Medina County History Resource Now Available Online!

Medina County District Library is excited to announce that their local history collection "Medina Landmarks / About the Past" has been digitized.  The entire collection can be accessed at The Digital Archives of MCDL (https://mcdl.info/newspapers). To search the collection, simply enter keywords(s) to find and view full-text articles. 

The "Medina Landmarks / About the Past" collection was originally created in 1963.  Over the next 31 years, librarians at MCDL clipped news articles about Medina County’s historic events, individuals, and landmarks. These articles were organized in a series of 50 scrapbooks and include more than 1,500 pages of content.  Collectively, the collection documents an era of tremendous change and growth in Medina County, Ohio.  

Nearly a decade ago, MCDL staff began digitizing the collection to preserve it for future generations and improve access for current researchers.  To celebrate the digitization of this collection, MCDL's Family History & Learning Center is hosting a contest featuring Medina County Landmarks. 

Contest participants with the most correct answers will be entered to win a prize of MCDL swag.  To participate, click here or stop in to the Family History & Learning Center to see the display.  Identify the township for 12 Medina County landmarks -- and earn bonus points by identifying the landmark by name!  Participants may use the "Medina Landmarks / About the Past" collection for help finding answers.  The contest begins June 1 and will end June 15. 

Researching Property in Medina County Part 1

 Using the Medina County Auditor's Website

-Lisa Rienerth

         www.medinacountyauditor.org

Click on the Youtube link to view the video on how to use the Medina County Auditor's website for property research.  

 https://youtu.be/XhfbPQpi09o

History of a Boomtown: Oil in Chatham Township

 

By Miranda Fein

The First Oil Well in the United States

On August 27, 1859, the United States’ first commercial well specifically drilled for oil discovery finally struck black gold near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Edwin L. Drake drilled approximately 69 feet with a method of his own design, using an iron pipe to reach the rock belowground for drilling.

 

“The first oil well”. c1890. Library of Congress.

Medina County’s Early History of Oil

While the first successful commercial oil well was not operating in the United States until 1859, Medina County’s history with oil dates to as early as 1812, when a manual dig in search for salt brine resulted in the discovery of oil in Litchfield Township (Hambley, 2018, 1800s-p. 3). Despite this early oil discovery, Medina County would not drill its first oil well until the 1890s.  

 

Medina County’s first oil well was drilled in 1894 on the F. R. Shaw farm in Chatham Township (Hambley, 2018, 1800s-p. 22). It was drilled using a water well drilling machine. Once drilled, the well was pumped using horse power and mowing machine gear. Approximately 32 oil wells were drilled on or near the Shaw farm over the next three years. Shaw took these over and built a pipeline from his farm to Lodi, where it could be transported by railroad to oil refineries in Cleveland, Ohio. This began Chatham’s longstanding reputation of being an oil town. 

Medina County Gazette, 21 August 19, Section 2 Page 2

Chatham’s First Oil Boom

By 1918, Chatham experienced its first Oil Rush, with nearly every lot in the township having an oil well with a pump. It was during this year that an oil well on Tom McVickar’s farm experienced a gusher, meaning the well had a strong enough natural flow that it did not need pumped or could have been expelled from the well in a geyser-like fashion. While gushers can be a sign of a blowout in a well, they were also common in the early days of the oil industry and “many times were the only indication that a large reservoir of oil and gas had been struck” (International Association of Drilling Contractors, 2022). This marked the year of the big Chatham oil boom, which was the first of three oil booms experienced by the town between 1918 and 1937.

 

Chatham’s Second and Third Oil Booms

During these years, Chatham became known as a boomtown, though there was little documentation about the second oil boom. The third oil boom occurred circa 1937, as the result of a new technique of secondary recovery called water flooding, in which water is used to increase oil production. While water flooding was successful in increasing oil production, it also polluted water wells and streams. The Chatham Sesquicentennial of 1818-1968 notes that “It will be many years before Chatham again has fresh, clean water, but this was a price paid by a 
community for prosperity” (p. 19). 

