During the Progressive period and well into the Depression, Ella Hawley Chapman had a reputation as one of the best caterers in the city of Akron, Ohio. At the time of her death in 1944, she was also the oldest living African-American citizen who had been born in Summit County.
Chapman was an Akron native. She was born on the land where the old Bowen School stood (now the Administration Building for Akron Public Schools) at the corner of Broadway and Perkins.
She went to Bowen School before she started her work life. She worked first for the family of M. O’Neil, owner of a large Akron department store. Once her cooking and baking skills were discovered, however, she started working for the O’Neil’s Department Store as a caterer. Under that affiliation, she catered some of the biggest weddings and social affairs in the city.
Chapman was a member of the Summit County 50-Year Club and the Wesley Temple, A.M.E. church.
Susannah Chamberlain Cole helped build Buchtel College (now The University of Akron) as a student, alum and teacher.
Born in Cuyahoga Falls, Susannah Chamberlain was the daughter of Charles W. and Sarah Chamberlain. Her father was superintendent of the Akron Division of the C. A. & C. Railroad. She entered Buchtel College on the first day it opened and was a member of its first graduating class. As a student, she founded the Carey Literary Society, a group that studied women writers, and became its first president.
After she graduated, she worked for a time on the staff of the Daily Argus and The Sunday Gazette. At the time, newspaper work was not considered an “acceptable” career choice for women so Chamberlain also taught English and Rhetoric at Buchtel College from 1873-1887. One of her students John Botzum, who went on to his own successful career as a writer, remembered her as a “brilliant and good woman” who helped to mold his career. She, in turn, referred to her students as “her boys and girls.”
Chamberlain ended her teaching career, like most women of the time, when she married in 1887. She married Frank F. Cole, a Michigan newspaperman.
Cole was active in various women’s organizations in the city, especially the North Hill Literary Club and the Fifty Year Club, which she help found. She also maintained close ties to her alma mater, frequently writing for its alumni magazine on the early days of Buchtel College.
When she died on April 1, 1929 in Akron at the home of her daughter, the Beacon Journal remembered her as “one of Buchtel College’s most prominent alumnae” and the Rev. Spanton called her “one of the outstanding characters of early Akron.” With her death, a chapter in Buchtel College history had ended.
Photos courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.
Mrs. Anna Trowbridge Viall Case earned her place in Akron history with her service to the public schools by being on the Board of Education longer than any other woman up to that point. She also earned a place in history for her service to the community through involvement in various civic organizations. Her contributions were so great, in fact, that the Beacon Journal named her Akron’s Woman of the Year in 1938.
During her 24 years on the Board of Education–10 as president–Case brought about many innovations. She promoted the employment of African-American teachers; she helped formulate programs to help mentally handicapped students; she worked to coordinate services between the Summit County Mental Health Association and the schools so that troubled pupils could get the help they needed; and she pushed for expanded vocational and recreational facilities for Akron schools. When she retired from the Board of Education in 1957, the Akron school system was better because of her association with it.
Part of her success revolved around her personal style. Case made it her business to be familiar with everyone associated with the schools, from the custodians to the principals, from the bus drivers to the teachers. She disliked controversy. She allowed everyone to have their say and tried to work out compromises. She also had strong administrative skills, following through on her many responsibilities.
Case also served as president of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women’s Clubs at a time when the organization faced real crises. Inez Crisp had resigned as president, citing health reasons, but political charges loomed in the background. Not only was Case able to rebuild the group but she also expanded its membership. In 1926, the end of her term, the Beacon Journal marveled at the Federation’s successes. “Mrs. Case has served as head of the local federation for the last two years and during that time the organization has enjoyed its most successful years, also increased its membership more than one-third.” Case then went on to a statewide position in the organization — vice president of the northeast district of Ohio Federation. As vice president, she oversaw 16 branch federations, which represented 162 separate clubs. Upon her election as vice president, the following comment was made about Case: “Truly a woman who undertakes to steer this largest of all women’s organizations through a two-year term of office is making a sacrifice worthy of a real citizen.”
