A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 79

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 79

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AGRICULTURE, CUYAHOGA COUNTY FAIR.

Agriculture was the leading industry of the county until after the war. The Cuyahoga County Agricultural society was suggested in a notice in the "Herald," January 30, 1823, by John M. Henderson. On March 29, following, a meeting was held in the courthouse with Thomas Card, chairman, and Leonard Case, sec- retary. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and within a few months the organization was completed. The Cuyahoga County Agricultural Society occupied an important place in the early life of the county.

The first Fair was held October 30 and 31, 1829. It was held in the Square and in the courthouse. The cattle were arranged around the fence enclosing the various sections of the Square. On the second day the ladies department held its fair in the Old Stone Church. The officers of this first agricultural fair were Frederick Whittlesey, president; Merrick Snively, Moses Jewett, vice presidents ; J. D. Weston, secretary ; and James Houghton, treasurer. C. M. Giddings was chairman of the committee on agriculture; S. C. Aiken, chairman of the commit- tee on horticulture; Royal Millard, chairman committee on silk and mulberry trees ; Dudley Baldwin, chairman committee on manufacturing ; and Moses Jewett, chairman committee on domestic animals. The prizes ranged from one to five dollars. The lists distinguish only two breeds of cattle, Durhams and "natives ;" three breeds of sheep, South Downs, Merinoes and Leicesters ; two breeds of pigs, Sussex and Berkshire; no breeds of horses were mentioned, premiums being given for "brood mares and stallions." This, then, was the beginning of the large horse breeding farms that have made the county famous.

SWEER

PHOTOGRAPHEF

202

Bargains

60075KSHOES

200

From an old cut-courtesy "Waechter und Anzeiger"

SUPERIOR STREET ABOUT 1865 In the long three-story building to the left of the two-story shop, the city offices were housed for a number of years in the '40s and '50s

623

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

The most interesting of the exhibits, however, were in the ladies' department. Here we find premiums given for "woolen fulled cloth," "carpeting," and "woolen flannels." A number of the most prominent ladies in the community received prizes. It was thought that the silkworm could be profitably cultivated in America, and its culture became a fad among the ladies of the town and the sur- rounding community. Mrs. David Long, of Cleveland, received a premium of five dollars for a pair of silk hose which she had "made from the mulberry the present season." Mrs. Brainard, of Brooklyn, received a premium for "eight different colors of sewing silk, the silk manufactured by Mrs. Brainard and col- ored with dyes derived from the products of the farm." Mrs. Mary L. Severance, of Cleveland, received a premium for "specimens of silk twist." Messrs. Allen and Weston "for a basket of cocoons ;" James Houghton for the "best half acre of mulberry trees."

The prizes for crops gives an interesting glimpse of the productiveness of the soil. The best wheat crop reported was one hundred and two-third bushels from two acres by Edward Richmond, of Euclid. Of oats, six and a half acres aver- aged eighty-three bushels per acre on the farm of W. Brown, of Rockport. Peleg Sherman, of Mayfield, raised one hundred and eighty-two and two-third bushels of corn from two acres, and David McDowell, of Mayfield, two hundred and forty-three and one-fourth bushels of rutabagas from a quarter of an acre. The sugar beet was also cultivated at this early date. Mr. Snively, of Euclid, raised two hundred and thirty-three and one-half bushels from a quarter acre. Fred- erick Whittelsey, of Newburg, raised the banner crop of winter wheat, two hundred and ninety-four and one-half bushels from ten acres.

The annual Fair increased in popularity and importance. In 1854 the State Fair was held here on the new fair grounds on Kinsman street (Woodland ave- nue). This was then the most complete fair ground in the state. It comprised twenty acres of land about one mile from the Square. "The surface, is mostly in turf, beautifully studded with shades." There were three halls, each one hundred and fifty-two by one hundred and sixty feet, and two large tents "one for dairy and farm products and the other for the speakers." Also a power hall and a police office and stalls for three hundred cattle. The fair in 1854 had two thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three entries and there were thirty thousand paid ad- missions. During these earlier state fairs it was the custom for the board of control to give a "State Fair Ball" some evening during the fair. When the Ohio State Fair was refused to Cleveland by the state board of agriculture, Cleveland decided to have a fair of her own. A meeting of citizens was held, and the Northern Ohio Fair Association was incorporated, February 26, 1870, by Amasa Stone, J. H. Wade, J. P. Robison, W. S. Streator, S. D. Harris, Azariah Everett, Amos Town- send, Wm. Bingham, Henry Nottingham, D. 'A'. Dangler, Wm. Collins, Oscar A. Childs, L. L. Hickox, O. H. Payne, Alton Pope, and W. A. Fisher. Three hundred thousand dollars capital stock was issued and eighty-seven acres of land, on St. Clair street near Glenville, purchased and buildings erected. The first fair opened October 4, 1870. In the winter of 1880-I the association wound up its business ; the fair had not been financially successful. The famous Glenville driving track was started by the same Association, and its annual circuits drew the elite of the

624

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

horse world until 1905, when a state law against betting made the races unprofit- able. In 1909 the tracks were dismantled and the grounds allotted.

