A Historic Community
In 1834, immigrant families from the Upper Rhine River Valley villages of Mulhausen, France and Schaffhausen, Switzerland met each other in Marshallville, Ohio and decided to travel west and purchase this surrounding farmland in (what was then) Henry County.
A hunter and innkeeper, Joseph Bates and his men from Franklin Township helped the Christian Lauber’s family build their home.
By the 1880s, Lauber Hill’s farming community included a Reformed Mennonite Church, a German Baptist Church, a Froehlich Evangelical Church, the Barneth (Bernath) one-room school, the Werrey Cabinetmaker’s Shop, the Roth Sawmill, the Uhlrich Wagon Shop, and the Leu Blacksmith Shop.
A House of Worship
In the 1830s, a reformation within the “Old Amish-Mennonite” faith was occurring in Clark Co. PA, Wayne Co. OH and here at Lauber Hill where “New Mennist” families built a simple brick one-room meeting house in 1865. It was expanded in 1923 to the south. The building will be interpreted during that year.
Friends of Lauber Hill
This committee was created to make this project self–sustaining and a separate account has been established for this purpose. Two trees have been removed and stone surfacing of the drive will be completed soon. A handicapped accessible portable toilet has been installed as well. The application for a Historical Marker has been submitted to the Ohio History Connection and a decision will occur in late July following serious and thorough scrutiny. The open house event is scheduled for July 23, 1—5 P.M.
For more information please contact John Swearingen Jr., executive director at info@museumoffultoncounty.org or call 419-337-7922.