Echoes Magazine | March & April 2024

MAGAZINE

MARCH & APRIL 2024 OHIO IN SPACE

PUDDLER POET

OHIO’S DEADLIEST

HAMMERIN’ HANK

A Conversation with Jim Slade

Youngstown’s Michael McGovern

The Lorain-Sandusky and Xenia Tornadoes

The Day Hank Aaron Tied Babe Ruth’s Record

Page 26

Page 32

Page 36

Page 42

MAGA ZINE

Cover: The Earth straddling the limb of the moon, as seen from above Compton crater.

The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara desert, and just beyond is Saudia Arabia.

The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Contents M A RCH & A PRI L 2024

26 Ohio in Space—A Conversation with Science Correspondent Jim Slade

Vol. 63, No. 2 EDITORS

32 Youngstown’s Puddler Poet—

The Song-Poetry of Michael McGovern

Bill Eichenberger Tom Wolf CONTRIBUTORS

36 Ohio’s Deadliest Tornadoes—The 1924

Lorain-Sandusky and 1974 Xenia Tornadoes

Jeanne Appelhans Schmidlin G reg Brown John Kiesewetter Sean Posey

Hammerin’ Hank—The Day Hank Aaron 42 Tied Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record

G race Cremeans

I N E AC H I S S U E

Thomas Schmidlin Jim Slade David Weaver ADVISORY BOARD

Donna DeBlasio Youn gstown St ate Unive r sit y

Nishani Frazier Miami Unive r sit y

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

Stephen G eorge O hio Histor y Conne c tion

Alex Hastie O hio v. the World

G eorge Ironstrack Miami Unive r sit y

Chester Pach O hio Unive r sit y

Roger Pickenpaugh Historian an d Auth or

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

Truda Shinker O hio Histor y Conne c tion

2 Contents 4 From Our Editors 4 What’s Your Story?

6 In the News 7 From Our Director 15 Historic Sites & Museums 16 At the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village 18 Online Events 19 Featured Events & Exhibits 46 I Wish I’d Been There 48 Young Eyes on the Past 50 Reviews

Echoes Magazine (ISSN 0012-933X) is published bimonthly and distributed by the Ohio History Connection as a benefit of Ohio History Connection membership.

THANKS TO OUR OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION STRATEGIC PARTNERS:

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 © 2024 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.

Moving?

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

The Ohio History Connection is a

2 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @OhioHistory

Ohio in Space A CONVERSATION WITH SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT JIM SLADE

26

Jim Slade witnessed the first 40 years of world spaceflight firsthand and reported on America’s early years of space exploration. He led coverage of space, science and technology for ABC TV and Radio News from 1988 through 2001 and earlier worked in a similar capacity at Mutual Broadcasting System and Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. Historian Greg Brown of our Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta talks with him about the Apollo missions and his time as a correspondent.

Youngstown’s Puddler Poet THE SONG-POETRY OF MICHAEL McGOVERN

32

From after the Civil War to the end of the 19th century, workers across the country helped give the burgeoning labor movement a voice through song and poetry. Ironworkers, railway workers, miners and others penned lyrics about a wide variety of concerns, such as child labor, inequality, union busting and corporate greed. Ohioan Michael McGovern, a Youngstown ironworker known as the “Puddler Poet,” became among the best-known of the song-poetry bards.

Ohio’s Deadliest Tornadoes THE 1924 LORAIN-SANDUSKY AND 1974 XENIA TORNADOES

36

The Lorain-Sandusky Tornado struck on June 28, 1924, first in Sandusky, then in Lorain. The death toll—85—remains the highest of any Ohio tornado on record. Fifty years later—and 50 years ago— the April 3, 1974, Xenia Tornado struck along a 32-mile path in Greene and Clark counties, killing 32 people. Thomas and Jeanne Appelhans Schmidlin, authors of Thunder in the Heartland: A Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio, examine two of Ohio’s most disastrous twisters.

Hammerin’ Hank

42

THE DAY HANK AARON TIED BABE RUTH’S HOME RUN RECORD Atlanta Braves slugger Henry Aaron was obsessed throughout the winter of 1973–1974 with playing the Cincinnati Reds in the 1974 Opening Day game at Riverfront Stadium. At age 39, he’d hit 40 home runs in the 1973 season, for a career total of 713. Author John Kiesewetter recalls the day 50 years ago at Riverfront Stadium when Aaron hit number 714 and made history, tying Babe Ruth’s longstanding home-run record.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

3

FROM OUR EDITORS Notwithstanding North Carolina license plates that boast “First in Flight,” there’s no denying the outsized role Ohioans—from the Wright Brothers to Judith Resnik—have played both in the air and in outer space.

Back in 2019, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration put together a fact sheet titled “Ohio Astronauts” (see page 26) and the statistics are remarkable.

Did you know that as of 2019, our state had produced 25 astronauts who traveled on 78 space flights and made three trips to the moon?

Did you know that those astronauts have logged more than 22,000 hours in space? Or that Mansfield native Michael L. Gernhardt performed the first U.S. spacewalk from the International Space Station in 2001, or that in 1984, Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first woman to walk in space?

We don’t mean to brag, but …

Back in October, freelance writer Sean Posey sent us a query. Were we interested in a story about Irish steelworker Michael McGovern, the self-described “Puddler Poet” of Youngstown (see page 32)?

Yes, Sean, we replied, we sure are. But before we fired off our email, we had to answer one question for ourselves: What in the fires of Sheet and Tube was a puddler?

That question led us to Robert B. Gordon’s book, American Iron, 1607–1900, where we learned: “In the original form of the process, the puddler melted pig iron on the hearth of the furnace and then used the air that passed through the furnace with the flame from the firebox to oxidize the silicon and carbon in the metal.

“As the puddler purified the iron, it began to solidify, and he had to exert his full strength to manipulate it. He divided the decarburized metal into several ‘puddle balls,’ lumps of solid iron and liquid slag that he pulled from the furnace and hammered or squeezed to consolidate and force out the excess slag … ” If that sounds like a grueling job—well, it was. Puddlers, we discovered, often died in their 30s. But our Puddler Poet lived a long and creative life, from his birth in 1848 in County Galway, Ireland, to his death in 1933. He is buried in Youngstown’s Calvary Cemetery, where his marker bears the following poem, a tribute from his friends in seven states: Just place a rock over me / And chisel there that all may know it / Here lie the bones of M.McG / Whom people called The Puddler Poet April 3, 1974, a day of tragedy in Ohio, was followed by a day of triumph. On April 3, a tornado devastated Xenia (see page 36). On April 4 at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, Hank Aaron hit his 714th home run, tying the record Babe Ruth had set before he retired in 1935 (see page 42).

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

For this issue, we asked,

“ What’s the worst weather you’ve endured in your region? ” Here are some of your responses: PALM SUNDAY TORNADO It was April 11, 1965, in what I remember to be the early evening during my senior year at DeVilbiss High School, and on this Palm Sunday, as the school year wound down, I was driving my parents’ blue 1963 Pontiac Bonneville with two or three other graduating male friends on West Bancroft near Westwood. We turned into what was then a cut-through of Ottawa Park near the sledding hill, headed toward the woods on the way to another friend’s house near Woodlawn Cemetery when what was a very still, humid day almost instantly turned into total darkness.

Within minutes, this became driving rain, hail and visibility of less than 10 yards.

As the sky cleared and we eventually got to our destination, we saw some trees down on houses and one house that was perfectly untouched except that the entire one side was ripped off, exposing the staircase inside. Our friend’s house was unscathed. We later found out that this same tornado caused the Secor White Hut to literally explode, and was responsible for 15 deaths in Toledo and 35 in Northwest Ohio as it made its way through the Point in North Toledo on its way to Ottawa River Road. This was 15 minutes of our lives we will never forget.

—David Keck, Howard

4 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Your Story?

REMNANTS OF IKE I moved to Delaware, Ohio, in 2008. I had been forewarned that the area sometimes had fierce windstorms, but I did not have great fear about such storms. I was looking forward to attending the Delaware County Fair/ Little Brown Jug race that I had heard so much about. In September 2008, there was a major storm in Delaware County, resulting from the dissipated Hurricane Ike. The winds damaged structures, knocked down trees and electrical wires, and caused blackouts. I was forced to leave my home for a week.

The only house on my cul-de-sac that had electricity was the one where the owner had a generator. At the beginning of Fair Week, the fairgrounds were evacuated. Every roof at the fairgrounds was damaged, and many buildings lost part of their siding. A tree fell on the Arts and Crafts Building. Fair activities resumed later in the week, with the aid of generators. I did not attend the fair.

I was lucky that I suffered only from major inconvenience. We all learned a lesson. Almost everyone on my cul-desac now has a generator.

—Cassandra Wiltz, Delaware EMERGENCY FEAST In 1950 I was 10 years old, and in late November snow began to fall with a fury. By morning, we were snowed in. We lived in Valleyview Homes, a public housing facility on the west side of Cleveland. The buildings were two stories high with a ledge under the second-story windows. The drifts were just under that ledge. We dug tunnels through the drifted snow so we could get out. Schools were called off, and snowmen and snowballs were in great supply. Men shoveled the streets so the traffic and buses could get through. My father led the maintenance department at the facility and had a crew in the maintenance area that was monitoring the coal furnaces that supplied heat to the apartments. He called them and found them to be safe and was told they would stay on until the roads were open.

WORST WEATHER

He bundled up and got to the grocery store for food for the maintenance crew. My mother baked a ham and a turkey that he bought, and he took them and other foods on our sled down to the men. We kids continued to have fun in the snow and getting in and out through the tunnel. After several days, the weather turned warmer, the snow (and blocked streets) thawed out and our tunnel collapsed. The men were freed from the maintenance area, and we kids went back to school. It was a great adventure and is still a great memory for me.

—Rachel England, Cincinnati COLD AND QUEASY! Jan. 26, 1978, the worst storm, both inside and out! My first pregnancy, morning sickness started at the same time winds were 85 mph to 100 mph, wind chills -50. No power in an allelectric home; we heated our living room with a Coleman camp stove. The next day we went to a neighbor’s house and kept warm with his gas oven. No sight in the near future of the blizzard or morning sickness subsiding. By the third day, the National Guard was clearing roads and knocking on doors to check on residents. We stopped them, and learning that electricity was still on across town, we proceeded to a friend’s house to keep safe until power was restored five days later. My granny talked about the storm of 1920, before Christmas in southern Ohio. I never dreamed we would go through a winter storm like this! But we survived and were ready for the Christmas Blizzard of 2022. Note: After the ’78 storm, we now have a wood and coal burner, gas wall unit and gas furnace.

—Sheila Jewett McFarland, Bellevue THANKSGIVING SNOWSTORM My grandparents were members at St. Paul’s German Lutheran Church in Dayton in the 19th century. (Editor’s note: St. Paul’s was in our January & February issue as a recent addition to the National Register.) My parents

graduated from St. Paul’s grade school. My brothers and I were baptized there and were the bellringers at St. Paul’s for years. In late November 1950, my brother and I were ringing bells at a funeral. When we left to go home, the streets were full of two feet of snow and the buses had stopped running. We had a long walk home. The coal yards in Dayton volunteered their coal chutes to clean up. That weekend, Michigan and Ohio State played in Columbus in what came to be called the Snow Bowl, and Michigan won 9–3. I’ve experienced deeper-yet snowfalls in Michigan and Wisconsin!

—Darrell W. Foell, Dousman, WI HARRISON TORNADO The 1990 tornado that ripped through Harrison, Ohio, leaving moderate damage, paled in comparison to the winters of ’77 and ’78. In 1977, we had three-and-a-half weeks of 32 to 35 below zero at night, only to have 31 inches of snow in Hamilton County the next winter from the Blizzard of ’78. None of those, though, came close to the devastation of the January 1937 Ohio River Flood that destroyed the Ohio River Valley.

January can be tough in the tri-state.

—Gene Enders, Harrison

WHAT’S YOUR STORY? We want to know your stories, so in every issue of Echoes Magazine we ask you a question, then run selected answers in the following issue. Here’s the question for May & June: What’s your favorite museum in Ohio? Tell us why.

Email your story responses (50 to 150 words) by March 15 to echoes@ohiohistory.org or, if you follow us on Facebook, send us a Facebook message.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

5

In the News COMPREHENSIVE EFFORT

All corners of our Columbus campus footprint will be part of the larger plan.

OHIO HISTORY CENTER & OHIO VILLAGE

Campus 2.OH Brings Enhancements The Ohio History Connection is launching a comprehensive renovation project, Campus 2.OH, aimed at revitalizing our East 17th Avenue campus in Columbus, including the Ohio History Center & Ohio Village.

This initiative will involve numerous construction, renovation and event activities over the coming years, with the goal of enhancing and expanding the physical spaces for a better visitor experience. The project is both a celebration and a preservation effort, helping to share Ohio's story for the next 50 years and beyond.

• Our new Collections Care Center will open later this year to safely and sustainably house our history and natural history collections.

• Ohio Village will undergo significant infrastructure upgrades, and new visitor experiences will be introduced.

• Next door, at the Ohio Expo Center, we’ll work with our partners at the Ohio State Fair to create the Ohio Showcase building, which will feature an exhibit sharing Ohio’s story, a food hall and a glass “jewel box“ featuring large historic artifacts.

• The Ohio History Center will undergo a master planning process for renovation and preservation.

According to Ohio History Connection CEO & Executive Director Megan Wood, “Whether it’s opening a new Collections Care Center or doing the necessary work of basic infrastructure improvements to Ohio Village, we see it as part of stewarding and sharing Ohio’s stories.

“While we never enjoy having to close one of our attractions like Ohio Village, even temporarily, our audiences and members will be better-served by the end product.

We’ll close for renovations to begin after the State Fair ends in 2024, and will be counting down the days until we reopen with a new and improved Village experience in 2026. And don’t worry—we’ll still have October and December Signature Events. They’ll just be reimagined to fit within the Ohio History Center.”

STAY TUNED

Stay tuned for updates, member forums and hard-hat tour opportunities. We're excited to get started on Campus 2.OH!

Below: The new Collections Care Center nearing completion on the Ohio History Connection’s Columbus campus opens later this year.

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION | CARLOS LUGO

6 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

SHPO

FROM OUR DIRECTOR At the end of 2023, I represented the Ohio History Connection at an Ohio Historical Marker dedication in Upper Arlington.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Recent Ohio Additions to the National Register of Historic Places SPRINGFIELD • CLARK COUNTY SPRINGFIELD COUNTRY CLUB 2315 Signal Hill Rd. Scottish-born golf-course designer Donald J. Ross (1872–1948) designed the 18-hole Springfield Country Club course in 1922.

Significant as a work of landscape architecture, it has classic Ross characteristics, including punchbowl greens, hummocks with mounding made of discarded materials, and holes that parallel and cross an existing brook. It retains a high level of historic integrity, and the club is restoring elements of his design that had been lost over the years. In 1923, a new clubhouse designed by noted Cleveland architect Philip L. Small, who was raised in Springfield, replaced one destroyed by fire in 1922. In Cleveland, Small and his firms were involved in the design of Shaker Square, the Moreland Court Apartments, interiors for Higbee’s Department Store on Public Square and, later, the Karamu House Theatre. The Springfield Country Club is notable for its landscape architecture, architecture and association with the history of outdoor recreation in Clark County.

