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MILITARY HISTORY OF FORT RECOVERY, OHIO By Robert V. Van Trees

ln his headquirters at Fort Green Ville, during late December of 1793, Major General contemplated the bittersweet report he had just received. A few days earlier he had ordered a detachment to proceed northwest and erect a wilderness fort where Major General Arthur St. Clair's ill-fated exbedition had been soundly defeated by the Indians on November 4, 1791. The detachment had secured the wooded site along the --that was the good news. The remainder of the report was a grisly account of what the detachment had found. Arriving on the snow-covered banks of the Wabash--scene of the historic debacle which left more than 900 members of St. Clair's expedition lifeless--the soldiers began scraping away the snow preparing to pitch their tents. Through the cheerless light which slashed through the ageless silent and barren sentinels around them, in freezing weather the soldiers slowly began uncovering the mortal remains of hundreds who still lay where they had fallen two years before. Alternately ravaged by sleet, snow, rain, and sun-­ and the wilderness predators who gormandized on human flesh-­ the now silent contorted forms provided mute evidence of the Indian's unbelievable vengeful depravity. With all the care that circumstances would permit, the mortal remains of several hundred unfortunate souls were interred and the task of erecting a wilderness fort began. Erected on hallowed soil, and the military's deepest penetration into the "Indian country" in late December of 1793, the fort signalled General Wayne's determined intent to wrest control of the wilderness domain from the Indians. Although Wayne had considered calling the site "Fort Restitution," in assigning Captain Alexander Gibson as the first commandant of this strategic stockade, he decided "Fort Recovery" would be more fitting. On the occasion of the 175th anniversary of what some historians refer to as "St. Clair's Defeat," in 1966 the citizens of Fort Recovery published a commemorative booklet whose opening lines are worthy of repeating: "The present site of Fort Recovery was the scene of two very important events in the early history of the . Some of the greatest Indian tribes cherished this area as their favorite hunting grounds. As the white man pushed forward, the result was a conflict between the races. Attempts at peacef~l settlements had failed. The Indians repudiated the treaties of their chiefs and resented the sound of the woodsman's axe." Contemplating the first of the above mentioned events, perl1ap~ General Wayne took this occasion of naming FORT RECOVERY to momentarily reflect on past events which led to his predecessor's defeat and now the erection of a wilderness ( ' .

fort whose name sig'nif ied "the· regaining of a former position." In 1593 a Spanish explorer, Hernando De Soto, led an expedition through the southern region of what later would be the . While seeking a water route to the Pacific Ocean, in May of 1673 Louis Jolliet, a French explorer, and Jacques Marquette, a Roman Catholic missionary, paddled down the Wisconsin River and viewed what the Indians called "the big river." From 1669 to 1673 Sieu De La Salle wandered through the immense interior of the Great Lakes region proclaiming France's claim to all land drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Prompted by encouragement from a group of English merchants known as "The London Company," in May of 1607 Captain Christopher Newport commanded a fleel of ships which brought 100 English colonists to the Virginia coast where they started the Jamestown seltlement. In November of 1620 the Mayflower completed a 54-day crossing of the ocean and dropped anchor off Cape Cod--one month later these colonists from Plymouth, England landed at the present site of Plymouth, Massachusetts. This legion of white-skinned explorers, missionaries, traders, and colonists soon encountered the copper-colored natives of North American who were--in most cases--surprised, but friendly, despite the difference in the color of their skin. It is interesting to note it was the year 1619 when a Dutch ship brought the first 20 Negroes from Africa to James­ town. In 1747 a group of London merchants and wealthy Virgin­ ians formed the "Ohio Company" and obtained a grant of 200,000 acres in the Ohio valley from King George II of England. Dispatched by this company to reconnoiter their wilderness grant, Christopher Gist returned with a glowirig report regarding the potential of the . Alarmed by such incursions, on June 15, 1749 the Marquis De La Galissonier, Governor General of New France, dispatched an expedition from Montreal led by Captain Pierre Joseph Celoron, Sieur de Blainville, down the St. Lawrence River and across Lake Ontario to reassert the claims of France to all land in the valley. As related in "Celoron's Journal," edited by A. A. Lambing and appearing in Vol. 29 of· the Ohio Archaelogical. and Historical Publications (1920), the Captain floated down the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Miami River planting an appropriately inscribed lead plate ai the mouth of ma.ior lributaries reaffirming France's claim to the territory. Tra.ve I i ng overland f ram Pi ck aw i 11 any, I oca ted near where the Loramie empties into the Miami River, to the headwaters of the Maumee on.his return trip to Montreal1 Celoron 1s expedition could very well have followed an old Indian trail leading northwest and crossed the Wabash River a short distance east of where Fort Recovery was erected in 1793. Erroneously referred to in Histories .Q1. .Y1ill. Wert !ill!! Mercer Counties, Ohio (1888) as Arthur St. Clair's "paymaster's box j ' . ' l I l of gold," the box of money found in 1852 on Isaiah Totten's J I out-lot immediately east of Fort Recovery might have belonged to a member of Celoron's expedition. (Northwest Treasurer" "Mercer County Chronicle", July 4, 1985). Regardless of Celoron's route of travel, the French I Captain's attempt to deter incursion, or impose peace on the I population of the Ohio Country, did not succeed. The Indians ! I merely hauled down the lily-dappled flag of the French l Bourbon king, hoisted England's Union Jack, and continued trading with the English in the Ohio Country. As one chronicler related: "The Indians preferred to trade with the British--it was just a simple matter of economics. For a muskrat skin the Indian could get drunk--with the French it took a beaver skin to do the same thing!" In the upper Great Lakes region the Indians continued to bring in their stinking treasury of animal pelts and the French traders bartered for them with the "winterers'' using beads, trinkets, guns, whiskey, and needles. The French were content to reap the benefits from the furs they bartered for and not disturb the red man's convictions regarding the revered land on which the red man lived and hunted. With the Frer1oh flag fluttering over their outposts in the Great Lakes region, and along the Mississippi, French traders plied their lucrative trade as settlers from the seaboard colonies pushed across lhe mountains into the area France claimed. It was also a region some of the colonies claimed by right of the charters given them by the king of England. It was inevitable the colonial interests of France and England would lead to the war which erupted in 1754. During this so-called ''French and Indian War,~ in 1758 Ensign Arthur St. Clair arrived from Scotland to serve with the Sixtieth Regiment of Foot, the Royal Americans, and two years later performed conspicuous military service against the French in Canada. He was destined to see wide swings in both his fortune ahd public service after the conclusion of the war in 1763 and delegates of England and France sat down ih Paris to negotiate "peace," By the terms of that Treaty of Paris, France surrendered to England most of her colonial empire in North America--an area predominantly occupied by Indians but not a single Indian participated in negotiating the treaty which ceded the land on which they lived and hunted. The "Indians" were not even mentioned in this white man's treaty! As the British red coats relieved the French garrisons of western outposts, under British rule the Indians were recognized ~s having the natural rights of occupancy termed "rights of soil" and pursued a policy of buying from the Indians any land they needed around their posts. When the Indians began chaffing at the incursion of white settlers who were crossing the ·mountains in ever-increasing numbers, in 1763 the King of England issued an edict declaring the Appalachian Mountains as a line of demarcation over which the settlers were forbidden to cross. But the German settlers could not--or would not--read the proclamation and the Scotch I ( ' . 1 I ,.1 l and Irish simply ignored the decree. l Frustrated by England's Stamp Act, and similar instances ~ of oppression in a country which longed for "independence and freedom," on June 14, 1775 the created­ the "in defense of American liberty," The following day was appointed a general and commander in chief of the army. It came as no surprise when the Indians--the majority at least-~elected to support the British when the thirteen colonies proclaimed their independence in 1776. Even as the Revolutionary War raged along the east coast, on the western frontier the freedom-loving settlers continued to push into what the Indians considered their domain. With the war over, the land-hungry pioneers floated down the Ohio River with renewed vigor seeking land in the region "ceded to the United States by the defeated British." But the Indians did not regard themselves as a "defeated people" despite the fact many had supported England in the war. The white man interpreted the treaty of Paris-­ .! concluded in 1783 between England and the United States--to mean the Indians, as allies of the British, were conquered people and ''to the victor belongs the spoils!" Of course the only "clear title" to any land in the vast 265,000 square miles of what was to become the Northwest Territory were a few acres surrounding the widely separated British stockades in the wilderness where the Indians lived. Vacate, yes--but you could hardly "cede" what you did not own. 'To add to the confusion, the British were reluctant to give up, in fact, what they had relinquished on paper and the outposts at Detroit and Mackinac continued ''doing business in the same o Id way." And, to ·make matters worse, the government of the United Slates was powerless to do anything about it. As the "undeclared war" between the Indians and the. white invader kept the western frontier in a constant state of alarm, the fledgling government of the United States under the Articles of Confederation wrestled with the problems of a governing body composed of delegates from 13 conteritious "sovereign" states. Fearing a large standing army was a "potential tool of tyranny," the American army of 20,000 men had been demobilized after the war--only a handful of military men remained in active service to guard supplies at such posts as West Point and no one remained on active duty with a rank above captain. George Washington decried this demobilization declaring· reliance on a civilian militia would not protect the nation's interests. Unfortunately, the Congress under the Articles of Confederation was an ineffectual body existing at the sufferance of "sovereign'' member states and with no provision to raise the needed revenues except by request. Many of the valiant soldiers ~f the Revolutionary War remained unpaid and the "Continental Certificates" issued by the government soon' gave rise to the expression, "not worth a Continental." Wise in the employment of a military force, Washington said: "Regular lroops alone are equal to the exigencies of modern warfare, as well as defense or offense, and whenever a substitute is attempted, it must prove illusory and ruinous. No·miliLia will ever acquire the habits necessary to resist a regular force." With the western frontier "aflame," and several wiser and influential congressmen agreeing fair treatment of the Indian and his "rights" must prevail, Congress faced the galling f1:1ct they must not only "purchase" the land recently ceded by the Treaty of Paris, but the United States must protect and enforce the nation's interests beyond the Appalachians. Protect? Enforce? With what? But these were men attuned to the trials and tribulations of those early "diaper years" of our nation's birth and on June 3, 1784 Congress established the . (Proudly claiming to be the U. S. Army's oldest active infantry unit, the 3rd U. S. Infantry, "The Old Guard," is currently headquartered at Fort Meyers, VA. Serving as the Army's official ceremohial unit, "The Old Guard" trace their "roots'' to the First American Regiment). In establishing the First American Regiment, Congress called upon the stales of Connecticut, New York, , and Pennsylvania for 700 militia to serve for 12 months to garrison the western posts. The following year, on April 12, 1785, the term of service was extended to three years for this Regiment which consisted of eight companies of Infantry and two companies of Field Artillery. Lieutenant Colonel I i (Brevet, Brigadier General) Josiah Harmer, a veteran of the i Revolutionary War, was appointed commandant of the Army and, in 1786, established his headquarters in the newly constructed fort located at the mouth of the River. Erected under the supervision of Major , it had been named "Fort Harmer," In consequence of the government's stated pplicy of ,• "dealing fairly with Indians" and "promoting peace talks," treaties were concluded with various Indian sachems in 1784, 1785, and 1786. But often the Indians did not fully understand the white man's words and it served no useful purpose to tell them they were "a conquered people." United States representatives negotiated from an exaggerated position of strength and the Indians openly reputiated terms of the three treaties whenever it suited their purpose, In his letter to Marquis de Lafayette in 1785, Josiah Harmer declared: "All treaties will be ineffectual. Possessing the British posts ought to ~e the first grand object, then a treaty at Detroit would answer all purposes. The United States will never have either dignity or consequence among the Indians until this is effected." With some of the wisest men of this country busy at Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 engaged in drafting a Constitution, in delegates from eight of the thirteen states adopted the historic "Ordinance of 1787" on July 13th creating the "Territory of the United States

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Northwest of the river Ohio." And, on the heels of this legislation, the Ohio Company of Associates submitted a petition to purchase land in the Ohio Country. Early in the following April, and led by General Rufus Putnam, forty-eight shareholders of the Company arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum and began building a settlement opposite Fort Harmar--they called it "Marietta." Soon after George Washington was inaugurated as President on April 30, 1789, he ordered the establishment of a War Department and was quoted by his Secretary of War, : "The President of the Unit~d States has desired that it may be'clearly understood to be his opinion that the best foundation for peace with the Indians is by establishing just and liberal treaties with them, which shall be rigidly observed on our parts, and if broken on theirs to be effectually punished by legal authority." "Punished? With what? Seven hundred soldiers to enforce the terms of treaties in the Northwest Territory? On September 29, 1789 the military organization of the War Department was redesignated as "The Regiment of Infantry" and "The Battalion of Artillery" with an authorized strength of 1,216 non-commissioned officers and privates. Officers were to be commissioned by the Commander-In-Chief, the President of the United States. This was the origin of the FIRST UNITED STATES INFANTRY which was to consist of three battalions of four companies each. Seventy non-coms and privates were authorized each company of this First U. S.

Infantry. On December 24 1 1789, General Harmar moved the Headquarters of the Army from Fort Harmar downstream to the newly erected Fort Washington. Appointed governor of the newly created "N6rthwest Territory" on October 24, 1787, Arthur St. Clair arrived .at Fort Harmar on July 9, 1788 and took up his many faceted duties which included establishing a legal framework for the territory~ appointing minor officials, and dealing with the ever-increasing friction between the would-be settI'ers and the Indians. In an effort to be closer to the center of the vast domain he governed, in early January of 1790 St. Clair fol lowed General Harmar downstream to Fort Washington just east of Losantiville and established his headquarters there. The governor quickly renamed the settlement "Cincinnati" in honor of the "Society of Cincinnati," an organization of which he was a charter member and one whose organizer was none other than the President of the United States, George Washington. · Those who drafted the Ordinance of 1787 had not anticipated the problems the Indians would present or the fervor with which the red man would defend his wilderness home and life-styl~. The six articles of "compact" in this ordinance wisely set forth fundamental principles of liberty which were to be "forever unalterable." Article III provided guidance regarding the Indians: "The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward ( ' '

the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them.without their consent."

But 1 without an adequate military force to deter the land-hungry settler whose feverish aggression frustrated the Indians, and the red-skinned natives whose vengeful retaliation was a source of constant concern, this Article had no "teeth.'' The difference of opinion over the "right" to the land was basic to the clash between the "white invader" and Indians who insisted "The Great Moneto" charged them not to part with his land on which the red man lived. Governor St. Clair smoked the calumet and traded belts of wampum with the Indians and tried to placate the aggressive land-venture undertakings by such influential entrepreneurs as John Cleves Symmes, one of the three judges appointed by Congress to help him establish laws for the territory. The other two judges, James Mitchel Varnum and Samuel Holden Parsons, died within a year after reaching the Northwest Territory. Although representatives of the young : I government argued the United States had a just claim to the land ceded by the Treaty of Paris, earnestly declared they wanted "peace" with the Indians, and were ready to "negotiate" compensation for the land in order to demonstrate the "justice and liberality of the United States," obtaining any agreement among the various red sachems of the widely­ separaled Indian nations, tribes, and villages, was a monumental task and the depredations continued. Indians may have lacked the formal education some of their white opponents possessed but they were not stupid and wilderness fights were fought on the red man's "home court." And, , the Miami Indian 1 s leader, was a master of wilderness strategy. Thus, when Secretary of War Knox ordered the First U.S. Infantry Regiment to "chastise the troublesome Indians in their nest" at the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers where Little Turtle lived, the army was to find the Miami leader a worthy opponent. Marching a mixed force of 1,453 regulars and Kentucky militia through the wilderness provided little opportunity for covert action--the Indians knew the white army was coming and they prepared. Long before scouts reconnoitered the Indian villages where would later stand, the shrewd Little Turtle and his Miamis were long gone. Finding "Miamitown" deserted, the members of Harmar's expedition quickly proceeded to loot, burn, and destroy the Indian homes, girdle young fruit trees, and destroy corn which stoo~ in the fields awaiting harvest. The white men failed to realize the Indian could quickly rebuild his home and game was plentiful in the nearby woods. Of significant concern-­ and a frustrating loss to the Indians--was the corn in fields and the fruit trees which were destroyed. Without corn, many Indians would go hungry that winter. But the Indians wait~d patiently until the sated army marched away in the direction of Fort Washington and then they returned to their devastated villages. When General Harmar attempted a quick "strategic'' return to surprise any ( ' '

returning Indians, it was Major Wylly's detachment of 60 regular and 340 militia who were surprised. The crafty Little Turtle and his warriors were waiting and soon put Harmar's soldiers to rout. In disorganized flight, the army rushed back to Fort Washington to lick their wounds after this disaster and tl1e militia returned to Kentucky where they heaped verbal abuse on the expedition commander. Meanwhile, the Indians continued their vengeful attacks against wilderness cabins, settlement, and boats venturing down the Ohio. Failure of the army to quell the Indians was viewed with alarm from the little one-room cabins on the frontier to the hallowed halls of Congress in the east and Governor St. Clair lost no time in rushing to Philadelphia where he offered his plan and personal leadership for a concerted campaign against the troublesome Indians. His "plan" envisioned establishment of a line of wilderness forts from Fort Washington to Miamitown and he requested funds and the necessary military for such an undertaking. · Tall and graceful, with blue eyes and graying chestnut hair, Scottish born Arthur St. Clair was well-educated and ."of great uprightness and purpose, as well as suavity of manners." Emotionally mature and stable, and a family man with a wife and seven children, this ultra-conservative's privileged background and war service record made him a respected confidant of President Washington. Ardently nationalistic, St. Clair was hailed by some as "talented and a fearless soldier" while others characterized him as an "inflexible aristocrat." It was St. Clair's fate to serve his adopted country during an era of political extremes and, being openly contemptuous of the process of self-government, he was bound lo be a contro~ersial figure: Clciuding his image, the "albatross of Fort Ticonderoga" still hung around St. Clair's neck--many still remembered he had surrendered the Lake Champlain fort to British General John Burgoyne in 1777. His defenders argued he made a wise choice wheri given the alternatives of a hopeless defense of the deter'iorated and understrength garrison or saving his army to fight again, Despite the fact a military court acquitted him, Congress had never again given St. Clair a major command after that incident although he served with distinction throughout the remainder of the war. With his western Pennsylvania properties devastated by the war, St. Clair moved to Philadelphia where he rose to hold the highest position in the land in February of 1787 when he was chosen by his col leagues as President of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation. President Washington realized St. Clair was in his late 50 1 s, was p I agued l~y at ta'cks of gout occasioned by years of privation in his out-of-doors travel in inclement weather, had no real experience in leading soldiers against the wilderness enemy, and such an additional duty would be a tremendous burden on his old colleague, but the country would need a seasoned veteran to command the expanded federal force ( . '

under consideration. Finally, torn between purpose and doubt--and with no one available who had more personal knowledge of the western frontier--the President appointed St. Clair as a Major General of the Army. As discussed in Colonel Frederick Shaw's One Hundred and Forty Years of Service l.n Peace And War .::. History of the. S~cond Infantry,

