Season’s Greetings from the Seneca County Digital Library!

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

At any given moment, someone is posting a photo of themselves or an update on something happening in his or her daily life. Perhaps he or she is even sharing photographs taken on a recent trip. But it's only been within the past couple of decades that personal news could be shared instantaneously in a visual form. Particularly at the end of the calendar year, "walls" on social media accounts are bombarded with holiday greetings -- a cheap way of reaching hundreds of acquaintances with just the click of a button.
Historically, it wasn't this easy, and our ancestors would never have dreamed of the modern conventions of sending sentiments to each other. Predating both the computer and telephone was the act of sending cards, a tradition slowly dying with each passing year.

Christmas is a popular occasion to "check in" with one's friends and family but letter writing was sometimes the only way of contacting someone in one's inner circle who lived far away.
When the United States first formed its postal service, it was fairly expensive to send long letters. Postcards became the equivalent to today's virtual post. The concept was the same--people shared a photo with a short message to quickly recap a recent event in which they were involved. And because a postcard was only one piece, at one time it cost as little as one penny to mail, regardless of the destination.

Within the Seneca County Digital Library there are almost 150 postcards that capture a variety of events and landmarks in Tiffin’s history, including the 1842 Seneca County fair, the 1880 courthouse, Riverview Park, Heidelberg University, Pioneer Mill, Shawhan Hotel, Oak Ridge Hotel in Green Springs, Tiffin Water Works, Koller's Store, the Carnegie library building, the old Columbian High School, the old Eagle's Home, the old post office (now the Civil War Museum), Indian Maiden statue, William Harvey Gibson statue, Junior Home, Louisa K. Fast Home, Meadow Brook Park, and street views of Market Street, Washington Street, Monroe Street, Sandusky Street, and Sycamore Street.

A postcard shows the extent of damage in Old Fort, Ohio, from the 1913 flood. Natural disasters were often commemorated in postcards in the early 1900s.
https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/35353/rec/77

Additionally, there is an extensive collection of postcards with photos taken of the epic 1913 flood that ravaged Tiffin in April 1913. At this time, postcards were in their height of popularity (as evident in T-SPL's collection on the SCDL since most are dated between the late 1800s and early 1900s). Natural disasters was a common theme portrayed on postcards to document the destruction they caused. Therefore, Tiffin was not the only municipality to record a flood in the form of postcards; the 1908 Dallas flood being another example.

Around this time the concept of the greeting card was just beginning to form. Hallmark was founded in 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri, by none other than a postcard dealer, Joyce Clyde Hall. The company initially started out by selling postcards but by 1912 began to focus on cards with envelopes. Likewise, American Greetings began just four years earlier much closer to home in Brooklyn, Ohio, by Polish immigrant, Jacob Sapirstein. Another Polish immigrant, Louis Prang, is credited with bringing the concept of the Christmas card to America.

Postcards even served as the antique form of online surveys, as indicated by articles in the Tiffin Business University Messenger. Using the April 1930 issue as an example, one such article urges students to fill out a postcard they received in the mail with their course selections. Once the students returned the completed postcard to the university, the course descriptions were sent for the courses in which they decided to enroll. When I was attending Heidelberg University in the early 2000s, I had to wait in line at the registrar's office on an appointed day and hour to officially register for my courses. By that point the postcards were no longer used but I imagine that today, current students probably select their courses using an online portal.

A view of Washington Street looking south in the early 1900s. This postcard can be viewed along with many others (and images of the reverse sides) on the Seneca County Digital Library. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/30285/rec/54

The style of a postcard can be a telling indicator of its timeframe, something else deltiologists (postcard collectors) look for. If the postcard has a thin white border, it was probably produced prior to the 1930s. During this era, "linen" postcards developed and were eventually replaced by the modern photochrome (or shiny) postcards of the modern era.

According to Collectors Weekly, Deltiology, or postcard collecting, remains the third largest collectable hobby in the world, surpassed only by coin and stamp collecting. Halloween is actually the most sought-after holiday when it comes to postcard collecting. Other popular topics include crime scenes, train crashes, baseball, and early photos of a city.
In that case, one could say the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library is a deltiologist!

Works Cited:

The Art History Archive. “The History of Postcards". http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/photography/History-of-Postcards.html

Collectors Weekly.  “Antique and Vintage Postcards". https://www.collectorsweekly.com/postcards/overview

Merelli, Annalisa, “How the humble greeting card continues to thrive in the digital age”. December 23, 2016. https://qz.com/859706/the-history-of-christmas-greeting-cards-from-the-victorian-britain-to-the-internet/

Miller-Wilson, Kate. "Value of Old Postcards". https://antiques.lovetoknow.com/Value_of_Old_Postcards

Seneca County Digital Library. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/search

Smithsonian Archives. "A Postcard History". https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history

To view the postcards on the Seneca County Digital Library simply type “postcard” in the search box.

“Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” (Robert Frost)

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

Imagine a fence. Seems easy enough. But what does your imaginary fence look like? Is it wood, wrought iron or another material? Solid or see-through? What color is it? How tall is it? Is it a rickety, old, decaying one that could use some TLC or is it pretty well maintained? What is the purpose of your fence? Is it containing something or keeping something out? Or is it just for looks? This is starting to sound like a game of 20 questions.
Fences have remained a necessary object in cultures throughout the world for millennia.  One can pass thru any neighborhood and see several residences with picket fences, chain link fences, or wood fences to provide privacy and a safe environment for small children and pets. If you look close enough, you may even see remnants (or perhaps replicas?) of original fences like the iron fence around the Seneca County Museum, for example. (This fence was originally part of the fencing around the old courthouse).
There are several references to these majestic structures in several documents on the Seneca County Digital Library website. But before we reveal where they stood, we need to get an appreciation of the value of antique iron.
Some might interchangeably use cast iron and wrought iron (like I did before doing research for this article), but there's actually a key difference between the two--wrought iron contains less carbon and is much closer to being pure iron. Carbon-deficient iron is more malleable, thus being a prime material for shaping into elaborate designs.

The Monroe Street School Centennial program published in 1956 explains the history of the cast iron fence that once stood. The entire publication can be viewed on the Seneca County Digital Library. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/35500

Cast iron fences, the literal "carbon copies," were cheaper because it could be poured into molds and mass produced. Wrought iron fences were hand-made by specialized artisans and therefore more expensive. So, you can see where I'm going with this. Wrought iron fences were a symbol of wealth.
A third type--composite fencing--consists of wire inside the wrought and cast iron. "Composite fences were regularly used to set off featured spaces such as private yards, cemeteries and churchyards," states an article from Period Homes Magazine. One featured "space" still existing in Tiffin is a sycamore tree on Frost Parkway. Contrary to popular folklore, there is no bullet in the trunk of this tree. Its fence is a symbolic protector of this tree, which was only a sapling when it marked the southern wall of Fort Ball in the early 1800s.
Howard Smith describes in the " What, How And Who Of It: an Ohio Community in 1856-1880 " how the old courthouse's iron fence as served as a makeshift 'bulletin board' in the 1880s.
Once in a while you will see an iron fence on mansard roofs. But these days it's rare to see authentic iron fences--most were removed during World War I to be melted into ammunition.
Another common material for fences is wood. White was a popular color among the Colonials simply because during this era, the Greek Revival architectural style reigned and white is the main color of most ancient Greek buildings. During the Colonial Revival architectural style in the early 1900s the white picket fence "became an icon" as part of the vision of the ideal American Dream.
The white picket fence may be somewhat decorative, but picket fences were an economical means to surround buildings. The original Seneca County Jailhouse in downtown Tiffin and the adjacent courthouse were both situated within wood fences. In the early 1800s, the courthouse's oak wood fence was 7 feet high and had a door on the East side. Also within its perimeter was a privy. The Jailhouse fence was petitioned by the Seneca County Commissioners:

"Eden Lease is hereby authorized to contract for materials and putting up of common board fence on the North and South ends, the East side, the South half of the West side and across near the center of East and West north of Jail of the Jail Lot in the town of Tiffin and Superintend the Same. Said fence to be five feet high, and the posts to be sunk in the ground two and one half feet." (Journal of the Seneca County Commissioners, Book 3)

There were many official fence makers in the county. A quick peek in various city directories one will come across any one of the following: fence builder, hedge fence builder, wire fence builder, dealer of fence pickets, fence post supplier and patent fence dealer. Additionally, "fence viewers" were individuals who were partially responsible for creating village layouts, including both New Riegel and Republic. It may sound like an obscure position but as recently as the early 1990s, fence viewers were still listed on the payrolls of villages in several states.

