History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 60

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

John T. Jones, 1827; Oliver Jones, 1828-29; Hiram Bodine, 1830; William H. Moore, 1831; John Jones, 1832-34; Jeremiah Everett, 1835; Jacob Flinn, 1836; Jer- emiah Everett, 1837-40. Treasurers: N. Shepherd Armstrong, 1804; John Arm- strong, 1805-11; James Baxter, 1811-18; John Ferris, 1819-20; Lewis Drake, 1821; William Armstrong, 1822-53.

VILLAGES.

Madisonville is the oldest village in the township, and was, until the phenomenal expansion of Norwood, the largest. With respect to the territory of the township, its location is almost central. It is situated upon a school section; school lands did not become available until the passage of the act of January 27, 1809, and within a. short time thereafter the inhabitants of Columbia took measures for the survey and disposition of Section 16, upon which the village is located. The survey was made March 30, 1809, by William Darling, assisted by Jeremiah Brand and Joseph Ward as chain carriers, and Nathaniel Ross as topographer. The trustees for the supervi- sion of the survey and disposition of the lots were William Armstrong, John Jones, and Felix Christman, whose clerk was Moses Morrison. The conditions were set forth in the following advertisement:

The conditions on which lots will be let or leased are as follows, viz .: Lots No. 1 on the first block of lots will be first offered, and so on in rotation, at the appraisement, and the high- est bidder shall be the lessee. Six per cent. on what they bid will be the sum they pay annually paying the first payment on the first day of April next. There will be required of the lessee, bond and security for the building of a house at least eighteen by twenty feet, of good hewed logs, frame, stone, or brick, at least one and a half stories high, with a stone or brick chimney, and a good shingle roof, within two years from the date of his lease. Any person bid- ding off two lots will be excused by building one house of the above description, the four corner lots excepted. Any person not complying with the terms of the articles of sale shall forfeit and pay to the trustees the sum of five dollars. The lessee will pay in proportion the expense of laying out and blazing, etc.

By order, etc., 24th April, 1809.

MOSES MORRISON, Clerk.

N. B. The trustees will meet at the house of Willis Pierson, on the first day of May next, in order to execute leases.

The expenses of sales during this last week of April were $14.75, and during the first year the income from leases amounted to $15.34.

From Mr. Nelson's work on "Suburban Homes" the following interesting extracts regarding the history of Madisonville have been taken: " Madison was at one time noted for the number of its distilleries, which used to attract large gatherings from the surrounding country, and be the occasion of much jollity and dissipation. Men would spend their time in gaming, and with outdoor, manly and unmanly sports, until the assembly would break up in a general Donnybrook Fair. Traces of the distilleries seem to have disappeared, which was accounted for on the ground that as soon as transportation for grain and pork was opened up the corn that had been shipped in the compact form of whiskey brought higher prices in bulk and in pork. Vestiges of the tanning business remain, one of which we noticed on a piece of ground recently purchased by Col. White.

"Madison was also the home of several men who became distinguished members of the body politic. Among them we may mention Dr. Alexander Duncan, a well- known member of Congress, who disappointed his Democratic friends by stepping over to free soil. One who made his mark and his money in the insurance business, when there was money in it, was Louis Clason, who was well known in Cincinnati. Madison was also the early home of James Whitcomb, who was afterward governor of Indiana. Old citizens tell some amusing stories about the youth of this intrepid lawyer and statesman. One of these relates to his love for and devotion to piscatory pursuits, which were so strong as to render him oblivious to the condition of his

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

toilet. Linen would frequently display itself where it was impossible for one so ab- stracted to be conscious of it, and where its obtrusion was sure to excite the laughter of bystanders; but that circumstance did not interfere with his success as an ama- teur sportsman and an enterprising vender of fresh fish. He made money enough to buy himself books, and enable him to attend school; worked hard and studied harder, was a keen lawyer and an active politician; and so literally raised himself from penury to the highest office of the State. He afterward became a member of the United States Senate, where sickness overtook him, and he died.