United States~ (1930), on March 3 1 1791 Congress adopted legislation establishing a second regiment (SECOND INFANTRY REGIMENT> to be composed of twelve companies of 100 men each. The First Regiment of Infantry was authorized 1,150 non­ commissjoned officers and privates. This Act of Congress for raising and adding a second regiment to the military establishment authorized recruitment of 2,000 volunteers for six months service. An advertisement appearing in the March 22, 1791 issue of Philadelphia's "American Daily Advertiser" promised a recruit "adventure and opportunity!" With the vicissitudes of the recent war fresh in their minds, and many still unrewarded for their Revolutionary War service, the "fit and eligible" avoided recruiting'officers like the plague--a military career did not appear to be a rewarding profession. To encourage enlistments, recruited regulars were paid .a bounty of six dollars and levies were given three dollars. Such practice led to the recruitment of some men. who were ill-suited to the demands of military life. In a lengthy letter, the Secretary of War, Henry Knox, optimistically advised General St. Clair he should "expect a force of 3,000 effectives, at least, by July 10, 1791." With confidence in the War Department's declared support, St. Clair rode away from Philadelphia in April of 1791 and arrived at Fort Washington May 15th anxious to launch his campaign in early July. There were, of course, a myriad of details relating to his job as governor a~aiting his return and "negotiating" the differences with those who had unprecedented "rights" was but one of his task. Accustomed to a 16-18 hour work-day, St. Clair dug into his work as governor while he also faced the task of commanding an army and arranging to raise necessary militia in Kentucky as circumstances might require. And ''require" they would as the expedition commander soon learned when his carefully planned campaign started to become "unglued." Lack of interest in service as a regular, tardy arrival of levies, and delinquent delivery of urgently needed supplies resulted in an understrength amalgamation of poorly equipped and untrained regulars and young and inexper­ ienced six-month levies. Although he was authorized to augment his "force" with militiamen from nearby Kentucky, prelimihary contact with officials of that Virginia County showed these citizen-soldiers neither liked St. Clair or · cared to have anything to do with "regulars" of his army in any campaign. And s6 the plans for a hurried assembly of 3,000 troops at Cincinnati dragged on until fall came "knocking on the door." In frustrated desperation, on Sept­ ember 17th St. Clair ordered his "army" to a location just north of Cincinnati for some "field tra.ining"--anything to t I < !

lj f' I il get the soldiers away from the Cincinnati settlement. 'j Subsequently moving farther north to the banks of the Great '.J I Miami River, Fort Hamilton was erected and garrisoned in late I ) September. On September 27, 1791 Francis Mentges, Inspector of the Army, reported: "2,300 men fit for duty." He concluded his report saying: "This is the most completely equipped force that has ever been seen in the west I" Whereas St. Clair had anticipated a need for 750 of the Kentucky mil ilia, and advised appropriate officials accordingly, as September ended the expected augmentation of his "force'' had not arrived. Ordering General Butler to lead i the expedition across the Great Miami and march northwest, 1 St. Clair rode off towards Lexington to personally urge dispatch of urgently ne~ded men. On the 5th of October, 1791 I Lieutenant Colonel Oldham joined the expedition with 300 I militiamen but chose to camp apart from the main body. When St. Clair rejoined his command on October 9th, he learned the I not I army had crossed the river until October 4th and had I i marched only five or six miles each d~y through the heavily ; wooded region. In addition, he was furious to learn General Butler had changed his orders regarding the planned line of march in two columns. On October 18, 1791 the army halted to build a second fort which was named ~Fort Jefferson." Here an early frost added to the men's discomfort and jeopardized their horse's forage. Adding to St. Clair's problems, a major rift developed between him and General Butler when he refused his second-in-command's request to push ahead rapidly with 1,000 men towards Miamitown. On Sunday, October 23rd--before the assembled troops--three soldiers were hanged for desertion and an attempted murder of an officer. Having garrisoned Fort Jefferson, and with Captain Shaylor left in command, on October 24, 1791 the expedition marched six miles north and made camp near where Fort Green Ville would be erected two years later. t O I

As detailed on page 6 of historian Martha E. Rohr'• Historical Sketoh of Fort Recovery (2nd Ed. 1974), "progress was painfully slow." The inclement weather did not help matters either. M~anwhile, back in Philadelphia, the anxious Secretary of War continued to dispatch messages urging St. Clair to press forward. Typical of such messages was Henry Knox's communique which arrived on October 27, 1791 admonishing St. Clair or: "The dire necessity of proceeding with unequivocal haste!" Thus, almost four·months after the date St. Clair had planned to march from Fort Washington with 4,128 men, on October 27, 1791 the Adjutant General reported the expedition was 74 miles from Fort Washington and there were 1,700 I , effectives present and accounted for." Battalion commanders were now reporting their commands were ''melting down fast" as the six-month levies declared their time was up and took off back down the wilderness trail headed for home. Moving forward on October 30th, the expedition camped west of where the C.C.C. and St. Louis Railroad would later cross Route 49. Here, in the wee hours of the following morning, 60 Cr1ol 300) disgruntled citizen-soldiers of the Kentucky militia stole away from the camp confiding to some their intent to intercept the supply train reported coming up the trail. In a move, later condemned by "Monday morning quarterbacks," St. Clair ordered Major Hamtramck and 300 regulars of the First Regiment in pursuit. In his weakened condition, the gotit-ridden St. Clair was carried toward his ill-fated destiny on N6vember 2, 1791- -Hamtramck's detachment had not returned but the expedition commander decided to push on. After camping that night along the banks of the little Mississenewa River, the expedition reached the Wabash River the evening of November 3rd believing it to be the St. Mary's River. Here the ~eary, foot-sore, cold and hungry soldiers--and an assortment of several hundred camp fol lowers and civi 1 ian workers--fel l ·in their tracks for what would be, for many, their last night on earth. At dawn on the morning of November 4, 1791, approximately 1 ,000 Indians launched a well-organized and devastating attack on the expedition which, after less than three hours, left more than 900 hapless souls dead and dying on the banks of the Wabash. A tiny creek leading into that river ran red with the lifeblood of the slain. As related in "The Cleveland Plain Dealer" on July 13, 1941, during Fort Recovery's Sesquicentennial Week commemorating this sad incident, "fighting the Indians was like fighting shifting sand!" Or1ly a determined retreat ordered by St. Clairj spearheaded by Colonel Darke, and shielded by Major Clark's rear guard, enabled a pitiful handful of men and a few women to escape the jaws of death which left 637 to 650 military killed in action and 237 to 260 military wounded. An estimated 60 to 250 civilian workers and camp followers were 1 1 '- -~ · ~ - - t ...... -. ""'*"' ~ nrf ; r\ l\tn,1~mhAT' of ( . '

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In February of 1792, three months after the merciless slaughter, Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) led a detachment of 150 mounted men from Fort Washington to the scene of the massacre. Not a single Indian was seen--not a shot was fired. A deep snow covered the battlefield but mounds of frest1ly-fallen snow evidenced where the slain had fallen. Scalped and stripped of their clothing, many showed evidence of inhumane torture--stakes had been driven through the bodies of some and the mouth of others had been stuffed with dirt. A later resident of Fort Recovery, Samuel McDowell, was with this detachment and, according to Henry Howe's Histor.ical Collections Q.f. Ohio, Vol. II (1896), reported six hundred skulls and bones were buried in four large graves. But, since the snow was deep, and freezing weather hindered the gruesome work of uncovering the bodies which littered the battlefield, the mortal remains of many remained for soldiers to find when they built Fort Recovery in late December of 1793. Word of this disastrous defeat s~ept through the frontier like wildfire and weeks later the report reached the ears of President Washington and the members of Congress. Failures of the War Department, negligence on the part of the Quartermaster, friction between the regulars, levies, and militia, ill-equipped and untrained soldiers, inadequate enemy intel ligence 1 and a tactical error in dispatching the "cream" of the army in pursuit of deserters--these were but a few of the charges heard. Library shelves are replete with various accounts of this campaign and the causes for the disastrous defeat. Suffice that Little Turtle simply out­ generaled Arthur St. Clair. Disciplined fire-power from covert wilderness 11ositions, dedicated offense against St. Clair's officer corps, tactical cohesion, and the use of wilderness warfare tactics foreign to the majority of inexperienced participants of this bloody engagement brought the army to ils knees in three hours of desperate fighting. In this nation's first congressional inquiry, St. Clair was officially exonerated of any failure to diichar~e his duty. Indeed, he was commended for his leadership under fire. Although he resigned his military commission in early 1792, he retained his governorship until 1802. It is unfortunate the records researched by the writer are sadly lacking concerning the names of the many enlisted personnel, civilian workers, and women and children who took part in this expedition and died November 4, 1791--and .whose mortal remains now rest beneath the gray granite spike in Monument Park at Fort Recovery, Ohio. Historians agree the incident some refer to as "St. Clair's Defeat" was the worst defeat of any American Army at the hands of the Indians and it is important this dark day in our nation's history not be forgotten. An anonymous poet provided posterity with this eulogy: "That November snow with its stain of gore Had melted away ere the noontide hour. But the debt we owe to those who fell ' ' '

Is ever present in that scene of hell."

Stimulated by the Indian's success against Harmar and St. Clair, the red man's depredations increased and the nation's attenlion was focused on the region northwest of the Ohio Hiver--something had to be .done and selecting a military leader was difficult. Although several were considered, President Washington selected Anthony Wayne to wear the two stars St. Clair had worn. With dispatch, Wayne reorganized the depleted army into a "legion" and began training west of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. In April of 1793 General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, as some called him, moved his Legion to the Cincinnati area and set up his camp downstream from Fort Washington at what was called "Robson's Choice." Here he remained until October and then boldly marched north to where he ordered the erection of "Fort Greene Ville." Called "Dandy" by some because of his fastidious concern with the military uniform, and "the chief who never sleeps" by Indians who watched his every move, Wayne decided to remain at Fort Greene Ville as winter approached--the President, Cohgress, and Secretary of War now had little choice but to back his decision. While another war with England "wai.ted in the wings" and threatened to erupt at any moment, in 1794 President Washington assigned Chief Justice John Jay to negotiate American differences with England and the resultant Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation was ratified by the United States Senate on June 24, 1795. Less than two months later, on August 3, 1795, the Treaty of Greene Ville was signed and Chief Massass of the Chippewas declared: "The hatchet is now buried forever!'' As the council fire was extinguished, Major General Anthony Wayne eloquently bid the Indians farewell saying: "I have hitherto addressed you as brothers. I now ~dopt you all, in the name of the President and Fifteen great F i res , o i' Amer i can , as the i r chi l d re n . " As Martha E. Hohr wisely observed in her "Historical Sketch of Fort Recovery" previously referred to herein: "Strange that historians should have passed over so lightly the two great engagements fought here; the first being the greatest ever to have befallen an American army, and the second that in which the largest Indian force ever assembled was signally defeated. Few are the pupils of American schools who know the meaning of the words "Fort Recovery," or could even give its approximate location." ( ' '

THE EARLY COUNTRYSIDE

The excerpts below are paraphrased from Ancestral Portraits .Q.f. Ohio S§ttlers by Con J. Fecher, Ph.D. While Fort Recovery was growing and developing the outlying area was also expanding, Those who had come earlier into western Ohio were Protestant settlers from the eastern colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania. After 1850 the greatest concentration of immigrants arrived in Mercer and Auglaize Counties. America was seen as being a rich country and Europeans were looking for better living conditions than they had in their country. Often the family farm went to the oldest son and younger sons could find no work. European agents would tell the people to take advantage of land offices in New York and Baltimore whi6h would provide aid in acquiring new homes. They were told that, in Ohio, they could buy farm land of huge forests at $1.00 per acre or purchase a small house in villages along the canal for less than $100. A settler would usually buy or make a down payment with a land office affiliated with one in Cincinnati that would provide ownership papers to the family upon arrival. What lhe travelers were not told was that traveling was not easy. The immigrants would have to sleep in narrow bunks, sometimes two or three tiers high, one above the other, and attached to the inner wall of the boat. Wooden benches provided seats attached to the outer wall. Voyages often took many weeks and months to arrive, and many did not live to see their dreams fulfilled. Upon arrival in New York, many did not immediately come to Ohio, but stayed where they could find work so as to earn money for the trip Some liked it where they were and never did journey to Ohio. People were told that large tracts of land had been granted to soldiers and their heirs in payment for military service while other tracts had been sold to land contractors early in 1800. If a person wished to buy land in Mercer County, it could only be obtained from private owners in the area. Landowners, mainly politicians and friends of influence, had purchased vast stretches of forests land from the Lan~ Office in Cincinnati, and sold smaller tracts to settlers, known as Yankees from Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia who were eager to explore the new front.iers beyond Lhe mountains.

THE BUILDING OF THE CANAL One of the greatest moments in history was the building of the canal. It was a link to other parts of the United States as well as a means of work and travel for pioneers. The first spadeful of earth was dug about 1830 at Middletown, the midpoint between Cincinnati and Dayton. It was connected to New Bremen bY 1838 and to Lak~ Erie bY 1845. As there was no heavy construction machinery yet, the work was done by hand by man and beast. The· diggers were mostly farmers who lived near the canal route, German and Irish young men who had immigrated to Ohio after hearing of the need for workers. The canal usually followed a ditch; swamp, or low-lying area, the dampness from which caused many to become ill with fever and cholera in the summer. The men worked in groups of 20 or 30 with the aid of scoops to dig until a solid bottom of earth would be reached. Diverting .the water in spring and summer and the moving of frozen ground in the winter, considerably slowed the building for many years. Real problems were confronted over hills and valleys where locks had lo be constructed to raise or lower the water level. A lock is usually 90 feet long and at least 15 feet deep according to the height of the hill to be crossed. At each end of a lock is a wooden gate to be closed or opened to fill or empty the lock. A man could earn 30 cents per day with lodging and meals while working on the canal. Many settlers who were interested in acquiring farm land often agreed to take farm acreage for their work. To get to Mercer County the people usually came from Cincinnati by canal boat up the Ohio Lake Erie Canal. Minster was a canal port and many who settled here embarked at Minster and traveled overland to the Fort Recovery area. This one and only important means of transportation and communication allowed travel as well as the shipment of grain, wool, meat, and simple farm tools, animals, etc. from the farms to the country towns and villages along the route. PIONEER LIFE The life of the pioneers was very difficult .. They had to use crude, back-breaking agricultural methods and tools, relying on wild game for their food. In spite of the hardships many overcame them and within a period of ten years had tillable ground and tree groves. Friendships formed when new arrivals would meet with those that had already settled and were willing lo help others get started or just to give advice on the area. Acres of rolling, heavily wooded land were being purchased for $5 to $20 per acre from the frontiersmen of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky by Catholic German immigrants. The old pioneer settlers came here after the Indian treaty, cleared a small space only and constructed a tog hut. They were eager to move on and explore new · rronliers further west, so they willingly sold their land. The forests of the area consisted of oak, walnut, buckeye, sycarnurt-:, hiclwry, J..>utternut and other types of trees .. It was claimed that a squirrel could travel from the Appalachian Mounla:ins le; JI 1 inui:::; without leaving the tree tops. . The pioneers, after purchasing these frontier land set about t.: 1 earing the !'ores t, burning t.he trees, and using what timber was necessary to build their log homes and sheds. If . '

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the land was wet they drained, ditched and diked where necessary. If there were an abundant amount of stone boulders, the families would gather them on "stone boats" which they would drag to the line of the field and use· them lo mark Lheir property. Droughts, hurricanes, floods, early and late frosts, dust storm~, plagues of crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts, low prices, small grain returns, and Indian conflicts were all hardships faced by these brave pioneers. Travel was done on foot or horseback. Trails were cut through the forests, but there were often fallen limbs causing people to zig zag around them lengthening their journey. There were some two-wheeled wagon trails to follow which had been cleared in earlier days. THE HOMESTEAD A typical homestead at that time .probably consisted of a shed and corral for horses, cattle, ·sheep, chickens and pigs. Orchards filled with apple and peach trees had random colonies of bees beneath them. A garden was adjacent to the log house. There was usually a centered heavy door-jamb through which you entered the lower floor which contained a stone fireplace, over which hung a iron pot in which the cooking was done and water was heated for washing. A plain wood table with a hinged bench of rough-sawn oak would be in the room, along with a couple of stools 1 wooden baskets, an oaken water bucket and cooking utensils. There would only be one window letting in the light. A ladder-like narrow stairway would lead to the loft (or raftered attic) which would contain tt1e sleeping quarters. The bed would be roped with unmeasured, bulging, huge knots along each supporting beam, and a split boltom chair would sit nearby. A few rounded pegs, protruding from the chinked log wall, provided a place to hang clothing. Another room in the loft would be a catch-all and grain-storage one, protecting the precious seed from destroying rodents. To leave the second floor. one would have to back down the steps, THE COUNTRY STORE A typical country store, located in each small hamlet, was often run by a congenial man wearing a white apron, with white shirt sleeves rolled up and held in place by sleeve­ holders that looked like ladies' stocking garters. He was very.generous in handing out sticks of peppermint and horehound candies to the children but in his financial dealings with adults, he always looked sharply at them as if he feared to be cheated. The corner near the entrance contained a box-like post . office with a pigeon hole slot for each family. Bulk mail was delivered daily to the rural Star Post Office, which according to government regulations had to be completely partitioned and screened off from the store's contents. ( ..

