, OH
Chartered in 1849, the Institute was the first of three women’s colleges established in Oxford. The original brick building was completed in 1850, and forms the core structure. The Reverend John Witherspoon Scott, a member of Miami University’s early faculty, headed the Institute. In 1867, the Institute merged with Oxford Female College and later became the Oxford College for Women. Miami University acquired the building in 1928; in 1930 the Daughters of the American Revolution rededicated it as the “Caroline Scott Harrison Memorial.” From 1929-1998 it served as a Miami dormitory, nicknamed “Ox College.” Since 2003, the three-story building has housed the Oxford Community Arts Center. The structure is the oldest extant women’s college building in Ohio. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
, OH
A library has existed to serve Sandusky’s citizens since 1826. Beginning with the Portland Library and growing through the years, Sandusky’s library found its ultimate caretakers in a group of local women who started a fund to build a new library. Built with the aid of a $50,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie, Sandusky’s Carnegie Library was dedicated on July 3, 1901. Designed by New York architects D’Oench and Yost in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the library was built of locally quarried limestone. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 2004 a renovated library was dedicated, which incorporated the former Erie County Jail building and almost tripled the facility’s size.
, OH
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.
, OH
President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. On its way the Funeral Train stopped in Columbus and Lincoln’s coffin was moved to the Statehouse Rotunda for a day-long viewing. From Columbus Governor John Brough and others changed the train’s route, which resulted in a trip through Champaign County where it stopped several times. The Funeral Train arrived in Woodstock on April 29 at 9:46 p.m. for a brief ceremony and to take on fuel and water. With nearly 500 people present, bouquets were laid on Lincoln’s coffin. The Woodstock Cornet Band, led by Warren U. Cushman, played hymns of grief, including “Pleyel’s Hymn.” Village bells rung and silent men and women stood as the train departed and traveled downhill toward Cable and Urbana.
, OH
Dayton Woman’s Club. Community leader Robert Steele built the house that became the Dayton Woman’s Club between 1845 and 1850. Napoleon Bonaparte Darst, a wealthy merchant, bought the residence in 1861. After the Civil War he refurbished the structure, updating it to the then-popular Second Empire style. In 1916, Darst’s heirs sold the house to the newly-formed Dayton Woman’s Club. Mrs. Marie Kumler (1856-1925), first president of the Club and the Dayton Federation of Women’s Clubs led efforts to raise the $25,000 to purchase the property. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and the Club celebrated 100 years here in 2016.
, OH
Born in Bristol, England, Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910), moved to Cincinnati in 1838. Blackwell applied to several medical schools before being accepted to Geneva Medical College in New York. In 1849, she received a medical degree, becoming the first fully accredited female doctor. In New York, Blackwell provided free outpatient care to women and children, and in 1857 opened a full-scale hospital, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. As a lecturer in England and the founder of the Women’s Medical College at the Infirmary, Dr. Blackwell was a pioneer in opening the medical profession to women.
, OH
Elm Court, designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw of Illinois, was built in 1912 for Arthur Hudson Marks. The original mansion exemplifies the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Elm Court included the mansion, barn, stables, carriage house, pond, and a variety of trees, especially elms, on 33 acres. Arthur Marks was the inventive genius in chemistry and business who revolutionized the rubber industry in Akron. He was best known for inventing the alkaline-recovery vulcanization process in 1899, the cord tire, the chemical research laboratory system, and placing rubber research on a scientific basis. In World War I he served as director of chemical warfare services. Marks served as vice-president of B.F. Goodrich Company and Curtis Airplane and Engine Company and president of other rubber companies and the Aeolian Skinner Organ Company.
, OH
In 1934, workers at the Electric Auto-Lite Company and other automotive-related manufacturers secretly organized the Automobile Workers Federal Union Local 18384, American Federation of Labor (AFL), which became the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 12. Anti-unionism, broken pledges by management, and abuse of workers had festered locally for generations. Workers bitterly resented the fact that management took advantage of the Depression’s high unemployment to decrease wages. In February, workers struck at Auto-Lite, Bingham Stamping, Logan Gear, and Spicer Manufacturing Company. When management refused to negotiate in good faith, the workers, including a large number of women, struck the Auto-Lite in mid-April. Auto-Lite management secured a court order limiting the number of strikers to twenty-five. The strike appeared to be lost until the Lucas County Unemployed League organized fierce resistance to the court injunction as the crowd around the plant grew to ten thousand. (continued on other side)