CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
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Looking Back at Champaign County

Looking Forward: Brand Whitlock

2/11/2021

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The 2020 photo with this article is of the house at 510 S. Main St., Urbana. This Looking Forward is from the perspective of Joseph Brand Whitlock, who was born at this location, though probably in an earlier house, on March 4, 1869. His parents were Elias B. Whitlock and Mollie Brand Whitlock. Brand Whitlock’s maternal grandfather was Joseph C. Brand, whose house at 132 W. Reynolds St. was previously featured in this column.

As Brand’s father was a Methodist minister who served various Ohio churches, the family moved frequently. When Brand became a teenager, the family lived in Toledo, Ohio, where he worked for a time as a newspaper reporter. Later he turned to the law and practiced in Toledo, where he became active in community and political affairs. He was elected mayor of that city in 1905 and served three more terms before declining further nomination.
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In 1913 he was appointed Minister to Belgium by President Woodrow Wilson. When World War I started Whitlock was in Brussels, Belgium, where he was admired and recognized for his assistance to the Belgian people during the war. At war’s end he was appointed US Ambassador to Belgium. In recognition of his contributions to the Belgian people, King Albert honored Whitlock with the highest decoration of his country.

The Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open to the public Tues. - Fri. 10-4 and Sat. 10-2.
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Looking Forward: The Patrick House

1/19/2021

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Patrick House Urbana Ohio
The Patrick House
This is a 2020 photo of the southeast corner of Scioto and Kenton streets. Circa 1811, a small log schoolhouse was erected here. This Looking Forward is from the perspective of Joshua Antrim, author of The History of Champaign and Logan Counties – From Their First Settlement, written in 1872. Antrim attended this subscription school. He recalled teachers including William Stephens, John C. Pearson, Henry Drake and George Bell. Schoolmates surviving at that time included Col. Douglas Luce, Joseph A. Reynolds and Mrs. Horace Muzzy. This address now is 301 Scioto, known as The Patrick House, built in 1855. 

The Champaign County Historical Museum is a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open to the public Tues. – Fri. 10-4 and Sat. 10-2.
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Looking Forward: Joseph C. Brand

12/30/2020

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Joseph C. Brand House Urbana Ohio
Joseph C. Brand House
Accompanying this article is a 2020 photo of the Joseph C. Brand house at 132 W. Reynolds St., Urbana. This ‘Looking Forward’ is from the perspective of Joseph C. Brand, a long-time Champaign County resident. He was born in 1810 in Kentucky. His grandfather, Dr. James Brand, a native of Scotland, came to America after graduating from medical school in 1756.

Joseph came to Urbana in 1830 and engaged in business with his uncle, Dr. Joseph S. Carter, in a drug store. He married Lavinia Talbott in 1832, and they resided in Mechanicsburg from 1832 to 1837. He then farmed in Union Township, returning to Urbana in 1851 where he lived the remainder of his life except for service in the U.S. Civil War and a Consulship in Germany. He held several county offices including Clerk of Courts and served as a State Legislator.

During the Civil War, he helped raise the 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served as its Commissary Officer from 1861-1865. He witnessed Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Later he served three terms as Mayor of Urbana. Brand and his wife spent their later years at their W. Reynolds St. home, which served as a rallying point for their children and grandchildren who were undoubtedly instilled with a sense of public service and care for others.

This was particularly evidenced in their grandson, Joseph Brand Whitlock, four-time Mayor of Toledo, novelist, and the first U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, who spent many summers with them here.

The Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open to the public Tues. - Fri. 10-4 and Sat. 10-2. The museum will be closed December 24th through January 4th, but will re-open during regular hours on January 5, 2021!
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Looking Forward: Joseph C. Vance Sr.

