Early Graduates of Bay High School

Posted on May 28, 2023May 24, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

Early Graduates of Bay High School

Congratulations to the recent Bay Village graduates of 2023!

In the Bay Village Historical Society archives, we have a small collection of photographs (mainly from the 1940s and earlier) of past Bay Village public school buildings, students and faculty. We also house a collection of objects, diplomas, programs, publications and other papers relating to Bay Village Schools up until the present day.

The following photos and diplomas are a sampling of this collection. Enjoy!

Vera Wuebker was a member of the first graduating class in Bay Village, in 1927. The high school, then at the corner of Wolf and Cahoon Roads, was known as Parkview High School. Before the Class of 1927, Bay high school students had to attend high schools in neighboring towns, 2021.BVS.09a, 2018.P.03.03.81

The 1934 Diploma of Colette Clement, 2021.23.03

Class of 1934 diploma photo insert, 2021.23.03C1934

Members of the Class of 1948 pose on a car, including Don Friend, standing at bottom left and holding a yearbook. Fun fact: This was the class with whom former New York Yankees principal owner and Bay resident, George Steinbrenner, was due to graduate, had he stayed in Bay Village for high school. He is listed as having attended at least one class reunion, which may speak to the affinity he had for this class, 2021.P.26.14.08

Don Friend’s diploma from 1948. The high school was now known officially as Bay High School, 2021.26.07

Six girls from the Class of 1948 look through their new yearbooks in front of Bay High School (the old Parkview building), 2021.P.26.14.04

This dance card, with a palm tree on the cover, is from the Junior-Senior Prom of 1955. “Dave” seems to be the lucky dance partner penciled in the most for that evening, 2021.BVS.10E

Class of 1955 pose on the steps of the old Parkview building (from the 1955 Bay Bluebook)

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If you are a graduate of Bay High School and would like to browse your old yearbooks, the Bay Village Historical Society has a collection going back to the early 1920s. High school yearbooks can be viewed on our website at www.bayhistorical.com.

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Come view beautiful examples of bead art during our latest exhibition Beadwork: The Beauty of Small Things at the Rose Hill Museum in Bay Village from 2:00-4:30 p.m. every Sunday through December (closed holiday weekends). Admission is free and our docent guides will be happy to direct you. Contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com, with any questions.

The History of Bay Village City Hall 1914-Present

Posted on May 14, 2023May 12, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

The following article was part of a presentation given in 2014 by Bay Village Historical Society President, Catherine Burke Flament, during the 100^th anniversary of Bay Village City Hall.

The History of Bay Village City Hall 1914-Present

by Catherine Burke Flament
President, Bay Village Historical Society

Bay Village was carved from the Northwest Territory and then the Western Reserve which was divided into 5 square mile townships. By 1806 Hubbard and Stow would purchase Township #7, Range 15 on Lake Erie for $26,087 and named it Dover (currently Bay Village, Westlake and the northern section of North Olmsted).

In 1901 not everyone was happy with how the government was being run in Dover and those in the northern section decided they were not being represented adequately and since they were paying the majority of the taxes the decision was made to separate. After separation was proposed a lawsuit ensued over who would have the railroad and we won the Ohio Supreme Court case. So, the Hamlet of Bay was formed in 1901 and trustees were elected. With a population of 300 the environment was changing. Trains and the interurban, which began in 1897, were transporting more and more individuals to the country and allowing others to go to the city for employment, although Dover continued to remain primarily a rural community.

Another change occurred in 1903 as a petition was made to incorporate into the Village of Bay. In an old scrapbook it was stated that there were 110 eligible voters at the time and 40 individuals running for mayor. Reuben Osborn was elected to a two-year term as mayor with the first meeting held at the School House on May 4^th. There were some interesting issues that council would address over the next few years:

Letter from Attorney William Mathews to the Cahoon sisters, December 23, 1903, 2000.FIC.02.254. The letter refers to the recent split of the Village of Bay from Dover Township and proposes a petition to change the name of the town. Mr. Mathews and the sisters seemed to agree that the name “Dover” should be retained. Mr. Mathews prefers to get rid of the word “Village” and suggests the name “Doverlake.”

In 1905 an ordinance was passed to not allow signs to be erected in the village and every effort was made to keep telephone poles from being installed. The world was changing. The model T, phonographs, light bulbs, typewriters and other advances were emerging, but Bay Village seemed to enjoy its country flavor and not want to rush into any drastic advances. But bathhouses were slated to be installed which may have been a result of the influx of weekend visitors from the city, looking for a relaxing weekend at the Wischmeyer Hotel or just a day at the beach.

Albert Horace Wolf would become the second mayor of the Village of Bay in 1910 and one issue he had to address, which came up more than once, was the conduct and attire at the beach. This year also brought the addition of our first bank.

