History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 65

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302

USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 65

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"Article of Agreement, made an entered into this first day of August, A. D. 1831, be- tween Samuel Brown, of Sandusky Township, Richland County, Ohio, yeoman, of the one part, and John Ruhl, of Sandusky Township, and Crawford County and State aforesaid, yeoman, of the other part :

"Witnesseth, That the said Samuel Brown, for the consideration hereinafter mentioned, doth grant, bargain and sell unto the said John Ruhl, a certain tract of land, with all thereonto belonging (excepting one acre in the southeast* corner of it, which being sold for a churchyard), situated in Sandusky Township, Richland County, aforesaid, being the northeast quarter of Section 31, Town- ship 20, Range 20, and containing-acres, and adjoining the public road leading from Mansfield to Bucyrus, Frederick Dickson and others, for which the said John Ruhl is to pay unto the said Samuel Brown, the sum of fif- teen hundred dollars, in the manner following, viz: Eight hundred dollars in hand on the first day of September next, and seven hundred dollars on the first day of September. in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and thirty- three. The said John Ruhl is to have six geese, six hens and one rooster, to be delivered up to the said Ruhl when said Brown gives full possession, and the said Ruhl is to have

*This should be southwest. The graveyard was in the southwest corner of section 31.

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liberty to cut timber, dig, etc., on said land from the date hereof, and the said Brown is to give the said Ruhl a good right and title for said tract of land when he pays the hand money. But the said Brown is to have the crops now on the ground, and have privilege to live on the said land until the first day of April next; then he is to deliver up all onto the said John Ruhl, excepting the house now on the State road (now occupied as a school- house), which, in case said Brown would not move on the first day of April next, he is to have the privilege of living in two months after, and Sarah Brown is to have stuff for a new frock when she signs the writing .* The said Brown is to have the privilege of sugar camp next to the house, and all the pasture on the farm, excepting the six-acre meadow. But Ruhl is to have privilege to plow the fields. For the true performance of the above agree- ment, both parties bind themselves, their heirs, executors or administrators, one to each other, in the sum of thirty hundred dollars. In wit- ness whereof, both have hereunto set their hands and seals, the day and the year first above written.

"Witnesses SAMUEL BROWN. (seal)

"JOHN RUHL. (seal)

"ASA HOSFORD,

"BENJ. GROVE.

This sale of land by Brown to John Ruhl was an astonishment to Mr. Hosford, when he was called upon to witness the agreement, as it prevented the carrying out of his expec- tations of laying out a town in partnership with Mr. Brown. It appears the Ruhls also had an idea that the high ground was the proper place for the town, and Jacob and Michael Ruhl who now owned the east half of section thirty-one, went to Hosford and asked what price he would take for his land. Mr. Hosford saw that it was useless to at- tempt to lay out a town in competition with the Ruhls, and to have at least some compen- sation for his disappointment he asked what was then quite a high price, which the Ruhls paid cheerfully and without demur. In fact, it can be said of the Ruhls, father and sons, that while they were shrewd business men they

paid the very highest price for any land they wanted.

Having now secured the land they sent for the surveyor of Richland county, the land being then in Sandusky township of that county, and on September 10, 1831, the pres- ent town of Galion was laid out by Michael and Jacob Ruhl. The original plat com- menced at the alley, half way between Liberty and Columbus streets, and extended west to the alley, half way between Union and Boston streets. The only east and west street was Main, the north and south streets were Colum- bus, Market and Union. There were but thirty-five lots, and every one fronted on Main street, eighteen on the south side of the street and seventeen on the north. About the centre was the public square. In 1833 the Ruhls laid out a second edition, east of their original plat, extending to South street, including where the Big Four station now is. These lots were still all on Main street, with the exception of eight lots south of their original plat, five on the west side of Market street and three on the east. Two of these lots on the west side were south of Walnut street, and the town now had two east and west streets. John Kraft became the owner of lots I and 3 of the original plat, the extreme eastern lots of the original plat on the south side of Main street. An ancient tax receipt shows these two lots were valued at $14, and were taxed at $1.40. The receipt further shows taxes of $1.57 for chat- tel property, making Mr. Kraft's entire taxes $3.97.

