Photographs of a Woman’s Dream of Becoming America’s First Police Woman, 1909

Vintage photographs of a suffragette posed to illustrate woman police concept in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1909.

In 1854, the first police matrons were hired by New York City to search and guard female prisoners, but they were civilians with no law enforcement powers. From this beginning, women became encouraged to apply for similar positions in various parts of the United States.

In 1910, the Los Angeles Police Department appointed the first regularly rated policewomen, Mrs. Alice Stebbins Wells. Her appointment refuted the popular notion of matrons as being masculine and not very bright, because she was a college graduate, a social worker, and had deliberately sought the position of police officer.

Mrs. Wells soon became a pioneer in the national movement to have police departments hire women as officers. However, from the inception of this movement, women were hired by quotas and encountered discrimination, silent contempt, and double standards. Several court cases are discussed to illustrate the hurdles women had to fight to reach equality of employment in police agencies.

Today policewomen are involved in all aspects of police work. Cases in which policewomen have been prominent in various police departments are enumerated.

Many people could not even imagine what a female police officer would look like so this Ohio suffragette demonstrated what a policewoman would look like making an arrest.

(Photos: Library of Congress)

Here’s the First Semi-Truck Which Was Invented in 1898 by Alexander Winton

The semi-truck was invented by Alexander Winton in 1898. He lived in Cleveland, Ohio. Winton sold his first semi-truck in 1899 and from that year onward, this product became a symbol of American freight transport.

The story goes that Winton was perfectly happy building cars to sell to people in his home state of Ohio, but realized he could reach more customers if he had some way of easily transporting his product. He didn’t want any wear-and-tear on his new cars before they got to customers, though, so he had to figure out something that didn’t involve driving them.

Winton came up with a way of loading the car onto a flat cart, which he modified to sit on top of the engine of a modified truck platform. The connection was supposedly similar to the removable gooseneck on trucks today. The setup could only transport one car at a time, and it required at least three people to load and unload the vehicle being transported.

Alexander Winton was a serial entrepreneur; his first product was a bicycle. His next product was a car, the Winton Six. The Six was perhaps the first car that crossed the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. To popularize this brand, Winton participated in several car races and even hired acclaimed race drivers.

A Newspaper Article From 1963 Predicted a Phone That You’d One Day Be Able to Put in Your Pocket

The concept of a cellphone existed long before you held one in your hand.

In 1963, a newspaper article from the Mansfield News-Journal accurately predicting people would be able to carry a phone in their pocket in the future. The article was published on April 18, 1963. It features a picture of a woman holding something that resembles a modern flip-phone.

The article reads:

“Some day, Mainfielders will carry their telephones in their pockets. Don’t expect it to be available tomorrow, though. Frederick Huntsman, telephone company commercial manager, says, “This telephone is far in the future – commercially.” Right now, it’s a laboratory development and it’s workable, allowing the carrier to make and answer calls wherever he may be.”

The modern mobile phone wouldn’t  hit the commercial market until the 1980s, but the idea of a pocket phone had been percolating for decades. In 1953, for example, the president of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. predicted that someday in the future the phone will be “carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today.” In 1926, inventor Nikola Tesla predicted that in the future people across the world would be able to communicate instantly with one another with devices that fit inside a vest pocket.

(via Snopes)

The Giants of Seville: Rare Photos of Anna Haining Swan and Martin Van Buren Bates, the Tallest Married Couple Ever

Anna Haining Swan (August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888), was a Canadian woman famed for her great stature of 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m). Martin Van Buren Bates (November 9, 1837 – January 19, 1919), known as the “Kentucky Giant” was an American man famed for his great height. He was 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) tall. They were declared to be the world’s “Tallest Married Couple Ever” by Guinness World Record when the couple got married in 1871 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square in London.

At birth, Martin Bates was an average sized infant. After he became six years old, he began a monumental growth spurt. By the time he was somewhere between twelve and thirteen years old, he was already over 6 feet (1.82 meters) tall. According to oral testimonies, he was a whopping 7 feet 11 inches tall. However, Guinness Book of World Records lists him two inches shorter.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Bates joined the 5th Kentucky Infantry Confederate States Army, as a private, in 1861. His ferocity in battle and imposing figure saw him quickly promoted to the rank of captain. Martin was severely wounded in a battle around the Cumberland Gap area and captured and imprisoned at Camp Chase in Ohio, although he later escaped.

He returned to Kentucky after the war. Before the war, his first occupation was as a schoolteacher. While the circus was on tour in Halifax, Canada, the 7-foot-11-inch-tall (2.41 m) Anna Haining Swan visited. She and Martin soon got to know each other, and were married on June 17, 1871. The highly publicized wedding, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, England, drew thousands of people to try to attend, due to both the uncommonness of the spectacle and the disarming good nature of the pair. Queen Victoria herself gave them two extra-large diamond-studded gold watches as wedding presents.