Two major issues though evolved in 1909. It was proposed to have water piped into the village and that a formal city hall should be built. The Cahoon sisters, becoming aware of the need offered land for city hall which was gratefully accepted. Plans were designed by architects Knox and Elliott who were hired in 1912, blending a combination of styles. John Kiser & Brother Co. proposed the lowest bid of $8,300, which was accepted on March 12, 1914 and the building began. Construction was questioned in July stating that the quality of the brick work needed to be re-evaluated and may need to be stopped. Evidently the quality improved and city hall was completed. The first official meeting was held in this building 100 years ago today, November 3^rd, 1914. The school board would begin using city hall for its meetings in 1915 with a temporary outhouse built in March of that year. The annual budget submitted in 1915 was $7,350.

One more name change would occur as we approached 7,000 residents in 1950 and we became a city with the official name of City of Bay Village.

Numerous improvements have occurred from the original structure with additions in 1962 and 1973 and a gable roof and clock tower added to this building in 1990. All in all, these additions have mirrored the growth the city has seen through the years.

1963 Invitation to the opening of Bay Village City Hall additions

Inside of invitation to see new additions floorplan of Bay Village City Hall, 1963

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Come view beautiful examples of bead art during our latest exhibition Beadwork: The Beauty of Small Things at the Rose Hill Museum in Bay Village from 2:00-4:30 p.m. every Sunday, April through December, 2023 (closed May 14). Admission is free and our docent guides will be happy to direct you. Contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com, with any questions.

Ornamental Beadwork

Posted on April 30, 2023April 28, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

Ornamental Beadwork

by Barbara Comienski, Collections Volunteer/ Docent, Bay Village Historical Society

The Rose Hill Museum is excited to be premiering our special exhibition for the year on ornamental beadwork in costumes and accessories Beadwork: The Beauty of Small Things. Every room features an aspect of beadwork, in addition to the museum’s permanent displays.

Beads have been in existence between 70,000-100,00 years. Originally beads were fashioned totally of natural materials such as bone, shell, or wood. Metal and glass beads followed. Often these beads were strung as jewelry and were a visible sign of prosperity. For centuries few people could afford to embellish clothing with beadwork. One needed the wealth to buy beads and then to have the workforce to apply these to clothing and accessories.

Blue satin beaded bodice, 1860s, 1996.C.132

Eyeglasses with beaded case, owned by Ida Cahoon, circa 1910s,1996.C.624AB

Embellishment followed trends with beads losing popularity, then resurging. Lush fabrics and pearl and gemstone jewelry were popular in the 1700s, but simpler styles in the early 1800s resulted in less use of beadwork. The mid-nineteenth century invention of the sewing machine focused attention on fabric embellishment; however, jet beads resurged in the 1880s. Decorative accents were achieved in the nineteen teens with metallic thread and sequins until glass beads returned to popularity in the 1920s.

Vase dripping with beads. Blue beaded necklace circa 1910s on left, 2005.C.08

The special exhibit includes jewelry and actual embellished garments. Early twentieth century Campfire Girls’ Indian dresses on display in the basement area replicate the wooden bead patterns used by Native American artisans. The Cahoon Library displays include wooden beads from Africa, and silver and stone ones from Mexico; other mediums include bones, polished stones, pearls, and even paper beads!

The historical society’s beaded purses, also on display in the library, show the intricacies of design possible in beadwork, as do design school sample strips from the newly accessioned collection of items from the Darvas School of Fashion Arts in Cleveland from which several Bay Village residents graduated. The school, established in 1910, operated into the 1950s. Students would use these design samples to learn beading skills.

Blue-green and peach chiffon gown with beaded overlay, circa 1910s, 1996.C.121. At bottom is an evening bag of white seed beeds with a pink flower motif, 2004.C.03.

Rose Hill is fortunate to have some beautifully preserved late nineteenth century berthas, bodices, and dresses ornamented in beads, a variety of 1920s beaded flapper dresses, and a stunning mid-twentieth century pink dress with silver beading upstairs. Even children’s clothing in the Nursery has beaded embellishment.

Detail of heavily beaded pink chiffon dress, 2023.C.04.01

Future articles will highlight specific aspects of the exhibition. The Historical Society hopes you can view these outstanding displays soon!

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Come view these beautiful examples of bead art during our temporary exhibition Beadwork: The Beauty of Small Things at the Rose Hill Museum in Bay Village from 2:00-4:30 p.m. every Sunday, April through December. Admission is free and our docent guides will be happy to direct you.

If objects such as these are important to you, please consider a donation to the Bay Village Historical Society. Find out more on our website Support Us Page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

The Wischmeyer Boat Model Collection

Posted on April 16, 2023April 5, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

by Ed Neal

You might not know anything about boats. Your knowledge of them might be limited to one end is pointy, some use a sail to move around, and all of them can sink, so beware. If that is the case, then you have probably completely overlooked the Wischmeyer Model Boat Collection in the basement of Rose Hill. Let’s change that.

