A Darrtown Timeline

A Decade-by-Decade Perspective of National, World and Darrtown Events

DARRTOWN EVENTS

NATIONAL AND WORLD EVENTS

DECADES

1800's

1810's

(1809-1817) President: James Madison

(1811) First steamboat sails down the Mississippi and reaches New Orleans

(1812) Louisiana admitted to the Union

(1812) U.S. declares War against Great Britain

(1812) Napoleon defeated in Russia

(1814) British forces invade Washington and set fire to the Capitol, the White House, and other buildings.

(1816) Indiana admitted to the Union.

(1817-1825) President: James Monroe

(1817) Mississippi admitted to the Union

(1818) Illinois admitted to the Union.

(1814) April 4 - Conrad Darr platted Darrtown and named it for his family.

(1816) Original wood-frame mill constructed at Lane's Mill site.

(1817) Abram Darr opened the Hitching Post Tavern-Inn

1820's

(1829-1837) President: Andrew Jackson

(1832) Samuel F. B. Morse invents an improved electromagnetic telegraph

(1834) Cyrus McCormick patents the horse-drawn grain reaper

(1836) February: Siege of the Alamo and April: Texans capture Santa Anna in Battle at San Jacinto

(1837-1841) President: Martin Van Buren

(1839) Daguerre invents first form of photography

(1830) Second school built on town square; used for eight years.

(1831) H. D. Kyger born

(1838) Third school built near Darr Distillery (location unknown); used for ten years.

1830's

(1820) Maine and (1821) Missouri admitted to the Union

(1823) President Monroe presents Monroe Doctrine

(1825-1829) President: John Quincy Adams

(1825) Completion of the Erie Canal linking the Great Lakes with New York City; first load of grain shipped in 1836

(1826) Death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4

(1829) First steam-powered locomotive in America.

(1825) Darrtown Post Office opened (operated from January 18, 1825 until January 31, 1907)

1826 or 1827: Darrtown Town Hall constructed - to be used by all religious congregations as a place of worship.

(1802) Conrad Darr, along with Robert and William Ogle entered Section 28 of Milford Township

(1803) Darr and Ogle brought their families to Section 28 and subdivided the section; Darr took the southern half.

(1803) Kyger family constructed their log cabin west of Darrtown

(1806) First school built for Darrtown youth.

1801-1809) President: Thomas Jefferson

(1803) Ohio admitted to the Union

(1803) Louisiana Purchase

(1804) Napoleon becomes emperor

(1804-1806) Lewis and Clark expedition

1840's

(1841-1845) President William Harrison

(1845) Florida and Texas admitted to the Union

(1845) Ten hour work day for children

(1845-1849) President William Polk

(1846) Mexican War

(1846) Iowa admitted to the Union

(1848) Wisconsin admitted to the Union

(1848) Gold discovered in California

(1849-1850) President Zachery Taylor

(1840) Ignatz "Fritz" Weiss born in Germany

(1845) Louisa Flenner born

(1848) Fourth school built near Darr Distillery; located 200 yards west of village center. Used until the construction (date unknown) of the brick structure that stands (2014) in the northwest corner of West St. and Schollenbarger Rd.

(1848) Stone-walled mill constructed at Lane's Mill site

(1849) Four Mile Valley Railroad incorporated.

1850's

(1850-1853) President Milliard Fillmore

(1851) Singer invents sewing machine

(1852) Smith & Wesson invent revolver

(1853) Charles Darwin: Origins of Species

(1853) Gadsden's Purchase gives the U. S. a strip of land which is now southern New Mexico and Arizona

(1853-1857) President Franklin Pierce

(1854) Republican Party formed for abolition of slavery

(1857) First elevator installed by E.P. Otis in New York City

(1857-1861) President James Buchanan

(1858) Minnesota admitted to the Union

(1859) After leading an attack on U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, John Brown is captured and executed

(1859) Oregon admitted to the Union

(1851) Four Mile Valley Railroad merged with the Cincinnati-Fr. Wayne Railroad

(1852) March 22; Johnny Darr born

(1853) Margaret Barr (i.e., Mrs. Margaret Derickson) born

1860's

(1871) Chicago almost destroyed by fire

(1874) Barbed wire becomes available, thus making possible the inexpensive enclosure of grazing lands in the west

