Historical Markers in Champaign County, Ohio
A full searchable list of Champaign County Historical Markers is provided through www.ohiohistory.org (Remarkable Ohio).
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1-11 Harmony Lodge No. 8 Free and Accepted Masons
Get map 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. Back Text: Same Address: 222 N. Main Street, Urbana Location: 222 North Main Street |
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2-11 In Memory of Marion A. Ross
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Front Text: 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.
Back Text: Same
Address: W. Pike Street (OH 55), Christiansburg
Location: SW corner of W. Pike Street (OH 55) and Wilson Street, on the W side of Christiansburg
3-11 In Memory of Simon Kenton
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: Patrick Avenue (OH-54), Oakdale Cemetery, Urbana
Location: N main entrance to Oakdale Cemetery on Patrick Street (OH-54) and Bodey Circle
5-11 Bailey and Barclay Halls
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Front Text: 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.
Back Text: Francis Bailey's son-in-law, Colonel John James, donated ten acres to establish Urbana University in 1849. Johnny Appleseed was a frequent visitor to the James home as he traveled throughout Ohio. Because of his significant ties to this site, the Johnny Appleseed Society and Museum were established at Urbana University in 1995. The Society was founded on the belief that those who have the opportunity to study the life of Johnny Appleseed will share his appreciation of education, our country, the environment, peace, moral integrity and leadership. The Museum holds the largest known collection of printed materials on Johnny Appleseed. A cider press, which was owned and used by the James family, now has its home in the Johnny Appleseed Museum.
Address: 579 College Way, Urbana
Location: Johnny Appleseed Museum, Blue Knight Drive, Urbana University
6-11 Cedar Bog Nature Preserve
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: 980 Woodburn Road, Urbana
Location: 980 Woodburn Road
7-11 Ohio Caverns
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: 2210 E. State Route 245, West Liberty
Location: Located in the park at the entrance to the main parking area
8-11 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches
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Front Text: 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) Back Text: (continued from other side) The 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches featured a group of fourteen-Buck Creek Valley farmers who acted as hosts for the plowing matches where Urbana's two-time world champion Dean Wilson completed for a third title. It also featured a new activity known as "Wagon Trains," which involved Union Township host farmers who used 125 wagons and tractors to haul the crowds of people and farmers to view the plowing matches, demonstrations, and many conservation projects that covered 2,200 surrounding acres spread over 10 farms. The event also featured five parking fields covering 200 acres and an airfield on the south side and parallel to SR 54, adjacent to Benson Road, for the "flying farmers" who demonstrated seeding, fertilizing, and corn borer control.
Location: Benson Road & St Rt 54
9-11 Joseph E. Wing
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: Wing Road at Rosedale Road, Mechanicsburg
Location: NW corner of Wing Road at Rosedale Road
10-11 Mt. Tabor Church
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Front Text: The first Mt. Tabor Church, a log meetinghouse, was erected on this site in 1816. It stood on land originally selected by Griffith and Martha Evans for a graveyard at the death of their daughter circa 1812. Deeds show the Evans family gave two and one half acres of land "for the purpose of erecting a meetinghouse and establishing a burying site." Camp meetings, religious gatherings popular in frontier Ohio, were held on the hillside west of the meetinghouse. Simon Kenton was converted at a Mt. Tabor camp meeting in 1819. The log meetinghouse burned in 1824 and was replaced with a brick church on the same spot. In 1881, the present brick church was completed and dedicated. Back Text: The cemetery at Mt. Tabor basically surrounds the church on three sides. Although the date of death of Griffith and Martha Evans's small daughter varies according to county histories, it indisputably was the first burial in what was to become Mt. Tabor Cemetery. Veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II are interred in the cemetery. Harley Woodard, a local stone carver, furnished many of the gravestones. The cemetery is renowned for its three cast zinc monuments. Far more uncommon than the usual stone monuments, these hollow grave markers, with their distinctive bright gray color, were produced only briefly during the 1880s and 1890s.
Address: Across from 2427 OH-245, West Liberty
Location: Route 245, 1/8 S of Mt. Tabor Rd. Across from address 2427 on Rt. 245.
11-11 Warren G. Grimes
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Front Text: Raised in an Ohio orphanage, Warren G. Grimes (1898-1975) ran away after finishing the ninth grade and at age 16 went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He later became a partner in an electrical business where he was instrumental in designing and developing the first lights for the Ford Tri-Motor airplane. In 1930 Grimes moved to Urbana and founded a small lighting fixture plant, Grimes Manufacturing. The inventor of the familiar red, green, and white navigation lights found on the wing tips and tails of aircraft, Grimes, known as the "Father of the Aircraft Lighting Industry," also developed other aircraft fixtures, including landing, instrumental, and interior lights. Every American-made airplane flown during World War II was equipped with Grimes lights. Grimes served as mayor of Urbana and chairman of the State of Ohio Aviation Board. Back Text: Warren G. Grimes bought this parcel of land in the late 1930s to build a home on the east side and an airport on the west side. Opening ceremonies were held on August 8, 1943 when Grimes presented Grimes Field, consisting of one hanger and a small office building, to the city of Urbana. In 1961 the main runway was paved and lengthened to 3,200 feet. The Grimes Company used the airport extensively to test Grimes lights for aircraft, but the airport also offered charter service to area industries, people in distress, instruction, and certified federally approved Aircraft and Engine service. Grimes Field was a center for civilian flying and played an integral role in making Urbana one of the most air-minded communities in the country and the model for other cities planning municipal airports. In 2001 the runway was relocated and lengthened to 4,400 feet.
Address: 1636 N. Main Street, Urbana
Location: Grimes Field, 1636 N Main Street, just S of airport restaurant.
12-11 Kings Creek Baptist Church
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Front Text: The founders of what would become the Kings Creek Baptist Church first met on June 29, 1805 in the log home of local residents James and Ann Turner. The Baptist congregation continued to meet in people's homes until 1816 when Taylortown founder John Taylor donated an acre of land to establish a burying site and a meetinghouse. Constructed of logs, this meetinghouse is considered to be the third Baptist church built in Ohio and the Northwest Territory. The original structure was replaced by a more substantial brick building in 1832, and the present Kings Creek Baptist Church was built on the original foundation in 1849. The church features classic Greek design and a grand steeple inspired by the work of the English architect Sir Christopher Wren. An educational wing was added in 1969. (continued on other side) Back Text: (continued from other side) The Kings Creek Baptist Church and site is known for several prominent events. Richard Stanhope, an African American who served as General George Washington's personal valet at Valley Forge, was an early member. Church members also expressed a strong missionary spirit as they helped build fellowships in nearby Urbana, Mechanicsburg, Mingo, DeGraff, and Bellefontaine. Surrounding the church is the cemetery that opened in December 1819 with the burial of early church founder Ann Turner. Veterans of every American conflict from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War are interred here. The cemetery is one of the oldest in Champaign County while the church is the oldest Baptist church in the Western Baptist Association of Ohio and oldest house of worship in the county.
Address: 1250 Kennard-KingsCreek Road, Urbana
Location: 1250 Kennard-KingsCreek Road
13-11 John Anderson Ward Farmstead
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Front Text: John Anderson Ward had this Federal style house constructed from 1823-1825 on land inherited from his father, Urbana's founder Colonel William Ward. The Colonel's will stipulated that a local mason use 26,500 bricks to build the house and be paid $80.00. The original house is thought to have had four rooms, two rooms each on the first and second floors and both divided by central hallways. John and his wife Eleanor Ward reared seven children in the house, two of whom became nationally recognized artists, John Quincy Adams Ward and Edgar Melville Ward. The farmstead, consisting of 172 acres, was also the site of a huge feast held in honor of General William Henry Harrison's visit to Champaign County during his 1840 presidential campaign. Twelve 300 foot-long tables were spread across the lawn where thousands of people from the surrounding countryside dined on barbecued beef and lamb and drank barrels of cider.
Back Text: Two of John Anderson Ward's sons, John Quincy Adams and Edgar Melville, were born and reared here and both achieved artistic fame. John demonstrated an early talent for sculpting, using blue modeling clay from the family farm to create birds, animals, and buildings. At age 19 he left for New York City to study under Henry Kirke Brown, a renowned sculptor, and in 1861 completed the bronze statue The Indian Hunter for the city's Central Park. As a pioneer and leader in his field, he was recognized as the Dean of American Sculpture. Edgar specialized in paint and was known for depicting craftsmen and realistic everyday life. He trained in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux and is known for such works as Locksmith, Lace-Makers, Motherly Care, and Brittany Washerwomen. He went on to become the director of the National Academy of Design in New York City where he served for twenty years.
