LOGAN — From the cobwebbed closet of the Logan Daily’s historic offices: a peek around Hocking County, 50 years ago this week.
”Local Designs Spherical House,” May 20, 1974.
“Necessity is the mother of invention is an old cliche that best fits the idea behind the spherical house now under construction on Chieftain Drive,” wrote Logan Daily News correspondent Harold Roach.
James Stewart of Logan told the newspaper he conceived the idea in 1965, when the threat of nuclear war prompted many to build underground bomb shelters. The prepper said he designed his own, odd-shaped structure on the basis that “the sphere is the strongest structure known to man, with each square inch having a cohesion to the total mass that any outside force is resisted by the total sphere by the cube of the force exerted.”
Stewart, as of the article’s writing, had submitted a patent for his plans. Upon its completion, he said the home “will be able to withstand nature’s destructive forces better than any conventional structure.”
Roach went on to describe Stewart’s plans, referred to as WOOO (World of Our Own).
It was initially designed to be built underground, but after the architect completed the plans, he brought it up to surface level. The sphere, Roach said, will sit on a cylindrical basement; atop that, the living quarters will contain three floors at diameters of 30, 36, and 32 feet. These stories will house eight rooms and two full baths.
The exterior is set to be five inches of steel reinforced concrete, with three inches of sprayed foam insulation on the inside.
“An eight foot unbreakable glass dome will sit on top of the sphere, with smaller windows banded around the sphere itself,” Roach went on.
Stewart told the Logan Daily the house has been a “family project,” and that he took a three-month leave of absence from his job in 1973 to get going on construction. The home, as of the article’s writing, was 50% completed, and “hopefully will be done next fall.” Its total cost was estimated around $40,000 to $50,000, roughly $300,000 in 2024, adjusted for inflation.
“According to Stewart, his new design could quite easily revolutionize the home construction industry if properly handled,” Roach concluded.
”Hemlock Girl Crowned 1974 Moonshine Queen,” May 25, 1974.
The Moonshine Festival is and has been an historical staple of the village of New Straitsville, with its 53rd edition coming up this weekend. The Logan Daily News in 1974 reminds us that it was once a young and fledgling event with an uncertain future.
“The 4th annual Moonshine Festival, which opened Friday in New Straitsville, attracted a record first-night crowd, doubled from last year’s opening session,” read the Logan Daily.
Ms. Wilma Kincaid of Hemlock, a freshman at Ohio University, was named the 1974 Miss Moonshine Friday night, selected from a field of 18 contestants. Jo Ann Bernard and Marilyn Spry, both of Logan High School, were runners-up.
Descriptions of the event in 1974 show that only a little bit has changed in the interim. This year’s Moonshine Festival, held yearly over Memorial Day Weekend, will feature a carnival, parades, and live music events just as it did 50 years ago. There will be moonshine-themed foods like burgers and pie, local history exhibits, flea market vendors, and plenty of family-friendly free entertainment.
Email at rmorris@logandaily.com
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