, OH
Settlers from New England purchased this land in 1817 for use as a burying ground and to build a meeting house. Located in the center of Bath Township, a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, the site provided a convenient place for public and religious gatherings and for a cemetery. Out of need, the cemetery was established before the township was founded in 1818. Many of Bath Township’s farming families, as well as both owners and operators of businesses of Bath, are interred in the cemetery. In a tradition originating with Civil War veteran Perry Alexander, the graves of all veterans are marked with an American flag on Memorial Day as a tribute to their service.
, OH
The Lincoln School building stood at 2402 Central Avenue for almost a century. In 1919, a twenty-year bond levy provided for the construction of five schools, including the “new east school” Lincoln Elementary. Construction began in 1921 on the eight-acre site while students attended classes in temporary structures. Lincoln School opened in 1923 with 500 students enrolled. Lincoln Field, football grounds for McKinley High School’s “Middies,” stood behind Lincoln from 1930 until 1950 when Barnitz Field Stadium was built on South Main Street. Additions to the original Lincoln building included a maintenance annex in 1935 and a gymnasium in 1959. Lincoln School closed in November 1980 during a 1980-1981 Middletown City School District reorganization. Students from Lincoln and Sherman schools moved to the refurbished Roosevelt School at 2701 Central Avenue.
, OH
With its favorable seasons and fertile soils, the northern Ohio frontier attracted settlers to the Western Reserve from the beginning of the nineteenth century. With a well-established agricultural heritage, “truck farming” became popular as wagons hauled produce to stands at the Central Market on Public Square in Cleveland around 1860. Thirty years later, to extend the growing season, Martin Ruetenik, who was inducted into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame, introduced the concept of greenhouse growing by constructing a 550-square foot greenhouse. Following his lead, nearly every farmer along Schaaf Road became a greenhouse farmer making Brooklyn Heights one of the leading greenhouse areas in the United States with over 4 million square feet or 100 acres “under glass.” With its concentration of greenhouse farming, Brooklyn Heights became synonymous with fine, high quality, greenhouse tomatoes.
, OH
Among the first in America, Cincinnati’s public library dates from March 14, 1853. A public reading room opened in 1856, but funding remained a problem until 1867, when local school board president Rufus King II secured legislation for a renamed Cincinnati Public Library. In 1869, King lured leading librarian William Frederick Poole to organize Cincinnati as a national model for the growing public library movement. Poole designed 19th century America’s most advanced library at 629 Vine Street, which fully opened in 1874. Becoming a countywide system in 1898, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County was a pioneer in the 20th century with special services for the blind and for children, bookmobile services, and circulation of audiovisual materials. (continued on other side)
, OH
St. Vincent-St. Mary High School is the oldest continuously operating, public or private, high school in Akron. With roots extending to the late 19th century, St. Mary High School graduated its first three students in 1901. St. Vincent High School opened in September 1907 in an effort to extend educational offerings beyond the eighth grade. The first class, comprising four students, graduated in 1910. The two schools merged in late 1972 to become a single co-educational college preparatory high school. “In the spirit of the Gospel, we are committed to educate the whole person,” the St. Vincent-St. Mary High School mission statement pledges, “to lead and to serve, enlightening the mind, developing the body, touching the heart and inspiring the soul.”
, OH
The Village of Collinwood was originally a part of Euclid Township of the Western Reserve and named after the death of railroad chief engineer Charles Collins in 1876. Originally known as “Frogsville,” the population of Collinwood dramatically increased in the 1870s, due partly to repair roundhouses of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. By 1901, the Village has grown to 7,500, and as a result, the schoolhouse, which once housed 200 students and four classrooms, had been enlarged twice to house 350 students in eight classrooms. Constructed in 1901, the Lakeview School was the site of a tragedy that reverberated across the nation and around the world. (Continued on other side)
, OH
On December 30, 1847, six educators met at the Summit County Courthouse to organize the first convention of the Ohio State Teachers’ Association, now known as the Ohio Education Association (OEA). The organizers Josiah Hurty (Richland County), Thomas W. Harvey (Geauga County), M.D. Leggett (Summit County), Lorin Andrews (Ashland County), William Bowen (Stark County), and Marcellus F. Cowdery (Lake County) hoped “to elevate the profession of teaching” and “to promote the interests of schools in Ohio.” In 1853, the General Assembly enacted the new association’s entire slate of proposals into law, thus ensuring free, universal, public education in Ohio. For 176 years, the Ohio Education Association has advocated for fair terms and conditions of employment for Ohio educators and for the betterment and improvement of public education for all students.
, OH
William E. Telling (1869-1938) was one of ten children born in a farmhouse on this property. As a boy he sold strawberries and milk door-to-door and worked in a local sandstone quarry until at age 23 he purchased a milk route. He and four brothers formed the Telling Brothers Ice Cream Company in 1895 with William as president. A merger in 1915 formed the Telling Belle Vernon Dairy Company that was the first local distributor of pasteurized, glass-bottled milk. Their unique bacteriological laboratory (later Sealtest Laboratories) developed the baby food S.M.A. His recipe for success was “just work and work and work some more; do the work of two and draw the pay of one.”