This series of flat stones has been laid on the ground to mark the actual trail of the Portage Path as it was surveyed by Moses Warren in 1797. From here, the trail winds southwest and then southerly and up the hill through the park. Then North . . . — — Map (db m48754) HM
Five Depression-era strikes against many of Akron's rubber companies culminated in a giant "sit-down" strike against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the industry's leader, in February and March of 1936. The fledgling United Rubber Workers (URW), . . . — — Map (db m43625) HM
Born in Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown moved with his family to Hudson, Ohio, in 1805 and lived many years in Portage and Summit Counties. His expert knowledge of sheep and wool led to a business partnership with Colonel Simon Perkins from . . . — — Map (db m221947) HM
A colossus of engineering acumen and structural steel, the Airdock was built in 1929 as the construction facility for the U.S. Navy's rigid airships, the USS Akron (1931) and USS Macon (1933). The airships, or dirigibles, served as . . . — — Map (db m43475) HM
Municipal University Of Akron Ohio
Let there be light
Buchtel College
Organized May 31, 1870
Established Dec. 15, 1913
Cecil C. Abels Grover Abels James L. Allen Harry I. Admundsan Hans T. E. Anderson Robert M. Ashmore Thomas . . . — — Map (db m302717) WM
On May 1, 1950, the Akron Community Service Center and Urban League building opened to the public. The Center was a gathering place for African Americans of the community, where they addressed workplace, education, and other issues dividing the . . . — — Map (db m305687) HM
In 1951, several pioneer drag racers opened one
of the Midwests first drag strips known by local
racing enthusiasts as the “Fulton Airport
Champions Raceway.” For the next eight years
half-brothers Art and Walt Arfons, Otis . . . — — Map (db m142783) HM
Presented to the
All-American Soap Box Derby
by the Juneau, Alaska,
Rotary Club
Original of this pole stands at Wrangell, Alaska, where since 1890 it has served as a memorial to the Kiksadi chief, Kolteen
...the monument consists . . . — — Map (db m48713) HM
Woodrow Nash
Bronze Statue
"Sojourner Truth"
Born in Akron, Ohio in the late 1940s, Woodrow Nash works in the tradition of the greater masters to build a sense of mystery and charisma into each of his sculptures. Through his pieces, Nash . . . — — Map (db m302692) HM
"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future and we'll continue to follow..."
President Ronald Reagan
As the second American woman . . . — — Map (db m43539) HM
Bath Township Hall. A log meeting house, which also served both the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, was constructed here circa 1818. In 1839, a frame structure replaced the log house and served the community and the congregations until . . . — — Map (db m137210) HM
Fires and mergers transformed Schumacher's Akron business into the major American company of Quaker Oats. Schumacher's empire peaked as an independent business in the 1880s. His Empire Mills had expanded into a major complex which included the . . . — — Map (db m276313) HM
This planted area depicts the original boundaries of a canal basin, the widening, turning, terminating, and waiting area for canal boats. Docks are indicated above ground level for cargo loading and unloading. Mills and shops needed canal . . . — — Map (db m276324) HM
This tunnel opening is part of the Cascade Race, which powered the Cascade Mills. The tunnel runs under the park, crosses beneath North Street, and continues underground to the Little Cuyahoga River near the Mustill Store.
