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With over 230 historic photographs, Salem, Ohio provides an excellent visual image of what the past was like in a little Quaker town called Salem.

Covering the time period from 1850 to 1956, this book offers a glimpse of the downtown of yesteryear, with photos of the old buildings, businesses, trolley cars, and homes. The people of Salem are also shown as they looked, worked, and played in earlier times. Every photo in Salem, Ohio is a conversation piece with a unique story to tell, which represents a small part of the city's history. Salem has always been seen as a quiet, traditional, and peaceful city—largely because it was founded by Quakers. In fact, the name Salem, which comes from the word Jerusalem, literally means City of Peace.  The city has many claims to fame, including its active role in the Underground Railroad and the Anti-Slavery Movement. Salem was also the site of Ohio's first Women's Suffrage Convention in 1850. Salem has long been the industrial manufacturing center of the area, providing jobs for thousands of workers from miles around. Product names like Mullins, Deming, Silver, Eljer, American Standard, and Bliss have been an important part of both the Salem and world economies for many years.

A fascinating look at the industrialization of America, through railroad expansion, in the small Ohio town of Alliance. Includes archival photography and images.

According to local history, General Robinson, a railroad official from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, named this Ohio town Alliancein 1850. Known for a short time as The Crossing, Robinson believed that Alliance was a better name since the nation's two major railroads intersected here.

The name stuck, and in 1854, the communities of Williamsport, Freedom, and Liberty incorporated as the town of Alliance. In 1889, the Village of Mount Union was annexed and Alliance became a city. Not only did the railroads help form our community, they established Alliance as a city of industry. Even though the town has remained relatively small, with approximately 23,000 citizens in 1990, industry has played a vital role in the development of Alliance.

Many citizens attribute the strong leadership of the town's governing body to its industrial growth. This pictorial compilation documents the growth of the railroad and the stores and factories located along these railroad routes. Even today, the availability of trains and the intersection of key lines in Alliance is important to manufacturers.

Cincinnati is the home to food inventions, rivalries and restaurants that stand the test of time.

The Queen City boasts the invention of both Cincinnati chili and goetta. Mecklenburg Gardens, Arnold's, Izzy's and Scotti's have all operated for over a century. The French restaurant Maisonette was the epitome of fine dining, and Wong Yie's Famous Restaurant took Chinese cuisine from street fare to an exotic experience. Busken Bakery and Frisch's vied for Cincinnati pumpkin pie supremacy by taking digs at each other through billboards and redecorating a Big Boy statue in Busken attire. Author Dann Woellert explores the most iconic eateries, the German influence on Queen City food and what makes dining so unique in Cincinnati.

Enjoy local stories celebrating family, faith and democratic values.

The history of Medina County brims with tales revealing the colorful and admirable character of its communities and people. For a while, locals observed living in two time zones simultaneously while also ignoring a federal law mandating Daylight Saving Time. The world-famous Giant of Seville, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, had a brief but violent vigilante episode in Civil War-era Kentucky before finding peace and Christianity--and a home--in Ohio. The county's most prominent political family, the Batchelders, had ties to a pig farm in Brunswick that drew national attention and statewide reform.

Author Stephen D. Hambley shares insightful and entertaining stories, many never heard before, from Medina County's past.

Explore the rich history and mysteries of this Preserve America Community through the eyes of the people who live there!

German Village's iconic homes, bustling businesses and other beloved sites harbor fascinating stories.

Did you know that German Village's Recreation Park, now gone, is thought to have had the first baseball concession stand? Or that the four-story Schwartz Castle was the site of two murders? Or that the popular restaurant Engine House No. 5 closed its doors after the mysterious disappearance of its owners in the Bermuda Triangle?

Longtime resident and tour guide John M. Clark goes behind the bricks of more than seventy German Village properties to explore the places and people who made the Old South End into a Columbus treasure.

Take a fascinating journey through the history of Elmore and Genoa, Ohio with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

The villages of Elmoreand Genoahave held a friendly rivalry since the 1860s. Though each has made its own name in Ottawa County, Ohio, both share a rich heritage that instills small-town curiosities with a strong sense of community pride.

