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A group of Freemasons, inspired by the concepts of a new country, of Freedom with Responsibility, Brotherly Love, and Truth, formed Harmony Lodge near this site in 1809, the first Masonic lodge in western Ohio. Meetings were held in the log court house, located on Lot 174, East Court Street, and also in Dayton and Springfield.
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Born here October 9, 1832. Attended Antioch College. Member of Mt. Olivet Masonic Lodge. Enlisted in the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and volunteered for the famous Andrews Raid. The raiders seized “The General” locomotive at Big Shanty, Georgia, April 12, 1862. Captured and executed, Ross is buried in the National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tenn. Awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor, September 1863.
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Simon Kenton who is buried here. During the Revolutionary War he frequently served as scout under George Rogers Clark and later praised Clark for his role in saving the Kentucky settlements. Kenton’s Indian captivity of 1778-79 acquainted him with the Mad River Country where he subsequently provided leadership in its development. Though a legendary frontier scout and rifleman, Kenton was never biased against the Indians.
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Urbana University was established by the Swedenborgian Church in 1850. Bailey Hall (1853), named after Francis Bailey (1735-1815), was designed by W. Russell West, architect of the Statehouse of Ohio. Bailey was an American Revolutionary War hero, official printer of the Continental Congress and printer of The Freeman’s Journal or the North American Intelligencer. He also printed The True Christian Religion papers. John (Johnny Appleseed) Chapman (1774-1845) distributed The True Christian Religion papers along with his famous apple trees throughout Ohio as a missionary for the Swedenborgian Church. Barclay Hall (1883) was named after Hester Barclay, a ward of Francis Bailey. It was Hester Barclay’s brother-in-law, John Young, who converted Chapman to the Swedenborg faith. Francis Bailey and Hester Barclay were the first male and female Swedenborgian converts in North America. Both Bailey and Barclay halls appear on the National Register of Historic Places.
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In 1942 Cedar Bog became the first nature preserve in Ohio purchased with state funds. Efforts to set this wetland aside began in the 1920s through the efforts of Florence Murdock and her daughter. Efforts intensified in the mid 1930s with help from Walter Brigham Evens, Jr., and finally came to fruition in 1941 due to the interests of Champaign County Common Pleas Judge Owens, Governor John Bicker, and Dr. Edward S. Thomas of the Ohio Historical Society. This relatively small parcel is an outstanding example of a prairie/fen complex known as Cedar Swamp that once covered 7,000 acres of the Mad River Valley. Approximately one quarter of the plant species in Ohio are found here. Cedar Bog also has a large number of rare species, two of which, the Small Yellow Lady’s Slipper Orchid and Prairie Valerian, occur in Ohio only at Cedar Bog or one other site.
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In 1897, a farm boy investigating the disappearance of water into a sinkhole in a nearby field discovered this system of subterranean passageways. Digging down a few feet, he found an opening to a cave that had begun forming perhaps several thousand years earlier during the Ice Age in soluble limestone bedrock that was approximately 400 million years old. Ground water dripping down from the cavern’s ceiling continues to form stalactites, stalagmites, and mineral coatings on the cavern’s walls, floor, and ceiling. A portion of Ohio Caverns near the discovery site was opened to the public in 1897, but that section closed in 1925 when a more extensive and geologically interesting part of the cave was discovered. Ohio Caverns is the largest known cave system in the state and is widely considered to be the most beautiful of all Ohio caves.
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Benson Road and the North Urbana Lisbon Road (SR 54) in Champaign County was the site of the 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches and the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts Field Days. The three-day event drew a crowd of nearly 75,000 and was headquartered in the woods of the Edwin (Ned) Kirby farm located a quarter mile north on Benson Road. The National Association of Soil Conservation Districts sponsored the National and Ohio Plowing Matches. The first national matches were held in Mitchellville, Iowa in 1939 and continued until halted by the start of World War II. They resumed in 1945. Ohio’s 1950 Champaign County-Union Township National Plowing Matches was the first “National” to be held outside Iowa. (continued on other side)
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Joseph E. Wing was one of the first persons to identify, promote, and grow alfalfa as a forage crop east of the Mississippi River. He developed his interest in alfalfa while in Utah, where he worked on a cattle ranch. When he returned, Wing began promoting the alfalfa culture, traveling among farmers in Champaign County and neighboring counties. Eventually, his travels, lectures, and study of soils, crops, and animals took him around the world. Wing also worked on the staff of the Breeders Gazette and authored many agricultural books and articles. In 1913, he hosted the first annual alfalfa picnic at his home, Woodland Farms. Over 3,500 people joined the crowd, including Ohio’s governor, James M. Cox. For his contributions to the alfalfa culture, Wing was inducted into the Ohio State Agricultural Hall of Fame in the 1940s.
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