You can always call 800.686.6124 to get Ohio History Center & Ohio Village event tickets, including for webinars! Our friendly Visitor Service Associates are happy to help. For events at our other sites, call the site directly.

Placed in the median of Arlington Center Boulevard, the marker commemorates the 1973 former world headquarters of CompuServe.

Depending on when you were born, you may or may not be aware of CompuServe, but it was the first company to provide email and online platforms. The first time I ever heard of email, a friend of mine was reading printed-out emails from her uncle sent via CompuServe. I recall having a difficult time comprehending how one could write letters on the computer that were received with the push of a button. It was magic!

Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Ohio until 2007, CompuServe was the first major internet service provider, giving its users online access to email, magazines and newspapers. Cofounder and CEO Jeff Wilkins spoke at the marker dedication and told an amazing story about creating the first online newspapers during a meeting that took place in Upper Arlington with the board members of the Associated Press.

CompuServe was also responsible for the invention of the GIF graphic file format, a necessity for the compression on image transfer, and Wilkins assured attendees at the dedication that it is pronounced “ jiff.”

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted also attended the ceremony and remarked how fortunate we were to be witness to recent history and to be able to celebrate this moment with the people who lived it. In attendance at the dedication were many long-term members of the CompuServe team, some of whom went on to innovate elsewhere and to found their own companies.

I can’t help observe with a smile that this story reinforces all the ways that Ohio is truly the “heart of it all.” I find it inspiring to learn the stories of the people and places behind our Ohio Historical Markers.

Each one represents an important person, place or event, as well as a community that worked together to receive the marker. In this case, my congratulations go out to the City of Upper Arlington and Leadership UA for shedding light on this remarkable story. I can imagine it being highlighted in a future museum, as part of the story of the founding of our increasingly digital world—and that historical places can also be virtual places.

Learn more about our Ohio Historical Marker program at remarkableohio.org, where you can also browse all 1,760 markers in Ohio and locate those in your vicinity.

Megan Wood | Executive Director & CEO, Ohio History Connection

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

7

1981

1974

INSPIRING YOUNG HISTORIANS

Happy 50th, Ohio History Day! Did you know that Ohio History Day is turning 50? Yes, you heard that right—50 years of sparking curiosity and molding future historians!

Ohio History Day is a project-based learning program and competition in which students choose a topic and research it, then present their historical arguments through an exhibit, documentary, paper, performance or website. They can enter their project into a regional competition, where they have an opportunity to move on to the state and national contests.

Last year alone, more than 5,000 Ohio students participated, with more than 1,300 entering a regional competition. Fifty-six went on to the National History Day contest in College Park, Maryland, where five Ohio projects ranked among the top 10 nationally in their categories.

“The 50th anniversary is a testament to Ohio History Day’s longevity, as well as a celebration of the profound impact it’s had on students and history education,” History Day Founder Dr. David Van Tassel

8 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

says Alexandra Eveleth, Ohio History Day manager for the Ohio History Connection.

ORIGINATED IN CLEVELAND

In 1974, to help foster historical thinking and research skills in secondary students, Dr. David Van Tassel created a history competition at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University where students could demonstrate those skills, akin to a science fair. Thus, History Day was born. What started as a small contest with 129 students in Cleveland quickly evolved and spread across the country.

“From its humble beginnings, History Day has grown exponentially, emphasizing critical thinking, research skills and effective communication,” Eveleth says. “It has become a national success, fostering a deep appreciation for history in students and showcasing their work at the regional, state and national levels. By encouraging independent research and creative expression, the program has enriched students’ understanding of the past, going beyond traditional classroom learning.”

WHY DOES HISTORY DAY ROCK?

So why have students continued to build History Day projects for a halfcentury?

“History Day is never just about dates and facts,” Eveleth says. “It’s a creative outlet where students can showcase their passion and ingenuity. Above all,

students feel the spark of an endless love for history by transforming it from something in a textbook into an authentic connection between past, present and future.

“Perhaps most importantly, it’s a stage where the untold and oftenforgotten stories of history shine. In essence, History Day is not just an event; it’s a celebration of students finding their voice, embracing creativity, cultivating a love for history and bringing the hidden gems of our shared past to light.”

Over the past 50 years, students have chosen myriad topics and projects that reflect the evolving interests and concerns of society. They offer a glimpse into the students’ interpretations of historical events and their relevance to contemporary issues.

CELEBRATE WITH US ON MAY 11!

To celebrate 50 years of Ohio History Day, the Ohio History Connection is holding a special exhibit and student showcase. Visit the Ohio History Center on May 11, when you can experience the past five decades of History Day, view 2024 student projects from across Ohio and see the results of these young historians’ creativity and passion.

HERE’S TO THE NEXT 50 YEARS

“Ohio History Day’s 50th anniversary is a testament to its enduring impact on students, educators and parents,” Eveleth says. “It’s shaped the way

Page 8 photos: Cleveland State University. Page 9, top left: Cleveland State University.

All other Page 9 photos: Ohio History Connection.

1995

history is learned and appreciated, leaving an indelible mark on Ohio’s educational landscape.

“As we celebrate this moment in our own history, we’d also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the participants, judges, parents, organizers and ardent supporters who’ve been instrumental in making Ohio History Day a cornerstone of historical education.”

Ohio History Day’s 50th anniversary isn’t just a milestone. It’s a celebration of a program that’s stood the test of time, leaving an enduring legacy in the hearts and minds of all those who’ve been part of its remarkable journey.

2005

PRAISE FOR HISTORY DAY

2013

“I like Ohio History Day because it will allow me to present a topic that I’m very passionate about and make my voice and opinion heard. It also allows me to go out of my comfort zone. I also like seeing other people’s projects and hearing their voices, too.

Overall, I think National History Day is very beneficial for character and educational growth.”

“I strongly believe that National History Day has a positive effect on my students and has changed Social Studies education in my classroom.

It teaches students to think critically, has built self-confidence, and increased student achievement.

They have explored new ideas and have gained necessary life-long learning skills that they will use in future classes and careers.”

—Madalyn Lopp, Ohio History Day Student, Grafton

—Molly Orr, Ohio History Day Teacher, Dresden

Here’s to the next 50 years of inspiring young historians, one project at a time!

“History Day allows students to tell the stories that impact them—stories that inspire them to be changemakers in their own communities.

Overall, the program continues to remind all involved of the importance of learning from the past and working toward a better future.”

Learn more about Ohio History Day at ohiohistory.org/historyday.

—Samantha Rubino, Ohio History Day Coordinator 2019–2023

JUDGE AT HISTORY DAY!

Volunteer as a judge at one of our 10 regional Ohio History Day contests or at the state contest at Capital University in Columbus on Saturday, April 20. Find more information and sign up to judge at ohiohistory.org/historyday or email historyday@ohiohistory.org.

Special thanks to History Day Champion Sponsor Ohio’s 529 Plan, CollegeAdvantage, and to Sponsor William K. Laidlaw Jr. Memorial Endowment Fund.

2019

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

2023 9

HISTORY PASS

Special Opportunity for Ohio’s Fourth-Graders The America 250-Ohio Commission has launched a new Fourth-Grade History Pass—a special program that allows Ohio fourth-graders the chance to visit participating history museums and historic sites free of charge, with a paid adult.

“Fourth-grade students in the state of Ohio study the early development of Ohio and the United States,” says Todd Kleismit, executive director of the America 250-Ohio Commission. “This promotion aligns with the critical age when students learn about Ohio history in school.

Involving Ohio’s youngest citizens in the 250th anniversary is a priority for the commission, and we hope students come away inspired and excited about the history of Ohio and eager to learn more.”

ONE PASS, COUNTLESS ADVENTURES!

Redeeming the complimentary pass is simple. Go to america250ohio.org/fourth-grade-pass to download it. When you go to a participating history museum, show the pass on your phone or with a printed copy to receive one free admission for the fourth-grade student. Accompanying families will pay regular admission. The passes aren’t eligible for group admissions or special events.

The pass can be used at more than one location as long as the museum is one of the participating history museums. Multiple sites are taking part, including the Cincinnati Museum Center, select Ohio History Connection sites, Western Reserve Historical Society/ Cleveland History Center and Hale Farm and Village. The America 250Ohio Commission expects to add more Ohio history museums. For an updated list, visit america250ohio.org/fourth-grade-pass/list.

The promotion runs until Dec. 31, 2026, so start exploring today!

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

State Tax Credits Aid 46 Projects Forty-six projects to renovate 54 historic buildings in 16 communities will be awarded $67,517,474 in tax credits as part of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program. The projects are expected to leverage about $732 million in private investments.

Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced support for the projects in the form of Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits in December.

Communities with projects receiving tax credits are Akron, Arlington Heights, Berea, Cincinnati,

Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, East Liverpool, Mansfield, Nelsonville, Salem, Somerset, Steubenville, Toledo, Youngstown and Zanesville.

HELP REHAB HISTORIC BUILDINGS

The awards will aid private developers in rehabbing historic buildings in downtowns and neighborhoods. Many are vacant today, generating little economic activity. Once rehabbed, they’re expected to drive further investment and interest in adjacent properties. Developers are issued the tax credits only after construction is complete and all program requirements are verified to have been met.

The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program is administered in partnership with the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office. The Preservation Office determines whether a building qualifies as historic and that the rehabilitation plans comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, 10 standards used nationwide to guide work that’s appropriate for historic buildings.

“This will allow Cincinnati’s iconic Carew Tower; former schools in Arlington Heights and Berea; a former church in Dayton; The Edna, a building significant to the African American community in Columbus; and many others to have new lives,” says Mariangela Pfister, head of Technical Preservation Services for the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office.

AMERICA 250-OHIO COMMISSION

Learn more about the 46 projects at ohiohistory.org/round31.

10 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Students can use the Fourth-Grade History Pass to visit the Cincinnati Museum Center.

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

Left: Helen Bresee filled four journals during a 1936–37 world tour that began with a train ride to San Francisco, her port of international departure. During her 14-month trip, Bresee sailed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, then still under construction; she observed Japanese and British warships anchored in the Port of Nanjing; and from Venice, she remarked: “Here Mussolini and Hitler met and departed enemies. Now they are said to be good friends again.”

Below, from Bresee's Diaries: August 26, 1936: “[W]e crossed miles of salt beds, then the Great Salt Lake and finally the desert. ... For miles there was no sight or sign of a living thing except sage.”

COLLECTIONS

Separately and together, these teachers’ written accounts, images and memorabilia help us understand how they traveled the globe as unmarried, middle-class, white women, connecting with people and cultures well beyond their home in central Ohio.

Women’s Travel Collection Helen Bresee (1901–1995) was a Columbus schoolteacher, a world explorer and a zealous shopper, but a far less-adventurous eater.

Most crucially to us at the Ohio History Connection, she was a documentarian, and so were her friends.

September 1, 1936: “I had kippered herring for breakfast so I guess I can stand anything now.”

The friends sailed on many different cruise lines over the years but were especially fond of Cunard-White Star’s RMS Queen Mary, which took Chrysler between New York, France and England in 1951. From the Women’s Travel Collection (left to right): 1951 Cunard luggage tag, 1951 telegram, 1936 travel diary, 1951 luggage tag.

NNEC TION

ARCHIVAL CO

LLEC TIONS

—Wendy Korwin, Archives Services Manager

ORY CO OHIO HIST

She, Helen Chrysler (1897–1989) and Harriet Dieter (1902–1982) are the principal creators of a multimedia travel collection that was recently donated to the Ohio History Connection. In diaries, scrapbooks, slides, films and more, the women—all of them educators— chronicled more than 30 trips they took over a span of five decades.

Their itineraries began with driving tours of the eastern U.S. and Canada in the early 1930s. Before long, Helen Bresee was embarking on a 14-month trek through four continents. Helen Chrysler joined her to explore South America in 1960. Harriet Dieter, a photographer and school principal, supported some of her travels with grants from the Columbus Board of Education. She died in 1982 while visiting Tibet.

Starting May 1, the Women’s Travel Collection will be the subject of a display in our New Acquisitions case in the Welcome Lobby of the Ohio History Center. Researchers will be able to access the collection through our Archives & Library.

Ask to see collection AV364.

August 28, 1936: “[W]e learned that the boat wasn’t to sail until midnight.

This was a great disappointment to me as I can’t take good movies for our departure. ... After we passed the Golden Gate and under the cables for the new bridge, I went to bed.”

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

11

NATURAL HISTORY

Ohio, the Heart of the Eclipse

MAP: COURTESY ECLIPSE.OHIO.GOV | OHIO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

On Monday, April 8, millions of spectators across North America will witness the absolute wonder of a total solar eclipse. Many have described this rare phenomenon as one of the most beautiful naturally occurring events a person can experience. Here in Ohio, the path of totality stretches about 124 miles in width, and the total eclipse will be viewable in a number of major cities and at select Ohio History Connection sites.

WHAT’S A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE?

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, blocking out the light and casting a shadow on the Earth. This shadow will be the darkest in a tiny patch called the umbra, which is what will be passing across Ohio. Generally, the closer you are to the center of this shadow, the longer the viewing time you have.

The 124-mile wide band of totality in Ohio on April 8.

Areas close to the centerline will receive as much as three minutes and 58 seconds of totality, while areas closer to the outer edge will receive less than two minutes.

“Being inside the path of totality is a very unique experience,” says Dante Centuori, executive director of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta. “The sky goes dark as if it were dusk, animals act differently and, of course, the sun’s corona becomes viewable, something we can’t ordinarily view with the naked eye. If you are outside the path of totality and are able to travel, it is strongly recommended you take the trip to somewhere inside the path.”

12 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

PHOTO: ARMSTRONG AIR & SPACE MUSEUM

Armstrong Air & Space Museum, Wapakoneta

The most important information to know about the eclipse is viewing safety. Just looking at the sun for even a few seconds with your naked eye can permanently damage your retinas. However, unlike partial and annular eclipses, a total solar eclipse can be viewed without protective glasses, but only during the few minutes of totality. Other than during

totality, spectators should always have on approved eclipse glasses to view the event.

OHIO’S LAST TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE WAS IN 1806

While a number of partial eclipses have been viewable in Ohio the past few decades, the last true total solar eclipse to enter the state’s borders was on June 16, 1806. This eclipse is widely known as “Tecumseh’s Eclipse,” named for the famous Shawnee chief.

The legend goes that William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory and future U.S. president, wished to discredit Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet.

To disprove the Prophet’s divine abilities, Harrison challenged the spiritual leader to perform a miracle.

In response, the Prophet stated that the sun would disappear on a cloudless day, correctly predicting June 16, 1806, as the day. The prediction strengthened Tecumseh and the Prophet’s tribal movement and embarrassed Harrison. Scholars today suggest that Tecumseh may have had information on the eclipse after reading an almanac, but the brothers always stuck by their claim of divinity.

TIPS FOR THE ECLIPSE

Several Ohio History Connection sites have eclipse-related programming and activities scheduled for Monday, April 8, and the weeks before and after it. Find a full list at ohiohistory. org/eclipse.

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums in Fremont will experience three minutes and 40 seconds of totality. The site is also putting on a special “Spiegel Glow” on Friday, April 5, fun eclipse activities for kids on Saturday, April 6, and a special exhibit on the history of eclipses.

The Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta is another great destination and is the Ohio History Connection site with the longest viewing time at three minutes and 56 seconds. The museum will have extended hours and guided tours

of the museum that weekend. On eclipse day (Monday), the museum will have a variety of outdoor eclipse-related activities, an outdoor store and concessions.

One of the most important tips would be to plan your day and expect delays. Wherever you intend to go for the eclipse, prepare for traffic. In Ohio, some estimates predict upwards of half a million people making the journey into totality. The best advice is to arrive at your destination early. Leaving the destination may be just as chaotic. Instead, plan ahead and see what other activities or events are going on in the area. Also, eclipse glasses will most likely be in very low supply by the day of the eclipse.

Don’t wait—purchase your eclipse glasses as soon as you can. Many sites have them for sale already.

APRIL 8 Enjoy eclipse-related activities and exhibits at select Ohio History Connection museums and attractions. ohiohistory.org/eclipse

Check the weather forecast a few days ahead and plan for a number of climate scenarios (it’s Ohio, after all). Prepare to do a lot of walking— parking places may be a hard thing to come by wherever you are. The last bit of advice is to have fun and make memories. The next total solar eclipse in Ohio won’t be until 2099, so make it count!

—Logan Rex, Curator & Communications Director, Armstrong Air & Space Museum OHIO HISTORY STORE

Need Eclipse Glasses?

While supplies last, you can buy certified solar eclipse viewing glasses for $3 in our Ohio History Store, located just inside the Ohio History Center at I-71 & 17th Avenue (Exit 111) in Columbus, or online at ohiohistorystore.com/ products/solar-eclipse-glasses.

Ohio History Connection members save 10%. Store hours are the same as museum hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Wednesday through Sunday. Online orders must be received by April 1 to ensure delivery before April 8.

Questions? Call 800.686.6124.

Create a Legacy Passionate about preserving history for future generations?

Consider including the Ohio History Connection as a beneficiary in your estate plans. Our staff can help you choose options that best fit your needs.

Call 800.647.6921 to learn more.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

13

see on the first floor, so I wouldn’t let the lack of an elevator stop you from visiting.

Kid-Friendly? Yes, for elementary school-aged kids and older. I think elementary school-aged kids would find plenty to keep them engaged.

The museum hosts a lot of school groups, so staff members know a thing or two about what interests kids.

Shaker Historical Museum Shaker Historical Museum is a lovely little gem of a museum tucked in residential Shaker Heights. Housed in a beautiful home built in 1910, the museum features permanent exhibits about the history of the North Union Shakers, as well as about the founding of Shaker Heights by the Van Sweringen Company. A space with exhibits that change on a quarterly basis highlights local artists and partnerships. A small, thoughtfully curated gift shop features books about Shaker Heights and Cleveland, as well as artwork. The staff also maintains a lending library.

Staff members are passionate about making the museum a resource for the community. If you live in the area, I highly recommend checking out the website and signing up for the email newsletter. There are some great events, both at the

museum and around Shaker Heights.

If you’re fascinated by the Shakers, you should definitely visit. You’ll leave with a greater understanding of them and their beliefs.

Address: 16740 S. Park Blvd., Shaker Heights.

How much time: Allow 45 to 60 minutes to fully explore the exhibits, gift shop and grounds.

Truda’s Tips: The museum can be a little tricky to find. Look for the stone pillars at the entrance to the driveway. There are also some small signs near the pillars with the name of the museum. You’ll pull around to the small parking lot behind the house. Feel free to park in front of the garage doors. There’s a wheelchair-accessible ramp to get into the museum, however there isn’t an elevator to get to the second floor and there’s no ADA restroom. There’s still plenty to

Lunch: If the weather is conducive to eating outdoors, you can take a picnic and eat at one of the tables in the museum’s garden. It was a little too cold for a picnic the day I visited, so we went to Edwins Butcher Shop at 13024 Buckeye Rd., which is a fiveminute drive from the museum. It’s just what the name suggests, but it also serves great sandwiches, burgers, seafood and fried chicken in a casual atmosphere. I figured the bacon at a butcher shop would be excellent, so I ordered the BLT and thoroughly enjoyed my choice. My lunch buddies ordered the fish and chips, which they reported was delicious. The restaurant includes a coffee shop open until 2 p.m. that serves a variety of coffee drinks and baked goods.

The Shaker Historical Museum staff also suggest checking out the nearby Van Aken District (thevanakendistrict. com) or the Cedar Lee District (cedarlee.org) for lunch and coffee.

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION | TRUDA SHINKER

For more information: To learn more about the Shaker Historical Museum, visit ohiohistory.org/shaker or shakerhistory.org.

Questions? Call the site directly at 800.860.6078.

—Truda Shinker is the Ohio History Connection’s department manager for membership.

Exhibits share stories of the 19th-century North Union Shakers, the early 20th-century planned suburban community of Shaker Heights and downtown Cleveland's related Terminal Tower.

14 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

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

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

NORTHEAST OHIO 14. Custer Monument 15. Fort Laurens 16. McCook House 17. Museum of Ceramics 18. Quaker Yearly Meeting House (Open by Appointment) & Free Labor Store/Benjamin Lundy House (Preservation in Progress • Not Open) 19. Schoenbrunn Village 20. Shaker Historical Museum 21. Tallmadge Church 22. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor 23. Zoar Village

CENTRAL OHIO 24. Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries & Nature Preserve

SOUTHWEST OHIO 33. Adena Mansion & Gardens 34. Davis Memorial Nature Preserve 35. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve 36. Fort Hill Earthworks & Nature Preserve 37. Harriet Beecher Stowe House

SOUTHEAST OHIO

38. John Rankin House

25. Hanby House

39. Miamisburg Mound

47. Big Bottom Memorial Park

26. Logan Elm

40. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

48. Buckeye Furnace

41. Paul Laurence Dunbar House

50. Campus Martius Museum

27. Newark Earthworks 28. Ohio History Center & Ohio Village

49. Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park

29. Poindexter Village Historic Site (Preservation in Progress • Not Open)

42. Serpent Mound

51. John & Annie Glenn Museum

43. Story Mound

52. Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve

30. Shrum Mound

44. U.S. Grant Birthplace

53. National Road & Zane Grey Museum

31. Wahkeena Nature Preserve

45. U.S. Grant Boyhood Home & Schoolhouse

54. Ohio River Museum

32. Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites

46. William Henry Harrison Tomb

55. Our House Tavern

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.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

15

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

Ohio History Center & Ohio Village

Women’s History Month at the Ohio History Center FRI., MARCH 1–SUN., MARCH 31 •

WEDS.–SUN. Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Through themed tours, activities and film screenings, learn about some of Ohio’s famous females and explore the important role women have played in the shaping of Ohio. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission.

Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. Visit ohiohistory. org/womenhistory for the full Women’s History Month program schedule.

HANDS-ON HISTORY

Little Historians SAT., MARCH 2 • 11 A.M.–NOON Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Explore Ohio’s history with your little ones! We provide an open discovery space for your Little Historian to build, create and discover everything Ohio. You and your kiddo can freely explore our hands-on stations, and we’ll wrap up our discovery time with a story. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistory.org/littlehistorians

Night at the Museum SAT., MARCH 2 • 7–9 P.M. MEMBERS ENJOY EARLY ACCESS STARTING AT 6 P.M.* Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Here’s your chance to experience the Ohio History Center museum afterhours and see whether our exhibits really do come to life! This family event promises to entertain children and adults alike. Dozens of figures from history will be roaming the museum.

Learn all about their place in Ohio’s past.

Grab a free souvenir autograph book and collect signatures of your favorites!

Several hands-on activities for kids will be available. Snacks and beverages available for purchase. Advance timed tickets only. $18, $14/ages 4–12, Free/age 3 & under ($13/Ohio History Connection member, $9/Ohio History Connection member ages 4–12). 800.686.1541 or ohiohistory.org/ nightatmuseum

*Members: If you want to arrive during the early-access hour from 6 to 7 p.m., you must reserve timed tickets for either the 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. time slots. If you reserve tickets for a later time slot, you won’t be able to enter during the 6 to 7 p.m. earlyaccess hour.

Spring Into History MARCH 23, 24, 30 & APRIL 6 & 7 Ohio History Center, Columbus Schools may be on spring break, but the Ohio History Center is in session!

Join us to learn about eclipses through daily programs and hands-on activities in preparation for the April 8 solar eclipse. Also, explore Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as featured in our current exhibit Indigenous Wonders of Our World. Through special guided tours, hands-on activities and more, learn about these immense structures and the ancient American Indians who built them 2,000 years ago. Included with Ohio History Center museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. Get daily program times and details at ohiohistory.org/spring or call 800.686.6124.

PLEASURES OF THE CUP

Once Upon a Cocktail SAT., APRIL 6 • 7–9 P.M. Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 Adapted for today’s children, many fairy tales had grim origins, serving as morality tales in their day. Learn about this and more as we explore the wild world of fairy tales during this magical edition of Pleasures of the Cup. 21+. Alcohol included with admission. Advance registration required. $45, $40/Ohio History Connection member; $30/ designated driver, $25/Ohio History Connection member designated driver.

800.686.1545 or ohiohistory.org/ cocktail

Members’ Architectural Tour of the Ohio History Center TUES., APRIL 9 & SUN., APRIL 14 3–4 P.M. Ohio History Center, Columbus 4 If you’ve always wondered about our unique building, this is the tour for you!

Join us on a special members-only walking tour of the Ohio History Center with architectural historian Barb Powers of the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office, who’ll share her knowledge about this prime example of mid-century modern architecture. Please wear comfortable shoes and expect to be on your feet for the entire hour. Free with required advance registration: 800.686.1545 or ohiohistory.org/archtour.

CONESTOGA FUNDRAISER

Honoring Ancient Brilliance SUNDAY, APRIL 21 • 4–7 P.M. Ohio History Center, Columbus See page 21. Conestoga is a fundraising support group for the Ohio History Connection. Tickets: 614.581.2268 or laura.ecklar@gmail.com PLEASURES OF THE CUP

Drinks of the Speakeasy SAT., MAY 11 • 7–9 P.M. Ohio Village, Columbus 4 Travel back to a world of bathtub gin, flappers and speakeasies. Learn how Prohibition sent alcohol from bars and taverns to secret watering holes. Sample drinks of the 1920s and 1930s as you discover what’s really going on behind the staid

* Museum admission is $16, $14/age 60+, $10/ages 4–12.

Ohio History Connection members and ages 3 & under enjoy free admission.

16 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Follow the

to solar eclipse events in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

Ohio History Center & Ohio Village Hours Museum WEDS.–SUN. 10 A.M.–5 P.M. CLOSED MON.–TUES. CLOSED SUN., MARCH 31

Ohio Village CLOSED FOR THE SEASON REOPENS SAT., MAY 25

Spring Into History

Indigenous Wonders of Our World

OHIO HISTORY CENTER

OHIO HISTORY CENTER

Archives & Library NOW OPEN WITHOUT APPOINTMENT WEDS. 12:30–3 P.M. THURS.–FRI. 10 A.M.–3 P.M.

facades of Ohio Village. 21+. Alcohol included with admission. Advance registration required. $45, $40/Ohio History Connection member; $30/ designated driver, $25/Ohio History Connection member designated driver. 800.686.1545 or ohiohistory. org/speakeasy FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Indigenous Wonders of Our World—The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks ONGOING Learn about 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’ve recently been named World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The exhibit examines mathematical similarities among them, their enormous scale and their alignments to the solstices and the 18.6-year lunar cycle. An immersive component allows you to experience the astronomical alignments.

Making Ohio Home— Early Ohio Immigrant Experiences ONGOING Immigrants from within and beyond the borders of the United States flocked to Ohio in the 1800s. They came in search of good farmland, better working conditions, political freedom and economic opportunities.

Explore stories of seven representative immigrants who helped grow Ohio’s population from 45,365 in 1800 to more than 4.1 million in 1900.

1950s—Building the American Dream ONGOING 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.

CLOSED SAT.–TUES. SCHEDULE YOUR PERSONALIZED RESEARCH APPOINTMENT: ohiohistory.libcal.com

Plaza Cafe MON.–TUES. 9 A.M.–1 P.M. WEDS.–FRI. 10 A.M.–2 P.M. SAT.–SUN. NOON–4 P.M.

Serving Grab-N-Go Snacks & Meals Ohio History Connection Members Save 10% at the Plaza Cafe!

World War I Display ONGOING See equipment, weapons, uniforms and memorabilia.

March is Women’s History Month.

Follow the to Women’s History Month programs in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

Your Ohio History Connection membership card lists your membership expiration date as well the phone and email for our membership office.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

17

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

Online Events POWER OF VOICE DISCUSSION SERIES

AUTHOR TALK

The Grimkés—Truth Tellers for Two Centuries

Catharine Beecher— The Complexity of Gender in 19th-Century America

WEDS., MARCH 6 • 7 P.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, and Online— Attend From Anywhere! 4 Join in a discussion of selected writings by Sarah Moore Grimké, Angelina Emily Grimké Weld and Angelina Weld Grimké. Suggested donation $5, Free/ Ohio History Connection member.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org

First Ladies of the Buckeye State THURS., MARCH 7 & 14 • 6–7:15 P.M. Hosted Online by Hayes Presidential Library & Museums—Attend from Anywhere! 4 Hear experts from related historic sites offer a glimpse into the lives of eight fascinating first ladies of the United States. MARCH 7: Anna Harrison, Julia Grant, Lucy Hayes and Lucretia Garfield. MARCH 14: Caroline Harrison, Ida McKinley, Helen Taft and Florence Harding. To join, click the Zoom link that will be posted on the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums website, rbhayes.org. Questions?

800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org.

MEMBER VIP

The First Days of the Harding Administration TUES., MARCH 12 • 3–4 P.M. Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 A global post-war recession. High unemployment. Racial strife and lynchings. Despite the smile on his face as he attended his inauguration ceremony on March 4, 1921, President Warren G. Harding’s mind was on the myriad issues on his plate. Join Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites Manager Sherry Hall to follow the new president through his inauguration (we’ll also find out what Mrs. Harding wore that day) and into the first months of his term in office. Free to Ohio History Connection members with advance registration: ohiohistory.org/hardingadmin.

18 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

SUN., MARCH 17 • 4–5:30 P.M. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Cincinnati, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 In her writings, education reformer Catharine Beecher (1800–1878) outlined a unique domestic role for women, just as urbanization and industrialization were limiting their social influence. Arguing that gender differences were a strength, Beecher empowered middle-class women to embrace domestic duties. In this program, Dr. Laura Ping, author of Catharine Beecher—The Complexity of Gender in 19th Century America, looks at Beecher’s life as a lens through which to understand 19th-century cultural changes. Through Beecher’s writings and anecdotes, Ping will share insights into Beecher’s personality and how her career shaped the culture of femininity. $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member. Advance registration required: 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org.

and Sing” (1900) and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Chapter 23. Suggested donation $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org MEMBER VIP

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Cemeteries, But Didn’t Know Who to Ask TUES., APRIL 23 • 3–4 P.M. Online—Attend From Anywhere!

