Timothy Brian McKee, Columnist

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2017. Decorating downtown Mansfield for the winter holidays has always involved some sort of evergreenery. In 1914, as seen in this photo postcard, there were ribbons of it draped over the Main Street arches. In 1930 there were long ropes of it strung between […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published by Richland Source in 2017. This is the law of time: for every hour we go on there is an hour that slips behind, so that for every bit of gain there is equal loss. In order to enter the future we must relinquish the past. As each […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2016. This was once the first fact of life in Mansfield: any kid who wants a bike should have one. That is why Toy Time was such an honored and loved undertaking for so many years. It started in the early 1930s when the […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published in 2015 on Richland Source. Say you went to have dinner at the Wishmaker House and somehow you stepped through a time portal and wound up in 1909 – where would you be? You would be eating dinner as the guest of Mrs. E. Stofer of Bellville, Ohio, […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2013. It is one of those annual rituals of nature, coming around in the autumn as the Richland County Earth makes its yearly bow toward the polar north; inexorable as Daylight Savings Time, and bound into the fabric of tradition like the gathering of […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. Those people who keep a finger on the pulse of the natural landscape outside the confines of our neighborhoods have expressed increasing concern in recent years about certain forces in play which degrade the quality of our Richland County woods and meadows. We […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. If the name Voegele is vaguely familiar then you probably have lived in Mansfield. If you know to pronounce Voegele the same as ‘vaguely’ then you have identified yourself as a local. The Voegele Building on North Main Street is a well-known landmark […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. Since Mansfield is increasingly recognized across America by paranormalists as a principle destination for ghost hunting, it is perhaps appropriate the city should be a nexus, as well, for other manifestations of the Undead. The evidence for this requires no special electromagnetic field […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. For most biographical subjects of history, a timeline is pretty unequivocal: somebody is born; they live their story; and then their life is over. Once it has ended, it’s officially history. But there are some elements of the past that, as far as […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. Since this story was written, the OBS has also added its Treehouse Classroom development. One of the rare and lovely blossoms in Richland County’s garden of natural life is the Ohio Bird Sanctuary. Visit there today and you will find a place so […]