- Old Vienna beer was originally brewed by City Brewing Company in Wapakoneta. (See pic above 🙂 )
- Wapakoneta’s cost of living is 18.00% lower than the U.S. average.
- Wapakoneta was home to the first sawmill and gristmill in northwestern Ohio, created by the Shawnee.
- Wapakoneta is featured in the 1940 film, “Third Finger, Left Hand”. One of the characters is from Wapakoneta and the town comes up often throughout the film.
- When Auglaize county was formed, there was a fierce contest between Wapakoneta and Saint Marys to see which would be the county seat. Wapakoneta won out.
- When the oil boom occurred in the area in the late 1800’s, Wapakoneta was part of it too. Oil and natural gas helped the city grow.
- In the late 1800’s, Wapakoneta claimed to produce more butter churns than anyone else. A strange claim, but it might be true: the butter churn was patented by Michael Brown, Francis McFarland and Joseph Brown of Wapakoneta. You can still find many antique butter churns made by M. Brown & Company.
- Chief Black Hoof, an early Indian Chief that lived in the area, lived to be 109 years old!
- Wapakoneta was highlighted on the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2010 when Wapak resident Kent Boyd made it all the way to runner-up. (Ok, he was really from Botkins, but the rest of the country didn’t know that and Wapak was still featured!)
- The statue of the lady of Justice that sits in the courthouse originally faced east, overlooking the main entrance. The town of St. Marys to the west had a huge problem with this – because Justice had it’s back to them. St. Marys raised money to turn the statue to the north!
There is so much more to Wapakoneta, Ohio than meets the eye. It’s only 6 square miles, but it’s jam packed with goodness and history. If you’re ever in the area, you owe it to yourself to stop for a while.
What about Neil Armstrong??? How did you forget that?
Indeed, Brandy! Neil Armstrong is a fact about Wapakoneta. However, most people know about Neil Armstrong and the fact that he’s the first man on the moon; and he is perhaps Wapak’s greatest claim to fame. So maybe it’s not such an interesting or “fun” fact to include on the list.
Maybe we will do a writeup on some more obscure stuff about Neil though – that might be fun!
In any case, thanks for your comment! 😄