USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the northwest and the state of Ohio > Part 65
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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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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. H. 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 reere- 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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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 carlier 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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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 the whole, an excellent 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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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 clay, 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- filement 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 couiftry 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 reeur 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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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 carthy 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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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.
Apropos of the early settlement of Yellow Springs, we submit the following from an interview with Squire John Hamilton :
" In the year 1843, while the Erie and Miami Canal was being dug through Shelby County, I formed the acquaintance of a jour- neyman tailor named Smalley. Subsequently he left the country, and was partially forgotten by me, until one day I was the recip- ient of a letter from him, dated " Yellow Springs" and for which I paid twenty-five cents postage-under the postal arrangements of those days, the receiver paid the charges incidental to sending a letter. It was my impression at the time, that Yellow Springs was quite a flourishing little town.
In 1845, while working on the Xenia and Cincinnati road at Spring Valley, I was informed that there would be a public letting of work on the Springfield and Xenia, which was finished the year
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following. Repaired to Dayton, my home, and contracted to hew a certain amount of mill timber for the road. Accompanied by three hands, I started from Dayton on Sunday morning, intending to walk to Yellow Springs, in the immediate vicinity of which we expected to work. We traveled by the way of Byron ; upon arriv- ing at a stone house owned by Daniel Wolf, we stopped and enjoyed a hearty dinner, paying 123 cents each for the same. After dinner we resumed our journey, and at " Frogtown " noticed a guide post on which was inscribed " Yellow Springs, one mile." There were no pikes, and roads were made traversable by throwing logs across them. There was no house between the Frogtown branch and the Springs, except the old Methodist Church, the entire strip of coun- try consisting of one dense forest. We passed through the present location of the town of Yellow Springs, but saw no indication of a village ; arrived at the springs and sat down to rest. Ere long a man approached.
" How far is it to Yellow Springs?" was our inquiry.
"Can't see for the trees," replied he.
He, however, pointed out a little cabin on the present location of the Neff House, which was the post-office, and said the name was derived from the Springs. We had anticipated seeing quite a clus- ter of houses, and our surprise at this disappointment can easily be imagined. We were directed to the house of William Mills, and by him to the residence of James Larkins, where we obtained tem- porary lodging."
ANTIOCH COLLEGE.
Origin and Name .- This institution was organized and named in a convention of the religious denomination called "Christians," held in Marion, Wayne County, New York, October 2, 1850; was legally incorporated under the name of "Antioch College," May 14, 1852, and reorganized under the name of "Antioch College of Yel- low Springs, Greene County, Ohio," April 19, 1859.
The name "Antioch" was given in honor of the Syrian city where "the disciples were first called Christians."
Aims and Methods .- The aim of the convention was, to establish a non-sectarian college of high rank; to offer in it equal opportu- nities for students of both sexes. These principles have continued to characterize the college through all its history.
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To secure its liberal character, as its founders understood liber- ality, it was provided that two-thirds of the board of trustees and a majority of the board of instruction should at all times be mem- bers of that denomination.
The convention appointed a provisional committee of thirty-four, comprising representatives from different states, of whom the con- vention designated thirteen : A. M. Merrifield, of Massachusetts; David Millard, David Ely, Esq., Rev. Amasa Stanton, Rev. W. R. Stowe, Rev. Eli Fay, Dr. J. Hale, and C. C. Davison, Esq., of New York; Rev. John Phillips, Rev. D. F. Ladley, Rev. Josiah Knight, E. W. Devore, Esq., and IIon. B. Randall, of Ohio, to act as a sub- committee, having in charge the work of raising funds, and locating and building the college. Of this committee Rev. David Millard was chairman, Rev. Eli Fay, secretary, and A. M. Merrifield, treas- urer. Under its direction agents were put into the field to raise funds at once.
The Financial Scheme .- The original design was to establish a col- lege proper, with four under-graduate classes. The funds for the endowment were to be raised by the sale of scholarships, at one hundred dollars each, entitling the holder to keep one scholar in the school continually, free of tuition charges. Fifty-thousand dollars were fixed upon as the minimum of funds to be raised. It was also the expectation to build it in the state of New York, "somewhere on the thoroughfare between Albany and Buffalo." The agents were directed to take notes for the scholarship subscrip- tions, payable September 1, 1852.
At a meeting of the sub-committee, held in Stafford, New York, October 29, 1851, it was found that the Ohio agents had far out- stripped the others in success, and that that state had earned the right to the college. Here it was decided, that the college should be located in Ohio; that a department of preparatory study should be annexed to it; that at least one hundred thousand dollars must be raised as a permanent endowment, no part of which should ever be diverted from its purpose; but the interest alone should be used to pay the tuition of. the students who might be sent on the schol- arships ; that fifty-thousand dollars must be raised to erect build- ings, and grade and ornament the grounds, and that dormitories should be built for the accommodation of. the students.
For building funds, reliance was placed upon the contributions which might be made for the purpose of securing the location, and upon special donations for building purposes.
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The Location Decided on, and Plans Accepted .- The sub-committee met again at Enon, Ohio, January 21, 1852. Here, after canvassing the claims of the different places bidding for the location of the college, the preference was given to Yellow Springs.
The moving causes of this decision were, first, the beauty and healthfulness of the place; and, secondly and chiefly, the pledge from the citizens of twenty acres of land for a campus, and thirty thousand dollars in money, to be paid in ten monthly installments of three thousand dollars cach. Hon. William Mills made a gift of the land, and became personally responsible for the payment of the money, paying in the end twenty thousand dollars himself.
The site donated to the college lies in the southeastern outskirts of the village, and has a gentle slope eastward towards the rail- road, on which it fronts, and the glen, which it overlooks. It is surrounded on all sides by streets seventy-five feet in width.
A set of plans and elevations for buildings was presented to the sub-committee at this meeting by A. M. Merrifield, Esq., of Wor- cester, Massachusetts, and accepted; and a building committee of seven (D. F. Ladley, J. G. Reeder, and E. W. Devore, of Ohio, Oliver Barr, of Illinois, and A. Sturtevant, of Pennsylvania,) was appointed. Mr. Merrifield was appointed building agent, to make the contracts, provide the material, and oversee the work. IIe es- timated the cost of the building at sixty thousand dollars.
The Buildings were erected according to the plans adopted. There are three large buildings of brick. Antioch Hall, the main and central building, is in the form of a cross, one hundred and seventy feet long, with a transept of one hundred and ten feet. It has three stories of fifteen feet each, besides the basement, with towers and minarets at the several corners. It contains a chapel fifty by ninety feet and thirty-two feet high, lecture room, recita- tion rooms, library, laboratory, society rooms, etc. Standing back from this are two dormitory buildings, one on the north containing dining hall, parlors, and dormitories for ladies, and one on the south, occupied as dormitories for gentlemen. Their dimensions are each forty by one hundred and sixty feet, and four stories high. All of them front the east.
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