ZANESFIELD, Ohio – It's Zanesfield, not Zanesville.

• Home to approximately 200 people
• Named after Issac Zane who was captured by Native Americans at the age of 9
• Will celebrate 200 years in the fall

Both are named after members of the same family, but they are quite different.

For starters, they're on opposite sides of the state. Zanesville is home to approximately 25,000 people.

Zanesfield is home to 190.

Zanesfield has officially been a town since 1819, but it's roots go back another 50 years.

He would later marry the daughter of a Wyandot tribal chief.

After purchasing 1,800 acres of property in Ohio from the federal government, he was given three tracts of land for his service to the U.S. During treaty conferences in the Northwest Territory. That land is now home to Zanesfield – an area tracted by Alexander Long in 1819.

100 years ago Zanesfield was the place to be. Home to a half-dozen gas stations, several had bars in the back.

“...This town is not any bigger than it's ever been,” exclaimed Polly Bargar, Director of the Dr. Earl Sloan Library in Zanesfield. “It's always been this size. And we had something like six or eight gas stations. And in the back of every gas station was a little bar. And then when prohibition came along it really got roaring.”

Sandusky Street is the main road through town. There are no highways or interstates to get to Zanesfield. There are only three county roads that lead to and from the small village.

The most famous resident to come out of Zanesfield is Earl Sloan – for whom the library is named after. It also doubles as a museum, holding artifacts, photographs, and other keepsakes of the town's history.

Earl Sloan was a doctor, born of Andrew and Susan Sloan in 1848. Andrew was a veterinarian and crated a horse liniment. Earl Sloan, at the ripe age of 23, took that liniment and headed west where he began to build an advertising and marketing empire.

Sloan products became widely used across the country. And Sloan made millions of dollars. His ads appeared in Harper's Weekly and on streetcars throughout Chicago.

In 1913, Ohio's governor visited Zanesfield and gave a speech in honor of Sloan. Bargar said Sloan's success was because he knew how to market products.

“He knew who to sell to to move his product, which was the ladies. Because the ladies were the ones who stocked the house. The men went out and read the paper.”

Sloan eventually sold to Warner-Lambert.

Zanesfield is also home to one of the longest-running Taloga festivals which is an outdoor drama production starring local talent. It takes place every year during Memorial Day weekend.

The town sits on the Bellfontaine outlier for shale and limestone. A giant boulder sits at one end of town as a memorial to Issac Zane.

Zanesfield's history of gas stations, bars, and eating establishments are no more. The town is home to only about a half-dozen businesses: a pizza place, bed and breakfast, and a few home businesses. There are no gas stations or bars, the police and fire departments are gone – although the township fire department sits on the edge of town, and there are no traffic lights.

A Logan County recycling depot is nearby, but the closest grocery store is in East Liberty, five miles away.

It's not a tourist destination, but there are plenty of tourist activities nearby. Mad River Mountain, a ski resort, is 2 ½ miles south. The Ohio Caverns are ten miles away. And the tallest point in Ohio, Campbell Hill, is five miles northwest.

It's a quiet town with essentially no crime. The post office keeps a box labeled Zanesville for the occasional mail that is addressed incorrectly. The town has avoided natural disasters and hasn't burned down.

In September, the town will hold a celebration near the historic Zane House at Blue Park. Music, food, and other events are being planned.