USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
This discussion is concerned only with the Huffman retarding basin, taking its name from Huffman's mill on Mad river in Bath township. The scheme contemplates the taking over of approximately 7,324 acres of land
(19)
290
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
in the township, the condemned tract including the town of Osborn. The head of the retarding basin will be covered by a dam 3,340 feet long, the top of which will be at an elevation of 850 feet. The dam will occupy parts of the southwest and northwest quarter of sections 7 and 8. At an elevation of 785 feet, which is the average surface elevation of the valley at the point where the dam is to be built, the dam will be 380 feet thick.
The construction of the dam will require the relocation of the Spring- field pike, the Ohio electric railway, and the Big Four railroad on the south side of the valley, and of the Valley pike and the Erie railroad on the north side. The concrete spillway weir will be located on solid rock near the Mad river channel on the south side of the valley. Through the base of this structure will pass the three equal horseshoe-shaped outlet conduits. The entrances to these conduits will be rounded so as to facilitate the flow of water as much as possible; and the conduits will empty through carefully tapered channels into a single combined passageway leading back to the river bed.
FATE OF TWO VILLAGES AT STAKE.
The question naturally arises here-what is to become of the two towns of Fairfield and Osborn in Bath township? It is not yet definitely decided, but it seems certain that the town of Fairfield will be practically unaffected. It lies at the extreme eastern edge of the basin in section 27, and, as origi- nally planned, could have had perfect protection by the construction of a levee on the west side of the town. However, the residents and property holders, rather than have to bear the expense of the levee, agreed to accept such damages as might fall on them in case they were invaded by a flood. It now seems that the town will not be protected by a levee.
The case of Osborn is quite different. The town lies about three miles northeast of the dam, a distance which under ordinary floods renders it prac- tically immune from danger. However, in case of a flood of extreme height the water may back up into the town to varying depths, but not to exceed nine feet. For this reason it appears that the town will be doomed and have to be condemned.
At the present time it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accu- racy the amount of money it will take to pay for the condemned land in Bath township. The nearest estimate that has been made by the conservancy board of the value of land in the township which it will be necessary to purchase-and exclusive of the town of Osborn-is $1,500,000. It will cost practically the same amount to purchase the town. It means a complete change in the northwest corner of Bath township, a change that only future developments will be able to realize.
29I
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
FAIRFIELD.
The village of Fairfield is the third oldest village in the county according to the plat records on file in the recorder's office, its plat bearing the date of March 12, 1816. The proprietors of the town were Joseph Tatman, Samuel Casad and William Casad, the latter two being brothers, and all three men among the earliest settlers in the township. The village was laid out on the main road between Springfield and Dayton, this being the determin- ing factor in its location. The town is one of the few in the county that was originally laid out "square with the world," its streets being laid out due north and south and east and west. There were one hundred and fifty-one lots in the original plat and it has never been necessary to make any additions to the town to take care of the increased population. It never had a chance to be anything more than a mere hamlet after the Mad River railroad went through the township and missed it by a mile. The subsequent establish- ment of the town of Osborn on the railroad, a mile from Fairfield, completely dashed whatever hopes the people of Fairfield may have entertained as to the future of their village.
But time brings great changes. It is an ill wind that brings no good to someone or something. While it is yet too early to tell what is going to happen, there is now every indication that the March flood of 1913 is going to mean a new Fairfield. The building of the great Huffman retard- ing basin is going to bring about a change in the location of the tracks of the two railroads through the township, the obliteration of the town of Osborn-and, as it appears at this writing, the rejuvenation of the town of Fairfield. As now planned the two steam roads will be relocated so as to pass east of Fairfield, the electric line already going through the village, and the town will soon be as thriving a place of business as its unfortunate sister town. The town is enjoying a boom (spring of 1918), more lots are being sold, more civic energy is now manifest than at any time since the first railroad ran through the township on New Year's Day, 1850. The next history of the county will undoubtedly have an interesting story to tell of the rebirth of Fairfield, but the present historian can only give a hint as to what this story may be.
