Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Seven, the Aultman Hospital

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Archives, Aultman, Aultman Hospital, Aultman Memorial Hospital, Canton, Charity, Cornelius Aultman, Donation, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Healthcare, Hospital, Intern, Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Medical, Museum, ohio, Research, Stark County

On December 26, 1884, millionaire Cornelius Aultman died suddenly.  His widow Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman wanted to create Stark County’s first hospital in memory of her late husband, as it was an unfilled aspiration of his.

From left to right: Cornelius Aultman, Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman, and Elizabeth Harter.

She proposed the idea to his daughter, Elizabeth Aultman Harter. Elizabeth agreed to help her step-mother fulfill this plan in honor of her father. In 1891, the two women provided funding and 4.5 acres of land for the medical center.

Once it was complete, the hospital could accommodate up to 70 patients, larger than any other hospital in a city of Canton’s size at this time. Sitting at its current location of 2600 6th Street Southwest, the Aultman Memorial Hospital opened on January 17, 1892. However, the hospital did not receive its first patient until February 5 of that year. Aultman Hospital is still serving Stark County to this day. According to their most recent annual report available, the hospital cared for over 650,000 patients in 2018 alone.

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Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Six, the Aultman-Harter Mansion

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Archives, Aultman, Canton, Cornelius Aultman, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, George Dewalt Harter, History, Hostess, Intern, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Mansion, Museum, ohio, POTUS, President, Research, Roosevelt, Social, Stark County, William McKinley

Designed and built by Cornelius Aultman in 1869, sold to George D. Harter, and later passed onto Elizabeth Harter in 1885, the Aultman-Harter Mansion was a social hub of Canton, Ohio.

From left to right: Elizabeth Harter, Cornelius Aultman, and George DeWalt Harter.

In her adult life, Elizabeth was fondly thought of as the unofficial hostess of Canton. Located at 933 North Market Avenue, this mansion would be the site of many gatherings and social events. While Cornelius was still living, he hosted several presidents and important political figures at the mansion, including Rutherford B. Hayes, Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield, and good family friend William McKinley.

Elizabeth would continue her father’s trend after the assassination of President McKinley. For the two days after McKinley’s death, Elizabeth’s home became the temporary residence and office of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Five, the Harter Homestead

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1896, 1896 Election, Archives, Aultman, Campaign, Canton, Cornelius Aultman, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, Front Porch Campaign, home, Intern, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Mckinley, Museum, ohio, POTUS, President, Presidential Campaign, Research, Stark County, William McKinley

The Harter family’s home, located at 723 North Market Avenue, would eventually be the site of William McKinley’s famous “Front Porch Campaign.” Before McKinley campaigned here, and before the Harters lived here, Elizabeth’s father Cornelius Aultman and step-mother Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman resided at 723 North Market for three years, from 1868 to 1871. The couple lived here while they waited for the completion of the Aultman mansion. 

From left to right: Elizabeth Aultman Harter, the Harter home during William McKinley’s front porch campaign, and Cornelius Aultman.

In 1871, The Aultman couple moved out of the house and future president William McKinley rented the home for over two years. From 1873 to 1899, Elizabeth and husband George DeWalt Harter, owned the home. The Harter family resided here for twelve of the twenty-six years they owned it, until 1885 when they moved to the Aultman-Harter Mansion. Finally, in 1896 presidential candidate William McKinley rented the Harter home for his “Front Porch Campaign.” During this campaign, citizens would gather on the front yard of the Harter home to hear William McKinley perform his speeches literally from the front porch.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Four, the Matriarch

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Archives, Aultman, Banker, business, Canton, Children, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, George Dewalt Harter, History, Intern, Isaac Harter Senior, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Marriage, Museum, ohio, Research, Single Mother, Stark County

In 1868, Elizabeth became engaged to George DeWalt Harter, the son of well-established Canton banker Isaac Harter Senior, and a banker himself. George was also the first plant manager of Cornelius Aultman’s Mansfield factory. In March 1869, the two married and Elizabeth Aultman became Elizabeth Harter. In January 1870, the two had their first child, Eliza, named after Elizabeth’s mother. The newlywed couple was wrought with grief when their daughter passed away at only six months old. Over the next seventeen years, Elizabeth and George had five more children, consisting of four girls and one boy. Their only son, Cornelius Aultman Harter, passed when he was only four years old on May 17, 1880. On December 8, 1890, George Harter’s death made Elizabeth the sole parent of four daughters, aged 19, 12, 10, and 3. In addition to her professional responsibilities with inheriting her late husband’s business interests, Elizabeth now had to raise four young women on her own.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy… Part Three, The Businesswoman

