Viets, Vivian Vera (1900-1994)

2020-06-01
Submitted by Sally Lane The Viets Sisters, Keepers of the Town’s History Cortland’s Viets sisters, Vivian Vera and Wilhelmin grew up listening to, then writing down, the early stories about their hometown. Their parents and grandparents. were part of the earliest generations of people to…

Millar, Addison Thomas (1860-1913)

2020-06-01
Submitted by Sally Lane As a boy living in Cortland in the 1870s and early 1880s, Addison Millar was always drawing, sketching, painting, and dreaming about art. In his late teens, Addie, as he was called locally, won three consecutive awards as a teenager from…

Upton, Harriet Taylor (1853-1945)

2020-06-01
Submitted by The Upton Association and Kayla Metzger Harriet Taylor Upton was born December 17, 1853 in Ravenna, Ohio, the daughter of Ezra Taylor, an Ohio judge. The Taylor’s moved to Warren, Ohio, in 1861, and later purchased the home now known as the Harriet…

Hauser, Elizabeth (1873-1958)

2020-06-01
Submitted by The Upton Association and Kayla Metzger Elizabeth Hauser was born in Girard, Ohio to David and Mary (Bixler) Hauser on March 16, 1873. Hauser was an active participant in the Women’s Suffrage Movement beginning at the young age of 16, when she became…

Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad, 1874-1976

2020-05-29
Submitted by Andrew Olson As America’s Second Industrial Revolution expanded rapidly after the Civil War, the demand for coal and oil grew exponentially. Both minerals were found in east central Ohio, prompting entrepreneurs like Hugh Bleakley of Alliance to ponder the possibilities of building…

Bristol Inn

2020-05-22
Submitted by Kathy Seemann In 1806, two years after Bristol Township in Trumbull County, Ohio was first settled by Abraham Baughman, Jonathan Walkley (born in Connecticut on November 11, 1783, died October 19, 1828) built the first frame home in the township on the south…

Atlantic and Great Western Railway, The

2020-05-22
Submitted by Andrew Olson & Richard K. Fleischer The Atlantic and Great Western Railway (1865-1871)/Railroad (1871-1880) Company On March 10th 1851 Marvin Kent, a merchant from Franklin Mills OH (now Kent) chartered the Franklin and Warren Railroad to connect the two named local business communities.…

Heltzel Steel Company

2020-05-22
Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer Warren - Est. 1916 by John Heltzel – Located on Thomas Rd. next to Berk Enterprises. Made steel forms for highway paving machines, concrete batching plants. John Heltzel came from Streator, Ill. in 1914, with a partner. They had…

Chicago Cleveland Car Roof Company

2020-05-22
Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer Railroad freight car roofs like this one were made by the Chicago Cleveland Car Roof Co. in Warren, Oh. The building on Thomas Road in Warren had changed hands a few times. Being a Packard Electric motor…

Aetna Machine Works

2020-05-22
Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer Aetna Machine Works was founded in 1880 by Frank I. Freeman as a reorganization of the Douglas Machine Works and employed 18 hands in 1882. They made sawmills, pumps and 10 to 125 H. P. vertical & horizontal steam engines…

Brainard Steel Co.

2020-05-22
Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer Est. Circa 1918 Located originally at Paige Ave. and Griswold St. Eventually moved to Larchmont Ave. NE. When owner J.W. Brainard retired this company was sold to a private firm headed by E. T. Sproul, who had formerly been…

American Welding & Manufacturing Co.

2020-05-22
Submitted by Richard K. Fleischer Est. 1918 - Pheonix Rd. - moved to Dietz Rd. This company was founded by J.C. Masternach and some investors from Cleveland. It opened with a workforce of 30 people and eventually grew to 700 employees. The original product…