Results for: historic
85 Commerce Street
Lockbourne

, OH

Anticipating a boom in canal commerce, Colonel James Kilbourne (1770-1850) platted Lockbourne in 1831 at the junction of the Ohio-Erie Canal and the Columbus Feeder, which was completed the same year. Lockbourne derives its name from the numerous canal locks at this site and Kilbourne’s own surname. During the heyday of the canal era, Lockbourne boasted the Canal House Hotel, several taverns, a stock yard, a distillery, a sawmill, and a gristmill which used the head of water at Lock 30 for power. (continued on other side)

1800 Triplett Blvd
Akron

, OH

A colossus of engineering acumen and structural steel, the Airdock was built in 1929 as the construction facility for the U.S. Navy’s rigid airships, the USS Akron (1931) and USS Macon (1933). The airships, or dirigibles, served as the fleet’s aerial watchdogs, but with the advancement of aircraft carriers, the Navy no longer needed these leviathans of the skies, which were large enough to carry five biplanes. Eleven steel parabolic arches, cresting at 211 feet, create one of the largest open space interiors in the world and shelter more than 364,000 square feet of floor space. Only one of the arches is fixed to its concrete piling. Its 660-ton spherical doors rest on flatbed railroad cars to open. The Airdock, a National Civil Engineering Landmark, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

199 North Ballard Road
Xenia

, OH

In 1883, James E. Brown built this seven-panel Howe truss bridge over the North Branch of Caesar Creek, near the site of Lyman Ballard’s grist mill and on the property of William C. Dean. At the time it was built, iron, concrete, and steel structures began to surpass the construction of wooden covered bridges. The construction of U.S. Route 35 severed the bridge from its original connection to the Dean property. In 1975, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2016, the Ballard Road bridge is one of six covered bridges in Greene County.

Just W of 4295 Warren-Sharon Road
Vienna

, OH

The Connecticut Land Company surveyed Vienna Township as Township 4, Range 2, in 1798. The Township’s proprietors were Ephraim Root, Uriel Holmes, Jr., and Timothy Burr. Survey members Dennis Clark Palmer, Isaac Flower, and Samuel Hutchins and their families were the first to settle here in 1799. Between 1810 and 1840, Vienna was a center for the wooden works clock industry in Trumbull County and the Connecticut Western Reserve, with six factories located amid farms, sawmills, and quarries. After coal was discovered in 1866, over twenty mines were opened, bringing boom times for two decades. Vienna’s miners helped to bring about Ohio’s first mining safety law in 1874. Vienna was the birthplace of abolitionist and attorney John Hutchins (1812-1891), who represented Trumbull and Ashtabula counties in the United States Congress (1859-1863) and raised troops during the Civil War.

12844 Foundation Road
Hartford

, OH

George Curry (1819-1885) was one of seven children born to a tenant sheepherder in the Cheviot Hills of Scotland. He immigrated to Ohio during the 1840s and married Scottish immigrant Agnes Milligan (1830-1893) in 1855. The couple moved to Licking County in 1865, and purchased 160-acres of farmland in 1873 to establish a sheep farm. They soon became known for their fine Spanish Merino herd. In the late nineteenth century, Ohio was a leader in the wool trade, with Licking County leading the state’s wool production by 1870. At the time of his death, George Curry was “a well-known stock dealer, and was greatly esteemed” in the community. Five generations of George and Agnes Curry’s family lived and farmed their Licking County land, until it was divided into parcels and sold in 1979.

7000 Hamilton Avenue
Cincinnati

, OH

Built in 1832 by Robert and Elizabeth Cary, Cary Cottage was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Two of the Cary children, Alice and Phoebe, became well-known poets. Their works include reminiscences of Ohio. William Procter purchased Cary Cottage and the surrounding land in 1903 to help Florence and Georgia Trader achieve their vision of establishing Clovernook Center for the Blind. Cary Cottage became the first home in Ohio for blind women. Clovernook Center for the Blind offers rehabilitation and employment to individuals who are visually impaired.

456 Belmonte Park N
Dayton

, OH

The Dayton Art Institute, one of the region’s premier fine arts museums, was founded in 1919 as the Dayton Museum of Arts. Founding patrons included Orville Wright, members of the Patterson family, and philanthropist Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, who donated a mansion for the museum’s first home. In 1923, the museum changed its name to The Dayton Art Institute to reflect the growing importance of its art school, which operated until 1974. After outgrowing its first home, Carnell contributed $2 million for a new building designed by architect Edward B. Green. Completed in 1930 and modeled after two sixteenth century Italian Renaissance villas, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as a preeminent example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture. As it commemorates its centennial, The Dayton Art Institute continues to serve the community with exhibitions, educational programs, and events.

1350 Brush Row Road
Wilberforce

, 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.