summer2015cornerstones2and3_-_current
TRANSCRIPT
Compliments from your new neighbor and proud to call
Fairfield its new home!
Southwest Ohio Amusement Park
Historical Society, Inc.
Check out our Facebook page and discover over 15
amusement parks that once called Southwest Ohio home!
WELCOME TO
MY WORLD
Fairfield, Ohio
Blasts from the past….. Memorial Day Parade
Fair Plaza Shopping Center Slowly Becoming a Memory
Another section of the former Fair Plaza Shopping Center (now called Patterson Place) was torn down recently, This section used to be home to Bob Frost’s Modern Sales Furniture, Furniture Fair and most recently Dollar General. Planet Fitness, located next door, remains open. The former Marsh store located on the other side of Planet Fitness remains vacant and is being marketed for future use.
Piland Book Takes a Look at Hamilton’s Industrial Heritage Fairfield Historical Society member Richard Piland has released his fourth book with Arcadia Publishing called Images of America: Hamilton’s Industrial Heritage. Piland’s book examines Hamilton’s evolution from
an agricultural hub in the 1700’s to its status of “the greatest manufacturing city of its size in the world,” in 1900 and by the 1940’s home to several of the world’s largest industries, including
Champion Paper, Niles Tool Works, Hooven-Owens-Rentschler, Estate Stove, Mosler, among
others. Only three of these businesses still operate in Hamilton today.
FHS members Don and Pam Bond and Scott Fowler represented the Society in
the city’s annual Memorial Day parade.
FFHHSS BBooaarrdd oo ff TTrruuss tteeeess 22001155 President Debbie Pennington Vice President Dan Pennington Secretary Julie Roberts Treasurer Lois Kingsley Trustees Don Bond Scott Fowler Dr. Stanley Goodman Pete Groh Bob Pendergrass Archivist Bob Pendergrass Trustee Emeritus/Legal Counsel Jim Irwin Editor / Writer Scott Fowler Contributors Ercel Eaton Printed by
6600 Dixie Hwy. Suite H Fairfield, OH 45014 (513) 860-3435
DDiidd yyoouu kknnooww?? . . . that the c i ty ' s f i rs t hos te l ry was the Capr i Motel on Di x i e Hi ghway? The motel con t inues to opera te today wi th the same name. I t opened fo r busi ness i n 1959. The c i ty ' s second motel was bui l t i n 1966 on Di x i e Hi ghway near Symmes Road and debuted as a Hol iday Inn. Today, the fac i l i ty opera tes as a Budget
Inn .
FFaa ii rr ff ii ee lldd TTrr ii vv iiaa Fairf ie ld 's oldest documented s tanding residence s t i l l s tands at 6089 Gray Road. I t was bui l t in 1818 as a one -room log bui ld ing. Over the years , the home was remodeled and addit ions were added. In 1967, the state of Ohio recognized the property as having the state 's la rgest Bald Cypress tree . Fairf ie ld 's oldest standing s tructure is the El isha Morgan Mansion at Gi lber t Park. The former res idence was bui l t in 1817 and purchased the same year by i ts namesake, an early set t ler of the area. The residence was abandoned in the mid 1970's and remained vacant unt i l 1980 when the ci ty purchased the property a long with 16 acres that later became Gi lbert Park. In 1990, the mansion was l is ted on the National Regis try of Historic P laces.
Ercel Speaks with Ercel Eaton Snippets of Our Lives
For several years I have been involved with a writing class which is a part of Miami
University’s Institute for Learning in Retirement. It is also called “A Lifelong Learning
Institute.”
Spring and fall semesters find us gathered at the wonderful Fairfield Community Arts
Center in a cozy classroom with hot coffee brewing. Now, don’t chuckle about the
coffee, sometimes we have doughnuts, too.
But the most fun, is the learning. Students from, Fairfield, Oxford, Cincinnati and
other locations around here gather and bring to each class a writing project
completed at home. Then we read them to each other. Class membership changes as
times change but most come back again and again I like that because of the learning
part. One must never, ever stop learning.
Topics people choose to write about ricochet from fishing trips to foreign travel,
backyard playground, kayaking, sewing and many more.
Then, the discussions: Read your lesson aloud in class and just wait for the questions.
A train ride into Shang Hai was a fascinating, a Swedish cow trying to win a beauty
contest pranced into several classes, a detective tale left us all hanging on for the
next class just like the whole process left us all wanting more.
Of course we started thinking about “family writing,” a theme many in the class
needed to address because of a desire to leave snippets of our own lives which have
become history as years fled by.
We started out doing the family stories and, as you might guess, much emotion got
loose in the classes. Themes ran the gamut from babies to parents and grandparents
(as well as great, great and more greats).
Tears and laughter are regular attendees. Ideas, the very threads of civilizations, it
seems to me. The exchange of ideas has lately gotten lost in swarms of technology---
--I don’t mean that technology hasn’t brought to us thousands more ideas that
perhaps would not have been born without it.
It seems to me something magical happens when folks of nearly the same age and a
lot of matching thoughts come together and let loose with written and verbal
exchanges.
I love trying to write. From as far back as my mind will take me I have been trying to
polish my prose, get right up next to a poem or two, and even compose a song now
and then. Writing is an opening of the soul, one that creates a connection between
people that cannot be achieved in any other form. And everyone can do it. So write
on, everyone. Write on.
Fairfield
City Council
Steve Miller
Mayor
Office: 513-867-5383
Home: 513-829-8739
Fax: 513-867-5329
5350 Pleasant Avenue
Fairfield, Ohio 45014