Alliance Review Archives - Alliance Historical Society

A front page story from The Alliance Review’s June 12, 1946 issue recounts the story of Pal, the little black and white terrier who adopted the Alliance City Cemetery as his home and superintendent Charlie Boyd as his keeper. Pal became the City Cemetery’s 4-legged “employee” and had an almost human personality with flashes of human insight into his surroundings and the people with whom he worked.

City Cemetery dog Pal with Mrs. Boyd and Ralph Harris

As reported in the paper, “Pal made an unheralded appearance in the City Cemetery one day eight years [earlier]. Appraising each worker, he trotted unhesitatingly toward the late Charles Boyd, then cemetery superintendent. From then on he was ‘Charlie’s’ and literally ‘dogged’ his footsteps.” The workers adopted him and he was as regular in attendance as any other employee.

Mrs. Boyd wasn’t as enamored of the precocious pooch as her husband. She insisted on a probationary period when Pal first followed Charlie home from work. And so Pal spent some time in the garage until one day he made his way into the house … and into Mrs. Boyd’s heart.

Respectful of the City Cemetery

Pal was very respectful of the cemetery and the ceremonies held there. When a hearse rolled into the driveway, Pal knew that it was time for him to quietly retreat. He would trot back to the office building, drop to the ground, place his head on his crossed paws, and watch the proceedings. He would remain in this position until the last car left the cemetery and then he would get up and make his rounds again.

Pal loved chipmunks but never ate or molested them after killing them. But the dead chipmunks mysteriously disappeared when no one was around. “One day when Pal had a particularly large haul of five chipmunks, Mr. Boyd decided on a bit of sleuthing and found the amazing answer. With his paws, Pal would dig a small hollow, drop the chipmunk in the ground with his teeth and lightly mound the earth into a miniature grave. He stepped back, cocked his head to one side and viewed his footwork. Then he proceeded to the business of the next chipmunk, and the next, until five graves were laid out side-by-side and as evenly as a plumb line.”

Pal Continues Working

After Mr. Boyd’s death in 1945, Mrs. Boyd’s brother, Ralph Harris, who was also a cemetery employee, would stop by her home and pick up Pal “for work.” Just like the men he worked with, Pal had his lunch at noon and gets a ride home at 5:00 if the workers were ready to go. If they had to work late, Pal would trot over to nearby home and catch a nap with the little girl of the family. Around 10 or 11 p.m. when he was refreshed, Pal would find his way back to Mrs. Boyd’s home on Geiger Avenue.

We’re not sure when Pal left this life, but he was a dynamic little bundle of affection and devotion to Charles Boyd with a long trail of human friends to remember him.

=====

Story created from a story in The Alliance Review, June 12, 1946

Unknown Baby Boy

2023 | Alliance Review, Cemetery

Death and Discovery | Blume’s undertaking rooms | Funeral Rites | Laid to Rest

On Tuesday evening, May 2, 1916, at 8:30 p.m., Mrs. J. T. Conley and Mrs. H. Richards discovered the lifeless body of a male child in the woman’s toilet room of the Pennsylvania depot in downtown Alliance. The child was wrapped in newspaper and had been dead for some time. Its weight was about 8-10 pounds.

Death and Discovery

The two ladies immediately notified the police who in turn started investigating the death. Coroner B. J. Douds of Canton arrived to inspect the child’s body.

The skin of the baby was dark, denoting either African American or Italian parentage. The coroner was unable to determine whether the baby was born alive or not, but all indications were that no physician had handled the delivery. The newspaper account stated that “the child had apparently been bathed and there were some indications that talcum powder had been used upon it.” The official word from the coroner was “hemorrhage from neglect to tie cod, being found dead in toilet room at Penna. depot. Alliance, Stark County. — Neglect.”

Blume’s undertaking rooms

The baby remained at Blume’s underaking rooms as the investigation continued. Several hundred people visited the funeral home to view the abandoned baby boy. “Mr. Blume had the body embalmed and dressed and it [rested] in a neat little casket placed within a glass case, where it [could] be viewed by all who [cared] to see it.” Mr. Blume offered a $10 reward to the mother of the child if she would come and claim the body. Three days later, he raised the reward to $20, but no one came forward.

The mystery of the dead baby boy grew as Blume’s undertaking received a phone message from an unidentified woman on May 7. The caller requested that the body be held until Friday, May 12.

Visitors who viewed the baby asked how he would be buried. Though their donations were small, people began leaving quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, with an occasional dollar bill to help provide a proper burial for the abandoned child. Donations continued to come in “for baby” and soon totaled $21.57 to defray the expenses of burying the infant.

Funeral Rites

On Sunday, May 14, 1916, the funeral services were held at G. E. Blume & Son undertaking rooms, with Rev. J. C. Turner of the A. M. E. church and Capt. Stark of the Salvation Army officiating. The remains would be deposited in the City Cemetery receiving vault if no new developments arose.

