USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 39
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NEW EPOCH IN YELLOW SPRINGS.
The year 1846 may very properly be taken as a turning point in the history of Yellow Springs, for with the coming of the railroad the town took on new life and began to assume the airs of a place of some importance. In this same year William Mills, a son of Elisha, one of the first settlers, began his merchandizing career with A. B. Johnson as partner. They erected what was known as the Union House near where the railroad crossed Day- ton street. The period between 1846 and 1853 was filled with building operations and by the latter year the place had assumed such an appearance of stability that William Mills had the courage to lay out three hundred acres into lots. It is an admitted fact that it was the coming of Antioch College which gave the place its sudden prosperity in the '50s. The famous educational institution was the means of attracting a number of families to the place in order that their children might avail themselves of its advan- tages. Scores of the professors and instructors of the college have been identified with the life of the town as well as the college. The famous col-
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lege and the celebrated spring may be cited as being two factors which have had more to do with the city's prosperity as it stands today than anything else that might be enumerated.
To revert to the period between 1846 and 1853. The large store of Mills & Johnson, the so-called Union House, has already been mentioned. In the same year, 1846, Thomas Gilmore erected a frame store building east of the Mills & Johnson store, and opened a dry-goods establishment. The site of this store is now occupied by the elevator. Gilmore was suc- ceeded in later years by his brother, William, in the same building. In 1847 James A. Brown erected a grain elevator along the tracks of the railroad and became the first grain merchant of the town. About the time the rail- road was being built, Mills & Johnson made a proposition to the Methodist church to buy their lot and not only give the church a new lot in a more favorable location, but even donate sufficient money to erect a new build- ing. The church had erected their small frame building in 1840, six years before the railroad reached the town, and as it turned out, the right-of-way of the railroad passed close by the church. This first building was located on the northeast corner of what is now Dayton and Corry streets on the site of the present postoffice. Mills & Johnson owned the lots adjoining the church and wished to have the entire block for business purposes. The church accepted the offer of lot No. 47, corner of Dayton and Winter streets, built a new structure and turned over the old building to Mills and John- son. The new owners converted the old church building into a dwelling house, which later burned.
In 1848 Col. Joseph E. Wilson began the burning of lime in the village, thereby establishing an industry which was for many years the most impor- tant in the place. It was not until 1852 that the first flour-mill opened for business, the owner and operator being John Lannen. In 1855 Stephen Kershner opened a tinshop and in the same year a machine shop of some description announced that it was ready for business. It can not be said that Yellow Springs has ever been a manufacturing center of much import- ance. Outside of the lime industry, a flour-mill and a saw-mill there have been no manufacturing enterprises of any importance in the city. Allen Jobe established a wagon shop in 1865. In 1887 C. A. Little opened a saw- mill. In 1893 the lime kiln of Ervin & Company was put in operation. The following year the Little elevator was erected.
PLATTING OF THE TOWN.
It was the coming of the railroad in the '40s, followed by the coming of Antioch College a decade later, which was responsible for the sudden growth of the town in the fore part of the '50s. The big man in the town
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in that period was William Mills, and it was his foresight and shrewdness that led to the platting of such an extensive tract for a townsite, and the subsequent extensive additions to the original site within a short time.
Mills had the idea that the college and the springs would draw people to the town by the hundreds, even by the thousands. The springs were already well known throughout the state, and also in adjoining states; the college was advertised in such a way as to make it one of the most talked of institutions in the West at the time. Horace Mann, its first president, was then the best and most widely known educator in the United States.
Therefore, taking everything into consideration, it is not to be won- dered that Mills thought his town had a great future before it. He got his plans well in hand by 1853 and on November 23 of that year appeared before Samuel T. Owens, county surveyor and also a notary public, and received the following document, which is here introduced as the first official record pertaining to the now flourishing town of Yellow Springs :
I do hereby certify that at the request of William Mills, Esq., the owner and pro- prietor, I laid off and surveyed Forest Village or Yellow Springs, as shown on the annexed map or plan, whereof the sizes of the lots, width of the streets and alleys (with very few exceptions) are all accurately marked on said map in feet and tenths; likewise, the present magnetic bearing of said lots, streets and alleys are marked on said map. There are stones set at the places so marked and I also directed stones to be set at each of the crossings of the streets. Given under my hand and seal, this 23rd day of Novem- ber, in the year of our Lord 1853.
SAMUEL T. OWENS, Surveyor G. C.
