Category: Progressive Period (1900-1919)

When Mary A. Upperman came to Akron, Ohio, in 1916, she was a minister’s wife. But, with the untimely death of her husband, Upperman assumed a new identity, as an entrepreneur. She became perhaps the most successful African-American businesswoman in the city during the Progressive period.

Little is known about Upperman’s early days. She was born in Raleigh, N.C., and was orphaned by the age of 2. She attended the prestigious Scotia Seminary, the rigorous girl’s boarding school in North Carolina that educated the likes of such African-American women leaders as Mary McLeod Bethune, Gertrude Brown and Mary Church Terrell. After graduating at the age of 19, Upperman taught school at Keystone, W.Va.

She and her husband, the Rev. Louis M. Upperman, came to Akron where he became pastor of the Wesley Temple A.M.E. Zion Church. He died in 1917. She stayed in the city and began a new life.

According to the city’s Negro Year Book of 1927, Upperman had the one qualification needed for success, “belief in herself.” She started initially running an employment agency out of her home. By 1920, however, Upperman had diversified. She continued running the employment agency but also ran a thriving grocery and laundry. By 1927, she was the sole owner of the only African American-owned drug store in the city (Globe Drug Store, 103 N. Main St.), even as she continued to run her grocery.

The Depression had some effect on Upperman. In 1931, she ran a confectionary (North End Cut Rate Store, 187 Bluff) and a grocery (189 Bluff) but she had apparently given up her drug store. By 1932, she was concentrating on the grocery business.

Mary A. Upperman died of pneumonia in Akron, on Dec. 7, 1937. She was only 59 years old.

Although she carried on lucrative businesses, Upperman always retained ties to the church that her husband once ministered. She supervised the Sunday school for many years. In 1936, she was a delegate to the general conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church.

She was a member of the board of directors of the Association for Colored Community Work which affiliated with the National Urban League. For the last four years of her life, she also gave domestic science classes for girls.

No known picture exists of Mary Upperman. This advertisment from her drug store courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.

–Kathleen L. Endres

Gertrude Ferguson Penfield Seiberling, benevolent supporter of the arts, gave unselfishly of her time, talents and resources to better the people of her community, Ohio and the nation.

Born on January 23, 1866, Seiberling-then Penfield-grew up in Willoughby, Ohio, where her father owned a leading manufacturing company. When she was 21, she graduated from Lasell Seminary for Young Women in Auburndale, Mass. Later that year, she was introduced to Franklin Augustus Seiberling and the couple married.

After her marriage, Seiberling came to Akron with her husband. Never one to miss an opportunity, Seiberling helped supplement the family income by giving singing lessons to young girls.

Because of her love of music, Seiberling became a charter member of the Tuesday Afternoon Club, which was later renamed the Tuesday Musical Club (T.M.C.). F.A. Seiberling was once quoted as jokingly saying the T.M.C. meant “Trouble Must Come.” Because of the group’s dedication and skill, performance requests came from all over the city.

Seiberling played an important part in bringing renowned performers and orchestras to Akron by helping to organize and finance these activities. Also active in theater, Seiberling performed at the Akron Opera House and demonstrated her golden contralto voice at the White House for President William Howard Taft. She founded the St. Cecelia Choral Society and was a frequently featured vocalist for the Christmas services at Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron, where she was a member.

It was during this time that her husband co-founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company with his brother, C. W. Seiberling. As her husband’s business prospered at the turn of the century, Seiberling enrolled at Buchtel College to study architecture, gardening and interior design so she would be able to assist in building the new family home. After extensive travel abroad to gather design ideas and materials, the Seiberlings returned to Akron to build Stan Hywet, a beautiful 100-room, 1,400-acre estate patterned after an English Tudor-style mansion.

Even with the daunting task of raising her large family, Seiberling’s interest in the arts continued. She became honorary president of the Tuesday Musical Club, served on the board of directors for the Cleveland Institute of Music and was an honorary member of the Philadelphia Music Club and the Westminster Choir of Dayton, Ohio. She held honorary memberships in the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Music Arts Association in Cleveland.

Seiberling was a gifted and talented artist as well and exhibited paintings in New York and Ohio. She held memberships in the Women’s Art League of Akron, the Akron Art Institute, now known as the Akron Art Museum, and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.

