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A Shaker village called Watervliet, Ohio, was located here from 1806-1900. The Shakers, originally called the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, were followers of Mother Ann Lee who came from Manchester, England in 1774 and established the first Shaker community in Watervliet, New York. The tenets of the religion included communal living, celibacy, and public confession of sins. The frenzied dance movements, which were part of the worship of their sect, gave the members the name “Shakers.” Attracted by the great Kentucky revivals in the late 1700s and early 1800s, Eastern Shaker missionaries came west to find converts and establish communities. A discontented Presbyterian congregation in the Beaver Creek area called Beulah was the nucleus for the Watervliet Shaker community. (continued on other side)
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This is the gravesite of Robert Nesbitt, an immigrant from Convoy, Ireland who named Convoy, Ohio after his home town. In 2010, the Convoy Community Foundation, Convoy Lions Club, Convoy Business Association, and Convoy Community Days, Inc. raised the funds to restore Nesbitt’s tombstone. A representative from Convoy, Ireland – Ray Bonar – attended the rededication ceremony on July 4, 2010. The Van Wert County Historical Society took over the care of the grave site, which is in the Sugar Ridge Cemetery. The cemetery has been under the care of the Tully Township Trustees since its foundation.
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Desperately trying to protect their homeland, the Delaware Indian Nation who lived here in the Tuscarawas Valley, joined the French against the English during the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. After the French defeat, the Delawares, dissatisfied with the treaty terms, joined an Indian Confederacy to attack the English in early 1763. Known as Pontiac’s Rebellion, the uprising was lead by Ottawa chief Pontiac. In response, the English commander, General Jeffrey Amherst, ordered Colonel Henry Bouquet to mount a 1,500-man expedition to subdue the Confederacy in Ohio. The Army arrived at this location on October 13, 1764. The camp, known as Camp 14, was located in this valley between the two small streams on the side of the hill. Proceeding on to the Delaware town of modern-day Coshocton, Bouquet negotiated a surrender with the Delaware, Shawnee, and Wyandot who then relinquished over two hundred white prisoners.
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Bridenbaugh District No. 3 School. One-room schools were commonly named for people who furnished land for the building. Michael Bridenbaugh (1820-1895), who settled in Riley Township in 1835, and wife Jemima (1834-1903) sold a half-acre of land to the Riley Township school board in 1873. The first school on the site was a wooden structure, built in 1878. It was replaced by a brick building in 1889. The school operated until 1927, after which the district was consolidated. Students attended classes in nearby Pandora. (Continued on the other side)
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By the mid 1830s, Ohio had developed a canal system that linked Lake Erie in the north to the Ohio River in the south. Despite the success of the canals, transportation companies searched for other methods to traverse the state. They found their answer in the railroad industry, which proved to be much faster, cheaper, and more reliable than canals. Located on Lake Erie, Sandusky, Ohio was a major trading depot in the area. Plans were made to connect Sandusky to Cincinnati’s port on the Ohio River. On September 4, 1835, construction began in Sandusky on the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad line, forming the first railroad line located entirely in Ohio. The railroad reached Tiffin by 1841 and Springfield by 1848, where it merged with the Little Miami Railroad line, connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
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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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Opened in the fall of 1930, Universal Stadium became the home of the Portsmouth Spartans professional football team. Earlier that summer, the Spartans had just become a member of the National Football League (NFL). Led by a few local businessmen, the Portsmouth National Football League Corporation raised money to help build the permanent stadium for the Spartans. The stadium opened on September 14, 1930 as the Spartans defeated the Newark (New Jersey) Tornadoes for their first NFL victory. Ten days later the Spartans played one of the NFL’ s first night games against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Portsmouth Times said, “Night football has come to stay, at least in Portsmouth.” From 1930 to 1933, the Spartans compiled a record of 19 wins 2 losses and 4 ties at Universal Stadium. (continued on other side)
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Fowlers Mill (originally Fowler’s Mills) developed around a group of mills built in the 1830s on the Chagrin River. Opportunities from these mills led to Fowlers Mill becoming the commercial center of Munson Township. From the 1830s into the twentieth century, the community expanded with construction of churches, a post office, township hall, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, schools, and houses built in such styles as Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne. This type of community center was common in rural, nineteenth century America, but rarely survives with so much original fabric intact. On Mayfield Road, the Disciple Church was built in 1842. East of the church, the brick central school built in 1913 replaced earlier one-room schoolhouses. The gristmill is the only mill standing in Geauga County. The cemetery contains burials dating from the 1830s. The Fowler’s Mills Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
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