28 Tuesday Jul 2020
Posted in Living Historian
A Little Then & Now on this Hot and Sunny Afternoon. Then, the H.W. Werts & Company Carriage Manufacturers on the South West corner of Poplar & 7th Street. Now, the Frank T. Bow Federal Building on the South West corner of South Cleveland Avenue & 2nd Street. (Note: The THEN photograph has the Werts business incorrectly at Poplar & 8th Street.)
11 Saturday Jul 2020
Posted in Living Historian
Tags
Archives Bring Good Feelings, archiving in the key of life, Baltzly, Canton, find your quest, Glass plates, Hamilton, History, history nerds, Massillon, Massillon Museum, McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, negatives, seek the threads, Stark County
In February of this year Archivist, Mark Holland discovered a clue that solved a 48 year old mystery. See how this happened and get to know a little bit about two Stark County Photographers…
01 Wednesday Jul 2020
Posted in Living Historian
Tags
Archives Bring Good Feelings, Canton, central plaza, circus, Downtown, event, Public Square, Ramsayer Research Library, Stark Count, Thank You First Ladies Library, Thank You Guernsey County, Then and Now
A Little Then & Now on this sunny Wednesday afternoon! Then, a Circus coming to town Public Square Canton, Ohio Saturday May 7, 1904. Now, Central Plaza in downtown Canton.
18 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in Everyday Archivist, Living Historian
Tags
Canton, clock, Clock Collectors, DueberHampden, factory, GildedAge, McKinleyPresidentialLibraryMuseum, ohio, quest, refurbished, seekthethreads, StarkCountyHistoricalCenter, tower
Podcast
Stark County Story Told in 24 Objects…
The Library will feature 24 objects throughout 2020 to tell the Story of Stark County. These objects are chosen by our museum staff. Enjoy!
E. Howard Clock movement #2
George Deal’s serendipitous path-crossing with James Gilmore at the Hartville Market in June, 1983 was significant. Gilmore told Deal – President of the Stark County Historical Center from 1983 to 2000 – that he had been holding on to the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company’s tower clock mechanism that most people believed had been lost if not destroyed after the demolition of the factory around 1963. After a deal was negotiated, Gilmore donated the mechanism to the McKinley Museum. Deal saw to it that the clock works was refurbished and some pieces restored thanks to assistance from both the Timken Company and Ohio Valley Chapter #10 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. When the mechanism was put into working condition, it was displayed on the second floor in the east wing of the Museum. The E. Howard Clock movement #2 reflects the rise, consolidation, and fall of industrialization in Canton and the country itself.
The Gilded Age of U.S. history (1850-1916) reflected the extent that a young U.S., after the brutal political, economic, and social chaos of the Civil War, flexed its economic potential. The Gross National Product (GNP)I increased 300% and the U.S. became a world leader in industrial output measurements despite episodic depressions. Stark County and Canton shared in this expansion. If the country had its Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt; the community had Aultman, Belden, Timken and Hoover. The country’s population, in part due to an influx of much needed immigrant labor, rose from just over 23 million in 1850 to over 106 million in 1920. Canton’s population, driven by similar national employment opportunities and needs, increased from less than 3,000 in 1850 to over 50,000 in 1920 with 14,000 of those new citizens in a span of only ten years from 1880-1890. The county’s population in the same time span grew from less than 40,000 to over 177,000 with significant increases in and near Alliance, Perry Township and the Massillon areas. The U.S. Census Department reported that the nation’s center of manufacturing products would be located only eight mile south and seven miles west of Canton in Sugarcreek, Ohio. In 1910, Stark County was rated seventeenth in the nation in the value amount of key steel manufacturers. As the economic growth in the U.S. took off, so did the local economy.
The Dueber-Hampden Watch Co. is just one of those local industries that reflected this general national industrial expansion. With its total workforce of 2,300 in 1888 and a factory that covered 1,140 feet of frontage, Dueber-Hampden’s output and quality made Canton a vital center for watch manufacturing in the U.S. Relying on the local population growth centered primarily on immigrants from Greece, Austria and Switzerland, Dueber-Hampden increased productivity to meet a significant demand in timepieces. This demand in watches was spurred by a nation more preoccupied with time. The need to know what time it was spurred in part by factory time clocks and train time schedules that became a more integral part of the American daily routine.
