USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. I > Part 20
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Captain Boslow and A. F. Stanley brought their families to Pat- terson about 1845 or 1846, and after that people moved in rapidly. Dr. Stanley kept tavern and Mr. Boslow had a general store. A post- office was early established, and very early in the history of the town there was a saw mill. A large warehouse stood near the railroad and business of all kinds flourished.
The son of Dr. A. F. Stanley, Eugene Stanley, who was brought up in the town, became governor of Kansas, and the little town had many more noted citizens during its palmy days. At one time there was a flourishing Presbyterian church, which has since fallen into decay. The only church in the town now being the Methodist Episcopal. In 1883 the town was redneed to its present size, and it has never since regained its former prosperity, though it is a thriving village of 350 inhabitants. At one time Patterson had two doctors, two resident min- isters, a hotel, several blacksmith shops, a tannery, a large saw mill and a number of business houses.
At present Patterson has three general stores, in charge of A. F.
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Jackson, F. H. Lue and William Smith. J. Dugan has a blacksmith shop. H. D. Haines is the postmaster.
The first schoolhouse of Patterson was a large brick building containing three rooms that was built in 1867 at a cost of $5,000. This building lasted until 1909, when it was torn down and a beautiful new village schoolhouse built on the old site by John Burkhart of Kenton, at a cost of about $6,500. It contains three rooms and is modern in every respect.
About a mile and one-half south of Patterson is Herzog stone quarry, owned by Herzog & Son and operated by them. This is one of the important industries of Jackson township, employing the year around twenty-five men. The Big Four has established a shipping f. station here called MeVitty's Station, or siding, and the crushed stone, lime and other products of the company are easily shipped out. A car load of lime is produced every day, and great quantities of cement blocks are manufactured. There is no postoffice, but a little group of houses gives the appearance of a small town where the workmen live. This quarry has been in operation many years, and is one of the import- ant plants of the kind in the county.
GRANT is located about five miles north of Kenton in Pleasant township, on the Big Four railroad, and also on the Kenton and Forest pike. It has about seventy inhabitants, most of whom are engaged in farming or the work about the coal schute or the village store and school. It was named for President Grant.
Two of the present township schoolhouses are located in Grant, and Marion Musgrove and Miss Rella Grappy are the teachers.
The Big Four railroad has a coaling station here, and this employs six men the year around.
J. F. Webber owns. the elavator and warehouse, and manages the same.
Hoffstetter and Dugan have the village store, and Mr. Hoffstetter is the postmaster.
The Grant Methodist Episcopal church is a beautiful building constructed of cement blocks, the cost of which was $8,500. It has beautiful art glass windows, chiefly in memory of departed members, and is modern in every respect. It is heated by hot air and lighted by gasoline. The building is about fifty by fifty feet and was erected only a few years ago. It has a large Sunday school room, a vestibule, a Ladies' Aid room and a good auditorium, with sloping floor and beau- tiful interior finishings. The pews were the gift of the Ladies' Aid Society and cost $500. The basement is fitted up for social purposes, and also contains the heating plant. The corner stone was laid Sep- tember 16, 1906, by Rev. L. A. Belt, and the church was dedicated May 19, 1907, by Rev. H. C. Jamison of Cincinnati. Rev. G. F. Kinnear
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was the pastor when the church was built, and Rev. Samuel Given now has charge of the work. The Sunday school, with J. H. Watt as super- intendent, has about fifty members.
This church has a very interesting past history, as it dates from pioneer days. It was organized during the winter of 1838-39 by Rev. Enos Holmes, with twenty charter members. They met in the cabins of the members and in school houses until 1858, when they erected a frame church, where the new church now stands, and called it the Pleasant Grove M. E. church. This old church lasted until 1906, when it was moved away to make room for the new one. It is now used as a wareroom by J. F. Webber, he having moved it over to the railroad for convenience in shipping grain.
The Grant cemetery is located a short distance north of the station, and is well kept up by the people of the vicinity. This is a very old cemetery, but it was impossible to get the exact date when it was laid out. It contains the graves of many of the pioneers of this section.
