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8-86 Casimir Pulaski: Father of American Cavalry
Pulaski and Pulaski Township in Williams County are named for Casimir Pulaski, a Polish cavalry officer who died to win America’s independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. Charged with attempting to kidnap the king of Poland, Pulaski (1747-1779) fled to Paris and then to America in 1777, met General George Washington, and joined […]
7-86 Richard E. Schreder 1915-2002
Richard E. Schreder grew up in Toledo, Ohio and graduated from the University of Toledo with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was a decorated navy pilot and iconic aviation figure who helped shape the American soaring movement, international glider design, and competitive soaring and piloting flight strategies. He also made high performance gliders available […]
6-86 Cedar Hill Farm
The Cedar Hill Farm Homestead story began in 1864 when John Burchard purchased the farmland. It has been in the Kisseberth family since 1903 and gained centennial status in 2003. In 2008, the Ohio Centennial Farm of Cedar Hill became the first farm in Williams County to be accepted into the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s […]
5-86 Stryker’s Railroad Heritage
Like many nineteenth century communities in Ohio, Stryker owes its birth and early growth to the railroad industry. Stryker, named for Rome, New York, attorney and railroad executive John Stryker, was surveyed on September 19, 1853, beside the proposed Northern Indiana Railroad. For more than fifty years, “track pans” at Stryker allowed steam locomotives to […]
4-86 Rail Speed Record
In 1966 the New York Central Railroad Company (A.E. Perlman, President) proposed a test of existing rail passenger equipment to determine the feasibility of operating high-speed passenger service between cities up to 300 miles apart. The site chosen for the test was near Bryan, Ohio on the longest multiple track straight railroad line in the […]
3-86 Bryan’s Air Mail Field
Here, on September 6, 1918, Bryan’s Air Mail Field began operations as one of Ohio’s first official airfields with the arrival of a survey flight to establish air mail service between New York and Chicago. Scheduled service began on July 1, 1919, and stretched west to San Francisco on September 8, 1920, completing the 2,666 […]
1-86 Nettle Lake Mound Group / The Hopewell Indians
The Nettle Lake Mound Group consists of 4 low mounds overlooking a stream that runs into Nettle Lake. The mounds vary in height from 1 to 3 feet and in diameter from 18 to 30 feet. The mounds are composed primarily of reddish-brown sand (secondary mound) covering a layer of darker sand and loam (primary […]
10-85 Orrville & Judge Smith Orr / Judge Smith Orr Homestead
Orrville was founded in 1852 at the railroad crossing that would later serve the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago and the Columbus, Mount Vernon and Cleveland railroads. The town was named in honor of Judge Smith Orr, who was instrumental in bringing the railroad to Wayne County. Orr persuaded landowner Robert Taggart to partition ten […]
9-85 Zimmerman-Bury Octagon House
Zimmerman-Bury Octagon House. The Zimmerman-Bury Octagon House was built by Ezekiel B. Zimmerman (1843-1935) and Francis B. Hess Zimmerman (1848-1920) in 1883. Ezekiel graduated from Smithville Academy and was an avid reader. One of Ezekiel’s sons, Ernest Zimmerman (1888-1973), remembered that his father had encountered Orson Fowler’s manifesto A Home for All, or the Gravel […]
8-85 Charles W. Follis
Charles W. Follis was born on February 3, 1879, in Virginia. His family moved to Wooster where he attended Wooster High School and helped establish the school’s football team. In 1901, Follis enrolled and played baseball at the College of Wooster and played football for the Wooster Athletic Association where he earned the nickname “The […]