Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th, Part 2

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > Youngstown > Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

358

Old M. E. Church, Poland

188

Presbyterian Church, Canfield

206

Richard Brown Memorial Chapel, Youngstown 62

St. Columba's Church and Parsonage, Youngs-

town

.328

St. John's Episcopal Church, Youngstown 62

St. Joseph's Church. Youngstown 328

Trinity M. E. Church, Youngstown 328 United Presbyterian Church, Boardman Center 328 Westminster Presbyterian Church, Youngs

town

358

Cemetery, Calvary, Entrance

102

Cemetery. Oak Hill. Entrance to 102

Children's Home, Youngstown 404

Cunningham Furniture & Undertaking Co .. Store of Lowellville 786

Dollar Savings & Trust Co., The. Youngstown 276

Elk's Club, Youngstown 396

Federal Building. Youngstown 396

International Bank, Youngstown 276

I. O. O. F. Building, Youngstown 396

IRON AND STEEL PLANTS-

Bessemer Plant, Republic Iron & Steel Co., Youngstown 260

Furnaces of

the Struthers Furnace Co. Struthers 260

Haselton Furnaces of the Republic Iron & Steel Co., Youngstown 260

Ohio Furnaces, Carnegie Steel Co., Youngs- town 260

Ohio Works, Carnegie Steel Co., Youngstown 276 John Frech Building, Lowellville 238

Kurz Block, Youngstown 952

Lanterman's Mill and Falls 92

Library, Reuben McMillen Free Public, Youngs- town 20

Log House, Thorne Hill, Coitsville Township 206

Lomax. William J .. Store of, Lowellville. 990

Mahoning County Court House, Youngstown II4

Mahoning County Infirmary, Canfield 188

Mahoning Valley Hospital. Youngstown

New Mahoning County Court House II.4

Old Mahoning Court House, Canfield

Original Poland Union Seminary 188

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS-

Immaculate Conception School, Youngstown .. 380

St. Columba's School and Ursuline Convent, Youngstown 380 St. Joseph's School, Youngstown 396

PAGE

Pioneer Pavilion

PORTRAITS --

Andrews, Chauncey H. 440

Arrel, James T. IO12

Baldwin. Hon. Frank L. 560

Booth, Lloyd

578

Brown, Joseph H. 606

Brown, Richard 584

Clark, Gen. George Rogers 54

Clark, Mrs. Hettie J. 916

Clark, Myron S., M. D. 916

Creed. Mrs. Ella P. 858

Creed, Thomas A. 858

Cunningham, Jesse 787

DeCamp. Mrs. Sally Ann 934

DeCamp, Thomas P. 934

Frech, John

798

Gibson, Samuel 460

Gibson, William T. 546

Gluck. Mr. and Mrs. Louis 906

Hamory, Gustav V. So8

Harding, George W. 738

Harding, Mrs. Lucretia MI. 738

Harmer, Gen. Josiah 54

Harrison, Gen. William H. 54

Heller, Adolph 838

Heller, Louis 896

Hughes, Wallace K., M. D. 694

Ilgenfritz, John 1001

Ilgenfritz. Mrs. Mary M. 1004

Jackson, Sidney DeL. 484

Johnston, Hon. Joseph R. 446

Jones, Prior T 998

Jones, Thomas B. 636

Kennedy, Hon. James 532

Kennedy, Patrick M. 752

Kirk John C.

776

Kirtland, Charles N. 554

Kirtland, Cook F.

454

Klute. Rev. John

662

Knauf, Thomas L. 708

Kurz, Rudolph 954

Lanterman, German 953

Lanterman, Mrs. Sally Ann 972

Liddle, Mark H. 730

Lomax. William J 992

McCurdy, Robert 434

McGinnis, Mrs. Mary M. 477

McGinnis. William H. 476

McCartney, Joseph G. 622

McClure, George M. 628

McKelvey, George M. 61.1

McVey. John E.