Here is a short guide that can help you understand the models and how they provide a window into the Bay Village waterfront from a by-gone era.

Henry Wischmeyer in later years, circa 1940s, 2021.P.FIC.175

Henry Wischmeyer

Henry Wischmeyer, who died in 1959 at age 86, built the models. His family owned a small Bay Village summer hotel on the north side of Lake Rd at the intersection of Glen Park. The hotel offered a sandy beach where guests could swim or pull up a boat to enjoy the summer lake.

Henry likely took an avid interest in the variety of boats that appeared on the beach. Eventually, he began to plan and draw boats of his own design and he built models showing in accurate detail how the boat would be constructed.

Here is a bit of background on each boat in the collection.

Great Lakes Schooner, 1996.A.066TN

Great Lakes Schooner

In the early 1900’s when the Wischmeyer family first operated the hotel, some aging, decaying sail powered freighters continued to haul cargo on the lake. These three masted commercial vessels had sails aligned with the center line of the hull rather than across the hull like a clipper ship. This type of boat design is called a schooner and in its glory days prior to the 20^th century there were a few thousand operating on the Great Lakes.

A young Henry Wischmeyer possibly standing on the Wischmeyer hotel beach could see the last, decaying examples of these vessels on their way to a Lake Erie port.

Pile Driver Boat on display at the Rose Hill Museum, 1996.A.063TN

Pile Driver Boat

If you want to build a pier out into the water, you need some way of driving posts down into the mud to support the pier beams. A pile driver boat is just the thing for the job. In its simplest form it is a derrick on a raft.

The derrick would lift long wooden pier posts vertically in the water. Atop the derrick, a very heavy weight guided on a slide could be raised a few feet above the post. When released, the weight crashed down on the post ramming it into the mud. With each strike the post would be driven deeper until its end reaches the desired height above the water.

Lake Erie fishermen often used a pile driver boat to drive thin posts into the lake shallows on which they would vertically string nets to guide fish into a holding pen.

It is very reasonable to think that Henry saw pile driving boats at work along the Bay Village coast or operating on the Rocky River waterfront.

Lake Erie Pound Net Boat

The technique of catching fish by guiding them along vertically strung nets to a holding pen is called pound net fishing. It is aptly named because the posts on which the nets were strung were ‘pounded’ vertically into the lake bed mud.

As hundreds of fish accumulated in the holding pen they had to be lifted out and into a boat which could take the catch to shore. A boat evolved for this specific task.

The Lake Erie Pound Net Boat was wide so it wouldn’t tip over when a catch of hundreds of pounds was pulled in over its side. It had a unique way of setting large sails so the boat could be easily powered when the wind was light. It was also simple to build. It was not unusual for fishermen of the late 19^th and early 20^th century to build their own boats over the winter.

The bounty of the Lake Erie fishery was far greater in the past than it is today. Most rivers and creeks along the lakeshore housed at least one commercial fisherman. Members of the Cahoon family themselves were in the fish business and had a fish house at the mouth of Cahoon Creek.

It is easy to imagine a young Henry being sent on an errand to buy fish from a pound net boat spotted making its way to the Cahoon fish house dock.

Mackinaw Boat, 1996.A.065

Mackinaw Boat

The Mackinaw boat was the delivery van of its day. It could shuttle light cargo and passengers or be used for commercial fishing. The able, seaworthy boat could handle the wind and wave conditions of the Great Lakes. The boat set sails on two masts and a bowsprit and ranged in length from 25 – 35 feet.

Henry’s boat appears to be an experimental fishing version of a Mackinaw boat. It appears to be shorter than conventionally built and is accented with fish totes.

Detail inside of the Mackinaw Boat, 1996.A.065

Cat Boat

Amateur backyard boatbuilders would find a small v-bottomed boat with a single sail to be a very appealing first project. A cat-rigged boat describes the sailing rig of one mast set very far forward at the bow. It is easy to speculate that this boat may have been designed by Henry and the model developed to proof the construction process.

Lake Erie Sharpie, 1996.A.064

Lake Erie Sharpie

The final model in the collection presents a recreational boat version of a typical American sharpie: a flat-bottomed, slab sided, long and narrow hull with a uniquely shaped horizontal rudder. A cat-ketch sailing rig of two masts drove the boat. Built as work boats for fishing and oyster harvesting, sharpies ranged from 24 – 36 ft.

The Wischmeyer model presents sharpie attributes on a shortened hull possibly done to gauge the feasibility of scaling a sharpie down to a recreational boat length under 20 ft.

