First Congregational Church in Tallmadge photograph

Taken by photographer Ihna Thayer Frary in 1935, this photograph shows Tallmadge Church, also referred to as the First Congregational Church, in Summit County, Ohio. The church's construction, led by architect Lemuel Porter, was completed in 1825, and features a two-story portico and a one hundred foot-high steeple with a weathervane. The church is an example of Federal-style architecture with its roots in New England, a reminder of northeastern Ohio's New England heritage. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1873, Ihna Thayer Frary was a prominent American art and architecture scholar, whose primary interest was the architectural heritage of the region of northeastern Ohio known as the Western Reserve. In addition to serving as publicity and membership secretary of the Cleveland Museum of Art, he was a professor of Ohio and American architecture at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Western Reserve University’s School of Architecture. Over the course of his career, Frary was a design consultant for private clients and designed furniture, and was an active member of several prominent arts councils in the Cleveland area. In 1963, Frary and his two sons donated his entire photographic collection to the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection). The Ihna Thayer Frary Collection consists of 4,000 5 x 7 photographs of private residences, churches, taverns, and public buildings, as well as select rural buildings, bridges, archaeological sites, and public monuments