Six young gentlemen from the Junior Home goof around on a wood fence in the early 1920s. This photo can be viewed on the Seneca County Digital Library at https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/40887/rec/1

Fences often simply served as boundaries between properties and fence posts could be called some of the earliest "street signs." One such instance is noted in the Journal of the Seneca County Commissioners in an entry dated Dec. 3, 1827. In this meeting the commissioners were mapping the course of a proposed road that would follow "through said land a Northwest course to the northwest corner of John Kegys fence on the north part of the Northwest quarter of Section 17."
Planting a hedge fence was an eye-appealing option to separate two properties, a common practice still seen today. Common plants include rose bushes and arborvitae. Hedges are also economical because no fence posts were needed and the only maintenance they require is a little trimming. They also provide an environment for wildlife and protect the yard from soil erosion.

WORKS CITED:

“All About Picket Fences”. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/fences/21018995/all-about-picket-fences

Elizabeth Kryder-Reid. “HISTORY OF EARLY AMERICAN LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Hedge”. Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. https://heald.nga.gov/mediawiki/index.php/Hedge

Journal of the First Seneca County Commissioners 1824-1834 https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/57298/rec/9

Journal of the Seneca County Commissioners Book 2 1834-1846. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/56490

Journal of the Seneca County Commissioners Book 3 1846 to 1862.

https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/61228/rec/2

Period Homes Magazine, “Options for Traditional Metal Fencing”, Aug. 14, 2018.
https://www.period-homes.com/product-reports/metal-fencing-options

Pamphlet-Sidewalks Streets and Alleys. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/51851/rec/2

Pamphlet-Sidewalks Streets and Alleys-Historic Fort Ball. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/51855/

Seneca County Digital Library. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/search

The What, How And Who Of It: an Ohio Community in 1856-1880 by Howard Smith. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/16074/rec/1

“What are Fence Viewers?” May 9, 2019. https://buzzfence.com/what-are-fence-viewers/

Playing Cards Series #1: "What's Trump?" (Hint: NOT Donald)

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

Oct. 17 is the "5th annual National Playing Card Collection Day"

Do you remember your first game of Euchre? Mine was in sixth grade during "inside recess" on a rainy day. For most Midwesterners, including Ohioans, learning to play Euchre is one of the rites of passage into adulthood. Once one knows how to play Euchre, he or she has so many social opportunities from playing with family members at family functions or a spontaneous game on the back porch with friends on a summer evening to bonified Euchre tournaments. While Euchre has become more widespread in modern times, there are still many people in different parts of the country who have never heard of one of our region's most endearing pastime for several generations. Moreover, after 2016, they probably were very curious if they overheard a group of card players throwing in the words "heart," "diamond," "club," and "spade" with the question, "What's trump"?

Before television, football, the internet, and cars, playing card games, including Euchre, was a common past-time for the groups of German immigrants who settled in the Midwest. After all, they are the ones credited with introducing it to the United States. Euchre is a tradition that has stayed alive in the Midwest because it has been passed down through each generation. Most card experts agree that Euchre as we know it today originated in Alsace, France in the 19th century and was called "juckerspiel." The German term "Jucker" (The J in German is pronounced the same as the Y in English) derives ultimately from the French word for trump, "triomphe." Over time the name of the game simpled became "Anglicized" like so many surnames of our ancestors. An earlier version, Kaiserspiel, dates back to the 1400s. Suites included an Unter (equivalent to a Jack), Cardinal, Pope, Devil, and the Kaiser ("King" in German). Perhaps this is why one Junior Home kid recollects in the June 1995 issue of the Junior Homekid newspaper that a teacher there called the face cards the "Devil's Cards." Maybe she wasn't being sinister like the child thought?

The New Riegel “Euchre Gang”, using barrels as chairs in the early 1900s. Taken from “A History of New Riegel” on the Seneca County Digital Library, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/32068/rec/2

Luckily, Euchre is a very easy card game to learn. There are different levels with different rules, but most unofficial games within our homes are played just for fun.  It became so popular that many Euchre clubs formed, including schools and churches. For example, starting in 1984, the "55 Club" was a group of about three dozen people in the Bascom area who gathered in the basement of St. Patrick's Catholic Church every Monday evening to play Euchre. Likewise, members of the Tiffin Woman's Club held monthly card parties as well as the Bloom Grange Club in Bloomville and even Calvert High school boasted a Euchre Club.

Even if some fellow Ohioans has never had the opportunity to learn Euchre during their youth, there are several other classic card games our ancestors also enjoyed which also remain favorites today. One such game is Pinochle. Pinochle is such a beloved game that in the 1924 and 1925 Columbian Blue and Gold yearbooks a graduating senior "bequested" his "Pinochle playing ability" to an underclassman. Pinochle was among the activities offered regularly at the Kiwanis Manor after it was built in the early '70s (along with chess, checkers, bridge, and poker).

The Pinochle Club of National Machinery in the 1940s. Taken from the National Employees' Review, Picnic Edition 1947.
https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/64321/rec/1

Several issues of Tiffin University's TYSTENAC newspaper in the '40s and '50s marks Pinochle as a common activity among the students. In a couple of instances, pinochle was somewhat of a lifesaver. In the Tystenac July 1951, there is a story about a group of sorority women who went on a club trip to Cincinnati. While on their way home, one car got a flat tire so they spent the time they waited to get it fixed playing pinochle (in the same scenario today, the group would spend the entire time on their phones, disregarding everyone around them). The TYSTENAC May 1949 issue recaps how when it rained during a picnic hosted by a fraternity they all went inside and "played pinochle and softball at the same time." In fact, Pinochle was so popular during that time that a faculty member actually requested a course in Pinochle be added to the curriculum (Tystenac 1948/1949).

Another fairly easy game to learn is Rummy, which has been turned into a popular board game. There are several versions of Rummy, including Michigan Rummy, Gin Rummy and the Mexican version, Canasta. An author of card games, John Scarne, believes Rummy started as ‘Whiskey Poker,’ later called ‘Rum Poker.’ It was then shortened to ‘Rummy’ (maybe during Prohibition years?).

Dominoes, Hearts and Pinochle were some of the games a Junior Home kid records having played in his youth in the December 1991 issue of Junior Home Kid. Hearts originated in the United States around 1880 and eventually became included in the software of most modern computer systems. But playing with virtual competitors will never be the same as sitting around a card table with friends and family, even with the Zoom, Skype and other options of seeing others across a divide. Our ancestors didn't just pass down the rules of card games. More than the game themselves, our ancestors instilled the importance of comraderie and that's the most important rule of all.

