Cincinnati Museum

On April 5, I went to visit the Cincinnati Terminal to observe the history exhibits. There were multiple exhibits to view about Ohio’s history, WWII, and landscape of Cincinnati. The exhibit that I enjoyed learning about was called, “Cincinnati in Motion” at the beginning of the museum. College students, teachers, and volunteers who were interested  in reconstructing the Downtown Cincinnati landscape during the Industrial period constructed it in 1998. This exhibit is 3500 square feet, which is the largest model in the world that consists of 3400 figures and 400 vehicles to bring downtown Cincinnati to life within the exhibit.

There were three main parts of the exhibit I thought were interesting. The transportation system, Proctor & Gamble Company, and Mount Auburn Incline. These models had significant information describing how the people who lived downtown developed a way of life during the Great Depression and War World II.  The first model I enjoyed reading about was Ohio’s transportation system. In the Nineteenth and Twentieth century, Ohio trade was an important concept to individuals who were making profitable income to support their families by trading domestic goods along the Ohio River. Many boats had imported goods from other locations to trade with different companies to make a profit. There was different competition that affected river trade, which was the railroad system and trucks transporting goods from other locations. This new transportation changed Cincinnati from walking to where goods were traded to reconstruct a city with streetcars, locomotives, and automobiles.

The second model I was interested in was called, “Ivorydale in 1910’s.”  In 1885, one of the largest companies in the world was constructed in Downtown Cincinnati. This business was called “Proctor & Gamble company,” that was located in Ivorydale, Ohio. This business product for consumers that to be used in households and in the war. The famous product used by so many consumers and is still being produced today s called “Ivory Soap.” Proctor and Gamble Company invented many products to help families develop their way of living and assisted the individuals who went into the war. The products produced in this company were Crisco, laundry detergent, first aid kits, and glycerin. The company supported the men and women who served in World War II. The product, glycerin, was used as an explosive to help fight off the Nazis. The type of transportation system the company used to transport their products to other locations was the railroad system. Picture: Proctor and Gamble Company

The third model I was interested in was called, “Mount Auburn Incline.” This model had many features describing the demographics of the outer part of Downtown Cincinnati. This location had the development of suburbs to raise a middle class family. The wealthy consumers were motivated to escape to this area to earn a better living. There was a better transportation system created for the migration of middle class families moving into the area. In 1887, the Mount Auburn Cable Railway was constructed for the middle class families to travel to the downtown area.

I was amazed by the design of the models and learned the history about Downtown Cincinnati. I walked around to explore and observe other exhibits within the museum. I learned more information from this exhibit to give me my idea for my project.

Reference to: www.cincinnatimuseum.com

In the 1920’s, the city of Dayton was progressing into Industrialism. The revolution of industrialism was innovated by a Dayton business leader who wanted to make money and create employment opportunities of the people living in the Dayton area. John H. Patterson was the founder of “The National Cash Register Company” who wanted to improve the living standards, education opportunities, and housing arrangement. After the flood in 1913, Patterson created his business from investing in stocks that would develop employment for the Gem City who were affected by this natural disaster. The type of business Patterson built was constructing multiple departments within the company to fund school programs, recreation, transportation, and financial needs. The three main departments Patterson favored were the inventions department, the typewriting department, and the welfare program.

The inventions department was created after Patterson discovered the use of a cash register. This technology was the motivator to mobilize his company to construct more demand to sell to other companies around the city. In 1904, Patterson started working with a local inventor and business man, Charles Kettering. They worked together to invent brand new technology to enhance production on cash registers. This new invention was called the “O.K. charge phone” which was attached to the register to register a charge for a center product. This invention increased demand to buy more cash registers to use in local department stores. In the book, Ohio: History of People, the author, Canton said, “Kettering made a fetish of hard work. He liked to call cost of the ‘first dimensions’ of engineering. He thought experts never accomplished much because they knew too much and were too cautious”(Canton, pg 177).  Patterson and Kettering shared the same work ethic to have a purpose to create more goods and services in  the Dayton area.

The typewriting department was designed by Patterson to motivate women who lived in Dayton and did not have the same opportunities as men did. He observed that women had smaller fingers compared to men and would be able to type documents faster. This was an opportunity for women to serve in the same field of work to take over clerk and secretary jobs. There were other employment opportunities for women to take cooking classes, help with the laundry, and to teach at the NCR school house.

