'Little Ohio' chronicles 100 towns with populations below 500

Mark Caudill
Mansfield News Journal
"Little Ohio" is a new book about towns in Ohio with populations below 500.

Karen Robertson has written a book for anyone who grew up in a small town.

"Little Ohio," which was released Nov. 26, showcases 100 towns across the state with a population below 500.

"I hope that people who live in those towns can enjoy their history and have some pride in that," she said. "I hope other people get to know the state better by seeing this full picture of it."

Robertson loves history. During family vacations as a child, her parents would go to museums or battlefields instead of the beach. 

"I got really interested in it, especially museums," she said.

Author traveled state for yearlong project

Robertson grew up in Avon, a suburb of Cleveland, and earned a master's degree in public history from Ohio State in 2015.

She is the curator of manuscripts at the Ohio History Connection, where she enjoys sharing stories of the state's history every day.

"In my day job, I write for our history blog," Robertson said.

Author Karen Robertson poses with the canal locks in the small Ohio town of Lockington.

She researched "Little Ohio" while visiting and taking photos of each town. Including the writing, the project took about a year. Robertson said her book includes current updates on each town.

"I was very history-focused because that's where my interest lies," she said.

Robertson said she goes "back and forth" about her favorite small towns. None of the incorporated towns in Richland County contain fewer than 500 people.

"It's one of the only counties that does not appear in the book," Robertson said. "The book does cover the entire state. We've got a lot of small towns."

Small-town history in Richland County

While Richland County doesn't have any small towns in the book, Mansfield does get a mention through its connection to Sulphur Springs, a small town in Crawford County.

In the 1800s, a railroad was being planned to come through this area. Mansfield and Sulphur Springs were among the towns being considered.

"The railroad went to Mansfield and not to Sulphur Springs," Robertson said. "That's one of the reasons Sulphur Springs stayed small and Mansfield did not."

Sulphur Springs has another claim to fame.

"There's a man buried there who was one of the last living veterans of the Revolutionary War," Robertson said.

Adam Link was born in Maryland but settled in Crawford County after the war.

Tiro, another town in Crawford County, also has a story related to veterans. Russell Coffey, one of the oldest World War I veterans, died there in 2007 at the age of 109.

People who visit Put-in-Bay in the summer might be surprised the town has only 136 permanent residents.

"That was fun for me because I went there as a kid," Robertson said. "When you're there, there's not less than 500 people."

She noted that high school sports teams travel by plane to get off the island.

 After this project, Robertson says she is open to writing another book.

"Researching and writing is kind of in my wheelhouse," she said. "It taught me a lot about the process of writing a book and what went into it."

mcaudill@gannett.com

419-521-7219

Twitter: @MNJCaudill