USA > Ohio > Athens County > A Brief History of Athens County, Ohio > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
The first newspaper in Athens County was the Athens Mirror and Literary Register, established in 1825.
The first post office was at Athens (1804).
The first Bank of Athens County was the Athens Branch of, the State Bank (1848).
The first railroad was the Marietta & Cincinnati, to which the citizens of Athens paid $100,000 by taxation.
The first passenger train came to Athens in April 1856. The people welcomed its arrival with a big celebration.
As early as 1834, steps were taken to build a railroad down the Hock-hocking valley. But not till June 1869, did it reach Nelsonville. Athens county also helped build this road.
The Kanawha & Michigan came about 1880.
A Distinguished Visitor :- In 1805, Aaron Burr, who had just quitted the office of Vice President of the United States was an Athens visitor. He remained here several days. It was on this journey, that he sounded out people trying to get them interested in his plans to start a new country in the south-west. Whether he found any sympa- thisers at Athens is not known. If he did they never made it known. Burr was arrested and tried for treason a few years later because of this scheme of his.
Near Mineral is a peculiar shaped rock, known as the Devil's Tea Table. It is about thirty feet high and is in
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
plain view of the village. Its summit can only be reached by a ladder.
At the present rate of mining it will take two hundred years to exhaust the coal of Athens county.
About 1882 more than 700 car loads of coal were shipped each day from the Nelsonville yards.
Coal was first discovered in Athens County by a man named Robbins.
The first person to be buried in the public cemetery at Athens was in 1802.
The first mail route to be established from the east was also in 1802.
The first lots in the town of Athens were bought at prices ranging from $10 to $132.
The first apple nursery in the county was planted by Josiah True in Dover township, 1806.
The first court house was erected in 1807.
The first large orchard to be planted in the county was in Rome township, 1810. It had over 3000 trees in it.
The second court house, a brick building, was built in 1817.
The population of Athens County by decades is here shown:
1810
2,787
1860
21,364
1820
6,439
1870
23,768
-
1830
9,763
1880
28,411
1840
19,109
1890
35,194
1850
18,217
1900
38,730
1910
47,998
The first Post Office in Ames township was in 1821.
The first Post Office at Nelsonville was known as Eng- lishtown.
The Athens County Bible Society was founded in 1822.
The first Agricultural Society was organized in 1828. A Temperance Society was organized in 1829.
The first telegraph line reached Athens in 1824.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
The reason the population of Athens County was less in 1850 than in 1840 was because some townships had been taken away to organize other counties.
The first Teachers' Institute was held in the Court House in 1853.
Mr. Henry Wells of Albany presented a public library to his town in 1860.
During the Civil War a military camp was maintained in the present limits of Athens. It was called Camp Wool. At one time 6000 men were encamped there.
When the Athens County soldiers returned from the Civil War, a big barbecue was given them on the college campus. Fully 15,000 people were present.
The first coal works to be opened in southeastern Ohio, was at Carbondale, 1867.
Nelsonville got her first newspaper in 1872. The first bank was organized in the following year.
Margaret Boyd was the first woman to graduate from the Ohio University, 1873.
The present Athens County Court House was erected in 1875.
The great miners' strike in the Hocking Valley oc- curred in the winter of 1884-85.
An earthquake shock was felt throughout the County on May 2, 1886.
The streets of Athens were first lighted by electricity in 1889.
The greatest peach crop Athens County ever produced was in 1901-1,500,000 baskets.
The Ohio University celebrated the one hundredth an- niversary of its founding in 1904. In 1915 another cele- bration occurred, commemorating the graduation of the first class.
The electric railway connecting Athens and Nelsonville was completed in 1915.
The State Hospital for the Insane was begun in 1868.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
Raccoon Creek, which empties into the Ohio River in Gallia County, drains the western side of Athens County.
The Hocking Valley has been visited by many destruc- tive floods. The first one was in the spring of 1832. Fifteen years later there was another one. After a lapse of eleven more years another destructive deluge swept down the valley. In 1873 another disastrous flood visited the valley and two years afterward a greater one was experienced- the worst ever known.
Still a worse one came in 1884, when a flood stage was reached, ten inches higher than any previous records. There were no trains for ten days.
The most destructive flood occurred in March 1907, when much property and a good many lives were lost. In 1913 the great flood year of Ohio, when so many of Ohio's cities were almost swept away, Athens County fared much better. The Hocking river did not have its source far enough up-state to get the full force of the terrible rains which deluged northern and central Ohio for several days.
The highest point in Athens County "Mt. Nebo," is in the northern part of Ames township. It is 1055 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the county, of course, is at Hockingport, 593 feet. The altitude of the Court House at Athens is 723 feet; Albany, 773 feet; Fulton farm in Lodi township, 1024 feet.
What is said to be the largest fresh water spring in south-eastern Ohio is located on the Linscott farm in Can- aan township. It has a capacity of two hundred thousand gallons each twenty-four hours.