Now that you know what you are looking at take a closer look at the Wischmeyer collection. It tells a story of lake transportation, lake fishing, and lake recreational boating. It is more than the work of a hobbyist model builder. These boats reflect the reality of day-to-day life along the Bay Village lakefront from years gone by. Thank you, Henry!

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To view all of the Henry Wischmeyer’s boat models in person and see other artifacts from the old Wischmeyer Hotel, please visit the Rose Hill Museum from 2:00-4:30 p.m. every Sunday, April through December. Our docent guides will be happy to direct you. We hope to see you soon!

The Wischmeyer Boat Plans Collection

Posted on April 2, 2023March 29, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

by Ed Neal

Hobbies are where unique aspects of a person’s character manifest themselves. Hobbies are pleasant escapes from the tensions of the work-a-day world and offer miniature worlds that absorb a person’s full attention. They often are a counterpoint to stresses of career and domestic issues.

Henry Wischmeyer as a young man (middle), 2021.P.FIC.174

Henry Wischmeyer’s hobby was designing small boats. The Osborn Center of the Bay Village Historical Society houses boat plans Henry drew before his death in 1959. These are not the quick sketches of a waterfront artist but rather drawings of small sailboats and rowing craft drafted the way a professional naval architect would draw up plans. Who was this man, why did he draw these boats and how did he learn the art of designing boats?

Henry Wischmeyer grew up in a family that owned a summer hotel on the north side of Lake Road by Glen Park Rd in Bay Village. The back of the building led down to a Lake Erie beach where guests could enjoy the summer lake. Small boats could be sailed or rowed off the beach.

The hotel had a small craft for guests to use. Quite possibly, boat maintenance fell to Henry and he became knowledgeable in boat construction and repair.

Also quite possibly, guests might have brought a small boat with them, possibly launching it from Cahoon Creek or Rocky River and storing it pulled up on the Wischmeyer beach. These boats might have introduced new types Henry had not seen before.

Into the late 1920’s, boatbuilding persisted on Rocky River. Most famous was the Rocky River Drydock Company and the yacht building and repair yard of Ted Zickes. One can imagine Henry being drawn to these locations and possibly finding work there over the winter. There he might have been exposed to the methods and drawings of naval architects.

Part of plans for a Wischmeyer boat (cross section) produced in the early 1930s, 1976.02.061B

Lyman dinghy plans, 1976.02.042

However he acquired his drawing skill, Henry drew boats incorporating his own ideas. The Bay Village Historical Society collection shows a wide range of small sailboats and rowing craft ideal for light to moderate weather conditions. Some drawings appear to imitate conventional, commercial designs – Lyman did produce small sailboats at one time. Others present fanciful elements one might think of as experimental craft.

Detail of a plan with a nearly impossible-to-build canoe bow, 1976.02.003

A few drawings present Henry’s personal affinity for boats with a canoe bow: a gracefully curved bow extending out from the waterline and curving up and backward in the direction of the stern. Although this curved front end made for a dramatic presence, in reality, it might have been very difficult or nearly impossible to build on a small boat.

Blueprint with another example of a challenging bow, 1976.02.052

Before a boat is built, it is advisable to build a scale model in which all the detail of the plans are followed. The process works out construction details and solve problems before they effect material and labor costs. There may be crossover between the Wischmeyer boat plans and the Wischmeyer boat model collection housed in the Rose Hill basement. Some of the boat models are constructed with full details mimicking an actual boat. It is possible that two model boats in the collection – the catboat and the sharpie – might have been pre- construction models of plans drawn by Henry.

Part of Henry Wischmeyer’s plan for a utility pram, currently being used by the Cleveland Amateur Boatbuilding and Boating Society. 1976.02.059B

There is no record of any boat built to Henry’s plans. However, the Bay Village Historical Society is involved in a current project to actually build Henry’s 1953 design for a 9’ 7” boat he labeled a utility dinghy. Since the boat presents a flat transom front rather than the typical pointed bow of a dinghy, it is being referred to as a utility pram to eliminate confusion. Led by the Cleveland Amateur Boatbuilding and Boating Society, the boat will be used to aid in the regular clean-up of North Coast Harbor, the area behind the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. An early summer launch is planned. Anyone interested in the project can contact Ed Neal 440-570-7620 for more information or check out the group’s website: www. cabbs.org.

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If historical documents such as these are important to you, please consider a donation to the Bay Village Historical Society. Find out more on our website Support Us Page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

Rose Hill and the Osborn Learning Center are closed to the general public until Sunday, April 16, 2023. Please come and visit us this spring!

Women in Early Dover History

Posted on March 19, 2023March 17, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

March is Women’s History Month in America. It is a time to commemorate and encourage the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. The Bay Village Historical Society has been reflecting on this and our own history of women who have contributed to the success of the Bay Village community through the memories they have left behind. We are lucky that many took the time to write these recollections down. They have informed much of what we know of about the history of women in Dover and the town in general.

