Description: Photograph of a bicycle race taken in Marietta, Ohio, 1893, most likely at the Washington County Fairgrounds. The winner of the race is identified as Walter Bell, who is seen second from the inside at the starting line. According to U.S. Census records, this is likely Walter D. Bell who was born in 1875 to William and Mary Bell of Marietta, and married Carrie C. Bell. He appears regularly in issues of the Marietta Daily Leader as an avid cyclist, involved with the Carroll Cycling Club and placing in many regional races. He was a woodworker at the Mountain State Manufacturing Company, based in Williamstown, West Virginia, just across the Ohio River from Marietta. He died in 1959, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC801_01
Subjects: Sports and leisure; Bicycles and bicycling; Racing; Athletes;
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1864, this is a photograph of the Ripley, Ohio, Cricket Club. The athletes' names are handwritten on the reverse; Will B[...], Jeff Johnson, Charlie D. Campball, J.Z.A. Portar, Chambars Leggeff, Frank Osborn, Howard Johnson, Bailey Hudson, Henry Stroutemburg (field captain), John K. Greenbow (field captain), and Hugh Hood. Written later is "Charles Delavan Campbell, third from left standing." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1125_01
Subjects: Cricket; Photography--Ohio; Athletes; Sports teams
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Two men and two women, possibly students at Wilberforce University, playing tennis. The image has a few black marks along with several other damaged spots. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African Americans access to a college education. The university was the first private black college in the United States, and its founders named the institution after William Wilberforce, a prominent eighteenth-century abolitionist. A number of African American Ohioans attended the school during its early years. During the American Civil War, attendance declined as many students enlisted in the Union army. Wilberforce University closed in 1862. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03812
Subjects: Greene County (Ohio); Multicultural Ohio -- African American Ohioans; Wilberforce University; Students -- Ohio; Sports
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated to the 1890s, this is a photograph of Ohio resident Earl Walter Mitchell (right) and two other men dressed in football gear. Earl Walter Mitchell of New Carlisle, Ohio, was born in 1875 to Emma and Augustus Pomeroy Mitchell. He was a member of the local Presbyterian Church and the local Masonic Lodge. Mitchell worked as a clerk in W.A. Higgins's Drug Store and later became a traveling salesman for a linoleum firm. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS7467
Subjects: Photography--Ohio; Football; Young men; Athletes; Sports--Ohio--History
Places: New Carlisle (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph identified as the 1898 Central High School football team. The chalk board in the front row reads "C.H.S. Champions, 1898." There were multiple Central High Schools in Ohio during the 1890s--the one seen here may be in Columbus, Canton or Cleveland. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS3511
Subjects: Portrait photography; Football players; Athletes; Sports teams
Places: Ohio
 

Description: This black and white graphite drawing on paper, by artist Katherine McCoy, shows a landscape with horses and cows by a stream and a man riding on a horse to the right. The landscape is covered in trees, with houses in the distance. A man fishes on the banks of the stream and people walk along a path in the lower left quadrant of the drawing. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H24902
Subjects: Drawings (visual works); Women artists--Ohio; Landscapes; Rural Life; Sports and leisure; Livestock
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912, this photograph shows members of the Cairo baseball team, likely taken near Cairo, West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_b15_f894
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Baseball; Sports
Places: Cairo (West Virginia)
 

Description: Taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912, this photograph shows a baseball game as seen from the outfield. On the left are benches filled with spectators, many holding umbrellas. Like most of Ewing's work, it was likely taken in southeastern Ohio or central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_b15_f893
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Baseball; Sports
