USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 46
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
Son, who continue the business. John S. a partner. He died in 1893. Herbert L. Foster in the meantime built a stable on Huffman was a native of Clark County, and died in 1900. West Columbia Street, a short distance west of Fountain Avenue, which is still conducted by his son, John K.
Away back in the '40s and '50s Charles Stout, the father of Mr. Stout who is now secretary of the Springfield Building and Loan Association, ran a livery stable on West Main Street, not far from the loca- tion of George Derrickson's present stable. Afterwards, along in the '60s, Josiah Driscoll built the Derrickson Stable, and for thirty or more years, until his death in 1895, Driscoll's Livery Stable was considered among the best in the city, Mr. Driscoll himself giving supervision over the management. Upon his death it was purchased by the present owner, George Derrickson.
HATTERS.
P. E. Bancroft, recently deceased, was an old time merchant of this city. He commenced business practically at the place where he continued until his death, in 1907, in 1851. His business is con- tinued by his son Robert, and is located a few doors east of Fountain Avenue on Main Street. Other persons engaged at present in the hat business may be men- tioned as O. F. Hypes, who has a store in the Bookwalter Building; J. S. Bethel, located in the Fisher Building, and John Sullivan, in the old Sharpe Building on South Limestone Street.
Joshua Gore, for a long time a citizen of this place, about 1840 conducted a hard- ware store, afterwards a dry goods estab- lishment and later in life a hat store on East Main Street, with Herbert Huffman
HARDWARE STORES, ETC.
For a long time in the '60s and early '70s Doty & Rhinehart conducted a hard- ware store where the Woods Brothers are now located on East Main Street in the Kizer Building. This store afterwards passed into the hands of the Hamilton Brothers, William and Fin, who continued the operation of this business until the latter part of the '80s. It was one of the leading stores of its time. About the same time that Doty had his store, Major Brown and William B. Baker had a hard- ware store on Main Street in the building immediately west of the Bushnell Build- ing. Later the Springfield Hardware Store was established in the room vacated by the post office, where the Gotwald Building is now located, on the southeast corner of Limestone and Main. Phil Wiseman and J. S. Kitchen were the prin- cipal proprietors. William Diehl died in 1894 and was in the hardware business a long time in this city. He founded the es- tablishment now conducted by his son Wallace, immediately west of the First Presbyterian Church.
Shortly before the death of Mr. Diehl he and his son George conducted a hard- ware store in the building immediately west of that occupied by the Elder & Tut- tle establishment. From the sign of the Lion on the roof the Lion hardware was so called. U. H. Gurney, George Eberly and Forest Rice are largely interested in his firm.
In the early '90s D. N. Elder and Caleb
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Tuttle, under the firm of Elder & Tuttle, Pierce commenced in a small way, hand- established the hardware store now called the Vulcan on East Main Street. About the same time the Springfield Hardware Store was established in its present quar- ters in the Zimmerman Building. Henry Wiseman is the moving spirit recently. Charles H. Bigler is connected with this firm.
John Hugel and E. S. Heiserman con- . duct a hardware store on East Main Street, opposite the Bushnell Building. Mr. Hugel was for a long time clerk in the Hamilton store. W. F. Tuttle & Co. have a store on Fountain Avenue, opposite the King Building.
BOOKS AND BOOK BINDERIES.
John D. Smith came to Springfield as early as 1837 ; he left, but returned about 1844 and opened a book binding and book establishment in Trappers corner, and continued there for some sixteen years. In 1879 J. D. Smith & Co. was formed. He afterwards conducted the same with his son-in-law, E. T. Thomas, in a build- ing where the Bushnell Building is now located. Upon his death the plant was purchased by the Springfield Bindery.