Margaret Cahoon in later years, 2000.P.FIC.007

Margaret Dickson Van Allen Cahoon (b. 1810, d. 1894) wrote down her memories in 1890, near the end of her life. In it, she tells her children about her early life growing up in Washington D.C. where she lived through the taking of the Capitol in 1812 and how she conversed with many well-known statesmen and women who were important in the early years of America. She writes of her married life with one of Dover’s earliest settlers, Joel Cahoon, including their travels through Ohio. She recounts meeting Joel’s parents, Lydia and Joseph, and later settling into their home at Rose Hill with her growing family in 1842. Many details we know about the life of the first generations of Cahoons to settle in Dover (now Bay Village) come from her writings. You may read her memoir on our website under The Autobiography of Margaret Dickson Van Allen Cahoon.

Ida Cahoon, 1996.P.012

Margaret’s youngest child, Ida Cahoon (b. 1852, d. 1917), was proud of her family’s pioneer roots in Bay Village and wrote the history down many times. She was a teacher who worked in Cleveland. Her History of the Cahoon Family was used to help write Bay Village: A Way of Life. In 1896, she contributed to a publication about the pioneer women of Ohio, writing a chapter about Dover. Ida not only wrote about her own family, but also mentioned various notable women in the history of our town, retelling the history she was taught by her elders. She writes about the sad story of Sarah Osborn’s (b. 1779, d. 1856) sister, Rebecca Porter (b. 1777) who, along with her infant son, were drowned at Rocky River, coming back in a row boat from a trip to Cleveland in April, 1814. Ida names them the first to be buried in the Lakeside Cemetery. Another story was of the recently settled Stocking family from Massachusetts. Jane Fisher Stocking, who shared five children with her husband, Joseph, began a farm near Dover Center. Ida writes “Their early housekeeping was somewhat primitive and amusing. The dining table was the family chest, around which pumpkins were placed for chairs.” She spoke of women traveling to Dover writing “After a journey of ten weeks from the Isle of Man, Mrs. Margaret Clague and daughter Ruth walked from Cleveland, in 1837, to the farm now occupied by her children, which was ever afterward her happy home.” There is a link to an electronic copy of Ida’s article under our Useful Links Page on our website, titled Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve/Cuyahoga County (after clicking on the title choose “View All,” then start at page 58, Pioneer Women of Dover).

In 1965, Hazel Cousins Dorsey (b. 1907, d. 1998) wrote her memoirs as a descendent of early Dover settlers Elizabeth and Aaron Aldrich and Martha and Nathan Bassett. Her family history was typed and arranged in two parts, written and dedicated to her grandsons Donnie and Michael Yeargan, for their twelfth and thirteenth birthdays, teaching them about the origins of their family. This Topsy-Turvy Family tells about Hazel’s ancestors settling in Dover and later moving to California. Her second piece, Pioneering in Ohio, contains passages which were quoted in Bay Village: A Way of Life and are listed as a resource. There is a section about the American Indians who also used the lands in Dover for activities such as hunting and collecting maple syrup. Native women are mentioned, but only as far as their interactions with white settlers. Hazel tells of the daily life and hardships endured by some of these early settlers of Dover and the surrounding communities. Food and drink, clothing, work, illness, schooling, churches and the Civil War are given sections in the piece. There are stories of women getting lost in the woods, chasing off bears and living in the wagons that brought them to Dover until a cabin could be built. Woven in, occasionally, are her own family’s stories. We are currently working on transcribing a copy of Hazel’s work about the pioneers which will be added to the Bay Village Historical Society’s webpage in the near future. Look for it as it is a fascinating read.

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Rose Hill and the Osborn Learning Center are closed to the general public until Sunday, April 16, 2023. Please come and visit us this spring!

What Dolls Tell Us About the Lifestyle of Early Residents

Posted on March 5, 2023March 5, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

What Dolls Tell Us About the Lifestyle of Early Residents

by Barbara Comienski (collections volunteer/docent, Bay Village Historical Society)

The Rose Hill Museum has been fortunate to acquire so many lovely vintage toys. Among these are a varied collection of dolls. The lovely 14” Kling doll pictured gives us a glimpse into the lifestyle of even more refined families in the late 1800s.

14″ Kling bisque doll, late 19th century, 2023.Y.FIC.33

What is the most intriguing insight into this doll is what one doesn’t see when viewing her. With central heating and improved fabrics, we stay sufficiently warm despite winter winds off the lake. Earlier residents of Bay Village, though, had to insulate themselves against the elements. Under this doll’s lovely white dress, one can see how this was accomplished.

