Manatee County exhibition celebrates Powel Crosley Jr.

Powel Crosley. It's a name that virtually every person in Manatee County knows. But a lot of people don't know much about the man.

"Powel Crosley Jr. Community Exhibition: His Life. His Work. His Impact" is a new exhibition coordinated by the Manatee County Historical Records Library, that shines a light on his contributions to American society.

Among those contributions: When he was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds (then called the Redlegs), he came up with idea of lighting the stadium, so night baseball became possible. He was a radio pioneer, and was the first person to broadcast a baseball game on the radio. He's also responsible for the first televised baseball game, in the 1930s. A radio station he owned was the first NBC affiliate. He developed the push-button radio and the modern soap opera. He's even the guy who first came up with the idea of putting drawers in the doors of refrigerators. "He was a true innovator," said Cathy Slusser, the director of historical resources for the Manatee County Clerk's Office.

The exhibition itself is pretty innovative. Six different venues in Manatee County will each host one element of the exhibition, all at the same time. The exhibition is already under way at five of the venues. The sixth, the Eaton Florida History Room at the Manatee County Central Library, has another exhibition going on now, and will install its part of the Crosley exhibit beginning June 1. The exhibition at the library ends Aug. 31 and on Sept. 30 at all the other venues -- the South Florida Museum, Manatee Village Historical Park, the Manatee County Historical Records Library, the Manatee County Agricultural Museum and the Palmetto Historical Park.

The idea, Slusser said, was to educate people about the man behind one of the most famous names in the county, and also to promote cultural institutions in Bradenton and Palmetto.

"We wanted to draw people off the beaches in the summer and get them into downtown Bradenton and Palmetto," Slusser said.

To encourage visitors to experience the entire exhibition, organizers are offering a "passport" that is available at each of the venues. Visitors can pick up a passport at the first place they visit, and then have it punched at all the other venues. Anyone who goes to all six venues will be eligible for a drawing for a replica of a Crosley radio. It's a working radio that looks

like one Crosley's company would have manufactured in the '20s or '30s.

Radio is a big part of Crosley's legacy, but he wasn't just involved in broadcast radio. In World War II, his companies manufactured a lot of communication equipment for the U.S. military.

Some of that is on display at the Palmetto Historical Park.

"We have a military museum here, so we're focusing on his contributions to World War II," said park supervisor Mandy Polson. "We're very hands-on, so there are things like two-way radios that you can actually use." School groups have visited the park, Polson said, and the students are fascinated with the old-timey communication equipment. They're enjoying being able to stand downstairs and talk by radio to their friends upstairs over the radio, even though they could easily do the same thing on their cell phones.

"These have wires," Polson said. "They're fascinated to see the wires."

The library's exhibit focuses on the Powel Crosley Estate. Crosley built it as a winter home in 1929, but his wife died 10 years later and he never visited again. The mansion fell into disrepair and was eventually taken over by the county and rehabilitated.

So even though Crosley had a profound effect on American society and culture, he didn't have much impact on Manatee County specifically, beyond the mansion that bears his name.

"His legacy is the mansion," Slusser said. "He also may have brought Bill McKechnie here. We don't know that for sure, but for a time Bill McKechnie was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds when Crosley owned the team. And then, of course, McKechnie came here, and the stadium was named after him.

Details: Through Sept. 30, six venues in Bradenton and Palmetto. Admission: Free. Information: 941-741-4070, manateeclerk.com/historical/historicallibrary.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Manatee County exhibition celebrates Powel Crosley Jr. ."