Around the Society...

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1 Fall 2014 Officers: President Penny Huber Vice-President Judie Crank Treasurer Bruce Summe Secretary Lori Stanley Corresponding Secretary Julie Turner Board of Trustees: Dave Huser Jay Klenk Ken Scheffel Around the Society... Fall has just begun and winter will be here before we know it. We had a very busy summer and have seen lots of new faces and many who have supported us for years. There was a great turnout for the yard sale as we scheduled it to fall during the World s Longest Yard sale event; and many people attended our Ice Cream Social at Celebrate Mt. Healthy and toured the museum. We also earned notoriety from the National Park Service for the Charles Cheney homesite. It will be added to their Network to Freedom program. We want to thank all of our donors and supporters who made our events so successful and look forward to what s to come this year. Don t forget to mark your calendars for special dates that the museum will be open. Happy Fall! Mt. Healthy Historical Society 1546 McMakin Avenue Cincinnati, OH Phone: Sincerely, Penny Huber President Hours: 9-11 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays, 1-3 p.m. the first Sunday of the month or by appointment. Have questions? mt.healthyhistory@yahoo.com Visit us online at:

2 Historical Society Happenings World s Longest Yard Sale Helps Historical Society By: Judie Crank On Aug. 9, the Historical Society hosted a yard sale to benefit the Mt. Healthy Museum. This date was selected because it occurred during the week of the World s Longest Yard Sale. (We hoped the extra publicity would bring more buyers.) It must have helped, because we did get a good number of customers. We had great weather, which also contributed to our success. The society received $143 in donations and made $537 in sales. Thanks to our donors, and to everyone who worked gathering donations, pricing, setting up and working the sale. We could not have done it without you! Annual Ice Cream Social a Hit By: Lori Stanley The Mt. Healthy Historical Society hosted our annual ice cream social on Sept. 13. Friends, neighbors, and historical society members came to support us and to enjoy pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, and, of course, ice cream! In conjunction with the social, we had a booth in the park that had activities for children. More than 45 people toured the museum and enjoyed some of our new displays. We also had two special guests. Two mules from Gorman farms came with a buggy to take our customers on a ride around the museum, town hall and through the park. They were a big hit, and we thank Paul R. Young Funeral Home for donating the buggy rides. Above, mules from Gorman Heritage Farm get ready to pull a load of people at Celebrate Mt. Healthy. THANK YOU!! The Mt. Healthy Historical Society would like to thank United Dairy Farmers for their generous donation of ice cream for the Ice Cream Social. Also, thank you to all those who donated time, money and baked goods to make the Ice Cream Social such a success. Page 2

3 Historical Society Recognition Cheney Homesite Added to National Park Service Network to Freedom By: Karen Arnett The Charles Cheney homesite has been accepted into the Network to Freedom, a program of the National Park Service to preserve and research Underground Railroad sites. This means national recognition of one of Mt. Healthy s active participants in the Underground Railroad: information will be included in a national database. It is the intention of this program to educate the public about the Underground Railroad, and to assemble the many documented sites linked to this freedom movement into a network, since the Underground Railroad operated as a network covering spans of many miles, from the south to Canada. A historic marker bearing the Network to Freedom logo may be posted at Heritage Park, which lies within the boundaries of Cheney s 1830s-1840s farm. The precise location of his family house is not known. Remembering Jewel Studios By: Karen Arnett Jewel Recording Studios was remembered with a display in a booth at Celebrate Mt. Healthy. The studio was the longest running recording studio in the Midwest, according to Rusty s widow and former business manager Linda York. It was located on Kinney just east of Hamilton Avenue. Rusty York earned some fame as a bluegrass and then rock and roll star in the late 50s and early 60s. He played the Grand Ole Opry stage. He opened Dick Clark s American Bandstand, thus being the first rock and roll musician to play on that stage. Media accounts combined him with Frankie Avalon, Jan and Dean, and other early rock and roll phenoms. He made the charts with one hit, Sugaree, could croon like Elvis, and was by all accounts a top notch picker on guitar and banjo. The life of the road did not agree with him, so he quit touring and settled into the business of making records for others. People say that on just about any day you could go by Jewel and see tour buses of musical groups parked out front. Above, Rusty in his studio. (Provided.) Karen Arnett has been talking with people who knew Rusty York and about his recording studio. She has collected stories, photographs and some memorabilia. Jewel, which started in his home in the early 1960s, moved to Kinney in 1967 and continued until the Yorks sold it in 2008, was known for high quality production, and specialized largely in country, bluegrass and white gospel music. Page 3

