Akron History Center Features Downtown’s Holiday Past in New Exhibit

The Akron History Center will celebrate a century of holiday shopping in a new free exhibit, “Downtown Akron’s History of Holiday Magic!”

The new exhibit will be premiered Sunday, November 8, 1:00pm – 4:00pm. and will be open through the holidays during the Center’s regular weekly hours, Wednesday-Saturday, from 11:00am – 2:00pm.

“Downtown Akron has been associated with the Christmas holiday for a century or more,” says Dave Lieberth, president of the Akron History Center. “we want to recall the history of shopping downtown for over a century.”

Featuring 100 years of Downtown Akron’s history of holiday shopping, the “star” of the exhibit will be a wooden statue of Sir Walter Raleigh, the patron saint of tobacco smokers that stood outside the Hamilton Cigar Store, 1871-1929.

From the days of the first canal packet in 1827, Akron’s shopping district was at the intersection of Market Street and Howard Street. Not until 1889 when O’Neil and Dyas shifted their store to the south side of Market street did the downtown as we know it today begin to develop. By 1900, Akron’s principal shopping center was on Main St. between Market and Mill. In 1927 the M. O’Neil Co. erected a 6-story building at the corner of Main and State Streets where a year later the A. Polsky Co. moved across the street.

The Hamilton building was a 6-story building constructed in 1900 on the southwest corner of Mill and Main and housed Akron’s finest clothier, J. Koch & Co. In 1918 it became home to Central Savings & Trust, which would demolish the Hamilton building in 1928 to erect the tower that is best known as the location of the First National Bank and today’s Huntington Bank.

THE STATUE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH

Akron historian and Beacon Journal writer Mark Price dates the arrival of the 5-foot 10-inch statue in Akron to 1871 when it stood outside a Howard Street cigar store. It was relocated to the Mill Street side of the cigar Store in the new Hamilton Building in 1900 where it remained for another 29 years.

Such figures were commonly used to attract illiterate consumers. While Native American figures were the most prevalent choice, depictions of Sir Walter Raleigh were also highly prized. Many of the figures were made from white pine by former ship figurehead carvers. Akron’s one-armed, hand-carved statue was described in a 1929 article as “gaudily painted and helmeted with a coal black goatee and boots, (which) gave it the haughty attitude and aloof manner that kept idlers in their place.” The article also stated that it was the only one known in the country.

Originally, the statue held a bundle of cigars in its right hand until some lummox tried to chin himself on the outstretched right arm and it became necessary to amputate it at the shoulder. The statue was consigned to oblivion in 1930 when the store moved to the Howard Street side of the new Central Trust Tower.

The Summit County Historical Society acquired the relic sometime after World War II.

The Akron History Center, at 172 S. Main Street, is adjacent to the Akron Civic Theatre and is operated by the Akron-Summit County Public Library with assistance from the Summit County Historical Society. The museum opened in 2025 for the city’s Bicentennial and has hosted more than 9,000 visitors.

The Center is open to the public Wednesday-Saturday, 11am – 2pm and Sundays, November 8 and December 6, 1pm – 4pm. Admission is always free.

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