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This eight-sided house reflects a widespread pre-Civil War architectural fad. Promoted by phrenologist Orson S. Fowler in his 1848 book A Home for All as a way to “bring comfortable homes within the reach of the poorer classes,” the octagon made efficient use of interior space and natural ventilation. More than thirty octagonal houses are known to have been built in Ohio, and at least twenty-five survive. This example was built circa 1854 and purchased by cabinetmaker Amirus Darrow in 1864. The exterior walls are constructed of chestnut beams between layers of concrete. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
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Bellefontaine was a railroad town from the 1890s to the 1950s. The city was the site of one of the largest roundhouses and repair centers on the Big Four/New York Central Lines and trains stopped here to have steam engines serviced and to switch crews. Up to ninety freight trains and over forty passenger trains came to Bellefontaine each day. The railroad was a major employer in Logan County. Over two hundred employees worked at the roundhouse and shops at any one time and many others were members of train crews. Bellefontaine’s importance as a railroad center waned in the 1960s with the increased use of diesel engines, newer technology, and other modes of transportation. Yet, the railroad and its workers left an indelible mark on the history of Bellefontaine.
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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.
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Charles Young in Ripley. Upon his death in 1922, Colonel Charles Young was the highest ranking African American officer in the United States Army. Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1864, Young moved to Ripley with his parents Gabriel and Arminta in the 1870s. He excelled academically, graduating with honors from Ripley High School in 1881 and accepted a teaching position in Ripley’s African American school thereafter. Encouraged by his father, a Civil War veteran, mentored by J. T. Whitman, superintendent of the school, and John P. Parker, entrepreneur and former Underground Railroad conductor, Young sought and accepted, in 1884, an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the third African American to graduate, in 1889, and the last to do so until Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. in 1936.
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The First Presbyterian Church of West Union, built in 1810, is known as the “Church of the Governors.” Although the date is uncertain, the congregation was organized circa 1800 on Thomas Kirker’s land on Eagle Creek, about three miles from West Union. Kirker, Ohio’s second governor, was influential in organizing the congregation and raising funds for the construction of the building. Stonemason, Thomas Metcalfe, Kentucky governor from 1828-1832, was awarded the contract to build the walls for $250.00; the total construction cost was $500.00. The first three regular ministers – William Williamson, Dyer Burgess, and John P. Van Dyke – all held strong anti-slavery sentiment that was felt throughout the congregation. During the Civil War, soldiers of the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment of recruits from Adams County and eastern Brown County, were said to have been temporarily quartered in the church before leaving West Union in 1861.
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Men from Franklin Township were among the first from Ohio to leave for the war and participated in many of the conflict’s great campaigns. Individual companies of the 1st Ohio (90 day), 2nd Ohio, 75th Ohio, and 79th Ohio infantry were raised locally. Other Franklin men served in the 60th (1 year), 69th Ohio, and 93rd Ohio Infantry Regiments, the 4th Ohio Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Ohio Heavy Artillery Regiment. The township’s regiments served from First Bull Run in 1861 to Bentonville in 1865, participating in the battles of Perrysville, Stone’s River, Chicamauga, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, among many others.
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The General at Union Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee (circa 1907). Born in Knoxville in 1840 and reared at a farm in New Somerset, William Pittenger mustered into the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under a 90-day enlistment, in 1861. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and was the war correspondent for the Steubenville Herald. After reenlisting, he participated in the ill-fated Andrews Raid of 1862. While attempting to disrupt enemy supply lines, the raiders stole the Confederate locomotive “The General.” After being chased north, they were captured. (Continued on other side)
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The Upper Trenton Lock (Lock 15 South) of the Ohio & Erie Canal was built between 1828 and 1829. Originally built of cut sandstone blocks, the lock was named for the Village of Trenton, now Tuscarawas. Lock 16, or Lower Trenton Lock, lies only 800 feet southwest of Lock 15. The lock tender, who lived in a house on this site, served both locks. Repeated flood damage prompted reconstruction of Lock 15 in 1907. The deteriorated stonemasonry was completely replaced with concrete at a cost of $6,815. The old stone was used to shore up the towpath. Use of the state-owned canal had declined significantly by this point, and the great flood of 1913 brought the canal era to an end in Ohio.