Akron industrialist . . . — — Map (db m275525) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal was completed from
Cleveland to Akron in 1827. From the Mustill
Site, the canal rose 15 locks to the summit in
Akron. The Cascade Mill Race, built by
Dr. Eliakim Crosby in 1832, paralleled the canal,
creating a large . . . — — Map (db m142834) HM
During the 20th century heyday of the rubber and tire industry in Akron, approximately 4,000 African-American men and women were employed at jobs in the big companies. World War I brought about a marked increase in opportunities and in the number . . . — — Map (db m202414) HM
Prior to 1900, there were few positions for women at Akron factories that produced cereal, clay products, and farm machinery. Akron's first rubber factory, B.F. Goodrich, which opened in 1870, relied on women workers who made hundreds of products . . . — — Map (db m202413) HM
Coventry Township. The land on which Coventry Township is situated was ceded in 1785 to
the United States by the Delaware, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Wyandot tribes under the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The area was a choice location for Native . . . — — Map (db m277653) HM
You are near "Hall's Corners," the center of Akron's first business district, named after the general store that once stood at the corner of Market and Howard streets. Across Market Street from where you are standing, was the Empire House, the most . . . — — Map (db m48848) HM
Don Plusquellic
Mayor, City of Akron (1987-2015)
In the fall of 1994, Mayor Don Plusquellic had the vision of professional baseball played in a beautiful downtown Akron ballpark. He envisioned a state-of-the-art stadium, which would be . . . — — Map (db m284675) HM
The home of
Dr. Bob & Anne Smith
from 1916 to 1950
Co-founder of
Alcoholics Anonymous
—————
The birthplace of
Alcoholics Anonymous
June 10, 1935 Akron, Ohio
This property is listed in the . . . — — Map (db m48847) HM
Completion of the Cascade Locks provided transportation through the steepest change in elevation along the Ohio & Erie Canal. The trip through 15 locks in a single mile took up to half a day. As a result, saloons, brothels, hotels and stores like . . . — — Map (db m275520) HM
This memorial is dedicated
to the memory of those
veterans who in the several
crises of United States
history have earned the
gratitude of their country.
Let us keep faith.
Blessed are they who make
supreme sacrifices for . . . — — Map (db m302668) WM
Side A: Elm Court
Arthur Hudson Marks (1874-1939)
Elm Court, designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw of Illinois, was built in 1912 for Arthur Hudson Marks. The original mansion exemplifies the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Elm Court . . . — — Map (db m43505) HM
Buried beneath your feet are the foundation stones of the Cascade Mills, a flour mill built in 1840. When Ferdinand Schumacher purchased the mill in 1868, its history became part of an early American big business, known today as Quaker Oats.
. . . — — Map (db m276144) HM
Industrialist and entrepreneur Franklin Augustus Seiberling (1859-1955) named his fledgling rubber goods manufacturing company "Goodyear" to honor Charles Goodyear, the man who invented the vulcanization process for curing rubber. Seiberling . . . — — Map (db m43451) HM
This garden is inspired by the lives of avid conservationists and dedicated gardeners Christine and Bob Freitag. The area is planted with native Ohio species that feed, shelter and sustain our native wildlife.
Christine and Bob were advocates who . . . — — Map (db m302685) HM
In 1888, the coal-fired Beech Street Powerhouse was built to supply power for Akron's new electric trolleys, which replaced the city's horse-drawn streetcars. Soon the plant was selling electricity to new businesses in downtown Akron, fueling rapid . . . — — Map (db m228871) HM
Side A: The Gate Lodge, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
Completed in 1915, the Gate Lodge is one of several service buildings located at Stan Hywet Hall dedicated to the operations of the estate. Located at the front entrance gates, this two-story . . . — — Map (db m43509) HM
This site represents four generations of energy technology. Before the 1880s, lard lamps lit the mill's interior and water power turned the millstones. Schumacher then added a powerhouse with a 125-foot chimney to supplement water power with steam . . . — — Map (db m275767) HM
An entrepreneur who owned and operated
the Matthews Hotel
"A business with a soul"
at 77 North Howard Street
from 1925 to 1978
Enthralled by the vitality he witnessed as a visitor to Akron in 1920, George Mathews put his . . . — — Map (db m228806) HM
In 2009, on a cool September evening in Cologne, Germany, our local delegation
eagerly awaited the announcement if Akron and Cleveland had been chosen to host the