As one lifts her dress, one views an appropriate cotton petticoat and chemise. But below that is winter insulation. The doll wears a heavy cream-colored flannel petticoat with pink featherstitch embroidery. She also has a wool knit top. Then, rather than traditional pantaloons, she wears a knitted set reaching clear to her ankles. The flannel petticoat, heavier weight knit undershirt, and the longer pantaloons would have been utilized by early settlers also. This doll wears heavy knitted boots on her feet, again emulating normal winter wear.

Wool knit pantaloons, 2023.Y.FIC.33H

The Kling porcelain company was founded in Germany in 1834, but did not begin production of doll heads until 1879. Their dolls were priced for a middle-income consumer, unlike French dolls which were always more expensive. “Kling” is the German word for “ring”; therefore, the dolls were marked with an incised bell. Our doll’s blond mohair wig and glass eyes are a typical style for bisque-type porcelain dolls of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Most bisque and china doll heads were imported from Germany until the first World War. They would have been readily available in general stores in even small towns and villages. These heads were shipped by the millions, and even were used as ballast in cargo ships! Because of their fragility though, only a small percentage have survived. Our doll’s head is attached to a commercial fabric body stuffed with sawdust. She has bisque porcelain limbs. Many families made their own all-cloth bodies to save on expense; these were often quite disproportionate to the head.

View of Kling mark, 2023.Y.FIC.33

Capelet, 2023.Y.FIC.33C

Her white dress was the dressy style favored by upper middle class and wealthy families. Maintaining white clothing which could stain easily was a challenge in and of itself, so a family’s status was reflected in having the resources and means to do so. Her white cotton capelet reminds us of the cool breezes from the lake for which residents would need to prepare when outdoors.

We encourage you to take a second look at the toys and dolls on display at Rose Hill the next time you visit.

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If you are interested in researching objects such as these, please consider donating your time as a volunteer to the Bay Village Historical Society. You may find out more on our website Support Us Page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

Rose Hill and the Osborn Learning Center are closed to the general public until April 2023. Please come and visit us this spring!

Letter from President Harrison to Margaret Cahoon, March 6, 1889

Posted on February 19, 2023February 16, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

by Michele Yamamoto

We continue to discover new surprises in the collections at the Bay Village Historical Society. One such discovery happened last year when two of our archival volunteers, Jack Hanley and Bill O’Brien, came across a letter from a newly inaugurated President Benjamin Harrison. It is dated March 6, 1889, only two days after he was sworn in as the 23^rd President of the United States. The typed letter is an acknowledgement of the receipt of what must have been a letter of congratulations by Rose Hill’s own Margaret Cahoon.

Letter letter signed by Benjamin Harrison, 2000.FIC.02.262EnvThumbnail

Letter from Benjamin Harrison, 2000.FIC.02.262

Margaret A. (Dickson) Van Allen Cahoon (b. 1810, d. 1894) came to live in the area we now know as Bay Village in 1842. She was the wife of Joel Butler Cahoon (b. 1793, d. 1882) who, along with his parents and siblings, was the first to settle in what was then known as Dover Township on October 10, 1810. The family built a framed house in 1818. Margaret later named it Rose Hill because of the abundance of rose bushes that had been planted by her mother-in-law, Lydia.

Margaret was born and raised in Washington D.C. and through her short autobiography written near the end of her life in 1890, we know something about her time growing up there. You may read her transcribed memories on our website under The Autobiography of Margaret Dickson Van Allen Cahoon. Margaret was there as a young child during the War of 1812 and remembered seeing the Capitol building blackened with smoke, the eagle over the Speaker’s chair broken and graffiti on the walls and columns. She was present at the inauguration of President Monroe in 1817 and remembered First Lady Dolly. Margaret wrote that she became friends with one of their grandchildren. Her father, John Dickson, took her to sessions of the Supreme Court where she visited with the judges who took an interest in her education. She would walk by the Capitol on her way home from school and stop in, at times, to hear debates from the likes of John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, among others. The family was friendly with many congressmen and judges.

After marrying Joel Cahoon in 1831, Margaret left Washington, later making the effort to visit three times. One of these journeys was made to see the inauguration of 14th President, Franklin Pierce, during which she rode a train for the first time. Her parents were buried in the Congressional Cemetery and it’s not a stretch to think she had many old friends to visit in the city as well.

The Harrison family could also be one of those visited considering that Benjamin’s grandfather, William Henry Harrison, had been President and his father, John Scott Harrison, served two terms as a U.S. congressman from Ohio. Margaret writes that Joel attended the burial of the first President Harrison in 1841 in North Bend, Ohio, near where her young family was living at the time.

If you are interested in finding your own “treasures” of history in our collections, please think about donating your time as a volunteer to the Bay Village Historical Society. You may find out more about ways you can help us on our website Support Us Page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

Rose Hill and the Osborn Learning Center is closed to the general public until April 2023. Please come and visit us this spring!

