Background
John Richards Buchtel was the son of John and Catharine (Richards) Buchtel, was born on January 18, 1820 in Green Township, then in Stark County, now a part of Summit County, Ohio. His boyhood was spent in hard work on his father's farm.
John Richards Buchtel was the son of John and Catharine (Richards) Buchtel, was born on January 18, 1820 in Green Township, then in Stark County, now a part of Summit County, Ohio. His boyhood was spent in hard work on his father's farm.
Educational advantages were meager. In his later teens he sold clocks and bought and sold horses, but these ventures proved unprofitable and he returned to farming.
In 1854 he became a salesman for Ball, Aultman & Company of Canton, Ohio, manufacturers of mowers and reapers.
In 1877, with other capitalists, he undertook the development of the mineral resources of the Hocking Valley. The extent of this project may be guessed from the fact that in 1880 alone the company paid the Hocking Valley Railroad a million dollars for freight charges. For several years Buchtel had the active management of this enterprise, and its remarkable success was due largely to his energy and wisdom.
In 1872 he was a presidential elector; in 1874, candidate for secretary of state on the Prohibition ticket; and for several years a trustee of the State Agricultural College. In 1887, while in the Hocking Valley, he was stricken with paralysis, and was never again able to take an active part in business. Buchtel's greatest monument is Buchtel College (now the University of Akron).
Thenceforward he and Mrs. Buchtel, being childless, lavished upon the new college their affection and generosity. By 1882 their gifts had reached $138, 828 and eventually nearly half a million. Buchtel was one of the incorporators of the college, and was president of the Board of Trustees until his death.
John Buchtel was largely instrumental in persuading the firm to build an Akron branch ten years later, and became the first president of the Buckeye Company, as the Akron branch was popularly known. He also sponsored the construction of Buchtel College in Akron which opened in 1872. The College burned to the ground on December 20, 1899. The street in front of the building was re-named Buchtel Ave.
While tolerant of all religious faiths, he was an ardent Universalist, and when in 1870, the Universalists of Ohio undertook to found a college, his gift of $31, 000 brought the college to Akron.
He was keenly interested in civic affairs, and gave generously of time and money to whatever he believed was for the public good.
His leading characteristics were energy, sincerity, bluntness of manner with sympathy and kindness of heart.
In 1844 Buchtel married Elizabeth Davidson.
