News Journal ( Mansfield , Ohio ) September 1, 1974

Diamond St. Seeing Plenty of Action Once Again

Mansfield That Was by Virgil Stanfield

Diamond St. , one of Mansfield ’s original thoroughfares, is undergoing a drastic face – lift.

  When the new city building is ready, hopefully within two or three years, Diamond St. will be the address of the city and county governments and the Federal building and post office. The county government has operated from Diamond St. for a little more than a century, but the city is a newcomer. Mansfield ’s post office once was at North Park and Diamond Sts.

            In Mansfield ’s early years Diamond St. was known as East Diamond. Our present Main St. was West Diamond. When the town was platted in 1808 Diamond St. reached only from Temple Court on the North to Newlon Place on the south. In 166 years since then the street has stretched far to the north and south.

            Diamond St. has seen a great deal of action since Mansfield was founded. Soldiers pitched their tents in the street at the east side of Central Park during the War of 1812.

            A little earlier, an Irishman named Stephen Curran chased a large black bear down South Diamond St. from the park after the bear had dined on Curran’s lunch. Curran had been making clapboards near the Big Spring on East Fourth St. , leaving his lunch basket on a stump. The bear moved in and Curran gave chase to Central Park , losing the bear in the woods which reached the park on all sides.

            The 2,000 soldiers who were encamped at the park in the war with the British and Indians helped to clear away the trees so cabins could be built. When sanitary conditions became impossible at the east side of the park, the men moved to the west side in the vicinity of North Main and Walnut Sts.

            South Diamond St. once was home to two of Mansfield ’s more famous residents. Mansfield H. Gilkison, the first make white child born here and later the town marshal, lived on South Diamond between Arch and Flint Sts. in the 1850s and died at 68 South Diamond.

            John Peter Altgeld, the German boy who fled his father’s Richland County farm to attend school in Mansfield and later to become governor of Illinois , lived for a time over the Ritter Carpenter Shop at Second and Diamond Sts. Altgeld taught briefly at the Woodville School . As Illinois governor he touched off a storm of protest when he pardoned three men who had been sentenced because of their part in the Haymarket riots in Chicago in 1886.

            North Diamond St. may have been the site of Mansfield ’s first school building. Gilkison, who lived on South Diamond, said he remembered a small frame school on the west side of North Diamond between Third and Forth Sts. The school apparently was across Dickson Ave. from the present Ingram automobile agency.

            Many years later in the 19^th century a grade school was turned into a normal school at South Diamond and Flint Sts. The school, which trained teachers, was in operation for a few years in the 1880s.

            The Third and Diamond Sts. corner was a busy one for several decades when the interurban station and then the union bus terminal were located there.

            Many Mansfielders will remember when three hotels operated within a stone’s throw of the traction and bus station. The Fairview was just across the street where the city parking garage is located now.

            Across Diamond St. from the old bus depot and a little to the north was the Adelphis Hotel. It was there until around 1960. To the north, at the southwest corner of Fourth and Diamond Sts. was the Brunswick Hotel, at one time a leading hotel.

            Diamond St. has been the address of at least two funeral homes. Schroer’s was a landmark on North Diamond between Fourth and Fifth Sts. for years. The funeral home was dropped in the 1930s and the business continued as a furniture store.

            The Wappner Funeral Home has been on South Diamond since 1918. It first was at the southeast corner of Second and Diamond and then in 1926 it was moved to its present site. The first funeral home there was in the former residence of Peter Remy.

            The Remy name has long been a familiar one on Diamond St. The late Albert F. Remy opened a fruit and vegetable business in 1885 on the west side of North Diamond near the Erie Railroad.

            A fire damaged that building, Robert C. Remy, the founder’s son, recalled, and a new building was erected on the opposite side of the street. The firm has been there since then and it may be the oldest on Diamond St .

            While the Ohio Brass Co, was started in a small building on North Main St. the plant for years has been across the railroad tracks from the end of North Diamond St .

            Another major Mansfield industry, the Aultman and Taylor Co., was in the same area. Still another of Mansfield ’s larger industries, the Mansfield Machine Works, was on North Diamond near the Aultman and Taylor plant. The Machine Works at one time was in the farm equipment business. Many years ago thee was a buggy works in that section of the city.

            While Diamond St. has been the home of a great variety of businesses, it never approached Main St. as a retail street. Much of South Diamond beyond East First St. was residential until fairly recent times, but now businesses are scattered along the street.

            In the downtown section of Diamond, the Zellner name was a familiar one for several generations. The name belonged to a harness shop which was on the west side of North Diamond between Dickson Ave. and East Fourth Sts. The shop continued to deal in leather goods after the automobile replaced the horse and buggy. One of the members of the family was the late Fred R. Zellner who was county clerk in the 1930s.

            Other familiar Diamond St. names are the Wagner Hardware and the Hartman Electrical Manufacturing Co., neighbors in the vicinity of North Diamond and East Fifth Sts., Tracy and Avery, Ingram Olds and Hursh Drugs.

