A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1), Part 6

Author: Coates, William R., 1851-1935
Publication date: 1924
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 600


USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 6


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The rich bottom lands along the course of the Cuyahoga are very productive and in the early days, before the presence of a great city at its mouth dyed its waters, the stream abounded in fish, which were a great factor in the food supply. We need not go back to the days when the dusky Chippewas occupied its banks for this fact. In quite recent years, the mullet, redhorse, bass, catfish, bullhead, sturgeon, shad and other varieties were caught in great numbers. Sturgeon, five, six and seven feet in length, were often the prey of fishermen.


Wild game was attracted to the river banks, sometimes in great numbers, and then the river valley became valuable hunting grounds. Because of the forests and with it the leaves in the summer and the slow melting of snow, the lack of ditches and tile drainage, accompaniment of civilization, the flow of water in the river was more regular through- out the year than it is now. Floods did not rise to such proportions and navigation was not impeded by the low water of the dry season, as in later years.


Before the advent of railroads and canals, rivers were a greater factor in the development of a new country. In the days when the Northwest Territory was established, flat boats were much used on them for the transportation of freight of size and quantity. The light canoe of the Indian and the row boat of the white man represented the rapid transit, that skimmed their currents.


There was one serious drawback, which the settlers found when they began the work of establishing a civilization. Disease lurked along the river. Fever and ague, typhus fever and similar diseases were prevalent


17


ME


T


VA


VA


NH


NY


MASS


MASS


CONNA


CONN


PENN


J


Z


MD


VA


NC


S C


GA


GA


CLAIMED BY SPAIN AND GA


UNITED STATES 1783


MASS,


DOEL


19


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND


along its banks. The health, that makes for happiness, attracted many to the higher elevations. Around the mouth of the Cuyahoga malarial swamps covered a large area.


As an instance illustrative of this attitude and also of the value of real estate in and about Cleveland, Col. John Coates, father of the writer, was once offered a tract of land in Cleveland, known later as Stone's Flats, in the valley of the Cuyahoga, in exchange for an old mare and colt, which he refused, preferring the hills of Brecksville and Royalton.


The Cuyahoga was first crossed by ford and ferry, then by wooden bridges, later by iron structures, and finally by stone and concrete via- ducts that span the valley as well. The Superior Street viaduct, when built in 1878, at a cost of $2,225,000, was regarded as a wonder and its construction as one of the great engineering feats of the world. It is still used, but the later structure of steel and concrete, by its side, rising above the masts of lake vessels, that enter the harbor and pass up the river, with its lower decks for street and suburban cars and its upper driveway a broad boulevard, has cast it in the background.


For a clear understanding of the changes of title and authority on each side of the Cuyahoga River a reference to the several maps may be of interest in this connection. The contest between the French and British for supremacy throughout the great West is a matter of history. It was long and bitter. Each treated the Indians as tenants on their domain and used them as allies from time to time. In 1763 the French signed a treaty at Paris ceding all territory between the Alle- ghanies and the Mississippi to England, Indians not consulted. Immedi- ately all of this territory was declared, by royal proclamation of England, Indian domain.


After the Revolutionary war, the British refused to give possession of the country west of the Cuyahoga River and they occupied the west bank until 1790. Through the efforts of Hamilton they finally relin- quished official claim to this territory, but when the party of Moses Cleveland arrived at the mouth of the river in 1796 their traders had a house in what was later Ohio City, north of Detroit road near the river.


Ten years before, in 1786, the Moravian missionary Zeisberger, with a number of Indian converts left Detroit and arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga in a vessel called the Mackinaw. From thence they pro- ceeded up the river about ten miles and settled in an abandoned Indian village, in the present Township of Independence. This settlement they called Pilgerruh (Pilgrims' Rest). This would now seem an inappro- priate title as in a year they left for some other location in the wilds.


It has been said that Ohio's rise from the position of a pioneer and backwoods state to one of power and prestige will be found, by final analysis to be predicated, in the main, on law. When Governor St. Clair came to the Northwest Territory, whose dominion, by the way, included all the land now in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, appointed under the provisions of the famous ordinance of 1787, his first act was to establish a county that should operate under all the forms of law and in strict conformity therewith.


