USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio biographical sketches etc. V. 1 > Part 57
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The preceding chapter brought the history of Delaware, in a general way, up to the end of 1823. Up to this time the village seems to have been in leading strings. The founder, while losing his hold on the public some years before, had so shaped its early course as to be really master of its destiny, and, though possibly actuated by personal motives, had planned not unwisely for the future of the town. With his death the emancipation was complete. The ruling power became less auto- cratic, and, with an infusion of new blood, Dela- ware has grown with succeeding years to become the object of jealousy to much larger and stronger corporations. There is little left now to mark the old era, save here and there about town, where some old dwelling shows a familiar face through its modern disguise. On the southwest corner of Union and Williams streets stands the old brick house of Dr. Lamb. Age has touched it with a tender hand, but later owners, without changing its outlines, have suited it to a more modern taste. Facing it on the north side of Williams street stands the Cowles residence, a brick rectangular affair with eaves to the principal street. A little farther west, on the same side of the street, is the Messenger House, that, in its time, has played many parts. One of the earliest schools found accommodations here, and later it became famous as the birthplace of a President of the United States. In a biography of President Hayes, the author thus describes the house : "Though other buildings have somewhat crowded it, and some changes have been made in the front walls, it has the same out- line and material with which it was at first constructed. The front or main part is built of brick, two stories high, with a pitched roof, and stands with the side toward the street. The front door was in the middle of the front wall, with a room upon each side. There were four ordinary frame windows in the first story-two each side of the front door, and five windows in the front of the second story. The roof is shingled; and the log L, or addition at the back side, is neatly covered with clapboards. The brick part of the house is about 20x30 feet, and the log L about 15x30 feet ;
the latter having had formerly a porch along the whole side, at the farther end of which was the well. Since the Hayes family left it, the hou-e has be n sold. and the brick front has been changed into a store, by tearing out the partitions between the front rooms and the front hall, and by uniting the two front windows on either side of the front door, so as to make two show windows. The store is now occupied by a dealer in furniture." Since this extract was originally penned, the house has again changed hands, and reverted to its old form, being now used as a dwelling. A house that was built on the southwest corner of Williams and Sandusky streets still remains, though moved to a distant part of the town, and another building that stood in 1823 on the corner of North and Sandusky streets still stands near the same spot, modernized, and shorn of its additions, and now known as the Central Hotel. This house was erected by Solo- mon Smith. The old Storm residence, on North Sandusky street ; the resident part of the old jail, which appears as a pleasant cottage ou North Franklin street, and the old brick building on the corner of Franklin and Williams streets, that has served as church and schoolhouse, as council cham- ber and court-room, as lock-up, market and engine- house are all relics of a bygone day.
The years immediately succeeding the date to which the previous chapter brought the history of Delaware were not marked by any special spirit of enterprise. The causes that had operated to check the development of the place during these years were still active, and the town was chiefly notice- able on account of its dullness. By its rivals, it was hoped that this was an evidence that the forced manner of its early growth was about to re-act permanently, and doom the town to a dwarfed existence. Such a view, however, betrayed a su- perficial examination of the situation and was destined to be disappointed. Delaware stood for years upon the verge of civilization, and the depressing effect of throwing upon the market a vast tract of cheap lands was consequently deeper and more lasting here than elsewhere. These lands were largely sold at the land office located in Delaware, a fact that brought the baleful influ- ence of the sale right to the doors of the strug- gling town, and it was not until about 1830 that matters began to so far amend that the town put on any appearance of enterprise or growth. In 1824, Judge Baldwin presented the corporation with the sulphur-spring property and the parade ground, but this was the only addition to the city
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
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until 1836. An effort had been made during a few years previous, to create an interest in the spring property, as an eligible site for a watering place, and this movement had been so far success- ful as to attract considerable attention from abroad and revive a speculative interest in the place. Under the influence of this state of affairs, the first addition to the town, on the south, was made by Judge T. W. Powell and Samuel Rheems, and in- cluded that part of the present corporation south of the run, between Sandusky and Liberty streets, extending south to Third. Beginning immedi- ately south of the Powell addition, M. D. Petti- bone, in the same year, platted sixty-two lots occu- pying the territory included between Sandusky and Liberty streets, and extending to a point just south of where the railroad crosses. Preceding these a month or so, an addition was made of all the unsold Baldwin lands that lay contiguous to the north part of the town, then in the hands of Bomford and Sweetser, through the middle of which they laid out Bomford street, which was changed in 1867 to Lincoln avenue. These ad- ditions opened up some two hundred and forty lots for sale, and glutted the market for a number of years. In 1843, Reuben Lamb platted the prop- erty which has since been absorbed by the southern extension of the University grounds, while William Little and Daniel Hubbard added twenty-five lots on Liberty street, and in the south part of town. A few years later, 1846, Ezra Griswold added twenty- six lots between Franklin and Liberty streets, through the middle of which Griswold street passes. The growth of the town would not then warrant the wholesale fashion of making additions that has become so prevalent in later years, and in 1848 and 1850 there were but single additions made, and but two in 1851.
