Remarkable Ohio

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Front Text: You are now traveling U.S. 40, the "Old National Road" used in the westward expansion of our country. In 1837 notice was given that this section of the road would be constructed. A toll house was located at the east edge of Brandt. Back Text: Same

Address: U.S. 40, Bethel Twp., Tipp City
Location: NE corner of US 40 and OH 201

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Front Text: African-American history began in Piqua with the settlement of Arthur Davis in 1818 and expanded with the settlement of the freed Randolph slaves of Virginia in 1846. African-American religious heritage in Piqua began with the Cyrene African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1853 and the Second Baptist Church (Park Avenue) in 1857. Segregated education started in 1854 at the Cyrene Church and ended in 1885 at the Boone Street School. Several Piqua African-American men circumvented Ohio's early ban against Civil War military service by joining the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments. Following the Civil War an African-American Co-operative Trade Association established Piqua's first African-American retail store. Continued on/from other side) Back Text: Continued from other side) Goodrich Giles (1846-1927) exemplified the enterprising spirit of the first African-American Co-operative Association. During his fifty plus years in Piqua he became the first local African-American to become a prominent employer (Cottage Livery Stable), to run for public office (election of 1886), and to become a large scale capital investor (stockholder of the Third National Bank). In 1927 Giles and Carl P. Anderson built the Classic Theater in Dayton, Ohio, one of the first Ohio theaters run by African-Americans for African-American audiences.

Address: S Main Street/N County Road 25A, Piqua
Location: At a small parking area on the E side of S. Main Street just S of Hemm Avenue

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Front Text: In the mid-1700s, France found its influence waning among midwestern tribes as it contested for Native American trade and military alliances with Great Britain. Shortly after Miami chief Memeskia (also known as Old Britain or La Demoiselle) moved his village to Pickawillany, British traders were given permission to establish a small post in the village, which was deep in the territory claimed by France. When French demands to evacuate the post failed, Charles Langlade led a party of 250 Ottawa and Ojibwe warriors and French Canadians in a surprise attack on the Miami village on June 21, 1752. The trading post was destroyed, British traders were taken to Detroit as prisoners, and Memeskia was executed. Pickawillany was completely abandoned soon after. As a prelude to the French and Indian War, the Battle of Pickawillany fueled land claim and trading right conflicts between France and Britain. Back Text: Same

Address: N. Hardin Road, Piqua
Location: At small pullout with several other monuments just N of OH 66

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Front Text: On the evening of August 3, 1920, at 10:30, two men hurrying home after working at the local Railway Y.M.C.A. discovered smoke and flames at the D. Arnold & Sons Lumber Company. Bradford firemen, with the help of area firefighters, could not contain the raging fire because of the intense heat and lack of available water. By the early morning light, townspeople saw that their town had been almost totally destroyed. Thirty-four businesses and twelve homes were burned to the ground with losses totaling over one million dollars. Many businesses never rebuilt and claimed huge losses due to the lack of insurance coverage. The Ohio State Fire Marshal investigated the fire and ruled arson as the origin. Authorities never apprehended or charged any suspects. Back Text: Same

Address: Iddings Park, E Main Street, Bradford
Location: Park is in the SE corner of E Main Street & N Miami Avenue

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Front Text: Local views on the Vietnam War mirrored national attitudes of pride and confusion. Piqua citizens participated in the "Letters for Life" campaign in 1970 for prisoners of war. Piqua Daily Call assistant news editor James W. DeWeese traveled to Paris in a frustrated attempt to deliver the letters to the Hanoi Peace delegation. The state activated the local Ohio National Guard unit in 1970 to help suppress anti-Vietnam student rioting in Columbus. The military conflict came home in 1966 when William Pitsenbarger became the first of eleven men from Piqua to die in Vietnam. In 1967, Piqua High School graduate Air Force Major William J. Baugh was shot down over North Vietnam and taken prisoner. He remained a P.O.W. until 1973. Back Text: William H. Pitsenbarger graduated from the Piqua High School in 1962 and joined the Air Force in 1963. After extensive training he qualified for Air Force Pararescue duty. In Vietnam, Pitsenbarger served on more than 250 combat missions to rescue individuals, including saving a South Vietnamese soldier from a burning mine field, for which he was awarded the Airman's Medal. On April 11, 1966, Pitsenbarger volunteered for a helicopter medical evacuation mission. When the rescue mission came under Viet Cong fire, the helicopter became disabled and withdrew. Pitsenbarger stayed on the ground to help the wounded. He was killed in action saving the lives of others. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on December 8, 2000.

Address: Veteran's Park, S triangle of OH 66 & Washington Avenue, Piqua

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Front Text: During World War II, forty of Troy's teenage girls, their mothers, and volunteers operated a free canteen service for troops on the platform of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station. The group began as a few neighborhood girls providing magazines to soldiers while trains were stopped. With support and donations from Miami County communities and six additional counties, thousands of food baskets and countless drinks were given to approximately 600,000 soldiers trackside. Books, games, cigarettes, and other sundries were made available to soldiers on their trips to and from Europe or the Pacific. The volunteers of the Junior Girls Canteen served every train and soldier that came through the station, whether it was in the dead of night or the coldest day of winter. Throughout World War II, many other canteens were created across the nation, including eleven other canteens in Ohio. Back Text: Same

Address: Herrlinger Park, E West Street, Troy
Location: On E West Street, midway between S Crawford Street and Union Street