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John Young included a public square in his town plan of 1798. A one-room log schoolhouse opened in 1803. In the decades that followed, the Market and Federal Street intersection became the social center of Youngstown with wood-frame houses, churches, and an opera house surrounding the square. Horse-drawn streetcars, running from Brier Hill through the square, became the first form of public transportation in 1875. From 1869 to 1969 the nationally known Tod Hotel dominated the southeast corner of the square. Guests included seven U.S. presidents. Federal Street was paved in 1882, and electric street lights were installed in 1886. The “Diamond,” as the square was sometimes called, became the transportation hub of the city, especially after the Market Street Bridge opened in 1899. Marker for “Central Square (1900-2004)” across the street.
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First Baptist Church of Dayton organized on May 29, 1824. A council met on the porch of William Huffman’s home at Third and Jefferson and approved 9 members as a congregation. The next day Lydia Huffman was baptized in the Great Miami River, the first recorded Baptist immersion in the city. Their first church building was erected in 1827 on Main Street. In 1829 the congregation suffered a Campbellite schism. Those resolved to remain Baptist incorporated on February 25, 1837, as The First Regular Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio. The foundations for the Monument Avenue building were begun prior to the 1913 Dayton flood and the cornerstone was laid May 31, 1914. The building was completed, furnished, and ready for worship on June 26, 1915. (Continued on other side)
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Mesopotamia Village District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 1974. Many consider it to be “the most unspoiled nineteenth century central green type of village in northeastern Ohio.” The district includes houses, commercial buildings, a town hall, churches, and a cemetery. Surrounding the 1600-foot-long public green these structures represent Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, Italianate, and vernacular architectural styles constructed between 1820 and 1902. One of the oldest buildings in the district is the colonnaded Greek Revival commercial building at the southwest end of the green. Built in the 1820s for early resident Isaac Clark, it was operated as a store by F.C. Peck. Over the ensuing centuries it has served as a barber shop, post office, and an undertakers. (Continued on other side)
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The Village of Poland officially incorporated in August 1866, a year after the end of the Civil War. In April 1867, the citizens elected John Leslie as mayor. As of 1880, Poland’s population exceeded 400. Through its history, the village has consisted of a four-acre village green, churches, schools, hotels, a sawmill, gristmill, post office, tannery, and foundry, as well as carriage, tin, and cabinet shops; drug, dry goods, and hardware stores, and doctors, blacksmiths, and shoemakers. Residents swam in and skated on Yellow Creek. The Poland Municipal Forest was established in 1938 and annexed later as the Village continued to grow. In 1966, the residents held a three day Centennial Celebration, featuring an address by Governor James Rhodes. The centennial year also saw the publication of a history of Poland and the restoration of Centennial Gardens.
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Founded in 1842, Salem Lutheran Church is Toledo’s first and oldest Lutheran congregation. Located in Toledo’s oldest neighborhood, Vistula, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the church was originally composed of German immigrants and incorporated as “Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Congregation” under the guidance of Reverend George Cronenwett. The first sanctuary was erected in 1844. Ten years later, a Lutheran constitution was accepted and the name “Salem” was chosen. The current church structure was built in 1871at a total cost of $12,000. Major renovations occurred in 1889, 1916, and the mid 1960s. A Wicks pipe organ was installed in 1967. (continued on other side)
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Born in Richmond, Virginia, Powhatan Beaty moved to Cincinnati in 1849, where he spent the majority of his life. Beaty enlisted as a private in the Union Army in June 1863, and two days later was promoted to first sergeant, Company G, 5th United States Colored Troops (USCT). All the officers of Company G were killed or wounded during an attack on Confederate forces at New Market Heights, Virginia, in September 1864. Beaty took command of his company, and for his valor received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Beaty was one of two African-Americans buried in Ohio to receive the Medal of Honor for service in the Civil War. He died on December 6, 1916, leaving two sons, attorney and state representative A. Lee Beaty and John W. Beaty. He is buried in Union Baptist Cemetery along with nearly 150 USCT veterans.
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On January 9, 1919, a group of eight men and three women, being led by the Holy Spirit, met at a house on Wallace Street to form a new black Missionary Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ohio. The group quickly raised $150 to make the down payment on a two-story brick building at 333 Chestnut Street being sold for $1,850. The building was occupied on March 25, 1919, and the name Pilgrim Baptist Church was suggested and accepted. On May 11, 1919, a special council requested admittance into the Western Union Baptist Association, a district association now affiliated with the Ohio Baptist General Convention. Requirements for admission were met and Pilgrim Baptist Church was recognized as a Missionary Baptist Church. In 2019, Pilgrim Baptist Church celebrated a centennial of faithfulness in Hamilton.
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George Washington Williams was born in 1849 in Bedford, Pennsylvania. At age 14, he enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War and received a medical discharge in 1868. In 1874, he became the first African American to graduate from the Newton Theological Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and shortly after married Sarah. A. Sterrett. He became pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Boston before moving to Washington, D.C. to serve as editor of a newspaper called The Commoner. He then moved to Cincinnati to become pastor of the Union Baptist Church and while there served as the first black member of the Ohio Legislature from 1879-1881. Williams went to the Belgian Congo in 1890 where he criticized King Leopold II in an Open Letter for his inhumane policies in the Congo. He died in 1891 in England.