Medina historian Joann King reflects on a lifetime of preserving local stories

For more than 50 years, Joann King has made it her mission to preserve and share the history of Medina County. As she explained, “You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. The history of Medina is a story that is evolving step by step.”

She credits her fifth-grade teacher with igniting her love of history. After realizing Joann’s interest in young-reader biography books, the teacher asked the local librarian to loan her history books from the adult section. King went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in history from Denison University.

While at Denison, Joann met her husband of 62 years, Peter. In 1973, they moved from Akron to Medina with their three young children. Having grown up in the small Northwest Ohio village of Paulding, she appreciated the advantages of living in a small town. They purchased what was known as the Rosco Ewing home, which came with its own history.

Ewing was an attorney for Vernon Stouffer, founder of Stouffer Frozen Foods. The company began in 1905 as Stouffer’s Medina County Creamery. Stouffer was also the owner of the Cleveland Indians in the 1960s. Ewing built a baseball diamond on his 400-acre Medina farm to host picnics for the ballplayers and later built a summer cottage on the property in 1942, which the Kings eventually purchased.

Joann completed her graduate degree in history from the University of Akron in 1976, taking one course at a time while raising her young children. A class focused on the importance of local history proved pivotal.

“I realized that history wasn’t just about famous men and significant national events,” she said. “I became interested in the stories of men and women in Medina and decided that local history is where it all starts.”

Soon after graduating, King attended Medina’s U.S. Bicentennial celebration, which included a tour of the Medina County Historical Society’s Munson House. After introducing herself to the society’s president, Jim Roose, she was hired as its first curator, a position she held for 18 years.

One of her first major projects involved moving the society’s collections from the Munson House to the John Smart House, where she uncovered additional items to catalog and display. She also became an active member of the Medina Design Committee.

“While researching the history of Medina County, I realized that people here weren’t what we think of as pioneers,” King said. “They weren’t ignorant, rough frontier people. They came from Connecticut, were educated, and some were quite wealthy. They knew what was happening in the country and had opinions about issues like the Underground Railroad. I gained a lot of respect for the people who came before us.”

King is also an award-winning author of four books on Medina County history, available through the Medina County Historical Society. She co-authored Building a Firm Foundation: Medina County Architecture 1811-1900 with University of Akron art professor Susan McKierman and later wrote Medina County Coming of Age 1810-1900, a 552-page chronicle of the people and events that shaped the county.

In 2003, she was asked by attorney Charles Griesinger to research and write Letha E. House: From Foundling to Philanthropist, detailing the life of a Lafayette Township woman who inherited a fortune from relatives in Cleveland’s Corrigan family and donated much of it to Medina County causes, including construction of the Medina Square gazebo.

King later co-authored A Medina Family Saga 1830-2020 with historian and Medina Weekly writer Gloria Brown, focusing on the Blake and McDowell families and their influence on the community.

After leaving her curator position, King continued volunteering with the historical society. In 2014, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award for “exceptional talent and dedication curating, teaching, writing, and educating.”

A major milestone came in 2019, when King helped the society acquire its second museum, the McDowell-Phillips House. Drew and Miriam Phillips, who owned the home, approached the society about preserving it as a museum. Members raised $500,000 in just seven months to purchase and begin restoring the property.

While exploring the attic, King and other volunteers discovered a collection of wedding dresses. The garments were restored and displayed in a well-received wedding attire exhibit held from May-August 2025. She also successfully helped secure the McDowell-Phillips House’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

When asked why Medina County residents are so interested in local history, King said, “It is pride in place. There are people like me in every township, dedicated to collecting and preserving the past. This town has attracted people because of its appearance and history. But Medina is also changing, and that’s the flow of history.”