THE VILLAGE OF HEPBURN was laid out in September, 1882, by J. C. Smith. It is situated on the C. & E. railroad about eight miles east of Kenton, in Dudley township. As a summer resort, it is one of the best known little towns in the county. A beautiful little lake, a grove and various other attractions serve to make the town very popular in sum- mer, for picnics, reunions and social gatherings. The lake is situated just south of the railroad. P. M. Duff was the manager of the Spring Lake resort in the summer of 1909.
At present the village has 350 inhabitants. It has two general stores, owned by N. C. Terry and M. E. Shaw, and a hardware store owned by James Lingo. The livery and feed barn is owned and run by E. E. Smith. F. J. Laubis has a large elevator near the railroad, which furnishes a convenient place for the farmers in the vicinity. Henry Drumm and W. T. Davis are the village blacksmiths. The hotel is in charge of N. Banning. and Mrs. M. S. Spencer has a restaurant. F. F. Roe is the station agent and N. C. Terry the postmaster.
A substantial two room sehool building was erected in 1898 and the schools are in a flourishing condition. W. K. Park is the super- intendent, and Mrs. W. K. Park the primary teacher. There are two pretty churches in the town-the United Brethren, in charge of Rev. L. H. Myers, and the Methodist Episcopal, built in 1904, served by Rev. M. E. Metz.
Hepburn has one lodge, the Knights of Pythias.
FORAKER, which was at first called Oakland, was laid out by Henry Priee, October 30, 1886. It is in Lynn township on the C and E. railroad, and is a thriving village of 350 inhabitants.
J. B. Seymore of Kenton, owns and runs a large grain elevator at
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this place, and Seymore and Bartholomew have a large onion storage house at the railroad.
Foraker has two churches, the Baptist and Methodist Episcopal. The school children of Foraker can all be accommodated in the two brick buildings in the village.
W. A. Shoemaker has a general store and Charles Vermillion, Walter Newman and I. C. Rodenbarger have groceries.
THE VILLAGE OF BLANCHARD was established in 1892, when the T. and O. C. railroad was finished. A postoffice was early established and still continues. Mr. J. V. Frined is the present postmaster. He is also the storekeeper and manager of the elevator, which besides a few houses and the railroad station are all there are of the town. A stone quarry is located a little south of the station and is owned by J. Guider.
HUNTERSVILLE. Except for the beautiful new church and the few dwelling houses in this once prosperous settlement, Huntersville might almost be called the deserted village of Hardin county. The time was when it was almost more important than the county seat, with its post- office, stores, carding mill and various other enterprises, but today all these are gone, and only the name remains to recall its prosperous past. It was laid out in the extreme northeastern part of Marion township in 1836, and was named for Jabas Hunter, the first settler. Formerly the town was on both sides of the pike, thus making part of the village in Cessna township, but the buildings gradually disappeared and now the town is in Marion township. Reuben Huff was the first postmaster and inn keeper when the mail was carried from Lafayette to Kenton, by way of Huntersville. Josiah Smith was for many years the village blacksmith and postmaster, beginning his blacksmith shop in 1856 and continuing till his death in 1905.
In its prosperous days Huntersville had a wool carding mill, which had an ox-tread power to keep the machinery in motion, but later on used steam power, and the proprietor was Isaac Hitchcock. Benjamin and John Eulin had a grist and saw mill about the same time also, using ox-power, but later substituting steam. James Miller made wagons, Peter Peck was the village shoemaker, and there were three general stores, owned by a Mr. Wilson, A. L. Rayl and Mr. Huff. It also had a fine school, a dozen or more families living within its limits, and a good church. At different times Drs. Blackburn, Davis, Skidmore, and Evans cared for the sick, with perhaps some other physicians whose names have been forgotten. At present, the beautiful new church erected this year, the Grange hall and two dwellings, mark the once prosperous village.
Three buildings have been erected for the Huntersville Methodist Episcopal church since its formation in pioneer days. The first build-
Vol. I-13
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ing, which was a log affair, was put up in 1842, and cost $110. In time the growing congregation felt the need of a better house of worship, as their own log houses gave way to substantial frame structures, so in 1861 the second building was erected on the spot where the new church now stands at a cost of $1,200. For those days it was a large and com- fortable church, and for many years sheltered the society, but in 1909 the third building was completed-the old frame church being removed to a corner of the church yard to serve for socials and other gatherings. The present church is one of the most complete edifices in Ilardin county and cost $7,000. It was dedicated in the summer of 1909 by Rev. H. C. Jameson of the Cincinnati Conference, who, as a student at Ada, Ohio, preached his first sermon in the old frame church at Hunters- ville. The new church is lighted and heated by gas, and the interior furnishings are modern throughout. It is built of brick veneer and cement plaster, and, standing on the fine location on the Kenton pike, is one of the finest buildings in Marion township.
