History Knox
Mark Sebastian Jordan's History Knox column appears each Saturday at Knox Pages.
MARTINSBURG — When Levi Harrod settled in southwestern Clay Township of Knox County just before the War of 1812, he probably wasn’t much interested in seeing a lot of other settlers join him.
If so, he was no doubt happy that the area never became metropolitan, for he exulted in the rich hunting possibilities in the woods and hills of the area.
It is said that during the first year Harrod lived in this area that later became Clay Township, he shot 60 deer and 10 bears. He had to light bonfires at night to keep the wolves away from his flocks of sheep.
Soon, two villages sprung up: Williamsburg and Hanover. The villages existed side by side, according to Norton’s history of the county, though he fails to specify which was which. The two tiny villages decided to become one slightly larger village in 1828.
After discussion, the two sides agreed to drop their original names and select a new one: Martinsburg.
The east-west road that split the two original villages is today the western part of US 62 and OH 541. In the 1871 Knox County atlas, the public square of the northern village is still marked.
The southern edge of the square is where the village hall is located, and the northern edge was where OH 586 enters town from the northwest.
US 62 was the western edge of the square. Norton informs us that one memorable early settler of the village was a tavernkeeper whose last name was Booze.
He also tells of an unfortunate Fourth of July celebration in 1861 where resident John Clark had two of his fingers shot off by a cannon shot that did not go as planned.
Levi Harrod himself remained in the area and watched the town swell up to a grand population of 300, which it has never exceeded. Harrod later served as a Knox County commissioner in the late 1820s.
A 1965 Newark Advocate article by Paul Massa says that a school of higher learning, the Martinsburg Institute, was formed in 1838. In all likelihood, “higher learning” of that era would be equivalent to a high school today.
Throughout the early decades of this states, education was only compulsory up through the eighth grade. This institute did well for a while, but then attendance sagged, and it finally closed in 1860.
According to Massa, the old institute building was used as a local school building for many years until a new consolidated school was created.
Thus, in 1940, the old institute building became Martinsburg’s village hall, which was still in the same use at the time of his article. Does anyone know if the current village hall is still the same building?
It looks like it very well could be.
The most notable graduate of the Martinsburg Institute was William Windom, an American politician who later moved to Minnesota and served as a prominent congressman and cabinet member under presidents Garfield and Harrison.
Massa notes that three times in the late 1800s, Windom was considered as a potential candidate for U.S. president. TV murder mystery fans may well recall Windom’s grandson, also named William, who was an actor in the recurring role of Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury for many years.
At the height of Martinsburg’s activity, 1880, it boasted four blacksmiths, three doctors, three shoe stores, two general stores, and a barber shop, a butcher shop, a hotel, a saddle store, a tailor, and a tannery.
As of the latest census, the population was down to 222 people.
Martinsburg was never going to swell to huge numbers without the railroad or any main rivers passing through, but it has remained home to generations.