Roll of Honor

At the northeast corner of Sycamore and Maple Streets, the two primary arteries which crisscross North Lewisburg, stands an old, red brick building which has served as a pharmacy, jewelry store, and currently as a realty office.  On the building's western wall is a unique memorial...a Roll of Honor...which lists the names of the young men and women of the community who went off to fight the nation's wars.

The original Roll of Honor was a hand-painted memorial on a wall of yet another of the town's buildings.  It was created in World War I to honor the town's residents who were engaged in that conflict.  As time passed, that memorial was "moved" to the red brick building, and graced that wall until another conflict - World War II - beckoned yet other men and women to service.

The names of the World War I veterans who appeared on the first Roll of Honor, and the graphics which accompanied those names,  were eventually diminished in size and cast as a bronze plaque.  This plaque was then attached to the stone base of the flagpole which stands at the entrance to Maple Grove Cemetery, on Gilbert Road, a mile or so from the town.

As World War II progressed, the names of the community's servicemen and servicewomen were hand-painted.  Graphic representations of the American eagle, with outstretched wings, the flag, and stars adorned the wall.  When word was received that one of the town's men was killed in battle, a bright, gold star was added in front of his name.  Over the course of the four years of war, the number of names - and the number of gold stars - painted on the wall grew.  By war's end, there were columns of names and stars.

The Roll of Honor remained that way until a new war broke out in Korea in 1950.  Once again, the youth of North Lewisburg answered the call to duty.  The wall was repainted to show the names not just of the veterans of World War II, but also those of the Korean War. 

Years passed, and a new generation of youth was called to service in Viet Nam.  New names appeared on the wall where there had only recently been blank spaces.  Walter R. Burroughs, a young Private First Class serving with the U. S. Army in Viet Nam in 1966, was the first to be listed as a casualty of that war...in point of fact, he was the first casualty from Champaign County to be killed in that conflict.

Over the course of the next two decades, the wall and the Roll of Honor took on a new look.  Practically all of the space on the wall was filled with the names of veterans from those three major conflicts:  World War II, Korea, and Viet Nam.  Occasionally, the fading paint was restored to brilliance, and a name which might have been overlooked was squeezed onto the wall wherever it was possible.  But weather and time took its toll on the Roll of Honor.

In 1994, there was a concerted effort on the part of the community to build a new, more lasting tribute to the town's veterans.  A fund-raising project was organized, and soon a new marble memorial, complete with etched names, floodlights, benches, and flagpole was erected and dedicated in a small park - where once the old high school had stood - on East Street, a few blocks further east of the Sycamore-Maple Street intersection.   The bronze plaque bearing the names of the World War I veterans was removed from Maple Grove Cemetery, and attached in a place of honor on the new memorial.  I'm proud of the fact that my name appears on that memorial.

After 1994, the old, original wall remained on the red brick building, the paint blistered, faded, and in sorry need of repair.  It had been thought that the new memorial would quietly replace the old, painted Roll of Honor.  But old things and old traditions have the habit of continuing.

The Roll of Honor, silent sentinel of the community's appreciation of liberty, has just recently received new paint.  The names stand out once again, their numbers bearing visual proof of the sacrifices which must be made for freedom. 

If you, the reader, should someday make your way to or through North Lewisburg, Ohio, pull your vehicle aside somewhere near the intersection of Sycamore and Maple Streets.  Get out, and walk the short distance to that old, red brick building.  Let your eyes wander over the many names you will see there.  Heroes, some; patriots, all.    Maybe you will find some name which stands out, or which gives you pause to reflect.  Or, perhaps like me, you will be able to find one of those very special stars of the fallen  - like my Dad - who gave all of their tomorrows for us.  I made it a habit a long time ago in my youth, and continue it now in my advanced years whenever I return to the old hometown, to reach out and touch his star. 

But,  if you cannot journey to the Roll of Honor, pause where you are in your own community, and take the time to thank a veteran.

This Old House

In North Lewisburg, on Sycamore Street, just a block north of the community's "Main Street"  - which in this case is actually Maple Street - is the home of Mike and Peggy Chamberlain.  This old house is the first framed home ever built in the community, and dates back to 1839 when it was constructed by Gray Gary, one of the town's original settlers. 

The two-story house, now asbestos-shingled, has had various add-ons completed over the years which expanded the size of the home.  In the course of its nearly-160 years, the old house has been mute witness to the many comings and goings of traffic along Sycamore Street.  Where once horse-drawn buggies  rolled along the byway, modern 18-wheelers now carry much-needed supplies and finished products to and from the Honda automobile plant just across the line in Union County. 

Friday and Saturday nights in the not-too-distant-past were a flurry of activity along this street as the area's families met "downtown" to complete the week's shopping, or to deliver the farmers' eggs, milk, and butter to awaiting customers.  The street festivals were regular events as people gathered to celebrate one particular holiday or another with food, games, and conversations.

The house bore witness to the old steam locomotives and more modern diesel engines which once carried passengers and freight to and from the community.  The old railroad bed sits just north of the house, the rails long ago pulled up to be melted down for recycling, and the old creosoted ties now visible throughout the community, likewise recycled into raised flower beds and garden retainers. 

Spain Creek meanders just a few feet farther north, as it has for countless years.  The house has seen the creek as a mere trickle of water over the years, with occasional bursts of power and authority as torrents of flood waters spilled over the banks to saturate the landscape.

Generations of people have called the house "home" over the course of its history.  If the walls could talk, they would be a boundless source of information about the human activity which they have witnessed...the laughter and tears, the joys and sorrows, the sicknesses, the deaths, and all of the other events which make up human lives.

Yet, the old house sits mutely awaiting what is next in the grand scheme of things.

About Spain Creek

     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, 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. 

     The creek has cut its way through this area for many hundreds of years...perhaps even thousands.  It has witnessed it all, from the arrival of the first settlers and the platting of the village, to the most recent celebrations of townsfolk.  If it could talk - oh, what tales it could tell us!