Wedded to the Sea…

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Battleship Ohio, California, Columbus, Ida Saxton McKinley, Irving Scott, Mary Barber, Miss Helen Deshler, ohio, Pacific Coast, President McKinley, Riverside, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay, Slocum, Union Iron Works, Wedded to the Sea

Wedded to the Sea… (The Christening of the Battleship Ohio)

12:20 pm Pacific Time Mary Barber of Canton, Ohio daughter of Mary Saxton Barber stood by the apparatus that gave the signal to release the Battleship Ohio down the ways and into San Francisco Bay. Uncle William known to the world as President McKinley was nearby silently overseeing the entire celebration.

The trip of a lifetime for many began in Washington D.C. President McKinley was embarking on a Tour to the Pacific Coast. The train of the Southern Railway pulled away from the Washington station at 10:30 am Eastern time on Monday April 29^th, carrying the President and First Lady, most of the President’s Cabinet, and their spouses or relatives. The original plan was to cover over ten thousand miles out to California and back to Washington, during the greater part of fifty days. The official trip roster contained forty people. The trip would have to alter and history would turn out different than planned because of the health of Mrs. Ida Saxton McKinley. The most important objective was to witness the christening of the Battleship Ohio, named in honor of William McKinley’s home state. 

On Saturday May 18^th the President would rise in the home of Mr. Irving Scott, President of the Union Iron Works. He left his beloved wife the First Lady, Ida McKinley at the Scott residence where she was recovering from her, most accounts say “near to death” episode. Mrs. McKinley had a felon on her finger caused by an infection to a severe point. Now she was recovering and well enough for the President to leave her to attend the christening ceremonies.

President McKinley departed the Scott residence at 9:42 am for the transport dock where he would board the Slocum. He was joined by Ohio Governor Nash and a close family friend of the governor’s, Miss Helen Deshler. The Slocum made its way up the San Francisco Bay toward the Union Iron Works where the launching would take place. As the Slocum passed other ships in the bay they saluted President McKinley with cheers, and six inch guns thundering the twenty-one gun salute. Every boat, tug, and ship in the bay area was out to greet the President.

President McKinley boarding the Slocum May 18, 1901

Upon arrival at 11:15 am to the dry dock opposite the ways where the massive haul of the Ohio sat, President McKinley was greeted by the workers of the Union Iron Works. Several ships where either in dry dock or in the bay waiting to be completed including; the cruiser Tacoma, the torpedo destroyer Paul Jones and the Alaska. At precisely 12:22 pm with shouts of joy, countless national flags fluttering in the wind, the Chief Executive and his party, and the Governors of seven states and territories the mighty Battleship Ohio slipped into the waters of the San Francisco Bay “Wedded to the Sea.”

Mary Barber of Canton, Ohio Niece of the President and the First Lady pushes the button

Miss Mary Barber, of Canton, Ohio Niece of the President and First Lady pressed the button that activated the guillotine severing the rope restraining the ship to the ways.  As the ship made its way to the water Miss Helen Deshler of Columbus, Ohio released the ribbons and the net that held the bottle that christened the ship crushing the glass bottle on the iron. With a voice that was lost to the din of the crowd Miss Deshler shouted “I Christen Thee Ohio!” According to the Riverside Daily Press of Riverside, California, no other war ship’s launching has ever been so honored as the Buckeye State’s namesake. One hundred and twenty years ago today at the hour of this writing was launch the mighty Battleship Ohio.

Miss Helen Deshler of Columbus, Ohio “I Christen Thee

May 18, 2021

Mark G. Holland

Archivist

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Meet Rochelle Haas…

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Akron, Archivist’s Attic, Artful Living and Learning Program, Brady, Canton, Canton City Schools, Ceder, Clarendon, Columbus, Early Childhood School Psychology, Elementary, Flannery, Haas, Johnnie’s Pastries, Kent State University, Lincoln High School, Margaret Shipley Child Health Clinic, Mckinley Museum, Mottice, Myers Industries, North Canton, ohio, Pat, Peter, Plain Local Schools, Planetarium, Ramsayer Research Library, Rochelle, Roller Monthly, school psychologist, Souers, Stark County Educational Service Center, Stark County history, Waynesburg/Sandy Valley, WHBC

Podcast 

What is your name and where are you from? 