 

Medina County Gazette, 30 September 1941, Page 1

Chatham Oil: 1960 to Present

While oil recovery continued in the surrounding townships, from the 1960s on, oil production slowed in Chatham. Many once producing wells in Chatham Township are no longer active, with some even abandoned and left unplugged. To view a map of all recorded oil and gas wells in Medina County and their current status, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas website at https://tinyurl.com/43wekhsp. 

References

Chatham Sesquicentennial 1818-1968. 1968. Sesquicentennial Committees. 

Hambley, S. D. (2018). Timeline of medina county history. Stephen D Hambley, PhD. 

International Association of Drilling Contractors. (n.d.). Definition of gusher. DrillingMatters.org. Retrieved 2022, from https://drillingmatters.org/glossary/gusher/ 

Ohio Department of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Ohio Oil & Gas Wells. ODNR Map Viewer. Retrieved 2022, from https://gis.ohiodnr.gov/MapViewer/?config=oilgaswells 

Osbun, W. (1959, August 21). Medina County and Its People. Medina County Gazette. Section 2,

Page 2. mcdl.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=oil&i=f&d=01011830-

12311978&e=frshaw&m=between&ord=e1,k1&fn=medina_county_gazette_usa_ohio_medina_19590821_english_10&df=1&dt=3&cid=2992 

Speaking of Shortages—Chatham Really Has One. (1941, September 30). Medina County

Gazette. Page 1 & 3. mcdl.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=chatham&i=f&d=01011830-12311978&e=oil boom&m=between&ord=e1,k1&fn=medina_county_gazette_usa_ohio_medina_19410930_english_1&df=1&dt=10&cid=2992 

The first oil well. (c.1890). [1 photographic print]. Library of Congress.  

https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a14109/ 

Gazetteers for Local & Family History Research: Five Frequently Asked Questions

By Lauren Kuntzman

Gazetteers can be powerful resources for local and family history research, but are often misunderstood and overlooked. Here are the answers to five Frequently Asked Questions to improve your knowledge of gazetteers. 

1. What is a gazetteer?

A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary. Much like a language dictionary, a gazetteer is an alphabetical list of terms, followed by explanatory details. Specific to gazetteers, the lists are of place names, with information about each locale.  

2. What type of information might be in a gazetteer?

While all gazetteers are similar in their geographical focus, their content can vary widely. Gazetteers may list and describe…  

• cities, towns, and townships 

• geological features (creeks, lakes, etc.)

• man made structures (churches, forts, schools, etc.)

Accordingly, the “definition” of each place varies with the focus of the book, but most tend to describe a place’s history, location, resources, and society. 

History	date of establishment and years of existence founders (or architects, builders, or owners) previous names, variant spellings, and/or how a name was chosen milestones
Location	address and/or coordinates in latitude and longitude township and/or county proximity to other towns, railroads, and water sources boundaries
Resources	businesses, churches, meeting houses, and schools  newspapers and post offices railroads and water sources
Society	architecture and culture economy governance population

3. How can gazetteers help with local and family history research?

Local and family history research may benefit from using gazetteers in many ways.

Gazetteers can...

Directly answer questions about historic homes. 

This entry for the H. G. Blake House from the gazetteer Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places answers…

• Who designed and/or built the home
• Who was the first owner?

• When was the home built?

• What architectural style was it originally designed in?

Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places

Provide insights into the development of an institution or a town. 

Virginia Wheeler Martin (the FHLC’s benefactor) attended Miami University. Reading entries for Miami University in a series of gazetteers, published contemporaneously to its founding, describe how it evolved – and its shaky start. 

In 1816, the university was described as such:

The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary, 1816

But by the end of the next decade, the outlook for the university was much improved! 

The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary, 1829

Improve your understanding of a location and, in turn, help distinguish your ancestor from other individuals with the same name. 

Medina Gazette, 2 Sept. 1927, p. 7.