In the following year, the owners of property lying on the east side of the river began to plat their lands and put them in the market. five additions being made, some of them of considerable extent. As a natural result of this activity, an agitation was at once begun to extend the corporation limits across the river, and an ordinance to that effect was submitted by the Council to the people, which was indorsed by a vote of 270 for the measure, to 12 against it. The limits thus extended began at a point in the eastern line of the original corpora- tion at the Olentangy River, where the same was intersected by the north line of farm lot 13, belonging to the heirs of Reuben Lamb, deceased ; thence east along said north line to northeast cor-
ner of said lot; thence north along the line of lots to the northeast corner of that part of Lot No. 10, owned by Stiles Parker; thence west along the north line of said Parker's land to the northwest corner thereof; thence west to the east- ern line of the corporation. These lines, it will be observed, include the territory within a line pass- ing through Vine street to the Potter farm, thence due north, passing through the fair grounds, just west of the trotting track, to the present north boundary of the corporation, and thence to the river. The three succeeding years were busy times for landowners, seven additions being platted in each year, but this activity could not last, and from 1856 to 1867, inclusive, there were but eleven additions made. In 1868, there were four, and the Council submitted the question of a gen- eral extension of corporation limits to the people, at the October election of that year, which was supported by a vote of 556 to 14. This extension enlarged the corporation on all sides, and is described as follows: Beginning at the corner of Lots 5 and 6, in Section 3, Township 5, and Range 19, on the section line between Sections 3 and 4, thence west along the line between Lots 5 and 6, to the corner of said lots in the east line of Lot 18: thence south along the line of Lots 18 and 19, and west line of Lots 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, to the town- ship line between Townships 4 and 5, United States Military Survey, to the southwest corner of Lot No. 1, and the southeast corner of Lot No. 19, in said Section 3; thence east along the section line two rods and ten links, to the northeast cor- ner of Subdivision No. 13, and a corner of Sub- division Lot No. 10, in Lot 4, Section 2, Township 4, Range 19 ; thence south along the east line of Subdivision Lots No. 13, and east line of alley to the center of the Bellepoint Road, and on the lot lines between lots 3 and 4, in said Section 2 : thence east along this lot line to the center of the county road; thence south along the section line to the division corner of the Tuller farm ; thence east to the center of the Olentangy River. From this point the line follows the river, to the north line of Vine street, and passing east takes in the Pot- ter farm, thence from the southeast corner of Sub- division Lot P, in the partition of the real estate of M. D. Pettibone (deceased), it proceeds north along the east line of said Subdivision Lots P and Q to the lot line between Lots 17 and 18 in afore- said Section 4; thence west along the lot line between Lots 17 and 18 and Lots 9 and 10, to the center of the Olentangy River; thence up the
336
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
center of the stream to the northeast corner of the farm formerly owned by David Worline, now deceased ; thence west along the north line of said farm to the section line between Lots 3 and 4 ; thence south along said section line to the place of beginning. In 1874, an extension of the city limits on the north took in the additions made by Dr. A. Blymyer and made the line between C. Pot- ter's property and that of J. Trautman, the north- ern limit of the corporation. In the following year, Lot 13, on the east side of the river, to which reference has been made in the extensions of 1852 and 1868, was made a part of the corpora- tion. The corporation thus exhibited presents an area of about three square miles, with its longest dimension, east and west, of a little more than two miles, and its extension from north to south about one and four-fifths miles.
