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| Prehistoric Peoples
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| The Adena and Hopewell
cultures (the Woodland Period, c.1000 B.C.E. to c. 900 C.E.)
occupied the Upper Miami Valley area around Piqua. These
cultural groups built earthworks and burial mounds throughout
our county. The Fort Ancient Peoples (the Mississippian Period,
c. 900 C.E. to c. 1600 C.E.) built small, circular fortified
villages throughout the area, along the Great Miami River. |
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| Native Americans
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| Historic native peoples entered
the Miami Valley in the 1600's, using the area as hunting
grounds. The earliest known permanent settlement occurred at
Pickawillany located north of Piqua. A band of the Miami Tribe
or confederacy, led by La Demoiselle, (better known as Old
Britain because he preferred trading with the British), and
a group of east coast colonial traders established Pickawillany
in 1747. The tribal tokens of the Miami's were the Elk and the
Crane. There were several branch of this confederation
that occupied Western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and a part of
Michigan. One of these branch tribes, sometimes called
Twigtwees, had their town three miles north of present day
Piqua. This became such an important area, that in 1749
the traders erected a trading post, or fort, which in a few
years became the headquarters for about fifty traders.
This fort, called Pickawillany, was destroyed on June 21, 1752.
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| The second Native American
settlement period in the area began in 1780 with the creation of
two Shawnee villages, Upper Piqua (Bi-co-we-that/Pique) and
Lower Piqua (Chillicothe). (Chillicothe means head-town,
or the council place of the whole tribe). This group of
Indians moved here after a large expedition of frontiersmen and
militia, under the command of George Rogers Clark, attacked and
destroyed the Shawnee town of Piqua (pronounced Pe-quaw) on the
Mad River about five miles west of Springfield. They named
their new town Piqua in honor of their former home.
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| The Legend of
Otath-he-wagh-Pe-qua.
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| George C. Johnston, a trader for
many years among the Indians and a member of the Shawnee tribe,
explained the origin of the name Piqua. He was told by a
member of the tribe, that many years ago the whole tribe was
assembled at an annual feast and thanksgiving. They were
all seated around a large fire, which having burned down to
embers, a great puffing was observed in the ashes.
Suddenly, a full formed man sprang up from the remains of the
fire and the tribe exclaimed in astonishment "Otaht-he-wagh-Pe-Qua."
(He has come out of the ashes) And from that time, that
place was called Piqua. |
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| European-American Settlers |
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| Sometime around 1793, General
Anthony Wayne built Fort Piqua at Upper Piqua. A small
company was garrisoned here until late in 1795. After the
Indians defeat at the battle of Fallen Timbers and the after the
signing of the Treaty of Greenville, nearly one half of the
present southern and western part of Ohio was opened to settlers. Joe Gard built the first structure on the
present site of the city in 1796. He was followed by John
Hilliard with his sons Charles and Joseph, who cleared land east
of the city in 1797. They were soon followed by the families
of Garrard, Hudson, Rollin, Cox, Rich and Hunter.
The first child born in Piqua was Elias, son of John Manning on
May 22, 1800. By the end of 1804, the first grist mill was in
operation under John Manning.
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| The village of Washington
was laid out in 1807 but this name was unpopular with the
settlers, In 1816, the State Legislature was petitioned to
restore the town to its Indian name, Piqua. From 1811 to 1829 Colonel
John Johnston operated an Indian agency north of Piqua. By
the year 1823 the village formed a city government and boasted a
newspaper, several mills, a post office, and a population of
over 350. |
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| Miami-Erie Canal
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| The Canal reached Piqua in
1837 and the city remained the canal's terminus until 1842.
During the most active period of the canal during the 1850's,
produce and passengers arrived into Piqua from as far as
Cincinnati in the south and Toledo in the north on a regular
basis. While canal traffic dwindled in the 1860's, the Miami and
Erie continued to support heavy traffic load such as coal,
lumber, and stone until 1912. |
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Railroads
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| The first railroad traveled
through Piqua from Columbus, Ohio to Indiana in 1858 under the
name, The Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad. This became part
of the Pennsylvania and later Con-Rail lines before being
abandoned in 1983. The community's second route, the Dayton and
Michigan Railroad, began operations in 1854. The route continues
today as the CSX Railroad. |
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| City Government
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| When the village began in 1807 it
operated under the control of Washington Township. In 1823 the
village incorporated and elected officials. The village
re-incorporated in 1835 and elected its first mayor, John S.
