Good memories, good food: A final visit to Parasson’s restaurant on North Hill
Hungry customers lined up to get inside Parasson’s Italian Restaurant on Akron’s North Hill.I remember the loud clank of iron rings on wooden doors, the life-size suit of armor that stood in the...
View ArticleLocal history: Let’s venture back to that futuristic year of 2017
Welcome to the future. We’ve been waiting all our lives for 2017.For generations, people have wondered what life would be like in this glorious time. With the aid of library databases, we searched for...
View ArticleLocal history: Celebrity couple Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher honeymooned...
When Edward Conti learned about the death of Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds, an unusual word flashed through his memory: “Chanticleer.”The 71-year-old North Hill resident called the Beacon Journal for...
View ArticleLocal history: Was Elvis Presley a menace to society?
If the imminent threats of atomic annihilation and communist domination weren’t enough of a concern during the 1950s, Americans had to grapple with a diabolical menace from within.Girls screamed in...
View ArticleLocal history: When Sears first came to Akron in 1932, it was a big deal
Some celebration.Summit County residents are observing the 50th anniversary of Sears at Chapel Hill Mall by clearing its shelves during liquidation sales.Sears announced this month that it would close...
View ArticleLocal history: Readers offer updates on recent articles
“This Place, This Time” is pausing to remember.Today’s feature is devoted to providing updates on local history stories that appeared recently in this space.Thank you for reading.Eulogy for a...
View ArticleLocal history: Thousands witness horrifying wreck of Goodyear blimp in 1932
They sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Brave pilots helped tame the skies for airship travel during the early 20th century, but the risks were as high as the thrills.The Goodyear blimp Columbia...
View ArticleLocal history: Former slave Frederick Douglass made impassioned 1854 address...
Frederick Douglass had never before been invited to speak at a graduation ceremony. When the letter from Hudson, Ohio, arrived at his abolitionist newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., he greeted it with...
View ArticleLocal history: Abraham Lincoln had a blast in Ravenna in 1861
Abraham Lincoln didn’t expect to dodge cannon blasts during his train trip from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration in 1861.Then he arrived in Ravenna, Ohio.More...
View ArticleAfter a lifetime of banking, it’s difficult to process this FirstMerit...
The most joyful noise to childhood ears was the metallic sound of the world shaking. When I was a boy in the 1970s, my parents gave me a toy bank of the globe, a pressed-tin sphere that had a coin slot...
View ArticleLocal history: Scatman Crothers strolled to fame while living in Akron hotel
You’ve probably never heard of Benjamin Sherman Crothers, so you’re unlikely to know he was born in Terre Haute, Ind. If you’re of a certain age, however, you might know his stage name: Scatman...
View ArticleLocal history: Hello, Guinness! Breaking world records was a 1970s craze
Welcome to the Guinness edition of This Place, This Time. Today, we’re looking back at ordinary people who did extraordinary things in the 1970s.In an era of lava lamps, pet rocks, platform shoes and...
View ArticleLocal history: 100 years ago, Goodrich built blimps too
Akron added an important word to its lexicon 100 years ago.Dr. William C. Geer, vice president of the B.F. Goodrich Co., called a staff meeting in 1917 to announce the exciting news that the Akron...
View ArticleLocal history: Developer built luxury apartments near Grace Park, but they...
Inside the tiled walls of Amelia Flats, the cycle of life was in full rotation. Newlywed couples moved in, welcomed babies, raised families, entered middle age, retired from jobs and ultimately died...
View ArticleLocal history: Akron medicine man made Po-Ca-Ta-Lo natural remedies
How did Akron residents spell relief?“Po-Ca-Ta-Lo.”That mysterious word conjures up memories of South Main Street in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.Kids who grew up in the neighborhood or drove past in...
View ArticleEvents planned as Summit County marks 100th anniversary of U.S. entry in...
Calling all doughboys. The 100th anniversary of U.S. entry in World War I will be commemorated with a collaborative effort titled Summit County and the Great War.Beginning next week, a series of...
View ArticleLocal history: Patriotic fervor swept Akron in 1917 as U.S. entered World War I
The news wasn’t entirely unexpected. The war had been raging for nearly four years in Europe and it seemed increasingly likely that the United States would get drawn into the terrible conflict.Akron...
View ArticleLocal history: Ten bright ideas that changed the world
Some scientific breakthroughs are recognized immediately for their significance. Others take time before their importance is fully appreciated.Here are 10 early mentions of world-changing inventions of...
View ArticleLocal history: Jimmy Doolittle’s 1942 raid on Tokyo gave morale boost to...
Pilot Jimmy Doolittle was the courageous hero that America needed.Still reeling from the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States struck back 75 years ago when Doolittle led...
View ArticleLocal history: Elegant, restricted Fairlawn Heights was advertised as elite...
Away from the soot and strife of industrial Akron, “Ohio’s Most Beautiful Suburb” arose like a utopian enclave on the outskirts of town.Developers promised 100 years ago that 1,000-acre Fairlawn...
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