Elmore is known as being the home of Schedel's Arboretum and Gardens, the headless motorcyclist ghost, the Elmore car, and professional softball pitcher Carl SoxWainwright. Not to be outdone, Genoa, one of the major producers of white lime in the country, showcases world-renown artist Jan Pugh and National Register of Historic Placessites such as the Genoa Town Halland the Old School Privy.

Both area histories have boasted pioneers that tamed the Black Swamp, prosperous businesses, major transportation centers, and stories of overcoming personal tragedies.Elmore and Genoa takes readers back to a time that was simpler to see two villages grow into places where the past can come alive through the actions and memories of its people.

It was a different time. Ladies wore gloves, hats and nice attire to luncheons at the Woman's Exchange.

Shillito's provided a cosmopolitan environment for its patrons, while Mullane's was the perfect place to sip and socialize. The popular Good Morning Show radio program hosted by charming Bob Braun, and later Nick Clooney, was broadcast from McAlpin's Tea Room. Women gathered at Pogue's and Mabley & Carew tea rooms to celebrate birthdays, as well as wedding and baby showers, over dainty tea sandwiches. Author Cynthia Kuhn Beischel brings the Queen City's bygone downtown tea rooms back to life and shares more than one hundred beloved recipes.

Located north of Cincinnati in the Mill Creek Valley, Lincoln Heights was the first African American self-governing community north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The development of Lincoln Heights began in 1923 when the Haley-Livingston Land Companyof Chicago sold lots to black families in an unincorporated area called the Cincinnati Industrial Subdivision, now the southern section of Lincoln Heights.

Water and sewerage were provided by special assessment through the Works Progress Administration, there were no building and zoning code services, fire and police protection were virtually nonexistent, and street maintenance and lighting were extremely inadequate. In 1939, residents of the area began efforts to incorporate so they could provide safety and necessary services for their growing community. Several of the original petitioners for incorporation lived in the Valley View subdivision, which later became the Wright Aeronauticalplant, where many black migrants from the South came to help manufacture the famous B-29 bomber.

Grab a seat and a handful of napkins and join author Ron Koltnow as he recounts the mouthwatering story of an Ohio original.

Founded by industrialist Ohio Columbus Barber, Barberton drew workers from around the globe, especially eastern Europe. Immigrants brought their traditions and their cuisine. In time, Barberton became home to five Serbian fried chicken restaurants, all within a two-mile radius. Belgrade Gardens, Hopocan Gardens, White House Chicken, Terrace Gardens and Milich's Village Inn (later Village Inn Chicken) were Serbian in origin yet consummately American. All served up the traditional dinner - chicken, fries, coleslaw and hot sauce. Against all challengers, Barberton proudly defends its title as Fried Chicken Capital of the World.

Hockey in Dayton tells the story of teams, players, and events that were important parts of this sport through a collection of photographs.

In the 1950s, crowds that equaled half the city of Troy's population filled the newly constructed 3,900-seat Hobart Arena to watch the area's first hockey team, the Troy Bruins, take the ice. In the 1960s and 1970s, fans packed one of hockey's great ""barns,"" Hara Arena, to watch the Dayton Gems become one of the more well-known and successful franchises in all of professional hockey. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was the Dayton Bombers that reignited the area's love for hockey. Hockey in Dayton tells the story of the teams, players, people, and events that have permanently frozen hockey's place in the history of Dayton area sports.

Explore the fascinating history of Buckeye Lake, Ohio with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

On July 4, 1825, construction of the Ohio-Erie Canalbegan with the turning of the first shovel of earth in the Buckeye Lakearea. Completed in 1830, it formed the Licking Summit Reservoir, which became known as Buckeye Lake.

To increase weekend business on its streetcars, the Columbus, Buckeye Lakeand Newark Traction Companybought land at Buckeye Lakeand built an amusement park, advertising it as the Playground of Ohio. The Buckeye Lake Amusement Parkand the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club on Watkins Islandwere very popular, and during the big band era, many visitors came to dance at the Crystal Pavilionand the Lake Breeze Pier Ballroom, which featured the sounds of Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Lawrence Welk, and Louis Armstrong.

Chance Brockway grew up at Buckeye Lake Amusement Park, where his father managed the Lilac Roomrestaurant, and he discovered his love of photography there. His lens has followed the Ohio State Buckeyessince 1956, and many of his photographs have been published. An avid historian with an extensive photograph collection, he created the video Postcards of Buckeye Lakefor the Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society.