The commercial value of city property, while at times temporarily depressed, has, in the long run, steadily and healthily advanced. There has never been any spirit or opportunity for land speculation on any large scale, and. the rise of value is due simply to the steady growth of the social and business interests of the place. * The first deeds of the lots in the orig- inal plat are a curious and interesting record. The price of property seemed to depend quite as much upon the shrewdness of the buyer as upon the location of the lot. The land was for sale, there was no obvious way of cornering the market, and the sale partook very much of the traditional character of the horse trade. Lot 67, an eligible
site on Williams street, and Lot 91, with its only outlet on the river, were sold to Millen Robinson in 1812 for $500. This was during the war, and at an "inflated " price, and, taking into considera- tion the real value of money at that time, as com- pared with the present, it will appear a good round price for the property. On the other hand. Lots 19 and 30, on Washington street, were sold to Jacob Drake, in 1811, for $100, and, in the following year, the Lots 3 and 14, adjoining on the north, for $60, the purchaser thus coming in o possession of the building sites on the east side of Washington, street, between North and Winter streets, for $160. In 1813, Thomas Butler bought Lot 47, on Sandusky street, about the middle of the block between Williams and Win- ter streets, for $50. In 1817, Hosea Williams. it is said, bought a " sizable house, large barn, and a haif-acre of land for $600; $25 in cash, the balance in trade, and 100 acres of land where the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis depot grounds are situated, for $200. But it must be remembered that property suffered severely from the financial stagnation which followed in the wake of the war. This depression had hardly spent its force when the " new purchase " came into market, and disastrously affected the price of property, and it was not until 1830 that it gained its former buoyancy. The earliest records to which we have had access are those of 1855, and we give below the appraisement of personal and real- estate property in the city and township, by semi- decades, showing their financial development :
Year.
Acres of Land in Tp.
Value.
Value of Personal Property in Tp.
Acres of Land in City.
Value.
Value of City Lots.
Value of Personal Property in City.
1855
14,5833
$410,299
$149,655
7891
$ 49,082
$ 769,613
$ 320,048
1856
14,586
416,118
142,438
169
816,456
386,546
1859 -- 60
14,586
430,676
110,696
13233
28,868
799,734
381,197
1865-66
14,582
468,234
180,167
101
36,994
751,201
859,038
1870-71
436,270
110,757
982,644
1,140,756
1875-76
13,520
657,933
301,493
9713
218,420
1,862,271
1,354,506
1879-80
671,280
277,632
217,580
1,985,919
927,954
The growth of the population of the city is a matter more difficult to determine. In the fall of 1808, thirty-two votes were polled, and, adopting the ordinary rule of counting five persons for each vote, the number of inhabitants in the whole town- ship would reach 150. But, without invalidating this rule, it will be observed that the circumstances of the early settlement of Delaware were unusual, and that this number is an overestimate. A num- ber of the voters are known to have been men
without families, or whose families were not in the township (the law in this latter respect not being' then in vogue, or not enforced as now); others, as Dr. Lamb and Jacob Drake, had very small fan- ilies; and other families were so grown to maturity as to have more than their proportion of voters. as in case of the Byxbe family. These conditions were unusually prominent, and it is probable that there were not over one hundred inhabitants in the whole township. In the winter of 1816, a wood-
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
337
chopper, standing on the hill where Monnett Hall now stands, on one of those clear, frosty mornings, when the smoke goes undisturbed straight up into the air, looked over the valley and counted the ev- idences of thirty-two houses in the little town. In 1820, we meet with an estimate that places the number of houses at fifty, and another by actual count places the number near sixty in 1823. Adopting the ordinary rule of five to a dwelling, we find the number of inhabitants in the town, in 1816, 150; in 1820. about 250, and in 1823, nearly 300. In 1830, the census gave the popula- tion of the city at 532; in 1840. 898; in 1850, 2,074; in 1860. 