USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 57
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The St. Luke's Episcopal Society was organized here in 1846, and a church was erected in 1847, but twenty years later the building was destroyed by fire, and the present edifice was afterward erected on the same lot on Main street. The society of late years has not enjoyed the privilege of regular services from year to year, though at different times considerable regularity has been maintained, and it is hoped that they have now established permanent ser- vices.
A handsome and commodious Roman Catholic Church was built on Main street, further south, in 1866, and a very strong society has gathered from the village and adjoining farms. Among the pillars of the church are A. Fisher, J. H. Kellar, C. Stein, H. Halpin and others. Rev. Goecke is the present priest. Most of the reverend fathers of this congregation have been very highly esteemed by the citizens generally, as well as by their own people.
This concludes the list of churches in the village, but a German Reform Lu- theran Church is located at Union Corners, in the northwestern part of the township. This church has a very large congregation, representing some of the best people of the prairie region described in the first lines of this article. The pulpit is usually supplied from Norwalk.
The Friends, or Quakers, have a tasty little church at Homer Page's Cor- ners, above Fries's Landing, which accommodates quite a number of the people in that vicinity. This church was erected largely through the efforts of Peter. and Dorexa Hathaway, Peter Hathaway, jr, Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Eddy, John Everingham, the Rosekelleys, V. Fries. Homer Page and wife, John Bal- cam, the Rickards, A. Paul, A. Ruggles, Benjamin Wilcox, Calvin Gwin, C. Parker, Mrs. George .Eddy, Mr. and Mrs W. H. Eddy, Mrs. Carleton Bailey and many others whose names are not accessible at this time, but to whom the church and community will ever owe a debt of gratitude for their timely aid.
Mrs. Alida Romick, the eloquent evangelist from southeastern Ohio, preached the dedication sermon, and has rendered the church much subse- quent service. Revs. George Bartlett, Charles Sweet and William Nicholson, all able, earnest Christian ministers, have from time to time given their valuable services to this congregation. Rev. Bartlett is at present conducting the ser- vices ; he was married in 1888 to Miss Mary Ann Rosekelley of Huron, who is an estimable lady and a strong assistant in the work; Rev. Nicholson is labor- ing for a little flock in Sandusky, and Rev. Sweet is located in New York. Unlike those of many other denominations the Friends' ministers find their sup- port mainly from business enterprises, and instead of set sermons on the Sab- bath deliver extemporaneous addresses suggested by readings from the Bible.
As before remarked popular education received early and substantial atten- tion. A private school was supported in the Abbott neighborhood at a very early day; Miss Gilbert from Newburg was the teacher, but like many a later
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follower of that noble profession, she left the work to brighten the home of a prominent professional man, Dr. Goodwin.
In 1817 a school-house was built at Spear's Corners, and Marshall Miller wielded the birch there with eminent success for some time.
At Milan village, two years later, Miss Susie Williams opened the first school taught there, in a new barn owned by Squire Merry. The second school-house in the township was erected on the Eagle Tavern corner (East Church street and the public square), where the rebuilded town hall now stands. In 1824 the old yellow school-house was built on West Church street, after- wards removed to Center street, and finally, with the other small school build- ings, converted into the Cooper business block at the top of the hill.
When the present school system was inaugurated in 1849, Milan was prompt to avail herself of its privileges, not however without considerable de- bate and attendant excitement. The members of the first school board, and Allen Bartow, who still resides in North Milan, were strong advocates of the cause of general education. The latter, a young mechanic at the time, made his maiden speech defending it in reply to a then moneyed citizen, since some- what unfortunate in business. The merchant has, however, for years, been an ardent friend of education and free educational institutions.
The old brick school building on South Center street was erected the year after the enabling law was passed, and was one of the most substantial and convenient public school buildings of its time to be found in the State.
The present fine and beautiful structure was built in 1884, at a cost of over twenty thousand dollars. It is of brick, trimmed in sandstone, is in the form of a cross, and has all the modern conveniences. It is well lighted, and the architecture is very fine. The lot extending across from Center street to Main is well graded, and forms quite an ample play- ground for the number of pupils usually attending. The teaching corps in 1888 was J. R. Sherman, superinten- dent and high school principal; Miss Annie Bassett, A and B grammar school teacher ; Miss Hattie Markham, A and B primary ; Miss Retta Traub, C and D primary. The schools are in a flourishing condition.
