Carriage Hill Farm
Jeanine was here, and these are the hours you could be here too.
barn, still in use
Working Iron Stove (very important for any home of the 19th century)
Blacksmith at Work
Early Sewing Machine, also can still be used
19th Century Plow
Dayton’s Aviation Heritage National Park
Jeanine was here.
To fit in I just need to invent something better than an airplane or write great and enduring poetry in dialect.
Wright Brothers' Safety Bicycle
Wright Brothers' Job Press Room
Wiright Brothers' Bicycle Shop Equipment (It wouldn't let me make it medium sized; i swear a not a narcissist.)
Models of Wright Gliders
I would like to note that me camera died on me before I could record any of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s artifacts at the museum. I would have liked to include the display of his books in this list.
Ohio Artifacts at the National Air Force Museum
Although the National Air Force Museum is not technically an Ohio History Museum, one can still find many Ohio related history within the museum. Therefore, the artifacts I have chosen only pertain to Ohio’s influence on the United States Airforce.
Wright 1909 Military Flyer
The Wright 1909 Military Flyer was the first military heavier-than-air flying machine. It was designated Airplane No. 1 and was the only U.S. Army airplane for nearly two years.The aircraft was capable of staying aloft for over one hour, carrying two people sitting upright. It could fly as high as 500 feet above the ground and as fast as 47 miles per hour.The Signal Corps purchased the machine for $30,000 on August 2, 1909. By October that same year Wilbur Wright was giving flying lessons to Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm and Federic E. Humphreys using Signal Corps. No. 1. In 1910 Lieutenant Benjamins D. Foulois then taught himself how to fly the Wright 1909 Military Flyer while stationed at Fort Sam Houston, TX in March 1910. After several crashes that were beyond repair, the Army retired the flying machine in March 1911.
Wright 1916 Wind Tunnel
“I have lately put up a small tunnel in my laboratory in which we have a wind velocity of over 160 miles per hour,” wrote Orville Wright to a friend in July 1918.
The Wright 1916 wind tunnel was designed by Orville Wright. The device was installed in his laboratory at 15 N. Broadway in Dayton, Ohio. Wright used this tunnel to conduct a variety of aerodynamic experiments during WWI.
Artifacts from Ohioans' Air Combat Stories from WWI
Captain William C. Lambert
Captain William C. Lambert was from Ironton, Ohio. He was the second ranking American ace of World War I. Captain Lambert was officially credited with 2 ½ air-to-air victories; this is only 4 ½ victories fewer than the 26 top American ace Eddie Rickenbacker. Lambert joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and arrived in Britain in December 1917. He was assigned to No. 24 Squadron of the Royal Air Force in France flying a S.E.54 fighter plane. He named his “Babe.” Unlike many others, he did not transfer to the U.S. Air Service after America entered the war, but remained with the RAF. However, he retained his citizenship. Following World War I, Captain Lambert joined the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve and served with the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. In 1954 he retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.
Lietenant Stephen W. Thompson
The first man in U.S. military service to shoot down an enemy plane was Lietenant Stephen W. Thompson of Dayton, Ohio. Since his American squadron had not yet started flying missions, Thompson visited a nearby French bombing squadron on February 5, 1918, the observe preparations for a combat flight. A French observer became ill and Thompson was invited to replace him. Once inside German territory, Thompson Breguet bomber was attacked. While defending it, Thompson shot down an Albatros fighter over Saarbrucken. Because of Thompson’s unique status on this mission, he was not granted credit for his victory during the war. However, with the assistance of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, he was finally granted official recognition for the victory in 1967. The sock with bullet holes and the German bullet on display are momentoes of another of Thompson’s memorable flights. While Thompson was an observer of with the 12th Aero Squadron, German fighters attacked his Salmson airplane on July 28, 1918. He shot down two enemy planes before his own plane was shot down by the famous German ace Erich Lowenhart. Thompson’s pilot, Lt. John C. Miller, was able to land the Salmson inside friendly lines before he died of a bullet wound in the stomach. Thompson received a bullet in the leg and, because of the lack of immediate first aid in the front line area, he had to dig the bullet from his leg with a pocket knife.
