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Old news gives new life to tales of early Lima
Comments 0 | Recommend 0LIMA - Ever wonder what life was like in Lima 100 years ago? How about 170 years ago? A presentation Sunday will paint a picture of life in the early days of Allen County, pulled from the stories of local newspapers and told by a man who has a history all his own in the area.
Lifelong Shawnee Township resident and former Allen County Commissioner Bob Mayer presents "True Facts and Humorous Stories about Lima and Allen County" at 3 p.m. in Folsom Auditorium at the Allen County Museum, 620 W. Market St. Mayer is a member of the Allen County First Families and the Ohio Centennial Farms program. His family can be traced back in the county to the 1830s and his son now works the family farm that's been in operation for more than 140 years.
So local history is close to his heart.
The stories he'll share - some surprising, some humorous and all of them fascinating - about the Lima area are culled from his collection of local newspapers dating back to the 1800s. His collection started in 1982 when the county had old local newspapers put on microfilm and then sold the originals. Mayer bought some of that treasury of news and the rest is, well, history.
"It's a lot of interesting reading," he said. "It was a lot different ... a lot of changes have taken place."
There were stories of life before railroads, an unpaved town square, a baseball park that burned down and a bank robbery that was botched after the robbers locked themselves in the vault.
One of the older papers, circa 1891, held an additional historical jackpot, Mayer said. Those papers had a series of stories based on the memories of an older man who had come to the Lima area as a boy in the 1830s.
Mayer said he's given presentations to museum volunteers and local civic clubs, but it was the museum that approached him for a public presentation. About 45 minutes long, the event is free.
True Facts and Humorous Stories about Lima and Allen County
WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Allen County Museum
COST: Free
FOR MORE INFO: Call 419-222-9426
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