A Recipe for Every Need: Home Cookbooks of the 1800s

Posted on January 29, 2023January 26, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

The Bay Village Historical Society has a number of recipe books in its collections. We hope you enjoy the examples you see here, as well as recipes that have been reconfigured to be cooked in a modern kitchen by North Coast Narrative’s Angie George.

The most important recipe book in our collections comes from Selden Osborn (b. 1809, d. 1867). Selden was the only son of Bay pioneers Reuben and Sarah Osborn. Selden was an herb doctor. He grew his own herbs and his wife, Nancy, brewed them for him to make medicines. The book also contains food recipes, family genealogy and financial dealings, among other notes.

In the introduction to his book, Selden writes: “Selden Osborn’s Recipe Book Dover, Wishing well for myself family & the world & believing that I understand some things that will be of use to be remembered I therefore reduce them to writing as I shall never think of Practicing medicine & shall therefore be liable to forget things that are valuable has induced me to write this Book -Selden Osborn”

Selden Osborn’s recipe for ague pills, 2011.B.01.037. Ague was a term used by people in the 1800s to describe a sometimes chronic cycle of fever and chills. Quinine pills were introduced in the 1820s and could reliably provide relief, albeit with some adverse effects.

Rusk recipes, 2010.B.002. Recipes for Rusk. Rusk was a termed used to describe small pieces of bread hardened by rebaking and used as crackers, biscuits or dry cakes.

Rusk recipes, 2010.B.002. Rusk was a term used to describe small pieces of bread hardened by rebaking and used as crackers, biscuits or dry cakes.

Another book in our collections with recipes from the 1800s is one that was once on display at the Dover Sesquicentennial in 1961. The book is filled with recipes and how-tos, both handwritten and in pasted newspaper clippings. It contains instructions on things like preserving cider, whitening your teeth with borax and chalk, brewing grafting wax for plants, and killing bed bugs with quicksilver, as well as for cooking food.

The recipes at the end of this post were collected by Bay Village Historical Society Board Member Cynthia Schuster Eakin from historical cooking expert, Angie George, of the North Coast Narrative. Eakin’s article, Angie George of North Coast Narrative brings history to life, covers cooking in 1800s America and appeared in the October 2022 issue of the publication Currents. It was inspired by a presentation of the topic to our members by George, last fall 2022.

If you would like to find out more about membership in the Bay Village Historical Society contact us at (440) 871-7338 or email: info@bayhistorical.com. You may also sign up via our website on the Support Us Page. Please note that the Rose Hill Museum and Osborn Learning Center buildings are currently closed to the general public until April 2023.

Macaroni Pipes with Cheese (The American Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Child, 1832)

Original recipe:
Put a piece of butter, half a pound of macaroni pipes, an onion stuck with two cloves and a little salt into boiling water. Boil them for three quarters of an hour, and then, if the macaroni is flexible, take it out and drain it well. Put it into another saucepan with two ounces of butter, three of grated farmers or parmesan cheese, a little pepper and grated nutmeg. Toss up the whole together, adding two or three spoonfuls of cream. When done, put it on a dish and serve it very hot.

Updated recipe:
Use eight ounces of macaroni, one small onion, two cloves, 1 tsp. salt, four tbsp. butter, 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, ¼ tsp. pepper, one tsp. ground nutmeg and three tbsp. cream or milk.
Boil macaroni until tender in water with a small peeled onion with two cloves stuck into it and one tbsp. butter. Drain macaroni and add remaining three tbsp. butter, cheese, pepper, nutmeg and cream. Stir until well mixed. Pour into a serving dish and serve hot.

Cider Cake (Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, 1839)

Original recipe:
Beat together six ounces of butter, eight ounces of sugar and two powdered nutmegs. Add six beaten eggs, a pint of sweet cider and enough flour to make it a thick batter. Beat it very well. Put it into a buttered pan and bake it in a moderate oven.

Modern update:
¾ cup butter at room temperature, one cup sugar, two tsp. ground nutmeg, four well-beaten eggs, 1 ½ cups cider at room temperature, and three cups of flour.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs about 10 to 15 minutes as they provide the leavening for the cake. Add the cider and nutmeg to the butter and sugar mixture. Make sure the cider isn’t cold or the butter will seize. Fold in the beaten eggs. Slowly add the flour and stir to make the batter. You may need more flour if the batter is too runny. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until done.

Sugar Gingerbread Cakes (200 Receipts on the Art of Cookery, Chardon, Ohio, 1844)

Original recipe:
A pound of flour, eight ounces of butter, a spoonful of ginger, a spoonful of rose water, well beat up. Knead it stiff enough to roll out. Cut into circles. Bake on flat pans in a moderate oven until lightly browned on the bottom.

