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AKRON FOSSILS & SCIENCE CENTER
Admission: TOUR (includes Park admission) - Adults $8, Youth (ages 3-17) $6;
Adventure Park ONLY:$3
Open: Winter Hours (Labor Day-Memorial Day): Friday & Saturday 10am-5pm Summer Hours (Memorial Day-Labor Day): Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 2080 S. Cleveland-Massillon Rd ● Akron, OH 44321 (Located in West Akron)
Phone: (330) 665-DINO (3466)
The Akron Fossils & Science Center Our Science Center features hands-on guided tours and science activities. We are devoted to teaching creation science and intelligent design models on the origin and history of life. Our exhibits display many fossils from Ohio and around the world. We look forward to seeing you in our 3,500 square foot museum and 2-1/2 acre outdoor adventure park-Truassic Park.
Printout: Akron Fossils & Science Center
This museum features confiscated weapons of all kinds and gambling and narcotics paraphernalia. It also displays counterfeit money and police related accessories, including uniforms and weapons. Hundreds of historic photographs are also available for public viewing. And, the museum has a vintage 1965 Harley-Davidson police motorcycle and keys to the original 1890 jail cell. Read article about Akron Police Museum
Printout: Read article about Akron Police Museum
Celebrate the history of classical music at this national institution honoring the best of American classical music’s performance artists. It recognizes individuals who have impacted symphonies, orchestras, schools and conservatories both past and present. And it provides recordings for visitors to listen to the works of the Hall’s inductees. In addition, there are many displays of classical music memorabilia, famous instruments, a bugle collection and stained glass from various opera houses.
Printout: American Classical Music Hall of Fame and Museum
THE AMERICAN SIGN MUSEUM
(A
donation of $10 per person is requested. Group rates are negotiable)
When: By appointment only, but tours are offered weekdays and weekends; morning, noon or night. (Tours are conducted by founder of the museum; approximately 1-1/2 hours)
Location: (Map It) 2515 Essex Place ● Cincinnati, Ohio 45206
Phone: 513-258-4020
This is a unique institution that celebrates the rich tradition of sign-making and sign design. Not only does the museum feature vintage signs, but the materials and tools, salesman's samples, ad specialties, and more that characterize the sign industry. Visitors to the museum first enter the lobby or "Sign Garden," an indoor landscaped display of free-standing and hanging vintage signs.
Entering the Museum proper, visitors find five main sections:
Printout: The American Sign Museum
AMERICAN TOY MARBLE MUSEUM
(Admission is Free)
Excerpt from December 2007 edition of OhioTraveler by Robert Carpenter
Cleveland
pays tribute to Rock and Roll, and Canton has enshrined the game of
football, but it’s Akron that holds all the marbles—though hardly
bullies of the playground. They’re eager to share everything there is
to know about the little spheres—the simplest of toys—that engender
more wistfulness than any plaything in memory.
The history is chronicled at The American Toy Marble Museum, www.americantoymarbles.com, open Saturdays offering free admission and parking from 10am to 1pm at Lock 3 Park in downtown Akron. It’s on the original site of the defunct company bearing the same name, started in 1891 by Sam and A.L. Dyke. The Dyke philosophy was to put a handful of marbles in the possession of every kid who had a penny. Certainly they had the capacity. At it’s peak the company produced an incredible million marbles per day. Considering their longevity there must be an enormous cache of marbles consigned to attic and basement storage boxes, because today there are relatively few rolling free.
The game is rarely played on school campuses anymore. It requires a skill long since relegated to antiquity in favor of electronic gimmickry displaying images on Cathode-ray tubes.
At its height of popularity during WWII, the game played down in the dirt of every schoolyard was preferred over all others. It was traditional, but economically prompted as well. At a time when many items were either rationed or unavailable, marbles were still cheap and plentiful.
The best recollection of grade school is a scene of grassless level areas inscribed with circles of various diameters to accommodate all ranks of players. Liberation from the classroom would spawn a dozen or more games at once creating an atmosphere of excitement that rivaled that of any latter-day sport.
It was a time when every boy who valued his worth arrived at school equipped for the game, and hoped to depart with the spoils of victory.
Marbles conferred status. Some were fortunate enough to buy their initial supply, and others were thankful for prizes from breakfast cereal boxes to seed their entry into the competition. From there on it was a zero-sum game. If you won, someone else lost, and the larger your collection, the greater your image. Your accumulation was in constant flux, and carried in a sack—the size being indisputable evidence of your skill. Up to about the fourth grade, the worship bestowed upon the school marbles champ was commensurate to that of a football hero. Knee patches and dirt ground into sometimes-calloused knuckles were badges of honor.
A few girls had their troves as well, but they were rarely interested in playing, instead displaying their collection for aesthetic value.
Most
arrived well versed in the game but a few were unfamiliar. There were
loose interpretations of some rules, and the more arbitrary were often
settled in a scuffle. Others were adhered to strictly, and ignorance
didn’t excuse enforcement. Those undiscouraged found the competition
spirited and initiation unavoidably quick. Some rules like “no hunching,”
were never bent. That meant your first shot couldn’t be from inside the
circle. If you didn’t yell “dubs” when scattering more than one marble out
of the ring, you couldn’t keep them all. “Knuckle down bony tight” was an
admonishment often shouted. No one quite understood the “bony tight” part
of the rebuke, but that didn’t prevent liberal use in every game. And
then, of course there was “snatty grabs.” Everyone quickly learned the
meaning of that decree. It was the point at which the game became a
contact sport. When the school bell rang before the game ended, someone
yelled the command making it legal to dive into the pot, elbows flying and
heads butting, to grab as many of the remaining marbles as you could get
away with.
Some marbles were especially attractive, and collections were envied as much for quality as quantity. There were glass marbles, those made of clay, china, porcelain, and rare ones carved from stone. “Cats eyes,” were desirable as were the rich-looking colors and designs that were called “beauties.” The larger sizes were referred to as “boulders,” and the small ones “peawees.” The most valuable were the heavier than normal marbles deemed “shooters.” Their weight imparted a force that could thrust others from the ring with authority. Only the most inept left their shooters inside the ring as fair game for the next player.
Although initiated in the 1920’s, national marbles tournaments didn’t flourish until immediately after WWII. The Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsored the tournaments, culminating with the national championship in Atlantic City.
Like most things appealing to youth, the wartime generation eventually put away early pursuits in support of more adult adventures. But, it was assumed the marbles game would retain its momentum through endless cycles. However, in the 1970’s interest on a large scale ceased—corresponding with the ushering in of the age of electronics. Sixty years ago no one suspected technology would nearly obliterate a respected pastime of centuries.
In retrospect one thing is clear. Marbles were the most economical and indestructible toys ever invented. The game was character building. It taught fair play and competitiveness at a formative age. It’s questionable whether any game of the electronic age can claim the same. One might ask too, if any of the techno-wizards have a clue as to where expressions such as “taking all the marbles,” or “losing your marbles” came from. It’s doubtful.
By Robert Carpenter
Robert Carpenter was born and raised in the New Philadelphia, Ohio
area. He's a freelance writer presently living in Florida.
Printout: Marble Museum
ELM FARM’S ONCE UPON A SUNDAE
AND
AMERICA’S DAIRY AND ICE CREAM MUSEUM
Open: Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m. Closed Easter and Thanksgiving. The ice cream parlor is closed December to March, but the museum, during that time, is open and housed in the original dairy building.
Location: (Map It) 1050 W. Lafayette Road (500 ft. from corner of Rt. 42 and Lake Road) ● Medina, OH 44256
Phone: 330-722-3839
This is a place to enjoy America’s favorite treat at its finest. Savor an ice cream delicacy while learning about Ohio history. Elm Farm began in 1927 when Henry Abell purchased 100 acres of land in Medina. It was run as a dairy until 1950 when the family began its ice cream production... The Abell family still personally welcome visitors to the museum and the Victorian ice cream parlor, which features Elm Farm super premium ice cream made on the premises. The museum shows the evolution of ice cream from its beginning in Pre-Roman times to the present. On display is one of the largest collections of ice cream memorabilia, such as the one-of-a-kind prototype scooper and a complete 1905 soda fountain. Dairy trucks and other items from the Elm Farm and dairy are displayed and there’s an interactive area for children as well.
Printout: America's Dairy & Ice Cream Museum
Admission: Exhibits Only or OMNIMAX Only Ticket - Adults $9.95, Youth (ages 3-17) $7.95 and Seniors (65 +) $8.95. Combination Ticket (includes Exhibits and OMNIMAX admission): Adults $14.95, Youth (ages 3-17) $12.95 and Seniors (65 +) $13.95
Open: Daily from 10:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 601 Erieside Ave. ● Cleveland, OH 44114 (Located between Browns Stadium and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)
Phone: (216) 694-2000
The
Printout: Great Lakes Science Center
If you just like to watch time go by, this museum is just the place to do it. It celebrates the art and science of time keeping devices, also known as horology. It has interesting exhibits displayed from rope clocks and sundials to modern-day watches. In addition, there are plenty of pocket-watches, ship chronometers and anything else with a face and hands.
Printout: American Watchmakers Institute History of Time Museum
For not advertising or promoting this Ohio gem, former owner/curator and barber Edwin Jeffers had had visitors from more than 40 states and five countries. The museum is one-of-a-kind. It features 58 barber poles, barber chairs from six eras, re-created barber shops from eras past, hundreds of mugs and razors that are hundreds of years old and blood-letting and tooth-pulling tools that were used long ago when barbers sometimes moonlighted as surgeons and dentists. It’s no wonder Mr. Jeffers had appeared on many cable television shows and a Japanese station.
Printout: Complete article and video about Barbers Hall of Fame Museum
Open – Fall/Winter Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; Summer hours, Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, 11:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 7 West Monroe St. (St. Rt. 274) ● New Bremen, OH 45869
Phone: 419-629-9249
The bicycle has to be the world’s most popular vehicle. The Ohio Bicycle Museum of America offers viewers an opportunity to see how it all began. At the museum bicycles are displayed according to eras. See the 1892 Victor, which must have seemed like the Rolls Royce in its time. It sold for $130 – during a time when salaries were generally $18 per month. The museum also offers glimpses of the 1880s high-wheeler designs and the 1886 model of the bicycle-built-for-two. More modern bicycles, including race models, are displayed. But, let’s not forget the balloon tires of the 1940s and 1950s. New Bremen offers a notable museum in a historic setting.
