Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this photograph shows the tablet at the front entrance of the City Hall in Greenville, Ohio, which reads "Site of Fort Greene-Ville. The largest pioneer fort in Ohio, built in 1793 by General Anthony Wayne. Here in August 5, 1795, the Treaty was signed by which much of present Ohio was opened to White settlement." In August 1795, representatives from the Myaamia, Wyandotte, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Kaskaskias, Eel River, and Weas signed the Treaty of Greenville. In signing the treaty, these tribes agreed to move to the northwestern part of what is now the State of Ohio. Championed as a treaty of friendship between Anglo-American settlers and American Indian tribes, the treaty forced tribal leaders to relinquish much of their land to Anglo-Americans.
This is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939.
View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F05_014
Subjects: City halls; Historic sites--Ohio; Public buildings; Treaty of Greenville; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)