The Grindstone - Amherst Historical Society

The Grindstone
January/February 2013
The Amherst Historical Society Board of Directors and Staff
wish one and all a New Year filled with hope,
prosperity and peace.
The Year: 2012
The active members of the Amherst Historical Society have been busy during 2012. Listed below are the activities
organized by the society. All the events except one was held at the Amherst Sandstone Village.
The society thanks the many who so generously donated their time, talent and treasure in making these events successful.
Historical Society Village Events
Community Village Events
Village Program Presentations
Volunteer Recognition Dinner
Sandstone Café Opening
By My Lantern’s Light
General Membership Meeting
2nd Annual German Fest
Amherst 3rd Grade School Program
Christmas in the Village
Christmas Caroling in the Chapel
Village Christmas Dinner
Village Christmas Decoration Display
Quarry Story Presentations
Amherst Garden Club Plant Sale
Family Day of Story Telling
Grange Hall Line Dancing
Grange Hall Yoga Classes
Grange Hall Social Outings
St. George Chapel Weddings
Bus Tours
Civic Organization Tours
Corporate Tours
Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony
Community Donations
Historical Society Members
Historical Society Friends
Amherst Garden Club
Village Tour Freewill Jars
Time Donations
Amherst Boy Scouts
Amherst Soccer Team
Amherst High School Students
U.S. Bank Employees
Fundraisers
Quarry Story Presentations
Long Barn Garage Sale
Bicentennial Candy Baskets
Bicentennial Portrait Books
Images of Amherst Books
Dining to Donate Programs
Christmas Bake Sales
Cork’s and Stubby’s Event
German Fest Basket Raffle
50/50 Raffle Ticket Sales
Grants
Village Projects
Ohio Culture Facilities Commission
Community Foundation of Lorain County
Nord Family Foundation
Nordson Corporation
Live Oak Engine
Fire Museum
Eagle Scout Flag Pole
Estate Remembrances
Evan Nord Charitable Remainder Trust
(Administered by the Community Foundation
of Lorain County)
From the President: Bob Pallante
December is supposed to be a grey cold, snowy and a stay indoors month, but as I write this message
it is 62 degrees and sunny with more to come. But we all know it won’t last.
Bob Pallante
The weather was kind to the fella’s, Terry Traster, Charlie Wearsch, Tom Roth, Ron Towne and John
Dunn putting the lights and decorations on the buildings and grounds. They did an excellent job and the Village
looks great at night. This was expressed by the many visitors who were in the village during the “Christmas in the
Village” function Dec 1st and 2nd. The parking areas were filled both days and families were visiting all of the buildings. The bake sale generated over $400 for the Society. THANK YOU to all the cookie and cake donors and those
who purchased the baked goods and the docents who were in the village buildings both days. The FARC facility
and the Art Gallery were both open for the weekend and received many interested visitors.
An interesting fundraising project for 2013 has been suggested by Judy Ryan to incorporate on the Village
grounds. The project would encompass construction of a three-sided stone wall that would be located in the north
section of the grounds. The wall will be about 6 foot x 6 foot x 6 foot and 6 foot tall. The objective will be to sell
6 inch by 6 inch sections to memorialize a family or personage of Amherst or Amherst History. All of the materials
are in our inventory and labor will be volunteers. The cost of sponsorship of each of 350 sections is to be determined.
Reports were made at the general membership meeting November 15th on the status of our rental properties,
fundraising efforts for 2012, restaurant’s operation, rental of the church building at 111 S. Lake Street, and coming
events for 2013. The program presented by Dr. Martha Pallante about correlating family recipes and family history
was well received by the attendees with many recipes and family stories shared.
From the Curator: Col. Matthew W. Nahorn
I hope that everyone has had a chance to walk or drive through the Historical Society grounds to
see the holiday displays and lights for the Christmas season. Our Christmas in the Village was a
success again this year, and thank you all for helping by donating cookies and goodies for the
event. This latest event along with the Halloween tours through the village have brought so many
new people to the grounds - I am very thankful for the volunteers who have spearheaded
organizing these events and participated in each one.
Col. Matt Nahorn
I also hope that you have or will take the opportunity to enjoy a meal at the new Sandstone Cafe at
150 Jefferson St. located near the rear section of the Historical Society's grounds. Their soups and sandwiches are
excellent. Maybe on a tour through the village you'll want to stop and have lunch there - it is a convenient and tasty
way to round out your afternoon at the Historical Society! I was pleased to see such a wide variety of choices on
their menu. Please check out the restaurant and tell your friends as well.
