However, after the attack on Ft. Sumter on April 12, 1861, this little building served its  most dramatic purpose.  This was where young men from the village of Medina and the surrounding townships came to volunteer for military service in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops to put down the “War of Rebellion.”

Initially, there was great enthusiasm for the war.  But when the Army of the Potomac, under the leadership of General George B. McClellan fared poorly against Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia during that first year and a half of the war — enthusiasm waned. Casualties were high,  the Confederates continued to present a serious threat, and confidence in General McClellan dwindled.

So, unfortunately, did the number of volunteers appearing at the recruitment center at 56 Public Square. This prompted Medina’s two term Congressman, Harrison G. Blake (1859-63) to write the following plea to Abraham Lincoln on July 28, 1862:

Dear Sir,

As one of the representatives from the State of Ohio, I regard it as my duty to say to you that I shall sustain you in all measures you deem proper to take to put down this rebellion… It is proper, however, that I should say to you that there is great dissatisfaction among your friends about the manner that Gen. McClellan has manage the army under his command — most men here doubt his ability, and very many question his loyalty.

…We find it very difficult to to get men to enlist here, they say they will be put to guarding rebel property or digging ditches in some swamp instead of fighting the enemy. We shall do all we can to get the men to enlist, and we are offering from $25 to $50 in addition to all the bounty that Government pays, but it goes hard.

If the people could know for a certainty that a more vigorous prosecution of the war would obtain, and that our men would be placed under competent commanders who desire to put down the rebellion, I have no doubt we could get any number of men to enlist.

I trust you will receive these suggestions in the kind spirit they are dictated….

Yours truly,

H.G. Blake

(Later that year, after the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862, Lincoln did indeed relieve General McClellan of his command of the Army of the Potomac.)

*This letter (portions of which are quoted here) is from the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois.

The house —  which had achieved some level of fame  before the Civil War as the home of Congressman H.G. Blake and, as a stop on the Underground Railroad —  had eventually passed into the ownership of the Griesinger family.  On October 21, 1898, it  became the birthplace of the Friday Afternoon Club, a ladies’ literary group that is still in existence today. (The name was later shortened to “Afternoon Club”.)

The end of the nineteenth century was not  an era that offered women many outlets. They had their assigned roles in the kitchen or the schoolroom, and little else.  But these fourteen women — some of them teachers and all of them educated — decided to create for themselves an opportunity to grow intellectually.

The club was the brainchild of Bessie McDowell Hewes (standing in the center in this 1886 photo) who had known of a similar group called the Boston Saturday Club when she attended the Musical and Art Conservatory in that city as a young woman. She enlisted the aid of her life-long best friend, Mary Shepard Griesinger (seated beside her husband, Christian Griesinger) who offered her home for the initial meeting. The rules they set up for the club were simple, austere and rigorously enforced.

And so they remain to this day.

The group meets every Friday from November to April – excluding, of course, Christmas and Easter and allowing for one snow day.

Meetings begin promptly at 3:30 and end promptly at 5:00 P.M.

Each  meeting consists of a book review presented by a member. A brief discussion follows.

No refreshments are provided — except for a glass of water on request.

Membership is by invitation only and is limited to 25. (Until recent decades, the ladies were very secretive about the membership. Before the 1960’s, the only way to know for sure if a lady was in the club was when you read it listed in her obituary.)

Program booklets stored at the Medina County Historical Society attest to the intellectual liveliness of the group. In that first year, 1898-1899, the program reads like a college seminar: Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton were read and discussed.

While WWI raged in Europe during the 1914-1915 year, the ladies read the plays of George Bernard Shaw.  But in 1917, when the U.S. entered the war, the programs included “The  Russian Revolution in the Making” and “Women’s Economic Service in the Time of War.”

The terrible influenza epidemic that killed thousands in the wake of WWI is briefly alluded to in the club notes. Six weeks of meetings were canceled due to the influenza quarantine.

By the 1930’s, the club had committed itself to the format of contemporary literature, which continues to this day. The advent of the Book of the Month Club made it possible for members to obtain the latest books quickly and easily. (Today, members consult the “New York Times Review of Books” and order their selections  from Amazon.)

