Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 138

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I > Part 138

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).

All of the present generation will remember the versatile Wm. P. Noble, the talented but erratic Theodore Jones, the poetic painter and writer, Wm. P. Bran- nan, who painted splendid portraits of Lyman Beecher and Father Collins, and was the author of the extravaganza known as " The Harp of a Thousand Strings ;" also T. D. Jones, the sculptor, who executed the portrait busts of Gen. Taylor, of Ewing, of Abraham Lincoln, and several other prominent statesmen and soldiers, all from life; while somewhat mechanical and having but little of the plastic qualities of fine sculpture, they are, nevertheless, good and expressive likenesses. A sculptor of great promise as well as (for one so young, he having died at about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age) of great achievements was Frank Den- gler. His works were masterly busts and ideal groups. He studied in Munich, worked in Cincinnati, aud during the last year or so of his life, through the friendly appreciation of Prof. Morse, became a teacher in the Boston Art School.

In painting, latterly, we had the works of Dennis and Mulvaney, the former

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born in Kentucky, the latter in Ireland, or at least of Irish parentage-both studied in Munich, the former finding his themes in the primitive pioneer life, the latter choosing, principally, the wild frontier, camp-life, and scenes among the mines of Colorado, the Custer battle, etc. Both of these artists have left some magnificent specimens of their skill. There are several hving artists who are doing splendid work, but of them I hardly deem it, proper to speak in this limited paper, making exception in the case of James H. Beard and others who were pioneers ; for to do them justice. and treas all with equal candor and delicacy, would be likely to consume more space than is allotted to my use

An important factor in the growth of art in our section, indeed throughout the country, has been the addition of a distinet department of art to the popular Expo- sitions that, following the lead of the first one here, have become a feature in all of our principal Western cities. The first Exposition held in Cincinnati, under the auspices jointly of the Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and the Mechanies' Institute, in 1870 (the Mechanics' Institute had held previously, up to the commencement of the war, a purely mechanical exhibition), had not intended an art display, and it was at the intercession of the writer of this sketch that one was agreed upon, and the artists of the city assented to the proposal, on the ground that no prize should be awarded, their works sent for display only. A prize was, however, surreptitiously awarded ; still the gathering of the works of our artists (the time was too short to communicate with others) had the good effect of initiat- ing the Exposition Art Gallery at the West, which continues, although unwisely conducted in many respects, an influence in art education, both among the people and the artists, inferior to no other in existence. Wealthy citizens have loaned the rare gems of art which they have brought from abroad, and artists generally have contributed liberally from their studios. St. Louis, Louisville, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, and many other cities of the South and West, have in this way been enabled to place before their citizens works of art than which the world has scen little better. The last Exposition of this kind in Cincinnati was that in celebration of the Centennial Anniversary, in 1888, of the settlement of Hamilton county and the State of Ohio. At that Exposition there should have been a col- lection of paintings and sculpture showing the condition and progress of art during our first century, but, by some oversight, it was neglected.

FORT FINNEY.

With the exception of the transient block houses built by the war parties of Kentuckians on the site of Cincinnati, the first work for human habitation built by whites between the Miamis was Fort Finney. It stood in the peninsula formed by the junction of the Great Miami with the Ohio, about three-quarters of a mile above the mouth, and near the southeast corner of the once farm of the late John Scott Harrison. As late as the winter of 1866, it is said, some remains of the fort were still to be seen.

This fort was built in the late fall and early winter of 1785, when General Richard Butler, with a company comprising Parsons, Zane, Finney, Lewis and others, who voyaged down from Fort Pitt, built it, dwelt for some months therein, and concluded a treaty with the Indians. General Butler and his fellow-commis- sioners left the fort February 8, 1786, in three large boats, with their messengers and attendants, up the Ohio on their return to civilization. The soldiers, how- ever, remained with Major Finney, Capt. Zeigler-the Major Zeigler later com- mandant at Fort Washington-Lieut. Denny and others in command.

The place was evacuated prior to Jan. 1, 1789, the troops going to the Indiana side of the Ohio opposite Louisville, where a small work was also erected and likewise called Fort Finney. The first was long referred to by Judge Symmes as the " Old Fort," but there is no record that it was ever garrisoned again. There is a somewhat famous ancient work called "Fort Hill," with walls now about three feet high and enclosing some fifteen acres. It stands north of the old J.

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Scott Harrison place, and was described by Gen. Harrison in 1838, in an address before the Historical Society of Ohio.

NORTH BEND IN 1846.

North Bend is situated sixteen miles below Cincinnati and four from the In- diana line, at the northernmost point of a bend in the Ohio river. This place, which was of note in the early settlement of the country, has in later years derived its interest from having been the residence of Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, and the spot where rest his mortal remains. The family mansion stands on a level plat, about 300 yards back from the Ohio, amid scenery of a pleasing and retired char- acter. The eastern half of the mansion, that is, all that part on the reader's right, from the door in the main building, is built of logs; but the whole of the build- ing being clapboarded and painted white has the same external appearance. The wings were alike: a part of the southern one was destroyed by fire since the decease of its illustrious occupant, a memento of which disaster is shown by the naked chimney that rises like a monument over the ruins. The dwelling is re- spectably though plainly furnished, and is at present occupied by the widow of the lamented Harrison, long distinguished for the virtues which adorn the female character.

About a quarter of a mile south of the family mansion, and perhaps half that distance from the river, is the tomb of Harrison. It stands upon the summit of a small oval-shaped hill, rising about 100 feet from the plain, ornamented by a few scattering trees, and commanding a view of great beauty. The tomb is of brick, and is entered by a plain unpainted door on its western end. There is no inscription npon it, nor is any required to mark the resting-place of Harrison.

About thirty rods, in a westerly direction from the tomb of Harrison, on an adjacent hill, in a family cemetery, is the grave of Judge Symmes. It is covered by a tablet, laid horizontally upon brick work, slightly raised from the ground. On it is the following inscription :

Here rest the remains of JOHN CLEVES SYMMES, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first'settlement between the Miami rivers.

Born on Long Island, State of New York, July 21, A.D. 1742. Died at Cincinnati, Feb. 26, A.D. 1814.

Mr. Symmes was born at Riverhead, on Long Island, and early in life was employed in land surveying and in teaching school. He served in the war of the Revolution, and was in the battle of Saratoga. Having removed to New Jersey, he became chief justice of the State, and at one time represented it in Congress. As early as 1787, and at the same time with the agents of the Ohio Company, he made application to Congress, in the name of himself and associates, for the pur- chase of a large tract of land lying between the two Miamis. "The price was sixty-six cents per acre, to be paid in United States military land warrants, and certificates of debt due from the United States to individuals. The payments were divided into six annual instalments. His associates were principally com- posed of the officers of the New Jersey line who had served in the war of the Revolution. Among them were General Dayton and Elias Boudinot, LL.D. His

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first contract was for one million of aeres, made in October, 1788, but owing to the difficulty of making the payments, and the embarrassments growing out of the Indian war, the first contract was not fulfilled, and a new one was made for two hundred and forty-eight thousand acres, in May, 1794, and a patent issued to him and his associates in September following." Meanwhile, in the spring of 1789, Judge Symmes had located himself at North Bend, where he laid out "Symmes' city," the fate of which has already been stated. The residence of Judge Symmes stood about a mile northwest of his grave. It was destroyed by fire in March, 1811, and all his valuable papers consumed. It was supposed to have been the act of an individual, ont of revenge for his refusal to vote for him as a justice of the peace. At the treaty of Greenville, the Indians told him and others that in the war they had frequently brought up their rifles to shoot him, and then recog- nizing him, refrained from pulling the trigger. This was in consequence of his previous kindness to them, and speaks volumes in praise of his benevolence.

On the farm of the late Wm. Henry Harrison, Jr., three miles below North Bend, and two from the Indiana line, was a settlement made at the same time with North Bend. It was called the Sugar Camp settlement, and was composed of about thirty houses. The settlers there erected a block-house, near the Ohio river, as a protection against the Indians. It is now standing, though in a more dilapi- dated condition than represented in the engraving. It is built of logs, in the ordi- nary manner of block-houses, the distinguishing feature of which is, that from the height of a man's shoulder, the building, the rest of the way up, projects a foot or two from the lower part, leaving, at the point of junction between the two parts, a cavity through which to thrust rifles on the approach of enemies .- Old Edition.

REMINISCENCES.

In my original visit to North Bend, in 1846, I passed a day or two with the Harrison family, and was there the guest of Col. W. H. H. Taylor, whose wife was daughter of Gen. W. H. Harrison. While preparing these pages for the press, I unexpectedly got a letter from him ; he learning I was living only a few days before its date-June 25, 1889. As I had saved no memoranda of my old- time visit, I thereupon wrote a request for his reminiscences of that visit, together with a ground plan of the Harrison mansion so famed in history. His reply,

MEN'S ROOM

SERVANT'S ROOM

KITCHEN

HALL

PARLOR

DINING ROOM WHERE THEY ORANK THE HARD CIDER

THE FAMOUS OLD LOG CABIN SUNG ABOUT IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840

SERVANTS

STORE ROOM

MRS. GENERAL HARRISON'S

ROOM.

GROUND PLAN OF THE OLD HARRISON MANSION AT NORTH BEND AS IT WAS IN 1846. SKETCHED FROM MEMORY IN 1889 BY COL. W. H. H. TAYLOR.

together with an engraving from his plan, is annexed. This gentleman is a Vir- ginian by birth ; was in the civil war Colonel of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, and his two eldest sons in the Union army-one in the Eighteenth U. S. Infantry and the other on the staff of Gen. W. T. Sherman. Col. Taylor is now State Librarian for Minnesota, residence St. Paul. When he wrote me, he stated that he was in his seventy-ninth year, and was able to attend to business, although much troubled with rheumatism contracted in the army.

„LEAH

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE PRESIDENT HARRISON, NORTH BEND.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. TOMB OF PRESIDENT HARRISON.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. BLOCK HOUSE, NEAR NORTH BEND.

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Henry Howe at North Bend in 1846 .- When you visited us at North Bend in 1846, Mrs. Gen. W. H. Harrison was living there, and you saw her at meal times. I was man- aging the farm for her. My first wife, her youngest daughter, and seven children were there. You remained two nights with us. The day after your arrival, you and I walked down the Ohio river bank to an old bloek- house four miles below the Bend, of which you made a sketch ; then we went a mile farther, and took dinner with the Hon. John Scott Harrison, the father of the present President, then a lad of thirteen years of age.

After dinner, in company with Mr. Harri- son, we visited Fort Hill, which was on his farın, overlooking the three States of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. You examined the fort thoroughly, and I think made a drawing

of it, and we then walked baek to North Bend. The next day you viewed the ruins of the house of Judge John Cleves Symmes on the Miami, the first settler in the Miami valley, and the father of Mrs. Harrison. You then left us and, I think, returned to Cincinnati. [Yes; was carried thither by a canal boat. ]

I send you a ground-plan of the noted log eabin of 1840, which I occupied when you visited us, and in which I was living on the 25th of July, 1858, when it was set on fire by a sbe-devil of an Irish woman and burned to the ground ; myself and family getting out with our night robes only, leaving everything in the way of clothing, furniture, library and all the relics of 1840, of which we had a great many, and many that had been in the family for two hundred years.

The widow of General Harrison is distinct in my memory. She was of rather slender, delicate figure, with dark eyes and modest, quiet manners ; then seventy years of age. She was born at Morristown, New Jersey, in the year of the Dec- laration of Independence, and soon after her mother died. Her father, Judge Symmes, then a colonel in the Continental army, was so anxious to place her with her grandmother, then residing at Southold, Long Island, that, when she was near four years of age, he assumed the disguise of a British officer's uniform, to enable him to pass through their lines with her on his way thither, a perilous undertak- ing. Incidents of that journey she remembered to her last years.

Mrs. Harrison lived to the advanced age of eighty-nine years, dying in 1864, and leaving the sweetest of memories. Rev. Horace Bushnell, the blind preacher of Cincinnati, long her pastor and friend, preached her funeral sermon from a text she had selected for him years before-" Be still, and know that I am God." She lies buried beside her husband at North Bend.

VILLAGES AND LOCALITIES.

AVONDALE is on the hills, three miles north of Fountain Square, and was in- corporated as a municipality in 1854. It is one of the most important and beau- tiful of the suburbs ; practically is but a continuation of the city. It adjoins the city north of WALNUT HILLS, while the latter, formerly a village with a slight population, is now a part of the city, with about 40,000 inhabitants.

The Hills come up close to the Ohio valley in places quite abrupt and about 400 feet above it. In calm summer nights, standing on the hill verge, the voices of the people below, on the narrow marge between the foot of the hill and river, often rise to the hearing. The views up the river are here very grand, and from its most elevated points one can see highlands south in Kentucky, twenty-five miles away, and alike far north in Ohio.

The long-noted Lane Seminary is on Walnut Hills, with some fine new build- ings, with their backs turned to the old, which yet stand humbly behind them. Walnut Hills, for grandeur of scenery, united with beauty of its homes, with lawns and gardens more or less in undulating dimpling spots, has scarcely an equal within our knowledge. It has such a surprising variety of domestic architecture, palatial and especially cottage odd and ornate, apparently the creations of archi- tects on a strife to outdo each other in novel blending of materials, in contrast of colors, in proportions, pinnacles and points, that one might define it as a locality where domestic architecture was out on a frolic. From these the inhabitants daily rapidly go whisking down in cable and electric cars to their business in the basin below, to provide the means to continue to dwell in their beautiful homes above. One of these lines-a horse-car line it is-goes through Eden Park to the spot,

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Mount Adams, where, forty years ago, astronomer Mitchel had his observatory, and looked through his big telescope at Jupiter and his family of moons. Then the car, with its occupants, horses and all go down the inclined plane in about one minute, when the horses draw the car from the platform, and pursue their journey into the house-lined streets.

MOUNT AUBURN, also now a part of the city, lies west of Walnut Hills, being separated from the last by the valley of Deer creek. It also abounds in elegant residences.

CLIFTON lies west of Avondale and north of Burnet Woods Park, and was in- corporated as a town in 1849. It derives its name from the Clifton Farm, com- prises about 1,200 acres, is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, and bas about 1,200 inhabitants. In its precincts it has neither shop, factory, saloon nor division fences. It has seventeen miles of avenues, lined with fine shade trees, of which thousands have been planted ; also some magnificent residences. The town hall contains the school-room, and its main ball is elegantly frescoed. The ladies of the Sacred Heart have also a school for girls, with spacious and beautiful grounds.

PRICE's HILL is west of the city plain, some 400 feet above it, and is in the .city limits. It is reached by an inclined plane and the Warsaw Pike. It com- mands extensive views of river, city and country, and has elegant residences, con- vents and colleges.

CUMMINSVILLE, a part of Cincinnati by annexation, is five miles north of the business centre of the city. The place was named after David Cummins, owner of a tannery, whose extensive property aud that of another family named Hutchi- son, comprised nearly the entire site of the present town. The early settlement was known as LUDLOW STATION, established, in 1790, by Israel Ludlow, Daniel Bates, Thomas Goudy (said to have been the first Cincinnati lawyer), John N. Cummins, Uriah Hardesty and others. This station is noted as being the place where Gen. St. Clair organized his army in 1791. It was deserted and reoccu- pied by turns until peace was established with the Indians in 1795. Newspaper : Transcript, Independent, A. E. Weatherby, editor. Churches : 1 Protestant Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Christian, 2 Catholic, and 1 Colored Methodist Episcopal.

HARRISON, on the Indiana State line, is twenty-five miles northwest of Cincin- nati, on the C. I., St. L. & C. R. R. Newspaper : News, Independent, Walter Hartpence, editor and proprietor. Churches : 1 Christian, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist, 1 German Lutheran, 1 Catholic, aud 1 German Protestant. Indus- tries : Furniture factories, 2 distilleries, 3 flonriug mills, etc. Banks : Citizens' (Frank Bowles), Frank Bowles, cashier; J. A. Graft, James A. Graft, cashier. Population in 1880, 1,850. School census in 1886, 588. R. Maxwell Boggs, superintendent.

This village is noted as the point where John Morgan on his raid entered Ohio. It was a thorough surprise. About one o'clock, in the afternoon of July 13, 1863, the advance of the command was seen streaming down the hill, on the west side of the valley, and the alarm was at once given. Citizens hurried to secrete valu- ables and run off horses ; but in a very few minutes the enemy were swarming all over the town. The raiders generally behaved well ; no woman nor other person was harmed, and no house robbed. They entered the stores, and in the aggregate a large amount of goods was taken. They were eccentric in their robbing. A druggist was despoiled of nothing but his soap and perfumery. They stayed a few hours, carried off some horses, and that night, going east, were abreast of Cincinnati, and the next day out of the county, after a tremendous midsummer march of thirty hours.

MT. WASHINGTON is five miles east of Cincinnati, on the C. G. & P. R. R. Newspaper : Cincinnati Public School Journal, Educational. Churches : 1 Meth- odist Episcopal, 1 Methodist Protestant and 1 Baptist. Industries : Colter Pack-

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ing Co., fruit eanning, 100 employees. Population in 1880, 393. School census in 1886, 160. D. G. Drake, superintendent.

