Three journalists from Saltillo, Mexico came to do research about the Holmes County Saltillo. They are working on a documentary about all of the Saltillos in the United States. When I asked them what Saltillo meant, they said that there was no definitive meaning, but illo is placed at the end of a word to mean small. They said that Saltillo would mean small jump or spring. The picture in this post shows a little spring running through the land next to the soldiers and monks. You can learn more about Saltillo, Ohio on pages 193-195 of Holmes County Historical Sketches by Brooks Harris.
This little town did not start out with such a charming name. In the beginning, it was called Stevenson, Stevensville or Putschtown. The Stevenson name was said to have come from a neighboring farmer by the name of Stephen Yoder. Another story recalls that the son of Stephen Yoder had a wagon and blacksmith shop at the center of town. People often said, “down by Stephen’s son.” This caught on, hence the name. The nickname of Putschtown came from a visitor to the area. When he saw the tiny village, he replied, “Es is usht ein glehne putscha.” It is only a small clump or bunch.
How it finally got the name of Charm was a more practical one. When the town applied to get a post office, the state said that there was already a Stevenson, and they would have to think of another name. (This also happened to Walnut Creek.) There are several stories about how they chose Charm. There is a boring story that there was a list of names, and Charm was chosen from the list. It was mentioned that Joni J. Yoder was present. He was a jeweler. At that time, it was fashionable to attach a charm on a watch chain. Because of that he chose Charm for the name. Another story, my favorite, is that the men went to Columbus to choose the name. They hadn’t decided. The local
official asked them to describe the town. After they did, the official replied, “This must be a charming place, so I’d call it Charm.”
The pictures here show the General Store, the Watchman’s Cottage B&B on the main street, and Keim Lumber.
The original general store was destroyed by a fire in 1978. The General Store that is there today was built in February 1979. It still looks exactly like it did then.
The Watchman’s Cottage B&B is the former watch repair shop. It was remodeled in the early 1990’s
and turned into a bed and breakfast. It still remains a B&B today.
Keim Lumber is worth a trip to Charm to visit. It is not only a lumber and hardware business; it has all kinds of items for your home and lawn. It even has a cafe. In 1908, Mose J. Keim purchased 1 3/4 acres from Henry Hochstetler. This land was the original survey for Keim Lumber. There is more historical information at the store as well as some of the original items.
There are many more businesses and things to see. Come and experience this Charming place!
Information was taken from: Historical Album of Charm, Ohio by Vernon Miller.
The back of this photo says, “Limpytown, 1987 Located somewhere between Charm and Farmerstown.”
Limpytown wasn’t actually a town; in fact, according to an article written by Clarence Troyer in the August 15, 1977 edition of The Marketeer, “there never was a town, a village or even a hamlet. There was no industry nor business place, just a number of people living in the community with their various occupations, and a crossroad where a school house was located.”
Read the article below to find out more about Limpytown.
I spent a pleasant day volunteering at the Killbuck Valley Museum on Saturday. The museum has many artifacts from the Killbuck Valley as well as items of local interest. There is also a display of animals that are indigenous to the area. If you are visiting Killbuck or would like to learn about some of the history of the Killbuck Valley, you can visit the museum
May 1st through October 31st
1:00-4:30pm
Saturday or Sunday
This is a view of our library in the current building. The picture below is the golf course across the street. We actually do have patrons and visitors. The parking lot is empty, because I took these pictures on a Saturday after the library closed.
We have a beautiful library in a beautiful setting, but it wasn’t always that way. The library actually opened December 7, 1928 in the basement of the county court house, but I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Discussion about the library began in 1905 when a group of concerned citizens wanted to use Carnegie money to build a new library. When someone in the group suggested that once they build the building they were responsible financially for the operations, the idea was abandoned. In 1916, the library was actually started in the basement of the courthouse with a part-time librarian, Miss Nellie Lohaas, but it was soon closed because of lack of funds. Eleven years later a local minister and extension agent worked together to once again create a county library. They formed a library committee and worked to open in 1928.