     My name is Rochelle Haas and I was born and raised in Canton, and have lived in        North Canton with my husband Tom since we were married. Our daughter Flannery Haas and son-in-law Pat Brady live in Columbus and are expecting a baby girl (our first grandchild) in February!

Where did you attend school?

     I attended Clarendon and Cedar Elementary Schools and Souers Junior High, and graduated in 1976 from Lincoln High School. Upon graduation I attended and worked at KSU Stark Campus, eventually transferring to the KSU Main Campus. I graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in English. I went back to graduate school at KSU and received a Master’s in Education and an Educational Specialist’s Degree in Early Childhood School Psychology in 1989.

Work experience/military service/etc?

     My very first job was as a clerk at Johnnie’s Pastries in 1976. I was employed as a copywriter and salesperson at WHBC from 1981-1983. I also worked as an account representative and technical writer in the in-house advertising department of Myers Industries in Akron. After receiving my graduate degree in school psychology, I was employed as a school psychologist for Canton City Schools, Plain Local Schools, and the Stark County Educational Service Center, eventually retiring.

When did you start volunteering here?

     I began volunteering in the McKinley Research Library in June of 2016, following the lead of my husband. Having grown up in Canton and with fond memories of field trips to the McKinley Museum and Planetarium, I was very interested in Stark County history. As a volunteer, I’ve researched, written and recorded blog posts for the Archivist’s Attic on a variety of subjects. I’ve helped to document donations to the library. I’m currently documenting articles from a former local publication called The Roller Monthly dating back to 1898! It is truly fascinating to catch a glimpse of how dynamic our community was, and to note the things that have evolved over the course of time. I really enjoy the camaraderie, interaction, and passion of all of the staff and volunteers. Every day at the Library is an adventure, with everyone bringing their curiosity and inquisitiveness to the table in their quest for historic information.  I’ve even learned that my great-great-great grandfather, Peter Mottice, was an important figure in the early development of Waynesburg/Sandy Valley and was a member of the first grand jury convened in Stark County.

When you are not volunteering, what are some of your hobbies or commitments?

     I am also involved in a number of activities to support education, early childhood, and the arts. I currently serve on the Advisory Board for the Artful Living and Learning Program, which provides arts immersion instruction to nearly a thousand preschoolers in Stark County. I previously served on the Margaret Shipley Child Health Clinic and the KSU Stark Alumni Boards. Other interests include travel, writing, oil painting, photography, hiking, reading, and music. Also, I am a very social person and especially enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Favorite things about being a volunteer?

     To me, volunteering is a way to stay engaged with my community.

What values and/or lessons would you pass along to someone?

     I believe that knowing and understanding our history is an essential part of being an informed citizen. The perspective of knowing where we’ve been helps to guide us going forward and gives me a sense of pride in our community’s diversity and vibrancy.

We want to thank Rochelle 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

 

Putting Timken Senior High School on the National Historic Registry…

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archivist, Canton, Columbus, event, findyourquest, findyourwhy, high school, historic building, History, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, morethanamonument, NationalHistoricRegistry, nomination, ohio, presentation, preservation, seekthethreads, submission, Timken, TimkenSeniorHighSchool, volunteers, Washington D.C., welcome, William McKinley

Podcast

 

Our team and a few special guests want to take you on a behind the scenes interview of how Timken Senior High School (TSHS) became one of buildings on the National Historic Registry (NHR). We want to give you an example of a building in Canton, Ohio that was placed on the NHR, and how Stark County citizens with the help of people and resources accomplished their preservation goals. Our Intern Samantha, Research Volunteer Tom Haas, and Archivist Mark Holland spoke with Nancy George, part of the Timken Alumni Association, and Jeff Brown, Historic Preservation Administrator and former Canton Preservation office employee of the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection OHC in Columbus, Ohio).

