USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 6
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Those men associated themselves together to organize their church. They did organize it and soon afterward had their first baptism. Here is a record of that. "On Sunday. Jan. 21, 1821, the ordinance of baptism was administered to the following persons by the Rev. Roger Searles: Louise Williams, aged three years; Theodore Williams, aged one year, children of Jaines Williams. Sponsors, James Williams, E. Lane. William Gallup, one year. Sponsors, William Gallup, Sarah Gallup. Ebenezer Shaw Lane, one year. Sponsors, E. Lane, Frances Ann Lane, James Williams.
This is the record of the first old church that was started here for the benefit of those settlers who had come in and who were living here with the woods all around them. Now and then the nights were made hideous by the drunken revels of the Indians who came in and got the white men's fire water, and they were always apprehensive of the results of those drunken revels. They were living in log houses ; their windows were not glass. Theirs was the spirit that builds towns. They came in here with the intention of building a town and a home, but they did not foresee what was to take place. They could not foresee that magnificent dis- play that took place on our streets yesterday. I wish they could.
They had to have paper. How were they going to get it? They had to have flour and things of that kind. When they first came here, they had to carry their grain way to the Black River on horse back. They had to carry it in bags and bring it back on horse back. They started a mill here. Henry Buckingham, Platt Benedict and a few others started a paper mill and a grist mill. I want to tell you what they said about it way back in that day. Platt Benedict in writing to Elisha Whittlesey under date of August 25th, 1832, said to him, "I have taken possession of the Henry farm and am improving it, have been offered twelve dollars an acre cash in hand which I refused, and the steam mill which was thought so foolish and visionary is the sole cause. The mill does a good business, making seventy to eighty reams and grinding about a thousand bushels of corn a week." That paper mill was started in 1831, and run by an engine built here by Daniel Watrous, our pioneer machinist.
This little book is a pioneer book. It was given to the Firelands Historical Society April 6th, 1859, by Hon. Frederick Wickham, the father of Judge Wick- ham, and long editor of the Norwalk Reflector. This is a rare publication. I don't know of another copy in existence. It is the "Ohio and Michigan Register and Immigrant's Guide." This was published by J. W. Scott, Florence, Huron county. Ohio, in 1832. The spirit of commerce was abroad in the land in those days. I want to refer you to these two ads :
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"Norwalk Manufacturing Co., paper makers," etc.
"Printed by S. Preston & Co., Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio." The whole thing is a product of Norwalk way back there in 1832.
We can't make paper here today. But we have the physical record of that old paper mill. A mile or so up Norwalk Creek they built a dam and from that dam they ran a mill race all the way down to town to the mill. That stood over on the slope of Woodlawn avenue, on the west side of that avenue, about thirty or forty rods south from Main street. They ran the water down into a well which they built. I filled that well up myself about twenty-five years ago. There are parts of the old race still to be seen, showing the enterprise of those days. About half way down from the dam to the paper mill a saw mill was built and run by water from that mill race. The tail race from that saw mill is yet plainly in evidence just south of East Elm street bridge. That spirit of enterprise has always stayed here. The pioneers started it here and nobody has ever been able to take it away from us.
In 1851 Norwalk was nothing but a side show to Milan. Milan had a canal which they had built from Milan down to the deep water of the Huron river, about eight miles to the lake, and up and down that canal used to go the commerce that supplied the territory from here south as far as Columbus. The grain and farm products of all that territory were carried to Milan and marketed in two, four, six and eight horse wagons, the larger ones called "Pennsylvania Schooners" The dry goods, groceries, etc., purchased in New York city by our merchants came back by the Erie canal and lake to Milan. I have seen the streets of Norwalk filled with those teams at night, camped from one end to the other. Norwalk was simply a side show. But in 1851 Milan was offered the opportunity to have a railroad through from Cleveland to Toledo. They didn't want a railroad. Their canal was the main thing and nobody could take that away. They wouldn't give a dollar for the rail- road. Norwalk voted fifty thousand dollars bonds upon itself and it then had about twelve hundred inhabitants. That is the spirit that builds towns and it has always been here. That proved a good speculation. The capitalists in the east thought they saw an opportunity and they commenced buying up the stock of this road. The directors of the road watered their stock fifty per cent and those people bought that all up at par, so that the bonds that Norwalk gave brought them back seventy- five thousand dollars. That was a pioneer road built from Cleveland to Toledo. John Gardiner, our esteemed and venerated citizen, was its first president. Charles L. Boalt was the mainspring, the moving spirit that built the road. Lewis D. Strut- ton sat up all night one night and all day Sunday signing the bonds that they might get away before an injunction could be gotten out. As soon as they were signed, Boalt got out of Norwalk and out of reach of an injunction. Bonds from other towns were put in his hands. With the proceeds of the sale of bonds, he bought the iron for the first road. He paid one hundred and twenty dollars a ton. It was Norwalk enterprise that did it. That spirit that chased the three wolves out down there was still here.
