Historic Greene County

HISTORIC GREENE COUNTY 

An Illustrated History 

by Catherine Kidd Wilson 

A publication of the 

Greene County Historical Society

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HISTORIC GREENE COUNTY 


by Catherine Kidd Wilson 

Commissioned by Greene County Historical Society 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

CONTENTS 

3 CHAPTER 1 The History of Greene County 

5 CHAPTER 2 Ancient Xenia 

11 CHAPTER 3 Bath Township 

13 CHAPTER 4 Beavercreek Township 

14 CHAPTER 5 Caesarscreek Township 

15 CHAPTER 6 Cedarville Township 

17 CHAPTER 7 Jefferson Township 

18 CHAPTER 8 Miami Township 

21 CHAPTER 9 New Jasper Township 

22 CHAPTER 10 Ross Township 

23 CHAPTER 11 Silvercreek Township 

26 CHAPTER 12 Spring Valley Township 

28 CHAPTER 13 Sugarcreek Township 

29 CHAPTER 14 Tecumseh Township 

30 CHAPTER 15 Xenia Township 

40 TIMELINE 

42 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

43 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

63 SPONSORS 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2010 Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790. 

ISBN: 9781935377191 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2010931549 

Historic Greene County: An Illustrated History 

author: Catherine Kidd Wilson 

contributing writer for sharing the heritage: Joe Goodpasture 

Historical Publishing Network 

president: Ron Lammert 

project managers: Joe Neely, Robin Neely 

administration: Donna M. Mata, Melissa G. Quinn 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

production: Colin Hart, Evelyn Hart, Glenda Tarazon Krouse 

2 ✦ HISTORIC GREENE COUNTY

THE HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY 

It was the vice of the old-school historians that they dealt only with the public affairs of nations. 

R. S. Dills, History of Greene County, 1881. 

History, after all, is but collective biography. The collective biographies of the individuals composing a 

community, under the analysis of the thoughtful student of biography, become the history of the community thus 

composed. And another: When the next history of Greene County is written there is little probability that the 

historian will have anything to tell about the saloon. 

M. A. Broadstone, History of Greene County, 1918. 

The late nineteenth century, at least in Ohio, was the heyday of the county history. From 1881- 

1918, no less than four were published about Greene County. Repetitive, biased toward wealthy 

white men, over-celebratory, they certainly have their flaws; however, they give information to which 

modern people have little access. These old county histories had a tendency to dwell upon the 

“quaint” pioneer practices in home life, clothing, etc., contrasting the nineteenth century with the 

18th to the former’s detriment. However, from the above quotations, the authors were well aware that 

they were telling stories to future generations. Mr. Broadstone’s latter statement is true, but only 

because the saloon has changed its name, not totally disappeared. 

Industries and manufacturing in the earliest period included scythe making, distilleries and the 

ever-present grist and saw mills. Woolen mills processed not only the raw material, but made cloth as 

well; Colonel Robert Patterson’s mill at Clifton provided fabric for uniforms during the War of 1812. 

❖ 

235 East Second Street, Xenia, built 

in 1863 by Abraham Hivling, 

wool merchant. 

Chapter 1 ✦ 3

The height of Greene County’s industrial 

period occurred during the late 1800s. The 

county was home to factories manufacturing 

black powder, shoes, cigars, cordage, and 

paper among other things. Stonecutting for 

monuments and lime burning both utilized 

the county’s natural resources. Agricultural 

implements were also manufactured here, not to 

the extent of Springfield to the north, but still 

plenty for the needs of local farmers. 

❖ 

Clockwise, starting from above: 

Warren King Moorehead, born in 

Italy but raised in Xenia, was a 

famous archaeologist at the turn of 

the twentieth century. He worked in 

Ohio and the United States. 

Moorehead wrote books and published 

papers on archaeological discoveries. 

He is probably the man in suspenders 

at the top of the excavation. 

All people tell stories in the context and 

terms of their own experiences: it is a bias 

professional historians try to overcome, with 

mixed success. Then, as now, memories of 

earlier times became garbled; stories were 

conflated sometimes. Things that happened to 

Uncle were told of Nephew, if they shared a 

name. It happens in every family, and is no 

different for the “family” that makes up Greene 

County residents. 

Market day held near the courthouse 

that was in use from 1843-1900, 

probably a Saturday when farmers 

came to town to sell produce and 

buy goods. 

This 1803 Ohio map shows the 

northern boundary of Greene County 

as Lake Erie. 

Earliest courthouse, built c.1799. 

General Nathanael Greene, 

Revolutionary War general after 

whom Greene County is named. 

Like much of the country, in the early 

twentieth century Greene County was becoming 

urbanized, with an ever-greater number moving 

into town. However, the southern and eastern 

parts of the county retain much of their earlier 

appearance. Dirt roads were generally the norm 

except for main streets in the center of town, 

even into the 1940s. 

Following are some newspaper conversations 

between people much closer in time to the 

happenings described; if those who were “there” 

cannot agree, what does that mean for us? 

(Spelling and grammar as transcribed from 

the original. Items marked off with…indicate 

removed lines.) 


ANCIENT XENIA 

Xenia Torchlight, 7 November 1866, p. 3 

We have found in this office a rubbishy and fragmentary old file of a newspaper published 

in Xenia as far back as 1814-15. It bears the name of The Ohio Vehicle. It is a little folio of about the 

size of two leaves of a family Bible. The material is a heavy, coarse, whity-brown paper, little superior 

to the best now used for wrapping up groceries. 

Tatter first is a badly abused fragment of the first page, conjectured to be of date about December 

27, 1814. It contains a “Biographical Memoir of Elbridge Gerry, Late Vice-President of the United 

States,” one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, then recently deceased, copied from 

the Baltimore Patriot. 

James Towler, as P.M., advertises a letter-list dated January 3, 1815. By this list it appears that there 

were letters in the Xenia post-office at that time for James Johnson, Robert Jackson, Joseph Kyle, 

Samuel Kyle, James Laughead, Daniel Lewis, Samuel Martin, James McConnell, William Poage, 

Elizabeth Pickering, Benjamin Rogers, John Smith 2, William Turnbull, Moses Trader, Joseph Wilson, 

Edward Walton, and others. 

Moses Collier, in an advertisement dated Xenia, December 3, 1814, “informs his friends and the 

public that he will do surveying on moderate terms, and with due promptitude.” 

❖ 

Preliminary sketch for Henry Howe’s 

1847 History of Ohio. The 

courthouse is on the left. 

Oil Wanted 

The subscriber will give one dollar and fifty cents a gallon for horse, raccoon, or opossum oil—he wants 

some immediately. 

Robert Gowdy, Xenia, December 9, 1814. 

They had not yet “struck ile” in this world of ours. 

Josiah Grover, as Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene county, has a legal advertisement 

about an attachment “in a plea of Trespass on the Case,” dated October 13, 1814, wherein John 

Alexander appears as att’y for plf. 

There is a list of “acts passed by the General Assembly of the state of Ohio. Among them are 

“An act to incorporate the town of Cincinnati” and “An act to incorporate the village of Cleveland, in 

the county of Cuyahoga.” 

Chapter 2 ✦ 5

❖ 

Top: Turnbull home built c. 1820 at 

corner of Nash Road and US 42; 

destroyed by fire. 

Above: James Galloway (1750-1838) 

settled in Greene County in 1798, 

friend of Tecumseh. 

Below: Flood Stephens, this name was 

written on the back of the photograph 

as well as “Black Joe” no further 

identification. Could be a 1886 

flood survivor. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BIDDLE OF XENIA. 

Joshua Bozarth advertises, January 9, 1815, 

that “a certain Daniel Burrows, of Greene county, 

has made oath “that he (Bozarth) was a Liar”; and 

he proceeds to say,—“this is to certify that I have 

proved my character to be unsullied by respectable 

citizens” & c. Daniel Burris replies, January 24, 

1815, that he “considers it very hard to sully 

anything that is previously as dirty as it can be.”— 

Which has a point. Daniel also says that he 

“advises said Bozarth to eat in them words.” 

Whether Bozarth took this friendly advice and did 

“eat in them words,” subsequent numbers of our 

file do not show. 

…Let the reader realize that all this was more 

than fifty years ago. Over half a century. Think how 

the world has made history since then. Who would 

have believed then that the time would come when 

“the town of Cincinnati” was to be within two and 

a half hours of the City of Xenia by steam, and 

within a second of it by lightning? 

But where are the men whose lives are just 

glimpsed at in these old leaves? Fifty years do not 

often leave much of a man after he has grown old 

enough to have his name in the newspaper. An 

overwhelming majority of the old Greene-county 

names are now dropped out of household speech, 

and are to be looked for where yours, dear reader, 

and ours shall be found before another fifty years 

shall roll,—on the graveyard stones. 


Ancient Xenia 

We have unearthed another file of The Ohio 

Vehicle, somewhat more ancient than that we 

gossiped from last week. This reaches back to 

“Xenia, (Ohio,) Saturday, February 26, 1814, No. 9 

of Vol. I.” It is stated to be “printed by McLean & 

Hunt,” at the modern rate of “two dollars and fifty 

cents if paid within the year.” 

The following marriage-notice appears at the 

head of the first editorial column in the issue of 

February 26, 1814: 

“Married. On Thursday last, by the Reverend 

John Sale, Mr. Silas Roberts to Miss Cassandra 

Sparks, all of this county.” 

The editors of The Vehicle appear to have had 

little ambition to shine of their own light. They 

borrowed mainly from the National Intel., filling 

one or two of their little inside columns with short 

paragraphs of news, and devoting no space at all 

to local events. The extent of their ventures on 

original matter is exemplified in this editorial: 

“We intend moving our office in the coming 

week to the house formerly occupied by captain 

Davis as a saddler’s shop, and immediately opposite 

J. & S. Gowdy’s store, where subscribers can 

henceforth receive their papers.” 

An advertisement of the “Xenia Academy,” 

signed by Andrew W. Davisson, William Elsberry, 

Samuel Gamble, and Josiah Grover, as trustees, and 

dated February 21, 1814, announces that James P. 

Espey has been engaged to take charge. The higher 

branches of learning are enumerated as in the 

programme of study, including the Latin and 

French languages. In exhibiting some of the 

advantages of Xenia as a place for such an 

institution, the advertisement says “that the morals 

and habits of the citizens are such as to hold out no 

temptations to the students to deviate from the 

path of rectitude.” This was a good showing for 

Xenia then. Such a statement will be put in The 

Torchlight now—at the usual advertising rates. 

A petition of Mary Waggoner for divorce from 

her husband, George Waggoner, found in the 

number just quoted from, dating back to December 

22, 1813, sets forth a surprising and revolting state 

of case, in this language: 

“He then took all the money, sold all the 

property both in and out of the house which 

belonged or appertained to him and your 

petitioner, or either of them, even her wearing 

apparel not excepted, and leaving neither food 

nor raiment for your petitioner—but wrested her 

infant from her arms, and so went and left her. 

But not satisfied with these cruelties to your 

petitioner, he went still further and sold her (your 

petitioner) as a slave to one Nimrod Haddix, and 

your petitioner being ignorant and unlearned, 

supposed said sale was good, and what 

confirmed her in it, she was so told by her 

purchaser who (being a justice of the peace) she 

supposed he knew everything, and being 

unwilling to go to service as a sold slave, she went 

to work, procured money and purchased her 

freedom—since which time (to-wit,) since May 

1813 your petitioner has been by the extreme 


cruelty of her said husband been cruelly turned 

helpless and comfortless upon the open world, to 

bear the cruel taunting and scornful smiles of 

some, the opprobrious, indignant and spleenful 

frowns and language of others, and that without 

a helper or protector.” 

…We observe that, throughout these old 

papers, our county is spelled Green, and not 

Greene. The additional e appears therefore to 

be a modern affectation. So the refined progeny 

of old Mr. Smith and old Mr. Brown have 

developed into Smithe and Browne. Indeed some 

of the famous Smith family have proceeded to the 

extent of Smythe. Why, then, shouldn’t old Greene 

get to be Greene in fifty years? 

…James Towler and Nathaniel McLean notify 

the subscribers for “erecting a Methodist Meeting 

House in Xenia” that they are requested to pay, 

“as preparations are making to commence the 

building.” This notice bears date March 18, 1814. 

This “Meeting House” did not probably cost as 

much as Trinity Church. 

…By an ordinance of the “Trustees of the 

town of Xenia,” of whom James Galloway, Jr., was 

president, and Moses Collier recorder, it was 

ordained May 12, 1814, among other things, as 

follows: “Sec. 4. Be it further ordered and enacted, 

That it shall not be lawful after the taking effect of 

this ordinance for any persons owning chickens, 

turkies, geese, ducks, or other poultry, to suffer 

them to run at large within the limits of the in-lots 

of the corporation.” 


Ancient Xenia 

The Ohio Vehicle, dated Xenia, Saturday, May 28, 

1814, has the following leader: 

“The citizens of the town of Xenia are requested 

to meet at the Court House on Monday next at 3 

o’clock P.M. to make some arrangements relative to 

employing some person to furnish the inhabitants 

with fresh beef.” 

Nowadays the trouble is not in finding 

somebody to furnish us with fresh beef, but in 

finding “filthy lucre” enough about our clothes to 

furnish the beef-man. It was a movement that we 

protest against, to have thus held a public meeting 

for the purpose of introducing so expensive a 

luxury into the town. 

Behold another of those gentle little advertisements 

which mean “biz”: 

The Notables of Sugar-Creek 

Is a set of people remarkable for tatling—and 

among other tales they say, Solomon Bowen was 

CAUGHT IN Samuel Martin’s CORN-CRIB: the 

report is traced till it falls on one Constantine 

Mills, as the author. If said Mills does not clear 

himself of the charge, I shall hold myself in readiness 

to prove him a liar when ever called upon. 

Solomon Bowen 

We do not find, in subsequent numbers, 

whether Solomon was ever “called upon to prove 

him a liar.” Probably Constantine did not feel that 

he needed any such proof and so did not call. 

Sugarcreek, May 28, 1814. 

…Perhaps the only occasion on which our city 

has ever been honored by the presence of British 

troops is recorded in this editorial, from The 

Vehicle of July 30, 1814: “Between five and six 

hundred British prisoners including near twenty 

commissioned officers passed this place yesterday, 

escorted by a company of United States’ regulars 

under the command of Captain Stockton on their 

way to Franklinton, and from thence to the 

nearest place of embarkation on Lake Erie—from 

which place they will be transported to Canada.” 

…The number for November 12, 1814, has an 

editorial notice suggestive of primitive mail 

facilities, and also of male habits not yet entirely 

discarded in Xenia: 

A Post-Rider 

Wanted immediately at this office—a man 

who will attend punctually to his business, will 

receive good wages. We do not want one who 

will get Drunk and lose the papers and leave 

others where they do not belong as we have been 

informed some of our post-riders have been in 

the habit of doing heretofore. 

❖ 

Top: The intersection of Main and 

Detroit Street, pre-1895. This 

southeast corner view shows Breen 

Grocery and Wright Book Store. 

Above: Home site of first log house 

in Xenia city limits; built by John 

Marshall in 1803. Robert, son of 

John, was born in the log house. 

Robert built this house in 1840. 

Below: John Hanks Alexander (1864- 

1894) second African-American 

graduate of the United States Military 

Academy at West Point 1887, buried 

in Xenia at Cherry Grove Cemetery. 

Chapter 2 ✦ 7

❖ 

Above: Dr. William A. Galloway, 

founder of Greene County, Ohio, 

Historical Society. 

Below: Coates Kinney (1826-1904) 

poet, statesman, newspaper editor, 

and lawyer wrote the Ohio 

Centennial Ode and Rain on the 

Roof among other poems. 

Xenia Torchlight, 5 December 1866, p. 3 

Relevant Memories 

Ye “Ancient Xenia” whose vehicular panorama 

has been making a Torchlight procession through 

our columns for a few weeks past has stirred 

reminiscences in the back-reaching mind of a 

gentleman still of modern Xenia, [fold in paper] 

from the former generation. One of these he 

presents in the form of a letter, written some four 

years ago, from Colonel Nathaniel McLean, at St. 

Paul, Minnesota. The venerable colonel stated that 

he was then in his seventy-fifth year, and we believe 

he is yet alive. We give the following extract of his 

letter, as of local interest in connection with the 

little airing we have been taking in The Vehicle 

which he set going here in the times of old: 

“I recollect many of the families at Xenia,— the 

Galloways, Hivlings, Gowdys, Colliers, Roberts, 

Hamill, Towler, Doctor Martin, and others. The old 

stock perhaps now all gone.—I removed to Xenia 

in 1813, during the war, and commenced the 

publication of what I called the Ohio Vehicle; which 

I printed one year, and then sold out to Samuel 

Pelham. It passed into different hands afterwards, 

and I remember John Kendal and yourself [T.C.W.] 

being connected with the press afterwards—I have 

no file of the paper I then published; wish I had; 

but it has been lost among the many removals I 

have made. Previously to this I printed the ‘Western 

Star’ at Lebanon seven years.” 

