Description: Caption reads: "Plebeians of the River. Taken from the High Level Bridge. Barges and tugs on the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland. District #4, Cleveland. Photographer: John Steinko, 1940." This photograph shows a Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. boat hauling cargo long the Cuyahoga River. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is an American company providing construction services in dredging and land reclamation, currently the largest such provider in the United States. GLD&D operates primarily in the United States but conducts one-quarter of its business overseas. It is currently based in Oak Brook, Illinois. The company was founded in 1890 as the partnership of William A. Lydon & Fred C. Drews and was named Lydon & Drews dredging company. Early projects included the shoreline structures for the Chicago's Columbian Exposition. The company soon had satellite operations throughout the Great Lakes. It was renamed the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company (GLD&D) in 1905. Between 1900 and 1950, GLD&D undertook major projects such as the Sabin Lock, straightening of the Chicago River west of the Chicago Loop, the Michigan Avenue Bridge, foundation landfill and reclamation of the area where the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Soldier Field, Meigs Field and Field Museum of Natural History stand today in Chicago and harbor work for the Naval Station Great Lakes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F08_15_01
Subjects: Cuyahoga River (Ohio); Boats and boating--Ohio; Cargo ships; Transportation--Ohio--History.; Rivers; Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fort Amanda State Memorial is located near Wapakoneta, Ohio and the Auglaize River. The fort served as a major supply depot and hospital during the War of 1812. Although the fort was destroyed, a memorial and park mark the site. It is operated by the Ohio Historical Society. The photograph measures 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm). The United States, angered by British attempts to impress American sailors into the British Navy and fearing the British presence in Canada, declared war on Great Britain in June of 1812. William Henry Harrison was appointed commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army. He built Fort Meigs, named after Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs, near present-day Perrysburg. Supplying the fort was difficult, however, as artillery and food had to be carried through the Black Swamp. Nonetheless, Fort Meigs withstood several assaults by British troops. An attack on Fort Stephenson near Fremont forced Major George Croghan to defend the fort with only one cannon, nicknamed "Old Betsy." In one of the most significant battles of the war, Colonel Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. The British captain Robert Barclay surrendered his entire fleet. Harrison learned that Perry had effectively cut the British supply line through Perry's message: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." The War of 1812 destroyed American Indian military power and confined them to reservations. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3181_4412111_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; War of 1812; Monuments & memorials; Forts & fortifications
Places: Wapakoneta (Ohio); Auglaize County (Ohio)
 

Description: Governors portrait of Return Jonathan Meigs (1765-1824) that hangs in the Ohio Statehouse. He was elected United States Senator from Ohio in 1808 to fill a vacant seat. In 1810 he was elected the fourth governor of Ohio. Meigs served two consecutive two-year terms as governor and left office in 1814. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04008
Subjects: Ohio--Governors--Portraits; Ohio History--State and Local Government
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This engraved image is portrait of Samuel Huntington (1765-1817), the third governor of Ohio, who served one two-year term from 1808-1810. This profile portrait shows Huntington as a beardless young man with chin-length hair combed back over his collar. His shirtfront has a modest ruffle, and his jacket has a narrow collar. The son of a minister, Samuel Huntington was born in Coventry, Connecticut, on October 4, 1765. He attended Dartmouth and Yale Colleges before studying the law, practicing in Connecticut from 1793 to 1800. In 1800, Huntington traveled to the Northwest Territory, visiting the Connecticut Western Reserve and Marietta. The following year, he moved his family to the fledgling community of Cleveland, which was still located in the midst of the wilderness. In 1807, Huntington traded his land in Cleveland for a tract of land in Painesville Township, co-founding the community of Fairport and developing a number of business interests there. Within a very short time of his move to Ohio, Huntington became active in territorial politics. He served as lieutenant colonel of the Trumbull County militia, supervisor of the roads, and a justice of the peace. Huntington became very involved in the debate over Ohio statehood, siding against Governor Arthur St. Clair's attempts to impede the statehood process. In 1802, he served as a member of the first constitutional convention, allying himself with men such as Thomas Worthington and Edward Tiffin. Once Ohio became a state in 1803, Huntington served as a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court, along with Return J. Meigs, Jr. and William Sprigg. In 1804, Huntington became chief justice of the court. As chief justice, one of his most famous cases was Rutherford v. M'Fadden (1807). Modeling the state's supreme court after the United States Supreme Court, in this ruling Huntington and his fellow justices determined that the court had the right to declare state laws unconstitutional. This decision placed the court at odds with members of the state legislature, who felt that the