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Originally a horse barn owned and converted by the Klump family, Rabbit Run Theater opened in 1946. In its early years, Rabbit Run operated as a professional summer stock theater and many well-known actors such as Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Jim Backus, Dustin Hoffman, Charles Grodin, and Sandy Dennis graced its boards. Sadly, the theater closed in 1967 and remained dark until 1979 when a group of local theater lovers reopened the “barn” as a community theater. Rabbit Run Theater is one of only a few converted barn theaters still in operation today.
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Cincinnati, along with Milwaukee and St. Louis, is one of the three corners of the “German Triangle,” so-called for its historically high concentration of German-American residents. During the 19th century, Cincinnati was both a destination for immigrants to the tri-state area and a hub from which many groups of Germans moved inland to settle new Ohio communities-many along the Miami and Erie canal corridor which began here. German-Americans have greatly influenced the social, cultural, economic and political life of the Cincinnati area. At the turn of the 21st century, approximately half of Cincinnati’s population was of German descent. (Continued on other side)
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The Canfield WPA Memorial Building was constructed by the Works Progress Administration, a federal government program instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as an effort to aid the United States in its recovery from the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s. Local merchant Arron Weisner donated lands on the west side of Broad Street for the proposed project. A six member committee, comprised of two persons each representing the Argus Masonic Lodge, the American Legion, and the Village of Canfield, determined that the building be “a community building built around community projects.” Through local subscription and $60,000 in federal funds, the WPA project moved forward. The Youngstown architectural firm of W.H. Cook and W. Canfield designed the building in the Colonial Revival style. A ground breaking ceremony was held on December 20, 1935. During World War II, the United States government maintained offices in the building. (Continued on other side)
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On this site the Lyceum Village and the Berea Seminary were established in 1837 by John Baldwin, James Gilruth, Henry O. Sheldon, and Josiah Holbrook. Their vision was to create the first in a connected series of Lyceum Villages. The Villages were designed especially to assist in the education of teachers, promote “scientific” exchanges over the world and thus encourage the study of the works and word of God, and cultivate the spirit of “peace on earth and good will to men.” The community, however, declined and in 1842, John Baldwin assumed the indebtedness of $15,000. James Wallace acquired the area. It was owned by the Methodist Children’s Home in the 1860s and then sold to German Wallace College in 1866, becoming the original German Wallace College campus.
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The Peoples Bank Theatre, built in 1919 and called the Hippodrome, marks an age when movies transitioned from silent films and nickelodeons into a major national industry and pastime. Designed by Columbus architect Fred Elliott for the C&M (Cambridge and Marietta) Amusement Company, the theatre featured a granite archway, 1,200 seats, a 35-by-55-foot stage, an orchestra pit, and the first air conditioning of its kind in Marietta. The Hippodrome opened May 9, 1919 with the silent film Daddy Long Legs, starring Mary Pickford. Shea Theatres of New York bought the Hippodrome and remodeled it in 1949, replacing the Hippodrome’s distinctive stone archway with a two-story southern colonial-style facade. Renamed the “Colony,” it opened June 25, 1949, showing the Esther Williams’ musical Neptune’s Daughter. (Continued on other side)
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Envisioned by Fairview Village Mayor, David R. Bain, this community center was originally completed in 1937 as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era work relief program initiated by the Federal Government in 1935. A fire destroyed the original log cabin on December 14, 1937, just four days before the planned dedication. With the support of the community, Mayor Bain turned again to the WPA for funding and labor to rebuild the structure. This cabin, constructed of bricks on the original foundation, features an 8’x12′ mural painted by artists of the WPA’s Federal Art Project and which depicts Fairview’s history through the 1930s. The new cabin was dedicated on January 15, 1940, and was named in honor of Mayor Bain in 1957, four years after his death.
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Marion A. Harrison established M.A. Harrison Memorial Airfield, formerly Harrison Airport, in 1946 on land encompassing 80 acres. This facility served to promote aviation activities in the Birmingham community with flight charters, flight instruction, and rides. Birmingham Metal Products was located here during World War II producing fighter aircraft fuel parts, and the airfield was used to train civilian pilots. Today, it remains dedicated to flight.
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The Alpine Alpa restaurant in Wilmot, Ohio commissioned clockmaker Karl Schleutermann to build the world’s largest cuckoo clock in 1963. Twelve years and $50,000 later, the enormous outdoor clock was finished. It was featured on the cover of the “Guinness Book of World Records” in 1978. After exposure to Ohio’s weather for 30 years, Hampton Hotel’s “Save-A-Landmark” program helped to restore the cuckoo clock to operating condition in 2007. The restaurant closed two years later, and the owner of the local store Walnut Creek Cheese purchased the clock and donated it to the Village of Sugarcreek. The clock was moved to its new home in May 2012. Village leaders and community members returned the clock to working condition and placed it on display for all to enjoy.