Address: 335 College Street, Urbana
Location: SW corner of College Street and S. High Street
14-11 General Robert Lawrence Eichelberger
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Front Text: Robert L. Eichelberger was born in Urbana on March 9, 1886, the youngest of the five children of George Maley Eichelberger, an Urbana lawyer, and Emma (Ring) Eichelberger. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1903, he attended Ohio State University and then was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Graduating in 1909, he was appointed a second lieutenant of infantry. Four years later he married Emma Gudger, daughter of Judge H. A. Gudger of Asheville, North Carolina. For several years, he saw service in Panama and the Mexican border before joining the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia. From 1918 to 1920 Major Eichelberger observed the Japanese incursion into Siberia and became aware of Japanese methods. In 1940 he was appointed Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point where he established regular courses to include flight training for Flying Army Officers. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] With the beginning of World War II, Major General Eichelberger became Commanding General of I Corps and left for Australia. While there General MacArthur gave him orders, saying "Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive." Eichelberger defeated the Japanese on Buna as well as Hollandis and Biak with his joint Australian American Corps. As commanding General of the Eighth Army, he led the invasion of the Philippines. In August 1945 Eichelberger's Eighth Army occupied Japan to rebuild the nation. During his career he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Retiring in 1948, Congress, in recognition of his service, promoted Eichelberger to General in 1954. General Eichelberger died on September 26, 1961 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Address: 907 Scioto Street-Marker was inadvertently numbered 11-14 instead of 14-11, Urbana
Location: SE corner of Ames Avenue and Scioto Street
15-11 Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway
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Front Text: The Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway (DS&U) was an "Interurban" rail system that ran between the cities of Urbana, Springfield and Dayton. Its beginning can be traced to the franchise given to William H. Hanford to operate a single line of electrical railway between Springfield and the southern boundary of Champaign County in 1895. Hanford then sold his rights to John G. Webb of Springfield and Colonel Frederich Colburn of Kentucky, who along with other syndicate members formed the Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway. In 1897 Boston promoter Arthur E. Appleyard joined the syndicate and brought investment monies, organizational skills, and energy to the venture. He quickly became managing director/treasurer and the real driving force of the DS&U. The railway was organized into two divisions. One operated between Dayton and Springfield and the other between Springfield and Urbana. [continued on other side] Back Text: [continued from other side] The Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway ran on 600 volts of direct electrical current with power generated from a 24,600-volt plant located in Medway. To sustain the current over the track's length, several "booster" stations were constructed along the line. The initial run took place on February 14, 1900 between Springfield and Dayton. Regular passenger service on the Urbana division opened on March 3, 1901. Trolley cars carried freight, livestock, and passengers at speeds of 60 miles per hour. Interurban lines were popular due to reduced noise, smoke, and soot compared to steam powered railways. They could also be "flagged down" for pick up along the line. On October 29, 1938, motorman Hal Angell drove the last railway's run. This corner was the site of a DS&U substation that also served as a ticket office, waiting room, maintenance garage, and living quarters for the operator and his family.
Address: W. Market Street, Urbana
Location: N side of W. Market Street, just W of S. Main Street
16-11 Addison White
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Front Text: Congress passed Fugitive Slave Laws in 1793 and 1850, allowing federal marshals to arrest slaves that had escaped to the North and take them back to their southern owners. They could also arrest northerners suspected of aiding runaway slaves. These laws were contested throughout the North, including Ohio where one case received national press. It involved escaped slave Addison White who arrived in Mechanicsburg in August 1856. There he met abolitionist Udney Hyde and stayed at his farm while Hyde recovered from a leg injury. White's master Daniel White learned of his location and went to Mechanicsburg in April 1857 with federal marshals. When attempting to take Addison and arrest Hyde on grounds of violating the Fugitive Slave Law, Hyde's daughter ran to town and brought back residents with pitchforks and shovels to fight the marshals. Fearing for their lives, the marshals left, but came back to arrest the men who protected White. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] Arresting Charles Taylor, Edward Taylor, Russell Hyde, and Hiram Gutridge, the marshals, saying they were taking the men into Urbana for a preliminary trial on charges of harboring and protecting a fugitive slave, instead headed south to Kentucky. Learning of the arrests, a large number of Champaign County citizens set off on horseback to free their neighbors. The Clark County sheriff joined in the pursuit, but was shot near South Charleston when trying to stop the marshals. The running battle ended in Lumberton near Xenia when the Greene County sheriff arrested the marshals. The case was finally settled when the people of Mechanicsburg paid $900 for Addison White's freedom. During the Civil War White joined the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and returned to Mechanicsburg after the war to work for the city's Street Department He and his second wife Amanda are buried in the nearby Maple Grove Cemetery.
Address: 2 S. Main Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: Citizen's National Bank, E. Sandusky Street side
17-11 William Owen
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Front Text: Virginia native William Owen, 1769-1821, is credited with being the first American to settle in Mad River Township, Champaign County sometime between 1797-1799. He and his family built a cabin in the northeast quarter of Section 15 directly west of this marker. Later he purchased 240 acres on which the cabin stood for $1.00 an acre from William Ward, founder of Urbana. Accused of being an eccentric, Owen was known for strong language and long oration during times of stress. Owen also raised swine and was called Kosko Elene or Hogman by the local Shawnee Indian population who were known to have taken a few piglets when Owen was not around. Owen and his wife reared eight children and both are interred in the family pioneer cemetery in the woods to the west. Back Text: Same
Address: 2100 S. State Route 560, Urbana
Location: 2100 S State Route 560
18-11 Harvey Haddix
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Front Text: Baseball great Harvey Haddix was born on September 18, 1925, and grew up on a farm just south of Westville. He attended Westville School until March 1940 and played his first organized baseball at this site. Entering Major League Baseball in 1952, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Baltimore Orioles in a career that lasted until 1965. In 1959, while with Pittsburgh, he pitched what some believe to be the greatest game ever pitched in baseball as he hurled 12 perfect innings against the defending National League champion Milwaukee Braves. He lost the game by a score of 1-0 in the 13th inning. A three-time All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner, he won two World Series games in 1960, including the deciding Game 7, while playing with Pittsburgh against the New York Yankees. He died on January 8, 1994, and is buried in Catawba, Ohio. Back Text: Same
Address: 4194 W US Highway 36, Westville
Location: 4194 W US Highway 36
19-11 Second Baptist Church
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Front Text: 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]
Back Text: [continued from other side] From 1894, from the time that the Second Baptist Church purchased this property, the congregation prospered. In 1895 the Baptist Association of Ohio organized a Baptist State Convention, which was held here the following year. In 1897 the Reverend Elmer W. B. Curry, who believed that racial issues in America could only be settled gradually, established a school in the Tuskegee tradition in the Second Baptist Church. It was named the Curry Institute, but later moved to Urbana. In 1936 a fire, sparked by flames from Culbertson Buggy Works next door, damaged the church steeple forcing removal of the 1859 800-pound bell to be relocated to the more substantial Mechanicsburg School Building. The smaller and lighter School Building bell was given as replacement to the Second Baptist Church. The building is the oldest church in Mechanicsburg and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Address: 43 E. Sandusky Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: 43 E. Sandusky Street
20-11 Friends Church
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Front Text: Among the earliest settlers to Rush Township were members of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, who emigrated from the eastern states, mostly Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At first religious services were held in the homes of devout Quakers who in turn built a small-framed meeting house on this site in 1842. The present Friends Church replaced the original structure in the 1870s at a cost of $4,245. Although not a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church supported local ardent Abolitionists who helped runaway slaves reach freedom in Canada. An epidemic during the winter of 1850-1851 reduced the Friends' membership and led to several Quaker families relocating to Iowa. The final religious service was held here on October 26, 1997, after which the church was donated to the village of North Lewisburg.
Back Text: The cemetery of the Quaker Church lies to the west of this building and was used from circa 1846 through circa 1885. It was one of the earliest cemeteries in Champaign County with the first recorded burial being Moses Winder on August 5, 1846, and the last recorded burial on May 18, 1885 of Caroline S. Pim. Among those interred here are Civil War veteran William W. Fell, the first marshal of Lewisburg Harmon Limes, and one of the first trustees to serve Lewisburg Abner Winder Jr. As the church membership dwindled, the upkeep of the cemetery proved difficult and fell into neglect and disrepair. As with the Friends Church, the village of North Lewisburg took over ownership of the cemetery when it was donated in 1997.
Address: 141 Winder Street, North Lewisburg
Location: SW corner of Winder St. and W. Elm St.
21-11 The Johnson Manufacturing Company G
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Front Text: The Johnson Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1902 by brothers James B., J. Will, Isaac T., and Charles F. Johnson, all of Quaker heritage. The company manufactured tin and galvanized iron ware for railroad lines across the United States. The initial product was the No. 1 long-spouted locomotive oiler with the patented dripless spout. That was quickly followed by other types of oil cans, signaling equipment, engine buckets, tallow pots, torches, track inspection devices, tin cups, and caboose and cabin car lamps, all carrying the Diamond J trademark. The makers created the patterns and everything was cut, riveted, and soldered by hand. As production expanded, the original frame building at 605 Miami Street was replaced by a brick structure in 1910, the southernmost part of the present building. (continued on other side)
Back Text: (continued from other side) Subsequent additions expanded capacity and the Johnson Manufacturing Company became a national leader in the manufacture of railroad operating supplies. During the Great Depression, the Roll Rite cigarette roller, poultry waterers, and hygrometers were produced from patented Johnson designs. About 1939, the firm turned from railroads to the trucking industry, designing and manufacturing air and vacuum reservoirs for brake systems. In the 1970s, during the presidency of Charles F. Johnson III, the historic original building was restored, a product museum created, the 75th anniversary of the firm celebrated, and a permanent collection of original art, including work by Champaign County artists, hung in the firm's offices to honor the heritage of the company and the community.
