Several Interesting Events Occurred On This Day

Sunday, August 10, 1902

The Youngstown Vindicator reports that a couple eloped following a meeting at Rock Springs Park and were married "over the wire" in Lisbon, Ohio. Read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/couple-elope-from-rock-springs.html.

Sunday, August 10, 1930

Sunday Excursion by Boat and Train from Greensburg, PA, was taken from Greensburg, PA to Rock Springs Park. Read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/river-excursions-past-and-present.html.

Monday, August 10, 1959

Major Tom Thumb “The Hercules of the Midget Wrestlers” appears at Rock Springs Park. Read the details at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/missing-thumbs.html.

Youngstown Hoopies at Rock Springs

It may come as a surprise to some that the term “Hoopie” is a derogatory one thought to be an insult worse than "hillbilly" given to residents of West Virginia.

According to history, East Liverpool OH, across the river from WV, began as an important maker of pottery, so much so that it was often referred to as “Potters' Field”.

West Virginia residents looking for work in the area were thought to be only skilled enough to bang together the metal strips that would make the hoops needed for barrel construction.

One legend claims that when Hoopies first saw the HLC on the large smokestack of Homer Laughlin China in Newell, WV, they were scared, thinking it stood for “Hoopies Last Chance.”

But, a news story found in Youngstown’s Sunday Vindicator tells us that Ohio had a fair share of Hoopies residing within its own borders. And one wonders, if West Virginia was so bad, why did they praise their neighbor state and plan a relief outing to Rock Springs Park in 1902.

The Sunday Vindicator - Youngstown, Ohio - May 4, 1902

EXCURSION TO BE RUN BY RELIEF ASSOCIATIONS CONNECTED WITH YOUNGSTOWN WORKS

Steel Hoop People Go to Rock Springs

The Relief Association of the American Steel Hoop company decided last evening to hold its annual outing at Rock Springs Park, at Chester, W. Va., across the Ohio River from East Liverpool, on June 28. The fare for the round trip will be $1. Rock Springs Park is one of the most attractive and delightful resorts in the country, and affords every pleasure for the excursionist. The large pavilion is on high ground and overlooks the Ohio River, and the view is one of beauty. The woodland and hills about the park and the coaster and other attractions make it an ideal place to spend a day.

The pottery industry at East Liverpool will be a treat to the ironworkers.

A Sandwich, a Stein and a Stogy

This early postcard image of the famous spring in Rock Springs Park shows two young gentlemen raising a toast with their tin cups to the camera. It was originally submitted as an image for the book, but was rejected as not clear enough. (Courtesy of Richard L. Bowker)

Hey, this is my 100th Rock Springs Park blog post! Let’s celebrate at the park with a sandwich, a stein and a stogy (stogie?). Or, if you prefer, we can meet for an after-dinner snifter. Say, brandies and sodas, around seven?

In 1901, the Youngstown Vindicator and the East Liverpool Crisis planned a meeting over sandwiches, beers, and cigars at Rock Springs Park to resolve a long-standing feud between the rival newspapers and their respective cities that had been brewing for nearly four years.

It came to a head the previous summer when the Vindicator compared the population of East Liverpool to that of Youngstown’s police force.

Here is their brief public conversation:

Youngstown Vindicator - The police force of Youngstown is close to the size of the population of East Liverpool.

East Liverpool Daily Crisis - And Youngstown needs 'em all.

Youngstown Vindicator - That is unfortunately true. Living so near East Liverpool, it is necessary to be well policed to protect the people and property here from the E.L. savages and Boxers.

Wow, that is harsh! Wouldn’t you say?

Newspapers of this era, even papers in the same city like the Crisis and the Review in Liverpool, often attacked each other, as competition between the papers was bitter. They were vying for readership, advertising, and the latest and most modern equipment, but most often the fires of animosity were sparked by politics, with one paper strongly democratic and the other strongly republican. Not unlike the obviously conservative bent of Fox News as opposed to the liberal leanings of MSNBC, today.

