In March of 1913, massive rainstorms over Easter weekend caused the Miami River to swell and break through the levees built to contain it. Water rushed through downtown Dayton reaching depths of 20 feet. The flood would do $100 million in damage, destroy 20,000 homes and take 360 lives. Miamisburg was devastated with much of the city underwater.
Relief efforts arrived with the Red Cross setting up tent cities to provide shelter to the displaced population. Miamisburg resident Sherman "Cocky" Porter volunteered to try and help feed the people and the relief workers. Trying to feed hundreds of people a hot meal is no easy task, so Porter decided to cook up a huge batch of hamburgers and pass them out to the crowds. They were a hit…
As I've traveled the country, I've visited a lot of small towns. Some are thriving, some are faltering, and some are just plain crumbling. When the Plaza Theater sat empty for almost 15 years in downtown Miamisburg, Ohio, it was symbolic of the latter two. When it opened in 1919, the 700 seat Plaza was the heart of a thriving downtown. People came downtown to do their shopping, catch up on the gossip and see a show. The theater closed its doors in 1968, but the building lived on as the new home of Sor-rel's Western Wear, a successful apparel and equipment store. After a solid 26 year run where the business thrived, the Sorrel family sold their store off in 1994. Eight years later, it was closed and the theater-turned-western-store would sit empty right in the middle of a struggling Main Street. Downtown Miamisburg, like so many small towns, had ceded its business to strip malls and chain stores outside the city limits…
Sadly leaving Athens County behind, I stopped for a brief visit at the Buckeye Furnace State Memorial. Tucked back in the woods, this was a great place to learn more about the production of pig iron, an industry that brought a lot of wealth to the region. I had the place all to myself but could imagine the small community which once stood there and kept the furnace going. This was another of Appalachia's hard labor industries, and one that disappeared as the iron ore dried up and the nation's demands shifted to steal. It was a cool place to visit.
From there I headed out to the Bob Evans Farm in Rio Grande where I had a big breakfast for lunch and wandered around the property for a while. I learned the story of Bob and how he started with a steakhouse, but soon started making sausage as well. This sausage would catapult his business into one of Ohio's best known names.
