Through the last hundred years, the state of Ohio has had a high concentration of amusement parks located outside its towns and cities. The numbers peaked in the 1920s, and have steadily decreased since that time. Amusement parks represent a unique period in a community's history, usually one of economic prosperity, and are threatened by large, corporate-owned parks and low attendance.This creative project studies Ohio's amusement parks. It traces the broad history of amusement parks from their roots in Europe to early American influence such as the World's Columbian Exposition and Coney Island in New York. The project also focuses on park development within the state of Ohio, and discusses the physical patterns that emerged out of the amusement parks, as well as the positive and negative social patterns that have surfaced and their impact today. The project suggests further areas of research needed for amusement parks, as well as steps that may help preserve those that are threatened.The project also includes an inventory of all known amusement parks located in Ohio throughout the state's history. The inventory includes the location, dates of operation, and attractions at the parks. It also categorizes parks according to the varieties found in Ohio. / Department of Architecture

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My creative project is the construction of a local history handbook to be used by third grade teachers in the Youngstown City Schools to teach their students the history of Youngstown as a part of their social studies curriculum. The local history handbook that I have constructed has two main parts; a teacher's edition and a student's edition. The teacher's edition is detailed history of Youngstown, written to an adult level of comprehension, and is meant to prepare the teacher with the information needed to answer students' questions. The student's edition is based on the teacher's edition. The student's edition is written to a student's level of understanding and is highlighted with numerous images and activities to further the students' learning of the subject matter.The local history handbook is one component of a larger program, Getting to Know my Downtown in the 3rd Grade, aimed at teaching local third graders the history of their town. Other parts of the program include local history experts and local government leaders coming to speak with the students; traveling activity resource packets; a three — dimensional, interactive map of the downtown; and a culminating field trip to the downtown where students visit many locations important to local history and government. One objective of this project is to establish and strengthen the students' "pride of place" and to prepare them to be better stewards of their local history and built environment in the future. A second objective is to give students a better understanding of how local government operates and the numerous ways for them to make a positive impact on their community. / Department of Architecture

The former Whitewater Canal, built between 1836 and 1847, spanned a distance of seventy-six miles from Lawrenceburg to Hagerstown, Indiana.' Initial construction was financed by Indiana's Mammoth Internal Improvements Act of 1836; a bill that strained the financial resources of the state, forcing it into bankruptcy in the summer of 1839. Canal construction was stopped until 1842, when the state granted the privately organized and financed White Water Valley Canal Company a charter to complete the unfinished portion of the canal between Brookville and Cambridge City.The unwieldy Whitewater River, however, proved too formidable for the fledgling canal company. A series of floods, in conjunction with a costly law suit, forced the White Water Valley Canal Company into receivership in 1855. The company was purchased at auction in 1865 by the Whitewater Valley Railroad Company, a Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway subsidiary. Between 1867 and 1868, the railroad company laid its tracks atop the towpath of the former canal.Today, the state of Indiana owns fourteen miles of former canal channel between Laurel and Brookville, Indiana. The state owned portion is maintained by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and is operated as the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site. The non-profit Whitewater Valley Railroad Museum runs excursion trains over much of the old towpath between Connersville and Metamora, Indiana. And the Indiana and Ohio short-line railroad operates over the former towpath between Harrison, Ohio and Brookville, Indiana.This paper provides an overview of the Whitewater Canal, a brief history of construction for each half-mile section of the canal between West Harrison and Brookville, and a survey of existing canal vestiges within each of those sections. The maps that accompany the list of construction sections identify the locations of numerous surviving canal structures as well the approximate locations of those structures either demolished or buried.The purpose of this project is to draw attention to an endangered segment of the former Whitewater Canal corridor. Roughly eighteen continuous miles of the old right-of-way between West Harrison and Brookville, Indiana is soon to be abandoned by the Indiana & Ohio Railroad, the current owner of the property. In addition to the picturesque scenery through which the right-of-way meanders, the old transportation route is steeped in the history of the Whitewater Valley and the State of Indiana itself. Ideal for recreational purposes and education, this threatened stretch of former canal corridor deserves attention and preservation. / Department of Architecture

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The housing shortage in the United States at the close of World War II led President Truman and his National Housing Expediter, Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr., to enact the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act. Enacted in the spring of 1946, one goal of the V.E.H.A. was to encourage the production of prefabricated and factory-built housing units.The Lustron Homes Corporation, founded by Carl Strandlund, was a subsidiary of Chicago Vitreous Enamel Products Company which received over $37 million from the Federal Government between 19461950, in order to manufacture standardized all-steel houses.This creative project explores the wartime and postwar housing situation across the country, and specifically, in Louisville, Kentucky. An interview with Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr. is included.The production, assembly, and sales practices of the Lustron Homes Corporation are explored through research, and through an interview with the regional salesman who represented Kentucky. Documentation and photographs of Louisville's Lustrons are included. / Department of Architecture

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No description available.