Flag City USA

We were up and out the door early as our destination was about an hour south of Toledo. The last time I was in the neighborhood we made an impromptu stop at Northwest Ohio’s largest antique shop. We had only intended a quick detour then, but four hours later we had only covered half of it and vowed to return. I’m usually running behind schedule, but this time we arrived 20 minutes before the antique gallery was scheduled to open. We headed to downtown Findlay to kill some time.

Findlay is the county seat in Hancock County with an origin dating back more than 200 years. In the years prior to the Civil War, it served as a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves escaping to Canada. During the War of 1812, Colonel James Findlay built a road to transport troops across the region and constructed a stockade that was named Fort Findlay in his honor; the community of Findlay began to emerge in the area surrounding the fort after the war was over. As a result of the gas and oil boom in 1886, the town’s population quadrupled virtually overnight. Findlay also was home to several woodworking firms and furniture manufacturers, a woolen mill, brick manufacturers and glass-making until the latter industry moved farther north into the Toledo area.

Today Findlay’s claim to fame is as Flag City USA. In the 1960s, a man named John Cooke moved to the city. As a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, he believed every American should fly the flag on Flag Day and worked to distribute 14,000 flags to everyone in the community. The designation was made official with a resolution of the U.S. House of Representatives on May 7, 1974.

With that moniker we expected to see flags flying everywhere, but they were few and far between. The downtown area, though, had some amazing old architecture and interesting sites. The Hancock County Courthouse was one of the buildings we decided to check out. Tours can be arranged through the office of Risk Management, but we were able to poke around on our own.

The current courthouse is the third in the history of the county. It was constructed of native sandstone between 1886 and 1888, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. An 18-foot copper statue of the county’s namesake stands on the clock tower and tops the building. During a severe storm in 1922, it was blown off the courthouse and extensively damaged but repaired the following year. Below John Hancock are statues of Law, Mercy and Justice, a tie to Greek democracy. Four polished granite pillars, reminiscent of Greek ionic columns, guard the old entrance of the courthouse, which is designed to resemble the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The courthouse underwent an extensive $3 million restoration in the 1990s. Its interior’s ornately tiled floors, chandelier, Victorian woodwork and stained glass are original. In fact, the stained glass window is one of the few places where the original state seal can be found.

This functioning courthouse currently is home to the Hancock County Common Pleas Court, Clerk of Courts, Law Library, and Recorder’s, Auditor’s and Treasurer’s offices. It is an architectural gem, to say the least … although I don’t think this guy was as eager to see it as we were.

Down the street I spotted the reflection of St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in the windows of a modern-day bank and decided it warranted a stop as well as a photo. We only took time for a quick look around, but church personnel were very accommodating in providing a written history of the congregation and its building. The current place of worship was dedicated in 1902. In 1913 Rev. Clifford Peale, father of American author Norman Vincent Peale, was named as minister of the church.

Our final stop was the Hancock County War Memorial before we returned to Jeffrey’s Antique Gallery to scope out treasures from days gone by. Findlay proved to be a great city with THE friendliest people; definitely worth the stop.

Incredibly, at Jeffrey’s we spent another four hours browsing booths of various antique dealers. There were a lot of interesting things waiting to be discovered … although some were just downright scary. It is me or does this doll look like she could be Chucky’s little sister?

We then made a run back to an antique store in downtown Perrysburg to get a vase we had seen the day before (repeat after me: “You see it, you like it, you buy it!”) and ended the day at City Barbeque to pig out and take care of that craving I’d been having for ribs.

A long but fun-filled day!