Elisha Teeters

2026 | Hall of Fame

Elisha Teeters
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Elisha Teeters (1814-1899)

Class of 2026 – Founder

Elisha Teeters was one was one of the most important landowners and early developers in the growth of Alliance during the late nineteenth century.

At one time, Teeters owned nearly all of the land on which the early section of Alliance was built as he laid out a large portion of the town.

One of the most frequently cited accounts of early city development states that Elisha Teeters directed his son, Jesse Teeters, to plow a roadway through his farm property as land was being prepared for subdivision. According to early local histories, this roadway became the original alignment for what is now Main Street in Alliance, explaining why it is a dead end on the east.

Elisha Teeters was born on January 11, 1814, a few miles northeast of Alliance, to John and Mary Cook Teeters. He was the eldest son in a family of 10 children, his father having served as a colonel under General Harrison during the War of 1812.

On July 16, 1835, he married Eliza Webb (1818-1866). One month later, they removed to Lexington Township where he cleared an opening and built a home. Through hard work, he soon was the owner and operator of a flouring farm, being considered one of the most prosperous farmers in Stark County.

In the business of land development, Teeters was also involved in partnerships with other local leaders, including Levi L. Lamborn. These partnerships were responsible for laying out and selling large residential additions that supported the city’s rapid growth during the railroad era and helped establish much of the early urban grid.

During the early history of Alliance, Elisha Teeters was also engaged in the dry goods business and did considerable banking, being in partnership with his son Richard W. Teeters in that endeavor.

He was treasurer of the Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad Company. He was also president of the Nixon Agricultural works, an enterprise in which he lost surety money aggregating $250,000.

About 1875, he was elected Stark County commissioner, being reelected to several terms. For many years he was also a trustee of the Fairmount Children’s Home.

He was the father of 10 children, including Jesse W. Teeters (1836-19030) and Richard W. Teeters (1841-1899), who remained in Alliance, along with, Rachel (James) Amerman (1845-1931), and Laura (William) Fogg (1857-1942). Residing in Ohio were Mary “Sue” (John) Shimp (1838-1900) and Elisha Prentiss Teeters (1854-1923). Meanwhile, locating to Kansas was Isaac Teeters (1846-1900) and Charles Teeters (1852-1934). Rosa Jane (Chauncey) Edson (1850-1938) resided in St. Louis. A daughter, Eleanor P. Teeters, died in 1854 at the age of 10.

After the death of Eliza Teeters in 1866, he remarried on July 14, 1871, his second wife being Sarah R. Hester (1824-1907), the daughter of Mathias Hester, another founder inducted into the Alliance Historical Society Hall of Fame in the 2026 inaugural class.

Elisha Teeters died June 17, 1899, leaving behind a large number of grandchildren and a large estate. He is buried in the Alliance City Cemetery.

William Purcell

2026 | Hall of Fame

William H. Purcell
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William H. Purcell (1864-1944)

Class of 2026 – Industrialist

A central figure in the industrial growth of Alliance for more than six decades, William Henry Purcell was the founder and president of the Alliance Machine Company.

A product of the Alliance schools, his road to being a manufacturing magnate began on June 1, 1882, the day he became an apprentice machinist at the Morgan Engineering Company. It was said by his contemporaries that “the ability, aggressiveness and venturesome spirit which were to mark his career were early apparent” as he worked his way up the ranks, becoming foreman, superintendent, and finally general manager.

In 1901, Purcell led the way to the establishment of the Alliance Machine Company and served as president up until his death.

Through his guidance, the firm became one of the outstanding manufacturers in the world, earning a reputation for its construction of electric traveling cranes, tailor-made heavy machinery, and equipment of the most intricate nature. Developing numerous patents, the firm prospered and eventually built some of the largest cranes in the world.

Establishing Alliance Machine was just the start of Purcell’s industrial endeavors.

He later organized and served as the first president for both the Machined Steel Casting Company and the Alliance Manufacturing Company. He was the first chairman of the board and founded the Structural Company, of which he was secretary-treasurer at the time of his death. He was a director in the other companies in 1944.

His leadership in crane manufacturing led to his election for a term as the president of the Overhead Traveling Crane Institute of America.