Running the full length of the store on the right wall was a glass showcase, containing pocket knives and watches on the one end and sticks of hard candies of many colors and kinds on the other. The price of knives varied from 10 cents to 50 cents but the nickel-plated watches were a dollar each (they were known as the dollar-watch). Behind a contiriuous counter, on the left and running the full length, were shelves which held groceries in small cans and packages that had been shipped from distant places. Under the counter were boxes of bulk raisins, dates, dried apples, apricots, and Arbuckle's bean coffee. All bulk items of sugar, salt, rolled oats, etc. that came in large barrels were transferred to lar~e paper bags with a hand-scoop. After noting its weight, it was tied with a cord string, emanating from a bal 1 of cord in a receptacle attached to the ceiling above. In the center of lhe room was a pot-bellied stove, surrounded by conveniently placed nai'lkegs for seats for men who patiently waited for their belter-halves to make their necessary purchases. Under the stove was a fire-safety tin to catch hot ashes or fire brands that might fall to the floor, while around and about were ash-filled cigar boxes or spittoons. Customers, usually two or more, stood or sat, discussing the news of the day, waiting their turn to purchase, a process that could neither be hurried nor shortened. Down the center, in line with the stove, were a number of wooden barrels containing brown sugar, rolled oats, loose round crackers, flour and salt. At the end of the room on the far left side was a large wooden barrel of vinegar with a handy-tap to transfer the liquid to gallon jugs. Near it, to the right and down two steps, was the part of the building for other items the farmers would purchase. Here were · jackets, work shirts, pants (bib-overalls), and post-office type cubbyholes hulding bolts, nuts, serews, rivets, and olher small hardware. Hanging on pegs nearby were· horse collars, bridles, leather straps, buggy whips, and a few bull-whips. Shelves were loaded with yard goods of dress materials, bright red calico with patterns of flowers and birds lo make I itlle girls happy, and many other l~pes of fabric. Mittens, eaps, bootsi shoes, and stocking were also found here. Cheese came in the form of a huge hoop, known as a cartwheel, seven or eight inches high. It was enclosed in a glass dust-proof case, with small triangular shapes pieces cut for the customers. Next to the cheese wheel was the bright red, large coffee grinder, actuated by two large wheels on each side, In it Arbuckle's bean.coffee was ground, e i Lher f i ni~ or coarse. There was no cash register but under tl1e counter near a · scale was the cash box, a push-in and pull-out drawer with a number of divided sections or slots in it to accommodate various coins and paper money. The drawer also contained the account book of the farmers. Much bartering was done with the storekeeper of chickens, eggs, and butter for necessities iii the home. Settling-up time was usually at the end of eaoh month. The Lwo sides of the ledger (debit and credit) were totaled up with a goodly credit on the credit side of the store. It would l.:>e the other way, with the credit on the customers side during tlie summer when the egg supply was heavy or in the spring when cockerels were in demand or in Lhe fall ~vhen the old hens were sold. Without exception, there was no E:xchange of money in most cases. The credit of the farmer in the fall was usually absorbed by buying additional supplies for the farm, yard goods for the family, or boots and shoes for the boys.

1~E TURN OF THE CENTURY At the time the railroad was completed through Fort Recovery and lravel ing salesmen were appearing in town, some wo u l d r en l a " r q(' f r om t he l i very and vent u r e i n t o t he countn1 s ide. One sal0sman, named John-the-Greek, traveled around twice a year with an assortment of dry goods and material packed and strapped in his two large leather cases. While enjoying a cup uf eoffee and baked goods, the women of the house would admire his wares which he had spread out for their enjoymenl. Tbere were imported laces and small rugs from the Orienl, multicolored dress materials, outing flannel for shirts and skirts, and Oriental perfume. Invariable, there was an exchange of money, farm products, or sometimes, a bartered meal for a desired article. . i Another Lype of' traveler was the."traveling tramp," The people weren't quite sure of these individuals who traveled the area with their packs on their backs containing all of their possessions. Many were honest and traveled about with wares of rings, laces, trinkets, knick-knacks and while showing Lhem, entertained with stories and slight-of-hand acts und card tricks. The one-horse drawn wagons and specialty salesmen broughL a fascinaLing, valuable and enjoyable piece of equipment to Lhe rural area in the stereoscope. This educational gadgel was the travelog of the times. Stereoscopic view (stereo or three-dimensional pictures) were in ubundarwe an<.l covered world-wide subjects: lakes, mountains, tml.iomd parks, foreign cities, and geographical scenes from all continents. Pictures sold from two to four cent:...; each uud stereoscope sold for $1.00: No home in the country was considered complete unless it owned one. With the advenl of the Sears Roebuck catalogue, after 1915 stereoscopic views were no longer popular, and the salesmen were no longer us necessary.

Anotlier Lraveler was the rag-picker who traveled around chanting, "Any rags, bones, and bottles today for the rag-

'I '' .f µ_icker is coming doh'n your way." The boys gathered old iron, bottles and rags, weeks before, anticipating. his coming which was twice a year, Gypsies also roamed the area and traveled in a group of two or three covered wagons, each carrying all the children and family belongings. Each wagon had ont-:-spotted Indian pony in the front with a tag-along one tied to the rear. The men would remain ir1 the wagons while lhe women would go from one neighbor to another begging for food or clothing, The most common playthings in the "old days" was the ·string bal 1. It was truly an art to begin with a walnut center and with careful tension of wrappings of cord, one could arrive with a satisfying finished round ball. There was no limit in Lhe use of the ball. The sling-shot 1-vas made from a forked tree branch and two rubber strips with a leather pouch cut from an old shoe top. The popgun was another favorite of the boys with the barrel made out of a center joint of ·an elderberry. It was hollowed-out to accommodate a wooden plunger that actuated the missile of a dried bean, pea, corn kernel or any kind of ammunition that would fit into the barrel. Girls had do! Is which were made out of pillowcases. They also er1joyed learning the art of sewing, as ready-made clothes were too expensive. Homemade wagons and sleds were the usual means of trans­ µortat ion about the house and barn at chore time. A sled with oak runners, tipped with the steel from an old discarded buggy wheel, would have the capacity to haul a quarter to one-half cord 01' ki.ndl ing from the woodhouse to the kitchen. At school, the sled became a favorite object for the boys in the winter. Six or more large boys in prone position and topped by one or two smaller boys would slide down a hill.

The childrtrn would form a pyramid with the two larger boys on I. Lhe Lwllom forming Lhe base and by dexterity of movement they wou Id maneu ve f' the di re ct ·ion of the sled. The end result was / often only several remaining on the sled the full time and the others lyi!lg in tbe deep drifts of snow. l.ife in the country was not all work and no play, but there wer~ chores that had to be done by the boys. They had to spliL and carry wood, feed livestock and milk the cows. All of these chores help to mold character and instilled in them the true meaning of lhe dignity of work, courage, patience, µerseverance~. wisdom and the correct philosophy of life. After chores were performed there was still time for leisure activities such as fishing, hunting, nutting in the summer and fall. In winter ice-skating was a favorite pas l i nw.

In the winler ice would be harvested. The work involved a week of damp, freezing, backbreaking and tiresome work from early morn'ir1g until I ale at night. Much work had to be completed i11 advance so lhat when the pond was frozen from i I i

' ' ) six to eight inches or more in thiekness all would be ready for the harvest. Local men would be liired and a horse, calm and unafraid, properly shod with very sharp cl.eats would pu I l the ice-marker and the ice-plow across the pond. These tools were very important and had to be i·azor sharp so that the ice would be marked and cut into uniform size and shape. 24 by 24 inches. Tt1e ice-plow cut deeper into the marked line and lhen tile iee-::;a\v completed the separation of the long block of ice cakes. A wooden slide would be built on the sloping bank of the pond. This r~mp was the means of removal of the blocks of t'en cakes 1011g i'rom the water. There would be much pushing and pulling with odd-length poles to maneuver the ice blocks to the ramp where, with ice-tongs, rope and the horse. the ascending ten-cake block would land safely on the platform. The attendant would then thrust a sharp flat iron bar into the marked seam causing the natural split in the ice into true and uniform cakes. · The handling and hauling of the ice blocks was the most difficult and unpleasant job. Fifty or more cakes were loaded onlo a wagon and carted to the village ice-house, placed in layers, ends-up with loose, dry sawdust sifted around, under and above each cake. The sawdust acted as an insulator from the hot summer sun and as an aid in freeing adjacent cakes when removed. The ice-house was about twenty feet high, 20 x 20 in dimensions. and generally filled to the top, which demanded an additional higher slide to fill the upper half of the building.

Fol ks who have had no experience ot' farm lit' e can never imagine or realize the mastermind need to plan for the harvesting' or gi·ain. The weather played an important part in hapµi11ess and good living or sadness and restricted living. The per i ud or lw.rvt.· sting cove red 1oany weeks. sometimes monthsi cuttin!:{ when properly matured, the method of shocking the sheavt:s of l~acb kind of grain, the necessary number of weeks from field curing, and the hauling and storing in huge grain tmrns. Threshing took place about August or September at'ter the sheaves of grain in the barn had gone through another process of "sweating" ldr~'ing out). The threshing outfit consisted of a self-propel led steam engine, water and wood wagon, and the grain separator all owned by one man with a creh' of three others who moved from farm to farm in a designated area until all the jobs were finished. The farmer would invite ten or more neighbors lo help him in moving the grain from the upper-most section of the roof-peak down to the graln­ separator, localed between towering walls of grain on either side. The rear of the machine with its twenty-foot elongated blower, extendin~ a few feet beyond lhe rear of Lhe barn op~niog, wou!J discharge the newly threshed straw into a s tack wfl l ch \v hen f i n i .shed wo u l d b 0 near l ~ 1 a s 1a r g· e as t he

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barn itself, Sheaves were then pitched into the front feeder of the separator and the grain hammered out, cleaned free of chaff, and sacked at the side from two chutes. Usually one of the farm boys had lhe job of changing the sacks by flipping a lever to divert the grain from one sack to the other. Two or three men were designated to carry the sacks of one and one­ hal f bushels of wheal or rye or two bushels of oats to a rat and bird proof grain bin in the barn, often called the grainery. The sacks were made of coarse, cotton woven, seamless µil low-like t·ubing, stitched at the bottom and hemmed al Lhe loµ. Each sack carried lhe name of the farmer stenciled at the top to assure him he would not lose his sacks when leased to a neighbor. Threshin~ was a full day job on many farms, from sunup until sundown. About nine in the morning a lunch was served and again al four with dinner at noon and supper after dark. The day after threshing was spent in housecleaning and renovating lhe bedrooms. There were no manufactured mattresses and al I sleµt on straw-ticks and covered themselves with a down-filled coverlet of goose feathers or a woolen bat. The boys had the task of carting the old mattresses of broken slraw to the barnyard to be emptied, dusted, cleaned and filled with new straw. The next day all hand-loomed rag carpets were taken up and carefully carried out to be JusteJ and aired. Floors were cleared of all chaff-like broken straw, and thoroughly scrubbed with hot soapy water, followed by a new layer of straw placed on the floor before the carpets were in place again. Butchering was another practice at the turn of the century and lasted for many, many years. Butchering was a neighborhood event with husbands and wives of about half7 dozen families gathering, usually in late December, to help dress from four Lo six hogs. It was too extensive a chore for one family lo complete in one day. A fire would be kindled under a huge iron vat· in the barnyard early in the morning with several large stone resting in the red coals, waiting to be dropped later into the scalding water to keep it at an even temperature. The pigs were shot with a twenty-two rifle and immediately the jugular vejn would be severed whereupon the. clear red blood would be caught in a flat pan, mixed with snow or ice (to discourage coagulation), which when combined with head-meat woul

. ' , MONUMENT In 1908 President William Howard Taft signed a bill authorizing the erection of a monument on the battlefield of Fort Recovery honoring the soldier dead of General Arthur St. Clair's and General Anthony Wayne's armies. The bill was approved April 15, 1910 by U.S. Congress appropriating $25,000.00. The bill was sponsored by Senator Theodore Hurt.on of Ohio, and Honorable William E. Touvelle, representing Fourth Congressional District, as well as General J. Warren Keifer of Springfield, Ohio, and many more interested friends. Work was begun early in 1912 and the memorial was dedicated July 1, 1913. the 119th anniversary of the battle of Fort Recovery. It is thought that the monument was designed by William B. Van Amringe. Total height of monument to the Very peak 101•4~ from grade. Area of granite terrace on raised platform 35' square, and its height is 5' high from grade. There are two bases between the terrace platform and the base of the granite shaft proper. The square of the lower of the two bases is 18'8'', Square of the second base, the one directly under the shaft is 14'4'', Base of the shaft itself is 9'4'', and the square of the shaft at the base of the apex is 5'8'', The height of the apex from its base to the point of the shaft is 9'4". Total height fromt he 9'4" square base of the shaft to the very point is 93'4", which together with the er1tire height of the terrace and the two bases together makes 8' and makes a total height of the monument from grade 101. 4". It is estimated that including granite, concrete, b~onze and all oLher material, there are approximately 800 tons of material in this monument. There are forty-eight (48) courses of granite ·in tbe shaft proper extending from its base to the base of the apex. Each course consisting of four stones, every other course 2'4" tall, and alternate courses 1'2" tall. The apex is made of three stones. The cost of this monument was $23,700.00. On each of the four sides of the base is a bronze tablet 6'10" long and two feet wide, and inscribed with historical data. On a series of 32 medallions, 22" in diameter, eight on each side of the base, are carved th~ names of officers slain in the two battles. The west side, being the front, the· names carved thereon are: McMahon, General Wayne, General St. Clair, Butler.• Hartshorn, Craig, Oldham and Gerguson. The heroic figure, 9' in height, representing a frontiersman with his musket in one hand and his coonskin cap in the other, typical of the volunteer heroes who accompanied the expeditions, rendering invaluable service as scouts and sharpshooters, also stands on this west side at the base of

. . , f .1 i the. monument . Several thousarid people were present for the dedication and unveiling ceremony. On the program were Hon. Wm. E. Touvelle, General J. Warren Keifer, and Miss Belle Noble Dean, of Indianapolis, great-granddaughter of General St. Clair, to whom as given the honor of unveiling the monument. A chorus of sixty voices was also a feature of the program. It rained in the afternoon, which detracted much from this important part of the program.

. ' -~ GROWTH OF THE TOWN In 1910 the village seemed to be prospering and the council meetings centered on streets, sidewalks, sewage, and land annexialion.s. The G.H. McDaniel addition - lying on the southeast side of town consisting of eleven lots (seven of which had already been sold) and the Anthony subdivision -a part of the Wigg•s addition consisting of four residential lots wure approvuu J'or addition to the village, The improvement of several streets was taken up for consideration. At first they were to be macadamized (small broken stones used to make a road usually combined with tar or asphalt) but the residents decided they wanted brick - more costly but most economical. The tax for the improvements was strung out in twenty semi-annual payments so it was not considered burdensome. Sewage was the most imporlant needed improvement as the town grew in size.

lee, held in August, seems to be the most remembered and photograph~d one ever. It was held Tuesday through Thursday, August 6, 7 and 8th. Carnival tents were set up on the Main Slreet. Harry McDaniel, postmaster, had written to Washington asking permission to have an air mail flight during the celebration. His request was approved on August 1, 1912 with I ! the route assigned the number 631,004. A sub station was s~t up in a tent at the aviation field. George Schmidt agreed to appear and give a flying exhibition each day and after arriving here from Bellefontaine, Ohio, 50 miles to the east., where he had also given a demonstration, was sworn in and was prepared to fly the mail on Tuesday. In the morning he made several flights from the farm which had been designated as the aviation field. In the afternoon a large crowd gathered to watch his exhibition. He took off and suddenly, perhaps because of an oil problem, the engine stopped. The crankshaft had been damaged causing the plane to glide. He returned safely despite a very hard landing, 'but his plane was too badly damaged. He knew that Earl Sandt was available and by placing a call lo Erie, Pennsylvania was able to secure him lo fill his place. Mr. Sandt's plane was in Hammondspurl, New York, where it had been repaired at a cost of $1,200. Mr. Sandt did not have this amount. Mr. Sandt, Clarence Cummings, his manager, and two mechanics, Jarvis Rowan and ,John Henry, took the train to Fort Recovery and persuaded tl1e local bank to advance enough money to pay his repair bill. The bank would be repaid from receipts from.the flying exhil.Jition. The airplane was sent C.O.D. and arrived on Thursday. Sandt gave such a fine exhibition that the committee decided to extend the Jubilee for one more day. Mall bad been collected on Tuesday at the sub station but had to Le tahen to lhe Post Office and sent on its way. Again on Wednesday the same thing happened. On Thursday, following Sandl's swearing in, he flew high and dropped the

• • .t mail ba~ from a great height. The bag fell in the St. Clair ~ill wool yard about 1/2 mile from the aviation field. The bag was retrieved and taken to the Post Office, He repeated t he f 1 i g h L a g a i H on Fr i day . In a l l 1. 5 0 0 i t ems we r e cache t e d on tht:J four days of the Jubilee. The Post Office at the field was the 1'irst airplane Post Off ice in Ohio and the fourth in the United Slates.

