In 1884, there were riots in the streets of Cincinnati unlike anything they had ever seen before. Sure, there had been riots in the past, but nothing like this. People had been upset before – Cincinnati was changing (and expanding) and not everyone liked the direction it was heading. But now, people were starting to […]
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History, True Crime
Augustus West was born into slavery in Madison County, Virginia on March 20, 1814, but moved as either an escaped or freed slave (history isn’t entirely certain to which one it is) to Ohio in 1837. Before long, he built himself a mansion and began to create a settlement for people like himself, which prospered
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History, Ohioans You Should Know, People
If you ever found yourself driving east on New Vienna Road from the town of New Vienna, you would soon come across a road named Gist Settlement Road. It doesn’t look like much – just another country road with a few houses off in the distance, but the unusual name of the road might catch
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Ghost Towns and Lost Places, History, Places
When I was reading the story of Thomas D. Carr, what struck me the most was the idea that if these events were to have played out today, as opposed to 1869, things would have been played out very differently. Then again, that can be said about a lot of nineteenth century events. Louisa Fox
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History, True Crime, Unsolved Unresolved
Doctor Sam Sheppard of Cleveland, Ohio, was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Marilyn Sheppard, in 1954. Before long, however, his conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court. He was tired again, but this time he was acquitted. Then David Janssen played (a fictional version of) him on television, and later Harrison Ford did
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History, True Crime, Unsolved Unresolved
Believe it or not, Ohio has played a rather serious role in the history of Rock N’ Roll. Some of that history is awesomely good (for example, we’ve got The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame up in Cleveland) … but, sadly, some of it is not so good (such as The Who Concert Tragedy,
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History
George Robert Dramis was born in 1924 in Ashtabula, Ohio, which is where he spent most of his life. When he was eighteen years-old, just after graduating from Ashtabula High School in 1942 (where he was best known as an athlete and standing six foot one, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds, he was quite
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History, Ohioans You Should Know, People
In history, there has been no group as polarizing as The Klu Klux Klan, the far right-wing group promoting white supremacy, anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, antisemite, homophobic (among other) ideologies. Across nearly all forms of media, we can see examples of Klan behavior, we can hear their speeches, watch as they don those white hooded robes they
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History
What was the Best-Selling novel of the Nineteenth Century? Gosh, I hear you say – there are so many wonderful books to choose from. You’ve got a number of Jane Austin novels to choose from, or perhaps something from the Brontë sisters. There was Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, and works by Edgar Allan
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Fictional Ohio, History, Ohio Book Club
Ruth Baumgardner was, according to the vast majority of newspaper and magazine articles written about her, a very pretty young woman. In 1937, Ruthie was a senior at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio (otherwise, her home was in the Lakewood suburb of Cleveland). Most people found Ruthie to be personable, friendly even, and there
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History, True Crime, Unsolved Unresolved