USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 44
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& Co., U. P. James, Wm. R. Foster, Phillips & Heaton, Kellogg, Kennett & Co., Joel Green, Hunnewell & G. H. Hill, Foot & Bowler, Wm. Irwin, G. Luckey & Co., Shillito & Pullan, John Reeves & Co., Jones & Armstrong, Richard Bates, George Conklin, J. D. Walbridge, N. P. Iglehart, J. Smith."
On the day named in the call a meeting was held, of which the following is the record :
"At a meeting of the merchants of the city held at the Mercantile Library Association rooms, on Tuesday evening, the 15th of October, 1839, called to take into consideration the propriety of establishing a Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce for this city, on motion, R. Buchanan, Esq., was called to the chair and C. Duffield appointed secretary. On motion of M. R. Taylor, the chair appointed a committee of five to draft a preamble and resolutions for the action of the meeting. M. R. Taylor, John Young, Geo. H. Hartwell, R. G. Mitchell and M. Ranney were selected as that committee, and reported the following
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTION.
"Whereas the great and constantly increasing importance of the commerce of this city, in the opinion of this meeting, requires the organization of a Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, for the purpose of establishing uniform regulations and unison of action in the promotion of its mercantile interests ; therefore,
"Resolved, that a committee of fifteen persons be selected to draw up a code of regulations for the government of such a body, and subject the same to an adjourned meeting, to be held at this place on Tuesday evening next, the 22d of October, at 7 o'clock."
These having been adopted, the following gentlemen were chosen said com- mittee: Griffin Taylor, Peter Neff, R. Buchanan, Thomas J. Adams, S. Trevor, George H. Hartwell, R. G. Mitchell, John Young, S. B. Findley, N. W. Thomas, John Bailey, James McCandless, Jacob Strader, L. Whiteman and S. O. Butler.
"Pursuant to adjournment a meeting was held on the 22d of October, at which the first constitution was adopted, and a committee appointed to obtain subscribers thereto.
"At a meeting convened on the 29th of the month for the election of officers, to serve until the regular annual meeting in January following, the committee on members reported 199 names; and the first election resulted in the choice of Griffin Taylor, president ; R. G. Mitchell, Peter Neff, S. B. Findley, John Reeves, Thomas J. Adams and Jacob Strader, vice presidents ; Henry Rockey, secretary ; and B. W. Hewson, treasurer.
"On the following Tuesday evening, November 5th, by-laws were adopted and the association fully organized.
"At the first regular annual meeting held January 14, 1840, the committee appointed to engage rooms for the meetings of the chamber recommended 'the obtaining of apartments in the College building, on the east side of Walnut street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, in connection with the Young Men's Mer- cantile Library Association, at a rent of three hundred dollars, one-third to be paid by this chamber.' The recommendation of the committee was adopted,
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Now abandoned
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and from that time forward the meetings were held in the College building, until its destruction by fire in the winter of 1844-45.
"This association with the library resulted in an arrangement by which the trade statistics, records, books of reference, etc., belonging to the chamber, were kept for a long time under the supervision of the librarian, and on a desk provided in the library were accessible to the members of the new commercial organization. On the completion of the new College building on Walnut street. both institutions removed thither, from the rooms temporarily used on Sycamore street, and occupied the second story front-the Chamber of Commerce in the north half and the library in the south. The first meeting of the chamber in the new hall was held on the 23d of July, 1846.
"The conjunction of the two institutions was maintained until the growth of the Library association rendered it necessary that it should have full occupancy of the apartment used by the chamber, when a request was made that the later body should obtain other rooms. Accordingly, on the 7th of July, 1851, the large room in the east half of the same building was leased and occupied until October 20, 1869, when it was destroyed by fire."
The Chamber of Commerce thereafter held its sessions in Hopkins hall, on the southwest corner of Fourth and Elm streets, until the 27th of December, 1869, when it removed to what is known as Smith and Nixon's hall, on the north side of Fourth street, between Walnut and Main. On the 23d of November, 1881, the chamber removed to Pike's Opera House, on the south side of Fourth street, between Walnut and Vine, where it now holds its sessions, and where it hopes to remain until the occupation of the new building.
