MONTGOMERY COUNTY
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270
MONTGOMERY
COUNTY was named from Gen. Richard Montgomery, of the American
Revolutionary
army; he was born in Ireland, in 1737, and was killed in the assault
upon
Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775. This county was created May 1, 1803, from
Hamilton and
Ross, and the temporary seat of justice appointed at
the house of George NEWCOM, in Dayton. About one-half of
the county
is rolling
and
the rest level; the soil of an excellent quality, clay predominating. East of the Miami are many excellent
limestone
quarries, of a greyish-white hue. Large quantities
are exported to Cincinnati, where it is used in constructing the most
elegant
edifices; nearly all the canal locks from Cincinnati to Toledo are
built with
it. This is a great
manufacturing county,
and abundance of water power is furnished by its various streams, and
it is
very wealthy, with a dense agricultural population.
The principal products are corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley,
flaxseed, potatoes; pork, wool and tobacco.
Area
about 470
square miles In
1887 the acres cultivated were 167,779;
in pasture, 18,402; woodland, 34,134; lying waste, 9,624;
produced in wheat, 639,886 bushels; rye, 4,655; buckwheat, 171 ; oats,
415,084;
barley, 55,960; corn, 1,523,796;
broom-corn, 67,759 lbs, brush; meadow bay, 15,104 tons; clover hay,
8,628;
flax, 176,477 lbs. fibre;
potatoes, 85,200 bushels;
tobacco, 4,717,558 lbs. (largest in the
State);
butter, 827,943; cheese, 2,715 sorghum, 5,872 gallons;
maple syrup,
13,934; honey, 4,018 lbs.;
eggs, 635,473 dozen; grapes, 132,780 lbs.;
wine, 6,301
gallons; sweet potatoes, 3,648 bushels; apples, 563; peaches, 15 pears, 1,725; wool, 15,747 lbs.; milch cows owned, 10,497. Ohio
Mining Statistics, 1888: Limestone, 5,062
tons
burned for lime; 195,537 cubic
feet of
dimension stone; 33,977 cubic yards of building stone;
422,558 square
feet of flagging; 9,750 square feet of paving; 48,586 lineal feet of
curbing;
1,352 cubic yards of ballast
or macadam. School census,
1888, 26,797; teachers, 402.
Miles of railroad track, 165.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Township And
Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Butler, |
1,897 |
2,196 |
Madison, |
1,594 |
2,306 |
Clay, |
1,633 |
3,063 |
Mad River, |
|
2,091 |
Dayton, (city
and Township) |
10,334 |
38,678 |
Miami, Perry, |
3,249 1,883 |
5,024 2,272 |
German, |
2,629 |
3,451 |
Randolph, |
1,774 |
2,327 |
Harrison, |
|
2,667 |
Van Buren, |
|
2,953 |
Jackson, |
1,688 |
2,451 |
Washington, |
2,259 |
1,784 |
Jefferson, |
1,895 |
6,096 |
Wayne, |
1,045 |
1,191 |
Population
of
Montgomery in 1820 was 16,061; 1830,24,374;
1840,31,879; 1860, 52,230; 1880, 78,550; of whom 54,396 were born in Ohio; 4,059 Pennsylvania; 1,197 Indiana; 1,114
New York; 1,037 Virginia;
813 Kentucky; 7,894 German Empire; 2,574 Ireland; 664 England and
Wales; 270
France; 207 British America; 159 Scotland, and 11 Norway and Sweden.
Census, 1890, 100,852.
Among
the
early settlers of Montgomery county
was Col. ROBERT
PATTERSON. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1753, and emigrated
to Kentucky in 1775. In 1804 he removed from Kentucky and
settled
about a mile below Dayton. He
was the
original proprietor of Lexington, Ky., and one-third owner of
Cincinnati, when it was laid
out. He was with Col. George
Rogers Clarke in 1778, in his celebrated
Illinois campaign; in the following year he was in Bowman�s expedition against old Chillicothe. In this expedition, according to
Patterson�s memoranda, Bowman
had 400 men. In August, 1780,
he was also a captain under
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271
Clark,
in his
expedition against the Shawnees, on the Little Miami and Mad river; was
second
in command to Col. Boone, August 19, 1782, at the battle of the Lower
Blue Licks; was colonel on
the second expedition of
Gen. Clarke, in the following September, into the
Miami country; held the same office in 1786, under Col. Logan, in his expedition
against the Shawnees. He
died, August 5, 1827. His early life was
full of incidents, one of the most remarkable of which we give in his
own
language, as originally published in the Ohio
National Journal:
Canoe Jonrney up the Ohio.�In
the fall of 1776 I started from McClellan�s
station (now Georgetown, Ky.) in company
with Jos. McNutt, David Perry, James Wernock,
James
Templeton, Edward Mitchell and Isaac Greer, to go to Pittsburg. We
procured
provision for our journey at the Blue Licks, from the well-known stone
house,
the Buffalo. At Limestone we
procured a
canoe, and started up the Ohio river
by water. Nothing
material transpired during several of
the
first days of our journey. We landed at Point Pleasant, where was a
fort
commanded by Capt. Arbuckle. After
remaining there a short time, and receiving dispatches
from Capt. Arbuckle to the commandant at Wheeling, we again proceeded.
Aware
that Indians were lurking along the bank of the river we travelled
with the utmost caution. We usually landed an hour before sunset, cooked and eat our supper, and went
on until
after dark. At night we lay without fire, as convenient to our canoe as
possible, and started again in the morning at
daybreak. We had all agreed
that if any
disaster should befall us by day or by night that we should stand by
each
other, as long as any help could be afforded.
Attacked
by
Indians�At length the memorable
12th of October arrived. During the day we passed several new improvement, which occasioned us
to be less watchful and
careful than we had been before. Late
in
the evening we landed opposite the island [on the Ohio side of the
river, in what is now Athens county], then
called the Hockhocking, and
were beginning to flatter ourselves that we should
reach some inhabitants the next day.
Having eaten nothing that day, contrary to our usual
practice, we
kindled a fire and cooked
supper. After we had eaten,
and made the last of our
flour into a loaf of bread, and put it into an old brass kettle to
bake; so
that we might be ready to start again in the morning at daybreak, we lay down to rest, keeping
the same clothes on at night
that we wore during the day. For
the want
of a better, I had on a hunting-shirt and britch
clout (so called), and flannel leggins.
I had my
powder-horn and shot-pouch on my side, and placed the butt of my gun under my head.
Five
of our company lay on, the east side of the fire, and James Templeton
and myself on the west; we
were lying on our left aides, myself in front, with my
right hand hold of my gun. Templeton
was close behind me. This was our position, and asleep,
when we
were fired upon by a party of Indians. Immediately after the
fire they
rushed upon us with tomahawks, as if
determined to finish the work of death they had begun.
It appeared that one Indian had shot on my side of the
fire. I saw the flash of the
gun and felt the ball
pass through me, but where I could not tell, nor
was it at first painful. I
sprang
to take up my gun, but my right shoulder came to the ground. I made
another
effort, and was half bent in getting up, when an Indian sprang past the
fire
with savage fierceness, and struck me
with his tomahawk. From the
position I
was in, it went between two ribs, just behind the backbone, a little below the kidney, and
penetrated the cavity of the
body. He then immediately
turned to
Templeton (who by this time had got to his feet with his gun in hand), and seized his gun. A desperate scuffle ensued, but
Templeton held
on, and finally bore off the gun.
