Join us for our next webinar on Wednesday, January 28th at 1 pm.
Ray Brown pitched for the legendary Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues in the years before the integration of Major League Baseball. Born and raised in Alger, Ohio, the baseball star was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2006. Despite his achievements on the field, there is not a single mention of Brown in his hometown.
A multi-stage project in Alger now working to remedy this glaring omission, raising awareness for a locally forgotten legend, and creating a multi-use space that enhances the community.
During the Fall 2021 semester, Ohio Northern history professor David Strittmatter tasked a team of his students with drafting an initial application for an Ohio Historical Marker to Brown. The process required the students to make contact with Alger village administrator Paul Osborne, who envisioned the marker as a mere starting point for a wider redevelopment plan of Alger Village Park.
Today, the Ray Brown project is an ongoing collaboration of three entities: the Village of Alger, the ONU History Program, and Hardin County Historical Museums, Inc. This student-created website celebrates the successes of the project, describes the various components of this local history initiative, and identifies future plans for Ray Brown Memorial Park.
About Our Presenter
David Strittmatter is an Associate Professor of History at Ohio Northern University, where he oversees public history initiatives. His research interests include memory, preservation, and tourism. At ONU, he teaches an array of courses from “World War I” and “History of Italy” to “Material Culture” and “Heritage Preservation.” His first book explores how English battlefields, political sites, and world’s fairgrounds developed as heritage sites. He is also the principal organizer of the Ray Brown Project, a multi-stage effort to commemorate the Negro Leagues pitcher and Baseball Hall of Famer born and raised in Hardin County. For the 2025-26 academic year, Strittmatter serves as the President of the Ohio Academy of History.
