Baldwin....

an unforgettable ghost town

By Nancy Whitaker
Feature Writer for the Paulding Progress
Kathy Foust found this article in the Paulding Progress, 16 Oct 1996. It was reprinted with the
permission of Nancy Whitaker.

When I wrote, "Got your bags packed? We're headed for Baldwin," all I knew about this ghost
town was its name. I did know that it was listed a Paulding County ghost town, and that it only
existed for a little over 20 years. The town was located at the end of State Route 114, right on the
Ohio/Indiana State Line Road. What is there now? A field? A sign? A house? Is there a lonely
sound of leaves blowing up the wind? Did this stretch of highway used to be the located of a town?
Yes, it was! In fact, this town of Baldwin at one time housed businesses, a school, two grocery
stores, a hardware store, a church, a depot, and even a lodge. So, let's go back in time let's go back
to the year 1890. On May 19, 1890, Timothy Baldwin plotted our 24 lots the size of 50 feet by 150
feet. The town was actually built around the Findlay/Fort Wayne Railroad.
Sixty years previous to this, however, a Mr. Henry Castleman came by covered wagon to this
area, and settled on what was later called "Old 30." This was a dense forest area, and was referred
to by historians as "The Bears Nest" Henry was said to have killed 1,678 deer and 23 bears, for he
was quite a hunter. Henry Castleman also ran an inn, where weary travelers, could spend the
night. He also traded salt and other items to the Indians for fur. Henry lived in a log cabin, married,
and had 13 children. One of the sons ran a saloon near the Tillman area. The Castleman family
eventually moved near what would become the town of Baldwin. I was very fortunate in my
research to obtain information from the present Castleman families. So, at this point in my story, I
will tell some of the memories of Baldwin as related to me by a great-granddaughter of Henry
Castleman. Mrs. Theresa Castleman Stasell now resides in Payne at the apartments of the Dallas
Lamb Foundation Home. She will be turning age 90, but her memories of Baldwin are not
forgotten. Mrs. Stasell told me the following stories: "We lived about 1 1/2 miles from Baldwin,
but the town had a lot of people. My mother's father ran a saw mill, but it was about a mile west of
Baldwin Road. My father Dwight Castleman helped build the railroad, and the depot was located
on the Ohio side of the road. Some of the businesses in Baldwin were a hardware store ran by Art
Jackson, Frank Freeces General Store, Lou Roy's General Store, a hay barn and an elevator.
Above Frank Freeces General Store was Red Mans Lodge. There were Indian headdresses
hanging around, and there were dances held there. There were only two streets in Baldwin. They
were Main Street and Elm Street." Theresa goes on, "I remember one Fourth of July. We went into
Baldwin, sat on the platform at Frank Freeces General Store, and played with a lot of children.
Some older teenagers had fire crackers. They put the fire crackers under an old wash boiler, and we
thought that was really something to hear the sound of those fire crackers. Also, we ate ice cream,

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and we drank pop" When asked what kind of pop, she replied, "Oh, orange, or strawberry."
It is told that one time the depot was destroyed by fire and that some people of the community stole
the station at Tillman, on the same railroad, and took at to Baldwin on flat cars, and placed it on the
Ohio side of the line.
In 1906, Baldwin was still a thriving town with many businesses, and a school. The name of the
school was The Baldwin school. The school was abandoned in 1936, when Jackson Centralized
School was built.
William Noble operated a hoop mill. It constructed 30-35 hoops per day. The mill also
manufactured hubs for buggy and wagon wheels.
The Clifford brothers operated two charcoal bins which were supplied by the heavy timber in the
area. William and Levy ran a grain elevator. It was common to see 50 to 100 wagons, waiting to be
served.
The hardware store was ran by the Sorgan Brothers. Lou Roys General Store ran two huckster
wagon and carried items such as food items, clothing, underwear, and even tobacco. Theresa told
of her father walking across the filed to Baldwin and coming home with six bars of candy. He
would put them on a shelf until the next day, and then his children would look in the sack and find
candy. The candy bars were similar to peanut brittle, and oh it tasted so good.
But why did Baldwin become a ghost town" for one reason, the Findlay Railroad was abandoned in
1915, and also the timber supply ran out. The elevator and the hay barn burned won, and people
left the area to settle where there were jobs. Frank Freeces General Store was in existence for
some time, and some remember sitting on the front porch of the store.
Mr. and Mrs. Denny Castleman reside in a home where Baldwin was located. They recently
planted grass seed, and found many old bottles, marbles and horse shoes. These items belonged to
someone who used to reside in this now extinct ghost town. So, some day when you are out on
State Route 114, go to the end, and listen. Listen to the sounds of the past. Listen to the sounds of
the present. Timothy Baldwin, who founded Baldwin, is buried in a small cemetery close to where
Baldwin used to be. My sincere thanks goes out to the Castleman family who shared this story
with me, and Mrs. Theresa Stasell, a living legend of the town of Baldwin.

it,NLernerniDe r the Lad;es

-- Abigail Adams, 1776

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Dague....The story of a Paulding County ghost town

