USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present > Part 44
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The exhibits and detailed statements relating to the commercial and industrial interests of Cincinnati make it plaiu that the past year [1892] has been one of important advancement, and of very satisfactory results. These conditions, yielding a good degree of prosperity, have been reached through no inflation iu valnes, affording unusual margins for profits, but are due to business enterprise and energy and meritorious work, supported by the various special advantages which the locality affords for economical prosecution of competitive pursuits. It is quite apparent that the tendency of prices in staple lines for the year was more in the direc- tiou of reduction than otherwise. And yet our merchants and manufacturers have had a good year, the volume of general business operations having been materially enlarged. Perhaps the clearing house exhibit of bauk exchanges is as fair an index in these matters as anything available. This shows a gain of teu per cent. in these returns iu comparison with the preced- ing year. There has been an increase in the volume of business in nearly every important line, and iu some the gain has been large. There has been also a fair increase in the value of manufactures turned out by local establishments, with a still greater enlargement in volume of products, as values have been lowered iu most of the prominent lines of such industry.
A pleasing feature iu the affairs of Cincinnati is the evidence of more of co-operative effort than heretofore ou the part of manufacturers and merchants, not only in the way of securing fuller recognition of just claims from trausportation companies, but also in the exten- sion of business into fields where other markets have heretofore had more important control. Our people have prospered in all the years of the past, and many of them have been content with conditions which have surrounded them, and have not manifested a full degree of deter- mination to sound abroad the advantages of this locality as a market and more positively assert the merits of facilities here commanded, and thus to invite more generally the attention of the commercial and industrial, world. This locality is especially favored in facilities for secur- ing supplies of cheap fuel for manufacturing and household uses-a feature of prime import- ance. It has convenient and cheap homes for the working classes and those of limited incomes. It has a climate comparing favorably with any other region in the country. Our city has abundant educational facilities, from the free public schools to the university, with also those covering technical fields, music and art, all of the first order of merit.
A very clear illustration of the substantial and phenomenal advancement in the industrial growth of Cincinnati is shown by a tabulated statement accompanying the report, but as it is too elaborate for these pages a few extracts and comparisons must
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suffice. For 1891-92 the value of commodities received was $346, 000, 000; value of manufactures, $250,000,000. During the same period the Clearing House exchanges amounted to $721,000,000. The figures for 1890-91 are: Value of commodities received, $326,000,000; value of manufactures, $244,000,000. The Clearing House exchanges for the same period reached $655, 000,000, or fifty-six millions below what they were the subsequent year.
These figures not only indicate the comparative volume in many interests, but also suggest the important extent to which values have receded in the past ten years. The report shows that in 1881-82 the value of commodities received reached $295, - 000,000, whilst the value of manufactures was $186,000,000, and the Clearing House exchanges $485,000,000. In these ten years, continues the report, the decline in prices has averaged fully 25 per cent., while the aggregate valuation represented by commercial and manufacturing operations has been enlarged to an extent of probably 40 per cent. On this basis the volume of goods, so far as quantity is concerned, has increased during the period to the extent of fully 85 per cent.
The report states that full detailed returns of the manufacturing interests of Cin- cinnati have not been obtained since 1890, but sufficient information has been acquired relative to prominent industries to indicate that the past year [1891-92] has been one of decided progress. In 1870 the value of products of manufacturing establish- ments at Cincinnati and the immediate vicinity was about $125,000,000. In 1880 this had increased to $155,000,000. In 1890 the total, according to special investiga- tions of the Chamber of Commerce, was $236,000,000. For 1892 the aggregate may safely be estimated at $250,000,000. It is thus indicated that in the value of products there has been an advancement of 100 per cent. in the period of twenty-two years from 1870 to 1892, and more than 60 per cent. in the twelve years from 1880 to 1892.
These totals will convey to the mind of the reader a fair comprehension of the magnitude of the trade and commerce of Cincinnati, and show him the vast increase in transportation since the days when the flat and keel boats navigated the river.
The flat and keelboats gradually gave way to the steamboat, which appeared, as has been shown, in 1816. It had a grand and glorious day, and exerted a powerful influence in the development of trade, while the period of its supremacy lasted. The first interference was the canal-boat, then came the locomotive, which marked the beginning of its decline. The struggle between the two methods was a long one, but finally the locomotive triumphed, and the steamboat, as a great factor in the work of transportation, was driven from the waterway.
