Remarkable Ohio

Results for: manufacturing-economic-growth
320 Portage Road
Aurora

, OH

The Randall Secondary rail line dates to the 1850s when the independent Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad (C&M) laid tracks through Aurora, Ohio. C&M, chartered in 1848, linked the Mahoning Valley coal and iron ore fields to the industries and lake port at Cleveland. For over a century, the Randall Secondary contributed to Aurora’s economic life ? fueling the region’s rapid growth during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In its heyday, the line was an important route for commuter transport and freight service along the 67 miles between Cleveland and Youngstown. Although passenger service into Aurora Train Station stopped in the 1960s, freight service continued into the 1990s. The last remaining track of the Randall Secondary in Aurora stands near the station it served.

648 Main Street
Groveport

, OH

Pioneers began to settle in the Groveport area around the year 1800. Subsequent growth was spurred by the opening of the Ohio Erie Canal, and, in 1847, the adjacent settlements of Rarey’s Port and Wert’s Grove merged to form the village of Groveport. The canal, which crossed Main Street immediately east of this marker, declined in importance as a commercial lifeline with the local arrival in 1868 of the faster and more flexible railroad system. By 1900, boat traffic on the canal ceased entirely. Traces of the canal bed are still visible throughout the area.

100 E. McKinley Street
South Lebanon

, OH

The Union Township Hall was a center of community life from the time of its construction around 1907. The hall included the offices of township government, a community hall, and club meeting rooms, a rarer combination in the 21st century. Local government and services occupied the first floor. The second floor “opera house” retains many original features, including the stage and stage backdrops. The hall hosted many types of entertainment, including church choirs and the Knights of Pythias Band. Leaving the township’s possession, the hall was used by various owners for a church, art studio, and bed and breakfast.(Continued on other side)

East Street, in Village Park
Rawson

, OH

The original town plat of Rawson was filed on February 3, 1855, consisting of fifty-five lots in sections 13 and 14 of Union Township, Hancock County on the Frederick Keller and George J. Kelly farms. Several residential and business structures were built in anticipation of completion of a railroad rumored to pass from Fremont through the “Rawson” area on its way to the western boundary of Ohio. Farmers Keller and Kelly named their village Rawson after L.Q. Rawson, President of the railroad company, hoping that the name would encourage him to build through their area. Financial troubles delayed construction causing a standstill in Rawson. Seventeen years later the first locomotive arrived in Rawson, spurring new construction. At that time the railroad was called the Lake Erie and Louisville; in 1879 it was changed to the Lake Erie and Western and in 1922 became part of the Nickel Plate Railroad. (Continued on other side)

791 Farmview Rd (located on OH 588 just off US Route 35)
Bidwell

, OH

Bob Evans was born on May 30, 1918 in Sugar Ridge, Ohio. He married Jewell Waters in 1940 and moved to Gallipolis, Ohio. In 1946 Bob took the first step in what would later become Bob Evans Farms, Inc., when he opened a 12-seat diner in Gallipolis. Bob, unsatisfied with the quality of the sausage he was able to purchase to serve in his diner, created his own recipe. Before long, Bob Evans was selling his sausage to grocery stores and meat markets.

S. Chillicothe Road
Aurora

, OH

The Chillicothe Turnpike stimulated the growth of Aurora Center, Aurora’s first commercial area. Established in 1802 by Benjamin Tappan, the road also precipitated the development of Kirtland, Chester, Russell and Bainbridge, provided access to landlocked properties, and linked distant towns from Lake Erie to Ohio’s first capital in Chillicothe. In Aurora, the Chillicothe Turnpike turned southwest towards Hudson and continued southward over the boundary of the Western Reserve.

325 East Iron Ave
Dover

, OH

Jeremiah Reeves was born in England in 1845 and began his career in the mills of Wales, United Kingdom, at the age of ten. In 1867, he immigrated to the United States where he worked in the steel mills of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He met his wife Jane Rees in the latter place and they married in 1869. In 1883, Reeves acquired a steel rolling mill in Dover for $14,000. Despite a history of financial difficulties, the Reeves Iron Works would go on to expand several times and employ over 800 men. The iron works and later the Reeves Manufacturing Company established Dover as an industrial center during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

509 Main Street
Genoa

, OH

The Village of Genoa and Clay Township agreed to construct a joint township and village hall in Genoa in 1884. The firm Findley & Shively of Fremont designed the hall in the High Victorian Gothic architectural style and Woodville’s Fred Sandwisch was contracted to build the hall for $8,860. In 1890, the Sandusky Register declared that Genoa could “boast of having one of the finest town halls of any village of its size in Ohio.” As a seat of government and an auditorium (“opera house”), the hall hosted village and township meetings, Memorial Day services, school graduations, community events, and theatrical productions. The hall also had a jail and served as a municipal garage. By early 1970s, the auditorium had been condemned and the future of the structure was uncertain. (Continued on other side)