USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 77
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covered with sidewalks, although the last report of the city engineer does not give the total mileage of the sidewalks. No sidewalks were laid by the city during 1918 except those made necessary during the paving work, and which were paid for out of the paving funds and charged to street paving. Sidewalks were ordered on the following streets, but not constructed because the property would not stand the assessment: Branch street from Galloway to West on the south side; Columbus street from Church to Fair on both sides; Leach street from Church to Third on the west side.
BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS.
The city has one water course running through it. The same over- flowed on May 14, 1886, and on the next morning the bodies of twenty- three drowned persons were laid out in the mayor's office. Three other . bodies were later found which had been washed out of the city, bringing the total deaths by drowning to twenty-six. The stream, Shawnee Run, an innocent looking rivulet, is spanned by thirteen bridges within the city limits ranging from thirty to forty feet. The viaduct across the Pennsylvania tracks on Monroe street, a steel structure, is 417.7 feet in length, the main span being one hundred and twenty-four feet long. This span was renewed in 1916, and the floor of the entire viaduct laid with wood block.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
The police department under the present form of government is under the direct control of the city manager, who appoints the chief and all the patrolmen. The present chief is James H. Canaday. The patrolmen are Edward Wilkins, M. E. Graham, Charles Sims and Joseph Day. Sims, a colored man, is night policeman. The chief receives a monthly salary of ninety dollars, while the patrolmen receive seventy-five dollars per month. All cases coming under the jurisdiction of the city are now tried before the police judge, neither the mayor nor the city manager having any judicial functions. The city jail is used to hold prisoners pending trial, if they are not out on bond, and if subsequent trial results in conviction, they are placed in the workhouse to serve out their sentence. The present police judge is E. Dawson Smith, who receives an annual salary of four hundred dollars.
WORKHOUSE.
The workhouse in Xenia is owned jointly by the city and county. It was erected in 1882-83 at a cost of eight thousand dollars, the city and county sharing equally in the expense of its construction. It has since been maintained by the two, although since its beginning thirty-six years ago,
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arrangements have been made with nine counties whereby they are allowed to place certain of their prisoners in the workhouse and pay the city of Xenia and county of Greene a fixed rate for their maintenance. These counties are Shelby, Miami, Clarke, Ross, Fayette, Clinton, Warren, Champaign and Logan.
This institution was opened on November 12, 1883, for the reception of prisoners, the first superintendent being Maj. George A. Barnes. The succession of superintendents of the institution has been as follows, the dates given being the date on which the official took his office: Maj. George A. Barnes, November 12, 1883; Norman S. Tiffany, April 4, 1886; John Eyler, August 13, 1887; Elmer Todd, February 15, 1888; John Brewer, July 1, 1892; Moses R. Brannum, October 1, 1897; Joshua Yeo, February 16, 1897; Rankin Grieves, November 1, 1900; James B. Marshall, Novem- ber 1, 1901; David E. Crow, January 15, 1902-January 2, 1918. David E. Crow was the superintendent until the present form of city government was established on January 2, 1918, since when the position of superin- tendent has been held by the city manager, Crow being retained in the capac- ity of steward at a salary of one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month.
CEMETERIES.
The history of the several burying grounds of Xenia shows that there have been at least five in the city during its long career of more than a century. Four of these cemeteries have been abandoned from time to time, and for about seventy years Woodland Cemetery has been the chief one of the city. Usually when a town is laid out its first citizens do not take into consideration the future expansion of the place. Such was the case in Xenia, and this has been responsible for the abandonment of the cemeteries established prior to 1847. It was in this year that the present Woodland Cemetery was laid out, the citizens by that time realizing that it would be necessary to provide more ample grounds than could be obtained adjoining any of the cemeteries then in use.
Prior to 1847 there had been four separate cemeteries started, each being the property of one of the churches: Methodist, on Water street, which was sold in pursuance of an order of the court; Associate, at the corner of West and Market streets; Associate Reformed, also known as the Gowdy cemetery, Water street; German Reformed, Church street. These church cemeteries were not used after the establishment of Woodland in 1849 and were one by one abandoned, and the bodies exhumed and inhumed in Woodland. The Associate cemetery ground reverted to the heirs of Maj. James Galloway, who sold it to the city for school purposes. Here ,was built the first ward school building in 1868, and later the present Mckinley
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building. From the newspaper accounts in the '4os it is evident that the cholera raging during that decade was responsible for the agitation which finally led to the abandonment of the cemeteries in the city and the subse- quent establishment of Woodland outside the city limits.
There is nothing particularly interesting in connection with the history of a cemetery, but there have been preserved a few incidents in connection with the Woodland cemetery which might be mentioned in this connection. The first prominent undertaker in Xenia was David Medsker and for at least thirty years he buried more people in Xenia than any other man. He came to Xenia on November 6, 1829, and died in the city on August 22, 1879. He became one of the directors of Woodland when it was started in 1847. In after years Medsker related some of his experiences in his pro- fession, some of which may be interesting to the present generation. He first began lining coffins (the word casket was not then in use) about 1835, using white paper. Later he used muslin to line coffins. His first lined coffin was for Philip Davis, who was buried in 1835. It seems that when Medsker first came to Xenia, and for some time afterward, there were what were called professional mourners-a group of curious parasites who prey'ed on the sympathies of the relatives and friends of the deceased. In fact, so Medsker related in after years, two groups of these hired mourners had a contest in Xenia at one time, each group seeing which could put on the best exhibition of professional mourning. As soon as a person died a group of these parasites flocked to the house of the deceased and began their lamen- tations, sometimes by invitation of the relatives, sometimes without any invitation. Medsker continued in business up into the '70s, and stated that he had buried over seven thousand people in the county, the great majority of them being in Xenia or the immediate vicinity. David B. Cline was the first sexton of Woodland. He came from Virginia to Greene county in 1827 and located in Xenia in 1834. When Woodland cemetery was being surveyed in 1847 Cline assisted the surveyor and thus began his connectic with the cemetery. He became the first sexton, dug the first grave and remained in charge until the Civil War. He remained at his post during the terrible cholera epidemic of 1848, when, during the months of July and August of that year, he buried eighty-five victims of the dread disease.
A word may be added here about the scourge of that year. The first person to die in Xenia was a stranger who died at the railroad station in June. He is supposed to have brought the disease to the town. The first citizen of Xenia to die with the disease was Hillory Neil. It was necessary, of course, to inhume the body at once and the body actually reached the cemetery before Cline had the grave ready to receive it. According to the story of this burial of Neil, one of the men in charge of the body remarked
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to Cline: "Can't you keep a few graves dug ahead, and not wait until a man dies, and you get an order before you begin the work, and thus keep us waiting?" "Certainly'," said Cline, "if you will let me take the measure of people before they die, and if you think it is a good idea. And I will just take your measure now while you are here, and have the grave ready for you." The man in charge of the body had no more to say.
The day following the death of Neil his wife succumbed to the disease. The deaths gradually increased until people were dying at the rate of four and five each day. The citizens were naturally panic stricken and many of them left town. A young blacksmith came to Cline one afternoon, ordered a lot for his wife's sister who had just died; the grave was immediately dug and the woman buried that afternoon. The man was in good health, but overnight he was stricken and he was buried in the forenoon of the follow- ing day. Relatives of persons stricken with the disease even ordered graves dug before the death occurred. Cline filled the position of sexton until the '6os, when he was replaced by James R. Hedges. The successors of Hedges have served in the following order: Andrew Rader, W. L. Wright, J. H. Douthett, Hunter Bull, Samuel Bull and Samuel H. Maynor, the present incumbent. The Bull brothers both died while serving.
The first regulations for the management of the cemetery were issued in December, 1847, the president of the board of trustees at that time being E. F. Drake, with J. A. Coburn as secretary. The presidents of the board have served in the following order: E. F. Drake, Alfred Trader, Daniel Martin, Brinton Baker, Horace L. Smith and Charles F. Howard. Mr. Howard has been serving as president since 1898. The secretaries have been as follow: J. A. Coburn, John B. Allen, Benoni Nesbitt, John C. Carey and Clinton F. Logan. The present officers of the Woodland Ceme- tery Association are as follow: Charles F. Howard, president; Horace L. Smith, vice-president; C. F. Logan, secretary; M. L. Wolf, treasurer. The directors include the four officers and Lester Arnold, H. H. Eavey, J. A. Piper, S. B. LeSourd and M. A. Broadstone.
The association bought twenty acres in 1847, being authorized to form the association and purchase land for burial purposes in accordance with an act of the General Assembly, dated February 25, 1845. Twenty additional acres were purchased in 1877, following the legislative act of March 20, 1877. The first burial in the new cemetery was made by John Shearer, the father of Judge Charles C. Shearer, in 1849, the first person interred being a daughter of William Hollingshead. The total number of burials up to March 18, 1918, was eight thousand two hundred and forty-two. The year 1917 saw one hundred and sixty-three burials in the cemetery, while 1918 witnessed thirty-six up to March 18.
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During 1913-14 the cemetery trustees erected a beautiful mortuary chapel of stone in the cemetery' at a cost of about seventeen thousand dol- lars. The chapel proper has a seating capacity of two hundred, while the receiving vault beneath has a capacity of twenty-four bodies. The chapel is one of the finest of its kind in the entire state. The stone columns at the entrance of the long drive to the cemetery formerly adorned the front of the old court house, and when that old structure was razed in 1900 they were given to the cemetery trustees by the county commissioners. The galvanized iron balls on top of the columns were an afterthought of the trustees.
There are fewer than half a dozen colored persons buried in Wood- land, the colored people having had a cemetery of their own since 1870. There is a section of the cemetery set aside for soldiers of the Civil War and many of them find a resting place there. The cemetery is always kept in fine condition and the grounds are beautified with many different kinds of trees and ornamental shrubbery. The Catholic church has a well-kept cemetery on the upper Bellbrook pike about two miles west of town. It was established about 1850. The colored people maintain their separate burying ground on the upper Bellbrook pike adjoining the city on the west. It was opened about 1870 under the name of the Cherry Grove cemetery. Its present trustees are William Jenkins, L. P. Hilliard, James Harris, Charles Roundtree, Jerdon Robb, Mark Sanders, M. Summers, Payne Jami- son and R. E. Holmes. The secretary of the board of trustees is Albert Landrum. There are still a few bodies in the old cemetery on East Water street, the old Associate Reformed cemetery, but it has not been used since Woodland was opened.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF CITY.
It seems certain that the first building erected by the city was a market house, and it appears to have been erected on the court house square in 1814. It is certain that there was such a structure located there in 1824, proof of which is furnished by the following record from the county commissioners' minutes, dated June 8, 1824:
From an order made by the Commissioners on the 6th day of June, 1821, granting leave to the Citizens of Xenia to remove the old Market House and erect a new one on the Publick Ground, after obtaining leave of the Associate Judges of Common Pleas. The Citizens not having obtained leave of said judges, but the Common Council of the Town of Xenia having obtained leave of the said Judges, aforesaid, to erect a Market House on the Public Ground, therefore it is now ordered that the Common Council of the Town of Xenia have liberty to erect a Market House on the north end of the (south) Public Ground in such a manner that the west end of the said Market House will range with the west end of the Court House, and that the Pillars thereof be twelve feet from Third Street. They also allow Twelve feet of Ground on the South side of the Pillars for the use of said house.
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The building erected shortly after this order of 1824 was in use for several years, but by the '50s it seemed to have been abandoned as a public market house. As early as 1851 the commissioners' records show that they were trying to get the building moved from the square, but for some reason the city failed to do so. On March 12, 1859, a preemptory order of the commissioners was sent to the city council asking that the building be removed, and it appears that it was shortly afterwards demolished and was never re-established. The order of that date follows :
Whereas, the market house belonging to the incorporated village of Xenia was built and is still standing on the ground donated to the county as a public square. And whereas, no markets have been opened or held in said market house for some months past and, from appearance, it seems to have been converted into a place for keeping vehicles of various kinds, contrary to the original design, Therefore-
Resolved, that the Common Council of said Incorporate Village be and is hereby most respectfully requested to remove said market house with all its appurtenances from the public square.
Ordered that the County Auditor furnish the Mayor of said incorporate Village with a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions.
FIRE HOUSES.
The first fire house in the city was erected in 1831, following an agree- ment between the county commissioners and the town, whereby the former agreed to allow it to be constructed on the public square. The official rec- ord concerning this so-called engine-house is as follows, dated March 9, 1831 :
On the application of the Common Council of the Town of Xenia, by John Gowdy, their recorder, for the privilege of erecting a small frame house on the Public Ground in Xenia for the purpose of keeping the Fire Engine, belonging to said Town, in; it was therefore agreed by the Commissioners that said privilege be granted, as follows: To commence on Detroit, four feet north of the house built by James Collier; thence with said Street north fourteen feet, and back thirty feet; which privilege is granted. during the pleasure of the Commissioners, and said Council have power to move said House whenever they think proper.
WM. BUCKLES.
From this location on the public square the next fire house was located on Greene street, next to the alley, where it was stationed for several years. The city, however, rented its quarters here. Another fire house was located on Whiteman street, between Main and Second streets, this being sold when the present new station was ready for occupancy on East Main street. Of the two present fire stations the one on East Main was completed in 1914, the other one at the corner of West Second and Cincinnati avenue was a gift to the city.
CITY BUILDING.
The present city building at the northeast corner of Detroit and Market streets was erected in 1867, and was completely overhauled in 1880. At that time the upper part was converted into a public hall and arranged for .
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dramatic performances. The building for this reason is usually referred to as the opera house. It houses all the city officials, and also contains the city jail.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF XENIA.
It has been more than one hundred years ago since the first effort was made to establish a public library in Xenia. The little village could hardly have numbered more than five hundred souls at the time, but this did not daunt the forefathers. They wanted a library and they got it. The winter of 1815-16 witnessed an agitation for a library of some kind, not exactly a free library as is understood to-day, but some kind of a reading room. The agitation finally resulted in the drawing up of a subscription paper setting forth the purpose of the movement, the rules under which the proposed library was going to operate, and the general management of the institu- tion when it got started. The first meeting of the subscribers to the library was to be held on the fourth Saturday of March, 1816, at which time an organization was to be effected. The subscription paper, together with the list of signers, follows :
To provide the means of diffusing knowledge and literature is an object of the greatest importance to society, and claims the attention of every friend of humanity. For this pur- pose, we, the subscribers, have determined to establish a public library in the town of Xenia, which shall be open to all under the following regulations :
Ist. Each subscriber shall pay to the librarian five dollars on each share annually.
2nd. The subscribers shall meet on the fourth Saturday of March, 1816, and on the same day annually forever and elect by ballot nine directors, who shall be a standing com- mittee, five of whom shall form a quorum, to regulate the affairs of the library, with the following powers, to-wit: To appropriate the funds of the library for the benefit of the subscribers ; to appoint a president and librarian from their own number, and to assign them their duties ; to call a meeting of the subscribers on matters of importance at any time when they think necessary, and to enact by-laws for regulating the affairs and securing the interest of the library.
3rd. At each annual meeting a report of the proceedings of the committee, together with a list of the books purchased, shall be laid before the subscribers for their inspection.
4th. Two-thirds of the subscribers present at any annual meeting shall have power to alter or amend these regulations.
5th. Any person neglecting his annual subscription or any fine imposed upon him, when amounting to the sum of two dollars and fifty cents, shall forfeit his share to the use of the company, and if under that sum he shall not enjoy any of the privileges of a subscriber until such sum shall be paid.
6th. Any manager may be removed from office at any time by a two-thirds vote of the subscribers.
7th. Shares may be transferred on the books of the librarian, and each subscriber shall be entitled to draw books in proportion to the number of his shares.
8th. The library shall go into operation immediately after forty shares shall have been subscribed.
