A Honking Good Time in the Western Reserve

The University Circle area east of Cleveland (map, wiki) is a mecca for culture, featuring numerous museums, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Severance Hall (home to the world renown Cleveland Orchestra) and Case Western Reserve University. Picking the right date on the calendar can land you access to most of the Wade Oval museums for free or special community concert events as part of a community outreach event. The museums on the oval include the Botanical Gardens, Natural History Museum, the Western Reserve Historical Society and the (always free) Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) also houses the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum (see right, click to enlarge) as well as a significant genealogical library. Housed in part of the old Hanna Mansion, the museum is an unusual mix of the old and not-so-old and always features unique temporary exhibits. A personal favorite is the permanent display of the 2-story, neon Chief Wahoo sign from the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland (see left, click to enlarge). Standing high atop Gate D, it was the entrance point for many children into the world of professional sports downtown during the 1930s through the 1980s (see web picture).

2008 through June 2009 saw an exhibit on women’s and children’s clothing in history (see right, click to enlarge). From colonial times in the Western Reserve (roughly and geographically speaking the Northeast quadrant of Ohio) through the mid-20th Century, this gallery is tucked into a corner of the Bingham-Hanna Mansion section of the museum.

There was also recently a temporary exhibit dedicated to Carl and Louis Stokes. The Stokes brothers were significant early Africa-American pioneers in politics on the large urban level and on the national scene (see left, click to enlarge). Carl was one of the first African-American mayors of a major metropolitan city (Cleveland) and his brother Louis a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The exhibit showed many unique reproductions of photos and news stories, as well as artifacts significant to African-Americans in Ohio during the tumultuous Civil Rights era.

Wandering through the permanent displays en-route to the temporary galleries in the back portion of the museum winds the visitor through an eclectic mix of history. Archibald Willard’s famous painting from the Revolutionary War, The Spirit of ’76, Colonial picture-letters used to teach reading (creatively forming “WRHS”), a Depression-era carousel horse and other varied historical records from the region (from local African-American newspapers to land grant maps of Bath Township in Summit County) and more grace the wings connecting the main lobby and the temporary exhibits (see right pictures, click to enlarge).

There are more than static displays, as a hands-on “Victory Garden” from World War II beckons younger children and students and invites them to participate with their own gardening at home (see left, click to enlarge).

But the kid in every adult is brought out in the basement, which houses a partial collection of the wide-ranging types of cars that comprise the collection of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum (see right, click to enlarge). From early “horseless carriages” to modern sports cars, the mix of wood, steel, chrome and leather beckon. Along one of the walls is a type of “street of dreams” that looks the part of a turn-of-the-century main street.

Depending upon the usage of the other galleries, some of the collection can be viewed on the main level as well. On this particular visit stainless steel was a theme of a segment of a gallery that housed a DeLorean (made famous in the Back to the Future movies from the 1980's) and other unusual vintage cars of stainless steel or brushed nickel finish. Along the same gallery were several planes, including a vintage P-51 Mustang.

Some say that visiting a history museum is a bland walk through historical artifacts; a place to wander and gaze at writings, costumes and furniture. But when a museum such as the Western Reserve Historical Society couples history of sizes, shapes, and perhaps just as importantly, speed there is bound to be a little adrenaline coursing through the body.

-J.

Discover Science in Columbus!

Nestled along the banks of the Scioto River, COSI (for Center of Science and Industry; the acronym is prounounced KOH-SIGH) faces an impressive and young skyline of Columbus, Ohio (see right, click to enlarge). Part of the explosive growth of the area in the 1990s, COSI stands out as one of the premier science and learning "museums" in the state, if not the nation.

Founded several years after a Columbus advertising account executive visited Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and felt that Columbus should have one too, COSI originated in the old Memorial Hall on Broad Street that had fallen in disrepair. Having visited the original location, COSI was a nice place to take the kids or go on a class field trip, but it did not stand out like it does today.

During the 1990s COSI desired to grow beyond its small footprint and a prime location was along the waterfront right across from downtown. Old Central High School had sat vacant for years and was in danger of being torn down. Many wished to see the building preserved, as it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 (click and scroll down). A good portion of the original facade that faces the river was preserved and worked into the design. But the overall design that was constructed is very contemporary (see left, click to enlarge) and little of the internal part of the school remains as it once did.

