The Tafts: The First Family of Ohio

William Howard Taft, the 27th President and 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was born in nCincinati, Ohio (map, wiki-history). His parents moved to the country hills surrounding the city for the better air the rural countryside provided.

The home itself (see right, click to enlarge) can be toured (map, national park website) and there is a visitor center adjacent to the property. The home has many unique features of the time, including a basement cistern and natural gas lighting. The home has been lovingly restored to how it looked during Taft's childhood in the 1860s.

Alphonso Taft (see left, click to enlarge) moved to Cincinnati to take advantage of the booming metropolis on the Ohio River. Much can be read of Alphonso in the visitor center, but I could not help snap a picture of him (left) as he appears to be the forebear of the comic Robin Williams (see right) as much as William Howard Taft. Alphonso became Secretary of War, then Attorney General, in the Ulysses Grant administration.

The Taft family has become Ohio's First Family, as William Howard Taft became president, son Robert Taft went on to an illustrious career in the U.S. Senate, grandson Robert, Jr (son to Robert, Sr.) served one term as Senator and great grandson Robert Taft (son and grandson of the Roberts) recently stepped down after being term-limited out after two terms as Governor of Ohio. I found the quote shown to the right (also on display at the visitor center) quite poignant.

You can see the striking resemblance in the photo to the left (click to enlarge) of Governor Bob Taft (photo link) in the face of one of his Taft ancestors seated with William Howard Taft. There was no listing at the Taft site of who all were in the photo, but the receding hair line and face are nearly dead-on of Bob Taft. The photo appears to be from at some point in the 1920's or thereabout.

Touring the Taft House with a National Park Ranger yields greater insight. There are both architectural and family history to learn as well as the politics behind becoming president.

The homestead is unusual in many ways, but most compelling is the lot size. It was originally one lot wide and about 10 lots deep. The lot sloped downhill away from the house into stables, a pasture and garden. Today the lot is about one-quarter of what is pictured to the above right (click to enlarge).

The rooms in the house are small and you can tell where additions had been created over time. The front parlor, where William spent a lot of time, features a small table that had a lamp with a cord that could be connected to the chandelier natural gas light to provide gas for a table top lamp (see left, click to enlarge).

Some of the artifacts in the house include remnants of the fight for the Republican nomination in 1912 between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt. I found this former magazine cartoon (see right, click to enlarge) particularly interesting and a great teaching tool for how a political party can be fractured by in-fighting. This tussle put three people on the ticket in 1912 and the split between Taft and Teddy allowed for Woodrow Wilson to capture the White House.

One of the well-documented Taft tidbits includes a photo in the Taft House of the quite portly Taft's new White House bathtub (see left, click to enlarge). While kids find it amusing that Taft got stuck in the bathtub, the idea of a 300+ pound individual in the early 1900s is hard to fathom when the typical adult male was not even half that size.

I found the menu to the right (click to enlarge) to be an interesting glimpse into childhood play and imagination from another era. The Taft children would print up special menus for their parent's dinner party guests that included both color and colorful language. Notice the menu is entirely in French.

A picture inside the home reveals what it looked like from the outside during Taft's childhood days. As it happens in history, a home will be sold outside the family and renovated to fit the time and the needs of its surroundings. The Taft House when through several external looks over time. It was interesting, and didn't take long, to walk outside and find the approximate point for a modern comparison photo to that in 1868. Below (click to enlarge) you can see a Photoshop blending of the old with the current to see how lovingly it has been restored.

Ohio is fortunate to have been the birthplace and/or home of eight Presidents, most of which can be toured. The Taft House is a nice stop to make to combine both the architectural and political impact of the Tafts and of Cincinnati.

- J.

Freedom Crossing and the Legacy of Hope

Cincinnati, Ohio was an important city in 1800's America. For most of that century, the Queen City was the largest city west of the Appalachian Mountains. The young and upcoming who's who in America came or resided here. It was also a contentious place, as slaves that crossed the Ohio River would be safer in Ohio on pursuit of freedom in Canada but also subject to the Fugitive Slave laws that required a slave's return to his/her master.

