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Ripley was incorporated as the village of Staunton in 1812. Its name was changed in 1816 to honor General Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, a hero of the War of 1812. In the years before railroads, Ripley was a principal Ohio River shipping center. Also important were its extensive boat-building, tobacco, pork, and timber industries. Ripley too was the home of saw and planing mills, iron foundries, and a piano factory. Such varied commerce enabled Ripley to remain vibrant throughout the nineteenth century. Although noted as a port, Ripley is best remembered as an abolitionist stronghold. Many of its citizens, including Rev. John Rankin and John P. Parker, served as conductors on the famed “Underground Railroad.” The notoriety of Ripley’s anti-slavery network perhaps eclipsed that of nearby Cincinnati, earning the town a reputation as the “Black Hole of Abolitionism.” (Continued on side two)
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When local banker and businessman John Sanford Brumback left a large bequest to Van Wert County for the purpose of establishing a countywide library in 1897, such institutions did not yet exist, and Ohio had no legal provision for a tax-supported county library system. In response, the Ohio Legislature passed an enabling law in April 1898, marking the beginning of the county library system in the United States. Designed by Toledo architect David L. Stine and built of Bedford limestone in an eclectic Romanesque style, the Brumback Library was dedicated in 1901. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, it continues to serve as a center of knowledge for all of Van Wert County.
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Dinsmore Township School District #4 was formed in 1865following a decision by the township’s board of education that a school would be built in the center of every four sections of land, or every four square miles. This placement of school buildings gave township children the opportunity to attend school close to home and the chance at receiving a public education up to the eighth grade, Nine districts were created for the children of white households, and an additional district was formed to educate the children of the African American families, for a total of ten districts in the township. On June 11, 1866, the Dinsmore Township School Board purchased land from George Wenger to build the District #4 school near the intersection of Ohio Route 274 and Wenger Road. (Continued on other side)
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Built for Waverly industrialist James Emmitt in 1861, The Emmitt House was partly the work of carpenter Madison Hemings, who claimed parentage by President Thomas Jefferson. It served as a tavern and store for travelers on the Ohio-Erie Canal that passed directly in front of the hotel. The Emmitt House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a key part of the Waverly Canal District, which encompasses many of the canal-era residential and commercial buildings in the downtown area. It underwent a year-long restoration project in 1989 that retained its historical flavor and design. It continues to provide hospitality to both residents and travelers.
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In an effort to improve the marksmanship of Ohio soldiers, Adjutant General Ammon B. Critchfield established Camp Perry, an Ohio National Guard Military Training site on the shore of Lake Erie in 1906. Camp Perry was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who defeated British forces in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. This particular location was ideal for shooting ranges because varying-length ranges were able to share a common firing line, and shooting practice could take place on all ranges, without the added risk of stray bullets. (continued on other side)
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Mary Leonore Jobe was born on January 29, 1878, near Tappan, Harrison County, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Scio College and master’s degree from Columbia University. While studying, she began a life-long career of exploration and natural history investigation. She first explored areas of British Columbia, Canada in 1905 and in 1916 started Camp Mystic, a summer camp in Connecticut for girls. She married explorer Carl E. Akeley in 1924 and completed an expedition to Africa when Carl died in the Belgian Congo in 1926. Honors include the naming of Mount Jobe in Canada to recognize her achievements and Belgium awarding her the Cross of the Knight, Order of the Crown, for her work in the Belgian Congo. She is known for her books and contributions to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She died on July 19, 1966, and is buried in Deersville.
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In 1849, each state in the Union was invited to furnish a block of native stone for the construction of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Geologists selected stone from this quarry, then owned by Wilford McDonald, as typical of the best quality in Ohio. The dimensions of the limestone block used in the Washington Monument, which was cut and polished by Daniel Bunnell of Xenia, are 6 feet x 3 feet x 9 inches. The inscription on the block of stone reads as follows: The State of Ohio/ The Memory of Washington / and / The Union of the States / Sunto Perpetus
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One of the most influential icons of American popular culture in the mid-20th century, Roy Rogers was born Leonard Franklin Sly on November 5, 1911 in Cincinnati. He moved to this farm at age 8 from Portsmouth and lived here with his family until the Great Depression. He went to California in 1930, working as a truck driver, fruit picker, and country musician before signing a movie contract with Republic Pictures in 1937. Immediately popular, the clean-cut singing cowboy appeared in more than 100 western films, often making six or more movies a year during the 1940s. With his nearly equally-famous horse Trigger and his wife and partner Dale Evans-“the Queen of the West”-he subsequently starred in more than 100 television episodes of the family-oriented Roy Rogers Show from 1951 to 1957. A perennial hero and “good guy,” Rogers personified the mythical American cowboy who always fought fairly and lived by a strong moral code. He died in California on July 6, 1998.
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