It was John Dueber’s decision in 1888 to move his factory to Canton from Cincinnati and combine his company’s manufacturing of a watch’s inner mechanisms to the watch cases manufactured by the Hampden Company. His decision was based on opposition to a trust that had formed to control the production of watch cases. This, of course, was not an isolated development in the Gilded Age. Like the Watch Case Trust, other businesses such as steel-making under Carnegie and oil-production with Rockefeller created trust to dominate and hinder competition. Dueber believed that the Watch Case Trust would limit his production of high-quality time pieces and lose its competitive edge over less quality pieces. His simple solution? Combine the two operations. He moved to Canton when the Cincinnati authorities denied him permits to expand. Canton came calling and Dueber found his new home in Canton. (Dueber’s wife, Mary, was less than thrilled with what she saw as the backward society of Canton and promised never to leave her Canton residence. A promise she largely kept.) Dueber would formally unite the two operations in 1923 into the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company. Unfortunately, for Dueber and his workers wrist watches with Swiss time-pieces became more functional and popular. With demand dropping, Dueber-Hampden declared bankruptcy in 1927 at the cusp of the Great Depression. The machinery was sold to the Soviet Union reflecting the gradual, cautionary rapprochement between the U.S. and Communist-regime.
Canton’s industrial expansion, population growth, dependence on cheap immigrant labor, trust-building, and shifts in social tastes and needs all reflected national trends. It reflects a twist on an old adage that if the country at large sneezes, Canton catches a cold. The reverberations of historic national tendencies are all around us in our community. The memory of some of these trends are reflected in many of the objects that are located within the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum. Within the Museum are artifacts that help us connect our local history to national and even international events. And its happenstances like Deal’s run-in with Gilmore that helps keep history both alive and intact in the Museum much like E. Howard clock works #2 that graced the tower of the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company for over 60 years.
David Swope
Library Volunteer
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
28 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted in Living Historian
A little Then & Now on a snowy Monday afternoon. The North Market McKinley House on the south west corner of Market North and Louis Avenue sometime between 1900 and 1911. Now the location of the Stark County District Library present day Market North and Eighth Street. #thenandnow #starkcountylibrary #archivesbringgoodfeelings #archives #ramsayerresearchlibrary #McKinleyHome #footprint #PresidentMcKinley #seekthethreads #McKinleyPresidentialLibraryandMuseum #history #Canton #Stark #Ohio
21 Wednesday Aug 2019
Posted in Blogger, Living Historian
Tags
Advice, Akron, archivist, Canal Fulton, Canton, Catalog, Cleveland State University, findyourquest, findyourwhy, Genealogy, high school, History, Kent State Stark, Local, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, morethanamonument, Northwest, ohio, seekthethreads, Stark County, volunteers, welcome, William McKinley
Podcast
Name: Briant Bowman
Position: Cataloger
Hometown: Canal Fulton
College: Kent State Stark, Cleveland State University
Major/Minor: History with museum concentration
Where did you attend school (elementary, junior high, high school/college)?
I went to Voris CLC Elementary School from kindergarten until 3rd grade. From 3rd grade, we moved to Canal Fulton and I transferred to Northwest Canal Fulton. For junior high, I went to Northwest Intermediate school and graduated from Northwest High School in 1983.
After graduating high school, I wanted to stay local so I went to Kent State Stark and I majored in history. In the fall, I am going to Graduate School at Cleveland State University. I am majoring in history with a concentration in museums. After graduating, I want to become an archivist and work with history and records.
How did you hear about The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum?
I had always known about the museum because I grew up in Stark County, but didn’t become a volunteer until this year.
How/When did you become a volunteer at our library?
One day while I was visiting the museum, I decided to set up an appointment with the volunteer coordinator. I met Mark, the archivist, and visited the archives. I really liked what I saw and heard so I became a volunteer at the library in May of this year.
What is your favorite part of being a volunteer in the library?
I really enjoy learning about local history. I go through old photographs of Stark County so I get to see various aspects of what life used to be like compared to how it is today.
Do you have any hobbies or other commitments?
I love to read. I specifically like to read about Colonial America, ranging from the 1700s to the 1800s.
What values and/or lessons would you pass along to someone?
Find out more about history. Local, national, or anything else, history can teach us so much.
We want to thank Briant for letting us interview him and allowing us to share his story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too!
If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043
20 Saturday Jul 2019
Posted in Blogger, Living Historian
Tags
archivist, Canton, Chicago, Delta College, findyourquest, findyourwhy, History, Illinois, MAPS, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, Michigan, morethanamonument, North Canton, Nursing, ohio, Research, seekthethreads, Stark County, travel, volunteers, welcome, William McKinley
We invite our followers to get to know Marylou Thompson, one of our Research volunteers at the Presidential Library!