(1876) Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone

(1876) National League (baseball) founded

(1876) Sioux and Cheyenne defeat Custer at Little Big Horn

(1876) Colorado admitted to the Union

(1877) Thomas Edison patents the phonograph

(1877-1881) President Rutherford Hayes

(1879) Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light

(1861-1865) President Abraham Lincoln

(1861-1865) Confederacy

(1861) Attack on Fort Sumter signals beginning of Civil War

(1863) Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation

(1865) April 8: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House

(1865) April 14: President Lincoln shot; dies next day

(1865-1869) President Andrew Johnson

(1865-1877) Reconstruction in the old South

(1869) Union Pacific Railroad meets Central Pacific Railroad

(1869-1877) President Ulysses S. Grant

(1862) James C. Kane born

(1866) George Kolb born

(1869) Ignatz Weiss arrived in the U.S. at age 29; moved to Darrtown and became village blacksmith

1870's

(1871) H. D. Kyger and Louisa Flenner married

(1871) Methodist built the sanctuary of the present day [2012] Methodist church

(1878) Joseph L. Grau born

(1879) Frederick Schmidt born

(1879) George H. Kyger born

1880's

(1881) President James Garfield

(1881) Gunfight at OK Corral

(1881-1885) President Chester Arthur

(1885-1889) President Grover Cleveland

(1885) Louis Pasteur administers successful rabies vaccination

(1885) Washington Monument dedicated after 36 years of construction

(1886) Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor

(1886) Geronimo (Apache) surrenders, after 15 years

(1889) North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington admitted to the Union

(1889-1893) President Benjamin Harrison

(1880) George H. Kyger born

(1881) Carrie Weiss born in Darrtown, June 12, the middle child of Ignatz and Louisa (Kolb) Weiss

(1884) Joseph and Lena (Kapp) Davis, with son, Paul, moved into the original Davis home (previously used as a toll house) at Rt. 177 & Rt. 73

(1887) The State of Ohio issued a charter to the Darrtown Protection Company, aka the Darrtown Stock Protection Company

(1888) Height of Kit Curry's racing career (see Kyger Family page) AND (1888) Bessie Irene (Shears) Bufler born

(1889) Raymond Kane born AND (1889) Stella Bufler (i.e., Mrs. Stella Aebi) born

1890's

(1891) Thomas Edison patents a motion picture camera, the "kinetoscope," which is capable of showing movies to one person at a time.

(1893-1897) President Grover Cleveland

(1896) The Klondike gold rush begins. By 1900, 100,000 people will have journeyed to the gold fields.

(1897-1901) President William McKinley

(1890) Guy Dynes born

(1891) Nelle Davis born - April 12

(1892) Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 578 organized in Darrtown AND (1892) Joseph Bufler born AND (1892) Joseph Davis family moved into the existing house at Rt. 177 & R. 73

(1893) Maria Davis born - August 7 - AND (1893) Mary (Bufler) Dynes born

(1894) Ellis "Dugan" Glardon born

(1895) Clarence Derickson born

(1896) Earl "Red" Huber born AND (1896) October 15: Rural free delivery of U.S. Mail began for Darrtown, Collinsville, and Somerville AND (1896) Emma (Weiss) Derickson born AND (1896) Jacob Snavely born - December 25

(1897) Maurene (Gillespie) Bufler born

(1898) Dean Clark born

(1899) Norma E. Wagonfield born

1900's

(1901) Pres. McKinley shot by anarchist - Theodore Roosevelt becomes President

(1902) President Theodore Roosevelt begins the conservation of forests, by establishing the United States Forest Service and signing the law that created five National Parks.

(1904) President Roosevelt asserts U.S. right to intervene in Latin America

(1905-1909) President Theodore Roosevelt

(1907) Oklahoma admitted to the Union

(1908) GE patents electric toaster

(1909 - 1913) William H. Taft

(1900) Darrtown Telephone Company sought right of way for construction of Darrtown-area telephone lines

(1904) Knights of Pythias hall constructed (source: Oxford Press caption with Darrtown parade photo)

1907 Cyclone struck Darrtown

(1908) H. D. Kyger died AND (1908) Howard Laughlin born

1910's

(1912) New Mexico and Arizona admitted to the Union

(1913 - 1921) President Woodrow Wilson

(1914) August 3 -World War One begins; Germany invades Belgium

(1915) D.W. Griffith directs "Birth of a Nation," a silent-movie that examined the relationship of two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction-era.

