A Titanic Headline

A group of 4th grade students visited the Local History and Genealogy Room recently and asked to view the Massillon Independent for April 15, 1912 - the day the Titanic sank. The children were shocked and confused to discover the headline "Titanic Crew and Passengers Safe." How could this be? What was going on? This was a great opportunity not only to teach the students how to use microfilm (which they found mysterious and fascinating), but also about how much the pace of information has accelerated over the last 100 years.

Kendal House History Class

Karen Rohr, Rose Hallett and Katie Woods
review Rohr's history of Seneca Street.

Current residents of the original town plat of Kendal gathered at the library on Saturday, February 4 for a house history class led by genealogy specialist, Jean Adkins.

Among those present was Karen Rohr who grew up on 11th Street NE, but now lives on Seneca. She has been researching the houses on Seneca for several years now, and brought with her a impeccably organized binder of her findings to date.

Sisters Rose Hallett and Katie Woods were there too. Rose lives in the house where she was born. She believes the house was once located on State Street but moved to its current location. Her parents bought it in 1923.

Katie lives near the Quaker Cemetery on Seneca. She said she used to be well known in the neighborhood for chasing children away from the cemetery. "My husband told me not to do that," she said. "He said the children would remember us at Halloween and not in a nice way, either." But he was wrong - her house never suffered the insult of broken eggs or other "opinions."

Cindy Clark and her Aunt Ann learn how to research
the history of their early Kendal house from
genealogy specialist Jean Adkins.

Cindy Clark came with her Aunt Ann. Their residence, in which Ann has lived since 1979, was discovered during the class to be a very early Kendal house. Over a decade ago, a man had told Ann that her house was "one of the two original houses in Kendal." While this may not be entirely true - it is probably close to it. She describes the main portion of her home as containing two large rooms, separated by an archway. The wood framing the arch and windows is extremely hard.  She recently renovated one of these rooms and discovered the walls were constructed of timber logs.

One of the tools used during the class was a map made by Frank Harrison Jr. (1910-1944). This map was recently photographed by the Massillon Museum and made available online at kendalohio.com. Harrison was one of the Museum's first employees and hoped one day to make a scale replica of Kendal. This map contains a wealth of information he gathered while conducting research on the town.

The map below is the modern equivalent to Harrison's map. It contains information on past, present and possible Kendal historic locations. A work in progress, new information is added as it is gained. Thanks to Ann's participation in the house history class, another early Kendal house has been identified.

View Historic Locations in Kendal in a larger map

A Bit of Your Refund = Funds for Local History

A donation using the box above will go to the new OHS History Grant progam.

There are ideas - and then there are really good ideas. The new check box on the Ohio Income Tax form is the latter - a really good idea that will provide funding for all sorts of local history projects.
This is how it will work. You write a number in the appropriate box on your Ohio Income Tax Form. >> The amount you indicate will be given to the Ohio Historical Society.>> OHS will put that money in a fund. >> The fund will be used for a new grant program.>> The grants from this new program will go to local history projects in communities all around Ohio.
Projects that can be funded with the grants include: programs, restoration, conservation, exhibits - all kinds of things. Grants of this type are very much needed - and a new program is welcome news, indeed.
So think about giving $5 of your tax refund to this new program. Chances are very good that $5 will find its way right back to Massillon in the form of a grant for local history projects here at the library.

Here's where to find the "magic" box:

• On the 1040 tax form the box is Line 25.
• On the 1040EZ tax form it is Line 18.
• In the Telefile instructions it is Line 13d.

For more information, call the Ohio Historical Society at 1-800-686-6124.

Journey into the Past

Fascinated with family or local history? The Massillon Public Library is the place to come! We’ve been busy with local history questions and have had a great time digging into the past. Massillon natives from the early 1900’s and 1940’s have held the spotlight during the recent weeks. The Reference Department from Stark County District Library called on us for help with researching Robert Scott, a former Massillon Tiger football player who received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Their patron was an author writing a history of Ohio High School Sports and wanted to know if Mr. Scott played football in Massillon. The answer was found in a 1932 yearbook.

A second query came in concerning Massillonian Robert P. Skinner, former Ambassador to Ethiopia and author of several books on the subject. Our patron was a student from Walsh University working on a graduate thesis. We were able to provide assistance by finding information on a Library of Congress microfilm owned by the library.

As you can see, researching people, places and family can be quite fun and interesting. We have a host of resources and programs here at the library ready for your curiosity and fingertips. Massillon City Directories, Washington High School Year Books, the Massillon Business Database, the Obituary Index and The Rotch-Wales Papers make up just a few of our local history resources. Visit our Genealogy page on the library’s website to find numerous links and additional resources. Also, be sure to check out our Calendar of Events for upcoming programs.

O.B.I.E.'s Origins

Where did the famous Massillon mascot, O.B.I.E., get his name?

That's exactly what one patron was pondering one fall afternoon when he called our Reference Desk for some help. A proud member of Washington High School's class of 1930 (!), he recalled a contest in which his fellow students were invited to suggest ideas for their new mascot's name; the most clever submission of the bunch would be the one bestowed upon the tiger cub. One of his female classmates won the contest with her entry for O.B.I.E. (which stands for Orange and Black Is Excellent, of course!). However, after all these years, our patron seemed to have forgotten the winner's name and asked that we provide him with it, if possible.

So we got to work! We scoured all of the old Washington High School yearbooks from 1926-1930 for any mention of a contest or a winner. We combed through old newspaper clippings from The Massillon Independent. We sifted through pages upon pages of materials from our collection dedicated to the history of Massillon football, like Massillon Memories: The Inside Story of the Greatest Show in High School Football and The Massillon Tigers Story: The First Hundred Years. Alas, despite our best efforts, we found no mention of the mystery girl behind O.B.I.E.'s namesake.

Enter Junie Studer, Massillon Booster Club historian and former president. When we called Mr. Studer at home the next day, his initial response to our query was a familiar laugh; this question had obviously been posed to him many times in the past. He told us that the winner of the naming contest, held in 1926, was Viola Black, a member of the WHS graduating class of 1927. Success!

We were happy to wrap up this reference question by sending our patron a letter with the information he requested, along with a copy of a page of the 1927 edition of a Washington High School yearbook that included Ms. Black's senior picture. Now our patron can put a face to a name that was attached to a fond recollection from his past. We hope he enjoyed that trip down memory lane!