North Canton Heritage Society

9/11 Event

   NCHS was invited by the North Canton Ministerial Association to participate in their 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the attacks on September 11, 2001.  We created a display board and had scrapbook pages for attendees of the afternoon “Renewal” portion of the event, slated for Dogwood Park, but moved to Hoover Park shelter due to inclement weather.  A Remembrance service was held in the morning at the Veterans Memorial in Bitzer Park and a panel discussion in the early afternoon at Hoover High School.

Zion UCC Fall Festival

   Steady, gale-force winds didn’t stop the first Old Fashioned Fall Festival from being held outside in the Zion United Church of Christ picnic area and parking lot on Saturday, October 15.  The Society was invited to have a booth at the event selling apples, apple butter and cider.  The cold, windy weather made the hot, spiced cider a best seller.  The wind was so strong it blew pint jars of apple butter off the table, but the event was a success none the less.

Photo Preservation Event

   Twenty-three participants learned about how to preserve their family photographs at the workshop on Saturday, November 5.  Jennifer Souers Chevraux of the Intermuseum Conservation Association of Cleveland, a group that provides preservation services and advice to museums and the public, spoke about the proper methods of keeping your family memories safe for future generations, what supplies to use and under what conditions they should be stored.  The NCHS also, for a small fee, provided scanning services for those desiring to digitally preserve their photographs.

Saturday History Classes Scheduled

   We will again be holding our Saturday morning history class “Your Town North Canton” this March 4 through March 26.  The popular classes, geared to grades 3 though 5 and funded by a generous grant from the Hoover Foundation, will focus on New Berlin history, the Hoover Company, World War II in North Canton, and family history.  To sign up your child or grandchild, call the Society at 330-494-4791, or e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Library Sculpture Features NCHS Books

   Books published by the Society are featured in a new sculpture at the North Canton Public Library.  Created by local artist Don Lundstrom and entitled “Shelves of Light,” this free-standing sculpture features colorful stained glass panels with groups of books interspersed.  Among the classics, like Moby Dick and War and Peace are the Society’s photo book A Place in Time and Ruth Basner’s 1973 book The North Canton Heritage, so we are in swell company!  The sculpture was dedicated on December 4 and stands in the Library’s lobby.

Biography Project Revived

   After a year’s hiatus, the North Canton Biography Project is being revived.  We are looking for senior citizens, either North Canton natives, residents or those who have local ties, with interesting stories to tell.  Each senior will be paired with a junior Advanced Placement English student from Hoover High School who will interview them then write their story.  The resulting recorded interviews and stories will become part of the Society’s permanent collection, so we will have a record of “everyday” happenings from North Canton. 

Update on Move to Portage St. School

   The Society board toured the section of the Portage St. School slated to be the new NCHS offices on December 13.  The planned location will be the ground floor of the Library addition facing Ream St.  We hope to create a public entrance before the move, which may occur in late summer 2012.

Ohio Income Tax Checkoff

   For the first time, taxpayers will be able to donate a portion of their income tax refund to history-related organizations.  The 2011 Ohio individual income tax forms will provide a “tax check-off” option — a blank box where you can designate an amount of your refund for donation.  The Ohio Historical Society will use the revenue generated to fund a new grant program to support history-related projects throughout Ohio for which organizations like NCHS can apply.  The OHS is busy preparing criteria for the grants program, which they expect to be unveiled in the spring.

Need a holiday gift for that hard-to-buy-for person? Want to honor a veteran, or show your own support of veterans?

Think about buying a commemorative brick at the North Canton Veterans Memorial in Bitzer Park.

The public may still purchase bricks, either to honor or memorialize a veteran of any war, or to show their personal support of the project by listing their own name on the brick, which are installed on the patio of the memorial.

Bricks sell for $75 for a 4 by 8 inch three-line brick, and $125 for an 8 by 8 inch six-line brick. Each line is 20 characters long, including any spaces and punctuation. A certificate for gift giving will be supplied upon request.

