USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, number I > Part 30
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The streets as copied from Pease's notes and minutes are as follows :
First, Superior street, north side beginning at the west end, where it connects with Water street at a post (fromn said post, a white oak marked D bears S 31° E dist. 21 links). Thenee runs N 56° E (counting from the true meridian) 20 chains to the Square. Thence keeping the same course across the Square to a corner post on the other side of the Square 9 chains 50 links (from the last post a white oak marked F bears N 25° west 24 links dist). Thence N 56° E 20 chains to the west side of Erie street to a corner post, from which W oak marked R bears S 82° W dist. 46 links.
N. B. This street is 200 links in width.
Survey of Lake street north side, beginning at the west end at
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Water street at a corner post, (from which a whitewood tree marked H bears S 31° E dist. 31 links). Thence runs N 56° E 24 chains to the west side of Ontario street to a corner post, from which a black oak marked J bears N 42° E distant 38 links. Thence across sd. street 150 links to a post, from which a white oak marked K bears N 22° W distant 24 links. Thence to the west side of Erie street 24 chains to a corner post from which a white oak marked N bears 69° W 45 links distant. This street is 150 links in width.
Federal street is parallel to Superior street. The south side of Federal street is half way from Superior street to Lake street ; it begins on Erie street and runs 56° E to the east line of the city limits. Its length is 1800 links, and its width 150 links.
A description of Huron street. It is parallel to Superior street, and distant from it 20 chains. Its width is 150 links, its length from the east line of the city to Erie is 18 chains ; afterwards there was a triangular piece taken off from lot No. 97 to connect sd. with Ontario above the bank. The north side of Huron from Ontario to the river is 745 links. The south side of Huron street to Miami street is 16 chains, and from Miami street to the river 12 chains 50 links.
Ohio street is parallel to Huron street, and is distant from it 20 chains. The whole length is from Miami street to Erie street 16 chains ; its width is 150 links or 6 rods.
The description of Erie street. East side. The distance from the south line of the city limits to Huron street is 31 chains 50 links, and from Huron street to Federal street to the top of the bank of the lake shore is 17 chains 25 links. West side. The distance from the south line of the city to Ohio street 10 chains ; from Ohio street to Huron street is 20 chains ; from Huron street to Superior street is 20 chains; from Superior street to Lake street is 20 chains 3 links ; from Lake street to the top of the banks of the lake shore is 708 links ; below the banks not measured. This street lieth at right angles with Superior street. That is N 34° W or S 34° E. The whole length from the south line of the city to the top of the bank of the Lake is 83 chains 68 links. The width of the street is 150 links.
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Ontario street. East side from Huron street to the Square is 14 chains ; from the Square to Lake street is 16 chains ; from Lake street to the top of the bank of the Lake shore is 7 chains. West side from Huron street to Maiden Lane is 8 chains 55 links ; from Maiden Lane to the Square is 6 chains 70 links ; from the Square to Lake street is 16 chains ; from Lake street to the top of the bank of the Lake shore is 7 chains 62 links. The course of Ohio street is N 34° W or S 34° E and 150 links in width.
Miami street connects the west end of Ohio street with Huron street and is parallel to Erie street. The length is 20 chains, and its width 150 links.
Water street. East side from Superior street to Lake street is 20 chains ; from Lake street to the top of the bank of the Lake shore is S chains 50 links. West side, from Superior street to Mandrake Lane is 15 chains ; from Mandrake Lane to Bath street is 13 chains 12 links. The width is 150 links. Its course is N 34° W or S 34° E.
Survey of Mandrake Lane. West side beginning at Water street, and run by lot No. 197 S 50° W 5 chains 72 links ; thence S 6° E 5 chains 61 links to Union street. South east side beginning at Water street and run S 56° W 5 chains 18 links. Thence S 6º E 484 links to Union Lane. The width of the street is 100 links.