The account of the service made the front page of The Alliance Review with the heading, “Unusual Were Funeral Rites.” More than 200 people attended the service to pay their respects to the baby. The service was touted as “unusual” because of the mystery surrounding the child, the fact that no mourners attended, and no mother was in attendance to grieve the death. The crowd contained a mix of nationalities to witness the Christian burial of the unknown baby boy.

A quartet from the A. M. E. church consisting of Charles Smith, William Johnson, Mary Moore, and Lucy Smith sang two songs and Mrs. Stark from the Salvation Army sang “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.” The baby, robed in a garment of white, rested in a little white casket, with a donated wreath of flowers decorating the bier.

Laid to Rest

Burial took place on Monday, May 15, in the northwest corner of Section S in Alliance City Cemetery. A grave marker, about two feet by eight inches and three inches thick was donated by Bauhof and Graham monument makers. It is inscribed:

UNKNOWN BABY BOY
Found dead at Penna. R. R. Depot
May 2, 1916
Buried by the public

Each year, on the anniversary of the baby’s death, an unknown person places flowers on the grave. The mystery continues.

=====

Story compiled from reports in The Alliance Review, May 3, 1916 — May 16, 1916

Carnation Festival rooted in Chautauqua Movement

2021 | Alliance Review, Events, Historic facts

by Jack Weber

Long before there was a festival celebrating Alliance as the Carnation City, there was the annual weeklong Chautauqua.

The Alliance Review, August 20, 1917

Usually held in late July or early August in the early part of the 20th century, residents from throughout the area would flock to the khaki-colored big top on the grounds between Ramsey Court and Shadyside Court for all kinds of entertainment, ranging from musical concerts to dramas to impersonations and lectures from educators, humorists, authors, and clergymen.

Today, little is remembered of those yearly events sponsored by the Daughters of Veterans that would draw capacity crowds. A short road off of Shadyside Court is designated as Chautauqua Court, not far from where the Redpath Chautauqua would set up its stage and deliver a lineup of some of the greatest talent of its day during the 1910s and 1920s.

It’s only fitting that a “circuit Chautauqua” would visit the Alliance area every year as the entire Chautauqua movement was co-founded by a longtime trustee of Mount Union who was inspired by the summer school sessions held annually at the institution.

The Beginning of the Chautauqua

The Alliance Review, August 19, 1921

The Chautauqua Institution, an education and social movement that provided entertainment and culture for an entire community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, showmen, preachers, and specialists of the day, got its start when Akron industrialist Lewis Miller and Methodist minister John Heyl Vincent purchased land on the shores of Lake Chautauqua near Jamestown, New York, and set up a camp.

Two years earlier, Vincent, editor of The Sunday School Journal, had begun to train Sunday school teachers in an outdoor summer school format. Meanwhile, Miller, manufacturer of agricultural implements, served as a trustee of Mount Union from 1865 to 1899 and was president of the board for most of those years. He was inspired by summer school sessions that had been held at Mount Union starting in 1870, making it one of the first institutions of higher learning to offer a summer term.

In 1944, Mrs. Mina Miller Edison, daughter of Miller and the widow of famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison, received an honorary doctor of human letters from Mount Union. In an interview with The Alliance Review, Mrs. Edison spoke about both her husband and her father who later became superintendent of the Akron Methodist Church and was an inventor himself, holding approximately 200 patents. As far as Chautauqua was concerned, she confirmed that her father and Vincent patterned the project from summer schools established at Mount Union.

Mount Union’s Connection

According to “A Select School,” the history of Mount Union written by Newell Yost Osborne, Vincent also credited Mount Union as being one of of a variety of sources out of which the Chautauqua movement had grown.

Osborne also noted that in a public memorial service to Miller after his death, Mount Union President Tamerlane Pliney Marsh stated that, “[Miller] thought the Chautauua movement was somewhat indebted to the conjoint experience and service of [Vincent] and himself in pushing the interests of Mount Union College.”

Both Miller and Vincent, who later served as a bishop, are remembered on and around the Mount Union campus with streets named in their honor. Miller is also the namesake of Miller Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus.

Out of the Chautauqua that Miller and Vincent had created in New York grew the circuit Chautauquas, highly popular from the early 1900s to the mid 1920s, that would travel from town to town, stopping for a week at a time, much like a carnival or circus. Based on the earlier lyceum movement, the purpose of the tent chautauquas was self-improvement through lectures and discussions on literary, scientific, and moral topics. The goal was to deliver educational, spiritual, and cultural stimulation to rural and small-town America.

Very popular in their day, U.S President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua was “the most American thing in America.”

