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A descendent of Knox County’s earliest pioneers, Confederate Brigadier General Daniel Harris Reynolds was born just three miles west of Centerburg in 1832. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, where he became a close friend of Otho Strahl, another Ohio born Confederate general. Reynolds taught school in Ohio before studying law in Iowa and then Tennessee. Admitted to the bar in 1858, Reynolds established a law practice in Chicot County Arkansas. An advocate of secession, Reynolds chose to serve the Confederate States of America in his adopted state of Arkansas at the start of the Civil War. Well respected in his community, he raised a company of cavalry known as the “Chicot Rangers.” (Continued on other side)
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Union Baptist Church, established in 1819, is one of Ohio’s early Black churches. Its pastor and members were active on the Underground Railroad from that early date. Between the 1840s-1860s Black churches along the route to and from nearby Poke Patch assisted over 200 escaped slaves. Members met in their homes until able to obtain a log cabin (circa 1879) on a Blackfork farm. In 1919, a larger church was built on land given by The Cambria Clay Products Company. The adjacent cemetery has over fifty veterans from the Civil, Spanish American, both World, Korean, and Vietnam wars. Donald Russell Long, laid to rest in 1966, received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. Union Baptist Church, the historic foundation of the Poke Patch-Blackfork community, celebrates an annual Church Anniversary to honor its legacy.
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This 4-acre plot, established ca. 1860 by John Gee, is a burial ground for local colored citizens. John Gee was a religious leader as well as a skilled carpenter who built houses in early Gallipolis. Some Gallipolis colored pioneers were artisans while others came to work in the homes of French settlers. Leah Stewart, the first legally-recorded colored person in Gallia County, arrived in 1803. In this cemetery are the graves of numerous soldiers who served in this country’s military forces. At least 57 United States veterans rest upon this sacred site.
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Edgerton was settled beside the St. Joseph River when the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad was completed in 1854. The village was incorporated on December 4, 1865, and named for Alfred P. Edgerton, who donated the land for the park. He was an agent for Hicks & Company, a land speculation business. The firm of Von Behren & Shaffer built the town hall and opera house in 1884 for $7,998. The building and park became a hub of local activity. The park’s bandstand showcased the Edgerton Village Band and citizens gathered for picnics and festivities. (Continued on other side)
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Sully Jaymes was an African American lawyer and tireless activist for equal rights in Springfield during the first half of the twentieth century. Born on March 30 sometime between 1875-1880, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1901. By 1903, he opened a Black-owned law practice at 17-1/2 Main Street in Springfield. Working primarily with the city’s Black residents, Jaymes offered his services free of charge if clients were unable to pay. He was a long-time member of North Street A.M.E. Church. Jaymes served on the first Board of Directors of the Center Street YMCA (a safe-haven for young Black people), on the Board of Trustees at Wilberforce University, and as a Grand Chancellor of Ohio for the Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias. (Continued on other side)
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In the first years of the twentieth century, Athens’ citizens formed a new National Guard company. The guardsmen initially held drill at the Campbell Block on Court Street, but soon the Athens Commercial Club began advocating for an armory from the Ohio National Guard. In 1912, the Armory Board approved the request. Plans were drawn up for the armory and the Guard purchased land from the Athens Brick Company at the foot of Shale Hill. Construction began in the spring of 1915 and the Armory opened in December. In March of 1917, the city held a dedication ceremony and parade. Before World War I, the Athens Armory housed Company L and the Machine Gun Company, both part of the 7th Infantry Regiment, Ohio National Guard. (Continued on other side)
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When inventor and entrepreneur Garrett Augustus Morgan sold his Traffic Signal patent to General Electric in 1923, he used the $40,000 to purchase a 121-acre farm in Huron County in 1924. Advertising “a village of our own,” Morgan established the Wakeman Country Club — one of Ohio’s early African American recreation clubs — and offered 247 lots for $60 each in “Wakeman Heights.” Located near the intersection of State Route 60 and Chenango Road, the development provided country pleasures to Blacks excluded from the Country Club lifestyle. Club membership, included in the purchase of a lot, offered fishing, hunting, swimming, and horseback riding. A restaurant, dance hall, and amphitheater provided cultural and boxing events. The club waned during World War II and no buildings from the once-thriving Wakeman Country Club remain.
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Dr. Charles Elmer Holzer came to Gallipolis in 1909, as a resident surgeon at the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics. Recognizing the need for a community hospital, he returned in May 1910, after completing his training. With a local loan, he opened a seven-bed hospital. In 1913, he furthered his training in surgery, closing the hospital temporarily to study in Europe. He returned to Gallipolis in 1914, married nurse Alma Vomholt and resumed his practice. In 1916, he began construction on the First Avenue Holzer Hospital, the first general hospital in southeast Ohio. In 1949, the Holzers gave the growing hospital to the citizens of the five county area, to be administered by the Holzer Hospital Foundation. After outgrowing its downtown location, Holzer Medical Center opened on Jackson Pike in 1972 with 269 beds. (continued on other side)
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