WORKS CITED:

Bascom Area Sesquicentennial, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/41849/rec/2

“A Brief Summary Of the Origins of Rummy”, October 24, 2018. https://www.rummyculture.com/blog/history-of-rummy/

“Historic Card Games”, David Parlett https://www.parlettgames.uk/histocs/euchre.html

Haddad, Ken. "Why does Michigan love playing Euchre?" November 7, 2019. https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2019/11/07/why-does-michigan-love-playing-euchre/#:~:text=Origins%20of%20Euchre,terms%20also%20come%20from%20German

The Junior Homekid, June 1995. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/49366/rec/92

The Junior Homekid December 1991, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/47768/rec/1

Kiwanis Manor Brochure, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/52013/rec/1

Tiffin Woman's club program 1965-1966, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/54828

Tystenac 1948/1949. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/46246/rec/20

Yearbook Columbian Blue and Gold 1924 and 1925, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/1315/rec/1

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Let There Be Light (Electric Light, That Is)

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

We probably all say the phrase "a lightbulb came on in my head" at least once on a weekly basis. Well, the lightbulbs literally went on in Tiffin for the first time (and many parts of the country) in the early 1880s. September 4th marks the anniversary of the very first public electric lighting when the first central power station in the world, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York (now Consolidated Edison) lit its lamps.

Many major cities were soon to follow, but just because the light bulb as we know it today existed at that point, doesn't mean that everyone made the switch from candles and gas right away (notice the pun there?) Just like the slow reversal from horse and buggy to motor cars, from rotary landlines to fancy cell phones, people were hesitant to embrace electricity. It was also much more expensive to use than it is today.

Prior to the invention of the electric light bulb, homes and businesses used candles and gas lights, including kerosene lamps. Early pioneers in Ohio mainly used Betty Lamps lit by various forms of animal oil. According to Beth Maxwell Boyle in her article, Betty Lamps and Grease Lamps, "Fish oil gave the poorest light and was very smoky.  Animal fats were somewhat better but still burned with an odor.  Whale oil was much sought after as it produced the best light, but usually was only available in coastal towns, not always in rural areas. Whale oil gives off light about equal to that of two ordinary candles. This fuel was always expensive and highly sought after."

While that may sound messy and somewhat putrid, kerosene is simply a by-product of coal, another dirty substance.  A medical doctor and geologist by the name of Abraham Gesner began distilling coal to produce this clear fluid in the early 1840s and gave it the term for the Greek word for “wax oil.” Kerosene lamps were invented in 1853 and shortly thereafter streetlamps lit with kerosene lined the main streets even in smaller towns. The Tiffin Gas Light Company was formed in 1856, and 50 street lamps were installed around Tiffin. The Ohio Lantern Works, a company in Tiffin with 75 employees who produced baron lanterns and tubular lanterns, converted Tiffin's street lights to electric in 1883.

Lighting gas lamps was not an easy process. A student at the former Jackson Township School described how a group of boys had to walk a mile "uproad" to get coal oil at the general store for 4 lamps in preparation for a school play. Tiffin rascals apparently got the discarded carbon sticks from the gas streetlamps after they burnt out. The lamplighters used to give the sticks to boys so they could mark up the streets with them like black chalk.

New Riegel's 18 gas streetlamps cost $5.40 each in 1897 to install and the village marshall/street commissioner became the lamp lighter (a common practice in rural villages where individuals held multiple simultaneous roles). A History of New Riegel states that in 1912, Peter was paid $55 a year followed by Louis Seifert. New Riegel converted to electric street lights in 1927. Either Bascom had more streetlights or it just paid better--the Bascom Area Sesquicentennial 1837-1987 marks its going rate in 1923 as $100 to Ward Creeger. Bascom did not convert its streetlamps over to electric until 1957.

Many natives of Tiffin are familiar with one of its major claims to fame, so to speak, in regards to electricity. St. Paul's United Methodist Church on Madison Street was the first building in the world to be wired for electricity while it was being constructed in 1883, and a chandelier was gifted to the church by Thomas Edison himself. This brass and copper chandelier with 20 lamps was still serving as the main source of light for the sanctuary of the church as recently as 1973 and is still in use today.

What Tiffinites might not know unless they are history buffs is that the Tiffin Electric Illuminating Company contracted with the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City (the sole executive licensee of Edison patented incandescent lights) and  built a plant during the same year as St. Paul's UMC.  This plant was only the third of its kind in the United States at the time and the first "west of the Allegheny Mountains." It provided series arc lighting and arc lamps (the first type of electric light).

Electricity didn't start becoming widespread in rural areas until well into the 20th century. The Sisters of St. Francis installed electricity in its chapel in 1903. Risingsun passed the addition of electricity in its town with an election in 1910. Bettsville joined the trend in June 1916 when an ordinance was passed and both Bloomville and Republic followed shortly thereafter.

Seneca County originally had several electric companies. The Tiffin Electric Company, 139 E. Perry St., (controlled by Judy and George E. Seney) merged with the Tiffin Edison Co. in 1902 and was eventually bought out by the Ohio Light and Power Company in Canton in 1919. During that same time period the Fostoria Incandescent Lamp Co. (1897-1920) produced bulbs, tubing and rods.

General Electric as it looked in 1979. Photo was taken from an advertisement in the Tiffin Ohio - Chamber of Commerce 1979 Publication.

By 1925, however, still only half of the country had electricity. Coal oil lamps remained in most rural areas until FDR's New Deal's Rural Electrification Act (REA) in 1936. This Act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt May 20, 1936, initiated  loans for large construction projects like power plants and power lines and loans for individual homes (for example, wiring and appliances). In 1939, the REA was put under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and by the late 1940s, 95% of rural homes had electricity. Now, electricity had become a staple in American society (and much of the world), and with the growing demand, General Electric in Tiffin was built at 401 Wall Street in 1946. At one point GE of Tiffin employed over 1,500 people and was the city's largest employer throughout most of the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 1980s it had unfortunately closed. (On a side note, Atlas occupied the building next and recently TPC purchased it and will be moving almost 100 employees there shortly).

If one wants to learn more about Thomas Edison and the invention of the lightbulb, his birthplace is only a one-hour drive from Tiffin to Milan, Ohio. It has been a museum since 1947 and is a National Historic Site. According to the site's website, the United States and the Buckeye State could have almost just as well not been able to boast of being the home of the inventor of the lightbulb. Thomas Edison's great-grandfather, John Edison, was a wealthy landowner and Loyalist during the American Revolution. After the British were defeated, he was forced to become a refugee in Canada. His grandson (and Thomas Edison's father), Samuel Edison, was forced to become a refugee back into the United States after a political struggle with the British in Canada. If not for that, Canadians may have took the honor!

Works Cited:

Bascom Area Sesquicentennial 1837-1987, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/41947/rec/1

Betty Lamps & Grease Lamps, Beth Maxwell Boyle. https://www.ramshornstudio.com/early_lighting_2.htm

Between the Eighties, Tiffin, Ohio 1880-1980. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/65253/rec/1
Bicentennial Sketches, Myron Barnes.

Centennial of Sisters of St. Francis, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/36274

History of Kerosene Oil Lamps https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/history-of-kerosene-oil-lamps

History of the light bulb. Nov. 22, 2013. Department of Energy, https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-lightbulb#:~:text=Incandescent%20Bulbs%20Light%20the%20Way,possible%20with%20the%20arc%20lamp.

History of Bettsville, Ohio. John E. Durrett. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/29509/rec/3

A History of New Riegel, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/32008/rec/2

Newspaper Clip Chandelier Installed 1883, Ohio Power Review. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/58229/rec/1

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION (REA) The Living New Deal, https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/rural-electrification-administration-rea-1935/

Seneca County, Ohio History & Families, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/28319/rec/1

Seneca County History Volume 1, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/17316/rec/1

Survey of Ten Largest Industrial Employers, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/43451/rec/1

Third Annual Heritage Festival 1817-1981, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/27465/rec/1

Thomas Edison Birthplace, http://tomedison.org/tom/hislife/

Tiffin Street Cars and Public Utilities, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/22390/rec/1

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Dancing Series #2: “Will Dance for Food”

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

It’s become a common tradition in wedding reception halls around the country for a newlywed couple to have a “dollar dance.” In this dance, guests pay a dollar to dance with either the bride or groom. Once everyone gets a chance to dance with the couple, the money is tallied and whoever wins is expected to perform an act of kindness for the other, such as making breakfast in bed. This tradition may be all fun and games but throughout history there have been cultures who have taken similar fundraising dances much more seriously.

