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    Wilmington
    Wilmington
    Wilmington
    Ebook203 pages1 hour

    Wilmington

    By Laura Lanese, Eileen Brady and Clinton County Historical Society

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    About this ebook

    The first settlers began arriving in the Wilmington region in the early 1800s. Less than a decade later, in 1810, Wilmington was chosen as the county seat for the newly formed Clinton County. Although the area has long been known for its agricultural productivity, Wilmington’s rich and diverse history includes a territorial governor and Civil War general, a world-renowned sculptor, a musician who performed for years on the Delta Queen, and a Major League Baseball club owner. Wilmington has also been home to several Underground Railroad stops, a Quaker college, an experimental World War II glider base, and a cold war missile site. Twice named one of the “Best Small Towns in America,” Wilmington continues to delight visitors with its stately historic buildings and its small-town charm.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439641200
    Wilmington
    Author

    Laura Lanese

    The Clinton County Historical Society provided most of the images contained herein, which capture Wilmington from its earliest days until its 1960 sesquicentennial celebration. Laura Lanese, a former attorney, lives with her family in Grove City, Ohio. This is her third book. Eileen Brady, a former editor for newspapers in North Carolina and Illinois, lives with her family in Alexandria, Virginia. Lanese and Brady are both Wilmington High School graduates.

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      Book preview

      Wilmington - Laura Lanese

      alone.

      INTRODUCTION

      Wilmington, Ohio, is situated on land that was once part of the Virginia Military District, land that was payment to Virginia’s Revolutionary War soldiers for their military service. The passage of the Northwest Territory Act of 1787 and the defeat of the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 ushered in an era of expansion into Ohio. A handful of pioneers started arriving in the Wilmington region about the same time Ohio was becoming a state in 1803. These early settlers had to be resolute and resourceful to establish homesteads in the wilderness. If they arrived during the cold months when traveling was easier, they needed enough supplies to get them through the harsh Ohio winters. If natural hardships were not challenging enough, the settlers also had to contend with swindlers dealing in fraudulent land titles and the confusing metes and bounds system, which often led them to the wrong property and caused years of litigation.

      Many of the original settlers came for the fertile farmland. The Wilmington region benefitted from the Wisconsin glaciers that helped create a landscape perfect for agriculture. For many pioneers, the Ohio terrain offered more opportunities than the rocky lands of the eastern seaboard. Other settlers were Quakers, who were either relocating to be near family and friends, coming for the farmland, or leaving the slave states of the South. Still other pioneers were led to Wilmington by their sense of adventure.

      In 1810, Clinton County was carved out of surrounding counties and was named after George Clinton, then vice president and former governor of New York. Appointed by the state legislature, the first county commissioners were responsible for choosing the county seat. David Faulkner and Joseph Doan offered 50 and 10 acres respectively for this purpose, which was accepted by the commissioners. Doan kept two lots for himself, and two more were reserved for public use. Choosing a name was more difficult, and the new townsfolk went through several name changes before they settled on Wilmington.

      When Wilmington was platted in August 1810, the villagers built log houses, churches, schools, and businesses. The Quakers set up their first house of worship around 1805 on Center Road. In 1811, Warren Sabin established the first permanent tavern and inn, and his descendants still operate a family business in downtown Wilmington. As commerce developed, the residents eventually found time for other activities in the new village, including publishing newspapers and participating in educational societies.

      For a primarily agricultural town, Wilmington has produced a rich tapestry of talented individuals who have become, among other things, abolitionists, artists, and adventurers.

      Among Wilmington’s abolitionists was Dr. Abraham Brooke, one of the most active conductors on the Underground Railroad. Around 1839, Brooke was involved in a slave rescue that landed him in jail. Although different versions of the story have been told, it seems that Brooke and several others liberated the slaves of a Virginia family traveling along State Route 73 on the way to Missouri. The slave owner prosecuted the case in the Warren County Common Pleas Court, where the defendants’ attorneys argued that the slaves became free once the owner voluntarily brought them to a free state. The local judge disagreed and sentenced Brooke and the other defendants to a fine and five days in the jail with only bread and water. The Ohio Supreme Court sided with the abolitionists and released them. The slaves were safely resettled in Ohio.

      Among the nationally known artists from Wilmington was Carl Moon. Born in 1879, Moon graduated from Wilmington High School and moved to New Mexico to become a photographer, painter, and illustrator. His primary interest was depicting the lives of southwest Native Americans before their culture was completely lost. In 1907, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt requested Moon’s work to be exhibited at the White House. Moon and his wife, Grace, collaborated on 22 children’s books. Their first book was Indian Legends in Rhymes, published in 1917. Moon’s goal was to replace the stereotypes of Native Americans with a more accurate portrayal.

      Jeremiah Reynolds was an adventurer in the true sense of the word. He began his career as a newspaper man in Wilmington in the 1820s and later became interested in John Cleves Symmes’s hollow Earth theory, which asserted that the Earth was hollow with openings at both poles. Reynolds earned his living traveling and lecturing about Symmes’s hollow Earth theory. Reynolds agitated for government funding for an expedition to Antarctica, but incoming Pres. Andrew Jackson canceled the trip. Reynolds privately outfitted his own expedition to Antarctica, but on the return trip his crew mutinied and abandoned him in Chile. As part of his adventures, he wrote a true story of a bellicose, white sperm whale, nicknamed Mocha Dick, known for his tendency to fight with small fishing boats. Reynolds published his account in The Knickerbocker in 1839. He called it Mocha Dick: Or the White Whale of the Pacific. His story is believed to have influenced Herman Melville’s legendary Moby-Dick. Reynolds’s theory of a hollow Earth is also thought to have shaped Edgar Allen Poe’s work The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, published in 1838.

      Another adventurer was one of Wilmington’s most recognizable names and colorful characters, Gen. James W. Denver. Denver would eventually become a California state senator, U.S. congressman, a territorial governor of Kansas, and the namesake for the capital city of Colorado. He is less known, however, for his role in a deadly duel. Although accounts differ as to when and how events transpired, it appears that after Denver led a group of travelers overland through the mountains to California in the wake of the gold rush, he became active in California politics. In 1852, as a result of travelers trapped in the mountains en route to California, the governor placed Denver in charge of providing relief supplies to the stranded migrants. Edward Gilbert, a newspaper editor, criticized the governor’s decision and Denver’s handling of the situation. Denver responded angrily, and Gilbert challenged Denver to a duel. Denver was recognized as one of the best shots in the state, and as Gilbert shot wide, Denver chivalrously grounded his own shot. Gilbert

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