Youth leadership class explores Coshocton County’s rich history

Coshocton County Youth Leadership went around the county to learn about its history Oct. 15. The day was planned by Becky Armstrong, Bob Buxton and Ashley Thomas.

The first place we met was at the Coshocton County Commissioners' community room, where the youth met up with the adult leadership class. We played a little trivia game, led by Becky Armstrong, about some of the history of Coshocton. Then planner Bob Buxton showed us a presentation about how Coshocton used to look and some of the places and factories we used to have in Coshocton County.

After that, we went on a walk of downtown Coshocton to view some of the old buildings that are still around that were used back then. As we were on our walk, we stopped at the Coshocton County Annex Building and County Recorder’s Office, where we learned how we could find deeds and loans from the past and transfers from person to person over the years.

After that, we loaded the buses to head to the Walhonding Valley Historical Society Museum in Warsaw. There we met Ken Smailes. He talked to us about how they got all their items and all the information about them. When he was done talking, we were able to go around the museum and look at all the artifacts they had.

Whenever we were done looking around at the museum, we got back on the bus and headed to West Lafayette, where we met at Kirk Street Event Center. There we were provided with lunch from McKenna’s Market. We then got back onto the bus, where we headed to our final spot, the West Lafayette Museum. There we were welcomed by Bob Nelson and Carol Ringer. They were able to talk to us and explain how they got started with the museum. Although they have only been open for a short period of time, they have a good collection of artifacts going.

We then boarded the bus to head back to the Coshocton County Commissioners' community room to end our day.

Overall, it was a great experience getting to learn more about our town and its rich history. If you would like to learn more about CCYL, email Executive Director Betsy Gosnell at lead@coshoctonfoundation.org.

This column was written by CCYL class member Paisley Miller.