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Zimmerman-Bury Octagon House. The Zimmerman-Bury Octagon House was built by Ezekiel B. Zimmerman (1843-1935) and Francis B. Hess Zimmerman (1848-1920) in 1883. Ezekiel graduated from Smithville Academy and was an avid reader. One of Ezekiel’s sons, Ernest Zimmerman (1888-1973), remembered that his father had encountered Orson Fowler’s manifesto A Home for All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building (1853) and surmised that his father patterned the house after Section V of the book. The approximate 99,000 bricks comprising the house were made on the property, creating exterior walls and a center stairway which are three bricks or about 12 inches thick. Ernest noted the house’s “Russian Tin” roof, referring to its metal standing seam construction. The roof and architectural ornament make the house stand out compared to other octagon structures in Ohio. (Continued on other side)
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Agriculture dominated the economy of southeastern Ohio’s Morgan County until the 1940s when harvests dwindled, the population declined, and land values dropped. Surface mining the area’s rich underground coal deposits replaced agriculture as the major industry and revitalized the declining local economy. As the nation’s demand for electricity grew over the next half-century, so did the demand for coal as fuel for nearby power generation plants. During mining’s heyday in the 1960s to the late 1980s, American Electric Power’s former Central Ohio Coal Company subsidiary employed nearly 1,000 people. Nearby communities-such as Cumberland, Caldwell and Chandlersville-thrived. As time passed, however, the robust coal industry was hit hard by environmental regulations that reduced the market for the area’s high-sulfur coal. In turn, mine work forces shrank considerably and local businesses closed. (continued on other side)
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Established in 1879 by Chicago industrialist William P. Rend as a coal mining town, Rendville became a place where African Americans broke the color barrier. In 1888, Dr. Isaiah Tuppins, the first African American to receive a medical degree in Ohio, was elected Rendville’s mayor, also making him the first African American to be elected a mayor in Ohio. Richard L. Davis arrived in Rendville in 1882 and became active in the Knights of Labor. He was one of the labor organizers from the Little Cities of Black Diamonds region who helped found the United Mine Workers of America in 1890. An outstanding writer and orator, Davis was elected to UMWA’s national executive board and organized thousands of African Americans and immigrants to join the union. (continued on other side)
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Soldier, engineer, and statesman, W.S. Rosecrans was born in Delaware County in 1819 and grew up in Homer. He graduated from West Point in 1842. During the Civil War, Rosecrans commanded the federal Army of the Cumberland. Popular with his troops, who called him “Old Rosy,” he was a cautious commander and, though victorious at, Corinth, Murfreesboro, and Chattanooga, he suffered major defeat at Chickamauga in 1863. A skilled engineer, Rosecrans developed coal properties in western (now West) Virginia before the war and helped design St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Columbus for his brother, Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans. Following the war he served as minister to Mexico and represented California in Congress from 1881 to 1885. He died in 1898 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
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In 1854, Samuel and Rebecca McClellan Collins deeded 1.28 acres to Beavercreek Township, Greene County, for the purpose of building a schoolhouse. The first two schoolhouses were constructed of stone with fireplaces for heat. Collins neighborhood children in first through eighth grade were educated in the present red brick building until 1944, when decreased enrollment forced Xenia Township to close the school. Virgil and Helen Bryson Brantley, great-granddaughter of Samuel and Rebecca Collins, purchased the school property in 1982 and began the restoration of the vandalized and deteriorated schoolhouse. The pony/coal shed and privies were rebuilt on their foundations. (Continued on other side)
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Pioneer Pavilion, one of the oldest structures in Youngstown, is a rare surviving example of early nineteenth-century industry. James Heaton constructed this sandstone building in 1821 as a mill for carding and fulling wool. A millrace from Mill Creek and a waterwheel on the west side supplied the power. In the 1830s and 1840s, the woolen mill was converted to a storage facility for the nearby Mill Creek Furnace and later served as a cattle barn. In 1891, Youngstown attorney Volney Rogers purchased the property for Mill Creek Park, renovating the building in 1893 as a dining and dancing facility, and naming it Pioneer Pavilion. Generations of area residents spanning three centuries have celebrated social events in this historic landmark.
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During the 9-month Hocking Valley Coal Strike beginning in June 1884, tensions between the Columbus & Hocking Coal and Iron Company and striking miners led to violence and destruction. Starting October 11, 1884, unknown men pushed burning mine cars into six mines located around New Straitsville to protest being replaced by “scab” workers. Mine operators attempted to plug all fissures to no avail. As years passed, ground collapsed under buildings and roadbeds, and mine gases seeped into schools and homes. Residents were evicted and homes demolished. Potatoes baked in the heated soil and roses bloomed in the winter. At times, the fire soared 100 feet in the air and could be seen for five miles. (Continued on other side).
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On July 3, 1872, 16 men and a 9-year old boy descended the 170 foot shaft in the Atwater Coal Company Mine located in Atwater Township south of Route 224 and East of Route 225. The mine was situated on the property known as the S.G. Shaffer Farm. By mid-day, 7 miners survived the brutal fire in the mine. Richard Roberts, Robert Roberts, William Roberts, Thomas Maines, Joseph Otey, John Williams, John Howells, John Jones and 9-year old George Hufford gave their lives to the first Mining Disaster in Ohio and the 19th mining disaster in the United States since 1839 with more than 5 fatalities. In 1873, Ohio was the second State to pass a law for the safety of Miners.
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