President's Day and Ohio

Many reserve President's for thoughts of Washington and Lincoln, who share birthdays this month. Others like to look to the best of those who occupied the White House. But for Ohio, perhaps it is neither of these but instead a look at the quirky and tenuous nature of the state that lays claim to sending the most men to lead the nation (yes, FactCheck weighed in on it in 2008!). Their place in history? Less dubious than for what some are most remembered.

Ohio's first was not really even an Ohioan.  William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia but spent considerable time governing the lands in Indiana and Ohio, even before all were surveyed into states, and gained famed fighting Indians. Primarily in Indiana.  Ohio became a convenient home where he cut his political teeth in Congress.  Harrison's term lasted months, as he gave the longest inaugural address (by far) in a cold March rain without proper warm clothing. He subsequently died from pneumonia that stemmed from cold he picked up after his 8000+ word speech.  His speech was nearly twice as long as any other president in history. 


Rank? Most historians don't even bother ranking him with such a short term.

Ulysses S. Grant may go down as Ohio's greatest military leader, but his presidency was spooked by corruption and incompetency.  Grant was.born here and spent an ordinary childhood in southern Ohio near the river.  But upon entering West Point, Ohio was an afterthought.  Still, being a war hero and all, Ohio is not going to look past that.

Rank? 38th, using an aggregate sampling of historian lists over time.

Rutherford Hayes is Ohio's first Buckeye born and bred president. His political resume shines with elected positions to Congress and Ohio's statehouse as Governor, but his initial presidency carries an asterisk. He did not win the hearts of the majority of Americans.  Having lost the popular vote, Hayes was even trailing in the Electoral College vote with 20 disputed votes left to count, including (surprise?) Florida's count.  A bi-partisan commission ruled in favor of Hayes, handing a hotly contested result to Hayes. 

Rank? Despite the rancor, Hayes comes in at a respectable 25th.

James A Garfield tried really hard to match Harrison for shortest time in office, although not by his choice.  An assassins bullet cut him down before he completed 200 days in office.  Ironically, inventor extraordinaire, Alexander Graham Bell, could have saved the president from death with a new device.  Trying to locate the bullet before it could sever vital organs, they probed around the president with a primitive metal detector, but nobody realized the president was resting on another new invention: a metal coiled spring mattress.  The coils threw off the detector and the inventor went away puzzled how his detector worked on Civil War veterans, but not the president.

Rank?  Some historians rank him around the 30's, but most choose to pass him by.

Benjamin Harrison was grandson to William Henry Harrison, was born in Ohio, but like Grant was gone from Ohio by college, never really to look back.  Nonetheless, We still claim him while at the same time looking down on Virginia's claim his grandfather who similarly wasn't long for Virginia.  Like Hayes before him, Harrison did not win the popular vote but carried the Electoral College over Grover Cleveland (who was from New York, not Ohio).  Interestingly, Cleveland (oh, the irony) won the popular vote in three consecutive elections, but only could sandwich Harrison's time in office.

Rank?  Harrison scores a pedestrian 33rd on the rankings with his one term shot.

William McKinley epitomizes Northeast Ohio's "oh so close" mentality, as many believe McKinley was destined to be among the elite presidents.  Like Garfield, McKinley called Northeast Ohio home: Garfield closer to Cleveland, McKinley to Canton. Like Garfield, McKinley was gunned down by an assassin at the beginning of his second term.  McKinley, also like Garfield, Hayes and Harrison, parlayed Civil War soldier status and state political success into a White House run.  It didn't hurt that his father-in-law was the publisher of the Canton Repository that his wife's grandfather founded.

Rank? Some scholars rate him as high as 10th, the aggregate falls at 20th. But the home he lived in while in Canton is now part of the National First Ladies' Library, the first of its kind.

