From GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Grand Rapids Historical Society will host a 250th lecture series celebrating 250 years of American history. The programs are arranged chronologically from Fallen Timbers to the Vietnam War and will take place from April through October. The speakers will be featured in the auditorium of the historic Grand Rapids Town Hall, 24282 Front St.
The first lecture will take place on Saturday, April 18, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Dave Westrick will be the first speaker, and his topic will be the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In August 1794, the United States Army marched up the Maumee River through what is today Grand Rapids. Near Maumee, they fought a brutal battle to determine the future of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains.
This battle is the topic of Westrick’s new book. It was a small fight in the Ohio wilderness, yet for the United States, it was the beginning of a government that would eventually rule from coast to coast, and a military that would grow to win two world wars and become the greatest fighting force on the planet. For the English, it was a stopping point, a wall, forever limiting imperial ambitions in North America. For the Native Americans, it was the end of greatness and of the life their ancestors had led for thousands of years. All of this happened over 200 years ago, on the outskirts of current day Maumee.
Westrick fell in love with Ohio history growing up on a farm in northwest Ohio. He graduated from Ohio University with a degree in journalism. After a career in journalism and communications, he turned his attention to research, specializing in the early frontier era. Westrick has written and lectured extensively on the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He serves on the boards of various history groups including the Maumee Valley Historical Society and is a former president of the Fallen Timbers Battlefield Preservation Committee. He lives with his wife, Nanci, in Perrysburg.
There will be 13 programs presented as part of this lecture series.
