What are the opening hours?

Saturday 1pm - 4pm Sunday 1pm - 4pm

HOCKING COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

Home
United States
Logan, OH
HOCKING COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

We are currently closed for the winter. Tours can be scheduled by calling ahead. We bring you the Best of Hocking County's Past! You'll be glad you did!

Admission to our museum and parking are free. The museum is handicapped accessible. Our museum is staffed with friendly, knowledgeable volunteers on Friday and Saturday afternoons (1-4 pm) to help you in your research and/or tour. Private and group/bus tours are welcome and encouraged. Please contact us to set up your private tour. Within our museum you can go back in history. Visit the 1881 SCHEMPP HOUSE, and learn how people actually lived in that period with each room bursting with exhibits. The Historical Center has a TIMELINE covering 100 years of history, a one-room schoolhouse, military displays, indian artifacts and much more. The CARRIAGE HOUSE features farm implements and period tools. You may also visit the HENRY LUTZ 1898 STEAM CAR GARAGE and learn the history of the steam car. A PIONEER CONESTOGA WAGON and OLDE PRINTSHOP can be seen on site, along with a RAILROAD TELEGRAPH OFFICE, complete with Hocking Valley Railroad memorabilia. We also have a room available for GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH. Included are the histories of many local families and notables, old yearbooks, books by local authors and much, much more. We also have books available for purchase covering many diverse subjects. A complete will soon be available on our page.

03/22/2026

Chieftain Golf Winners
Logan Daily News of May 17, 1968

03/21/2026

Do you know anyone?

03/20/2026

Beautiful Teachers and staff of Nov. 18, 1994. Central Elementary

03/19/2026

The WPA Program Operated 1935 - 1943
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a major program in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Established as a key part of the New Deal, its purpose was to address the severe unemployment and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression. By launching large-scale public works projects, the WPA aimed to provide jobs and economic relief to millions of Americans.
The central goal of the WPA was to offer employment opportunities and income to people who were struggling to find work. Through its wide-ranging initiatives, the WPA helped construct and improve essential infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, and public buildings across the nation. These efforts played a crucial role in stimulating local economies and supporting communities during a difficult era in American history.

The WPA in Hocking County, Ohio
In Hocking County, Ohio, the WPA organized and completed a variety of projects throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The agency focused not only on creating jobs for local residents but also on enhancing the county’s infrastructure. By building and upgrading roads, bridges, and public facilities, the WPA contributed significantly to the growth and modernization of Hocking County’s public resources. These improvements provided much-needed work for individuals and families, while also leaving a lasting positive impact on the community during a time of economic hardship.

NOTE June 16, 1939, Logan Daily News: WPA brought more than $1,222,913 in wages during the first three and one-half years. In Hocking County 81 projects were completed. Hocking County men and women on WPA rolls were road work, bridges and streets, sewers and other construction including the construction of the Logan swimming pool, clerical, sewing, and other services and professional jobs.