Little is known of the early history of the town of Fairfield. The hundred years which have elapsed since the village was first laid out have seen a succession of business enterprises come and go; a succession of physi- cians ; a succession of artisans of all kinds ; a succession of citizens who have been glad to call it their home. Its history has not been unlike that of a thousand other towns of the same size scattered over the great Middle West of our country. It has had its ups and downs, its lean years, and its fat years, but through the century of its existence it has quietly gone on its
292
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
way, never pretending to be anything more than a village, never assuming any metropolitan airs. It has had its schools and its churches and these have faithfully performed their respective functions to the end that education and religion might be diffused among its people. And thus has it lived for a century.
SOME EARLY HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD.
All of the early history of Fairfield which is here presented was prepared by Mrs. A. L. Shuey for a special edition of the Osborn Local, July 4, 1895, and the historian is glad to give her credit for preserving much valuable data which would otherwise have been lost forever.
The first dry-goods and grocery store was opened by Daniel Shoup in 1832. The first school house made its appearance in 1829; the first flour-mill was erected and operated by a man of the name of Crawford, the millwright being Madison Dryden; the first blacksmiths were William Hinkle and Reuben Casad. The first hotel was opened by Elisha Searls, the date not known, although it is certain that Stephen Reader had a hotel here as early as 1831. In fact, it is stated that there were three hotels in operation in the '303. Another of the proprietors was Adam Compton.
Jesse Ragan was an early wagon-maker, his shop being in a large double log house. Conrad Curtis was a cabinet-maker and funeral director, and had the first turning-lathe in the town. Joseph Light was a grocer of the '30S and '40s, later adding a tin-shop to his grocery. Peter Keplinger succeeded him in the business. Other business men of the ante-bellum days included the following: Joseph Deveres and Charles Cummins, tanners; John Louk, Abraham Brake, Henry R. Musser and a man of the name of Holloway, butchers; Joseph Cohen, Louis McCarty and J. D. Bacon, tailors; Robert Wilkinson, Filbert Bacon and one Wiferd, shoemakers; Jonathan Coalston, Joseph Coalston, John Griner and William Snediker, carpenters; Elias Cord and Arthur Coffield, coopers ; John and Peter Stull, plasterers; - - Ginger, gunsmith ; Selma, stonecutter; Joseph Kneisley, blacksmith.
Dr. Randolph R. Greene and Doctor Rush constructed a brick building in 1834 for their offices, the same building being in later years used by Peter Lang as a meat market. For many years the Methodists had the only church in the town, one of the early pastors being James Finley. The first person interred in the village cemetery was a Mrs. Hare, the second, John Peck, the latter's interment taking place in 1849. The year 1834 saw William Low as justice of the peace and William K. Sturge as constable.
In the latter part of the 'zos the town boasted of one dry goods store, one drug store, two groceries, and a so-called notion store. It also had at this time two wagonshops, two blacksmith shops and one grist-mill. Three
293
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
physicians were then trying to keep the people in sufficiently good health to provide a living for themselves, and the one lawyer hoped to keep them out of all legal entanglements. Their religious life was ministered unto by three churches, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist and Reformed. A school building of three rooms sufficed to take care of all the children of the town and immediate community.
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN FAIRFIELD.
The village of Fairfield now has a population of about three hundred and fifty, with one hundred and five dwelling houses. . It is now smaller than it was prior to the Civil War, its population, as nearly as the oldest citizens can recall, really having reached its maximum in the '50s, at which time it had about five hundred people. There seems to be no doubt that the building of the great Huffman retarding basin will mean a very considerable addition to the population, but it is impossible in the spring of 1918 to esti- mate how much this will mean to the town. Lots are now selling for vary- ing prices up to five hundred dollars and this would seem to indicate that some people have the idea that the town is going to witness a heavy addi- tion to its population.
The interurban line, connecting Dayton and Springfield, has been in operation through the village of Fairfield since February 2, 1900. From forty to fifty men in the spring of 1918 were living in the town and making the daily trip back and forth to Dayton where they found employment, this being made possible because of the electric line. As now planned the two steam roads running through Osborn will be relaid about half a mile east of Fairfield, and this will mean that the town will expand in that direction.
