USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 73
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
SOMETHING ABOUT ROAD LAWS.
The building of public highways in Ohio is hedged about with a multi- plicity of enactments. From the earliest days of the state down to 1915 the road laws of the state were a miscellaneous patchwork of legislative acts, the (44)
.
690
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
result of more than a century of legislation. Prior to 1915 those interested in good roads had been demanding that the state revise its road laws, but it was impossible to get the legislative sanction necessary to bring this about. It is fruitless to follow the vagaries of highway legislation since the first act was passed on August 1, 1792, by the Legislature of the old Northwest Territory. Subsequent road laws were passed by the same body on October 28, 1799, December 13, 1799, and January 23, 1802. This latter act was in force when the first state constitution was adopted in 1802, and consequently was the first road law in the state of Ohio. During the period of the old con- stitution (1802-51) there were hundreds of road laws placed on the statute books of the state, but most of these were of local application only and not concerned with highways at large. After the adoption of the 1851 consti- tution there was a considerable change in the management of highways, but the law until 1912 still permitted road taxes to be worked out by those against whom they were assessed. In 1892 an effort was made to provide a highway committee, or rather a commission, which was to investigate general road conditions in the state and make such recommendations to the Legislature as they might see fit. It is interesting to note that this commis- sion of 1892 reported that public highways were matters of purely local concern, and that their maintenance was a matter which should be left in the hands of the local authorities. It is this idea that has been responsible for the backward condition of the roads of the state. Not until 1904 did Ohio awaken to the necessity of establishing a centralized highway depart- ment.
With the legislative act of 1904 the state started on a new era of road making. Between 1851 and 1904 the state made no appropriation for roads, but on the other hand contributed freely of legislative acts to assist the local authorities. The act of 1904, supplemented by acts passed up until 1915, placed road construction in the state on a new basis altogether. The most revolutionary change was brought about by an amendment to the constitu- tion in 1912 which abolished the principle of working out the road tax. This antiquated system is fast disappearing all over the United States, and Ohio was one of the last states to rid itself of this obnoxious system. The pres- ent system of highway construction is based on the legislative act of 1915, known as the Cass highway act, a comprehensive act covering ninety-two 'pages of the Laws of Ohio. It is not possible to go into detail to set forth the various provisions of this act, but its general provisions may be briefly summed up as follows: The county surveyor was designated as the county highway superintendent and was general supervisor of all the roads and bridges in the county. He was given the authority to appoint such assist- ants as he might require in the performance of the duties connected with his
691
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
office. The county has twelve townships and each township is divided into road districts. The law provided that each township may have from one to four districts each. Each district in the township is in charge of a township highway superintendent appointed by the township trustees, the official receiving a per diem of $2.25. He is restricted to a definite number of days during the year, for which he may draw a salary, the number being deter- mined by the trustees.
The law of 1915 underwent several radical changes at the hands of the 1917 General Assembly. The changes are embodied in the White-Mul- cahy act (March 10, 1917). While the main features of the old act were continued, its administration as regards the counties was changed. The office of county highway superintendent was abolished and to the county surveyor, who, in most of the counties of the state, had served as highway superintendent during the past two years, was given most of the duties formerly in the hands of the highway superintendent. With the abolition of the office of highway superintendent the surveyor was placed upon a straight salary basis and the fees formerly attached to the office of highway superintendent now revert to the county. In other words the county sur- veyor is still highway superintendent, but is not officially recognized as such by title. He does practically the same work, exercises the same jurisdiction over roads and performs the functions as were prescribed by the act of 1915.
