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West Liberty Thrived in Days of Covered Wagons

When the covered wagons roamed the west in the early 1800s, West Liberty was a thriving boom town.  It was the covered wagons that actually caused the founding of the town.  West Liberty, which sits in the center of Vernon Township in the eastern part of the county, was located where the main route from Lake Erie (The Great Trail) crossed the main trail from Shelby to Bucyrus. 

According to a 1971 story in the Tiro World, Levi Arnold settled the land in 1825 and sold 80 acres to Thomas Dean in 1834.  Dean, who had visions of a grand community, in 1835 had Richland County Surveyor John Stewart lay out a town on the site where the trails met.  Several buildings already occupied the town and Arnold had built a double log cabin for James Billispie in 1830.  Jacob Kemp and Andrew Miller both had built single-window cabins there. 

Eleanore Hall, who moved to West Liberty with her husband, Homer, from Shelby in 1968, said covered wagons were the reason for the town’s existence.  “It was a crossroads,” Hall said.  “The wagons were hauling grain and supplies from Lake Erie into the inner part of the state.”  Hall felt that learning about her adopted hometown’s history was important.  We decided that since we were going to live here for a while, we may as well learn what we could about the history of the area, for our children and grandchildren.”  “We understand that the town was actually doing well when the railroad decided to come to town,” Homer said.  “But then the railroad went and built through Crestline.”

Homer was right on the nail.  In 1852, the railroad went from Shelby to Crestline and southwest through Galion as a more direct route from Cleveland to Columbus was needed.  West Liberty was bypassed again in 1872 when the Mansfield to Toledo Railroad was laid out, going three miles north of West Liberty.  Tiro was formed in the spot two years later and West Liberty never recovered.

People who lived in West Liberty at the turn of the century called the town Liberty Corners and it was entered into the Richland County record as that.  But an 1835 map called the town West Liberty.  The map shows 28 lots filed with the Richland County recorder on May 28, 1835 -- 20 on Columbus Street and eight on Bucyrus Street.  Some of the lots in the town sold for $25.  After the town was laid out, Kemp built a larger building on the west side of Columbus Street and ran a hotel, the first in the village.  The hotel operated until the early 1900s.

The peak boom-town years for the village were 1830-1852, when the town had five doctors, three general stores, a hotel, a blacksmith shop, a copper shop, a cabinet maker, a post office, a grist mill ashery, distillery, a saw mill, a shoe shop, a tailor shop, a school and a church.  The post office started in West Liberty on August 12, 1842, with David Anderson operating it out of his home.  Isaac N. Frye took over in 1845, installing the office in a general store which started in partnership with John Kaler.  Frye sold his share of the business in 1850 to C.G. Malic and gave up the postmaster’s job to A.N. Miller.

Peter Weller ran a general store from March 24, 1868, until June 13, 1900, but the store he eventually sold and the post office that moved to that building was discontinued in 1902.  Weller’s son-in-law, Isiah Mowen, was postmaster until the office closed.  After that, mail service to West Liberty was handled by Tiro and Crestline.  Andy Fix owned a general store and Phillip and Leonard Waldbauer ran the store for many years.  A Mr. Pfahler owned a store from 1921 until his death in 1951 and there were two saloons owned by a man named Dietz.  The blacksmith shop was run until the late 1930s. A filling station sitting at Ohio 598 and Ohio 96 was operated by Rudolph Waldbauer in the 1920s’ and 30s’.   John Pfahler operated the station in the 1940’s until he was drafted into the army for WWII.  Starling Cole was reportedly John’s first customer.

People still live in West Liberty, but Hall said very few children actually inhabit the town anymore.  “At one time, there were enough kids here to fill a school bus,” Hall said.  “Now, I think there are two kids who live on one side of the town and two or three more who live on the other side. People move here but don’t have any children.” from Shelby to Bucyrus. 

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Tuesday, May 05, 2015