Mabel Hartzell Historical Home | Haines House | Glamorgan Castle | Alliance City Cemetery
Area residents and out-of-town visitors will have many opportunities to explore Alliance history during the 63rd Greater Alliance Carnation Festival that runs from Aug. 3 to 13.
The Alliance Historical Society, the Alliance Preservation Society, and the Castle Crusaders have scheduled open houses in their historic sites, and guided and self-guided tours of Alliance City Cemetery are also planned.
Mabel Hartzell Home
Mabel Hartzell Historical Home
The Alliance Historical Society will offer tours of Mabel Hartzell Historical Home and the Alliance History Mini Museum from Sunday, Aug. 6 through Friday, Aug. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. A donation of $5 per person is requested, children under 12 and Society members are free.
The Victorian home, which is celebrating its 156th anniversary this year, located at the corner of North Park Avenue and Vine Street, was constructed in 1867 for Matthew and Mary Edwards Earley. The house was located on a lot in the old village of Freedom, one of the three villages, along with Williamsport and Liberty, that went on to become Alliance.
The Earleys also owned the land across Vine Street to the north of the home, which is now Earley’s Hill Park.
Their adopted daughter Mabel Hartzell helped start the Alliance Historical Society in 1939 and, upon her death, willed the home and its contents to the Society in 1954.
Some furniture and items in the home are original to the Earley-Hartzell family, and some items have been donated to the Society since its founding in 1939.
The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and is an Alliance Local Landmark.
The home is filled with items to transport a visitor back to the late 1800s and early 1900s — everything from silk stockings and rufflers to a desk with over 100 compartments and a portrait by the daughter of Levi Lamborn, propagator of the scarlet carnation.
In addition to the original home, the Society renovated an adjacent garage in 2016 into a mini-museum which houses a variety of local historical items, including a rare 1910 Alliance built automobile.
The Historical Society will also participate in the Grand Parade on Aug. 12 with Shawn Watson and his 1966 DIVCO milk truck, courtesy of Twin Meadow Farm, and will be joined by the “Marking Time in Alliance” Mini driven by Jim and Karen Perone.
The Haines House
Haines House
Alliance Area Preservation Society will offer tours of the Haines House Sunday, Aug. 6, through Friday, Aug. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. Special activities are planned each day and a donation of $5 per person is requested, with children under 10 free.
The Haines House was built in stages between 1827 and 1842 by John and Nancy Grant, among the earliest families to settle in Stark County.
Located at 186 W. Market St., the Grant’s daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Ridgeway Haines, operated a station on the Underground Railroad in the House in the years before the Civil War. Their son, John Columbus Haines, fought in the Civil War. He and his brothers were active in the growing Alliance community throughout the second half of the 19th century and founded the Alliance City Band in 1859.
Today, their home is the Haines House Underground Railroad Museum where visitors can view the restored mid-Victorian parlor, the early 19th century kitchen, the hands-on child’s room, the Grant bedroom, the attic where fugitive slaves were hidden, and the herb garden.
Also on display are changing historical and preservation related exhibits, and a “Timeline of Slavery and Abolitionism in the U.S.”
The Haines House has been recognized by the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom program and the Ohio Underground Railroad Association.
Glamorgan Castle
Glamorgan Castle
The Castle Crusades will offer self-guided tours of the Glamorgan Castle on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 5 and 6, from noon to 4 p.m. A donation of $10 per person is requested.
Glamorgan Castle was originally built as a private residence for Col. William Henry Morgan in 1904. It cost $400,000 to build and remained in the Morgan family until 1938.
While the United States was deep in the throes of the Great Depression, the widowed Mrs. Morgan sold the castle to the Elks organization for $25,000. They used it as their lodge until 1964.
Merrick Lewis purchased Glamorgan Castle for $51,000 to use as the corporate headquarters for Alliance Machine. During this time, there were extensive renovations to the building; for example, a wine cellar was added.
A year after the school district built a new high school on a portion of the grounds directly behind the castle in 1972, Glamorgan Castle was sold to Alliance City Schools to use as administrative offices. That was made possible through a federal grant and through the generosity on the part of Merrick Lewis.
The Castle is located at 200 Glamorgan St.
Cemetery Tours
Sharer Memorial in Alliance City Cemetery
Guided tours of Alliance City Cemetery by Frank and Michal Barrett will be offered Sunday, Aug. 6, and Sunday, Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. Self-guided tours using the Clio phone app will also be offered. The cemetery is located at 541 W. Vine St. and tour-goers should meet at the chapel.
The Alliance City Cemetery began in 1865 as a place to bury the dead of the Civil War. The cemetery consists of 52 acres and 33,000 people are buried there with room for another 30,000 burials. Ten private family mausoleums exist in addition to the main cemetery mausoleum and 10 sarcophagi.
The tour is sponsored jointly by the Alliance Historical Society and Alliance Area Preservation Society.