Area History

For most of the 20th century there was a station of the Mansfield Fire Department located on North Main Street next to the Erie RR tracks.  Officially it was designated as Station No. 2, but most folks who were associated with MFD or city government had a simpler name for the place and the Firemen […]

There is something fascinating about following the common thread that runs through people because of their connection to Mansfield. Countless stories in our history seem to show how the city links us in mysterious ways; how it impacts us in a deep level of spiritual interconnection, and adds depth of meaning to our lives. This […]

This is a postcard view of Park Avenue looking west from Bowman Street. The card was mailed in 1908 and, amazingly, it doesn’t look too much different today, more than 100 years later. The street is wider now, and the tree-lined element of the street no longer exists; but the architectural lines of residential streetscape […]

I imagine the best way to appreciate this story of Bellville would be to actually go there, because only then can you get the true sense of how the village is set down amid a series of tall surrounding hills, carved out of the earth by the Clear Fork River: and the hilltops are watching […]

MANSFIELD — Preserving the sturdy, brick Daisy Thomas house at 89 Wood Street will be a truly historic endeavor, taking residents and visitors back to the arrival of the first African-American settlers in Mansfield. Sarah Daisy Barker Thomas, her full, formal and married name, was born in this historic house at the corner of Wood […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume VI, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the 1860s and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the sixth in a series. The books are available from Lintern for $25 a […]

By 1928 the Mansfield Public Library had been a crowning jewel of Third Street for a generation before this photo was taken. It was so beloved by the next several generation of Mansfielders as well, that when proposals were made in the 1970s to replace the old building, voters resounding refused to sanction the change. […]

By any standards, the original Mansfield Carnegie Library on Third Street is a classic jewel of American civic architecture. It is a purely 20th century synthesis of Greek and Roman designs, that was grafted into our cityscape with the intention of imbuing our city with ancient cultural sophistication. It is Old World wisdom informing present […]