568

Mackey, David

722

PAGE

INDEX

PAGE

Mackey, James 510

Public School, Struthers

206

Rayen High School, Youngstown I38

Union School, Poland 188

RESIDENCES-

Andrews, Mrs. C. H., Youngstown 152

Arms, Myron I .. Youngstown 62

Hamilton, H. G., Youngstown I52

McCartney, Joseph G., Coitsville Township 188 Mackey, Mrs. Kate M., Youngstown 62

.Mckinley Home, Poland 206

Oakland Farm, Residence of Mrs. George C. Wilson, Youngstown 648

Old Price Homestead, Coitsville Township 206

Stewart. David G., Coitsville Township 677

Tod, George, Youngstown I52

Wick, Henry K., Youngstown 152

Sparrow Tavern, Poland 188

Stand Pipe, Youngstown

138

Terminal Station of the Youngstown & Southern Railway, Youngstown 238

Tod House, Youngstown

396

Tod Lane, Views of 102

View on the Line of the Youngstown & Southern Railway, Youngstown 238

View on the Line of the Youngstown & Southern Railway, near Youngstown 238

Y. M. C. A. Building. Youngstown I38

Youngstown City Hospital 404

Youngstown Post Office (with Central School) 80

Youngstown City Hall and Jail 80

YOUNGSTOWN VIEWS-

Looking East from Colonial Hotel 92

Public Square

Scene in Mill Creek Park 102

West Federal Street, Looking West.

380

Millikin. George W. 828

Millikin, Mrs. Mary C. 828

Morse, Henry K. 538

Neilson, James 670

Osborne, Calvin 700

Price, James S. 770

Riblet. William W 716

Richards, Samuel A.

886

Robinson, Elmer C.

848

Sanderson, Gen. T. W.

Frontispiece

Shields, James D.

600

Shields, James H. 654

Silver. Mr. and Mrs. Allen, daughter, grand-

son and great-grandchild 744

Smith, Joseph Arrel 686

St. Clair, Gen. Arthur 54

Stewart, David 676

Stewart, Mrs. Elizabeth H. 676

Tod, Henry 524

Tod, William 516

Warhurst, Mr. and Mrs. George 818

Wayne, Gen. Anthony 54

Wells, Thomas H. 468

Wilson, George C. 644

Wilson, Mrs. George C. 645

Wirt, Hon. Benjamin F. 492

PUBLIC SCHOOLS-

Delason Avenue Public School, Youngstown. 80 Central School, Youngstown (with Post-office) 80 Parmelee School. Youngstown I38

Public School, Lowellville 206

PAGE

Mackey, Robert 500

Manchester. Hon. Hugh A. 592

Mansfield, Hon. Ira F.

876

history of mahoning County

CHAPTER I

GEOLOGY

Geological Structure of the State-The Geological Foundations of Ohio of Marine Origin -Prehistoric Conditions-First Land Plants: Origin of Coal Fields-First Permanent Dry Land-Age of Reptiles: First Mammals-The Glacial Period-Effect of Glacial Action on the Landscape-Surface Features of Mahoning County-Geological Struc- ture of Mahoning County-Conglomerate-Fossil Nuts and Fruits of the Carbonif- crous Age Found in Mahoning County ..

Geology is the science that investigates the successive changes that have taken place in the organic and inorganic Kingdoms of Nature. In order to render intelligible the statements that are to follow, a brief account will here be given of the geological series of the State, and its geological structure. The geological structure of Ohio is as simple as that of almost any other 40,000 square miles of the earth's surface. So far as its exposed rock series is concerned, Ohio is built throughout its whole extent of stratified deposits ; or, in other words, of beds of sand, clay and limestone, in all their various gradations, that were deposited or that grew in water. There are in the Ohio series no igneous nor metamorphic rocks whatever ; that is, there are no rocks that have assumed their present form and condition from a molten state, or that subsequent to their original form-

ation have been transformed by heat. The only qualification which this statement needs pertains to the beds of drift by which a large part of the State is covered. These drift beds contain bowlders in large amount that were derived from the igneous and metamorphic rocks that are found around the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron. But these bowl- ders are recognized by all, even by the least ob- servant, as foreign to the Ohio scale. They are familiarly known as "lost rocks" or "erratics." If we should descend deep enough below the surface, we should reach the limit of these stratified deposits and come to the great foundations of the continent which are the sur- face rocks in parts of Canada, New England and the West. The granite of Plymouth Rock underlies the continent. But the drill has never yet hewed its way down to these massive

HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

bed within our boundaries, and thus expose them to view.

THE GEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF OHIO OF MARINE ORIGIN.

