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Editorial
The Blade (Toledo, OH)
02-09-95
When it comes to regional cooperation, the path of progress is rarely smooth hereabouts, and that certainly goes for the partially wooded tract in the planned Toledo-Maumee joint economic development zone on former Monclova Township land.
The city of Toledo, which owns the land, wants a 200-acre tract east of North Jerome Road to be zoned for commercial development. However, the Maumee city council Monday night approved residential zoning for 67 acres which may be part of the site of the battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
Officials of both cities voiced cautious optimism that the Maumee council's action need not be the last word on the subject. This fluid situation can be turned to good advantage with respect to the first priority for that site - preservation of the Fallen Timbers battlefield.
As luck would have it - and luck often doesn't have it - most of the battlefield is still open countryside. Of the importance of Fallen Timbers, Gen. William Henry Harrison wrote in 1834 that "the war of the Revolution continued in the western country until the peace of Greenville in 1795." In a sense the last battle of the American Revolution occurred on the southwest doorstep of our metropolitan region.
The site lies northeast of the monument to the Battle of Fallen Timbers on Route 24; that location was selected mainly because of its splendid view of the Maumee River valley. Although a relatively minor battle, Fallen Timbers was the hinge on which history turned 200 years ago. It was the first significant event of recorded American history in this region, and it should become a national historic site.
This is a real possibility, notwithstanding the budget-cutting mood that prevails in Washington. The Maumee River was a principal traffic artery for the woodland Indians, and along its banks were some of the most extensively cultivated lands of the civilization that predated the arrival of European settlers.
The city of Toledo has given recognition to the importance of preserving this site, although details are fuzzy at this point. A thorough archeological survey is needed to determine more accurately where the battle was fought.
The site of Fort Miamis in the city of Maumee and Fort Meigs, which played a prominent role in hostilities during the War of 1812, are also of interest to the federal government, but the key is Fallen Timbers, where regulars and volunteer militia led by Gen. Anthony Wayne routed a confederation of Indian tribes who had sought unsuccessfully to surprise the American forces.
By terms of the subsequent Treaty of Greenville in 1795 much of Ohio was opened for settlement by American pioneers.
The site is ideally suited for a museum and visitor center, employing modern technology to depict the life and cultures of the woodland Indians and the early American settlers. It is an opportunity that must not be lost.
Delay is often an enemy of progress. But this site should be held in abeyance until a proper decision can be made by the people of this region and by local, state, and federal governments as to how to preserve this site for future generations. It could be a major tourist attraction for a region which has few enough of them.
Fallen Timbers is no less important than Bull Run, where a proposed Disney theme park was ultimately beaten back. The haze of history obscures our outlook on Fallen Timbers. But for that battle, we might be complaining about high federal spending in our national capital of Ottawa.
This region has no more need of outlying residential developments and for now the cities of Toledo and Maumee have ample commercial land elsewhere that can be developed. It s time for history to prevail.
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