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Prairie grasslands were once widely scattered across western Ohio. One of Ohio’s best remaining prairies, Killdeer Plains is dominated by tall grasses such as the big bluestem and plays host to some unique species of wildlife such as the eastern massasauga or swamp rattlesnake. Prairie grasslands are one of the most rare types of wildlife habitats in the state. Named for the killdeer, a shore bird, this is part of a wet prairie that once spanned some 30,000 acres and boasts a tremendous number and diversity of native wildlife.
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Across the road was the site of Camp Circleville, where members of the 90th and 114th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.) were mustered into service during the Civil War. Pickaway Township farmer Jacob Ludwig donated the land for the camp, which was then approximately two miles south of the Circleville at the southwest corner of Kingston Pike and the Circleville-Tarlton Road. The 90th O.V.I was mustered into service on August 29, 1862 to serve for three years. The unit saw action during some of the war’s well-known western battles, including those at Perryville, Kentucky in October 1862; Stones River, Tennesee on December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863, and Chickamauga, Georgia in September 1863. Later, the 90th joined in General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia in the spring and summer of 1864 and later that year was part of the Union force that fought in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennesee. At war’s end, the unit was mustered out of service at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati in June 1865. During the regiment’s service, five officers and 247 enlisted men were killed, mortally wounded, or died from disease.
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About a mile south in St. Paul’s Cemetery, the Reverend Father Edward J. Fenwick, “Pioneer Apostle of Ohio,” organized the first Catholic parish in northern Ohio. The first mass was celebrated in the log house of Daniel McCallister. A century and a half later the cabin was dismantled, moved here, rebuilt, and rededicated in May, 1967 as the Log Cabin Shrine of Dungannon.
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St. Joseph Catholic Church, called the cradle of the faith in Ohio, was the first Catholic church in the state. In 1809, Jacob and Catharine Dittoe deeded Father Edward Fenwick, who had traveled from Kentucky, 320 acres of ground to build the church. The original church, dedicated on December 6, 1818, by Father Fenwick and Father Nicholas Dominic Young, was a log cabin with a bare dirt floor measuring 18 feet by 22 feet. Father Fenwick was soon installed as the first Bishop of Cincinnati. Construction on the present church began in 1839.
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Urbana University was established by the Swedenborgian Church in 1850. Bailey Hall (1853), named after Francis Bailey (1735-1815), was designed by W. Russell West, architect of the Statehouse of Ohio. Bailey was an American Revolutionary War hero, official printer of the Continental Congress and printer of The Freeman’s Journal or the North American Intelligencer. He also printed The True Christian Religion papers. John (Johnny Appleseed) Chapman (1774-1845) distributed The True Christian Religion papers along with his famous apple trees throughout Ohio as a missionary for the Swedenborgian Church. Barclay Hall (1883) was named after Hester Barclay, a ward of Francis Bailey. It was Hester Barclay’s brother-in-law, John Young, who converted Chapman to the Swedenborg faith. Francis Bailey and Hester Barclay were the first male and female Swedenborgian converts in North America. Both Bailey and Barclay halls appear on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Zenas King (1818-1892) was a 19th century bridge builder whose iron bridges received wide acceptance throughout the country. He developed his tubular bowstring bridge in 1859, patented the design in 1861, renewed the patent in 1867, and founded King Iron Bridge & Manufacturing Company in 1871. Based on an arch’s inherent strength, King’s design used less raw materials than wooden bridges and the square tubes were simple to fabricate and ship for on-site assembly. His Cleveland-based company soon built so many patent bowstrings across Ohio that it set a design standard. (Continued on other side)
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John Campbell (1818-1891), founder of Ironton, was an ironmaster and president of the Ohio Iron & Coal Company, a Presbyterian, and an abolitionist. This house and barn, which he built in 1850, became a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves crossing the Ohio River from Kentucky. Fugitives were concealed here and furnace wagons transported the escapees northward by way of Campbell’s furnaces in Lawrence and Jackson counties.
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In 1832 a charter was granted by the state of Ohio for construction of a railroad between Sandusky City and Dayton. The right-of-way privileges included Hardin County. The first train, of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, arrived in Kenton from Sandusky on July 14, 1846. The railroad was completed to Dayton in 1851. The depot on this site was erected in 1882.
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