Printout: Bicycle Museum of America
The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is based on the understanding that science is the process through which we come to understand our world, and that play is the way children do science. We are a place where play and learning come together so that visitors of all ages can explore the wonders of the world. The Museum includes a host of places for adventure - - That Kid's Playce, the Hall of the Universe, the Caryl D. Philips Space Theater, Oscar Boonshoft Science Central, EcoTrek, the Mead TreeHouse, Bieser Discovery Center, Charles E. Exley, Jr. Wild Ohio Zoo, and two galleries for temporary exhibits - where reality and imagination mix. Adventures are enhanced through real specimens and artifacts from the museum's collection of 1.4 million items.
Printout: Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
Seeing the history of Coca-Cola and all kinds of Coke memorabilia through the ages is like traveling through American history and “pop” culture. The collection of Coca-Cola artifacts amassed by Butch Badgett is a site to see. Butch’s father handcrafted many of the unique Cola items found in the Cola shop from wood. The museum features many collectibles such as dolls, carry-on airline coolers, billfolds, aluminum bottle carrier, signs, tins, dinner ware, machines, clothing and just about anything else you could imagine from the 1920s to present.
Printout: Butch's Coca Cola Museum
Central Ohio Fire Museum & Learning Center is an authentically restored 1908 engine house featuring hand-drawn, horse-drawn and early motorized fire apparatus as well as other displays and fire safety education. Educational and Interesting guided tours for visitors of all ages. Our primary focus is school-age children, with a complete fire station play area. Free parking and handicapped accessible.
Printout: Central Ohio Fire Museum
The Roseville, Crooksville, Zanesville and the surrounding region of Ohio is known for having extraordinary pottery. At the museum, visitors can see exhibits of some classic “old” pottery and some very good “new” pottery. The museum focuses on the rich pottery history with collections in five on-site buildings grouped around courtyard gardens and an outdoor kiln and include antique pottery & an amazing brick collection. Visitors can also get flyers, directions, and maps to any of the areas pottery establishments. The museum holds many special events and festivals throughout the year the most famous one being the Crooksville-Roseville pottery festival. Other features include being the Home of the Appalachian Pottery Guild, Hocking College Decorative Art classes. In addition, motor coaches, schools & groups are welcome and campgrounds are available. Local products are available in Gift Shop.
Printout: National Ceramic Museum & Heritage Center
Southbend Chocolate Company's
CHOCOLATE CAFÉ AND MUSEUM
Open: Daily in May and September
Location: (Map It) 820 Catawba Street ● Put-in-Bay, OH 43456
Phone: 419-285-2268
The café serves coffee, chocolate, and desserts. The museum is based on the history behind making chocolate and can be visited while enjoying a collection of antique chocolate collectibles. In addition to various exhibits the museum also offers a short video to help educate about the history of chocolate making.
Printout: Chocolate Cafe and Museum
CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER AT
UNION TERMINAL
Children's Museum / Natural History & Science Museum / History Museum
(Admission: $12.00 for adults and $8.00 for children 3-12 with
combo discounts to add the OMNIMAX or Special Exhibits)
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is a nationally recognized institution dedicated to sparking community dialogue, insight and inspiration. As one of the top cultural attractions in the Midwest, Cincinnati Museum Center has served as an educational, research and entertainment resource to millions of visitors from around the world. In October of 2009 The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) presented the National Medal for Museum and Library Service to Cincinnati Museum Center as one of 10 recipients of the award. The honor is the nation’s highest honor for museums and libraries that make “extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental and social contributions.”
Organizations within Museum Center include the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children's Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater, and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. These organizations combine to serve more than 1.4 million visitors annually, reaching out to nearly 400,000 young people through hands-on exhibits and programs.
Originally built in 1933 as a train station, Union Terminal stands as one of the last remaining grand-scale Art Deco style railroad terminals. The building is a National Historic Landmark and was renovated and reopened as Cincinnati Museum Center in 1990. For information, call 1-800-733-2077 or visit www.cincymuseum.org.
The Duke Energy Children’s Museum opened in 1998 and has since consistently ranked in the top 10 children’s museums in the world. The museum’s exhibits allow kids to climb, crawl, explore and learn about themselves and the world around them. Discover hands-on fun for kids of all ages in our eight educational and dramatic exhibit areas, including two especially designed for preschool age children and younger—Little Sprouts Farm and Kids’ Town. Each year, the Children’s Museum presents over 1,800 hours of programming for children covering topics such as arts, culture, reading, science and more. At the Duke Energy Children’s Museum, fun and learning go hand in hand.
The Museum of Natural History & Science allows visitors to walk through a glacier and step back 19,000 years into the Ice Age of the Ohio Valley. Or explore a re-created Kentucky limestone cave, complete with underground waterfalls, streams, fossils and a live bat colony. Interactive exhibits of the human body, a natural trading post, and migration and extinction complement live demonstrations from gardening to collecting and cleaning fossils to teach how all facets of the natural world interact. And we reached out 20,000th Trader in Nature's Trading Post! Check it out!
The
Cincinnati History Museum The Cincinnati History Museum opened in 1990 and is one of the largest and most significant urban history museums in the country. The Cincinnati History Museum displays materials and related aspects of the history of Cincinnati and the surrounding region. Permanent exhibits include a re-creation of the Cincinnati Public Landing of the late 1850s, where you can step aboard a 94-foot side-wheel steamboat. The museum also has a large home-front exhibit on World War II and an actual 1940s streetcar. Visitors can also see a model of the city of Cincinnati from 1900s to 1940s with working trains and inclines, as well as interactive computer stations.Printout: Article and information about Cincinnati Museum Center
GREATER CINCINNATI POLICE MUSEUM
(Admission & parking are Free)
Open for tours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10a.m. to 4p.m.
Location: (Map It) 959 W. Eighth Street ● Cincinnati, OH 45203
Phone: 513-300-3664
The Police Museum of the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society features uniforms, equipment, badges, photographs, artifacts, and other items telling the story of police agencies throughout the Greater Cincinnati area. Items such as a percussion cap rifle used to quell the Court House riots of 1884 and a modern Taser are on display. Special displays rotate such as FBI and Policewomen exhibits.
Printout: Greater Cincinnati Police Museum
This police museum has a wide variety of arresting displays and artifacts, including death masks, motorcycles, the first call box and case files and police blotters dating back to 1866. Many other photographs and scrapbooks depict chilling notorious crime stories in the area’s history. In addition, the museum highlights Eliot Ness, weapons, mounted units and a Hall-of-Fame. Another point of interest is the first closed-circuit camera used in banks, which is displayed at the museum.
Printout: Cleveland Police Historical Museum
CLARK GABLE BIRTH HOME, MUSEUM AND STORE
(Admission: $5.50 adults and $3 kids)
Open: June – September from Tuesday - Saturday 10am – 4pm and Sunday 1:30 – 4pm. October – April from Tuesday – Friday from 10am – 4pm. May from Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm.
Location: (Map It) 138 Charleston St in Cadiz, OH 43907
Phone: 740-942-GWTW
Excerpt from a past edition of OhioTraveler by Robert Carpenter
The number of people from Ohio who have made outstanding contributions to society is enormous. The legacies of the famous—and a few infamous—would fill volumes. A smattering of biographies includes the world’s greatest inventor, numerous titans of industry, the first man on the moon, eight presidents and one king.
The gift of the king didn’t produce the same upshot to the nation’s progress as, for example, the benefaction of Kettering or Edison, but it’s also fair to say that during his reign he influenced the social order of our country more than any man elected to the nation’s highest office.
His humble origins certainly didn’t portend an empire. Born into the working class, he grew up answering to names such as Willie, Clarkie, and Gabe. He dropped out of school to toil in the oil fields, a tire factory and at farm work. But all of that was forgotten by the time he reached the pinnacle. And no one disputed the anointment of Clark Gable as “King.”
Recalled by many as an overnight success, his career took years of perseverance. As a young man he worked his way west from Ohio with a second-rate theater company—ending in Oregon as a department store tie salesman. It was there he met his first wife and manager—seventeen years his senior—who saw the uncultured but strikingly masculine potential. She had his bad teeth fixed, fortified his chronically undernourished body and coached him in lowering his naturally high-pitched voice before heading for Hollywood in 1923.
Still, the coronation was a long way off. His first venture in Tinseltown met with little success and he retreated to his love of the stage. But in the early Thirties with talkies revolutionizing the arts, Gable was back, transforming the role of the leading man with panache never before seen.
The crowning followed the 1936 movie, It Happened One Night. Ed Sullivan polled readers of his newspaper column resulting in twenty million fans declaring Clark Gable the “King of Hollywood.” Such was his influence, that in correlation to a scene where Gable was bare-chested after doffing his shirt, men’s undershirt sales nationwide went into the dumpster. He went on to make his best-known film in 1939—Gone With The Wind—one of sixty-seven. Until his death in 1960, he never once abdicated the throne.
Regardless, and atypical of stardom, Gable never forgot from whence he came. He made constant references to his unpretentious Ohio origin, and once told a reporter “Look, I eat, sleep and go to the bathroom just like everybody else.”
It was strange then, that his birthplace of Cadiz, Ohio displayed no acknowledgement of Hollywood’s most famous celebrity. For years the only things existing on the location where he was born in an upstairs apartment, was a garage and flower garden—the house having long since been demolished—hardly proper recognition of royalty.
The inattention ended in 1984 when a group of Cadiz citizens formed the Clark Gable Foundation, raising money to place a monument on the spot where the house once stood. With numerous tourists stopping daily just to stand on what they deemed hallowed ground to take pictures, it was realized that the sovereignty of the foundation’s namesake deserved much more.
Their needs were answered in 1991 when they received a sizeable endowment from longtime Cadiz resident Isabelle Clifford. In 1999 after much research and preparation, the foundation opened the Clark Gable Museum—an authentic reconstruction of the house where William Clark Gable came into the world on February 1, 1901.