Nadine McIlwain and Geraldine Radcliffe reveal the celebrated legends, unsung heroes and historic firsts of African Americans residing in the Canton community.

From Canton’s earliest days, the black population has contributed to the city’s, and even the nation’s, prominence and prosperity. During World War II, nineteen-year-old Harold White joined the famed Tuskegee Airmen of the Ninety-Ninth Fighter Squadron. Only a few years later, Dorothy White persevered through prejudice to become Canton’s first black teacher, paving the way for a long line of dedicated teachers stretching to the present day. Renowned R&B group the O’Jays formed in Canton, and professional golfer Renee Powell is just one of many local athletes to reach the heights of her profession.

Supernatural Lore of Ohio offers a blood-curdling exploration of the witches, werewolves, wraiths and other dastardly beings of the Buckeye State.

A rich vein of bizarre and uncanny tales snakes through Ohio’s cornfields and cityscapes. In the earliest days of statehood, dark reports spoke of witches causing feathers to form a deadly ring in one’s bed, magically strangling its sleeping victims. For years, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train rolled through Urbana, a small town in the center of the state, and caused clocks and watches to stop in its wake. A vampiric entity was said to haunt a strange cabin in the Black Swamp, and a werewolf reportedly roamed a Defiance train yard. Join Cincinnati historian Steven J. Rolfes on a tour of Ohio’s strangest supernatural lore, from wailing banshees to the devil himself.

There's more than one Brooklyn in the United States, but with the exception of the one in New York, Old Brooklyn in Ohio has the most interesting history.

Based on the confluence of older Native American trails, Old Brooklyn was originally settled in 1814 as the hamlet of Brighton, originally laid out on land belonging to a farmer named Warren Young. Another incorporation in 1889 renamed the village South Brooklyn, eventually being annexed by the city of Cleveland in 1905 because of its successful light plant. Perhaps Old Brooklyn's biggest claim to fame was the introduction of greenhouse gardening by Gustave Ruetenik & Sons, giving the area the title "Greenhouse Capital of the United States.'? After its appropriation into Cleveland, Old Brooklyn's commercial development reached its apex, and also became home to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 1907.

Explore the history of the City of Murals through the eyes of those who lived it. Perfect for fans of Ohio and American frontier history.

Beginning as a military fort on the banks of the Ohio River, Steubenville powered into the twentieth century with steam and steel. Fierce battles, raging fires and tragedy on the river could not deter this indefatigable community, and it emerged as an industrial and cultural beacon for the Ohio Valley.

With warmth and humor, Dr. John R. Holmes chronicles the fascinating history and the colorful characters of Steubenville. Brimming with tales of lavish theatres, local brews, famous crooners, and personalities such as spunky Mother Beatty and legendary steamboat captain George O'Neil, this collection of vignettes offers a glimpse into a vibrant city and its proud people.

By World War I, Toledo's prosperity paralleled the popularity of the automobile, which transported citizens to homes along the Maumee River, Ottawa Hills, and Westmoreland.

After World War II, stores, theaters, and businesses migrated out of 19th-century city boundaries as well. Toledo in the 1920s and 1930s boasted elegant department stores, the Commodore Perry Hotel, the towering new Ohio Building, and the legendary Paramount Theater. Great expressions of faith, Rosary Cathedral and Doc Hettinger's ""Garden of Eden,"" were built. Depression years saw the Zoo, the University of Toledo, and the Peristyle at the Art Museum built. Toledo innovations, glass block and vitrolite, were used to great effect at the new Main Library building.

Bursting with laugh-out-loud jokes and fun facts, LOL Jokes: Cleveland combines the best of humor and history for young readers!

Inspired by all the wonderful sights, sounds, and . . . smells of the CLE, this local joke book delivers kid-friendly punchlines that will have readers laughing ’til they cry! Alongside hilarious jokes and puns are fascinating facts, goofy tidbits of local history, and engaging graphics that will keep readers chuckling and sharing with friends. LOL Jokes: Cleveland is sure to deliver hours of knee-slapping entertainment.

Why didn’t the potato chip trust the sandwich?

Because the sandwich was full of baloney!

Fun Factoid: The first potato chip factory in the world was built in Cleveland by farmer William Tappendon, in 1895!

