GANGES — Garry Bly feels inspired to keep the history of Ganges alive.
A Shelby resident, Bly, 69, became immersed in the unincorporated Richland County community’s history when his sister started the Memories of Ganges, OH Facebook page.
He said he would occasionally contribute posts to the page, started about five years ago, but became more involved after his aunt passed away last year.
“She was a Ganges buff,” he said. “She put together a lot of things concerning Ganges and she was a school teacher for a long time.”
As Bly continued to dig deeper into the community’s history, he became fascinated with the Ganges Mausoleum, which he said is the oldest public-used mausoleum in the country.
The historic Ganges landmark will be open to the public next weekend.
An open house at the Ganges Mausoleum, located along Shelby-Ganges Road in Richland County, is set for Saturday, June 22 from 1 to 3 p.m.
The mausoleum is located behind Ganges Community Church, 5478 Ganges-Five Points Road in Shelby.
Ganges Mausoleum history
According to the Society of Architectural Historians, the modern compartment or community mausoleum was introduced in 1907 by William I. Hood and his business partner, James Chesrown.
Ganges became the testing ground for a method of disposing the dead that transformed American practices, the website says.
Hood built this first community mausoleum with a concrete block exterior and substructure, author John Bry wrote on the SAH website.
Bry wrote interior crypts at the Ganges Mausoleum were overlaid with polished marble. It had stained glass windows and a mosaic tile floor and a clay tile roof.
Inside, sixty crypts are stacked five high on either side of a large center aisle that doubled as a chapel, the author wrote.
Access to the mausoleum was controlled with keys presented to each crypt owner or their family members at the time of purchase. Entry was limited to those possessing keys, according to the SAH.
Bly was inspired by family and friends
Bly’s motivation to share Ganges’ history is also inspired by Betty Joann Fischer, who wrote history articles for the Shelby Daily Globe.
“She was an angel,” he said. “We would go back and forth. She would send me stuff, I would send her stuff and we just kind of had a barter system of Ganges material.”
The duo conversed over the phone about every three to four months, sharing their latest discoveries about the community they cherished.
Bly said Fischer’s death motivated him to become more diligent about sharing the history of Ganges to the public Facebook group — which sparked a surge of new members.
“There were like 260 members when I started my gig and now there’s almost 650,” he said.
Last summer, Bly spearheaded the replication of the historic 1895 Ganges birdhouse, unveiled during a ceremony Sep. 17, 2023.
As he began posting more frequently about the Ganges Mausoleum, Bly said he noticed consistent interest in the iconic structure from members of the Facebook group.
“I put a couple (posts) about the mausoleum on there (Facebook) and people are always asking questions,” he said. “With no project in mind, I had already started a little bit of a theme on the mausoleum.”
Open house to happen rain or shine
With interest in the mausoleum’s history rising, Bly decided to plan an open house as his next project.
He hopes someday to help restore parts of the structure as well, including the windows — which are currently covered with painted plywood.
“I’m not quite sure what to expect,” Bly said of the upcoming open house. “Hopefully the weather is good and (if not) we’re going to have it anyway.”
No matter the result, he said he’s excited to share a piece of Ganges history with the community and is happy to see many folks intrigued by history in general.
“It (history) seems to be getting more popular…the older you get, you appreciate that kind of stuff more,” Bly said.