WHERE, Oh WHERE DID THE MAUMEE INDIAN MISSION MARKER MOVE?
Many have asked us what happened to the sign for the Maumee Indian Mission. It used to be located about 2 -2 ½ miles from Miltonville on a curve with a stone in front. Did it get hit by a careless motorist, or become too dangerous to leave it there? It was directly across from the Missionary Island on the site of the mission building.
There used to be a stone that stated “on this ground was established in the year 1822 The First Presbyterian Mission in the Maumee Valley. Rev. Joseph Badger Missionary 1802-1812, Rev. Isaac Van Tassel the First Superintendent 1822-1834.” The Missionary Island was purchased by the American Missionary Association in the early 1800 to provide religious teaching to Native Americans. They also purchased 372 acres of land in Wood County southeast of the river and established a mission to educate and Christianize the Indians. A large building was built on the banks of the river next to the island which was called the Indian Missionary Station which led to the various names given to the island.
The Mission house was at the mouth of Tontogany Creek in Wood County. It was two stories with a large cellar under the main building. It was said it caused echoing and sepulchral sounds (per Olde Waterville by June Huffman) which caused many strange tales to be told of the place. The building is no longer standing.
In 1834 the Mission was closed, and the Indians moved west. Later all that remained was the Indian Mission sign on the original site reminding everyone that a Presbyterian idea was started here.
The marker was originally put up in 1930 by the Ohio Revolution Memorial Commission (Marker # C608) We have found that the sign has been re-located 3 miles upriver to the Otsego Park on West River Road (Rt. 65), 0.2 miles north of the Otsego Pike (Route 235), which is no place near the old mission site but perhaps a much safer place to pull in and view the sign. The problem is that there is no notice that the sign has been moved from the original location. The next time you visit Otsego Park check out this marker and remember this important part of our local history.
Long School ----- No Longer Standing
The Long School was on the corner of Neowash at Heller Road. Local one room schools were about 2 miles apart so no student had to walk much more than a mile to school. This one took care of the students in the area of the Neowash, Schadel and Heller Roads, etc. In 1918 the school joined the Whitehouse Centralized School system.
In 1995 the Anthony Wayne Music director received a music composition that was written by Scott Sorenson from a visual inspiration by a watercolor of this old school painted by his friend and colleague Russell Danburg. Russell was the husband of Grace Boyer and a former local area resident. Mrs. Danburg was a former 2nd grade teacher in Whitehouse. Mr. Danburg had painted the watercolor in 1949. These friends both served as music professors at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. It was the composers wish that the composition would first be played locally, where the school which inspired his work and his friends’ painting was located. Both were titled “The Old Knowledge Box”
The Anthony Wayne Band was able to meet and work with the man that composed the music. They played their concert at the Zion Lutheran Church in 1995. The Waterville Historical Society was pleased to have received the piece and per Dr. Sorenson request was played for the local audience. Maybe some of our readers remember being in the band, meeting the composer and playing in the band at the concert. A tape recording of this music resides in the Wakeman Archives.
The Waterville Story
This article is about the booklet, the “Waterville Story” which was written in 1956 by the Waterville Elementary School seventh grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Estelle Wreede. As a class project for extra credit, the students were to visit neighbors and business owners who could tell them stories and information about the historic small town of Waterville, Ohio. They would then turn in their reports and photos to Mrs. Wreede, which she then in turn wrote the stories for the booklet. Mrs. Wreede and several of the parents drove the students to the homes and various historic sites. Some of the places visited were: Miltonville, the abandoned settlement directly across the river; the Fallen Timbers Monument; Turkey Foot Rock; Rupp Canal Store on Third Street; Roche de Boeuf Rock, and the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad Bridge (The Interurban Bridge). One very interesting visit was to an old Spanish Villa overlooking Roche de Boeuf. It was built in 1923 by George Stevens, the first director of the Toledo Museum of Art. The students reported that they had never seen anything like it and it was so beautiful and it looked like a castle. Later it became a nursing home.
The location of the clock tower at the corner of Farnsworth and the A.W. Trail was once a home, an ice cream shop and a couple of restaurants. At the end of Farnsworth at River Road is the location of the famous Columbian House. It was built by the founder of Waterville, John Pray, in 1828. It was first a hotel where Henry Ford and his wife once stayed. Also, it once housed a tavern, a jail, post office and school. In later years, it was the home of a famous restaurant, a doctor’s office, an insurance office and antique store. It is now owned by the Parker family.
Across from the Columbian House is now Parker Square which at one time was the location of the Waterville School since 1885. There were many re-builds, additions and in 1953, when Waterville, Whitehouse, Monclova and Neapolis schools consolidated into Anthony Wayne High School, located in Whitehouse, Ohio, this school became grades K thru 8th grades. The building was demolished in 2017 and the school was moved to the new Waterville Primary School on Sycamore. Several longtime residents that the students visited in their homes to hear stories of old time Waterville were Florence Starkweather, Ernest Hook, Clarence Shoemaker and Herman Rupp.
In 1973, a re-print of the ”Waterville Story” was produced by members of the Waterville Mother’s Club. Included in that booklet are articles and photos of that time and a photo of the class of 1956 (including author of this article). These booklets are no longer in print, but if you would like to read them, you can visit the Wakeman Archives Center on the second floor of the old Masonic building at 401 Farnsworth Road. It is open 10 to 2 every Wednesday and the last Saturday of the month May through October.
Editor’s note: Estelle Wreede, in 1964 was both a founding member and vocal supporter of the Waterville Historical Society.
CELEBRATING US ----- AGAIN!
This is the year of the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Waterville Historical Society. The actual organizational meeting, including the first election of officers, was held March 15, 1964 with 34 people present. There were 58 charter members by the end of the year. We have come a long way since then. Our founding and our continued success was, and is due to the support of the citizens of Waterville and surrounding area and their continued interest in our unique history.
Those fifty-eight original founding members started with nothing except optimism, enthusiasm and a lot of friends. They put out a call for historic artifacts and the citizens responded, finding items that may have belonged to grandparents or great-grandparents or things just found in attics, basements, old cedar chests, etc. Soon the fledgling society needed a place to both store and display these artifacts. Members, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Swope stepped up to donate the use of an upstairs apartment on Third Street and a museum was born. When the society celebrated their founding with the first Founders Day in 1965 and in subsequent years the entire village was invited to celebrate our local history with displays of historic artifacts, open houses in historic homes, lectures, dinners and dances, and people turned out in great numbers. So, from the very beginning the interaction between the citizens and the society has been vital in our existence.
W.H.S. has seen a steady growth over these years, but always with the same goal – to collect and preserve artifacts relevant to the history of Waterville and surrounding area and make this history available to the public. In 1980 we were able to purchase the 1838 Robbins House and renovate that building into our very own museum. About 10 years later the house next door was available and we bought that property thinking the little house could be demolished for a parking lot for Robbins. Upon finding the Sargent House was also a historic property, it was saved and became an additional display area and museum. When it was found that a little shed located on the alley behind a Second Street property had been the local Cobbler Shop, that building was donated and moved to our River Road properties along with a millstone that had been in the Pekin Mill. Then in 1997 the 1881 Wakeman Masonic Lodge building, vacated when the Masons moved out to Browning, was nearly purchased for demolition by a drug store chain. We were able to purchase that property thanks to a legacy fund from the estate of Marion Swope and a loan from the Village. We were then able to renovate the building into a much needed archives in the upstairs to properly house and maintain our large and growing collection of photographs and paper records. The lower level became a meeting room, complete with kitchen. By 2014, our 50th anniversary year, we owned three properties with four buildings to maintain, had computerized our records of our still expanding collections of historic artifacts, photographs and documents and have properly stored items not on display in archival containers.
We have not slowed down in the past decade from 2014 until now. We were gifted the historic (ca1827) R.G. Stitt (Gas Company) building on River Road by the Black family as they moved their Waterville Gas Company to a new building. That property included the little house next door so the property was split, the house sold and the Stitt Building is currently providing some rental income for the society. The Archives has added shelf space to house our ever expanding collection of photographs, documents and reference works, and finally achieved a long term goal of sharing parts of our collection on-line. The Sargent House Museum is finally being restored by replacing the rotting sills, repairing the stacked stone foundation and replacing some bad siding,. The Cobbler Shop has been renovated and we are working on making our museums more handicapped accessible. (And that is only some of the major things happening recently.).
Through our six decades of growth we have remained true to the original goals of our founders. We still are dependent on the good will and generosity of the community to support our endeavors. We depend on memberships and donations plus our own fund raising efforts to finance all of our wants and needs and we remain an all-volunteer organization.
THE FLOOD OF 1904
What a different a century makes from one December to the next. Up until this week the Maumee River was low, no ice in the river and the temperatures are unseasonably warm. In 1903-1904 it was unusually cold and the lake and bay, plus much of the Maumee River were incased in a thick layer of ice. There was no indication of the disaster that was soon to happen. It started with a sudden January thaw. About the 25th of January the upriver ice began to break up and move down river. The result was a number of ice gorges (piles of huge blocks of ice) to the riverbed blocking the water flow. Water levels would fluctuate for the next three to four weeks, backing up floodwaters then releasing it. The residents were worried about the river flooding. People were actually talking about moving their furniture to the 2nd story or moving out until the weather or ice broke. It was one of the coldest winters from news reports. Lake Erie was frozen over and there was no place for the river to empty into, so the water and the ice backed up. There were several ice gorges between Waterville and Maumee which kept the water from escaping. Even across the river the Vollmar Club house was surrounded. The Village of Providence was under water but was improving according to the February Toledo and Perrysburg newspapers. At Napoleon the water went down six feet and the river was free of ice.
