Bicentennial events outlined to St. Marys Rotary
On Wednesday the St. Marys Rotary Club hosted Kraig Noble at their weekly meeting which was held again at the Wayne Street United Methodist Church. Noble was there to discuss the upcoming bi-centennial celebrations, as well as to share all of the things to celebrate about St. Marys’ past.
“This is a subject near and dear to my heart, being a life long resident of St. Marys,” said Noble as he started his presentation.
Noble outlined that on Aug. 20, 1823 a plat of the St. Marys was filed in Greenville, Ohio. Noble explained that the reason for this was that while technically St. Marys was part of Mercer County at the time, there were no governmental offices to file the required paperwork. Noble then showed the club a picture of the original plat, and described where it originally was in the city.
“We are standing right here at the center of the plat. This was the site of the first two schools in St. Marys; Union School and West School,” said Noble.
As the presentation moved along, Noble said that like any town, St. Marys has had its fair share of changes over time.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, we’ve had cycles,” said Noble. Those cycles revolved around various events throughout the town’s history. “When the canal came we had an uptick until the railroads came. Then we had a huge boom with the discovery of oil in the area. Then in the 1920’s, we started to go downhill, and the 1930’s were a rough time”, said Noble, then continued. “Before WWII Goodyear came and that was great into the 50’s, and then the 70’s were a rough time as well. We’ve had a pretty good run of it the last 30-40
years.”
Noble then moved along to what a ‘Top 10’ list he created about the town.
Some of the highlights were that St. Marys was the site of negotiations of the last major gathering of indian tribes in Ohio in 1818 where they ceded their last clams in the state, and a major portion of Indiana. Noble also highlighted the facilities along the Miami-Erie Canal, including two locks, a canal basin, and a mill race which resulted in many water powered commercial facilities. St. Marys also was the site of the largest man-made body of water for many years.
“We’re going to hurt the feelings of our friends in Wapak with this one,” said Noble before continuing with one important fact on the list. “Childhood home of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, and home to his ancestors.”
Noble then presented a list of famous people who called St. Marys their hometown which included Galen Cisco, Floyd Keith, Jim Tully and William K. Howard.
After the top ten list Noble moved on to the previous ways that the city has celebrated, which included the centennial in 1923 and the sesquicentennial in 1973. Some of the events from 1923 included a pageant where actors dressed as historic characters, and also produced a souvenir book. In 1973 K.C. Geiger was the Grand Marshall, a beard contest was held, and a quilt was made. Noble then moved on to the planned events for 2023.
“Its a year long celebration raising awareness of the rich history of St. Marys,” said Noble as he started this portion of the presentation. Noble highlighted that there will be a lot of events being held at the Grand Opera House, and that it will be the center of the festivities.
There will also be a large birthday party held for the city the week of Aug. 6-13. First Fridays will have events celebrating the bicentennial from May September. Also being held is a vintage baseball game on June 4, and Jimmy Fallia will be coming to town on July 29. There will also be a concert on Aug. 3 for a piece of music composed for the city. Other events include a demonstration by the Ohio Wheelmen on July 7, a play based on the letters of Charles Kruse, a Civil War Veteran from St. Marys, and a performance of ‘The Ditchmen’, a play by Joe Ginter. To close out the year there will be a Christmas concert on Dec. 16, and if enough has been done on the new municipal building, a time capsule will be placed there.