Survey of Union Lane. North side beginning at the south end of Water street west side and run N 80° 40' W 316 links to a post ; thence N 56° 50' W 863 links to a post ; thence S 77º 20' W 200 links to a post, where it connects with Mandrake Lane, thence S 77º 20' W across the end of Mandrake Lane 101 links. Thence S 56° W 167 links to the river. The width of this Lane is 100 links.
Survey of Vineyard Lane. West side beginning at an angle formed by the continuation of Water street west side and Superior street south side ; thence running S 8° 20' W 435 links to a white oak ; thence S 24° W 12 chains to a post ; thence S 66° E 128 links to the river.
N. B. The road is laid 100 links wide ; also a reserve is made for a landing place at the river 6 rods, immediately east of the last described line ; likewise the last mentioned post is distant N 14°
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30' to 150 links from a stake set at the end of the 17th course Cuyahoga Traverse.
In the old field map, the name of Superior street was first written " Broad," Ontario "Court," and Miami "Deer," but these words were crosscd with ink, and the same names written as given in Pease's map and minutes. In Spafford's map, " Maiden Lane," which led from Ontario street along the side of the hill to Vineyard Lane, was omitted, and the same was never worked or used. Spafford also laid out Superior Lane, which was not on the Pease map, which has since been widened, and become that portion of Superior street from Water down the hill to the river. "Bath street " is not described in the Pease minutes, but is laid out on the map, and is referred to in the minutes, and the boundaries and extent appear on the map. The Square also is not described in the Pease minutes, but is referred to in the description of Ontario and Superior streets, and is marked and laid out on the map. In Spafford's minutes the Square is thus described : " The Square is laid out at the intersection of Superior street and Ontario street, and contains ten acres. The center of the junction of the two roads is the exact center of the Square." These surveys, the laying out of the lots bounding on the Square, their adoption by the Land Company, the subsequent sale by said Company of the surrounding lots abutting upon it, make the "Square " as much land devoted to public use as the streets themselves, and forever forbids the same being given up to private uses. The easterly line of the city was the east line of one tier of lots, beyond Erie street, coïnciding with the present line of Canfield street. The east line began at the lake, and extended southerly one tier of lots south of Ohio street. The line then ran to the river, down the river skipping the lower bend of the river to Vineyard Lane, thence along Vineyard Lane to the junction of Water with Superior street, thence to the river, thence down the river to its mouth. Superior street, as the. survey shows, was 132 feet in width, the other streets 99 feet. It is hardly possibly to fully appreciate the sagacity and foresight of this leader of the surveying party. With full consciousness of what would arise in its future growth, he knew the city would
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have a suburban population, and he directed the immediate outlying land to be laid off in ten acre lots, and the rest of the township into 100 acre lots, instead of the larger tracts into which the other townships were divided. The next year, the ten acre lots were surveyed and laid out. They extended on the east to the line of what is now Willson avenue, and on the south to the top of the brow of the ravine formed by Kingsbury Run, and extended west- wardly to the river bank. Owing to the peculiar topography of the place, some of the two acre lots had more and others less than the named quantity of land, and the same occurred in the survey and laying out of the ten aere lots. The flats were not surveyed off into lots, and there was an unsurveyed strip between the west line of the ten acre lots and the river, above and below the mouth of the Kingsbury Run, running south to a point west of hundred aere lot 278. Three streets were laid out through the ten acre lots, each 99 feet in width to correspond with the city streets, called the South, Middle and North Highway. The southerly one becoming Kinsman street, the Middle, Euclid street at its intersection with Huron; the southerly one received its name from the fact that Kinsman, the east township of the seventh line of townships, was at a very early period distinguished for its wealth and population. The Middle was called Euelid, because that was the name of the next township east. The North Highway was a continuation of Federal street, but changed to St. Clair, after the name of the territorial governor, whose name, in the minds of his admirers, was a synonym of Federal.