It was now a rivalry between the Galion at the Corners and the Galion laid out by the Ruhls. When they had bought out Hosford, Jacob Ruhl started a hotel in the building on the northeast corner of the square originally erected by Hosford. On the south side they built a frame building in which Michael Ruhl started a store, carrying goods of all descrip- tions necessary for the settlers in those early days. In connection with this general assort- ment, he carried quite a stock of medicine and although he was not a physician he advised and prescribed for the settlers. The town grew slowly. It was the recognized site for a village, but it was discouraging to look half a mile to the west, and there on the low and sickly ground to see the busy cross roads set-

*In early days it was a frequent habit that the wife should receive some present for signing a deed.

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tlement with teams passing and repassing on the two roads, and the half dozen little shops patronized by the neighboring settlers. Even the store of William Hosford at the Corners did double the business of the store of Michael Ruhl, which carried twice the stock, but as time went on a gradual change took place, and the little shops drifted from the Corners to the new town, and soon afterwards the post office was removed, and from that time on the Corners became less and less, and today there is not a house on any one of the four corners, which was once the centre of business for that section and a hive of industry, but it has the honor of being the first start of Galion, the place where the present city originated. And now the Corners will undergo another change, for the land around the cross-roads which for more than forty years has been bare of build- ings was laid out into town lots in 1911, and will become one of the residence sections of the city, the improved sewerage system of Galion making this once unhealthy site a de- sirable residence section.

Near this section on the south side of West Main street, there still stands the first brick house ever erected in Galion, known as the Clymer residence which was built over seventy years ago, by Jacob Ruhl, and is still used as a residence and is in a fair state of preserva- tion.

The first business industry ever established in Galion was a distillery. It was built near the springs between Atwood and Cherry street by Nathan Merriman, in 1824. Here the set- tlers disposed of their surplus grain and were enabled to buy whiskey for from 18 to 25 cents per gallon. Owing to the pureness of the water, Merriman made a very good brand of whiskey. Prior to the establishment of the distillery John Hibner had a grist-mill, but this was a mile east of Galion. James Nail also had a grist-mill southwest of Galion, on the Whetstone, and still further down the stream was the Benjamin Sharrock mill. Another mill was the Snyder mill near Middletown, and at one of these the early settlers went to have their grain ground into flour, for in those early days what is now Galion was farming land, and on this land the settlers raised their crops, which they must use to exchange for necessaries.

Mr. Dunlap thus speaks of the condition of that section in the early days: "In 1825 we had a manufacturing establishment in Galion erected by Nathan Merriman, of Bucyrus, to make whiskey of our spare corn and rye. About the same time there was a horse-mill put up by Mr. Snyder at Middletown, where we could get grinding done. The farmers for miles around would put a bag of corn or wheat on a horse, with harness on, take another, if he had it, and go to the mill. If his turn came before night all right. If not, he would hitch up in the night and keep himself awake by traveling around after his horse, and thus grinding his own grain. If it were wheat he could turn a crank attached to a bolting cloth, and get his flour bolted by hand, and when his flour was ground would come home whistling and singing as happy as a lark."

The Nail and Sharrock mills were run by water power, large mill races having been con- structed. When Nail built his mill about 1823 he contracted with Albigence Bucklin at Bucy- rus to make the mill stones, and when they were completed went to Bucyrus with an ox team and hauled the stones back to Galion.

When Asa Hosford disposed of his prop- erty to the Ruhls he purchased land on the Whetstone a half mile west of Galion and here he erected a water-mill, which is still standing. It was built in 1832. The buhrs were made in the east and were shipped by water to Sandusky and he drove to that place and brought them overland, and they are still in use in the mill. While some things about the original mill have been changed, the orig- inal leather belts are still in use to convey the flour in the elevator cups to be bolted and sacked. Some of the large logs are of walnut and poplar, the heavier ones being nearly two feet square, and are as solid, and substantial. today as when first put in. The liberal use of walnut in the construction of the mill can easily be seen. In the early days more flour was made than the local trade could consume and this excess had to be hauled for forty miles over the old Portland road to Sandusky where it was either sold or shipped to the east. Upon one of the posts in the mill is an inscrip- tion which was written shortly after the news came of the election of William Henry Har- rison as president, in 1840, and the language

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indicates it was written by a friend of Van Buren, the defeated candidate. The words are "Look out for a storm-Harrison is elected president of the United States of America." Another inscription is the rallying cry of the Whigs in that campaign "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Notwithstanding the fact that Hosford was a miller with his business a short distance from Galion he was yet the active man in all important affairs relating to that place.