Old timers are fond of relating that one always knew that it was Friday in Medina because suddenly, groups of formally dressed ladies in hats and gloves would be seen scurrying across Public Square on their way to a meeting.  On the other hand, ladies who were not fortunate enough to be offered an invitation hid in their homes. Since the membership was kept secret, they did not wish it to be know that they were NOT members. The small town pecking order being what it was,  usually, only the wives of the most socially prominent citizens were asked to join.

Usually. Not always. Unfortunately, there was the cruel issue of the blackball. One “no” vote could permanently block a lady’s entrance into the Afternoon Club, no matter how socially prominent she was.  This was done away with in the 1960’s.

These days, although the structure remains basically unchanged, there has been some progress. Afternoon Club is far more democratic in its invitations — a majority of two votes will get you in.  Some people actually decline the invitation — something that would  have been UNHEARD OF decades ago. And wine is actually served at the Fall Dinner and Winter Picnic !

And so, as the Afternoon Club moves through its 113th year, the machinery set in motion by its feisty Yankee founders still operates steadily and punctually.  The members continue to be faithful, the books interesting, and the environment stimulating.

After bitter cold all week, suddenly on Friday the temperature shot up to fifty degrees. The ice carvers, who were scheduled to carve on Friday evening, couldn’t work.  They had to wait until 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning to put their 300 pound  blocks of ice outside, for fear that they would melt.

On Saturday the temperature dropped below freezing again — and the carvers were back in business, ferociously wielding  power saws and carving phantasmagorical creations of great beauty and delicacy.

Twelve ice artists participated in Saturday’s exhibition and fourteen participated on Sunday.

Local businesses and organizations sponsored ice sculptures like this artist’s palette from the ceramic studio,  All Fired Up (below, left) and the old fashioned sleigh from the Medina Community Design Committee (below, right).

Despite the bitter cold, the crowds (which included many small children and large dogs), came out in great numbers.  They admired the artistry, sipped hot chocolate and enjoyed yet another event in Medina’s elegant Public Square Park.

Saturday's first place winner.

We all enjoy Public Square during the various festivals and celebrations that take place  almost continually during the year.  We revel in its picturesque beauty during all four seasons and think how lucky we are to live in such a lovely, historic community.

But no one ever thinks to thank Captain Austin Badger, the young pioneer who single-handedly whacked his way through three acres of primeval forest to create a village green in 1819 when the community was still in its infancy.

Austin Badger was born in Green, Chenango County, New York in 1793.  He volunteered for the militia when the War if 1812 began and was present when the British burned Buffalo.

Six years later, he folded all his  worldly possessions into a knapsack and walked from Buffalo to Cleveland, and thence to the area that would become Medina County. Rufus Ferris, land agent for Medina’s founder, Elijah Boardman, hired him as a surveyor and gave him a contract to clear the Public Square area. Badger sharpened his axe and went to work.

Captain Badger was also the first resident on the Square.  He built the first building — a two story log cabin on the northwest corner, presently the location of Cool Beans Coffee Shop.  The ground floor served as a tavern (and his dwelling) and the second story was used as a court room.

Not only did Badger clear and  survey Public Square — he also assisted in naming the first streets in the village.  This also happened in 1819, during the first Fourth of July celebration.

Here is his account of that memorable day from the 1881 History of Medina County:  “The Fourth of July had come…and it was resolved that it should be celebrated with appropriate honors.  In the morning, a long pole was cut and stuck in a hollow beech stump where the old courthouse now stands, and on its top, streamed gloriously …a bandanna handkerchief, being the best facsimile of the nation’s flag that could be found.”

He goes on to say, “Good whiskey, being one of the necessary articles on such a day, was bountifully furnished and plentifully drank as a beverage.  Sentimental toasts were drank… Whiskey, sweetened with home-made sugar constituted the drink that was handed around in fashionable circles in those days.”

Badger adds, “We, on that day, gave names to all the streets or main roads that then centered in the village, by which names they are still called.”

(This, no doubt accounts for such mellow and “sentimental”  names as Friendship and Harmony.)

The hard work did not appear to do Captain Austin Badger any harm.  He lived to the venerable age of 90 and is buried in the Old Town Cemetery.

