By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 07:46 p.m. EDT, Aug 11, 2010
It is Akron artist Charles W. Ayers' biggest project.
The bearded Ayers, a former Beacon Journal editorial cartoonist who draws the comic strip Crankshaft, is thrilled with plans for an outdoor sculpture and plaza next to the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Cascade Locks Park at Howard and West North streets.
''I'm more than happy with what's happening,'' he said before Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremonies that attracted about 100 people.
''This is a lot bigger and a lot more permanent than editorial cartoons or the strip,'' he said. ''It's a lot more than a little piece of paper. . . . It's a little scary, but what's taking shape is pretty remarkable. It's pretty exciting.''
Ayers' community art project will celebrate Akron's industrial history by marking the old mill of cereal magnate Ferdinand Schumacher and its giant waterwheel that was 35 feet in diameter.
Half of a rebuilt waterwheel will be part of the sculpture that will sit on an open-air plaza that will mark the exact location of the Cascade Mills.
The $708,000 project is taking shape between the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Howard Street. It is scheduled for completion by late November.
The sculpture and plaza — already under construction by Akron's Cavanaugh Building Corp. — will fulfill a 13-year dream of Akron's Virginia Wojno-Forney.
In 1987, she founded the grass-roots Cascade Locks Park Association. She started lobbying and working with the city of Akron and Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, to save the historic Mustill Store and to create a park around five locks on the canal. That was accomplished 10 years ago.
She also envisioned Akron marking the water-powered Cascade Mills site as a symbol of Akron's industrial history.
''What's happening [Wednesday] is a big, big step,'' she said. ''And it's been a long time coming.''
Her Cascade Locks Park Association has been working for 10 years on marking the old mill site and remembering Akron's industrial history.
Phil January, a longtime official of the association, called the area along the canal the birthplace of Akron. The water power produced along the canal fueled Akron's early industrial growth, he said.
The plan is to present programs about Akron's industrial history and to add interpretive displays that will help make the Cascade Locks Park more of a destination for visitors, said Andrea Victor, association director.
Her group has pledges of $678,000, outstanding requests for an additional $400,000 in federal grants and from other sources, and a $300,000 line of credit from North Akron Savings Bank.
The 2-acre plaza and surrounding green space will mark the site of the old mill. It will also become the gateway to the Cascade Locks Park that lies just north of downtown Akron.
Schumacher came to Akron in 1851 and opened a grocery store and entered the oatmeal business.
In the 1880s, Schumacher, whose operations became part of Quaker Oats Co., had about 200 employees at his four Akron mills. He purchased the Cascade Mills in 1866.
He combined his operations into F. Schumacher Milling Co., later into American Cereal Co., and eventually into Quaker Oats Co. in 1901.
In 2003, University of Akron archaeologists searched for the original 40-ton, iron, water wheel, which reportedly was buried. It was not found, although the building's foundation was uncovered.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