Isaac Criley, who married John Ruhl's daughter, lived on a farm which is now the southeast portion of the city. The west line of his farm was what is now South street. On his land he built the second brick residence at the corner of Main and Pierce streets. The first brick business block was on the north- east corner of the square where the Commer- cial Savings Bank now is. The brick was made by Dr. Beard, who had a brick yard just west of the Big Four station. When com- pleted the building was occupied as a store by Davis & Bloomer.

Isaac Criley had a carding-machine and full- ing-mill and for a time did a good business. The machinery was run by steam and his was the first steam engine ever introduced into Galion.

In 1836 Jacob Ruhl started a saw-mill on the Whetstone on North Market street, and this old mill was used for picnic parties and Fourth of July celebrations, at which large crowds were present from the surrounding country, people sitting on the logs to listen to the reading of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, and the logs being of further use as tables, on which to serve the meals which the patriotic citizens brought with them.

When the first post office was established on June 4, 1825, Horace Hosford was appointed postmaster, and the office was in his blacksmith shop at the Corners. He was succeeded on May 2, 1829 by Calvin T. Dorwin. the office still being at the Corners. But when the town of Galion was laid out by the Ruhls in 1831, it so rapidly increased in business that on January 12, 1837, Michael Ruhl was appointed postmaster with the office in his store on the south side of the square. When Hosford was postmaster, in his four years of service the letters received at the office during his entire time did not amount to more than one a day.

Letters at that time were delivered by the mail carrier coming on horse back and some times on foot from Mansfield. In those days letters did not need to be prepaid, and it tell upon the recipient to raise the money or go without the letter. Postage at that time was 25 cents per letter. It was about 1834 that a line of stages which had been running from Pitts- burgh to Mansfield was continued through Gal- ion to Bucyrus.

Jenkins' Gazeteer of 1841 thus speaks of Galion; "The name of a post office and town in Sandusky township, Richland county, about sixty miles northeasterly from Columbus and on the state road leading from Mansfield to Bucyrus, fifteen miles from the former and eleven from the latter place. It contains about 25 dwelling houses, three stores, two taverns, seven mechanics shops, etc. The first build- ings were erected here in 1831. The post office is supplied by a tri-weekly mail in two horse coaches running from Wooster to Bucy- rus." In bad weather it took four horses to draw the coach. Michael Ruhl was post- master for two years and was succeeded on Nov. 5, 1839, by Solomon P. Nave, and the office was east of the square on the south side of Main street, near the corner of Columbus street. He held the office for nine years, and on Feb. 3, 1848, Daniel Hoover was appointed. He was a cabinet maker and wheelwright, and had a little shop built of hewed logs, on the south side of east Main street, west of the Big Four Road, and the post office was re- moved to this building. Here it remained nearly a year, when, on Sept. 5, 1849, Jacob Bryfogle was appointed postmaster and the office was taken back to the room it formerly occupied under Nave. On June 21, 1853, John S. Davis was appointed postmaster, and the office was in the Davis & Bloomer store on the northeast corner of the Square. Daniel Riblet became postmaster on Jan. 15, 1855, and the office was in the Riblet dry goods store the frame building west of the First National Bank, now occupied by the grocery store of Frank Snyder. During his term of office Mr. Riblet erected a small frame building across the street, just west of the Central Hotel. On April 22, 1861, H. C. Carhart was appointed postmaster. He was a lawyer and one of the leading workers in the new Republican

