, OH
Born on September 28, 1769 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bathsheba Rouse is recognized as the first woman to teach in the Northwest Territory. Rouse arrived in the region along with other pioneers in 1788. The following year, the Belpre community employed Rouse to teach young children in the Farmers’ Castle near the Ohio River. Instruction in reading, writing, and sewing was reserved for the girls, while boys received lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rouse taught in Belpre for several terms before marrying Richard Greene and settling at nearby Marietta. Their descendants attained civic prominence in Washington County for generations. Bathsheba Rouse Greene died on February 27, 1843 at the age of seventy-three and is buried alongside her husband in Marietta’s Mound Cemetery.
, OH
William McKinley served the nation as president, the people of Ohio as governor, and the citizens of his congressional district as a representative. McKinley was shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901 and died several days later. The McKinley National Memorial, funded by children’s donations, was dedicated in 1907. It is the burial site of the 25th President, First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley, and two daughters. Designed by architect Harold Van Buren Magonigle, the pink Milford granite structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
, OH
First Lady Lucy Ware Webb Hayes was born in this four-room Federal Vernacular house in 1831. Well educated for her time, she attended local schools, took classes in the preparatory department of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, and graduated from Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati in 1850. She married lawyer and future U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1852. They raised five children to adulthood. As a colonel’s wife during the Civil War, “Mother Lucy” boosted morale for the soldiers of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment. In 1870, during Hayes’ first term as governor of Ohio, Lucy helped establish the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home as a state institution. (continued on other side)
, OH
This hamlet, located one mile southwest from here, was never platted, but was named after William Woods, president of the three-story brick Woodsdale paper mill constructed in 1867. Flanking the mill were the company office and store and several workers’ houses. Previous to this, the area flourished from the presence of two grist mills on the Great Miami River and from the Miami & Erie Canal. Additional enterprises such as a stone quarry, ice cutting company, and grain elevator operated here during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Woodsdale was also known for the Woodsdale Island Amusement Park and the LC&D Railroad depot. The park, established on an island between the Miami & Erie Canal and the Great Miami River in 1891, was the site of picnics, political rallies, a large dance hall, and amusement rides–including a beautiful swan boat. The great flood of 1913 completely destroyed the park.
, OH
Built with the funds and labor of residents of Weymouth, this structure was home to the Weymouth School from 1925 to 1956. It was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Cleveland architect Paul T. Cahill (1888-1954). Two classrooms accommodated students from grades one through eight and an auditorium served both the children and the community. In 1953, a school for disabled children was established in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Medina by their friends and families. It moved into the vacant Weymouth School building in 1956. In 1960, Medina County citizens passed a levy to operate it as the first county-supported school for disabled students in the state. Later known as the Achievement Center, it continued at this site until 1992.
, OH
Oliver and Rosetta Snow, who built this home in 1815, immigrated to Mantua from Becket, Massachusetts, in 1805 with two daughters and raised five more children here. Oliver prospered as a farmer, served Portage County in a variety of civic capacities, and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after meeting the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, in the early 1830s. In 1838, the Snows left Ohio and eventually settled in Illinois. Two of their children later moved to Utah and became prominent leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lorenzo, who was born on this property in 1814, became the fifth president of the Church, serving from 1898-1901. Eliza Roxcy Snow, an acclaimed Portage County poet, became second general president of the Relief Society, a Latter-day Saint women’s organization.
, OH
Descendants of slaves, who may have reached Ohio through the Underground Railroad, and other African Americans, formed the community of Flatwoods in the southwest part of Bokescreek Township. This one-room schoolhouse was built circa 1868 for African American children of Flatwoods and remained open until 1923. Remnants of past lessons remain inscribed on the chalkboard. The schoolhouse was threatened with demolition in 1999 and later moved to Veteran’s Park. The Logan County Historical Society owns and maintains the site as a living history museum.
, OH
In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, when the general public believed that the insane and paupers could be rehabilitated into productive citizens, the Ohio Legislature gave authorization to county commissioners to establish county “poor houses.” The Athens County Home, formerly known as the Athens County Infirmary, opened on this site in 1857 to provide care for indigent citizens of Athens County. When fire destroyed the original building in 1903, a new building was constructed from 1904-1905, designed with the capacity to house up to one hundred people. When it was built, it was considered to be one of the finest and most modern charitable institutions of its time. The facility continued to provide housing for indigent and elderly residents until 1997 when the County Commissioners closed the home and it became a primary location for the delivery of social services in Athens County. (continued on the other side)