So, the next time you walk across Medina’s picturesque Public Square, think of the man who wielded such a ferocious axe.  And say thank you.

Happy New Year.  And a special thanks to my lovely daughter Jess for inspiring me to create this blog.

Whipple and Sipher's old pulley

Every restored Victorian building surrounding the greensward of Medina’s Public Square has its story.  And occasionally, some remnant, some souvenier from the past, hidden away in an attic or a dusty corner finds the light of day, and it too has a story to tell.

Gramercy Gallery

There is, for example, Gramercy Gallery at 221 South Court Street, one of a row of buildings erected in the aftermath of the devastating 1870 fire.  It is a chic and elegant shop decorated in lush Victorian style and filled with gifts, original art and antiques.  Most of the well-heeled customers who shop here have probably never seen the huge wheel pictured above.  But  proprietor Pam Miller might take you up the the attic — if she’s of a mind to — and show you the large pulley with rope and hook still intact, still ready to raise and lower boxes of glassware and crockery through the trapdoor in the ceiling, as it did the the late 1800’s when the store belonged to a couple of local merchants named Whipple and Sipher.

Their shop was a Medina institution and it supported the Whipple and Sipher families quite handsomely.  (Mr. Sipher’s very large safe remains in the back room — although it is no longer filled with money.) Both men built imposing Victorian homes during those heady days of the Gilded Age when growth and prosperity abounded in the village of Medina.

Pam Miller points out another remembrance of the past — a white fireplace surround in the main room of the shop. “I was told that it came from Doc Strong’s house on the Square, where the new courthouse stands today,” she says. The elaborate wood piece is distinctly Victorian in style — but the house it came from was built before the Civil War.  It was one of several gracious, Western Reserve-style homes that stood on the eastern side of  Public Square before the leading citizens chose to move to quieter, less commercial neighborhoods. As a result, the homes were torn down or moved.

Around the turn of the century, the Whipple and Sipher store was acquired by the Cannon family who sold groceries for two generations. The Cannons left something behind as well — several display cases (like the ones pictured below) that sit forlornly on the floor of the attic, surrounded by seasonal decorations and boxes of wrapping paper.

Ida Cannon stands at the counter.

Ida Cannon was the daughter of the family and an iconic figure in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. Senior citizens who grew up in Medina remember her presiding behind the counter like a crusty deity, wrapping purchases in old-fashioned brown paper and tying them neatly with string.

Cannon’s grocery store also delivered.  Ida owned a 1930’s-era station wagon with wood-paneled doors dubbed the “Cannonball” by irreverent delivery boys who, (unbeknownst to Ida), raced it up and down the village streets.

Those were the days when — if a family was not at home — the delivery boy walked into the kitchen and left the groceries on the table, taking care to put the perishables into the ice-box.  (Doors were never locked and “refrigerator” was still an unknown term.)

Today the shop — founded in 1984 and owned by Pam Miller since 1989 — is filled with original art by noted Medina artist Cindy Allman, cards and stationary, jewelry, pillows and throws, Byers Choice Christmas carolers, and framed inspirational quotations. However, like Whipple and Sipher, Pam Miller also  sells “crockery” — that is, hand-made platters and vases by local artists Elaine Lamb and Bonnie Gordon. And, like Ida Cannon, she sells groceries too — the kind that cater to more modern tastes, like gourmet jellies and chipotle dip mixes.

So, to paraphrase a worldly French quotation, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Victorian elegance

South Court Street in days of yore. Note Whipple and Sipher sign on far right.

Dining room of the Beck-Kurilko home at 614 South Court Street

Saturday, August 14

On a misty summer twilight, over three hundred people thronged the uneven old sidewalks of  South Court Street, Medina’s grand historic neighborhood. The occasion was “A Twilight Stroll Home Tour” sponsored by the South Court Street Historic Neighborhood Association. Six homes were open to visitors.  The oldest was an 1838 Federal style structure, the newest was a 1934 Colonial Revival –  and the remaining four were opulent Victorians from Medina’s Gilded Age.