"At the annual meeting in the year 1850, a charter for the creation of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Exchange, which had been granted by the legislature, was read and accepted. A committee was appointed to prepare a new code of laws for the government of the newly incorporated institution, and debts, which had accumulated against it, were provided for. The Chamber of Commerce thenceforward expanded in its influence and useful- ness to a position second to no similar institution of the kind in the country, justifying the hopes of its founders and the pride of its supporters."
On the 21st day of May, 1866, the chamber adopted sections known as 6, 7, 8, and 9, of an "Act to authorize the incorporation of boards of trade and chambers of commerce," which had been passed by the legislature of the state of Ohio on the 3d day of April preceding, by which the powers of the chamber were enlarged and more clearly defined.
Prior to March 14, 1882, the Chamber of Commerce, with a membership generally ranging from 1,100 to 1,200, granted memberships alike to corporations, firms, and individuals. The desirableness of changing this so as to provide in the future for individual memberships only had urged itself, from time to time, upon the thinking members of the association. On the 6th of December, 1881, Henry C. Urner, who was then president of the association, and who took a deep interest in the change sought to be made, submitted a plan for the reorgani- zation of the membership, which was adopted by the board of officers ; the board, at the same time, also authorizing the president to appoint, from the membership, a committee of conference with the board on this subject, the president to be
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a member of the committee. In pursuance of this action, the president, on the 3d of January, 1882, announced the following committee: H. C. Urner, Theo- dore Cook, Wm. N. Hobart, S. Lester Taylor, Richard Smith, M. E. Ingalls, William Shaffer, W. J. Lippincott, T. J. Emery, John V. Lewis, C. M. Holloway, H. H. Peck, Benjamin Eggleston, Solomon Levi, S. H. Burton, Richard Dymond, Florence Marmet, David Sinton, Larz Anderson and B. W. Gale. Prior to this, at various times, the matter of the chamber erecting for itself, or having erected for its use, an edifice fully adapted to its wants had been agitated, and, on one or more occasions, had taken tangible shape ; and yet, for various reasons, never had been carried to successful completion. During the four years imme- diately preceding, however, the necessity of the chamber providing for itself permanent quarters engaged the attention of both the several boards reaching through that period and of the Chamber of Commerce itself. On the Ist day of July, 1878, a committee of the board of officers, consisting of Florence Marmet, W. W. Taylor and John W. Hartwell, who was then president of the Chamber of Commerce, was appointed to look into the matter of a permanent location for the chamber, and on the 8th of August the president was authorized to advertise for proposals to sell or lease to the association a tract of land on which to erect a Merchants' Exchange; the property to be west of Main, north of Third, east of Plum, and south of Sixth street. In response to this invitation, proposals were received from various sources, and the matter was carried over into the new board of officers, William N. Hobart then being president. The matter of a site for the new building engaged the immediate attention of the new administration, and a committee, consisting of the president, Thomas Morri- son and Briggs S. Cunningham, to whom the proposals already received were to be submitted, was appointed, the committee also to solicit other proposals. The subject was now engaging the attention generally of the association, and meet- ings of the board of officers were frequently held in relation thereto. On the 29th of October, 1878, a committee, consisting of Theodore Cook, George Hafer, A. H. Bugher and John Carlisle, was appointed to take into consideration the property on the southwest corner of Fourth and Elm streets, and ascertain the best terms on which it could be offered to the chamber, and what inducements would be held out to build the new edifice at that point, and on the 3d day of December, following, the board of officers unanimously voted in favor of this lot, at the same time appointing a committee, consisting of William Means, Briggs S. Cunningham, Thomas Morrison and the president, to call upon archi- tects and obtain plans and estimates for a building. In the meantime, a con- ference had been held between a number of the leading members of the chamber and the board, at which the general subject was discussed, and the action of the board in relation thereto approved. On the 29th of January, 1879, the board of officers formally presented to the Chamber of Commerce a recommendation for the purchase of the lot already alluded to, on the southwest corner of Fourth and Elm streets, extending through to McFarland, fronting 100 feet on Fourth and 135 feet on McFarland, for the sum of $130,000. Pending the discussion of this recommendation by the Chamber of Commerce, on the first day of Febru- ary, a committee was appointed, consisting of C. W. Rowland, S. Lester Taylor, Julius Dexter, Theodore. Cook, George Hafer, M. E. Ingalls, Thomas J. Emery,
CHARLES B. MURRAY
Compiler of statistics for the Chamber of Commerce for thirty- five years. Mr. Murray will appear in future histories of Cincin- nati as among the most noted men of his day as a statistician.
