”
Randy Edwards is a freelance writer who lives in Columbus.
LEARN MORE
Below: A verdant mid-summer field in Celeryville.
Just a mile west of Celeryville’s main intersection is all that remains of the Huron Bog. The Willard Marsh Wildlife Area, established in 1942 by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, is used mostly for hunting and trapping and isn’t easily explored. But from a gravel track that cuts through one parcel, you can bushwhack easily to a horseshoe-shaped swamp surrounded by hardwoods, the still water completely covered in a layer of duckweed. It seems nearly impossible to imagine that such a place ever drew people from far corners of the globe who had such an influence on north central Ohio.
Visit the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center website for its history and detailed descriptions of various research projects at ohiohistory.org/muck1
Wish I’d Been There
The real action was in the amateur league that had formed in 1910, the Cleveland Amateur Baseball Association. While the pro teams
STANDING ROOM ONLY
“The game would be a battle, everyone was sure. … Eddie Feran scored twice and was a city wide favorite, soon to be scooped up by the All-Star team.” That All-Star team played the New York Giants on Sept. 27, 1915, and it’s another game I wish I’d been able to see. The newspaper clippings say that the Giants shut out the amateurs 5–0. The pro club may have been invigorated by the large crowd in Cleveland after
46 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
STANDING ROOM ONLY—WHEN OHIO’S BEST BALLPLAYER WAS MY GRANDFATHER BY TIM FERAN
It was a time when Cleveland claimed with quite a bit of justification that it was the “Sandlot Capital of the World.” Yes, the city had a professional baseball team—known as the Cleveland Naps for the 1903 season, then in 1912 as the Cleveland Molly Maguires and then, in 1915, as the Cleveland Indians. But whatever name the pro team had, it rarely looked like a world beater.
I wish I’d been there to see any of those championship games. A published account about the game in 1914 reports breathlessly that “churchgoers abandoned their Sunday pews for standing room only at the Brookside Bowl.
My memories of my paternal grandfather are of a barrelchested Irish American who had a humidor filled with cigars on the end table next to his easy chair. He was a gentle old guy who liked to make milkshake floats for us grandchildren, using vanilla ice cream and 7UP, when we came for a visit to the big old house on Lake Shore Boulevard in Cleveland. When he died in that house, a few steps from his easy chair, I was only 9 years old. I couldn’t imagine him ever being much different from that smiling, sedentary old-timer. Sure, in the years after his death, my grandmother would occasionally make a dreamyeyed reference to “Pa’s broad shoulders,” and one of my uncles told us that grandpa taught all his kids how to properly swing a baseball bat—“Oh, he had these big forearms and could really put it in play”—but I just chalked it up to nostalgia. But recently a few cousins unearthed newspaper clippings that have led me to reconsider that hasty judgment. It makes me wish I’d been there, in the early 1900s, to witness the high-water mark of Cleveland amateur baseball and the starring role of “Eddie Feran ... the best fielder in Cleveland, some said the best in Ohio ... (who) wasn’t just a great outfielder, his batting average was .400, soon to be .450.”
CLEVELAND AMATEUR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION
struggled to draw crowds, it was common for the amateurs to draw 8,000 baseball fans to games at Brookside Park Stadium, a natural amphitheater in the southwestern part of the city. And the special games, the championship games, those drew eye-popping crowds—as many as 100,000 fans. And my grandfather played in at least one and perhaps all three. We know this because clippings have him playing for teams sponsored by Telling-Belle Vernon Co. dairy in 1914 and 1915 and, finally, for the Stinchcomb (Interestingly,Engineers.thelastteam was named after William Stinchcomb, the Cuyahoga County engineer responsible for construction of the Detroit-Superior Bridge and the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge. The reason it’s interesting? My grandfather’s grandfather was superintendent of bridges for the City of Cleveland. Small world or savvy politics? You decide.)
I
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The author’s cousins unearthed a treasure-trove of newspaper clippings chronicling the exploits of grandpa Eddie Feran, amateur baseball champion.
playing the day before in St. Louis in front of the smallest Sunday crowd of the season, 1,200. As for my grandfather, he played well against the Giants. And after those impressive outings, he was signed by the Chicago Cubs—at least according to family lore. But before he could join the major league team—well, a published story claims that World War I dashed the dream. But the real story is that my grandfather fell ill—possibly with the Spanish flu. Whatever the illness started out as, however, it developed into empyema, a nasty infection between the lung and the membrane around it.
LEARN MORE Read a short history of Brookside Park written by Richard Raponi for Cleveland Historical at ohiohistory. org/Feran1. In 2012, Apple Books made available the Official Guide of the Cleveland Amateur Baseball Association, an instructional guide first published by the Spalding sporting equipment company in 1914. Visit Cleveland’s Baseball Heritage Museum website at baseballheritagemuseum.org
OHIOHISTORY.ORG 47
up on the front page of the Cleveland papers a few years later, in a story involving the Cuyahoga County sheriff’s department, a bar fight and Eliot Ness. But that will have to wait for another day and another story in which I wish I’d been there. Tim Feran is a native of Cleveland and a graduate of Harvard University. For more than 40 years, he’s been a professional journalist, first at the Lorain Journal, then for 30 years at The Columbus Dispatch, and currently as a freelance writer. He lives in Columbus with his wife, Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, Franklin County clerk of courts.
