USA > Ohio > Portage County > Portage heritage; a history of Portage County, Ohio; its towns and townships and the men and women who have developed them; its life, institutions and biographies, facts and lore > Part 15
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CHAPTER IX
Mechanical Age Arrives
After the excitement of World War I had worn off, Portage settled down to a period of work and prosperity which, of course, only reflected con- ditions elsewhere. In this, the grow- ing influence of the motor vehicle was increasingly important. Henry Ford's startling dictum of a five dol- lars a day wage for laborers had its repercussions here. Men were needed for the Akron tire shops, whose busi- ness was booming. The motor car's needs made work for many and the same motor car gave workers a wider field in which to live. Commuting by car to and from work became pop- ular and the Western part of the coun- ty, in particular, housed many work- ers with "one foot on the soil", just as Ford had envisioned. Commuting ten, fifteen, twenty-five miles and even farther was common. The county was being changed from an agricul- tural community to something of a residential area. Yet, the county was busy in its own right. Its own shops responded to the call for goods, both for the motor car and for wants in general. Thomart in Kent and Mo- hawk in Ravenna tried to get into the motor field, though the latter had made the first effort. The Mason Tire Co. provided much merchandise.
POWER LINES REACH OUT
Changes were taking place on the farms, which felt the influence of the scientific age. For the first time, the motor truck and motorized farm ma-
chinery began to replace the horse in numbers, a trend which went on steadily for years. Power lines were being carried to the townships so that every village and "center" had elec- tricity, where heretofore only those sections near towns had it. The period of pioneering in road building, wherein Portage County had gained a reputation, went on with increased tempo. Through roads of importance got state numbers or federal numbers for both governments now interested themselves in speeding up traffic as well as paying for the work.
This brought its own problems. Regulation of traffic became a neces- sity and efforts of local officers met with resistance as well as unmerited criticism. When the toll of fatal high- way accidents mounted, Governor Vic Donahey had white crosses set up at the scene to remind drivers to exer- cise more care. Portage had its share. These crosses remained along high- ways for many years, but apparently too many drivers did not choose to exercise care for the slaughter went on and still does today.
SERVCE CLUBS ARRIVE
Something new in the way of hu- man relations came along. In 1920, a Rotary Club was formed in Kent and in 1921 a Kiwanis Club was set up in Ravenna. Similar clubs were soon established elsewhere and men who were business or professional riv- als learned that there was something
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fine in sitting down together as friends.
Welfare and charity work took on a new look. They were organized and put on a more secure and enlarged basis. Out of this emerged such things as the Portage County Preventorium, set up by the Kiwanis clubs. Welfare and Community Chest organizations replaced the former scattered drives for funds. Kent had its first Commun- ity Chest drive in 1922 and Ravenna had one in 1924.
When the county of Portage came into existence, ideas of organized char- ity and welfare did not exist. New- comers who came into a community without means were not welcome as far as the governing bodies were con- cerned. They were often "run out" of a township by officials, or were fined and even imprisoned. They could be bound out to bidders for their serv- ices. Orphans of the poor were "bound out." Streetsboro people in particular were rough on indigent newcomers. Charity or help was on the individual basis. Settlers were kind and helpful to those of their own kind, who had suffered misfortune and the churches gradually got the idea of going out to help unfortunates. But everything was on the voluntary basis. Misfortune and health were not a government concern, nor was charity a necessity.
MANY NEW AGENCIES
Nothing illustrates the difference in sentiment and procedure as does the 1939 report of the Portage Coun- ty Council of Health and Social Agen- cies. This Council was set up in 1938, largely through the efforts of George G. McClelland, then probate judge,
and it is still functioning in the coun- ty today. In the report, the following agencies were listed, all with legal or private status:
Aid For Aged Portage County
American Red
Portage County
Cross
Health League
Bureau of Public
Portage County Relief
Assistance
Child Welfare Portage County Home
League
Civilian Conserva-
Preventorium
tion Corps Ravenna City Relief Dept.
Farm Security
Administration Ravenna Public Schools
Kent Community
Ravenna Visiting.
Chest and Welfare
Nurse Assn.