Xenia Torchlight, 12 December 1866, p. 3 

Since our publication, from The Ohio Vehicle, of 

an ancient advertisement for a Post-Rider, we have 

had two applications for the position. That is funny. 

How any person able to read could suppose The 

Vehicle advertisement to be for The Torchlight, and 

how such a person could be dead to the living fact 

that newspapers are not now delivered by special 

post-riders, but through the United States mails, 

are mysteries marvelous; and they marvel us. 

Xenia Torchlight, 3 August 1870, p. 3 

Ancient Xenia 

Mr. George Crowl, one of the very earliest 

settlers in Xenia, has furnished us with some notes 

respecting the early history of this city, which will 

be of interest. 

Mr. Crowl does not recall the precise year he 

made his appearance in the almost unbroken 

wilderness which stood upon the spot, Xenia. It 

was some time previous to the war of 1812. He 

found that the village was not composed of more 

than about nine families. There were not more than 

three houses in what is now called the First Ward— 

one of them being the hotel of Mr. James Collier, a 

hostlerie whose accommodations were limited to 

four or five guests. Another house stood on the site 

of the old Seceder graveyard, West Market street. 

In the Second ward the wilderness had not 

given place to a single habitation. Mr. Crowl says 

the largest tree he ever saw was cut down about 

where Thirkield’s dry-goods store now stands. 

In the Third Ward a house stood upon the site 

of the old Barr property, owned by a Jos. Haynes, 

and a couple of log cabins near the old Chambers’ 

corner helped to make up the town. 

In the Fourth Ward a house stood on the old 

James Gowdy corner, and John Cassbold, the first 

constable of Xenia, lived in a house near the old 

Ewing corner. These constituted about all the 

houses in the village, but it must be remembered 

that the word had no greater signification than 

unhewed log cabins, with mud and stick chimney 

and containing not more than one apartment each. 

Where special clearings had not been made for 

the erection of these cabins, the ground was 

covered by a dense growth of forest trees and hazel 

brush. The road running east and west constituted 

the only street in the town. In the First Ward there 

was an enormous pond covering about ten acres 

and over a man’s head in depth. 

Mr. Crowl helped cut a way through for 

the road to Dayton, and also assisted in the 

construction of the old Federal road. The road was 

named from Captain John Federal, chief of the 

Shawnee tribe of Indians, the friendly aboriginal 

inhabitants of this region. Captain John acted as 

pioneer and guide to the party, through the trackless 

wilderness. The Shawnee tribe over whom Captain 

John Federal presided were about 500 in number, 

and had their encampment west of the town near 

the old Galloway mill property, or where the 

slaughterhouse of Millan Connable & Co., now 

stands. Captain John Federal had twelve wives, and 

served under Majors Galloway and Beatty in the war 

of 1812. He subsequently moved to the Block 

House, about six miles west of Old Town, and 

finally to California, where, in all probability, he is 

now living in an extremely advanced old age, 

having been seen there a few years since by a couple 

of brothers named Holverstott, living near this city. 


According to Mr. Crowl, James Collier, Sr., was 

the first settler here. He had two sons, James and 

Moses, the first of whom is well-known in the more 

recent pioneer memories of the place. 

The first court-house in Xenia stood near the 

present court-house site. It was of the most 

primitive description, as can well be imagined. It 

was torn away in 1814 to give place to a one-story 

brick, which served its purpose about twelve years, 

when the court-house immediately preceding the 

present structure was erected. 

The first grist-mill of the settlement was the 

Massie’s Creek Mill near Old Town, owned and run 

by Andrew Moody. The first saw mill was erected 

west of town, at what is known as Frost or Trebein 

station. Mr. John Hivling was the proprietor. Mr. 

Hivling also started the first store in Xenia. 

At the time of Mr. Crowl’s first acquaintance 

with the place, Dayton was the nearest market, and 

between Xenia and Dayton there were, according 

to recollection, but three houses. Dayton was also 

the nearest point at which medical services could 

be obtained, as no physician resided nearer than 

that place. 

Mr. Crowl emigrated to this place from 

Washington county, Maryland. He is now in the 89th 

year of his age, moves quickly and vigorously, and is 

a remarkable specimen of an unbroken old age. A 

short time since he ate his breakfast in this city and 

walked to Jamestown and four miles beyond, and 

returned in time for supper. He would not wish any 

better sport than the walk twenty miles a day. The 

opponents of the use of tobacco will find no example 

of its evil effects in the case of Mr. Crowl, as he 

has been a confirmed chewer of the weed since he 

was twelve years of age. He has not been sick but 

once in his life, and that sickness was occasioned by 

damp while engaged in digging a well for James 

Gowdy. On the other hand Mr. Crowl’s vigorous 

longevity is a strong argument in favor of the advocates 

of temperance, as his consumption of liquor for 

the past forty years will not exceed one pint. Mr. 

Crowl claims to have wrestled in every state in the 

Union, and never to have met with a man who 

demonstrated his ability to throw him. 

Xenia Torchlight, 10 August 1870, p. 3 

The communication of “Pioneer No. 2,” involving 

some radical differences with “Pioneer No. 1” as 

to certain facts in the early history of Xenia, will be 

perused with interest. 

Ancient Xenia 

Eds. Xenia Torchlight:—Your issue of the 3d 

inst., containing recollections respecting the early 

history of this city from that venerable pioneer 

Henry Crowl (not George). Doctors will differ; so 

will pioneers in their recollections of past events. In 

comparing recollections of what Mr. Crowl 

remembers, he will be designated as pioneer No. 1, 

and myself as pioneer No. 2. 

P. No. 1 says there was not more than three 

houses in what is now called the First Ward, one of 

them being the hotel of Mr. James Collier, and that 

another house stood on the site of the old Seceder 

graveyard. P. No. 2: Collier’s hotel was built in 

1803.* There was not any house on the site of the 

old Seceder graveyard. A rough double log cabin 

stood near the spring now owned by A. H. 

Baughman, Esq. Mr. Abraham Hivling lived in it 

when he first came to Xenia until he built a twostory 

brick dwelling. In 1804 or 1805 Reverend 

James Towler built what is known as the Towler 

House. Mr. Todd’s family arrived in Xenia from 

Nashville in September, 1805. The Towler was 

there when they came; so it must have been built in 

1804 or the summer of 1805. Henry Phenix built a 

log house a short distance east of it on ground now 

covered by Dreese & Thornhill’s new building, in 

which he kept a tavern. 

James Collier built a one-story hewed log house 

on Detroit street where Henry Schury’s gun smith 

shop now stands. It is yet occupied and stands on 

East Market street next house east from the brick 

school house for colored children. 

P. No. 1 says that in the First Ward there was an 

enormous pond covering about ten acres and over 

a man’s head in depth. P. No. 2—There was not a 

pond in that ward large enough to swim a duck. 

There was a pond on the north side of West Main 

street, the end of which being opposite where 

Colonel Coates Kinney’s residence now is, and 

extending west some thirty-five or forty yards, but 

it was entirely confined to the street. 

❖ 

Above: 2nd Ohio Heavy Artillery 

reunion, Civil War, c. 1900. 

Below: Flag of the 34th Ohio 

Volunteer Infantry, two unidentified 

men, in the field, not in the camp; 

34th OVI was a Zouave regiment. 

Chapter 2 ✦ 9

❖ 

Above: J. W. King, owned King’s 

Powder Mill/Miami Powder Mills in 

Goes Station. The base of operations 

moved to Warren County, Ohio, in 

1877, and Kings Mills there is named 

for him, and Paramount’s Kings Island 

amusement park named for the town. 

Below: J. W. King’s home was called 

The Kingdom. The house stood on 

East Main Street until about 1968, 

when it was torn down. This photo is 

looking north across East Main and 

Monroe Street at the Trinity Methodist 

Church built in 1864 (also torn 

down). In 2009, the Kingdom site is a 

Family Video store, the church site is 

vacant but the stone curb at the 

sidewalk is still visible. 

P. No. 1—In the Second Ward the wilderness 

had not given place to a single habitation. P. No. 

2—The first house ever built in Xenia was in the 

Second Ward by John Marshall. It was raised April 

27th, 1804, in rear of the spot where stands the 

brick house formerly owned by M. D. Gatch, Esq., 

and afterwards by Dr. William Bell, and which is 

now occupied by Mr. Allen. He showed P. No. 2 

where it stood and told him he had stood in his 

back yard and shot wild turkeys in the trees in 

Shawnee bottom, and raised the largest cabbages 

there he had ever raised before or since. 

P. No. 1—A couple of log cabins stood near the 

old Chambers’ corner. P. No. 2—There was a double 

log cabin stood where John H. Edsell’s grocery store 

now is. Thomas Clifford lived in the east end and 

had his cabinet-maker shop in the other. 

P. No. 1—John Casbolt, the first constable in 

Xenia, lived in a house near the old Ewing corner. 

P. No. 2—Robert Casbolt lived in a hewed log 

house one and a half stories high with an out-side 

stone chimney. It stood on East Main street where 

Dr. Samuel Martin now lives. He was an Irishman, 

and a regular soldier in the revolutionary war. He 

was so ambitious to serve under Lafayette that he 

put mullen leaves in his shoes to raise him to the 

required standard. 

P. No. 1—The Federal road was named after 

Captain John Federal, chief of the Shawnee tribe. 

He presided over about 500 in number, who had 

their encampment on the site of the old Galloway 

mill property. He had twelve wives, and 

subsequently moved to a block-house about six 

miles west of Old Town. P. No. 2—The Federal 

road was so named because congress made an 

appropriation to help make it. There never was but 

two block-houses in Greene county, and they were 

built where Alpa [Alpha] now is. One of them was 

temporarily used as a jail. Captain John Federal is a 

myth; no other person ever heard of him. 

P. No. 1—James Collier was the first settler here. 

He had two sons, James and Moses. P. No. 2— 

James Collier was born in Rockbridge county, 

Virginia, January 4th, 1774. He came to Greene 

county in 1796, being guided by blazed trees from 

Hole’s station now Miamisburg. He helped to raise 

the third log cabin in the county; moved to Xenia 

in 1805, lived in town 45 years, kept tavern 29 

years, and died on the 30th of April, 1851, having 

lived 23 days without a particle of nourishment. He 

never had any children. 

P. No. 1—The first court-house in Xenia stood 

near the site of the present court-house. It was of the 

most primative description. It was torn away in 

1814 to give place to a one story brick which served 

its purpose about 12 years, when the court-house 

immediately preceding the present structure was 

erected. P. No. 2—the building of the first and only 

court-house that ever stood on the public square, 

except the present one, was let to William Kendall 

on the 8th day of April, 1806, and accepted by the 

Commissioners on the 14th day of August, 1809. It 

was of brick, 40 feet square, 28 feet to the eaves, 

with a roof sloping up from each wall with a cupulo 

in the center 10 feet in diameter and 15 feet high. 

P. No. 1—Dayton was the nearest point medical 

service could be obtained, there being no physician 

nearer than that place. P. No. 2—Dr. Andrew 

Davidson came to Xenia in 1806 only two years 

from the erection of the first log cabin. There were 

then but four shingle roofed houses in Xenia. In 

1811 he built a two-story brick house where Knox’s 

saddlery shop now is, and in 1814 built the stone 

house now owned by Jacob Kline. He and Miss 

Rebecca Todd were married on the 14th of June, 

1807. He died in Chicago last January, an obituary 

notice of whom was published in the Torchlight 

written by Captain Albert Galloway. 

P. No. 1—The first saw-mill was erected at what 

is now known as Frost’s station, and Mr. John 

Hivling started the first store in Xenia. 

P. No. 2—The first mill in this county was erected 

by Owen Davis where Alpha now is. A man named 

Snodgrass built a saw and grist-mill where Frost’s 

station now is. Mr. John Hivling came to this 

county in 1809, bought that mill and run it two 

years, moved to Xenia in 1811, and kept a tavern 

in a two-story hewed log house, which stood on 

ground now occupied by Carruthers & Hannon’s 

store. In 1815 he bought John Davis’ store. He 

died November 4th 1860. On the 6th of April, 

1806, a license was granted to James Gowdy to sell 

goods, for which he paid eight dollars. His store 

was a small log cabin with stick and clay chimney 

which stood on Greene street, on ground now 

covered by the Postoffice. It had a puncheon floor 

on which he placed his goods until he obtained a 

broad enough plank from the whip-saw for a 

counter. Pioneer No. 2. 

*[A note in the following week’s paper says 1803 

in the second paragraph was an “uncorrected 

typographical error,” and 1813 was correct.—CKW] 


BATH TOWNSHIP 

Bath Township was taken from Beavercreek Township in 1807. It included parts of what are now 

Mad River, Green, and Madison townships in Clark County. Fairfield was settled in 1799 but platted 

in 1816, and Osborn came along in 1850. The latter village was built east of Fairfield to accommodate 

the railroad. The Little Miami Railroad had just reached Xenia five years before, and the Mad River and 

Lake Erie Railroad planned its route from Dayton to Toledo, intersecting Bath township. 

Another town in Bath Township, Byron, was originally called Tylersville in honor of President John 

Tyler. When his policies became unpopular in 1842, the residents renamed their village Byron in 

honor of George Gordon, Lord Byron, poet and “freedom fighter” on behalf of the Greeks. 

The 1913 flood in Dayton doomed Osborn as well; it was in the planned floodplain for the Miami 

Conservancy District. Rather than demolish the whole town, many of its homes and businesses 

were purchased from the Conservancy District and moved next to Fairfield by the Osborn Removal 

Company, in 1922-24. They existed as two separate towns until 1950, when they merged; the name 

became Fairborn. This is the only city in the United States called by that name. Another interesting 

feature is that the two villages merged into a city, without either having been designated a town. 

Wright View, aka Wright View Heights, was a small town incorporated in 1944 to handle housing 

for military personnel, who were flocking to what became Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In 1949 

the village gave up its charter, one of the only Ohio towns to do so. Other tiny towns include 

Huffersville, Simms Station, and Kneisley. Dr. Samuel Hartman, inventor of the patent medicine 

Pe-Ru-Na, started out in Osborn and parlayed his formula into a lucrative enterprise. 

Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville (1871-1948) Wright are honored by having many things named 

after them, like Wright State University and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Much of their 

experimentation was done at Huffman Prairie in Bath Township after the short first flights in North 

Carolina. Thus it was that the Wright Flyer became the first practical airplane in 1905; Huffman Prairie 

was home to the first flying school and first airport in the world. 

❖ 

Left to right: Jim Lovell, Pete 

Peterson, Buzz Aldrin, and Hank 

Hartsfield at Wright Patterson Air 

Force Base, sometime before 1971. 

Chapter 3 ✦ 11

❖ 

Above: Osborn train depot, 

c. the 1890s. 

Below: Wright Field, biplanes near the 

hangars; probably used at the flight 

school (first one in the world). 

Bottom: Osborn house ready to move; 

it took from 1922-24 to move 

designated houses and businesses out 

of the planned floodplain. 

A short course in Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base history can be laid out as follows: Wilbur 

Wright Field was named 6 June 1917; Fairfield 

Air Depot construction began in September 

1917; Wright Field was dedicated in 1927; a 

part of Wright Field renamed Patterson Field in 

1931 after Lt. Frank Patterson, who was killed 

in a crash; it incorporated the old Fairfield Air 

Depot site and is now part of Area A; Wright 

and Patterson Fields united in 1948 as Wright- 

Patterson Air Force Base. Orville Wright himself 

attended the dedication of the Wright Brothers 

Memorial at Huffman Prairie in 1940. 

Wright State University started in 1964 as the 

Dayton branch campus of both Ohio State and 

Miami Universities. In 1967 it was renamed 

Wright State University, and the medical school 

opened in 1974. It was one of the first higher 

education campuses to be accessible to people 

with disabilities, with underground tunnels 

between all main campus buildings. 

The so-called “Dayton Peace Accords” were 

signed at the Hope Hotel on Wright-Patterson Air 

Force Base in November 1995, between leaders 

of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. 

Businesses in the township have included 

mills of all sorts, distilleries, the Ohio 

Whip Company in Osborn, and cement 

manufacture. The Southwestern Portland 

Cement Company still exists as CEMEX, 

but the Universal Atlas Cement Company 

has disappeared. 

