By JEANNIE WILEY WOLF STAFF WRITER The 1980s were memorable years in the Findlay area. Local happenings on several occasions drew national attention. Perhaps best remembered is 1981, when a flood hit the area in June, and a corporate takeover battle for Marathon Oil Co. began in October. When rain began to fall in early June 1981, few would have predicted that floodwaters would engulf Findlay over the weekend of June 13, causing more than $13 million in damage to 2,200 homes and 500 […] Continue reading →
By JEANNIE WILEY WOLF STAFF WRITER The decade of the 1930s was a dark one in history. The Roaring Twenties were over and the Great Depression arrived. It began on “Black Tuesday,” Oct. 29, 1929, the day the stock market crashed and the nation began its economic slide. A wave of bank failures swept the United States. Jobs were lost. Times were hard. The effects of the Depression were far-reaching. Findlay, which had grown to a population of 19,363, joined in the chaos that enveloped […] Continue reading →
By JEANNIE WILEY WOLF STAFF WRITER The country went to war again during the decade of the 1940s. Americans were still struggling through a severe economic depression when the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor led the United States into World War II in December 1941. The necessity of building up the nation’s defenses helped bring about the end of the Depression. However, it also made economic and civic advancement difficult. In Findlay, progress was put on hold while the community […] Continue reading →
By JEANNIE WILEY WOLF STAFF WRITER The 1970s. It was the era of Kent State and Watergate. The Iran hostage crisis. Legionnaire’s Disease and the nation’s bicentennial. But the thing people probably remember most is the snow. The blizzard of 1977 was described, perhaps inaccurately, as the worst snowstorm to ever hit the area. Findlay was laid low by record-breaking cold and 12 inches of snow. As it turned out, the real blizzard did not arrive until one year later. January 1978 was a […] Continue reading →
By J. STEVEN DILLON EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR William McKinley was president, the Cake Walk was the most fashionable dance, and Sigmund Freud’s paper, “Interpretation of Dreams,” was released. Asa S. Bushnell was Ohio’s governor, Col. Ralph D. Cole was Hancock County’s representative to the state Legislature, and Erwin E. Ewing was the Hancock County sheriff. Charles E. Watson was Findlay’s mayor. Roasted coffee and bacon were both 10 cents a pound, maple syrup 25 cents a […] Continue reading →
By R.L. HEMINGER The origin of Findlay as a community is generally held to have begun with the coming of Wilson Vance in November 1821, for it was he who set in motion the machinery which led to the establishment of the settlement as a town. Col. James Findlay came through in June 1812 with his forces and built Fort Findlay on the banks of the Blanchard River. He left a small garrison here as he proceeded on toward Detroit. A few whites visited the fort in the next six or seven years, but […] Continue reading →
By R.L. HEMINGER Squire and Parlee Carlin, brothers, were two of the earliest settlers in Findlay, and the roles they played in the life of the small community were of a major and substantial nature. They had much to do with the shaping of the little village which grew into the city of today. Both lived until the later part of the 19th century and both saw the town which they helped get its start flower into a busy, progressive community. Squire Carlin lived to see the great oil and gas […] Continue reading →
By R.L. HEMINGER The Blanchard River is one of those matters we are apt to take for granted most of the time. Of course when it gets out of its banks and becomes troublesome from that standpoint, it’s a vastly different matter then. But fortunately that only happens once in a long time. And we are now trying to solve that problem permanently. The river has played a vital role in the life of the local community over the years. Particularly in the pioneer days did it mean much to the early […] Continue reading →
By R.L. HEMINGER Job Chamberlin, author of a series of articles many years ago providing recollections of pioneer days in Findlay experienced by his father, also named Job, and other members of the family, told of the wildlife in one of his early reminiscences. “When we came to the hill in the 1820s we found the woods full of birds,” he wrote. “Those of a carnivorous disposition gave us much trouble for many years. The hawks, of which there were four or five kinds, were constantly on […] Continue reading →
Courier, The (Findlay, OH) – Thursday, December 1, 2011 Maybe he had been researching a subject related to Findlay’s upcoming bicentennial or, perhaps, planning his next trip to Chicago. But he was more likely composing a note to a friend. Heminger only knew one speed in life: Full. Even occasional health issues would only temporarily slow him down. He was at the office Tuesday, as usual, before attending a show and having dinner with dear friends. Heminger , 85, was the third […] Continue reading →
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