Before his fame and fortune, one of Franklin County’s first millionaires frequented Grove City with his cure-all product that was eventually sold world-wide as Peruna. Dr. Sam B. Hartman frequently lodged at what we know today as Planks on Broadway offering his liquid remedy to local residents as a cure for Catarrh, an excessive discharge or buildup of mucus in the nose or throat. The popularity of his product provided Hartman with the means to create Ohio’s largest farm once located in the area of present-day Scioto Downs. The farm included a large dairy, hotel, general store, retail sales room for Hartman Farm Orchards; the farm even had its own street car line. In downtown Columbus, he eventually built his Peruna manufacturing plant, a large hospital and created the Hartman Theater, beside the Ohio Theatre.

Today, we have many reminders of elections and the importance in voting but in 1868 the Grove City Village Council made it the responsibility of the mayor to make sure residents showed up to vote. An ordinance passed allowed the mayor to be fined $50 if he neglected his duties. The ordinance read: “Be it ordained by the council of the incorporated village of Grove City, O. that it shall be the duty of the mayor of said village to give notice of the time prescribed by law for the election of officers for said village and if he should fail to give such notice he shall upon conviction thereof pay a penalty of 50 dollars to be recovered by an action of debt before any court having jurisdiction thereof to be applied by the council for the use of the corporation.”

The stately 17-room brick house at Broadway and Lotz Drive was once the El Nor Inn. Glen and Flossie Lotz purchase the property in 1938 making it their home and after the family was raised Flossie opened a boarding house for long-term residents and men working at Beulah Park. She is remembered for her evening meals and open kitchen policy. Her kitchen rule was if you make a mess, you clean it up.

No, this wasn’t a firing squad but it was some type of competition in the early days of Grove City. Competitive rifle and pistol matches were common and turkey shoots were frequent. Photo from Virgil Bethard collection.

The Harrisburg Homecoming parade in 1949 depicted the early settlement of the community that dates to 1836 when the settlement was first known as Harrisburgh.