Perhaps the lack of homage in Cadiz was due to Gable’s residence only as an infant. His mother died seven months after his birth and his father moved to Hopedale, a small town a few miles to the east. Almost anyone in Hopedale can point out the house where Gable spent his formative years, but it’s a private residence. Other than the stories passed down, the house is the only Gable reminiscence in Hopedale.
Given the past oblivion, the Clark Gable Foundation has made a special effort to honor his beginning in their town. The two-story replica of his birthplace, and a bed and breakfast next door, are decorated in the period of his boyhood. The museum is filled with memorabilia from his early days of southeastern Ohio simplicity through the years of Hollywood glitz. You can see the sled he rode down the formidable Hopedale hills and the 1954 Cadillac that symbolized success. There is the receipt for $10 charged by the doctor for his delivery that blustery February morning, to collectibles from the height of his career. Time Warner/Turner Entertainment, owner of rights to most of Gable’s movies agreed to provide stills and films. Both of the rooms in the small bed and breakfast are equipped with VCRs and tapes, as well as books in reference to Clark Gable. There are also keepsakes from his best-known wife, (there were five) actress Carole Lombard, and as proof of early interest in the performing arts there is a program listing him, at age nine, as the performer of a duet and solo at the Patton Opera House in Hopedale.
In the past ten years visitors to the museum have come from nearly every state and several foreign countries. Gable’s only son, John Clark Gable (born after his death) and stepdaughter Joan Spreckels, as well as many cast members from his movies, have toured the museum.
Number 138 Charleston Street isn’t and wasn’t befitting of majesty, but it’s a sincere portrayal—and you’re hastened to remember one of Gable’s most unassuming statements: “This ‘King’ stuff is pure bullshit,” he said. “I’m just a lucky slob from Ohio who happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Sure, every success is attended by a bit of luck, but it takes more than coincidence to be a king. You be the judge.
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Friday. For information on the museum and the B&B, call 740-942-4989.
Printout: Clark Gable Home, Museum, Store
Okay polka lovers, if you haven’t made your pilgrimage to this hall-of-fame, plan on it. Memorabilia from America’s Polka King – Frank Yankovic to turn-of-the-Century artifacts fill the collection at this museum. In addition to Yankovic’s stage outfits and accordion, visitors will see Johnny Vadnal’s accordion and other personal items, video library and dedications to the greatest all-time hits, lifetime achievement honors and pieces from Johnny Pecon and Eddie Habat.
Printout: National Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame Museum
Regular COSI exhibits Admission: $14.75, adults, age 13-59; $13.75, seniors, age 60+; $9.75, youth, age 2 to 12. Free admission for: Children, 23 months and younger.
Ongoing Discounts; Family Friday Night: $9.00 for all ages 2 and up (last Friday of the month, 5:00pm to 9:00pm); Groups of 12 or More: Please call 614.228.2674 for discounted rates and reservations; Advance reservations are required for group rate discounts; Certified Teachers: $8.50 Admission, a savings of over 40%; Teachers also qualify for discounted memberships; Military Discount: Active, Reserve, and Retired Military - $2.00 off per person in the immediate family with proper ID; Military also qualify for discounted memberships; ASTC Members: Free exhibits admission with ASTC membership card, maximum of 2 adults and 4 children admitted free to COSI for reciprocal ASTC members. Science centers within 90 miles of one another are excluded from the program unless lifted by mutual agreement. Please call ahead to verify that you are eligible for the reciprocal admission benefit; OESRA: $2.00 off exhibit admission with COESRA card, Applies to COESRA card holder and dependent children only; Extreme Screen movie prices: $7.50.
Regular Operating Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Usually closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but open Monday for Columbus Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Spring Break, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Closed for Easter, July 1, 2012 Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Day and Christmas.
Location: (Map It) 333 W. Broad St. ● Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: 614-228-COSI
Web: cosi.org
COSI Columbus is one of the most respected science centers in the nation * serving more than 20 million visitors since 1964. Over these five decades, COSI has continued to create programs and experiences that make science fun, while empowering and engaging visitors through hands-on discovery. The name “COSI” stands for Center of Science and Industry.
At COSI, you’ll be dazzled, amazed and delighted as your family explores one incredible wonder after another. COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits throughout our discovery-based and themed exhibition areas * Ocean, Space Gadgets, Life, little kidspace®, Progress and our outdoor Big Science Park and WOSU@COSI. The exhibition areas provide experiences for all age levels to creatively combine science facts and learning through play. Beyond the exhibits, you’ll find COSI’s hair-raising Electrostatic Generator Show, the only High-Wire Unicycle in the country, a seven-story digital screen theater, a Science 2Go! retail store and the Atomicafe’ restaurant. COSI also hosts world-class traveling exhibitions from other museums throughout the year.
2012 will feature
several new experiences at COSI including Race: Are We So Different?
January 28-May 6, 2012. Looking through the lens of history, science and
personal experience, the RACE Exhibit at COSI explores differences among people
and explains the realities of race. Told through Interactive exhibit components,
historical artifacts, iconic objects, compelling photographs, and multimedia
presentations RACE offer visitors a revealing look at this important subject.
See this groundbreaking temporary exhibit at COSI January 28-May 6, 2012 and add
your voice to the conversation that will bring our community closer together.
COSI’s groundbreaking, award-winning education programs have touched more than six million teachers and students. These innovative outreach education programs are tailored to support national and statewide science curriculum and standards. Unique programs such as Electronic Education and COSI On Wheels bring science learning to students throughout Ohio and across the country. Camp-In®, an overnight experience for Girl Scouts that began 40 years ago, is now duplicated nationwide. To learn more visit www.cosi.org.
Printout: COSI
This museum represents Croatian-American cultural history and has exhibits promoting appreciation for Croatia descendents. Many traveling collections are also featured at this museum throughout the year.
Printout: Croatian Heritage Museum
See the personal collection of Elizabeth Degenhart, owner of the world famous Crystal Art Glass Company. It features Degenhart glass, cruets and paperweights in brightly lit exhibits creating beautiful sparkle. In addition, there are many pieces of Midwestern pattern glass on display and a video presentation about glass making.
Printout: Degenhart Paperweight and Glass Museum
John
D. Harris
DENTAL MUSEUM
(Admission: Adults $7; Seniors $5; Students with ID $5; Children (ages 3-12 $3; Age 2 & under FREE)
Open Wednesday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday 1 - 4 p.m. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
Location: 209 Main Street ∙ Bainbridge, OH 45612
Phone: 740-634-2228
The John D. Harris Dental Museum in Bainbridge is home to 11 very unique exhibits that showcase fascinating, fun, and interactive showcases and artifacts all about dentistry. The National Museum of Dentistry exhibits range from the George Washington Gallery, which uncovers the truth behind the president’s teeth, to MouthPower- an interactive role play and dress-up area of a dentist’s office that teaches kids proper dental care. The museum’s aim is to help all of their visitors celebrate the heritage and future of dentistry.
Printout: Dental Museum
This museum of medical history, on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, will make visitors marvel at the medical advancements made or have a coronary to think how archaic today’s medical devices may look to future generations. The collection has more than 10,000 images and 60,000 rare books and museum objects. Artifacts displayed represent medical history from 1800 through 1965 and include items such as a 1952 infant respirator, 1928 X-ray machine, 1861 amputating set, 1882 antiseptic sprayer, 1890 surgical chair and much more. The museum’s displays also include an 1870’s and 1930’s doctors’ offices, 1880’s pharmacy and hospital medicines from 1865 – 1920. The museum is now home to the Percy Skuy Collection on the History of Contraception, the world's most comprehensive collection of hisoric contraceptive devices.
Printout: Dittrick Museum of Medical History
Fostoria, Ohio had 13 glass factories from 1887 – 1920. The museum today has more than 1,000 glass artifacts from that period by those companies. The colorful displays feature clear, three-layered and prism colored glass and more. Fostoria provided 60 percent of all manufactured kerosene lamps in America once upon a time. These included large, small and multi-colored models. Another attraction is the tableware displayed at the museum.
Printout: Glass Heritage Museum
A vibrant part of Walsh University, the story of the Hoover legacy unfolds in the Victorian Italianate-style farmhouse at the Hoover Historical Center. This small museum preserves the history of the invention and development of a household product that made a huge impact on housecleaning.
The "Sweeping Changes" chronological display provides a unique walk down memory lane in the boyhood home of William “Boss” Hoover, founder of The Hoover Company. Amid Victorian elegance, visitors view vintage vacuums, advertisements, ladies’ fashions, home décor, and war memorabilia. Interactives are available throughout the tour. Herb gardens enhance the grounds.
The Center offers a variety of programs that have grown to become favored traditions in the community:
· An 1860s base ball team, the Hoover Sweepers, play from May - September, with home matches played at Hoover Park. Visit www.hooversweepers.com for current schedule.
· Outdoor storytelling each summer by some of the area’s best storytellers.
· An annual Christmas Open House includes Santa & Mrs. Claus, live holiday music and a Christmas tree in every display room. Horse-drawn wagon rides and Christmas caroling through Hoover Park are part of the agenda.
The Hoover name is known around the globe. The unique history of the Hoover family and business are preserved and shared on the Hoover family homestead.
Printout: Hoover Historical Center
Open: Monday - Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: (Map It) 127 South 10th St. in Cambridge, Ohio 43725
Phone: 740-432-3364
This is the home town of William Boyd a.k.a. Hopalong Cassidy. He went to school here until he was about 14 years old before moving out west. Thousands of Hoppy items are for sale as are several other cowboy items from Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Lash LaRue and many others.
IMAGINATION STATION
(Admission is $9 for ages 13-64, $7
for ages 3-12 and $8 for ages 65 or older)
Open: Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday from 12-5pm. (Closed Mondays, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Years Day)
Location: (Map It) One Discovery Way in Toledo, Ohio 43604
Phone: 419-244-2674
In an age of technology and everyone trying to get 15 minutes of fame on one screen or another, the LIVE Report! at Imagination Station is like fly paper to flies. This mock television studio makes sportscasters of anyone willing to step in front of the green screen, face the camera and read the teleprompter. Then, on a delay screen, the budding television stars can view their newscast as if they were on location at an area sporting event. Imagine that!
