Catherine Dobbs was born in Shreve, Ohio, and attended Barberton schools. She graduated around 1925, and then attended the University of Akron night school and Ohio State University. While at Ohio State she became interested in Barberton history, Ohio history, and government. It was at this time she worked in the Ohio House of Representatives and as a researcher in the Ohio Legislative Library. The Barberton Public Library owns several copies of her 1947 book, Freedom’s Will: The Society of the Separatists of Zoar – A Historical Adventure of Religious Communism in Ohio. Ms. Dobbs also served as the first and only female mayor of Barberton (1956-1961) and was reportedly the first woman mayor of a major industrial city. |