"Contemporaneous with the history of Madison is that of the history of some of the surviving citizens, from one of whom, William Moore, we received much valu- able information. Mr. Moore is eighty-seven years of age, and bids fairly to approximate to the century. He is a lively and intelligent conversationalist, and retains dates and events with remarkable tenacity. When examining the records we found him generally accurate, and noticed that he could repeat verbatim the long forms and awkward phraseology of the early leases. He came from Virginia and made Madison his home in 1811, when there were about twenty buildings in the town. At one time he kept a tavern, at another a country store; then he man- aged successfully a brickyard and a nursery. He also seems to have made the circuit of all the town and township offices, from constable to magistrate. As clerk, the books show that he made creditable records; as a citizen, his record seems quite as clear and creditable.

"The oldest citizen is Samuel Earhart, who was born January 22, 1784. Next to him is Esquire Isaac Giffin, born August 24, 1785. Mrs. Hattie Ward is the same age as Mr. Moore. Mrs. Duncan, Ayers Bramble, Colonel I. F. Waring, and Timothy Maphet, are all respectively about seventy-five years of age.

"During a pleasant interview with Mr. Bramble many interesting facts were elicited regarding the early settlements, and some anecdotes, of which we can give only a few. Mr. Bramble's father and family, with three other families, emigrated from Barnsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, taking with them in their boat of twelve by twenty-four, a horse, a cow, and a 'big black dog.' The entire wealth of the company was represented in one hundred dollars of Spanish silver coin; and that was the property of Mr. Bramble. They arrived in safety near the mouth of the Little Miami, but the broken character of the land and the sickly hue of the settlers discouraged Mr. Bramble for the time being, so he waited by the river side for a passing keel-boat to take him back to his old home. While waiting in a state of uncertainty, a proposition was made to him to settle near the present site of Madison, which he accepted. Houses being scarce, he was obliged to take up his residence for the first six months in an unfinished log church, which was without doors and windows. That year a heavy snow-storm was experienced about the first of October, which compelled him to seek more comfortable quarters. It was an early winter, but 1806 was remarkable for strange freaks of nature. That year, February the 7th proved to be the coldest day ever experienced in this latitude. Old settlers talk of it as 'cold Friday,' in contradistinction to ordinary cold winter days; and in 1806 was the great eclipse. Mr. Bramble distinctly remembers his being present at the raising of the first log house in Madison, which took place in 1809, when he was ten years of age. The building was afterward used as a hotel, and was kept by Col. William Perry, from Kentucky, an enterprising citizen, who seldom allowed himself to be sober. The following year, 1810, was remarkable for the tide of immigration that set in from the adjoining State, Kentucky. Thousands of the colored inhabi- tants, black and brown, abandoned their homes, swam the river, and landed on the fertile bottoms of the Ohio. They came unarmed, without sword or spear, musket or ammunition, or other munitions of war than those bestowed upon them by nature. Immediately on landing they dispersed among the woods, prepared themselves log cabins or built more temporary structures, and set up housekeeping. Nothing could

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

be more peaceable than their intentions. No class of citizens could have been more active, industrious, frugal, or cleanly in their habits. But, though as a class they were conceded to be productive, in political economy they were ranked as non-pro- ducers, and accordingly were doomed to suffer persecution. Then every white man was a Granger. Middlemen had not yet found their way out west; so war was immediately declared against the intruders, and every man, woman, and child arrayed themselves against these unarmed and inoffensive immigrants. War to the knife, bitter, relentless, exterminating war was waged, and speedily raged. From the township the war sentiment extended to the county; from the county to the State; until the legislature actually passed a law for the extinction of the races, black and brown, indiscriminately. Every atrocity was then practiced and encour- aged; and scalping commanded a high premium.

"In 1811, the payment of taxes in squirrel pelts was legalized. In 1811 was also the great earthquake, which rent the foundations of the first frame house built in Madison-one erected by Paddy McCollum, a man of note at the time. Whether the earthquake had anything to do with the act of legislature and subsequent slaughter, our informant did not say.

"As might be expected, the schools of that day were not conducted with the highest degree of efficiency. Mr. Bramble's teacher was an Irishman named John Wallace, who was intoxicated half his time, and would play ball with the boys half the balance. In proof of that Mr. Bramble said he attended school five winters before he got out of his 'Abs.'