The Barretts began a blank book and book binding establishment in this city, their business being founded about 1860 by the senior, E. L. Barrett. It is now divided among his sons, one branch pub- lishing blanks for township officers and the other those for the Probate Court and the Court of Common Pleas. C. H. Pierce came to this city in 1857 and first opened a news stand in the post office, which was located in the old building on the Gotwald corner, and afterwards succeeded to the newspaper business of J. D Nichols. Mr.
ling the Cincinnati newspapers, deliv- ering them for a time from house to house, and finally established the pres- ent business, which is conducted by his son Roscoe and others in the Odd Fel- lows' Building. During the seventies Rev. J. W. Gunn conducted a book store in the room immediately west of the alley across from the Bushnell Building, now occupied by S. T. Fout's candy store. The following gives the number of lead- ing establishments of our city :
Bakeries, 28; boots and shoes, 13; blacksmith shops, 14; cigars, etc., 38; clothing, 16; coal dealers, 24; confection- eries, 25; daily markets, etc., 60; duggists, 22; dry goods, 3; feed stores, 10; florists, 24; furniture dealers, 10; grocers, 155; hardware, 9; hats, 12; livery stables, 14; lumber dealers, 9; men's furnishings, 13; millinery, 16; photographers, 10; printer, books, etc., 18; restaurants, 27; wall paper, 9; watches, jewelry, etc., 14.
CEMETERIES.
"One morn I miss'd him on the 'custom'd hill,
Along the heath, and near his favorite tree ;
Another came-nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.
"The next, with dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou can'st read) the lay Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
"Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,
A youth, to fortune and to fame un- known,
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
"Large was his bounty, and his soul sin- cere :
Heaven did a recompense as largely send :
He gave to Misery all he had-a tear; He gain'd from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.
"No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope re- pose),
The bosom of his Father and his God." (Gray's Elegy.)
COLUMBIA STREET.
When James Demint made his plat in the city of Springfield September 5, 1803, three lots were reserved as a burial ground. This is what now constitutes the old burial ground or graveyard located west of Center Street on Columbia. Un- til the year 1844 this was used as a public burial ground for the city. In earlier times it was common for persons through- out the country district to have small burial lots located on their own farms, which they used as a burial ground for the family, and consequently not so many were buried then in the city burial ground as is now the case. This old plot of
ground has been abandoned for the use of burial purposes for a number of years. Frequently it has been proposed that the dead should be taken up and re-interred in Ferncliff, or some other suitable place, but to this there have always been some objections, resulting probably more from the disinclination to disturb the final rest- ing place of those old settlers than from any other reason.
GREENMOUNT CEMETERY.
In 1842 or '43 the City Council made arrangements to purchase a tract of land which was then far outside of the city limits beyond the railroad along the Na- tional Pike. This property was trans- ferred to the city in 1845 by Cyrus Arm- strong. For many years Greenmount Cemetery was the popular place of burial for the citizens of Springfield and the im- mediate locality. A dwelling house for the use of the sexton was built in 1868. The space allotted for burial purposes in this cemetery has been practically all taken, and it is scarcely ever now used for burial purposes. Louis Kindle was superintendent from 1862 until his death in the '90s, Lewis E. Staley being the present superintendent.
FERNCLIFF CEMETERY.
The rapid growth of the city soon made it evident that the space occupied by Greenmount Cemetery would not long avail for the burial of the dead of our city and community, so on June 13, 1863, the matter was brought up before the City Council by Mr. William Warder. A com- mittee was afterwards appointed from the
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CITY HOSPITAL, SPRINGFIELD
MASONIC HOME, SPRINGFIELD
LAGONDA CLUB, SPRINGFIELD
THE WARDER PUBLIC LIBRARY, SPRINGFIELD
CLARK COUNTY CHILDRENS' HOME
Y. W. C. A. BUILDING, SPRINGFIELD
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various wards to take the matter under consideration, and on August 3d these committees made reports and a plan of organization was adopted. The amount of stock was limited to $10,000 in shares of $300 each. A special act of incorpora- tion was passed in the Legislature in 1848 and a constitution and by-laws were after- wards adopted. The subscriptions were in the nature of a loan and were to be paid back with interest out of a sale of lots. The original officers were Dr. Robert Rodgers, S. A. Bowman and D. Shaffer, trustees for three years; G. S. Foos and Chandler Robbins for two years and William Warder and John Ludlow, trustees for one year."
In 1863 seventy acres of ground were purchased for $7,000 from the heirs of Henry Bechtel. The grounds were dedi- cated in 1864. Hon. Sampson Mason pre- sided and the grounds were dedicated by the Rev. Samuel Sprecher. Travellers who have had ample opportunity to pass upon such matters have said that the en- trance to this beautiful city of the dead along the north banks of Buck Creek, be- neath the overhanging rocks, was sur- passed by no other piece of natural scenery the world over. Not only in this entrance, but the general contour and elevation of the land is such as to adapt it most beautifully to the purpose to which it is consecrated, and our citizens may be justly proud of the place they have prepared for the final repose of those who are no longer makers of our city's his- tory. A number of very fine monuments have been placed in various parts of the grounds. The mausoleums of John W. Bookwalter, Governor Bushnell, P. P. Mast and W. H. Blee are works of art
and add much to enhance the natural beauty of the place.
