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News > Newsletter Articles > 2011
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Class of 2012, The Long View
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Though visionary most often means 'looking to the future;' the visionaries of Medina County look to the past," says Floyd Ostrowski of Root Candle Company.
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Applying especially well to the Root Candle Company and the Medina Community Design Committee, we thought Floyd's sentiments were fairly profound as we discussed what we learned about the history of Medina County and how to apply it to the future.
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While Medina County may not be the birthplace of Thomas Edison or the Wright Brothers, as other Ohio communities can claim, many of us learned a lot more than we expected. From one-room school houses to Victorian century homes, the most important thing about a community's history is that someone retains it.
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On history day, we started by sharing how we got to Medina County. Although there was the battle among class members Dave Wadsworth and Troy and Shawn Gerspacher for the oldest Medina County family (Dave won through his connection to General Elijah Wadsworth), the vast majority of the class was not native and many were recent transplants. When the rest of Ohio is talking about “brain drain” and loss of population to other cities, it was refreshing to hear that most of us moved to Medina County for work - followed closely by safety and schools.
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Most of us agreed that hearing from chairman of Root Candle Company John Root was the highlight of the day. It’s always inspiring to be transported back to a time when a good idea and whole lot of gumption were the most important ingredients of starting a business. To hear all the quirks and successes of such an interesting character as AI Root from someone who knew him is not an experience you come by often.
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Of course, we would all want to give kudos to the individuals we met along the way … we especially hope that Heritage Farm will re-open so that Ms. Mamie Grunau, Curator, can finish her life’s work!
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| View pictures from the day. |
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