, 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)
, OH
Thirteen African American families migrated to Pebble Township in Pike County in the early 1820s from Virginia. Some of the families were former slaves while others were freeborn people of color. Their farm knowledge and skill helped to make them prosperous, angering some of their white neighbors who began a campaign of harassment. Ten of the original African American settlers eventually moved away, but despite the difficulties with the white population, other African Americans continued to arrive to the settlement. They founded a church, later known as the Eden Baptist Church, built a meeting hall, and organized a school. Several of the families were also involved in the activity of the Underground Railroad. The PP Settlement thrived until the 1950s when, for economic reasons, residents moved to other communities.
, OH
William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 until death, 1952, began his amazing and strenuous climb to the top rung of labors ladder at age 16, in the Morgan Run Coal Mines in Coshocton County. Born in Coshocton County to parents of English descent, Hugh and Jane Oram Green, he learned their devout Baptist faith. Educated in a one room school house, he studied by coal oil lamp at night and was an avid reader all his life. Married Jennie Mobley, a Coshocton native on 14 April 1892. They were the parents of six children. Held his first union office in Local 379 at 18; then President of Sub-district 6; President of District 6, which included Ohio; Secretary-Treasurer, the United Mine Workers of America; finally, President of the American Federation of Labor. Member of Ohio Senate, 1910-1914; author, Workman’s Compensation Law of Ohio. Member of the Peace Treaty Commission after World War , the Board of International Labor Organization. Advisory Council to Commission on Economic Securtiy, and American Academy of Political and Social Science. Author, Labor and Democracy. Recipient, honorary degrees; Doctor of Industrial Science, Ogelthorpe University and Doctor of Law, Kenyon College. Active Baptist layman; dedicated American; a leader in drive for public education; awarded gold medal for distinguished service in promotion of Industrial Peace by the Roosevelt Memorial Association; received Award of Merit from Secretary of War Robert Patterson for leadership of American workers during World War II; awarded Certificate for Distinguished Service, National Foundation The March of Dimes.
, OH
In 1870, African American men in Circleville attempted to vote in municipal elections. Despite the recent ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, pollsters refused their votes on the basis that state law forbade them from receiving the ballots. The Second Baptist Church was the site of a meeting of 147 African American men seeking redress. Together with Republican leaders these men produced petitions that were sent to the United States Senate and House of Representatives. These petitions gave the Republican Party the grounds to introduce bills to enforce the Fifteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The passage of the Enforcement Act of 1870 imposed criminal penalties for interference with the right to vote and also helped to shift power and authority from the individual state legislatures to the centralized Federal government.
, OH
The first Northwest Territory assembly formally met in Cincinnati in September 1799 to initiate self-government. The legislators were deeply divided politically. The Republicans (antifederalists or “Jeffersonians”), led by Thomas Worthington and Edward Tiffin of Chillicothe, opposed the appointed government headed by the Federalist governor, Arthur St. Clair. They saw it as arbitrary and autocratic and recognized that change could occur only with statehood. To deter the movement, the St. Clair faction in 1801 divided the territory and removed the capital from Chillicothe to Cincinnati. Their actions triggered a violent confrontation led by the antifederalist Michael Baldwin who incited the local rabble-rousers, known as “the Bloodhounds,” to riot in the streets of Chillicothe. Both political unrest and advancing settlement accelerated the Chillicothe faction’s campaign for Ohio statehood.
, OH
Fowlers Mill (originally Fowler’s Mills) developed around a group of mills built in the 1830s on the Chagrin River. Opportunities from these mills led to Fowlers Mill becoming the commercial center of Munson Township. From the 1830s into the twentieth century, the community expanded with construction of churches, a post office, township hall, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, schools, and houses built in such styles as Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne. This type of community center was common in rural, nineteenth century America, but rarely survives with so much original fabric intact. On Mayfield Road, the Disciple Church was built in 1842. East of the church, the brick central school built in 1913 replaced earlier one-room schoolhouses. The gristmill is the only mill standing in Geauga County. The cemetery contains burials dating from the 1830s. The Fowler’s Mills Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
, OH
The first African-American to achieve prominence as a poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar was born and raised in Dayton, the son of former slaves. Working as an elevator operator while he established himself as a writer, Dunbar published his first book of poems, Oak and Ivy, in 1893. His third collection, Lyrics of a Lowly Life (1896) with an introduction by another Ohio-born author William Dean Howells, gained Dunbar widespread critical acclaim and popular recognition. Widely published in contemporary journals and literary magazines, Dunbar employed both turn-of-the-century African-American dialect and standard English verse to give a voice to the themes of everyday discrimination and struggles for racial equality. Tuberculosis cut his life short at age 33. Dunbar’s body of work includes twelve volumes of poetry, four books of short stories, a play, and five novels.
, OH
Mifflin was founded in 1816. Originally known as Petersburg, the name was changed in 1827 in honor of the settlers that moved here from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The first village jailhouse and crossroad watering trough are located here, on the grounds of the historic St. Michael Lutheran Church. Organized in 1835, the church built this house of worship in 1890. As early as 1810, stagecoaches traveled Mifflin’s main thoroughfare between Wooster and Mansfield, stopping at the watering trough, known for “the best spring water in Ohio”. In 1925, the trough was removed to allow room for the construction of the Lincoln Highway built in 1928. A Lincoln Highway “L” marker stands in the village today, in its original location, directing motorists eastbound.
614.297.2300
Contact Us