A massive granite shaft indicates the solid character of the late John H. Thomas, and a huge block of granite well attests the last resting place of the city's benefactors, J. and D. L. Snyder.
It would be impossible to enumerate the many other appropriate and beautiful monuments that adorn the last resting place of the many persons who have been buried in various places throughout these grounds.
Near the center a little mound is set apart for the burial of Clark County's soldiers, of whom 208 lie buried there aƄ this time. The association now owns about 170 acres of ground, not more than fifty acres of which is used at this time for burial purposes. The number of burials that have been made in these grounds up to November 8, 1907, was 11,- 796. The annual expenditure is some- where in the neighborhood of $10,000. It is kept up from sales of lots and interest on an endowment fund of $45,000.
Many of our citizens have from time to time served upon the Board of Trustees. A little lake at the foot of the hill is the donation of O. S. Kelly, formerly mayor, and a prominent manufacturer of this city. Gustavus Foos took very great in- terest in making the contour of the east- ern slope, but perhaps it is not too much to say that to no person is so much due for the general manner in which these grounds are beautified as to the late John Dick, who was superintendent of this cemetery from 1863 until his death some three or four years ago. Mr. Dick was born in Scotland from a family of pro- fessional landscape gardeners. His
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
father removed to Cincinnati in 1867 and ter of Section 17, Springfield Township, was there employed in that business. Mr. lying on the north side of the National Road, two miles east of this city, and es- tablished a burial place for the members of the Catholic Church, intending to have it consecrated, but this was never done. Dick studied in the Royal Botanical Gar- dens of Edinburg, the best in that coun- try, and came to the United States in 1854 and was employed for a time on Long Island, laying out parks, subsequently coming to Springfield on the recommenda- LAGONDA AVENUE CEMETERY. tion of Adolph' Strauch, who was superin- tendent of Spring Grove, Cincinnati. The entire grounds are a monument to his industry and ability in making still more beautiful the admirable work of Nature.
At this time from fifteen to twenty per- sons are kept constantly employed in taking care of the grounds. In 1887, or thereabout, the beautiful stone residence of the superintendent was erected near the Plum Street entrance. It is now in contemplation to erect a chapel for gen- eral purposes south of the Plum Street entrance and likewise to erect a large gen- eral utility house near the McCreight Avenue entrance.
Of the present organization J. W. Staf- ford is president; J. L. Bushnell, vice president; J. F. Chorpening, secretary ; Ed. Harford, treasurer, and J. F. Dick, superintendent.
The trustees are E. O. Bowman, J. L. Bushnell, J. J. Hoppes, J. W. Stafford, Robert Johnson, C. H. Pierce, W. F. Foos and J. H. Rodgers.
The executive committee are J. W. Stafford, Robert Johnson, J. J. Hoppes, J. L. Bushnell and C. H. Pierce.
CATHOLIC CEMETERIES.
In 1853 Rev. Morris Howard bought three acres of land in the southeast quar-
In 1864 Father Thisse purchased six acres, which was then just outside of the corporate limits on Lagonda Avenue. These grounds were consecrated by him and until other Catholic Cemeteries were established it was used as the sole place of burial by the Catholic Churches of our city. It is now entirely within the city limits, and not much space remains to be used for burial purposes.
ST. BERNARD'S CEMETERY.
In 1878 St. Bernard's congregation, through their then pastor, Father Schuc- hardt, purchased ten acres west of the Urbana Pike and now opposite to the grounds of the Country Club. These grounds were consecrated by Most Rev- erend J. B. Pursell and are used for burial purposes by the St. Bernard's con- gregation.
CALVARY CEMETERY.
The space set aside for burial purposes in the Lagonda Avenue Cemetery having become very much depleated, additional grounds were purchased for cemetery purposes in Section 14 of Springfield Township, located about two and a half miles southeast of the city and the short distance of what is known as Locust
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Grove. These twenty acres have been set aside for this purpose and the greater ma- jority of Catholics belonging to the St. Raphael's and St. Joseph congregations use this place for burial purposes. It has been given the name of Calvary. The ground was dedicated November 1, 1889, and the first person buried was Patrick Welch, in that year.
