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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.
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A part of the Virginia Military District, Ripley was founded in 1812 by Colonel James Poage, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Originally named Staunton, after Poage’s hometown in Virginia, the village comprised 1,000 acres along the Ohio River. With its riverside location and deep water landing area, Ripley became a thriving community. Large quantities of flour, pork, and other goods were shipped from Ripley via flatboats down the Ohio. This continued as steamboats took over river trade and cargos came to include tobacco and other goods. Some of the goods leaving the area were shipped on vessels built in Ripley’s two boatyards. During the early and middle decades of the nineteenth century, the yards produced scores of flatboats and, during the peak years of 1826-1836, several steamboats. The boatyards were located on Ripley’s riverbank and lumber for boats came from surrounding forests. Red Oak Creek, running into the Ohio, was an especially favorable location for area mills and slaughterhouses.
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Pulaski and Pulaski Township in Williams County are named for Casimir Pulaski, a Polish cavalry officer who died to win America’s independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. Charged with attempting to kidnap the king of Poland, Pulaski (1747-1779) fled to Paris and then to America in 1777, met General George Washington, and joined the colonies’ struggle. At the Battle of Brandywine, Pulaski covered the American retreat with a daring charge at pursuing British forces. After Brandywine, the Continental Congress commissioned Pulaski a Brigadier General of Cavalry. Pulaski later resigned his command and petitioned Washington to organize what came to be known in March 1778 as Pulaski’s Legion.
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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.
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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.
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Named for General Zebulon Pike, killed in the War of 1812, Pike County was organized in February 1815. Commissioners were charged with establishing a county seat and on May 12, 1815 accepted a conveyance of 40 acres from Elisha Fitch. The new seat was named “Piketon.” In 1816, the commissioners let a contract for the construction of a courthouse and jail. A fine two story courthouse with brick laid in Flemish bond was finished in 1819. A fire destroyed some country courthouse offices on October 9, 1844. The repaired courthouse was the seat of county government until 1861 and is part of the Piketon Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Limestone headers above the windows have the names of the county government offices.
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A prominent early 20th century illustrator and artist, Howard Chandler Christy was born on a farm in Morgan Township. He first gained notice as an illustrator during the Spanish-American War, but achieved lasting fame for his trademark “Christy Girls,” dream girls who idealized feminine beauty during this era. Between 1908 and 1915, he worked from a studio perched above the Muskingum River near Duncan Falls. In the 1920s Christy began to paint portraits and historical scenes. The Signing of the Constitution of the United States, displayed in the Capitol, is his most famous work. The Signing of the Treaty of Green Ville hangs in the Ohio Statehouse.
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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).
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