Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
Small Towns (cont’d)
There are so many small towns in midwestern Ohio, it’s taken a second blog post to capture my memories of each while growing up as a kid. Seems we had a cousin or two in every town, so when visiting, it was only natural to explore the town. Back then our parents let us roam freely at a very young age, never fearing for our safety, as post WWII was the safest and most altruistic era in our country’s history in my view, as we had just won the war and people were over-joyed at simply living their lives compared to the calamity of war and the Great Depression before that.
First up is St. Henry, a wonderful Mercer County town among the
land of the cross tipped churches. In fact almost all the towns in my memory were located among this faith-filled region of midwestern Ohio. German Catholic farmers populated the area starting around the 1830’s when the Miami-Erie canal made it’s way to Lake St. Mary’s. And for the most part, the communities are all still predominantly the same. St. Henry is no exception as I had numerous cousins from the town, mostly second cousins who I did not know very well but saw them once a year at the annual Schmitmeyer reunion, which was my grandmother’s maiden name. Her home town was in nearby Chickasaw where the reunion was held each summer. I can vaguely recall my great grandmother passing around cookies at the reunion, a generational tradition my grandmother and mother eventually took over and now my sister Lucy.
My cousins from St. Henry were all great athletes who excelled in sports at all levels as evidenced by the above sign welcoming you to St. Henry.
Bobby Hoying of Buckeye quarterback fame was a cousin, who I didn’t know but never admitted so! He was 25 years younger than me. I probably met his dad at some point, but who knows. One thing for sure, St. Henry football sure had a direct pipeline to the Buckeyes. Another St. Henry native was the Reds slugger Wally Post who was a hero of mine. Check out
this past blog about Wally.
Coldwater is just north and was the home of my Aunt Liz, pictured above. She had a famous architect as her great-great grandfather, Anton DeCurtins, who designed 7 churches included in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches. And his sons and grandson were the architects for 5 additional churches after Anton retired. All 12 churches have been named to the National Register of Historic Places including Aunt Liz’s birth parish, Holy Trinity Church in Coldwater also pictured above.
Nearby St. Henry was Montezuma, a really small town south of Grand Lake St. Marys. My only memory of that town was the dance hall back in the 60’s called the Hub that was famous for its unique psychedelic strobe lights on the dance floor. On weekends, there were always a lot of families camping around the lake, and their daughters headed to the Hub for some fun. We were glad to oblige! That being said, the latest research shows exposure to strobe lights while dancing triples the risk of an epileptic seizure! The strobe lights did provide a bizarre feeling especially after a few drinks and dances! The place is now called the
Shingle Shack bar pictured above.
Another nearby town was Carthegena, home of the Society of Precious Blood major seminary. All the surrounding churches would send their mass servers, including me, to the seminary for the annual servers picnic, where I learned to swim thanks to the buddy system. It was always a fun day.
Although Maria Stein was not quite as memorable before the Moeller Brew Barn, the relic chapel was really the only highlight that comes to mind. Our family made the annual pilgrimage to the relic chapel every summer, including the way of the cross through the woods. I was intrigued by the bones of all the saints on display in the relic chapel. Mom knew one of the nuns there, perhaps a relative, I don’t recall, who would sometimes give us a narrated behind the scenes tour. Always a special place.
Further east is New Breman where we also had cousins, but they were all girls and younger than me about the age of my sisters. That gave me the opportunity to explore, which was fun because their farm was only a quarter mile away from the
New Breman Speedway, which I would sneak into during our Sunday visits, spending time in the pit area. My interest and eventual career in the auto industry was spawned at the venerable old dirt track.
New Knoxville is next, a town I only visited a few times, first and foremost to buy my first new car from Katterheinrich Chevrolet, a 1969 Nova SS. They’re still in business. The new Nova was parked right under the sign on the left when Dad & I arrived to pick it up. He came along as he loaned me the money! Here’s a
past blog about that car.
Close by is the town of Botkins, one of our big rivals in the Shelby County Athletic League. Back when I played, the basketball court doubled as the school cafeteria, so the floor was tile instead of the conventional wood, with absolutely no spring. Plus, the basketball bounced funny off the tile surface and it was slippery as heck. A big guy named Roger Gaier and a quick guard named Bodo Heinz ate our lunch on that infamous court during the first game of our senior season, but we got revenge later in the season by kicking their ass in our cracker box gym 105-64!
Another rival was Jackson Center, home of the popular Airstream travel trailers and motor homes. The town has always had great sports teams as well, and 1966 was no exception. The Hudson twins played at the time and both were tall and skilled basketball players. We split with them as well during our senior season, won away and lost at home. A few years before, they went to State, the first local team to do so, setting the stage for so many other SCAL teams to accomplish the same. I also recall going to the Elder movie theater in JC, an historic theater that is still in business.
Fairlawn school was formed in the early 1960’s by consolidating several smaller one room schools located in Tawawa, Plattsville, Pemberton, and Pasco. Thanks to the consolidation, they had a brand new full size gym that had excellent spring in the wood flooring. I recall dunking during warm ups with a less than a fully inflated basketball so I could palm it for the dunk!
Houston and nearby Oran and Hardin were for some unknown reason, never towns that were on my radar screen while growing up, likely because I had no cousins living there. I do recall beating Houston in basketball twice that senior year, but losing badly to them in track the following spring. Loramie had a rag-tag track team back then and my specialties, if you can call them that, were the high jump and pole vault. I can recall Houston hosting the County track meet just after a heavy rainstorm. The sawdust filled landing pit for the two events was full of water, which made for some uncomfortable landings in the muck. One of their basketball and track stars was a guy named Ron L., who I unfortunately introduced to my girlfriend at a dance the weekend after the track meet. He subsequently tried to hit on her, but when she said no, he retaliated by letting the air out of one of my tires on my ’59 Chevy!
Nearby Lockington was a neat place with the locks of the Miami-Erie canal as well as an earthen dam on the Loramie Creek to protect flooding downstream. As a budding engineer, I loved checking out the old abandoned locks in an attempt to figure out how they worked back in their prime in the mid 1800’s. Wish I would have had the above drawings to help. The canal boats were raised 67’ by 5 locks that routed them north by viaduct across the Loramie Creek to Grand Lake St. Marys and Lake Erie beyond.
Heading west from Lockington is Bradford, renown for the annual Bradford Pumpkin Show each fall. Confetti throwing is the norm, and getting the stuff in your eyes is the worst! The town was known for and the school was nicknamed the Railroaders in tribute to the Pennsylvania railroad that passed through town, but was abandoned in 1983.
Ft. Recovery is last but not least. The town of 1500 residents originated in 1793 when General Anthony Wayne built the fort pictured above that protected the area to the east from attack by native Americans who had been pushed west. That's how the Ohio territory became part of the United States and eventually a state in 1803. My memories of Fort Recovery included touring the restored fort in grade school and also listening to a favorite band from the 1960’s led by Fort Recovery native, Rick Zehringer. The band was called the Rick Z combo, then Rick and the Raiders and finally the McCoys, famous for their hit song Hang on Sloopy.
Small towns are the best and I’m lucky to have grown up near Ft. Loramie and the other surrounding villages. Hope you enjoyed this two-part journey through my memories of all the local small towns.
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