Early Free-Fall Parachute, first tested in Dayton, Ohio
The first successful use of a free-fall parachute during an in-flight emergency took place over Dayton, Ohio on October 20, 1922. Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, Chief of the Flying Section at McCook Field, was testing experimental balance-type ailerons on a Loening PW-24 while engaging in mock aerial combat with lieutenant Muir Fairchild who was flying a Thomas-Morse MB-3. While pulling his Loening into a tight turn, Harris noted the control stick suddenly act erratically. The wings were then torn apart. Loening went into a dive at 2,500 feet. His only option was to bail out, putting his faith in a method that had not yet been proven to work. Harris pulled his ripcord at 500 feet; the parachute opened immediately, leaving Harris to land in a backyard. The Loening was found crashed a block away, completely destroyed. Lieutenant Harris was also the first pilot of the mammoth Barreling Bomber on August 1923, and the first to fly inside a pressure cabin.
Newspaper about the Emergence of Wright Field
McCook Field contributed to every new flying record established by the Air Service in the 1920s. Nevertheless, it was too small with no room for expansion. It was the citizens of Dayton who raised the $400,673 (that is $4,656,738.48 in today’s dollars according to http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi) for the purchase of 4,000 acres of land east of the city. This land included Wilbur Wright Field and was later renamed Patterson Field. On October 12, 1927 Wright Field was formally dedicated as the Air Corps’ new test site, as McCook Field “passed into history.”
Me, Myself, and I
*All information for this blog was obtained from the National Air Force Museum
Ku Klux Klan in Ohio (May 26 alt. assignment)
Being a northern state, I was personally surprised by the large community of Ku Klux Klan members in Ohio during the early 1920s. The group was comprised of many of the native-born Protestant middle class. Although race was central, the Klan was also nativist and naturalist. According to Dr. Andrew Cayton, the Klan was looking for people “whose reputations and vocations are respectable” and whose habits are ‘exemplary’ to conserve, protect and maintain the distinctive institutions, rights, privileges, principles, traditions, and ideals of pure Americanism” (311). Many ministers and women joined the Klan, proud of their enforcement of “morality” such as prohibition. They saw themselves as “middle-class people in search of greater law and order and working-class people looking for some way to ensure the representations of their interests in the larger public sphere” (311). At one point Ohio boasted four hundred thousand Klan members (311). The Klan flourished in rapidly changing industrial cities such as Youngstown and Akron. Foreign-born people along with African-Americans were pouring in the cities looking for work. Over the issue of alcohol, tensions ran particularly high between the Klan and the Catholic and Jewish population of areas.
Klan members and Klan-backed candidates won several elections throughout Ohio. In 1924 the mayor of Niles appointed 150 Klan members to a quasi-police force. Both Italian and Irish Ohioans refused to take it anymore, as Klansmen tried to press their values on immigrant communities. The Klan was massively deserted after several incidents tarred the organization as narrow and intolerant; people who considered themselves respectable wanted nothing to do with it anymore (311).
Cayton, Andrew. Ohio the History of a People. The Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 2002.
Labor Unions’ Rough Start
Ohio: History of a People
Ch. 10: “Labor and Liberty”
In the twentieth century, after the emergence of the industrial revolution in the United States, Ohioans began to see drastic changes within their state. It had shifted from being mainly agricultural to a highly industrial place. Dr. Andrew Caytan writes that Ohio’s jobs had become mechanized and bureaucratic. People flooded into cities and suburbs to work in factories, while the family farm was disappearing. Machines replaced skilled workmen; so unskilled workers took their place for a cheaper price. Corporations and government became more powerful.
By the 1950s, labor unions were the most influential institutions in Ohio, but they did not start out that way. In the early twentieth century employees sought to challenge wages and improve working conditions, but they were not challenging capitalism. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) “wanted respect (305). United Mine Workers (UMW) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were more radical. These unions used direct action, such as sit-down strikes. A few thousand Ohioans joined the IWW because the members “hoped collective through collective action to increase wages and improve their conditions of employment” (306).
