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Associated Press (Toledo, OH bureau) in the Cleveland Plain
Dealer
02-22-96
TOLEDO -- Sen. Mike DeWine has given a boost to a plan to preserve 180 acres where the Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought more than 200 years ago.
DeWine, an Ohio Republican, said he would introduce legislation to designate the battlefield as a national park affiliate. That would allow local officials to draw upon the National Park Service's expertise to save the site, which has been threatened by possible development.
DeWine is drafting the proposal at the urging of Maumee Mayor Steve Pauken, who has been trying to raise money to buy the 180 acres. Although the land is in Maumee, the city of Toledo owns it.
The designation would not mean money for the project, and the National Parks Service would not buy the land, DeWine said.
"With rare exception, we're not going to see the federal government buy a bunch more land," he said. By and large, our national parks system is complete.
"What we're seeing now is . . . the federal government entering into a partnership with local governments and local nonprofit groups to help local governments and nonprofits achieve the goals of preservation and public access."
When Toledo bought the property in 1987, no one knew it was the site of the battle that opened the Midwest to white settlers and closed it to American Indians.
But last summer, Michael Pratt, a Heidelberg College anthropology professor and historian, discovered that the battle took place on the land -- about a mile north of where historians originally believed it happened.
Pratt's discovery came after researching the battle for 10 years. It also included an archaeological dig of the site, which turned up several battle artifacts.
Some of the land is heavily wooded, just like it was when the battle was fought in 1794. Maumee officials and historians would like to turn the battlefield into a park honoring those who died in the fight.
Pauken said it probably would cost nearly $2 million to buy the land and turn it into a park.
Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said he would be willing to sell or trade the land to Maumee.
Some developers have expressed interest in buying the land and turning it into a mall. DeWine said that would be a bad idea.
"We've got enough land in this county for shopping malls. There's plenty of land for that, but there is only one battlefield that has this much significance to the state of Ohio and the nation," he said.
On Aug. 20, 1794, Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne defeated a confederacy of Indian warriors at Fallen Timbers. The battle took less than two hours. Fifty people were killed and 100 were wounded.
Wayne's victory broke the spirit of Indian resistance. Within a year, he had negotiated the Treaty of Greenville, which opened about two-thirds of southern Ohio to settlers.
Until the battle, the government had been negotiating with Indians for use of the Northwest Territory, which included what is now Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.
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