USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the state of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 64
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Mr. Smith's successors in the pulpit of the church have been Revs. James Bassett, 1858-60; J. J. Ward, 1861-4; D. M. Moore, 1864-8; J. S. McCoy, 1868-9; D. R. Colmery, 1869-72; J. L. Rodgers, 1872, present incumbent.
The first elder of the church was Robert M. Davis, who was chosen in 1855, but in the following year was suspended because of his belief in spiritualism. Robert Love and Nathaniel Benedict were next chosen to the office, and since that time, George L. Kedzie, William A. Ewing, Martin Polhemus, and Cyrus E. Drake have been elders. The present session consists of Messrs. Kedzie and Drake. The deacons are James K. Hyde and James M. Steward.
The total number of members from the organization of the church is about two hundred and seventy-five; the present men- bership is about ninety. Mrs. Nancy C. Love, widow of Elder R. Love, is the only one of the original fourteen members, who has continued her membership unbroken to the present time.
Central Presbyterian .- In 1861 twelve members of the church, one male and eleven female, withdrew to form an Old School Church, known as the " Central Presbyterian Church," which maintained an organization for eight or ten years, holding services in the Asso- ciate Reform Church building. Its ministers were successively, Revs. - Haight, Norman Jones, and John S. Weaver. During the years of the war, the general sentiment of the members of this church was favorable to the southern cause. The organization finally perished, some of the members coming to the First Church and others uniting with churches of other denominations.
669
MIAMI TOWNSHIP.
,
THE CITY OF YELLOW SPRINGS.
This beautiful little city, the largest in the township, is located in the center of the western part of the same, west of the world-re- nowned springs from which it derives its name. It is the most im- portant village on the Little Miami Railroad, between Xenia and Springfield, and is connected with Dayton, Springfield, Xenia, and the numerous surrounding villages by turnpikes. Besides being connected with the Neff House grounds, the town is beautified by the Antioch College grounds, the private park of Mrs. Wm. Means, the Oakwood park, (public school grounds) and the cemetery. The principal thoroughfares are Xenia Avenue, and Dayton Street, the former extending from northeast to southwest, the latter running nearly due east and west. These streets are crossed by about twenty-five minor routes, running from east to west, and from north to south.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Prior to the year 1852, there were but few houses in the now populous little village. The old Methodist Church, now owned by Dr. D. T. Jones as a residence, and two or three small houses, one of them occupied by William Mills, constituted the " settlement" in 1845. But the celebrity of the Yellow Springs as a summer re- sort, soon attracted a number of people to its immediate vicinity, and it soon became apparent that a village would be formed sooner or later. The completion of the Little Miami (Xenia and Spring- field) Railroad added much to the general prosperity of the com- munity. Houses were built, stores opened, and the site presented a city like appearance. William Mills and A. C. Johnson in 1846, erected the building near the corner of the railroad and Dayton Street, now known as the " Union House," and kept a stock of dry goods and groceries. The frame building east of this was con- structed in the same year by Thomas Gilmore, who sold dry goods ; his brother William can still be found at the old stand. That they might convert the entire block into a business location, Messrs. Mills and Johnson made a very liberal offer to the members of the Methodist Church, as an inducement for the erection of a new church, that the corner building might be vacated. The proposi-
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
tion was accepted, and the old structure remodeled and converted into a dwelling. When used for church purposes, the lot contained a number of shade trees, and altogether presented a very lovely appearance.
Thus did the village assume proportions in spite of itself, for no attempt was made as yet to survey a village proper. The first brick dwelling house, now the property of Mrs. Meredith, was erected by William Mills, the second, now in the possession of Dr. Thorn, was erected in 1848 by John Hamilton. He engaged in the manufacture of brick in the same year, and has supplied nearly all the brick used in the town, Antioch College being one of the exceptions.
The main building of the Yellow Springs House, was the first building erected within the present limits of the village, being erected by Elisha Mills, and used as a dwelling; he afterwards super-added to the original, and converted it into a tavern. During the several seasons that witnessed the closing of the " Neff House," this structure drew a very large patronage. It has been closed since 1877, but will likely be re-opened in 1881. James Fcish owned ten acres of cleared land, and built a log structure thereon- whose location is now occupied by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. William Mills erected the magnificent structure now owned by Mrs. Means, in the "park," and removed into the same in January, 1843. The house was not sufficiently finished, however, and he moved into the aforesaid log.
