Garrettsville – Local history buffs, this one’s for you! Did you know that Garrettsville was the prime cheese-producing center of Ohio in 1877? Or that the best maple syrup in the world came from here in 1893? Or that Garrettsville had the most secret societies statewide in 1899? Or that James A. Garfield once engaged in a shooting match with a jealous shopkeeper? Or that a tight-rope walker traversed over Main Street along a 45-degree angle in 1874?
You can read all about these curiosities and so much more in James A. Garfield Historical Society’s new publication, Unique Collection of Newspaper Clippings and Historical Information: 1800’s-1940’s (Garrettsville-Freedom-Nelson). Available for $15, this compilation by Pam Montgomery is the fifth new JAGHS publication released in 2019.
A book-signing event with Montgomery will be held at the JAG Historical Society at 8107 Main Street (Mott Building), December 7 from 10am-2pm. Cookies and other refreshments will be served. A limited number of 25 books will be available at this event (and 25 more in January) but orders can be placed by emailing pam112545@frontier.com.
As secretary of the historical society, Montgomery donated her time and talent to create this compilation. She was inspired by her own interest and the historical society’s mission to educate the community and promote local history. All proceeds from book sales will benefit the JAG Historical Society.
“Pam has been so very generous with her time,” says Debbie Smith, JAG Historical Society President. “It’s such a blessing that she has been able to grace us with this book.”
This report cover style booklet consists of 81 pages of scanned news articles found in local papers about events and people in bygone generations. Familiar surnames like Crane, Alford, Hanke, Hewitt, Tilden, McClintock, Udall, Pelsue, Alger, Pixley, Knowlton, Everett and so many more are invoked from yesteryear, while they were movers and shakers in and around the community. Readers can also learn about 80 local inventors, grave robbers from medical school, a Post Office break-in, and random colorful stories about local life in the old days.
An avid scrapbooker, Montgomery says that it took nearly a year to organize this collection, but time flew because she enjoyed the journey. “When you connect the dots and see how things come together, history gets interesting,” she says.
Montgomery also authored “Garrettsville Strong” in 2015. This book of Garrettsville history and photographs came in the aftermath of the March 2014 fire which destroyed the Buckeye Block. Montgomery has donated all proceeds to the Garrettsville Strong account, established to help rebuild the burned-out block on Main Street. She spent countless hours in the historical society building and library to reconstruct the history of the Buckeye Block for the book. Along the way, she set aside noteworthy newspaper clippings that didn’t make it into that book but proved worthy to appear in this new compilation.
In addition to this news article book, the historical society has released four cemetery tour books this year. Each book tells stories about notable individuals who are buried in area cemeteries, including Freedom’s Drakesburg and West cemeteries, and Garrettsville’s Park and Baptist cemeteries. Each of those books is available for $5 each at the historical society.
The James A. Garfield Historical Society is open the first Saturday of month, 10am-2pm or by appointment.
