Marion Ohio didn't begin out being named Marion. Where today the county seat of Marion County, it was originally known for many years as Jacob's Well. The story goes that Jacob Foos, a surveyor for General Harrison during the War of 1812, looking for a quick source of water to quench his thirst, dug a shallow hole and immediately struck water. That spot immediately became known as Jacob's Well. Being located on what was known as Harrison Military Road the spot became a natural layover point for soldiers leaving Franklinton on their way north towards Fort Meigs and other defensive positions along the northwestern rim of Ohio.
As often happened, after the war, returning troops would often just stop at some point they had good memories of before the war. For some that was Jacob's Well. As more people arrived here, As Jacob's Well continued to grow it was finally decided that something legal should be setup to record land titles. In 1821 two men, Eber Baker and Alexander Holmes officially began selling lots of land just north of where Jacob's Well was located. That area was named Marion.
In time Marion became noted for several iimportant reasons. In manufacturing, Marion industry created massive earth moving machines, some of which were used to help dig the Panama Canal and Boulder Dam. They also were known for building the massive crawler transporters used to move the Saturn V rocket assemblies from the assembly building to the launch pad used in the Apollo moon missions launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the 1960s and later to move the Shuttle assemblies.
The name Marion was chosen to pay homage to a South Carolina Revolutionary War general, Francis Marion. In the movie "The Patriot" staring Mel Gibson, Gibson's character was losely based on the life of Francis Marion, with a few exceptions. The real Francis Marion was never as good as the Gibson character was portrayed, and more fiercesome than he was portrayed. Nevertheless, he was an important war figure that greatly contributed to the American Revolution.
Marion's biggest claim to historical fame came with the election of Warren G. Harding as the 29th President of the United States. Today, Harding's home is operated as a museum by the Ohio Historical Society. Harding's Tomb is also in Marion.
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