This week’s Frontier Friday feature. Please check back for a new one friday!
- Forging a Frontier | 9. Life on the Frontier: Hardships and Hospitality in Early Mercer and Auglaize
Early settlers in Mercer and Auglaize faced wolves, swamp fevers, and wilderness hardship. This article details their daily struggles—clearing forests, guarding crops, and relying on neighbors—to survive and build lasting communities on Ohio’s frontier.
Exploring Ohio’s Mercer and Auglaize Counties’ Long-Forgotten Stories
THIS MONTH’S FEATURED DIGITAL EXHIBIT
From Celina to the Clouds: The Remarkable Life of Frank A. Petrie
His journey began in the press room of Celina’s Daily Standard. But Frank A. Petrie was destined for more than just setting type. He would become an award-winning journalist who flew with Lindbergh, a pioneering executive for the world’s most advanced airships, and a veteran of two world wars who rose to the rank of Naval Commander. Discover the incredible, forgotten story of the Celina native who took a stroll inside the USS Akron as it soared through the sky and became a quiet hero of the 20th century.
“Time, patience and perseverance, joined with indomitable pluck and industry, have wrought wonders.”
– History of Mercer County, Ohio (1907)
This place wasn’t built overnight.
It was shaped by effort, season after season, generation after generation.
Their history is our foundation, but the next chapter is ours to write.
Rooted in Place: The Story of the Grand Lake Region
The Grand Lake region is more than a map of towns and roads. It is a connected landscape shaped by water, work, and generations of people who built their lives here. The Grand Lake Regional Historical Center exists to honor that shared story, grounded in the communities of Mercer and Auglaize Counties and the places that surround them.
This region includes cities, villages, and crossroads that hold both memory and momentum. In Celina, industry and lake life grew side by side. In St. Marys, the past still lingers in canal paths and quiet downtown storefronts. Fort Recovery holds the memory of battles that helped shape a nation. Maria Stein is known for its deep Catholic roots and the Shrine of the Holy Relics, while New Bremen, Minster, and New Knoxville reflect generations of German heritage, faith, and craftsmanship.
Coldwater, St. Henry, and Chickasaw carry strong agricultural traditions, where family farms and small businesses continue to define the pace of life. Rockford, once known as Shane’s Crossing, and Mendon, originally called Guilford, trace their roots to early frontier days. Montezuma and the surrounding shoreline speak to the long reach of Grand Lake itself, once built to feed the Miami and Erie Canal, now central to recreation, ecology, and regional identity.
Beyond these towns are the township roads, church halls, rural schools, and quiet cemeteries that hold the details of daily life. From Wapakoneta to Burkettsville, from Spencerville to Osgood, the region’s history is not just something to look at. It is something still lived.
This is a place of strong roots and steady hands. Its history belongs to everyone who has called it home.
Explore the Digital Historical Reference Collections
Discover the Grand Lake Regional History Center and explore curated collections of books, photographs, maps, and documents that reflect the history of Mercer and Auglaize Counties. Whether you’re looking to uncover local stories or simply curious about the past, our digital historical collection offers a window into the rich heritage of our community.
Select a collection below to begin exploring today.
“This unpretending book is a record of but narrow interest and of purely local events… to rescue from total oblivion some matters that seem worthy of narrating.”
– History of Auglaize County, Ohio (1880)
Nearly 150 years later, we’re still doing the same work.
Preserving local stories. Holding onto what might otherwise be lost.
Because the details that shape a place disappear if no one thinks they’re worth saving.