Area History

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 generation creates its own new version of America, the old way, the […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles by author Paul Lintern. It is set in 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of a young girl. Each day, Amelia gained strength, and her wrist, though showing two nasty scars from the knife cuts […]

This historic photo from July of 1900 captures the scene on North Main Street when Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show came to town. Like any other circus extravaganza, the Wild West Shows—such as this one belonging to Pawnee Bill, or others like Wild Bill Cody’s—made a grand entrance into each community with a festive parade […]

When you wonder about how the Mansfield airport got its name, it is not too difficult to find a resumé of General Lahm, and understand why the world of aviation would want to honor him by naming an Air National Guard base and civic regional airport in his name. The bullet points of his life […]

Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles by author Paul Lintern. It is set in 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of a young girl. “Our dearest daughter,” Elizabeth read, then looked at Amelia, and said, “Isn’t that the nicest way to […]

MANSFIELD — Going east out of downtown today, the primary thoroughfare of Park Avenue East splits into Route 42 and Route 430, creating a triangle of business properties. In the 1920s that triangle of land between the two routes was still one big field. The huge grassy expanse was a popular ball field at that […]

There was a time in Mansfield — not so many generations ago — when a circus coming to town meant everything shut down for the day. The factories knew it would be pointless to open when all their workers were so distracted and wishing they were at the circus grounds, so they just took the […]

People who grew up in Mansfield speak of the Madison Theater in such a way that you would think the place was still open for business. That is easy to understand: places lodged in the heart never go away — even when the site has been an empty lot for 30 years. The Madison was […]

MANSFIELD — It was February or March sometime in the 1970s. We had just figured out how to get up on the roof of Malabar High School. It was one of those sparkling clear winter nights with a full moon and we knew the view from up there would be pretty spectacular with the neighborhood […]