William Howard Taft is as big as it gets, literally.  At his peak, the 5'11" president weighed in at 340 pounds.  While today that qualifies him as an NFL defensive lineman, in the early 1900's the common man was about 5'8" and 155 pounds.  Taft's presidency was to be the hand-picked legacy of Teddy Roosevelt, who became so disgruntled he ran as a third party candidate against Taft four years later and bled votes from Taft's re-election bid.  For Taft, that was of little matter.  He was later appointed to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice (by Ohioan Warren Harding, no less) where later in life he is said to have cherished this more than his presidency.  But it's the famous stuck-in-the-bathtub incident that most recall of Taft's presidential legacy.

Rank? 22nd for presidency, 1st in late night comedy.

Does Ohio save the best for last?  Nope.

Not a chance.

Warren G Harding supposedly never wanted to be president.  But his wife did.  So she pulled the strings of his political career all the way to the White House.  Harding himself was beset with health issues, having claimed exhaustion at a point earlier in life during his publishing career that had him checking into the Battle Creek Sanitarium.  He would check himself in here several times in his life.  His presidency is oft described as among the worst, with the infamous Teapot Dome scandal (centered on oil reserves and not unlike the Enron scandal in the early 2000's) among the worst.  His death came about somewhat unexpectedly during a whirlwind westward tour.  Speculation as to his death ranges from an early coronary to suicide and poisoning.  Adding fuel to the fire, his wife spent time back in Washington destroying correspondence.  Why?  Perhaps to cover for his affair.  Harding was hardly in love with his wife and had been engaged in a nearly two-decade long affair.  In the 1960s letters from Harding were discovered but have been legally sealed to Ohioans eyes until 2024. Witnesses describe the letters as both naive and salacious. The mysterious death certainly spawned rumors. 
Rank?  His aggregate ranking falls dead last.  Perhaps in 2024 he will suffer a resurgence if those letters are published on Amazon's romance section.

Ohio's mark on the world thus President's day?  Eight presidents, most unremarkable but known for rather remarkable occurrences.  Half died in office, half of them by an assassins bullet.  It gives pause to the next budding politician from the Buckeye state that has eyes on the Oval Office.

- J.

How to win without winning: Rutherford B. Hayes

In 2000 the nation saw an unusual occurrence in presidential politics.  At the end of election night the nation did not know who the next president would be as the race came down to who won Florida and would take the majority of Electoral College votes.  Ohio has been here before, with our own Rutherford B. Hayes, who in 1876 did not win on election night either.  Like modern times, Florida in 1876 was part of the undecided vote.

    Hayes came up a quarter of a million votes less than New York’s Samuel Tilden but through political wrangling was given the nod in Electoral votes, becoming the third of eight from the Buckeyevstate to occupy the White House.  Hayes directly followed Ulysses S. Grant and handed the reigns over to James A Garfield, whose brief tenure thanks to an assassin’s bullet ended a streak of 13 straight years of an Ohioan president.

Rutherford B. Hayes gave up a budding law practice in Delaware, Ohio to offer his services to the nation during the Civil War.  Appointed as Major of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Hayes served with distinction and rose to the rank of Major General.  Elected to Congress in 1864, Hayes did not take his seat in Washington until after the war ended.  He went on to become a two-term governor for the state.

    

Hayes moved to Spiegel Grove, the name of the 25-acre estate in Fremont, during 1873 in the midst of his second term as Governor. Upon returning he added a 12,000-book library and a 360-degree wrap around view from a rooftop lantern four stories above the main floor. 

The museum boasts acollection of over 19,000 artifacts and 30,000 images with nearly 2,000 on display within the 52,000 square-foot complex.

Adjacent to the property is the Dillon House, a Victorian era home that today is part of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. 

      

As the Hayes home, the Dillon House can be toured and offers a pristine glimpse into the splendor of the Victorian Era right down to the hinges on the doors. 

      

Charles Dillon gained his wealth in Fremont operating a drug store and chose to display his wealth by moving directly across the street from the former President. Dillon’s wife was daughter of Rutherford’s first law partner, Ralph Buckland.  Buckland also served in the war with distinction and was elected to Congress and also became the Mayor of Fremont.

