FIFTH MEDINA COUNTY HISTORY FAIR

It's time again for the Annual Medina County History Fair!

Fifteen of the local history and genealogical organizations will be on hand, displaying their collections and answering your questions about the uniqueness of Medina County.

JOIN US FOR A WONDERFUL DAY OF HISTORY!

Stop by the Library's table and say "Hello!" to Lisa, Lauren and myself!

Judge Albert MUNSON

Albert Munson as a younger man from the 1881
History of Medina County and Ohio

Judge Albert Munson was a man of many talents and abilities. But his early years were punctuated with very humble circumstances.

Albert was born to Lyman and Nancy (Porter) Munson on 8 Aug, 1829 at River Styx. He was one of 9 children. His parents came to Ohio in 1816 from Massachusetts and were farmers. 

Albert's first attended a log schoolhouse, later studying at the Sharon Academy. The Academy was a product of the Universalists (religion) in the area who were looking for a non-sectarian educational option.

In 1844 while Albert was still a teen, a political speaker did not show up for his speech. Albert volunteered to speak extemporaneously on the duties of citizenship and finished to cheers and applause. He was fascinated by politics from that time forward.

He organized the River Styx Lyceum where debate was prized. He later said that prepared him for his love of lifelong learning.

Around 1850, Albert contracted dysentary. He would complain of  Rheumatism the rest of his life.
Other benchmarks from Albert's long life:

• Worked 5 years at general store of Allen Howes in Sharon. Then to Colborn & Munson in River Styx. 
• While working at the store, he married Harriet Easton in 1854. Children followed: Cora E. and Lyman E. 
• He then farmed his father's homestead. 
• He worked hard for Republican party throughout Medina County when that party was just getting started in 1856, delivering hundreds of speeches.
• He was physically incapacitated to serve in the Civil War so he recruited other soldiers. For that service he won an appointment as Colonel of the Militia by Ohio Governor Todd in 1862. 
• In 1869 he was elected to Ohio House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 187, serving a total of 4 years. He worked on codifying Ohio State laws, which were later copied by other states. 
• He was a temperance man. 
• After studying on his own for years, he was admitted to the bar in 1873, although he never practiced as a lawyer.
• He worked to bring the Railroad to Medina in 1871-72 and continued to support bringing railroads to Medina for the rest of his life. 
• In 1875 he was elected Director of Ohio Farmer’s Insurance (now Westfield Insurance). 
• In 1878 he was elected Judge of the Probate Court of Medina County and  “never had decision reversed by the higher courts” 
• He moved to Medina to be closer to his work. He was a judge for 2, 3-year terms (6 years). He used the honorific title "Judge" the rest of his life. 
• While he was judge he heard many cases of insanity. From 1880-1881 newspapers:

• 9 cases appeared in the paper 
• 5 women and 4 men 
• 3 of the women were judged insane and all of the men were. 
• They were sent to the Asylum at Newburgh, OH.
• After that he bought Samuel Bradley’s hardware business and ran that business for 25 years as A. Munson & Son 

Ad for Sam Bradley's Hardware store
Medina Gazette July 9 1880

Ad for Munson's Hardware store.
They kept their ads simple & focused
on the products. Sometimes, they
referred to the store as "Dad & I"
Medina Gazette, 28 Dec 1899

Advertising heating stove and fine
English China at the same time.
Quite likely, the Munson's furnished
their home with products from
the store. Medina Sentinel
4 Sep 1903, p.4

A sample of the Munson's personal china
on display at the Medina County
Historical Society.

• He was a member of these fraternal organizations, as well as the Literary Society: 
• Morning Star Lodge (Masons)  
• Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) 
• Royal Arcanum, Council No. 372. 
• He claimed he was personally responsible for William McKinley being elected as President. In gratitude McKinley came to Medina for a speech. After his election, McKinley offered Munson any position he wanted in gratitude for all of Munson's help.  Munson, who was around 70 years old, said being postmaster was good enough. The post office was two doors down from his hardware store. He was postmaster for 6 years. 

