Virginia native William Owen, 1769-1821, is credited with being the
first American to settle in Mad River Township, Champaign County
sometime between 1797-1799. He and his family built a cabin in the
northeast quarter of Section 15 directly west . . . — — Map (db m86157) HM
In 1897, a farm boy investigating the disappearance of water into a sinkhole in a nearby field discovered this system of subterranean passageways. Digging down a few feet, he found an opening to a cave that had begun forming perhaps several . . . — — Map (db m198028) HM
Joseph E. Wing was one of the first persons to identify, promote, and grow alfalfa as a forage crop east of the Mississippi River. He developed his interest in alfalfa while in Utah, where he worked on a cattle ranch. When he returned, Wing began . . . — — Map (db m13761) HM
In 1942 Cedar Bog became the first nature preserve in Ohio purchased
with state funds. Efforts to set this wetland aside began in the
1920s through the efforts of Florence Murdock and her daughter.
Efforts intensified in the mid 1930s with help . . . — — Map (db m90503)
Side A The founders of what would become the Kings Creek Baptist Church first met on June 29, 1805 in the log home of local residents James and Ann Turner. The Baptist congregation continued to meet in people's homes until 1816 when . . . — — Map (db m84858) HM
President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. In Champaign County, . . . — — Map (db m13790) HM
War Council of 1812. To confirm that the Treaty of Greenville would be upheld, Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs called a council with Native Americans June 6-9, 1812. He sought approval to cross native land when marching to Canada and to ensure . . . — — Map (db m81636) HM
Congress passed Fugitive Slave Laws in 1793 and 1850, allowing federal marshals to arrest slaves that had escaped to the North and take them back to their southern owners. They could also arrest northerners suspected of aiding runaway slaves. . . . — — Map (db m13760) HM
Benson Road and the North Urbana Lisbon Road (SR 54) in Champaign County was the site of the 1950 National and Ohio Plowing Matches and the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts Field Days. The three-day event drew a crowd of nearly . . . — — Map (db m86249) HM
James R. Hopkins was born May 17, 1877, in Irwin and graduated from Mechanicsburg High School in 1895. As a child, he gained exposure to art through his mother, Nettie, an accomplished self-taught water colorist. Hopkins enrolled at The Ohio . . . — — Map (db m284043) HM
The Mechanicsburg United Methodist congregation was founded in the early nineteenth century and met first in open-air camp meetings before moving into a small log school building. In 1820 the congregation built a wood framed church on East Sandusky . . . — — Map (db m13730) HM
Side A:
This site has long served the religious, education, and public interests of the residents of Mechanicsburg. A local Methodist congregation built its first church here in 1820, and the townspeople also used the structure as its . . . — — Map (db m13731) HM
Billy “Single” Clifford
Wm. C. Shyrigh, better known as Billy Clifford, was born in this
house on January 24, 1869, to Levi and Sarah Shyrigh. Coming
from a musical family, he developed an early interest in music
and practiced with the . . . — — Map (db m90489) HM
The Dayton, Springfield, and Urbana Electric Railway (DS&U) was an “Interurban” rail system that ran between the cities of Urbana, Springfield and Dayton. Its beginning can be traced to the franchise given to William H. Hanford to operate a . . . — — Map (db m13811) HM
Side A: John Anderson Ward Farmstead
John Anderson Ward had this Federal style house constructed from 1823-1825 on land inherited from his father, Urbana's founder Colonel William Ward. The Colonel's will stipulated that a local mason . . . — — Map (db m13822) HM
(side A)
Construction of the Columbus, Piqua, and Indiana Central Railroad started in 1850 and was finished in 1854. Later referred to as the "Panhandle Railroad," it ran from Columbus to Bradford. During the Civil War, the line carried . . . — — Map (db m93853) HM
Warren G. Grimes. Raised in an Ohio orphanage, Warren G. Grimes (1898-1975) ran away after finishing the ninth grade and at age 16 went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He later became a partner in an electrical business where . . . — — Map (db m13818) HM
