Ohio
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{Ohio} Akron, Where Clark Gable Caught the Acting Bug
In 1918, Clark Gable grew bored with farm life in rural Palmyra and was intrigued by the rubber tire boom happening in nearby Akron. Against his father’s wishes, he dropped out of school and headed there to start anew. Clark worked as an office clerk in the Firestone plant before moving to the Miller Tire and Rubber Company. He rented a room from a couple on Steiner Avenue, a short walk from work. Here’s what Steiner Avenue looks like today…not exactly an area we felt safe hanging out in for a long period of time: One night after work at the factory, Clark went to The Akron Music Hall and…
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{Ohio} Palmyra, Where Clark Gable Lived
In 1917, Clark’s father Bill Gable packed up his family and moved from the little town of Hopedale north 50 miles to the rural outskirts of Ravenna, Palmyrna Township. The area is still very rural and quaint, with houses far apart and cows and horses visible from every yard. Here is Alliance Rd, where the Gables moved to: And here is the house, modernized and added on to, but still standing! Clark was not happy in Palmyra and missed all his friends from Hopedale. He attended Edinburgh High School, which has since burned down, but a new school was built in its place: In 1920, Clark traveled back to…
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{Ohio} Hopedale, Where Clark Gable Grew Up
After Clark’s mother Adeline died in her hometown of Meadville, Pennsylvania, in November 1901, his father left him in the care of Addie’s sister, brother-in-law and parents, and went back to Ohio to continue oil drilling. In the small village of Hopedale, he met Jennie Dunlap and became instantly smitten. Everyone was surprised that she returned the rough Bill Gable’s advances and accepted his proposal. They were married on April 16, 1903. Soon afterwards Bill went back to Meadville to collect his son. Addie’s family was not happy to give up the boy and many tears were shed, but Bill was his father and had found his boy a mother.…
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{Ohio} Dennison, Where Clark Gable was Baptized
A brief little post here on our trip to Dennison. Dennison, Ohio is a little town of about 3,000 people about 23 miles from Cadiz. Our sole purpose for visiting was the Immaculate Conception Church. Clark Gable’s mother, Adeline, was a devout Catholic. She was very ill after his birth and had psychotic episodes and seizures. In one of her lucid moments, she pleaded for her only child to be baptized Catholic. There was no Catholic church in the little town of Cadiz at that time, so a neighbor named John Conway and his wife took baby Clark to the closest church—Immaculate Conception in Dennison. He was baptized there on…
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{Gone with the Wednesday} 75th Anniversary Event in Cadiz, Ohio
The reason for me traveling to Ohio was twofold: One, to follow in Clark’s footsteps around the state and visit where he was born and where he lived before departing the Buckeye state for good in 1920. Two, to attend the Clark Gable Foundation’s 75thAnniversary of Gone with the Wind event. We arrived on Thursday, October 2. A lot of people fly into Pittsburgh when they go to Cadiz, because the little town is so close to the Pennsylvania line. We flew into Akron though, because we decided to stay in New Philadelphia, which is 30 miles north of Cadiz. We arrived Thursday night and discovered by our quick…
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{Ohio} Cadiz, Where Clark Gable was Born
Let’s begin our walk in Clark Gable’s footsteps through Ohio at the beginning, shall we? Cadiz, Ohio is a small town, with no mega-malls, no Starbucks, not even a supermarket–just a Dollar General and a convienence store. It does indeed seem like it’s in the past–I have no doubt that many of the buildings that are there now were there when Clark’s parents moved there. The homes are all older and mostly unassuming, with some Victorians here and there. The most impressive building is the looming city hall, pictured above, that was built in 1894, so Clark’s birth would have been recorded here. Cadiz-ians are quite proud of their hometown…