Ohio Town

Helen Hooven Santmyer

“Xenia, Miss Santmyer’s hometown, is the setting of Ohio Town, a rich . . . amalgam of history and memoir. . . . Miss Santmyer writes lovingly of an era when the important business of life was conducted on the front porches of well-tended houses on Church and North Detroit Streets and when one waited an entire morning to buy a spool of thread from a particular clerk at the local clothing and dry-goods store to avoid hurting her delicate feelings.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Miss Santmyer’s most obvious gift is for recreating the sights, sounds, smells, and atmosphere of a bygone era, the town as it was before the First World War, and the people who lived there. . . . Miss Santmyer’s greater gift, however, which saves her book from becoming the mere indulgence of wistful nostalgia, is her strong sense of history. . . . This is not history with statistics and great names, but it becomes a microcosm of much of the placid history of the rural midwest.” —The Antioch Review

“Ohio Town is a series of nostalgic essays, based on affectionate memory and local documents, about such a place before the hurly-burly of the contemporary world engulfed it. They are remarkably evocative and, happily, sentimental only in the best sense. . . . The essays become, then, a record and a reminiscence, both equally valuable.” —The Virginia Quarterly Review

“This volume is a Currier and Ives picture—but in words—beautifully written. It is not a book to be read in a hurry. A special thanks to Miss Santmyer of an Ohio town.” —Los Angeles Reporter

Author of the widely acclaimed “. . . And Ladies of the Club,” Helen Hooven Santmyer has written a tribute to her hometown of Xenia, Ohio, that is even more valuable after the 1974 tornado that destroyed much of the community. But its life and history are preserved in Ohio Town. Twenty-four photographs, included for the first time in this edition, enhance the text.