Granville Historical Society

As the community's collective memory, the Granville Historical Society acquires, preserves, and shares Granville's past with residents and visitors to inspire curiosity about, instill knowledge of, and foster a commitment to our history. THE FOUNDING OF THE GRANVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. The Granville Historical Society was created on March 9, 1885, by Charles Webster Bryant, Crayton Black, and Francis Shepardson. Its formation was in part a response to the realization, after the 75th anniversary of the founding of the town, that firsthand memories of the early days of Granville were vanishing. One of the Society’s first major acts, then, was to begin preserving and documenting the history of the community: Bryant produced invaluable genealogical records (including an inventory of the gravestones in the Old Colony Burying Ground, many of which have since eroded beyond recognition), and Bushnell wrote The History of Granville, Licking County, Ohio, in 1889. Some of the drawings produced for Bushnell’s book are still among the most reliable images we have of early Granville and have been used in subsequent histories of the town.