Description: This 2.75" x 2.75" (6.99 x 6.99 cm) photograph of the Cleveland Quarries in Amherst, Ohio, was taken in the 1960s. Amherst is known for its large formation of high-quality sandstone, which runs roughly from Berea, Ohio to Amherst. The area has been labeled the "Sandstone Center of the World." John Baldwin, founder of what is now Baldwin-Wallace College, is credited with discovering the sandstone formation in 1842. Several quarries were already operating in the area. The Cleveland Stone Company bought out several of the smaller ventures in July 1886. The Ohio Quarries, owned by John R. Walsh, organized in 1903 in competition with Cleveland Stone Company. In 1929, Cleveland Stone purchased the Ohio Quarries and became the Cleveland Quarries Company. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3028_3645077_001
Subjects: Geography and Natural Resources; Quarries and quarrying; Excavation; Rocks
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image depicts a quarry in the Sandstone Center of the World, Amherst, Ohio. The City of Amherst was founded in 1811. Beginning in 1847, Amherst developed and prospered around the sandstone industry and its associated quarries. This sandstone proved to be an important economic blessing to our early settlers and is the foundation of Amherst's existence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06513
Subjects: Geology--Ohio; Natural resources--Ohio;
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: Sandstone being extracted from quarry, near South Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio, ca. 1940-1949. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00370
Subjects: South Amherst (Ohio); Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor
Places: South Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of "Pioneers Crossing the Ohio River" painted by Michael Loew in 1941. The painting is located at a post office in Amherst, Ohio in Lorain County. Photographed by Connie Girard in 1988. The photo is from the Ohio Post Office Artwork Collection, AV 48. The collection represents thirty murals or plaster reliefs installed in twenty-five Ohio post offices between 1937 and 1943. In 1988, Connie Girard photographed the artwork. Photos were published in the article “Not By Bread Alone, Post Office Art of the New Deal.” Timeline. June-July 1989, p. 2-19 by Gerald Markowitz and Marlene Park. In 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President he promised Americans a "New Deal" and created public works programs to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed people, including artists. Ten thousand unknown and established artists were commissioned by the government to create murals, paintings, photographs, posters, prints and sculpture. The goal was not only to employ artists, but also to bring fine art into the daily lives of all people. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was funded for six months in 1933 – 1934. The PWAP was succeeded by the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. Organized in 1934 the Section of Painting and Sculpture operated until 1943. Under the auspices of this organization sixty-six new Ohio post offices received artwork. The majority of the post offices were located in small towns. Post offices were chosen as a location for artwork because, particularly in small towns, they were centers of community activity. Most of the painted murals or murals in plaster relief created are realistic images reflecting the history, common activities or major industries of the communities in which the post offices are located. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: av48_b2_f14_01
Subjects: Post office stations and branches--Ohio--Photographs; Public art--Ohio--Photographs; Public Works of Art Project (United States); New Deal art
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of a mural titled "Pioneers Crossing the Ohio River" by Michael Loew. The mural is located in the Amherst, Ohio post office. It is oil on canvas and measures 4 1/8 feet high by 14 feet long. The mural was created in 1941 with funding from the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, a depression era public works program that provided work for unemployed artists. This photograph was taken by Connie Girard in 1988. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04712
Subjects: Lorain County (Ohio); Artists; Ohio History; mural paintings (visual works); Pioneers--Ohio;
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: Students at Powers Elm School in Amherst, Ohio, hold a surprise wedding reception for their principal, who is either the Mr. or Mrs. Johnson in wedding attire. The image was submitted by John G. Kenney of Elyria, Ohio, in the Professional category of the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photograph Contest. In August 1976, the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Committee (OARBAC) began the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest as part of a larger effort in Ohio to celebrate the 1976 American Bicentennial. The contest was meant to document "the spirit and character of the people and places which represent Ohio during [the] bicentennial year," and to create a permanent photographic archive of the year's festivity for use by future researchers. Both professional and amateur photographers submitted over 500 photographs for consideration, all taken within the state between January 1 and December 31, 1976. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA2734AV_B03F06_11_01
Subjects: American Revolution Bicentennial (1976); Students; Weddings;
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is a black-and-white image of a colorful mural titled "Pioneers Crossing the Ohio River," painted in 1941 by artist Michael Loew (1907-1985). The mural depicts a group of pioneers, a covered wagon, and an ox crowded together on a raft. Behind them is a body of water with hills in the background. From the rear, several men are using long poles to propel the raft forward, while in the front a young man is pulling on a rope with all of his strength to move the raft forward. Several women, one of whom is holding an infant, are grouped in the center next to the wagon, ox, a plow, and yoke. The mural, painted in oil on canvas, is located in the former post office building in Amherst, Ohio. It measures 4-1/8 feet high by 14 feet long. The mural was funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, one of the department’s three visual arts programs instituted during the Great Depression. Established in 1934, the Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned artists to create paintings and sculpture that would decorate new federal buildings. The commissions were awarded competitively. Unlike other cultural programs of the New Deal, the Section’s primary goal was to procure art for public buildings, not to provide work relief. Born in New York City, artist Michael Loew was an abstract expressionist whose early works were representational, including the murals he painted for the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. He studied at the Art Students League from 1926-1929 and worked as a stained-glass artist. He studied art in Paris from 1929-1930. In 1939 he had painted murals for the New York World’s Fair with his close friend and fellow artist, Willem de Kooning. By this time his style was shifting toward abstract expressionism. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Loew studied at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Art from 1947-1949 and at the Atelier Fernand Leger from 1949-1950. Between 1956 and 1966, he taught painting at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, and at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1988 photographer Connie Girard took color and black-and-white images of this mural for an article in "Timeline" magazine (June/July 1989). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04494
Subjects: Mural paintings (visual works); Post office buildings--Ohio; United States. Works Progress Administration; United States. Department of the Treasury. Section of Painting and Sculpture; Loew, Michael, 1907-1985; Great Depression and the New Deal
Places: Amherst (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: 10-ton haulage locomotive made by the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio in use at the Amherst Coal Company, Amherstdale, West Virginia, 1927. Haulage locomotives were used to pull long trains of coal cars from mines. A trolley arm extended from the locomotive to an overhead electrical cable to provide power for the locomotive. Electric locomotives could travel at approximately 5 miles per hour. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01488
Subjects: Locomotives; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business
Places: Amherstdale (West Virginia)
 