03/17/2026

THE JOHN WESTENHAVERS WEDDED FIFTY-ONE YEARS
The Logan Daily News of July 25, 1944
Sunday seemed an appropriate day in which to celebrate two suspicious events in the material life of Mr. and Mrs. John Westenhaver – Monday was Mrs. Westenhaver’s birthday and Tuesday July 25, marks their fifty-first wedding anniversary so the Sunday recollections were rich in retrospection. To share the day’s joint pleasure, they invited Mrs. Westenhaver’s sister, Mrs. Mame Stimmel, of Route 4, and her nephew and two nieces from Columbus, Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Shaffer and Miss Mabel Stimmel.
John Westenhaver, the great grandson of Christian Westenhaver, who came from Hagerstown, Maryland, and was the first white colonist in the county, has a background of local history that he treasures and his recital of the saga of the valley reads like a rare adventure.
Born in a log house just across from the old canal bed from the England home, he recalls his boyhood in a family of five and his first meeting with Emma Younker, the daughter of John and Louise Slisher Younker, of Maxville. He was riding the mule that pulled the canal boat and with other damsels of the village she was strolling along the bank in the vicinity now known as West Logan. It was a kind of “Gin a body meet a body” romance at the very first and its culmination came on a Tuesday, July 25, just as today.
Their wedding was solemnized in the parlors of Dr. W.D. Mansfield’s home of East Main Street, and the service was read by Dr. David R. Moore of the Presbyterian Church. The guests at the ceremony besides the Mansfield hosts were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bowlby, Mr. and Mrs. William Price (Stanly Mansfield), Mr. and Mrs. O.W.H. Wright, and Mr. and Mrs. George Hartmann and Miss Elizabeth Harmann. All gave crossed the border long ago and the only one living who witnessed the departure of the bridal couple for Niagara Falls was a very young lad, Karl Hartmann, who in the arms of an older brother, Wil Hartmann, watched from the sidewalk, wondering what rice and morning revelry meant when they made their exit from his neighbor’s home.
John Westenhaver did not return to his youthful service with canal transportation, but after some time with the Brotherhood of Railway Engineers as an organizer, the Chesapeake and Ohio, on January 24, ’36, after 42 years as a locomotive engineer. But he is still not a gentleman of leisure, because he has a hobby which he shares with Mrs. Westenhaver, and one is always busy when the hobby is antiques.
Their home at 133 West Main Street is filled with rare pieces of furniture rubbed to a satiny finish and they are delighted to tell visitors the stories of their experience as collectors and their joy in sand-papering and waxing.
Since the main part of their home is the oldest structure in Logan, all these tales of priceless ‘finds’ suit the setting beautifully. When they speak of the tragic death of the father of Dr. G.W. Pullen right in the shadow of their parlor, one looks about a bit fearfully. He was a traveling judge in those early days and coming to Logan in an Ox cart to hold a session she stopped to help the workmen who were raising this old house. Something happened; he was crushed by falling timber and the ox cart that had brought him to the village court turned to carry his body home.
While John loves Logan and all its traditions, Emma, the daughter of a sturdy blacksmith – Methodist minister who came from Circleville, loves Maxville, so between them they can provide the most interesting recital of a yesterday that was calm and rural, life going on placidly, with time for friends and neighbors, Mrs. Westenhaver, second oldest member in Venus Chapter of Eastern Star, has been with that order for 46 years, proud of her associations and actively involved.
Fifty-one years, which we hope will go into another decade and reach sixty-one, giving some scribe the time to write down all the fascinating past so fresh in the minds of John and Emma Westenhaver.
The map is an 1876 Map of Green Township. John Westenhaver owned land between Amanda Bent Bolt and the East Gates of Logan.

