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Born on April 18, 1913, in Barrea, Province L’Aquila Abruzzi, Italy to Salvatore and Maria (Lombardozzi) Campana, Mary Ann Campana immigrated to the United States with her parents at age eight. Raised in Youngstown and educated in the Youngstown Public Schools and Youngstown College, Ms. Campana was a pioneer in Ohio, National, and international aviation. In 1932, at age eighteen, she achieved the distinction of being the first licensed woman pilot in Ohio. On June 4, 1933, with only 44 hours of prior flying time, Mary Ann established the world’s endurance record in the Light plane class for a non-refueled flight. Flying above Youngstown in a 500-pound Taylor Cub Plane with a 40-horsepower engine and loaded with 40 gallons of gasoline, she flew for 12 hours and 27 minutes without a parachute, breaking the old record by one hour and ten minutes before electrical storms forced her down. (Continued on other side)
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The village of Bidwell, once known as Heatly, was surveyed in 1881 after the arrival of the Columbus, Hocking Valley, and Toledo Railroad. A depot (Porter Station) was soon built on this site for passenger and freight service. By 1900, Heatly was renamed Bidwell, in honor of John Bidwell of California, a Prohibitionist candidate running for the United States presidency. By 1906, a thriving railroad business, coupled with the efforts of J.K. Powell, Charles Heatly, and E.T. Morrison, caused land speculation to boom. The village soon included the Powell Tile Factory, the Morrison General Store, the Heatly housing addition, a post office (1881), a two-room school, a Methodist Church (1892), Mt. Carmel Baptist Church (1903), (Continued)
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William J. Knight (1837-1916) was born in Wayne County, Ohio and raised by his grandparents, Jacob and Martha Knight, near Farmer, Ohio. After the outbreak of the Civil War, William enlisted in Company E, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On April 12, 1862, the twenty-five year-old Knight participated in “Andrews Raid” as an engineer. Led by James J. Andrews, the raiders stole the locomotive “General” at Big Shanty, Georgia, planning to cut telegraph lines and destroy railroad bridges and tracks as they headed north between Atlanta and Chattanooga. Above Ringgold, Georgia, the raiders were captured. Eight were executed. Knight and seven others escaped from an Atlanta jail on October 16, 1862 and made it to Federal lines. Six raiders were exchanged in 1863 (Continued on other side)
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In 1796, surveyors for the Connecticut Land Company designated an area five miles square surrounding this place as Range 7, Township 7 of the Connecticut Western Reserve. A landowner’s expedition on June 15, 1798, arrived at the northwest corner of the township. One of its members, Thomas Umberfield (Umberville) brought his family to the center of the township (now Burton Village) on June 21, 1798. Here they built the first home, a simple log cabin located southwest of the spring at the end of Spring Street. The owner of the largest parcel of land in the township, Titus Street, was given the honor of naming the township. He named it after his son, Burton.
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Ohio University’s Peden Stadium is the oldest of the Mid-American Conference stadiums and one of the oldest of its type in the country. It was dedicated in 1929 with a victory over Miami University. The stadium served as housing for the influx of WWII veterans who enrolled at Ohio University following the war. On October 22, 1960, it was named in honor of former Bobcat head coach Don Peden who coached from 1929 to 1946 and compiled a record of 121 wins, 46 losses, and one tie.
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Union Baptist Church, established in 1819, is one of Ohio’s early Black churches. Its pastor and members were active on the Underground Railroad from that early date. Between the 1840s-1860s Black churches along the route to and from nearby Poke Patch assisted over 200 escaped slaves. Members met in their homes until able to obtain a log cabin (circa 1879) on a Blackfork farm. In 1919, a larger church was built on land given by The Cambria Clay Products Company. The adjacent cemetery has over fifty veterans from the Civil, Spanish American, both World, Korean, and Vietnam wars. Donald Russell Long, laid to rest in 1966, received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. Union Baptist Church, the historic foundation of the Poke Patch-Blackfork community, celebrates an annual Church Anniversary to honor its legacy.
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Fairfield County quickly mobilized after the attack on Ft. Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861 and the beginning of the Civil War. Parts of the county fairgrounds became Camp Anderson, in honor of Major Robert Anderson who commanded Fort Sumter during the attack. Enlisted men were trained there before being sent to war. Meanwhile the existing militia company- the Lancaster Guards plus new volunteers reported for duty at the Ohio Statehouse. They had the honor of being designated Company A of the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 1st OVI became the Capital Guard in Washington D.C.
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Rossville was settled in April 1801 shortly after the U.S. Government initiated land sales west of the Great Miami River. Its original proprietors–John Sutherland, Henry Brown, Jacob Burnet, James Smith and William Ruffin–named the town in honor of Pennsylvania Senator James Ross (1762-1847), who favored Ohio statehood and advocated free navigation of inland rivers. These founders envisioned Rossville as a shipping port for the rapidly growing population of farmers settling west of the Great Miami. The most practical outlet for their products was by flatboat down the Great Miami, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. The town of Rossville was founded in 1804, the year after the Louisiana Purchase, which made the Mississippi River a United States possession. (Continued on other side)