Midstory

07/07/2025

This week’s highlights the life and works of architect Howard Dwight Smith. Smith was born in 1886 and went on to study at The Ohio State University, earning his civil engineering degree in 1907. Ten years later, Smith returned to Columbus and became a professor and lead architect of Ohio State.

His biggest claim to fame is Ohio Stadium, which features a Roman inspired design and a shape that gave it the nickname “The Shoe.” While he worked on other campus buildings, Smith's work also permeated the community as he designed municipal and school buildings throughout the Columbus area. Among these projects was the Open Air School, a school designed to prevent tuberculosis by providing students with abundant fresh air. Though he died in 1958, his legacy lives on in the buildings that continue to bring joy to his community.

Written and compiled by Vitus Larrieu for Midstory.

📸 Photos: Smith and postcards featuring his buildings, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

05/07/2025

On a summer day in a tree-lined neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio, there’s plenty of shade to make a picnic or a barbecue pleasant despite the heat. But if you live a few miles away — particularly in the inner-city — it’s more than 10 degrees hotter, substantially raising both health risks and electric bills.

It’s July 19th, 2021, a beautiful summer day in a tree-lined neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio. The sun is shining and the temperature hovers around 86 degrees Fahrenheit, but there’s plenty of shade to make a picnic or a barbecue pleasant despite the heat. But if you live a few miles away — partic...

04/07/2025

This week's takes us to Devil’s Kettle Falls, Judge C.R. Magney State Park’s most visited tourist attraction. At the falls, the river diverges into two sides. Half of the falls flows down to the river to Lake Superior. The other half has been confounding tourists for years. It falls into a deep hole and vanishes, seemingly forever. All kinds of things from ping pong balls, wooden logs and, allegedly, even a car have been thrown in with the hopes of discovering the falls’ end. However, the water appears to disappear, taking all that is thrown in with it. At least, this is what was believed for years until the mystery was finally solved by a team of hydrologists at the Department of Natural Resources, who discovered that the water actually does end up rejoining the river later on. This destination has even been featured in the 2009 cult classic, “Jennifer’s Body” (Karyn Kusama).

Travel to this mysterious destination for a state park fee of $7 for a daily ticket or $35 for an annual ticket.

Written and compiled by Chinmayi Rajaram for Midstory.

📸: Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Sources:
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2017/mar-apr/devils-kettle-mystery.html
https://minnesotasnewcountry.com/the-case-of-minnesotas-disappearing-waterfall-has-been-solved/

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03/07/2025

This week’s highlights Carl Stokes, the 51st mayor of Cleveland and the first African American to hold the office.

Stokes was born in the city in 1927. After briefly serving in the U.S. Army, he returned to Cleveland and became a lawyer. Following service in the Ohio House of Representatives, Stokes was elected mayor in 1967. Along with Gary, Indiana, Mayor Richard Hatcher, Stokes was one of the first Black mayors in a city with a population of over 100,000.

Stokes managed to build a multiracial coalition to win election in the majority-white city. In office, Stokes diversified the city’s municipal workforce and aimed to revitalize the city’s rundown neighborhoods. He declined to run for office in 1971. In his later life, Stokes served as an anchorman for WNBC in New York, legal counsel for the United Auto Workers and was the United States ambassador to Seychelles.

Compiled by Ryan Konarska for Midstory.

📸 Photos: Carl Stokes, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

03/07/2025

A little over a century ago, the ice cream truck was invented in Youngstown, Ohio. Founded by Harry Burt, Good Humor became known for its iconic trucks that provided customers with both delicious treats and lifelong memories.

Amid today’s generation wars, there may be one thing that unites us all: the nostalgia of ice cream. Most memories begin the same: a warm summer day interrupted by a serendipitous jingle in the distance. Before even spotting the truck, you’ve secured cash from your parents or piggy bank. Soon, y...

02/07/2025

Join Midstory as we explore the future of storytelling in the Midwest. 💡

On Saturday, July 26 starting at 11am.....meet 25+ ThinkLab interns from across the country..visit 20+ interactive story stations by our summer cohort..network w/ regional leaders + storytellers..view Midstory data arts installations..enjoy food + drink

RSVP: https://forms.gle/CRVeJVfTkB3MbJNm7 (link in bio)

Our summer ThinkLab Program brings students from all over the country to Toledo, Ohio — this year from schools including Princeton, Oberlin, Northwestern, Duke, BGSU, UChicago, Syracuse, UToledo and more. Part of our mission is to get young people invested in our region by showing them what Toledo — and the Midwest — has to offer, and also to inspire them to think toward solutions-crafting for the challenges our community faces. Come support these bright, young people making a difference in our city and community!