03/16/2026

THE EFFECT OF EDUCATIION LEGISLATION ON THE EARLY SCHOOLS OF HOCKING COUNTY.
SCHOOLS CONTINUED:
In 1829 a law was passed which required a minimum of three months of school year for schools to receive funds raised by taxation. Later an amendment to this law in 1838, provided that additional taxes should be levied to provide six months of schooling to all white children. The clerks of the townships were to supervise the school districts and made estimates of the amounts needed to make it possible to have six months of school. These estimates were submitted to the auditor, who was made supervisor of all the schools in Hocking County.
This law was not compulsory, but it did encourage a longer school term, which was decided by the voters by simply voting “Yes” or “No”. It seems that most of the voters were negative, for in 1841 the average length of the school term was still three months. At this time there were ninety-four school districts in the county with ninety-four teachers, of whom two thirds were males. The average teacher’s salary per term was about $20.00 or about $6.60 per month. Thus, the citizens of Hocking County were spending only thirty-six cents per pupil per year of education.
The schoolhouses of this period were built of rough logs and were very poorly equipped. In 1841 the country built four new log school buildings at a cost of $68.75 each. These buildings were later described as small, primitive, homely, and furnished in the most frugal style. The writing desk was made of heavy oak planks supported by heavy pins that had been driven into one side of the wall. The floor was made of heavy slabs laid upon sleepers. There were no bells in the buildings, as in later years, so the children were called to their lessons by the teacher who called, “Books, Books” at the door. These log school buildings were built in more or less modified form up to and through the 1860s. It is said that as late as 1862 nearly all the school buildings in Hocking County were built of logs.
In 1853 a new school law was enacted which provided for the levying of a state school tax guaranteeing free education, which included a tax for furnishing libraries to the schools of the counties. The law further provided that every township constituted a school district which must be divided into three sub-districts, each to send a representative to a body known as the Board of Education. Each sub-district must elect three directors who were to hold office for three years, two years, and one year according to the number of votes each received.
The directors must employ the teachers for the sub-district and control school affairs. The law also extended the school term to seven months and limited the validity of teacher’s certificates to two years. The requirements of teachers were raised by this law which required examination in orthography reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and English grammar. The examiner’s fees were fixed at $1.50 a day while on duty.
This law became the basic law on which the schools of the county operated for years and was a great victory for the friends of public schools in Hocking County. The law bore its first fruit in the fall of 1854 when the county received its first school library which, perhaps, was due to a relatively unimportant provision of the school code, but which was nevertheless a concrete indication of the aid the law was to bring in the future. The Board of Education immediately made rather strict rules governing the use of books. One rule provided a fine of $0.10 a day for those who kept the books longer than a week.
The people of the county had become somewhat book conscious since 1853 when Pinneo’s new series of English textbooks were introduced to the teachers and Board of Education of the county. The series consisted of a “Primary Grammer”. Analytical Grammer”, and the “English Teacher”, which were represented as a complete, natural, and easy system of graduated instruction in grammar and analysis. The closely related subject of spelling was given impetus at this time by the introduction of McGuffey’s “Newly Revised Eclectic Spelling Book” to the schools of Hocking County.

