Stories by author "Andrew Lee Feight, Ph.D.": 46
Stories
John J. Minor's Barbershop and "New Light" on the Underground Railroad
Born in 1828 in Albemarle County, Virginia, John James Minor settled in Portsmouth, Ohio in the mid-1830s, not long after the city had expelled many of its Black residents during its infamous “Black Friday” enforcement of Ohio laws requiring African…
The Eclipse Livery and T.M. Lynn's "Dan Rice"
With its two large arched entryways facing Second Street, the Eclipse Livery Building (now the home of Wright's Farm Center) was constructed by T.M. Lynn in 1871 for his livery business.
Trustem Mearns Lynn, more commonly known as T.M. Lynn,…
B. Glockner on Market Street
The B. Glockner Building at 206 Market Street illustrates the contribution of German immigrants to the nineteenth century development of Portsmouth, Ohio. And the building's restoration -- following a fire in January 2016 -- has contributed to…
Nurses at Portsmouth General Hospital (December 1937)
Portsmouth has long been a center for medical care, beginning with the city’s first professionally trained physician, Dr. Thomas Waller, who also served as President of the first City Council in 1815. Nursing in Portsmouth, one can then argue,…
Ohio Stove Company Workers (30 January 1942)
The foundry workers pictured here in January of 1942 worked for the Ohio Stove Company, which was first organized in 1872. Perhaps the oldest manufacturer still operating in Portsmouth, they originally cast heating and cooking stoves, their most…
The White Front Restaurant on Chillicothe Street (c. 1965)
In 1936, Nicholas Sainopulos purchased the “White Lunch Car,” a diner that was housed in an old Portsmouth street car. Sainopulos “walled in the structure" and rechristened it the “White Front Restaurant.” His son, Charles, joined his father…
Glick’s Furniture and the Damarin Block (c. 1965)
“Buy your furniture at Glick’s on Second Street,” so sang Zeke Mullins on WPAY. Glick’s Furniture opened its doors in 1936 and closed in 1976, having made the Damarin Block at Court and Second Streets its home for some forty years. Named for…
Masonic Temple at Sixth & Chillicothe Streets
Taken from atop the Martings Building on Chillicothe Street, this photo captures the majesty of the Masonic Temple, which is offset by the plain red brick facade of the then new Montgomery Ward Department Store. The new and the old were frequently…
Selby Shoes & WPAY on Gallia Street (circa 1952)
WPAY pioneered Portsmouth radio, beginning its broadcasts on April 15th, 1933. By the early 1950s the station’s offices and studios were to be found on the north side of Gallia Street, next door to the Selby Shoe factory outlet store. The old…
Grand Opera House at Fourth & Chillicothe Streets (c. 1910)
In 1895, Lodge No. 154 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks laid the cornerstone of Portsmouth’s Grand Opera House in the name of “Charity, Justice, and Brotherly Love.” Before the rise of the moving picture show and a devastating fire in…
Tracy Shoe Company Building
Built in 1891 for the Tracy Shoe Company, this structure has recently been restored and repurposed by the YEI Corporation, a locally owned firm specializing in software solutions and other digital technologies. YEI’s success and the Tracy…
"Where Southern Hospitality Begins" by Carl Ackerman (5 September 1964).
In the early 1960s, City Manager Frank Gerlach and others championed a new slogan for the City of Portsmouth — “Where Southern Hospitality Begins.” In the summer of 1964, a welcome sign with the slogan was painted on the then bare concrete flood…
Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center
“The Kricker family’s long-term faith in the economic strength of Scioto County is a matter of historical record,” noted the Portsmouth Daily Times in May of 1978. Edmund J. Kricker, the seventy-nine year old chairman of the board and chief…
Dr. Chaboudy and the Origins of the Portsmouth Flood Wall Murals
Visit the Scioto County Welcome Center and view Robert Dafford's large canvas portrait of Ava and Louis Chaboudy. Dr. Louis Chaboudy is remembered as "the person who originated the idea of having murals painted on the Portsmouth floodwall." Bob…
Concord Presbyterian Church & the Rev. James H. Dickey
Ross County's Concord Presbyterian Church was home to a number of influential abolitionist activists and conductors on the Underground Railroad. Concord's congregation has its roots in nearby South Salem's Buckskin Presbyterian Church.…
Harry Knighton Trail & the Shawnee Nature Club
Coming soon! The story of the Shawnee Nature Club and the Harry Knighton Trail in the Shawnee State Park.