Join Krista Horrocks of the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office to discuss all things cemeteries. Learn how to be a good “gravestone tourist” and how you can research and document cemeteries in your own hometown. Free to Ohio History Connection members with advance registration: ohiohistory.org/ knowcemeteries.

SEMI-COLON BOOK CLUB

The Shaping of Black America SAT., APRIL 27 • 10:30 A.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, and Online— Attend From Anywhere! 4 Discuss The Shaping of Black America: The Struggles and Triumphs of AfricanAmericans, 1619 to the 1990s by Lerone Bennett, Jr. Suggested donation $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member.

800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org LECTURE

Presidential History Book Club WEDS., MARCH 27 & APRIL 24 NOON–1 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 You’re invited to read and discuss books related to the American presidency with this free book club.

MARCH 27 & APRIL 24: Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation by Peter Cozzens.

Discussions take place in person and online. For online login information, email admin@rbhayes.org. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org POWER OF VOICE DISCUSSION SERIES

Continuing the Struggle WEDS., APRIL 3 • 7 P.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, and Online— Attend From Anywhere! 4 Take part in a discussion of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy” (1899), James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice

Knowing Him by Heart— 150 Years of African American Writings on Abraham Lincoln SUN., APRIL 28 • 4 P.M. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Cincinnati, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 Join the editors of Knowing Him by Heart: African Americans on Abraham Lincoln as they explore the complex nature of views on Lincoln through the writings and thoughts of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Gwendolyn Brooks, Barbara Jeanne Fields, Barack Obama and dozens of others. The selections move from speeches to letters to book excerpts, mapping the changing contours of the bond—emotional and intellectual— between Lincoln and Black Americans over the span of 150 years. Suggested donation $5, Free/Ohio History Connection member. 800.847.6507 or stowehousecincy.org

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

Events & Exhibits 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 up-to-date information about programs and events at Ohio History Connection museums and attractions.

Find it at ohiohistory.org/calendar.

Questions? Call 800.840.6127.

STATEWIDE OHIO HISTORY DAY

Regional History Day Contests SAT., MARCH 2, 9, 16 & 23 9 A.M.–5 P.M. See sixth- through 12th-graders present their history projects, competing for a chance to move on to our April 20 statewide History Day competition at Capital University in Columbus.

MARCH 2: Northeast (Region 3), Cleveland; South Central (Region 9), Rio Grande. MARCH 9: Northwest (Region 1), Bowling Green; Central (Region 6), Columbus; West Central (Region 7), Dayton. MARCH 16: East Central (Region 5), Canton; Southwest (Region 8), Cincinnati. MARCH 23: Northeast (Region 4), Youngstown; Southeast (Region 10), New Concord; North Central (Region 2), Fremont. Get details at 800.686.6124, 614.297.2646 or ohiohistoryday.org.

Special thanks to Champion Sponsor Ohio’s 529 Plan, CollegeAdvantage, and to Sponsor William K. Laidlaw Jr. Memorial Endowment Fund.

others active in local historical societies, museums and related organizations start Saturday, March 2. This year’s theme is Truth and Consequences. Each meeting includes a session related to the theme, plus additional skill-building sessions; reports from the Ohio Local History Alliance and the Ohio History Connection; an opportunity to share what your organization is doing; and a tour of a nearby museum or site.

Advance registration required. MARCH 2: North Central (Region 2) in Upper Sandusky and Southwest (Region 8) in Hamilton. MARCH 9: West Central (Region 7) in Sidney and Southeast (Region 10) in Bellaire. Register by March 1. MARCH 16: Northeast (Region 4) in Youngstown and Central (Region 6) in Grove City. Register by March 8.

MARCH 23: Northeast (Region 3) in Akron and East Central (Region 5) in Dover. Register by March 15. APRIL 6: Northwest (Region 1) in Defiance and South Central (Region 9) in Chillicothe.

Register by March 29. Get full meeting details and register at ohiolha.org.

Questions? Call 614.297.2538.

State History Day Contest SAT., APRIL 20 • 8 A.M.–5 P.M. Capital University, Columbus 4 Elementary, middle and high school finalists from regional History Day contests compete in Ohio’s State History Day Contest. This year promises creative and thought-provoking historical research centered on the theme Turning Points in History. $23.

Advance registration required by April 8: 614.297.2646 or historyday@ ohiohistory.org.

Madison, Perry, Pickaway and Union.

800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Family Game Night THURS., MARCH 14 • 6–8 P.M. Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites, Marion 4 Children and their families are invited to the museum to play games that were popular during Warren and Florence Harding’s time.

Try your hand at tiddlywinks, jacks, shut the box, checkers, dominoes and pick-up-sticks. 800.600.6894 or hardingpresidentialsites.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 6 Meeting SAT., MARCH 16 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Grove City 4 Counties: Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Madison, Perry, Pickaway and Union.

See column 2, this page. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Annual Waffle Breakfast SAT., APRIL 13 • 7:30–11 A.M. Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites, Marion 4 We’re bringing out Florence Harding’s famous waffle recipe once again so we can make lots of delicious waffles. Jon Andersen of the Harding Presidential Sites, a professional chef, heads up this traditional, fun event.

He’ll have blueberry, strawberry and maple syrups to try, along with Warren Harding’s favorite, chipped beef and gravy. Bacon and beverages round out the meal. Advance tickets encouraged.

A limited number may be available on the day of the event. 800.600.6894 or hardingpresidentialsites.org

NORTHEAST

NORTHEAST OHIO CENTRAL

Ohio Local History Alliance Regional Meetings

CENTRAL OHIO

SATURDAYS, MARCH 2–APRIL 6 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Active in local history? Register now for the Ohio Local History Alliance Regional Meeting in your vicinity. These annual gatherings of local historians and

Region 6 | Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 9 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Columbus 4 Counties: Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Knox, Licking,

March is Women’s History Month.

Follow the to Women’s History Month programs in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

Region 3 | Northeast Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 2 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Cleveland 4 Counties: Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Summit.

800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

19

Spring Into History

Regional History Day Contests

OHIO HISTORY CENTER, COLUMBUS

MARCH 2, 9, 16, & 23

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 2 Meeting SAT., MARCH 2 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Upper Sandusky 4 Counties: Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot. See page 19.

800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org EXHIBIT OPENING

Manifestation of Light— Exploring the Shakers’ Celestial Inspiration FRI., MARCH 8 • 6–8 P.M. Shaker Historical Museum, Shaker Heights 4 Enjoy light food and drink while celebrating the opening of Manifestation of Light—Exploring the Shakers’ Celestial Inspiration. (See page 21.) Free, no registration required.

800.860.6078 or shakerhistory.org

Pi Day THURS., MARCH 14 • 11 A.M.–4 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 Visit Historic Zoar Village on International Pi(e) Day to celebrate pi, the mathematical constant of 3.14, with a variety of delicious pies. On Pi Day, the historic Zoar Bakery will sell fresh, mouthwatering pies. Can’t wait until you get home to dig in? Fear not, as Zoar also provides slices of pie to enjoy. The Zoar Store will be open with a selection of related items, including baking mixes, teas to pair with your pie, cutting boards and other great merchandise. 800.262.6195 or historiczoarvillage.com

20 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Shaker Star Party SAT., MARCH 16 • 7:30–9:30 P.M. Shaker Historical Museum, Shaker Heights 4 Join Shaker Historical Museum and a local astronomer for a Shaker Heights star party, where we’ll create cereal box eclipse viewers and gain insight into deciphering the winter night sky. Free with required advance registration. 800.860.6078 or shakerhistory.org

Region 5 | East Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 16 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Canton 4 Counties: Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 4 Meeting SAT., MARCH 16 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Youngstown 4 Counties: Ashtabula, Geauga, Mahoning, Portage and Trumbull. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Region 2 | North Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 23 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Fremont 4 Counties: Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Follow the

Region 4 | Northeast Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 23 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Youngstown 4 Counties: Ashtabula, Geauga, Mahoning, Portage and Trumbull. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 3 Meeting SAT., MARCH 23 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Akron 4 Counties: Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Summit. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 5 Meeting SAT., MARCH 23 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Dover 4 Counties: Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Pretzel Day FRI., MARCH 29 • 11 A.M.–4 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 As a tradition, Zoar’s German religious Separatists made pretzels on Good Friday. Visit historic Zoar Village on Good Friday for a flavor-filled day that includes pretzels, pretzels and more pretzels!

Buy a pretzel fresh out of the 1845 Zoar Bakery oven (please be patient, as bakery wait times may be long) or visit one of the graband-go stations. 800.262.6195 or historiczoarvillage.com

to solar eclipse events in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

Mingle at the Mansion, Celestial Edition FRI., APRIL 26 • 7–9 P.M. Shaker Historical Museum, Shaker Heights 4 The eclipse may be over, but the party hasn’t stopped! Celebrate with a cosmic drink, explore the astrological realm and discover the Shakers’ celestial ties in our historic mansion. $50, $40/Ohio History Connection member. Advance registration required. 800.860.6078 or shakerhistory.org

Archaeology School Day FRI., APRIL 26 • 9 A.M.–2 P.M. Fort Laurens Museum, Bolivar 4 At this special day for public- and privateschool students and homeschoolers in grades four through eight, learn about archaeology, how it’s conducted and how it affects other fields of study and get your hands dirty in a mock archaeological dig. Other activities include tours of the on-site museum featuring artifacts of Fort Laurens, Ohio’s only Revolutionary War fort, which once stood on this site. Activities meet Ohio educational standards. $7/ student, Free/one adult per group, $7/ additional adult. Advance registration required: 330.874.2059, fortlaurens@ gmail.com or fortlaurensmuseum.org.

Maifest SAT., MAY 11 • 10 A.M.–5 P.M. Zoar Village, Zoar 4 Celebrate spring with a traditional German festival featuring beers, brats and bands. Enjoy Cleveland Kraut, brats and German potato salad from the Canal Tavern of Zoar; craft beers; German music; guest speakers; free museum tours; games and make-and-take projects for kids and (of course) a maypole! Attend a German car show featuring a variety of antique German-made vehicles. Car owners can register ($10) day-of or in advance: 330.874.3011 or zoarinfo@ historiczoarvillage.com. Maifest is free to all visitors. Guided Zoar Village tours are available during Maifest for $5, Free/age 11 & under. 800.262.6195 or historiczoarvillage.com

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Manifestation of Light— Exploring the Shakers’ Celestial Inspiration MARCH 8–AUGUST 11 Inspired by the highly anticipated solar eclipse in April 2024, Manifestation of Light—Exploring the Shakers’ Celestial Inspiration delves into Shaker artwork and writing inspired by the sun, moon and stars. Included with Shaker Historical Museum admission.

Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.860.6078 or shakerhistory.org NORTHWEST

NORTHWEST OHIO

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 2 Meeting SAT., MARCH 2 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Upper Sandusky 4 Counties: Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot. See page 19.

800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

DON’T BE THE PROBLEM CHILD THIS MOTHER’S DAY. Give Mom the gift of road trips & weekend adventures with an Ohio History Connection gift membership.

GET 20% OFF with discount code GIFT24 through June 17 and get Mom something that will make her smile all year long.

Call 800.686.1545 or visit ohiohistory.org/join.

Region 1 | Northwest Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 9 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Bowling Green 4 Counties: Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Lucas, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood.

800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Region 7 | West Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 9 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Dayton 4 Counties: Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 7 Meeting SAT., MARCH 9 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Sidney4 Counties: Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby. See page 19.

800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

2024 CONESTOGA FUNDRAISER

Honoring Ancient Brilliance OHIO HISTORY CENTER Sunday, April 21 • 4–7 p.m.

Your $100 ticket will support activities at the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio’s first UNESCO World Heritage site.

Everyone welcome—RSVP by April 10 for this event featuring an address by Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation, food and drinks, and a raffle!

ohiohistory.org/conestoga March is Women’s History Month.

Follow the to Women’s History Month programs in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

21

OHIO LOCAL HISTORY ALLIANCE

Regional Meetings Saturdays March 2–April 6 Register now for a meeting near you! ohiolha.org

Members’ Architectural Tour OHIO HISTORY CENTER, COLUMBUS, APRIL 9 & 14

Region 2 | North Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 23 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Fremont 4 Counties: Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Presidential History Book Club WEDS., MARCH 27 & APRIL 24 NOON–1 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 See page 18.

Hayes Easter Egg Roll

MARCH 23, 24 & 30 APRIL 6 & 7 Enjoy daily spring break programs on Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and the ancient American Indians who built them.

Get program times and details at ohiohistory.org/spring

22 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

SAT., MARCH 30 • NOON–2 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Enjoy an afternoon of fun for kids replicating the annual White House Easter Egg Roll that Rutherford B. Hayes started when he was president. Each child is asked to bring three hard-boiled, colored eggs to use in the traditional egg games, which take place on the lawn of the Hayes Home. Kids ages 3–10 can bring a pre-decorated egg to enter in the decorated-egg contest. The Easter Bunny will be on hand to pose with kids for photos. Other activities include a scavenger hunt, stories, crafts and cornhole toss. If weather is inclement, egg games will be canceled and some activities will move into the Hayes Museum. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Spiegel Glow FRI., APRIL 5 • 7–9 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Get ready for the total eclipse coming on Monday, April 8, with a night of fun space- and eclipse-

Follow the

themed activities at the Hayes Museum.

Hors d’oeuvres will be served. $25, $15/ ages 13–18, $10/ages 6–12, Free/age 5 & under. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 1 Meeting SAT., APRIL 6 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Defiance 4 Counties: Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Lucas, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Eclipse-Themed Activities for Kids SAT., APRIL 6 • 9 A.M.–5 P.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Enjoy eclipsethemed activities for kids in the Hayes Museum, including a scavenger hunt, reading station and crafts, all included with regular admission.

Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Total Solar Eclipse MON., APRIL 8 • 9 A.M.–7 P.M. Armstrong Air & Space Museum, Wapakoneta 4 (Note: This event is within the eclipse’s 124-mile-wide path of totality in Ohio. You will be able to view the total eclipse from this site.) Witness the absolute wonder of a total solar eclipse in the hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.

With 3 minutes and 56 seconds of totality, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum will have one of the longest eclipse-viewing times in the state.

The museum will offer events and activities throughout the day. Totality begins at 3:09 p.m. 800.860.0142 or armstrongmuseum.org

to solar eclipse events in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

1950s—Building the American Dream

State History Day Contest

OHIO HISTORY CENTER, COLUMBUS, ONGOING

CAPITAL UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, APRIL 20

Arbor Day Sunrise Tree Tour FRI., APRIL 26 • 7:30–8:30 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Enjoy some sweet treats and learn about Arbor Day and the everdeveloping landscape of the Rutherford B. Hayes estate, Spiegel Grove. $12.

Advance tickets required: 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org.

Mystic Giants Tree Tour SAT., MAY 11 • 10–11 A.M. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 Spiegel Grove, the 25-acre estate of 19th president Rutherford B. Hayes, is also an arboretum. Take a guided tour highlighting some of the larger trees and learn how to determine the age of trees and how trees affect their environment. $10, $7/ages 6–18, free age 5 & under. Advance tickets required: 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org.

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

Included with Hayes Museum admission.

Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

and Washington. See page 19.