Judge Albert Munson
History of the Western Reserve by Harriet Taylor Upton

• From  1907-1908, he wrote column for Gazette “Reminiscences of a Busy Life” (play on "Recollections of a Busy Life" by Horace Greeley) that described many facets of his long life. 
• Albert died 27 June 1911 In Medina (Gazette 7-28-1911, p.4)

His spiritual beliefs:

Probably one of the most interesting aspects about Munson was his religious beliefs. He was a Spiritualist. 

"Spirit" Picture of Albert Munson
in the collection of
Medina County Historical Society.

Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living, often through the use of seances and mediums. It grew out of the early 1800's in New York. By 1860, it had spread world wide. It was very popular in the 1870's, particularly in the River Styx area where Albert grew up.

In 1879 he attended a (possibly his first?) séance in Sharon. It was thought at the time it had to do with the insanity cases he was hearing as a judge.

Why would the spiritualist church be appealing to Munson at this time?

• Growth as a movement. Started in US in 1840. Reached its height in popularity from 1880-1920 
• The Universalist Church might have made him more likely to investigate other ways of worshiping. 
• He had already lost his parents and siblings:
• Father Lyman in 1863
• Mother Nancy in 1850
• Sister Emeline in 1876 
• Brother Lyman in 1843 
• Sister Nancy in 1852 
• In 1881, he lost his good friend, James Garfield 
• William McKinley in 1901
• One of the mediums he used was possibly a cousin on his mother's side.

Munson believed he had a psychic link to McKinley and was convinced that the President would not live out his second term. Visiting McKinley in Canton, Munson urged the president to surround himself with guards, but McKinley replied, "Who would kill me?" Munson left, believing it would be the last time he saw his friend. And it was. McKinley was assassinated on 6 September 1901 .

Munson held a seance in his home, trying to each his friend. During the seance, McKinley remembered all the help Albert had been to his political career, especially the 1885 campaign. Munson invited McKinley's grieving widow to one of the seances, but her doctor soon put a stop to further seances as he felt it was detrimental to her health.

In his obituary it was stated that Munson believed "Death was only an incident in the journey to other scenes." One by one, death took each of the Munsons leaving none from that branch of the family. Each was cremated, a practice that had been revived in the 1870's.

Books from the Munson library:

Held at the Medina
 County Historical
Society

Held at the Medina
County Historical
 Society

Letter from McKinley:

Letter written by Wm. McKinley in 1885, before his presidency.
Collection of the Medina County Historical Society.

 Transcript of a seance conducted by  Annie L. Chamberlain, channeling the spirit Electa:

Munson's mother's spirit confirming that Miss Porter is indeed a relative:

Transcription of a seance from 1903.
In the Medina County Historical Society Collection.

The Munson House
Now a private residence, the Munson family lived here until Cora Munson's death in 1956.
Originally it was at 231 East Washington Street. The Community Design Committee moved
the house was to its present location on Prospect in 1985.
Numerous seances were held here.

SOURCES: 

• Butalia, Tarnunjit, Religion in Ohio: Profiles of Faith Communities  on Google Books: https://bit.ly/33gSDJC
• Find A Grave
• King, Joann, Medina County: Coming of Age 1810-1900 
• Kraynek, Sharon, Recollections of Medina Characters 
• Medina County Gazette
• 28 Dec 1899 
• 9 July 1880
• 1 May 1997, page C5
• 27 May 1881, page 7.
• 29 June 1879, page 11.
• 11 July 1879, page 3.
• 21 Dec., 1984
• Medina County Historical Society Collections.
• Medina County Sentinel
• 4 Sep. 1903, page 4.
• 4 Aug 1911, page 1 
• Perrin, William Henry, History of Medina County and Ohio (1881)
• Upton, Harriett Taylor, History of the Western Reserve
• WikiMedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_Albert_Munson_House.jpg
• Wikipedia:
• Spiritualist Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualist_church

P.S. Thank you to Tom Hilberg for correcting my mistake. The Community Design Committee NOT the historical society moved the MUNSON House to its present location.

