Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 77

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 77

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).

622

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

was thrown twenty-five feet, Mr. Darrell severely scalded in the back, the thigh of the safety-valve manipulator broken, and the other negro assistant badly cut and bruised about the head and face. This road was opened to travel in the Winter of 1833, '34, at which time it was the longest continuous line of railroad in the world-130 miles-over which it was the pleasure of the writer to ride on one of its earlier excursions, in January, 1834, the first hundred miles west of Charleston, by steam, an all day trip, and after remaining over night, at the head of the incline, where it was proposed to place a stationary engine, making the last thirty miles, on the downward grade to Hamburg, opposite Augusta, on hand- cars propelled by negro power.

THE "GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY."

The first railroad scheme to attract the attention of any por- tion of what is now Summit county, was the project to build a road from the Hudson river, through the states of New York, and Pennsylvania, to the Portage summit on the Ohio Canal, at Akron, under the above title, and in September, 1832, committees were appointed all along the line to solicit funds to defray the expenses of a survey, but nothing further was accomplished.

"AKRON AND PERRYSBURG RAILROAD."

In Akron's first newspaper-the Weekly Post,-in its issue of April 8, 1836, is a communication favoring the building of a rail- road from Akron to Perrysburg, and citizens urged to subscribe to the stock of the company, which had already been chartered, and on the same date the Post published a notice that a stock book would be opened at the hotel of Lewis Humiston (corner South Main and Exchange streets) on the 10th day of May, among the names attached to the notice being, E. Crosby, R. K. Du Bois, J. W. Phillips, Richard Howe, Harvey McCune and S. A. Wheeler, of Akron. In the same issue, besides a strong editorial favoring the project, was a communication from Charles Olcott, Esq., to the people of Medina county, in which he guaranteed ten per cent. yearly dividends, after the first year, on the amount of stock sub- scribed. But the road was never built.

"AKRON AND RICHMOND RAILROAD."

In the Post of April 22, 1836, is a long communication from Sidney Rigdon, then, next to Joseph Smith, the most prominent man of the Mormon fraternity, at Kirtland, urging the project of a railroad from Akron via Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Aurora, Bain- bridge, Russell, Kirtland and Mentor, to the then prospective commercial city of Richmond, at the mouth of Grand River, on Fairport harbor, near Painesville, "for the purpose," in the lan- guage of Mr. Rigdon, of "creating a competition between New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, which will be most favorable to the west."

At a meeting held at Kirtland, June 10, 1836, the preamble and resolutions adopted, among other things said:

Akron is becoming a great central point, it being at the junction of the Ohio and Mahoning Canal, and the Akron and Perrysburg railroad, thereby opening communication, via the Wabash canal, south to Cincinnati and New Orleans, by water, and to Charleston, S. C., via the Charleston and

623

EARLY RAILWAY ENTERPRISES.

Cincinnati railroad, and also by canal and railroad to Pittsburg and Phila- delphia, thus uniting the eastern communication from New York and other places terminating at Buffalo, with the western line of communication forming a junction at Akron, being one of the most important links in a chain of communication now presented to the public for their consideration and co-operation.

"CLEVELAND AND PITTSBURG RAILROAD."

In this year, also (1836), the Cleveland and Pittsburg road was chartered, but before anything of moment had been accomplished, the panic of 1837 struck the country, and it, as well as the several other schemes above mentioned, went into a protracted slumber, from which some of them have never yet been fully aroused. In the case of Cleveland and Pittsburg, however, March 14, 1845, the Legislature of Ohio granted an amended charter, but so tardy were the movements of its promoters that nearly six years were con- sumed in its construction, cars running from Cleveland to Hudson, for the first time, in the Winter of 1851. This road has always been ably managed, and has entirely escaped the almost universal fate of the average American railroad-insolvency.

"THE AKRON AND CANTON RAILROAD."

February 21, 1845, a charter was granted for a road bearing the above title, with a capital of $200,000, to be divided into 8,000 shares of $25 each, the company being prohibited from contracting debts greater than the amount of stock subscribed, and not to commence operations until $100,000 was subscribed, with authority to extend the line to the Ohio river, if deemed desirable, and to increase its capital to an amount sufficient to accomplish that object. But though some preliminary work was performed, this road was never built.

"THE AKRON BRANCH RAILROAD."

As the Cleveland and Pittsburg road neared completion, the people of Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and other towns in Summit county, became alive to the importance of a connection therewith, at Hudson, and in February, 1851, largely through the efforts of the late Col. Simon Perkins, an amendment to the charter of that road was secured, authorizing the construction of a branch road from Hudson, through Cuyahoga Falls and Akron to Wooster, or some point on the Ohio and Pennsylvania railroad, or any other road running in the direction of Columbus; the amendment also providing that this branch road might form a separate organization under the title of the "Akron Branch of the Cleveland and Pitts- burg Railroad."

The "Akron Branch" was organized March 11, 1851, with Simon Perkins, Milton W. Henry, and John W. McMillen, of Akron, Horace A. Miller, of Cuyahoga Falls, James Butler and Henry N. Day, of Hudson, and John Carey, of Millersburg, direc- tors. Col. Perkins was elected president, Henry N. Day, secretary, and John W. McMillen, treasurer.

COUNTY AID INVOKED.

Though individual subscriptions were quite liberal, as it was believed that the construction of the road would greatly inure

624

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

to the benefit of the entire county, a special act of the Legis- lature was passed, on the 24th day of March, 1851, authorizing the county commissioners, with the consent of the legal voters, to subscribe for $100,000 of the stock of the company, and to borrow the money on bonds of not less than $100 each, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent.

This proposition was voted upon at the special election for the adoption of the new State Constitution, on the 21st day of June, 1851, with the following result:

For

Against

. Batlı .

102

Boston

Copley

160

Coventry

104

Cuyahoga Falls.

275

Franklin

170

Green .

177

Hudson

258

Middlebury

Northfield

165

Northampton

Norton .

175

Portage

737

Richfield

Springfield

167

Stow

Tallmadge.

114

Twinsburg

156

Total Vote.

2432

1605

Majority for

827

Pursuant to this authority County Commissioners Edwin Wetmore, of Stow, James W. Weld, of Richfield, and Hiram Wes- ton, of Middlebury, "For and in the name of Summit County," subscribed for said amount of $100,000 of the stock of the road, and on the 19th day of June, 1851, issued 100 bonds of $1,000 each payable in 15 years, with 30 coupons attached, bearing interest at seven per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually; at the same time, as provided by the act in question, increasing the rate of taxation sufficient to meet the interest as it accrued, and to create a sink- ing fund for the final payment of the bonds at their maturity.

In the process of negotiating these bonds, and after about one- half of them had actually been sold by Col. Perkins and Treasurer McMillen, it was discovered that the bonds were defective in that they did not show upon their face that they were issued by the authority of the State of Ohio, and, on the 17th of February, 1852, a new and correct series was issued and the first ones taken up. A portion of the bonds were paid by County Auditor S. M. Burnham some two or three years before maturity, thus saving something to the tax-payers in the amount of semi-annual interest paid thereon.

RAPID CONSTRUCTION.

With this aid the directors pushed the work so vigorously that the road was completed to Cuyahoga Falls, by June 1, 1852, and to Akron July 4, the same year, and speedily thereafter through to Orrville and Millersburg.

625

REVERSES AND REORGANIZATIONS.

There was, of course, considerable grumbling at the increased taxation to pay the interest and principal of these bonds, but though the county, in common with individual stockholders, never realized any dividends, and in fact sunk the entire amount of the stock itself, the tax-payers of county were well repaid for the fuvestment, there not being a foot of land in the entire county whose value was not enhanced many fold the special tax paid thereon, to say nothing of the greater impetus given to commercial, manufacturing and agricultural operations by its construction.

"CLEVELAND, ZANESVILLE AND CINCINNATI."

At the March term, 1853, of the Court of Common Pleas of Summit county, the name of the " Akron Branch" was changed to " Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad," with the view of extending the road south from Millersburg to connect with the Cincinnati, Wilmington and Zanesville at the latter place.

Embarrassments falling upon the company, the contemplated extension was indefinitely postponed, and on the 2d day of Novem- ber, 1864, by decree of Court, the road was sold by David L. King, Esq., as special master commissioner, to George W. Cass and John J. Marvin, of Pittsburg, who in turn transferred it to the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company, Col. Perkins being continued as its general superintendent. July 1, 1869, the road passed by lease into the hands of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, and November 4; 1869, by deed to the Pittsburg, Mount Ver- non and London Railroad Company, of which Gen. G. A. Jones, of Mt. Vernon, was appointed general superintendent; Col. Perkins, after faithful service as president and general superintendent for nearly 20 years, retiring.

While Col. Perkins, by his zeal in the furtherance of the en- terprise, assumed liabilities, which, in the unforeseen embarrass- ment that followed, imperiled his own splendid private fortune, he will ever be held in grateful remembrance by the people of Akron and Summit county, for the labor performed and the sacri- fices made as the pioneer in the various railroad enterprises that have placed them in the very front rank of progress and pros- perity.

"CLEVELAND, MOUNT VERNON AND DELAWARE."

December 20, 1869, the name was again changed as above, by the Knox county Court of Common Pleas, and the work of extend- ing the line to Delaware was vigorously entered into by Superin- tendent Jones, but was finally so far modified as to make Columbus, instead of Delaware, the terminal point, the first through trains being from Cleveland to Mt. Vernon, June 25, 1872, and to Colum- bus, November 23, of the same year.

"CLEVELAND, AKRON & COLUMBUS."

Default having been made in the payment of interest, pro- ceedings in foreclosure, under the first mortgage, were begun in Summit county Common Pleas Court, September 27, 1880, and Gen. G. A. Jones appointed receiver.

July 13, 1881, William H. Upson, Esq., as special master com- missioner, sold the road, under a decree of Court, to H. W. Smithers, J. M. Adams and J. A. Horsey, for the sum of $1,140,200.

626

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

The purchasers under this sale, organized a company to operate the road, under the name of the "Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad Company," to which company the property was delivered by Receiver Jones, December 1, 1881.

This company operated the road up to April 23, 1882, when the title was found to be invalid, and the sale set aside by the District Court. April 24, 1882, Mr. George D. Walker was appointed receiv- er, by the Court of Common Pleas of Summit county, operating the road under its old title of "The Cleveland, Mount Vernon and Delaware Railroad," with N. Monsarrat as general superintendent.

June 8, 1882, under the new decree, Master Commissioner Upson again sold the road to J. M. Adams and others, for the sum of $1,150,000. The validity of this sale was contested by the trustees, under the second mortgage, but the sale was confirmed by the District Court, and also, in October, 1885, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, to which the case had been carried on exceptions.

The purchasers, under the sale last mentioned, organized under the name of the " Cleveland, Akron and Columbus Railway Company," taking possession of, and beginning to operate, the road January 1, 1886, with N. Monsarrat as president and general mana- ger, by whom it is now being successfully managed and operated; connecting with the Cleveland and Pittsburg, at Hudson on the north, and with the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis, at Colum- bus, on the south, the company, in addition to its large freight business, running first-class passenger trains, with Pullman cars attached. twice each way, daily, between Cleveland and Cincinnati, and by an arrangement with the Cincinnati and Muskingum Val- ley Railway, running daily freight and passenger trains into Zanesville, with facilities equal to those of that road itself.

The company, in 1887, also completed and opened its branch road from Kilbuck to Dresden Junction, on the Pittsburg, Cincin- nati and St. Louis Railroad, 34 miles, through a fine farming and mining region. This branch road was projected and partially built in 1871, '72, but finally abandoned by the original promoters. Now, however, as the property of the Cleveland, Akron & Colum- bus Railway Company, it is confidently believed it will be a valuable adjunct to that road, as well as a great convenience to the people of the region through which it passes.

AKRON "UNION" DEPOT.

On the completion of the "Akron Branch," in 1852, a small passenger depot suited to the necessities of so small a road and so inconsiderable a village, was erected a few rods south of the Mill street crossing. On the advent of the "Atlantic & Great Western" Railroad, as hereinaf- ter detailed, that company pur- chased from the former company the right of way through Akron, and also arranged for the joint use of the passenger depot in question.

, Akron's original "Union Depot"-1852- 1891. "Peace to its ashes."

As the population of the town, and the business of the roads

627

UNION AND OTHER DEPOTS.

' increased, it was the intention of the managers to unite in the construction of a union depot, which should be adequate to the public needs, and also both a credit to the roads and an ornament to the city. But the repeated embarrassments and changes of management here written of, for a long time prevented the con- summation of that desirable project.

In the Spring of 1888, however, Messrs. N. Monsarrat and C. W. Schaap, of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus road, purchased the fine homestead of the late George D. Bates, at the East Market street crossing, and negotiations began for the organization of a Union Depot Company. Two years passed in endeavors to secure the co-operation of the New York, Lake Erie & Western road. But the Erie officials insisted that they were but lessees and that depot-building should be done by the proprietor company, the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio. The board of trade and a com- mittee of the city council had several interviews with "Nypano" officials at Cleveland, and the outcome of it all was an announce- ment that the Erie would unite with the C., A. & C. in purchasing the Bates property from Messrs. Monsarrat and Schaap, and go ahead with the erection of a union depot. This arrangement, however, was not carried out. The two roads differed on the question of position of tracks and other details, and the result was that the C., A. & C. took the Bates property alone, and the Erie began work, in the Summer of 1890, on a depot of its own just south of the wooden building so long occupied by the two companies. President Monsarrat, of the C., A. & C., opened negotiations with the city council for the vacation to his company for depot purposes, of the portion of College street, lying just east of the Bates prop- erty. He agreed to build a depot to cost not less than $25,000, and to bear his road's portion of the expenses of a bridge across Park street. He asked leave, also, to widen the span of the East Market street bridge, so as to admit more tracks, and gain better access to the depot, agreeing to replace the old wooden bridge by a sub- stantial iron structure. These arrangements were consumniated in due time, and in addition to the grant of a part of College street, the city vacated to the C., A. & C. that portion of Railroad alley lying between East Market and Mill streets, permitting the build- ing of extra trackage there.

The Erie depot was pushed forward to completion in the Spring of 1891, and was occupied July 1, of that year. It is a hand- some structure costing about $20,000, and as much of an orna- inent, as the old tumble-down wooden depot was, for a genera- tion, an eye-sore and reproach. The C., A. & C. depot whichi was built of pressed brick and in the Romanesque style of architect- ure, cost about $30,000. It was finished in the early Summer of New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Rail- road Depot-Erected in 1890. '91. 1891, but the work of widening the East Market street bridge and of preparing the depot surroundings delayed occupancy until the latter part of the season. The whole expense of the depot and of

628

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

the other improvements made along with it-excavation of the east portion of the Bates property, building of retaining walls, new. tracks, etc., was fully $100,000.

In May, 1891, there was incorporated at Columbus the Akron Union Depot Company. Its prominent projectors were, President N. Monsarrat, of the C., A. & C., and Wm. Thornburg, president of the Akron & Chicago Junction Railroad Company. The com- pany was the result of an agree- ment by which the two lines are to use the C., A. & C. depot in common. The occupancy of this depot by the A. & C. J. means that all B. & O. trains through Akron areto run into it, and it was New Union Passenger Station, Cleveland, Akron and Columbus and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads, East Market Street-1891. the expectation that the Valley road, also the B. & O.'s property, would eventually abandon the WV. Market street depot and have all its trains run in from Old Forge to the C., A. & C. depot, to con- nect with through B. & O. trains. A neat frame station was built by the C., A. & C. in South Akron, near McCoy's crossing, in the fall of 1890, to accommodate the rapidly growing population of that part of the city. Another important move of the C., A. & C., made in June of 1891, was the acquisition of several acres of land in the tract of the South Akron Land Syndicate (Steiner & Co.) It is the intention to cover this land with sidings, and being close to the new shops built on the city's southern edge, it was expected that they would add largely to the traffic of the road and be of ben- efit to present and future manufacturing establishments in that rapidly growing suburb.

"THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN."

In 1850, Hon Marvin Kent, an enterprising young business man and large property owner of the village now bearing his name (but then called Franklin Mills), in view of the fact that the Cleve- land & Pittsburg, then being built, had given that village the cold shoulder, by running two miles to the northward, conceived the idea of forming a direct line from New York to St. Louis, nearly 1,200 miles, by connecting with the Erie road, at Salamanca, on the east, and by the Dayton & Hamilton with the Ohio & Mississippi, at Cincinnati, on the west.

Having matured his plans, in the winter of 1850, '51, Mr. Kent applied to the Legislature for a charter for a seemingly purely local road, under the title of the "Coal Hill Railroad," changed previous to its passage to the "Franklin and Warren Railroad." This char- ter included among its incorporators the names of the following Summit county gentlemen: Simon Perkins, Lucius V. Bierce, Harvey B. Spelman and Dr. Daniel Upson, the charter, written by Mr. Kent himself, providing for a capital stock in any amount not exceeding $2,000,000, with power to continue to the State line, on the east, and in the southwesterly direction to connect with any other road in the State as may be deemed advisable; also to con- solidate its capital stock with, and use the name of, any company with which it might connect.

