[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BICENTENNIAL OF RAVENNA, OHIO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM SAWYER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 27, 1999

  Mr. SAWYER. Mr. Speaker, 1999 is a special year for Ravenna, Ohio. In 
1799, on the cusp of a new century, Benjamin Tappan became the first 
settler of what is now Ravenna, in Portage County. The bicentennial of 
that humble beginning is being celebrated and commemorated throughout 
the year.
  In many ways, Benjamin Tappan demonstrated in one person the diverse 
talents that have been so instrumental in America's growth. And, in 
much the same way, the story of Ravenna is the story of America.
  Benjamin Tappan apprenticed as a copperplate printer and engraver and 
studied portrait painting under Gilbert Stuart. He practiced law, 
served in the World War of 1812, and served in public life as a state 
senator, judge, canal commissioner, and U.S. Senator. He was, by all 
accounts, an independent thinker, an opponent of slavery, and a man of 
immense talents and principle. In short, an American archetype.
  Just as Benjamin Tappan's life was characteristic of the early 
settlers of the wilderness that was Ohio, Ravenna's history is one of 
growth, adaptation, pride, and hard work.
  In the 1820's, Ravenna benefitted from construction of the 
Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, popularly known as ``The Cross Cut,'' 
running from Akron to the Ohio River.
  As technology and transportation changed, so did Ravenna. Beginning 
in the 1850's, the railroads arrived, gradually supplanting the canals. 
In the years following the Civil War, assisted by the railroads, 
Ravenna emerged as a manufacturing center. From glassworks to coaches, 
from woolen mills to cereal mills, and from foundries to rubber, 
Ravenna has made the tools that built America, the fabric that clothed 
America, the cereal that fed America, and the balloons that brightened 
America.
  Today, access to both rail and highway transportation has helped 
Ravenna to attract and maintain industry, even as the region and the 
nation changed.
  It could be said, Mr. Speaker, that there is nothing very special in 
any of this. Many towns, cities, and regions have changed as the nation 
and the economy have changed. But it is this apparent familiarity that 
makes Ravenna special--a community able to maintain its sense of self, 
its pride of achievement, celebrating its past while looking to the 
future. Like Benjamin Tappan, as American archetype.
  The calendar of events marking this bicentennial is remarkable for 
its breadth, variety, and sense of fun. Two hundred trees have been 
planted to mark Ravenna's 200th birthday. There have been presentations 
of local history, workshops on making memory scrapbooks, a horse show, 
proclamations, and a golf outing. Still to come are a concert, a 
parade, fireworks, an art show, a raffle, trolley tours, and the 21st 
annual ``Balloon-A-Fair,'' a continuing celebration of Ravenna's pride 
in its lighter-than-air heritage. In short, even as Ravenna celebrates, 
it cheerfully demonstrates the adage that ``it's great to visit the 
past, but you don't have to live there to enjoy it.'' The past and the 
future share a home in Ravenna, Ohio.
  At 200, Ravenna has a full, rich heritage, and on the cusp of another 
new century, the promise of even better things to come.

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