USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 91
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This is remembered as the stone of Mr. Jehial N. Woodworth, a schoolmaster.
Amos White, died September 25, 1819, age seventy years. Edward White, the first, born, April, 1714; died, September, 1802. Edward White, the second, born, November, 1746; died, October, 1798.
On a large tablet :
Josinah, consort of Jacob White, born November 6, 1760; died March 26, 1834, age seventy-three years four months and twenty days; has left the church militant to join the church triumphant.
On a tablet :
Alcy, wife of Jacob White, born May 30, 1775; died September 20, 1835, aged sixty years three months and twenty-one days; has gone to join the assembly and church of the first born.
A few rods southeast from this graveyard, near the north side of the county farm, in a well recently covered over, Moses Pryor was killed by the Indians in 1792. Just northeast of the graveyard a short distance, in the southwest corner of the grounds of William R. Morris, esq., was the grave of the Indian chief killed by Captain White in the attack on the station in 1793. The place of the chief's burial was pointed out by old Providence White on one of his later visits there; and in 1847, while improving the grounds, the workmen accidently ex- humed the chief's skeleton. A full account of the bat- tle at White's station will be found in the history of Springfield township.
AVONDALE.
This is a large tract (seven hundred and fifty-five acres) adjoining the city north of Walnut Hills, platted in part as a suburban village in 1854, to which considerable annexations have since been made. Its area is not far from one thousand acres, comprising the whole of section nine, the northwest part of section eight, between Woodburn and Corryville, in the city, and a part of section fifteen, in the south of which, just outside the city, are situated the zoological gardens: The section nine was conveyed by Judge Symmes in 1795 to Samuel Robinson. The next year Robinson conveyed three hun-
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
dred acres in its northeast part to John Hardin ; in 1797 one hundred and twenty acres in the southwest part to William McMillan, of Cincinnati, whose remains were buried here for more than half a century, but now rests in Spring Grove cemetery; in 1798 the tract north of Mc- Millan's and west of Hardin's was sold to John Hunt; and the southeast part, comprising the entire remainder of the section, was afterwards acquired by the celebrated William Woodward, founder of the Woodward High school. McMillan became a further purchaser here, to- gether with Jonathan Dayton and Elias Bondinot, of the East Jersey company, making the Miami purchase. After the death of Dayton, a subdivision was made in November, 1846, by Jonathan Bartlett, administrator of his estate on both sides of the Lebanon turnpike (now Main avenue), but mostly east of the road, which he des- ignated as "a plat of house lots at Clinton, three miles from Cincinnati." This was the first subdivision made in what is now Avondale. Two years afterwards James A. Corry made a plat in the southwest part of the sec- tion, upon the McMillan tract, which he styled the Lo- cust Grove subdivision. About the same time still an- other subdivision was made by Spencer and Corry. In 1852 Samuel Cloon made a subdivision of about one hun- dred and fifty acres, covering the "Clinton" tract, upon which Miles Greenwood, of Cincinnati, had built his sub- urban residence in 1847. The Cincinnati & Chicago railroad made a subdivision on the Corry lands in 1854, to which the engineer in charge of the survey gave the name of Avondale subdivision, from which the village to be derived its name.
One of the first suburban residences on this tract was the brick mansion on the Lebanon pike, built in 1835 by Luke Kendall, who, two years before, had bought ten acres from Mr. Corry at one hundred dollars an acre. This was then the "outpost of Cincinnati," as Colonel Maxwell styled it in his Suburbs of Cincinnati, to which we are indebted for most of these facts. In 1836 his partner, David B. Bassettake, built a brick residence out here; and the number increased gradually year by year, until one of the most notable suburban villages in the world has been formed, with several churches, a fine pub- lic hall, recently erected, the German Protestant cemetery, and a large public school-building on the west side of Main avenue, south of Rockdale avenue, built of brick, seventy by thirty feet, with a hall and six rooms, whose schools are superintended by Mr. A. B. Johnson, one of the veteran teachers of the Miami country, who has held the post of principal here for near a quarter of a century.
