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When Sunbury was platted in 1816, a town square was set aside for public use with the intention of constructing a town hall on the site. The first two stories of the Town Hall were built, as a school, in 1868 for $5,000. The Masons added the third story for $1,500 and occupied it for 91 years, until a lodge was constructed. Since 1868, the Town Hall has served Sunbury as a village office building, jail, fire station, and community library. Church services as well as Farmer’s Institutes were held in the building, and at one time it housed a bank. In 2002, the Town Hall was renovated for use as a community room and village offices.
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In what was called the “Freedom Summer” of 1964, more than 800 volunteers, most of them college students, gathered at the Western College for Women (now Western Campus of Miami University) to prepare for African-American voter registration in the South. Three of the volunteers – James Chaney of Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner of New York – disappeared on June 21, 1964, in rural Mississippi mere days after leaving Oxford, Ohio. Their bodies were discovered forty-four days later, buried in an earthen dam. Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted on federal conspiracy charges. Erected in 1999, this outdoor amphitheater is a memorial to the slain activists, other volunteers, and ideals of the Freedom Summer movement.
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During the early months of World War II, ordinary citizens as well as soldiers made enormous sacrifices for the war effort. In March 1942 the War Department announced plans to build a 13,000-acre munitions manufacturing complex northeast of Marion. Using the power of eminent domain, the U.S. Government purchased the homes and farms of 126 families in the Likens Chapel community. Given only two months to vacate their property, many displaced farmers found the government-appraised values for their land inadequate for buying similar farms elsewhere and the growing season too advanced to plant new crops. (continued on other side)
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Legend has it that Mogadore’s first settler, Ariel Bradley, was a spy for George Washington in October, 1776. As a nine year old boy, Ariel crossed British lines on a supposed errand to the nearest grist mill and returned with troop positions and tent counts. In 1801, Ariel left Connecticut to make his new home in what would be Ohio. In 1807, he built a log cabin on a 146 acre plot of farm land that cost $335. Until 1825 the new community had been named Bradleyville, but Ariel did not want the area named after him. Martin Kent was building a residence and a sailor, John Robinson, climbed to the top of the framework, pulled a flask of whiskey from his pocket. Breaking the flask on the last beam of construction, Robinson shouted “Three cheers for Mogador,” which is a large city in Morocco, thusly christening the area Mogadore.
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Paul Eugene Brown was born September 7, 1908, to Lester and Ida Belle Brown at their Norwalk home on 7 West Elm Street. He attended Benedict Elementary until his family moved to Massillon, where his football career began. Although small, Brown was a successful quarterback for Massillon’s Washington High School and Miami University in Oxford. In 1932, he returned to Massillon as head coach. Compiling an 80-8-2 record, he instituted new ideas now considered commonplace in football: the playbook, hand signals, and sending in plays. Ohio State University hired Brown in 1941 and he coached the Buckeyes to their National Championship in 1942. After WWII, Brown agreed in 1945 to coach Cleveland’s new pro team. Despite his objections, fans voted to name the new team after Coach Brown. (Continued on other side)
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The American Civil War was in its second year, and Confederate forces were advancing in the east and in the west. Confederates led by General Edward Kirby Smith had defeated a Union Force at Richmond, Kentucky on August 30, 1862. Word was received that they were advancing on Cincinnati. Ohio Governor David Tod issued a proclamation to all Ohioans: “Our Southern border is threatened with invasion. I therefore recommend that all the loyal men of your Counties at once form themselves into military companies. Gather up all the arms in the county and furnish yourselves with ammunition for the same. The service will be but for a few days. The soil of Ohio must not be invaded by the enemies of our glorious government.” (continued on other side)
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Ohio University’s Peden Stadium is the oldest of the Mid-American Conference stadiums and one of the oldest of its type in the country. It was dedicated in 1929 with a victory over Miami University. The stadium served as housing for the influx of WWII veterans who enrolled at Ohio University following the war. On October 22, 1960, it was named in honor of former Bobcat head coach Don Peden who coached from 1929 to 1946 and compiled a record of 121 wins, 46 losses, and one tie.
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During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government established the Civilian Conservation Corps, known as the CCC or triple C’s under the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program. Nearly three and a half million men between the ages of 18-25 were employed throughout the nine-year program and worked on projects that included road construction, flood control, reforestation, and soil erosion prevention and creating state and local parks. The CCC had other names like “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” “Tree Troopers,” and “Soil Soldiers.” CCC workers were paid $30 a month for a forty-hour workweek, with $25 of the salary being sent back to the workers’ homes. The CCC remained in effect until 1942 after the Great Depression had ended and unemployment was down due to the creation of jobs associated with World War II.
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