Cemeteries....where else would you find your dead relatives?

Guest Blogger, Lisa Rienerth, Library Associate, Medina Reference

Friendsville Cemetery - Westfield Twp.

Woodlawn Cemetery - Wadsworth

Using gravestones and cemetery records can be extremely helpful when doing your family research.  They can provide information on a relative who lived and died prior to the state or county recording vital records; it may lead you to other vital records; and it is always good to have one more source to provide the proof for your research. Plus it is one of the few physical connections you will have with a deceased ancestor.

There are a few hurdles you may need to overcome when doing this type of research. First, the gravestone only provides the birth and death date, but you have to remember, this information, though carved in stone, may be incorrect. Tombstone carvers make mistakes. Also, it may be hard to find the final resting place of your ancestor and even if you do find it, the stone may be unreadable due to age and other damage.

Don't let these reasons discourage you. The following instructions will help with these hurdles.

Let's start with an online search.

Two websites that I use are Findagrave.com  & Billiongraves.com. These sites depend on members to upload memorials and photos.  Finding your relative on one of these sites can be a tremendous help. Even if there isn't a photograph of the tombstone, the information given for the memorial is helpful and it provides a name of the cemetery where you may find even more records. There is usually a map of where the cemetery is located, which is helpful especially with the small and out-of-the-way cemeteries.



Look for other online sources. Sometimes the cemetery is large enough to have their own online database and sometimes the city, county or state may have one. Sometimes I just google the name of the city/county/state with the word "cemeteries" and see what comes up. I just found Ohiogravestones.org, a site for the State of Ohio, the other day.

Different online genealogy sites can also be helpful. The main two I use are FamilySearch.org & AncestryLibrary Edition (through your local library). These type of sites are adding more and more cemetery records to their databases and digitized images. They also will link to other sites like Findagrave and Billiongraves.

If you don't know where or when your ancestor died, you can use the U.S. Census to narrow down your search. This is another source you can find on online genealogy sites like the ones I mentioned above (this type of research was covered in the MCDL Genealogy Blog on 3 April 2019). If you find them in the census records and follow them through the decades, whenever you come to a year they are no longer listed, this may be a clue to where and when they died. For example, George Smith was found in the 1850, 1860 & 1870 U.S. Census in Montgomery County, Ohio. He is not located in the 1880 U.S. Census in Montgomery County, Ohio or anywhere else. This may be a clue that he died between 1870 & 1880 in Montgomery County, Ohio. This isn't a definite answer, but it does zero in your research to a smaller area.

Another online source is Archive.org. This site will help you find transcribed cemetery records and find where the cemeteries are located.

Findlay Republican Courier - Newspaperarchive.com

Obituary and death records can also be found online through genealogy sites and databases.

You can search for obituaries in many of the newspapers that Kathy Petras talked about in her 7 August 2019 Blog. Sometimes the place of burial is mentioned in the obituary.

The more recent 20th century death records are more apt to have the cemetery listed than the pre-1900 records.

 




Cemetery records can also be found in libraries, archives, historical societies or government offices. You need to research the area where you believe your ancestor died and see which repositories are in the area and what types of records are kept there. For example, the Medina Library has a Tombstone Inscriptions book compiled by the Medina County Genealogical  Society. It is nice to have, because some of the transcribed tombstones are no longer readable.








The Western Reserve Historical Society is a local repository that owns not only local published cemetery records, but also out of state records. You can do an online search of their collection to see if they may have what you are looking for.

Trip Preparation

After using the above resources you should have a good idea of where you ancestor is buried. Now it is time to prepare for your visit to the cemetery. You may not be going to the ends of the world, but you need to take a few items to make the visit a successful one.

For more ideas on what to take, check out Your Guide to Cemetery Research by Sharon Debartolo Carmack.

O.k....you are packed and ready to go! Here are a few things to remember when you arrive...

Shaw Cemetery - Lafayette Twp.

• Treat the area with respect and be careful of the markers.

• Do not try to excavate or fix the marker.

• When walking among the stones be careful where you step. The ground is not always level. 

