WAPAKONETA — The Auglaize County Historical Society has been awarded a $6,400 heritage tourism implementation grant from the Ohio Humanities Council. This grant follows on the heels of the planning grant for heritage tourism awarded to the Historical Society in 2015.

The funding will allow the Auglaize County Historical Society to inaugurate the Auglaize County: In Motion! narrative, weaving together the many heritage/cultural tourism sites in the county that reflect motion or movement. The project will create a more unified effort in interpreting the history of Auglaize County, presenting it to the community and to potential visitors.

The major sites/themes that underscore the Auglaize County: In Motion! narrative include:

• Armstrong Air & Space Museum;

• Auglaize County Historical Society—Daniel Mooney Museum, St. Marys, and Wapakoneta Museum;

• Auglaize River (an early transportation route);

• Bicycle Museum of America;

• Chain Migration patterns of German settlement;

• Grand Lake St. Marys and its State Park (originally a reservoir for the Miami-Erie Canal);

• Miami-Erie Canal; and

• The Shannon Players, a traveling theatre company based in Auglaize County for nearly 30 years.

Additionally, access to transportation routes is a key factor in the industrial and commercial development of Auglaize County’s communities, and, indeed, opened much of the land for settlement. Many, if not most of the following sites would not exist were it not for the transportation-induced development of the area: Auglaize County Courthouse and other properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including the Wapakoneta Commercial Historic District; National Register-listed Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches; seven Ohio Historical Markers; the c.1794-1832 Shawnee Indian reservation sites; Ohio History Connection’s War of 1812 Fort Amanda; and six village historical societies.

“We are so pleased about this grant, which allows greater collaboration among the many organizations in Auglaize County that focus on history. When we can work together, our residents and visitors can only benefit. And developing the theme of Auglaize County: In Motion! ties the county together in a fun and effective way,” States Historical Society Administrator Rachel Barber said.

For more information about this effort or any activities of the Auglaize County Historical Society, contact the organization at 419/738-9328 or [email protected]. The Auglaize County Historical Society is also on Facebook.