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On Sunday, October 22 the Paulding County Parks District opened to the community their first property they have worked hard to open for public access. You may have seen this along Old US 24 (424). The location is not far from the Vagabond Restaurant.
The history of the park: Acquired recently from the State of Ohio, New Rochester Park is the site of the first county seat of Paulding County. Many years after the original town disappeared, in 1935 the County turned the location into a county park, which was later abandoned when the State Highway Department built a roadside rest stop there. The rest stop itself fell into disuse when U.S. 24 was relocated. Over the past three years the County Park Board has been working with the State to reacquire title to the property. There have been number of improvements at the park and hopes to accomplish a lot more in the future. This was a day set aside to celebrate the opening of the first of what will hopefully be many more recreational areas for the use and benefit of the people of Paulding County.
Glen Troth spoke first about the history of the land of the black swamp and the critical importance of the natural “highway” was to both Native Americans and modern history of French and British all using the river for transport from Louisiana to Lake Erie.
The first county seat of Paulding was laid out in 1835 by Dr. John Evans, Robert Clemmer, Rev. JL Thomas and Rev. Joseph Miller.
Mr. Thomas built the first house in the village, followed by Isaac Savage. It had access to river and transportation and a daily stage coach line to Fort Wayne, IN. By 1839 new Rochester had three general stores, two blacksmith shops and three hotels and was the most flourishing village in Paulding County with 35-45 houses.
Brad Dysinger spoke next about how he got involved with he Park District and how you can too.
Tim Franklin mentioned all of the workers who made this day possible and cleaned up the park. Even in the concrete, trees have grown up pushing the edge away from the road itself. Reclaiming it is what nature does, but it doesn’t always make it easy for humans. He also said it was so important that one fo the buildings built by General Horatio Curtis is still along the river and it’s facing the river, not the road.
New Rochester has a lot of history for the area and turning it back into a public park and river access will bring an importance to it that is has not had in many years.
Many people were named as contributing helpers: Board members: Tim Franklin Chairman; Doug Dunakin, Vice Chairman; Steve Sprow; Glenn Troth; Linda Hodges; Appointed by Judge Michael Wehrkamp Probate Judge.
Workers and contributors: Paulding Ace Hardware; Mercer Landmark Payne; Sprow Landscaping; Jim Hooker; Caleb Schaefer Painting; Harold and Betty Layman.
Future plans the Park Board has for this is to build a pavilion for relaxation, picnics, and a shelter from the rain when needed.
One thing the Park Board needs more of is money they stated. Money and helpers. If you can help, they would love to hear from you because it is local people that make a difference on the environment and something like this is shared by everyone.