* INSERT MONUMENT ARTICLE

The first automobiles came to town about 1912-13. They were ne~~ and drew a lot of attention when one passed by. The noise from Lhe automobile frightened the horses and also caused a cloud of dust. It is said that John Harting owned the first automobile in town. It was a Cadillac. The unreliability of the car caused it to be towed back into town on one occasion. Bi 11 y Wilson owned a· 1909 Maxwe 11 Bristol, four cylinders, equlµped with carbide lights, clutch, brake and an additional hand brake. Emmet Dumbald also owned an automobile, a SLudebaker touring car, which boasted of a fabric top. Gas, at this time, sold from nine to ten cents a gallon. 1916 seems like it was a year of change in Fort Recovery. Otto Zimmerman bought out the Drug Store business of John AJams and was to run it until 1929. The 20th Century Buggy Company came.to town from St. Henry. Chris Ranly and Sons manufactured buggies. Erhard Wangler started in the hardware business, moving here from New Riegel, Ohio. · Charles Meinerding operated a pool hall, which was later to become a pool hall and restaurant, located west of the present Meinerding building. The casualties of World War I were felt here with the death of Emmet Mannix, who was killed in France on August ·6, 1918. William NcConaha lost his eye. Others who lost their life were Fred Hammel, Lmvis Moorman, W.A. Lieser, M.D., frank Miller, Jacob Brandewie, William Breymaier, Eldon McAfee, Thomas Wolf, Gregor Fullenkamp, Floyd Mann and Henry Hheinders. During World War I the Stirrup Company employed 60 persons and 100,000 pairs of stirrups were made, just in

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1918.

THE ROARING TWENTIES In 1921 a killing frost hit Fort Recovery in the middle of June causing kn~e high corn to freeze off to the ground. The second growth shoots grew but produced poor corn, which was very

' . .~ musical instruments of Yugoslavia similiar to the guitar in shape and the mandolin in sound. · In 1927 the Tamburitza Company incorporated under the State Laws of Ohio. Prior to incorporation the company had been operating in Fort Recovery under the partnership of John Hlad and Mr. A. Franic. After their partnership dissolved, some of the local businessmen became financially interested in this new industn1 • The plant had worked continuously in taking care of orders that had been received and in perfecting new models and designs. Patents had been applied for and issued. The new six string Tamburitza was placed on the market in November of 1926 and had been well received in several states. In addition to the line of Tamburitza, the company also worked in perfecting the Banjo and Mandolin. MemberB of the Board of Directors of the new Corporation were: H.W. Long, A. Franic, Frank E .. Hoke, H.B. Kleinhenz, Edward Kod1, G.A. Reuter, W.H. May, John Premer and G.W. Reuter. A sizeable order received from Arizona was the first announcement to the new Board. Plans were then made to install new machinery to manufacture more instruments. At the time of organization there were orders enough to keep the work force busy for at least four weeks. Being a small company, this was a lot of work. · However, the orders must not have been enough because the business was no longer in operation a short time later.

THE LATE TWENTIES The Royal Theatre was in operation at this time also. It had been built by Emil Wagner and his three sons and offered such features as "Damaged Goods" - special snow and

added delicate subjects - Women only matinee 2:30 1 .nite 7:00 - men only matinee 4:00, nite 8:30 - Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13. The theatre was also used for concerts by the Tamburitza Orchestra.

In 1928 tile .J.A. Long Company local storehouse, located behind lhe Long Company's produce buying station, was completely destroyed by fire. The loss included several tons of rags, rubber and paper and a Samson motor truck, The fir~ was first noticed in the hide house of which the door had always been securely locked. The hides were missing and the conclusion drawn was that it was an arson fire set to cov.er up the theft of hides. The Fort Recovery Equity Creamery plant was built on land purchased from Sebastian Ranly. The building was 50x65 with 10-15 ft. of lawn in front. It was said the creamery was as sanitary as the cleanest kitchen in town and could be viewed 365 days a year.

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The library opened also in 1928 as a Reading Room. It was a project of the newly formed Business and Professional Women's Club. The building in which it was located had a lot of history by that time. John Cring built it and operated a drug store there. After he moved to Portland, Charley Schied rari a store; Fred Cribley occupied the building for a while during which time the gas office was located there. Then Jacob Anthony bought it and ran a grocery store, followed by John Gels, Ed Sanner, and Fred Ulmer. Also during some of this lime Harry McDaniel had a photographic studio located on the second floor. It is thought that the building was built in 1858. (In 1939 it was torn down and replaced with a new building by Mr. L.R. Franks). The Douglas Hotel and Restaurant opened, in the rooms formerly occupied by the Hilliard Hotel, on South Wayne Street. It was billed as one of the neatest and best hotels and restaurants to be found anywhere. Everything was said to be clean and sanitary and up-to-date with pleasant · surroundings. Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Douglas were proprietors. The Depression years werB hard on life everywhere and no doubt felt by a small town. However not much mention can be found, so it is assumed that life went on only at a slower pace.

On November 11, 1931 the town celebrated Armistice Day with a large, free celebration. It was said that not since the day of the famous Harvest Jubilee festival had Fort Recovery prepared for a more interesting and exciting celebration. An ox roast started the celebration with all­ you-can-eat sandwiches. Storekeepers had bargains.and in the evening tl1e main thoroughfare was turned over to the crowd for a real old-fashioned street dance. On that day 6,000 buns and 775 lbs. of meal were used which shows that there must have been a large crowd on hand.

In transportation news in 1932, highway #119 was made a national highway between Fort Recovery and Portland. The town was to become a terminal for Franks and Lake Shore Coach Lin~ running from Muncie, Indiana. The same year "Herb" Franke and "Tom" Hastings moved to Fort Recovery from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to become the new· editors of "The Journal." The Olympic Swimming Club was opened to members only in July at the old Wagner Slone Quarry. The big loss of the summer was an estimated $40,000 fire at the Stirrup Factory. The origin was unknown, bul appeared to have started near the center of the main building and spread lo other parts of the factory and to a large lumber \ shed situuted nearby. Flames also destroyed a barn and chicken house belonging to the Schneider heirs. It was estimated that approximately $10,000 worth of finished products were in the two-story factory at the· time. The factory had been practically shut down for several months preceding tt1e fire, but the loss was felt for the well-known concern.

In Marcl1 of 1934 the state accepted the deed for the Sonderman property containing 8.47 acres. The stockade was in the process of ~eing rebuilt with the community pitching ln by buying logs and then donating them to the restoration.

The Western Ohio Petroleum, Inc., The Peoples Banking Co. 1 and The Fort Recovery Equity Exchange Co., all owners of the bank and 1/2 of the old riverbed, deeded that portion of their property as a gift for the erection of the stockade.

An ordinance was passed in Janua~y of 1938 regulating the opening and closing time of places where liquor and beer were sold. The opening throughout the week was at 6:30 a.m. and the closing during the week and on Sunday was 11:30 p.m. and on Saturday 12:00. Ten minutes before the closing the night man rang the town bell warning proprietors that they had that time to clean tables, bars and get the "stuff" out of sight. Infantile paralysis was a disease of this age and all over the nation celebrations were held in January to help fight this disease. The people in Fort Recovery held a Tag Day. 1 In M~rcl1 nineteen (19) freight cars out of 45 piled up at the Nickel Plate line just east of town. Several car loads of coal were overturned, a gasoline tank car was burning and a freight car full of tractors were part of the wreckag~. In a short time over 100 people had collected to view Lhe wreckugc. Luckily none of the seven man crew were injured. The new library/museum was completed and occupied, with dedication held in October. The town held a celebration on September 21. 1938 in observance of the 150th anniversary of the Northwest Territory. Schools i11 the county were given a half day holiday; a parade was held welcoming the Northwest Territory Pionetr Expedition caravan, which had been in the west since May, back to Ohio; speeches by men well-known in the state were given at the stockade; a Penny Supper was held in the Krenning lot; a World Premier showing the caravan from the time it lef L Ipswich, Massachusetts in December of 1937 untfl it reached Marietta, Ohio in the spring of 1938, entitled "The Ohio Country'' was shown in the early evening; a public dance was held on the Krenning lot. A county wide essay contest was held for high school students. A small pin clasp depicting an ox and cart, along with wooden nickels were souvenirs. The wooden nickels were round

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in shape, about 2 inches across, with one side showing a picture of the fort and the other side containing a brief history of Fort Recovery. After September 21st they were no longer available.

Baseball was big business in Sharpsburg in the late 1930's. It has been said that when the Speeds had a baseball game, there wasn't a place to park left around the Sharpsburg area. For 35 cent a carload of people could enjoy a jam­ packed afternoon of baseball. The Sharpsburg Sµeeds finished the 1938 baseball season with a 16-0 record. Pictured above are the members of the team: Walter Staehler, manager, Joe Lefeld, Art Steinbrunner, Herb Heiring, Linus Knapke, Paul Kaiser, Vic Metzger, Clarence Stahl, Herb Stahl, Richard Meiring, Fred Eifert, S. Lefeld, umpire, Tom Schoch, catcher. The Speeds went on to play ball in Kansas City.

Late in 1938 a State Librarian uncovered some letters of General St. Clair in a dusty trunk in the basement of the Ohio Statehouse. While the battle here was not mentioned by name it does say that "public opinion turned against St. Clair after his defeat, Even his relations with Washington were said to have been strained. A congressional committee exonerated him of responsibility for the massacre but he res i.gned in Apr i. 1 , 1792, and was succeeded by Anthony Wayne." The article goes on to say that family troubles also caused St. Claif quite a bit of grief. Although not fully explained in the letters it is hinted that his wife was a victim of a mi Id form of i.nsanity. Also his daughter, Louisa, was granted a divorce from her husband as was his youngest and favorite daughter, Jane; however, she refused it.

WAR YEARS, AGAIN

The first peacetime draft was held in 1940. Out of 367 only 40 Mercer County men's names were drawn. Two were from Fort Recovery - #25 was Frank Nolan Hodge and #35 Darrell Franklin Slemmer. Peacetime was not to last long however· when on that fateful day, December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harb6r. During World War II "The Journal" carried many articles' on the servicemen from here, telling of their whereabouts (when they were able) and publishing letters that they wrote to the editors. SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION The War did riot, however, stop the town from celebrating the Sesquicentennial, July 20th to the 25th. Under the chairmanship of Charles Barrenbrugge the celebration opened with a community memorial service at the state park. Henry J, Knapke of Celina, Prosecuting Attorney of Mercer County, and .J.P. Hingley, former Illinois Commander of the American Legion, were the speakers. In the afternoon soldiers dressed in the uniforms of 1791 manned the stockade and a painting of "Mad Anthony Wayne" by Charle~ F. Johnson of Mt. Sterling, Ohio was unveiled by Lloyd Hartzler, who represented Mayor Harry W. Baals of Fort Wayne. Also in the afternoon "Miss Northwest Territory'', Miss Catherine Sauer, was crowned by Governor John W. Bricker. The court consisted of Miss Irene Ranly chosen Miss Columbia, Miss Onolee Snyder representing Gibson Township, Miss Ellzabeth Ingle representing Recovery Township, ~liss Irene Vagedes representing St. Henry and Miss Ruth Hassan reµresenting Washington Township. On the f irsL evening the J.B. Rogers Company presented a pageant, "Frontiers West" to a crowd of approximately 5,000 svec:Lalors. The riageanl was presented in three episodes: 1 - The rising of tht: Indian tribes and the planning of the attack on General St. Clair's forces; 2 - The massacre of St. Clair's troops and 3 - The building and investing of Fort Recovery by General Wayne. The pagt~ant was repeated again on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and the Harvest Jubilee celebration continued through Saturday. The Stella Baughn building was used as headquarters during the celebration. LIFE DURING WORLD WAR II

On June 16, 1944 Sgt. Junie Golder was killed in France. It was a sad time for the town people finding that one of . I their own was a casualty of the War. Only a month .later 1st Lt. Tom Anthony died in action over Germany and in November of the same year TSgt. Don Schmitz, at the young age of 20, gave up l1is life for his country. Before the war ended the Fort Recovery area was to lose Joseph Bollenbacher, Robert Col !ins, Albert Beyhe and Clyde Kaffenbarger. Tom Timmerman did not lose his life in the fighting but lost both legs in the war effort. Ludvenia Bonifas Haffner served as a Red Cross nurse in New Guinea. AL home war scrap quotas were set. A six month rationing board appointed by Mayor Sebastian Hanly had as their first and primary task the rationing of tires. Outdoor Christmas lighting throughout the nation was curtailed because of critical materials, gas rationing was in effect, sugar was rationed, 1 lb. of coffee was allotted for a five week period, drastic school bus regulations were ordered by the Ohio Department of Transportation, the vocational agriculture department was closed ·1n the high school as ordered by the Stale Director of Agriculture, school hours

, ' l were changed to run from 9-12 a.m. and 1 :55-3:50 p.m., neon li~hting was doused under the "brown-out" order to save scarce fuel, and retail merchants were also told to turn off their window display lights. The first Minut~ Man flag in Mercer County was presented to Fort Recovery Farmers' Equity Union Creamery Co. They earned the right to have and fly this flag by virtue of the fact that all employees pledged 10% of each paycheck lo go toward the purchase of War Bonds.

Life went on, despite everyone's concerns about our boys "over there'', At Fort Site park a softball diamond, horseshoe pitching court, tennis courts and a 31x22 shelter house were erected. The G.A. Reuter Band Mill that had closed in late December, 1944 was reopened in June of 1945 as the Graham Lumber Company under the management of William Kolp. The street running in front of the Library/Museum was given the name "Old Fort Street". The name selected was submitted by Mrs. Harriet Krenning, age 88, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I.M. Campbell who owned the land where the Library/Museum and park are located.

The picture above shows what the area where the street and Library/Museum looked like in February, 1853 and for a great many years later. The Stirrup Company celebrated it's 50th anniversary in March of 1945. With the abundance of machines in this war, the company did not I'ece i ve Army orders as it ct id in World War I when the Company filled large orders for the U.S. Calvary. · Employees with the longest service time to the Company at that time were Bert Stoner, 41 years; Fred Heiby, 36 years; Charles Dilworth, 28 years; Harry Coffman, 27 years; and Ray Cook, 23 years. Orders on hand were sufficient to kept the force busy for six months ahead.

In late summer of 1945 Tom Timmerman received the Purple Heart for wounds received in action in the Pacific. On November 11 of that year the town held their Victory Celebration to show returned vets of World War II, former residents of the town and their friends as well as those living there at the time an enjoyable afternoon of entertainment fashioned along the lines of celebrations of years gone by. A free rodeo and ox roast were held. LIFE GOES ON Dayton Power & Light came to town the same year (1945), purchasing the properties of Marion Reserve.

' ' , I ,lj i A mushroom plant, owned by Franklin Thomas, was located o~ Sharpsburg Road at the east edge of town. In 1946 Mr. Thomas added onto 11is plant, giving it 9,000 square feet of growing space. The mushroom season usually lasted six to seven months because once the temperature went over 60 de~rees it was too warm to grow mushrooms. The Fort Recovery Historical Society received its charter October 26, 1946 from the Secretary of the State of Ohio. The purpose of the organization was "to create and foster apprecjatio11 for the historical background of Fort Recovery; to acquire and preserve collections and items of historical significance; to cooperate with the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in maintaining a suitable museum on Fort Hecovery State Park." The first overhead railroad crossing in Mercer County was built by the Nickel Plate railroad near St. Joe. It was a three month job, straightening out the railroad in a northeasterly direction from town and cutting down the Oak l and h i 1 I . It cul through the Henry Lefevre, Henry Fortman, and Frank Link farms and ended at the William Timmerman farm. The big task was to make a 10,000 foot cut ranging from no feet to 40 ft. in depth. The fill required 60,000 yards of dirt. A wooden overhead bridge 203 feet long with a 20 foot roadway on Lop and the railroad below was constructed on Burrville Road jusl north of St. Joe Road. The job required about 50 men who had to find temporary housing ir1 or near Fort Recovery. The entire expense of the construction project was paid for by the railroad.

The number of business changes in 1946 seem to indicate that U-w town was doing wel 1 at this time. Business changes in 19·!6 inc:lude: The Royal Theatre, which for the pa~t 31 years was in lhe Wagner Family, was sold to Carl and Keith Hagal of Stil lwaler, Oklahoma. The J.E. Premer Monument shop, located in Fort Hecovery since 1909, was sold to Walter F. Barnes and Darrell franklin and would become known as Fort Recovery Monuments. L.H. Wagner Ford Car & Tractor business was divided and a new organization formed to be known as Lee-Ott Tractor Sales, which would handle the tractor portion of lhe business. The Lee parl of the business was Lee Wagner and the Ott portion was Otto VonderHaar. Hui 1 Bros. began construction of a new building located at Ll1e east edge of town. The dealership of the .new Kaiser-Fruzi~r automobile was acquired by William Bryan and locatt:.cl on West Bul.ler. A new business opened called Fort Recovery Furm Equiµment Company. June Kolp and Ed Borst were the owners and they sold Allis-Chalmer equipment. A new partnersl1tµ was formed when William Kolp purchased 1/2 inlerc::st in the Steinbrunner Lumber Company from Clem Steinbrunner. 'fhe business, to be known as Steinbrunner-Kolp

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' .' I Lumber Co., was located two miles east of Fort Recovery just off •State Rou Le 119. The Buschur Bros. Grocery on Wayne Street was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. John Doll. of Dayton. A formal opening of Fort Recovery's new and modern H & N 5 & 10 Cent Store was held. Cecil Bickel became the new owner of the Wayne Auto Inn. Mary Pence purchased John Swetman's restaurant. Mr. & Mrs. Vincent Buscher purchased the ice cream parlor of Mrs. John Bowers on Wayne Street near the corner of Butler .

