Benton Ridge to celebrate 150 years

BENTON RIDGE — If there was a birthday cake to celebrate Benton Ridge's special anniversary, it would blaze with the flames of 150 candles. Instead, there will be plenty of other ways to celebrate the milestone, said Mayor Joe Kennedy. "A lot of things have happened in this town in the last 150 years," wrote Kennedy in the updated 150-year history book. "Some of it's been great things, others have been challenging." Some have brought loss, he added, and others, joy. "Ultimately all these things are combined together in the most precise measurements that are making an excellent village for our residence and visitors," said Kennedy. Benton Ridge is hosting a celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the village park with food trucks, games and a petting zoo. A tent will be erected where people can sit and visit. Tours will be given "hay ride" style through town highlighting locations of past businesses. Good Shepherd Church will coordinate the annual "Summer Last Bash" with a slip and slide from 2:30-4 p.m., and Calvary Church is hosting bingo sessions at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the shelter house. A few artifacts will also be on display. Kennedy said he found journal logs from 1875 and other books. On Sunday, a village worship service is planned at 10 a.m. at the park. The updated history book, originally written for the 100th celebration by Bill Jones, will be sold for $10. A souvenir coffee mug is $1. Benton was laid out by William Mires with 36 lots in Blanchard Township. The plat was acknowledged before William Henderson, justice of the peace, on Nov. 5, 1935, and recorded Nov. 11, 1835 by Wilson Vance, county recorder. It was the sixth settlement to be founded in Hancock County. Early settlers chose to name it after Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1821-1851. The "Ridge" was added because of a narrow sand ridge that runs underneath the settlement, history records. In 1837, a post office called the Benton Ridge Post Office was officially established in 1837 with David M. Baldwin as the first postmaster. It operated out of a tavern that Baldwin owned for many years near the intersection of Ohio 12 and County Road 125. The post office had many locations over the years, the last being at 141 Main St. The office closed in 2013 and for several months, residents had to go to Findlay for their mail. Mailboxes were later installed beside the Old Town Council House on Main Street. By 1863, the history book started that Benton had grown into a fair-sized town with a hotel, blacksmith, boots and shoes store, a physician and surgeon, and a general store. The first school in Blanchard Township was taught in John Duke's Cabin in 1832 by Amanda Kilpatrick. A small log schoolhouse was built on the farm of Thomas Groves which opened the following year. In 1880, there were 10 schoolhouses in the township and a special district in Benton Ridge, the history said. The first brick schoolhouse still stands at the north end of Market Street. It was built about 1887. In 1954, the town consolidated with Liberty Township School to form the Liberty-Benton School District. The original Liberty Township School building was built in 1921 with additions in 1959, 1976 and 1991. A new high school was built in 1993. Voters also approved building a new elementary/middle school building in 2022 which opened the following year. Calvary Church moved into town in 1868. Three years later, the Methodist Episcopal Church built a brick church at Main and Market streets. The building still stands. There have been several large fires through the years. Calvary Church was completely destroyed on March 2, 1941. Approximately 115 people were at the church that morning but none were injured and many of the furnishings were carried from the building. More recently, a lit candle that was left unattended started a fire at the church in November 2009. The church sustained massive smoke and water damage. Most of the fire damage contained to the pulpit area. Several of the stained glass windows were destroyed due to the lead melting. Within 18 months, the congregation was back in the church with only one pew being damaged to the point it couldn't be used. A sawmill was located at the site of what is now Good Shepherd Church in the 1860s. The mill closed in 1904. The history states that many structures in town contain lumber cut at the mill. A planning mill was located at the far north end of Brown Street In the late 1800s. It closed in 1919. During the same time period, more businesses opened, including a photo gallery, bicycle repair, jewelry store, tin shop, cobbler shop and a shop where barrel staves, ax handles and other wooden items were made. The earliest grocery story on record was JB Eaton General Store which was located on the north side of Main Street between Market and Beach streets. It was occupied and owned from about 1860 to 1901. Most recently, Mary and Wayne Crist operated a grocery at Main and Brown streets from 1974-84. There was even a hotel in town, located at the northeast corner of Main and Walnut streets in front of where the present town hall sits. It was originally called the Benton House. When it was later sold, the name was changed to the Cherry Hotel. It was one of the most popular eating places in the area, according to the Morning Republican newspaper in Findlay. Early residents remember seeing Main Street lined with surreys owned by Findlay residents who had driven over for Sunday dinner. The last business in the hotel was a millenary shop. The building was destroyed by fire in 1915. The earliest record of a fire department was in 1877. Village Council paid $6.50 for three good ladders for fire service. By 1915, the village had two, single cylinder, hand-drawn fire engines. The Blanchard Township Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1950. The town had a weekly newspaper, the Benton Ridge News, for one year beginning in 1908. The Benton Ridge Community Boosters club was organized in 1968. Through the efforts of village council and the boosters, nearly seven acres of land was purchased from Harley and Marie Rants and developed into a park. During the 1990s, the park boosters started the annual Halloween parade. But it ended several years later due to the expense and the lack of help. The fire department later revived the event. Village council took it over two years later with the Schoonovers leading the parade. In 1988, 20 acres of land was purchased to provide space for four baseball fields, soccer fields and additional playground areas. More parking, public restrooms and three outdoor shelter houses were later added. Currently almost 300 baseball and softball players and almost 350 soccer players use the fields during those seasons. Lt. General Fred Hissong Jr. was one of the notable people who made the village his home. He attended Liberty-Benton High School and participated in football, baseball and basketball. Following high school, Hissong attended the Ohio State University where he received the Distinguished Military Student/Graduate Award in the ROTC. After graduating, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Ordnance Corps. Hissong had many highly successful assignments during his military career including a tour in Vietnam, but most cherished were his opportunities to command the 546th Ordnance Company, the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant and the 59th Ordnance Brigade. Hissong retired in 2004. He died May 23, 2024 at the age of 92.