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The town of Bedford was settled in 1837. Early residents, Hezekiah and Clarissa Dunham donated the land that serves as Bedford Public Square. The Dunhams built one of the area’s first homes in 1832, which stands at 729 Broadway with the letters H & D above the doorway. Early settlers were attracted to the area by the abundance of natural resources and a large waterfall for mill sites. Bedford also served as a stagecoach stop on the route from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. The road or Turnpike Road as it was called was originally part of the Mahoning Indian Trail. By 1895 the road was renamed Main Street (and later Broadway) when the Akron, Bedford, and Cleveland Railway Company (ABC) traversed the middle of the street carrying passengers. The interurban is called “America’s first high speed long distance electric interurban” with speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour. [continued on other side]
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Woodvale Cemetery was established in the mid-1800s, in Middleburgh Township, Ohio. The oldest marked grave holds Fred G. Klink (1835-1858), whose family donated a half acre of land for burials. In 1876, Frank M. Stearns (1832-1911) suggested the unnamed cemetery be called Woodvale, after the wooded vale beside it. In 1908, a fire destroyed the caretaker’s house and many cemetery records. Woodvale became a non-profit, union cemetery in 1931, owned by Berea and the Village of Middleburg Hts. and covering 35 acres at 7535 Engle Road. Pioneer families buried here: Fowles, Kraft, Lovejoy, Sprague, and Stearns. Also buried here: John Baldwin (1799-1884) founder of Baldwin University and James Wallace (1878-1953) founder of German Wallace College (merged in 1913 to become Baldwin Wallace College) (Continued other side)
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Hanford Village was founded in the early 1900s just east of Columbus proper with its own mayor, police force, fire department, businesses, and park. After World War II, a subdivision of Hanford became a segregated community for returning African American veterans to settle using the G.I. Bill. Hanford then became one of the few places involved in an all African American post-war housing development program in the United States. During the 1960s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Federal Interstate Highway System Act resulted in construction of Interstate 70 which split Hanford Village into two sections and tore apart the community. However, since the division, the residents of the village have worked to maintain its sense of community and unity.
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In 1798, Articles of Confederation Congress provided land to British Canadians who lost property because of loyalty to American revolutionaries during the American War of Independence (1775-1783). This land was part of the Refugee Tract and the present-day Truro Township. In 1850, Henry Stanbery, first Attorney General of Ohio, purchased a portion of this land. In 1923, Charles Johnson bought a section of this land and had it platted as the Eastmoor Addition by the Jennings-Lawrence Company with the polo field at the center. Eastmoor has houses ranging in age from the 1920s to the early 21st century, including Lustron homes built after WWII.
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Puritas Mineral Spring Company bottled and sold mineral water from the natural springs in the area. In 1894, the Cleveland and Berea Street Railway bought Puritas Springs and expanded the area into a picnic grove with a dance hall and pavilion to increase passenger traffic on the inter-urban line. Puritas Springs Park opened June 10, 1900- the first day the railways operated all the way to the entrance gates. John E. Gooding bought Puritas Springs in June 1915 and added and indoor roller rink, amusement rides, and the mighty Cyclone roller coaster. Labor Day 1958 the park closed, and on May 9, 1059 a fire destroyed many parts of the abondoned park.
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The first Blendon Presbyterian Church was located at the intersection of Dempsey and Hempstead Roads on what is part of Blendon Central Cemetery. Timothy Lee (1785-1862) donated land at the northeast corner for a church and cemetery. The church was dedicated on December 6, 1829, but it burned that same night under suspicious circumstances. Following the fire, the congregation’s members built another edifice on “Phelps Acre,” across Hempstead Road and so named for benefactor Edward Phelps. Sr. (1759-1840). The congregation held services there from 1830 to 1865. It was believed that the church was finally abandoned and dismantled piecemeal after the Central College Presbyterian Church was finished in 1870.
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On this site, Alexander Winton (1860-1932), an American automobile pioneer, built and lived in a lakefront estate named Roseneath. Winton was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States as a young man, settling in Cleveland. In the early 1890s, Winton founded the Winton Bicycle Company; six years later, he incorporated the Winton Motor Carriage Company. In 1903, Winton’s auto plant on Berea Road was one of the largest in the world, and he produced the first car to cross America from coast to coast. These business successes enabled him to build the 25-room Roseneath. In 1912, Winton founded the Winton Gas Engine & Manufacturing Company, which would eventually become part of General Motors Corporation. Winton is buried in Lakeview Cemetery. A fire in 1962 destroyed Roseneath.
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On November 19, 1968, the Columbus Metropolitan Library dedicated the first public library in the nation named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, the East Side Community Council requested that the new library being planned for the King-Lincoln Bronzeville community bear his name. The King family had both family and civic ties to Columbus and were honored by the tribute. More than 1,000 people gathered outside 1600 E. Long Street to hear Martin Luther King Sr. deliver the November dedication speech. Continuing the King family tradition, Martin Luther King III cut the ribbon to open a new branch building at 1487 E. Long Street on October 18, 2018. The Martin Luther King Branch was the first Columbus public library to bear an individual’s name.
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