This track was famous throughout the country, not alone as a model turf but as one of the cleanest, most sportsmanlike ovals in all the circuits. Here was organ- ized the first amateur driving club in America, the forerunner of numerous gen- tlemen's driving organizations in other cities. Some of the most famous horses, whose names are still bywords in the racing world, ran on this track. Among them was the great Maud S. In 1885 she made her record of 2 minutes, 83/4 seconds to sulky on the Glenville track. Smuggler here defeated Goldsmith Maid in one of the most sensational races ever ran on the American turf. Thousands witnessed it and a poem was written on the race that is an epic of race track literature. Lou Dillon and Cresceus, great horses, made their records here.

The following are some of the leading records established on the Glenville track : Maud S., driven by W. W. Bair, August 2, 1884, 2.0934 ; Maud S., driven by W. W. Bair, July 30, 1885, 2.0834; Cresceus, driven by Geo. H. Ketcham, July 26, 1901, 2:0234 ; Jay-Eye-See (five year old record), August 3, 1883, 2:151/2 ; Lou Dillon (five year old record), July 31, 1903, 2:0234; Sunol (four year old record), July 31, 1890, 2:15; Hamburg Belle (race record), August 25, 1909. 2:0114. In addition nearly all existing wagon records were broken on the old Glenville track by Lou Dillon, Angus Pointer, Major Delmar, Morning Star and others.

GARDENS.

There were many worthy gardens in the vicinity of Cleveland. The soil to the east and west of the city is peculiarly adapted to gardening and truck farm- ing. The sandy loam of the ridges and the heavier loams of the intervening stretches have nurtured many fine gardens. At first gardens were cultivated out Kinsman street and Garden street toward Willson avenue and on St. Clair street toward the Glenville district. When population drew these cultivated areas into the city, the truck farmer was compelled to move eastward toward Willoughby and westward on Lorain street and Detroit street, where the finest truck farms are now located.

Small fruit and orchards of peaches, plums, apples and pears thrived here before the '6os. Seth Doan, in 1846, wrote: "One of the first nurseries of apple trees in this vicinity was from seed saved by me and my brother, Timothy, Jr., from a basket of apples brought from Detroit, which he bought at two dollars. Some of the finest orchards in Euclid and the neighboring townships have their origin from these seeds." 25 John Haman states that, "Judge Kingsbury's orchard bore a few apples" in 1806.26 This is no doubt the first orchard crop in the county. In 1848 a record peach crop was raised. Soon thereafter the blight destroyed most of the trees and they were not replaced until many years later. The southern shore of Lake Erie has long been known as favorable for raising grapes.

Among the early greenhouses were those of Alexander Skedd built in 1840-41, on Ontario street between St. Clair street and the lake ; the "Cleveland Nursery and

25 Whittlesey's "Early History of Cleveland," p. 437.

26 Supra Cit. p. 429.

E等WATER

ILT. J.HER

From a photograph One of the original blocks on Superior street. Torn down, 1868.

BRAINARD

313. 6.JANCHIARU'S SON9. 341.

From a photograph Finest business block in city in early '70s

From an old cut Brainards music store, one of the first business houses to invade Euclid avenue, 1875

EARLY CLEVELAND MERCANTILE ARCHITECTURE

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Greenhouse," three miles east of the town, 1840; the Cleveland City Seed Store, Greenhouse and Nursery was on Superior street, east side of the Square, 1841, with James Houghton in charge.

F. R. Elliott was among the most noted and earliest of the horticulturists in this section. He owned a fine estate on Detroit street.