. In 1947 a letter was received from Mrs. George Campbell

Krenning of New Haven, Conneticut, along with a deed for the ! ! lot lying norlh of the Fort Recovery Banking Company . ! building, known as the Krenning Lot. Mrs. Krenning gave the lot to the Historical Society in memory of her husband, George Camp~el l Krenning. She said that it was not her gift, but rather his, since he had expressed his desire to deed it . I to the Society. i \ i The spot was the birthplace of George Krenning's mother, ' the pioneer home of his grandfather, Dr. Isaac Campbell, as i I well as his own b1rthplace and that of his sisters. This lot was once inside the old stockade and was first owned by William Martin, who worked with Thomas Larkin and William McDaniel in platting the Gibson Township side of the vii lage. On the portion where the Fort Recovery Banking Company stood then, and still stands, was built the first frame building in the village used as a store and trading post. Later Dr. Campbell used it for his office and for the first printing shop. The building was also used for the first subsorlpllon school.

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' ' , May l, 1849 marked the achievement of a purpose launched 16 years prior in a WPA project in 1933. The Ohio Arclrn.eoJogical and Historical Society agreed to join with local civic groups in assuming sponsors share ·ror a Library/Museum Luilding to stand on Fort Recovery State Park.

There was a health epidemic which affected Fort Recovery in the fal I of 1949, a polio epidemic. The Methodist Church was closed; Mercer County fair was not held; the Library was closed from August 5th until September 1st; the Emergency Order Ban lasted three weeks in closing all public gatherings to an~1 one undt~r the age of' 18 and c 1os ing Fort Recovery tu.v0rns tind restaurants at 7 P.M. and all day on Sunday. Fort Hecovcry 1vas the hardest hit in the county with a reported six cases in August in a village of less than 1200.

In .l!H·~l Fort Hecovery had a Lions Club sponsored by the Celina Lions Club. The first officer$ were Leo H. Gilligan, President, Don Hirt'le, lst Vice-President, Clark Kolp, Secretary, Dana G~b~le, Treasurer, Jim McConul1a, Lion Tamer, and Harold Kna.µl'e, Tail Twister.

PHESIDENT THU~1AN' S HEFUSAL IS THACED TO FORT RECOVERY

In an article appearing in the April 14, 1950 copy of "The Journu. I" Fort Heeovery ~vas placed in the limelight in t he U . S . G(J \' e r n rn e n t . A sla.lemate llet~veen the President and the 81st Congress over the lnvestigaLion of Hepublican charges that the State Department was irifiltrated by communistic influences was the reason for referral to Fort Recovery. . The preced0nt, refe1·red to by President Truman, ~vas set by President George Washington. Major General Arthur St .. Clair is the principal in the case. "In M11rch of 1792, the national House of Hepresentatives adopted a resolution establishing a committee to inquire into the cause of the defeat of St. Clair's expedition.· The resolulion 0mµow0reJ the committee to call for such papers and records as might be necessary to assist in its inquiries. Attorney General J. Ho~vard McGrath, in tracing the chronology of preceder1ts for the µresent attitude of the administration, notes thal Lhe Haus~ based its claim of a right to invest1g

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·' . given UiJ. ' • Tht~ Prc:-.·sidenL and cabinet declcfod unanimously that the executive ougltL Lo communicate only such papprs as the public good would perniit, in his opinion, 'and ought to refuse those the disclosure of which would injure the public.' There never has been deviution from the precedent set in the SL. Clair inquiry by President Washington and his cabinet."

THE FABULOUS FIFTIES

In 1951 a new doctor moved to Fort Recovery. He was Austrian bor11 Dr. Julius Schwieger. He bought the equipment of Dr. Hiohard Welsh who had moved here in 1950 from Springfield. liis sLay was so brief because he was ca1led to duty with the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. Once again "The Journal" carried news and addresses of servicemen serving their country during the Korean Conflict Fort Recovery was again saddened at the loss of life of two of its citizens, Jerry D. Wolfe. and Alvah M. Huerkamp.

In ~larch of 1B51 the town celel>rated a "Victory". The Fort Hecovt':.ry .lndians Baslrntbal l telim won the District Crown "B" Class ti Lie. From 1935 until 1951 Fort Recovery h.ad been in the district 14 limes and had advanced to the finals three times prior to 1951 but just couldn't seem to win the final game. The 1951 team won the title with a 62-44 win over Hoag l i n-Jad;.so11. Members of this winning team were, Dale Griesinger, Don Montgomery, Bob Roser, Rich Pearson, Martin Mott, Jerry McConaha, Charley Roessner, Dale Pearson, Ralph Nieberdirig, Linus Fiely, Gene Meinerding and Bob Fiely. They were · coached by Harold "Doc" Knapke. When the team returned to Fort Recovery from Celina, where they played the game, they were greeted with a bonfire, firecrackers, horns blowing all over town, purple and white streamers everywhere, and many fans. At midnight the players, coach, cheerleaders and some of the faculty were treated to a big ste~k dinner in the cafeteria at school.

In the fall a new Post Office building was started. The old one was torn down. The old building was the Meinerding · building estimated to be between 75-80 years old. The new building was a concrete block structure, 71'•1" x 21 1 4" with a brick front and was completed in 60 days time. Earlier Post Office builJings had been the first one located where VonderHaar's Market is and another in the old Scheid lmilding. This new structure was to remain the tmm's Post Office until 1988 when a larger one was built on St. Clair Strec~t. Tho old one was sold to Pryofax LP Gas (now Pelrolanu Gas Service).

, ' ,t From July 23rd to July 26th people in this area joined with the rest of Mercer County in celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Ohio Statehood at the Mercer County Cavalcade held ln Celina at the fairgrounds. Alice Huil and Dian Lennartz represented Fort RtH~overy in the Queen Contest.

The to1·111 11as sadLh:!ned U)' the death of Howard Kemper, \vho was one of Fort Hecovery's first polio victims. His situal.1on 11a.s unique in Lhttt three members of his family had polio, his l1vin, Harold, himself and his sister, Mrs. Wavel int-:. Pugh. The ironic thing was that he did not die of ·the uilmenl but rather from gall stones. Several landmarks were subject for discussions in 1953. What ~vas Ltiought to Le the oldest landmark was said to be doomed. It was a big old elm tree that stood in the center of the interseclion of Boundary and First Street. Some residents, Mrs. Leon MoAlexander, Mrs. Hattie Scott, and Mrs. Frank Hoke thought that it could have been as old as 125 years or more. Their reasoning was that their mother, Man· Huup, was born in 1a~u and would have been 112 years old this year. Mary's father, Thomas Roop, farmed the section of land lltat extended north of Boundary Street to the river and east to the Jake Fullenkamp farm. When the men were in the fields Mary would bring their noon lunch to them to be eaten in the shade of the big elm tree. The Lree was saved and it was a couple of decades later before it was removed.

Anol.l1cr laodruark under discussion that )1 ear \vas the old pendulum ulock that was gone, never to return, from the sQuth wall of Lill': Di11ner Bel I Hestauranl. As far ~auk as people could remember the clock had hung in the same place, at least for 70 years. With its pendulum attaohed Lo a wooJen shank it was Ed Hake's first regulator. I , As suctl, al 1 Llw time pieces in Fort Hecovery at one time or another \verc: sel in accordance with it. Duri11g the early 1880's Mr. Holm got a newer .regulator and sold this clock to G.R. McDaniel. When tll(: bank moved to ne\ver and larger quarters the clock was left on the wal 1. One tenant after another left it until in lute 1952 it was recognized for its value as an antique and snatched up.

In Ap1·il of 1954 the Fort Recovery Welfare Association becanw non-ex i.stenl and was changed t,o The Fort Hecavery Civic Assl.)c.i.ation. The pr inrnry reason for the change was the fact that instead of thinking of the organization as a civic group \vhose purpose vvas to creale better relations between rural and village citizens, fellowship among townspeople and to promote Furl Hueovury, people thought ot' it as a charitable organiz11l iou. Hun0rary rn1.~mbt:r:.:;tiip \vas given to the Ministers ot' Fort

, ' , Recovery. Paul Shannon served as the t'irst President of the Association and his fellow officers were, Vice President - Otto VonderHaar, Treasurer - Harry H. Long, Directors - Arden Beach, floyd Freemyer, Dana Gebele, L.J. Guggenbiller, Frank Partridgu, lb.rold Stuugler and A.F. VoncierHaar.

A nw.rl~er telling or the two battles fought on the site of Fort Recovery was erected by The Fort Recovery Historical Society durln~ Lhe Golden Harvest Jubilee, July 4-9, 1955. It is tJroblernatic: whether the exact route taken by General Wayne will ever be known-that is, between Cincinnati and Fort Ht~Co\·ery. Bet~veen these points, or course 1 there are way-µoinls ~vhich establish the route in general, but from Fort 1kcovery Lo Defiance and then to Fallen Timbers, and from Defiance Lu Fort Wa~ 1 ne, Wayne's footsteps were determi1u::d rrom tliu traverse notes kept by Capt. Edward Butler, W~ync's surveyor, and mapped 9n U.S. Geodetic Survey quadrangles.

Also in 1955 a series of polio shots were available to. help prevent this di8ease. Three shots were the recommended dosage and many peuple received them.

111 1956 the FurL Recovery Lumber Company removed all but one of Lhe seven or e1ght hitching posts from the east side o f Lhe ya r d . One 1v a~ I e f t i n de f ere n c e to Pat J ones who preferred U1at mode of transportation to the sleek new models of that era.

In 1957 the PTA was very active in our sc~ools. The PTA started as a Mothers' group and was jokingly referred to as "Pa Tags Along" when Dads became as interested as the Mothers. From Lhe first the idea of PTA was Parents and Teachers \1·01'hing l.l)gether for the welfare of the children. Ohio was the sevenlh state to organize in 1953 and .in 1957 was the sec:onJ l11gl1est in uwmbership. Also ttlis same year the first kindergarten class was held wit11 .\lrs. Dorothy 8ro~vn as teacher. The mercha.nls sponsored a Silver Dollar Drawing offering prizes of $25 and 5-$10 cu.sh prizes. The drawings were held on Saturday nigtil arid used as a draw to get people to stay in t 01vn. For every do I l ar swor th of mere hand i se you bought you · received a ticket for the drawing. If you were not present for the drawing, and your name came out, you still received half of the amount of the prize. Jn l957 the Chamber or Commerce was formed, transferring from the Fort Recovery Welfare Association. There was a nine member Board of Directors.

In health matters a Mobile X-Hay Unit sponsored by the Mercer County TB & Health Association made monthly visits to

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towns in lhe county to screen for TB (tuberculosis). If a person was afflicted with TB he was sent to the State TB Hospital .in Lima and could remain there for a long time. A sampling of the Top Ten Singles (records) based on actual record sales at Hull Bros. in October of 1957 revealed the following: 1. ,Jai 1 House Hock - Elvis 2. Plaything - Ted Newman ~1. Honeycomb - ,Jimmy Hodgers 4. Chances Are - Johnny Mathis 5. Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Bros. 6. Mr. Lee - Bobbettes 7. Lotta Lovin - Gene Vincent 8. Melodia D'Amour - Ames Bros. 9. Zip Zip - The Diamonds 10. That'll Be The Day - The Crickets Thu ;year 1958 was almost a month old when Peoples Bank obst~rved it's 50th anniversary. On February l, 1908 E.N. Moore, frf'sh from Kentucky, convinced a group of pioneering Fort Hecovery businessmen that a second bank could do "well" in town. Mr. Moore was the first cashier and John F. Adams. the town druggist, the 1st Vice President and A. Harvey Drake the f j r s t P rt~ s i den t .

On February 8, 1958 the Wayne House, built in 1882 and originally a hotel and tavern, was destroyed by fire. In addition Lo Thobes Tavern, it housed Charles Hein's Barber Shop and the Hein-Hagle Insurance Agency on the ground floor. There were four apartments on the second floor and all were occupied, with everyone escaping unharmed. Iva Thobe decided to rebuild a one-story building on the same spot.

In October 1958, when contractors were making an effort to dig the ditch across West Butler Street for four drainage tiles to keep flood waters off and under the street instead of on lhe homeowners' yards and in their basements, their drag line snagged onto the cement and tile part of a bridge that once crossed Butler Street at that point.

Al so in l ~)58 Lhe Habe-Franke Insurance Agency moved to its present Wayne Street location. The agency was started by H.W. Ra.be in Hl2G and in 1.950 Mr .. Rabe was joined by H.J. Franke. Two historical markers were dedicated in June of 1959. The first was th~ Wabash River marker located on Mercer-Darke County Line Head at the State Route 49 intersection. It is located 1/2 mile from lhe source of the Wabash River. The

i second market' honors General Butler and is located on Wayne J Street in front of VonderHaar's Market. ~ l In July, 1959 the town dedicated a new water tank which cost $65,000. It is located on Link Street between Main Street and Elrn Street. I I THE SOARING SIXTIES

'fhe sixties seem Lo be a well remembered decade because . ! of all thu d1ang"es Lhul: tool.; place everywhere, and Fort Recovery was no exception to that change.

In ,Jum: of 1960 General Telt~phone announced that Fort Recovery would be converted to dial telephones in mid-1961. Fort Hecovery \vas among the first Western Ohio exchanges to get the new seven digit numbering system. Prior to that time the numben: 1vere "onl~r" t\-w digits; with the implementation of this system, all Fort Recovery numbers were identified with the 375 prefix, followed by four numbers.

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' ' ln June of 1900 tlte St. Clair Mi 11 and Farm Supply Store was dustroycd by a fire, with damage estimated at $100,000. The Farm Sup1ily Store was opened in November of 1949 by Dick SlaugJer und Halpll !lei I. It was said that the fire started a t l he L o r1 o f t he DO 1' t . e l'e vat or . Th i s was t he t h i rd l a r g l~ s l L> us 1 n e :rn i n Loh' n . I t ~v as l o ca Led on South Wayne Streul bet~e~n Brouhman's Furniture Store and tt1e Water Works. Tile Farm Suppl;· Store was opened in November ot' 1949. by Dick Sl.auglcr and Halph Heil, By the end of July the decision was made to rebuild at a different location. The former Kolµ Lumber Comµany and some adjacent land purchased from Hernan! Gat~rki:J, north of town alon~ the railroad, was the chosen site.

An improvemenL made at Fort Site Park was the planting of 22 trees. At that time Dutch Elm disease was killing many old elw Lret~s.

Another old landmark was torn down in 1962. One of the villages oldest, the site was believed to have been built in 1870. A brick bearing that date was removed from the site. The first inhabitant of the building was Dr. Milligan; then it became a priest home, the sister's home, a classroom and sister's home, a cafeteria and finally a cl~ssroom for the overcrowded w~st School. The building was located on South Wayne Street al the site of the present West School.

1983 seemcd lo be a year for inventions in the area. Halph ,Jutte inve11Led a melon loader to aid his business, Paul Olding and Don Fraucks invented a "sanitary principle," a self-cleaning waler fountain, for the poultry industry. Jess<: Hoon~ invented ttw Automatic Three Spindle Drain Tile

. . ' ~ SaGin Oral Sunday was first held in January of 1963. The fight ~'las still on against the crippling" polio disease and communitie;; oµened thei1· schools for a mass inoculation, in oral form, aga]nst lhe dis(~ase. Like the shot, three doses VH:' r :~ rt: curnme nded and l he Sunday o t' the first dose saw 2,44C lJ(:oplc of llw Fort Hecovery area partaking in this f ighl..

A new doctor came to town in October of 1963. His name ·was Dr. Walter E. Pretorius. He moved to Fort Recovery with his wife and four children.

ZIP codes came into usage in 1963 also. They were a five digit number assigned to a Post Office which identified that area to a machine. It was said to speed mail o~ its way and re411ired less Lime than the hand .sorting that had been done in larger Post Off ices. ZIP stands for Zoning Improvemunt Plant and the code assigned to Fort Hecovery was 45846.

1963 was also a year of national sadness when, on November 22nd, President John F. Kennedy was slain in Dallas, Texas, by an assassin's bullet. The nation, and town, spent four days in mourning. All eyes were turned to the television set as scenes of that fateful event were shown over and over, explanations sought as to why, and much background presenled on the Kennedy family. On Sunday we wiLrw.sseJ the killiug uf Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, a sighL not suon forgot I.en and a I ife h'asted ~vi t.hout !mowing Oswald's rea~un for the attack on the President. We witnessed a nation mourning from the Capitol Rotunda, saw the very moving funeral procession, with the riderless horse, and a liltl8 boy's salute Lo the father he only knew for a few years. Schools were shut down on Monday for the N~tional Day of Mourning, but tile i'ol lovdng day l it'e went back to normal.

The curpuralio11 limits were extended in early 1964 to include six par~els of land located on the State Route 119 east of towr1. People included at that time were: Howard Berry, Herbe1·t Meinerding, Eugene Hemmelgarn, Roman WesLgerdes, Joe & Bea Schmitt and Tom and Celesta Timmerman. A business uroughL here in 1916, the 20th Century Buggy Company, which was later to be known as Ranly Bros., closed its doors in AIJl'il of 196·1. The business, started by Chris Hanly and his three sons, Carl, Harold, and Tom, was gradually run by Harold and Carl. They decided to close up shop. The building was sold to Richard Wood and his wife and housed Hich & Ginnys Variety Store - used furniture.