(By request of friends of Mr. Murray who know of the great unselfish service he has rendered Cincinnati business men.)
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Oliver Perin and John Carlisle, to prepare a financial plan to meet such obliga- tion as might be necessary to incur, and on motion of W. J. Lippincott, the chamber, on the following day, was directed to submit to competent legal au- thority the charter of the chamber, with a view to ascertaining what additional charter privileges, if any, would have to be secured in order to enable the chamber to acquire, either by purchase or lease with the privilege of purchase, a lot of land on which to erect a suitable building, or otherwise to obtain a suitable structure for its use and benefit, and further to empower the chamber to borrow money and issue its stocks or bonds, if necessary, in the prosecution and completion of this enterprise.
Events were now ripening for a wiser determination of the matter of loca- tion than had previously been foreseen ; for, on the 14th of February, a resolution, offered by M. E. Ingalls, was adopted, authorizing the appointment of a com- mittee of five members, the president of the Chamber of Commerce to be one of the number, to proceed to Washington, to endeavor to procure such legisla- tion as might be necessary to enable the secretary of the treasury to sell to this association the postoffice lot on the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine streets, possession to be given and payment made for the same as soon as the government should vacate the property. The president thereupon named M. E. Ingalls, Richard Smith, Benjamin Eggleston, Thomas Sherlock and William N. Hobart, as said committee. This proved to be the end of all agitation touching the subject of the location of the new edifice for the Chamber of Commerce. In pursuance of this action, the committee, in the meantime having been somewhat changed, Messrs. M. E. Ingails, Theodore Cook, Richard Smith and Briggs Swift proceeded to Washington, and at a late period in the session procured the passage by congress of a joint resolution, authorizing the sale of the property to the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce at such price as might be fixed by a commission to be appointed by the secretary of the treasury, the Hon. John Sherman then being secretary, who thereupon appointed the Honorables Al- phonso Taft, William S. Groesbeck, C. Moerlein, William Dennison and Jolin W. Stevenson to appraise the property. These gentlemen, in the performance of their duty in this respect, subsequently appraised the property, with the under- standing that it was to be sold to the Chamber of Commerce, at $100,000. On the 17th day of March, 1879, the chamber, by resolution, authorized M. E. Ingalls, Richard Smith, Briggs Swift, Theodore Cook and William N. Hobart, to contract with the secretary of the treasury for the purchase of the property at a price not to exceed $100,000. The committee-Amor Smith, Jr., and S. H. Burton, having been substituted for M. E. Ingalls, Briggs Swift and Theodore Cook, who could not attend-subsequently visited Washington, and, according to the terms of this resolution, made a formal offer to the secretary of the treasury, which was accepted, the proviso having been inserted, that should congress take action disapproving of the sale, the agreement should be considered null and void. On the 2d of April, 1879, the board of officers was authorized to appropriate such an amount of its surplus bonds as could safely be spared for the lot in view, and for the erection of a building thereon, for the use of the association. The board of officers was furthermore authorized to appoint a committee on plans for a new building, and the members of the chamber, in Vol. V-23
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pursuance of the plan for raising money previously recommended by the com- mittee appointed for the purpose and adopted by the chamber, were solicited to contribute money, in installments, not less than $100 each, each member con- tributing $100 to be entitled to a rebate annually of $6 from his dues to the chamber, and no person to be entitled to a larger rebate than simple interest on $500. The plan adopted by the chamber for the raising of the money with which to complete the payment for the government property and for the erection of a building thereon not having proved generally acceptable, and the time at which the chamber would come into possession of the property being, in any event, somewhat remote, little was done, save to discuss the subject in an informal way, from time to time, for a considerable period after this action, looking to laying the foundations of a fund which should be equal to meeting the wants of the chamber for this purpose. The agreement of the secretary of the treasury to contract for the conveyance of the property having been conditioned upon the failure of congress to disapprove of the sale, and no action looking to such disapproval having been taken, the president and secretary of the chamber were instructed, on the 2d of September, 1880, to notify the secretary of the treasury that they were ready to enter into a contract for the formal conveyance of the property, at such time in the future as the