The first school board, elected in 1849, was composed of the following named men, prominent at the time in local affairs, and in several instances becoming quite widely known in business enterprises at other points in the State : Daniel Hamilton, J. H. Kennedy, George Barney, Hiram McMillan, S. F. Taylor and Harry Chase. The first superintendent employed was C. F. Royce.
Huron Institute .- This institution of learning is located near the south end of Seminary street, adjoining the cemetery, and was incorporated in 1832. The first principal was Rev. E. Barber, and his first class of six pupils was conducted in the office of Squire J. Smith. By means of some four thousand dollars, half of which was subscribed by Milan citizens, the present brick structure was erect -
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ed before the close of the year 1832, and the class increased very rapidly until at the close of that year there was an enrollment of forty-six gentlemen and forty-four ladies. Henry Ballentine, who afterward became a missionary to India, was assistant principal at first, but he was soon succeeded by B. Judson, who was assisted in the work by Mrs. E. A. Hubbard and Mrs. C. Stuart. Mr. S. C. Hickok succeeded Principal Barber in 1835. Mr. Hickok was fol- lowed in 1843 by H. W. Williams, and he in 1848 by Rev. L. Bliss. In 1850 T. S. Bradley became principal, and between this and IS58 N. Barrows, D. Sayles and J. McKee were respectively at the head of the institution.
Rev. Asa Brainard and Prof. Samuel F. Newman leased the building and estab- lished the Western Reserve Normal School in 1850. This school was a decided success, and a very great benefit to the people of the village, as its reputation became so good under the joint management of these gentlemen, and the subse- quent management of Mr. Newman alone, that students, and even residents, were brought to Milan from great distances to secure the benefits of the cul- ture which it offered at a merely nominal cost. To the energetic and scholarly efforts of Prof. Newman, the writer most cheerfully credits what little subse- quent success has crowned his efforts in the profession, and no doubt very many others whose success in life has been eminently more marked, would as cheerfully add their testimony had they the opportunity so to do.
Miss Delia Palmer, in 1871, took charge of the Normal, and was very suc- cessfully assisted in her efforts by Prof. Charles Williams, a gentleman of fine social qualities and of scholarly attainments, since deceased, as is also his asso- ciate in the work, the beloved and successful lady already named. Miss Pal- mer conducted the school alone after the first year or so, until it was leased for a year or two by Prof. Lawrence, and afterward came under the management of Prof. B. B. Hall, the present principal. It is no flattery to say that Mr. Hall is a school man of the broadest experience, having been engaged for years in both public and private school work, he has a thorough knowledge of the needs of teachers in their profession. To prepare them for this work is the principal business of the school, although it has also an excellent business course, and furnishes facilities for literary and scientific culture of no mean order.
This institution has varied in attendance from fifty to nearly two hundred. Its palmiest days, up to the present time, were between 1865 and 1875, but the attendance has never been worthy of the management nor of the gener- ous spirit of the Presbyterian society which erected it, has ever kept it in repair, leased it at a nominal rental, and assumed a deep interest in the char- acter of the school, as well as of those by whom it has been conducted from time to time.
Alma mater, if my pen Seems to speak as flatterer's tongue, Bear with him who views again Dear, familiar scenes, when young.
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Reader, if a cynic's smile
Seek to circle o'er your face, Think of youth, return once more To some old familiar place ; Then condemn me, if you will, I'll praise my alma mater still, And honor, with a childish pride, Those who recited at my side.
Grand Army of the Republic .- Cranston Post No. 73. This Post was organ- ized in 1881, with the following named officers and charter members: H. N. Shipman, C .; John P. Mowry, S. V.C .; M. K. Lee, J. V.C .; J. C. Fitch, adjutant; P. A. Gordon, surgeon; C. H. Wilson, chaplain; John A. McLain, Q. M .; T. J. Oleary, O. D .; W. H. Bemis, O. C .; Silas Brown, S. M .; J. Eggleston, Q. M. S .; A. Foreman, J. C. Bartow, William Eastman, William P. Poole, and J. Harble.
A Woman's Relief Corps was organized in the spring of 1888, with the following ladies as charter members : Mrs. Emma Elliot, Mrs. Lucinda Calla- nan, Mrs. Mary Gordon, Mrs. Emma Shupe, Mrs. Kate Luff, Mrs. Louisa Eg- gleston, Mrs. Fidelia McLain, Mrs. Rebecca Schaeffer, Mrs. Elizabeth Bassett, Mrs. Louisa Burch, Mrs. Julia Roscoe, Mrs. Helen Roscoe, Mrs. Sarah Oakley, Mrs. Sarah Marsh, Mrs. Alice Roscoe, Mrs. Mary Brown, Miss Eliza Schaeffer, Miss Annie Bassett, and Miss Lizzie Bassett.
