Made in Ohio: A History of Buckeye Invention & Ingenuity

INTRODUCTION

THE STORY OF OHIO’S INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURING IS A HISTORY OF WHAT OHIO DOES BEST

The United States has lost an estimated 6.7 million manufacturing jobs in four decades due to decreased output resulting from global competition. Global competition is something that many Americans don’t understand and don’t want to face because of their national pridefulness. That pridefulness is a barrier to understanding what made the country so strong, especially in the wake of World War II. Those of the baby boom generation and beyond miss the point that in 1946, when the baby boom generation began, America in most cases had no global competition, a result of the devastation of the developed world during global war. England was still rationing food well into the 1950s. Meanwhile, in America, after a brief recession while the economy shifted from wartime to peacetime production, the manufacturing sector ramped up at full speed to meet the great demand for homes, cars, appliances and a host of other consumer goods. The country’s population grew from 140 million in 1946 to 218 million in 1976. That’s twice the growth from the previous thirty years starting in 1916. The America of the 1950s through the 1970s was a country of unprecedented economic growth and expansion.

Ohio had been a strong player in the production of manufactured goods since the mid-1850s. Much of this has to do with the innovative genius of many rural men and women who were just plain fed up with the drudgery of agricultural tasks requiring hand tools and general manual labor. I personally would like to have the state recognized as the nation’s official mother of invention because of our heritage of applied innovation to solve problems. Once a problem is solved via a practical invention, the product then has to be manufactured in quantity and distributed to members of the public with the same problem. This creates a market demand.

Manufacturing to meet that demand requires planning; acquiring raw materials, a source of energy, machinery, tooling and equipment; hiring skilled—and training unskilled—labor; conducting quality control; packaging; advertising; and transportation. In twentieth-century Ohio, there was some kind of tool-and-die or machine shop every few blocks in most sizable communities. Many of those businesses have been replaced by tattoo parlors and computer/cell phone repair stores and coffee shops.

But I believe the spirit of innovation is still alive in Ohio. But the world’s population is exponentially increasing, and we are adding to the issue of polluting our land, air and oceans. Cleaning the planet is a task that requires more than just a manufactured gadget or device. The innovation needed here is a way to increase and maximize cooperation, education and mutual appreciation of the problems that future generations must face and solve or adapt to in order to live a life with a respectable standard of living and well-being.

The skylines of established, healthy American communities were first defined by church steeples, in the days when much of the country was an agrarian-based society. With the emergence of the industrial economy and the steam age, the church steeples were overtaken in height by factory smokestacks. Burning coal emitted a cloud of black smoke that covered the community, and in general there were no complaints. That’s because a factory’s chimney smoke meant employment and prosperity. But in time, even the smokestack, because of environmental regulations, was replaced by another international symbol of a strong economy: the skyscraper.

The following chapters will look back at the innovations and manufactured goods of Ohio that shaped not only America but also the world. Manufacturing in Ohio has been at the forefront of producing building materials, glassware, furniture, household appliances and even complex high-technology items such as automobiles, aircraft and military hardware such as tanks. Equipment for mining raw materials and excavating for mass infrastructure projects have also been fabricated or manufactured in the state. One testament to the excellent job Ohioans have done over the past century is that Americans became so accustomed to having high-quality goods manufactured in Ohio that they began to take many things for granted. One example is the mid-twentieth-century Frigidaire refrigerator, assembled in Dayton, Ohio. It could easily last a generation without any need for maintenance.

I trust that this book will serve to remind Ohioans of their great manufacturing heritage while opening young eyes to the even greater challenges that face us in the present and subsequent future.

1

RESHAPING THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY OHIO LAND

For several decades, there has been talk of the former glory days of the midwestern industrial Rust Belt region of America and the undermining of the middle class. It’s unfortunate that many have no idea of the major part that Ohio played in developing this great nation and that the state is still very active in helping to sustain the well-being of our country. There is a slogan frequently used that states, Ohio, the Heart of It All. But in reality, I like to think of Ohio as being where the heartbeat of America was started. The word Ohio comes from the Iroquois word Ohi-yo, which translates to beautiful river or great river.