THE PRESS. FIRST PAPER.
There seems to be some discrepancy as to when the first newspaper was printed in Springfield. Oscar T. Martin, in Beers' History, makes the date 1820, and Mr. C. M. Nichols, in his address before the Springfield Centennial, makes it 1817- two sources of information to which we are indebted for much of the information contained in this article. Whether or not the first paper was established in 1817 or 1820 is not very material, but we know that at the later date one George Smith published a paper called The Farmer. This paper was printed upon a small sheet a little larger than a foolscap sheet. It advocated the principles of Madison's administration.
Smith's office was in a small log house situated on the southeast corner of the lot on which the First Presbyterian Church now stands. In the year 1820 a religious paper was started under Rev. Saul Henkle, called the Gospel Trumpet. It was soon removed to Dayton.
continued it under the name of the West- ern Pioneer. Benjamin H. Rogers died in 1884 and the paper was published for some time by his brother, Simeon Rogers. In 1825 George W. Jewett was the pub- lisher. He moved the office to a new building on the Court House Square. In 1828 Benjamin and Moses M. Henkle be- came the owners of the Western Pioneer and in 1829 Colonel William A. Camron appears to have been the owner. In 1831 the press and materials were owned by Jeremiah Warder, and Edward H. Cum- mings became the editor.
In 1833 a paper was started called Farmers' Chronicle. This was absorbed in a short time by the Pioneer and for a time the paper was issued under the name of the Pioneer and Chronicle. In 1836 it resumed its old name of Pioneer. In the same year a paper called Calumet and Warclub, advocating the election of Gen- eral Harrison, was published by J. D. Nichols. It did not continue longer than the campaign. It was renewed in 1840 and again advocated the election of Gen- eral Harrison.
THE REPUBLIC.
In August, 1849, the name of the Pioneer was changed to that of the Repub- lic and the office was removed to Main Street, where in 1840 a disastrous fire oc- curred. In 1848 it began the issue of its tri-weekly number. In 1853 the Republic became the property of Wick, Frey & Mayn, with their office in King's Row, Limestone Street; George H. Frey, still living, was its editor.
About 1821 the Farmer became the property of Henry Rogers and its name changed to The Farmers' Advocate. In 1853 George W. Hastings, still a res- ident of our town, began the publication Henry Rogers disposed of the paper to his brother, Benjamin H. Rogers, who of a newspaper called The Nonpareil.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
This paper afterwards became the Mad River Valley News and Clark County Journal.
In 1861 the Republic was sold to W. F. Coggswell. In this same year the Springfield Daily Evening Telegraph was published by Henry C. Croft. The Tele- gram was subsequently sold to E. R. Gard and by him to Mr. Kost, and the latter disposed of it to Messrs. Hastings and Nichols; they consolidated it with the Daily News. In 1864 Hastings & Nichols became the owner of the Republic and consolidated with this paper the Mad River News.
In 1867 the Weekly Advertiser was started, of which paper Mr. Oscar T. Mar- tin was for a time the editor. In 1872 it became the property of the owners of the Republic and was consolidated with that paper.
In 1879 the Springfield Daily Times was published, but did not long survive. Along in the eighties a paper was pub- lished called the Champion City Times. About this time the Globe was started, publshed by the Winter Brothers and edited by a Mr. Perkins, a very brilliant man, who years afterwards, when he had left the city, committed suicide. This paper consolidated with the Times and in 1883 or '84 the Globe and Republic be came consolidated, with Governor Bush- nell as the principal owner, and was then called the Globe Republic. It was after- wards sold to Cotes Kinney, Mr. Nichols and others.
PRESS REPUBLIC.
Along in the nineties the Press Repub- lic became the property of Mr. Arthur D. Hosterman. Mr. Hosterman had pre-
viously become the owner of the Cham- pion City Times, and the paper was then called the Times Republic. Later it was sold to Ed. S. Kelly and was issued under the name of the Press Republic.
THE NEWS.
Mr. Kelly continued the publication of the paper until 1905, when it was sold to its present proprietor and became con- solidated with the Democratic paper and was continued as a morning paper under the name of the News. This practically ended the career of this paper, as up to this time it had been Republican in pol- itics, while now it is Democratic. It may be interesting now to go back to the Dem- ocratic branch of this consolidation.
