MEDINA, Ohio -- After getting some fresh air for the last nine months, Holben’s Horseshoe has returned to the intersection of East Smith Road and South Court Street.

The horseshoe had been submerged in the sidewalk on East Smith since the 1880s, when local blacksmith Jabez “Jabe” Holben buried it to mark his blacksmith shop. He is also rumored to have buried several other horseshoes that have been found near homes around Medina, including his own and others he built.

After being unearthed by construction on East Smith, the horseshoe stole the show at a Medina City Council meeting, when many residents who feared the horseshoe was lost addressed council.

“Somebody, somewhere on social media kind of surmised it was gone,” said City Engineer Patrick Patton. “And that led to a lot of confusion when it wasn’t. We had saved it.”

Patton brought out the horseshoe at the council meeting to assure everyone that he had it, and has kept it, along with a second found horseshoe, in his office since August. He said a few residents have kept in touch with him to see when the horseshoe would be reinstalled.

“We do get asked about it frequently,” he said. “So it will be nice to say it's done.”

The horseshoe will be returned to the intersection, but instead of settling into its original resting place on the sidewalk, it will be installed into a small concrete pad next to the sidewalk.

After residents came to council to express their concerns about the horseshoe, City Council President John Coyne said he was surprised to learn how many people knew the history of it.

“Most people didn't even know that it existed,” he said. “To have that many people be that informed about the horseshoe, I thought that was a pretty good showing of support of the history of it."

While it wasn’t contested whether or not the horseshoe should be reinstalled, Coyne said the next question was whether or not to mark the horseshoe with some sort of commemorative plaque. The horseshoe had sat on the sidewalk for about 130 years without any sort of marker, but on the other hand, he said many people may not know what the horseshoe is, or that there are more of them.

To come to a decision about how to mark the horseshoe, Coyne said council will have to discuss the issue to see how they want to handle it, and that they may need to look for residents’ input, as well.

“The question is how do we identify them?” Coyne said. “And I don’t know the answer to the question.”

Don Williams was one of the residents who came to council when the horseshoe was first excavated, and since it’s been buried and then kept at City Hall, he’s been one of the few people to actually hold the horseshoe.

He said he understands both sides of the plaque or no-plaque debate. He said without a marker, the horseshoe had a certain kind of mystery that would make people who passed by it wonder how it got there.

“For a century, it was just kind of mysterious,” he said. “'Why is there a horseshoe there?' And only a few were truly in the know.”

On the other hand, Williams said a plaque would encourage more people to look at the horseshoe, especially since it will be next to the sidewalk instead of directly in it.

“I can see both sides of that argument, and I will not unhappy with either result,” he said.

Plaque or no plaque, the horseshoe story did motivate Williams to join Medina’s Archive Commission. While he has only been appointed to it for a short time, he said he did help prepare the Town Hall & Engine Museum on the square for its opening.

“I got the pleasure of washing the 1918 fire truck a couple of weeks ago,” Williams said. “You never know what little events in life lead to different things.”

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