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This U.S. Post Office building, Sandusky’s third, opened in 1927, replacing a smaller building at Columbus Avenue and Market Street. It is notable for its fine Neoclassical-style architecture and its unusual curved portico. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. For sixty years it served as Sandusky’s business center, where merchants shipped and received goods and banks transferred money. During this time it also housed local offices for several federal agencies, including U.S. Customs, the National Weather Service, armed forces recruiting, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Geological Survey disk embedded in the front steps serves as a benchmark for surveyors and scientists. Closed in 1987, the historic Sandusky Post Office building reopened as a museum in 1990.
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The Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) was created by Ohio House Bill 270 in 1933. Over 5,000 applications to join the newly formed Division were trimmed and approximately 125 individuals — between the ages of 24 and 40 years — were admitted into the inaugural cadet class. The Ohio National Guard graciously volunteered the use of their facilities on Lake Erie’s shores. Colonel Lynn Black, the first OSHP superintendent, opened “Camp Perry School” on October 3, 1933. Although 54 new motorcycles were purchased for patrol duties, many of the cadets lacked motorcycle experience and had to be trained quickly. Severe weather shortened the training as cadets endured frigid temperatures and unheated facilities. The first class of 60 uniformed patrolmen were sworn in on November 15, 1933.
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Prompted by response to his popular lectures, astronomer Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel (1809-1862) founded the Cincinnati Astronomical Society (CAS) in 1842. With CAS funding, Mitchel traveled to Munich, Bavaria, to acquire the optical elements for what became the world’s second largest refractor telescope. In 1843 former president John Quincy Adams laid the cornerstone of the observatory building, located upon the hill since known as Mount Adams. The Cincinnati Observatory was completed and opened for study in 1845. Mitchel, who died in service during the Civil War, was among the first to popularize astronomy in America. The telescope he brought to Cincinnati remains in daily use, the oldest such instrument in the United States.
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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.
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With the intention of becoming a “gentleman farmer,” John Johnston began development of his Upper Piqua farm in 1808 with a two-story log cabin and this double pen log barn. The surrounding outer sheds were built to protect the log pens from the weather. One of the oldest structures of its kind in Ohio, the barn is built around two hand-hewn log pens, each sixty-foot square. The barn served the family’s farming activities and was a storage facility for trade goods Johnston needed when the farm was the Piqua Indian Agency, 1811-1829.
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On October 22, 1913, Congress appropriated $35,000 to build a light-and-fog station at Lorain harbor. Construction began after plans were approved in 1916. The concrete structure was finished and light placed in service in 1917, but the station was not completed until 1919. The lighthouse’s foundation is comprised of a wooden crib and boxes filled with stone. The lighthouse consists of a basement and three floors, topped by a lantern room. Like others, this lighthouse had its own identifying signals, namely, the duration of the fog horn’s blast and the rotation and duration of the light. A fourth order Fresnel lens was installed in 1919 and lit with an incandescent oil vapor lamp. The lamp was converted to electric power in 1932. The lighthouse was manned by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, a civilian organization, until the U.S. Coast Guard took control of all U.S. lighthouses in 1939.
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In the fall, life for many in Columbus revolves around Ohio State University football, from the first kickoff in September to the last play in November. O.S.U.’s first home game took place at 2:30 P.M. on November 1, 1890. The Ohio State University played the University of Wooster on this site, which was then called Recreation Park. Just east of historic German Village, the park occupied the north side of Schiller (now Whittier) between Ebner and Jaeger in what is now Schumacher Place. The weather was perfect, and the crowd reportedly included a number of women, who cheered loudly. Nonetheless, O.S.U. lost to Wooster 64-0. Wooster, physically fit for the game, showed O.S.U. that training is critical to winning. The tradition of training continues. Today, on football Saturdays in Ohio Stadium on Woody Hayes Drive, the sound of an O.S.U. home game can be heard around the world.