I2 Sunday, March 27, 2016 | The Repository | CantonRep.

com

WHY LOUISVILLE
IS SO SPECIAL

A
s chairwoman of the Lou-
isville High School Alumni
Association, our newsletter
Spotlight on Alumni, pub-
lished quarterly, highlights alumni and
their personal stories. Our association
is relatively new. We currently have 193
members from across 19 states and 43
graduating classes. We are working to
build our scholarship fund available to
graduates and their descendants. The
scholarship fund is also being made
available to those graduates who are
alumni association members who must
update skills to remain competitive
REPOSITORY FILE RAY STEWART
in the work force. I would be remiss
n Drilling pipe is stored at Washita Valley Enterprise on Energy Drive.
if I failed to recognize Louisville High

WAITING FOR THE BOOM

School alumni members Steve Coon and
Dennis Biery. Both serve the community
of Louisville, but their good will and
deeds go way beyond our city limits.
Carolyn Hess
By Shane Hoover future. generated income taxes of grant, obtained in 2010, to build The date was Oct. 19, 1956. Two high
Repository staff writer I think that were two, $282,000. Thats 6.6 percent of a road and a 440-foot bridge school seniors (a boy, and a girl) met
two-and-a-half years out from the $4.3 million the city col- over the East Branch of the accidentally downtown after the foot-

T
LOUISVILLE where were going to see the big lected during those 12 months. Nimishillen Creek, connecting ball game. They knew each other to see
he city seemed to boom people were expecting, I think thats a significant the property to state Route 44. and say hi, but were not friends. For
said Vincent Marion, city plan- player, Marion said. Chesapeake and the city also some unknown
score a major coup ning director. agreed to a 10-year, 25-percent
CHESAPEAKE KEY reason, no one
when Chesapeake income tax abatement if the else was there yet
CORE COMPANIES Chesapeake is a major reason company created at least 100
Energy decided from the game, so
Louisville splits a cluster of the industry is in Louisville. full-time jobs with a payroll of they just walked
three years ago to put its oil and gas companies with Chesapeake has drilled more $4 million by the end of 2017. around town and
Utica Shale field office Nimishillen Township on the Utica wells in Ohio than any The city wont review how close chatted. As they
citys southwest edge. other company, 672, and has Chesapeake is to meeting the
here. The countys sec- Chesapeake, Seventy Seven plans for another 128, according threshold until next May, said
were going to her
friends car to get
ond-smallest city would Energy and Washita Valley to state figures. Finance Director Jina Turowksi. a ride home, they
get a shiny, five-story office Enterprises are on Energy Drive. In 2012, Chesapeake pur- took a short cut
Pilot Thomas Logistics chased 290 acres in the Beck CHANGED PLANS
building and hundreds of through an alley
(Maxum), Tilley Pressure Test, Industrial Park on the citys But before Chesapeake moved to the municipal
workers generating millions and Performance Technologies south-side. Plans called for the into its new home, the company parking lot by the GEORGE AND BEV RODAK
of tax dollars. are at Tulane Avenue and Kath- main office building, a 1,000- cut dozens of local of workers, police station. As
Chesapeake moved into the ryn Street NE. foot rail spur and a secondary and spun off Nomac Drilling, they were midway
Beck Industrial Park last year, Total Service Supply and building. Performance Technologies and through the alley,(Penny Alley.
but is employing about a fifth McCarty Equipment are on Lou- Once Chesapeake said, This Great Plain Oilfield Rental as which The Repository covered this
of the expected 500 workers, isville Road NE in the township. is where we are going, then Seventy Seven Energy. month) they stopped by a lighted door-
according to city estimates. NALCO is nearby on Jeffries everybody else jumped and said, At the same time, wells in the way and shared their first kiss together.
Reasons include the slump in Circle NE. This is where well be, said oil-rich shale beneath Stark and The rest of the story is: When we saw
oil and natural gas prices and The list includes a major Utica Bill Jeffries, a partner in Groffre Tuscarawas counties didnt pan that article we went to that alley and
changes in Chesapeakes corpo- driller, an operator of rigs and Investments. out, and drilling concentrated in had another kiss. We were married
rate structure. fracking equipment, and com- Groffre Investments devel- counties to the east and south. after we graduated from Louisville High
But city officials say the oil panies that do safety testing and oped the business park and is The rail spur and secondary School in 1957. We saw all six of our
and gas industry has diversi- supply chemicals, tools, hoses landlord for several oil and gas building were never built. children graduate from Louisville High
fied the local economy, and the and pipe. companies. Although no longer part School and have many happy memories
apparent lull in activity is giving From June 2014 to July of this The Chesapeake project was of this beloved community. We still
the city time to plan for the year, oil and gas companies helped by a $3.5 million state SEE BOOM, I3 reside in Louisville and have just cel-
ebrated our 58th wedding anniversary,
TOGETHER.
Sincerely, George and Bev Rodak

