Judge Albert Munson surrounded by spirits.

The Munsons were a prominent but quirky family who lived in Medina from 1877 until 1956 when the last member passed away.  The patriarch was Albert Munson, Probate Judge, state legislator and political activist. He was also a devout spiritualist and regularly held seances in his home — although he never acted as a medium.

Munson, a founder of the Republican Party in Medina County, actively supported his friend, William McKinley’s campaign for president.  After McKinley was assassinated in 1901, his spirit — according to Munson — visited the judge frequently through seances and spirit writings.

The reports of these seances are contained in Munson’s handwritten notebook, in letters written by mediums and in notes taken by Munson’s daughter, Cora Munson Blakeslee.  Transcripts of these sessions are in possession of the Medina County Historical Society.

Munson, who died in 1911, also claimed to have communicated with the spirits of Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield.  Daughter Cora said, “He was a lifelong worker in the cause — always trying to help others see the light.”

In addition to his political and spiritual activities, Albert Munson and his son, Lyman ran a successful hardware business on Public Square. The handsome Victorian building that housed the business still bears the family name.

When he was elected Probate Judge in 1877, Munson built the bracketed Italianate home seen in the picture below.  Mediums and spirits were not his only guests — he also hosted numerous social and political events for village residents.  The house is now the headquarters of the Medina Community Design Committee.

(Photos courtesy of the Medina Community Design Committee.)

North Court Street, 1911

This is a wintry view of North Court Street in the early 1900’s.  The tracks in the snow were for the Interurban Electric, part of the Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus Railway which carried passengers to nearby cities and towns. A Medinian with a bad case of cabin fever induced by the perpetual snows of February could pay 50 cents and be in Cleveland in two hours.

(Photo courtesy of the Medina Community Design Committee)

"Feathered Friend" by Paula Banks currently on exhibit.

February falls under the astrological sign of Aquarius, hence the Medina County Art League’s designation for their annual show of works by member artists.  Approximately 64 area artists are currently exhibiting over 100 works in oil, watercolor, acrylic, ceramic, jewlery, photography and mixed media.

Bath artist Lawrence Churski, president of Churski Gallery, 3850 Granger Road, Bath, Ohio, judged the show.  The results are:

Best of Show:   David Fawcett

First Place:        Frank Geric

Second Place:   Kathleen Digney

Third Place:       Barbara Zimmerman

The show, held on the third floor of the Medina County District Library Main Branch, located on the southeast corner of Public Square (210 South Broadway) runs from February 5 – 26.

One of the most striking works currently on exhibit at the Aquarius Exhibition is “Joy” by Marge Otley –  an oversize  explosion of color and sweeping motion.

Marge describes the inspiration for the painting which is rendered in watercolor and Perma Pencil ( artists’ quality colored pencils.)

“I painted it after returning home from my daughter’s house where I spent time with her two very rambunctious boys, age two and three.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching them and playing with them and marveling at their constant motion, bouncing up and down, jumping all around — unlimited energy.  After I got home, quite exhausted after spending a week with them, I tried to express their movement and my joy at being with them.”

Otley is well-known in the area for her award-winning and widely exhibited abstract art. Trained as an art teacher, the Michigan native has studied at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis and with Medina’s water-color guru, Fred Graff.  It was a class in a Detroit suburb, however, that pushed her onto  the path of abstract art.

“I came into this class and everyone was doing abstract art,” she recalls. “All I had ever done was realism.  This abstract art was  foreign to me, bewildering.  But everyone there was obviously well trained and talented.  They knew what they were doing.  So I tried it.  And I became hooked.”

She explains the difference.  “With realism, I always know where I’m going and I usually know when its done.  With abstract art, the paint and I just work together.  Sometimes it leads the way.  I never know where it’s going to end up, but it’s always an adventure.”

H.G. Blake in the uniform of the 166th Regiment of the Union Army

Harrison Gray Blake (1819-1876) routinely ignored the Fugitive Slave Laws and hid runaway slaves in his handsome home home on East Washington Street. It was a terrible risk in those days to harbor slaves — the fines were prohibitive and could bankrupt a family.  Blake had a great deal to lose. He had come to Medina as a penniless orphan and, within a decade,  had become a wealthy and influential man: a lawyer,  Speaker of the Ohio Legislature, U.S. Congressman, founder of the Old Phoenix Bank.

H. G. Blake's house was a busy stop on the Underground Railroad.

The  older of his two daughters, Elizabeth Blake McDowell, told her descendants the story of how she discovered that the family was hiding slaves.  She noticed that her mother would occasionally cook very large amounts of food – far more than was needed for their family of four.  She began to ask questions, and finally her parents explained the situation to her –  that her father had undertaken an important mission and that  secrecy was essential

After that, when she saw a large ham disappear or heard strange noises in the attic over the kitchen, she was no longer surprised. To insure discretion, Elizabeth and her sister were kept out of school when slaves were in the house.

Elizabeth Blake McDowell

Another time Blake said to his two daughters, “Come with me, I want to show you something that will make you hate slavery forever.”  He took them to the attic and showed them a terror-stricken slave. The man’s back had been whipped and salt had been rubbed in his wounds as a disinfectant. It was a sight that neither daughter ever forgot.

A short time later Blake sent the slave on to Oberlin, the next stop on the Underground Railroad.  The next stop after that was Canada and freedom.

