Speech in Time…

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antiwar speech, Canton Ohio, Eugene Debs, Nimisilla Park, Sedition Act of 1918, Stark County, World War I

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In our service to the community, we often find ourselves starting with a question posed which leads to a fascinating journey through our archives and beyond.  One such question arrived via email in April, 2017 from a researcher with the National Archives of Chicago.  Planning an article for the agency’s quarterly journal, Prologue, the gentleman inquired if we had a photograph of the socialist, antiwar activist Eugene V. Debs addressing an audience in Canton, Ohio in Nimisilla Park. The speech took place on June 16, 1918, five months before Armistice Day and the end of WWI.   A search of our archives revealed no such photo, but a colorized postcard of Nimisilla Park and its bandstand from 1907 was found and forwarded to him.

Recently, archivist Mark Holland was doing research on an unrelated matter. While browsing the Western Reserve Historical Society database, Mark spotted the name “Eugene Debs.” Clicking on the link, he was led to the David Rubenstein Gallery of the National Archives. He was astonished to find a crystal clear black and white photograph of Debs addressing a sizeable crowd at Nimisilla Park in Canton, Ohio.

Here is the link which features the photograph:

National Archives

The significance of this event is notable.  Debs was known as one of the most outspoken opponents of American participation in WWI. He had started his career as a railroad laborer and eventually become the president of the American Railway Union. He converted to socialism in 1897 and ran as the Socialist Party candidate for President five times. By 1918, the US government was imprisoning socialist dissidents who were antiwar.  Eugene Debs was on their radar.

The speech in Canton, Ohio was duly noted and the district attorney for Northern Ohio, Edwin S. Wetz, had stenographers record his words.  Debs had chosen the Canton location as it was not far from the Canton jail where three socialists were being held in violation of the Espionage Act.  During the speech he criticized the rationale of the war while denouncing the government for suppressing free speech.

He told the audience “you need to know that you are good for something more than slavery and cannon fodder.”

Debs was arrested the next day in Cleveland and charged with ten counts under the Sedition Act of 1918. After six hours of deliberation, the jury found Debs guilty on three counts, ruling that he had tried to incite refusal of military service. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. After serving 3 years, Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence.

Debs’ conviction and the ongoing arguments regarding the boundaries of free speech eventually led to the formation of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Concluding, one can say that the question posed led to the uncovering of a turbulent piece of Americana, with Canton, Ohio as a part of that story.  As we examine our current environment, with its own battles and controversies, we can better understand the cyclical nature of our nation’s history.

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Circling Joy…

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Meyer’s Lake Amusement Park Canton, Ohio

Cleveland Avenue North & 4th Street Canton, Ohio November 3, 2017

The carousel spinning and spinning…

The lights, the sounds, the horses…

All of these elements added up to one thing.  Pure joy, for all ages.

Every generation looks for a way to bring together people of all ages.  Meyer’s Lake was the glue that held all ages together for many generations in Canton, Ohio. Just say the phrase, “It used to be at Meyer’s Lake…” to a native of Stark County and watch her face light up with a certain joy not found in many other places.

The Carousel at Meyer’s Lake brought joy to many people from all over the country.  In the early 1970’s, when the amusement park came to an end, this Merry-go-round was packed up and shipped to Hartford, Connecticut.  It was unpacked, a sight was chosen, and it was assembled in Bushnell Park for many more generations to enjoy.

Bushnell Park is situated at the base of the Connecticut State House

My wife Alyson Bachtel Holland and I had the opportunity to ride this historic artifact that once brought children and adults of  Stark County a sense of pure joy!  As we chose our horse and we listened for the next bell, and the music to begin we felt nostalgic and we were drawn closer to the memories of our parents riding this carousel over and over., when it sat in Meyer’s Lake.  You can’t buy that feeling…

Listen now, as we take you on this ride, Circling Joy…

 

Linked to Research…

We help people find their happiness.  Call, Write, or Come into our archive to ask how we bring many people happiness and satisfaction.

Our archive website Ramsayer Research Library has two new features.  First, we have added a Search Engine to enable the researcher to search anything on our archive website!

