Ohio

Chrissie Hynde, Devo..Rubber City Rebels...The Rubber City's rebel musical roots

Music made in Akron symbolized an attitude more so than a singular sound. Crafted by kids hell-bent on not following their parents into the rubber plants, the music was an intentional antithesis of Top 40 radio. Call it punk or call it new wave, but in a short few years, major labels signed Chrissie Hynde, Devo, the Waitresses, Tin Huey, the Bizarros, the Rubber City Rebels and Rachel Sweet. They had their own bars, the Crypt and the Bank. They had their own label, Clone Records. They even had their own recording space, Bushflow Studios. London's Stiff Records released an Akron compilation album, and suddenly there were "Akron Nights" in London clubs and CBGB was waiving covers for people with Akron IDs. Author Calvin Rydbom of the "Akron Sound" Museum remembers that short time when the Rubber City was the place.

Little Cities of Black Diamonds depicts and documents the history of the Hocking Valley Coalfield communities.

Sitting astride the 14-foot Great Vein of bituminous coal, the communities of the Hocking Valley Coalfield were inextricably linked to the fortunes of a 50-year coal boom. Life in the Little Cities of Black Diamonds was not always easy or prosperous. Employment in the mines and clay plants rose and fell with economic conditions, and labor-management conflict led to strikes and violence. Even today, smoke from a mine fire, set deep underground during a strike in the 1880s, occasionally appears at the surface. Little Cities of Black Diamonds takes an intimate look at the miners, merchants, managers, and magnates who built the cities, villages, businesses, and homes of the Hocking Valley coal boom period. Since collapse of the coal industry around 1920, much has been lost, but the coal boom legacy lives on. In places such as Shawnee, New Straitsville, Eclipse, Glouster, and Haydenville, a small group of dedicated citizens works tirelessly to record, preserve, and celebrate the region's rich heritage.

There's more than one Brooklyn in the United States, but with the exception of the one in New York, Old Brooklyn in Ohio has the most interesting history.

Based on the confluence of older Native American trails, Old Brooklyn was originally settled in 1814 as the hamlet of Brighton, originally laid out on land belonging to a farmer named Warren Young. Another incorporation in 1889 renamed the village South Brooklyn, eventually being annexed by the city of Cleveland in 1905 because of its successful light plant. Perhaps Old Brooklyn's biggest claim to fame was the introduction of greenhouse gardening by Gustave Ruetenik & Sons, giving the area the title "Greenhouse Capital of the United States.'? After its appropriation into Cleveland, Old Brooklyn's commercial development reached its apex, and also became home to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 1907.

Bay Village evolved from a fishing and farming hamlet into a retreat and resort area for some of Cleveland's wealthiest families.

Tucked away in the northeast corner of Cuyahoga County, Bay Village lies just outside Cleveland. The first settlers arrived around 1810 during the nation's westward expansion. The village was primarily agrarian in the beginning, home to many vineyards. By the end of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had gained momentum, and in 1896, an electric railway was built through the city, runningfrom Cleveland to Toledo. Bay Village evolved from a fishing and farming hamlet into a retreat and resort area for some of Cleveland's wealthiest families. Many of their summer cottages still stand today as refurbished family homes. Bay Village explores this community's rich history through vintage images from the Bay Village Historical Society and the Bay Village Library.