Remembering Wadsworth:: From Pioneers to Streetcars

by Caesar A. Carrino

Overview

Battling wolves and wilderness, the settlers of 1814 were the first in a long line of daring and ingenious souls to call Wadsworth home. With a wry but gentle humor, former mayor Caesar A. Carrino regales his readers with tales of these colorful characters, including politically biased embalmers and a swindling tabloid entrepreneur whose ghost still haunts the streets of Wadsworth. Carrino spins a beguiling yarn as he chronicles the history of his city, from the sometimes tragic fate of early pioneers to the coming of a new century with rail, steam, coal and automobile.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596296329
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	11/11/2009
Series:	American Chronicles
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Caesar Carrino is a long-time resident and former mayor of Wadsworth, Ohio. He is a retired Dean Emeritus of the University of Akron, and a former teacher and principal. He remains active in local education as the President of a private school. He has also produced a television program, Wadsworth History on Film, for which he has interviewed over 300 local residents. Mr. Carrino is presently serving as an Auditor for TEAC, the Teacher Education Accrediting Council, Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Foreword Lynda C. Carrino 9

Acknowledgements 11

Part I Wadsworth Is Born

The First Settlers: Bewildered in the Wilderness 13

Pioneer Embalmers: The Party's Over 15

Sylvia Beach: Lost, Never Found 17

John Brown's Origins: Why He Went by His Middle Name 19

Early Business Center: Not a Mall Hangout 21

The Pardee Brothers: From Store to More 24

Pardee Mansion on Watrusa: A "Nail-Biding" Time 26

The Early Blacksmiths: Red-Hot Craftsmen 28

Hotels for a Small Town: Adjoining Bath Outside 30

The Sheepshed: Pioneer Answer to an Inside Mall 32

The Buggy Works 34

Pioneer Mills: On the Cutting Edge 36

Erastus Loomis: Turned Black Coal Green 38

Coming of the Railroad: Full Steam Ahead for Wadsworth 41

Part II Coal Mining Town: Buried Treasure

The Silver Creek Mine 45

Life of the Miner 48

The Great Coal Mine Strike 49

Part III Wadsworth Churches: Faith, Bricks and Mortar

The Congregational Church 51

Ephriam Hunsberger 52

The Old Mennonite Church 54

The Lutheran Church 56

The Methodist Church 58

The Disciple Church 59

The Emanuel Church: The High Church 60

Jerusalem Lutheran Church 61

Sacred Heart Church 61

First Baptist Church 63

Part IV Education in Wadsworth: From Bleak to Greek

The Early Schools 65

The Union School 67

The First School Bus 69

The Wadsworth Academy 70

Higher Education 72

The Mennonite College 72

The Dague Collegiate Institute 74

The Western Reserve Normal College 75

Burke Hinsdale 75

Part V The Press

The Wadsworth Enterprise: All the News that Fits...to Print 79

The Young Folks Gem: All that Litters Brings in Gold 81

PartVI The 1900s: Motoring into the Future

Andy Auble 85

The First Streetcar: The Sugar Bill 87

The First Telephone: Number Please 89

City Government and a New Town Hall 92

The Opera House, Joe Bender and the First Picture Show 94

Part VII Early Medical Professionals: Corn Plasters and Country Doctors

The Physicians 97

Early Dentists 101

Early Veterinarians, Horse Doctors, Horse Thieves and Horse Insurance 102

The Horse Barn: Wadsworth's New Hospital 103

Part VIII The Beginning of Industry: Lighting the World on Fire

The Wadsworth Salt Company 107

The Ohio Injector Company 108

The Ohio Match Company: Its Birth and Death Made Wadsworth a "Matchless" City 110

The Ohio Boxboard Company 113

The Wadsworth Brick and Tile Company 113

The Excel Rubber Company 115

Part IX Personalities that Grew Wadsworth

Tommy Lucas, the One-Man Show 117

Nellie Harter 119

Ella Everhard 122

Bibliography 125

About the Author 127