Washington County was formed or erected, as that was the term then used, and courts were established. This was in 1788. This county covered about half of the present area of Ohio, and represented much of the territory in which, by definite treaties, title had been obtained from the Indians. By reference to the map the reader will notice that the Cuyahoga River was a boundary, the Indian country on its west bank and Washington County on its east bank.


CLEVELAND.


SPAFFORD'S MAP


1801.


OF


CUYA


LAKE


BATH


197A


195


194


192


191


262


203


200.


WATER


25


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2


50


ley


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51


.


52


28


77.


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30


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54


7


55.


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33.


9.


58


.34


205


207


59


35


11


00


36.


STREET


ONTARIO


61.


37.


97


85.


30


63


39


64 .


10.


16


725*


OHIO


100


101


65


41.


42


STREET.


19


128.


119.


HURON


104


7792


68


44


20.


122


/20


113


105


130,


121.


114.


106.


94


70.


17.


23


199


1.53


ERIE


145


154


146.


155:


175


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12 2


135


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134


135.


137


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140


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143


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160


160


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24


1081


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65


STREET.


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110


102.


10.1


91


67


LAKE


220


217.


215


214


21


100


SUPERIOR


29


5


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208


STREET.


722


123.


STREET.


260


135


168


170


/72


179


147


156.


148


142


45


21


ERIE.


Srater


STREET,


195


200


71


72


STREET


136


117


54


21


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND


The county seat of this new, first county, was Marietta and it was named after Washington, the first president of the United States, then in office. The arms of the law were widely extended. This shows by what wise forethought the fathers extended over the new territory the protecting power of the law even in sparsely populated and desolate regions, prohibiting a resort to other and less approved methods of settling their differences.


In 1796, Wayne County was erected by proclamation of the Gov- ernor. Hamilton County had been erected a year later than Washing- ton, and its boundaries, later, extended north as far as Lake Huron. Wayne County included all of the southern peninsula of the present


CLEVELAND


FIRE LANDS


TRUMBULL COUNTY 1800 WESTERN RESERVE


WAYNE 1796


RESERVATION


INDIAN


TREATY LINE


JEFFERSON


1797.


!


CLAIRSVILLE


FAIRFIELD 11800.


HAMILTON


1790.


LANCASTER


L


1788.1


ROSS 1798.


CHILLICOTHE


CLERMONT


BATAVIA


ADAMS 1799


MANCHESTER


OHIO COUNTIES 1802.


MAP SHOWING DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTIES


state of Michigan and extended from the Cuyahoga River west as far as the present west line of Ohio, as you will see by reference to the map. In the recorded description of the boundaries of this county, note its first words: "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River."


When this action had been consummated, the Cuyahoga (crooked river) was pursuing its winding course with Wayne County on its west bank and Washington County on its east bank. Marietta was still the county seat of Washington and Detroit was the county seat of Wayne.


Into this region now, 1796, with such protection as the erected counties might afford, comes Moses Cleveland and his surveying party, commis- sioned by the Connecticut Land Company, and landed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. Of his work and character and prophetic vision, we will narrate later.


The next year, Jefferson County was erected, taking from the county of Washington and extending to Lake Erie and west to the Cuyahoga River. Again we ask the reader to glance at the map by way of fixing clearly in mind the boundaries.


Now, this politically embattled stream divided the counties of Wayne and Jefferson, Wayne on the west bank and Jefferson on the east bank,


MARIETTA


WASHINGTON


BELMONT 1801.


ASTEUBENVILLE


---


WARREN


22


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND


with Detroit as the county seat of Wayne, and with Steubenville as the county seat of Jefferson.


In 1800, Trumbull County was erected to include all of the Con- necticut Western Reserve, and this comprised all of the territory now included in the counties of Cuyahoga, Lorain, Jefferson, Huron, Summit, Lake, Trumbull, Medina, Erie, Portage, Sandusky and Mahoning. When this new county was organized, the Cuyahoga River ceased to be a boun- dary line, but, in the same channel, with Trumbull County to the east of it and Trumbull County to the west of it, it found its way to the lake. Warren was the county seat of the new county.


In the same year, 1800, the following townships were erected in this county : Cleveland, Richfield, Painesville, Vernon, Middlefield, Youngs- town, Hudson and Warren. Cleveland, one of the smallest of the group of townships, had the distinction of having a city surveyed within its boun-


CUYAHOGA RIVER SCENE


daries, and had the further distinction of being created before the State of Ohio and before the County of Cuyahoga, was created.


