Editing St. Marys, Ohio (section)

==History==
After the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], the [[Shawnee]] village on the site became known as Girty's Town for the Indian traders [[James Girty|James]] and [[Simon Girty]], who had a trading post on the site.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} James Girty was originally a partner of [[Louis Lorimier|Peter Loramie]], but fled to the St. Marys River when Loramie's trading post was burned in 1782. Girty maintained his trading post between 1783 and 1790 and fled when [[Harmar Campaign|General Harmar's army approached]]. He later returned to the post.  When [[Anthony Wayne|General Anthony Wayne]] approached the St. Marys area in 1794, James Girty packed up his goods and fled to Canada, thus ending the Girty Brothers era in Ohio. The village retained the name until the modern town was founded in 1823.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

When General Wayne returned through the St. Marys area late in 1794 after the [[Battle of Fallen Timbers]], he found the site deserted but noted its strategic location as a portage between the St. Mary's River and Auglaize River.  He ordered a fort built on the location.  Fort St. Mary's, named for the nearby river, was built by a detachment under Lieutenant John Michael in Oct. 1795 following the Treaty of Greenville.  Lieutenant [[John Whistler]] was placed in charge of the garrison.<ref>There is an intriguing legend associated with the fort. The old Wayne military road passes nearby and it is reputed to be along this road that General Wayne was compelled by the difficulties of the march filler and the necessity of abandoning stores, filler to bury a large sum of money, filler said to be as much as $150,000, filler upon his approach to St. Marys filler and that this money never was reclaimed.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}</ref>

In 1812, Gen. [[William Henry Harrison]] found the fort in ruins, and built a fort named Fort Barbee on an adjacent site.<ref>There's some conflict over whether this fort was also called Fort St. Mary's.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}</ref> Col. [[Joshua Barbee]] was placed in charge of the fort.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

St. Marys was the site of the signing of the {{Citation needed span|[[Treaty of Fort Meigs|Treaty of St. Mary's of 1817]]|date=December 2020}}, and the six treaties comprising [[Treaty of St. Mary's (1818)|Treaty of St. Mary's of 1818]]. The latter treaty secured about a third of the state of Indiana from the [[Miami people|Miami]] and [[Delaware Indians]] for the United States.  The fort was abandoned shortly afterward.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

The earliest settlers arrived in 1820. St. Marys was founded by William Houston and John McCorkle, and Charles Murray, in 1823. They bought {{Convert|400|acre||abbr=}} of land and laid out the village of 68 lots. The village was incorporated as a town in 1834 and Judge Stacy Taylor was elected its first mayor.  The town surpassed the threshold of 5,000 persons and became a city in 1904.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

St. Marys was the [[county seat]] of [[Mercer County, Ohio|Mercer County]] from 1824 until 1840 when the seat was moved to [[Celina, Ohio|Celina]]. After [[Auglaize County, Ohio|Auglaize County]] was organized in 1848, St. Marys competed with [[Wapakoneta, Ohio|Wapakoneta]] for the position as county seat but was ultimately unsuccessful in a controversial countywide election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/FH9&CISOPTR=38590&REC=8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611193015/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2FFH9&CISOPTR=38590&REC=8 |archive-date=June 11, 2011|title=Auglaize County, Ohio Atlas and History|location=[[Piqua, Ohio|Piqua]]|publisher=Magee Brother Publishing|year=1917|access-date=July 5, 2007|page=104}}</ref>

Three properties in St. Marys are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]: the former [[Fountain Hotel]],<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> the [[Dr. Issac Elmer Williams House and Office]],<ref name=nris /> and the former [[Holy Rosary Catholic Church (St. Marys, Ohio)|Holy Rosary Catholic Church]], which was destroyed one year before it was placed on the Register.<ref name=nris /><ref>Shuffelton, Frank B. "Holy Rosary Catholic Church". Auglaize County Historical Society, ed. ''A History of Auglaize County Ohio''. [[Defiance, Ohio|Defiance]]: Hubbard, 1980, 211-212.</ref>

St. Marys is a part of the [[Tree City USA]] national program.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}