The appended map to which Owens referred shows the site to be laid out with a reckless disregard to the points of the compass. But it was a part of the general plan of Mills to avoid the regularity of the average town in the method of laying out streets. Mills was an original genius and noth- ing shows this more plainly than the original plat of his town. There were a total of four hundred thirty-six lots in the site, and they were of every conceivable shape and size.
ADDITIONS TO ORIGINAL PLAT.
It would have seemed that four hundred thirty-six lots would have been enough to have lasted for a while, but Mills was determined to have a town of some size, and he wanted it in a hurry. He advertised his lots far and wide throughout Ohio and in the adjoining states, in the East and West, in the staid papers of Boston and New York, and in the breezy sheets of Chicago and St. Louis. As a maker of towns this man Mills was the best the county has ever produced.
Mills had hardly offered his first group of lots for sale, before he decided that he needed a few hundred more. He added one hundred twelve lots
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in 1855 and one hundred eighty more in 1857. It seems that Mills really did have a more definite idea of what a town should be than some of his contemporaries were willing to grant him. When he had his original three hundred fifty acres surveyed into lots, he reserved a tract of twenty acres in about the center of the tract, which, it is apparent, he wanted to preserve as a park, although he does not say so in his record of the plat. He was equally liberal in setting aside lots for churches and schools. .
It should be stated that six out of the thirty-seven streets provided by the original Mills plat were more than a mile in length. Considering the natural advantages of the site, it is not surprising that the proprietor found a ready sale for hundreds of his lots at prices ranging from one hundred fifty to two hundred dollars a lot; even prices as high as five hundred dollars were received for choice locations. Mills was a philanthropic sort of a man, the kind of a man who puts his philanthropy into practice. He hoped to build a city of ten thousand, and to this end he wanted the best citizens he could induce to settle in his town. He himself paid for the grading and graveling of the streets; he was largely responsible for the railroad going through his town instead of through Clifton; he was certainly responsible for the location of Antioch College here.
ADDITIONS TO ORIGINAL PLAT.
But the vision of Mills was not tempered by a sufficient knowledge of municipal affairs and the factors underlying city growth. He did not seem to realize that one can not build up a city of ten thousand anywhere he chooses. Scenery is a good and valuable asset; likewise a good college is a valuable adjunct to the growth of a small city. But the great mass of the citizens of his proposed city of ten thousand could not make a living out of the scenery, and neither could they subsist on the college. As a result his municipal dream was only about one-tenth realized, but he should nevertheless be given credit for making the town what it is today.
The additions to the original plat of 1853, with the names of the respective proprietors, number of lots and the dates of the recording of the several plats are given in the appended table :
Proprietor
No. of Lots
Date
William Mills
II2
May 2, 1855
Moses H. Grinnell
235
May
10, 1855
William Mills
180
June 4, 1857
Austin H. Dean
24
July
16, 1857
C. Z. Wickes
28 :
August 28, 1857
The Grinnell addition of 1855 lay north of Dayton street and east of High street, and included Oakwood Park and the Yellow Springs Hotel.
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The plat of the Yellow Springs cemetery was recorded on February 3, 1864. It had been surveyed by Julius Cone in 1861, the site being laid out in two hundred sixty-one lots, but was not recorded until three years later. It lies at the northeast edge of the town.
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
The rapid growth of the town of Yellow Springs is conclusively shown by the fact that on December 4, 1855, there was a petition carrying one hundred twenty-six signatures presented to the county commissioners ask- ing that the town be incorporated. The commissioners fail to state what they did with this petition, but it is evident that it was not acted upon, or, if it was, the action was unfavorable. This first petition for incorporation read as follows :
The petition of William B. Huffman and 125 others was this day presented to the County Commissioners, praying that they may be organized into an incorporated village by the name of Yellow Springs, with territory as described in said petition and the plat thereunto annexed.
Whatever may have been the fate of this first petition, there was a sec- ond petition presented to the commissioners in February of the following year. Under date of February 18, 1856, the commissioners' records have the following entry :
The application of E. Stewart and others for the incorporation of the village of Yel- low Springs was presented by J. J. Winans, Esq., Attorney. After a full examination of the petition and notice, the plat and affidavits accompanying the petition and plat, the Board are of the opinion that the said petition be granted and the said village of Yellow Springs be incorporated as prayed for in the said petition, and under the name, Yellow Springs, and that an order be made on the petition pursuant to the statute which is done accordingly.
MAYORS OF THE TOWN.