THE VILLAGE OF SILVER CREEK was established in June, 1867, under the name of Hudsonville. It was laid out by Frederick Hanger and surveyed by R. D. Millar. It was platted and recorded at once. It was named after the little stream near there, though before this it had been known as Hudsonville. The first storekeeper was Frederick Hanger. The postoffice was established in 1865, and proved a great convenience to the people living in the country near. Robert Ewing was the first station agent and postmaster.
It has two churches-the United Presbyterian, whose history is given in connection with that of the church at Kenton, and the Methodist Episcopal. It also has a good rural school named after the town, Silver Creek, which is simply a district one of the township in which it is located.
At present the town has fifty inhabitants. Mr. C. W. Robinson has a large general store here, and sells everything from groceries to agri- cultural implements. Ile also buys grain to ship and does a general business. He is the village postmaster at present.
The Silver Creek Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1860 at the Norman schoolhouse, with six members, and services were held in the schoolhouse until 1863. In that year the little society pur- chased the unfinished Presbyterian church at Silver Creek and completed it, having used it ever since as their church home. A Sunday school has been conducted almost from the beginning of the church's existence. The building originally cost $700, and was remodeled in 1899 at a cost of $1,600. The present membership is nearly one hundred, and it is under the pastoral charge of Rev. J. J. Richards of Kenton, Ohio.
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PFEIFFER STATION was established in 1883, soon after the C. and E. railroad was completed, and for a time a station for passengers and freight was kept by the railroad company, but was afterward discon- tinued. Until about three years ago there was a postoffice here also, but the rural route out of Kenton absorbed the business, and the office was abolished. There are six dwelling houses clustered about the creamery and store, and at present this is all there is of the station or town, which was named for John Pfeiffer, a former postmaster.
S. Kummly keeps a grocery and has been in business twenty-two years, several other persons owning stores before he began. The American Farm Products Company of Kenton, owns and operates a creamery here during the summer, where ice cream and dairy products are made. A. G. Wessling of Kenton, manages the creamery, and he is also the owner of the fine farm on which is situated the old Wheeler tavern across the road from the grocery. M. J. Robinson lives in the old tavern, and manages the farm for the owner. On this farm are kept a number of fine Holstein-Fresian cows, the milk which they pro- duce being manufactured in the creamery near by.
BLOCKTOWN. About thirty or thirty-five years ago on the pike lead- ing south from Dola, there was a little group of buildings called Blocktown, with a store, a postoffice, a cider press and a saw mill, besides an old fashioned church and some dwellings. The chief citizen was Charles Block, who was the postmaster, owned the store, the cider press and the mill, his various industries giving employment to a num ber of men. After a time the postoffice was discontinued, the min fell into decay, the cider press was abandoned, and all that now remains of the town is the beautiful St. John's Evangelical church which was erected some years ago on the site of the old one, and two dwelling houses.
YELVERTON is situated near the Logan county line, this county, in Taylor Creek township. It was laid out in 1858, and named in honor of a Mr. Yelverton, who was at that time a stockholder in the Big Four railroad. At one time it had a saw mill and was quite a thriving village, but at present there is a population of about 100. A blacksmith shop owned by William Dixon and a general store owned by Elmer Van Camp are the only enterprises in the town. One of the district schools of the township is located here, but there is no church. Mr. L. A. Shirk is the postmaster.
JUMBO and JUMP were at one time star route postoffices in McDonald township, but with the advent of rural free delivery the offices were discontinued. At present each little settlement has its store and schoolhouse, but they cannot be properly called villages.
CHAPTER VI. HISTORY OF ADA AND THE UNIVERSITY BY AGNEW WELSH, EDITOR "ADA RECORD."
