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Marion civic leaders Shauck Elah Barlow and Ida Harsh Barlow built “Waldheim,” their Colonial Revival residence, between 1903-1905. Ida Barlow, then president of the Marion Women’s Club, hosted a December 1905 meeting in her new home. Members discussed art, music, literature, and ideas for “civic improvement.” In 1909, this and other Marion clubs reorganized as the Marion County Federation of Women’s Clubs. Federation members soon organized into action: providing college loans to young women; sponsoring visiting city and later school nurses; purchasing trash receptacles; providing dental clinics for low-income residents; and funding railroad crossing safety equipment. Upon her death in 1945, Barlow bequeathed her house to the Federation as the “Women’s Club Home.” The new Federation headquarters offered meeting space for the Executive Board and the many associated clubs. (Continued on other side)
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St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1838 by German Lutheran immigrants, primarily from Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt, who located in this vicinity in the 1830s. The congregation, called Neudettelsau, erected a second log church in 1843 centrally located in the “German Settlement”. A congregational split in 1846 resulted in the conservative members building a separate brick church a half mile away. This church in 1847 became one of the 12 charter members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Growing membership required a larger brick church built on this site in 1860. In 1878 the two St. John’s congregations in the settlement reunited.
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Built circa 1840 by Henry Barnhisel Jr. in the Greek Revival architectural style, the Barnhisel home is one of the oldest remaining structures in Girard. Henry and Eve Anna Barnhisel purchased the land where the house stands in 1813 when they acquired 318 acres in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The couple moved onto the land with their eleven children, and the family lived among a large group of Pennsylvania Germans who settled in Liberty Township. Their son, Henry Jr., took over the farm after his father’s death in 1824. In 1833 he married Susan Townsend. Henry contributed to his community by playing a key role in the building of both the Methodist Church and the first brick school in Girard and Liberty Township. He fathered five daughters, some of whom married into other leading families of the Mahoning Valley, including William Tod, son of the governor. Two granddaughters married into the Wicks and Stambaughs.
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Some of the main Ohio Underground Railroad lines that fugitive slaves used on their way from the Ohio River toward Canada and freedom followed the Muskingum River. These lines, however, were not easy. Under the 1793 and 1850 fugitive slave laws, runaway slaves could be captured and returned to their owners. Therefore fugitives traveling this route were led by “railroad conductors” in a zig-zag pattern to elude the bounty hunters. And because it was so dangerous and difficult many of the early runaways were young men. Conductors hid slaves in caves, barns, and secret places at or near the Underground Railroad. And many people helped their friends and neighbors involved in these activities. Various routes connected the Muskingum River from Belpre on what is today State Route 339 to Waterford and Little Hocking via State Route 555 to Putnam in Muskingum County.
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The Village of Adamsville commemorates life in this area as it was during the early to mid-19th century. The original Adamsville settlement was located on the banks of Raccoon Creek, roughly one-half mile east of this site. Adam Rickabaugh (1761-1836), a veteran of the Revolutionary War from Virginia, brought his family to this valley around 1804. His patent for land along the creek was signed by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison. Soon after his arrival, Rickabaugh built a grist mill, which became a meeting place for the growing community. In 1805, Nehemiah Wood, one of the earliest settlers in Gallia County, bought the mill from Rickabaugh, later adding a sawmill and a fulling mill for cleaning and thickening woolen cloth. (Continued on other side)
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The Village of Genoa and Clay Township agreed to construct a joint township and village hall in Genoa in 1884. The firm Findley & Shively of Fremont designed the hall in the High Victorian Gothic architectural style and Woodville’s Fred Sandwisch was contracted to build the hall for $8,860. In 1890, the Sandusky Register declared that Genoa could “boast of having one of the finest town halls of any village of its size in Ohio.” As a seat of government and an auditorium (“opera house”), the hall hosted village and township meetings, Memorial Day services, school graduations, community events, and theatrical productions. The hall also had a jail and served as a municipal garage. By early 1970s, the auditorium had been condemned and the future of the structure was uncertain. (Continued on other side)
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In 1809-1811, Magdalene Strader Borror, widow of Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Borror Jr., moved to this area from Virginia with her seven children (Martin, Jacob, Myomi, Solomon, Christine, Issac, and Absalom). Originally clearing and settling 400 acres of land given to Magdalene by her father, Christopher Strader, the family eventually prospered throughout the entire township. After her death in 1838, Magdalene was buried in nearby Scioto Cemetery, the resting place of more than seventy of her descendants.
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The Marysville Ohio National Guard Armory was the first such armory constructed in the state after the recognition of the Guard in 1909. The new armory and others like it were built in response to federalization of National Guard units after the passage of the Militia Act of 1903. Armory buildings served as the headquarters for local companies and provided drill rooms and arsenals for the storage of military equipment and supplies. Architect Charles Insco Williams designed Marysville’s armory and it was built by James Laughlin, both of Dayton, Ohio. Marysville contractor George W. Fox provided the brickwork for the structure. Construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1911 at a cost of $19,886. (Continued on other side)