Legendary Locals of Cincinnati, Ohio


Book Description

Founded in 1788 along the Ohio River, Cincinnati was the major city in the Northwest Territory for several decades. As it has developed into its third century, Cincinnati's innovations, service, manufacturing, arts, and athletics mark it as a place with a vibrant and varied heritage. The contributions of interesting and unique personalities add to the city's dynamism: William Holmes McGuffey and his creation of a nation's textbooks; civil rights activists Ted Berry, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Marian Berry; iconic personalities like baseball star Pete Rose and silent film actress Theda Bara; grocery entrepreneur Barney Kroger; cooperative education creator Herman Schneider; polio vaccine pioneer Albert Sabin; Joseph Strauss, the design engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge; Paul Brown, one of the NFL's greatest coaches; Henry Heimlich, whose Heimlich maneuver has saved countless lives; and Benadryl inventor George Rieveschl. But it is also the philanthropists and business leaders; the cultural and political figures; the teachers and community workers; and even the intriguing characters and everyday citizens who make Cincinnati an interesting place on the map. This book tells their stories.




Legendary Locals of Covington


Book Description

Covington was a natural place for people to settle. Located on the banks of the Ohio and Licking Rivers, it developed quickly as the urban core of northern Kentucky. Sitting just opposite of Cincinnati, Ohio, it was a great location for travel by both animals and people. Originally owned by Thomas Kennedy, the land was ultimately purchased by Thomas Carneal and John and Richard Gano, and thus the city of Covington was founded in 1815. Not long after its establishment, railroads made Covington their home and many other businesses followed. By 1850, it was the second-largest city in Kentucky. Over its 200 years, Covington has seen many people play a role in its history, development, and reputation. Some are great business and community leaders. Others made tremendous contributions to the arts, and some are notorious. A community is defined more by its people than its buildings and streets. The individuals who have lived and worked in Covington provide a colorful insight into its past. From its founding until the present day, these individuals are a fascinating look into the citys history.




Legendary Locals of Mooresville


Book Description

The rumble of trains carrying people, cotton, and freight to and from Moore s Siding was the song of a vibrant community. People worked to build homes, schools, and churches as early as 1760. They got a town, Mooresville, in the bargain. James Elbert Sherrill, George C. Goodman, and the Turner brothers supported the growing economy. Love of community led Winnie Hooper and Elizabeth Matheson to champion recreation. Shaw Brown saw people in need and worked to establish a Christian mission. Mayor Joe Knox and Rep. Robert Brawley embraced change and led a mill town toward a technological future. Success at home led to success far away for artist Selma Burke, Mooresville Moors pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, New York Parties author Punky Brawley, and Reynolds Tobacco president S. Clay Williams."




Legendary Locals of Gallup


Book Description

Geography has conspired to make Gallup, New Mexico, a special place with unique people and a colorful history. It has been a place of struggle and extremes where cultures have clashed, mixed, and melded. Gallup is a community that is simultaneously challenging and uplifting, heartrending, and redemptive. To local Native Americans, the Navajo and Pueblo people, Gallup is located on their ancestral homeland and bordered by their sacred sites. To early settlers, Gallup was a place that permitted transportation across the continent, first by foot and horseback, then by stagecoach and railroad, and ultimately, by America's Mother Road, Route 66. With its founding, Gallup became a place where European, Asian, and Hispanic immigrants--with hands that built America--came to construct a transcontinental rail line, harvest timber, mine coal, and establish businesses, while seeking a new life among the region's original native people.




Legendary Locals of Hamilton, Ohio


Book Description

Going back to its roots in 1791, Hamilton has been populated by exceptional and dynamic personalities who created a truly unique city. The people who contributed to the city's growth included authors Robert McCloskey, Fanny Hurst, and William Dean Howells; developer of the "Hollow Earth Theory" John Cleves Symmes; major-league pitcher Joe Nuxhall; folk artist Nan Phelps; orator and Chautauqua speaker Lou Jenks Beauchamps; world-class archer Darrell Pace; Frederick Brant Rentschler, founder of the world's largest aircraft company; teacher and aeronautical engineer Raymond L. Bisplinghoff; Frank Clair, coach and member of the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame; Rear Adm. Donald Wulzen; and Shuler and Joseph Doran, two brothers who pioneered early wireless radio in America. Hamilton has also benefited from business leaders, educators, political figures, philanthropists, city officials, and fascinating characters and citizens who have made the city an interesting community.




