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First surveyed in 1849, Powhatan Point was laid out by Franklin Knox. The “point” is the confluence of Captina Creek and the Ohio River. The small but thriving river and farming community served York Township and the rich Captina Valley as a shipping center for its first 75 years. Given impetus by the construction of the Powhatan Enterprise Flouring Mill and Woolen Factory in 1850, local businesses shipped grain, fruit, lumber, cheese, whiskey, livestock, wool, and tobacco to northern and southern ports. There were three boat landings: Boger’s, Hornbrook’s and Dorsey’s, each equipped with an incline car track from the warehouses to the river’s edge. With the opening of North American Coal Corporation’s Powhatan No. 1 Mine in 1922, the village became a mining community that continued to rely on the river. A disastrous mine fire took the lives of 66 men on July 5, 1944.
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General James V. Hartinger, 1925-2000, was born in Middleport, Ohio, and graduated from Middleport High School in 1943. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1949 and was a career-long fighter pilot with the United States Air Force, flying every type of fighter craft the Air Force procured during his 35 years of active duty. He saw military action during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Named commander-in-chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs in 1979, he was promoted to four stars and became the “founding father” of Air Force Space Command. The headquarters building of Air Force Space Command is named the James V. Hartinger Building in his honor and the Hartinger Medal is awarded annually for extraordinary achievement in space.
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John Anderson Ward had this Federal style house constructed from 1823-1825 on land inherited from his father, Urbana’s founder Colonel William Ward. The Colonel’s will stipulated that a local mason use 26,500 bricks to build the house and be paid $80.00. The original house is thought to have had four rooms, two rooms each on the first and second floors and both divided by central hallways. John and his wife Eleanor Ward reared seven children in the house, two of whom became nationally recognized artists, John Quincy Adams Ward and Edgar Melville Ward. The farmstead, consisting of 172 acres, was also the site of a huge feast held in honor of General William Henry Harrison’s visit to Champaign County during his 1840 presidential campaign. Twelve 300 foot-long tables were spread across the lawn where thousands of people from the surrounding countryside dined on barbecued beef and lamb and drank barrels of cider.
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Stars of the silent screen, Lillian and Dorothy Gish enjoyed long and distinguished careers both in film and on stage. They began their careers as child actresses, performing in touring theater companies. Although Lillian was born in Springfield, Ohio, and Dorothy in Dayton, the Gish sisters considered Massillon their home, often staying here with relatives between plays and films. In 1912, Lillian and Dorothy went to New York and made their first film, An Unseen Enemy, with famed director D.W. Griffith.
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The Attica-Venice Joint Cemetery is the final resting place of Clara Edith (Work) Ayres, who died in the line of duty soon after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. Mrs. Ayres was born in Venice Township on September 16, 1880. She graduated from Attica High School in 1899 and in 1903 married local merchant Wayland Ayres, who died in 1906. Later, she moved to Chicago and graduated from the Illinois Training School for Nurses. (Continued on other side)
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In 1869 a secret organization, The Knights of Labor, was founded in Philadelphia. The K.O.L. promoted an ideal society based on bettering life for others with the slogans, “labor was the first capital” and “an injury to one is the concern of all.” Shawnee’s Local Assembly #169 Knights of Labor was organized in 1876, and quickly became a powerful voice for labor in Ohio. National labor leader, William T. Lewis, later Labor Commissioner of Ohio, taught free grammer classes at night for the miners. Lewis initiated “The Ohio Plan,” the first free empployment bureaus in the United States. William H. Bailey, later head of National District Assembly #135 of Miners and T.L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers in 1910, also started their careers here. Meetings involving these leaders led to the formation of the United Mine Workers in 1890. (Continued on other side)
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The first African American congregation and first African American Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Dayton trace their roots back to the early 1830s. They were organized by Father Thomas Willis and a small group of faithful men and women. After several moves, the congregation settled on Eaker Street and the church was dedicated in the early 1870s. The church was rededicated in 1882 and renamed Wayman Chapel AME Church. The eminent poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and his mother Matilda attended and worshiped at the Eaker Street church. His untimely death in 1906 brought family and friends to his funeral services held at the church. By 1923 church leadership felt the need for more secure space for the growing congregation and moved to a new building at Fifth and Banks streets. Three elegant chandeliers for the sanctuary were donated by the city’s newspaper, the Dayton Daily News. (Continued on other side)
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“I thought of the great bandits of the old West [like] the James Brothers…They knocked over trains, and I was going to pull the same stunt,” exclaimed notorious gangster Alvin “Creepy” Karpis. On November 7, 1935, Karpis and his bandits held up Erie Train #626 at this former location of the Garrettsville Train Depot, escaping with over $46,000 in cash and securities. Because of this last great train heist in American history, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his Government Men (G-Men) improved their surveillance methods to capture Karpis. Once labeled “Public Enemy Number One,” Alvin Karpis became Hoover’s first arrest on May 1, 1936. Local legend holds that FBI agents flooded this town searching for Karpis and his accomplices, and this led the James A. Garfield School District to adopt the G-Men as the mascot for its athletic teams.
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