Area History

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 2, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the summer of 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the second in a three-book trilogy. Volume 1 was Amelia Changes […]

The Opera House in Bellville is easy to find: it is right in the central downtown park area, and serves today as the Village Hall. Built in 1878 with an auditorium on the top floor, the Opera House saw theatrical productions by traveling troupes, local players, and school plays for more than 50 years before […]

There is an element of local history not often investigated that has to do with the circumstances of coincidence … when place and time and events all intersect as strange evidence of some inscrutable pattern in the ways of fate. We have a classic example of this phenomenon in the annals of Richland County that […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 2, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the summer of 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the second in a three-book trilogy. Volume 1 was Amelia Changes […]

Sometimes I’ll be communicating with an old school chum online and they will ask about what it is like in downtown Mansfield today. There is always some undercurrent of concern in their asking because they have not been here in 40 years and what they remember of downtown is a decrepit image they would rather […]

There was one battle of the Civil War that is often cited by military historians and strategists around the world as one of the rarest and most brilliant examples of what happens when underdogs are overwhelmed with sudden and glorious enthusiasm; enough to disobey orders and soar above and beyond expectations into stunning and unexpected […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 2, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the summer of 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the second in a three-book trilogy. Volume 1 was Amelia Changes […]

This is a corner of the Public Square in Galion where time has paused. It’s not that things haven’t changed there—they have—but the essential shape of this corner looks the same today as it has for the last five generations. There is still a bank on the corner: it is a different institution today however, […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 2, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the summer of 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the second in a three-book trilogy. Volume 1 was Amelia Changes […]

This Then & Now view shows several buildings that aren’t there any more so there isn’t much to compare, but it highlights a very interesting correlation between the present and the past that only this particular postcard can point out. The building from 1909 that is depicted in the old postcard is the Purdy Building. […]