 The welfare program for NCR employees benefited them to work in a healthy environment and receive minimal hours of labor.  Patterson was worried about the welfare of the people living in the Dayton area who were not receiving minimal hours and working in terrible conditions. In the book, Grand Plans: Business Progressivism and Social Change in Ohio’s Miami Valley, the author Judith Sealander wrote, “The National Cash Register Company used welfare work, then in hopes of increasing work force productivity and efficiency and of thwarting carelessness, absenteeism, even work sabotage.” <Grand Plans page 35>. He wanted to change the work atmosphere to keep his employees to work hard and to stay longer to boost the economy.

Reference to:

Cayton, Andrew. Ohio The History of People. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2002. Print.

Watson, C (2002). Dayton Comes of Age: The City Through The Eyes Of John H, Patterson 1897-1922. Dayton Ohio: Montgomery County Historical Society.

In 1681, the British attacked the borders of Connecticut to control the land and agreed to give the western part of Connecticut to William Penn. He was the founder of the Pennsylvania territory. The author, Wheeler, explained in the article how the settlers had conflicts with the British about land right, economic issues, and transportation. King Charles II had control over most of Connecticut’s land and would not allow settlers to have the rights to take care of these issues. It took thirty years for settlers and investors to fight to claim the land to build colonies and reserve the rights for democratic settlement.

Reference to:

Wheeler, Robert Project Muse . Retrieved May 31, 2009, from The Connecticut Gensis of Western Reserve 1630-1796 Web site: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ohio_history/v114/114.wheeler.pdf

Kitty Hawk Plans

I’m standing in front of the “Ejection Seat Exhibit”

On May 11, I went to visit “The Wright Brothers Intervention Center” and “The Wright Brothers Cycling Company.” In 1889, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio became two famous historians by introducing aviation to the world. These two Dayton brothers were Orville and Wilbur Wright. They worked in the Gem City repairing bicycles and printers. The Wright brothers were interested in the dynamics of how a simple kite flies through the air. This was the inspiration to build an invention that could transport an individual through the air. The type of aviation technology that was being invented by the Wright Brothers were lightweight engines, functional propellers and used wooden resources to construct the airplane. These resources built into their invention were unresearched by the Wright Brothers trying to figure out how to get the plane off the ground.

            By the end of 1902, the Wright Brothers were ready to test their invention called “Kitty Hawk.” They transported the plane to North Carolina to test the first flight on December 17, 1903. Their successful flight made worldwide headlines. They traveled to Europe to demonstrate their plane in motion and received high honors. I took pictures from the exhibit to show how the Kitty Hawk flew over European citizens a couple pictures. There was a short film demonstration showing the Wright Brothers’ flight in Europe and receiving their medals from the European government. In 1903, the Wright Brothers registered for a patent to protect their famous invention and research. A patent is the exclusive right to a product for a period of time from the date the product is invented. In 1906, the patent was applied to their aviation research to prove true ownership over the “Kitty Hawk.”

            A famous quote from Wilber Wright said, “We honestly think that our work of 1900’s had been civil to  value the world and that world owes us as inventors.” The Wright brothers wanted the recognition for their innovation to invent the first aviation technology in the world. This technology diffused globally to create different aviation models. In 1910, there were two important models to be reconstructed that resembled the Wright Brothers’ plane. The first model was Model B, it was the first mass produced airplane. The second model, Model G, was a flying boat plane used to fly along the Great Miami River to transport goods to other areas. In November, the first flight school was established in the Dayton area for men who wanted to learn about aviation technology and used the Huffman Prairie Field to test different models.

            In 1920, this famous technology invented by the Wright Brothers was advancing to build stronger models to hold more people to transport around the area. There were safety concerns about the plane having faults and crashing on impact. The brand new innovation to relieve safety concerns was the ejection seat with a parachute added to the back of the seat. A lieutenant named Howard Harris was the first individual to test the ejection seat over McCook Field. This demonstration showed people different scenarios about a plane having faults and learning how to use this new technology to save their life.  Aviation technology progressed to the War Worlds to help transport goods, weapons, and other materials to assist military needs.

            After walking around the Wright Brother exhibits, I have learned the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers innovation in the Dayton area that inspired people to believe in different technology to mobilize around the world.

Reference to: 

http://www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/facilitysites.htm

This is model of the Wright Brothers plane but used different material

Wright Brothers Plane flying over European citizens

Wright Brothers Bicycle Company

Wright Brothers office area

The clothing attire the African American wore in the 1950's.

