History of Mount St. John

Although no evidence of a Native American settlement has been found at Mount St. John, the property was likely used at hunting grounds for First Nations peoples at various times since human habitation began 12,000 years go.  Since 1000 BCE, the Adena, the Hopewell, the Fort Ancients, and the Miamians have lived in southwest Ohio.

In 1802 Israel Ludlow, the man responsible for surveying and laying out the cities of Dayton and Hamilton and for laying the main survey transect between Cincinnati and Dayton, surveyed the land east of Dayton.  Ludlow noted “open wet prairie” in the land surrounding the Little Beaver Creek, including part of what is now the MSJ front field.  The rest of the area was an oak-hickory-dogwood forest.

The first people of European descent to inhabit the land now called Mount St. John is thought to be the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.  Commonly known as the Shakers, the Society of Believers were innovative farmers and craftspersons dedicated to celibacy, piousness, pacifism, and equality.  The Dayton community, Watervliet, was founded in 1806.  Here, they operated water turbines, a carding mill, a sawmill, a cannery, and a brick furnace.  The shakers were among the first to package and sell seeds, many of which were developed through their own experiments with plant genetics.  The decline of the Shakers in the United States can be traced to the end of the Civil War, and the Shakers left Dayton for Lebanon, Ohio in 1900.

In 1910, the Society of Mary purchased 80 acres of the Watervliet East Farm from Orange and Kate Ozias.  By 1950, Mount St. John was a 238-acre farm operation, complete with crop land, pastures, a dairy and orchards.  The Society opened a canning operation with which, in 1949, they canned 1700 gallons of apple sauce, 600 gallons of peaches, 550 gallons of corn, 600 gallons of tomatoes, 300 gallons of apple butter, and 450 gallons of beans, pears and pumpkins.

During their farming years a number of changes were made to the land.  A cistern was installed in the woodland fen to catch water for livestock, field tiles were added to drain the front field, and wood lots were used for forage.  When farming ceased in the 1960s, the land of Mount St. John began a slow process of re-vegetation and ecological succession.