HISTORY OF ADA. Ada, the second town in importance of the county, is located in the exact center of Liberty township, the north- west one of the county, and is three miles from either the Hancock or Allen county line. Its site was originally covered with virgin forest, and through it ran, from southwest to northeast, a small stream bor-
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RAILROAD PARK AND SOLDIERS' MONUMENT PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD DEPOT PARK, ADA, OHIO
dered by priekly ash. The region is a water-shed plateau, the village drainage being to the north into the lake, while but a few miles south the waters flow into the gulf. The average elevation is about 900 feet above sea level, the center of the township being 951 feet above, and
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the highest point in the township, a mile west of Ada, is 968 feet above.
Liberty township was settled in the early thirties, Marshal Candler coming into the northwest part of it from Allen county in 1832. It was not organized until 1837, and at the first election, held that year at a point a mile north of the center of the town, there were eleven votes cast, indicating a population of about seventy-five in the township at that time.
About 1850 William Mitchell. a resident of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, bought a 160 acre tract of timber land that is now largely covered by the village of Ada. The Ohio and Indiana railroad, later the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago, and now a part of the great Pennsylvania system, was pushing westward, active construction through this immediate region beginning about 1852. In 1853 Mr. Mitchell induced S. M. Johnson to come to this land and locate a saw mill, and with his coming Ada sprang into life. The shipment of lumber, staves and head- ing was for many years the only industry. Mr. Johnson was that type of man that is useful in any community, being progressive, honorable and clean of life. He remained in Ada until 1867, when he moved to Lima where he died in 1882.
In 1853 Mr. Johnson platted part of the land adjacent to the railroad into a village that bore his name-Johnstown-until later changed by the Postoffice Department to Ada. The early village con- sisted of a few cheap buildings in which were one or two general stores and the inevitable groggery. These were clustered about the railroad depot, now used for a freight house, the location being a square east of the present Main street.
The village was incorporated in 1861. Those who have served as mayors since then were the following: HI. J. Gilbert, 1861: H. P. Roberts, 1862: E. L. Sanford, 1862-3; W. L. Reece, 1863-4; S. W. Phillips, 1864-5; D. S. Judd, 1865-6; W. B. Grafton, 1867-8; Al. Card, 1868-9; C. E. Stumm, 1869-70; P. W. Stumm. 1870-72; J. H. Smick, 1872-3; H. S. Shannon. 1873; John Van Liew. 1874; B. A. Holland. 1874-5; Henry Young, 1875-6; John Friedley. 1876-78; A. B. Charles, 1878-80; Albert Shaw. 1880-82; John Friedley. 1882-84; A. M. West, 1884-86; H. E. Neff, 1886-1888; William Lantz, 1888-92; C. E. Stumm, 1892-94; William Lantz, 1894-96; B. F. Paul, 1896-98; B. A. Holland, 1898-1900; C. B. Hickernell. 1900-02; F. M. Ramsdel. 1902-03; L. A. Greer, 1903-05; J. W. Cook, 1905-10.
The pioneers got what little mail was received and dispatched from Huntersville, to the southeast, or Maysville, to the southwest, both then villages of some importance but now like Goldsmith's "Deserted Village." The postoffice at Maysville was called Hog Creek. In 1853 a postoffice was established here to replace the horseback delivery from Findlay through the small towns in the sonthern part of that county. The office took the name of the town. In 1854 the railroad had train
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service established and mails were more frequent. Much confusion arose in both mail and shipments of merchandise from the fact that there was a Johnstown in Licking county, and in 1855 the Postoffice Department changed the name of the office to Ada and the railroad did likewise shortly after.
The office was made a presidential, or third class office, in 1874. The United States first established rural delivery in 1888 and Ada was not slow in availing itself of the privilege, routes 1 and 2 being estab- lished in May, 1899; route 3 followed in 1902, and 4 in 1905. The business of the Ada postoffice had been rapidly approaching the $10,000 mark, and passed it early in 1909 by a handsome margin, thus entitling the town to free city delivery, for which preparations were begun in the summer and application for the same made and, with the opening of 1910. free delivery will be established. Each day ten mails are received at the Ada postoffice and nine are dispatched.
Ada's first impetus was received in 1872. Professor Lehr's Normal school project was taking root. He had been here six years as head of the public schools and conducting a select school, and talking Normal school all the time. The town was taking on a progressive air. The new Normal building was ready for use; the joint Ream-Masonie build- ing was erected, the Bauman I. O. O. F. building, the Ahlefeld bank building-all two and three story brick buildings-went up in this 1872 period and gave the village a metropolitan air, compared with its little wooden business rooms.