Ohio has a set of names for its roads which are somewhat confusing. There are township roads, county roads and state roads. State roads are of two kinds-inter-county and market. Each road is in a distinct class regard- ing the method of providing and paying for the same. Main market roads are the main roads leading from a large city in one county to a large city in another. Inter-county roads follow the same principle between counties. Under late enactments of the federal Congress, federal roads will be estab- lished as the main roads in the United States, such as the national pike south of us. The county and township roads are the less important roads in the county. The best roads of the county are the inter-county highways. Greene county now has eight of the inter-county highways. Their official designations are obtained by hyphenating the towns which they connect. They are as follows: Dayton-Springfield, Columbus-Cincinnati, Dayton- Chillicothe, Springfield-Xenia, Wilmington-Xenia, Springfield-Jamestown and Jamestown-Hillsboro. These roads have a total length in Greene county of 89.60 miles of the total road mileage of the county.
The act of 1915 provided that all roads shall be numbered and named and that all bridges shall be located and numbered. A traveler would, there- fore, be able to follow a road by the numbers on the bridges and culverts. For instance, he comes to a bridge numbered "125/10." The first number,
692
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
"125," means that the road is No. 125. while the "10" means that the bridge is the tenth one on that road. Thus the county surveyors are enabled to keep a more accurate record of the bridges under their supervision. Surveyor . Fawcett already has all of this work done in Greene county.
Greene county has two rivers within its limits which require bridges of considerable size. There are four bridges over Mad river, two of the old- fashioned wooden bridges with a shingle roof over them, and two modern steel structures. The Little Miami river is spanned by fifteen bridges, seven covered wooden bridges, seven steel bridges, and one stone-arched bridge (at Clifton). The branch of the Little Miami which runs through Yellow Springs is crossed by two bridges, one steel and one stone. The largest bridge in the county is known as the Roxanna bridge, and is near the south- ern line of the county. This bridge is a steel structure, 390 feet in length, and was constructed in 1908 at a cost of approximately $15,000. There is only one unbridged road leading across the Little Miami river, that being the road running northwest from Xenia, commonly known as the Fair Ground road. It might be noted that the county did not have a single bridge swept out in the devastating flood of 1913.
RAILROADS.
In many ways Greene county was fortunate in not being in the path of any of the numerous canals which were built up and down and across the state of Ohio. The counties crossed by canals were not quite as anxious to have the railroad as those that did not have them, besides the canal counties came into close touch with some high finance that made them somewhat skeptical of all public improvements for many years to come. Greene county happened to lay in the path, however, of the first railroad built in the state. The day in August, 1845, when the first train pulled into Xenia was a red-letter day in the history of Greene county, for with the coming of the railroad the growth of the county was stimulated in every direction. The railroad gave the farmers an outlet for their products; it made it possible for the manufacturer to increase his output and reach hitherto inaccessible markets. The Little Miami railroad opened the way to Cincinnati to the south in 1845 and the following year the road was in operation as far north as Springfield. This eighty-four miles of railway between Cincinnati and Springfield was soon hauling all the passengers and freight that its meager rolling stock could handle.
In 1918 Greene county is well supplied with both steam and electric roads. The Little Miami railroad after many changes in name finally became a part of the great Pennsylvania system, while the same system has a road entering the county from the west and, passing through the county seat.
693
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
goes across the northeast corner of the county to Columbus. The old Day- ton & Western, later the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, and now a branch of the Baltimore & Ohio, parallels the Pennsylvania from Dayton to Xenia. Thence it runs eastward through the county to Washington Court House and points farther east in the state. These three roads are the only roads through the county seat, and the only roads traversing the entire length of the county.
There are three other steam roads which reach the county, but which do not pass through the county seat. Two of these cut across the north- western corner of the county, being roads running between Springfield and Dayton, one the Big Four and the other the Erie. Both roads run through Osborn. The third steam road of the county cuts the southeastern. corner of the county, passing through Bowersville. This is a branch of the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton railroad.
THE PENNSYLVANIA LINES.
