Elyria

Dateline: Elyria, Ohio.
Actually, I know virtually nothing about the place other than that God's Most Perfect Pipe Wrench is manufactured there.
On the subject of pipe wrenches, in 1925 the "Ridgid Pattern" was patented and thus it did in at a stroke the venerable old Stillson wrench (pat 1869).
There was nothing inherently wrong with the Stillson design. It had just been around a long time - and the Ridgid design did prove to be simpler and stronger and so, thus changed what a pipe wrench would look like forever.
Nowadays, any store selling tools, even if their wrenches are straight from China, will be selling pipe wrenches based on the Ridgid pattern.

Pictured above, at top, an 18" Ridgid. Solid, boring, indestructible.
Below it is an oddity. A 10" Ridgid Brand, Stillson Pattern wrench
Wonderous as the world of wrenches can be, that's not what this is about.
In the early part of the 20th century, another homegrown, Elyria industry was the Garford Motor Truck Company.
Pictured next, in a wonderful photograph by Darius Kinsey in Washington state, a Garford log truck - with a very, gnarly cedar log.
And the truck. Did 'ya ever see anything so adorably ugly?
Anyway, this was their, Garford's product.
These trucks were used by the army and others despite their "A Face That Only a Mother Could Love" looks.
At some point, some time when "there was a war on", a Garford piss-anted four, ten-ton gun barrels, one at a time - a five-ton Garofrd at that - to some remote California, Artillery emplacement.
In 1914, one customer of particular significance was the Russians. They'd been experimenting with the idea of the "armored car" for some time and one of their more successful attempts was built on the Garford truck "platform".
Enter the "Putilov-Garford Armored Car" although the "car bit may be a bit of a stretch.
At 8.6 tons, this was no light runabout. Also, being that it was built on the sleek, Garford chassis, it was top-heavy to begin with. Several additional tons of armor and armament only served to make it more unstable.
So, it was hard to handle, restricted to roads because it kept wanting to lie down. And this is the successful one?
Not without good reason however. To wit: Firepower, three Maxims and a 76.2mm gun.
And, even though the P-G was slower than Christmas, that sluggish pace did bring with it the benefit of thick armor - a maximum of 13mm - and a gun that could kick ass on anything it's likely to run across.
The only drawback to the design was that the gun faced to the rear and could only traverse through 270 degrees. However a Maxim apiece was mounted in sponsons on either side to cover the front.
The fifty or which were produced, served admirably - up until 1917 when Russia fell apart.
P-G's were then used, during the Russian Civil War, by the Bolsheviks with great effect as tank killers, knocking out the Brit Mk IV and V's that had been given to the whites.
They were also captured and used by the Germans during their Civil War in 1918.
During the '20's the faithful remnant were converted into armed railway trolleys by simply replacing the cast-iron and solid rubber wheels with railroad wheels.
The Germans destroyed the last of the Putilov-Garfords in 1941.
Alas. A long way from that little town in Ohio.
And finally, back to that little town: Following various rabbit trails re Garford trucks, I found this Flickr photo and it provided my "thesis".
What you're looking at is a cottonwood tree that has grown through and around a truck chassis.
Located in the city of Elyria itself (on North St. A street only a few hundred feet in length). The site where I found it is here, and you can get to a satelite map to where "The truck in the tree" (A Garford) is located by just scrolling down a bit in the comments.
If it was fifty miles away - I'd go see it. A three-day drive? I'll fill in the blanks.