In the early 1890's, a group of men founded the Ohio Injector Company,
the Ohio Match Company (later known as the Blue Tip Match Company),
the Ohio Boxboard Company [Rittman] and the Wadsworth Salt Company,
all known as the Ohio Companies.
Valves and matches are no longer made in Wadsworth;
however, during the height of production years, they were part of a world-wide economy.
The Blue Tip Match Company reached a peak in the 1940's,
employing more than 1,600 workers and producing more than 353 million matches daily.
Laid end to end, they would cover over 13,000 miles.
The Ohio Injector Company employed a peak of 1,200 employees
after gaining the business of many area railroad lines, the leading user of injectors at the time.
The Wadsworth Salt Company burned in 1927 and was not rebuilt.
The Ohio Salt Company in Rittman replaced the Wadsworth Salt Company
as a focal point of salt production in the area.
The salt vein in Wadsworth and Rittman provided abundant raw material for each factory.
Even though the Ohio Companies are no longer in business,
they established Wadsworth as a manufacturing town.
Wadsworth still honors its manufacturing history with the annual Blue Tip Festival.
This year's festival will be held June 20-24, 2017.
FYI, the giant match in the picture below is only in place during the festival.
This geocache is located at the site of the former Ohio Injector Company.
The Blue Tip Match Company was located directly across the street.
Special thanks to Square Willie, craftsman extraordinaire, for his assistance with this hide.
Please do not manhandle or otherwise force the container open!
Update: The original geocache, along with its entire hiding place went missing.
I cannot replace the original container, but geocachers RustyRats have kindly provided a similar replacement.
Please make sure that the key word slip is returned to the baggie after you sign the log.
This geocache is placed with the permission of 273 Main LLC.
"Find it... in Medina County" is a series of 25 geocaches placed throughout the area
at various parks and other points of interest.
Those who locate at least 18 of the geocaches in the series and present their completed passport at one of our redemption sites will receive a fabulous trackable geocoin as a memento of the fun that they have had exploring the area. (Limited to the first 250-- one per caching name).
Update August 2016: We have reordered another 250 geocoins!
Caches will remain in place and coins are available to the first 500 geocachers to complete the series.
And as an added bonus, there will be an extra surprise for those that find
at least 22 geocaches in the series! (While supplies last.)
You may print your passport by clicking here: "Find it... in Medina County" passport
Redemption sites and their hours are listed on the passport.
A list of the geocaches in this series can be found here:: "Find it... in Medina County" geocaches