Guilford Center Cemetery

Photograph more than just the tombstone....

Take one of the surrounding area to help you find the stone again if necessary.

Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville 

Take one of the tombstones around the one you found, these could be family members.

No headstone!?

You have walked the whole cemetery and you didn't find a tombstone...yet you know the person you are looking for is buried there....or you found the headstone, but you can't read it due to the fact that it is over 100 years old and the carvings have been worn smooth.

Do Not Fear! There are other places you can look! 

The Sexton, the person who looks over the cemetery and its records, may have the information you need. Even if you find a readable headstone, these records may give you even more information than what is on the tombstone. 

There is usually an office on the grounds of the cemetery. If there isn't one or you don't know if there is a sexton or not, go to the city or county offices. The Parks & Recreations office can usually tell you where those records are located or they may have them. If there isn't a Parks & Rec office, just check with the City Hall, they may at least be able to point you in the right direction.

Fostoria Fountain Cemetery, Ohio

The sexton or cemetery records may give you more than a name and dates. Sometimes it list other family members and sometimes cause of death.

Wilson Family Cemetery
Findagrave.com added by Medina County Graves, ID # 47506344

If the cemetery is affiliated with a church, contact the church to see if they keep the records. If it is a private family cemetery, you may need to get permission to search.

When you get home after your successful cemetery trip don't forget to download, identify & update as soon as possible! If you wait too long you will forget the details.

Searching for my ancestors in cemeteries is one of my favorite types of research. I hope you enjoy it and may all your searches be successful!


Sources:

All Medina County cemetery photographs, unless otherwise noted, were taken by me, Lisa Rienerth.

AncestryLibraryEdition, census records

Solether obituary, Findlay (Ohio) Republican Courier, 3 February 1966, page 24; digital images, Newspaperarchives.org.

FamilySearch.org, Ohio deaths, 1908-1953

Medina County Genealogical Society, Tombstone Inscriptions from the Cemeteries in Medina County, Ohio, 1983 (Evansville, IN: Whipporwill Publications, 1984).

Fostoria Fountain Cemetery, cemetery records, Fostoria, Hancock County, Ohio.


Bibiliography:

Findagrave.com

Ohiogravestones.org

Archive.org

Western Reserve Historical Society catalog (http://catalog.wrhs.org/collections/search)

Your Guide to Cemetery Research by Sharon Debartolo Carmack

Who Are They?

Clockwise from upper left: Pete Rademacker, Elsie Bennett Wilson
Sidney Fenn, Franklin Sylvester, Letha House, Amos I. Root,
Sadie Green, in the middle, Wilda Bell.

Can you match these well known Medina people (below on the left)  with the occupation or activity they are known for?

Hint: Only some of them have been profiled on this blog.

1. William Batchelder
2. Martin VanBuren Bates
3. Sylvia Beach
4. Wilda Bell
5. Elsie Bennett-Wilson
6. H.G. Blake
7. John W. Brown
8. Peter Cherry
9. Sidney Fenn
10. Rufus Ferris
11. Michael Foreman
12. William D. Frazier
13. Sadie Green
14. Letha House
15. Sophia Huntington-Parker
16. Amos Mears
17. Ray Mellert
18. Judge Albert Munson
19. Pete Rademacher
20. A.I Root
21. Chuck Schodowski
22. Frederick Streeter
23. Franklin Sylvester
24. Edith Thomas
25. Mel Wiley

a. Ohio Governor from Medina
b. Chatham poet
c. Medina historian & author
d. A spiritualist
e. An early Medina health nurse
f. An Olympic gold medal boxer
g. Beloved Cleveland TV person
h. Missing Wadsworth girl
i. Father of modern beekeeping
j. Medina benefactress
k. A giant among men
l. NASA astronaut
m. Ohio legislator for 40 years
n. Paid for first Medina Library
o. Started Old Phoenix Bank
p. Local library promoter
q. 1st Black woman on Medina City Council
r. Pioneer & land-sales agent
s. Missing Hinckley Policeman
t. Medina Educator & Principal
u. Businessman & cemetery sponsor
v. Only man hung in Medina
w. Historic marathon walker
x. Founded the Pythian Sisters Home
y. Businessman & sports booster

Stay tuned for the answers!