The Toledo, Waterville and Southern Electric Railroad (Interurban) track ran along the river near Waterville. The tracks near Turkey Foot Rock (Jerome Road) at one point were under water and 25 poles down. Men were out clearing the tracks from ice. The highest gorge was opposite this site. Here the news accounts stated the river was packed to the bottom. This put the electric railroad out of service for several months.
There was an ice gorge a short distance from the old Wagon Bridge. The pressure of the ice battered the 1888 iron Wagon Bridge and its supporting piers but it held. When one of the last upriver ice gorges broke on March 4th, slabs of ice took out two spans of the battered old Wagon Bridge, severing the connections between Waterville and Wood county. This relieved further damage of the flooding. Two spans from the center were gone while the south side was badly damaged. The iron trusses were deposited a half-mile downstream where an enterprising William Witte salvaged the iron to support a second story on his Waterville Hardware store. His store was on 3rd Street but later burned and now the current Waterville Hardware is located in this spot. The cost to repair the bridge was $16,600.
Most of our readers know that ice jams and high water are almost routine for Waterville and the downriver communities but after 120 years the flood of 1904 was by far the worst and most memorable.
Author’s note: The 1904 flood was local along the Maumee caused by ice. The later flood of 1913 was much worse, and was caused by a huge rain event that affected the entire State of Ohio.
Sargent House Museum Foundation and Sill Beam Restoration
Restoration work on the 1838 Sargent House Museum revealed how deteriorated the original 8x8-inch sill beams were. It also revealed the floor joists - logs with the bark still on! WHS' contractor W.R. Meyers is halfway done removing the old sills and installing new ones. This project is funded in part by the Ohio History Fund, a grant program of the Ohio History Connection. Your donations to the Ohio History Fund make this program possible (www.ohiohistory.org/historyfund). If you would like to support WHS restoration efforts, please visit our website and click on "Join and Give." Thanks to everyone who donated to the WHS Capital Campaign. The work you made possible should set the Sargent House up for the next 180 years!
Waterville Historical Society looking for new Treasurer
Ghostly Encounters (10/18/2023 rain date)
WHY ARE WE CELEBRATING A ROCK?
If you have been following our series on Waterville festivals, you know we are about to celebrate the 50th Roche de Boeuf festival, which to all Waterville folks means the “Rock of Beef” or Buffalo Rock”. The “rock” is an outcrop of erosion resistant limestone that has been in the river since the last glacier melted but is now unique to Waterville and forever a part of our history. If you have seen a photograph of the “rock” before the interurban bridge was built (1907-1908) this big hulking island of limestone can be imagined to look like a buffalo standing in the river. Note: Photos and paintings of the rock can be viewed on our website: www.watervillehistory.org and then click the tab online photos and there will be a link to click on.
Since the European name for this landmark came from the French explorers, we are stuck with a French name which we try to interpret. I have included a previous website article called “The Big Rock” to explain the various interpretations of the name, much of which was borrowed from Midge Campbell’s book “Watervillore”.
“Waterville’s Roche de Boeuf, has many spellings and pronunciations. Some say “Roche de Bout,” many say “Roche de Boeuf” and many of the old timers in the area call it “Rush de Boo.” The rock was named by French fur traders and the English pronunciation and interpretation is the source of all the confusion. The rock is the limestone rock in the Maumee River near the old Interurban Bridge. When they built the bridge in 1908 they destroyed at least 1/3 of the Rock. American Indians used it as a place to meet and hold council and met there before the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Anthony Wayne camped two nights before the battle near here at Fort Deposit which was on the high bank opposite the rock. At one time an early French village and a cemetery were located at Roche de Boeuf where the stone quarry is today. The earliest recorded birth in what is now Waterville, that of James Knaggs, took place in that little village about 1780. Later Jane (Dilts) Richardson was deeded land on River Tract #39 known as the Roch de Boote farm. She was the widow of Isaac Richardson whose tavern was located on her father’s land. The Roche de Boote/Roche de Bout/Roche de Boeuf Farm was later owned by Elijah Dodd and long referred to as the Dodd Farm. Watervillians seem to prefer Roche de Boeuf and interpret that as Rock of Beef or Buffalo Rock thinking those early French thought it looked like a big buffalo in the river. Historians seem to prefer Roche de Bout, interpreted as Rocky Point.” Check out the historical marker at the trailhead of Farnsworth Park overlooking the “big rock” which was commissioned by W.H.S. and placed there by the Ohio Historical Society.
