Editing Windham, Ohio (section)

==History==
{{See also|Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio}}
Prior to 1811, the land now comprising the Village and Township of Windham was owned by [[Caleb Strong]],<ref name="WindhamTwp">[http://www.windhamtownship.com/aboutwindhamtwp.htm About Windham Township]. [[Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio|Windham Township Government]], Windham, Ohio.  Retrieved January 6, 2008.</ref> as part of his holdings through the [[Ohio Company of Associates]].<ref name="OhioCo">[http://digicoll.marietta.edu/oca/images/Inventory.pdf Manuscripts and Documents of the Ohio Company of Associates]. Digital Collections at [[Marietta College]], Marietta, Ohio.  Retrieved January 6, 2008.</ref>  On September 11, 1810, a group of sixteen men met in [[Becket, Massachusetts]] at the home of Thatcher Conant to discuss the purchase of land in [[Ohio]] for settlement.  These men, who would be known as the "Beckett{{sic}} Land Company", consisted of Conant, Elijah Alford, Nathan Birchard, Gideon Bush, Dillingham Clark, Elisha Clark, Isaac Clark, Benjamin Higley, Aaron P. Jagger, Enos Kingsley, Jeremiah Lyman, Bille Messenger, Ebenezer Messenger, Benjamin C. Perkins, John Seely, and Alpheus Streator.<ref name="WindhamTwp" />

On November 11, 1810, the Beckett Land Company purchased about {{convert|14825|acre|km2}} from Caleb Strong.  The land was divided into 100 [[lot (real estate)|lot]]s, and allotted according to each family's investment in the company.  Conant, his wife Elizabeth, Dillingham and Abigail Clark, and Alpheus and Anna Streator donated portions of their allotments near the center of the township for a [[village green]],<ref name="WindhamTwp" /> which was common practice for townships in the [[Connecticut Western Reserve]].  The group of sixteen families then departed from Massachusetts on May 2, 1811.<ref name="OhioGenWeb">[http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohportag/hist018.htm Windham - 1811 - 1850]</ref>  Six weeks later,<ref name="OhioGenWeb" /> they arrived in the purchased [[survey township]], which was located immediately south of [[Nelson Township, Portage County, Ohio|Nelson Township]] in the Connecticut Western Reserve. This new township, known today as [[Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio|Windham Township]], was survey town 4 in range 6 of the Western Reserve.

The first religious service in the new township was held on July 28, 1811, in the home of one of the settlers.  This service was very likely [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]], as several of the families belonged to the Congregational Church in Becket, Massachusetts.<ref name="OhioGenWeb" />  The Congregational Church eventually constructed a building on the Green, and today that church still remains on the Green as a member church of the [[United Church of Christ]].

The Windham Historical Society notes that the township was originally named Strongsburg,<ref name="WindhamHist">{{cite web
| title= Windham Historical Society
| url= http://www.history.portage.oh.us/windham%20hist%20soc.htm
| access-date= January 6, 2008
| publisher= Portage County Historical Society
}}</ref> however, some sources cite the original name as Strongsburgh.<ref name="WindhamTwp" />  The namesake was original landowner Caleb Strong, who was by then the [[Governor]] of [[Massachusetts]]. There is some discrepancy in how this township came to be known as Windham.  According to the Windham Historical Society, the name of the township "was changed to Sharon, by an act of legislature in about 1820….
A few years later the name was again changed to Windham, which it has remained to present."  The Historical Society also cites political concerns as the reason the name was changed from Strongsburg to Sharon.<ref name="WindhamHist" />  However, on Windham Township's website, March 2, 1813 is cited as the date on which "the Township was made a district by itself and the name was changed to 'Sharon'."  The website goes on to state that in 1820, by an act of [[Ohio General Assembly|legislature]], the name was changed again to Windham.<ref name="WindhamTwp" />  Yet another source, ''The Ohio Gazetteer, and Travelers's{{sic}} Guide'', states that the name was changed from Sharon to Windham in January 1829.<ref name="OhioTidbits">{{cite web
| url=http://ohiotidbits.com/13.html
| title=The Ohio Gazetteer, and Travelers's Guide
| access-date=January 6, 2008
| publisher=Ohio Tidbits
}}</ref>  Still another source places these dates as 1817 and 1820, respectively.<ref name="WindhamEVSD" />  Common to most sources are a few claims which reasonably can be ascertained to be fact:

* Caleb Strong was the original namesake of the township.<ref name="WindhamEVSD" /><ref name="WindhamTwp" /><ref name="OhioGenWeb" /><ref name="WindhamHist" />
* The name of the township was changed from Strongsburg/Strongsburgh, to Sharon, and again to Windham.<ref name="WindhamEVSD" /><ref name="WindhamTwp" /><ref name="OhioGenWeb" /><ref name="WindhamHist" />
* The second name change, from Sharon to Windham, was in honor of [[Windham, Connecticut]]—home to at least some of the township's original settlers.<ref name="WindhamEVSD" /><ref name="WindhamTwp" /><ref name="WindhamHist" />

On November 22, 1973, a train heading eastbound at 50&nbsp;mph derailed to a switch being open to an industrial track. Two locomotives and the first twelve cars derailed. The engineer Raymond Wilcox passed away in the accident. During the investigation it was discovered that two juveniles admitted to placing the switch into the reverse direction.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.railfan.net/lists/erielack-digest/200101/msg00174.html | title=(erielack) EL Wreck Windhan, Ohio }}</ref>

The Village of Windham was incorporated in 1892, and on October 12, 1993, the village officially withdrew from Windham Township.<ref name="WindhamVil" />

===Ravenna Arsenal===
In 1940, the [[United States Department of the Army]] reserved {{convert|21418|acre|km2}} in eastern Portage County for the construction of two facilities<ref name="Trespass">OhioTrespassers.com, [http://www.ohiotrespassers.com/arsenal.html Ravenna Arsenal page].  Retrieved October 24, 2007.</ref>  One of these was the Portage Ordnance Depot, which with its twin facility the Ravenna Ordnance Plant became known as the [[Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center|Ravenna Arsenal]].  Over 14,000 people were employed at the Arsenal during World War II, and the village of Windham was chosen as the site to house many of these workers.  Windham experienced a population boom as a result; its growth of over 1100% was the largest of any U.S. municipality in the [[United States Census, 1950|1950 Census]], as was reported in the June 1951 edition of ''[[National Geographic]]'' magazine.<ref>Windham Exempted Village School District (1998). [http://windham.sparcc.org/about2.html History of the Windham Schools] Retrieved July 29, 2004.  Site no longer available online, archived at [[Internet Archive]].[https://web.archive.org/web/20040810042334/http://windham.sparcc.org/about2.html]  Archive retrieved October 24, 2007</ref>