In every small American city, visits by famous historical figures captured the attention of the local populace. With the passing of time, these significant moments frequently become forgotten town history. Ironton, Ohio is a small city on the northern bank of the Ohio River. Ironton had 16,021 residents in 1930. The city now has around 11,000 residents. (Photos by Jim Ridgeway) Ironton, a small city in Southern Ohio, has welcomed many famous visitors. U.S. presidents visited the city in order to get elected or re-elected. Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft visited Ironton in May 1912 and delivered campaign speeches. A special campaign train carrying President Herbert Hoover stopped at Ironton in October 22, 1932 in order to allow him to address the crowd. Following in his father’s footsteps who spoke at the Ironton High auditorium as a vice-presidential nominee on October 29, 1980, President George W. Bush made a brief campaign stop at the Lawrence County courthouse on September 10, 2004. President Teddy Roosevelt, the famous Rough Rider, spoke to a large crowd at the Lawrence County courthouse on May 17, 1912. A reporter with the Portsmouth Times covered the event and recorded part of Roosevelt’s speech. The Progressive Party candidate received more electoral votes (88 to 8) and popular votes (27.4 percent to 23.2 percent) than the Republican incumbent, President William Taft of Ohio. President Taft spoke at Ironton on May 8, 1912. With the Republican Party split, Woodrow Wilson won the election. Today, Theodore Roosevelt is one of only four presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Several U.S. presidents have spoken on the lawn of the Lawrence County courthouse in Ironton, Ohio. On four occasions, Ironton was visited by the greatest show in the entire world. Buffalo Bill Cody brought the show that captivated the royalty of Europe to the Ohio River city. The 1901 visit likely included Annie Oakley who toured with Buffalo Bill that year until her train injury in October. Arriving by rail on several trains, Buffalo Bill and his massive show would parade through town. Buffalo Bill Cody’s famous show made four appearances (May 1, 1896, May 3, 1901, June 20, 1912 and September 22, 1916) at Ironton. Central School was later constructed on the Old Fairgrounds property (5th and Oak streets extending towards the hills). You can watch Buffalo Bill parading through New York City in 1901 at this link. http://www.loc.gov/item/00694397 Numerous dignitaries from the world of sports have visited the city. Woody Hayes, the legendary football coach at Ohio State, made several visits to Ironton. Hayes was honored at Ironton Sports Day in 1982. The 1963 Ironton Sports Day saw three members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame , George Halas, Sid Luckman and Joe Stydahar, visit the city to honor George McAfee. This golf bag tag commemorated Woody Hayes being honored by the Ironton Sports Day committee in 1982. (Photo by Jim Ridgeway) Woody Hayes also came to Ironton to help honor Kenny Fritz at Ironton Sports Day. President Bush (with Senators Mike DeWine and Zell Miller) was the first sitting President to visit Ironton since Ike. Several thousand area residents crowded the 4th Street side of the courthouse to witness the historic visit. (Photos by Jim Ridgeway) Despite an array of famous visitors to Ironton, it was a one-day visit by a man from Oklahoma in 1927 which truly stands out in town history. Notwithstanding his lack of actual citizenship, this man achieved international fame for his achievements in athletic competition while representing the United States. As a ward of the U.S. government, he twice stood on the platform at the 1912 Olympics in Sweden and accepted goal medals. Returning as a national hero, he received a ticker-tape parade down Broadway. His exploits in college football twice earned him All-American honors. He was a great professional football player and helped develop what we now know as the National Football League. His 7-foot statue has greeted millions of visitors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was voted greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century. A movie about his life was released in 1951that inspired countless youngsters in their pursuit of athletic excellence. This man was none other than Jim Thorpe. Thorpe, the famous ‘American Indian’, overcame rampant racism to become one of the most significant figures in American history. Born just eleven years after George Armstrong Custer and 267 U.S. soldiers were killed by ‘savages’ at the Little Big Horn River, Thorpe never allowed prejudice against Native Americans to stand