Under its nameplate of The Crisis was the declaration "Democratic In All Things -- Neutral In Nothing." (Image from the East Liverpool Historical Society website)

Sometimes the fate of the paper hinged on a seedy scandal or sensational murder trial like that of Annie Van Fossan, 19, of Second Street, in East Liverpool who, according to the East Liverpool Historical Society's website, “was charged with first degree murder in the January 8, 1885, (poisoning) death of a 6-year-old girl in Seldom Seen, a neighborhood in the city's West End.” The murder trial prompted both the Crisis and the Review to switch from weeklies to dalies that year.

An account of the murder trial and East Liverpool newspaper histories can be found here.

By April 1904, the Crisis suspended operations and merged with the Review under the new name The News-Review & Crisis and within a month the paper's name changed to The Evening Review, today simply the East Liverpool Review.

Both The Review and The Youngstown Vindicator or “Vindy” are still in publication today.

On April 26, 1892, The Review was purchased by East Liverpool attorney, J. E. McDonald, who would go on to build the Chester Bridge, develop the town of Chester, then known as "The South Side", and create Rock Springs Park at the end of the new streetcar lines of rising entrepreneur C. A. Smith.

Here is a clipping taken from the Youngstown Vindicator from August 13, 1901. Although the Vindy appears to accept the Crisis manager's invitation of sandwiches, beer, and cigars at Rock Springs Park, it does not do so graciously. Note the final jab at the Crisis at the end suggesting the East Liverpool attendees would have a difficult time avoiding getting drunk in the morning before the Vindy folks arrived at the park to meet them.

THE CRISIS' BEGAN daily publication on March 28, 1887, two years after The Review, and cost a penny a copy.

A Few Additional Notes:

On his website Stogie’d, cigar aficionado, Bob Woods, under the title, “Battle Royale: Stogy vs. Stogie”, asks readers to vote on which spelling of the word is correct. This illustration shows the latest results (left).


Want to try a glass of brandy and soda. It’s easy. Just pour brandy into a Collins glass holding 2 or 3 ice cubes and top up with soda. That's all there is to it. Have a few and then break into the old pub tune “My Tarpaulin Jacket.”

A tall stalwart lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed he lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say:

Chorus: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a poor buffer lies low;
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me
With steps solemn, mournful and slow.

Had I the wings of a little dove,
Far far away would I fly; I'd fly
Straight for the arms of my true love
And there I would lay me and die.
Then get you two little white tombstones
Put them one at my head and my toe, my toe,
And get you a penknife and scratch there:
"Here lies a poor buffer below."

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And set them all out in a row, a row,
And get you six jolly good fellows
To drink to this buffer below.

And then in the calm of the twilight
When the soft winds are whispering low, so low,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below.

Dog Days of Summer Spurred Soap Opera

Postcard messages like this one with the note, “I knew you would miss me when I was gone,” remind me that even our great-grandparents were once young and in love and felt all the things that go along with both.

I always assumed soap operas started in the 1950s with the introduction of television, but that was before I read the drama below between two former lovers that began at a dance in Rock Springs Park in 1900.

Youngstown Vindicator - August 29, 1900

Novel Street Scene

Peculiar Occurrence in Public Between Former Lovers

Quite a novel scene occurred on Fifth Street, Monday morning about 9 o'clock, says the East Liverpool Crisis. A young woman arrived in the city from Youngstown on Saturday and attended the dance at Rock Springs Park on that evening. At the dance she saw her old lover, who has lately taken to himself a wife. She followed the couple home, but did not make any advance to make herself known. On Sunday morning, she was out bright and early, and waited patiently for her old lover to leave the house, which he did shortly after 8 o'clock. The young woman followed him to Fifth Street, where she sought to win back the affection which had been estranged from her. She fell on her knees and exclaimed: "Dear - do you not love me?" But he only replied, "I am married now, and have no further use for you." Still the young woman pleaded, but in vain. When she dropped her hands from her tearful eyes, the man had made good his escape, and was making his way to his home to seek comfort from his lawful wife.

