Oddball Ohio: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places (Oddball series)

290 Pages·2004·52.66 MB·English

by  Jerome Pohlen

Oddball
Ohio

Oddball
Ohio
A
Guide
to
Some
Reall y

S T R A N G E P L A C E S
JEROME POHLEN
The author has made every effort to secure permissions for all the material in this book.If
any acknowledgment has inadvertently been omitted,please contact the author.
All photographs courtesy ofJerome Pohlen unless otherwise noted.
Cover and interior design:Mel Kupfer
© 2004 by Jerome Pohlen
All rights reserved
First Edition
Published by Chicago Review Press,Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago,Illinois 60610
ISBN 1-55652-523-0
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
5 4 3 2 1
For Joe
a nd Pa m

c o n t e n t s
I n tro d u c t io n
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i x
1 . The Nort hw e s t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Map ofthe Northwest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 – 4 3
2 . The Nort h ea s t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5
Map ofthe Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 0 – 1 1 1
3 . Cl e v e l a nd Ar ea
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 3
4 . The So ut hw e s t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 5
Map ofthe Southwest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 2 – 1 6 3
5 . C i nc i nn ati Ar ea
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 5
6 . The So ut h ea s t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 3
Map ofthe Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 4 – 2 0 5
7. Columbus Ar ea
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 7
8 . Guy To u r
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 7
E p i l o g u e
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 5
A ckn o wl e dgm e n t s
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 7
Re c o m m e nded So u r c e s
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 9
I ndex by City Na m e
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 7
I ndex by Site Na m e
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 7

I n tro d u c t io n
O
hio is odd.
Do you need evi den ce? Look no furt h er than its flag ...excuse me ...
bu rge e.Not con tent with a trad i ti on a l ,bori n g,rectangular fla g,the Ohio
l egi s l a tu re adopted a two - poi n ted pennant—a bu r gee—as its state banner.
That same out s i de - of - t h e - box thinking re su rf aced ye a rs later wh en a bi ll
to abolish Ja nu a ry and Febru a ry from state calen d a rs was introdu ced in
the capito l .The missing days were to be re a s s i gn ed to Ju n e ,Ju ly,a n d
Au g u s t ,with the goal ofreducing Bu ckeye vo ters’wi n ter heating bi ll s .As i-
nine? Or ingen i o u s ?
Ifyou picked ingenious,Oddball Ohiois the travel guide for you.
Why look at the world the way everyone else does? Have you ever won-
dered ifthe earth is hollow,or whether George Washington is reallythe
father ofour country? Would you like to know ifChefBoyardee was a
real person? Do you want to see Jamie Farr’s buns? The answers to your
strange questions,and more,are right here in the state that’s round on
the ends and high in the middle.
You will discover that Ohio is weirder than you ever imagined.It is
the only state where Jerry Springer has been elected the mayor ofa major
city,where a brick outhouse is on the National Register ofHistoric
Places,where Buster the Dog voted for president,and where Mary Hart-
man worried about waxy yellow buildup.It is the birthplace ofbar codes,
Airstream trailers,televangelism,Paul Lynde,Alcoholics Anonymous,
and the banana split,and it is where Pretty Boy Floyd,Balto the Wonder
Dog,Eugene the Mummy,Annie Oakley,and Martha,the world’s last
surviving passenger pigeon,drew their final breaths.
Now correct me ifI’m wrong,but you don’t get enough vacation
time,do you? Use it wisely! Why spend hours in lines at Cedar Point
when you can be the day’s only visitor at Goodyear’s World ofRubber?
Why flush away rolls ofquarters at a floating casino slot machine when a
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