Address: 605 Miami Street, Urbana
Location: The Johnson Manufacturing Company, abandoned and overgrown.
22-11 A.B. Graham
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Front Text: Albert B. "A.B." Graham was born in Champaign County on March 13, 1868, the son of Joseph and Esther Graham. He was raised in a small rural home, but a fire destroyed the house in 1879, and the family moved to Lena where Graham attended local schools, graduating at age 17. After attending the National Normal University in Lebanon, he returned to Champaign County where he taught, then became principal, and later an innovative superintendent. Graham also was enthusiastic about teaching children the values of rural and farm living and while teaching developed a youth agricultural club, which eventually became known as the 4-H Club. In July 1905 Graham became the superintendent of Agricultural Extension at the Ohio State University. The Graham School District near Lena was named for A.B. Graham. He delivered the dedication speech at Graham High School in December 1957 and said that schools were meant to build "human souls." Back Text: Same
Address: 7800 W US Hwy 36, St. Paris
Location: Graham High School, E of St. Paris on US 36
23-11 James Roy Hopkins
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Front Text: James R. Hopkins was born May 17, 1877, in Irwin and graduated from Mechanicsburg High School in 1895. As a child, he gained exposure to art through his mother, Nettie, an accomplished self-taught water colorist. Hopkins enrolled at The Ohio State University to study electrical engineering, but realized a strong desire to study art. In 1898, Hopkins entered the Art Institute of Cincinnati, studying under noted artist Frank Duveneck and acquiring the academic draftsmanship that is prevalent in his work. After two years, he moved to New York City to work as a medical illustrator. To hone his skills, Hopkins moved to Paris, enrolling in the Academy Colarossi and opening a studio at 55 Rue de Dantzig. Hopkins flourished in Paris, marrying Edna Boies, who he had met at the Cincinnati Art Institute, and establishing friendships with such French Impressionists as Pierre Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] While in Paris, James Hopkins was accepted as an Associate in the Societe Nationale des Beaux making him one the period's few American figure painters considered talented enough to exhibit in the Salon's prestigious shows. With his wife Edna, a noted artist in the revival of the wood-block print, Hopkins traveled to Egypt, Italy, China, Japan, and Ceylon, which greatly influenced the designs incorporated in his art. Upon return to the United States, Hopkins briefly taught at the Cincinnati Art Institute before being appointed chairman of the Department of Fine Arts at Ohio State University where he served in that capacity until 1947. Hopkins retired to the family farm "Darbyland" near Mechanicsburg where he died January 23, 1969. As a gifted human figure painter and an able academic administrator, James Hopkins is noted for his pioneering regional paintings of the Cumberland Mountain people.
Address: 60 S Main St, Mechanicsburg
Location: Mechanicsburg Public Library
24-11 Lincoln Funeral Train
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Front Text: President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. On its way the Funeral Train stopped in Columbus and Lincoln's coffin was moved to the Statehouse Rotunda for a day-long viewing. From Columbus Governor John Brough and others changed the train's route, which resulted in a trip through Champaign County where it stopped several times. The Funeral Train arrived in Woodstock on April 29 at 9:46 p.m. for a brief ceremony and to take on fuel and water. With nearly 500 people present, bouquets were laid on Lincoln's coffin. The Woodstock Cornet Band, led by Warren U. Cushman, played hymns of grief, including "Pleyel's Hymn." Village bells rung and silent men and women stood as the train departed and traveled downhill toward Cable and Urbana. Back Text: Same
Address: West Bennett, Woodstock
Location: Village of Woodstock Cemetery, Urbana-Woodstock Pike
25-11 Mechanicsburg United Methodist Church
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Front Text: The Mechanicsburg United Methodist congregation was founded in the early nineteenth century and met first in open-air camp meetings before moving into a small log school building. In 1820 the congregation built a wood framed church on East Sandusky Street and that building was replaced with a brick structure in 1838. The congregation split in 1853 into Trinity Methodist and First Methodist with both groups serving the village of Mechanicsburg for 103 years before coming back together in 1956. The current United Methodist Church was built in the early 1890s and dedicated in 1894 on the corner of Main and Race Streets. The Gothic Revival style church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Back Text: Same
Address: 42 N. Main Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: Mechanicsburg United Methodist Church
26-11 Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
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Front Text: The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company was chartered by the State of Ohio in January 1832 to connect west central Ohio with northern Ohio and Lake Erie. It was the first company to be incorporated for railroad purposes in the state. Construction started in Sandusky in 1835. By June 1849, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was completed to Springfield. Through a series of mergers, the railroad became known as the Big Four Railroad in 1890. It came under control of the New York Central Railroad in 1905. As the railroad industry consolidated, ownership transferred from New York Central to Penn Central and then to Conrail. In 1994, the West Central Ohio Port Authority, a special purpose district established by the boards of county commissioners of Champaign, Clark, and Fayette counties, acquired the railroad track to ensure that freight service would continue. Back Text: Same
Address: Miami Street (US 36), Urbana
Location: Just W of WESTCO Bridge over Miami Street (US 36), E of Storms Avenue on S side of Miami St.
27-11 Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
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Front Text: Champaign County residents Joseph Vance (1786-1852) and John H. James (1800-1881) were among the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad's first officers, serving as president and treasurer, respectively. Vance emerged as a leader in the War of 1812 and, in the same year, was elected to public office. In 1836, Vance resigned as president of the railroad to become the twelfth governor of Ohio. Finances for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad were obtained in large measure through the efforts of Urbana resident John H. James, a prominent attorney, politician, and banker. As treasurer, James managed a grant of $200,000 provided by the state with the 1832 charter and other state loans of credit. James became president of the railroad in 1836, serving in a dual capacity of president and treasurer until 1842, when James Vance again became president. Back Text: Same
Address: Miami Street (US 36), Urbana
Location: Just E of WESTCO Bridge over Miami Street (US 36), E of Storms Avenue on N side of Miami St.
28-11 Lincoln Funeral Train
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Front Text: President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. As the nine-car Lincoln Funeral Train passed through Champaign County, U.S. military forces secured curves, bridges, and railroad crossings along the route and spiked switches closed to insure the train's safety. The Funeral Train passed through the Village of Cable at 10:13 p.m. 150 feet southeast of here. As a large crowd assembled around several large bonfires, a lone soldier stood alone in the rain in the center of the crowd holding an American flag. Many residents stood silently along the tracks, hillsides, and valley fields, soaked in their wet clothes waiting to pay their respects to the fallen president. After Cable, the Funeral Train continued west and downhill toward Urbana, Westville, and St. Paris. Back Text: Same
Address: 3630 Innskeep Road, Cable
Location: S of Wayne Township Building, N of Cable
29-11 Billy "Single" Clifford
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Front Text: Clyde Shyrigh, better known as Billy Clifford, was born in this house on January 24, 1869, to Levi and Sarah Shyrigh. Coming from a musical family, he developed an early interest in music and practiced with the family in the barn behind the house. At the age of ten, Clifford joined the circus when it was in town and played the snare drum, sold tickets, and eventually performed a song and dance routine. A leading vaudevillian of his time, Clifford once performed with Buster Keaton and went on to act with the best troupes in New York City, Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond, and Europe. Eventually, he created his own company of performers, including an all-girl orchestra. Clifford died in this house on November 20, 1930, and is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Urbana.
Back Text: In 1905, Billy Clifford built the Clifford Theater, now the Urbana Cinema, on the spot where his family's barn stood on South Main Street. That was the same year motion pictures were first shown in Urbana. Built at a cost of $75,000, the theater was the first building in Urbana constructed solely for theatrical purposes. The ground level was large with an eighty-foot stage; the theater held an audience of 700. The building had three floors each with separate exit doors. While visiting Columbus and Dayton, Clifford and his troupe traveled to Urbana using Clifford's private railcar. A separate railcar transported the scenery and baggage. In addition to Clifford and his troupe, the theater hosted performances by such noted entertainers as John Philip Sousa and his band. Fire destroyed the Clifford Theater years later, taking with it most of Clifford's personal belongings.
