The Village of New Washington / The New Washington Band

Side A: Nicknamed “Dutchtown” for the many German families that settled in this area, New Washington was platted in 1833 by George Washington Meyers, who arrived in Cranberry Township in 1826. Prominent Austrian romantic poet Nicholas Lenau (1802-1850), author of “Faust” and “Don Juan,” owned property here in the 1830s. The village incorporated in 1874, shortly following the arrival of the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Erie Railroad. New Washington is a pioneer in the commercial poultry hatchery industry and initiated the shipment of baby chicks by rail in 1900. Side B: The village’s most enduring tradition, the New Washington Band has entertained the community regularly since 1865, with only brief interruptions for World War I and periodic reorganizations. During the 1870s it played for political rallies as a Democratic Party band; between 1898 and World War I it held a regular concert schedule as a cornet band. In the 100-year period between 1898 and 1998, the New Washington Band had only three directors: E.F. Ulmer (1898-1932), Luther Cook (1940), and Kenneth Cummins (1934-1939, 1941-1998).