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Luke Chute is the site of an early mill that harnessed river power. About 1815, Luke Emerson and Samuel White built a dam part way across the river. This created a rapid between the shore and the end of the dam, the chute. Here they constructed a mill to grind grain. The system of locks and dams built on the river from 1836 to 1841 not only made the Muskingum River navigable by steamboats, but also harnessed the power of the river. After 1841, at least one mill was located at most of the dams. Water power encouraged industry in the Muskingum Valley.
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In 1966 the New York Central Railroad Company (A.E. Perlman, President) proposed a test of existing rail passenger equipment to determine the feasibility of operating high-speed passenger service between cities up to 300 miles apart. The site chosen for the test was near Bryan, Ohio on the longest multiple track straight railroad line in the world. This sixty-seven mile straight trackage from Toledo, Ohio to Butler, Indiana was originally constructed by the Northern Indiana Railroad Company of Ohio incorporated March 3, 1851. On July 23, 1966 the New York Central Technical Research Department ran their Budd RDC-3 passenger car number M-497 fully instrumented for stress analysis, and propelled by two roof-mounted jet aircraft engines. The speed of 183.85 miles per hour was attained, the highest recorded on a railroad in North America at that time and to this day.
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At the mouth of the Black River in April, 1787, Moravian missionary David Zeisberger attempted a settlement of Indians but was ordered further west by unfriendly Delaware Indians. On July 16, 1834, a plat of this site was filed by Conrad Reid, Daniel Baldwin, Quartus Gillmore and Barna Meeker. The town, Black River, was incorporated as Lorain fifty years later.
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Massie’s Station, built in 1791, was the fourth permanent settlement center in Ohio and the last stockade settlement built in Ohio. It provided protection from the Indians for Manchester’s settlers until 1794. Manchester was the first settlement in the Virginia Military District and the site of the first court held in Adams County, September, 1797.
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Colonel Ebenezer Zane, one of the founders of Wheeling, laid out the village that became Bridgeport in 1806 on the site of Fort Kirkwood (1789). Originally named Canton, it acquired its present name after the bridge to Wheeling Island was built. The arrival of the National Road in 1818 made the growing town a major portal into the state of Ohio for westbound emigrants, adding to its importance as a port for Ohio River traffic. With the advent of railroads and, later, transcontinental highways, Bridgeport continues to serve as Ohio’s “Gateway to the West.”
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On this site, the Miami and Erie Canal, that came north from Cincinnati and the Ohio River, intersected with the Wabash and Erie Canal that came from Fort Wayne and Evansville, Indiana. From this point, which became the town of Junction, the canals proceeded as one to Defiance, Toledo, and Lake Erie. From the 1830s to the 1870s, the canals played a key role in the settling of Paulding County, an area that was once a part of the Great Black Swamp. They held the promise of easier and quicker passenger transportation and commodity shipping and Junction became a landmark for fugitive slaves escaping to Canada. Once a thriving and growing community, the village of Junction became a forgotten historical note with the passing of the canal era and the coming of the railroads. Today, the Buckeye Trail and North County Trail follow the canal path through Paulding County.
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In an effort to improve the marksmanship of Ohio soldiers, Adjutant General Ammon B. Critchfield established Camp Perry, an Ohio National Guard Military Training site on the shore of Lake Erie in 1906. Camp Perry was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who defeated British forces in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. This particular location was ideal for shooting ranges because varying-length ranges were able to share a common firing line, and shooting practice could take place on all ranges, without the added risk of stray bullets. (continued on other side)
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The famed master builder Jonathan Goldsmith designed and built this well-proportioned Federal style residence for Dr. John H. Mathews. It is considered to be one of the finest Goldsmith houses. The house was moved to its present location on the campus of Lake Erie College from the original North State Street site in 1949.