(1917) April 6 - U.S. declares war against Germany and Selective Service Act creates draft

(1918) November 11 - World War I ends

(1919) Versailles Peace Treaty signed; ending the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.

(1910) Edward Menke born

(1911) Kirk R. Mee II born

(1912) Raymond K. Wiley born

(1917) Albert Lindley born

(1919) Ignatz "Fritz" Weiss died AND (1919) George Hansel born AND (1919) Bernice Weiss born

1920's

(1920) Panama Canal completed

(1920) 18th Amendment prohibits alcohol (prohibition era begins; ends in 1933)

(1920) 19th Amendment gives women right to vote

(1921 - 1923) President Warren Harding

(1923 - 1925) President Calvin Coolidge

(1927) May 20-21 - Charles Lindbergh made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean

(1929 - 1933) President Herbert Hoover

(1929) Stock Market crashed

1921) Ellis Glardon and Ethel Tuley married

(1925) Lena (Kapp) Davis died

(1926) Emma (Weiss) Derickson died

(1928) Darrtown Telephone Company sold by John F. Mee and Frank S. Bufler to L. A. Miller, father of Ernest Miller, who served as manager of the company AND (1928) Darrtown High School's baseball team won the Butler County Championship

1930's

(1930) Worldwide financial depression began

(1933 - 1945) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

(1933) In response to the Great Depression, Roosevelt began his "New Deal," which focused on "3 Rs." Namely: Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

(1933) Prohibition era ends

(1934) Adolf Hitler becomes Fueher of Germany

(1935) Social Security Act provides retirement insurance

(1936-39) Spanish Civil War

(1935) Joseph Davis died

(1936) September 27 - Walter Alston appeared in game with St. Lois Cardinals

(1937) Paul Miller was a member of the Darrtown High School faculty; see 1937 Senior Class photo. He later became Superintendent of Cincinnati Schools Mr. Miller is also remembered in Recollections of Dale Bufler

(1938) Darrtown High School closed (the 1937-38 seniors were the last to graduate from DHS)

1940's

(1940) Ernest Hemingway completes "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

(1941) December 7 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

(1941) December 8 - U.S. declares war against Japan

(1941) December 11 - U.S. declares war against Germany

(1944) June 6 - Allied invasion of Normandy began

(1945) April 12 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt died

(1945 - 1949) President Harry Truman

(1945) May 8 - V-E Day, Unconditional German Surrender

(1945) August 6 - US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

(1945) August 9 - US drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

(1945) September 2 - V-J Day, Japanese Instrument of Surrender

(1948) Israel created, NATO formed; and Cold War begins

(1949 - 1953) President Harry S. Truman

(1941) Darrtown Telephone Company sold to the Oxford Standard Telephone Company.

(1943-44 school year) Fred Lindley and Ron Wiley met for first time at Collinsville school.

(1944) Donald Trew McVicker died (Sgt. McVicker, U.S.A.F., age 22, was killed in action over Germany)

(1946) Elizabeth (Nichol) Glardon died

1950's

(1953 - 1961) President Dwight D. Eisenhower

(1954) Television thrives

(1954) Elvis Presley begins his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis

(1955) Supreme Court orders school desegregation; U.S. Nautilus is first nuclear submarine; and AFL / CIO merge

(1957) Soviets launch Sputnik, first artificial satellite

(1953) Walter Alston named Manager of Brooklyn Dodgers AND (1953) Rose Guiler died - February 3

(1954) Ohio Department of Education created the Talawanda School District

(1955) October 4 - Walter Alston managed the Brooklyn Dodgers to their first World Series Championship AND (1955) Walter Alston named "Man of the Year" by Sport Magazine AND (1955) George H. Kyber died

(1956) July 8 - Darrtown community dedicated the Veterans' Memorial in the village square.

