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The Committee for Industrial Organization, later called the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), formed the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) under the leadership of CIO president John L. Lewis in April 1936. Following successful CIO strikes in the rubber and automobile industries, SWOC won contracts in early 1937 with the United States Steel Corporation and Jones and Laughlin Steel, the largest steel makers in the United States, also known as “Big Steel.” On May 26, 1937, SWOC struck three “Little Steel” companies whose operations were concentrated in the Mahoning Valley: Inland Steel, Republic Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube. By early June, the first major steel strike since 1919 idled more than 28,000 Canton, Warren, and Youngstown steelworkers. (continued on other side)
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The Moravian Church in America began missionary work among the Delaware and Mohican tribes of North America in the mid-18th century. David Zeisberger, one of the best-known Moravian missionaries, came to the Ohio country with Delaware converts from a mission in western Pennsylvania and founded Schoenbrunn in the Tuscarawas Valley on May 3, 1772. Josua, a Mohican convert and missionary leader, led Mohican and Munsee Christians downriver and settled Gnadenhutten (“Tents of Grace”) on October 9, 1772. Zeisberger served as lead missionary at both villages. By 1775, there was an estimated 200 inhabitants in the village. The British, along with Wyandot and Delaware allies, suspected the Christian Indians of aiding the Americans. To ensure their allegiance to the British, the inhabitants of Gnadenhutten were forcibly removed in 1781 and taken to Captives’ Town on the Sandusky River.
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Natalie Clifford Barney was born in Dayton on October 31, 1876. Her family was wealthy and industrious, including her great grandfather who founded the Dayton Academy, Cooper Female Seminary, and Dayton Car Works. Natalie, who knew that she was a lesbian by age twelve, lived an outspoken and independent life unusual for a woman of this time period. Her openness and pride about her sexuality, without shame, was at least one hundred years ahead of its time. She published Some Portrait-Sonnets of Women, a book of love poems to women under her own name in 1900. American painter Romaine Brooks was Barney’s partner and companion for fifty years. (continued on other side)
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The Bridgeport Iron Bridge, often called the Streng Road Iron Bridge, was built in 1914. It replaced a wooden covered bridge built in 1869 by Reuben L. Partridge (1823-1900) and Isaac J. Grummons (1828-1921), which was damaged by the flood of 1913. The 200′ steel superstructure uses a pin-connected Pratt Through truss design and was constructed by the Central Concrete & Construction Company, Canton, Ohio, at a cost of $8,987. The original substructure abutments were constructed by John A. Maugans (1861-1933) for $3,248, but have since been replaced. In 1992 and 1993, the bridge was renovated under the leadership of County Engineer Steve A. Stolte and Assistant Engineer Jeff Stauch.
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Many early settlers of Morgan County were of Scot-Irish heritage and brought the Presbyterian faith with them. From this group Reverend John Hunt and twelve charter members organized the first congregation in McConnelsville and Malta in 1824 and third oldest congregation in Morgan County. The congregation built a brick church in 1832 at a cost of $2,361. Known for its excellent acoustics and fine music, the building received the first pump organ in the two villages in 1849. In 1916 the church was stuccoed and added a Sunday school and vestibule. The original bell was sold to the steamboat H.D. Munson in 1865, and the present bell came from the Bristol Presbyterian Church. Because of its large seating capacity, the church was also used for civic functions, including an early court trial. Over the years, members have included General Robert McConnell, founder of McConnelsville, Henry Dawes, uncle of Vice-President Charles Dawes, and Frances Dana Gage, early women’s rights leader.
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John Graham (1798-1849), pastor of the West Union Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1841-1849, erected the house he called Pleasant Hill in 1842. An outspoken abolitionist who preached against the evils of slavery, Graham used his house as a station on the Underground Railroad. “Black Joe” Logan, an escaped slave who lived nearby, conducted runaways from Pleasant Hill to stations north. Reverend Graham died of Asiatic cholera in 1849 and is buried in the old West Union South Cemetery.
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Hallie Quinn Brown (c. 1850) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to former slaves. She and her family moved to Wilberforce, Ohio in 1870, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilberforce University in 1873. Brown taught school in the South until her appointment as professor of elocution at Wilberforce University in 1893. A gifted elocutionist and author, Brown received national and international acclaim not only for her recitals and written works, but also for her passionate belief in civil rights and African American culture. (Continued on other side)
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The United Society of Believers (or “Shakers,” as they are commonly known) established White Water, the last of four Ohio Shaker villages, in 1824. White Water flourished throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At its peak during the 1850s, 150 Believers living in three semi-autonomous Shaker “families” farmed 1,300 acres of land in Crosby and adjacent Morgan townships. The Shakers were among the most successful religious societies in the United States. Belief in the equality of men and women, separation of the sexes, celibacy, communal ownership of property, and a distinctive style of worship — characterized by rhythmic movements and shaking — helped define the Shaker lifestyle. (Continued on other side)
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