Address: 114 W Water St-This marker has been temporarily removed, Urbana
Location: Homestead of Billy Clifford
30-11 Pennsylvania Railroad Depot
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Front Text: Construction of the Columbus, Piqua, and Indiana Central Railroad started in 1850 and was finished in 1854. Later referred to as the "Panhandle Railroad," it ran from Columbus to Bradford. During the Civil War, the line carried supplies and troops and it was extended from Bradford to Richmond, Indiana. President Lincoln's funeral train traveled the route on April 29, 1865. Eventually, three railway lines crossed Urbana: the Big Four, the Pennsylvania, and the Erie. "Corn brooms," woolen cloth, horse carriages, and tinware were shipped by railroad to national markets and regular passenger service carried residents to destinations across the country, including Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and Washington, D.C. (Continued on other side)
Back Text: (Continued from other side) The Pennsylvania Railroad built a new station in Urbana in 1894. The firm of Packard and Yost from Columbus, the architects of the Urbana Presbyterian Church, designed the station. Inside were a ticket office, bathrooms, central fireplace, and separate waiting rooms: one for men and another for women and children. The depot was also conveniently located near stations of other railroads serving Urbana, the Big Four and the Erie and is 46.751 miles from Columbus. In 1976, the station became part of the Conrail System. Since then, several businesses had occupied the depot until the Simon Kenton Pathfinders purchased it and sold it to the City of Urbana in a partnership to provide amenities for users of the Simon Kenton Trail. The newly restored depot was rededicated in 2007.
Address: 644 Miami St, Urbana
Location: Pennsylvania Railroad Depot
31-11 President Lincoln's Funeral Train in Urbana
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Front Text: The nine-car funeral train for President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865. It arrived in Urbana on April 29 at 10:40 p.m. Urbana's citizens erected an arch of evergreens and flowers near the station west of Main Street. A large crowd of mourners received the train. The arch was hastily removed, too narrow to allow the train's passage. Other memorial gestures included a large cross, entwined with evergreen wreaths. Back Text: The cross was mounted on the station platform under the direction of the president of Ladies Soldiers Aid Society, Mrs. Milo G. Williams. Forty citizens from different churches sang "Go to Thy Rest." Ten young ladies entered the funeral car and strewed flowers on Lincoln's coffin. The train departed, heading west across the Mad River Valley, through Rice, Westville, and up the Blue Hill to St. Paris On May 3, the train reached Springfield, Illinois; the president's funeral was May 4.
Address: Simon Kenton Trail, Urbana
Location: Simon Kenton Trail, just SW of the N. Main Street and Fyffe Street intersection
31-11 Universalist Church
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Front Text: The nine-car funeral train for President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865. It arrived in Urbana on April 29 at 10:40 p.m. Urbana's citizens erected an arch of evergreens and flowers near the station west of Main Street. A large crowd of mourners received the train. The arch was hastily removed, too narrow to allow the train's passage. Other memorial gestures included a large cross, entwined with evergreen wreaths.
Back Text: The cross was mounted on the station platform under the direction of the president of Ladies Soldiers Aid Society, Mrs. Milo G. Williams. Forty citizens from different churches sang "Go to Thy Rest." Ten young ladies entered the funeral car and strewed flowers on Lincoln's coffin. The train departed, heading west across the Mad River Valley, through Rice, Westville, and up the Blue Hill to St. Paris On May 3, the train reached Springfield, Illinois; the president's funeral was May 4.
Address: Simon Kenton Trail, Urbana
Location: Simon Kenton Trail, just SW of the N. Main Street and Fyffe Street intersection
32-11 The Underground Railroad In Champaign County
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Front Text: The inhumanity of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 motivated anti-slavery activists to operate a covert network, the "Underground Railroad," which helped fugitive slaves escape captivity. From the early 1800s to the end of the Civil War, local activists assisted runaway slaves on their journeys north to freedom. Guides ("conductors") used their homes, farms, and churches ("stations") to hide and shelter runaway slaves ("cargo.") If captured, fugitives were severely punished and re-enslaved; "conductors" faced large fines and imprisonment, and Free Persons of Color risked being sold into slavery. A route often-traveled was once a path used by migrating buffalo, which became an Indian trail called the Bullskin Trace. It ran north from the Ohio River to Lake Erie and later became U.S. Route 68.
Back Text: Lewis Adams (1785-1864), a free Black man and a founding member of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, was an Underground Railroad conductor in Champaign County from approximately 1825 to 1861. Adams, his sons, and his father-in-law, Francis Reno, guided many runaways through the county. Adams sheltered fugitives at his home in Urbana and later his farm in Concord Township (Muddy Creek). In 1848 Adams' son, David, moved north to Findlay, Ohio (Hancock County), and also operated as a conductor who guided runaway slaves north along the Bullskin Trace though Ohio to Canada. Listed among other Champaign County operators are William Adams, Cephas Atkinson, Joseph Brand, John Butcher, Peter Byrd, Moses Corwin, Thomas Cowgill, William Jamison, Joseph Reno, David Rutan, Levi Stanup, Joseph Stillgess, and Abner Winder.
Address: Intersection of St. Route 68 and St. Route 55, Urbana
Location: Just SW of intersection in Freedom Grove Park
33-11 Warren Sibley Cushman 1845-1926
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Front Text: Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock's Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting "Spanish Dancing Girls" at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side)
Back Text: (Continued from other side) During the Civil War, young Warren Cushman served as a bugler for the 134th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1867 he married Jocele Calender and the couple had four children, Scott, Mabel, Byron, and Charlotte. A mostly self-taught artist, Cushman traveled to Washington D.C. in 1875 to study the collections at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In addition to the Cushman monument, some of Cushman's work survives in public and private collections. He died on April 20, 1926.
Address: Urbana-Woodstock Pike (Cty Rd 2), Woodstock
Location: Woodstock Cemetery (Between Fountain Park and Woodstock), in front of Cushman Memorial.
34-11 Old Grave Yard
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Front Text: In 1805, a burial ground was dedicated to Champaign County at the intersection of Ward and Kenton Streets, which was then at Urbana's town limits. It remained open until 1856. Among those interred there was Elizabeth Kenton, eight-year-old daughter of Simon Kenton. When she died in 1810, Kenton, the county jailer, was forbidden from crossing out of the town limits due to his unpaid debts. After following the funeral procession as far as he could, he watched Elizabeth's burial from across the street. Also buried there were unknown soldiers from the War of 1812; Captain Arthur Thomas and son, who were killed by Native Americans in August 1813; four Bell children, who died in the tornado of March 22, 1830; and numerous early settlers of Champaign County. Many, but not all, were reinterred and rest in Oak Dale Cemetery.
Back Text: To confirm that the Treaty of Greenville would be upheld, Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs called a council with Native Americans June 6-9, 1812. He sought approval to cross native land when marching to Canada and to ensure their alliance with the United States against the British. Among the tribes and chiefs credited for attending were the Shawnee (Black Hoof, Captain Lewis), Wyandot (Tarhe, Roundhead), Seneca (Civil John), and Mingo. General William Hull, Colonels MacArthur, Cass, and Findley, the Wyandot interpreter Isaac Zane, and Simon Kenton are also thought to have attended. Blockhouses were erected along Hull's Trace for storage and the protection of local settlers. The actual location of this gathering was on the rise about 100 yards southwest of the Old Grave Yard.
Address: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets, Urbana
Location: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets
33-11 Warren Sibley Cushman 1845-1926
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Front Text: Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock's Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting "Spanish Dancing Girls" at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side) Back Text: (Continued from other side) During the Civil War, young Warren Cushman served as a bugler for the 134th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1867 he married Jocele Calender and the couple had four children, Scott, Mabel, Byron, and Charlotte. A mostly self-taught artist, Cushman traveled to Washington D.C. in 1875 to study the collections at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In addition to the Cushman monument, some of Cushman's work survives in public and private collections. He died on April 20, 1926.
Address: Urbana-Woodstock Pike (Cty Rd 2), Woodstock
Location: Woodstock Cemetery (Between Fountain Park and Woodstock), in front of Cushman Memorial.
34-11 Old Grave Yard
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Front Text: In 1805, a burial ground was dedicated to Champaign County at the intersection of Ward and Kenton Streets, which was then at Urbana's town limits. It remained open until 1856. Among those interred there was Elizabeth Kenton, eight-year-old daughter of Simon Kenton. When she died in 1810, Kenton, the county jailer, was forbidden from crossing out of the town limits due to his unpaid debts. After following the funeral procession as far as he could, he watched Elizabeth's burial from across the street. Also buried there were unknown soldiers from the War of 1812; Captain Arthur Thomas and son, who were killed by Native Americans in August 1813; four Bell children, who died in the tornado of March 22, 1830; and numerous early settlers of Champaign County. Many, but not all, were reinterred and rest in Oak Dale Cemetery. Back Text: To confirm that the Treaty of Greenville would be upheld, Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs called a council with Native Americans June 6-9, 1812. He sought approval to cross native land when marching to Canada and to ensure their alliance with the United States against the British. Among the tribes and chiefs credited for attending were the Shawnee (Black Hoof, Captain Lewis), Wyandot (Tarhe, Roundhead), Seneca (Civil John), and Mingo. General William Hull, Colonels MacArthur, Cass, and Findley, the Wyandot interpreter Isaac Zane, and Simon Kenton are also thought to have attended. Blockhouses were erected along Hull's Trace for storage and the protection of local settlers. The actual location of this gathering was on the rise about 100 yards southwest of the Old Grave Yard.
