The Delaware County Historic Society not solely paperwork native historical past; it additionally has a historical past of its personal.

The society will flip 75 years outdated in November, having been shaped in 1947, when some residents have been involved that enlargement of the Delaware Dam undertaking would flood a historic cemetery in Marlboro Township, govt director Donna Meyer stated.

Because the a long time handed, the society centered on the county’s complete historical past and opened the Nash Home Museum – constructed within the 1870s at 157 E. William St. in Delaware and donated by the Nash household – which housed its information and collections and continues to function.

In 2010, the society acquired the donation of what’s now the Meeker Homestead Museum – constructed in 1811 and 1823 – plus a big barn and 6 acres at 2690 Stratford Street, on Delaware metropolis’s southern edge. The property was donated by Tom and Carolyn Porter, who operated Garth’s Public sale Barn on the web site.

In April 2021, the historic society was the profitable bidder when the county auctioned the outdated county jail constructing at 20 W. Central Ave. in Delaware. The jail was inbuilt 1879.

Every acquisition has furthered the society’s mission of preserving and educating the general public about native historical past, Meyer stated.

On the Meeker home, the society is displaying “The Journey to Delaware County” free exhibit, which may be considered from 1 to 4 p.m. first Sunday of every month. 

The exhibit describes how actions of the federal authorities – together with group of the Northwest Territory in 1787 and Ohio land grants to veterans – drew settlers from the East and led to Ohio turning into a state in 1803.

One of many earliest, if not the primary, settlers was Nathan Carpenter, who arrived in Liberty Township in 1801, Meyer stated.

Benny Shoults of Delaware is an expert artist and curator on the Meeker home and stated the exhibit contains various artifacts from the interval and was researched with assist from Roxann Newton and Steve Frazier, each central Ohio academics.

Meyer stated various educators and librarians are lively within the historic society and help with its actions.  

The “Journey to Delaware County” exhibit particularly is a neighborhood effort, Shoults stated. 

The exhibit chronicles various early settlers drawn partly by federal coverage and partly by the lure of fertile farmland, Shoults stated.

Some components of the exhibit are accompanied by QR codes to permit guests to entry extra data on their cellphones, he stated. 

The settlers included Forrest Meeker, first proprietor of the Meeker home, who arrived in 1811.

One factor of the exhibit contains instruments and provides that might be bought in shops of the period. Guests are invited to pick out which gadgets they might purchase for a visit from New England to Ohio and will have their alternatives graded by way of which purchases would enable them to outlive the journey, Shoults stated. 

Buying and selling with American Indians was routine for early Ohio shops, he stated, since normal hostilities had ceased after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 close to what’s Maumee, Ohio, and the signing the Treaty of Greenville with indigenous tribes in 1795. The settlers additionally included free Blacks, he stated.

 As soon as settlers grew to become established, they’d loads to do, Shoults stated.

Among the many Meeker home artifacts is a big loom from earlier than the Civil Conflict, and one other room shows spinning wheels and different instruments used to show wooden and flax (linen) into thread for weaving. 

Within the a long time following the primary settlers, the Stratford Street space alone grew to become a beehive of free enterprise, Shoults stated.

It quickly housed a sawmill and flour mill, and in later years, an area chair manufacturing facility was producing 40,000 chairs a yr, he stated. 

Delaware County additionally attracted an entrepreneur named Moses Byxbe, who arrived in 1804.

Shoults stated Byxbe was a profitable businessman in New England, the place he owned a tavern, a retailer and an inn. When clients could not pay their payments, Byxbe accepted land grants in lieu of fee, Shoults stated.

“He owned property in Delaware County earlier than he got here to Delaware County,” Shoults stated.

Byxbe ultimately offered fairly a little bit of his Ohio property, turning into a pioneer developer along with a settler, Shoults stated. 

Meyer stated the exhibit resonates along with her as a result of considered one of her ancestors, Joseph Linnaberry, moved from Luzerne County in Pennsylvania to Harlem Township in 1810.

Along with the exhibit, the Meeker home has two rooms outfitted with early 1800s furnishings, a room devoted to the Stratford chair issue and a room displaying Indian artifacts present in Delaware County.

Former New Albany mayor’s 1800s pianoforte donation

In a single interval room sits a piano that seems as if it is solely 10 years outdated, however in actuality it is at the least 170 years outdated.

It is a 75-key scaled-down piano, known as a sq. grand, or pianoforte, a mode that was in style within the 1800s due to its smaller measurement, Shoults stated. Its rosewood case and ivory keys present little signal of age. He stated an professional who examined it stated most of its strings are authentic.

Its producer, Hallett and Allen of Boston, solely made pianos from 1847 to 1850.

Former New Albany Mayor Nancy Ferguson, who donated the piano to the historic society, stated these dates have been confirmed by a piano professional who had contacted her.

“After I was a resident of central Ohio, I used to be a member of the Delaware (County) Historic Society, in addition to the New Albany Plain Township Historic Society,” stated Ferguson, who has moved to Texas. “After I downsized in 2020, I made donations to each organizations, however the piano appeared the proper match for the Meeker home. … I used to be so excited the Delaware historic society accepted my donation. Not solely did it go to an excellent dwelling, however I can go to it in future years.” 

One other exhibit focuses on archaeology for college students and contains artifacts discovered on the Meeker property, found with ground-penetrating radar, Meyer stated.

She stated the Nash home serves for instance of a home outfitted with furnishings and fixtures from the Victorian period, within the late 1800s.

Maggie Webb is the curator of the Nash Home Museum, Meyer stated. 

“The Nash home is a home museum, and the Meeker home is a museum in a home,” Shoults stated, citing the vast time-frame of the Meeker home reveals.

He stated the exhibit possible would proceed till the autumn of 2023 and be adopted by one other exhibit protecting the interval earlier than the Civil Conflict.

Having a celebration? Perhaps hire the barn

After buying the Meeker home property, the historic society found a vigorous marketplace for these renting barns for events and different occasions.

The Barn at Stratford is booked for occasions almost each week, she stated, and has its personal web site at barnatstratford.org/. 

The historic society nonetheless is within the course of of creating enhancements on the outdated county jail, which incorporates repairing window frames and trim earlier than reinstalling the unique window glass made earlier than 1900, Meyer stated.

 The jail has been open for public view throughout Major Avenue Delaware’s First Friday occasions, with docents readily available and various guests for every displaying, she stated. 

The constructing additionally housed the county sheriff’s residence, and the society desires to make use of interval furnishings to re-create what the residence would have seemed like, Meyer stated.

For extra on the society, go to delawareohiohistory.org/.

ThisWeek assistant managing editor Scott Hummel contributed to this story.

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