For example, a newspaper clipping describes C. H. Rodgers visiting his brother Harvey at “Clarks Corners.”  You know you had ancestors living near Wadsworth, but you’ve never heard of Clarks Corners… and Harvey Rodgers is a fairly common name. 

Checking Ohio Towns and Townships to 1900: A Location Guide, we find that...

Entry for "Clark's Corners" in Ohio Towns and Townships to 1900: A Location Guide.

Learning that Clark's Corners is near Wadsworth, helps confirm that you have found information on your relative! 

Act as stepping stone resource: by learning more about an ancestor’s location in a gazetteer, it may lead you to additional documents about your relative. 

Since almost all genealogical records are initially created within a geographical jurisdiction, understanding an area is crucial to finding available records. 

For example, if researching an individual living in Norton, Summit County, Ohio, it is useful to learn from a gazetteer that Norton Township was, at one time, part of Medina County. To thoroughly research an individual living in that area, one would need to search for records in both Medina County and Summit County. 

The Ohio Gazetteer and Travelers Guide, 1837

Understand an ancestor’s community and their life experiences. 

For example, Medina Library founder Franklin Sylvester moved to Granger Township as a young child in the mid-1830s. A gazetteer describes what he and his family would have encountered around the time of their arrival: 

The Ohio Gazetteer and Travelers Guide, 1841

4. How can I get the most from a gazetteer?

Gazetteers are at their best when used together with maps and land deeds. Returning to our example with Franklin Sylvester…

From the gazetteer, we learned that Granger Township had approximately 700 inhabitants when he moved there as a child. We also learned that it had a post office, that it was almost 7 miles from the county seat and 120 miles from the state capital. 

From land deeds, we find that Franklin Sylvester, at age 16, co-purchased a piece of property with his father. They bought 25 acres on section 33 in Granger Township. 

Knowing he lived on Section 33, we can then turn to maps. In this 1857 map of Granger Township, we can see the community buildings in his area. To make the buildings easier to locate the map, numbers have been added in orange. #1 marks school houses; #2 - graveyards; #3 - a shoemaker; #4 - church; #5 - store and post office; #6 - hotel; and, #7 - academy.

5. Where can gazetteers be found?

• In your local library. As mentioned earlier, the FHLC has several Ohio gazetteers in its collection, as well as gazetteers for other states. The Ohio gazetteers include: 

• The 1833 Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary (1883, reprinted 1981) by “A Citizen of Columbus” (Note: view online here.)

• Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places, 2 vols. (1999), by Lorrie K. Owen, editor

• Ohio Place Names (1996) by Larry L. Miller

• Ohio Towns and Townships to 1900: A Location Guide (2011) by Julie Minot Overton

• In digital libraries, like…

• The Internet Archive (https://archive.org)

• HathiTrust (https://hathitrust.org)

• Tip: Conduct a keyword search for the place of your interest, plus the word “gazetteer.”  Repeat your search using "dictionary," "directory," or "traveler's guide" instead of the word "gazetteer."

• On standalone websites.  Examples include:

• Maplandia.com (http://www.maplandia.com) (Developed from place names in Google Maps.)

• Meyers Gazetteer (https://www.meyersgaz.org) (An important resource for individuals of German ancestry.) 

• World Historical Gazetteer (https://whgazetteer.org) (Includes historical/defunct places.)

Hopefully, the next time you need to research a place, you'll turn to a gazetteer for help! If you have difficulties finding gazetteers for your research -- or you want to view one of the ones discussed above -- come visit the Family History & Learning Center. We're also available to help by email at me-team.genealogy@mcdl.info.

Want to view the gazetteers and map mentioned in the article? Access digital copies at the following links:

• The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary - 1816
• The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary - 1817
• The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary - 1821
• The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary - 1829
• The Ohio Gazetteer, or, Topographical Dictionary - 1833
• The Ohio Gazetteer, and Traveler's Guide - 1837
• The Ohio Gazetteer, and Traveler's Guide - 1841
• Map of Medina County, Ohio - 1857

How Comedy Sold WWII War Bonds

Abbott & Costello Go to Medina                     

-Lisa Rienerth

Medina County Gazette, 18 July 1942, p. 1

It began when a group of volunteers built a small, white building to sell War Bonds, stamps and corsages here in Medina, Ohio. 