Living in Stark County, one can

not help but to look forward to crisp,
autumn Friday nights. As I think back to
my introduction to what may be the best
place in Ohio to enjoy high school foot-
ball, I would be remiss to leave out the
Friday nights spent watching Louisville
Leopard football .
Growing up in Plain Township, you
may wonder how an Oakwood Raider
became a Louisville Leopard fan. Blame
my mother, Patricia McDougal, who
taught elementary school in the Lou-
isville school system for more than 30
years. You see, my mother secured
season tickets to all Leopard home
games ... the ones when Paul Starkey
coached Louisville, Fairless was a Fed-
eral League team and kids still sat with
their parents at the game.
So I graduated from GlenOak, watched
my sons play football for Perry, but will
never forget the Friday nights learning
football. In these parts thats spiritual,
and for good reason. Thanks Mom!
Brian McDougal, Perry Township
COURTESY OF ADAM HERRON
Pride in Louisville, Ohio is shown
n An aerial view of Louisville High Schools campus. The school is supported very well by the community.
every Friday night in the fall, when the

HOW LOUISVILLE BECAME KNOWN

football stands are filled with fans. The
support is amazing! It is the place to be!
Spirit and support is evident in the blue
and white, and leopard attire!

AS THE CONSTITUTION TOWN

Visit Metzger Park on South Nickel-
plate in Louisville and see the number of
people walking or bike riding. The soccer
fields are in full use with either practices
By Robert Wang Sunday in May as I Am An American Day, auditorium supported by a committee or games. The huge playground is a kid
Repository staff writer or Citizenship Day, a day to recognize those For the Preservation of the Constitu- magnet. Metzger Park is a hidden gem.
who had becomes American citizens. tion, which became todays Constitution Joan Aljancic

T
LOUISVILLE A February 1952 joint congressional Committee. The guest speaker was Stark
resolution and presidential proclamation Countys then-Congressman Frank T. Though small, the Louisville Public
ype Constitution and Library is doing big things. With an
changed Citizenship Day to Sept. 17th, the Bowe.
city into Google, and the anniversary of the Constitutions signing. The Constitution Committees website emphasis on STEAM (Science Tech-
nology Engineering Art and Math)
top result will be the website indicates in 1953, due to Webers efforts,
WE THE PEOPLE then-state representatives Karl Baurer education in addition to traditional
for the city of Louisville. library services, the library applied for
Stark Countys fifth largest city, which But it was the efforts of Louisville and John Lehmann introduced a resolu-
resident Olga T. Weber, who made a con- tion in the Ohio House proclaiming Sept. 17 and was awarded a grant in 2014 by
has fewer than 10,000 people, calls itself the state to enhance the communitys
the Constitution Town. tribution to persuading Louisville council, Constitution Day. Gov. Frank Lausche also
the Ohio General Assembly and Congress to signed a similar proclamation. digital literacy. With that money, the
Its not clear if any other city in the nation library purchased three 3-D printers, a
as much as Louisville has tied its identity to officially observe the Sept. 17th anniversary According to Anna Jule Whitmer, 92,
as Constitution Day. a longtime member of the Constitution laser engraver, a vinyl cutter and other
the United States premier founding docu- equipment to create the Library Lab. The
ment, which lays the basis for its system According to a history compiled by Committee, Bowe helped Weber pushed for
Louisvilles Constitution Committee and federal recognition of Constitution Day as a Library Lab, the only one of its kind in
of laws and enumerates Americans basic Stark County, is based on the concept of
freedoms. the 2010 book Women: Americas Last day to learn about the Constitution.
Best Hope, by Kimberly Fletcher, Weber According to the Georgetown Law School a makerspace. The Library Lab combines
Every year, Louisville not only celebrates manufacturing equipment and librarians
Constitution Day, which is Sept. 17th, it in 1951 decided to promote education about website, in 1956 Congress passed a joint
the U.S. Constitution. She was concerned resolution declaring Sept. 17 through Sept. to create a place where the community
celebrates Constitution Week, a Congres- can learn, design and create manufac-
sionally recognized observance. that the members of the public had become 23 as Constitution Week.
complacent about their constitutional By 1958, historical markers at the towns tured works using equipment that is not
commonly available to most individuals.
ANNIVERSARY freedoms. four main entrances called Louisville, the
Due to the success of The Library Lab,
Sept. 17th is the anniversary of the date in She gave out copies of the Constitution Constitution Town.
and other materials to students at schools, In 2004, due to then-West Virginia the state awarded the library another
1787 when delegates to the Constitutional grant in August 2015 to create The
Convention in Philadelphia signed the U.S. parishioners at churches and patrons at Senator Robert Byrds backing, Congress
libraries and other members of the public. approved legislation designating Sept. 17 as Little Library Lab. The Little Library
Constitution, which they had just drafted Lab, once completed, will be the Chil-
and submitted to the states for ratification. The citys website said Weber persuaded both Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.
then-Mayor Gerald A. Romary to issue a The head of each federal agency is sup- drens Department version of the Library
Research indicates there may have been Lab.
sporadic observances of Constitution Day proclamation that declared Sept. 17, 1952 posed to give federal employees educational
the citys first Constitution Day. materials about the Constitution every Jason J Buydos,
before 1952. According to the Library of Director Louisville Public Library
Congress website, Congress first passed According to the Louisville Area Chamber Sept. 17. Any school receiving federal funds
a resolution in 1940 designating the third of Commerces website, Weber organized SEE SPECIAL, I3
a program at the Louisville High Schools SEE TOWN, I3