Kent Public
Social Service
Schools
Index
Kent Red Cross Visiting Nurse Relief
Soldiers & Sailors
Portage County
Township Trustees
Commissioner
Unemployment
Portage County
Compensation
Health Dist.
Comm.
To these could be added the annual "drives" for money to combat such diseases as polio, heart, cancer, etc. Literally, hundreds work on philan- thropic work of some nature.
Up in Hiram, Dr. Kenneth Brown had assumed presidency of the college and was attracting attention with his new "Hiram Plan", whereby students
Benjamin Tappan, founder of Raven- na., offered a prize to the first child to be born at that place. This was in 1809. The prize was a building lot. It was claimed the following year by David Thompson on behalf of his new born son. Tappan made good but the Thomp- son boy did not receive title to the lot until he was twenty-one.
Juvenile Court
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Marvin Kent and H. W. Riddle, dominat- ing business figures in Kent and Ravenna a- round 1900.
followed one subject until they mas- tered it, instead of studying a variety of subjects simultaneously.
LABOR UNIONS ORGANIZE
In the labor world, previously only a small part of the railroad workers had been organized. County employ- ers had been pretty well opposed to the union movement. In 1903 a car- penter's union was organized at Ra- venna, followed later by organizations of painters, masons and others. When W. J. McAdoo had charge of the rail- roads, during and after World War I, he encouraged formation of unions. The Erie shops at Kent then became organized, but this enterprise was lost to Kent in 1929. The C.I.O. was un- known here until 1932, when Lamb Electric workers were organized. The A.U.W. soon went into the Twin Coach and the U.R.W. went into the various rubber manufacturing plants in Ravenna and elsewhere. Ravenna's largest employer, The Cleveland Worsted Mills Co. was later organiz-
ed. During World War II and before, most of the workers at the Ravenna Arsenal were organized and so re- main, and the majority of Portage shops of any size are fully organized. Retail clerks were organized in 1952. There have been occasional strikes, but usually without violence, a strike at Lamb Electric Co. in Kent in 1933 being an exception.
Today the labor unions of the coun- ty have for their own use The Portage County Labor Temple located on Temple Street, Kent.
Employment in the county was ser- iously curtailed by the closing of the Mason Tire and Rubber Co. plant in 1929 and the removal of the Erie shops from Kent at the same time. These things together with the great depression that set in about the same time, brought much suffering, which was not entirely alleviated until the Ravenna Arsenal came in 1940.
EXTENT OF W.P.A.
The huge, much discussed, often
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criticized and sometimes derided gov- ernment operation known as the WPA, affected the lives of many peo- ple in Portage County from 1935 to 1941. It started during the time of the great depression which began in 1930 and it was intended to give relief for the numerous unemployed and those without means of subsistence. The theory was that the unemployed man would prefer to work for money rath- er than be an object of direct char- ity. In this work, the Works Progress Administration was the benificent di- rector.
While the operations in Portage County were only part of a nation- wide program, the activity here was a enormous one. Over-all direction of the work laid out was under the na- tional WPA organization, with dis- trict headquarters in Akron. In the county, the work was in charge of R. Lindsay Kent, who, throughout the period directed the work of about 11,000 people in all including both men and women. All work was some- thing for public use. All but about 200 supervisors and technical men were certified for relief in order to be eligible for work. These were then assigned according to their skills and abilities.
Those working under the WPA plan received pay directly from the government. This pay was first at the rate of $44.20 per month, but was later raised to $52.80 per month, on the basis of an 120 hour month.
Work projects were selected and initiated on request of local author- ities or sub-divisions, such as cities and villages, school districts and coun- ty authorities. Such sub-divisions also furnished a proportion of the neces- sary funds, usually by paying for the cost of materials needed. Fred L. Roose of Akron was supervisor of work in 19 counties, including Port- age.
VARIETY OF PROJECTS
One of the problems faced was the transportation of the men from their homes to the location of their work. Effort was made to obtain materials cheaply and to use local material when possible. For example, using na- tive Portage County sandstone as a base for roads over which blacktop surface would be laid.
Among projects of value in the county undertaken by the WPA dur- ing these years were the following:
1. Black Brook ditch in the north edge of the county, which helped to keep water from the muck land. In this project, 600 transient men from Cleve- land were brought in to help and some of these remained in the county permanently.
