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Ervin George Bailey, who was born in Damascus, Ohio, invented the revolutionary “Bailey Boiler Meter,” a major contribution to the science of automation and the efficient burning of fuels. In 1916, he founded the Bailey Meter Company of Wickliffe, Ohio – a world supplier of industrial instrumentation and controls. Considered the “Dean of Combustion Engineers,” Mr. Bailey held more than 100 patents in the fields of meters, automatic controls, furnaces, boilers, and fuel burning equipment.
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Jacob Parrott who is buried here. Born July 17, 1843 in Fairfield County, Ohio. Died December 22, 1908. At 18 he enlisted in Company K, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was the youngest member of the famous Andrews Raid. The raiders seized “The General” locomotive at Big Shanty, Georgia, April 12, 1862. Captured and later exchanged, Parrott was the first recipient of the Medal of Honor, March 25, 1863.
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One of Ohio’s most influential politicians in the early 20th century, Washington Court House native Harry Daugherty (1860-1941) was widely known as a “President-maker” and served instrumental roles in President Warren G. Harding’s administration, culminating a long career in state and national politics. As Attorney General from 1921 to 1924, Daugherty established the first federal women’s penitentiary, recommended former president William Howard Taft to the Supreme Court, and ended a controversial 1922 railroad strike. Implicated in scandals complicated by the suicide of his assistant and fellow Fayette County native Jess Smith, Daugherty was eventually cleared in congressional investigations and two bribery trials, and subsequently published an insider’s account of the Harding Administration. Both Daugherty and Smith are buried in Washington Cemetery.
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The earliest highway signs along the National Road (Route 40) in Ohio were milestones located at one-mile intervals along the north side of the roadway. Each stone indicated the distance to Cumberland, Maryland, the eastern terminus of the National Road, and to the nearest cities and villages for both east and westbound travelers.
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In 1819, the State of Ohio formally recognized Shelby County, named for Isaac Shelby, veteran of the American Revolution and former governor of Kentucky. The first county seat was located in Hardin, but was moved to Sidney in 1820 to centralize county government. The corner stone of the present courthouse was laid on July 4, 1881. George Maetzel from Columbus served as architect and superintendent of construction. Modeled after the county courthouse in Licking County, the project was completed in 1883 at a cost of $200,000. Materials, such as limestone, sandstone, and marble arrived by canal boat. The French Second Empire style building has four symmetrical sides facing the four points of the compass, each side with pillared porticoes approached by broad stone steps. A figure of Lady Justice holding the scales of equal justice surmounts each facade. The roof is classical mansard, and the center170-foot tower is of galvanized iron, encompassing four clocks.
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Born at Oak Grove, prospected in the California goldfields in 1849. During the Civil War he raised a militia company at Racine, and was later promoted Captain of Co. K, 18th O.V.I. After the war, he served on the Racine Village council, Sheriff of Meigs County, and was a member of the Ohio General Assembly. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio Commission for the Chichamauga Battleground National Park, and served 14 years as Postmaster of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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At this site on July 4, 1825, Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, a Master Mason, turned the first shovelful of earth for the Ohio Canal. The ceremony was attended by area citizens and Master Masons. In the early 1840s James A. Garfield, who was to become 20th President of the United States and a Master Mason, led tow horses on the canal.
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The landscape of northwest Ohio was formed by melting ice and the glacial lakes left behind in its wake. Because of the low gradient (3 feet fall per mile) to the northeast, the flat lacustrine plain evolved into a large swamp. A massive swamp forest with huge hardwoods, broken only sporadically with intermittent wet prairies and savannahs, dominated the landscape. Both prehistoric and historic Indians farmed the flood plains of the Maumee River and its tributaries: Auglaize, Tiffin, and Blanchard rivers. (continued on other side)