same might cease to be used by the government, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce, H. Wilson Brown, on his retirement in September, 1880, was permitted to congratulate the members of the chamber upon the practical completion of the conditions which would secure, beyond doubt, a site for the future home of the association. In Decem- ber, 1880, Henry C. Urner, then president of the chamber, and Richard Smith, visited Washington, by appointment of the chamber, to aid in the completion of the contract, which, before their return, was signed by the secretary of the treasury on the part of the government, and subsequently by the president of the Chamber of Commerce in behalf of this association, $40,000 in four per cent government bonds having been deposited with the secretary as security for the faithful performance of the contract on the part of this association. The bonds thus deposited, with $5,000, which shortly before had been bequeathed to the chamber by a public-spirited citizen and devoted friend of the Chamber of Com- merce, the late James A. Frazer, practically constituted the only means in sight. at the disposal of the chamber, for the performance of a work which would manifestly require a large expenditure of money. The sum of $55,000 would yet be required for the remaining purchase-money of the property, when it should finally come into possession of the chamber, besides a larger amount to be expended in either the reconstruction of the old building, which was soon found to be impracticable, or the erection of a new edifice on that site. During the year 1881, a plan devised by a special committee of prominent members of the Chamber of Commerce, looking to the monthly payment, for eighteen months, of $2.50 by each active member, with which to pay for the postoffice lot, had been rejected by the association. While the chamber was thus, with poor suc- cess, in search of some method that would solve the financial problem that was pressing upon the body, the designation of the committee of fifteen on the sub- ject of a change in the character of the membership, already alluded to, furnished the opportunity of successfully supplying the means which should meet these
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extraordinary wants of the future. A plan, formulated by Henry C. Urner, president of the chamber, and adopted by the board of officers, was submitted to the committee already named, looking to the crystallizing in a transferable certificate of the value which had been created in the membership, through the many years of its history. This plan was adopted by the committee and subse- quently by the Chamber of Commerce, and in a short time, successfully solved the problem, not only for the payment of the lot already contracted for, but for the erection of a new building. The plan gave to each person who might be a member at the time of the adoption of the proposed amendment to the con- stitution, the right to acquire a transferable certificate, on the payment of $100; established an initiation fee of $250 between the time of the adoption of the amendment to the constitution and January 1, 1883; $500, from January I, 1883, to January 1, 1884, and thereafter $1,000, to all who might be elected to membership. This plan of creating a pecuniary value in a membership was heartily adopted by the committee, and, in conjunction with the abolition of corporation and firm memberships, and the adoption exclusively of individual memberships in the future, became the salient points of the recommendation of the committee on the revision of the constitution. The prospective increase in the value of Chamber of Commerce certificates and the opportunity of becom- ing members, with all the privileges accorded to the older members, afforded up to the time of the adoption of these amendments by the Chamber of Com- merce, which occurred on the 14th of March, 1882, gave great stimulation to the applications for membership, so that by the arrival of the time at which the vote was to be taken 619 new members had been added, and within two months [the time named in the amended constitution in which a member should be permitted to avail himself of the privilege of taking a certificate for $100] 1,682 members had signified their willingness to receive certificates, thus bring- ing to the treasury of the chamber, including a certificate taken by an honorary member, the sum of $168,300 from this source alone, which, with five members who, during the year, had come in on the payment of an initiation fee of $250, and the 619 new members who had paid an initiation fee of $10 each, and the other revenues of the chamber, enabled the treasurer to show an excess of receipts over expenditures, for the year ending August 31, 1882, of $185,111.99. In the following year 496 new members were added on the payment of an initiation fee of $250 each, and one on the payment of $500 [this being the only member, either before or since, who had paid an initiation of such an amount], the receipts for the year ending August 31, 1883, exhibiting an excess over ex- penditures of $146,522.02, the balance of cash on hand, at the close of the com- mercial year of 1882-83, with the investments in government bonds, showing a grand total of $375,935.23.
