English: Alfred Holt was a familiar and beloved figure in the Upper Arlington community's early history. Some knew Alf as the village's first mailman and a delivery person for The Norwester magazine. Some knew him as a driver of floats in the July 4th parade, and some knew him as a general handyman. Others knew him as one of Santa's helpers and the deliverer of the cyclamen plant that each home received as a gift "from St. Nick" at Christmastime in 1917.

The children in the village also knew Alf as the school janitor. He was hired in October 1918 with a salary of thirty-five cents an hour, and, although the year of his retirement is not known, he was still listed as the school janitor in the high school yearbook of 1938. Alf's father, Charlie Holt, was also a well-known figure whose job it was to keep the parks mowed. He would sometimes give children rides on his mower pulled by his mule named Jenny.
There were several African American families in the area: the Litchford family, who had a farm where the Upper Arlington High School stands today; the Whites, who were tenant farmers on the Lakin property; several farmhands who worked for James Miller; several hired hands newly arrived from the South, who worked for the Thompsons and lived near the intersection of North Star Road and Northwest Boulevard; Pete Collum, who worked as a steam roller operator for the Upper Arlington Company; Pappy Morris, who had been born a slave and eventually worked as a gardener for the Millers; his son, Will Morris, who was coachman and first chauffeur for the Miller family; and Les and Daisy Brown, about whom little is known except that they built their home where they would always be able to see the sunset.
http://ua-archives.cdmhost.com/u?/p4036coll10,323
http://ua-archives.cdmhost.com/u?/p4036coll9,662

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Identifier: hinw16p025i01
Date (yyyy-mm-dd): c. 1919-02
Original Dimensions: 3.1 cm X 6.5 cm
Format: Black and White Halftone Photograph
Source: Norwester, February 1919, page 25
Original Publisher: Upper Arlington Community (Ohio)
Location/s: Upper Arlington (USA, Ohio, Franklin County)
Repository: http://www.uahistory.org
Digital Publisher: http://www.ualibrary.org, http://www.uaarchives.org

Credit: UA Archives - Upper Arlington Public Library (Repository: UA Historical Society)