A Town of Two (Very Different) Cities

inToledo | 07/17/2008

If you could ask Oliver Hazard Perry today what he thinks of his namesake city, Perrysburg, I wonder how he would answer: A wet, spongy, bug infested swamp?...No. A small, sleepy rural/suburban town?...Uh…no. A growing, suburban bedroom community?...Not quite anymore. A vastly transformed, suburban, artistic, progressive, charming, historic, on the move, bustling city?...Absolutely! Just not in quite the same way it was imagined and hoped to be in 1816. The commodore himself stands proudly preserved in bronze, surveying the broad boulevard of the historic downtown district on Louisiana Avenue.

One of the original settlements in the area, founded in 1810 by Major Amos Spafford, was named “Orleans of the North.” It is now one of the eleven local parks enjoyed by ﬁ sherman and naturalists, located down on the ﬂ ats of the Maumee River. Major Spafford came here as Collector of Customs for the Port of Miami. He was later the ﬁ rst Postmaster. His son Samuel later owned the prestigious—for the time—Exchange Hotel.

In 1794, General (Mad) Anthony Wayne (learn more about him in the September 2007 issue of inToledo) came through the Great Black Swamp from Fort Greenville to ﬁ ght the historic battle of Fallen Timbers. (According to local historians, an F5 tornado passed through the area prior to the battle, leveling many trees—hence the name, Fallen Timbers.) One year later, the Treaty of Greenville was signed, in which the British acknowledged the United States claim to all lands in northwestern Ohio.

The Treaty, however, would be only the beginning of hostilities. General William Henry Harrison, commander of American troops in the Northwest Territory, decided to erect a fort at the foot of the Maumee Rapids as protection against further encroachment by the British into the Territory. In the winter of 1813, the site was begun. The Americans drove a circle of wooden pickets ﬁ fteen feet high and three feet deep into frozen ground, completing the project in record time. The fortiﬁ cation included eight blockhouses and earthen embankments with tunnels underneath for protection. General Harrison so named it “Fort Meigs” in honor of Ohio’s ﬁ rst governor, Return Jonathan Meigs. Most of the initial inhabitants of this area ﬂ ed to neighboring communities such as Fremont during the War of 1812, returning later when hostilities ceased in 1815.

In 1816, Major Spafford received a proposal from the federal government to create a new town that would be the namesake of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. In honor of his victories against the British on Lake Erie, Spafford dubbed it “Perrysburgh.” The town was one of only two cities in the US to be platted out by the federal government, the other being Washington D.C., and was one mile wide by one mile deep. When the surveyors noted the name of the small town of Orleans down on the ﬂ ats, they had a little fun with it and named Perrysburg’s broad town boulevard of “8 rods and 132 feet wide,” Louisiana Avenue. The government encouraged settlement of this portion of the Northwest Territory and hoped the town of “Perrysburgh” would become a population center for trade and commerce. No one knew that what lay beneath the waters of the Maumee would literally stem the tide. If government surveyors had chosen a site just a few miles down river, they would have avoided a rock ridge. This geologic feature became a barrier for ships drawing over six feet of water, and as vessels became heavier and deeper, the ridge prevented access, stalling Perrysburg’s and Maumee’s future success as shipping and trading ports.

The area continued to grow, despite the hardships of the swamp and shipping limitations. Front Street was cleared of brush and trees, and historic homes were built that still overlook the river today. Samuel Spafford built The Exchange Hotel in 1823. Now a private residence, it gave rest to many famous heads, among them Presidents William Henry Harrison and James K. Polk, General Winﬁ eld Scott and Daniel Webster.

There was a sawmill and ship building yards that supported a thriving ship building base on the river at the bottom of Louisiana Avenue. Many ships were built there, including a variety of steamboats and schooners. Bridges and streets paved with logs were later built in an attempt to ride over the clay that became sticky mud in the slightest rain.

The area’s population grew rapidly with the coming of the canals and draining of the swamp. By 1900,
engineers had dug 896 ditches, transforming the Black Swamp into some of the most fertile farmland in the
world.