Dances for profit, or “benefit socials,” were particularly popular during war times and the periods immediately following them. In Tiffin some were held in either the National Hall or City Hall to “welcome the boys home from the war.” Others were held to raise funds for the fire department (Between the ‘80s). Several others throughout Seneca County are documented in various accounts throughout the 1920s. The District No.6 Lehman School near Bloomville raised $15.25 at a dance held around the end of World War I (the exact year is unknown). Columbian High School held several in the early 1920s as a fundraiser for its annuals (yearbooks). The 1924 dance was able to raise $30 (Seneca County, Ohio History & Families). Likewise, Risingsun High School organized a dance in 1912 for repairs to its school after it suffered a major fire.

Calvert student perform a scene from the musical Oklahoma! in 1969.

https://bit.ly/SCDLOklahoma

A box social is a profitable dance of a different kind. If one has ever watched the musical, “Oklahoma!,” he or she will be familiar with the box social. Before cell phones, social media sites and cars, people who lived in rural areas and small towns were essentially isolated from their neighbors. Large dances were coordinated as a social gathering. The tradition went that single women of marriageable age filled boxes with homemade goodies which were auctioned off to their single male peers.

“Generally the boxes are anonymous, so the men don't know which woman belongs to which box, nor what the box contains, the mystery and sometimes humorous results adding to the fun. However, it is not unknown for a young woman to surreptitiously
 drop hints to a favored man indicating which box is hers, as a way of "rigging" the results (and avoiding potentially less desirable company). The bidding involves teasing, joking, and competition.”  (Wikipedia, “Box Social”)

Any funds raised from these box social usually went to either the school, church or a civic project. A box social was held for the Tiffin-Seneca Sesquicentennial in 1967.

Also common during this time were corn husking bees, where the folks from the agricultural communities celebrated their hard-earned labors with a dance after their harvesting was finished. Most communities had at least once gentleman who was skilled in the art of playing the fiddle and others would accompany him with whistling or a harmonica. These “husking parties” weren’t just for the adults but for the entire family. Author E.R. Eastman in his autobiography, “Journey to the Day Before Yesterday,” written near the turn of the 20th century, writes,

“After the corn was husked, the barn floor was cleared, old Dan tuned up his fiddle, and the young folks danced in the light of the lanterns until midnight. If, during the husking, a girl was so lucky or unlucky, according to her point of view, as to find an ear of red corn, then she got kissed by most of the young men present. Let me tell you there was lots of tears shed (in private) and some heartaches caused by the red ear of corn.”

Native American women perform a dance in Columbus in September 1987. Photo taken by a Columbus Free Press staff member and displayed on the Ohio Memory Project website.

https://bit.ly/SCDLSenecaIndians

The Seneca Indians are just one of many Native American tribes who had their own form of corn dances, which also celebrated the fall harvest. It typically occurred in August. Europeans eventually adopted this practice and revised it to form their own version of a “Green Corn Ceremony.” These involved both feasting and fasting, repairing public buildings, public speeches, dancing and games. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, a “sacred fire” was lit and townsfolk used it to light their own fires within their homes. Some say these celebrations are where the term “stomping grounds” derived (modern Native American tribes actually perform a Stomp Dance during the Green Corn Ceremony).

Works cited:

Between the Eighties, Tiffin, Ohio 1880-1980. Myron Barnes, 1982. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/224/rec/4

“Box Social” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_social

“Corn Husking Parties.” The Authentic Campaigner. 2004, Jan 19. https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?694-Corn-husking-parties

“Green Corn Ceremony.” Eric B. Bowne, Wake Forest University. 2016, Jan 31. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1553

Seneca County History Volume 1, A.J. Baughman, 1911. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/17316/rec/1

Seneca County Ohio, History & Families, Seneca County Genealogical Society, 1998. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/28323/rec/20

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Pickled Peppers (and other flavors)

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

In the contemporary kitchen insta-pots have become the all the rage. If you have social media accounts like Facebook and Pinterest, your walls are probably full of friends sharing recipes, photographs and asking for ideas on what to cook next in their super-duper cooker.

Insta-pots are modern pressure cookers that are designed for the busy parents who “don’t have time” to waste in the kitchen preparing a nice home-cooked meal. Crock pots, a once popular alternative, are inconveniently slow these days.

The same trend happened in the United States about a hundred years ago or so with the advent of canned foods. Once they became available in stores, consumers saw them as a quick, cheap way to serve family dinner. But similar to the “do-it-yourself” movement in the 1970s when canning vegetables was seen as a superwoman power, we are starting to again see a resurgent interest in canning. The demand for foods that are non-GMO, organic and/or all-natural have led modern consumers to be more careful about what they are putting in their mouths, and canning their own vegetables gives them a sense of control. And canning foods also uses a pressure cooking method.

Prior to canning, people used methods such as drying, salting, brining, smoking, fermenting and pickling to preserve their food. The process of canning food was actually spawned in 1810 in part by Napoleon Bonaparte, who needed a large amount of edible food for his army. The Mason jar didn’t appear until the Civil War era and the pressure cooker was invented in Baltimore in 1874.

The Junior OAUM National Home Report lists how much food they canned in 1924.

https://bit.ly/SCDLJuniorHomeCanning

It didn’t take long for canning to become popular in Seneca County. Several documents in the Seneca County Digital Library reference the large amounts of preserves and homemade canned goods that were entered in the Seneca County Fair in the 1840s and 1850s. Martha M. Gibson in her recollections called “Reminisces of Early Days in Tiffin” explains,

“After the new grounds were opened, canned fruit, being a new way of preserving fruit as near as possible with its natural flavor, became a feature of the fair, and as we had every kind of fruit and flowering shrubbery on our Springdale place, I always contributed in some department, and frequently took prizes amounting to $24.00. Until 1877 I was a yearly contributor in the various departments. Counting from memory, the premiums I took on canned fruit, vegetables, fancy work, hand sewing and floral displays, I must have made about three hundred dollars in all, so it became money making as well as pleasure to all.”

The What, How And Who of It: an Ohio Community in 1856-1880 by Howard Smith provides that 120 jars of canned, preserved and pickled fruit was entered in the 1870 fair contest, noting some flavors of quince, gooseberry, pears and peaches, even crabapple marmalade”.

Canning met its decline in the 1930s and 1940s as it became commercially produced and refrigerators, a new way to preserve food for longer periods of time than before, became common in households.

If one wants to attempt to can their own vegetables and fruit, there is a process involved. If it isn’t followed, a type of bacteria can grow on the food that can cause botulism--rare but fatal. One must pay attention to the acidity of the food because highly acidic food and low acid foods require a different length of boiling time. This was known even early on in canning. If you need a book suggestion and aren’t afraid to read something a little controversial, we recommend “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, published in 1906. He eloquently describes in no uncertain terms, how he felt about canned meat.

Tiffin-Seneca Public Library’s copy of the classic “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair.

Works cited:

“A Brief History of Home Canning”. https://joepastry.com/2008/a_brief_history_of_home_canning_1/

“Canning Basics”, Linette Goard, Ohio State University Extension. https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-5338

“Canning Industry”. Encyclopedia.com https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/canning-industry

“How Did we Can? The Evolution of Home Canning Practices” USDA National Agricultural Library. https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/canning/timeline-table

Reminiscences of Early Days of Tiffin, Martha M. Gibson, 1967. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/12933/rec/12

The What, How And Who Of It: an Ohio Community in 1856-1880, Howard Smith, 1997. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/15811/rec/1

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Little Tiffin in the Prairie

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

Most Ohio libraries have copies of the Little House on the Prairie Books but there are areas in Ohio where one can actually experience a real prairie, too. While Laura Ingalls Wilder never set foot in Ohio, the landscape she was familiar with as a child did and many are trying to preserve those habitats.