The rocks that constitute the present sur- face of Ohio were formed in water and none of them have been modified or masked by the action of high temperatures. They remain in substantially the same condition in which they were formed. With the exceptions of the coal seams and a few beds associated with them, and of the drift deposits, all the formations of Ohio grew in the sea. There are no lake or river deposits among them; but by countless and infallible signs they testify to a marine origin. The remnants of life which they con- tain, often in the greatest abundance, are deci- sive as to this point. The sea in which or around which they grew was the former exten- sion of the Gulf of Mexico. When the rocks of Ohio were in process of formation, the waters and genial climate of the Gulf extended without interruption to the borders of the Great Lakes. All of these rocks had their ori- gin under such conditions. The rocks of Ohio constitute an orderly series. They occur in wide-spread sheets, the lowermost of which are co-extensive with the limits of the State. As we ascend in the scale, the strata constantly occupy smaller areas, but the last deposits, viz : those of the Carboniferous period are still found to cover at least one-fourth of the en- tire area of the State. Some of these forma- tions can be followed into and across adjacent States in apparent unbroken continuity. The edges of the successive deposits in the Ohio series are exposed in innumerable natural sec- tions, so that their true order can generally be determined with certainty and ease. For the accumulation and growth of this great series of deposits, vast periods of time are required. Many millions of years must be used in any rational explanation of their origin and history. All of the stages of this history have practically unlimited amounts of past time upon which to draw. They have all gone forward on so large a scale, so far as

time is concerned, that the few thousand years of human history would not make an appre- ciable factor in any of them. In other words, five thousand years, or ten thousand years, were too small a period to be counted in the formation of coal, for example, or in the accu- mulation of petroleum, or the shaping of the surface of the State by the agency of erosion. The time that has passed since man has been in the world has been computed by some geolo- gists as less than half of one per cent. of the entire time occupied by geological history. It is true of geological history as it is of human history, that it begins far this side of the be- ginning of things. Geology shows us that the existing system of things had a beginning with a time very long ago as measured in years when this section was in the bottom of a great sea of wide area but not of very great depth,- a time when the waters of the Gulf of Mexico covered all the basin of the Mississippi and the place now occupied by the lower of the great lakes, and sent one broad arm through north- eastern Canada to join the Arctic and another across Mexico to join the Pacific.

PREHISTORIC CONDITIONS.

There were then no Appalachian mount- ains, but to the east of their present position, and to the north of the Great Lakes, there lay a large continent on whose shores played the waves of this great sea, and over whose surface rivers were flowing, bearing their sed- iments into its waters. In the depths of this sea, at about north latitude 41 degrees and west longitude 81 degrees, were being depos- ited layer upon layer, the massive rock found- ations of that structure which, when it shall rise 4,000 or 5,000 feet high, shall bear upon its top, as a modern skyscraper bears a roof garden, the little area familiar to us as Mahon- ing county. The nearest land was several hun- dred miles to the northeast, and but little clay and sand can drift so far from shore. The climate was of a tropical warmth. Winter had not yet come to cast his mantle of snow and ice each half-year over nature. Life was swarm- ing, but how different from the life of today.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

There were no fishes in that ancient sea but the waters were rich in lime which they had dissolved from the rocks, and those forms of life which needed this material to build themselves shells for protection or structures to support their soft tissues, were in their element. Corals grew all over the sea bottom and stone lillies sank their roots into the soft sea-bed and sent their stems upward with their bud-like bodies at the summit. Molluscs, ani- mals similar to cuttle fishes, each ensconced in the end of a long tapering chambered shell, preyed upon whatever was unlucky enough to come within reach of their long sucker-tipped arms ; microscopic forms of life were there in abundance, and their tiny shells of lime con- tributed no small part to the massive founda- tion layers ; swimming animals called trilobites, each looking much like a huge sowbug, two feet long, and covered with a horny shell whose segments were so jointed as to permit the animal to roll itself into a ball like the armadillo, were present in immense numbers. Nor was vegetable life entirely wanting, for there were traces of seaweeds in those early rocks.

For long ages the cast-off shells of all these forms of life accumulated on the bed, crumbled to pieces and hardened into limestone hun- dreds of feet in thickness. It was then that the famous Trenton limestone was formed, which in the western part of our State yields such a copious flow of gas and oil when pene- trated by the drill. It has never been reached 'here, for it probably lies nearly 4,000 feet below the surface. It is extremely doubtful, however, whether it would yield returns if we were to reach it.

But by this time the continent of North America was steadily but slowly rising, the sea which covered its interior was getting shal- lower, and the shores of the continent to the east and north-east were getting nearer and nearer to the area we are now considering. Occasionally, when the waves and current were strongest, some clay or sand from the shore would drift over it. Thus some beds of shale and sandstone were sandwiched in among the heavier layers of limestone. Some

dry land had now appeared to the southwest near the future site of Cincinnati, and the sed- iment came from that direction also. At length the amount of sediment drifting in from the surrounding land areas became so great as to fairly exceed the deposits resulting from the accumulation of the remains of corals and shellfish, and there succeeded a long period in which, while there were still some limestones, clay and sand were swept in so abundantly that shales and sandstones became the prevailing rocks.

