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Bremen Area
Historical Society
Historic Mural
The 10’ x 45’ Bremen
Downtown Revitalization mural depicts Bremen at its
best. It is located on the west-facing wall on the corner
of Main St. and Broad St. in the downtown commercial
district.
Melody Borchers, Bremen Downtown
Revitalization Program Manager, said “Bremen’s
town mural is a work of art depicting a ‘street
scene’ that includes several elements of the Village
of Bremen. The message of the mural tells its visitors,
olde Bremen Village is a great place to live, worship,
shop and visit.” The mural was entirely paid for
by private funds raised by the Downtown Volunteer Corp.
Contributions came from local businesses, organizations
and citizens.
The muralist, Matt Indrutz, is the
owner of Muralworks,
a full-service art studio specializing in custom, hand-painted
surfaces.
Click
here for more information about the unveiling of
this historical mural.
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Bremen
History
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George
Berry founded Bremen in 1834 naming the new village
after his father-in-law's hometown of Bremen, Germany.
During the 1800s the village grew slowly, serving mainly
as a service center for local farmers. In the 1850s
the railroad came to Bremen. Then in 1907, oil was discovered
in Bremen. Due to the boom, Bremen grew quickly and
accumulated much wealth. The profit brought in by the
oil was used to establish local industry, build a downtown
commercial center, and line the streets of Bremen with
beautiful homes (many of which can be seen today in
the town).
In 1907, Bremen, Ohio, was considered
“Oil City.” Most of the villagers were in
some way related to or were oil drillers themselves.
Bremen was a boomtown. The Village was growing slowly
in 1884, with a population of 200 inhabitants. However,
this all changed with the “oil boom,” which
began around 1907. Small quantities of gas and oil had
been produced by local wells before this, but when wells
began producing 140 barrels per day and 250 barrels
per day, the race was on! Bremen enjoyed unparalleled
prosperity during the next seven or eight years, then
settled down to become an agricultural community once
again. Outlying areas, including the private sector,
also reaped the benefits of the gas and oil industry.
One of the many oil derricks built
in the 1920s still stands today and is a great symbol
of such a resilient and influencing generation. It is
located in Howell Park in the Village of Bremen. In
1984, the derrick was disassembled and moved from a
farm in eastern Perry County, near Roseville, to Bremen.
There, it was reconstructed to its original state of
operation by a grassroots’ effort by many of the
local businesses, townspeople and merchants around the
Bremen area. The sole purpose for raising the derrick
in the park was the great Sesquicentennial Celebration
that the Village staged for being in existence for 150
years.
Citizens published a book called
Bremen 1834, 1934 and 1984 for the centennial celebrations.
A newsletter is published by the Bremen Area Historical
Society six times per year, which is mailed to nearly
200 members, coast to coast.
The Bremen Area Historical Society
holds an annual Dinner Theatre as a fundraiser. It always
sells out and the play is written and performed by local
citizens.
The oil boom continued until
the mid-1920s after which Bremen’s citizens began
working in the industries that had been established
during the oil craze and returned to farming. The way
of life remains much the same in Bremen today. Bremen
offers many activities for its citizens and visitors,
which culminates the last weekend of September with
our annual Oil Derrick Days celebration.
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