Description: This photograph shows a view of the Silver Bridge, which crossed over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio, via U.S. Route 35. Built in 1928 for $1.2 million, the 2,235-foot, two-way vehicular bridge was the first of its design in America and the second in the world. It was suspended on heat-treated eye-bar chains rather than woven-wire cable. It was the first bridge in the world to be painted with aluminum paint, which gave the bridge its distinctive silver color and thus its name. On December 16, 1967, the bridge collapsed during the afternoon rush hour, plunging vehicles and their occupants into the Ohio River. Forty-six people died. The immediate cause of the bridge failure was a defect in one of the eye-bars that caused it to break and its joint to fail, disrupting the entire structure's equilibrium. Construction of a replacement, the Silver Memorial Bridge, began in 1968. The Silver Memorial Bridge, which connects Galllipolis, Ohio, and Henderson, West Virginia, is located about a mile south of the old bridge's location. It opened to the public on December 15, 1969, the second anniversary of the disaster. This image of the Silver Bridge was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06387
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio River; Kanauga (Ohio); Gallipolis (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration; Disasters--West Virginia--Point Pleasant--History--20th century--Pictorial works; United States. Work Progress Administration
Places: Kanauga (Ohio); Gallia County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image of the Avery-Downer House in Granville, Ohio, was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. The house was built in 1842 in the Greek Revival architectural style for Alfred Avery from designs by Minard Lafever. It subsequently served as a home for the Spelman (1845-1873), Downer, and Cole families (1873-1902); and the Phi Gamma Delta (1902-1930) and Kappa Sigma (1930-1956) fraternities. Historian and antiquarian Robbins Hunter, Jr., who occupied the house from 1956 to 1979, bequeathed the house to the Licking County Historical Society. This historic house museum is on the 19th-Century National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06385
Subjects: Greek revival (Architecture); Granville (Ohio); Lafever, Minard; United States. Work Progress Administration; Architecture--Ohio; United States. Work Projects Administration; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Granville (Ohio); Licking County (Ohio)
 

Description: The Kinsman House in Warren, Ohio, was built by Frederick Joseph Kinsman in 1832. This photograph was among those produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. Mrs. Thomas Kinsman, heir of Frederick Kinsman, deeded the Greek Revival-style house to Hiram College, which formerly used it as a classroom building for the Dana School of Music. The Kinsman House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06386
Subjects: Greek revival (Architecture); Warren (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration; Architecture--Ohio; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image of the Y-Bridge in Zanesville, Ohio, shows a view of the bridge's Y-junction looking toward the northeast and the Muskingum River. The Y-Bridge is located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, connecting Zanesville with Natchez and West Zanesville. Here the historic National Road (Cumberland Road) crossed the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers. The first Y-Bridge was opened to the public in 1814 but collapsed into the river in 1818. A second, stronger bridge (1819-1832) was built on the same site, but it was condemned thirteen years later when twelve-inch-thick ice in the river weakened the superstructure. The third Y bridge (1832-1900) stood until 1900. On January 4, 1902, the fourth Y bridge (1902-1979) was opened for foot passengers. Ten days later, streetcars and wagons began to cross the bridge. In 1979, the fourth Y bridge was judged unsafe. A fifth bridge opened on November 9, 1984. The Y-Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. This image of the Y-Bridge was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06388
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio; Cumberland Road--History; United States. Work Progress Administration; Transportation--Ohio--History; Zanesville (Ohio); Federal Writers' Project; American guide series; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: This aerial view of the Y-Bridge in Zanesville, Ohio, shows its location at the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking rivers. The bridge, which connects Zanesville with Natchez and West Zanesville, is part of the historic National Road (Cumberland Road), the first federally planned and funded interstate highway. The National Road linked older eastern communities with the emerging frontier settlements of the Northwest Territory. From 1825 to 1838, the National Road was extended across Ohio. The first Y-Bridge was opened to the public in 1814 but collapsed into the river in 1818. A second, stronger bridge (1819-1832) was built on the same site, but it was condemned thirteen years later when twelve-inch-thick ice in the river weakened the superstructure. The third Y bridge (1832-1900) stood until 1900. On January 4, 1902, the fourth Y bridge (1902-1979) was opened for foot passengers. Ten days later, streetcars and wagons began to cross the bridge. In 1979, the fourth Y bridge was judged unsafe. A fifth bridge opened on November 9, 1984. The Y-Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. This image of the Y-Bridge was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. One of the best-known WPA programs, the Federal Writers Project, published the American Guide Series, travel guides to the existing 48 states and for the District of Columbia. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06389
