Editing Mount Gilead, Ohio (section)

==History==
===Settlement===
The first settler to make Mount Gilead (Mt. Gilead) home was Lewis Hardenbrook, in 1817, though it was then called Whetstone and was located in [[Marion County, Ohio|Marion County]]. In 1824, Judge Jacob Young drew out the village; the plan consisted of 80 lots and also included a public square. Several years later, in 1832, Henry Ustick added 70 lots to the village as well as an additional public square. The original public square was then referred to as the south square and the newer square, the north square. Many years later, in 1919, the north public square would become home to the Victory Shaft World War I Monument. This monument was given to the county for having the highest per capita war bond sales during a two-year period.<ref name=Monument>{{cite web|title=Mt. Gilead, Ohio WWI War Monument|url=http://www.mountgilead.net/warmonument.htm|access-date=October 18, 2013}}</ref>  Charles Webster built the first cabin in the village in December 1824. He served as the first Postmaster and operated the Post Office from the cabin, as well.  In 1832, a measure was proposed to change the name of the town. Residents were asked to vote between the names Warsaw and Mt. Gilead. Mt. Gilead was chosen by a significant margin and the village was incorporated by state legislature several years later in 1839.<ref name=baughman>{{cite book|last1=Baughman|first1=A.J.|title=History of Morrow County, Ohio|year=1911|publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company|location=Chicago, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historymorrowco00bartgoog/page/n265 233]–299|url=https://archive.org/details/historymorrowco00bartgoog|last2=Bartlett|first2=Robert F.}}</ref>

In 1848, Mt. Gilead was almost unanimously chosen to be the county seat for the newly formed [[Morrow County, Ohio]]. Morrow County was formed from parts of surrounding [[Marion County, Oh|Marion]], [[Knox County, Ohio|Knox]], [[Richland County, Ohio|Richland]], and [[Delaware County, Ohio|Delaware]] counties. Given the village's elevated status as the county seat, village leaders enhanced many areas of the town's appearance by creating streets clearing them and performing other improvements.<ref name=Baskin>{{cite book|title=History of Morrow County and Ohio|year=1880|publisher=O.L. Baskin & Co. Historical Publishers|location=Chicago, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmorrowc00bask/page/303 303]–317|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmorrowc00bask}}</ref>

===Railroad===
Soon after being named county seat, there was talk of building a rail line that would pass through Mt. Gilead between [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]] and [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]]. Officials opened stock purchases and began preparations for the build. Tensions between villagers and railroad officials broke down the negotiations and the rail station was re-located to [[Cardington, Ohio|Cardington]], several miles south of Mt. Gilead, and opened for business in 1851. The railroad would pass Mt. Gilead two miles to the west, in what is now known as [[Edison, Ohio|Edison]]. Nearly 30 years later, Mt. Gilead did get a rail spur through the village, named [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Mt. Gilead Short Line Railway|Mt. Gilead Short Line Railway]]. The Short Line opened in 1880.<ref name=baughman />

===Industry===
From its beginnings, industry has been a main support for Mt. Gilead. Various mills were an early staple in the village history, followed by a tile factory and with technological advances, eventually the still well known [http://www.hpmmachinery.com Hydraulic Press Manufacturing Company] or HPM.<ref name=baughman /> HPM maintained some level of operations in Mt. Gilead until 2001.<ref name=HPM>{{cite web|title=HPM North America|url=http://www.hpmmachinery.com/company_history.html|access-date=October 18, 2013}}</ref>