Immediately following the incorporation there was an election for the first set of officials to manage the infant municipality. The postmaster, Isaac Kershner, was elected mayor in 1856 and served a full term of one year. Following this first mayor the succession has been as follows, the date being the year of accession to the office: Andrew Shroufe, 1857; J. W. Hamilton, 1858; Hezekiah Davis, 1860; A. B. Wambaugh, 1861; J. W. Hamilton, 1862; F. D. Leonard, 1864; E. M. Birch, 1865; J. G. G. Adams, 1866; W. G. Whitehurst, 1867; J. W. Hamilton, 1867; W. W. Carr, 1878; J. W. Hamilton,: 1880; J. J. Hirst, 1882; C. E. Adams, 1884; Thomas E. Stewart, 1890; J. E. Lynn, 1892; Charles Hamilton, 1894; T. B. Jobe, 1898; George H. Smith, 1902; T. B. Jobe, 1903; T. J. Ridenour, 1906; Clarences Schlientz, 1908. Mr. Schlientz resigned before the end of his term and was followed by Charles Ridgeway, who assumed the office by virtue of being the president of the council, and served out the term and was elected for the term beginning in 1910. He died before the close of his
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term and was followed by J. H. Funderburg, the president of the council, who served the remainder of the term. Thomas Donley assumed the office of mayor in 1912 and was elected for a second term, serving until 1916. Dr. R. R. Richison followed for one term, giving way to Thomas Donley, the present incumbent, in January, 1918.
The complete list of city officials for 1918 is as follows: Mayor, Thomas Donley; clerk, H. G. Brown; treasurer, S. W. Cox; marshal, James Lawson; assessor, Thomas J. Ridenour; councilmen, H. R. Adams, W. A. Alexander, Joseph Curl, H. E. Dickman, Charles Figgins and P. J. Moran.
THE POSTOFFICE.
The early history of the postoffice at Yellow Springs is shrouded in obscurity, little being known concerning the period covering several years after it was first established other than the names and tenures of the various men who filled the office. It is certain that the town was on a star route until the coming of the first railroad in 1846, but it is not known when it began to receive daily mail. It was on the route between Springfield and Xenia for a time and also on the route running between Springfield and Dayton.
The location of the office for the first half century of its existence was either in the tavern of one of the successive postmasters, or, as it seems in some cases, it was kept in the home of the postmaster. It was usually in the store of one of the merchants of the village, the proprietor being the postmaster. It has only been within recent years that the office has been sufficiently remunerative to permit the postmaster to give it his entire time. The postmasters from the beginning of the establishment of the office in 1805 down to the present time, with the dates of their appointments, are as follow :
Thomas Fream
April 1, 1805
James Miller
1 October 1, 1810
Christopher Shroufe
October 1, 1813
Joel Van Mater
1 1 1 1 I October 28, 1817
Elisha Mills
I July 15, 1823
James B. Gardiner 1
1 1 1 October 14, 1823
1 Henry Grant November 27, 1825 1 1
Andrew Finley February 14, 1827
Ormond H. Gregory I
1
January 23, 1833
Oliver Farnsworth 1
September 23, 1834
William Mills
April 25, 1835
Samuel W. Cox
1
1
1
July 29, 1845
1
1 1
1
1
1 1 1
1
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1
1 1
1
1
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OUNTY, OHIO
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Zenas M. Phelps November 18, 1848
Elisha Mills
April 9, 1849
Isaac Kershner
April 14, 1853
Nathaniel Benedict March 4, 1859
James E. Gross
March 12, 1861
Henry H. Burkholder
February 4, 1863
Charles H. Winter
April 6, 1865
Charles Ridgway
I
1 I
1
November 2, 1875
Mary E. McNair
1 1 February 10, 1876
I. W. Baldwin 1
June 25, 1885
Josephine Baldwin I
November 1, 1888
Thomas B. Jobe May 10, 1889 1 I I
Odella C. Munch
March 9, 1896
J. M. Birch
July 1, 1900
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1
I I
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1
C. H. Ellis followed Birch in 1909 and served until Charles Hackett came in with the Wilson administration. According to the ruling of April I, 1917, the present incumbent can not be removed except for cause.
THE STORY OF THE NEFF HOUSE.