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party at Galion, and secured the office, and then placed his brother, Elmore Y. Smith, in charge as deputy, and on Nov. 16, 1864, Mr. Smith received the appointment of postmaster, serving for 13 years. During Mr. Smith's sixteen and a half years in charge of the office he started in in the Kesselmeier building, half a block east of the square, then to the Mackey block on South Market, and the Howard block and finally to a little frame on Market street, half a block north of the Square. On Nov. 29, 1877, Robert A. Cowden was appointed and there being a mistake in the name by the accidental insertion of the initial "A," a new appointment was made on Jan. 29, 1878, this time the commission being made out correctly for Robert Cowden, and the post office was re- moved to the northeast corner of the Square, north of the Commercial Savings Bank, the same site it occupies today. Following Rob- ert Cowden were T. C. Davis, Feb. 6, 1882; William H. Raymond, April 6, 1886; Morris Burns, March 29, 1890; John W. Alsop, April 17, 1894; John W. Cupp, Feb. 16, 1898; George W. Nickels, June 14, 1905.

It is a singular fact that the post office rec- ords at Washington give the post office as Galion, Richland county, up to 1845, when the eastern four miles of this county was trans- ferred from Richland to Crawford; yet when the post office was at the Corners it was in Crawford county, the dividing line between Richland and Crawford being about 200 feet east of the Portland road.

For a number of years much of the trade of Polk township followed the line of the Colum- bus and Sandusky City road, the farmers using that highway to the Lake markets and bringing back with them such produce as they needed, such as groceries, salt, etc .; but the stores mostly brought their stock over the mountains from Philadelphia and Baltimore, freight being $5 to $6 a hundred pounds. A strap railroad being built in 1840 from Sandusky to Monroe- ville, over which the cars were drawn by horses, the farmers after that year took their produce to Monroeville, as they thus saved three or four days of time, and secured a better price. After the construction of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark road as far as Mansfield and Shelby, the latter places be- came the principal market for the township,

and continued to be so until the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad was brought to Galion. This ended the era of taverns on the old highway. The building of this latter road was a great stimulus both to Galion and to the township outside of it, the population increased until in a few years it exceeded that of Bucyrus and its township. The interests of the township, outside of the city, have always remained agricultural, aside from the stone quarries, tile works, and the saw and grist mills of early days.

Notwithstanding the success which attended the efforts of the founders of Galion, and their immediate helpers and successors, and the healthy growth which the place put on, it re- mained up to 1850 merely a country village-a convenient center for agricultural interests. There were no mines or valuable water priv- ileges to stimulate it to a more rapid growth, and there was no railroad. Galion and Polk township went abroad with their products in search of a market, selling their produce at Mansfield and Shelby, both of which were on the railroad. But a change was now at hand. The project of a railroad through the town- ship and city began to be agitated and Asa Hosford was entrusted with the responsibility of putting it through during the winter legis- lative session of 1844-45. As first proposed, it was to end on the south at Columbus and strike the old Sandusky, Mansfield and New- ark Railroad at some point near Shelby. Mr. Hosford had to encounter, however, both oppo- sition and indifference. The Richland county people were well aware that with the construc- tion through Galion, Mansfield people would lose much of the trade which they derived from this section, and they had brilliant and able men to protect their interests in the courts and in the Legislature-such men as Gov. Bartley, Thomas Ford, Judge Brinkerhoof, Judge Stuart, Barnabas Burns and others. The people at Bucyrus, also, were not much in sympathy with the proposition, as they were engaged in a desperate contest with Galion to secure the county seat. At that time Thomas Bartley, the president of the Senate, was from Richland. Mr. Hosford succeeded in shelv- ing the county seat question for two years, though it is said that Galion came within one vote of securing the location. The represen-

