Escape The Daily Grind With A Trip To The Isaac Ludwig Mill
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
As 4-year-old Kaleb Strohscher and his mother Angela took turns flailing a pile of wheat, it became obvious that whipping up a batch of biscuits in the 19th century required more elbow grease that reaching into the pantry for a box of Bisquick.
During Saturday’s Mill Fest at the Isaac Ludwig Mill, located on the old Miami and Erie Canal and across the river from Grand Rapids, several special displays illustrated the progression from the field to the dinner table.
Using a flail – two pieces of wood hinged at the middle with a leather swiffle at the end – Rick Finch whacked at a pile of wheat, to remove the berries from the straw. Taking a handful of berries, he blew on them, while explaining how air separates the wheat from the chaff.
Cutting and separating became modernized with the advent of the threshing machine, and on Saturday, the Androvich brothers hooked up their 1930s Indiana Special to a Titan tractor to show just how it worked.
As Mike Androvich manned the tractor, John Androvich stood atop a Metroparks truck to fork out freshly harvested wheat onto the machine’s conveyer belt. The thresher removed the berry, separated the wheat from the chaff and created a pile of straw.
Mill Fest showcased a display of antique tractors and milling equipment, special demonstrations in lathing, woodcarving and silversmithing, and a more full-scale operation of the mill.
“The building has a different feel when the machine is up and running full speed,” mill curator Laird Henderson said. “We normally run it half speed for a short time, or we’ll use all of the grain.”
The mill can grind 800 pounds an hour and, during its heyday, could have ground 5,000 pounds in one day.
Although Peter Manor began construction on the mill in 1847, it wasn’t until the site was purchased by Isaac Ludwig in 1866 that the sawmill and gristmill became operational.
Although Ludwig no longer owned the mill after 1886, it continued to operate until fire destroyed upper floors in 1940. It was rebuilt as a two-story structure and produced livestock feed until closing in 1971. In 1972, Ludwig’s descendants donated the mill to the Metroparks of the Toledo Area, which began renovation using antique machinery from other mills. In 1974, the mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the following year it was opened to the public for tours.
The mill is open May through October, Wednesday through Sunday and holidays. Admission is free.
The mill is located at 3827 US 24 West (at SR 578), opposite Grand Rapids on the Maumee River. Park in the Providence Metropark parking lot.
The Miami and Erie Canal, directly behind the mill, has been restored and a 70-passenger, horse-pulled canal boat carries visitors and historical characters along a one-mile path during a 45-minute trip reminiscent of the late 1800s. Canal boat tickets are $6.00 adults, $5.00 members and seniors (60 and over), $3.00 children (3 to 12) and free for ages 2 and under.
For more information, go to www.metroparkstoledo.com.
On Saturday, July 26, tin smith Don Rasmusson will work with tin making tools used by early Ohioans, in a demonstration from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Cedar Creek Commitment Boosts Whitehouse Development
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
A 25,000-square-foot Cedar Creek Church, expected to begin construction in September, will be the centerpiece of the Whitehouse Square development on SR 64.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” said Whitehouse village administrator Dennis Recker. “The benefit of having an institution of that caliber is that it brings so many people to the village of Whitehouse so we can showcase the other opportunities that exist here.”
Rev. Lee Powell, lead pastor of Cedar Creek Church, said his team explored many locations for a permanent Anthony Wayne home.
“We weren’t thinking of a community center, but the developer sold us on the idea. Being the centerpiece of a community was intriguing to us. It will have more of a local flavor,” Powell said.
The church purchased a nine-acre site in the 160-acre, $150 million development in late June. But Cedar Creek has had a presence in Whitehouse for two years, using Anthony Wayne High School on Sunday mornings.
At this satellite campus, staff, a lead pastor and volunteers work to set up lighting, sound and equipment each week.
Because of school rules, a live Internet feed wasn’t permitted, so Rev. Powell’s Saturday night sermon was recorded for Sunday morning viewing. The church also is unable to offer its Saturday night services without its own building, Rev. Powell said.
Cedar Creek, founded in 1994, built its main campus in Perrysburg Township in 2002 and added a second satellite campus in Toledo in March. The main campus has an average attendance of 1,500 to 2,000, including a large number of college students and singles, according to Rev. Powell.
The Whitehouse campus tends to draw more families, he said, with children making up about 30 percent of the average 450 to 600 attendance.
“I think we’ll double that when we get our own building. It’s hard for us to duplicate what we do in Perrysburg. We’re dependent on the lighting, sound and staging. We do a pretty good job at the high school, but it’s not as effective as we’d like it to be,” he said.
The Whitehouse campus will draw mainly from Waterville and Whitehouse, but also Monclova, Maumee, Napoleon and as far away as Archbold, Rev. Powell said.
Whitehouse Square project manager Ray Wood is enthusiastic about having so many weekly visitors to the development and the village.
The traditional neighborhood design includes housing, retail, office and park facilities.
Although Wood learned on July 3 that Miller Valentine Group’s planned 14-acre senior housing village did not receive funding from the Ohio Housing Financing Agency’s tax credit program, he expects it to make the next round of funding in six months.
With a combination of apartments, townhouses and villas, the development calls for housing for up to 1,500 residents.
Commitments with a medical facility, apartment units and commercial venues are close, Wood said. He’s also working with a Bowling Green State University group on encouraging artists – from glass and metal to performance – to locate in the development.
These are a couple of articles that ran in The Mirror Newspaper.
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