So it is that we celebrate with many references to the buffalo, as can be seen on the publicity posters. For years buffalo burgers have been sold during the festival. Prior to the 1984 annual Roche de Boeuf Festival Ferd Seipel, a Waterville businessman, found and purchased a 200 lb. plastic replica of a buffalo which was used in many festival parades besides our own to publicize the Roche de Boeuf Festival in 1984 and forward. Today the buffalo resides outside Seipel’s Peddler’s Alley development. We even have our local craft brewery called the Buffalo Rock Brewery. So come to the festival and celebrate the buffalo. Pet the plastic buffalo as you go by, have a buffalo burger and enjoy yourselves at Waterville’s unique Roche de Boeuf Festival.
THE FIRST ROCHE DE BOEUF FESTIVAL 1974
The festival was named for the large out cropping of rock in the Maumee River. The rock was called Buffalo Rock by the Indians and translated by the French as “Rock of Beef.” The festival salutes the Roche de Boeuf or Rock of the Buffalo. So people would remember how to spell Boeuf they were taught the rhyme “Buffalo Over Eat Until Full.”
The festival all started at the kitchen table with Gary and Diana Waugh. They along with Kenny and Annabelle Blair decided to add a new event to the Village of Waterville community events.
The First Roche de Boeuf Festival was to be held on the first Saturday after Labor Day, September 7, 1974. It was started by the Jaycees which included Gary Waugh, Don Blewett, Rick Young and Ken Blair as the chairmen and coordinators. Some of the others that helped were Bill Lommatzsch, Alan Porath, Bill Price, Walt Seymour, Dave Myerholtz, Ed Plante, Bill LaRue and Mike Dehner. The festival was supposed to be a day of celebration and merriment in downtown Waterville with singing, dancing, craft booths and a barbeque, etc. with Waterville history tied to the river, canal and railroad, village government and service organizations. The official costume was to be 1880 to the 1910s. The purpose was to establish a day for Waterville people to get to know each other and their town, and bridge the past with the future. They wanted to establish an annual event different from a carnival type that was happening here and in other towns. Of course it was also a way for the Jaycees to increase membership and have the business community participate. Also much of the money that left town with the carnival would now stay in the community.
The first festival had a bike decorating contest and parade with 30 children participating. They had special rides to Grand Rapids and back on the Bluebird Special, picking up people in a hay wagon and tram ride. They had tours of historical sites in downtown Waterville. At 12 noon a special meeting of the Village Council was held with reading a proclamation honoring Roche de Boeuf Day as an annual event and dedication of a plaque for the Roche de Boeuf Bridge Society. They also announced that the old power plant would be turned over to the Waterville Historical Society for a museum.
Don Lahote of Perrysburg piloted the homemade plane “Breezy” over Waterville and Bernie Steinbaugh parachuted from the plane and landed on his target at Route 24 and 64 at the point where Mechanic Street and AW Trail meet. He was still jumping from the plane in 1990 at the festival. The AW band was unable to play at the first festival so the Perrysburg Band was invited and played.
About 60 people dressed in 1890s attire. They had the sky diver at 1:00 p.m. that landed on his target. The Waterville Playshop put on an old fashion melodrama and the Rhythm Rambler’s, a western square dance group, demonstrated. That was followed by street dancing. There were craft booths on Second and Third Street. It was a big day and lasted all day and into the night. They even had a rock band.
The Roche de Boeuf Mission Statement said it was to be a family affair, promote local business and bring people to Waterville, then to encourage visitors to come back to visit and shop. It looks like they did a good job as we are now celebrating the 50th festival this year and it is bigger and better than anyone could imagine. Only the 47th Annual Festival was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns, adhering to the health department restrictions during the Covid pandemic and the best interest of the community.
The Early Founder's Days
In 1964 a meeting was called by Mayor Richard Farnsworth and the manager of the Waterville Bank, Alvin Sieczkowski for the possible founding of a historical society. They had heard people were interested in preserving Waterville history. Al was elected President of the newly formed Waterville Historical Society and James Baldwin Vice President, Sec’y, Mrs. R.M. Memmer and Mrs. Carl Conrad, Treasurer. Mrs. Howard Krause was elected scrapbook custodian. The directors were John Amstutz, Mrs. Robert Lowrie, Mrs. Charles Swope, Mrs. Harry Witte and Charles Weaver.
One year later they held their first Founder’s Day to honor John Pray who laid out the village with the first 50 lots in 1831. Movies and exhibits of early Waterville were shown in the Waterville school gymnasium. Walking tours around town were conducted at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. and there were historic home tours. They also had a tea at the Columbian House. Then after the home tours they had a buffet supper at Zion Lutheran Church with Dr. Randolf Downs, professor of history at T.U as speaker. The first year of the Founder’s Day was just a one day affair but the 2nd year they held it for two days on May 14 and 15.
The aim of the society was the preservation of the history of Waterville. Founder’s Day was a way of calling the past to the attention of our citizens in hopes that everyone will give to or aid the society in preserving as much as possible the treasures for the future. It was hoped it would be a yearly trek back into the history of Waterville. In 1965 fifteen hundred people attended. In 1966 Founder’s Day was two days, both Saturday and Sunday, ending with a costume ball held at the Waterville School and the banquet held at the Zion Lutheran Church. WHS produced a Founder’s Day booklet and a Junior Historical Society was organized in Waterville.