Harry Knighton, internationally known for his study of fungi, helped found the North American Mycological Association in 1959 and the…
Rev. Samuel Crothers & the Abolition Society of Paint Valley
Coming soon! Learn about the founding of the Abolition Society of Paint Valley, one of Ohio's and the nations earliest abolition societies. In 1833, Rev. Samuel Crothers and the Greenfield Presbyterian Church hosted the first meeting of the…
Harry Wagner & the Origins of Boy Scout Camp Oyo
"HOW!" rang the greeting.
"It is indeed a pleasure for me, as a representative of the people who once inhabited this very spot, to come before you, our White Brothers, who are now sitting about our Council Fire. The Council Fire of…
The Greenup Slave Revolt and David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the United States of America
On a Friday afternoon, November 27th, 1829, with the Ohio River and the hills of the northern shore as backdrop, five rebel slaves were executed near the Greenup County, Kentucky, courthouse. This is a story from the days of the interstate slave…
Rev. James Gilliland & Red Oak Presbyterian Church
Coming soon! The story of Red Oak Presbyterian Church and the Rev. James Gilliland, who helped establish the Underground Railroad in southern Ohio. Gilliland moved to southern Ohio when church authorities in South Carolina banned him from preaching…
Abandoned Alexandria, Ohio
The confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers has long been the site of human habitation, from the ancient Adena and Hopewell to the Shawnee and, lastly, to the Americans of today. The mouth of the Scioto has seen the rise and fall of many villages,…
Gharky & Waller at Carey's Run Cemetery
The lives of David Gharky and Dr. Thomas Waller are forever intertwined. These two pioneer settlers first made their home at Alexandria, on the West Side of the Scioto's Old Mouth, but when that village's fate became clear, these two men…
Columbus & the Santa Maria Ship/Museum
Billed as "the world's most authentic, museum-quality representation of Christopher Columbus' flagship," the Santa Maria Ship/Museum has been anchored to the banks of the Scioto River in the heart of Ohio's state capital since 1992.
Built to…
Rev. William Williamson & Abolitionism at "the Beeches"
While the Underground Railroad in Ohio is often associated with members of the Quaker faith, in Adams County, the Presbyterians stood at the forefront. Among the earliest and most influential of antislavery activists in the region was the Rev.…
Copperhead Fire Tower
In 1924, after purchasing the first lands for the creation of the Shawnee State Forest, the Division of Forestry constructed three fire towers in the region to help protect the state's newly acquired resources.
Today, at the metal…
Nathaniel Massie and Indentured Servitude at Buckeye Station, Adams County, Ohio
Buckeye Station, the one-time home of Nathaniel Massie and his brother-in-law, Charles Willing Byrd, lays in ruins, marked now by a cell phone tower on what was once known as Hurricane Hill. An inescapable reference to what local historian Stephen…
Logan's Elm & Commemorating Dunmore's War
At its inaugural meeting, held at Westfall on July23rd, 1841, the Society resolved to "erect a monument to the memory of Logan's worth, on or near the spot, (if ascertained,) where his celebrated speech was delivered, or as near as suitable…
Sole Choice & the Portsmouth Shoe Industry
Explore the history of the sole-surviving remnant of Portsmouth, Ohio's once mighty shoe industry, Mitchellace, Inc. This "narrow fabrics" company emerged from the Panic and Great Recession of 2008 with new ownership and a new name -…
Robert Dafford & the Portsmouth Floodwall Murals
The City of Portsmouth, located at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, has a history of public murals, from those painted in the 1930s by Clarence Carter in the lobby of the Post Office on Gay Street to those in the Law Library at the…
Joe Logan & the Fugitive Slave Experience in Southern Ohio
The Olde Wayside Inn in West Union, Adams County, has gone by many names over its two-hundred plus years of existence. Originally known as Bradford's Tavern, for a while in the 1870s and 80s, area residents and visitors would have called it…