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FREDERICKTOWN — You’ve got to hand it to independent entrepreneurs. This vintage postcard image of downtown Fredericktown around 1908 features the signs of a number of the town’s thriving businesses. This was before the age of bland corporate uniformity, and I love it. Most appealing is perhaps Hosack’s store that sells both hardware and drugs. […]

After a dry May with very little lively weather, June has arrived across the region with some much-needed rain. It kicked up another notch or three Thursday evening, when fierce storms rolled through north central Ohio, with a vigorous branch that swept through the eastern part of Knox County. These storms reminded me of a […]

I’ve been buried in the books lately. (Yeah, as if I ever step out of the books for long!) The recent large project, which I’ve just put to bed, is my second book for The History Press. The book, The Witch of Mansfield: The Tetched Life of Phebe Wise will be coming out in September. […]

BELLVILLE — History is full of dramatic, historic gold rushes that drew participants from all over the world, resulting in hard work, occasional sudden riches, claim jumping, and much more. And then there’s the less impressive story of Abe Steltz’s gold rush, just south of Bellville, near the Richland-Knox County line. Abram Steltz was a […]

UTICA — In 1903, Joseph Dager decided to leave his hometown of Marooge, Lebanon, near Beirut, and voyage to America, in hopes of making a good living in the United States. It was a tough decision to make. He was 20 years old, and would have to leave his sister behind, not knowing if he’d […]

A society where everyone does exactly what is expected of them would be a grim place. Although the world often doesn’t know what to do with those who choose the lesser-traveled paths, it needs them: the oddballs, the eccentrics, the entertainers and artists. They are the ones who give color, pleasure, and meaning to the […]

FREDERICKTOWN — My latest collectible discovery is what paper collectors call an RPPC: a real photo postcard. Unlike mass-production postcards, RPPCs were typically made locally by a photographer who would take a picture and then develop it onto card stock, which could then be mailed. In 1903, the Kodak company came out with a camera […]

It’s amazing the stories that can be found when you dig deep into Knox County history. While I knew the county had a number of Revolutionary War veterans, it was exciting to discover one who was an eyewitness to and participant in some of Gen. George Washington’s most ingenious maneuvers. We know of these events […]

It’s easy to forget how hard it was to casually communicate in the past. With social media and instant electronic communication at our fingertips, we are living in a different world. A little more than 100 years ago, modern communications were only just starting to spread out into rural America, via telegraph and telephone. Yet […]