The public responded and soon the historical society started looking for a place to put their collection of historic artifacts of interest to the area. In 1967 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Swope gave permission to use the upstairs apartment they owned at 19 ½ Third Street. In August of that year they opened that space to the public as a way to preserve and display these items of historical interest.
In 1968 they made Apple Butter and sold it to raise funds and in 1969 they had more house tours, showing six homes and WHS planned to make this an annual event. The organization was also having families research the history of their homes and WHS gave the first historic home plaque to Mrs. and Mrs. Earl Potter for the Oliver Pray House at 144 N. River Road, built in 1837. The purpose of this was to identify and encourage restoration and preservation of homes that were built prior to 1900.
In 1980 they acquired the Robbins House at 114 South River Road and began remodeling it into a museum. This enabled them to participate in the Roche de Boeuf festival with bake sales, antique and collectible sales, demonstrations of pioneer arts and crafts, as well as tours of the museum where all their exhibits had been moved. Founder’s Day dinners continued to be held in the spring at the Columbian House, the Toledo Club and other locations.
With the acquisition of the Sargent House Museum at 118 South River Road, which opened to the public on Founder’s Day, 1992 and Wakeman Hall in 1999, much time and effort was required toward fund-raising and restoration of these properties. Founder’s Day was neglected until renewed with a celebration of Waterville heritage, a day when small town values and civic pride are emphasized. In 2001 the village of Waterville had been in existence for 170 years and at that time the Waterville Historical Society, possibly along with the Chamber of Commerce, organized the Founder’s Day Festival. It was stated that it was the Third Annual Founder’s Day. In 2004 they had the sixth annual festival as an outdoor activity in Conrad Park.
On May 18, 2003 an Ohio Bicentennial Marker obtained by the Waterville Historical Society, honoring “John Pray Founder of Waterville” was dedicated at Pray Park. It was attended by 35 of his descendants from throughout the United States.
Stone Age People in the Great Black Swamp
We had a capacity crowd Wednesday evening July 26th, at the Waterville Historical building for our event; "Stone age people in the Great Black Swamp"! Many of the attendees were behind the cameraman getting food, or upstairs in the archives, but were able to capture many of them seated.
Our speaker, Mason Brown, brought a small sampling of the rare artifacts that he's found while "Surface Hunting" local fields in our area. Mason also spoke for about 45 minutes on the history surrounding his finds and the documentation he's done. All of his work has been personally hand illustrated, and is kept in a thick binder, with an associated map identifying the locations of his finds.
Thank you, Mason, for sharing the decades of your work with us, and thank you to everyone who attended!
Waterville Blossom Festival
History of the Apple Blossom Festival and Waterville Festival
The Apple Blossom Festival was suggested at the Waterville Chamber of Commerce as noted in the Whitehouse Standard on April 29, 1933. This was just coming out of the Depression and the Chamber of Commerce was probably trying to find a way to increase business for the people of Waterville plus it was way to throw dull cares away and celebrating. Of course people were beginning to travel more and this was a short drive to Waterville to see the apple blossoms and other trees in bloom. This would help get the people back then to buy the apples and other produce. The May 6, 1933 date was selected. Everyone interested in seeing the trees in bloom met at the Waterville school and the Whitehouse Band played. They traveled in the parade from the school house at 1 p.m., in a caravan of trucks and cars lead by the band and the Boy Scouts where they traveled up the river to the Byrum and the Utz Fruit Farm on River Road, then to the Boyer Fruit Farm on Waterville-Neapolis and Schadel Road and finally to the Farnsworth Orchards on Farnsworth Road. At the Farnsworth Orchards they had a program and crowning of the first Blossom Queen, Theresa Walbolt. Her attendants were Merita Witte and Marilyn Baldwin. It was raining at the 1st Festival so the program and dancing was held at the Graf Garage where now Peddler’s Alley is located. They removed the three Model T Ford fire trucks, four yellow school buses and parked them outside so the floor could be cleaned for square and round dancing.
The 2nd year (1934) they had blossom covered floats. The people took a tour of the 500 acre Farnsworth Orchards where most of the proceedings after parade were held. The queen and her attendants were seen dancing under the apple blossoms in 1934. In 1937 the Waterville Blossom Festival was held on May 8th with parade, floats, bands and the Queens Ball with single admission tickets to the ball at 35 cents and 15 cents for children. Waterville was advertised in a brochure at that time as a city suburb and an agricultural town. It stated that the village owns and operate its own water and electric plants, has three churches, good school system, has a bank, garages, restaurants, barber shop and stores sufficient to care for its needs. The population of Waterville in 1934 was 976. A map was provided so you could travel to see the apple blossoms. The night before the festival three million bees Mr. Farnsworth rented from a man in Shelby County were released to fertilize the apple orchards of the village. The flight of the bees was an annual event at the Farnsworth Farms, usually the night before the Festival. He keeps the bees all summer and the owner come later to take them home.
