Old Stagecoach Inn / Historic Palmyra Center

Side A: This historic inn began serving travelers on the old Portage-Columbiana stage road (now Tallmadge Road) in 1832. Two major stage lines, one from Cleveland to Wellsville (the closest Ohio River port) and the other from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, passed through Palmyra in the early 1800s. Originally a simple two-story Greek Revival-style building, it had its third story added in 1888 when it became a lodge for the Knights of Pythias fraternal organization. It served as a private residence and store for most of the 20th century. The Palmyra Center Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Side B: New Englanders settled the Palmyra area in 1799, and Palmyra Township was established in 1810. Though part of the original Connecticut Western Reserve, Palmyra’s cultural background was influenced largely by Welsh immigrants, who began arriving circa 1830. These farmers found a rare cash market for their produce at the inn. Later Welsh immigrants worked in the coal mines that dotted the area from the 1870s until the 1920s. For many years the annual May Fair celebrated Palmyra’s Welsh heritage. The town’s lost much of its vitality after nearby Interstate Highway 76 bypassed it in the 1960s.