In 1848 Blake was elected president pro tem of the Ohio Legislature by a slim margin of one vote and led the effort to repeal the Black Laws. These were statutes in effect in Ohio which curtailed the civil rights of African-Americans, and had been  enacted to discourage them from moving to Ohio. To commemorate his role in the repeal of these onerous laws, he was awarded a silver cup by the Young Whigs of Ohio.

Blake  later served two terms in Congress — 1959-63. After that joined the Union Army and was appointed Colonel of the 166th Regiment, Ohio Infantry Volunteers.

In a brief biography written near the end of his life, he wrote, “I ardently supported President Lincoln and all measures to put down the rebellion.  I was always an ardent anti-slavery man and a friend of the slave.”

Presented to H.G. Blake to commemorate repeal of the Black Laws

Brian serves breakfast

When you sit at one of the tables  in the front alcove of Brian Hilberg’s restaurant, Marie’s Cafe, you are surrounded by two walls of murals representing the east and west sides of Medina’s 1870’s- era Square.  Gaze out the front window and you see the real thing.

This winter morning with snowflakes drifting out of a steel gray sky onto the Square filled with ice sculptures that suddenly have the forlorn look of abandoned toys, and with gas logs glowing in the fireplace — Brian’s corned beef hash made with carmelized onions, roasted red peppers and shredded potatoes sauteed in garlic butter and topped with two poached eggs comes off as the ultimate comfort food.

It is a casual, cozy place which will celebrate its fifth anniversary on March 19th. At lunch time it is likely to be filled with ladies’ book groups and professionals from law offices and businesses around the square.  The most popular item this frigid winter continues to be the Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich — Swiss Cheese, avocado, tomato and red onion with hot sauce on 9-grain bread.

Brian, a self-taught cook, is creating a complete new menu for the cafe’s fifth anniversary.  “It will include ethnic items, including Lebanese dishes.  And for the first time, we’ll offer appetizers and entrees,” he says.

( Hopefully, the chicken dumpling soup made from a recipe perfected by his wife, Mary’s Hungarian grandmother — a perennial favorite — will remain.)

Marie’s Cafe is open Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch, 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM. For a glimpse of the menu, go to www.mariescafe.net.

This year the conditions were perfect for the Annual Ice Festival. Cold temperatures and a lazy but constant sprinkling of snowflakes, combined with a holiday weekend — Presidents’ Day and Valentine’s Day — attracted crowds of heavily bundled visitors to Medina’s colorful mid-winter tradition.

The ice sculptures, created by Elegant Ice Creations, <www.elegantice.com>,  were great in number and variety.  They ranged from the ordinary (business logos)  to wildly fanciful (oversize hummingbirds and  crickets)  to entertaining –  a large, throne-like  love seat in front of Main Street Cafe that attracted long lines waiting patiently for a photo opportunity.

The Festival, which began Friday, February 12 and runs until Monday, February 15, also offered ice carving competitions several times on Saturday and Sunday.

Cupid is ready for Valentine's Day -- courtesy of Cool Beans.

To see more pictures of the Medina Ice Festival, click here.

It was a cold, snowy evening and parking spots were hard to come by — but the Grand Opening of Lisa Bond’s Art 101 Gallery was packed with artists and art lovers, wine glasses in hand. The evening was tagged a “themed collaborative exhibition of talented local artists” and featured live music, hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction. The art gallery, which first opened its doors in late November, is located in 23 Public Square, Suite 11 (Town Square Commons) and specializes in the original work of local artists, including Fred Graff, David Fawcett, and Barbara Johns.

Lisa Bond of Art 101 Gallery

Bond, ( below at left)  surrounded by some of the most  exciting art in the area, greets guests at the gallery opening. A recent arrival in northeast Ohio, she owned an art gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona for 22 years.

Public Square Park 1913

Public Square circa 1900

Photos courtesy of the Medina Community Design Committee

Miss Eliza Northrop's first school

Eliza Northrop Elementary School, which opened in the fall of 2009, is named for the first teacher in the first school in Medina. Eliza Northrop was the daughter of a pioneer family who came to Medina County from Connecticut,  and she taught for one year, 1817-1818, in a small log cabin about one mile east of Medina.

The New England Yankees, who settled in the Western Reserve  revered education.  Once the log cabins were built to provide basic shelter for the pioneer families, schools were begun and carried on as a labor of love.

This particular log cabin, located near the farm of Chauncey Blakeslee, also served as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Congregational Church and the town hall.

The children came eagerly to these log cabin schools whenever they could be spared from work on the family homestead.  According to the “1881 History of Medina County”, they walked long distances in all kinds of weather on trails blazed through woods — sometimes without warm clothing and frequently, without shoes.

Seating inside these early schoolhouses consisted of crude benches made of logs split in half.  Textbooks were few.  The Bible was used for reading lessons. Perhaps a copy of “Webster’s Speller” might be available.  Math instruction consisted of lessons in “figuring” from “Pike’s” or “Smiley’s” arithmetic books.

Since public funding for schools was non-existent in the pioneer era, pupils were assessed a fee which went toward the teacher’s salary.  However, frequently some families did not have the money and the teachers were compelled to wait for their wages.

That first little school lasted only one year. The cabin burned down, and Miss Northrop married her beau, Silas Barnes, and gave up teaching.

Here is a list of students in Medina’s first school:  George, Lucius, Carlos and Lester Barnes; Frank and Philander Calender; Jared and Mary Doan; Joseph, Ruth, Elizabeth and Mary Hamilton; Clement and Freeman Marsh; Lois and Luisa Palmer; Anna, Cynthia, Philemon, Chloe, Ruth and Madison Rice, Banner and Harrison Seymour.