The first and only legal hanging in the county 

was performed upon Jesse Ransbottom of 

Fairfield in 1850; he murdered his wife in 1849, 

and was hanged on the courthouse square in 

Xenia after several months in jail. His brother 

Walker, a “teacher of boxing” according to 

the newspaper, died of apoplexy (stroke) in 

Springfield while on his way to his brother’s trial. 

Fairborn holds a Sweet Corn Festival 

in August. 

National Register of Historic Places properties: 

Bath Township Consolidated School on North 

Central Avenue.; Fairborn Theatre on South 

Broad Street; Huffman Prairie Flying Field; 

Mercer-Smith Log House on First Street; Wright 

Brothers Memorial Mound Group; and Wright- 

Patterson Air Force Base. 


BEAVERCREEK TOWNSHIP 

Beavercreek Township was an original township, formed in 1803 when the county was. 

It encompassed the land from its current southern and western boundaries to the Little Miami River 

on the east to a few miles above Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, on the north. Even though its 

original acreage has been reduced by formation of other townships, it is still the largest at just over 

fifty square miles. 

The first courthouse was located here, in a log structure built by Benjamin Whiteman and 

occupied by Peter Borders. There was no business to come before the first court session, so 

locals began drinking and fighting; by the end of the day, nine men pleaded guilty of assault and 

were fined. 

In 1798, Owen Davis built a mill and called it Alpha, for the first letter of the Greek alphabet. 

The village that grew up around it still exists, established in 1854. The town of Alpha was a 

railroad point on the Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad, which never made it further east 

than Chillicothe or so, let alone all the way across the state. Another village, Zimmerman or 

Zimmermanville, was established at the corner of North Fairfield and Dayton-Xenia Road; it has 

been swallowed up by Beavercreek City. Knollwood was established in the 1940s; New Germany 

only exists now as the name on New Germany-Trebein Road, and was called New Liberty during 

World War 1 due to anti-German sentiment. The name change was not permanent. Trebein has 

also been called Frost’s Station, Paul’s Mill, and Pinckneyville. Mr. Frost first owned the mill that 

Mr. Trebein purchased; John Paul was a very early landowner, who later was instrumental in 

founding Madison, Indiana; and the Pinckney Road was the first state road in Greene County, laid 

out in about 1800, from Cincinnati through Bellbrook and Alpha. Valleywood is a small suburb, 

showing up on maps about 1987. 

Major industries in the nineteenth century included distilleries and oil, grist, woolen, 

and saw mills. One of each of these was owned by John Harbine, simultaneously. A big fire 

in 1888 destroyed nearly all his properties. He and his family came to Greene County 

from Pennsylvania in 1828. Other early settlers were the Coy, Harshman, and Koogler 

families. William Maxwell, who printed the first newspaper in the Northwest Territory 

in 1795, chose to “retire” to Greene County from Cincinnati. He died in 1809, and is buried on his 

old farm, which is now near the American Aggregates plant on Dayton-Xenia Road. 

Part of the Watervliet Shaker community extended into Beavercreek Township, along what is 

still called Shakertown Road. It is unclear whether there was a residence or if the group just 

owned land there. Xenia and Dayton were connected in the 1890s by interurban lines, Rapid 

Transit Company and Dayton & Xenia Traction Company, which both ran through 

Beavercreek. One station that switched over from rail to interurban was the Lucas Grove 

stop; that site is now Kil-Kare Speedway auto racing park, which opened in 1959. Lucas 

Grove was a picnic spot in the 1860s-1870s, and a special light rail line took passengers back 

and forth. 

Beavercreek Township in the nineteenth century was mainly rural, with a sprinkling of 

villages. In the twentieth century, it grew larger, and near the end of the century, in 1980, 

most of the western part of the township was incorporated into the City of Beavercreek. 

US Route 35 was built through this township starting in 1953; it was completed to Dayton in 

1955, and Interstate 675 connecting I-75 to I-70 was finished by 1989. 

Eight Girl Scouts and two adult leaders were killed in 1959 at the railroad crossing on 

Factory Road. The Beavercreek Library was partially funded through memorial donations in 

their names. 

❖ 

Frederick and Sarah Hawker, 

were early settlers of Beavercreek 

Township. The couple donated land 

for the church and cemetery which is 

still in use today. 

Chapter 4 ✦ 13

CAESARSCREEK TOWNSHIP 

❖ 

New Burlington was moved in 1971 to 

make way for Caesar Creek Lake. It 

lays primarily in Clinton County but 

Greene County claims sections too. 

Caesarscreek Township was an original township, formed in May 1803. Its original boundaries 

stretched from the current county lines on the south and east, to Massies Creek mouth south to the 

county border on the west, and nearly to Cedarville on the north. Parts of seven other townships 

have been taken from this poor township. 

Its name comes from an African-American slave named Caesar, whose story has become confused 

by time. He was almost certainly servant to an officer in General Benjamin Logan’s army, who either 

escaped in 1782 to warn the Shawnee at Old Chillicothe, or became ill and died on the banks of 

the creek that bears his name. 

Not many settlements called this township home. The largest is Paintersville, named for Jesse 

Painter, who had come from Virginia via Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio. He was a “Quaker,” 

common name for the Society of Friends, and also gave his name to Painter’s Creek. The New Hope 

Cemetery has many graves marked in the old way, with “second month, eighteenth day” rather than 

February 18. Other towns, platted but not occupied, were Caesarsville, Winchester or Babbtown 

(there is a Winchester Road though), Eleazer, Maple Corner, and Middleton’s Corner. 

Middle Run Baptist Church, not to be confused with Middle Run Primitive Baptist Church in 

Sugarcreek Township, was founded by Godfrey Brown, a former slave who came to the area in 1822. 

The church relocated into Xenia in 1886, and is the first African-American Baptist Church in the 

State of Ohio. The cemetery, however, is still in this township. 

Another interesting feature is one of the five remaining covered bridges in the county, located on 

Engle Mill Road. It is a wooden truss bridge, built in 1887 by Smith Bridge Company. The township 

had a high school, built in 1908 and serving until 1930, when it was used as a grade school until 

1957, when Xenia City Schools took it over. It became Greene Vocational School Skill Center in 

1971, and is a private residence now. 

An unusual feature of this township is that it has never housed a newspaper. No town of 

sufficient size to handle one, I suppose. 


CEDARVILLE TOWNSHIP 

Cedarville Township was formed in 1850 by taking parts of Xenia and Ross townships. Platted in 

1816, the town’s original name was Milford, but there was already a post office in Clermont County, 

Ohio, with that name when this village got its post office in 1834. 

Cedarfest, held on Labor Day weekend, celebrates the “founder of Labor Day,” native son James 

Kyle. While a senator from South Dakota, he sponsored the bill making it a national holiday. He 

was, however, born at good ol’ Cedarville. The Cedarville fire department was well-known in the 

mid-nineteenth century for its hand-pumped water tank. In state competitions, the Neptune Fire 

Company often won for the longest jet of water sprayed from the hose. 

Other towns in this township included Pittsburg, Bakertown, and Mount Ida, a “paper village,” 

which was platted in 1841 but never settled. Its erstwhile proprietor, Robert Jackson, took out an 

ad in 1850 telling that the project was to be abandoned, “since I own all the land involved.” Lime 

kilns were and are a major industry; related businesses were tile and brick manufacture. Hagar 

Straw Board and Paper Mill was a major industry in the late 1800s. The first auto accident in the 

county happened here: Edwin Hagar, part owner of Hagar Straw Board and Paper Company in 

Cedarville, was driving along US 42 from Xenia when his car overturned and he was killed. 

Famous people: Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912), Civil War correspondent for the Cincinnati 

Commercial newspaper (pen name Agate), editor of the New York Tribune newspaper (1872-92), 

ambassador to France (1889-1892) and Great Britain (1905-1912), vice-presidential candidate with 

Benjamin Harrison (1892) and author of Ohio in the War; Mike DeWine, Ohio and United States 

Congressman and Senator (who lives in Whitelaw Reid’s boyhood home); James Kyle (1854-1901), 

co-sponsor of United States Senate bill creating Labor Day as a holiday (1894). 

❖ 

Williamson mound near Cedarville, 

off US 42 at Indian Mound Park, 

supposed to be Adena. It was never 

professionally excavated but locals 

supposedly removed pottery and bones 

in the nineteenth century. 

Chapter 6 ✦ 15

National Register of Historic Places properties 

in this township: Cedarville Opera House on 

North Main Street; Harper mausoleum and 

memorial entrance, Cedarville North Cemetery; 

Pollock Earthworks and Williamson Mound 

off US 42; and the Whitelaw Reid house on 

Conley Road. 

❖ 

Clockwise, starting from the top left: 

Cedarville, looking south on SR 72, 

c. the 1920s. 

A national Historic Landmark, the 

Egyptian revival tomb of George W. 

Harper, at Cedarville 

North Cemetery. 

The roof came off the dormitory at 

Cedarville College in 1974. 

Cedarville College’s first building, 

founded 1887. 


JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 

Jefferson Township is the newest township, formed in 1858 from Silvercreek township. It is about 

seven by four miles in area. Interstate 71, opened in 1964, runs through its extreme southeast corner, 

intersecting SR 72. In the 1870s, a proposed railroad from Cincinnati to Columbus was discussed, 

giving the town a boost; however, track for only about twenty miles was ever laid, and it was 

nicknamed the Grasshopper Railroad. It was part of the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad. 

Supposedly Henry Ford, who owned the line, traveled through Bowersville a few times. 

Peter Bowermaster, an early settler, gave part of his name to the largest village in the township, 

Bowersville. It was founded in 1848, ten years before the township was laid off. Another story is that 

the “bowers” of shade trees gave the village its name. Other people whose names survive in various 

road names are Hussey, Haughey, Blain, and Stewart. Many of these were from Virginia and 

Pennsylvania. Bowersville’s heyday occurred around 1918, with cement sidewalks, telephone lines, 

and over thirty businesses located there. The 1930s and the closing of the Grasshopper brought hard 

times, and now it is a shadow of its former self. In 1906 it even had a newspaper, the People’s Advocate. 

The township has seen its share of crime. In 1886 a woman was jilted by her sweetheart and 

committed suicide after she tried to shoot him. He was later murdered by an unknown assailant, who 

shot him through a hotel lobby window in the center of town. Several suspects were questioned, but 

his murder was never solved. The bank on the northeast corner of SR 72 and Hussey Road was 

robbed twice, once in 1932 and again the next year. The 1933 robbery was by far the most “exciting,” 

with threats, explosions, tear gas, and $5,000 taken in the four-hour heist. 

The most famous son of Jefferson township was Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), author 

of The Power of Positive Thinking among other works. He was born on West Xenia Street, Bowersville, 

in the Methodist Episcopal parsonage. A singing group of sisters, the Smith Sisters, were all born at 

Bowersville as well. They were most famous in 1892 when they sang as part of the McKinley-Bryan 

campaign for United States President. The firm L. V. Johnston and Son produced home remedies for 

sale in the 1890s, and were in business as late as 1959. 

Two other towns existed in Jefferson township, Gunnersville and Stumptown; the former was named 

for a gunsmith shop located there. Neither was much more than a collection of houses and maybe a store. 

❖ 

Left: William Jennings Bryan, one of 

many presidential candidates to visit 

Greene County. 

Right: Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 

born at Bowersville. 

Chapter 7 ✦ 17

MIAMI TOWNSHIP 

❖ 

Miami survey that covered west half 

of Greene County. 

Miami Township is one of the northern tier of townships, founded in 1808 from Bath and Xenia 

townships. Two major towns there are Clifton and Yellow Springs; others included Hennessy, a 

railroad stop, and Northrup’s or Corry’s Corner. Two experiments in communal living called this area 

their home in the nineteenth century: an Owenite settlement in 1825-26, and Thomas L. and Mary 

Nichols’ Memnonia Institute in 1856. Neither lasted a full year. The first vehicular accident in the 

county happened in this township; Lodrick Austin, stagecoach driver, was killed when his coach 

overturned on the Clifton Gorge Road in 1836. He was buried in Clifton Cemetery by the good 

people of the village. His tombstone has a coach and horses carved on it. 


Industries over the years have included 

the Yellow Springs Manufacturing Company, 

which made agricultural implements; Vernay 

Laboratories, thermostat parts; Morris Bean 

& Company, brass castings; and Yellow 

Springs Instrument Company. (YSI), electronic 

measuring devices. 

George H. Shull (1874-1954), developer of both 

hybrid corn and irises; and too many Antioch 

College graduates or attendees to mention, 

although some are listed in the timeline section. 

❖ 


Alpheus M. Merrifield, architect of 

main building on Antioch College 

campus, 1852. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ANTIOCHIANA. 

William Mills, Yellow Springs 

promoter and developer. 


Famous residents include General Benjamin 

Whiteman (1769-1852), military man, who was 

responsible for the boundary “hiccup” between 

Greene and Clark County near Clifton; Dr. 

Old Clifton Days is held the last weekend 

of September, and Yellow Springs has a twiceannual 

Street Fair, in June and October. Antioch 

College was open from 1852-2008, with a few 

other financially-related breaks and a name 

change to Antioch University; plans are being 

made to bring it back as a college independent 

from the university. Covered bridge: Cemetery 

Road bridge, aka Glen Helen bridge, which 

Freshman class 1861, Antioch 

College. Note the woman in the front 

row wearing a reform dress: 

Susannah Way Dodds. Dodds later 

got a medical degree and practiced in 

St. Louis with her sister-in-law Mary 

(also a doctor). 


George Dodds, co-founder of Dodds 

Monument Company, still in business 

today; the other founder was his 

brother Andrew, husband of Susannah 

Way Dodds. 

Chapter 8 ✦ 19

❖ 

Clockwise, starting from the top: 

Xenia Avenue, US 68 in Yellow 

Springs. Corner at right is 

Glen Street. 

An 1846 advertisement for the Water 

Cure Hotel at Yellow Springs, not 

affiliated with Neff House. 

The Garfield Band—supporters 

of James A. Garfield—at Goes 

Station, 1880. 

LMRR Foster’s Crossing, photo 

actually in Warren County but shows 

an 1860s train that would have come 

through Greene County. 

Xenia Avenue, Yellow Springs, looking 

north, shows Little Antioch building 

(was a school). 

originally stood in Caesarscreek Township near 

New Burlington over Anderson’s Fork. It is a 

Howe wooden truss built 1886 by Henry 

Hebble. The center section was moved to Glen 

Helen in 1979 and the rest dismantled. 


Benjamin Whiteman house, North River Road, 

Clifton; Antioch College’s Main Hall, North Hall, 

and South Hall; Grinnell Mill, Bryan Park Road; 

Orators Mound, John Bryan Park; South School 

on South High Street; Whitehall Farm off US 68; 

and the Yellow Springs Historic District. 


NEW JASPER TOWNSHIP 

New Jasper Township is made from parts of Caesarscreek and Xenia township, founded in 1853. 

It is the smallest actual township at almost twenty-two square miles. The only town left, besides 

those commemorated in parts of road names, is New Jasper itself. Mt. Tabor, Bridgeport or 

Silverspring, and Stringtown (aka Union Village) are all gone. New Jasper Station was a railroad stop 

just north of the village of New Jasper. 

Early settlers came from Virginia (the part that is now West Virginia) around the War of 1812. 

Families include the Boots, Mallow, Fudge, Hagler, Dean, Bickett, St. John, and Spahr. Skydive 

Xenia is located in this township, as is the Caesar’s Ford Amphitheater for the former Blue Jacket 

outdoor drama. 

❖ 

Near Clifton Falls off US 42. 

Chapter 9 ✦ 21

ROSS TOWNSHIP 

❖ 

Virginia Military District, 

encompassing east half of 


Ross Township was supposedly named for an early settler. However, history has not left us his 

first name, when he came, or what happened to him. Regardless, this township was organized in 

1811, taken entirely from Xenia Township. Besides the mysterious Ross, early settlers were Harpers, 

Littles, and Towells. Cedarville and New Jasper townships both took land from this township. 

A railroad stop was planned for the township, but never was built. Grape Grove is the only 

village of any size; founded in the 1830s but never platted, it still has a cemetery but the vineyard 

it was named for is long gone. Gladstone is another wide place in the road, which at one point was 

home to a Campbellite Church, now known as the Church of Christ. Close by is Paddy’s Crossing, 

where the first school in the township was built in 1815. Bell Center was a settlement name on the 

1874 atlas map. Ross township is mainly agricultural—very flat with rich soil. 


