, OH
Orrville was founded in 1852 at the railroad crossing that would later serve the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago and the Columbus, Mount Vernon and Cleveland railroads. The town was named in honor of Judge Smith Orr, who was instrumental in bringing the railroad to Wayne County. Orr persuaded landowner Robert Taggart to partition ten acres into town lots. After buying out the land owned by fellow settlers Christian Horst, David Rudy, and Peter Perrine, Orr engaged Jesse Straughan to create the first plat map that centered the newly-formed town on the railroad crossing. Incorporated on May 9, 1864, Orrville prospered and attracted manufactories of all kinds. Orrville was the largest manufacturing town in Wayne County by 1873.
, OH
The most notable feature of Mantua Center is the “Village Green,” which harkens back to the New England heritage of Mantua Center’s early settlers. The Green sets upon land donated by Hezekiah Nooney Sr. and was important to both the social and commercial interests of the town. The businesses located here were a furniture and cabinet maker’s shop, harness shop, blacksmith shop, post office, tannery, ashery, dry goods store, and distillery. The Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Mantua Civic Center, stands at the southwest corner of the green. Eastlawn cemetery, with a burial that dates to 1816, sits along the south border. The cemetery serves as the final resting place for soldiers of several wars, including the American Revolution, as well as many other early citizens. In 1835 Horace Sizer constructed the stone wall around the cemetery adjacent to Mantua Center Road. [continued on other side]
, OH
Rossville was settled in April 1801 shortly after the U.S. Government initiated land sales west of the Great Miami River. Its original proprietors–John Sutherland, Henry Brown, Jacob Burnet, James Smith and William Ruffin–named the town in honor of Pennsylvania Senator James Ross (1762-1847), who favored Ohio statehood and advocated free navigation of inland rivers. These founders envisioned Rossville as a shipping port for the rapidly growing population of farmers settling west of the Great Miami. The most practical outlet for their products was by flatboat down the Great Miami, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. The town of Rossville was founded in 1804, the year after the Louisiana Purchase, which made the Mississippi River a United States possession. (Continued on other side)
, OH
The Burton Congregational Church was organized in 1808 and met in several nearby locations before this present building was erected in 1836 at a cost of $4,000. It was originally located within the park directly opposite where it stands today, but was moved to its present location in 1850. The steeple, rising 104 feet from the ground, crowned the roof in 1875. The church building was frequently used as a public hall and for many years was also used as the main hall for the Agricultural Fair, the forerunner of the Great Geauga County Fair. A former architect referred to the church as “Steamboat Gothic” because of its unusual appearance, but to its membership and friends it is just a beautiful place to worship God.
, OH
Platted in 1802 by John Zane and William Chapline along the old Wheeling Road, Morristown was named for Duncan Morrison, an early settler, innkeeper, and Justice of the Peace. Older than the state itself, Morristown prospered into the mid-1800s, nurtured by trade along the National Road, the first federally funded highway project in the United States. The National Road was a major overland route to the West in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Federal style brick and frame structures that remain standing today replaced the original log cabins that first made up the town. Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, Morristown is a well-preserved example of a National Road town.
, OH
The Rev. Jacob Ward founded the Brunswick Methodist Episcopal Church in April 1817 with 13 members: Rhoda Stow, John and Lucy Stearns, John and Hannah Hulet, Samuel and Sarah Tillotson, Thomas and Phoebe Stearns, Solomon and Polly Harvey, Lydia Crittenden, and Olivia Ashley. In 1830, John and Lucy Stearns donated land for a cemetery, which included space for a church. A new church was completed in 1872. Bricks used for the building were fired locally and the first windows were glazed with clear glass and protected by shutters. In 1916, the church was extensively remodeled and redecorated. Stained glass replaced the clear glass, the church bell was relocated to the newly-added tower, and the main entrance was moved from the center of the building to the vestibule in the tower. (Continued on other side)
, OH
First a farming community, later a railroad crossroads in southern Hancock County, Arlington was one of the county’s earliest settlements. Gen. William Hull opened a trail into the area during the War of 1812 as he crossed Buck Run at Eagle Creek. He led his army to the Blanchard River to establish Ft. Findlay. Robert Hurd owned extensive tracts of land in the area, and his sons were the first recorded settlers, building a log cabin near this site in 1834. The rich farmland and abundant water soon attracted other settlers to the vicinity of “Hurdtown.” The name was changed to “Arlington” when the village was formally surveyed in November, 1844.
, OH
In 1805, for $1.50 an acre, Jacob Miller purchased this property in the Congressional Land Office in Chillicothe, capital of the new state of Ohio. He and Somerset co-founder John Finck then each built a tavern on either side of town along the Zane’s Trace, laid out along existing Indian trails in 1796-1797 and Ohio’s first major thoroughfare. Finck built his home and tavern in 1807 and Miller his shortly after. From 1800 to 1815, Zane’s Trace saw significant traffic between the established eastern states and the newly opened Northwest Territory. A perpetual stream of emigrants rolled westward, giving constant occupation to hundreds of tavern-keepers. Besides operating his tavern and farming, Jacob Miller was a public servant. In 1809, he was appointed Overseer of the Poor as there was a need to “bind out” poor children to families who could take care of them. [continued on other side]
614.297.2300
Contact Us