(1957 or 1958) Fire broke out at Ferguson's Service Station and Grocery

(1958) Ludley Ehery Durrough died from injuries suffered after being struck by auto on Darrtown's main street

(1959) Don Beckett bought Glardon's Grocery and started business as "Don's Carry Out"

1960's

(1961) Peace Corps

(1961 - 1963) President John Kennedy

(1961) Kennedy launches Apollo project to land man on the moon

(1962) Cuban missile crisis

(1963) President Kennedy assassinated - November 22

(1963 - 1965) President Lyndon Johnson

(1963) Bell Telephone introduces the push button telephone

(1964) Gulf of Tonkin Incident leads to Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which is approved by Congress on August 7 and allows Johnson to wage all-out war against North Vietnam, without securing a formal Declaration of War from Congress

(1965 - 1969) President Lyndon Johnson

(1965-70) Demonstrations throughout U.S., against Vietnam War

(1966-69) Hippie movement

(1967) Israeli 6-day war

(1968) Hewlett Packard markets the first mass-marketed PC (the HP 9100A)

(1969) U. S. spaceship, Apollo 11, is first to land on the moon (July 20); Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. were first men to walk on the moon (July 21)

(1969 - 1973) President Richard Nixon

(1969) July 3: UCLA issues press release introducing the public to the Internet

(1969) August 15-18: Woodstock

(1960) Alvin "Elmer" Alford died AND (1960) Raymond Kane died

(1962) Clarence Dees died AND (1962) Kelly, Owen died - extra info at "The Election of Constable Kelly"

(1963) Dean Clark died

(1964) Bessie Irene Bufler died AND (1964) Keith Dynes died AND (1964) Joseph Grau died

(1966) George Kolb died

(1967) Frederick Schmidt died AND (1967) Ellis Glardon died AND (1967) Elsie (Carpenter) Guiler died AND (1967) Ron Wiley appointed faculty member at Miami University

(1969) Mary (Davis) Menke died

1970's

(1970) U.S. invades Cambodia

(1970) May 4 - "Kent State shootings" - at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard. 67 rounds fired in 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some students were shot while protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia. Other students were shot while walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

(1970) EPA established to enforce Clean Air Act

(1970) Philips introduces the VCR

(1973 - 1974) President Richard Nixon

(1974) August 8, Nixon resigns over Watergate

(1974 - 1977) President Gerald Ford

(1975) April 30 - The last Americans, ten Marines from the embassy, depart Saigon, concluding the United States presence in Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops pour into Saigon and encounter little resistance. By 11 a.m., the Viet Cong flag flies from the presidential palace. President Minh broadcasts a message of unconditional surrender. The Vietnam war is over.

(1975) Bill Gates and Paul Allen establish Microsoft - April 4

(1976) Steve Wozniak designs the Apple I computer; later Wozniak and Steve Jobs co-found Apple Computers on April Fools day.

(1977 - 1981) President Jimmy Carter

(1979) Iranian Revolution; 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran. In the U.S., some believe the crisis was a major reason for U.S. President Jimmy Carter's defeat in the November 1980 presidential election

(1970) Hazel (Talbert) Bufler died AND (1970) Mary (Bufler) Dynes died AND (1970) Jacob Snavely died

(1972) Stanley "Doc" Alston died AND (1973) Joseph Bufler died AND 1972) Joe and Janet Pater created Jaco Construction

(1973) Butler County Commissioners named the intersection of Rt. 177 & Rt. 73 as "Davis Corner"

(1974) Darrtown - Collinsville Boosters Association began the first season of baseball and softball at E-Dot Field.

(1975) Cliff Alexander died

(1976) Walter Alston retired as Manager of the Los Angles Dodgers, after 23 seasons, which included seven National League pennants and four World Series championships; one in Brooklyn (1955) and three in Los Angles (1959, 1963, and 1965).

(1977) Joe and Janet Pater created Jaco Waterproofing. Other ventures followed, including Jaco Communications, Jaco Coatings, and Kellin, Inc.

1980's

(1980s) CD, VCR, & cable become common

(1981 - 1989) President Ronald Reagan

(1981) Assassination attempt on President Reagan - March 30

(1981) President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O' Connor for the U.S. Supreme Court; first woman member - July 7

(1982) Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland islands; but is subsequently defeated by the United Kingdom.