A
Forlorn
Condition.�In the meantime I made from the
light, and in my attempt to get
out of sight, I was delayed for a moment by getting my right arm fast
between a
tree and a sapling, but having got clear and away from the light of the
fire,
and finding that I had lost the use of my right arm, I made a shift to keep it up by drawing it through the
straps, of my shot-pouch. I could see the crowd about the
fire, but the firing had ceased and
the strife
seemed to be over. I had
reason to
believe that the others were all shot and tomahawked. Hearing no one
coming
towards me, I resolved to go to the river and, if possible, to get into
the
canoe and float down, thinking by that means I might possibly reach Point Pleasant, supposed to be
about 100
miles distant. Just as I got on the beach a little below the canoe an Indian in the canoe gave a
whoop which gave me to understand
that it was best to withdraw. I did so;
and with much difficulty got to an old log, and being very thirsty,
faint and
exhausted, I was glad to sit down. I
felt
the blood running, and heard it dropping on the
leaves
all around me. Presently I
heard the
Indians board the canoe and float past. All
was now silent, and I felt myself in a moat
forlorn
condition. I could not see
the fire, but
determined to find it and see if any of my comrades were alive. I
steered the
course which I supposed the fire to be, and having reached it, I found
Templeton alive, but wounded in nearly the
same
manner that was James Wernock
was also
dangerously wounded, two balls having
passed
through his body; Jos. McNutt was dead and scalped; D.
Perry was
wounded, but not badly, and Isaac
Greer
was missing. The miseries of
that hour
cannot well be described.
Wernock�s
Resignation.�When daylight
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272
appeared we held a council, and
concluded that
inasmuch as one gun and some ammunition was saved, Perry would furnish
us with
meat, and we would proceed up the river by slow marches to the nearest
settlements, supposed to be one hundred miles. A small quantity of
provisions
which was found scattered around the fire was picked up and distributed
among
us, and a piece of blanket, which was saved from the fire, was given to
me to
cover a wound on my back. On examination, it was found that two balls
had
passed through my right arm, and that the one was broken; to dress
this,
splinters were taken from a tree near the fire that had been shivered
by
lightning, and placed on the outside of my hunting-shirt and bound with
a
string. And now, being in readiness to move, Perry took the gun and
ammunition,
and we all got to our feet except Wernock,
who, on
attempting to get up fell back to the ground. He refused to try again,
said
that he could not live, and at the same time desired us to do the best
we could
for ourselves. Perry then
took hold of
his arm and told him if he would get up he
would
carry him; upon this he made another effort to get up, but
falling back
as before, he begged us m the most solemn manner to leave him. At his
request,
the old kettle was filled with water and placed at his aide, which
he said was the last and only favor required of us, and then conjured
us to
leave him and try to save ourselves, assuring us that should he live to
see us again, he would
cast no reflections of unkindness upon us. Thus
we left him. When we had got
a little
distance I looked back, and distressed and hopeless as Wernock�s
condition really was, I felt
to envy it. After going about
100 poles, we were obliged
to stop and rest, and found ourselves too sick and weak to proceed.
Another
consultation being held, it was agreed that Templeton and myself should
remain
there with Edward Mitchell, and Perry should take the gun and go to the
nearest
settlement and seek relief. Perry promised that if he could not procure
assistance he would be back in four days. He then returned to the camp
and
found Wernock in the same state of mind as when we
left,
perfectly rational and sensible of his condition, replenished his
kettle, with
water, brought us some fire and started for the settlement.
Wernock�s
Death,�Alike
unable to go
back or forward,
and being very thirsty, we set about getting water from a small stream
that
happened to be near us, our only drinking vessel an old wool hat, which
was so
broken that it was with great difficulty made to hold water; but by
stuffing
leaves in it, we made it hold so that each one could drink from once
filling
it. Nothing could have been a greater
luxury to
us than a drink of water from the old hat
Just at night Mitchell returned to see if Wernock
was still living, intending,
if he was dead, to get the
kettle for us, he arrived just
in time to see him expire; but
not choosing to leave him until he
should be certain that he was dead, he stayed with him until darkness
came on,
and when he attempted to
return to us, he
got lost and lay from us all night. We suffered much that night for the
want of
fire, and through fear that he was either killed or that he had ran of;
but
happily for us our fears were groundless, for next morning at sunrise
he found
his way to our camp. That day we moved about 200 yards farther up a
deep
ravine, and farther from the river. The weather, which had been cold
and
frosty, now became a little warmer, and commenced raining. Those that were with me could set
up, but I
had no alternative but to lie on my back on the ground with my right
arm over my body. The
rain continuing neat day, Mitchell took an excursion to examine the
hills, and
not far distant he found a rock projecting from the cliff sufficient to
shelter
us from the rain, to which place we very gladly
removed. He also
gathered pawpaws
for us, which were our only food, except perhaps a few grapes.
Rescuers
Arrive.�Time moved slowly on until Saturday.
In the meantime we talked
over the danger to which Perry was exposed, the distance he had to go
and the
improbability of his returning. When
the
time had expired which he had allowed himself, we concluded that we
would, if
alive, wait for him until Monday; and if he did not come then, and no
relief
should be afforded, we would attempt to travel to Point Pleasant. The
third day
after our defeat my arm became very painful.
The
splinters and leaves and my shirt were cemented together with blood,
and stuck
so fast to my arm that it required the application of warm water for
nearly a
whole day to loosen them so that they could be taken off; when this was
done, I
had my arm dressed with white oak leaves, which
had
a very good effect. On
Saturday, about
twelve o�clock, Mitchell came with his bosom full of pawpaws,
and placed them convenient to us, and returned to his station on the
river. He
had been gone about an hour, when to our great joy we beheld him coming
with a company of men.
When they approached us, we found that our trusty friend
and companion,
David Perry, had returned to our assistance with Captain John Walls,
his
officers and most of his company. Our feelings of gratitude may
possibly be
conceived, but words can never describe them. Suffice to say that these
eyes
flowed down plenteously with tears, and I was so completely overwhelmed
with
joy that I fell to the ground. On my recovery, we were taken to the
river and
refreshed plentifully with provisions, which the captain had brought,
and had
our wounds dressed by an experienced man, who came for that purpose. We
were
afterwards described by the captain to be in a most forlorn and
pitiable
condition, more like corpses beginning to petrify than living beings.
While we were at the cliff which
sheltered us from the
rain, the howling of the wolves in the direction of the fatal spot
whence we
had so narrowly escaped with our lives, left no doubt that they were
feasting
on the
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273
bodies of our much-lamented friends,
McNutt and Wernock.
While we were refreshing ourselves at the river,
and having our wounds dressed, Captain Walls went with some of his men
to the
place of our defeat, and collected
the
bones of our late companions, and buried them with the utmost
expedition and
care. We were then conducted by water to Captain Wall�s station, at
Grave creek.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
MISCELLANIES.
The
following
series are from the pen of Mr. Robert W. Steele as originally
communicated to the �History
of Dayton,� a large octavo of
seven hundred and twenty-seven pages, published in 1889 by Harvey W.
Crew. Mr.
Steele is a Christian gentleman, who has devoted a large part of a long
life to
the highest interests of the
public. He
was born in Dayton, July 3, 1819, of an honored parentage, his ancestry having been of that Scoth-Irish
Presbyterian stock that settled
in the
Valley of Virginia. He
graduated in 1840
at the Miami University; was
for thirty
years member of the Dayton Board of Education and long its president;
has been
connected with the Dayton Public Library from the
beginning; is a member
of
the State Board of Charities and of the State Board Several of the
other
articles which follow are also contributed
by
him as the account of the great Harrison Convention of
1840. Sketches
of Daniel Cooper,
the Van Cleves, etc.
NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
FERTILE
SOIL. TIMBER.
Long
before any
permanent settlement was made in the Miami Valley, its beauty and
fertility
were known to the inhabitants of Kentucky and the people beyond the Alleghanies, and repeated
efforts were made to get
possession of it. These efforts led to retaliation on the part of the
Indians,
who resented the attempt to dispossess them of their lands, and the
continuous
raids back and forth across the Ohio River to gain or keep control of
this
beautiful valley, caused it to be called, until the close of the
eighteenth
century, the �Miami Slaughter-house.� The report of the French Major Celoron de Bienville, who, in
August, 1749, ascended the La
Roche or Big Miami River in bateaux to visit the Twightwee
villages at Piqua, has been preserved, but Gist, the agent of the
Virginians,
who formed the Ohio Land Company, was probably the first person who
wrote a
description in English of the region surrounding Dayton. Gist visited the Twightwee or Miami
villages in 1751. He was
delighted with
the fertile and well watered land, with its large oak, walnut, maple, ash, wild cherry and other trees.
�The country,� he says,
�abounded with turkey, deer, elk and most sorts of game, particularly
buffaloes, thirty or forty of which are frequently seen feeding in one
meadow;
in short, it wants nothing but cultivation to make it a most delightful
country. The land upon the
Great Miami
River is very rich, level and well
timbered, some of the finest meadows that can be.
The grass here grows to a great height on the clear
fields, of
which there are a great number, and the bottoms
are full of white clover, wild rye and blue grass.�
it is stated by pioneer writers that the buffalo and elk
disappeared from Ohio about the year 1795.
The
development
of the Miami Valley has shown that the glowing accounts of the early
explorers
as to the fertility of the soil were not too highly colored. Beautiful
and
fertile as the Miami Valley is, no part of it surpasses, if it equals,
the
region immediately surrounding Dayton. The �MAD RIVER COUNTRY,� as this
region
was called by the first pioneers, was the synonym for all that was
desirable in
farming lands.
RIVERS.
Dayton is fortunate in its location
at the confluence of four important streams�the Miami, Mad River,
Stillwater
and Wolf Creek. Each of these
streams
has its valley
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273
of great beauty and fertility, and
these valleys produce
large and profitable crops of every variety. As reported in the United
States
census report of 1880, the total value of farm products in Montgomery
County in
1879 was three million two hundred and eighty-eight thousand four
hundred and
forty-nine dollars, a greater amount than was
produced
by any other county in Ohio. An
incidental advantage resulting from the four
river
valleys is the facilities they afford for the construction of
railroads, which,
through them, may reach Dayton on easy grades, and
at comparatively small cost. No
doubt to this cause may be partly attributed the fact that, with Dayton
as a
centre, ten railroads radiate in every direction.
BUILDING
STONE AND GRAVEL.
One of nature�s
chief gifts to Dayton is the building atone that underlies a large part
of
Montgomery County, Of especial value is the Niagara, or, as it is
commonly
called, the Dayton stone. So extensive are the beds of this
stone that
Professor Orton, the State geologist, pronounces it inexhaustible.
Another article, which at first
thought may be
considered of little value, is of the greatest
importance.
Gravel is so abundant and so cheap that we seldom reflect what an
important
part it has played in the development of
the country. Professor Orton
says: �It is
not easy to set a proper estimate upon the beds
of sand and gravel of Montgomery County until a comparison is
instituted
between a region well suppied
with such accumulations
and another that is destitute of them. The gravel knolls and ridges
with which
in the southern and eastern portions of the county, almost every farm
abounds,
afford very desirable building sites, and are
generally
selected for such purposes. Land
of the
best quality for mortar, cement and brick-making
is everywhere within easy access.
TURNPIKES.
An inexhaustible supply of
excellent materials for road-making�what
is frequently designated the lime-stone
gravel, though
in reality largely composed of granitic
pebbles�is found in the drift deposits, from which
hundreds of miles of
turnpikes have been already constructed in the country, thus affording
free
communication between farm and market at all seasons of the year. The
smaller
boulders of Canadian origin are selected from the gravel-banks for paving-stones, transsported
to the neighboring cities. In regions where stone
suitable for macadamized pikes can be obtained, good roads can be had,
even
though gravel is wanting but at largely increased expense above that of
gravel
turnpikes. The districts which are supplied with neither can certainly
never
compete in desirability with these gravel-strewn regions.�
Benj.
VAN
CLEVE, one of the original settlers of Dayton, gives in his journal an
interesting account of the survey, in the autumn of 1795, of the
purchase made
by Gov. ST. CLAIR,
Generals DAYTON and WILKINSON and Col. LUDLOW
from Judge SYMMES.
Two
parties set
out, one under Daniel C. COOPER,
to
survey and mark a road, and the other, under Capt. John DUNLAP, to run
the
boundaries of the purchase. Mr. VAN CLEVE says: �On the 4th of November
Israel
LUDLOW laid out the town at
the mouth of
Mad river and called it
Dayton, after one of the
proprietors. A lottery was held, and I drew lots for myself and several
others,
and engaged to become a settler in the ensuing spring.�
JOURNEY
BY LAND TO DAYTON.
In March, 1796,
three
parties left Cincinnati, led by William George HARNER, George
NEWCOME and Samuel THOMPSON. Harner�s
party was the first to start; the
other two companies left on Monday, March 21, one by land and the other
by
water. Harrier�s party came in
a
two-horse wagon over the road begun, but only partially cut through the
woods
by COOPER, in the fall of
1795. The other
party that travelled by
land walked. They were two
weeks on the road. Their
furniture,
stoves, clothes, provisions, cooking utensils, and agricultural
implements and
other property, as well as children too small to walk were carried on
horses,
in creels made of hickory withes, and suspended from
each side of pack-saddles. It
was a difficult matter to ford the creeks without
getting the freight and the women and children wet. Trees
were cut down
to build foot-bridges across the smaller streams. Rafts were
constructed to
carry the contents of the creels and the women and children over large
creeks,
while the horses and cattle swam. Their rifles furnished them with
plenty of
game, and their cows with milk, at meals.
Thompson�s
party
came in a large pirogue down the Ohio to the Miami,
and up that stream to the mouth of Mad river.
VOYAGE UP THE MIAMI TO DAYTON.
At the close of each day the boat
was tied to a tree
on the shore, and the emigrants landed and camped for the night around
the big
fire, by which they cooked their appetizing supper of game and fish and
the
eggs of wild fowls, for which the hunger of travellers
was a piquant and sufficient sauce. No doubt their food, as described
by other
pioneers,
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275
was cooked after this fashion: Meat
was fastened on a
sharpened stick, stuck in the ground before the fire, and
frequently turned. Dough for
wheat bread was sometimes wound
around a stick and baked in the same way. Corn bread was baked under
the hot
ashes. �Sweeter roast meat,� exclaims an enthusiastic pioneer writer,
�than
such as is prepared in this manner no epicure of Europe ever tasted. Scarce any one who has not tried it
can
imagine the sweetness and gusto of such a meal, in such a place, at
such a
time.�
ARRIVAL
AT DAYTON.
