(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 150 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY THOMASTOWN Thomastown officially became annexed to Akron Tuesday night August 7, 1928, when the City Council approved the merger. County Commissioners approved the plans two months ago, after an eight months' controversy during which they demanded the city pay $21,255 bonded road indebtedness. Commissioners finally agreed that the territory could be admitted without payment of the indebtedness. The land annexed is hounded on the east by Massillon Road, and on the south by the Barberton-Springfield Road, and the present city limits of Akron form the other boundaries of the section. The lines of annexation were so drawn that if Kenmore become a part of Akron, there will be no break between the lines. The Thomastown district was formerly rich in coal mining and the home of the Brewster family and many of the older Welsh families of the county. BETTES CORNERS A six minute automobile ride clinched a big real estate deal and gave an impetus to the development of industrial sites at Bettes Corners, East Tallmadge Avenue, that brought ten enterprises into this rapidly growing manufacturing center with railroad frontage six minutes from the heart of the city. John J. Breen and Elihu Harpham put this district on the industrial map. Mr. Breen was born on East Tallmadge Avenue when the entire section was a virgin countryside. The building of the North Hill bridge brought Bettes Corners within six minutes of Main and Mill streets. Upwards of nearly half a million dollars has been expended in this section to provide facilities and advantages for industrial units, warehouses and manufacturing plants. In this sum is included paving, sidewalks, sewers, curbs, water, gas, electricity and railroad extension. PERSONAL EFFORTS Breen and Harpham have through their personal efforts in developing Bettes Corners obtained several new industries for Akron. There are now ten enterprises located along East Tallmadge Avenue and all of them are enjoying a prosperous business. The facilities offered in this rapidly growing industrial section are unsurpassed. The small as well as the large industry has everything it needs to start in business and develop with a minimum of cost for overhead. One of the big concerns recently located there closed the deal after Mr. Harpham took the chief executive to Akron in his car. The trip was timed because the executive thought Bettes Corners was too far from the city. Driving leisurely Mr. Harpham made the trip to the corner of Mill and Main streets in six minutes. The starting point was at the railroad tracks at Bettes 'Corners. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 151 SEE NEW INDUSTRIES Breen and Harpham predict that many new industries will be located in the Bettes Corners area in the next few years. Small concerns especially find it to their advantage to locate there because they can expand their business with a minimum amount of expense. Among the industries now located in the section are the National Sulphur Company, Anaconda Copper Company, Daylo Sign Company, National Refining Company, National Standard Company, Benzol Motor Fuel Company, Horning Lumber Company, Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company and others. The section is served by both street car and bus lines and school accomodations. EAST AND WEST RICHFIELD The motorist driving to Cleveland on either route 174 or 21 passes through one of two small country villages about 15 miles out of Akron. Basking in the sun, East and West Richfield, each with a couple of hundred inhabitants, a general store, garage and confectionery are the perfect example of rustic inactivity. If the clock of time were turned back 75 years or more, however, the motorist would be surprised to find himself driving through two of the liveliest settlements in northern Ohio. He would find the streets thronged with persons hurrying to and fro and flanked on either side by a row of cheese factories, cooper and harness shops, blacksmithies, saw and flour mills, carriage works and a spoke and handle factory. Such are the pictures of East and West Richfield in the early pioneer days as recalled by E.J. Humphrey, 70, who has lived on Humphrey Road, connecting the two villages his entire life. WAS KNOWN THROUGHOUT STATE "Richfield was known throughout the state in those early days," he reminisced. "Then gradually all the business activity began to go into a slump. You see, we never got a railroad through here and so the merchants and manufacturers began to leave and locate elsewhere so that they could have better transportation facilities." Another reason given by the inhabitants of Richfield and West Richfield for their lack of growth and prosperity was the eccentricity of a certain Englishman by the name of Everette Farnham. Farnham who came to Richfield township as a youth without any schooling whatever, was thrifty and managed to amass a considerable fortune through dealing in cattle, horses and sheep. His father gave him 200 acres of land to start with and he soon had managed to buy 2200 more acres which he refused to sell thus prohibiting 152 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY other ambitious settlers from purchasing lots or smaller farms in the townships. Numerous stories are told regarding the eccentric characteristics of old Farnham. Mr. Humphrey who knew him personally, recalls him as being a good but peculiar farmer, large and portly of stature weighing about 225 pounds. HAD ABILITY FOR BUSINESS He is said to have been talkative and jolly at spells and to have considerable business ability. He built a huge manor house on his estate and also a tenant's house in the woods quite a distance from the main house. The tenant's house was called "Abraham's Bosom." On his estate he also planted a number of evergreens in the shape of a huge heart which he called "God's Heart." He put in an artificial lake which he named "Lake St. John" and which he had drained off after he became 80 years old when he became obsessed with a fear that someone might drown in it. He also had a private race track on his estate, the traces of which are still visible. Farnham began to reveal most of his eccentricities after a short return visit to his native country. When he came back to Richfield he posed as a member of the English nobility and insisted upon being addressed as "Lord Farnham." A story is told of his hiring two local men to work for him with instructions to hoe out the corn. One man hoed out the corn, the other the weeds. The latter was dismissed and the former retained. Mr. Farnham demanded implicit obedience from all his help and this was merely a test to see if he would get it." 4,000 ACRES COST $5,000 The original proprietors of Richfield township, according to Lane's history, were Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, Captain John Smith, Uriel Holmes, J. Wilcox and two others named Edward and Green. "In 1811, Captain Oviatt, then a resident of Hudson, purchased Colonel Tallmadge's interest, the northwest corner of the township embracing 4,000 acres for the sum of $5,000," the history states. "At first Richfield was attached to Boston and several other townships in electoral and official matters but was organized as a distinct township in April, 1816, by authority of the Commissioners of Medino County, to which the township properly belonged, not being organized until 1818. "The first white settler was Launcelot Mays, who came in 1809. "The settlement of the township was not very rapid for several years owing to the war disturbances at the time. After the close of the war, however, settlement was quite rapid so that by the organization of the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 153 township in 1816, there must have been nearly 40 voters present, who were nearly all from Connecticut and Massachusetts. INTERESTS DIVIDED "For some now inexplicable reason, the business interests of Richfield became divided at an early date, a rival village being organized to the west and called 'West Center.' "At the East Center there was a church, one or two stores, a hotel, post office, and the usual complement of mechanics with comfortable family residences extending a short distance out on the four roads centering there, but the spirit of push seemed to be lacking. "At the rival 'Center,' however, it was different. Hotels were established, a number of stores were erected and filled with merchandise, a post office was secured, churches instituted and manufactories inaugurated. "At one time in the early forties, Richfield was one of the very snappiest inland points in northern Ohio, not only stimulating the general prosperity of the township itself but attracting a large amount of business from adjoining and even more remote localities." A flourishing Masonic lodge, Meridian Sun Lodge No. 266, was started at Richfield about a hundred years ago. The first meeting was held in the home of James Wells, which still stands on the northwest corner of the public square in Richfield and is now the home of Joe Mortimer. Wells, who built the house, later sold it to R. S. Oviatt, who at one time was county treasurer. NEW TEMPLE IS PLANNED Meetings of the Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 266, are now held in a Masonic Temple building in West Richfield but plans have been completed for a new $15,000 temple building which will be erected in West Richfield, also. "Beside the usual complement of well-attended district schools," Mr. Lane writes, "Richfield, in 1836, established a well-equipped academy in a commodious building erected for that purpose between the two villages, which was liberally patronized." This is the present location of the Richfield Township High School which is situated on the north side of Humphrey Road, about half way between the two villages. The school, which is headed by K. M. Wood, has an attendance of about 200 students. The building is thoroughly modern and was put up about six years ago. "Originally settled by Puritanic stock," Mr. Lane states, "Richfield has from the first been duly observant of religious worship. "The first church organization, May 15, 1818, to accommodate the various shades of religious belief, was called the 'Church of Christ,' but that element largely predominating it was afterwards known as the 'First Congregational Church of Richfield.' 