Editing Ox-Cart Library (section)

==Origin==
Captain [[Aaron Olmsted]], a wealthy sea captain in the [[China]] trade out of [[New England]], was one of 49 investors who formed a syndicate in 1795 to purchase a major part of the [[Western Reserve]] from [[Connecticut]]. He became the owner of thousands of acres from his $30,000 share of the $120,000 total land deal. The land encompassed the areas now known as [[North Olmsted]], [[Olmsted Falls]] and [[Olmsted Township]]. At the time of the purchase, the area was known as [[Lenox, Ohio|Lenox]]. Olmsted traveled west on horseback to visit the land in 1795, but never settled here. He died in 1806.

In 1826, Aaron's son, Charles Hyde Olmsted, offered to donate 500 books from his father's personal collection in [[Oxford, Connecticut|Oxford]], [[Connecticut]], if the residents of [[Lenox, Ohio|Lenox]] agreed to change the name of the area to Olmsted, which they did.

The books traveled by oxcart over 600 miles of rugged terrain. They were individually covered with blue paper and arrived partly stained with mud and rain. The books were housed in various families' homes and circulated to residents in the area.