Remarkable Ohio

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100 Public Square
Somerset

, OH

The Sheridan monument was erected by and given to the Village of Somerset by the State of Ohio in 1905 to honor the memory of Somerset’s General Phillip Henry Sheridan. “Little Phil” was raised in Somerset and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1852. He rendered valuable service to the Federal Army in the Civil War at Stone’s River, Missionary Ridge, Yellow Tavern, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Five Forks, and Appomattox. He later commanded in the West and became General of the Army in 1883, received his fourth star, and died in 1888. The heroic sculpture, created by Carl Heber of New York, portrays “Sheridan’s Ride” to Winchester. Somerset citizens paid for the granite base through a children’s “penny fund.”

Just E of 42087 OH 154
Lisbon

, OH

This covered bridge, over Middle Run, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, is the shortest covered bridge in the United States still standing on a once-used public highway, having a clear span of 19 feet and 3 inches. It is an example, rarely found covered, of the simplest, most basic truss design, the two-panel king post truss. It has withstood the rigors of time and traffic since the 1870s and stands in eloquent testimony of the fine craftsmanship of the early Ohio bridge builders.

SW Corner of Main and Market Strets
Logan

, OH

Worthington (1773-1827), land developer as well as statesman, laid out the village of Logan, beginning on June 27, 1816, while he was Governor of Ohio. This lot was set aside by him to be used as a public market place. Worthington became a member of the Masonic Lodge in Cincinnati in 1799. He later helped to organize the first Masonic Lodge in Chillicothe. [Masonic Emblem]

17510 Road 8-P
Columbus Grove

, OH

The construction of Putnam County’s first public swimming pool helped Columbus Grove weather the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Village of Columbus Grove planned the pool to provide much-needed jobs and recreational facilities for the residents of Putnam County. Between the fall of 1935 and 1936, local men (and two women) built the pool and shelter house by hand from rock quarried on site. The workers were not trained stone masons or cutters. Befitting their limited skills, the pool was built in a simplified Norman Revival/Rustic architectural style. Wages ranged from $.33 to $.55 per hour. The pool’s grand opening was July 1, 1937. That first year, adults paid $.25 to swim, and children were charged $.10. The Columbus Grove Municipal Pool was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

27 S. Main Street
West Salem

, OH

The West Salem City Hall reflects a late-1800s municipal trend to house many civic functions under one roof. The fire station, jail, and council chambers occupied the ground level, while the second floor hosted a public auditorium, or “opera house.” Designed by native son William K. Shilling, later an internationally prominent architect, the Romanesque-style building was completed in 1899 at a cost of $9,077 and soon became the center of civic life in West Salem. Band concerts, vaudeville shows, town meetings, and graduation ceremonies were conducted in the opera house during its heyday before World War II. During the Cold War it was designated as a Civil Defense emergency field hospital. It remains a focal point of the West Salem community.

3186 County Road 550
Frankfort

, OH

Typical of many schoolhouses in the Frankfort area during the 1800s, this school, with its pot-bellied stove and flip-top desks, was part of the public school system of that era. The building and its contents have been restored by the citizens of Frankfort in conjunction with the Budd Company.

225 S. Columbus Street
Somerset

, OH

In April 1830 four Dominican sisters from St. Catherine’s, Kentucky, founded St. Mary’s Academy, the first Catholic school in Perry County. Bishop Edward Fenwick, first Bishop of Ohio, donated a small brick house and attached building situated on an acre of land for the school’s use. Classes began with forty students. The following year the sisters built a three-story structure with a dormitory for boarders; by the end of the Civil War, enrollment had increased to 134 students, and St. Mary’s gained recognition as one of the finest schools in Ohio. An 1866 fire destroyed the academy, and in 1885 the Dominican sisters reestablished the academy as a parish school. The present Holy Trinity School building dates to 1968.

450 Cemetery Road (aka Frey Avenue)
West Jefferson

, OH

On September 8, 1803, the year that Ohio became a state, the Associate Judges of Franklin County ordered that a road be constructed “leading from the Public Square in Franklinton to Springfield, Greene County.” This road came to be known as The Old State Road or Ludlow’s Road. On this spot in the summer of 1822, the Village of New Hampton was laid out, the road being Main Street of the village. New Hampton was the forerunner of West Jefferson. It fell into oblivion eight to nine years later when West Jefferson was developed along the National Road. All that remains of New Hampton is the cemetery and this part of the road.