Remarkable Ohio

Results for: railroad-stations
Locust Street
Ripley

, OH

Charles Young in Ripley. Upon his death in 1922, Colonel Charles Young was the highest ranking African American officer in the United States Army. Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1864, Young moved to Ripley with his parents Gabriel and Arminta in the 1870s. He excelled academically, graduating with honors from Ripley High School in 1881 and accepted a teaching position in Ripley’s African American school thereafter. Encouraged by his father, a Civil War veteran, mentored by J. T. Whitman, superintendent of the school, and John P. Parker, entrepreneur and former Underground Railroad conductor, Young sought and accepted, in 1884, an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the third African American to graduate, in 1889, and the last to do so until Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. in 1936.

3007 Harding Highway E (OH 309)
Marion

, OH

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)

217 E. Liberty Street
Medina

, OH

In February 1819, seven individuals met in Isaac Barnes’ home to form a Congregational Church and entered into covenant. Reverend William Hanford of the Connecticut Missionary Society provided guidance and charged the new congregation to “walk worthy of their high vocation.” Prominent members led the way. In 1832, charter member Nira B. Northrup led the Wadsworth Presbytery in releasing Reverend John Shipherd from pastoral duties to help found what would become Oberlin College. Harrison Gray (H.G.) Blake was a committed abolitionist who, as a state senator, helped repeal the Ohio Black Laws and who was a principal “station master” on the Underground Railroad. (Continued on other side)

1835 Dueber Avenue SW
Canton

, OH

Born near Bremen, Germany, carriage builder Henry Timken (1831-1909) designed significant improvements in roller bearings–fundamental machine components that minimize friction between moving and stationary parts. His patented (1898) tapered roller bearings improved on standard ball bearings by controlling heavy side loads generated by steered axles, and thus became key components of modern vehicle design. Established in St. Louis in 1899, the Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company moved to Canton in 1901 and quickly became one of Ohio’s industrial leaders, manufacturing roller bearings for automotive, railroad and many industrial uses. In 1998, Henry Timken was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Corner of OH 213 and OH 152
Toronto

, OH

The General at Union Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee (circa 1907). Born in Knoxville in 1840 and reared at a farm in New Somerset, William Pittenger mustered into the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under a 90-day enlistment, in 1861. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and was the war correspondent for the Steubenville Herald. After reenlisting, he participated in the ill-fated Andrews Raid of 1862. While attempting to disrupt enemy supply lines, the raiders stole the Confederate locomotive “The General.” After being chased north, they were captured. (Continued on other side)

S-Bridge roadside park, immediately west of New Concord on US 40
New Concord

, OH

Fulfilling President George Washington’s desire to “open wide the gates of the West,” in 1796 Congress authorized the Zane brothers of Fort Henry (at present day Wheeling) to clear a path through the dense woods of Appalachian Ohio. Zane’s Trace cut through the forests of eleven counties, reaching the Ohio River at Aberdeen, across from Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky. The trail roughly follows the routes of U.S. 22 and 40 to Lancaster, S. R. 159 to Chillicothe, U.S. 50 to Bainbridge, and S. R. 41 to Aberdeen.

6998 S Main Street
Gnadenhutten

, OH

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.

Herrlinger Park, E West Street
Troy

, OH

During World War II, forty of Troy’s teenage girls, their mothers, and volunteers operated a free canteen service for troops on the platform of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station. The group began as a few neighborhood girls providing magazines to soldiers while trains were stopped. With support and donations from Miami County communities and six additional counties, thousands of food baskets and countless drinks were given to approximately 600,000 soldiers trackside. Books, games, cigarettes, and other sundries were made available to soldiers on their trips to and from Europe or the Pacific. The volunteers of the Junior Girls Canteen served every train and soldier that came through the station, whether it was in the dead of night or the coldest day of winter. Throughout World War II, many other canteens were created across the nation, including eleven other canteens in Ohio.