The houses in the neighborhood are a veritable time line of American architectural styles, ranging from early Western Reserve farmhouses with barns and remnants of orchards, through various Victorian and early 20th century styles, to the ranch homes of the post-WW II, Eisenhower era.  Since the  area  was farmland until after the Civil War when it became part of the village of Medina, the yards, in many cases, are unusually large and very lush.

Many of the leading citizens of the village of Medina — prosperous merchants, bankers, attorneys and judges –  chose to build their trophy homes on South Court Street.

The roadway itself is historic as well.  It began as a Native American trail and  was later used by early settlers to penetrate into the thick forests  of Medina County. In 1830, that stretch of road became part of the Wooster Pike (State Rt. 3), an important stagecoach route south.

Here are some of the highlights of Saturday’s home tour:

The oldest home on the street — and one of the oldest in Medina– is the 1838 Prentice-Kauffman home on 529 South Court Street.   Barney Prentice ran a successful shoe store on the Square, and it was in his establishment in the Mechanics Block, the 1848 fire (the first of Medina’s two devastating fires) was believed to have originated.

The current owners, the Kauffman family, have lived in the home since 1982 and, according to Barbara Kauffman, have had to do relatively little work on it. “We’ve only had to do cosmetic changes,” she explains.

The second home on the tour was the Martin-Mayer home at 575 South Court Street.  It boasts a melange of Victorian styles, including Queen Anne, Stick and Eastlake.

One of the main features of this home is the outstanding woodwork, still in pristine condition. There are also several stained glass windows and, like most Victorian houses, it features very high ceilings.

Mrs. Mayer collects antique books and china from the Victorian period and her extensive collections add considerably to the charming ambiance of the home.

A few short blocks away sits the 1883 Parker-Lamb house at 721 South Court Street, a Queen Anne style structure with Eastlake features. The first owner of the house, millwright Paul Parker, was fatally injured during the construction of the home.  While hauling paving stones for the cellar, he tripped and one of the large pavers fell on him.  He lingered for a few days, then died of internal injuries in an upstairs bedroom.

The home fell on hard times in the early 20th century — as did many of the grand Victorians on the street — and was split up into apartments.  One of the visitors to the home, Nancy Masi, said that she had been born in the front bedroom during the Depression.

Currently, the house is owned by noted Medina potter, Elaine Lamb and her husband.  The Lambs have done extensive restoration work. Furnished in a rich Victorian style and filled with Elaine Lamb’s award-winning pottery,  the home features beautiful woodwork, high ceilings, stained glass windows and various nooks and crannies.

The newest (historically speaking) house on the tour is 847 South Court St, which was built in 1934. Colonial Revival in style, it is a very spacious, airy home, and surprisingly opulent for having built built during the midst of the Great Depression when most Medina residents resorted to growing  their own food and raising their own chickens to survive.

The Linden home is also surrounded by a very large and beautiful yard.

The Sage-Edmonds home at 706 South Court Street is an 1875 Italianate Victorian with the requisite high ceilings, tall windows and extensive woodwork. It also features a large carriage house.

The tour ended with the 1863  Beck-Kurilko home at 614 South Court Street.  It is described as a Vernacular Victorian farmhouse and clearly hails back to the area’s rural beginnings.  The home boasts numerous porches, and gardens that have been featured on  numerous local garden  tours.

Pam Miller of Medina, approaches the front porch.

“The Dude”, seen in the photo above, is a case in point.  This witty and comical  planter  is an example of the one-of-a kind items on display. And really, where would you ever find anything like that again?

If you weren’t in Medina today — here’s what you missed:

Filmy pastel tutus for the eternal princess

Popcorn -- one of the traditional smells of summer

This jewelry was a big hit. The crowd was three-deep.

Ceramic wisdom

And the Dixieland Band played on

439 East Liberty

Serene and tree-shaded East Liberty is one of the oldest streets in the village of Medina. It is a supremely walkable neighborhood, and it is looking its best on this late summer morning. A lush canopy of leaves creates a cool tunnel over the narrow sidewalks,  and a sense of history seems to linger in Greek Revival doorways, and in the old-fashioned gardens riotous with color.

The 1855 Greek Revival home above  is typical of the lovingly restored and maintained dwellings on the street.