John A Roebling helped create a link between the slave south of Kentucky and the path to Freedom that lie in Ohio. Originally Charles Ellet had been asked to build a suspension bridge between Ohio and Kentucky at Cincinnati. Ellet was in the midst of a similar bridge crossing the Ohio river at Wheeling, Wv., but a windstorm collapsed part of the bridge. Ellet was ditched in favor of John A. Roebling, who created the marvelous bridge (above right, click to enlarge) that today connects Covington, KY with Cincinnati.

The John A Roebling Bridge was finished prior to the end of the Civil War but was not opened for traffic until 1865 and the war's end for fear of a mad rush of slaves trying to escape from the chains of bondage. Symbolically, the point today where the bridge crosses into Ohio is one of the most incredible museums in America, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (left, click to enlarge). It is at a balcony overlooking this bridge that your guided tour starts with aforementioned story.

The museum is a intertwined experience of audio, visual and hands on history of not just the story of slavery in America, but the fight for freedom throughout the ages right to current times. On the same level where you can gaze at the 140+ year old bridge you can listen to the stories of over-sized displays that bring history to life.

A two-story quilt (right, click to enlarge) weaves the story of Africans in America through the eyes of the Columbus artist who made it. It also tells the story of Ohio's place in the battle for the end of slavery with examples of a depiction of Black Codes passed immediately after Ohio's Constitutional ratification and the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation at the Ohio Statehouse.


A second over-sized mural shows the legacy of slavery in hues of black and white, each square telling a different tale (left, click to enlarge). Striking in its size and for its artistry, it sits directly in front of a slave pen.







The slave pen is an authentic structure from slavery days in Kentucky (right, click to enlarge). A barn was built around this slave pen and the pen was used to dry tobacco leaves through modern times. The nicotine in tobacco was a preservative and the slave pen is in pristine condition. A photo series shows the original pen and the story of bringing it to Cincinnati.


The pen was a two-storied structure where the bottom level housed female and young slaves, unbound but locked inside. The second story had a series of iron anchors in the wood where male slaves were chained along the center of the room, allowing about six feet of lateral movement. Windows were simple square openings with iron slats (left, click to enlarge).



There is a unique theater makes you feel as if you are sitting on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River looking across the river at Ripley, Ohio (right, click to enlarge). The short movie segments helps create the feeling of your daring escape across the river with the help of Reverend John Rankin (history here, past photo-blog here) and his boys.

The different wings of the museum trace the history of slavery in America from the Spanish arrival (right, click to enlarge) to the legacy of King Cotton in the 1800s (left, click to enlarge).


Beyond the ending of slavery at the conclusion
of the Civil War, there is a multi-media room that
projects images conjuring the fight for freedom in
many forms, from Civil Rights to Labor Movements
to modern fights across the planet for freedom.
(left, click to enlarge)



The museum addresses the issue
of slavery in a straight forward
approach, right down to what
should those of African decent
be called (left, click to enlarge)?
It may not be the best
stopping point for the young
school agers, who will not
understand the messages nor
the messengers. But few
museums offer this type of
experience in such a poignant
and lasting way.

- J.

McKinley Monument and Museum

William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio but married and spent most of his life in Canton, Ohio. Despite being gunned down just into his second term of office in 1901, McKinley is a highly rated president and may have soared into greatness had he fulfilled his second term. Instead his death allows for a greater figure in American political history, Theodore Roosevelt, to come center stage.

But it is here in Ohio, in Canton, that you can visit his monument, museum and library (see above right, click to enlarge). I believe this was the first presidential library for a former president. The library has quite a collection of both McKinley and other primary source artifacts of his time.

The entire grounds is a multi-faceted tourist attraction. The memorial sits a top a hill, 108 steps from ground level, and can be seen on many days from I-77 as you drive north through Canton towards Akron and Cleveland. The cemetery visible from the highway, West Lawn Cemetery (photos, famous burials, Thomas Edison early film of McKinley funeral entering), is adjacent to the grounds. At least one historic book was written on this cemetery and walking the grounds takes you back to the world of many notable Canton figures from the 19th century.