    

In the 40-year period between 1869 and 1909 five presidents were either born or called Ohio home.  Ohio was the political hub of the nation as the Victorian Age dawned into the 20^th Century.  Some criticize Ohio’s claim to eight presidents, as William Henry Harrison was neither born here nor technically resided in the state.  His grandson Benjamin and Ulysses S. Grant did not spend particularly much time Ohio despite being born here.  But similar doubt can be cast on Virginia’s similar claim to eight presidents. 

      

Following Hayes to the White House from Ohio would be Garfield (1881), Harrison (1889), McKinley (1897), Taft (1909) and Harding (1921). Where Virginia was the political powerhouse of the Revolutionary Era, Ohio was as the Victorian Era transitioned toward a world erupting in turmoil.

Spiegel Grove, The Rutherford B.Hayes Presidential Center and the Dillon House are located at the corner of Buckland and Hayes Avenues, south of  U.S. Rt. 20  in Fremont, Ohio.

-J.

Living the Dream(sville)...

While railroads quickly displaced the Canal Era in Ohio as a new century dawned in America, and in the Buckeye state, rail was no less significant than the shipping traffic on the canals and lakes.  One tiny town in eastern Ohio became a significant layover as the nation steamed across the new iron highway and a shining beacon to the spirit of volunteerism in Americans.  Today the Dennison Depot stands as testimony to how a few thousand made the lives of a few million better, if only for a moment in time.

Dennison became a depot along the rail line between Columbus and Pittsburgh out of necessity.  100 miles was all a locomotive in the late 1800s could go without replenishing water.  Exactly that distant between the two major metropolises, Dennison was born of and for the railroad.  It was said that everyone in Dennison either worked for the railroad or was related to someone who did. 

As the 20th Century dawned, it was one of the most complete facilities in the country.  Over 40 acres of various railroad shops saw over 3,000 people employed while over 40 trains a day, split evenly between passenger and freight, passed through town. If you were heading from New York westward towards St. Louis, you would pass through Dennison.  The museum sports a sizable working model train display that replicates the Dennison yard in its heyday.

In the early 1900s, working for the railroad had its slower moments that allowed for a little recreation.  The Pennsylvania Railroad sponsored company baseball teams with one formed locally to Dennison that competed against other similar groups.

While freight moved across the country on countless lines with many different companies, it was a very different cargo that brought fame to Dennison.  During the course of World War II over 1 million soldiers being transported cross country, westward for training or eastward for deployment, had a layover in the tiny town. As the war progressed, some returned in hospital cars that tended to their war wounds.  One of the rail cars in the museum is a restored hospital car.

Locals began operating a canteen specifically for the soldiers and gave them goods free of charge.  Nearly 4,000 volunteers from the surrounding eight counties rotated through the canteen all day, every day.  As word spread, young men eagerly anticipated the stop over in Dennison, so much so that as the war rolled on Dennison began to be called Dreamsville, USA. 

As America moved to the highways and airways in postwar America, Dennison, like many other small rail towns, felt the economic impact.  But like other American small towns with a historic gem, the Village of Dennison was able to purchase the depot in 1984 and through a strong grassroots effort renovated the facility into a museum showpiece. 

There is a considerable display of World War II era items, from the hospital car to a look at the homefront that was Dennison during the war years.  Area residents have donated World War II artifacts that are showcased along a wall of one of the rail cars that even include former ration cards (notated as property of the United States government).

Other restored railcars, some now dating back 100 years, tell the story of rail in Ohio, as America, and how it took a village to raise the hopes of over a million young men at a time of need in the nation’s history.  One car, a restored 1914 passenger car, has a rotating exhibit and at the time of this visit had just ended a Civil War remembrance display.

Another rail car is dedicated to the other industries of the region, including coal and gas. An old uniform of a gas worker and several gas furnishings are on display.  Some of the devices are the first (and larger) versions of today's creature comforts of home.