2. Field house and athletic field of Ra- venna High School.
3. Remodelling of town hall in Kent.
4. Laying of water lines in Kent and Ravenna.
5. Building of bridge on county route 120 over Eagle Creek in Charlestown.
6. Work on city disposal plant in Kent.
7. Grading of athletic field at Kent State University, some painting at university training school, and library
Benjamin Tappan was afflicted with strabismus, an eye weakness. He was in demand as a skilled lawyer outside the county. Once while arguing a case with great effect in court at Warren, a tipsy spectator called out, "Give it to him, Old Gimlet Eye."
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buildings, and building of some dry stone walls, with stone taken from the river bed.
8. The first big project was a salvage drive undertaken in 1940 and 1941, which raised many tons of scrap ma- terial for war industries.
9. Paving and surfacing of many roads at the rate of about $2.50 per foot.
10. Sewing projects, including a comfort factory in Kent and one in Ravenna, in which women were employed.
Another project of importance was the recreation project under the gen- eral direction of a woman's overseer. This was the incentive for numerous local recreation projects that came later on. There was also a history writing project, the results of which are now in Columbus. This was under direction of F. E. Schmiedel.
NEW RESERVOIR
The Akron supplementary water supply reservoir in Brimfield and Suffield was installed largely by WPA labor from Summit County. Here about 500 acres of land were cleared and dams built. One thousand acres are now under water.
Separate from the Works Progress Authority activities were those of the Public Works Authority (PWA). Here contracts were let direct by the government for improvements need-
Barney Dyer, an Erie railroad crossing watchman at Ravenna, who witnessed the "glass blowers wreck" at Ravenna that took 19 lives, in 1891, was author of a remark that became an American class- is later. At the investigation he was asked to describe what he saw when a freight train ran into the end of the standing passenger train. "I saw it coming," he said, "and I says to myself, 'that's a hell of a way to run a railroad.' "
ed. Building of postoffices at Ravenna and Kent were some of the work done and which gave employment for many local people.
WPA workers were sometimes call- ed "leaf rakers" or "shovel leaners", but regardless of what one thinks of the general plan, it did give employ- ment and thereby financial aid to many people here, in a time when help was surely needed. Some of the work undertaken seemed trivial and unworthy to some, from whence we have the words "boondoggling."
PEOPLE DEMAND MORE
Population grew and with it came the demand for more and bigger pub- lic services. Taxes increased and with this came discontent and apprehens- ion. In 1922, County Auditor J. M. Parham offered his resignation be- cause of arguments over pressure for more services on the same tax income. He saw nothing but ruin ahead. But the public expenditure for welfare and care of unfortunate and needy went on. There was a new conception of public duty.
Women were now voting and they commenced to have a word in party councils. Names of women appeared on regular party ballots where hereto- fore they had been confined to school board ballots. In 1925, Mrs. Maud Marsh was elected county treasurer to succeed her husband and in 1927, Miss Elizabeth Haymaker was elected to the same post. The day of the woman office holder had arrived in Portage County. In the townships and towns other women found places in legisla- tive and executive offices. This was in face of the fact that when women's
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suffrage in the state was up for public approval, Portage County men had voted against it 3357 to 3186, though the measure carried throughout the state. Women soon entered political party councils and formed party or- ganizations of their own, as well.
In the field of recreation, some- thing new also appeared. Previously recreation had meant athletics for the young, the high school students and the few adult men. Horse racing and cock fighting were recognized diver- sions. In 1922, that strange game, golf, was introduced when the Twin Lakes Golf Course was laid out, which was followed in short time by public golf courses where anyone could play, in- cluding women. More public bathing beaches were installed and the public was indeed recreation conscious. Dog racing tracks appeared in several parts of the county, but were not supported by public opinion.
Though the motor car was a kind of recreation, it now carried people to places where new and more forms of play were carried. Hiram College had been the county's only entry in college sports and in the first decade or so had pioneered in basketball, winning national recognition. Now Kent Normal college and later Kent State University were playing all sorts of college games and after slow starts took its place with other state teams.
AKRON CITY BUYS LAND
Any community of people will have its affairs and values influenced by neighboring communities and cities in many ways. So with Portage Coun- ty and the City of Akron, which is now one of the largest landowners in the county. This is due to the hold- ings of land along the Cuyahoga River, which form a watershed for water supplies for the Akron water works.