 

Nancy George spoke to us about her personal journey and process of how TSHS was placed on the NHR. Her connection to the high school comes from her father, who attended Timken as a student, was then a teacher there for 30+ years and was also on the Board of Education. Working with the Timken Alumni Association, she gathered some of her close friends to act as her support committee and help with the process. Now is where the fun starts and they actually go to the Ohio History Connection website to fill out the questionnaire (Preliminary Application). This is quite a lengthy process and you have to figure out the significance of your building and why it is important to the community. There are many options to choose from and that can be a process in itself because it can be a hard decision to choose what your property qualifies as:

1. Importance/role in history, B. Development of community, C. Architecture/art/construction, D. Prehistoric

In the end, Nancy choose options A and C to submit the Timken building as in her preliminary questionnaire. She also had to submit the criteria that made Timken eligible for the NHR:

• Site designated for education by Bezaleel Wells—5th school on site—present building continuous use as a school for 80 years (longest time for a building on this site)
• Art Deco architecture—by Charles Firestone
• Art Deco art by Frank Marchione, Timken student, immigrant from Italy
• Philanthropy of H. H. Timken and family
• One of first vocational schools in the nation
• Site of training for adults for jobs during World War II and for veterans after the war.
• Open 24 hours 7 days a week to train 5,000 workers for national defense. After WWII, trained 2,500 veterans from 3 counties for new jobs.

Thankfully, Nancy and her team received their nomination to continue the process in September, but it wasn’t easy. They then received a Dropbox link where they began to look through a very long PDF compiled of all the strict procedures along with examples and considerations. By looking through the PDF, they were able to think of new aspects of the building that they hadn’t thought of before. So they began to research and type out their first draft of their application to submit. The process of figuring out what information is correct and what was incorrect be tricky, but they were lucky to have various research locations in Stark County, like our Presidential Library and the Genealogy Department at the Stark County District Library. After submitting their first rough draft in March, Nancy and her team were assigned someone that would help them edit their submission so that it was coherent and followed the strict format the board is looking for. Their editor on the staff of the OHC helped them out greatly by making sure that there was enough information in each section and correcting grammar, research, and other errors. They made the final edits in June and then the final submission was sent to Columbus in September. There is a waiting period where the officials have to notify the state representatives, local officials and the property owner (which can be waived if needed). After the submission is sent out, the board received hard copies of the photographs of the building and digital copies of the submission.

Now, it comes down to the meeting in Columbus with the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board. Their editor creates a presentation for the board to listen to and make their decisions based upon, along with providing hard criticism because not every building can be submitted officially into the NHR.  Before Nancy’s presentation, the board was very intense and hard on the other nominations. When Nancy’s nomination was reviewed, the board fell silent and their reaction was quite positive compared to the other presentations. It was a big shock to Nancy after watching the board criticize every presentation before hers. The board approved her nomination and now it is in the process of going to Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Department of the Interior officials to approve it once and for all.

It was a very hard and lengthy process for Nancy and her team to go through, but in the end, it was well worth it. If you are looking to place a local building on the NHR, Nancy has some advice for people:

1. Save everything: everything you research and keep a running bibliography so you know where to look
2. Use your local resources! Museums and libraries are great sources of information
3. Follow the format to the end, it is so important that everything is in the specific format required
4. Use Word!—Ohio History will email you with your application marked up in Review mode (shared editing). You are expected to reply to and provide additional information right in the document. If you have not done this before, you can get some training.
5. Maps- You will need to show the board where your building is and any other locations that they want. The editing that you will do to a Google map doesn’t transmit digitally as a Word document. You may need to print/scan your maps or you can upload your photo to Google Drive, open up Google Drawing by right-clicking on the screen, and then you can upload your photo to the app and add any arrows or lines you might need to make. Then save it and when you upload it into Word, your arrows won’t move because they are a part of the actual photograph.
6. Photos—Required pixels. You might have some photos that don’t meet the requirements for pixel size. Rather than going back to your property and taking more pictures, you can increase the photo by: opening your photograph in Paint, go to resize—pixels—put in desired pixels as required (2000 or whatever is required). It will automatically increase the other pixel accordingly. Then save your photograph.
7. Keep track of where you took pics, angles/views. Historic Registry will require certain pictures of each side of the building. Make a note of direction because you must put this on each picture, in a log, and create a map of the property with photos numbered and arrows pointing from where you took the pic to the photo area.
8. You want to save your photographs as TIFFs, not as JPEGs—Save copy of photo as TIFF also when you have the correct pixels. Open with Paint. Under Save AS—scroll down to TIFF. Make sure each photo is saved in JPEG and TIFF.
9. You have to order your own plaques for the building (the Timken Alumni Association funded their own plaques)

 

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We encourage our followers to visit Timken Senior High School on May 5, 2019 for the official National Registry of Historic Places placement event from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm.