USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 28
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
In February, 1851, the line was opened from Cleveland to Hudson, and the General Assembly and State officers who had come to Cleveland to attend the celebration of the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, accepted an invitation to ride over the new railroad to Hudson. A short supply of provisions at Hudson, and the ditching of the train on the return trip, made the weary and hungry legislators long remember their pioneer trip over the unfin- ished Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. In March following, the track was com- pleted to Ravenna, in November to Hanover, at which time free passes for "each stockholder and his lady," and "landholders through whose land the road passes, with their wives," were issued, good for one ride over the line and return, that they might see the whole of the stupendous undertaking and admire it. In January
287
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
1852, connection was made with the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad at Alliance, and a route thus opened to Pittsburgh, and in March, of the same year, the line was opened to Wellsville, and connection with the Ohio river perfected, thus com- pleting the work laid out in the amended charter.
At different times, subsequently, authority was granted by the General Assembly for the extension of the line and the construction of branches. In this way the River Division was built, connecting the Wellsville end with Pittsburgh by a junc- tion with the Ohio and Pennsylvania at Rochester, and with the Baltimore and Ohio and Central Ohio, by a line to Bellair. The Tuscarawas Branchi was built to New Philadelphia, and there stopped, though its original purpose was to form a connection with the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad. Authority was also given to build a branch from Hudson towards the Ohio and Pennsylvania and any line running in the direction of Columbus. A separate company afterwards constructed this " Akron Branch," or Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad, so far as Millersburgh: The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad has had a serious financial 'struggle to go through, but it has come out as an important and prosperous line. It is now working under a consolidation of earnings with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, formerly known as the Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company, now, after several consolidations and changes of title, forming part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, was part of the general plan of the Cleveland, Colum- bus and Cincinnati Railroad, was built under much of the same influence, and has always been intimately connected with it in its working. The charter was obtained by special act in 1848, and empowered the corporators to build a line by way of Painesville, through Ashtabula county, to the Pennsylvania State line, and to con- tinue their line into that State to any point authorized by the Pennsylvania Legis- lature. That part of the road extending to Erie, in the State of Pennsylvania, was constructed under the charter of the Franklin Canal Company, passed by the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania, the 21st day of May, 1846, and amended April 9th, 1849. giving it authority to construct a railroad.
- The company was organized August 1st, 1849, by the selection of Alfred Kelley, Samuel L. Seldin, Heman B. Ely, George E. Gillett, David R. Paige, Laphnor Lake and Peleg P. Sanford as directors, and Heman B. Ely as president, and the surveys from Cleveland were made under the superintendence of Frederick Harbeck as chief engincer, and from the State line to Erie he acted as consulting engineer, filling both situations until his death, which occurred in the month of February, 1851. A contract for the construction of the road from Cleveland to the State line of Penn- sylvania was made with Frederick Harbeck, A. Stone, Jr., and Stillman Witt, on
288
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
the 26th day of July, 1850, but the work progressed slowly for six months after the contract was concluded, principally for the reason that there was no confidence in the ability of a railroad from Cleveland to Erie or Buffalo to compete with the lake in the transportation of persons and property, and the contractors expended more than $100,000 of their means before a like amount could be raised through all other sources. In the month of January, 1851, the Ilon. Alfred Kelley was appointed general agent of the company with unlimited authority to raise funds and press forward the work of completion. He entered upon his duties with his usual indomitable perseverance and energy, fully seconded by the directors and contractors, and they had the satisfaction of passing a locomotive over its entire length late in the autumn of the year 1852.
The act conferring authority on the Franklin Canal Company to construct a railroad from the State line of Ohio to the city of Erie, being regarded by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania as doubtful, they repealed it on the 28th day of January, 1854. On the 5th day of May, 1856, the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania passed an act authorizing the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company to purchase the road as constructed from the State line to Erie, and to operate it under the general law of the State of Pennsylvania, passed the 19th day of February, 1849. The history of the Pennsylvania portion of the line reflects no credit on that State. The petty and vexatious "Erie War" in 1854, by which a portion of the people of Erie attempted to prevent a through connection of the road at that place, and the unjustifiable expenses to which the company were subjected by the Legislature, are blots on the record of that State.
The road was operated jointly with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad until April 1st, 1855, when the management was divided. In 1869, it was consolidated, first with the Cleveland and Toledo and then with the Michigan Southern and Buffalo and Erie Railroads. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula has been one of the most profitable railroads in the country.
The story of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company -one of per- sistent struggle against apparently insurmountable difficulties, is told in great part . in the sketch of the life of Jacob Perkins, to whose labors and sacrifices the success of the undertaking is in great measure due. The, road was projected to develope more fully the mineral and agricultural resource of Trumbull and Ma- honing counties, and to find a market for their products in Pittsburgh or Cleve land. Unlike many projected railroads, the first object of this line was a local trade; the through business anticipated was a secondary consideration. The Company was incorporated in 1851, and the first meeting of stockholders held! nt Warren, Trumbull county, in June, 1852. when $300.000 local subscriptions were
289 .
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
reported, and it was determined to survey and prepare estimates for the road. The directors under whom this work was commenced were Jacob Perkins, Frederick Kinsman mo! Charles Smith, of Warren, David Tod, of Youngstown, Dadles Baldwin, of Cleveland, Robert Cunningham, of New Castle, and Jaines Magee, of Philadelphia. In order to aid the enterprise by securing connections, they opened negotiations with the Pensylvania and Ohio Railroad, and the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad, but without success. About the same time a contract was made with the Junction Railroad, afterwards inerged in the Cleveland and Toledo Road, for purchase of ground near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, on the west side. and the right of way obtained through a portion of Ohio City, and througl. Scranton's Hill to the west end of the Columbus street bridge, near which the freight depot was afterwards established. In 1853, the principal office of the Company was removed to Cleveland, which was made the head quarters of the Company.
After surveying different routes and hesitating over the choice between them, it was decided to build the road from Cleveland, on the West Side, and running through Scranton's hill to Newburgh, Bedford, Aurora, Mantua and Warren, fifty- three miles, and thence down the Mahoning Valley to Youngstown and Poland, to the east line of the State.
Repeated attempts were made to induce the legislature of Pennsylvania to authorize an extension of the road in that State, but owing to the opposition of the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad, and especially of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the desired permission was finally refused. The estimated aggregate cost of the road was about one and three-quarter millions of dollars, and when the principal contracts for labor and iron were made, there was a very fair prospect of disposing of the bonds of the company to advantage, and thus, in addition to the loans effected in Philadelphia, New York and at home, the means to complete the work were reasonably anticipated. In the Directors' Report of 1854, they were obliged to annonnce unlooked for embarrassments, growing out of the altered condition of the money market. The story of the seemingly hopeless, "but finally successful, struggle that followed is told in another part of this work. At length, in 1857, after five or six years of persevering efforts, and most perplexing difficulties, the road was opened through to Youngstown ; substantial machine shops were built at Cleveland, station houses erected along the route, and the coal and iron of the Mahoning Valley were minde accessible by a quick and easy route.
In October, 1863, the road was leased for ninety-nine years to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which had aheady laid a broad gauge upon the track.
19
290
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
That company now controls the main line to Youngstown, with the several branches to Hubbard and the coal mines. The narrow gauge is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and passenger, while the broad gange is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through trains. The track has been extended to the shore of the old river bed, an extensive wharfage established, and large facilities obtained for connecting the traffic of the road with the lake conimerce.
The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation of two rival and nearly parallel lines. One of the companies thus united, was incorporated as the Junction Railroad Company, and the other by the name of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company. The former was incorporated by an act of the legislature of Ohio, passed on the second day of March, 1846; and the latter, by an act of the seventh of March, 1850. The Junction Railroad Company, by its original charter and two amendments, in 1861, was authorized to construct a railroad from the city of Cleveland to the west line of the State by such route as the directors might determine, with power to construct branches to any points within the counties through which the main line might pass. The charter of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company, authorized the construction of a railroad from Toledo, by the way of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, to a connection with the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad. at some point in the counties of Huron or Lorain. The authorized capital stock of the Junction Company was three millions, and that of the other company, two millions of dollars.
The consolidation was effected, and the new company organized on the first of September, A. D. 1853, under the specific provisions of the twelfth section of the amendment to the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad charter, passed on the first of March, 1850. Under its charter, the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company constructed a road from the east bank of the Maumee river. opposite the city of Toledo, to Grafton, where it connects with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, twenty-five miles south-west from the city of Cleveland, being a distance of eighty-seven and one-half miles, all of which was finished and put into operation in January, 1853. This became known as the Southern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad.
The Northern Division, or Junction Railroad, was originally intended to run from Cleveland, west side, via Berea and Sandusky, westward to a point on the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad some twenty miles west of Toledo, and crossing the track of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad at a point about eight miles east of the same city. The road was opened be-
.
