Help the JM Center by sending high resolution photos of your state's Eagles monuments
to Bob Ritter at the JM Center. Thank you.
F.O.E. Ten Commandment Monuments in Ohio (17)
| Ashland, Ohio |
Ashland, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Mohican Eagles No. 2178
Screenshot: Google Maps street view August 2012
(Monument in front of car)
|
Donated by FOE: 1963
Current Location: Mohican Eagles No. 2178, 400 Eastlake Dr.
Original Location: Kinnamon Park, Center and Main Streets.
Scroll: “Presented To / The City of Ashland, Ohio / By Ashland Aerie And/ Auxiliary 2178 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / 1963”
Comments: In 1963, the Ashland Aerie did not have room for the its Ten Commandment monument and asked the city if it would “temporarily” display its monument. The monument was placed in a corner of Kinnamon Park at Main and Center Streets. The Aerie asked for the monument back. It was returned in early 2004 and placed Ashland’s relatively new location. In May 2008, a vandal painted thru each line of the Ten Commandments. (Source: Sue Hoffman, In Search of God and the Ten Commandments.)
|
| Bridgeport, Ohio |
Bridgeport, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Veterans Memorial Park
Screenshot: Google maps street view Aug. 2018
|
Bridgeport, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
|
Donated by FOE: (To be determined from the scroll)
Location: At intersection of Lincoln Ave. (US-250) and Main St. (US-40).
Scroll: (Cannot determine from the photograph)
Comment: The mural on the wall to the right (above photo) reads: “The Spirit of Bridgeport.”
|
| Cheviot, Ohio |
Cheviot, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Cheviot Aerie No. 2197
Screenshot: Google Maps street view September 2014
|
Donated by FOE: January 1961
Current Location: In front of Cheviot Aerie No. 2197, 3807 Glenmore Ave.
Original Location: Not known if previously located on public property.
Scroll: (Cannot determine from above photo)
|
| Dover, Ohio |
Dover, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church; monument on the left as seen from W. 3rd St.
Screenshot: Google Maps street view June 2012
|
Donated by FOE: October 1963
Current Location: Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 216 North Wooster Ave. (at the intersection of W. 3rd. St.).
Original Location: City Square, Dover City Hall, 110 E. Third St.
Scroll: “Presented to / The City of Dover / by / Canal Dover Eagles 515”
|
| Grove City, Ohio |
Grove City, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
International Headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Eagles
Screenshot: Google Maps street view October 2015
|
Grove City, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Facebook: FOE Grand Aerie / Photos
|
Dedicated: August 18, 2005
Location: International Headquarters (Grand Aerie) of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, 1623 Gateway Circle S., Grove City, Ohio. The international headquarters opened in 2002.
Scroll: “Grand Aerie / Fraternal Order / Of Eagles / August 18, 2005”
Comment: Three observations. First, on January 12th of the same year (2005), Judge E. J. Ruegemer – the founder of the Eagles’ Ten Commandments project – passed away at the age of 102. Second, six months later, the Supreme Court held in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (June 27, 2005), that the Eagles’ monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol did not violate the First Amendment (primarily on the basis of Justice Breyer’s concurrence in the judgment noting that the monument had been at the Texas Capitol 40 years allegedly without a complaint – as if time transformed a First Amendment violation into a permissible exception). And, third, the Ten Commandments are the Eagles’ modified version, that is, without Roman numerals and with the “graven images” commandment as a subcommandment of the first commandment. (These two changes were made to address complaints by Protestants that the original version favored the Catholic tradition.)
|
| Logan (Hocking County), Ohio |
Worthington Park
Screenshot: Google maps street view
|
Logan, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
|
Donated by FOE: May 24, 1959
Location: Worthington Park, facing the S. Market Street side of the Hocking County Courthouse.
Scroll: “Dedicated To The City / Of Logan, May 24, 1959 By / Logan Aerie 2168 And / Ladies Auxiliary Of / Fraternal Order Of Eagles”
|
| Lorain, Ohio |
Lakeview Beach
Screenshot: Google maps street view September 2013
|
Lorain, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Photo by Kimber (May 2011) available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mimihen/5992699186/
|
Donated by FOE: May 30, 1961
Location: Lakeview Beach, 1721 Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Hwy.
Original Location: Not known whether Lakeview Beach was the original location or, for example, Lorain County Courthouse.
Scroll: “Presented To / The City Of Lorain / May 30, 1961 / By / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / Aerie No. 343 Lorain, Ohio”
|
| Mansfield, Ohio |
Mansfield, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Mansfield Aerie No. 336
Screenshot: Google Maps street view August 2014
|
Donated by FOE: 1966
Location: Mansfield Aerie No. 336, 135 N. Main St.
Scroll: (Cannot determine from photo on left)
Notes: The only Eagles monument built into a side of a building’s wall.
|
| Middletown, Ohio |
Middletown, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Photo from Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum’s website at http://www.woodsidecemetery.org/about-facts-history.shtml
|
Donated by FOE: May 1957
Current Location: Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum, 1401 S. Woodside Blvd. (Main Ave.) next to a memorial site dedicated for babies. Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit organizatrion established in 1891. (Private property.)
Previous Location: In 1976, the monument was placed in the vestibule at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
Original Location: City Building on Central Avenue.
Scroll: “Presented To The / City Of Middletown, Ohio / By / Middletown Aerie No. 528 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / May 1975”
Story: “Because of people’s beliefs in the separation of government and religion, the monument was moved to storage at Holy Trinity Church who hoped to place it on their property. This did not happen and it was taken to Woodside Cemetery & Arboretum, where it is now currently displayed on the Main Ave.” http://www.woodsidecemetery.org/about-facts-history.shtml
Website: http://www.woodsidecemetery.org/
|
| Newark (Licking County), Ohio |
Newark, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Licking County Courthouse
Photo by Latvian98 (October 2011)
Available on Flickr.com |
Licking County Courthouse
Screenshot: Google Maps street view May 2012
Donated by FOE: 1957
Current Location: Licking County Courthouse, 20 S. 2nd St., at the corner of S. 2nd St. and S. Park Pl.
