Mary Jane Thurston State Park
Encyclopedia
Mary Jane Thurston State Park is a 591 acres (239.2 ha) Ohio state park in Wood
and Henry Counties
, Ohio
in the United States. It is named for Mary Jane Thurston, a schoolteacher from Grand Rapids
, Ohio who bequeathed
14 acres (56,656 m²) of land for the establishment of a park. The park is along the Maumee River
near the remains of the historic Miami and Erie Canal
. Mary Jane Thurston State Park is open for year-round recreation including, hunting, fishing and boating, picnicking, camping and hiking.
of the Auglaize
and Maumee
rivers. This area has played a key role in the history of northwest Ohio. The rivers provided a travel route for numerous Indian tribes
including the Iroquois
, Miami
, Lenape
, Ottawa
, Erie
, Wyandot, and Shawnee
. Anglo-American explorers were also drawn to the rivers for many of the same reasons as the Native Americans. It provided a reliable source of water as well as an abundance of fish
and game
.
President George Washington
dispatched General Anthony Wayne
and his army to the Northwest Territory
to put down an Indian uprising, led by the Shawnee
leader Blue Jacket. Wanye built Fort Defiance
and defeated Blue Jacket at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
. After the Native Americans were driven out and west, the land was opened to settlement by Anglo-Americans. Homesteaders arrived soon after. They cleared the land and began farming.
The Miami and Erie
and Wabash and Erie Canal
s passed through an area now included in the park. The canals connected the Ohio River
with Lake Erie
. Cities such as Defiance
grew along the banks of the canal. They developed into trade and industrial centers. The canal system thrived for about thirty years in the mid to late 19th century before they were replaced the railroads.
There were challenges keeping enough water in the canals during the 1840s. The state of Ohio built a large dam across the Maumee River at Gilead in 1845. This dam replaced a smaller dam that had been built to provide power to a mill. This act outraged the citizens of Gilead since the new dam restricted the water power provided to the mill. The upset residents of the community destroyed the dam. Following the destruction of the dam a side cut canal was built that connected Gilead with the main canal. This caused an economic boom in Gilead and the village was incorporated as Grand Rapids
in 1855.
The first 14 acres (56,656 m²) of the Mary Jane Thurston State Park were donated by the park's namesake, Mary Jane Thurston. She was a teacher in Grand Rapids. Thurston donated her land in 1928 and over a period of 40 years land surrounding the Thurston plot was acquired. Mary Jane Thurston, which is 591 acres (2.4 km²), was opened to the public in 1968.
, Indiana
to western New York
state. The waters from Lake Maumee eventually shifted creating Lake Erie
and the Maumee Valley was formed.
The Maumee Valley has been changed tremendously since it was settled after the Northwest Indian War. It was in the middle of the Great Black Swamp
which was 30 to 40 miles (64.4 km) wide and about 120 miles (193.1 km) long. It was a heavily forested area that was home to massive sycamore trees that were converted into barns and in some cases homes. Oak
and tulip trees
were mixed in with the sycamore and walnut
. Nearly every tree was cut in less than 100 years after the settlement of Ohio.
The Maumee Valley was one of the last areas of Ohio to be cleared. The swampy ground made it difficult for settlers to enter. The swamp was drained between 1859 and 1875 with a series of ditches and drains. Nearly 2500000 acres (10,117.2 km²) of land were cleared after the swamps were emptied. The region was covered with farms, as it is today, by 1885. Only six percent of the Maumee Valley is now covered with forests, some of this land is in Mary Jane Thurston State Park and up and down the Maumee River from the park.
and Wild Turkey
s. The river is home to a variety of fresh water fish species including, northern pike
, bullhead catfish
, smallmouth bass
and crappie
. All hunters and anglers must have a valid license issued by the state. Numerous picnic tables are spread throughout the park. The Buckeye Trail
passes through Mary Jane Thurston State Park for one mile (1.6 km).
Wood County, Ohio
Wood County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 125,488. Its county seat is Bowling Green. The county was named for Captain Eleazer D. Wood, the engineer for General William Henry Harrison's army, who built Fort Meigs in the War of 1812...
and Henry Counties
Henry County, Ohio
Henry County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,215. Its county seat is Napoleon and is named for Patrick Henry, the Virginian famous for his "give me liberty or give me death" speech....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in the United States. It is named for Mary Jane Thurston, a schoolteacher from Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Ohio
Grand Rapids is a village in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the Maumee River. The population was 1,002 at the 2000 census. Grand Rapids is served by a branch of the Weston Public Library....
, Ohio who bequeathed
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
14 acres (56,656 m²) of land for the establishment of a park. The park is along the Maumee River
Maumee River
The Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the...
near the remains of the historic Miami and Erie Canal
Miami and Erie Canal
The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that connected the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio with Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845. It consisted of 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, and 103 canal locks. Each lock measured by and they...
. Mary Jane Thurston State Park is open for year-round recreation including, hunting, fishing and boating, picnicking, camping and hiking.
History
Mary Jane Thurston State Park is near the confluenceConfluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
of the Auglaize
Auglaize River
The Auglaize River is a tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Erie. The name of the river either comes from a Shawnee phrase meaning "fallen timbers" or a French term for "frozen water."It rises in...
and Maumee
Maumee River
The Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the...
rivers. This area has played a key role in the history of northwest Ohio. The rivers provided a travel route for numerous Indian tribes
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
including the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, Miami
Miami tribe
The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...
, Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, Ottawa
Odawa people
The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...
, Erie
Erie (tribe)
The Erie were an Native American people historically living on the south shore of Lake Erie. An Iroquoian group, they lived in what is now western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio...
, Wyandot, and Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
. Anglo-American explorers were also drawn to the rivers for many of the same reasons as the Native Americans. It provided a reliable source of water as well as an abundance of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
.
President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
dispatched General Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
and his army to the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
to put down an Indian uprising, led by the Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
leader Blue Jacket. Wanye built Fort Defiance
Fort Defiance
Fort Defiance may refer to:Canada*Fort Defiance , winter quarters for American Captain Robert GrayUnited States* Fort Defiance, Arizona, an unincorporated community* Fort Defiance , formerly Roop's Fort, located in Susanville...
and defeated Blue Jacket at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
. After the Native Americans were driven out and west, the land was opened to settlement by Anglo-Americans. Homesteaders arrived soon after. They cleared the land and began farming.
The Miami and Erie
Miami and Erie Canal
The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that connected the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio with Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845. It consisted of 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, and 103 canal locks. Each lock measured by and they...
and Wabash and Erie Canal
Wabash and Erie Canal
The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico...
s passed through an area now included in the park. The canals connected the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
with Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
. Cities such as Defiance
Defiance, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,465 people, 6,572 households, and 4,422 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,562.4 people per square mile . There were 7,061 housing units at an average density of 670.0 per square mile...
grew along the banks of the canal. They developed into trade and industrial centers. The canal system thrived for about thirty years in the mid to late 19th century before they were replaced the railroads.
There were challenges keeping enough water in the canals during the 1840s. The state of Ohio built a large dam across the Maumee River at Gilead in 1845. This dam replaced a smaller dam that had been built to provide power to a mill. This act outraged the citizens of Gilead since the new dam restricted the water power provided to the mill. The upset residents of the community destroyed the dam. Following the destruction of the dam a side cut canal was built that connected Gilead with the main canal. This caused an economic boom in Gilead and the village was incorporated as Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Ohio
Grand Rapids is a village in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the Maumee River. The population was 1,002 at the 2000 census. Grand Rapids is served by a branch of the Weston Public Library....
in 1855.
The first 14 acres (56,656 m²) of the Mary Jane Thurston State Park were donated by the park's namesake, Mary Jane Thurston. She was a teacher in Grand Rapids. Thurston donated her land in 1928 and over a period of 40 years land surrounding the Thurston plot was acquired. Mary Jane Thurston, which is 591 acres (2.4 km²), was opened to the public in 1968.
Geography
Mary Jane Thurston State Park is in the Maumee Valley. This valley was formerly covered by Lake Maumee which was a remnant of the last ice age. The lake stretched from what is now Fort WayneFort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
to western New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state. The waters from Lake Maumee eventually shifted creating Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
and the Maumee Valley was formed.
The Maumee Valley has been changed tremendously since it was settled after the Northwest Indian War. It was in the middle of the Great Black Swamp
Great Black Swamp
The Great Black Swamp, or simply Black Swamp, was a glacially caused wetland in northwest Ohio, United States, extending into extreme northeastern Indiana, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until the late 19th century...
which was 30 to 40 miles (64.4 km) wide and about 120 miles (193.1 km) long. It was a heavily forested area that was home to massive sycamore trees that were converted into barns and in some cases homes. Oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and tulip trees
Liriodendron
Liriodendron is a genus of two species of characteristically large deciduous trees in the magnolia family .These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their large flowers superficially resembling tulips, but are closely related to magnolias rather than lilies, the...
were mixed in with the sycamore and walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
. Nearly every tree was cut in less than 100 years after the settlement of Ohio.
The Maumee Valley was one of the last areas of Ohio to be cleared. The swampy ground made it difficult for settlers to enter. The swamp was drained between 1859 and 1875 with a series of ditches and drains. Nearly 2500000 acres (10,117.2 km²) of land were cleared after the swamps were emptied. The region was covered with farms, as it is today, by 1885. Only six percent of the Maumee Valley is now covered with forests, some of this land is in Mary Jane Thurston State Park and up and down the Maumee River from the park.
Recreation
Mary Jane Thurston State Park is open for year round recreation. There are 35 campsites at the park. All campsites come equipped with picnic tables and fire rings. There is a public restroom facility in the camping area. The Maumee River is open to all types of boating with two launch ramps at the park. Hunting and fishing are both permitted at the park. Common game animals include White-tailed deerWhite-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
and Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
s. The river is home to a variety of fresh water fish species including, northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
, bullhead catfish
Bullhead catfish
Ameiurus is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead , the brown bullhead , and the yellow bullhead , as well as other species, such as the white catfish Ameiurus is a genus of...
, smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
and crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
. All hunters and anglers must have a valid license issued by the state. Numerous picnic tables are spread throughout the park. The Buckeye Trail
Buckeye Trail
The Buckeye Trail is a 1,444 miles long-distance trail that loops around the state of Ohio. Part of it is on roads and part is on wooded trail...
passes through Mary Jane Thurston State Park for one mile (1.6 km).