2020

Rossford, : A Superior Cultural Experience By Dr. Ted Ligibel

Rossford,Ohio

Rossford was founded in 1898 by Edward glass production. This was

Ford as the site for a new flat glass especially significant as the production facility. Edward Ford was bornao Ohio expanding auto industry would in 1843, the son of John B. Ford, a flat soon require massive amounts of glass pioneer, and Mary Bower Ford. John flat glass for windshields and side Ford is considered the “father” of the plate and rear windows. glass industry in America. Though Edward Ford purchased 173 acres Edward Ford had become president and along the in what general manager of his father’s would become Rossford in 1898, corporation, the Pittsburg Plate Glass the year he and his family moved to Company in Pennsylvania, he chose to the area. forge his own path in the burgeoning glass Edward Ford The town’s name was the result of industry. combining the last names of spurred the development of numerous He was attracted to Northwest Ohio Edward Ford and his wife, Carrie glass-related industries. These because of its proximity to the larger Ross Ford, whom he married in advantages, along with reasonable industrial powerhouse that was Toledo at 1872. Construction on the first labor and taxation rates, attracted the turn of the 19th century. Ease of furnace was completed by the entrepreneurs like Edward transportation via the Maumee River and summer of 1899 and the initial Drummond Libbey to Toledo to re- extensive railroad connections, plus the plate glass cast was poured in establish his Libbey Glass Company availability of sand, limestone, and October that year. here in 1888. Missing, however, was natural and “producer” gas in the region a local plant that specialized in flat

Indian Hills… “It was the significant archaeological discovery of a c. 1610 “protohistoric” village in Rossford that rewrote Native American and European-American history.”

As with all northern Ohio communities, Discovered in 1963 by boys playing in from present-day Fremont, Ohio west the original inhabitants were Native Crane’s Woods, archaeologists from the to Fort Wayne, Indiana, south of the American groups who followed the excavated the ten-acre Maumee River. Wood County, which retreat of the last major glaciation in site in the summers of 1967 and 1968. had been formed in 1820, shortly after North America, known as the Excavated portions included a palisaded the Treaty of Ghent, was largely Wisconsinan period. It is well wall that revealed several circular structures located within this wetland. documented that Native Americans used lining the wall’s interior which likely Consequently, the earliest towns that the Maumee River Valley as a major served as habitations. Scores of artifacts, developed were along the Maumee transportation route for thousands of including shell-tempered pottery shards, River’s high banks, just as past Native years, as verified by archaeological brass decorative objects, and glass beads American villages had been. These investigations and Native American oral were also found. Remarkably, the burials of towns included Perrysburg (1816), traditions. Connecting the Mississippi over 100 individuals were found in four Maumee (1817), Port Lawrence and Great Lakes watersheds (via the burial pits (ossuaries) at the site. (1817), and Vistula (1833), the latter major portage at Fort Wayne, Indiana), Though the findings initially were not fully two of which merged in 1837 to the Maumee River holds an important understood, later analysis by University of become Toledo. place in American history. Toledo archeologists concluded that this The 1830 Indian Removal Act began a Numerous attempts for control of the was one of the largest and perhaps the last decades-long effort by the United Maumee River Valley occurred over a village to be inhabited by regional Native States government to relocate all long and contested period as Native Americans before European contact in the Native Americans residing east of the Americans, French explorers, and early 1600s. Intensive research determined Mississippi River. As a result, most American settlers competed for British that the site of the village was referenced on Native Americans were forcibly moved control of the valley, culminating in the Samuel de Champlain’s earliest maps from to Oklahoma and Kansas. This French & Indian Wars (1754-1763); 1616 and 1632. included the historic tribes that General Anthony Wayne’s military According to the late Dr. David Stothers, inhabited Northwest Ohio and campaign that resulted in the decisive who investigated and reinterpreted the Southeast Michigan (i.e., Potawatomi, (1794); and the findings in the 1970s, the Indian Hills site Ottawa, and Chippewa). Thus, by the as evidenced at the Battle “connects the historic and prehistoric time time the first settlers arrived in Wood of Fort Meigs (1813) in nearby periods for one of the two known cultural County, there were virtually no Native Perrysburg, Ohio. The 1815 Treaty of traditions in the region of the western Lake Americans remaining here. The Ghent ensured American control of the Erie drainage basin [in this case, the American settlers were largely farmers, Maumee River Valley and established Sandusky Tradition of the Mascouten and little physical evidence from this the permanent boundary between (Algonquin families) groups]—an period exists today, especially in the Canada and the United States that still unprecedented discovery.” (Stothers, 1981) Rossford area. Apart from some exists. The significance of the site led to its listing remaining agricultural fields Rossford holds a special place in this in the National Register of Historic Places in surrounding the city, only a handful of tumultuous history. It was long thought 1979. former family farmhouses remain, that the Maumee River Valley was Following the end of the War of 1812, most having been converted to largely devoid of human habitation from American and European settlers began dwellings now within neighborhoods, the early 1400s to the point of European permanently populating Northwest Ohio. such as homes on Rossburn Avenue contact in the early 1600s. However, it This included the portion of northern Wood near Dixie Highway across the street was the significant archaeological County that includes present-day Rossford. from its original location; the former discovery of a c. 1610 “protohistoric” Permanent settlement into much of George Davis family home built in village in Rossford that rewrote Native Northwest Ohio was impeded by an 1856, still thought to be on its original American and European-American expansive wetland known as the Great Black site, but now in the Bacon Street history. Swamp (the old bed of Lake Erie's glacial neighborhood; and the former Now known as Indian Hills, the site sits predecessors) that stretched roughly Dunipace homestead, which was on a modest promontory located directly moved to Colony Road. east of Indian Hills School.