The Fort H(~covt::ry Historical Society !:{ave Monument Park a face-1 irt L)y n~1>1acing 18 dead trees. The society

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furnished 27 new trees, among them cork. oak. linden. hawthorn, crab and plane. to replace those removed.

Martin Kessen1 now of Carthagena, paid a visit to "The Journal" office for a chat with Torn Hastings. He told that he was a correspondent for "The Tribune" publication when Bill Ireland was editor. At the age of 25 Mr. Kessen was a rural route mail carrier out of the st. Peter office, with a pay of $75 a year. He told of leaving St. Peter on foot at 10 A.M. and after waiting for the train (to pick up the mail) he returned home about 2 P.M. At first he walked the route, then rode a bicycle, and finally he had a pony and buggy he bought from a colored preacher at Carthagena.

In ,June, 1964 entertainment for the younger crowd was offered in the form of a Youth Center held in the basement of the Medical Center. It was open on Saturday nights from 7:30-1.1:00 and offered such activitie·s as dancing, ping pong and cards. Another innovation was Direct Distance Dialing CDDD) which went into effect on September 20, 1964. It enabled area phone users to dial their own station-to-station lon~ distance calls to most points in the U.S. and Canada. It brought the telephone a long way from the days of the town operator, located in a room above a downtown business, who would connect each person's call, to the day that everything was handled by machine.

In October, 1964 an old house, owned by Marguerite Schroer, on the corner of S. Wayne and Center Streets was torn down. The home was built in 1932 and, at one time, was owned by a former tavern owner. The story goes that ea6h night, out of' the day's receipts, he paid for the construction of the work as it progressed. A new business opened in 1965 on Union City Road just south of Pisgah Corner. Cal led Olding Feed Company, Inc~ it manufactured its own brand of feed - Old Pro Feeds.

The Vietnam War, fought in Southeast Asia 1 had its repercussions felt here. Once again lives of innocent people were lost. PFC James Pottkotter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Pottkotter, died in combat in Vietnam at the age of twenty. He was serving as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborn Division. There were two other casualities from the war from this area, Sammy Barga and Wayne A. Painter. son of Mr. and Hrs. Don Painter. The 175th anniversary of the founding of Fort Recovery · was a ltighlighL of 1966 and was held September 11th thru the 17th. As with any celebration, months of preparation preceded the actual event. The John B. Rogers Production Company was hired to direct and produce an historical pageant, which was put on for four evenings. The executive board for this celebration consisted of Hi6ha.rd Zeliringer, Norman Guard, Norb Metzger, Cy Brockman, Louis Timmerman, Noble Stahl, Ben Eiling, Irerte Livingaton, Elizabeth Kreider, Helen Crist, Peg Roessner, Bertha Sanderell and Anna Louise Miller. Events held throughout the celebration included the drama. a united religious service, a Queen's contest, a parade, beard eontest, burying of the time capsule, Brothers of the Brush, Kangaroo K6urt, and Ladies Court. i The Queen of the 175th celebration was Thama Smith and . ! she was crowned br the former Queen, Mrs. Catherine (Sauer) : : Stricker, of the 1941 celebration. Tbama's court consisted ' : of Jeanette Metzger, Janice Bickel, Shirley Tobe and ! !

A 1/2 million dollar Turkey Processing Plant was under construction in 1866. The plant was .located on Burrvi1le

Hoad, Just south of Stat0 Haute 119 1 2 miles east of Fort Recovery. Diek Staugler of St. Clair Mills was the president of the new firm and Earl Witrn of Oakland, Maryland was the marrn.ger. The plant went by the name of Flavor Best Foods. At full production the plant was able to process 15,000 to 20,000 turkeys eacl1 day (by 1969 they were processing more than 30,000 birds a day). Many from the surrounding area were employ~d at the plant.

A new subdivision, called Hickory Circle, wa~ developed in 1966. IL is an extension of George Street south and Milligan Street west. ! ' In 1967 an old landmarl<., the Mike Velten home, located on the corner of Elm and Boundary Streets was torn down to make way fur an $80,000 addition to the Church of the Nazarene. Another old building., built in 1872, on the east corner of Wayne and Boundary Streets received a facelift. When in the proce8s of excavating and erecting this building it is said that the body or General Butler, a member of St. Clair's Army, was found. The building is owned by Charles Hein and contains The Hein Insurance Agency.

The 1966 sesquicentennial headquarters had been in the Sonderman Building and once the celebration was over work began lo renovate the building to be the new Public Library. The work took quite a long time and the actual move from the Library/Museum ~uilding didn't begin to take µlace until ' February 27, 1968. The move took about ten days to complete with school children, citizens and staff all lending a helping hand in moving the more than 22,000 books. Dedication services took place on Sunday, June 30, 1968.

A new doctor came to town in December of 1868 and located his practice in the Wagner Medical Center. Hie name !.'

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was Dr. R6nald Reisz. He remained in the Medical Center for two years before moving to a new "clinic", which he built on the corner of Gwendolyn and Wiggs Streets in Hickory Circle. Another kind of "clinic" in operation was the Veterinarian Hospital. It opened west of town near the Old Emil Wagner Stone Quarry in the building formerly housing A­ Jar Tavern. Dr. Edward Meixner and Dr. Donald Tebbe were the veterinarians

The Harry McDaniel property on the corner of Elm and Butler became the site for the new Standard Oil Station. Basketball fever hit Fort Recovery in March of 1969 as the first basketball team in the history of Fort Recovery High School competed in St. John's Arena at Ohio State University in Columbus. On March 21, 1969 the Indian's hopes for a state victory were dampened when they were defeated by the Bridgeport team.

In 1969 the Bethel Church, founded in the 1840's, located on the corner of Watkins and Union City Roads, closed. The unification movement would have caused the congregation (Evangelical) to unite with the Methodist Church but the Bethel people could not agree to this. The Pleasa~t Ridge Congregation (United Church of Christ) which had a church eight miles south of Fort Recovery bought the church and began to hold their services in it. As the Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 50th Anniversary of organization it was noted that there were some lady members. They were Mrs. Peg Roessner, Mrs. Elizabeth Kreider and Mrs. Ruth Witter, all in business in the communiLy. A seven week strike by employees of the Fort Recovery Industries also took place in 1969. It was the first strike ever in Fort Recovery. A former local man, Clyde (Red) Money, a graduate of Fort Recovery High School with the class of 1919, was inducted into Ohio's Athletic Hall of Fame. In his lifetime Mr. Honey was a football, basketball and track star.

THE DECADE OF MEN WALKING ON THE MOON

As incredible as it would have seemed even ten years. before, the seventies was a decade of moon walks. Neil Armstrong, of Wapakoneta, Ohio was the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. Everyone sat glued to their television sets and listened to his immortal words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Perhaps the old saying "the moon's the limit" needs to be updated in this age of space exploration. Following Neil's walk, others ' ' .

followed and an abbreviated golf game was even played on the surface of the moon.

In 1970 the Library/Museum building, vacant sine~ the removal of the library, underwent renovation in the form of plumbing, heating and redecoration to become a State Museum. The articles owned by the Fort Recovery Historical Society were kept on display in the balcony. The articles remained under the ownership of the Society, but the State was to govern the displays. On April 5, 1970 Governor James A. Rhodes was present for the dedication of the museum. The main theme of the museum was the story of Anthony Wayne and Fort Recovery, the contact between the white man, the Indians and Ll1e French Indians. There was some influence of Harmar and St. Clair noted, but not a lot. There were six life-like manikins: one fully dressed as an Indian, one officer, one soldier firing over a mock stockade, and three soldiers with a model of a howitzer cannon. The peace pipe that was used at the signing of the was also on display. The curators of the museum at its opening were Maxine Portz, Anna Louis Miller and Irene Livingston. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wood purchased the oldest remaining home in Fort Recovery, built more than 100 years ago by the Schwartz family. It sits on a large lot, back from the street, on Wiggs Street. The Woods also have their antique shop al that location. For Lhe first time in many years the town was without a drug store following the death on October 24, 1970 of the long time druggist, Theodore J, Sauer. For over 90 years there had always been a drug store in town. Fort Recovery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of lhe Interior for its historic significance.

THE SWEET SCENT OF SUCCESS On March 26, 1971 the fort Recovery Indian Boys Basketball Team became State Champs! The victims of the triue 1ver'r! the boys of Marion-Pleasant Va.I ley as they went down lo defeat by a score of 70-57. The town went wild I' Following the big victory a large celebralior1 and ox roast were held on Sunday, March 27th ·for the returning heres. Members of that award winning team were: Steve

Reinhard, Ed Snyder, John Wendel 1 Mike Wilson, Don Jutte, Ron May, Don Eichenauer, Kevin Dilworth, Mike Denney, Fred Aisenbrey, Steve Grieshop and Rich Wendel. t ' '

Letter written by Frank Sonderman to Bertha Heiby

My reply to inquiry from Bertha Heiby, December 1959 Some time sirice I received your request to furnish some information concerning Fort Recovery as of old "60 or more years." Now I do not know whether this is some kind of a scheme to find how old I am. However I am not going to try to build up a story about Historical Fort Recovery Ohio; you already have such society. As I understand your request you want anything which have an old time tag attached to it. I am not qualified to give dates on all the matter which I shall attempt to furnish; but much of it is information interesting to many. First, 1 want to state that at our time a few silver popular trees shaded Wayne Street, between Butler and Boundry. In the early days, a few ti~es each year the mud was scraped off Wayne Street, then regraveled. In the Summer time and in dry weather Wayne Street became quite dusty, this dust caused the store keepers much annoyance. About this time the vii I age t1ired a fellow named Charles Marks to supervise the improvement of Wayne Street. On the SouthWest corner of Wayne and Butler Streets, was a spacious boarding house. West, on Butler Street was Isaac O'Neal 's Furniture and Undertaking Store. Further west was Hoop and Johnson hardware store. West to the alley was McGriff and Isenharts Livery Barn. Across the was Ben Roop's Blacksmith shop a few feet above the sidewalk. Further east was Adams Br's Drug Store. On the coiner of Wayne and Butler Street was a one story brick. I do not know who owned or operated. North was a frame building. North of this frame building was Van Baker's Hotel, operated by him and his portly son Bob. Further north on Wayne street was the office of Doctor John Richardson and his son J.V. Richardson. The front south west corner was a space used by Edward ·Hoke for watch repair work. Further north H.A. Fetter owned and operated a business in a wide frame building, on this site he built a two story brick building, now occupied by Sonderman's Store. Across the alley a few steps above this walk was a frame building in which Fredric Marsh operated a Drug Store. On this large lot was the two store frame dwelling of George Krenning Sr. Along the north line of this lot was the confectionary store occupied by John Wurrdeman. Further north was a Saloon owned and operated by Seb. Lauber. Next to the Lauber Saloon was another saloon. The building has been moved to the Krenning lot about forty feet west of the feed mill. Across the alley from this last saloon, was a frame building ~hich housed the first telegraph room operated by Lhe Lake Erie and Western Rail Road, Jesse Campbell it · operater. A brick building facing the south on Wayne and Boundry was owned and operated as a general store "mainly as Dry Goods and Clothing··. Above the year 1887 Krenning & Son

1 built the two story brick building. North of the Town Hall, in a one story frame building Albert' A. Sipe published the ( ' '

New Era1 a weekly newspaper. The first in Fort Recovery. Later this building was occupied by Mel Williams as a monument shop. The Lutheran Church is erected on the North West corner of Wayne and Broadway streets on the site of the old Woolen Mill operated by Krenning. Going back to the south on Wayne street, on the East side, we come to the vacant lot owned by the village ''Water Works now houses a brick building on this site". On this lot. about 200 feet east was ·the first calaboose in Fort Recovery. It was a square frame building with an iron bar opening high above the floor. On the site of the Riffle and Brockman Furniture Store was a two story frame building owned and operated by Philip Dearworth as a shoe repair shop and dwelling. The one story building north was used and operated by Portf ield and MqDaniel as the first bank in Fort Recovery. On the South East corner of Wayne and Butler streets was a frame building in which was the Drug Store of John Cring. East of the Cring Drug Store about 200 feet was the Harness Shop of J.D. VanKirk. On the North East corner of Wayne and Butler street was the Bill Dennison Hotel, On north was a frame building built by Doctor Blizzard and G. Wallingsford as a Drug Store. North of this building was the building a Grocery Store operated by J.L. Anthony and his Brother John. A part of this building was used as the Post Office, J.L. Anthony Postmaster. An old double front building along the alley was used by Sol McGriff Sr. as saloon. The south room was used by Edward Eckman for a meat market. Across the alley was the store and tin shop of Theo Scheid Sr. Further north was the two story frame of Wessel Meinerding, used· by him as a General Store. Borsche Bra's operated a Hardware Store north of Meinerding's. On the corner of Wayne and Boundry Streets was a grocery store owned by Harmon Meyers. Across the street, on the corner was the Variety store of John Clemens. Further north and across Wayne Street from the Town Hall was a Saloon operated by Frank Krebs. In addition to this I want to mention an interesting story about Fort Recovery's first gas well which was drilled to a depth of 521 feet on the lot owned by the Kleinhenz Stock Yards. This well was so tremendous that further drilling was suspended. A long pipe was attached to the welt and run up into the air, the gas turned on throwing a light high into the air. George Parson living about 2 miles west of Ft. Recovery told some of it citizens that he sat in the front of his home, in the evening and read his newspaper from the light. Use any part of this information that you may want. (signed) Frank FORT RECOVERY, THE VILLAGE In the period following the Battle of 1794 life was relatively quiet. The majority of the Indians had left the area. A small garrison of men stayed behind to maintain the fort, and with their families became the start of the · village. Eventually the fort was abandoned and it became a favorite playground of the children. How long the garrison was maintained is not known for sure, but communication was maintained between Greene Ville and "Recovery" for some time after the Treaty of Greene Ville in 1794. The last organized local Indian outbreak occurred in 1812 and was related to the campaign of . There was still considerable unrest among the Indians until the Treaty of St. Marys was sign6d in 1818, in which their claims to northwest Ohio were relinquished, subject to certain reservations, all of which were subsequently ceded to the United States, the last by the treaty with the Wyandots in 1842, when the remnant, about 700 Indians, moved to Kansas. Samuel McDowell returned to this· area, possibly because he thought that there were a lot of possibilities for this good and fertile land. Others were here before him, but he. is one of the first recorded settlers. At the time of his settlement, the livable area consisted of the two townships of Recovery and Gibson. Gibson was named for Captain Alexander Gibson, who had been in command of the garrison years before, and Recovery so named because of the fort. Peter Studebaker accompanied the John Simison family to this area from Greene Ville in a year prior to 1820. They built a cabin near a spring Con Simison Br.anch) and planted their first crops in the area of the fort since the area was cleared. Unfortunately, Mrs. Simison died in September of 1820 and on the last day of December that same year was · followed by her husband. Peter Studebak6r, along with the Simison's two sons performed the parts of undertaker and sexton, making the coffin from puncheon, split from black walnut trees. They were the first burials in the 6ld Pioneer Cemetery (also called Milligan Cemetery). This plot was· later set aside for cemetery purposes and was donated for that purpose. Following the deaths of Mr. & Mrs. Simison, Peter Studebaker married their daughter, Mary, on February 15, 1821. Soon after their marriage they moved to an area that' is the present site of New Corydon, Indiana, thus becoming the first settlers in Jay County. The difficulty cif traveling all the way t6 Piqua to mill their grain led Mr. Studebaker to rig up a crude mill, u~ing smooth stones, and wi.th a tug serving as a belt. Their first chifd, Abraham·, was born September 29, 1822 thus becoming the first white child born in Jay County. They decided the following year to moved back to Fort Recovery, possibly because of loneliness or from fear of being so far from another family, and built a cabin which became the first farm settled and entered in Recovery Township. It was then that their second son, David, became the first white child born here. Not being ones to stay in a vicinity for any length of time, or because they were true pioneers, they moved again a few years later to Adams County, Indiana, where Peter died on June 15, 1840. Early missionaries in the area are believed to have been Robert Finley, who held a camp meeting, assisted by William Rapier and John Wright in 1828. In 1830 Abraham Millioe came and in 1838 George Armstrong held camp meetings over an area of 30 square miles. Through the efforts of these missionaries our early churches were founded. Peter Studebaker's son, David, (according to a story in "The Journal", May 9, 1947) recounted his early chi.ldhood: "I was born on a farm immediately north of what is now the town of Fort Recovery, Mercer County, Ohio, on August 12, 1827. At that time there was no town of Fort Recovery and only four or five families lived in the neighborhood. The Indians camped and hunted about there, and frequently came to our house." "At my earliest recollection, the fort and stockade had been burned and the cleared land was a bluegrass common that horses and cows went there to graze upon. The boys of the neighborhood would go there to dig in the ground to ·find bullets that had been lost there at St. Clair's defeat." "In the fall of 1833 my father sold his farm and determined to move into Indiana." David, an honored and respected citizen of Adams County, Indiana, became a judge and passed away in May, 1904.

