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After consolidation of the villages of Fort Lawrence and Vistula, the City of Toledo was incorporated in 1837. Originally named “Toledo” in 1833, the site became part of Ohio when the “Toledo War,” a bloodless boundary conflict with Michigan, was resolved by Congress in 1836. Settlers were attracted by the commercial potential of the Maumee River, called “Miami of the Lake,” and later the Miami-Erie Canal. (Continued on other side)
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Born in Steubenville in 1814, Edwin McMasters Stanton studied at Kenyon College and opened his law practice in Cadiz in 1836. The grandson of North Carolina slaveholders, Stanton opposed slavery. A successful railroad attorney and War Democrat at the beginning of the Civil War, he accepted the challenge of reorganizing President Abraham Lincoln’s War Department. Stanton enforced unpopular draft laws, fought draft, restricted the press, and nationalized the railroads. An effective planner and logistician, Stanton moved 20,000 soldiers more than 1,200 miles in a week by railroad to relieve the siege of Chattanooga in 1863. Following Lincoln’s assassination, Stanton clashed with President Andrew Johnson and provoked the act that led to Johnson’s impeachment. He died four days after President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1869.
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After World War II, colleges across the country struggled to house students following surges in enrollments made possible by the G.I. Bill. Wilmington College was no exception. The College’s enrollment doubled compared to pre-war levels. On April 13, 1948, the president of Wilmington College, Samuel Marble, called a student rally and unveiled a plan to build a much needed men’s dormitory entirely with volunteer labor and materials. Ground was broken that very day. In the months that followed, there was a great outpouring of public support and donations as faculty, students, and community members worked together to build the dormitory. The building was dedicated in honor of President Marble’s leadership on October 27, 1950.
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The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917. Largely through the efforts of Chillicothe attorney John Poland, the War Department selected Chillicothe as the site of an army training camp for inductees from Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. Construction began at Camp Sherman, named for Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, in June 1917. When the first recruits arrived in September, more than fourteen thousand workers had erected two thousand buildings on the 1,700-acre site. The rapid influx of soldiers increased Chillicothe’s population from 16,000 to 60,000.
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The Hopewell Associate Reformed Church and Cemetery, now known as Historic Hopewell, was founded in 1808 in a log building that was replaced in 1826 with the present building. It was built by the area’s first settlers, mainly Scotch-Irish who left Kentucky and South Carolina because of their opposition to slavery. The church encouraged worship by African Americans and played an important role in the Underground Railroad. It became the parent church for four “Daughter” Presbyterian congregations: Fairhaven in 1835, Oxford in 1837, College Corner in 1849, and Morning Sun in 1876. Reverend Alexander Porter, the first pastor, was committed to education and constructed a school near the Hopewell Spring that still produces clear water. “Old Hopewell” was completely refurbished in 1880, but by 1915 the membership declined and regular services discontinued. Today Hopewell holds Sunday services in the summer and is maintained by a generous and devoted group of volunteers.
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During the Second World War, the U.S. Army constructed a 131-building hospital on level farmland a quarter mile northwest of this marker. The army built the facility as a 1,520-bed hospital in the winter and spring of 1942-’43. It was later expanded to 168 buildings with a 2,000-bed capacity, including a German POW camp for 234 prisoners engaged in hospital work. Between June 1943 and March 1946, when the facility closed, 17,608 veterans were treated here, most having returned with injuries received in the European or Pacific theaters of war. Convalescence and rehabilitation were the hospital’s primary missions. Most patients returned to active duty when they recovered. After the war, the facility became the Cambridge State Hospital, which treated mentally ill and developmentally disabled Ohioans until 2008. Thereafter, the facility became the privately-operated Cambridge Behavioral Hospital and the state-operated Cambridge Developmental Center.
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Richard E. Schreder grew up in Toledo, Ohio and graduated from the University of Toledo with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was a decorated navy pilot and iconic aviation figure who helped shape the American soaring movement, international glider design, and competitive soaring and piloting flight strategies. He also made high performance gliders available to a wide audience through the affordable kit production of his distinctive HP (High Performance) glider designs. These designs and Schreder’s numerous contributions to aviation and the sport of soaring are recognized as “groundbreaking and pioneering” by the Smithsonian Museum and are part of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s permanent collection. (continued on other side)
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Washington Court House was founded in 1810 by American Revolutionary War veterans from the state of Virginia. They also established Washington Cemetery in 1810 and located it in what was originally the southern part of the town. With the coming of the railroad, the cemetery’s size was reduced to what is now approximately half an acre of land containing one hundred and twelve headstones. One of the prominent people buried in the cemetery is Judge Wade Loofborough, known for his interest in the utopian socialist society called Fourierism. He purchased land in Clermont County to establish the society, but it failed. Loofborough eventually became a respected judge and lawyer in Fayette County. Other distinguished people buried here include veterans of the American Revolution and the War of 1812.