We are always happy to here when someone from out of town--without any local connection--moves into our urban cores only to find the love that those of us who have always lived in the area hold. Stories like that of montecarloss always renew our faith and passion for our respective cities. However, I would assume many of us have family connections to our cities while they were in their prime.

 

Thus, I'm looking for stories (or just details) of your realtives and their experiences/lifestyles within the historic city you now represent. Did they own businesses? Did they live downtown? Did they shop/frequent well known buildings/landmarks?...that kind of thing and any thing else you'd like to share. Personally, a historic building or place means much more when I learn my great grandparents went there in the 20s, etc.

 

I let you (plural) shape the topic from here...  8-)

My parents moved here from Fairborn.  My brother and sister were born in Xenia.  I'm the only person in my family born in this city.

 

No history there....

Hamilton:

 

My strongest tie to the city is my church. I'm the fifth generation to be babtized and confirmed in the German Lutheran Church downtown. Almost all of my dad's family was married and raised there. Infact, I wouldn't exist if my great grandparents hadn't met at that church.

 

My great great grandparents lived in the Dayton-Campbell (now Historic) area in a little house on 8th street which still stands. During the Great Flood of 1913, my gggrandfather, who worked at Black and Clawson, a company that made Champion and Beckett Papers' machinery at their factory near the Black Street Bridge, became trapped in the third floor as the water rose. His wife, in their 8th street home also retreated to the attic, sure her husband was dead. She cried the entirety of the flood thinking she was a widow, only for him to return home after the water went down. Luckily he was not in the section of the plant that the flood waters collapsed.

 

Interestingly enough, the other side of the family lived in Union Twp (Union is now W.Chester, but their farm was annexed into Fairfield) a good twenty minuets from downtown. Yet, in those days, Hamilton was the center of the world for most of Butler County. Every Friday, the entire family would ride into town to do their shopping and pay bills. Since the banks closed early on Friday, they did that first, banking at the First National Tower (now 1st Financial). The family would separate as my ggrandmother went to the meat locker (where McDonalds now sits), the butcher, the grocery, and to the post office (old and new). My great aunts and uncles and grandmother would follow my gggrandmother through all 5 of Hamilton's 10 cent stores, JCPenney, and Sears (later on). The men would congregate on the courthouse lawn or go inside to watch whatever trials were taking place. The group would end the day by meeting at the Elite Bakery on 2nd St. to have a banana split and pick up that weeks baked goods.

 

After graduating from High School, my grandmother went to business school on the 6th floor of the Rentschler Building and later started work as a typist on the first floor of Champion Paper's old office complex at the end of the Black Street. After several years she married a man whos family had moved to suburban Springdale from Crosley Avenue in Norwood about 15 years before. Their farm is now the site of Showcase Cinema (no excuse me, Cinema De Lux), Bob Evans, the Baymont Inn, and a little of the Pictoria Tower in Springdale.

 

Anyway, I could go on and on...

jeez, Ink, that really takes the wind outta my sails.

I live in Cinti.

My parents, in Springfield, went to a company outing at Coney once.

I've got nothing.

 

My parents moved to the Dayton area in 1978(?) when my Dad was in the Air Force at Wright-Patterson.  During this stay my sister and I were born, then we moved away in 1984, and then back again in 1991.

 

So, uh... one time my dad was chided by a woman for the dangerous act of carrying my sister (as a baby) across the street downtown near Rike's.  There ya go- downtown shopping!

No family connections whatsover to Dayton, and tenous ones to Louisville.

 

My family connections are to Chicago and Milwaulkee...and, beyond them, to Lodz & Poznan, Poland, and provincial Germany (Friedberg, a market town in Hesse, near Frankfurt am Main, and Nurnberg).

 

A bit of a personal connection to this local landmark in Friedberg...the medieval "Stadkirche", or City Church.

 

 

 

...the roof and steeple are covered in slate, which is a traditional exterior building material in that part of Germany.  My grandfather was a master roofer who specialized in slating, and he reslated the tower of this church after the war, I think.... His father was also a roofing contractor, but did framing as well as tile or slating (construction trades/contracting is set up differently in Germany than here) ..

 

 

 

My dad is from Columbus, my mom from Massillon.  They met each other at Central State in the 60's, my mom then got offered a teaching job in Akron in '68.... my dad then followed her here and that's where they settled. 

 

I have a few cousins who have since moved to Akron and some distant relatives who live here as well; however, the bulk of my extended family still resides in Stark County and Columbus.

My father's family is from Southeastern Ohio (Gallipolis, Millersport, Jackson, Chillicothe, etc) while my mother's is from Columbus' east side (we even have a park named after our family).

 

I don't want to get into detail but one of the "highlights" is that my grandfather (who moved to Wright-Dunbar after OSU in the 40's) became the first black pharmacist in the state of Ohio.  And I do have "funk music" cousins (from the Ohio Players and Heatwave).

^well what do you know my dayton-born sis-in-law dated an ohio players playa back in those days so we may have some more ties cdm - of course, right? lol!

 

my mom is hungarian and dad from lorain. we have family all in and around cleveland. my maternal grandparents were big insurance people. my paternal grandfather worked for ohio engineering and helped build the turnpike, I-80/90, rt 2, etc like that. i have pics i'll scan & post sometime. i remember a story my grandmother told me where they lived in waterville for a year while grampa was working on the highway and the town would set up a movie screen on the main drag every friday night and show movies. that story always made me esp like waterville when i lived in nw ohio (bg), but in reality waterville and grand rapids along the maumee is a very beautiful area in and of itself even today.

 

 

If we have any more ties, I'd might as well be Michael J Fox.