800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Resolute—The Spirit of Arctic Exploration

SAT., MARCH 23 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. New Concord4 Counties: Belmont, Coshocton, Guernsey, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry and Washington. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

THROUGH JUNE 30 VISIT RBHAYES.ORG FOR DAYS & HOURS Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 For centuries, the Arctic was the ultimate unexplored frontier.

This exhibit examines the Arctic’s strange, treacherous environment and profiles the adventurers who tried to tame it. Navigational tools, some of President Hayes’s books on the Arctic and a model of the Gjøa, the first ship to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage, are on display. Included with Hayes Museum admission. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. 800.998.7737 or rbhayes.org

Chasing Totality—The History and Science of Eclipses THROUGH DECEMBER VISIT RBHAYES.ORG FOR DAYS & HOURS Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont 4 On April 8, people within a 124-mile-wide band in Ohio will be plunged into total darkness as the moon completely blots out the sun. A total solar eclipse like this one is rare. The last one visible in Ohio was in 1806, and the next will be in 2099. Explore the story of humanity’s fascination with eclipses in this special exhibit. Get a look at how they work and learn about one that drove Americans to the Western territories when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.

Region 10 | Southeast Ohio History Day Contest

Annie Glenn Tea and Trivia SAT., MARCH 23 10 A.M.–NOON OR 2–4 P.M. John & Annie Glenn Museum, New Concord4 Enjoy a classic tea party with a wide variety of specialty teas and treats while playing a game of John and Annie Glenn trivia. Show John Glenn’s hometown just how much you know about the American hero and his spectacular wife. Free with required advance registration

by March 22: 740.826.3305 or info@ johnglennhome.org.

Solar Eclipse Party SOUTHEAST OHIO SOUTHEAST

Region 9 | South Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 2 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Rio Grande4 Counties: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton.

800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 10 Meeting SAT., MARCH 9 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Bellaire 4 Counties: Belmont, Coshocton, Guernsey, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry

March is Women’s History Month.

Follow the to Women’s History Month programs in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

MON., APRIL 8 • NOON–4:30 P.M. John & Annie Glenn Museum, New Concord 4 (Note: This event is south of the eclipse’s 124-mile-wide path of totality in Ohio. You will be able to view the eclipse from this site, though it will not be total.) Watch a once-in-a-lifetime event from the home of America’s first orbiter, John Glenn. Take a tour of the museum, and grab some refreshments and eclipse glasses, all free on April 8 while supplies last. 740.826.3305 or ohiohistory.org/glennmuseum

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

23

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 9 Meeting SAT., APRIL 6 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Chillicothe 4 Counties: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Zane Grey Family Day

AT THE OHIO HISTORY CENTER

March 1-31 Find the full program schedule at ohiohistory.org/womenhistory

SAT., APRIL 27 • 11 A.M.–4 P.M. National Road & Zane Grey Museum, Norwich 4 Enjoy a day of family fun at the National Road & Zane Grey Museum, with face painting, games and a prize wheel for kids, along with live music and a vendor fair for adults. 800.752.2602 or ohiohistory.org/nationalroad

SOUTHWEST

SOUTHWEST OHIO

Region 9 | South Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 2 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Rio Grande4 Counties: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton.

800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 8 Meeting SAT., MARCH 2 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Hamilton 4 Counties: Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren. See page 19.

800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org POWER OF VOICE DISCUSSION SERIES

The Grimkés—Truth Tellers for Two Centuries

Our progressive cocktail parties pair authentic adult beverages with experiences of days gone by.

Once Upon a Cocktail • April 6 Drinks of the Speakeasy • May 11 Mad for Martinis • Aug. 17 Spooky Spirits • Sept. 28 Bad Medicine • Nov. 9 Advance registration required. ohiohistory.org/cup | 800.686.1541

24 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

WEDS., MARCH 6 • 7 P.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, and Online— Attend From Anywhere!4 See page 18.

Region 7 | West Central Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 9 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Dayton 4 Counties: Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 7 Meeting SAT., MARCH 9 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Sidney 4 Counties: Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan,

Follow the

Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Region 8 | Southwest Ohio History Day Contest SAT., MARCH 16 • 8 A.M.–4 P.M. Cincinnati 4 Counties: Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren. 800.686.6124 or ohiohistoryday.org AUTHOR TALK

Catharine Beecher— The Complexity of Gender in 19th Century America SUN., MARCH 17 • 4–5:30 P.M. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Cincinnati, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 See page 18.

POWER OF VOICE DISCUSSION SERIES

Continuing the Struggle WEDS., APRIL 3 • 7 P.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati,and Online— Attend From Anywhere! 4 See page 18.

Ohio Local History Alliance Region 9 Meeting SAT., APRIL 6 • 9 A.M.–4 P.M. Chillicothe 4 Counties: Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton. See page 19. 800.686.6124 or ohiolha.org

Animals from Nature SAT., APRIL 6 • 10:30 A.M.–1:30 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon Using bark and other natural objects plus glue, paint and mixed media, create realistic or fantasy 3-D animals, birds and insects. Advance registration required. $5 plus Fort Ancient site admission: $7, $6/ages 6-17 or 60+.

Free Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 800.283.8904 or ohiohistory.org/fortancient

Solar Eclipse at Fort Ancient MON., APRIL 8 • 10 A.M.–5 P.M. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon (Note: This event is south of the eclipse’s 124-mile-wide path of totality in Ohio.

You will be able to view the eclipse from this site, though it will not be total.)

The Fort Ancient site and museum will be open for eclipse viewing. $7, $6/

to solar eclipse events in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

ages 6–17 or 60+, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under.

800.284.8904 or ohiohistory.org/ fortancient

Solar Eclipse Viewing MON., APRIL 8 • NOON–4:30 P.M. U.S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown 4 (Note: This event is south of the eclipse’s 124-milewide path of totality in Ohio. You will be able to view the eclipse from this site, though it will not be total.)

The U.S. Grant Boyhood Home, a National Historic Landmark, will be open for tours and will provide special eclipse-viewing glasses on April 8. No reservations required. 937.378.3087 55+ CREATIVE AGING

African-Inspired Handmade Beads Class THURS., APRIL 18, 25 & MAY 2 1–3 P.M. National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 Learn how to create a beautiful assortment of African-style beads that look just like the real thing using polymer clay!

Discover the origin, technique and language of tribal beads, and make a variety of bead shapes. Maximum 15 students age 55 & over. 800.752.2603 ext. 0 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc Sponsored in part by E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.

SEMI-COLON BOOK CLUB

The Shaping of Black America SAT., APRIL 27 • 10:30 A.M. Walnut Hills Branch Library, 2533 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, and Online— Attend From Anywhere! 4 See page 18.

LECTURE

Knowing Him by Heart—150 Years of African American Writings on Abraham Lincoln SUN., APRIL 28 • 4 P.M. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St., Cincinnati, and Online—Attend From Anywhere! 4 See page 18.

2024 Art of Soul! Juried Art Show Call for Artists DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: JULY 24 AT 4 P.M. Hosted by National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce The Ohio History Connection’s National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center will present the 10th annual Art of Soul!

Juried Art Show Oct. 12, 2024, through March 1, 2025. Artists from across the United States are invited to submit work to the juried exhibit in response to the themes of Social Justice and Black Joy. Only completed submissions with paid entry fee(s) will be accepted: $25 for one entry and $50 for up to three entries.

Access the Call for Artists form and instructions at 2024artofsoulnaamcc. artcall.org. Exhibit opening, awards ceremony and reception are planned for Oct. 12. 800.752.2603 or infoNAAMCC@ ohiohistory.org

Save the Date!

Terrace

ON THE

A Brutalist Garden Party

ANNUAL MEETING & FÊTE

Thurs., June 20 OHIO HISTORY CENTER, COLUMBUS

FEATURED EXHIBITS • • •

African Art—Form, Function and Fraught Histories ONGOING • WEDS.–SAT. 9 A.M.–4 P.M. National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce 4 Explore African art and its impact on the world.

African aesthetics challenged and shaped Western perceptions and are often misunderstood. This exhibit examines forms and functions of African art objects, their global influence and modern questions of cultural appropriation, representation and repatriation. Wright State University graduate students in public history assisted in creating it, using the museum’s extensive African art collection. Three more exhibits, African Americans Fighting for a Double Victory, Rhythm of Revolution and Queens of the Heartland , are all included with museum admission: $6, $5/senior, $3/ ages 6–17, Free/Ohio History Connection member or age 5 & under. 800.752.2603 or ohiohistory.org/naamcc

You never lose time on your membership by renewing early! Your membership always renews for one year from your current expiration date.

See Base Ball (Yes, Two Words) Played by 19th-Century Rules!

HOME & AWAY SCHEDULE ohiohistory.org/muffins 800.686.6124

March is Women’s History Month.

Follow the to Women’s History Month programs in this issue of Echoes Magazine.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

25

JOHN GLENN

THE MERCURY 7 On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced its first astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. 26 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

NASA

Ohio in Flight

A CONVERSATION WITH SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT JIM SLADE

F

rom the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong, Ohio has played an outsized role in air and space.

Greg Brown of the Ohio History Connection’s Armstrong Air & Space Museum sat down with veteran science reporter Jim Slade— who witnessed the first 40 years of world spaceflight firsthand and reported on America’s early years of space exploration—to discuss our state’s illustrious contributions to both.

GREG BROWN (GB): A week before Christmas 1903, on a windswept beach along the coast of North Carolina, two Ohio brothers introduced the world to powered flight. Their vision and determination inspired countless others in places near and far, across the vast oceans and here among the checkerboard fields of the Midwest.

JIM SLADE (JS): I have no idea if the Wrights envisioned flights to the moon, but I’ve no doubt that it was within the scope of their imagination. The “Boys from Dayton” used aeronautical principles far beyond most of their contemporaries, batting ideas back and forth to come up with the proper wing camber, the fact that their propeller was a wing, and a 16-horsepower engine light enough to do the job. Such genius was rare in 1900.

GB: Thirty years later, a young man in New Concord, Ohio, would gaze upward into the blue expanse, yearning to fly free and chase the clouds, too.

When World War II began, John Herschel Glenn Jr., born in 1921, left college to defend his country as a U.S. Marine aviator, flying 59 missions in an F-4U Corsair in and around the Marshall Islands.

During the Korean War, Glenn flew 63 ground-attack missions in a jet-powered F-9F Panther and then 27 more missions in an F-86 Sabre for the U.S. Air Force as an exchange officer. In July 1953, he shot down three enemy MiG aircraft.

After having served as a Marine Corps test pilot for several years, Lt. Col. John Glenn became one of the first American astronauts, chosen among the “Mercury 7” in April 1959.

JS: Glenn arrived for his interview at NASA carrying a large manila envelope containing his resume and records of his career, including speed records he had set in jets. During the interview, he asked for a look at the plans for the Mercury spacecraft, wanting to check it over for himself. He got his look and they hired him, along with six equally ambitious other guys. They went into training immediately, on a path to something no American had ever done before.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

27

NASA

thrust into the pages of history.

GB: Glenn’s flight provided a much-needed shot in the arm to our space program. As his spacecraft separated from the spent Atlas booster, his words “Zero-g and I feel fine” helped to remove the elephant that had also been kneeling on the Kennedy administration’s chest.

Friendship 7 circled the Earth three times, proving not only that our program had mustered the technical wherewithal to place a human into orbit, but also that it was important to have a skilled human pilot aboard in cases of equipment malfunction. The Soviets still held the high ground in space, but after Glenn’s successful flight, the American public was energized; we could all breathe easier.

JS: Mercury was the first step on the way to the moon. Next came the two-seat Gemini series, in which the mechanical and navigational aspects of the trans-lunar flights would be perfected. After all that was done, we would have Apollo.

Astronaut John Glenn gives ready sign during Mercury-Atlas 6 pre-launch training activities at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

MERCURY-ATLAS 6

GB: Watching with a mixture of envy and enthusiasm as Alan Shepard roared toward the blackness of space in May 1961, Glenn awaited his opportunity.

Finally, after multiple delays, Glenn’s chance came on Feb. 20, 1962. Strapped into cramped Mercury spacecraft number 13, which he had named Friendship 7, he sat patiently through the countdown. Zero, and the three liquid propellant engines at the base of Atlas missile 109-D thundered to life, vibrating the launch vehicle.

As the gleaming silver rocket left the launch pad, the acceleration built quickly, and Glenn felt the elephant kneeling on his chest, making it difficult to move or breathe. Over the roar of the engines, he barely heard Scott Carpenter’s voice assuring him, “Godspeed, John Glenn.”

JS: From our vantage point, about two miles from the launch pad, the rocket seemed to grow larger; smoke billowed around it with fire at its core. The noise rolled over us in a wave, the machine rising purposefully, gaining speed as it burned off heavy fuel. It was reassuring to hear John Glenn’s voice, calmly going about the business he was trained to do, tracking the seconds and events as he was 28 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

GB: As 9-year-old John Glenn was pondering the freedom of birds wheeling around the sky over New Concord, Viola Armstrong was giving birth to a baby boy in a farmhouse outside Wapakoneta. Naming him Neil Alden, Viola and her husband, Stephen, had dreams of a bright future for their first-born.

Earning his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday, Neil had intentions of designing airplanes for a living. He took advantage of a Navy scholarship to attend Purdue University, majoring in aeronautical engineering.

In June 1950, while still in training as a newly minted naval aviator, Neil heard the news that North Korean forces had rolled over the DMZ into South Korea.

From June 1951 to March 1952, Armstrong flew 78 combat missions from the deck of the U.S.S. Essex.

Despite losing a number of friends to enemy fire, he survived and molded an impressive resume piloting the sturdy F-9F Panther.

College degree in hand, Armstrong applied for a test pilot position with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. A few short months later, he was offered the opportunity to move to Edwards Air Force Base, California, to fly some of the fastest aircraft in the world. Armstrong became a member of a very elite fraternity, those who flew the famed North American X-15 rocket plane.

JS: I first met Neil Armstrong, however briefly, on the front porch of his parents’ home in Wapakoneta. I came over from WOWO Radio in Ft. Wayne, Indiana,

hoping to snag an interview with a real X-15 pilot.

Neil met me at the screen door, saying he couldn’t do an interview without his employer’s permission.

He didn’t like the public side of his job and I’m sure if what he said didn’t do the job, he would have found some other excuse. I did ask him if he had any ambitions to move over to the moon program, and he said no.

GEMINI VIII

GB: In 1962, NASA chose a second group of astronauts, and Neil A. Armstrong was among the lucky nine. In September 1965, the crew of the upcoming Gemini VIII flight was announced.

Armstrong, commander, would fly with David R. Scott, who would serve as pilot.

On March 16, 1966, the Titan II ICBM carrying Gemini VIII lifted off from Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy on its way to an ambitious three-day mission. The flight plan included a rendezvous with an unmanned Agena target vehicle, followed by an attempt to dock, or connect the two spacecraft, and a two-hour spacewalk, or extravehicular activity, by Scott to test some equipment.

Twenty-seven minutes after the crew docked with the Agena, Scott noticed that the two vehicles were slowly rotating counterclockwise. Although he and Armstrong realized that something was wrong, they were facing forward and therefore could not see the rear of their spacecraft and the small thruster firing alone.

JS: Listening to the astronauts, it was quickly apparent that they were in deep trouble. They uncoupled from the Agena and backed away, hoping the trouble was on the rocket and not somewhere in their spacecraft.