Sticking to the screen theme, enter Simulator Theater. But hold onto your seat. It moves! In fact, it hovers more than 20 feet off the ground facing its riders toward a big screen that sucks everyone into a ride of their life. To put it in perspective, you must be 42 inches or taller for this thrill ride.
Now that the adrenaline is rushing, it’s time to heat up a screen. The Infrared Camera sees the thermal spectrum in colors. Roy G. Biv has never been so cool. Know your science, get the joke. Moving on.
Time to defy gravity.
You too can be a human Yo-Yo so hop up to BOYO. Just add energy and before you know it, you’re bouncing 13 feet into the air. After your body chemistry is grounded again, you just might absorb a science lesson. Imagine that!
Or perhaps while you’re head is still floating, you may want to trust your life to a two-inch cable and take a spin on the High Wire Cycle. No worries, it’s safe. Strap in and pedal away. You’re only 20 feet high with no mat, no net, just hard floor below.
In order to experience these gravity activities and science lessons first-hand, you must be 54 inches or taller.
But there is mind-bending fun for everyone just around the corner.
Sometimes you have to see it to believe it, but in Mind Zone that may be a stretch even for the best of imaginations. Here you'll discover how we process, interpret and create illusions and perceptions. Are you getting curiouser and curiouser? Then step into a wonderland of learning fun!
Inside the Distorted Gravity room, doors, windows, etc. seem perfectly normal at a glance. But the floor is tilted 25 degrees. And that’s enough to throw off anyone’s perspective!
While your mind is trying to recover from that experience, enter another room where in just a few steps, you can grow big or shrink small depending on which end of the room you stand. Line up with friends and at one end, a person needs to bend over so their head doesn’t hit the ceiling and at the other end a person can wave their hands freely overhead. All those who pass by can see the irregularity on a TV monitor or through peep holes.
Okay, let’s really shake things up and step inside a hurricane. The Hurricane chamber is a simulator that puts you in the middle of windy mayhem. Anyone can step inside and face category 1 winds of up to 95 MPH. But here’s a little-known tip, you may have a chance to withstand the horrific cat-5 hurricane winds of 156 MPH. Just ask!
With that, we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg.
Imagination Station teaches how water, nature’s most powerful resource, works. It's wet. It's fun. It's for everyone. A Science Studio teaches biology, chemistry and physics in ways that won’t be forgotten. The Energy Factory explores our world’s natural resources using stimulating hands-on exhibits. For those who really want to get their hands on science, they can Engineer It! This open-ended discovery process allows you to think it, build it, test it …and do it again. There’s even a little KIDSPACE, complete with story time. It’s a land of make-believe while learning science fundamentals about forces, motion, math and science. Imagine that!
Printout: Imagination Station
This agricultural museum captures Ohio farm-life during the 1800’s and early 1900’s. It has more than 3,000 pieces exhibited, including household items, farming tools and machinery, a one-room schoolhouse and a log house.
Printout: Knox County Agricultural Museum
BELLAIRE TOY & PLASTIC BRICK MUSEUM
Bellaire, Ohio is home to The Toy Museum being built one Lego at a time now known as the Unofficial Lego Museum of Bellaire Ohio. Housed in the old Gravel Hill School turned museum, a man by the name of Dan is on a mission.
Dan Brown, founder of the Bellaire Historical Society and Toy Museum, boasts to have the world’s largest private Lego collection. Although that may be true, there is one distinction officially proclaimed by the Guinness Book of World Records that cannot be denied – The Bellaire Historic Society and Toy Museum is home of the World’s Largest Lego brick image. The museum now holds many other records such as the largest castle, longest castle wall and there will be more to come in the future such as the one being tried for now by building and breaking the tallest tower made of Lego.
Although originally conceived as a toy museum, the Lego exhibit grew and grew. And GREW! Now instead of a Lego room in the museum, each room has a theme. If you enjoy the sea, there’s an “aqua” room complete with ships built from Lego’s. And there are other rooms like Lion's Den, a zoo, an old-west town,Star Wars (Has a real life size Darth Vader!), Mars Mission Room you will glow in,and don't forget Spider man that is life sized.. The last time someone checked it was estimated the total museum brick count exceeded 4 million!
Although Dan Brown has had
a hand in creating much of the museum’s displays, he has also been instrumental
in acquiring one-of-a-kind pieces. Some of the one-of-a-kind exhibits feature
Lego creations that were done for the NBA and Kellogg’s. Throughout the museum
are eye-popping masterpieces demonstrating the engineering world of Lego. Some
of the astonishing pieces even seem come to life with the use of animatronics
such as a working band.
There are fascinating pieces from all over the world, and from artist such as
Nathan Sawaya, Brian Korte (Brickworkz) and Dan Brown. There are adult Lego fan
made displays as well as displays made by children from all over the world that
came for a visit. Check out the map on the second floor that shows where all the
visitors came from.
The museum will schedule private tours, as well as motor coaches, schools, churches, scouts and more. Walk through tours are welcomed. Birthday parties, weddings, retirement, red hat parties are all welcomed as well. The Museum does school programs, lectures, and builds. The Museum will do a build, or fun time for a festival, convention, or other.
Printout: Article about Bellaire Toy & Plastic Brick Museum
MALTZ
Admission: Adults $7, Seniors (60+) $5,
Students (12+, including college students) $5, Children under the age of 12 are
admitted free of charge.
Admission prices may vary during special exhibitions. Please contact for
prices.
Open: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm and Wednesday: 11:00am-9:00pm and Saturday: 12:00-5:00pm
Location: (Map It) 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood, OH 44122
Phone: 216-593-0575
Maltz
Museum of Jewish Heritage: An American Story
Opened in 2005, The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage joins an elite group of world-class institutions as a living testament to the courage, conviction and achievements of Cleveland’s Jewish community. The stories of individuals and families – past and present – come to life through state-of-the-art exhibitions, interactives and films, oral histories, photographs and artifacts. The Museum includes The Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery, an internationally-recognized collection of Judaica, and a special exhibition gallery featuring important exhibitions of national and international acclaim.
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is a partnership of The Maltz Family Foundation, the Jewish Community Federation's Centennial Initiative and The Temple-Tifereth Israel with research support from the Western Reserve Historical Society.
For information about hours, admission, programs, the Museum Store and special exhibitions, visit www.MaltzJewishMuseum.org or phone 216-593-0575.
Printout: Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
The museum itself is a reproduction of a turn-of-the-century firehouse where firefighters hitched their fire-wagons to horses. The museum opens the window to a fascinating history of firefighting and the people, tools and lifestyle of these brave public servants. Visitors will feel as if they took a step back into time.
Printout: Mansfield Fire Museum
Take a Ride Into History! Carousel ride is included with admission. Featuring: guided tour and woodcarvers demonstrations. In addition, there are special events throughout the year and birthday party packages (call for details). ADA compliant.
Printout: Merry-Go-Round Museum
Open: Tuesday – Saturday from 9 am – 5 pm and Sunday from 1-5 pm.
Location: (Map It) 5075 S. Hamilton Road in Groveport, OH 43125
Phone: 614-836-1500
The museum’s goal is to preserve, protect and display items from an area of history which is often overlooked and sometimes misunderstood. Military history was and still is the backbone of American and world historical accounts. Military conflicts have shaped the makeup of America and the world. It has established governments, freed people, and overthrown dictators. Motts Military Museum is unique because it encompasses all periods of military history with all countries in which the United States has been involved. The museum is committed to telling the stories of the brave military men and women that have served and are still serving this great country allowing us to live in freedom.
Printout: Motts Military Museum
Ready to go postal? Bad joke, I know. Anyway, visit the museum of postal history. Here, visitors can see a 1906 Harrington Rural Mail Coach and see additional displays covering some 7,000 square feet. It includes memorabilia and media presentations regarding the progress made in American mail history. Stamps, letters and postmarks are just some of what’s here. Other highlights include a research library and films available in a mini-theater.
Printout: Museum of Postal History
THE NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
MUSEUM
(Admission: $5 per person
- large group discounts available)
Open to the public year round by appointment only; call ahead 24 hours to set up visit.
Location: (Map It) 16623 Liberty Hi Road in Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone: 419-352-5616 or visit http://www.hcea.net
If you like to visit offbeat places, here’s one you won’t want to miss, especially if you have children who like playing in the dirt. Turn north off US Route 6 onto Liberty Hi Road west of Bowling Green and drive 1-1/4 miles. Now, look to your left. There, emerging from the trees like a giraffe foraging for food, you’ll see the tips of two crane booms. A little bit further on, a sign at the head of a long gravel driveway signals that you’ve arrived at the National Construction Equipment Museum, one of NW Ohio’s most unusual attractions.
The NCEM, established by the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) to preserve the history and equipment of the construction, surface mining and dredging industries, is guaranteed to thrill both junior and adult construction equipment enthusiasts. Be sure to bring your camera.
The first thing you’ll probably notice is the equipment that dots the museum’s thirty acres of land. Don’t worry, though, they haven’t been abandoned. Each piece is waiting patiently for its day (or more likely, months) of attention in the museum workshop, where volunteer enthusiasts from all walks of life spend every Wednesday night and one Sunday a month cleaning, dismantling, fabricating, painting, and restoring donated equipment to its former glory.
Once a machine is finished, it is then moved into the museum, where hulking metal monsters arranged in displays will take you back to childhood days spent in the sandbox. The displays include signs packed with historical information, but you won’t need them if you get the pleasure of a tour conducted by museum archivist Tom Berry. After nine years with the museum, Berry seems to have almost everything at the tip of his tongue, and as he bubbles over with story after story, you can tell he loves what he does.
Although enthusiasts come from all over the world to ooh and ahh over the museum’s contents, the museum isn’t just for sightseers. It has been the venue for several of the HCEA's international conventions. The museum archives also hold an extensive collection of historical documents, photos, slides, movies, and videos representing over 2,600 companies, including dozens from Ohio (among them Bucyrus-Erie, Euclid, and Marion Power Shovels), providing research material for researchers around the world..
Several things not to miss: the cool wall of advertising signs, both restored and original condition; the glass cabinet full of construction equipment toys and memorabilia in the Office and Archives Building's lobby; and the guest book, with signatures from visitors as far away as Australia and the UK. If you time it just right, you might even be able to take some pictures of your junior construction equipment enthusiast seated at the controls of one of the machines. However, do be sure to ask for permission first before allowing your children to climb on anything, to avoid injury to both your children and expensive equipment.
