The Indian statue

The Village Beautiful Club or VBC was formed to clean up the banks of the canal and in 1914 they purchased the statue for $100 from the Julius Boesel estate in New Bremen and set it on the canal bank. By 1966 it had been so damaged by vandals and weather that the student council took an interest in it. The restoration was done by Esther Henke of Newport and the statue was set on a concrete pedestal on the school lawn. At the present time it stands in the high school.

From a 1966 newspaper article.

May Newsletter

As usual the museum will be open Sundays from June 5th to the end of August at 1 - 4 pm. Come in and visit, do research or just gossip. We aren't all obsessed with history and genealogy. As was mentioned before if you bring in old photos we can scan and return them. We never turn down monetary donations.

Jean Rosengarten attended a meeting of the Miami-Erie Canal Corridor group (MECCA) where she heard a speech by Nancy Esmond of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

The new furnace and air conditioner has been installed and the finish work is being done. The step in front of the door on Elm St. will need repair. Winter was hard on much of our concrete. Don Gusching is handling that. The water heater will soon need to be replaced. An old building is in constant need of expensive maintenance.

The Quinlin bedroom will need painting.The current color is a very dark pink and is probably a color the Victorians would have liked but it's a dark room and a lighter color would be better. If you are a good painter and would like to volunteer to paint some baseboards in the museum contact Tom Busse. His knees won't allow him to get down on the floor. We could also use some volunteers to clean out the barn. It could be a good summer project for students, scouts, etc.

Does anyone know where Poeppelman School was? Could it be another name for one of the one-room schools? And does anyone know anything about Basinburg School? Grisez School District was in the northwest corner of Cynthian Twp. Does anybody know when it closed and where the students went?

Still looking for Dinklage immigrants. We have Bornhorst and Hilgefort but nothing for Barlage, Bramlage, Grieshop, Prenger, Seger, or Sextro.

An idea was proposed to send out a bulk mailing to the local public in hopes of getting more members and volunteers and soliciting funds.

The Lake Loramie Heritage Museum is open every Saturday from 1 to 4. The first special event will be a display of old boats, motors and fishing equipment on June 11th. The free pontoon boat tours will be held at Earl's Island July 9th. The museum is on Rt. 362 in the old lake office across from the swimming beach. For information call Ray Fiessinger at 937-295-3029.

Cookbook

"Wilderness Trail Cookery"
147 pages of recipes from the Christmas dinners and more.
$5 plus $3 postage if we need to send it.

Bornhorst photo

Joseph Bornhorst an immigrant from Dinklage.

Donate photos

We are looking for old photos. If you have any you would like to donate you can bring them to the museum any Sunday in June from 1-4 and someone will be there to scan them and return them to you then. Or you can make other arrangements by contacting Jim Rosengarten or one of the email addresses at the top of the page.

Some examples of pictures would be: weddings, communion classes, school classes, sport teams, family groups, military groups, club groups, groups of workers, or pictures of immigrant ancestors.

New history book

The Historical Association is writing a new history book to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the town. If you own a business or run a non-profit organization in Ft. Loramie or McLean Twp. perhaps you would like to write a brief history telling what you do, who started it, when and where, etc. For examples check out the sesquecentennial history book.

Also if you own a farm that has been in the same family for at least 100 years and would like to write a brief history telling who owned it down the years we might want to use that for the book. Or we may use it some other way. A picture of the farm would be good. Many people had arial photos made.

For information contact Jim Rosengarten at 937-295-3998.

If you like to write we could use somone to write a history of Lake Loramie or the canal or the interurban railway or if you have any other ideas contact Jim.

Brucken's photo

Updates

We would like to compile a list of farms in McLean Twp. that have been in the same family for at least 100 years. If you know of any let us know.

Still looking for information on the families that came from Dinklage, Germany. There is quite a lot on Bornhorsts, Hilgeforts and Segers. If you know anything about Barlage, Bramlage, Grieshop, Prenger, or Sextro email me at catw43@gmail.com or call 419-628-2481. Some of these families were in Auglaize or Mercer Counties. Families that could have been here from Dinklage are Middendorf, Nietfeld, Kalvelage, Nuxholl, Kenkel.

Also looking for information on the one-room schools in McLean Twp. Schools were Dieters, Dirksen, Sherman and Walkup. Schools outside of McLean whose pupils went to Ft. Loramie School after they closed are, Shorts, Hopewell and St. Patricks. Do you have any class pictures we can copy? Or was there ever a reunion?

The Lake Loramie Heritage Museum will be open every Saturday from 1-4 starting April 30. For information on events call Ray Fiessinger at 937-295-3029.

There will be a FREE German genealogy program at the Amos Memorial Library on May 21. No registration necessary. Call 937-492-8354. or check out the website at http://shelbyco.lib.oh.us/events.htm

Visit your local museums and while you're there remember to leave a donation even if it's only a dollar.

Stove photo

Twins

I ran across this in the "History of St. Patrick's Parish" Book. In 1937 there were 5 sets of twins in the school there out of about 70 students. Dorothy & Dolores Bensman, Alfrieda & Alfred Hoying, Rita & Ruth Luthman, Donald & Dorothy Wehrman, and Rose Mary & Rosalinda Westerheide.