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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 1798, Henry Massie, brother of General Nathaniel Massie, platted a town, the earliest permanent settlement in Highland County, covering 400 acres and named it New Market after a town in his native Virginia. New Market served as the unofficial county seat until Hillsboro assumed that title in 1807. Despite being traversed by the Cincinnati-Chillicothe Post Road with seven other roads (including one from Manchester) leading in, New Market ceased being an active trade and civic center. It is now a small hamlet with a cluster of dwellings, a church, and a few businesses.
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Mary Ann Ball was born in this vicinity in 1817 and began her nursing career at age 20. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Mary at the age of 45 went to the soldiers’ aid. Ignoring rank, protocol, and allegiance, she pursued fearlessly and with inexhaustible energy her mission to care for the sick and wounded. Rebel, Union, and Negro soldiers all received the same attention. She risked enemy fire, especially through Grant’s Western Campaign and Sherman’s Georgia Campaign, to rescue suffering men, often going out at night to hunt for the fallen. When the victorious armies of the North were reviewed in Washington at the war’s end, “Mother Bickerdyke” road her faithful white horse beside the generals and colonels. Veterans along the line of march gave her the loudest cheers.
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The Bunker Hill House, previously the Bunker Hill Tavern, was built in stages between 1834 and 1862. The building is one of Ohio’s best representations of Federal-Greek Revival style “pike town” architecture. This architectural style is closely associated with pre-Civil War horse-powered turnpike transportation and lodging. The building was a way station for pioneers heading west and for drovers driving their animals to Cincinnati stockyards. It was also a stagecoach stop on Eastern Stage Coach Company’s Cincinnati Omnibus Line that operated daily between Cincinnati and Richmond, Indiana. Tavern operations ceased in 1858 due to decreased turnpike travel resulting from the newly completed railroad through nearby Camden. In 1862, a general store was established to supply the growing population in the area. The store closed in the early 1900s with the advent of the automobile, which made travel to larger, more distant stores viable. The Bunker Hill House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. (continued on other side)
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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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Old Wood County Jail 1847-1870. Built in 1847, during the Presidency of Polk, when Perrysburg was the County Seat, and used as the Jail and Infirmary until 1870. Continued to serve as the Perrysburg Jail until 1899, sold by the town in 1918. Acquired and restored by Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Hoffmann in 1954. Listed in the Historic American Building Survey and National Register of Historical Landmarks, Library of Congress.
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The Ottawa, or “Tawa” Indians had inhabited the Maumee Valley since the middle of the 1700s. By the 1790s, Ottawa settlements included villages along the Blanchard River at the present-day Village of Ottawa. During the War of 1812, Colonel James Findlay destroyed these villages because the Ottawa aided British forces. In 1817, the United States government established a reserve for the Ottawa in exchange for their lands in Northwest Ohio. The reserve encompassed a five-mile square area; its center was the intersection of the Blanchard River and an Indian trace near what is now Old State Route 65. (Continued on other side)
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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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