#Akron-Summit Co. Public Libraries

[whoopsiepiggle]

Ohio residents and all Summit Co. voters: Our libraries need your support right now

Akron-Summit County Public Libraries’ main branch. For 4,500 years, libraries contained items, including documents, to be preserved and studied. Not open to the public, most of whom couldn’t read, they were repositories for ruling classes. Libraries as we know them today, in which items can be borrowed and taken from the premises by patrons, were created by Benjamin Franklin, along with some…

[jaymarievacationrentals]

Get Ready for Summer Adventure in Summit County, Colorado

As soon as the cold winter is over in Summit County, it marks the beginning for summer and here comes the fun and adventure. Summit County is a playground of Americans in winter as well as in summers. With the beginning of summer’s it attracts the hikers and mountain bikers in this part of county. Summit County is a paradise for sports lover. With melting ice, rivers start to flow and mark the beginning of fishing season in Summit County. River fishing in Blue River in Summit is the dream for every fisherman.  So if there is a true fisherman inside you, then you can’t resist yourself from renting a Colorado Vacation Condo near River Blue. The crystal clear water in lakes and rivers, mountain fed streams is you’re fishing ground that needs your expertise and fishing talent.

Popular Attraction in Summit County, CO

Exhibition Hall, Architecture and Landmarks, Amusement Park, Aquarium, Parks, Zoo, Water Park, Botanical Garden, County Public Library, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Akron Art Museum, Loyal Oak Golf Course, Summit County Historical Society, Northfield Park, Richfield Heritage Park, Stone Garden Farm, Firestone Country Club, and Roses Run Country Club.

Cuisine DELIGHT In Summit County, CO

One Red Door

Piscazzi’s The Merchant Tavern

Melt Bar Grilled

Chili’s Grill & Bar

Popular destinations in Summit County, CO, includes Four Corner Monument, Cleveland Travel, World largest Hot Spring swimming pool, Pagosa Springs-world’s deepest hot spring, Grand Mesa National Forest -world’s largest flat-top mountain, The Royal Gorge Bridge, The Great sand Dunes National Park, and Rocky Ford. This entire famous and popular destination could be explored when you get check-in, in Jay Marie Vacation Rentals as your Log Home Vacation Rentals Colorado is in close proximity with these attractive destinations in Summit County, Co.

[togachipblog]

OK Chips

One would expect that the OK Potato Chip Company would be located in Oklahoma, but it was actually located in Ohio, Indiana and Florida.   An article in the Akron-Summit County Public Library by Cheri Goldner, Librarian, provides the following history of the company.

Two couples, Paul E. and Emilie Miller and Henry and Mildred Schuette, founded the OK Potato Chip Co. in Kenmore [Ohio] in 1929.  The company's history was the subject of a November 1, 2009 article in the Suburbanite that featured recollections of the Millers' granddaughter, Kay Lukac.  Lukac explained how the Schuettes left the partnership during the Depression, and other partners came and went until Paul Miller teamed up with his brother John, an accountant.  

Paul and Emilie operated one factory on Florida in Kenmore, while John and his wife Anna opened one in South Bend, indiana.  During the Great Depression, John was hit by a car while making a delivery.  After a long recover and mounting medical bills, he and Anna closed the South Bend shop and returned to Akron.  

The Millers were friends with Fred W. Albrecht [founder of the Acme supermarket chain], and Acme stores stocked OK Potato Chips exclusively.  Business was good, and Paul brought his brother John back into the business.  As a result of John's limitations, changes were made in the packaging process and employees that normally stood would sit during their shift.    

After a number of years, Paul and Emilie Miller retired and left the area.  In 1945, John and Anna also retired, and Paul and Emilie's daughter and son-in-law, Betty and Donald Smith, moved to kenmore to manage the company.  The Smiths operated OK for another 28 1/2 years, before selling the company to former Firestone executive Ted Robb in 1972.    

Robb moved the business to Barberton in 1980, opening a facility on Fifth street.  A November 1983 article in the Akron Beacon Journal reported that, in addition to the 23,000 square-foot facility in Barberton that employed 20 people, Robb was building a second plant in Clearwater, Florida.  The new 14,000 square-foot plant was to employ about 15 people and was considered a good place for expansion due to Florida's growth and the lack of competition in the potato chip market.  (At that time, Ohio had 26 brands of potato chips, while Florida had only three or four.) Robb managed both factories, splitting his time between barberton and Clearwater, but the long commute didn't last long.  An article in the February 3, 1986 St.Petersburg, Florida Evening Times reported that Suncaost OK Potato Chips had closed shop, unable to compete with larger companies to get product on sore shelves.  Robb's Barberton plant was unaffected.

Chip giant Troyer Farms of Detroit, Michigan acquired OK Potato Chips around 1992 and the business was moved to Mayfair Road.  OK Potato Chips are still being manufactured under that name.  While they are no longer produced locally, they can still be purchased at Acme stores.  As a permanent remembrance of the company and Don and Betty Smith, who moved to Portage lakes after retiring, there is a memorial brick placed at the Coventry Clock Tower.

A photo from circa 1947 from the Akron-Summit County Public Library includes the following history of the company:

The OK Potato Chip Company located on Florida Avenue in Kenmore, Ohio. The company was founded in 1928 by Paul E. and Emilie Miller and Henry and Mildred Schuette. For a time, the company also had a location in South Bend, Indiana, which was owned and operated by Paul's brother John Miller. Local grocery store Acme Super Market, owned by Miller friend Fred Albrecht, sold exclusively OK Potato Chips for a number of years. In 1945, Paul and Emilie's daughter Betty and husband Donald Smith took over management of OK Potato Chip. After nearly three decades, the couple sold the company to Ted Robb in 1972, who relocated the main plant to Barberton, Ohio, as well as opening a second location in Clearwater, Florida. Suncoast OK Potato Chip closed in 1986. OK Potato Chip was acquired by Troyer Farms of Detroit, Michigan, in the early 1990s and relocated operations to Mayfair Road in Stark County.

You can read the Millers' grandaughter, Kay Lukac's recollections at http://www.thesuburbanite.com/x1914254604/OK-Potato-Chip-Company-A-granddaughter-s-recollection  

Over the years, Paul developed a friendship with Fred W. Albrecht and it was Albrecht who loaned Paul $3,000 to purchase additional equipment to expand his business. Albrecht also offered that all Acme stores would feature O.K. Potato Chips exclusively. At that time, O.K. Potato Chips were displayed in glass cases with a flip-up top so you could scoop and brown bag your own similar to the way bulk items are offered today.

Read the story of Fred W. Albrecht, the founder of the Acme Market's supermarket chain at

https://www.acmestores.com/company-history/

Speaking of OK, click here to watch and hear an NPR radio broadcast with John Ciardi about the origin of the term "OK."  

  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5170008.  

The term "OK"  was created by President Martin van Buren as an abbreviation of his hometown, "Old Kinderhook" in Upstate New York.

Finally, because I still think that the OK Potato Chip Company should have been based in Oklahoma, enjoy the title song from Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic play and movie , Oklahoma.

The two stars, Gordon MacCrae and Shirley Jones also starred together in my all-time favorite play, Carousel. The Toga Chip Guy