Amity followed a journey to Emmettsville, to Democracy & back

AMITY — Like many small towns, Amity, on Ohio 3 between Mount Vernon and Jelloway in Pike Township, has been known under different names.

Wooster Road (Ohio 3) is one of the oldest routes in the state, so the village has a fairly deep history. It sprang up around a tavern operated by Lewis Strong, as watering holes were needed periodically along roads for travelers moving on horseback, wagons, or carriages.

The first hotel was opened by David Jackson for those same travelers. Jackson was also the one who officially platted the settlement in 1832 as Emmettsville.

There was a town called Emmett in Paulding County, Ohio, though, so when the U.S. Post Office opened a branch here in 1834, they decided that using Emmettsville as a name would only create mistakes and confusion.

Thus the post office was more or less randomly named “Democracy.”

The name was unpopular, prompting the citizens of the hamlet to opt for a new name in 1837.

And that’s when they came up with “Amity,” a word meaning “friendship.” The post office refused to honor it though, because they said Ohio already had another Amity, in Madison County, which had been in place since 1817.

Indeed, the name proved so fashionable in those days, a third Amity popped up in 1840 in Montgomery County.

The awkward situation thus became that Democracy Post Office was located in Amity, Ohio. If you wanted to mail a postcard to Amity, such as the vintage image accompanying this article, you had to mail it to Democracy.

For that reason, the postcard photographer used the name of the post office, even though that was never the name of the place if you asked the people who lived there.

Democracy Post Office operated out of the Loney & Hixon store until March 31, 1923, at which time Amity became part of the Mount Vernon mail delivery route.

That means this photograph was taken before 1923, which matches with the early automobiles seen here.

It is also interesting to note the fine sidewalk already in place at this time. The sidewalk remains today, albeit not as fresh looking as it was here. Today, Wooster Road is wider, and is paved.

Just beyond resolution of this scan is what appears to be a couple of children standing in the road, probably peering with curiosity at the photographer setting up his camera a little further down the road.

It’s faint, but I think the children may be playing with a doll stroller that sits between them.

Although subsequent grading of the roadway has smoothed out the slight dip seen here, I’m pretty sure this spot is just south of where Danville-Amity Road crosses Wooster Road.

There are certainly fewer trees lining the road today than was the case when this photo was taken, probably around 1910, judging by the cars.

If anyone has an original copy of this postcard, it would be worth trying a higher resolution scan to see if more detail can be made out.

With a good scan, perhaps even the license plate of the nearest car could be read, giving us a definite year.