Few know of the role played by the area before and during the Civil War when Perrysburg was a location for the active Underground Railroad. "Old Joe Langford," who lived in a small cabin on Mulberry Street, worked the shipyards by day and guided runaway slaves to the Canadian border by night, with the help of his ﬂ eet footed pony. During one event, a town lawyer, who had agreed to represent a young runaway, hatched a plan whereby the townspeople created a diversion, allowing the slave to escape through the Courtroom door to Old Joe's waiting pony. When the slave-catchers tried to leave the courtroom in pursuit, the townspeople blocked the doorway, preventing them from leaving. When they ﬁ nally made it to their horses and out of town, the gatekeepers at the City of Maumee were slow to open the gates, further hampering their persuit. The former slave made it to freedom and the pony returned unguided to his owner as he had many times before.

With a growing population, the need for law and order became evident, and after the loss of some important structures to ﬁ re, a ﬁ re brigade became essential. Initially, one jailhouse was built, replaced by another and then a ﬁ nal, larger one in 1847 and used until 1870. The historic jailhouse still stands today as an apartment complex on the corner of Findlay and Indiana. The jails were mainly used for common offenses of the time. One of the few exceptions was the murder of tavern owner Isaac Richardson by George Porter in 1830. It is said that Isaacson owed Porter back wages that he refused to pay. Porter was held in the jailhouse until his execution by hanging on November 5, 1830. Like a scene from many a Western, people came from far and wide to witness Porter's hanging.

Today, the Police Division is housed in the municipal building on Walnut Street, along with the courts, city ofﬁ ces, and animal control division, and serves to protect and enhance quality of life. And luckily enough, the Police ofﬁ cers of today still respond to mostly minor misdeeds. The ﬁ re division across the street provides protection of life and property and responds to medical emergencies and other natural and man- made emergencies. Recently the ﬁ re division added a new hook and ladder truck to keep up with the growth and height of the new buildings rapidly changing the landscape.

The community saw steeples sprout along the skyline. One of the most recognizable belongs to St. Rose Catholic Church on Front Street. St. Rose was the ﬁ rst Catholic Church in the area and was built in 1892 by a group of German, Roman Catholic settlers. Church members began a school that predates the church by 25 years (with Miss Ada Munger as the ﬁ rst teacher), adding a K-8 elementary school building in 1923.

The First Methodist Church of Perrysburg was the ﬁ rst Methodist congregation in the Maumee Valley. It began in 1819 in Orleans in the home of Amos Spafford and later moved to Perrysburg, becoming the ﬁrst organizedchurch in the village. The First Presbyterian Church opened in 1892. The oldest church building still standing is the original Grace Evangelical United Brethren Church on Second St. This church served its congregation for 110 years from this location, until the completion of the current church on East Boundary. Zoar Lutheran church, also begun by German immigrants, had its beginnings in 1850 and still
occupies a church built in 1873.

There were many small “select schools” begun in Perrysburg, charging tuition for orthography,
reading and writing, and extra tuition for math, English and geography. These classes were usually held in the teacher’s home. The ﬁ rst public school was built in 1849 with funding by voters (only men, by the way) who passed the ﬁ rst bond issue. It served 50 students.

Today, the school district has grown a bit, supporting 4,522 students in six school buildings. Unlike the
early schools, everyone receives a ﬁ rst-rate education at no extra charge, and the school district can
boast of some of the highest test scores in the country. They have received an “Excellent” rating for
the past 7 years from the State of Ohio. In addition, the district operates a charter school—the
Digital Academy, the ﬁrst online charter school in Northwest Ohio.

Another ﬁ rst in Northwest Ohio for the district is an outdoor wetland project, a student/staff guided
program on one acre of school property. The proposed project will be a seasonal wetland, which means
it will dry up in the summer. This, and the introduction to the area of insects that eat mosquitoes, will
control the mosquito population in the area. During wet seasons, the water will be six inches to two feet
deep.

The Perrysburg of today is a far cry from the swampland turned rural/trendy suburban community
that incorporated a total of one mile square. The area lived a sleepy existence for some time, until recent
growth spurred toward a population of 20,000. It is now the center of trade and commerce its founders
envisioned, and even Commodore Perry would be proud. Instead of the waterway, its prosperity came
via the highway. No longer do the shops in the historic uptown district brag of providing only the
necessities of life (which by the way are still available—the hardware is still there, as are grocers, general
stores, tailors, a meat market, hotels, cleaners, etc.). Nor will the ﬁne clothing shops display signs that
offer “Buffalo clothes, Moleskins and heavy Bangup cord for pants.”

