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Near this location stood the settlement of African American families known as “The Lett Settlement.” The Lett Settlement was a self-sustaining community of mixed race families, including the Caliman, Guy, and Lett families. The families had formed ties through marriage and common background during the mid-1700s in Virginia and Maryland. These early African American pioneer families came to Ohio as “free people of color,” and began acquiring land in Meigs Township, Muskingum County, and surrounding townships in adjacent counties during the 1820s. They were soon joined by the Brown, Clifford, Earley, Simpson, Tate, and Pointer families. The families of the Lett Settlement were land owners and tax payers in Ohio before the Civil War and challenged the State of Ohio for the right to vote and for access to education during the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. (Continued on other side)
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An October 23, 1927, ceremony was held for the laying of the cornerstone for the Dennison High School Building. It opened in the fall of 1928 and was called “Angel’s Castle” in honor of school superintendent William Hiram Angel. The building was designed by J.K. Griffin, an architect from Canton, Ohio, in a style that has the elements of Collegiate Gothic that was popular for school and college buildings during the early twentieth century. The distinguishing architectural features of the entrance towers enhance the school’s prominent location above the street level. Dennison High School is an important visual landmark in the community, as its towers are visible from the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. It has retained its integrity of location, materials, design, and association and conveys the early twentieth century ideals of education that the original design of the building was intended to inspire. (Continued on other side)
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Joseph Carter Corbin’s work in the Reconstruction-era south after the Civil War created many educational opportunities for African Americans. Corbin (1833-1911) was a professor, administrator, journalist, linguist, and musician. Born in Chillicothe, Ohio to free African American parents, he earned his bachelor’s degree and two masters’ degrees from Ohio University, in 1853, 1856, and 1889, respectively. In 1872, Corbin and his wife Mary moved to Arkansas where he served as the state superintendent of public education. In 1875, Corbin was appointed principal of Branch Normal College, which became the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. In 1898, he co-founded and became president of the Arkansas Teachers Association. He was also a leader in the Prince Hall Masons, an African American Masonic order. He served as a secretary and Grand Master of the lodge’s Arkansas chapter.
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J. Scott Garbry, a 1986 inductee into the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame, had a lifelong commitment and passion for conservation, historic preservation, and education. His gift of land and artifacts to the Upper Valley JVS led to the creation of the Willowbrook Environmental Education Center and Garbry Museum. He was also instrumental in providing land for the site of the Piqua High School and for Garbry Woods of the Miami County Park District. These gifts make it possible to appreciate and experience Ohio’s natural and historic heritage.
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Lorain County Community College opened its Abbe Road facilities on October 3, 1966, making it the first community college in Ohio with a permanent campus. At the time, three buildings had been completed on the 250-acre site-Engineering Technologies, Physical Science, and Mechanical Services. By the end of the Fall 1966 semester, three more buildings opened-College Center, Business, and Physical Education. Lorain County Community College has become a cornerstone of the community, contributing to the educational and social and cultural enrichment of all Lorain County residents.
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This site has long served the religious, education, and public interests of the residents of Mechanicsburg. A local Methodist congregation built its first church here in 1820, and the townspeople also used the structure as its village school. The Methodists replaced their original structure in 1837, using brick as the main building material. As the Methodist congregation grew, however, it was determined that a larger, more permanent structure was needed. As a result, the Mechanicsburg First Methodist Church was built here in 1858, and it served the congregation until 1894 when an African American based Second Baptist congregation purchased the building at a cost of $2,850. Besides religion and education, the site was also used as Mechanicsburg’s first cemetery. That cemetery lasted until the Maple Grove Cemetery was established and burials at this site were relocated there. [continued on other side]
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Born in Alexandria in 1853, Willoughby Dayton Miller received his primary education in a nearby one-room schoolhouse. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1875 and then studied in Edinburgh, Scotland. Later, he traveled to Berlin, Germany where he met an expatriate American dentist, Dr. Frank Abbot, who encouraged him to study dentistry. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1879, Miller returned to Berlin and joined Abbot’s practice. Two years later, he gained a research appointment at the University of Berlin where he embarked on a career that brought the science of bacteriology into dentistry. In 1889, he published his research findings of the study of oral bacteria and the process of dental caries (tooth decay) entitled The Micro-Organisms of the Human Mouth. For his work, Miller is credited as the first to accurately describe the process of tooth decay. (Continued on other side)
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The son of an enslaved father and free Black mother, Martin Delany became one of the most prominent Black leaders in 19th Century America. Called the “Father of Black Nationalism,” Delany promoted African American pride and self-determination. Delany was born May 6, 1812 in present-day Charles Town, West Virginia. Because education for Blacks was illegal there, his family moved to Pennsylvania. Delany studied medicine, founded a newspaper, the “Mystery,” and advocated rights for African Americans and women. He co-edited the “North Star” with abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Delany risked his life by demanding equality and by aiding Americans of African descent in their fight from slavery to freedom. (Continued on other side)
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