Note-Many of these facts were gleaned from the Cen- tennial Atlas and History of Athens County, published in 1905.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT ATHENS COUNTY
1. How many townships in Athens County ?
2. With what kind of trees was Athens County en- tirely covered ?
3. Why did General John Morgan burn the river bridge at Nelsonville?
4. How many disastrous floods have the people of Athens County experienced ?
5. In pioneer days, how many bushels of wheat were required to purchase a pound of tea ?
6. What was the probable reason for the naming of Federal Creek?
7. What other "preludes" were there to the Declara- tion of Independence besides the one in Athens County ?
8. Manasseh Cutler is called the "Father of the Ohio University." Why ?
9. What "communistic" settlement was established in the county ?
10. How much money does "Section 16" in your town- ship yield to the schools ?
11. Why is "Section 29" called the "Ministerial Lands ?"
12. How many men are engaged in the mining of coal in Athens County ?
13. Trace a drop of water falling on your school house, till it reaches the ocean.
14. What is the population of your home town or township?
15. Make a list of towns in Athens County.
A PLAN FOR THE STUDY OF LOCAL HISTORY.
Name: Give present name of town or city-former name or names -- origin or meaning of the present name- if named for persons, give sketch of that person.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
Settlement: Date of first settlement-origin and cir- cumstances of-names and character of first settlers- hardships and difficulties experienced-anecdotes and stories of. Describe early homes and home life, and give stories of.
Early growth of settlement: First school-date of estab- lishing-character of-sketches of early teachers-charac- ter and experience of.
First church: Date of organization-denomination- first meeting-house-date of erection and description of- first settled minister-sketch of.
First mill or other manufactory: When, where and by whom built.
First road: When constructed-connecting what points-character of.
Incorporation: Dates of organization as town or city. Names of first assessors-first mayor-sketches of same. If originally part of another town, name of such towns, and date of separation.
Present area in square miles and acres. Greatest aver- age length and width in miles.
Changes in population and valuation -- tabulated by decades.
Changes in centers of population and business-de- scribe.
First postoffice: Tell where and when established -- present number and location of postoffices.
Important manufactures: Kind and location-when established-capital invested in-number of persons em- ployed in-annual value of all farm products.
Other productive industries: Kind-location-num- ber of-persons employed in-annual value of products.
Public schools: Number of graded and ungraded- high, location of-when established-average attendance- number of teachers-scope of instruction.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
Number of persons of school age-annual average at- tendance in all public schools-annual expenditures made for public schools-amounts voted by town-received from state-derived from local funds.
State school lots, so called: Present condition of-if sold, for what sum-how invested-yearly income there- from.
Other permanent school funds: Whence derived- how invested-income therefrom-amount of, and how used.
Private schools: Academies, seminaries, colleges: Names of-location of each-number and description of buildings occupied-scope of instruction-number of in- structors-annual attendance of students.
Public libraries: Name and location of.
Military: Early conflicts with Indians-events.
Churches: Number of-location of; denomination of each-number of members in each-average attendance upon services in each.
Other facts of importance or interest as showing the present, individual, business, educational, moral and social condition of town.
War of 1812: Number of men furnished for-names of officers-number of men killed or dying in service- local events of importance or interest-hardships resulting from war-stories relating to.
Mexican War: Part taken by town-men entering service-officers from town-number killed or dying in service.
Civil War: Number of volunteers entering service or made by promotion during service-sketch of privates and officers who won distinction-number of men and officers killed or dying in service-number who suffered in South- ern prisons-local incidents and stories.
8210
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BRIEF HISTORY OF ATHENS COUNTY
Spanish War: Number entering service-number killed or dying in service-anecdotes and stories.
Other important or interesting facts relating to mili- tary or naval history of town.
Biographical: List of persons born in or at any time residents of the town who have attained distinction in lit- erature, art, science, the legal, medical, clerical, or educa- tional professions, business or any industrial pursuit.
Sketches of each, using so far as convenient the follow- ing outline:
Names of grandparents and parents-maiden name of grandmother and mother, and some idea of the quality and ability of each-account of boyhood and early training of person of whom sketch is given-success attained by him- work in which he engaged, giving length of time devoted to each kind-the field in which he gained distinction-value of his services -- such incidents, anecdotes and stories as will give clear ideas of the person.
MISCELLANEOUS
Give extended sketches of great disasters and extra- ordinary events occurring in the town. Accounts of visits made to the town by persons of note, with statements of reasons for, and incidents of such visit.
Titles, with names of authors of all histories, pamph- lets, articles, and other documents relating to the town, which have been issued.
Detailed outline of legends, traditions, stories and anecdotes connected with town and people who have lived in it.
Full sketch of odd, striking or noted characters who have lived in it.
Write brief statement to show how the geographical location and physical features of the town have affected its settlements, its industries, its general prosperity, its pecu- liar social and educational conditions; also how the same causes are likely to affect it in the future.
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