For the proof, we have to go back thousands of years to something called the “Xerothermic Interval”. Prairies need hot weather to survive and while Ohio gets plenty of heat during the summers, about 4,000-8,000 years ago, Ohio had a much different climate (even though some contemporary summer days beg to differ).

Ohio’s portion of the once vast prairie in North America is often dubbed the “Prairie Peninsula” because of the way the easternmost edge of the prairie jetted out. At its finest, it covered all of Northwest Ohio and Seneca County before Lake Warren (the predecessor of Lake Erie) turned most of Northwest Ohio into the Great Black Swamp.

A flour mill ad in the Rural Directory Seneca County 1931-1934

https://bit.ly/SCDLFlourAd

These geological events helped form what Ohio is today—an area with very wet springs that often cause substantial flooding and hot, sometimes arid summers. Those features help native prairie plants survive, if they are cared for. The remaining prairies in Ohio are called “mixed oak prairies.”

Most scientists actually credit the Native American tribes for protecting the prairies. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves,

“Considering how quickly open grassland can convert to shrubs and saplings and on into young forest, we have to thank in large part Native Americans for keeping western Ohio’s prairies around. They played a pivotal role in maintaining these grassland habitats with their frequent use of fire. Their cultures realized wild game was more attracted to the lush new-growth of freshly burned areas and that the open environment made hunting easier. This led to a consistent fire regime that kept woody invaders at bay and a key aspect to their livelihoods healthy and intact. Without their influence it’s doubtful any substantial tracts of prairie would have persisted up until the time of the European settlement”.

The Native Americans inhabiting Seneca County were still residing in the area when Europeans started settling in the county. An early pioneer names the Olentangy, Wyandot, and Tymochtee and goes on to describe specific features of the Ohio prairies:
“To most the sight of the prairie, or plains, was a novelty. The islands of timber, the tall, coarse grass, prairie hens, wild geese, ducks, prairie owls, etc. attracted their attention. On the south (end) these prairies form the north part of Marion County. Their extreme length, east and west, is 40 miles” (History of Seneca County from the Close of the Revolutionary War to July 1880).

Several publications on Seneca County’s history mention a scattering of prairies in the area. For example, Taway Prairie is written in the Commissioner’s Journal, Book 3. Hull’s Prairie and Sumption Prairie are both record in the Seneca County Families compilation. A report called “Sandusky Site Near Old Fort” makes note of the “prairie openings” that were a few miles from the site. Lastly, an early pioneer in the History of Seneca County is noted saying, “with the exception of the marsh known as Big Spring Prairie in the southwestern part of Big Spring Township, the whole county has long been in a tillable condition”.

A mill in Adrian, Ohio, an unincorporated town in Big Springs Township.

Photo taken from Seneca County History Combination Atlas Map of Seneca Co.

https://bit.ly/SCDLAdrianMill

This description alludes to farming practices largely accounting for the disappearance of the prairies in Ohio. The National Geographic Resource Library’s article on prairies explains that prairie soil is great for grains, a type of tall grass. So, farmers in Ohio quickly began cultivating wheat, oats, barley, rye, and even flaxseed.

While Pioneer Mill is the most widely known historic mill in Tiffin, there were dozens of others around the county that processed the harvested grain. In the History of Tiffin’s Breweries and Bottling Works is a J.M. Beckley that operated a mill that produced rye flour. And a fire in Tiffin in 1872 destroyed 20,000 bushels of oats in the Smoyer and Bro. Warehouse. The Junior Order National Home even grew wheat, oats, barley and alfalfa on its 300 acre farm in 1920.

Today if you want to channel your inner Laura Ingalls you have to travel slightly out of the county to immerse yourself in a true prairie (with the exception of any un-mowed privately owned cemeteries that litter the rural areas). The closest is Erie Sands Barrens Nature Preserve in Erie County (part of the Firelands Prairie Region).

There are also 2 protected prairies in Lucas County (the Oak Openings Prairie Region)—Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve and Kitty Todd Nature Preserve. Their websites inform that July and August are the best “viewing” times as many native prairie plants bloom in late summer and early fall.

Our neighboring Crawford and Wyandot Counties are inside the Sandusky Plains Prairie Region.

Works cited:

“A Geologist Looks at the Natural Vegetation Map of Ohio”, Jane L. Forsyth, Bowling Green State University, Dept. of Geology, https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/5542/V70N03_180.pdf

History of Seneca County from the Close of the Revolutionary War to July 1880, Transcript Printing, 1880. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/17928/rec/1

HISTORY OF TIFFIN'S BREWERIES AND BOTTLING WORKS, Joseph Terry, 1970. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/23186/rec/1

“Ohio’s Tall Grass Prairies”, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. http://naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/natural-areas-preserves-home/post/ohio-s-tall-grass-prairies

Our National Home – Tiffin Ohio 1920, Junior Order of United American Mechanics. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/42504/rec/6

Ohioplants.org/prairie

“Prairies around Ohio” Ohio State University Extension. https://osumarion.osu.edu/initiatives/outreach/prairie/prairies-around-ohio.html

“Prairie” National Geographic Resource Library. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/prairie/

Sandusky Site Near Old Fort, Jonathan E. Bowen, 1983. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/29762/rec/1

Seneca County Commissioner’s Journal, Book 3

Seneca County Ohio, History & Families, Seneca County Genealogical Society, 1998. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/28323/rec/20

Tiffin Fire 1872, Advertiser-Tribune, April 13, 1872. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/38965/rec/1

Tiffin’s 75th Anniversary Souvenir, Zebre and Krammes, 1897. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/22962/rec/2

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

The Hooves of the Horse Go “Clip, Clop, Clip”

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

You can’t watch a sporting event or weekday sitcom on television without inevitably seeing a commercial for one of the many vehicle options these days (that is, of course, unless you routinely DVR your favorite shows in order to fast-forward through the advertisements).

For the hard-working dad there are trucks “built to last” for all his tough jobs in the rugged wilderness. For the adventurous, there’s 4-wheel drives that promise to cruise right through the Utah salt flats or Great Bear Dunes of Michigan. And for the over-booked chauffeur—I mean, mom—there’s the luxurious van with built-in entertainment for the children so she can get some “me” time as she drives.

But 100 years ago, our grandparents, great-grandparents and even great-great grandparents didn’t have those options. They either walked, rode bikes or horses, or hopped on a streetcar.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “streetcar” my mind instantly paints an image of a Victorian woman in downtown San Francisco, her white puffy sleeves standing out against the backdrop of a red trolley going up a steep hill with the Pacific Ocean in the distance. But at one time, streetcars actually existed in many urban cities throughout the United States, and even smaller municipalities like Tiffin.

Preceding the electric streetcar was a horse-drawn streetcar. According to the book “Between the Eighties, Tiffin, Ohio, 1880-1980” by Myron Barnes, the first horse-drawn streetcar in Tiffin began on July 4, 1888. In the early 1830s, major cities like New York, for instance, began constructing streetcar systems. By the 1840s-1850s, they had become a main mode of transportation for thousands of urban dwellers.

Taken from the Tiffin-Seneca Sesquicentennial, 1817-1967.

https://bit.ly/SCDLStreetcar

 Tiffin’s horse-drawn streetcars took its residents to parks on the outer edges of town for a day of relaxation and socializing. Concerts were held at one such park, Highland Park, a 15-acre area located in “Stoner Woods” on the corner of what is now Wall St. and Eighth Ave.

Eventually electric streetcars started replacing horse-drawn cars. They were seen as an improvement because they eliminated horse manure droppings and could operate for longer periods of time (a typical horse could pull a trolley for a maximum of five hours before it needed to rest). Horse-drawn and mule-drawn streetcars were pretty much gone by the 1920s in the U.S., but did last through the mid-1950s in parts of Mexico and Ireland.

