From Skilled Hands

My Town Monday: History is Alive and Well and Living in Peninsula, Ohio

By fromskilledhands ( June 22, 2008 at 5:02 pm) · Filed under My Town Monday

Saturday afternoon, I wandered up Main Street, turned south on Riverview Road and headed to the Peninsula Library and Historical Society. I was looking for more interesting tales, legends and the like to share. As I browsed through the incredible collection of materials devoted to the history of the Cuyahoga Valley, I was amazed by the number of interesting stories, from the early settlers to the residents who populate my town today.

I walked back to Main Street to the beautiful Boston Township Hall, which is the home of the Cuyahoga Valley Historical Museum.

For many years, Peninsula students on the east side of the Cuyahoga River attended school in the upstairs of the Village Hall. Students on the west side of the river went to school in what is now known as the G.A.R. Hall.

The new Peninsula High School was constructed in 1887 of wood Philadelphia siding with a bell tower and a slate roof. This Stick Style building served as the centrally located school for Peninsula Village until well after the turn of the century.

In the second decade of the 1900s, the State of Ohio encouraged the consolidation of one-room schoolhouses into central schools. The Peninsula School was absorbed by the Boston Township Board of Education and a brick addition was built in 1919. A new Boston Township High School was built on Bronson Avenue in 1930 and the Peninsula school was sold to the Trustees of Boston Township for $100 in 1939.

The 1887 wood building became the home of Union Grange #2380 and the brick building housed the Boston Township Trustees, who leased space to the Peninsula Library from 1947 to 1964. In the 1970s, a large addition was built to the east to house the emergency vehicles of the Valley Fire District.

The non-profit Boston Township Hall Committee was formed in 1990 to plan and oversee a $1.2 million renovation, which occurred from 1997 to 1999. Major funding was received from Boston Township with an allocation of $350,000 from the inheritance taxes of the estates of Galen and Ruth Roush. A grant of $275,000 was received from the GAR Foundation, nearly $200,000 came in Community Development Block Grants, $40,000 was received from the Gund Foundation, and $10,000 was received from Ernest and Jean Bender Preston.

The building still houses the Boston Township offices, in addition to rental space, community rooms, and the Cuyahoga Valley Historical Museum, a branch of the Peninsula Library and Historical Society.

At the Museum, I wandered through the current exhibit, Bits and Pieces: Unpuzzling Our Past. This exhibit explores some of the people, events and places that have had an impact on the Valley. I discovered that the Peninsula Python was not the only sensation to be part of the lore of the Village.

It seems like the mid-1940′s were a quite a time for legends. The summer of 1945 brought the Gold Hunt, reported by none other than Robert Bordner; the same man who covered the Peninsula Python story in 1944.

That summer, large-sized bills mysteriously began to appear at local businesses. Mr. Bordner reported the events in a series of stories that lasted for 4 months. Prospectors visited the area to hunt for gold; they searched in all kinds of locations, including the Quarry. Divers recovered a rusty safe from the depths of the Quarry. When the corroded safe was opened, it contained one dime. Bordner admitted that the story of gold was a hoax; he was quoted, “It was a lot of fun.”

Indeed. What do you think?

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Post a comment and I’ll enter you in this week’s Peninsula Posse Giveaway, where you, too, can win cool stuff from this Village of Peninsula, Ohio, population 602. The Village of Peninsula, built by the hands and hearts of generations; gently resisting change since 1837.
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My Town Monday is the brainchild of Chief Marauder, and latest member of the Peninsula Python Posse, Travis Erwin. Be sure to wander on over to his blog, One Word, One Rung, One Day, where you’ll learn about Travis’ town; and you’ll find links to other My Town Monday players.

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14 comments »

Patti Abbott said,

June 22, 2008 @ 7:25 pm

I feel like I walk into another time when I walk into your town. Thanks

Cathy said,

June 22, 2008 @ 8:27 pm

Fascinating stuff. I wonder that it was called Boston Township Hall, especially as a $40,000. gift was received to restore it from the Gund Foundation located here in Boston. Mysterious links!

Mary Witzl said,

June 23, 2008 @ 3:58 am

I am torn between thinking that the python story could get a little out of hand — people getting too worked up and panicking — and finding it a refreshing change from the sometimes humdrum events of daily life. Something like that really stirs up a little town and ‘puts it on the map.’ All the same, I don’t plan to start a python rumor here in our little town. Life is plenty exciting as it is, and I have my compost heap to get me all worked up.

Mary Nix said,

June 23, 2008 @ 9:17 am

Thanks for that history of your town.

Travis Erwin said,

June 23, 2008 @ 11:11 am

Great history. That reporter would ahve been a great fit with the Enquirer.

Linda / Lyndi said,

June 23, 2008 @ 12:50 pm

Interesting post, esp. about the gold hunt. People are always looking for that gold at the end of the rainbow, aren’t they?

Linda

lyzzydee said,

June 23, 2008 @ 2:29 pm

I love museums and history, trouble is my kids are not as keen!!
I can only imagine what your town must be like.

Barbara Martin said,

June 23, 2008 @ 8:10 pm

Great post, and I liked the gold hunt. Enteprising person. Every place has an interesting story behind it, sometimes more than one.

Clair Dickson said,

June 23, 2008 @ 10:56 pm

I love the gold hunt story, even if the guy was crooked.

It’s always crazy the prices that bought schools and such back then. Seems so surreal, the way dollar amounts have changed.

Amanda said,

June 24, 2008 @ 1:53 pm

Thank you so much for visiting on Saturday! We all love your blog, especially this entry. It’s so exciting to get people interested in our history!

Amanda…from the Cuyahoga Valley Historical Museum

Sam said,

June 25, 2008 @ 2:45 pm

A dime!!!
I was expecting more of a treasure, lol!

Barrie Summy said,

June 26, 2008 @ 3:01 am

What an interesting post! And how very fun that you got a comment from the Cuyahoga Valley Historical Museum!

Eryl Shields said,

June 26, 2008 @ 5:08 am

You’re getting good at this! Researching now, and I love the way you paint a picture of yourself doing the research and weave it into your findings. Great!

Robert Bordner sounds a hoot.