Dr. Bob’s Home
Mount the 12 front steps to Dr. Bob Smith’s restored 1930s Akron home where the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous recovered from alcoholism and helped others to sobriety. Many of the family’s belongings live on, such as the cast-iron typewriter and mahogany dining room table where Smith’s daughter chronicled the Big Book of AA. “We try to make it look like the Smiths have just stepped out for a meeting,” says historian and archivist Gail La Croix. 855 Ardmore Ave., Akron, 330-864-1935, drbobshome.com
John Heisman house
While some people dispute the Ohio City home is Heisman’s 1869 birthplace, his family and a former Heisman Trophy winner gathered in 1979 to stake a sign here, honoring the football pioneer. “At the time you could see [Cleveland Municipal] stadium from the house,” says Heisman’s grandnephew John Heisman. “I thought that was neat.” 2849 Bridge Ave., Cleveland
Abraham Teachout house
On what was once considered the Millionaires’ Row of the West Side, one house keeps its panache with a brightly colored exterior and onion-shaped tower. Abraham Teachout, who built the home in 1887, was a lumber giant known for his devout advocacy of Prohibition and his refusal to abandon his carriage at the turn of the automobile age. “He was quite the sight,” says James Dubelko, a Cleveland State University Center for Public History and Digital Humanities researcher. “He didn’t want to leave the 19th century.” Franklin Boulevard, Cleveland
