Press Releases / News

Buckeye West 4th Grade Students Step Back in Time

Monday, May 8, 2023

Fourth-grade students from Buckeye West Elementary in Adena, Ohio, recently were treated to a step back in time to experience early Ohio history in Historic Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. The students were greeted by Mt. Pleasant Historical Society members, who introduced them to structures, personalities, and stories of one of Ohio’s first settlements.

Well known for their work in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, Mt. Pleasant is home to the 1814 Quaker Yearly Meeting House and the Benjamin Lundy House, both owned by the Ohio History Connection. The Mt. Pleasant Historical Society also holds and operates six historical buildings as museums available to the public by appointment and during their annual historic home tour.  

As a special treat, Unified Bank offered students a “Money Then and Now” financial literacy program to help young people learn the value of being financially responsible. Unified’s Community Development Executive, Don Feenerty, hosted the sessions in the 1803 log house Harris Bone General Store. Dressed in proper period attire, Feenerty taught that items in the 1803 store were purchased then, much like they are today, using credit. “Today we use credit cards, but back then, your credit was kept in a store ledger, and items placed on your “tab” were later paid for at the end of the week, month, or when your harvest came in,” said Feenerty. “These days, everyone has a credit score, but back then, store owners, like Mr. Harris decided if your credit was good or not,” Feenerty added.

According to Historical Society President Angela Feenerty, Adena's fourth-grade students have visited Mt. Pleasant for their annual local history field trip for many years. She pointed out that each year during the Society’s annual historic home tour, held the first weekend of August, inevitably, someone mentions that they first visited Mt. Pleasant back when they were in fourth grade.

This year the Historical Society is celebrating its 75 Anniversary.

Unified Bank is a full-service Member FDIC-insured, state-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Martins Ferry, OH and has eighteen locations that serve the Ohio counties of Athens, Belmont, Carroll, Fairfield, Harrison, Hocking, Jefferson and Tuscarawas and Marshall County in West Virginia. Unified Bank is the sole operating subsidiary of United Bancorp, Inc. (UBCP), a publicly-traded bank holding company, and has been serving the financial needs of the Ohio Valley since 1902 from its headquarters in Martins Ferry, Ohio.