SILVERCREEK TOWNSHIP 

Silvercreek Township was organized in 1811, taking land from Caesarscreek township, thereby 

dividing the eastern third of the county between Ross and Silvercreek townships. Some of the earliest 

settlers, however, purchased land here as early as 1801. Originally, the township was known for 

timber, but over the years clearing for crops has left it less forested. The soil is rich and well-drained 

by several creeks, primarily Caesars Creek. Many settlers were from Virginia, since this part of the 

county is in the Virginia Military District, but also came from North Carolina, Tennessee and 

Kentucky. Names include Moorman, Mendenhall, Browder, Sheley, and Strong. Noah Strong came 

from Vermont in about 1803 and is buried at Old Silvercreek Cemetery, on the south edge of town. 

A toll road was built in about 1830, from Jamestown to Xenia, and ran parallel to the current Old 

US 35. A major renovation of US 35 took place in 2001, and now bypasses Jamestown on the north. 

Other major roads include SR 72, the Simon Kenton Trace. 

Prominent citizens include Dr. Mathias Winans (1791-1849), early physician and postmaster who 

died during the cholera epidemic—he was the father of James January Winans, a judge and politician of 

some note; Charley Grapewin (1869-1956), Academy Award ® winner for his role in Tobacco Road, famous 

as Uncle Henry in 1939s The Wizard of Oz; and Gary Bradds (1942-1983), American Basketball 

Association player in the 1960s. John Harper, of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, settled in the area in 1804. 

The Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad of the 1850s ran close to Jamestown; it was taken over by 

the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad in the 1870s, then by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 

in 1917. It never made it to Belpre on the Ohio River, only to Wellston, Pike County, Ohio. Seventeen 

rail cars left the track in a B&O freight train wreck in 1924; no one was killed. 

In 1858 the first Jamestown Union Agricultural Society Fair was held. Those lasted until 1884, 

when the fairgrounds west of town were destroyed by the cyclone that took out a great deal of 

downtown. The fair was revived in 1908, but only existed until 1922. At first, it was a week-long fair, 

but dwindled to three days just before the end—the “Jimtown Fair” was a popular event during its 

heyday. Now Jamestown hosts the Bean Festival every September. 

Major disasters have included the aforementioned cyclone of April 27, 1884, which demolished 

many homes and businesses, and all churches had some damage. Five people died, forty were seriously 

injured, and over 100 families were left homeless. Destructive fires seem to be prevalent in Jamestown. 

In 1878 and 1879, fires destroyed separate downtown business blocks, and, in 1993 and 1994, another 

pair of fires took out opposite blocks at the crossing of SR 72 (Limestone Street) and Old US 35 (Main 

Street). St. Augustine church was struck by lightning in 1937, but was rebuilt. The former Wickersham 

Hotel building, built in about 1881, partially collapsed in 1989, and the entire building was torn 

down—this is the northeast corner of SR 72 and US 35, and now houses a pizza restaurant. 

❖ 

Left: Main Street looking east. 

Jamestown, c. 1908. 

Right: East Main Street, same view as 

above, Jamestown, taken in 2002. 

Chapter 11 ✦ 23

❖ 

Above: Simon Kenton, frontiersman, 

landowner, Shawnee captive at Old 

Chillicothe in 1778. 

PAINTING COURTESY OF HAL SHERMAN. 

Murder has touched Jamestown as well: In 

1834, Jacob Dearduff, Jamestown constable, 

was stabbed by a man he was trying to arrest. In 

the same incident, another constable, James 

Browder, was shot and severely wounded. The 

criminal was eventually captured, tried, and 

sent to the Ohio Penitentiary, where he died. In 

1849, John Stinson was murdered by his sonin-law. 

In 1879, Peter Betters was lynched by a 

mob for attacking an old widow, breaking her 

arm and ribs. In 1923, Louis Vandervoort was 

charged with several robberies and the murders 

of Wilmington and Xenia policemen. 

Twist, Inc., makers of coiled wire products, 

was founded in 1972. A home building firm, 

Ryan Homes, Inc., began in 1966. Both are still 

in business. A new community, Shawnee Hills, 

was created in 1963 from the old Smith farm on 

Jasper Road, with a man-made lake as its focus. 

It straddles the line between Silvercreek and 

New Jasper townships. Another town, called 

both Blaintown and Mechanicsville, was fairly 

wiped out in the 1854 cholera epidemic; seven 

Reeves family members died and several Blains 

as well, in a two week period. Rosemoor was a 

stop along the railroad, and all that exists now 

is the road name going into Fayette County, 

Ohio. Covered bridge: Ballard Road bridge, 

Howe wooden truss built 1883 by J. C. Brown. 

National Register of Historic Places 

properties: Ballard Road covered bridge, 

northwest of Jamestown, and the Jamestown 

Opera House. 

Below: Cyclone destruction in 

Jamestown, 1884, Main Street. 


❖ 

Clockwise, starting from top left: 

Henry Clay Timberlake, Civil War 

soldier from Jamestown, one of the 

first to join the Silvercreek Guards, 

he became a member of Company A, 

74th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

South Church Street, Jamestown. 

Looking west on Main Street, 

Jamestown, c. 1908. 

Cyclone destruction in 

Jamestown, 1884. 

Chapter 11 ✦ 25

SPRING VALLEY TOWNSHIP 

❖ 

Main Street, Spring Valley. 

Spring Valley Township was the next-to-last township, organized in 1856, mostly from the 

eastern part of Sugarcreek township. Parts of Xenia and Caesarscreek townships were added. Spring 

Valley village was settled very early, very soon after the county itself was formed. US 42 is a main 

road through the township, along with SR 725; the former was a turnpike to Cincinnati which was 

chartered in 1827. Josiah Elam, who visited the area in 1793 in pursuit of Shawnee horse-stealers, 

left letters describing it. He later returned with his family and settled here, c. 1802. 

Spring Valley village was originally called Coopersville, for the coopering industry there. Edward 

and Moses Walton were some of the earliest businessmen, father and son famous for pork-packing 

and meat curing. Another small town, now abandoned, was Transylvania, on the opposite side of 

US 42—it is said that Transylvania withered because the railroad went through Spring Valley instead 

in the late 1840s. Others who settled this township were the Comptons, McKnights, Sanders, and 

Mercers. A resort was planned in the 1850s, called Greenwood Springs, but did not survive despite 

the bowling alley it boasted. Robinson (Bobtown) and Richland were “paper villages” only. Roxanna, 

or Claysville, had a post office at one time, but never grew much. 

Just over the border of Clinton County, Ohio, is the village of New Burlington; just over the line 

into Warren County, Ohio, is Mount Holly. 

The George Barrett Concrete House is famous as the first poured-wall concrete house in Ohio, 

built in 1853. It is being restored as a historic site in downtown Spring Valley. Another landmark is 

the (possibly) Adena mound. At one time, there was a kerosene tank at its summit, intended as a 

gravity feed to send oil to various homes and businesses. That project failed. Much of the township’s 

manufacturing has involved mills of various kinds, due to the presence of the Little Miami River: oil 

mills, woolen mills, grist mills, saw mills, etc. Occasionally the river will flood, however, and Spring 

Valley has been the site of high water signs for many years. This township holds the lowest point in 

the county from an elevation standpoint: a mere 756.56 feet above sea level. 

Famous residents include Carl E. Smith, poet laureate of Ohio and basset hound trainer. Inventor 

Steve Divnick’s most famous product is the Spiral Wishing Well bank, which spins coins through a 

tornado-shaped funnel into a base. He has also invented an adjustable golf club among other things. 


The town is home to the Spring Valley Potato 

Festival, held in September. At one time, the 

Spring Valley mineral springs produced water 

that was bottled and sold across the region. 


George Barrett Concrete House on East Main 

Street; Main Street Historic District; and the Old 

Hotel on West Main Street. 

❖ 

John & Rebecca Compton, he was 

almost 86, she almost 80 when this 

photo was taken about 1880, by 

Howland of New Burlington. 

Chapter 12 ✦ 27

SUGARCREEK TOWNSHIP 

Sugarcreek Township was an original township, formed in 1803. Towns besides Bellbrook were 

Clio or Ferry, site of the first log structure in the county (1796) and longest-existing church in the 

county (Middle Run Primitive Baptist, 1799); Goosetown, and White’s Corner. The latter is now the 

site of the I-675 exit to Wilmington Pike—there is a street sign commemorating the name, but no 

town. The discovery of the magnetic springs in 1883 brought notoriety and prosperity to Bellbrook 

until about 1906, only matched by the rapid growth it has enjoyed or endured since the building of 

I-675. The park around the former Magnetic Springs Hotel location is called Bellbrook Park; a shelter 

stands over the spring, which still dispenses its health-giving waters. 

Bellbrook has had four newspapers: the Bellbrook Magnet, the Moon, the Good News (a Presbyterian 

newspaper), and the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Post. In 1971, Bellbrook had reached a population of over 

5,000, the requisite number of inhabitants to become a city, which became effective in 1972. Since 

then, the city has blossomed into one of the top three populated areas in the county. Bellbrook hosts 

the Sugar Maple Festival in March. 

Bellbrook had a private academy, run by Harrison Vaughan, but it burned down and was replaced 

by the first public school in 1833. No mention of Sugarcreek Township would be complete without 

the horse Blind Tom (aka Sleepy Tom), the world record holding pacer from 1879. He was born in 

Bellbrook in 1868 or so, and went blind by 1875, but still managed to run an unspecified length of 

track at Chicago in 2 minutes, 12¼ seconds. 

National Register of Historic Places property: Berryhill-Morris house on Ferry Road. 


TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP 

Tecumseh Township, formed in 1955 with identical lines to the municipal limits of Xenia city, was 

more of an administrative subdivision than a separately functioning entity. Creating the city of Xenia 

as Tecumseh township was meant to draw some tax money that was going to Xenia township, but 

city residents could no longer vote for township trustees. In 1981 a city commissioner asked if City 

Commission therefore held the same powers as township trustees, a question which was unanswered. 

❖ 

Tecumseh. 

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF JOHN DAVIDSON. 

Chapter 14 ✦ 29

XENIA TOWNSHIP 

❖ 

The west side of North Detroit Street, 

as it appeared between 1895 and 

1914, shows Arnold’s shoes, 

Hutchison & Gibney, Hotel 

Bradley, Adair’s and the German 

Reformed Church. 

Xenia Township was created in 1805 from Caesarscreek and Beavercreek townships. Old Fashioned 

Days are held in September, and the Xenia Rail and Arts Fest in August. 

Small towns or settlement areas outside Xenia include Wilberforce, Tawawa or Drake’s Springs, 

a pre-Civil War resort, Amlin Heights (late 1950s), Goes Station, Oldtown or Old Chillicothe, and 

Sugar Grove. Covered bridges: Stevenson Road bridge, built 1877, Smith double wooden truss built 

by Smith Bridge Company; Charlton Mill (aka Charleton Mill) bridge, Howe wooden truss built in 

1883 by Henry Hebble. 

Famous Xenia people include Samuel Hawken (1792-1884), gunsmith; John Little (1837-1900), 

Ohio attorney general and Congressman; James J. Winans (1818-1879), judge and Ohio 

Congressman; Dr. George Watt (1765-1845), chemist, physician, dentist, author; Martin Robison 

Delany (1812-1885), physician, writer, anti-slavery activist, first African-American commissioned 

Army officer, rank of major; Daniel A. Payne (1811-1893), African Methodist Episcopal bishop and 

first African-American university president (Wilberforce, 1863); Colonel John Paul, early settler 

who helped to frame Ohio’s and Indiana’s state constitutions; James Hyslop (1854-1920), scientist 

and professor, founder of both American Institute for Scientific Research and for Psychical Research; 

and Dennis Cosley (1816-1904), coverlet weaver. 


❖ 

Clockwise, starting from top left: 

First United Presbyterian Church, 

c. 1908. 

Reverend W. T. Findley, a 

Presbyterian minister during the Civil 

War; wrote Christian Ethics of 

Eating and Drinking. 

Major Martin R. Delany was the 

first African-American commissioned 

officer in the United States Army 

in 1865. A new headstone marks 

his grave at Massies Creek 

Tarbox Cemetery. 

First United Presbyterian Church, 

c. 2002. 

Chapter 15 ✦ 31

❖ 

Clockwise, starting from the top: 

Drs. B., S., and R. McClellan (father 

Benjamin, sons Schuyler and Reyburn) 

a family of doctors. Benjamin founded 

McClellan Hospital on Rogers Street. 

William B. Chew. 

COURTESY OF XENIA DAILY GAZETTE NEWSPAPER. 

Austin McDowell Patterson, (1876- 

1956) chemist, author. 

In the 1930s, P. H. Flynn of the Xenia Shoe 

Manufacturing Company tried to bring the Willys 

Motor Company from Indianapolis to Xenia, 

according to 1953s Out of the Wilderness book. 

However, the manufacturer moved operations to 

Toledo instead. Mr. Flynn was more successful in 

having Dayton Power and Light electrical service 

run to Xenia. Industry notes: a fuse factory stood 

on Home Avenue, which made bomb fuses 

during WW1; there was a scythe factory at Goes 

Station; a tobacco stemmery and cigar-making 

factory was located on West Main Street. 

The current courthouse is described as 

“a massive stone pile of imposing proportions 

and obvious lack of functional interior design” 

by Ray Higgins in Out of the Wilderness. George 

F. Robinson’s 1902 Greene County History 

describes Xenia in 1811 as a “stumpy, struggling 


❖ 


Helen Santmyer, age two taken 

around 1900. 

Helen Santmyer, after…And Ladies 

of the Club became a bestseller, 1984. 

village.” For many years, Xenia was the largest city 

in the county; it has been eclipsed in population 

by Fairborn and Beavercreek, but retains its 

designation as county seat. According to 

local legend, Jamestown lost that designation 

by one vote. 

Educational institutions: Wilberforce 

University, Central State University, 

Xenia Theological Seminary, and Xenia 

Female College. 

National Register of Historic Places properties 

in Wilberforce: C. N. & I. Department 

Power House; Carnegie Library on old 

Wilberforce University campus; Emery Hall; 

Homewood Cottage, Brush Row Road; 

William Scarborough house, Brush Row 

Road; and Colonel Charles Young house, on 

US 42. In Xenia are Bank of Xenia building, 

northeast corner of Detroit and Second 

Streets; Alexander Conner house, 99 East 

Second Street; Dean family farm, South 

Ballard Road; East Second Street District; 

Bernard Hollencamp house, East Second 

Street; McDonald farm, Stone Road; Millen- 

Schmidt house, North King Street; Old 

Chillicothe site, Oldtown; Samuel Patterson 

house, North King Street; and Waterstreet 

Historic District on Third Street. 

Two “missing” townships were also part of 

Greene County. Mad River Township, an 

original 1803 township, became part of 

Champaign County, Ohio, which was formed in 

1805. Vance Township, formed in 1812 from 

Miami Township, became part of Clark County, 

Ohio, when it was formed in 1818. Both lost 

their names in the redrawing of these counties, 

and would have been lost to history without the 

county commissioners’ record books. 

Etta McElwain, first professional 

librarian in Xenia. 

Dr. Maria Steward, African-American 

female doctor; her practice was 

in Wilberforce. 

Chapter 15 ✦ 33

❖ 


South Detroit Street, shows Xenia 

National Bank, Commercial Hotel 

and Babb Hardware, 1895. 

East Main Street at south end of 

Green Street, dressed up for 1908 

Homecoming festivities. 

Aerial view of Xenia downtown from 

1920s; shows old high school that was 

torn down in 1923. 

Building the courthouse, up to the 

arch, 1901. 

Building the courthouse in 1900, 

delivering materials to the site. 

XENIA CITY HISTORY 

Xenia, named by Reverend Robert Armstrong 

after the Greek word for hospitality, attracted 

its first permanent settlers in the late 1790s. It 

was laid out as the county seat in 1803, and the 

first courthouse was built in 1806. The first 

log structure built in the new town was John 

Marshall’s house, on the southeast corner of 

West Third and South West Street. The building 

there now was built in 1840 by his son Robert, 

the first white child born within the current 

city limits. The first school came along in 1805, 

preceded slightly (1804) by the first business, 

a tavern owned by William Beatty, on lot 14 

across from the public square on East Main 

Street. Here court was held until the courthouse 

was completed. The second courthouse in Xenia 

was built in 1843, lasting until 1900; the 

current courthouse was completed in 1901. 

Xenia was incorporated as a town in 1817, 

then as a city in 1834. Its most rapid population 

growth occurred after 1845, when the Little 

Miami Railroad reached town. This opened up 

quicker emigration and trade to Cincinnati and 

beyond. Farmers could ship goods instead of 

driving livestock on foot along the turnpikes, 

which were also known as “mud roads” in the 


❖ 


North Galloway and West Church 

Street, 1930s. 

North Galloway and West Church 

Street, 2008. 

Dayton Avenue and Orange Street 

intersection, 2008. 