154 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY CHURCH WAS BUILT IN 1822 "A comfortable house of worship was erected at the east center in 1822 which remained substantially as originally constructed until 1886, when it was destroyed by fire. "The Methodists erected a modest building at an early day, about 1832, which remained only partly finished until 1852 when it was also burned. "Its successor, near the west center, was a more commodious structure, and has recently been considerably enlarged and improved and the society is now healthy and prosperous." "The Baptists also have a prosperous society with a commodious house of worship at the west center erected in 1838. The United Brethren have a flourishing society and handsome church edifice called the 'Centennial Church' in the southeast portion of the township." Today the religious services of both East and West Richfield are held in one Federated church in East Richfield. The Rev. Mr. Secord is pastor. Sunday school services are also held in West Richfield, however. Both villages are still unincorporated. It is estimated that the entire population of the township is between 700 and 800 inhabitants. TOWNSHIP OFFICERS Officers of the township are W. J. Smith and J. P. Fauble, justices of the peace, and Arthur Scobie, constable. Some of the places of business in East Richfield are a confectionery and grocery store operated by W. F. Sykes, a dance hall and lunch room on the northwest corner of the square owned by Ross Shuey which was formerly a stage coach stop in the early days, and the Wavro Garage, operated by Charles Wavro. West Richfield boasts of a general store operated by Herman Rauch, who is also the postmaster ; a general store, run by W. A. Eastwood; a hotel operated by Mike Gingey ; a barber shop run by Elmo Damon; M. J. Hotz, a blacksmith; a garage run by T. D. Durning, and the Masonic Temple. There is also a West Richfield Telephone Exchange in charge of Carter Homer. Mrs. Alfred Annis is the oldest resident in the township. She is 94 years of age. John Brown is said to have operated a tannery in East Richfield at one time. It was located a short distance north of the square on the west side of the road. His children are buried in the Richfield cemetery. NORTHFIELD "Yes, sir, there was nothing much but thick woods around here in the early days. And a few places where the farmers had cleared off patches of land to raise cattle, sheep and hogs. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 155 "Then there was a scattering of grist, flour and woolen mills along Brandywine Creek with an occasional distillery mixed in." This is Frank Dozenberry, seventy-eight, one of the oldest residents in Northfield Township, reminiscing as he rocks comfortably beneath a shade tree not far distant from the site of the log cabin where he was born in 1849. During the ensuing years he has spent almost his entire life in Northfield Township, watching it being transformed from a veritable wilderness into a thriving little farming community of a thousand or so inhabitants who live there today. G. A. McConnell, a nearby neighbor of Mr. Dozenberry's, who is seventy-two years old and has spent sixty-four years in Northfield, also is able to contribute his share to the reminiscences of early days. He was born in Coshocton, coming to Northfield with his parents when he was eight years old. He lives on Center Road, in the vicinity of which he also has spent almost his entire lifetime. MARY DARLING IS OLDEST RESIDENT It remains for Mary E. Darling, who is eighty-four to take the honors for being the oldest resident in Northfield Township, however. She was born in Putnam, New York, between Lake Champlain and Lake George, and came with her parents to Northfield in 1846. After residing here a short time, they returned to their native state, but five years later came back to Northfield Township to stay. It was almost forty years previous to the advent of the oldest resident of Northfield Township today that the first settler, Isaac Bacon of Massachusetts, arrived. He settled about a mile and a half northwest of the Village of Northfield in April, 1807. The next arrivals were the family of his brother-in-law, Jeremiah Crammer, almost three years later, in June of 1810. At an informal meeting of all the male inhabitants of the township, assembled for the purpose of aiding a newcomer to erect a cabin, the question of naming the township was raised, according to Samuel Lane's history of Summit County. "Various names were suggested," he states, "but none seemed to meet with general favor until Jeremiah Crammer mentioned that of Northfield, probably from a town of that name in his native state. FIRST ORGANIZATION WAS IN MAY, 1819 "This name was finally adopted, and Northfield it has been to the present day. "Though perhaps one or more justices of the peace had previously been appointed for the township by the governor, the first actual organization, as far as can be ascertained, was on May 24, 1819," Mr. Lane continues. 156 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY "On that day an election seems to have been held at the cabin of William Cranny, John Britt acting as moderator, Jeremiah Crammer and John Duncan as judges and Orrin Wilcox as clerk. "The officers elected were : George Wallace, Jeremiah Crammer and John Duncan, trustees ; Henry Wood, clerk ; William Cranny and William T. Mather, overseers of the poor ; Robert Wallace and Maurise Crammer, fence viewers ; Edward Coyne and Abraham Crammer, constables ; Watrous Mather, treasurer ; John Duncan, Abel Havens, Daniel Robertson and Abner Hunt, road supervisors. "For the next ten or twelve years new accessions to the population were almost continuous, so that by 1830 the township was pretty well settled and improved. "This included quite a hamlet at the center, a brisk manufacturing village at the Falls of Brandywine Creek, in the southern part of the township, and quite extensive lumbering operations a mile or so further up that stream, at Little York. TOWN REACHED ITS PEAK IN 1840 "By 1840 the township had almost reached its maximum population, the census of that year showing the number of inhabitants to be 1,031, while the census of 1880 accorded it a population of 1,076 and that of 1890 only 940. "The reason for this may be found in the changed and improved methods of doing business, the introduction of farm labor saving machinery requiring less number of hands, and in the absorption of town centers, villages and hamlets by the cities and railroad centers of the country. "Thomas Wilson of Northfield was Summit County's first sheriff, holding that office four years and seven months. "John C. Wallace of Northfield acted as Mr. Wilson's chief deputy." Considerable excitement was furnished residents of Northfield in the early 1820s by the supposed murder of Rupert Charlesworth, a young Englishman, by Dorsey W. Viers, a contractor, with whom he boarded. Charlesworth disappeared mysteriously and rumors against Viers were circulated until, four years later, he was arrested for the murder. ACQUITTED OF MURDER He was acquitted when he produced two witnesses from the West who claimed to have seen Charlesworth after his disappearance. The rumors against Viers continued, however, until he finally started a search for his former friend, going to England and back to find him. He finally accidentally found him in Michigan. It was necessary to bring him back on two occasions to be questioned by the populace before they were convinced that he was really the original Charlesworth and had not been murdered. A detailed account of this thrilling event and the excitement it created throughout the township was given in Lane's history. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 157 The Village of Northfield today is located about seventeen miles north of Akron on the state road to Cleveland. It is one mile west of Macedonia and five miles east of Brecksville, about five miles west of Twinsburg and seven miles south of Bedford. It is an incorporated village, with W. J. Burns holding the position of mayor. The council is comprised of G. A. Honey, president ; N. Black, V. S. Hubbard, H. Hardesty, T. Ramsey and W. C. Grigsby. It is the center of a farming community. The majority of the residents of the village proper are either retired farmers or they commute to work in Cleveland or the rubber factories of Akron. The Lake Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad maintains freight service on a line which runs about three-quarters of a mile west of the village. Exceptional educational facilities are being provided for Northfield residents with the erection of a new $150,000 school which will be completed and ready for occupancy about the first of November. SCHOOL HAS ELEVEN TEACHERS Eleven teachers are maintained in the village. The new school will house the seventh grade through high school, while the old school building will take care of the kindergarten and first six grades. The Board of Education is comprised of Charles Fenton, president ; A. W. Rice, Mrs. Crothers, Mrs. H. Zimmerman and Ralph Anderson. Mr. McDowell is superintendent of schools. Growing prosperity is seen in Northfield with the recent erection of a new large brick business block by William Lockhart. The block houses, a hardware store, jointly owned by Mr. Lockhart ; a drug store, operated by George Custa, and Acme store and a meat market. E. E. Folk operates a general store and Mr. Rice is proprietor of the Northfield garage. Outside of the above, there are few businesses in the village. E. E. Folk is also postmaster of Northfield, and Henry G. Smith is marshal. There are two churches in the village, the Federated Church, of which Reverend Richardson is the pastor, and the United Presbyterian Church, presided over by Rev. Hugh G. Snodgrass. COPLEY About one hundred and twenty-five years ago, or slightly prior to the first platting of Akron, there existed to the right of the neophyte village a large area of what was thought to be very undesirable land, known as the Copley Swamps. The transformation of these swamps, which were originally wet bogs intercrossed by Pigeon, Chocolog and Wolf creeks, into veritable gardens 158 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY spots, yielding up millions of dollars worth of market produce, is a story which has come to be often retold. Although today the swamps have been largely built up and filled in, this same "undesirable" land still supplies much of the fresh vegetables which grace the tables of metropolitan Akron. While the swamps were considered negligible from a financial point of view in the early days, they did supply the pioneers with a lot of fun and, incidentally, food, in the nature of wild game. Lane's history tells us of a hunt which was staged in the swamps in December of 1821, in which 200 persons participated, killing fifteen deer, four bears and two wolves. WAS PART OF MEDINA COUNTY Prior to the creation of Summit County, in 1840, Copley was part of Medina County. It was also originally a part of what was designated as Wolf Creek Township, embracing the present townships of Copley, Norton, Wadsworth, Sharon, Guilford and Montville. In the distribution of lands of the Western Reserve, Lane's history tells us, Copley, the unnamed, fell principally to Gardner Green of Boston, Massachusetts, and was first called Greenfield, but was afterwards changed to Copley, in honor of his wife, whose maiden name was Copley, said to have been a lineal descendant of Lord Copley of England. The first actual settler in the township, Lane goes on to tell us, is believed to have been Jonah Turner, a native of Pennsylvania, who, in 1814, located on "Stony Ridge," about two miles west of Montrose. Among the early settlers who arrived in Copley previous to 1820 were George Hawkins, Lawrence More, Allen Bosworth, Jacob Spafford, Nathaniel Davis, Johnathan Starr and Chester Orcutt. WAS ORGANIZED IN JULY, 1819 "Copley was organized as a distinct township in July of 1819, one year after the organization of Medina County, of which it was then a part. "Johnathan Starr is said to have been the first town clerk, as well as the first justice of the peace. "After its organization, settlement by sturdy and enterprising emigrants, mostly from New England, but with a healthy mixture from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states, was so rapid that by 1835 the township was nearly, if not quite, as populous as it is now." Lane describes Copley in 1890 as follows : "In the center of the town is a hotel, store, post office and sundry mechanical establishments. "Though abundant in water, Copley never possessed any considerable amount of machinery propelling water power, the Zeigler flouring mill, AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 159 on Wolf Creek, two miles south of the center originated by Allen Pardee, being the only permanent establishment of its kind in the township. "One or two grist mills also had an early brief experience, while quite an extensive steam-driven flour mill, with three run of stones, was established at the center about 1858 by the late John C. Stearns and Darwin Clark, which, after a fairly successful run of about two years, was unfortunately destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. TOWNSHIP HAD MANY SAWMILLS "Quite a number of sawmills have also existed from time to time in the township, driven by both water and steam power, some of which, notably that of Mr. William C. Sackett, on the eastern line of the township, did quite an extensive business for several years, but most of them are now a memory only. "The manufacture of 'black salts,' or potash, was also quite an industry in Copley and surrounding townships during the early forest slashing period, `asheries' being then quite common, the product, in large, tight casks, finding a market in Pittsburgh, by wagon, previous to the opening of the Ohio Canal, and afterwards in Cleveland, Buffalo and other points further west." Copley also abounded in distilleries in the early days, according to Mr. Lane. Some of them turned out as high as fifty gallons per day and continued in operation as late as 1850. As a result, as early as October of 1829 a temperance organization was founded which is believed by some to be the first regular society of this kind in Ohio. TO SUPPRESS INTEMPERANCE This society was called "The First Temperance Society of Medina County." Its function was to suppress intemperance by doing away with the unnecessary use of ardent spirits and to discourage the use of spirits unless for healthful reasons, by others. In about 1870 the cheese factory system was started in Copley. An establishment was located near the center and another upon the eastern border of the township on the farm of William C. Sackett. Today the population of Copley Township is estimated to be about between 1,500 and 2,000. It is believed that there are about seventy-five families in the village proper. There are a few stores located around the circle in the center of the village and along the new Cleveland-Massillon Road, running north and south, which was paved about three years ago. One of these businesses is a general store, operated by H. S. Holshue, which is housed in a building used as one of Copley's early schools. Dan Dature also has a general store, and Seth Minor, an old settler of Copley, who was born in the township, a hardware store. J. S. Ford has an automobile agency. Most of the residents of Copley 160 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Township are either farmers, truck gardeners, retired, or they commute to Akron to work. The Town of Copley is located six miles west of Akron, two miles south of Montrose, three miles north of Loyal Oak and five miles east of Sharon Center. The Cleveland-Massillon Highway and the Akron-Copley Road run through the village. There are no officials in the township. The inhabitants contend that they are too law-abiding and moral to need the services of either a justice of peace or constable. There is one church in the village—the Methodist, of which Reverend Ashburne is the head. Copley has a centralized school, of which Scott Ross is principal. It is estimated that there are about 550 students. There are two buildings, in which the grade and high schools are housed, in addition to a portable building erected to take care of the overflow. COPLEY HAS ALWAYS HAD GOOD SCHOOLS Copley has always been very advanced in educational progress since the early pioneer days, when it was supplied with as good school buildings and as efficient teachers as any of its neighbors. According to Lane, a good share of the time an academy or high school was maintained at the center of the town. The center was incorporated as a separate school district in about 1860. The school at this time was in charge of Rev. John Encell, who made himself so efficient as an instructor and so popular a citizen that in 1865 he was selected as Summit County's representative in the State Legislature. Students who went to school under Professor Encell still hold annual reunions. Such a reunion was held in Copley recently, when a handful of gray-haired pupils, the majority of whom were over eighty years old, assembled to discuss old