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A short history of Barberton:
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Barberton, is a city in Summit County and is located in northeastern Ohio, USA.
The city of Barberton, Ohio had it's beginnings from a
group of a small farms in Norton Ohio, which was founded
in 1815.
In 1890, Akron industrialist Ohio C. Barber had an
option on 550 acres of land in Norton on which he hoped to
mine soda ash. When the soda ash venture fell through Mr.
Barber, not wanting to give up his option on the land, saw
the viability of developing his own planned community.
Barberton was laid out around Ways Lake, which O. C.
Barber renamed Lake Anna, after his only daughter, Anna
Laura Barber.
To plan the venture he formed the Barberton Land and
Improvement Company, which many locals came to call
simply, "The Syndicate." Mr. Barber brought in a boomer of
towns, to the venture, named M. J. Alexander. M.J.
Alexander had planned and built Charleroi Pennsylvania,
and along with Pullman Illinois, Barberton Ohio became
only the third entirely planned community in the United
States.
M. J. Alexander hired a young Pennsylvania Railroad
engineer, named W.A. Johnson to lay the new city out
around Lake Anna. This is the reason that Barberton has
such an orderly block pattern today, because it's streets
are modeled after the Pennsylvania block plan, that W.A.
Johnson was most familiar with.
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it was incorporated, the original scattered farms had
grown into a city of 1,800. When a Beacon Journal reported
revisited Barberton in 1893, he remarked in the paper that
between 1891 and 1893 the town of Barberton had grown so
fast that it appeared to grow by magic. This is where we
get the nickname of Barberton, the Magic City.
The first factory, the Creedmore
Cartridge was closely followed by the National Sewer Pipe
and in 1894 the Diamond Match Company. This helped to
bring workers to Barberton. With the jobs, came shops,
schools, houses and churches and the new town continued to
grow very quickly. In 1899 Columbia Chemical Company
opened it's soda ash plant in Barberton.
Ohio C. Barber along with Alan
Stirling had started the Stirling Boiler works in Akron in
1890, and moved the venture to Barberton in 1892. In 1906,
Babcock & Wilcox merged with the Stirling Boiler Works of
Barberton that eventually produced the boilers for the
first nuclear powered merchant ship. In 1910 Ohio Brass
bought out the Akron Hi-Potential Porcelain Co., and
became the premier porcelain insulator manufacturer to the
electric utility industry.
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This picture was sent in by Buck Thesing (BHS 1948). It shows 194 2nd St. NW in 1916. From left to right is Robert J. Stadtmiller, John W. Thesing (Class of 1914) and William H. Thesing |
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By 1910 the population of
Barberton was 9,400 and this again doubled by 1920 to
18,811 and by 1960 to 33,805. In 1990, the population
was 27,623. This reduction is due to the loss of some of
the manufacturing companies and the general economic
downturn in the Northeast area of the United States.
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Schools:
One of the greatest assets to the community is its school system; which includes my Alma Mater, Barberton High School (Class of '73). Barberton High School has produced many fine scholars and athletes. This fine educational institution that began as 19 rooms in 1915, eventually grew to two buildings in 1939. The second building, The Industrial Arts Building, houses Greynolds Gymnasium. Barberton is in the process
of building a new high school with some of the proceeds from selling Barberton Citizens Hospital to Quorum Health Group
Inc.
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Athletics:
 | Glenn "Jeep" Davis represented the United States in both the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. He won 3 gold medals in track and field events. A statue of Jeep is proudly displayed on the Barberton Library grounds.
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| Satchel Paige, the famous black baseball player, played on one of the Barberton black baseball teams in the early 1930's.
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| Glenn "Bo" Schembechler, University of Michigan Head Coach, started his athletic career on Barberton High School's baseball team in 1948.
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| Bob Addis became the first Barberton High School graduate to sign a contract with a major league baseball team in 1950 (Boston Braves).
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| George Izo, playing for the Washington Redskins, tied an NFL passing record of 99 yards (against the Cleveland Browns) in 1963.
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| Alvin Robertson, played on the gold
medal winning U. S. Olympic Basketball team in 1984.
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| Jack Greynolds, Barberton's Basketball coach for 31 years, set an impressive lifetime record of 518 wins and 125 losses, retired from coaching in 1988.
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| John Mackovic, coached 2 college football teams and in the National Football League. |
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Hal Naragon
Hal Naragon was a graduate of Barberton High School.
He played baseball and basketball
and actually was and is a good friend (and fellow High
School team mate) of Bo S. Hal, a
catcher, signed on a handshake with the Indians
the summer between his Jr. and Sr. year, going right
into the minors after graduation.
He made it into the majors in 1951, I believe, but was
drafted into the Marine Corp. in that
season. He played for the Marines in Quantico
before returning for his first FULL year in the Majors
in 1954 with the Indians. He
caught Bob Feller to name one... In the late 50's... I'm
thinking 58 or 59, he was traded to the
Washington Senators who then moved and
became the Minnesota Twins. He caught for the twins but
then went into coaching as a
bullpen coach and had that position in 1965 when they
won the pennant but lost the
series. He then left the Twins, along with pitching
coach Johnny Sain, and went with the
Tigers. His last year was 1968 (a total
of 3 with the Tigers) when the Tigers beat the St. Louis
Cardinals to win the World Series.
That was with players like Mickey Lolich, Al Kaline,
Willy Horton, Mickey Stanley.... All and
all, and they count minors, military,
and major league time it was just about 22 years. I know
that he
caught 5 Hall of Famers in
his career.
Hal was born in Zanesville but moved to Barberton in
mid to late elementary school. He
grew up in the projects over by the stadium and then
eventually moved to a small house
on the East side on Washington Street. He still resides
in Barberton, on Hagey with his wife Joanne of over 50
years. (they
were high school
sweethearts).
He is active in charitable fund raising events
through the Professional Baseball
Players Alumni. A great dad and a great grandpa... How
do I know
all this... because he's
my dad....
Pam "Naragon" Bradley
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Local Activities:
Barbertonians love to have festivals and parades; and we usually do our celebrating in the middle of town. We have parades and festivals for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. There is a beautiful spring fed lake, Lake Anna (named for O. C. Barber's daughter), surrounded by a park near the middle of town. Each spring, we hold the Cherry Blossom festival and hope the cherry trees in the park cooperate by
blooming "sometime" during the festival. The park includes a gazebo where concerts are held on the weekends in summer. Also in the summer, is the Lake Anna Arts and Crafts Festival; where many talented artists display and sell their work. In the fall, we have Chickenfest, this festival celebrates the fact that we have some of the finest fried chicken restaurants in the area. For the
horticulturist, we have Mumfest, a corner of the park is decorated with colorful mums provided by Yoder Brothers Nurseries.
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Barberton also has a complete exercise facility, including a indoor/outdoor swimming pool and water park called "Magic Waters".
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