The Grace Protestant Episcopal church is situated upon a two-acre lot on Main avenue, north of Glenwood avenue. It was first occupied February 27, 1870, when a sermon was preached by the Rev. William A. Snively, of Christ church, in the city. The church and grounds cost twenty-five thousand dollars.
The Grace Methodist Episcopal church was formerly called Mears chapel. It is on the south side of Forest avenue, west of Washington. In 1868 the building was handsomely repaired and improved, at a cost of two thousand two hundred dollars.
The Presbyterian church of Avondale, originally Old School, was occupied about the first of February, 1868, under the pastorate of the Rev. Joseph Gamble. It is situated on the north side of Rockdale avenue, a little way from Main.
A beautiful new town hall, consummating an enter- prise which had been long under discussion, was dedi- cated December 31, 1880. It occupies a fine site on the south side of Rockdale avenue, just west of the main avenue. It is modified Queen Anne in style, of blue limestone trimmed with Ohio freestone. The outside dimensions are sixty by one hundred and ten feet. En- tering from Rockdale avenue, the main hall divides the offices of the mayor and clerk. Beyond these offices are the cloak room on the right and the principal staircase to the left, below which is the porte cochere; large doors at the south end of the main hall open to the assembly room forty-five by sixty, with stage and four dressing- rooms. Over the offices and entrance hall is the council chamber, extending across the entire front part of the building. This room with its panelled ceilings, polished wooden mantels and elegant chandeliers, is one of the features of the building. Accommodations for the police and fire departments are provided in the basement. The necessary height of the ceiling for the smoke-stack of the engine is afforded by the elevation of the stage floor. The large stage in the hall is, or is to be, provided with a complete set of scenery for private theatricals and similar entertainments. The commodious hall, with its polished floor, and lighted with five superb chandeliers, is devoted to a variety of uses, not the least of them being the elegant assemblies for which Avondale society is noted. Mayor Strickland made the principal address at the dedication, in which he indulged in the following pleasant reminiscences :
As a community, we have certainly made wonderful and rapid strides in growth and prosperity. From a few houses grouped together upon either of the turnpikes, with here and there a farm-house just in sight, surrounded with blossoming fields and well-stocked orchards, we have grown to be a community of three thousand inhabitants, embracing among them all classes, from the merchant and capitalist, to the skilled artist and daily workman.
In the earlier and more primitive times the journey to and from the city was not the luxury such as we have known it. Hunt street-then termed the bottom-from the old corporation linc to the foot of the hill, was, during the winter season, an almost endless sea of mud, and woe betide the unskilled and luckless driver, whose sight was not keen, for no friendly gas illumined the trackless path to enable him to safely pilot his way. No friendly policeman guarded the dark passes of the hill- side, nd home was often reached after adventures that tried the bravest and most resolute among them. Our patriarchs now were then the hardy pioneers of our civilization; and although the necessity for block- houses had passed away, great care was necessary to protect themselves, their families and their property from the depredations of tramps and footpads.
As our Queen City grew with all ever-increasing prosperity the flow of population to the hill-tops and surrounding country set in, and our delightful suburb has received its fair share of acquisitions. The little square school-house gave away to a more pretentious and imposing building located on a part of this lot, and it, too, has subsequently grown in size with the increasing demand of the times, until the old town hall, located there, was, of necessity, called into requisition, and its walls now recho the merry chatter of our children. The old town is a bright memory of the past. In it have gathered the young and old of our village for many years, but the history of that time is too crowded with events to even warrant me in an attempted reference to them.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
There was hardly any division upon matters of church and State. From going to the city to attend worship, as had been the custom, each to his or her favorite church, they united for Sunday observance upon a platform so broad and generons in its orthodoxy that all could fairly stand upon it, and the references that are now made to the good old days of union and harmony in church matters are convincing proof that the spirit of good faith and good fellowship then implanted has grown and strengthened as time had tried them. And in State affairs, so firmly rooted and grounded became the practice then inangurated that to this day officers of our different boards are chosen and elected without reference to their political views. A community, pronounced Republican in its majorities, has thrice honored our distinguished gnest, ex-Mayor Johnston, and has kept in our school board and in council some of the most efficient and honorable of our citizens. Long may the system continne that works such good results.
No scandals have ever been uttered in our midst attempting to im- peach in the slightest degree the integrity of any of our public officers. No improvement so great, no expenditure of money so large-involv- ing at times thousands of dollars-has ever tempted the abuse of a public trust. No scheme of merit but what has received and will re- ceive respectful consideration, and the question has never been asked, "What are the emoluments?" A notable instance, and one of which we should all feel proud, is the building of this hall. Almost without a jar it has risen in its fair proportions, and so close have been the calcu- lations of architect and contractor, and so painstaking the committee in charge, that the completion has been effected with extras aggregat- ing less than two hundred dollars. It reflects great credit upon them all, and it is my duty, as well as a great pleasure, to refer to it here. . .
We have improved and beautified in many directions. Old avenues have been remodelled and improved; new ones have been constructed and opened; good and substantial sidewalks abound, and every thor- onghfare is as well lighted with gas as those of any of our surrounding neighbors. We have established a police force, have an organized fire- department, and have constituted a board of health, composed of gentlemen who are thoroughly alive to the sanitary interests of our village. It will thus be seen that we have achieved much as a munici- pality. We have, step by step, advanced, keeping always in view the comfort, convenience and happiness of all. We have conspired, aided largely by nature, in making this an attractive and desirable place in which to dwell, and yet we have not accomplished all that we should.
Avondale was regularly incorporated as a municipality July 28, 1864. Some of its mayors have been : A. R. Dutton, 1866-7; Daniel Collier, 1868; Robert A. John- ston, 1869-74; John Dixon, D. W. Strickland. It had a population of two thousand, five hundred and fifty-two by the tenth census.
BOND HILL
is a little over a mile east of north of Avondale, with a station on the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. It was founded by the Cooperative Land and Building associa- tion, No. I, of Hamilton county-a company formed in 1870, but not fully organized until February 3, 1871. It purchased thirty acres, on the Reading or Lebanon turn- pike, at five hundred dollars per acre, situated at what was known as Colonel Bond's hill, from which the sub- urb takes its title. It is about two-fifths of a mile from the station, on a slightly inclined plat, offering many eligible building sites. This was subdivided into spacious lots for suburban residence. The by-laws of the associ- ation required dwellings to be erected in the centre front of each lot, and fifteen front from the sidewalk, and also prohibited the sale of intoxicants in the village. A fine public hall was early erected. The suburb has had a good growth, with the usual institutions of such a place, including the Bond Hill circle, a dramatic reading soci- ety, which gave weekly readings in the private houses during the cool season. The village had eight hundred and ninety-six inhabitants in June, 1880.
The St. Aloysius's German Catholic orphan asylum is situated near Bond Hill, on the Reading road, north of the Marietta & Cincinnati railway. It owns and occu- pies here a noble tract of fifty acres, has a three-story brick building, with basement and extensive two-story wings on each side-the lower story in each used for school rooms, the upper for dormitories. The property was valued at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in 1874, and has accommodations for about three hundred orphans. This asylum is supported by the regular con- tributions of more than two thousand subscribers, at three dollars and twenty-five cents a year, and three cele- brations or picnics per year-on Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July, and on anniversary day, the third Sunday in September-from which about seven thousand dollars are annually realized. Orphan boys may be kept here until twenty-one years old; girls until they are eighteen. The Sisters of Notre Dame, under the direction of a reverend father, conduct the asylum, with a board of trustees to manage the finances. It is regarded as a most beneficent charity. Bond Hill had three hundred and ninety-two inhabitants by the tenth census.
CLIFTON.