The winter season is a great time of year to get a group of friends or family together and set up a tour through the
Village and Quigley Museum, so please call or stop by soon. Our volunteers and staff work very hard to maintain the
grounds for us all, and there are always new things to see, like the fire museum, new pieces of art work in the art
gallery or stone carver's shop, or check out the latest archaeological finds at the Firelands Archaeological Research
Center.
Quarters for Quigley
During October the Amherst Historical Society conducts the One-Room School Program. The third grade classes from public
and parochial school spend the day visiting the Quigley Museum and the Sandstone Village.
The children from Harris School donated “Quarters for Quigley” in the amount of $246.43.
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The Amherst Historical Society would like to thank the children for their generous donation!
DO YOU REMEMBER?
by Vivienne Bickley
The Way We Ate?
When grocery stores were all closed on Sundays and never had late hour openings?
There was no information about ingredients or nutritional values on products. What were we
eating?
Vivienna Bickley
“Wonder Bread” or white bread just like it was in every bread box. Cracked wheat came out first, but whole wheat
was yet unheard of. “Hollywood bread” in the 40’s was rumored to have sawdust in it (by then “cellulose” was
listed as an ingredient.)
When it was illegal to sell yellow colored oleo margarine. This new butter substitute was pure white and had to be
colored yellow at home. A time consuming chore!
When restaurants served the salads with the entrée as we did at home. Then they realized serving salads first
kept the patron happy while their food was being readied to serve.
When most restaurants offered a free dessert with dinner...usually jello or rice pudding?
When chop suey was the only Chinese food we knew...cooked well-done, not stir-fried.
(They say the Chinese never ate it.)
When you got your first refrigerator. A friend invited us to see his new appliance and served us plain ice cubes in
a communal bowl! It was actually a treat!
When ice cream cones were only a nickel for a double-dip or the tall scoop at Isaly's or Lorain Creamery. But a
nickel was hard to come by. And penny candy..so many choices. We usually decided on which gave you the
most for your penny.
On a personal note. My memory (which certainly must be distorted) is that during those depression years of the
30’s, we ate nothing for supper except potato soup. How I hated it! It wasn’t until I grew up and tried vichyssoise
at a gourmet restaurant that I learned to love it..hot or cold. Kids aren’t good food judges.
Olde Town Pizza
Fundraising Dine to Donate Events
195 Cleveland Avenue.
January 29, 2013
11:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.
At time of service, state you are from
the Amherst Historical Society
McDonald’s
500 N. Leavitt Road
March 19, 2013
5:00 P.M to 8:00 P.M.
All inside dining or
drive through qualify
The Dine to Donate fundraiser is quite profitable and two-fold in that the restaurant sponsoring the event
donates 15% of each guest receipt to the historical society while requiring very little effort on the part of
the membership. You attending these events benefit the society. The more patrons that dine, the more
revenue we receive.
So please mark your calendar to “eat out” often…. especially on Dine to Donate nights!
February Wine Tasting & Dinner Fundraiser
Cork’s and Stubby’s
209 South Main Street
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Event date and time will be announced
in the local newspapers.
CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE
December 1 & December 2
2012
On Saturday Jeffery and Holley Rangel visited with Santa in
the Grange Hall. In Santa’s hand is a picture that Holley drew
especially for him and was so excited to personally deliver it.
The many children received candy canes and later everyone
enjoyed hot mulled cider and ginger cookies before visiting the
rest of the village.
The Janis family: Rusty holding Nathaniel, Rebekah (center)
with daughter, Juliana and son, Dane, beginning a tour in the
Harris/Dute House. Docents, Shirley Provident, Kay Clark
and Shirley Young provided the holiday decorated house tour.
On Sunday Luke, Lilly, Mary, Sam and Danny Dempsey
posed with Santa in front of the Grange Christmas tree.
The turn of the century tree, covered with gingerbread
men and ribbons, was decorated by Christmas in the
Village chairperson, Diana Papp and her helpers.
Carl and Diana Grosswiler in the Firelands
Archaeological Center as Archaeological member,
Brian Mickey explains the many artifacts
displayed in the building.
The Auto Garage held interest for young and old alike. Posing near
one of the early 1900’s Ford car is L-R: Jyaritza Reyes, Brian Reyes,
Aaron Rose and Beverly Rose.
During the tour a young boy expressed surprise that the car window
needed a “crank” to go up and down.
Many of the men visiting the garage were very interested in the
engines of the 1919 Model T Ford and the 1929 Chevy Stake Truck,
both donated by Evan Nord.
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Christmas in the Village Sugar and Spice Bake Sale
December 1 & December 2
2012
Diana Papp at the Christmas in the Village “Sugar and Spice” bake goods table.