The history of this quintessential Midwest town is revealed through vintage postcards.

With the advent of new and inexpensive photographic technology emerging in the United States during the mid-19th century, communication by postcard became a very popular way to exchange travel stories, news, and gossip over the centuries. Captured here in over 200 vintage images is the development of this quintessential Midwest town, from its origins as a rural farming region to the prosperous community it is today. Following the experiences and correspondence of Findlay's visitors and residents, readers will witness almost first-hand the trials and tribulations of the city's inhabitants at the turn of the century, including images of its thriving downtown, lost buildings, furious storms, and developing industries.

Wicked Akron, Ohio takes the reader on a journey through the seedy underbelly of the city's history.

Akron is known as "the rubber capital of the world'? and home to Goodyear. But look beneath those tires and you will find dirt…a lot of dirt! Explore Akron's darkest days, when citizens burned city hall to the ground and members of the Ku Klux Klan called the shots from the schoolhouse to the courthouse. Meet a grave robber who became a political leader, a mobster who ordered police murders and a beloved bootlegger turned bail bondsman. Say hello to Frank Hurn, a flashy, frenetic, fast-talking con man who was looking for suckers to invest in the Vulcans, an NFL team he promised to bring to Akron. From city saloon to suburban hideout, this is an alternative history lesson of the sometimes dicey coexistence of the well-heeled and the workers, men and women who lived big lives during Akron's fledgling days as a canal port, its pre-Depression heyday and zenith as a Midwestern industrial success story.

Author Kymberli Hagelberg, an award-winning journalist and native Northeast Ohioan, takes the reader on a morbidly-entertaining tour of the shadowy corners of Akron's history. With stories including mobsters and body snatchers, con men and Klansmen, plagues and fires, there is truly something for fans of local history and true crime stories.

Behind Put-in-Bay’s breathtaking scenery and wild nightlife is a side of the island that will make your hair stand on end.

Passersby claim to see the ghost of assistant lighthouse keeper Sam Anderson, who jumped to his death in the turbulent water of Lake Erie during an 1898 smallpox outbreak. Doors open and close of their own accord, and some say a spirit named Benny tosses things around at the Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery. Stage actor T. B. Alexander married the granddaughter of famous abolitionist John Brown and became one of the island’s most noted mayors. His ghost is said to linger in the historic barroom of T&J’s Smokehouse.

Author William G. Krejci hosts this tour of the darker aspects of island life.

Bay Village evolved from a fishing and farming hamlet into a retreat and resort area for some of Cleveland's wealthiest families.

Tucked away in the northeast corner of Cuyahoga County, Bay Village lies just outside Cleveland. The first settlers arrived around 1810 during the nation's westward expansion. The village was primarily agrarian in the beginning, home to many vineyards. By the end of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had gained momentum, and in 1896, an electric railway was built through the city, runningfrom Cleveland to Toledo. Bay Village evolved from a fishing and farming hamlet into a retreat and resort area for some of Cleveland's wealthiest families. Many of their summer cottages still stand today as refurbished family homes. Bay Village explores this community's rich history through vintage images from the Bay Village Historical Society and the Bay Village Library.

Over-the-Rhine is a place where a building owner can stumble upon huge caverns underneath a basement floor or find long-forgotten tunnels that travel far below city streets.

ts present mysteries are attributable to a past that transcends the common story of how cities change over time: it is the story of how a clash between immigrants and real Americans helped rob Cincinnati of its image, its soul and its economy. In the 1870s, OTR was comparable to the cultural hearts of Paris and Vienna. By the turn of the last century, the neighborhood was home to roughly three hundred saloons and had over a dozen breweries within or adjacent to its borders. It was beloved by countless citizens and travelers for the exact reasons that others successfully sought to destroy it. This is the story of how the heart of the Paris of America became a time capsule.

Cleveland's Ohio City Neighborhood is a testament to unity and resilience, and the ability of neighbors to come together and live in harmony despite their differences, creating a thriving urban melting pot.