Dayton Avenue and Orange Street 

intersection, about 1930. 

East Main Street at the south end of 

Green Street, 2008. 

that the old railroad tracks were converted into 

bicycle paths in the Rails to Trails movement— 

the reason Xenia is called the “Hub of It All” 

and “Bicycle Capital of the Midwest.” Xenia had 

a city bus system from the 1930s until 1975, 

and now the Greene CATS line runs all over 

the county. 

West Main, c. 1918, Bocklet Plumbing 

is on the left, presently the site of a 

Wendy’s Restaurant; the track belongs 

to the Dinky Railroad, a car barn is 

on the right. 

early days. By the 1850s railroads connected 

Xenia to both Dayton and Columbus as well as 

Cincinnati. Mass transit systems like interurban 

buses and trolleys ran between area cities and 

Xenia starting in the 1910s. The last passenger 

train stopped in Xenia in 1971; the last freight 

train to pass through town was in 1984. After 

Chapter 15 ✦ 35

❖ 

Right: Ohio Twine & Cordage, taken 

c. 1892; employees include African- 

Americans and young boys. 

Below, left: Payne Seminary students 

and faculty at first African-American 

theological seminary in the United 

States, founded in 1891. 

Below, right: William G. Moorehead, 

Xenia Theological Seminary professor 

and preacher. 

Opposite page, clockwise starting from 

the top: 

Bernard Hollencamp’s home on East 

Second Street; a brewery was just 

behind his home on Columbus 

Avenue. The house is listed on the 

National Register. 

Scottish cabinet maker and 

abolitionist David Monroe’s house on 

East Second Street. The demolished 

carriage house behind the home was 

supposedly a Underground 

Railroad stop. 

Greene County Historical Society lost 

three of its four buildings to a 

tornado; this is a replacement for the 

Glossinger Cultural Center. It was 

moved from the northwest corner of 

Church and Detroit Street over a twoday 

period in 1977. 

Galloway log house in its original 

location along US 68 north of 

Oldtown, south of Goes Station; 

dismantled from this location and 

moved to Xenia in 1937. 

Other improvements in the nineteenth 

century include the telephone, which made 

its appearance in 1879; artificial gas (made by 

distilling coal), which lighted city streets 

starting in the 1840s; electricity, which replaced 

gas in 1881; and the waterworks, which was 

built in 1886. This modern waterworks system 

also helped make firefighting easier, since the 

old “pumper” no longer had to carry its own 

water to the scene. Natural gas was piped to the 

area starting in 1905, and the manufacture of 

artificial gas ceased. 

Xenia sent many soldiers to the Union cause 

during the Civil War, but was also home to a 

few Confederate sympathizers. Greene County 

supplied 3,554 soldiers, which was the highest 

percentage (13.57%) of any Ohio county 

compared with its 1860 population. The city has 

also sent its share to many other 

wars; Revolutionary War veterans 

settled this area, and we honor our 

current and former soldiers who 

make Xenia their home today. 

Many types of business and 

manufacturing have made Xenia 

their headquarters, both local 

and worldwide; among these 

are cordage and twine, tobacco, 

shoes, and meat packing. 

Public services have been 

around for a long time in Xenia. 

There was a “bucket brigade” 

fire department as early as the 1830s, if not 


Woodland Cemetery was established in 

1847, and continues to serve city residents and 

those who have moved away. Several small 

church and family cemeteries were moved to 

Woodland from other places, which is why 

many tombstones there predate 1847. Columns 

from the front of the 1843 courthouse stand 

before. The first detective, Norman S. Tiffany, 

was hired in the 1860s, but constables and 

private watchmen served the town before that. 

A market house stood on the public square 

behind the courthouse, facing Market Street, 

from 1814 until its dilapidated condition forced 

its removal in 1860. The current city hall, built 

in 1939, replaced the old town hall/opera 

house that was built in 1869. 

Chapter 15 ✦ 37

❖ 

Right: Fred Sheetz, snowstorm of 

1910 on Detroit Street; note the horse 

and wagon in the background. 

Middle: Snowstorm of 1910 on South 

Detroit Street looking north from the 

corner of Second Street. 

Bottom, left: North Detroit Street, big 

snowstorm of 1950; block between 

Main and Market Streets. 

Bottom, right: Big snowstorm, East 

Main Street, 1950. 

Opposite page, clockwise starting from 

the top left: 

Galloway Hall, Central State 

University campus, 1974. 

Damage to Trebein-Flynn pavilion 

and Shawnee Park lagoon, 1974. 

Looking east on Route 35 towards 

downtown, 1974. 

The interior of Kennedy’s, South 

Orange Street, 1974. 

The destruction at Kroger grocery 

store on West Main, 1974. The site 

made way for a McDonald’s. 

at its entryway. Two other active 

cemeteries are in the city: Cherry 

Grove Cemetery on West Second 

Street, founded in 1870 to serve 

the African-American population, 

and St. Brigid Cemetery on Upper 

Bellbrook Road, affiliated with the 

Catholic church of the same name, 

located on Fairgrounds Road. 


Ethnic diversity has been a steady 

presence, even from the early days. African- 

Americans have lived in and around Xenia 

since the 1820s, not just entering the 

area with Wilberforce University in 1856; 

other groups include Chinese, German, 

Irish, English, Swiss, Mexican, and of 

course Native Americans. In fact, in the 

1810 tax duplicate for Greene County, 

36 non-Caucasians were listed along with 

5,834 Caucasians. In the 1830 Federal 

census, the town of Xenia listed 17 people 

of color and 900 whites, figures which have 

steadily increased in the years since. 

Chapter 15 ✦ 39

2009: Antioch College announces plan to reopen. 

2009: Blue Jacket outdoor drama announces bankruptcy after two 

years and closes. 

2008: Antioch College closes in Yellow Springs. 

2008: Justin Masterson of Beavercreek joins Boston Red Sox major 

league baseball team. 

2008: Colonel Gregory H. Johnson, Fairborn Park Hills HS 1980, 

pilots space shuttle Endeavor for NASA. 

2007: Clark State Community College opens Greene Center branch 

in Beavercreek. 

2003: Hooven & Allison Cordage closes its Xenia operations. 

2003: Greene County and Ohio Bicentennial. 

2000: Tornado at Xenia, kills 1 man; destruction at fairgrounds, 

Dayton Avenue. Baptist Church, Faith Community United 

Methodist Church, Groceryland 

2000: Cedarville College becomes Cedarville University. 

1995: Ohio Veterans Children’s Home closes. 

1995: “Dayton” Peace Accords reached at Wright-Patterson Air 

Force Base. 

1994: Mike DeWine becomes United States Senator. 

1993: Mall at Fairfield Commons opens. 

1991: First section of Little Miami Scenic Trail (bike path on former 

railroad lines) opens. 

1990: Ervin J. Nutter Center opens at Wright State University. 

1989: Tornado at Xenia near hospital. 

1988: George HW Bush visits as presidential candidate. 

1984: Ronald Reagan visits Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. 

1984: …And Ladies of the Club hits best-seller lists; Helen Hooven 

Santmyer becomes household name. 

1982: …And Ladies of the Club published. 

1982: Blue Jacket outdoor drama opens. 

1978: Big snowstorm in January. 

1978: Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home renamed to Ohio 

Veterans Children’s Home. 

1977: Mike DeWine becomes county prosecutor. 

1976: United States Bicentennial. 

1975: Leonard Nimoy, actor, graduates with MA degree from Antioch. 

1974: I-675 opens first section; completed to I-70 in 1975, to I-75 in 1989. 

1974: Tornado at Xenia and Wilberforce, extensive damage; also tore 

roof off building at Cedarville College. 

1974: Richard Nixon visits Xenia after tornado. 

1971: Town of New Burlington moved. 

1970: Census: over 100,000 in population. 

1967: Wright State University becomes independent entity. 

1966: Greene County county building built at 69 Green Street, Xenia. 

mid to late 1960s: Ric Ocasek, musician in The Cars, attends but 

drops out of Antioch. 

1964: Wright State opens as Dayton branch of Ohio State and 

Miami Universities. 

1963: Stephen Jay Gould graduates with BS degree from Antioch. 

1960: Senator John F. Kennedy campaigns for President in 


1958: Martin Luther King, Jr., receives honorary degree at Central 

State University. 

1957: Mark Strand, Pulitzer Prize winner and US poet laureate, 

graduates with BA degree from Antioch. 

1953: Greene County and Ohio sesquicentennial. 

1951: Greene Memorial Hospital opens. 

1951: Central State College formed from College of Education and 

Industrial Arts, Wilberforce University. 

1950: Rod Serling graduates with BA degree from Antioch. 

1950: Fairborn made from Fairfield and Osborn merger. 

1950: Big snowstorm in November. 

TIMELINE OF EVENTS 


1950s: Air Force Institute of Technology, AFIT, has many graduates 

who have been involved in the space program—Gus Grissom. 

1948: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base made from merger of Wright 

and Patterson Fields. 

1945: Coretta Scott enters Antioch College (marries MLK in 1953). 

1945-47: Cliff Robertson, Academy Award winner in 1968, 

attends Antioch. 

1941: Leland C. Clark, Jr., inventor of biosensors and heart-lung 

machines, graduates with BS degree from Antioch. 

1941: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., becomes first African-American general 

in US Army; taught military science at Wilberforce 1905-09, 

1915-17, 1929-31, and 1937-38. 

1939: New city hall replaces one built in 1868. 

1938: Hydroplane racer Dean Chenoweth born at Xenia (died 1982; 

“Miss Budweiser”). 

1937: Last child of Civil War veteran, Lucinda Dole, graduates from 

Ohio Soldiers & Sailors Orphans Home. 

1933: Arthur Morgan leaves Antioch to head up Tennessee 

Valley Authority. 

1933: Tornado at Xenia, in East End; one killed. 

1931: Patterson Field named for Lt. Frank Patterson, killed in 

airplane crash. 

1931: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt visit Antioch College. 

1929: Greene County Historical Society holds first meeting. 

1929: Glen Helen given by Hugh Taylor Birch. 

1927: Wright Field dedicated. 

1923: Zinnia becomes official flower of Xenia. 

1922-24: Moving of Osborn from proposed flood plain area. 

1921: Co-op program instituted at Antioch. 

1920: Arthur Morgan becomes president of Antioch. 

1917: Airplanes come to Wright Field, first flying school in 

world instituted. 

c. 1916: Charles Young becomes first African-American colonel in 

Unites States Army; taught at Wilberforce University. 

1915: Una Mae Carlisle born at Xenia; singer, songwriter, pianist 

(died 1956). 

1914: Xenia Cycle Car, invented by P. Hawkins, manufactured. 

1914: Hutchison & Gibney store fire. 

1913: Rose Murphy born at Xenia; singer (died 1989). 

1913: Washington Hospital founded, first hospital in Ohio operated 

by African-Americans. 

1911: Theodore Roosevelt visits Xenia. 

1910: Big snowstorm. 

1908: Eavey wholesale grocery warehouse fire, 2 firefighters killed: 

Martin Ulery, Joseph Fletcher. 

1905: Natural gas piped into county. 

1904-09: Wright brothers test flights at Huffman Prairie, 

Bath Township. 

1901-03: Baldner car produced. 

1901: New courthouse replaces 1843 model. 

1899: Coldest temperature in county recorded, before wind chill 

factor measured: -28 degrees F at Yellow Springs. 

1898: Norman Vincent Peale born at Bowersville; Power of Positive 

Thinking author (died 1993). 

1898: Greene County represented in Spanish-American War by 

Company C, 9th battalion Ohio Infantry, composed of 

African-Americans. 

1896: William Jennings Bryan visits as presidential candidate. 

1892: Lincoln Brown of Xenia patents bridle bit; African- 

American inventor. 

1892: Cedarville’s Whitelaw Reid runs as vice-presidential candidate 

with Benjamin Harrison; unsuccessful campaign. 


1891: Payne Theological Seminary opens; first African-American 

theological seminary in United States. 

1890s: Pepsodent toothpaste invented by Hooven & Allison worker 

William Ruthrauff. 

1889-90: Diphtheria epidemic at OS&SO Home, 36 died (35 children, 

1 nurse). 

1887: Cedarville College founded. 

1886: Flood at Xenia, 28 killed: 7 Powell family members, 5 Morris 

family members. 

1884: Jamestown Cyclone, 7 killed. 

1883: William B. Laughead born at Xenia, artist & “perpetuator” of 

Paul Bunyan stories (died 1958). 

1881: Electric service reaches Xenia. 

1879: First telephone switchboard installed at Xenia. 

1878: Young Woman’s Library Association formed library. 

1877: J. W. King moves King Powder Company to Warren County, Ohio. 

1876: United States Centennial. 

1876: Austin McDowell Patterson born at Xenia; chemist and author 

(died 1956). 

1873: First local Women’s Christian Temperance Union chapter in the 

world organized at Osborn. 

1871: Wilbur Dick Nesbit born at Xenia, grew up in Cedarville; poet, 

illustrator (died 1927). 

1870: OS&SO Home moves to farm location. 

1869: Charley Grapewin born near Xenia; Academy Award winner in 

1941 (died 1956). 

1869: Hooven & Allison cordage firm opens—other cordage 

firms include Ohio Twine & Cordage, R. A. Kelly Cordage, 

Field Cordage. 

1869: Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home founded on East 

Main Street. 

1868: Xenia Gazette founded as weekly newspaper. 

1867: Xenia Woman’s Club founded. 

1867: Xenia baseball team wins state championship. 

1866: Frederick Douglass speaks at Xenia. 

1865: Martin R. Delany of Wilberforce commissioned major, first 

African-American officer in United States Army. 

1864: George & Andrew Dodds bring stone business to Xenia from 

Yellow Springs. 

1863: Olympia Brown, 1860 Antioch graduate, became 1st female 

minister ordained by a regular ecclesiastical body (Universalist). 

1861-65: Civil War; Greene County sends highest percentage of 

population of any county in Ohio, received banner (shredded 

by 1974 tornado). 

1861-65: Miami Powder Company at Goes Station supplies black 

powder to Union army. 

1861: Abraham Lincoln makes short stop in Xenia while traveling to 

his inauguration. 

1859: Horace Mann dies at Yellow Springs, first president of Antioch. 

1859: First general assembly of the newly united United Presbyterian 

Church held at Xenia. 

1856: Wilberforce University opens, first African-American college in 

United States. 

1856: Frederick Douglass speaks at Bellbrook, Paintersville and Xenia. 

1856: Lucy Stone Blackwell speaks at Xenia and Yellow Springs. 

1856: One of the first meetings of the new Republican Party takes 

place at Aaron Harlan’s home near Yellow Springs, Whitehall Farm. 

1855: Powder mill at Goes changes name to Miami Powder Company. 

1855: Amelia Bloomer speaks at Xenia. 

1854: James Hyslop born near Xenia; founded American Institute for 

Scientific Research (died 1920). 

1854: Cholera epidemic ended. 

1853: Rebecca Pennell Dean becomes first female college professor in 

Unites States at Antioch. 

1852: Antioch College opens, first fully co-educational college in 

United States. 

1852: St. Brigid Church established at Xenia, first Catholic church 

in county. 

1852: Joseph Warren King buys into powder mill business. 

1850: Jesse Ransbottom hanged on courthouse lawn for murder of 

wife, only legal hanging. 

1850s: Underground Railroad very active in Greene County, illegal as 

it is. 


1849: Cholera epidemic, over 85 people died including 7 local doctors. 

1846: Black powder mill opens at Goes Station. 

1845: Little Miami Railroad reaches Xenia from Cincinnati. 

1845: Fire at Puterbaugh’s store on Main Street, covering up murders 

of Steel & Kinney; never solved. 

1843: New courthouse built, replacing 1809 version. 

1843: Last Native Americans to leave Ohio (Wyandot) pass through 

Xenia and Bellbrook. 

1839: Isaac Funk born at Clifton; Funk & Wagnalls publishing firm 

(died 1912). 

1839: First Greene County Fair held; said to be the oldest fair west of 

the Alleghenies still active. 

1837: Whitelaw Reid born in Cedarville Township; newspaperman, 

writer, ambassador to Great Britain (died 1912). 

1837: John Little born in Ross Township; state legislator and 

Congressman, state attorney general (died 1900). 

1837: Anti-Slavery Society founded in Greene County. 

1834: Village of Milford renamed Cedarville. 

1832: 50th reunion of men involved in George Rogers Clark 

expedition planned; only Simon Kenton and James Galloway 

were still living in Ohio. 


1819: Boundary at Clifton redrawn between Greene and Clark 

counties because Benjamin Whiteman wanted it that way. 

1818: Clark County formed from north part of Greene. 

1816: Founding of Fairfield, Jamestown, Bellbrook, and 

Milford villages. 

