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Settled in 1833, Arcadia was one of the last permanent villages to be established in eastern Hancock County. Pioneers Ambrose, David, and Ephriam Peters laid out the farming village on the south edge of “Wild Cat Thicket.” They found the resident Wyandot Indians friendly and helpful. Arcadia was incorporated in 1859. Soon after, the Lake Erie & Western, and the New York Chicago & St. Louis railroads entered the village. (Continued on other side)
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The first Blaine Hill Bridge was constructed in 1828 as part of the National Road, the nation’s first federally funded highway. This three-arch S-shaped structure, 345 feet in length, spans Wheeling Creek (a tributary of the Ohio River) and is the longest original “S” bridge in existence on the old National Road. At a gradient of approximately 6.3 percent from east to west, it significantly eased, for the first time, the arduous 500-foot western climb out of the valley. Crumbling and in poor condition, it was saved from demolition in 1999 and in 2001 was designated Ohio’s official Bicentennial Bridge. Now tucked between the 1933 U.S. 40 viaduct and Interstate 70, it illustrates the earliest of Ohio’s three eras in national highway transportation.
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At 440 feet in length, the Lakeshore Park Main Pavilion, now known as the Ashtabula Township Park Lakefront Pavilion, is thought to be the longest and oldest lakefront pavilion in continuous use on the Great Lakes. Built in 1919, the pavilion, with its bandstand/gazebo in the middle, is of steel frame construction, and stood unchanged for the most part except for the swept wing design roof replacement. Extensive Civilian Conservation Corps improvements were made in the park near the pavilion during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Since its founding, people from all over northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia have chosen this site for family outings and company, union, and political gatherings.
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The Treaty of Greeneville created the Greeneville Treaty Line. It was the boundary between lands in the original possession of the Indians and those they ceded to the United States, which were south and east of the boundary. Major General “Mad” Anthony Wayne negotiated the treaty with the tribes his army defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. Leaders of 12 tribes, including Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, and Miamis, signed the Treaty of Greeneville on August 3, 1795 with General Wayne, William Henry Harrison, and other representatives of the United States. Treaties that followed Greeneville up to the Treaty with the Miamis in 1818 extinguished the various tribes’ original claims and created Indian reservations on the lands northwest of the Greeneville Treaty Line, making it obsolete. (Continued on other side)
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Major General William Sooy Smith was born in Tarlton on July 22, 1830. He attended Ohio University and supported himself throughout his college undergraduate career, graduating in 1849. He then entered the United States Military Academy at West Point to pursue engineering and graduated 6th in the class of 1853. In 1857, Smith established the private engineering firm Parkinson & Smith and made the first surveys for the international bridge across the Niagara River near Niagara Falls. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Smith joined the 13th Ohio Infantry, winning the commission of colonel in June 1861. After early victories in western Virginia, he was promoted to brigadier general in April 1862 for his gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Shilo. (continued on other side)
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Western Reserve agriculturalist Charles Clement Jennings built the Casement House, also known as the “Jennings Place,” for his daughter Frances Jennings Casement in 1870. Designed by Charles W. Heard, son-in-law and student of Western Reserve master builder Jonathan Goldsmith, it is an excellent example of the Italianate style, featuring ornate black walnut woodwork, elaborate ceiling frescoes, and an innovative ventilation system. It remained in the Casement family until 1953. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
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Ovid Wellford Smith, aged 16, enlisted in the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry as James Smith. He volunteered for the 1862 “Andrews’ Raid” mission to destroy Confederate supply lines. Enroute Smith became ill and was detained near Huntsville, Alabama, prior to the April 12 capture of “The General” locomotive at Big Shanty, Georgia. He escaped and made his way back to rejoin his Army unit. On July 6, 1864, Smith and 5 other raiders were awarded the Medal of Honor. He mustered out October 1864 at the rank of corporal, after participating in the Battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Missionary Ridge.
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In 1829 the citizens of Lenox voted to change the township name to Olmsted as their part of a bargain to acquire 500 books owned by the heirs of Aaron Olmsted. Believed to be the first public library in the Western Reserve, the books were brought from Hartford, Connecticut, by oxcart and were stored in settlers’ cabins. The remaining 125 volumes are now housed in the North Olmsted Public Library.
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