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Fostoria’s glass era began when natural gas was discovered in the mid 1880s at “Godsend,” five miles west of town. Aided by former governor Charles Foster, Fostoria attracted more than a dozen companies that manufactured utilitarian and decorative glassware from 1887 to 1920. These companies produced windows, bottles, tableware, lamps, shades, and electric incandescent lamps. The Fostoria Glass Company was the best-known manufacturer of glass in Fostoria. From 1887 to 1891, it made a wide variety of decorative glass including its famous “Victoria” pattern tableware. Even after the company relocated to Moundsville, West Virginia following the depletion of natural gas in the area, it retained the name “Fostoria, ” which is still synonymous with excellence in the glass-making art.
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Across the road was the site of Camp Circleville, where members of the 90th and 114th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.) were mustered into service during the Civil War. Pickaway Township farmer Jacob Ludwig donated the land for the camp, which was then approximately two miles south of the Circleville at the southwest corner of Kingston Pike and the Circleville-Tarlton Road. The 90th O.V.I was mustered into service on August 29, 1862 to serve for three years. The unit saw action during some of the war’s well-known western battles, including those at Perryville, Kentucky in October 1862; Stones River, Tennesee on December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863, and Chickamauga, Georgia in September 1863. Later, the 90th joined in General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia in the spring and summer of 1864 and later that year was part of the Union force that fought in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennesee. At war’s end, the unit was mustered out of service at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati in June 1865. During the regiment’s service, five officers and 247 enlisted men were killed, mortally wounded, or died from disease.
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Evansport is named after brothers Amos and Albert G. Evans who, with Jacob Coy, had the village surveyed next to the Tiffin River on December 14, 1835. The “port” suffix in Evansport’s name reflects the river’s significance as a transportation thoroughfare. Evansport’s early growth was spurred by its mills powered by the Tiffin River. The mills provided settlers with lumber for buildings and supplied flour and cornmeal for sustenance and commerce. Settlers who poured into Williams County’s northern townships in the 1830s agitated debate about moving the county seat to a more centralized location. Evansport was platted as a possible site for the county seat. The Williams County seat was moved to Bryan in 1840 and in 1845 Defiance County was created, leaving Evansport on the Williams-Defiance county line.
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Was born on this site Nov. 20, 1884. He graduated from Marion High School in 1901, Princeton University in 1905, and from Union Theological Seminary. Thomas, a clergyman, and the son of Marion’s Presbyterian minister, was a tireless worker for social security, civil rights, and human justice. Six time Socialist Party presidential candidate, he was a leader in the effort toward disarmament and world peace. He died Dec. 19, 1968, in Huntington, N.Y.
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A founder of the Standard Oil Company, Henry Morrison Flagler spent his formative years in Bellevue and began his business career here in 1844, building his home near this site in 1858. He first became associated with John D. Rockefeller as a fellow grain merchant. The two later formed the Standard Oil Company in 1870 with capital partially furnished by members of the local Harkness family. Standard Oil became America’s largest and most powerful corporation in the late 1800s, and Flagler used his wealth to develop the state of Florida. His Florida East Coast Railroad, known as “the railroad over the sea,” extended from Jacksonville to Key West, Florida. The cities of Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and St. Augustine grew with Flagler’s intensive development efforts.
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Hancock County was organized March, 1828, court being held in a log schoolhouse. In 1833, a frame courthouse was built. It served until 1840, when a brick structure went up on this site. During the oil and gas boom of the 1880’s, the present courthouse was erected at a cost of $305,272, and dedicated Oct. 27, 1888.
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On this site in October of 1870 met a group of enlightened individuals dedicated to the reformation and improvement of penal systems. This first Congress of the National Prison Association, now known as the American Correctional Association, adopted a far-sighted philosophy of corrections. This philosophy, embodied in its Declaration of Principles, remains today as the basic guide for modern correctional systems.
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The Ewington Citizens’ Literary Institute purchased this site and sponsored the construction of Ewington Academy which opened in 1859. The building, designed by George Ewing, was financed by popular subscription with much labor and materials donated. It provided high school level education to approximately 60 students each year. It ceased operation as an academy in 1901 and then served as an elementary school until about 1947. Ewington Academy was listed on the National Register of Historic Places September, 1982.