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The 43-room Tudor mansion represents a fine example of stately homes in Cleveland at the turn of the century and is the last of the “Millionaire Row” homes that once lined Euclid Avenue. It was designed by Charles F. Schweinfurth, a world-renowned Cleveland architect, in 1905-06 and completed in 1910 at a cost of $1,200,000. Following Samuel Mather’s death in 1931, the building was occupied by the Cleveland Institute of Music until 1940 then by the Cleveland Automobile Club until 1967 when it was purchased by The Cleveland State University. The mansion was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 1973.
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Colonel Ebenezer Zane, one of the founders of Wheeling, laid out the village that became Bridgeport in 1806 on the site of Fort Kirkwood (1789). Originally named Canton, it acquired its present name after the bridge to Wheeling Island was built. The arrival of the National Road in 1818 made the growing town a major portal into the state of Ohio for westbound emigrants, adding to its importance as a port for Ohio River traffic. With the advent of railroads and, later, transcontinental highways, Bridgeport continues to serve as Ohio’s “Gateway to the West.”
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The present structure for the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was built in 1849 on Macedonia Ridge north of Burlington, an abolitionist sanctuary for escaped and freed slaves since 1799. It was built by the existing Baptist congregation and a group of 37 freed slaves who had arrived in Burlington from Virginia. The Baptist congregation in Macedonia had organized in 1811-1813 and practiced their faith in their homes and later in a small building with a bell tower made of sticks. The 1849 church was the religious and social focal point for the black community and became the “Mother Church” for approximately eight Baptist churches that exist in Ohio and West Virginia. The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
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Built in 1842 in the Greek Revival Architectural Style for Alfred Avery from designs by Minard Lefever, the house subsequently served as a home for the Spelman (1845-1873), Downer and Cole families (1873-1902), the Phi Gamma Delta (1902-1930) and Kappa Sigma (1930-1956) Fraternities. This house was bequeathed to the Licking County Historical Society By Robbins Hunter Jr. (1905-1979) as a museum of the 19th Century. National Register of Historic Places.
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Built for Waverly industrialist James Emmitt in 1861, The Emmitt House was partly the work of carpenter Madison Hemings, who claimed parentage by President Thomas Jefferson. It served as a tavern and store for travelers on the Ohio-Erie Canal that passed directly in front of the hotel. The Emmitt House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a key part of the Waverly Canal District, which encompasses many of the canal-era residential and commercial buildings in the downtown area. It underwent a year-long restoration project in 1989 that retained its historical flavor and design. It continues to provide hospitality to both residents and travelers.
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Designed by architect Levi T. Scofield, the Ohio State Reformatory opened its doors in 1896 as a facility to rehabilitate young male offenders through hard work and education. A self-sufficient institution with its own power plant and working farm, the reformatory produced goods in its workshops for other state institutions and provided opportunities for inmates to learn trades. As social attitudes towards crime hardened in the mid-twentieth century, it became a maximum-security facility. The six-tier East Cell Block is the largest known structure of its kind. Considered substandard by the 1970s, The Ohio State Reformatory closed in 1990. It has served since as a setting for several major motion pictures. This Mansfield landmark was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
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Manasseh Cutler, Rufus Putnam, Winthrop Sargeant, and Benjamin Tupper of the Ohio Company conceived Ohio University, which was encouraged by the Ordinance of 1787 and the Northwest Territorial Legislature in 1799, incorporated as the American Western University in 1802, and chartered by the Ohio State Legislature on February 18, 1804. The university is the first institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory, second west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the first in the United States to be endowed with land by the government with proceeds used to pay for its operations-revenue from two townships was set aside to support the university. Opened on June 1, 1809, as an academy with three students, Ohio University awarded its first undergraduate degrees in 1815.
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Ripley was incorporated as the village of Staunton in 1812. Its name was changed in 1816 to honor General Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, a hero of the War of 1812. In the years before railroads, Ripley was a principal Ohio River shipping center. Also important were its extensive boat-building, tobacco, pork, and timber industries. Ripley too was the home of saw and planing mills, iron foundries, and a piano factory. Such varied commerce enabled Ripley to remain vibrant throughout the nineteenth century. Although noted as a port, Ripley is best remembered as an abolitionist stronghold. Many of its citizens, including Rev. John Rankin and John P. Parker, served as conductors on the famed “Underground Railroad.” The notoriety of Ripley’s anti-slavery network perhaps eclipsed that of nearby Cincinnati, earning the town a reputation as the “Black Hole of Abolitionism.” (Continued on side two)