Medina of Ohio

Medina had been a village for over a century, and only within a generation a growing small town. It is the county seat of the eponymous county. A line of post War for the Union brick buildings on the south edge of the square is a model for Disney's version of small town America.

 old courthouse clock, and a loose shingle

 a meridian stone geographical marker from 1832

Lathrop Cooley (*1821, 1910†) Fountain

Cooley was a preacher for over 60 years in the Disciples of Christ. He was the first pastor at Franklin Circle in Ohio City (Cleveland), James Garfield was a successor. Later Cooley was Tom Johnson's preacher. His second wife had this memorial built for him.

There are two misapplied quotations on the stone. One is this rephrasing of Matthew x. 42 into "he that giveth a cup of cold water". The other is from Shakespeare's Timon of Athens I.ii, "honest water, which ne'er left man in the mire". The Cooleys were Prohibitionists. Upon seeing the fountain, i did not know; i had thought well it must be from that age when water was freely given to the public, and not charged as prepared drink in a plastic bottle from a multi-national corporation.

Medina is very proud of its public square, and the gazebo at its center. In many towns and villages there is a war memorial. In Medina, it is in the nearby cemetery.