Labor was in a strong position during World War I. The demand for manufacturing was up because more goods were becoming available to buy. The demand for goods exceeded the number of available workers. Employers had to accommodate their employees, therefore earnings increased by thirty-six percent between 1914-1919 (306).
Employers got the upper hand back after the war. Fewer goods were manufactured. Wages were cut, employees lost hours, and many employees were laid off. Also, anti-immigrant hysteria was peaking. In 1919, there were 237 strikes (306).
Many strikers gave up when they felt both the government and their community were against them. During a May 5, 1919 strike at Willy-Overland Company the District Court was able to issue a retraining order limiting the number of strikers allowed to assemble; the governor refused to intervene. Most affluent, middle-class, and rural Ohioans did not approve of labor strikes (308). Many suburban citizens started city watches against immigrant workers. Cayton states, “local officials openly sided with steel companies” (308). 100,000 Ohioans were involved in the Great Steel Strike of 1920, and they achieved nothing.
Eventually, workers became less concerned with competition from immigrants. Women and African-Americans were seen as a greater threat. They were both “competitors who would work cheaply and drive down wages” (312). Few of either minority were allowed to belong to unions, rather unions rallied against them. Women were limited to working traditionally female manufacturing jobs, like candy or apparel, or they had to work as secretaries and waitresses. On average, a twenty-year-old woman supporting herself in Cleveland in 1925 earned $10 below the poverty line each month, while a sixty-year-old woman would ear even less (312).
African-Americans were seen as unskilled workers and not hired at many factories. Some Cincinnati employers claimed, “They did not wish to mix black and white employees,” while others cited a “lack of separate facilities” (310). The few unions opened to African-Americans included the Sanitary Drivers and Helpers’ Union. Even worse were African-American women who were limited to jobs as household laborers.
Cayton, Andrew. Ohio the History of a People. The Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 2002.
Stop Trying to Steal Dayton’s Thunder, Kitty Hawk!
Forget North Carolina. Ohio is really the place where credit for the Wright Brothers’ impact on the history of aviation is due. Orville and Wilbur Wright got their mechanical start on the bicycle. Their bicycle manufacturing and repair shop is still located in Dayton. They took knowledge about the workings of bicycles and applied it to aviation. The Wright brothers may have never been able to build the first airplane, if they had not first gained their engineering merits at the Dayton, Ohio bicycle shop.
Both Orville and Wilbur Wright bought their first safety bicycles in 1892. Orville Wright was known to have won several medals in racing competitions. However, the brothers were known for their achievements as mechanics. They were already known for building their own printing press, and they soon moved to bicycle repair. The same year the Wright Brothers started riding bicycles, they opened their own shop, a small storefront at 1005 West Third Street in West Dayton.
The bicycle shop and printing press helped Wilber and Orville Wright develop an intuitive way of working together. They were known for being partners in everything: salesmen, mechanics, printers, manufacturers, and advertisers. In 1899, it was their combined technical knowledge and ingenuity that led them to “solve the mystery of human flight.”
Moreover, the machine shop gave the Wright brothers a chance to put their creative and mechanical genius to work. Not only did they build their own bicycles, but the brothers also developed several innovative bicycle parts including an oil-retaining wheel hub and a coaster break. Additionally, the workshop is where they built their first engine; it powered the line shaft for the drill press and turret lathe, as well as provided them with the experience necessary to build an engine for their first aircraft in 1903.
In 1902 the Wright brothers deduced what kind of engine was needed to power their plane. It had to weigh less than two hundred pounds, while providing 8 to 9 horsepower, and run smoothly. Because there was no manufacturer willing to build it for them, the brothers consulted bicycle mechanic, Charlie Taylor. With Taylor’s intervention, the team built the engine in their own shop in only six weeks.
