The History of Upper Arlington's Fire Division - November 3, 2024

A History Speaks Event. Many thanks to our series lead sponsor, First Merchants Bank, and to a grant from UA’s Community Relations Committee that allows us to video record the event. Join us as we travel the decades since Upper Arlington formally established a municipal fire department on December 1, 1930. See how the people, the equipment, and the techniques have evolved to meet the challenges faced by today’s emergency responders. After the presentation, attendees visited Fire Station #72 on Reed Road. Our presenter, Dan Kochensparger, is the Upper Arlington Fire Division’s volunteer historian. He served as a UA firefighter for 33 years and is a two-time recipient of the Upper Arlington Liberty Mutual Firefighter of the Year Award. He was named grand marshal of the 2015 UA Independence Day parade. While a UA firefighter, he deployed to the World Trade Center collapse as a member of Ohio Task Force One, one of 28 urban search and rescue units that are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In recognition of his participation in the recovery effort at Ground Zero, he was chosen as a torchbearer for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Prior to his service at Upper Arlington, he was the EMS coordinator for the Perry County, Ohio EMS in southeast Ohio. He also was an assistant EMS instructor in the emergency medical program at Hocking College in Nelsonville. He began his fire service career in 1976 as a volunteer with the New Lexington, Ohio Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree from Kent State University, where he served four years as an emergency medical technician on the campus volunteer ambulance service.

Indigenous Ohio: Past & Present - October 13, 2024

Native Nations have called the lands of Ohio home since time immemorial, establishing relationships between each other and living together as neighbors. The beginning of the European colonization of North America did not alter that. French and British colonists were often incorporated into Indigenous communities through marriage, adoption, and economic relationships. The expansion of the new United States following the American Revolution threatened to change that as American settlers and the Federal Government sought to claim the Ohio Country for themselves. Westward Euro-American immigration into Indian Country, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, brought Ohio Native Nations and the United States to a crossroads. Could they live as side-by-side as neighbors or was Ohio not big enough for the two of them? Our presenter, Dr. John Bickers, is an assistant professor of History at Case Western Reserve University and a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. This presentation has been customized specifically for our UA History Speaks series. Dr. Bickers specializes in early American and Native American history. His research focuses on Indigenous constructions of citizenship and race and theories of Native political sovereignty and governance. Dr. Bickers received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. A History Speaks event. Thanks to our series lead sponsor, First Merchants Bank. Thanks to the UA Community Relations Committee for the grant to make this recording possible. Thanks to St. Mark's Episcopal Church for hosting this event.

How Cloud Computing Began... A History of CompuServe - April 24, 2024

A History Speaks presentation by the Upper Arlington Historical Society. Special thanks to our series lead sponsor, First Merchants Bank. Founded in 1969 and by 1973 headquartered in Upper Arlington, “CompuServe grew through the 1970s and 1980s into the first major online service in the U.S., offering chat and email to tens of thousands of customers, not to mention helping bring newspapers and stock trading into the digital age. It was known for its entrepreneurial and innovative culture, one which co-founder and former CEO Jeff Wilkins helped spark.” (GeekWire, 2015.) Jeff leads us through the history of CompuServe and the many innovative technological solutions developed and managed from its Upper Arlington location. Thanks to UA's Community Relations Committee for their grant to pay for this recording, and to The Wellington School for hosting this event.

1883: Eva's Diary Reveals Life in Southern Perry Township - March 7, 2024

What was life like in this area in the 1880s? The UA Historical Society’s archives contains the transcription of diary, written by a young woman living near today’s Reed and Fishinger roads in 1883 with the Walcutt family. The Society’s two lead Archives researchers, Melanie Brown and Lee Bracken, have spent many months delving into the stories Eva Wareham shares, uncovering the people, places, and events that she describes. Their presentation will use the diary’s entries as a jumping off point to discuss our pioneers’ way of life, detailed descriptions of their physical community, and traces of Upper Arlington’s past that remain visible today.

Look To Lazarus: The Big Store - February 6, 2024

Authors David and Beverly Meyers share the history behind one of the iconic department stores in Columbus and from 1970-2005 in Upper Arlington -- Lazarus. A History Speaks presentation. Thank you to Advent Media Inc. for this recording. Thank you to UA's Community Relations Committee for the grant covering the cost of the recording. Thank you to First Merchants Bank, lead sponsor of our 2024 History Speaks series.

THE NEWARK EARTHWORKS: ONE OF THE WORLD’S ANCIENT WONDERS — OCTOBER 11, 2023

Presenter: Brad Lepper, Senior Archaeologist for the Ohio History Connection’s World Heritage Program. The Newark Earthworks are the largest set of geometric enclosures and mounds in the world. The work of the Hopewell people who lived in Ohio circa A.D. 1-  400, these geometric earthworks covered nearly five square miles, using more than seven million cubic feet of earth. Why did the Hopewell build such monumental works? Were they prehistoric forts or ancient American cathedrals?