LOCKLAND is twelve miles north of Cineinnati, on the C. C. C. & I. and C. H. & D. R. R., and on the Miami and Erie Canal. It has four churches and, in 1880, 1,884 inhabitants. Water-power is supplied to the establishments here by four locks in the canal, which have unitedly forty-eight feet fall and give name to the place.

Industries and Employees .- The Stearns & Foster Co., cotton batting, etc., 98 hands ; The Lockland Lumber Co., builders' wood-work, etc., 85; The Friend & Fox Paper Co., 75; George H. Friend Paper Co., 25; J. H. Tangeman, paper- making, 15; The Holdeman Paper Co., 34; The Holdeman Paper Co., 30; The George Fox Starch Co., starch, 107 .- State Report, 1888.

READING lies just east of Lockland and had, in 1880, a population of 2,680. Diehl's long-noted fireworks are here manufactured; 60 hands are employed. WYOMING lies west of Loekland, on the other side of the C. H. & D. R. R .; it had, in 1880, 840 inhabitants.

MADISONVILLE is seven and a half miles from Cincinnati, on the C. W. & B. R. R., has ehnrehes, Baptist, Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Epis- copal and Catholie. Population in 1880, 1,247. NORWOOD is on the same rail- road, six miles from Cincinnati, and has about 800 inhabitants.

CARTHAGE is on the C. H. & D. and C. C. C. & I. R. R. and Miami Canal, ten miles from Cincinnati. It has four churches, the County Infirmary and Long- view Insane Asylum. Population in 1880, 1,007. The Erkenbecker Starch Factory is here, which employs 120 hands ; the clothing-making industry is also carried on here. HARTWELL lies a little northeast of Carthage, on the opposite side of Mill ereek, and on the C. H. & D. and Short Line Railroads. Popula- tion in 1880, 892. ELMWOOD adjoins Carthage on the south.

While others of these treesy-named villages, as Maplewood and Woodlawn, are not afar ; also Park Place and Arlington. Then there is Addyston, which, in- ereasing the number to be mentioned, has a suggestion in its name of the arith- metical. Outside of the city limits, on the line of Mill creek, which is threaded by the C. H. and Bee Line Railroads for sixteen miles north, there are nineteen flourishing towns, many of them running into each other.

ST. BERNARD is an extensive suburb, just south of the Marietta and Cineinnati Railroad, seven miles north of the eity, and is largely inhabited by Germans, who have here the St. Clement's Catholic church. Population in 1880, 1,073. BOND HILL is near it, on the line of the M. & C. R. R.

GLENDALE is on the C. H. & D. Railroad, fifteen miles north of Cincinnati, and is one of the most beautiful of the suburban villages. The Glendale Female College is located here. It has three parks, and a pretty lake of four aeres from natural springs. It was laid out in 1852 for suburban homes by wealthy Cinein- natians, and has been noted as the residence of some eminent characters, as Stan- ley Matthews, Robert Clarke, R. M. Shoemaker, Crafts J. Wright, etc. ; also for the literary tastes of its population, which has been noted for its quality rather than its numbers. Population in 1880, 1,403.

COLLEGE HILL is about eight miles from the eity and is reached by a narrow gange railway. It is especially noted as the seat of Farmer's College and of a Female College. Two miles north of it is Mount Pleasant, post-office name Mount Healthy, which many years ago was noted for holding conventions of the Anti-Slavery or Liberty Party.

IVORYDALE lies seven miles north of Cincinnati, on the C. H. & D., C. W. & B. and C. C. C. & I. Railroads. Here Proctor & Gamble have about 500 em- ployees in the manufacture of their famed "ivory soap," who labor on the co- operative plan, sharing profits with the owners. The Emery Lard and Candle Manufacturing Company is also here, post-office Ludlow Grove.

The following are the names of villages and localities in the county, with their

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populations in 1880 : Home City, 422; Riverside, 1,268 (now in the Cincinnati limits, post-office Sedamsvlle), where, in 1887, the Cincinnati Cooperage Company employed 565 hands; Westwood, 852; Cleves, 836; North Bend, 412; Lin- wood, 723 ; and Springdale, 284.

In the northwestern corner of the county is the village of Whitewater, where, since 1824, there has been a small settlement of Shakers. The grave of Adam Poe, the renowned Indian fighter, who had the noted fight with Big Foot, is in the Shaker burying-ground.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 138

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006