Coolville, Ohio

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Coolville is a town located between Hocking River and Route 50 in the southeast corner of Athens County, Ohio. It was founded in 1814 by the Coolye brothers, Simeon and Herman. They settled here because of the convenient location near the the main road and because it was close enough to the river for easy access but not too close to be at risk of flooding. The name Coolville is a derivation of the last name of the Cooley family. Some direct descents of the founders still live in the area.

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At the corner of Main Street and 5th, this building served as the main bus station in the area. Visitors passing through southern Ohio had to go through Coolville. In the last 30 years, the economy in the town has suffered dramatically because of changes in the highway infrastructure among others, and some of the local businesses had to close while others relocated. There are some buildings that used to host important facilities and businesses and have since closed, and time and weather have damaged the structures. The long-term residents of the town remember the old times when Main Street was the heart of commerce in town.

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Antique Store, owned by Pam and Lesly Washburn, is now closed, and the property is for sale. The building needs serious renovation and repair. Potential new owners turned down other buildings like this because the structures could be dangerous in the future.

the council

Linda Tood, Fred Clark, John Clark, and Tommy Arnott are a few of the attendees at the monthly City Hall meeting. The meeting had a good turnout. Some of the topics that the community discussed at this meeting were the inauguration of the new mayor, Teresa Holsenger, the aptitude of a council member to be in that position, and water-related issues.

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Judy Horner, a Coolville resident, is an attendee of the Sunday evening bible study at Grace Brethren Church. This church is one of the churches in town where the residents of the town gather to pray and express their faith. The building where this church stands used to be a seminary until it closed in 1865.

Spending time

Zack (9) and Brandon (11) Bekr play videogames after a day of school and an afternoon of homework. The two boys live with their parents and their older sister in one of the older houses in town. The kids attend the local school a few blocks from their home. If they aren’t at home or school, you can likely find them spending time at the library browsing the Internet.

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David Rainer and Chad McKibben hang out at the local library. Their topics for the afternoon are bows and good American cars. From time to time, Roxanne Rupe, the librarian, shares her perspective about the subjects while she sorts books on the shelves. Roxanne granddaughter, Morgan Heskett

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Sharon Phillips, an art teacher at Coolville Elementary School, hosts the “I Heart Art” program the night before Valentine’s Day at the Art Room in the school. For an hour and a half, the participants, most of whom were parents of the schoolchildren, had the opportunity to learn about art and talk about their interests.

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Whitney Harries works in Larry’s Pizza, taking orders, making the food, and delivering on a busy Friday night in Coolville. Larry’s Pizza is a local business that has been running for 26 year and keeps providing service to residents in an eight-mile area.

Volunteer

Volunteer firefighters Jerry Green, John Coen, and Gary Smeeks prepare their equipment before riding the fire trucks to the town of Torch to respond to an emergency call for a possible structural fire. The fire station provides service to Troy and Carthage Townships. The creation of the Coolville volunteer fire department came from taxes of the residents of these townships and from the donations collected during several fundraiser events that the department organized.

Not even the weather

A 2-level snow alert was declared on the morning of Monday, January 30. Classes of the local elementary school were delayed by two hours. Many of the residents of the area that work in other towns close to Coolville also started the day with a delay in their daily activities. Employees of A-1 Sanitation, LLC, which is in charge of waste management in the area, show up to collect the garbage. This company is based in Tuppers Plains, while the waste dump is located in Reedsville, 10 miles from the center of town.

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Richard Hill is a contractor who has been hired to renovate and convert Ron Eddie’s house into an office. Eddie bought the house, which was built in 1875, from his mother. He is redesigning the structure to create an office for his own business. There are few businesses in town, so opening an office of any sort will increase the number of visitors to town.

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George Fowler is a local hero. He is a veteran of World War II. To commemorate his past, he keeps an album with images from his service. After the war, Fowler proudly came back to finish high school and continue with his life in Ohio. Unfortunately, not all of his military friends where able to come back.

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George Fowler is a 94-year-old resident of the Coolville. Together with Roxanne Rupe, the local Librarian, Fowler has collected memories of the town for a long time; he used to guide visitors down Main Street and share the history of Coolville and how he has witnessed it change. Due to a heart condition, he no longer guides these tours, but Roxanne offers them when they are requested.

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This is an old building in town. The owners preferred to abandon it and move somewhere because the building’s repairs would have been more expensive than just leaving the facility as it was. Like this building, there are many others in the same condition around Coolville.

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Jackson Barhouse (5) celebrates his birthday at the firehouse. The attendees at the party brought gifts with them for the birthday boy. Some of the guests are children of Jackson’s father’s friends. Jeremy Barhouse, his father, is one of the volunteer firefighters of the community. This venue is used most of the time to host the monthly breakfast that the fire station personnel organize to raise funds for the firehouse.

Outside

Murphy Dunfe (back), 10, and her family have lived in Coolville for 14 years. His father works in a local factory, and his mom teaches at Ravenswood Middle School in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Dunfe and his friend Braden Miller (front), 11, attend the same school where Dunfe’s mother teaches. They have been friends for a long time. Miller visits Dunfe’s house often to play in their backyard with air rifles, one of which was inherited from Dunfe’s grandfather. Every other weekend, Dunfe visits Miller’s farm where he lives with his grandparents.

remainings

A resident of Coolville burns wood to warm up his house. He works cutting down trees that potentially jeopardize electric lines and houses. Wood stoves are one of the ways that the residents in Coolville use as a heating method. Other people in town use oil or electric heaters.

New House

On Main Street and 10th, Ron Eddie’s property used to belong to his mother. In the past, this building used to be a flour shop. Then it functioned as a barbershop. Nowadays, Ron Eddie is renovating the place to be used as the office of his business. Like Eddie, there is a group of residents interested in preserving the history of the town, not only represented by the old structures but also by the memories of the residents, too.

Time traveler

Main Street used to be old Route 50, part of the highway system that crosses the country from coast to coast. For all the traffic that going by here, Coolville was a must-see that travelers couldn’t avoid since the highway used to go through the center of town. Businesses like restaurants, hotels, and service stations composed the commercial heart of the town. Between 1997 and 1999, the Route changed, and its new location passed the town further away instead of running through its center.