A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
Part 2 of the Mansfield visit features the murals and signs (current and ghost) of the city.
The post office in the nearby town of Mt Gilead has one of the fantastic murals from the WPA program of the 1930s.
Mansfield, Ohio is another old industrial city, where much of the industry has left. Mansfield, unlike many of those towns, has managed to keep much of their downtown buildings in use and in excellent condition.
We start with an impressive old house that is currently undergoing restoration – it will be grand when finished.
St Peters Catholic Church
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building
The tallest building in town – the Farmers Bank Building
This building dates from 1926.The upper level cornices are very detailed.
Mansfield is very proud that the movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed in the area, including Central Park.
Around this nice space are a couple of Art Deco style buildings.
We end our tour with a number of restored buildings along North Main Street.
For this warm and windy Saturday we headed to Mansfield to see the Kingwood Center Gardens. These gardens, and the mansion, were built by Charles King, who made his money leading a company that made electrical fittings for the trolleys and railroads of the early 1900s.
The house and grounds were built in 1926, and feature 47 acres of formal gardens, as well as greenhouses.
When Mr King died in the 1950s the estate was turned over to a private foundation that to this day own and operate the beautiful grounds.
My first photo of the day was taken with the ‘wrong’ settings. A couple of nights earlier there was a vivid full moon and I had changed the white balance and numerous other settings, forgetting to reset them. When I took the photo of the fountain it did not represent it’s actual look, but rather this ‘full moon’ look.
Returning my camera to more proper settings for garden photography we set off. We were immediately impressed with the landscaping.
As we made our way through the gardens we passed numerous planters with interesting mixes within each one.
The stone paths and perfectly trimmed hedges framed the flora.
The newest lens was perfect for some close ups.
With the full frame capabilities, getting clear shots of the flowers is much easier.
So much easier I came home with numerous photos of insects on plants and flowers.
Additional planters on stone walls.
The lawn and gardens in front of the house was immaculate (except for some gardener put tire tracks in it 🙂 )
As with most gardens, weddings are a big business. Unfortunately for the bride this day some heavy rains came later, after we finished our tour.
The house opened at 11, and a local peacock was there waiting for entry.
While not extensive, there was some statuary well placed throughout the gardens.
The carriage house had 5 bays for automobiles. What could be better, a 5 car garage and great landscaping.
One of the greenhouses featured cacti.
More insect closeups, this time in the greenhouse. Fortunately for this one he stayed away from the nearby Venus fly trap.
We were pleasantly surprised by the Kingwood Center Gardens. While not Longwood (who is), this is one of the best, if not the best, gardens we have seen in Ohio.
Mansfield, Ohio is a mid sized city in north central Ohio. It is most famous for the historic Mansfield Reformatory, which was used for the filming of Shawshank Redemption.
Also in Mansfield is their local museum, housed in a 1800s Soldier’s and Sailors Home.
Mansfield was once home to a division of Westinghouse that built home appliances. At one point in the 1950s over 8,000 people from Mansfield worked for Westinghouse.
Without a doubt the most interesting thing ever developed and built for Westinghouse in Mansfield is Elektro, the Robot.
Elektro was designed by Joseph Barnett for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. He is credited with being the first true robot ever built.
With voice commands he could walk, talk and count on his fingers. Built out of gears, cams, motors, vacuum tubes and a photo electric cell, one of Elektro’s stranger talents was the ability to smoke a cigarette.
When we arrived in Mansfield we were greeted by Scott Schaut the curator of the museum, and expert on Elektro. When I asked why he wasn’t in a museum in Pittsburgh, the home of Westinghouse, Scott replied ‘over his dead body’!
Scott has re-created Elektro with modern resin’s and other components. The original is on the left, with the recreation on the right. There was once a dog named Sparko but he was lost to time.
Also within the museum are some exhibits on the Westinghouse products built in town.
Including a roasting pan.
The museum has other local interest items scattered throughout.
While much of the museum has a military feel to it, they also have some local minerals on display, along with more eclectic items.
As part of their military display they have a very large model airplane collection.
While most are military, they have some of the early airplanes like the Wright Flyer.
The models are very detailed in the presentation. Scott said it best when he said, we are the museum for Mansfield but 90% of the people that walk through the door are looking for Elektro – just like us.
The movie Shawkshank Redemption, while set in Maine was actually filmed around Mansfield, Ohio. The centerpiece is the old Ohio Reformatory, but also includes the area around Malabar Farms outside of town.
The prison
The famous tree – it has since fallen down during a thunderstorm.
The road Red rides the bus out of town.
RDZ Photography 