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Just after 5:00 P.M on June 28, 1924, a tornado swept off Lake Erie directly into downtown Lorain. Within five minutes, seventy-eight people lost their lives. Fifteen died in the old State Theatre that stood upon this site, as an audience of two hundred watched a Saturday afternoon musical performance. More than one thousand suffered injuries. The tornado did extensive damage to the business district, destroyed 500 homes, and damaged a thousand more. The city’s largest industry, the American Shipbuilding yards, was severely damaged. The tornado, which had hit Sandusky before striking Lorain, continued along the shoreline and struck Sheffield and Avon minutes later. Contemporary accounts listed eighty-two deaths resulting from the deadliest tornado in Ohio’s history.
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The Wyandot called the Grand Reserve home nearly a century before Ohio statehood. They built houses, cultivated the land, and grew bountiful groves of fruit trees. They governed from the nearby Wyandot Council House and operated a productive saw and grist mill. Many sent their children to school and worshiped at the limestone church, built in 1824, and recognized as the first Methodist mission in the country. But Ohioans set their sights on Wyandot lands in the fertile Sandusky River Valley. State and federal governments were unwilling to allow the Wyandot to remain on their chosen homelands, despite their participation in American society and friendly relations with neighboring settlers. Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Wyandot were the last tribe removed from the State of Ohio in 1843.
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The village was laid out on August 18, 1847, by Benjamin Todd, and consisted of 18 lots in Section 26 of Pleasant Township. Originally named Pleasantville, it was incorporated in 1858 and the name was changed in honor of Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb, famous for defending Plattsburgh, N.Y., during the War of 1812 and later Commander of the U.S. Army. William Chapman was the first mayor.
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The current Preble County Courthouse, the third courthouse erected on this site, was designed by noted architect and Preble County native Harvey Heistand. Its cornerstone was laid on March 17, 1917, with a copper box containing a bible, historic papers, and other memorabilia placed under the stone. Upon completion, the building was dedicated on September 10, 1918, with three thousand people attending the ceremony. Designed in the Neo-Classical style, the exterior was constructed of Indiana Bedford limestone with ten immense columns that extend upward from the second floor. Above the colonnade, a dentiled entablature is inscribed, Salus Populi Suprema Lex, meaning “The health of the people is the supreme law.” The façade is enhanced with a bricked courtyard flanked by balustraded terraces. [continued on other side]
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Born in North Adams, Massachusetts on December 23, 1778, Caleb Atwater graduated from Williams College in 1804. He moved to Circleville in about 1814 where he organized the city’s first school board and served as postmaster and prosecuting attorney. His life and work as a teacher, minister, lawyer, legislator, and scholar greatly influenced early 19th-century Ohio. Upon arriving in Circleville, he became interested in local history and the nearby earthworks and in 1820 published his book Descriptions of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio and Other Western States, the first compilation of prehistoric remains in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Elected to the Ohio State Legislature in 1821, Atwater fervently supported canal construction. He also chaired Ohio’s first board of school commissioners and was instrumental in passage of Ohio’s Public School Law. For this, he has been called the “Father of Ohio’s Common Schools.” (continued on other side)
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Legend has it that Mogadore’s first settler, Ariel Bradley, was a spy for George Washington in October, 1776. As a nine year old boy, Ariel crossed British lines on a supposed errand to the nearest grist mill and returned with troop positions and tent counts. In 1801, Ariel left Connecticut to make his new home in what would be Ohio. In 1807, he built a log cabin on a 146 acre plot of farm land that cost $335. Until 1825 the new community had been named Bradleyville, but Ariel did not want the area named after him. Martin Kent was building a residence and a sailor, John Robinson, climbed to the top of the framework, pulled a flask of whiskey from his pocket. Breaking the flask on the last beam of construction, Robinson shouted “Three cheers for Mogador,” which is a large city in Morocco, thusly christening the area Mogadore.
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Findlay College was a joint venture of the Churches of God, General Conference, and the Village of Findlay. It was chartered on January 28, 1882, to provide a liberal arts education within a Christian context for all–regardless of race or sex. Old Main was constructed between 1883 and 1886 at a cost of $51,662.95. It was 171 by 107 feet, one of the largest college buildings in the state, and the only one heated by natural gas. The cornerstone was laid on May 25, 1884.
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Agricultural development and cultivation on steep lands led to severe soil erosion in the nation in the 1920s and 1930s. In response, the United States Department of Agriculture established the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) in 1935. The SCS established the North Appalachian Experimental Watershed (NAEW) in the hills of Coshocton County to study and develop methods of conserving soil and water resources. The Federal government and Coshocton County purchased 1,047 acres of land for the program and, in 1936, field research equipment was installed and buildings constructed. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided labor near the program’s inception, as did the Civilian Public Service Agency during World War II. (Continued on other side)