USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > Early Dayton; with important facts and incidents from the founding of the city of Dayton, Ohio, to the hundredth anniversary, 1796-1896, > Part 17
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
"Mr. Forrer was not quite medium height, but well formed and very active. He was a cheerful and pleasant companion. Judge Bates and the canal commissioners relied upon his skill under their instructions to test the water question in 1823. He ran a line for a feeder from the Sandusky summit westerly and north of the watershed, taking up the waters of the Auglaize and heads of the Miami. Even with the addition the supply was inadequate. Until his death in 1874 Mr. Forrer was nearly all the time in the employ of the State as engineer, canal commissioner, or member of the Board of Public Works. He was not only popular, but scrupulously honest and industri- ous. His life-long friends regarded his death as a personal loss greater than that of a faithful public officer. He was too unobtrusive to make personal enemies, not neglecting his duties, as a citizen zealous but just. He died at Dayton, Ohio, at IO A.M., March 25, 1874, from the exhaustion of his physical powers, without pain. Like his life he passed away in peace at the age of eighty, his mind clear and conscious of the approach- ing end."
In the winter of 1838 the experiment 'was tried of having market on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, and in the early morning on the other three days. But the people soon returned to what Curwen calls "our midnight markets," the bell ringing at four o'clock in the depth of winter, and the people hurrying at the first tap to the market-house, as a short delay
172
EARLY DAYTON
would deprive them of their favorite cut of meat or first choice of vegetables and force them to fill their baskets with rejected articles. As in New York two hundred years ago, "such was the strife among the thrifty townsfolk to be on hand at the open- ing of the market, and thereby get the pick of the goods, that long before noon the bulk of the business was done." This custom of market before daybreak, in spite of its discomfort, continued for many years.
In spite of the hard times, Dayton was prosperous in 1838. The following improvements were made that year: Council expended about six thousand dollars in improving and beautify- ing the town ; the streets and pavements were graveled, guttered, and macadamized for the first tinie, though the work had been begun three years before; eighty-nine buildings, fifty-six of brick and thirty-three of frame, were erected, and more would have been put up if it had been possible to obtain sufficient brick and timber. The principal buildings erected were two brick dis- trict school-houses, the first that were built in Dayton, and the Third Street Presbyterian Church. This was also of brick, seventy-two by fifty-two feet in size, " of approved architectural beauty," and cost fifteen thousand dollars. The dwellings in town were all occupied to their fullest capacity, and there were none for rent or for sale.
The most valuable improvement made this year was the Cooper Hydraulic, constructed by Edward W. Davies and Alexander Grimes, agents of the Cooper estate. "It is an enterprise," said the Journal, "for the projection and comple- tion of which all who have the prosperity of Dayton at heart will cheerfully accord to the gentlemen above named due credit for their public spirit." The hydraulic was seven hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with twelve feet head, and was built between Third and Fifth streets, west of Wyandotte Street. "A bend in Mad River at the northeast corner of the town extended south from the aqueduct to First Street, and along that street, crossing what is now Keowee and Meigs Street, thence in a northwest direction, crossing Taylor Street south of Monument Avenue, and on and across Monument Avenue to and uniting with the Miami River at a point about four hundred feet south of the present mouth of Mad River." In 1840 Mr. Davies and Mr. Grimes, as a further improvement to the Cooper estate, "caused a survey to be made for a new channel for Mad River from the
173
1836-1840
aqueduct straight to the Miami River." It was finished in the winter of 1842. Originally a bayou extended up Mad River from the Miaini to Keowee Street.
Dayton Township was divided March 12, 1839, into two election precincts, the first precinct voting at the Court-house and the second at Houk's Tavern on Market Street.
The Montgomery County Agricultural Society had been organ- ized September 1I, 1838, with Colonel Henry Protzman president, and Charles Anderson secretary. The first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was held in Dayton at Swaynie's Hotel, at the head of the basin, October 17 and 18, 1839. At eleven in the morning on the 17th a procession of about three hundred persons interested in the society marched, headed by a band of music, through the principal streets to the hotel, where the anniversary address was delivered by D. A. Haynes. The display of horses, cattle, and farm products was fine. The com- mittee on silk, Daniel Roe, C. S. Bryant, John Edgar, Peter Aughinbaugh, Charles G. Swain, W. B. Stone, and R. N. Comly, awarded a premium, a silver cup worth ten dollars, for the greatest amount of silk produced from the smallest number of multicaulis leaves. Other valuable premiums were awarded by the society, but the cup was offered by members of the Silk Company.
The mention of the Morus multicaulis tree recalls to memory one of those strange manias that occasionally sweep over the country. The tree had recently been introduced from China, was of rapid growth, and furnished abundant food for silk- worms. It was believed that the cultivation of this tree, and the use of its leaves to feed silkworms, would make the United States the great silk-producing country of the world. The most extravagant price was paid for young trees, and thousands of acres were planted. Wide-spread ruin was the result, and hundreds of persons lost their all in this wild speculation.
Swaynie's Hotel, where the first Montgomery County Agri- cultural Fair was held, was finished in April, 1839. It was considered a first-class house, and regarded with pride by the people of Dayton. All the carpets in the hotel were manufac- tured by the Dayton Carpet Company, and were of such superior texture, designs, and colors that guests of the house could with difficulty be convinced that they were made west of the Alle- ghany Mountains. The Dayton carpets were sold in the stores
174
EARLY DAYTON
at Cincinnati and other Western towns as imported carpets, and purchasers did not discover the deception.
The number of buildings erected in Dayton in 1839, as counted by Thomas Morrison, was one hundred and sixty-four of brick, thirty-six of wood, and twenty-six intended for business houses. A new First Presbyterian Church took the place of the old one built in 1817. A Baptist church was also built on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets, forty by sixty feet in size and seventy-five feet in height. The front presented a very neat specimen of the Grecian Doric architecture. The cost of the whole, including the lot, was six thousand dollars. A number of improvements were made along the hydraulic. Mr. Thomas Brown, after particular inquiry made at the request of the Journal, reported that four million five hundred thousand bricks were made in Dayton during 1839. The number on hand he computed at five hundred thousand, which gave four millions as the number of bricks laid during the year.
In February, 1839, the prospectus of the Log Cabin newspaper, published in Dayton by R. N. and W. F. Comly, appeared. The Log Cabin was continued during the Harrison campaign, and after enough subscribers were obtained to pay expenses, was gra- tuitously distributed as a campaign document. A large picture of a log cabin, with a barrel of liard cider at the door, occupied the first page of the paper. The illustrations were drawn and engraved by John W. Van Cleve. The price of the paper was fifty cents for thirteen numbers. Two files of the Log Cabin, which attained a national reputation, are on the shelves of the Dayton Public Library.
The population of Dayton was now six thousand and sixty- four.
Never in the history of the Northwest has there been a more exciting Presidential campaign than that which preceded the election of General W. H. Harrison, and nowhere was the enthusi- asm for the hero of Tippecanoe greater than in Dayton. A remark- able Harrison convention was held here on the date of Perry's' victory on Lake Erie, and tradition has preserved such extrava- gant accounts of the number present, the beauty of the emblems and decorations displayed, and the hospitality of the citizens and neighboring farmers, that the following prophecy with which the Journal began its account of the celebration may almost be said to have been literally fulfilled: "Memorable and ever to be
From a photograph by Wolfe.
SYNAGOGUE OF THE JESHUREN CONGREGATION.
Office.
From a photograph by Wolfe.
Chapel.
ENTRANCE TO WOODLAND CEMETERY.
175
1836-1840
remembered as is the glorious triumph achieved by the immortal Perry on the 10th of September, 1813, scarcely less conspicuous on the page of history will stand the noble commemoration of the event which has just passed before us." Innumerable flags and Tippecanoe banners were stretched across the streets from roofs of stores and factories, or floated from private residences and from poles and trees. People began to arrive several days before the convention, and on the 9th crowds of carriages, wagons, and horsemen streamed into town. About six o'clock the Cincinnati delegation came in by the Centerville road. They were escorted from the edge of town by the Dayton Grays, Butler Guards, Day- ton military band, and a number of citizens in carriages and on horseback. The procession of delegates was headed by eleven stage-coaches in line, with banners and music, followed by a long line of wagons and carriages. Each coach was enthusi- astically cheered as it passed the crowds which thronged the streets, and the cheers were responded to by occupants of the coaches. Twelve canal-boats full of mnen arrived on the 10th, and every road which led to town poured in its thousands early in the morning.
General Harrison came as far as Jonathan Harshman's, five miles from town, on the 9th and passed the night there. Early in the morning his escort, which had been encamped at Fairview, marched to Mr. Harshman's and halted there till seven o'clock, when it got in motion under command of Joseph Barnett, of Dayton, and other marshals from Clark County. A procession from town, five miles long, under direction of Charles Anderson, chief marshal, met the General and his escort at the junction of the Troy and Springfield roads. The battalion of militia, com- manded by Captain Bomberger, of the Dayton Grays, and con- sisting of the Grays and Washington Artillery, of Dayton ; the Citizens' Guards, from Cincinnati; Butler Guards, of Hamilton, and Piqua Light Infantry, were formed in a hollow square, and General Harrison, mounted on a white horse, his staff, and Gov- ernor Metcalf and staff, of Kentucky, were placed in the center. "Every foot of the road between town and the place where General Harrison was to meet the Dayton escort was literally choked up with people."
The immense procession, carrying banners and flags, and accompanied by canoes, log cabins furnished in pioneer style, and trappers' lodges, all on wheels, and filled with men, girls, and
176
EARLY DAYTON
boys, the latter dressed in hunting-shirts and blue caps, made a magnificent display. One of the wagons contained a live wolf enveloped in a sheepskin, representing the "hypocritical profes- sions" of the opponents of the Whigs. All sorts of designs were carried by the delegations. One of the most striking was an immense ball, representing the Harrison States, which was rolled through the streets. The length of the procession was about two miles. Carriages were usually three abreast, and there were more than one thousand in line. The day was bright and beau- tiful, and the wildest enthusiasm swayed the mighty mass of people who formed the most imposing part of "this grandest spectacle of time," as Colonel Todd, an eye-witness, termed the procession. The following description of the scene, quoted by Curwen from a contemporary newspaper, partakes of the excite- ment and extravagance of the occasion :
"The huzzas from gray-headed patriots, as the banners borne in the procession passed their dwellings, or the balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and blessings and waving kerchiefs of the thousands of fair women, who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heartfelt acknowl- edgments of their marked courtesy and generous hospitality by the different delegations, sometimes rising the same instant from the whole line; the glimpses at every turn of the eye of the flut- tering folds of some one or more of the six hundred and forty- four flags which displayed their glorious stars and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street, the soul-stirring music, the smiling heavens, the ever-gleaming banners, the emblems and mottoes, added to the intensity of the excitement. Every eminence, housetop, and window was thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to rend the heavens. Second Street at that time led through a prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity of which few but Westerners can appreciate, likened the excitement around them to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its surface, 'gathering, and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet higher, till its flames. licked the stars and fired the whole heavens.'"'
After marching through the principal streets the procession was disbanded by General Harrison at the National Hotel on Third Street. At one o'clock the procession was reformed and moved to the stand erected for the speeches "upon a spacious plain" east of Front Street and north of Third. Mr. Samuel
.
1836-1840 177
Forrer, an experienced civil engineer, made an estimate of the space occupied by this meeting and of the number present at it. He says : "An exact measurement of the lines gave for one side of the square ( oblong) one hundred and thirty yards and the other one hundred and fifty yards, including an area of nineteen thousand five hundred square yards, which, multiplied by four, would give seventy-eight thousand. Let no one who was present be startled at this result or reject this estimate till lie compares the data assumed with the facts presented to his own view while on the ground. It is easy for any one to satisfy him- self that six, or even a greater number of individuals, may stand on a square yard of ground. Four is the number assumed in the present instance; the area measured is less than four and one-half acres. Every farmer who noticed the ground could readily perceive that a much larger space was covered with people, though not so closely as that portion measured. All will admit that an oblong square of one hundred and thirty yards by one hundred and fifty did not at any time during the first hour include near all that were on the east side of the canal. The time of observation was the commencement of General Harri- son's speech. Before making this particular estimate I had made one by comparing this assemblage with iny recollection of the 25th of February convention at Columbus, and came to the conclusion that it was at least four times as great as that." Two other competent engineers measured the ground, and the lowest estimate of the number of people at the meeting was seventy- eight thousand, and as thousands were still in town it was estimated that as many as one hundred thousand were here on the Ioth of September.
Places of entertainment were assigned delegates by the com- mittee appointed for that purpose, but it was also announced in the Journal that no one need hesitate "to enter any house for dinner where he may see a flag flying. Every Whig's latch- string will be out, and the flag will signify as much to all who are a hungry or athirst." A public table, where dinner was furnished, as at the private houses, without charge, was also announced as follows by the Journal: "We wish to give our visitors log-cabin fare and plenty of it, and we want our friends in the country to help us." A committee was appointed to take charge of the baskets of the farmers, who responded liberally to this appeal.
12
178
EARLY DAYTON
In early times, when hotel and boarding-house accommodations in Dayton were very limited, it was the custom, whenever there was a political or religious convention, or any other large public meeting here, for the citizens to freely entertain the delegates at their homes. At night straw-beds were laid in rows, a narrow path between each row, on the floors of rooms and halls in both stories of dwellings, and in this way accommodation was fur- nished for many guests. The making of the ticks for these beds before the days of sewing-machines, required many days of labor, often principally done by the hostess. As late as 1853, when the first State fair was held in Dayton, public-spirited citizens who could afford the expense exercised this generous but somewhat primitive hospitality. When a meeting was of a religious character, the different denominations assisted in enter- taining the guests. During the 1840 convention the hot dinner, which was served if possible on such occasions, was supple- mented by large quantities of cold roast and boiled meats, poultry, cakes, pies, and bread that had been prepared before- hand. A few wealthy housekeepers employed men cooks and other additional assistance during the convention. But there were no caterers or confectioners in those days, and good domes- tic help was rare, so that a great part of the labor of preparing for their hungry crowd of guests was performed by Dayton ladies with their own hands.
All the houses in Dayton occupied by Whigs were crowded to their fullest capacity during the Harrison convention, and again at the Clay convention in 1842. One family, according to a letter from its mistress written at the time, entertained three hundred persons at dinner one day in 1842, and the same night lodged nearly one hundred guests. Thirty Kentuckians left that afternoon, or there would have been over one hundred lodgers. The writer states that the houses of all her friends and relatives were as crowded as her own, and says that this lavish hospitality was a repetition of what occurred in 1840. The letter contains an interesting description of a morning reception for ladies during the convention of 1842 at the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, where Mr. Clay was staying. A crowd of women of all ranks and conditions-some in silk and some in calico-were present. Mr. Clay shook hands with them all, afterwards mak- ing a complimentary little speech, saying, among other graceful things, that the soft touch of the ladies' hands had healed his
.
179
1836-1840
fingers, bruised by the rough grasp of the men, whom he had received the day before.
Among other interesting occurrences during the Harrison con- vention was the presentation, on the 9th of September, of a beautiful banner to the Tippecanoe Club of the town by the married ladies of Dayton. The banner was accompanied by an eloquent address written for the occasion by Mrs. D. K. Este, and was presented in the name of the ladies to the club, who were drawn up in front of the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, by Judge J. H. Crane. It was decorated on one side with an em- broidered wreath, with a view of General Harrison's house in the center, and on the other side with a painting of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, executed by Charles Soule "with the skill and taste for which he is so distinguished."
On the 11th of September the young ladies of Dayton pre- sented a banner, wrought by their own hands, to General Harrison. Daniel A. Haynes made the presentation speech. The convention was addressed by many noted men. General Harrison was a forcible speaker, and his voice, while not sonor- ous, was clear and penetrating, and reached the utmost limits of the immense crowd. Governor Metcalfe, of Kentucky, was a favorite with the people. A stonemason in early life, he was called "Stone-Hammer" to indicate the crushing blows inflicted by his logic and his sarcasm. The inimitable Thomas Corwin held his audience spellbound with his eloquence and humor, and R. C. Schenck added greatly to his reputation by his incisive and witty speeches. Joseph H. Crane, R. S. Hart, and other Daytonians spoke.
DAYTON FROM 1840 TO 1896
CHAPTER X
DAYTON FROM 1840 TO 1896
THE Beginning of "the Forties"-Distinguished Visitors -Schools-Oregon - West Dayton-Banks-Police Department-New Jail and Court-House -Cemeteries-Dayton Bar-General Robert C. Schenck-Clement L. Vallandigham -Thomas Brown-Prominent Physicians-Public Library -Churches-Floods-Cholera -The Mexican War-First Telegraph Mes- sage-Gas and Electric Light-Railroads-Street- Railroads -Fire Depart- ment-Water-Works-Dayton Orphan Asylum-Young Men's Christian Association - Woman's Christian Association -Young Women's League -St. Elizabeth Hospital -Protestant Deaconess Hospital-Musical Soci- eties- Literary Clubs-Improvements-Manufacturing and Mercantile Interests-Natural Gas-Newspapers-Periodicals-David Stout-Eben- ezer Thresher-Valentine Winters-Frederick Gebhart-Robert W. Steele.
BY the beginning of "the forties" many of the toilers who had made the early history of Dayton slept in the little green graveyard on Fifth Street. There were a few left-old men and women who told the fireside tales, or watched with quiet wonder the enterprises of the new generation, treading with careful steps the newly made streets and pavements, or venturing out on the smooth roads, with bridges, toll-gates, and taverns, that were being built in all directions.
This bright, hospitable little town seems to have had some distinguished visitors. In 1842 it was enlivened by another convention and honored by the presence of the great Clay. Again all were made welcome. Receptions, banquets, banner presentations, and speeches were the order of the day. In the autumn of 1843 John Quincy Adams passed through Dayton on his way to Cincinnati.
The early settlers had ever been anxious to secure for their children the advantages of civilization which they had willingly abandoned for themselves, and now the public schools, under the care of a faithful board of directors, were getting a foothold in spite of hard times, for in 1842 four schools were opened,-two in houses built for them in 1837 and two in rented rooms,-but were thriftily closed before the end of the second quarter to avoid debt ; and it was not until 1849 that the full school year was
183
184
DAYTON FROM 1840 TO 1896
reached. But there was no lack of fine private schools. Milo G. Williams took charge of the Dayton Academy in 1844, and taught there until 1850; and in 1845 Cooper Female Seminary was opened, in charge of E. E. Barney, and at once became known throughout Ohio, by reason of the strong personality, magnetism, and culture of Mr. Barney, as an attractive and scholarly institution-qualities which also distinguished it under the management of Miss Cox, whose name is held in thankful remembrance by many of the brightest women of Day- ton and other Ohio cities.
The Roman Catholic Church in 1847 added St. Joseph's to its parochial schools, and in 1849 St. Mary's Institute.
In the spring of 1850 the Central High School of Dayton was opened. In the fall it was located in the old academy building, where it remained until 1857, when a new building was put up for it on the same ground-on the southwest corner of Fourth and Wilkinson streets, where the Central District School now stands. James Campbell, who was afterwards superintendent of schools, and who was a dear lover of books, served as princi- pal for eight years. Miss Mary G. Dickson, upon whom much practical work must have fallen; James Turpin, whose name stood for music in Dayton ; and, later, dear old Jean Bartholo- mew, genial, easy, and far from a fiery Frenchman, completed the first short list of teachers, whose names, "like a waft from the gracious spring," take back to youth many staid and sober men and women of to-day. Since then the roll of teachers and pupils has lengthened and the curriculum broadened, but the same spirit of zeal, energy, and enthusiasm rules in the new High School building, occupied since 1892, and named in honor of one of the best friends of the schools- Robert W. Steele. The new building is situated on the southeast corner of Main Street and Monument Avenue, and is one of the finest in the country, having cost over a quarter of a million dollars.
A normal school was opened in the autumn of 1869 for the higher education and training of teachers. The free night schools were established in 1877. A manual-training school was opened January 2, 1896, in the Central District School building.
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.