It wasn’t until the 1890s that Tiffinites saw electric streetcars in their own town. The Tiffin, Fostoria and Eastern Electric Railway (formerly the Tiffin & Fostoria Electric Railway) operated lines from 1898 until it was sold to the Toledo, Fostoria & Findlay Railway in 1925 (which disbanded a mere five years later). At one point, there was close to six miles of streetcar tracks around Tiffin.

Riverview Park (not the same as the present Riverview Park) was another popular destination by way of streetcar for Tiffin residents. The Yellow Street Car Line (electric) took residents to the park for 5 cents a fare, which at one time had boating, tennis courts, and even a dance pavilion. During this same time period it was quite “fashionable” to take a streetcar out to Meadowbrook Park in Bascom in the summer.

The Tiffin-Fostoria-Eastern Line, taken from Tiffin Street Cars & Public Utilities.

https://bit.ly/SCDLStreetcar2

By the late 1930s, most of these streetcar lines, including the ones in Ohio, had been abandoned as cars and buses become the transport of choice for the majority of the population. Locally, the Tiffin-Fremont-Fostoria Bus Lines carried passengers until 1953.

After the automobile was invented, many streetcar companies, which were privately owned, became bankrupt. Just like mergers in today’s business world, larger streetcar companies bought out smaller ones. Even automobile companies such as General Motors, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Standard Oil of California “bought interest in transit companies and encouraged the conversion from streetcar to bus,” stated the National Museum of American History.

There was also an issue of road space and upkeep. When cars took over, they really took over the streets—crowding the streetcar lines and forcing them to halt. A right-of-way rule had yet to be established, let alone traffic lights or stop signs. (And god forbid, turn signals!) So, people became impatient (even back then) to get wherever they were going.

Two Tiffin residents, Dr. Henry Wenner and Judge James Platt, were even killed when their car collided with a streetcar on their way to a Cleveland Indians game in 1933.

In the summertime we often grumble under our breath when we hit a corner and lo, and behold, road construction. Our tax dollars are being converted into fresh pavement to patch those pesky potholes. But even streetcar mongers had to worry about improvements—their fares to ride the streetcar could be compared to the tolls we pay on turnpikes.

So, unless you are one of the five percent of Americans who ride public transportation on a regular basis, don’t take the luxury of your modern vehicle for granted. With air conditioning, cup holders, customizable music and heated seats, automobiles have come a long way.

Works cited:

Barnes-Josiah Hedges and His Descendants, Myron Barnes. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/22645/rec/1

Between the Eighties, Tiffin, Ohio 1880-1980, Myron Barnes, 1982. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/552/rec/1

Historical Business Review Seneca County, 1891-1892. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/15499/rec/1

“Interurbans, Classic American Streetcars”, https://www.american-rails.com/interurbans.html#OH

Seneca County Ohio, History & Families, Seneca County Genealogical Society, 1998. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/28323/rec/20

 “Streetcar,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/technology/streetcar

Stromberg, Joseph. “The Real Story Behind the Demise of America’s Once-mighty Streetcars”. https://www.vox.com/2015/5/7/8562007/streetcar-history-demise 2015.

Tiffin Parks, Past to Present, League of Women Voters, https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/34925/rec/6

Tiffin Street Cars and Public Utilities, 1965. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/22390/rec/1

“The Trolley and Daily Life”. Smithsonian, National Museum of American History. https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/streetcar-city

Wikipedia.com

 Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Dancing Series #1: The Evolution of Dancing

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

Facebook walls abound with videos recorded by fascinated youngsters of older couples owning the dance floor. But when you think about it, this really isn’t a phenomenon. Dancing was a very popular form of social gathering for many of the older generations that crown our population. Before texting, skyping, and all other manners of virtual conversing, people had to actually step out of their houses to have a connection to others. Dances were a fun, relaxing way of meeting new people and making new memories with one’s friends and family.

An unknown couple enjoy their 1974 Prom at Columbian (The theme was “Down By the Old Millstream.”)

https://bit.ly/SCDLProm1974

Prom remains a rite of passage into emerging adulthood for the majority of teenagers but it has greatly evolved from its somewhat meager beginnings. While teenage couples and groups go all out on the big awaited weekend by scheduling up-dos at the hairdresser, coordinating tuxedo vest and fancy dress colors with corsages and boutonnieres, renting limos, and making reservations at local restaurants, 70 years ago Prom as its known today was simply the last dance of the school year after many other formals and holiday dances had occurred throughout the months.

Many of the older yearbooks in the Seneca County Digital Library mention sophomore proms. Prom was not always a long-awaited accumulation of sometimes teenage anxiety for one of the biggest days prior to graduation. Wikipedia explains that until the 1940s, prom was just a banquet held in the gymnasium where high school seniors simply wore their “Sunday best.” It wasn’t until the 1950s that proms became fancier, branched out to other locations beyond the school and had their own dedicated spreads in the yearbooks. 

Before there was the Charleston and the jitterbug or slow dancing at the Prom, members of high society held dances in double parlors or ballrooms that were part of their houses’ floor plans (often the top floor). Teenage girls “of age” would “debut” themselves and carry a card with the schedule of dances for the evening. Men would vie to gain a spot (or more) on the card and the young women would secretly hope their cards were not left empty. So, even then, there was a sense of embarrassment if one was not popular.

A group of young adults from the Junior Home gather for a formal in 1939.

https://bit.ly/SCDLJuniorHomeFormal

The History of the Tiffin Fire Department has an image of one such card that lists 24 dances and an intermission halfway through. The 1881 Fire/Police Ball included 8 Quadrilles, 5 Waltzes, 5 Schottisches, a Virginia Reel, a Polka, a Monnie Musk, a Varouvienne, a Fireman’s Dance and a Wild Irishman to end the night (see the end of the blog for definitions of each type of dance).

As time wore on, perceptions of the coming-of-age (or “bildungsroman…” as a little trivia tidbit for you, as it’s officially referred to when a librarian catalogs a novel under this subject) period of a young adult’s life changed. Once the Victorian era gave way to the flappers, females had a little bit more freedom with the social morés of dancing. An anonymous author nicknamed “Not a Wallflower” writes this in a January 1939 article of Tiffin University’s newspaper, Tystenac:

“There were the romantic dances to which a young gentlemen escorted
his lady fair and was assured of two wonderful moments with the girl of his
heart, the first and last dances. Well, they did have good times by seeing
just how many dancing partners they could add to their lists and by thus
exhibiting a spirit of friendship and gaiety that seems to be quite out-moded
 on the modern dance floor. But why can't we, too, be friendly and help
others to have a good time? After all, did you ever consider your partner's
point of view? He or she may be a little tired of doing the same steps and
 chattering to the same ears all evening. A change will do you both good.
When our Valentine dance comes around, we'll have a good chance to
prove that we are not dancing with the same person all evening just because
we have to. So let's "change partners—and dance!" It will be fun.”

Around this time Tiffin University also had “hard-times dances,” which became popular after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. These were a scaled down version of the former Victorian ballroom dances, except the girls wore simple dresses because they couldn’t afford expensive fabrics.

Works cited:

Between the Eighties, Tiffin, Ohio 1880-1980. Myron Barnes, 1982. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/224/rec/4

History of the Tiffin Fire Department 1843-1993, Tiffin Fire Department, 1993. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/32511/rec/1

Junior Home Class Formal (photographer unknown), 1939. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/47336/rec/1

“Prom”, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prom#History

Tystenac December 1957, Tystenac Staff, Tiffin University, December 1957.https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/45756/rec/1

Tystenac 1938-1939, Tystenac Staff, Tiffin University. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/46191/rec/1

Yearbook Columbian Blue and Gold 1974, Tiffin Columbian High School, 1974. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/10489/rec/1

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

And They’re Off!