In 1843 Mr. Flamer Ball, a prominent attorney in Cincinnati, deemed it best for the health of his family to remove from the city and take a small farm in what is now Clifton. The region was then without schools or churches, police, or anything else that savored of city or village life; and there were not even good roads. After Mr. Ball had been there a few years, he thought the time had come to reap the advantages of a village govern- ment, and in 1849 he presented a petition to the legisla- ture, accompanied by the draft of a law for incorporation of the village, to his neighbors and other property own- ers in the proposed municipality. Among those who signed the petition were the distinguished or well known names of Philip McIlvaine, Justice McLean, Chief Jus- tice Chase, Hon. William Johnston, R. B. Bowler, Rob- ert Buchanan, William Resor, Winthrop B. Smith, W. G. W. Gano, and B. R. Whiteman. In March of the next year, accordingly, a beginning was made of Clifton (for so the village was called), as a separate government. The writer of Cincinnati Past and Present adds :
Mr. Ball consented to serve as its mayor, and for nearly twenty years held that office; and as mayor and ex officio president of its council he drafted and enforced all the ordinances of the corporation. He origin- ated the law for impounding stray animals-a law which he enforced through much opposition, but lived to see it meet the general approba- tion, and a similar law prevail throughout the State. Under his ad- ministration a church, a good school, and good roads, together with good order, were secured, and Clifton became the most beautiful sub- urban village to be found in the United States. It is hardly too much to say that he was the founder of Clifton.
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Mr. Ball was mayor from 1850 to 1869, when Mr. Robert Hosea took the office and held it some years, when he was succeeded by James Bergher, who was in the mayor's chair from 1872 to 1874, inclusive.
Clifton comprises one thousand, two hundred and eight acres. It took its name ftom the Clifton farm, which was within its present territory. It is situated just north of those parts of the city known as Cliftom heights
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
and Camp Washington, and between Avondale and the Twenty-fifth ward, or Cumminsville. King's Pocket- book of Cincinnati says it "comprises about twelve hun- dred acres of land beautifully diversified with hill and dale, and has a population somewhat exceeding one thousand persons (one thousand and forty-six in 1880). In its preeincts there is neither shop, factory nor saloon. It has over seventeen miles of avenues, lined with fine shade trees, two thousand of which were planted in the years 1877 and 1878; and this planting is to be continued
from year to year. The town hall is a handsome brick structure, surmounted by a tower with a clock. This building contains the public offices and the school-room. The school, though a public one, is known as the Resor academy, and was established originally through the en- terprise of the late William Resor, one of the earliest residents of Clifton, and always identified with its in- terests. The main hall of the building is elegantly frescoed in the Pompeian style and hung with choice photographs from works of the old masters and the mod- ern painters, the gift of the mayor, Henry Probasco. The ladies of the Sacred Heart have also a school for girls in a large stone mansion, with spacious and beautiful grounds, purchased at a cost of one hun- dred and sixty thousand dollars. . . Numerous handsome cottages with attractive grounds are scattered throughout the town. . Calvary Episcopal church is the only edifice for public worship. It is a neatly designed stone building, having a memorial tower. The outside is covered with iron, and presents a beautiful picture. The interior is well finished and hand- somely frescoed, and decorated with scripture mottoes."
The last census gave Clifton one thousand and forty- six inhabitants.
COLLEGE HILL.
This is another fine suburb of five hundred and sixty- three acres, situated near the northwest corner of Mill Creek township, about eight miles from fountain square, Cincinnati. It is conveniently reached from the city by College Hill narrow-guage railway, or by the old Hamil- ton turnpike, commonly called the College Hill pike.
The site of College Hill, which is among the highest localities in the county, was included in a large tract bought from Judge Symmes in October, 1796, by Nehe- miah Tunis, who had the title conveyed to Jabez C. Tunis. From him William Cary bought four hundred and ninety-one and one-half acres, in section thirty, upon which the village is located, for three thousand four hun- dred and forty dollars. Freeman G., son of William Cary, in 1833 founded, in a pleasant situation upon this tract, Cary's academy, which was chartered in 1846 as Farmer's college, and the latter institution gave the name to the place. The name is further justified by the loca- tion here, upon the same hill, of the Ohio Female col- lege.
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About 1855 there was a large emigration to College Hill of Cineinnati business men seeking attractive sub- urban residences. Among them were Messrs. Charles and Charles E. Cist, George C. and Norris S. Knight, the Rev. Clement E. Babb, J. C. C. Holenshade, A. I).