Medina Steak House as Stagecoach Stop?

Medina Steak House, 538 West Liberty St.,  circa 2011 from
http://www.phdelicious.com/Restaurants/Medinasteak.htm

The old Medina Steak House, now the Serenite Restaurant and Culinary Institute, has a long oral tradition, often repeated, that it started its existence as a stagecoach stop. Also home to the Medina Recovery Center, in the past the building has been used as "a restaurant, an inn, a hotel, a brothel, a bookie joint, grocery store and as a stage coach stop."(Medina Post 2015 article)

Now I don't expect to find it listed as either a brothel or a bookie joint in published records. Since both those activities are illegal, the owners or operators would have taken action to keep their businesses clandestine and out of print. But surely a stagecoach stop would be documented, wouldn't it?

Maybe not.

Where is it written that the building was a stagecoach stop?

1.  A  Medina Sun Sentinel article published on 29 October 1981 about Medina Haunts, says "The building itself is filled with history, built about 1858 as a stagecoach stop then used as a train stopover..."
2.  A 14 March 2015,  Medina Post article written by Kevin McManus says, "The building itself was reportedly built by Harrison G. Blake as a stagecoach stop in 1858."

But I could not find any documentation earlier than those two articles.

First of all, some history:

In the U.S. stagecoaches and or boats (including canals) were the main method of public transportation until the railroads came in. In most areas of Ohio, railroads were the norm by the 1850's and in 1854, Medina leaders tried to bring a railroad in. A group of investors formed the Cleveland, Medina and Tuscarawas Railroad and purchased the right-of-way from Grafton to Seville. They graded the route and then tried to raise the money to lay down the tracks. They failed. It would be almost another 20 years before a railroad came to Medina.

Colton's railroad & township map of the state of Ohio from 1854

The red outlined black tracks represent railroad tracks - all outside of Medina County's borders.

Detail from the 1857 map of Medina County. The red star is approximately the location of the old
Medina Steak House. Nothing is located there on this map. It is just part of C. Hubbard's property.
The chopped curved line from top to bottom that is to the left of the star is the railroad bed for the failed
Cleveland, Medina, Tuscarawas Railroad.

Using Bob Hyde's "Beyond the Storefronts" web site and  newspaper articles, the building can be tracked back in time through its various incarnations.

1968 picture of the old Steak House from Bob Hyde's
"Beyond the Storefronts" web site.
Neither the microfilm or the NewspaperArchive digital images were as
clear as this photo of a clipping from Bob's collection.

Medina County Gazette ad for the Medina Steak House.
23 May 1968, page 3.

An earlier incarnation of the steak house, as Roepers.
Medina Gazette 2 Nov., 1945 page 4

An ad from 14 May 1925 Medina Sentinel.
The property was known as the Miller House or the
Miller House Hotel from 1900 to the 1930's.

Undated and uncited picture of the old Steak House from when it
was the Miller House Hotel from  Bob Hyde's
"Beyond the Storefronts" web site.

From 1884 to 1900, the building was named the Germania House Hotel, John Gluntz proprieter.

Prior to that it was called the Palmer House Hotel.

Under Bob's Palmer House Hotel listing for 1873-1874 he says, "Palmer House Hotel became a stagecoach inn and stop as indicated by teeth marks on posts by wood eating horses called cribbers".  The building did not have to be a stagecoach stop for cribbing horses to gnaw at its hitching rails.

In May of 1872, H. G. Blake sold property to J.W. Palmer. Dr. Palmer and his son built the hotel.

By 1875, the hotel had changed hands and W.L. Stoaks was the new
owner. Medina Gazette 12 Nov., 1875, page 2.

Perhaps Dr. Palmer and his son should have
stayed in the patent medicine business?
Medina Gazette 3 May 1872, page 4.

What is known for certain?