The first railroad of the county, the Little Miami, now a part of the Pennsylvania system, dates its inception from an act of the General Assembly of the state, approved March II, 1836. Its charter called for the con- struction and maintenance of a railroad from Cincinnati to Springfield, a distance of eighty-four miles. It was this road which reached Xenia nine years later, the road that now passes through the city along the west side of the public square. Work was not begun on the road until 1837, and it was not until December, 1842, that the road was ready for traffic between Cincinnati and Mulford, a small town a few miles northeast of Cincinnati. By August, 1845, the road was opened between Cincinnati and Xenia. Just a year later, the road was opened throughout its entire length.
A volume might easily be written about the old Little Miami railroad; about the crude manner of its construction; the trouble its promoters had in financing it; about the trouble they had in getting through the towns along its right-of-way; about the queer little engines, all wood-fired, and the flimsy little coaches which were first used. But such a discussion, inter- esting as it might be, is not particularly a part of history of Greene county. It should be said, however, that a long and even violent argument ensued when the question arose as to which street of Xenia should have the honor of having the road on it. The argument narrowed down to the streets on either side of the public square. The tax-payers on the east side wanted the road, but they felt the company should pay something for the privi- lege of using their street. The citizens along the street west of the public square, headed by the Hivlings, came forward with a proposition to give the company a right-of-way. The Hivlings had just completed a fine hotel
694
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
at the southeast corner of Main and Detroit streets and were naturally very anxious that the railroad be built along Detroit street. Dr. Joshua Martin, who lived farther down the street in probably the finest brick house in the town, was very much opposed to the road coming down Detroit street, but the Hivlings seemed to have more influence with the town council, and when the final vote on the question came, it was voted to allow the railroad the use of Detroit street. And it was so ordered, and the railroad is there to this day.
Another interesting phase of the Little Miami railroad and Xenia is concerned with its stations in the city. As every one knows, all the Pennsyl- vania trains running to and from Springfield make two stops in Xenia: One at the little, old-fashioned building on the southeast corner of Second and Detroit streets, and the other stop at the union station at the crossing of the two branches of the Pennsylvania about three blocks (the company now calls it two-tenths of a mile) southwest of the original station. The first station mentioned was formerly the property of Ryan Gowdy, and when he died he left a will in which he bequeathed the little brick building in ques- tion to the railroad company as a station house, but with the stipulation that the company should, for all time to come, stop all of their trains at the station. The company accepted the property with this understanding, and it is for this reason that the Springfield division of the Pennsylvania has two stations in Xenia. Another land-mark connected with the Pennsyl- vania roads in Xenia is the ancient station at the crossing of the two branches of the road. This was built at the time the Columbus & Xenia branch of the Pennsylvania was in the process of construction in the latter part of the forties. This venerable brick building was a combination hotel-station and for many years was the only first class hotel in Xenia. John Durant, the superintendent of the Little Miami, lived in this building with his family for years. The trains used to make a dinner stop here --- in the days before the modern dining car was known.
It is necessary at this point to digress a little to bring in the story of that part of the Pennsylvania which runs from Dayton to Xenia, and from the latter city to Columbus. It must be understood that there were three roads originally, the three now being combined as a part of the Penn- sylvania lines: (I) the road from Cincinnati to Springfield via Xenia, that is the Little Miami originally; (2) the Columbus & Xenia road; (3) the Dayton & Western road.
The Little Miami road has-been discussed .- The next road was the Columbus & Xenia, chartered on March 12, 1844, and ready for operation in February, 1850. The next step in the history of these two roads was taken on November 30, 1853, when the Little Miami and Columbus & Xenia
695
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
roads were consolidated. To add to the complicated railroad history of the county about this time, a third road, which had been in the process of con- struction since 1850, was opened for business. This third road was known as the Dayton & Western, and in 1853 the road between Dayton and Xenia was ready for operation. But the '50s saw still another railroad running through Greene county, and while it was not completed for nearly a score of years afterwards, yet it figured in the railroad mergers of the '50s and '6os as they affected Greene county.