Other enterprises were inaugurated : a Building and Loan Association was organized and did a flourishing business, and another was organized, but the second soon closed up, and a few years later the first also went out of business, but in 1890 the present flourishing one was established and its business now amounts to a quarter of a million dollars.
A newspaper, the Ada Record, was launched, and the village emerged from its chrysalis state. This progress has been steadily upward until it now enjoys all the advantages of a city and without the latter's disadvantages. Senator Foraker once pronounced Ada the "biggest little town" he ever saw. The census of 1910 will give it very close to 3,000, and this exclusive of students which usually number about a thousand per term.
In 1905 improvement of the streets began by paving Main its entire length, one mile, and Buckeye a half mile. In 1908 Johnson street was paved south of the railroad, a distance of a half mile, and two blocks were paved on East Montfort. In 1909 Gilbert was paved nearly its entire length, adding another mile, while Highland avenue (changed this year from Hoosier), was paved for a half mile. A block was also paved on Lincoln avenue, formerly Mill street, from Main to Johnson,
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and the remainder of that street to the east corporation line eurbed and macadamized, making a total of two miles of improved streets for that year.
MAIN AND BUCKEYE, LOOKING NORTH, ADA, OHIO
Ada has always been noted for its moral and mental culture. More of its people attend church than in any town of twice its size in the state. It has the finest stone church, the Methodist Episcopal. in northwestern Ohio, built in 1902. In the beginning of the seventies it had a Good Templar lodge. When the Murphy movement swept the country in 1876 great meetings were held here, at which hundreds signed the pledge. Ada sentiment has always been on the moral side. Three times has it voted out saloons, the first instance being as early as 1884. They are likely now out forever. When Hardin county voted dry in 1908, Liberty township gave a dry majority of 121 and the village went dry by 441, the total wet vote being but 112.
Ada has six churches, ranking in seniority of organization as follows: Presbyterian, 1855; Methodist, 1861; Baptist, 1866; Disciples, 1866; Catholic, 1874; Lutheran, 1876. The Wesleyan Methodists had a congregation here some years ago and put up a neat briek structure as a house of worship, but it was sold to the Ohio Northern University in 1909 and converted into a two story musieal conservatory. The Reformed Church also had a house of worship here some fifteen years
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ADA, OHIO
ago, but the organization weak- ened and later the building was converted into a machine shop.
A number of ladies' clubs for mental improvement are sus- tained, the pioneers of these be- ing the Current Events Club, organized in 1893, and now one of the State Federation. Fol- lowing this came the Twice Ten Art Club, which obtained its name from its membership limi- tation. It deals more with home life topics, the other being an exclusively literary club. The Nineteen Two Club, whose birth year is indicated by its name, is similar to the Twice Ten in its aims. The Advance Club, organized in 1906, is along the same lines as those last named.
Journalism in Ada has ever been a lively topic. Its first newspaper, the Ada Record, was launched in April, 1872, by Bent L. Thompson. Five years later he sold it to J. E. Fisher, and in October, 1878, it passed into the hands of Bent L. Thompson and E. L. Millar, Mr. Millar having come here from the vicinity of Kenton as a student. Later both he and Mr. Thompson were associated together in the pub- lication of the Kenton Republican, the latter being the owner. In 1881 Mr. Millar sold the Record to Agnew Welsh, in whose hands it has since remained.
Several efforts were made to found a school journal, the first called the Educational Advance, being a monthly established in 1873, but it survived but a few months. In 1877 E. L. Millar and G. W. Rutledge begun publishing the Literary Casket. A year later Mr. Rutledge retired and soon after the Casket was merged with the Record, Millar and Thompson having bought the latter of Mr. Fisher.
In September, 1889, H. B. Fouke thought the field looked good to him and started theAda Republican, but less than a year saw its demise. Soon after Mr. Fouke started his paper Ed. Harris began publishing the Ada Demoerat, which made the fifth paper trying to exist in Ada at one time. The Demoerat lived through one campaign.
In June, 1885, the first number of the University Herald appeared, with W. W. Poultney, U. S. G. Cherry and S. B. Wagner as editors and
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