Finally, when you get back outdoors, check out the patio, which is made up of bricks and pavers recognizing donors from all over. (My favorite was the one from New Zealand…) There’s also a pond, so be sure to keep an eye on the little ones.
Excerpt from OhioTraveler eMagazine by Betty Winslow
Printout: National Construction Equipment Museum
Owned and operated by the Heisey Collectors of America, Inc. (HCA) since 1974, the National Heisey Glass Museum displays more than 5,000 of glassware and plant memorabilia from the A.H. Heisey & Co. The plant produced high quality, hand-wrought glass in Newark, Ohio from 1896 to 1957. Highly skilled craftsmen produced, cut, and etched glass in many styles and colors. The beauty and superior quality of this glass makes it a highly collectable item.
The Museum is housed in the historic Samuel D. King residence, an 1831 Greek Revival home that was moved to the site in 1973, and an additional wing added in 1993. The Museum Gift Shop offers original Heisey pieces as well as re-issue pieces made from the original Heisey molds.
Printout: National Heisey Glass Museum
NATIONAL IMPERIAL GLASS MUSEUM
(Admission: $3.00)
Open April through October, Thursday-Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 3200 Belmont Street ● Bellaire, OH 43906
Phone: 740-671-3971
On display at the Museum are many fine examples of Imperial glassware. Also, a photo gallery, mould making display and gift shop make a visit a truly educational experience.
Printout: National Imperial Glass Museum
NATIONAL
AFRO-AMERICAN MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER
(Admission: $4)
Open: Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 1350 Brush Row Road in Wilberforce, Ohio 45384
Phone: 937-376-4944 or toll free 1-800-752-2603
The museum provides African-American history and culture from African origins to the present. It features a permanent exhibit, From Victory To Freedom:Afro-American Life in the Fifties. A small theater inside shows the award-winning Music As a Metaphor, tracing the origins of African-American music from its roots in Africa to the 1950 and includes Gospel, Jazz, BeBop, Classical and protest music. Call the museum for special events and traveling exhibits.
Printout: National Afro-American Museum
NATIONAL FIRST LADIES
LIBRARY SITE
(Admission: Adults $7.00, Seniors $6.00, Children under 18 $5.00)
Open 9:30 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. and 12:30, 1:30 & 2:30 p.m., plus Sundays in June, July & August at 12:30, 1:30 & 2:30 p.m. Tuesday thru Saturday, CLOSED Monday
Location: 331 S. Market Ave. ∙ Canton, Ohio 44702
Phone: 330-452-0876
The National First Ladies Library in Canton is the only museum of its kind and commemorates and showcases the history of First Ladies in America. As a United States National Historic Site, the site features two buildings: the Ida Saxton McKinley Historic Home and the Education & Research Center, which are a block apart. The Ida Saxton McKinley Historic Home was the former home of the wife of U.S. President William McKinley, Ida McKinley, who was also the founder of the National First Ladies Library. The home offers tours of the building that feature history on President McKinley and his wife, pictures other former First Ladies and Victorian Era decorations. In the Education & Research Center, the first floor features a theater for movies and presentation, various exhibits, and a small library room with a collection of books that replicates First Lady Abigail Fillmore's collection for the first White House Library. And the second floor features the main National First Ladies Library that aims at providing unique and historical information to the public.
Printout: National First Ladies Library & Museum
CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BUT PLANS TO RE-OPEN BY 2010 WITH A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT CONCEPT
Location: Akron, OH 44308
Phone: 330-849-6877
Where would this world be without such commonplace technology as the telephone, Xerox machines and other inventions making human, social or economic progress possible? Have you wondered who invented sound systems, the TV you watch or the calculator? Your questions can all be answered at The National Inventors Hall of Fame, which honors those men and women inventors of the past and present while encouraging future inventors. The museum brings inventions to life offering “hands-on” adventures. The hall of fame is listed as one of Akron’s 10 best museums.
Printout: National Inventors Hall of Fame
Open: April through October except Easter and July 4; Wednesday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 136 South 9th Street ● Cambridge, OH 43725
Phone: 740-432-4245
The National Museum of Cambridge Glass is owned and operated by the National Cambridge Collectors, Inc. (NCC). It houses one of the world's most extensive collections of Cambridge Glass, plus the tools, molds and etching plates used to manufacture the glass. There is something of interest for everyone. Enjoy the beauty, the history and learn about this highly skilled craft.
The Museum includes dioramas depicting the glass-making process; a dining room appointed with Cambridge glass; the Edna McManus Shepard Education Center where hands-on exhibits are available; and a gift shop featuring genuine Cambridge Glass, limited-edition reproductions, and books on glass collecting. The Museum is accessible to the handicapped and parking is free.
Printout: The National Museum of Cambridge Glass
NATIONAL UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER
(Admission: $12 for adults; $10 for students & seniors;
$8 for children age 6-12)
Open: Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m
Location: (Map It) 50 E Freedom Way, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: 513-333-7500 or toll-free 877-648-4838
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati pays tribute to the Underground Railroad and all efforts to “abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people.” It features The Slave Pen, a two-story 1830 log structure used to house slaves being shipped to auction; and many other exhibits and films addressing the struggle for freedom.
Printout: Freedom Center
The Ohio Craft Museum’s exhibitions features Contemporary American Crafts Artwork. It includes displays of works created in ceramics, glass, wood, fiber and metal. Exhibitions feature Contemporary Fine Craft by American artists as well as international artists.
Printout: Ohio Craft Museum
Open: March to October from Tuesday - Sunday 1pm - 4 pm or by appointment (Closed on Monday); November to February from Tuesday - Saturday 1pm -4 pm or by appointment (Closed on Sunday and Monday)
Location: (Map It) 124 West Main Street in Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Phone: 740-687-0101
Glass was discovered as far back as the Bronze Age and the first manual on glass making is dated 650 B.C. Yet for all the technology developed in the last half-century there are applications for which nothing exceeds the superiority of this most ancient of manufactured materials.
The history of glass in chronicled in the movie, Born of Fire shown continuously at the Ohio Glass Museum in Lancaster. The museum, established in 2002, documents the science of glass making throughout time, and emphasizes the glass industry in Fairfield County that has been a mainstay of the economy for over 100 years.
It’s hard to imagine a finished material more dissimilar to its ingredients than glass. Although there are minor elements in the mix, normally glass is 75 percent silica. For us laymen that’s sand—the same stuff you scooped and shoveled around in that big box when you were a kid.
Fairfield County is rich in natural resources, and two of the most abundant are sand and the natural gas that provides flames of extraordinarily temperatures to transform silica to a molten state. The glass industry, innately compatible to these resources, resulted in the 2003 State Legislature’s designation of Lancaster the “Pressed Glass Capital” of Ohio.
Through the year there are different themes that are featured such as Milk Glass and Milk Bottles. Regardless of the description, they are related only in material and the fact that both became obsolete decades ago. Those experienced with such simple items as milk bottles never dreamed they would become treasures of archival interest. But they’re one of the items for which we’ve found more efficient construction—meaning cheaper—such as plastic and waxed cardboard. It seems inconceivable that there are people of middle age who have never experienced pouring from one of those cold slippery bottles—one of the most ubiquitous items of the modern age—but, that’s why they’re in museums today.
And they were recyclable long before the word was commonly used. When empty, they were rinsed and taken back to the dairy, or if you were on a route, you put them out for the milkman who exchanged them for full ones. There is hardly a nostalgic note more pleasant than the clank of those bottles at 5 a.m.—knowing that your fresh, cool breakfast milk was waiting at the door. The most common were round quart bottles with small necks and cardboard caps pressed into the opening, but in the museum display you will find every conceivable size and design ever made.
And there is the milk glass exhibit. The most popular was the milky white translucent glass from which it got its name, but it was also manufactured in a variety of colors including blue, pink, yellow, brown and black. Milk glass has been around since the sixteenth century, although it did not acquire the name that is meant to describe its appearance until early in the last century. It came into vogue in the nineteenth century, and French milk glass in particular is highly collectible today.
There was a time when milk glass was a symbol of style and privilege in American homes. Large domestic glass makers such as New England Glass Company, Bryce Brothers and Atterbury & Company were quick to embrace the fashion, and it appears that collectible plates is not the recently conceived industry that some imagine. Most sought after were plates of early American historical figures like George Washington whose picture along with stars of the flag were pressed in relief into plate bottoms. Christopher Columbus was popular as well, and presidential nominees used commemorative plates as part of their campaigns.
Unlike dinnerware that demanded a certain level of functionality, platters were manufactured with extreme decorative effects. The relief, for example on the exceptionally rare Lincoln platters, is so deep they could hardly have been used for anything but ornamental objects. There were other more generic designs that were admired as well and some were not conventionally shaped at all, but formed as ducks, fish and other animals.
There were some companies that made their name and entire reputations on milk glass, but the milk glass fashion trend, like all others, finally came to an end. During the Depression it began to loose its luster and at the end of the ‘50s—about the time milk bottles were phased out, milk glass ceased to be a symbol of status.
Of course its demise, at least after a period, caused it to become more valuable. The whole story can be found currently at the Ohio Glass Museum in Lancaster, and it’s advisable to look closely—that forgotten piece you inherited from Grandma and have tucked way in the back of your upper closet shelf may have gained more that cobwebs and dust.
The museum is located at 124 West Main Street in Lancaster and is complete with a gift shop of service ware and art glass. With holidays coming, you may find that special present you’ve been looking for. The doors are open from 1-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and if you really want to make a day of it, there is a bonus of the Georgian Museum, Sherman House Museum and the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio—all within walking distance. For more information call 740-687-0101.
Printout: Ohio Glass Museum
Open: Time varies
Location: (Map It) At Scioto Downs Race Track, at 6000 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43207. It is 2 miles south of I-270 on Rt. 23
Phone: 614-491-2515 or Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association at 800-353-6442 for further information
The hall of fame is better described as a “wall of fame” located at Scioto Downs. The racetrack has offered harness racing for more than 50 years, and now honors people who made it all possible. The display is located about midway into the main level of the clubhouse. Live racing is usually held from early May through mid September.
