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Hopewell Culture
Amidst Ancient Monuments The Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument / Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ohio |
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APPENDIX D
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1796 | Nathaniel Massie lays out Chillicothe |
| 1798 | William Davies purchases a 1300-tract area containing mounds but title soon passes to Massie |
| 1812-14 | Camp Bull operates in the area during the War of 1812 |
| 1832 | George Shriver purchases tract containing mounds from Massie's heirs; farming intensifies |
| 1846 | Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis explore "Mound City" |
| 1848 | Squier and Davis publish Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley to initiate the Smithsonian's "Contributions to Knowledge" series |
| 1850 | Davis takes the Mound City artifact collection and leaves Chillicothe for New York. |
| 1858 | While attempting to sell the collection, Davis assigns it to the New York Historical Society for safe-keeping |
| 1861-65 | During Civil War, area is used as drill ground called Camp Logan |
| 1864 | Davis sells the collection to William Blackmore and it is removed to England |
| 1867 | Squier and Davis collection is exhibited at the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury |
| 1888 | Both Squier and Davis die in the spring |
| 1890 | Cyrus Thomas begins debunking the "Myth of the Moundbuilders" |
| 1893 | Chicago's Columbian Exposition features artifacts excavated from Capt. Mordecai C. Hopewell's farm. |
| 1902 | Archeologists begin adopting "Hopewell" nomenclature and William C. Mills of Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society defines "Hopewell culture" and "Adena culture" |
| 1917-20 | World War I cantonment "Camp Sherman" operates; first draftees arrive September 5, 1917. Albert Spetnagel et al convinces Army to accommodate mounds within camp's layout design |
| 1920-21 | OSA&HS William C. Mills and Henry C. Shetrone conduct field investigations at Mound City Group; findings spur preservation movement |
| 1921 | William C. Mills proposes "national park" for Mound City (July 29) |
| 1923 | President Warren G. Harding signs proclamation 1653 under the 1906 Antiquities Act designating "Mound City Group National Monument" (March 2) |
| 1923 | Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis executes revocable license with OSA&HS to operate Mound City Group NM |
| 1925 | State appropriates funds to demolish Camp Sherman structures and restore mounds roughly based on Squier and Davis' map; work continues through 1927 |
| 1929 | "Mound City State Park" opens to visitors with stone gateway, picnic grounds, and observation platform atop Mound 7; residents hold a summer dedication ceremony |
| 1933 | State finance subcommittee visits Mound City in April to hear local demands for recreational park development |
| 1934 | CWA/FERA funding yields massive two-story maintenance/utility building and masonry comfort station |
| 1937 | WPA workers construct park residence with small administration room and 2,640 square foot picnic shelter house |
| 1937 | Mound City becomes administrative headquarters for OSA&HS' Seip Mound |
| 1937 | Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes approves Mound City's transfer to state ownership (March 6); local opposition mobilizes to block the transfer |
| 1940 | NPS Chief Historian Ronald F. Lee recommends Mound City Group be "dis-established" as a national monument |
| 1942 | Shelter house's kitchen room is remodeled into "Mound City Museum" (May 26) |
| 1945 | In the face of strong political pressure, Ohio Governor Frank Lausche calls for federal government to operate Mound City Group NM (August 1) |
| 1946 | Regional Archeologist J. C. Harrington accepts transfer from state for NPS; William W. Luckett serves as interim custodian (August 1); Custodian Clyde King enters on duty (November 2) |
| 1950 | W. F. Libby discovers radiocarbon dating; Ohio Hopewell are roughly categorized at 1500 to 2000 years ago |
| 1954 | Public learns of "Area Management Study" recommendation to disestablish Mound City Group NM (February); effort stalls because of Gov. Lausche's opposition |
| 1956 | NPS directorate excludes Mound City Group NM from MISSION 66 development program; Archeologist John Corbett argues for the park's retention in national park system (February) |
| 1957 | Mound City Group NM is added to MISSION 66 program; prospectus amended to provide bare-bones visitor center (November) |
| 1959 | Area residents fume at NPS plans to remove picnic shelter house; compromise reached to retain it for a few more years. |