3.889; and in 1870, 6,000. The census in the present year, 1880, will probably bring the population of the city up to 8,000. For some years the interests of town and township were one, but on February 26, 1816, the town, having outgrown its surroundings in numbers and in- fluence, a petition for incorporation was granted by an act of Legislature. Unfortunately there is no copy of this act at hand, but the powers conferred on the village were very different from what we have to-day. It gave the incorporated village power to sue and be sued, and to elect a Board of Trustees who were only restrained, save in the mat- ter of improvements and expenditures, by the clause which required them to legislate in conformity with the laws of the State. The Board consisted of three members, one of whom was elected Pres- ident. A Recorder was appointed outside of the Board. The Constables did police duty, and the Justices of the Peace were the only magistrates. The finances were in the hands of the Township Treasurer, and the roads were superintended by the Township Supervisor for that district. This mild form of government continued until 1849. Early in this year. M. D. Pettibone, who was a member of the Legislature from this county, intro- duced a bill enlarging the powers of the Town Council. There is a hint in the papers of that time that the old form of government had been captured and run in the interests of one man, and that the change, if resulting in no other good, would prove more democratic in its administration. I'nder the new act eight councilmen were elected, who chose from their number a Mayor, Recorder, Treasurer. and Assessor. A Marshal was chosen by the Council outside of their own body. and three street committee men were chosen, two of whom were not members of the Council. The duties of these officers were like those performed by similar officers now, save that the Marshal collected the
tax laid on property by the Council. The earliest expression on the subject by the Council is in their proceedings of July 13, 1835, wherein they-
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Recorder, in addition to the duties prescribed in the act of incor- poration, to issue all orders upon the treasury, and keep a list of the same, with dates; to make out the annual tax upon the assessment of the Assessor, and to deliver it to the Marshal for collection, by the 10th day of June of the same year, and keep a record of the reports of all committees of the corporation.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to make and publish a full exhibit of the receipts and expenditures of the corporation, on the 1st day of May, annually, and file and keep all orders paid out of the treasury.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Assessor to make his assessment of taxable property and to deliver it to the Recorder between the 1st and 15th day of May, according to the directions of the County Assessor, except to assess cattle and horses owned on the Ist of May, and all other property, at its fair cash value.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Marshal, in addition to the duties prescribed in the act of incor- poration and ordinances, to report to the Mayor imme- diately all violations of the laws and ordinances which may come under his own observation, or of which he may be informed, and to the Street Committee all repairs needed in streets, lanes, ditches, culverts, etc., necessary to be made.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Street Com- mittee, upon observation or notice either from the Marshal or any citizen, to make any repairs in streets. lanes, ditches, culverts, etc., should they deem it neces- sary, Provided, they shall not incur a greater expense for any one item, than $3, and in all other cases they shall report such necessary repairs to the next meeting of the Common Council.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Street Com- mittee and all other committees of the corporation for letting jobs or making contracts, to report every item of their proceedings immediately to the Recorder, and shall report at what time the jobs were to be completed, whether so completed or not, and no order shall be issued upon the treasury when contracts are not ful- filled in every respect, without special authority from the Common Council.
This continued to be the essential order of things until 1841. In January of that year, a committee of the Council, after examining the in- corporating acts of a number of other towns, framed a petition, which was largely signed by the citizens, asking for an amendment to the act incorporating the town, so as to confer larger powers upon the Council, which was granted. Under the authority thus conferred. the Council abolished the Street Committee, and created the office of Street Com- missioner, whose duties, as prescribed by the ordi- nance, were " to establish the grade of the streets.
