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Locator map showing Litchfield Township highlighted within Medina County, Ohio.
Litchfield Township, at the western edge of Medina County. The town band still plays at the gazebo in the median of Norwalk Road at Avon Lake Road, in the center of the map. Map by Ruhrfisch and Nyttend, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Local History · From Litchfield Township

Litchfield's town band has led the Memorial Day procession for 125 years

In 1900, the Litchfield Cemetery and Park Association needed a band for the Memorial Day procession. Urial Crow put one together. It has never stopped playing.

Published 2026-08-05 · 2 min read

Around 1900, the Litchfield Cemetery and Park Association had a specific problem. Every Memorial Day, a procession walked from the town square to the town cemetery. It needed music. So a local man named Urial Crow put a band together to lead the procession.1 The town called it "The Crow Band."

The Litchfield Town Band is still playing. From the same corner. In a replica of the original wooden bandstand. The town square is the median where Route 18 (Norwalk Road) crosses Route 83 (Avon Lake Road), at the center of the township.2

The directors, in order: Urial Crow, Loren Hayes (around 1915), Floyd Koons (mid-1920s), Raymond Bradley (1935-1939), Hal Leach (1939-1945), Kenneth Bradley (1946-2011), and Cynthia Bennett (2012 to today).3 Kenneth Bradley kept the baton for 65 straight years.

The band still plays Sousa marches and standards. It plays at Memorial Day services, at ice cream socials, at community events. The Kruggle-Smith family alone has had four generations in the band. Current members range from age 10 to age 93 and come from 11 zip codes.4

Ohio History Connection put a state historical marker at the site in 2016. It sits next to the bandstand. On any Memorial Day since 1900, if you were at Norwalk and Avon Lake in Litchfield, you would have heard the Crow Band.

Footnotes

  1. Around 1900 founding by the Litchfield Cemetery and Park Association. Documented on Ohio Historical Marker #8-52 (2016) and the Litchfield Township official band page. Urial Crow was the first director; the informal name “The Crow Band” comes from him.
  2. The gazebo at Route 18 (Norwalk Road) / Route 83 (Avon Lake Road). A replica of the original 1900s wooden bandstand sits in the median at the center of the township. GPS 41°10.079′N, 82°1.379′W per the state marker.
  3. Director succession, 1900 to present. Names and dates all appear on Ohio Historical Marker #8-52, erected 2016 by the Litchfield Historical Society and the Ohio History Connection.
  4. Kruggle-Smith four-generation family; current members age 10 to 93 from 11 zip codes. Documented on the Litchfield Township website's community-town-band page.

Sources

The Litchfield Historical Society published a book titled The Story of Litchfield, Ohio; a period photo of the original 1900s wooden gazebo very likely exists in that book. If Dan wants historic imagery of the bandstand or the band members, the Historical Society is the right contact.

Medina Homes Guide · Verified 2026-08-05