The passage from Cincinnati to
Dayton occupied ten
days. Mrs. THOMPSON was the first to step ashore, and the first white
woman,
except, perhaps, the captive Mrs. McFALL,
rescued by Kentuckians in 1782, to
set
her foot on Dayton soil. Two
small camps
of Indians were here when the pirogue touched the Miami bank, but they
proved
friendly, and were persuaded to leave in a day
or two. The pirogue landed at
the head of
St. Clair street,
Friday, April 1. The following brief
entry is the only allusion Benjamin Van VAN
CLEVE makes in his �Journal� to this important event in the history of Dayton:
�April 1, 1796. Landed at Dayton,
after a passage of ten days,
William GAHAGAN and myself having come with
THOMPSON�S and McCLURE�S
families in a large pirogue.�
We
can easily imagine the loneliness and dreariness of the uninhabited
wilderness
which confronted these homeless families. There were three women and
four
children�one an infant in the
party. �The
unbroken forest was all that welcomed them and the awful stillness of night had no refrain but the howling of the wolves
and the wailing of the whippoorwill.�
DAYTON
BLOCK HOUSE.
During the summer of 1799 an Indian
war was
apprehended, and a large block house was built for defensive purposes.
It stood
on the Main street bank of the Miami. The threatened attack did not
come, and
it was never used as a fort, but was converted into
a school-house where Benj. VAN CLEVE, the first Dayton
schoolmaster, taught the pioneer children.
EARLY
POSTAL FACILITIES.
December 13, 1803, Benjamin
VAN CLEVE was appointed postmaster.
Probably
in the spring of 1804 he opened the office in his cabin on the
southeast corner
of First and St. Clair
streets. He served till his
death in 1821. Previous to
1804 the only post-office in the
Miami valley, and as far north as Lake Erie, was at Cincinnati, and
from 1804
till about 1806 the people to the north of Dayton, as far as Fort
Wayne, were
obliged to come to our office
for their
mail. In 1804 Dayton was on
the mail
route from Cincinnati to Detroit, and the mail was carried by a
post-rider, who
arrived and left here once in two weeks.
But
soon after Mr. VAN CLEVE opened the post-office a weekly
mail was
established. Only one mail a week was received for several years, the
route of
which was from Cincinnati through Lebanon,
Xenia, and Springfield to Urbana;
thence
to Piqua; thence
down the Miami to Dayton, Franklin, Middletown, Hamilton
and Cincinnati.
A letter from Dayton to Franklin, or any other town on the route, was sent first to Cincinnati and then back
and
around the circuit to its destination. No stamps were used, but the
amount of
postage due was written on the outside of the letter. Postage was
sometimes
prepaid, but oftener collected on delivery. Mr.
VAN CELVE frequently inserted notices similar
to
the following in the newspapers: �The postmaster having
been in the
habit of giving unlimited credit heretofore,
finds it
his duty to adhere strictly to the instructions of the
postmaster-general. He hopes, therefore,
that his friends will not take it amiss when he assures them that no
distinction will be made. No letters will be delivered in future
without pay,
nor papers without the postage being paid quarterly in advance.� Now
that
postage for all distances
is equal and very low, we can hardly realize the burden and
inconvenience the
high and uncertain postage rates imposed upon
the pioneers. Money was very
scarce and
difficult to obtain; and to pay twenty-five
cents in cash for a letter was no easy matter.
In 1816 the rates of postage were
fixed as follows:
Thirty-six miles, six cents; eighty miles, ten cents; over one hundred
and
fifty miles, eighteen and three-fourth cents; over four hundred miles twenty-five cents. Newspapers
anywhere
within the State where printed, one cent. Elsewhere, not over one
hundred
miles, one cent and a half.
Magazines
at one cent a sheet for fifty miles;
one
cent and a half for one hundred miles; two
cents for over one hundred miles. Pamphlets and magazines were not
forwarded
when the mail was very large, nor when carried with great expedition on
horseback. For a good many
years the Eastern mail was brought to Wheeling by post-riders, and
thence down the river to Cincinnati in government mail-boats, built like
whaling craft, each manned with four
oarsmen and a cox-swain, who were often
armed. The voyage from Wheeling to Cincinnati occupied
six days, and the
return trip up stream twelve days.
A
PIONEER LIBRARY.
In the spring of 1805 the Dayton
Library Society was
incorporated by the Legislature. It is creditable to the pioneer
citizens of
Dayton that among the first institutions established were a public
library and
an academy. In 1805 the first Act of Incorporation oration of a public
library
granted by the State of Ohio was obtained from the Legislature, and
Page
276
in 1808 the
Dayton
Academy was incorporated.
NAVIGATION
OF THE MIAMI.
The Great Miami was navigable both
above and below
Dayton during the great part of the year for keel boats, which were
built like canal
boats, only slighter and sharper, as well as for flat boats, till about
1820,
when the numerous mill-dams that had by that time been erected,
obstructed the
channel. From that date till 1829, when the canal was opened,
freighting south
by water, except what was done in flat boats during floods, was almost
abandoned. The boats were often loaded with produce taken in exchange
for
goods, work, or even for lots and houses, for busi�ness men, instead of
having
money to deposit in bank or to invest, were frequently obliged to send
cargoes
of articles received in place of
cash
South or North for sale. Cherry
and
walnut logs were sometimes brought down the river on
the flat boats. The flat boat-men sold their boats when
they
arrived at New Orleans, and, buying a horse, returned
home by land. The
foundations of many fortunes
were laid in
this way. Flat boats were made of �green oak plank,
fastened by wooden
pins to a frame of timber, and caulked with tow or any other pliant
substance
that could be procured,� and were inclosed
and roofed with boards. They were only used in descending,
streams, and floated with the current. Long,
sweeping oars fastened at both ends of the boat, worked by men standing
on the
deck, were employed to keep it in the channel, and in navigating
difficult and dangerous
places in the river. The
first flat boat was launched in the winter
of 1799 near McDonald�s
Creek, by David
LOWRY. It was loaded in
Dayton with
grain, pelts and five hundred venison hams, and when the spring freshet
raised the river started
on the two months� trip to New
Orleans. The voyage was safely accomplished.
FISH BASKETS.
Fish baskets, of which there is
frequent mention in
the newspapers of the day, were made by building a dam on the riffles
so as to
concentrate the water at the middle of the river, where an opening was
made
into a bog constructed of slats and placed at a lower level than the
dam. Into this bog the fish
ran, but were unable to
return. A basket of this kind
remained on
the riffle at the foot of First street
as late as
1830.
Paul D. BUTLER,
on the, 21st of August, 1809, gives notice in the Repertory of his
intention to
navigate the Miami from Dayton to the mouth of Stony Creek as soon as
the
season will permit, and forewarns all persons obstructing the
navigation by
erecting fish baskets or any other obstructions, that he is determined
to
prosecute those who erect them. He and Henry DESBROW soon after
proceeded to
build two keel boats.
They were built during the winter
of 1809-1810 in the street in
front of the court-house, and
when finished were moved on rollers
up Main street to the river and launched. They ascended the Miami to
the
Laramie portage (see Shelby County), which was
as far as they could go. Then
one of the
boats was taken out of the river, and drawn across to the St. Mary�s.
For some
time this boat made regular trips on the Maumee, and the other on the
Miami,
the portage between them being about twelve miles across. A freight
line which
did good business was thus established between Dayton and Lake Erie by
way of
the Miami, Auglaize and Maumee rivers.
During the last week of March,
1819, eight flat boats
and one handsome keel boat loaded here, shoved off for the landing for
the
markets below, and several flat boats loaded with flour, pork and
whiskey also
passed down the Miami. This year a second line of keel boats was
established
for carrying grain and produce up the Miami. At Laramie it was
transferred,
after a portage across the land intervening between the two rivers, to
other
boats, and transported down the Maumee to the rapids, which was the
point of
transfer from river boats to lake vessels. At the rapids there was a
large
warehouse for storage of cargoes.