03/15/2026

THE EFFECT OF EDUCATIION LEGISLATION ON THE EARLY SCHOOLS OF HOCKING COUNTY. Part 1
From Francis Gordon’s EARLY HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY.
The foundation for education is what is now Hocking County was laid thirteen years before the first permanent settler arrived. In 1785, an ordinance was passed by Congress which provided that section sixteen in each township should be reserved from sale for the maintenance of the public schools of the township. Then followed the famous ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Territory, which stated that “schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
This idea was specifically applied in Hocking County to the Townships of Starr, Green and Ward, which were directly under the control of the Ohio Company, whose contract with the government declared that one section in each township should be reserved for the common schools.
The remaining townships in Hocking County were included in the Congress lands, which also had section sixteen set aside for the support of the schools. Thus, a foundation was laid on which schools might be organized.
The earliest state legislation that had any bearing on the organization of the school was the Act of January 2, 1806, which established the methos of incorporating the township. This act provided that when there were twenty qualified voters in any originally surveyed township, they were authorized to elect three trustees and one treasurer to care for the school land in the township. The trustees were authorized to lay out school districts and use the funds from this school land to support the schools.
However, in 1814, this law was amended to make it easier for a school district to be established. The amendment provided that any six householders could apply to the trustees of the township to establish a school district and that those applying could choose three school trustees who were to get from the teacher a certified list of the number of pupils and the length of time each had been taught. The list was presented to the township trustees who were to use it as a basis for the distribution of the funds received from the school grounds. Those settlers from New England brought with them the traditional Puritan idea of the importance of education. The German settlers were less interested in schools and gave little attention to the matter in the beginning. Thus, the education of the children depended entirely on the previous environment and background of the parent. Moreover, the first schools of Hocking County were not free schools and, strictly speaking, not public schools, because the income from the land granted for this purpose was not yet available and school taxes were unknown. Therefore, the full responsibility of education rested on the parents, who could either teach their children themselves or pay a qualified neighbor for this service, which was performed only during his spare time.
The first tangible signs of education in Hocking County manifested themselves when Henry O’Neill, the first schoolteacher to live in the county, made his appearance in Starr Township in 1810. Whether he taught it the township is not definitely known but the simple fact that he was known as a “highly educated schoolteacher” supports the conclusion that he gave instruction in his home to his own as well as the neighbor’s children, who came from families recently arrived from New England. Later a log schoolhouse was built on the O’Neill homestead where formal school was held by Hannah Clapp, the school’s first teacher, who came to Starr Township from Maryland. In 1816.
In the meantime, the people of Perry Township which was noted throughout the county for its “men of educational pro0minence” had built a log school building in 1820.
These were subscription schools with the teacher boarding around the homes of the pupils. Only those pupils who were able to pay tuition were permitted to attend. However, this feature was changed in 1821 when the first general school law was enacted.
The law of 1821 provided that the township be divided into school districts, each district elects annually a school committee of three directors and a collector who collected fees from those parents who sent their children to school. Then followed the most revolutionary provision of the Act, namely, that the trustees should have power to levy a small tax for the purpose of paying the tuition of the poor children in the district and of erecting schoolhouses.
The real significance of this provision was that it was the forerunner of free school in Hocking County, which, however, did not make their appearance until 1825. In this year the subscription school came to an end, for a law was enacted which provided that the property of all the people should be taxed for the support of schools. Thus, Hocking County’s first free schools came into being.
But this general taxing idea for the support of free schools seems to have had little encouragement at first, for the county treasurer’s report for the year of 1827 shows that on each hundred dollars valuation of property only $0.05 was allocated for the support of schools, while the remaining $0.95, ($0.65 was designated for other county purposes and $0.30 was turned over to the state). The school law of 1825 marks the beginning of the county supervision over all the schools of the townships. The law not only made the county authorities responsibility for the collection and distribution of the school tax but it provided that the Court of Common Pleas appoint a Board of School Examiners who were to examine teachers in reading, writing and arithmetic and issue certifications.
The examiner at first posted and later published notices in the local paper giving the time and place in each township where the teacher’s examination was to be given. The examiners added the warning that at no other time would teacher’s certificates be granted. Later the examiners held all their meetings at the courthouse in Logan instead of holding them in each township.
To be continued:
Goat Run photo from 1947. The old Ilesboro school was abandoned 1924. Starr Students.

03/14/2026

The Establishment of Churches
From Francis Gordon’s EARLY HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY

The early settlers, before coming the coming of the missionaries and the building of churches, showed their devotion to the principles of religion through family worship or family prayer which was held once or twice a day. The head of the house conducted the services, which begun by calling the family to order, after which a chapter from the Bible was read, then followed the singing of a hymn whose title and tune were announced by the leader by commencing to sing it. The services were brought to a close by a most fervent prayer.
Occasionally, and later regularly, itinerant preachers visited the cabins of pious families, whose neighbors joined them in worship. The pioneer ministers were noted for their elocutionary and persuasive oratory, which was the source of a philosophy of life for the pioneer and inspired the er****on of places of worship whose civilizing influence was widespread.
The first of the pioneer preachers to hold a religious meeting in Hocking County was the Reverend James Quinn, a Methodist, who stopped at the falls in 1799 to preach to the three families who resided in that neighborhood.
The first preacher associated strictly with Hocking County was David Dratcher, who began preaching in 1808 or 1809, holding religious meetings in all parts of the county, especially in the southeastern section. The Reverend Benjamin Webb, another pioneer preacher, who settled in Falls-Gore Township in 1816, was the founder of Webb’s Chapel, the first Methodist Church and the oldest place of worship in the county. In about 1817, Governor Worthington dedicated the first Methodist log church in Logan. In his dedicatory address, he expressed his sympathy with the movement and warmly commended the new enterprise, saying it spoke well for the community to start a church.
About a decade later, Woodard’s Chapel of the same denomination was organized in Starr Township and in 1832, the first branch of the church was established in South Perry in Laurel Township. In1842, a Methodist Church was founded at Ilesboro, Washington Township. Because of its early start, the Methodist Episcopal became the most popular church in the county.
The United Brethren Church, ranking second in popularity, was first represented in the county by pioneer preachers who established preaching places in the homes of the members shortly after 1880. This denomination was represented in all the townships and remained entirely a rural church until 1891. This church comprised approximately one fourth of the total number of churches in the county.
The Presbyterian Church was founded in Starr Township in 1821 by John Abutin, an emigrant from New York State, whose cabin became a place for his neighbors to hold religious meetings. In 1829, the Reverand George W. Warner, a young Missionary, established a preaching place at the Butin cabin, and in 1833 a church was built in Logan. Another was located in Perry Township, making a total of three in the county. The small number of Presbyterian churches was compensated for by the large and influential church in Logan, which was the center of Presbyterianism in Hocking County.
Lutheranism was brought to the county by the German settlers between 1822 and 1833. The first meeting was held in the Scott’s Creek school house probably by in itinerant pastor. The church’s earlies records shop that a baptism took place April 20, 1838.
In 1844, a church was built at Ewing and in 1852, one was organized in Logan. Lutheran and Dunkard’s each built two churches in Marion Township, making a total of six non-Catholic German Churches, or about one eighth of total number of churches in the county.
Catholicism was brought to the county in 1837, by a colony of Germans from Alsace, France, who settled on hills surrounding Logan. Services were held from house to house in 1839 by Father Fokel. In 1841 and 1842, a log church was built which served as a place of worship until a church was organized at Logan in 1859. A German Catholic Church was also established in Good Hope Township, making a total of two Catholic Churches in the county.
The Baptists, a popular denomination among the earlies settlers, built their first church in Perry Township in 1820. Later, churches were erected in Benton, Laurel, and Falls Township. Before 1883, the church in Perry Township had been abandoned, and in other townships, meetings were held irregularly, indicating that this early denomination was on the decline in this county; but this church as well as many other lesser denominations served its purpose in raising the standard of morality in Hocking County.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH
The establishment of churches in all parts of the county was sorely needed for the notorious reputation of Logan, the county seat, had traveled as far east as Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, where as late as 1840, prospective settlers were given the following advice: “Never come to Logan, as it was infested with robbers, horse thieves, and the vilest of all God’s race, that it was unsafe for a civilized person to live there in peace.” By 1853, the editor of the Sentinel could boast that the vicinity had “Been rid of its pests” and that the community was as quiet as peaceable as any int eh state. Certainly, the civilizing influence of the church played no small part in this transition.
Even as early as 1832, the whole community was becoming impressed with the splendid work of the church, for in that year, Reverand McAbay, a Presbyterian minister, held a protracted meeting of sixteen days duration in a new unoccupied store in Logan. It was said that people came in torch lighted covered wagons for miles around to attend these meetings, and that the imprecision made on the citizens of Hocking County was never forgotten.
Perhaps the greatest direct service rendered by the church of Logan was breaking the domination of the liquor element which controlled the city. At one time, it was said that the groups who frequented the saloons had become so powerful that no candidate for public office could hope to be elected without their support. Apparently, the women of the different churches in Logan organized a crusade against the evil usurpation and finally smashed the influence even through it necessitated praying before the very doors of the saloons. The typical example of the increasing power and influence of the church manifested itself in the stabilization of society within the county and creation of an atmosphere where only good could prevail.

A photo of the Union Furnace Presbyterian Church.
For the photo of John McBride's grocery, the first advertisement I found was in the 1850s. It was located on West Main Street, near where the Fire Department now stands.

