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When General Morgan and his infamous Raiders
passed through Wilkesville, he surely would not have guessed, that for all his looting, it
would be his stolen wallet that would finance the building of the stately "Kline Mansion" – the brick home that still stands
today on the corner of St.Rt. 160.
As the biscuits were baking and vats of gravy simmered all night
in the Kline's small house on the corner of St Rt. 160. |
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Legend has it that the head cook, Morgan's slave, was busy on the
side cutting a deal for his freedom. He promised the Klines that he would steal
Morgan’s wallet in exchange for his freedom on the underground railroad. In the end,
the slave got his freedom and the Kline’s, with Morgan’s loot, built their brick
home on 160, then-called "Yankee Street" after the many easterners who resided
there. The brick home is reminiscent of a time when the thriving and sophisticated
New-England-esque community was the center of activity for miles around.
Wilkesville gets its name from a Mr. Wilkes, an eastern gentleman,
who, in 1807, purchased a 6 square mile tract of barely-broken wilderness in the
southernmost tip of Vinton County. When Wilkesville was first formed the only villages in
Southeast Ohio were located in Jackson, then called " The Jackson Salt
Works,"Gallipolis, Athens, and the neighboring Salem, which, at the time, was home to
just a handful of families. In 1807 Wilkesville was virgin territory. Indians, reported to
be friendly, were still in the area and made an occasional appearance. Deer, turkey and
wild game were abundant -- but so were bears and wolves. It was said in an 1876
publication by Charles Wilkes, Wilkesville: An Early History, that at that
time,"wolves were so thick that a sheep out of sight of the house had no
insurance."
On June 10, 1810, Henry Duc, acting as Mr. Wilkes' agent,
laid out the town with a central square, and dubbed the village and surrounding
countryside " Wilkesville," after its owner. It was Mr. Duc, however, who was to
become a pillar of the community acting as somewhat of an officiator who presided over the
town. It has been reported that he offered a land warrant to the "first child to be
born in Wilkesville" --- Clara Jones. |
| Duc's reportedly splendid brick home was
Wilkesville's first, built in 1816 on the hill behind the square. It was host to the first
Presbyterian sermon delivered in the village. This congregation of seven, which included
Duc and his family, founded the First Presbyterian Church in
1821, which still stands today. Duc's home was lost to fire.
Unfortunately, Wilkesville has been no stranger to fires. Between
the years of 1810 and 1874 all but three of the original buildings in town were destroyed
by fire. Then disaster hit again in 1947, and seven homes and most of the downtown went up
in flames. In 1971 the town suffered yet another blaze, destroying seven more historical
buildings.
But in spite of the early fires, the town grew rapidly.
The first stores sprang up in 1828 and it's population was 738, in 1840. |
| The First Presbyterian Church est 1821 |
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In 1896,
Wilkesville began a long-standing tradition of the annual bean dinner. Folks for miles
around would come to eat the kettle-cooked beans with crackers and sip coffee in tin cups. Seventy-six year old local resident, Ray Reed, recollects the
event fondly, beginning with his earliest memories of folks pulling up in horse and
buggies to the days of the Model A Fords."It was the event of the summer," he
says. "Everybody went. It was a family-affair."
Wilkesville had one paper in its early days, The
Reporter, which lasted all of six months. An extract from its last editorial read:
" Our village has grown slowly on account of the few facilities which we have for communicating with the outside world. Never mind. We shall have a railroad
someday, and there may be a city here yet. As it is, we love the
dear, quiet old town, with its warm, kind-hearted people, and when it comes time to
leave this world, we want our bones to be laid in the graveyard on
the hill. Wherever our lot may be, we shall never
cease to feel a hearty interest in the prosperity of Wilkesville."
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| In 1880 residents got their wish when the
Hocking Valley Railroad out of Portsmouth crossed the township. During World War I, small
mines sprang up alongside the railways, excavating the natural
abundance of coal, iron ore and limestone. Most of these mines were family owned
and operated until World War II when demand increased, dramatically increasing employment in the area. Area businesses prospered as a result of the
increased demand for the area's natural resources. Stores located in
Wilkesville were the only ones for miles around, and supplied all the hand tools and
provisions used in the mines -- carbide for the lamps, bank-powder to shoot the
coal, fuses, horse harnesses and collars.
Ray Reed
remembers working in the mines after school in the winter. His $2.20 a week salary
contributed to the family farm and bought his school supplies. Reed says that back then
life was not easy. You got up at 4 A.M. and fed and watered the livestock. When daylight
broke, you worked in the fields. In the evening you worked in the mines if you could.
"Everything was hard back then, " he says. "You did everything manually,
that's just the way it was. You made your own bread and beans with
your hands. That's what this area was all about. You made everything with your
hands." |
Wilkesville Today
| Today the Wilton Civic
Association helps to make things happen from their non-profit community
center built on the edge of the town square. The mural, recently painted on the outside of
the building, not only depicts Wilkesville's history, but the resident's pride in their
roots.
Every May the
association hosts a professional bicycle race that winds
through a 4–county area, covering 62 mile, beginning and ending in Wilkesville. In
June they also host an 82-mile championship race.
In addition to the Wilton Civic Association there are many
other organizations alive and well today in Wilkesville: The American Legion, The Ladies
Auxiliary, The Grange, The Pythian Sisters, The Masons, The Eastern Star and 4-H and
Scouts.
The annual fish fry, hosted by the Volunteer Fireman's
Association is held the last Saturday in July and hosts a variety of events and
entertainment. And last but not least, there is always the annual bean dinner; this year
Wilkesville will celebrate it's 130th.
For history buffs, Wilkesville has a covered bridge that
has been drawing attention -- The Ponn Humpback Bridge, located 4 miles south of the village. It has been touted
"the best example of a humpback bridge in Ohio" --a bridge whose unusual design
has gotten a lot of attention. It is listed as one of the fifteen Ohio structures to be
listed in the Register of Historic Places, giving Wilkesville a bit of national publicity.
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Wilkesville1998:
Population 917
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