Address: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets, Urbana
Location: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets
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Front Text: 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.
Back Text: Same
Address: W. Pike Street (OH 55), Christiansburg
Location: SW corner of W. Pike Street (OH 55) and Wilson Street, on the W side of Christiansburg
3-11 In Memory of Simon Kenton
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: Patrick Avenue (OH-54), Oakdale Cemetery, Urbana
Location: N main entrance to Oakdale Cemetery on Patrick Street (OH-54) and Bodey Circle
5-11 Bailey and Barclay Halls
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Front Text: 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.
Back Text: Francis Bailey's son-in-law, Colonel John James, donated ten acres to establish Urbana University in 1849. Johnny Appleseed was a frequent visitor to the James home as he traveled throughout Ohio. Because of his significant ties to this site, the Johnny Appleseed Society and Museum were established at Urbana University in 1995. The Society was founded on the belief that those who have the opportunity to study the life of Johnny Appleseed will share his appreciation of education, our country, the environment, peace, moral integrity and leadership. The Museum holds the largest known collection of printed materials on Johnny Appleseed. A cider press, which was owned and used by the James family, now has its home in the Johnny Appleseed Museum.
Address: 579 College Way, Urbana
Location: Johnny Appleseed Museum, Blue Knight Drive, Urbana University
6-11 Cedar Bog Nature Preserve
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: 980 Woodburn Road, Urbana
Location: 980 Woodburn Road
7-11 Ohio Caverns
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: 2210 E. State Route 245, West Liberty
Location: Located in the park at the entrance to the main parking area
8-11 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches
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Front Text: 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) Back Text: (continued from other side) The 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches featured a group of fourteen-Buck Creek Valley farmers who acted as hosts for the plowing matches where Urbana's two-time world champion Dean Wilson completed for a third title. It also featured a new activity known as "Wagon Trains," which involved Union Township host farmers who used 125 wagons and tractors to haul the crowds of people and farmers to view the plowing matches, demonstrations, and many conservation projects that covered 2,200 surrounding acres spread over 10 farms. The event also featured five parking fields covering 200 acres and an airfield on the south side and parallel to SR 54, adjacent to Benson Road, for the "flying farmers" who demonstrated seeding, fertilizing, and corn borer control.
Location: Benson Road & St Rt 54
9-11 Joseph E. Wing
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Front Text: 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. Back Text: Same
Address: Wing Road at Rosedale Road, Mechanicsburg
Location: NW corner of Wing Road at Rosedale Road
10-11 Mt. Tabor Church
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Front Text: The first Mt. Tabor Church, a log meetinghouse, was erected on this site in 1816. It stood on land originally selected by Griffith and Martha Evans for a graveyard at the death of their daughter circa 1812. Deeds show the Evans family gave two and one half acres of land "for the purpose of erecting a meetinghouse and establishing a burying site." Camp meetings, religious gatherings popular in frontier Ohio, were held on the hillside west of the meetinghouse. Simon Kenton was converted at a Mt. Tabor camp meeting in 1819. The log meetinghouse burned in 1824 and was replaced with a brick church on the same spot. In 1881, the present brick church was completed and dedicated. Back Text: The cemetery at Mt. Tabor basically surrounds the church on three sides. Although the date of death of Griffith and Martha Evans's small daughter varies according to county histories, it indisputably was the first burial in what was to become Mt. Tabor Cemetery. Veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II are interred in the cemetery. Harley Woodard, a local stone carver, furnished many of the gravestones. The cemetery is renowned for its three cast zinc monuments. Far more uncommon than the usual stone monuments, these hollow grave markers, with their distinctive bright gray color, were produced only briefly during the 1880s and 1890s.
Address: Across from 2427 OH-245, West Liberty
Location: Route 245, 1/8 S of Mt. Tabor Rd. Across from address 2427 on Rt. 245.
11-11 Warren G. Grimes
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Front Text: Raised in an Ohio orphanage, Warren G. Grimes (1898-1975) ran away after finishing the ninth grade and at age 16 went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He later became a partner in an electrical business where he was instrumental in designing and developing the first lights for the Ford Tri-Motor airplane. In 1930 Grimes moved to Urbana and founded a small lighting fixture plant, Grimes Manufacturing. The inventor of the familiar red, green, and white navigation lights found on the wing tips and tails of aircraft, Grimes, known as the "Father of the Aircraft Lighting Industry," also developed other aircraft fixtures, including landing, instrumental, and interior lights. Every American-made airplane flown during World War II was equipped with Grimes lights. Grimes served as mayor of Urbana and chairman of the State of Ohio Aviation Board. Back Text: Warren G. Grimes bought this parcel of land in the late 1930s to build a home on the east side and an airport on the west side. Opening ceremonies were held on August 8, 1943 when Grimes presented Grimes Field, consisting of one hanger and a small office building, to the city of Urbana. In 1961 the main runway was paved and lengthened to 3,200 feet. The Grimes Company used the airport extensively to test Grimes lights for aircraft, but the airport also offered charter service to area industries, people in distress, instruction, and certified federally approved Aircraft and Engine service. Grimes Field was a center for civilian flying and played an integral role in making Urbana one of the most air-minded communities in the country and the model for other cities planning municipal airports. In 2001 the runway was relocated and lengthened to 4,400 feet.
Address: 1636 N. Main Street, Urbana
Location: Grimes Field, 1636 N Main Street, just S of airport restaurant.
12-11 Kings Creek Baptist Church
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Front Text: The founders of what would become the Kings Creek Baptist Church first met on June 29, 1805 in the log home of local residents James and Ann Turner. The Baptist congregation continued to meet in people's homes until 1816 when Taylortown founder John Taylor donated an acre of land to establish a burying site and a meetinghouse. Constructed of logs, this meetinghouse is considered to be the third Baptist church built in Ohio and the Northwest Territory. The original structure was replaced by a more substantial brick building in 1832, and the present Kings Creek Baptist Church was built on the original foundation in 1849. The church features classic Greek design and a grand steeple inspired by the work of the English architect Sir Christopher Wren. An educational wing was added in 1969. (continued on other side) Back Text: (continued from other side) The Kings Creek Baptist Church and site is known for several prominent events. Richard Stanhope, an African American who served as General George Washington's personal valet at Valley Forge, was an early member. Church members also expressed a strong missionary spirit as they helped build fellowships in nearby Urbana, Mechanicsburg, Mingo, DeGraff, and Bellefontaine. Surrounding the church is the cemetery that opened in December 1819 with the burial of early church founder Ann Turner. Veterans of every American conflict from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War are interred here. The cemetery is one of the oldest in Champaign County while the church is the oldest Baptist church in the Western Baptist Association of Ohio and oldest house of worship in the county.
Address: 1250 Kennard-KingsCreek Road, Urbana
Location: 1250 Kennard-KingsCreek Road
13-11 John Anderson Ward Farmstead
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Front Text: John Anderson Ward had this Federal style house constructed from 1823-1825 on land inherited from his father, Urbana's founder Colonel William Ward. The Colonel's will stipulated that a local mason use 26,500 bricks to build the house and be paid $80.00. The original house is thought to have had four rooms, two rooms each on the first and second floors and both divided by central hallways. John and his wife Eleanor Ward reared seven children in the house, two of whom became nationally recognized artists, John Quincy Adams Ward and Edgar Melville Ward. The farmstead, consisting of 172 acres, was also the site of a huge feast held in honor of General William Henry Harrison's visit to Champaign County during his 1840 presidential campaign. Twelve 300 foot-long tables were spread across the lawn where thousands of people from the surrounding countryside dined on barbecued beef and lamb and drank barrels of cider.
Back Text: Two of John Anderson Ward's sons, John Quincy Adams and Edgar Melville, were born and reared here and both achieved artistic fame. John demonstrated an early talent for sculpting, using blue modeling clay from the family farm to create birds, animals, and buildings. At age 19 he left for New York City to study under Henry Kirke Brown, a renowned sculptor, and in 1861 completed the bronze statue The Indian Hunter for the city's Central Park. As a pioneer and leader in his field, he was recognized as the Dean of American Sculpture. Edgar specialized in paint and was known for depicting craftsmen and realistic everyday life. He trained in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux and is known for such works as Locksmith, Lace-Makers, Motherly Care, and Brittany Washerwomen. He went on to become the director of the National Academy of Design in New York City where he served for twenty years.