By the time my grandfather had recovered from the illness, he wasn’t quite the same physically, and the big leagues were no longer Grandpainterested.wouldshow
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SEPT. 18, 1858: CHARLESTON
Abraham Lincoln portrait taken in Pittsfield, Illinois, two weeks before the final Lincoln-Douglas debate in Lincoln’s unsuccessful bid for the Senate on Oct. 1, 1858.
The final debate was the most personal. Douglas seemed to unwind and lose momentum.
The third debate had the smallest crowds, mainly because it was located in southern Illinois, and fewer people lived there. Douglas accused Lincoln of wanting racial equality, giving Black and white residents equal rights. Lincoln did not deny those allegations but instead attacked Douglas’s Freeport Doctrine.
OCT. 13, 1858: QUINCY
The sixth debate found Douglas again denying any conspiracy to nationalize slavery. Lincoln continued to state his moral opposition to slavery. He committed to an attack on the expansion of slavery.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” These words boosted the author, Abraham Lincoln, to the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat for Illinois in 1858. Lincoln knew the country was divided on the issue of slavery and hoped to stop its expansion into new territories at the federal level. His Democratic opponent, Stephen Douglas, was a long-time politician who thought the decision should be up to the people at a local level.
48 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022
SEPT. 15, 1858: JONESBORO
CongressofLibrary
The fifth debate was a turning point for Lincoln. During this debate, he confessed his moral opposition to slavery. Douglas took the opportunity to accuse Lincoln of saying different things in different parts of the state to gain more votes.
The first debate held a crowd of 10,000. Douglas accused Lincoln of being a radical abolitionist who wanted to abolish slavery. Lincoln followed up by arguing Douglas was trying to nationalize slavery.
The fourth debate began with Lincoln explaining that even though he opposed slavery, he did not support racial equality. Douglas took his turn to deny any conspiracy to create slavery nationwide.
Young Eyes on the Past
“Honest Abe,” as Lincoln was known, was an excellent speaker. He wanted to debate with Douglas, but “the Little Giant” avoided Lincoln as best he could. Lincoln followed Douglas for months at his speeches across the state and gave talks to the gathered crowds after Douglas left. Lincoln wrote to Douglas inviting him to debate the issues. Douglas reluctantly agreed. The parties agreed to hold seven debates. Each would rotate speaking first for an hour, then the other for 90 minutes, followed by the first candidate for a final 30 minutes. The stage was set, and the actors took their places. They looked like an odd pair, with Lincoln standing an entire foot taller than Douglas.
AUG. 27, 1858: FREEPORT
OCT. 7, 1858: GALESBURG
OCT. 15, 1858: ALTON
THE LINCOLN–DOUGLAS DEBATE: A BLUEPRINT FOR DIPLOMACY BY ANTHONY BERZONSKI
During the second debate, Douglas explained how his view on popular sovereignty (the right of the territories to decide for themselves about slavery) fit with the United States Supreme Court Dred Scott decision. In the Dred Scott case, the court ruled that Congress did not have the power to ban slavery in the Douglas’sterritories. answer became known as the “Freeport Doctrine,” in which he said local legislators could get around the court decision. For example, if a territory did not want slavery, it could charge the slaveholders a tax on each enslaved person as a loophole to discourage slavery without banning it.
THE SEVEN LINCOLN–DOUGLAS AUG.DEBATES21, 1858: OTTAWA
LEARN MORE In his introduction to The Lincoln–Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text, historian Harold Holzer writes, “The truth is, what Lincoln and Douglas said at their seven 1858 debates was not then, nor has it been since, accurately reported.” According to publisher Fordham University Press, The Lincoln–Douglas Debates “brings us as close as possible to what Lincoln and Douglas actually said. Using transcripts of Lincoln’s speeches as recorded by the pro-Douglas newspapers, and vice-versa, he offers the most reliable, unedited record available of the debates.”
Lincoln, however, closed the debates with a strong argument that the Declaration of Independence was meant to apply to all men, including slaves.
While debates have been held for centuries, none have had the widespread effect of the Lincoln–Douglas debates. These debates demonstrated how two articulate orators could argue an important issue, ultimately leading to a divided nation going to war. Lincoln’s debate performances made his eventual presidency possible. The Lincoln–Douglas debates gave a blueprint for diplomacy on how two vastly opposing sides could debate important issues with dignity and integrity.
Holzer appeared on C-Span’s Booknotes program in 1993 to discuss The Lincoln–Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text. You can watch the video at ohiohistory.org/debates1
The American Battlefield Trust produced a series of short videos in its series, How We Became America: The Untold History, which includes a brief look at the Lincoln–Douglas debates. You can watch the video at ohiohistory.org/debates2.
