With the recent announcement of the cancellation of the 2020 Ohio State Fair, we thought we’d post this post about a previous edition held right here.
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
Here’s a summertime trivia question for you – when was the last time that the Ohio State Fair was held outside of Columbus, and where was it held?
You might be able to guess the answer to that question from the title of this post.
Mansfield was home to the Ohio State Fair in 1872 and 1873, one of only 10 cities statewide to ever hold that honor. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
If you had to choose one photo that would represent the place that is Mansfield, Ohio, what image would you choose?
The Ohio State Reformatory? A view of downtown? The Richland Carrousel?
Or our favorite — the Blockhouse in South Park? More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
Mansfield was a bustling place in 1896, with a population of approximately 17,000. On Saturday, May 30, the community came together to celebrate Memorial Day.
First known nationally as “Decoration Day,” the term “Memorial Day” was first used in 1882. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
The competition was fierce early last century as Columbus, Alliance, Marietta, Toledo, Fostoria, Marion, and Mansfield vied for the prize – host city for the 1914 Ohio State Corn Show. At the 1913 show in Lima, the winner was announced, and Mansfield was chosen.
Amazingly, both the 1913 and 1914 Corn Shows took place in the dead of winter – mid to late January. Still, thousands attended such events. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
Note: In early 2017, 1812Blockhouse published posts looking at the history of Mansfield and Richland County as that history is revealed on maps – maps of the area, county, and nation. We are repeating those posts this spring and summer and adding to them with additional maps and local history.
This is Part Two of a series; Part One can be found here.
The first fifty years of Ohio statehood saw the creation of counties and establishment of county boundaries – and then a re-shuffling of those boundaries, often by taking property from one and adding it to another or to an entirely new county. More…
1812Blockhouse, History & Tourism
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
We’re celebrating a bit here at 1812Blockhouse by unveiling our new Richland History section.
As we have previously shared, Richland History is a compendium of links and resources to a wide array of information. Not only will it contain an index to our two landmarks series, which contain almost 50 entries, but it does the same for our “When Mansfield Welcomed,” “Richland Roots,” and other series.
There’s much more on offer. Would you like to read a Mansfield newspaper from, say, 1878? Now you can easily locate it. More…
1812Blockhouse, Featured, Mansfield History, Richland County History
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
Editor’s Note: In early 2017, 1812Blockhouse published posts looking at the history of Mansfield and Richland County as that history is revealed on maps – maps of the area, county, and nation. We are repeating those posts this spring and summer and adding to them with additional maps and local history. Before we continue that series, we have this update — 1812Blockhouse has discovered an online map of Ohio which may actually pre-date that referenced in the first post in our series Mansfield On The Map.
Although no date appears, it is claimed that the map which can be accessed at this location online dates from 1815, a year before the map we shared in our first post. More…
1812Blockhouse, History & Tourism
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
As we shared in our post on Sunday introducing the latest in our Landmarks of Richland, the beautiful Greenlawn Cemetery Chapel in Plymouth, this past weekend would have seen multiple Richland County historic sites and attractions open to the public for the annual RichHistory Weekend.
Today and tomorrow, we are continuing to recognize those sites by sharing stories that focus on the shared heritage enjoyed by residents of this county.
We’re particularly thrilled today to share with you news of a new resource on 1812Blockhouse that has been in the works for some time. Originally developed as an “add on” feature for a new membership program, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the difficult situation in which local museums and tourism destinations find themselves have prompted us to open this up freely to 1812Blockhouse visitors. More…
1812Blockhouse, Featured, Mansfield History, Richland County History
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
The fact that the John Krause House sits where it does is something which has puzzled some historians.
The house was designed with strong Prairie Style influences, much as its two-block-away neighbor, the Rufus Kern House at number 608 Park Avenue West. These two houses were built in a style which was not often found on Midwest main streets, as the influence of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright was considered a bit “modern” and not exactly mainstream. More…
Featured, Landmarks, Landmarks of Mansfield, Mansfield History
All About Richland, History & Tourism
A truly amazing thing is currently happening at the corner of Penn Avenue and Sherman Place in the Sherman’s Estate area of Mansfield. And, even in this time of intense uncertainty, something for which the future was anything but certain is now springing back to life and to a renewed sense of purpose.
When the former St. Matthew Lutheran Church was purchased earlier this year, it came into the hands of a family with a close connection to the story of both the building and the congregation. Starting on February 7, it has been the focus of intense work.
“Preservation is the biggest part,” James Dollish shared with 1812Blockhouse on Tuesday afternoon. Dollish explained that he couldn’t bear to see stained glass or pews removed and sold with the building possibly demolished in the process if it landed in other hands. More…
Today’s landmark is not of a single structure or monument, as previous Landmarks of Mansfield listings have been. Instead, it is a collection of buildings located in what remains a somewhat rural setting on the southwest side of the city.
Raemelton Farm was established in 1918 by civic leader Frank Black, and named after the town in Ireland from which his father had emigrated to America. The farm was landscaped by famed landscape architect Martha Cruger Coffin, who was responsible for several outstanding gardens and landscapes including those at Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware. More…
Featured, Landmarks, Landmarks of Mansfield, Mansfield History
Publisher’s Note: Realizing that many Richland Countians are now working from home or forced to remain there due to self-quarantining or reduced travel, we are sharing stories from our archives, and adding some new ones, over the next few weeks in what we hope will be occasional diversions from coronavirus worries. This post was published by 1812Blockhouse back in June 2017:
This stately home on Park Avenue West was built by a man with a sterling reputation in the community.
His name was Silas Marion Douglas, but around Mansfield he was commonly referred to as “Judge Douglas.” He was born in January, 1853 in Monroe Township, Richland County, and was a graduate of both Heidelberg College in Tiffin and the Cincinnati Law College. More…
Publisher’s Note: Realizing that many Richland Countians are now working from home or forced to remain there due to self-quarantining or reduced travel, we are sharing stories from our archives, and adding some new ones, over the next few weeks in what we hope will be occasional diversions from coronavirus worries. This post was published by 1812Blockhouse back in early 2019:
Over the last two centuries, Richland County has produced a remarkable set of individuals who have led lives of discovery. In the nineteenth century, that included men and women who traveled west where they were engaged in the exploration of areas of the country that were not then well known to Americans.
Once such individual was Olin Dunbar Wheeler. More…
Publisher’s Note: Realizing that many Richland Countians are now working from home or forced to remain there due to self-quarantining or reduced travel, we are sharing stories from our archives, and adding some new ones, over the next few weeks in what we hope will be occasional diversions from coronavirus worries. This post was published by 1812Blockhouse back in late 2018:
Throughout its history, Richland County has produced or been the home to a wide variety of individuals that have made important contributions to the world. 1812Blockhouse has been sharing their stories in a series we started last year called “Richland Roots.” For other Richland Roots stories, click here. More…
Famous Sons and Daughters, Mansfield History, Richland Roots