In the '30s Rev. E. F. Willey laid out a beautiful farm of twenty-five acres on Kinsman (Woodland) street, called the Willey Gardens, from which he supplied the Cleveland market with fine vegetables. The gardens were leased to Thompson and Wood about 1836. Nathan Perry opened the street that bore his name in 1837, from St. Clair to Euclid road, and there on a ten acre tract he began the development of a nursery for shrubs, flowers and greenhouse plants.27

Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, the eminent naturalist, purchased an estate in Rock- port and soon he possessed one of the most noted experimental farms in Ohio. His flower garden was a perennial delight. His work on small fruits and fruit trees is perpetuated in many new varieties, the product of his rare skill. The "Kirtland raspberry" was one of his most popular contributions to horticulture.

In 1860 there were some splendid gardens in the city. Among the finest were the gardens of Mr. Gordon, with their extensive greenhouses. Mr. Wade's place, on Euclid and Case avenues, was noted for many years, as it is still noted, for its magnificent fruits and flowers. Mr. Wade entertained many distinguished men in his home. It is recorded that when General Grant paid a short visit to our city, he was driven to the Wade home, where he received "large bouquets of flowers and bunches of grapes." General Stager's garden was noted particularly for its superb lawn. He prided himself that it was as good as any in England.

Mr. Hulburt's garden, on Euclid avenue, contained many splendid trees, in- cluding rare rhododendrens. His lilies were also famous, and he was one of the first in the county to raise grapes under glass. Joseph Perkins, on Euclid, had a garden filled with grapes and flowers. The garden of Mr. Scowden, also on Euclid, was known for its arbor of "rustic work" then greatly in vogue.

William Case in his rare garden, known as the "Case Garden," made a specialty of small fruit and greenhouse plants. His strawberries and raspberries were especially fine and he developed several new varieties.

The west side also had its noted gardens. That of Dr. Kirtland was known the country over. Many varieties perpetuate his skill in horticulture. He had a remarkable collection of rare trees and shrubs. Governor Wood had an estate with a garden of fine fruits and the Merwin garden, next to Governor Wood's, was known as the home of several new varieties of raspberries. Elliott's gardens, Captain Spalding's and S. B. Marshall's were also sought by horticulturists dur- ing those years.

REAL ESTATE.

With the commercial development of the city came naturally a rapid rise in real estate prices. Only a few instances will be here noted to indicate the rapid growth of our city. The Connecticut Land Company sold its original lots of two acres each for fifty dollars. The company was very much disappointed be-

27 City Directory, 1837, p. 47.

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

cause no market was found at this price and it was many years before the original lots found ready purchasers.

In 1830 land on Euclid avenue near Sheriff street sold at two dollars a foot front. About the same time land on Euclid near Murison sold for one hundred dollars an acre. In 1825 Judge Cowles sold Leonard Case a tract in Cleveland Cen- ter on the flats at seven dollars an acre. In 1817 Leonard Case bought a home on Superior street a few rods east of Bank street with a lot sixty-six feet front for one thousand, two hundred dollars. It was sold about 1890 for three thousand dollars a foot .* Leonard Case also bought sixty acres of swamp land on Euclid avenue between Case and Willson for two hundred dollars. It was worthless for farming but the growth of the city made it one of the most valuable residence tracts in the city.28

The boom of 1836-37 brought inflated prices. The Buffalo Land Company's tract on the flats west of the Cuyahoga sold for two hundred and fifty dollars a foot front in 1836. This was probably the highest price ever paid in those early days. The city of Gilnett was projected during this period of inflation at the mouth of Rocky river, and St. Johnsville at the mouth of the Chagrin river, and surveys were even made for prospective cities at the mouth of Euclid creek and Doan's brook.29 The collapse of the boom left land on the flats virtually worthless.

About 1819 Leonard Case purchased the two-acre lot on the Square where the postoffice is, for about one hundred and thirty dollars per acre and it was then considered a fair price. February 1, 1836, Mrs. Jane Mer- win leased for ninety-nine years to her son, George B. Merwin, and his two minor children, the forty foot frontage on lower Superior, where the Mansion House stood, for an annual rental of one thousand, three hun- dred and fifty dollars.30 This was no doubt the first ninety-nine year lease executed in the city. In 1820 fifty feet on Superior street east of Water was sold by Nathan Perry to Timothy Scoville for three hundred dol- lars. Ten years later Philo Scoville purchased it of his father for six hundred dollars. This was a fair valuation of what was then the best business property in the city. The corner of Seneca and Superior street, one hundred feet square, was purchased by Judge Norton and B. L. Spangler in January, 1853, at four hundred and fifty dollars a foot, the entire lot costing forty-five thousand dollars. This records a great advance in twenty-three years from the Scoville purchase. R. H. Lodge, who came to the city in 1846 and afterward developed the well known Silver Lake summer resort, told me that he had an opportunity to purchase the southeast corner of Ontario street and the Public Square, where the Park build- ing now stands, for one thousand, one hundred dollars in 1850. Mr. Lodge's father had one of the largest gardens in Cuyahoga county from 1855 to 1872 on Willson avenue and Cedar, about sixty acres, leased of Judge Willson at a yearly rental of one thousand, two hundred dollars. Land values increased gradually until just before the panic of 1873, when there was a slump in values that was fatal to many business men of Cleveland. Since then the development has been rapid.

