, OH
In 1918, Charles Young made a desperate attempt to convince the U.S. Army that he was fit for duty. The Army’s highest-ranking Black officer, he had been medically retired and not given a command during World War I. To demonstrate his fitness, he rode 497 miles from his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. Leaving on June 6 he made the journey in 17 days, 16 on horseback and 1 resting. Averaging 31 miles each day, he rode 45 minutes and walked 15 minutes every hour. Upon his arrival, Young met with Secretary of War Newton Baker. Pressured by the Black press and the White House, Baker hedged. He recalled Young to active duty a year later and assigned him to Camp Grant, Illinois, just five days before the end of the war.
, OH
Acclaimed author, conservationist, and farmer Louis Bromfield was born in Mansfield in 1896. A graduate of the city’s schools, he went on to study agriculture at Cornell University in 1914, but left in 1915 to help run his family’s farm. In 1916, Bromfield enrolled in Columbia University to study journalism. As America entered World War I, he enlisted in United States Army Ambulance Service and saw action in seven major European battles. Determined to become a writer, Bromfield finished his education after the war and became a reporter. In 1921, he married Mary Appleton Wood and they would have three daughters. Bromfield’s first published novel, the Green Bay Tree (1924), was a critical and commercial success; his third novel, Early Autumn, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927. The Bromfields moved to France in 1925 where they lived until 1938. In all, he published thirty books and authored numerous stories, articles, and screenplays during his writing career.
, OH
Isaac Scales (1786-1821) settled on this site. At his death, he was buried in his back yard. A large rock marked his grave. The land was reclaimed by Charles Olmsted who deeded it to the Township in 1835 for a public burial ground. Early settlers and veterans, who fought in six American wars including the Revolutionary, are buried here. The crypt was built in 1879.
, OH
Mifflin was founded in 1816. Originally known as Petersburg, the name was changed in 1827 in honor of the settlers that moved here from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The first village jailhouse and crossroad watering trough are located here, on the grounds of the historic St. Michael Lutheran Church. Organized in 1835, the church built this house of worship in 1890. As early as 1810, stagecoaches traveled Mifflin’s main thoroughfare between Wooster and Mansfield, stopping at the watering trough, known for “the best spring water in Ohio”. In 1925, the trough was removed to allow room for the construction of the Lincoln Highway built in 1928. A Lincoln Highway “L” marker stands in the village today, in its original location, directing motorists eastbound.
, OH
(Stout Post Office) A thriving riverport in the 19th Century, founded in 1835 by William Stout. Elisha Stout, son of William, born and raised here, was one of the founding fathers of Omaha, Nebraska, and Denver, Colorado. Former site of Adamsville which served as the county seat of Adams County from Dec., 1797, to Dec., 1798. A log courthouse and jail were erected here to serve the public.
, OH
Overlooking the “Middlegrounds,” an early site of railroad, immigration, and commercial activity, the Oliver House opened in 1859 as Toledo’s premier hotel. It was designed by nationally prominent architect Isaiah Rogers, in the Greek Revival style, and built by the family of William Oliver for whom the hotel was named; owner of this land, Oliver was one of Toledo’s earliest real estate investors. (Continued on other side)
, OH
Abraham Lincoln and his family stopped in Steubenville on February 14, 1861 on their way to Lincoln’s presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Traveling by train, once in Steubenville he departed the depot to address a large crowd of Ohioans and Virginians from a platform at Market and High Streets. When Judge W.R. Lloyd introduced him as the only person who could preserve the Union during this time of national crisis, President elect Lincoln electrified the attentive audience by eloquently speaking on the commitment to the Constitution by people from both sides of the Ohio River, on the differing opinions of what the Constitution means, and on the virtues of majority rule. Fifty-seven days later, the Civil War began. No one at the time knew that Steubenville native Edwin M. Stanton would become Lincoln’s Secretary of War and that Stanton would give the immortal tribute at Lincoln’s death in 1865 saying, “Now he belongs to the ages!”
, OH
Archibald Worthington (1818-1895) was a freed slave from Virginia, a Civil War veteran, and prominent landowner in Highland Township. Census records indicate he was manumitted prior to 1850, and by 1860 owned land in northwest Ohio. Worthington also farmed, boarded freed slaves, and owned apple orchards and livestock. April 1866 township records show that he supported the local school for Black families. He and his wife Elizabeth raised three children: Henry, Mathilda, and James. Henry enlisted in the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer infantry, one of the first Black regiments formed in the Civil War. He died January 8, 1865, in a prison camp and is buried in North Carolina’s Salisbury National Cemetery. Mathilda and James both met partners and married, had children, and left the area. Archibald Worthington died in 1895 and is buried in Wilmington’s Sugar Grove Cemetery.