WANE 15 will be taking its 5 and 6 pm newscasts on the road Monday, September 16, as part of the station's first-ever "Live in Your Hometown," initiative. The first location features Columbia City, so here's a look back at a bit of history from that Whitley County city that you may not be aware of. This story was originally published in 2019. COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (WANE) — National Soy Sauce Day is "celebrated" annually on Sept. 29. In Japan, the day is known as National Soy Sauce Gathering Day. Drive through rural Indiana and you are almost guaranteed to see two things: corn and soybeans. Soybeans are used to make any number of products, including the salty condiment soy sauce. But did you know one of the first, if not the first, fermented soy sauce factories was located in Whitley County? Nestled in a hallway at the Whitley County Historical Museum sits the story of a Whitley County legend just waiting to be told. "Most people don't know who Ohki was," Whitley County Historical Museum member Pam Koch said. "We will be working with the high school to try to make him better known as to who he was and what he meant to Columbia City. " Shinzo Ohki arrived from Japan when he was 17 years old, and graduated from Columbia City High School in 1907. Ten years later, in 1917, he married the girl next door in Japan, Taka Iwanaga, and the couple moved back to Columbia City. That same year Ohki founded the Oriental Show-You Company. This is what a 2-ounce bottle of Oriental Show-You Sauce looked like. By 1924, he was bottling his own brand of soy sauce, along with other Japanese favorites such as chow mein noodles and chop suey. During the company's early years, the company was producing 12,000 gallons of Show-You sauce a year, which sold in the Midwest. At its peak, the company was producing 30,000 gallons of soy sauce per year - enough to make roughly 1.92 million 2-ounce bottles of Oriental Show-You. "He became a highly respected man in Columbia City," Koch said. "He was active in Rotary. He helped found the Crooked Lake golf course, which is north of Columbia City on Highway 9. He was very active in the Presbyterian church and a very talented artist." After the attack on Pearl Harbor, several Japanese-Americans were forced into concentration camps in America. However, thanks to the efforts of residents of Columbia City, Ohki and his family were spared. "He did not go to Rotary the night after Pearl Harbor," Koch said. "The Rotarians got up, put on their coats, went to his home and said, 'You are an American. You will go to Rotary.' They set up guards to protect his home and when the government tried to get the Ohkis to go to internment camps, the city fathers and businessman wrote letters saying this man is too important to our community and they were not placed." When the war was over, Ohki hired soldiers who were returning home. Local legend has it, the soldiers would show off the swords they collected off the dead in Japan during the war to Ohki, and he would tell his employees how much the swords meant to the Japanese families. Ohki would then take the swords to return them to the families. The factory closed in 1961 when Ohki sold his company to Beatrice Foods Inc. His Oriental Show-You later became a part of La Choy food products. After his company was sold, Ohki stayed in Columbia City until his death in 1967. There is little evidence of the factory in Columbia City. On the corner of Line Street and Factory Avenue, where the factory once stood, is a new business. His name, though, lives on. A scholarship is awarded in Ohki's name every year at his alma mater Columbia City High School. To learn more about the life of Shinzo Ohki or take a tour of the Whitley County Historical Museum, click here.