Ohio City’s story begins with conflict. The 1836 “Battle of the Bridge” pitted neighbor against neighbor, yet the story evolved into one of connection, symbolized by the grand bridges that would later unite Cleveland’s east and west sides. Following its 1854 annexation to Cleveland, Ohio City developed into a remarkable urban tapestry where immigrant workers’ homes and mansions shared the same neighborhood. The iconic West Side Market has anchored a vibrant commercial district through generations, its clock tower standing sentinel over a neighborhood shaped by breweries like Leisy and Schlather that reflected the area’s strong German heritage. Franklin Boulevard emerged as the west side’s “Millionaire’s Row,” home to industrialists and civic leaders, including the Rhodes family and Marcus Hanna. Through decades of change—from urban renewal to today’s thriving craft brewery scene—Ohio City’s historic architecture and cultural landmarks have endured.

Thomas Kaschalk, founder of My Cleveland History and volunteer researcher for the Cuyahoga County Archives, brings Ohio City’s rich heritage to life through vintage photographs. Drawing from the Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection, the Cleveland Memory Project, and various historical archives, this visual history captures the spirit of one of Cleveland’s most distinctive neighborhoods.

Lovers of true crime and Ohio history will find themselves riveted by these crimes of passion.

There is a thin line between love and hate, and when intense passion threatens that border, blood will flow. Northern Ohio has had its share of people who felt that line snap. In Canton, the Phantom-Flapper Killer shot down her lover in cold blood after he threatened to expose her infidelity to the world. In Toledo, Dorothy Brown’s married boyfriend brutally attacked her when he learned that she was expecting. Max Amerman of Medina was willing to kill for the girl of his dreams, and when Cleveland’s Matilda Waldman believed that her husband was cursed by a witch, she took out the she-devil by way of a pistol.

Author Wendy Koile examines these relationships once bound by love, unraveled by lies, and cut off by murder.

Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking explores the intriguing history of Lake Erie. What lies below the surface of Lake Erie? Gold coins from long-ago shipwrecks, like the tragic sinking of the G.P. Griffith. The menacing, mysterious Lake Erie Monster. How about a whiskey ship that vanished more than a century ago in the western basin? The lake is filled with little-known tales, including legends like Joe Root in Erie and legendary places like the Belle Isle Boathouse in Detroit. Tragedies, like the Ashtabula bridge disaster, and triumphs, like the day Niagara Falls was turned off, changed the way we live today.

Today, Athens County is known for its peaceful and idyllic character, but in days gone by, the area was far less sedate.

Small towns like Redtown, Hebbardsville or Eclipse got their names from early settlers and coal barons who brought ambition and industry with them. The area’s deep history of coal mining is well known, but salt manufacturing, railroads and canals also thrived—for a time. Albany, Amesville and Athens all played a part in leading freedom seekers north on the Underground Railroad, and John Morgan Hunt set barns and bridges ablaze during his Civil War raid.

Athens County native and Local History Department Librarian Lorinda LeClain unearths these little-known stories and many more.

Delve into ghost stories pulled from century-old headlines and reported anew with author and investigative historian William G. Krejci. There was a time when ink-stained scribes would head into the community to report on ghostly visitations—many of their stories have been forgotten until now. At a Lorain County farmhouse, spectral women were said to manifest in the darkness of night. A haunted mansion was replete with the unexplained in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. Rumors of a haunting at Cleveland’s Grays Armory have long circulated. New evidence reveals the site to have been the scene of two mysterious deaths and possibly a haunted house. Does a peddler who went missing two centuries ago drag chains across the attic floor at a Portage Lakes tavern?

Melting Pot Memories

Lorain County attracted people from all around the globe in search of a better life, and these intrepid immigrants brought their culinary traditions with them. From the late nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, Lorain’s steel mill recruited workers from southern, eastern and western Europe. Later, the mill welcomed workers from Mexico and Puerto Rico, while local quarries offered immigrants work in Grafton, Elyria and Amherst. From these diverse cultures sprang an incredible range of meat and fish main dishes, side delicacies and desserts still found on Lorain tables today—including Cullen skink, Irish stew, chile rellenos, koulourakia, sugo and many more. Lorain’s International Festival highlights these culinary traditions in mouthwatering ways. Author and lifelong Lorainite Kelly Boyer Sagert shares the incredible migration stories and the delicious recipes that make Lorain County such a wonderful place to live—and eat.

Bursting with delightful colors and bright illustrations, Local Baby: Ohio engages babies’ attention and encourages families to explore what makes their state so great.

Ghost stories from The Glass City have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to the spooky streets of Toledo, Ohio!

