Ohio's Small Town Museum

09/29/2026

New displays are coming to the museum, including one for our own "Shark Week" from 1916. We are also honoring Van Gregg and his stellar basketball career at Clemson. There will be a display for Jay Gregg who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. There will be several story displays including: Dave Ebert's Cruel Shoes and Randolph Street in Ashville. We will have a display on Hartman Farm's Peruna. We will honor former Teays Valley student Emily Legg Cook for her "I Voted" design. There will be more items for the Lockbourne AFB including the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women's Service Air Pilots stationed at the base. Bob Hoover's All-Ohio Boy's Basketball warm-up jersey will be encased.

There will be new displays that connect our area to national events including the end of polygamy, construction of the Panama Canal, the Hindenburg disaster, and more

We will be reaching out to others whose achievements deserve to be recognized, asking them for one personal item we can display

09/27/2026

This morning's trivia question was can you name an event sponsored by a ladies group in a local church that featured dozens of men dressed as women?

Answer: It was a play called a "Womanless Wedding," that was performed in local churches and grange halls throughout the county from 1931 to 1940 as a fundraiser for these groups.

Men appeared as all of the characters, including the bride. This was not the only play or activity that featured men appearing as women. The Community Club put on a play in 1949 that featured men in female roles called Big Baby Review. Clyde Brinker's appearance as Mae West in another local play brought the house down.

09/27/2026

Today's local trivia question: Can you name an event sponsored by a ladies group in a local church that featured dozens of men dressed as women?

09/26/2026

Yesterday's local trivia question was what local person helped convince the leader of the Church of Latter Day Saints to end the practice of polygamy?

Answer: George Silas Peters. Almost all Christian bioethicists argue that surrogacy violates the “creation norm for marriage, family, and procreation, by introducing a third-party contributor,” it pales in comparison as a political issue to the hue and cry against ‘polygamy’ as practiced by the Mormon Church in the late 1800’s.

George Peters was born near St. Paul, Ohio, on October 11, 1846. After graduation he taught school locally and wrote a book about mathematics, but he decided to turn his attention to the legal profession and moved to Columbus. In 1881, he was elected mayor of the city of Columbus.

n 1887, after leaving the office of mayor, Peters was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to become the United States Attorney for the Utah Territory. He willingly stepped into a hornets’ nest. It was his task to disincorporate the LDS Church and the Perpetual Immigration Fund on the grounds that they fostered polygamy. It fell upon Peter’s shoulders to prosecute the church and seize church property. The first piece of property seized was the Tithing Office. Next the Gardo House and Historian’s Office were taken and the Temple Block. All were rented back to the church for a yearly fee. Work on the Salt Lake Temple ceased after these proceedings.

Peters actions had the desired effect, on September 25th of 1890, the head of the Church, Wilford Woodruff issued a “Manifesto,” whereby he made it known that God spoke to him and the Church. They were called to submit to the laws of Congress which prohibited the practice of polygamy.

09/25/2026

Today's local trivia question: What local person helped convince the leader of the Church of Latter Day Saints to end the practice of polygamy?

09/25/2026

Yesterday's trivia question was what local person brought honor to this area during the 1970's in the heated rivalry between Ohio and California?

Answer: The rivalry was between the Pumpkin Show in Circleville and Half Moon Bay's festival where there was a simultaneous weigh-in of each festival's largest squash and the person who squashed the hopes of the Half Moon Bay contestants was Mark C**n. Mark's Father and Uncle also had a long string of winners.

09/24/2026

Today's local trivia question: What local person brought honor to this area during the 1970's in the heated rivalry between Ohio and California?

09/21/2026

Yesterday's trivia question was what national event happened near Lockbourne in 1946 that had never before taken place anywhere else in the United States? Hint: a number of local people were involved.

Answer: For the first time in the United States a large white civilian workforce was under the direct command of Black individuals. The 477th Tactical Command (including the famed Tuskegee Airmen) headed by Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. faced almost insurmountable odds including a less than hospitable local populace to create a highly praised unit which ultimately received the respect of the civilian workforce. The success of this group at Lockbourne paved the way for President Harry Truman issuing the Executive Order that desegregating the armed forces. This was an important milestone in the Civil Rights Movement.

09/20/2026

Today's local trivia question: What national event happened near Lockbourne in 1946 that had never before taken place anywhere else in the United States? Hint: a number of local people were involved.

09/18/2026

So that is what all the commotion was about downtown. They were at Ohio's Small Town Museum and we had a ton of fun showing them around our museum. Their production on Ashville will be posted in a couple of months, but while they were here they certified our traffic light and other displays as being wonderfully weird.

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