Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1916-05-18
PERRYsBURG CENTENNIAL.
Continued from First Page.

therefore, speaking Oh the one
hundred years that shall have
elapsed this summer, in the history
of our village, | shall speak with
reference to the above dates and to
the above important events. Fate
has so placed these mile-stones-
we cannot remove them.
In the early days of the Valley,
along about the year 1900, early
settlers formed a little village
down on the FLATS" of the river,
almost beneath the present site of
Ft. Meigs, which had not then
been built. These settlers called
their little town "Orleans. "
Orleans was composed of some so
or more households, several stores,
etc, and was quite an important
place.
But thinking men say that it
was not the place for a permanent
city. So in 1916, the U. S. Govern
ment caused to be made a survey
Of the high ground on the bluff of
the river below Ft. Meigs,-our
present Perrysburg. This survey
took place in the summer of 1916,
and was done by Joseph Wampler,
District Surveyor of the U. S. Gov
ernment. History has recorded
little of the ideas, thoughts or say
ingS OF the men responsible for
this survey. But we draw the
conclusions, that these men had III
mind the beginning of large and
magnificent Emporium of the Cen
tral Valley. Hence its location at
the head of navigation and on
high ground. Hence its large
squares, it's wide streets and broad
avenues. In their minds, it was
to become THE city of the middle
west. They in their anticipation
Of its Importance named it after
Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of
Lake Erie. Had it been an inland
city, it would have been called
"Harrisonville," after the hero oil
Tippecanoe. But it was on the
water and the honor was bestowed
on Perry, and they called it Per
rysburg.
AS a matter of history, it will be
remembered, that at the Treaty OF
Greenville, made between Wayne
and the Indian Tribes, in 1896, a
tract of land to be known as "The
U. S. Reserve of II miles square"
was ceded by the Indians to the U.
S. Government. The center of
this tract was to be at the foot of
the Rapids of the Maumee. Those
who did the surveying placed first
a buried stone down on the river
bank, just under the hill opposite
the present site of the old Seurin
Hotel in Maumee. From this
stone used as center, the Reserve
was measured six miles east, west,
north and south from this mark.
This Reserve was U. S. Property,
and that was why all deeds to land
and lots to this tract and corpora
ton were derived from the Gov
ernment and bore the signature of
the President of the United States.
Within the space of few years,
"Orleans" down on the "Flats"
had become an interesting little
town. 1t was near the center of
the U. S. Reserve and felt quite
safe from molestation by Indian
bands that had no rights here.
Soon the war of 1912 came Oh
and "Orleans" was temporarily
abandoned and her people fed to
the Interior. Ft. Meigs was then
built,-in 1S13,-and for two years
war devastated the country. In
1914, the settlers returned to find
most of their town destroyed, but
it was in some measure rebuilt, but
never to the extent of it's former
proportions.
When Perrysburg was surveyed,
in 1916, "Orleans down on the