Printout: Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame
Open: May 27- October 31: Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: (Map It) 601 Second Street ● Marietta, OH 45750
Phone: 740-373-3750 or 800-860-0154
The Ohio River Museum gives a detailed description of the golden age of the steam boat. It also gives an educational program about the ecology of the Ohio River system. The museum features three buildings, the first one offers displays about the origins and natural history of the Ohio River. The steamboat is the main focus in the second building which offers many steamboat displays along with and educational video on steamboats. The third building houses displays on the art of boat building along with displays about mussels in the Ohio River and tools and equipment from the steamboat era.
Printout: Ohio River Museum
This museum honors the men and women who served and fought in our nation’s armed forces. It features many old uniforms, historic documents, prestigious medals and interesting photographs. The memorabilia covers all periods of Ohio’s military history. In addition, it is home to the memorial honoring First Lieutenant Sharon A. Lane, who died on June 8, 1969 in Vietnam.
Printout: Ohio Society of Military History
OHIO VETERANS HOME MUSEUM
AND HALL OF FAME
and Johnson's Island Prison Camp
(Admission is Free / Donations Accepted)
Open: Saturday through Wednesday 10:00 A.M. to 4 P.M. or by appointment to individuals, families, and for group tours.
Location: (Map It) Johnson’s Island in the Marblehead area near Sandusky, Ohio
Phone: 419-625-2454, extension 1447
Excerpt from a past edition of OhioTraveler by Sandy Zeigler, Travel Journalist
Do you know where thousands of Confederate Civil War prisoners were sent? Ohio. Nestled up near Sandusky, Ohio, along with tourist attractions like Cedar Point, Put-in-Bay, Wild Animal Safari, and Wolf Lodge is another special place. We were shocked when we “happened upon” a cemetery for Confederate prisoners.
Driving in an area about three miles from Sandusky, we came to a small bridge which allowed our entrance onto another area called Johnson’s Island. Curious as to what was on this island, we inserted the mandatory two dollars at the tollgate, which allowed the crossbar to rise, and our entry onto the island was permitted. Continuing for a short distance from the causeway, we spotted a small cemetery. Stopping, we read signs which indicated that this was the location of a former Prison Camp for Confederate soldiers who had been captured during the Civil War. I learned afterwards that this was the only camp designated for captured Confederate officers. There were also prisoners held there who were non-commissioned Confederate officers, as well as a few Union soldiers who had been charged with desertion or other war crimes.
During the period of operation from April 1862 through September 1865, about 10,000 prisoners were incarcerated at the POW Camp on Johnson’s Island. In spite of that large number, according to records only 267 people died. Their deaths were attributed mainly to the harsh Ohio winter weather, food and fuel shortages, and diseases. The many rows of gravestones that we spotted marked the final resting places for 206 of the deceased. Some of the soldiers who died at the prison were taken elsewhere for burial, and it is believed that there are additional graves in this cemetery which are not marked.
As we walked the cemetery and looked at gravestones, we read the deceased soldiers’ names, ranks, company numbers, and their company’s locations, which included the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Our hearts were saddened even more when we came to tombstones which read “Unknown Soldier.”
In May 1890, wooden grave markers were replaced with the current Georgia marble tombstones. Concerned citizens in Georgia raised the necessary money for this to be accomplished.
Besides the gravestones, there are three other monuments in the cemetery. The largest monument, the “Bronze Monument to Confederate Soldiers on Johnson’s Island,” was added to this setting with its dedication in 1910. This very impressive tribute was placed at the rear of the cemetery. Two additional monuments were dedicated on June 21, 2003. These two show additional information concerning those buried in this cemetery.
This sacred burial ground is the only part of the original POW Depot that is open to the public. The area where the actual prison was once located is being excavated for additional clues concerning this Civil War Prison.
In the summer of 2001, the Johnson’s Island Museum was opened as an attempt to publicly share artifacts from the Prison Camp on Johnson’s Island. Because of lack of space for these materials, the Johnson’s Island artifacts were moved and are currently on display for public viewing in the Ohio Veterans Home Museum in Sandusky, Ohio. This display includes letters and other items from private collections regarding the Civil War POW Depot, information on the attempt to change the island into “Pleasure Resorts,” and the quarrying business that occurred on the island.
The Ohio Veterans Home Museum and Hall of Fame is located on State Route 250 just before the city limits to Sandusky. The Hall of Fame was not established as a military hall of fame, but instead it was intended as a place for recognition of veterans who had served honorably and continued to serve their country with lifetime accomplishments. The museum is housed in the Isaac Foster Mack Building on the Ohio Veterans Home Grounds. The other archives there are divided into “War Rooms” which include artifacts for each of the different wars and conflicts from the Civil War to present times. The museum is open Saturday through Wednesday 10:00 A.M. to 4 P.M. or by appointment to individuals, families, and for group tours. Group tour reservations can be made by calling 419-625-2454, extension 1447. There is no charge to view the museum, although a donation box is available for those who want to contribute.
To go to Johnson’s Island, exit at the SR 269 exit ramp, follow the ramp and bear to the right (South) onto SR 269. The first intersection will be Bayshore Road. Turn left (East) onto Bayshore and travel East 5.9 miles to Gaydos Drive. (Before reaching Gaydos, be careful to remain on Bayshore Road as it bears right (East) while Hartshorn Rd. goes straight (North). Turn right (South) onto Gaydos and drive to the tollgate and causeway to the island. Once on the island, proceed straight after stopping at the four-way intersection. The Confederate cemetery is a short distance on the left (East) side. Please remember to bring $2.00 (payable by either dollars or quarters) to pay the toll to the island.
To go to the Johnson’s Island Museum (from Johnson’s Island / Marblehead area); take Ohio State Route 2 East to Sandusky. Exit at US 250 (Cedar Point) and go North toward Sandusky 1.9 miles. The Ohio Veterans Home is on the left (West). Enter US 250 gate and proceed to the I.F. Mack Building (large building across from flag pole).
Printout: Johnson Island and Ohio Veterans Museum
Printout: Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
Some may think of this museum as Ohio’s little Jurassic Park. After all, it features a full-size replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex scull, skeleton of a giant ground sloth and teeth from a Mastodon and Mammoth. But that’s only the beginning. Visitors will find other eye-opening exhibits such as fluorescent minerals, crystals, fossils and a meteorite that fell in Ohio. Tell the kids your going to a museum of Ohio’s “rock” history and open the fascinating world of geology to them. Tours are available for groups with prior arrangement.
Printout: Orton Geological Museum
It’s an early spring day and my husband and I are out for a Sunday drive. Trying to stay on back roads only. We venture through Vinton county and into Hocking, and then on to, oh never mind you get the drift. We are in southeast Ohio. We pass a sign that says, Pencil Sharpener Museum. “I wonder what that’s all about” I say. My husband pauses and replies, “There was a phone number on the sign”. We make a quick turn around for that number.
A couple of weeks later, I pick up the phone and dial. “Is this the Pencil Sharpener Museum?” “It is”, replied the lady on the other end. “Just one minute I’ll let you speak to my husband Paul”. I introduce myself, and ask Paul if I can come to see his museum. “Sure, just let me know when”, he said with enthusiasm, like a child wanting to ride a bike for the first time. Arrangements were made and a time was set. I was off to see my first Pencil Sharpener Museum.
I drove south on State Route 33,(my husband says it’s east, but we all know men and women usually understand directions differently), I went into Nelsonville, OH, the home of The Rocky Boot Outlet Store, and The Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, and turned left at the 278 junction. Carbon Hill, that’s the location of the famous sharpener museum. “Here we are”, I tell myself. My curiosity is piqued, so many questions to ask.
I knock on the door, a gentleman in his retirement years answers. “Are you Paul, Paul Johnson”? “Yes, step on in here”.
I make my introduction and we head out to the museum. Stepping inside, “My what a large collection you have“,(spoken like little red riding hood). Instantly his eyes lit up and the words started to roll.
“The whole thing started with two metal cars, my wife bought for me as a gift in 1989”. “Little did she know I would take off running with the idea.” “I now have over 3000 different sharpeners, with NO duplicates in here.” “Duplicates are used for my mobile collection.” Paul retired in 1988 thus a hobby was needed, the pencil sharpeners came at the perfect time.
Paul continued with his story saying how he is still collecting, showing me some of his favorite ones like the smallest one in his collection,(which is, he thinks the oldest also), a sharpener about ¾ inch long that has its own snapping leather case. He also pointed out the wooden old crank phone sharpener, one of his favorites. The collection used to be displayed in the house, but it out grew the space and Da-Da the museum was built.
“Paul where do you find all these”?
“Oh everywhere, Wal Mart, K Mart, just stores most of them.” A smile crept on his face and a chuckle filled the air as he remembered telling his wife, Charlotte, one school shopping season, “I might have to knock down a few kids to get a sharpener from the school supply section today”. He has several sharpeners
that people have given to him. Heck, if I find one he doesn’t have I’ll probably give him one too.
I gazed with awe at all the variety of shapes and sizes. Paul was proud to share with me that he has a metal sharpener in the shape of the Twin Towers. (Now that’s a collector’s item for sure). My favorites, the monster that burps after he eats the shavings off your pencil, and the souvenir skateboard sharpener Paul gave me.
People from different areas come to see Paul’s collection. His says the winters are slow, but so far this spring(early June) he’s already had about twenty visitors. Why does Paul continue to collect, I wondered the same thing.
His answer, “It’s interesting, I like the attention it gets, and it keeps my mind SHARP”.
Paul shared his knowledge about some of the sharpeners, where they came from, how he got them, and if they were a gift or a purchase. He told of different regions of which he had gotten a few, places like Venezuela, England, Spain, and even Bulgaria. I was swirling in all the information he was so eager to share.
With an invitation to retreat to the screened in porch with a swing and some chairs, I followed him to the coolness of the shade and gentle breeze that drifted through. Feeling welcome, as though I were visiting my gramps on a Sunday afternoon, we sat on the porch engaged in conversation for the longest time. Charlotte took a seat on the swing and chimed in on the visit. Telling me how she’s just glad that Paul has the museum to help occupy him, and that he has always been a social person, so the visitors are good for him.
