| William F. Gilmore | ||
| Birth Date: 1865 |
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| Death Date: February 22, 1946 Artist Gallery |
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| William Gilmore was born in a log cabin on a farm in Tuscarawas County. He went to school in Gilmore, a small community which had developed by his great grandfather, Nathaniel Gilmore.
Gilmore was a teacher by the age nineteen, teaching in several towns including Gnadenhutten, Christiansburg and Conover. He became the principal of the school at Conover, Ohio, but a fire which destroyed the school led to his career as an artist. Due to the loss of a job, Gilmore enrolled in the Zamerian Art School in Columbus. He remained employed for a year as an illustrator at an engraving firm where he made pen and ink drawings for newspapers, magazines and catalogs.
In 1898, Gilmore learned that the job of ‘Supervisor of drawing and penmanship’ was available in the Canton Schools. In 1915, Gilmore was named art instructor at the old Central High School. He continued there until completion of McKinley High School, where he remained until his retirement in 1931.
Throughout his teaching career, Gilmore continued to study art at Columbus University and the Chicago Art Institute. In 1935 he accepted an offer as an art instructor at Union College, a school in the mountains in southeastern Kentucky. He spent several summers at the school and during his free time in the mountains documented the surrounding area and “mountain-folk”.
When the Museum was founded in 1935, Gilmore became an honorary member and taught classes for the Museum education department at no charge. He was also awarded an Honorary Membership with the Ohio Watercolor Society.
Gilmore died on February 22, 1946 at the age of 80.
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