in his way. Through the medium of sports, Thorpe broke down racial barriers just like Jackie Robinson did three decades later. Jim Thorpe became famous while a student at Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Carlisle was more like a trade school than real college. The school was created in 1879 to assimilate Native Americans into white-American society. Carlisle, like all Indian schools, was funded by the sale of Indian land as specified in the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. The Dawes Severalty Act, a blatant land grab, resulted in Native Americans losing two-thirds of their 138 million acres by 1932. Sent east by his father to the Pennsylvania school, Thorpe encountered the school’s experiment to take the Indian out of its students. Rather than embracing diversity and accepting the Native American culture, the school worked full-time to make the Indians white. The men had their long hair cut to a short length. Their native clothing was exchanged for typical white-man clothing of the day. Tribal languages were replaced by English. Students at Carlisle faced a military-like code of conduct. Over 10,000 Native Americans attended Carlisle with only a tiny fraction ever graduating from the school. Like most students, Thorpe found the going tough at Carlisle. However, Thorpe eventually found his niche in Carlisle’s athletic programs. Thorpe arrived at Carlisle with virtually no athletic training in any major sport. “My best sport as a boy was was in riding wild ponies,” said Thorpe in 1947. “I never saw a two-year old on the ranches that I couldn’t catch, saddle and ride. I loved the excitement of it.” Thorpe said in 1939 that he “had the edge” on other boys at Carlisle because he already spoke English. “When I was young,” Thorpe said in 1937, “I wanted to be an electrician.” When he realized Calisle did not offer such a trade, Jim settled for tailoring. In reality, Thorpe’s principal education at Carlisle came from an athletic apprenticeship under Pop Warner. Thorpe earned a spot on the Carlisle track team when Pop Warner inadvertently discovered Thorpe’s superb athleticism in the spring of 1908. Thorpe immediately reaped the benefits of college athletics. Jim Mehor, a student in the Carlisle band when Thorpe played, recalled those extra benefits in a 1975 interview. “Those athletes were treated like a millionaire treats racehorses,” said Mehor. “And Thorpe was as big as a horse. They had their own dietitian, chef and doctor at the school.” Thorpe eventually ended up on the Carlisle football team. Before his first practice, Jim was issued a suit several times too large for him. Jim was handed a pair of size-12 shoes which did not fit him. He joined Carlisle’s scrub team where he got his first carry against Carlisle’s starting eleven. On his first carry at practice, Thorpe ran the ball the distance for a touchdown. “Old Pop Warner called me a scrub until he watched me boot a football into the middle of next month,” said Thorpe in 1939. “The game was rough and tumble. No one played who couldn’t take it.” Thorpe could take it and became one of the best football players, if not the finest, in the entire country. The players that faced Carlisle on the gridiron never forgot their encounter with Jim Thorpe, an All-American in 1911 and 1912. This story from May, 20, 1909 provided insight to what Thorpe would later accomplish in track and field. As a member of the Army football team, Red O’Hare played against Carlisle. “Those Indians were terrific,” O’Hare stated in a 1943 interview. “They were big, fast, rough and ready. I never took a worse physical beating. They could give it, and they could take it. They were also crafty and cunning. Thorpe was a wild man. He could do everything better than anyone else I ever saw. And they wanted to beat Army more than any other team. Maybe they remembered Custer and Sitting Bull. After some plays there used to be four or five separate Army and Indian fights all over the field.” Leland S. Devore, a tackle on the Army team, said in 1912, “That Indian, Jim Thorpe, is the greatest player I ever saw in my five-year experience. He is superhuman, that’s all. There is no stopping him.” “He‘d bear down on you like a hurricane,” said Steve Bean in 1955. Bean, a former Brown University football player who later became a N.L.R.B. member, recalled the strategy for tackling Carlisle’s great running back. “You’d shut your eyes, take a dive and hope for the best.” J. Huber Wagner, a football team captain at Pitt who later became a surgeon, revealed in a 1946 interview his memories of Thorpe. “I’ve never seen anybody like Thorpe,” said Wagner. “He could do everything, and do it well.