Owing to the apparently poor character of the soil upon the lake shore, the great body of early emigrants pushed on into the interior, and for many years there were only a few struggling settlements to be found on the site of the future city. But the general population of the territory rapidly increased, and the seventh Congress, at its first session, by an act approved April 30th, 1802, enabled the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the Ohio to form a constitution for a State Govern- ment, and for the admission of the State into the Union on an equal footing with the other States. The western boundary of the
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State was the same as originally established by the ordinance of 1787, but the northern boundary was a line intersecting the same drawn through the southerly extreme of lake Michigan, running east after its intersection until it intersected lake Erie, and thence through lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line. The convention was authorized by said act to assemble on the first Monday in the fol- lowing November, and within that month, and on the 29th day thereof, they had completed and signed their constitution, and thereupon Ohio became one of the States of the Union. In the same year, 1802, agreeable to an order of the Territorial Court of General Quarter Sessions, the inhabitants of this township called Cleveland, met at the house of James Kingsbury, on the 5th day of April, and organized a Township government by choosing Rudolphus Edwards as chairman, and Nathaniel Doan as clerk, and elected as Township trustees Amos Spafford, Timothy Doan, and W. W. Williams. They also elected the then usual Township officers, appraisers, supervisors of highways, fence viewers and constables, and thus began the corporate existence of Cleveland. The Township jurisdiction then extended over a large surrounding territory, which was afterwards curtailed by the organization of new townships.
December 31st, 1805, the General Assembly passed an act for the division of Trumbull county, whereby Geauga county was established, which embraced all of Trumbull county east of the Cuyahoga river, and north of the fifth range of townships. In the same act provision was made for the future organization of Cuya- hoga county, and by an act passed January 16th, 1810, Cuyahoga county was established. It embraced all the territory now within its limits east of the river, including Willoughby, which was long afterwards annexed to Lake county, and on the west embraced the greater part of Medina and Lorain counties, for which provision had been made for their future organization, and which were after- wards established. It would be too much of detail to give any history of the township ; but I notice that one of the supervisors of highways chosen at the first election was Samuel Huntington, who was the 9 year elected as delegate to the State Convention,
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the first Senator elected from Trumbull county, afterwards chosen Supreme Judge, and subsequently elected Governor of the State. Stanley Griswold also was Town Clerk, but soon appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate from Ohio, and at the end of his term appointed by the President, Judge of the northwest territory. On the 2nd day of March 1799 Congress divided the northwest territory into custom collection districts, the Erie district including the shores of lake Erie from the Pennsyl- vania line to the Maumee river, then called the Miami of the lake, and the port of entry was ordered to be established at said Miami river, or near Sandusky; and two ports of delivery were also author- ized. The eigth Congress at its 2nd session, on the 3rd day of March 1805 divided this district, making the west boundary thereof the Vermillion river, and authorized the President by proclamation to designate the port of entry. This was done by the President, and he designated Cleveland as such port of entry. but no authoritative date of that proclamation can be found in Cleveland, as the records of the office have been destroyed by fire ; but on the 17th day of January, 1806, Judge John Walworth was commissioned collector of the district. Ou the 15th day of Octo- ber, 1814, the Township of Newburgh was organized from the ter- ritory of this original seventh Township of the 12th Range, the north line thereof being a prolongation of the original north line of the seventh Township till it reached the ten acre lots ; thence south and west on the line of the ten acre lots to the northwest corner of 100 acre lot 278. It embraced within its limits the residences of those then important citizens, James Kingsbury, Erastus Miles, and Rudolphus Edwards. Indeed, Newburgh town- ship, for a considerable period, was the more important place, as water power was to be found there, and a good mill had been built. Most of you doubtless remember in former days the sneer of our rival cities on the lake shore, who described Cleveland as the town on the lake six miles from Newburgh. The prejudices of the emi- grants against the soil gradually disappeared as its capacities became known, and the advantages of its situation began to pre- vail. Its being established as a port of entry, and its location as
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the county seat, all tended to increase the population, and on the 23rd day of December 1814, an act was passed by the General Assembly to take effect on the first Monday of June following, "To incorporate the Village of Cleveland, in the County of Cuya- hoga." The boundaries of the village are described in the act as so much of the City plat of Cleveland, in the Township of Cleve- land and County of Cuyahoga, as lies northwardly of Huron street so-called, and westwardly of Erie street so-called, in said city plat as originally laid out by the Connecticut Land Company, according to the minutes and survey and map thereof in the office of the recorder of said County of Cuyahoga. Agreeable to said act, on the first Monday in June, 1815, twelve of the inhabitants of that village met, and unanimously elected Alfred Kelley as President, Horace Perry Recorder, Alonzo Carter Treasurer, John A. Kelley Marshal, George Wallace and John Riddle Assessors, Samuel Williamson, David Long, and Nathan Perry, Trustees.
