A History of Race and Racism in the Little Cities
A History of Race and Racism in the Little Cities In this video (originally filmed for Little Cities Fest 2020) we visit Rendville, Ohio, an integrated company town, and Payne’s Crossing, on top of a hill near New Stratisviile, where African-Americans lived on the fringe of society. Tyler McDaniel visits David Butcher who lives near […]
The Tecumseh Theater: Renovation and Restoration
The Tecumseh Theater: Renovation and Restoration The Tecumseh Theater was recently renovated and restored as the original Improved Order of Red Men Hall. Three stories, the hall was a cultural center for Shawnee from its inception. Grant Joy talks to history-geographer, Tyler McDaniel about this story, on though to the current state of repair, as […]
Prohibition in the Little Cities
Prohibition in the Little Cities Everybody loves a good moonshining story. Learn how Straitsville Special spread far and wide in the era of prohibition. Cheryl Blosser meets up with Eric Hedin at the Black Diamond Distillery in New Straitsville, Ohio. Eric runs the Fermentation Program at Hocking College. We learn about the moonshining that […]
The Decline of Coal in the Little Cities
The Decline of Coal In the Little Cities Learn about the changes that impacted our region in the 1920s, when coal mines opened and created boom towns like New Straitsville in this short documentary made for Little Cities Fest 2021. The labor history comes from this southern Perry County town. Cheryl Blosser relays this story, […]
Researching the 1920’s in the Little Cities
The decade of the 1920s was a tumultuous one for the Little Cities Region in many ways, and it will be the focus of our Little Cities of Black Diamonds Festival this year. As the decade arrived, World War I had just concluded and the mines of our region were still active at a steady […]