Besides manufacturing, he was also influential in Alliance banking. For many years, Purcell was also president of Alliance First National Bank and was served as chairman of the board.

He was also a guiding spirit in the Alliance Chamber of Commerce, taking leading roles in community drives and similar undertakings of charitable nature, especially the Alliance Joint Campaign and War-Community fund.

Purcell was reported to give generously to many benefactors, remaining anonymous in his charity. Among those that were public included Mount Union College of which he was a booster in the advancement of the school’s athletic programs.

Purcell was a charter member of the Alliance Elks Lodge and joined the Alliance Rotary Club in 1919, shortly after its founding.

In social circles, he was a member of both the Army and Navy Club as well as Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C., as well as the Alliance Country Club and Congress Lake Country Club.

Purcell was born in Crestline, the son of James and Ellen Crowe Purcell. The family moved to Alliance when he was 2 years old. His father was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and helped build the railroad through this section and assisted in the building of the depot.

He married Gertrude Hartzell on April 14, 1891. The couple had four children, including Hazel, who married C.J. “Bill” Rodman, another Alliance industrialist; Dorothy, who married Owen Leverett Lewis and was the mother of Owen Merrick Lewis, who would later own Alliance Machine and Glamorgan Castle; Robert Purcell; and Ruth Purcell.

Listed in publications such as Who’s Who, Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry, and the Biographical Encyclopedia of the World, Purcell had been active in business up until three days before he died on May 28, 1944, at his home, 1315 South Union Avenue, from infirmities of old age. He was about three months shy of his 80th birthday. He is buried in Alliance City Cemetery.

Daniel Crist

2026 | Hall of Fame

Daniel Webster Crist
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Daniel Webster Crist (1857-1929)

Class of 2026 – Business

Daniel Webster Crist was a prominent music composer and publisher as well as an educator, banker, and statesman.

One of ten children of Robert and Mary (Ruff) Crist, he was born on November 28, 1857 in New Chambersburg in Columbiana County, and was reared on the homestead farm.

He graduated from Ohio Northern University in 1882. That was the same year that he married Mary A. Reed (1864-1931), of Columbiana County. They had three children, Myrtie M., wife of Charles G. Miller; James R., connected with manufacturing industry in Canton and Arthur Dillon, a prominent businessman of Alliance.

One of the pioneer singing teachers of his day, as a young man Daniel Webster Crist began composing songs and later instrumental music, and gradually his efforts were directed to broader fields. His first publication, a collection of Sunday school music of his own composition, was published under the title of “Gospel Gleanings” in 1886. This was so successful that it proved the cornerstone of his business as a music publisher, producing  Sunday school song books, day school song books, music folios, sheet music, band music, instruction books. He was also the author of eighteen song books, besides some eighteen volumes of musical collections and over 200 special compositions.

Crist was com­pos­ing at least through 1910, when he scored the “Flow­er Girl Waltz.” His other prominent works included “The Ev­er­green Waltz;” “Joy and Praise for Sun­day Schools,” with R.A. Glenn (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: H. L. Ben­ham, 1886); “Gospel Glean­ings,” 1886; and “Victory of Song.” (Moul­trie, Ohio: D. W. Crist, 1892.

For many years his business as a music publisher was conducted at Moultrie, in Columbiana County, before moving his plant to Alliance in May 1915. The company published largely the compositions and collections of Crist.

Soon after his relocation, he became one of the organizers of the Peoples Bank of Alliance and also served on the school board.

While working for 30 years as a suc­cess­ful mu­sic pub­lish­er, he al­so taught, farmed, and in New Al­ex­an­der, served as a church mu­sic di­rect­or and Sun­day school su­per­in­ten­dent.

Crist also had a career in politics. In 1901, he was elected a member of the state legislature on the Republican ticket, was reelected in 1903, and in 1905 was elected to the state senate where he advocated ideas and principles that subsequently became the ground work of the state tax commission of Ohio.

A member of the Christian Church, he was a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and Shriner, a member of Al Koran Temple, at Cleveland.

Crist died in 1929 and is buried in Moultrie Chapel Cemetery.