The Chamber of Commerce report gives some interesting facts as showing the decline of the steamboat interest brought about by the constant increase in railway facilities. In 1883-84 the trade was represented during the year by 81 vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 40,000. In 1891-92 the number had declined to 40 vessels with a tonnage of 24,000. Previous to the opening of the Cincinnati Southern and the Louisville & Nashville railroad from Cincinnati the Southern Transportation line maintained from fourteen to sixteen vessels of large carrying capacity, with three arrivals each week during favorable water. In the past year (1891-92) this line had but four vessels in the trade, and one departure each week. At the present time railways intercept all important points, and a great portion of the smaller ones from Pittsburgh to Cairo, and with the rapid business methods which prevail there must necessarily be rapid transit. The steamer " Golden Rule," of the Southern Trans- portation Line, was burned at the wharf in Cincinnati March 31, 1892, on the eve of departure for New Orleans, causing a loss of six lives and total loss of cargo and vessel.
Steamboat building has almost entirely disappeared from Cincinnati yards. Ten years ago she built the principal part of the boats engaged in her trade, and employed annually from three to five hundred men. But if one source of employment declines
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another takes its place. Such are the inscrutable ways of Him who rules over the destiny of nations. The world is constantly advancing in every department calcu- lated to elevate the condition of man. With the increase of population, there is a corresponding increase in the facilities calculated to meet his wants, and therefore better his condition. The greatest of these facilities, so far as the transportation of articles of commerce are concerned, is the railroad. So great is this mighty factor in the promotion of trade and commerce that the history of the railroads of Cin- cinnati must be reserved for a separate chapter.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CINCINNATI RAILROADS.
THE LITTLE MIAMI, THE FIRST RAILROAD BUILT INTO CINCINNATI-ITS EARLY HISTORY AND STRUGGLES-THE CINCINNATI, HAMILTON & DAYTON, AND THE "BIG FOUR" SYS- TEMS-OTHER EARLY AND IMPORTANT LINES-THE "QUEEN & CRESCENT"-SUBURBAN STEAM RAILWAYS-STREET RAILWAY SERVICE OF CINCINNATI.
THE advent of the locomotive marked the beginning of a new epoch in the transportation business of Cincinnati, and gave an impetus to trade and commerce that has been productive of the grandest results. The first movement toward the establishment of railroads in Ohio was made February 23, 1830, by Rep- resentative William B. Hubbard, of Columbus, who submitted to the General Assem- bly " An act to incorporate the Ohio Canal and the Steubenville Railway Company." In this conglomerate act was the germ of the magnificent railway system of Ohio, to which Cincinnati and Hamilton county owe so much of their material prosperity and greatness. New charters were thereafter applied for in large numbers, and rarely failed to be granted. Among these early charters may be mentioned the one granted in 1832 to the Mad River, Lake Erie Railroad Company, and another in 1835 to the Monroeville & Sandusky City Railroad. The year 1836 was somewhat prolific in charters, among those granted being the organic acts of the Mansfield & New Haven, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh.
It was not until 1835, ten years after the success of the Liverpool railway, that it was seriously proposed to build a railway from Cincinnati. The line selected was the Little Miami, which received its charter from the State March 11, 1836. The agita- tion in behalf of the building of this road had its beginning in Cincinnati from a pressing sense of the need of a railroad connection with the north and east through a route to Sandusky, and as a more ready outlet for the increasing products of the Miami Valley than the river supplied.
Everything having been arranged, the work of survey was entrusted to the young scientist, O. M. Mitchell, then but twenty six years of age. He threw his best ener- gies into the work, surveyed the route, and then sought aid for its construction from the East. Under the act of March 24, 1837, the company secured a loan of State credit amounting to $115,000. The work of construction was slowly pushed, and on August 10, 1846-more than a decade after obtaining the charter-the road was com- pleted to Springfield. Thirty miles of the road, however, had been opened to pub- lic traffic in 1843. Everything was primitive and limited. The rolling stock was then confined to one eight-wheeled locomotive, two passenger coaches and eight freight cars. All of this equipment, including the locomotive, was built in Cincin- nati. This achievement was something that the mechanics of a later day referred to with pride, and it was an accomplishment which gave the Queen City a proud standing.
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On the 17th of July, 1844, the road was opened to Xenia, sixty-eight miles, and the first train over the completed track to Springfield was run through, August 10, 1846, as stated above. The cost of the road up to this time was $1,232,000. When afterward leased to the Pennsylvania Company it represented a value of about five millions. The property of the road had to be assigned to trustees before reaching Springfield-yet a dividend on the capital stock had been declared as early as 1845, and thereafter, up to the time of its lease, dividends were quite regularly declared to an average amount of ten per cent., and it still under its lease pays a handsome rev- enue to its owners. It has been financially one of the most successful railways in the world. The stock first came to par in 1852, after that of the Cleveland & Col- umbus, then reaching 125 before experiencing a fall. Its convertible bonds were rapidly turned into stock which is still largely held by the original parties or heirs. The only bonded indebtedness created was to the amount of $1,500,000, which was done for the purpose of meeting the expense of rebuilding and other improvements.
The original strap rail used on the road was, as soon as possible, displaced by T rail, the curves were straightened, the grades reduced, rolling stock increased, and other improvements made, which greatly facilitated the transportation business. It gave a fresh impetus to every branch of business, elevated the hopes of the people, and encouraged all from the merchant to the agriculturist.
On the 1st of May, 1849, one train per day, each way, commenced running be- tween Cincinnati and Springfield. The connection for Sandusky was not completed until the latter part of 1848, when the Little Miami and the Mad River roads gave Cincinnati her first rail and water communication with the Atlantic coast. Connec- tion for Columbus was made at Xenia by the Columbus & Xenia railroad, which was, however, not constructed until 1848-49, the first passenger train traversing it Feb- ruary 20, 1850. Soon afterward the members of the General Assembly made an excursion over the road, and its connection, the Little Miami, to Cincinnati. This is the first legislative excursion by rail known to history in Ohio.
In 1850 Jacob Strader was the president of the road, and took an active interest in promoting its welfare. That year the whole number of passengers carried was 144,486, and the money received from them amounted to $204,589.87. Of these, 52,283 were through passengers to Springfield, and vice versa. They paid $125,000 in fares. The passenger business of that year, contrasted with that of to-day, gives the reader a vivid idea of the great increase in travel in forty-three years.
On the 30th of November, 1853, the two companies, operating each its own road, entered into an agreement by which both were operated as a single line; January 1, 1865, they came into possession, by lease, of the Dayton & Western, and the Rich- mond & Miami, railways; and later in the same year by purchase of the divisions of the Dayton, Xenia & Belpre road, between the two places first named. The part- nership arrangement of 1853 was dissolved November 30, 1868, when the Little Miami Company took a lease for ninety nine years of the Columbus & Xenia road, and all the rights and interests of that corporation in the Dayton & Western, Xenia & Belpre, and Richmond & Miami roads. Just one year (1870) and one day there- after the P., C. & St. L. (Pan Handle) leased, of the Little Miami Company, its own road, the branch owned by it from Xenia to Dayton, and all its rights in the Colum- bus & Xenia and other roads. The lease is for ninety-nine years, renewable for- ever, at an annual rental of 8 per cent. to the Little Miami Company on its capital, besides interest on the funded debt of $5,000 yearly for expenses of organization, and the fulfillment of lease obligations to its own leased lines. These leases were effected in the palmy days of the celebrated Thomas A. Scott, when he was first vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and just before he succeeded Edgar Thomson as president of that great corporation. For sagacity, executive ability, and power to foresee and calculate future railroad results, it is generally conceded that he was the superior of any railroad president yet produced in this country .
Swoodward
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The road is operated by the Pennsylvania Company, which was a party to the contract, and by whom its faithful performance was guaranteed. The track, several miles of which leading out of Cincinnati is double, is in splendid condition, and the rolling stock is abundant and first-class in every respect. There are few, if any, more profitable railroads in the United States than the Little Miami. A few years ago the operating company erected a costly and elegant union station at the corner of Butler and Pearl streets, which is one of the best railroad buildings of the kind in the city. The total length of its lines is 193 miles: 84 on the main line, Cincinnati to Springfield; 17 on the branch, Xenia to Dayton; 55 from Xenia to Columbus, and 37 from Dayton to Indiana State line.
