MOUNT VERNON — The latest vintage postcard to come my way shows the Mount Vernon Public Library as it appeared in 1906 or so.
The postcard itself may have no other local connection than the image of the building, taken in a somewhat soft focus and printed up by the Rotograph Company in Germany, the world’s leading producer of postcards in the early 20th century.
Beneath the image, a message is written: “Cousin: – Write me at once to McClure House, Wheeling W.Va. Will be there until Monday morning — Clyde.”
Who Clyde was, I have no idea. The cousin it is addressed to Earl J. Steen, who lived at #922 N. Main St., Findlay, Ohio. Genealogical research shows that Earl James Steen was born in Findlay in 1890, so at the time this card was postmarked – May 2, 1906 – Earl had just turned 16.
Perhaps his cousin Clyde was also a teenager. Poking around the Steen family tree on genealogy websites, however, did not turn up an obvious candidate.
Clyde was evidently traveling on his way to the McClure House hotel in Wheeling, West Virginia. The McClure House was then and still is today a major hotel. The building has been extensively updated and given a modern façade, but the multi-story hotel has been a fixture in Wheeling for over 170 years, first opening its doors in early 1852.
Where Clyde went from there, and what later became of him, I have no idea. It is interesting to note that the card left Mount Vernon, stamped at noon on May 2, and received its next cancellation stamp in Findlay at 7:30 a.m. the following morning. We’ve hamstrung our post office system so much, they can’t even match that efficiency today.
A little research turns up a short future for Earl Steen, though. In his 20s, Earl began working for the Metallic Casket Company in Springfield as an engineer. Unfortunately, Earl lost his life in an industrial accident in January of 1922, when he was electrocuted. One wonders if Clyde was able to make it to his cousin’s funeral.
Beyond this passing note, I turned up no other connection of the cousins to Mount Vernon. But at least they provided us a quick glimpse of their lives, and of the earlier home of a beloved local institution.
As for the building itself, Frederick Lorey’s History of Knox County Ohio 1876 to 1976 states that organization of the library began in the 1880s with a committee that included Messrs. Fairchild, Ewalt, McIntire, Holbrook, Larimore, and Curtis. The committee purchased a Greek Revival style building that has previously housed the Presbyterian Church.
The building sat on the northwest corner of Main and Sugar Streets. It was rededicated and opened as the library in February of 1888.
After a new library, the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, was built on the corner of Mulberry and Sugar Streets in 1951, the old building, no longer structurally sound, was torn down.
Comments for Mark Jordan,
I have a fancy brick sidewalk buried in my backyard that aligns perfectly with the entrance to the old fairgrounds. I have tried to find records but only have seen old drawings. I learned through word of mouth where the original entrance was. I came across the buried sidewalk about 10 years ago when I was planting a tree. The sidewalk runs the entire width of the property. I also found clay field tile approximately 20 feet south of the sidewalk. If you would like to see it, I plan to be digging up more bricks, as I have done previously before. The bricks are similar to the bricks found in our brick streets but laid in a fancy pattern. My address is 405 East Hamtramck Street.
P. S. – All your contributions are most interesting.