At this stage in the history of the Cuyahoga River, the State of Ohio was born. It was formed from the Northwest Territory. Its constitution was adopted in 1802 but not until the following year did Congress pass the necessary act for the execution of its laws as a state. In 1803 its first legislative session was held. It met March 1st, and adjourned April 16th. The Senate chose Daniel Massie, speaker ; William C. Schenk, clerk, and Edward Sherlock, doorkeeper. The House of Representatives chose Michael Baldwin, speaker; William R. Dicken- son, clerk, and Adam Betz, doorkeeper.


This session of the Legislature was held at Chillicothe and in joint session of both branches the vote for governor was canvassed and Edward Tiffin declared to be elected governor. The canvass of the vote disclosed 4,564 for Tiffin. There were no votes cast against him. He immediately took the oath of office and delivered his inaugural address, which was copied in the journal, occupying but twenty lines. At this session there was no legislation affecting the territory with which this history spe- cifically deals.


In 1805, the Legislature passed an act erecting the County of Geauga


23


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND


from Trumbull. The description of the new county thus formed reads, in part, as follows: "That all that part of Trumbull County lying north and east of the line, beginning in the east line of said county, between townships number eight and nine, west to west line of range five, to the middle of the Cuyahoga River, where the course of the same is northerly, thence up the middle of the river to the intersection of township number four, thence west on north line of township to the west line of range fourteen, wherever that shall be when the county west of the Cuyahoga River shall be surveyed into townships, thence north to Lake Erie, shall constitute the County of Geauga."


Geauga or Sheauga signifies, in the Indian language, raccoon. This county, as formed in 1805, extended westward to the western limits of the Reserve.


The Cuyahoga River, therefore, for several years divided the County of Geauga. It was Geauga on the east side and Geauga on the west side. Chardon was the county seat.


By act of the Legislature of January 16, 1810, the County of Cuya- hoga was formed and in May of the same year organized. I find in local histories 1807 fixed as the date of the legislation establishing this county but the records do not so show. At any rate there is no differences as to the date of organization. The boundaries of the county then established were not the present boundaries. It extended west to the limit of the Western Reserve. It included the present County of Huron on the extreme west, which had then been formed by legis- lative enactment but had not been organized. Huron County comprises the "Fire Lands," so called. This territory was not sold, the farms were given to those who lost their homes by fire in the Revolutionary war. Huron County as originally formed comprised all of the Fire Lands.


In the evolution of the counties since Cuyahoga was first established, due to the rapidly increasing population, there have been many changes but none have affected the political environment of the river. The county has by successive legislative enactments been brought to its present area. Cleveland has at all times been the county seat.


The terms, East Side and West Side, are familiar to all residents of Cleveland. There has been rivalry and even a brush of war between the two sections. At one time Ohio City on the West Side rivaled Cleve- land on the East Side. While these divided interests are now lost in the larger development of the city and county, the terms remain.


It is of historical interest, therefore, to outline the political changes of the East Side and the West Side in sequence. In Rome we muse upon the history of that famous city because so much of Old Rome remains to lead the mind back to the famous scenes and characters of former times, may we not without these evidences so potent be inter- ested in a backward glance of at least 150 years.


WEST SIDE Indian Country French Domain English Domain Wayne County Trumbull County


Geauga County Cuyahoga County


EAST SIDE


Indian Country


French Domain


Washington County


Trumbull County


Jefferson County Geauga County Cuyahoga County


In locating Cleveland at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River Moses Cleveland had apparently in mind that he was founding the capital of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and that is just what he did. His vision has become a reality.


The Cuyahoga River holds a central and unique place in our history.


CHAPTER IV


THE COUNTY AND ITS TOWNSHIPS


This title could with equal accuracy be reversed to read: The Town- ships and Their County. This system of local government ordained that the county and the townships should be one in interest, in operation, and in reality. The townships were the woof and the county the warp of that complete system of local government, projected over a vast territory in advance of its actual occupation by future inhabitants. It is a standing tribute to the wisdom of the men, such men, as those who wrote the Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, The Constitution of the United States, The Ordinance of 1787, and the Constitution of Ohio. It is a system of local government unsurpassed in the practical operation of the building up of a new country, and its development, under all the forms of law and maintenance of order.


