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The German Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio, the first Lutheran theological seminary west of the Appalachian Mountains, began instruction under Pastor Wilhelm Schmidt in Canton in 1830. The seminary relocated to Columbus at this location in 1831. After becoming part of Capital University in 1850, it occupied temporary campuses before locating permanently on the National Road, east of Columbus, in 1876. There the seminary was known as the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary. In 1959, the seminary separated from Capital University. In 1978, it merged with the Hamma School of Theology of Wittenberg University, taking the name Trinity Lutheran Seminary. This united seminary was a significant harbinger of the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988. The cornerstone of the first seminary building erected on this site in 1832 is located on the Trinity Lutheran Seminary campus in Bexley.
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The Livingston House was the home of Alexander Livingston (1821-1898). In 1864-1865, Nathan Orcutt, cabinetmaker, built Livingston’s house with slate roof, clapboard siding, ash floors, twenty-one windows and four doors, central fireplace, seven bedrooms, two kitchens, pantry, parlor, and living room. Outbuildings included a milk house and a long work shed. Blue freestone for the foundation was locally cut from William Forrester’s quarry. Sawed stone formed the summer kitchen and washhouse floor and the basement walls. The woodwork was hand-carved and the entire house had a “furniture finish.” Livingston and his family lived here until 1880.
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Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927) had a dream that young women could be independent, help others in need, and be responsible leaders in their communities. Low founded Girl Scouts of the United States of America with 18 girls on March 12, 1912 in her native Savannah, Georgia. On May 6, 1917, Low signed the charter making the Toledo Council the first official Girl Scout Council in the nation. There were about 550 Girl Scouts in Toledo at that time. Over 50 million girls, women, and men have been members of Girl Scouts of the USA in the last century.
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Garrett Augustus Morgan was an African American businessman and prolific inventor of devices that made people’s lives safer and more convenient. Born on March 4, 1877 in Claysville, the Black segregated section of Paris, Kentucky, Morgan migrated north first to Cincinnati and then Cleveland in 1895. He lived and worked in this house at 5204 Harlem Avenue. In 1906, Morgan started the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to market the hair straightener he had invented. The following year he opened a sewing machine repair shop. In 1908, he and his wife Mary opened Morgan’s Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. (continued on other side)
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The first women’s college chartered in the state of Ohio, Ursuline College opened in 1871 in downtown Cleveland as part of the educational mission of the Order of St. Ursula (O.S.U.). Founded in Italy in 1535 with an early presence in North America, this order established its first religious teaching community in Cleveland in 1850, led by foundress Mother Mary of the Annunciation Beaumont, O.S.U. The college’s growth prompted four moves in Cleveland and subsequently to the Pepper Pike campus in 1966. Ursuline holds the distinction as one of the first catholic women’s colleges in the United States organized and chartered explicitly for college education.
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Johann Christian Heyl (1788-1877), the first German and first Lutheran to settle in Columbus, was one of the original 15 settlers of the city. A baker by trade, Heyl came to bake for the soldiers quartered in Franklinton during the War of 1812. He founded the city’s first Lutheran Church and helped financially underwrite the German Theological Seminary, which later became Capital University. An early civic leader, Heyl served on City Council for 14 years, was County Treasurer for 8 years, an associate judge in the Court of Common Pleas for 14 years, was appointed to the first public school board, and was the first Chief of the Fire Department. His Sunbury Road home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. (continued on other side)
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The first in a succession of schools that eventually gave College Hill its name was CARY’S ACADEMY FOR BOYS. Freeman Cary opened this school in his home on Hamilton Avenue in 1832. Success necessitated larger quarters and in 1833 PLEASANT HILL ACADEMY was built at the corner of Hamilton and Colerain (now Belmont) Avenues. Continuing growth and a distinguished faculty led to formation of a college. Money was raised by selling shares, mostly bought by local farmers. FARMERS COLLEGE OF HAMILTON COUNTY was chartered on February 23, 1846 and Cary Hall was built on this Belmont Avenue site in 1847. Future President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, attended the college from 1848 to 1850. During the 1860s Cary Hall served as a station on the Underground Railroad. (Continued on other side)
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The Union and League of Romanian Societies, Incorporated was formed in 1928 from a unification of two separate fraternal organizations, the Union and the League. The Union, founded on July 4, 1906, was originally organized for the purpose of promoting the general welfare of its members through life insurance policies obtained through individual societies located in the United States and Canada. The societies of the Union and League offer social interaction within their local lodges and through the strength of the larger parent organization. The purpose of the current Union and League is to maintain and encourage Romanian cultural heritage by promoting interest in Romanian ethnic values through cultural activities and to sustain loyalty to the United States and Canada among its respective members.