A Brief History of Ovid
Ovid’s townsite was surveyed in 1906, but its major industrial growth came with construction of the Great Western Sugar Company’s beet-processing plant in 1925. The community incorporated that December. Sugar production tied the town to surrounding farms and railroad freight. During World War II, German prisoners of war were housed in Ovid and worked harvesting beets and potatoes. The factory was demolished in 2016. Its small steam locomotive, known as the “Dinky,” was preserved in the town park, retaining a visible connection to the plant’s work moving loaded railroad cars.