In 1911, the city of Akron began to buy land along the river for the purpose of creating a water supply, where later it constructed a dam, im- pounding river water, east of Twin Lakes. This dam is 280 feet long, and the water impounded is known as Lake Rockwell. A total of 2,174 acres of land was bought for about $319,- 000.00 at an average price of about $150.00 per acre. W. S. Kent put in a claim for his water rights through town which he felt were being harm- ed. Akron offered him $75,000.00 for these rights, but he refused, asking a much higher price. The matter went to the courts, going to the state su- preme court, where Akron City won. Akron City also paid Kent $25,000.00 for land at Pippin Lake.
A water treatment plant and pump- ing station were constructed near the dam, but it was not until August, 1915 that water was turned into the mains. Lake Rockwell has a surface of
The village of Grover is unheard of today but in the '70s and '80s was a community of several hundred people in southeast Palmyra near the Deerfield line. It was purely a coal mining center. After the mines "played out" the town dwindled and many of its buildings were moved away. The location later became Lloyd Station on the present New York Central line.
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769 acres today. To protect the area many trees were set out along the river. Orchards and farms were set out, there being one vineyard of 30 acres.
Later, Akron planned another dam, with a reservoir above it, at Hiram Rapids. Much land was bought in Geauga County for the reservoir, which many WPA workers helped clear.
MORE RESERVOIRS PLANNED
Because of the presence of the dam and water plant, the flow of water of the river through Kent is much cur- tailed through much of the year.
For the supplementary water sup- ply mentioned above, the city of Ak- ron bought 2,500 acres of land in Suf- field and Brimfield at a cost of $360,- 000 and dammed the little Cuyahoga River. Here a reservoir was construct- ed at a cost of $265,000.00.
As this history is being written, the Akron Waterworks is planning to de- velop the the Mogadore Reservoir, as it is known, as a large recreation area.
In the early part of the present cen- tury not only Akron, but other nearby sections were becoming concerned a-
Beautiful Isle
Jessie Brown Pounds, author of the song, "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere," was a native of Hiram, being born there in 1861. She was also a writer of poems and was on the editorial staff of the church publication, The Christian Standard and later The Christian Century. Her child- hood was spent in Cleveland but when she married J. E. Pounds, a Disciple minister, they lived in Hiram, where he was pastor of the Hiram church. She died in 1921.
bout future supplies for both human consumption and industry. Often res- ervoirs were low. More water would soon be needed. During the Second World War, the so-called Berlin Res- ervoir in Southeast Portage took hun- dreds of acres of farm land out of cir- culation, as did the Mogadore Reser- voir in Suffield and Brimfield. Water tables were being lowered. There is at present, talk of another reservoir along the Little Mahoning in Eastern Portage to supply the Mahoning Val- ley's increasing needs. Where there was once too much there is now too little. Currently, plans are being de- veloped to pipe water from Lake Erie to supplement supplies from the Cuy- ahoga, Chagrin and Mahoning Rivers. If the proposed plan is put through eventually, it may serve as a model for other distressed communities, within reach of Great Lakes water stores. Portage is one of the counties touched by this project, made possible by state legislation.
NEW SUBJECTS IN SCHOOLS
Agriculture was being encouraged and helped by state and federal legis- lation. The so-called Smith-Hughes Act authorized the teaching of agri- cultural subjects in local schools and many took advantage of it. This was soon followed by teaching of manual training for boys and domestic science for girls, in high schools. They want- ed their education to be more practi- cal. Still later, agriculture was to be helped and regulated still more through quotas and crop programs. Dairymen were subjected to necessary regulation and even the appearance of farms themselves was changed
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through contour plowing and strip crops. Types of farm buildings chang- ed.
New homes sprang up in both town and country of types previous- ly unknown. The ranch type home, with all its variations, became the popular form. Every home, in town or country, now had one or more garage buildings. Following World War II there was a veritable inunda- tion of new homes.
