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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Wild Dash Detailed

Sunday, December 9, 1906

The New York Times runs an article detailing the "wild dash" of a Rock Springs Trolley down a 25-foot embankment on the west end of East Liverpool. See it at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/trolley-cars-wild-dash.html.


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Trolley Plunges at Jethro Trestle

Saturday, December 8, 1906

Trolley which serviced Rock Springs Park along the East Liverpool Traction & Light Company line plunges over a twenty-five foot embankment at the Jethro Trestle in East Liverpool. See an image and read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/jethro-trestle.html.


Sunday, October 21, 2012

George Washington Visits Rock Springs

Sunday, October 21, 1770


On this date in park history, George Washington reputedly drank from Rock Springs when he and his party, including the Indians Half King, Pheasant, and White Feather, camped near the entrance to the park on this night.

Birth of Dr. James Walter Smith Jr.

Friday, October 29, 1926

On this date, Dr. James Walter Smith Jr., plastic surgeon and noted collector of late 19th century to the mid-20th, coin-operated games and similar machines, including Rock Springs’ Wurlitzer Carousel Band Organ, was born. Like so many men and women of his generation, Dr. Smith first saw the magical machines in childhood. Born in East Liverpool, Ohio, Rock Springs amusement park beckoned from across the river. Young Smith would slip away from his family at the park to the gaudy clangor of the penny arcade. There was worse to come. By the time he was a teenager, James Jr. was frequenting the local pool hall, where he played coin-operated baseball and horse-racing games. ''What were you doing in there sinning?'' his father, James Walter Sr., would bellow as he swooped down on the pool hall just long enough to extract his son by the ear. The son turned respectable. He served two years in the Navy; earned an undergraduate degree in 1948 from Adelbert College, later part of Case Western Reserve University; and in 1952 received an M.D. degree from Columbia. Dr. Smith became a prominent surgeon with a string of publications to his credit, was sent by the State Department to research leprosy in India and gained recognition for his work in hand reconstruction.

Friday, October 19, 2012

This Week in Rock Springs Park History

On October 17, 1930, The three governors of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania met at the junction of the William Penn Highway (U.S. Route 22) and the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30) in Imperial, PA, for a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of both roads during the Depression. This included the recently completed 3-mile stretch through Chester. Read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/governor-of-wv-attends-celebratory.html.


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Not Too Shabby

Amazon recently added "Author Rank" to their Author Central service. It is based on the sales of all of your books on Amazon.com and is updated hourly. For instance, I am currently ranked #4,040 in History. Not too shabby. Thanks to all my readers for their support!

C.A. Smith Died On This Date

Tuesday, October 13, 1953

Charles A. Smith Dies in Chester

(left) Charles (C.A.) Smith from the 2001 Class of Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame Inductees.

East Liverpool, Oct. 14 - Funeral arrangements will be made here today for Charles A. Smith, 86, transit company owner, pottery manufacturer, oil operator and gentleman farmer, who died Tuesday at his home in Chester, W.Va.

Mr. Smith founded the village of Chester and named it after his uncle, Chester Mahan.

He was principal owner of the old Steubenville, East Liverpool and Beaver Valley Traction Co., now the Valley Motor Transit Co., the Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery Co., extensive oil and real estate interests and the 4,000-acre Hillcrest Farms.

He was formerly owner of the Ohio River bridge between East Liverpool and Chester, which he sold to the state of Ohio for $2,135,000. For many years he also operated Rock Springs Park, an amusement resort in Chester, which he built at the same time he was starting Chester.

Mr. Smith once owned light and power rights for East Liverpool and Steubenville, but sold them to what is now the Ohio Power Co. in 1917. One of the founders of the old Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland Baseball League, he sponsored a baseball team known as the "World Champions," which he sent around the world in 1906-'09.

He was born April 14, 1867, in Wellsville, where he began his climb from gas company waterboy to one of the Ohio Valley's wealthiest men. He made money first in West Virginia oil drilling operations.

The body is at the Dawson Funeral Home.