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Mifflin was founded in 1816. Originally known as Petersburg, the name was changed in 1827 in honor of the settlers that moved here from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The first village jailhouse and crossroad watering trough are located here, on the grounds of the historic St. Michael Lutheran Church. Organized in 1835, the church built this house of worship in 1890. As early as 1810, stagecoaches traveled Mifflin’s main thoroughfare between Wooster and Mansfield, stopping at the watering trough, known for “the best spring water in Ohio”. In 1925, the trough was removed to allow room for the construction of the Lincoln Highway built in 1928. A Lincoln Highway “L” marker stands in the village today, in its original location, directing motorists eastbound.
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Nicknamed “Dutchtown” for the many German families that settled in this area, New Washington was platted in 1833 by George Washington Meyers, who arrived in Cranberry Township in 1826. Prominent Austrian romantic poet Nicholas Lenau (1802-1850), author of “Faust” and “Don Juan,” owned property here in the 1830s. The village incorporated in 1874, shortly following the arrival of the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Erie Railroad. New Washington is a pioneer in the commercial poultry hatchery industry and initiated the shipment of baby chicks by rail in 1900.
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The village was laid out on August 18, 1847, by Benjamin Todd, and consisted of 18 lots in Section 26 of Pleasant Township. Originally named Pleasantville, it was incorporated in 1858 and the name was changed in honor of Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb, famous for defending Plattsburgh, N.Y., during the War of 1812 and later Commander of the U.S. Army. William Chapman was the first mayor.
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James and Sophia Clemens’ lives are part of a story of tens of thousands of people of color who migrated north in search of land to farm and better lives during the first half of the 19th century. In 1818, James Clemens (1781-1870) purchased 387 acres in German Township, Darke County, Ohio. He and Sophia (Sellers) Clemens (1786-1875) were brought here by Adam Sellers (1742-1821) of Rockingham County, Virginia. In 1822, Thornton Alexander (1783-1851), emancipated by A. Sellers, purchased land in Randolph County, Indiana, about a half mile west of Clemens’ land. These purchases were the beginning of the Greenville Settlement on the Ohio-Indiana border. Other settlers of color followed, including the Bass family from North Carolina, in 1828. The 1830 census enumerated approximately 78 people of color in German Township Ohio and adjacent Green’s Fork Township, Indiana. (Continued on other side)
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The Friends Burying Grounds, once located here on Lot 17 in the Village of Damascus, is the oldest cemetery in Butler Township, Columbiana County. Expansion of the Friends Church necessitated the re-location of the Friends Burying Grounds. No markers were found to identify the graves of the 118 persons exhumed here. The exhumed remains were re-interred in the Damascus Cemetery on Valley Road, one block east of this location. The exhumation (2001-2002) was directed by Prof. Dr. John White of Youngstown State University, assisted by staff, students, and volunteers.
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The village of Chagrin, founded in 1798, changed its name in 1834 to honor Dr. Westel Willoughby, a pioneer medical educator. That same year, the Willoughby University of Lake Erie was chartered, and the Willoughby Medical College opened its doors, signaling the beginning of medical education in northern Ohio. The Medical College trained 160 doctors, educated in contemporary methods of medicine, anatomy, chemistry, and surgery. Financial struggles and public outcry against grave-robbing — which supplied cadavers for anatomy classes — hampered the college’s development. The movement of faculty to Cleveland and the transfer of the state charter to Columbus hastened the demise of the Medical College in 1847, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the medical schools of Case Western and Ohio State universities. (Continued on side two)
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William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States. Following McKinley’s assassination in 1901, the Village of Jackson dedicated this triangle of land as a park in his honor. Earlier in the nineteenth century, a small school had occupied the plot. In 1902, a local commission was appointed to oversee the development of a park. It was not, however, until 2012 that the Jackson Garden Lovers Club finished the commission’s long overdue work. The park was dedicated in 2013, 111 years after it began.
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Joshua Dixon selected this site in 1805 as the center for Columbiana. The first local post office, established at this museum location in 1809, pioneered free mail delivery in 1837. The museum, an early log home in the village, was moved here and restored in 1975 by community effort for use as a museum and Bicentennial headquarters. The annex was built in 1978.
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