The story of the Neff House, one of the most famous buildings ever erected in Greene county, and one which has undoubtedly housed more peo- ple than any other building in the county, reveals the varied and interesting history of this building from its erection in 1840 until its final disappear- ance in 1892. According to the statement of Charles H. Ellis, in the Cen- tennial volume of 1908, the building was erected in 1840 "on a bluff near the Yellow Spring and for years was crowded with visitors from all over the United States." The first building was erected by Judge William Mills, the founder of the town, and was a large structure, being two hundred fifty by sixty feet. This building was found to be insufficient to handle the crowds that came from far and near in the summer season, and consequently Judge Mills erected four cottages on the grounds adjoining the large build- ing. Here gathered people from Columbus and Cincinnati and many adjoin- ing states. There were four stages passing the place each day, and in the summer time they always carried passengers for the Springs. Many South- ern people came driving up from Cincinnati in their own private coaches.
This was the situation when William Neff, of Cincinnati, appeared on the scene in December, 1841, and bought the buildings and a tract of ground immediately surrounding them, the consideration being fifteen thousand dol- lars. He also bought from Elisha Mills one hundred and sixty acres adjoin- ing. The new owner took possession on May II, 1842, bringing with him from Cincinnati Frank Hafner, who, it appears, was to be his chef. At
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least, this same Hafner was later a baker in the town of Yellow Springs. The house was filled all during the summer and fall of 1842 and was a financial success for the new proprietor. Hafner managed it during the four or five months it was opened in the summer, Neff coming up at intervals from Cincinnati to see how things were getting along. Some time later, date not given, the building was closed to the public and Neff used it as his private residence, and died there in 1854. The property then passed into the hands of his son, William C. Neff, who decided to improve the buildings and open them again to the public as a summer resort. He leased the build- ings to a Mrs. Gilbert and she had charge of the buildings during the summer seasons until they were destroyed by fire during the time of the Civil War.
The owner did not rebuild until after the war was over, but by the spring of 1870 he had a magnificent building ready to throw open to the public. It was four and a half stories high and contained three hundred rooms-more rooms than all the hotels of the county combined. The build- ing and its furnishings represented an outlay of more than a hundred thou- sand dollars. For several seasons the hotel did a large business, but by the beginning of the 'gos it was seen that it was not a paying investment. As a result in 1892 Neff had the building dismantled and shipped to Cin- cinnati-and thereby abruptly closed the story of the Neff House.
YELLOW SPRINGS IN 1880.
There has been preserved a complete directory of the business and pro- fessional interests of the city for the year 1880-thirty-eight years ago. This list of the business men of a generation ago will be interesting to the readers of this history of the city as it appears today, and is appended here in full :
Attorneys, S. W. Dakin, J. W. Hamilton ; bakery, Dickman Brothers; barbers, William Milton, Jefferson Williams; blacksmiths, S. & R. Cox, John Pennell, Albert Thompson; boots and shoes, John Cordingly ; butchers, Adam Holhut, George Mccullough; cabinet-maker, William Large; car- penters, William and James Lytle; carriages, buggies, etc., T. B. Jobe; clock and watch makers, C. D. C. Hamilton, F. H. Weaver; clothing, tinware, etc., J. J. Thornton ; coal, A. M. Wilder ; dentist, D. T. Jones; drugs, Hirst Brothers, Charles Ridgway; dry goods, W. D. Gilmore, J. D. Hawkins, Charles Shaw, J. Van Mater; grain dealer, J. H. Little; grocery, Charles Adams ; harness, Edward Thornton ; lime manufacturer, Washington Shroufe; livery, Leroy Green; lumber, S. K. Mitchell & Son; merchant tailer, D. B. Low; millinery and dressmaking, Miss E. Reed, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. E. J. Price; ninety-nine-cent store, Elizabeth K. Normandie; notions, toys, etc., Mrs. R. C. Crane; nursery, W. W. Carr; physicians, H. F. Baker, M. S. Dillman, J. M. Harris, Edward I. Thorn; shoemakers, John Cannon, M.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
McCann; stationery, Mrs. M. E. McNair (Mrs. McNair also was postmas- ter) ; stoves, W. J. Stephenson & Son; undertaker, Samuel McCulloch.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS.
A review of the business and professional men of Yellow Springs in 1880 discloses some interesting facts. While the most of the men of that year have died or have moved away, yet there are a few who are still remain- ing in the town and a still smaller number are following in 1918 the same vocation in which they were engaged in 1880. It is not known just who have died, and of those who have removed from the town, it is not known where they are now living, or even if they are still among the living.
