BARNESVILLE — Mapping the First Landowners of Belmont County and What We’ve Learned, will be presented by Crystal Lorimor, Jason Garczyk and Anthony Atkins at the Watt Center on Thursday.

The center is located at 511 Watt Ave., Barnesville, and the program begins at 7 p.m.

Lorimor, director of the Community Improvement Corp., walked into the county recorder’s Office one day to gather a bit of information. Recorder Jason Garczyk, knowing Lorimar’s interest in local history, said, “Let me show you something I’m working on.” He returned with a file, opened it, and revealed the same project Crystal was working on herself: mapping the first landowners in the various townships based upon the Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office records.

Luckily, they had not completed the same townships, so they joined forces, with Garczyk completing much of the mapping. They both did the project by hand. Once completed, they laid out all the townships, looking at all the names of the landowners. Then they decided to ask another history lover to help: could Anthony Atkins, director of the GIS department, digitize this project so they could overlay creeks and towns to learn more about Belmont County’s history?

The presentation at the Watt Center will be the first public reveal of their project, along with information they’ve learned about some of the first landowners.

The doors will open at 6 p.m. to allow attendees to view the displays of local history. Admission is a suggested $5 donation that goes toward furthering the group’s mission.

The Watt Center for History and the Arts provides a museum to preserve and display artifacts illustrating the rich historical record of business, industry and agriculture of Barnesville and the surrounding area. Art displays and classes are offered to encourage appreciation and creativity. More information is posted on the group’s Facebook page.