Building the St. Helena II: Rebirth of a Nineteenth-Century Canal Boat

Chapter 8. Dedication

Chapter 8 Dedication ••• Canal Fulton’s fifth annual Olde Canal Days Festival on July 10, 11, and 12, 1970, attracted ninety thousand people in fine weather. It was the village’s most gala festival to date, preceded by promotional articles in the Akron Beacon Journal (June 30), Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 1), the Barberton Herald (July 2), the Canton Repository (July 2, 5, 8 and 10), the Alliance Review (July 9), the summer issue of the Canawler, and the July 8 issue of the Canal Fulton newspaper, the Signal, which featured the full upper half of the front page with a color photo of the St. Helena II, as well asadetailedagendaanddescriptionoftheplannedweekendblockbuster events, including the crowning of a Canal Days Queen, a fire department parade, a water fight between Clinton and Canal Fulton volunteer fire departments, Up with People singers from Massillon, the (Canton Football ) Hall of Fame Chorus, the Act IV barbershop quartet, amusement rides from the Ohio State Fair, an organ grinder with a trained monkey, a majorette unit on roller skates, tours of historic homes, a spectacular exhibit on Ohio’s natural resources from the Wonderful World of Ohio, Komas the Hindu Fakir, a float parade on the canal, fireworks, a grand parade with high school bands and clowns, an inner tube regatta, the Sky Hawks sky diving team, the Within Six Months rock band for the Pitkin Ford parking lot dance, the Rotary Club’s annual chicken barbeque, and, of course, the christening and the first public rides on the St. Helena II, . 97 . Gantz text.indb 97 6/25/12 3:09 PM 98 building the st. helena ii not necessarily in that order. Clyde Gainey opened his Old Canal Days Museum free of charge for all visitors, in celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday. Commemorative dinner plates showing the various steps in building the St. Helena II were being sold. More than any of the preceding four festivals, this one celebrated not only the canal days of the past but the future of this small town, which was now empowered by its pride and joy, the St. Helena II—pride because of the large number of residents who worked tirelessly for over three years to buildher,andjoybecauseofwhatshepromisedtobringthissmalltownin termsofbusiness,recognition,andemployment.Itwastrulyamemorable event! State senator Ralph Regula gives the St. Helena II’s dedication address, on the guest platform at the dedication ceremony. Seated, from left, are Canal Days Queen Carla Remark; Viona E. Findley, widow of Ted Findley, the late president of the Canal Society of Ohio; myself and my wife, Lorraine; Ed Harriman; James Dillow Robinson, of Cleveland, a founding member of the Canal Society of Ohio; Dr. R. K. Ramsayer, president of the Stark County Historical Society; Canal Fulton mayor J. W. Richardson ; Mary Muhlhauser (1893–1980), key financial contributor; Gervis S. Brady, executive director of the Stark County Historical Society; Jim Guest of the Louisville Sportsman’s Club, event chairperson; and Al Simpson of the Canton Repository. Gantz text.indb 98 6/25/12 3:09 PM dedication 99 The public dedication and christening of the St. Helena II took place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, in the village park boat landing, with Jim Guest as general chairman and Ed Harriman as Canal Branch Board chairperson and as master of ceremonies. Ed Harriman gave the invocation , and J. W. Richardson, mayor of Canal Fulton, welcomed attendees. Ed commended the many volunteers who had worked on the boat during the four years it had taken to design and build it and introduced the honored guests on the ceremonial platform. AfterRamsayermadeafewremarks,Robinson(1899–1980),perhapsthe last living Ohioan who had actually worked on the canal, read his original canalpoem,“CanalNostalgia,”writtenfortheoccasionanddedicatedtothe settlers and pioneers of Ohio. (See appendix A for the complete poem.)1 From age six to seventeen (1905–17), James Dillow Robinson lived on a state canal boat with his stepfather, Captain Charles B. Stebbins, of Independence, Ohio, who was the repair foreman of the canal between Cleveland and Peninsula, repairing locks, aqueducts, breaks in the banks, and cleaning out feeders. The family lived on the boat year-round. In 1912, Dillow joined his stepfather’s crew and was thus on the canal during the infamous 1913 flood that shut down the canal. He continued working for the state on a section from Pinery Dam to the American Steel & Wire Company, where it served as a water...