Because of their similar linguistic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, English, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants are often regarded as the “invisible immigrants,” assimilating into early American society easily and quickly and often losing their ethnic identities. Yet, of all of Ohio’s immigrants, the British were the most influential in terms of shaping the state’s politics and institutions. Also significant were their contributions to farming, mining, iron production, textiles, pottery, and engineering.

Built by Daniel R. Hanna as a tribute to his theater-loving father, Marcus Hanna, the Hanna Theatre opened its doors on March 28, 1921, with an adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper starring William Faversham. Billed as a “Broadway-style theater,” the Hanna was located not on Euclid Avenue but around the corner on the side street of East 14th. Its interior decor was opulent, finished in what was described as a combination of Italian Renaissance and Pompeian style, and the stage was described as “large enough . . . to present the best plays offered; but intimate enough to present the quietest comedy or drama to the best advantage.”

Spotting a trend in the early 1950s of staging summer theater in the round under tents, Clevelander John L. Price Jr. decided to give it a try. Consulting a local statistician to determine the geographical center of the culturally inclined population, the bull’s-eye fell in Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb that was also the home to Thistledown Race Track. Price opened his Musicarnival there, on the grounds of the race track, with a production of Oklahoma! in the summer of 1954. The Music Went ’Round and Around tells the story of this unique summer theater and of its ebullient founder, John L. Price Jr.

This work takes the reader from the city’s first professional theatrical presentation in 1820, through the heyday of vaudeville, to the grand reopening of the newly renovated Allen Theater in 1999 and the return of touring Broadway shows to Cleveland. In 1820 Cleveland was able to draw a visit from a troupe of professional actors. With no theater in which to perform, the troupe made do with Mowrey’s Tavern on Public Square.

As editor and executive editor of the Ravenna-Kent Record-Courier, Loris C. Troyer has been a pivotal figure in Portage County, Ohio, for over sixty years. Since retiring, he has written a weekly historical column entitled “Portage Pathways” on topics ranging from historical landmarks and events to eminent or interesting people to politics, society, and the value of recording local history. This book collects over 140 of his most memorable essays, illustrated with historical photographs.

The history of public transportation in Greater Cleveland spans two centuries. As the city developed from a trading post on Lake Erie to an industrial giant and ever-growing urban center, transportation policies and practices both promoted and reflected the dynamics of change. From the opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal to the opening of the new waterfront rapid transit, Toman and Hays trace the ever-changing contours of a metropolitan area and the modes of transportation available to its public. The scope of the book is comprehensive—canal, river, lake, and air transport—but the focus is on Cleveland’s streetcars, interurbans, trackless trolleys, buses, and rapid transit trains. It also explores the effect of the coming of the automobile and its inevitable impact on the city.

Orlando M. Poe chronicles the life of one of the most influential yet underrated and overlooked soldiers during the Civil War. After joining the Union Army in 1861, Poe commanded the 2nd Michigan Infantry in the Peninsula Campaign and led brigades at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg. He was then sent west and became one of the Union heroes in the defense of Knoxville. Poe served under several of the war’s greatest generals, including George McClellan and William T. Sherman, who appointed him chief engineer to oversee the burning of Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Sea. Though technically only a captain in the regular army at the war’s end, Poe was one of Sherman’s most valued subordinates, and he was ultimately appointed brevet brigadier general for his bravery and service.

Through colorful, personal vignettes, landscape designer Valerie Strong presents and solves specific landscape problems, including the excavations of her own ponds and the creation of three award-winning gardens. She comments on her natural surroundings, even empty lots and roadsides. Strong examines the neglected infrastructure of landscape design—the growers, carpenters, stone masons, landscapers, and labor force—with sympathy and humor, lifting the paper plans to philosophical observations of gardening and life. All My Phlox will direct the novice gardener and confirm the habits of those who are committed to working with nature. The author passes on her message of how to be a good steward of the land.

Caves and Culture is primarily focused on the archaeological research of Dr. Olaf H. Prufer and his associates as they investigated and explored caves in Ohio since 1964. Spurlock and her co-editors report, sometimes reclaim, and frequently reinterpret data that will be useful to the understanding of Ohio archaeology for decades to come. Anyone with interest in local or regional (Midwestern or midcontinental) prehistory will appreciate this exploration into Ohio’s history.

Fans of Jan Snow’s “Marginal Considerations”—a “weekend Radio” feature heard on nearly 150 radio stations across the country –will delight in this new collection of her humorous pieces. Her essays offer a lighthearted look at everyday events and ordinary people-from “Creeping Cutetrification” to “The Training of Cats” and “Keeping the World Safe for Singing.” Bathtubs, toothpaste, underwear, fruitcake, and even pockets become laughable objects under Snow’s scrutiny.