It might seem a little strange that men with money would build two railroads between towns sixteen miles apart, as are Xenia and Dayton. But as a matter of fact there were two steam roads projecting between these two towns about the same time-1850. This may not appear so strange when it is within the memory of citizens now living in Xenia that the same financial interests furnished the capital to build two electric lines between Xenia and Dayton within the last score of years. The fact remains that a company was organized in the fore part of the '50s to build a road from Dayton to Belpre, a town on the Ohio river in Washington county. This company, known as the Dayton, Xenia & Belpre Railroad Company, com- menced grading at once through Greene county. Some of the townships of the county, particularly Silvercreek, voted to bond themselves to the extent of ten thousand dollars to help matters along. Nine thousand dollars was actually paid over to the company before it was found that the company was going to suspend operations. The road was graded from Dayton through Xenia and as far east as Jamestown in the '50s -- and stopped-and stopped for about twenty years.
It has been mentioned that the Little Miami and Columbus & Xenia roads were consolidated in 1853, and that the Dayton & Western between Dayton and Xenia was completed the same year. The next step in the rail- road history of the county was taken on January I, 1865, at which time the consolidated Little Miami and Columbus & Xenia roads entered into a joint lease of the Dayton & Western. On the 4th of the following month these same two companies bought the Dayton, Xenia & Belpre railroad from Dayton to Xenia. This somewhat complicated merger was dissolved on November 30, 1869, and a new contract was negotiated. The new agreement provided that the Little Miami should lease the Columbus & Xenia railroad for a period of ninety-nine years, and with the privilege of renewal in 1868. Within a month from the time this contract was entered into, on January I, 1870, the Little Miami road entered into a lease with the Pittsburgh, Cin- cinnati & St. Louis Railway Company, whereby it leased to this company for a period of ninety-nine years, renewable forever, its road, all rolling stock and equipment of all kinds, together with its leased roads (the branch
696
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
between Columbus and Xenia, and the one between Dayton and Xenia). And it is this company which is today a part of the great Pennsylvania System.
It has been noticed that an effort was made to build a road from Day- ton through Xenia to Belpre in the '50s, but that the company failed. In the middle of the '70s, just after the panic of 1873, the agitation for such a road to open up the coal fields of southeastern Ohio culminated in the organization of a company to take over the old right-of-way and build the road. Greene county, as well as the other counties through which the pro- posed road was to pass, was ready to help the project. It was thought that most of the old grade could be utilized, and thus the road could be built quickly and without a heavy outlay. Twenty years before this time Silvercreek township had voted ten thousand dollars for a road to go through James- town, and, as previously stated, had paid in all but one thousand dollars of the amount. In 1875 the township came forward with the other thousand dollars. The road was soon under construction, but it was found advis- able in many places to change the right-of-way from the original road of the fifties. Parts of the 1850 grade may be seen east of Xenia to this day. While the road was never built through to Belpre, it was soon running as far east as Chillicothe.
The Pennsylvania road parallels this road from Dayton to Xenia. It subsequently came to be known as the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, and was operated under this name until the summer of 1917, when it passed into the hands of the Baltimore & Ohio. This road now runs two pas- senger trains each way daily between Dayton and Wellston. Xenia and Jamestown are the only two stations on the road in Greene county.
BIG FOUR AND ERIE RAILROADS.
The Big Four and the Erie railroads cut across the northwestern corner of Greene county, that corner of the county falling between a direct route from Springfield to Dayton. . The Big Four, the first to be built, was first known as the Mad River & Lake Erie road, and was chartered by the Gen- eral Assembly in 1832. Its charter stated that the company proposed to build a railroad from Sandusky on Lake Erie to Cincinnati on the Ohio. It was built finally, but it was eighteen years before it was completed across the state. Construction work began at both ends of the line, and at places between, but financial difficulties had to be met and solved year after year, the result being that it was nearly a score of years before trains were run- ning its entire length. Trains were running from Sandusky south as far as Urbana in the summer of 1848, and north from Cincinnati to Dayton about
697
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
the same time, the part between Urbana and Dayton, via Springfield, being the last constructed. History records that the first train between Spring- field to Dayton made its maiden trip on January 1, 1850. The road through Greene county passes east of Mad river and through the village of Osborn, all of the road in the county being within Bath township. The village of Osborn was laid out after the road was built through the township, and was named in honor of E. F. Osborn, the superintendent of the railroad at the time.
