Clinton County Seat Calendar - March

From the 1985 [Clinton] County Seat Calendar


March 2, 1751 – Christopher Gist* [1706-1759] leaves the first written record of what will one day become Clinton County.  Commissioned by the Ohio Company, an English real estate firm, Mr. Gist pronounces the prairie land splendid.  "Very fertile land with beautiful meadows, streams full of fishes, wild turkey, and hardly a bush in sight," he wrote in his detailed diary.  The forest grows up when the last buffalo leave at the end of the 18th century.


A book, Christopher Gist: Colonial Frontiersman, Explorer and Indian Agent by Kenneth Bailey is available at ASU.  I'll check it out, but not right this minute.

March, 1984 – Damaine Vonada, an Ohio writer [author of Amazing Ohio among other titles, published by Wilmington's Orange Frazer Press] transplanted to Washington, DC, notices a 5x7 pothole in the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, then writes an essay suggesting that the nation's capital be moved somewhere more manageable, like Wilmington Ohio. She notes that both cities begin with a "W," both have ten letters, the architecture of the Wilmington courthouse is similar to that of the capital, and relocating to the cornfields of Clinton County would ensure that only the most dedicated individuals would seek office.