Miss Beryl Cox was employed as the full-time librarian and began working with a Board of Trustees in 1935. The board was appointed by the MillersburgHardy Board of Education. Since it was now a School District Library, a librarian with a degree was needed. So poor Miss Cox was ousted after two years of service and in came Miss Helen Hastings from Kent, Ohio. I wonder what happened to Miss Cox; that might be another blog posting. Miss Hastings didn’t lose any time getting involved in the community. She created a Bible exhibit for Bible Sunday, became involved in other community events, and started summer reading programs and story hours. There was also a bookmobile of sorts; a private automobile was used to carry books from school to school.
Circulation and library use increased greatly, which made it difficult to provide sufficient service to the area residents. Luckily, in 1956 money became available to purchase a Bookmobile, which was used to provide service to the county residents in 1958. The first bookmobile driver was Don Guthrie, and his wife was the clerk. Don is retired but still visits us at the library.
The years 1958 and 1959 were expansion years for the library. Not only did the bookmobile extend library service, the library invested in the development of five branches. The branch in Killbuck was started first, with an emphasis on books for “tired eyes” — large print books. This was the focus of the local Lions Club and supported by the Head Librarian atMillersburg, Mrs. Vilma Pikkoja. Mrs. Herbert Allison was the branch staff member at Killbuck. TheHolmesville branch came next, with an emphasis on 4-H and youth materials. Mrs. Milton Koenig was their first staff member. Next, came the Nashville branch as the Rural Life Library branch. Mrs. Richard Galbraith was branch associate. Mrs. Ida Yoder lead the Berlin Branch, which was known as the Children’s Library. The Chestnut Ridge Branch, the Amish studies branch, opened in the old Amish school house in 1959. Mrs. Frank Kendle lead that branch.
Mrs. Pikkoja was responsible for acquiring a building near the Courthouse in downtown Millersburg, which was bequeathed by Mrs. Daisy Patrick. The library remained there until 10 years ago when it moved to our current location on Glen Dr. Mrs. Patrick stated that the old building must return to the West Holmes School Board building if the library should leave. Adhering to her wishes, the West Holmes Board currently resides in that building.
There have been many changes at the library since the first book was placed on the shelf in the basement of the courthouse, but the mission has remained the same–to provide quality materials and service to the residents of Holmes County.
Information for this post has been taken from A Brief History of the Holmes County Public Library by Fred W. Almendinger.
This is an old picture taken of the courthouse. The picture is not dated, but the writing on the back reads, “First Courthouse built 1808”
Here is a current picture of the courthouse, with a section of the jail at the right.
An article about the courthouse was written in the Holmes County Farmer Hub on Thursday, July 1, 1886. The title of the article was “Holmes County’s Pride: The Temple of Justice Completed and the Dedication to Take Place on Saturday, July 3, 1886.”
This building was the third one built in the county. Although the former building was condemned by the grand jury and was unfit for use, the construction of a new building was voted down several times over a span of 15 years. A bill was finally passed and the commissioners began looking for a contractor. Hibbert& Schaus of Newark, Ohio won the bid, with the lowest bid of $69,493. Ground was broken for the project by Jacob Conrad at 7:00 AM on July 23, 1884. JoshuaStuber laid the first stone and Meldram Dowie laid the last on October 24, 1885. There was a snag in the spring of 1885 when they found that the $75,000 appropriated for the project was not enough to complete the building. So, another bill was passed that required the commissioners to borrow $30,000 more to complete the project. Things haven’t changes that much in building projects!
Watch this wonderful video of the Victorian House. The great, old house was built for $10,000 to be the residence of L.H. Brightman. It was completed in 1902. The Brightman family lived in it a very short time. It was also used for the Millersburg Sanitarium from 1907 to 1909. Currently, it houses the Holmes County Historical Society. Read more about this house in Holmes County Historical Sketches by Brooks Harris.