Every old house and every plot of land has a story.  Here are a few of them:

We begin with the ” Old Town Graveyard” on the north side of the street, a few steps east of Public Square. In the early days of the village, East Liberty Street was called “The Graveyard Road”  because the village burying ground was located there. One early resident recalled that “the bodies of the dead were taken to their final resting place upon a bier with four legs carried by four men and covered with a black pall, while a bell solemnly tolled.”

Some of the earliest settlers of Medina are buried in this sun-dappled space, including Captain Austin Badger who laid out the Square and constructed the first log cabin in the village of Medina.  Also at rest in this spot are two Revolutionary War veterans, as well as a young casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg.

A few steps away stands St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  The first St Paul’s Church was  small log cabin erected in 1817 in Medina Township. By 1832 a white, wooden structure was built on this location and was replaced in 1884 by this splendid, late-Gothic Revival church which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

St. Paul’s possesses several exquisite stained glass windows donated by early Medina families.

403 East Liberty Street

A few houses east of the church stands this beautifully restored Italianate Victorian structure, built in 1885 by H.H. Northrop for Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Clark. It was the home of a Medina County Treasurer in the nineteenth century. It is only one of a few Victorian dwellings  on this street where many homes predate the Civil War.

603 East Liberty

Walk to the end of the block.  On the corner of East Liberty and North Spring Grove stands an 1841 home that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.  It was built by an English immigrant, Thomas Miller and stands on what was once a 90 acre farm.

Miller, an ardent abolitionist, created hiding places to conceal fugitive slaves in his home. These hiding places — a secret nook behind the fireplace as well as a covert space behind a bookcase — are still in existence today.

Near the fireplace, under the rug,  is a trap door leading to a walk-out cellar.  When it came time to move the slaves, the fugitives were led from the basement to the barn which once stood behind the house — then on to their next destination.

Cross East Liberty Street and walk back toward the Square.  Stop before 502 East Liberty.

502 East Liberty

This is the second oldest structure on the street.  Built in 1837, it served as a one-room school house and was called the East School.  Before the  Civil War, Medina had three such one-room schoolhouses.  In 1872, a large central school was constructed and the  little schoolhouses were sold and used as residences.  This is the only one of the three structures to survive.

Proceed to 440 East Liberty on the next block. The facade of this home was modernized sometime in the mid-twentieth century, but it is actually an 1854 Western Reserve structure with hand-hewn, bark-covered beams in the cellar.

440 East Liberty

The carriage step, to the right of the door, is a noted feature of this home. Carved on the side is the name “F. Hudson” — the name of a local physician who attained great notoriety for attempting to rob a grave.

In the nineteenth century it was difficult for doctors to obtain cadavers for medical research.  Therefore, medical experiments were performed on the unclaimed poor or upon bodies robbed from graves at night.

In 1875, in Montville Township, an indigent man named Tom King died and was buried in Potter’s Field.  His emaciated condition was of great interest to Dr. Hudson.  The following night, Hudson, accompanied by two assistants, went to the grave and proceeded to disinter Tom King’s remains.  Suddenly, someone shot at the group and hit Dr. Hudson in the eye.  Hudson lost the eye and it became his very public badge of shame.

Friday night in Medina –  a study in contrasts.

In the Victorian-style gazebo on the Square, the Medina Community Band  plays tunes that float sweetly in the summer air.  It is serene and nostalgic –  pure, old fashioned Americana straight out of  “The Music Man.”

Off the Square, exactly one block west –  the roar of Harley-Davidsons and the thump of hard rock produce their own summer ambiance.  That’s right, Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore — you’re in a street fair, elbow-to- elbow with hundreds of music fans packed into several adjoining parking lots located behind commercial buildings. It’s more gritty than pretty and the smell of barbecue permeates the air.

The bikers arrive  in droves and park  in specially reserved areas,  so that West Liberty Street resembles an  endless Harley-Davidson showroom. With their black leather gear, tattoos and bandanas, they provide color and swagger — as well as the element of cool. But the bikers are actually in the minority here.  The bulk of the crowd is  made up of your friends and neighbors — young and middle-aged suburbia out to drink beer, eat barbecue, and  listen to really great music.

