MANSFIELD — The story of Franklin Blymyer Black is a Mansfield tale from start to finish.
Frank was born on June 10, 1865 (just after the end of the Civil War) to Moses and Elizabeth Blymyer Black in a brick home at the corner of Blymyer and Marion Avenues. He was one of three children, two of them sons. His brother Harry would become Secretary of Frank’s Ohio Brass Co.
The house the Black children grew up in was constructed by Frank’s grandfather, Benjamin Blymyer. Frank was the latest in a long and prosperous local family line with strong ties to the First Congregational Church.
Frank’s father Moses Black was born in Ireland July 20, 1836. Eventually, Moses came to the United States with his parents and settled in the Zanesville area, before moving to Mansfield.
Moses was associated with J.F. Black under the firm of M &J H Black, but found his way to the dry goods business on the corner of Park Avenue West and Main Street in 1858. He stayed with it until 1890, when he would become associated with the Ohio Brass Co. with his sons.
Moses died at age 68, in Mansfield on July 20, 1904.
According to his obituary in the Dec. 19, 1937 News Journal, Frank attended public schools in Mansfield, graduating with the class of 1885. He also graduated from Eastman Business College, in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Upon his return to Mansfield, Frank began working in a minor role at the Barnett Brass Co. This fostered an interested in the manufacture of brass items, to the benefit of the Mansfield community for the next century.
According to a Richland County History story, the 23-year-old Black borrowed $5,000 from relatives to open up a brass foundry on Oct. 17, 1888. It was housed in a small brick building on the west side of North Main Street and employed 10 people.
What started as a small foundry on two floors grew to 20 workers on two floors.
The spark ignited a boom as Ohio Brass flourished during the streetcar era by making trolley parts.
In 1892, Frank married Jessie Baxter of Mansfield and they had four sons, Robert, Donald, John and Roger. All became officials of the Ohio Brass Co., and they produced five grandsons for Frank.
In 1898, the expanding Ohio Brass company moved to a site between the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroad tracks. It was here in 1905 that the buildings were completely destroyed by fire.
But the setback did not deter Frank Black. He sketched out new buildings and quickly pivoted the company into national prominence.
In 1926, Frank poured $250,000 into an immaculate, five-story brick building at 380 N. Main St. to house Ohio Brass. In 2024, Mansfield City Council designated this building as a historic landmark.
For decades, Ohio Brass was the largest industry employer in Mansfield. At the height of its productivity, Ohio Brass employed a workforce of 900 people, and long outlived Frank.
As his company grew, Frank became interested in numerous civic and financial projects. He was one of the founders and key contributors of Mansfield General Hospital.
He also took an interest in establishing three banks, and at the time of his death had directorship of all of them: Citizen’s National, Mansfield Savings Trust Co., & Farmers Savings Trust Co.
Eventually, Ohio Brass was bought out by the Aultman-Taylor factory complex and covered 73 acres in Mansfield and other cities. It struggled during the downshift in Midwest industrial manufacturing in the 1970s, and finally closed in 1990.
Yet it created a solid living for generations of north central Ohioans during its era.
Frank died of a heart attack while riding a horse at his spacious estate, Raemelton, on Dec. 19, 1937.
He lived the life of a visionary, an industrialist, and philanthropist. Frank Black is unquestionably one of the most important figures in the history of Mansfield.