John Hammond, a carpenter, was the next settler. He purchased a lot containing five acres, but afterwards sold it to Robert Chancy who laid it off in lots. The lot owned by Albert Kellogg, and the house in which he now resides, was originally owned by Dr. Isaac Thorn, the entire tract consisting of three acres. Then came C. W. Michael and bought five acres, a portion of which is now the home of C. D. Ruth. In 1844, Frank Hafner came over from the Neff House, bought an aere of ground on which he built a log house, now used by him for a bakery, and lived there one year when he again returned to the spring. One Baker bought a lot adjoining Hafner, erected a small house and shoe-shop thercon.
In 1853, Judge William Mills, engaged the services of a survey- or named Samuel T. Owens, who laid off a tract of three hundred acres, which comprises most of the land now within the corporate limits, into lots; they were sold at prices ranging from $150 to $500, by Mr. Mills; he reserving twenty acres surrounding his
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MIAMI TOWNSHIP.
residence, and donating ground for the schools, college and various church organizations.
Besides the business men already mentioned, we add the names of John B. Knox, elder and steward, and Frank Hafner, who kept the first bakery.
The first post-office was located in the orchard of A. C. Johnson, then removed to the springs into the store of Walking and Mills. Mrs. Cox, who lived in the old white brick, east of town on the Springfield pike, next assumed charge of the office. During the administration of President Taylor, Mr. Gilmore was appointed postmaster, after him came Arnold Benedict, then Cassner; who was succeeded by Burkholder. At the close of the late war, Mr. Charles Winters was appointed, and served in that capacity for a period of more than ten years, when he was succeeded by Mrs. E. McNair, the present worthy and efficient postmistress.
When the town was surveyed, it was the intention of Judge Wil- liam Mills and his father, Elisha Mills, Esq., to build up'a city that would contain a population of at least ten thousand in the near fu- ture : hence the extensive plan on which it was surveyed. The judge devoted himself solely to the noble task of attaining this end. Through his herculean efforts, the railroad and college were secured to the village. With his own private means, he paved and graveled the streets ; lots were sold at a nominal price, that they might be within the reach of all, and every inducement was held out by him to those who were looking for a home.
PRESENT CONDITION.
The village is enjoying an era of prosperity, that bids fair to con- tinue for many years to come. Within late years, it has become a great shipping point for farm products. The college under its ex- cellent management is gaining a world-wide reputation ; the moral condition of the village is good, and all appearances indicate a busy and thriving little city. To enable the reader to form an idea of the business transacted here, we submit the names of the various kinds of business, and the parties engaged therein, as follows:
Dry goods, etc., Charles Shaw, J. D. Hawkins, J. Van Mater, W. D. Gilmore; drugs, Hirst Brothers, Charles Ridgway ; gro- ceries, Charles Adams ; lumber, S. K. Mitchell & Son; nursery, - Carr; carriages, buggies, etc., T. B. Jobe; bakery, Diekman
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Brothers, F. Hafner; pictures, toys, notions, etc., Mrs. R. G. Cain ; ninety-nine cent goods, Miss DeNormandie; clothing, tinware, etc., J. J. Thornton ; stoves, W. J. Stephenson & Son ; stationery, Mrs. M. E. McNair; butchers, George MeCullough, Adam Holbut; mil- linery and dressmaking, Miss E. Reed, Mrs. E. J. Price, Mrs. Dunn; coal, A. M. Wilder; boots and shoes, J. Cordingly; shoemakers, M. McCann, John Cannon; clock and watch makers, C. D. C. Hamilton, F. H. Weaver : merchant tailoring, D. B. Low ; harness, E. Thornton ; livery, L. Green ; barbers, Jeff. Williams, William Milton ; untertaking, M. Mccullough; carpenters, William Lytle, James Lytle; cabinet maker, William Large; blacksmiths, S. Cox, R. Cox, Albert Thompson, John Pennell; lime manufacturer, Washington Shroufe; physicians, J. M. Harris, E. J. Thorn, M. S. Dillman, F. Baker; attorneys, J. W. Hamilton, S. W. Dakin; den- tist, D. T. Jones ; grain dealer, J. II. Little.