times. That Copley is still progressive along educational lines is seen in the bond for $175,000 for a new school building which will be subjected to a popular vote at the fall elections. One of the most interesting residents of Copley is A. A. Crosier, popularly known as the "Sage of Copley." Mr. Crosier has lived in Copley practically all of his life. He is now seventy-eight years of age, but does not look nearly that old. He is well preserved and his alert interest in modern events and his optimistic outlook of life have served to keep him young. He taught school in Loyal Oak for seven years prior to coming to Copley. He is believed to have been the teacher of the first select school in Summit County. He then taught for three years in Copley, when he resigned from his AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 161 school work, due to ill health, and took up farming. He farmed for thirty years north of Copley, just west of Montrose. Mr. and Mrs. Crosier have been married going on fifty-seven years. Mrs. Crosier is just recovering from an illness of about eight weeks. Copley's oldest resident is E. H. Hiestand, who was born in the western part of the township in 1842. He moved to Copley in 1891, in the center, where he has farmed ever since. He will be eighty-seven years old in January. WAS BORN IN A LOG HOUSE Walter Randall, who is over eighty-three years of age, is another old-time resident of Copley. He was born in a log house in the township, on February 11, 1845. He built the house where he now lives thirty-two years ago. He enlisted in the Civil War when a youth of seventeen years and accompanied Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. He is the second oldest resident in the township. Copley was very patriotic during the Civil War, furnishing as many volunteers as any of the surrounding townships. Between forty and fifty veterans are buried in the Copley Cemetery. Only two members of the G. A. R. in Copley Township are living. They are Walter Randall and States McCoy. Although Copley has not grown to any great extent since the early days, a new impetus has recently been given the commercial growth and prosperity of the village with the completion of the Cleveland-Massillon Highway. Some of the local businesses not previously mentioned are a general store operated by Eugene Tewksbury and a lumber yard owned by Roswell Hopkins. Members of the Copley School Board are Bert Hammond, president ; Rollie Arnold, Robert Hinman, Fred Crosier, Eber Messner, and Clyde Ekert, clerk. CHAPTER IV WOMEN AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS By Myra J. Gelink During the more than a century, in which that part of Ohio now known as Summit County, has been developing, women have contributed materially to her progress and success, having had a definite part in each new line of endeavor and being able to show fine accomplishments. Since the days when, as pioneers, they followed their men into the unknown new country and in every way did their part in building the home, rearing the family, and with their own hands supplying most of the family's immediate needs, to the present, when in a rapidly developing industrial center, with all the modern improvements and labor-savers, they have more time for personal contact with the world outside the home, Summit County women have always been active and aggressive in all those things which make for better homes and more progressive communities. During those early days, on through the dark days of the Civil War, they constantly demonstrated their accomplishments and attained a high standard as home-maker, nurse, producer and leader. There is no way of expressing what the indebtedness of the women of today is to those earlier women, many of whom would have been outstanding in any time and place, nor is it possible to enumerate them and their splendid work. But they had a vision and left us an ideal of service that means continued effort on our part to equal. As the century advanced, and new inventions were constantly making the home work lighter for women, they more and more filled this gained leisure time with greater attention to the social and religious welfare of the town. Still thinking in terms of the home, the first branching into organization was naturally along those lines which most closely tied with the home. One of the first local organizations was the club known as the Tuesday Musical Club, which in 1927 celebrated its fortieth anniversary. What this club has meant in the development of the cultural life of this community there is no way of computing. Each year they have brought to Akron, in a series of concerts, the finest music obtainable, and have made it possible for a great number to have the privilege of hearing world masters in every branch of music. At about that same time, the entire country was agitated over the question of temperance, and Woman's Christian Temperance Unions sprang up rapidly, with their slogan "For God and Home and Every Land." As in everything for general betterment, Summit County was a leader and did - 162 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 163 not rest until there was not a section of the county without a Union, these now numbering twenty. Since prohibition these groups have worked along somewhat different lines and have branched out in all directions, doing fine work through departments of Child Welfare, Prison Work and the Juvenile Court. Woman's first care always being the children, it was in keeping that a day nursery should have been the conception of women. A group of young society women, wishing for some serious expression of their desire to be an active part of the welfare interests of the city, started a day nursery, cared for by themselves, each one serving a day at a time. From the start it filled a great need of women who were employed by the day and had no one with whom to leave small children. From this beginning has grown the present Mary Day Nursery and Children's Hospital, one of the finest institutions of its kind. The Mary Day Nursery is entirely under the care of the young women of the Junior League, thus continuing the traditions of its founders. Another project, one of the finest endeavors of the women of Akron, is the management of the Sumner Home for the Aged. This home is named in honor of Miss Louise Sumner, who left the house which had been her girlhood home (a famous stone mansion of its day) , and a large tract of land which was to provide an income, that there might be a place of refuge for gentle folks in their declining years. Through the efforts of the splendid ladies of the board this is a "home" in the truest interpretation of the word. Clubs soon came to have an important part in the lives of the women, they having discovered within themselves a natural aptitude for organization effort ; also a realization of the advantages of comradeship. Many of the cultural clubs early formed are still important factors in our community life. The New Century Club, the Art and History Class, the Fortnightly Club and the Monday Study Club have all these years maintained programs of a high standard of excellence and have contributed much to the social life. As the city has grown these clubs have been added to by the formation of many new ones. The College Club, the Pan-Hellenic Association, the Goodyear Woman's Club, the North Hill Study Club, the West Hill Literary Club, the Akron Branch of the Story Tellers League, the North Hill Literary Club and the Thursday Afternoon Study Club are all splendidly meeting the needs of different groups and various interests. Realizing that a community is no better than the aggregate of its homes, it was natural that the women, the real home-makers, should desire greater understanding of community life and a fuller participation in its various expressions. The whole welfare program as carried on in Summit County is so inseparably tied up with women that it is impossible to treat of it here without infringing upon the subject "Welfare Organizations." However, the entire county is debtor to the work women are doing just from a real desire for service and because their interest and sympathy extend to every need. The Schwesterbund, supporting orphans, and the Needlework Guild, whose only requirement for membership is the dona- 164 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY tion of two new garments each year, should be added to the long list of welfare organizations, each of which, following its own program is doing such marvelous work. Still other groups of women have found their interest in fraternal organizations, the Women's Benefit Association of the Maccabees having three large Reviews, the Busy Bee Review, the Protection Review and the Ghent Review. Again others have banded themselves into Auxiliaries to the G. A. R., the Spanish War Veterans and the Veterans of the World War, with the avowed object of aid and sympathy for all soldiers, sailors and marines, and with an aim to teach all love of country and the duties of good citizens. Yet another group, and a large one—devoting its efforts to Americanization and the teaching of true patriotism, are the Daughters of the American Revolution. Summit County now has three chapters: Cuyahoga-Portage Chapter, Akron Chapter, and Temperance Avery Chapter. Cuyahoga-Portage Chapter has been particularly active, as the oldest chapter, in preserving Akron's early landmarks. Handsome boulders of granite with bronze tablets, appropriately stating the facts, have been placed at the beginning and the end of "Old Portage," the trail worn by Indian feet as they traversed the ridge between the Cuyahoga and the Tuscarawas basins; a third boulder has been placed in Perkins Park, on the trail, that those who pass may be reminded of what we owe to those who preceded us and endured the hardships necessary to bring civilization to the wilderness. Another fine piece of work has been the restoration of the old cemetery on Newton Street. This cemetery was remembered by few, and was being used for a neighborhood playground, and yet it is the last resting place of six Revolutionary soldiers, as well as many of our pioneers. An iron fence has been placed about the entire lot, the tombstones long fallen were re-erected and the entire plot, in the name of the Cuyahoga-Portage Chapter D. A. R. re-dedicated to the memory of those there sleeping. In other places Revolutionary soldiers have been remembered and their graves marked by both the Cuyahoga-Portage Chapter and the Akron Chapter. It is fitting, that in these days of speed and high tension, we should occasionally pause and pay tribute to those who laid the foundations of our fine community and then had to pass on without seeing the fulfillment of their hopes. This the Daughters of the American Revolution help to do by making a living connection between that day and this. The greatest asset, the only real asset, of any nation is its children. Believing this, one of the largest as well as one of the most active associations of women is the Home and School League, organized by Mrs. Charles W. Seiberling, because she, with a few others, realized the necessity of a closer unity between the teacher in the school-room and the mother in the home, that by cooperation they might improve conditions of child life and improve the moral, the intellectual, and physical welfare of the children by securing for them proper surroundings and conditions in the schools, homes and community. This wonderful ideal has grown until 166 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY now the league is organized in fifty-three districts with over 8,000 mothers enrolled. Today there is no field in which women are not conspicuously successful, whether of profession, business, politics, society, civic or philanthropic interests. And all of these interests are being expressed not only through individual club efforts but through a Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1893 four women, Mrs. M. Chase, Mrs. E. W. Claypole, Mrs. E. C. Berry and Mrs. F. A. Schumacher called together representatives from various women's organizations in Akron to form the "Woman's Council of Akron," for the purpose of bringing all women's organizations into closer relationship, increasing the knowledge of each as to the work of others and enabling them to work to better advantage and together on enterprises of general interest. In 1919 this organization was incorporated and became the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women's Clubs ; and today has an individual membership of 800 and an affiliation of 115 city and county clubs. There is nothing worthy that pertains to Public Welfare, American Citizenship or the Home, that the efforts of these federated women are not all directed to its accomplishment. In 1923 the Federation assumed the responsibility of the sale of the Christmas Seals. The funds accumulated during four years were this year set aside for the purchase of a splendid piece of property, the building to be used as a clinic for the health commission in tuberculosis work. Cooperating also with the League of Women Voters, worthwhile Citizenship Schools have been held. Women have taken seriously their right of franchise, and have earnestly endeavored to understand the principles of government that they may intelligently express themselves at the ballot. This need, the League of Women Voters has recognized and ably met through its own program and in conjunction with the Federation. There is no part of woman's efforts more outstanding than the work accomplished by the country groups. These women whose environment compels more time, devoted to the physical necessities of life, have yet the same keen interest, are as well organized, and have kept even pace with their town sisters in those steps which lead to a fuller intellectual and cultural life. There are now in our country 3,000,000 club women. They are the finest of American womanhood, giving time and great abilities that the world may be a better, sweeter place for those who follow, and conscientiously striving that each day may see them of greater value as human beings. This is all a development of approximately the last fifty years, and in this development the Summit County women have wrought well and have a record of accomplishment unequalled by many, excelled by few. History of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women's Clubs from 1893 to 1928 in Note Form, Compiled from the Secretary's Books AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 167 PRESIDENTS OF THE AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS, 1893-1929 1893-1897 Mrs. Katherine B. Claypole 1897-1899 Mrs. Henrietta Chase 1899-1901 Mrs. W. C. Parsons 1901-1903 Mrs. W. C. Findley 1903-1905 Mrs. Mary Cale Smith 1905-1907 Mrs. E. M. Buel 1907-1908 Mrs. A. E. Heintselman 1908-1910 Mrs. A. F. Sippy 1910-1912 Mrs. O. E. Olin 1912-1914 Dr. Isabel A. Bradley 1914-1915 Mrs. E. R. Adam 1915-1917 Mrs. Hermine Z. Hansen 1917-1919 Mrs. T. M. Holloway 1919-1921 Miss Helen Wolle 1921-1923 Mrs. R. M. Leggett 1923-1924 Mrs. Ray Crisp 1924-1926 Mrs. C. H. Case 1926-1928 Mrs. Arthur Hunsicker 1928- ____ Mrs. A. L. Morganroth THE AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS, 1893-1929 1893 Founders: Mrs. M. Chase, Mrs. E. W. Claypole, Mrs. E. C. Berry, Mrs. F. A. Schumacher. The founders called together representatives from the various women's organizations in Akron, to form the "Woman's Council of Akron." Woman's Council of Akron Purpose: To bring all women's organizations into closer relationship, increasing knowledge of each as to work of others and enabling them to work to better advantage and also to work together on any enterprise of general interest. First meeting—April, 1893—W. C. T. U. rooms. Thirty present, representing nineteen societies. Mrs. E. W. Claypole elected first president. Fifteen societies signed the constitution. Meetings to be held once a year for a full day, with reports from the organizations and talks. 1894 Semi-annual meetings begun. Agitate for : Free kindergartens in the schools. Library reading room. Smoke consumers. Closing of saloons. 168 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY 1895 Petitioned and voted for new library. Agitate for : Police matron in city prisons. Free kindergartens. Curfew. 1896 Mothers Club formed to train children in home life. 1897 Increasing interest in library. Mothers Club growing. Working for : Moral tone of amusements. Improvement of sanitary conditions of schools. Clean streets. 1898 Kindergartens started in each school. Mothers Club cooperates with schools and teachers, school work carried into homes and greater sympathy between mothers and teachers. Plan : To raise money for school-room decorations by entertainments. 1899 School-room decoration entertainments a success — $487.63 netted. Twenty-nine pictures sold besides picture given each school—Howe School bought four extra. Mothers Club flourishing: Eleven circles in Akron, one in Cuyahoga Falls and one on North Hill. Aim: Direct attention on perfect home life ; hygiene, sanitation and care of children ; special study of art in education—refining influence. Council exerts force for Ohio Normal School. Akron is only local council of its kind. 1900 Agitate for : Y. W. C. A.—great need felt. Library in South Akron. Street cleaning. Smoke consumers. Curfew. 1901 Need for Y. W. C. A. 1902 Dues changed for clubs from $2 to $1. Extend cooperation to Akron in plans for building for Associated Charities. Aim of Woman's Council at this time : To bring various associations of women in Akron in closer union—work done entirely by committees AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 169 and the annual meeting is largely to hear the reading of reports and voting on work the Council may wish to take up for the next year. 1903 Movement for Out-Door Art begun : Joins the American Park and Out-Door Art Association and believes billboards unsightly and dangerous at times. Movement for Juvenile Court. 1904 Malana Harris Memorial Library. Mothers Club of Crosby School want to start library as tribute to Mrs. Harris. Woman's Council supports. Agitate for reinstating in schools : Manual training. Domestic science and sewing. Free kindergartens. Out-Door Art flourishing: Vacant lots beautified. Seeds distributed in schools. Conservation urged. Katherine Claypole memorial considered. Agitate for : Juvenile Court—great need felt. 1905 Out-Door Art : Council distributes seeds to school children. Effort begun to organize a City Mothers' Circle. Malana Harris Memorial : Granite monument in form of kindergarten symbols placed over Mrs. Harris' grave. Malana Harris Memorial Library started. 