Local history: Kidnappers plotted to abduct Firestone heir in 1966
George Skalla’s parents begged him not to go.“I stopped him at the door and asked him again to reconsider,” his father, George Skalla Sr., told a Los Angeles reporter. “He told me not to worry and then...
View ArticleLocal history: Akron schools didn’t want married teachers in 1920s
A woman’s place was in the home — unless she became a teacher. A teacher’s place was in the school — unless she became a wife.Female educators walked a narrow path through Akron Public Schools in the...
View ArticleLocal history: Akron researchers hunt for 1914 letter to 2014 mayor
An Akron comedian told a complicated joke in 1914. A century later, we finally got the punch line.It’s the kind of thing that happens once every 100 years.Los Angeles blogger Matt Novak reached out to...
View ArticleLocal history: Service just isn’t what it used to be
A clattering procession of carts, wagons and trucks rolled through Akron’s neighborhoods. Most of the time, residents didn’t know the names of the peddlers, vendors and deliverers who paraded up and...
View ArticleLocal history: Tabloid rumors linked singing star to farm girl in 1937
In the starry eyes of many young women, Rudy Vallee was truly dreamy.The New England bandleader, recording artist, radio host and movie actor rose to fame in the late 1920s, becoming one of the first...
View ArticleShirley Temple visited Akron in 1938; local publisher printed her books
Originally published June 18, 2000.Oh, my goodness! Child actress Shirley Temple was a ray of sunshine in the dark-and-gloomy days of the Great Depression. Her movies offered hope at a time when...
View ArticleShirley Temple visited Akron in 1938; local publisher printed her books
Editor’s note: Shirley Temple died Tuesday at the age of 85. The story below was adapted from a story originally published June 18, 2000. For more coverage, read the story on Page A2 or go to...
View ArticleLocal history: Woman executive led Akron hospital out of Great Depression
Eva P. Craig shunned the limelight. She was much too good at her job, though, not to be noticed.As one of the first women executives at a U.S. public hospital, Craig earned national attention while...
View ArticleLocal history: Attorney Clarence Darrow spoke out against ‘stupid, brutal...
The assembly was unusual for Akron. Blacks and whites sat together in an auditorium. An overflow crowd packed Central High School in February 1928 to hear a provocative lecture on race relations and...
View ArticleLocal history: Alas! Shakespearean tragedy took comical turn on Akron stage...
Alas, poor Edwin Booth. America’s greatest actor of the 19th century was almost at a loss for words when he performed in the Ohio hamlet of Akron.A minor actor nearly upstaged the master thespian.Booth...
View ArticleLocal history: Blimp innovation was a flash of brilliance
In the world of advertising, where the sky’s the limit, the Goodyear blimp took marketing to the next level.The Akron company’s logo was as plain as day when the silver airship floated among the...
View ArticleDetails: Hale Farm & Village Maple Sugar Festival & Pancake Breakfast
DetailsWhat: Maple Sugar Festival & Pancake Breakfast.When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 22-23.Where: Hale Farm & Village, 2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath Township.About: Activities...
View ArticleLocal history: Maple syrup flows with nostalgia at Hale Farm & Village
Like his New England forefathers, Charles Oviatt Hale was of hardy stock.“Among the characteristics of the Hale are a good constitution,” he once explained. “Love of friends and home, conscientious...
View ArticleLocal history: Akron acrobats hit heights with tightrope-walking elephant
When tightrope artists Gustave and Alma Brandt went on tour, they always packed their trunk.Their novelty act, featuring “Rajah the Wire Walking Elephant,” was a routine that audiences never...
View ArticleLocal history: Small fortune found hidden in closet of Cuyahoga Falls home in...
Harriet Morris was having trouble making ends meet.The 42-year-old Cuyahoga Falls woman, a divorced mother raising three sons, had $1.35 in her purse, $2 in her checking account and $1 in her savings...
View ArticleLocal history: Akron librarian entertained children as ‘Story Lady’ on WAKR...
Akron librarian Harriet Leaf entered thousands of living rooms every day to read to children.As narrator of Tip Top Tales, a program that aired for nearly 20 years on WAKR radio, Miss Leaf earned the...
View ArticleLocal history: Titanic survivor died mysteriously in Akron on second...
Fate caught up with Elizabeth Hocking as she stepped off a curb in Akron. Exactly two years after surviving the sinking of the Titanic, she met her destiny.A streetcar conductor flagged down two...
View ArticleLocal history: Hydrogen bomb was Akron’s concern in 1954
Nuclear annihilation was on the minds of Greater Akron residents 60 years ago.A month after U.S. scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the fallout wasn’t just...
View ArticleLocal history: Spring fling for swingers wasn’t Akron’s thing in 1984
Hubba-hubba. Ooh la la. A promiscuous gathering of consenting adults made a lot of Akron residents feel all hot and bothered in the spring of 1984, although not in the way that organizers...
View ArticleLocal history: Summit County troops fought catastrophic battle 150 years ago...
Before the Civil War, most Akron men had never heard of Rocky Face Ridge or Dug Gap. They never expected to set foot in Georgia, let alone die there.Hundreds of Summit County soldiers served in the...
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