629

ATLANTIC & GREAT WESTERN.

HON. MARVIN KENT,-born in Ravenna, Ohio, September 21, 1816; academic education ; bred a merchant, at majority becoming a partner with his father, Mr. Zenas Kent, in the mercantile business at Franklin Mills (now Kent) ; also for many years engaged in milling, man- ufacturing the celebrated brand of flour known as "Kent's Extra," and carrying on quite an extensive tan- nery ; in 1850 Mr. Kent, with others, established a window-glass factory in Kent, and about the same time he inaugurated, and by his influence, unstinted liberality and indomitable perseverance, consummated the great enterprise which has proved so beneficial to the people of Portage and Summit counties-the Atlantic and Great Western Railway (now the N. Y.,P.& O.), fully written of elsewhere, Mr. Kent being its President for many years, and also President of the Kent National Bank since the death of his father, in 1865. In the history of Portage county it is written: "In early days the pioneers devoted them- selves to the task of building up a town on the Cuyahoga with remark- able energy ; not, however, until the various enterprises were taken hold of by the master hand of Marvin Kent, did theories of progress, put forward by the old settlers, assume practical shape." Thus, to his aid and fostering care may properly be aseribed the industrial and commer-

HON. MARVIN KENT.

ciał prosperity which the pleasant village bearing his name now enjoys. In October, 1875, Mr. Kent was elected State Senator for Portage and Stim- mit counties, ably serving two years. December 24, 1840, he was married to Miss Maria, Stewart, daughter of Col. William Stewart, formerly of Middle- bury ; of the two sons born to them. Henry L. Kent, born. February 14, 1843, died suddenly, in New York City, April 21, 1873; William S. Kent, born August 21, 1847, is now a merchant in Kent.

The company was organized June 19, 1851, with Mr. Kent as president, and Dr. Daniel Upson, of Tallmadge, as one of the directors, the name being changed to the "Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company," in 1854.

SKIRMISHING FOR CONNECTIONS .- Being unable, after repeated efforts, to secure from the Pennsylvania Legislature, a charter for a direct connecting link, because of the detriment it was supposed the road would be to the commercial interests of Philadelphia, the company finally bought for $400,000 the existing charter of the "Pittsburg and Erie" road, with branching powers sufficient to span the State, and to connect with the New York branch at the state line upon the east and the Ohio branch upon the west.

Subsequently the states of New York and Pennsylvania authorized the organization of a company in each state, under the same title as in Ohio, with a separate board of directors for each, the three companies finally uniting under the general title of "The Atlantic & Great Western Railway Company," with a central board of directors and officers, with its headquarters at Meadville, Pa., the Ohio board being represented in the central board by Hon. Marvin Kent and Dr. W. S. Streator, now a wealthy gentleman of Cleveland.

LARGE CONTRACT AND RAPID WORK .- The contract for the entire line was awarded to Mr. Henry Doolittle and Dr. W. S.

630

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Streator, at figures aggregating nearly $7,000,000, and the work was commenced, on the Ohio division, July 4, 1854, President Marvin Kent removing the first earth, the people of Summit county hav- ing promptly subscribed their full quota of $100,000 to the stock of the company. Mr. Joy H. Pendleton, late president of the Second National Bank of Akron, and Mr. William Doolittle, brother of the principal contractor, were sub-contractors for the construction of the section between Urbana and Dayton. The work was vigor -. ously prosecuted, and the grading pretty evenly distributed all along the line, one of the conditions of the local subscriptions being that the money should be expended in the counties where raised.

EMBARRASSMENT,' SUSPENSION, ETC .- Through financial compli- cations the work was practically suspended in 1855, and entirely stopped in 1858. But its plucky president, and a few faithful friends in both Summit and Portage counties, were so persevering that European capitalists were finally enlisted in the enterprise, one of whom, Mr. James McHenry, of London, entered into a con- tract to complete the entire line, Mr. Henry Doolittle having died in 1860, and Dr. Streator, the surviving partner, declining to com- plete the work.

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.

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228