E. Tweed, D. B. Pierson, G. Y. Roots, and others. After a time the Female college building was opened to summer boarders, and that gave a further impetus to the place. It was formally incorporated as a village Septem- ber 9, 1857, and again July 21, 1866, when a general system of local improvements was instituted, which has aided to make one of the most inviting suburbs about Cincinnati. Among its mayors have been: Edward De Serisy, 1867; Norris S. Knight, 1868; Henry M. Cist, 1869; Cyrus S. Bates, 1870; L. T. Worthington, 1880-I.
The population of College Hill when the census was taken, in June, 1880, was one thousand one hundred and nine.
Farmer's college was chartered with all the powers usually granted to collegiate institutions, and secured an endowment, in buildings, grounds, money, etc., of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. It was highly prosperous for many years, and then fell off somewhat in popularity and strength. Embarrassing debts were in- curred, and an effort to endow an agricultural professor- ship failed. Special attention is given, however, to the applications of natural science to agriculture and the arts, and to botany and vegetable physiology. The col- lege faculty has included a principal and an actuary of the farm department, the former of whom was also pro- fessor of science and practical agriculture, and the latter teacher of landscape gardening. A botanical garden was also among the projects of the founders. At the time of pecuniary embarrassment, relief was afforded in an act of the legislature enabling the college to sell the college farm, which realized enough to pay the debt and leave a surplus of fifty-two thousand dollars, which is an irreduc- ible fund, the interest only being available for the current expenses of the school. The Polytechnic hall was dedi- cated in 1856, with an address by Professor F. G. Cary. A valuable agricultural and horticultural magazine, called the Cincinnatus, was conducted about this time by the faculty of the college and published at the Hill. Five volumes of it appeared.
The original Cary's academy was at the junction of the old Hamilton road with Colerain avenue, within the vil- lage limits.
The female college was chartered in 1848. The hon- ored Justice John McLean was president of the first board of trustees, and S. F. Cary was secretary. The corner-stone of the main edifice was laid September 9, 1848, and the institution went into operation in the fall of 1849. Its first building was destroyed by fire, but an- other was soon erected. In 1851 the college received a new charter, giving it the usual powers of colleges for young men. In 1865 it came into possession of Messrs. Samuel F. Cary, Franklin Y. Vail and Joseph Brown. Their interests were severally bought up by the trustees, and the school flourished until April 23, 1868, when its buildings were the second time burned. Recitations went on to the close of the school year, however, the citizens generously opening their homes to the students, and in a few months a finer building than ever went up on the old site. It is of brick, one hundred and fifty-five by fifty feet, with freestone quoins and trimmings, a
RESIDENCE OF F. G. CARY, FOUNDER OF
RMERS' COLLEGE, HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO,
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
mansard roof and tower. The last is called Alumna tower, each graduate of the college having finished one of the stone quoins in it. The grounds are beautifully situated, and occupy fifteen acres.
Besides the educational institutions, College Hill is also the site of a famous sanitarium or private lunatic asylum, opened in 1873, and said to be the only strictly private insane retreat in the country. The building it occupies was originally put up for the Ohio Female college.
By the will of the late John T. Crawford, of Cincin- nati, his farm of eighteen and one-half acres, just north of College Hill, in Springfield_township, is to be devoted to the purposes of a home for the aged and destitute colored people.
The first Presbyterian church here was organized in 1853, by thirty-three members of the Mount Pleasant so- ciety. The Rev. E. H. Bishop, D. D., then of Farmers' college, was one of the prime movers in the new depart- ure. The new church worshipped for several years in the College chapel, but got a building erected about 1855, which it occupies to this day.
The Grace Episcopal society was organized in 1866, and likewise worshipped for a time in the College chapel. In the early part of the next year, however, a beautiful brick church was built on the site of the old Cary acad- emy, costing sixteen thousand dollars.
The building for the colored church stands on Cedar avenue. There is also an excellent school in the village, occupying a brick structure on Hamilton avenue, north of the Presbyterian church.
About 1857 a very prosperous Farmers' lyceum was maintained in and about College Hill, meeting once a month from house to house, and commanding an inter- ested attendance from a wide extent of country. The members and visitors brought their wives and children, and baskets of provision, and made a day of it at each meeting.
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