In May, 1819 Daytonians were
gratified to see a large keel boat, upwards of seventy feet in length
and with
twelve tons of merchandise on board, belonging to H. G. PHILLIPS and Messrs. SMITH
and EAKER,
arrive here from Cincinnati. She
was the only keel boat that had for a
number of years been brought this far
up
the Miami, as the river between here and its mouth had been much
obstructed.
Saturday and Sunday, March 26 and 27, 1825, were unusually exciting
days in
Dayton among boatmen, millers, distillers,
farmers, merchants
and teamsters,
as a fleet of thirty or more boats that had been embargoed here by b
low water
left their moorings bound for New
Orleans. Rain had begun to fall on Wednesday,
and continued till Friday, when the river rose. �The people,� says the
Watchman, �flocked to the banks, returning with cheerful countenances,
saying, �The, boats will get off.�
�On
Saturday all was the busy hum of a seaport; wagons were conveying
flour, pork,
whiskey, etc., to the different boats strung alone, the river. Several arrived during the day from the North.
On Sunday morning others came down, the water began to
fall, and
the boats carrying about $40,000 worth of the produce of the country
got
underway.� The whole value of the cargoes that left the Miami above and below Dayton during this freshet was estimated
at least $100,000. Some of
the boats were stove and the flour damaged, but most of them tossed
safely to
their destination. Twelve boats left here for New Orleans in February,
1827,
from Montgomery and Miami Counties, chiefly loaded with flour, pork and
whiskey.
Their cargoes were worth about$20,000. In
February, 1828, the last boat, loaded with produce for New Orleans, left
Page
277
here by the Miami.
The
neat year freight began to be
shipped
south by canal. As late as
1836, and
perhaps a year later, when the canal was opened to Piqua the line of
boats to
the north was continued.
EARTHQUAKES.
A comet was visible in 1811, and
this, together with
the series of earthquakes throughout
the Ohio
Valley, which
occurred during that and the succeeding year, and neither of which had
been
experienced before since the settlement of
the
western country, were regarded
with terror by
the superstitious, who considered them evil portents, and ominous of private or public misfortune.
The first earthquake shocks
occurred on the 16th and
17th of December, 1811, and the inhabitants of Dayton were kept in
continual
alarm by repeated shocks. The first and by far the severest was felt
between
two and three o�clock in the morning.
Other shocks occurred January 23,
1812, again on the 27th,
and the last on February 13th, when the motion of the
earth was from the southwest.
Although no material damage was
done by these
earthquakes, the people, and animals and fowls as well, were very much
alarmed.
Persons who experienced
it in youth, spoke of it in
old age with a shudder of horror.
ARRIVAL
OF THE FIRST CANAL BOATS.
In January 1829, the citizens of
Dayton were gratified
with the sight, so long desired, of the arrival of canal boats from
Cincinnati.
At daybreak, Sunday, January 25th, the packet, Governor
Brown, the first boat to arrive here from the Ohio,
reached the head of the basin. This packet was appropriately named, for
since
1819 Governor Brown had been engaged in
urging
the connection
of the two towns by means of a
canal. In the afternoon the Forrer arrived,
followed at
dark by the General Marion,
and
during the night by the General Pike.
Each boat was welcomed by the firing of cannon and the enthusiastic
cheers of a
crowd of citizens assembled on the margin of the basin.
The Governor
Brown was henceforth to make regular trips twice a week
between Dayton and
Cincinnati. It was the only packet fitted up exclusively for
passengers, and
was very handsomely and conveniently furnished. The master, Captain ARCHIBALD, was
very popular
and accommodating. The Alpha, which also made regular passages,
was commanded by M. F. JONES,
of Dayton.
A part of the Alpha was prepared for passengers. A fleet of canal
boats, the Governor Brown, Forrer,
General Marion General Pike, accompanied by the Alpha, with a Dayton party, were to have
made the first
return trip to
Cincinnati in company, but their departure was prevented by a break in
the
canal at Alexandersville.
MINIATURE RAILROAD.
In 1830 Stevenson ran the first
locomotive in England
over the Manchester and Liverpool railroad. The same year a miniature
locomotive and cars were exhibited in Dayton
in the Methodist church. The fact that council, by resolution,
exempted the exhibition
from
a license fee, and that the Methodist church was used for this purpose
illustrates the deep interest felt by the public in the
then new and almost untried scheme to transport freight
and
passengers by steam over
roads
constructed for the purpose. A
track was
run n around the interior of the church, and for a small fee parties
were
carried in the car. A large
part of the
then citizens of Dayton took their first railroad ride in this way.
THE CAPTURE AND SUICIDE OF A
FUGITIVE SLAVE.
In
1832 a
fugitive slave was captured in Dayton and carried off by his master,
who lived
in Kentucky. The occurrence produced the greatest excitement and indignation in the community. All that was necessary to prove the
detestable character of the
fugitive slave law was an
attempt to enforce it. The
following
account, from the Dayton Journal,
of
the affair, by an eye-witness who was not an Abolitionist, though his
sympathies were all with this negro,
is worthy of
insertion in the history of Dayton:
�A short time ago a negro man, who had
lived in
this place two or three years under the name of Thomas MITCHELL, was arrested by some men from
Kentucky, and taken before a
justice under a charge of being a slave who had escaped from his master. The magistrate, on hearing the
evidence,
discharged the black man, not being satisfied with the proof brought by
the
claimants of their rights to him. A few weeks afterward some men, armed
and
employed by the master, seized the negro
in our main
street, and were hurrying him towards the outskirts of the town, where
they had
a sleigh in waiting to carry him off. The negro�s cries brought a number
of citizens
into the street, who interfered, and prevented the men from taking him
away
without having legally proved their right to do so. The claimants of
the negro went before
the justice again, and after a long exami
Page
278
nation of the case on some new
evidence being produced, he
was decided to be the slave of the person claiming him as such. In the
meantime
a good deal of excitement had been produced among the people of the
place, and
their sympathies for the poor black fellow were so much awakened that a
proposition was made to buy
his freedom. The agent of the
master agreed to sell him,
under the supposition that the master would sell him his liberty, and a
considerable sum was subscribed, to which, out of his own savings, the
negro
contributed upwards of fifty dollars
himself. The master, however,
when his
agent returned to Kentucky, refused to agree to the arrangement, and
came
himself the week before last to take the
negro away. Their
first meeting was in the upper story of a house, and Tom, on seeing
those who
were about to take him, rushed to the window and endeavored, but
without
success, to dash himself through it, although, had he succeeded, he
would have
fallen on a stone pavement from a height not less than fifteen feet. He
was
prevented, however, and the master took him away with him and got him as far as Cincinnati. The following letter, received by a
gentleman in this city, gives
the concluding account of the matter:
POOR TOM
IS FREE.
CINCINNATI, Jan. 24, 1832.
DEAR SIR:�In
compliance with a request of Mr. J. DEINKARD, of Kentucky, I take my pen to inform you of the
death of his
black man Ben, whom he took in your place a few days ago. The circumstances are as follows: On
the
evening of the 22d inst., Mr. D. and company, with Ben, arrived in this
city on
their way to Kentucky, and put up at the Main Street
Hotel, where a room on the uppermost story (fourth) of the
building was provided for Ben
and his
guard. All being safe, as
they thought,
about one o�clock, when they
were in a
sound sleep, poor Ben, stimulated with even the faint prospect of
escape, or
perhaps pre-determined on liberty or death, threw himself
from the window, which is upwards of fifty
feet
from the pavement.