12/15/2020

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Joseph C. Vance St. Residence
This is a 2020 photo of the northeast corner of East Reynolds and South Kenton streets. This “Look Forward” is from the perspective of Joseph C. Vance Sr., who erected on two lots at this corner in the fall of 1805 or spring of 1806 a two-story log house as a family residence and a small log building, which served as his office. He was appointed in 1805 the first clerk of the Common Pleas Court as well as recorder and auditor of Champaign County.

From this location Vance participated in the birth of Urbana, as Col. William Ward, the city’s founder, placed him in charge of the initial sale of lots in the town, some of the proceeds of which were used to construct the first county courthouse in 1807, a log structure located on the north side of East Court Street.

Vance was born in Virginia in 1759 then served in the Revolutionary War. He moved to Ohio in 1801 first settling in Green County then moving to Urbana in 1805 as noted above. His son Joseph C. Vance Jr. served as Governor of Ohio 1836-38. Vance Sr. died in 1809.

Submitted by the Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open to the public Tues. - Fri. 10-4 and Sat. 10-2.
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Looking Forward: Judge Middleton

11/30/2020

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Judge Middleton Urbana Ohio
This structure at 302 W. Reynolds St., Urbana, was the home of Judge Evan P. Middleton.
The Champaign County Historical Museum starts a new historical series that takes the perspective of looking forward from the past to the present at locations in Champaign County.

Accompanying this article is a 2020 photo of the house at 302 W. Reynolds St., Urbana, which is located at the northwest corner of South High and West Reynolds streets. This “look forward” is from the perspective of Judge Evan P. Middleton, who was a long-time resident here. He died in this house in 1945 at the age of 91.

Judge Middleton was born on a farm in Wayne Township, Champaign County in 1854. As a young man he was determined to make the law his profession. To that end he and his younger brother Arthur studied the law under the tutelage of General John H. Young. They were admitted to the bar in 1878, and the following year they opened a law office in Urbana.

In 1900 their law office was located at 109 1/2 W. Court St. in Urbana. In 1901 he became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Second Judicial District of Ohio. He wrote a comprehensive two-volume history of Champaign County that was published in 1917.

Submitted by the Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open to the public Tues. - Fri. 10-4 and Sat. 10-2.
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Then & Now: Ohio Caverns Entrance

10/27/2020

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Ohio Caverns Entrance 1941
Then – This is a 1941 photo (#0336) of the entrance to Ohio Caverns: ‘Where nature carved a fairyland.’ The caverns were discovered in 1897 on the farm of Abe Reames north of Mt. Tabor. The caverns were initially referred to as the Mt. Tabor Caverns. Beginning in 1925 tours of the Ohio Caverns were offered. The formal tour takes visitors past stalactites and stalagmites of all sizes including the Crystal King, a large white stalactite more than 200,000 years old. The person in the photo is unidentified.
Ohio Caverns Entrance
Now – The Ohio Caverns entrance now is remarkably similar to that in 1941, except the arch has been replaced. The stone posts are the same, but another slab of concrete was added to the top of each to increase the entrance clearance. 

The Champaign County Historical Museum is a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.
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Looking Back – Joseph Walter, WW II Aviator

9/3/2020

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Joseph W. Walter Urbana
Joseph W. Walter
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Given that this year is the 75th anniversary of the end of WW II, this is a look back at Champaign County involvement. Joseph W. Walter, long-time Urbana funeral director, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and became a navigator, pilot with multiple ratings, and an officer (Lt. jg). A photo of Walter is shown here. His unit, VPB-119, included the first heavy bombers to return to the Philippines once most of the Japanese had been driven out. The accompanying photo, taken by Walter, shows their PB4Y-2’s in formation March 1, 1945, on approach to Clark Field. Each bomber had a crew of 12. Of the 30 crews, only 15 returned from combat. Lt. jg Walter was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three air medals now on display in the Champaign County Historical Museum, which submitted these photos and information.