2014 Gay Games.
Our anticipation - which had grown increasingly intense over . . . — — Map (db m202411) HM
Built over a two-year period, from 1936-1937, by the Federal Works Progress Administration, the Glendale Steps survive as a monument to the work of stone craftsmen during the Great Depression. Spanning a 200-foot slope, the purpose of the Glendale . . . — — Map (db m43554) HM
Akron, an industrial boomtown in the early twentieth century, grew in population nearly fivefold between 1900 and 1920. As the city industrialized, middle class residents sought homes on West Hill, away from the smoke and soot of heavy industry on . . . — — Map (db m142835) HM
The Jonathan Hale and Jason Hammond families settled here in 1810, having purchased property from the Connecticut Land Company. Founded in 1818, Bath included three hamlets established along the "Center" road as it was called. Hammond's . . . — — Map (db m229086) HM
The Beech Street Steam Plant was a classic example of the industrial boom in Akron. The plant originally had a two-boiler system with one smokestack, and it forced steam through pipes to downtown Akron. Steam heat was an advanced technology at the . . . — — Map (db m228870) HM
The Cascade Valley is the steepest section of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The elevation changes 150 feet within a mile. This provided an advantage for the Cascade Race, but a challenge for the Ohio & Erie Canal. The Cascade Race needed the elevation . . . — — Map (db m276325) HM
Side A:
The center of African-American culture in Akron during the mid-20th century, Howard Street was home to many of the city's black-owned business and entertainment establishments, and provided an atmosphere in which minority-owned . . . — — Map (db m43566) HM
Chief Prosecutor
City of Akron
1940 - 1945
Chief Assistant Prosecutor
Summit County
1965 - 1939
A dedicated public official
devoted to
Justice - Law - Equality
in Summit County — — Map (db m213950) HM
Although trained as a chemical engineer, Jack's great passions were the Ohio canal system and photography. Jack and his wife, Vicki, walked the entire length of all of the canals in Ohio. Author of A Photo Album of Ohio's Canal Era, 1825 1913 and . . . — — Map (db m302681) HM
The innovations of Dr. Karl Arnstein (1887-1974), an aerospace industry pioneer, form the foundation for lighter-than-air technology in use today. His mathematical proof and application of modern stress analysis allowed the construction of larger, . . . — — Map (db m43454) HM
The Cascade Mills, Cascade Race and the Ohio & Erie Canal were cornerstones of 19th-century industry. Each had their heyday, but were replaced as technology and business changed. Today the park allows for their rediscovery.
Once the American . . . — — Map (db m276547) HM
Lynn Rodeman Metzger taught Anthropology at The University of Akron from 1990 to 2014. She always considered mentoring students as her most important endeavor, encouraging them in the classroom and beyond. Lynn also believed in connecting students . . . — — Map (db m302684) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal connected the Cascade Mills to markets in Ohio and beyond. Boats carried flour packed in barrels and paper bags north to Cleveland, or south to Portsmouth. In Cleveland, flour could be transferred to Lake Erie steamers for . . . — — Map (db m276310) HM
Dedicated to the memory
of these soldiers
of the American Revolution:
Titus Chapman Lambert Clement Isaac Dudley William Neal Thomas Sumner Hosea Wilcox. Jr.
And to the pioneers who blazed the way
for succeeding generations. . . . — — Map (db m302674) WM
This burying ground was the first public cemetery located within Akron's boundaries. It was also known as the "Old Cemetery" and the "Newton Street Cemetery." Deacon Titus Chapman donated this land in 1808 as a burying ground, and he was probably . . . — — Map (db m43444) HM
On December 21, 1818, The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio granted a Charter to Middlebury Lodge No. 34 marking the beginning of Freemasonry in Summit County. The Lodge was located on Case Avenue, then known as Water Street. Two . . . — — Map (db m299756) HM
To honor the pioneering spirit and enthusiam of the citizens
of Akron who supported the significant advances to
motorless flight from 1929 to 1936.
