Fort Loramie Historical Association

06/12/2026

Shari Eilerman of the Fort Loramie Historical Association telling the kids about the early history of the Fort Loramie and Lake Loramie area.

06/12/2026

06/08/2026

St. John the Baptist Church in Glandorf, Ohio. This beautiful church was designed by the same Cleveland architectural firm, Cudell and Richardson, that designed St. Michael Church in Fort Loramie. St. John Church is in the cruciform style (shape of a cross) rather than the triple-nave that is St. Michael. After a fire in 1992, the church was completely restored, correcting many of the changes that were made to its interior in the 1960s. Click the link below to view a wonderful video on the history and restoration of this church.

**New Church Tour Video**

As part of the Corpus Christi and Church Cornerstone Celebration today in the parish, the parish history committee unveiled one of the projects it has been working on over the last several years. An audio/video recording of the church tour. The recordings were completed over a year, back in 2023 and 2024 with our parish historian, Michael Leach, right before he died in October 2024. This video is not the final draft, but what was ready as of this week. We hope you enjoy it. 😁

https://vimeo.com/1196864546/ea59eacffe

06/06/2026

We open for the season on Sunday, June 7 - 1:00-4:00. Both doors to the museum are open! Stop by and check out our new exhibit of local vintage beer, whiskey, and apothecary bottles!

05/29/2026

05/25/2026

Memorial Day Celebrations and Sales - 1926.

05/23/2026

Sixty years ago, this sharp-looking FLHS senior class went to Washington DC on their senior trip. Any memories out there?

05/17/2026

Ninety years ago on May 17, 1936, a gas explosion at the St. Remy Catholic School in Russia injured five people and nearly demolished the building. Erected in 1926 under the direction of Father Frank A. Ratermann, pastor at St. Remy, the school stood at the rear of the church. The explosion followed a supper that had been served in the basement to about 150 people. The supper honored two priests, Rev. Raymond Guillozet and Rev. Clemens Goubeaux, who had been ordained to the priesthood at St. Charles Seminary at Carthagena the week before.

At nine o’clock that evening, the women who were in the building’s kitchen washing dishes and cleaning up after the dinner noticed the odor of gas and called for everyone to evacuate the building as quickly as possible. The explosion occurred shortly after that. Those injured included Francis Monnin, 17; Mrs. Leo Voisard, 35; Mrs. Leo Monnin, 35, sister of Rev. Guillozet; Mrs. Wilfred Goubeaux; and John Guillozet, 60, who was taken to Piqua Hospital. Earlier that day, B. L. Grilliot had made an address on the history of Russia and St. Remy Parish to a large crowd in the school basement. Fortunately, the explosion did not happen while events were underway in the building, or a large number of people would have been killed or seriously injured.

Fire broke out after the blast and was put out by the village fire department with assistance from the Versailles Fire Department. Damage was extensive in the west end of the school building, with the walls, ceilings and roof caving in. The doors to the main and rear entrances were blown off and windows throughout the building were shattered. The entire interior of the first floor was a mass of debris and wreckage, but a statue of Mary, located in the southeast corner of the dining room, was found untouched.

The building was reconstructed over the summer and was ready for occupancy by September 14.

05/17/2026

In the 1930's a newspaper called "The Western Times" was produced and printed right here in Fort Loramie by Geroge Fleckenstein and his family for about 3 years. His daughter Evelyn Busse(Fleckenstein) was a type setter for the paper at the time. This was a weekly newspaper about Fort loramie and local events. Pictured here is a photo of the first page of the January 3rd 1936 edition along with a few other pictures. This is an incredibly valuable piece of our local history we want to share. The museum will be working over the next few months to digitize this paper to be shared with the community. It's truly one of a kind.

However we could use your help spreading the word. The museum is currently in possession of the 1936 addition of the paper that was donated by the Busse family. We also have some loose papers from the 1937 addition.

It might be a long shot but we'd like to see if the community might have copies stored away that we could get access to make copies of. Please let us know if know of any copies out there.