By R.L. HEMINGER The volume entitled “Findlay Illustrated,” published in 1889 by H.R. Page, tells the story of Findlay’s great boom in a most fascinating manner… “The year 1884 proved an eventful one in Findlay,” says author Page. “Tales of the finding of natural gas in Pennsylvania and its adaptation to manufacturing purposes, as well as its adaptability to lighting and heating, had its effect of recalling to mind the old gas well of Mr. (Jacob) Carr (on South Main […] Continue reading →

By R.L. HEMINGER There are believed to have been two Indian villages on the banks of the Blanchard River. The Wyandots lived in these settlements. One was at the site of Fort Findlay. When the first white man came through the area in 1815 after the fort’s establishment in 1812, he found eight or 10 Indian families around and in the blockhouses of the first. They were tilling two fields in which they had planted grain. The other village was further west on a site known as Indian Green on […] Continue reading →

By R.L. HEMINGER The town of Findlay originally occupied only the area south of the Blanchard River. All the area north of the river remained unoccupied and unsettled for quite a few years after the original town of Findlay was laid out in the early 1820s. After the first bridge was constructed across the river in 1843, interest grew slowly in populating the north area. Early in the 1850s, William Taylor, one of the town’s pioneer leaders, conceived the idea of establishing another town, […] Continue reading →

By R.L. HEMINGER The first permanent settler in both Findlay and Hancock County was Benjamin H. Cox. He was a native of Virginia. He came to Ohio early in the new century, settling first in Greene County, then in Logan County. He served as a scout in the armies of General Hull and General Harrison. At the close of the War of 1812, Mr. Cox, who had lost the sight of one eye, came to Fort Findlay. He had often visited the fort on the Blanchard River and in 1815 brought his family here and […] Continue reading →

By R.L. HEMINGER Some exceedingly interesting information with regard to Col. James Findlay, the builder of the fort here in the War of 1812 and leader for whom our city is named, is to be found in a historical work published at Mercersburg, Pa., with regard to that community’s background. A copy of the publication was made available to the writer by Mr. and Mrs. H. Forney Hamilton, whose daughter, Mrs. Joan Rockwell, resides there now (1968). There is a chapter in the volume entitled […] Continue reading →