1816: Subscription library organized at Xenia. 

1814: First newspaper in county published at Xenia, Ohio Vehicle. 

1813: Tecumseh dies at Battle of the Thames in Canada. 

1812-14: Colonel Robert Patterson’s mill at Clifton provides woolen 

cloth for military uniforms. 

1809: New courthouse completed; started construction in 1806. 

1807: Benjamin Whiteman serves as brigadier general of Ohio militia. 

1805: Champaign County formed from north part of Greene. 

1805: First postmaster at Xenia appointed, Reverend James Towler. 

1804: First case in the second general Greene County court session 

was a murder. 

1803: First court held in Beavercreek Township. 

1803: Greene County formed; west, south, and east boundaries 

same as current, but northern boundary stretched to 

Lake Erie. 

1800: Pinckney Road laid out, ran through western Greene County. 

c. 1800: John Paul builds first gristmill & sawmill on Little 

Miami River. 

1799: Middle Run Primitive Baptist Church founded in 

Sugarcreek Township. 

1799: Benjamin Whiteman came to Beavercreek Township. 

1798: Several Presbyterian families move from Kentucky to county. 

1796: First house in county built at Ferry, Sugarcreek Township. 

c. 1785: Mrs. Jennie Cowan and daughter taken captive by Shawnee 

in Tennessee, brought to Oldtown; lived there for seven years. 

1782: James Galloway first encounters the area during GR 

Clark expedition. 

1780: David Laughead first encounters the area during GR 

Clark expedition. 

1778: Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone both captured and brought to 

Old Chillicothe. 

1774: Black Fish establishes Old Chillicothe on Little Miami River. 

1768: Tecumseh born, possibly near Old Chillicothe. 

Timeline of Events ✦ 41

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Beavercreek Bicentennial Historical Committee. Beavercreek’s Chronicle: History and Remembrances. Beavercreek: [no publisher], 1976. 

Bellbrook Historical Society. Bellbrook 1816-1981. Sugarcreek Township, Greene County, Ohio: United Technics of Xenia, 1981. 

Broadstone, Michael A. History of Greene County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & 

Company, Inc., 1918. 

Dills, R. S. History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the state of Ohio. Dayton Ohio: Odell & 

Mayer, 1881. 

Greene County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, compilers. Greene County, Ohio, cemetery inscriptions, 9 vols. Xenia, Ohio: 

The Chapter, 1982-1986. 

Greene County Historical Society files, including businesses, families, towns, townships. 

Greene County Medical Society, Centennial Committee. Physicians of Greene County, 1803-1988. Xenia, Ohio: Greene County 

Medical Society, 1988. 

History Committee, Greene County Sesquicentennial Organization. Out of the Wilderness: An Account of Events in Greene County, 

Ohio. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1953. 

Home-Coming Association. Greene County 1803-1908. Xenia, Ohio: Aldine Publishing House, 1908. 

Hughes, Edward Wakefield and William Clyde McCracken. The History of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home at Xenia, 

Ohio 1868-1963. Association of Ex-Pupils, 1963. 

Kenton, Edna. Simon Kenton, His Life and Period. Salem, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, 1993; reprint. Original printing 

Garden City, New York: The Country Life Press, 1930. 

Overton, Julie, Marianne Kane and Catherine Wilson. Greene County Ohio Facts & Firsts. Xenia, Ohio: Greene County Public 

Library, 1994. Second edition. 

Robinson, George F. History of Greene County, Ohio. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1902. 

Santmyer, Helen Hooven. Ohio Town: A Portrait of Xenia. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984. 

Shell, James H. Covered Wooden Truss Bridges of Greene County, Ohio. Self-published, 1998. 

Xenia Torchlight newspaper transcriptions, 1845-1850 and 1855-1870. 


SHARING THE HERITAGE 

Historic profiles of businesses, 

organizations, and families that have 

contributed to the development and 

economic base of Greene County 

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

Elano Corporation ..........................................................................44 

Stonehill Village .............................................................................47 

Wright State University ...................................................................48 

Marianist Province of the United States..............................................50 

Residence Inn by Marriott Beavercreek ...............................................52 

Courtyard by Marriott Beavercreek....................................................53 

Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce ....................................................54 

Collett Propane, Inc. .......................................................................55 

Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce .................................................56 

Mount Zion Church .........................................................................57 

Peterson & Peterson, LLC, Attorneys at Law .......................................58 

Greene County Historical Society ......................................................59 

Beaver United Church of Christ.........................................................60 

City of Beavercreek .........................................................................61 

MARMAC ......................................................................................62 

Holiday Inn 

Sharing the Heritage ✦ 43

ELANO 

CORPORATION 

❖ 

Elano Corporation. 

It should come as no surprise that Ervin J. 

Nutter founded a company recognized as one 

of the best small manufacturers in the nation. 

Nutter came from a long line of entrepreneurs, 

starting with his grandfather, John Nutter, who 

traveled to Wyoming and established one of the 

territory’s first wagon freight hauling businesses. 

Ervin’s father, Ervin F. Nutter, constructed and 

operated large commercial power plants before 

becoming chief engineer of McGregor Golf 

Equipment Company, where he developed stateof-the-art 

golf ball processing. Even Ervin’s 

mother, Carrie McDavid, carried the enterprising 

gene, becoming one of the first women to earn a 

teaching degree from the University of Kentucky. 

Ervin J. Nutter was born in Hamilton, Ohio, 

in 1914 and his talent for business developed 

early. While still in high school he developed 

a thriving business erecting antennas and 

manufacturing crystal sets so his neighbors 

could tune in an amazing new invention— 

radio. He also developed a profitable business 

building lily ponds and fountain bird baths. 

Nutter entered Miami (Ohio) University 

with the goal of someday establishing his own 

successful enterprise. Feeling he had learned 

enough to pass the State of Ohio Stationary 

Engineer’s exam, he dropped out of school at 

age twenty-one and became the youngest 

person to pass the test. He accepted a position 

with a machine assembling plant, where he 

soon became assistant chief engineer. However, 

he became bored with the repetitious nature of 

the job and took a job as an engineer with 

Procter & Gamble. 

Realizing he needed more education if he was 

to meet his goals, Nutter returned to school at 

the University of Kentucky, where he completed 

his degree while continuing to work full time. 

Upon graduation in 1943, Nutter, with the help 

of a college Dean who cosigned a bank note for 

$200, moved to Dayton, Ohio, and a new career 

at Dayton’s Wright Field. It was the height of 

World War II and Wright Field was one of the 

most important aviation, research, and 

development laboratories operated by the 

government. It was here that Nutter learned the 

intricacies of modern aviation and his lifelong 

love of aviation was born. 

Nutter became the only civilian branch 

chief at the laboratory and he and a friend, 

Captain Lee Otterson, designed an aerial 

spraying device capable of covering huge areas 

with an insecticide. Nutter was granted a 

patent for the invention, which is credited 

with saving thousands of soldier’s lives by 

eliminating malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the 

South Pacific. 

In 1948, Nutter moved to Greene County. 

Nutter and Otterson reached a handshake 

agreement to form the Agricultural Aviation 

Company, known as Ag Aviation, which was 

the precursor to Elano Corporation. The sole 

purpose of the enterprise was to design and 

manufacture an aerial spraying device for small 

aircraft. Nutter kept his job at Wright Field, 

while Otterson returned home to California to 

operate a rice farm. Income from the rice farm, 

along with a portion Nutter’s salary, enabled 

them to hire their first employee, Bob Calvert, a 

mechanical engineer. 

The new firm had virtually no equipment, 

but Nutter converted an old tenant house at 

his two acre home in Beavercreek into a 

manufacturing facility. Ag Aviation landed a 

government contract for the spray device and 

the Nutter’s dream of owning his own business 

had come true. 

Ag Aviation evolved into a manufacturer of 

plumbing replacement parts and soon became 

a $10,000 a month operation. When a need 

developed for a swing spout for kitchen sinks, 

Nutter designed a special tube bender. He 

would later note that “the bending of those 

kitchen swing spouts was the key that unlocked 

the door to the future of Elano Corporation.” 


As the company grew, Nutter expanded the 

manufacturing operations into a cow barn and 

garage located on his property. As growth 

continued, he moved to the basement of a 

garage on Dayton-Xenia Road. 

A major breakthrough for the young 

company occurred in 1951 when it received 

seven contracts from General Electric for 

stainless steel bent tubular assemblies used in 

jet engines. Ag Aviation was renamed Elano 

Corporation, a name derived from the initials of 

Nutter and partner Lee Otterson. Within four 

months of the first contract with GE, Elano had 

a backlog of a quarter of a million dollars in 

additional business. 

Elano continued to grow and, over time, 

became one of the largest and most successful 

businesses in the region. At the peak of its 

success in 1985, Elano was sold to GE. 

Nutter’s interests were not confined to 

building a successful business. He created 

KBJ Ranch, an agricultural business that 

devoted itself to specialized crop development, 

sophisticated cattle-breeding methods, and ova 

transplantation in cattle. 

Believing strongly in giving back 

to those who had made him successful, Nutter 

became a major donor to his alma mater, the 

University of Kentucky. He also volunteered, 

and contributed generously, to many local 

❖ 

Ervin J. Nutter, founder of 

Elano Corporation. 


❖ 

Above: Ervin J. Nutter was a big 

aviation buff. 

Right: Ervin J. Nutter. 

causes, including Rotary, Beavercreek Schools, 

Wright State University, and Cedarville 

University. The Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright 

State University is named in his honor. 

Aviation was a passion for Nutter, who 

maintained his rating as a commercial/ 

instrument multi-engine rated pilot. He was a 

charter member of the National Aviation Hall 

of Fame and a Board member of the Museum of 

the United States Air Force. 

Nutter also loved to explore remote areas of 

the world and traveled to every continent but 

Antarctica. In an address to the Newcomen 

Society in 1982, he said, “I’ve looked a Bengal 

tiger in the eye at a distance of fifteen feet in the 

jungles of India; I have walked up to within a 

few feet of five-ton African elephants; climbed 

the Andes and the Rockies; traveled hundreds 

of miles up the Amazon in a dugout canoe…I 

have ridden in nuclear submarines, aircraft 

carriers, supersonic jets, and on horses, mules, 

donkeys, camels, and elephants…But whatever 

I have accomplished required the help of 

my personal family, the ‘Elano family’, our 

suppliers, our customers, the bankers, our 

friends and neighbors, and others too 

numerous to mention.” 

Ervin J. Nutter was truly a remarkable man. 


Ken and Bob Nutter, sons of Ervin J. Nutter, 

are carrying on the family’s entrepreneurial 

spirit by developing Stonehill Village on the 

Nutter family farm. 

Wanting to build something unique for 

the community, Ken and Bob are developing 

a master planned community designed to 

preserve the natural features of the area. A full 

one third of the 1,252-acre property is 

dedicated to open green space, including two 

miles along the Little Miami River, a national 

scenic river. An internal trail system of more 

than five miles connects neighborhoods of 

different price points and features. 

Provisions were made in the Stonehill Village 

plan for elementary schools. 

Stonehill Village is the largest, most 

commended residential property of its kind in 

the region. A professionally developed master 

plan oversees growth, nurtures the sense of 

community and protects home values. 

STONEHILL 

VILLAGE 

Stonehill Village includes the communities of 

Spindletop, Steeplechase, and Liberty Hill as of 

this writing. 

The Spindletop neighborhood of custom 

homes is being built by Registered Builders of the 

Home Builders Association of Dayton and the 

Miami Valley. Spindletop will have 152 singlefamily 

residences when completed. Buyers may 

select from a variety of picturesque lots and seven 

American Traditional home design styles. 

Steeplechase features single-family patio 

homes with a wide selection of floor plans. Each 

home boasts the finest quality construction and 

offers a low maintenance lifestyle. Monthly dues 

include time and labor saving lawn care and 

snow removal, as well as complete access to all 

community amenities. 

The Liberty Hall neighborhood features stylish 

courtyard homes by G. A. White Enterprises in 

a scenic surrounding. The neighborhood adjoins 

a preserved wooded area and has walkout 

lots available. 

For additional information about Stonehill 

Village, please check their website at 

www.stonehillvillage.com. 


WRIGHT STATE 

UNIVERSITY 

❖ 

Above: In 1892, Wilbur and Orville 

Wright founded the Wright Cycle 

Company in Dayton. The brothers 

then began to experiment with the 

crazy notion of flying machines—and 

you know the rest of this story. Wright 

State, named for these early aviation 

pioneers, houses one of the world’s 

largest and most complete Wright 

brothers’ collections. 

Far right: In addition to embracing 

new technologies and research, Wright 

State is a hotbed of inclusiveness and 

diversity. Students from all ethnic, 

social, and economic backgrounds join 

students from around the world on 

campus. The university is also a 

national leader in serving students 

with disabilities. Our accessible 

campus helps all students achieve 

greater success. 

Right: The Dayton Campus of Miami 

University and Ohio State University 

opened in Allyn Hall, September 8, 

1964, with 3,203 students and 

fifty-five faculty members. After 

growing to more than 5,700 students 

in 1967, Wright State officially 

received its independence. Students 

held a mock funeral service for the 

departed ‘branch campus’ status. 

Wright State University was established in 

1967 with just a handful of programs and 

one building set in the middle of farmland. 

Today, its seven degree-awarding colleges 

and three schools—including schools of 

medicine and professional psychology—offer 

more than one hundred undergraduate degrees 

and fifty Ph.D., master’s, and professional 

degrees to approximately 17,000 students. An 

additional 965 undergraduate students are 

enrolled at the Lake Campus in Celina. 

The movement that led to the creation of 

Wright State University began in 1961 when 

local business and civic leaders led a 

community-wide drive to raise ‘seed money’ 

from private funds to establish a branch of The 

Ohio State University and Miami University in 

or near Dayton. At the time, Dayton was the 

second-largest metropolitan area in Ohio with 

no public higher education facility. 

More than 2,000 campaign workers recruited 

10,000 contributors who pushed the campaign 

over its $3 million goal in little more than three 

months. Larger employers, including General 

Motors and National Cash Register, established 

payroll deduction plans for the campaign. 

The land needed for the campus was partially 

purchased and partially deeded to the state of 

Ohio by the U.S. government from available 

land adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base, and the campus’ first building, Allyn 

Hall, was constructed. The Dayton Campus of 

Ohio State and Miami Universities was opened 

in 1964 and, in 1967, the Dayton Campus 

achieved status as an accredited independent 

university and Ohio’s twelfth state-assisted 

university. The university’s first president 

was Dr. Brage Golding, who served from 1966 

until 1973. 

Wright State University has grown from its 

first single building to a campus of more than 

twenty-four academic and support buildings. 

Academic colleges include Education and 

Human Services, Engineering and Computer 

Science, Lake Campus, Liberal Arts, Nursing 

and Health, Raj Soin College of Business, 

Science and Mathematics, and University 

College. Academic schools include Graduate 

Studies, Boonshoft School of Medicine, and 

Professional Psychology. 

Wright State’s student headcount of 17,662 

students for fall 2008 was the second-highest in 

its history and an increase of 4.4 percent over 

the previous year. “Having one of the lowest 

tuitions of Ohio’s universities, combined with 

top-notch college education, makes Wright 

State a great choice for families,” comments 

university President Dr. David R. Hopkins. 

The university operates with an annual 

budget of nearly $400 million and is one of the 


largest knowledge-based enterprises in the 

Dayton region, as well as one of the top ten 

employers in the region. 

The university’s growing stature and respect 

in the community helped achieve a benchmark 

in private giving, when its first-ever capital 

campaign, Tomorrow Takes Flight, raised $123.1 

million, more than triple the original goal. 

With a Campus Master Plan in place and 

new construction and renovations changing 

the campus landscape, Wright State University 

continues to provide leading-edge teaching 

and learning technology to meet the needs of 

students wired for a new century. 

❖ 

Above: Wright State ranks third 

among Ohio public universities in 

federal research funding. In addition 

to groundbreaking research, the 

campus is equipped with state-of-theart 

labs and teaching rooms, including 

the innovative Soin Trading 

Center, pictured. 

Left: Wright State University is 

transforming the county and region 

forward into the future, building upon 

a rich foundation of education, 

research, and community 

involvement. Wright State is located 

at 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, 

adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air 

Force Base. 


MARIANIST 

PROVINCE 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

❖ 

Right: Bergamo Center for Lifelong 

Learning, built in 1967 

Below: Mount Saint John in the 

1960s—East Patterson Road is in the 

foreground; the large red brick 

administration building and most of 

the large white building have been 

torn down. Bergamo Center for 

Lifelong Learning and the Mount 

Saint John Nature Preserve are 

located in the area beyond the farm 

buildings (top of photo), which were 

torn down. The round building is 

Queen of Apostles chapel. The 

building shown top right is used as a 

novitiate for young men considering 

vows with the Marianists. 