The last Blossom Festival was 1940 by our records when the festival was discontinued during the war years of WW II.
The first Post War Waterville Festival was held June 1947 and it replaced the old Waterville Blossom Festival and now it was sponsored by the American Legion Post and the Waterville Volunteer Fire Department, dropping the word “Blossom.” They said they wanted to continue to sponsor the festival annually with enough money is raised for building of a community house or building. It was a four day event ending with an hour long parade on Saturday and later in the evening with square dancing. They had carnival rides all taking place in Waterworks Park, now Conrad Park. It was a fun filled time! It was a money maker for the sponsors. In 1955 there were 12 bands, 6 marching groups, 9 queen candidates and by 1963 there were 30 marching units in the parade. Prizes were given to the bands and floats.
In 1981 they mentioned what they had purchased with festival funds which were a rescue truck and equipment, material for the Village Park Shelter House, Christmas lights, steel grills in the park, flags and poles for street display and flags for the park and local schools, sponsorship of teams and Scout troop.
Author’s Note: We are looking for more information on the Waterville Festival to add to our records. Do you have pictures or information you would like to share?
The Demise of the Miami and Erie Canal
We have written extensively about opening of the canal through Waterville and the benefits we enjoyed because of it. We enjoyed these benefits for forty to fifty years but the canal had a long, slow decline. Railroads came into being at nearly the same time the canal was opened and expanded over the years. Rail had the advantage of operating the year around and was faster. No steam railroad reached Waterville until 1876-77 when the Toledo and Grand Rapids narrow gauge railroad was built. The canals were built and operated by the State of Ohio and never generated much income, mostly due to maintenance costs. A plan to lease the canal to private contractors didn’t work either as the contractors neglected maintenance and retuned the canal back to the state in severely run-down condition. By 1900 the state wanted to close the canals and get out of the canal business but met a great deal of push-back. Much of what was left of the canal boat traffic was now local and passenger service was entirely owned by the railroads. There were, however, a large number of mills and other businesses paying the state for water rights to use for power. These businesses did not want to lose their relatively cheap power source, so they were adamantly opposed to closing the canal. The final straw came in 1913. The disastrous flood, due to storms which dumped 6 to 12 inches of rain over much of the state, wiped out large sections of the canal making repair nearly impossible. Some sections closed completely and some sections were repaired enough to serve a local area. Note that the old wooden dam at Providence was replaced with a new concrete roller dam in 1908 by John Weckerly and company (paid for by the state) which survived the flood and is still in place today. Locally then, our canal survived the flood and continued to be used for power and recreation, from the dam to Swan Creek in Toledo. The State of Ohio continued to push for the end of the canal business and finally, after surviving court challenges, passed legislation called the Tom Act in 1927 ending canal navigation and then officially closed all of the canal in 1929. Toledo, by 1929, had for some time been planning to turn the canal into a roadway for automobiles. The Mayor and public officials had made plans to drain the canal, with a big ceremony and program to be held on Saturday, July 6 at 2:30 P.M. Thes plans were spoiled, however, when unknown persons on the night of July 3rd created, by blast or shovel, a huge hole in the canal bank on the Utz farm three and one half miles above Waterville. On the morning of July 4 they found the canal rapidly draining to the river (Article in the Toledo News-Bee, July 4, 1929). Mission accomplished but not as planned. So, as we celebrated the opening of the canal on May 8th, we Waterville folks may take some credit for the demise of the same canal by this dastardly act. Toledo then gained the Canal Boulevard which eventually became Rt. 24 and the Anthony Wayne Trail through Waterville..
Authors Note: We Watervillians may also take pride in the fact that our own W. W. Farnsworth, orchardist, State Senator, and first executive secretary of the Toledo Metropark System and having served four two-year terms in the Ohio State Senate, convinced the State to turn portions of the canal lands over to local park boards, thus our local park which bears his name came to be.
Waterville's Canal Builders
Some of our prominent families arrived in Waterville to take part in the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal.
1. Cornelius Van Fleet, the eldest son of Mathias Van Fleet was already here. The family arrived in Waterville in 1831 when Cornelius was only 13 years old. A bright young man, he learned the art of civil engineering so that by 1837 he contracted with the State of Ohio to be the civil engineer for the northern section of the canal from Providence to Manhattan. Now a canal cannot be built until the best route has been determined and surveyed and location of necessary locks determined. The engineer then must see that contractors build their section to specifications and solve any construction problems that may occur. This was an awesome responsibility for such a young man. When construction was complete Cornelius was appointed superintendent of the Waterville section of the canal, a position he held for eight years. Since Cornelius was one of 14 Van Fleet siblings, we were blessed with many generations of Van Fleet family.