Mary Church Terrell

Me in front of one my favorite African American paintings. “The Problem We All Live With”

On May 22^nd, I went to visit “The African American Museum” located in Wilberforce, Ohio.  In this museum, it has three main exhibits to observe and learn about the African American Culture. A famous African American painting called “The Problem We All Live With: School Integration” is important to send a message to not live in segregation and to have the equal opportunities as everyone else. In the 1950’s, the African American culture was frowned upon society in society and encouraged to live in separate areas away from the white communities. These communities were divided into their own grocery stores, restrooms, and education.

            The African American culture diffused their own music “Jazz” from the New Orleans areas to spread to the Southern area. There were not many jobs for African Americans during this difficult time. Many African American men and women worked as tailors, gas stations attendants, and lower employment to help the middle class families. The African American cultural realized how “segregation” was degrading their rights as an individual need to take a stand to speak the truth for equal opportunities. For example, in the exhibit, there were African American leaders who made a difference within the Southern communities. One of the leaders was Mary Church Terrell, she was a famous African American leader who fought for her rights to become a true educator, author, and civil rights activist. She was the president of the NAACP who organized the civil rights movement through the Southern region of the United States to speak “the voice” of ending Jim Crow Laws against African Americans.

            The African American painting I addressed at the beginning has significance to the era of segregation.  In the painting, there are two body guards walking by a young African American girl who wanted to attend an all White school and details how the Southern community reacted by rioting against the notion of integration. The young girl who was illustrated in this painting was Ruby Bridges. She had the ambition to make a difference by learning how to read, write, and solve math problems. She attended an all white school that had no rules  to integrate African American students. Ruby wanted to make a difference and sent out a message to all colored students who had the disadvantages in their education to not give up and to take a stand.  In 1965, a famous Supreme Court Case, “Brown vs. School Board of Education”, fought to end all segregation in public schools to give each student the same opportunity to learn the same material and to learn how to be successful to achieve employment opportunities.

            After walking through all the exhibits, I was drawn to the 1950’s exhibit to learn more about how segregation diffused through the African American cultural, not just to the people in the community. The painting is one of my favorites for reading the information about how this young girl made a difference to earn a decent education and influenced others to do the same. I do believe this painting defines the transformation form segregation to integration by speaking the truth and taking a stand for equal opportunities.

Reference to:   

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw13/index.shtml#hours

Painting

Steve Urkel Doll

            The Shaker families started to build dwelling houses, farms, gardens, and crops. In this community, the men, women, and children lived in their own dwellings. The vow of celibacy is for the families to be married into the community to live in happiness, work together, and keep their promise to God. In 1832, the Shaker movement increased with new members signing the agreement to work among their brother and sisters. The founder of this movement was a young woman named Ann Lee who grew up in a textile mill, married young, and had four children whom died at a young age. She turned to religion after her children’s deaths. She started a religious movement that devoted a promise to God to live in happiness to work among her brothers and sisters. The movement was called, “Shaking Quakers” but renamed the movement “Shakers.”

In 1774, a religious society, United Society of Believers in Christ Second Appearing, was ran out by New Yorkers who didn’t trust these certain individuals who believed in celibacy and vowing their life to God. These individuals ran to the religious land to escape from the real world.  The ideals in the Shaker community were changing due to each member entering having a specific skill to introduce and were valued by having those types of skills. For example, the type of agriculture was changing into commercial leading to industrial to trade along the river by using different transportation. The type of transportation the Shakers used were flatboats and tug boats to take their production of crops up or down river to sell. The community was discovering different types of music to integrate into their happiness to work as a family. 

            At the beginning of the Nineteenth century, the Shaker population started to decline over the years. Their communities were being auctioned to people who were taking advantage of buying their belongings that were devoted to God’s glory. There were only twelve people left who promised their devotion to the Shaker community. In 1960, a new agreement was presented to the Pleasant Hill Shaker area to study and restore the community to preserve the buildings to learn about this religious movement. This religious movement extended from Maine to Kentucky to devote nineteen communities to honor their way of life, labor, and happiness.  

Reference to:

(2009). Shake Village of Pleasant Hill. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from The Shaker Movement Web site: http://www.shakervillageky.org/i/downloads/shaker_movement.pdf

The Shaker Movement. Perf. Peter Thomas. Videocassette. American Production, Film.

          In the book, Ohio: The History of A People, the author Canton wrote about the early Ohioans traveling to the area to transform into a culture of consumerism by using the resources it had to build a buisness to sell goods and services. The land had a variety of soil and good soil to grow crops. Canton wrote, “The key to its success was its location” (Canton, page 21). He described how Ohioans were attracted to the good soil, the variety of land, and the waterways to create settlements through the Ohio valley.

