The following was researched and written by Carolyn Stutz Temte in helping AWTHS update our Pitsburg Archive and file.
I believe Charles Delk, a very popular contractor in Pitsburg, was the builder along with Jacob Young, of the Pitsburg hotel after it was destroyed by fire. Charles Delk built a house on the corner of Baker and Oaks Streets. The house had a full basement, slate roof, a water system, as well as a cistern to supply water and a hot air heat system I think this is the house where the Woodrows lived. It is katty cornered from where we lived (the Stutz’s). The Delks moved to the Hotel Pitsburg (which I think was the Young Hotel) in 1914. Mrs. Ella Delk ran the hotel and Charles worked as a contractor. Mr. Delk died in 1922.
Believed to be the Delk House or at least built by C Delk. Also Ralph Woodrow residence head of the Pitsburg Lumber in former times.
Mrs. Ella Delk, her daughter Ruth and her husband, Rev Walter Swinger, and their son James lived in the house next to the house on the corner. Later The Rev and Mrs. Swinger built across the street. The Rev was a pastor at the Church of the Brethren. According to the tombstone in Mote Cemetery Ella Delk died in 1937 but I found her in the 1940 census. ?????
After all of this I couldn’t find when the hotel went out of business.
Charles Delk built many of the modern residences and barns in this area. He also built the Franklin Township high school building and a large garage in Arcanum.
Charley Delk in Pitsburg Band 1908
Charles Delk was involved in the following: He was appointed by the mayor to solicit opinions about lights in the town in 1912. Was the first officer of Arnettsville. (later called Pittsburg-changed to Pitsburg). In 1901 made the first ballot box and voting booth for the town. Was the first fire chief 1906-08. Also postmaster back in 1894. A member of the Pitsburg band in 1908.
Charles or C I Delk purchased the Young Hotel 26 February 1914.
C I Delk or Charles was a very busy man, it seems, being involved in many different ways in the community as well as businesses and offices and activities.
Father and mother of Delk Children are Joseph and Mary Gilbert Delk (first marriage for Joseph)
John Delk 1856-1917 Mote Cemetery
Charles Irvin Delk 1857-1022 Mote Cemetery
James Monroe Delk 1858- 1917 Mote Cemetery
Sarah Altha Delk Waybright 1863 -1917 Fort McKinley Cemetery Dayton Ohio
Silas Elmer Delk 1865-1917 Mote Cemetery
Carlton Gilbert Delk 1868-1923 Mote Cemetery
Per the 1976 Pitsburg book.
We find this bio on Find-A-Grave for Joseph Delk:
After the death of his mother in 1835 and father in 1836 Joseph was taken into the home of a stranger, who put him to work at a tender age and gave him small opportunity to obtain an education. Joseph’s boyhood was one of toil and deprivation and as a young man he served four years’ apprenticeship to learn the trade of blacksmith at Liberty, Ohio. Later he worked at Gettysburg, Darke Co., where he conducted a shop on his own account for a period of three years. He subsequently removed to a farm near New Lebanon and there carried on his trade in conjunction with farming, having a shop on his land. He met Mary Ann Gilbert at the hotel in Liberty, Montgomery Co. and they were married February 15, 1855, at Gettysburg. They located on a farm in the neighborhood, where their first children were born. They moved thence to Painter Creek, and from there to what is now known as Old Pitsburg, where Joseph bought a lot and erected a home. Joseph Delk worked some twenty years at his trade in Old Pitsburg. After Mary’s death Joseph married again, but there were no children by the second marriage. He lived for a time at Miamisburg, but subsequently came to live with his son John at Pitsburg, where his death occurred May 16, 1885. He is buried by the side of his first wife in Mote cemetery, at Old Pitsburg. He was a Democrat in politics and at one time served as turnpike commissioner of Monroe township. He and his wife belonged to the German Baptist Church and were much interested in church work.
Source: History of Darke County, Ohio, From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Volume II, The Hobart Publishing Company, Milford, Ohio, 1914
Courtesy Find A Grave Contributor Kurt #46986284. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87399971/joseph-oen-delk
If you are a descendant or have more information/photos of the Delk family, please contact AWTHS through messenger or [email protected] attention Annette Stewart.
Please follow AWTHS blog guidelines. Credit is to be given to the writers, Carolyn Temte and Annette Stewart, and the material is part of the AWTHS archives. Also Joseph’s bio by Courtesy Find A Grave Contributor Kurt #46986284. See other sources as well.