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Washington Court House was founded in 1810 by American Revolutionary War veterans from the state of Virginia. They also established Washington Cemetery in 1810 and located it in what was originally the southern part of the town. With the coming of the railroad, the cemetery’s size was reduced to what is now approximately half an acre of land containing one hundred and twelve headstones. One of the prominent people buried in the cemetery is Judge Wade Loofborough, known for his interest in the utopian socialist society called Fourierism. He purchased land in Clermont County to establish the society, but it failed. Loofborough eventually became a respected judge and lawyer in Fayette County. Other distinguished people buried here include veterans of the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
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John “Appleseed” Chapman (b. September 26, 1774—d. March 18, 1845) was the first lessee of this 160 acre tract (NW 1/4, S 20, T 20, R 16), when he secured it for 99 years from the Virginia Military District School Lands on April 10, 1815. This $320 lease complied with the Ordinance of 1785 which stipulated that proceeds from the sale or lease of a 36th of all new land in the Northwest Territory be used to support public education. Perrysville author, Rosella Rice, knew Appleseed. In a history of Ashland County, she wrote, “One of his nurseries is near us and I often go to the secluded spot on the quiet banks of the creek [Blackfork]…with sod never broken since the old man did it.” Attributed as Green Township’s first permanent settler, Abram Baughman’s original 160 acres (c. 1807) adjoined this property to the west.
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Fowlers Mill (originally Fowler’s Mills) developed around a group of mills built in the 1830s on the Chagrin River. Opportunities from these mills led to Fowlers Mill becoming the commercial center of Munson Township. From the 1830s into the twentieth century, the community expanded with construction of churches, a post office, township hall, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, schools, and houses built in such styles as Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne. This type of community center was common in rural, nineteenth century America, but rarely survives with so much original fabric intact. On Mayfield Road, the Disciple Church was built in 1842. East of the church, the brick central school built in 1913 replaced earlier one-room schoolhouses. The gristmill is the only mill standing in Geauga County. The cemetery contains burials dating from the 1830s. The Fowler’s Mills Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
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Founded 1887 by John Q. Roads on the Cincinnati & Eastern Railway (1881) and the Old West Union Road (1807). Incorporated 1911. Named after Franklin Seaman who donated land to the railroad for a station. Home of Will Rogers, “The Black King of the Air,” the only black hot air balloonist in the U.S. in the 1890’s. “Adopted hometown” of Daniel Homer Webster (1878-1943), poet, humorist and Dayton, Ohio, journalist.
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In 1817 the United States government signed a treaty with a number of Native American tribes in northern Ohio, including the Seneca Indians. The Fort Meigs or Maumee Rapids Treaty bound the Seneca tribe to cede all claims to land north of the Greenville Treaty line, and in return they received a 40,000 acre reservation at Lower Sandusky (Fremont) and a $500 annuity to be paid each year in perpetuity. The reservation’s boundary began 1.5 miles north of here and extended 6.5 miles to the south. The width of the reservation was 8 miles with the western boundary at the Sandusky River. Beginning in 1830, with a policy of Indian removal developed by the administration of Andrew Jackson, tribes east of the Mississippi River were pressured to move to reservations in the West. The Seneca Indians moved to northeast Oklahoma in 1831.
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Known as the Norwegian Count, Nils Louis Christian Kachelmacher was born in Oslo, Norway of wealthy parentage. He immigrated to the United States at age 21 and was responsible for industrial growth in the Hocking Valley and expansion of the town of Logan. As president of the Columbus and Hocking Coal & Iron Company, Kachelmacher pioneered oil fields and developed holdings in iron, natural gas, and coal. He also directed the construction of the Greendale Brick plant, once considered the world’s largest brick producer. He died in 1917, bequeathing 10 acres of land to be used solely as a public park. He also established a trust to create an institution “solely to research the cure, prevention, and relief of varicose veins.” He once said, “It is my belief that each person should endeavor to make the world a little better because he lived and worked in it.”
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Utopia was founded in 1844 by followers of French philosopher Charles Fourier (1772-1837). Fourierism, based on utopian socialism and the idea of equal sharing of investments in money and labor, reached peak popularity in the United States about 1824 until 1846. The experimental community of Utopia dissolved in 1846 due to lack of financial success and disenchantment with Fourierism. John O. Wattles, leader of a society of spiritualists, purchased the land and brought his followers to Utopia in 1847. The spiritualists, who sought secluded areas to practice their religion, built a two-story brick house on the shore of the Ohio River. A flash flood on December 13, 1847, killed most of Wattles’ people. The majority of the few survivors left the area. Thus, the idea of the perfect society, or utopia, died. Henry Jernegan of Amelia, laid out the present village in 1847.
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St. Boniface Catholic Church began in 1834 as a mission of several area churches and in 1836, the parish built its first church. In 1844 Bishop John Purcell commissioned Swiss born, Father Francis de Sales Brunner, a Missionary of the Precious Blood, to take pastoral charge of St. Boniface. Under the leadership of Father Brunner, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, established in Italy in 1815, and the Sisters of the Precious Blood, founded in Switzerland in 1834, began ministry here in New Riegel (Wolfscreek) in 1844. Over two hundred acres of land were purchased for the priests, brothers, and sisters. The Missionaries brought spiritual support, farm labor, and education to the German immigrants of New Riegel. The sisters began their ministry of prayer in the convent, Mary at the Crib, on December 22, 1844. (Continued on other side)
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