YELLOW SPRINGS AND NEFF HOUSE.
Those white men who first penetrated the wilds surrounding the head waters of the Little Miami River, were informed by the Indians in this region of a chalybeate spring, whose waters pos- sessed healing properties of wonderful efficacy, and were much vaunted in the country about. Here it was the bold and shrewd Tecumseh was wont to come from his home in the neighboring county of Clarke, crossing the "Glen," and imbibing the famous waters. His trail is still pointed out.
Picturesque and beautiful, it is not surprising that the spot at- tracted the white settlers. Just opposite the town of Yellow Springs, two small streams unite in a creek, whose waters, a mile away, empty into the Little Miami River. Through beds of lime- stone, a deep ravine, or "glen," worn by water in past ages, lies the course of these streams, skirted all along by high bluffs, pro- jecting cliffs, and huge disrupted masses of rock; affording an en- chanting variety of scenery. One of these outlying masses, known as "Pompey's Pillar," stands apart from the bordering wall of rock, rises as if built by human art, and is capped by a broad, pro- jecting layer.
A beautiful cascade of ten or twelve feet fall, is formed by the pouring down of the waters from a stream at the head of one of these gorges.
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Near the apex of the tongue of land separating the two branches of the creek, issues the celebrated spring. Owing to the depth of its source, heat and cold do not effect its temperature, nor drought and flood its volume. The water is strongly impregnated with iron -seventy or eighty per cent .- and in less degree with magnesia and soda. The iron, when percipitated, gives a yellow tinge to everything over which it flows, to which is attributed the origin of the name, " Yellow Springs."
In the course of ages there has been formed from the edge of - the cliff as a center, a semi-circular mound, jutting out into the ravine below, and many feet in depth. This huge mound with a radius of hundreds of feet, composed of material colored by oxide of iron, shows its great age, by the size of the oaks and cedars which are growing upon its summit.
From the earliest settlement of the country, the mild but whole- some tonic of the waters, together with the charm of the landscape, has attracted invalids, with others who sought only rest and recre- ation. It has been a favorite place for political gatherings; here has been heard the eloquence of Webster, Clay, and Van Buren. Fifty years ago Edward Everett spoke of it as "this lovely spot, where everything seems combined that can delight the eye, afford recreation, and promote health."
The valley and gorge of the Little Miami, from the southern ex- tremity of the "Glen," to the hamlet of Clifton, is one unbroken scene of picturesque beauty and grandeur, easily accessible from Yellow Springs. The land enclosing the spring and the "Glen," was part of a large tract owned by Colonel Elisha Mills, from whom it passed to his son, Judge William Mills, who erected build- ings thereon for the accommodation of those who loved to reside near the springs during the hot summer months. There was one large building and four cottages, the former about two hundred and fifty feet in length. Four stages passed each day, usually loaded with guests for the house. The occupants came from Cincinnati, and the southern states; many in their own private conveyances.
William Neff, in December, 1841, purchased of Judge Mills the " Yellow Springs" proper, for $15,000. He also purchased a tract adjoining, and containing one hundred and sixty acres, of Colonel Elisha Mills. May 11, 1842, he came from Cincinnati, with Frank Hafner ; together they opened the house, which was crowded dur-
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
ing the entire summer season. Hafner continued in the manage- ment of the house, while Neff, who resided at Cincinnati, visited it at intervals. It was then closed to the public, and occupied by the proprietor and his family. In 1854, at the death of Mr. Neff, his son, William C. Neff, obtained control of the premises. He made some improvements on the buildings, and leased them to Mrs. Gilbert, The present building, a magnificent frame, was erected in 1870-1. During the time intervening between the erection of the same and this date, it has been open to guests each summer, with two years' exception. The house is now in good hands, and enjoys a large patronage.
THE SPRINGS.
