History in the making

By C. Dials

On Saturday, October 10, 2009, Frank Gluth saw a long envisioned dream come to fruition. A dedication was held in honor of Adolphus Kraemer, who founded Oak Harbor in 1838.

Frank was born on July 19, 1930 and was the fifth child of Helmuth and Mary Gluth. He graduated Salem Oak Harbor High School in May 1948 and never had a desire to attend college. He did however have a passion for history.

"I can never recall a time in my life when history has not been fascinating to me," Frank said.

After high school he worked in his father's store until he entered into the U.S. Army in 1951. His entire military career was spent in the United Statesuntil he was honorably discharged in May 1953.

He enrolled at The University of Toledo in September 1953 where he studied and received a degree in Industrial Management and graduated in May 1957.

After several short jobs, his life-long friend, Ed Boon, encouraged Frank to submit an application to Ford Motor Company in Sandusky, Ohio in 1964. The timing was during the "initial evolution" of the computer. They were looking for potential personnel with a background in engineering, accounting, or mathematics, Frank qualified and was hired.

He retired from the Ford Motor Company in January 1991.

Frank's passion for history, particularly World War II, the Civil War and the history of Oak Harbor, was a never ending source of research. Numerous hours were spent in the local library, perusing old microfilm copies of the Ottawa County Exponent.

George Bredehoft was the original "Old Timer" for The Ottawa County Exponent and a good friend of Frank. He asked Frank if he would like to come to the office and browse through copies of the newspaper that were bound into books. Frank eagerly said yes and soon was spending time researching the history of Oak Harbor. The name Adolphus Kraemer constantly surfaced in these old newspapers.

These brittle pages revealed to Frank that Mr. Kraemer was the founder of Oak Harbor. It also inferred that Adolphus's dream was to found a city. He eventually bought a tract of land and, in 1838, his family moved to Ottawa County.

He founded a sawmill, lumber company and served as a probate judge, county surveyor, practiced medicine, farmed, operated a store and dealt in lumber and law. He was a prosecuting attorney and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1873-1874.

He donated the land where most of the churches and parsonages of Oak Harbor were built and the property on Church St. for the school to be built. He also originated the Ottawa County Exponent.Oak Harbor was once known as Hartford. Because of the impending building of the post office and the fact that there were three towns in Ohio named Hartford the village had to be renamed.

Adolphus was instrumental in choosing the name Oak Harbor and so it came to be. He saw his dream of founding a city come true and gave it further importance by helping name it.

Frank was always determined to name a landmark in the village after Adolphus Kraemer. This became manifest to Frank while learning the significance of this great man who instilled such an influence upon the town and its development. Frank began his quest over 20 years ago. During this time more than once almost gave up after negative results.

It was May 2009 when Frank, a member of the Log Cabin committee, approached the Committee, and asked the members to join him in his crusade to ask Village Council for something to be named after Adolphus. The committee unanimously agreed.

The committee attended a village council meeting in June 2009 and proposed their idea to the council members. Council seemed in favor but said they would have to do further research as far as legal and miscellaneous questions to be answered before they could make a decision.

In July the Village Council voted in favor to change the Old Town Hall Park to Adolphus Kraemer Park.

"I was moved to tears, I have waited 20 years for this to happen," Frank said.

Frank and Rev. Gene Hegemier began researching for the perfect sign to be selected. They met with Village Administrator, Robert Pauley, and he suggested something in bronze mounted on a boulder.

Rev. Hegemier and Frank met with Chris DeTray of Crosser Funeral Home and it was determined bronze was the choice for the plaque. It was decided the plaque should contain a brief description of Adolphus, his picture, his birth and death dates and a few of his many accomplishments in Oak Harbor during his distinguished career. They placed an order with Chris for the plaque.

Chris then proceeded to mention that he knew of a boulder that would be big enough and attractive enough in which to mount the plaque in Elmore. A visit to Elmore was made to examine the boulder.

Frank said, "The boulder was beyond our expectations and was perfect." With the combined help of the Village of Oak Harbor and Crosser Funeral Home the 2 ton boulder was brought from Elmore to the Adolphus Kramer Park.

After working against a tight schedule and bad weather, the plaque was installed the night before the Oak Harbor Apple Festival. During the Apple Festival opening ceremonies, Mayor Fred Conley presented Frank a plaque from the Village of Oak Harbor in recognition of invaluable service and dedication to the Village of Oak Harbor and Adolphus Kraemer Park.

At 10:30 a.m, on October 10th, a dedication of the park was held. Descendents of Adolphus came from California and Missouri take part in the ceremony.

The Rev. Gene Hegemier opened with a welcome and introduced Frank who gave his comments and brief description of the naming of the park. Frank then introduced Mr. Bill Williams who is Adolphus's great-great grandson. Mr. Williams was over whelmed and very appreciative to see history in the making and for his great great grandfather to get the recognition he deserved.

Rev. Gene Hegemier closed the dedication in prayer.

The Williams family met with Frank for lunch the next morning and presented Frank with a plaque of their own.

It read, "A Tribute to Frank Gluth, Frank Gluth and his Log Cabin Committee worked diligently over many years to have Adolphus Kraemer formally recognized for his pioneering efforts in the formation of Oak Harbor, Ohio.

We the undersigned descendents of Adolphus Kraemer extend our deepest thanks to Frank Gluth for his diligence and persistence in his search for truth and his outstanding efforts in initiating and successfully pursuing the naming of a park in Oak Harbor after Adolphus Kraemer."

It was personally signed by Karen Kraemer Schultz-great great granddaughter; William E. Williams-great great grandson and Ann Williams Keith-great great granddaughter.

Frank continues his passion for history and has been writing a weekly column, "Tales from and old timer", in The Ottawa County Exponent for over twenty years.