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Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth, renowned as “The Father of American Beekeeping,” lived in this simple two-story, eight-room house with his wife, Anne, and their three children from 1858 to 1887. Unchanged externally, the Greek Revival cottage features brick pilasters and pediments and a fan-shaped front window. In his garden workshop, Langstroth made experimental beehives, established an apiary, and on the ten acres that surrounded his home, grew buckwheat, clover, an apple orchard, and a “honey garden” of flowers. He imported Italian queen bees in efforts to improve native bees and shipped his queens to keepers across the United States and around the world. The Langstroth Cottage was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. (Continued from other side)
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James Abram Garfield, 20th President of the United States, was born here in 1831. His father died when he was two, but the family remained on the farm where James helped when he was not attending school. He continued to live here through his years as a driver and bowsman on the canal and as a student at Geauga Seminary and Hiram Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College). He left here in 1859 when he was elected to the Ohio Senate.
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On January 31, 1798, Joseph Howland bought Township 4-Range 3 (Howland Twp.) for $12, 903.23 and an equalizing portion of Township 1-Range 10 (Springfield Twp.) as part of a lottery held to distribute Connecticut’s Western Reserve lands. On February 26, 1803, Dr. John Seely bought 85 acres of the Howland Township acreage that included a mineral springs and developed it into a health spa for the treatment of “scrofulous & dyspeptic diseases”. The spa became the Township’s center for culture and recreation with future Presidents James A. Garfield and William McKinley reported as frequent Howland Springs visitors. In 1873, the Shedd brothers built a three-story hotel south of the springs with a dance hall, billiard room, and bowling alley. The hotel flourished until fire destroyed it on June 16, 1882; consequently recreational use of the springs diminished. Today, the sale of spring water throughout northeastern Ohio makes Howland Springs the oldest continuous business in Howland Township.
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Thomas Cemetery is the resting place for many of Concord Township’s and Miami County’s early settlers. The cemetery is maintained by Concord Township. This marker was placed here in Miami County’s and Concord Township’s Bicentennial Year, 2007.
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Elisha Morgan purchased 48.6 acres in Fairfield Township, part of the Symmes Purchase, in 1817. The Farm Mansion was built shortly after he settled the land. The house incorporates two prevalent architectural styles in southwest Ohio in the nineteenth century. The original front portion is an example of Federal style architecture while the 1858 rear addition represents the Greek Revival style. Built earlier than most farmsteads in the township, the Mansion is a rare example of an early farmhouse that has survived despite suburban development. The Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Smith’s Burying Ground was established in 1814 when John Smith (born 1742), Revolutionary War Veteran, died and was buried here. John Smith and four of his sons and their families made the six week, six-hundred-mile journey from New Jersey with ox teams the previous year. John Clouse (1758-1822), Dutch immigrant and Revolutionary War veteran, is also buried here. (Continued on other side)
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This monument was dedicated on Memorial Day of 1913 to honor the Union soldiers of the Civil War from Jerome Township. Many citizens, school children, and Civil War veterans attended the dedication as Col. W.L. Curry, who fought at Chickamauga, spoke to the crowd. The zinc monument contains the names of 400 soldiers of the township. The shaft is just over 21 feet high. Placed inside was a time capsule containing a number of historical documents including 60 photographs of Civil War veterans. Donations from a grateful community and a bequest from R.L. Woodburn, a Civil War veteran and Ohio legislator funded the monument.
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Founded in 1807, Columbia was the first continuously inhabited settlement in Lorain County. Harmon, Levi and Azor Bronson, Calvin Hoadley, Jared Pritchard and others formed the Waterbury Land Company to buy the township from the Connecticut Land Company. In 1808, Sally Bronson named the township and became its first teacher. In 1809, the first church society was formed and Hoadley built a log gristmill beside the Rocky River. A militia company was organized in 1810 and a two-story blockhouse was constructed for protection during the War of 1812.