HAMILTON — As Butler County's social, physical and economic landscapes change, historians such as James Blount provide community memory.

        Mr. Blount publishes local histories through his own small press. His latest book, Butler County Biographies, features dozens of local people who've become famous or brushed against fame.

Writer Jim Blount grew up hearing stories of people from Butler County. Here, he displays his latest book in front of the Lane-Hooven House in Hamilton. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        Take Sgt. Michael Popp. In 1943, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had grown tired of the Army's long wool jackets, and he wanted Sgt. Popp, an Army tailor from Hamilton, to create something shorter. He fashioned the short-waisted jacket that Eisenhower would make famous for the rest of the war.

        “I supposed I made a mistake not having the general patent the design for me,” Mr. Popp said years later, “but, at the time, I just couldn't bring myself to bother him with such details.”

        After the war, he returned to Hamilton and opened his own tailor shop on Court Street, where he worked in anonymity until his death in 1968.

        Mr. Blount grew up in Hamilton in the 1950s. In his father's bar, he heard stories of interesting people.

        Others in his book are remembered for their names if not their deeds: Darrell Joyce, a Hamilton school superintendent and the man for whom Joyce Park was named; and Hamilton entrepreneur Clark Lane, founder of Hamilton's free library, which still bears his name.

        Darrtown's Walter “Smokey” Alston made the book, too. He attended Miami University in Oxford and later played one game as a big-leaguer.

        He earned lasting fame during 23 years as manager of major league baseball's Dodgers, winning seven National League pennants and four World Series.

        “Reports on the origin of his nickname vary,” Mr. Blount said. Some say he became Smokey before graduating from Milford Township High School in Darrtown because of how hard he threw a baseball.

        Later, Mr. Alston explained it started when his dad urged (him) to “put some smoke on the ball, son.”

        Another baseball legend, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, was born in Millville. The high school dropout and reporter attended law school at night in Illinois and eventually became a federal judge.

        In 1920, Mr. Landis was appointed baseball's first commissioner, during the “Black Sox Scandal” involving gambling and the 1919 World Series. A tough-minded man, he quickly banned eight Sox players for life, including Shoeless Joe Jackson.

        He remained commissioner until his death on Nov. 25, 1944.

        Writer and social activist Fannie Hurt was born in Hamilton in 1885. About 1910, she arrived in New York to write. Her most famous book, Back Street, came out in 1930. It was made into several movies.

        She once wrote, “The wheat-growing sun of Ohio beat into the white dust of Hamilton streets. ... I can taste and smell Hamilton.” She wrote stories in New York until her death in 1968.

        Dr. Charles F. Richter earned a place in Mr. Blount's book for creating the Richter Scale to measure earthquakes.

        The geophysicist and seismologist was born in 1900 near Overpeck. He and a coworker worked out the Richter Scale in 1935. He died in 1985.

        The Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth was the father of American beekeeping. The clergyman dabbled as an apiarist and invented the moveable-frame beehive. He died in 1895.

        In the entertainment field, Hamilton's Johnny Black wrote songs that became national hits.

        “Dardanella” hit in 1919. In 1943, his “Paper Doll” hit the top 10, after languishing in a drawer since 1915. It was recorded by the Mills Brothers.

        Unfortunately, Mr. Black didn't live to spend the song's royalties. After returning to Hamilton to open his own club, he argued with a customer over 25 cents. He fell and struck his head, and died June 9, 1936, at age 44.

        “Black's estate was valued at just $100,” Mr. Blount said.

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