, OH
General John Hunt Morgan of Kentucky led a force of Confederate calvarymen into Meigs County during a forty-six day raid north of the Ohio River. The advance forces burned Benjamin Knight’s carding mill and sawmill, the Shade River Bridge, and pillaged local businesses in Chester on July 18, 1863, while waiting for the rest of the column to catch up. This two-hour halt delayed General Morgan’s arrival at the ford at Buffington Island until after dark, allowing Union troops to arrive before he could make his escape. General Morgan surrendered eight days later near West Point in Columbiana County, the northernmost point ever reached by Confederate forces during the Civil War.
, OH
Miami & Erie Canal and Napoleon’s First Cemetery. The Miami & Erie Canal stretched approximately 250 miles from Cincinnati to Toledo. Napoleon and other towns on the Maumee River’s banks were on a slackwater section of the canal. Between 1825 and 1845, laborers constructed the canal using shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, and horse and mule-drawn carts. In Henry County, Napoleon, and elsewhere, German and Irish immigrants and area farmers did the work and were paid around 30 cents a day. As the canal brought more people and business to the area, villages such as Florida, Damascus, and Texas flourished and the county seat of Napoleon boomed. The canal and consequent growth took their tolls, however. Sickness and disease such as “ague” (malaria) and cholera spread and carried off many. Napoleon’s first cemetery was located in the vicinity of 500 East Clinton Street, near the route of the canal.
, OH
Two Deputy U.S. General Land Office Surveyors traversed Goll Woods: Benjamin Hough in 1815 and Captain James Riley in 1821. Hough (1772-1819) established the Michigan Meridian in 1815 and was county and state office holder in Ohio. Riley’s life was more tumultuous. Riley (1777-1840) captained the merchant ship Commerce, which wrecked off the Saharan coast in 1815. Riley and crew were enslaved for four months until ransomed by British diplomat William Willshire. In 1817, Riley published a famous account of his time in North Africa, and, in 1819, was appointed a surveyor by Surveyor General Edward Tiffin. Moving to Northwest Ohio, Riley named the village he founded in 1822, Willshire, for his deliverer. Riley returned to New York in 1826 and to the sea, where he died. Riley’s book went through more than twenty editions by 1860 and Abraham Lincoln credited the account as one that influenced him deeply.
, OH
Construction of Waverly’s third church, built with locally produced brick, began in 1859 and was completed in 1860. The original deed, recorded on October 31, 1859, listed the value of the lot as $180. With the merger of the Evangelical Synod of North America with the Reformed Church in 1934, the name changed to Evangelical and Reformed Church. A merger in 1957 with the Congregational Christian Church changed the name to First United Church of Christ. In 1987 it became known as Waverly United Church of Christ, until its dissolution in 1992, when the building was given to Pike Heritage Foundation Museum. Original records and services were in German. In 1890 some English was introduced in services, and by the early 1900s was used on alternate Sundays. The church was remodeled and enlarged in 1869, but retains much of its original appearance. An annex was added to the church in 1959.
, OH
The pioneer village of Vistula is now bounded by Walnut, Champlain, Chestnut, Magnolia, and Summit streets. Established in 1833 by Benjamin F. Stickney and Edward Bissell, Vistula was merged with its rival, Port Lawrence, and in 1837 both villages were incorporated as Toledo. The Vistula Historic District, Toledo’s oldest neighborhood, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
, OH
Bridenbaugh District No. 3 School. One-room schools were commonly named for people who furnished land for the building. Michael Bridenbaugh (1820-1895), who settled in Riley Township in 1835, and wife Jemima (1834-1903) sold a half-acre of land to the Riley Township school board in 1873. The first school on the site was a wooden structure, built in 1878. It was replaced by a brick building in 1889. The school operated until 1927, after which the district was consolidated. Students attended classes in nearby Pandora. (Continued on the other side)
, OH
William McKinley served the nation as president, the people of Ohio as governor, and the citizens of his congressional district as a representative. McKinley was shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901 and died several days later. The McKinley National Memorial, funded by children’s donations, was dedicated in 1907. It is the burial site of the 25th President, First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley, and two daughters. Designed by architect Harold Van Buren Magonigle, the pink Milford granite structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
, OH
The first home of the oldest Episcopal parish in the Connecticut Western Reserve, the St. James Episcopal Church was built between 1827 and 1828. Philander Chase, first Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, consecrated it in 1829. The belfry and steeple were added in 1881. It was moved to this site from its original Market Street location in 1972 after the parish built a new church. Renamed the St. James Meeting House, it is the anchor of a community of historic buildings that includes the Beardsley-Walter-Diehm House (circa 1828), the Oswald Detchon House (circa 1840), and the Schiller-Chuey Summer Kitchen. The oldest known structure in Boardman, the St. James Meeting House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
614.297.2300
Contact Us