DETROIT, TOLEDO & IRONTON RAILROAD.
The newspapers of Greene county make frequent references to railroads that were being projected through the county. From 1850 to 1880 there was scarcely a year in which some railroad was not proposed that would pass through the county. But for the score of such proposed railroads there has been just one which gave any promise of what its promoters claimed for it, and this railroad stands today midst its grass-grown environment as the dream of someone who had hoped to build a straight line railroad between Cincinnati and Columbus.
A glance at a map of the state of Ohio will show a railroad running from Sedalia, in Madison county, to Kingman, in Clinton county. This road wends its rusty way across Greene county, passing through the village of Bowersville on its way across. Behind this road is a story, a story which will probably never find its way into the records of the state's history. It has been the ambition of more than one company to construct a direct line from Cincinnati to Columbus, but it was not until the Miami Valley & Colum- bus Company was organized that any definite work was done toward the construction of the road. The road as planned was to run between Colum- bus and Waynesville, at which latter town it was to connect with what was then called the Cincinnati Northern, now the Pennsylvania. Waynesville is a small town in the northern part of Warren county, about three miles south of the Greene-Warren county line.
Construction began on the road in 1877 and all seemed to be going well. Suddenly, in 1880, the whole plan collapsed and since that year not a shovel of dirt has been thrown or a tie laid on this road about which the papers had been talking for years. All that is left of the project is the road con- necting Sedalia and Kingman, and about twenty miles of grade. The total distance between Columbus and Waynesville is about seventy-five miles, and the newspapers of the day reported that at least fifty miles of the distance had been graded when work was suspended. There were several different propositions to complete the road as originally planned, but as nearly forty
698
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
years have passed since work on the road was suspended it does not appear that anything will ever be done with it. The part built belongs to the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton and is usually referred to as the Kingman branch of that road, or, for some reason, is locally known as the "Grasshopper."
GREENE COUNTY BUYS RAILROAD BONDS.
It is not generally known at the present time that when the first railroads were being built through the state that practically every county in the state through which a railroad passed bought railroad stock and bonds. Greene county was one of the number to indulge in the luxury of railroad stocks and bonds, and, interesting to state, made a handsome profit on the venture. For several years the county paid much of its current indebtedness with the dividends from its railroad stocks and bonds. The old iron fence around the public square, for instance, was paid for with railroad dividends. The present jail was paid for entirely out of railroad dividends, and scores of other much needed improvements were made possible because of the big dividends which the county enjoyed from its railroad stocks and bonds.
A complete tabulation of the railroad stock and bonds owned by the county in 1858 may be found in the county commissioners journal, Vol. VII, pp. 525-526. A summary of the stocks and bonds there listed is as follows (all the stock being listed at $50 par value) :
84 shares Little Miami .$ 4,200
4 shares Little Miami 200 $ 4.400
1,000 shares Columbus & Xenia. $50,000
28 shares Columbus & Xenia. 1,400
51 shares Columbus & Xenia. 2,550
53,950
200 shares Dayton & Xenia.
$10,000
100 shares Dayton & Xenia. 5,000
100 shares Dayton & Xenia 5,000
100 shares Dayton & Xenia.
5,000
25,000
Total shares of railroad stock. $83,350
In addition to the stock owned by the county to the amount of $83,350, it also owned $8,600 worth of bonds issued by the Columbus & Xenia railroad. This brought the total railroad investment of the county up to the respectable sum of $91,950. Listed with all these stocks and bonds, and showing that the county had confidence in at least one turnpike company, are twelve shares of stock, par value of $50, in the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Springfield Turnpike Company, with a total value of $600. This schedule of the stock
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.