Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this photograph shows ladies sewing as part of the Butler County Emergency School sewing project. Butler County Emergency School was a Works Progress Administration program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The photograph's caption reads "Middletown, O.. Sewing Project (white) R.R.I. [Rural Route #I], Middletown, Rolling Mill Park. Teacher, Miss Helen Matson. The main objective in this group is Parent Education, Child Study, and Good Citizenship. This is brought about in a tactful manner after interesting the group in crafts and sewing. All Southern people." The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government office that hired unemployed Americans to work on various government projects from April 8, 1935 to June 30, 1943. In the first six months that the WPA existed, more than 173, 000 Ohioans, including both men and women, found employment through this program. More than 1, 500 unemployed teachers in Ohio found work through the WPA teaching illiterate adults how to read. In twelve separate counties, primarily in southeastern Ohio, more than twenty-five percent of families had at least one member working for the WPA during the late 1930s. By the end of 1938, these various workers had built or improved 12, 300 miles of roads and streets and constructed 636 public buildings, several hundred bridges, hundreds of athletic fields, and five fish hatcheries. WPA employees made improvements to thousands of more buildings, roads, and parks within Ohio. WPA artists also painted a number of murals in Ohio post offices. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F04_015_1
Subjects: Quilts; Crocheting; Schools--Ohio; United States. Works Progress Administration of Ohio; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Middletown (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: Canal plat map showing a section of the Miami and Erie Canal through Middletown in Butler County, between stations 10602 and 10711. Roads, properties, bridges and other landmarks along the route are noted, including the Middletown Hydraulic Company's Race and the basin for Reynold's Ice Company. 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: BV4929_001
Subjects: Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Transportation; Canals -- Ohio; Bridges
Places: Middletown (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1935, this aerial photograph shows the American Rolling Mill Company's Central Works, Armco Research facilities. The buildings shown here were destroyed in a terrible explosion on December 27, 1935, resulting in $75,000 in loss. Armco was originally a Cincinnati steel roofing company, and moved to Middletown in 1901 to produce rolled steel sheets. In 1904, a shop committee, early predecessor to a trade union, was established by the plant's workers. A 1921 innovation in coiling sheet steel led to a boom in production; the company became Armco Inc. in 1978, and merged with AK Steel in 1999. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F09_010_1
Subjects: American Rolling Mill Company; Steel-works--Ohio--Pictorial works; Industries--Ohio--Butler County; Factories--History; United States. Work Projects Administration (Ohio)
Places: Middletown(Ohio); Butler county(Ohio); Warren county(Ohio)
 

Description: National colors of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Rectangular flag measures 208 cm high by 195 cm wide. Text on flag reads: Ivy Mountain; Stone River; 2nd OVI; Lookout Mountain; Perryville; Hoover's Gap; Chickamauga; Missionary Ridge. Pinned to flag are three streamers from reunions held in Addison, Goshen and Middletown. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01863
Subjects: United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Ohio History--Military Ohio
 

Description: National colors of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Rectangular flag measures 208 cm high by 195 cm wide. Text on flag reads: Ivy Mountain; Stone River; 2nd OVI; Lookout Mountain; Perryville; Hoover's Gap; Chickamauga; Missionary Ridge. Pinned to flag are three streamers from reunions held in Addison, Goshen and Middletown. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01863
Subjects: Flags--Ohio; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
 

Description: This is a photograph of West Middletown, Pennsylvania. The town was a noted station on the Underground Railroad and a hotbed of abolitionists in Washington County, Pennsylvania. It still has a large African American population. This photograph was taken by Earle R. Forrest. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03226
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Anti-Slavery
Places: West Middletown (Pennsylvania); Washington County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: This image shows the exterior of the courthouse in Somerset, Ohio. In 1807, John Finck erected the first log cabin in what would become Somerset. Several years later, Jacob Miller arrived, becoming the second settler in this community. The men named the town Middletown, since it was approximately equal distant to Lancaster to the west and Zanesville to the east. Soon residents changed the town's name to Somerset, as most early residents were from Somerset, Pennsylvania. During the remainder of the nineteenth and the first portion of the twentieth centuries, Somerset's population remained stable at approximately 1,200 residents. Many residents earned their livings in the surrounding iron and coalmines. As iron and coal deposits began to decline, residents began to find employment in other industries principally in the nearby cities of Lancaster and Zanesville. In 2000, Somerset's population had reached 1,500 people. Civil War General Philip Sheridan spent much of his youth in Somerset. Although not open to the public, his home remains standing today. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06531
Subjects: Courthouses; Buildings; Law & legal affairs
Places: Somerset (Ohio); Perry County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the barn used by Thomas McKeever to conceal fugitive slaves. He was a noted abolitionist and an operator on the Underground Railroad in West Middletown, Washington County, Pennsylvania. This photograph was taken by Earle R. Forrest. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03228
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Barns
Places: West Middletown (Pennsylvania); Washington County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Photograph of the home and barn of Thomas McKeever, a noted abolitionist and an operator on the Underground Railroad in West Middletown, Washington County, Pennsylvania. He concealed fugitive slaves in the barn. This photograph was taken by Earle R. Forrest. It was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03227
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Barns
Places: West Middletown (Pennsylvania); Washington County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Positive photostatic reproduction of a sectional and topographical map of Holmes County Ohio from surveys by E. H. Burlingame. The map is divided into four sections of 44 x 57 cm each, and includes a business directory and ten insets of Holmes County cities. Cities include Benton, Weinsberg, New Carlisle, Berlin, Holmesville, Middletown, Oxford, Nashville, Napoleon and Millersburg. Also included is a table of distances among these and other cities. On January 20, 1824, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Holmes County, named by its residents in honor of a hero from the War of 1812. Holmes County is located in northeastern Ohio, and is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county's 423 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Millersburg. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAP_VFM264_2_001
Subjects: Maps--Ohio; Rural Life; Ohio--History--19th century; Cities and towns
Places: Holmes County (Ohio)