1906 Malana Harris Memorial Library—in corner of Main Library. Three hundred books for mothers and children. Agitate : Juvenile Court. Child labor laws. 1907 Katherine B. Claypole Fund started : To aid worthy students who otherwise might be unable to complete their education. To be named Katherine Claypole in honor of the organizer of the Woman's Council. Money raised in Council. Assist cemetery association in beautifying Glendale cemetery. Malana Harris Memorial Library : Oil painting of Mrs. Harris secured. 1908 Constitution changed : (1) Admit individual members at $1.00 each —each to have power to vote. (2) Council to meet once a month in library 170 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY building on the first Wednesday of each month with representatives from all organizations of Women's Clubs in city. Meetings to begin at 2 :30— first to be in January, 1909. Committee chosen to take up question of Sane Fourth. Project: Old People's Home. Council has representative to help organize Health Society for Akron. 1909 Individual members for first time. Monthly meetings for first time. Twenty-five societies enrolled. Council is entitled to almost full credit for the agitation, through its educational committee, which resulted in the establishment of the Juvenile Court and the appointment of a probation officer. Council assists : Summit County Health Protective Association. Public playgrounds. Yard improvement contest. T. B. sanitarium. Medical inspection in the schools. Prevention of smoke nuisance. Censorship of moving picture shows. 1910 Agitate for : Separate woman's reformatory and not one to be built with the state penitentiary. Against common drinking cups in schools. More light for City of Akron. Regulation of attendance of children at movies. Assist in : Sane Fourth. Mary Day Nursery campaign. Clearing House and Central Bureau of Charities. Salvation Army campaign. Yard improvement. 1911 Agitate for : Police matron in prisons—two nurses giving part time but no matron. Medical inspection in schools—much work being done on it but little accomplished. Public playgrounds. Assist: Playgrounds. Sane Fourth. Katherine Claypole Fund : $282.60 in treasury—four loans to girls at 3 per cent. Old People's Home shaping itself. Schools putting in drinking fountains. Twenty-seven organizations in Council—eight individual members. 1912 Sumner Home for the Aged opened. Agitate for : Detention Home for Boys and Girls—temporary one established. More playgrounds. Well equipped T. B. dispensary. Suffrage for women. Assist : Sane Fourth program. Elizabeth Park given for playground by Mr. Frank Mason. Health Protective Association sold over $800 worth of Christmas Seals. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 171 1913 Agitate for : Matron for Station Travelers' Aid Committee appointed. Lower street car steps—lowered two inches. Bill providing for women as eligible on boards of control in state institutions caring for women and children. Park development : Much interest now in playgrounds and Portage, Perkins and Elizabeth parks. Moving picture censorship : Advancement—State Censor Board with women members. 1914 Join State Federation. Playground movement continued. Agitate for : Probation officer. Clean-up movement. Civic improvements. Housewife's League organized—will inspect markets. Beginning of development of social side of club life. Luncheons at Portage Hotel. Teas and personal calls. 1915 Monthly board meetings begun. Agitate for : Child labor laws. Suffrage. Probation officer. Woman on Board of Education and Board of Health. Assist : Belgium relief. Clean up. Garden work in Akron. Extension of membership to 600. Housewife's League active—especially in anti-fly campaign. 1916 Baby Week put on in big way. Assist in : Clean-up for Akron. School bond issue. Fly campaign. Sane Fourth. Campaign against spitting on streets. Sale of goods made by the blind, Martha House opened for working girls. War-time work begun. Organizations belonging to Council—thirty-nine. Individual membership of Council—five hundred. Average attendance of meetings—one hundred. 1917 Child Welfare stations opened for the first time. Drinking fountain for dogs placed by Federation in park. Probation officer secured. Katherine Claypole Fund : Thirty-five girls have benefited and fund is increasing. 172 -AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY State Convention of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs held in Akron—quite successful. French protege taken by Council. Council pays board and expenses, government pays school tuition. Agitate : T. B. Sanitarium. Detention Home for Boys and Girls. Assist : Clean-up. Child Welfare stations. Campaign against spitting on streets. War work. City Charter Association. 1918 Detention Home for Girls and Boys to be built. Red Cross Seal sale—$2,000, so additional T. B. nurse employed. Accomplish : Dental clinics started in schools. Baby Week and Child Welfare stations. Red Cross shop opened. Assist : War work. Directory for Council planned. 1919 Name changed : Formerly—Woman's Council of Akron. January, 1919—Woman's Council of Summit County. September, 1919—Woman's Council. December, 1919—Incorporated into Akron and Summit County Federation of Women's Clubs. First directory issued and $1,130 cleared. Agitate : Woman's club house. Street car ventilation and cleanliness. Child Welfare. School attendance. Hygiene. New Detention Home opened—April 26, 1919. Assist : Cooperate with Better Akron Federation. School bond. French protege. 1920-21 Agitate for : Better state legislation. Assist : Improved conditions at Detention Home. Americanization work. Clean-up week. European war work. French protege. Better Homes Institute put on in big way. Club house idea given up for time. Membership tickets adopted. 1921-22 Affiliation with Ohio Federation for Social Health. Accomplishments : Art lectures under Art and Music Committees. Americanization program. Support : Strong Health and Child Welfare program. Sheppard-Towner Bill. Protest against cut in Health Budget. Pre-natal Clinic to open in fall if nurses can be secured. Agitate for wrapped bread. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 173 Endorse : State welfare work as directed by Mr. E. C. Shaw. Movement for state penal police. Cooperate with Rotary Club in relief to crippled children. 1922-23 Fifteen minute musicales before each meeting. Federation organized into four departments : Art Department, Welfare Department, Legislative Department, Conservation Department. Art Department : Gave course of lectures. Welfare Department: Christmas Seal collection—$4,386. Stressed Child Welfare work. Meat inspection studied. Legislative Department : Endorsed state bills. Conservation Department: Put on big Garden Week program. N. E. District State Conference held in Akron—a great success. Civic and national affairs : Fourth of July program given by Federation. Federation gives money for National Federation Headquarters, and to Better Akron Federation. Furnishes hospital bed. Assist : Springfield Lake bond issue. Woman's Forum. Near East Relief. Float in Viaduct Day Parade. Put out a directory, and cleared $400 from counter for lunch at Akron Auto Show. 1923-24 Fourth of July celebration of American Citizenship Day put on. Membership tea to celebrate thirtieth anniversary of the Federation. Short musical program given before each regular monthly meeting. Important work of year : Establishment of Camp Christmas Seal, a fresh air camp attended for six weeks by twenty-five of the city's children.The state inspector announced that this camp was the best in the state. The 1923-24 sale of Christmas Seals (with Mrs. Hermine Hansen, chairman), amounted to $7,580.80 total receipts, with $5,945.88 of this sum to be used in Akron and Summit County. Securing of scholarship from the state fund to further college education of a young woman at Akron University. Cooperation of the Federation with managers of dance halls in furthering correct dancing. Extensive program in schools for Arbor Day, teaching love and conservation of trees. Establishment of permanent tuberculosis clinic. Through the Child Welfare Department the operation was effected with Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts. Federation endorsed : The Child Labor Bill. The McKenzie Bill. Bill for Industrial Farm for Federal women prisoners and young men first offenders. The Johnson Immigration Bill. Good newspaper publicity secured this year. Four departments of work organized were : Department of Applied 174 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Education. Department of Fine Arts. Department of Public Welfare. Department of American Citizenship. (Various divisions.) 