Providing Refuge From Indians Attack, Stone Building Is Still Standing

One of the most interesting buildings in Coshocton county is located in Oxford township. It is an old stone fort and historians have finally agreed after much discussion that it was built by Isaac Evans, an early settler in 1806.

The fort is located about half a mile northwest of Isleta. Stone used in constructing the building is believed to have been brot from across the Tuscarawas river.

The walls of the fort are more than a foot thick. Apertures or portholes were placed at convenient height on three sides for shooting thru in either a standing or kneeling position. These openings were on the east, west and north sides: on the south side was a door which had been made of black walnut.

Protection From Indians

The building it is thot, was used as a refuge by the early settlers in case of an attack by Indians. The building had an attic, believed to have been used as a refuge for women and children during an attack and on the outside are a number of bullet marks.

For a number of years it was believed that the building had been erected by D’Iberville, successor to de la Salle, who is said to have built French forts in the 17th century thruout the Mississippi valley, one of which was located “northeast of the Ohio river.”

Ex-Senator Fess, however, made an investigation of the fort’s origin and in Washington he found records which indicated that the building had been erected by Evans. Evan’s son Joseph, born Oct. 3, 1801, is believed to have been the first white child born in Coshocton county.
The first landowners in Oxford township after the War of 1812 were Jacob Reed, David Douglas, Henry Evans, John Jenkins, George Loos, John Loos, John Wills, William Mulvane, Joseph Mulvane, Andrew McFarland, Ezekiel McFarland, Benjamin Norman, George Auspaugh, William Pierpont, George Springer, Philip Wolfe, Philip Wagoner, Isaac Evans and James Welch.
Two Villages in Township
There are two towns in Oxford township, Isleta and Orange. In 1806, the Wagoners and Leighningers, Wolfes and Looses came to what is now the Isleta community from eastern Pennsylvania. Philip and Anna Margaret Wolfe operated a tavern known as Washington Inn at the point where the present road to Isleta joins the Coshocton-Newcomerstown road.
At that time the road was the pathway between Zanesville and Cadiz. Washington Inn was one of the 21 taverns on the road. Isleta first was called Oxford Station and the town was formed when the Pennsylvania railroad was built in about 1854. The post office was known as White Eyes Plains and was established about 100 years ago. (NOTE: this article was written in 1934...so that Post Office would have been in 1834). Residents of the village still are recorded on the county tax duplicate as residents of Oxford Station.
Name Changed in 1893

The name of the town was changed in Isleta in 1893 because there was another Oxford in Ohio. It is believed for a daughter of a railroad official when the Pennsylvania line was built thru this county. A peninsula on one of the Canary Islands and a town in New Mexico are the only other places known to have the same name.

The old grain elevator now operated at Isleta was built in 1910 with money subscribed by 11 farmers of the Isleta community. It was built at a cost of $11,000 and the people who subscribed the money lost it later. The building which occupies two lots was taken over by the West Lafayette Bank Co., and is offered for sale for $500 along with the lots. So far the highest bid that had been received is $105.

From the time the Pennsylvania railroad was built in 1894 and 1924 the town had a depot. At one time six passenger trains stopped in the village each day, but now there is only one and the town has a non-agency station.

Once Had Tan Shop

Isleta at one time had a tannery which was operated by Henry Wolfe, an ancestor of Henry Wolfe who now lives on North Fourth St. The stone which was used to grind bark for the tannery now is mounted on a frame on West Main St.

During the 10-year period ending in 1930 Oxford township gained a population more than any other township in Coshocton county according to census report. The gain was 170 persons.

Orange the other town in the township had been known as Evansburg .......Sept.4, 1830 and .... Evans as the proprietor. ...........about half a ......and village of Orange. Washington Ohio canal was built Evansburg ceased to exist and Orange was established.

Evans ......was buried in the old cemetery .....stone ......in Oxford township.

Flourished In Canal Days

When the.....................operating Orange flourished. The village boasted a warehouse, tannery and store. The first settlers in that vicinity were Isaac and Henry Evans and Charles and Esaias Baker, who came in 1801.

A forgotten village once was located in Oxford township. It was known as Millsville and was mapped out by John Mills on the banks of the Tuscarawas river at what was known as “the great bend”. The site was near Orange and the town had a public square a Main St. and a Water St. - on paper.

An old building housing the general store at Orange is one of the best-preserved reminders in Coshocton county of the old canal days. F. A. Richmond and his brother operated a grain purchasing agency and mercantile store in the days when whiskey sold for nine cents a gallon and a rubber-tired buggy was considered a luxury.

The building was erected in about 1848 and was originally intended to be used as a steam mill. This, however, proved to be unprofitable and the building was turned into a grain storage house, having a capacity of approximately 15,000 bushels.

Grain Shipped By Canal

J.E. and F.A. Richmond purchased the building in 1884 and bought grain from farmers for a Dover concern on a two-cents-a bushel commission. The grain was transported in canal boats from Orange to Dover.

Farmers within a 10-mile radius brot their grain to Orange. It was shoveled from the wagons into a chute which carried the grain in to a weighing box, the scales of which were measured off into pounds and bushels.

After the weight was recorded, a trap in the bottom of the receptacle was tripped and the grain was conveyed into the cellar by another chute, from where the elevators carried it to the storage rooms above.

Power for the elevator was furnished by a horse, which had the monotonous task of walking in the circle and driving a shaft which extended tot the top of the building. The elevator consisted of an endless chain of cups, enclosed in a wooded frame.

No Longer Used

Approximately three and a half hours were required to load a canal boat with 2,000 bushels of grain. A series of chutes carried in from storage room to outgoing scale which weighed each 20-load. From the scale it was transferred to the ..of the boat. Being loaded in ...other ...

The grain warehouse named the stage of .......of the canal which in about 1906. The canal was permitted to deliberate and boats were unable to....loads due to shallow .......unfortunate.

An old building ...across the ...from the former grain warehouse was formerly at Inn and saloon. It was erected in about 1840 and has been the ...of many ......and drinking bouts. It has now been made into a dwelling house.

Mary Mildred (Loos) Rehard had this article in her scrapbook. She was born 08/05/1916 in Isleta, Ohio
..daughter of the store owner Noah & Mary (Wolff) Loos. She passed away 03/27/1975.