03/13/2026

COMMUNICATION
From Francis Gordon’s EARLY HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY

The mail provided an early means of communication with the outside world. The first post office was to be established within the present limits of Hocking County was at Starr in Starr Township in 1815 with Henry O’Neill as postmaster. A post office was established in Logan in 1817, with Dutton Lane was appointed postmaster by President Monroe. Lancaster seems to have been the distributing center for the mail for this area, as in 1827, proposals for carrying the mails were received at the general post office in that town. That route passed once a week from Lancaster through Logan to Gallipolis, sixty-two miles. The post office at Logan served as the distributing center for the mail of this county. Citizens in the vicinity of Logan who failed to call for their mail after thirty days found their names appearing in the local paper as a reminder under the heading, “List of Letters”. As the population of the county grew, post offices were established gradually in all the townships, usually at the village store. The Sentinel announced in 1850 that a new post office had been established at Chapman’s store in Washington Township in the village of Ewing, and in 1856, a new post office was announced at Black Jack in Laurel Township. The announcements were always accompanied by the statement that the citizens of the community had no excuse for not receiving the Hocking Sentinel.
In 1851, the telegraph, the instantaneous means of communications, had reached Hocking County, which tends to show the progressive tendency of the community in the early acceptance of this new instrument. The telegraphic extension was made from Lancaster to Logan on December 8, 1851. Thus, the news of the world was brought to Hocking County, reaching the citizens via the local paper under the title, “Telegraphic”.

THE TELEGRAPH AT HAYDENVILLE
This information was in notes written approximately 1947-1950 by Louise Ohlinger (lifelong Haydenville resident).

The first telegraph line extended from Columbus down the Hocking Valley to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, with offices in many of the communities down the line. The Haydenville Company paid $300 a year for service for their Haydenville office. The company made this contribution to the Telegraph Company and then was required to furnish its own telegraph instruments and operators. The line connected directly from the Haydenville office to the Columbus office of the Hocking Valley Railroad Company.
In the early days of telegraph, the telegraphing for the Hocking Valley had to be done much like the old-fashioned phone used by the “party-line telephone lines (see note) in rural districts. Whenever occasion required a message be sent, the operator had to catch his chance and jump into the circuit when other offices were not sending messages.
The use of telegraphy advanced with the improvement of the railroad because the telegrapher’s primary duty was maintaining communication between the train dispatcher, who was usually many miles away, and the whole rail system. The Telegraph Operator was the eyes and ears of the train’s communication and held an especially important position with the railroad.
John Doughtery (in photo) was a telegraph operator in Haydenville for many years.

03/12/2026

THE RAILROADS Part 10
From Francis Gordon’s EARLY HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY

Sometime previous to March 1834, the iron horse, the newest and fastest method of transportation of the times, was rumored to be on its way to Hocking County. On that date, the State Legislature passed an act authorizing the construction of a railroad from Lancaster to the Ohio River. Nothing was done under this act for more tangible and less expensive prospects of the Hocking Canal supplanted the railroad idea. It was not until 1850, sixteen years later, that the prospect of building a railroad again caused a great fever in Hocking County. The local paper expounded its advantages to the community in opening up the vast stores of mineral wealth in the county, which consisted of almost inexhaustible quantities of iron and large quantities of coal. It was pointed out that the development of these rich resources would be of incalculable benefit to the citizens of the county. Therefore, it was urged that the people act speedily and energetically in the matter in order to get the railroad to pass through Hocking County.
The cause of this outburst of persuasive eloquence was the information received from an article in the Lancaster Gazette that the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad had completed a survey to Jackson and wished to continue it to Logan if the people of Hocking County desired it.
The county took no active steps until June 1852 when a meeting was called in Logan to consider the feasibility and importance of the railroad. The consensus of this meeting seems to have been favorable, for a committee was appointed whose sole duty was to further the interests of the railroad. The committee performed its mission so well that the railroad movement gained in the Hocking Valley. This meeting was held in Logan, September 2, 1852. It began at daybreak when amid the booming of cannons, the citizens of Logan greeted five thousand visitors from the surrounding counties. When General Worthington had finished addressing the multitude, a procession was formed and headed by a band proceeded to a grove outside of town, where a great barbecue was held. When the oratory and merrymaking had ceased, it was decided that eighty thousand dollars would be Hocking County’s share in building the railroad from Portsmouth through Logan to Newark.
The excitement and interest of the people were further stimulated by a series of township meetings held at stated places which were announced in the local paper under the heading, “Railroad Meeting _ _ _ _ _ _ Turn Out”. The Hocking Sentinel showed its enthusiasm by sketching a picture of a train on the front page between the title words Hocking and Sentinel. Articles on eh progress of the railroad appeared weekly under the caption, “Railroad Intelligence”. The citizens were so eager for such news that the local businessmen took advantage of their interest by calling attention to advertisements by first stating in large type, “THE IRON HORSE IS COMING.”

