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12-12 Thomas W. Burton, M.D.
Dr. Thomas William Burton, Springfield’s first Black physician, was born into slavery in a Kentucky log cabin on May 4, 1860. The youngest of 15 children, he was orphaned at 9, and his only education was the alphabet before age 21. Burton attended Kentucky’s Berea College and graduated from the Indianapolis Eclectic College of Physicians […]
38-22 Sandusky “Color Capital of the World”
Marcellus F. Cowdery, Sandusky’s first Public School superintendent, encouraged William D. Curtis to formulate a chalk that did not break easily or scratch chalkboards. Curtis conducted experiments in his kitchen and, using gypsum and limestone deposits from Sandusky Bay, created sticks of pure white, processed chalk. In the late 1860s, he and his brothers-in-law, Marcellus […]
11-47 Oberlin College / Science and Liberal Arts Tradition
Founded in 1833, Oberlin College was the first coeducational institution of higher education in the United States and was among the first colleges to admit African Americans. Oberlin was a center of social reform and it played a key role in anti-slavery activities in the years prior to the Civil War. Oberlin’s first professor of […]
146-25 Pater Noster House / Ohio AIDS Service Organizations
Pater Noster (“Our Father”) House was a nonprofit crisis center and hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS that originated in the Columbus Hilltop neighborhood. Barbara Cordle (1939-2020) opened the center in 1985 to serve the community during a time of intense homophobia. Cordle, a devout Catholic and licensed practical nurse, felt called to serve those […]
10-24 Colonel Charles Young’s Historic Ride to Washington / Washington Court House, Ohio: The First Night’s Stop
In 1918, Charles Young made a desperate attempt to convince the U.S. Army that he was fit for duty. The Army’s highest-ranking Black officer, he had been medically retired and not given a command during World War I. To demonstrate his fitness, he rode 497 miles from his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. […]
8-37 Colonel Charles Young’s Historic Ride to Washington / Logan, Ohio: The Third Night’s Stop
In 1918, Charles Young made a desperate attempt to convince the U.S. Army that he was fit for duty. The Army’s highest-ranking Black officer, he had been medically retired and not given a command during World War I. To demonstrate his fitness, he rode 497 miles from his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. […]
158-18 Clark Avenue Public Baths
In the early 20th century, the City of Cleveland began opening public bath houses as a way to address the unsanitary living conditions of its overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods. Opened in January 1908, the Clark Avenue Bath House was Cleveland’s third public bath house. It cost $32,000 to build and was designed by prominent Cleveland architect […]
5-60 Y-Bridge
Y-Bridge—1902—World Famous Part of the Old National Road
4-60 Y-Bridge
Y-BRIDGE—1902—World Famous Part of the Old National Road
6-54 “Johnny Appleseed” Nursery / Shanesville, Shane’s Crossing, Rockford
John Chapman (1774 – 1845) leased these three acres to the north and west from William Botts Hedges on April 29, 1828. He paid Hedges by cultivating 1,000 apple trees on the site over the next ten years. Apples provided an important food source. Cut and dried for sauces in the winter, they could be […]