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The “Tuskegee Experiment,” a program of the Army Air Corps to train African Americans as military pilots, began at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama in 1941. At home and abroad during World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen prevailed against enormous odds, including racism. The Airmen never lost an escorted bomber to enemy fighters. In March 1946, the Tuskegee Airmen 477th Composite Group and its supporting units were transferred from Godman Field, Kentucky, to Lockbourne Army Air Base, where Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. took command. In July 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order Number 9981, which mandated “equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces.” The Tuskegee Airmen played a major role in the integration of all U.S. military forces. The 477th was stationed at Lockbourne until 1949.
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Reverend Richard E. Scully, founder of the Cincinnati Goodwill operated a Fresh Air Camp for women and children in the 1930s and 40s. The camp was part of a 100-acre site with vegetable fields, a swimming pool, tennis courts and horseshoe pits. The farm house on site was used as lodging for visitors. Men who worked at the camp received food and other forms of relief for their families. Vegetables produced on site were distributed at the Goodwill location at Ninth Street and Freeman Avenue in Cicinnati. According to family stories, Ruth Ann Eldridge, the frist child of Edison and Anna Eldridge, was buried on the site of the camp in 1933. Rev. Scully had officiated at Edison and Anna’s wedding and was a friend of the family.
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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.
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In January 1836, Barber and Lord sold a six-acre parcel for $160 that was to be used “forever as a public burying ground.” When Ohio City incorporated, the township cemetery became the city cemetery. Ohio City’s council established the cemetery’s rules and regulations, appointed a sexton, arranged for the ground to be platted, and purchased a hearse. After annexation by Cleveland, the cemetery became known as “the west side cemetery” and, later, the Monroe Street Cemetery. Under Cleveland’s charge, the cemetery was landscaped, protected by patrolmen, and fenced to keep out wandering hogs. Until the late 1890s, Monroe Street was the only public cemetery on Cleveland’s west side. Architect Joseph Ireland designed the cemetery’s Gothic Revival gateway arch (1874). Architect Walter Blythe designed the cemetery’s gatehouse, also in the Gothic Revival style (1876).
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John Carroll University opened its doors as Saint Ignatius College on September 6, 1886. Originally located on Cleveland’s West Side, the College was founded at the request of Bishop Richard Gilmour by German members of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits, founded in 1540). In 1923, the College was renamed John Carroll University after America’s first bishop. In 1925, the University acquired land in Idlewood Village (now University Heights) and initiated construction of a new campus in 1931. Classes began there in 1935 with 456 students. The institution admitted laywomen to evening and graduate classes in the 1930s and officially became coeducational in 1968. The University’s Jesuit Catholic mission inspires individuals to excel in learning, leadership, and service, both regionally and worldwide. John Carroll University is one of 28 Jesuit institutions of higher learning in the United States.
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Market Square, home to the Pearl Street Market, was located on the corner of Pearl and Lorain Streets (now West 25th St. and Lorain Ave.) in what was then known as the City of Ohio. The land that Market Square occupies was donated by local businessmen Josiah Barber and Richard Lord in 1840 for the public’s use. Farmers and food vendors gathered to sell their wares after a public market moved here in 1859. In 1868, an enclosed wood-framed Pearl Street Market building was erected.
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In 1886, Bishop Richard Gilmour (1824-1891) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Cleveland requested that the Jesuit superior of Buffalo establish a high school on Cleveland’s west side. The Jesuits, an order of the Roman Catholic Church founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1540, sought to establish schools that instilled a zeal for the Gospel and a love of learning. Under the leadership of Father Henry Behren, S.J. (1815-1895), the twentieth Jesuit secondary school in the United States opened in September 1886. Named Saint Ignatius College, the school grew from 76 students in 1886 to 490 in 1924. In 1924, the College split into two separate institutions: John Carroll University, which moved to University Heights in 1935, and Saint Ignatius High School, which remains on its original site. (Continued on other side)
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The Curtis-Preyer Stone House takes its name from two families associated with its early history. Richard and Clarissa Dille Curtis purchased 70 acres in the Connecticut Western Reserve from veteran Elias Lee in 1819. The Euclid Township “Turkey Knob” settlement soon thrived around Dugway Brook, springs sites, and an American Indian crossroads. The Curtis, Dille, Lee, and Stillman families, related by marriage, helped each other succeed by harnessing the creek to power their grist and saw mills and selling quarried stone and felled timber. Sometime between 1819 and 1835 Curtis built his stone house using the Berea sandstone quarried on site. The roof was created of ax-hewn “pegged” tree timbers, and the thick stone walls fashioned of uncoursed, chiseled stones. A central chimney fed seven fireplaces and a bake oven.
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