USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County, v. 5 number 5 > Part 4
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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.
Although Cleveland had long been a port of entry, there was a heavy bar at the mouth of the river, which greatly impeded naviga- tion and commerce. The 18th Congress, however, at its second session, by an act passed March 3rd, 1825, appropriated five thou- sand dollars to the building of a pier at Cleveland. The work was immediately commenced, subsequent appropriations were made, a new channel for the river cut into the lake, piers built and com- pleted in 1828, so that there was a good channel of at least ten feet in depth. These two improvements gave the village a strong impetus, and from that time the population has steadily increased.
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On the 31st of December, 1829, the legislature passed an act extending the village boundaries, and all the land lying on the river from the southerly line of Huron street down the river to a point 12 rods westerly of the junction of Vineyard Lane with the road leading from the village to Brooklyn, thence west parallel with said road to the river, and down the river to the old village line, was annexed ; and on the 18th of February 1834, another act was passed, again extending the village boundaries, which added all the two acre lots east of Erie street, the tier south of Ohio street, and a parcel at the southwest corner of the original plat, which was not originally surveyed or laid off. I notice that this last piece of land, called Case's Point, was excepted from the operation of the act until the first day of January following. And on the fifth day of March 1836, an act to incorporate the City of Cleveland was passed, which changed the village to a city.
The following is a description of the territory, which was there- by declared to be a city, and "the inhabitants thereof created a body corporate and politic by the name and style of the City of Cleveland."
" Beginning at low water mark on the shore of Lake Erie at the most northeastwardly corner of Cleveland, ten acre lot number one hundred and thirty-nine, and running thence on the dividing line between lots number one hundred and thirty-nine and one hundred and forty, numbers one hundred and seven and one hun- dred and eight, numbers eighty and eighty-one, numbers fifty-five and fifty-six, numbers thirty-one and thirty-two, and numbers six and seven of the ten acre lots to the south line of the ten acre lots, thence on the south line of the ten acre lots to the Cuyahoga River ; thence down the same to the extreme point of the west pier of the harbor, thence to the township line between Brooklyn and Cleveland, thence on that line northwardly to the county line, thence eastwardly with said line to a point due north of the place of beginning ; thence south to the place of beginning."
The eastern boundary of the city fell on a line which would now be described as a line through Perry street north to the lake, and south to the southerly line of the ten-acre lots. In the meantime
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the Village Council in 1820 laid out Seneca south of Superior and Michigan to intersect it, and the next year Michigan was extended to Vineyard Lane. In 1827 Champlain st. was laid out, and in 1828 Prospect street east of Ontario. Michigan street now soon became the fashionable street. Following the laying out of these new streets came the allotments of the original two-acre lots. On January 12th, 1833, Alfred Kelley made an allotment of lots 191-2-3, which lay immediately south of Bath street and west of Water. In the month of December of the same year, Richard Hilliard, Edmund Clark, and James S. Clark made the center allotment, which embraced all the land in the first bend of the river. In April 1834, Leonard Case allotted the ten-acre lot at the southeast corner of the old plat, and widened the Newburgh road, as it was called, now Broadway, from its width as a State road of 66 feet to 99 feet, to correspond with Ontario street as originally laid out. In the same year, John M. Woolsey allotted all the two- acre lots south of Superior and west of Erie. In November 1835, Lee Canfield, Sheldon Pease, and others allotted the two-acre lots at the northeast corner of the city plat, and also the adjoining ten- acre lots by their plat they laid out and dedicated Clinton Park. Between this park and the lake they built for that day fine houses with a double front, facing the lake to the north and the park to the south, expecting, no doubt, the fashionable population would choose that section to build their palatial mansions. In January 1836, Ashbel W. Walworth and Thomas Kelley allotted the two- acre lots south of Ohio street, and also a large tract of land lying adjoining and reaching to the river, which was a part of the old unsurveyed parcel, but generally known as hundred-acre lot 487. But in this growth and expansion the new city was not without an active and determined rival. In 1833, some enterprising residents of Brooklyn, associating with a number of Buffalo capitalists, purchased a tract of about eighty acres, bounded south by Detroit street, west by the river, and north by the township line, and laid the same out into lots, blocks and streets, and it was known by the name of "The Buffalo Company Purchase." In 1835, Mr. Charles Taylor, owning a farm immediately west of this allotment,