The town has had two notable fires in its history. The first one was in 1868, when the buildings on Dayton street from the southwest corner of Dayton and Xenia streets were burned. The other fire occurred on March 26, 1908, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning, when the opera house burned to the ground. This building had formerly been the Baptist church, but after its congregation had dwindled away, it was converted into an opera house. Another fire of small dimensions, but with the only death that has ever resulted from a fire in the town, was the one which destroyed the town hall in the latter part of the 'zos. There was a prisoner in the lock-up by the name of Greene, and it was always supposed that he set fire to the building. He was burned with the building. The present little frame struc- ture used as the town hall was built immediately after the fire. The town hall now contains the mayor's office and a lock-up, the latter having a sub- stantial iron cage in it.
294
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
In the "good old days" the town had its share of saloons, there being three at one time. The last saloon, operated by one William H. Parsons, disappeared in the latter part of the 'gos. The next to the last vender of intoxicating liquors was Leo Weldy, who betook himself and his stock of goods to .Dayton. The town has now been without a licensed saloon for more than twenty years.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
From the best evidence it appears that the village was first incorpo- rated in the spring of 1834. At least, the first code of ordinances for its government bears the date of May 6, 1834. The first mayor was Robert Mercer. The mayors of the town since 1834 have served in the following order, Robert Mercer, 1834; M. B. Hill, 1835; Robert Mercer, 1837; S. E. Bennett, 1842; Charles Cummins, 1852; Robert Mercer, 1858; G. R. T. Clark, 1860; William Smith, 1867; John Harrison, 1870; William Greene, 1874; Dr. E. Myers, 1879; N. T. Guthridge, 1880; A. L. Shuey, 1886; C. R. Titlow, 1902; Zebulon T. Hebble, 1908; Otto A. Wilson, 1912.
The complete list of town officials in 1918 follows: O. A. Wilson, mayor; C. F. Snediker, clerk; George H. Stiles, treasurer; John Esterline, marshal; John Esterline, assessor; A. W. Koogler, O. A. Wilson, Frank Graham, Charles F. Downey, H. A. Cosler and R. O. Routzong, councilmen.
WRIGHT AVIATION FIELD.
The war department located one of its several aviation fields adjoining the village of Fairfield in the summer of 1917 and this has resulted in more people visiting the town during the past year than in all the previous years of its history. The field, known as the Wilbur Wright Aviation Field, con- tains about twenty-five hundred acres and is one of the best-equipped fields which the war department has provided for the training of aviators. There are accommodations for several thousand men, and in the summer of 1918 the field was filled to its fullest capacity. The first soldiers arrived at the camp on June 2, 1917, and there have been some men there ever since, al- though during the winter of 1917-18 most of them were taken to southern camps.
FAIRFIELD BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY IN 1918.
Automobile dealer, William Evans; blacksmith, D. E. Knisley, Edwin Knisley : carpenters and contractors, Snediker Brothers; cement workers, Sower Brothers; churches, Methodist Episcopal, Reformed; garage, Adam Longstretch; general store, Frank Herr; grist mill, Orville Armstrong; grocery, Wesley Koogler, William L. Douglass, R. O. Routzong; hotel, C.
295
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
L. Hoagland; ice-cream parlor, William L. Douglass; justice of the peace, A. L. Shuey ; mayor, O. A. Wilson ; meat market, Wesley Koogler; notary, A. L. Shuey, O. A. Wilson; painters and decorators, Wilson & Bressler ; physician, H. A. Cosler; postmaster, W. L. Douglass; restaurant, Hufford Hagenbuck, F. O. Wingart, Harry Kline; shoe cobbler, John Beaver; saw- mill, Downey Brothers.
CHAPTER XVI.
MIAMI TOWNSHIP.
Miami township was organized out of parts of Xenia and Bath town- ships pursuant to an order of the commissioners, dated June 8, 1808. The original boundary of the township as defined by the commissioners was as follows :
Ordered by the commissioners that a new Township be laid off in the county of Greene. Beginning at the northeast corner of Section, No. 6, in Town 3, 8th Range; then south to the northeast corner of section of No. 5 in the 3rd Township 7th Range thence due East to the East boundary of Greene county to be called and known by the name of Miami township. And that the first meeting of Electors in said township for the purpose of holding Township Election be in the house of David S. Brodrick at the Yellow Springs on the last Saturday in June, inst.
Isaiah Grover was ordered to survey the south boundary of the new township from where it crossed the Little Miami river to the eastern bound- ary of the county.
