Westerville Historical Society

06/23/2026

Don't miss any of our Hanby House Summer Program Series.

06/22/2026

On This Day in History
Congress Authorized Continental Currency

On June 22, 1775, Congress authorized the issue of $2 million in bills of credit. Earlier that year, American leaders had realized that they lacked the funds to wage a prolonged war against Britain and sought to issue the currency to help remedy this. The large-scale distribution of revolutionary currency was undertaken soon after Congress approved the move, but it was not the colonies’ first experience with paper notes, as the Massachusetts Bay colony had already issued its own bills back in 1690. However, the 1775 bills did represent the first large-scale attempt at American currency. The bills themselves were known as “Continentals” and featured the likenesses of Revolutionary soldiers along with the inscription “The United Colonies.” However, Continentals were not economically successful. Backed only by the promise of “future tax revenues” and prone to inflation, the notes had little fiscal value. The currency ultimately failed and left the young nation saddled with significant war debt. After the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, a deep economic depression followed. Fear of more economic chaos helped turn the tide of opinion against the Articles of Confederation and towards a stronger, more centralized government created by the federal Constitution. The United States did not issue new paper notes again until the dawn of the Civil War

06/21/2026

Happy Fathers Day

06/19/2026

On This Day in History
The Abolition of Slavery Was Announced in Texas.
image source: Boston University
On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and slavery in the United States had been formally abolished. Although President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation over two years prior (on January 1, 1863 to be exact), the lack of Union troops in Texas made the order difficult to disseminate and enforce. Some historians believe that Texan slave owners purposefully withheld the information in order to keep their slaves. When Union soldiers under Major General Gordon Granger finally arrived in the Lone Star State, Granger announced General Order No. 3 and formally declared: 'The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.' On June 19, 1865, roughly 250,000 enslaved people were freed. Most people ignored Granger’s message to stay and work for their former owners and instead immediately headed north or to other states in search of family members who had been taken from them. The date has long been celebrated as the commemoration of the end of slavery in America and as independence day for Black Americans. By the early 2020s, most states recognized the date, which had become known as Juneteenth, as a state holiday. On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed legislation officially declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

06/19/2026

From our Westerville History Museum.

As we commemorate Juneteenth today, we remember the story of Mary King, whose enslavers concealed her legally free status from her. In some ways, her story mirrors the experiences of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, nearly two decades later, who were denied their freedom until the day that became known as Juneteenth.

When Thomas King, Mary's enslaver, died in 1846, his will manumitted Mary - but his executor and son Benjamin King didn't tell Mary that in the eyes of the law, she was free. Benjamin kept Mary in bo***ge for ten more months - until after she had given birth to another child so Benjamin could claim that child as his property.

Once the court finally enforced Mary’s freedom, she stayed and worked in Greenup County, Kentucky, where she had been enslaved, so she could buy her family's freedom. The emancipation deed ended up in the hands of Mary's grandson, Henry Wheatley Jr. Wheatley grew up and lived much of his adult life here in Westerville.

Henry donated Mary’s emancipation deed to the Hanby House, where he had lived in the early 1900s when it was still a residence and boardinghouse. Today the Ohio History Connection holds the original deed.

Pictured: a copy of Mary King's emancipation deed, dated 1847

06/18/2026

More flags at the Hanby House in honor of America’s 250th anniversary and the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Westerville Historical Society.

06/18/2026

Visit the historic Hanby House and grounds Saturdays 1pm-4pm, experience our local history.

06/17/2026

The Battle of Bunker Hill Began.
On this day June 17, 1775,
British General Thomas Gage landed his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts. He then led them to Breed’s Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill. As the British advanced in neat columns towards the Americans, Colonel William Prescott famously told his men, who were waiting near the top of the hill, “Don’t one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the British came within 40 yards, Prescott’s troops unleashed a barrage of musket fire, forcing the British to retreat. Gage’s troops reformed their lines and attacked again, only to be met with the same result. By their third charge, the Americans had begun to run low on ammunition, so the troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Because they were vastly outnumbered, the Americans soon retreated, but at the end of the engagement, which was later dubbed the Battle of Bunker Hill, nearly 1,000 British soldiers had been killed, including 92 officers, while the Americans had lost far fewer men — 370 to be exact, most of whom were killed during the Patriots' retreat. Although the Americans lost territory, the Battle of Bunker Hill served to bolster American morale, giving the troops confidence that they could overcome superior British military might. The British, who had attacked the Patriots’ well-defended position with 2,400 men in a frontal assault, also learned to take the American forces seriously. Today, the Battle of Bunker Hill is regarded as one of the most significant engagements of the American Revolution.

06/15/2026

We have had many comments and calls about the restoration of Otterbein Cemetery.
Here is the newest information we have, contact their Community Affairs department.

Following the recent tree damage at Otterbein Cemetery, our teams are working meticulously to identify each marker and partner with restoration specialists for case-by-case repairs, and to explore options for replacements for applicable markers.

We deeply appreciate your patience as we take the necessary time to honor and carefully restore these sacred grounds. If you have a concern about a particular grave site or marker, please reach out to us at [email protected].