Marylou taking a well deserved, but short break from her duties in the McKinley Presidential Library
Marylou was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but spent much of her childhood traveling with her family. Her father was in the service, her family moved all over the United States while she and her siblings grew up. She recalls memories of her past, particularly recalling 5th grade as being one of her favorite memories. At the time, she had moved back to Ohio and was attending St. Mary’s in Painesville, Ohio. She really enjoyed school, but also loved being able to spent lots of time with her loving grandparents. She continued to move with her family until she graduated high school and started her own career path.
After high school, she attended Central Michigan University, then attended nursing school at Delta College in Saginaw, Michigan. After graduating from nursing school, she received her Bachelor’s Degree, majoring in science and business, from the University of St. Francis in Illinois. Finally, she attended graduate school and received her MBA at the University in Chicago. During her time in school and out, she worked as a nurse for many years. She found that being a caretaker was her calling and it came naturally to her.
As a nurse, she worked primarily in the ICU department of the hospital, and she kept moving up to different roles in life. She enjoyed her work so much so that she ended up working in hospital administration for some years. She wanted to do more though, and soon moved to the long term care industry until retirement.
In 2016, she moved to North Canton to be closer to her sister. She had just retired and was looking for something to do to pass the time when she stumbled upon the McKinley National Memorial one day. She remembers walking around the parks and when she saw the monument, she had to go see what it was. After she visited the monument that day, she went to our museum and asked to become a volunteer at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum. She found something else that she loved to do and her years of being a multi-tasker and nurse gave her very valuable skills that we honor here in our library. She has volunteered with us for three years and she is an incredible asset to our team, keeping us organized and taking care of our accessions and cataloguing items.
In her spare time, she also volunteers in the library at MAPS Air museum in Green, Ohio . She loves reading various types of military books, fictional or non-fictional, and she loves to travel. She is very big on history and all about learning as much as she can from her travels and from her own experience.
One of her favorite aspects of being a volunteer here is that she is actually able to see the results of our projects and requests in a short time. Being a nurse and working in the healthcare industry, quick results weren’t easily noticed because of the varying aspects of that field, but she loves being able to see the results of hers and everyone else’s hard work. She describes her time here as not being work, it is like hanging out with friends and working together as a team. She loves what she does here and is truly a valuable resource to all who know her.
We want to thank Marylou for letting us interview her and allowing us to share her story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too!
If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043
11 Saturday May 2019
Posted in Living Historian
Tags
Archives, Blog, education, findyourquest, findyourwhy, friends, high school, History, life, morethanamonument, ohio, school, seekthethreads, Stark State, volunteer, Walsh University, William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
Podcast
We want to welcome our followers to get to know Samantha Weaver, an intern and now a volunteer at the Presidential Library!
Born in Canton, Ohio, Samantha has lived here in Stark County her whole life. Growing up fairly close to downtown Canton, she has many memories of going to the Stark County District Library with her family. She loved reading and writing from a young age, even having a short story she wrote to be published in a book when she was in junior high. As a young girl, she also remembers going to different museums all over Ohio, which helped inspire her when she was growing up as to what she wanted to be when she got older. Her careers growing up changed from teacher to forensic analyst to paleontologist and now to her current goal of pursuing a career in records management/archives in the museum field.
She attended Hope Academy from 1st grade to 5th grade, transferring to Dueber Elementary for 6th grade, and then Lehman Middle School from 7th to 8th grades. She then got accepted to Timken Early College High School, which she went to for all of high school. While in high school, she was also in the Upward Bound Math-Science program at Stark State for all 4 years, where she found her love for museums once again after visiting the Field Museum in Chicago. She then found out about Walsh University’s Museum Studies program and from then, it was set for her. In 2017, Samantha graduated with an Associate of Arts degree from Stark State College and a high school diploma from McKinley Senior High School. She began attending Walsh University in fall of 2017 with a Museum Studies major and Art History minor.
In her free time, she likes to read about art history, write on her blog, learn about different museums and to visit them as well. She likes to draw and keep herself occupied by reading biographies, non-fiction, and mystery books.
Samantha began as an intern at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in August 2018 and is now staying on after her internship as a volunteer in the library. She chose this museum for her internship because it is close to where she lives, but it is also her favorite local museum and she has many fond memories from over the years. She loves being a part of a team and talking to the other volunteers because they are so knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Samantha feels like she has finally found a place where she belongs and can be creative in this positive environment. After being here, her love for the archives has grown and she sees herself continuing a career in this field.
Samantha would like to end with one of her favorite quotes:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi
We want to thank Samantha for letting us interview her and allow us to share her story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too!
If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043
04 Friday Jan 2019
Posted in Living Historian
Podcast
In September of 2017 an inquiry arrived from a gentleman in California who was requesting assistance as he delved into genealogical research regarding his family, the Ungers. He had already uncovered extensive information regarding his family and their Stark County lineage.