He was, as you may well
suppose severely injured, and the poor fellow died this morning about
four
o�clock. Mr. D. left this morning with the dead body of his slave, to
which he
told me he would give decent burial in his own graveyard. Please tell
Ben�s
wife of these circumstances.
Your
unknown
correspondent,
Respectfully,
R. P. SIMMONS.
Tom,
or, as he
is called in the letter, Ben, was an industrious, steady, saving little
fellow,
and had laid up a small sum of money; all of which he gave to his wife
and
child when his master took him away. A poor and humble being, of an
unfortunate
and degraded race, the same feeling which animated the signers of the
Declaration of Independence to pledge life, fortune and honor for
liberty,
determined him to be free or die.�
THE �MORUS MULTICAULIS� MANIA.
In 1839 the Dayton Silk Company was
incorporated, with
a capital of $100,000. The company
advertised
that they had on hand one hundred and fifty thousand eggs for self distribution to all who would sell to
them the
cocoons raised from the eggs. They published
fifteen thousand copies of a circular,
giving
all requisite information on the subject silk culture, which were freely distributed.
It was
proposed to introduce the cultivation of, the variety of white mulberry
known
as Morus Multicaulis.
The leaves of
the Morus Multicaulis, unlike those of the other variety, could be used the first year in the
rearing of
silk-worms. Farmers were advised to turn their attention
to this valuable crop, and many of them did so; and the
raising of silk-worms
became the fashion. The trees
sold in the East for from seventy five
cents to
one dollar and fifty cents apiece, and
the demand for them was increasing. The people were assured that one
acre had
been known to produce as high as seventy-five
pounds of silk the first year from the cuttings, and it was believed
that fifty
pounds could be produced the first year
without
injury to
the
trees. This silk company, likea former one, proved a
failure.
The mention of the Morus Multicaulis
tree recalls to memory one of those strange
manias that occasionally sweep over the country. The tree had recently
been
introduced from China, was of rapid growth,
and
furnished abundant food for
silk-worms.
It was believed
that the cultivation of this
tree and the use of its leaves to feed
silk-worms, would make the
United States
the great silk-producing country of the world. The most
extravagant
price was paid for young trees and thousands of acres planted.
Widespread, ruin
was the result, and hundreds of persona lost their all in this wild
speculation.
Page
279
DESCRIPTION OF DAYTON IN
1846.
The
following
sketch of Dayton, in 1846, was supplied for our first
edition by Mr. John W. VAN CLEVE, the first-born child of
the settlers. A sketch of his
life will be found on a few,
pages beyond.
The
thriving city
of Dayton is in this county. This
is a
beautiful town. It is
regularly laid out,
the streets are of an unusual width, and much taste is displayed in the private residences�many of
them are
large and are ornamented by fine gardens and shrubbery.
The following sketch is from a resident:
Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.
VIEW
IN DAYTON.
[The above view was taken near the
corner of First and Ludlow streets. In
front is shown the elegant residence of J. D. PHILLIPS, Esq., and the
First
Presbyterian church; on the left, the cuplola of the new court-hours
and the
spires of the German Reformed and Second Presybterian churches appear.]
Dayton,
the county-seat, is situated on the east side of the Great Miami, at
the mouth
of Mad river, and one
mile below the southwest branch. It
is 67 miles westerly
from Columbus, 52 from Cincinnati and 110 from Indianapolis. The
point at which
Dayton stands was selected in 1788 by some
gentlemen, who designed laying out a
town by the name of Venice. They agreed
with
John Cleves SYMMES,
whose contract
with Congress then covered the site of the place for the purchase of
the lands.
But the Indian wars which ensued prevented
the
extension of
settlements from the immediate neighborhood of Cincinnati for some
years, and
the project was abandoned by the purchasers. Soon after Wayne's treaty,
in
1795, a new company, composed of Generals Jonathan DAYTON,
Arthur ST. CLAIR, James WILKINSON and Col. Israel LUDLOW, purchased the lands between the
Miamis, around the mouth
of Mad river,
of Judge SYMMES, and on the
4th of
November laid out the town. Arrangements were made for its settlement
in the
ensuing spring, and donations of lots were offered, with other
privileges, to
actual settlers. Forty-six
persons
entered into engagements to remove from Cincinnati to Dayton, but
during the
winter most of them scattered in different directions,
and only nineteen fulfilled their engagements. The first families who made a permanent residence
in the place arrived on the 1st day of April, 1796. The first nineteen settlers of
Dayton were
William GAHAGAN, Samuel THOMSON, Benj. VAN
CLEVE, William VAN CLEVE, Solomon GOSS, Thomas DAVIS John
DAVIS, James McCLURE,
John McCLURE, Daniel
FERRELL, William HAMER, Solomon HAMER, Thomas HAMER, Abraham GLASSMIRE,
John
DOROUGH, William CHENOWETH, James
Page
280
Drawn
by Henry Howe in
1846.
VIEW
IN DAYTON.
�On the left is shown the Montgomery
County Court-House,
the most costly and elegant in Ohio:�the bridge
across the Great Miami appears in the distance.�
Old
Edition.
Page
281
Morris,
William
NEWCOM and George NEWCOM, the last of whom is still a resident of the
place and
the only survivor of the whole number.
Judge
SYMMES
was unable to complete his payments for all the lands he had agreed to
purchase
of the government, and those lying about Dayton reverted to the United
States,
by which the settlers were left without titles to their lots. Congress,
however, passed a pre-emption law, under which those who had contracted
for
lands with SYMMES and his associates had a right to enter the same lots
or
lands at government price. Some of the settlers entered their lots, and
obtained titles directly from the United States; and others made an
arrangement
with Daniel C. COOPER to receive their deeds from him, and he entered
the
residue of the town lands. He had been a surveyor and agent for the
first
company of proprietors, and they assigned him certain of their rights
of
pre-emption, by which he became the titular proprietor of the town.
Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.
THE COOPER FEMALE ACADEMY.
[The Cooper Female Academy in
Dayton is a highly
flourishing institution in excellent repute,
Mr. E. E.
BARNEY is the principal, under who are seven assistances and 174
pupils.]
He
died in
1818, leaving two sons, who have both since died without children.
In
1803, on the
organization of the State government, Montgomery county
was established. Dayton was made the seat of justice, at which time
only five
families resided in the town, the other settlers having gone on to
farms in the
vicinity or removed to other parts of the country. The increase of the
town was
gradual until the war of 1812, which made a thoroughfare for the troops
and
stores on their way to the frontier. Its progress was then more rapid
until
1820, when the depression of business put an almost total check to its
increase. The commencement of the Miami canal in 1827 renewed its
prosperity,
and its increase has been steady and rapid ever since. By the
assessment of
1846 it is the second city in the State in the amount of taxable
property, as
the county also stands second. The first canal boat from Cincinnati
arrived at
Dayton on the
25th of January, 1829,
and the first one from Lake Erie on the 24th of June, 1845. In 1825 a
weekly
line of mail stages was established through Dayton from Cincinnati to
Columbus.
Two days were occupied in coming from Cincinnati to this place. There
are now
three daily lines between the two places, and the trip only takes an
afternoon.