So generous a fountain could never fail to attract to itself the human occupants of the country. Accordingly, we find that the earliest race of which we have any traces in the Mississippi Valley, namely, the Mound-Builders, established themselves here. A sym- metrical pile of earth and stone attests their interest and occupancy. The mound is now crowned with a summer-house. It may not be out of place to add, that from the summit of the mound, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay addressed a great audience on the same afternoon in the political campaign of 1840.
That the Indians, who displaced and succeeded the Mound- Builders, set a high value on the spring, is also amply attested. The spring lies about equidistant between two famous settlements of the Shawanoes, namely, Oldtown, above Xenia, which was one of their most valued corn-fields, and the Mad River Village, below Springfield, where Tecumseh was born. The trail connecting these points passed by the spring, and fifty years ago, according to the testimony of the earlier white settlers, it was worn as deep as a buffalo path. It passed very near the present site of Antioch Col- lege, and descended into the glen by a break in its rocky wall, which is still used for a foot-path.
At a later date, this site was selected by the followers of Robert Owen for their socialistic experiment. A phalanstery was built, the chimney of which is still standing, but the location was soon abandoned for some reason, and the organization was transferred to New Harmony, Indiana.
For the last forty years the spring has been the most notable
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MIAMI TOWNSHIP.
place of summer resort in southwestern Ohio, and justly so, for there is no other location within this region that unites so many attractions and advantages as this immediate neighborhood. A large hotel, capable of accommodating several hundred summer guests, now occupies the grounds adjacent to it, and its waters seem certain to dispense health and happiness in an increasing ratio for the years to come.
The main supply of water for human uses in Greene County is, however, as elsewhere, derived from wells. Wherever the Drift beds are heavy enough, they yield an abundant, and, on thewhole, an exeellent supply ; but in points of Cedarville and Miami town- ships, the Drift beds are too shallow to furnish an adequate amount, and it becomes necessary to penetrate the rocky floor in order to secure wells on which reliance can be placed. These wells gene- rally obtain water when they strike the first of the water-bearing horizon named above, but it has been learned that this vein is un- certain, and the drilling is now continued until the great vein, or that borne by the surface of the Niagara shales, is reached.
To one or two points of practical importance in this connection attention is here called. The veins, or rather sheets of water found under ground are fed from no mysterious sources, but receive their supply, in considerable part at least, directly from above. Surface waters traverse the shallow, gravelly clay that covers the rocks easily and rapidly, and they descend through the porous lime- stone with almost equal facility. But it is often forgotten that all of the water descends, water from drains and cess-pools as well as from summer showers or winter snows. In point of fact, no more effective drain is required for the discharge of ordinary household water waste than an opening into these gravelly clays affords, and when the excavation is carried to the surface of the limestone, the drain discharges its contents with great promptness. The case is bad enough as already stated, but in point of fact it is even much worse than it is here represented. If the descending sewage and cess-pool water were all obliged to traverse the porous limestone before entering the veins from which wells and springs are fed, we could be certain that it would be quite thoroughly filtered. But the cap rock is not only porous, it is also fractured. Like all mas- sive limestones, it is traversed by two sets of joints, which divide it into blocks of quite regular shape. But partly by solution, and partly by contraction and settling, the faces of these divisional
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
planes are no longer in contact. Crevices varying from an inch to a foot in width intersect the strata. They are generally filled with gravelly elay, but they allow a very free transmission of liquids from above. A very gross and dangerous communication is thus established between the neglected or polluted surface, and the water veins depended on for daily use.
It has been abundantly demonstrated that drinking water con- taminated with even a very minute proportion of undecomposed excretory matter becomes a common carrier of disease. Cholera and typhoid fever in particular, are known to be very largely dis- tributed in this manner. The addition of one grain of sewage de- tilement to the gallon was found, in the cholera epidemic of 1866, in London, to be directly connected with 71 per cent. of the whole mortality. The fact that cholera has wrought its worst ravages in this country in places quite similar in geological structure to the areas now under discussion, is well known. The names of San- dusky, of Nashville, of Murfreesboro, of Paris, Kentucky, of Cov- ington, Indiana, will recur to the minds of all. There is weighty reason for believing that the fatality of the disease in all these widely separated points is due to the geological structure which they have in common. The blocky limestones which underlie them all, taken in connection with the arrangements of wells and cess- pools that ordinarily prevail, renders not only possible, but, in many cases, necessary, the defilement of drinking water with the products of disease.
