Civil War history came to life today in Struthers


STRUTHERS

Visitors to Struthers Historical Society’s Alexander Frankfort Day celebration today were treated to living Civil War history by re-enactment military units and a story about how a slave who fought on the side of the Confederacy was responsible for the term “teddy bear.”

The Alexander Frankfort House on Terrace Drive, was built in 1884 by Frankfort, who came home to Struthers after the end of the Civil War. Frankfort was Struthers’ oldest living Civil War veteran, dying in 1930 at 88.

The 130-year-old Frankfort House is headquarters for the Struthers Historical Society, headed by long-time member and first-year president, Linda Skrinyer of Boardman, originally from Struthers and a 1972 graduate of Struthers High School.

“I love history,” she said.

Story-telling with a Civil War connection was also part of Saturday’s event.

Steffon Wydell Jones of Youngstown, local historian, sat on the front porch of the Frankfort House and took the part of Holt Collier, a third-generation slave who fought for the Confederacy and became a renowned bear hunter, a skill which later brought Collier into contact with President Teddy Roosevelt in November 1902.

Read more about the event and the teddy bear story in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.