Five of these ten candidates will be selected to enter the Erie Hall of Fame. The 2010 Class of the Erie Hall of Fame will be announced on Saturday September 11 during a special ceremony held at Erie’s Heritage Festival
Ernest R. Behrend (1869 – 1940)
Behrend was a paper manufacture who received a patent in 1903 for his invention of a high-speed watermarking device. Along with his brother and father, he co-founded the Hammermill Paper Company in Erie in 1898. This company was the first company to manufacture writing paper from all wood pulp, rather than cotton. After his death, his love for education inspired his wife to deed their estate to what is now known as Penn State Behrend.
Mother Borgia Egan (1885 - 1962)
Catherine Egan was born on the feast day of Saint Benedict, the patron saint of students. She was a teacher and an advocate for the higher education of women. Her dream was to open a college for women, which she did by first sending her “Pioneer” Sisters of Mercy to college, raising the money for the new school, buying land and opening the doors to both Mercyhurst Preparatory School and Mercyhurst College and seminary in 1926.
H.O. Hirt (1887 – 1982)
Henry Hirt was a teacher, a grocery clerk and a salesman. He liked people and by all accounts, people liked him. He had an innate ability to understand their wants and desires, and their hopes and fears. When Hirt opened his insurance company in 1925 he used what he knew about people to define his new company’s method of operation. “Treat people the way you would like people to treat you.” Today that company, ERIE Insurance has grown to become one of the largest writers of auto and property-casualty insurance, Erie’s third largest employer, and as a Fortune 500 company.
Harry Kellar (1887 – 1982)
Harry Keller was an explosive kid – and he was a kid who played with explosives. His sport was playing chicken with passing trains. At 12 he stowed away on one of those trains and left Erie to become the world’s most famous magician. In an era before television, radio and movies Keller’s acts were so explosive that he became the most celebrated personality on the planet. Still with all his explosive fame, he never forgot Erie and would return often to perform.
Robert Kolbe
Kolbe was born a fisherman. He came from a long line of fishermen. His father ran one of the largest fish processing companies on the Great Lakes. At the time the single biggest challenge of a processing company was to keep the fish fresh from lake to market. That’s why in 1923 Kolbe’s father decided to send Robert to Rensaleer Polytechnic Institute in New York to acquire the scientific knowledge needed to develop a freezing process for fish. Robert invented that process and today his flash freezing invention is used in almost all food industries to preserve foods for delivery from mass producers to consumers all over the world.
Hugh C. Lord (1869-1944)
Hugh C. Lord was a renaissance man. Orphaned at 12, he grew to become a lawyer, specializing in patent law. Curious about all things Lord firmly believed that an inventive mind and practical scientific application could solve all problems – especially the squeaky, screeching sounds of traffic in front of his home on busy West 5th Street. The noise of traffic became so intolerable that Lord developed rubber suspension mounts for cars. The mounts were so successful that General Electric soon bought them for their trains. Today Lord Corporation builds devices and systems to manage mechanical motion and control noise and vibration in vehicles that travel on and under water; on land; in the air and out in space.
Peter Mennin (1923 – 1983)
Mennin began composing pieces of music when he was just seven years old; at eleven he had already become interested in symphonic forms. His formal training began with Normand Lockwood at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio but was cut short by service in the US Army Air Force during World War II. Mennin resumed his studies and today is known as one of the great symphonic composers of the United States. He focused primarily on large, abstract works for orchestra and chorus, completing little more than 30 works in his lifetime. Mennin's works bear an influence of Renaissance polyphony and exhibit a contrapuntal energy unique to the composer's style.
Rufus R. Reed (1775-1846)
He was the son of Colonel Seth Reed, and he grew to become Erie's first and most successful citizen. He opened a store in 1796 doing business with settlers, soldiers, and Indians. He later secured large government contracts to supply western military posts with beef, pork, flour and whiskey. He served as burgess of Erie in 1841. Seven years later he owned an extensive fleet of lake vessels. His second wife was the daughter of General William Irivine, who, with Andrew Ellicot laid out the town of Erie in 1795.
William L. Scott (1828 – 1891)
Born in Washington, D.C., Scott came to Erie at 17 on the invitation of Charles M. Reed. He entered the coal mining business, eventually controlling over 70,000 acres of coal lands in four states, earning him the name "Coal King." He, and his associate John F. Tracy from Erie, branched into railroads, becoming key figures in the building and operating of a number of successful lines. He owned over 22,000 miles of railroad, and subsequently became known as "The Railroad King." Scott, a democrat, served two terms as Mayor and two terms as Congressman.
R. Benjamin Wiley (1945– 2004)
Ben Wiley had game, he got things done, good things – he helped thousands of people in and around the city of Erie. Wiley served for 35 years as executive director of the Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC). First he saved GECAC from dissolution; then he re-made it. Today, GECAC's budget is more than $39 million. The agency uses that money to help more than 50,000 clients. It employs 500 people on 29 sites. It offers adult day care, Meals on Wheels, employment training, and drug and alcohol counseling.
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