During the 1990s, Columbus added key tourist destination points in addition to COSI, from a replica of Christopher Columbus's Nina, Pina and Santa Maria, and an expanded and renovated Franklin Park Conservatory (which held an international horticultural convention in 1992), expansion of the Ohio Statehouse (previous blog, statehouse web) museum, and the construction of not one, but two major arenas (one for professional hockey, the other for Ohio State University).

But what made, and still makes, COSI such a selling point is the wonderful interactive and hands on nature of the museum. In every gallery there is much for the visitor to do and for the various ages as well. While the permanent exhibits and an IMAX have their draw, what kept COSI fresh was the temporary exhibits. These short-lived, but interactive, exhibits ranged from the science of sport to dinosaurs that roamed the planet.

In one of the permanent exhibits, King Neptune beckons (see left, click to enlarge) in a watery gallery that allows students to investigate the science of water in one section and see the world beneath the ocean in another (complete with a science submarine that can be climbed into). Robotics are shown off in a tank with a small theater seating situation and kids can step up into a deep-sea diver's suit and look through the helmet.

In another gallery science meets history (see right, click to enlarge), as one enters a street from the 1880s complete with stores and stables. Turning the corner you jump nearly a century to the 1960s, where the little ones can serve up a some fountain fresh shakes and sundaes at the soda shop or sit in the broadcaster's seat at the TV studio and read breaking news to your home audience live on camera.

If it's not a crowded day and time is on your side, you can wait for a seat in the Gadget Cafe (see left, click to enlarge) and get a mini invention lesson led by COSI staff. This gallery adds the word fun to the idea of simple machines. Three different pullies show the advantages to this scientific principal. Laser lights, elecro-magnetics and more beckon in this gallery.

For the very youngest (Kindergarten and younger) there is an entire wing devoted to simple play in conjunction with simple science. Dress up medical stations with X-rays, an ambulance and more beckon the imagination of a child. Spongy balls are seen through half the wing where kids slide and jump on play gear that incorporate the balls with the equipment. And for the youngest of the youngest, there is a raised water pool where toddlers can splash and divert water and even squirt various objects from a sort of high chair with an accompanying yellow rain slicker (see right, click to enlarge).

One of the most popular attractions, which is a separate ticketed activity, is the unicycle on a wire. In what first looks like a circus act on steroids, sitting atop a wire on the 2nd floor of the building is a contraption you can peddle perilously in the open without a net below (see left, click to enlarge). While the rider is strapped into the unicycle (the weighting of the bike doesn't allow it to tip over), nonetheless you pedal out and back with nothing below in an adrenaline laden few minutes. A first-floor assistance is sometimes needed for those who run out of pedal power and need pushed back to the balcony.

COSI has (so far) thankfully survived the downturn that has plagued the non-profit world of museums and the fine arts. There was a time in the early 2000's where many wondered if COSI might shutter its facility. The grandiose vision and size of the complex was too much to sustain. Today a large portion of the original complex is now part of the Ohio State University and includes part of the WOSU broadcasting facilities.

The crush of visitors at the dawn of the millienium may have fallen to lower numbers, but there is no doubt that COSI is still a major draw. Having not visited in nearly 6 or 7 years, a visit this past Spring saw a jam-packed museum with little room to walk through the hallways (which also offer much to see and do -- see right, click to enlarge). I had half expected a trickle of visitors and instead suprisingly had to keep an eye out walking and waited three turns to board the elavator.

Well worth the time, COSI keeps up well with the other major Columbus area attractions.

- J.

The Great (insert ethnicity) Festival of Ohio!

Ohio is home to many different ethnicities in large part due to its geographical placemark in the history of our nation. While early settlers found Ohio a great wilderness, the movement westward during the 1800's saw the state rise to prominence as lake (Erie) and river systems (Ohio) were connected by a series of canals. Railroads later continued the criss-cross of people through our state and with the explosion of industrialization of the 20th century, the coal mines and steel mills (see Youngstown monument right, click to enlarge) brought even more unskilled immigrant laborers into the state.