            Diamond St. was never a Great White Way . It had no opera house or major theater although two or three early movie houses were near Diamond on East Third and Fourth Sts. The Park Theater, which had a short life as an entertainment center, was on South Park St. at Diamond.

            On that same location stood one of Mansfield ’s first large churches. It was built in the 1820s by the Presbyterian denomination and wound up as a garage in the 1930s.

            Diamond St. has been the address of several other churches through the years. One of the oldest is the First United Methodist Church , a landmark across from Central Park . There was a smaller church building at South Diamond and East Second Sts. until the county acquired the site for the new courthouse. That church at various times was the home of Believers in Christ and the Apostolic Christian denomination.

            The Temple of Faith Church of God in Christ is on the west side of North Diamond near Sixth St .

            There has been a dairy plant on South Diamond near First St. for as long as most modern Mansfielders can remember. The Levering Dairy occupied the site for a number of years and now the Borden plant is located there.

            Laundries, taverns, taxi firms, garages, auto agencies, and other businesses found in a modern city have called Diamond St. their home. Franks’ Brewery was at 110 North Diamond in the early 1900s.

            Much of the city’s Italian population was in the North Diamond and East Sixth St. area 40 years ago, but the descendants of those people have pretty much scattered to other parts of the city since then.

            The IOOF lodge, a longtime occupant of one of the larger buildings on North Diamond across from the park, only recently vacated that site to make way for the new city hall plaza.

            Nearby is the Ford Apartment building, an ornate structure which has been a part of the Central Park scene. It will be razed along with the IOOF hall.

            A former Mansfielder who returns for a visit in a couple of years might not recognize Diamond St. as the one he knew as a boy.

(Submitted by Ida Maack Recu)

News Journal ( Mansfield , Ohio ) January 2, 1977

61 Richland County Families

Century Farms Honored

            There’s one last Bicentennial story left in Richland County for 1976, and it concerns 61 farms which have stayed in the same family for 100 years or more.

            One has been in the same family since 1809. This is the James Chambers farm on Chambers Rd. just south of the Ontario corporation limit.

            Chambers is the fifth of his family to own and operate the farm. He believes his ancestor, John Harvey Chambers, a native of Washington County , Pa. , first cleared the land here in 1809, but didn’t get official title until 1816.

            Chambers has a sheepskin deed for 150 acres signed in that year by President James Madison. The farm now consists of 140 acres, including a sugar maple camp that was in operation more than 100 years ago. He and his family live in a home built in 1832.

            The family is deeply interested in the history of the farm and Richland County and Chambers said that when his great-great-grandfather arrived Indians were camped on the property.

            Chambers has three young sons and indications are, the farm will stay in the family for a long time to come.

            In the past 100 years or so, rural people have flocked to cities, and a nation once dominated by an agricultural population now finds that same population in a distinct minority.

            The very act of one family sticking to farming and to the same farmland too, has been deemed worthy of honor by the Richland County commissioners.

            With their help, plaques made of wood and shaped in the form of Ohio , are being given to each of the farm families that qualify as 100-year-old farm families. The plaques are available at the commissioners’ office. The exception was Chambers, whose farm ownership may go back the farthest. The commissioners personally delivered a plaque to him.

            The idea of finding out how many farms had century-old ownership started with the Farm Bureau, which determined there were 15 such family farms in Richland County .

            Jeff Van Loon of the Richland County Soil Conservation office thought that figure a bit low. He wound up finding 61.

            Most dates could be determined by land deeds, but ownership gets a bit shadowy before 1820. Many farmers responding to Van Loon’s inquiries checked family histories or tried to recall years back when someone in the family talked about the early days.

            One such was Cecil Brokaw, who farms 82 acres on Poorman Rd. in Jefferson Township , just enough to qualify for the 80 acre limit of the original farm set by Van Loon.

            The family descends down through his wife, Bessie Poorman Brokaw, and through marriage, back to a pioneer named William Weaver. Weaver came from Virginia in 1815 and helped found Jefferson Township .

            Brokaw said the farmhouse he lives in may have undergone a great deal of remodeling over the years, but the heart of it was built close to 150 years ago.

            In the north, in Plymouth Township , along the natural divide on State Route 61, the Kuhn farm has been in operation for several generations. The founder was John Kuhn of Chambersburg , Pa. The farm is divided now into 133 acres. Half is operated by Oliver Fairchild, an adopted son of Bert Kuhn, and the other half owned by Leora Kuhn.

            Fairchild runs a grain and dairy operation, but has been phasing out of the dairy business. He has lived on this farm close to 50 years and has a son that may take over from him.

            Just up the road, Leora Kuhn, recently returned from a trip to Africa , said the family history indicated the farm goes back 135 years, but she thinks the Kuhns were farming here even before that. She said she can recall places where some of the original log cabins stood.

            In searching out his 100-year farm families, Van Loon said there may be more than 61 families that responded. He said the Mansfield Kiwanis Club has also shown interest and is inviting the owners of the 10 oldest, continually family-owned farms to attend its next regular Thursday luncheon. It is one method of honoring those who stayed down on the farm, no matter what “Paree” had to offer.