Six current states—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia—made up the original Ohio Country, a vast land that formed the rich and fertile Ohio River Valley. The reason why the French and Indian War took place from 1756 until 1763 was that France claimed the Ohio River Valley as part of the New France colony. At the same time, the British considered it an extension of their Virginia colony. The valley area was rich in mineral resources and had a well-established fur-trading industry with the Native Americans. The Ohio River, which flowed into the Mississippi River, was regarded as an important transportation passageway for the territory and unfortunately was claimed by both the British and the French.

It should be noted that the French and Indian War was really a war between the French and British and included the thirteen British American colonies, France and the New France colony and at least ten Native American nations and confederacies, including the Iroquois, Cherokee, Wyandot, Shawnee and Algonquin. Also, as a result of the conflict over the Ohio Country, hostilities quickly escalated into what many historians regard as the first world war. It is better known as the Seven Years’ War and involved France, Britain, Prussia, Brazil, Portugal, a number of German states, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Bengal Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.

The French and Indian War was fought between France and England over the rich Ohio Country. Painting by Frederick Coffay Yohn, circa 1905. Cincinnati & Hamilton County Library.

Hostilities ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which resulted in Great Britain emerging from the ordeal as the European holder of the Ohio Country. The Native Americans received no recognition in the Paris settlement, even though they were an important component of the economy. Since many Native Americans refused to accept British control, conflicts continued in the region for several decades. The Ohio Country was highly coveted and regarded as a jewel in the crown of America’s economic future and expansion.

With the 1783 American Revolutionary War victory, the newly independent white Americans could now move west of the Appalachian Mountains. The American government’s first order of business was to raise capital. Seeking land and opportunity, many people wanted to move westward. So, the Continental Congress and later U.S. federal government sold large tracts of land in the new Northwest Territory to real estate companies and individuals in what would later become the State of Ohio. Unfortunately, little regard was given to the fact that much of this land was still occupied by peaceful Native American tribes.

In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. In order to compensate Revolutionary War veterans and widows for their service and sacrifice, Congress agreed to grant portions of land in the Ohio wilderness. The amount of land varied based on previous military rank. For example, noncommissioned officers and privates received 100 acres, a colonel 500 acres, a brigadier 850 acres and a major general a healthy 1,100 acres for their service during the rebellion.

The conditions of the Northwest Ordinance ensured the new territory would be settled systematically. To begin with, slavery was forbidden, and every county had to be surveyed and laid out in thirty-six-square-mile townships. Also, one 640-acre section of each township was designated specially to fund public schools for education.

The first major attempt at settling the Ohio wilderness was orchestrated by the Ohio Company of Associates, formed in Boston in 1786. It was a speculative venture led by former army chaplain Manasseh Cutler and former generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper. The Ohio Company pioneered the Northwest Territory’s first permanent settlement, located on the banks of the Ohio River at Marietta. The company and its investors possessed 1.5 million acres of land, acquired from the Continental Congress with two $500,000 payments.

The business plan was simple and straightforward. First, a person crossed the treacherous Allegheny Mountains. Then, they cleared trees and stumps from the land purchased for one dollar per acre and constructed a home, which usually started with a log cabin. They then finally planted a spring crop to sustain their family. They would also have to survive an occasional altercation with the Shawnee, Cherokee and Delaware, who had been belligerently expelled from their ancestral lands.

Once the Ohio land settlers began producing extra produce and livestock that could be sold at market, a new problem presented itself. How do you efficiently transport goods to various markets for sale? Many early roads were just an expansion of previous Native American and deer trails. This proved extremely challenging, especially if your intent was to transport a large quantity of goods.

