BUSINESSES
When batteries replaced hand cranks on autos, motorists had fewer
sore arms - but they still had problems. Early electrical systems
were unreliable; batteries often had to be recharged or replaced.
And that's the kind of service motorists could get in the 1920s
from A.M. Allen Electric Co., at the corner of W. Buchtel and
Water streets.
C.L. Tschantz, pictured on High Street in 1903, delivered milk
produced on his father's farm to 200 customers. Then 17, he
carried the liquid in big cans and ladled it out to the users,
who furnished their own containers. Bottles weren't used until
1911.
Main
Street Businesses
The wheels turned slowly in 1898, but Frank
Carpenter, a driver from Klages Coal & Ice Co., managed to get
his ice delivered before it melted. At first, Klages got its ice
from Summit Lake, Blue Pond, White Pond and East Reservoir. In
1891 it built a 10-ton artificial ice plant at Summit and Bluff
Streets. In 1967 the firm went out of business.
Akron Beacon Journal 1909
Home of the Akron Beacon Journal from 1898 to
1911. Northeast corner of Quarry (Bowery) and Main Street. The
Beacon Journal later moved to East Market & Summit St., and then
to its present location.
The blacksmith hammering a shoe on the horse at
the left is probably James A. Moody, whose shop was on the west
side of Main Street between Market and Mill. The frame building
at the right in this 1870's picture is Oscar Burgan's livery
stable. The photographer who made this shot had his back to the
Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal, which flowed down the middle of Main
street at that time.
By 1915 there were few blacksmiths left in
Akron. T.P. Howland, who billed himself as a "practical
horseshoer", had the last shop in the downtown area, on Cherry
Street.
Site of present Polsky building. In 1928 the
Polsky Company bought the block across the street from the M.
O'Neil store. St. Bernard's' School and Church can be seen in
the background.
There were still a few horses on the streets
of Akron in 1915, but they were clearly destined for replacement
by autos and trucks. The Medford Building fell to the wrecking
ball and was replaced here by the Ohio Edison's annex. To the
left is the old Salvation Army Building; to the right, the
market house.
If you blew a Miller tire in 1916, Miller Rubber
Co. offered more than sympathy. It dispatched a tire repairman
on a motorcycle bearing repair kit and replacement tires. This
photo was taken on S. Howard Street.
If you didn't trust the new fangled trucks in
1918, you could have your household goods hauled by horses.
Union Fireproof Storage Co. had an equal number of gasoline
powered and horse-drawn vehicles but was rapidly moving toward
complete mechanization of its fleet. The firm boasted that its
three warehouses on N. High Street were "absolutely fireproof."
The grand lobby of today's Akron Civic Theatre,
when it opened in 1929 as Loew's. On the National Register of
Historic Places, it was designed by nationally famous theatre
architect John Eberson. The exterior view was taken in 1942.
The Middlebury Auto Garage, operated by
Christopher Albright, presented this appearance when it
advertised in the Summit County Atlas of 1910. The shop was on
the south side of East Market Street, just west of Arlington.
Renners Beer Wagon Akron Ohio early 1900s
Photographs:
Cuyahoga Falls Library Archives, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Courtesy of Akron Summit County Public Library:
Special Collections
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