Seiberling founded and served as the first president of the Akron Garden Club in 1924, and held board positions on state and national garden clubs as well. She was active in the Peace Society and the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Association.

Seiberling died on Jan. 8, 1946. Because of her unfailing support of the arts and tremendous cultural contribution to Summit County, the Women’s History Project elected her “Woman of the Year” posthumously in 1993. At her death, the Beacon Journal reported that she was “a gracious matron and an outstanding musical enthusiast…[who] inspired in every way to make the world about her a better place.”

Photo courtesy Women’s History Project of the Arkon Area

–Penny Fox

Every concert presented by the Tuesday Musical Club in Akron, Ohio, is a lasting testament to Mary Zipperlen Schumacher. It was Schumacher’s bequest that made the concerts economically viable.

In the early days of the Tuesday Musical Club, the organization faced an uncertain future. Even a fund-raising campaign championed by the city’s newspaper, the Beacon Journal, could not guarantee the future of the concerts. Schumacher, a pianist and a long-time member of the Tuesday Musical Club, assured that future by leaving a sizable amount – some $50,000 – to the organization to underwrite the costs of concerts. She also endowed scholarships for students at the Ferdinand Schumacher School and left a large bequest to the Sumner Home for the Aged.

Mary Schumacher was the second wife of the “cereal king” of Akron. Ferdinand Schumacher was almost 40 years older than his bride.

Mary Zipperlin was born in Cincinnati in 1860. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Adolph Zipperlin, Schumacher had one sister, Hermine Hansen, who became another prominent Akron community leader.

Schumacher was involved in a number of other Akron women’s organizations as well. She was a charter member of the Akron Women’s City Club. She was also active in the Akron and Summit County General Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Sumner Home for the Aged.

Schumacher traveled extensively which helped the Tuesday Musical Club enormously. She cased the world for musical organizations and up-and-coming artists.

Her travels also meant that she would be a popular speaker to the various clubs and organizations in the city. She talked about her trips to the Pacific (Tristan da Cunha), Africa as well as Europe. Her travels also led her to an interest in aviation. She flew on a plane for the first time in 1919 and soon affiliated with the Akron women’s organization affiliated with the National Aeronautical Association.

Schumacher died in Akron’s City Hospital in September 1936. She had been ill for several weeks. Cremation took place in Cincinnati.

Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.

–Kathleen L. Endres

Mary Paul, a quiet and gentle-spirited woman, broke new ground for women in Summit County by being the first woman to hold public office.

Paul was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the daughter of Robert Spencer Paul and Sarah M. Romig. The third of four children, Paul attended Spicer School and Akron High School. After graduating, Paul worked as office manager for her family’s engineering firm.

When her brother, Edward W., was elected county engineer in 1913, she joined him at the courthouse and served as county recorder for 12 years. Always known for her keen sense of detail and precision, Paul was elected county recorder. She was the first woman in the county to hold such a position and won re-election twice.

Under the guidance of the Republican Party, Paul ran for mayor of Akron in 1929, but withdrew because she failed to receive the endorsement of the local newspaper, theBeacon Journal. She also studied law at Akron Law School, but never took the bar exam, saying, “I didn’t think I’d make much of a lawyer.”

Never married, Paul worked for public welfare with the Works Progress Administration under President Roosevelt’s New Deal Cultural Program. She also worked with the National Youth Administration and the Barberton Welfare Department. She was a title transfer clerk for the county auditor’s office until a few years before her death.

In her spare time, Paul was a member of the Pythian Sisters and the Royal Neighbors of America. The Past Chiefs Association and Nomads of Avrudaka show her on their membership lists as well.

An avid stamp collector all her life, Paul also enjoyed music, reading and nature walks. She prepared baskets for needy families during holidays and often helped people financially. Her interest in writing prompted her to contribute a chapter entitled, “Environs and Landmarks,” in the 1925 Centennial History of Akron.

Those who worked with her remembered Paul as “Miss Precision.” A story in the Dec. 18, 1961 issue of theBeacon Journal said, “You might never guess she knew anything-unless you asked her. Then, whatever it was, you could be sure of a ready, complete and accurate answer.”

Photo courtesy of the Women’s History Project of the Akron Area

–Penny Fox