In 1853, the line was completed to Jackson, but during the next two years, the difficulties attending a financial crisis, delayed operations. From a time, the work on the Maxwell tunnel was entirely suspended but it was resumed in the fall of 1855. It was stated at times that the remainder of the line was nearly graded and could be completed ibn a very short time. A complete recovery from the financial crisis was not enjoyed for a total collapse followed in the money panic of 1857. Consequently, the mortgaged roadbed and the right of way were foreclosed upon, and bother were forfeited to the landowners who had most of the stock. Thus, the projected Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad ended in failure and as a result, a calm settled over Hocking County.
The Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad was not the only one projected during the great fever. On May 21, 1853, representatives of the citizens of Logan held a meeting at Nelsonville where it was decided that it was imperative that a railroad should be constructed from Parkersburg through Logan to Columbus. Authority was given to a committee to organize a company for the construction of the road. The people of Logan were not surprised when within three months the company was organized with ta capital of two million dollars for the construction of the project. Immediate steps were taken to requisite the amount of stock subscribed, to survey the road, and to place it under contract as soon as possible. However, the prospects of a rapidly constructed railroad were soon shattered by the first financial crisis which had proved so disastrous to the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad. As a result, the project had to be abandoned.
Suring the years that followed, another company was formed, but it also was rendered inactive by the Panic of 1857. Then came the Civil War which absorbed the attention and energies of the people and prevented any further consideration of the railroad.
When the long, uncertain period of the Civil War ended, the people of the community, notwithstanding the misfortunes attending the earlier project, were determined to realize the ambition. Thuys, in 1865, the Mineral Railroad Company was organized and at the very first public meeting on February 16, 1866, steps were taken which resulted in the free acquisition, in most cases, of a right of way through Hocking County. By December 19, 1866, the total contributions and subscriptions had exceeded by $4,000 the $750,000 required of Hocking County. J.C. Carrett of this county was elected to the Board of Directors under whose guidance the first railroad was actually completed through Hocking County to Athens County line, June 29, 1869. The first locomotive, attached to a construction train, entered Hocking County during the second week of June 1869, creating such excitement as to be comparable only to which existed among the people when the war ended. The first freight train from Nelsonville passed through Logan August 24, 1869, carrying in the caboose the officials of the road who in passing, saluted the citizens of Logan by firing a cannon. Thus, thirty-five years after the people’s first dream of the iron horse, they awoke to find the railroad an accomplished fact. The tremendous welcome acclaiming this iron benefactor attests the importance of this method of transportation to the varied interest of Hocking County.

Address

64 N Culver Street
Logan, OH
43138

Opening Hours

Saturday	1pm - 4pm
Sunday	1pm - 4pm

Website

http://hockingcountyhistorymuseum.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when HOCKING COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to HOCKING COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Logan?