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Jonas Stutzman, from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, came to this site in 1809 to clear land for farming and to build a log home for his family. He was the first permanent settler in the eastern portion of what would in 1825 become Holmes County. Jonas and his wife Magdalena Gerber Stutzman were of the Amish faith–descendants from a group of strict Protestant Anabaptists with origins in Switzerland and Holland and dating from the 16th -century Protestant Reformation. Some of their beliefs, including separation of church and state, refusal to take oaths, pacifism, and believer’s baptism, were perceived as threats to the state church and government. Persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants, Anabaptists migrated and some came to the New World, many at the invitation of Pennsylvania’s William Penn. The Stutzmans and other early Amish pioneer setters-Millers, Hershbergers, Hochstetlers, Weavers, Troyers, Masts, and Schrocks-founded here what has become the largest Amish settlement in North America.
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This log building was constructed in 1801 by David Hoge on the west side of Third Street. It served as his home and was the first Federal land office in that part of the Northwest Territory known as the Seven Ranges. In 1809 it was moved and 12 years later encased in a brick structure where it was discovered in 1940. It has been preserved by the citizens of Jefferson County.
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Near this site scout Peter Navarre built in 1807 a log cabin close by an Ottawa Indian Village of 60 whitewashed cabins. Here he maintained friendly relations between white settlers and Chief Autokee. The 1833 Treaty of Maumee gave 320 acres of this region to the Indians who later sold the isle for $1,000. Presque Isle is now at the heart of Port of Toledo activity.
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To Commemorate the first church erected in Union Township, Miami County, Ohio, this log replica was constructed in 1976 by the Union Township 4-H Clubs and the West Milton area Camp Fire Girls. The Laura Lions Club established this historic marker which stands on the site of the West Branch Quaker Burial Grounds near the location of the original church.
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The construction of Putnam County’s first public swimming pool helped Columbus Grove weather the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Village of Columbus Grove planned the pool to provide much-needed jobs and recreational facilities for the residents of Putnam County. Between the fall of 1935 and 1936, local men (and two women) built the pool and shelter house by hand from rock quarried on site. The workers were not trained stone masons or cutters. Befitting their limited skills, the pool was built in a simplified Norman Revival/Rustic architectural style. Wages ranged from $.33 to $.55 per hour. The pool’s grand opening was July 1, 1937. That first year, adults paid $.25 to swim, and children were charged $.10. The Columbus Grove Municipal Pool was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
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Near this site in 1879, J.E. Newhouse discovered a magnetic spring in his park, Green Bend Gardens. It was found that a knife blade dipped in the water could pick up small metal objects like a magnet. The spring became known for its curative powers and was advertised as a treatment for ailments including rheumatism, gout, insomnia, and diseases of the kidneys, bladder, and nerves. To share the health-giving water, Mr. Newhouse opened the Magnetic Bath House, which became famous for its water cures. To reach a larger market, the magnetic water was sterilized and bottled and sold under the Magnetic Springs label. Advances in medicine after World War II led to the decline in the popularity of mineral baths.
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This monument marks the square of the village of Risdon founded 1832. The land was owned by John Gorsuch, who settled here with his family in a clearing along the Portage River in 1831. He had a plat of the area made by David Risdon, Seneca County surveyor, after who the town was named. This plat was officially recorded September 13, 1832. The village of Risdon had the first church and post office, and has the oldest house in Fostoria.
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Seville’s most famous residents, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates (1845-1919) and Anna Swan Bates (1848-1889) settled here in 1873. Their notoriety stemmed from their dramatic stature: Martin, a former Confederate soldier from Kentucky, stood 7 feet 8 inches tall; Anna, a would-be teacher from Nova Scotia, stood 7 feet 11 inches tall. They met on the carnival circuit in New Jersey in 1871 and wedded in England the same year in a ceremony orchestrated by Queen Victoria. (Continued on other side)
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