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Salmon Portland Chase, a renowned lawyer and statesman, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 13, 1808. He came to Ohio in 1820 and attended Cincinnati College (1822-23). Chase returned to New Hampshire and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826. He studied law under U.S. Attorney General William Wirt in Washington D.C. and was admitted to the bar in December 1829. He then moved back to Cincinnati and in September 1830 established his law office and residence on the first floor of a brick building that stood at the northeast corner of 3rd and Main Streets. Chase gained national recognition as an anti-slavery attorney and politician and by aiding in the organization of the Liberty, Free-Soil, and Republican parties. He served as a Cincinnati city councilman (1840-41), U.S. senator from Ohio (1849-55), and was the first Republican governor of Ohio (1856-60). (continued on other side)
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Johann Christian Heyl (1788-1877), the first German and first Lutheran to settle in Columbus, was one of the original 15 settlers of the city. A baker by trade, Heyl came to bake for the soldiers quartered in Franklinton during the War of 1812. He founded the city’s first Lutheran Church and helped financially underwrite the German Theological Seminary, which later became Capital University. An early civic leader, Heyl served on City Council for 14 years, was County Treasurer for 8 years, an associate judge in the Court of Common Pleas for 14 years, was appointed to the first public school board, and was the first Chief of the Fire Department. His Sunbury Road home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. (continued on other side)
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In 1886, thirty-six members from Toledo’s downtown Lutheran church, St. Paul’s, met to form a German-speaking Lutheran congregation for immigrants from Pommern, Mecklenburg and Hanover. Initially worshipping at St. Stephen’s at the corner of Harrison and Oliver Street, the congregation built a frame church on this site in 1887. That same year St. Lucas pioneered an early form of health insurance, The Mutual Sick Benefit Society, that later became a larger fraternal organization called The Mutual Sick Benefit Society for Ohio and Other States. In 1999, after joining a program called Reconciling in Christ, St. Lucas became the first Lutheran congregation in northern Ohio to publicaly welcome the LGBT communities. Named after Saint Luke, the patron saint of physicians, the church’s history is one of healing.
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Edward Drummond Libbey High School . Edward Drummond Libbey High School – “the castle on the hill” – opened in 1923 to serve the growing number of students in Toledo Public Schools. The school offered a curriculum of manual and academic training, reflecting a progressive movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to democratize education. Libbey High School was named for Edward D. Libbey (1854-1925), a local businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist who founded the Libbey Glass Company and Toledo Museum of Art. Libbey’s successful business ventures earned Toledo the nickname “The Glass Capital of the World.” Much of his fortune was spent on providing cultural and educational institutions that still serve the public as of 2018. (Continued on other side)
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In 1962, Asian Indian students of Case Western Reserve University started India Association of Cleveland (IAC). In 1967, IAC started a newspaper “LOTUS,” regarded as the first such Asian Indian community newspapers in the United States. In 1978, IAC started a community center to be owned and managed by a new organization: India Community Center (ICC), the first such facility established by Asian Indians in Ohio. In 1980, IAC and ICC merged and formed the Federation of India Community Associations (FICA). Other associations representing the various states and interests in India became Federation members.
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Founded in 1924 and incorporated in 1925, the German Central Organization was established to serve all people of German descent and was the central meeting place for immigrants of various ethnic groups following both world wars. During the difficult years of the Great Depression, the German Central Organization distributed money to needy German-Americans and helped thousands to find jobs by providing free employment service. Anti-German sentiment during World War II culminated in a vandal attack on the German Central Organization farm in 1942. Despite damage to the property and decreased membership, the German Central Organization rebounded and remains a solid pillar of the community.
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The Union and League of Romanian Societies, Incorporated was formed in 1928 from a unification of two separate fraternal organizations, the Union and the League. The Union, founded on July 4, 1906, was originally organized for the purpose of promoting the general welfare of its members through life insurance policies obtained through individual societies located in the United States and Canada. The societies of the Union and League offer social interaction within their local lodges and through the strength of the larger parent organization. The purpose of the current Union and League is to maintain and encourage Romanian cultural heritage by promoting interest in Romanian ethnic values through cultural activities and to sustain loyalty to the United States and Canada among its respective members.
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In August 1903, architects Daniel H. Burnham, John M. Carrere, and Arnold W. Brunner presented Mayor Tom L. Johnson and the City of Cleveland a plan that epitomized the City Beautiful Movement in America. The Group Plan envisioned a grand landscaped mall surrounded by public buildings in the Beaux-Arts style. The plan would create a monumental civic center, influence the design of buildings throughout the city, and lay the foundation for a city planning commission. The first of its kind in the nation, the Group Plan, as built, was the most completely realized of Burnham’s city planning efforts. In its green space and architecture, the Mall remains an enduring and vital element of Cleveland’s civic culture. (continued on other side)