Both the attorneys have long since been gathered to their fathers. The Dickman brothers are both living, but are no longer in the bakery business. The blacksmiths are all dead except Samuel Cox, who still resides in the town. The shoe dealer, John Cordingly, has passed away. George McCul- lough is still using his cleaver in the town, but his contemporary, Adam Holhut, is gone. Continuing down the above list of former business men, it is noted that the following are deceased: William Large, William and James Lytle, T. B. Jobe, C. D. C. Hamilton, F. H. Weaver, J. J. Thornton, A. M. Wilder, D. T. Jones and Charles Ridgway. Of the firm of Hirst Brothers, druggists. Thomas Hirst is still living in the town and bids fair to live for many years yet.
To continue the list. The deceased include W. D. Gilmore, J. D. Haw- kins, Charles Shaw, J. Van Mater, J. H. Little and . Charles Adams. Edward Thornton still owns and manages his harness shop in the town, a veteran in the field of leather goods and allied lines. Washington Shroufe, Leroy Green, S. K. Mitchell, D. B. Low, John Cannon, Michael McCann and Elizabeth K. DeNormandie and Samuel McCulloch are deceased. W. W. Carr is still in the nursery business and has one of the most extensive nur- series in this section of the state. He makes a specialty of the propagating of cedar trees, shipping them by the thousands to markets in all parts of the country.
Dr. H. F. Baker is still practicing in town. Dr. Edward I. Thorn at last accounts was practicing in Salt Lake City. The whereabouts of Dr. Harris is not known. The later record of the many who have removed from the town within the past thirty-eight years is, of course, practically impossible to trace, but most of them are no doubt deceased.
YELLOW SPRINGS IN 1918.
1
It is the business and professional life of a town which gives it what- ever prosperity it may have. The study of the average American town will show that it always has a few business and professional men who have been (25)
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
connected with its life for a long period of years, while at the same time it will register a number who seem to come and go. Life changes from year to year; business interests naturally seek those towns where they have the greatest opportunities for development. With no factories of any con- sequence and with no particular claim to becoming other than a small town, the people of Yellow Springs continue the even tenor of their way without making any pretensions for their town other than being a good trading center for the immediate vicinity. A saw-mill, stone crusher and a feed- mill constitute the sole industries of any importance in the town, although it has the usual complement of tradesmen and artisans found in towns of this size. In the following summary appears a list of the business and professional men of the town as they appeared in April, 1918: Attorney, Charles Bogle; automobile dealers, Howard Corry, Edward Oster, Edward Carlisle ; bakery, R. C. Adams; bank, Miami Deposit Bank; barbers, Thomas Brown, Sandy Pettiford; billiards, Oscar Day, William Glossinger, M. M. Murray; blacksmith, Edward Hackett; brick mason, Thomas Donley; can- ning factory, Yellow Springs Canning Company. C. F. Vandervort, man- ager; carriage shop, Albert Newsome; cement worker, Charles Cline ; churches, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Catholic, African Methodist Episcopal, Colored Christian; coal dealers, P. W. Drake, National Feed Mill Company; college, Antioch; contractor, Drake & Son; cream stations, West Jefferson Creamery Company, Houston Creamery Company; dentist, Dr. Zellers; draymen, C. A. Brewer, Earl Drake; drug store, A. H. Finley ; dry cleaning, W. H. Hughes; elevators, National Feed Mill Company, Dewine Milling Company; feed and flour, Dewine Milling Company; flor- ist, Howard Brown; furniture, Littleton & Sons; garage, see automobile dealers; general stores, W. A. Alexander, Weiss & Wead; grocery stores, D. A. Brewer, John A. Oster, Ned Straus; harness shops, Edward Thorn- ton, ---- Weakley; hotel, Comfort Inn, Mrs. Ella Allen, proprietor ; ice- cream parlor, David Fitz; livery stable, Littleton & Son; lodges, Masons, Odd Fellows, American Mechanics; mayor, Thomas A. Donly ; meat shops, Jacob Diehl; milliner, Mrs. Lulu Glazier; music teacher, Clara Hirst; newspaper, Yellow Springs News, J. N. Wolford, editor; nursery, Wallace W. Carr; physicians, H. F. Baker, L. L. Taylor, R. R. Richison, F. C. Adams, Jessie Bogle; postmaster, Charles Hackett; public library, Mrs. Charles Carr, librarian; real estate and insurance, Charles Sheldon; restaurant, Willis Groves; saw-mill, Drake & VanKirk; school, R. O. Wead, superintendent public schools; shoe repairer, James Johnson; stock buyers, Frank Hughes, Earl Oglesbee, John Young, Thomas Dewine; stone crusher, C. C. Beam; tin-shops, H. E. Dickman, Charles Hackett ; telephone, Bell system, Citizens line; undertaker, Littleton & Son; veterinary, H. L. Davisson.
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