Hartland History Lesson - JR Crouse Sr

Press release from the Cromaine District Library:

January 12, 2022

John Robert Crouse, Sr was born in Hartland on New Year's Day in 1874. When he was young he moved to Cleveland with his family to help run the family businesses and became highly successful in the lighting/electricity industry. He received many awards for his work in developing cooperation in the lighting industry, giving him the title of "Father of Cooperation". You can read more about his early history and accomplishments via the Waldenwoods site here.

After many years of dedicated work, Crouse retired and moved back to his hometown of Hartland. He dove right into community service and associated himself with many community organizations. He acquired a good bit of land next to his ancestral home (now on Crouse Road on the west side of US 23) to build the town.

He then began work on the recreational site "Waldenwoods" which was named in honor of the book Walden, penned by Henry David Thoreau in 1854. The book details Thoreau's life at Walden Pond, where Thoreau secluded himself for two years and spent much of his time writing and reflecting on the wonders of nature and backwoods living. He and his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson were part of the Transcendentalism movement, which looked beyond industrialism and materialism to focus on creativity, intuition, and the divinity/value of every living thing. This led them to believe in the importance of good working conditions, women's suffrage, "free" religion, and innovation in education. One famous experiment out of this movement was a communal living experience called Brook Farm.

These ideals must have had a great impact on Crouse, because he dedicated the rest of his life to carrying them out for the Hartland community. Here are a few of the major concepts and programs he enacted:

• "Friendly Association for Wholehearted Service" was his catchphrase to describe his work in what he would call the "Hartland Area Project". The first portion of the phrase is engraved on a sign heading up to the second level of Cromaine.
• He paid to renovate and restore the Hartland Music Hall and then dedicated it to the arts, primarily theater and music.
• He turned the town bar into Cromaine Crafts, an organization that would spur an explosion of weaving and textiles industry in the town. Hartland would become known in the 30s and 40s as the third largest producer of woven materials in the nation.
• He restored the mill and built a recreation center, community office, and field house. Many of these buildings are still in use today. The Crouse building which was formerly the recreation center!
• He hired a committee to establish community services -- "Library, Music, Health & Human Services, Dramatic Arts, Helping Teachers, Continuing Education, and Accounting." Also in 1932, he established three foundations -- the Hartland School Foundation, the Hartland Foundation, and the Hartland Area Educational Loan Fund -- to support the schools and community with a starting amount of $500,000. Crouse stated that this would "very likely be in advance of public opinion and [would] be beyond the willingness or ability of the community to undertake the basis of taxes", but he understood the value and importance of these initiatives.
• He used the family farm as a center for science and innovation in agriculture, leading to practices in soil conservation, crop rotation and tree planting.

Find more on the amazing and unique history of the Hartland Area Project on the Cromaine website here.

The legacy of John Robert Crouse Sr is so overwhelmingly positive and long-lasting, it's hard to NOT be inspired by his work! He was so loved by the community, had an enormous impact on the lighting industry, and was such an enlightened person that he was often associated with the sun and light. This aspect of Crouse has been branded into the Hartland Community for 100 years as the sun in the Cromaine logo.

This press release was produced by the Cromaine District Library. The views expressed are the author's own.