The Little Miami forms a part of the Pennsylvania Company's Southwest system of railways, which extends from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and Chicago. The distances from Cincinnati to a few important points are as follows: Columbus, 120 miles; Pittsburgh, 313; Indianapolis, via Richmond, Ind., 142; St. Louis, 382; Chicago, via Logansport, 298. George B. Roberts, Philadelphia, president; James McCrea, first vice-president, Pittsburgh; J. F. Miller, general superintendent, Columbus; E. A. Ford, general passenger agent, Pittsburgh; Samuel Moody, assistant general pas- senger agent, Cincinnati.
"THE C. H. & D."
The Chicago, Hamilton & Dayton, popularly known as the "C. H. & D.," was the second railroad to enter Cincinnati. It was chartered March 2, 1845, under the name of the "Cincinnati & Hamilton Railroad Company." An act passed March 15, 1849, to amend the several acts relating to the company, gave it its present cor- porate name. The road was built without the aid of township subscriptions to its capital stock, and its bonds were sold at par. The construction of the road was pushed rapidly, and it was opened for business September 19, 1851, or a little more than a year after work was commenced. For several years the road paid fair divi- dends, and promptly met all obligations. On February 18, 1869, the Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago Railroad Company leased its road and property to the "C. H. & D.," and assigned to that company also its lease of the Richmond & Miami rail- way. Previons to this, May 1, 1863, the railroad from Dayton to Toledo, belonging to the Dayton & Michigan Company, had been similarly leased, and a modification of said lease being made in the early part of 1870, gave it quite an extension and a number of important connections. In 1872 the company purchased the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis railroad, and added it to its system. The road forms an excellent means of communication between Cincinnati and points north to Toledo and Michigan points beyond, and with its connection with the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railway, between Cincinnati and Chicago. The main line extends from Cincinnati to Dayton, Ohio, 59.93 miles, and the total length of all lines leased and owned amounts to 651.60 miles. The train service between Cincinnati, Indian- apolis and Chicago over the Monon route represents the latest improvements of rail- way passenger service, these trains being heated by steam and lighted by electricity and the Pintsch gas system, equipped throughout with Pullman's perfected safety vestibules. The depot is located at the corner of Fifth and Baymiller streets. The general offices are in the new Carew building, Fifth and Vine streets, whither they were removed from No. 200 West Fourth street, on the 1st of September, 1893.
M. D. Woodford, the president of the "C. H. & 'D.," was born at Fredonia, N. Y., October 27, 1838. After leaving school he became connected with the Erie railway, and after continuous service with the Michigan Central, Great Western railway of Canada, Chicago & Michigan Lake Shore road, U. S. division of the Canada Southern railway, Fort Wayne & Jackson route, Toledo, Ann Arbor & Grand Trunk railway, Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad, Cleveland & Marietta railroad, Toledo Belt road, in June, 1889, became vice-president and general manager of the
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Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, becoming president June 17, 1890. In : March, 1893, he also became president of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling railroad.
Eugene Zimmerman, the vice-president, was born in 1845, at Vicksburg, Miss., and since 1878 has been prominent in railway interests as president of the Cincin- nati & Green River, the Kentucky & South Atlantic roads and Dayton, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway, and since June, 1892, has held his present position, being also president of the Chesapeake & Nashville railway.
On the 1st of August, 1893, William M. Green was appointed to fill the respon- sible office of general manager. He is an experienced railroad man and accom- plished gentleman.
C. G. Waldo was purchasing agent for the road previous to being promoted to the position of assistant to the president in August, 1892. The general superinten- dent, Charles Neilson, who was born at Hartford, Md., in July, 1849, has been actively engaged in railway service since 1869, assuming his present position in 1886. ...... Frederick Henry Short, secretary and treasurer, was born in Middle- town, Conn., in 1825, and has been actively identified with railway service since 1848, having been with the Connecticut River railroad until 1852, when he became general clerk, paymaster, etc., of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, becoming secretary and treasurer in May, 1857. In April, 1874, he became president of the road, holding that position until 1877, when he again became secretary and treas- urer, thus having been over forty years continuously in its service. . . ... The audi- tor, George W. Lishawa, was born in 1848, in New York, came to Cincinnati in childhood, and in 1865 began his railway service as a newsboy on the Ohio & Missis- sippi railroad, later becoming train and depot baggage master on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton; then clerk in the auditor's office, traveling auditor, chief clerk in auditor's office, and in 1887 he became auditor ... David G. Edwards, gen- eral passenger agent, succeeded E. O. McCormick in September, 1893, who resigned in August, 1893, to accept a higher position with the " Big Four." Alexander H. McLeod, general freight agent, was born at Point de Bute, N. B., in 1835, and has been identified with the freight departments of railways since 1861, having accepted his present position in October, 1875.
