December 10, 2024

The Silent Sentinels

The Silent Sentinels As the day dawned, smoke curled up from the ashes.  Homes and business buildings dating from the earliest days of the settlement were gone, destroyed in a conflagration of horrific proportions.  It was Saturday, May 4, 1872, the day after the infamous Black Friday Fire. The fire had started on the second […]

Avery Brown: Drummer Boy of the Cumberland

                       It was the early days of the Civil War and the Union was in turmoil.  The North had expected to easily smash the South and preserve the Union but something had gone terribly wrong.  The Confederates, buoyed by the bravery of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, had routed an unprepared, overconfident army of Union blues […]

Junk Drawer Gems

Everyone has one, the junk drawer.  And while we call it a “junk” drawer it rarely holds true junk.  Twistie ties from bread bags find their way here as do rubber bands from the newspaper.  The odd screwdriver, letter opener or pocket knife lives here as well.  But amongst the “junk” live some good, old […]

Delphos History On The Shelves

Did you know that the Delphos Canal Museum has not only 17,000 square feet of exhibits but also a library containing dozens of books, binders and albums chronicling the rich history of Delphos?  Well, yes, we do. The Museum Library resides at the rear of the first floor.  Included on the shelves are yearbooks from […]

Making A Joyful Noise

Entering the Great Doors of St. John’s church your eyes are met with a feast of Romanesque Revival architecture and Classical religious design.  When your eyes are full, sit for a moment and wait for the ethereal sounds of the nearly century old Moller organ to fill the silence with a joyful noise. In 1929 […]

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

     It was a sleepy Sunday morning in Honolulu, a morning like any other.  At 7:45am the sailors and soldiers at Pearl Harbor were beginning their day, some just waking up while others were on duty or onshore.  The sky was clear and sunny and temperatures were mild, in the low 70’s.  A beautiful day […]

Carey A. Evans, Beloved Doctor, Mayor, Railroad Entrepreneur

On February 21, 1889 the Delphos Herald proclaimed, “Never in the history of Delphos were our people more shocked than on last Saturday when it as announced that Dr. C.A. Evans had suddenly and with only a few hours warning passed from earth to the life beyond.”  “In his death Delphos sustains he loss of […]

A Rare Gem

After the Black Friday Fire of 1872 the city mobilized to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again.  The Washington Volunteer Fire Company was organized on July 1, 1872.  An engine house was built and an engine and 500 feet of hose were obtained from the city of Xenia.  In February 1873 a […]

Plane Sewing

The classified ad in the Dayton newspaper sought someone for “Plain sewing”.  Young Ida Holdgreve, an accomplished seamstress, figured she could do the job.  She applied and was hired.  However, the ad in the Dayton newspaper had a spelling error.  “Plain” sewing should have read “plane” sewing.  Twenty-nine year old Ida Holdgreve had applied for, […]

Return to Starlight Nights: Part 2

With November 13 officially celebrated as Leslie Peltier Day in Delphos, we decided to give everyone an update on the new Leslie Peltier Exhibit at the Canal Museum.  Earlier this year, pre-covid 19, we updated our friends and fans on the progress we were making on the new Leslie Peltier exhibit at the Canal Museum.  […]