• As late as 1857 (map above) there was NOT a stage coach stop there. 
• The building is one half a mile west of uptown Medina. Why build a stage stop so far from the main business area at that time?
• The building that exists now at 538 West Liberty was built around 1872 by Dr. J.W. Palmer.
• The new railroad opened in November of 1871. There would be no need of a stage coach after that.            
• Was there a stagecoach stop there 1858-1871? It is still possible...

From the land and deed records available at FamilySearch.org, we learn that H.G. Blake bought and sold numerous properties from the 1850's through the 1870's. This indicates that he viewed land as investment opportunities.

Remember who owned the land according to the 1857 map above? C. Hubbard. In 1851, H.G. Blake bought 7 acres on the west side of Medina from Charles Hubbard and his wife. This was before the attempted railroad project of 1854. More land speculation? But why is C. Hubbard still listed as the owner in 1857?  An error in the map, like the railway bed line that is marked as a railroad line? He held onto the land until the 1870's, after the railroad came in. The value of the land would have greatly increased .

The two 19th century histories of Medina County, Pioneer History of Medina County (1861) and The History of Medina County and Ohio (1881) do not mention any stagecoach stop run by H.G. Blake. The coach lines mentioned that came through Medina are the Chidester House Hotel on the south side of the square and the American House Hotel on the north end of the square are both mentioned as stops at different times.

Browsing through the early newspaper from the 1850's and 1860's many advertisement for all sorts of services are found. Some of them promoting H.G. Blake's interests:

Medina County Gazette 26 May 1859, page 2.

Medina County Gazette 19 May 1859,page 2.

Medina County Gazette, 17 May 1872, page 1.

So clearly, Blake believed in advertising to promote his businesses. Why not promote a stage stop?

The answer might lie in this 1877 article criticizing the Palmer Hotel for selling liquor:

This wording seems to indicate that only land exchanged hands.
There was no building included, and no stagecoach stop.
Medina County Gazette 23 Feb., 1877, page 5

While this does not meet the standard of proof that there was never a stagecoach stop at that location, the lack of proof that there ever was one, does cast doubt on it.

What do you think?


SOURCES:

• Colton, G. Woolworth. Colton's railroad & township map of the state of Ohio, drawn by George W. Colton, engraved by J M. Atwood. New York, 1854. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . 
• Geil, John F. Map of Medina Co., Ohio. Philada.: Matthews and Taintor Publishers, 1857. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .
• Hyde, Robert, "Beyond the Storefronts" MedinaSquare.org, accessed online September 2019.
• King, Joann, Medina County Coming of Age, 1810-1900, Angstrom Graphics, Cleveland, OH, 2016.
• Medina County Gazette
• "Blake, Booth, Tyler & Co., advertisement", 19 May 1959,page 2, Medina County Gazette microfilm at the Medina Library, accessed September 2019. 
• "Dr. Palmer & Son, advertisement, 3 May 1872, page 4, Medina County Gazette microfilm at the Medina Library, accessed September 2019. 
• "H. G. Blake, advertisement", 26 May 1859, page 2, Medina County Gazette microfilm at the Medina Library, accessed September 2019. 
• "Old Miller House Hotel", 5 July 1968, page 7, NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• 23 May 1968, page 3, NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• "Local Items", 23 February 1877, page 5, NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• "Palmer House, advertisement", 12 Nov., 1875, page 2,  NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• "Phoenix Bank, advertisement", 17 May 1872, page 1, Medina County Gazette microfilm at the Medina Library, accessed September 2019. 
• "Roepers Steak House, advertisement", 2 Nov., 1945, page 4, NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• Medina County Sentinel
• "The Miller House, advertisement" 11 June 1925, page 5, NewspaperArchive, accessed online through Akron Library, September 2019.
• Medina Post
• McManus, Kevin "Steakhouse Shuts Down", The Medina Post, 14 March 2015. http://www.thepostnewspapers.com/medina/local_news/medina-steak-seafood-shuts-down/article_6857006b-d74c-585a-8d03-1b0b5b9b9f04.html , accessed online September 2019
• "Medina Steakhouse" on PHDelicious.com circa 18 March 2011, accessed online September 2019. 
• Mershon, Peggy, "Stagecoaches Were A Familiar Sight", Mansfield News Journal, https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/history/2016/07/22/history-stagecoaches-were-familiar-sight/87432230/  , accessed online September 2019.
• Perrin, William Henry, History of Medina County and Ohio. Containing a History of the State of Ohio, From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Baskin & Battey, Chicago, IL, 1881. Accessed on Internet Archive September 2019. https://archive.org/details/historyofmedinac00perr/page/n6 
• "Record of deeds, 1818-1871; index to deeds, 1790-1923", Medina County Recorders Office, accessed online at FamilySearch.org September 2019.
• Shapiro, Eleanor, ed., Historical Highlights of Medina, Meyers Lithographers, Medina, OH, 1966.
• "Stagecoach Routes In Northern Ohio", Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western University, https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/stagecoach-routes-northern-ohio , accessed online September 2019.