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tatives of the two north and south extremes of the State were for some time indifferent about the road, as they could not see that the inter- ests of their constituents were affected; but suddenly Cleveland and Cincinnati conceived the idea of extending the road so as to directly unite their respective cities, thus throwing a steel highway across the State from the Lake to the Ohio river. This changed the attitude of their representatives on the question from one of indifference to one of active co-opera- tion with Mr. Hosford. On March 15, 1845, they exhumed an old charter granted for some similar project in 1836, and armed with this went to work. The road was completed in 1851 and was known as the Cleveland, Colum- bus & Cincinnati Railroad. No greater good fortune could have happened to Galion. The road gave her a highway to the markets of the world; she was now herself a market and others came to her to trade. The prosperity of the place was immediately advanced, new buildings were erected, of a more modern type, new interests arose, many of the citizens en- gaged in new and more promising occupations, and from a country town Galion rapidly as- sumed the habits and manners of a railroad center. Previous to 1852 there were no houses on Market street south of Walnut, and where the Erie depot now stands was where the citi- zens took a Sunday stroll when they wanted to take a walk into the country.

In 1840 Galion became a borough and elected Joel Todd as the first mayor. The population at this time must have been small, as nine years later it was only 379. In 1859 the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad, which had secured a charter in February, 1848, com- pleted its road and it was consolidated with the Bellefontaine & Indianapolis Railroad, form- ing the Indianapolis Division of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad. Some strips of land had been donated to the company by Alpheus Atwood. The Bellefontaine & Indian- apolis shops were finished in 1854. In 1863 the Atlantic & Great Western was finished through Galion and shops were built shortly after. In 1871-72 large brick shops were erected, and these important works, with the large number of men which came in, gave an additional stimulus to the growth of the city.

On the 6th of January, 1880, the Atlantic

& Great Western road was sold by the fore- closure of mortgages and passed into the hands of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Company. This company carried out some important improve- ments, one of which was the narrowing of the gauge to the standard width. This work was accomplished on June 22, 1880, and all preparations having been carefully made be- forehand, down to the smallest detail, was ac- complished in less than half a day. The work of narrowing the trucks of engines and rolling stock took longer to complete and was more expensive, the work on the engines costing on an average about $1,600 each, nearly all of this work being done at Galion. The shops were enlarged from time to time and new ma- chinery put in.

On August 14, 1899, the first car of the Ohio Central Traction line was run between Galion and Seccaium park. The construction of the road was commenced in Galion in the early spring of 1899 and pushed rapidly, and two weeks after running to the park the serv- ive was extended to Bucyrus. Two years later the line was extended eastward to Crestine. A rival line started to build into Crestline, also, which resulted in the new company buying out the Ohio Central holdings. The line was later extended to Mansfield, and is now a part of the Cleveland, Southwestern & Columbus sys- tem. This traction line, besides giving service to Cleveland and Columbus and intermediate points on its own line and their numerous ramifications, gives Galion easy connection with the Pensnylvania lines and the B. & O. at Mans- field, the Pennsylvania at Crestline, the T. & O. C. and the Short Line at Bucyrus, and the Hocking Valley at Marion. Several other traction lines are being proposed; ultimately some of these, at least, will be built, and when this is done it can only add to the material ad- vantage of Galion and her prestige as a railroad center.

In January, 1852, Louis Kossuth, the Hun- garian patriot, passed through Galion, the first prominent man to pass through the county on a railroad, and J. A. Crever, of the Journal, thus describes the event :

"Learning that Kossuth would pass down the railroad from Cleveland to Columbus on Wednesday, February 4th, we with a goodly number of our citizens from Bucyrus went to

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Galion to catch a glimpse of him. We found assembled several hundred persons, who were anxious to see the great man of the age. The cars arrived some minutes after one 'oclock with the great Magyar on board. He made his appearance on the platform of the car and was greeted with enthusiastic cheers of those assembled. He did not attempt to make a speech, but talked to those around him. The cars stopped but a few minutes, but we believe that all present saw Kossuth. He appeared very much worn down .. He was alseep when the cars stopped, but was awakened by some of his suite."

The editor then writes of the town: "The village of Galion, near the eastern border, is advancing with rapid strides. Many fine build- ings have been erected during the past year, and quite a number of business houses and private residences are in course of construc- tion. At this place the Bellefontaine & Indi- ana Railroad unites with the C. C. & C., which passes along the eastern side of the town."

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History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 65

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850- Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1302

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302