2. John George Isham was born in Sharon New York in 1815. He came to Waterville from Monroe, Michigan in 1840 to serve as construction superintendent for a good friend who had the contract for a section of canal from Dutch Road to Maumee. When the canal opened in 1843, John was appointed maintenance superintendent for the entire northern portion of the canal. John found love along with work in Waterville. He married a young Eliza Daggett in 1843, bought a farm on River Tract 42 and the couple settled into a log cabin on the farm. There he could work his farm in the summer and attend to repair work on the canal in the winter months when the canal was closed to boat traffic. Eliza tragically died in 1848 leaving John with two young children to care for. He soon married Sarah Cooper, daughter of Waterville pioneer Henry Augustus Cooper. Three more children were born to the couple and John completed his large Greek Revival farm house in 1853. John and Sarah raised their family there as well as five other children of close relatives. His youngest son, John F. . (Torry) Isham took over the farm when John became ill and retired. Isham descendants owned and lived in this house, located just across from the (now) Farnsworth Park shelter house, until recently.
3. Contracting partners Elijah Dodd and James B. Steedman. James is the publisher, politician and Civil War hero. He became the brother in-law to Elijah when James married Sarah Miranda Stiles a sister to Dodd’s wife. Elijah Dodd was an experience contractor having completed a section of canal near Harrisburg, PA. The portion of the canal in their contract included the critical dam at Providence that created the slack water pool to provide water to the level stretch of canal between Providence and Toledo. The original dam was of wooden crib design, with stone abutments similar to the dam upstream near Defiance. This dam remained in place until the current concrete dam was built in 1908 by John Weckerly of Whitehouse. Dodd and Steedman were also paid $300 to build the canal overflow near Roche de Boeuf, sometimes called “the cascades.” The remains of this overflow can be seen at the east end of Farnsworth Park along the walking path.
Opening of the Canal 180 Years Ago
The Canal through Waterville opened 180 years ago. Why is this important? Why should we celebrate? On May 8, 1843 the Canal boat “Albert White” passed through Waterville on its way from Fort Wayne to Toledo where it was met with great fanfare. This event marked the opening of the Wabash and Erie Canal which connected the Ohio River via the Wabash River through Indiana to Lake Erie. The connection south at Junction to the Ohio River at Cincinnati, which formed the Miami and Erie Canal, did not open until 1845,
The impact of this event was immense! Waterville area farmers were blessed with amazingly fertile soil and a local grist mill (thanks to John Pray) but markets for their grain was limited. The major population centers of the east coast were blocked by mountains and transportation to existing water routes was by horse drawn wagon. The canal system brought a water route, capable of transporting bulk cargo, to the interior of Ohio and Indiana and, of course, to the Waterville farmer. The east coast and the southern port of New Orleans were open markets for our products and, by extension, world wide markets. This pipeline was also a two way system. Our local merchants could receive manufactured goods from distant places for local consumption. Our interior was now open for business.
The effect of the canal in Waterville was almost immediate. The business center of town moved from Main Street (River Road) to 3rd Street to be near the canal. Our business men found the cities of Maumee and Toledo a relatively short hour or two canal ride away and soon trade between Waterville and these two centers of commerce blossomed. Two canal stores were bult on the west bank of the canal to trade directly with canal boat operators as well as the public. These soon became the J.E. Hall store and the Haskins Brothers store, which much later became Rupp Canal Store. The Ostrander store on Third Street found the newly built canal at their back door and built a dock for the boats to stop there. David Hall and Lewis Eastwood built a hotel building at the canal and Wood Street, later owned by Abe Frederick. By 1846 businessmen Lorenzo L. Morehouse and James Brigham built a large three story grain mill on the canal at the north end of Third Street, using water from the canal to power the mill. The millrace ran down the north side of Mechanic Street to the river. Known as the Pekin Mill, it soon made Waterville the grain center of Ohio. Even the local hardware and grocery merchants could easily obtain goods from eastern manufacturing centers for sale to their Waterville customers.
Very few of the contractors who built the canal became rich, but everyone benefitted from it. So why should we celebrate? It put our town on the map? Our citizens were better off and some of our business people became quite wealthy. Our town, now a city, survived and grew to what we are today in large part because of the kick-start we received from the opening of the canal system, represented by the passing of the canal boat “Albert White”. Unfortunately, the art of photography did not exist here in 1843.
Authors Note: A number of articles about the canal and the canal builders have appeared in this space over the years. These may be found in the Wakeman Archives or by scrolling down through our past writings on the website. It is also possible to google the articles online.
