Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Updates

Reservations are almost filled for the Christmas dinners. A few spaces remain for Sunday.

We have been calling our turkey "Williamsburg Tavern" for 40 years but someone noticed and we've been told we can't call it that because there already is a business with that name.

The sidewalk along Elm has been fixed and leveled.

Jim Rosengarten cleaned and framed 2 bridge signs that have been hanging in the barn for ever. They will be on display somewhere soon. There are pictures on our Facebook page.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Fort Loramie facts

* In the early 1900's there was a Dr. Pepper in Fort Loramie.

* The first person in Fort Loramie to graduate from high school was Helen Walkup, the daughter of Dr. Walkup.  The second was Marie Quinlin.

* Dances, plays and basketball games were held on the second floor of Brucken's.
 
* One of the largest bur oak trees used to stand on the Prenger farm on Schmitmeyer-Baker Road.  When it was cut down because of disease the rings were counted and it was estimated to be between 350 and 375 years old.  It was 95 feet tall.

* Low German or Plattdeutsch, is the language English evolved from.

* Fort Loramie was called Berlin by the early German settlers although the post office was still known as Loramie's.  In 1911 the name of the town was changed to Fort Loramie.

* Lake Loramie was called the Loramie Reservoir and was built to supply water to the canal.

* There are no natural lakes in Ohio except Lake Erie.  All are man-made.

* There were once 124 one-room schools in Shelby County.

* Agnes Messman whose family lived in northern McLean Township joined the circus and had 3 husbands.  The second one was Wild Bill Hickock.

* The children who went to St. Patrick's School were given St. Patrick's Day off every year.

* Fort Loramie is the highest point between Cincinnati and Toledo.  It was known as the Loramie Summit and was a portage between the St. Marys River and Loramie Creek.

* On August 16, 1889 an ordinance passed by the town council made it illegal to play baseball inside the town limits.

* French trader, Peter Loramie, built his store here in 1769 and it was burned down by Gen. George Rogers Clark in 1783.

* In June of 1912 the town council in a special meeting passed an ordinance under which cars and motorcycles could not be driven more than 8 miles an hour inside the town limits.

* Romie Sporting Goods has been in the same family for over 100 years and began by repairing horse harness equipment.

* Starting in the summer of 1938 the merchants provided free talking picture shows on the west bank of the canal every Friday at 8:30 pm.

* Militant prohibitionist, Carrie Nation's first husband Dr. Charles Gloyd lived in Newport.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

                          The Greenville Treaty Line committee. There are more photos on our Facebook page.