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Francis McCormick (1764-1836), who fought under Lafayette at the siege of Yorktown, founded Methodism in the Northwest Territory. His evangelical and pioneer spirit led him from his Virginia birthplace to establish churches in the wilderness, first at Milford, Ohio, then here, at his village of Salem. He rests with his family and followers in the nearby churchyard.
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General William Henry Harrison ordered the construction of Fort Winchester at the beginning of October 1812 and it was completed October 15. The fort served as a forward observation post and supply depot for the American army during the War of 1812. Until Fort Meigs was completed in 1813, Fort Winchester was the front line against the British and their Indian allies. During the siege of Fort Meigs, Fort Winchester was a rendezvous point for the troops of General Green Clay and those of Colonel William Dudley. Fort Winchester outlined the shape of a parallelogram, measuring 600 by 300 feet in size. Blockhouses anchored the four corners of the fort and within its stockade were storehouses and a hospital.
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The Great Geauga County Fair is the longest continuously operating county fair in Ohio. The fair is a major county gathering event each year, pulling together people from the whole county. Geauga’s settlers imported the idea of the county fair with them from New England. The fair’s parent organization, the Geauga County Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, began holding fairs on Chardon Square in 1823. Since then, the Geauga County Fair has served as a gathering place and form of education to promote local agriculture and introduce farmers to new farming developments and each other. Controversy arose between 1840 and 1854 after Lake County ceded and Chardon, Claridon, and Burton vied for the permanent fair grounds. Burton’s proposal was accepted, improvements began immediately, and the fair grew quickly. The Great Geauga County Fair continues as a time-honored tradition.
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The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College grew out of the Cannon Act of March 22, 1870. “But let it be started,” Governor Rutherford B. Hayes told the Legislature in 1873, “with the intention of making it a great State University.” The little college opened September 17, 1873 with a faculty of seven and twenty-four students. One academic building at first housed everything. The campus, remote from the city, was surrounded by some of the original forest. In May, 1878 the name was changed to The Ohio State University. It was after 1900 before it really began to realize its educational potential, and its major growth occurred after World War II. By 1970, the Centennial Year, the university had more then met the hopes of its founders. A leading university with great manpower and physical resources, it had earned high standing in many fields covering a wide range of educational and research activities.
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In 1927, Henry Abell, a master plumber, purchased a 100-acre dairy farm. When the Great Depression struck the nation two years later, Abell could find little work as a plumber and decided to develop his dairy farm. In 1934, he and his family began the Dairy, growing the farm to 500 acres and producing enough milk, ice cream, and other dairy products to supply five counties. The dairy closed in 1979, but today houses America’s Ice Cream and Dairy Museum, dedicated to the cultural history of the ice cream and dairy industry in Ohio and the United States.
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Lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling, erected in 1871 to replace the 1825 structures designed by Jonathan Goldsmith. From the time it guided early settlers into the Western Reserve until it was decommissioned in 1925, this station served Great Lakes shipping for its most important 100 years. The present, well-proportioned tower, constructed of Berea sandstone, is an outstanding engineering achievement.
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Two Deputy U.S. General Land Office Surveyors traversed Goll Woods: Benjamin Hough in 1815 and Captain James Riley in 1821. Hough (1772-1819) established the Michigan Meridian in 1815 and was county and state office holder in Ohio. Riley’s life was more tumultuous. Riley (1777-1840) captained the merchant ship Commerce, which wrecked off the Saharan coast in 1815. Riley and crew were enslaved for four months until ransomed by British diplomat William Willshire. In 1817, Riley published a famous account of his time in North Africa, and, in 1819, was appointed a surveyor by Surveyor General Edward Tiffin. Moving to Northwest Ohio, Riley named the village he founded in 1822, Willshire, for his deliverer. Riley returned to New York in 1826 and to the sea, where he died. Riley’s book went through more than twenty editions by 1860 and Abraham Lincoln credited the account as one that influenced him deeply.
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In 1764, Colonel Henry Bouquet established the site of what is now Coshocton. In 1811, the county was founded and the town incorporated as the county seat. The Coshocton County Courthouse, the third on this site, was built between 1873 and 1875 by contractors Carpenter and Williams of Meadville, Pennsylvania. The Second Empire structure features a five-story tower containing a four-faced clock and the bell from the previous 1824 courthouse. The courthouse contains a notable mural by artist Arthur William Woelfle depicting the signing of Bouquet’s treaty with the Indians near the Walhonding River in November 1764. The Coshocton County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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