By Nancy Whitaker
Feature Writer of the Paulding Progress
Thank you to Kathy Foust who found this article in the Paulding Progress, 18 September 1996.
Nancy Whitaker gave permission to publish this article.
I thought that "ghost towns" existed only in the Old West, but I found out differently. When talking
to some folks in Paulding County, and to some local people, I heard about towns which have
vanished. Towns that used to be thriving and were hubbubs of activity. What happened to these
towns" Why did they disappear? In a series of articles, I will attempt to write about these towns'
beginnings and their ends. At one time, most of these towns had grocery stores, post offices,
saloons, hotels, schools, and homes. The town of Dague, Ohio is one of these ghost towns.
The Village of Dague was located about five miles south, and one-half mile west of Paulding, right
off of State Route 127. Thirty-eight lots were plotted where the old Cincinnati Northern Railroad
crosses Blue Creek, approximately in the early 1880s. The village was named for Hamilton
Chauncey Dague, who was a promoter. Like other growing communities of its time, Dague grew
with the lumber industry. To the east on 127, there was a saw mill which attracted many people
because there were jobs available. In addition to the saw mill, there was a hoop stave factory. The
stave factory produced staves of wood used for wooden barrels. Also Dague produced wooden
bowls for kitchen and dining room use. So it you see or have any of these wooden bowls, maybe it
was produced in Dague.
When Dague was a booming site, they boasted a tile mill, two grocery stores, a train depot, post
office, a saloon, a doctor, a baseball team, a United Brethren church, Masonic Lodge, and even a
roller skating rink.
As the community began to grow, there was a need for a school. Some of the founding fathers
created a special school district. It consisted of two sqiisme milesone north and one south of the
village. This led villagers to erect a two-story school house. The school had two rooms down and
one large room upstairs. Only one of the ground floor rooms was used for classes because taxes
were no more popular then than now! It was simply cheaper to use just one room for school, so the
top floor was rented to the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. These were black brothers, Charles
Abbott, a highly respected man, was the last Master of the Lodge before its charter was moved to
Fort Wayne, Ind. The teachers of the Dague School then had as many as 70 children to teach, and
consequently, most teachers only lasted a short time. No census record is available, but a 1888
school census shows that there were 130 children attending school.
Some of the names familiar to the Dague community at that time (and still are) were Vogel,
Rhoad, Williamson, Constable, Seely, Wehrs, Finnegan, Littlejohn, Groves, Zubrugg, Hand,
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Ankney, Abbott, Prior, Patter, Gantt, Mines, Smith, Gallapoo, and Harshbarger.
Some might remember that at the east edge of the village, William Harvey Vogel raised and
trained horses. Probably his most famous horse was named "Paulding Boy."
"Paulding Boy" was a race horse who made it a practice to beat all speed records at the tracks in
this part of the country. Another type of horse raised by Mr. Vogel was Ashwoods, but none
gained as much fame as "Paulding Boy."
I visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Stoller, who live in what used to be Dague. Mrs. Stoller
recalls tearing down what was at one time was the saloon. She said that there were carvings and
saying on the old booths and bar of the saloon. Next, I went to the home of Eric and Scott
Buchman. The main part of the village was where their home is located. That home was built in
1963. I looked across the fields to where the school used to be, and I had the feeling that I was
stepping back into another time: a time when Dague was alive; a time when Dague had residents.
Children were laughing and playing. A church was alive with music. There was a saloon where
men might have gotten into fights like in the Old West. I could feel that this is a place of history
that many history books will never know, and quite honestly, I did not know about the existence of
Dague, Ohio. As the available timber diminished so did the market, and Dague became more of a
residence for the older generation, with a few young people who found jobs farming.
As the lumber industry declined, the village vanished, and the school district was annexed to the
Latty School District (approximately 1914-1915); the students then being transported by horsedrawn coach.
The old saw mill is no longer running. It is overgrown with trees, and from the road, you can see
where one of the buildings of the old saw mill is the Pleasantview Cemetery. These three acres of
ground were deeded to the township on August 5, 1891, by Elizabeth and Phillip Mines. Also
located on the same general tract of land was the Blue creek German Baptist (Dunkard) Church. It
is believed that the cemetery was established prior to the erection of the church. It was known as
Westview Cemetery until about 1916. As I walked through this cemetery, there were many old
stones and they are so well preserved. You could read the names and almost get a family history
form the tombstones.
So what do we call these towns that simply disappeared? Are they remembered? Some people
knew about Dague through what they heard from their elders, but quite a few didn't know that
Dague, Paulding County, Ohio, ever existed. I am quite sure though that many seniors know about
Dague, and perhaps another "Ghost Town."
Mrs. Stoller did tell me that what used to be the hotel in Dague was moved to Haviland. I believe
that part of it was converted into a house. If you are ever out some nice day, turn by the old sawmill
on U.S. 127, go west and visit the Pleasantview Cemetery, then go back east and see where a real
ghost town exists. I would also like to acknowledge the help I received from Mrs. Floyd Rhoad,
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Stoller, the Buchman family, and the Paulding County Library.
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