You’ll ﬁ nd fashionable clothing comparable to some New York shops, a charming bed and breakfast, cosmopolitan art/gift galleries, bakeries, ﬁ ne eateries and a unique coffee shop/old time candy store where the cup-of-joe served up is anything but average. Umbrella tables line Louisiana street, inviting you to sit and enjoy the view up the boulevard, catch your breath and take in the history. Thursdays from May through October you can visit an open-air farmer’s market for seasonal fruits and vegetables, annuals, perennials, cut ﬂ owers, herbs and baked goods.

Levis Town Center is the newest, ever expanding addition to the shopping community, where you can eat, dwell, shop, recreate, work and live all in one place. There is an array of residential choices such as the charming Brownstone Village or the Preston Garden Apartments. Choose from an eclectic venue of ﬁ ne restaurants, see a movie, work out in the health club, and spend the night or host a special event at the new Hilton Garden Inn. Working just outside your front door is a possibility as well, with a number of businesses located in the Levis Town Center.

Levis Commons may be one of the most modern sites for recreating in Perrysburg, but in 1922 the Carranor Hunt and Polo Club was the place to be for the elite to meet. The name was derived from Carroll and Eleanor Pew, son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pew, at whose riverfront estate the early matches were played.

One of the many gems of Perrysburg is The 577 Foundation, founded by Virginia Secor Stranahan in 1987. In 1917, Mr. and Mrs. George F. Greenhalgh (Mrs. Greenhalgh was a niece of Edward Drummond Libbey) built a farm on their country estate of 12 acres in Perrysburg. It was designed for the accommodation of hunter horses, a few head of cattle and a small dairy. Duane and Virginia Stranahan bought the property in 1935 and raised a family of six children in the home.

The 577 Foundation is dedicated to safeguarding the integrity of the historic property as well as the environment, and it is an ever changing, ecological sanctuary that seeks to promote public awareness and education. There is a geodesic dome structure (perhaps the only one in Lake Erie West) bee hives, public gardens, a bird blind, a river walk, a log cabin and a pottery workshop that hosts public classes.

“Fort Imagination” is one of eleven local parks. It is in Woodland Park, built entirely with funds and labor supplied by the community in 1997, and has a very large, brightly colored play structure with curly slides, jungle gyms, swings, secret hideouts and crawling tubes. Fort Meigs is now a reconstructed battleﬁ eld of 1812 and a museum, owned and operated by the Ohio Historical Society. On a warm summer day you can be carried back to 1812 by the sound of ﬁ fe and drum and the thunderclap of cannon ﬁ re. Reenactments and special events are often hosted there. The Fort is also a stunning place in the winter (I wonder if they were sledding on the hills in 1812?). Human visitors are not the only ones who enjoy the Fort. It serves as a home for many of the areas natural wildlife families of foxes, groundhogs, deer, geese and ducks, raccoons and squirrels.

Deer regularly make a habit of trying to nibble on the foliage along the historic homes and green spaces of Front Street, and we are not the only ones snuggling up to our ﬁ replaces as raccoons and birds often ﬁ nd a great nesting place in them as well. Wild turkey numbers are coming back with small communities along the river; coyotes roam the ditches, tracks and creek beds of town; and eagles once again soar over the buildings up the riverfront. The wildlife reminds us that like the eagle, we have sailed into the 21st century, growing quite beyond our “moleskins” pants. We are eternally rooted by nature to our vast history and to hefty, future responsibilities of managing space and pace.

Overall, this town of two centuries has made vast changes, while in many ways remaining the same. The exquisite historic homes along Front and Second streets, along with the downtown area, stand to keep us anchored to our heritage. They remind us of our beginnings and the effort it has taken to become a prosperous, 21st Century city. The excitement of new growth, whether it be homes or shopping, ensures us that there is a bright future. It is good that we, as some would say, get to have our cake…and eat it too!