Kenny Libben, Curator Cleo Redd Fisher Museum

LOUDONVILLE — Loudonville was home to an early race car driver that could find his way to the podium. In the 1910s, young Charles Mowery was an enthusiastic automobile racer. At a time when few people even owned automobiles, let alone raced them, “Charlie” was already pushing the envelope on the dirt path known as […]

LOUDONVILLE — Loudonville native Danny Foster (1937-2014) was the first American to arrive in Vostok, Antarctica — known as the coldest place on earth. While serving in the United States Navy, Foster became interested in meteorology and was soon assigned to research treks in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. Foster often conducted research […]

PERRYSVILLE — Jedediah Smith, who grew up in Perrysville, opened the west and changed the course of American history. In 1823, 24-year-old Jedediah Smith was leading a trapping party into Wyoming and overwintered with a tribe of friendly Crows. These natives told Jedediah of a gap between the mighty Rocky Mountains that would allow him […]

LOUDONVILLE — On Oct. 18, 1973, north central Ohio residents witnessed strange lights in the sky to the west over Charles Mill Lake. The next morning they were shocked to hear that they weren’t the only ones — a military helicopter flying near Mansfield also reported the lights in what is now known as the […]

LOUDONVILLE — On Dec. 17 2007, the Loudonville Uglification Committee took steps to “maintain the town’s unpleasant appearance,” by preserving a pile of overflowing garbage bags. The decision, and the committee, were both the imagination of The Onion, a world-renown satirical newspaper. Loudonville made its first known appearance in the international publication with this comical […]

LOUDONVILLE — The Mohican area once had its own gold rush, about 130 years ago. Southern Richland County, particularly around Bellville and Butler, had multiple documented gold findings in the 1800s. In 1905 another discovery, near Butler, was reported. According to the Loudonville Democrat, “F.C. Norman came north from North Carolina [in 1904] and began […]

LOUDONVILLE — If you don’t know the exploits of Frank Ellis, take a moment to appreciate the part he played in American military history. A former Loudonville resident and employee of the Flxible Company, Ellis was a highly decorated veteran of World War I, and his exploits in the war were fit for a novel. […]

LOUDONVILLE — Before Kettering and Flxible’s rise to fame that put Loudonville on the map, another inventor and businessman attempted to leave his mark on the world by building an empire in his hometown. In 1907 Dr. Cyrus L. Buckwalter, a Civil War veteran and Loudonville resident, filed a patent for an “airship” that he […]

LOUDONVILLE — In 1951 the Perrysville Admirals six-man gridiron gang turned in a storybook season. The squad, coached by superintendent Merle Hunter, was coming off of an unimpressive 2-4 season in 1950, but did have nine lettermen returning for the ’51 campaign: Ed Applegate, Franklin Cates, Russell Easterday, Ralph Lozier, John Mann, Dick Peterson, Charles […]

LOUDONVILLE — As early as the 1920s, inventor and philanthropist Charles Kettering had advocated for a hospital to be built in Loudonville. At the time, the area was only serviced by general physicians that doubled as surgeons in emergencies, but otherwise patients required long, arduous journeys to surrounding cities for hospitalization. In the 1950s, Kettering […]