Mount Saint John, a beautiful 140-acre 

property in Beavercreek, Ohio, is home to several 

ministries of the Marianists (Society of Mary), 

who “strive to ensure that the Marianist spirit, 

ideals and heritage are embodied and promoted 

in all that is sponsored on the property to 

maintain its strong religious and Marianist 

character” (from the mission statement). 

In 1910 the Marianists purchased eighty 

acres of farmland which had been the home of a 

Shaker village called Watervliet for most of the 

19th century. The Marianist brothers and priests 

set out immediately to build a Novitiate for 

young men planning to join the Society of Mary. 

Over the decades many structures were 

built: a large administration building, a “normal 

school” (teacher’s college) for Marianists 

in training, a church, a retreat center, a 

gymnasium, a convent, a grotto dedicated to 

Mary and a cemetery. The brothers and priests 

continued the farm until the 1960s, tending 

livestock, grape vineyards and an apple orchard. 

Although some of the buildings have been torn 

down over the years, the mission of the property 

continues as Mount Saint John approaches its 

100th anniversary. 

Today Mount Saint John is home to the 

Marianist Novitiate for those considering vows 

as a religious brother in the Marianist Province 

of the United States; Bergamo Center for 

Lifelong Learning; the North American Center 

for Marianist Studies; Gallery Saint John; the 

Marianist Environmental Education Center; the 

Queen of Apostles community (a non-territorial 

parish in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati); Meyer 

Hall (a private Marianist residence); a grotto 

dedicated in 1929 to Our Lady of Lourdes; 

and Queen of Heaven cemetery for vowed 

Marianists, dedicated in 1962. 

The Marianist Novitiate creates an 

atmosphere of prayer, silence, study and 

supportive interaction. The community 

emphasizes Marianist hospitality, especially to 

members of the Marianist Family. The Marianist 

“Rule of Life” commits all Marianists to be 

informed about and responsive to the needs of 

the world. Members of the Novitiate community 

strive to live a life of simplicity and justice. 


Bergamo Center for Lifelong Learning is a 

Marianist retreat and conference center that 

offers holistic spiritual formation programs for 

youth and adults that deepen self-awareness, 

develop the interior life and elicit a personal 

and communal faith response to changing 

times. The center extends hospitality in a spirit 

of peace and renewal by providing a tranquil, 

natural environment in which individuals and 

groups refresh the body, expand the mind and 

renew the spirit. 

The North American Center for Marianist 

Studies provides programs, publications, and 

resources to the Marianist Family—brothers, 

priests, sisters and laypeople—to help in 

understanding, appreciating, sharing and 

developing its heritage and its place in the 

church today. The center strives to bring the 

Marianist heritage into dialogue with issues of 

contemporary church and culture. 

Gallery Saint John—the Marianist Network 

for the Arts—is a collaborative venture of 

the Marianists engaged in the visual arts. 

Sponsoring seven shows annually, the Gallery is 

an education and cultural outreach to the 

Dayton and Beavercreek communities. 

The Marianist Environmental Education 

Center preserves and acts in communion with 

the land and educates other communities in 

sustainability through ecology-based simple 

living, social justice and spirituality. The Mount 

Saint John Nature Preserve (part of MEEC) was 

named an Ohio Natural Landmark by the Ohio 

Department of Natural Resources in 1988. The 

preserve is comprised of 80 acres of woods, 

marsh and prairie that includes a 1.5 mile 

nature trail. Marianist Brother Don Geiger is 

primarily responsible for restoring the prairie 

and developing the nature trail. 

Mount Saint John employs about 50 people, 

with almost 20 Marianist priests, brothers and 

novices residing in two communities. 

The Marianists (Society of Mary) own and 

maintain Mount Saint John, which is located at 

4435 East Patterson Road in Dayton, Ohio 45430. 

The administrative office of the Marianist Province 

of the United States is located at 4425 West Pine 

Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108. The Society 

of Mary is an international Catholic religious 

order founded in 1817 in France by Blessed 

William Joseph Chaminade. The Marianists first 

settled in the United States in 1849 in Cincinnati. 

❖ 

Above: Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, 

dedicated in 1929 

Below: Prairie blossoms in the Mount 

Saint John Nature Preserve 


RESIDENCE INN BY MARRIOTT BEAVERCREEK 

The spacious suites at Residence Inn by 

Marriott offer separate living and sleeping areas, 

fully equipped kitchens, and plenty of space for 

relaxing. Guests may explore more than 150 

shops and dining establishments within easy 

walking distance. And to work out the stress of 

the day, you can enjoy a heated indoor pool and 

spa, as well as a fitness room open twenty-four 

hours per day. 

The extended-stay experience has been 

perfected at the Beavercreek Residence Inn by 

Marriott. At Residence Inn, you will find all the 

comforts of home combined with the Marriott’s 

passion for making every guest feel welcome. 

Residence Inn was specifically designed 

by Marriott to allow guests to thrive during 

extended stays by providing the features, 

amenities, and services guests need to perform 

at their best during long stays. Residence Inn is 

truly “Your Home Away from Home.” 

Guests enjoy a complimentary hot breakfast 

buffet served daily, free high-speed Internet, 

and large suites with full kitchen and separate 

areas for sleeping, working, eating, and relaxing. 

Complimentary services include coffee in the 

lobby, coffee and tea in-room, and an evening 

Manager’s Reception in the gatehouse. If you are 

traveling on business, you will appreciate such 

business amenities as copy service, fax service, 

network and Internet printing, overnight delivery 

or pickup, and post or parcel service. 

There is even a grocery shopping service, 

on-site laundry, valet dry-cleaning, and safe 

deposit boxes at the front desk. 

The five-floor, 100-suites hotel is located 

at 2779 Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek. 

Residence Inn is only a short drive from Fairfield 

Commons Mall, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, 

and the National Museum of the United States 

Air Force. 


Courtyard by Marriott Beavercreek surrounds 

travelers with all the conveniences that make 

business and pleasure travel easy. You can relax 

and prepare for the day in one of the spacious 

guest rooms, featuring a comfortable sitting area, 

large work desk, and free wireless high-speed 

Internet. You may enjoy a heated indoor pool 

and spa, and work out in the well-equipped 

fitness center open twenty-four hours a day. 

Located at 2777 Fairfield Common in 

Beavercreek, Courtyard by Marriott offers ninety 

rooms and four suites on four floors. There is also 

a meeting room with 675 square feet of space. 

The customer-focused design of Courtyard by 

Marriott allows guests to be comfortable as well as 

productive. There is a hearty, healthy breakfast 

buffet or eggs cooked to order—freshly prepared 

and reasonably priced. Spacious guest rooms combine 

comfort and functionality with a large desk, 

conveniently placed lighting and outlets, and an 

ergonomic chair for comfort. All rooms include 

new thirty-two inch LG flat-screen televisions. 

Special guest services include babysitting, 

nearby foreign exchange, on-site laundry and 

valet dry cleaning, dinner delivery from local 

restaurants, and safe deposit boxes. 

Courtyard by Marriott Beavercreek is located 

only 9 miles from Xenia or Yellow Springs, 

17 miles from Springfield, and 24 miles 

from Lebanon. 

The Residence Inn chain was launched in 

1977 in Wichita, Kansas by Jack DeBoer, and 

acquired by Marriott International in 1987. 

There are currently more than 450 Residence Inn 

hotels in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 

The first Courtyard location was built in 

1983 and was Marriott’s first sister brand. 

Courtyard by Marriott is designed specifically 

for business travelers. 

The heritage of Residence Inn and Courtyard 

can be traced to founder J. William Marriott’s 

experience as a Mormon missionary. He and his 

wife, Alice, opened a root beer stand in 

Washington, D.C., in 1927 and then expanded 

into the hospitality field. The Key Bridge 

Marriott in Arlington, Virginia celebrated its 

fiftieth anniversary in 2009 and is Marriott 

International’s longest operating hotel. Today, 

Marriott International has about 3,200 lodging 

properties in the United States and sixty-seven 

other counties and territories. 

COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT BEAVERCREEK 


BEAVERCREEK 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 

The Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce, 

linking business with community since 1966, 

began as a community project of the Beavercreek 

Jaycees. The original name was the Beavercreek 

Businessman’s Association and a kick-off 

meeting was held in the High School West 

cafeteria on September 29, 1966. 

The founders included several Jaycee 

members, including Leroy Winner, Thomas Toy, 

Lou Montag and Gene Bennington. Once a 

Jaycee member turned thirty-five years old, they 

were no longer eligible to be a Jaycee member 

and were encouraged to join the Chamber. 

The Chamber telephone was always installed 

in the home or business of the Chamber 

president and all monthly meetings were held in 

the president’s home. Among the early projects 

were a Christmas Home Decorating Contest, 

a Retail Merchants Christmas Sale Promotion, 

and a Fourth of July fireworks display at the 

high school. 

Rosemary Laxson was the first paid Chamber 

employee. After her part-time employment 

with the Chamber, Leonard Holihan, a retired 

Air Force Colonel, was hired as the first 

full-time Chamber director in 1981. Len refused 

a salary, enabling the Chamber to establish 

a solid financial base. He was instrumental in 

establishing many of the events and programs 

that continue today. Sandy Watson was hired as 

associate director in 1991 and became director 

in 1994. She was succeeded by the current 

director, Clete Buddelmeyer in 2005. 

The Chamber has been instrumental in 

the growth and development of Beavercreek, 

serving as an intermediary between the 

“Committee of Eleven” and the Valleywood 

Boosters to help incorporate the City of 

Beavercreek in 1980. The Chamber also 

supported development of the Mall at Fairfield 

Commons and helped the City establish its 

sign ordinance. 

The Beavercreek Chamber, located in offices 

at 3299 Kemp Road and on the Internet at 

www.BeavercreekChamber.org, began with 

seventy members in 1966 and now boasts more 

than 650 members and averages eight new 

members per month. The organization is 

governed by an Executive Board consisting of 

the president, vice president, treasurer, and the 

past president, as well as a fifteen-member 

board of directors with four ex officio members. 

The staff, which reports to the 

Board, includes the director, a 

membership services director, 

and a part-time office assistant. 

In addition to partnering 

with the city, schools, and 

township officials to help 

create one of the top business 

and residential communities 

in the nation, the Beavercreek 

Chamber of Commerce conducts 

regular networking events. 

These include Beaver Business 

Links, a well-attended monthly 

networking event held at 

various business locations, and 

a Woman in Business Luncheon 

held each month at the 

Beavercreek Golf Club. The 

Chamber also hosts the Annual 

Awards Banquet, the Taste of 

Greene County, and the Harvest 

Ball. All events are coordinated 

by Chamber volunteers with 

the help of the staff. 


COLLETT 

PROPANE, 

INC. 

Collett Propane, Inc., traces its roots to 

1919, the year Bob Collett founded Collett 

Hardware in the small farming community of 

New Burlington. Bob had just returned from 

service in World War I and felt the store would 

be successful because of its central location 

between Xenia and Wilmington. 

The hardware store did become a success as 

customers came from miles around, not only 

for convenience, but because of Bob’s 

commitment to service. They knew they could 

count on Collett Hardware for its large 

inventory and expert advice. The store was also 

a popular gathering place where local residents 

gathered to share news and socialize. It was 

also the place where Bob’s sons, Don and 

Chuck, spent much of their time growing up 

and gaining an appreciation for hard work and 

pleasing customers. 

A chance encounter in 1952 transformed 

Collett Hardware into Collett Propane. When 

Route 42 was closed for repairs, traffic was 

detoured through New Burlington past Collett 

Hardware. A traveling propane distributor 

happened to stop by and began talking about 

the advantages of propane with Don Collett, 

who was owner at the time. 

Don was convinced that selling propane 

would be an excellent business move and he 

and his brother, Chuck, formed a partnership 

in the propane business, initially offering 100 

pound cylinders. Their first delivery was made 

the day before Thanksgiving 1952. 

The Collett brothers’ propane business grew 

steadily as propane grew in popularity because 

of its safety and cleanliness. 

In 1982, Jane Newton, Don’s daughter, 

joined the company after earning a degree from 

Wright State University. She now serves as 

company president. 

Today, Collett Propane is a respected, full 

service propane distributor primarily serving 

Greene, Clinton, and Warren Counties. Plants 

and offices are located in Xenia, Wilmington, 

and Lebanon. 

Currently, Collett Propane services about 

7,000 customers, eighty percent of whom are 

residential customers. The others are commercial, 

industrial, or agricultural customers. 

“We work hard to assure every customer 

the same high quality, friendly service we’ve 

been known for since my grandfather started 

business in 1919,” says Jane. “We promise 

every customer the highest level of reliability, 

safety and sensitivity to their needs. It has been 

that way since 1952 and we do not want to 

change our formula for success.” 

❖ 

Above: Early days (mid 1920s) of 

Collett Hardware in New Burlington, 

Ohio. Robert D. Collett, grandfather 

of Jane Newton (owner of Collett 

Propane, Inc.) is behind counter. Not 

visible in picture, is Don Collett, 

father of Jane and co-founder of 

Collett Propane, Inc. 

Below: Collett Propane, Inc., is 

located at 1525 Burnett Drive in 

Xenia and on the Internet at 

www.collettpropane.com. 


FAIRBORN AREA 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 

The city of Fairborn, located on the western 

edge of Greene County, was formed when 

two nineteenth century villages, Fairfield and 

Osborn, merged and became a city on January 1, 

1950. At the time of the merger, the population 

of the two villages was less than 2,000. Today, the 

population of Fairborn is in excess of 32,000. 

Fairborn is the home of Wright-Patterson Air 

Force Base, one of the largest and most complex 

military installations in the nation. The 

Aeronautical Systems Center located on the base 

is the research and development arm of the Air 

Force for all weapons systems. The field where the 

Wright Brothers learned to fly, and later trained 

others to fly, is located on the base. The Wright’s 

flying field was the first airport in the nation. 

Fairborn is only five miles north of the city of 

Riverside, home of the National Museum of the 

United States Air Force. 

Wright State University, located in Fairborn, is 

one of the fastest growing universities in the 

nation. As students pursue career opportunities, 

Wright State is there to provide 102 undergraduate 

degree programs and forty graduate degree 

programs focusing on all aspects of academic and 

professional excellence. 

As the home of the Ervin J. Nutter Center, 

an internationally known 11,000-seat arena, 

Fairborn is the region’s entertainment leader. The 

Nutter Center offers a variety of entertainment, 

ranging from Wright State Raiders basketball 

and Dayton Bombers hockey to the nation’s 

top country and rock entertainers and theatrical 

performances and ice shows. 

With 384 acres of park land, consisting of 

thirteen parks, a thirty-six acre nature reserve, 

and a regional bikeway, Fairborn has a special 

commitment to recreational areas and preserving 

green space. 

Fairborn is a diverse, full-service community 

focused on the future. The city’s ability to look 

toward the future, yet preserve the best aspects 

of the past, sets Fairborn apart from other 

communities. Find out for yourself what 

makes Fairborn a great place to live, work, and 

play. For additional information, check the 

Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce website at 

www.fairborn.com. 


Mount Zion Church in Xenia traces its 

history to such early pioneers as Jacob Coy and 

Thomas Winters, who moved into the area 

shortly after Congress opened the Northwest 

Territory in 1800. 

Coy began the first formal worship services 

in the Coy School House on his land along 

Shakertown Road. Winters was called by God 

during the Great Awakening of the early 

nineteenth century, and became the preacher at 

Coy School House in 1809. He went on to serve 

seven different churches and organized Beaver 

Church on Dayton Xenia Road, which became 

the mother church of Mount Zion. 

In 1845, sixty members left Beaver Church to 

organize Mount Zion at the corner of Indian 

Ripple and Fairfield Road. David Winters, the 

son of Thomas Winters, founded Mount Zion 

and served as pastor for forty years. 

Winters was succeeded by a 

number of dynamic pastors, 

including James Steele, Frederick 

Hoffman, and Ward Hartman. 

Their passion to win, build, 

and send men and women, boys 

and girls out for Jesus Christ 

have inspired mission teams 

from Mount Zion to travel to 

Russia, China, Thailand, Poland, 

and Honduras. 

Under the direction of their 

Senior Pastor, Mount Zion 

purchased twenty-six acres on 

Shepherd Road, where they built 

a beautiful new facility in order 

to reach the next generation. 

They moved in June 2008. 

Mount Zion is affiliated with two 

denominations: the United Church of Christ 

(UCC) and the Conservative Congregational 

Christian Conference (CCCC). The church’s 

historical connection is with the UCC, which 

came out of the German Reformed tradition. 

