Ghost Towns in Delaware County
with Rick Helwig

 
Rick Helwig, Director of the Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio will be giving a presentation on the results of the Center’s research into the ghost towns of Ohio at the March 14th meeting of the Big Walnut Area Historical Society.  Topics covered in the speech will include: An overview of what the Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio does.  What is a ghost town?  How are they created?  What ghost towns exist in Delaware County?  Some interesting ghost towns statewide.  And finally a few ghost town ghost stories.  Special emphasis will be placed on Ghost Towns located in the Big Walnut Area.
 
The Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio was created in 1976 by Rick’s father Richard as the results of a genealogy class that the elder Helwig was teaching at the Northwest Technical College in Archibold, Ohio.  In 1987, The Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio was moved to Sunbury Ohio.  To date, the Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio has identified over 6000 ghost towns throughout Ohio and has published 18 books on the Ghost Towns of Ohio including an edition on the Ghost Towns of Delaware County.

Rick Helwig was raised in Defiance, OH and graduated from The Defiance College in 1985 with a BS in Secondary Math Education.  In 1987, Rick moved to his maternal family farm in Eastern Delaware Co. and with this parents opened a multifaceted business in Sunbury.  It was at this time, that he joined his father in his quest to catalog all of the ghost towns in Ohio.  Rick has been a licensed auctioneer for 35 years and is the Director of the Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio.  Currently, Rick works full time for the Delaware County Board of Elections as a Manager. He is also known as the blacksmith in the Myers Inn Forge, an instructor for Civil War era artillery, head of the local Civil War School Day and an active Civil War reenactor.
 
For more information on the Center for Ghost Town Research in Ohio contact Rick Helwig at Rhelwig61@columbus.rr.com or by writing to him at P.O. Box 616, Sunbury, Ohio 43074.
         
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(02/19/2017)