Anna Swan was born at Mill Brook, New Annan, Nova Scotia. At birth she weighed 16 pounds (7.26 kg). She was the third of 13 children, all of the others being around average height. From birth she grew very quickly. On her fourth birthday she was 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) tall. On her 6th birthday she was measured again, and she stood 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) tall. On her 11th birthday she stood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall and weighed 203 pounds (92.08 kg). By her 15th birthday Anna was 7 feet (2.10 m) tall. She reached her full height three years later. Her feet measured 14.2 inches (36 cm) long.

Swan excelled at literature and music and was considered to be very intelligent. She also excelled at her studies of acting, piano and voice. She played Lady Macbeth in one play. At one time, she nearly burned to death when Barnum’s museum was destroyed by fire. The stairs were in flames and she was too large to escape through a window. She did get help and escaped safely. She normally weighed 340 pounds (154.22 kg).

Martin and Anna moved to Ohio in 1872, settling in Seville. The couple purchased 130 acres (53 ha) of land and had furniture made to their specifications. Martin supervised the construction of the house. The main part of the house had fourteen-foot (4.3 m) ceilings, while the doors were extra wide and were eight feet (2.4 m) tall. The back part of the house was built an average size for servants and guests.

Anna conceived two children with Martin. The first was a girl born on May 19, 1872; she weighed 18 pounds (8.16 kg) and died at birth. While touring in the summer of 1878, Anna was pregnant for the second time. The boy was born on January 18, 1879, and survived only 11 hours. He was the largest newborn ever recorded, at 23 pounds 9 ounces (10.7 kg) and nearly 30 inches tall (ca. 75 cm); each of his feet was six inches (152 mm) long.

The Bateses resumed touring with the W.W. Cole Circus in the summer of 1879, and again in the spring of 1880. Anna spent her remaining years quietly on the farm that she and her husband owned. She had joined the local Baptist Church in 1877 and attended services with her husband. She died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure in her sleep at her home on August 5, 1888, one day before her 42nd birthday.

Martin ordered a statue of her from Europe for her grave, sold the oversized house, and moved into the town. In 1889 he remarried, this time to a woman of normal stature, Annette LaVonne Weatherby and lived a mostly peaceful life until his death in 1919 of nephritis.

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Amazing Then-and-Now Photos of a House in Ohio From the 1940s

A set of amazing photos from Thomas Barnard that shows the then-and-now exterior and interior of his childhood house at 19419 Scottsdale Blvd., Shaker Heights, Ohio. These several vintage photos of this set were taken around 1946.

Interior of a house at 19419 Scottsdale Blvd., Shaker Heights, Ohio around 1946

Front Door

Front Door (now)

Living Room Fireplace

Living Room Fireplace (now)

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Amazing Vintage Photos of Superheroes Water Ski Shows at Sea World From the Late 1970s

“ZAP! POW! WOW! Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and all your favorite comic book heroes come to life in Florida’s best water ski show.”

Superhero fans nationwide born in the early 1970s remember the comic book ad showing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Robin… water skiing. Far fewer, however, actually made it to Ohio or Florida to see the actual show at Sea World, which ran from 1976 to 1979.

After the 1960’s Batman and before the Legends of the Superheroes in 1979 Sea World put on a ski show staring the live action Super Friends titled Salute to the Superheroes Water Ski Show presented by Mercury Motors. During this show it was like watching the 60’s Batman show with the “POW, BIFF, BANG” during the fight scenes, ski stunt shows with the Bat-Boat, and Batman’s main bad guys in the mix.

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Incredible Then-and-Now Photos Show How Cincinnati Has Changed in 70 Years

Settled in 1788, Cincinnati is a major city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the government seat of Hamilton County. It is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky.

Then-and-now Cincinnati

The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area, the fastest growing economic power in the Midwestern United States based on increase of economic output. It is Ohio’s largest metropolitan area and the nation’s 29th-largest. Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and 64th in the United States.

A series of photos from Michael G Smith taken between 1939 and 1941 by his grandfather Nelson Ronsheim compared with photos of the same location that he took in 2009. How much has Cincinnati changed in 70 years?

Looking east down Hill St. to the river over three generations. The two houses on the far right of the top photo are visible five houses in from the right of second photo (see key to right of photo). Original photo (top) taken April 1939 by Nelson Ronsheim (my grandfather). Second photo was taken about 1952 by Jerry Smith (my father) and bottom photo October 2009 by me, Michael Smith

Looking down Main St. from just above Seitz St. toward St. Peter German Evangelical Church on the right (now demolished). Cross street beyond lower steps is Mulberry; nearer cross street (mostly obscured by landing) is Seitz. The nearest building on the left (301 Seitz) and the turreted building on the right, just this side of the church, still stand. The stairs are located along the path of the Mt. Auburn Incline (demolished 1898). Original photo November 1941 by Nelson Ronsheim. 2009 photo by Michael G Smith