The museum is very kid-friendly, offering a scavenger hunt for those with an eye for the little things along the way.  There are plenty of hands on activities, from the working telegraph and mock coal chute for the engine boiler to sleeper births and dining cars.  One of the passenger compartments even offers vintage Life Magazines from the 1940s.

The depot itself has several rooms of displays, ranging from the typical behind-glass displays to open-air recreated scenes, such as a luggage carriers placed in about the same place they would have been for decades during the station's active years.  The floor is even the authentic paver bricks. 

The original ticket window displays a large chalkboard of directionally bound trains.  Even numbered running one way, odd the other.  Just off the main ticket window today is a restaurant, called Trax, that operates at regular hours.

Outside the depot to the west are several older rail displays, including a caboose, boxcar, flatbed and very old steam locomotive.  To the east, following the rail cars that serve as the bulk of the museum, there is a massive steam locomotive with 5+ foot wheels and bolts the size of a human fist.  The locomotive, a nearly 300,000 pound monster, sits patiently awaiting the funding to be restored. 

Dennison proper offers a small, but interesting, downtown complete with an actual corner department store. The museum is well-represented on Facebook and is a active advocate for Tuscarawas County historical information and activities.  Just up the road is New Philadelphia and minutes beyond the historic sites of Schoenbrunn and Zoar.

While Dennison may not be the type of "happening" town that brings you out for a day, the museum is well worth a stop to spend an hour or so immersing yourself in the rail culture and how a little town can make a lot of people's life special. The little museum that it could, that it could, that it could has climbed the hill, being honored in July of 2011 and placed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks.  And that's something worth blowing your horn about.

- J.

A Corner of the Square for Public Pride

Often overlooked on Downtown Cleveland's Public Square is a small little memorial at the base of a large monument dedicated to those from the city who fought in the Civil War.  The Soldier's and Sailor's Monument occupies one of the four plotted greenspaces on the square, but few wander into the base to view the full memorial.

The 9.5 acres that encompass Public Square was laid out in the late 1850's.  As the Civil War broke out, city planners had dedicated a small monument to Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.  Perry's Monument has been well-traveled, having been moved on the square, then later to two other locations before being re-cast in bronze and placed near the Cuyahoga County Courthouse.

Public Square in the early 1900s

Perry's Monument was moved in the 1870s to make way for a grand Civil War memorial on one of the four quadrants.  The other sections of the square included a statue to founder Moses Cleaveland and Tom L. Johnson, a former Congressman and Cleveland Mayor.  Electric street lighting was debuted on Cleveland's Public Square in 1879.  By the end of the first World War in 1917, Public Square had seen its heyday.

As the City's Skyline grew throughout the 1900s, Public Square became more of a transportation center than public park.  The Terminal Tower, built in 1928, stood atop the rail connections for the city and anchored the square.  For 25 years it stood as the tallest building outside of New York City. It remained Cleveland's tallest structure, despite a competing high-rise built in the 1980s as the BP (Oil) Building (which in 2012 is the Huntington Building). 

As Ohio's economy stumbled along through the second half of the 20th Century, several retail attractions failed to turn the square into anything more than a mass of people catching busses for the two sections of the city.  The May Company operated a store attached to the Terminal complex until the 1990s and for a brief time in the 1990s, Tower City Center was one of the niche urban-renewal upscale shopping experiences that quickly faded.

The Cuyahoga River, splitting the city, also splits the demographics of the metropolitan area.  East Siders and West Siders primarily live and shop within their respective sides of the city.  The near west side was a melting pot of Slavic, Italian and Polish immigrants while the east side saw growth of primarily African-American families.  Public Square was the gathering place for those who came into the city for business or recreation, looking to catch their bus back home.