Updated recipe:
Two cups flour, one cup sugar, one cup butter, 1 ½ tsp. rosewater, 1 ½ tsp. ground ginger.
Cream sugar and butter, add the rosewater and mix. Slowly add flour and ginger and mix well. Roll dough out on a floured board to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut in circles. Place on greased baking sheets in a 350-degree oven and bake 20 to 30 minutes. You may have to chill the dough before rolling it out if it is too sticky.

Angie George of North Coast Narrative brings history to life

Posted on January 15, 2023January 15, 2023 by Michele Yamamoto

The following post was excerpted from an article written by Bay Village Historical Society Board Member Cynthia Eakin. The article appeared in the October 2022 issue of the publication Currents. It discusses 19^th century American cooking with Angie George from a presentation of the topic to our members, last fall.

If you would like to find out more about membership in the Bay Village Historical Society, contact us at (440) 871-7338 or email: info@bayhistorical.com. You may also sign up via our website on the Support Us Page. Remember that the Rose Hill Museum and Osborn Learning Centers buildings are currently closed to the general public until April 2023.

Angie George of North Coast Narrative brings history to life

by Cynthia Schuster Eakin

Ohio’s history came to life in a presentation to the Bay Village Historical Society on pioneer cuisine by Angie George, a member of the North Coast Narrative.

A dedicated group of historical reenactors, interpreters, educators and historians, North Coast Narrative shares tales from Ohio’s rich past.

Angie George makes butter the old-fashioned way. Photo courtesy of North Coast Narrative.

George, a Kent State University graduate with a degree in history, specializes in mid 19^th century domestic life. Have you ever wondered what people ate before supermarkets existed? How was food prepared? What did kitchens look like 150 years ago, before electricity? George, who has worked in education at Hale Farm and Village, provided the answers.

Most people lived on a farm and grew their own food when Ohio became a state in 1803. The state had very fertile soil and access to major waterways because of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Specialty items like coconuts and pineapple were available, George said, but expensive items like chocolate and vanilla were hard to come by. In fact, she said that most people had never tasted vanilla, unless they lived in Mexico where vanilla beans were grown. “Chocolate ice cream was served as the dessert at President Lincoln’s inaugural dinner,” she noted.

“Lavender and rosewater were used as flavorings instead of vanilla. Without baking soda, it was hard to get a cake to rise. Beverages of the day included coffee, tea, cider, lemonade, brandy and wine. Ladies were limited in the amount of coffee that they were permitted to drink because it was considered too stimulating,” she said.

Cast iron swivel trivet,1996.K.038

The original method of cooking in a home was over an open hearth with a crane. “This method of cooking is inefficient, since it lets heat escape up and is very smoky. You had to get up very early to start the fire for cooking,” George noted, adding that most ladies spent pretty much the entire day cooking. The cast iron cook stove became widely available in the 1840s. According to George, the base model cost about $4, while the deluxe model with a tank for heating water was priced at about $40. “The cast iron stove top had to be seasoned like a cast iron skillet or it would rust,” she said.

French pizzelle or waffle cookie iron (1890s), 1996.K.041

George said the first refrigerator was two barrels with straw and ice packed between them to keep food cold for a short time. Large animals were processed on cooler days following harvest before winter. Meats were preserved by salting, smoking, pounding into a paste and potting with butter, and freezing during very cold winters. Eggs were stored by coating with wax and packing them in crates with straw or sawdust. They were also parboiled and buried small end down in powdered charcoal, or stored in a lime water solution. Dairy was turned into cheese or butter.

Ketchup was a common sauce for meat, George noted. Ketchup is from the Chinese word, ke-tsiap, a sauce derived from fermented fish. Early ketchups used mushrooms as a base and were thin and dark. Tomato ketchup, a blend of tomato pulp, spices and brandy, was invented around 1812. However, according to George, some producers handled and stored the product so poorly that contaminants like bacteria, spores, yeast, mold and unsafe preservatives like coal tar and red paint deemed it unsafe for consumption. “In 1876, Mr. Henry Heinz discovered that, if you put vinegar in the recipe, it would extend the shelf life,” she added.

The World’s Fair in Philadelphia in 1876 featured a colonial kitchen exhibit described as revolving around old-fashioned domesticity. “The longest line for any exhibit at the fair was to see a banana. Bananas were unknown in America,” George said. Several banana trees were displayed in a greenhouse. Samples were sold wrapped in paper and were eaten with a knife and fork.

Thomas Jefferson, the son of a well-to-do landowner, was exposed to French cuisine and regarded as a status of sophistication. “Jefferson had a personal chef who traveled with him. He brought a macaroni mould, or pasta machine, back to the United States to make one of his favorite dishes, macaroni pipes with cheese,” she said. Jefferson experimented with cultivating more than 250 varieties of vegetables, stole rice from fields in Italy and shipped it back to America and bought a “cream machine for ice” while in Paris. George said the first ice cream parlor in Ohio opened in Akron in the 1850s.