Description: The Republic Steel Corporation Collection (MSS 192) consists of 13,000 black and white photographic negatives, 2,000 color photographic negatives, and many 35 mm slides which document Republic Steel Corporation’s main production facilities and its subsidiaries, 1941-1975. This collection also includes images of social events such as company picnics, award banquets, and dances. Founded in 1899, Republic Iron and Steel Company was a steel production company based in Youngstown, Ohio, and the result of a consolidation of 34 steel mills across the United States including the Mahoning Valley’s Brown Bonnell Iron Company, Andrews Brothers and Company, and Mahoning Iron Company. From 1927-1937, Republic Iron and Steel Company expanded its reach by acquiring a number of other companies such as Trumbull Steel Company in Warren, Ohio, and Central Alloy Steel Corporation in Canton, Ohio. With its expansion, Republic Iron and Steel Company became the third largest steel producer in the United States behind United States Steel Corporation and Bethlehem Steel Company, and changed its name to Republic Steel Corporation to reflect its new status. After the outbreak of World War II in 1941, the Corporation’s production increased by 33%. This increased production continued into the 1950s and 1960s as the company continued to be one of the leading developers of steel production technology. Due to a myriad of factors including decreased demand for steel from automobile manufacturers and imported foreign steel, steel sales declined and in 1984 the Republic Steel Corporation was purchased by LTV Corporation, which led to the closure of the Youngstown plant. LTV filed for bankruptcy in December 2000. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: YHC_MSS192_B01F109_12
Subjects: Republic Steel Corporation; Steel industry; Youngstown (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph depicts a carpenter shop worker and a steel painter. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0140_B04F56_014
Subjects: Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; Steel industry
 

Description: Photograph of Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers placing sandbags along the levee. The photo is from the "Portsmouth, Ohio, flood of 1937", SC 381. This collection contains 37 photographic black and white prints, 21 x 26cm or smaller; and 4 postcards in black in white, 9 x 14 cm. Photographs document the flood damage in Portsmouth, including sandbagging, floodwall construction, and WPA rescue efforts. In 1937, southern Ohio faced one of the worst floods in its history, known today as the "Great Flood of 1937." The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February. In Cincinnati, the flood was particularly difficult for the city, where flood levels reached its crest of 79.99 feet on Tuesday, January 26, 1937. Communities along the Ohio River in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois also faced serious problems. Many people lost their homes as a result of the flood. The Ohio River Flood of 1937 caused more than twenty million dollars in damages. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc381_01
Subjects: Floods--Ohio River; Portsmouth (Ohio)--Flood, 1937; Levees
Places: Portsmouth (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: This bastard rasp is black and was manufactured from iron. It is convex in shape and marked "Nicholson 6". View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H73573
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Tools
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This long, shallow basket was woven from ryestraw. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H8666
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Baskets (containers)
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Canal plat map showing a section of the Miami and Erie Canal in Shelby County, between stations 7071 and 7106. Roads, properties, culverts and other landmarks along the route are noted. The map was created under the direction of the members of the Canal Commission of the state of Ohio and approved by the Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Works (variously referred to as the Board of Public Works and the Division of Public Works). Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal took place between 1825 and 1845, and the finished route connected Cincinnati and Toledo, as well as the Ohio River with Lake Erie. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: BV23170_010
Subjects: Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Transportation; Canals -- Ohio
Places: Shelby County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of a makeshift morgue at the Ohio State Fairgrounds filled with victims of the Ohio Penitentiary fire, April 21, 1930. The fire killed 322 inmates, some of whom were stuck in their cells, and injured another 130. It was the worst disaster in American prison history. The prison, which was built in 1834, was notorious for having horrible conditions. At the time of the fire, the prison was at over twice its capacity. The origins of the fire have been debated, with some citing prisoners and others claiming an accident. Regardless of the origin, the fire prompted officials to address the overcrowding and establish the Ohio Parole Board in 1931. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03813
Subjects: Fires; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Prisons--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of Paul Laurence Dunbar and a man identified as Mr. Whack at the home of Major Pond, August 1, 1896. Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872 to Joshua and Matilda Dunbar, both former slaves, and was encouraged by his mother in poetry and his schooling from an early age. He attended Dayton Central High School and was the sole African American student at that time. Following his high school graduation, Dunbar worked as an elevator operator while writing poetry in his free time. He built a reputation as a successful literary voice and writer of dialect poetry, and was the first African American poet to receive critical acclaim for his work. Dunbar authored twelve collections of poetry, five novels, one play, and a large number of newspaper articles before his death from tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He is buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05261
Subjects: Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 1872-1906; American poetry--Ohio; Literary Ohio; African American Ohioans; Poets; Authors
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration of the canal cut opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi by order of General Ulysses S. Grant. Published in "The American Soldier in the Civil War" by Frank Leslie. Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Ohio. During the U. S. Civil War, Grant was promoted to the rank of General and granted command of the Union army by President Abraham Lincoln. After the victory of the Union over the Confederacy, Grant's popularity led to his election as the 18th President of the United States in 1868. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04596
Subjects: Grant, Ulysses S., 1822-1885; Ohio--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Ohio--History, Military; Presidents--United States; Generals
Places: Vicksburg (Mississippi)
 

Description: This image is an photographic reproduction of a drawing of Woodward College High School, Cincinnati, Ohio, ca. 1841. In 1826 William Woodward (1768-1833) and his wife, Abigail, donated a parcel of land that would become the site of Woodward High School, Cincinnati, Ohio. A year later they established an trust to fund a free school that would educate poor children in the area. However, within a few years the growth of public schools for elementary education caused Woodward to change his plans for the school and to make it a high school. A two-story building was constructed to house the new Woodward High School, which opened in October 1831. A collegiate department was added in 1836, and the school's name was changed to Woodward College of Cincinnati. In 1855 a new building replaced the structure seen in this photograph. The school became part of Cincinnati's public school system. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06176
Subjects: Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio); Education; Statues--Ohio; Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Vincent Damico, of Summit County, was electrocuted March 31, 1920, for the Murder of Patrolman George Werne. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08112
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Capital punishment; Death row
Places: Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: The hospital ward in the Ohio Penitentiary. The Ohio State Penitentiary also known as the Ohio Penitentiary operated from 1834-1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was known for its poor conditions and at its peak in mid 1950s it housed more than 5000 prisoners. Some of its more famous inmates were General John H. Morgan, who famously escaped the prison during the Civil War, "Bugs" Moran, O. Henry, Chester Himes, and Sam Sheppard, whose story is said to have inspired the movie "The Fugitive." Until 1963 when death penalty was halted in the State of Ohio, it was a site of executions. In 1930 the prison experienced the deadliest prison fire in United States history as it killed 322 inmates and injured 150. For some time after the Ohio Penitentiary closed in 1984, the building was used as a training site by the Ohio National Guard and for Halloween festivities as "The Haunted Prison". It also served as the setting for the 1985 TV movie "Love on the Run.". The building was eventually sold by the state to the city of Columbus in 1995 and demolished in 1998. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07753
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Historic buildings--Ohio--Columbus; Historic sites Ohio; Prisons--Ohio; Prisoners; Capital punishment
Places: Columbus (Ohio)