Medina Sentinel, 23 July 1942, p. 1

The completed building was placed on the west side of  Medina Square and a grand opening was held the 18th of July 1942.

The building would not have been built without the generosity of the local businesses.  

The opening program lasted a little more than 3 hours with speeches from Amherst Spitzer, the War Bond chairman, music by the Akron Defense Council band and a few short speeches by a few local veterans. 

On that first day, $1,900 in bonds were sold, along with $97 in stamps and $95 in "stamp corsages". Stamp corsages are exactly what they sound like, corsages made with saving stamps. 

One Month Later....

The Treasury Department of Cleveland saw that Medina County was one of the top sellers of War Bond funds and rewarded the county with a special visit from "The biggest singular attraction of Medina County...". 

On August 19, 1942, Bud Abbot and Lou Costello, a famous comedy duo of the time, were coming to Medina to help sell War Bonds! 

Abbott and Costello were known in the 1940's as the "Leading Laugh Team".  They worked in radio & film and became even more popular during the World War II era.

This must have been one of the most exciting things to happen to the area in years, because the Medina Gazette was estimating a crowd of 10,000 people. 

Medina Sentinel, 13 August 1942, p. 1

Plans were made to build a platform and wire the Medina Square with loudspeakers. The organizers of the event wanted to make sure the duo was seen and heard by all. War Bonds were to be sold just outside the beautiful, new War Bond building. 

There was also a contest between the townships to see who could sell the most War Bonds before the big day arrived. 

Medina County Gazette, 21 August 1942, p 1

The night of the program a large crowd filled the square. 

Abbott & Costello arrived at 7:40 p.m. and according to the papers "Pulled several spontaneous laugh provoking remarks..." and autographed the bonds that they sold that evening. 

Liverpool Township won the Bond contest by collecting $21,835 in War Bond sales. 

George Wolfe, chairman of the Liverpool township war bond drive committee, was congratulated by Amherst Spitzer and the two comedians

The evening was a great success. $8,000 in bonds were sold at the War Bonds building. The total amount collected by all of the townships for the contest was $225,291, which is equivalent to just a little more than (4) four million dollars today.

The county continued to raise large amounts of money throughout the war. According to Robert Hyde's Beyond the Storefronts, "This is the famous [War Bond] building that at one point raised over 3 million dollars towards the war effort and was also part of the reason why the government decided to film "Hometown U. S. A.”  in Medina.*

*This link will take you to a past blog on the film.

And here's the rest of the story...

After World War II, the small, white building was put into storage and then moved to the property owned by Dr. Frederick Fri, who served in the war. Dr. Fri's property was acquired by the Medina General Hospital and the building was left on the land.

In 2001, the Medina Jaycees refurbished the building. Elmer Zarney, who created the original sign, remade a new sign, because the old one was lost. Zarney was a fighter pilot in World War II. 

Medina County Gazette, 8 Nov 2001

      

The building stayed on the Medina Hospital, n.k.a. Medina Cleveland Clinic, property until this November. The Medina County Historical Society took an interest in it and on the fourth had it moved to the property of the McDowell-Phillips Home, which is also owned by the society.  

Historical Society's President, Brian Feron, says the building will be restored and used as a place to display local historical items. It will then be used for educational purposes and someday a "Victory Garden" may be planted alongside it.

This little, white building witnessed Medina's history for the past 80 years. Now, because of the Medina County Historical Society, it can not only be a witness to many more years, but will teach other generations about the history of the county and its contribution and dedication to our nation at a time of war. 

Please leave a comment if you were a witness to this spectacular night in Medina. We would love to hear about your experience! 