In New England, the township, usually called the town, had more authority, amounting nearly to independent local self government. By the form of local government adopted in Ohio and throughout the Northwest Territory, as formed into sovereign states, the union between county and townships was very close and the authority equitably divided.


The township, in its original capacity, was invested with political and administrative powers for regulating its own minor local affairs such as laying out and repairing roads, maintaining schools, providing for the poor, etc. Being invested with corporate powers, it can make contracts and enter into agreements that are binding in law. The county, being in effect an organization of the townships for political and administrative purposes, is a political unit next below the state.


Thus in New England the township is the political unit. In the states of the South the county is the political unit. In the Middle and Western states we have the mixed organization of county and township.


We have said that the township in its original capacity had certain powers. As the population increased and cities and villages were formed and expanded, taking from the territory of the township, and, finally, taking all of its territory, the township remained but stripped of most of its authority. Such could be called judicial townships. The subdi- visions of counties in California are called judicial townships.


For many years after the township of Cleveland had been swallowed up by the great city, the township remained. Its boundaries were as before but it ceased to function except as a judicial township. Up to the time of the establishing of the Municipal Court, January 1, 1912, justices of the peace were regularly elected and commissioned as justices of Cleveland Township, and were invested with the same jurisdiction as to territory and authority as justices in other townships, operating as originally organized.


By the establishment of this court, the necessity for the justice courts in the Township of Cleveland was taken away, as the Legislature endowed this court with all the jurisdiction of the justice courts in connection with more extended powers. By this enactment, the justice courts were abolished and the Township of Cleveland ceased to exist.


24


25


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND


Thus, in the larger development of this county, the advent of automo- biles, suburban electric lines, bus lines, and before all, the steam lines, with their enormous transportation facilities, coupled with the marvelous advance in farm machinery, the establishment of cities and villages within the county, their rapid growth, the township, that center of pioneer life and conservator of its peace, is passing.


The original townships of Cuyahoga County were: Bedford, Brecks- ville, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Dover, Euclid, Independence, Mayfield, Mid- dleburgh, Newburgh, Olmsted, Parma, Rockport, Royalton, Solon,


L. ERIE


0


0


< Cleveland 1796


Western Rese


Congress


1806


1796


41º N. Lat.


Lands


TREATY LINE 1795


1786


Bounty


Military Bounty


Columbus


1796


× 1812


Lands


mm


Sym


Virginia


Military


Chillicothe 1796


Ohio Company


Marieta 1788 Fullarmar 1756


1788


EARLY SURVEYS AND LAND GRANTS


Strongsville, Warrensville, and Orange. East Cleveland and Chagrin Falls were soon added.


From time to time others have been formed, which will be referred to later.


When Cuyahoga County was organized with these original townships, it contained no villages and no cities. The total population numbered 1,495 white souls, Indians not counted. The original survey was made as follows : the surveyors laid out upon the ground the forty-first parallel of latitude as a base line, beginning at the Pennsylvania line and extending westward 120 miles. From this line they ran lines of longitude, five miles apart, due north to Lake Erie. These were crossed by east and west lines, five miles apart, thus making the townships five miles square, except for the irregular shore of the lake.


The townships were numbered as ranges, counting from the Penn-


Seven Ranges


Wayne's


Congress Lands


Symmes Purchase


1787


1784-1790


Congress


1787


Cincinnati


26


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND


sylvania line as a meridian, westward, to the number of twenty-four, mak- ing 120 miles. From the base line they were numbered, northward, to the shore of Lake Erie.


Cleveland, before it had a name as a township, was known as No. 7, in the Twelfth Range. It is twelve townships west of the Pennsylvania line and seven townships north of the forty-first parallel of latitude.


The record of the survey of the Reserve for the Connecticut Land Company, which included this region, is interesting in detail. The varia- tion of the compass, as will be observed by reference to the surveyor's notes, was a constant element of trouble. John Milton Holley's record, he being one of the surveyors under Moses Cleveland, can be taken as an example : Aug. 2, 1796, took variation, cloudy, observation bad, my eyes sore, variation two degrees twenty-three seconds.