For a long time the Republic was print- ed in the building which had formerly been called the Willis House, or the Na- tional Hotel, and was located on Main Street, on the ground now occupied by the eastern part of the Bushnell Building, and it continued there until it became the property of Mr. Hosterman. It was then moved to and occupied a part of the old church, removed on the building of the Kelly Building, on the east side of South Limestone Street, not far north of the railroad.
MAD RIVER DEMOCRAT.
In 1839 there was issued the Mad River Democrat. It did not live a very great length of time. In 1846 the Union Demo- crat came into existence, edited by John M. West. In the following December its name was changed to the Clark County Democrat.
In 1849 this paper became the property
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of William Mossgrove and E. G. Dial, who removed the same to Urbana, where the name was changed to Expositor of the Fourth Congressional District.
TRANSCRIPT:
In 1852 the paper returned to Spring- field and became the property of William Boggs, and afterwards, after going through various hands, became the prop- erty of Ellfritz & Balentine, who changed the name to the Transcript, Mr. E. C. Balentine, now of Washington, D. C., be- ing the editor. This paper afterwards became, through various changes, the property of Mr. T. D. Wallace, largely, who published the Springfield Daily Dem- ocrat, with Mr. Harry E. Rice as editor. In 1905 this paper became the property of the owners of the present Daily News, who had previously bought the Press Re- public.
The owners of the Democrat had pre- vious to this time become the owners of the Sunday News, which was started in Springfield in 1879, and was edited by D. T. West. Mr. West was a very able man and his scathing denunciations were ex- celled by none. Thus it will be seen that the Daily News becomes the successor of a long line of former newspapers in this district in both the Republican and Demo- cratic ranks.
It is owned and controlled largely by Mr. Cox, a resident of Dayton, the editor at present being George R. Hippard. It is a large paper issued principally as an evening edition, the present proprietors having changed it from a morning to an evening paper.
GAZETTE.
In 1873 T. E. Harwood commenced the publication on a small scale of the Com- mercial Gazette, which was afterwards changed to the Gazette and when the old Press Republic ceased to be a Republican paper the name was again changed to the Republican Gazette. Mr. Harwood con- tinued to be the proprietor of this paper from its commencement in 1873 until his death in 1905. During this time Robert Nelson, now of Los Angeles, California, was for a while editor, and latterly Charles E. Folger occupied that position ; Mr. Folger being at present the oldest ac- tive newspaper man of the city. This paper was for a long time conducted as an independent, but about 1890 changed its policy and became largely Republican in its tendency, although still retaining in some measure its independent character. After the death of Mr. Harwood it was continued by his sons for a short while and then became the property of Thomas J. Kirkpatrick, who is the present pro- prietor. Mr. Kirkpatrick had previous ex- perience in journalism, having been one of the founders and for a long time active- ly interested in conducting the Farm and Fireside; later he became owner of one of the Akron papers.
The Gazette had very few changes in its location. It was issued for twenty- five years or more from the Kizer Build- ing, located immediately west of the alley on the south side of Main Street between Limestone and Fountain Avenue. Mr. Harwood afterwards purchased the build- ing located on the northeast corner of Spring and Main and there continued the operation of the paper until his death,
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
same being occupied by the present prop- rietor of that paper for printing, the office being moved to 125 E. Main Street.
Mr. Kirkpatrick assumes the general management and controlling editorship of this paper. Since he has had control he has infused new life into it and it is now a leading paper of the town and county.
THE MORNING SUN.
The Morning Sun came into existence in 1894 and was caused chiefly by some disagreement among the then owners of the papers in the city and a number of leading printers. These printers organ- ized themselves together and formed a stock company and began the issuance of this paper. It has continued under prac- tically the same management up to the present time. For a long time Enos Con- rad was the president and manager. It is independent in politics, although some- what inclined to favor Democratic policies.
It is located immediately south of the west County Building. It was first lo- cated on Main Street, East of Spring, afterward occupying the rooms imme- diately south of where it now is, it having moved into its present location in Decem- ber, 1906. It is a live and vigorous morn- ing paper and for that reason commands a large country subscription, as the paper can be carried in the morning deliveries of the rural route. Fred S. Wallace is the present managing editor, Walter L. Har- rison being general manager.
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