• In 1840, Henry County had less than 2500 inhabitants. Henry County had been carved out of the Great Black Swamp from land that had been part of the Indian Trade Lands Tract.
• The first settler arrived in 1850, near the four corners of Putnam, Wood, Hancock, and Henry Counties.
• People traded in the nearby settlement as early as 1854.
• The town was named Portage until 1865, when it was renamed Alma. By 1870, it was renamed Deshler and still is.
• By 1873, the B & O Railroad was being laid. Coal chute, water tower, a joint passenger station as well as freight buildings were constructed by 1875.
• Deshler was incorporated in 1876, the same year the Deshler Flag was started. A state report for 1888 stated Deshler is situated at the crossing of the B & O (Baltimore & Ohio), D & M (Dayton & Michigan) as well as the McCD&T Railroad.
• The Georgia House was built on the site where Deshler’s school still stands.
• In 1894, the first wooden elevator was opened for business. The firm’s name was Southward & Rice and was located at the same site as the present Deshler Farmer’s Elevator.
• People of the gay nineties and early 1900 have had their lighter moments. Annually a good-sized circus came to town. There was an old opera house located in the Giaque block. Medicine shows would come to town with lavish costumes and scenery putting on a repertoire of plays and selling their medicines between acts.
• Deshler was a booming prosperous town with the railroad and farming and industry. Then came the Great Depression and the Dust Bowls of the 1930’s. During World War II, many GI’s going North, East, South, or West came through Deshler, stopping to switch trains and Deshler had a GI canteen to entertain them.
• Whistle stops for several presidential campaigns included Harry Truman 1948, Taft & Goldwater campaigned here, Richard Nixon in 68 and 72, Ronald Reagan as well as others.
• Deshler has been and will continue to be a growing community with much to look forward to.

Submitted by Sandra Shaffer