Case also became the vice president of the Travelers’ Aid Society, third vice president of the Women’s Association of the First Congregational Church and president of the New Century Club. In addition to being a charter member of the Woman’s City Club, she was also director and chairman of committees in that organization.
She served on the executive board of the Akron Home and School League. She was also an associate member of the Akron branch of the National Story Tellers’ League and she was head of the women’s committee to organize a speaker’s bureau to help the Community Chest campaign. The Community Chest was the forerunner of United Way.
Case was also on the educational publicity committee and the chairman of the board “to aid the Better Akron Federation in the work of all its agencies.” She was a member of the College Club, the League of Women Voters and president of the Young Women’s Christian Association from 1917-1919. In 1925, she was appointed to vice president of the Ohio Public Health Association, which brought her back to her educational and personal roots.
Anne Trowbridge Viall was born in Tallmadge, Ohio, in 1883. She attended Lake Erie College, originally planning to be a teacher. During her senior year, however, she shifted her career plans to social work. In 1905 she was a district visitor for Cleveland’s Associated Charities, delivering milk tickets and eggs to TB patients in the Haymarket district, primarily Polish and Hungarian immigrants. In 1908, she was named city supervisor. Her career ended in 1911 when she married Claude Case, a veterinarian at the Akron Veterinary Hospital, and moved to Akron. The couple, who resided at 26 Orchard Road, had one son.
Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.
Geraldine Virginia Braley was the first and, for decades, the only woman who was president of a bank in Akron, Ohio. She never advocated equality with men. However, she promoted women into most of the key positions in the bank she ran.
Braley was born in New Martinsville, W.Va., but her formative years were spent in Thurston, Ohio. She attended elementary and high school in Fairfield County’s centralized school system and attended business college in Columbus, Ohio.
She got a job at a Columbus ice cream firm and came to Akron to manage that company’s office in that city. She then went to work for the old Hower Department Store as the manager of its business office.
It was while she worked there that she first heard of a new bank about to open. In 1921, she joined Society Savings and Loan as its first employee. The bank quickly became successful, so successful, in fact, that the trustees questioned the wisdom of having a woman involved. Braley was let go and she soon found a job in the office at B.F. Goodrich.
Those bank trustees, however, realized that they had made a terrible mistake; they wanted her back and offered her the position of assistant treasurer. Braley returned and never left Society Savings, which became First Federal Savings and Loan of Akron, again.
Braley became an expert in the banking industry. She read all the trade publications; she attended banking conferences; she went to school at The University of Akron and took classes in savings and loans and psychology. She knew her field and she got along well with the customers. The Beacon Journal reported in 1937 that she enjoyed helping wage earners achieve home ownership. In 1941, she was named chief officer of the bank with the title of executive secretary. In 1943, she was elected president and was elected president every year until she retired in 1960.
Braley contended there were three ingredients for success in business: a mathematical mind, an expertise in the field (based on study and reading of trade publications) and knowledge of her business from the bottom up.Anyone — male or female, who had that mathematical mind and was willing to put in the time and effort, could achieve success in banking or any other business, she argued.
In her career, however, she preferred to work with women. She trained them; she put them through every phase and part of the organization; then she promoted them to positions that women seldom held in banking at the time. In return, a colleague said she “expected loyalty, production, accuracy and speed….”
Braley was well respected nationally in the banking industry. She was named to key committees of the U.S. Savings and Loan League. She was also elected president of the Summit-Portage County Savings and Loan League.
After her retirement, Braley moved to Passaic, N.J. She died there in 1964 at the age of 73.
Dr. Isabel Agnes Bradley was a nationally recognized woman in the field of psychiatry.
The daughter of a farmer, Bradley was born in Kent, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 1864, and attended schools there. She later went on to teach in the Kent public schools. However, after six years of teaching, her interests turned toward the medical field. She enrolled in a three-year program at Buchtel College (now The University of Akron) and then went on to the University of Michigan College of Medicine and graduated in 1899.
