Overlook Inn
Construction on the Englewood Dam was begun in 1918 and completed in December 1922. The National Road was rerouted over the dam soon thereafter and in 1926 was renamed U.S. Route 40. In about 1928, Sally and Earl Garber opened the Overlook Inn and filling station at the west end of the dam. Tourism was beginning to take off and more and more vacationers were heading west on old Route 40. The brick structure was built into the bank and advertised as the “Coolest Place in Ohio.”
Chicken sandwiches were Sally’s specialty. After WWII, the inn was turned into an apartment building. Truck traffic was heavy along Route 40 and several westbound semi-trucks failed to make the sharp right turn into Englewood and ran into the building, damaging the porch and walls. Fortunately, no one was ever seriously injured.
The building fell into disrepair in the 1950s and was demolished in the 1960s when Route 48 was expanded to three lanes. Today’s Welcome to Englewood sign (where you are now standing) marks the spot where the inn once stood. It was along this stretch of road on Englewood Dam that the “Phantom of Route 40” terrorized truckers in the 1950s.
For further information regarding history in this area or family genealogy, contact the Randolph Township Historical Society at www.rths.org.
Cache with confidence! This cache was placed with permission from the City of Englewood. In addition, the Englewood Police are aware of cache placements and have been known to offer hints to geocachers. Awesome!
Important notes:
Your best parking will be in the bowling alley lot south of the cache. The sidewalk going up the hill will lead you to the cache. This is a very busy location so be extra careful not to let mugglers see you retrieve the cache. You will not need to dig in the mulch or plants. You will not need to climb over the wall. Do not tear up the landscapping, rock wall or sprinkler head! Retrieval is incredibly simple.
Congratulations to Tomturtle for making this cache his #7400 milestone.