A VISUAL TREAT--

On our trip across Ohio

Delphos, OH, which describes itself as "America's Friendliest City", was the most visually interesting to us in our trip across Ohio's Lincoln Highway (LH).

The town is a little less than 3 miles square and contains about 6,700 souls but its history smacks you in the nose on arrival.

The Miami and Erie Canal rolled toward us on the GPS while the fabled highway morphed into 5th St., as we slowed into the downtown.

On our right was a delightful mural depicting the town of the 1950s.  A LH "control station" sign is at the west end of this building (pictured below).  If you set your odometer to zero there, your mileage will conform to the directions in the local copy of the 13 US Coast and Geodetic Survey maps that cover the highway across Ohio from east to west.

At the canal which crosses the LH straight ahead there is an historical marker that also shows the elevation changes in the canal from Toledo to the Ohio River at Cincinnati, a distance of 249 miles.

Delphos grew out of four different villages in the early 1800s, three named after the families of settlers and one after a plat of land.  From 1836 to 1842 the town began to assemble itself while the canal was being built and Delphos was officially established in 1851.

By 1879 over 100 factories were operating there, providing goods to the world's commerce because both the canal and the nation's first paved, transcontinental highway passed through its boundaries.

But, already, railroads were encroaching on the canal's lucrative business.  From 1850 to 1860 railroad track in Ohio grew from 375 to 2,946 miles and the canal was history after devastating floods in 1913.

Another mural on the side of the Delphos Herald building (above) enjoyed dramatic back lighting during our visit.  That mural actually depicted its own location.  Note the shape of the building in the photo being reproduced in the painting.

The locally preserved section of the canal is located behind the newspaper building.  The water flowing in the small photo (above) supplies water to local industries to this day.

While the town displays its history proudly it doesn't appear to be terribly busy otherwise.  Under the section of "local activities scheduled" on its web site--there is nothing listed.

As we walked across 5th St., in our photo session, holding hands as we often do, a lady in a passing SUV opened the side door of the moving vehicle and inquired how long we have been married.  "We're not," Sue responded to the obvious disappointment of our inquisitor.

My simultaneous response to the passing lady was, "That's why we still are holding hands."

I don't think she heard me.

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http://www.cityofdelphos.com/

Editor's Note:  We conclude our series on the western half of Ohio's Lincoln Highway with this photo taken in Delphos which not only demonstrates a violation of the laws of composition, but a violation of the traffic laws as well:

Serious photographers should avoid having things like telephone poles and signs growing out of the heads of folks in their photographs.

And, drivers always should be alert to one-way traffic signs.

This photographer was guilty on both counts; neither of which was noticed until the pictures were being edited.  * Gasp *