  The first letter was from Thomas Rotch written to William Imlay. This letter described Rotch’s disapproval of the Ohio Valley being a suitable place to settle down with his family and to build his factory to produce wool. He thought Ohio’s climate would affect his wife’s health. He wrote, “These however severe, are evils that will work its own cures for while self denial on the  one hand becomes familiar, the improvement in Arts and Manufactures will on the other relieve the remaining wants, and thus lay a foundation for ‘free and independent people.”’ This information was important to relate to Canton’s information about how  the settlement area in Ohio had its advantages and disadvantages to build an income of the land. 

            The second letter was from Amasa Delano to Thomas Rotch. Amasa lived in Chillicothe, had some land to offer to Thomas to settle his family and raise livestock to build his factory to produce wool. In the letter, she described the qualities of land that had renewable resources for the family to use. For example, she wrote, “The land is sufficiently elevated for the of sheep & as I before mention the soil is strong and good with a beautiful fall.” The dialect of her words was clearer to understand compared to the first letter written by William Imlay. His dialect and the information about settling in the Ohio Valley that he was trying to communicate were difficult to read and to understand.

            William Heald wrote the third letter to Thomas Rotch regarding the settlement in Columbiana County. William Heald described the potential of the land as being more satisfying for his family settle to start his wool business. Rotch’s family was invited to visit their home to observe the area with good grass, coal, herding areas, and water access to run his factory. Thomas wanted to live near running water to use to power his wool factory and increase his production. He wanted to use a different type of power that would be more efficient to increase his business rather than using animal power.  At the end of the letter, his friend explains that this wonderful area won’t be a concern to his wife’s health because of the good resources to improve her condition. This was a reason Thomas hesitated to settle in the Ohio valley because his wife’s health came first.

            After reading these primary documents, these letters were informative to learn about the issues of settlement coming to the Ohio Valley before the War of 1812. These issues addressed how the Ohio valley was transformed by settlements taking over land from Native Americans, building up their business, education, and slavery. 

Reference to:

Delano, Amasa (1811). Agriculture; Climate and Weather. Massillon, Ohio: Roth-Wales Collection.

Heald, William (1811). Geography and Natural Resources: Business and Labor. Massillon, Ohio: Rotch-Wales Collection.

Rotch, Thomas (1811). Daily Life: Busines and Labor. Massillon, Ohio: Rotch-Wales Collection.

Cayton, Andrew. Ohio The History of A People. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2002. Print.

Tobacco stocks hanging from the barn.

I was petting one the horses who were grazing behind the barn.

One of volunteers whose role was being the farmer. He was giving the vistors wagon rides.

                On April 26, my third museum site was Carriage Hill.  The history of Carriage Hill was dated back to the 1830’s.  The owners were Daniel and Catherine Arnold who were from Virginia. They had five children. The family relocated to the Ohio Valley to settle down on a larger space of land to make a better income to stabilize the growth of the family.

This picture is the laundry system that was used by the Arnold family.

            The first site I went to look at had different barns that stored wagons, tools, or crops. The volunteers of the park demonstrate the roles of the Arnold family. For example, Catherine’s father would carve a piece of wood to make a tool or piece of furniture to display in the house.  A young man, who played the role of Henry, demonstrated how to use a man-made machine to carve a piece of wood into a tool to help with growing different crops.  When I walked to the big red barn, I noticed that in the bottom level is where the livestock were kept in their own stalls. The Arnold family owned lambs, chickens, jersey cows, draft horses, and china pigs. The draft horses were outside grazing in the pasture. These are magnificent horses that help the farmer pull trees out of the ground, pull wagons, and help by pulling a steel tilling machine. For example, in the 1880’s, the farmers grew their crops to eat and transport these crops to the Dayton railroad system to earn a descent income. The draft horses’ labor helped the Arnold family till the ground to grow tobacco, corn, wheat, and hay. The women in the family would make home made products to use in their cooking or sell to markets. The products were homemade butter, milk from the cows, sugar, and spices.

             The inside of the Arnold’s house displayed how they lived back in the 1800’s. For example, the furniture was made out of different types of wood including the bed. The women were creative by using a weaver to make multiple quilts to use in their home for beds or decoration. When you walk outside to the back of the house, you will see the kitchen, the outhouse, and laundry room. This family did all their responsibilities by hand because there was no electricity. The Arnold family demonstrated a type of Ohioan  folk culture that diffused through  the area to influence the uses non-materials to produce their own way of life.   

The Arnold family settled on this part of land to build barns to run their production of different crops.