Mount Zion’s active participation, however, is 

with CCCC. Their evangelical orientation offers 

a good ‘fit’ for Mount Zion Church. 

Mount Zion Church has a membership of 

700, led by a staff of eighteen that includes 

Senior Pastor Larry Stroble, Pastor of Evangelism 

and Missions Jeff O’Guin, Pastor of Christian 

Education and Families Paul Blend, and 

Minister of Pastoral Care Pete Peterson. Church 

Administrator is Michelle Willis. 

For additional information about Mount 

Zion Church, please check their website at 

www.mountzionchurch.org. 

MOUNT ZION 

CHURCH 


❖ 

PETERSON & 

PETERSON, 

LLC 

ATTORNEYS 

AT LAW 

Peterson & Peterson’s offices at 

87 South Progress Drive. 

Peterson & Peterson, LLC, a general practice 

law firm, has served the residents of Greene 

County and surrounding area for nearly 

sixty years. 

The firm was established in 1950 by John G. 

Peterson, who was joined in 1955 by his brother, 

Marshall E. Peterson. Both men were former 

Greene County prosecutors and presidents of 

the Greene County Bar Association. David S. 

Peterson, the son of Marshall Peterson, joined 

the firm in 1984. 

In addition to David, the firm now consists 

of attorneys Robert K. Hendrix and Thomas W. 

Simms and a team of five secretaries and 

administrative personnel who work together to 

provide expert legal services for the firm’s 

clients. Peterson & Peterson has a high regard 

for its clients and works together to exceed their 

expectations in every case possible. 

Peterson & Peterson serves its clients with a 

variety of services, including personal injury/ 

wrongful death, worker’s compensation, felony 

and misdemeanor defense, adoption, divorce, 

DUI and other traffic cases, and civil matters 

including contract review and preparation and 

collections. The firm also provides probate 

and real estate services, including wills and living 

trusts, estates, deeds/mortgages, estate planning 

evictions and foreclosure representation. 

“We deal with a wide variety of cases,” 

comments David. “The thing that is most 

important to us at Peterson & Peterson is that we 

pride ourselves on integrity and honesty. We like 

to give direct answers to direct questions, and if a 

client’s matter is something we can’t help with, 

we’ll refer them to the right person who can help.” 

“We’ll see the case through to the end and 

get the best possible result,” David adds. 

Peterson & Peterson was located originally 

on North Detroit Street in Xenia. In 2000 the 

firm constructed a new building at 87 South 

Progress Drive in Xenia. 

The firm and its employees are very active in 

both professional organizations and civic 

affairs. David is a former president of the 

Greene County Bar Association and Miami 

Valley Trial Lawyers Association. Currently, he 

is a Board member of the American Red Cross 

and Legal Aid of Western Ohio. 

For additional information about Peterson & 

Peterson, LLC, Attorneys at Law, check their 

website at www.dpetersonlaw.com. 


On February 6, 1929, about 100 Greene 

County residents met at the Library to organize 

an historical society. Dr. William Albert Galloway 

presided over the meeting. He spoke briefly of 

highlights in Greene County history, and of the 

danger of losing such a wealth of personal and 

general history unless it was collected by 

organized effort. The first slate of officers was as 

follows: Dr. W. A. Galloway, president; Professor 

H. C. Aultman, vice president; Florence Swan, 

secretary; and George Dodds, treasurer. 

Dr. Galloway died in 1931; Dr. B. McClellan 

was the president of the Society when Emma 

King donated property for a museum at the 

corner of Second and Monroe Streets in Xenia. 

In 1936 arrangements were made to move the 

Galloway log house from its original location 

near Goes Station. 

In 1953 the Society took part in the 150th 

birthday celebrations of the state and county by 

repairing the log house and helping publish a 

book, Out of the Wilderness. In time, the members 

felt that additional property would be desirable, 

and, through the donations of two men, Charles 

Snediker and John Glossinger, the property on 

West Church Street was acquired. The Moorehead 

house on the corner of North Detroit and West 

Church held many artifacts. The Snediker 

Museum was a brick carriage house on the 

Moorehead property. The Glossinger Cultural 

Center was used for meetings and contained the 

offices of the Society. In 1965 the Galloway log 

house was removed to this location and the fourbuilding 

complex was complete. 

Two major exhibits took place during the early 

1970s: an exhibit of moon rocks and a showing 

of world-renowned photographer Axel Bahnsen’s 

work. The first Pilgrimage of Homes was 

sponsored in 1967, a summer one-day tour of 

historic homes. This is now known as the Holiday 

Tour of Homes, held the first Sunday in December. 

Things were as usual for the Society until the 

afternoon of April 3, 1974, when the tornado 

came to Xenia. Of the four historical society 

buildings, three were damaged beyond repair, 

with the log house the only survivor. Artifacts 

and fixtures were gathered and stored by 

volunteers, until the Society could find suitable 

storage during the rebuilding process. Mike 

DeWine, a member of the board, helped 

organize the operation. 

There was no question about rebuilding and 

many different options were considered. After 

much thought, the membership voted to sell the 

city of Xenia a portion of the property, which 

was needed for widening Church Street and to 

rebuild the Galloway log house at its same 

location. The office was temporarily housed at 

the Greene County District Library annex, and 

work began on the log house; it was reopened to 

the public in December 1975. The Town House 

from the corner of Church and Detroit was 

moved to the corner of Church and King in 

1977. The Society now owns the entire plot 

bounded by West Church, North King, King 

Avenue, and the alley by the log house. 

The Brantley Carriage House Museum, a 

three-story brick building modeled after the old 

Snediker Carriage House, was erected behind 

the Town House in 1990. Presiding over the 

dedication ceremony was Dr. Norman Vincent 

Peale, formerly of Bowersville. The office was 

moved into the building and meetings are held 

there as well. The Carriage House is handicap 

accessible, and houses the railroad display, 

sections from the 1855 courthouse fence, and 

a variety of other artifacts. In fall 2009 the 

Galloway log house was restored at a cost of 

nearly $30,000, replacing rotted logs and the 

cement chinking from the 1974 rebuilding, and 

adding copper gutters and downspouts. 

A Memorial Wall is located in the Brantley 

Carriage House Museum, which contains many 

familiar Greene County names, and serves as a 

remembrance of those who helped further the 

growth of the county. 

GREENE 

COUNTY 

HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 

❖ 

Above: Dr. William Albert Galloway. 

Below: Greene County Historical 

Society lost three of its four buildings 

to a tornado; this is a replacement for 

the Glossinger Cultural Center. It was 

moved from the northwest corner of 

Church and Detroit Street over a 

two-day period in 1977. 


BEAVER UNITED 

CHURCH OF 

CHRIST 

Beaver United Church of Christ, 1960 

Dayton-Xenia Road, celebrated its two 

hundredth anniversary in September 2009. The 

church was founded in 1809, when a group of 

pioneers began holding nondenominational 

services in a log barn on the Lantz farm. Some 

of these pioneers had been affiliated with the 

German Reformed movement in Pennsylvania 

and other eastern states. 

The group later held services in the Coy 

schoolhouse until a log church was built in 1824 

on George Long’s farmland, now the site of Beaver 

Cemetery. The congregation was known as the 

High German Reformed Church and shared the 

building with the German Evangelical Lutherans, 

each group meeting on alternate Sundays. 

In 1846, having outgrown the log church, 

the German Reformed congregation built the 

present red brick building, now covered in 

stucco, on the lot adjoining the old church. 

Eight simply-designed art glass windows were 

installed in the sanctuary in 1868 during a 

major renovation which cost $2,000. New 

construction at the front of the building in 1899 

added a vestibule, two classrooms, and an inside 

stairway to the basement. In addition, four 

unique art glass windows were installed in the 

two classrooms. Beaver Church was designated 

an historic structure in 2001 by the Beavercreek 

Historical Society. 

In 1934 the Reformed Church merged with 

the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical 

and Reformed Church. Beaver Church then 

became known familiarly as Beaver E&R. In 

1957 the national E&R Church merged with the 

Congregational Church to form the United 

Church of Christ. 

Beaver Church has been refurbished and 

renewed numerous times throughout the years. 

The last major remodeling occurred in 1999 

with the completion of a $600,000 addition to 

the rear of the building. The three-story addition 

supplied classrooms, offices, six bathrooms, an 

elevator, and a fellowship hall. 

Beaver Church has welcomed thirty-three 

pastors in its long history. The first full-time 

minister, Reverend James Deitz, came in 1955. 

The church had previously been part of a charge. 

Moving into its third century, Beaver Church 

continues to provide worship opportunities and 

service to those in need and tries to live by its 

motto, “To Love and To Serve.” 

❖ 

This space was donated by Deal’s 

Landscape Service, Inc., serving 

Greene County since 1940. 


The city of Beavercreek, with a population of 

nearly 40,000, is a dynamic community located in 

the Miami Valley region. Encompassing more than 

twenty-nine square miles, it is considered one of 

the most attractive and desirable communities in 

the region. It is characterized by a spacious, rolling 

environment that provides an attractive setting for 

many lovely residential neighborhoods. The area is 

one of the fastest growing regional communities, 

with housing ranging from exclusive, custom-built 

homes to charming older neighborhoods. 

CITY OF 

BEAVERCREEK 

Until the late 1700s, Beavercreek was known 

as a prized hunting ground to the Shawnee and 

Miami Indians. The first settlers began arriving 

in the early 1800s with approximately a halfdozen 

families settling along the Beaver Creeks. 

A large number of Beavercreek settlers came from 

Washington and Frederick Counties in Maryland; 

others followed from Pennsylvania, Kentucky, 

and New Jersey. 

Early farmers were attracted to the area 

because of rich soil, fine rolling lands and an 

abundance of water. The farmers grew corn, 

wheat, rye, oats, barley, flaxseed, buckwheat and 

grapes. The area flourished as an agricultural and 

manufacturing community. 

Beavercreek is known as the Pioneer Township 

of Greene County. Greene County was formed in 

the early 1800s, with Beavercreek Township being 

the first county seat. In 1803 the land was divided 

to create Sugarcreek, Caesarscreek, and Mad 

River Townships. During this time, Beavercreek 

Township continued to be the largest township in 

Greene County. Another section of land was 

divided off in 1805, creating Xenia Township. In 

1807 a northern section was drawn, making Bath 

Township. Yet Beavercreek Township remained the 

largest and most fertile agricultural township in 

the county. 

The area began rapid development in the 

1950s, moving toward more suburban type 

living. The western portion of the township was 

incorporated as the Village of Beavercreek in 

1980 and was officially designated the City of 

Beavercreek in 1981. 

The Mall at Fairfield Commons and Greene 

Town Center anchor a growing regional business 

environment providing convenient shopping, 

dining, and services. Neighborhood shopping 

areas are conveniently located throughout the 

community. Beavercreek is easily accessible to 

most regional metropolitan areas. US 35 provides 

direct expressway access to Dayton and I-675 

provides convenient access to nearby Cincinnati 

and Columbus. 

Beavercreek is home to numerous research 

and manufacturing firms engaged in defense 

technologies, aerospace, automotive components, 

electronics and other specialized advanced 

technologies. Many Beavercreek residents are 

current or former military personnel and civilian 

employees of nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force 

Base and the defense industry contractors serving 

this significant administrative command and 

research facility. 

Because of the variety of amenities, Beavercreek 

has been listed among the nation’s Top 100 Places 

to Live by Money magazine. 


MARMAC 

❖ 

Robert and Margaret McCreery. 

For more than half-a-century, MARMAC has 

served design engineers with custom-designed 

and built hydraulic lifting solutions for a variety 

of material handling applications. 

The company was organized in 1954 when 

Robert McCreery, a sales representative for a lift 

fabricating firm, recognized a need for custom 

hydraulic systems. Others involved in the 

organization were Russell Wolf and Thomas 

Lechner, who served as vice presidents, and 

Margaret McCreery, treasurer. 

McCreery’s passion for different and unusual 

projects provided the impetus for the firm’s 

early growth. He held several patents, two of 

which were instrumental in MARMAC’s growth. 

One was the ‘Differential Column,’ which installed 

above the ground and the second was the 

“Severe Duty,” capable of high speeds and large 

eccentric loading. 

McCreery also refused to be slowed by 

unexpected events. When MARMAC’s building 

was being expanded in 1974, a tornado 

destroyed several sections that were under 

construction. Employees continued to work on 

orders on hand, in addition to repairing the 

tornado damage. 

After more than fifty years of providing versatile 

lifting solutions, MARMAC has the engineering 

experience and versatility to meet wide-ranging 

hydraulic needs for a variety of applications, 

including manufacturing, foundries and steel 

mills, kilns, shipyards, warehousing, transportation, 

veterinary/agricultural, and theatrical. 

Working closely with our design engineering 

clients, MARMAC’s Application Engineering 

Services Group develops hydraulic lifting solutions 

for a wide range of applications. 

Located at 1231 Bellbrooke Avenue in Xenia, 

MARMAC’s current employment is about sixteen. 

Annual sales are in the range of $1.5 to $3 million. 

The company is a strong supporter of civic 

activities and employees are actively involved in 

such organizations as Young Life, Crusade for 

Christ, Special Olympics, and a number of local 

youth sports teams. 

Design engineers understand that each 

hydraulic lifting application is different. That is 

why they turn to MARMAC, a hydraulic lift 

supplier with the experience and flexibility 

to solve their toughest design dilemmas. 

MARMAC’s five decades of success stem from a 

commitment to an understanding of each 

client’s industry, application and hydraulic 

lifting needs. 

For more information about MARMAC, 

check their website at www.marmacco.com. 


SPONSORS 

Beaver United Church of Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 

Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 

City of Beavercreek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 

Collett Propane, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 

Courtyard by Marriott Beavercreek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 

Elano Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 

Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 

Greene County Historical Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 

Marianist Province of the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 

MARMAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 

Mount Zion Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 

Peterson & Peterson, LLC, Attorneys at Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 

Residence Inn by Marriott Beavercreek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 

Stonehill Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 

Wright State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 

Sponsors ✦ 63

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call 

Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com. 

Albemarle & Charlottesville: 

An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years 

Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas 

Garland: A Contemporary History 

Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History 

Historic Alamance County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History 

Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History 

Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History 

Historic Austin: An Illustrated History 

Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History 

Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brownsville: An Illustrated History 

Historic Charlotte: 

An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County 

Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City 

Historic Clayton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History 

Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History 

Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History 

Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fayette County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began 

Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hood County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Houston: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hunt County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History 

Historic Kern County: 

An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County 

Historic Lafayette: 

An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish 

Historic Laredo: 

An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County 

Historic Lee County: The Story of Fort Myers & Lee County 

Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Mansfield: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History 

Historic Montgomery County: 

An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas 

Historic Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion County 

Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History 

Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Omaha: 

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

Historic Orange County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History 

Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History 

Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pennsylvania An Illustrated History 

Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History 

Historic Prescott: 

An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County 

Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rogers County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Santa Barbara: An Illustrated History 

Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land 

Historic Shelby County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Shreveport-Bossier: 

An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City 

Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History 

Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Temple: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texarkana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texas: An Illustrated History 

Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History 

Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wake County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Warren County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear: 


Historic York County: An Illustrated History 

Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego 

Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future 

Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community 

Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History 

Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle 

The New Frontier: 

A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County 

The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait 

The Spirit of Collin County 

Valley Places, Valley Faces 

Water, Rails & Oil: Historic Mid & South Jefferson County 


$34.95 

LEADERSHIP SPONSORS 

Elano Corporation 

Stonehill Village 

About the Author 

Catherine Wilson has a great deal of experience in public 

service, having worked in libraries for every bit of twenty 

years. She is currently employed as the executive director of 

the Greene County, Ohio, Historical Society. She worked at 

Clark State Community College as circulation specialist, 

college archivist, and administrative assistant to the dean of 

library and education resources (1999-2007), leaving the 

college to concentrate on her master’s in public history at 

Wright State University, which she completed in June 2008. 

Before that, Wilson worked at the Greene County Room, 

the local history and genealogy department of the Greene 

County Public Library (1987-1999), assisting with public 

research. An average of 550 patrons per month—from all over 

Ohio and several other states—used the facility during her 

tenure, a statistical high point. 

Catherine served as a board member for three years (2004- 

2006) for the Greene County, Ohio, Historical Society. She 

has presented various history lectures to local and community 

groups, and at the Ohio Academy of History, a scholarly 

conference. She has written several articles for national, state, 

and local publications as well. She is working on a booklength 

manuscript about Greene County covering 1855-1870, 

studying the effects of the Civil War on a typical Midwestern 

community, and a novel of historical fiction about an 1863 

murder case.--- 

ISBN: 9781935377191

Historic Greene County

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