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In 1784, the state of Virginia ceded all of its Northwest Territory to the federal government except for this tract to satisfy the land bounties owed to its Revolutionary War soldiers. The Virginia Military District extended from the Scioto River in the east to the Little Miami River in the west, and from the Ohio River on the south to the town of Kenton in the north. The District contained over 4 million acres of land. Nathaniel Massie founded Manchester, which is the fourth oldest settlement in Ohio, as a base for his surveying operations. Manchester, sometimes called Massie’s Station, was founded in 1791, populated largely by settlers coming from Kentucky and Virginia.
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Following the establishment of the public land system in 1785, the Continental Congress appointed a committee, chaired by James Monroe, to establish government in the new territory north and west of the Ohio River. Drafted prior to the Constitution of the United States, the Ordinance of 1787 provided the mechanism by which prospective states would enter the Union on an equal basis with existing states. It also prohibited slavery in the new territory and pledged good faith in dealing with Native American tribes. According to this plan, the Northwest Territory became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota in due course.
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Local views on the Vietnam War mirrored national attitudes of pride and confusion. Piqua citizens participated in the “Letters for Life” campaign in 1970 for prisoners of war. Piqua Daily Call assistant news editor James W. DeWeese traveled to Paris in a frustrated attempt to deliver the letters to the Hanoi Peace delegation. The state activated the local Ohio National Guard unit in 1970 to help suppress anti-Vietnam student rioting in Columbus. The military conflict came home in 1966 when William Pitsenbarger became the first of eleven men from Piqua to die in Vietnam. In 1967, Piqua High School graduate Air Force Major William J. Baugh was shot down over North Vietnam and taken prisoner. He remained a P.O.W. until 1973.
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Constructed in 1873, the Bigelow Bridge spans approximately 100 feet across Little Darby Creek. Reuben Partridge built the superstructure at a cost of $12.50 per linear foot ($1,500). Bercupile & Snell built the masonry foundation at a cost of $7.00 per perch (a perch is approximately 25 cubic feet). Partridge built bridges throughout Union County and the surrounding area from 1866 until his death in 1900. The covered bridge is named for Eliphas Bigelow, an early resident of Union County, who built the nearby Bigelow House on the south side of Post Road (SR 161) in 1846. Union County Engineer employees rehabilitated the bridge from 1989 to 1991 by installing a new support system. The Partridge trusses currently carry only the weight of the original bridge. The rehabilitation project received the 1992 Engineered Timber Bridge Award from the National Forest Products Association.
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Early in 1942, during World War II, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired 640 acres along two miles of U. S. Route 30 South (now State Route 309) from ten landowners. By June 11 of that year, the farm families were removed and construction of The Marion Engineer Depot (MED) began, costing $4 million. The first military encampment in Marion County, the 333rd Engineering Regiment, arrived in May and established its camp in a wheat field. They lived in tents while constructing streets and railroad tracks around the Depot. MED was dedicated on December 7, 1942. During the war, food, munitions, equipment, and other military supplies flowed in and out of MED and heavy machinery was renovated. Peak employment came in July 1944 with 1,487 civilian and 47 military personnel on site. (Continued on other side)
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Southern Park Stables, at 126 Washington Boulevard in Boardman, was the private training stable of Attorney David Arrel and was built circa 1912 to house his standardbred horses racing at Southern Park Trotting Track one block south. The Stables is the last remaining structure of a large complex known as Southern Park, which included not only the racetrack and accompanying stables, grandstand, and outbuildings, but a dance hall, picnic pavilions, and baseball diamonds. The park was a favorite destination for Youngstown city residents wishing to relax in the country, and many company picnics were held here. Janie S. Jenkins has lived at Southern Park Stables since 1946 and deeded it and 8.33 acres to the Boardman Township Park District in 1993 with restrictions that it be forever preserved. The wrought iron gates at the driveway entrance were originally the main entrance gates for the racetrack.
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The Upper Trenton Lock (Lock 15 South) of the Ohio & Erie Canal was built between 1828 and 1829. Originally built of cut sandstone blocks, the lock was named for the Village of Trenton, now Tuscarawas. Lock 16, or Lower Trenton Lock, lies only 800 feet southwest of Lock 15. The lock tender, who lived in a house on this site, served both locks. Repeated flood damage prompted reconstruction of Lock 15 in 1907. The deteriorated stonemasonry was completely replaced with concrete at a cost of $6,815. The old stone was used to shore up the towpath. Use of the state-owned canal had declined significantly by this point, and the great flood of 1913 brought the canal era to an end in Ohio.
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Side A: Jane Payne, M.D. (1825-1882). Dr. Jane Payne’s family migrated from Bristol, England in 1825. Her father Henry served as an Episcopal priest in Ohio, finally settling in Mount Vernon. Although her sight was impaired and she was challenged by infirmities left by childhood diseases and injuries, Payne resolved to be a physician. She began her studies with Dr. John W. Russell (1804-1887) in Mount Vernon. In 1861, she graduated first in what was the ninth class of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Overcoming prejudices against female physicians, Dr. Payne practiced from 1861 to 1882. She showed special concern for municipal sanitation and care for the poor. Her office was located at northwest corner of South Main and West Gambier streets. Dr. Payne succumbed to cancer and is buried in Mound View Cemetery.
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