Plus, our website has a new page called Quicklinks.  This new page contains six links to pages helpful to researchers, and we will be adding more…  We have added a line or two to each link to let you know why you want to go to these pages.  Stay tuned for videos on our McKinley Museum’s Youtube, and Facebook pages explaining in detail how to use the pages we have linked.

 

More Later…

 

New Found Home…

Simon Essig, Plain Township Pioneer, born December 27, 1754  was married to Julian Marg’ Schnarin.  They had twelve children together and settled in Plain Township, Ohio.

The Essig family had many reunions as documented in an invitation to a reunion, Thursday June 14, 1900 and by the Roller Monthly publication of Canton.

Edna Schea was inspired to paint Simon Essig’s home in Plain Township.  The location of the home is described in the 1900 reunion invitation as being located on the Middle Branch of the Nimishillen Creek, near Canton, Ohio.

The donor who lives in Maine knew the artist briefly.  The artist painted this landscape in 1968 in Meriden, Connecticut.  Edna died December 23, 1986 and is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery, in Meriden, Connecticut.

Why Edna painted this landscape is a mystery.  Volunteer, Judy Pocock, and I have begun to put the pieces back together.  I had a nice talk with the donor of the painting, and she is very happy the painting has landed in a safe home.  Judy Pocock has found no direct link between Edna Schea, and the Essig family.

We will continue to investigate.

More Later…

Class In Session…

 

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We help our visitors find inspiration in the citizens who went before us in Stark County. William McKinley became one of those citizens in 1867, and weaved himself into the fabric of Stark County history for some thirty-four years.

We at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum gather information and artifacts from our collection to help people find their happiness.  What does this mean?  People come to us with many many questions about William McKinley, Stark County, the Presidency in general, and what we have to offer as a museum.  They ask these questions because they have a desire to satisfy a curiosity, or have a need to get to the bottom of a question.  What ever their reason for asking they seem relieved and happy to get their question answered, and get the information they wanted.

One way we answer questions about President William McKinley is to have schoolhouse presentations to immerse school aged students into his life.  Today I taught a group of students from Sugarcreek, Ohio.  They were very interested in where William McKinley lived, and how he worked on his many “jobs!”

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School Bells Silenced…

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Welcome back to 70 Artifacts for 70 years! Look for our logo in platinum honoring the 70th anniversary of the Stark County Historical Society.

Today we feature photographs from Cherry Street School.  The school was on Cherry Street NE between 9th Street on the South, and Lawrence Road on the North.

Cherry Street School was known as North School from 1876 to 1889, and Cherry Street school from 1889 to 1960 when the building was razed shortly after.

The bell we have in front of our museum was on top of the Cherry Street School.

This bell was manufactured by the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy, New York.

Here is a Youtube of the making of a bell.

Meneely Bell Foundry – Rare Footage of Foundry & Bell Making, Part 2

More later…

Movers and Shakers of Canton Industries…

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Welcome back to 70 Artifacts for 70 years! Look for our logo in platinum for the 70 years of the Stark County Historical Society!

Today we feature The Canton Board of Trade from our Stark County Collection.

The Canton Board of Trade (1885-1914) Collected & Documented by Tom Haas 2016

The forerunner of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Canton Board of Trade played a tremendously dynamic part in the development of the city of Canton, Ohio

The Canton Board of Trade was organized in 1885.  Its members consisted of prominent businessmen from Canton who recognized that a growing industrial base clearly benefitted all aspects of the greater economy. To that end this group of influential citizens sought to attract other growing companies from other parts of Ohio and even other states to re-locate their businesses to Canton. These persistent men tirelessly pursued any opportunity to sell the benefits of this city to any business that would listen. Their creative packaging of financial benefits coupled with total community support lured many large businesses to select Canton as their new base of operations.