Another way the Wright brothers applied their knowledge of bicycles to an aircraft is with the idea of balance. As bicyclists, they knew that in order to maintain balance of a bicycle in motion, one must be able to control it. To turn a bicycle, handlebars are necessary, and a person must lean in the direction he or she needs to go. Flying machines have the same requirements.
The Wright brothers left for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in September of 1903. After several mechanical setbacks, including a failed flight on the 14th, the Wright Flyer achieved its first flight on December 17th at 10:35 A.M. Yes, the first flight took place in North Carolina, but the flying machine was imagined, developed, and built in Dayton, Ohio.
*all information used in this post was gathered at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
The African American Experience from 1850-1920 Database
The Ohio Historical Society is offering a new database highlighting the experiences of African-Americans in Ohio from 1850-1920. Its members have digitalized thirty thousand pages from numerous separate collections. They declare, “the real value of the collection is in the overall picture of black life that these combined collections provide.” African-Americans have been active in Ohio history since the establishment of the Northwest Territory. Additionally, Ohio has shaped African-American history nationally between 1850-1920, particularly in relation to: slavery, emancipation, the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
A highlight of the database is the collection of John Rankin’s personal research. He was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Ripley and a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. In 1835 Rankin founded the first antislavery society in Ohio, and has been credited as having helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom. His collection includes twenty-seven slave narratives that have never been admitted to the Library of Congress and are solely in the hands of the Ohio Historical Society.
This new database tries to answer the question, “What is freedom?” by examining the African-American experience in this state. Articles are available from before the Civil War to an examination of civil rights protection to free speech. African American newspapers are included, as well as documents relating to Wilberforce University and its impact on the higher education of African Americans nationally.
Reference:
Flaming, John. Introduction to the African American Experience in Ohio 1850-1920. The Ohio Historical Society. 21 May 2009 <http://dbs.ohiohistory.org/africanam/intro.cfm>.
Ohio’s Silent Minority…They Love Babies
May 19, 2009 Alternative Assignment
The people who settled the Appalachian Mountains had to be rugged to endure the lifestyle. Settlers included (in this order): Native Americans, Germans, English, French, and Scotch-Irish. Forty percent of Dayton’s population have roots to Appalachia. Coal, which was known as the “life blood” of the region, was the popular power at the time. It needed hundreds of thousands of workers. The job was long, hard, and demanding, but one could easily make a living. The massive migration of these numerous coal miners occurred after the coal industry mechanized in the 1940s. Manpower was cut back drastically, and the out of work miners moved to midwest cities. Appalachia lost forty million people between 1940-1970. Dayton received many Eastern-Kentuckians. Some family members had already settled in the city. They told their relatives that work was to be found on assembly lines. Appalachians had a reputation of being hard workers, and factory work was like a “holiday” compared to mining.
The documentary argues that the current situation of Appalachians in Dayton is an ignored problem. The community in East Dayton sees low graduation rates, high unemployment, and poverty. They are called the “invisible minority” because they are a largely white population, and many are too proud to seek help. Their social problems include: drug abuse, alcoholism, and teen pregnancy. The latter is of greatest concern. According to the movie, Appalachians “like babies” more than most groups. Many of these teen mothers drop out of school or attend infrequently. This is due to lack of child care and the idea that many Appalachian students have poor records of class attendance anyways. Additionally, forty percent of teen mothers than have a second child within two years of their first delivery.
I have to criticize that these problems are not unique to Appalachians alone. The social problems listed above are commonly found in any group living on the poverty line. Also, the notion that Appalachians “like babies” more than other groups is an unfounded argument. Most cultures like babies, the problem is ignorance about birth control.
Reference: Dayton’s Silent Minority. Dir. Roy Flynn. Streamed Video. Ohio Think TV, 1996 http://www.thinktv.org/demand/dema_demand.html .
- You might be an Appalachian if…you like this baby.
