Area History

MILLERSBURG — Holmes County native Frank D. Gallion left home in 1941 to join the war in Europe, but didn’t return home until 1996 — 55 years later. Gallion didn’t want to wait for America to declare war — if they ever would — and in 1941 enlisted early with the Royal Canadian Air Force […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. Richland County has made many significant contributions in the shaping of American popular culture by giving form to our movies, our music and our theater. Watch the credits or take a look backstage and you’ll find folks who grew up in Mansfield giving […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Sept. 8, 2020 by the Ohio History Connection. Richland Source has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Ohio History Connection to share content across our sites. Theaters and opera houses were the focus of a virtual and social distant Ohio Open Doors event in September 2020. One […]

ASHLAND — Communicable illnesses have been a worldwide concern for thousands of years. It was in 400 BC that Hippocrates described mumps, diphtheria, epidemic jaundice and other illnesses. Many mummies have been found to have smallpox lesions including Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V who died in 1156 BC. Smallpox was of a great concern especially after […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2015. ONTARIO — Here we are at the top of the world. It is not the highest point by far, but it is definitely the breaking point, where Richland County sits atop and straddles the Continental Divide. That means all the rain that lands […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published by the Ohio History Connection. Richland Source has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Ohio History Connection to share content across our sites. In 1920, Ohioan Warren Gamaliel Harding, of Marion, won election as president of the United States. As president, Harding assembled a respected and geographically […]

MANSFIELD — Mansfield’s Lahm Airport is named for an unlikely aviator with a rather surprising rise to fame. Frank P. Lahm was born in Mansfield in 1877, but following the death of his mother in 1880 his father — suffering from prolonged illness — moved to Europe to recover, leaving Frank and his sister with […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2014. There is no place that is more quiet than a hotel on Sunday night after the holiday — when everyone has gone back to their hometowns. Talk about your silent night — all the anticipation is dissipated, all the hopes stilled. Life returns […]

ASHLAND — Through the centuries, as Christianity spread throughout the world, so did its many rich traditions. These traditions are very diverse and can be defined by climate, religion, culture, native foods, social structure and other factors. Whether it’s a palm tree decorated patio in Mexico, roller skating to Mass on Christmas Eve in Venezuela, […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2016. Back in the 1980s I interviewed an old woman in Mansfield because I wanted to learn more about the 1930s, when she operated an Auto Park of tourist cabins on Route 430 east of town. She told me, almost casually, that she had […]