Standing atop the memorial plaza you can gaze at downtown Canton, and wonder what it must have been like in its heyday. It's not exactly a kodak moment of the downtown skyline. But you do have a sweeping gaze of the area and will be surprised at the number of joggers running the grounds and the steps.


Inside the vault the architecture of the dome (see left, click to enlarge) rivals that of the Ohio statehouse, the U.S. Capitol rotunda and other Washington, DC greek and roman structures. The crypts of William and Ida sit side by side (see above, click to enlarge), something you don't often see with the final resting places of famous folk. The memorial itself is quite spectacular.


The museum bills itself as a science and history museum. It is a great place to visit, and if you live locally and have preschoolers in the family, it's worth the annual membership for short visits to the hands-on areas of the complex. During the winter time you can see evidence of sledding from the one side down into the municipal park that adjoins the eastern edge. It is not advisable, as you can cross into roads, creeks and ponds fairly quickly.



The basement section of the museum features a Science/Discovery area with dinosaurs, fossils, and an animatronic T-Rex (which roars, but also pops and hisses from the hydraulics!). There are some neat science/physics principles on display for kids to play with. It is very hands on and has a few live animals on displays. The second level features a very nice planetarium.

The third level is a walk through history. Entering a large room, artifacts from different eras have been gathered to show what a room would look like in colonial, Victorian and other eras in Stark County's history. The lead towards a huge wall photo-mural of McKinley on his front porch surrounding by family and friends after winning the presidency.

Behind the wall is a room full of McKinley artifacts (called the McKinley Gallery), complete with an animatronic William and Ida McKinley (see left, click to enlarge). The room welcomes you with the look and feel of a gathering room at the McKinley homestead. If you aren't paying attention closely, your presence will trip the sensors initiating William and Ida and they begin talking to you. It's a bit Pirates-of-the-Caribbean feeling from Disneyland because it is that same technology.

Most of the items in the room are the McKinleys. One of the neat items that is easy to pass by is a desk chair with engraved arms. Being a Republican, McKinley's chair is engraved with two large elephants heads with the trunks running down the arms to the chair itself (see right, click to enlarge). It is a rather unique piece of furniture and one I passed by without noticing on several visits.





The Street of Shops takes you back to the turn of the century at what Canton may have looked like (see right, click to enlarge). There is a large sitting area for school kids in what is a log cabin blown out wide to host school groups and another large room for presentations and gatherings complete with a school bell for kids (of all ages) to pull.

There are merchant shops, an inn (with a balcony area to walk), a saloon, stables, a doctor and dentist office and fire department.


As you can imagine, the fire department is a popular kid stop (see left, click to enlarge), as it is complete with an authentic pole kids can slide down! It is not for the faint-of-heart, as you have to have long legs or take a little leap to get to the pole and slide down. There is a bit of padding at the base of the pole.

Just off of the street of shops is a very large model train exhibit and many, many pictures of the history of rail in Canton.


The final room, which if I remember right will be undergoing a transformation, is an area where rotating exhibits are held. At one point gowns of the first ladies were shown here. An area to the side is a tribute to the industrialism of Stark County and ends up being a little more than a trade show set up. You can sit in a chair that a Hoover vacuum (no longer manufactured in the county) will lift off the ground, ring several fire and alarm bells made in the county and read static displays from the Timken Company.

While McKinley is often a footnote to history, his legacy was huge and furthered not just by Teddy Roosevelt, but by Roosevelt's hand-picked replacement and fellow Ohioan, William Howard Taft.


Below are more pictures from the McKinley Museum.

- J.

The rooms of Stark County over time (from the History Gallery preceding the McKinley Gallery):

Frontier Stark County (left)

Victorian Stark County (right)

Colonial Stark County (left)

1920's Stark County (right)

More from the Street of Shops...

Barber Shop

SaloonGeneral Store

Lehmans and Smuckers in Amish Country

Two very unique and interesting places are just minutes apart about 15 miles east of Wooster, Ohio. Lehman's Hardware, in Kidron, Ohio and Simply Smuckers, the specialty store for Smuckers jelly and jams.

