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During the Indian Wars of 1790-1795, the United States built a chain of forts in the contested area of what is today western Ohio. These forts were built as a result of various tribes of the region attacking the encroaching American population as they moved north of the Ohio River. In October 1791, General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, set out on a mission to punish the tribes and on October 12, ordered his forces to build Fort Jefferson, the fourth link in that chain of forts stretching north from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to Fort Deposit (Waterville). Each fort was generally a hard day’s march of each other, and the site was chosen because of nearness to a supply of fresh water. The fort was named in honor of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.
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The Scioto Salts Licks, located in and around Jackson, is an area where naturally occurring salt water, known as brine, flowed to the surface as a salt-water spring. It is known that the spring existed since the Pleistocene Ice Age because numerous bones, probably including those of mammoth and ground sloth, were excavated there. Native Americans obtained salt here for at least 8,000 years and did so until 1795 when the Treaty of Greenville separated the Native American and European populations. Early pioneer settlers utilized the licks in the second half of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, constructing salt furnaces that extended for four miles up and down Salt Lick Creek. Salt was a precious and necessary commodity, and the early settlers in the area profited from its trade.
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Born in Piqua, Ohio, the Mills Brothers grew up and attended school in Bellefontaine. The brothers — John, Jr., Herbert, Harry, and Donald Mills — were the first African-American vocal group to perform on a national radio broadcast and achieve commercial success. Enjoying worldwide fame throughout their career, the Mills Brothers popularized such hits as “Tiger Rag,” “Paper Doll,” and “You Always Hurt the One You Love.” After the death of John, Jr. in 1936, the remaining brothers were joined by their father, John, Sr. In all, the Mills Brothers recorded over 1,200 songs.
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On this site in October of 1870 met a group of enlightened individuals dedicated to the reformation and improvement of penal systems. This first Congress of the National Prison Association, now known as the American Correctional Association, adopted a far-sighted philosophy of corrections. This philosophy, embodied in its Declaration of Principles, remains today as the basic guide for modern correctional systems.
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Administration Building built in 1931. Chapter House built in 1962. Commemorating American Red Cross Centennial, 1881-1981.
Early Western Reserve burial grounds, 1804-1848. Grave sites of 12 Revolutionary War veterans and Mary Chesney, member of pioneer Warren family and for whom local D.A.R. chapter was named.
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This historic village was a hub for early Ohio industry and travel. The natural geography of the area provided ideal conditions for the establishment of a variety of mills. Col. Robert Patterson, an ancestor of the founder of National Cash Register in Dayton, John Patterson, chose Clifton for the site of a woolen mill, which furnished material for the American army during the War of 1812. Davis Mill, established in 1802 and in operation today as Clifton Mill, produced meal and flour for Civil War troops. A major stop on the stagecoach trail, “The Accommodation Line,” which ran from Springfield to Cincinnati from 1827 to 1840, the village bustled with the commotion of travelers. The once flourishing industry of Clifton faded as railroad traffic bypassed the village and manufacturers left the area.
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The oldest commercial enterprise in Ohio, the Chillicothe Gazette began publication on April 25, 1800, as Freeman’s Journal and Chillicothe Advertiser. That October it became the Scioto Gazette, and Chillicothe has had a Gazette ever since. It is the oldest newspaper in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the second oldest in the United States. Its first publisher and editor, Nathaniel Willis, was a Revolution-era Boston printer who reputedly apprenticed under Benjamin Franklin. Under his leadership the Gazette became one of the most influential papers in the expanding West. It first reported news transmitted by telegraph in 1847 and began daily publication in 1849. The Gazette moved into this building, a replica of Ohio’s first statehouse, in 1941.
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Harold Hart Crane was born at this site on July 21, 1899, to Grace Hart Crane and Clarence A. Crane, the inventor of Lifesaver Candies, and lived here until the age of three. “A born poet,” according to e.e. cummings, Crane dropped out of high school in 1916 and moved from Cleveland to New York City to focus on a literary career. Mainly self-educated, Crane drew his influence from the writings of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. His major work, The Bridge (1930), uses the Brooklyn Bridge as the perfect metaphor to celebrate contemporary urban life. Uniquely lyrical in structure and full of imagery, it is considered one of the three major poetic sequences of the first half of the twentieth century along with T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and William Carlos Williams’ Paterson. Crane died on April 26, 1932.
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