John Henry Lowry

John Henry Lowry, who moved to Massillon in the early 1900s, became one of the city’s leading businessmen. “Big Jenny” owned the Vahepa Hotel, an ice company, a waste collection business, the Lowry Pop bottling works, and a brick factory. He had investments in an insurance company and owned a farm at the edge of town.

Big Jenny constructed a building which he donated to Shiloh Baptist Church, and he gave bricks from his factory for the construction of the Massillon YMCA.

The city’s flag flew at half mast on his death and Massillon’s first downtown renewal area was named the LowryPrice district.