274 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MOUND
CITY PARK
Mr. A. C. Spetnagel, Chairman of the
Committee,
read the following report:
The Committee appointed to supervise the
restoration of
the Mound City Group of prehistoric
earthworks and the con-
struction of a state park from the tract
on which they are lo-
cated, offers the following brief
report:
Foreword
For the benefit of those who may not be
informed, it may
be stated that the Mound City group of
earthworks is one of
the most important in the state. It
consists of 23 burial mounds,
lying within a rectangular earthen
embankment or enclosure,
embracing 13 acres. The group was
brought forcefully to the
attention of the archaeological world
through its partial explora-
tion, and the report thereon, by Squier
and Davis, in 1847. The
great finds of these pioneer explorers
were equalled or surpassed,
however, when this Society carried out
complete examination of
the group in 1919-1920.
At the time of the construction of Camp
Sherman, in which
the group is located, the Director of
the Museum succeeded in
averting threatened destruction of the
mounds, through personal
appeal to the military authorities, and
later, as above stated, ef-
fected their scientific exploration. At
the close of the war, mainly
through the efforts of Mr. Albert C.
Spetnagel, of Chillicothe,
the War Department of the Federal
government was prevailed
upon to turn over to the Society the area
on which the mound
group is located, together with
desirable additional acreage --
a total of 57 acres -- in order that the
noted prehistoric monu-
ments might be preserved in the form of
a state park.
The site of the Mound City group is not
of archaeological
interest alone: for it has been the
scene of military cantonments
in three wars -- the War of the
Rebellion; the Spanish-Amer-
ican War, and the late World War.
Without doubt no other
site in Ohio combines, in so great a
measure, records of pre-
historic and historic human activities.
Realizing the importance of the site and
the desirability of
its restoration and conversion into a
state park, the State legis-
lature, at its recent session,
appropriated the sum of $2,000 for
this purpose.