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LEARN MORE Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 and to the Senate in 1846, where he emerged as a nationally prominent spokesperson for the Democratic Party. He’s best known for the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858.
From whispers to public comment, the issue of slavery was forced into the political arena in the Illinois Senate race in 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas. Despite his strong showing during the debates, Lincoln was unsuccessful in his challenge for Douglas’s seat. However, Douglas angered many Southern Democrats during the debates. Although Lincoln lost the battle of the Senate race, he eventually won the war on slavery as the future president of the United States, based on his debates with Stephen Douglas.
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Young Eyes on the Past highlights work by Ohio students in grades 4–12 participating in regional, state and national History Day competitions organized annually by the Ohio History Connection and local sponsoring organizations statewide.
Anthony Berzonski is a sixth grader attending John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Warren. He’s been a club soccer player since he was 5 years old and spends most days training. Anthony enjoys playing video games and hanging out with friends in his spare time. He’s a member of the National Junior Honor Society. Anthony hopes to become a professional soccer player one day.
The names of the mostly small towns Hunter visited are often musical: Chillicothe, Pickawillany, Sault Ste. Marie, L’Arbre Croche, Kaskaskia and others. Some of the places may sound quaint for those unfamiliar with their histories, places like Gnadenhutten, the site of a gruesome massacre of American Indians who had lived side by side with Moravian missionaries. Years later, the great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh reminded Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison of “the time when the Jesus Indians of the Delaware (who had converted) lived near the Americans, and had confidence in their promises of friendship, and thought they were secure, yet the Americans murdered all the men, women, and children, even as they prayed to Jesus.”
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Corn rows veer left to avoid Wyandot County’s Chief Tarhe monument. Fort Greene Ville model in Greenville’s Garst Museum. Anthony Wayne’s house and garden are at center right, just below the Citadel, the large box in the middle. Mary Harris’s spot on White Woman’s Creek [now the Walhonding River in Coshocton County] probably doesn’t look much different than it did in the 1750s.
50 Echoes | SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2022 remembered at all.” Near book’s end, Hunter gets lost looking for a historical marker for the Wyandot Chief Tarhe the Crane. His GPS fails him and he takes a chance on a one-lane paved road with an obscure sign for the Parker Covered Bridge. But throughout Road to Wapatomica, Hunter proves a dogged and precise traveler. And eventually he finds an unheralded statue to Chief Tarhe nearly consumed by a corn field.
And Hunter jumps off in Ohio—visiting Marietta, Gallipolis, Mingo Junction, Fort Laurens and several other destinations—before moving across the modern-day states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Often, the only thing left to remind us all of the region’s fur-trading past, say, are place names such as Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin and Fort de Chartres in Illinois. In a striking scene late in Road to Wapatomica, Hunter travels to the old Chicago Portage, now buried beneath “a six-lane sea of concrete” on South Cicero Avenue. Mud Lake is long gone. It didn’t take Hunter long to understand that “important Native Americans and their historic sites aren’t remembered in the same way as those of the white settlers and their heroes, if they are Reviews BOOK Road to Wapatomica: A Modern Search for the Old Northwest by Bob Hunter
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“The site of Tarhe’s memorial,” Hunter writes, “unannounced and unobtrusive, standing near the side of a one-lane road no more than three feet from the corn rows, stands in stark contrast to the impressive statues and memorials built to American soldiers and frontiersmen of his time period.”
—Bill Eichenberger, Echoes Magazine Wapatomica is, evidently, on the road less traveled. In his introduction to this comprehensive, historical travelogue, journalist Bob Hunter explains, “When I set out to find the Old Northwest in today’s Midwest much of it was hiding in plain sight. This seemed odd only until I realized how few people were looking for it.” At the end of the 18th century, after the Second Continental Congress, Ohio was considered part of the fledgling country’s “northwest.”
Oct. 4, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of our nation’s 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes. His Fremont, Ohio, home, pictured here, welcomes visitors, as do the adjacent presidential library and museum. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. Learn more about visiting the 25-acre Hayes estate, called Spiegel Grove, at rbhayes.org.
Discover Ohio’s amazing heritage as historic buildings and landmarks across our state open their doors to for special tours and events. fascinating places that reflect Ohio’s rich heritage—some open especially for Ohio Open Doors events or behind-the-scenesofferinglooks that aren’t ordinarily available. Ohio Open Doors events are free, and most are special one-day-only opportunities.
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Ohio Open Doors is sponsored by the Ohio History Connection and more than 100 partnering organizations who are hosting events in communities across the Buckeye State.
OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION 800 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, OH 43211-2474 ADDRESSohiohistory.orgSERVICE REQUESTED NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID COLUMBUS, OH PERMIT No. 1157 SEPTEMBER 9–18, 2022 Learn more at ohiohistory.org/opendoors