There are two village sites in Greene County which, however attractive and advantageous in other respects, must be considered as positively unsafe with respect to their natural water-supply .. The village sites referred to are those of Yellow Springs and Clifton.
In the former, the danger of contaminated wells is rendered less, from the fact that the dwellings are so widely separated from each other; but a very free connection between the privy vault and well of the same premises must certainly exist in many instances. Hap- pily, on account of the trouble and expense of getting wells, cisterns have been a large dependence of the village from the first, and it is not known that any outbreak of disease can be traced to contami- nated drinking water, but it cannot be amiss to call attention to the elements of danger involved.
The village of Clifton, unfortunately, has not as good a record. No town of Ohio suffered more severely, in proportion to its popu-
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MIAMI TOWNSHIP.'
lation, from the cholera epidemic of 1849, than this little village. To any one acquainted with its geological structure, and at the same time with the results of modern inquiries in regard to the distribution of cholera,the suspicion that the water-supply was largely connected with the fatality of the disease cannot be re- pressed, and the history of the spread of the pestilence points to the same cause.
The village is located on the north bank of the Little Miami River, which here occupies a deep and narrow gorge, wrought out of the Niagara limestone, as has been before stated. For forty or fifty rods back from the gorge there is but a shallow earthy cover- ing of rock, but beyond this the drift increases in thickness until it is not less than fifty or seventy-five feet in depth. The village is mainly built upon the first named track, but quite a number of dwellings are located upon the higher ground. The latter derive their water-supply from the ordinary drift wells of the country, while in the closer-built portions of the village on the low ground, the wells descend from fifteen to twenty-five feet into the rock, probably deriving their water from the same horizon, viz., the sum- mit of the Springfield division of the limestone.
The cholera was confined to the lower part of the village, not a single case occurring in the higher ground. The disease made its appearance in the hotel or village tavern, a stranger who came into the village in the evening being attacked in the night and dying the next morning. Seven deaths in all occurred in the tavern, and two also took place in a dwelling directly opposite to the hotel, and others in the neighborhood, the whole number amounting to forty. The water used in the tavern was derived from a street well, to which the occupants of adjacent dwellings also resorted to a con- siderable extent. If the facts could all be reached, it is quite prob- able that this street well would be found responsible for the violent outbreak and terrible fatality of the disease.
These " limestone wells," in all thickly settled areas, as towns or villages, must obviously be looked upon with grave suspicion. The water which they furnish is very grateful to those who use it, it is true, for it is cool because of the depth from which it comes, and clear because it has been filtered efficiently enough, at least to re- move all grosser impurities, but despite its clearness and coolness it may be laden with the germs of the deadliest pestilence. Clear water is not necessarily pure water.
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
A word of warning needs to be given in the same connection against the common Drift wells of the country. An ordinary well serves a two-fold office-it is a way to water and a draining-pit besides. Because the first office is only regarded in its construc- tion, it is too often forgotten that it must, of necessity, discharge the latter function. Great care needs to be exercised over the area that can be influenced by this deep excavation. Certainly the drainage of privy-pits, barn-yards, and kitchen-waste ought to be most carefully excluded from the household water-supply. Too often waters from all of these sources contributes to the contents of these wells, and they thus become, in an evil hour, fountains of disease and death.
One purpose, however, they sometimes serve, which, though not designed or recognized, may be a source of positive advantage. When placed near dwellings they do much toward draining the building site, and thus add to its healthfulness. Of course this in- congruous work ought not to be required of them, but in default of other provision for it, the well assumes the office vicariously. A question may be raised as to where such water would do the greater harm-in a damp foundation and wet cellar, or in the household well. If choice must be made between such unseemly alternations, probably the latter would be found the lesser of two evils. But water- supply is altogether too important an element in the health of a community to be safely left to accident or to a short-sighted econ- omy. It ought to be guarded with conscientious and intelligent care from possible contamination.
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