A Melting Pot of Families

In response to the establishment of the Ford Plate Glass Company, an influx of European immigrants, especially Eastern European, emigrated to Rossford to find work.

Rossford lay adjacent to Toledo, but in Also, the several churches erected to Wood County, and sat directly on the meet the religious needs of the Maumee River, a site and situation that community over the years, including offered the economic, transportation, and Baptist, Catholic (Roman and Eastern), labor incentives that had attracted Edward Methodist, Lutheran, and African Ford to establish his flat glass company Methodist Episcopal were important

here. cultural centers for specific ethnic

Hundreds of immigrant families chose groups. Some churches still retain workers could socialize and relax after Rossford, often recruited by Edward Ford, customs associated with their founding work and on the weekends and as their new home in the United States. and some contain stained glass with holidays. The former Rossford Polish They arrived from Belgium, Poland, the names of founding families Club on Bergin Street is among other Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, inscribed. important structures related to the Italy, and Ukraine; in all, at least 18 ethnic theme. These structures and different ethnic groups have been other commercial and civic buildings, identified in Rossford. African American religious structures and congregations, families were encouraged by Ford to street names, and residential relocate to Rossford from the Creighton, architecture reflect this heritage. Pennsylvania area. Such transference was Intangible heritage, including festivals, a common phenomenon, especially in the foodways, traditional recipes, sports American Midwest, where the industrial teams, musical and social societies, revolution had fostered the growth of and an American Legion Post (533) hundreds of manufacturing enterprises, also helped to define the cultural notably in large urban regions like milieu that was and is Rossford. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit/Dearborn, ask the experts >>> Chicago, and Toledo/Rossford. This ethnic legacy has played a large role in

defining the character and “sense of Historic congregations like Sts. Cyril place” that became—and remains— & Methodius (Slovak) and St. Mary Rossford. In addition to the sprawling and Magdalene Catholic Churches (now ever-changing Ford Plate Glass Company, combined as All Saints Parish), Allen prominent buildings included the AME Chapel (African American), and Employee Relations Building (Ford Club), St. Michael’s Catholic (Ukrainian) erected in 1917 adjacent to the Church, helped define Rossford’s plant on Superior Street. Here, cultural traditions.

Rossford is typical of the small Midwestern community in terms of its physical design and layout. Essentially conforming to grid-patterned streets forming horizontal blocks at 90-degree angles, Rossford is laid out along a linear main street (Superior Street) that follows the configuration of the Maumee River. Rossford’s building environment is characterized by low scale, one- and two-story structures, both frame and brick in construction.