Each year at the event, a fundraising bake sale is held and this year through the
generous donations of bake goods by society members and equally generous sales
and donations from the buyers of the goods, the sale was a huge success!
Diane remarked that many of those who purchased baked goods returned to acquire
more while eating their previous purchases!
She extends her appreciation and gratitude to our sugar and spice bakers:
Ruth Haff, Bernie Wagner-Doane, Mary Miller, Jan Orseno, Shirley Young,
Marie Sayers, Martha Pallante, Kay Clark, Matt Nahorn, Donna Breckenridge,
Kelly Post, Judy Alexander, Donna Rumpler, Mary Ann Kordeleski, Jean Swift,
Zelah Williams, Judy Ryan, Shirley Provident, Vivienne Bickley, Kathy DeanDielman, Christa Josupeit, Jami Anderson, Lilly Krebs, Peggy Paterchak,
Nancy Schneider and Elaine Stevenson.
In addition, Diana thanks Jackie Jasinski and Peggy Nesbit who helped decorate the
Grange Hall and Grange Hall Christmas tree and doesn’t want to forget her two
special Santa helpers: John Dunn and Bobby Faragher. Nice job!
Equally, acknowledgment to the docents who greeted visitors at each of the village
buildings : Many thanks to Kay Clark, Shirley Provident, Shirley Young, Kathy
Dean Dielman, Ruth Haff, Jan Orseno, Tom Roth and Martha and Bob Pallante.
Caroling in the St. George Chapel
Each year at the Christmas in the Village event, Mary Miller and her son,
Norm, lead village visitors in the singing of traditional Christmas carols. For
the past twenty years Mary has played the pump organ while Norm assumed
the role of choir master. They were remembering the early years when
Norm’s daughters would shake the sleigh bells during the singing of Jingle
Bells. And interestingly the pump organ pictured is original to the chapel
having been the one used when it was the Episcopal Church.
This year, for the first time, Ellie Woods, a violinist, joined Mary and Norm
in accompanying the singing. As with the chapel organ, Ellie’s violin also
has an history. It was crafted in 1906 by her great grandfather from her great
grandmother’s kitchen table!
Ellie Woods, Mary Miller and Norm Miller
Correction
In the November/December 2012 issue of the Grindstone, the article titled “Studying the Good Old Days” several
people were incorrectly identified.
In the second picture Bill Huffman and Peggy Paterchak were shown along with Olive Bemis Gerber and Marilyn Smart.
The third picture showed Mark Haff seated next to Charlie Marty.
The editors of the Grindstone apologize for the error.
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Season’s Greetings all! We at the Firelands Archaeological Research Center want to wish you and
yours a safe and happy holiday this year. We were fortunate to have great weather for the recent “Christmas in
the Village” event, and we enjoyed meeting so many interested and excited folks. It was great to see so many
interested in history and archaeology there in the village, and even though the weather is not likely to be that
nice all winter, we invite you back to the village to take a closer look at the active process of discovering our
region’s history.
We recently spent time analyzing artifacts from a collaborative summer excavation that we conducted
with the Lorain County Metroparks. Materials from the historic Burrell Homestead in Sheffield were cataloged
and inventoried so we can put together some pictures of the lives of our county’s historic figures. Keep an eye
on this column or on our website for some preliminary conclusions from the dig.
In addition to the Burrell dig FARC will be preparing for our winter laboratory work on the prehistoric
materials from our summer excavations at the Heckelman site. Lab sessions will take place after the upcoming
holiday season; after the first of the year.
Please check out our website calendar at www.firelandsarchaeology.org for dates and time of upcoming lab sessions. We can be contacted via the website, or through our PO Box (1013 Amherst, OH 44001).
We look forward to working with you soon.
Historical Society Christmas Dinner
December 8, 2012
The Christmas spirit was very evident as new and old friends gathered to enjoy a holiday filled evening.
Al and Bernie Doane
Judy & Dave Ryan
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Sandy Kaiser,
Dick & Jeannie Rice
Christmas caroling by The St. Peter’s United
Church of Christ choir
Back : Rocky and Patty Rossini
Front: Ruth Haff, Marilyn Jenne,
Judy Jenne, Donna & Dick Rumpler
Rosemary Hovan
Jean & Jay Rounds
The Genealogy Corner # 45 by Orville Manes
Anton E. Stiwald
Anton E. Stiwald better known as A.E. Stiwald was born August 1842 in Cleveland, Ohio of German
immigrant parents, George and Mary (Fox) Stiwald. In 1852 the family moved to Avon township where
Orville Manes
he lived until 1862 when he enlisted in Company G. One Hundred and seventh O.V.I. He served three
years during the war assigned to the army of the Potomac. Honorably discharged in 1865, he returned to Lorain County
where he and Sarah Ann Jacox married. Sarah died in 1869 and a year later Anton moved to North Amherst where he
manufactured cigars and farmed fruit. In 1878 he married English born Marie White. Anton held many political offices in the
township and village as well as serving two terms as Mayor of Amherst: 1895 to 1903 and 1909 to 1913.