" Mr. Bramble was both a farmer and a trader in his boyhood, and sold corn and potatoes at ten cents a bushel in Cincinnati. Then property was equally cheap. School section sixteen was under lease to farmers and others, and the lease of a tract of forty acres of it was sold in 1810 for a ploughshare, then for a barrel of whiskey, and afterward to Mr. Bramble for sixty dollars.

"One of the early incidents of the settlement was the killing of two of the citi- zens by the Indians-a brother of Capt. Giffin, and a father and son named Paul were out in search for hogs when discovered by the Indians, who gave chase, over- took Giffin and shot him, and afterward shot the elder Paul. Young Paul could have made his escape with little trouble, as the station was near; but, anxious to save his father, he stopped in shelter of the trees, and with his rifle kept the Indians at bay as long as his father's strength held out. The latter finding escape hopeless sent his son off, and resigned himself to his fate.

"Another incident of a later date took place east of Madison, when the victim was an Indian. West of Madison was a station known as Nelson's, where were horses pasturing. A party of Indians on their way toward the hills rode off with some of these, one of which was hoppled. Nelson and others of the fort made pur- suit, but failed in overtaking any except the one on the hoppled horse, whom Nelson shot when near the site of the present residence of Esquire Clason. There the Indian was buried, and the circumstance turned to account by naming the place Indian hill. Esquire Clason says that many years afterward the grave was discov- ered by accident, and the jawbone secured as a relic in his family. Judging from the relic, he says, the Indian must have been a giant in proportions.

"One of the few mechanics of the place was Jeremiah Brand, a plow-maker, and the best in the county. Brand was an industrious, honest workman, and a good citizen; and, even for the times, primitive in his habits and his wardrobe. He never wore shoes, and so contrived his nether garment that a single button sufficed to maintain it in its proper position. That button was alike remarkable for its size, brilliancy, and conspicuity. In Brand's time a local law was enacted requiring every man attending meeting to bring his musket and ammunition, or pay a fine of one dollar. This was pretty hard on poor Brand, who was perfectly innocent of the use of firearms. What did he want with a musket, when he was as fleet-footed as

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

an Indian ? But he went to meeting-was duly fined in his dollar, and as duly absented himself therefrom until the author of the objectionable law remitted his fine. Brand died in 1856."

For many years the growth of Madisonville was exceedingly slow. It was merely a country village limited to the immediately contiguons territory for the patronage of its industries and places of business It had 285 inhabitants in 1830, and was credited with four hundred by the State Gazette of 1841. With the opening of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad (now the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern)an era of rapid and permanent expansion began. Few localities in the vicinity of Cincinnati pos- sess equal advantages of accessibility, salubrity and beauty of natural scenery. The population in 1880 was 1,274; in 1890, 2,214, and during the past three years it is estimated that there has been an increase to 3,000. There are nine churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Christian and Afri- can Methodist and Baptist. Local educational interests are well sustained. The only manufacturing establishment is the Madison Planing Mill, at the corner of Central avenue and Kemper street. It was established in 1883 by Frank Lobnitz, to whom the Madison Planing Mill Company succeeded in 1889. The plant is devoted exclusively to the manufacture of doors.

Madisonville was incorporated in 1876, and the first election resulted as follows: Mayor, L. W. Clason; clerk, John H. Cougar; marshal, George Settle; council, W. W. Peabody, T. Maphet, D. Mathis, M. Buckle, William Settle, L. Cornnelle. The succession of mayors has been as follows: 1876-82, L. W. Clason; 1882-84, J. O. Marsh; 1884-86, L. W. Clason; 1886-88, J. O. Marsh; 1888-92, James Julien; 1892-, W. G. Hier. There is a volunteer fire department. The town hall, at the corner of Central avenue and Julien street, is a commodious and substantial struc- ture, combining public hall, municipal offices, free reading room, and a large store- room. The water works system was dedicated October 15, 1892, and represents a bonded indebtedness of $30,343.49.

Norwood is a village of comparatively recent origin and phenomenally rapid growth. The first village designation applied to this locality was Sharpsburg, to which a hamlet of very meager proportions corresponded. This hamlet comprised several farm houses at the junction of the Columbia road and Montgomery pike, and its principal feature was a hotel of the type common along the thoroughfares lead- ing from the city. This was also the designation applied to the railroad station at the opening of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad.