There appeared at this time the first of the backboned animals in the form of fishes, but very unlike the fishes of today. There were sharks whose mouths were literally full of teeth, set like cobble-stones in a pavement. There were fish with the long conical teeth of reptiles, and with bodies covered all over with great plates, like those of the alligator, except that they were heavier and more bony; they were the ironclads of those seas, and were giants of their kind, for some of them are thought to have been more than thirty feet in length. The long leathery stems of sea-weed grew luxuriantly, intertwining to form verit- able Sargasso seas on the surface of the water.

Steadily during all this time the continent was emerging from the sea; steadily the land area to the northeast had been extended toward us. From the area of dry land which had appeared about Cincinnati, a long low arch extending northward through the west- ern part of the State had risen above the water.

At length when another two thousand feet of the ample foundation upon which Mahon- ing county rests had been laid down, consist- ing of great beds of shale, some black with the abundant organic matter buried in them from which oil and gas may be generated to serve man in some far-distant future, others red with iron, others blue and clay-like, all in- terspersed with an occasional bed of limestone or sandstone, this long age came to an end. A new era was dawning. The sea had now be- come so shallow that occasionally the waves disturbed it to its bottom, and thus coarse ma- terial was transported a long way from shore. A bluish-grey sandstone 50 to 100 feet in

HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

thickness was spread above the shales. This -one of the upper stories of our sky- scraper-is the Berea sandstone so extensively quarried for building purposes in northern Ohio. It lies near the present surface in the northeastern part of the county, but is several hundred feet below it in the southern part.

The condition changed again, and material was deposited which hardened into shales and shaley sandstones and flagstones. Once more the transporting power of the water was in- creased and an immense sheet of coarse sand and gravel, 150 feet in thickness, was gradu- ally spread over this region. This is known as the conglomerate, because it is full of pebbles ; it forms the foundation upon which the pro- ductive coal measures rest : above it coal may lie, below it never.

FIRST LAND PLANTS: ORIGIN OF COAL FIELDS.

Ere long. here and there in the shallowing sea, some low and swampy areas began to show themselves above the surface. The roof of our structure is beginning to appear. Over these swampy areas slowly crept the vegeta- tion, which had previously grown upon the nearest land, and for the first time land plants took root within the limits of our Mahoning county. The swamp areas extended and the plants, stimulated by a climate of tropical warmth and abundant moisture, spread and grew ranker until the entire surface of the county was one continuous marsh covered with a dense and tangled vegetation of most luxuri- ant growth. This is the opening of the Car- boniferous period-that period in the history of the earth which witnessed the laying down of the great coal fields of Ohio and Pennsyl- vania.

What a strange scene would have been pre- sented to view could we have been permitted to gaze upon the vegetation of our county then. Ferns were everywhere-ferns which sent their straight and leaf-scarred trunks twenty and thirty feet into the air, while upon their summits were majestic and graceful crowns of spreading fronds that would make the possessor of the finest botanical garden of

today green with envy. Strange and mighty trees grew on these marshes, whose trunks and few branches were shaggy with the long strap- shaped leaves that covered them. The trunks of some were fluted like Corinthian col- umns, and all were beautifully marked with leaf scars. There are now no trees at all like them. The straight tapering stems of rushes, slightly resembling the scouring rushes of today, but almost tree-like in size, were clus- tered over the marshes in impenetrable thickets. We would look the earth over now in vain to find such wealth of plant life as then struggled for existence in the marshes that covered Ma- honing county. But among all this wealth of tropical vegetation there was not one plant on whose branches a single flower unfolded its petals in the sunlight. No butterflies or honey loving insects could live in that flowerless world. No bird sang to his mate among those trees or winged his flight above them. The highest animal to be found in our county then were reptile-like creatures which, like frogs, passed through a tadpole stage in their devel- opment. The atmosphere was too heavy laden with moisture and stifling gases for the higher land animals.

For ages the leaves, trunks and branches fell upon the marshes, and accumulated peat. But along with the general uprising of the continent as a whole, there seems to have been in this coal field a gradual sinking, though at a varying rate. When the sinking was slow, the peat accumulated so as to build the surface up as rapidly as it sank, thus preserving the marsh; but at intervals the sinking became too rapid, the marsh plants were drowned, the sea again prevailed, and sediment was deposited over the peat. Smothered decay, under great pressure, transformed the peat into coal, and the sediments above it hardened into shales and sandstones.

