THE SEVEN SITES
THE SEVEN SITES
Historical spots
The Ohio Historical Society is designating seven sites around Canfield’s Green as historically significant. Cast aluminum signs will mark each site. Following is a list of the seven sites, as well as two sites that are already marked. The nine sites will become a “Walk of History” in the city. The markers will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Bandstand on the Green:
The Mahoning Dispatch. The Dispatch was a weekly newspaper in Canfield that circulated in Mahoning County from 1877 to 1968. The building contains a treasure trove of old printing presses. Three generations of the Fowler family ran the paper, doing everything from selling ads and subscriptions, designing ads and writing the articles. The Dispatch building will be open after the dedication. Gerry Grace of Ellsworth Township, who has worked in the pressrooms at The Vindicator and the Akron Beacon Journal, will be on hand and hopes to have a Linotype typesetter running.
The Canfield Township Hall. The building was built in the 1860s at the corner of Broad Street and U.S. Route 224, but was later moved to its present location on Broad Street next to the Dispatch. Township business is still conducted there. The trustees still meet there, and the township zoning office is there.
The Village Green. Laid out like the Green in the founders’ hometown of Litchfield, Conn., it was the pride of the community. One founder, Elijah Wadsworth, was a general during the War of 1812 and trained a militia on the Green. The Green was a grazing ground for animals and was the site of the first Canfield Fair.
The Canfield Congregational/United Methodist Church. It was the first church building around the Green.
The Canfield Christian Church. It is one of the oldest churches in the area.
The WPA Memorial Building. The Work Progress Administration was an organization that Franklin Roosevelt came up with to try to bring the country out of the Depression. It provided money for communities to build amenities. Canfield’s building had a library, auditorium and theater on the first floor. The second floor housed the American Legion and the Argus Masonic Lodge. The basement housed youth groups. The building is now privately owned and houses offices.
The War Vets Museum. The museum, run by the American Legion, is on East Main Street a block away from the Green. In the 1970s, tenants began leaving the WPA building. The library moved to West Main Street and Argus wanted property on Shields Road. The Legion was the last to leave. Longtime resident Robert Neff helped the Legion buy the old house that is now the site of the museum. It had been the home of the Church family, original founders of Canfield.
Two sites already have markers. They are the old Mahoning County courthouse at the south end of the Green and the Odd Fellows Lodge, which is between the Dairy Queen and the United Methodist Church. The lodge was originally a hotel that took in boarders during the days when Canfield was the Mahoning County seat. Lawyers who traveled from Youngstown on horseback usually needed to stay for several days.
Source: Pat Sabo, Canfield Historical Society