Legendary Locals of Cullman County


Book Description

In search of opportunity and freedom from oppression, European emigrants boarded ships, leaving behind their ancestral homes. They carved new lives from the unknown wilderness in the American South. The Speegle family settled in what would become southwest Cullman County, and the Brindley family claimed lands to the north. From the historic Streights Raid exploit of the Civil War to the agricultural and social development of this region of northern Alabama, these early pioneers marched into history. In 1865, Col. Johann G. Cullmann, who was disillusioned with the anarchism in his native Germany, also sought new opportunity in America, eventually settling in Alabama. After being enticed by Colonel Cullmanns descriptive words of the areas virgin timber and fertile soils, five German families joined him. Encouraged by what they found, optimism flourished, word spread, and Cullman Countys destiny was set. Its growth has been constant, and, today, its expansion is propelling the area to new heights of economic prominence.




Legendary Locals of Mount Clemens, Michigan


Book Description

Judge Christian Clemens founded Mount Clemens in 1818 and established it as the seat of justice for Macomb County when Michigan was yet a territory. While the town prospered on the strength of its strategic location on the Clinton River and proximity to Lake St. Clair, it was the mineral water beneath the citizens' feet that would propel Mount Clemens to national prominence as a health resort. As it grew, the "Bath City of America" attracted the likes of stage actress Sadie Hasson, the Nelson family of circus performers, and baseball all-star Vic Wertz. Numerous visitors who came seeking a cure--or to find work in the hospitality industry--stayed to call Mount Clemens home, adding their own peculiar brand of warp and weft to the town's rich historical tapestry.




Weird Ohio


Book Description

Ah, Ohio, so nice and normal. We have apple pie heroes like Hopalong Cassidy, Neil Armstrong, Thomas Edison, and Doris Day. Our state bird is the jaunty and ever popular cardinal, and our state flower is the carnation, found in the buttonholes of politicians and bridegrooms everywhere. We started America rolling by opening the country's first gas station, and we have a museum dedicated to America's music, rock and roll. Why, we're just so all-American normal, it can bring a tear to the eye. But there's something else we have a whole lot of, and that's...weirdness. Yes, the Buckeye State has lots and lots of strange people and unusual sites, and they burst forth from every page of this, the biggest, most bizarre collection of Ohio stories ever assembled: Weird Ohio.




Legendary Locals of Alamogordo


Book Description

By the time Alamogordo's founders platted the town in the late 1800s, bestowing it with the Spanish name for Fat Cottonwood, the region's lush grasses were luring cowboys such as Oliver Lee. Then, in 1941, an event more than 3,000 miles away changed the quiet community. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, chamber president Mose Cauthen quickly spearheaded bringing the Army's mission to train bomber pilots to the Tularosa Basin. During the Space Race, Dr. John Stapp oversaw the programs at Holloman Air Force Base that sent Joe Kittinger, Dave Simons, and "Demi" McClure floating heavenward underneath balloons. Soon after, Ed Dittmer was training chimpanzees to rocket out of Earth's atmosphere and prove man could survive in that hostile environment. Alamogordo is where the Old West melds with ever-evolving technology, along with a rich artistic and literary legacy championed by such women as Linnie Townsend, Maude Rathgeber, and Margaret Flickinger.




Legendary Locals of McDowell County


Book Description

West Virginia's most impoverished county, McDowell County, is also its richest, with reserves of mineral wealth that continue to provide the framework for modern society from Panama and Toyko to New York and Chicago. With a history cratered by triumph and tragedy, the people of McDowell County have endured unspeakable hardships and near isolation but continue to excel in a myriad of unexpectedly surprising ways. Robert Morris, "the financier of the American Revolution," went to the poor house with the belief that McDowell's mineral wealth could fuel a new nation. Jedediah Hotchkiss, the mapmaker who charted the course for Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's valley campaign, resurrected Morris's dream to rebuild the South into an industrial giant on local coal. Men of vision and means like Frederick Kimball and J.P. Morgan built fortunes on McDowell County's mineral wealth. The musical Womack family, baseball manager Charlie Manuel, comedic genius Steve Harvey, writers Kermit Hunter and Jeannette Walls, and thousands who served in all ranks of the military, many making the supreme sacrifice, are among those who have made their mark on McDowell County.