The first subdivision of property for the purpose of promoting village growth was made by Powin, Lane & Bolles, and comprised eighty-one acres east of the rail- road. It was not a success, however, owing to a variety of causes. In fact, but one house was built thereon.

To L. C. Hopkins is due the honor of founding Norwood. He was one of the most extensive dry-goods merchants of Cincinnati, but failed in the panic of 1873. Previous to this, however, he had purchased thirty acres of land from Columbus Williams, this tract embracing that part of the village contiguous to Hopkins avenue station. This he assigned to his creditors, but subsequently repurchased, erected a residence thereon and made it his home for some years. It was at his suggestion that the name of Norwood was substituted for that of Sharpsburg. In the spring of 1873 he platted Franklin and Allison streets, north of Hopkins avenue, and on the 13th of June, in that year, the first auction sale of lots at Norwood occurred. Lunch was served by Mrs. L. C. Hopkins and Mrs. W. C. Baker, at the grove on Allison street. The sale was largely attended, and every lot was sold. Mr. Hop- kins made three other subdivisions in 1873. The second was south of the first, and embraced thirty-two lots on Wood and Reilly streets, which were so named by Mr. Hopkins in honor of the members of a dry-goods firm by which he was employed when a boy. The third subdivision was immediately west of the second and south

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

of Hopkins avenue. It comprised seventy-three lots, all of which were sold at pri- vate sale at the uniform price of $625 within three weeks from the completion of the survey. The fourth subdivision was north of Hopkins avenue and west of the first. . The fifty-eight lots that composed it were sold at $700 each. In all these transac- tions the sales were made by R. C. Phillips & Son; W. C. Baker was resident sup- erintendent, and L. G. Hopkins and A. G. Boffinger represented L. C. Hopkins in effecting sales.

To give a full account of subsequent real-estate transactions at Norwood is beyond the limits of this work. It may be briefly stated, however, that the site of the village was principally embraced in the Mill, Smith, Langdon, Williams, Durrell and Drake farms, and the principal subdivisions have been those of Mills & Kline, in West and Central Norwood; Woltz & Company, Elsmere; Barker & Reed, Ideal Park; Messenger & Fritsch, East Norwood; William Durrell, Ivanhoe; Alberts & Kohle, and the Highland Syndicate.

The village received its first impetus in the construction of the Cincinnati, Leb- anon & Northern railroad. Previous to that time the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railroad was used by its residents near the station on its line, and many also trav- elled to and from the city on the omnibus that ran between the city and Pleasant Ridge. The opening of the electric street railway, July 1, 1891, resulted in a de- gree of building activity unexampled in the previous history of the place and unsur- passed by any other suburb of Cincinnati during the same period. The population at that time was about fifteen hundred; now it is estimated at five thousand, and the increase still continues. There are eight churches: Presbyterian, Methodist (two), Baptist, Berean Baptist, Catholic-Reformed, and Evangelical Protestant. Three large and commodious school buildings manifest the educational interest of the com- munity. Local business interests comprise a number of stores, shops, and hotels. The private residences as a class evidence the tastes of a cultured and prosperous community.

The village was incorporated in 1881, and organized August 6th, in that year, with the election of the following officers: Mayor. John Weyer; clerk, Edward G. Bolles; treasurer, John C. Masker; marshal. Gerald Kehoe; council, John P. Zim- merman, Fred. H. Mehmert, Edward Mill, William Leser, D. H. Whitehead, and A. Wieand. The present mayor is Aaron McNeill; clerk, W. E. Wichgar; treasurer, John C. Masker, all of whom were elected in 1891. When first incorporated, the village limits coincided with the boundaries of Section 34, but have since been so extended as to include portions of Sections 3 and 5, in Mill Creek, and 33 and 35 in Columbia, aggregating about three square miles of territory. The assessed valu- ation of property is $2,500,000. The town hall is situated at the corner of Mont- gomery and Elm avenues. It is a frame building, was erected by private indi- viduals, and purchased by the village authorities for $6,000.

