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On October 22, 1913, Congress appropriated $35,000 to build a light-and-fog station at Lorain harbor. Construction began after plans were approved in 1916. The concrete structure was finished and light placed in service in 1917, but the station was not completed until 1919. The lighthouse’s foundation is comprised of a wooden crib and boxes filled with stone. The lighthouse consists of a basement and three floors, topped by a lantern room. Like others, this lighthouse had its own identifying signals, namely, the duration of the fog horn’s blast and the rotation and duration of the light. A fourth order Fresnel lens was installed in 1919 and lit with an incandescent oil vapor lamp. The lamp was converted to electric power in 1932. The lighthouse was manned by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, a civilian organization, until the U.S. Coast Guard took control of all U.S. lighthouses in 1939.
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Tuscora Park, on land once owned by Jeremiah Reeves, opened as a private amusement park on June 1, 1907. Despite rain, the grand opening brought thousands of visitors to the park. Throughout the summer months, large crowds enjoyed such features as a swimming pool, sea wave, restaurant, dancing pavilion, and twice-daily free band concerts. The park also featured athletic facilities for running, tennis, baseball, and bowling. After Tuscora Park was sold in a November 1911 Sheriff’s sale, New Philadelphia’s City Council authorized its purchase along with additional surrounding acreage and received the deeds on June 21, 1912. Originally billed as the “Coney Island of Eastern Ohio,” Tuscora continues to operate as a city-owned park that draws both local residents and visitors to its picnic grounds, vintage rides, swimming pool, and athletic facilities. (Continued on other side)
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Lewis Albert Jackson (December 29, 1912-January 8, 1994) was an African American aviator remembered for training Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. As a teenager in Indiana, he began flight lessons and soloed in 1932, flying his own Waco 10. Jackson spent 1932-1937 barnstorming to save money for college while earning his Transport Pilot’s License. He re-rated to a Commercial License with Instructor Rating in 1939, and then completed advanced acrobatic training at Coffey School of Aeronautics. In late 1940, he was appointed Director of Training in the Army Air Force 66th Flight Training Detachment at Tuskegee Institute. After the war he moved to Ohio and served as an FAA Flight Examiner from 1947 to 1960. The Lewis A. Jackson Greene County Regional Airport was posthumously renamed to honor this true aviation pioneer.
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Eleutheros Cooke. The Cooke-Dorn house was the last home of attorney Eleutheros Cooke (1787-1864) who served four years in the Ohio legislature and one term in the 22nd Congress of the United States. An early proponent of railroads, Cooke received one of the first charters granted to a railroad west of the Alleghany Mountains, for the Mad River & Lake Erie line. He and wife Martha had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Two rose to prominence in the Civil War era. Jay was a successful banker and became known as the “financier of the Civil War” for his efforts to secure loans from Northern banks to support the Union’s war effort. Henry was appointed as the first governor of the short-lived Territory of the District of Columbia in 1871 (which was replaced in 1874).
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Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock’s Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting “Spanish Dancing Girls” at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side)
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William McKinley’s boyhood home once stood here. The McKinley family moved to Poland in 1852 when William was nine to send the children to its superior schools. William was a diligent student at the Poland Academy, and passed his time playing sports and swimming in nearby Yellow Creek. Upon graduation, he left for college, but illness forced him to return home. He then worked as a postal clerk and taught school. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, McKinley enlisted as a private in the Poland Guard, and returned in 1865 a brevet major. He then studied under Poland lawyer Charles Glidden and attended Albany Law School. In 1867 McKinley moved to Canton to pursue a career in law and politics. He served in Congress, as Governor of Ohio, and finally as the 25th President of the United States.
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Built by “Old Miami” University President Robert L. Stanton, D.D. (1810-1885) as his private home and president’s office, Stanton’s 1868 Italianate house faced University Square, and welcomed students and guests. The house retains its original symmetrical façade, enclosed portal, grand staircase, double parlors, parlor doors, marbleized slate mantels, and triangular bay windows. Stanton served as president from 1866-1871. Stanton’s son, Robert Brewster Stanton, MU ’71, famed civil engineer, lived here as an undergraduate. His Miami mentor, mathematics professor Robert W. McFarland (1825-1910), purchased the house in 1873. McFarland rented it while distinguishing himself at Ohio State University during Miami’s twelve-year closure, and then resided here while first president of “New Miami” (1885-1888) and until his death. McFarland’s daughter Frances and her husband Llewellyn Bonham sold the home to Miami in 1940.
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Merion Village was named for the Nathaniel Merion family, who in 1809 settled what is now the South Side of Columbus on 1800 acres of the Refugee Lands. Entrepreneur William Merion operated “Merion’s Landing” in the 1830s to capitalize on the canal trade from the Columbus Feeder Canal. This area saw a large influx of German immigrants as the South Side industrialized in the mid-nineteenth century. Later, many Irish, Italian, and eastern European immigrants who worked in the local steel mills and foundries made their homes here.