By Richard Crawford
Copyright ©2005 Richard Crawford

Owensville: Nellie Oversees The Village Hall

The Owensville village hall was built in 1859 as the Boston (original name of Owensville) Methodist Episcopal Church. Any knowledge of what had previously been on the site is unknown, but it is believed that it was occupied by at least a couple homes.

The most famous occurrence involving the old church took place about noon on July 14, 1863. Confederate States General John Hunt Morgan rode into town leading approximately 2,000 cavalrymen. They entered the village from the north on present State Route 132 and turned to ride east on U.S. 50.

The people of Boston were terrified. For several hours they had seen the large dust cloud caused by hundreds of horses gradually riding toward them. An old man, said to be a veteran of the War of 1812, entered the church and climbed the stairs to the second floor and then the stairs to the steeple which at that time was not covered with slats. He anxiously was awaiting the arrival of the enemy cavalry. He brought with him a double-barreled shotgun and a United States flag, the latter he mounted on the steeple of the roof.

As "Morgan's Raiders" turned onto Main Street (U.S. 50), he aimed his double-barreled shotgun and fired both rounds into the air as a warning to the Confederates. Morgan and his men were stunned at the open resistance from a single defender. He ordered a group of his men into the church and about 10-12 of them rode their horses through the front double doors, dismounted, and climbed the steps to the second floor and the steeple. Once in the steeple, the rebels disarmed the old veteran. He was forced to ride with them to Williamsburg and the United States flag was tied to a horse’s tail and dragged through the dusty streets.

Present Owensville Mayor John Mathews is familiar with the stories of the ghost of the town hall. He says many people have heard or seen who he calls "Nellie", but no one knows of her background or why she is there, but there is some speculation she may have lived in one of the homes that were located on the site of the town hall.

Walter and Shirley Shipley of Owensville have cleaned the building at night. "We’ve heard sounds of movement upstairs. My mom and I worked together some nights there, too, and we’d be locking up for the night and mom would ask me if someone else was in the building. We’d check everywhere and find no one," said Mrs. Shapeley, a village councilperson and an officer of the Owensville/East Fork Rivers Citizens Historical Society.

One afternoon, Owensville Police Chief Tom Ellis took several photographs of the town hall from which to design a patch for the village employees. Something appeared in a few of the photographs that are believed to be of a woman looking out the upstairs window onto Main Street.

"We’ve had some of the employees say they’ve heard things in the building. Some of them didn’t like to come in here at night by themselves," said Ellis.

Joe Deavers and Brian Willis of New Richmond spent the night in the town hall with the author in March 1997. They played cards and ate pizza while watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament on the television in the kitchen. They remained awake until 4 a.m.. since they had been told most of the movement heard upstairs occurred from 2-4 a.m.. Shortly after 4 a.m.. they went into the front first floor room and went to sleep. At almost exactly 6 a.m.  they heard sounds of chairs moving in the kitchen. Within one minute they had rushed into the kitchen.

"I heard a noise in the kitchen that woke me," said Willis. "It sounded like someone was rummaging around. No one was there, but the chairs had been moved. Everything was still locked up like it was after the police had gone off duty at 3 a.m. I didn’t tell anyone that I had heard something outside the restroom when I was in there earlier in the night. It sounded like someone was walking by and I looked and no one was there."

Nellie obviously likes to keep the building clean and tidy. She is regarded by those who have experienced her presence as the building's caretaker, or overseer. She has never posed any threat, but she has caused people to resign from their night jobs there. Who she was and how she died, no one knows. But it is a photographed fact. Nellie oversees the after dark activities of the Owensville Town Hall.