Roscoe Village | |
![]() Distant view from the south | |
Location | Whitewoman and High Sts., Coshocton, Ohio |
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Coordinates | 40°16′35″N81°52′36″W / 40.27639°N 81.87667°W |
Built | 1816 |
Architectural style | Classical Revival, Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 73001403 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 3, 1973 |
Roscoe Village is a restored Ohio and Erie Canal town located in Coshocton, Ohio, United States. Roscoe Village, was laid out in 1816. It was originally named Caldersburgh after its founder James Calder. After going bankrupt, the Coshocton merchant moved across the Muskingum River to some land he had managed to retain. Setting up a store and naming the place after himself, Calder reasoned that the rural farmers would much rather do business in Caldersburgh than pay the twenty-five cents for the ferry over to Coshocton. In 1830, two prominent citizens petitioned the state legislature to rename the village Roscoe in honor of William Roscoe, the famous English author and abolitionist of the time.
The transformation of Roscoe from a small, sleepy community into a thriving port along the Ohio and Erie Canal came with the arrival of the canal and the landing of the first canal boat, the Monticello, on August 21, 1830. The Ohio and Erie Canal, which provided cheap transportation for people and goods, granted great economic development for communities along the waterway. With its status as the fourth largest wheat port on the canal, Roscoe's prosperity ignited a chain of businesses in the area, including a blacksmith, a cooperage, a hotel, a mill, and several stores. State Route 16, which runs parallel to Roscoe today, is the location of the original Ohio and Erie Canal bed.
Until the great flood of 1913, the canals continued to operate, but the coming of the railroads marked the passing of the canal heyday. Along with the demise of the canal industry came the decline of Roscoe's prosperity, and the once thriving canal port and its beautiful Greek Revival buildings rapidly deteriorated.
In 1960, the idea of historical restoration in Roscoe came to prominence at the presentation of the Canal Days mural the distinguished American artist Dean Cornwell painted for Coshocton's 1961 Sesquicentennial Celebration. Cornwell chose a robust 1850s canal scene from Roscoe Village as the subject of his mural. This beautiful 24-foot-by-8-foot mural hangs today in Bank One of Coshocton while a smaller reproduction graces the lobby of the Roscoe Village Visitor Center.
Fascinated and inspired by the painting, retired Coshocton industrialist Edward E. Montgomery, and his wife, Frances, purchased the 1840 Toll House in August 1968, thus beginning the restoration of Historic Roscoe Village. Roscoe Village would be, as Mr. Montgomery stated, "a living museum so that people of the 20th century and succeeding ones could enjoy a visit back to the 19th century where aged brick buildings, hoop-skirted women, and quaint shops would bring the canal era back to life." Today, Roscoe Village is the result of more than 35 years of dedicated work.
The Foundation also purports to promote education with regard to life along the Ohio and Erie Canal in the mid 19th century. Living history is displayed and there are annual events which attract tourists from all over the country.
The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum is located in the village, and features decorative arts, pioneer and Native American artifacts and local history displays. [2]
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing the costs of transporting people and goods across the Appalachians. In effect, the canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes region, the westward expansion of the United States, and the economic ascendancy of New York State. It has been called "The Nation's First Superhighway."
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The Maumee River is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, where Fort Wayne, Indiana has developed, and meanders northeastwardly for 137 miles (220 km) through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the Maumee Bay of Lake Erie. The city of Toledo is located at the mouth of the Maumee. The Maumee was designated an Ohio State Scenic River on July 18, 1974. The Maumee watershed is Ohio's breadbasket; it is two-thirds farmland, mostly corn and soybeans. It is the largest watershed of any of the rivers feeding the Great Lakes, and supplies five percent of Lake Erie's water.
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Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen and Florida within Montgomery County, New York. It was the first part of the old canal to be designated a National Historic Landmark, prior to the designation of the entire New York State Barge Canal as an NHL in 2017.
Buckeye Lake is a reservoir in Fairfield, Licking, and Perry counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The lake was created in the 19th century as the "Licking Summit Reservoir", an important part of the Ohio and Erie Canal project. With the demise of the canal system in the early 20th century, usage of the lake shifted to recreation.
The Walhonding Canal was a canal in Coshocton County, Ohio that was used as a feeder canal for the Ohio and Erie Canal. A small canal, at only 25 miles (40.2 km) long, it was wholly contained within Coshocton County, following the Mohican River from Cavallo south to the confluence with the Kokosing River, which together with the Mohican forms the Walhonding River. The canal followed the Walhonding River southeast toward Coshocton where it met the Ohio and Erie Canal in Roscoe Village.
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Independence Dam State Park is a 591-acre (239 ha) public recreation area located on the banks of the Maumee River three miles east of Defiance in Defiance County, Ohio, United States. The state park features ruins of the Miami and Erie Canal. Recreational features include boating, fishing, hiking, picnicking, and primitive camping.
The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway was a Class I railroad mostly within the U.S. state of Ohio. It was leased to the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad in 1949, and merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1988. A new regional railroad reused the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway name in 1990 when it acquired most of the former W&LE from the N&W.
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Media related to Roscoe Village (Coshocton, Ohio) at Wikimedia Commons