The selling points of Canton were many. It enjoyed an abundance of resources such as plentiful coal and natural gas deposits, a growing nearby steel industry, inexpensive agricultural land, a new city water system, electric railway interurban lines,excellent north-south, east-west railroad lines, many fine schools and churches, an industrially supportive media (The Evening Repository and the Daily Democrat) and a business-friendly city and county government.  Total community support, sweetened by a lucrative package of financial incentives, combined to boost Canton as an excellent place for industrial re-location.

Creative packaging of financial benefits lured many large businesses to select Canton as their new base of operations. The Canton Board of Trade consisted of men of vision who came from all aspects of industrial life. They owned successful businesses and knew what it would take to bring other promising businesses to Canton. They understood that salesmanship alone, sometimes, was not enough. The package offered might even require personal investment on the part of the membership to help seal the deal.  Above all complete civic commitment and cooperation from industry and government was necessary to accomplish their goals.

In 1885 when the Canton Board of Trade was established its sole purpose was to bring the Dueber Hampden Watch Company to Canton.

 

At that time W. W. Clark was the first president (also the first president of the Diebold Safe & Lock Company), Henry W. Harter, Secretary (also serving as Vice President and partner of the George D. Harter Bank) and Louis Schaefer, Corresponding Secretary (also prominent attorney in the City of Canton, Stark County politician, and owner of Schaefer’s Opera House.)

As a member of the Canton Board of Trade and later president for many years, Charles A. Dougherty’s personal initiative was largely responsible for fund campaigns that secured for Canton, not only Dueber Hampden and Timken Roller Bearing and Axle Company, but also Carnahan Industries, Canton Malleable Iron Works and many other smaller companies.

 

One of the most persuasive inducements that Dougherty and members came up with was to bring outside companies and their employees to Canton was the idea to buy farmland close to railroad lines to gift to a prospective manufacturing company. Additional nearby land owned by the Board would frequently be divided into lots, some of which could be given to the prospective company free of charge and some that could be sold to the company’s relocated workers. The Board of Trade used this technique to help bring such successful companies as Dueber Hampden, Carnahan Industries, Timken Roller Bearing and Axle Company to Canton among many other companies from surrounding states.

 

According to the Canton Board of Trade’s 1909 publication entitled “The Evolution of a City”, between the years of 1885 and 1909 the following industries were persuaded to move to Canton due to the efforts of this association:

• Hedgeland Manufacturing Company
• Cleveland Axle Manufacturing
• Timken Roller Bearing
• Kittoe Boiler and Tank Company
• Power Electric Company
• Canton Stamping and Enameling
• Republic Stamping and Enameling
• Alliance Foundry Company
• American Roll and Foundry Company
• American Sheet and Tin Plate Company
• Canton Malleable Iron Company
• Gschwind Furnace Company
• Canton Hughes Pump Company
• United Steel Company
• Old King Cole Papier Mache Works
• Imperial Rubber Manufacturing
• Stark Rolling Mill Company
• Cleveland-Canton Spring Company
• Shull Steel Castings Company
• Wright Wrench Company
• Carnahan Tin Plate and Sheet Company

The Canton Board of Trade reported in 1909 that there were 210 factories in Canton employing some 11,000 people, and manufacturing 6,000 distinct and separate articles.  The combined output each year reached more than 20 million dollars.

Canton’s population, as reported in 1909, by the Canton Board of Trade:

1809 2,063 citizens

1860 4,041 citizens

1870 8,660 citizens

1880 12,258 citizens

1890 26,189 citizens

1900 30,667 citizens

1909 45,000 citizens

Notice the enormous growth of population from the period of the 1880’s to the year 1909. This was undoubtedly due to the positive efforts of the Canton Board of trade to bring many businesses and their workers to Canton.

Another Canton business organization at that time, the Canton Businessmen’s Association, was organized in 1904.  It became a partner and also a rival to the Canton Board of Trade. Competitive bickering between these two associations caused the Canton Chamber of Commerce to be established as “one voice” (as suggested by President William Taft) in 1914. The  national Chamber of Commerce had previously been established two years before this.

The Canton Board of Trade continued to exist after 1914 but their influence was slowly diminished. The Canton Chamber of Commerce continued to grow but the “golden age” of bringing successful, long-lasting business development to Canton has never equaled the success of the Canton Board of Trade.