* Annals "Early Settlers Association," volume 3, p. 709.

28 "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. I, p. 41.

29 "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. I, p. 99.

30 "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. 5, p. 439.

French Barr Mill Stone Manufacturer, .Yo. 40 MMerwin-Street, Cleveland, Ohio.

Dealer in Bolting Cloths and Mill Furnishing generally. From city directory. 1837

CARRIAGE & WAGON @agle Marble Works, MANUFACTORY. Opposite Miller's Block.

JABDE LOWMAN. No. 11, 13, and 15 Vineyard Lane, CLEVELAND, O. From city directory, 1845

IMORSE AUSTUART

From city directory, 1845

V. SWAIN, SAIL

KER.

IMPORTER OF RUSSIA AND HOLLAND SAIL DUCK AND RUSSIA BOLT ROPE.

SAILS, AWNINGS, AND FLAGS of all descriptions, made to order on the shortest notice. Advertisement from city directory, 1845 Courtesy Cleveland Public Library

SOME PRIMITIVE CLEVELAND MANUFACTURIES

627

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Nothing adds the touch of romance to the prosaic details of the development of an industrial city as does the story of one, whose life actually spans all the years of growth. There are men now living who have seen Cleveland, the city, grow out of Cleveland, the hamlet, who have witnessed the incredible sorcery of steam and electricity transform the quiet farms between Erie street and Willson avenue and miles beyond into busy city streets with their noise and confusion. This almost inconceivable development is brought vividly to mind when one oc- casionally opens the paper and reads of those who remember the village days. In the "Cleveland Leader" of January 16, 1910, mention is made of Mr. and Mrs. Myron J. Isham, "who have spent sixty-six years of married life in Cleveland, nearly all of the time on Union street." Mr. Isham says : "I first came to Cleve- land on an Indian pony when I was eight years old. Those were great days. Father used to market at a little store located on a hill where the central viaduct now stands. That was the only store in that place. Brush and small trees covered the present Public Square. I remember one day when I came to town to see the first steamboat on the lake enter the harbor. That certainly was a big day."

Dr. J. C. Reeve of Dayton last year told me how he came to Cleveland from the east in the early '30s. It took him two days to come from Buffalo by steamer. Cleveland then had less than one thousand, five hundred inhabitants. He worked for Harris on the "Herald," with Edwin Cowles. The papers were carried to the subscribers after press. Cowles and Reeves divided the town between them, Cowles taking everything west of Bank street and Reeves everything east. He delivered only three papers east of Erie street, one of them to Mr. May, whose house fronted Superior street on Erie, one on Euclid avenue and one on Chest- nut street. These personal recollections are the most graphic proof of the rapid material advancement of our civilization, and of our municipal growth.

CHAPTER LXV.

MANUFACTURES.

Cleveland is primarily a city of manufactures. In the two elements that com- bine to develop an industrial city, the natural and the personal, Cleveland has been fortunate. At her gateway stretches the placid lake, affording the oppor- tunities of a seaport ; just to the south is the verge of Ohio's vast coal measures ; the stately preglacial valley of the Cuyahoga made Cleveland the terminus of the Ohio canal, giving the town its first impetus to prominence ; this wide valley, more- over, offered splendid opportunity of easy approach to the city from the south by the railways, and now its open acres, still unoccupied, are being rapidly pre- empted by vast industrial enterprises ; the broad stretches of level land encircling the city have made possible its easy expansion and the development of large areas of cheap factory sites ; while the great trunk lines between the east and the west must skirt the southern shores of our lake. So that on this favored spot center railway lines from all directions, here can be cheaply brought together the iron of the north and the coal of the south, and all manner of raw material, to be manufactured in model factories, with ample room about them, into the finished

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

product and sent to the waiting markets of the world. And our city has never lacked the personal element; the organizer of industry, to take advantage of these natural facilities, and the inventor whose discoveries form the foundation of some of our greatest industries.

