Louisville, Ohio calls itself the Constitution Town and credits one of its own citizens, Olga Weber, for pushing for a special day (September 17) that recognizes the importance of our Constitution.
Louisville is located in the township of Nimishillen in Stark County. It is said that this is the only township in the United States with such a name and for good reason: Nimishillen is a combination of two Native American words they gave to a small stream with its origins just east of Louisville. Nimi is an Native American term meaning small stream or creek. Millen is another word used for the American Winterberry shrub which was a common holly plant that was commonly found here. Hence: Nimishillen.
Nimishillen Township predates Louisville by a about 20 or so years. The first settlers arrived here around 1805, just after the state of Ohio was created. It officially became a township just 4 years later
Louisville has its roots dating back to the early 1830s when a Pennsylvania German named Henry Loutzenheiser and and his business partner Frederick Faint established a tavern that became a well-known watering hole in the area. In time Henry decided to plot out a town that he named Lewisville after one of his 25 children. Why Lewis was selected as the honoree from his other 24 children has been lost to the shadows of time. The honor was short lived for Lewis Loutzenheiser however.
Like many communities in Ohio, having a post office was made all the difference in the world to attracting new residents. Without a post office, it became very difficult for anyone outside of the community to keep in touch. With a post office, the world and more importantly, family and friends could keep in touch. That's why it was so important for a community to make an application with the government for the establishment of a community post office. At this time zip codes were more than a century away and the post office had to sort the name solely on the name of the community and having more than one name in the same state made it extremely difficult to deliver the mail.
It was during this application process that poor Lewis Lountzenheiser lost out to having a town named after him. The post office discovered there already was a town in southeastern Ohio named Lewisville. So the name was changed in 1837 from Lewisville to Louisville.
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On September 17, Louisville's Mayor Romary proclaimed it to be Constitution Day in Louisville. This was in response to Olga Weber's persisting insistence that the not only the city, but the entire country should have a special day that recognizes our most important founding document the Constitution.
In 1951, Mrs. Olga T. Weber, a Louisville, Ohio mother and homemaker, became increasingly concerned that Americans were taking their freedoms for granted. She decided to do something about that and according to her logic, all of our freedoms are derived either from God, the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights. She decided to help make people more aware of their founding documents and traditions by distributing copies of those documents as well as booklets about our flag to local schools, churches and libraries. After a year of this, Olga approached Louisville's Mayor Gerald Romary as well as members of city council about the the idea of establishing a special day celebrating the signing of the Constitution. Mayor Romary quickly signed the proclamation declaring September 17 as Continstitution Day in Lewisville. But that's not where the story of Olga Weber ended.
Flushed with the success of her Lewisville accomplishment, Olga pushed for the entire state of Ohio to adopt September 17 as Constitution Day as well. The following year, Governor Frank Lausche de
She distributed copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, flag booklets, and other patriotic leaflets to the local schools, churches, libraries and to the public in general. She encouraged the first celebration of Constitution Day, September 17, in 1952 and formed a committee for the "preservation of the Constitution." In 1953, State Representative Karl Baurer and Rep. John Lehmann introduced a bill into the Ohio Legislature proclaiming September 17 as Constitution Day. This day was later proclaimed by Governor Frank Lausche. Another bill was introduced into the Congress of the United States and was signed by President Eisenhower in 1955. Historical markers designating Louisville as Constitution Town were placed at the four main entrances to town in 1958.
The next year, Olga requested the Ohio General Assembly to proclaim September 17 as Constitution Day state-wide, which it was. In August 1953, she took her case to the United States Senate, which quickly passed a resolution designating September 17–23 as Constitution Week. The bill approved by the Senate was later changed from recognizing Constitution Week to Citizenship Week Louisville residents still celebrate the original intent of the lawn: celebration of our founding document the US Constitution with a week long festival. September 17 is still recognized country wide as Contitution Day.
The United States Constitution was final draft was presented to Congress on September 17, 1787. It would go through additional revisions and compromises before it would become ratified by 11 of the 13 original states. Almost a year later on September 13, the document would be accepted by congress when it passed a resolution putting the document into operation. Two years later the final two states (Rhode Island and North Carolina) ratified the document
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