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The Ohio and Erie Canal, built between 1825 and 1832, had a significant influence on Ohio’s economy. In the early 19th century Ohio was largely rural and dependent on subsistence agriculture as the primary business. The canal, which cost nearly $8,000,000 to construct, provided a transportation route from Cleveland on Lake Erie to Portsmouth on the Ohio River. Ohio farmers were encouraged to increase production and ship surplus produce to more profitable markets. Industry became more prominent as manufacturers produced building supplies for the canals and shipped products via the canal. As an internal improvement, the Ohio and Erie Canal expanded the economy, increased the population, and ended the feeling of isolation in Ohio. The canal continued south from here for about a mile until it met Water Street, now Emmitt Avenue, and ran along Water Street through Waverly.
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First Lady Lucy Ware Webb Hayes was born in this four-room Federal Vernacular house in 1831. Well educated for her time, she attended local schools, took classes in the preparatory department of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, and graduated from Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati in 1850. She married lawyer and future U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1852. They raised five children to adulthood. As a colonel’s wife during the Civil War, “Mother Lucy” boosted morale for the soldiers of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment. In 1870, during Hayes’ first term as governor of Ohio, Lucy helped establish the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home as a state institution. (continued on other side)
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This Little Red Schoolhouse served children from Berea, Brookpark, and Middleburg township. The first mayor and council of Middleburgh Heights were elected here. During its colorful history, the schoolhouse has been a City Hall where town meetings were held, a speak-easy, a railroad way station, and a private residence.
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Lock and Dam 10, completed in 1915, was part of a slack-water navigation system built for the Ohio River. The site included a brick powerhouse and two lockkeeper houses. The lock and dam was replaced when Pike Island Dam was completed in 1965. The buildings were demolished in 1975. Remnants include two sets of steps, a 600-foot ramp, the lock esplanade and wall, and a recess at the east end where the lock gate once retracted. The first part of this system was the Davis Island Dam near Pittsburgh, completed in 1885. By 1929, a nine-foot pool had been completed along the entire length of the Ohio, culminating with Lock and Dam 53 at Grand Chain, Illinois. Built by the Pittsburgh District of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, this system resulted in a more navigable Ohio River with increased depth and diminished current.
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The Ridgewood neighborhood, platted in 1914, was one of the first fully planned and restricted suburbs in the United States. Its innovative developer, Springfield native Harry S. Kissell, was among a small group of nationally-acclaimed real estate developers who, in the early twentieth century, created the modern suburb as we know it today. Their developments offered spacious lots in park-like settings; curvilinear, paved roads; utilities, and sewers. They also ushered in the practice of deed restrictions, which were both protective and exclusionary. Harry Kissell went on to become president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards in 1931. During his tenure, he conceived the idea for the Federal Home Loan Banking system, which, during the Great Depression, saved millioins of Americans from foreclosure and permanently opened up the possibility of home ownership to the middle class.
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Built in 1846, the Tremont House was opened by Loel and Samuel B. Chandler to serve stagecoach traffic on the Maumee Pike (U.S. Route 20). Briefly a hotel, this Bellevue landmark has housed grocery and hardware stores, a pharmacy, and even a cigar factory. The third floor ballroom hosted community events and fraternal organizations such as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). The building’s west side is on the western boundary of the Firelands region of the Connecticut Western Reserve. An example of Greek Revival architecture, the Tremont House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
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This site, at the head of the Great Rapids of the Maumee, has been a major river crossing for centuries. The village was platted in 1833 as Gilead but was overshadowed by rival Providence during the canal era. In 1868 the name Grand Rapids was adopted, and the town prospered with the arrival of the railroad in 1877. Fires ravished the village in the late 1890s and spring floods have remained a threat. Restoration of the Victorian architecture began in 1975 and has helped revitalize this village along the historic Maumee.
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Wyandot County’s third and current courthouse was constructed from 1899-1900. Designed by the firm of Yost & Packard, the architects of courthouses in Wood, Harrison, and other counties, the building is a wonderful example of Beaux-Arts Classicism. The third floor courtroom was featured in the 1994 motion picture “The Shawshank Redemption,” based on a Stephen King novella. Director-screenwriter Frank Darabont chose the courtroom for the opening scenes of the movie, which features Academy Award-winning actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Many courtroom “extras” were Wyandot County residents. A time capsule inside Lady Justice, atop the dome, contains a copy of the movie, commemorating ‘Shawshank’ enthusiasts who supported the statue’s 2009 restoration. A restoration of the building was completed in 2015. The courthouse and adjacent jail were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.