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know that a murdered maid and a bashful child are just two of the restless spirits roaming the haunted Oliver House? Or that the nuns of St. Ursula's Academy, now the Collingwood Arts Center, tend the campus in death as they did in life? Can you believe the Toledo Zoo has amazing animals . . . and amazing ghosts?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Toledo forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!

For more than a century, Cincinnati's candy industry satisfied our national sweet tooth. Dive into its specialties and past.

Stick and drop candies appeared here long before their Civil War popularity. Opera creams, rich fondant-filled chocolate candy brought here by Robert Hiner Putman, provided decadence. Candy corn, which the Goelitz Company introduced to the United States before World War I, remains a ubiquitous treat. Marpro Products created and popularized the marshmallow cone candy. Doscher invented the French Chew and made caramel corn a baseball concession at Redland Field decades before Cracker Jack became synonymous with our national pastime. The city's many Greek and Macedonian immigrants influenced the unique Queen City tradition of finishing a Cincinnati-style ""threeway"" of spaghetti, chili and cheddar with a chocolate mint. Local food etymologist Dann Woellert tells these stories and more in this delectably sweet history.

New modes of transportation defined eras of change in the watershed. Electrified rails brought summer resorts and country estates; automobiles ferried suburbanites to Tudor side streets; and eventually, Interstate highways funneled exurbanites into shopping centers. Two centuries later, the Euclid Creek watershed holds 68,000 residents in 11 municipalities: Beachwood, Euclid, Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village, Nottingham, Richmond Heights, Pepper Pike, South Euclid, and Willoughby Hills.

Euclid Creek is a unique history of the Great Lake tributary stream and her many different communities. Drawing from numerous archives, the authors surmount municipal boundaries to show the whole history of a nearly forgotten natural landmark.

The Ohio Literary Trail: A Guide offers something unique for the armchair traveler and the road warrior alike.

The Ohio Literary Trail celebrates the Buckeye State’s role in shaping culture and literature worldwide. Along the trail, developed by the Ohioana Library Association, lie historic homes, museums, library collections, and historical markers honoring great authors, poets, and influencers of the literary landscape. Following the state’s five geographic regions for convenient self-guided tours, curious explorers can walk in the footsteps of Harriett Beecher Stowe and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. They can view renowned collections of comics, picture book art, and Nancy Drew-themed artifacts. Or they can tour the home and farm of Pulitzer Prize-winner and conservationist Louis Bromfield. Betty Weibel, one of the trail’s creators, offers this guide to those looking for the literary treasures of Ohio.

Baseball in Toledo traces the long and rich Toledo baseball history through pictures drawn from several major collections, along with detailed captions. Included is a summary of every Toledo season, and an all-time Toledo roster that lists all the players ever to wear a Toledo uniform.

The material presented is from the personal collection of the author, considered to be the most extensive collection in existence. This collection includes all of the common views such as the State Capitol, and a large number of one-of-a-kind views, including those of Papa Presutti's first saloon and of Tommy Sopwith (the English airplane manufacturer) at an air meet in Columbus in 1910.

Join local food writer Teri Horsley as she explores the history of Butler County’s most beloved eateries and the stories behind them.

Butler County has concocted fine food and finer memories for generations. Isgro’s dished out succulent Italian to locals and celebrities alike, including Frank Sinatra and numerous Cincinnati Reds players. Starting off as a Prohibition speakeasy, Nitchtings later evolved into a high-end supper club where many prominent politicians debated the issues of the day. Hickory Hut made its name serving delicious American casual food to fiercely loyal regulars, some of whom ate there three times a day. For decades, fans of Milillo's and Chester’s have argued which is the best pizza in town, a debate that continues today.

Like much of the nation in 1898, Scioto County, Ohio, burned with war fever. In their zeal to liberate Cubans from Spanish oppression, the communities rallied around its small National Guard company, Company H. Local papers ran constant updates from "the boys,'? who found themselves liberating Puerto Rico. The home front buzzed with activity, as church groups, civic clubs and individuals shipped care packages to the soldiers. The community went wild upon their return seven months later. Parades, dedications and honorifics of every sort proclaimed that the sacrifices of community and soldiers would never be forgotten. But they were. Local history buff John McHenry brings to light the struggles and triumphs of the county during this oft-overlooked conflict.