Woman's suffrage was followed by sweeping changes in female dresses. Where the skirt once went to the ankles, it now went only to the knees, and in time came slacks and shorts for madam, rich or poor. Bobbed hair was the rule for women, young or old. Cigarette smoking by women became the accepted thing, as often was the use of liquor in public by them. As people became more prosperous, the custom of dining out became popular and "good eating places" were some- thing to talk about.
HEALTH DEPARTMENTS
In matters of health and sanitation, new methods and new ideas were be- ing put into practical use. People were becoming health conscious. The Portage County Health Department was set up in 1925, under a new law, and it was started largely by the enter- prise of Dr. E. L. Knowlton of Man- tua. Dr. R. L. Worden of Ravenna was the first county health officer, operating on a part time basis. He served until 1938, when Dr. P. L. Harris became a full time officer, with a larger force of nurses and tech- nicians, remaining until 1941. He re- signed in 1941 to take a job with the
state and Dr. M. L. Sternleib succeed- ed him and is still serving. In addi- tion to enforcement of health laws, inspection by its officers the depart- ment conducts educational programs in the schools and acts as health ad- visors and workers for the county schools, checks for diseases and over- sees inoculations for the pupils. Its jurisdiction is all Portage County out- side the cities of Ravenna and Kent, which have separate health boards and officers. Five members comprise the county health board. Present county board is: President, Geo. C. Watters, Deerfield; vice president, A. D. Land, Garrettsville; and Paul Schu- ster.
The natural desire to own a motor car was encouraged by the rivalry and price cutting tactics of manufacturers. Right after World War I, Ford was selling a touring car for under $500.00 and you could buy a Ford engine and chassis for $398.00 and fix them up to suit yourself. "Financing" plans gave further impetus and clerk and working man soon were riidng to work with dispatch. Motor sales and repair shops began to move from the alleys to good street locations, though
The railroad excursion business was a large activity before the advent of the motor car. Low rate excursions were run to seaside and other resorts, and other special occasions, even for family reunions. Trains brought their thousands to Brady Lake and Geauga Lake. During the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893 so many excursionists were carried to and from Chicago that trains sometimes ran in six or seven sections. Sunday was a favorite excursion day. The Erie carried 102 excursionists from Ravenna to Chi- cago on one Sunday.
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"used car lots" did not come on until the '40s.
MAIL BY TRUCK
Motor transportation has affected the postoffice service here to a start- ling extent compared with former years. In the early days, of course, mail service was slow and uncertain, following horseback trails with week- ly or bi-weekly deliveries to frontier postoffices. Sometimes the canal was used for "speedy" work. When rail- ways were extended across the county in both directions, with daily mails and many offices, residents thought they were well provided. They could use the telegraph or telephone for anything more important. But as late as forty or fifty years ago, there were postoffices not only in and named for each township, but in such locations as Cobbs Corners, Silo (or Parker), Campbellsport, Rapids, Industry, Ca- ton (Hiram Station), Mahoning, Mor- an, Earlville, Mishler, Thorndyke, St. Josephs, Drakesburg, Lloyds, North Benton, and others. Gradually, rail- way service lessened or was discon- tinued altogether on some lines and the postoffice department turned to the motor truck for mail transporta- xion. Today, most county postoffices are served by truck routes of one na- ture and another. A large number of township postoffices have been dis- continued altogether and their pa- trons serviced by rural deliveries out of larger nearby postoffices.
By means of truck service, Portage County residents also have the ad- vantage of using airmail service when trucks make pickups for delivery to Akron or Cleveland air ports, or re-
Franklin Township Hall, Kent. Gar- field got his first political nomination here.
ceive matter in the reverse direction.
The Twin Coach Co. of Kent in recent years also developed and sold to the government many mail trucks for the augmented service of mail delivery.
CHILDREN ARE VICTIMS
One of the most distressing acci- dents in the history of Portage Coun- ty occurred on the morning of Octob- er 11, 1923, when a Pennsylvania pas- senger train struck a school bus on a crossing in Rootstown Township. Eight school children were killed and many others injured as was the driver, Mr. Benshoff. Three children were from one family Mildred Shaw, 11; Harold Shaw, 9; and Verna Shaw, 3. Others were Julia Wanchick, 14; Ella Stianchia, 14; Thelma Benshoff, 9; Charles Silvasi, 8; and Margaret Kunst, 12. Whose was the fault of the
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