Economic development eclipsed the Terminal Tower in 1991 when then-Society Bank built a structure to the north of Public Square that today stands as the Key Tower and the tallest structure in Cleveland.  It is these three grand structures that surround the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Public Square.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument was renovated in the 1980s but still sees scant foot traffic and remains a bypassed attraction.  The base of the monument is a 100-square foot sandstone structure topped by a 125-foot granite shaft with a 15-foot sculpture at the top.  The base is surrounded in the cardinal directions by groupings of bronze sculptures that depict each of the branches of the Union Army: Navy, Cavalry, Infantry and Artillery.  The entire monument was designed by Cleveland architect Levi Schofield, whose bust can be seen atop the entrance as you exit the memorial.

The interior of the building is small and a self-guided tour of the monument can be done in minutes.  A series of marble tablets list 9,000 Civil War veterans that served with Cuyahoga County regiments or were from the county. Also inside the base are four bronze relief sculptures depicting the women in the Soldiers' Aid Society, Lincoln (with rifle and busted chains) emancipating the slaves, and the beginning and ending of the War in Ohio.  Also found atop the interior by stained glass half-round windows are the busts of Col. James Barnett, Scofield, and several Ohio officers who were killed in action during the war.



There are grand plans for turning Public Square back into a true public open space.  Ideas were put on the table in 2009 and 2011 to alter traffic patterns with the hopes of created a newly purpose, and potentially, greener venue. 


Ohio voters in the late first decade of the 2000's approved for Casinos in the state and Cleveland will debut one in 2012 in the former Higbee's Department store that is just off Public Square. With the increased interest in the Downtown area it remains to be seen if Public Square and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, will factor in that development.

- J.

Moving the earth in Muskingum, one busload at a time...

Ohio's abundance of coal has created many economic opportunities, including in ways to excavate the ore.  Muskingum County has a paradoxical monument dedicated to coal mining that is simultaneously large and small.  Strip mining requires large amounts of earth to be moved and a tiny park just outside McConnellsville pays tribute to the gargantuan machines that did it.

The park sits atop a hill looking over once-stripped hills where one particular drag-line machine known as the Big Muskie excavated more than 600 million cubic yards of earth. In its heyday, the Big Muskie was the largest mobile land machine ever built.  First put into operation in 1969, the Big Muskie rumbled, albeit slowly with hydraulic "feet", across the landscape until 1999 when it was dismantled.

While the coal excavated far out-weighed the operating cost, the Big Muskie needed the electrical equivalent of 27,000 homes to operate.  From the tip of the crane's boom to the ground was a staggering 32 stories. The 27 million pound machine weighed the equivalent of 13,000 cars.

The Big Muskie's career ended after legislation was passed on surface mining that forced owner American Electric Power (AEP) to "scrap" efforts to save the excavator as a historic treasure.  One of the three buckets, each which could hold two Greyhound Busses, was managed to be saved and relocated at the current park.  Pictures of the bucket being moved to its final destination are staggering to think of the sheer size of the entire mechanized monster.

The current park is little more than a roadside pull off, but offers static displays, memorialized markers and the centerpiece of the Big Muskie bucket.  AEP maintains the site, calling it the Miner's Memorial, and has an educational display of how mining provides power to the area.  One stunning photograph shows an entire area High School Marching Band snuggly fit inside the bucket.

Big Muskie draws visitors, including less desirable ones, who use the bucket as a source of graffiti.  While vehicle traffic is restricted from November to April, the views from the hilltop toward the horizon offer a moment of reflection on what was and what has become.  The entire area is a 60,000 acre reclaimed space that AEP had once stripped bare for coal.  Today the growth of the planted trees can offer a fall delight of colors.

Nearby McConnelsville, the country seat of Morgan County, is much older than the modern strip-mining economy.  Between railroad and steamboat traffic, McConnelsville was once a thriving community of 30,000 in its heyday in 1850.  Still today the Opera House from the turn of the 20th Century still stands and the feel of a Civil War town is evident as you pass through downtown.

Ohio, as America, has moved from the Industrial Age into the Information Age, the economy has struggled to transition.  While the money could never be raised to preserve the whole of Big Muskie, and what an attraction that would have been, history has been saved and is on display in the rolling hills that powered the transition of a state and nation from agricultural to industrial.

- J.

