Newest Ohio History Barn honors legacy of Packard automobile

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

CHAMPION

Packard automobiles were full of technological innovations – from windshield wipers to air conditioning. And that is a great reason to celebrate them, an audience was told Friday morning at the unveiling of a Packard mural on a barn on state Route 305 in Champion.

The mural is the eighth Ohio History Barn in a series by the Ohio History Connection that showcases innovators, innovations or accomplishments from Ohio history.

The owners of the 100-year-old barn are Don and Helen Fenstermaker, who have connections to Packard Electric, the company founded in Warren by J.D. and W.D. Packard, who also built the first Packard autombiles.

Packard Electric became the world’s leader in wiring harnesses. The Packard brothers built their first Packard automobile in a factory on Dana Street in Warren in 1899 but started Packard Electric 10 years earlier, said Mary Ann Porinchak, executive director of the National Packard Museum in Warren.

Because of the Packards, Warren was among the first cities in the United States to use incandescent streetlights, Porinchak said. Packard Electric was also “the place where transatlantic cable came from. In World War I, the communications cable for all of our military came out of Warren, Ohio,” she said.

Through their car company, the Packard brothers had the patent for windshield wipers, and “you can thank the Packard brothers” for air conditioning, glove compartments and the foot-pedal accelerator, Porinchak said.

Fenstermaker said his mother worked at Packard Electric when he was boy. He met Helen at Packard Electric, and he estimates that about 20 of their relatives were employed there “at one time or another.”

“I want to thank the Packard family for hiring so many people and starting our legacy here in Warren,” he said as he stood before a large crowd that attended the unveiling.

The money for the mural was raised through private donations, said Steve George, coordinator of the Ohio Barn Project. Local organizations involved in the project are the museum, tourism bureau and historical society.

The seven previous barns recognized President Rutherford B. Hayes in Sandusky County, Annie Oakley in Darke County, Zoar Village Bicentennial in Tuscarawas County, Massillon Tigers vs. Canton-McKinley football rivalry in Stark County, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in Ottawa County, Tecumseh in Greene County and first Medal of Honor recipient Jacob Parrott in Hardin County.