FIRST PERMANENT DRY LAND.

How many times coal-marsh and sea alternated over this period it is impossible to say. In some parts of our county there are the remains of seven of these old peat marshes in

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

the form of coal beds, one over the other, with intervening beds of shale and sandstone. Yet some time before the close of the coal period the uprising of the continent as a whole brought this county well above the level of the sea, and made it permanently dry land. Then streams began to flow over its surface and to excavate their valleys.

Upland vegetation took the place of that which had covered the marshes. This new growth consisted largely of cone-bearing trees, but very unlike the pines, spruces and hem- locks of today. None of them had the needle- shaped leaves common in the cone-bearers familiar to us, but instead their leaves were flat and more or less strap-shaped. Instead of bearing their seeds in cones, they bore nut-like fruits.

We now reach a period when the geolog- ical history of our county is interrupted, at least so far as we can learn from any deposits at or beneath its surface. Geological history is written in the seas and along the shores and only in very exceptional cases on dry land. Certain changes that have taken place in our county since it became permanently dry land are apparent. From a position at the sea level it has been raised until now its highest point is 1,343 feet above it, or about 565 feet above Lake Erie. When the last seam of coal was formed over its surface it was level, like the marsh in which was formed the peat that pre- ceded the coal; now the coal seams descend about 200 feet in passing from the north to the south line of the county. It is evident, too, that great quantities of material must have been removed from its surface. Every rain drop that falls on bare ground moves some tiny particles of earth from a higher to a lower level ; every rill that trickles down the hillside bears with it some material it has gathered ; every stream in flood-time is loaded with sedi- ment : and so it has been ever since rain began to fall and streams to flow over our surface.

Prof. Dana. who is regarded as one of our most conservative authorities, thinks it prob- able that at least 12,000,000 years have elapsed since the close of the coal period, and if

our county became dry land before its close, it must have been exposed to the action of the elements much longer. If we assume the time to have been only 10,000,000 years, and the average rate at which the surface has been worn away to have been the same as that at which the basin of the Mississippi is now wearing away, namely one foot in 5,000 years, we reach the conclusion that a layer 2,000 feet thick has been carried away from the present surface of Mahoning county. This may seem startling to one who has given the subject but little thought, but it is probably under rather than above the truth. Many beds of workable coal, with their intervening layers of shale and sandstone, probably once lay above the present surface, but the destroying tooth of time has been gnawing away at them until we have but a mere remnant left. Nature, has her economies, but, from a human standpoint, she has her wastes as well.

AGE OF REPTILES : FIRST MAMMALS.

The coal age was followed by the age of reptiles, some of which were probably the largest land animals that ever lived: while the forests of broad-leaved evergreens were gradully replaced by those of needle-shaped leaves .bearing true cones. Timidly among the strange reptiles appeared the first land mam- mals, small in size and low in structure. Gradu- ally the reptiles declined while the mammals grew larger and more numerous, until they became the rulers of the forest and the plain. Is it possible I am speaking of Mahoning county when I say that the elephant and the still larger mastodon there in all probability cropped the tender herbage and blew their shrill trumpets in the forests; that the howl of the hyena was heard in the hills; that the saber- toothed tiger made his lair in the thickets and the rhinocerous forced his way through the dense underbrush ; that troops of wild horses galloped across it and occasionally the camel and the tapir were found within its borders ; that in the woods and by the streams were parrots and trogons and flamingoes, and other

HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

birds found not only far to the south? Yet such in all probability was the life of our county in that age.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

Toward the close of this age the seasons became more marked. Something much like winter came with each round of the sun, and for the first time snowflakes whitened the sur- face of our county. As the result of causes not yet well understood, the temperature con- tinued to fall and the winters grew longer and longer. Soon on the highlands of Canada more snow fell each winter than the summer's sun could melt away, and the edge of the snow mass crept southward. The ice age was com- ing on.

The tropical plants of our forests gradu- ally disappeared to be replaced by the decid- uous trees, and these in time gave way to the hardened pine, spruce and hemlock, which waged a gallant but losing fight with the on- coming cold. Our birds and animals sought a more congenial clime to the southward. At length there came a summer in which the snow that had fallen over the desolate surface of our county the previous winter did not all melt away; the close of the next summer saw it deeper still. The ice age had come. For centuries the snow deepened. How high it piled above the surface here we cannot tell, but in New England it covered the White Mountains, 6,000 feet high, and here it may have been 2,000 feet thick or even more.

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Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th, Part 2

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1074