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Granville T. Woods was a pivotal African American inventor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Woods’ invention of the telegraph device that enabled railway companies to know the location of each of their trains. This new technology greatly enhanced train scheduling and reduced the frequency of fatal collisions throughout the railway industry. From 1878 through 1880 Woods was a railroad locomotive engineer employeed by the Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad Company and later by the Dayton and Southeastern Railroad. With frequent stops in Washington Courthouse and extensive leisure time, Woods learned telegraphy from a local telegraph operator. (Continued on other side)
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The Warner Brothers – Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack – were members of a Jewish immigrant family from Poland that settled in Youngstown in the mid-1890s. The brothers attended local schools and worked in their father’s shoe repair shop and meat market before entering the motion picture business. They purchased a projector and opened the first of several theaters in the Mahoning Valley in 1905. The brothers left Youngstown for New York and Hollywood as their company developed into an industry leader. Warner Brothers Pictures, founded in 1923, released Don Juan in 1926, the first “talking picture” using Vitaphone technology. On May 14, 1931, the family gathered in Youngstown to dedicate a luxurious new Warner Theater to the people of the city where it all started, and to memorialize Sam, who died in 1927.
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The Ohio Standard Baseline (OSB) was a geodetic baseline that provided highly accurate measurements of the earth and made possible extremely fine calibrations of surveying equipment. Several such baselines were established in Europe and South America during the mid-twentieth century, specifically designed to use a measurement device called the Vaisala Comparator, a precursor of modern laser light measurement systems. In 1953, Dr. T.J. Kukkamaki, then a professor in the Department of Geodetic Science at The Ohio State University, proposed establishing a baseline in Ohio that would be part of the worldwide efforts to accurately understand how the size and shape of the earth change over time. Built between 1965 and 1966, the resulting OSB consisted of a series of eight concrete pillars supporting mirrors and instruments, spaced along a 500 meter distance. (Continued on other side)
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The township of Kinsman was purchased by John Kinsman of Lisbon, Connecticut, in 1799 from the Connecticut Land Company. Kinsman has been the home of many notable citizens, some of whom include: Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876) and James McGrannahan (1840-1907) were hymn composers and religious musical directors for the nationally-known evangelical Dwight L. Moody Revival Meetings held in Kinsman for thirty years in the late 1800s. Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) was a famous labor and criminal lawyer who grew up in Farmdale and in the “octagon house” in Kinsman. Darrow in probably best known for his work as a defense attorney in the Scopes Trial. (continued on reverse side)
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Bellefontaine was a railroad town from the 1890s to the 1950s. The city was the site of one of the largest roundhouses and repair centers on the Big Four/New York Central Lines and trains stopped here to have steam engines serviced and to switch crews. Up to ninety freight trains and over forty passenger trains came to Bellefontaine each day. The railroad was a major employer in Logan County. Over two hundred employees worked at the roundhouse and shops at any one time and many others were members of train crews. Bellefontaine’s importance as a railroad center waned in the 1960s with the increased use of diesel engines, newer technology, and other modes of transportation. Yet, the railroad and its workers left an indelible mark on the history of Bellefontaine.
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Charles Young in Ripley. Upon his death in 1922, Colonel Charles Young was the highest ranking African American officer in the United States Army. Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1864, Young moved to Ripley with his parents Gabriel and Arminta in the 1870s. He excelled academically, graduating with honors from Ripley High School in 1881 and accepted a teaching position in Ripley’s African American school thereafter. Encouraged by his father, a Civil War veteran, mentored by J. T. Whitman, superintendent of the school, and John P. Parker, entrepreneur and former Underground Railroad conductor, Young sought and accepted, in 1884, an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the third African American to graduate, in 1889, and the last to do so until Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. in 1936.
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One of America’s leading architects of the early 20th century, Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), was born in a home that stood at this site. After studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gilbert apprenticed with prominent architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. The critical success of his first major public building, the design of the 1895 Minnesota State Capitol, established his national reputation. His influential 1912 Woolworth building, at 792 feet, was then the world’s tallest building, earning Gilbert’s nickname of “Father of the Modern Skyscraper.” Combining classical designs with modern technology, Gilbert also created the United State Supreme Court building (1932) in Washington, D.C., an enduring icon of American justice and democracy. His other achievements include the Arkansas and West Virginia capitols, the U.S. Custom House in New York, and several buildings at Oberlin College. Gilbert served as the president of the American Institute of Architects and the National Academy of Design.
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This brick, Federal-style house was built in 1836. Helen Moore, the grand daughter of General Robert McConnel, officer during the War of 1812 and founder of McConnelsville, married Dr. Hiram L. True and made their home here. Dr. True practiced medicine in the area and was widely known for his interest in science, serving as president of the local Scientific Society. Their daughter Evelyn True Button was born in the house in 1875. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Evelyn traveled to the Philippines in 1898 on a missionary trip to train teachers. A teacher, principal, community leader, and ardent worker for women’s rights, she died in the place of her birth in 1975. She bequeathed the house to the Morgan County Historical Society to serve as a depository of furnishings and artifacts of Morgan County heritage.
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