Armstrong tried to stop the spin with his flight controls, to no avail. Finally, he noticed the fuel in a critical steering rocket system was down to just 30%, far below normal. Pulling its circuit breaker to cut the thruster off, he switched to rockets that were used to bring the spacecraft out of orbit and got the ship stabilized.

But that action determined what happened next.

Mission rules stated that once the landing system was brought into play, the flight must be brought to an end as soon as possible.

It was a good landing in the Pacific Ocean near a backup recovery ship. Bottom line was the whole thing gave engineers confidence that, once tweaked, the system was manageable and ready to move on.

APOLLO 11

GB: Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin E. ‘Buzz’ Aldrin were tightly cinched into their couches aboard command module Columbia, atop the venting Saturn V rocket.

At 9:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, July 16, 1969, the countdown reached zero and the five firststage engines spat yellow-orange flame and threw roaring waves of sound outward in all directions.

Observers five miles away felt the rumbling in their chests as the Saturn V lifted off Pad 39-A. Even in broad daylight, the blazing brightness of the engines rivaled the morning sun.

JS: Three-and-a-half miles from the launch pad, I could feel the studio floor vibrate under my feet and see the windows rattle in their frames. The 36-story rocket, 6.2 million pounds at engine-start,

PRINTS COURTESY OF MARK KARVON ART STUDIOS

However, the spin only accelerated once they broke free. They were in danger of losing consciousness due to the building centrifugal force. By this time, I was

scrambling to get on the air, having real fear that we were about to lose two astronauts.

“Somebody’s Upside Down.“ Apollo 11 view of Eagle from Columbia, lunar orbit, July 20,1969.

“First True Spacecraft.“ The Apollo 11 Eagle descends to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

29

NASA

NASA

At one mile per hour, Apollo 11 Saturn V moves along crawler-way to launch complex at Cape Kennedy.

At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from the Kennedy Space Center. Aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft were Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr.

rose painfully slowly, gaining a speed of only 60 miles an hour by the time it reached the top of the support tower.

JS: After the trans-lunar injection burn, one of their most critical jobs was to release the Apollo spacecraft, Columbia, from the top of the Saturn V’s burned-out third stage, turn the ship around and nose it in to dock with the lunar excursion module Eagle, nested on top of the huge rocket.

It crackled and howled. Vibration in the capsule shook the astronauts as they watched their instruments tell the tale. As fuel burned off, speed increased and soon the sky outside their windows faded from blue to black. I stood there, groping for the right words to mark this once-in-history event, feeling very small and inadequate.

GB: The crew checked out their systems and then fired the third-stage engine for the five-and-a-halfminute trans-lunar injection burn, accelerating the Apollo stack (command and service module, lunar module and S-IVB stage of the rocket) to more than 24,000 miles an hour.

This burn gave the spacecraft enough momentum to coast three days to the moon. During this time, the crew took many photographs, conducted various TV broadcasts, dined and gazed at the lunar orb, which grew ever larger in their windows.

30 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Reversing Columbia, they drew the Lunar Excursion Module free, turned around again and continued, now appearing to push Eagle ahead of them, its landing legs tucked primly against its sides. While coasting toward the moon, they rolled the two spacecraft into what engineers called “Barbecue Mode,” rotating them in the sun so all surfaces would be evenly heated in the vacuum.

GB: On Saturday, July 19th, the crew turned their spacecraft 180 degrees and, facing to the rear, fired the Service Module engine for six minutes, slowing the vehicle enough to allow the moon’s gravity to capture them. Then, near disaster.

JS: The last 50,000 feet were the hardest. They began a long arc toward the surface, facing downward so the crew could visually track the path the computer

NASA

NEIL ARMSTRONG

of rocks. At that point, Armstrong took control from the computer, beginning to hand-fly the machine while he still had maneuvering room.

Back on Earth, all I could tell my audience was that it was clear that the pilot didn’t like what he saw and was “moving the spacecraft forward.”

In fact, he rounded out the descent a bit and pushed across the crater to a flat spot on the other side. Mere seconds of fuel remained when Aldrin called out “first contact” with the lunar surface. The ship settled in a stable, upright position and the astronauts quickly shut down the engine and “safed” the ship, reading their checklists over the radio so Houston could hear the results.

There was silence for a moment and then Mission Commander Neil Armstrong called: “Houston, Tranquility Base here ... the Eagle has landed.”

Indeed it had.

Greg Brown is the Historian and Collections July 20, 1969 — Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, inside of the Lunar Excursion Module while it rested on the lunar surface.

Coordinator at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum.

Jim Slade covered space, science and

was flying. But problems started to crop up almost immediately.

Because of the spacecraft’s changing angles in relation to the Earth, the main radio antenna “lost lock” with receivers on the ground. Houston told Mike Collins in the orbiting command module to tell Armstrong and Aldrin to switch to another transmitter with a better antenna angle.

Communications cleared, but as they continued, it became apparent that an overspeed of about a second was causing them to overshoot the planned landing site. Meanwhile, the computer warned it was having a hard time keeping up. Houston could see the same warnings, and reassured the astronauts that they were still “go.”

The computer’s program gave priority to the most important events, keeping them on track—but to where?

By that time, the lunar module had rolled over so the view out the window would be forward during the final minutes of the landing. Armstrong and Aldrin could now see the new landing site—about four miles beyond the intended spot—and they could also see that they were headed straight for a crater full

technology topics for radio and television from 1961 to 2001, including ABC TV and Radio News, Mutual Broadcasting System and Westinghouse Broadcasting Company.

His stories ranged from exploration to education, and archaeology to high-speed computers.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE Greg Brown and the Armstrong Air & Space Museum recommend: BOOKS

Project Mercury: NASA’s First Manned Space Program,

by John Catchpole; This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, by Lloyd Swenson Jr., James Grimwood and Charles Alexander; On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini, by Barton Hacker and James Grimwood; How Apollo Flew to the Moon, by W. David Woods; A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, by Andrew Chaikin; and First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, by James R. Hansen.

WEBSITES

The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, history.nasa.gov/alsj And, of course, nasa.gov/humans-in-space

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

31

MAHONING VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO

Michael McGovern’s Labor Lyrics and Other Poems gained a national audience for its hard-working author.

32 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Youngstown’s Puddler Poet

THE SONG-POETRY OF MICHAEL McGOVERN BY SEAN POSEY

F

rom 1865 until the end of the 19th century, workers across the country helped give the burgeoning labor movement a voice through song-poetry.

A portrait of Youngstown’s ‘Puddler Poet,’ Michael McGovern, from his 1899 collection, Labor Lyrics and Other Poems, published by The Vindicator Press.

LABOR’S CAUSE We meet today to sympathize With Homestead men who seek redress; To soothe with hope the widow’s cries And aid them in their sore distress; To join in saying, that as sure As reigns a supreme judge on high, Who sees what men who toil endure, The cause of labor shall not die.

It was not Washington’s intent, Whose patriot soldiers overthrew Oppression that these states were meant As Eldorados for the few.

Their fight is ours again today, Their wrongs and ours the same imply, And in those patriots’ names we say The cause of labor shall not die.

Send forth the words on spirit wings

Influenced by the cultural and economic changes wrought by mass industrialization, two long economic depressions in the 1870s and 1890s and some of the most violent labor strikes in the nation’s history, these proletarian lyricists helped form an important part of the cultural fabric of working-class America.

Ironworkers, railway workers, miners and various other laborers penned lyrics that addressed a wide variety of concerns of working people during the Gilded Age: Issues such as child labor, inequality, union busting and corporate greed were among the timely topics that they articulated for the masses. These poems routinely appeared in labor publications and newspapers. Working men distributed them among one another and sang them on holidays and at union rallies.

Michael McGovern, an immigrant and Youngstown ironworker, known as the “Puddler Poet,” became among the best-known of the working-class bards.

Influenced by English poetry and outraged by working conditions and the injustices in his community, he made a name for himself as a master of the medium. Most of the men (and a few women) who penned song-poems remained anonymous or relatively unknown beyond their immediate towns and cities.

McGovern, however, obtained a national reputation. According to historian Clark Halker, his poetic sensibilities and style stood above those of his contemporaries, as did the sheer volume of work he produced. Years after his death, he remained the “best remembered steelworkers’ bard,” wrote musicologist and folklorist Jacob A. Evanson.

That wealth no longer shall maintain In this free land its petty kings,

A HARDSCRABBLE YOUTH

With armed thugs to guard their reign.

Born in Ireland sometime in 1847 or 1848, McGovern experienced a hardscrabble youth. Despite poverty and limited formal education, he became a student of English literature and the Greek classics.

With justice in this noble fight Wealth’s private armies we defy; With votes as weapons wielded right, The cause of labor shall not die.

After an unsatisfying apprenticeship to a shoemaker, he left for England to work in the steel industry in Sheffield, where

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

33

he met his wife. According to historian Jim Fahy, McGovern became involved with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an organization seeking the establishment of an independent Irish republic.

With the authorities on his trail, he and his wife fled England for America, though he remained dedicated to the Irish freedom struggle—a recurring theme in his poems.

LIFE IN AMERICA

McGovern made his way to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he found work in the rolling mills. Like most song-poets, he had a skilled trade, that of a puddler. Iron “puddling” was a laborious process of creating wrought iron. It took a knowledge of metallurgy and the strength to succeed in the occupation.

What’s more, puddlers, like many men in the steel industry, worked 12-hour days. When McGovern moved to Youngstown in the 1880s, puddlers commanded respect among industrial workers in the Mahoning Valley. But while some skilled tradesmen sought to distance themselves from “unskilled wage slaves,” McGovern presented himself as a puddler allied with working people in general, which comes across in the poem “The Puddler’s View of Present Systems.”

The plutocrats, the goldbugs, and the tariff lords who rule us all.

The press and politicians that will tell us lies to fool us all.

The ministers and bishops who e’er preach on Christ and pray for all.

The warriors who’d kill the foes that would invade and slay us all.

The hoboes and the millionaires who never work at all, all.

Would one and all be starving did the workingman not toil for all.

Workers like McGovern could see Gilded Age industrial capitalism coalescing all around them, becoming ever more concentrated and powerful.

According to Halker, “To song-poets, the rising order represented an anti-republican, anti-American force that threatened the rights of workers and the nation as a whole.”

34 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

AN ANTIDOTE FOR LABOR STRUGGLES

Song-poets such as McGovern saw labor unions as a ready antidote for the predicament of workers. Various aspects of the labor struggle appeared in countless song-poems, written by a sundry assortment of men, from miners to steelworkers—even occasionally union leaders themselves.

The era’s violent confrontations between labor and capital also produced grist for many a poem.

McGovern penned an ode to the workers killed in the epochal Homestead Steel Strike in 1892. A member of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, McGovern’s pro-union and anti-monopoly message shines through in these lines from a 1901 piece published in The (Youngstown) Vindicator: ’Tis thus that the big corporation Would grab and monopolize all, While Little competitors weaken Being crushed, as it were, to the wall.

But Labor, though feeble as units, By union may furnish a power As strong as the cyclone that razes The structures of years in an hour.

McGovern’s talent and his championing of labor’s cause earned him a loyal following. According to the later reminiscences of co-worker Roger Evans, “His compositions were so widely shared among men in the mills that the pages became unreadable and worn to shreds. Many were those who memorized the poems and could repeat them as readily as the author himself.”

McGovern returned the favor. When his 1899 book, Labor Lyrics and Other Poems, was published, he donated the profits from the sale of the first 1,000 copies to unemployed tin workers in two Amalgamated lodges in Pennsylvania.

THE STRUGGLE OF WORKERS

Labor Lyrics comprises 156 pages of verses. It features poems such as “To Jenny”—which shows the puddler’s skill at conveying the magisterial qualities of love—and “The Socialist’s Church,” a lyrical sermon with some verses that recall the oratory of political activist and trade unionist Eugene Debs.

Most, however, directly depict the struggle of workers against the great inequality of the Gilded Age. The biting lines of “To Labor, Which Celebrates the Memory of Its Stolen Freedom” contrasts the ideals of the American Revolution with what McGovern considered to be the degraded economic and political reality facing modern American workers: Go, listen to plutes quote our great constitution, And dwell on your freedom, while winking one eye,

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE Sean Posey recommends these books: For Democracy, Workers, and God: Labor SongPoems and Labor Protest, 1865-95 by Clark D. Halker; Culture Work: Folklore for the Public Good, Tim Frandy and B. Marcus Cederström, editors; Wobblies, Pile Butts, and Other Heroes: Laborlore Explorations

by Archie Green; and American Song and Struggle from Columbus to World War II by Will Kaufman.

But breathe not a word of “unjust distribution,” Imagine you’re freemen this Fourth of July.

Even as McGovern’s crowning achievement came off the press, the golden age of the song-poem was ending. According to Halker, an emerging popular culture, the professionalization of the labor movement and the crushing defeats the movement itself experienced—such as the 1894 Pullman Strike— helped erode the art form.

Radical labor groups like the International Workers of the World and particularly the IWW organizer and lyricist Joe Hill helped keep the spirit of the songpoem alive through the early 20th century. Socialist and communist newspapers also continued, for a time, to devote space to verses written by workers.

However, by the time of McGovern’s death in Youngstown in 1933, the old reality of average laborers penning lyrics and verse by the many thousands had long since receded into history.

Indeed, it was only after McGovern’s passing that the labor movement itself fully recovered from its earlier defeats and finally won an important foothold on the economy for wide swaths of working people.

The Ohio History Connection’s Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor features exhibits on the Youngstown area’s 20th-century steel industry. Ohio History Connection members enjoy free admission. Learn more at ohiohistory.org/ youngstown or youngstownohiosteelmuseum.org.

Sean Posey is a freelance writer and historian. His

WATCH

work has been featured in CityLab, Salon and Moyers & Company as well as in the books Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: The Youngstown Anthology and The Pittsburgh Anthology.

Scan the QR code to learn more about Youngstown’s steel industry and “Puddler Poet” Michael McGovern in the newest episode of Echoes Extras.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

35

This photograph shows Company G of the Ohio National Guard from Norwalk, Ohio, which went to Sandusky to perform police duty and assist with relief efforts after the 1924 tornado.

Damaged homes, fallen trees and the resulting debris are shown on the north side of Market Street between Perry and Meigs streets in Sandusky in the aftermath of the 1924 Lorain-Sandusky Tornado.

36 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

SANDUSKY LIBRARY/FOLLETT HOUSE MUSEUM

Ohio’s Deadliest Tornadoes THE 1924 LORAIN-SANDUSKY AND 1974 XENIA TORNADOES

BY THOMAS & JEANNE APPELHANS SCHMIDLIN

T

he Lorain-Sandusky Tornado struck on Saturday, June 28, 1924, first in Sandusky and then in Lorain. The toll of 85 fatalities remains the greatest of any Ohio tornado.

Fifty years later and 50 years ago, the Xenia Tornado struck on Wednesday, April 3, 1974, along a 32-mile path in Greene and Clark counties. The Xenia Tornado killed 32 people and was the deadliest of 148 tornadoes across 13 states on April 3 and 4, 1974. There hasn’t been such a large death toll from a tornado in Ohio since.

