Ohio

p> Lost Departments Stores of Cleveland will thrill those who remember or want to know more about classy shopping in the city.

At its height, Cleveland was a center of industry. Nearly a million people called the city home, and all of them needed various assortments of goods, wares and sundries. To serve their desires, fabulous stores once graced the city. The names alone - Higbee's, Halle's, May Company, Taylor Son & Company, Sterling Linder and Bailey's - conjure a comforting memory of sophisticated style and lost glamour. At the heart of this consumer paradise stood Euclid Avenue, Cleveland's golden façade. With its dynamic retail stores, homes to countless millionaires, and elevated air, it was one of a trio of famous American retail promenades alongside New York's Fifth Avenue and State Street in Chicago.

Author of Lost Cleveland and Lost Grand Hotels of Cleveland, Mike DeAloia offers an illuminating chronicle of the city's golden age of prestige and elegance.

Fleischmann is a brand name that everyone recognizes, even if they have never baked bread from scratch, drunk a Fleischmann's gin and tonic, or used their vinegar and margarine. Charles Fleischmann, in fact, pretty much invented the brand name and this continued recognition is testimonial to his genius. At one time, teenagers around the country ate fresh yeast cakes by the millions to improve their skin, and corporate success was measured in pound of live yeast consumed per capita. And the great Fleischmann distilleries kept America jolly from 1870 to Prohibition and afterward. Charles Fleischmann and his brothers, sons, daughter, and grandsons amassed a fortune that would be easily equivalent to the billionaires of today--and it all started through the scientific husbandry of a tiny one-celled fungus known as yeast. Add sugar and water, and you get alcohol and more yeast--simply alter it slightly and you get vinegar. Multiply it times a million and you have the beginnings of the modern industrial food industry in America. This book is a snapshot of a unique family from Central Europe that changed the way America cooked. A family business from the Civil War until the start of the Depression, Fleischmann's created the giant food conglomerate Standard Brands, which was in-turn gobbled up by Nabisco in the 1980s. In its long history, it literally invented the coupon premium, the give-away recipe book, and state fair bake-offs. This is a story of a talented, generous, outrageously successful family, and of a brand name that still conjures up delicious memories of freshly baked bread and a most happy well being. The Fleischmann story is America at its finest.

The discovery of natural gas around Findlay in 1886 started an industrial rush in northwest Ohio. Within five years, over 100 glass companies had moved into the region for free gas and railroad connections to the western markets. Unfortunately the gas ran out in just a few years, and many glass companies moved on, but those that stayed changed the nature of the glass industry forever. A brilliant inventor, Michael Owens of Libbey Glass automated the glass-making process after 3,000 years of no change. His automated bottle-making machine changed American life with the introduction of the milk bottle, beer bottle, glass jar, baby bottle, and soda bottle. It also eliminated child labor in the glass factories. Owens also automated the production of fl at glass by 1920. By 1930, over 85 percent of the world's glass was being produced on the machines of Michael Owens, bestowing the title of "Glass Capital of the World" upon northwest Ohio.

Mom Milders's "Best in the Middle West" fried chicken drew crowds of regular and famous folk alike to her Fairfield establishment for decades until it closed after World War II. Notorious gangster John Dillinger stopped in for a bite while on the lam, but Mom made sure he removed his hat inside the building just like everyone else. Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds was a regular, mingling with fans at the inn. Today, the family still serves up the original fried chicken recipe every week at Ryan's Tavern in Hamilton. Author Teri Horsley explores the nostalgia and beloved recipes of the former inn that served up delectable home cooking with a side of history.

From a swampy forest, Hancock County grew to a hub of agriculture, industry and culture. The promise of free fuel and land brought numerous factories to Findlay. One, the Dalzell, Gilmore & Leighton Glass Company, left a lasting legacy of collectible glassware. The need to drain fields and presence of a ready supply of clay encouraged the growth of brick and tile factories in Rawson, Arlington, McComb and Findlay. Entertainment and culture arrived in many forms. Sam Reeves Park in Arcadia featured vaudeville shows, baseball games and amusement rides. At Findlay's Riverside Park, the Green Mills Dance Hall hosted everyone from the Glenn Miller and Count Basie bands to Naked Onion and Mixed Emotions. Join Teresa Straley Lambert as she presents the vanished heritage of mills, milking, masks, medicine and more.

Established in Cincinnati in 1856 by German immigrant Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer, the music dealer became the largest outlet for band instruments in the United States by 1865. During the silent film era in the early twentieth century, Wurlitzer manufactured nearly 2,250 theater organs, affectionately dubbed "Mighty Wurlitzers." Many of these instruments still provide concert music today. During the Big Band era of the 1930s to 1950s, the company's colorful coin-operated jukeboxes were such popular fixtures in bars and dance halls that the U.S. Postal Service honored them with a commemorative stamp. Although the company was sold in 1988, the Wurlitzer name continues to be held in high esteem by the city of Cincinnati.

Once known as the "Dry Capital of the World," with all sales of alcohol prohibited within the village limits, Westerville's formal incorporation came in 1858 with a population under 700 residents. Though modernization has affected the city, now with a population over 37,000, Westerville still maintains its small-town atmosphere and historic appearance.