Abe delivers speech for city, honest: Tallmadge celebrates bicentennial, its history.

Publication: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH)

Byline: Jim Carney

Jun. 25--TALLMADGE -- Guess who showed up for the Tallmadge bicentennial on Sunday?

Abe Lincoln, that's who.

Lincoln, in the form of Wooster impersonator Pete Raymond, gave a speech to a packed room inside the Old Town Hall.

"Four score and seven years ago... ," the 73-year-old Raymond said as he began Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln was born in 1809, two years after the founding of Tallmadge in 1807.

Activities in Tallmadge during the weekend included a huge fireworks display on Tallmadge Circle Saturday night.

Don Reisig, 75, a resident of Tallmadge since the 1960s and a member of the Tallmadge Historical Society, wore the type of straw hat that Lincoln might have donned in the summer months of his presidency.

Tallmadge, he said, "starts with the church and the town hall."

On the second floor of the Old Town Hall, dozens of people signed their names inside a wooden box that will hold Tallmadge memorabilia when it is buried as a time capsule in July on Tallmadge Circle.

Barb Lewis signed her name and that of her husband, Ron Lewis, and their bird, Cariola, a blue and gold macaw.

Tallmadge Historical Society President Fred Wybenga said what is most interesting to him about his city is that it was founded as a religious community.

"All roads lead to the church," he said.

The historic Tallmadge Congregational Church, still standing, was built in 1825.

The church was acquired by the state as a historical landmark in 1971, according to the Ohio Historical Society's Web site (www.ohiohistory.org.)

Wybenga, 72, a Babcock & Wilcox retiree, said he has big plans for the opening of the Tallmadge Bicentennial Time Capsule in 2057, a half century from now.

"I'm gonna be here to open it," he said.

Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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