Address: 335 College Street, Urbana
Location: SW corner of College Street and S. High Street
14-11 General Robert Lawrence Eichelberger
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Front Text: Robert L. Eichelberger was born in Urbana on March 9, 1886, the youngest of the five children of George Maley Eichelberger, an Urbana lawyer, and Emma (Ring) Eichelberger. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1903, he attended Ohio State University and then was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Graduating in 1909, he was appointed a second lieutenant of infantry. Four years later he married Emma Gudger, daughter of Judge H. A. Gudger of Asheville, North Carolina. For several years, he saw service in Panama and the Mexican border before joining the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia. From 1918 to 1920 Major Eichelberger observed the Japanese incursion into Siberia and became aware of Japanese methods. In 1940 he was appointed Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point where he established regular courses to include flight training for Flying Army Officers. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] With the beginning of World War II, Major General Eichelberger became Commanding General of I Corps and left for Australia. While there General MacArthur gave him orders, saying "Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive." Eichelberger defeated the Japanese on Buna as well as Hollandis and Biak with his joint Australian American Corps. As commanding General of the Eighth Army, he led the invasion of the Philippines. In August 1945 Eichelberger's Eighth Army occupied Japan to rebuild the nation. During his career he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Retiring in 1948, Congress, in recognition of his service, promoted Eichelberger to General in 1954. General Eichelberger died on September 26, 1961 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Address: 907 Scioto Street-Marker was inadvertently numbered 11-14 instead of 14-11, Urbana
Location: SE corner of Ames Avenue and Scioto Street
15-11 Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway
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Front Text: The Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway (DS&U) was an "Interurban" rail system that ran between the cities of Urbana, Springfield and Dayton. Its beginning can be traced to the franchise given to William H. Hanford to operate a single line of electrical railway between Springfield and the southern boundary of Champaign County in 1895. Hanford then sold his rights to John G. Webb of Springfield and Colonel Frederich Colburn of Kentucky, who along with other syndicate members formed the Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway. In 1897 Boston promoter Arthur E. Appleyard joined the syndicate and brought investment monies, organizational skills, and energy to the venture. He quickly became managing director/treasurer and the real driving force of the DS&U. The railway was organized into two divisions. One operated between Dayton and Springfield and the other between Springfield and Urbana. [continued on other side] Back Text: [continued from other side] The Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway ran on 600 volts of direct electrical current with power generated from a 24,600-volt plant located in Medway. To sustain the current over the track's length, several "booster" stations were constructed along the line. The initial run took place on February 14, 1900 between Springfield and Dayton. Regular passenger service on the Urbana division opened on March 3, 1901. Trolley cars carried freight, livestock, and passengers at speeds of 60 miles per hour. Interurban lines were popular due to reduced noise, smoke, and soot compared to steam powered railways. They could also be "flagged down" for pick up along the line. On October 29, 1938, motorman Hal Angell drove the last railway's run. This corner was the site of a DS&U substation that also served as a ticket office, waiting room, maintenance garage, and living quarters for the operator and his family.
Address: W. Market Street, Urbana
Location: N side of W. Market Street, just W of S. Main Street
16-11 Addison White
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Front Text: Congress passed Fugitive Slave Laws in 1793 and 1850, allowing federal marshals to arrest slaves that had escaped to the North and take them back to their southern owners. They could also arrest northerners suspected of aiding runaway slaves. These laws were contested throughout the North, including Ohio where one case received national press. It involved escaped slave Addison White who arrived in Mechanicsburg in August 1856. There he met abolitionist Udney Hyde and stayed at his farm while Hyde recovered from a leg injury. White's master Daniel White learned of his location and went to Mechanicsburg in April 1857 with federal marshals. When attempting to take Addison and arrest Hyde on grounds of violating the Fugitive Slave Law, Hyde's daughter ran to town and brought back residents with pitchforks and shovels to fight the marshals. Fearing for their lives, the marshals left, but came back to arrest the men who protected White. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] Arresting Charles Taylor, Edward Taylor, Russell Hyde, and Hiram Gutridge, the marshals, saying they were taking the men into Urbana for a preliminary trial on charges of harboring and protecting a fugitive slave, instead headed south to Kentucky. Learning of the arrests, a large number of Champaign County citizens set off on horseback to free their neighbors. The Clark County sheriff joined in the pursuit, but was shot near South Charleston when trying to stop the marshals. The running battle ended in Lumberton near Xenia when the Greene County sheriff arrested the marshals. The case was finally settled when the people of Mechanicsburg paid $900 for Addison White's freedom. During the Civil War White joined the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and returned to Mechanicsburg after the war to work for the city's Street Department He and his second wife Amanda are buried in the nearby Maple Grove Cemetery.
Address: 2 S. Main Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: Citizen's National Bank, E. Sandusky Street side
17-11 William Owen
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Front Text: Virginia native William Owen, 1769-1821, is credited with being the first American to settle in Mad River Township, Champaign County sometime between 1797-1799. He and his family built a cabin in the northeast quarter of Section 15 directly west of this marker. Later he purchased 240 acres on which the cabin stood for $1.00 an acre from William Ward, founder of Urbana. Accused of being an eccentric, Owen was known for strong language and long oration during times of stress. Owen also raised swine and was called Kosko Elene or Hogman by the local Shawnee Indian population who were known to have taken a few piglets when Owen was not around. Owen and his wife reared eight children and both are interred in the family pioneer cemetery in the woods to the west. Back Text: Same
Address: 2100 S. State Route 560, Urbana
Location: 2100 S State Route 560
18-11 Harvey Haddix
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Front Text: Baseball great Harvey Haddix was born on September 18, 1925, and grew up on a farm just south of Westville. He attended Westville School until March 1940 and played his first organized baseball at this site. Entering Major League Baseball in 1952, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Baltimore Orioles in a career that lasted until 1965. In 1959, while with Pittsburgh, he pitched what some believe to be the greatest game ever pitched in baseball as he hurled 12 perfect innings against the defending National League champion Milwaukee Braves. He lost the game by a score of 1-0 in the 13th inning. A three-time All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner, he won two World Series games in 1960, including the deciding Game 7, while playing with Pittsburgh against the New York Yankees. He died on January 8, 1994, and is buried in Catawba, Ohio. Back Text: Same
Address: 4194 W US Highway 36, Westville
Location: 4194 W US Highway 36
19-11 Second Baptist Church
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Front Text: 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]
Back Text: [continued from other side] From 1894, from the time that the Second Baptist Church purchased this property, the congregation prospered. In 1895 the Baptist Association of Ohio organized a Baptist State Convention, which was held here the following year. In 1897 the Reverend Elmer W. B. Curry, who believed that racial issues in America could only be settled gradually, established a school in the Tuskegee tradition in the Second Baptist Church. It was named the Curry Institute, but later moved to Urbana. In 1936 a fire, sparked by flames from Culbertson Buggy Works next door, damaged the church steeple forcing removal of the 1859 800-pound bell to be relocated to the more substantial Mechanicsburg School Building. The smaller and lighter School Building bell was given as replacement to the Second Baptist Church. The building is the oldest church in Mechanicsburg and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Address: 43 E. Sandusky Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: 43 E. Sandusky Street
20-11 Friends Church
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Front Text: Among the earliest settlers to Rush Township were members of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, who emigrated from the eastern states, mostly Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At first religious services were held in the homes of devout Quakers who in turn built a small-framed meeting house on this site in 1842. The present Friends Church replaced the original structure in the 1870s at a cost of $4,245. Although not a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church supported local ardent Abolitionists who helped runaway slaves reach freedom in Canada. An epidemic during the winter of 1850-1851 reduced the Friends' membership and led to several Quaker families relocating to Iowa. The final religious service was held here on October 26, 1997, after which the church was donated to the village of North Lewisburg.
Back Text: The cemetery of the Quaker Church lies to the west of this building and was used from circa 1846 through circa 1885. It was one of the earliest cemeteries in Champaign County with the first recorded burial being Moses Winder on August 5, 1846, and the last recorded burial on May 18, 1885 of Caroline S. Pim. Among those interred here are Civil War veteran William W. Fell, the first marshal of Lewisburg Harmon Limes, and one of the first trustees to serve Lewisburg Abner Winder Jr. As the church membership dwindled, the upkeep of the cemetery proved difficult and fell into neglect and disrepair. As with the Friends Church, the village of North Lewisburg took over ownership of the cemetery when it was donated in 1997.
Address: 141 Winder Street, North Lewisburg
Location: SW corner of Winder St. and W. Elm St.
21-11 The Johnson Manufacturing Company G
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Front Text: The Johnson Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1902 by brothers James B., J. Will, Isaac T., and Charles F. Johnson, all of Quaker heritage. The company manufactured tin and galvanized iron ware for railroad lines across the United States. The initial product was the No. 1 long-spouted locomotive oiler with the patented dripless spout. That was quickly followed by other types of oil cans, signaling equipment, engine buckets, tallow pots, torches, track inspection devices, tin cups, and caboose and cabin car lamps, all carrying the Diamond J trademark. The makers created the patterns and everything was cut, riveted, and soldered by hand. As production expanded, the original frame building at 605 Miami Street was replaced by a brick structure in 1910, the southernmost part of the present building. (continued on other side)
Back Text: (continued from other side) Subsequent additions expanded capacity and the Johnson Manufacturing Company became a national leader in the manufacture of railroad operating supplies. During the Great Depression, the Roll Rite cigarette roller, poultry waterers, and hygrometers were produced from patented Johnson designs. About 1939, the firm turned from railroads to the trucking industry, designing and manufacturing air and vacuum reservoirs for brake systems. In the 1970s, during the presidency of Charles F. Johnson III, the historic original building was restored, a product museum created, the 75th anniversary of the firm celebrated, and a permanent collection of original art, including work by Champaign County artists, hung in the firm's offices to honor the heritage of the company and the community.