It will be impossible to trace in this chapter the development of every in- dustry, for these are almost innumerable in number and variety. The chapter will deal first with the earliest industries, will briefly touch upon the beginnings of the greatest, and will rapidly survey the development of manufactures as dis- closed by the United States census.

EARLY INDUSTRIES.

During the pioneer days household necessities were made by hand labor. Cloth was woven from the wool raised on the farm; boots were made from leather tanned on the place; furniture was shaped and the house was built from the trees of the great forest. In November, 1799, W. W. Williams built the first flour mill in this vicinity on Mill creek in Newburg, where there was ample water power. The mill stones were cut from the Berea grit ledges on the banks of the creek and hollowed tree trunks served for guiding the water to an undershot wheel. The mill was purchased later by Samuel Huntington. In 1797 the Bryants, David and his son Gilman, quarried grindstones from the ledges of Vermillion, thirty-eight miles from the Cuyahoga and shipped them to the east by boat. In 1800 they began the first manufacturing plant in Cleveland, when they started a whiskey still long known as "Bryant's distillery." It was located at the foot of Superior lane, where a spring conveniently emptied into the river. The still did a flourish- ing business for many years in spite of the law prohibiting the sale of liquor to the Indians who then frequented the river. The farmers found it much easier to transport their grain in the form of whiskey to eastern markets.

With the growing of the village came the artisans whose crafts stood in lieu of the machine industry of today. Samuel Dodge was Cleveland's first carpen- ter and builder, and he built the first frame building in town, a barn for Samuel Huntington, in 1801. It stood south of Superior street overlooking the valley. Dodge street was named after this enterprising builder who became one of the leading men of the community. Soon afterwards "Uncle Abram Hickox" came to Cleveland and built the first blacksmith shop, a rude log hut which stood on the corner of Superior and Bank street. His virile personality was potent in shaping the affairs of the town. The village added to its artisans as the de- mand increased. Of manufacturing for distant markets there was little or nothing. About 1817 Abel R. Garlick began the manufacturing of "French Burr Mill Stones" on Bank street; he quarried the stone at Mill creek, in New- burg. A few years later this stone was cut into flagging. This was one of tlie first industries in Cleveland for the supplying of a distant market.

The first manufacturing corporation organized in Cleveland under a state charter was the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, chartered March 3, 1834, with one hundred thousand dollars authorized capital, a very large sum for those years. The incorporators were: Charles Hoyt, Luke Risley, Richard Lord and Josiah Barber. The plant was located on the corner of Detroit and Center

---

Looking-glass, Portrait & Picture Frame MANUFACTORY.

JOSEPH SARGEANT, LOOKING-GLASS, PORTRAIT & PICTURE FRAME Stanufacturer,

se Superior-Street, opposite the Franklin-House, CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Advertisement from first city directory, 1837

WM. HART,

CARIBET & CHAIR MANUFACTURER, No. 59 Water Street, Cleveland, O., Keeps constantly on hand a general assortment of FUR- NITURE, CHAIRS, &C. Also, TURNING of every deseription done at short notice.

Advertisement, city directory, 1850

J. SCHNEIDER

MANUFACTORY, No. 40 Seneca St. North, Cleveland.

A general assortment of the very best Instruments, with all the latest mprovements in fashion and tone, kept on hand. Repairing and Tuning done on short netice. From city directory, 1850

CLEVELAND STEAM BOILER SHOP

bHAINERDK

MORRIS,

Respectfully informs the public, that he is prepared to build

HIGH & LOW PRESSURE,

PROPELLER & LOCOMOTIVE

STEAM BOILERS,

Advertisement from city directory. 1845 Courtesy Cleveland Publle Library SOME PRIMITIVE CLEVELAND MANUFACTURIES

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

streets. It was prosperous from the beginning. It was the first furnace in this vicinity to utilize steam power instead of horse power for "blowing" the fur- naces. It not only did a general foundry business, but early manufactured a patent horsepower device. In 1841 it made cannon for the government. In 1842 Ethan Rogers entered its employ and developed the manufacture of con- struction machinery to be used in building railroads, and later, the manufacture of locomotives. At this plant was built the first locomotive west of the Alle- ghenies. It was used on the Detroit & Pontiac railway. Here were made the first locomotives used by the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, and the Cleve- land & Painesville railways. The first successful lake screw propeller was the "Emigrant," and its machinery was made in this establishment. Thus Cleve- land's first manufacturing corporation abundantly kept pace with the rapid ex- pansion of machine development.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 79

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262