So far as is known no plan of Fort Recov~ry has been perserved. It is doubtful if ever a plan was made. The. fort ! : was built in haste under hostile conditions. The stockade and barracks were sufficient to garrison two companies of troops with their families, beside stores, stables and artillery equipment, including two small cannons. ·rts size therefore may be judged to have been 320 x 175 feet - about an acre and a half. An article, written by William A. Roebuck~ a former resident of Fort Recovery, and reprinted in the May 17, 1935 copy of "The Journal", gives us a good look at the place in history our town deserves. HOW OLD IS FORT RECOVERY Fort Recovery was on the map when there were but fifteen states in the Union. It had a population when the total population of the United States was less than that of the present city of New " York. ! It had celebrated births, solemnized marriages, mourned and buried its dead before the end of the French Revolution. It had made national history six years before the English historian Macaulay was born. It was a frontier post six years before Napoleon Bonaparte crossed the Alps. It was transacting business for the United States when Ohio was wilderness and "West" was just over the Alleghenies. It is the only town in western Ohio that has carried on at the old stand under its original name for more than 140 years. It is the only town in western Ohio that was founded and christened by a personal friend and comrade of George Washington. It had streets of forest aisles when the author of "Forest Hymn" was in his first year. It was Fort Recovery sixteen years before Cincinnati was Cincinnati. It had made a glorious name seven years before Ohio became a state. It was doing business for the nation when the most rapid and most comfortable mode of travel from the east was via Ohio river flat boats. It was handling United States mail when the fastest mail schedule from Cincinnati to Philadelphia was six weeks by horseback. It had a church when John Wesley had preached his last sermon but three years before. It has the oldest postoffice in Mercer County, the oldest church and oldest cemetery. It has preserved and can exhibit part of Mercer County's first highway traveled by white men when railraods and steamboats were unknown in the United States. Its battlefield of long ago remains in history a scene of sacrifice and valor whose like is not found in all the annals of pioneer America. Let us continue to honor the names of those who performed those deeds on that battlefield for us. Let us some day try to restore it as it was, and the old Fort Recovery with its flag waving, just as it stood, Icing before we were born to enjoy its benefits.

PLATTING FORT RECOVERY On June 15, 1858 when the village was incorporated, David Beardslee had already platted the town north of the Treaty Line (the plat being recorded on July 30, 1836). William McDaniel and his father-in-law laid out the south part at a later date. The petition was signed by 50 citizens to incorporate. Fort Recovery is the oldest village corporation in the county. William McDaniel and his father-in-law, Mr. Larkin Cit is not known for sure what his first name was, one source says it was Thomas, while the record at Greenville says David), platted the Gibson Township side. David and Obed Beardslee, seeeing that the north side was being surveyed, quickly platted that part of his farm on the bordering line to the north. No doubt the rivalry was not entirely friendly, and cooperation was lacking, as the streets in relation to the Boundary line do not meet at the same points. They alleys on the north side butt up against the streets on the south side. In time some industrial plants were located on the Recovery Township side, but the stores continued to cluster around the old fort site on the Gibson Township side of the boundary. Mr. Beardslee must have recognized this fact since he built a two-story dwelling with a store room on Wayne Street just inside the Gibson Township limits. The usual procedure of settling was for a family to select a tract, make certain improvements and later, when the section was formally opened for settlement, the settler filed his claim of original entry, paying the government $1.25 per acre of land. The area where the town stood had been cleared at the time the fort was occupied in the early 1800's, but by 1844 there was a very thick second growth of hickory along with dense brush. There were about seven families living in town at this time and cabins enough besides to accommodate many more people. Henry Lipps' house was on the corner of Wayne and Butler; William McDaniel had a two-story frame house; John Blake with a large family of boys occupied a small frame house; David Beardslee was settled in his two-story dwelling; Thomas Roop also had a two-story frame located just on the Recovery Township side. There was also the one-story frame house of Dr. John Fair; William Johnson had a residence; Andrew McDaniel lived in a rude board shanty; and several other families also lived near the town. Also living in town was Dr. John C. Richardson, a single man, who boarded with William McDaniel.

FIRST BONE BURYING DAYS The following account was taken from History of Mercer County and Hepresentative Citizens (1907) giving the events leading up to and the memorial tribute given to those slain in the battle.

While searching for bullets, on July 7, 1851, John S. Rhodes and David J. Roop found a human skull, partly covered, in one of the streets in town, adjacent to the ground on which the fort had stood. There had been recent heavy rains in the area and the earth had been washed away some. Their discovery of one human skull led to the uncovering of some 60 persons being exhumed in a good state of preservation. The next day, in a public meeting, a committee was appointed to make suitable arrangement for the burial of these bones. William McDaniel, Henry Lipps, Benjamin Cummins, Thomas Roop, and David Beardslee, the committee, chose Wednesday, September 10, 1851, as a suitable ti.me and they issued public notice of this action. A mass meeting of citizens of Mercer and adjoining counties was held in Celina on Saturday, August 30, 1851, for those who wanted to participate in the solemnities of the reinterrnent of the remains. A committee of 11 was appointed to make arrangements for the conveyance of those who wished to participate in the ceremonies at Fort Recovery. The day of September 10th dawned clear, bright and warm. By 10 o'clock the population of the town had swelled to not less than 5,000 people coming from Mercer, Darke, Preble and other counties ir1 Ohio, and Jay, Adams, Wells, Randolph, and other counties in Indiana. The early part of the day was spent in placing the bones in 13 large black walnut coffins which had been made by Robert Blake and John Rhodes and furnished by the committee; a large box containing 10 bushels of remains was also filled. The number 13 was chosen because there were 13 states in the Union at the time of the battle, and in all human probability every State was represented in the battle. While the coffins were being filled, the people were permitted to examine the bones and note the marks they bore of the bullet and tomahawk. The procession formed at 10 o'clock, constituting a column a mile long, and passed through the streets of the village Lo a grove southeast of the battleground, where an oration was pronounced by Hon. Bellamy Storer, of Cincinnati, who had been invited for the occasion. Other speakers followed, including one from the committee on resolutions who reported a series of resolutions urging Congress to appropriate money to erect a monument at both Fort Recovery (but this h'as not to take place until many years later) and Fort Greene Ville to honor these soldiers. Following this the procession reformed and proceeded to the burying ground on the south side of the village, where the remains were returned lo the earth with proper ceremonies, the coffins being deposited in one grave. The people then left satisfied that they had done their duty,

THE LAST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY In the years following the bone burying ceremony, the village continued to grow and develop. By 1854 the need for· a place for education had been recognized and the first school was built by Robert Blake on West Butler Street. (Schools are covered in a later chapter.) Prior to this.time churches also had been built to satisfy the religious needs of the pioneers (covered in another chapter). Businesses were having their beginnings in town and in the 1860's J.A. Roemer built his business a field away from the business section of town in which he sold dry goods, clothing and shoes. He moved to Celina in 1886. A tannery was built north of Buck Ditch owned by Wilhelm (William) Koch and Wilhelm Backhouse. The tannery manufactured shoe leather and harness leather, and supplied all of the shoemakers throughout the district with their tools and supplies such as bristles, wood lasts, thread, wooden pegs, etc. They also sold leather and imported French tanned calf skin and bright red and green sheep skins for boot tops. The first herse, a horse drawn one, was brought here from Greenville and used for the funeral of Maria Augustine. The funeral director was Ike Hanna. Pausch, Hantz & Company operated a burr grist mill from 1879-1893 whose main business was to grind wheat flour, corn meal and buckwheat. Also during this time there was a mill operated by A. Weisner called the Muthert mill. The "New Era" newspaper came into existence during this period also with Albert A. Sipe as editor. Adams Drug Store was located on West Butler with the newspaper office on the second floor. In 1881 George R. McDaniel and David Porterfield, a retired farmer, organized a bank located in a small frame building on South Wayne Street. After the death of Mr. Porterfield, Mr. McDaniel became sole owner of the bank. (This later became the Fort Recovery Banking Company.) During the BO's businesses flourished with the following located in Fort Recovery: Dry goods and clothing stores operated by R.M. Morvillius, William Anthony and Krenning and Son, along with the one operated by J.A. Roemer. Hardware stores were operated by L.H. Boesche and Roop and Johnson. Grocery stores owned by Myers Brothers, Anthony Brothers, Adams Brothers (who sold groceries and drugs), William Heiby, Fox and Collins, and Mac Abraham. Drugs were sold by Adams Brothers, Sam Nickerson and a Mr. Mosier. Tin shops were operated by Theodore Scheid, C.T. Scheid, and Robbins and Bro. Harness shops were operated by ,Jacob Anthony, Sr., ,J.D. VanKirk, E.J. Pauscl1, Robert Blake and Fred Cull. Millinery Stores were run by Mrs. J.D. VanKirk, Campbell Sisters, Mrs. Hodup and Mrs. Patty. Meat Markets that slaughtered their meat and were obligated to maintain ice houses were: Rapp and Wagner, Gilkey Wa.llingsfor-d, C. Steinbrunner, Thompson and Eckman. Jewelry and watch repair was handled by Ed Hoke. The first strictly shoe store that sold factory made shoes was oper-ated by E.T. Hastings. The Merchant Tailor was a Mr. Niekamp. Shoemakers, who made new boots and shoes, included Phillip Dearwoth, D. Backhaus, Peter Schlembecker and Adam Beach. Blacksmiths, who shod horses, set wagon tires and made general repairs, tncluded; Daniel Lousenia, Joseph Sonderman, l3en Hoop, Charles Graf, H. Spornhauer, Fred Meyers, and John Schindler. Wagon makers were: Mr. Thorp, Anthony Sonderman, G. Schaaf, and John Schindler who was also a buggy and carriage builder. Barbers included: Frank Spornhauer, Rev. Louis Lundy, Elmer Espy and Sam Buck. There were two furniture and funeral home businesses, namely Isaac Hanna and Townsend and Co. The Steinberg creamery, in the north part of town near the river bridge on First Street, was operated by William Gilberg and sold to Cummins and Martin. Joe Boesche ran a pork packing business where a half bushel of pigs' feet could be bought for five cents. Ike Isenhart operated the Turpin and Harris Poultry business, delivering all poultry and eggs to Union City by wagon, except for the turkeys which were driven in large droves, Laking two days to make the trip, in the fall of the year. George Lord, who operated a Handle factory, brought a number of families to town with him from New Jersey. C.L. Teft and John Curtis each operated spoke factories, sawing out oak spokes and turning hubs for buggies. EARLY BUSINESSMEN

A sawmill was localed on West Butler operated by Charles Townsend, whose main business was making long hickory surface rods for oil field use. There 'A'as no lumber yard in town causing a 11 soft wood lumber lo be hauled from Union City, Indiana. Leading slack buyers were William Johnson and William Lowry wilh tl1e stockyards being located along the railroad lrack: David Barger and Wilson Armentrout served as weigh masters. Lewis Mornin~;star was the blind broom maker. Wesley Suman supplied building bricks from his yard just south of Lown. Joel Hoyt had a photograph gallery on Main Street while Henry Millet ran one on West Butler. Jim Heap managed the Jay Grain Co. elevator. Wi tl1 horses being the primary source of transportation, livery stables were a necessity. Van Baker, Perry Beheimer and Henry Myers ran these stables. There were Lwo hotels in town, the Kent House run by Dave Kent and one run by Frank McDaniel . The Wayn.e House, a hotel and tavern, was built in 1881 by Frederick Schneider. As the streets were very dusty in the summer (brick streets came at a later time) a contract was given to William Smilh and Ed Swain lo sprinkle them using a tank wagon. At different times i l became necessary for them to pump the water ouL of the Wabash with a hand pump. John Porterfield, a breeder and trainer of Hamiltonian race horses, had a half mile track in a grove (on what is now part of Fort Recovery High School). Mr. Porterfield brought the first negro resider1ts to Fort Recovery; namely Parke~ Smith, a trainer, and Huck, the house boy who furnished a lot of amusement on lhe streets by jig dancing for a big cigar and said "white folks don't know nuffin, they eat when they ain't hungry. " (Above taken from EARLY FORT RECOVERY, By An Old Timer, "The Journal", September 28, 1951)

RAILHOAD

On November l, 1879, the first string of box cars passed through Fort Recovery on the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Line. Nothing else can be found on the building of the Rail­ road, but one would think that the laying of the tracks brought business to Fort Recovery, as the men would need lodging and footl. On November 7th, the railroad was formally opened when the first passenger train passed through. History says a "Jamboree was held in the streets with everybody on bis own." opened when the first passenger train passed through. History says a ",Jaml.JOree was held in the streets with everybody on his own." The railroad promoted our industry as it was the only means of shipping. Until well after the turn of the century, passenger trains were a quite popular mode of transportation. The passenger trains brought traveling salesmen to town to sell their wares. A sample house was built on North Wayne, a short distance from the depot, in which salesmen would show their wares to tl1e town merchants. A boarding house behind the sample room was where they would stay. Often the salesmen would rent a "rig" to carry their wares to outlying areas. There were two mule drawn drays owned by William Smith and Tony Lamm who made daily trips to the depot to haul uptown the incoming commodities. Another boarding house was located in an empty store owned by Dr. Jim Adams, which was across from Baker's livery stable. A rnany and his wife rented it and had twenty-four boarders, a hired girl, and five beds in one room. John Volz also met the trains for many years in order to haul the mail sacks to the Post Office. The year prior lo the railroad Albert A. Sipe published a newspaper, the "New Era", on a regular basis. It was published every Saturday on a hand press in a room over Adams Drug store on West Butler. It was said that the editor believed in freedom of the press for the pages of the paper are said to have contained local scandals in detail. It was a small wonder thal Mr. Sipe was said to have many bitter enemies. AL some future time, the "New Era" was moved to an office one uuor north oi' the Town Hal 1, then localed on North Wayne Street. Mr. Sipe left town in 1884. In 1885 Arthur Sutherland and J.S. Watkins, brothers-in­ law, started pubt ishing "The Fort Recovery Times" in a frame building which stood on Wayne Street (north of the present K of C building). Also still in publication at this time was "The New Era" under the editorship of Frank Edge, who took over when Mr. Sipe left. Sometime during this time also it is believed that a paper called "The Spy" was available, though not on a regular basis. It was probably of short duration and was edited by Dr. Campbell and one of his sons.

OPERA HOUSE

By Dr. Mark Wangler

On September 3, 1883, Ida Schneider bought a tract of land from John U. Wurdermann on the northeast corner of Wayne and Butler streets. Accommodations for two b~siness places were built on this land, and above was constructed a spacious Opera House which measured forty-four feet by eight feet with eel lir1gs aboul eighteen feet high and a seating capacity of approximately three hundred people. A six-foot-wide stairway inside the rear of the building gave access to the local entertainment center. At the top of tl1e stairs was a small eight-by-ten foot room with a ticket window facing the steps, A small storage room was located at the back of the Opera Bouse under the balcony. The ir1side of the building was decorated very simply, yet tastefully. Wood paneling lined the lower four feet of wall space, and the remaining area to the ceilings was papered. Large windows covered a considerable area in the south wall and the east wall behind the stage. At the back of the building a small balcony extended the entire width of the room. This balcony contained two rows of benches, while the main floor had two blocks of seats separated by a wide aisle duwn the center, and smaller aisles on either side. Each section of seats was comprised of about one hundred twenty five chairs. These seats were sturdily built in groups of five and were fastened together by two-by-fours. There were twelve or thirteen rows, and the main floor had a seating capacity for about two hundred fifty people while the balcony added space for another fifty. The stage was ingeniously designed. It stood about three feet above the floor and provided an excellent view from every angle. At the rear of the stage tracks were built into the ceiling by which ten sets of scenery could quickly be positioned with a minimum of effort. On each side of the stage was a half-round partition covered with wood paneling. These served to frame the sides of the slage attractively. Inside were two small rooms, positioned one above the other, used for dressing areas that accommodated three or four people. The footlights of the stage were originally gas-lit, but they were later converted to electricity. The gas lights consisted of little more than a pipe in the bottom of a shallow trough at the front of the stage, with an orifice inserted Jn tl1e pipe about every twelve inches. This extended the full width of the stage and must have added eerie effects to some of the mystery dramas. Two coal and wood slaves supplied heat for the comfort of the viewers. The larger of these stoves was placed on the main floor and the smaller one was behind the scenes on the stage, and these provided the only warmth. This source of heat was never changed. One of the most memorable features of the Opera House was the curtain. This had a dark purple background and was raised manually by a crank located off to one side of the stage. Local businesses purchased advertising space on this curtain. Entertainment took many forms while the Opera House was in operation. The styles of entertainment changed through the years; various outside factors caused this. GAS DISCOVERED

The first natural gas discovered in Fort Recovery was on March 28, 1887 when a well was uncovered on South Main Street (where Kleinhenz Stockyards is located). The gas was lighted and burned all summer, day and night, throwing flames 100 feet high. People more than a mile away were able to see to read at night by the light of this huge flame. It was called the "Mad Anthony". On October 31, 1889 a charter was drawn up of the Sons of Veterans Post, General St. Clair Camp #413. Names on the charter include: Clarence Slife, Elmer Hedrick, Adolphus Scheid, Charles T. Scheid, Wm. Holl, Henry Holl, W. IL Willman, G.W. Wallingsford, Chas. M. Adams, Wm. Hedrick, John Miller, Jas. H. Davis, John W. Clark, Wm. H. Clark, J.F. Hedrick, John Eckenrode, John Wortz. In 1890, or possibly shortly before, Arthur Sutherland rnoved publication of "The Fort Recovery Times" to a room in the Adams building (rear of the Opera House) formerly occupied by "The Ne~v Era". Also about this time George W. Patchell of Union City, Indiana, brought his brother, Charles, to Fort Hecovery to edit a paper called "The Fort Recovery News'', The paper was produced on a Washington hand press in an office located on the south side of West Butler STreet which was almost opposite from Mr. Sutherland's office. The publication lasted less than a year.

NEARING THE END OF THE CENTURY In 1891 a centennial celebration was held in commemorations of the battle of November 4, 1791. The bones that had been buried in 1851 werp, again exhumed and buried in the present Monument Par}{ (a 1 though it wasn't the park then) . This celebration lasted three days, and at this time, a wooden monument approximately twenty-five feet in height, bronzed and sanded to resemble stone, had been erected at the intersection of Wayne and Butler street, dramatizing a need for a memorial. A flag floated at the top of the memorial. The picture is representative of the Memorial Day (Decoration Day) observance held in 1892 which was full of lofty and patriotic sentiment. Many Civil War veterans participated actively, and the day was reverently honored by all the citizens as a sacred and required duty. That same year the Fort Recovery Monumental Association was very active, and a committee was appointed to roll up petitions "as big as a bass drum" to present to Congress that a permanent memorial be erected to commemorate the campaigns of 1791 and 1794. However, Congress was not to grant their wishes until the next century had celebrated it's tenth birthday.