During our visit, I learned that Paul will be 82 this summer. This led me to wonder what will happen to the collection when…Paul said, “My kids ask what about your collection when you…, and I just tell them, I’m taking it with me”. Sadness filled my heart, but only for a moment, until the laughter began.
This has to be the most relaxing and social museum I’ve ever visited. Not only was the collection interesting, but so was Paul and his wife Charlotte. I finished my visit by asking if I could take some photos of them and the museum. Captured, a memory for a lifetime. The smiling faces of the proud owners of the Pencil Sharpener Museum.
If you’d like to meet Paul and Charlotte, and visit this unique museum, they ask that you please call ahead to make arrangements. They also want everyone to know that admission is FREE and donations are NOT accepted. They are just happy to share and enjoy the company. I hope that you take time and get to know these beautiful people, I did and I came away inspired.
·
The Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum is open to the public Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center is located at 13178 State Route 664 South, Logan, Ohio, 43138. Phone 1-800-HOCKING for more information.· Hocking Valley Scenic Railway - www.hvsr.com - 1800 967-7834.
· Rocky Boots Outlet - www.rockyboots.com - 740 753-3130.
By Beverly Johnston
Printout: Pencil Sharpener Museum
Open Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open until 8 p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day
Location: (Map It) 2121 George Halas Dr. NW ● Canton, OH 44708
Phone: 330-456-8207
The names are revered. The plays forever etched in the collective memory of football fans everywhere. They are the giants of this game. And to pay homage, you must go to the one place sacred enough to immortalize such heroes; the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It is here that childhood memories are revisited, and new ones made. Here, your passion is rekindled and breathtaking moments brought to life. It is here...that legends live.
Enjoy America’s Premier Sports Museum and Showplace. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is more than a museum -it's an interactive experience! Over 83,000 square feet of awe-inspiring exhibits present pro football’s unique story and bring to life words such as courage, skill and dedication. Interactive exhibits act as windows to the dramatic stories behind the artifacts.
Don’t miss three new galleries, including the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery featuring Super Bowl Theater. Experience the defining moments of the NFL season and Super Bowl in a wide-screen, surround sound, rotating theater.
Before exiting, don’t miss the 4,000 square-foot Museum Store, shop for yourself or friends and family. There is something for all fans with merchandise from all 32 NFL teams plus Hall of Fame collectibles.
Printout: Article about Pro Football Hall-of-Fame Museum
Open: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily (Wednesdays open till 9 p.m. and from Memorial Day to Labor Day Saturdays are open till 9 p.m. as well.)
Location: (Map It) One Key Plaza, 751 Erieside Avenue ● Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216-781-ROCK
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame house a number of interactive exhibits, films, videos, and many priceless artifacts used by many of the artists featured in the Hall of Fame. Not only does the museum have a number of permanent exhibits, but also each year it houses a variety of temporary ones that will sometimes be so large they take up the top two levels of the building. The museum offers a number of services to the public including concerts, lectures, film series, and teacher education. The main attraction of the museum, however, is the large number of artists that have been inducted to the Hall of Fame and therefore have their own exhibits at the museum.
Excerpt from past edition of OhioTraveler ...
If you try to name anything that has had more influence on our culture than the music of the last fifty years you’ll have to think long and hard—and you may still come up with a blank. That’s because it was never a mere evolution. We’re talking revolution—rock and roll, baby—the sound that changed everything. Cynics said it wouldn’t last, but generations later, devotees have manifested their passion with a $92 million, 150,000 square-foot shrine to honor every performer, songwriter, producer, and disc jockey who contributed to this phenomenon of the music world.
And why Cleveland? It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact birthplace of rock and roll, but Cleveland was where the real commitment began. Every act of consequence made its debut in Cleveland, sometimes on TV, but often in ordinary high school auditoriums. Cleveland was the Mecca—where the new sound gained traction—where rock and roll took on the fuel that blasted it into the stratosphere.
Those of us who were around in the beginning didn’t realize the significance of what we were hearing on Cleveland stations. We sang, danced, and listened to the disc jockeys while the fuddy-duddies said it was only a fad, that it would destroy our hearing, that it was corrupting the youth of America. They didn’t know either that we were at ground zero of a movement that soon swept the country—and then the world. From its inception, rock music has branched off in several directions, but I have to agree with the way Billy Joel summed it up: “Everybody’s talking bout the new sound. Funny, but it’s still Rock and Roll to me.” That’s the way it’s been for more than five decades and it has never gotten old.
The Hall of Fame Foundation, a nonprofit organization, selected Cleveland as the site in 1986, after being formed three years earlier. Groundbreaking wasn’t until 1993, and the grand opening was in September of 1995. Since that time 7 million visitors have passed under the dual-triangular-shaped glass “tent” that forms the entry façade to a 65,000 square-foot plaza. From the beginning the structure and the exhibits were intended to be of a caliber commensurate to the impact the music has had on society. Architect I. M. Pei, one of the world’s most renowned, said that in designing the building he wanted it to “echo the energy of Rock and Roll.”
Located in downtown’s North Coast Harbor, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame houses more than 55,000 square-feet of exhibition space. All of your old favorites are there, but not all the current artists. Eligibility requires twenty-five years to pass from the time of their first recording. Due to the Rocker lifestyle this means that more than a few are inducted posthumously—but then, what is rock and roll without its excesses.
To date over 225 artists as well as members from the non-performer and early influence categories have been inducted into this temple of Rock greats. They represent careers beginning in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s to those defining the modern sound, demonstrating a miscellany of talent as well as the rich diversity of the music itself.
For example, 2009 inductees include Little Anthony & The Imperials from the early days, heavy metal band Metallica, and Wanda Jackson of rockabilly fame.
The sidemen category includes keyboard player “Spooner” Oldham, best known for his work with Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, along with J.D. Fontana and Bill Black who were drummer and bass player respectively, for Elvis Presley.
Through changing exhibits, the Museum continually offers fresh new experiences from the Rock and Roll past. There are thousands of instruments, costumes, and personal effects such as John Lennon’s passport and green card, and Buddy Holly’s high school diploma. A favorite of sentimentalists is the photo display of George Shuba known as the “Grandfather of Rock and Roll photography.” He not only captured the images of all the early performers but fans as well—teenaged guys in suits and ties, and girls in short cotton dresses and lacquered beehives. Another of the more interesting is Janis Joplin’s Porsche. A few years ago a major car magazine persuaded curators to let them test-drive it around the streets of Cleveland. The little two-seater—heavily abused like everything at the hands of Janis—barely made it back with help. If only cars could talk.
But there is plenty of talk emanating from three theaters that take visitors on a cinematic journey through Rock and Roll history, plus the live concerts that are scattered throughout the year. Anchoring more than fifty exhibits this year is MOTOWN: The Sound of Young America Turns 50.
Like the music, the displays give a fast-paced trip, chronicling Rock and Roll from one-hit wonders to legendary inductees, from its roots in gospel, country and blues to important music scenes such as Memphis, Detroit and San Francisco. You’re even reminded of political protests against the music and the interplay between fashion and rock. For young, old, or in- between: If you love Rock and Roll you’ve got to go.
The Rock and roll Hall of Fame and Museum is located at 11 Rock and Roll Boulevard in Cleveland. To plan your visit around special activities, call 216-781-ROCK or 888-764-ROCK or go to www.rockhall.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily (open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays). From Memorial Day to Labor Day the museum is also open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays. Adult admission is $22. A Greater Cleveland –area ID gets you in for $18. Seniors pay $17; children (9-12) runs $13, and kids less than 8 get in free.
By Robert Carpenter
Robert Carpenter was born and raised in the New Philadelphia, Ohio area.
Printout: Rock-N-Roll Hall-of-Fame Museum
Come see the celebrated history of painter Archibald Willard, artist of the famous “Spirit of ’76.” This painting is considered by many to be the nation’s most inspirational painting of all-time. Willard spent most of his life painting in northeastern Ohio. In 1875, influenced by the death of his father, he decided to do the very serious piece depicting the American Revolutionary, which became famous. In addition to the many paintings by Willard, the museum contains Revolutionary and Civil War artifacts.
Printout: Spirit of 76 Museum
Location: (Map It) Bluebird Farm Estate - 190 Alamo Road ● Carrollton, Ohio 44615
Phone 330-627-7980 for reservations
This
museum features a vast range of playthings available to American children from
the 1700's to the present day. The toys are featured in imaginative and
colorful displays, and include wooden, wax, china, French and German bisque,
mechanical, papier-mâché, composition, and cloth dolls; and stuffed animals and
Teddy bears, most notably those manufactured by the German maker Margarete
Steiff. Special sections are devoted to some of America's most beloved and
certainly most popular toys – Raggedy Ann and Andy, Shirley Temple, and Mickey
and Minnie Mouse, and all the 1930's Disneyana! Also a miniature fantasy world
awaits you – toy china sets, antique dollhouses, doll-size kitchens, doll and
child-size furniture, and a detailed circus filled with both Steiff and
Schoenhut circus pieces. Make plans for a whimsical step-back in
time. Hopefully, during your visit, you
will be happily transported to a world of wonderful childhood memories. Group tours are encouraged and
special occasions can be accommodated. Upon request, special programs can be
prepared and presented to groups such as doll clubs on topics ranging from
Madame Alexander Dolls, Steiff animals, advertising dolls, SUN rubber, Bernard
Lipfert, doll designers and antique dolls and toys. Whatever your area of
interest, arrangements can be made to discuss it.
Printout: Susie's Museum of Childhood
This museum home was built in 1864. It features firearm collections from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and other wars. It also displays Indian artifacts, pottery and glassware, a collection of primitive light fixtures, antique clocks and children’s toys. The interior of the home includes ornate architecture such as the fine Italian marble fireplace. In general, the museum has a very fine collection of antiques.
Printout: Stengel True Museum
James M. Thomas pioneered the non-Bell independent telephone industry and this museum is dedicated to his accomplishments. It features a wooden underground conduit, which contained early Western Union cables that ran beneath the streets of Chillicothe. And an old switchboard, phone directories as early as 1897 and many other telephone equipment displays.