In the meantime still further changes in the organic law of the association were urging themselves upon those giving the matter most attention. It was desirable that the board of officers should be increased in number ; and that a part of them should each year hold over into the next year, both of which re- quired a change in the statutes of the state providing for the organization of commercial bodies, and that many other important changes should be made in the constitution. Accordingly, on June 13, 1882, the Chamber of Commerce
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authorized the president to appoint a committee of nine members to revise the, constitution and its rules and regulations, and to prepare a bill, to be introduced in the legislature of the state of Ohio, for such amendments to the revised statutes of the state as would meet the wants of such organizations, the president of the chamber, H. C. Urner, to be chairman of the committee. The following com- mittee was thereupon appointed: H. C. Urner, S. Lester Taylor, Theodore Cook, William N. Hobart, C. M. Holloway, Benjamin Eggleston, H. Wilson Brown, Adolph Wood and Joseph R. Megrue.
After a general correspondence with all the large bodies of this nature in this country, and the performance of a great deal of work, extending through months, the committee succeeded in procuring the needed legislation, and sub- mitted to the board of directors, instead of a constitution, a new code of by-laws, in which so much of the old organic law as was adapted to the present wants of the chamber was incorporated, while much that was entirely new was intro- duced. This was accepted by the board of officers, James D. Parker then being president, and adopted by the Chamber of Commerce, by a very large majority, on March 13, 1883, the latter, on the day preceding, having also adopted a reso- lution accepting any and all provisions of the revised statutes of Ohio pertaining to corporations, so far as the same related to boards of trade or chambers of commerce. By this change, the board now known as the board of directors, was increased from nine to fifteen members. Two vice presidents were added, the one serving in the second year to have priority in the absence of the presi- dent, and one-half of the ten directors to retire each year, so that at least six members of each board would also be a part of the succeeding board. The entire management of the real estate, including the erection of a new building and the funds set apart for the same, and the control of so much of the new building as might not be used for the daily purposes of the Chamber of Com- merce, was committed to a board of real estate managers, consisting of five members, the president of the chamber being one of the number, and also presi- dent of this board. The by-laws which had been substituted for the previous constitution, provided only for the election of a new member of the association on the presentation of a certificate already issued, so that in the absence of any provision for an admission on the payment of an initiation fee, the number of members was limited to the number that existed at the adoption of the by-laws. The number of certificate members then existing was 2,184, including three honorary members to whom certificates had been issued, and of non-certificate members 114, the latter comprising such members as, under the provision of the previous constitution, had not availed themselves of the privilege of taking certi- ficates, twenty-three of this number having expired at the close of the year for non-payment of dues, thus making the total membership 2,275 (not including six honorary members who had never received certificates), which, without a change in the organic law, could never be increased, but which, by death and delinquency, would be somewhat reduced.
With a large sum in the treasury-itself bringing in a revenue; with receipts from annual dues largely exceeding the regular current expenses; with the Chamber of Commerce in a position in which it could proceed with safety in the erection of a new building, and with an organization which was in all respects
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