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio; Cumberland Road--History; Transportation--Ohio--History; Zanesville (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the front of the William Holmes McGuffey House, located in Oxford, Ohio. William Holmes McGuffey (1800-1873) was a Miami University faculty member in 1836 when he compiled the first edition of the McGuffey Eclectic Reader in this house. His Reader taught lessons in reading, spelling, and civic education by using memorable stories of honesty, hard work, thrift, personal respect, and moral and ethical standards alongside illustrative selections from literary works. The six-edition series increased in difficulty and was developed with the help of his brother Alexander Hamilton McGuffey. After the Civil War the Readers were the basic schoolbooks in thirty-seven states. By 1920 an estimated 122 million copies had been sold, reshaping American public school curriculum and becoming one of the nation's most influential publications. McGuffey built this brick home in 1833. In 1958, Miami University purchased it from the Wallace P. Roudebush family, and it was endowed by Emma Gould Blocker to serve as a museum of University history in honor of McGuffey's legacy. The museum opened to the public in 1960, and the house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. This image of the McGuffey House was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06390
Subjects: McGuffey, William Holmes, 1800-1873; Architecture--Ohio; Oxford (Ohio); McGuffey readers; United States. Work Progress Administration; National Historic Landmarks Program (U.S.)
Places: Oxford (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows a blockhouse in Mansfield that stood when Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman, 1704-1784) ran for reinforcements against a pending Indian attack during the War of 1812. Chapman immediately went to Mount Vernon for assistance. Chapman risked his own life to summon aid for his neighbors in Richland County. This willingness to suffer for others was a trait Chapman exhibited throughout his life. John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1802, Chapman wandered through Pennsylvania and eventually Ohio, planting apple nurseries. He spent most of his time in Ohio in Richland County near Mansfield. He was known as being somewhat of an eccentric. Chapman opposed violence of all sorts towards both humans and animals. He was a strict vegetarian. He also primarily wore discarded clothing or would barter some apple saplings for used clothes. Many of Ohio's first orchards began with saplings from Chapman's nurseries. His trees fed many of Ohio's early white settlers as they struggled to establish farms and homes on the frontier. Johnny Appleseed eventually owned more than 1,200 acres of land across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He died near Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the early 1840s. This image of the Mansfield blockhouse was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06391
Subjects: Chapman, John, 1704-1784; Mansfield (Ohio); Appleseed, Johnny, 1774-1845; Mansfield (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration; War of 1812
Places: Mansfield (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows a blockhouse in Mansfield that stood when Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman, 1704-1784) ran for reinforcements against a pending Indian attack during the War of 1812. Chapman immediately went to Mount Vernon for assistance. At the time of Appleseed's run, the square in Mansfield was the site of two blockhouses erected during the War of 1812. One blockhouse, constructed of round logs by a Captain Schaeffer of Fairfield County, stood at the intersection of Main Street and Park Avenue West. (The description fits this image.) Chapman risked his own life to summon aid for his neighbors in Richland County. This willingness to suffer for others was a trait Chapman exhibited throughout his life. John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Chapman is better known as Johnny Appleseed. Beginning in 1802, Chapman wandered through Pennsylvania and eventually Ohio, planting apple nurseries. He spent most of his time in Ohio in Richland County near Mansfield. Chapman was known as being somewhat of an eccentric. He opposed violence of all sorts towards both humans and animals. He was a strict vegetarian. He also primarily wore discarded clothing or would barter some apple saplings for used clothes. Many of Ohio's first orchards began with saplings from Chapman's nurseries. His trees fed many of Ohio's early white settlers as they struggled to establish farms and homes on the frontier. Johnny Appleseed eventually owned more than 1,200 acres of land across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He died near Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the early 1840s. This image of the Mansfield blockhouse was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06392
Subjects: Chapman, John, 1704-1784; Appleseed, Johnny, 1774-1845; Mansfield (Ohio); War of 1812; Mansfield (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration
Places: Mansfield (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is an exterior view of Spiegel Grove, the former home of U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes, in Fremont, Ohio. A portion of another building is visible on the photograph's right side. Spiegel Grove is the former home of President Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822-1893). The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center currently occupies the site, which is open to the public under the direction of the Ohio Historical Society. Spiegel Grove was constructed from 1859-1863. (“Spiegel” is the German word for “mirror,” and the home is named after pools of water that form on the estate’s grounds after a rain.) The home’s original owner was Sardis Birchard, Hayes’s uncle and guardian, who used Spiegel Grove as a summer residence. Hayes became Spiegel Grove’s owner in 1873, and he made it his permanent home. Upon completion of his presidency in 1881, Hayes expanded the home to make room for his 12,000-volume library, to provide additional room for guests, and also to install indoor plumbing. In 1889, Hayes ordered the construction of another addition to make room for his children and grandchildren who commonly visited. This final addition created a thirty-one-room mansion. Both Hayes and his wife, Lucy Hayes, died at Spiegel Grove and are interred on the grounds. Spiegel Grove remained in the Hayes family until the first decade of the 1900s, when the family deeded the property to the State of Ohio. In 1916, a museum and library opened on the site, commemorating Hayes’s political and military contributions to Ohio and to the United States. This was the first presidential library commemorating a United States president. Spiegel Grove is on the National Register of Historic Places. This image of Spiegel Grove was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06393
Subjects: Spiegel Grove (Fremont, Ohio); Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822-1893; United States. Work Progress Administration; National Register of Historic Places; Fremont (Ohio)
Places: Fremont (Ohio); Sandusky County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows an exterior view of the house where inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. The house has window shutters and an open porch with an assembly of chairs, a bench, and a small table. The Edison birthplace is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a child, Edison lived in Milan and in Port Huron, Michigan. Although Edison received only three months of formal schooling, he became one of the greatest inventors of all time. Edison's inventions forever changed people's lives. Electric lights allowed people to remain active at night, whether it be reading, dancing, or listening to Edison's phonograph. Previously, with only candles or fireplaces to light homes, most people simply went to sleep once nightfall arrived. Factories also began to use electricity and electric lights. Now factories could remain open twenty-four hours per day, and soon the workday became divided into three eight-hour shifts. His improvements to the telegraph and telephone also helped make communication easier around the entire world. This image of Edison’s birthplace is among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06394
Subjects: Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Milan (Ohio); Historic houses; National Register of Historic Places; United States. Work Progress Administration
Places: Milan (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image of the William McKinley Monument, located in Canton, Ohio, shows the monument’s front exterior. A man and a woman are descending the steps (108) that lead to the memorial building. The monument’s dome and the statue dominate the view. William McKinley, Jr. (1843-1901), was president of the United States from March 1897 to September 1901. He was born in Niles, Ohio, but spent much of his life in Canton, Ohio. Early in his second term, in summer 1901, McKinley embarked on a cross-country tour during which he stopped in Buffalo, New York, to give a speech at the Pan American Exposition. Leon Czolgosz shot and fatally wounded the president during his visit to the exposition. McKinley died eight days later, on September 14, 1901. Formed after the president’s death, the McKinley Memorial Association helped raise the funds to build this memorial. The remains of McKinley, his wife, Ida Saxton McKinley, and two of their children are interred inside the memorial. Construction began on the memorial in 1905. Designed by Harold Van Buren Magonigle, the monument has two domes. One dome, which is fifty feet in diameter and seventy-five feet high, is known as the interior dome. The exterior dome is seventy-five feet in diameter and ninety-five feet high. President Theodore Roosevelt, who became president upon McKinley's death, dedicated the memorial on September 30, 1907. Located next to the McKinley National Memorial is the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, which contains one of the largest collections of McKinley artifacts. The image was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06395
Subjects: McKinley, William, 1843-1901; Canton (Ohio); William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum; National Register of Historic Places; United States. Work Progress Administration
Places: Canton (Ohio); Stark County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image is a photograph of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, located in Chillicothe, Ohio. The building is located at an intersection in downtown Chillicothe. Visible in the photograph are parked cars, pedestrians, and signs for Western Union and the Ohio Valley Bank. The image was among the photographs produced by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06396
Subjects: Freemasons; Fraternal orders; Architecture--Ohio; Chillicothe (Ohio); United States. Work Progress Administration
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)