Area History

ASHLAND — Ashland’s original courthouse was used for 75 years after being opened in 1853 at a cost of $20,000. In those days, there was always a courtroom full of spectators whether the case involved a murder or a divorce. If you couldn’t attend in person, local newspapers who covered the legal trials and tribulations […]

In 1896, a triple-murder was committed in Pleasant Valley that still lingers with a haunting chill that traditionally arises again this time each year as a true-life Halloween tale — although it took place in the heat of summer, and with a matching passion. Details vary greatly from story to story, but the case was […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2014. MANSFIELD — The skyline of the Square in downtown Mansfield has been a slowly evolving work-in-progress since the space was laid out over 200 years ago.  One corner of it, however, took a quantum leap in architectural change when a catastrophic fire wiped […]

PERRYSVILLE — The Mohican area has raised a number of politicians and military officers, but perhaps the highest ranking was a Perrysville native born on Nov. 18, 1835. His name was Americus Vespuccius Rice, the son of Clark Hammond Rice and Catherine Mowers Rice. After being raised in Perrysville he went on to study the […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally published in 2014 on Richland Source. Daniel McFarland Cook had a mind that never stopped turning; and for the greatest part of his life, his thoughts were endlessly trying the secrets of electricity, and relentlessly unlocking sources of energy. People around here had a hard time taking him seriously, and […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published in Richland Source in 2014. In 1880s America, the news media, the entertainment media, the social media could all be summed up in one word: newspapers.  Everybody read newspapers and the media stars of the day were all writers and columnists. One of the most popular and well-read […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story first appeared in Richland Source in 2013. MANSFIELD — The First Methodist Church in Mansfield built an imposing brick edifice at the corner of Diamond and Park Avenue East in 1870, during the golden age of steeples.  Within a few decades all of the new stone churches built in town had […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Richland Source in 2013. MANSFIELD — For many generations, from the founding of Mansfield, the view out Park Avenue West was entirely residential, with tree-lined sidewalks, stately old homes and no hint of a business or commercial presence.  The first of the dominoes to fall was the […]

BUTLER — There’s nothing better than poking around in small town museums. While many of them share the same sort of items on display — local school artifacts, pictures of once-important people, log-cabin furniture — the best museums always have touches of unexpected local color. When I was recently giving a talk to the historical […]