(1985 - 1989) Gorbachev unraveled Soviet system

(1986) January 28 - NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch, killing all of the crew onboard.

(1989) President George Bush

(1980) John H. Bradbury died

(1981) Grace Alexander died

(1983) Clarence Derickson died

(1984) Walter Alston died - Oct. 1 AND (1984) Maurene (Gillespie) Bufler died AND (1984) Howard Laughlin died AND (1984) Roberta (Russell) Laughlin died

(1986) Edward Menke died

(1987) Anna Mae Alston died

(1989) Opal (Trew) McVicker died AND (1989) Kirk R. Mee II died

1990's

(1993) Internet expands with World Wide Web

(1993 - 2001) President William J. Clinton

(1997) NASA spacecraft lands on Mars

(1997) Robust economy creates longest prosperity in U.S. history

(1999) Federal budget goes into surplus

(1990) Luther S. McVicker died

2000's

(2000s) Internet and cellphones revolutionize communication and China emerges as economic giant

(2001 - 2009) President George W. Bush

(2001) September 11: Terrorist attack alerts America

(2003) Iraq War

(2005) Hurricane Katrina

(2008-2009) Global financial crisis and recession

(2009 - 2013) President Barack Obama

(2009-2010) Healthcare reform births "Tea Party"

(2000) October 15: Darrtown community dedicated the Walter "Smokey" Alston Memorial in village square AND (2000) Elizabeth (Ruhl) Dees died AND (2000) Raymond K. "Crow" Wiley died

(2005) Shirley (Michael) Slater died

(2007) December 3: Darrtown.com website founded

(2008) Matilene (Cartwright) Wiley died

(2009) Lawrence Baumann died AND (2009) Linn Weiss Derickson died AND (2009) Jeep crashes into Kelly Hansel's swimming pool

(2010) Darrtown Pioneer Cemetery received Ophia Smith grant to repair/restore old tombstones.

2010's

(2011) Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and other locations and leader of the terrorist group, Al-Queda, is killed after ten years of pursuit by United States and coalition forces during a raid by U.S. Navy Seals on his hideout location in Pakistan.

(2012) Terrorist attack on a consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi kills four Americans, including Ambassador John C. Stevens, showing the continued fight against Islamic extremism had not abated.

(2015) Billionaire businessman Donald Trump joins a crowded field of Republican candidates seeking the nomination for President in 2016 and almost immediately rises to the top of the polls on a populist message, surprising pundits and critics.

(2016) Chicago Cubs win their first World Series since 1908, defeating the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 3. They rebounded from a three to one game deficit for only the sixth time in World Series history.

(2016) Donald Trump, the flamboyount billionaire businessman from New York with no political or military experience, wins a surprising election over Democratic challenger and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the first woman to run for the highest office from a major party.

(2017-2021) President Donald Trump

(2018) Meetings between the United States President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un become the first summit between leaders of the two nations, with discussions about North Korea giving up its ambitions for nuclear weapons.

(2010) Audrey (McGrew) Brooks died AND (2010) Marjorie (Tipton) Bufler died AND (2010) Richard A. "Dickie" Davish died AND (2010) Dwight Harris died

(2010) Darrtown United Methodist Church celebrated its Bicentennial year

(2010) Don Beckett inducted into Butler County Softball Hall of Honor

(2010) Darrtown community honored veterans with a ceremony at the Darrtown Cemetery

(2011) St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church broke ground for 3,000-square-foot expansion

(2011) Doris "Dodie" (Alston) Ogle died

(2011) Talawanda school district bus flipped on its side east of Darrtown on Scott Road

(2012) Darrtown Bicentennial Steering Committee organized

(2014) July 5-6: Approximately 3,000 people attend the  Darrtown Bicentennial celebration in E-Dot Park. Military veterans honored during dedication of flag pole in village square. Softball field at E-Dot Park named "Don Beckett Field"

(2015) Darrtown Bicentennial Committee disbands and reorganizes as the Darrtown Reunion Committee, which, in turn, assumes the responsibility for conducting an annual community event - i.e. - the Darrtown Fall Festival.