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laid the same out into lots and streets, which is still known as the Taylor farm allotment. His son, a well known and honored citizen still resides on one of the lots bearing as his Christian name De Witt Clinton. In 1836, Richard Lord and Josiah Barber allotted the land immediately south of these two plats. Not to be outdone in the matter of city organization, these residents in that part of Brooklyn township also procured the passage of an act incorporating themselves into a city, including these allotments, and some other outlying lands in the township of Brooklyn, and gave to their new city the high sounding name, "The City of Ohio." There is some rather interesting history connected with the organization of that city. The Cleveland bill was pending at the same time, and one of its provisions directed the village council to call an election for the officers of the new corporation some time in the month of April following, which was the usual month for holding the Spring elections. The bill for the City of Ohio authorized and directed the election of its officers to be held on the last Monday of March, and their bill was passed and took effect on the third day of March, just two days before the passage of the Cleveland act, and their election was held on said last Monday of March. In some manner, " they gained the pole," and won by a head the heat in this municipal race, and became a full fledged city, while Cleveland yet remained a village. In April 1837, James S. Clarke, in company with others, allotted nearly all that part of that City of Ohio lying south and west of the Barber & Sons allotment, and called their plat " Willeyville." When this gentleman and his other associates had made the allotment of Cleveland center, as it was called, they had laid out Columbus street from the north line to the river. In this new plat, over the river, Columbus street was laid ont through its center to connect with the Wooster and Medina Turnpike. as it was called, at the south line of the City of Ohio; the northern end of said street being exactly opposite the southern end of the Columbus street of the other plat. This Mr. Clarke also erected a large block at the northern end of Columbus street, and two large blocks on the opposite corners of Prospect street, where it intersects Ontario.
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The proprieters of the Buffalo Company, not to be outdone, had built a large hotel on Main street in their allotment, to attract the fashionable travel arriving by the lake. Mr. Clarke .on laying out the Willeyville tract, expended a large amount of money in grading the hill, which brought Columbus street down to the river, and had a bridge built over the river connecting his street, in the expectation that the traffic and travel from the south would reach Cleveland by this route, and be brought up Michigan street on account of its easy grade. The building of this bridge was too much for the excited inhabitants of the City of Ohio. Under some fancied claim that the bridge was not legally located, soon after its construction, in 1837, they turned out in large numbers for the purpose of tearing down and destroying the bridge. The inhabitants of Cleveland rallied to the rescue under their valiant marshal, and for a short time a bloody riot was imminent, but better counsels prevailed ; a decree from the Court enjoining any interference with the bridge was obtained, and only a few bloody noses were the results of this threatened war. Alas, for human expectation of wealth based on the inflation of paper currency, for that was a period of great expansion of the paper currency of the country. When the crash happened, which is always in such cases sure to come, Clarke became insolvent, and all his lots and blocks were sold by the Sheriff. In like manner, many of the proprietors of the Buffalo Company became bankrupt, their grand hotel remained tenantless, and when I visited it officially in 1850, its walls were badly cracked, and it was occupied as a cheap tenement house, the only remains of its former grandeur was its magnificent stairscase, and the only souvenir remaining in memory that I was able to discover was, that one Daniel Parish, Esq., at that time no undis- tinguished member of the Cleveland bar, on a return from a wedding journey after one of his many marriages, had led thither as the abode of fashion, his beautiful, if not blushing bride. The same sad fate happened to the grand houses opposite Clinton Park. One was drawn off on to another street, one torn down, and I think the remnants of one still remain in a changed condition as the sole survivor of those great expectations.