On the shores of Lake Erie, Ohioans were enjoying a typical warm June day, engrossed in summer Saturday activities. The late afternoon sky darkened, and winds ushered in threatening thunderstorms. What followed was chaos, as the Lorain-Sandusky Tornado touched down over Sandusky Bay and traveled eastward into Sandusky at about 4:30 p.m.

OHIO NATIONAL GUARD

OHIO NATIONAL GUARD

TOLEDO LUCAS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

Nine city blocks were destroyed along the waterfront in an area bounded by Market Street, Adams Street and Washington Park. The Sandusky Yacht Club was swept into the bay, and the three-story Groch Coal Company building collapsed. The destruction of the Sandusky waterfront was witnessed by 1,200 terrified passengers on

NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM

LORAIN-SANDUSKY TORNADO

Firefighters put out flames in the area of the Greene County Courthouse after the 1974 Xenia tornado.

A tractor-trailer overturned by the 1974 Xenia tornado.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

37

COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY

This postcard shows the path of the June 28, 1924, tornado in Lorain. Captions mark some key sites damaged or destroyed by it.

the steamer G.A. Boeckling, tied up at the Cedar Point dock. (The G.A. Boeckling was retired from the Cedar Point-Sandusky run in 1952.) At least eight people in Sandusky were killed on that sad day.

The storm then passed over Lake Erie and came ashore as a massive funnel at Lakeview Park in Lorain at 5:08 p.m. It carved a three-mile-long path of destruction through downtown Lorain, at times 4,000 feet wide.

More damage was noted to the east in Sheffield and Avon. Buildings were damaged along 35 blocks on Broadway in Lorain. More than 500 homes and 200 businesses were destroyed. At least 72 people in Lorain were killed, including 15 when the State Theater collapsed onto 80 patrons during a matinee musical.

A second tornado traveled 13 miles from Vickery to Castalia, and a third killed three farmers in milking barns near Hiram in Portage County.

Business letters, checks and other papers from Lorain fell from the sky later that evening 90 miles to the east in Ashtabula County. Soon after the tornado dissipated, medical supplies, doctors and nurses arrived from Cleveland by lake steamer, rail and auto. Displaced residents found food and shelter with relatives or neighbors or in Red Cross tents. Limited radio and telephone service was restored within two days.

38 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

TRAGEDY IN XENIA

On April 3, 1974, the Xenia area was beginning to see its first signs of spring as cold winter temperatures were giving way to warmer air. In late afternoon, thunderstorms began to develop across the region.

Without the advantage of modern tornado detection and warning systems, the Xenia Tornado bore down on the community.

In its wake, the tornado left 32 people dead on a path from Xenia through Wilberforce. It touched down at 4:30 p.m. nine miles southwest of the city at the Centerville and Waynesville roads intersection. It entered the city 10 minutes later as an F5 tornado (F5 is the strongest ranking on the Fujita Scale, now called the EF scale, or Enhanced Fujita Scale).

Half of the buildings in Xenia were damaged and 300 homes destroyed. Much of the home destruction came in the Windsor Park and Arrowhead subdivisions on the southwest side of town. The tornado passed just one-quarter mile south of Greene Memorial Hospital, sparing the structure that would eventually care for so many of the injured.

The response to help was immediate. The Red Cross was on the scene within 60 minutes and provided

MIAMI UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

2,400 people with temporary shelter that night.

Vehicles of all sorts delivered hundreds of injured to Greene Memorial Hospital, and off-duty doctors and nurses converged on the hospital that evening. More medical help came from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Restaurants handed out thousands of free meals, contractors donated heavy equipment, volunteers arrived from surrounding communities to help in the clean-up and hundreds lined up to donate blood.

GREENE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Xenia Tornado was one of 148 tornadoes that touched down across the United States, including 12 in Ohio, during this “super-outbreak” of April 3 and 4, 1974. This tornado was a benchmark weather event for us. “Xenia” became a word synonymous with tornado destruction nationally for many years. Not since the Lorain-Sandusky Tornado 50 years earlier had so many been killed in Ohio by one tornado and a city so devastated. The deadliest tornado in Ohio since then has been an F5 that killed 10 in Trumbull County on May 31, 1985.

NOT THE FIRST IN XENIA

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS | NYTTEND

Xenia has seen other tornadoes. A tornado on May 13, 1933, killed two people on a two-mile long path on the eastern side of town. An F2 tornado hit Shawnee Village in northeast Xenia on April 25, 1989, damaging more than 100 homes, including two that were also damaged in 1974. On Sept. 20, 2000, an F4 tornado killed one and damaged 250 homes and another 40 businesses along a nine-mile path that struck some of the same locations hit in 1974.

Is Xenia cursed to be repeatedly visited by tornadoes?

Probably not. Tornadoes are rare events, and such events may appear to cluster over time. In fact, other locations have been struck by multiple tornadoes over several decades, but the 1974 disaster landed Xenia in the record books.

WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE 1974?

Fifty years ago, bell-bottom pants were the thing, Blazing Saddles was the top-grossing movie, Rubik’s Cube made its debut and we had our first hand-held pocket calculators. A lot has changed since 1974.

In the science of meteorology, changes in tornado detection, warning and communication have been very important to reduce risk from storms. Doppler radar replaced conventional radar in the late 1980s, allowing detection of horizontal motion and rotation in clouds. In 2011, a more sophisticated dual-polarization radar made its debut, showing forecasters detailed horizontal and vertical motion in storms and a quicker viewing update.

Top: Early 20th-century postcard of the landmark Millen-Schmidt House in Xenia.

Middle: The Millen-Schmidt House was severely damaged by the April 3, 1974, Xenia tornado, which reached speeds of over 260 miles per hour.

Bottom: Restored after the 1974 tornado, the Millen-Schmidt House is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

39

GREENE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

Tornado detection, warning and communication are much better today than in decades past. Personal vigilance is the key to survival. Attention to a warning device during threatening weather and quick movement to your safest location offer the best protection against the wind and debris of a tornado.

A car landed in the front yard of 1473 Texas Drive in Xenia during the tornado. The damaged house in the background was owned by Earl F. and Sandra D. Staup. The Staups rebuilt their home and lived there two more years.

Tornado warnings previously were issued for entire counties, but in 2007 the National Weather Service shifted to more targeted polygon-based warnings, which the National Weather Service Cleveland office says has reduced false alarms.

The internet came into many homes in the early 1990s and has become a major source of information (and some misinformation). Communication of warnings to the people at risk has changed, with emergency communication sent directly to cellphones and storm report confirmations provided by cellphone cameras.

There were no tornado sirens in Xenia in 1974; now there are sirens and they’re tested regularly. These changes, along with improved emergency response and medical care, have resulted in a substantial decrease in the national death rate from tornadoes during the past century.

The 1924 Lorain-Sandusky Tornado came before tornado warnings were even issued by the government or media (the first public tornado warning was in 1952).

Television, long a trusted medium to receive severe weather information, wouldn’t appear until the 1940s.

COULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN?

Large, violent tornadoes in Ohio are uncommon. When they do occur, they commonly affect only our lesspopulated rural lands. But, as seen in Sandusky and Lorain 100 years ago and in Xenia 50 years ago, when these tornadoes strike highly populated urban areas, mass tragedies can occur.

Yes, it can happen again. The EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, killed 158 people and destroyed 4,380 homes. This tragic combination of a violent tornado passing through a densely populated urban landscape will remain a threat in Ohio and nationwide.

40 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

The current mayor of Xenia, Sarah Mays, reports that the city maintains a resilient spirit. She says, “We come together in times of trial to help our neighbors, lend a hand where we can and always remember that no matter what comes our way, Xenia lives.”

Thomas & Jeanne Appelhans Schmidlin are the

authors of Thunder in the Heartland: A Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE The authors recommend: The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm by Thomas Grazulis; The Tornado by John Edward Weems; Weather: A Force of Nature by the Royal Meteorological Society; The 1924 Tornado in Lorain and Sandusky by Betsy D'Annibale; and the April 2004 National Geographic cover story “Chasing Tornadoes.”

In his book Eye of the Storm: Inside the World’s Deadliest Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Blizzards, science writer Jeffrey Rosenfeld explains the nature of violent weather, taking readers “on a whirlwind adventure through the world’s deadliest storms” and explores new ways of understanding them.

“Flying through 200 mph hurricanes with winds pummeling their planes and chasing tornadoes across the desolate desert, they risk their lives to get closer to these unbridled forces.”

The ExtremePlanet website dubs its content “All the fascinating severe weather information a researcher can put together, with a hint of sensationalism.” It includes a page titled 10 Incredible Videos Captured Inside a Tornado. Visit at ohiohistory.org/weather.

A year after the tornado devastated Xenia, Harper & Row published Tornado: The Killer Tornado That Blasted Xenia, Ohio, in April 1974 by Polk Laffoon IV, a reporter for The Cincinnati Post and the Detroit Free Press. In its review of Tornado, Knight Newspapers described the book as “primarily a story of how people cope with devastation beyond their wildest dreams.”

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

This map was created by meteorologist T. Theodore (“Ted”) Fujita, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

41

Hank Aaron (44) of the Atlanta Braves and Pete Rose (14) of the Cincinnati Reds meet U.S. Vice President Gerald Ford, second from left, before the start of the season opener at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday, April 4, 1974. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn looks on at left.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Hank Aaron starts toward first base April 4, 1974, after hitting his 714th career home run to tie Babe Ruth's record, in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium.

42 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

ASSOCIATED PRESS, BOB JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Hammerinʼ Hank THE DAY HANK AARON TIED BABE RUTH’S HOME RUN RECORD

BY JOHN KIESEWETTER

A

tlanta Braves slugger Henry Aaron was obsessed throughout the winter of 1973–74 with playing the Cincinnati Reds’ 1974 Opening Day game at Riverfront Stadium.

At age 39, Aaron hit 40 home runs in 1973, for a total of 713.

He was one shy of tying Babe Ruth’s record, and had to wait six months until April 4, 1974, to face Reds ace Jack Billingham, who had won 19 games in each of the previous two seasons.

Even on Aaron’s Jamaican honeymoon with wife Billye in November 1973, chasing the Babe’s 714 homers was on his mind.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

“I was thinking about Jack Billingham ... all winter, about what he would throw to me on Opening Day, even lying on the beach in Jamaica with my bride,” Aaron wrote in his autobiography, I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story, with Cincinnati writer Lonnie Wheeler in 1991.

Since hitting No. 660 in August 1972 in Cincinnati, passing Ruth’s record for most home runs with one team, Aaron was fixated on breaking the Bambino’s all-time record. It wasn’t easy on or off the field.

DEATH THREATS

OHIO HIS TORY CO

Aaron received death threats and racist hate mail, as if society hadn’t changed much from Aaron’s major league debut 20 years earlier in Cincinnati, on April 13, 1954. Back then, Black Braves players couldn’t eat in the downtown hotel dining room and had difficulty finding a restaurant to serve them. He printed about 20 of those hate letters in his book.

NNEC TIO

“Listen Black Boy. We don’t want no (N-word) Babe Ruth” . . .

“You black animal. I hope you never live long enough to hit more home runs than Babe Ruth” . . . “You should still be in the (N-word) Leagues” . . . “Dear Hank Aaron: I hope you get it right between the eyes.”

AL COLL N ARCHIV

For a brief part of the off-season, Aaron wasn’t concerned about the Big Red Machine after Braves owner Bill Bartholomay announced Aaron would skip Cincinnati to take his first swings

EC TIONS

“As the hate mail piled up, I became more and more intent on breaking the record and shoving it in the ugly faces of those bigots,” wrote Aaron, who retired in 1976 with 755 homers.

He died in 2021 at the age of 86.

Hank Aaron baseball cards.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

43

at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium Monday, April 8.

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn quickly shot down the plan and ordered Aaron to play two of the three Cincinnati games.

Enquirer that as a kid he watched Ruth play an exhibition game in the early 1920s, congratulated Aaron “on a great day, which is also a great day for baseball. And I hope you hit many more.”

OPENING DAY

Aaron shook his hand and said, “I’m just glad it’s almost over.”

On the eve of Opening Day, Billingham and many other Ohio residents weren’t thinking about baseball at all. A “super outbreak” of tornadoes destroyed Cincinnati’s Sayler Park neighborhood and killed 32 people in nearby Xenia. (See page 36.) Billingham saw the twister from his suburban Delhi Township home west of Cincinnati, and slept that night in the basement with his family.

“The kids were scared. I was scared,” Billingham told Reds historians John Erardi and Greg Rhodes for their 2004 Opening Day: Celebrating Cincinnati's Baseball Holiday book.

The next day was perfect for baseball, recalls Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, who started his 46-year Reds radio career that day with Aaron’s historic blast.

The sell-out crowd of 52,154 went home happy. They saw history—and a 7–6 extra-inning Reds win. Pete Rose, the National League’s 1973 Most Valuable Player and batting champ, doubled home George Foster in the ninth to tie the game, and scored the winning run from second on a wild pitch in the 11th.

After the game, Billingham told the Enquirer the record-tying pitch was “a mistake.” Future Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench called it “a good pitch, but not good enough to get Henry Aaron.”

Aaron said he wanted to break the record “not only for myself, and for Jackie Robinson, and for Black people.

All that hatred left a deep scar on me ... (Chasing Ruth) should have been the most enjoyable time of my life, and instead it was hell,” he wrote in his book.

“We were all aware what happened in Xenia and in Sayler Park the day before, and we wake up on Opening Day and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was really bizarre, the contrast of those two days,” says the Hall of Fame broadcaster.

Billingham wasn’t sharp on Opening Day. He walked leadoff hitter Ralph Garr, gave up a single to Mike Lum and got Darrell Evans to fly out to bring Aaron to the plate. Aaron looked at four pitches (three balls and a strike). Then Billingham threw his “bread and butter” pitch, a sinking fastball—that didn’t sink—low and away. Aaron, on his first swing of the season, made history at 2:40 p.m. Brennaman described it this way: “The 3–1 pitch. Swung on! Long shot into deep left field! Rose is back, and that ball is gone! A home run! Henry Aaron has just tied Babe Ruth’s home run record of 714 with a clout over the 375 marker in left.

The Braves are piling out of the dugout. The crowd is on its feet ... as Hank Aaron has just hammered a 3–1 pitch from Jack Billingham over the left-field wall, and the Braves are out in front 3–0.”

The game was halted for six minutes for an onfield ceremony with Vice President Gerald Ford, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and Commissioner Kuhn. Ford, who told the Cincinnati

44 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A GREAT DAY FOR BASEBALL

Aaron skipped Saturday’s game and on Sunday went 0-for-3. On Monday, before 53,775 fans in Atlanta, he launched a ball over the left field wall in the fourth inning for No. 715.

“For the first time in several long years,” Aaron said, “I wasn’t chasing anybody. It was like I had landed on the moon. I was there … From that point on, every home run I hit would set an all-time record.”

John Kiesewetter is TV/media reporter for

Cincinnati Public Radio’s WVXU-FM and author of Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me: My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall About the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE In his autobiography, I Had a Hammer, Hank Aaron “recounts his life, from his poor beginnings in Alabama and his job with the Negro League to his post-baseball career as a spokesman for the advancement of Blacks.” School Library Journal described the book as “much more than a collection of baseball memories. It is the first-hand account of the prejudice faced by Aaron and his contemporaries who followed Jackie Robinson into the big leagues.”

