Area History

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 […]

It has been called the Masonic Temple in Bellville for many generations, but it has actually served many more purposes than the Masons might have imagined 100 years ago.  It has also been home to the Bellville Knights of Pythias hall since its beginning, and until 1960 it was the village Post Office as well.  […]

Richland County has always had a strong heritage in the fine arts, and one of its greatest depths of wealth is found in its literature. There are many shelves of books written by authors who were born here, or found their inspiration here; in fiction, non-fiction, drama and screenplays, magazine articles, essays, novels and children’s […]

If you had traveled west on Fourth Street a hundred years ago in the vicinity of North Main Street, one prominent element of the scenery that would have been most apparent was the News Building. The Mansfield Daily News had its offices only a block from Main, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets, […]

If there is anything that could confirm evidence of the stature of our town, with almost mythic American legitimacy, it would be seeing our name printed prominently on the face of Federal crisp green bills. There it is, on one supremely sanctioned official unit of legal tender, like a sacred seal: Mansfield, Ohio next to […]

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. Volume I is Amelia Changes Her Tune. Volume II is Isaac and Wolf Paw Find […]

If you were thinking about going to the Square in Mansfield for a cigar and a quick game of billiards, the time to do it would definitely have been in 1927. Looking at the photos of 25 North Park Street then and now it takes some imagination to recognize that the building is the same […]

There are nine Muses, and they are sisters who visit the town periodically; most of them married and moved away, but one of them stays here year round, and she is Clio: the muse of History. She has a chariot with wings—actually it is a bench on the carousel for the people who are too old […]