Welcome to Wapak!

Welcome to Wapakoneta.org, your central point for all things Wapak! News, community events, fun facts and history and so much more. Join us as we build the online version of our beautiful town.

Auglaize County Courthouse

We have one of the most beautiful courthouses in Ohio. Lawyers from around the state stand in awe as they enter the courtroom. You need to see it on the inside!

Wapakoneta, Ohio is a truly unique small town with lots to offer. “Wapak”, as residents called it, is located on the intersection of I-75 and state route 33. It’s a town of about 10,000 people.

Wapakoneta is known for being the hometown of Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon. The Armstrong Air & Space Museum honors the Wapak native and shows a rich history of America’s space program. This space museum has part of it built to resemble a big white moon which can be seen from I-75.

There will be much more to see and do here as we roll out updates. Please bookmark us and check back! We aim to be your community based site for all things Wapak, including news, events, history, classified listings and more.

How to Say “Wapakoneta”…

Some recent entries from the All Things Wapak Blog…

Wapakoneta, Ohio: Much More Than Meets The Eye

Wapakoneta, Ohio (pronounced WAH-pah-kə-NET-tə) is an amazing town with a rich history. Wapakoneta, or “Wapak” as it is known locally, sits nicely nestled  right next to the highly trafficked Ohio Interstate 75. Maybe the most popular resident of Wapakoneta is Neil Armstrong, widely known as the first man to walk on the moon. Wapak celebrates this every year with their Moon Festival. The “Moon” can also be seen from I-75 – a large round orb protruding from the ground that serves as the most visible part of the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum.   The Neil Armstrong Musuem is home to Armstrong’s spacesuits from his Gemini and Apollo missions. You can also see the Gemini VIII spacecraft, an Apollo 11 moon rock, and two aircraft that Armstrong himself flew. The beautiful Auglaize County Courthouse also sits prominently in downtown Wapak. It was finished being built in 1894 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Nowadays you have to go through a metal detector to get in, but it’s worth it to see the architecture and paintings. There’s also a beautiful statue of the lady of Justice. The statue was resurrected in 1994 through a campaign called “Copper Pennies for the Copper Lady”. The campaign raised over $25,000 to fix her up. Then there’s the amazingness that is the Rock Garden. The Rock Garden was built over many years in what started out as Jim Bowsher’s backyard. Jim and his brother Walt built a place for all to come and feel the spiritual zen that the rocks help provide. It’s truly a wonderful and unique place like nowhere else... read more

Wapakoneta’s Native American History

Wapakoneta, Ohio has a vast and rich American Indian history. In fact, the name “Wapakoneta” is an Indian name that come from the Shawnee word “Wa·po’kanite”, meaning “The Place of White Bones”. Most likely this is due to the fact that mastodon bones have been found in the Wapakoneta area three times since 1870! One mastodon skeleton was found in a swamp about eight feet deep. It was about 19.5 feet long and 14 feet tall with tusks about 12 feet long. For real. These things existed. (For more on this and other Wapakoneta history, check out http://www.wapakoneta.net/history) The land around Wapakoneta including most of Auglaize County were originally lived in by the Miami tribe of Indians. Members of the Wyandotte indian tribe would also come upon the land from the north and east. However, as the white man does, the Miami tribe was attacked and their main village of Pickawillamy (which was near Springfield) was destroyed. The entire tribe picked up and headed west for Indiana. Meanwhile the Shawnee tribe had been driven out of their home in Georgia and the Carolina’s. The Shawnee found a new home in the Wapakoneta area. Two of the most legendary Indian Chieftains, Blue Jacket and Black Hoof, helped establish a settlement in the Auglaize County area. A council house was created where Wapakoneta now exists. This council house served as a meeting place where many of the most prominent names of the time came together. These include both Blue Jacket and Black Hoof of course, but also James Blue Jacket (Blue Jacket’s son), Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet, Little Snake, Little... read more

Fun Facts about Wapakoneta, Ohio

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... read more