A commemorative flight today re-enacts the
first towed glider flight 50 years ago
from Akron . . . — — Map (db m156383) HM
The F. Schumacher Milling Company became Akron's largest business for its time, but it started small. A German immigrant, Schumacher arrived in Akron in 1851. He opened a toy and fancy goods store on Howard Street and then a grocery and drugstore . . . — — Map (db m276299) HM
On December 30, 1847, six educators met at the Summit County Courthouse to organize the first convention of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, now known as the Ohio Education Association (OEA). The organizers Josiah Hurty (Richland County), . . . — — Map (db m299758) HM
The Old Portage, an eight-mile overland connection between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers, was the longer of two portages used by prehistoric peoples and early settlers. This was just one link in the water route between Lake Erie and the Ohio . . . — — Map (db m48845) HM
You are standing on the famous portage, carrying-place between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers. The two streams and the portage across the watershed formed an early route between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. First the Indians, then French and . . . — — Map (db m43550) HM
The First Americans
You are standing at the North Terminus of the renewed Portage Path, which formed the vital link in the shortest and best water route between the great lake to the north and the rivers flowing south. The trail was created . . . — — Map (db m48755) HM
The North Terminus canoe landing of the Portage Path was located here along the Cuyahoga River. The 1797 survey of the trail began at a black cherry tree on the south bank of the river. If standing today, that tree would be in the middle of the . . . — — Map (db m48846) HM
In the nineteenth century, the scene in front of you would have been busy with canal travelers patronizing the Mustill Store to buy provisions. Three generations of the Mustill family operated the store, which held a prime commercial location across . . . — — Map (db m302680) HM
Bruce came to Akron, Ohio, in 1976 and was employed by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. as a tire design engineer. Bruce's passion for photography led him away from Goodyear to operating his own camera repair business.
Always a history buff, Bruce . . . — — Map (db m302682) HM
This sacred structure, completed in 1905, has been recognized as a significant landmark in the history of both the State of Ohio and the United States of America
Placed on the
National Register of
Historic Places
by the U.S. . . . — — Map (db m202409) HM
St. Vincent-St. Mary Catholic High School.
St. Vincent-St. Mary High School is the oldest continuously operating, public or private, high school in Akron. With roots extending to the late 19th century, St. Mary High School graduated its first . . . — — Map (db m299757) HM
Schumacher's need for raw materials, workers, and supplies influenced the region's economy. Farmers could bring their products for milling by horse and wagon down Cascade Street, which this trail now follows. Companies like Buckeye Mower & Reaper . . . — — Map (db m302687) HM
The sandstone outline on the ground shows the mill's footprint circa 1880. It corresponds to the floor plan presented here, which shows the locations of mill activities.
Explore inside the sandstone outline to find markers that indicate sections . . . — — Map (db m276141) HM
Trees with unusual shapes were often, used by Indians as
landmarks to identify important trails. This 300 year
old Bur Oak (Guercus Macrocarpa) marked the northernmost
point of the Portage Trail, which connected the Cuyahoga
(whose course was . . . — — Map (db m161199) HM
On this site on May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth, a former slave, gave her world famous "And Ain't I a Woman?" speech, recalling the hardships she had endured. Active in both the Abolitionist and Women's Rights Movements, she electrified an audience . . . — — Map (db m43726) HM
The site of the public square of Middlebury, the oldest part of what is now the City of Akron.
Settled in 1807 by Captain Joseph Hart, Middlebury became an important milling center symbolized by this millstone.
Here the first schoolhouse and . . . — — Map (db m302672) HM
An annual summer tradition for American youth since the 1930s, the All-American Soap Box Derby was the concept of journalist Myron E. ("Scottie") Scott, who covered an impromptu homebuilt gravity-car race in Dayton in 1933. Scott conceived and . . . — — Map (db m43477) HM
May I say a few words?
