Mansfield

Timothy Brian McKee

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780738583587
• eBook ISBN: 9781439640883
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Mansfield began in 1808 when its public square was carved out of a wilderness inhabited only by Wyandots, wild animals, and an itinerant nurseryman named Johnny Appleseed. Throughout the 200 years since then, the character and appearance of the city has transformed many times as new generations remade it into their home. Driving around Mansfield today, there is enough remaining of historical times to compare with old photographs in order to make the past come alive.

CHAPTER 1

GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES

EARLY IMAGES

The Square is where Mansfield originated, and it was the public forum. This early photograph of a campaign rally in Central Park, for the presidential candidate Winfield Hancock in 1880, is a good example of the place where voices have been raised over politics, labor, religion, and government in protest or celebration. (Ohio Genealogical Society, Richland County Chapter collection.)

The historic Blockhouse has been in five different locations during its long lifetime. It was built in the Square in 1812, then moved to Second Street for 90 years, then rebuilt next to the courthouse for the 1908 centennial observations, then placed in South Park for almost 100 years, and finally restored on higher ground in 2008 for the city’s bicentennial celebration. These two photographs show the restoration committees from 1908 and 2008.

These two images contrast Central Park from the earliest known drawing of it in 1839 to what it has evolved into today. Conspicuously absent in the early rendering are the herds of cows and pigs that residents from those days complained about when farmers brought their livestock to market on the hoof and Mansfield’s public green was more of a muddy barnyard. The structure seen in the center of the Square was a farmers’ marketplace and hay scales.

In the early 1870s, a photographer captured the Square when it was surrounded by a fence that had been erected in order to keep livestock from grazing in Central Park. None of the buildings on South Park Street seen in this photograph are still in existence today, and the boundaries of the Square itself have migrated, but the gate in the fence serves to reference the place where Park Avenue was eventually cut through the Square. (Mark Hertzler collection.)

The Richland County Courthouse seen today is the fifth one to stand in downtown, and this photograph from 1873 serves to pinpoint the location of two earlier ones. The courthouse in the foreground was built in 1829 and removed after the one in the background rose in 1872. The photographer who took the picture was E. J. Potter, whose studio was on North Park Street, and he got this view standing on his own roof. (Phil Stoodt collection.)

The First United Methodist Church has been on the Square since the earliest days of Mansfield, and it has been in this particular building at the corner of Park Avenue and Diamond Street since 1870, but the building’s appearance has transformed dramatically since then. The central spire was removed in 1910, a tower was built on the corner of the building, and the entire brick structure was covered in limestone. (Ohio Genealogical Society, Richland County Chapter collection.)

For recent generations, the Farmers Bank was a tall building on Park Avenue (now called the Chase Tower), but Mansfielders before 1928 knew Farmers Bank at this site on the Square. Located on Main Street at the end of North...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1 - GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES
• CHAPTER 2 - STEREOSCOPE VIEWS
• CHAPTER 3 - ROTOGRAVURES
• CHAPTER 4 - KODAKS
• CHAPTER 5 - SNAPSHOTS