Lighting up the Town

Last week's post on Memorial Day in Medina featured a lot of pictures of the parades around the Square. There was a marked difference in the photos pre-1900 as opposed to after that date. Did you notice?

Medina Square 1889

Medina Square circa 1897

Do you see it now?

Sometime in the intervening years, Medina installed electricity. Didn't really impact last week's blog, but it put that little kernel of curiosity in my brain. Exactly WHEN did Medina get electricity?

{Some of the lines are also telephone lines.}

Bob Hyde's website Beyond the Storefronts is a great place to start off place when researching any  history surrounding the Medina Square. And since he installed a search function, VOILA! Anything I want to find, I can. And I did!

Bob had this picture of the Power Generating Station, and accompanying history about its location at 121 West Smith Road.

According to Bob:

"#121 West Smith Road:

Medina Electric Light and Power Generating Plant, Albert G. Oatman and Ozro Sanders, Props.   (1897-1905)

1.  Albert G. Oatman and Ozro Sanders under the company title of the Medina Electric Light and Power Company have erected substantial brick structure equipped with necessary machinery, power, and dynamos for supplying the town with arc and incandescent lights and power.

2.  The plant was put into operation on September 15, 1897 and already there are 800 incandescent lights supplied to stores, offices, residences and shops in the village.

3.  The rates in effect are reasonable and range from one to five lights furnished for 60 cents each, per month; from five to fifteen at 50 cents and from fifteen to twenty-five lights at 40 cents each, per month.

4.  The Company is equipped for furnishing arc lights for streets, but as for now no contract has been made with the village.  In a few places lights have been provided on a private subscription basis

5.  The plant is equipped with one K. W. generator, one 125 horsepower engine and one 150 horse power boiler, the largest in the town.

6.  Simon S. Oatman bought out A. G. Oatman’s interest in 1905.

Phillips Electric Generating Plant, Judge F. O. Phillips, Prop. (1905-1915)

1.  S. S. Oatman sold Medina Electric Light and Power on Lot 16 to F. O. Phillips for $14,000 in 1905.

Pennsylvania Power Co., Cleveland Southwestern Power Co., Western Reserve Light andPower Co. (1915-1931)

1.  Judge F. O. Phillips sold Phillips Electric to Charles A. Moore of Chicago in 1915.

So, from this information, it looks like Medina got electricity in 1897. 

The Medina Electric and Light Company West Smith Road
Circa 1900-1915

Bob's history on the short lived company seems pretty complete. But is it everything that can be found? Probably, because Bob is an excellent historian.

But to make sure that is ALL the information available about the company, I need to do more research. That is called due diligence.

This cutout is from the 1897 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, a database available from within the library. The earlier Sanborn maps, for 1885 and 1892, don't show any kind of power plant.The  Power Company, circled in red, is near the corner of Elmwood and Smith Road. It was there early enough that it could be included in the publication for 1897. But does it predate 1897??

Joann King's excellent book on 19th
century Medina County. 