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Archives, Aultman, business, Businesswoman, Canton, Cornelius Aultman, Director, Elizabeth Harter, Entrepreneur, exhibit, George Dewalt Harter, History, Intern, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Manufacturing, Millionaire, Museum, ohio, President, Research, Stark County

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s involvement in her father Cornelius Aultman’s business was exceptional for a few reasons. First, it was rare for women to be involved in business operations, let alone at the level Elizabeth would reach in her lifetime. Secondly, Elizabeth was only nineteen in 1867 when she began serving on the board of directors for the farm equipment manufacturer Aultman & Taylor Company in Mansfield, Ohio. Despite the common attitude towards women working at this time, her father was incredibly proud and encouraging of his only child.

For over fifty-five years, from 1866 to 1924, Elizabeth was an integral part of the Aultman Taylor Company’s success in the farming machinery industry. Additionally, following the passing of her father and her husband, George DeWalt Harter, Elizabeth inherited their fortunes, along with their responsibilities. Because of this, Elizabeth took on leadership roles at various business and banking institutions.

A C. Aultman & Co. fashion trade card, one from a set of four. The front of these cards commemorated fashion throughout one hundred years prior and the backside advertised the company’s brand of Buckeye Harvesting Machines.

The Genealogy of the Essig Family. Pictured in the bottom left corner, a man uses a Buckeye Binder.

The heading on a piece of Aultman & Taylor Machinery Co. stationary. Mrs. Harter is identified as the vice president of the company in the top left corner of the paper. This heading also features the company’s logo of a starving chicken. It is accompanied by the slogan, “Fattened on an Aultman-Taylor straw stack.” This ironic comment is a reference to the fact that Aultman & Taylor machines leave behind no grain for chickens to feed on.

Elizabeth Aultman Harter’s Lasting Legacy…Part Two

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Archives, Aultman, Banker, business, Canton, Children, Elizabeth Harter, exhibit, Family, George Dewalt Harter, History, Intern, Isaac Harter Senior, Lasting Legacy, Library, Local History, Marriage, Museum, ohio, Research, Single Mother, Stark County

On May 14, 1847, Elizabeth Aultman Harter was born to Cornelius and Eliza Wise Aultman in Greentown, Ohio. Throughout her life, Elizabeth would leave a lasting legacy here in Stark County. She would serve on the board of directors for her father’s business, the Aultman Taylor Company, and bring great success to the corporation. She would provide the location for future President William McKinley’s front porch campaign and become the close friend of several other presidents. Along with her stepmother Katherine Barron Reybold Aultman, Elizabeth would create Stark County’s first hospital, which is still caring for hundreds of thousands of patients today. She would become the third president of Canton’s YWCA. Another thing that made Mrs. Harter so outstanding is that she, like her father Cornelius Aultman, was one of Cantons greatest ‘silent’ benefactors, putting many young men through college who otherwise would not have had the opportunity. She was also left a young widow and single mother to four children at the age of forty-three. She was a multifaceted woman who fulfilled numerous roles during her life, as well as overcame several devastating hardships. By the time of her passing on October 25, 1932, Elizabeth had reached various achievements throughout her lifetime, exceptional then, and still remarkable to this day.

Meet Our Intern: Grace Doringo…

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Art History, choir, History, honors program, Intern, Library, McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, Museum Engagement Team, museum professional, Museum Studies, Walsh University

Grace Doringo is an intern at the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum for the 2020-2021 school year. She is currently a junior at Walsh University majoring in Museum Studies and History with a minor in Art History. At Walsh, Grace is a participant in the honors program, student government, the Museum Engagement Team, and choir. Grace is looking forward to gaining experience working in the McKinley Museum’s library and archives so she can one day be prepared to work as a museum professional.

Tales from the Negatives: Majorette Found in Middlebranch…

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On January 2nd of this year a donor brought into our Library a large box of negatives from a photographer that operated in Canton, Ohio in the nineteen fifties.  The donor told me his father was the photographer and the photography business was finished before he was born.  Victory Chapman was a wedding photographer and we now have hundreds of negatives of weddings that happened in Stark County during the 1950’s. This week I decided to unpack the box and see what I really had in this archive.  