The following article concerning Mayor Stiwald is from the Amherst News Times - February 11, 1959
Fifty years ago, at a dinner marking the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the mayor of Amherst arose
to make a few remarks. What he had to say took many of listeners by surprise for he told them that he had known
Lincoln in life and death. Mayor Anton E. Stiwald related that, while he was serving as a soldier in the Army of the
Potomac, Lincoln sometimes visited the troops. One such visit was on the eve of an engagement. “I will never forget
the day,” Stiwald said. “He placed his left hand on my shoulder and taking my right hand in his, urged me to apply all
my force to winning the battle..he said this to every soldier he talked with that day.
Stiwald told his audience in 1909 that he was in Washington with Lincoln when he died. He said he remembered the
day of the assassination more vividly than any other day of his life. Washington was decorated in celebration of the
victory that had resulted in Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Stiwald said he had planned to attend “Our American
Cousin” at Ford Theater on the fateful night of April 14, 1865. Had it not been for a young lady’s preference for
another place of amusement, he would have been in the theater when Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln died at 7:22 the following morning. “I was at his bedside when he died,” Stiwald said. “ I joined other
members of the little group as we knelt by our beloved President in prayer.”
Anton E. Stiwald died in 1922 in Amherst and is buried in the Cleveland Street Cemetery. His occupation listed as Mayor.
A Christmas Surprise
`Twas early the night before Christmas. My mother went to Keller and Baus Dry Goods Store,
corner of Park Avenue and Cleveland Street, to purchase my Christmas present, which was two
ribbons — one red satin and the other red and white checked taffeta, each one yard long.
As a credit to Christmas shoppers, Keller and Baus were giving tickets on merchandise purchased
on a 29” jointed doll from Kraemer and Reinhart, in Germany. She was beautiful — brown eyes
and brown hair. She was standing in the small west window on Park Avenue. Everyone was
admiring the doll. Little girls would stand out front; everyone was wishing for this beautiful doll.
The drawing was to take place Christmas Eve and the number was placed in the window.
Christmas morning, the Leinhos kids had been downtown to the store to get the number, as their mother had tickets, too.
They came running over to tell us what the number was, and sure enough, we had it!
I couldn’t wait for the day after Christmas to claim her! I went to the store early with the ticket for my prize, only to be told
that Mr. Keller’s granddaughter was coming out from Cleveland, and they wanted her to see the doll and wouldn’t release
her until she saw her. Well, I had to wait several days and then she was mine. I always admired her, but she was too
big to play with, so she sat in my rocker in our living room for several years until we moved into smaller quarters.
Helen L. Sabiers-Schibley
Note: Helen Sabiers-Schibley’s 1905 doll and rocker is on display in the Quigley Museum.
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ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
ADDRESS LABEL
The Amherst Historical Society wishes to acknowledge
a charitable remainder trust created by Mr. Evan Nord
and administrated by
The Community Foundation of Lorain County.
Grindstone edited by Bob & Martha Pallante
and Donna Rumpler
Printed by SQP Print Center
Live Oak Engine Fire Museum
By Jim Wilhelm, Assistant Chief, Amherst Fire Department
On November 30, 2012, the Live Oak Fire Museum in the Sandstone Village became the owner of a circa 1905
Obinchain– Boyer Chemical Cart. The cart, a 2 wheeler, pulled by manpower, has a 45 gallon tank and a hose
cage with 50 feet of hose.
This unit is real close to the one Amherst fire department
owned way back then. However the one Amherst owned was
dismantled and put on a motorized truck ( the Republic) in
1917.
Thanks to the Nordson Corporation for the donation of
$1200.00 to purchase this unit from Andy McConnell of
Columbus, Ohio. Andy was asking $1500.00, but when we told
him it would be put into our museum, he dropped $300.00 off
the price. This unit is well worth the price and will be cleaned
up and repainted. It will be a nice asset to the museum. We
will be able to show and tell how it worked. The Chemical Engine Amherst had was in use approximately from 1896 to 1932.
Jim Wilhelm standing next to the cart.
Note: On the wall behind Jim is a picture of the actual chemical engine used in Amherst in 1896.