By Maddie Dulle—
On Wednesday, November 30, eager community members gathered in Verity Lodge on Miami
Regional’s Middletown campus to learn about the forgotten parts of Middletown’s past. This free
event was part of the Verity Traditions program and was led by Sam Ashworth, a local historian
and a frequent participant of the Verity Traditions program who has “enjoyed every single one”
of the events he been a part of. As a Miami alumnus who graduated in 1964, and an active
member with the Middletown Historical Society since 1998, Mr. Ashworth was a familiar face to
many in the crowd. A brief introduction was provided by Dr. Matthew Smith, Director of Public
Programs at the Middletown and Hamilton campuses, for those who hadn’t met him before.
Prior to the presentation, a light dinner was provided for guests, consisting of soup, sandwiches,
chips, and a cookie, and this allowed those in attendance the chance to introduce themselves
and socialize before sitting down to listen to the some of the interesting events that took place
throughout Middletown’s history.
To start off the night, Mr. Ashworth explained how he came across the events that were to be
covered. The Middletown Historical Society was given all the archives from The Middletown Journal when they moved buildings. These archives included “the microfilm from all the past
newspapers up to the end of the 2000s, before they started to go digital.” When combing
through each of the newspapers, he discovered many strange and odd articles which he shared
during the presentation.
The articles that were covered dated anywhere from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s and
highlighted a variety of events. The first, from June 15, 1839, discussed the Daguerreo Scope, a
device used in the first publicly available photographic process. Another talked of a tiger loose in
the area and explained that a hunting party had been created to catch the animal before “human
lives were sacrificed.” Some even included information about plans for Middletown that fell
through, such as an article from April 21, 1913, discussing a subway that could connect
Middletown to Heno.
Mr. Ashworth also explained the evolution of Middletown’s newspapers. The very first was titled
The Middletown Mail, but that name didn’t stick as the paper experienced many name changes.
The formatting of the newspapers began with no headlines, having all text the same size, but it
slowly started to develop into the traditional formatting that we see today.
This event was just one of the presentations that are hosted by Verity Traditions. The next, titled
“Hollywood on the Ohio,” will take place in the spring on March 28, 2023, and cover all the
entertainers and Hollywood stars from southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky.