USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 76
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The winter of 1881-1882 was spent in an investigation by the city council
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
of the electric light plants which had been established in various cities in Ohio and adjoining states. The city council seemed to be bent on really investi- gating the matter from an impartial standpoint, the Gasette stating in February, 1882, that the "junketing" of the council had cost the city one hundred and fifty-seven dollars up to that time. Experts in electric lighting were brought to the city and open meetings were held to discuss the matter. The final result of the agitation was the ordering of an election for Monday, May 15, 1882, at which time the voters were to say whether they were willing for the city to issue twelve thousand dollars worth of bonds for the installation of a municipal electric light plant.
The local newspapers had articles on the question for some weeks before the election, the Gazette. uniformly opposing the plan, while the Democrat- News as consistently favored it. The result of the election showed that the people wanted to let the city go ahead and try its hand in establishing a plant, the final vote standing 647 in favor and 522 against the proposal, a majority of 125. The city council on June 12, 1882, following this affirmative vote, authorized the issuance of twelve thousand dollars' worth of bonds to cover the cost of the installation of an electric-light plant. The plant was located on Little street, between Main and Market streets, opposite the workhouse.
The city did not meet with much success in its electric-light venture, and when a purchaser appeared in the person of John P. Martin it was ready to dispose of the plant and retire. It was Martin who was largely instrumental in getting the first waterworks plant in the city, the city entering into a contract with him on July 19, 1886, whereby he was going to install a waterworks system in the city. He paid the city only a nominal sum for the electric-light plant, but the city never realized anything on the sale.
The history of commercial electric lighting in the city is curiously inter- mingled with the local gas situation. There were those connected with the old artificial-gas plant who did not want an electric-light plant installed for the reason that it would break into their monopoly of the lighting of the city. Several ineffectual efforts were made to secure franchises in order to install an electric-light plant, but every move of this kind was thwarted by the gas people for several years. The gas people controlled the city council, a_control which not only kept the city from extending its plant so that it would supply private consumers, but also kept private parties from entering the field. How- ever, in the summer of 1888, Charles L. Jobe and H. C. Hardy decided that they would put in a small electric-light plant for their own use, and to this end organized a voluntary association, or rather, entered into a friendly agreement, and began work under the name of Jobe, Hardy & Company. Before they had gone very far with their plans, three other business men of the town asked to be allowed to join in the installation of a plant, the five men to share equally
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
in the installation of the plant. These other three men were R. R. Knowles, R. I. Stewart and H. E. Schmidt. The firm bought an abandoned machine shop on Collier street and expended about twenty-five thousand dollars in equipping the plant. While it was the original plan to produce only enough current for the five interested promoters, a small additional outlay enabled the company to produce considerably more power than the five men could use and they had no difficulty in obtaining consumers to use all the surplus current they had. Hardy became the general manager of the plant. Wilber Hill, a practical electrician, was brought to the city to take charge of the business, and has been connected with the electric-light plant of the city from that year down to the
present time. The venture did not succeed as well as its promoters had expected and in the following year there was an effort on the part of some of the men to sell their interests, the first to sell out being C. L. Jobe and H. C. Hardy, the purchaser being Robert Davidson, who was really an agent for the local gas company. It was not long before the other men had disposed of their interests to their same company, and thus came to an end the first private electric-light company in Xenia.
The subsequent history of the electric situation in Xenia is somewhat involved. It has been mentioned that Martin bought the city's plant, but he was unable to do anything with it, much less pay the city anything for it. The city's plant was eventually abandoned and P. H. Flynn, the shoe manufacturer, put in a private plant. It was this latter plant which was still in operation when the Dayton Power and Light Company secured a franchise from the city and began furnishing service. The Flynn plant is still maintained, but is used only in a case of emergency. The city is lighted by current furnished by the Dayton Power and Light Company, one hundred and forty-seven arc lights being provided for street lighting.
THE TELEPHONE.
The man who introduced the first telephone into Xenia is still living in the person of Capt. L. H. Whiteman. and the historian is indebted to him for the early history of the telephone in the city and county. In the latter part of the '70s, shortly after Bell had perfected the telephone, Captain Whiteman became interested in the business and within a short time had completed negotiations with a firm in Cincinnati to install a switchboard in Xenia and start business.
He rented the third story of the building now occupied by the Criterion Clothing Store on Detroit street and there, in 1879, established the first switch- board in Xenia. Within a short time he had more than two hundred subscribers who were willing to pay him four dollars a month for his service. The first man in the city to install a telephone, or "hello box," as the news-
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
papers liked to call it, was Samuel Newton, the second subscriber being John Little. The business grew so rapidly that Captain Whiteman took in Little as a silent partner and in 1882 organized the Buckeye Telephone Company. Captain Whiteman first operated under the name of the Xenia Telephone Exchange and under this name entered into a contract on June 6, 1881, for the installation of the first telephone in the court house.
The Buckeye Telephone Company was a consolidation of the Xenia plant of Captain Whiteman and the Middleton plant of C. H. Bundy. This company secured a contract with the county commissioners for the installation of three telephone "boxes" in the court house on December 4, 1882. The next step in the history of the telephone business in Xenia was made in 1885, when the Buckeye Company was merged into a new company known as the Miami Telephone Company. This new company secured a franchise from the city of Xenia on February 13, 1885, and continued in business under this name until it was absorbed by the Central Union Telephone Company, of Chicago, in 1905. Upon the reorganization in 1885, John Little became president and Captain Whiteman became local manager, a position he retained for several years.
OTHER TELEPHONE COMPANIES OF XENIA.
The Miami Telephone Company had the local field to itself until 1898, when the Xenia Telephone Company came into existence. The city records show that this company secured a franchise from the city on December 3, 1898. The Ohio Telephone and Telegraph Company entered the local field with a franchise dated March 29, 1901, being closely followed by the Citizens Tele- phone Company. The latter company was granted a franchise by the city council on May 30, 1902. The Central Union Telephone Company of Chicago (usually referred to as the Bell system) came into the city following a franchise granted on April 26, 1905. This new company absorbed the old Miami Telephone Company.
WATERWORKS.
The beginning of the present system of water supply for Xenia may be said to be definitely marked by a contract which the city entered into with John P. Martin on July 16, 1886. Martin was a pump manufacturer, and his famous "Red Jacket" iron pump of the 'Sos was widely known throughout the country. He came here from Cincinnati. Martin spent the summer of 1886 in prospect- ing for water, but he had no money to go ahead with his plan, and the spring of 1887 found him ready to turn his contract, or franchise, over to Goodhue & Birnie, of Springfield, Massachusetts. This company immediately began preparation to install a waterworks plant and the spring and summer of 1887 saw the work in active progress under the direction of George F. Cooper, who
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
ยท came to the city from Springfield, Massachusetts, to superintend its con- struction.
The company chose a location for the plant about a mile and a half north of Xenia, near Oldtown run, where a large number of springs flowed into the run. Tests made showed that the water was clear, cold and pure, and appar- ently of sufficient volume to furnish an ample supply. A dam was constructed which made a reservoir for the impounding of the water from the springs. A pumping station was erected and at the same time a reservoir, locally known as a standpipe, was erected at the extreme east end of Market street. This standpipe, 115 feet in height and 20 feet in diameter, has a capacity of 275,000 gallons. When the plant was installed in 1887 it was the only one in the state . of Ohio which had a pipe of less than six inches, a four-inch pipe such as used in Xenia, being considered by experts at that time as inadequate for fire pro- tection. The plant put into operation in 1887 proved sufficient for all the needs of the city up to 1895, but the severe drought of that year convinced the company that an additional supply of water would have to be provided. Several places were considered before it was finally decided to install a second pumping station on the Cincinnati pike, adjoining the city on the south. Here the second plant was erected in 1895, the water being derived from eighteen wells. Thus the city, with two separate plants, located on two sides of the city, is peculiarly well situated with regard to its water supply. The company also owns a couple of acres of land near the Oldtown mill which may be used at some future time for water supply.
The company in 1918 has twenty-three lines of pipe within the limits of the city, their lines reaching to all parts of the city. There are 203 fire hydrants, 500 feet apart, thus insuring the city ample fire protection, no fire ever having overtaxed the available supply of water. The water mains show a pressure varying from 60 to 100 pounds, according to location. The average amount of water pumped every twenty-four hours is 850,000 gallons, or 102 gallons daily for each person living in the city. There are 2,IIO water con- sumers, while 81 per cent. of the stores use the water of the company. Until within the past few years meters have been used only where large quantities of water are consumed, but the policy of the company now is to install meters throughout the city as fast as possible, and there are now 475 meters in use. The city has installed five public watering troughs, while the Barber family gave to the city the mountain which stands on East Main street, opposite the court house.
The connection of John P. Martin and the firm of Goodhue & Birnie with the local plant has already been mentioned. The latter firm owned the plant about fifteen years and then disposed of it to the firm of Jones & Phillips, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. This company in turn sold the plant in 1904 to
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Frank M. Green, of Washington, D. C., who was acting for the Shamokin interests. In the fore part of 1907 the control of the company passed into the hands of local people, several of whom had been stockholders in the company for several years. Practically all of the stock of the company is now owned by local investors, fifty-seven of the sixty-one stockholders residing in Xenia.
The present company was granted a perpetual franchise by the city on February 15, 1907, and the rates then established were in use until February 15, 1917, when a new schedule of rates was established by the company. These rates were fixed according to the estimate of the value of the property of the company, the engineering firm of Chester & Fleming, of Pittsburgh, fixing the value of the plant at $338,770. At the present time the rates as fixed in 1917 are being reviewed by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and their report is expected some time in 1918. The city pays the water company $32 per year for each of the 203 fire hydrants now installed, or a total of $6,496 a year. According to the schedule adopted in February, 1917, the city is to pay $40 for each additional hydrant which may be installed in the future. This is a fixed rate.
The officers of the Xenia Water Company in 1918 are the following : George Little, president; C. E. Arbogust, vice-president ; George F. Cooper, secretary, treasurer and general manager. The directors include the three officers and M. L. Wolf and C. L. Jobe. Mr. Cooper has been the general manager of the local plant since it was installed in 1887, and is now entering into the thirty-first year of his service with the company. It is probable that few public-service corporations in the state have had one man in charge for such a long period of years. The offices of the company are located on East Market street.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The history of Xenia's fire department falls into five periods: First, the period when the town had none at all; second, the period when there was only a bucket brigade, this lasting until 1837 or 1838; third, the period of the famous hand-pump days, when the water was all pumped by hand power; fourth, the period of the "steamers," engines which threw water as it had never before been thrown in the town; and fifth. the period since the installation of the present system of waterworks in 1887.
There is little known of the fire department prior to 1887. Just fifty years before that time-1837-the Legislature passed an act allowing the town of Xenia to borrow five thousand dollars to purchase fire-fighting apparatus and build an engine house. This house stood on the northwest corner of the public square, the town having a lease of a strip eighty feet wide across the north side of the square. This was removed in the '50s and the fire house was then located on Greene street, and there it remained for many years. Subsequently
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MAIN STREET, XENIA.
GENERAL VIEW OF XENIA.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
there was provision made for two fire-engine houses, or fire stations, one on East Main street where it is now located, the other being at the corner of Cincinnati avenue and Second street.
The present fire station on East Main street was completed in June, 1914, at a cost of $12,500. The other station, known as No. I, is an old brick structure, formerly used as a cooper shop, built before the Civil War. It was donated to the city for use as a fire station by one Maynor. At station No. I is a ladder truck and one hose wagon. At the other station is a hose wagon and a combination hose and chemical wagon. There are four horses at No. 2 and two horses at No. I.
Fire Chief Buckles has been connected with the department for about thirty-four years, while until the spring of 1918 there were others on the force with about the same number of years of service to their credit. Aaron Turner has been at station No. 2 for twenty-nine years. Charles Dill and John Price, both of station No. I, who had served thirty-four and forty-six years, respectively, were to be displaced in the spring of 1918. These men had given good and faithful service during all of these years, but it was felt that younger men were needed in the department. Charles MaHana has been with the department since December 15, 1916. William Miller is employed as a driver. City Manager Riddle contemplated making several changes in the personnel of the fire department in the spring of 1918, but they had not taken place at the time this volume went to press. The members of the fire department had been designated by the city ordinance of December 8, 1905, the same ordinance setting forth their salaries. This ordinance, however, was being subjected to some very radical changes by City Manager Riddle. All the members of the department will be appointed by the city manager from the civil-service list of applicants.
SOME LARGE FIRES IN XENIA.
Xenia has had its full share of destructive fires. The first fire of any consequence occurred on the night of August 3, 1845, the Puterbaugh fire on East Main street. Two young men, James Kinney and William Steele, were murdered in the building and the murderer evidently set fire to the building to destroy the evidences of his crime.
The Monroe fire of January 26, 1883, was attended with considerable loss of property. It was this fire which resulted in the loss of all the records of the Masonic fraternity. The Eavey wholesale house burned on February 3, 1908, entailing a loss of $100,000, the heaviest fire loss the county has ever suffered. Two volunteer firemen lost their lives, Martin Ullery and Joseph P. Fletcher. The fire of January 18, 1909, completely destroyed the paper mill, the loss being about $50,000. The next large fire occurred on the west side of Detroit street opposite the court house on December 9, 1914. This
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
fire, referred to as the Hutchinson & Gibney fire, resulted in a loss of about $80,000. The last fire with a heavy loss occurred on the night of January 24, 1918, when one of the warehouses of the Hooven & Allison Company was completely destroyed with a loss of about $50,000. There were thirty-five fires in 1916 and forty-nine in 1917.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT.
.The present sewerage system dates from the ordinance of June 25, 1900, when a board of commissioners of sewers was appointed by the mayor with a tenure of five years. No compensation was to be allowed the members of the commission. During the past eighteen years the city has been adding sewers year by year until now the city is fairly well provided with storm and sanitary sewers. The old sewage-disposal plant was on the city farm of thirty-three acres located about two miles west of the city, but the new plant, completed during the spring of 1918, is located three miles northwest of the city.
There are what are known as four main trunk line sanitary sewers, as follows: Main sewer, from the shoe factory to the outlet ; branch No. I, from King street to Main; branch No. 2, from the corporation line to Main street at the shoe factory and from the Home road to the shoe factory; branch No. 3, from Church street to the shoe factory ; the total length of these main sewers . is 3.75 miles. There are twenty-eight laterals running off from these four main sewers, the total length of the laterals being 11.88 miles, making the total of the sanitary sewers of the city 15.63 miles. There are in addition 5.22 miles of storm sewers. During 1917 there was only one line of sanitary sewer constructed, this being done under the supervision of the city engineer for the trustees of the West End Mission church. The sewer was laid on Orange street, from Bellbrook avenue to the Second street branch, a distance of 525 feet. The total cost of this sewer was $494.96. The repairs on the sewers during 1917, and including the cleaning out of the old sewage-disposal plant, amounted to $527.76.
In the summer of 1915 a contract was entered into by the city for the construction of a modern sewage-disposal plant. The city purchased land about three miles northwest of the city as a site for the new plant, and issued bonds in the amount of $68,000 to cover the cost of construction. As a matter of fact, the city will have a plant which could not be duplicated for at least $100,000, it being a well-known fact that the original contractor stood to lose between thirty-five and forty thousand dollars on his contract. It is even stated that this was the cause of the death of the contractor. Subsequently, following his death, the contract was assumed by the Bailey Construction Company, of Dayton. The W. J. Sherman Company, of Toledo, designed the
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plant and has general charge of its construction. The plant, which will accom- modate a city of fifty thousand, was turned over to the city during the spring of 1918.
STREET CLEANING.
The cleaning of the streets of the city has heretofore been let by contract . to the lowest bidder, the work for the past two years having been done by Roy Jenks for $218 per month. The last contract was let in January, 1915, at which time the city had only 5.8 miles of paved streets. Since that time there has been an additional 2.6 miles of paving completed, the additional mileage being taken care of by day labor. The workhouse prisoners have been used to do part of this work. In 1916 the cleaning of the streets cost the city $3,050.93, the cost in 1917 having been $3, 168.75. In 1916 the city cleaned 140,569 square yards, whereas in 1918 there will be a total of 174,586 square yards to be cleaned. The contract for the street cleaning for 1918 had not been con- cluded at the time this was written, but it is' planned to adopt a different system, and use the street sweepings on the city's farm of thirty-three acres west of the city. There was inaugurated a few years ago what is known as a clean-up campaign, which is held in May of each year. This was started by the city board of health, but during the past two years the actual removal of the debris has been in charge of the engineering department of the city. Teams and men are hired and the city laid out into districts and systematically covered. In 1917 1,235 loads were removed at a cost of $331, an average cost of 26 cents per load.
STREET SPRINKLING.
The street sprinkling in the business district has been let by contract to the lowest bidder, the work in 1917 having been done by Alexander Morgan at $62.90 per month. A total of 4,300 lineal feet of streets was sprinkled at a cost of 7.3 cents per lineal foot. The entire cost, less two per cent. and the intersections, was paid for by the property owners affected. The total cost of the sprinkling for 1917 was $627.97, divided as follows: Labor and materials, $440.30 ; water rent, $109.94 ; legal advertising, $77.74.
STREET REPAIR WORK.
Owing to the fact that much of the repair work done on the streets in 1917 was performed by city prisoners, it is not possible to give the cost data of the work. Most of the repairs were done on the gravel streets. Exact data on the paved street repair work has been kept, as follows: Brick, $77; asphalt, $156.85. The total cost of the work on gravel streets for the year 1917 was $1,067.48, making the total cost of all street repair work the sum of $1,301.33.
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STREET PAVING.
The following tables exhibit the extent of the street paving in the city of Xenia. the first being the brick pavement :
Street.
From.
To.
Feet length.
Area.
Detroit
North Corp. .
South Corp.
8,520
44,212
Main
P. C. C. & St. L. Ry
. Columbus street
3,780
25,306
Market
P. C. C. & St. L. Ry
Columbus street
3,777
26,695
Green
Main Street
Market street
3.36
985
Whiteman
Market street
Second street
676
1,295
Car track of East Main street.
3,850
Total
17,089
102,343
The asphalt pavement is not so extensive as the brick as may be seen by the following table :
Street.
From.
To.
Feet length.
Area.
Second
Shawnee bridge'
Columbus street
4,026
17,666
Third
Cincinnati avenue
.Columbus street
3,320
8,960
King
Third
Ankeny Mill road
4,120
Church
Detroit
Mechanic street
1,700
15,450
Roger
. Detroit
. 900 feet east.
900
1,626
Cross
Church
Third
8,850
15,692
E. Main
Columbus
East
Corp.
4,330
12,840
Total
27,254
72,243
During 1917 the city was engaged in paving several of the streets, a summary of which work is indicated in the following table, the three streets being paved with asphalt and the tracks of the traction line with brick :
Street.
Area Sq. Yds.
Cost Sq. Yds. $3.00
Total Cost.
E. Main
12,849
$ 39,240.00
Traction Line
3,850
2.60
10,000.00
Cross
15,692
3.18
10,000.00
Roger
I,626
3.48
5,777.00
Total
34,017
$104,993.70
East Main was paved from Columbus street to the east corporation line; Cross street from Church to Third street; Roger from Detroit to a point nine hundred feet east. The average cost of the paving was three dollars and eight cents per square yard. Thus the city began the year 1918 with a total of eight and four-tenths miles of paved streets; three and twenty-four hundredths miles of brick and five and sixteen-hundredths miles of asphalt. The total paved area within the city is one hundred seventy- four thousand five hundred and eighty-six square yards. The total street mileage of the city is twenty two and thirty-two hundredths miles; alley mileage twelve and twelve-hundredths miles; practically the entire city is
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