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New Boston plans centennial celebration
By MARK SHAFFER
PDT News Editor
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:54 PM EST
On Wednesday, the Village of New Boston will begin
celebrating its centennial.
That day was chosen because it was 100 years ago that the village was
incorporated at the first village council meeting.
New Boston Mayor Jim Warren and New Boston Village Council President Steve
Jenkins said the centennial celebration kicks off on Wednesday with current
council members re-enacting the village's creation.
“It was about a 15-minute meeting,” said Jenkins, who has spent the past
year reading through old issues of local newspapers. “I think the interesting
part is that we had to borrow $300 to get started.”
The history of New Boston began in 1796 when Samuel Marshall built a cabin near
where Blackburn's B G Family Food Mart stands today. The area grew into a
farming community without a name or local government.
In 1887, businessmen from Massachusetts moved into the area and built a saw
mill. They began calling the area New Boston after their hometown of Boston. A
nearby area was called Yorktown after Levi York who had a steel mill. The area
around what is now Ohio 139 was called Stewartsville.
In 1905, area businessmen petitioned the state for village
status so they could have police and fire protection. It was left up to the
voters to choose the name for the new village. With the options of Yorktown,
Millbrook, Rockland and New Boston, they overwhelmingly picked New Boston.
“We've been called so many things that it was hard to pinpoint when we started
so that's why we chose the first council meeting,” Jenkins said. “That's
when the town really started.”
Warren said they are planning more community activities and celebrations as the
year goes on.
“We don't know what we are going to have yet, but we have formed a committee
to organize it,” Jenkins said. They hope to have some type of activity every
six weeks or so.
The re-enactment will be at 6 p.m. in the Vernal G. Riffe II
Community Center. Afterwards, there will be a birthday cake and a showing of
village-related memorabilia.
MARK SHAFFER can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 235.
(Reprinted with permission from Portsmouth Daily Times, March 22, 2006
edition) | 