All of this growth, from building canals, railroads and mining the ores that fueled the steel, and later, automotive industries, Ohio is awash with nationalities from all over the globe. It is a tribute to these "Little Italies" and "German Villages" (see German Village photo left, click to enlarge) that each summer festivals dot the state honoring the different ethnic heritages. You can literally pick a nationality and attend a festival celebration unique to that culture.

Early July brought two competing Italian Festivals to northeast Ohio, one in downtown Akron and the other at the Stark County fairgrounds. Akron's downtown festival was full of the typical vendors of Italian fare, offered live music, inflatables and even the strolling accordian musician (see right, click to enlarge).

Akron's festival was centered at Lock 3 (see left, click to enlarge), located between the historic Civic Theater and the former O'Neil's Department store (wiki history, photo) -- now a parking deck, law offices and two bar's on the Main Street frontage. A former lock along the Ohio and Erie Canal, Lock 3 has been turned into a open air event venue. Winter brings German artisans at the annual ChrisKindl Market along with ice skating on a large outdoor rink. Summer brings a stage and camp-chair seating for many live musical and arts events throughout the summer.

Staged along Main Street were vendors featuring many Italian dishes (see right, click to enlarge). The vendors included the local and regional Italian organizations as well as vendors of all types of food and merchandise. As tempting as it might be, it was hard on this day to partake in typical fair food such as snow cones, dippin' dots or waffle fries when there were cannoli and calzones for the taking.

An impromptu parade flowed through the vendor row on Main Street on the final day of the festival, as two historic 60's era cars (see left, click to enlarge) with the festival court pre-empted the Budweiser Clydesdales (see below right, click to enlarge). It was a neat juxtaposition of two very different, yet very similar, modes of transportation offering heavy horsepower. Despite their youth and beauty, the three festival queens may have been upstaged by the dalmation roaming atop the Budweiser wagon.

A car show was also part of the festival, with a handful of cars from the '50s through modern times, including several eye-popping red Ferrari's. But even the speedy sportsers couldn't match the ambience of a '60 Oldsmobile that personified a different time and place in Ohio with a little car-hop tray sitting atop the window with a meal and a Big Boy doll set atop (see right, click to enlarge).

But pick your ethnicity and you can transpose this festival to many big and little towns through the state throughout the year, as festivals celebrating German, Polish, Irish, Russian, Slavic, Greek and other heritages dot the countryside. The hometown feel of each is unique and part of what makes Ohio unique as well.

J.

Bridging a great divide

Today there are many bridges spanning the Ohio River between Ohio and her bordering neighbors. But perhaps the most spectacular of these bridges is one of the oldest, dating to the 1860s, crossing the Ohio at Cincinnati (see left, click to enlarge). Its designer is an American icon who became famous for his creation after this magnificent span between Covington and Cincinnati. John Roebling (bio, bridge wiki) earned his place in history for designing a landmark bridge, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge (bridge history with photos), over the East River in New York City.

The engineering marvel, now-named John A. Roebling Bridge (click for bridge specs), took decades to complete, from concept to design to construction. There was only one bridge crossing the Ohio prior to the "Suspension Bridge" (as Cincy locals called it then), it was at Wheeling, WV and was designed by bridge-design rival Charles Ellet. Roebling and Ellet had competing designs for the Wheeling project, but Roebling won out in Cincinnati.

One of the chief factors in the snail's pace for the construction of the bridge was economic competition. Ferry boat owners feared loss in revenue from a bridge undercutting their business. Until the 1960s, there was a toll to cross the bridge. Originally in the 1860s, a horse and buggy would be charged 15 cents. By 1960 though a pedestrian crossing the bridge saw a drop in the surcharge down to 1-cent. According to an historic edition of the Cincinnati Post, a grand total of $13.46 was collected for pedestrian traffic on a September day in 1959.

Political fears also carried weight in the construction delay, as the slave-holding Kentuckians feared a land-bridge to the free-soil Ohio might embolden escape attempts. The historical impact of slavery is still felt in modern time with the Roebling Bridge. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which opened in 2004, poignantly and symbolically was built near the base of the bridge in downtown Cincinnati. Tour guides often begin on the second or third floor of the museum, which offers panoramic and stunning views of the bridge and river, with tales of the bridge and slavery.

Unfortunately some of these guides share mythology of the bridge that isn't true. One guide shared that Ellet had originally been chosen to design the bridge, but was jettisoned after his bridge at Wheeling collapsed. While the Wheeling bridge did collapse during construction from a windstorm, no evidence exists that Ellet was originally chosen to design the span at Cincinnati. Additionally, the guide said the bridge was finished prior to the end of the Civil War, but they refused to open the bridge to traffic until after the war for fear of a mad rush of slaves bolting to freedom. Also false, the bridge's wires weren't even laid until the war had ended. Indeed, the war slowed down the construction efforts.

Regardless of the mythology, the bridge is a testament to the brilliant engineering minds of the time. While the decking was made cheaply, primary due to lack of materials in a war-torn economy, and rebuilt at the dawn of the 20th Century, the stone pillars were constructed to carry weights beyond anything imagineable in the day (see right, click to enlarge). The bridge has withstood many floods, small and large, and remained the only bridge spanning the Ohio River to remain open during the great 1937 flood (photo link). Even recent flooding in the late 1990s (photo link) never crested nor damaged the bridge.

But with progress poverty cannot be escaped. Hidden to the rush of cars speeding along the bridge is an encampment along the Ohio side of the river that can only be seen walking the bridge. About a dozen little makeshift tents, of cardboard, wood or Pick-up truck tarps, can be seen in a little homeless camp (see left, click to enlarge). Invisible to both the occupants of hi-rise office towers and the sight-seeing public on riverboat cruises, life goes on for those who have no place to call their own. An attempt by police to sweep the riverfront in the name of public safety was recently thwarted as an attack against homeless.

Today one can walk the bridge between Covington and Cincinnati, crossing between the two business districts in less time than watching a rerun of an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati (view pilot episode), which incidently did show a glimpse of the bridge in its opening credits. There is ample space at each of the two massive stone pillars to gawk (see left, click to enlarge) at the ability to build such a marvel at a time when steam powered machines were in their formative years.

Today both Covington and Cincinnati's skylines continue to grow outward and upward. New professional sports venues skirt the river and more new construction is evident near the bridge base in Cincinnati. I'm sure Roebling would not be surprised to see his structure still standing and that Cincinnati would be a major city in America (at the time it was being built it was among the nation's top 10 in population). But he might be pleasantly surprised at the other architectural structures around the Queen City and across his bridge into Kentucky. But will they still impress 145 years in the future?

- J.

Independence in Ohio, as America

Ohio holds a special place in the nation. Over time it was the wild west, the cradle of presidents and once known as (and still on some license plates) the heart of it all. The Fourth of July is special all across America and Ohio holds no special Independence Day significance. Celebrations here aren't bigger, better or brighter than elsewhere. We have our backyard fireworks and sparklers (see neat photo trick below right) at our cookouts and our parades, festivals and rib events too.



But it has been said that Ohio is a bellweather state for the nation. Our demographic slice of the American Pie is that of the typical American. Many franchises sample their wares in Ohio before they trot them out nationwide, testing them on us first.

I've had the great privilege of knowing many from around the nation and learning of the linguistic idiosyncrasies of the different regions. Most Ohioans will say we don't have an accent, or "twang" of any type (sans the Appalachia region, where one might "warsh" the glass after drinking the A&W "ruht" beer from it). For whatever reason, we talk like they do on TV. The spoken American on TV sounds like the people came from Dayton, Elyria or Steubenville. In the mid 1800s Ohio was a budding and promising economic giant. Canals and railroads brought the west to the east. Towns like Cincinnati grew mightily and at one point was the biggest city west of the Appalachian Mountains. Ohio sent more soldiers off to the Civil War than all but two other states. Postwar America saw seven presidents from Ohio until Harding died in office in 1923.

The ups and downs of America are often seen through Ohio's windows. The industrial might of a nation emerging from the shadows of World War II were in large part due to the steel, rubber and aviation industries of Ohio. Perhaps nowhere else can the suburbanization of the baby boomer generation be seen like it is ringing the cities of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. And when the current economic downturn became a national dilemma, those in Ohio had seen the housing market stumble well in advance.

So as we celebrate a nation born at the hands of revolutionary minds, Ohio has played a major role in the shaping and shifting of a nation's booms and busts. Happy anniversary America, through the eyes of Ohio.

- J.