Cincinnati Over-the-Rhine; the nearest steeple is St. John Church. While the steeple still stands, the church is gone. St. Matthew's Church at W. Liberty and Elm Street, visible beyond St. John, is long gone. Photographed Septembe 1940 from Jackson Hill Park by Nelson Ronsheim. This photo was an award winner at the 1940 Master Photo Finishers of America International Exhibition in Chicago. 2009 photo by Michael G Smith

Cinncinnati and Over-the-Rhine from the vicinity of the Walker St. dead end. Salem United Church of Christ is nearest, then Old St. Mary's Church. Original photo by Nelson Ronsheim October 1940. 2009 photo by Michael G Smith

Laurel St. (now Ezzard Charles) looking west toward Union Terminal. Original photo April 1939 by Nelson Ronsheim. 2009 photo by Michael G Smith

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Tree Aesthetic Surgery, ca. 1890

Founded in 1880 in Kent, Ohio, by John Davey, Davey Tree Care Co. was a company that offered to the wealthy landowners in the area to look after their rare tree specimens. These photographs were taken in 1890 to show the techniques used to model the shape of a tree by splitting it and forcing each branch into a predefined position.

(via La boite verte)

The Goatmobile, ca. 1900s

A man and his goat mobile, early 1900s:

The caption reads:

“A progressive citizen of Columbus, Ohio, anxious to emulate his more wealth neighbors in possessing an easy-going conveyance—and being possessed of one large he-goat, of whose electromotive force much has been printed, and more has been thought—conceived the scheme of harnessing the force in such a manner as would make it most easily controlled. Inability to protect the goat by letters patent or a copyright, leaves the invention open, so that whomsoever will may copy it.”

Science Fiction & Fantasy Costume Contestants Posing at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, 1966

The 24th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Tricon, was held 1-5 September 1966 at the Sheraton-Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Officially, the convention was hosted by three cities in the region: Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit, - hence the name “Tricon”.

The three co-chairmen of that Worldcon each represented their city’s fandom; they were Ben Jason of Cleveland, Howard DeVore of Detroit, and Lou Tabakow of Cincinnati. The guest of honor was L. Sprague de Camp and the toastmaster was Isaac Asimov. Of special note: Gene Roddenberry premiered the pilot episode for his TV series Star Trek at Tricon.

This collection is primarily comprised of photographs taken by Jay Kay Klein has he documented Science Fiction & Fantasy fandom at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The majority of images were taken by Klein while attending Science Fiction & Fantasy conventions and events.

Jay Kay Klein (1931–2012) began reading Science Fiction at a young age and joined the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society at the age of 14. During his lifetime he was an avid photographer and amassed an extensive photograph collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy conventions and events. He was a writer, editor, and photographer for international corporate magazines and wrote missile acquisition radar systems and ICBM launch facilities manuals for the United States Air Force. He was also a member and contributor to First Fandom, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and Analog. Throughout his life Klein lectured on Science Fiction as literature, social commentary, and as a window into the future.

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At the Height of Her Career in the 1950s, Jayne Mansfield Even Modeled for This Awesome Hot Water Bottle!

Created by Don Poynter for his Poynter Products company, the Jayne Mansfield Hot Water Bottle hit the market in 1957 just as the busty Mansfield was establishing herself as America’s No. 1 Blonde Bombshell. The Mansfield figure—in a pin-up pose with hands behind her neck and wearing a painted-on black bikini—is made of “blushing” pink–colored plastic with a screw-on “hat” cap and measures close to two feet head-to-foot.

“Just to sell a hot-water bottle shaped like a woman doesn’t have pizzazz. It’s got to have some presence. So why not sell Jayne Mansfield?” – Don Poynter

The illustrated ad for the Jayne Mansfield Hot Water Bottle. One should presume Mansfield is wearing the nightie purchased by Poyner for the promotional ad.

An ad for the Jayne Mansfield Hot Water Bottle on the newspapers in 1957.

At one point, there was even a proposal to do a life-size version, but the idea was eventually rejected as being too vulgar. It was a rare occasion of good judgment being exercised in the course of her career.

The hot water bottle is tacky enough, but the advertising on the box that it comes in is even worse:

“The ‘Hugging’ Hot Water Bottle”
“Designed with the Male in Mind”
“For the Man Who Has Everything, Including a Few Aches and Pains –– Preferred by Arctic Explorers.”
“We Don’t Know How, But They Say It Can Be Used As an Ice Pack –– Perfect As a Cocktail Shaker”

Poynter’s copyright is on the bottom of the left foot. He initially made a plaster model based on photos sent by Mansfield, but eventually traveled to her L.A. home to re-sculpt, where she modeled for it.

“I did it for a week,” Poynter said. “I could have done it in two days, but why rush?” Priced at just under $10, about 400,000 were sold before Mansfield died in a 1967 auto accident. Today, it’s a collector’s item. “People write me letters because my name is on it and ask, ‘My grandfather died and we found this doll. What is it?’”

Poynter pictured with Mansfield and her hot water bottle.

A surreal shot of Jayne Mansfield floating in her pool surrounded by her novelty hot water bottles designed by Don Poynter.