291
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
tween Cleveland and Sandusky and operations commenced upon it in the Fall of 1853, immediately after the consolidation. The original project of a separate linie to the west was carried out by the consolidated corporation so far as to construct the road to its intersection with the old Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland track, from which point both lines approached Toledo over the same right of way. This line was operated over its whole length until the 31st day of December, 1858, on which day the use for regular business of that portion lying west of Sandusky was discontinued, and all the through travel and traffic turned upon the Southern Division. On the 30th of July, 1856, a contract was entered into with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company by which the Cleveland and Toledo Company acquired the right to use the track of the first namned company from Grafton to Cleveland, for the Southern Division trains, and from Berea to Cleveland for the Northern Division, and thenee forward all trains were run into, and departed from, the Union Depot in Cleveland -a change which soon resulted in the practical abandonment, for the time, of that portion of the Northern Division lying between Berea and Cleveland on the west side of Cuyahoga river. This arrangement, together with the completion, in 1855, of a bridge over the Maumee river at Toledo, enabled the company to receive and discharge its passengers in union depots at each end of its line. During the years 1865 and 1866, about eight miles of new road were constructed between Elyria on the Northern Division, and Oberlin on the Southern Division. for the purpose of allowing all trains to leave and come upon the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Road at Berea, thirteen miles, instead of Grafton, twenty-five miles from Cleveland. This new picce of road was opened for business on the 10th of Sep- tember, 1866, and the road between Oberlin and Grafton immediately abandoned. The construction of a bridge near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river at Cleve- land, brought the Northern Division line between Cleveland and Berea once more into use, and over it the freight trains of the line are now run. In 1869, the company was made part of the consolidate.l line between Buffalo and Chicago.
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, by its lease of the Cleveland and . Mahoning Railroad, has become an important part of the Cleveland railroad system. The company was organized in 1851, as the Franklin and Warren Railroad Com- pany, to build a road from Franklin Mills (now Kent) in Portage County, to Warren, in Trumbull county, with power to extend to a point in the eastern line of the State, northeast of Warren and southwesterly to Dayton, Ohio. In July, 1853, opera- tions were actively commenced along the whole line, but were soon seriously retarded by financial embarrassments. In 1854, the Franklin and Warren Railroad Company, under anthority of an Act of the General Assembly of 1853, changed its name to
- 292
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company. Two years before, a project had been started to extend the broad gauge of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad through Ohio, northeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York, to connect with the New York and Erie Railroad. This route would ran through Meadville, Pennsylvania, Warren, Kent, Akron and Galion to Dayton, Ohio. In 1858, the Mead- ville Railroad Company changed their name to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company of Pennsylvania. In 1859, a company was organized in the State of New York, under the name of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in New York, and purchased in 1860 of the New York and Erie Railroad Company thirty- eight miles of their road, from Salamanca to near Ashville. These thirty-eight miles with eleven miles of new line, make up the entire length of line of this road in the State of New York. Each of the above companies made contracts for the build- ing of their respective roads.
In the Fall of 1858, negotiations were commenced in London with James McHenry, for the means to carry on the work. T. W. Kennard, a civil engineer, came over as the attorney of Mr. McHenry, and engineer in chief of the whole work. In 1862, the road was opened from Corry to Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1863, it was extended to Warren, and in the next year to Ravenna and Akron-202 miles from . Salamanca.
In October, 1863, the three companies above named, leased for ninety-nine years, the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, - extending from Cleveland southerly to Youngstown, Ohio, sixty-seven miles. This road has a narrow gauge track crossing the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad at Leavittsburgh, Ohio, fifty miles south of Cleveland. The Atlantic and Great Western Company laid a rail on either side of the narrow track, .thus carrying the broad gange into Cleveland, and a broad gange train from the city of New York entered Cleveland on the evening of November 3d, 1863. Subsequently the several companies forming the Atlantic and Great Western line were consolidated into one line, and this again was, in 1869. consolidated with the Erie Railway.
Besides opening a new and important thoroughfare to the East, this line has . opened up to Cleveland the resources of northwestern Pennsylvania, and in the oil product has added an immense and highly profitable trade to the business of the city.
Several lines have been built, connecting with and adding business to the rail- roads leading to Cleveland, but of these it is not the province of this work to speak. A large number of new railroads have been from time to time projected in varions directions. Some of these "paper railroads" have intrinsic merit, and these, or lines aiming at the same objects, will eventually be built.
1
293
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
JACOB PERKINS.
Jacob Perkins was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, Sep- tember 1st, 1822, being next to the youngest of the children of Gen. Simon Perkins, one of the earliest and most prominent business men of northern Ohio, a land agent of large business, and the owner of extensive tracts of land In his early years Jacob Perkins developed a strong inclination for study, acquiring knowledge with unusual facility, and gratifying his intense passion for reading useful works by every means within his power.