| 1959 | Construction begins on visitor center (September 21) |
| 1960 | NPS razes abandoned VA incinerator building (September); Eastern National Park and Monument Association establishes cooperative association (November 4) |
| 1961 | Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter serves as keynote speaker at visitor center dedication |
| 1962 | Second superintendent, John C. W. ("Bill") Riddle arrives (September 7) |
| 1963 | Last remnants of shelter house removed (April 17); reforestation, boundary fencing, ethnobotanical trail, and earthworks restoration projects undertaken; a decade of archeological investigation and restoration commences under contract with Ohio Historical Society |
| 1964 | Olaf Prufer's work reenergizes Hopewellian studies; using the Hopewell, Joseph Caldwell defines "interaction spheres" |
| 1965 | Third superintendent, James W. Coleman, Jr., arrives (July 19); Mica grave exhibit completed |
| 1966 | Master plan assigns archeological storage and workshop space to Southeast Archeological Center, thus crippling visitor center expansion plans for three decades |
| 1967 | Fourth superintendent, George F. Schesventer, arrives (July 30) |
| 1970 | Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., declares establishment of the "Ohio National Park Service Group" (December 4) |
| 1971 | Fifth superintendent, William C. Birdsell, arrives (March 7); becomes first and last Ohio Group "general superintendent" with oversight of William Howard Taft NHS and Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial |
| 1971 | B & O Railroad spur line removed from monument land |
| 1973 | First interpretive specialist, Robert F. Holmes, arrives (January) |
| 1975 | Ohio NPS Group dissolves (July 1); sixth superintendent, Fred J. Fagergren, arrives October 26) |
| 1978 | Suitability/feasibility study recommends addition of Hopeton Earthworks NHL to Mound City Group NM |
| 1979 | NPS helps organize the Chillicothe Conference and publishing of Hopewell Archaeology provides first modern synthesis for scholars |
| 1979 | Completion of exhibit upgrade in visitor center museum |
| 1979 | NPS demands return of 1920-21 Mound City Group-excavated collection from Ohio Historical Society; collection receives emergency conservation treatment at Harpers Ferry Center |
| 1980 | HUD ignores Interior/NPS and proceeds with North River Place complex construction adjacent to Hopeton |
| 1980 | Public Law 96-607 provided for acquisition of 150-acre Hopeton Earthworks NHL December 28) |
| 1981 | Seventh superintendent, Kenneth Apschnikat, arrives (March 7) |
| 1982 | Mound City Group NM shows up on Interior Secretary James Watt's "hit list" for disestablishment |
| 1983 | Hopewell Sites Study begins |
| 1984 | Chief Cornstalk Sand and Gravel Company begins excavating gravel at Hopeton June); NHL is listed as threatened. |
| 1985 | Hopeton Sites Study identifies almost one hundred significant Hopewellian sites; work begins within archeological circles to narrow list |
| 1986 | British Museum loans Ohio Historical Society 26 Squier and Davis collection artifacts for temporary display |
| 1988 | Regional Director Don Castleberry approves final Hopeton Sites Study; recommends inclusion of four sites |
| 1988 | Residence/quarters is rehabilitated into administrative headquarters (fall) |
| 1988 | Eighth superintendent, William Gibson, arrives (December 4) |
| 1990 | Acquisition of Hopeton Earthworks Unit completed (January 9) and Vaughn interests added (September); Shelly Gravel Company acquires bankrupt Cornstalk operations and sets up new Chillicothe Sand and Gravel Company crusher plant (May) |
| 1990 | Mound City Group NM becomes last park to remove human remains from public display; cremated ashes were replaced with clean sand |
| 1991 | Failed flat visitor center roof replaced by red metal pitched roof |
| 1992 | Public Law 102-294 makes Mound City Group a unit of a larger Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, including a larger Hopeton Earthworks, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, and High Bank Works (May 27) |
| 1993 | Ninth superintendent, John Neal, arrives (June 27) |
| 1993 | Chillicothe again hosts second Hopewell scholars conference; yields 1996 publication A View from the Core |
| 1994 | New maintenance building constructed; visitor center expansion includes 50-seat auditorium and more exhibit space |
| 1995 | Declaration of taking at Hopeton yields settlement agreement |
| 1996 | Mica grave exhibit removed and Mound 13 restored |
| 1997 | General management plan approved; provides blueprint for 10-15 year park development |
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Last Updated: 04-Dec-2000