            The names of those families as compiled by Van Loon, in alphabetical order along with their township and the date of the earliest family ownership are:

            Tom Arter, Sandusky, 1874; Frank Baumberger, Monroe, 1835; Walter Baughman, Perry, 1816; Shirley Boals, Mifflin, 1857; Dr. Charles Brown, Washington, 1819; Brokaw and Chambers;

            Otto Champion, Plymouth, 1823; Dave Culler, Monroe, 1825; Emery Culler, Monroe, 1828; Leland darling, Worthington, 1835; Doris Dickerson Garrett, Bloominggrove, 1823; Clarence Fackler, Cass, 1831 and Fairchild;

            Frank Fermer, Plymouth, 1833; Merle Fulton, Monroe, 1832; Laurence Faulkner, Plymouth, 1836; Dean Glenn, Butler, 1840; Clarence Griebling, Troy, 1867; Bertha Groff, Weller, 1856; Dean Hamman, Bloominggrove, 1833;

            George Hammon, Worthington, 1832; Woodrow Huston, Bloominggrove, 1842; Ralph Hulit, Weller, 1874; Leora Kuhn; George Lantz, Jackson, 1864; Lester Lantz, Franklin, 1866; George Lautermilch, Cass, 1863;

            Roger Maglott, Mifflin, 1833; Doyle McCarron, Franklin, 1871; John Robert McIntire, Plymouth, 1824; John McWilliams, Butler, 1869; John Metzger, Sharon, 1832; Esther Robinson, Waller, 1820;

            Dwight O’Hearn, Worthington, 1833; Kermit Noble, Bloominggrove, 1854; Blanche Cates Oswalt, Worthington, 1865; Pail Oswalt, Weller, 1850; Henry Pittenger, Weller, 1851; Carl Ramsey, Worthington, 1816;

            Clarence remy, Worthington, 1827; Olive Shoup Romig, Plymouth, 1865; Leon Snyder, Worthington, 1852; Daurl Shaffer, Jefferson, 1852; Nancy Shawk, Franklin, 1824; Robert Sites, Jefferson, 1831;

            Dick Spohn, Monroe, 1855; Paul Steward, Madison, 1825; Walter Swigart, Monroe, 1832; Ralph Thauvette, Plymouth, 1870; Marguerite Taylor Cole, Worthington, 1826; Charles Terman, Bloominggrove, 1869;

            Harvey Tucker, Monroe, 1830; Van Ross Wade, Jefferson, 1863; Dale Wachs, Washington, 1862; Raymond Wells, Bloominggrove, 1842; Mary Winger, Mifflin, 1825; Mrs. Earl White, Cass, 1827; Raymond Wolford, Bloominggrove, 1870 and Ray Worley, Worthington, 1832.

            They kept it in the family.

January 9, 1977

New Century Old Farms Are Reported

            Since the News Journal presented a story entitled “Century Farms” last Sunday, Jeff Van Loon of the Richland County Soil Conservation office has come up with three more farms owned by the same family for more than 100 years.

            They are: the Mary Maxwell farm in Troy Township , in the family since 1868; the James Thompson farm, Monroe Township , dating back to 1850; and the Mrs. Ralph Dickson Farm, also in Troy Township , family-owned since 1833.

            There are some plaques awaiting the trio at the Richland County Commissioners office.

January 13, 1977

Two Century Farms Added to Listing

            Two more century farms have been turned up in Richland County by Jeffrey Van Loon of the county’s sod conservation office.

            They are the Fred Dawson farm in Cass Township , in the same family since 1832, and the Laura Maglott farm in Miflin Township with family ownership dating back to 1813.

January 26, 1977

Century Farms To Be Honored

            The Mansfield Kiwanis Club will honor the owners of county farms that have a single family ownership dating back 100 years or more at the club’s regular luncheon Thursday at the Blue Dolphin Restaurant.

            Those being honored can claim the oldest continued family ownership in the county. They include: James Chambers of Ontario ; Cecil Brokaw of Poorman Rd. ; Walter Baughman of State Route 546 near Lexington ; Carl Ramsey of State Route 95 near Butler ; Laura Maglott of Milligan Rd. in Mifflin Township ; Doris Dickerson Garrett of Free Rd. near Shiloh ; Hester Robinson of Robinson Rd. near Epworth; Paul Egner of Noble Rd. near Shiloh ; Nancy S. Hawk of Roush Rd. in Franklin Township, and State Rep. Sherrod Brown, representing his father, Dr. Charles Brown, whose farm is located on Orchard Park Rd.

            Also attending the meeting will be the Richland County Commissioners and former extension agent Chet McGrew, who will speak on the future of agriculture in Richland County .

            Jeffrey Van Loon of the county’s soil and water conservation office, who did the groundwork on finding the farms, said today that there are 67, possibly 68, farms in Richland County with family ownership dating back more than a century.

(Submitted by Ida Maack Recu)