Reforming Ohio
In the late 1800s some Ohioans began to an interest in the public. They were known as reformers and wanted to make their fellow citizens better by providing them with the information needed to make good decisions. According to Andrew Clayton, “reformers believed that something was seriously wrong with their state and focused on reforming government to reinvigorate public culture” (207). With an influx of both industry and immigrants, Ohio was rapidly changing and some same a need to restore the feeling of a common purpose at the local level. By improving public institutions such as newspapers, libraries, and schools, reformers wanted to instill a sense of community beyond households and neighbors. There came an idea that “objective journalists, librarians, scholars and teachers were better equipped to analyze social ills and propose solutions than interested politicians or angry citizens” (209).
In the early 1900s began a practice dubbed “new journalism” which dedicated itself to public interest. The Dayton Daily News under the publisher James M. Cox was a pioneer of this genre of journalism. The paper combined boosterism and reform in repeated calls for civic improvement. However, Clayton argues that this paper catered to the Protestant middle-class. The Dayton Daily News was hostile to unassimilated immigrants and African-Americans; actually claiming the groups “could never be good citizens” (210). Cox’s paper supported de facto segregation in public schools as well as restrictive voting rights for immigrants. The Social Darwinist Dayton Daily News announced, “the Anglo Saxon is the greatest race that evolution ever produced” (210). Therefore, more papers under the Scripps-McRae League sprung up in Ohio that appealed to the working class, such as the Cleveland Press and the Cincinnati Post.
Libraries also emerged all over Ohio to promote public conversation, although this institution also began by appealing to the middle class. When the working class called the libraries elite institutions, they were granted smaller branches in their own neighborhoods. Libraries were often run by women in a domestic manner and promoted middle class values such as morality (211).
In 1889 many Ohioans began to worry immigrants and their education. To aid in assimilation, school attendance became mandatory, and truant officers were authorized. The 1921 Bing Law required all citizens between the ages of 6 to 18 had to attend school until high school graduation. Schools became a way to cultivate civic culture. They were opened to the public with the additions of auditoriums and gymnasiums. Students were introduced to the public through community service projects posted on bulletin boards. During this time teachers were given the freedom to experiment with their methods. Ohio’s first superintendent, Andrew Draper, developed kindergartens, promoted vocational education, and eliminated corporal punishment.
Ohio became a place of higher learning through the Morill Land Grant Act of 1862. Proceeds from its sales lead to 1870 charter of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College by the General Assembly. The college developed a liberal arts program in 1878 and became The Ohio State University. It was known for its training of public school teachers. Other institutions that emerged soon after include: Ohio University, Miami University, Bowling Green College, and Kent College. In 1887 Ohioans saw a need to develop colleges to develop black educators, such as Central State University in Wilberforce.
In conclusion, the late 1800s was a time of reform in Ohio, but under the guidelines of Protestant middle class values. The state saw many improvements during this time period. However, the blatant prejudices and racism towards many of the working class population should not be overshadowed by good intentions.
Reference: Clayton, Andrew. Ohio the History of a People. The Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 2002.
i <3 Flickr (May 7 Alt. Assignment)
Between baby pictures, documenting college life with my friends, and keeping up with my visits to the wonderful array of museums Ohio offers my computer’s memory could easily max out (I killed a lab top that way recently). I used to think it would be fine to simply store my photos on my myspace of facebook, but in the world of education, I know I will not be able to hang on to my social networking sites forever. The website www.flickr.com offers another means of storing and sharing pictures as well as video. One can share pictures securely and privately. It is easy to upload them from the web, mobile devices, or a home computer. The pictures or videos can be viewed from the Flickr website, RSS feed, email, or blogs…even Ohio History blogs. It is easy to organize your content, and unlike facebook an album can contain more than 60 photos. Viewers of your albums, if you choose to give them permission, can also organize content by adding comments, notes, and tags. It was also neat going through the albums of others’. You can see people’s pictures from trips all over the world. It is known as “exploring flickr’ through tags.” Because the images are copyrighted you should not use them for a project without permission, but Flickr’ links you to the person who posted the images. It would be very easy to ask them for permission to use their image. To some things up, Flickr’ is a program that is useful on a personal and academic level.