Learn more about World War II War Bonds from Abbott & Costello by watching a Public Service Announcement from that era by clicking on the highlighted link. 

 

The Honor Roll Board of Medina & Montville Township WWII Veterans

By Lauren Kuntzman

In honor of Veterans Day, this week’s blog post will focus on the history of the Honor Roll Board of service members from Medina and Montville Townships in WWII. 

American Legion Takes the Lead

Ten months after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into WWII, members of the local American Legion post initiated efforts to create an “Honor Roll Board” of service members from Medina village, Medina Township, and Montville Township. Post leader Perry Smith formed a committee of members, including Cloyd Derhammer, Clayton Randall, and Neal Roshon. 

Derhammer, Randall, and Roshon were to collect the names of individuals who were currently serving or had already served in WWII and had been honorably discharged. These names were to be inscribed on a sign, mounted on the side of the B. & L. Store, located at 201 S. Court Street (the site of Lemonberry Frozen Yogurt today). Local businessmen funded the building and installation of the sign. The sign was designed by local sign painter Franklin Bates. Bates planned for it to hold 1,000 names and inscribed the names collected in the first round of the project. 

Criteria to be Included on the Honor Roll Board

To be named on the list, individuals had to be…

• a resident of Medina Township, Montville Township, or Medina Village.  

• currently serving in a branch of the military or…

• a veteran of WWII and honorably discharged from service.

Individuals also had to be “sponsored” by a relative. Sponsorship had no financial component – it was free for all service members to be added to the Honor Roll – but took the form of a written statement with the individual’s name, address, and branch of service. It was hoped that the “sponsorship” model would reduce duplicates, omissions, and errors.

In the committee’s initial call for names, written statements were to be submitted by October 1, 1942. They hoped to dedicate the Honor Roll on Armistice Day 1942.  

The List Grows 

The process of collecting service members’ names took longer than anticipated. It wasn’t until April 1943 that it was considered to be “up-to-date.”  

Additional individuals would be added to the list when they entered the service and the American Legion committee continued to collect names. Here is a brief timeline of its growth: 

Virginia (Wheeler) Martin, benefactor of MCDL's
Family History & Learning Center was one of the
painters to add names to the Honor Roll Board.

• July 1943 - 514 names - Sign Painter: Robert High

• February 1944 - 596 names - Sign Painter: Robert High

• May 1944 - 622 names - Sign Painter: Virginia Wheeler

• August 1945 - 757 names - Sign Painter: Emil Gnuschke 

Over time, the Honor Roll also came to include women. The three local women serving as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the US Naval Reserve were Eleanor Brandt, Lois Kaden, and Pearl Seller. Army Nurse Elizabeth Mettie was also added to the Honor Roll.  

As time passed, some of those noted on the Honor Roll lost their lives. At first, gold crosses were painted in front of the names of individuals who gave their lives in the war. Later these individuals were identified with gold stars.  

The War and the Honor Roll Board Come to an End

By the end of the war in September 1945, 761 residents of Medina village, Medina Township, and Montville Township were named on the Honor Roll Board. The sign remained in place at South Court Street but, over time, came to need repainting and repair.  It was ultimately decided that the Honor Roll Board should be part of the Memorial Day exercises in 1947 and then removed.  

Learn More

To view a larger image of the Honor Roll Board, and the names of veterans honored on it, click here.  

To learn more about the Honor Roll Board, visit https://mcdl.info/newspapers and view the following issues of the Medina Gazette: 

• 11 September 1942, p. 1

• 22 September 1942, p. 1

• 23 October 1942, p. 1

• 23 April 1943, p. 1

• 6 July 1943, p. 1

• 24 August 1943, p. 1

• 1 February 1944, p. 1

• 23 May 1944, p. 1

• 5 June 1945, p. 1

• 20 July 1945, p. 1 

• 25 September 1945, p. 1

• 4 February 1947, p. 6

• 27 May 1947, p. 1

• 18 April 1947, p. 1

• 20 May 1947, p. 1

• 3 June 1947, p. 8