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Platted by educator and abolitionist Cyrus McNeely in 1849, Hopedale was the site of McNeely Normal School, later Hopedale Normal College, the first coeducational college for teachers in eastern Ohio. It operated from 1849 to 1902. Among its graduates was George Armstrong Custer in 1856. Hopedale served as an important stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves fleeing bondage in the southern states. Local tradition notes several “stations” in the village, three at private homes and one at a hotel.
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On September 8, 1803, the year that Ohio became a state, the Associate Judges of Franklin County ordered that a road be constructed “leading from the Public Square in Franklinton to Springfield, Greene County.” This road came to be known as The Old State Road or Ludlow’s Road. On this spot in the summer of 1822, the Village of New Hampton was laid out, the road being Main Street of the village. New Hampton was the forerunner of West Jefferson. It fell into oblivion eight to nine years later when West Jefferson was developed along the National Road. All that remains of New Hampton is the cemetery and this part of the road.
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His oratorical powers made him a master recruiter. His willingness to learn earned him important field commands. His talents for organization won him praise, distinction and the rank of major general at the Battle of Chickamauga. His gallant and meritorious military successes launched him into national politics and the presidency.
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Plunging herds of buffalo seeking salt licks and grazing lands wore trails through the Ohio Country when it was an Indian no-man’s land. Later, Indians found the same trails suitable for their needs. The tawny paths were highways as well as highest ways. Indians found ridges and summits superior to valleys for trails because they were drier, windswept of snow, never clogged by flood debris and safer.
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This area, known as Calmoutier, was an early French Catholic farming community founded in 1832 by Claude Druhot, who came from Calmoutier, Hte-Saône, France. Its first native, the four-month-old Claude Joseph Druhot, was baptized on 9 June 1833 by Fr. John Henni, who resided at St. John’s in Canton (and in 1854 became Milwaukee’s first bishop). In 1836 Fr. John Alleman, O.P., established St. Genevieve’s Mission (when it began to keep its own records) on land donated by the Pierson and Roussel families. The log chapel that was built (the first of four churches here) predated any Catholic church building in Cleveland, Akron, and Toledo.
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Morning Dawn was the first lodge to be chartered, on January 5, 1810, by the Grand Lodge of Ohio. Andrew Lewis was the first Worshipful Master. Meetings were originally held in J. B. Ferrard’s house on the north corner of Locust and Third Streets. In 1816 the lodge moved to the Gallia Academy building on the west corner of State and Second streets. [Masonic Emblem]
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Colonel William Simmons (1757-1823) served in the Continental Army under the command of General Washington. Appointed as Accountant of the War Department by Washington and served under Presidents Adams, Jefferson and Madison. For his services in the Continental Army, received a land grant in the northeast section of Jefferson Township in Coshocton County.
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The earliest highway signs along the National Road (Route 40) in Ohio were milestones located at one-mile intervals along the north side of the roadway. Each stone indicated the distance to Cumberland, Maryland, the eastern terminus of the National Road, and to the nearest cities and villages for both east and westbound travelers.