Remarkable Ohio

Results for: wyandot
S corner of Twp Road 29 and Twp Road 300
Carey

, OH

Colonel William Crawford, a lifelong friend of George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1722. He was married twice, first to Ann Stewart and later to Hannah Vance. In 1755, he served with Colonel Edward Braddock in the French and Indian war. In 1767, he moved to “Stewart’s Crossing,” Pennsylvania, near the Youghiogheny River. During the Revolutionary War he raised a company of men, commanded the 5th and 7th Regiments, fought in battles in Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, and built forts along the western frontier. In 1782, he led the Sandusky Campaign into the Ohio country and was subsequently captured by Delaware Indians after the battle of “Battle Island.” On June 11, 1782, he was tortured and killed near the Tymochtee Creek near this marker. A monument dedicated to his memory is located about a quarter mile north of here. Counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania are named for Colonel Crawford.

200 E. Church Street
Upper Sandusky

, OH

The 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs opened much of northwest Ohio to white settlement. In return, the U.S. Government granted the Wyandot Nation permanent use of the Grand Reserve at present-day Upper Sandusky. There farming continued, a school was built, and, in 1824, this Mission Church was constructed by Indians and Methodist missionaries. However, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 called for relocation of all eastern Native Americans to areas beyond the Mississippi River. By 1840, all Ohio Indians had been removed except for the Wyandot, who refused to leave, preferring instead to stay upon their beloved Sandusky (now known as Killdeer) Plains. Facing considerable pressure from Federal authorities, the Wyandot Nation in 1842 agreed to relinquish the Grand Reserve and move west. From this site on July 12, 1843, 664 individuals began their week-long journey to awaiting steamboats at Cincinnati. The Wyandot were the last organized Native American people to leave Ohio, settling in modern-day Kansas and Oklahoma. (Continued on side two)

965 E. Wyandot Avenue
Upper Sandusky

, OH

Conceived by leaders of the automobile industry to encourage the building of “good roads,” the Lincoln Highway was established in 1913 as the first transcontinental automobile route in the United States. It traversed twelve states and 3,389 miles from New York to San Francisco. The first route across Ohio connected Van Wert, Delphos, Lima, Ada, Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus, Galion, Mansfield, Ashland, Wooster, Massillon, Canton, Minerva, Lisbon, and East Liverpool. By the 1930s much of the original route had become part of the Federal Highway System and U.S. Route 30–many miles of which have, in turn, been bypassed by modern four-lane highways.

State Route 568
Carey

, OH

Indian Trail Caverns, first opened in 1927, is one of many caves that occur on the dolomite ridge traversed by State Route 568 in Wyandot and Hancock counties. Sheriden Cave, a karst sinkhole associated with the caverns, was discovered in 1989. It has collected a remarkable record of Ice Age animal and human activity in its sediments. Excavations have revealed remains of many extinct Late Pleistocene Epoch animals-giant beaver, stag moose, flat-headed and long-nosed peccary, and short-faced bear, among many others-that were sealed in the cave by glacial deposits more than ten thousand years ago. Paleo-Indian tools, including projectile points and scrapers, are evidence of the earliest-known human activity in this region.

19100 C.H. 115
Harpster

, OH

Prairie grasslands were once widely scattered across western Ohio. One of Ohio’s best remaining prairies, Killdeer Plains is dominated by tall grasses such as the big bluestem and plays host to some unique species of wildlife such as the eastern massasauga or swamp rattlesnake. Prairie grasslands are one of the most rare types of wildlife habitats in the state. Named for the killdeer, a shore bird, this is part of a wet prairie that once spanned some 30,000 acres and boasts a tremendous number and diversity of native wildlife.

109 South Sandusky Avenue
Upper Sandusky

, OH

Wyandot County’s third and current courthouse was constructed from 1899-1900. Designed by the firm of Yost & Packard, the architects of courthouses in Wood, Harrison, and other counties, the building is a wonderful example of Beaux-Arts Classicism. The third floor courtroom was featured in the 1994 motion picture “The Shawshank Redemption,” based on a Stephen King novella. Director-screenwriter Frank Darabont chose the courtroom for the opening scenes of the movie, which features Academy Award-winning actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Many courtroom “extras” were Wyandot County residents. A time capsule inside Lady Justice, atop the dome, contains a copy of the movie, commemorating ‘Shawshank’ enthusiasts who supported the statue’s 2009 restoration. A restoration of the building was completed in 2015. The courthouse and adjacent jail were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

226 South Eighth Street
Upper Sandusky

, OH

In 1888, John Shealy bought a lumber yard from the Stoll Brothers. Ten year later, his son, Charles F. Shealy and partner Edwin F. Stephan formed the Shealy Lumber Company. The business had a “well equipped sash and door factory and an extensive lumber yard” and many area homes contained components made by company craftsmen. The Shealy Lumber Company became the Stephan Lumber Company when Shealy sold his share of the partnership to Stephan in 1911.