Walter Unger and his wife Marti subsequently traveled to Ohio and met with archivist Mark Holland, volunteers, Judy Pocock, and Tom Haas and they spent time in the research library.
As it turns out, Walter Unger’s father Leslie had been friends with E. T. Heald, who had written the six volume compendium of Stark County history, called The Stark County Story, which is one of the most comprehensive sources to explore regarding our community’s legacy.
According to Unger family lore, George Unger Sr. (1774-1843), his wife, and three children arrived in Stark County in 1826 on a Prairie Schooner from Pennsylvania and purchased 160 acres of land in the Southwest Quadrant of Section 28 in Plain Township.
In 1852, George Unger Jr. (1813-1874), the son, purchased a log home and parcel of land in the Southwest Quadrant of Section 33 in Plain Township (immediately south of Section 28). As it often turns out when research is being done, a serendipitous discovery was made. The home that George Unger Jr. purchased is still standing and has been lovingly cared for and restored by its current owner, educator Joyce Lemke.
Joyce graciously opened her home for a visit from Walter and Marti Unger and a research team from the Ramsayer Research Library. The home sits on 25th Street near Malone University. Joyce, who has owned the home since 1985, has a wonderful collection of documents and photographs reflecting the history and provenance of this home and its prior owners.
In 1976, a historic preservation study of the home was completed by Gary A. Thompson, from the Dept. of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, at the request of then owner D.W. Lanning. The original log home was completed in 1811.
Log construction in Ohio began around 1780. In fact, the oldest structure in Ohio dates to 1788, the Rufus Putnam House in Marietta, made of poplar pit-sawed planks.
This Stark County home had previously been known as the Lanning Home and before that the Unger Farm House. It is the oldest known standing home in Canton. For history buffs, the Shorb House built in 1810 is now gone. The Landmark Tavern still stands and was built in 1817.
The Unger/Lanning/Lemke house is unique in that it contains 2 frontier styles in the same house (both log and half-timbered). The land on which it sits was first sold to John Hannon in 1810, who then sold it to Andrew Newman in 1811. Newman then sold the land to Daniel Smith, who built the house in 1811. The property was then sold to John Smith in 1829, who sold it to George Unger in 1852 and for many years his heirs lived there. The house then went to the Lanning family, who lived there from 1930-1985, when Joyce Lemke purchased it.
At the time of the original purchase, Ohio was a very different landscape, with many Native American tribes still living here. There is an apocryphal story that when Daniel Smith was a First Lieutenant in the Cumberland County Militia, his wife and child feared for their safety being alone in the house and rode by horseback to a neighboring farm.
Upon returning the next day, they supposedly discovered two Native Americans on the second floor, both dead after a fight. The story was that you could still see traces of their blood on the floorboards.
Many alterations and renovations of the property were undertaken over the years. In 1820, a half-timbered 2-story structure was added. In the early 1900’s, the log house was converted into a garage. In 1932, both structures were extensively altered under the supervision of architect Herman Albrecht, who designed many homes in Massillon and in the Ridgewood neighborhood in Canton. A new entrance was completed and there was a large rear addition. Fireplaces and dormer windows were added. Today, the house still boasts original pine flooring as well as a beautiful front porch and stone cellar. The log house has an excellent example of 4-sided hewed logs with full dovetail notch.
Although short-lived, the house had even operated as a bed and breakfast in the mid 1980’s, known as Holly Hock Cottage, under Joyce Lemke’s proprietorship. The guest bedrooms were known as the Rose, Trellis and Loft Rooms. Today, the lovingly-curated home exudes a calm and serene timeliness. One wants to sit in the library under those rough-hewn beams and dig into an old classic, or sit shaded from the sun on the front porch sipping a lemonade.
To close, here is a statement from Gary A. Thompson, the Cincinnati architect who did the historic preservation assessment of the home in 1976:
“My Philosophy of Historic Preservation I view buildings as if they’re like people in that they are a living, growing thing and normally they change with time. The decades and centuries of use and adaptation leave their presence on them. Therefore, a building should present a picture of a quiet, unconscious evolution of use. The aim of restoration, therefore, is to create not the original by distorting all that has preceded, but to merge the old and the new into a quiet and friendly cohesiveness, to create an air of timelessness and persistent vitality.”
Rochelle Haas
Archives Assistant
McKinley Presidential Library
02 Friday Feb 2018
Posted in Living Historian
Tags
antiwar speech, Canton Ohio, Eugene Debs, Nimisilla Park, Sedition Act of 1918, Stark County, World War I
Podcast
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:
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.