Her first job was as an assistant physician and pathologist at the Ohio State Hospital for the Insane where she worked until 1908. She briefly held a similar job at the Friends Hospital for the Insane in Philadelphia. In 1911 Bradley began practicing psychiatry in Akron, where she remained until transferring to the State Mental Hospital in Columbus in 1917. She worked in Columbus for 20 years until she retired in 1937. One of Bradley’s co-workers described her as “without a doubt the greatest woman physician in her field I have ever known.”
In 1931 Bradley took a 12-month leave of absence from her career and toured the world. While on this tour, she visited mental hospitals in Japan, China, India and Italy.
During her life, Bradley was a member of many prominent local and national organizations. She was involved in the Summit County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Society, the American-Medico-Psychological Association, the Medical Women’s National Association and the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Associations. She also served as president of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1912-1913.
Bradley died on April 9, 1953 at the age of 89 in New Wilmington, Pa., where she lived after her retirement. She never married. Bradley’s grave is located in Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio.
Miss Clara Bingham earned the title “The First Lady of Goodyear” for her 47 years of service to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. In 1921, Bingham became the director of women’s activities at Goodyear and William Egan later noted in the Akron Times-Press that “Practically every outside-of-work club for women at the factory has been the result of her work.”
Bingham had a motto that “All workers need escape. No matter how much you enjoy your work–you need play too. It doesn’t pay to become stagnated.” This motto led her to create the Wingfoot Girls Club and the Goodyear Garden Club for female workers at the factory. She also organized basketball and volleyball teams, bridge clubs and a summer camp for them. According to a story in the Akron Beacon Journal, she had much faith in the power of recreation.
Some of Bingham’s views were quite advanced for her time. For instance, she believed that married women who work outside the home should not have to do housework. She also felt that children no longer knew how to have fun. Bingham never married or had any children, yet she was still seen a “mother figure for the working woman.”
She was hired at Goodyear as a stenographer on Nov. 20, 1898, the day before the plant opened. “The Seiberlings [the original owners of Goodyear] were impressed with her pleasant demeanor and intelligence,” according to the Akron Beacon Journal. When she began, the whole factory operated with just a few hundred employees. She earned $10 a week. An article from the Beacon Journal stated, “Bingham liked the job and enjoyed taking dictation from the Seiberlings.” She was popular with her fellow employees and among other Akron business women.
In 1908, Bingham became Goodyear’s assistant purchasing agent; and in 1916, she became head of the company welfare work. She worked at Goodyear longer than her original bosses; she was a member of the “Old Guard,” employees who were on the payroll in 1900. In 1928, Bingham became the company librarian and an article in theBeacon Journal said that, “By 1940, Goodyear had more than 500 stenographers, but its original stenographer was still a happy, productive employee.”
When Bingham died on May 23, 1946, the flags at Goodyear were lowered to half-staff and the clock chimes on East Market Street played hymns in her memory. TheWingfoot Clan remembered her as “the most-beloved woman employee.”
Two years after her death, a stone memorial was dedicated in her honor with a bronze tablet that said, “Bingham Park, dedicated to the memory of Clara E. Bingham, 1871-1946, ‘The First Lady of Goodyear.’ Her life and counsel were of help to many.” The Beacon Journal reported, “Bingham would be happy to know that neighborhood children are having fun there.”
Bingham, who was a native of Edinburg in Portage County, graduated from Akron Business College and worked for two years at American Belting Co. before going to work for Goodyear.
Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.
Mrs. Irene S. Bame was one of the pioneering teachers for Americanization classes in Akron.
Her work with Americanization (the process of making immigrants familiar with American culture) began during World War I when she was involved with finding a solution to immigration problems in Buffalo, N.Y. She began her work in Akron in 1918 after moving here from Buffalo. The Akron Americanization program was in the very early stages when she arrived, so Bame had no textbooks from which to teach her classes. The lack of available resources prompted her to write and publish “English for Adult Immigrants” and “Lessons for Homemakers.” Bame served as supervisor of instruction of the Akron Public School’s Americanization program for many years.
Bame graduated from the University of Michigan where she was affiliated with Chi Omega. After moving to Akron, she once headed the Akron Panhellenic Association. Bame was also a member of the College Club, a charter member of the Akron Art Institute and participated in the Akron Woman’s City Club.