Scroll: “Presented To / The City Of Newark / By / Licking Aerie No. 387 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / July 1957”
|
| Norwalk, Ohio |
Norwalk City Offices
Screenshot: Google Maps street view October 2016 (monument to the right of the flag pole)
|
Norwalk, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Eagle, Spring 1990 (Source: Library of Congress) |
Donated by FOE: 1960
Location: front lawn of Norwalk City Offices, 38 Whittlesey Ave. (US 250).
Scroll: “Presented To / The City Of Norwalk, O. / By / Maple City Aerie No. 711 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / 1960”
|
| Paulding, Ohio |
Paulding, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Photo by Daniel Ueda (July 2012) available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/danueda/7580637336/
|
Paulding County Courthouse
Google Maps street view August 2015
Donated by FOE: May 28, 1961
Location: Paulding County Courthouse, at the corner of N. Main and E. Perry Streets.
Scroll: “Presented To The / Village Of Paulding, Ohio / By Paulding Aerie No. 2405 / And Auxiliary / Fraternal Order of Eagles / May 28, 1961”
|
| Springfield, Ohio |
Springfield, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Clark County Courthouse
Screenshot: Google maps street view October 2011
|
Donated by FOE: 1959
Current Location: Clark County Courthouse, N. Limestone & E. Columbia Streets.
Scroll: “Presented To / The People Of Clark County / By / Champion Aerie No 397 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles”
Story: On Halloween night in 2009, a truck plowed into the monument, leaving it in two pieces. The monument was sent to Georgia for repair. It was placed back at Clark County Common Pleas Court on July 28, 2010.
|
| Toledo, Ohio |
Lucas County Courthouse
Screenshot: Google Maps street view June 2011
|
Toledo, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Photo by Bob Jullus (June 2008) available at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/theblacklightstudio/2598451991/
|
Donated by FOE: June 1957
Location: Lucas County Courthouse, 700 Adams St., at the corner of N. Erie and Adams Streets.
Scroll: “Presented To The County Of / Lucas, State Of Ohio / By Toledo Aerie No. 197 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / 1957”
Litigation: The ACLU of Ohio sued Lucas County in 2002 to remove the Ten Commandments monument at the courthouse. During the pendency of the case, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Van Orden v. Perry (2005) holding that the display of a similar monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol did not violate the Establishment Clause. Chief Judge James G. Carr “Van Ordenized” the Lucas County monument concluding “the Eagles, in donating, and the County, in accepting the monument were acting with a purpose—to combat juvenile delinquency—that was secular”, “an objective observer could not conclude that the monument, despite the sectarian antecedents of its text, has the effect of endorsing religion in general or the specific tenets of any particular sectarian assembly” and the monument “ has stood unchallenged for nearly five decades”. ACLU of Ohio Foundation v. Lucas County, 444 F.Supp.2d 805, 816 (2006)
Chief Judge Carr should be ashamed of himself for rubber stamping the case based on the Van Orden decision. The purpose of the Eagles Ten Commandments program was to promote “God’s Law”—a wholly religious purpose. And Chief Judge Carr’s “reasonable observer” was anything but reasonable. Moreover, I doubt that any evidence was introduced at trial that the placement of the Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of the Lucas County Courthouse was observed by many, if any, juvenile delinquents or that juvenile delinquency in the county was reduced because of the presence of the monument at the courthouse.
Comment: The Ten Commandmeents monument being next to the American flag is particularly offensive, suggesting that to he city of Toledo only Christians and Jews are Americans.
|
| Troy, Ohio |
Troy, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
Miami County Courthouse
Screenshot: Google Maps street view July 2013
|
Donated by FOE: 1964
Location: Miami County Courthouse, at the corner of W. Water & N. Short Streets.
Scroll: Presented To The Citizens / Of This Community / By / Miami Aerie No 971 Troy O / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / 1964
|
| Wooster, Ohio |
Boys Village
Screenshot: Google maps street view September 2011
[Eagles Ten Commandments monument is not viewable from the road]
|
Donated by FOE: September 1955
Current Location: Boys Village Campus of Village Network, 3011 Akron Road.
Scroll: Unknown
Story:
The Village Network is a private, non-profit, non-denominational, child-serving agency recognized under IRS regulations as 501c3 charity. It is headquartered on 120 acres of farmland located on the northeastern edge of Wooster, Ohio.
In 1946, Reverend Clarence Kerr, minister of the Smithville Methodist Church, was so moved in seeing a movie about the accomplishments of Father Flanagan's Boys Town that he and a group of civic leaders championed the founding of Boys' Village to help troubled boys. Incorporated on May 7, 1946, Governor Lausche personally presented the state charter to Boys' Village.
The Eagles Chapel was dedicated on May 22, 1988. Visit https://www.thevillagenetwork.org/about/about-us/who-we-are/our-history/ for more infomration about Boys Village.
|
| Xenia (Greene County), Ohio |
Xenia, Ohio Ten Commandments Monument
|
Greene County Courthouse
Screenshot: Google Maps street view August 2012
Donated by FOE: 1957
Location: Greene County Courthouse, 45 N. Detroit St., at the corner of E. Main & Greene Streets.
Scroll: “To The / People Of Greene County / From The / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / Aerie 1689 / 1957”
|
|