CIVIL DEFENSE DURING WORLD WAR II
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Europe was facing a new war with the constant threat of air strikes. Perhaps the greatest threat to civilians, these air strikes posed a problem for life not only in cities but rural areas as well. Leaders began implementing ways to help prevent major devastation and loss of life. One of these planned strategies was the use of dim-outs and blackouts in order to minimize the light created indoors that would allow the enemy to identify targets from the air. After Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt was more aware than ever that a civilian defense front similar to the UK’s was needed because of the threat of air forces. On May, 20 1941 he created the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) appointing NYC mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as head. LaGuardia was tasked with appointing watchers, auxiliary police, decontamination squads, emergency food and housing, and air raid wardens.
By day, the air raid wardens educated the public on the importance of dim-outs/blackouts and what to do if an air strike occurred. Blackouts/dim-outs required people to shut off appliances and electricity, along with gas and water. Driving at night was highly discouraged during planned blackouts. The use of blackout curtains was encouraged. People were directed to seek a bomb shelter or basement until the strike threat was dismissed. At night, the air raid wardens were in full uniform, wearing helmets, gas masks, and carried flashlights. They had sirens and patrolled neighborhoods to enforce the blackout. Some took the role very seriously, in some instances shooting outdoor lights that were left on. Ernest Graf was the Waterville Civilian Defense member and Air Raid Warden Chairman. He announced that four blasts of the fire siren at half minute intervals will be used for the warning signal and that the “all clear” signal will be a single long drawn-out blast steadily for two minutes.
On July 14, 1942, Waterville conducted a dim-out and a total of 32 infractions were reported by Ernest Graf. The next dim-out was conducted on August 12, 1942 and it was hoped there would be no infractions. Locally, it was reported that more air raid wardens were needed in Waterville for a planned dim-out in April of 1943. The air raid wardens were hoping to have a more successful experience than the one they had in the past. The strategy was to have at least two at each post, sometimes three. Multiple wardens were needed in case one needed to leave. Nineteen air raid wardens with assistants were on duty in Waterville. The air raid wardens were J.B Stickney, Scott Barman, Tom Billiard, H.H. Dudrow, Paul Bersee, L.E. Wynocker and others. The Civilian Defense control room was in Graf’s Garage which was equipped with phones and tables.
The dim-out occurred on April 12, 1943 at 10pm for 20 minutes. Prior to the dim-out, the public was instructed on how to prepare and what to do. Telephones were not to be used, and people that were not going to be home during the dim-out were told to make sure all lights were out. Owners of businesses such as hotels were told to advise their guests of the situation and take measures to make sure everyone was on board with participating in the dim-out. People that would have to be driving during the dim-out were told to find a space to park to wait it out, or stop in place and make sure all vehicle lights were off. The only allowance was for emergency vehicles. Manufacturers were exempted from participating, but were asked to turn off any equipment or lights they could while still maintaining production. Anyone not at home was told to remain inside any building until the dim-out was over.
Chief Air Raid Warden Ernest Graf reported a successful blackout in Whitehouse and Waterville, with 100 percent cooperation of homes and businesses. There were only five infractions, where one resident turned the lights off too late, while another turned their lights back on too soon. A few vehicles were stopped, while most drivers cooperated. No arrests had to be made during the dim-out. One has to appreciate the efforts of coordinating blackouts during WW2. With the development of satellites and sophisticated navigation, the practice of blackouts has become obsolete.
Roosevelt’s Civilian Defense Force was ended on June 30, 1945. President Truman brought it back during the Cold War, calling it Civil Defense. Today the organization is known as FEMA, which helps areas where a natural disaster has occurred.
Does anyone have a picture of a family member wearing a Civil Defense uniform or parts of any such uniform? The Wakeman Archives would like to add to our collection of WW II items.
WHS Awarded $18,000 Ohio History Connection Grant
Waterville Historical Society has been awarded an $18,000 grant from the Ohio History Connection (OHC) for the Sargent House Museum Foundation and Sill Beam Project. This $59,900 project will stabilize the 1839 structure by restacking the dry-laid stone foundation and replacing deteriorated sill beams. Our project was one of 12 awarded funding of the 50 proposals reviewed. This year, $185,624 were available for OHC grant awards. Your donations to the Ohio History Fund make this program possible. Your contribution today helps “pay it forward” for future grant awardees!
Thank you, Ohio History Connection, for your support!
Ohio History Fund - Help WHS
Tax time is your time to support Ohio History! Did you know you can donate part of your Ohio income tax refund to the Ohio History Fund? It’s as simple as entering the donation amount on line 26b of Ohio Form IT 1040. Since its inception in 2012, the Ohio History Fund has awarded 110 grants for a total of $1 Million to help preserve Ohio history. This total includes a $3,867 grant to WHS to install a new HVAC unit in Wakeman Hall in 2021. This March, we hope to hear that the Ohio History Fund will help WHS restore the foundation and sill beams of the Sargent House Museum. For more information about the Ohio History Fund, visit https://www.ohiohistory.org/preserving-ohio/ohio-history-fund-grant/.