Description: 10-ton haulage locomotive made by the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio in use at the Amherst Coal Company, Amherstdale, West Virginia, 1927. Haulage locomotives were used to pull long trains of coal cars from mines. A trolley arm extended from the locomotive to an overhead electrical cable to provide power for the locomotive. Electric locomotives could travel at approximately 5 miles per hour. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01489
Subjects: Locomotives; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business
Places: Amherstdale (West Virginia)
 

Description: The Ottawa County courthouse was constructed by architects Wing and Mahurin between 1898-1901. The Richardsonian Romanesque style building includes architectural details such as arches, steeply pitched gables with finials, and a 132 foot clock tower. The building ia made of North Amherst sandstone and pink Tennessee marble. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F11_001_001
Subjects: Ohio Government; Courthouses--Ohio--History.; Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.
Places: Port Clinton (Ohio); Ottawa County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows the side facade of the Lorain County Courthouse. Construction on this Renaissance Revival building was completed in 1881. It is made of Amherst sandstone and is identical to the courthouse in Marion, Indiana, which was built at the same time. The central dome of the courthouse was removed in 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV101_B01F04_279
Subjects: Courthouses--Ohio; National Register of Historic Places; pilasters; balustrades; pediments; bays (building divisions); porticoes; pavilions (building divisions); cornices; Renaissance Revival
Places: Elyria (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio); 308 2nd St.
 

Description: This image shows the front facade of the Lorain County Courthouse. Construction on this Renaissance Revival building was completed in 1881. It is made of Amherst sandstone and is identical to the courthouse in Marion, Indiana, which was built at the same time. The central dome of the courthouse was removed in 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV101_B01F04_282
Subjects: Courthouses--Ohio; National Register of Historic Places; pilasters; balustrades; pediments; bays (building divisions); porticoes; pavilions (building divisions); cornices; Renaissance Revival
Places: Elyria (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio); 308 2nd St.