The
first newspaper printed in Dayton was the Dayton
Repertory, issued by William McCLURE
and George
SMITH on the 18th of September, 1808, on a fools-cap sheet. The
newspapers now
published here are the Dayton Journal,
daily and weekly, the Dayton Transcript,
twice (missing text?) week,
and the Western Empire, weekly.
Page
282
The
population
of Dayton was 383 in 1810; 1139 in 1820; 2954 in 1830; 6067 in 1840,
and 9792
in 1845. There are fifteen churches, of
which
the Presbyterians,
Methodists and Lutherans
each have two, and the Episcopalians, Catholics, Baptists, Disciples, Newlights, German Reformed,
Albrights, Dunkers and African
Baptists have each one. There
is a large
water power within the bounds of the city, besides a great deal more in
the
immediate vicinity. A portion of that introduced in the city by a new
hydraulic
canal is not yet in use, but there are now in operation within the
corporate
limits two flouring mills, four saw mills, two oil mills, three cotton
mills,
two woollen factories,
two paper mills, five machine
shops, one scythe factory, two flooring machines, one last and peg factory, one gun-barrel factory and three iron founderies The
public
buildings are two market houses, one of
which
has a city hall
over it, an academy, a female
academy, three common-school houses and a jail of stone. There are two banks. A court-house
is now building of cut stone,
the estimated cost of which is $63,000. The architect by whom it was
designed
is Mr.: Henry DANIELS, now of Cincinnati and
the
one superintending its construction is Mr. Daniel WAYMIRE. There are nine turnpike roads
leading out of
Dayton, and connecting it with the country around in every direction. The Miami canal, from Cincinnati to Lake Erie, runs through it.�Old Edition.
DAYTON,
county-seat of Montgomery (incorporated February 12, 1805), about fifty
miles
north of Cincinnati, about sixty-five southwest of Columbus, is on the C. C. C. & I., L. M. & C.,
D. & W.,
N. Y. P. & O., Ft. W. & C. Railroads, and
the Miami river and
Miami canal. Four miles west
of the city
is the National Soldiers' Home. One
mile
south of the city is the Dayton
State
Insane Asylum. There are five
street
railroads. County Officers,
1888 :
Auditor, John D. TURNER; Clerk, F. Kemper
BOWLES;
Commissioners, John MUNGER, James B. HUNTER,
Alonzo B. RIDGWAY; Coroner, Simon P. DRAYER; Infirmary Directors, William A.
KLINGER, George RENTZ, John C. HEIDINGER;
Probate
Judge, William D. McKEMY; Prosecuting Attorney, Robert M.
NEVIN ;
Recorder, Joel O. SHOUP ; Sheriff, William H. SNYDER ; Surveyor, Herman
S. FOX, Treasurer, Frank T.
HOFFMAN. City Officers,
1888: Ira CRAWFORD, Mayor;
Engine SHINN, Clerk;
Louis J. POOCK, Treasurer; David B. CORWIN, Solicitor; Edwin C. BAIRD,
Engineer; George H. VOLKER, Street Commissioner.
Newspapers: Herald, J.
Edward
B. GRIMES, editor; Daytoner Volkzeitunq,
German Independent
Democrat, NEDER & MOOSBRUGGER, editors; Democrat, Democrat, John G.
DOREN & Co.,
editors and publishers; Journal, Republic;
W. D. BICKHAM, editor and publisher; Monitor,
Democrat, J. E. D. WARD, editor; Christian
Conservator, United Brethren, Rev. William DILLON, editor; Christian World, Reformed,
Rev. E. HERBRUCK and Rev. M.
LOUCKS, editors; Der Froeliche
Botschafter,
German United Brethren, Rev. Ezekiel LIGHT,
editor; Herald of Gospel Liberty,
Christian, J. P. WATSON, editor; Religious
Telescope, United Brethren,
Rev. J. W. HOTT, D. D., editor; W�chter,
German, M. Bussdicker
& Co., editors and
publishers; Workman,. Labor, STINE
& Hull, editors and publishers; Golden
Words, juvenile, Reformed Publishing Company, publishers; Leaves of Light, Reformed Church,
juvenile, Reformed Publishing Company, publishers; Young
Catholic Messenger, Catholic, juvenile, Rev. P. H. CUSACK,
editor; Farmer's Home, agriculture,
W. B. DENNIS, editor; Nutzlicher Freund, German fiction, Rev. M. BUSSDICKER, editor and publisher; Ohio Poultry Journal, Robert A. BRADEN,
editor
and publisher; Ohio Swine Journal,
E.
D. HYRE, editor; Ohio Bible Teacher,
United Brethren, Rev. D. BERGER, D. D., editor; Instructor,
Reformed Church, Rev. M. LOUCKS, editor
Churches: 2 Methodist, 6 United Brethren, 2 Lutheran, 3
Evangelical
Lutheran, 6 Methodist Episcopal, 8 Baptist, 1 Protestant Episcopal, 7
Catholic,
5 Presbyterian, 1 United Presbyterian, 1 Reformed, 1 Evangelical
Association, 1
German Reformed, 1 Jewish, 1 Christian. Banks:
City National, Simon GEBHARD, president, G. B. HARMAN,
cashier, Dayton National, William H. SIMMS, president,
Page
283
James
A. MARTIN, cashier; Dayton
Savings',
Louis H. POOCK, president, Ziba
CRAWFORD, cashier;
Merchants' National, D. E. MEAD, president,
A. S. ESTABROOK, cashier;
Third National,
William P. HUFFMAN, president, Charles E. DRURY, cashier; Winters'
National, J.
H. WINTERS, president, James C. REBER, cashier.
Principal Manufactures
and Employees:�Friedman & Rothenberg,
cigars, 18 hands; Joseph Shaefer,
cigars, 155; Uhlman
& Bloom, cigars, 135; Shaefer
& Mahrt,
cigars, 185; C. Wight & Son, builders'
wood-work, 57; Moses Glas,
cigars, 31; The Merchants'
Tobacco Co., tobaccos, 44 ; M. J. Houck
&
Co., carriage
whips, 11; Kemp & Kinney, laundrying,
14; Hewitt Brothers, soap, 8 ; Christian
Publishing Association, 21 ; H. Hoefer
& Co., bar
fixtures, etc., 16; W. P. Callahan & Co., general machinery, 60; T. P. Long, shirts, 146; Stoddard Manufacturing Co.,
agricultural implements, 477; Kratochwell
Milling Co., 10; J. R. Johnson & Co.,
general machinery, 20; Pierce & Coleman, general wood-work,
123; The Ohio
Rake Co., agricultural implements, 75; Zwick,
Greenwald & Co., carriage wheels, etc., 90; Farmers' Friend
Manufacturing
Co., agricultural implements, 148; Crune
& Seftom
Manufacturing Co., paper boxes, etc, 93; Bradup
& Co., school seats, etc., 10; Boyer &
McMaster, stoves, 30; Stout, Mill & Temple, mill machinery,
etc., 150 ; Hoskot
& Young, laundrying,
18; McHose &
Lyons, bridge iron works, etc., 194;
Joseph Shaefer, cigars,
176; Shaefer
& Mahrt,
cigars, 185; Bloom, Gerweis
& Co., cigars, 205; Hoffritz
& Keyer, cigar
boxes, 31; W. W: White, tablets and
stationery, 14; Walker & Walker, Printing, 12; Keifer,
Reed & Co., laundrying,
54; Murray & Hannah,
car�riages, 15; U. B. Publishing House, printing and publishing, 99;
Buckeye
Iron and Brass Works, machinery, etc., 185; Miller Brothers, cigars,
73; Thomas
Nixon & Co., paper bags, 28; Dayton Leather and
Collar Co., leather, 9; Laubach
& Iddings,
paper novelties, 119; Schaefer & Co., lawn
rakes, 6; G. Stomps & Co., chairs, 186; Nixon Nozzle Machine
Co.,
sprinkling machines, 15; Nixon & Castello,
card
board cases, 11; C. H. Frank, carbonated waters; C. N. Smith, flour
mill work;
Lewis & Co., saws; J. P. Wolf, tobacco handler, 13; Union
Collar and Net
Co., horse collars, etc., 58; J. H. Wilde, woolen yarns, etc., 10; R.