The Rally in the Alley is a free outdoor concert that runs every Friday night, from Memorial Day weekend and until Labor Day Weekend when it ends with what is labeled A Huge Blowout.  Beer, wine, spirits and food are available for purchase, and a portion of those proceeds go to a different Medina charity every week. ( This evening it is the Forgotten Animal Shelter).

The Rally opens at 4:30 P.M. and the opening band takes the stage at 5:30.  (This afternoon it was The Woovs.) This evening, Majestic, a Journey Tribute band plays to an enthusiastic crowd.

The moving force behind this weekly summer event is Gary Quesada, owner of the Main Street Cafe on 17 Public Square –  chef extraordinaire and a die-hard fan of both rock music and Harley-Davidson bikes. Within a few short years, he has turned Rally in the Alley into a major event — a sort of Medina Band Concert for the new Millennium.

Here is a list of bands that will be playing at Rally in the Alley in the coming weeks:

June 24: Wounded Hand (Stone Temple Pilots Tribute). Opener: Aphrodite’s Hero (Classic Rock).

July 2: Carlos Jones (Bob Marley Tribute). Opener: Prayer Warriors

July 9: Mojo (Doors Tribute). Opener: Moon Age (Classic Rock)

July 16: One (A Celebration of U2). Opener: Blue Fish Crisis.

July 30: Vicious Cycle (Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute). Opener: Big House (Allman Brothers Tribute.)

August 6: Majestic (Journey Tribute). Opener: The Juke Hounds (Chicago Blues).

August 13: Stone Pony (Bruce Springsteen Cover). Opener: Pilgrim.

August 20: Mr. Speed (Kiss Tribute). Opener: Blue Lunch.

August 27: Rumors (Fleetwood Mac Tribute). Opener: The Woovs.

September 3: Vinyl Approach. Opener: The Knock-offs.

September 4: Evil Ways (Santana Tribute). Opener: The Four Horsemen (Metallica Tribute).

September 5: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Tribute).

1868 Band Concert on the Square

This year marks 151 years since the Medina Community Band has played on the village square on balmy summer nights.  In that first year, 1859, both the village and the Republic were relatively young.  Since then, generations have sat on the same three acre patch of grass, through the Civil War and two world wars, and through various economic and social upheavals. And the band played on.

In the early years, the band consisted of 15 men playing cornets.  This year, the Medina Community Band consists of 81 musicians.  Mostly amateurs, the group  includes retired teachers, postal workers, dentists, physicians and several students. They now play a much wider variety of instruments — flute, clarinet, oboe, sax , tuba and euphonium.

These outdoor concerts performed by the town band are a part of a great musical tradition in America.  Meredith Wilson’s  musical, “The Music Man” illustrates the band’s importance to small town life.  At the turn of the nineteenth century, John Philip Sousa, America’s foremost band director and composer of stirring marches, thrilled audiences in outdoor concerts in Philadelphia. He was a powerful influence in the community band movement throughout his career.

But then, in most places, the tradition ended.  Why? Radio?  Talking pictures? The Victrola? Or perhaps the Great Depression and  the two world wars?

At any rate, in Medina the tradition lives on.  Led by the splendidly flamboyant Band Director, Marcus Neiman, (in his 38th year on the job) the concert begins with the entire audience rising to sing the National Anthem, followed by some light classical music, including a violin solo (“Polonaise Brilliante, Op. 4) ; the theme from “Dragnet”, a 1950’s era television program; a Sing-a-Long (“On the Mall”); and several marches.  The concert concludes with Sousa’s stirring “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

In the meantime, another part of the tradition includes an ice cream social.  In the northeast corner of the Square (on a concrete slab where the band concerts were held before the gazebo was erected in 1975), the Seville Presbyterian Church offers ice cream and freshly baked pies.

So, if you’re searching for a vanishing America — that ephemeral place of small towns, cozy communities, Victorian buildings, American flags and church socials– just stop by on any Friday night.  It’s still here and it’s the real thing.

Summer Series Dates:

June 18, 25

July 4, 9, 16, 23, 30.

8:30 P.M.