Pleasant Ridge .- Mr. Nelson states that "one of the earliest settlers of the vil- lage of Pleasant Ridge was James C. Wood, father of William W. Wood, who came from New Jersey in 1809, and purchased Section 20 and part of 24, upon which property his son now lives, occupying the old homestead." It was by the Wood family that the village was platted. The road from Reading to Columbia intersects the Montgomery pike at this place, and the hamlet received as its first designation the rather generic title of Cross Roads. But the elevated site and fine prospect it commands in every direction early suggested a change to the present name.

Pleasant Ridge was incorporated as a village in 1891, and the first election was held July 11th in that year, resulting in the selection of John H. Durrell, as mayor, E. E. Lester, as clerk, and Albert Mccullough, O. W. Wood, T. J. Ware, J. J. Marvin, George W. South, and C. E. Brockman, councilmen.

The population of Pleasant Ridge was 1,027 in 1890. It has four churches, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, and Methodist. The public-school building was

Aaron mc Neill

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

erected in 1870 and enlarged in 1893. The schools are justly regarded as among the best in the suburban districts of the county. They send many of the best pupils to the Cincinnati high schools.

Silverton, thirty years ago, consisted of the "Eight Mile House," a blacksmith shop, and the toll-gate on the Montgomery pike. The site of the village was comprised in a farmowned by Maxwell Brown, who sold a portion of it to S. S. Haines, of Waynes- ville, Ohio, by whom it was subdivided and sold. The railroad station had previ- ously been established under the name of Mosner, and the post office was opened under that designation August 15, 1881, with S. D. Vorhis as postmaster. The name was changed to Silverton at the instance of Mr. Haines, this having been the maiden name of his wife. Gould & Mason were the first merchants. William Cre- gar was the first landlord of the "Eight Mile House," and at an early day the locality was known as Enterprise. Subsequent to Mr. Haines' plat additions have been made by Archibald Brown, James Sampson, and Jacob Cox. A Presbyterian church is located at this place. Measures have been initiated for the incorporation of the village, which is one of the most agreeably situated on the line of the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Railroad.

Kennedy and Kennedy Heights are situated on opposite sides of the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern railroad. The farm was platted by Lewis Kennedy, and com- prises about twenty houses. The principal feature of Kennedy Heights is the Yon- ante Inn, a well-known summer resort. It commands a fine view of the valley below and country around.

Madeira was laid out by John L. Hosbrook and John D. Moore. It is situated on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railroad, partly in Columbia and partly in Sycamore township. Here there are two churches, Presbyterian and Methodist.

Oakley is midway between Norwood and Madisonville, five miles from the city by turnpike and eleven by rail. In 1846, Anthony Brown bought fifty acres of ground from Benjamin Hey, embracing that part of the village site adjacent to the railroad station. In 1866 he sold thirty-four acres of this tract to Paul Shuster, by whom it was platted and sold, and from him it received its name. Perhaps the most inter- esting feature of the place is the driving park of the Queen City Jockey Club. The only industry of importance is the planing mill of Raupe & Son, which employs 100 men. There is one church, Protestant Episcopal. An electric railway has been projected from Walnut Hills to Oakley, and its construction will doubtless result in large accessions to the population.

Terrace Park occupies the site of an extensive town projected in 1850 by William Winters, under the name of Camden City. It utterly failed of realization, however, and the land relapsed to agricultural purposes until 1886, when G. W. Corey made a second subdivision upon the same site and gave to it the name of Terrace Park. East of the railroad the subdivision was made by J. W. Sibley. In 1893 the village was incorporated, the first election resulting in the choice of the following officers: Mayor, Carl Floto; clerk, W. H. Voige; treasurer, J. L. Galloway; marshal, Thomas B. Shumard; sealer of weights and measures, Lucius W. Conkling; council, Russell Erratt, Robert B. Jones, H. L. Simmons, John F. Robinson, O. M. Hill, and E. C. Peebles. The population within the corporate limits is 268.

CHURCHES.

Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church " was originally one with the First Presby- terian Church of Cincinnati," organized October 16, 1790. In 1797 the first church building was erected near the site of the present edifice. It was constructed of logs, and was '24x30 feet in dimensions. July 23, 1825, at a congregational meeting called to consider the advisability of erecting a new church, the conduct of the enterprise was intrusted to Samuel Cosby, Andrew Baxter, and James Sampson. A brick church 35x50 was built; the contractors were Bartholomew Fowler and

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 60

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592