The History Press [new releases]

In the history of Cleveland television, there is no more formidable pioneer than Betty Cope.

From her entry-level position as a receptionist at WEWS in 1947, Cope rose up the ranks to become the producer of some of the area's most memorable early local programs. Together with a group of concerned citizens, she founded Cleveland's educational television station, WVIZ, in 1965.

Under her management, Channel 25 became one of the nation's largest producers of instructional classroom programming. Throughout Cope's twenty-seven-year tenure, WVIZ maintained high-quality programming standards, and she kept her station financially sound largely through the funds raised from the popular annual televised Auction. After TV, she embarked on a new career as an advocate of land conservation and park preservation.

Compiling original interviews and never-before-seen photos, author Christine Martuch tells story of one of Northeast Ohio's most remarkable women.

The Tombstone of Early Ohio

Southeast Ohio's Little Cities of Black Diamonds was a rugged region in the 1800s. Nowhere was this truer than in Corning and Rendville, mining towns reminiscent of the Wild West era. Gun duels, scandals, lynchings, and murders plagued these places, as intrepid European immigrants and tenacious Black miners relied on raw grit to survive rowdy saloons and perilous coal mines. These impoverished workers also took bold stands against affluent mine operators, leading to intense clashes with the Ohio National Guard.

Author and former Green Beret Jobie Siemer reveals stories of formidable union conflicts and the unyielding resilience of miners whose faith was a beacon in a chaotic struggle to restore order to Sunday Creek.

The Buckeye State is rich in buried treasure stories, but what's true and what's not?

Wild yarns and plausible legends cling to a number of historical events, including the French and Indian War, Confederate general John Morgan's raid into Ohio, Prohibition, John Dillinger's bank robbing career, and the California Gold Rush. The hope of finding these riches has inspired treasure hunters since Ohio became a state. But enthusiasm has its drawbacks, for many an Ohioan has been duped by con artists toting everything from divining rods and magic tomes to dubious devices like the "scientific gold compass."

Author Mark Strecker dives deep into historical record to test the credibility of these tales and others.

“Every community begins with a dream—a dream of a better life.”

Home to thousands of settlements extending as far back as 13,000 years ago, Ohio has seen most of its architectural history fall to the wrecking ball. But there is still history all around if we know where to look. Located south of Dayton, SunWatch is the best-known Fort Ancient Indian village in the United States. On the other side of the state, Marietta is the oldest permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory. About fifty miles southeast of Cincinnati, antebellum Ripley grew to prominence as a bastion of abolitionism. Dennison, also known as Dreamsville, was born virtually overnight thanks to the railroads.

Authors David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker reveal twenty-one communities where the Ohio story can still be seen.

Pioneers in Ministry

When six Ursuline nuns stepped off a train in September 1874, they encountered a smoky industrial town still reeling from a recent economic downturn. Yet, the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown went on to staff more than a dozen parochial schools, while organizing the city's first Catholic high school.

Over the next century, they compiled an extraordinary record of community service. When the Mahoning Valley's fortunes eroded in the wake of deindustrialization, the Ursulines gradually expanded their mission to address a host of new challenges.

Today, the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown are celebrated for their groundbreaking efforts to assist the urban poor, single mothers and people living with HIV-AIDS. They remain more committed than ever to meeting the needs of the community, in the face of ever-changing social, political, economic and religious circumstances.

Haunting cold cases from the Heart of It All

Northern Ohio is best known for its stunning lake views and bustling cities, but even a region as gorgeous and prosperous as this has seen its measure of tragedy. Judy Martins was a beautiful Kent State University coed who disappeared after a dorm party. Frank Noch was a mathematical genius and valuable employee at the General Motors plant in Cleveland. Someone broke into his home and killed him. Hinckley Police Chief Mel Wiley had a secret. Maybe that is why he disappeared. DNA helped Sandusky Police identify a Jane Doe forty-three years to the day she washed up on the shores of Lake Erie. Now, detectives are hoping to find out who put Patricia Greenwood in the water and why.

Award-winning author Jane Ann Turzillo unfolds these unsolved cases and eight more from the north of the Buckey State.

Serene one moment and destructive the next, Lake Erie's moods mirror its tumultuous role in history.

As the site of Cleveland's Great Lakes Exposition, the lake offered visitors a respite from the Great Depression, and Hotel Victory, once considered the world's largest summer resort, drew thousands to Put-In-Bay. Daring postal workers dangerously crossed the ice-covered surface on hybrid "boats" and by foot. Canal Street, at the Buffalo Wharf, was once called "the Wickedest Street in America." The Erie is one of thousands of ships that lie in a solemn graveyard below the surface. And rum runners turned the lake into a watery highway for illegal booze during Prohibition.

Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking reveals entertaining, heartbreaking, and nostalgic stories of the lost sites, businesses and industries of Lake Erie.

Meet one of Richland County's most colorful citizens.

