Sesquicentennial School Play

In 1967, to celebrate the Sesquicentennial of Twinsburg, the schools put on a production to commemorate the region’s anniversary.  The production, coordinated by Richard T. Sunderland who was the Director of Music for Twinsburg Schools, featured children from virtually every grade.

Twinsburg Sesquicentennial Booklet

Twinsburg’s Centennial

1917 marked the centennial of Twinsburg Township. Numerous committees worked feverishly to put together a celebration worthy of the area, its inhabitants, and the founders. The week-long festivities commenced on Sunday, August 4th with church services held in both the morning and early evening on the pageant grounds and concluded the following Saturday with the highly anticipated Pageant. Other activities and events included a dramatization of fifty year old pranks pulled by schoolchildren attending Bissel Academy, family reunions, log rolling, band music, and old time Virginia reels.

One of the highlights of Twinsburg’s Centennial was it’s pageant. The Pageant was a faithful portrayal of the highlights of the area’s first hundred years from the earliest settlers right up to the modern day (or at least what passed for modern at that time). Over a third of Twinsburg’s populance (350 of 900) participated in the pageant, with 1,200 others in attendance.

Billed as a history of a town, in dramatic form, for many it was the high point of the celebration.  The Independent, which was the newspaper of Northern Summit County in 1917, reported that many people “pronounced it the finest pageant they had ever seen.”

The production was so popular it was produced in Cleveland during the following month. It was directed my S. Gertrude Hadlow.

View the Pageant Book here.

The Township of the time was fiercely religious and so was the Centennial. Opening festivities were imbued with a spiritual fervor. Both the Congregational and Methodist churches had hour-long services to kick off the festival. An excerpt from The (Hudson) Independent sums up the religious tone: “Let us come to this service with a keen realization of the meaning of the hour and let the whole community, young and old, render unto God, their Captain, their deepest allegiance and pledge their unfailing loyalty to the great cause of humanity, and show that with malice toward none and charity for all we enter this struggle reluctantly, but as true Americans, obedient to the stern daughter of the voice of God—DUTY.”

According to an article published in the Akron Beacon Journal: “No town in Northern Ohio has greater unity and loyalty among its people.” Unity and loyalty was on full-display for the duration of the preparation and subsequent festivities.

Area Epidemics

The winter of 1903 was a particularly stressful one for families in the Twinsburg area. A rash of scarlet fever cases spread across the region, forcing schools to close indefinitely. Children, more susceptible to the illness, were kept home to prevent the disease from infecting their classmates. Prior to the development of penicillin, scarlet fever was a debilitating illness commonly affecting those age five to fifteen with sore throats, high fevers, and a scarlet rash. Healthy students were also forced to stay home in 1918 and 1920 due to the spread of flu, with many taken ill. Spanish flu was a global event that caused illness and in some cases death for half a billion people.

Biker Gang Disturbance

The Twinsburg Village Police Department responded to a report of a disturbance at 9842 Chamberlin Road, about ten miles north of Akron, at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 18, 1967. When the police arrived at the abandoned picnic spot they were greeted with flying bottles, rocks, and screams of “Here come the cops” from the members of numerous motorcycle gangs partaking in a raucous party. Members of the Sundowners, Roaring Twenties, Grim Reapers, Red Raiders, and Misfits were among the culprits, many of whom sported long hair, black leather jackets, earrings, swastikas, and German-type helmets.

Guns, liquior, insgnia, and other apparel reside in the custody of Twinsburg Police following the arrest of dozens of gang members.

Guns, liquior, insgnia, and other apparel reside in the custody of Twinsburg Police following the arrest of dozens of gang members.

Police reinforcements arrived from Portage and Summit counties, including officers from Hudson Township, Twinsburg Township, Bedford, Macedonia, Solon, Stow, and Tallmadge. Many of the officers were equipped with riot guns, but luckily, and surprisingly, when the reinforcements arrived the bikers decided to leave quietly. According to Police Chief Glenn Osborn, evidence confiscated included a .22 caliber pistol, a large assortment of knives, chains, blackjacks, and a swastika flag. Thirty-nine adults and five juveniles were arrested, with the adult perpetrators being taken to Summit County Jail, while the youngsters were turned over to the county’s detention center. Many of the officers on the scene expressed shock and dismay to find that a number of the bikers (including nine of the incarcerated) were female.