32-78 The Ward-Thomas House / The Wards and the Thomases

32-78 The Ward-Thomas House  The Wards and the Thomases 00

Niles’ industrialist James Ward, Sr. built the house that shares his family’s name in 1862. The house has a low-pitched roof, wide, bracketed eaves, and rounded window and door openings, all characteristics of the Italianate style. John R. Thomas, another industrialist, acquired the house in 1887. His daughter Mary Ann Waddell, wife of Jacob Waddell, […]

31-78 Bristol Public Library, 1912

31-78 Bristol Public Library 1912 00

In 1912, an endowment of $6,000 from Andrew Carnegie made it possible for the Bristol Public Library to become a reality. Four years earlier, the newly organized Bristol Library Association, headed and promoted by retired Judge Norman A. Gilbert, had established a subscription book service at the Congregational Church in Bristolville with books loaned from […]

30-78 Vienna Township / Vienna Township Green and Cemetery

30-78 Vienna Township  Vienna Township Green and Cemetery 00

The Connecticut Land Company surveyed Vienna Township as Township 4, Range 2, in 1798. The Township’s proprietors were Ephraim Root, Uriel Holmes, Jr., and Timothy Burr. Survey members Dennis Clark Palmer, Isaac Flower, and Samuel Hutchins and their families were the first to settle here in 1799. Between 1810 and 1840, Vienna was a center […]

29-78 Southington Township Centralized School and Monument Park

29-78 Southington Township Centralized School and Monument Park 00

Southington native Newton Chalker built, furnished, and donated Chalker High School to his community in 1907. Chalker was born in 1842 in Southington Township and lived there until adulthood. He later built a prosperous law and real estate practice in Akron. Chalker’s dedication to improve educational opportunities in the township likely originated with his personal […]

27-78 The Underground Railroad

27-78 The Underground Railroad 00

Activity of the Underground Railroad is believed to have begun in Brookfield Township around 1838 with the first known runaway slaves, two women, to pass through in 1843. Freedom seekers moved north using a system of routes known by operators, or “conductors”. Trumbull County reputedly had over 150 miles of Underground Railroad routes, which would […]

26-78 Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal 1839-1872 / The Cross-Cut Canal in Warren

26-78 Pennsylvania  Ohio Canal 1839-1872  The Cross-Cut Canal in Warren 00

The decision to build the P&O Canal resulted from several canal conventions at Warren’s first courthouse in 1833. Canal advocates from Warren included Simon Perkins, Leicester King, David Tod, and Calvin Pease. Finished in 1840, this 82 mile canal linked two north-south canals, the Beaver Canal and the Ohio and Erie Canal, via an east-west […]

24-78 Fowler Township / Fowler Historic District

24-78 Fowler Township  Fowler Historic District 00

Originally called Westfield Township, Samuel Fowler purchased this area in 1798 from the Connecticut Land Company for $12,903.23 while living in Westfield, Massachusetts. His brother Abner arrived the following year to survey the land and separate it into smaller plots that could be sold to people wanting to settle here. A Revolutionary War veteran, Abner […]

23-78 Casterline Cemetery

23-78 Casterline Cemetery 00

Originally part of the Casterline farm, this cemetery was once the site of the 1824 Bazetta Presbyterian Church, the first church in Bazetta Township. Ziba Casterline deeded .75 acres for the cemetery to the church in 1829 for five dollars. When the small log structured church was relocated to Lot 55 in the township, the […]

22-78 Phebe Temperance Sutliff

22-78 Phebe Temperance Sutliff 01

Born in Warren in 1859, Phebe T. Sutliff received a Bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in 1880 and a Master of Arts from Cornell University in 1890. Miss Sutliff taught at Hiram College in Ohio and Rockford College in Illinois and served as President of Rockford College from 1896 until 1901. Returning to Warren, she […]