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Chillicothe
Thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived at the confluence of the Scioto River and Paint creek, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, stood a vast and unblemished forest.
The Europeans built the beginnings of a city there, Chillicothe, Ohio, just before the American Revolution, taking the name from the Shawnee word, Chalakatha, the largest of the Shawnee sects in the area.
Of note, Chillicothe was the first and third capitals of Ohio. It was designated "A Tree City" by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Great Seal State Park is still there. Route 23, which ran through town, was famous as the northern exodus of impoverished Appalachians fanning out to the factories in the north.
But like many a wilderness city, its strength became its downfall. Timber rich, the town became dotted by large pulp and paper mills, in particular the Mead Corporation's immense plant.
The paper plants emit a noxious odor that even the locals said they "never get used to." For those passing through, the smell upon arrival was immediate and overwhelming.
For my family, Chillicothe was a simply a bead on a string halfway between Dayton, Ohio, where we lived and Ashland, Kentucky, where our cousins lived. With five kids, except for the stench, this made Chillicothe well located to feed my four siblings, my parents, and me.
There was a Big Boy in the center of town. Before reaching there we long been complaining of the stink. But, pulling in the Big Boy parking lot, we streamed out of our 1964 Chevy wagon and made a beeline for the door. Whatever Big Boy did for its decent interior smell it did to save its live.
A once pristine forest had become simply Smelly-Town for us. Its once beautiful streets had largely been burned during the Civil War. We were oblivious to that. We were unaware the large burial mounds in the area.
In recent years many of the mills moved elsewhere. From forest to frontier town to thriving mill town to industrial wasteland, the journey must seem a fast one to the Chalakatha, who once held that ground for thousands of years.
The Europeans built the beginnings of a city there, Chillicothe, Ohio, just before the American Revolution, taking the name from the Shawnee word, Chalakatha, the largest of the Shawnee sects in the area.
Of note, Chillicothe was the first and third capitals of Ohio. It was designated "A Tree City" by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Great Seal State Park is still there. Route 23, which ran through town, was famous as the northern exodus of impoverished Appalachians fanning out to the factories in the north.
But like many a wilderness city, its strength became its downfall. Timber rich, the town became dotted by large pulp and paper mills, in particular the Mead Corporation's immense plant.
The paper plants emit a noxious odor that even the locals said they "never get used to." For those passing through, the smell upon arrival was immediate and overwhelming.
For my family, Chillicothe was a simply a bead on a string halfway between Dayton, Ohio, where we lived and Ashland, Kentucky, where our cousins lived. With five kids, except for the stench, this made Chillicothe well located to feed my four siblings, my parents, and me.
There was a Big Boy in the center of town. Before reaching there we long been complaining of the stink. But, pulling in the Big Boy parking lot, we streamed out of our 1964 Chevy wagon and made a beeline for the door. Whatever Big Boy did for its decent interior smell it did to save its live.
A once pristine forest had become simply Smelly-Town for us. Its once beautiful streets had largely been burned during the Civil War. We were oblivious to that. We were unaware the large burial mounds in the area.
In recent years many of the mills moved elsewhere. From forest to frontier town to thriving mill town to industrial wasteland, the journey must seem a fast one to the Chalakatha, who once held that ground for thousands of years.
Published 24th May 2016
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