He commenced fitting himself for college at the Burton Academy, then under the direction of Mr. H. L. Hitchcock, now president of Western Reserve College, and completed his preparation at Middle- town, Connecticut, in the school of Isaac Webb. He entered Yale College in 1837.
While in college he was distinguished for the elegance of his style and the wide range of his literary acquirements. He delivered the philosophic oration at his junior exhibition, and was chosen second editor of " Yale Literary Magazine," a position in which he took great interest, and filled to the satisfaction and pride of his class. His college course was, however, interrupted by a long and severe illness before the close of his junior year, which compelled him to leave his studies and (to his permanent regret) prevented him from graduating with his own class. He returned the following year and was gradu- ated with the class of 1842.
He entered his father's office at Warren, and was occupied with its business until, upon the death of his father, some two years after- wards, he became one of his executors.
During his residence at Warren he appeared occasionally before home audiences as a public speaker, and always with great acceptance.
In politics, he early adopted strong anti-slavery principles, then not the popular doctrine, and they were always freely and openly advocated. Of an address delivered in 1848, which was published and attracted very considerable local attention, the editor of the Chronicle remarked, "We have listened to the best orators of the
294
CLEVELAND, PAST AND PRESENT:
land, from the Connecticut to the Mississippi, and can truly say, by none have we been so thoroughly delighted in every particular as by this effort of our distinguished townsman." The oration discussed the true theory of human rights and the legitimate powers of human government-and the following extract gives the spirit of his political principles on the subject of slavery :
The object of law is not to make rights, but to define and maintain them ; man possesses them before the existence of law, the same as he does afterwards. No matter what government may extend its control over him ; no matter how miserable or how sinful the mother in whose arms his eyes opened to the day ; no matter in what hovel his infancy is nursed ; no matter what complexion-an Indian or an African sun may have burned upon him, this may decide the privileges which he is able to assert, but can not affect the existence of his rights. His self-mastery is the gift of his creator, and oppression, only, can take it away.
Without solicitation he was nominated and elected a member of the Convention that framed the present Constitution of Ohio. His associates from the district were Judges Peter Hitchcock and R. P. Ranney, and although " he was the youngest member but one of the Convention-and in the minority, his influence and position were excelled by few."
He was one of the Senatorial Presidential Electors for Ohio on the Fremont ticket in 1856.
In the intellectual progress of the young about him, and the building up of schools and colleges, he took especial interest. He first suggested and urged upon President Pierce to adopt the condi- tions of the present "Permanent Fund of Western Reserve College," rather than to solicit unconditional contributions, which experience had proved were so easily absorbed by present necessities, and left the future as poor as the past. In connection with his brothers. he made the first subscription to that fund. The embarrassment arising from his railroad enterprise prevented him from increasing that con- tribution. The wisdom of his suggestions was subsequently shown, when, during the rupture and consequent embarrassment under which the college labored, the income of this fund had a very important, if not vital share in saving it from abandonment, and afterwards proved the nucleus of its present endowment.
He was always efficient in favoring improvements. He was associ- ated with Hon. F. Kinsman and his brother in founding the beautiful Woodland Cemetery at Warren. The land was purchased and the ground laid out by them, and then transferred to the present cor- poration.
295
ITS REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
Soon after his return from the Constitutional Convention, he became interested in the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad. Ile was most influential in obtaining the charter and organizing the company, of which he was elected president, and became the princi- pal, almost sole financial manager.
Owing to prior and conflicting railroad interests, little aid could be obtained for his project in either of the terminal cities, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and the work was commenced in 1853 with a com- paratively small stock subscription. A tightening money market prevented any considerable increase of the stock list, or a favorable disposition of the bonds of the road, and the financial crisis a few years afterwards so reduced the value of the securities of this, as of all unfinished railroads, as practically to shut them out of the market. In this emergency the alternative presented itself to Mr. Perkins and his resident directors, either to abandon the enterprise and bank- rupt the company, with the entire loss of the amount expended, or to push it forward to completion by the pledge, and at the risk of their private fortunes, credit, and reputations.
In this, the darkest day of the enterprise, Mr. Perkins manifested his confidence in its ultimate success, and his generous willingness to meet fully his share of the hazard to be incurred, by proposing to them, jointly with him, to assume that risk; and agreeing that in case of disaster, he would himself pay the first $100,000 of loss, and there- after share it equally with them.
With a devotion to the interests entrusted to them, a determina- tion rarely equalled in the history of our railroad enterprises, they unanimously accepted this proposition, and determined to complete the road, at least to a remunerative point in the coal fields of the Mahoning Valley.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.