Years Ago in Paulding County
By: MELINDA KRICK
It Happened in October …
Many important and memorable events in Paulding County history have taken place in the month of October. Take a step back in time to:
1841 – Antwerp village is platted by Horatio N. Curtis, Isaac Woodcock and Samuel Rice and surveyed by W. Wilshire Riley and James Riley. They begin offering about 100 town lots for sale.
1860 – The first county fair is held at Junction at Doyle’s on the east side of the canal. Premiums are offered for many departments. A trotting match and a plowing match are on the schedule.
1872 – The first county fair is held at the new fairgrounds in Paulding. The agricultural society raised $900 to purchase 25 acres of land and began clearing the property, building a fence, stands, stalls and office.
1882 – The long-awaited New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, better known as the Nickel Plate Road, begins running trains through the county.
1882 – The village formerly known as Malottville, called Puckerbrush by some, will now be known as Payne.
1884 – The public school building at Payne was discovered to be on fire and as the village has no fire company, the citizens were unable to combat the flames. The school, the furniture and about half the books were burnt to ashes. The building was a nice two-story frame and was only completed about a year ago.
1899 – Thousands of people listen to presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan speak on the courthouse lawn during a train tour of northwest Ohio. He spoke nearly an hour on the grave questions that concern the nation.
1902 – The Windiate flouring mill, formerly the Weidmann Mill, is totally destroyed by fire. In a few minutes the entire structure was ablaze from top to bottom. The fire soon spread to the adjoining buildings, the brick barn, the large store house, corn cribs, etc. The loss is estimated at more than $50,000. The mill, established by the Weidmann Company in 1888, was three stories high with a basement under the entire structure.
1903 – A fire destroys the Cincinnati Northern and Nickel Plate depot at Latty. The papers, books and some freight and expressage was destroyed. The fire is supposed to have been caused by an explosion of an oil lamp left burning in the express room. This leaves two railroads without shelter for their patrons.
1907 – A company of Paulding citizens has leased a farm and will raise 60 acres of tobacco next year. Although the acreage of tobacco was small this year, only about 125 acres, the yield has been exceedingly flattering.
1910 – An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people attend the formal opening of the new million-dollar German-American Sugar Co. beet factory at Paulding. Speakers include Governor Harmon and gubernatorial candidate Warren G. Harding. A parade of about 100 automobiles to the factory grounds was a highlight.
1912 – The town of Paulding will soon have special free delivery of mail. Postmaster Cullen was informed that this town could get free delivery services if the citizens would comply with requirements necessary to meet postal regulations. Paulding was selected out of 30 towns recommended in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky and one of 15 towns in the whole U.S. to be used as a test for better mail facilities. A meeting of citizens was called and response was enthusiastic. Council passed an ordinance providing for marking the street intersections and numbering houses.
1920 – The county commissioners have succeeded in getting the state highway department to take over portions of the Junction Pike, Antwerp-Payne Pike and Oakwood-Defiance Pike as state roads.
1920 – As women prepare to cast their ballots for the first time, Isabella Hakes, age 81, of Oakwood, has the honor of being the first woman in Paulding County to vote for a president of the United States, by absentee ballot. Mrs. Zona Secrest is a candidate for probate judge.
1921 – Of the 15 who served on the grand jury, seven were women, this being the first time in the history of the county that women have ever served on a jury.
1933 – As part of a Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association program, $500 is raised in three days to equip the sheriff’s office, car and county jail with short-wave radio receiving sets.
1934 – A historical meeting at Fort Brown celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first flour and saw mill in Paulding County, Brown’s Mill.
1940 – The Paulding Lumber Company and the depot freight office and warehouse of the Cincinnati Northern Railroad lie in smoldering ruins, the results of a fire of unknown origin. Damages are estimated at up to $100,000.
1941 – Oakwood’s Varsity “O” Club nullifies the present name of “Green Devils,” by which the basketball team had been known. Members proposed three new names—Trojans, Bobcats and Archers. The student body voted and the name “Bobcats” is initiated into the school. The name “Green Devils” was voted on by students back in 1934. Monograms of the “Green Devil” were difficult to obtain and very expensive.
1943 – Arden King of Payne receives the American Farmer Degree at the national Future Farmers of America convention. A 1941 graduate of Payne High School, he is the first in the county to receive this award.
1960 – A UFO report from Paulding County was made to Project Blue Book, U.S. Air Force. The individual saw a “very brilliant star” in different locations in the night sky, several nights in a row, sometimes turning orange and red. The person said that the light would disappear suddenly. According to the Air Force report, the individual did not reply to a follow-up questionnaire and the sighting was concluded to be Jupiter.
1982 – The Oakwood News publishes its final issue. The newspaper began in 1889.
1983 – Dedication ceremonies and open house are held for the new Grover Hill Elementary building.
2001 – The “Freedom Playstation” opens at LaFountain Park in Paulding. For five days, hundreds of volunteers gladly toiled – some for nearly 14 hours a day – to build the giant play area. About 300 people attended the dedication ceremony on the final day. The name was chosen following through a contest among county students.
2009 – Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels are among the dignitaries who help open a 23-mile segment of newly constructed U.S. 24 between Woodburn and Defiance. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held on the four-lane highway at the state line. Sections connecting Woodburn to I-469 and Napoleon to Toledo will be completed by 2012.
