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The Milford Public Library, Clermont County’s oldest continuously operating library, was founded in 1900 by a local civic organization, the Milford Village Improvement Society. It was preceded by a circulating library–one that charges patrons for renting books–that was chartered in 1822. At the time of the Milford Public Library’s founding, circulating libraries were in decline and public libraries were increasing in number as an inexpensive alternative. To obtain support for their proposed “reading room,” the Society’s Literary Committee travelled door-to-door, soliciting members and books. To become a member of the library, adults paid 25 cents and children paid 10 cents in annual dues. The library’s first–and current–home is the stone building at 19 Water Street. (Continued on other side)
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Author William Dean Howells (1837-1920) spent his boyhood from 1840 to 1848 in Hamilton. Called the “Dean of American Letters,” Howells wrote 35 novels, 35 plays, 34 miscellaneous books, 6 books of literary criticism, 4 books of poetry, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. He shaped the destiny of fellow writers by editing their works for Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s. His autobiography entitled A Boy’s Town fondly recalls growing up in Hamilton. Throughout life, he broke in news pens by writing, “W. D. Howells, Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio.”
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Southern Park Stables, at 126 Washington Boulevard in Boardman, was the private training stable of Attorney David Arrel and was built circa 1912 to house his standardbred horses racing at Southern Park Trotting Track one block south. The Stables is the last remaining structure of a large complex known as Southern Park, which included not only the racetrack and accompanying stables, grandstand, and outbuildings, but a dance hall, picnic pavilions, and baseball diamonds. The park was a favorite destination for Youngstown city residents wishing to relax in the country, and many company picnics were held here. Janie S. Jenkins has lived at Southern Park Stables since 1946 and deeded it and 8.33 acres to the Boardman Township Park District in 1993 with restrictions that it be forever preserved. The wrought iron gates at the driveway entrance were originally the main entrance gates for the racetrack.
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Born near Bremen, Germany, carriage builder Henry Timken (1831-1909) designed significant improvements in roller bearings–fundamental machine components that minimize friction between moving and stationary parts. His patented (1898) tapered roller bearings improved on standard ball bearings by controlling heavy side loads generated by steered axles, and thus became key components of modern vehicle design. Established in St. Louis in 1899, the Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company moved to Canton in 1901 and quickly became one of Ohio’s industrial leaders, manufacturing roller bearings for automotive, railroad and many industrial uses. In 1998, Henry Timken was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
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In May 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwest Territory, with the western division becoming Indiana Territory and the eastern called the Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River. Two years later, thirty-five delegates from the nine counties of the latter division convened in Chillicothe to draw up the constitution for the new state of Ohio, which became a state in 1803. Israel Donalson was the last survivor of the convention dying in 1860 at the age of 93. This frontiersman served Manchester as a surveyor, schoolteacher, postmaster, and judge in the first court. In 1791, one month after his arrival here at Massie’s Station, Donalson was captured by Native Americans. His memoir is a colorful account of his capture and escape. Donalson served as an Elder for the first Presbyterian church in Adams County, which stood on these grounds.
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Reverend John Jay Shipherd and Philo Penfield Stewart envisioned an educational institution and colony dedicated to the glory of God and named in honor of John Frederick Oberlin, a pastor in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. Early colonists signed a covenant pledging themselves to the plainest living and highest thinking. Oberlin (known as the Oberlin Collegiate Institute until 1850 when it was renamed Oberlin College) was the first coeducational institution to grant bachelor’s degrees to women and historically has been a leader in the education of African Americans. In fact, African American and white children studied together in the town’s one-room schoolhouse, in defiance of Ohio’s “Black laws” forbidding this practice. The schoolhouse, built 1836-1837, is part of the Oberlin Heritage Center.
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Company E of the 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was the only full infantry company formed in Jerome Township. Capt. Elijah Warner organized the unit in the village of Jerome and it was mustered into the Union Army at Camp Chase in Columbus on August 29, 1861. A total of 102 men from the township fought in the regiment throughout the war, while approximately 25% of the total population of the Jerome Township served. Company E performed outstanding service, participating in the Antietam, Vicksburg, and Atlanta Campaigns, Sherman’s March to the Sea and the March through the Carolinas, and the in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. Of the 102 Jerome Township men in Company E, 32 perished during the war. The regiment was mustered out of service August 13, 1865.
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In 1869 a secret organization, The Knights of Labor, was founded in Philadelphia. The K.O.L. promoted an ideal society based on bettering life for others with the slogans, “labor was the first capital” and “an injury to one is the concern of all.” Shawnee’s Local Assembly #169 Knights of Labor was organized in 1876, and quickly became a powerful voice for labor in Ohio. National labor leader, William T. Lewis, later Labor Commissioner of Ohio, taught free grammer classes at night for the miners. Lewis initiated “The Ohio Plan,” the first free empployment bureaus in the United States. William H. Bailey, later head of National District Assembly #135 of Miners and T.L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers in 1910, also started their careers here. Meetings involving these leaders led to the formation of the United Mine Workers in 1890. (Continued on other side)
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