Myron T. Herrick (1854-1929) / Horr Cheese House, 1865

Side A: Myron T. Herrick, Governor of Ohio from 1904 to 1906, was born in Huntington Township in 1854 and lived here until age 12. A respected Cleveland attorney and businessman, Herrick was a friend and confidant to Senator Mark Hanna and Presidents McKinley, Taft, and Harding. His public service career culminated in two appointments as ambassador to France, from 1912 through the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and again from 1921 until his death in 1929. Enormously popular with the French people, Herrick escorted Charles Lindbergh in Paris after his historic 1927 transatlantic flight. Side B: As late as the Civil War era, cheesemaking in Ohio remained largely a cottage industry. After investigating new processes and obtaining pledges for a reliable milk supply from area farmers, brothers C.W. and J.C. Horr built a modern factory in Huntington Township in 1865. The Horr Cheese House was immediately successful, prompting more farmers–and cheesemakers–to enter this industry. By 1878, more than forty similar operations made Lorain County a center of the American cheese industry. The Cleveland, Columbus, & Cincinnati Railroad at Wellington enabled distribution to national markets. The Horr’s pioneer operation stood 1.4 miles east.