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

The term “derby” can be used to describe several types of events in which Tiffinites partake. The Cub Scouts of America’s annual Pinewood Derby races is a tournament in the early spring that involves local troops who send the top winners in different categories onto district championships. Then there’s the demolition derby at the Seneca County Fair. Many might also watch (or attend) the Kentucky Derby at the beginning of May, where bets can be placed on the winning horse in each division.

Of the many things in history that are attributed to Ohio, including seven U.S. presidents and the light bulb, is the All-American Soap Box Derby, which has been held in Dayton at Derby Downs for the past 83 years. Derby Downs was built on a hill close to the Akron Municipal-Fulton Airport during the Works Progress Administration in 1936 and is owned by the City of Akron. It has a year-round administrative staff that manages not just the main race, but also educational camps and over 100 preliminary races throughout the country that lead up to the main event in July.

Now, when I think of a soap-box derby, the first picture that pops into my head is the 1994 Little Rascals movie. The entire film’s plot is centered around the gang’s plans to build a car and win the annual local derby race. It is basically an expanded version of an episode of Our Gang called “Derby Day”.

Back in the 1950s, a group of boys from West Lodi decided to do something very similar and create their own derby in Seneca County. According to “Lands in Lodi”, these teenagers set up a racetrack on a different hill each summer—“with the first year being the hill behind the former "Doc" Bowen house and the next, the steep barn bank at the big brick house on the west side of CR 27 just north of Lodi. (The former Nathan Butz home). The second year the boys sold tickets on a lamp to raise money to be able to give out small prizes to the racers.”

Phil and Gene Slaymaker from West Lodi.

https://bit.ly/SCDLSoapBoxDerby

At this time, the Soap Box Derby had become pretty popular. Smithsonian Magazine states that in the late 1950s, the same time these boys were creating their own derby, the All-American Derby in Dayton was attracting the same numbers we would see today at a Big 10 football game. And West Lodi wasn’t the only place to see a makeshift derby. The Ohio Memory Project, which houses the Seneca County Digital Library, has photos from a derby in Elmore.

While Seneca County residents beyond West Lodi may not have had a high interest in soap box derbies (at least nothing appears to be recorded),it has had many boating races on the Sandusky River. When the Heritage Festival first started in the early 1980s, there were several interesting types of races in the schedule of events-- a canoe race, an 8-mile bike race, a foot race, a crayfish race and an unusual craft race. Winners of the canoe and unusual craft races, which embarked at Kiwanis Manor, won $100 each.

Starting in 2017, the Tiffin Elks now host a Regatta race at Bel-Mar Landing. Regatta races are amateur boat races and this version is held to raise money for a different charity of choice each summer.

Spectators line up to watch the Heritage Festival’s Canoe Derby at the first Heritage Festival in 1979.

https://bit.ly/SCDLCanoeDerby

Historically, horse races have been (and remain) a traditional form of racing in Seneca County as well. There’s even a section in the 1914 Tiffin City Directory’s index called “Horse Dealers and Trainers” and the following names are listed: Frank Callahan, George Heller, Henry Kingseed, Larry Lease, Floyd Lease, Thomas Leahy, and Vere Swander.

Harness racing remains a classic at the Seneca County Fair but there are plenty of accounts of unofficial horse racing among Seneca County residents. Omar, Ohio often had saddle races and in Bascom there was once a race over a building that at one time had been the town’s post office (as well as a saloon and shoe repair shop). Two gentlemen raced their horse and buggies from Bascom to Fostoria. “Hubach arrived first and bought it. As a result of the race, Grummel lost a good driving horse” (Bascom Then and Now).

The most unusual race this county has seen is an outhouse race in 1987 as part of Bloomville’s Sesquicentennial celebration. Surprisingly, you can find annual outhouse racing in other states, including Alaska and Virginia City, Nevada. The finish line tape is even toilet paper.

Works cited:

Derby Downs, https://www.soapboxderby.org/derby-downs/derby-downs.aspx

Directory of the City of Tiffin 1914, W.M. Lawrence & Company, 1914. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/39479/rec/1

Fourth Annual Heritage Festival 1817-1982, Sayger Printing, 1982. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/27555/rec/1

Smithsonian Magazine, Megan Gambino. “The History of Soap Box Derby”. June 30, 2011. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-history-of-soap-box-derby-25139930/

Sketches of Bloomville and Bloom Township, Bloomville Sesquicentennial Committee. 1987. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/41807/rec/1

Virginia City, Nevada. https://visitvirginiacitynv.com/events/world-championship-outhouse-races/

Young, Rodney. Photographs 1st Tiffin Heritage Festival 1979. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/45880

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

And ‘Bingo’ Was His Name-Oh!

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

There’s one word that’s fun to say, but not fun to hear, and no, I don’t mean a cuss word. Or the word ‘no’. It’s BINGO!

Even after the invention of Nintendos and smart phones, the simple game of BINGO has stood the test of time.

Since it’s evolution in the late 1920s and early 1930s, there are have been all kinds of creative versions of BINGO. Some versions replace the letter and numbers with pictures. In Travel Bingo kids watch for their designated features like squirrels and red cars and yell “BINGO” every 20 minutes instead of “Are we there yet?” every 2 minutes. Bakery bingos remain popular because the prizes are delicious desserts.

The calling of numbers is also a form of bingo. Keno, present in many sports bars across the U.S., is a modern form of this type—participants must predict the numbers that will get drawn before the round starts.

A picnic program for employees of the former Hanson Clutch & Machinery Co. in Tiffin.

https://bit.ly/SCDLPicnic

A loose version of this is recorded having been played in West Lodi, Ohio. For their 1988 sesquicentennial celebration, residents organized a cow chip bingo. According to an article on the Modern Farmer website, this is how cow chip bingo works:

“A grid is set up, typically on an outdoor field, comprised of numbered, one-yard squares. Spectators buy tickets that stake out a specific square. If ‘Bessie’ chooses your real estate to do her business, then shazaam: You’re a winner! Typically only one cow takes the field, but flashier fundraisers release up to four. In multi-cow play, the first dookie earns a grand prize, with lesser awards for second and third poopers.”

Just like the Tesla-Edison debate on which one discovered electricity, critics are divided on who “invented” modern bingo cards first—Edmund Lowe or Hugh J. Ward. Like many other inventions, it basically boils down to who secured the “patent” first. But let’s face it, true Bingo players don’t care who invented the cards; they just want as many cards as they can handle managing at one time. If you’ve ever tried enjoying a game of Bingo with 3 young children by yourself, all of whom are having trouble reading their cards, and succeeded, please tell me your secret!

Bingo has become so intense, you can even go on the World Championship Gaming and Bingo Cruise in November 2020.

In the 1950s and 1960s it even intensified the rift between Catholics and Protestants because Protestants saw the game being played at Catholic church festivals as “gambling” (whether that happened here in Tiffin during the St. Joseph festivals is unknown). Believe it or not there are actually some strict laws on Bingo. The World Casino Directory points out that “most local bingo halls support a charity of some sort and as a matter of fact, in most areas, casino’s aside, this is required by state law. In fact, charging for bingo isn’t even legal in the state of Utah; however some savvy bingo diner owners have found a way around this law, by charging for dinner, and offering bingo for free”. 