About 200 people witnessed the scene on Fifth Street, and said that the man ran home like a deer.

At first I found this story to be quite humorous, especially the ending, but overall, I was left feeling sorry for the jilted young woman. It must have been embarrassing to raise herself back on her feet and wipe her eyes only to see 200 witnesses staring back or, worse yet, laughing at her. Plus, the guy seems like a “jerk.” Doesn't he? Especially his comment, before running away like a deer, of "I have no further use for you!" That's cold!

Apparently, the modern translation of "She followed the couple home, but did not make any advance to make herself known" is “STALKER!”

Never let it be said that our great-grandparents didn’t do anything crazy in their day. They may have walked twenty miles in the snow to get to school, but in the dog days of summer they were just as nuts as you and I.

"Dog Days" - The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

$70,000 Buys Park in 1950

It was never completely clear to me, while researching the book, whether or not C.C. Macdonald purchased Rock Springs Park in 1926 or just leased it. His family suggested he bought the park, having always wanted to own one during his years as manager of Euclid Beach Park in Akron, Ohio. However, the documents I uncovered all listed Macdonald as “lessee” or “president” of Rock Springs.

What is clear is that he spent A LOT of money improving the park prior to his first full season in 1927.

C.C. Macdonald (Partial image courtesy of Tish Hand; see full photograph in Images of America: Rock Springs Park)

The old Victorian trolley park had fallen into disrepair following its glory days under the ownership of Charles (C.A.) Smith Sr. Smith bought the park in 1900 and added the carousel pavilion, lake, pool, and the World’s Greatest Scenic Railway. His park was hugely successful until a law was passed in 1912, prohibiting the Pennsylvania Railroad from offering reduced-rate excursion tickets; a law which would not be revoked until 1929, negatively affecting profits for Smith for many years.

Large group excursions continued to be the biggest moneymaker for the park until it closed in 1970.

Except for the final days of its existence, the carousel pavilion saw its worst years toward the end of Smith’s tenure as owner/operator. The image above shows the pavilion with broken windows and roof stains on July 4, 1917. Much later photographs show that even when the park sat vacant from 1970-1974, the repaired windows of the carousel pavilion remained intact.

When Macdonald leased the park in 1926, he vowed to restore it to its former glory. He removed the old scenic railway, which had been converted into something resembling a modern coaster, and built the Cyclone roller coaster from the ground up. He also upgraded the dance hall, added a small zoo and go-cart track and a restaurant in the lower trolley loop.

The red and green striped roofs of the park’s buildings, which I still remember seeing as a child, were added as a part of Macdonald’s original improvements.This image shows the striped roof of the Crystal Pool Bath House.

Images of America: Rock Springs Park fully explains the Smith to Macdonald transition, including why Macdonald and his wife, Grace, left Rock Springs after just a few years to become part owners of Idlewild Park in Ligonier. (See the Macdonald Years 1926 – 1934)

A recently discovered newspaper article from the Youngstown Vindicator dated October 7, 1950, suggests that Macdonald did not own the park, even though he had spent a lot of money in upgrades as lessee:

East Liverpool, Oct. 7. – Charles A. Smith Jr., today announced the sale for $70,000 of Rock Springs Park at nearby Chester, W.Va., to Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Hand, who have managed the 50-year-old amusement resort since 1935.

This article, if true, would establish that C.A. Smith’s son owned the park at the time of the sale to the Hands instead of the Macdonalds as was previously thought.

One detail, that should be mentioned, is that whether they were lessees or managers or owners both C.C. Macdonald and the Hands spent large sums of money in their early days as operators. Macdonald spent hundreds of thousands in upgrades and new features, and the Hands slowly purchased rides and buildings from 1935 to 1950.

It is most likely the *$70,000 price tag was mainly for the land, an investment which would pay off in a big way when the state bought the property to construct a highway extension and new bridge in 1974.

*$70,000.00 in 1950 had the same buying power as $640,526.69 in 2010.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.76%.