Remarkable Ohio

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1562 Clemontville Laurel Road
New Richmond

, OH

The Mount Zion Chapel of the Christian Church was built in 1872 on this hill adjacent to the members’ cemetery outside of Clermontville. The site was part of a two-acre parcel that had been secured from the farm of William R. Clark, Sr. for church and cemetery purposes. The Mount Zion Chapel replaced the Boat Run Christian Church that was organized in 1842 by a sect called the Christians, or the New Lights. Their first meeting house in Clermontville was dedicated on June 4, 1843 and damaged by floods in 1871. Worship was first held in the new frame church with the new name on October 6, 1872 and the church remains active today.

1350 Brush Row Road
Wilberforce

, OH

In the early 1800s, William and Eleanor Kendall owned this land, known for its natural springs, beauty, and farmland. In 1850, Elias Drake, lawyer and former speaker in the Ohio General Assembly, purchased the property and named it Tawana or Xenia Springs. He developed a health resort hotel surrounded by summer cottages, all of which were completed the following year. “Tawana” is believed to be Shawnee for “clear or gold water,” alluding to the clear, mineral-rich springs. From its beginnings, the resort did not fare well as it was popular among southern planters who, much to the consternation of nearby antislavery sentiment, brought slave entourages whenever they came. In October 1855, negotiations for its sale opened with the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which purchased Tawana Springs, including 54 acres and the hotel and cottages, for $13,000 to establish a university for African Americans. (Continued on other side)

400 Center Street
Dennison

, OH

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railway began construction of the Dennison Railroad Shops here in 1864. This rail line was chartered as the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad in 1849, opened in 1855, and integrated into the Pennsylvania Railroad system in 1870. The yard and shops, situated exactly halfway between Pittsburgh and Columbus, were known as the “Altoona of the Pan Handle” and boasted foundries, machine shops, and two roundhouses. The Dennison Shops experienced their busiest period between 1900 and 1921, with over 3,000 workers employed in the complex. A bitter 1922 strike prompted consolidation, and the facility was gradually phased out. The last passenger train stopped in 1970. Ohio Central Railroad Systems revived the line in 1992 as the Columbus and Ohio River Railroad.

Beverly

, OH

Settlement came to Round Bottom in early 1795 following the end of the Indians Wars in what would become Ohio (1791-1795). Pioneers Allen Devol, David Wilson, Nathaniel Cushing, Peter Shaw, and Andrew Story came down the Muskingum River to this rich and extensive alluvion shoreline where agriculture became a way of life for them and later settlers. They built the Round Bottom Schoolhouse in the fall of 1795 from bricks fired in nearby fields. The school is one of the oldest one-room brick schoolhouses in the state.

Across from 5798 Oakes Place/Twp Rd 30
Barnesville

, OH

This cemetery stands as evidence of a once thriving African American farming community established in the 1820s. With the aid of community leader, Alexander “Sandy” Harper (c.1804-1889), Captina, originally called Guinea, became a stop on the Underground Railroad, a national network, shrouded in secrecy, of volunteers who directed slaves northward. Harper is buried in this cemetery, along with Benjamin Oliver McMichael (1865-1941), an educator who taught for twelve years in Captina/ Flatrock at a segregated schoolhouse. There are 113 known burials in the cemetery, including nine Civil War veterans. At this site in 1825, an African Methodist Episcopal Church was established to serve the community. Many of its members left Captina to work in cities, but the church continued services until 1962. The building then fell into disrepair and collapsed during a windstorm in 1978.

Rocky Point Road, just W of Old Mill Road
Springfield

, OH

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, the span is the oldest in Clark County a traveler can cross. It is also one of the oldest stone bridges in use in Ohio. Stone mason Samuel S. Taylor (1837-1930) built the culvert from locally quarried limestone in 1871, his first public works project. A Civil War veteran, Taylor worked on several projects, including the Mill Run underground sewer (1877), Champion’s East Street shops (1883), and the foundation for Springfield’s city hall (1890).

33250 Hiland Road
Pomeroy

, OH

General John Hunt Morgan led a force of 2,000 Confederate calvalrymen into Meigs County during a raid north of the Ohio River. More than 50,000 Union troops and militia pursued Morgan across Ohio. Colonel Basil Duke wrote that while passing near Pomeroy on July 18, 1863, there was a continual fight for nearly five miles through a ravine. Led by Colonel J.W. Grisby and the 6th Kentucky, with Major T.C. Webber and the 2nd Kentucky in the rear, the Confederate calvarymen fought local militia who felled trees and fired upon the calvarymen from the hills and roads. After suffering losses at Buffington Island, Morgan surrendered eight days later near West Point in Columbiana County. The surrender field was the northernmost point ever reached by Confederate forces during the Civil War.

1453 Youngstown-Kingsville Road / OH 193
Vienna

, OH

Born on April 18, 1913, in Barrea, Province L’Aquila Abruzzi, Italy to Salvatore and Maria (Lombardozzi) Campana, Mary Ann Campana immigrated to the United States with her parents at age eight. Raised in Youngstown and educated in the Youngstown Public Schools and Youngstown College, Ms. Campana was a pioneer in Ohio, National, and international aviation. In 1932, at age eighteen, she achieved the distinction of being the first licensed woman pilot in Ohio. On June 4, 1933, with only 44 hours of prior flying time, Mary Ann established the world’s endurance record in the Light plane class for a non-refueled flight. Flying above Youngstown in a 500-pound Taylor Cub Plane with a 40-horsepower engine and loaded with 40 gallons of gasoline, she flew for 12 hours and 27 minutes without a parachute, breaking the old record by one hour and ten minutes before electrical storms forced her down. (Continued on other side)