History · Gilboa

Gilboa’s history is mostly unwritten

The public archives hold just one old photo of Gilboa. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1old photo or paper

1historic places

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Gilboa’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Gilboa’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtGilboa Main Street Historic District protects 29 historic buildings.Old housesHalf of Gilboa’s homes were built before 1943.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gilboa’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gilboa’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewFMIB 33211 Gilboa, Ohio; Plank Dam: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the National Register

1 listing protects 29 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1979

Gilboa Main Street Historic District

in Ohio

#433

by listings

Districts

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1

Romanesque1

Victorian1

All 1 listings

Gilboa Main Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1979

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Gilboa came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gilboa.

Read it all →

Gilboa was laid out in 1837. The village was incorporated in 1848. A post office was established at Gilboa in 1843, and remained in operation until 1985.

On August 6, 1852, a cholera epidemic struck Gilboa. The start of the epidemic was traced to a large damp cellar that had been used to store trash and decomposing waste. The epidemic lasted until August 21 and killed 13 Gilboa residents including one of the two doctors that had not fled. Out of the estimated 600 population, all but 40 fled including four of Gilboa's six doctors.

Artist and muralist Oscar Velasquez (1944-2021) was a long time Gilboa resident. He painted more than 50 murals nationally and internationally.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Gilboa, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item

1874FMIB 33211 Gilboa, Ohio; Plank Dam

Today5 recent

2021Captain Sheldon O. Hall Memorial Bridge

2015Map of Putnam County Ohio Highlighting Gilboa VillageMap

2010Blanchard River bridge at

2010Blanchard River at

2004OHMap-doton-Gilboa

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewFMIB 33211 Gilboa, Ohio; Plank Dam, 1874

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Gilboa’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Weigh in

Has Gilboa changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

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From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1) and Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.