1924-25 Federation headquarters opened—with paid executive secretary. Volunteer Service Bureau started : To bring together the needs of the Institutions for Volunteer Service with those individuals willing to give volunteer service. Full Federation Days begun : Patterned after the State and General Federation, morning meetings and departmental hour have been added to the regular monthly afternoon meeting. The four departments have done splendid work throughout the year. The Federation, now composed of seventy organizations, is working with that same purpose written out in the first constitution of the Woman's Council way back in 1893: To bring all women's organizations into closer relationship, increasing knowledge of each as to work of others and enabling them to work to better advantage and also to work together on any enterprise of general interest. 1925-26 Club membership now reaches 100. Important work included : Participation in Better Akron Federation Community Chest Campaign. Participation in Children's Hospital Campaign. Representation in Akron Centennial Parade. Christmas Seal Sale. Cooperation with League of Women Voters and Home and School League in putting on Citizenship Schools. Class in Home Economics at university. Exhibit of Ohio Born Women Artists shown in art centers throughout state. Conservation program. Excellent speakers at monthly Federation meetings. 1926-27 Important work was : Purchase of a clinic building for use of health commission in T. B. work from proceeds of Christmas Seals during past four years. Addition of another nurse in the county tuberculosis work. Financing classes in Americanization work for home women. Special classes in Parliamentary Law and Child Study under specialists. Cooperation with League of Women Voters in Citizenship Schools. Assisting Better Akron Federation in Community Chest Campaign. Assembling for second year exhibition of Ohio Born Women Artists. Helping to put across a conservation program through the formation AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 175 of garden clubs, tree planting clubs, and the placing of the Forest primer as supplementary reading in the public schools. The aims of the Akron and Summit County Federation may be summed up as follows : To direct activities of women along lines productive of the most good to the most people. To encourage and assist in every worthy civic movement. To concentrate activities of clubs, organizations, and individuals with the object of eliminating duplication and loss of woman power. To promote closer cooperation between city and county women. To bring to women information and thoughts from the outside world, in the form of lectures and programs by specialists, as well as to present questions of local interest. COMPLETE ROSTER, WOMEN'S FEDERATION The complete roster of organizations in the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women's Clubs is as follows : Akron branch of the National Story Tellers League, Akron branch, Needlework Guild of America, Akron Missionary Union, Akron and Summit County Council of Girl Scouts, Akron and Summit County Federation Garden Club, Akron Pan-Hellenic Association, Art and History Class, Auxiliary to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Barberton Music and Art Study Club, Berkshire Study Club, Buckley Women's Relief Corps No. 23, Burns Club Auxiliary, Camp Wilford Auxiliary, United Spanish War Veterans, Child's Conservation League, Circle of Mercy, Class Altiaro of West Congregational Church, Class Anna, High Street Church of Christ, Class Fidelity, West Congregational Church, Cleophan Club, Collect, College Club of Akron, Country Club of Tallmadge, Coventry Women's Civic Club, Daughters of 1812, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Daughters of Isabella, Dorcas Band, First United Brethren Church. Eastern Star Sewing Circle, Fairlawn Civics Club, Florence Crittenden Rescue League, Fortnightly Club, Fortnightly Study Club of Kenmore, Goodyear Women's Club, Senior Hadassah, Home and School leagues, Homemakers' Club of Springfield, Jay Dee Club, Kenmore Mothers' Club, Ladies Auxiliary of United Commercial Travelers of America, Akron Council No. 87, Ladies Aid Society, First M. E. Church, League of Women Voters, Louise Sewing Circle, Louise Temple, Pythian Sisters, Malana Harris Memorial Library Association, Mary Day Nursery and Children's Hospital, Mizpah Class, First Presbyterian Church, Mogadore Literary Club, Monday Study Club, National Aeronautic Association of America, Akron chapter. National Council of Jewish Women, New Century Club, North Hill Civic Club, North Hill Literary Club, Oberlin Women's Club, Osteopathic Luncheon Club, Peninsula Parent-Teachers' Association, Progressive Study ii Club of Cuyahoga Falls, Sawyerwood Study Club, Schwesterbund Society of Akron, Service Star Legion, Sorosis Club of Springfield, Stony Hill Farm Women's Club, Stow Community Church Workers, Stow Culture 176 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Club, Sumner Home for the Aged, Sunshine Study Club, Temperance Avery Chapter of D. A. R., Temple of Israel Sisterhood, Thursday Afternoon Study Club, Travelers' Aid Society, Tree Planting Club, Tuesday Musical Club, Tuesday Night Club of Barberton, West Hill Literary Club, Women's Association, First Congregational Church, Women's Auxiliary, City Hospital, Women's Auxiliary, First Baptist Church, Women's Auxiliary, People's Hospital, Women's Benefit Association, Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Summit County, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Frances Willard, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, southwest branch, Woman's City Club, Woman's Club of Barberton, Woman's Club of Hudson, Women's Democratic Club of Summit County, Women's Guild of St. Paul's Parish, Women's Guild, Trinity Lutheran Church, Women's Missionary Society of Grace Reformed Church, Women's Republican Club, Women's Society, First Presbyterian Church, Women's Universalist Missionary Association, Women's Union, West Congregational Church, Women's Welch Club of America, Wooster Avenue Church of Christ Missionary Society, Worthwhile Club, Young Ladies Missionary Society of High Street Church of Christ, Young Women's Christian Association. Below are listed different organizations of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women's Clubs, giving personnel of each and miscellaneous information : ART AND HISTORY CLASS Officers President, Mrs. B. A. Polsky Vice Pres., Mrs. Charles Allen Secretary, Miss Mary Baird Treasurer, Mrs. A. G. Partridge Program Committee, Mrs. W. W. Milar Social Committee, Mrs. Josephine Howland Members Allen, Mrs. Charles Baird, Miss Isabel Baird, Miss Mary Barnhardt, Mrs. Jane Dick, Mrs. Charles Gelink, Mrs. Myra Hoff, Miss Charlotte M. Hoff, Miss Helen J. Hunt, Mrs. William H. Howland, Mrs. Charles E. Howland, Mrs. Josephine Milar, Mrs. W. W. Partridge, Mrs. A. G. Polsky, Mrs. B. A. Proehl, Mrs. Jane Reynolds, Mrs. Ida Thompson, Mrs. Elizabeth Voris, Mrs. William Wallace, Mrs. Sam Meetings are held every Thursday afternoon at 2:30 P. M. at the homes of members. The club is educational and social. WOMEN'S SOCIETY FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Officers President, Mrs. J. A. Kendall  Treasurer, 1st Vice Pres., Mrs. H. A. Galt 2nd Vice Pres., Mrs. B. Blackmore Treasurer: Mrs. Ferdinand H. Shumacher Secretary, Mrs. A. W. McCann Membership, All women of the congregation. Meetings, First Thursday of the month, at Parish House, W. Exchange and Mull Ave., or Church Parlors, E. Market St. Purpose, Philanthropic and social. 178 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY WOMEN'S UNIVERSALIST MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION Officers President, Mrs. S. H. Boyd Vice Pres., Mrs. Bessie Ford Secretary, Mrs. J. A. Shattuck Cor. Sec., Miss Maxilla Spicer Treas., Mrs. W. A. Morton Trustees, Mrs. W. E. Pardee, Mrs. Stephen Gladwin Membership 106. Members Alexander, Mrs. F. G. Augustine, Mrs. W. B. Austin, Mrs. Alvin Austin, Mrs. H. K. Bachelor, Mrs. F. M. Barber, Mrs. W. A. Barnette, Mrs. L. T. Barder, Mrs. B. R. Bossinger, Mrs. Geo. Boyd, Mrs. S. H. Breese, Mrs. C. S. Brooker, Mrs. Russell L. Burnham, Mrs. E. L. Cass, Mrs. Claud A. Campbell, Mrs. Grover Carlton, Mrs. W. L. Cleveland, Mrs. Amelia Cranz, Mrs. Inez Cross, Mrs. J. B. Cross, Mrs. Roy Dales, Mrs. Ella B. Daub, Mrs. Norman Deaken, Mrs. John Dellenberger, Mrs. Harry Dresse, Mrs. W. E. Eaken, Mrs. A. B. Etz, Mrs. Emmet Farnham, Mrs. Leonard S. Ford, Mrs. Bessie Fowls, Mrs. O. S. Fuller, Mrs. W. A. Galehouse, Mrs. Mazie Garrett, Mrs. C. W. Garber, Mrs. J. H. Gladwin, Mrs. S. C. Gonder, Mrs. Bruce Groff, Mrs. Paul Hall, Mrs. Wm. C. Harter, Mrs. Grace Hauser, Mrs. A. A. Heacock, Mrs. Edgar Hillibish, Mrs. Etta Hitchcock, Mrs. Florence Hitchcock, Miss Georgia Hoffman, Mrs. A. A. Hulbert, Mrs. Letta Jackson, Mrs. Geo. C. Johnston, Mrs. J. M. Keater, Miss Minnie Kingsbury, Mrs. A. T. Knight, Mrs. C. M. Kohler, Mrs. A. A. Koplin, Mrs. M. D. Koplin, Miss Geraldine Kinnan, Mrs. A. J. Mihills, Mrs. Harriet Miller, Mrs. C. A. Miller, Mrs. H. F. Miller, Mrs. Paul Mills, Mrs. Bert Migner, Mrs. Armis R. Moore, Mrs. A. A. Morton, Mrs. W. A. Myers, Mrs. Dan Nash, Mrs. C. B. Newton, Mrs. J. M. Newton, Mrs. F. H. Olin, Mrs. C. R. Olin, Mrs. O. E. Palmer, Mrs. Francis Pardee, Mrs. W. E. Parshall, Mrs. S. W. Pfaff, Mrs. George Read, Mrs. Ross Read, Mrs. F. E. Reynolds, Mrs. Hoyt