Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-04-28
FRONTIER TOWN
TO BE RESTORED
Schoenbrun, Ohio, to Rise
From the Ashes.

New Philadelphia, Ohio.-Schoen-
brun. the first town to be established
in the Northwest territory and the
most successful Indian mission set up
In America in the Eighteenth century,
is to rise from its ashes.
On April 10. 1T77. the inhabitants of
the little frontier town gathered be-
hind its stockade for their last church
service, RACED the little church to pre-
vent the destruction by barbarious
hands and fled before advances of an
Indian uprising.
Schoenbrun meaning Beautiful
Springs"-is to be painstakingly re-
produced. Log for ;cg its stoekade
will be replaced. The first church
and the first public school in the
Northwest territory viii be rebuilt in
replica. Schoenbrun, the town to have
the first peace and first temperance
societies of the Northwest, will stand
as monument to the mission spirit
so responsible for the penetration OF
the Ohio country.
A bill before the Eighty-seventh
Ohio legislature will provide $4,000
appropriation for the restoration of
the little village Of the frontier.
Legislature Votes Money.
The Eighty-fifth general assembly
appropriated $4,000, which enabled
the Tuscarawas County Historical So
ciety to purchase the bulk of the prop
erty on which the town once stood.
The Eighty sixth general assembly
added $500 for three adjoining tracts
of land, and the new fund will provide
sufficient money to complete the his
torical work,
The efforts of Rev. ]. E. WeinlaHd
of the Moravian church at Dover have
made possible the replacement Of the
town in which the first civil code with
in the present boundaries of Ohio was
adopted. He made numerous trips to
Bethlehem, Pa, where he pored over
the archives Of the Moravian church
and obtained the data for the research
that disclosed the original location of
the wilderness village.
Strangely enough, it was the en-
croachment of the frontiersmen that
inspired David Zeisberger to lead a
band of 26 Christian Indians from
the mission towns of western Pennsyl-
vania into the virgin country to the
west.
There was none of the rifle and
Bible" crusade for the disciples of
Zeisberger. The golden rule of the
white mans religion was the creed of
the converted Indians pilgrimage.
Their peaceful invasion carried
them into central Ohio, where they
, halted at beautiful spring. Slngu-
larly impressed by the natural ad-
vantages of the site, they laid out a
village.
Church Built In f772.
In 1872 the first church In Ohio
nestled behind protecting stockade.
The following year the schoolhouse
was constructed. The ch-rch bell
that first called the inhab-ants to
worship is now In the possession Of
Doctor Weinland.
Zeisberger was near prorhe to
his flock and an unusual personhge in
the Northwest territory. Historr re-
lates that the jealous settlers oral
courage quelled an armed uprising Of
the savage tribes of the region and
prevented an armed descent of the
aborigines upon the border states.
He established friendly relations
with the neighboring tribes and for
FIVE years the little mission lived ard
grew. But In 1777 the war cries
sounded again in the forests and this
time with an ominous note The mir
sion populace fed and the village was
DESTROYED