Willard

The City of Willard Ohio is one of the 3 largest cities in Huron County. It has a rich and long history with the railroads of northern Ohio and it was actually formed at the junction of several railroads. This junction created a natural point where freight and passenger service could be rerouted from one railroad system to another making it much easier to reach their ultimate destination. Usually people arriving here didn't stay here, but they still had needs and those needs were met by a growing population.

The City of Willard is also known as the City of Blossoms which is in reference to the large number of trees that blossom each year along Willard's city streets.

Daniel Willard was born just months before the onset of the Civil War. He grew up Vermont. After high school, Daniel attended the Massachusetts Agriculture College, but his poor eye sight forced him to drop out of school. He then got a job with the Vermont Central Railroad where he eventually became an locomotive engineer. In 1899 he took on the position of Assistant General Manager for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Over the years Daniel Willard worked for numerous railroads

Chicago Junction, circa late 1870s. Photo courtesy of Huron County Community Library

Chicago Junction

Willard is one of the newer communities in Ohio. As it was originally laid out in 1874, the new towns purpose was to provide a community for railroad employees and various support people that would make living there a pleasant experience. The new town was named Chicago. The first buildings erected were an engine house, machine shop and a blacksmith. At that time there were about 60 men who worked here. The following year the first of several depots were built. The depot also included a small hotel. Eight years later when the town was incorporated it had a population of 800 and the name of the new town officially became Chicago Junction to help ease the confusion between the Chicago, Illinois and Chicago Ohio, but that confusion was only mildly relieved.

In the train depots along the lines passing through Chicago Junction , Ohio, station attendants would shorten the town's name to just Chicago, O. Passengers would frequently mistake this destination for the much larger metropolitan city of Chicago, Illinois. By the turn of the century rail traffic had grown tremendously including mail service. The duplicate Chicago's had to be eliminated. Since Chicago Junction was the smaller, it's name was changed in 1917. The new name was changed to Willard to honor Daniel Willard, President of the B&O Railroad. Thus ended the confusion of the two cities named Chicago.

Willard Ohio officially obtained its city status in 1960.

The Chicago Junction Clock Tower Project

The the late 1800s the town of Chicago Junction built a new City Hall and in 1914 an ornate clock tower was added to that building where it kept time for almost 100 years. In 1997 the clock tower was removed and placed in storage and 18 years later the entire building was torn down. Many of the long-time residents of Willard wanted to restore the iconic feature, but many of the clock tower components were damaged beyond repair. Today there is an effort to recreate the clock tower in a small park where it once stood using as many of the old parts as feasible. The rest will be manufactured or rebuilt.