Sources:

Canton Board of Trade

• The Stark County Story, Edward Heald, 1952, Vol.III, pgs.198-207

• “Evolution of a City”, Canton Board of Trade, Canton, Ohio, 1909

Letter & Photographs…

It was a very emotional day here in the Ramsayer Research Library.  Two of Don Mellett’s granddaughters, Sherry Herzer of Atlanta, Georgia, and Donna Adams and her husband, Ron made the trip from Indianapolis, Indiana to view the Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Canton Daily News after the murder of their beloved grandfather.  They toured the museum with director, Joyce Yut, and Canton Repository reporter, Gary Brown.

When the two lady’s viewed the Pulitzer Prize having a special connection with their grandfather, Don Mellett, they teared up, and were filled with emotions.  They sat with Gary Brown, and they related there story of how their grandmother was faced with a dilemma of what to do with her husband after he was shot.  She had four children upstairs, and she was afraid to call the police.  According to Donna and Sherry, their grandmother dragged her husband from the driveway, and into the house.  She finally decided to call the police.  Ron, Donna’s husband, told me about the photograph of the four children on the front steps of the Mellett Home on Tuscarawas West,  taken the next morning.  One of the initial rewards offered for the arrest of Don Mellett’s murder was $27,000.00 dollars.  I calculated the $27,000.00 dollars in 1926 would be equivalent to $364,000.00 today!

Thank you to all of our McKinley Presidential Library & Museum members for supporting us, and  helping us preserve our collection, and make it available to people like Donna and Ron Adams, and  Sherry Herzer.

More Later…

 

Vision of Residence…

A couple of months ago a very sweet lady came to us asking about her grandmother’s residence on Market North in Canton.  She told me she knew the family home stood where Lowe’s Theater once stood.  Today at 516 Market North stands the Canton Towers.  We made an appointment and the woman brought her brother and sister-in-law with her to the Ramsayer Research Library.  They visited, we searched, with no luck.  Sometimes we have to let things go, and they sometimes work their way to you…

I told our patrons the story of the request for a photograph of the building on the Southwest Corner of Cleveland North & 5th street. This location of the Repository had a facade attached to the front of the building.  We couldn’t find a photograph of the original building.  The photograph was taunting us because it was hiding in one of our Stark County history books.  It was pointed out to us when one of our regular researchers discovered it in this book at another institution. This story gave our new friends some hope.

Weeks later a researcher from the D.C. area discovered our library while visiting her mother in Canton.  She is writing a book on the consentration camps before and during the Spanish American War.  She went through many of our photographs and purchased a few of them.  As I was putting the photographs away, I decided to revisit a folder labeled Spanish American War.  It was finding its way to me,  because I came to a photograph of a parade with the over-sized Dueber Hampden watch.  I spotted a brewery which stood at the corner of Market North & 5th street!!! Just to the North was the house we were looking for.  I called the lady who requested a photograph of her Grandmother Miller’s home.  She and her brother and sister-in-law came in, and studied the photograph with much emotion.  They purchased two copies of this photograph.  The lady who requested this view of her grandmother’s home shared with me how a relative planted the seed to search for this house in the 1960’s!  This week her family’s dream was realized.  Thank you so much for placing your trust in us.

More Later…

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old…

William McKinley endured many hardships in his life.  His solid upbringing, and his loving parents were a help to him, so many years later.

Major McKinley knew how to “win friends, and influence people” He had a knack for remembering your name that served him well in politics, and in social gatherings.

He did as Dale Carnegie would instruct more than a half a century later, “do as the puppy does.  A puppy practically jumps out of their skin to see you”

William McKinley demonstrated to us kindness, generosity, and love for his children, wife, family, and friends.

He was a likable person, and countless people from all over the world grieved his passing.

We remember him most for speaking to us from the heart, and helping us see the good in all.

We honor him, and all that he accomplished from his Civil War service to his service in public life as; Stark County Prosecutor, U.S. Congressman, Ohio State Governor, and 25th President of the United States.

More later…