Julia A. Lamb, born in 1824 on a farm in Salem Township, first experienced life as a pioneer with its typical hardships. When she came to Sidney after her marriage to James Lamb in 1843, there were only 1400 residents in what could only be called a village. After her husband made his fortune early in manufacturing and in farm ownership, he became the first president of Citizens Bank in 1870 and a force in the improvement of life in Sidney. However, they both were instrumental in building the Presbyterian Church and parsonage. While during this time, Julia was publicly in the background, she was always quietly interested in helping the citizens of Sidney.
During the Civil War, when word was received that Sidney soldiers needed clothing and bandages, it was Julia Lamb along with 75 other ladies who formed the Christian Ladies Aid Commission to help specifically the men of the 20th OVI. The ladies held milk and mush suppers and children’s festivals to fund purchasing supplies for our soldiers. She worked tirelessly to get the men, especially those hospitalized, care packages from Shelby County.
After her husband’s death, rather than retiring to a typical Christian widow’s life, Julia Lamb continued her efforts to help Sidney. Although childless, she was particularly concerned about children’s welfare. After the erection of Sidney High School on 320 East North Street, she was troubled by the fact that it sat next to deplorable tenement housing. So, in 1913, at the age of 90, she purchased all the Oldham Property on North Street extending from the high school building to the river. She gifted it on the condition that the grounds were to be forever used for recreational purposes. If that condition were not met at any time in perpetuity, the land would become the property of the Presbyterian Church. Additionally, she gave B.P. Wagner $500 to improve the land for recreation purposes. He created plans to that end that resulted in the creation of a levelled playing field and 4 tennis courts. In 1914, at the age of 91 and not long before her death from pneumonia, Julia Lamb visited the tennis courts to watch the boys and girls play and to inspect the restroom she had funded for use by the teachers and pupils at the high school.
Her vision for the safety and well-being of the children of Sidney resulted in an athletic complex in continuous use by Sidney High School students for 90 years. Even today, that land remains in use as a playing field with the old track now used for exercise by any to enjoy the fruits of this benevolent lady’s vision.
It is no wonder when she died in 1916, that all the public schools in Sidney closed so that their students and staff could attend her funeral. From the simple life of a farm girl to the philanthropist most concerned with the physical welfare of Sidney’s youth, Julia Lamb qualifies as an inspirational woman.