By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the February 18, 2026, edition of the Brookville American. Don’t discount the archives of your local library. You never know what fabulous research materials are tucked away in storage and maybe not yet cataloged – books, ephemera, manuscripts, three-dimensional objects. Local history departments and their archives hold unique and wonderful things – much more than just…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the March 2, 2022 edition of the Brookville American, and is featured in Volume 3 of Forgotten Franklin County. It’s been 57 years since the large 2-story brick structure graced the Main Street of Oldenburg, lot 18, to be exact, just east of the Holy Family School. It was constructed for use as a hotel and stood…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the January 2026 edition of the Brookville American. The Aquacycle first caught my attention about ten years ago. I was looking for an obituary but got distracted by a front page story along with an intriguing image in the June 24, 1948, Brookville Democrat that claimed the Aquacycle was the brainchild of Dr. B. Billman of…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the April 6, 2022, edition of the Brookville American and in Volume 3 of Forgotten Franklin County. The little building at 309 Main Street always intrigued me. I knew it was old because of the brick style and the brick lintels above the windows. To my regret, I passed by it regularly with no thought of photographing…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the November 20, 2019, edition of the Brookville American and in Volume 1 of Forgotten Franklin County. U.S. Highway 52 is the main thoroughfare in and out of Franklin County, unless, of course, it’s closed for what continues to seem like endless, annual repair jobs. On this road, coming from Cedar Grove, as one approaches the slight…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the February 5, 2020, edition of the Brookville American and in Volume 1 of Forgotten Franklin County. Do you remember the television show? It was on once a week from 1977 to 1982. Leonard Nimoy was the host. The program investigated controversial and paranormal events, and featured episodes about historical personalities and mysterious historical events. Well, this…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the January 5, 2022, edition of the Brookville American and in Volume 3 of Forgotten Franklin County. Southgate, interchangeably referred to as South Gate, is in Highland Township, and many of you probably pass through it on a regular basis and don’t even know that it was a small successful town. What’s left of the town today…

By Julie Schlesselman, Local History & Genealogy Department Manager, FCPLD This article ran in the March 30, 2022, edition of the Brookville American and in Volume 3 of Forgotten Franklin County. When people remodel their homes they find all kinds of interesting and unusual things – old newspapers in the walls (which were typically used for insulation), jewelry that slipped between the floor boards, “mud bricks” behind walls that were created…