Works cited:

“Bingo, Beano, Lotto” The Big Game Hunter. https://thebiggamehunter.com/games-one-by-one/bingo/

“Bingo Around the United States”. World Casino Directory. https://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/united-states/bingo

Hanson Clutch & Machinery Co., 1956. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/37511/rec/1

Lands in Lodi. West Lodi Historical Society, 2007. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/44538/rec/2

“Turn Cow Poop into $10,000? Bingo!” Modern Farmer. https://modernfarmer.com/2013/08/cow-poop-for-cash-and-prizes/

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27

Tossing into the History of Pizza

By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian

Pizza and football have become synonymous with one another, especially on Super Bowl Sunday. In fact, the National Football League actually designates an official Pizza Sponsor (in 2019 it was granted to Pizza Hut for the first time) and according to Tableskift.com, Pizza Hut and Domino’s each expected to sell about 2 million pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday in 2019. But what is now an American staple food was once a widely unknown (and bizarre) concept until veterans brought the idea home with them after serving in World War II. In fact, pizza as we know it today wasn’t even something most Italians beyond Naples, Italy, had even heard of until World War II began. When Allied soldiers invaded Italy in 1943, they were so taken with the pizza they encountered that they asked for it wherever else they went (not knowing it was still largely local at that time).

While Reino’s can claim having served the “first commercial pizza” in Tiffin (we will get into that more later), only the Italian Tiffinites were making pizza at home. To put it into perspective, Fort Ball Pizza wasn’t founded until 1978. There was once Tony’s Spaghetti House in Tiffin in the early 1960s (spaghetti was a much more familiar Italian dish to most at the time), and Domino’s became one of the very first nationwide pizza places in the 1960s after having its beginnings as a local shop in Michigan.

There are adaptions to pizza that are authentically Italian. Calzones and Stromboli have some of the same ingredients but are molded and shaped in different forms. A calzone or “foldover” is basically a folded pizza that originated in Naples and traditionally uses ricotta cheese, although numerous versions have been created. They are sealed with crimped edges. Stromboli is a rectangular-shaped topping-filled dough meant to be sliced and served as a meal. Lasagna and meatball sandwiches were the crowd favorites at Pizza Villa, which was once located on Washington St. (Food historians believe that lasagna is one of the world’s oldest pastas, and was likely eaten by ancient Greeks and Romans).

Giovanni Reino's naturalization record, found on the Seneca County Digital Library.

https://bit.ly/SCDLReino

These are the dishes that the 4 million Southern Italian immigrants brought with them when they arrived in America between 1880-1920. They were serving these dishes as meals long before the pizza followed them to the States. One of those immigrants was Giovanni Reino, who immigrated from San Bartolomeo, Italy, a small village in the mountains near Naples, in the mid-1920s. The story goes that Webster Industries sent fliers to Italians in this area seeking employees. “It was almost as if the entire community packed up and left for America,” John Reino, owner of Reino’s Pizza & Pasta, said. “They would send letters to family and friends back home to convince them to join the rest of them in America.” The waves of immigrants from this part of Italy partially contributed to the development of Little Italy of Tiffin (in the neighborhoods surrounding Tiffin University).

While Giovanni was a moulder and fireman his entire life, Frankie knew from an early age that he wouldn’t like factory work. He began cooking at various restaurants around town in the 1930s and then joined the Navy as a cook in World War II. After the war was over, Giovanni bought Frankie his house so that Frankie would have enough money to start his own business. Frankie’s son (and Giovanni’s grandson), John, has owned the family business since 1983.

The average American eats 46 slices of pizza a year but in 1950 the average American probably ate that quota in hamburgers. An article framed on the wall by the front door from Feb. 1986 states that Francis Joseph “Frankie” Reino, the son of Giovanni Reino. originally opened Reino’s for business as a hamburger joint known as “The Lighthouse Restaurant”  in 1950. It quickly became popular with the college students. In fact, it was so known for its hamburgers, John says, that when his father replaced the “hamburger” sign with “pizza” on the outside of the building, locals thought the business had been sold.

Today, there are many options when it comes to finding the perfect pizza. Besides Reino’s, Domino’s and Pizza Hut, Tiffin is also home to Fort Ball, Napoli’s, A.J’s Heavenly Pizza, Jac and Do’s, Marco’s and Little Ceasar’s. Additionally, there’s Sauced in New Riegel, Scooterz in Bettsville, Fat Head’s in Republic, Fostoria Pizza Palace and Red’s Pizza in Fostoria. Every year Tiffin even hosts a Pizza Palooza. In 2019, attendees purchased  tickets for $1 that could be redeemed for a slice of pizza from any participating vendor. Half of each ticket sold was donated towards downtown revitalization.

What exactly is the composition of pizza? Recipes and ingredients have widely evolved over the years. The pizza that the American soldiers discovered was sold by Neopolitan street vendors and was made as an “on-the-go” meal for the working class. The vendors carried the pizzas as a whole in boxes around the streets and would slice the pizza based on the customers’ appetites and funds. The simplest forms were only topped with garlic, lard, salt, olive oil and herbs (such as oregano). Sometimes ones could be found with caciocavallo, a cheese made from horse’s milk, or fish (anchovies, anyone?). Fancier ones might have contained artichokes, capers, olives, mushrooms, peas, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, shrimp and prosciutto.

An ad for Mama Monaco’s in the November 1970 issue of the Tystanac, a publication of Tiffin University.

https://bit.ly/SCDLMamaMonaco

Marinara sauce, the base ingredient on most pizzas, wasn’t always a topping. “Marinaro” actually means “sailor” in Italian, and “sailor sauce,” as it was called, came about when canned tomatoes were among the only items available at local grocers during the war.

Today, hundreds of versions of pizza have been created by inventive minds. At Sauced in New Riegel, you can try a loaded potato pizza or “The Blue Jacket,” where $1 per pizza ordered is donated to the New Riegel School District. Pinterest abounds with breakfast and fruit pizza recipes.

Sicilian pizza, a more traditional version, is a menu item at Napoli’s Pizzaria. Traditional Sicilian Pizza doesn’t use mozzarella but rather a cheese made from the milk of sheep and goats. Among today’s Italians, it’s a tradition to serve this type of pizza on holidays like New Year’s Eve (another big “Pizza Day” in the U.S.).

A newer trend that is gaining popularity is the emergence of sweet pizzas and traditional Italian pizzerias are trying to accommodate this trend by using unique ingredients like Nutella, honey, fruit jam, yogurt and cinnamon and sugar. Fort Ball serves cinnamon sticks and apple pizza daily in its buffet. Scooterz makes cherry streusel pizza and A.J.’s Heavenly Pizza makes “pizza brownies”. These dessert pizzas may trigger fond memories for some natives of Tiffin who may recall Mama Monaco’s, an Italian bakery in Tiffin the 1960s and 1970s.

If you want traditional Italian pizza, John Reino recommends the “Frankie’s Original” at Reino’s, which consists of mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan cheese and thickly sliced pepperoni. Frankie was coaxed by the Heidelberg College students from Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania to add pizza to his menu (pizza had already become popular in this part of the country with all the Italians who worked in the steel mills there). Through connections, he was offered to “work” in Luigi’s in Akron (a restaurant that still exists to this day) for one week to learn how to make an Americanized version of pizza that was popular on their menu. The story according to John is that pre-sliced pepperoni wasn’t an option in those days and his father didn’t have a meat slicer, so when he sliced the pepperoni sticks with a knife, they naturally turned out thick. While today John and his team do use a meat slicer, if you order a “Frankie’s Original”, you will enjoy the signature thick slices of pepperoni.

Works cited:

“Who Invented Pizza?” Gayle Turim, 2012

“A History of Pizza”, Alexander Lee, 7 July, 2018. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/history-pizza

“What is Sicilian Pizza?”, Lev-Tov, Deborah. https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-sicilian-pizza-2708787

“A History of Spaghetti and Meatballs”, Larson, Sarah. 10 December, 2013. https://www.escoffieronline.com/a-history-of-spaghetti-and-meatballs/

“Is Spaghetti and Meatballs Italian?” Esposito, Shaylyn. 6 June, 2013. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-spaghetti-and-meatballs-italian-94819690/

“What is the difference between a calzone and Stromboli?” Delany, Alex. 2 May, 2018. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/difference-between-a-calzone-and-a-stromboli

Interview with John Reino, 2 December, 2019.

Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27