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  The Maple Sugar Industry in Northeast Ohio

  Carolyn L. Hufford and Jonathan Herr

  Native Americans and then early settlers tapped sugar maple trees for the sap that was then boiled down to a sweet syrup consistency. About forty gallons of sap are required to produce one gallon of maple syrup. The harvest season for maple sap is in late winter/early spring when the "sap is running." Sap is collected until the buds on the tree begin to swell.

  In northeast Ohio, the first Maple Festival was officially held in Chardon in 1926. In 1931, the City of Burton erected the "first municipal maple house in the country." The proclaimed "Log Cabin Sugar Camp" was located in Burton Park.

  Local promoters saw the opportunity to create an event that would attract people longing to get out of the house after a long winter indoors. The idea was to serve a breakfast feast of pancakes, sausage and maple syrup to crowds of people.

  About the Collection:

  This collection of photographs was largely taken from the Cleveland Press "Maple Sirup" aka "Syrup" file. The Cleveland Press collection of photographs was donated to the Cleveland State University in 1984, after the Cleveland Press stopped production. The pictures represented here date from the 1920’s through the 1970’s, showing various aspects of maple sugaring production from throughout northeast Ohio, notably Burton, Chardon, and Geauga County.

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  Cleveland Public Schools Horticulture Program

  Carolyn L. Hufford

  Over 100 years ago, Cleveland Public Schools Horticulture Program educators began to develop and refine an innovative K-12 horticulture education program in the Cleveland, Ohio public schools. Alumni of this program testify to the profound positive impact it had upon their lives.

  The Cleveland Public Schools Horticulture Program Collection, which thanks to generous donations now includes images, audio and digital media, curriculum materials, program administration materials, programs, brochures, awards, blueprints and more, stands as a testament to the earnest work of the young student gardeners and the devoted educators who guided them.

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  Feeding Cleveland: Urban Agriculture

  Carolyn L. Hufford

  A recurring theme in 20th century Cleveland that continues to the present day is that during difficult economic periods communities of people have come together to raise food crops on city land. The working men’s farms during the Great Depression, the victory gardens during World War II, community gardens established during the years of urban renewal, and the present day market gardeners of the local food movement, all provide examples of revivals of urban agriculture as a response to economic difficulties.

  During this same time period the innovative Cleveland Public Schools Horticulture Program (CPSHP) began training the first of many generations of student gardeners. Although the system-wide CPS horticulture program ended in 1978, some of these former school garden sites called tract gardens, became community garden sites. The most significant legacies of the Cleveland Public Schools Horticulture Program were the gardeners themselves. On the commercial front, greater Cleveland was home to America’s largest concentration of farming acreage under glass. (Rose, 1950)