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In 1820, Mark Evans, John Davis, and Jacob Waggoner acquired from Daniel Triplett an 18-rod-square parcel (approximately two acres) at this location on which to build the first school in Plain Township. Education was not publicly funded at the time and the first teacher, Jacob Smith, “kept” school for $1.50 per scholar. The fact that part of the school lot became a cemetery suggests that the log building was also used for church services, as was a log school a mile and a half east of here on Central College Road. (continued on other side)
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Dayton natives Hermene (1902-1986) and Josephine Schwarz (1908-2004) were pioneers of dance who founded one of the first regional ballet companies in the country. In 1927, they opened the Schwarz School of Dance, which eventually became the Dayton Ballet in 1978. Josephine’s choreography blended classical ballet traditions and contemporary dance, creating a fusion of styles that through her students and other companies shaped the development of dance in the United States. The sisters are credited with introducing organized dance to African-American and underserved children in the Dayton area. As part of the sisters’ legacy, Josephine created a fund at the Dayton Foundation in memory of Hermene to support Dayton arts and artists.
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In 1833, Archibald Smith (1803-83) began to build a sawmill a short distance east of here where a tributary enters Blacklick Creek. His work was soon destroyed, he wrote, by a “rise of water known as the great Fourth of July Flood.” Undaunted, he completed the mill the next year and used it to saw lumber from trees felled as he cleared land for cultivation. Archibald’s son, Dr. Isaac Newton Smith, described his father’s mill as the first on Blacklick Creek. Dr. Smith recalled four mills on Blacklick and one each on Sugar Run and Rocky Fork Creeks. These mills, he noted, received some of the best oak, butternut, chestnut, and walnut timber in the area. (Continued on other side)
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The Soldiers, Sailors, and Pioneers Monument was planned and promoted by Butler County Civil War veterans and financed by a county levy in 1899. The monument, built of Indiana Limestone, is near the center of the site of Fort Hamilton, built in 1791 and named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury in President George Washington’s cabinet. Featured, are two large, colorful windows that recognize the contributions of Butler County women during the Civil War. Featured speaker at the July 4, 1906, dedication was Governor Andrew L. Harris, a Butler County native and Civil War veteran. His name is one of the more than 4,300 carved into the interior marble walls.
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On July 28, 1838, the first and largest company of Mormon pioneers to migrate west camped along the Mad River near this site. Known as Kirtland Camp, the 515 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) appeared as a train of 59 covered wagons and 189 head of livestock stretching a distance of 9 miles. They were heading to Missouri from Kirtland, Ohio. The migrants fled religious persecution and sought new homes and religious freedom. They sought respite here during the journey. To earn money, the Saints accepted various jobs. These included building dykes and levees, and half-mile section of Springfield-Dayton Turnpike. The Saints resumed their trek on August 29, 1838.
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Here in the Oak Openings Region of northwest Ohio, some of the last Ottawa villages in Ohio lined the banks of Swan Creek during the 1830s. These Native Americans were led by Chief Ottokee (Autokee), a descendant of Pontiac, and half brother to another Ottawa Chief named Wauseon. Known for being honest and friendly, Ottokee was the last Ottawa chief in the Maumee Valley, for years refusing to go when the last of his people were removed to lands west of the Mississippi River.
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Ichabod Benton Miller purchased 440 acres in Anderson Township on April 2, 1796. The log house Miller built on his property around 1796 was continuously occupied for more than 170 years until the Anderson Township Historical Society purchased the building in 1971. The log house is located on its original site and is one of the few surviving structures built by the pioneers who settled the Ohio River Valley in the late 1700s. The house is named for the first and last families who owned it.
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In 1826, when Cleveland’s first cemetery closed, Cleveland village trustees paid Leonard Case Sr. one dollar for eight acres of land and dedicated it as the Erie Street Cemetery. Built on what became prime property, the cemetery touched off a century long struggle between residents and local government. In 1836, trustees allotted space in the cemetery for a gunpowder magazine and a poorhouse infirmary. Angry heirs of the original lot owners claimed infringement of covenant and sued Cleveland, but lost. During the early 1900s Mayor Tom Johnson’s administration tried to take back cemetery land and failed. Later pressure from the Pioneers’ Memorial Association and City Manager William Hopkins caused the planned Lorain Carnegie Bridge to avoid Erie Street Cemetery. Struggles to confiscate land ended, but the city neglected the cemetery. In 1939, The Early Settler’s Association restored the cemetery and erected a stone wall around it. (continued on other side)
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