Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.

Many people think of Chagrin Falls as a quaint, quiet village that has great restaurants, interesting shopping and ice-cream.

All that is true, but there was a time when Chagrin Falls was a highly productive mill town with many factories, foundries and nine dams which produced power for them.

We made products the United States and other countries needed and used.

One of the least known was honored in a 1859 essay by a Chagrin Falls student Westel W. Hunt, who later to served as a Union soldier in the Civil War.

He said, writing about the village’s settlement and progress:

“Turning your eyes in a different direction you behold foundries, machine, cabinet and mechanics shops of various descriptions, great wonders of the age. The shoe peg factory which furnishes shoe pegs to thousands scattered up and down our land who use them. Various other articles for the comfort and use of mankind are manufactured here.”

You ask what are shoe pegs and why were they so useful. These small wooden spikes were used to attach soles to the upper leather of a shoe, replacing stitching. I have read two reasons for their popularity.

The first is that they made completing a shoe much faster and hence were cost effective.

The other is that, especially during the Civil War, when shoes were subject to repeated slogs through rain and mud, the wood of a shoe peg would expand instead of rot (at least for a time). Interestingly, shoe pegs may still be found in high-end men’s shoes to this day.

Chagrin Falls was also home to the Bullard woodenware factory, beginning in 1842. In 1865 they patented a machine to manufacture butter molds and the mold itself received a patent a year later.

While they were the leading firm producing a variety of wooden products in the United States, their butter molds were especially well known and remain highly valued by collectors to this day.

They are beautifully made, but the fact that the patent is marked on the molds makes the maker far easier to identify than most.

A smaller enterprise but also interesting, the Deerlick Oil Stone Co. was started in 1868 by M.B. And Z.L. Kent. These knife sharpening stones were successful enough to send A.L. Kent in 1893 on a trip to Europe. He returned with orders, reaching as far east as Russia.

Perhaps even more impressive were the inventions of George Ober. He developed lathes to turn irregular forms in their woodenware factory. From 1865 until 1890 he was granted 4 patents as the lathes were improved.

At that point he realized that the firm needed a sales representative and he proceeded to travel throughout the eastern states, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond the Mississippi River.

In the 1990s one such lathe, already over 100 years old, was in use in Wisconsin turning out duck decoys. One was reported still in use in the 21st Century in Australia.

One cannot leave Mr. Ober without mention of his highly successful and innovative sad irons.

Beginning in 1897 the company began casting the heavy irons that were the staple of home life at the time.

Perhaps not surprisingly, he improved the devices and patented a removable wooden handle that not only allowed the user to change from one iron to another, but prevented the need for heat protection from the iron handle of a standard iron.

Over time Mr. Ober found he needed to produce his catalogs for iron items in both French and Spanish.

The final company, and the longest surviving, that deserves mention here is the Adams Bag Co. Now all that remains is its towering smokestack, but it was known more recently to us as Chase Bag and finally as Ivex. Beginning in 1899, it was one of the country’s premier paper manufacturers.

This company pioneered the production of Manila rope paper which was very successfully used in flour sacks. In the early 20th century they provided the expanding cement industry with bags. During World War I - using their trade name ‘Neverburst’, their bags were known throughout the country.

Our ‘quaint’ village has been far more important and active than many of us realize. It was founded by people who believed in hard work, productive lives, innovation and community. To this day, these traits keep the Village alive and vibrant.

Ms. Albers serves as special project coordinator for the Chagrin Falls Historical Society.

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