history thursday
History Thursday: How the Ohio government nearly owned Cedar Point
In the 1950s, Gov. Frank Lausche pushed for Ohio to purchase Cedar Point and turn the area into a state park. Lausche even had the support of legislative leaders and other state officials. But the state never followed through. Frank Lausche knew an opportunity when he saw one. The year was 1956, and the Democratic […]
History Thursday: Headlines from the last year Ohio State-Michigan didn’t play
A winter without an Ohio State-Michigan football game is, well, it’s like hot soup without a spoon. It’s like an Ohio highway without orange barrels. “I know that life in Ohio is not complete without the glory of Ohio State football and other football,” President Trump told supporters in Circleville. The rivalry is older than […]
History Thursday: When news of the World War I armistice hit Ohio
With bold-faced, all-caps headlines and words the size of your fist, Ohio newspapers on the morning of Nov. 11, 1918 trumpeted bulletins heard all ‘round the world. WAR IS NOW OVER, the Scioto Gazette in Chillicothe blared. GERMANY OVERCOME, PEACE IS DECLARED, read the Fremont Daily News. The Akron Beacon Journal, in traditional early 20th-century […]
History Thursday: The last Ohioan to reach the Supreme Court came by surprise
Judge Potter Stewart was at work one Monday afternoon when he got a surprise phone call. It was the U.S. Attorney General on the line. Could Stewart leave town and travel to Washington D.C. that day? Only if it was important, Stewart said. Oh, it was, the attorney general replied. The Cincinnati judge wasn’t given […]
History Thursday: A surprising 1920 discovery at the Statehouse
In recent years, The Washington Post newspaper has leaned on a catchy slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” That was almost literal a century ago in the Ohio Statehouse. In March 1920, Senate custodian E.S. Bryant directed a few workers to inspect the dark ceiling of the legislative chamber. “(W)orkmen found that the ceiling of the […]