Campbell Grain Mill
Known to many as the Campbell Mill, the Utica grain mill has been an important landmark for the village. The flour mill was originally powered by a mill race created by damming the North Fork of the Licking River, just south of Watt’s restaurant. Running under Main Street, the mill race powered the turbines. The mill often ran every day, including Sundays, grinding corn and wheat. For a time, a saw mill also operated on the grounds down a separate sluice of water. The first settlers of Utica– William Robertson and family – built a log cabin and mill at this same location around 1810, making it one of the oldest occupied sites in the county. Before the operation was known as the Campbell Mill, it was owned by the Mills Brothers and the Hulshizer family. The Hulshizers also owned milling facilities in Granville and Newark and produced a specialty flour under the “Queen Flour” brand. The Campbell family purchased the mill in 1924. In recent years, the mill site has been used as a distillery, as well as for accommodations and an event space. Image 1: Photograph of the Campbell Grain Mill from the mid-twentieth centuryImage 2: Postcard that depicts the dam that once spanned the North Fork to create the mill raceImage 3: Detail of the 1893 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Utica that shows the Hulshizer grain mill and the mill raceImage 4: Photograph of the Hulshizer Mill in Granville, OhioImage 5: Hulshizer "Queen Flour" advertisement from the Utica Herald in 1910
Watson Building
The Watson Building—once home to James Watson’s dry goods store—remains one of the village’s oldest structures. It was spared the conflagrations that swept the neighboring buildings on the west side of South Main Street, including a devastating fire in 1910. It is rumored that the Watson Building briefly hosted Utica’s first library in 1902, though that cannot be confirmed. The site has become synonymous with its longest occupant, Watts Restaurant. Originally called the “Eagle,” the restaurant was founded in 1912 by Herbert R. Watts. In the mid-1930s, the name was changed to “Watts” as the family continued what was to become a multi-generational business. After a century of operation, the Watts family sold the restaurant in 2015, yet the iconic downtown fixture remains in business to this day.Image 1: Photograph of the Watson Building, Watts Restaurant, and Main Street in 1965Image 2: Advertisement for Watson's dry goods store that ran in the 1879 Utica HeraldImage 3: Photograph of the dining room of the Eagle Restaurant
Hotel Quick
On March 8, 1910, a fire—one of many to strike the village—raged through Utica, destroying buildings north of the Watson Building on the west side of Main Street. The residence owned by Ben Quick was among those destroyed by the fire. Quick built a grander edifice in its place; a three-story building with forty sleeping rooms that would function as the Hotel Quick. The Quick had a very brief run, closing on July 11, 1911 after less than a year in operation. The new venture simply could not attract the patronage that its competitor—the Hotel Vance along Spring Street—had accumulated. The next business to operate at the Quick building was another hotel. This hotel, called the Davenport, struggled as well and closed in August 1915. The Konkle, also a hotel, followed the Davenport and, perhaps unsurprisingly, failed too. The site got a new lease on life in 1939 with the opening of an automobile agency office in the structure. Over the decades, the store rooms on the first floor were used for a variety of businesses, including a saloon, clothing store, and a funeral home, while the upstairs hotel rooms were used as apartments. Today, the building is home to a café, barbershop, and gift shop.Image 1: View of the Quick Hotel shortly after its constructionImage 2: Vance Hotel at its original site at the corner of Main Street and Spring Street. Now the location of the Glass Industry MuralImage 3: Photograph of the destruction on Main Street left by the March 8, 1910 fireImage 4: Photograph of the same stretch of Main Street as Image 3 that predates the damage of the fire
Mystic Theatre
The Albert Brothers—Bill and Sam—built the Mystic Theatre at 60 South Main Street in 1909. It featured one screen and affordable prices. The Anderson family of London, Ohio renovated the theater and operated it until 1952. A series of owners followed until the theatre business closed in 1959 due to poor attendance. For a time, the building was used for church services before falling into severe disrepair. Two local residents undertook a renovation project of the space in the early 2000s, restoring its condition and converting the building into a residence. The building currently houses a photography studio.Image 1: View of the interior of the Mystic Theatre from the mid-twentieth centuryImage 2: Detail of the 1936 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Utica that shows the Mystic Theatre in blueImage 3: Mystic Theatre advertisement in the Utica Herald from January 1910
Wilson Block
The name Wilson has been associated with a number of buildings in Utica, including multiple “Wilson Blocks.” Abel Wilson, his brother Jesse, and Peter Sperry founded the First National Bank of Utica in 1871. Abel Wilson would eventually become the sole owner of the bank as well as four large buildings in the village. The Wilson family residence still stands on North Main today. The Old Wilson Block was on the northwest corner of Main Street and Spring Street. It was destroyed in a large fire that devastated downtown Utica in December 1909. This surviving Wilson Block on South Main was built in 1910 in the wake of that devastating fire that destroyed the entire east side of Main Street. The new construction worked in tandem with the Wright Building next door to create a more cohesive street front on the north end of town. By May 1910, construction of the new Wilson Block was underway with three stories of brick and concrete, four planned rooms on the first floor with a barber and jeweler shop, seven rooms on the second floor, and a hall on the third floor. The four storefronts on the bottom floor have been home to a variety of businesses over the years. The Wilson Block was nearing completion at the time of Abel Wilson’s death in December 1910. At Wilson’s death, Miss Cora Clark, the National Bank of Utica’s head cashier, became the first woman president of a national bank in the United States.Image 1: The Wilson Block and adjacent Wright Building shortly after their construction in the 1910s. Visible in this photograph, but no longer surviving, are the projecting bay windows, also called oriel windowsImage 2: One of the "Old Wilson Block" buildings at the northwestern corner of Spring Street and Main StreetImage 3: Barbers before their storefront at the Wilson Block on South Main Street in the 1910s
