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In the early twentieth century, Marion’s West Side was dominated by the Erie Railroad switchyards, a major hub of employment. During World War I, the railroad recruited Black workers from the South for jobs in its yards and roundhouses. In Marion, these workers made their homes in a West Side encampment that became the target of white suspicion and violence. In February 1919, following the unsolved murder of a white roundhouse worker’s wife and a separate alleged assault, a 300-man lynch mob smashed windows and occupied the West Side. All Black residents were ordered to leave the city by 6:00 pm the next day. Despite pleas to Governor Cox, at least 200 Black residents were forced to flee Marion. Marion’s anti-Black violence foreshadowed the nationwide “Red Summer” of 1919.
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W.S. Rosecrans, soldier, engineer, architect and inventor, was born in Kingston Township in 1819. After graduation from West Point in 1842, he served in the Engineering Corps then taught at West Point. As a civilian, he engineered a river lock system and perfected lamp oil. During the Civil War, Rosecrans commanded Union Armies of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Missouri, and developed a popular war-time ambulance. “Old Rosy” led his troops to victory at Iuka, Corinth, Stones River and Tullahoma. He helped raise $789,000 for soldiers’ relief and designed St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Columbus. He later served as Minister to Mexico, Registrar to the U.S. Treasury and as a Congressman from California. He died in 1898 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. “Stand by your flag and country, my men!”- Rosecrans at the Battle of Stones River, October 4, 1862
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Here lies Thomas Drummond (1832-1865)- legislator, abolitionist and soldier. Raised in eastern Ohio, he moved to Iowa where he served in the General Assembly and secured the location of the State Asylum for the Blind at Vinton. As editor of the “Vinton Eagle”, he was an outspoken opponent of slavery. During the Civil War, Drummond was appointed to the 5th U.S. Cavalry where he commanded George Armstrong Custer and fought at First Bull Run, Stoneman’s Raid during Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. On April 1, 1865 at the decisive Battle of Five Forks, Drummond was mortally wounded. Returned to St. Clairsville, he was buried beside his mother Harriett Green Drummond.
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The Adams County Fairgrounds, established at this site in October 1853, on seven acres of land donated by Judge George Collings, was converted to a Civil War training camp named in honor of General Thomas Hamer, a Mexican War hero, of Georgetown, Ohio. The old stone Courthouse was made into a hospital to serve the camp. The 70th Ohio Volunteer infantry, organized in October 1861, trained on the old fairgrounds until Christmas day 1861, when it marched from Camp Hamer to Ripley. The 70th participated in the battles of Shiloh, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; the siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Sherman’s March to the Sea.
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The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 prompted an expansion of the “Underground Railroad,” and as the state spanning the shortest distance between the Ohio River and Canada, Ohio saw heavy traffic in escaping slaves in the decades before the Civil War. Hancock County was home to many sympathetic residents who defied fugitive slave laws to help conduct slaves to freedom. “Stationmasters” offered safe havens, “conductors” accompanied fugitives through the county, and “stockholders” provided financial support and misled pursuers. Known stations were located mainly along the Perrysburg Road, now U.S. Highway 68. (continued on other side)
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The son of an enslaved father and free Black mother, Martin Delany became one of the most prominent Black leaders in 19th Century America. Called the “Father of Black Nationalism,” Delany promoted African American pride and self-determination. Delany was born May 6, 1812 in present-day Charles Town, West Virginia. Because education for Blacks was illegal there, his family moved to Pennsylvania. Delany studied medicine, founded a newspaper, the “Mystery,” and advocated rights for African Americans and women. He co-edited the “North Star” with abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Delany risked his life by demanding equality and by aiding Americans of African descent in their fight from slavery to freedom. (Continued on other side)
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Lucy Depp Park was a 102-acre development named for Lucinda Depp (1844-1929). She had inherited the land from her father, Abraham (1791-1858), an emancipated African American man and central Ohio pioneer from Powhattan County, Virginia. Known historically as the Depp Settlement, Robert Goode (1876-1957), a nephew of Lucy and her husband Thomas A. Whyte (1845-1919), purchased the land and developed it as “Lucy Depp Park” in the mid-1920s. The park became a popular vacation spot as well as home site for African American families from Columbus and elsewhere in the segregated America before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. According to a brochure Goode used to promote the development, “Lucy Depp Park…For People Who Care; by the Beautiful Waters of O’Shaughnessy Resevoir and Twin Lakes.”
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The Canfield War Vet Museum was chartered in 1988 by American Legion Post 177 and Ladies Auxiliary to collect and preserve items and history from American wars. The building that houses the museum was built in 1809 by Comfort S. Mygatt, a Revolutionary War veteran, and later, passed through several generations of the Church family. Colonel James Madison Nash, a Civil War officer, lived here for a time, giving the house its nickname, “The Colonel’s House.” The structure stands as the oldest building in Canfield on its original site. The carding barn on the rear of the property was built in 1810 to process sheep wool. The Wall of Honor at this site honors war veterans, in particular, the Revolutionary War veterans interred in Canfield cemeteries and the 18 Canfield men who lost their lives in World War II.
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