May

May 16: Marie Marries Louis

May 16: On this day in 1770 Marie Antoinette officially married her husband, Louis Auguste. Four years later when Louis XV died, Louis August and his wife Marie would become the King and Queen of France. As a fan of Ohio history, you might wonder hos this event would influence Ohio. The answer requires a bit of American history.

marie-antoinnette-marriage- — Marriage of Marie Antoinette and Louis Auguste on May 16, 1770.

In 1776 American colonies declared their independence from England. A few years after that declaration, France recognized the new United States of America. France began sending supplies and arms to the new country in its revolution and eventually send troops and most important, it sent its navy. Working along with the French, George Washington’s Continental Army and Militia trapped the British General, Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown Virginia which forced the British to eventually withdraw from the United States and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Now, here is the connection. In 1788, just five years after the Treaty of Paris, a group of east coast businessmen formed the Ohio Company and sent an expedition west and down the Ohio River. At the mouth of the Muskingum River, they established a small settlement becoming the first community of the Northwest Territory.

Several different town names were discussed by the group of 48 men, but in the end they settled upon the name Marietta in honor of the French Queen, who on this day married Louis XV. Today Marietta is the oldest organized municipality in Ohio. Unfortunately, Marie Antoinette did not live many years after receiving this recognition.

Marie Antoinette and her 3 children in 1787

On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette was executed during the French Revolution that began as a result of the financial crisis France faced after giving so much aid to the United States.

Dr. Benjamin’s Company Makes for a Smoother Ride

By John Merrill

May 11: He helped turn Akron from the cereal capital of the world into the Rubber Capital of the World, but Benjamin Franklin didn’t start out with that goal. In fact he attended Cleveland’s Medical College specializing in surgery. After the War of Rebellion, Benjamin had seen enough butchery and decided to leave his medical professional.

For a time he became involved in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania. Then he moved on to New York City and opened a real estate office. A few years later he had the opportunity of buying a rubber manufacturing company located along the Hudson River valley. Like the previous company owner, Benjamin found the rubber manufacturing competition in the valley too stiff and decided to take the equipment and move it back to Ohio, and in particular to Akron which had long ago become a major shipping point to the world for its processed grains and corn. In Benjamin’s mind, there was no difference between the two. Akron residents encouraged to see a new business come to town, invested 1000s of dollars into the venture.

In 1871 Benjamin opened his Akron Rubber Works, and immediately Benjamin hired 20 employees to assist him in the manufacturing of fire hoses. He soon began manufacturing solid rubber tires that were only slightly better than the steel-rimmed wagon wheels they were intended to replace. In 1888 John Dunlop invented the inflatable tire for a new invention that was sweeping the country: the bicycle.
Dunlop’s pneumatic tire process was quickly adopted as the industry standard and Benjamin began making his own inflatable tires. In a few years the market for Benjamin’s tires would sky rocket with Henry Ford’s Model T.

On this day May 11, 1947 the company formed by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the BFGoodrich Company, announced the development of the tubeless automobile tire, now the world standard in tires.

BFGoodrich engineer Frank Herzegh, the person responsible for the invention of the BFGoodrich tubeless tire.

Frank Herzegh was born in Cleveland, obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Case Institute of Applied Science and then joined the B.F. Goodrich Company as a research and development engineer. In addition to the tubeless tire, he also obtained over 100 other patents. After a 42-year career with Goodrich, Frank retired in 1972, and six years later he was awarded the Charles Goodyear Medal

May 9: Recognizing Ohio’s Iconic Symbol

By John Merrill

What’s red white and blue, sometimes it is hoisted up one or two of the flagpoles on the roof of Ohio’s statehouse, and oh yes, it’s not a flag?

On this day in 1902 the Ohio General Assembly enacted a bill authorizing the adoption of a new state flag. Till this day in Ohio history, Ohio did not have a state flag. Ohio had been a state for almost 100 years, but we had never taken the step of creating a state flag. But a year before this date, several historic events came together in such a way that the General Assembly felt compelled enough to adopt a new symbol for the Buckeye State – and those events happened in another state.

Ohio Building with the original flag flying overhead at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.

That state was New York where in 1901 the Pan-American Exposition was being held in Buffalo. The Exposition was a show place for countries from both North and South America. It also included exhibits from many states including Ohio. As part of the Ohio Exposition building, flew a new pennant designed by a Cleveland architect that he felt help draw attention to the building.

In 1900 Cleveland architect, John Eisemann, was the winning bidder for designing the Ohio Building for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Realizing that Ohio did not have an official flag, Eisemann went about creating a special flag to fly over the Ohio Building. It’s not clear whether Eisemann intended his creation to become Ohio’s flag or not. What he did want was something unique to fly over his building design. He even patented the flag with the U.S. Patent Office on July 23, 1901.

In 1900 Cleveland architect, John Eisemann, was the winning bidder for designing the Ohio Building for the 1901 World’s Fair called the Pan-American Exposition. Realizing that Ohio did not have an official flag, Eisemann went about creating a special flag to fly over the Ohio Building. It’s not clear whether Eisemann intended his creation to become Ohio’s flag or not. What he did want was something unique to fly over his building design. He even patented the flag with the U.S. Patent Office on July 23, 1901.

mckinley-carnation — President William McKinley sitting in his rocker, wearing a Lamborn Rose in his lapel.

The Pan-American Exposition ran from May 1, 1901 to November 1, 1901. During those 6 months more than 8,000,000 visitors would pass through the gates each paying 25 cents for admission. Besides the debut of what would later become Ohio’s state flag, the fair also had a more tragic Ohio connection.