The physical characteristics of the structures along Superior Street represent an increasingly rare form of small-town urban design in that the entire stretch is a blend of industrial, commercial, civic, religious, governmental, educational, and residential structures all adjacent to and intermingled with one another.

Though there have been notable history. Designed in both Gable-front southern section. Though the exact demolitions over the years, the existing and Foursquare forms, most of these are date of this boulevard’s creation form continues to cast an intimacy of frame construction. would require further research, it urban design that has long since Perhaps the most iconic of these is the may have had its origins as early as disappeared from most smaller home at 411 Superior Street, dating to 1894 when an interurban trolley, the municipalities. Iconic structures that 1898, and documented as one of the Toledo & Maumee Valley Electric remain along Superior Street include the original Ford company-built homes. Railroad, was routed through what former Ford Club (now the headquarters of would become Rossford, to IPS); the Rossford State Bank (now law Perrysburg about eight miles to the offices); the Tuller Block; the Rossford southwest. Following World War I, United Methodist Church; the Community Superior Street was dedicated as a Recreation Center; the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Parkway honoring the style Rossford High School (by Toledo four local men who lost their lives in architects, the Stophlet brothers); the mid- that war. Also, reportedly, some of century bank (now 5/3 Bank); the Mid- the wealthier families who lived Century Modern style 1950s civic along East River Road upriver complex at Superior Street’s southerly Other homes have had small storefronts terminus; and, of course, the massive added to their front elevations, former Ford Plate Glass plant (now NSG extending right to the sidewalks, Glass), anchoring the northern end of examples of the classic “mom and pop”

Superior Street. Other iconic structures, form of commercial establishment. towards Perrysburg paid to have the like the imposing, three-story brick former Superior Street itself comprises an highway from Rossford to Polish Hall (c. 1910) on Bergin Street, important element in Rossford’s Perrysburg landscaped in the 1920s Indian Hills School (1970) on Glenwood physical character, existing as a and 1930s to create a more beautiful Road, and All Saints Catholic Church landscaped boulevard the entire length drive along that road. Today, (2002) on Lime City Road, are important of the commercial district. This Superior Street also is a dedicated examples of the evolution of Rossford’s boulevard is unique in that, Memorial Parkway to Rossford design heritage. A handful of vintage technically, it is two roadways—Dixie resident, Marine Sargent David R. residential houses are sprinkled throughout Highway (Ohio Route 65) on the Christoff, who died in 2006 during this district, several dating from the northerly portion of the road and Operation Iraqi Freedom. company-town era of Rossford’s Superior Street comprising the

southern section. Though the exact

date of Spreading out from Superior Street are The population at the time (c.1903-1905) This curvilinear street subdivision densely built neighborhoods that consist was 1200, with the vast majority of represented the wave of heavily- primarily of one- and one-and-a-half-story citizens working at the Ford plant. Most landscaped communities that began frame homes, with a scattering of brick of these residential structures are to spring up in America following and two-story homes interspersed. A few characterized as vernacular style the Civil War, as in Riverside two-story former corner stores can still be constructions, in popular Gable-front and outside Chicago. Eagle Point found in these neighborhoods. A highly Foursquare forms. Undoubtedly, many of Colony was established beginning in significant aspect of the residential these originated as “catalog homes,” 1916 by the George B. Ricaby architecture in Rossford is the fact that the ordered through companies like Sears & Company, under the Eagle Point Ford Plate Glass Company developed Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Realty Company name. Rossford housing for its workers in both single and Aladdin Homes. resident, Joseph Dunipace, was the multiple family units. The “company general manager. The land on which town” was a relatively new concept in much of Eagle Point Colony was later 19th century America, having begun developed had been the Dunipace in England in response to the need for farm (the original Dunipace nearby and safe housing for workers and Raw materials, cut to specific designs, farmhouse was moved and now their families. Some notable American were shipped by railroad to local freight stands at 200 Colony Road, just examples include Pullman in Chicago; depots where homeowners or their south of the Eagle Point Colony’s Gary, Indiana; the Proctor & Gamble carpenters would arrange to pick up the stone entrance gates). Eagle Point community in Cincinnati; and, most materials to deliver to the chosen site. Colony was laid out by William applicably, Ford City in Armstrong All needed materials were contained in Pitkin, Jr., a recognized landscape County, Pennsylvania, developed by the such shipments, including not only the architect of Rochester, New York. Ford family to provide housing for lumber, but also the flooring, roofs, The large lush lots and meandering laborers at Pittsburgh Plate Glass Plant streets attracted numerous residents Number 3. It is not surprising then that who were well-known in Toledo and Edward Ford embarked upon the same area businesses and industries. effort here, creating company-provided Expansive architect-designed homes housing in his town, Rossford. in the Renaissance, Colonial, and Approximately 37 homes had been Mediterranean Revival styles arose erected in 1899, but by 1903, five years on these lots, many with a view of after the town had been founded, 100 doors, windows, and hardware. Local the Maumee River. Prominent homes had been built. Multi-family lumberyards also carried plans for residents included the Rheinfrank, “terraces,” like Ford Terraces and Dixie homes, garages, small stores, and Bock, Lamson, France, Walbridge, Highway Terraces (both now demolished) barns. and Hoke families. Eagle Point followed shortly thereafter. Colony has remained a desirable One of the largest residential residential location since its developments in Rossford’s history founding. In 1983, it was listed in was in the early 20th century of the the National Register of Historic Eagle Point Colony in the Places. northwestern quadrant of the city,