Secret Societies .- Free Masonry was introduced into Milan in 1853, Erie Lodge, F. and A. M., being established in that year, with the following char- ter members : S. F. Taylor, John Smith, D. Mills, R. S. Nash, John McIntyre, Charles Bradley, Lyman Fay, John Honsinger, and John Stevens.
Milan Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, was chartered in 1872, with the fol- lowing members: Dr. E. L. Perry, John W. Sisty, Castleton Roscoe, Darwin Fay, William Lewis, J. F. Webster, P. P. Parker, A. Youman, S. Hollister. George A. Kline, and J. S. Felton. These lodges are at present in a very thriving condition, and include in their membership many of the older and most honored citizens of the village and surrounding country.
Odd Fellowship was inaugurated here at an early day. Probably no man in the vicinity was more active in this fraternity in those days, and for years afterward, than Mr. Mann. Thomas C. McEwen, now a resident of Sandusky. installed Milan Lodge No. 105, in the spring of 1848, and the lodge flourished for many years, but meetings were subsequently discontinued. The cause as- signed for the failure of the lodge is the enlistment of a large number of its members in the United States service during the civil. war.
The present society is styled Marks Lodge, No. 717, being named in honor of Rev. Marks, so long an Episcopalian minister at Huron, O., and an Odd Fellow of high standing. This lodge was installed in the fall of 1882, by Grand Master J. Burket, of Findlay, O. The charter members were F. H. Weaver, S. G. Saunders, P. J. Slocum, J. Eggleston, R. Croft, H. L. Wilson, and D. J.
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Wilcoxson. The lodge now meets regularly on Monday nights at its pleasant and spacious hall over the Milan Bank. There is at present a lodge member- ship of about thirty, which is not bad, considering the size of the town, and the recency of its organization.
Business Interests .- Among the earliest business establishments, none were of more value to the town than Mr. Merry's mill. People came for miles to secure its services, and in many cases the rush was so great that parties were compelled to remain several days awaiting their "turn at the wheel," as it were. This fact, with the great influx of prospectors, and the great number of farmers from the South (sometimes as high as five or six hundred in a sin- gle day), led to the erection of numerous hotels, the first of which was that of Mr. Fowler, already mentioned. The old Eagle Tavern was built in 1824, on the present town hall lot, and was a very commodious structure for its time. It was burned in the seventies. The Knowlton Block, adjoining the present bank building, was at one time used as a hotel, and numerous other buildings served their time in the same capacity.
On the brow of the North Milan hill stands a large hotel building, erected in 1835 by Hazen Horner, and for many years patronized extensively by the people driving to Huron from the south, as well as by local parties. A fine dancing hall, erected to accommodate a demand of the times, was patronized for years, but burned to the ground soon after the close of the civil war. The Horner Hotel had a very lively rival in that of Mr. Ansel Page at Bailey's Corners, where John Everingham and family and Widow Bailey now reside. George Supner also came in for a share of the patronage during the stirring times between 1835 and 1850.
Messrs. Horner and Page raised very large families, and their descendants may be found among the active business men and cultured ladies of several States besides Ohio.
The old distillery, built in 1819 by Mason & Mears, created a market for grain and hogs that continued until it was burned some years ago.
J. M. Choate erected a carding-mill in 1821, and started the business which is at present the carding and woolen-mill of J. Brown, enjoying so wide a reputation for substantial goods. About the same time N. Standart opened a general store, and Ralph and George Lockwood opened a store very soon after. The latter business afterward became the well-known house of F., G. and R. Lockwood, now Ralph Lockwood, No. 2 Lockwood Block. Frank Lockwood, formerly of this firm, and very active in securing the W. and L. E. R. R., is considered one of the best accountants in Ohio. R. Lockwood, sr., was the first postmaster of Milan, called at the time Merry's Mills, in honor of the proprietor, Squire Merry. H. Lockwood began the hat manufacturing business here in 1824, and conducted it with varying success for some time. The first Lockwood Block was a frame building and was built in 1827,
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but burned some years later, and the present brick block was erected in its place.
