History Of The Findlay Police Department Topic Of Museum Lecture

(From the Hancock Historical Museum)

Pack a lunch and join the Hancock Historical Museum on Thursday, September 4, 2025, at noon for a Brown Bag Lecture presented by Tom Davis, retired detective sergeant of the Findlay Police Department and a third-generation public servant deeply rooted in the community.

Davis’s presentation will touch on the early history of the Findlay Police Department, which began to take shape in December 1853 when the town established a police force to replace the council-appointed marshal. The department was officially created in 1888 during the height of the oil boom, with 16 officers under the leadership of Chief John Bly. Officers were paid $28 per month, and by 1890 the force had grown to 24 men confronting the lawlessness of a boomtown—public intoxication, t