directly along the Maumee River.

Historically, and owing to its Ford Memorial Park, adjacent to the proximity to the Maumee River, glass plant on Dixie Highway, and boating and fishing were major Veteran's Memorial Park on the pastimes in Rossford and have deeply Maumee River, which includes the influenced its character and municipal marina. recreational heritage. Important

elements in the overall character of Woods (now the location of Indian Hills Rossford are the city’s parks, both School and the Indian Hills current and historic, and its marina. Archaeological site), Island View

Included in this list are Crane's Park, Beech Street Park, the Edward

The impact of Rossford’s industrial heritage

The industrial history of Rossford largely and Lake Erie proved highly Owens- Sheet Glass Company to revolves around the Edward Ford Plate advantageous for glass production and form the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company and its massive impact on distribution around the nation. Initially, (LOF) Glass Company. One of this community. As noted previously, the Rossford plant employed several LOF’s largest orders at the time Edward Ford purchased 173 acres along hundred workers primarily in the (1930-1931) was for window glass the Maumee River in what would become casting, grinding, and polishing for New York’s Empire State Rossford in 1898. Construction on the flat departments. The 1903 payroll was Building which used Libbey- glass plant commenced shortly thereafter, $32,100 per month. Between the years Owens-Ford glass exclusively. The and the first furnace was completed in the 1903 and 1912, the plant reached a size Rossford plant continued to summer of 1899. The initial plate glass of 400,000 square feet. prosper and perfected the cast was poured on October 28, 1899, and development of colored the first batch of flat glass was shipped in Over the ensuing years, the plant architectural glass, a product mid-November of that year. By 1900, a continued to expand, particularly in known as Vitrolite, that was used production capacity of six million feet of response to the huge demand for on storefronts, in bathrooms, as glass per year had been reached, thereby automobile and architectural glass. decorative panels and counter-tops eclipsing Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Several innovations were perfected at in homes and businesses, as well as as the largest manufacturer of flat glass in the plant over the years, including artistic murals in public buildings. the nation. safety and laminated glass for In all, 28 different colors of automobiles and buildings in the Vitrolite were available by the 1920s. In 1926, Edward Ford adopted mid-1930s. a new Belgian technique, known as the Bicheroux process, for casting plate LOF’s reputation for quality flat glass through water-cooled rollers. glass continued, and was This flat glass production process characterized by strong promotional greatly streamlined production, and, in campaigns, including mounting a the 1930s, the plant received an major exhibition at the 1939 New exclusive contract to supply all the York World’s Fair. By 1940, the The availability of numerous railroad lines glass for vehicles produced by General Rossford plant had expanded to in the Toledo area, several directly serving Motors Corporation. 1,250,000 square feet and the annual Rossford, as well as the proximity to Great In 1930, the Edward Ford Plate Glass payroll was $170,452 per month, Lakes shipping via the Maumee River Company merged with the Libbey- over $2 million per year.