Joann King, another excellent historian, wrote Medina County Coming of Age 1810-1900. And she has a lot more to say about the beginnings of electrical power in Medina:

"In Medina, council gave Ozro Sanders the first utility franchise to build an electric plant. Individual industries already had their own dynamos used primarily to power machinery, [A.I. Root was one such company] but this company was solely for the benefit of the private subscriber. Sander's first order was for 150 individual lights, 125 were to go into the Phoenix Block. In 1898, this company officially became Medina Electric Light and Power under the leadership of A.G. Oatman and Sanders. In one year, they had 800 light bulbs shining in offices, stores, and homes."  p. 471

It doesn't give the date that the council gave the franchise to Sanders, just the date that the company was named.

Later in the book:

"In 1892, the Ohio Legislature passed a bill allowing Medina Council to hold an election for the purpose of levying the residents 2 mils for electric lights... Voters approved the light plant 355 to 166." And in the next paragraph:

"O. Sanders started building Medina's first electric plant on the northwest side of town near the depot... Three months later he had 500 subscriptions for incandescent lamps and an order from the village for twenty arc street lamps. Medina Council installed four of those lamps in November..."

Slowly lights began to appear around town. In 1897, the Medina Electric Light and Power Company started its engine and nineteenth century life in Medina was a thing of reality."

It still isn't clear when Medina got electricity. Here is what we have learned:

•  In 1892, the Ohio Legislature passed a bill so that city council could put a levy on the ballot for citizens to be taxed for electric lights. And the levy passed.
• When did the Ohio Legislature pass the bill?
• When did the citizens get to vote on the levy?
• Ozro Sanders won the franchise to build the first electric plant. 
• When did city council award the franchise to Sanders?
• When exactly did he build the plant?
• "Slowly lights appear around town" and then the power plant is turned on? What is powering those slowly appearing lights?

From this information, we can estimate that sometime between 1892 and 1897, the city of Medina generated enough electricity to power lights around town.

In order to pin the date down more exactly, more research was needed.

Question #1- When did the Ohio Legislature pass the bill that enabled Medina City Council to try for the levy?
Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, is always blogging about tracking down the original laws. She makes it seem easy. It isn't. But...

In the online Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio, Volume 89, page 372, I found this:

The bill was read 2 more times.
"Mr. Strock" is Mr. Charles Strock from Niles in Trumbull County, Ohio.

"Tuesday, March 15, 1892.
H.B. No. 612 - Mr Strock (by request): To authorize the council of any incorporated village in the state of Ohio, which contained at the last federal census of 1890, or which at any subsequent federal census may contain a population of not less that two thousand and seventy-three nor more that two thousand and eighty-three, to issue bonds and levy a tax for the payment of the same and interest thereon for the purchase and erection of an electric light plant."

WHAT? Did you catch that wording? " population of not less that two thousand and seventy-three nor more that two thousand and eighty-three". That is a very specific size population, with only a 10 person difference. According to Wikipedia, Medina's population in 1890? 2,073. This bill, while not naming Medina specifically, targeted the town especially.

The bill passed the following day.

Question #2 - So, by mid March of 1892, Medina was permitted to put a levy on the ballot. But when did the election take place?

To find this information, I have been scouring the Medina Gazette newspaper microfilm. I have not found the date of the election, but I did find some more information.

Medina Gazette 12 May 1892, page 4.

So the Village Council had approved the tax by mid-May 1892, but Mr. Herman Holmes was not happy with their decision and was filing a lawsuit to stop them from going forward. Mr. Holmes was a Civil War Veteran and Medina business man. His main complaint was that the proposed plant was too expensive. Oh, and he didn't want any poles put on his East Liberty Street property.

Since the common pleas court only met every quarter, progress on the suit was very slow...

Medina Gazette 21 July 1892, page 1

So now we have narrowed the date that Medina got electricity from 1893 to 1897...

And just like the court case, this blog will have to be continued to allow time for more research...

SOURCES:

Beyond the Storefronts http://www.medinasquare.org/

Historical Highlights of Medina
Medina County: Coming of Age
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Wikipedia - Medina census population
Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio, Volume 89
Medina County Gazette