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As provided in the act of incorporation, the village council ordered an election for officers, to be held on the 15th day of April, 1836, and after a spirited canvass, the following ticket was elected : John W. Willey, mayor ; Richard Hilliard, Nicholas Dockstader, and Joshua Mills, aldermen ; Morris Hepburn, John R. St. John Wm. V. Craw, Sherlock J. Andrews, Henry L. Noble, Edward Baldwin, Aaron Stickland, Horace Canfield, and Archibald M. T. Smith, councilmen. 580 votes were cast at the election, and the successful candidate for mayor had quite a majority over his dis- tinguished opponent Leonard Case. This vote indicates the city's population to have been between three and four thousand. When the council organized, Sherlock J. Andrews was elected its presid- ing officer. Mr. Henry B. Payne was chosen city attorney, and also elected clerk of the council ; but the duties of that office were per- formed by another person, whose beantiful handwriting appears on the first journal of the city, which is signed officially by Mr. Payne, who turned over his salary to. the skillful penman performing the labor. The act by which the city was incorporated is a most excellently drafted instrument. It shows on the part of its author a clear understanding of municipal rights and duties. The language is clear and precise, and throughout its whole length it bears the impress of an educated, experienced legal mind. It was undoubt- edly the work of the first mayor, and I may add, for the purpose of furnishing the basis of wise city legislation, for clearness, pre- cision, and certainty, it will not suffer by comparison with any of the municipal codes enacted since the adoption of the present con- stitution. Among other provisions of this instrument, the city was authorized to levy one mill on the dollar in addition to the general tax for the support of common schools ; and it also pro- vided for the creation of " A Board of Managers of Common Schools in the City of Cleveland." From this has grown our pres- ent public school system.
Notwithstanding the facilities they possessed for lake and canal navigation, the citizens of the city became early interested in rail- road enterprises. On the third of March 1834, the legislature passed an act, whereby Aaron Barker, David H. Beardsley, Truman
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P. Handy, John W. Allen, Horace Perry, Lyman Kendall, and James S. Clarke, together with those who should become stockhol- ders, were created a body corporate by "the name and style of the Cleveland and Newburgh Railroad Company," and authorized to construct, a railroad from some point in lot number 413 in New- burgh township, to the harbor in Cleveland, and were authorized also to transport freight and passengers on this road "by the power and force of steam, animals, or other mechanical force, or by a combination of them." The eastern terminus named was near a stone quarry on said lot, which was near the corner of the four townships, Newburg, Warrensville, Cleveland, and Euclid. A depot was built there, and the neighboring farm lands were laid into lots. The capital stock authorized was $50,000, which was subscribed and the road built, Ahaz Merchant being engineer in chief, the track being laid through Euclid street and across the Doan brook up to the quarry. The rails were made of wood, the motive force being "animals " two-horse power, tandem at that. It was laid out along the south to the west side of the square, and the depot was a part of the old barn of the then Cleveland Hotel, where the Forest City House now is. This road did not exactly reach the harbor, for in that remote stone age the square was the chief dump- ing ground for the freight from the quarry. It was operated for a few years, and then abandoned, and the rotting debris for a long time remained a nuisance in the highway.
At the same session, however, in which the city was incorporated, acts were passed to incorporate the Ohio Railroad Company, lead- ing from the east line of the State through the lake counties to the Maumee river, and thence to the State line. The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, leading from Cleveland to the State line, or some point on the river in the direction of Pittsburgh ; The Cleveland, Columbus, & Cincinnati Railroad Company, lead- ing from Cleveland through Columbus and Wilmington to Cin- cinnati ; The Cleveland and Warren Railroad Company, leading from Cleveland to Warren, and the Cleveland & Erie Railroad Company, to lead from Cleveland to Ravenna and Portage county. The chief offices of all these companies was this city, except that
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