Great Resource for Akronites -Wingfoot Clan

I never ceased to be amazed at the resources available on the web.  Today I found a site called Summit Memory.  They have SEARCHABLE copies of the Wingfoot Clan, a weekly newspaper put out by Goodyear for their employees (first published in 1912).  This site has complete copies available for editions published 1939-1946 (plus issues of the Aircraft Edition.  It is fun to look through them, tons of news and facts.  It is a great resource for genealogy.  I searched for my grandfather, Sid Riley, and found that he received his 10 Year Service Pin in October of 1943 (Wingfoot Clan 11/3/1943).  Now I know that he started at Goodyear in 1933.

There was a mention when he went to visit Norm in the hospital in New York (2/7/1945)

Sunday Special: How the English Riley Family came to be Lutheran

Of course, Selma was raised in a Lutheran family.  Sid Riley's family came to the States from England.  His family was Church of England/Episcopalian until they moved to Dover. Ohio.  There wasn't an Episcopalian Church in Dover at that time.  They joined a Lutheran Church and Sid was confirmed a Lutheran.


At some point after their marriage,  he and Selma joined "The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity" (aka Holy Trinity) located on North Prospect in Akron.   

Thomas Riley and family's home in Akron

Sid's family lived in this house in Akron.  It was a "company home" built by Goodyear.  Ray thinks it is interesting that these English immigrants ended up owning a home that looked very English.  This house is still standing and located at 430 St. Leger Ave in Goodyear Heights.  Here is a picture of the home when the Riley's lived there

It was built in 1918, has three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and 1196 square feet.  I am amazed that it is valued at only  $68K.  The drive way is to the left and is shared with that house.  It leads to separate garages.  Here is a current picture.

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Ernst August and family's Akron Home

Here is a picture from Selma of the family's home in Akron.  Ernst came up from Zanesville before the family. Selma's diary started a couple of days prior to the move in September of 1917.

The address was:  359 Hickory Street.  Remember, you can click on the picture to make it bigger.  I found it interesting how much land surrounds the house.  The house is no longer standing.  A house that is for sale on the street says that it has a view of Cuyahoga Valley Historical Train Line and is a short walk to Cuyahoga Valley Tow Path hike and bike trail.


Houses directly across the street from the vacant lot are valued between $46K and $58K.  These house have huge lots.  I have no idea what the neighborhood is like now.

From Selma's Diary Jan. 13, 1918

Mark Riley had this wonderful glimpse into the life of a young women 1917-1919.  Selma was taking business classes at the time so most of it was typed.  It was in interesting time in the world with WWI and the Spanish Influenza outbreak.  I  looked at what she wrote on this day in 1918. this is exactly what/how she wrote it:

Sunday, Jan 13, 1918

We went to church.  On the way home Cletus and Howard were on the street car for they were to tend to ordering their basketball suite for the boys.  Well, when I was getting on the street car Howard said he would be up tonight.  Cletus came over in the afternoon and stayed for supper, he said at the table he was to meet Howard at Long & Taylor at 6:30 o'clock so he made the suggestion that we go along and we could go to the early show.  Howard almost fell over when he saw us so we told him the reason we happened to be along.  We went to the Strand and they had the picture the "BLUE JEANS" which Viola Diana played the play was great but very pathetic and of course I had to cry, which Cletus and Howard both had to notice and later Cletus had to torment me about it but I should worry then we got some eats and made it for home, we went in the dining room where we had a good time.

I had to google Viola Diana and found her name to be Viola Dana.  She made her first movie in 1912 and her last in 1929.  She must have had a bad voice since she never made a "talkie".  "Blue Jeans" was made in 1917 so it took it a while to get to Akron.

The Strand Theater was relatively new when Selma saw pictures there.  This info is from Cinema Treasures:

The Strand Theatre opened on September 2, 1915 with "The Island of Regeneration". It was built for and operated by Maurice C. Winter, who had sold the Bank Theatre near Main & Market Street's to build the Strand Theatre.

Seating was provided for 857 in the orchestra and 350 in the balcony. It was equipped with a Moller pipe organ that was played by Katherine Bruot.

Taken over by Isaac and Jacob Silverman in 1918 after the death of Maurice C. Winter, it was taken over by Warner Bros. in 1929 and they remodeled the theatre.

With the downturn of business during the 1960's, the Strand Theatre went through several changes of management, closures and openings. In 1970, the Star Kay Theater Group of New York purchased the Stand Theatre and it became an adult cinema. Despite protests, it remained open and even escaped being closed down on moral grounds, by heavily self-censoring the films it screened. It closed in 1976 and became a concert club, with mainly jazz muscicians playing. This was short lived and by 1978 it was screening porn movies again, this time known as the Cascade Cinema. It was closed for good in 1986.

It was demolished in 1990 to make way for the $30 million Main Place building.