On September 6, 1901, former Ohio Governor, former Ohio Representative, and current 2nd term President of the United States, William McKinley, was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition. He would die just 8 days later.
In the following months and years after McKinley’s death, Ohio pay tribute to the fallen leader in various ways. One of those was the adoption of a special scarlet carnation worn by McKinley throughout his political career. Known as the Lamborn Carnation, the carnation became known as the “scarlet carnation” and three years later it became the official state flower as a “token of love and reverence to the memory of William McKinley”.

Original flag that flew over the Ohio Building at the Pan American Exposition.

The other was the adoption of the flag that was flying over the Ohio Building when the president was shot. Less than 8 months later, that flag would officially be adopted as Ohio’s flag which has been flying over public buildings since this day in 1902.

The Ohio state flag is the only “flag” of all the 50 state flags, that is not an actual flag. It’s really a swallow tail burgee, which means it is tapered like a pennant, but has the tip notched with a v-shaped cut out. The only other place the swallow tail burgee is commonly seen is on sailing ships, commonly seen on Lake Erie.

statehouse_columbus_001 — Ohio Statehouse with William McKinley Statue. The flag was used as a “communication tool” long before telephones, email and mobile devices, the Ohio flag is raised over the Statehouse when the corresponding legislative chamber is in session – raised on the north flag pole during Ohio Senate sessions and on the south flag pole during Ohio House of Representatives sessions. In the above photograph, the House of Representatives would be in session.

Save

May 5: Denton Young Pitches His First Perfect Game

By John Merrill

May 5: Baseball is game of statistics. Everything about the game can be recorded and compared. On this day in 1904, Denton True Young would be adding his name to the record books after he pitched his first perfect game in his professional career with no batters reaching first base. On that day he was pitching for the Boston Americans at Huntington Avenue Grounds. The Boston Americans was one of the original American League teams formed in 1901. Eight years later they changed their name to the Boston Red Sox.

Denton Young was born in the really small community of Gilmore in northeast Ohio just 2 years after the end of the Civil War. Working on his father’s farm, Dent Young as he was called, only completed his 6th grade of education before circumstances forced him to work full-time on the farm. In 1888, he began playing semi-pro baseball as a 2nd baseman and sometime pitcher. Three years later he began playing professional ball in Canton then moved up to the majors a few years later playing for the Cleveland Spiders. By then he had gotten the nickname Cyrus, which was at that time a dig at his rural upbringing. When on the mound, his opponents knew him as a hard-throwing pitcher.

Denton Young would become the only pitcher in the first hundred years of baseball to win 500 games, 3 of which were no-hit shutouts and his teammates no longer referred to him as “Cyrus” they just called him Cy. Cy Young retired from playing baseball in 1909 after playing his 906th game.

Cy Young died in 1955 at Newcomers Town, about 10 miles west of Gilmore. A few years later an award was created by the baseball commissioner to honor the best pitcher in each of the two leagues. That award is named the Cy Young Award.

Read more about Cy Young and the Cy Young Memorial in Newcomers Town
http://www.touringohio.com/northeast/tuscarawas/cy-young.html

May 4, 1970: Kent State Erupts in Violence

By John Merrill

May 4, 1970: It had been just 5 days since President Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. This action sparked wide-spread protests on college campuses. The previous 7 years had been one of the most tumultuous times in our country’s history that seemed to have begun with the assassination of President Kennedy, followed by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., followed by the assassination of the presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.

Towards the end of the 1960s, riots were common place that involved both racial and anti-war protests. The Vietnam War had slowly crept into our culture from a few advisers in the 1950s to almost 550,000 American soldiers in the spring of 1968.

This was the high point of military involvement in the war. From this point forward, deployment numbers began to slowly decrease. There was a perception on the campus that anti-war protests were having some effect on government policy. So that when President Nixon announced a sharp increase in military involvement in the spring of 1970 through the bombing of Cambodia, a perceived widening of the war, student protests also began to heighten.

On Friday, May 1, an anti-war rally was held on the Commons at Kent State University in northeast Ohio. Another anti-war rally was called for Monday, May 4. Saturday afternoon, some protestors began demonstrating in downtown Kent. Mayor Satrom and the Kent City Council decided to seek help from Governor James Rhodes. That Saturday evening Ohio National Guard troops were ordered to the Kent State Campus after the ROTC building was set on fire.

Sunday morning Governor Rhodes announced during a press conference that he wanted to eradicate the problem in Kent. On Monday, May 4, 1970 students began gathering on the Commons protesting the presidents invasion of Cambodia. As the number of student demonstrators grew, the Ohio National Guard assembled and began driving students from the commons. A line of protestors formed in front of the National Guard line, taunting the guardsmen. The guard then began a march back towards a concrete umbrella-like structure known as the “pagoda”. Once they arrived at this spot, members of Company A, 145^th Infantry and Troop G, 107^th Armored Cavalry opened fire on the student protestors. More than 60 shots were fired in less than 15 seconds killing 4 students, wounding 9 others.

That evening after the shootings, Adjutant General Sylvester Del Corso claimed the shootings were sparked by a sniper firing on the Guard. The onslaught of investigations that followed this event found no evidence of a sniper, or any shooting by anyone other than the National Guard.

On this day in 1970, our country was forced to realize it was a country divided by political forces, forces that continue to this day.

Share This:

Share This:

Share This:

Share This:

Share This: