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The National Italian Catholic parish of Saint John the Baptist was founded in October 1896 by the Reverend Father Alexander Cestelli, D.D. Father Cestelli was born in Fiesole, Italy and came to America in 1888 to serve as a professor at St. Paul’s Seminary in Minnesota. In January 1896, founding Rector Monsignor John Joseph Jessing invited Father Cestelli to serve at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio as a professor of moral theology. In October 1896, the Right Reverend John Ambrose Watterson, D.D., Bishop of Columbus, appointed Father Cestelli as pastor of the Italian Catholic community. Sunday Mass was celebrated in the baptistery of Saint Joseph Cathedral until September 18, 1898, when the Most Reverend Sebastiano Martinelli, Apostolic Delegate to the United States, dedicated this historic church.
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The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were founded in 1804 by Saint Julie Billiart to spread the message “Ah, how good it is to serve God.” In 1840, at the request of Bishop John B. Purcell in 1840, the Sisters travelled to Cincinnati, Ohio to help educate the city’s growing Catholic population. Choosing to serve the poor, the Sisters turned down land in Brown County and instead founded schools at Sixth Street in Cincinnati. Since the start of the 21st century, the Sisters serve in twenty-seven other states, the District of Columbia, and in South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Sister Dorothy Stang, while working for land reforms for the poor in Brazil, was martyred in 2004.
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A native of Coshocton County, William Green (1870-1932) began his working life as a coal miner at age 16 and rose rapidly in the leadership of the United Mine Workers of America. Twice elected to the Ohio Senate, Green served as president pro tempore during his second term. He was instrumental in enacting Ohio’s first worker’s compensation law in 1912, at a time when progressive-era ideals conflicted with an impersonal industrial system where workers enjoyed few rights and little security. Green, one of the outstanding American trade union leaders of the twentieth century, served as president of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 until his death in 1952.
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Mechanical reapers enabled farmers to harvest much more grain than they could by sickle or scythe. In June 1835, in a field 800 feet southeast of Mill Creek, inventor Obed Hussey (1791-1860) tested what he upheld as the first successful reaper. Blacksmith John Lane, miller Jediah Hill, Hill’s son-in-law Henry Rogers, brothers Algernon and Thomas Foster, and others observed the test, the culmination of Hussey’s experiments with prototypes since the early 1830s. Hussey’s patent for a reaper in 1833 predated that of his competitor Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) applied for in 1834. Initially, some preferred Hussey’s reaper to McCormick’s, although McCormick’s machines eventually dominated the field. In the late 1850s, Hussey and others sued McCormick for patent infringement and won, compelling the payment of damages by McCormick.
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In 1804, Enoch (1764-1817) and Achsah (c.1767-1839) Carson and their seven children journeyd from New Jersey to Cincinnati. In 1805, they settled in the western hills in a large grove near Beech Flats, in what would become Green Township in 1809 and Cheviot in 1818. Game was plentiful and fertile soil yielded abundant crops. By 1806, Carson had cleared and cultivated nearly 20 acres of his land. That fall, he began a tradition that has continued into the 21st century. Echoing the ancient custom of harvest home, Carson brought together a fledging community to celebrate its good fortune and abundant harvests. Each passing year the community gathered in Carson’s grove to give thanks, rejoice, and uphold the tradition of harvest home. (Continued on other side)
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In 1817 twenty-two men, including future President William Henry Harrison, chartered Cincinnati’s first Episcopal parish, Christ Church. In 1835 members erected a Gothic Revival-style church on this site. The neighborhood evolved as the city grew with the influx of immigrants. Parish women raised funds to teach, feed, clothe, and shelter tenement families, and alleviate suffering during floods and disease outbreaks. In 1883 the women helped establish what became Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In 1909 members opened the Late Gothic-style Parish House, a community center with kitchen, classrooms, library, auditorium, clinic, gymnasium, and bowling alley. By the parish’s centennial in 1917, music had expanded beyond worship to public concerts. In 1940 the annual Boar’s Head Festival of music and pageantry began. Since the 1960s, members have collaborated with local agencies to advocate for social and economic justice, a mission continuing into the 21st century. (Continued on other side)
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The founding of the philanthropic organization Charity Newsies stems from a cold, blustery day in December 1907, when a small newspaper boy stood on the corner of Broad and High streets. Inside the nearby Billy’s Chophouse, entertainers George Baker and Harry Shunk talked to C.C. Philbrick, publisher of the new Ohio Sun Newspaper about the area’s poor children needing clothing. They noticed the newspaper boy and brought him to the Chophouse to get warm. On a spur of the moment they took his newspapers outside, shouting “It’s all for charity”, and sold all the papers. The money was given to the boy. Realizing potential, the men decided to raise additional funds for the poor by selling the Ohio Sun Newspaper and recruited others to help. On December 20, 1907, the Sunday before Christmas, 50 men sold a special edition of the paper and raised $702.42, 100% for charity.
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The North Olmsted Historical Society was founded in 1953 and became incorporated as a non-profit association in 1961. A year later, Frostville Museum opened in the Prechtel House. The society took on the challenge of preserving the history of the entire original township and became the Olmsted Historical Society in 1969. The Frostville Museum has grown from one house to a small village. Volunteers are dedicated to preserving the past and the present for the future. In August 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama designated the society as a Preserve America Steward. Frostville is an affiliate of the Cleveland Metroparks.
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