Looking to-day at the quiet, peaceful old village, with its abundance of time for recreation and rest, with its beautiful drives, picturesque park, and general air of comfort and freedom from care concerning the world of business, it seems difficult to realize that in a single day thirty to forty thousand busheis of grain have been loaded at its wharf; that the old canal in a single year paid over a hundred thousand dollars in tolls; and that there was an export trade of $825,000 in one year (1844), and an import trade of but two hundred thou- sand dollars less.
Prior to the War of 1812 there were about one hundred and ninety people in Milan township. F. W. Fowler gives the names of heads of families at that time as follows: Hosmer Merry, R. Pixley, G. Harvey, in section one ; David Abbott, D. Barrett, J. Ward, E. Pollock, J. Leach, N. Glines, A. Mason, and A. Collins, in section two; T. Jeffry, Josiah Smith, William Smith. P. Tillot- son, George Colvin, D. Kinney, E. Kinney, S. Kinney, and D. Smith, in sec- tion three; section four containing the families of C. Parker, W. Perry, J. Payne, W. Hubbard, J. Guthrie, William Howard, A. Wilson, and John El- dridge. The war, as stated, annoyed the early settlers, and when Hull's paroled troops were returning home, a great panic was created here and throughout the Firelands by the report of red-coats in force on the lake shore.
Many families came into this section from 1830 to 1850, whose descendants form the staunch farmers and business men of the present time. The popula- tion of the township and corporate village was 2,239 in 1880. The corpora- tion limits, which were established in 1833, have never been extended, though an effort was made a few years ago to extend the lines to include Avery Station on the "Nickel Plate Railroad." The town has contained, from 1850 to the present time, about twelve or thirteen hundred people, but the corporation contained only a few more than eight hundred in 1880.
School facilities are furnished to many outside the corporation, as the special district limits extend much further in some directions.
Among the present active business houses of Milan are A. Streck's meat market, the Lockwood stores already mentioned, A. P. Mowry & Son's hard- ware, which was established many years ago; but is still abreast of the times in all respects, M. Harter's old and well established drug trade, the old reliable merchant tailoring establishment of Henry Kurtz, Star Flour Mills, for a con- siderable time operated by William Winslow and L. Roscoe, and Samuel Fish & Son, who succeeded to the old Turner Tile Factory in East Milan, and have per- fected the machinery and reduced the manufacture of drain-tile and plant-pots to a science, making the smoothest and most durable quality of each. Their business has justified the erection of substantial factory buildings, as well as of tasty and comfortable homes on their pleasant lots above the picturesque
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Village Creek Valley. Among professional men are Dr. A. B. Storch, well established here, but about settling in Florida; E. L. Perry, dentist, (a descendant of Commodore O. H. Perry,) has been a remarkably successful practitioner here for a great many years, receiving patronage from surround- ing towns, and even from Sandusky and Toledo; Dr. P. A. Gordon, formerly a United States surgeon, a man who has traveled extensively and enjoyed the thorough culture and varied experiences that produce broad views as well as professional skill; Dr. W. J. Esch, another allopathist, is an energetic young man, of broad views, fine education, and had an extensive practice, which he left recently to take charge of his deceased father's practice in Cleveland ; Dr. Simmons, the homeopathist, has a very large practice among the patrons of this " school "; W. B. Starbird, a rising young attorney, has a very large law practice in Erie and other Northern Ohio counties ; Attorney H. N. Shipman, an old resident, is a man of some ability. Among the more recent establish- ments may be found A. H. Case's model drug store; Minor Curtis & Son, machine headquarters for several States in certain engines and threshers; William Eastman's fine grocery ; O. Bassett & Son's "Common Sense Grocery," with Louis Cline's Park Hotel, erected in 1880, but burned in 1888, and Bert Dixon's new clothing store. The Stoakes's automatic pen factory, and the A. J. Mowry & Co.'s spoke factory, with the comparatively new but improving ax-helve factory of Milo McCrillis, no doubt have each a trade extending over as wide a territory as that of many a larger establishment in our manufacturing cities. A. J. Mowry is entitled to great credit for the energy manifested in keeping up manufacturing interests here, and of J. W. Stoakes we shall have occasion to speak later on.