The Board of Directors, in addition to President Woodford and Vice-President Zimmerman, includes W. M. Ramsey, of Cincinnati, C. W. Fairbanks, of Indianap- olis, and Messrs. M. T. Martin, Alfred Sully and H. F. Shoemaker, of New York; E. T. Cole, of Marysville, Ohio, and George W. Davis, of Toledo, Ohio.
OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI.
This was the third line completed into Cincinnati. Its history dates back to 1848, the main line having been built by three companies -- the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company, of Indiana, incorporated in 1848; the Ohio & Mississippi Rail- road Company of Ohio, chartered in 1849, and the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company of Illinois, chartered in 1851. It was completed and opened in May, 1857, from Cincinnati to East St. Louis, and the road has had many changes in ownership, and was reorganized under its present name in 1882. At the last meeting of the board, the road fell under the control of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and the board of directors as now constituted is composed of John H. Davis, W. Mertens, W. D. Searls, W. L. Bull, E. R. Bell and E. R. Bacon, of New York; Gen. James H. Wilson, of Wilmington, Del .; Edgar T. Welles, of New York; Julius S. Walsh, of St. Louis; B. S. Cunningham, of Cincinnati; Frank W. Tracy, of Spring- field. Ill. ; J. P. Heseltine, of London, England, and R. Suydam Grant, of New York.
The general officers now are Frank W. Tracy, president; Frank E. Tracy, assist- ant to president; Edward Bruce, New York, secretary; David Agnew, acting audi- tor; F. L. Jackson, treasurer pro tem; O. P. McCarty, general passenger agent, all having their offices in Cincinnati; C. C. F. Bent, superintendent at Cincinnati; L. C.
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Fritch, engineer of maintenance of way, at Cincinnati; H. S. Hull, paymaster pro tem; A. Hayward, superintendent of telegraph at Cincinnati.
Frank W. Tracy, recently elected to succeed J. F. Barnard, has been interested in and a director of the road for a number of years, and is a prominent banker and capitalist of Springfield, Ill., while Frank E. Tracy, his assistant, is his son. The general offices of the company are at the Grand Union depot at Third street and Cen- tral avenue, Cincinnati, and, under the new management, the interests of this road and that of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern are to be amalgamated, the financial arrangements of the stock and bondholders now being under way, and when they are completed large improvements will be made, and the equipment greatly improved.
This railroad is of great importance to Cincinnati in giving access in a direct way to western producing sections and markets. It comprises the main line from Cin- cinnati to St. Louis, the Louisville branch from North Vernon, Ind., to Louisville; the Springfield division from Beardstown. Ill., to Shawneetown, Ill., and the Bed- ford branch from Riverdale, Ind., to Bedford, Ind. The total length of all lines owned and operated is 640 miles, and the system forms the most important connec- tion between Cincinnati and the Southwest, both in the transportation of freight and passenger travel. It affords to travelers from Cincinnati access to St. Louis in less than ten hours; to Kansas City with less time on the cars than by any other line; with its connections it is the direct and fast line to Omaha and the Northwest generally. There are three solid daily vestibule trains from Cincinnati to St. Louis, with day coaches, reclining chair cars, Pullman parlor cars and Pullman sleepers, and there is between these two terminal points no change of cars for passengers or baggage on any train or on any class of tickets. The company has recently had constructed, for its exclusive nse, a line of elegant reclining chair cars, which are now in service on its evening trains, between Cincinnati and St. Louis, and Cincinnati to Springfield, Ill., both directions, which are free to passengers, and have also ordered 1,000 new freight cars. The distance between Cincinnati and St. Louis is 341 miles.
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