Johnston. From 1835 through 1930 the City of Piqua operated
under a mayor/city council form of government. The city voted in
1929 to change to the city manager/city commission form of
government and the city hired it's first city manager, Lester G.
Whitney in 1930. |
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| Capital Improvements
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| Communication technology
connected Piqua to the rest of the world in 1850 with the
telegraph. This expanded in 1880 with the telephone, followed by
WPTW radio in 1947, and cable television in 1964. The community
moved away from the realm of candlelight to gas lights in 1856
and electric lights with the Piqua Edison Illuminating Company
in 1884. Electric power remained a private concern until 1933
when the Piqua Municipal Power Plant went on line. The community
went nuclear from 1963 through 1966 with the construction of the
nation's first municipally owned atomic power plant. |
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| German Immigration
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| The biggest wave of local German immigration lasted from the 1830's through the beginning of the
Civil War. As new settlers in Piqua, the Germans established
several German speaking churches (St. Boniface Catholic, Zion
Reformed, German Methodist, and St. Paul's Lutheran), breweries,
and sold two-story brick homes in the city's south side.
For a time, Piqua had newspapers printed entirely in German.
'The Piqua Staut und Landbote' was a weekly established by
Fredrick Josse in 1865. 'Der Piqua Correspondent' was
started by J. Boni. Hersteger in 1878. |
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| African-Americans
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| The first known
African-American resident of Piqua, Arthur Davis, arrived in the
community a few years prior to 1820. By 1840 the
African-American population had grown to forty-eight (about
3.24% of the total population). The first major African-American
migration came to the Piqua area about 1847 when the manumitted
slaves of John Randolph settled in Miami and Shelby counties.
John Randolph was a noted Virginian who was opposed to slavery.
He made a will giving all his own slaves their freedom after his
death. The largest Randolph settlement occurred in
Rossville, just across the Great Miami River from Piqua. One of
the best known African-American citizens of the nineteenth
century was Goodrich Giles, a businessman, bank investor,
farmer, real estate investor, and theater owner. Although not an
African-American citizen of Piqua, William M. McCulloch, our
long-time republican representative in the U.S. House of
Representatives, was instrumental in the passage of the 1964
Civil Rights Act.
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| Many years before the Civil
War, a line of the Underground Railroad went from Cincinnati,
through Hamilton, Dayton, Troy, Piqua, Sidney and on north.
The different stations on this line were kept by Abolitionist
citizens. In Troy, Barrett's house was one of those
stopping places. From there, the runaway slaves were taken
to James Scudder's in Piqua, and then on to Sidney.
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One time, when Henry Bibb was escaping, he was
followed by slave hunters. The slave hunters knew he was
hidden in Piqua, so they watched the road to the north.
Scudder knew they were on the watch, so he waited until the
morning, dressed Henry Bibb as a coachman, and with William
Rayner, started out in a fine two-horse carriage with Bibb as
driver. They passed the slave hunters on the road, but were not
suspected, and Henry Bibb arrived in Sidney safely. |
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Women
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| A majority of Piqua's early
social services and reform movements had their start as a result
of women's activism. Women established Piqua's first community
organization, the Piqua Female Bible Society. Local reform
movements, such as the Temperance, adult education,
community-wide welfare all began because of women who demanded a
better community life. The local suffrage movement counted its
first major success with the election of Frances Meilly Orr to
sit on the Board of Education. Joanna Hill Heitzman became the
Chamber of Commerce's first woman president in 1983 and in 1991
Lucy Fess became the first female mayor and city commissioner. |
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| Genealogical
Information
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| For genealogical information or
more historical information about Piqua contact the municipal
historian, James Oda at the Flesh Public Library, History
Department: Telephone: (937)773-6753 Fax: (937) 773-5981 Email:
odaja@oplin.org |
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