This site is a forum for historical facts, tall tales, nostalgia, and general information about the past, present, and future along Spain Creek, near North Lewisburg, in northeastern Champaign County, Ohio. Hopefully, the site will expand as interest develops over the course of the next few weeks and months. If you have a story to share, a tale to tell, this is the place to do so.
Spain Creek is a lazy, half-hearted little stream which originates in the hilly region west of Mingo, Ohio, in northeastern Champaign County. It then flows east toward the little community of North Lewisburg, which straddles the junction of Champaign, Logan, and Union counties. Just beyond the community, as it meanders along State Route 245, the stream joins up with Big Darby Creek. Its waters eventually converge with those of the Scioto River.
Spain Creek is a lazy, half-hearted little stream which originates in the hilly region west of Mingo, Ohio, in northeastern Champaign County. It then flows east toward the little community of North Lewisburg, which straddles the junction of Champaign, Logan, and Union counties. Just beyond the community, as it meanders along State Route 245, the stream joins up with Big Darby Creek. Its waters eventually converge with those of the Scioto River.
Spain Creek, for all practical purposes, divides North Lewisburg into halves. The northern section of the village has sprouted up along Sycamore Street, which runs north and south from the southern boundary of town to the northern-most corner. The street, once lined with stately sycamore trees, is a thoroughfare for the heavy commuter traffic for employees and suppliers of the Honda automobile factory which sits further northeast in Union county. Heavy eighteen-wheelers and fuel economic cars and trucks speed over a roadbase which was once-upon-a-time rutted by the narrow wheels of buggies and other horse-drawn conveyances.
The southern section of the town houses the traditional "Main Street" business section, which in this case is Maple Street, which runs from west-to-east. Here can be found the "mom and pop" operations which serve as the lifeblood of the community...the historic Cafe 559, the pizza shop, the bank, the grocery store, the auto repair shops, and a spattering of other commercial ventures. Some once-prosperous stores are now closed, their vacant storefronts home only to the occasional spider. Some buildings are in a perpetual state of decay, in need of paint and repairs to improve their overall appearance. Some buildings are gone entirely, victims of fire or other abuse.
There are churches in town, with histories which date back nearly two hundred years. The Methodists and Baptists, and Catholics are well-represented here in a town which was once predominantly Quaker. The old red-brick Quaker, or Society of Friends, church still stands in the north end of the community, although it no longer is used for that purpose. It has become the local branch of the Champaign County Library system, with headquarters in Urbana, Ohio. The old cemetery, long in a state of decay and unattended, has experience a renewal of sorts as volunteers have stepped in to reclaim it and to preserve the remaining gravesites and monuments.
It is a quiet community, more rural than urban, as it wrestles with progress and not-necessarily accepted changes to the normal order of things. New additions to the community have become necessary as the need developed for more and more affordable housing. Apartment complexes and townhouses have sprung up like mushrooms in areas which were once pasture and farmland. There are no public school buildings in the community, those which were once there having given way to progress. The students are now bussed or otherwise commute to the elementary, middle, and high school buildings which are more than three miles away, and "in the country." There is no movie theater, no swimming pool, no public park - outside of the community park which serves as home for the town's obsession with junior baseball and fast-pitch softball games. There is a bike path which meanders along the lazy creek, following an old railroad bed which once brought supplies, produce, mail and passengers to a now vanished train depot.
