Remarkable Ohio

Results for: natural-history-geologic-site
55 E Columbia St
Springfield

, OH

A. B. Graham, superintendent of Springfield Township Rural schools in Clark County, established the Boys and Girls Agricultural Experiment Club, which revolutionized agricultural education and non-formal youth development methods. The first meeting of the club, said to be the nation’s first farm club for young people, was held at this site on January 15, 1902 in the basement of the Clark County Courthouse. This was the start of what would be called a 4-H Club a few years later. Through the years, the overall objective of A.B. Graham and 4-H has remained the same: the development of youth as individuals and as responsible and productive citizens.

Just S of 108 S Defiance Street
Archbold

, OH

Henry Simon Winzeler, founder of The Ohio Art Company, was born in 1876 in the Winzeler family home just north of this site in Burlington. As a young man, he opened a dental practice in 1900 in the Murbach Building in Archbold on the corner of North Defiance and East Holland streets. Making a dramatic career change eight years later, Winzeler, inspired by an oval mirror in his aunt’s clothing store, started a company to manufacture picture frames. Calling it The Ohio Art Company, venture capital came from Winzeler’s Hub Grocery that he opened in August 1908 located on North Defiance Street. His picture frame company was opened in the Spoerle and Baer Building, a few doors down on the same street. [Continued on other side]

Mill Creek Road
Gallipolis

, OH

These three stone water towers were erected by local craftsmen in 1892 and serviced the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics until 1950. The sandstone of the uncoursed masonry walls was quarried from the surrounding hills. The hospital facility, a former Union Hospital site during the Civil War, was the first of its kind in the United States. The towers were restored in 1981-1982.

400 Delaware Ave
Marion

, OH

Jacob Foos, while surveying the Military Road north from Fort Morrow to Fremont during the War of 1812, dug a well at this site. General William H. Harrison and his troops, on their way to Lake Erie, camped here and drank from the well. This area was known as “Jacob’s Well” until the founding of Marion in 1822.

NE corner of S Mill Street and E Gorgas Street
Louisville

, OH

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.

101 S. Franklin Street
Richwood

, OH

The Richwood Opera House and Town Hall was erected in 1890 as a community center designed to house the town council chambers, fire department, jail and opera house. The Richardsonian Romanesque styled building served Richwood in all these capacities for nearly 75 years. The Opera House was the site of minstrel shows, concerts, movies, lecture courses, revivals, farmers’ institutes, commencements, and community meetings. The second floor gymnasium was used for a men’s independent basketball league, dance classes, and as a teen center after World War II. Construction of an interurban railway running between Richwood and the resort town of Magnetic Springs in 1906 provided an expanded audience for the Opera House. (continued on other side)

Beverly

, OH

On November 12, 1852, the riverboat “Buckeye Belle” exploded at this site. Twenty-four people died and a dozen were injured in the worst steamboat disaster on the Muskingum River. An eyewitness described the scene: “The bank of the canal was covered with dead and mutilated bodies and fragments of the boat and cargo.” Boiler explosions were a hazard of steamboat travel. The safety record on the Muskingum River was good. There are only two other recorded riverboat explosions on the Muskingum River. The “Newark” blew-up in 1847 at Rokeby, killing four, and the “L.C. McCormick” exploded in 1879 south of Beverly, killing one.

Bucyrus

, OH

Col. William Crawford’s army of 480 Pennsylvania volunteers passed near this site on June 3 to attack the Indians near Upper Sandusky. On June 4-5 they encountered a combined force of Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, and, unexpectedly, Butler’s Rangers, a British unit from Detroit. The expedition was a disaster; about 300 Americans escaped. On June 6, about six miles west of this marker, the opposing forces met again at the “Battle of Olentangy.” With minor losses, the Americans continued their retreat, reaching the Ohio River on June 13. Crawford was captured, and burned at the stake on June 11.