In 1891 the St. Clair Roller Mill was built by Charles Craft on South Wayne Street. Mr. Craft operated it until, following his dealh, it was sold by the administrators of his estate Lo Fred Meyer for $3,505 which was about 1/20th of the first cost. In 1B92 Lhe "Fort Hecovery Journal" was first printed in January by Henry H. Schwartz. He had worked at the "New Era" but left in 1886, at the age of 17, to go to Nebraska where he worked for a newspaper. He returned to Fort Recovery and started the "Furt Hecovery Journal". He sold his weekly paper in 1893 Lo J.W. Dowell and again went west. It was said that the editor purchased a bike (in 1896) and would be better able to gather the news.

On March 11, 1893, on Fort Recovery's Main Street in a building formerly housing Charley Schneiders old saloon, The Frank J. Sonderman and Company Dry Goods and Ready-to-Wear Store was organized by Frank J. Sonderman, Bill Sonderman, a brother, and Louise, a sister. They remained there for ten years until they outgrew the building. In 1903 Henry Fetters built a two story brick building to which they relocated. In the beginning of the business the store remained open six nigl1ts a week and it was customary for the partners to put in 12 to 14 hours daily, commencing at 6 A.M. Wayne Street was gravel, or more often just plain mud. It was the duty of th@ town marshal in rainy weather to keep the crosswalks scraped clean of mud. At every alley and street intersection large slabs of stone were used for crosswalks. When a team and wagon or buggy passed over them, more often than not it ~eant another job for the marshal .. and how he did like it! In 1895, when wages were low and work was hard to get, the Stirrup Factory partnership was formed by Charles Fox, Abe Shaeffer, and Frank Koch, all of whom were out of work. They got three machines and a steam box and set up in the second story of the tannery owned by William Koch. The work was done mostly by hand: the cutting up of the logs, the sµli tling and shaving of the blocks into shingle form, shaving into the desired shapes, and the bending. In 1896, Fox and Shaeffer, not being satisfied, sold their interest to Mr. Koch who continued it alone for another year. AL Lhi.s Lime the tanning business had fallen off and William and Edward Koch became interested in the stirrup business and set up machines and steaming boxes on the ground floor. The business wasn't very prosperous and early in the spring of 1899 Frank Koch withdrew and moved to Columbus, Indiana. Edward Koch was left with full management to either make or break. He had plenty of orders but no experienced help, so it looked like his stay in the stirrup business might also be short-lived. He brought in some practical stirrup makers and now that he could handle the orders, manufacturing began at a lively pace. Most of his orders came from the south. Cuba was a large market, buying thousands of dozens of stirrups at four cents a pair. As business grew and prices rose with a volume of ord~rs coming in from the west for the better grade stirrups, new machines were invented by the management to eliminate a lot of the hand 1vor k. In 1895 a writer from the New Bremen Sun newspaper visited Fort Recovery and offered his views of the town. He recounted that the main fascination to an outsider was the fact that at one time a battle had been waged here. He noted that tho site of the old fort built by General Wayne could be pointed out by nearly all of the inhabitants and that the fields where the battles were waged we~e equally as easily located. At this time he talked about the citizens' wanting to have a monument erected but that Greenville beat them to it. He compared Fort Recovery to New Bremen in size saying it was maybe a little larger. The writer was not impressed with the manufacturing industry, but noted that there were ample churches and schools and that the people were generally enlightened and up to date. The streets, he noted, were kept in good condition, but the sidewalks were in need of care. The town was widely scattered and therefore it was probably too costly to maintain good walkways. The reporter found the people to be genial and kind and was impressed with the diversified religious beliefs. The lack of progress in commercial lines did not mean that the people were drones and lacked energy in other directions, but shmved LhaL Lhe people had plenty of work to do. In his 01vn words, "Fort Recovery is a 11 right." Probably al the same time as the reporters visit to Fort Recovery, oil drilling was in progress. A storm did considera~le damage in the oil field east of town, destroying twenLy-three derricks. At Zenz City, Gibson Township, The Recovery Oil Company finished their No. 1 and shot it the same day. The well was said to have made a very light showing until after the shot. It then filled rapidly and made~ good well. This was the nearest well to Fort Hecovery at that time. They were hoping to drill a well on the Mott land on the Greenville Road south of town which would reap untold benefits to the town and to the land owners. ln urns a group of men gathered in "The ,Journal" off ice. Those present with Lheir date of birth (b) and date of settlemenl (s) in this vicinity were: William Krenn]ng, b 1821, s 18(-H:J, Gt~oq~e Myers, b 1816, s 1843, Philip May, b 1836, s 1854, "Col." John Thompson, b 1816, s 1839, Lewis Horine, b 1835, s 1837, Edward Jones, b 1819, s 1834, David Money, b 1817, s 1830, Steward Scott, b 1825, S 1830, Thomas Rockwell, b 1817, s 1838, Jacob Myers, b 1823, s 1843, and John Slife, b 1835, s 1864. From this size of this group, unless this was pre-arranged, it is obvious that the newspaper office was the place to meet, possibly to find out the latest news of the town. Also at this time the town was hit by the most disastrous hail storm in the town's history up to that time. It hil on a Wednesday evening, in May, between the hours of five and six o'clock. The forpe and weight of the hailstones broke the slate roofs on the Catholic Church and the public school building and punctured several steel roofs, among them, the new one on the excelsior factory. A large number of windows were broken about town and the damage would have been worse except for the lack of wind and the fact that it fell perpendicularly. It was said that the skylight in the McDaniel photography studio looked as it it had a round wilh Dewey. Twenty-five lights were broken out of it. Lewis Horine was bruised on the hand by a stone measuring nine and one-fourth inches in circumference while standing in his doorway. It was said that John Long was west of town when he saw a lightning bolt split a tree in two a short dislance from him. This was enought to make him think of his past sins, but it was tame to what followed. A big daddy hailstone struck him on the head and knocked him to his knees. No soon had he arisen to his feet than another big ice ball smashed his fingers against a rail. All this time he was trying to keep his frantic horse from bolting. He told people later that the rest of the boys could go to Cuba· if they liked, he had had enough of the bombarding business. The storm was confined to an area one to three miles in each direction from town. Fruit, wheat and gardens suffered. The oldesL inhabitant never saw a storm that equal lid it; it is doubt fu 1 if it was every equa.11 ed anywhere at that time. Following thi~ Dave Money said that there was a bigger hailstorm between 1845 and 1850 that did beat it. The big hail at that Lime cut a swath from a quarter to a half mile wide, and exlended a distance of eight or nine miles. A tfrt:al clt-:"al of stock was killed, calves, hogs, etc.; the brush was knocked off the trees so as to be knee deep to a horse in the woods. Fruit and wheat were completely destroyed. Fires at this time were fought by the bucket brigade, which resulted in the building burning down most of the times, because of the inadequacy of this method. For many years, the horse cart, pulled by hand by volunteer firemen was in use. The turn of tlle century saw electric lights and a city water system. The electicity, however, was only on from lamp lighting time until 11 P.M. with no day current. This continued for about 12 or more years. When there were parties or any entertainment for the evening, arrangements had Lo be made witl1 the man at the power hours to keep the ligt1Ls on an hour longer. Generally a lunch from the party paid the bil 1; otherwise coal oil lamps had to be brought into use i f Lll e par t y l as t e d u n t i 1 1 2 o ' c I o ck or 1 o ng er . Prices weren' L bad at this time, you could buy enough steak for two meals and have some left for the dog for ten cents. The best liver was two cents a pound, butter, ten and eight; eggs, six and seven cents a dozen; and a nice big fat hen could be had for twenty-five cents. Oats were fifteen cents a bushel, corn, twenty-five cents and a good cow sold for fifteen or Lwenty dollars. Milk was five cents a quart, sometimes three cents. A laboring man received ninety cents and a dollar a day and lived well on il. Many bought and paid for their homes on the s (: wage s . There were no telephones yet, no automobiles, no picture shows or any places of amusement in town except for the occasional medicine show or theatre troupe that would come for a week or more in the winter. Six trains passed through Fort Recovery daily, and in the evening and on Sundays the young folks would meet the trains. Often there wouldn't be standing room in the depot. Revivals would be sponsored by different churches, and often lasted six weeks or more, with packed houses each night.

THE EXPLOSION OF 1906

By Dr. Mark Wangler On October 17, 1906, the worst disaster since the defeat of St. Clair hit Fort Recovery. A devastating explosion rocked the entire town. The day was unseasonably warm for mid-October. The annual Horse Show, at 10:00 A.H. that Wednesday, began north of town and paraded ll1rough the business district to an area that is now South Main Street. The judging of the horses was to be held here, and within an hour the crowds had moved to this location, three blocks south of the business secti.on where the acllv1lies had originated. At approximately eleven o'clock on this same morning, Amos Ulmer took a rifle into Joe Meinerding's Hardware Store, complaining that there was something wrong with the gun. Charles Wagner, a clerk in the store, took the rifle into the back part of the store. It is theorized that when Mr. Wagner test-fired the gun be accidentally shot into some dynamite that was stored there. This caused the estimated one hundred to two bundred pounds of dynamite to discharge, blowing out the entire rear of the building and also extensively damaging several other strucLures. Four employees of the hardware store were killed almost instantly. They were Charles Wagner and Henry Lammers, both clerks in Lhc store, Miss Cleo Weis, the bookkeeper, and Joseph Hoessner, the store's harness man. A fifth person died several days later·. A farmer, John McMilljn, 1.;ho along with his wife was a customer in the store at the time of the tragedy, had a timber driven through his leg and died of his injuries a short time later. His wife was unhurt. Charles Stein was standing on the sidewalk in front of the hardware store at the time of the explosion. Something fell from the upper part of the building (possibly a brick) and struck him on the foot, breaking the bones in his foot. A sLra.nge event occurred at the high school which cou·1ct never be explained. A few seconds after the explosion shook the sclioo l , even befon; anyone knew what had happened, a sophomore girl 1 eaped up f ram her desl( ·and screamed "My sister's been killed!" Other students attempted to calm the young lady - a sister of Cleo Weis. The damage caused by the erupt ion 1.;as enormous. The· concussion was felt by people living miles away from the vii !age. One person said ''the kettle on her stove jumped a little" at their home two miles east of town. Almost every window in town was broken except those in the high school and in a few churches. Every window in the Catholic Church, two blocks south of the explosion, was shattered. Mrs. Elizabeth Wagner was preparing dinner at the time and the north windows of her kitcllen blew in and some of the glass showered into her ste;v, ruining her dinner. She lived a block southwest of the store. AnLhony's SLor·c had a display of china along the north wall of their building; the shelves were knocked over from the force and every piece of china was broken. li store located two Joors soulh of Lhe Meinerding Building had cut glass on display, and all of it was also broken. Waller Heiby ran a tavern which was located just north of the ill-fated hardware store, and Mr. Heiby lived upstairs toward the rear. His building was also splintered, his wife Mary was caught in the wreckage, and she remained a cripple for tl1e rest of her life. The Fort Recovery Banking Company was on the soutll side or the harchvare store. This building was badly damaged, but shortly after the calamity some of the fixLures were carried from the bank out onto the sidewalk and business was conclucLecl on the street in front of the bank. Several n1JnuLes after the unfortunate event, fire broke out. The bodies of Roessner and Wagner were covered with rublJle and were sur1·ounded by fire. Fort Hecovery had only one hand-pumper, so help was summoned via telegraph. It was most fortuilous Lllat the lines had not been torn loose by the explosion, and in a short time both Portland, Indiana, and Coldwater, Ohio, had loaded their pumpers on railway flatcars which were heading for Fort Recovery. The water came from cisterns which were situated in the streets. With the help of the extra hand-pumpers, the fire was brought under control by late afternoon. The fear that the town would be razed by the flames was over. The fire had considerably damaged the Meinerding, Schneider, Fetters and Fort Recovery Bank buildings, as well as the Lowery Live.ry Stable and the Ben W. Roop residence. The blacksmith shop and the Journal Publishing Office, both located to the rear of the store, were almost totally destroyed by the explosion. At about noon on that never-to-be-forgotten day, people began clearing out the contents of the damaged buildings and trying· to salvage whaL thE.\Y could. As one man explained, "I remember John Hoop making trip after trip into that Joe Meinerding Bui !cling carrying out merchandise." Many persons assisted in carrying undamaged articles to safety away from the water and Lile beat. School was dismissed that afternoon, but young children were not permitted to go downtown because of the debris and the unsafe condition of the buildings. Several of the windows in the elementary school had been shattered and some of the children were understandably upset. As dusk approached, the search for bodies continued. One man who remembered Charles Wagner's bcidy being found observed, "When they carried out the body, both arms and both legs were missing, and it was badly burned. It was hard to tell it h'as (the body of) a man." The body was carried to the basement of May's Funeral Home. People were boarding up windows and store fronts because it would soon be dark and it was also getting cooler. The firemen who had come to help fight the fires needed some dry clothes to wear back home. They went to one of the local dry goods stores and had to buy new clothing. This presented quite a problem for some of them because they did not have much money with them. The explosion had disrupted electric service throughout most of the town and now was the lime of darkness and fear for the townspeo11le--the aftermath of a most terrifying experience. Everyone in the village was so wrought up that the least noise would send them into nervous chills. Funerals were held for the victims on Friday, October 19. All of the business places were closed out of respect to the dead. Not al 1 of the caskets were opened as was tradition. The bodies of those who had been trapped in the hardware store were too badly burned to be viewed. A very large timber was later discovered in the roof of the Fellers Building. The explosion had sufficient force to throw Lhe timber t1igh into the air and then to drive it through the roof. Sunday, October 21, was a day of pandemonium for the residents of Forl Hecovery. By that time masses of people from all [)Ver westerll OJ1io and eastern Indi.ana had heacd about Lhe caLaslruphe that had befallen the village and hundreds cf µeople were pouring into town to see the results of the explosion and fires. On that day there were so many visilorH in town that there was no food left to be purchased by the spectators by noon. The Lake Erie and Western Railroad µuL 011 three extra cars to carry people from Lima to the scene of the conflagration. Souvenir hunters saw no harm i n t a L i n g· " u t ll~ l i L L lt:~ p i e c e o f t y p e " f r om t he ,Jo u r n a l 0 f f i c e , and before thl~ day was over, "there wasn' l enough type left Lo p r i ll L a l u L Lt~ r. " AJ'Lcr a few da:/s the tovmspeople began to bui.ld their community ane1~. \./hile the reconstruction project was going on "Lhcre h'::t'' rnucl1 comment in tol't'll as to why there was so mllch JynamiLe stored in town." It took nearly a year to rebui Id t.lw \'i l lagt~. Many people worried about the explosion for months. It was reported that George Krenning, an elderly resident who lived a.Laut a block from tl1e Meinerding's Store, died several months laLer from worry about the incident. \~ i thin l.>;10 years, as a. direct resu It of this tragic evt.~nl, Lht: Stalt:~ of Ohio passed a la~v forbiddLng dynamite to be s I. u c t: d ~\' i L h i n a co r po rat i on or i n p r ox i m i t y t o o t he r bui lJings. Tht~ disaster was over, but the memories remained.

FTHST HAHVEST JUl31LEE

Acccriling to a report in "The ,Journal" Joe Meinerding bad L lt e l d c a r u r • He p l an n e d a promotion tu nm for lhree days and cal led it "Whip Cracker Stunt". JJe sc11l oul 2BOO Whip Cracker Cards stating somell1ing to ttlis cffc~ct: "Br:Lng this end of the \Vhip to the s Lore on feL;ruary ::'.8 and March 1 and 2 and 1ve' 11 give you the other end of the r·avv hide whip." C11 l.lll: c\en1ng ur 1;·,~bruary ~8 a heavy snow foll. Since the farmers couldn't hark, due to the heavy snow, they all cam(-: inLt.) Lcnvn. Mt~rclmnts ur Llw to~vn were quite busy during Lhose tl1rl'f.; days artcl according lo Mr. Meinerding his total sale~; 1vae; :;:;1,r:~OO. Thu rt~sL or the businessmen were ready for something now. One slory is that Al Kolp, Bryon Wilson and Joe Meinerding encouraged the merchants to keep on the streets and meel Lheir farmer friends on an equality basis rather than a commercial basis. Billy Wilson, Ernie McDaniel, Frank Sonderman, Al Kolp, Hy Wilson, John F. Adams and Joe Meinerding walked back and forth on the streets meeting friends and acting like boys. This was said to be the organization and main part of the Harvest Jubilee. The farmer friends were just as much interested and cooperated just as much as the townspeople, and found that the merchants were just a lot of overgrown boys, as one report states. Another report says that a tramp in town named Monty Craig went to the dental office of Dr. Brown, one of the town's spark plugs, and offered to make a balloon ascension on the streets of town if the businessmen would buy him a ba 1 loon. Tht~ cha 11 eng·e was taken up and funds were so 1 i cited from Lhe businessmen and farmers of the vicinity and by the end of the campaign nearly $1,500 was raised. There were said to be seven saloons in town who gave generously, proba~ly realizing that Lhey would benefit greatly from a crowd in lovvn. BeLs were probably placed as to the feasibility of the stunt. A 90 foot balloon was procured, the ascension successful, and the balloon given to Mr. Craig at the end of the celebration in payment for his feat. If this story is true, it would explain why balloon ascensions have always held a special place in the Harvest Jubilee Celebration.