Let us pause a moment in our narrative, to consider the situation of affairs at the time the General Assembly enacted the law incor- porating the village. The war with Great Britain, which had been declared on the 18th of June 1812, was still raging, although in fact on the next day the commissioners of the two countries agreed upon the terms of a treaty of peace and the suspension of hostili- ties, but owing to the slowness of communication, for some time this was not known, and after the actual signing of the treaty, naval engagements took place, and the battle of New Orleans was fought. At the time this legislature assembled to act upon the affairs of the State, the war was in full progress. During all the previous Summer the great navy of our then enemy kept the sea- board coast in constant alarm, and actually landed a force on the Maryland shore, which ravaged the country, and captured and burned the capitol of the nation. All along the Canadian border, on both sides troops were stationed and occasionally fierce and bloody attacks were made by the respective forces over the lines. The great forests of the northwest were filled with savage Indians, who hung upon the border like a dark cloud in the horizon, incensed perhaps justly by the greed of advancing emigrants, and stimulated
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by the money and promises of the enemy, scalping and murdering any unwary settler, and ready to fall on any undefended settlement. Happily, by the gallantry of Perry and his brave sailors, the naval banner of St. George had been hauled down and surrendered on lake Erie, and over its waters the Stars and Stripes floated triumphantly.
In looking over the acts of that General Assembly, one can scarcely imagine the country was in a state of war. They were proceeding to enact laws the same as if in a state of profound peace. Among other acts passed, I find those, regulating the course of descents and distribution of personal estates, to establish churches and library associations, to prevent injury by dogs, to regulate the practice of the courts, to provide for the improvement of the rivers, and many others, indicating a well ordered civil society. There is, however, an undertone discoverable from the act to levy and collect the direct tax apportioned that year to the State of Ohio by the General Government, and the act for the dis- cipline of the militia. The State had been divided into brigade and regimental divisions, and to each regiment there was author- ized one company of cavalry, and one of artillery; and every able bodied citizen between the ages of 18 and 45, either residing in, or coming within the State, was obliged to enroll himself in the militia, if not a member of a cavalry or artillery company ; and within twelve months after such enrollment, and sooner, if notified, pro- vide and equip himself with a good musket and bayonet, fusee or rifle, a knapsack and blankets, and two spare flints, a pouch with a box therein containing not less than 24 cartridges. suited to the bore of his musket or fusee, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball, or pouch and powder horn with 24 balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder. The spirit of the people is well expressed by a resolution of the General Assembly referring to the situation, wherein they declared : " We will suffer every hardship, submit to every privation in support of our country's right and honor ; though we love peace and invoke its blessings, yet we will not shrink from the dangers of war."
Indeed, the State of Ohio was formed by no ordinary race of
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men. The constitution which they adopted was made and per- fected within the short space of 29 days, and it was the purest and most remarkable constitution for a representative government, which up to that time had ever been adopted. The whole leg- islative power of the State was vested in the General Assembly ; the Governor had no part in the legislative voice, but was merely the executive officer ; nor was there any Lieutenant Governor to preside over the Senate ; the judiciary also were appointed by the General Assembly, to hold their offices for brief terms, or so long as they should well behave. The early emigration to Ohio repre- sented in its composition fully and adequately the spirit of the Union. On her fruitful soil the culled grain from New England, the Middle States, and the South was sown, and the product was a race of giants. If these emigrants were not versed in the learning of universities and colleges, they had been educated at a higher academy. The prominent elder men had been soldiers of the revolution, and the young men had graduated in that school of self-sacrifice, nobleness and exalted patriotism, which eminently fitted them to become the founders and builders of a State. In looking back to that period, they seem to resemble in appearance the great trees of the virgin forest which covered the land, and not the smaller timber of a second growth. It may be Ohio vaunteth herself, but not unseemly.