In addition to these activities, Bame was on the YWCA board, the International Institute board, and the Akron General Hospital board. She attended the First Congregational Church and belonged to its Women’s Fellowship. She was involved with the Family and Children’s Service Society of Akron as well.
Bame’s husband, Alfred, worked as a clerk at Goodyear and they resided at 717 Diagonal Road. They had no children. Bame enjoyed several years of retirement from Akron classrooms before her death in 1965 at the age of 75. She is buried in Attica, N.Y.
Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.
Mrs. Harriett Bachtel was active in several Akron area organizations.
She was a member of the Woman’s City Club and the Parent-Teacher Association. In 1924, she served as recording secretary for the Monday Study Club.
Although Bachtel lived in Akron for most of her life, she spent her last two years residing in Deleware, Oh.
She was married to Harvey J. Bachtel, a real estate attorney, and they had two children, Elizabeth and Clayton J., who both attended the University of Akron. The Bachtels resided at 102 Merriman Rd.
Bachtel died in Delaware, Ohio, in 1967 at the age of 90. At the time of her death, she was a member of West United Church of Christ.
Mrs. Marie Reid Laub Babcox was one of the more influential leaders of the local Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
She was a lifetime member of the YWCA and she served as president of the Akron YWCA board of directors from 1933-1936. Babcox’s interests extended beyond just the local level though. She was a member of the hospitality committee at Chautauqua, which was a department of the national YWCA board. Her other involvement with national organizations included the World Service Council and the National Interpretation and Support Committee.
Outside of her YWCA work, Babcox was well-known for her leadership in the Woman’s City Club, the Altrusa College Club, the Akron Council of Church Women and the Flora Stone Mather Alumnae. She also served as third vice president of the Young Women’s Christian Association from 1926-1927 and she participated in the Tuesday Musical Club as a director and a singer. She attended the First Congregational Church.
Described in the Akron Beacon Journal as a “widely known clubwoman and social leader,” Babcox was born in Cleveland but moved to Akron in 1914. She married Edward S. Babcox, who was president of Babcox Publications, a company that puts out a number of specialized business magazines. They had four children: Reid, Tom B., Edward S. Jr. and Anne. The Babcoxs resided at 666 North Portage Path.
Babcox died in 1962 in Winter Park, Fla., of a heart aliment that she suffered from for many years. When she died, she left behind her husband, her children and 18 grandchildren. She was cremated in Winter Park.
Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Undine Slade Voris helped organize many of Akron’s institutions and women’s organizations.
Elizabeth Undine Slade was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of William Hooker Slade and his wife, Marion Elizabeth Bell. She was the great-granddaughter of William Slade and John Alvord, two influential corporals in the Revolutionary War.
Slade received her bachelor’s degree from Buchtel College (now The University of Akron) in 1877 and her master’s degree from the same institution in 1880. During this time, she was a math tutor in the Preparatory Department of Buchtel College.
During her college years, Slade was a charter member of the Akron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma women’s fraternity. She represented them in the Akron Pan-Hellenic Association.
Slade married Edwin Voris, an attorney with Voris, Vaughn, and Vaughn, in 1879. He was the son of local Akron hero, Maj. Gen. Alvin Coe Voris, and Lydia Allyn. They had four children, Lydia (Voris) Kolbe, Elizabeth (Voris) Lawry,Marion Voris and William. William’s wife, Louise Voris, was also active in Akron community work.
Elizabeth Voris helped organize two important women’s organizations in the city. She was a charter member of the College Club of Akron, an organization committed to the intellectual improvement of college-educated women, and the Women’s Benevolent Association, one of the pioneering welfare groups of the city. As a member of the College Club, she took part in the Division of Literary Extension in the Applied Education Department.
Voris was also a member of the Women’s Universalist Missionary Association, the Fifty Year Club of Akron, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Dames of the Loyal Legion. From 1919-1920, she was the treasurer of the Katherine Claypole Student Loan Fund, an organization to provide worthy college students with enough money to continue their education. Voris was on the first committee of this organization, representing the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She died in September of 1930.
Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.
