Remarkable Ohio

Results for: land-sales
De Rivera Park, Bayview Avenue
Put-in-Bay

, OH

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph (Jose) de Rivera was born in Barcelona, Spain, and built an import business in New York City. In 1854, he bought six Lake Erie Islands and had South Bass Island surveyed and subdivided into ten-acre lots. De Rivera traveled between New York and South Bass Island, initially turning Put-in-Bay into a sheep farm. He encouraged settlement on the island and its wine industry by helping German immigrants purchase land to plant vineyards. He donated five acres for this waterfront park, the site for the first school, and the land for the first church. To promote travel to the island, de Rivera opened the island’s largest cave as a tourist attraction. He is buried in the island’s cemetery, which is on land he donated for that purpose.

335 College Street
Urbana

, OH

John Anderson Ward had this Federal style house constructed from 1823-1825 on land inherited from his father, Urbana’s founder Colonel William Ward. The Colonel’s will stipulated that a local mason use 26,500 bricks to build the house and be paid $80.00. The original house is thought to have had four rooms, two rooms each on the first and second floors and both divided by central hallways. John and his wife Eleanor Ward reared seven children in the house, two of whom became nationally recognized artists, John Quincy Adams Ward and Edgar Melville Ward. The farmstead, consisting of 172 acres, was also the site of a huge feast held in honor of General William Henry Harrison’s visit to Champaign County during his 1840 presidential campaign. Twelve 300 foot-long tables were spread across the lawn where thousands of people from the surrounding countryside dined on barbecued beef and lamb and drank barrels of cider.

15829 Ravenna Rd
Burton

, OH

Called the “Cradle of Equal Suffrage” and “Free Speech Chapel,” Union Chapel was to be “…open and free for all denominations, but to be monopolized by no one or to the exclusion of anyone.” Built in 1858 or 1859 on land donated by Anson Matthews, the chapel reputedly exists in response to incident triggered by James A. Garfield, then principal of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College) and later president of the United States. He was scheduled to speak at the Congregationists’ “Brick Church” in December 1857. Because of the supposed controversial nature of Garfield’s speech, however, the invitation was withdrawn. (Continued on other side)

Newton Tomlinson Road
Newton Falls

, OH

Alexander Sutherland (1767-1845) and his wife Sarah (1768-1836) were the first settlers in Newton Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. Coming from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the Sutherlands acquired 205 acres of land along Duck Creek southward from this site. Alexander was an influential person in the area after the settlement was made at Duck Creek. He was the second Recorder and the first elected Surveyor for Trumbull County. He was an early Mason with Old Erie Lodge, Warren schoolteacher, postmaster at Newton, Newton Township Trustee and Clerk, and Justice of the Peace. Sutherland, along with Ezekiel Hover, marked the first path from this Duck Creek settlement to Youngstown to reach the nearest mill.

Zoar

, OH

Construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal, beginning in Cleveland and running south to Portsmouth, began in 1825. As a means to pay for debts on the community’s 5,500 acres of Tuscarawas County land, members of the Society of Separatists of Zoar contracted to construct this portion of the canal. They received $21,000 for this work, which was completed in 1827. Surplus goods were transported on Society owned and operated canal boats to outside markets via the Ohio and Erie Canal, which also brought manufactured items into Zoar. (continued on other side)

First Avenue
Gallipolis

, OH

On April 1, 1818, six families from the Cilcennin area of Mid-Wales sailed from Aberaeron, Wales to Baltimore. The group of 36 people was led by John Jones Tirbach. From Baltimore they traveled to Pittsburgh and then by flatboats down the Ohio River toward their destination-Paddy’s Run in Butler County in the southwest corner of Ohio. They stopped in Gallipolis for provisions where their boats were cut loose by either travel-weary women or citizens of Gallipolis who wanted them to stay. The men found work on the Gallipolis to Chillicothe road that was under construction. The terrain reminded them of Mid-Wales, so they purchased land near Centerville and remained. These Welsh prospered and wrote home to Wales with news of their success, prompting others to come. (continued on other side)

7 Court Street
Canfield

, OH

Mahoning County was created in 1846 by combining townships from southern Trumbull and northern Columbiana counties. Canfield engaged in competition with several surrounding communities for the new county seat, and its success was attributed to its central location along with the state and local political influence of Judge Eben Newton and Elisha Whittlesey, Esq., Comptroller of the United States Treasury from 1849-1857. To become the county seat, the State of Ohio required “a suitable lot and $5,000 toward public buildings” Judge Newton donated the land and spearheaded the subscription of the state required bond. Once attained, construction progressed rapidly on the Classical Revival style courthouse, completed in June 1848. The Italianate style West wing was added in 1862, but its government status was challenged when in the early 1870s, Youngstown, by now a city, resumed its earlier challenge for the county seat. (continued on other side)

617 W. Center Street
Marion

, OH

The Marion Steam Shovel Company built the primary tools for America’s civil engineering for more than 100 years. Founded in 1884 by Henry M. Barnhart, George W. King, and Edward Huber, the company’s patent steam shovels helped revolutionize railway and road construction, and were used in the building of the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, and the Holland Tunnel. “The Shovel” also built ditchers, log loaders, dredges, and draglines, including some of the largest land vehicles ever built. The first electric machine was built in 1915, but it was not until 1946 that the name was changed to Marion Power Shovel. In the mid-twentieth century, “The Shovel” employed 2,500 workers. In the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration selected Marion to build the crawlers that transport spacecraft to their launch pads. Hundred-year rival Bucyrus International acquired and closed the company in 1997.