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Beaver Township will begin bicentennial festivities Tuesday
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Jack Crouse, owner of Crouse Mills True Value in North Lima, stands with his grandsons, clockwise from top, J.D., Heath and Carson, standing on an old railroad car at his store. Crouse serves on the committee for the Beaver Township bicentennial celebration that begins Tuesday.
Schedule of events:
TUESDAY
1 to 4 p.m.: Township historical display, Memorial Park behind South Range Football Stadium.
WEDNESDAY
7 to 8:30 p.m.: Stockdale Family Band performance, Woodworth Park, off Western Reserve Road.
THURSDAY
7 p.m.: Nondenominational church service, Calvary Methodist Church, 12062 South Ave.
FRIDAY
6 to 9 p.m.: Kids Fun & Safety Event, Woodworth Park.
SATURDAY
1 to 7 p.m.: Bounce-around, petting zoo, historical display, 37 township businesses and organizations displays, Civil War re-enactment camp, food vendors, Memorial Park.
Noon to 4 p.m.: Antique Car & Tractor Show, South Range Stadium parking lot.
3 to 5 p.m.: Teen Garbage Band Program, football stadium.
8 p.m.: 338th Army Country Band performance, followed by fireworks, football stadium.
NORTH LIMA
Ask Barbara Morey nearly any question about a family or landmark in Beaver Township, and she will provide not only the answer, but also the history of it.
“We need to remember what people before us did. If they built something, for example, we should learn from it. We don’t want to start new every time,” she said. “And I, personally, love history.”
Morey is part of a committee that has planned the township’s bicentennial celebration, which begins Tuesday and continues through Saturday.
Beaver Township Historical Society began in 1976 during the nation’s bicentennial celebration. It disbanded more than 10 years ago, but Morey is lending her local expertise to the township’s bicentennial events, specifically with the historical display on Tuesday.
Many of the original settlers in Beaver Township were Germans from Pennsylvania who moved west after the Revolutionary War, Morey said.
“You had large farms and lots of children, but the land passed to the oldest son, and you couldn’t keep dividing the land so people started moving west,” she said.
In 1803, a land office opened in Steubenville, and people who settled in Beaver Township had to get the title to the land from that office, Morey said.
“They came in covered wagons to Pittsburgh and then into Ohio to Steubenville. Then they’d put the wagons on a flat boat and sail to their destinations,” she said.
Until 1846, the township was part of Columbiana County.
Jack Crouse’s family arrived in the township around 1900. Crouse, 67, has owned the Crouse Mill True Value Center in North Lima since 1982 when he bought it from his father, Wilmer “Spike” Crouse, who had purchased it in 1942.
Sitting near a rack of seed packets and bolts of cherry- red plastic tablecloths, Crouse described some of the changes he’s witnessed in the township, such as the school system name change from North Lima to South Range.
“At the store, we started leaving the feed end of the business when farming went down and put in more hardware,” he said.
The store, however, still carries lye soap, lead window waits, three-gallon crocks for pickling and a few other hard-to-find older items.
For all the changes, Crouse said the same mentality of community remains in the township.
“If you had to choose a spot to break down, I think you’d want to break down here” because someone would offer to help, he said.
Crouse and his wife, Nancy, still run daily operations at the store and said the family tradition will continue with their two sons and four grandchildren.
And, he said, the family will stop by some of the bicentennial events throughout the week to learn more about the area’s history and visit with friends.