Printout: James M Thomas Telephone Museum
BUCKEYE TELEPHONE MUSEUM
(Admission
is Free)
With the Clare E. Williams Telephone Museum Association, a volunteer group of telephone retirees and employees worked to preserve the telephone industry’s history. The public museum display will keep alive memory of the items that made the telephone industry what it is today. Many items have been donated from local telephone companies from years as service and system changes. View various open wire insulators, operator switchboards, wall mounted magneto crank phones, maps, phonebooks, testing gear and much more.
Printout: Buckeye Telephone Museum
The Tiffin Glass Club honors the heritage of Tiffin’s Glass House by exhibiting 2,000 pieces of Tiffin glass at the museum to preserve the town and glass company heritage. The factory ran from 1889 to 1984. The museum features memorabilia, historic documents, popular Tiffin Glass lines, stemware, lamps, optics and more. The items are displayed in chronological order in beautiful wood cabinets.
Printout: Tiffin Glass Museum
This museum will provide its visitors an opportunity to learn about fire safety and experience Toledo firefighting history. It features the uniforms and equipment used by the earliest firefighters as well as vintage pumpers.
Printout: Toledo Firefighters Museum
Ukranians and others have come from all around to attend events and see the museum and archives dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Ukraine. One of the most popular displays in the museum is the Easter eggs or pysanky. The books and periodical section of the museum’s archives cover a vast range of topics spanning Ukranian prehistory to modern headlines around the world.
Printout: Ukranian Museum and Archives
Okay, so you’ve been to Cracker Barrel, but this is a truly authentic restored 1830s country store and post office. It features more than a thousand items and replicas of merchandise that lured shoppers more than 150 years ago. Whitney’s General Store was the very first store in the Kirtland region.
Printout: N.K. Whitney Store Museum
This world class facility is a fitting tribute to Ernest “Mooney” Warther, World’s Master Carver. Warther created a collection of steam locomotives carved of ebony and ivory which have been appraised as priceless by the Smithsonian Institution. The carvings are displayed in a beautiful Swiss chalet which includes a new theater handcrafted of solid curly maple. You will also experience new displays, and the expanded knife making & wood shop. Freida Warther’s Button House is still a sight to see and in the summer the Swiss gardens are magnificent.
The original Warther Museum opened three generations ago and has blossomed into an attraction which draws visitors from all over the world. The amazing Warther story is presented by knowledgeable guides and enhanced by films that include family photos and movies of Mooney carving in his shop. Some of the new displays show his traveling years, his love of reading, and commando knives made during World War II.
Warther's grandson Mark is usually in the lobby greeting visitors and carving souvenir wooden pliers for children. Mooney made the pliers famous by placing 10 interconnecting cuts into a block of wood. Mooney's great grandchildren, Kurt and Karl, currently make the handcrafted Warther kitchen knives. From the knife shop viewing area, you can observe the cutlery and knife blocks being created. The Warther gift shop is the exclusive home of Warther Cutlery.
Excerpt from January 2008 edition of OhioTraveler
When a guy
is named Mooney you expect something out of the ordinary. Mooney Warther
would not have been a disappointment. He was witty, funny, gifted,
eccentric, ambitious, and entrepreneurial—genius would not adequately
describe his stature.
Ernest “Mooney” Warther was a wood carver extraordinaire. Terms such as “world’s greatest” or “world’s best” are often used as fictitious hype, but when applied to Mooney’s aptitude with a knife, they are not an exaggeration.
It’s a quirk of human nature when hearing such exalted claims to believe that such talent is found only in some strange faraway venue. In truth, one of the most skilled artists in history was born, grew up, and plied his trade—largely unnoticed—in our own back yard: Dover, Ohio.
His father died when Mooney was three, and he acquired only a second grade education that took him four years to complete. Mooney didn’t have much time for school—he was working. His cattle herding for a penny a day was the source of his name—an adulterated version of “moonay” from his Swiss heritage that means bull of the herd.
It was on one of his herding excursions in 1890 at the age of five that he found a pocketknife and began carving. Mooney said it was a hobo who taught him to cut a pair of pliers from a solid block of wood. It was a procedure he perfected and claimed as his signature. It is estimated that in his career Mooney made and gave away 750,000 of the little wooden devises.
By age fourteen he was working in a steel mill but continually carved models of steam locomotives that had enthralled him since early childhood. At one point however, he found time to carve a working model of the mill including an animated figure of his old friend who liked to hide behind a furnace and steal a nip from his flask.
Mooney carved hard woods like walnut and ebony, and was dissatisfied with store-bought knives that wouldn’t hold an edge. No doubt aided by his experience at the mill, Mooney researched different types of steel and techniques of tempering and sharpening. He first made a kitchen knife for his mother. It was so good that word spread rapidly, and by 1923 Mooney left the mill and began making knives as a business.
It
was the same year that the New York Central Railroad discovered his
locomotive carvings. He was offered fifty thousand dollars, plus five
thousand per year to stay with the display. Henry Ford made an even more
generous offer, but Mooney declined both. “My roof doesn’t leak, I’m not
hungry, and my wife has all her buttons,” he said. (His wife was a
collector of buttons, which are displayed along with Mooney’s carvings.)
While Mooney designed his own carving knives, he decided to see how far he could go with his pliers-making expertise. He started with a large block and hewed one pair after another—all connected, until he had a “tree” of pliers—511 in all that could be folded back recreating the block from which they were fashioned. It was an exercise in mental dexterity as well as carving skill. Engineering professors from what was then Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland studied the sculpture and proclaimed it was impossible to have been produced in one piece. Yet undeniably, there it was.
As a young boy I was the recipient of one of Mooney’s pliers. His bushy snow-white curls bounced, as he talked non-stop in his high-pitched gravelly voice. He held a four-inch rectangular piece of wood in one hand, and with the other made a series of quick strokes with a short bladed knife. In the matter of about five seconds he opened it, revealing handles hinged to jaws just like a real pair of pliers. My eyes bulged in wonder as he handed it to me, the youngest in the family of viewers.
But the pliers rate only as a parlor trick compared with his train carvings. They’re done in exact scale and authentic in minute detail. Some of them have as many as 7,500 parts: pipes, rivets, screws, connecting rods, perfectly round wheels—each created on a simple bench with a vise, and Mooney’s carving knives. Many are equipped with electric motors that turn all the moving parts, held by bearings he made from a Brazilian “oily” wood that never needs lubrication. As well as wood, he used ivory for some pieces that are almost microscopic. Because of his love for elephants his ivory carvings were mostly from old billiard balls. Engineers have poured over his models with precision instruments and measuring devises, drawing the same conclusions as most nonprofessional observers: The replicas are so exact that it was not possible for them to have been carved by hand. But they were.
By the time railroads began phasing out steam engines; Mooney had carved 54 exact-scale counterparts of his favorite iron horses, but swore as long as he lived, he’d never carve a diesel locomotive.
Instead he began a series of “Great Events in American Railroad History.” He created a solid ivory rendition of the driving of the golden spike connecting the transcontinental railroad, the great locomotive chase, and the Lincoln funeral train to name a few. He was working on the Lady Baltimore locomotive when he died at eighty-seven, leaving it unfinished.
All his work can be seen at the museum in Dover, displayed in style worthy of the Smithsonian.
Mooney’s carvings are so notable as to make the cutlery business seem secondary, although since its inception it has been a foundation of the family business. Mooney taught his sons and grandsons the art of making knives and they continue to this day—every one annealed and hand ground to Mooney’s specifications.
During the Big War, starting with a single request, Mooney made 1,100 personalized commando knives carried by every rank including Generals. The Warther’s have made special knives and kitchen cutlery for several presidents and numerous dignitaries. Yet the most important contribution of the commercial success was allowing Mooney to pursue his true passion.
Like one bull in a herd—Mooney Warther had no peer.
Warther Carvings Museum and Button Collection is located at 331 Karl Avenue in Dover. Call 330-343-7513 or go to www.warthers.com for more information.
By Robert Carpenter
Robert Carpenter was born and raised in the New Philadelphia, Ohio
area. He's a freelance writer presently living in Florida.
Printout: Warther Museum
Pop on over to see the largest collection of popcorn poppers and peanut roasters in the world. There’s an 1890 Patent Olsen Squirrel cage Dry Popper, 1899 Cretan popcorn machine, Ringling Brothers Circus’s 1909 Cretors popcorn Wagon, 1927 concession truck and 1908 Dunbar Concession Wagon once used by Paul Newman to promote his own popcorn in Central Park. These and more than 50 other popcorn and peanut vending antiques are restored and look practically brand new.
Printout: Wyandot Popcorn Museum
YE OLDE MILL
Velvet Ice Cream Company
www.velveticecream.com
 |
|
A DAY OF FUN AT YE OLDE MILL
Each year, Ye Olde Mill attracts 150,000 nature and ice cream enthusiasts from all over the country. Ye Olde Mill, on 20 picturesque acres nestled in the gently rolling hills and forests of lovely Licking County, is the perfect spot for family fun, reunions, weddings, and more.
The restaurant can accommodate large groups for any occasion. For group reservations, contact Guest Relations at 740-892-3921 or 800-589-5000.
VELVET ADVENTURE BEGINS AT VISITORS CENTER
Ye Olde Mill features Ohio’s only ice cream museum, an 1817
Ice Cream Parlor, The Mill Room Restaurant, and gift shop. The Velvet adventure
begins with the Visitors Center, built to resemble Grandpa Dager’s old milking
parlor, which offers hourly tours of the Mill and museum, along with observation
of the Velvet Ice Cream factory at work. Outside, the adventure continues with
the Visitors Center’s livestock barnyard, children’s farm animal petting zoo,
and scenic natural trails and picnic grounds.
Open May 1 to October 31
May, September, October: 11 am to 8 pm daily
June, July, August: 11 am to 9 pm daily
Weekdays: 11 am to 3 pm on the hour
Weekends: 12 pm to 3 pm on the hour
Printout: Ye Old Mill and Velvet Ice Cream Company
Disclosure:
As a precaution, please call ahead
to the venues you plan to visit to ensure that the hours, admittance and other
data in this Web site have not changed. We assume no responsibility for
omissions, inaccuracies or errors within the contents of this Web site. However,
we will take into consideration, any comments that would better represent the
venues within, and add them to our Web site.