Kidron, Ohio is not on any major thoroughfare, but it is only about 5 miles south of U.S. 30 that runs from Canton through Wooster on its way to, and beyond, Mansfield. Not even a stoplight in town, Kidron is also a crossroads for the sizeable Amish population of north-central Ohio.

Lehman's is a unique hardware store (see picture above and right, click to enlarge), and you will be able to find many items you either never have imagined or long-since thought obsolete. A walk through the iron stove section yields both antiques and current stoves for your heating needs (see picture below-left, click to enlarge). Another room boasts what is an unimaginable number of bells, traditionally used for your cow but here for a range of uses (see picture below-right, click to enlarge).














The building has been built on to over time and it has changed quite a bit since I last visited about five or six years ago. A clearance section in a loft area looks over the unique toy selection. The loft gives a great vantage point for the toy train running among the rafters (see picture below-left, click to enlarge). Relatively new is a cafe in the middle of the store. A bit pricey, but capitalizing on the tourism, the cafe has wraps and grilled lunch fare that is worth the cost. Best is the ability for a family of four to dine in "prison" -- an iron jail cell that appears authentic, down to the slot for pushing food through (see picture below-right, click to enlarge).














One of the display areas has the largest (from size, if not quantity) collection of copper kettles (see picture below-left, click to enlarge). I cannot imagine the price tags and didn't even look. Every where you look there are all sorts of antique and unique items displayed on the walls (see picture below-right, click to enlarge).














But make no mistake that this is a working hardware store as much as it is a tourist stop. On a Saturday you bound to find a constant stream of Mennonite and Amish folk shopping in and around the store. It won't take long to see an Amish buggy (see pictures below, click to enlarge).















If you run back north to US 30, then head east for to the next stop light, turn right on Ohio Rt. 57 and about one-quarter mile on your right is Simply Smuckers. While heavily advertised on local radio as a tourist destination, it is probably best coupled with other tourist stops in the area.

The street view and first impressions are striking (see above, click to enlarge). A bright white and well decorated barn greets you (see right, click to enlarge). Inside you can see signage that indicates the "green" approach of the property and how it meshes with the local environment efficiently.

The interior looks like a large barn, complete with exposed rafters. When you step inside you see clearly the different branding associated now with Smuckers (Jif, Hungry Jack, Pillsbury, etc.) in banners hanging high off the walls (see below-left, click to enlarge).

The back wall of the store is a tremendous display of colored jelly jars complete with a "strawberry" made of jelly jars hanging from the ceiling as a type of fruity chandelier (see right, click to enlarge).

Architecturally, this is a cool place to look around. But for the specialty-ness of it as a store, it doesn't really score big. Most of what you find in the store you can find on your local grocery store shelves. The uniqueness of this tourist stop is in minor ways. You can sample different jellies at one station. The cafe has some wonderful bakery items and I was tempted to try a "grilled PB&J" sandwich. Never thought of that twist before.

Since this was after Thanksgiving and in the home stretch for Christmas, there were plenty of little stocking stuffers, such as sampler gift boxes complete with unique plates and 1 and 2 ounce jellies. A good idea for those lesser-tried jellies, such as Orange Marmalade. It would take me decades to work though a regular jar of it, but a 1-ounce jar might just fit the bill.

There is a make-shift museum, which entails walking behind the back "jelly wall" of the store to view a view multi-media blurbs of the legacy of Smuckers and a timeline wall tracing the history of the company and its recent acquisitions. As a history teacher, it was a bit odd to see a timeline go from right to left chronologically (see right, click to enlarge). Exiting the museum section, there are Smithsonian type displays of costumes and skates of the Smuckers sponsored Stars on Ice series with many well known figure skaters.

Simply Smuckers is well worth the stop if you are in the area. Despite its top-notch radio marketing, it may leave you disappointed if this is your only intended destination of the day. Built about the same time as the Longaberger Homestead series of shops, you have to wonder if Smuckers was trying to capitalize on that market niche (thankfully no giant jelly jar akin to the giant basket at Longaberer).

Since they're dealing in jellies and not kitschy baskets, hopefully there will be some long-term success (the building has been open about 10 years now). With Amish country so near, and "a name like Smuckers," chances are the visitors will be "sticking" around.

- J.