In this issue:
Sunbury UFO Query.
Downtown Mansfield.
Malabar Farm Foundation.
Mansfield/Richland County Public Library.
Pleasant Hill Lake Park.
Oak Hill Cottage.
Shiloh Area Historical Society.
An Inquiry About a UFO Photo From 1897.
An inquiry came in this week via facebook messenger asking for information on a photo taken in 1897 by a local printer.
“I’m trying to find information on possible descendants of W. F. Whittier (William Frank Whittier?), who lived in Mansfield in 1930 and worked as a printer. As the editor of a Sunbury newspaper in 1897, he claimed to have photographed a UFO – accidentally – while capturing images of lightning bolts. He sold copies of the photo to townspeople, as this was before the time when photos could be printed in papers. As a writer and local historian, myself, I would love to find a copy of that photo. I think the best bet for doing that would be to find a descendant. Can you help?”
If you have any information, I’ll share the sender’s name and contact information. The spring of 1897 saw a good deal of excitement about airship sightings, so maybe someone has some local insight also, other than just finding out who the man Whittier was. I did also refer him to OGS for help.
Downtown Mansfield Inc. https://www.downtownmansfield.com/
Hard to believe it is already December! What a year we have had in downtown Mansfield!
We have welcomed several new businesses into downtown Mansfield this year, awarded 13 businesses with grants, moved forward with the Main Street Improvement Plan, started to reimagine the Municipal Lot for future development, opened a new public parking lot in downtown, planted a record number of flowers, held large and small scale events, and so much more! If it seems like there are projects on every block, there are!
If you’ve not visited our interactive downtown map, please take a peek here. We also have window stickers with QR codes that take you right to that page. Many of you have them already, but we have some to still get out… if you haven’t seen them yet, send me a note and we’ll run one to you!
Malabar Farm Foundation https://www.malabarfarm.org
The Malabar Farm Foundation recently approved providing funding for equipment needed for naturalist programs at Malabar Farm State Park. The Foundation also approved a request from the Park’s coordinator of volunteers to purchase much needed new Christmas decorations for 2023.
After a long pause caused by the Covid virus, the Malabar Farm Foundation is making plans to resume its program of preserving Louis Bromfield’s extensive art/artifact collection in the Big House at Malabar Farm. In doing this we are fortunate to have available to us the professional services of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, a non-profit organization Cleveland. This is a long term project with more than forty oil paintings having been cleaned and restored to date. We will now be turning our attention to watercolor paintings, prints, documents, and original textiles.
Mansfield/Richland County Public Library https://www.mrcpl.org/shermanroom
The Mansfield/Richland County Public Library has digitized an additional 31 reels of historic newspaper microfilm on our digitized newspaper archive, including 10 reels of the Mansfield Daily Journal from 1924 to 1926. We are not aware of any other institution that has any copies or microfilm of the Daily Journal, so we are excited to offer access to this unique resource online.
Find more in our blog post here: https://theshermanroom.wordpress.com/2022/12/17/extra-extra-thousands-of-pages-of-unique-mansfield-newspaper-now-available-online/
Or explore the digital newspaper archive here: https://mrcpl.advantage-preservation.com/
Pleasant Hill Lake Park https://mwcd.org
This winter we will be constructing our amenities phase adding playground equipment, pickle ball and basketball courts, road /parking paving and facilities improvements.
Our new winter storage lot for boats and campers was completed and in use now
We will be continuing with our Osprey nesting platform project this winter hoping to repair two platforms and add two others
Oak Hill Cottage https://oakhillcottage.org/
Our last Sunday tour of the year wrapped up on the 18th, a week earlier than usual because Christmas falls on a Sunday. The Cottage will go into hibernation until reopening in April.
2022 was a return to normal from the previous two years, except for a total absence of bus tours. Busses had been in a downturn prior to COVID and now seem to not exist.
Our neighborhood continues to see improvements. Friendly house has a new parking lot and water garden at Mulberry and Springmill, replacing an old service station site. Some demolitions around the Allonas house on Prescott will be a further improvement to that location. We’re working on plans for the building directly across from the Cottage, to take off the second story, creating a tiled plaza there, and unblock our view of the city without sacrificing the whole building which we use as a workshop and storage.
Shiloh Area Historical Society 16 W Main St, Shiloh, Ohio 44878
We were busy in 2022. But at the same time it doesn’t seem like there was a great deal of progress.
We received $2000 in donations from Shiloh Plymouth FFA and FFA Alumni Association. That was awesome.
Our project what started out as a small project has turned into something much bigger. We wanted a sign indicating there was a museum in town at both ends of the village. The wind blew the frame down in June at 1 end and the other end wasn’t sturdy. I went to council asking them to allow us to take the lead on replacing. We are now in phase II of the project. There were 18 groups that said they wanted their club, business, or organization on the sign. We are finishing getting the 18 groups coordinated to work w Sun Graphics Gere in Mansfield. I’ll attach a photo for you to see the new framework by Seaman Fencing Co.
A work day w the FFA is being planned to help w carpentry details to redo our school section.
We participated in both RichHx and Open Doors this past year. And utilized the passports with local businesses during the car show and Open Doors. Visitors at the museum were given a passport with coupons for 10% off 1 item at 1 business and money off a large pizza. This was a new idea trying to get people in the doors.
We had 2 displays at the Plymouth Library and 1 at the Municipal Building in Shiloh.
