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One of Ohio’s earliest colleges, Alma College (earlier known as Alma Academy) was founded in 1818 and became Franklin College in 1825. Its founders were primarily of Scots-Irish descent who had settled in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio and were of the Presbyterian faith. Many nineteenth-century national and international leaders attended this school, including 8 U.S. Senators, 9 U.S. Representatives, 32 State Legislators, and 2 Governors. Notables include John Bingham, author of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and chief prosecutor of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassins; Civil War General George W. McCook; Ohio Supreme Court Justice John Welch; and Joseph Ray, publisher of the universally popular school text Ray’s Arithmetic. The slavery question bitterly divided the school, and its enrollment declined in the years following the Civil War. Franklin College closed in 1921, and its charter was later transferred to Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.
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In 1787, the construction of Fort Steuben was completed by Captain John Francis Hamtramck and soldiers of the 1st American Regiment, who were sent to the frontier by the United States government to remove illegal squatters and protect government surveyors from American Indian raids. The surveyors were platting the First Seven Ranges of the Northwest Territory. The surveyed land was sold for settlement or offered to soldiers as payment for military service during the Revolutionary War. Consequently, the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin were formed from the settlement of the Northwest Territory. Fort Steuben was named after Baron Frederich Wilhelm Augustus Steuben, who had served in the Revolutionary War and from which the town derived its name. Captain Hamtramck abandoned the fort in 1787 by order of Colonel Josiah Harmar, and by 1790 the remains of the fort had disappeared. Fort Steuben has been reconstructed on its original location.
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Maple-Dell was the home of John Butler, a Quaker who expressed his religious faith by working for humanitarian causes. An early Goshen Township teacher, Butler opened his home to orphans, the homeless, and runaway slaves, and devoted 20 years of his life to support the Freedman’s Camps for former slaves. One of the many individuals he sheltered was Edwin Coppock who was hung along with abolitionist, John Brown, after the raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Butler met with President Lincoln and Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton in 1862 to request exemption from military service for Quakers during the Civil War. In 1868, President Grant petitioned the churches to assist in organizing a peace policy for the Indians. Butler prepared and presented to Congress a proposal for treating the Indians humanely including providing them with scientific and industrial education.
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Originally called the James Thompson Inn, named for its builder, the son of Middlefield’s first settler, Isaac Thompson, the Batavia House is Middlefield’s oldest remaining structure. Built in 1818, the two-story wood frame structure was operated continually as an inn by Thompson until his death in 1877. It became the private residence of his daughter, Caroline, until 1907 when again it became an inn, functioning as the Century Inn until 1951. The one-story cement block portion was added circa 1950 to accommodate the weight of the heavy printing presses of the Shetler Printing Company, which occupied the building until 1983.
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This church was organized April 22, 1843, in conjunction with The Central College of Ohio on land donated by Squire Timothy Lee. The college, chartered in March, 1842, continued until 1892. This brick chapel was erected in 1870 under the leadership of the Reverend Levi P. Sabin, and was remodeled during the pastorate of the Reverend Robert B. Wilson, 1943-1953.
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At this site on September 17, 1952, an assembly of Louisville citizens led by Olga T. Weber joined U.S. Congressman Frank T. Bow in commemorating the completion of U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. With the goal of promoting a wider understanding of citizens’ rights and responsibilities, the Committee for the Preservation of the Constitution lobbied for both state and national observances. In 1953, Governor Frank Lausche proclaimed September 17 as Constitution Day in Ohio; subsequently President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the week of September 17, 1955 as Constitution Week. The committee, incorporated in 1962, has marked the anniversary each year since–making this Louisville tradition the nation’s longest continuing observance of Constitution Day.
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Simon Kenton who is buried here. During the Revolutionary War he frequently served as scout under George Rogers Clark and later praised Clark for his role in saving the Kentucky settlements. Kenton’s Indian captivity of 1778-79 acquainted him with the Mad River Country where he subsequently provided leadership in its development. Though a legendary frontier scout and rifleman, Kenton was never biased against the Indians.
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Port William is the birthplace of Gilbert Van Zandt, quite possibly the youngest enlistee in the Union Army during the Civil War. Born on December 20, 1851, “Little Gib” joined the ranks of Company D, 79th Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the age of ten years, seven months, and sixteen days. Barely four feet tall, Van Zandt served initially as the company’s drummer boy, and later as a courier for the regiment. Distinguished for his bravery under fire, young Gilbert saw action in the battles for Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and the Carolina Campaign. He was discharged from service on June 9, 1865, already a seasoned veteran at thirteen. Van Zandt died in Kansas City, Missouri on October 4, 1944 at the age of ninety-two.
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