Garfield's Short Term and Long Term Memory

Ohio's history with presidents is unique in many ways.  We claim, along with Virginia, eight presidents as our own.  Few doubt Virginia's importance in the early years of our nation, but many wonder why so many from Ohio?  James A. Garfield's grand memorial at the historic Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland presents an excellent case study as for the long and the short of Ohio's place in American presidential history.

Garfield, like fellow Buckeye Presidents Grant, Hayes, Harrison and McKinley, served in the Civil War with notable distinction. Ohio being a growing state in Victorian America, with Cincinnati being the largest city west of the original 13 states, her influence on the political scene rivals what large populous states of New York, Texas and California are today.  War service, along with Ohio's national prominence, is why seven of the twelve presidential terms served between 1869 and 1923 had an Ohioan in the White House.


James A. Garfield served but 200 days but you would think he served two full terms by his legacy at Lakeview Cemetery.  Like his executive colleague's resting place an hour south, Garfield's memorial rises high into the sky, easily dwarfing William McKinley's structure in Canton.  However, both offer sweeping views of their adopted cities seen through considerable climbing of steps.  McKinley's steps lead toward his lofty memorial, while Garfield's wind through the inner structure and lead to an impressive exterior balcony.

Walking around the structure, the native Ohio sandstone shows the weathering of time against Lake Erie's wind, rain and snow.  Construction surprisingly began a mere four years after Garfield's assassination, was completed by 1889, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and received a half-million dollar grant for renovations in 1985.  Time has blackened the three tier, 180-foot structure and exterior sculptures, but fits in appropriately with the surrounding cemetery grounds.

The five bas relief sculptures along the exterior walls depict Garfield's life as a teacher, soldier, legislator and president.  Many of these elements can be seen in the murals inside the memorial as well.  Stained windows are numerous, easily seen from both outside and inside.  The entrance to the memorial offers grand murals painted on the walls, intertwining nicely with stained glass windows throughout the structure.

Winding staircases lead to the crypt below, the observation balcony above and the upper level where you can gaze down upon the statue of Garfield in the inner room.  Every inch of the memorial appears to have paint, tile, marble or other decorative aspects.  I found it strange that one of these large murals depicts the assassination being carried out.

The stairs leading up narrow and twist as you climb to the observation level.  But the reward is worth the effort, as the large terrace gives a sweeping view of the lake and downtown Cleveland.  It would be intriguing to see photographs taken of the skyline over the last 100+ years from this spot.  Lakeview at first seems a deceiving name for the cemetery, as the entrance and grounds are over a mile inland from Erie's shores.  But Garfield's memorial at one point easily would have looked out over the lake before development altered site lines.

The crypt in the basement contains the caskets of Garfield and his wife, plus the ashes of his daughter and husband.  There are those who believe the ghost of Garfield haunts the crypt, reporting strange lights from the basement.  Allegedly Garfield haunts his former home, Lawnfield, in Hiram as well as the House of Representatives in Washington. 

If one were not knowledgeable about American History and our presidents, it could easily be thought that Garfield was one of the nation's strongest leaders by the sheer magnitude of his memorial.  McKinley's, by comparison, is not nearly as grand but he does have a sprawling museum and presidential library.  Perhaps Garfield could have been one of our top 10 president's, but his fate was intertwined with that of many Ohioan's that occupied the Executive Mansion.  Of Ohio's eight claimed presidents, half did not complete their term as president due to death in office.  Garfield was the first assassinated, as will be McKinley just short of 20 years later, with William Henry Harrison and Warren Harding dying in office from illness.  Like Harrison, Garfield did not manage to complete a full year.

Perhaps the magnitude of the structure is necessary, as Lakeview is a sprawling cemetery with little help in finding the grave sites of Cleveland's movers and shakers.  A little help on Google map is useful to scout the location before a visit.  But for someone who so briefly occupied the memory of the people as President, his memorial will continue to surprise those who did not realize this grand structure existed nor has stood for a century.

- J .


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