Ever hear of Cannonsburg, Hassan, Webster, Armorsville…

…the story of Bluffton’s neighboring ghost towns

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

A Bluffton News item from Oct. 29, 1896, tells that J.S. Jennings of Armorsville received a letter from his cousin, William Jennings Bryan, Democratic candidate for president. 

Not quite three years later a Bluffton News legal notice published July 10, 1899, proclaimed Armorsville as “absolutely extinct.” Gone without a trace. J.S. Jennings was once a real person living in a real place called Armorsville. 

You could find it just down the county line, north of Ada. Today it’s a ghost town. At the time of its death, or extinction, there existed no mourners, no visitation, no funeral and no final words of comfort. 

None of it remains today. Even its cemetery disappeared, to where, no one knows. The graves might still be in place under a farmer’s field.

Armorsville isn’t the only ghost town on our invisible horizon. There are other places, each literally wiped off the map, existing only as spirits that once represented visions, hopes and efforts of pioneers who created them. Scant details remain of these settlements, today mostly crossroads in the country. Most of what is known of these ghost towns is buried in the pages of 1880-era county history books. 

CONTINUES

The descriptions are sparse. Yet, in their day they celebrated births, birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, holidays and funerals. But, for an assortment of  reasons, life cut them short, usually in a slow death. Here’s a glimpse of these spirits. 

Hancock County
A cemetery is all that remains of two Hancock County ghost towns. Cannonsburg, in Union Township, platted with 36 lots in 1839, became the largest of Bluffton area ghost towns. It had a post office, general store, two groceries, two blacksmiths, a hardware, two churches, a hotel, wagon shop, a doctor and about 75 residents. Unfortunately, the Pittsburg, Akron and Western Railroad did not include the town on its route from Bluffton to Arlington, crucial to its existence. Its post office closed in 1902.

Hassan, sometimes spelled Hasson, also in Orange Township, had its beginnings in 1836. At one time it had a post office, school, sawmill and at least one church. Its cemetery is all that remains today. And, just to the northwest of Arlington, existed Houcktown and Ewings Corners. 

A few communities located on the railroad between Bluffton and Arlington fared no better than Cannonsburg. Cordelia, also spelled Cordelta, within viewing distance of Cannonsburg, had its beginnings in 1883 when 33 lots were platted. At one time it had a post office and a railroad depot, which also housed a general store. 

El Rose, also on the railroad just west of Cordelia, had a depot. It was also west of Langan, of which virtually nothing is known today, except that it and the Cordelia depot both operated until 1910. Reed’s Corners, mentioned in an 1886 county history book disappeared by 1900. It had a German Reformed Church and a school that appeared in an 1875 county atlas. 

The rest of the story plus several maps are at: https://www.blufftonforever.com/post/all-that-remains-is-a-cemetery