To resume our narration of the village history, the Council of the village immediately organized, and continued to exercise the ordi- nary municipal control of the territory embraced in the corporate limits. For several years the officers of the corporation were, as at first, unanimously elected ; but as numbers increased, often more than one ticket was in the field. On the 15th day of October, 1815, upon the petition of John A. Ackley, Levi Johnson, and others, the Council laid out and established Bank, Seneca, and Wood streets from Superior street to the lake; also St. Clair street, which was extended to the river. A jog was made at Erie from Federal street, undoubtedly from the fact that a continuation of that old street on its original line to the river would have destroyed the lots fronting on Mandrake Lane. Also Euclid street was then
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established, from the Square to Huron street, the space between that point and the old middle highway being in the Township. That street in the early days, and for a long time afterwards, was by no means a popular highway. Stretching along at the southerly side of the ridge, it was the receptacle of all the surface waters of the region about it, and during much of the time was covered with water, and for the rest of the year was too muddy for ordinary travel. Diamond street, as it was then called, was also laid out around the Square.
Many interesting facts in regard to the early history of the vil- lage might be re-called from the records of the village Council. I noticed among other things, that in 1817 the Council passed an ordinance to reimburse 25 citizens, who had subscribed in all $198 towards the building of a school house, by giving them orders on the treasurer, payable in three years. Indeed, it seems that city orders were the currency of that period, for in the previous year the village had authorized the issue of orders on the treasurer, but with a proviso limiting the amount to double the funds in the treasury, and in the following year, to provide small change. orders were authorized to be issued in small sums to any person depositing with the treasurer good, sound bank bills or specie, but not to exceed $100 to any one person. In 1829, by a vote of a majority of the trustees, a fire-engine was purchased at the cost of $285, for which a treasury order was issued in payment. . This was thought to be a piece of extravagance, and at the next election the dissenting trustee was reëlected with an entire new board of officers ; but the usefulness of the machine vindicated the wisdom of the purchase, and subsequently the trustee who was most active in the matter, was made president, and reëlected till he was promoted to a higher office. In 1832 active measures were taken to prevent the spread of the "Indian " Cholera, as it was called, a Board of Health was appointed, and vigorous sanitary action taken. A quarantine was established and a hospital provided for strangers or emigrants coming into the village attacked with the disease. In spite of all their efforts, the scourge came and for sometime was quite destruc- tive, as it was in all the lake towns. Among others who held the
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office of President was Leonard Case, and Reuben Wood, afterwards Chief Justice and Governor of the State, was both Recorder and President.
The time when the village was incorporated, notwithstanding the war, was one of rapid development of the State. By that same General Assembly the towns of Cincinnati, Circleville, Portsmouth, and Urbana were also incorporated. The ten years immediately following the war were barren of great events, yet, owing to the financial difficulties and other incidents growing out of the dis- turbed condition of the country, there was a large emigration to Ohio, which offered to the active and enterprising cheap land and fruitful soil. In the decade from 1810 to 1820 the population of the State doubled, and the number of inhabitants had increased to over half a million. The building of the Erie Canal had moved and stimulated the people of Ohio, and in 1820 legislation was commenced looking towards the construction of a canal to connect Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and on February 24th, 1825, an act was passed for the construction of the work. The northern terminus was located at Cleveland, chiefly through the efforts of Alfred Kelley, seconded by his fellow citizens ; and in that year the great Governor of New York came to Ohio to inaugurate the work, when the ground was first broken, DeWitt Clinton himself handling the spade. Its construction was rapidly pushed forward, and it was ready for navigation in the year 1827, under the honest and able management of Alfred Kelley, who was acting commis- sioner during the period of its construction.
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