Address: 605 Miami Street, Urbana
Location: The Johnson Manufacturing Company, abandoned and overgrown.
22-11 A.B. Graham
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Front Text: Albert B. "A.B." Graham was born in Champaign County on March 13, 1868, the son of Joseph and Esther Graham. He was raised in a small rural home, but a fire destroyed the house in 1879, and the family moved to Lena where Graham attended local schools, graduating at age 17. After attending the National Normal University in Lebanon, he returned to Champaign County where he taught, then became principal, and later an innovative superintendent. Graham also was enthusiastic about teaching children the values of rural and farm living and while teaching developed a youth agricultural club, which eventually became known as the 4-H Club. In July 1905 Graham became the superintendent of Agricultural Extension at the Ohio State University. The Graham School District near Lena was named for A.B. Graham. He delivered the dedication speech at Graham High School in December 1957 and said that schools were meant to build "human souls." Back Text: Same
Address: 7800 W US Hwy 36, St. Paris
Location: Graham High School, E of St. Paris on US 36
23-11 James Roy Hopkins
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Front Text: James R. Hopkins was born May 17, 1877, in Irwin and graduated from Mechanicsburg High School in 1895. As a child, he gained exposure to art through his mother, Nettie, an accomplished self-taught water colorist. Hopkins enrolled at The Ohio State University to study electrical engineering, but realized a strong desire to study art. In 1898, Hopkins entered the Art Institute of Cincinnati, studying under noted artist Frank Duveneck and acquiring the academic draftsmanship that is prevalent in his work. After two years, he moved to New York City to work as a medical illustrator. To hone his skills, Hopkins moved to Paris, enrolling in the Academy Colarossi and opening a studio at 55 Rue de Dantzig. Hopkins flourished in Paris, marrying Edna Boies, who he had met at the Cincinnati Art Institute, and establishing friendships with such French Impressionists as Pierre Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet. [continued on other side]
Back Text: [continued from other side] While in Paris, James Hopkins was accepted as an Associate in the Societe Nationale des Beaux making him one the period's few American figure painters considered talented enough to exhibit in the Salon's prestigious shows. With his wife Edna, a noted artist in the revival of the wood-block print, Hopkins traveled to Egypt, Italy, China, Japan, and Ceylon, which greatly influenced the designs incorporated in his art. Upon return to the United States, Hopkins briefly taught at the Cincinnati Art Institute before being appointed chairman of the Department of Fine Arts at Ohio State University where he served in that capacity until 1947. Hopkins retired to the family farm "Darbyland" near Mechanicsburg where he died January 23, 1969. As a gifted human figure painter and an able academic administrator, James Hopkins is noted for his pioneering regional paintings of the Cumberland Mountain people.
Address: 60 S Main St, Mechanicsburg
Location: Mechanicsburg Public Library
24-11 Lincoln Funeral Train
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Front Text: President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. On its way the Funeral Train stopped in Columbus and Lincoln's coffin was moved to the Statehouse Rotunda for a day-long viewing. From Columbus Governor John Brough and others changed the train's route, which resulted in a trip through Champaign County where it stopped several times. The Funeral Train arrived in Woodstock on April 29 at 9:46 p.m. for a brief ceremony and to take on fuel and water. With nearly 500 people present, bouquets were laid on Lincoln's coffin. The Woodstock Cornet Band, led by Warren U. Cushman, played hymns of grief, including "Pleyel's Hymn." Village bells rung and silent men and women stood as the train departed and traveled downhill toward Cable and Urbana. Back Text: Same
Address: West Bennett, Woodstock
Location: Village of Woodstock Cemetery, Urbana-Woodstock Pike
25-11 Mechanicsburg United Methodist Church
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Front Text: The Mechanicsburg United Methodist congregation was founded in the early nineteenth century and met first in open-air camp meetings before moving into a small log school building. In 1820 the congregation built a wood framed church on East Sandusky Street and that building was replaced with a brick structure in 1838. The congregation split in 1853 into Trinity Methodist and First Methodist with both groups serving the village of Mechanicsburg for 103 years before coming back together in 1956. The current United Methodist Church was built in the early 1890s and dedicated in 1894 on the corner of Main and Race Streets. The Gothic Revival style church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Back Text: Same
Address: 42 N. Main Street, Mechanicsburg
Location: Mechanicsburg United Methodist Church
26-11 Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
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Front Text: The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company was chartered by the State of Ohio in January 1832 to connect west central Ohio with northern Ohio and Lake Erie. It was the first company to be incorporated for railroad purposes in the state. Construction started in Sandusky in 1835. By June 1849, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was completed to Springfield. Through a series of mergers, the railroad became known as the Big Four Railroad in 1890. It came under control of the New York Central Railroad in 1905. As the railroad industry consolidated, ownership transferred from New York Central to Penn Central and then to Conrail. In 1994, the West Central Ohio Port Authority, a special purpose district established by the boards of county commissioners of Champaign, Clark, and Fayette counties, acquired the railroad track to ensure that freight service would continue. Back Text: Same
Address: Miami Street (US 36), Urbana
Location: Just W of WESTCO Bridge over Miami Street (US 36), E of Storms Avenue on S side of Miami St.
27-11 Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
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Front Text: Champaign County residents Joseph Vance (1786-1852) and John H. James (1800-1881) were among the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad's first officers, serving as president and treasurer, respectively. Vance emerged as a leader in the War of 1812 and, in the same year, was elected to public office. In 1836, Vance resigned as president of the railroad to become the twelfth governor of Ohio. Finances for the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad were obtained in large measure through the efforts of Urbana resident John H. James, a prominent attorney, politician, and banker. As treasurer, James managed a grant of $200,000 provided by the state with the 1832 charter and other state loans of credit. James became president of the railroad in 1836, serving in a dual capacity of president and treasurer until 1842, when James Vance again became president. Back Text: Same
Address: Miami Street (US 36), Urbana
Location: Just E of WESTCO Bridge over Miami Street (US 36), E of Storms Avenue on N side of Miami St.
28-11 Lincoln Funeral Train
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Front Text: President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. As the nine-car Lincoln Funeral Train passed through Champaign County, U.S. military forces secured curves, bridges, and railroad crossings along the route and spiked switches closed to insure the train's safety. The Funeral Train passed through the Village of Cable at 10:13 p.m. 150 feet southeast of here. As a large crowd assembled around several large bonfires, a lone soldier stood alone in the rain in the center of the crowd holding an American flag. Many residents stood silently along the tracks, hillsides, and valley fields, soaked in their wet clothes waiting to pay their respects to the fallen president. After Cable, the Funeral Train continued west and downhill toward Urbana, Westville, and St. Paris. Back Text: Same
Address: 3630 Innskeep Road, Cable
Location: S of Wayne Township Building, N of Cable
29-11 Billy "Single" Clifford
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Front Text: Clyde Shyrigh, better known as Billy Clifford, was born in this house on January 24, 1869, to Levi and Sarah Shyrigh. Coming from a musical family, he developed an early interest in music and practiced with the family in the barn behind the house. At the age of ten, Clifford joined the circus when it was in town and played the snare drum, sold tickets, and eventually performed a song and dance routine. A leading vaudevillian of his time, Clifford once performed with Buster Keaton and went on to act with the best troupes in New York City, Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond, and Europe. Eventually, he created his own company of performers, including an all-girl orchestra. Clifford died in this house on November 20, 1930, and is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Urbana.
Back Text: In 1905, Billy Clifford built the Clifford Theater, now the Urbana Cinema, on the spot where his family's barn stood on South Main Street. That was the same year motion pictures were first shown in Urbana. Built at a cost of $75,000, the theater was the first building in Urbana constructed solely for theatrical purposes. The ground level was large with an eighty-foot stage; the theater held an audience of 700. The building had three floors each with separate exit doors. While visiting Columbus and Dayton, Clifford and his troupe traveled to Urbana using Clifford's private railcar. A separate railcar transported the scenery and baggage. In addition to Clifford and his troupe, the theater hosted performances by such noted entertainers as John Philip Sousa and his band. Fire destroyed the Clifford Theater years later, taking with it most of Clifford's personal belongings.