court was trying to reduce their power to make laws. This decision became an issue in the gubernatorial election of 1808, when Huntington ran against fellow Democratic-Republicans Worthington and Thomas Kirker. His opponents argued in favor of the sovereignty of the state legislature in making laws, while Huntington continued to argue that the Supreme Court had the authority to declare laws unconstitutional. Because Worthington and Kirker divided their supporters' votes, Huntington was able to win the election and became Ohio's third governor, serving from 1808 to 1810. Huntington's term as governor was not without controversy. Although he himself was not targeted, the state legislature tried to impeach two other judges for decisions similar to the Rutherford v. M'Fadden case. These impeachment proceedings were ultimately unsuccessful. The two judges, Calvin Pease and George Tod, maintained their positions by a single vote each. The state capital was moved to Zanesville for a time, and there was continued debate over its permanent location. In addition, there was considerable unease about potential military conflict with Great Britain, which ultimately did occur with the War of 1812. Choosing not to run for reelection as governor in 1810, Huntington instead ran against Worthington for U.S. Senator. He was unsuccessful in this election and returned home after finishing out his term as governor. During the War of 1812, General William Henry Harrison appointed him army paymaster. On June 8, 1817, Huntington was killed in an accident while supervising the construction of a road near his home. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05853
Subjects: Huntington, Samuel, 1765-1817; Governors--Ohio; Ohio. Supreme Court; Ohio History--State and Local Government
 

Description: Governors portrait of Othniel Looker (1757-1845) that hangs in the Ohio Statehouse. He served in the Ohio House of Representatives (1807-1809) and in the Ohio Senate (1810-1812, 1813-1817). He became acting governor when Governor Return J. Meigs, Jr., resigned to become Postmaster General of the United States. Looker served as Ohio's fifth governor from March 25 to December 8, 1814. Othniel Looker was the only governor of Ohio who actually fought in the American Revolution. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV105_1_4
Subjects: Ohio--Governors--Portraits; Ohio History--State and Local Government
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads: "On this site overlooking the Maumee River at Maumee, Ohio, was built the first white settlement in the Northwest Territory. In 1680, the French under Frontenac, erected a trading post there and a century later it was rebuilt as a British stronghold called Fort Miami. Fort Meigs, the "Gibralter of the Northwest" where the American forced made their stand was located almost directly opposite." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F20_002_1
Subjects: Maumee River Valley (Ind. and Ohio)--History--Periodicals
Places: Maumee (Ohio); Lucus County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is the photograph of the monument marking the grave of Thomas Kirker (1760-1837), the second governor of Ohio. The gray stone monument has a carved inscription. Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, he immigrated with his family to this country when he was about 18. After living in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, he moved with his wife, Sarah, to Ohio in 1793 and eventually settled in Liberty Township in Adams County. Kirker became an influential figure in the Northwest Territory. Governor Arthur St. Clair appointed him to be a justice of the peace in 1797. Over the next several years, Kirker, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, actively campaigned for Ohio statehood, to the consternation of St. Clair, a Federalist Party member. Kirker represented Adams County at Ohio's first Constitutional Convention in 1802 and also as a member of the General Assembly (1803-1815, 1816-1817, and 1821-1825). He was speaker of the Ohio Senate for seven terms between 1804 and 1815 and as Speaker of the Ohio House from 1816 to 1817. In 1807, he became governor of Ohio after Governor Edward Tiffin resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Kirker was defeated in the next election, but the winner, Return J. Meigs, was disqualified because he had not lived in Ohio the required numbers of years to become governor. Instead, Kirker remained as acting governor for the duration of the 1807-1808 term. As governor, Kirker dealt with Ohio citizens' concerns about American Indian threats in western Ohio. He sent Thomas Worthington and Duncan McArthur to Fort Greene Ville in late 1807 to investigate, but the two men found no evidence to support the settlers' concerns. Because of Worthington's and McArthur's report, military conflict with the American Indians did not materialize during Kirker's administration. In 1808, Kirker ran against fellow Democratic-Republicans Thomas Worthington and Samuel Huntington for the governorship. Both Kirker and Worthington held similar political beliefs, arguing that the state legislature was supreme in creating law, while Huntington believed that ultimate authority to determine constitutionality of law rested with the Ohio Supreme Court. Kirker and Worthington split the vote among those sharing their view, allowing Huntington to gain the majority and become the state's next governor. Kirker returned to the state legislature, where he continued to represent Adams County until he retired from public service. He died on his Adams County farm in 1837. He was buried in the Kirker Cemetery, sometimes known as the Kirker Family Cemetery, in Adams County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06960
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Legislators; Politicians; Governors--Ohio; Tombstones (sepulchral monuments);
Places: West Union (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)