There are those who thought Phebe Wise was a witch. More thought that the cranky old lady was "tetched," meaning crazy. And she was crazy--like a fox. An eccentric who outwitted violent robbers, a mad stalker, and a society that expected her to marry and raise children, Phebe alternated between dressing up in men's clothes and strutting to town in an antique ball gown, the trail dragging behind her in the dirt. If anyone had the gall to stare, she'd cuss them out. She was in touch with a different world, and she used it to help launch the career of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Louis Bromfield.

Local author and historian Mark Sebastian Jordan unravels the myth and history of Phebe Wise.

Strange things are afoot in the Buckeye State/

Across city and country, Ohio echoes with tales of creatures, ghosts, and other unexplained phenomena. A monster that appeared to be half man and half dog and wielding a 2-by-4 terrorized a small Northwest Ohio town during the summer of 1972. Over the years, visitors to a quiet Cincinnati suburb claim to have been accosted by a human-size, leathery frogman lurking near the riverbank. For generations, hikers and hunters have reported seeing Bigfoot throughout forests across Ohio, and some of the most notorious and well-documented UFO encounters on record have taken place here./

Authors M. Kristina Smith and Kevin Moore parse urban legends from history as they explore the unnatural side of Ohio’s heritage.

Rediscover Cleveland’s Forgotten Hauntings/

Hiding in obscure corners and in plain sight, chilling tales from Cleveland’s paranormal past await reawakening. A tale from 1840 places the city’s first haunted house on the windswept commons south of town. Hanged murderers were said to roam the corridors of the Old County Jail, and the 1885 disinterment of the old Cleveland Medical College graveyard led to reports of nocturnal phantoms throughout the excavation. With the construction of Bulkley Boulevard in 1912, many West Side homes were demolished. Also destroyed was the entrance to what neighbors menacingly called The Cave of Apparitions.

Take a step back in time with author and investigative historian William G. Krejci on this journey through Cleveland’s long lost ghostly past.

Explore the origins of Wood County lore .

Ghostly tales abound from fallen war heroes of Bowling Green State University to the darkened woods of Holcomb Road. The spirit of Frank Simonds, a venerated World War I veteran who nearly got away with murder, may linger around Main Street in Bowling Green. A soldier who died in a desperate attempt to save hundreds still guards Fort Meigs. Though nothing stands there now, the spot of the infamous Woodbury House remains a terror—just as it was for the earliest settlers in the area./

Wonder-seeker and amateur folklorist Melissa Davies reveals the stranger side of local history./

Every city has its odd and scary side, and Dayton is no exception.

The ghost of Paul Sorg still sits in his favorite seat in the Sorg Opera House more than a hundred years after his death. The so-called phantom terrorized truck drivers crossing the Englewood Dam before disappearing for good. The famed Butter Street Monster roams Germantown. Magee Park is home to numerous bigfoot and ghost sightings--and even a unicorn sighting. A building of many names, the tower on Patterson Boulevard in Kettering near Hills and Dales Park has been the source of many stories for generations, but only now is its true story finally told.

Dayton native, author, and host of the Dayton Unknown blog Sara Kaushal leads a chilling tour of Gem City's strange and unusual history.

Butler County has a long and storied history with some spooky twists.

When European settlers arrived, they found not only Native settlements but also earthworks that remain a mystery--as are the strange lights still seen near them. The disturbed spirit of a frontier soldier roams the basement of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Pioneers Monument, and Busenbark is haunted by the Hatchet Man, who committed his crimes 175 years ago. At Miami University, the ghost of Helen Peabody wanders the building that bears her name. Just outside of town, many drive to see the Oxford Ghost Light, and a weekend visit to the Screaming Bridge of Maud-Hughes Road is a high school rite of passage.

Hamilton native and owner of an actual haunted house Daniel D. Schneider explores the terrifying train tracks, creepy canals, scary streets, and bewitched bridges of Butler County.

Explore the history of Ohio’s one-bite wonder!  

From humble origins, the buckeye has become Ohio’s namesake candy. Though a classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, each producer’s offering is as bespoke as the buckeye is beloved. Taste tradition in Amish country at Coblentz Chocolate Company or sample capital city Columbus’ original stuffed offering from The Buckeye Lady. Visit legendary family businesses like fifth-generation Anthony Thomas, Wittich’s, the nation’s oldest candy shop and Winans, a carriage house chocolatier turned coffee roaster, serving up deliciousness at the seat of the state’s Buckeye Candy Trail. Traverse towns to try long-standing favorites from Esther Price, Marie’s Candies and Marsha’s Homemade Buckeyes alongside artistic interpretations from newcomers The Buckeye Co, Tana’s Tasty Treats and Lohcally Artisan Chocolates./

Join Renee Casteel Cook, author of Ohio Ice Cream/ and coauthor of The Columbus Food Truck Cookbook/, as she unfolds how this bite-sized confection has become Ohio’s sweetest symbol.

Extreme wealth could buy a mansion in Millionaires' Row but not immunity from unsavory business dealings or shameful behavior.