The not-for-profit museum depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
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Looking Back – Maj. Gen. Eichelberger

7/14/2020

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Gen. Eichelberger
This Nov. 29, 1941, photo (#A2459) at the Champaign County Historical Museum shows Maj. Gen. Eichelberger, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, escorting Eleanor Roosevelt at the Army-Navy football game at West Point.
Given that this year is the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Champaign County Historical Museum looks back at Champaign County involvement, beginning with Robert L. Eichelberger, who was born in Urbana and graduated from Urbana High School in 1903. A Nov. 29, 1941, photo (#A2459) at the museum shows Maj. Gen. Eichelberger, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, escorting Eleanor Roosevelt at the Army-Navy football game at West Point.

Eight days later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Subsequently, Eichelberger asked for his release to a combat assignment “so he could be useful to his country.” In August 1942, he was sent to Australia for a job that was to keep him in the Pacific theater for six years. His first assignment from Gen. Douglas MacArthur was to take a command and break the stalemate at Buna on the northwest coast of New Guinea, where demoralized allied forces had been attacking, through tangled jungle and swamp, impregnable Japanese defensive positions.

As a result of Eichelberger‘s leadership, the stalemate was broken, resulting in the first Allied Ground Force victory in the Pacific.

The Champaign County Historical Museum is a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

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Then & Now: Grimes Field

7/2/2020

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Urbana Grimes Field 1944
The “Then” circa 1944 aerial photo (#A2553) of Grimes Field Airport, Urbana, was taken looking west across North U.S. Route 68. Shown are the original hangar and office/restaurant buildings. Grimes Field opened in November of 1941 as a private airport and became a municipal airport in 1943 when it was gifted to the city of Urbana by Warren G. Grimes. It was dedicated as such on Aug. 8, 1943.
Grimes Field Fly-in
The “Now” photo of Grimes Field was taken looking east toward North U.S. Route 68 during a recent “Fly In” event. The Champaign County Historical Society expressed appreciation to Elton Cultice, airport manager, for sharing this aerial photo.

The Champaign County Historical Museum is a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

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Then & Now: Oak Dale Cemetery Gateway

6/16/2020

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Oak Dale Cemetery Urbana Ohio
The circa 1920 “Then” postcard image of the northwest gateway of Oak Dale Cemetery on Patrick Avenue shows the driveway along the north border of the cemetery. The first meeting of cemetery trustees occurred on Oct. 23, 1855, with Lemuel Weaver as president and W. F. Mosgrove as secretary. On May 28, 1856, the name of the cemetery was changed from Greenwood Cemetery to Oak Dale Cemetery.

The cemetery was dedicated on July 19, 1856. The following is an extract from the address by Rev. Jas. F. Chalfaut at that dedication:

“There is a natural sentiment in the bosom of man, as a general rule, strong in proportion to his cultivation and refinement, that, after life’s silver chord has been loosed, his resting place may be in some quiet sequestered retreat, removed at a proper distance from the bustle and conflicts of active life, when he may not be jostled in his narrow house; but where emblems of truth and divinity may surround him, in all their native simplicity and grandeur. Where God breathes through the leaves of the undisturbed forest trees and smiles in the blooming flower! Such a place may this be!”

Once the new cemetery was established many, but not all, of those buried in the Old Graveyard at Ward and Kenton streets were disinterred then re-interred in Oak Dale.

Oak Dale Cemetery Urbana Ohio
The 2020 “Now” photo of the same driveway shows that it now is an exit. Note how little has changed in the past 100 years. It appears that the stone posts and iron fence are the same. Given the nature of a cemetery as so eloquently stated above, so should it be a constant in an ever-changing world.

Source: A Brief History, Rules and Regulations of the Oak Dale Cemetery, Urbana, Ohio 1907.

The Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

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    Looking Back at Champaign County

    The Champaign County Historical Society strives to highlight historical people, places and events throughout Champaign County.  If you have photos of historical significance that you believe would be of interest to Champaign Countians, please Contact Us.

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