This variation of the compass is noted in many daily reports. The hardships endured by these men is shadowed in their reports as well.


LAKE


ERIE


RIVER


CLEVELAND


MRUMET


1788


COUNTY


AMILTON COUNTY


1790


RIVER


WASHINGTON


MONINSAW


CINCINNATI


SCIOTO


THE FIRST COUNTIES


IN OHIO.


FROM 1796 TO 1799


The shortage of food, at times, was noted and many incidents calculated to break the spirits of men less inured to the strenuous life. But they completed the work and the townships were "erected" and Cuyahoga County, with the capital of New Connecticut surveyed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, came into being.


The settlers bought their land before moving into the wilderness. Moses Cleveland was commissioned by the land company to make sales but was instructed to sell only to actual settlers. They came by families and groups of families to their farms in the woods. Each township was organized in due time. The township became a little world in itself. It was a "close" corporation, in the sense that the people were closely allied. Hospitality was unbounded, but thrift was supreme. In their unwritten law, late rising was a misdemeanor and laziness a crime.


The clearing of the land began, with its attendant dangers from wild beasts and hostile Indians. The flint-lock musket was always at hand. The ax rang clear from early morn till night. The trees cut for the log house made a little clearing for the garden, which gradually enlarged to more pretentious fields. At first grain was ground for the family use in handmills, wooden dishes were used at the table, and gourd dippers


27


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND


at the spring. Benches were used instead of chairs, and the tallow dip for light.


As the acreage of cleared land increased and more crops were grown, the streams were harnessed, and the overshot wheel was utilized to grind the grain and provide bread for the cabin home. Sometimes these mills were far distant, and a trip to mill would mean a day or more over primal roads, through the unbroken forest. Work, work, was the motto for father, mother, boys and girls.


One by one new families came, and more strong arms were added to those already clearing the forest and providing for the home. Children were born, and they must be provided for. Schools were needed and religious training. The school and church are handmaidens of civili- zation, and this was a new civilization. Disputes and differences naturally


MICHIGAN


LAKE


HURON


LAKE


CANADA


WAYNE


DETROIT


LAKE ERIE


CLEVELAND


--


INDIAN


UNTY


1796


JEFFERSON COUNTY


& STEUBENVILLE


RECOVERY


LINÉ


FT LAURENS


KNOX COUNTY


HAMILTON COUNTY


ROSS COUNTY


CHILLICO


OTHE


WASHINGTON COUNTY


OMARIETTA


VINCENNES


ADAMS COUNTY


CINCINNATI


MANCHESTER


OHIO COUNTIES


LOUISVILLE


1799.


arose, among the settlers, and the necessity for the protection and adjudi- cation of the law. This was provided for in the organization of the county and township, with their legally constituted officers.


The blacksmith shop, the shoe shop, the harness shop, and the wagon shop, were among the first public industries to appear, and were usually located at the Center. The gristmill, and later, the sawmill and the tannery, with its accompanying barkmill, to grind the bark for tanning, sought locations where water power was available. These were some of the public industries. In the home, the card, the spinning wheel, the swift and reel, the churn and cheesepress, were employed. The store and postoffice was a gathering place for young and old, a news exchange, the blacksmith shop a political forum.


Looking back to those pioneer days (it has been 113 years since the county was organized), looking back from this age of marvelous advance- ment in material things, we are liable to think only of the hardships of the pioneers. They were happy in their labors. They had a common task to perform, and they joined hands with a will. They nursed each other


WYAYNI


. SANDUSHY


0


28


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND


in sickness, all lent a hand at raisings, and were proud of their achieve- ments.


Most prominent as we review their history appears the circle about the hearthstone, the home life, the cheer, the families so long unbroken. Thrift was the watchword and hospitality and neighborly fraternity its greatest glory. Thrift was mingled with the pleasures of the young.


There was the husking bee, so full of lively interest, when the finding of the red ear brought a pleasing penalty, paid by the lips of the finder, amid the smiles and happy faces of the rest. This was a mingling of work and pleasure, a novel way to dignify and enthrone labor. In like manner the paring bee, that left the completed labor of many hands as the evening "favor," when the paring deftly thrown to form the initials of a name, brought blushes and kisses at the same time. This gave countenance to labor as the handmaiden of Cupid and the accompaniment of social life.




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