May Hanna gave her millionaire ex-husband's hired Pinkerton detectives the slip to sneak out of the country. To escape financial embarrassment, James Potter, the manager of a prominent Euclid Avenue apartment building, gave his family cough medicine laced with poison, killing his entire family including himself. Married to a Millionaires' Row doctor, the infamous con woman Cassie Chadwick posed as Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter and forged a fake $5 million check. Author Alan Dutka delves into sixteen tales of anguish and deceit that offer a startling perspective on Cleveland's super-rich.

For more than a century, Cincinnati's candy industry satisfied our national sweet tooth. Dive into its specialties and past.

Stick and drop candies appeared here long before their Civil War popularity. Opera creams, rich fondant-filled chocolate candy brought here by Robert Hiner Putman, provided decadence. Candy corn, which the Goelitz Company introduced to the United States before World War I, remains a ubiquitous treat. Marpro Products created and popularized the marshmallow cone candy. Doscher invented the French Chew and made caramel corn a baseball concession at Redland Field decades before Cracker Jack became synonymous with our national pastime. The city's many Greek and Macedonian immigrants influenced the unique Queen City tradition of finishing a Cincinnati-style ""threeway"" of spaghetti, chili and cheddar with a chocolate mint. Local food etymologist Dann Woellert tells these stories and more in this delectably sweet history.

The struggles and successes of the industrious coal miners in Ohio's Mahoning Valley.

Year after year, local Welsh coal diggers supplied the ravenous and roaring ironworks in Mahoning Valley but the good times ended in the closing weeks of 1872. The demand for iron slackened, and with it, coal orders fell. Responding to plunging coal prices, mine owners cut wages, but rank-and-file miners would have none of it. On New Year's Day, they went on strike. The bitter stalemate broke only when operators sidestepped local labor by employing African Americans from Virginia and Italian immigrants crowding the Eastern Seaboard. Violence followed. Yet this vicious strife opened the Mahoning Valley to permanent Italian settlement. Authors Ben Lariccia and Joe Tucciarone uncover this forgotten chapter in the region's storied labor history.

The nightspots, rock clubs, arenas & more that made the city swing

Cincinnati in the '50s and '60s offered a stunning array of live music and entertainment venues. Though many of them no longer exist, their memories live on. Fulfilling an "obligation'? to mobsters, blues crooner Charles Brown played a residency at the Sportsman's Club in Newport. Incendiary comedian Lenny Bruce performed at the Surf Club on the city's conservative west side. Jim Tarbell's short-lived but iconic Ludlow Garage became a major stop on the national "ballroom'? circuit that grew up around rock 'n' roll as it matured into its progressive, experimental era. Signaling an end to the '60s, Iggy Pop created a sensation at the 1970 Cincinnati Summer Pop Festival at Crosley Field.

Join seasoned journalist Steven Rosen on a tour through historically heady days in the Queen City's music scene.

< i>The Ohio Literary Trail: A Guide offers something unique for the armchair traveler and the road warrior alike.

The Ohio Literary Trail celebrates the Buckeye State's role in shaping culture and literature worldwide. Along the trail, developed by the Ohioana Library Association, lie historic homes, museums, library collections, and historical markers honoring great authors, poets, and influencers of the literary landscape. Following the state's five geographic regions for convenient self-guided tours, curious explorers can walk in the footsteps of Harriett Beecher Stowe and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. They can view renowned collections of comics, picture book art, and Nancy Drew-themed artifacts. Or they can tour the home and farm of Pulitzer Prize-winner and conservationist Louis Bromfield. Betty Weibel, one of the trail's creators, offers this guide to those looking for the literary treasures of Ohio.

Remember the favorites from Youngstown, Ohio in classic restaurants such as the MVR and the Boulevard, and other eateries that reflect a diverse and entrepreneurial history.

In Youngstown, Ohio take a tour of restaurants like the MVR and the Boulevard, which continue to reflect Youngstown's ethnic diversity and tenacious entrepreneurial spirit, as well as establishments like Overture, which offer a promise of urban renewal from a refurbished downtown. And raise your glass to the best-laid tables of a bygone era, from the Mural Room to the 20th Century.

The dead do not always rest in peace. Occasionally, they wind up in the backyard. As towns grew in Cuyahoga County during the late 1800s, many of its cemeteries were relocated to make room for urban sprawl.

But not all of these graves made the journey. Author William G. Krejci tracks down more than fifty displaced cemeteries throughout the Greater Cleveland area. Discover the Revolutionary War veterans, famous scientists and illustrious dignitaries found beneath gas stations and grocery stores in this eerie history of Cuyahoga County's forgotten dead.

Gathering the stories of the pioneers and the entrepreneurs of the past and the present, Enquirer food critic Polly Campbell unfolds how Cincinnati's history has set the table for its menu today.

Over the years, Cincinnati has earned a reputation for conservatism and keeping to itself, especially regarding food, but that's changing. Old favorites like cinnamon-scented chili on spaghetti, ice cream with huge chocolate chunks and old-fashioned German butchers selling goetta, brats and metts are being rediscovered--and in some cases re-created. A similar urge for experimentation and innovation from restaurants, farmers' markets and food producers is bringing new energy to the city's tables.