SUBSCRIBERS-James P. Espey, Josiah Grover, William T. Elkin, Philip Good, William Ellsberry, Samuel Pelham, Joshua Martin, Moses Collier, Stith Bonner, Thomas Hunter, John Gaff, John Haines, Thomas Gillespie, James Collier, John Smith, William Laughead, William Alexander, George Junkin, Jesse Watson, Robert W. Stevenson, Anthony Cannon,
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Samuel McBeth, Bratton & Beall, Jacob Haines, Francis Kendall, James Towler, Matthew Alexander, Josiah G. Talbott, Jacob Smith, Henry Morgan, James Lamme, James Galloway, Jr., Lewis Wright, W. A. Beatty, Alexander Armstrong, William Richards, Daniel Reece, James Popence, William Currie, Robert D. Forsman, Thomas Embree.
Here are forty-one citizens who expressed a willingness to help estab- lish a library in the town-one of the first in the state of Ohio. There are, unfortunately, no records extant showing just what was done by this library "company." But it is interesting to know that more than a century ago the town saw the wisdom of establishing a library, although it was not until the fall of 1899 that the first free public library was established in the city.
The history of the library situation in Xenia from 1816 down to 1878 is obscure. There is no question that the town had a library of some kind during most of this time, but it seems to have completely disappeared by the '70s. The history of the local library was prepared for a state publica- tion in 1899 by Isadore F. King, who traced the growth of the library of Xenia only from 1878. There seems to be no question that there was no library of any kind at that date, nor does there appear to have been one for a number of years. The Young Men's Christian Association had a small library in its quarters, but it circulated only among its limited mer- bership.
As is often the case in public-spirited matters, the women of Xenia should be credited with starting the present library in Xenia. In the winter of 1877-78 a group of eight young women organized what they called the "Tuesday Club," the members being Elizabeth Ewing, Jennie Morris, Anna McCracken, Clara Allen, Bell Gatch, Elousa F. King, Isadore F. King and Emma C. King. They prepared literary papers, discussed literature in a more or less dilettante sort of fashion, but found themselves seriously hand- icapped because there was no library. It was this need on their part which ultimately led to the beginning of the present library. The few books of the Young Men's Christian Association and another library, known as the Lyceum, were of little value, and besides were stowed away in an inacces- sible place. This state of affairs was directly responsible for the energetic members of the Tuesday Club organizing on August 20, 1878, the Young Women's Library Association, their first officers being as follow: Anna McCracken, president; Emma C. King, vice-president; Jennie Morris, sec- retary ; Belle Gatch, treasurer. But the young women had more enthusiasm than money, and while enthusiasm is a very necessary thing to have, yet it will not purchase books. They bethought themselves of the few books of the Young Men's Christian Association and made a proposition to John A. Shields, who had them in charge, that they be allowed the custody of the books for the nucleus of a library for the town. In order to go about
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the matter in a business-like manner they submitted the following proposi- tion in writing to the managers of the Young Men's Christian Association :
Recognizing the need of a public library in Xenia, the Young Women's Library Associa- ciation has been organized. We have no room, no books, no money, but we believe we have energy and perseverance, and we hope to have success. Our object in coming to you is to ask the loan of your room, your furniture, your books, in consideration of which we pledge the following :
I. To keep the library open at least once a week.
2. To be responsible for the safe keeping of the furniture and books except in case of fire; to replace any books that may be lost, but not holding ourselves responsible for their wear while in use.
3. To add new books to the library as we shall be able, such books to be the property of the Young Women's Library Association.
It is needless to say that the managers of the Young Men's Christian Association very gladly accepted the proposition of the women. They imme- diately started out to get books donated to the library, and at the same time sold dollar tickets which entitled the holder to use the library free of cost for a period of one year. Eli Millen, the owner of the building in which the room was located, offered to let them have the room free of rent, and as long as the library remained in the building it paid no rent for the use of the room. Here was opened a public library on September 14, 1878, and this date may be taken as the beginning of the history of the present library of the city. At the close of the first year the association was able to report one hundred and thirty-seven members holding tickets entitling them to the use of the books.
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