The Johnson Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1902 by brothers James B., J. Will, Isaac T., and Charles F. Johnson, all of Quaker heritage. The company manufactured tin and galvanized iron ware for railroad lines across the United States. . . . — — Map (db m221049) HM
President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nation mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. On its way the Funeral . . . — — Map (db m84945) HM
Albert B. “A. B.” Graham was born in Champaign County on March 13, 1868, the son of Joseph and Esther Graham. He was raised in a small rural home, but a fire destroyed the house in 1879, and the family moved to Lena where Graham attended . . . — — Map (db m13789) HM
The Underground Railroad in Champaign County
The inhumanity of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 motivated anti-slavery activists to operate a covert network, the "Underground Railroad," which helped fugitive slaves . . . — — Map (db m78141) HM
(bronze plaque)
Richard Stanhope
(Stanup)
Free black man and landowner
Settler in Madison County, Ohio
on Virginia Military land
resident of Concord Township
Champaign County, Ohio
Died September 1862
Buried in Concord . . . — — Map (db m106683) HM
President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, created a national tragedy, and the nationl mourned as his body was transported by rail from Washington, D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried. As the nine-car . . . — — Map (db m84946) HM
Mt. Tabor Church. The first Mt. Tabor Church, a log meetinghouse, was erected on this site in 1816. It stood on land originally selected by Griffith and Martha Evans for a graveyard at the death of their daughter circa 1812. Deeds show the . . . — — Map (db m198029) HM
Friends Church
Among the earliest settlers to Rush Township were members of the
Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, who emigrated from the
eastern states, mostly Pennsylvania and North Carolina. At first
religious services were held in . . . — — Map (db m86266) HM
Side A
Robert L. Eichelberger was born in Urbana on March 9, 1886, the
youngest of the five children of George Maley Eichelberger, an Urbana
lawyer, and Emma (Ring) Eichelberger. After graduating from Urbana
High School in 1903, he . . . — — Map (db m90431) HM WM
(Side A)
The nine-car funeral train for President Abraham
Lincoln departed Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1865.
It arrived in Urbana on April 29 at 10:40p.m.
Urbana’s citizens erected an arch of evergreens and
flowers near the station . . . — — Map (db m84960) HM
Baseball great Harvey Haddix was born on September 18, 1925, and grew up on a farm just south of Westville. He attended Westville School until March 1940 and played his first organized baseball at this site. Entering Major League Baseball in 1952, . . . — — Map (db m13888) HM
Champaign County residents James [sic-Joseph] Vance (1786-1852) and John H. James (1800-1881) were among the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad's first officers, serving as president and treasurer, respectively. Vance emerged as a leader in the War of . . . — — Map (db m13825) HM
Rev. George Messenger and his congregation built the first Universalist Church on this site. It was dedicated during a state convention of Universalists in Woodstock in June 1844. In 1893, Rev. John A. Carpenter was instrumental in erecting a new . . . — — Map (db m85116) HM
Lincoln’s Mahomet
Upper Section
The village of Middletown-Mahomet was platted by Daniel Porter in 1832 on the west bank of the Sangamon River near its headwaters. The main street of the village was actually a new road, made necessary by . . . — — Map (db m24374) HM
Historical Flood Mark, Jan.-Feb. 1959.
“Encroachment on flood plains, such as artificial fill, reduces the flood-carrying capacity, increases the flood heights of streams, and increases flood hazards in areas beyond the encroachment . . . — — Map (db m14446) HM
The barn still standing behind Mac-A-Cheek Castle is the only remaining section of what was the second (and possibly third) Piatt family barn. It was built in the late 19th century with a modified post and beam construction. Remaining interior . . . — — Map (db m144931) HM
Thin black lines indicate changes in relevance. Between each pair of lines entries are ordered geographically but all have the same relevance.
* Inflectional forms of words are their plurals, singulars, and possessives as well as gramatical tenses and similar variations.