This description -is very difficult to follow, and particularly because so much of the township was in what is now Clark county. There was no Clark county until March 1, 1818, and consequently all of the northern townships of Greene county included parts of what became Clark county in that year. The northwest corner of the Miami township of 1808 adjoined Champaign county and was in the present Mad River township of Clark county, two miles north of the northeast corner of Bath township as now constituted. From this corner of Miami township its west line extended south seven miles to the south line of Bath township; thence east to the pres- ent east line of Greene county ; thence north to the Champaign county line ; thence west to the place of beginning.
The township lost a considerable stretch of its territory when Ross was organized on March 4, 1811. When Clark county was set off on March I, 1818, Miami township was reduced to practically its present limits. It took a second act of the General Assembly to straighten out the Greene-Clark line. It appears that Gen. Benjamin Whiteman, then a resident of Clifton, had been thrown into the newly organized Clark county and he objected. He raised such an objection and was possessed of so much influence that he had a bill introduced into the General Assembly for the express purpose of leg- islating him back into Greene county. The act of January 25, 1819, so changed the Greene-Clark line that Whiteman was left in Greene county.
297
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
A complete explanation of this northern boundary line is given in the chapter on County Organization.
But this was not the end of the troubles that the county commissioners had in getting the limits of Miami township fixed as they are today. The records show that no fewer than three times in after years, efforts were made to rectify the line between Miami and Ross townships. These three efforts were in 1828, 1832 and 1843. Let the commissioners' records tell the story :
Ordered by the Commissioners that Moses Collier, Esq., do proceed on or before the 14th inst. to Survey and mark the line between Miami and Ross Townships. Beginning at the North East corner of Xenia Township and running north until it strikes the Clark County line. June 5, 1828.
Ordered that the line between Miami & Ross Townships be changed and established in the manner following: To start at the present corner of said Townships being an elm in the line of Xenia Township, running northwesterly with the said Xenia Township line 145 poles so as to include the new road leading to South Charleston; thence a due North course until it strikes the line of Clark County. March 7, 1832.
Samuel Kyle was appointed by the commissioners at their June session, 1843, to survey and make a plot of a line of partition between Ross and Miami townships on a petition presented to the commissioners to attach a part of Ross to Miami township. On August 11, 1843, Kyle made the fol- lowing report :
Pursuant to an order from the Honorable Board of Cimmissioners of Greene County, bearing date of their term of June, 1843, requiring the survey and the plot of the line of partition between Ross and Miami Townships. To begin at the new corner of Miami Township in Xenia Township, North line Running Eastwardly with said line to the original corner of Miami in the Ross [township] line; thence South with [the] Xenia and Ross [township] line to the south line of Wright's survey; thence Eastwardly with the line of said survey and the North line of William Thorn's [survey], North to the Clark County line; thence with the county line West to the Miami and Ross corner in said county line; thence with the line of said townships to the Beginning. The undersigned proceeded to survey the same, Beginning at a stake, white oak, hickory and black oak, southeast corner of Miami Township and running thence S. 89 [degrees] E. 145 poles crossing Massies creek at 120 poles to a burr oak, elm and jack oak [at] corner to Xenia Township ; thence S. I [degree] W. 394 poles to the two hickories and elm in Xenia Town- ship line; thence with the southerly line of Wright's survey N. 56 [degrees] E. 802 poles to [Wright's and William Thorn's corner] three Burr oaks; thence N. 392 poles crossing Massies creek at 293 poles to a stake in the line of Clark County; thence West 12 poles to a stake; thence North 175 poles to a stake; thence N. 861/2 [degrees] W. 794 poles to a stake new corner to Miami Township; thence South 673 poles to the Beginning. Con- taining 3,939 acres or 6 15/100 square miles. All of which is respectfully submitted. August 11th, 1843. SAMUEL KYLE, S. G. C.
VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS.
Miami township as originally constituted had considerable military land within its limits, but since it has been reduced to its present size it has lost most of it. All that part of the township east and south of the Little Miami
298
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
river falls within the Virginia Military Survey. This leaves about twenty- four sections of Congress land in the township. There are only seven mili- tary surveys wholly or in part in the township. The proprietors of these surveys, their number and acreage are set forth in the following table :
Proprietor.
Survey No. Acres.
