The John Studebaker Monument near Ashland

August 2009 photo

Five miles east of Ashland on the top of a hill on US 250, right next door to the former Bonnie Dell Motel is a large granite boulder with a plaque on it: the John Studebaker Monument.  A few concrete steps and a hand rail lead up to it.

Cars and trucks whiz by it daily at top speeds without noticing it. (I passed it dozens and dozens of times in the late 1970's going back and forth to Ohio State University in Columbus, and never even knew it was there!)

What does it commemorate? Here is the explanation, according to my battered 1940 copy of The Ohio Guide (compiled by workers of the Writer's Program of the Works Projects Administration).

The JOHN STUDEBAKER MONUMENT (R), 16.2 m., a large granite boulder with an inscription plate, marks the site where in 1835 John Studebaker erected his house and blacksmith shop. In 1852 two of his sons, Henry and Clement, with a capital of $68 founded a wagon works at South Bend, Indiana – a plant that later entered the fledgling automobile industry with the now well-known Studebaker.

August 2009 photo

Several people had the idea of erecting a monument on the site of the original Studebaker blacksmith shop on what was then part of the new coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, according to an article by Richard Quinn in Turning Wheels (official publication of the Studebaker Driver's Club). A Studebaker distributor in San Francisco, as well as W. A. Duff, the editor of the Ashland Press, had the same idea. But Duff appears to have pushed it the most in his newspaper, and the monument was most likely his brainchild.

In a letter written in 1914 to the last surviving son of John Studebaker, Duff wrote that he wanted to present the monument "to the rising generation that they may emulate the example of the good and the grand and the noble who have wrought in their native county and state." Duff also added that he wanted the Lincoln Highway in Ashland County "to be remembered by the thousands who shall pass over it every year."

The monument was dedicated on May 18, 1927 by the Studebaker Historical Society and has been there ever since. 

Although the monument now sits on private property, various owners through the years have permitted visitors to climb the steps to view the monument. (While photographing it, I have parked briefly in the driveway just to the left of it.)

August 2009 photo