Remarkable Ohio

Results for: boat-ship-industry
85 Commerce Street
Lockbourne

, OH

Anticipating a boom in canal commerce, Colonel James Kilbourne (1770-1850) platted Lockbourne in 1831 at the junction of the Ohio-Erie Canal and the Columbus Feeder, which was completed the same year. Lockbourne derives its name from the numerous canal locks at this site and Kilbourne’s own surname. During the heyday of the canal era, Lockbourne boasted the Canal House Hotel, several taverns, a stock yard, a distillery, a sawmill, and a gristmill which used the head of water at Lock 30 for power. (continued on other side)

1800 Triplett Blvd
Akron

, OH

The innovations of Dr. Karl Arnstein (1887-1974), an aerospace industry pioneer, form the foundation for lighter-than-air technology in use today. His mathematical proof and application of modern stress analysis allowed the construction of larger, stronger rigid airships. Born in Prague, he led airship design at the Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin Company in Germany. Dr. Arnstein immigrated to Akron, Ohio, in 1924 to serve as vice-president of engineering at Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. With his team of twelve German immigrant engineers, Arnstein oversaw development of the Navy’s dirigibles Akron and Macon. He received 35 U.S. aviation related patents, from designs for hollow metal girders to an aerodynamic airship hanger, the Airdock in Akron. From 1940 until retirement in 1957, Dr. Arnstein headed engineering at Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, a leading aerospace contractor, which produced more than 200 Navy blimps, 4,000 Corsair fighter planes, plus airplane and missile parts.

149 Commerce Street
Lockbourne

, OH

The Ohio-Erie Canal was built between 1825 and 1832 and extended 308 miles from Lake Erie at Cleveland to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. The greatest engineering achievement in Ohio up to that time, the canal gave the state’s farmers and merchants much greater access to goods and markets and was instrumental in the young state’s rapid growth. Lockbourne was a focal point of activity on the canal with its staircase of eight lift locks (numbered 23 through 30), two canal basins, and junction with the Columbus Feeder. Locke Meadow Park encompasses the remnants of Lock 30 and the Big Walnut Creek guard lock, which prevented flood water from entering the main canal. The Lock Tender’s house was located adjacent to Lock 30.

Inside Lock Meadows Park at Lock 30
Lockbourne

, OH

The Ohio-Erie Canal was built between 1825 and 1832 and extended 308 miles from Lake Erie at Cleveland to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. The greatest engineering achievement in Ohio up to that time, the canal gave the state’s farmers and merchants much greater access to goods and markets and was instrumental in the young state’s rapid growth. Lockbourne was a focal point of activity on the canal with its staircase of eight lift locks (numbered 23 through 30), two canal basins, and junction with the Columbus Feeder. Locke Meadow Park encompasses the remnants of Lock 30 and the Big Walnut Creek guard lock, which prevented flood water from entering the main canal. The Lock Tender’s house was located adjacent to Lock 30.

Just W of 4295 Warren-Sharon Road
Vienna

, OH

The Connecticut Land Company surveyed Vienna Township as Township 4, Range 2, in 1798. The Township’s proprietors were Ephraim Root, Uriel Holmes, Jr., and Timothy Burr. Survey members Dennis Clark Palmer, Isaac Flower, and Samuel Hutchins and their families were the first to settle here in 1799. Between 1810 and 1840, Vienna was a center for the wooden works clock industry in Trumbull County and the Connecticut Western Reserve, with six factories located amid farms, sawmills, and quarries. After coal was discovered in 1866, over twenty mines were opened, bringing boom times for two decades. Vienna’s miners helped to bring about Ohio’s first mining safety law in 1874. Vienna was the birthplace of abolitionist and attorney John Hutchins (1812-1891), who represented Trumbull and Ashtabula counties in the United States Congress (1859-1863) and raised troops during the Civil War.

284 N Miami Street
West Milton

, OH

In 1908, West Milton native Charles Furnas worked as a machinist in Dayton doing odd jobs for the Wright Brothers, the inventors of the first practical airplane. At that time the U.S. Army had agreed to purchase an aircraft from the Wright Brothers provided it would carry a pilot and a passenger. Furnas worked with the brothers to adapt their plane. On May 14, 1908, he flew first with Wilbur and then with Orville, becoming the world’s first airplane passenger. (continued on other side)

John S. Knight Center, 77 E. Mill Street
Akron

, OH

Five Depression-era strikes against many of Akron’s rubber companies culminated in a giant “sit-down” strike against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the industry’s leader, in February and March of 1936. The fledgling United Rubber Workers (URW), created in September 1935, used the tactic of being at work but not working that had been pioneered by rank-and-file workers in a successful 1934 strike against the General Tire and Rubber Company. After a peaceful month-long strike, the URW won recognition from Goodyear and reached a settlement on March 22. The 1936 Akron Rubber Strike was one of the earliest successes for the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), sparking a wave of industrial organizing and similar strikes in 1936 and 1937. The “sit-down” strategy extended beyond the rubber industry and was instrumental in the founding of the industrial union movement in the United States.

439 North Elm Street
Troy

, OH

Construction of the Miami Extension of the Miami and Erie Canal, which included Troy, began around 1834. Lock 12 was built in 1836. General William Henry Harrison and other dignitaries officially opened the Troy section on July 4, 1837. The canal brought prosperity to the area, as its products were shipped to new markets and more people moved here. The last canal boat came through Lock 12 in 1912 and the disastrous flood of March 1913 finally ended Troy and Ohio’s canal era. Evidence suggests that in the late 1920s, the Hobart Brothers Company’s building on West Main Street covered part of the lock. The building and lock were razed in 2015. The footprint monument was dedicated June 7, 2017 and includes stones from Lock 12.