Work is now completed on new brick walkways and landscaping through the park. Commemorative bricks purchased over this winter will be installed in late spring 2012. Funds raised by the additional brick sales will be used for a perpetual maintenance fund. Over $100,000 has already been spent on the project, with funds obtained from both the public and from local foundations.

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   The new 2012 North Canton Heritage Society Commemoritive Calendars are now available.  Printed on heavyweight paper and spiral bound, the calendars make great gifts!  They sell for $10 each and quantity discounts are available.  Each page features an historic  photograph from the Society's collection and is sponsored by an area business or organization.  GET YOURS TODAY!

Are you interested in area history?  The North Canton Heritage Society is looking for volunteers.  We need folks that are available weekday mornings to help in our museum with cataloging, displays, research, computer work and more.  We’re also looking for a volunteer to be an assistant bookkeeper.  If you’re not available during the day, there are opportunities to help with special events or to serve on our board.  Help us preserve North Canton’s rich history by calling 330-494-4791 today!

Hoover Photo Exhibit

   “From the Factory Floor,” an exhibit of photos of the Hoover Company, was viewed by over 5,000 people during its showing at the North Canton Library.  Thanks to an Arts in Stark grant and a collaborative Service Learning program with Walsh University’s Communication 365 class, the Society got a great amount of publicity for the exhibit.  The Service Learning Class was also instrumental in designing several other promotional pieces for NCHS, including a new membership brochure and a rack card.

   If you missed the exhibit, or want a permanent memory of the images, a photo book is available for $20.  Call the Society at 330-494-4791 to order.

Show your Pride – Wear a NCHS T-Shirt!

   A handsome hunter green T-shirt emblazoned with the NCHS logo is the newest item for sale in the Society gift shop.  Be the first on your block to have one!  They are just $10 and are available in sizes S to XL.  Give us a call or stop in to order one today!

Gaskins Play a Success

   A public presentation of the play “Talking to Jacob” was given at the Fairways at Arrowhead Clubhouse on Friday, May 27, with 141 in attendance.  The audience saw the play about New Berlin’s first black resident, Jacob Gaskins and learned about his life as a former slave, successful horseman and landowner in the 19th century.  The play, written by Rainbow Repertory director Lois DiGiacomo of Canton, was made possible by a grant from the North Canton Target Store.  The cast, made up of local schoolchildren and adult actor Doyle Walker, who portrayed Jacob, also gave the play to third graders in the North Canton Schools during the month of May.

Kindergarten Plan Necessitates Eventual NCHS Move

   If you have been following the news from the North Canton Board of Education, you are aware that the new All Day, Every Day Kindergarten plan recently adopted will mean that the Charlotte Building, the 1929 structure that was the original North Canton High School, then Middle School, and now home to NCHS, the YMCA Pre-School and the school board’s Special Education Office, is slated for eventual demolition.  We have been assured that NCHS will have a place at the Portage St. School, now site of the Kindergarten Center and Montessori School.  As the plan will not go into effect until the start of the 2012 school year, any move by NCHS will not be until next summer.  We have not yet seen the location of where our offices and museum will be, but hope to do so in the near future.  We thank the North Canton City Schools for making us a part of their plans.  We, in turn, have offered to be a part of any commemorative activities for the present Charlotte Building before it is razed, including open houses and any outdoor exhibit to memorialize this structure that was so important to so many North Cantonians.

World War II Flyer Focus of Annual Meeting

The saga of William Lowther, NoCaHi Class of 1940, B-24 Liberator Bomber engineer, and the first former Hoover employee to have been killed in World War II, was detailed at the NCHS’ Annual Meeting in March.  Ron Stanfield, President of the Atwater Historical Society, and NCHS director Kathy Fernandez, talked about the cache of Lowther’s personal effects that were found in an attic and recently donated by Stanfield to NCHS.  (See the March newsletter for more details.)  The story of this find and Lowther’s demise in a plane crash in New Guinea resulted in stories in the Canton Repository in March and the Akron Beacon-Journal in May.  An exhibit of Lowther’s effects is on currently on display.