Much has been written and discussed about the history of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County, from the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 to John Stewart’s conversion to Christianity in the early 1800s. Stewart’s short life (he died an untimely death in 1823) accomplished two feats – he brought Christianity to the Wyandots and established for Upper Sandusky the First American Methodist Mission in America.

Traditionally, other Native American tribes are credited with taming much of the area’s plains and woodlands along the Sandusky River. Native Americans and the Wyandot Tribe prospered because of an abundance of wild game in the area’s dense woods and wetlands. Also, the temperate climate and rich soil supported a variety of crops which made members of the tribe some of the earliest area farmers.

The establishment of Wyandot County came in 1845, two years after the Wyandot Tribe was forced to leave for a reservation in Kansas, which marked the departure of Ohio’s last organized Native American tribe. The incorporation of Upper Sandusky occurred in 1848 and the town became the county seat.

School-age children, young scholars and history buffs alike can track a cornucopia of accounts about past life here. They can learn anecdotal facts, e.g., how the county’s first courthouse and jail were built using money from the sale of every third housing lot. This was a clever funding arrangement put in place by Wyandot County Engineers from the mid 1800s. They can read about the first churches and their founders, or about William Walker Jr., early teacher/director of the Mission School and Church, a beautiful site where even today religious services are held every Sunday at 8 a.m., June through August.

There is much more. Documentation reveals how frontier engineering produced canals for passage through wetlands which were previously impassable. As well, canal development boosted the area’s farmlands. There is the story of how the Wyandots numbered more than 30,000 at one time, but a smallpox outbreak in 1639 greatly decimated the clan. Other local history tells of the tribe’s long war with the Iroquois, and the murder of Col. William Crawford in June of 1780 by a hostile Native American war party. There is much to learn about the great peacemaker, Chief Tarhe, “The Crane,” who led the migration of the Wyandots out of the area to the reservation in Kansas in 1843. This left the area to white settlers who then began to accelerate development of the peaceful lifestyle that carries over to today.

Twentieth Century history in the area is immense as well. During the first quarter of the 1900s, what had been almost totally a rural community began advancing toward a business, education and cultural center. Although productive farms remain to present day, the first quarter of the 1900s began to change Wyandot County from a total rural community to one which includes business, education and cultural diversity.

The 20th century brought the development of railroads to Upper Sandusky. Further development in the automobile industry along with the routing of Interstate US 30 through Upper Sandusky enhanced the growth of the Wyandot area.

History also records the negative effects of the Great Depression on the local economy, only to see it turn around again from the effects of World War II. Local men and women have served their country in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and countries in the Middle East. There are historical records of beginnings for local newspapers, the Carnegie Library, the area’s first radio station, and more.

Upper Sandusky is the town that took its name from its “upper” location on the plains along the Sandusky River (Sandusky, “sa-un-dus-tee,” is a Native American word meaning “water within pools”). Its residents remain proud of the community’s history and keep it alive today at historic sites and museums throughout the area.