1 week Ago By Mark Shaffer
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 12, 2025 By Mark Shaffer In honor of America’s 250 anniversary, two lights will shine in the Lawrence County Courthouse this week. Rich Donahue, chair of America 250 for Lawrence County, said this is the initial event for the program. “This is the first event, called ‘Two Lights for Tomorrow,” which is April 18-19.
It is the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride,” he explained. It honors Revere’s fabled midnight ride that let the Revolutionary forces know that English soldiers were headed toward Lexington, Massachusetts. Revere, a silversmith by trade, had been hired to carry messages.
On the night of April 18, 1755, he was given the task of riding his horse from Boston to Lexington to warn of the British soldiers; movements. He had a friend put up lanterns in a church window to signal other Sons of Liberty as to how the British were moving, one lantern, if by land, two lanterns, if by sea. Donahue said they contacted Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson to see if they could put the lights in a window in his third-floor office at the courthouse since it is in the center of the courthouse facing Fourth Street.
Anderson agreed. “So, we will have two lights burning from his office on April 18-19, much like the State Capitol building,” Donahue said. “We appreciate Brigham and his office for doing that for us.
” Donahue said that he is the one who built the lanterns. “We are excited to see it,” Donahue said. “We looked at what Paul Revere’s lanterns looked like.
Central Hardware had something similar on the shelf. I think it looks classic.” There will be many America 250 events and projects in Lawrence County in the upcoming months.
Donahue said they just completed passing out a project to all the schools in the county for next May. “It is called ‘Lovely Lawrence County.’ Students will take a relative to a historical place, maybe a place in Lawrence County that has been forgotten.
They will take a picture and write a short essay,” Donahue explained. Each project will be graded and three winners from each school will be taken out for lunch and then the students can discuss their stories and history they dug into.” “It is right in line with Ohio’s America 250 program about tales and trails and finding interesting points where people can come and visit,” he continued.
“We really have a jewel here in Ohio, I really believe that. We just have to tell Lawrence County’s story.” In Ironton, Mayor Sam Cramblitt is allowing the group to paint an America 250 mural on the floodwall.
Donahue said the mural will feature the Gillette family barn, which is where the Rome Beauty Apple was created. “Back in the day, Lawrence County was known for its large apple orchards,” Donahue said. “So, the idea is to put the family barn on the mural and then paint a Rome Beauty Apple and the America 250 logo on the barn.
We are going to collage a few things about Lawrence County on the mural.” Donahue said they are looking for volunteers in each township to help coordinate events in each town and village in the county. “We are looking forward to getting people involved and creating excitement about America’s birthday,” Donahue said.
To keep up to date, you can go to Facebook under America 250 Lawrence County Ohio..