Chautauqua in Alliance, 1921

The Alliance Review, August 15, 1921

In 1921, the Chautauqua visited Alliance in mid August. The cost of a season pass to attend all seven days was $2.75 for adults and $1.38 for children, which included war tax. The opening acts on the first day included the Euterpean Artists, a six-woman musical group led by saxophonist and pianist Beatrice Baughman, who also delighted the large crowd with several character impersonations. Later in the day, Edwin Whitney, who gave his optimistic American comedy titled “In Walked Jimmie.” Besides many other musical groups, the Gilbert and Sullivan opera “Pinafore” was one of the main attractions for the week. Among the lectures given were “The Fountain of Psyche,” given by Hilton I. Jones, and “Traitors to Justice” by Judge Marcus A. Kavanaugh.

Although the tent chautauquas are a thing of the past, Ohio Humanities sponsors an Ohio Chautauqua tour across the state that features re-enactors who portray historical figures telling their stories.

And the story behind the Chautauqua began in Alliance.

New Banner Will Clearly Identify Mabel Hartzell’s Mini-Museum

2019 | Alliance Review, Museum

The Mini–Museum at the Mabel Hartzell Historical Home soon will take on a new look, thanks to the artistic talents of Kathleen Gray Farthing.

On Sunday, July 28, at 2 p.m. two 8×4-foot banners will be unfurled and placed on both the east and west side of the mini-museum which will focus on the local history contained within the Mabel Hartzell annex. The project was funded by a grant from ArtsInStark.

Mini Museum banner

The banners read, “Welcome to Alliance History Mini Museum,” and within the bold letters spelling out ALLIANCE, are pictures illustrating the city’s heritage — Glamorgan Castle, City Cemetery, the railroads, Freedom Square, the Alliance Woman’s Club, City Hall, Alliance industry, and the University of Mount Union.

Farthing, who designed the banners, said she got the idea for the banner when Karen Perone, past president of the Alliance Historical Society, shared with her a vintage Alliance postcard. She and Perone have known each other for years, having both served on the Alliance Chamber of Commerce marketing committee.

“Originally we talked about painting a mural on the mini-museum,” Farthing said, “but other murals on buildings have required a lot of maintenance so we decided on banners.”

“For the past six years we have had a banner for the Carnation Playhouse, which has held up well,” she said, “plus with a banner you can have a lot more detail.”

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in graphic design, she has had a long career in a variety of art forms and for the last 34 years has operated Farthing Graphic Design & Illustration. (www.farthinggraphicdesign.com)

Kathleen Gray Farthing

She has wide experience in designing logos, brochures, ads, direct mail, posters and newsletters; and her illustrations are in a variety of styles including pen & ink, woodcut, pastel, oils and more.

For the past 18 years she has been involved in the Carnation City Players, both on stage and off. Her most recent on-stage performance was in “Mama Mia,” but for years her work has been behind the scenes designing the CCP programs and newsletters and even helping paint sets.

Although she has kept busy with her graphic design, in recent years she has been shifting toward her other love, “plein air painting,” or painting on location. About six times a year Farthing leaves her studio and travels to locations all over to experience oil painting the sites and landscapes she visits. Some locations are juried and competitive where those accepted will paint for several days, followed by a show.

She is a member of the Ohio Plein Air Society and just last month she participated in a weeklong experience in Nova Scotia. She also has been selected in August as the artist in residence at Hypatia-in-the-Woods in Shelton, Wash., on the Olympic Peninsula.

The banners will bring more attention to the Mini-Museum which originally was opened in 2016 following a major remodeling effort by the Alliance Historical Society. Originally just a garage across the alley from the Mabel Hartzell Home used mostly for storing historic items, it was renovated into a museum annex, complete with new walls and ceiling, bright lighting, new insulation, and air conditioning. As a result, much more of Alliance’s history is properly displayed, with the main focus of providing a secure, climate-controlled home for the only remaining automobile built in Alliance in 1910.

Once the building was remodeled, it allowed the Society to safeguard and display a wider range of Alliance’s history, beyond what was part of the Mabel Hartzell Home.

When Mabel Hartzell willed her 1867 home to the Alliance Historical Society after she died in 1954, the house became a museum of sorts, complete with lots of display cases and a photo gallery, but in the 1980s the display cases were removed and the house was restored to its original Victorian splendor.

The opening of the mini-museum offered a perfect place to showcase other items from the history of Alliance businesses, institutions, and buildings. Items added since the mini-museum opened include a section of the original viaduct bridge and a Hillgreen Lane pipe organ display.

The Mabel Hartzell House will be open to tours during Carnation Festival week, Aug. 4 to 9 from 1 to 4 p.m. each day. Other times during the year, tours may be arranged by calling 330-736-1116.

Indexing Alliance

2019 | Alliance Review, Index, Obituaries

Karen Perone and Margaret Albright show the Alliance Index Call it a coincidence, but just the other day I found this newspaper clipping from the January 3, 2007 edition of The Alliance Review in a batch of papers that were donated to the Historical Society.

Why did it catch my eye? Because that is me in the picture! Yes, with darker hair and contact lenses. Why was it a coincidence? Because I am still working on the backend of The Alliance Index and we just launched a new version of the Index this past week. (more…)

City Cemetery’s 4-Legged “Employee”