M. Connoble &
Co., overalls and shirts, 69; George J.
Roberts & Co., hydraulic
and steam pumps, 16; H. R. Parrott & Co.,
furniture, 36; Booher
& Riper, job machine work;
Wise, Sheible &
Co. cotton batting, 56; E. H.
Brownell & Co., boiler works, etc., 53; Pinneo
& Daniels, carriage wheels, etc., 97; Gem City Stove Co.,
stoves, etc., 31;
Mrs. John B. Hogler,
lumber, 30; C. F. Snyder,
extension tables, 35; W. P. Levis, paper, 20; John Stengel
& Co., furniture, 62; C. Wight & Son, builders'
wood-work, 62; The
Brownell & Co., engines, etc., 183; The Parrott Manufacturing
Co., plows,
26; The Aughie Plow
Co., plows, 15; E. J. Diem, brown
paper, 35; Josiah Gebhart & Co.,
white lead and colors, 20; The Dayton Plow Co., plows, 40; The Dayton
Screw
Co., screws; 145; The Mead Paper Co., white paper, 114; D. E. McSherry & Co.,
agricultural implements, 83; The Dayton
Manufacturing Co., car furnish�ing goods, 169; E. B. Lyon, trunk
material (wood), 48; Barney &
Smith Manufacturmg
Co., railroad cars, 1,587; The Troup Manufacturing
Co., blank books, etc., 36; John Rouzer
& Co.,
builders' wood-work, 46; Dayton Leather and
Collar Co., horse collars, 32; Leland & Tiffany,
cone pulley belt
shifters; The Sachs-Pruden
Ale Co., ginger ale, etc.,
44; Crawford, MeGregor
& Canby, lasts, pegs,
etc., 47; Adam Zengel,
cigar and packing boxes, 22;
Bright & Fenner,
candy; Dayton Loop and Crupper
Co., loops and cruppers, 26; W. R. Baker, bolt and screw cases;
National Cash
Registry Co., cash registers, 79; The Holden Book Cover Co., book
covers, etc.,
26; H. E. Mead & Co., printing, etc., 11; John Dodds,
sulky hay-rakes, 93; Dayton Malleable Iron Co., malleable iron
castings, 262;
E. Canby, baking powder, etc., 25; A. A. Simmonds,
machine knives, 22; M. Ohmer's
Sons, furniture, 41;
Stilwell & Bierce Manufacturing Co., turbine water wheels,
etc., 253; S. C.
Bennet & Co.,
upholstering, 7; The C. L. Hawes
Co., straw and binders' boards, 118; The Smith & Vaille
Co., pumps and oil
Page
284
machinery,
167;
S. N. Brown & Co., carriage wheels, etc., 20; Hanna Brothers,
cigars, 92; F. Cappel, upholstering, 9;
A. Cappel, umbrellas,
etc., 22; J. G. Doren,
printing, 34; The Volks-Zeitung,
printing, 16; A. Bretch, tin and sheet-iron
work, 10; The Brownell & Co., steam boilers,
120; Terry & Shroyer Tobacco, Co., tobaccos, 27;
The Bryce Furnace
Co., furnaces, 25; Robert Barnes, cigar
boxes, 5;
B. L. Bates & Bro., machine job work, 10; Charles Winchet,
cornice, etc., 25; Mull &
Underwood, candy,
8; Johnson & Watson, blank books, etc., 25;
printing Reynolds &
Reynolds, printing, 90; Monitor Publishing
Co.;
newspaper printing, 19; The Grenewig
Printing
Co., job printing, etc., 30; Turner & Knerr,
laundrying, 27; The
Herald Publishing Co., daily newspaper, 26;
Cotterill,
Fenner & Co.,
tobaccos, 65; G. W. Heathman
& Co., crackers, etc., 20; John Klee
& Son, ginger ale, etc., 7 ; Beaver & Co.,
soap, 10; Adam Eckhart,
brooms, 10 ; J. W. Johnson,
job printing, 16 ; G. Weipert,
beer kegs, casks,
etc., 12; A. L. Bauman & Bro., crackers, etc., 31; J. L. Baker,
carriages,
35; L. 8 M. Woodhull,
carriages, 95; The Columbia Bridge Co.,
iron bridges, 60.�State Report,
1888.
Population in 1880, 38,678. School census,
1888, 15,466. W.
J. WHITE,
school superintendent. Capital
invested
in industrial establishments, $5,144,450. Value of annual product, $9,520,782.Census,
1890, 61,220.
Among
the
public buildings may be mentioned the Public Library, the Young Men's
Christian
Association Building, the Court House and
Jail,
Government Post-office, Firemen's Insurance Building, Odd
Fellows'
Temple, Widows' Home, Children's Home, St. Elizabeth Hospital, sixteen
public
school-houses, several of them large, new and embracing every
convenience that
experience has suggested, and numerous churches, many of them
unsurpassed for
size and beauty by those of any city of equal population.
The
PUBLIC
LIBRARY and the YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION are worthy of special
notice. The library building
is located in Cooper
Park, which secures abundant
light and
freedom from noise. As the
park is near
the centre of the city,
access to the
library is convenient. In
general style
of architecture the building is a free treatment of the Southern French
gothic
or romanesque,
built of
Dayton limestone, laid in random range work, with Marquette red
sandstone
trimmings freely used, giving a very rich contrast,
assisted largely by red slate for the roof. The building is fire-proof. PETERS
& BURNS,
of Dayton, are the architects
of this
fine building. The plan of
the interior
was obtained from Dr. William F. Poole, of Chicago, who has no superior
in the
knowledge of library construction
and
management. The building was
erected by
the city, and the library is sustained by taxation.
All the people
of Dayton over ten years of age may have free use of the library,
subject only
to such restrictions as are necessary for
the care and safe keeping of the books. The
library numbers 29,310 volumes and 1,188 pamphlets.
The
Y. M. C. A.
building is complete in all its appointments.
Beautiful
externally, in its interior arrangements every want of such an
association
seems to be provided for. It is supplied with a reading-room,
where the
leading papers and magazines may be found, with elegant parlors for social entertainments; with
school-rooms where night schools are taught, and where instruction is
given in
free-hand drawing and modelling;
with a large and completely appointed gymnasium; with baths, shower, tub
and swimming, and a beautiful
hall, seated in opera house
style, for
meetings and lectures. The
large amount
of money necessary to accomplish these objects has been promptly and freely given by public-spirited
citizens of Dayton.
The
location near Dayton of the SOUTHERN OHIO LUNATIC ASYLUM, with its
extensive
buildings and beautiful grounds, and the magnificent NATIONAL SOLDIERS'
HOME,
have added no little to the attractiveness and prosperity of the city: The most remarkable business
development in
Dayton within the past few years
has been
the establishment of numerous BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS.
No less
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284
Top
Picture
Appleton, Photo., 1891
DAYTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Bottom
Picture
Appleton, Photo., 1891.