I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a womans rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do . . . — — Map (db m276328) HM
The former "country estate" of the Frank A. Seiberling family, Stan Hywet Hall is one of the finest examples of Tudor Revival architecture in the United States. "F.A." Seiberling (1859-1955) co-founded the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 1898 and . . . — — Map (db m223866) HM
The Yellow Crook Watershed provides visitors with 31 square miles of scenic vistas and varied terrain. Early Bath settlers harnessed the power of Yellow Creek, building more than 20 mills to spin wool and mill grain and wood. A tributary of the . . . — — Map (db m229091) HM
Ainscough, James E. Alderdice, Boyd K. Ashley, Billy J. Baker, Kenneth C. Baksa, James Emery Ball Raymond Orval Beitel, William E. Boesiger, Fred Walter Bosko, Nick E. Bradley, William J. Brown, Albert Luther Bruggemeir, . . . — — Map (db m302714) WM
Walter J. Nerad, Jr.
Ted Neura
Paul Haltsley, III
George H. Frazee
Frank Wilson
Gene T. Davis
La Valle E. Carlton
Michael M. Medley
Ronald M. Cantor
Billy O. Deweese I
Wilbur G. Wise
Stanley K. Semler . . . — — Map (db m202406) WM
Ronald Paul Akins Glenn Wilson Apple Ray Arnett, Jr. James Quinel Aydlett Edward Mearl Ball Thomas Elroy Ball, Jr. Howard Leroy Barden Walter Carl Bartley, Jr. William Henry Bator Jerry Beley William Edward Berzinec Terrence . . . — — Map (db m302713) WM
In memory of the men and
women of Summit County who
gave their lives in World War II
Abbott, Robert H. Abel, Eugene S. Ables, Robert E. Abshire, Charles K. Abshire, William F. Adams, James H. Adams, Kenneth L. Adams, Roscoe C. . . . — — Map (db m302715) WM
Dedicated to the memory of
the men & women who served
their country
from Summit County
during the World War
Cecil C. Abels Grover Abels Charles W. Bauer Allen C. Beals Roy J. Bohl Howard R. Boyd Robert E. Byrne Dana B. . . . — — Map (db m302716) WM
In 1785, American Indian tribal leaders from the Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa, and Wyandot met with representatives sent by the United States Congress to sign the controversial Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The treaty surrendered control of Native . . . — — Map (db m43512) HM
In downtown Akron at the Portage Hotel, 12 September 1935, a national convention of rubber workers met and organized the United Rubber Workers of America. Convention delegates elected Sherman Dalrymple president and dedicated the URW international . . . — — Map (db m43731) HM
Top plaque:
When the natural rubber supply from Southeast Asia was cut off at the beginning of World War II, the United States and its allies faced the loss of a strategic material. With U.S. government sponsorship, a consortium of companies . . . — — Map (db m44733) HM
This church, founded in 1866, is the oldest Black congregation in Akron. After worshipping in several locations, the congregation held a fund-raiser to help finance the construction of a permanent home. The person collecting the most money had the . . . — — Map (db m299654) HM
By 1876 Schumacher had modernized the mill and installed a new water wheel. His wheel, made of iron, was enormous in scale. It weighed 37 tons, measured 35 feet in diameter and 10 feet in width, and had 96 buckets that filled with water. The . . . — — Map (db m276142) HM
The completion of the Ohio & Erie Canal triggered Akron's first economic boom in the 1830s. Paralleling the canal, the Cascade Race supplied water power to many mills, including Ferdinand Schumacher's Cascade Mills, which ground wheat into flour. . . . — — Map (db m275523) HM
The University of Akron conducted archaeological research to locate the underground remains of the Cascade Mills and its water wheel. Local lore suggested that the iron water wheel was buried on this site.
Archaeologists used electrical . . . — — Map (db m276320) HM
The Portage Path is now marked for all time in bronze to honor and memorialize the American Indian who for untold centuries preserved and cared for this land and its waterways.
During the 1990's, the Yeck Family initiated a program to research, . . . — — Map (db m48751) HM