Address: 114 W Water St-This marker has been temporarily removed, Urbana
Location: Homestead of Billy Clifford
30-11 Pennsylvania Railroad Depot
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Front Text: Construction of the Columbus, Piqua, and Indiana Central Railroad started in 1850 and was finished in 1854. Later referred to as the "Panhandle Railroad," it ran from Columbus to Bradford. During the Civil War, the line carried supplies and troops and it was extended from Bradford to Richmond, Indiana. President Lincoln's funeral train traveled the route on April 29, 1865. Eventually, three railway lines crossed Urbana: the Big Four, the Pennsylvania, and the Erie. "Corn brooms," woolen cloth, horse carriages, and tinware were shipped by railroad to national markets and regular passenger service carried residents to destinations across the country, including Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and Washington, D.C. (Continued on other side)
Back Text: (Continued from other side) The Pennsylvania Railroad built a new station in Urbana in 1894. The firm of Packard and Yost from Columbus, the architects of the Urbana Presbyterian Church, designed the station. Inside were a ticket office, bathrooms, central fireplace, and separate waiting rooms: one for men and another for women and children. The depot was also conveniently located near stations of other railroads serving Urbana, the Big Four and the Erie and is 46.751 miles from Columbus. In 1976, the station became part of the Conrail System. Since then, several businesses had occupied the depot until the Simon Kenton Pathfinders purchased it and sold it to the City of Urbana in a partnership to provide amenities for users of the Simon Kenton Trail. The newly restored depot was rededicated in 2007.
Address: 644 Miami St, Urbana
Location: Pennsylvania Railroad Depot
31-11 President Lincoln's Funeral Train in Urbana
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Front Text: The nine-car funeral train for President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865. It arrived in Urbana on April 29 at 10:40 p.m. Urbana's citizens erected an arch of evergreens and flowers near the station west of Main Street. A large crowd of mourners received the train. The arch was hastily removed, too narrow to allow the train's passage. Other memorial gestures included a large cross, entwined with evergreen wreaths. Back Text: The cross was mounted on the station platform under the direction of the president of Ladies Soldiers Aid Society, Mrs. Milo G. Williams. Forty citizens from different churches sang "Go to Thy Rest." Ten young ladies entered the funeral car and strewed flowers on Lincoln's coffin. The train departed, heading west across the Mad River Valley, through Rice, Westville, and up the Blue Hill to St. Paris On May 3, the train reached Springfield, Illinois; the president's funeral was May 4.
Address: Simon Kenton Trail, Urbana
Location: Simon Kenton Trail, just SW of the N. Main Street and Fyffe Street intersection
31-11 Universalist Church
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Front Text: The nine-car funeral train for President Abraham Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865. It arrived in Urbana on April 29 at 10:40 p.m. Urbana's citizens erected an arch of evergreens and flowers near the station west of Main Street. A large crowd of mourners received the train. The arch was hastily removed, too narrow to allow the train's passage. Other memorial gestures included a large cross, entwined with evergreen wreaths.
Back Text: The cross was mounted on the station platform under the direction of the president of Ladies Soldiers Aid Society, Mrs. Milo G. Williams. Forty citizens from different churches sang "Go to Thy Rest." Ten young ladies entered the funeral car and strewed flowers on Lincoln's coffin. The train departed, heading west across the Mad River Valley, through Rice, Westville, and up the Blue Hill to St. Paris On May 3, the train reached Springfield, Illinois; the president's funeral was May 4.
Address: Simon Kenton Trail, Urbana
Location: Simon Kenton Trail, just SW of the N. Main Street and Fyffe Street intersection
32-11 The Underground Railroad In Champaign County
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Front Text: The inhumanity of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 motivated anti-slavery activists to operate a covert network, the "Underground Railroad," which helped fugitive slaves escape captivity. From the early 1800s to the end of the Civil War, local activists assisted runaway slaves on their journeys north to freedom. Guides ("conductors") used their homes, farms, and churches ("stations") to hide and shelter runaway slaves ("cargo.") If captured, fugitives were severely punished and re-enslaved; "conductors" faced large fines and imprisonment, and Free Persons of Color risked being sold into slavery. A route often-traveled was once a path used by migrating buffalo, which became an Indian trail called the Bullskin Trace. It ran north from the Ohio River to Lake Erie and later became U.S. Route 68.
Back Text: Lewis Adams (1785-1864), a free Black man and a founding member of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, was an Underground Railroad conductor in Champaign County from approximately 1825 to 1861. Adams, his sons, and his father-in-law, Francis Reno, guided many runaways through the county. Adams sheltered fugitives at his home in Urbana and later his farm in Concord Township (Muddy Creek). In 1848 Adams' son, David, moved north to Findlay, Ohio (Hancock County), and also operated as a conductor who guided runaway slaves north along the Bullskin Trace though Ohio to Canada. Listed among other Champaign County operators are William Adams, Cephas Atkinson, Joseph Brand, John Butcher, Peter Byrd, Moses Corwin, Thomas Cowgill, William Jamison, Joseph Reno, David Rutan, Levi Stanup, Joseph Stillgess, and Abner Winder.
Address: Intersection of St. Route 68 and St. Route 55, Urbana
Location: Just SW of intersection in Freedom Grove Park
33-11 Warren Sibley Cushman 1845-1926
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Front Text: Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock's Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting "Spanish Dancing Girls" at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side)
Back Text: (Continued from other side) During the Civil War, young Warren Cushman served as a bugler for the 134th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1867 he married Jocele Calender and the couple had four children, Scott, Mabel, Byron, and Charlotte. A mostly self-taught artist, Cushman traveled to Washington D.C. in 1875 to study the collections at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In addition to the Cushman monument, some of Cushman's work survives in public and private collections. He died on April 20, 1926.
Address: Urbana-Woodstock Pike (Cty Rd 2), Woodstock
Location: Woodstock Cemetery (Between Fountain Park and Woodstock), in front of Cushman Memorial.
34-11 Old Grave Yard
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Front Text: In 1805, a burial ground was dedicated to Champaign County at the intersection of Ward and Kenton Streets, which was then at Urbana's town limits. It remained open until 1856. Among those interred there was Elizabeth Kenton, eight-year-old daughter of Simon Kenton. When she died in 1810, Kenton, the county jailer, was forbidden from crossing out of the town limits due to his unpaid debts. After following the funeral procession as far as he could, he watched Elizabeth's burial from across the street. Also buried there were unknown soldiers from the War of 1812; Captain Arthur Thomas and son, who were killed by Native Americans in August 1813; four Bell children, who died in the tornado of March 22, 1830; and numerous early settlers of Champaign County. Many, but not all, were reinterred and rest in Oak Dale Cemetery.
Back Text: To confirm that the Treaty of Greenville would be upheld, Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs called a council with Native Americans June 6-9, 1812. He sought approval to cross native land when marching to Canada and to ensure their alliance with the United States against the British. Among the tribes and chiefs credited for attending were the Shawnee (Black Hoof, Captain Lewis), Wyandot (Tarhe, Roundhead), Seneca (Civil John), and Mingo. General William Hull, Colonels MacArthur, Cass, and Findley, the Wyandot interpreter Isaac Zane, and Simon Kenton are also thought to have attended. Blockhouses were erected along Hull's Trace for storage and the protection of local settlers. The actual location of this gathering was on the rise about 100 yards southwest of the Old Grave Yard.
Address: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets, Urbana
Location: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets
33-11 Warren Sibley Cushman 1845-1926
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Front Text: Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock's Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting "Spanish Dancing Girls" at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side) Back Text: (Continued from other side) During the Civil War, young Warren Cushman served as a bugler for the 134th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1867 he married Jocele Calender and the couple had four children, Scott, Mabel, Byron, and Charlotte. A mostly self-taught artist, Cushman traveled to Washington D.C. in 1875 to study the collections at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In addition to the Cushman monument, some of Cushman's work survives in public and private collections. He died on April 20, 1926.
Address: Urbana-Woodstock Pike (Cty Rd 2), Woodstock
Location: Woodstock Cemetery (Between Fountain Park and Woodstock), in front of Cushman Memorial.
34-11 Old Grave Yard
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Front Text: In 1805, a burial ground was dedicated to Champaign County at the intersection of Ward and Kenton Streets, which was then at Urbana's town limits. It remained open until 1856. Among those interred there was Elizabeth Kenton, eight-year-old daughter of Simon Kenton. When she died in 1810, Kenton, the county jailer, was forbidden from crossing out of the town limits due to his unpaid debts. After following the funeral procession as far as he could, he watched Elizabeth's burial from across the street. Also buried there were unknown soldiers from the War of 1812; Captain Arthur Thomas and son, who were killed by Native Americans in August 1813; four Bell children, who died in the tornado of March 22, 1830; and numerous early settlers of Champaign County. Many, but not all, were reinterred and rest in Oak Dale Cemetery. Back Text: To confirm that the Treaty of Greenville would be upheld, Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs called a council with Native Americans June 6-9, 1812. He sought approval to cross native land when marching to Canada and to ensure their alliance with the United States against the British. Among the tribes and chiefs credited for attending were the Shawnee (Black Hoof, Captain Lewis), Wyandot (Tarhe, Roundhead), Seneca (Civil John), and Mingo. General William Hull, Colonels MacArthur, Cass, and Findley, the Wyandot interpreter Isaac Zane, and Simon Kenton are also thought to have attended. Blockhouses were erected along Hull's Trace for storage and the protection of local settlers. The actual location of this gathering was on the rise about 100 yards southwest of the Old Grave Yard.
Address: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets, Urbana
Location: NE Corner of E. Ward and N. Kenton Streets
