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Jury of Erie County Women, First to be Impaneled Under Federal Suffrage proclaimed the headline of the Sandusky Register on August 28, 1920. One of the first female Court of Common Pleas juries in the nation was impaneled in Erie County on August 26, 1920, moments after the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States was declared ratified. On that date, Judge Roy Williams was to conduct a trial and jurors were needed. Out of the ten men he contacted, only one could serve. Frustrated, Judge Williams later told the women, “When I learned shortly after 10:30 this morning that suffrage had been proclaimed, I decided to impanel a woman jury. Twelve women were summoned. Twelve women served.” (continued on other side)
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The first school in what is now Pataskala was a “subscription school” operated by Amariah Cubberly on the nearby banks of the South Fork of the Licking River in the 1820s. Subscription schools, which charged fees, were the forerunners of rural public schools in many parts of Ohio. By the 1830s several one-room public schools served the children of the area, but in 1870 the civic minded citizens of Pataskala provided a centralized building for grades one through twelve on Main Street, where the old Town Hall now stands. This school was moved to the new building on this site in 1908. When the Southwest Licking Local School District was established in 1953, Pataskala Elementary School continued in the building. Additions in 1968 and 2000 enhanced its educational capabilities. This 1908 Queen Anne architectural style building was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1983.
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This Federal house was begun about 1820 for Martin Baum (1765-1831), one of Cincinnati’s early merchants. Art patron and abolitionist Nicholas Longworth (1782-1863) lived here for more than thirty years and commissioned the notable landscape murals in the foyer painted by African-American artist Robert S. Duncanson (1821-1872). Iron magnate David Sinton (1808-1900), the subsequent owner, bequeathed the house to his daughter Anna Sinton Taft (1852?-1931). She and her husband Charles Phelps Taft (1843-1929), older half-brother of William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who accepted his party’s nomination for president from the portico in 1908, assembled the acclaimed art collection displayed here. Bequeathed to the people of Cincinnati in 1927, the Taft Museum of Art opened to the public in 1932. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
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Born enslaved March 12, 1864, Charles Young was the highest-ranking African American line officer most of his career. He became the third Black graduate of West Point in 1889 and the last until 1936. Young served with the 9th and 10th Calvary “Buffalo Soldiers” and as Professor of Military Science at Wilberforce University. During the Spanish American War Young commanded the 9th Battalion Ohio Volunteer (Colored) Infantry and later led 9th Calvary troops in combat in the Philippines. The first African American national park superintendent, Young supervised the building of roads for public access to Sequoia and General Grant national parks and protected the natural wonders there. The first Black military attache, Young served in Haiti and Liberia. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Young its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, for his accomplishments in Liberia. (continued on other side)
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“The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future and we’ll continue to follow…” President Ronald Reagan
As the second American woman in space, Judith Resnik (1949-1986) paved the way for the future of women in space exploration. A gifted science and music student and valedictorian of Firestone High School’s class of 1966, she earned a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1977 and was accepted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as an astronaut candidate in 1978. Her first flight was on the inaugural mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984. Resnik was aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger as a mission specialist on January 28, 1986, when it exploded just 73 seconds after lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. All seven crewmembers died in the explosion.
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The Canfield Township Hall was erected in 1884. It served as the first public building in which the Canfield citizens could conduct town business, elections, and public meetings. An example of Renaissance Revival or “Italianate” architecture, the building is typical of late Victorian commercial buildings, but constructed of wood rather than of the customary brick. Drafted by Colonel S. Kinney, it was originally constructed for the sum of $2,389 by G.W. Strock at the corner of South Broad and East Main streets, on a lot purchased for $500. In 1936, R.J. Neff moved the hall several hundred feet south to its present location. In addition to official township meetings, the second floor has been used for a variety of activities, including social meetings, lectures, contests, dances, and roller-skating. The building served as an early home of the Canfield Historical Society and operated continuously for over one hundred and twenty-five years.
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Just three weeks after reaching Granville, pioneer villagers decided on December 9, 1805 to build a log cabin where eighty children would attend school. By 1820, public school classes were being held in a three-story brick building. When rail lines and the National Road bypassed the village, dreams of becoming an industrial and commercial center were dashed. Educational institutions, however, thrived and by the Civil War Granville’s citizens had organized the following: the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, later called Granville College and then renamed Denison University; the Granville Female Seminary, the Granville Episcopal Female Seminary, the Young Ladies’ Institute, the Granville Female Academy, and the Granville Male Academy. As Granville enters its third century, educational excellence continues to attract students to the community’s schools.
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Civic organizations played pivotal roles in the development of the residential community of Hazelwood, founded as a subdivision of Blue Ash in 1888. The Hazelwood Civic Association, initially established as the Brothers Civic Society in 1941, addressed community needs by working for public improvements and promoting civic relations through social events and educational programs. Efforts by the HCA led to the construction of a new civic center and the introduction of the Boy and Girl Scouts and other programs that were previously unavailable to African-American children. Hazelwood’s deterioration and the threat of encroaching industrial development led to the formation of the Hazelwood Improvement Corporation in 1968. The HIC, acting as an agent of the city of Blue Ash, helped to upgrade housing, pave roads, build new homes to ensure a residential nature, install water and sewage systems, and erect streetlights. In 1997, the Hazelwood Community Association was organized to assist residents during Hazelwood’s transition to a racially integrated community.
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