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HISTORY OF AKRON
                 & SUMMIT COUNTY

 


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Leisure Time

Bicycle were very different in 1885 then they are today.  Bicycling then was a sport for the well-to-do, for high-wheelers cost $140. The Akron Bicycle Club's members raced teams from other cities at Fountain Park and traveled to their opponents' home towns for return matches. Pictured here are William Sawyer, Jay Steese, Walter Shields, Clarence Howland, Al Farrar, Charles Howland, Carl Sumner, Bert Work, Karl Pardee and Frank Kryder.

 

Great Balancing Act 1900
Achille Philion, a circus and carnival performer, captivated the city with his balancing act. Attired in bright red tights and golden spangles, he would mount a large wooden ball and walk it up a 30 ft. spiral tower. Then he would zoom back down, his feet flying. As he neared the ground, fireworks were discharged and he ended his act in a blaze of glory. He's pictured here at South Main and Quarry Streets.
 
Achille Philion Links
http://www.automuseum.org/NAM_collections_philion2.shtml
http://www.oiccam.com/reno/car_museum/page_one/1829_philion.shtml
http://www.geh.org/fm/zoller/m198200240813_ful.html
http://www.geh.org/fm/circus/m198200240835_ful.html
 
 

Elephants on Main Street
A circus parade marches down South Main Street in this 1910 photo, taken as the parade passed St. Mary's Church and School. St. Mary's was established in 1887 to accommodate the growing number of Catholic "South Enders." In 1916 the parish moved into a new church a little south from this scene; the church is still standing today and is a great example of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in northern Ohio.
 
 

Young's Pavilion, Summit Park

Courtesy of Sharon Weaver.
Taken by George J. Snook who had a Gallery opposite the P. O. Akron, Ohio

 

Fountain Oasis, Market Street

Courtesy of Sharon Weaver.
Taken by George J. Snook who had a Gallery opposite the P. O. Akron, Ohio


Games


Marbles

Golf

 

Parks


Silver Lake Park

High Bridge Glens

Summit Lake

Springfield Lake

 

Events


Parades

Fairgrounds

Soap Box Derby

County Fairs Were Big Attractions By K. Grismer

Summit County Took to Sleighs By K. Grismer

 

Graphics, stories, articles and other partial content are all Copyright ©2006-2011 Jeri Holland and other respective authors.