One of the Kodak boxes was marked Middlebranch High School Majorettes taken October 13, 1956.  Wanting to know more about these photographs from Plain Township I asked one of our volunteers in the library if he knew anything about them and he suggested I talk to another one of our volunteers who knows some history of Middlebranch High School.  This volunteer suggested I speak to Connie Blinn and went on to say because of the time these photographs were taken Connie may even be one of the majorettes. Taking a closer look at the carefully packaged negatives of each group of photographs of majorettes I discovered Connie Pavey whose married name is Blinn.

Where do you go in Stark County to pose for pictures?  The “Monument!” Connie graduated in 1957 making this photography session the fall of her senior year.

Connie Pavey October 13, 1956

Judy Pocock who volunteers in our library and is a longtime friend and was a year behind Connie at Middlebranch called her to let her know.  Connie subsequently visited our library and viewed four photographs that Victory Chapman had taken of her at the McKinley National Memorial.   She brought with her a framed photograph in color of one of the poses. Connie was thrilled with what we found in our archives and she told us how fun it was to come and see a bit of her history.  Thank you Connie for making our work fun too.

Volunteer, Judy Cloud Pocock & Connie Pavey Blinn

 

Connie Pavey Blinn

Partnership With Walsh University…

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Check out what is happening in our Library this Winter. Our museum is partnered with Walsh University to immerse you into the story of President McKinley and his wife Ida Saxton McKinley and how they fit into the Stark County Story. The Walk with the President is getting a major facelift. Our team is just getting started and this is what we did this morning.

The Walsh University Team on A Walk With The President Tour # 1

Found Among The Cars…

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1830’s, 1886, 1892, 1937, accident, Aultman, Aultman Hospital, bicycle, Bicycle Club, brain injury, bullet proof, Canton, Canton Bicycle Club, Canton Police Department, Cars, Char Lautzenheiser, Deuble, Deuble family, Deuble Family Genealogy, Deuble Jewelers, dishes, Family, Found, glassware, High Wheeler, hospital physicians, Intern, jewelry, Library, Little Chicago, Martin, Martin Deuble, meant to be, member, merchants, Movers & Shakers, Norman Deuble, Ohio State University, operation, picture, relatives, request, Saxton Street, Studebaker, Tom Haas, Walsh University, watches

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Recently the library received a request from a member of the Deuble family who wanted to know about some of her relatives, specifically Martin Deuble.  She wanted a picture of Martin to complete a Deuble Family Genealogy that she is writing.  The Deuble family was synonymous with high quality jewelry, watches, dishes, and glassware.  Deuble Jewelers is one of Canton’s oldest merchants beginning in the 1830’s.  The requester also wanted to find a picture of Norman Deuble, Martin’s son.  It seems Norman was an active High Wheeler as far back as 1886 and an early member of the Canton Bicycle Club.  Norman was participating in a bicycle race in 1892 when he got in an accident. He fell off his bicycle, and was rushed to the newly built Aultman Hospital with a brain injury. This is what is believed to be the first operation ever performed by hospital physicians at Aultman. Unfortunately, Norman did not survive.  The requester knew of a studio photograph portraying the Canton Bicycle Club that included Norman. in 1886, at the age of twenty-one.  Our archives have a newspaper quality image that fits this description. Enter the phrase that we use in the library every day: “If it is meant to be it will find its way to you.

Our current intern, from Walsh University, Alyssandra Howe is researching the time in Canton’s history known as “Little Chicago.”  One of the major sources for her project is a master’s thesis from a student at Ohio State University who authored Saxton Street: The Reconstruction of a Red Light District.  In the course of her study she read about the 1937 bullet proof Studebaker the Canton Police Department commissioned, which now lives at the Canton Classic Car Museum.  Volunteer, Tom Haas, and I took Alyssandra to meet Char Lautzenheiser, the director of the museum.  Char gave Alyssandra a lot of rich history of “Little Chicago”, as well as a tour of the museum including the 1937 bullet proof Studebaker.

While Char and Alyssandra were playing around the cars, the photographs hanging on the wall drew my interest.  What did I find hanging on the wall in the shadow of the bullet proof car?  The very photograph of the Canton Bicycle Club in 1886 with Norman Deuble and other Canton “Movers & Shakers”.