B. Ashley's jewelry and repair store was for many years (nearly half a century) a landmark on the south side of the square. Mr. Ashley has long been a pillar of the Presbyterian Church, like Dr. Stuart, A. P. Mowry, L. Stowe, C. Gwin, P. Comstock, Mrs. J. D. Smith, Mrs. Frank Lockwood, J. C. Lockwood, Mrs. E. Andrews, Dr. Galpin, Harriet Gordon, John Sisty, Judge Taylor, Squire Fay, Dr. Storch, H. Horner, Squire Emmons, A. S. Case, W. Winslow, and others working in the interests of the church without expecta- tion of earthly reward. Mr. J. C. Lockwood has recently erected a lovely little brick chapel for the Sunday-school at a cost exceeding three thousand dollars.
F. H. Weaver has a jewelry establishment in the new S. A. Lockwood block, on the west side of the Public Square. It is quite new and up to the times in its management and appointments. Olson's carriage shop and Coop- er's general repair and exchange establishment are also institutions of value to the business interests of the village. Among the old families whose names have not come into our article as yet, we mention from a somewhat faulty memory, the families of Kneeland Townsend, Carlos Colton, Joseph Hough, Charles Edridge, Judson Perrin, William Daniels, D. Dimon, William Dimon,
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William Raynor, Dr. Renner, Squire Emmons, Captain Dean, Henry Pen- field, H. Stoddard, William Mackey, H. McMillen, Captain Hicks, Captain Coulter, Squire Burt, O. Ruggles, the Roots, Hawleys, Lowrys, Roscoes, Fays, Minards, Richards, Gibbs, Roberts, Schaeffers, Williams and Daleys. There are others whose names are equally prominent in the development of the town and township. Milan has furnished a goodly number of men whose active brains and untiring energy have made them famous in a greater or less degree. T. A. Edison, the celebrated electrician, must lead the list. This remarkable inventor was born in Milan in 1847 ; his sister, Mrs. H. Page, living at Page's Corners, down the Huron River, remembers well when she carried him in her arms a sickly child. A beautiful and costly memorial to his mother, in the shape of a window in the Presbyterian Church, was erected by Mr. Edison, but was destroyed with the church in the fire of 1888. Zenus King, the famous inventor of the iron suspension bridge, which bears his name, was at one time a resident of Milan. J. W. Stoakes, the inventor of the Stoakes's automatic shading pen, which produces a broad line of several dif- ferent tints at a single stroke, and has attracted very wide attention, is an old Milan boy, recently returned to his native village, where he has established a factory and is doing an extensive and increasing business in making and ship- ping these pens.
Dr. P. A. Gordon, only son of Robert Gordon, was a surgeon in the United States army during the Rebellion, and has since had as large a practice as he could attend to in and around Milan. Recently the doctor, who was always of an inventive turn of mind, has completed, among other things, a nut lock, of a very simple and durable nature, that is finding great favor among manu- facturers as its merits become known.
Newspapers .- Among the earliest newspapers of Erie county was the Milan Free Press, which was conducted for some time by W. Jenkins, and the Tribune, established in 1848 by Clark Waggoner, who was afterward connected promi- nently with the Toledo Commercial. Other papers have flourished from time to time, notably the Milan Bugle, recently sold by its editor, S. D. Brady, to the Milan Advertiser, which is at present edited by a prominent young at- torney, W. B. Starbird, and has been published by Messrs. Pratt, Balsley, and Gibbs, in succession since 1868, when it was established by Mr. Pratt and others
Milan village, since its incorporation in 1833, has been presided over by the following named mayors: John Smith, Richard Burt, John Smith, S. F. Taylor, T. R. Hopkins, E. B. Atherton, J. J. Penfield, L. Galpin, A. Page, George Dimon, V. Fries, Darwin Fay, W. E. Lockwood, Dr. E. L. Perry, J. W. Stoakes, Dr. E. L. Perry, and the present incumbent, J. W. Stoakes.
Though Milan, as a town, has missed its possibilities of growth and devel- opment, it is still a lovely place of residence, and its people appreciate the
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attractions which it offers in the way of educational facilities and social re- lations.
A disastrous fire in 1888 swept the south side of the public square and East Church street, destroying the Presbyterian church, the town hall, Cline's Hotel, and two business blocks. The work of rebuilding is rapidly progress- ing. The town hall and business blocks are nearly completed, and Louis Cline is erecting a fine brick hotel in place of his Park House, so justly popu- lar with traveling men before the fire. Will Blair, his genial son-in-law, will still continue as clerk. Provision is being made against the recurrence of a destructive conflagration by the introduction of a system of water works. Let us hope that there may never be an occasion for testing their power amid such terrifying scenes as accompanied the last disastrous fire.
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