HCHS presenting Our Town Millersburg Part II
This building is remembered by many as the Commercial & Savings Bank, the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce or other businesses that have called the large building on the square of Millersburg home over the years. It will be one of several Millersburg buildings focused on during the Holmes County Historical Society’s presentation of Our Town Millersburg Part II.
Earlier this spring the members of the Holmes County Historical Society delved into the annals of history and explored the history of Millersburg in its infancy.
With such a rich past, one night couldn’t contain everything the board wanted to share. Thus, the HCHS is ready to showcase the second chapter of Holmes County’s largest village in presenting Our Town Millersburg Part II: a Journey Through Time 1900-current.
The event will be presented in American Hall in Historic Downtown Millersburg in the third-floor event center on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
The exploration of Millersburg’s past will include revisiting its most prominent residents and meaningful buildings, presented by Mark Boley. Carmen Camacho will then dig into HDM’s biggest events that helped shape the town, and Millersburg Mayor Kelly Hoffee will discuss the influential public officials who have helped shape both the town and the county throughout the past century.
“Originally, we had just one scheduled, but once we started to really dive into the research, there was so much that we felt it deserved two evenings,” Boley said. “Our goal in these series is to generate excitement about our local history. Our history and how we got where we’re at today remains important.”
Boley said HCHS is dedicating the entire program to the Rodhe family, generational owners of Rodhe’s Marketplace/Rodhe’s IGA for 90 years.
“I’ll be talking about historical buildings in Millersburg, and the Rodhe family has been here for almost a century,” Boley said. “We actually found Arlie (Rodhe) talking about the family business history on an interview years ago, and we will have his oral history audio talking about where all of his mom and dad’s stores were leading up to where the store now resides, along with some photos.”
Boley said following the presentation, three will be a contest to see if people can remember exactly where some of Millersburg’s former businesses were located.
“Some of them may be pretty difficult to get,” Boley said. “I picked some obscure ones and some easier ones, but it should be a fun walk back through history because some of these businesses had unique places like pool halls in the basement and different things upstairs.”
The evening also will include plenty of rare photographs, maps and other memorabilia, but this isn’t simply for the board to showcase its bevy of memorabilia.
“We invite the public to bring in their own memorabilia that might be pertinent to the past as it pertains to Millersburg’s history,” Boley said. “We wanted to get those in attendance involved as part of the evening exploring our past, so we will give the audience plenty of time to ask questions or present topics and memorabilia.”
The initial Our Town Millersburg was met with great adoration from those who attended, and the board is hoping this second edition will bring even more people to American Hall to share the storied past of the village.
“We’re excited to offer this evening, and we think it’ll be a lot of fun,” Boley said. “There’s so much history in Millersburg that the most difficult part was narrowing down everything to a manageable time period.”
The program is free to the public, and seating is on a first come, first served basis. In addition, for those who would like to attend but can’t make it, the program will be livestreamed on WKLM 95.3.
For more information call or email Boley at 330-674-0022 or director@holmeshistory.com.
Boley said Our Town programs feature towns throughout Holmes County to present history to the people so they can get excited about their hometown.
“We’ve been doing these Our Town series over the past years, and we’ve done some of the smaller villages in the county,” Boley said. “The hardest part was to keep the presentation to one hour because we felt it was very important to give the floor to the public to share their thoughts and stories about our history. That is the most enjoyable part when people start to share, and it just opens the door for more stories and conversation.”