4 Haunting History Haunted Hall Horrifies in 25th Season By: Monica Boylson The Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is scaring into its 25th season. It is a collaboration of the Knights of Columbus and Boy Scouts. So, to celebrate, I did a little Question and Answer session with two of its seasoned veterans: Andy Schehr, who s been spooking for 25 years, and Eric Sterwerf who s working on season number 19. Eric Sterwerf Q. When did you get started at the Haunted Hall? A. I started when I was 8 years old. My older brother was able to volunteer up there because he was a Boy Scout. I envied him. I was still in Cub Scouts so I technically wasn't supposed to be able to start helping yet, but I begged and begged my parents to allow me to volunteer too. They finally gave in and were able to get me a small acting role. Q. What was your first night at the hall like? A. I had no idea what I was doing so I grabbed the largest Frankenstein's monster mask I could find. It felt like that mask covered half of my eight year old body, and I couldn't see a thing because the eye holes were about parallel with my chin, but I was too excited to care. Q. What characters have you been? A. I have portrayed just about every character the Hall has had to offer including the infamous BugBoy when I was younger. In more recent years I have been known as Rev. Emmett Rotts, the worst preacher imaginable who also operates elevators and animates the dead. I was a cop last season, a hillbilly with, ahem, bowel movement problems, a voodoo priest, and a magician, among multiple other endeavors. Andy Schehr Q. How has the haunted hall changed over the years? A. We originally had black plastic for the walls and only had the building. The 2nd- 3rd year we added an Army tent or two on the parking lot. About 20 years ago, we were told to get rid of the plastic and started using the walls we have today. We added the tunnel in the mid 90s and more tents and added the moving elevator after that. Over the years we have lengthened the Hall to what it is today. Being we build it new every year it's always changing. Q.What keeps you coming back every year? A. I love the people who work here and have a lot of fun scaring people. Q.What do you see for the future or next 25 years of the hall? A. The younger people are taking over a lot of the design and have a lot of great ideas. I see more special effects and computerization as the Hall moves on. Q. What s your best memory of the Haunted Hall? That's a pretty hard question to answer with 25 years under my belt, but the most memorable was probably about 20 years ago. The original Dracula, Carl Mack, had a severe ulcer attack about half way through the night. An ambulance came to take him to the hospital in full makeup & costume. When people saw an ambulance pull up and a person being carried out of the hall about half of the folks in line bailed. Carl came home that night and was back to acting the next week. Carl passed away 18 years ago and we still have a memorial for him that we put up in the Dracula scene every year. We may be spooky but we're still sentimental. Page 4

5 History in the Making Save the Date Oct. 28: 11 a.m. 2 p.m. Museum Open House for City of Mt. Healthy workers Nov 2: 1-3 p.m. Museum Docent training, open to all interested in becoming docents Nov. 29: 9 a.m. Cleaning and decorating day for our Christmas Open House, everyone welcome to help! Dec 3: 6 p.m. Christmas Dinner at Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church Dec 7: Hours TBD Christmas Open House at the Museum Be A Part of History: Join Us! Individual Form Mt. Healthy Historical Society 1546 McMakin Avenue Mt. Healthy, OH Phone: (513) The Society meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in the basement of the Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church (formerly Epworth) located at 7612 Perry Street Mt. Healthy, OH. Visitors are always welcome! Dues are $10.00 per individual and your membership will be good through June 30. Please remit $10.00 (check or cash) to: Mt. Healthy Historical Society c/o Treasurer Membership Supports the Society! 1546 McMakin Avenue Mt. Healthy, OH Membership Form Effective July 1 (Membership fee is $10.00 per individual) Name: Address: Phone: Page 5

6 Mt. Healthy Historical Society Business Members Please Support These Business Members! The Mt. Healthy Historical Society cordially invites you to become a member as a Business/Professional Member. Being such a member has its advantages It gets your business name before the public as it will be printed in each newsletter. It will show that you support the organizations of your city. It will help the Society to teach about and preserve the past for current and future generations. It will enable you to partially or entirely sponsor a Society activity. It will enable you to participate socially in worthwhile community activities. Business Member Form Business/Professional Name Owner/Manager Name Address Business Phone Home/Cell Phone McMakin Avenue Cincinnati, OH Find us on Facebook!

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