A HISTORY OF TREMONT CENTER’ S NEIGHBORHOOD GROCERS — SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

Dan Tarpy, Tarpy’s Market
Tim Huffman, Huffman’s Market
Rob Littleton, Littleton’s Market

Upper Arlington has a rich history of namesake local grocery stores emphasizing personalized service. As we highly anticipate the opening of Littleton’s at Tremont Center, we honor the beloved markets that once occupied that retail space — Tarpy’s Market and Huffman’s Market.

THE SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING PRESENTS: WHY PRESERVATION? — JUNE 7, 2023

Presenter: Susan Keeny, Preservation Director, Columbus Landmarks. What are the important architectural features of older homes? How do they enhance the character and style of your historic home?

This program looks at why taking a preservation approach is important not only for our homes, but also for our neighborhoods.

THE SELLS BROS. CIRCUS — APRIL 25, 2023

Presenter: Fred Pfening III, past President of Fred D. Pfening Co. and lifelong UA resident and circus enthusiast.

The Sells Bros. Circus (1870s-early 1900s) wintered just southeast of today’s Upper Arlington. Bill Moose, buried in UA’s Wyandot Park and recognized as the last full-blooded Wyandot in this region, appeared in their show for nine years.

October 2, 2022 - Howard Dwight Smith’s best-known architectural work — Ohio Stadium — celebrates its century mark in 2022. But did you know he was an almost 40 year resident of Upper Arlington and was the architect for many of our iconic buildings — Fire Station #71, Jones Middle School, and Barrington Elementary School to name a few… He also designed the UA homes in which he lived, and as OSU's University Architect from 1929 to 1956, numerous campus buildings including the OSU Golf Clubhouse here in our community. His body of work extends beyond the UA and OSU borders and has been recognized with local, state and national awards. This program includes both family members’ insight into the man himself, his passions and pursuits; and an in-depth look at Smith’s architecture in our community and surrounding area, including Ohio Stadium.

October 25, 2022 - Legendary OSU football coach Woody Hayes resided on Cardiff Road in Upper Arlington and was inducted to the UA Wall of Honor in 1991. Author and former sports columnist Bob Hunter will share his personal experiences with Woody, discuss why Woody was a great coach (and why he wasn’t), and explain why it is so difficult to pull him out of his era (50s, 60s and 70s) and judge him by today’s standards. Included a book signing for Saint Woody: The History and Fanaticism of OSU Football.

Upper Arlington Historical Society's Annual Meeting - June 8, 2022. Board member Mark Abell, a former UACA President, shared his shared passions for history and the UACA organization. A culmination of four years of research, here are some key moments in the Upper Arlington Civic Association's organizational life. Each slide plays for 20 seconds; please Pause to read more.

“tour” of robert russel royce homes in UA

Who was Robert Russel Royce, and why do current-day real estate ads promote "Royce-built" homes? Find out more about the man who designed over 100 homes in Upper Arlington, the homes' architecture, the first owners...and a little UA history to set the context. 

Originally set as an in-person walking tour, now available in video! Presented as part of our HistorySpeaks series, with thanks to our Lead Sponsor - First Merchants Bank, and our Supporting Sponsors - Veterans Plaza Committee and The Wellington School

History of the Miller Family & Livingston Seed Company

Our second HistorySpeaks 2020 event!

Photos are courtesy of the Upper Arlington Historical Society, UA Archives and Martha Livingston.

This presentation is two-part: (1) A brief history of the Miller Family (James T. Miller was UA's first mayor, and he sold the land that became the original Upper Arlington). (2) An overview of the Livingston Seed Company and its ties to UA.

The original Zoom online presentation was August 11, 2020. This was intended to be an in-person event at First Community Village, but COVID-19 forced a switch to an online format.

As part of our HIstorySpeaks 2020 series, the Upper Arlington Historical Society was pleased to present author Richard Rothstein discussing themes from his 2018 book The Color of Law.

Racial segregation characterizes every metropolitan area in the U.S. and bears responsibility for our most serious social and economic problems – it corrupts our criminal justice system, exacerbates economic inequality, and produces large academic gaps between white and African American schoolchildren.

We’ve taken no serious steps to desegregate neighborhoods, however, because we are hobbled by a national myth that residential segregation is de facto—the result of private discrimination or personal choices that do not violate constitutional rights. 

The Color of Law demonstrates, however, that residential segregation was created by racially explicit and unconstitutional government policy in the mid-twentieth century that openly subsidized whites-only suburbanization in which African Americans were prohibited from participating. Only after learning the history of this policy can we be prepared to undertake the national conversation necessary to remedy our unconstitutional racial landscape.

Watch the video of the presentation here on our YouTube channel.