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Mounted group photograph showing the Toledo State Hospital baseball team, posed with their equipment and their win-loss record for the 1897 season. The twelve team members are identified by last name and position beneath the photograph. In the back row, left to right, are Long (pitcher), Fink (pitcher), Langon (sub), Willard (center fielder) and Bentley (third base). In the center row, left to right, are Rockeyfellow (right field), Vaughn (second base), Hays (first base), Geey (left fielder) and Horan (shortstop). The two men in front are Brenitt (catcher) and Shuck (pitcher). Originally known as the Toledo Asylum for the Insane, the institution opened in 1888 on a 150-acre plat at the corner of Detroit Avenue and Arlington Avenue. It was the first institution in the United States to be built on the cottage plan; the grounds were situated in a park-like setting and housed a complex of 34 buildings. The name was changed to the Toledo State Hospital in 1894, and the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital now occupies the site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS2530
Subjects: Mental illness--Treatment--Ohio; Psychiatric hospitals--Ohio; Baseball teams; Sports--Ohio--History;
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows four girls playing tennis on the grass courts in the Zoar Gardens and Zoar Hotel in summer 1915. Led by Joseph Bimeler (sometimes spelled Bäumeler) in 1817, a group of Lutheran separatists left the area of Germany known as Wurttemberg and eventually established the small community of Zoar in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The community of Zoar was not originally organized as a commune, but its residents had a difficult time surviving in 1818 and early 1819. As a result, on April 19, 1819, the group formed the Society of Separatists of Zoar. Each person donated his or her property to the community as a whole, and in exchange for their work, the society would provide for them. Additional modifications to the society's organization were made in 1824 and a constitution established in 1833. In the decades following the establishment of the Zoar commune, the Separatists experienced economic prosperity. The community was almost entirely self-sufficient and sold any surpluses to the outside world. In addition to agriculture, Zoar residents also worked in a number of industries, including flour mills, textiles, a tin shop, copper, wagon maker, two iron foundries, and several stores. The society also made money by contracting to build a seven-mile stretch of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The canal crossed over Zoar's property, and the society owned several canal boats. The canal traffic also brought other people into the community, who bought Zoar residents' goods. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the community was quite prosperous. After Bimeler's death in 1853, the unity of the village declined, and by 1898 the Zoarites disbanded the society. The remaining residents divided the property, and the community continued to prosper in Zoar. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03671
Subjects: Zoar (Tuscarawas County, Ohio); Society of Separatists of Zoar; Girls; Sports; Outdoor recreation
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows Governor James A. Rhodes riding a Ski Whiz, a snow mobile model produced by Massey-Ferguson between 1968 and 1974, with an unidentified man at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State Fair is an annual exhibition held at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus that showcases Ohio farming and commercial products and achievements. In the 1840s, farmers began to join agricultural organizations, and the state of Ohio began to take an interest in the challenges that farmers faced. As a result, the state government created the Board of Agriculture in 1846. The Board of Agriculture planned to hold the first statewide fair in 1849, but a cholera epidemic forced the fair's cancellation. The first Ohio State Fair was held the next year instead. The city of Cincinnati hosted the fair in 1850, which went on for three days. Ultimately, the Board decided that the state capital should be the permanent site for the state fair, and it moved to Columbus in 1874. By the 1870s, the state's railroad system had improved significantly, and it was much easier to travel from all parts of the state. The current fairgrounds, known today as the Ohio Expo Center, were completed in 1886. The Ohio State Fair has been held at these fairgrounds ever since. This photograph is part of the Ohio Expositions Commission Photograph Collection, a series of black and white photographs, the majority of which were taken between 1955-1968, which consist of livestock at fairs, primarily horses, and documents many types of State Fair activities, especially horsemanship and livestock activities. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA768AV_B01F06_001
Subjects: Ohio State Fair; Expositions and fairs; Summer; Sports and leisure
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This portrait of a boy posed with a baseball bat and uniform was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. He is identified on the negative as "Hess kid" and was likely from Cairo, West Virginia. Like most of Ewing's work, the photograph was taken in the region of southeastern Ohio and central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio History Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_B24_F2050
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Photographers--Ohio; Portrait photography--United States--History; Sports and leisure; Baseball; Children
Places: Cairo (West Virginia);