Pittsfield was the Lorain County's last township to be named

The quiet crossroads town of Pittsfield, between Oberlin and Wellington, forever will be known for the devastating Palm Sunday tornado of April 11, 1965, that claimed nine lives while destroying the township hall, two churches, a Civil War monument and numerous homes. To mark the storm's 50th anniversary in 2015, township residents dedicated a plaque honoring those who died in the howling winds. The storm is only part of the rich history of the township, Jim Sheffield and Lynn Youngblood of the Pittsfield Historical Society want people to know. Sheffield, the society's president, and Youngblood, its treasurer, recently reviewed some of that two-century history that included a time when dairy farms were king, delivering quality milk to cheese producers in Wellington. Youngblood said Pittsfield Township was the last to be named in Lorain County. Established in 1831, it had been part of Wellington Township. "People lived here for 10, 15 years before it had a name," she said. The first white settlers arrived as early as 1812 or 1813 and Native Americans had left the area. They were simply identified as "a man by the name of Baker, and his two sons" in "History of Lorain County, Ohio" published by the Williams Brothers in 1879. They didn't stay long. Baker soon enlisted in the U.S. Army, but it's a mystery what happened to the sons. Land in what would become Pittsfield Township was surveyed in 1819. Milton Whitney bought large tracts and the next year arrived from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to view his holdings. He gave acreage to Thomas M. Waite and sons Jeremiah and Thomas, who arrived in spring 1821 as the first permanent white settlers. Eventually, three Whitney families settled in the Township. Whitney Road is named for the family. The first post office opened Dec. 7, 1832. At least three locations for a post office have been identified. Elyria postal historian Jack Standen published two maps showing Pittsfield post offices in his 2009 book, "Postal History of Lorain County, Ohio in the 19th Century." An 1857 map shows the location of a hotel and store operated by David H. Ranney on the east side of what today is state Route 58 just south of Hallauer Road. Ranney was postmaster from Aug. 8, 1853, until Jan. 27, 1858, and ran the post office out of his establishment. The second map, dated 1874, shows the location of a post office in Pittsfield Centre, the village at the township's center, on the south side of today's state Route 303, just west of state Route 58. Climena H. Kingsbury was postmaster then, having been appointed on March 23, 1865. She stepped down on Nov. 5, 1883, relinquishing the job to C.H. Beach. For some reason, Kingsbury reassumed the postmaster title three months later, Feb. 15, 1884, continuing her duties for five more years. Youngblood and Sheffield recalled one other likely location of a post office before it closed for good on July 30, 1904: a building just north of the township hall that was destroyed by the tornado. "It looked like a building that could have been for a post office," Sheffield said. Mail from Pittsfield exists but requires effort to find. I have three mid-19th-century pieces, dating from 1848, 1859 and the 1860s. The oldest is a stampless folded letter with a crisp manuscript "Pittsfield, O/Apr 21" with "5" indicating the 5-cent letter rate to Cattaraugus County, New York. Sent to Frederick E. DeWolf by his sister Ruth, the fading letter includes the year of 1848. The second is an envelope postmarked Aug. 31 with the year 1859 written in pencil. The stamp, a perforated version of the brick-red 3-cent George Washington issue (Scott 25), is canceled with an indiscriminate blue pen marking. The final piece is another envelope that bears the same postmark dated Aug. 22, with the second "2" written in pencil, probably by Kingsbury. The stamps, a 1-cent Benjamin Franklin (Scott 63) and a 2-cent Andrew Jackson (Scott 73), are canceled with a trio of six-bar "killers." It was sent to S.D. Whitney, in Des Moines, Iowa. Sheffield said the dairy farms are long gone from the township, except for one, and that many residents today work in other businesses. Keep in mind that it is postal history and the work of historical societies that chronicle the life and events of a community for future generations. Dennis Sadowski can be reached at sadowski.dennis@gmail.com.