Reference to: www.carriagehillmetropark.com

            In the 1840’s, a Ohioan physician, Edwin Davis, planned to visit different mounds to record data, survey, and map out the area. He had assistance to dig into the mounds to find artifacts buried with human remains. He found many artifacts that detailed the importance of this lost civilization. There was another investigation by Thomas Folk, who knew about this lost race and traveled down to Tennessee to test his theory. He discovered ceremonial graves found in the mounds and linked these important traits to the Indians. Folks knew the Shawnee tribe had similar ceremonial burials by placing the human body with their belongs and placing them in the ground. The Shawnee Indians would pour soil and mud on top of the burial ground to create the mound shape. 

            After the multiple investigations on the lost civilization, the mounds were disappearing due to farmers cultivating the land and building major cities. In the Ohio Valley, the Hopewell culture was one of the lost civilizations who built these ceremonial mounds. This culture had unique architectural traits, which consisted of constructing their tribal area by creating platforms of different living commodities for their people.  There is an historical mound burial site located in Southwest Ohio that has many different sized mounds that were constructed by the Fort Ancient people.

            At the end of the video, the narrator talked about an area that was abandoned and historians took over to pursue their investigations about the mound-builders. Many archeologists discovered artifacts that were used for tools, cooking, and hunting. A group of students were invited to this area to assist the scientists and to learn about this culture. The students were assigned to help build a mound by using the same method the mound builders used to bury human remains with their belongings. To begin the burial ceremony, the students used shovels to dig a hole in the ground to place the remains underground with their personal belongings. The belongings placed with the remains were tools, food, and flowers.

 For the next step, students had to place straw and pieces of wood across the remains before placing the dirt on top of the burial plot. The archeologists divided the students into groups; one group to gather dirt using baskets and the other group to pack down the dirt to build up the mound. It took them about four hours to shape the beginning of the mound. These students learned how mound builders cherished their responsibility to their elders, to the women, and children to value their way of life.   

Reference to: Native American Mound Builder Southwest: Human Remains. Videocassette. Film.

  The Locust Grove School is located in Carillion Historical Park. This school was built in 1920 in Dayton, Ohio. It is a one-room school building to hold a carrying capacity of students ranging from four years old to eighteen years old. When you walk into the building, you will notice that desks are built for different ages. There are heat stoves located at the sides of the room to keep the school house warm during harsh winters. On the chalkboard, the students would learn their ABCs, cursive writing skills, and grammar skills. They had multiple textbooks for learning about each subject. The students would write with a quill pen and would have an ink bottle placed on their desk. The significance of this schoolhouse was the United States map that was displayed in the front of the room. This map was created in 1882, to display the regions that were developing into statehood because not all fifty states had achieved statehood. This map showed the boundary lines with the Spanish, the Europeans, the Native Americans, and the French.

The Newcom Tavern is the oldest historical building standing in this park. Cornell Edward and Mrs. Edward Deed built this building in 1796. This building was located off the corner of Main street in the city of Dayton. When you walk into the tavern, there is a dining room on the left-hand side that has long wooden tables to sit down to eat a hot meal, tools to cook, a weaving machine, and candles hanging from the ceiling. Mrs. Deed would allow travelers to spend the night in the tavern but had to pay a fee to eat and sleep for the night. She would use different cooking tools to make a certain meal for the guests who were staying for the night. When you walk over to the right-side of the tavern, there is a wooden bed and weaving machine. This is where Mr. and Mrs. Deed slept while their guests slept on the second floor.  The significance of this historical home was the first home in Dayton to use siding rather than other materials.

The Morris house is located right next to the Newcom Tavern. William Morris built it in 1815 for his family to live in. When you walk into the house, the bedroom is on the right-side of the house while the kitchen area is on the left-side of the house. There is a backyard area where the Morris family grew many resources of food to help conserve throughout the winter time. The women would do the cooking, weave, and dipped approximately eight-five times to make six bee wax candles a day. In the corner of the house, there is candle maker machine for the women to use to make candles by hand. The Morris family did have a maid to help them out with chores and slept on the second floor of the house which was the attic. The significance of the Morris home was the famous bedtime saying, “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” The Morris family bed used rope to string across to lay down on but they used straw to pack into sheets to sleep on at night. The straw can attract different bugs to live in the sheets and will bite your skin.
 

Locust Grove School House

Reference to: (2009). Carillion Historical Park. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from Tour of the Park Web site: http://www.carillonpark.org/tourthepark.html

Morris House

Newcom Tavern