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During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government established the Civilian Conservation Corps, known as the CCC or triple C’s under the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program. Nearly three and a half million men between the ages of 18-25 were employed throughout the nine-year program and worked on projects that included road construction, flood control, reforestation, and soil erosion prevention and creating state and local parks. The CCC had other names like “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” “Tree Troopers,” and “Soil Soldiers.” CCC workers were paid $30 a month for a forty-hour workweek, with $25 of the salary being sent back to the workers’ homes. The CCC remained in effect until 1942 after the Great Depression had ended and unemployment was down due to the creation of jobs associated with World War II.
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The first road through Marion County followed the Scioto Trail of the Native Americans. This 120-foot wide strip through Wyandot territory led from Lower Sandusky (Fremont) to the Greenville Treaty Line. A confederation of Ohio tribes ceded it to the United States at the Treaty of Brownsville, Michigan, in 1808. During the War of 1812, the troops of General William Henry Harrison’s Army of the Northwest traveled this road en route to Fort Meigs and the British fort at Detroit, using it to transport supplies to the army and to the chain of forts and blockhouses that protected the road. After the American victory, this area was opened for settlement by the 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids, and soldiers who discovered the area while traveling the Military Road were among the first settlers. (continued on other side)
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Anson Williams visited Ohio in 1834 before he moved to Orange Township. A former resident of New York State, Williams purchased this site and the surrounding 1,000 acres of U.S. Military District lands and hoped to find opportunity for himself and his family. He bought the land for $6.00 an acre from James D. Wolf, who owned the 4,000-acre section three of Orange Township. The Village of Williamsville was laid out with 80 lots in 1836 on both sides of the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike. Williams built his home and a hotel with a store and tavern. A hotel and tavern, owned by George Gooding and where the stage changed horses, had already been established north of Williamsville. Competition may have led to Williamsville’s decline. A church was built in 1845 and remained until 1900. Anson died in 1847, and his wife Hannah passed away in 1851. Both are buried in nearby Williamsville Cemetery.
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Located 100 yards southeast of this marker is the boyhood home of Major General Charles Griffin. Born in 1825, he graduated from West Point in 1847 and rose to prominence during the Civil War. Griffin fought in most of the major engagements of the war’s eastern theater, including the first battle of Bull Run, the Seven Days battles, and the Wilderness campaign. While under his command, units from the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac blocked the Confederate retreat at Appomattox, compelling surrender. In recognition of Griffin’s service, General U.S. Grant designated him a “Surrender Commissioner” in charge of the capitulation of the rebel army. During Reconstruction, Griffin became the military governor of Texas and Louisiana, and was a vigorous advocate of the civil rights of newly freed slaves. He died during a yellow fever epidemic in Galveston, Texas in 1867.
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This 4-acre plot, established ca. 1860 by John Gee, is a burial ground for local colored citizens. John Gee was a religious leader as well as a skilled carpenter who built houses in early Gallipolis. Some Gallipolis colored pioneers were artisans while others came to work in the homes of French settlers. Leah Stewart, the first legally-recorded colored person in Gallia County, arrived in 1803. In this cemetery are the graves of numerous soldiers who served in this country’s military forces. At least 57 United States veterans rest upon this sacred site.
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On April 18, 1964, reservists from the 302nd Troop Carrier Wing at the Clinton County Air Force Base (CCAFB) and 2nd Special Forces Group (Green Berets) of Fort Hayes, Columbus were to undergo an Operational Readiness Inspection. In a flight of nine C-119 “Flying Boxcars,” the men were to execute a routine night formation paratroop drop. Airborne, the flight encountered worsening weather conditions and the lead plane called off the mission. Returning to CCAFB, two C-119s collided in mid-air and crashed about five miles northeast of the base, near the intersection of Stone and Melvin roads. Tragically, 17 of the 19 men aboard were killed.(Continued on other side)
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When inventor and entrepreneur Garrett Augustus Morgan sold his Traffic Signal patent to General Electric in 1923, he used the $40,000 to purchase a 121-acre farm in Huron County in 1924. Advertising “a village of our own,” Morgan established the Wakeman Country Club — one of Ohio’s early African American recreation clubs — and offered 247 lots for $60 each in “Wakeman Heights.” Located near the intersection of State Route 60 and Chenango Road, the development provided country pleasures to Blacks excluded from the Country Club lifestyle. Club membership, included in the purchase of a lot, offered fishing, hunting, swimming, and horseback riding. A restaurant, dance hall, and amphitheater provided cultural and boxing events. The club waned during World War II and no buildings from the once-thriving Wakeman Country Club remain.
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Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in this one-story, timber-frame home on April 27, 1822 to Jesse and Hannah Simpson Grant. The Grants settled in Point Pleasant the previous year, and Jesse took charge of the tannery located near the cottage. Now restored, the building remained in relatively good condition through the 1880s. In 1823, the family moved to Georgetown, Ohio, where Hiram lived until his appointment to West Point at age 17. Although reluctant to attend the Academy, Grant, now known as Ulysses Simpson Grant due to an error on the application, graduated in 1843 and was stationed at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, where he courted his future wife Julia Dent, with whom he had four children, Frederick, Ellen, Ulysses Jr., and Jesse. (continued on other side)