FINDLAY

city, seat (1828) of Hancock county, northwestern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Blanchard River, 47 miles (76 km) south of Toledo. The site was laid out by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Cory in 1821 and named for Colonel James Findlay, who had built Fort Findlay, a local outpost in the War of 1812. In 1860, using the pen name Petroleum V. Nasby, the editor of the Findlay Jeffersonian, David Ross Locke, published the first of his satirical letters attacking slavery. Fishing in the Blanchard near old Misamore Mill inspired Tell Taylor to compose the popular song Down by the Old Mill Stream. During the 1880s Findlay was a boom centre of oil and gas production, and its Gas Jubilee of 1887 was one of the most spectacular celebrations ever staged in the area. The city's manufactures now include rubber tires, photographic supplies, heavy machinery, laundry equipment, petroleum products, solid-state components, and plastics. The University of Findlay (Churches of God) was founded in 1882. Inc. village, 1838; city, 1887. Pop. (1990) 35,703.