Rice, Mrs. Thad Richardson, Mrs. Grace Richardson, Mrs. Ethel Ridge, Mrs. Wm. F. Roach, Mrs. A. E. Rockwell, Mrs. Mary Rogers, Mrs. Mary Remig, Mrs. W. O. Sawyer, Mrs. W. T. Schmidt, Mrs. Richard Scott, Mrs. Robert Seymour, Mrs. Martha Shattuck, Mrs. J. A. Sherbondy, Mrs. Wm. Shively, Mrs. W. G. Simmons, Mrs. H. F. Spanton, Mrs. A. I. Spicer, Miss Marilla Smith, Mrs. K. D. Thornton, Mrs. Cyrus Tillson, Miss Hallie Van Slyke, Mrs. Sarah Van Slyke, Miss Bessie Voris, Mrs. E. F. Walker, Mrs. C. D. Williams, Mrs. Wilson Warren, Mrs. Mark Wills, Mrs. Bert Worron, Mrs. Lillian Zesiger, Mrs. E. E. YOUNG LADIES' MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE HIGH STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST Officers President, Miss Ethel Nugent Vice Pres., Mrs. Nell Shane Secretary, Miss Iva Alexande Treasurer, Miss Vida Morris General Committee, Mrs. Perry Shaw Membership 51. Members Alexander, Miss Iv: Bachtel, Mrs. Arlen Baker, Miss Lois Baldwin, Miss Delia Barriset, Mrs. Mildred Bender, Miss Ruth AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 179 Betler, Miss Samantha Bickford, Mrs. Mildred Boron, Miss Rose Bosson, Miss Edna Campbell, Miss Myrtle Carter, Mrs. Elsie Cook, Miss Irene Dresser, Mrs. Luella Dutt, Mrs. Bettie Dutt, Miss Ruth Finney, Miss Mary Foltz, Mrs. Bessie Garman, Miss Grace Hinks, Mrs. Mildred Hosler, Miss Mary Johnson, Mrs. Thelma Kontz, Miss Mary Kyser, Miss Gladys Slawter, Miss Ruth Caldwell, Mrs. Bess Zimarik, Mrs. Odette McLean, Miss Mary Morris, Miss Vida Nugent, Miss Ethel Riggs, Mrs. Ona Rooms. Miss Elma Shane, Mrs. Nell Stewart. Mrs. Marion Shaw, Mrs. Perry Slusher, Mrs. Hazel Smith, Mrs. Flora Smith, Mrs. Gertrude Tobaben, Mrs. Grace Vermillion, Mrs. Viola Waldroop, Mrs. Ann Webb, Miss Alma Wells, Mrs. Madge Wright, Mrs. Mary Bellinger, Mrs. Blanche Schultz, Miss Mary K. Morris, Miss Vera Goss, Mrs. Anna Brown, Miss Elizabeth Tidball, Mrs. L. D. Honorary Member : Rowe, Mrs. Lucretia Meetings held on the second Tuesday night of each month. Place of meeting—High Street Church of Christ, Akron, Ohio. WOMEN'S UNION WEST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Officers President, Mrs. A. W. Heintz 1st Vice President, Mrs. H. P. Matson 2nd Vice President, Mrs. V. W. Shear 3rd Vice President, Mrs. H. J. Bachtel 4th Vice President, Mrs. E. W. Oldham Rec. Sec., Mrs. J. V. Cleaver Cor. Sec., Mrs. L. M. Clifford Treas., Mrs. J. E. Shosenberg Purpose of the society: To provide organized assistance for all Congregational activities, and to promote fellowship among the women members. Responsibility: Upkeep of dining room and kitchen. Assistance to organized charities. To furnish flowers for the ill and deceased. Children's Hospital sewing. Serve quarterly Congregational Dinners, and monthly Union Luncheons. Meetings: General Union Meeting, fourth Wednesday of each month from September to June. Executive Board Meeting, Friday preceding Union meeting, September to July. Sub-Divisions: Guild Committee, Mrs. Jno. R. Gammeter, 680 N. Portage Path. TUESDAY NIGHT CLUB OF BARBERTON Officers Honorary Pres., Mrs. J. M. Willard President, Mrs. Fred Dayton Vice Pres., Mrs. A. C. Dunmead Secretary, Mrs. L. Clifford Dibble Asst. Sec., Mrs. Frank Johnson Treasurer, Mrs. A. W. Sample Limited Membership 20. Members Bricker, Mrs. A. L. Cox, Mrs. George Dayton, Mrs. Fred Dibble, Mrs. Clifford L. Dunmead, Mrs. A. C. Evans, Mrs. F. D. Farrar, Mrs. C. H. Hickox, Mrs. William Hunter, Mrs. Chas. Jennings, Mrs. H. C. Johnson, Mrs. Frank Korns, Mrs. George Rice, Mrs. Marvin McIntire, Mrs. B. G. Sample, Mrs. Arthur Snyder, Mrs. E. G. South, Mrs. J. M. Sprankle, Mrs. Oliver Stumpf, Mrs. Elmer Willard, Mrs. J. Milton Regular meetings held once in two weeks, commencing with the first Tuesday in October at 7:30 p. m. The meetings are held at the homes of the members. Three parties are held during the year to which a guest is invited. 180 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY The club was organized as a means of educational and social enjoyment. We have just closed the 28th year of study which has been a very enjoyable one. Folk-lore, myths, legends, of different countries were the subjects. STONY HILL FARM WOMEN'S CLUB Officers President, Mrs. Eva Crosier Vice President, Mrs. Lena Fryman Sec. and Treas., Mrs. Grace Straw Asst. Sec. and Treas., Mrs. Bertha Boltz Membership 17 Members Boltz, Mrs. Bertha Crosier, Mrs. Eva Boltz, Mrs. Lillie Bell, Mrs. Mary Fryman, Mrs. Alice Arnold, Mrs. Pearl Fryman, Mrs. Lena Dunsha, Mrs. Kin (honorary member) Griswold, Mrs. Belle Edgar, Mrs. Ida Straw, Mrs. Grace Wolf, Mrs. Matilda Jacot, Mrs. Blanche Miller, Mrs. Mary Marshall, Mrs. Molly Rockwood, Mrs. Grace Fritz, Mrs. Emily Purpose of our organization, both educational and social. WOMAN'S CLUB OF HUDSON Officers President, Mrs. Edwin G. Lee Vice Pres., Mrs. H. C. Barlow Secretary, Miss Caroline Ellsworth Treasurer, Mrs. G. F. Garman Publicity Sec., Mrs. Leland Smith Membership 80 active, 10 associate. Meetings first and third Mondays from October to May inclusive. PROGRESSIVE STUDY CLUB OF CUYAHOGA FALLS Officers President, Mrs. F. H. Palmer Vice President, Mrs. Walter Welch Rec. Secretary Mrs. C. F. Cox Cor. Secretary, Mrs. W. L. Tucker Treasurer, Mrs. George Rowland Membership-25 active, 5 associate. Members Boltz, Mrs. L. D. Cox, Mrs. C. F. Davis, Mrs. J. W. Flickinger, Mrs. C. A. Hensel, Miss May Laubach, Mrs. P. C. Marria, Mrs. Fred Moon, Miss Lilly McCaughey, Mrs. E. D, Norte, Mrs. F. C. Palmer, Mrs. F. H. Cooper, Mrs. Maud Piehl, Mrs. H. C. Richards, Mrs. L. C. Rowland, Mrs. George Senn, Mrs. Irene Senn, Miss Edith Smith, Mrs. Marie Tucker, Mrs. W. L. Treat, Mrs. Fred Welch, Mrs. Walter Weller, Mrs. H. L. Wise, Mrs. Harry Chrisman, Mrs. J. C. Sprenkle, Mrs. Emory Meetings are held second and fourth Monday evenings commencing at 8 P. M. i the homes of the members. The object of the club is social and educational. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 181 CHILD'S CONSERVATION LEAGUE, CUYAHOGA FALLS CHAPTER Officers President, Mrs. L. T. Ewart Vice Pres., Mrs. L. L. Crane Rec. Secretary, Mrs. Francis Wolford Cor. Sec., Mrs. F. E. Hawk Treas., Mrs. C. A. Mathias Publicity Agent, Mrs. F. C. Price Membership-50. Waiting list. MEMBERS Arthurs, Mrs. Harold Bolt; Mrs. L. D. Beal, Mrs. Maude H. Bell, Mrs. Nellie W. Christman, Mrs. Fern K. Cox, Mrs. C. F. Crane, Mrs. L. L. Daubenspeck, Mrs. Ira Dingledine, Mrs. Lou Doubleday, Mrs. Erma E. Dabney, Mrs. Amanda R. Doak, Mrs. Bessie Dyer, Mrs. Amelia Endsley, Mrs. H. H. Ewart, Mrs. L. T. Fox, Mrs. J. R. Grove, Mrs. D. O. George, Mrs. Ida Hale, Mrs. Raymond Hawk, Mrs. F. E. Hankey, Mrs. Maud Hedges, Mrs. Mary Hanna, Mrs. Malinda Jamieson, Mrs. Sara Loney, Mrs. Sylvia Lostetter. Mrs. O. A. Mengel, Mrs. Ada Motz, Mrs. Clarence Mathias, Mrs. C. A. Piehl, Mrs. H. C. Petty, Mrs. Clara Price, Mrs. F. C. Richards, Mrs. L. C. Rowland, Mrs. George Schick, Mrs. Adella Schnabel, Mrs. W. S. Sprenkle, Mrs. Emory Stratton, Mrs. Eleanor W. Tallentine, Mrs. Ida Tewkesbury, Mrs. Lelia Thomas, Mrs. F. E. Trousdale, Mrs. Elizabeth Walbeck, Mrs. Mae White, Mrs. John White, Mrs. Della D. Wright, Mrs. K. T. Wolford, Mrs. Francis Wilson, Mrs. Estyl B. Huffman, Mrs. Gladys D. Meetings are first and third Wednesdays from October to June at 7:30 P. M. at 1 the homes of members. Purpose, Educational—philanthropic. BARBERTON MUSIC AND ART STUDY CLUB Officers President, Mrs. W. L. Carson Vice Pres., Mrs. R. E. Morton Secretary, Mrs. R. H. Walker Treasurer, Mrs. Ross Cline Executive Board Mrs. C. B. Rohland  Mrs. A. W. Dasef  Mrs. V. H. Lucas Membership - 60 Members Belch, Mrs. H. Bercaw, Mrs. Chas. Bierly, Mrs. Earnest Blaser, Mrs. Lucille Bovard, Mrs. F. G. Campbell, Mrs. W. E Carson, Mrs. W. L. Case, Mrs. V. Mae Cline, Mrs. Ross Cox, Mrs. George Craig, Mrs. Sharp Culver, Mrs. B. C. Cunningham, Mrs. A. M. Dasef, Mrs. A. W. Dayton, Mrs. F. J. Dempster, Mrs. J. M. Dunmead, Mrs. A. C. Everhard, Mrs. O. D. Farrar, Mrs. C. L. Flickinger, Mrs. F. E. Floyd, Mrs. W. H. Griffiths, Mrs. C. R. Hall, Mrs: A. H. Harpley, Mrs. E. G. Haynes, Mrs. A. C. Hennings, Mrs. W. F. Heppert, Mrs. F. K. Hollinger, Mrs. E. A. Jennings, Mrs. H. C. Johnson, Mrs. F. C. Kitzmiller, Mrs. J. W. Klein, Mrs. Mabel Kreider, Mrs. H. Laughlin, Mrs. R. D. Lucas, Mrs. V. H. Monk, Mrs. Leonard 182 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Moody, Mrs. R. C. Moore, Mrs. R. L. Morton, Mrs. R. E. Pierson, Mrs. M. J. Porter, Miss Helen Robinson, Mrs. Rosenbaugh, Mrs. N. F. Rohland, Mrs. C. B. Rutledge, Miss Mary Sadler, Mrs. C. R. Seiberling, Mrs. R. G. Stevens, Mrs. O. N. Stoner, Mrs. H. C. Stuhldreher, Mrs. Mary Swinehart, Mrs. O. P. Tully, Mrs. C. D. Van Hyning, Mrs. N. H. Wallace, Mrs. Ralph Walker, Mrs. R. H. Walker, Mrs. V. A. Weatherford, Mrs. J. F. Weisberger, Mrs. Harry Westbrook, Mrs. Harry Wright, Mrs. Harry The club meetings are held on alternate Mondays at 2:00 P. M. in the members' homes. Purpose—educational. Music course used as outlined for federated music clubs. American cities were studied by the Art section. HISTORY OF AKRON HOME AND SCHOOL LEAGUE By Mrs. David R. Thomas The Akron Home and School League was organized in the year 1911 with Mrs. C. W. Seiberling as president. Presidents