Leg 43 of our virtual Around-the-World journey is a flight east tothe home of one of the world's most famous cuisines. Leg 43 of ourAround-the-World-in-Ohio trek is a drive northeast to the home of oneof the sports world's most famous shrines. Both trips take us toCanton, though the original is now Guangzhou.
There's probably a tie between the names. Most local lore sayswhen Bazaleel Wells laid out the Ohio town in 1806, he named it for afriend's estate in Maryland, and that estate was named for theChinese city. But another explanation is that the Stark County seatgot its name from the French word for 'district.'
Any tie only slightly applies to food. There are lots of Chineserestaurants in Canton, but Ohio Cantonese cuisine features not wonton soup, but turtle soup.
The turtle soup in question -- which tastes like lobster bisque --is the specialty of Benders Tavern, where Canton's movers and shakershave moved and shaken for over a century, except for when they weremoved out and shaken up after a big 1988 fire. Benders has such astoried history that waiter Mike Elefferin is compiling a book aboutthe place. Among items covered is the meeting where plans were drawnup for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame VP Joe Horrigan says the idea of such a place diedonce elsewhere, and was re-started in 1959 by the Canton Repository,which naturally wanted it in the paper's hometown, where the NFL hadbeen created in 1920. Canton was then a prosperous industrial city ofmore than 100,000, and quickly raised $400,000 to begin the project.
The Hall opened in 1963 with 19,000 square feet of display, aquarter its size today. It draws 200,000 people a year, an eighth ofthem for its enshrinement weekend and the Hall of Fame game in its21,000 seat stadium.
Horrigan says to keep up with today's tastes, the Hall added abunch of high-tech interactive stuff, but the favorite participationitem is a basic throw-thefootball-through-the-hole cage. Given theNFL's love of hype, it's no surprise some displays are a tad gaudy,but the actual Hall of Fame room is gracefully underplayed, withsimple busts of the inductees and indication of their positions andteams.
The Hall of Fame has kept Canton on the map as the city'spopulation declines (80,806 in 2000), and now its testosterone isbalanced with a dose of estrogen, the First Ladies' National HistoricSite. The site includes a museum in the Ida Saxton McKinley House,family home of the wife of the Canton native who became the 25thpresident, and the National First Ladies' Library, a researchbuilding and theater in a beautifully renovated bank building.
The idea for the Site was developed by Mary Regula out of thefrustration of being unable to find a collection of books on MaryTodd Lincoln when researching. She gathered bipartisan support, withHillary Rodham Clinton helping with initial fund-raising in 1995 andLaura Bush present at the library opening last year.
Director Pat Krider says mostly women tour the displays, buthusbands get fascinated by the buildings' architecture. Still,testosterone wins in Canton -- the First Ladies drew 25,000 visitorsin the first year. Since the Site is downtown, those visitors get tosee extensive building renovation and streetscapes in the citycenter.
The other Canton shows up both places. In the gift shop at theHall of Fame, sweatshirts, souvenir footballs, 'slammer' balls,shorts and little snowflake thingies are all made in China. Pricetags cover many 'made in' lines at the First Ladies' shop, but atleast the coasters are made in China and a lot of other items arechina.
Both Cantons have long histories as industrial centers, but theChinese metropolis is faring better these days. The Ohio city was amajor farm implement maker in the mid-1800s, and has been home tomany major industries. A 1963 New York Times Magazine ad supplementfor the opening of the Hall of Fame talks about the bright future forRepublic Steel, big expansions at the Hoover Vacuum plant in NorthCanton, the civic role of Timken Roller Bearings, and 53,000industrial workers.
Republic is no more. Hoover has downsized. Timken, dominant inCanton for a century, has announced it will close some plants and cutup to 1,300 jobs.
Mayor Janet Weir Creighton is quick to say no plant is yet shutdown and Timken will transfer a lot of workers to other localfacilities. But she knows the old economy is dying, and sees the needto 'turn our sights on a new technological atmosphere.' Creightoncites a Stark State College fuel technology center as an example oflooking to the future.
Not that the past has gone away. It's just gone nearer the otherCanton.
Timken's annual report lists four plants in China.
Contact Leigh Allan at lallan @DaytonDailyNews.com or 225-7317.
