Remarkable Ohio

Results for: american-revolution
1250 Kennard-KingsCreek Road
Urbana

, OH

The founders of what would become the Kings Creek Baptist Church first met on June 29, 1805 in the log home of local residents James and Ann Turner. The Baptist congregation continued to meet in people’s homes until 1816 when Taylortown founder John Taylor donated an acre of land to establish a burying site and a meetinghouse. Constructed of logs, this meetinghouse is considered to be the third Baptist church built in Ohio and the Northwest Territory. The original structure was replaced by a more substantial brick building in 1832, and the present Kings Creek Baptist Church was built on the original foundation in 1849. The church features classic Greek design and a grand steeple inspired by the work of the English architect Sir Christopher Wren. An educational wing was added in 1969. (continued on other side)

Near 10 S. Monument Avenue
Martins Ferry

, OH

Author, editor, and social critic William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was born in Martins Ferry, the son of an itinerant printer and publisher. Self-educated, Howells learned the printer’s craft early and took up journalism, rising to city editor of the Ohio State Journal (Columbus) in 1858. From 1871 to 1881, he was editor of the Atlantic Monthly magazine, a position of enormous influence in American literary tastes. Howells championed the work of Emily Dickenson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Stephen Crane, as well as several others. A prolific writer himself, he published over one hundred works. Howells is best known for his realistic fiction, including A Modern Instance (1882) and The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885). Many of his novels reflect his Ohio roots.

Historic Log Cabin, S Monument Street
Hamilton

, OH

Author William Dean Howells (1837-1920) spent his boyhood from 1840 to 1848 in Hamilton. Called the “Dean of American Letters,” Howells wrote 35 novels, 35 plays, 34 miscellaneous books, 6 books of literary criticism, 4 books of poetry, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. He shaped the destiny of fellow writers by editing their works for Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s. His autobiography entitled A Boy’s Town fondly recalls growing up in Hamilton. Throughout life, he broke in news pens by writing, “W. D. Howells, Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio.”

Huron

, OH

Huron and Erie County are rich in Native American history. During the construction of the nearby Ohio Route 2 bypass, archeologists in 1976-77 uncovered three Native villages and burial sites. The Anderson site, overlooking the Old Woman Creek estuary, contains artifacts dating to the fifteenth century A.D. The site was once a permanent village, with remains of bowls, fire pits, and even traces of food found among its artifacts. The Jenkins site, also near the estuary, was a winter camp for Indians. Excavators there found several pieces of pottery carbon-dated to 1470 A.D. The final dig, the Enderle site — located west of the Huron River — was strictly a burial site. The discovery of European objects in its graves suggests its creation by a more recent people, such as the Delaware or Wyandot Indians. In 1805, Native Americans in the Firelands signed a land cession treaty at Fort Industry (modern Toledo), and in succeeding years were compelled to leave the region.

2500 Ohio Ave
Gallipolis

, OH

At this location, during the American Civil War (1861-1865), a U.S. Army General Hospital was constructed on 29 acres of land overlooking Camp Carrington, a site used to recruit and train soldiers for the Union Army. Built in the spring of 1862, this hospital consisted of several wooden, ridge-ventilated buildings in which both Union and Confederate soldiers were treated for combat wounds and illnesses. Captain C.M. Moulton, U.S. Quartermaster at Gallipolis, upon instructions from Headquarters of the Union Army’s Mountain Department, contracted for the first building to be constructed in April 1862. (continued on other side)

14588 W Park Street
Burton

, OH

This Queen Anne style building with segmental-arched windows and steep hipped roof was Burton’s second high school. Completed in 1885 at a cost of $12,500, it is wood framed with a brick and stone exterior, modeled after an academy in River Falls, Wisconsin. Its basement and two upper floors contained 12,720 square feet of space, enough for all twelve grades. There were two separate entrances; girls entered on the left and boys on the right. Electricity was installed in 1921 by the superintendent and students. Classes met here until 1936. During its history, the building housed various organizations, including the Red Cross, Opportunity School of Geauga County (later Metzenbaum), Geauga County Historical Society, American Legion, and County Extension Office. In 1937, it became the home of the Burton Public Library and in 1983 was expanded with a north wing designed to be architecturally consistent with the original 1885 structure.

801 E. Pete Rose Way, Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point
Cincinnati

, OH

In 1749, the French in North America perceived a threat by British expansion west of the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River Valley and beyond. The French commander, Pierre Joseph Celeron, sieur de Blainville, with 250 men, left Montreal, New France, to establish French claims. They buried inscribed lead plates at the mouths of six important tributaries to the Ohio River. Three lead plates have been recovered, one was sent to England, and two are in American historical societies. The final plate was buried just west of here at the mouth of the Great Miami River, before the detachment turned north. However, after the British captured Montreal in 1760, French claims east of the Mississippi River were ceded to Britain by the 1793 Treaty of Paris. British Parliament annexed to Quebec (now Canada) and controlled all lands north of the Ohio River until 1776.(Continued on other side)

8 Highland Avenue
Chillicothe

, OH

This classic Gothic Revival home built in the early 1850s, was one of Ohio’s early wineries with terraced hillside vineyards overlooking the city of Chillicothe. From 1919 until his death in 1966, it served as the home and working studio of noted American craftsman, artist, and historian Dard Hunter. A major artistic contributor to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early twentieth century, Hunter gained international recognition when in 1916 he became the first individual in the history of printing to produce all aspects of a book by hand. Eight of the twenty books he wrote on the history of paper were printed at this site. Hunter is regarded as the world’s leading authority on the history of paper and his artistic achievements have had an enduring impact on American Graphic Arts.