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Garrett Augustus Morgan was an African American businessman and prolific inventor of devices that made people’s lives safer and more convenient. Born on March 4, 1877 in Claysville, the Black segregated section of Paris, Kentucky, Morgan migrated north first to Cincinnati and then Cleveland in 1895. He lived and worked in this house at 5204 Harlem Avenue. In 1906, Morgan started the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to market the hair straightener he had invented. The following year he opened a sewing machine repair shop. In 1908, he and his wife Mary opened Morgan’s Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. (continued on other side)
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In 1915, real estate developers William B. Welles and Badger C. Bowen formed the Ottawa Park Realty Company and in 1917 platted 323 residential lots near Toledo, Ohio. Named “Westmoreland” for the similarities with the rolling landscapes of Westmoreland County, Virginia, the neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Westmoreland features 215 original homes, most representing architectural Revival styles of the early 20th century including those of the Colonial, Jacobethan/Tudor, Italianate, French, and Spanish Revivals. This marker commemorates the centennial of the founding of Westmoreland. (Continued on other side)
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The Ohio General Assembly established the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station in 1882. From its inception until 1892, the Station occupied 17 acres on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University before relocating to 470 acres in Wayne County. In 1965, the Station changed its name to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) to more accurately reflect its mission and programs. In 1982, the Center formally merged with The Ohio State University. Today, the Center encompasses nearly 2,100 acres in Wayne County with 10 branches located across the state for a total of approximately 7,100 acres dedicated to agricultural research.
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The town of Bedford was settled in 1837. Early residents, Hezekiah and Clarissa Dunham donated the land that serves as Bedford Public Square. The Dunhams built one of the area’s first homes in 1832, which stands at 729 Broadway with the letters H & D above the doorway. Early settlers were attracted to the area by the abundance of natural resources and a large waterfall for mill sites. Bedford also served as a stagecoach stop on the route from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. The road or Turnpike Road as it was called was originally part of the Mahoning Indian Trail. By 1895 the road was renamed Main Street (and later Broadway) when the Akron, Bedford, and Cleveland Railway Company (ABC) traversed the middle of the street carrying passengers. The interurban is called “America’s first high speed long distance electric interurban” with speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour. [continued on other side]
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At 2:30 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 1944, an above ground storage tank that held liquefied natural gas in the East Ohio Gas Company’s tank farm began to emit vapor from a seam on the side of the tank that dropped into nearby sewer lines. It mixed with air and sewer gas and ignited, resulting in explosions and fires that brought damage to nearly one square mile of Cleveland neighborhoods. With 79 homes and two factories destroyed, nearly 700 people were left homeless, 131 killed, and 225 injured. The East Ohio Gas Company took responsibility for this tragedy to aid those in need through direct financial assistance and by rebuilding the community. The disaster also led to a movement by public utilities and communities across America to store natural gas below ground without tanks.
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On April 29, 1879, using arc carbons from the forerunner of the National Carbon Company, the City of Cleveland was illuminated by the world’s first practical electric street lamp. The National Carbon Company was founded in 1886 and earned recognition for its lifesaving carbon-filtered gas masks for World War I soldiers and reentry parts for the spacecraft that captivated the nation in the 1960s. The company also received an Academy Award for its contributions to motion picture photography in 1956. At this location in 1956, The National Carbon Company opened its Parma Research Laboratory. This facility became global headquarters for GrafTech International in 2006. On the company’s 125th anniversary of pioneering innovation in advanced energy graphite material science, it owned nearly 800 patents and patent-pending applications.
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On April 29, 1879, using arc carbons from the forerunner of The National Carbon Company, the City of Cleveland was illuminated by the world’s first practical electric street lamp. The National Carbon Company was established in Cleveland, Ohio in 1886 by Brush Electric Company executive W.H. Lawrence in association with future Ohio Governor Myron T. Herrick, James Parmelee, and Webb Hayes, son of United States President Rutherford B. Hayes. Well known for its batteries, The National Carbon Company also earned recognition for breakthrough research and products, including lifesaving carbon-filtered gas masks used by soldiers in World War I and reentry parts on the spacecraft that captivated the nation in the 1960s.
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For more than 120 years, the natural amphitheater of Brookside Stadium has been a place of recreation for visitors to enjoy community events, festivals, and even a concert by John Philip Sousa. Engineered by William Stinchcomb, chief architect of the Cleveland Metroparks, Brookside Stadium officially opened as a premier space for sandlot baseball in May 1909. As amateur baseball found increased esteem, both locally and nationally, Brookside Stadium regularly became popular with thousands of spectators. On Sunday, October 10, 1915, it was host to the National Inter-City Amateur Championship, during which a crowd of an estimated 115,000 people witnessed the White Autos beat the Omaha Luxus 11 to 6. Although there was no formal ticketing system to verify the exact attendance, photographs taken that day strongly suggest that Brookside Stadium hosted the largest crowd in amateur baseball history.