Glass Industry Mural
Utica was home to five different glass manufacturers on four sites in the village between 1903 and 1929: Utica Glass Company (1903-1928), Central Window Glass Company (1905-1912), Advance Glass Company (1906-1911), Licking Window Glass Company (1906-1927), and the Corl-Erie Sheet Glass Company (1927-1929). Glass manufacturing relied upon cheap fuel to thrive, and the natural gas wells of the surrounding area made Utica an ideal site. Local newspaper publisher and historian Roelof Brinkerhoff referred to the period at the turn of the twentieth century in Utica as the “gas and glass boom.”This mural serves as a focal point for an industry whose manufacturing centers were located at the edges of the village. Central Window Co., Advance Glass Co. (which specialized in stained glass for church windows), and Licking Window Glass Co./Corl Erie Glass Co. all had factories clustered around the railroad line south of US 62 and between Blacksnake Road and Wells Avenue. Utica Glass Co. produced at the northern limit of town along Main Street and the railroad line where Miller Park now stands. Crestview Road was formerly named Factory Road and Sycamore Street was once known as Glass Street, a reflection of Utica’s changing landscape during and after the glass boom.The glass manufacturers created both opportunities and challenges for Utica. The Utica Glass Company—established in 1903 as a cooperative owned by the workers—was a very profitable business and produced more window glass per capita than any other plant in the country. The population of the village ballooned— the inhabitants of Utica rose from 826 in 1900 to 1,729 by 1910—yet the labor market remained tight. The lack of housing for so many incoming workers also proved difficult. The glass industry overcame these issues, but faced a greater challenge during WWI when regulations limited production and competition for wages led many idled glass workers to search for work beyond Utica. The industry never fully recovered after the war. By 1929, the last manufacturer had closed and the village’s population began to recede. The “boom” had come to an end, but commerce and manufacturing would remain a part of the local economy.Image 1: Postcard of Central Window Glass FactoryImage 2: Postcard showing the production facilities of Central Window Glass Factory and Licking Window Glass Factory facing one another across the railroad lineImage 3: Photograph of the fire that severely damaged the Central Window Glass factory on March 2, 1912Image 4: Postcard of the New Utica Glass Company factory after the fire destroyed the previous building on May 10, 1909Image 5: Glass gatherers at work in one of the Utica glass factories in 1913Image 6: Detail of the 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Utica that shows the production facilities of the four glass companies active at that time
Utica Village Hall
The modern-day municipal building of Utica sits at 39 Spring Street, occupying the same site as Utica’s “Old Town Hall.” Built in 1880, the hall was a multifunctional space, housing the jail, library and public-school rooms in addition to local government offices. The hall would even become a place of temporary refuge for local businesses displaced by Utica’s many fires. The most remarkable feature of the old hall was its spacious auditorium or “Opera House.” Complete with a balcony and eight-hundred numbered and lettered seats, the opera house was a source of pride for citizens. The opera house hosted a Lecture Course series of cultural and educational programs each year. Tickets were sold to citizens and—according to local historian Roelof Brinkerhoff—the Lectures became an integral part of the village until the 1920s. The grand structure was torn down in 1935 and replaced with a new building through the assistance of the Works Progress Administration.Image 1: Photograph of the Utica Village Hall around that features its hexagonal tower and turret that were a part of a fire houseImage 2: Photograph of the Utica Village HallImage 3: View of Village Hall through the ash covered remains of a fire on Main Street, likely the devastating Vance Hotel fire in December 1909
Utica Wall of Honor
Currently the site of the Utica Wall of Honor, the open fields along Spring Street have an important historic past. School Street to the south of the field hints at what once stood here: Union Public School and Washington High School. This open section of Spring Street held a school house as early as the 1860s. After new construction and remodels on Spring Street, Union Public School stood here for more than half a century. The long-standing school building was torn down in the 1960s. A new high school—Washington High School—was built in 1928 facing Mill Street. In addition to an auditorium and gymnasium, the new building also had a projector to show films and movies – educational films on school days and then popular films with admissions on the weekends. A new high school building opened in the fall of 1957.Image 1: Photograph of the Public School House of Utica on Spring Street around the turn of the twentieth centuryImage 2: Postcard of the Public School House of Utica on Spring Street around the turn of the twentieth centuryImage 3: Postcard showing a frontal view of the public school with children playing outsideImage 4: Photograph High School shown in 1928Image 5: Detail of the 1936 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Utica that shows the Union Pubic School and Washington High School on the now empty fields
Hufford House
The Hufford House at 45 North Main Street is named after its last owner and donor, Ned Hufford. It is the oldest standing house in Utica, built around 1824 and using locally made brick. The home operated as a boarding house with rooms to let—called the Helphrey House—for part of the nineteenth century until it was purchased by the Jewett family in 1904. Today, this building houses the Utica Historical Society and its collection. Donated to the society in 1997 by the Hufford family, the community helped raise funds for the restoration and preservation of the building. The further assistance of state grants helped transform the space into the museum and local history repository it is today.Image 1: Contemporary photograph of the Hufford House at 45 North Main Street