Samuel Finley
435
2,200
Francis Whiting
438
1,000
James Galt
610
600
Robert Randolph
6II
1,000
James Fowler
4730
50
Samuel Oldham
1185
1,000
James Galloway, Jr.
7320
250
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
1
1
1
TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.
Miami township is all within the basin of the Little Miami river, the river flowing across the township from northeast to southwest, a little south of the middle of the township. The surface is just rolling enough to admit of easy natural drainage. Yellow Springs creek, which runs through the town of the same name, is a stream of considerable size and one of the most picturesque water courses in the county. The valuable out-cropping of stone has made the stone industry of Miami township one of its most profitable industries for the past half century and more.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The Miami township of 1808 included a wide stretch of territory and it must be remembered that it took in a goodly strip off of the present Clark county. The lister's report on the township for 1808 gives the following tax- payers for that year, the first year of the existence of the township: John Adams, John Ambler, John Anderson, William Anderson, William Andrew, William Alban, Thomas Barnes, William Berry, John Berry, Thomas Bar- ton, John Blue, David S. Broderick, Owen Batman, James Beck, Widow Bradfute, Widow Curry, Elizabeth Currie, William Cottren, Cornelius Collins. John Calloway, Widow Dewitt, Owen Davis, Rachel Duffy, Robert Davis, Ephraim Enlow, William Edge, Thomas Freeman, Arthur Forbes, William Freal. Daniel Foley, Michael Folm, John Garlough, David Garrison, John Gowdy, Mathew Gibson, Widow Goldsby, Sarah Goldsby, John Goldsby, George Goldsby, Edward Goldsby, John Graham, David Hopping, Ezekiel Hopping, Samuel Hulie, David Humphreyville, Christopher Hulinger, Joseph Huston, Jacob Hubble, William Johnson, John Knox, Elisha Leslie, Justice Luse, Christopher Lightfoot, George Logan, Daniel Mann, Maurice Miller, Benjamin Miller, Jacob Miller, John Morland, Sr., John Morland, Jr., Will-
299
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
iam Morland, William M. Martin, James Martin, Robert Mitchell, Andrew Moodie, William Miars, John McClelland, Alexander McCullough, Moses Napp, William Passel, Michael Peterson, Alexander Russell, Conrad Rich- ards, Abraham Runion, John Riley, John Ray, John Rosegrants, John Stew- art, Samuel Stewart, James Stewart, Abraham Stout, Isaac Stout, Sebastian Shrouf, Christopher Shrouf, Evan Stevens, Francis Sipe, Henry Taylor, George Taylor, Cornelius Vandevanter, David Vance, John Vance, John Walker, Robert Walburn, James Willetts, Ebenezer Wheeler and John Williams. The lister was James Stewart.
In the above list are scheduled ninety-six taxpayers, eight of whom are women. How many of these ninety-six lived in the township as it now exists will never be known. But the list does contain all that actually did, live in the township who were taxpayers. How many were there who paid no taxes is another point which is impossible to determine, but there must have been a few of this class. They were merely squatters and most of them soon moved on to other places.
THE COMING OF LEWIS DAVIS.
The absence of any written records of the early lives of the pioneers of Miami township renders it difficult to set forth at this late day much definite information regarding the sturdy men and women who braved the wilderness of the township in the fore part of the last century. The name of the first settler is a matter of dispute. Some asseverate that it was a man of the name of Lewis Davis; others are equally certain that it was a German of the name of Sebastian Shroufe. It seems, however, that the honor falls to Davis.
Lewis Davis lies today beneath a large boulder along the state road six miles west of Bellefontaine, Logan county, Ohio, and his story is buried with him. From scattering sources of information it is possible to make out a traditional record of his career so far as Greene county is concerned. It appears that Davis was living on the present site of Dayton about 1800, and that there he met an Indian maid who, for some reason, struck up an acquain- tance with him, or it may have been vice versa; at least, so the story goes, this daughter of the forest informed Davis that there was a wonderful country around the vicinity of the present Yellow Springs, that there was a spring there which was well worthy of a visit. Davis is not said to have married the girl, although it would have added a flavor to the story if he had, but he did go to see the country described by her, and was so favorably impressed with it that he went to Cincinnati and entered the tract now comprising the village of Yellow Springs. This much is certain, whether it was the result of his interview with the Indian maid or not.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.