At this time, the plant employed 4,000 that the need for grinding and family’s generosity to Rossford is workers. The economic impact of a polishing skills and the jobs they perhaps incalculable. All aspects of workforce this large on Rossford, represented were largely eliminated. community life were impacted by Toledo, and the surrounding region was their love of community. Schools, far-reaching. In 1986, the British glass manufacturer churches, social halls, homes, and Pilkington Group purchased the businesses were either constructed company and its flat glass production by or subsidized by the Fords. The assets but maintained the LOF name company also supported civic and glass production at the Rossford improvements like street paving and plant. In June 2006, Pilkington Group parks. To say that Rossford is “the was acquired by Nippon Sheet Glass town that Ford built” is an (NSG), and the LOF name was understatement. Edward Ford and removed from the company's name. his family’s influence will continue Today, a few of the original plant to be felt here for generations to Innovations during this period included buildings exist, but their exact location come. the development of an insulated glass would have to be verified with known as Thermopane. In 1946, Libbey- intensive research. The current Owens-Ford began to manufacture this workforce is estimated to be around insulated window glass. In 1951, the 300 employees. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Over the years, numerous spin-off Constitution were sealed in Thermopane industries and commercial glass at the National Archives. establishments were attracted to Rossford, but it was the Edward Ford In the 1950s, LOF adopted a new process Plate Glass Company, and later, of flat glass production known as “float Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, About This Report glass.” The float glass technique was that was the mainstay of Rossford’s This historical and cultural overview of Rossford, Ohio was written by Dr. Ted Ligibel, APT-PR, developed by Sir Arthur Pilkington and economy and its industrial heritage. Historic Preservation Consultant, as part of a Kenneth Bickerstaff in England Throughout its history, later Cultural Tourism Grant awarded by Ohio (Pilkington Brothers’ glass companies) generations of the Ford family Humanities to the Rossford Convention and and revolutionized flat glass production in remained active with company Visitors Bureau. Dr. Ligibel’s research and findings will be used to upgrade historical the world. The conversion to float glass management. Following the death of displays and programming at the Edward Ford eliminated the need for the grinding and Edward Ford in 1920, his son, George Memorial Park. polishing components of making sheet Ross Ford, became president and glass, again streamlining the process. An treasurer of the Edward Ford Plate Photos courtesy of the Rossford Public Library’s digital collection. immediate and impactful result was Glass Company. The Edward Ford

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Downes, Randolph C., and Catherine Simonds. The Maumee Valley U.S.A.: An American Story. Toledo, Ohio. The Historical Society of Northwest Ohio. 1955. Downes, Randolph C. Industrial Beginnings Series: Lucas County Historical Series. The Historical Society of Northwest Ohio. 1954. Eagle Point Realty Company. Eagle Point Colony: An Exclusive Residential Guide. Eagle Point Realty, 1916. Fairfield, E. William. Fire & Sand…the history of the Libbey-Owens-Sheet Glass Company. Lezius-Hiles Company, Cleveland, Ohio. 1960. Floyd, Barbara L. Toledo: The 19th Century. Images of America series. Arcadia Publishing, 2004. Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes, Volume II. C.J. Krehbiel & Co. Printers and Binders. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1908. Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company Records, 1851-1991, MSS-066. University of Toledo Canaday Center. http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/findingaids1/MSS-066.pdf Mann, Barbara Alice. Land of the Three Miamis: A Traditional Narrative of the Iroquois in Ohio. University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center Press. Toledo, Ohio, 2006.vPearson, George. Rossford: A Unique Municipality. Toledo Blade, September 26, 1903. Rossford History Scrapbooks. Rossford Public Library. Rossford, Ohio Rossford Public Library Digital Collection: https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll25/search Sikorski, Judy and Charlotte Starnes, eds. As I Recall…Rossford, Ohio 1898 – 1998. City of Rossford, 1998. Stothers, David. Indian Hills (33W04): A Protohistoric ASSISTAERONON Village in the Maumee River Valley of Northwestern Ohio. Ontario Archaeology 36:47- 56. Sullivan, Paul. National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Edward Ford Plate Glass Company Employee Relations Building. Reference number 16000600. State Historic Preservation Office/, Columbus, Ohio. Personal Interviews: Densic, Robert, Sikorski, Judy, Swemba, Michael, Thomas, William