In its SportsCentury documentary series, ESPN profiled the life and career of Hank Aaron, one of its Top 50 athletes of the 20th century.

Watch the biography at ohiohistory.org/Hank.

Below: Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron (44) is congratulated by teammates at home plate after he hit his 714th career home run to tie Babe Ruth's record in the first inning on Opening Day in Cincinnati, April 4, 1974.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

45

I Wish I’d Been There WHEN RUBY ELZY MADE MUSICAL THEATRE HISTORY BY DAVID WEAVER

One of the pioneer Black opera singers of the first half of the 20th century, Ruby Elzy was a sweet-voiced soprano from the hills of northeastern Mississippi who, by way of Columbus, Ohio, and The Ohio State University, became a star of stage, screen and the movies in the 1930s.

Most notably, she was handpicked

by George Gershwin to create the demanding role of Serena in Porgy and Bess, the most popular and beloved opera ever produced by an American composer.

A YOUNG GIRL’S DREAM Born in the small town of Pontotoc, Mississippi, in 1908, Ruby Pearl Elzy was only five when her father abandoned the family. Her mother, a devout and strong-willed woman, single-handedly supported herself and her four children by teaching school, picking cotton and doing laundry for white families. Ruby helped her mother with the laundry, singing as she worked.

DAVID WEAVER COLLECTION

It was the era of Jim Crow, a time when opportunities for African Americans were severely limited. If life was harsh for Ruby, music helped ease the burden. “Singing was as natural to us as breathing,” she would

When Ruby Elzy arrived at OSU as a sophomore in 1927, she “couldn’t read one [musical] note from another,“ she told the Lantern in 1937. By 1935, she was playing Serena in Porgy and Bess on Broadway.

46 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

recall. In 1927, while a freshman at Rust College, an all-Black school in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Dr. C.C. McCracken, a visiting professor from Ohio State, overheard her singing.

Awed by Elzy’s voice, he made arrangements to enroll her at Ohio State.

Elzy entered Ohio State as a sophomore in September 1927. She studied voice under Dr. Royal D. Hughes, the founder and director of the school’s new Department of Music. It wasn’t long before the young Mississippian with the beautiful voice was attracting attention. She made her radio debut on WEAO (today WOSU).

An anonymous donor provided $1,000 a year to support her schooling. The Columbus Dispatch ran a Page One story about her, “Cotton Field Singer, ‘Find’ of Professor, Groomed at University for Concert Career.” And before Elzy graduated (first in her class in music) in 1930, Ohio State presented her in a solo recital—the first time a student had been so honored.

BROADWAY BOUND From Ohio State, Elzy went east to study at the famed Juilliard School of Music in New York City. While there, she made her first appearances on Broadway and her film debut opposite the great Paul Robeson in The Emperor Jones.

Screenwriter DuBose Heyward was just beginning to work with composer Gershwin on an opera based on Heyward’s novel, Porgy.

On Heyward’s recommendation, Gershwin auditioned Ruby. She sang the dramatic spiritual, A City Called Heaven. That was all

Gershwin needed to hear. He cast Elzy as Serena, the second female lead, and wrote one of the opera’s greatest songs, My Man’s Gone Now, especially for her.

A HISTORIC RECORDING AND FIRST NIGHT On Aug. 19, 1935, six weeks before the opera’s opening, Gershwin took Elzy and four of the other principals from the opera to the rehearsal studio at CBS, where he hosted a weekly radio program. He wanted to hear what his just-completed orchestration would sound like with the 43-piece CBS orchestra. With Gershwin both introducing and conducting, Ruby Elzy was recorded for the first time singing My Man’s Gone Now. Gershwin’s opera, now called Porgy and Bess, had its world premiere in Boston on Sept. 30, 1935, and opened 10 days later on Broadway.

Critics hailed Elzy’s performance, especially her rendition of My Man’s Gone Now, one writing, “Miss Elzy’s delivery of this music is a masterpiece of its kind.”

Porgy and Bess made Ruby Elzy a star, and she would play Serena more than 800 times between 1935 and 1943. Two years later, after Gershwin’s untimely death at the age of 38, Ruby sang My Man’s Gone Now in the memorial concert at the Hollywood Bowl, broadcast worldwide over CBS Radio.

But her career wasn’t limited to Gershwin’s opera. She starred onstage in John Henry (teaming again with Robeson). She became a frequent guest on major radio shows, appearing with such stars as Bing Crosby, with whom she co-

ALAMY

starred in the film Birth of the Blues.

The high point of her career came in December 1937 when first lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited Elzy to sing at the White House.

Ruby Elzy debuted in Porgy and Bess in Boston in 1935.

Painted by Sergey Yurievich Sudeikin.

GLORY DAYS Elzy was now one of America’s most celebrated singers. But she never forgot her friends in Columbus and the huge part that Ohio State had played in her life and career. In January 1937, she returned to give a concert at the university, her first appearance there in seven years.

A local headline simply read, “Star Comes Home.”

Despite her success, Elzy’s life wasn’t without its difficulties and disappointments. She still had to fight prejudice and the narrow views the entertainment industry had of African Americans, especially of those in classical music. “There is no color to talent,” she wrote in an article for Etude magazine that was published after her death.

Elzy returned to Broadway in the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess. It ran for 286 performances, followed by a triumphant nine-month national tour that included stops in Cleveland and Cincinnati. She was at the peak of her powers as a singer. Now looking to the future, she signed a contract that would fulfill a lifelong dream—to make her grand opera debut in the title role of Verdi’s Aida.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be. On June 26, 1943, one week after her final performance as Serena, Elzy died in Detroit, following what was supposed to be a routine operation to remove a benign tumor. She was only age 35. She was buried in her hometown of Pontotoc.

A RICH LEGACY In the decades following her death, Elzy was gradually forgotten. She would receive a passing mention, a few paragraphs at most, in books about Gershwin or the American musical theatre. That began to

change in 1998, the centenary of Gershwin’s birth. That year, the 1937 Hollywood Bowl Memorial Concert was released on CD for the first time. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Lloyd Schwartz wrote that one of the highlights was “Ruby Elzy, the first and best Serena, in a hair-raising My Man’s Gone Now, which she never recorded commercially.”

In 2000, Elzy‘s native state honored her by naming her one of the charter inductees into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame, along with rock and roll legend Elvis Presley, Metropolitan Opera soprano Leontyne Price, blues great B.B. King and country singer Tammy Wynette.

And in 2012, the School of Music at her alma mater, The Ohio State University, chose as its contribution to the city of Columbus’ bicentennial a special program at the Lincoln Theatre commemorating her extraordinary life and career. I had the privilege of narrating the program, which was based on my 2004 biography of Elzy titled, Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy.

producing the first-ever CD of her rare recordings in 2006, was a labor of love. And while it’s a thrill to hear that magnificent voice on recordings, I can’t help but think how fabulous it would’ve been to hear her live and in person. I wish I’d been there.

David Weaver is the author of Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy. He’s the executive director of the Ohioana Library Association. His career in the arts and public broadcasting spans more than 40 years.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

David Weaver has published a short biography of Ruby Elzy at the website Afrocentric Voices in Classical Music, which you can visit at ohiohistory.org/Elzy1.

Hear Ruby Elzy sing My Man’s Gone Now from Porgy and Bess, introduced and conducted by the composer George Gershwin, at ohiohistory.org/Elzy2.

For me, researching and writing Elzy’s story for that book, and then

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

47

Young Eyes on the Past FRONTIERS OF BROADWAY THEATRE THE UNKNOWN STAR: JONATHAN LARSON

BY GRACE CREMEANS

Researching this topic was quite special to me and highlighted my interest in the performing arts. I have always had a love for performing and have been in many plays and musicals. My History Day project is based on the life of Jonathan Larson and his contribution to Broadway and musical theatre.

Larson was born in the suburb of White Plains, New York, on Feb. 4, 1960. As a young teen, he participated in multiple performing arts—playing the tuba, studying voice and training for the theatre. He received a full acting scholarship to

Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in 1982.

Larson was a talented lyricist and playwright whose works are an inspiration to me and many others.

His musicals blazed new frontiers by focusing on real life in contrast to earlier musicals that were fantastical or make-believe. Larson is best-known for the musical Rent.

His other works include tick, tick…

Boom! and Superbia, which was never published, though pieces of it can be found in the Library of Congress.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

OUT OF POVERTY AND STRIFE During the early 1990s, he was surrounded by poverty, the AIDS epidemic, LGBTQ+ inequalities and homelessness. This is when he began work on Rent, set in the East Village of New York City.

It spreads a message of equality, love and living for today.

Portrait of Jonathan Larson from the Larson Collection at the Library of Congress

48 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

Larson brought reallife events to the stage as never before by portraying LGBTQ+ characters, some with HIV and AIDS. He explored the injustices these groups dealt with in daily life, and he used his musical to bring awareness to their struggles. His work expanded theatre to a broader audience, including young people and the LGBTQ+ community.

For my research, I interviewed Jonathan Burkhart, a movie producer who was a roommate and close friend to Larson. Burkhart recounted fond memories of their life together in an empty apartment with no heat or electricity.

Burkhart shared a story about an occurrence after a performance of Rent. One evening, as the cast took its final bows, Burkhart saw a couple sitting in the front row.

The man was crying, and had been since the curtain fell. He went over to see what was happening.

The woman told him that the man was upset because he felt like he didn’t fit in because he was gay, and he had been thinking about committing suicide. After seeing the show, the man realized his life was worth living. This is just one example of how Larson’s musical affected people.

TRAGIC DEATH Sadly, Larson was never able to see his words brought to the stage.

On Jan. 25, 1996, 10 days before the first off-Broadway preview performance of Rent, Larson collapsed and died of an aortic aneurysm. Rent eventually opened to rave reviews and subsequently became one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, from April 29, 1996, to Sept. 7, 2008.

After Larson’s death, David Auburn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and theatre director, found Larson’s script for tick, tick… BOOM! Auburn changed it from a one-man show into a three-part Broadway classic and, in 2021, Lin-Manuel Miranda adapted it into a movie. The film was named the American Film Institute’s “Movie of the Year.”

I believe Larson will forever be in our hearts as one of the frontiersmen of Broadway, leaving many astonished by his heartwarming and true-to-life musicals. Rent continues to play in off-Broadway productions to this day.

Larson’s work has continued to blaze a trail even after his death.

His works are appreciated by many of the great playwrights of today.

He remains at the heart of musical theatre and was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony awards in 1996.

Grace Cremeans is a senior at River Valley High School in Bidwell, where she is a member of the Beta Club and National Honor Society. Grace is involved in her school choir and theatre programs as well as in community theatre. She also volunteers at her local historical society, arts center and museum. Her passions are history and musical theatre.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE Watch Jeffrey Schwartz’s documentary No Day But Today: The Story of Rent at ohiohistory.org/Larson In Boho Days: The Wider Works of Jonathan Larson, author J. Collis looks “at Larson’s entire 16-year output … not just how Rent and tick, tick... BOOM! came to life but where they came from—and how they really fit into Larson’s work as a whole.”

The book features “new interviews with Larson’s creative and personal associates and extensive archival research” and “demystifies the composer’s vision and advancement, offering fans new and old the full story of the man behind the musical which changed the world.”

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.

OHIOHIS TORY.ORG

49

Reviews

Shop our Ohio History Store in person at the Ohio History Center or online at ohiohistorystore.com for this title and more.

BOOK

Into Siberia: George Kennan's Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia by Gregory J. Wallance This book is more a biography of George Kennan—born in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1845—than it is a chronicle of the journalist and explorer’s harrowing journey through Siberia in the mid-1880s.

Wallance’s book could just as well have been titled Kennan’s Two Epic Journeys, since the author is also interested in Kennan’s first sojourn into Siberia in 1865 as part of an expedition funded by the Western Union telegraph company.

(After the failure of the first transatlantic telegraph, the company entertained laying a cable across the Bering Strait through northeastern Siberia to Moscow.)

Kennan might never have become a journalist—let alone a renowned explorer and lecturer—had it not been for an unforgettable incident in his childhood. A friend was critically injured and, out of curiosity, Kennan followed him to the surgeon’s office, where the unfortunate youth had his arm amputated at the shoulder.

Later, Kennan recalled, “The effect, upon me, was a sensation that I had never felt before in all my boyhood life—a sensation of deadly nausea, faintness and overwhelming fear.”

That young boy worried that he was a coward, “tortured by a vague suspicion that I was lacking in what we now call ‘nerve.’”

He spent the next several years proving his courage to himself. While 50 Echoes | MARCH & APRIL 2024

But the true test of Kennan’s courage would come in the form of his first journey through Siberia as part of the Russian-American Telegraph Expedition, a journey he would recount in the popular travel book, Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival.

In a letter home to his family, Kennan wrote, “I have been on one or two somewhat hazardous expeditions but good fortune and good health have never deserted me & I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have not failed in anything which I have undertaken.”

Upon his return to the states, Kennan became an in-demand lecturer all over the country as an expert on Russia.

Tent Life in Siberia not only launched Kennan’s career as a lecturer, but it also endeared him to the Russian government and Tsar Alexander III, who gave him permission to travel again through Siberia in 1885 to determine for himself the nature of the

country’s exile system. Kennan had praised Russia’s exile system as more humane than penal systems in Europe and America.

So he set out with artist George Albert Frost to investigate and write about his findings in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.

They traveled jarringly in horse-drawn carts for thousands of miles through sandstorms and in temperatures of -40 degrees; they witnessed the filth not only of Siberian prisons but also of Siberian hospitals; they saw the dangerous conditions of the mines where exiles were forced to work.

The trip nearly killed both of them.

Kennan’s body was so broken that his wife barely recognized him when the couple was reunited in London. Frost had a nervous breakdown.

Kennan concluded, in a letter to his editor at The Century, that “the exile system is worse than I believed it to be, and worse (even) than I have described it.” He subsequently published Siberia and the Exile System and became, according to Wallance, “a moral force whose writings and lectures about the inhumanity of the exile system compelled Russia to implement reforms.”

—Bill Eichenberger, Echoes Magazine FROM SIBERIA AND THE EXILE SYSTEM

“The surgeon lost his grip on the forceps clamping the end of a severed artery,” Wallance writes, “and a jet of bright red blood splashed against the inside of the glass pane where Kennan had pressed his face close.”

a telegraph operator in Cincinnati, “Kennan began carrying a revolver,” Wallance writes, “but not for protection against trouble but because he was looking for it,” intentionally walking down dark alleys and frequenting “seedy river saloons.”

A family cell in the Tomsk forwarding prison, 1885.

Now in their 43rd season, the Ohio Village Muffins carry on the tradition of base ball (yes, two words) as played in 19th-century America. Each year the Muffins play more than 40 matches, traveling Ohio and out of state, taking on other vintage teams and local community members by 19thcentury rules. Check the season schedule at ohiohistory.org/muffins for a match near you.

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

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

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

All hands on deck!

GIVE TO THE

Ohio History Fund ON YOUR

State Tax Return.

An easy way to support your community!

Your donation funds local history grants in Ohio.

ohiohistory.org/historyfund

Commodore Oliver Perry featured in Perry’s Victory, painted by William Powell of Cincinnati