Garrett Augustus Morgan, born in Kentucky, made Cleveland his home in 1895 and became famous for his inventions while advancing practical social activism for African Americans. In 1908, frustrated by Cleveland's racial climate, he joined Black businessmen to form the Cleveland Association of Colored Men, which later merged with the NAACP. In 1916, after rescuing two men during the Cleveland Waterworks Tunnel Disaster with his patented Breathing Device, military and fire departments across the country purchased the invention that later developed into the gas mask. In 1920, he founded the African American newspaper The Call. After selling his Traffic Signal patent to General Electric in 1923, he used the profits, including $40,000, to buy a 121-acre farm in Huron County in 1924 and create a community in Wakeman free from the racial inequities of the city. Promoted as "a village of our own," the Wakeman Country Club became one of Ohio's early African American recreation clubs and offered 247 lots for $60 each in Wakeman Heights, near the intersection of State Route 60 and Chenango Road. Membership, included with a lot purchase, offered fishing, hunting, swimming, and horseback riding, while a restaurant, dance hall, and amphitheater hosted cultural and boxing events. Morgan and his wife, Mary Hasek, happily spent their remaining weekends and vacations in Wakeman. The club declined during World War II, and no buildings from the once thriving Wakeman Country Club remain.