5
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
gutters and pavements within the limits of said cor- poration, not heretofore established ;" and Francis Horr was elected to that position. This arrange- ment was maintained until 1845, when the Coun. cil changed back to the old Street Committee. In 1853, it was provided by ordinance that "three Commissioners," who should be " three judicious persons residing in the village," should be appointed to do the work of Commissioner or Street Committee. Later in this year, the office of " Village Engineer " was created, the incumbent of which was to " perform the duties incident to said office," and was to be "allowed for his serv- ices a fair compensation, conforming as near as may be to the pay and fees of County Surveyors." P. D. Hillyer was the first appointee, and in the following year, refusing to act for $2 a day, the salary of $400 per year was affixed to the office. In 1852, the office of Recorder was made elective, with a fee of $1 for each regular session of the Council, besides legal fees for any extra recording or copying, a clause which increased the compen- sation, at times, to an amount reaching on some occasions the sum of $225 in a year. Later, the salary per annum was fixed at $100. In the same year, an ordinance was passed paying members of the Council for attendance, which, in 1854, was amended so that each member received " $1 for attending every regular session, and 50 cents for each special session of the Council." In 1853, the Marshal, who heretofore had received $25 per year and such fees as came to him in the regular discharge of his duties, was made a salaried officer, receiving $200 a year in lieu of his former pay. With the growth of the village, the Marshal became an important functionary. Besides repre- senting the majesty of municipal law, he collected the taxes, cleaned the streets, served on occasion as Street Commissioner, had charge of the market, and served in a general way as the vis a tergo of the " Mayor and Commonalty." In 1857, this office, the salary of which had reached the sum of $500, was made elective, with a salary of $365, besides such fees as accrued to the office from the regular discharge of its duties. On the 20th of April, 1868, it was made the duty of the Council to appoint the Marshal, who should " devote his entire time to the duties of said office, and should receive in consideration for his services thus per- formed, the sum of $2 for a day and night, exclusive of his legal fees." The ordinance further provided for the appointment by the Council, of Deputy Marshals for such time and on such occasions as
they deemed proper. The year previous, three policemen had been appointed, but the experiment proved unsatisfactory, and resort was had to the measure above referred to. Of late the appoint- ment of police has been resorted to again, and five persons are now employed at $1.50 per day each: The office of Mayor was made elective between the years 1847 and 1852 ; the records of that time having been lost, it is impossible to ascertain a more exact date. Up to 1857, the Mayor had served the village without pay, save such legal fees as he received as "a magistrate. .. On the 22d of December, of this year, an ordinance was passed fixing the salary of this office at $200, besides legal fees as magistrate. In 1863, a fierce spirit of economy reduced this salary to $100. About 1840, the office of Corporation Assessor was abol- ished, and the tax levied by the Council since has been certified by the Recorder to the County Auditor. In 1856, the County Treasurer dis- bursed the funds of the corporation, but this was a short-lived arrangement, and a Corporation Treasurer has since been annually appointed by the Council.
The history of the financial management of the early City Fathers is chiefly a matter of specula- tion. The records previous to 1834 are gone, and those that remain, except of a comparatively recent date, are of but little service on this point. After 1829, a Corporation Treasurer was regularly appointed by the Council, and it is probable that he made satisfactory statements to the ruling body, but they must have been confidential com- munications, as the records betray no hint of what they contained. In 1834, was passed an ordi- nance requiring the Treasurer to make an annual exhibit of the receipts and expenditures of the corporation on the 1st day of May, but these ex- hibits failed to find a permanent record. Under the original act of incorporation, the Board of Trustees possessed very limited powers in the matter of public improvement, and there was con- sequently no demand for money, save to maintain the simple governmental machinery. We find record in 1840, of a levy of two mills on a dollar upon all personal and real property in the village, the receipts of which amounted to $293.08, $10 of this amount proving uncollectible. This was probably an average duplicate. Fines and market rents brought in considerable sums and added to the available funds of the corporation, but it was found difficult to bring the moderate demands of the little town within such restricted bounds,
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