Colonel Ebenezer Zane (1747–1811) directed construction of a Northwest Territory frontier road, which came to be known as Zane’s Trace. Constructed between 1796 and 1797, the 230-mile stretch of road started at what is now Wheeling, West Virginia, and terminated at Maysville, Kentucky, running diagonally through the southeastern portion of Ohio. In 1796, Colonel Zane traveled to Washington to petition Congress for funding to finance the construction of a road to encourage settlement in the Ohio land portion of the Northwest Territory. He was looking to increase commerce while decreasing travel times to the Ohio River. It was clearly in the national interest for such a road to be constructed. Congress approved funding for the project in May 1796. The trace was constructed through heavily forested, hilly terrain and initially was not suited to transporting goods by wagon.

This Ohio map shows the frontier road Zane’s Trace and the National Road, which later became US Highway 40. Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Ohio received statehood in 1803, and the state legislature levied a transportation tax in 1804 to upgrade and improve the entire route of the trace. Contracts were issued to widen the roadway and remove boulders and tree stumps. Between 1825 and 1830, the segment of Zane’s Trace between Wheeling and Zanesville was rebuilt as part of the new and improved National Road.

In addition, in order to expedite the speed of commercial commerce and growth, the Ohio and Erie Canal was built. Construction began in 1825 and ended in 1832. It gave access to Cleveland and Lake Erie by way of the Cuyahoga River flowing to Akron and proceeding down to Columbus, Chillicothe and terminating at the Ohio River near Portsmouth, Ohio. Now Ohio had the means to prosper and grow a strong agricultural and industrial economy.

As the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory, Ohio was primed to become a leader in agriculture, manufacturing and applied technology and to emerge as an international industrial powerhouse.

2

TRANSPORTATION TO BUILD A BETTER ECONOMY

The nineteenth century saw Ohio blessed with an abundance of coal and oil for energy. It borders a Great Lake and had canals, an interstate river and a railroad system that could transport large quantities of raw materials to industrial centers such as Cleveland, Toledo, Akron/Canton, Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati. All of this, coupled with curious problem-solving individuals with an aptitude for inventiveness, would catapult Ohio and the country into a leadership role in industrial development.

The natural geography of Ohio gave it an advantage that initially was used to establish an economy in new settlements such as Marietta and Cincinnati, which were strategically located on the Ohio River. The river gave these settlements access to the Mississippi River, which opened to the Gulf of Mexico and on to the Atlantic. This presented access to world markets for trading.

There is some evidence that Marietta, Ohio, was the point of origin for the frontier Midwest shipbuilding industry. In 1800, Marietta had easy access to excellent, inexpensive oak lumber from the untouched forests of the Ohio River Valley. Iron, coal and coal-tar pitch from southern Ohio were readily available, and mines in nearby Michigan provided copper. Westward migration and economic opportunity brought settlers with shipbuilding skills from the eastern coastal states to the Ohio Valley. A small operator could favorably navigate the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers by keelboat or flatboat carrying a small cargo. The varying seasonal river levels naturally placed limits on the size and type of ships that could feasibly be constructed at Marietta. The most popular design was the two-masted brig with square sails.

Early shipbuilding on the Ohio River in Marietta, Ohio. Shown here is a two-masted brig with square sails, circa 1795. Washington County Public Library.

Marietta’s shipbuilding industry on the Ohio River prospered until late 1807. The political juggling and conflicts that turned into the War of 1812 resulted in the Thomas Jefferson administration implementing the Embargo Act, which prohibiting trade with the British. While the embargo had little effect on the British, it destroyed the developing shipbuilding industry on the Ohio River. It took until the 1840s for the Ohio River shipbuilding industry to experience a rebirth.

Traveling by land wasn’t easy or comfortable, but there was a wagon that was practical. Mennonite Germans produced the first Conestoga wagons in Pennsylvania around 1750. Following the Revolutionary War, this wagon was widely used for western migration to the opened Ohio area of the Northwest Territory and beyond. It had the ability to transport a maximum of eight tons of cargo and was pulled by oxen or a special, now-extinct breed of draft horses called Conestoga. The Conestoga wagon was a marvel in both design and construction and is regarded as the forerunner of freight and panel trucks that appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. The maintenance and servicing of these wagons were often done by