At the height of the Corona Virus lockdowns...
Hi Scott,
Fry's Hall was located in the Fry block at the corner of what is now Stephenson Street and Chicago Avenue in downtown Freeport. I have attached a photo of it taken around 1892. The building was torn down at some point.
138 East main Street, 2nd flooor
Day’s Hall, located on the second floor of the building, was used as a lecture hall between 1846 and 1872. It is not the same facility as the Odd Fellows Hall, located on the third floor of the same building.
A Ravenna landmark got a visit from a 19th century author and humorist whose name is still well known.
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, visited the second floor of the East Main Street landmark. The structure is under renovation in Ravenna by Coleman Professional Services, which plans apartments and retail on the site.
Kathy Myers of Coleman said a local historian provided Coleman with a research packet outlining Twain’s visit in 1869.
Edwin L. Drake, an out-of-work conductor for the New Haven Railroad, went to Titusville in December of 1857 to deal with financial problems associated with the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of Connecticut, soon to be the Seneca Oil Company in 1858.
Oil had been coming from a spring on Oil Creek that was used to lubricate machinery and provide smoky light. The technology for producing kerosene from crude oil was been developed and the crude from Titusville was thought to be valuable for this purpose.
Performance hall built in 1865
Alliance was founded in 1854 by the merger of three smaller communities called Williamsport (formed in 1827), Freedom (formed in 1838), and Liberty (formed in 1850). A fourth community, Mount Union, was added in 1888. Alliance was incorporated as a city in 1889.