I just learned that my gggrandfather was one of the founders of the committee to start Fort Hamilton Hospital.

 

    My grandfather on my mother's side lived on Powers street in Cumminsville, now known as south Cumminsville or even Northside. His father was a Cincinnati policeman and owned the first car in the neighborhood around 1917. "We didn't have a crapper, but we had a car!" Powers Street was cut off from the rest of the city in the 1937 flood. As the waters were rising, the Cincinnati Fire Department spread their equipment around to areas that would be cut off. My grandfather built a raft during the 1937 flood.

 

    My grandfather had a number of interesting jobs. In one, he set bowling pins by hand. In another, he was paid an extra $0.25 to ride a slide in the dark in a 5 story warehouse at the end of the day to clear out any orders that were stuck on the slide.

 

    He had some good stories. He rode the streetcar to Chester Park, where there was a guy who would give you $1000 if you could make him laugh. "No one ever made him laugh." He snuck into the circus in the vacant lot next to the Ludlow Viaduct, and built and rode the tobaggan run on Cass street every winter. "People came from all over the city to ride," he said. "I was a driver. You sit in front and steer with one ice skate. That all ended when they started salting the streets." His uncle Jacob drove a team and wagon from "the terminal" downtown to Norwood and took all day to make the trip and return. When grandfather was 14, they added indoor plumbing to their home on Powers street, "and that was so nice."

 

    Grandfather worked at the Brighton Bank at the corner of Colerain and Harrison (Yes, it exists!), from where he delivered money to a branch bank in Westwood by streetcar. That's where he met my grandmother, who worked at the bank in Westwood.

 

    My grandmother grew up on a 10 acre family farm in Bridgetown. It was in the family as early as 1915. Over the years, pieces were cut out of it and sold, but all of them went to family members. My mother had 50 cousins, all living within 200 feet! Eventually, the remainder of the farm was developed into a subdivision, with many of the lots being distributed to family members. My grandparents got one lot, and lived there from about 1960 to the end. I still have relatives in the area, on the original farm land, but they are gradually dying out or moving away.

 

    My father was born in Toledo, so I have a tie there. His father died when he was young, and he lived in an orphanage for a while, and eventually was adopted by a couple on the east side of Cincinnati. My (adopted) grandfather's family came from a family farm in Amelia, and my (adopted) grandmother's family came from Covington. She was the only woman to work at a company of 100 or more people in Covington. I have a photo of her at her desk with two phones - not one phone with multiple lines, but two phones. Funny! Her building was flooded in 1937.

 

 

 

Wow - that's a fantastic history.  Thank you so much for taking the time to write it up for us!  Very cool...

I just learned that my gggrandfather was one of the founders of the committee to start Fort Hamilton Hospital.

 

Searching for pictures of the Frechtlings on the Lane's Cummins Photos, I came accross a picture of Arthur Brate (my ggg grandfather) in front of the hospital, probably at it's opening. He is the sixth one from the left, in the front row.

 

That's pretty neat.

My father's family is from Southeastern Ohio (Gallipolis, Millersport, Jackson, Chillicothe, etc) while my mother's is from Columbus' east side (we even have a park named after our family).

 

I don't want to get into detail but one of the "highlights" is that my grandfather (who moved to Wright-Dunbar after OSU in the 40's) became the first black pharmacist in the state of Ohio.  And I do have "funk music" cousins (from the Ohio Players and Heatwave).

 

CDM...thats awesome, what a great source of inspiration for young pharm students all over - not just ohio!

 

Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiya!  Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiya!  That was my jam back in the day!!

My dad was from a small town in Illinois. My mom is from Lakewood. My mom's dad came over to the US from Slovakia when he was 4. My grandpa had an interesting life. He pumped gas at a standard oil station during the day and went to law school at night. He was a DJ for WERE's Slovak hour. He went on to become Lakewood's Law Director, then he became a state senator, then was chairman of the board for Home Federal Bank (now Charter One), and he always had his own law firm housed in the Terminal Tower.

 

The Birdtown area of Lakewood holds a place in my heart. On Madison Ave within two blocks are the following places near to my heart and family:

-my grandpa's night law office (for the slovak men and women who couldn't make it downtown or who didn't speak english)

-Sts. Cyril and Methodius (site of many family marriages and my mom's elementary school)

-funeral home for many family deaths (my dad died when I was 3--way before I ever got to know him. so, this place has always represented the man that i never was able to know)

-Fedor Manor (an 11-story building named for my grandfather).

-After that is a Dollar General Store--unfortunately, they torn down the original Home Federal bank to put in some ugly retail.

My dad was from a small town in Illinois.  My mom is from Lakewood.  My mom's dad came over to the US from Slovakia when he was 4. My grandpa had an interesting life. He pumped gas at a standard oil station during the day and went to law school at night. He was a DJ for WERE's Slovak hour. He went on to become Lakewood's Law Director, then he became a state senator, then was chairman of the board for Home Federal Bank (now Charter One), and he always had his own law firm housed in the Terminal Tower.

 

The Birdtown area of Lakewood holds a place in my heart. On Madison Ave within two blocks are the following places near to my heart and family:

-my grandpa's night law office (for the slovak men and women who couldn't make it downtown or who didn't speak english)

-Sts. Cyril and Methodius (site of many family marriages and my mom's elementary school)

-funeral home for many family deaths (my dad died when I was 3--way before I ever got to know him. so, this place has always represented the man that i never was able to know)

-Fedor Manor (an 11-story building named for my grandfather). 

-After that is a Dollar General Store--unfortunately, they torn down the original Home Federal bank to put in some ugly retail. 

 

Awesome and very moving

Bump!

 

Thought maybe we could get a few more stories.