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments and free parking will be provided. All are welcome to attend, so please share this RSVP link with friends, family and colleagues: https://forms.gle/CRVeJVfTkB3MbJNm7

Date: Saturday, July 26, 2025
Time: 11am - 3pm
Location: 1510 N. Westwood Ave. Toledo, OH 43606 (free parking available outside the main entrance in Lot #20).

This event is in partnership with the .

02/07/2025

This week’s highlights the history of American Arbor Day, a holiday founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Morton, a newspaper editor and politician, was also a passionate advocate for tree planting and environmental stewardship. The largely treeless Nebraska Territory made him recognize the importance of trees for windbreaks to keep soil in place and for providing fuel, building materials and shade.

On January 4, 1872, Morton proposed a tree-planting holiday to the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture. The idea was met with enthusiasm, and April 10 of that year was designated as the first Arbor Day. On the day, prizes were offered to counties and individuals who properly planted the largest number of trees, and an estimated 1 million trees were planted across the state. The success of the event led Nebraska to declare it a state holiday in 1885.

The concept of Arbor Day quickly spread beyond Nebraska. By the 1880s, several other states had adopted the holiday, and it gained national recognition when President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day in 1970.

Now, all 50 states celebrate Arbor Day — most on the National Arbor Day but some on a date best suited to the state’s climate and tree-planting season, as early as January or as late as May.

Written and compiled by Casey He for Midstory.

📸 Photos: American Arbor Day celebrations, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

02/07/2025

Every year, North Dakota bees are sent out across the country with the mission to pollinate some of America’s most beloved crops — like almonds, apples and avocados — before returning home to the Peace Garden State. This year, experts are expecting extreme declines in honey bee colonies due to factors like parasites and pesticides.

After over 30 years of commercial beekeeping, Gregg Stewart isn’t a beekeeper anymore. He was born and raised in North Dakota, which is considered the country’s epicenter of beekeeping.  While he once had up to 1900 hives, Stewart sold the majority of his bees last year. It’s only getting har...

26/06/2025

You might expect the best rock ‘n’ roll curators to be those who’ve lived through the era, but the teenage team behind Blue Devil Radio at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio, might just be in the running.

You might expect the best rock ‘n’ roll curators to be those who’ve lived through the era, but the teenage team behind Blue Devil Radio at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio, might just be in the running. Blue Devil Radio got its start in 2017, when then-superintendent Dr. Michael O’Sh...

26/06/2025

This week's commemorates Barney Oldfield, once America’s most prominent race car driver.

Oldfield was born in a small farmhouse in Wauseon, Ohio, in 1878. His racing career began in 1902 in Toledo, Ohio, when his old bicycle racing teammate, Tom Cooper, approached him with a job maintaining a racing car that he purchased from Henry Ford. The two quickly realized why Ford had let the race car, dubbed the “999,” go: it was nearly impossible to control at track speeds. Oldfield, a failed boxer and cyclist, embraced this challenge.

Oldfield quickly saw success on the racetrack; the words track record became a regularity for the 999 in the following two years. By 1905, the 999’s signature cloud of dust as the car drifted through corners was known in households across the United States. Unfortunately, the elitist culture and figures that had dominated the racing scene resented Oldfield’s success and unconventional style, and as a result Oldfield was entirely banned from racing by 1911.

Despite his eventual ban, no single person was more responsible for changing the culture of racing than Oldfield. As a once working class man from rural Ohio, Oldfield appealed immensely to and hence attracted the middle and lower classes to racing. Without the Toledo speedster, racing would likely still be mentioned in the same breath as yachting and polo.

Written and compiled by Tyler Pellek for Midstory.

📸 Photos: Barney Oldfield, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Sources:
https://toledosattic.org/exhibit-collections/biography/barney-oldfield?start=1
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barney-Oldfield

26/06/2025

Brainstorm or brain freeze?🍦🫶💖

Our summer ThinkLab program has brought 25 students from all across the nation to Toledo, Ohio, to create and dream for the future of our region.🌟🎉🧠

Part of our mission is to get young people invested in our region by showing them what Toledo — and the Midwest — has to offer, and also to inspire them to think toward solutions-crafting for the challenges our community faces. To read more about our summer cohort, click on the link in our bio!

24/06/2025

A herd of bison roams a 55-acre pasture in Swanton, Ohio. It’s a sight far removed from the outlook a century ago, when the species was nearly hunted to extinction. Stacy and Brent Nofziger at Bracy Gold Bison Ranch have helped to restore America’s largest mammal as a crucial component of the local environment.

A herd of bison roams a 55-acre pasture in Swanton, Ohio. It’s a sight far removed from the outlook a century ago, when the species was nearly hunted to extinction. Stacy and Brent Nofziger at Bracy Gold Bison Ranch have helped to bring America’s largest mammal back from the brink and restore it...