When these four gentlemen who planned the removal of the county seat to Norwalk laid out their plot, they dedicated four lots for public purposes ; one for a court house, one for a jail, one for a meeting house and one for an academy for the promotion of the arts and sciences.
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In 1854 twenty-five gentlemen of Norwalk organized themselves together under the name of the Whittlesey Academy of Arts and Sciences. They contracted and sold the rooms that are in the old Whittlesey building by lease, ninety-nine years, a ground rent charge, and put up that old building. They have received those rents ever since. They reserved "Whittlesey Hall" and rented that and it brought in from nine to twelve hundred dollars a year rental for many years. They ac- cumulated quite a sum of money, but every dollar of that money has gone for the public benefit of Norwalk. It has gone into the public library, into the build- ing and upon its shelves. Not one red cent has ever stuck to the fingers of any one of the twenty-five organizers or their successors. Those twenty-five charter members constitute a roll of honor, and I am going to read them to you and I want to say that no one of them now lives, but there are twenty-five successors still living and still doing what they did, using the proceeds of the rental of that property for the advancement and welfare of their posterity and all who come hereafter. These incorporators were:
G.T. Stewart W. I .. Rose
Charles Bishop
M. R. Brailey
Louis D. Strutton J. A. Jackman
George H. Safford
Saml. T. Worcester
Hiram Rose
E. Gray John Tift
J. E. Ingersoll
S. R. Beckwith
C. E. Newman
B. F. Roberts
George Baker
F. A. Wildman
J. A. Jones
Joseph M. Farr
O. G. Carter N. S. C. Perkins
Chas. B. Stickney Edward Winthrop
J. E. Morehouse
John Cline
The structure that they built, the sentiment and spirit they put into its creation is as active and potent today as it was the day they formed the organization. It is going on now and it has within itself the power of self perpetuation, for every member is a member for life. When they leave Huron county or die, successors are elected to them, and based upon this our Library Association has become a protege of the Whittlesey Academy. This society has been taken up by them. The library association may go out of existence, this society may go out of ex- istence, but the Whittlesey Academy will stay here and see that the work goes on.
We have had some queer experiences here in our time. We once had what was known as the Norwalk Barrel Company. They grew up and prospered and then died. A traveling man with a good deal of energy and life about him sug- gested to certain of cur citizens that they should start an organ factory. Judge Wickham was one of the parties approached and he succumbed to their blandish- ments and became one of the incorporators of the A. B. Chase Company. They negotiated for the purchase of the Barrel Company's property. That company asked four thousand dollars for it. They offered three thousand dollars for it. No! They offered three thousand five hundred dollars. No! They offered three thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars. No! One of our citizens out upon the street just before train time met A. B. Chase with grip sack in hand, and he said. "Chase, where are you going?" "I am going to Fostoria to accept their offer." "I thought you were going to take the barrel factory." Chase said. "We won't be punished for staying in Norwalk." He then related the cir- cumstances, that they had offered three thousand. seven hundred and fifty dollars
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and it had been rejected. This citizen said, "Will you take it fer three thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars now?" He said, "Yes." "You shall have it." In less than two hours, two hundred and fifty dollars was raised by subscriptions "on the street." The money was taken in and paid to the Barrel Company and a receipt therefor was turned over to Mr. Chase. That settled the location of the A. B. Chase factory in Norwalk. It is one of the most beneficial institutions in the town, employing hundreds of men. You saw their display on the street yesterday, which should have taken the premium-the grandest part of the dis- play was the two hundred and fifty men marching there, all clean cut good citizens of Norwalk, home owners, that alone entitled them to the reward.
In 1877 another problem came up for settlement, and that was the location and building of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and I can say to you that the work done here in Norwalk was the work that built the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. It would never have been built if it had not been for the life, energy and nerve that went into it from Norwalk. At that time, 1877, we had a population of about four thousand. I think. Meeting after meeting was held here. Dele- gates from towns all along the line used to meet here. The preliminary work of raising the money to build that road was mostly done here in Norwalk. At that time we raised and paid for the building of that road seventy-two thousand dol- lars. That was a big load for a town of that size. Three years afterward the question of the location of the shops came up and they pinched us. We had opposition. Wellington was fighting us. Toledo, Fremont, Massillon were all bidding for the location of those shops. A committee was sent from here to New York city to try and influence Commodore Garrison who was building the road. When that committee got to New York, they called on Commodore Garri- son. He said. "I am glad to meet you. I want to hear all about this." One of the committeemen said, "Is Mr. Griggs here?" "Oh, no," he said, "he won't be here until Saturday." "Well, excuse us, what we have to say we want to say in the presence of Mr. Griggs." His son said, "That's right, father." It was arranged to wait until Mr. Griggs came. He came on Saturday and the interview took place. One of the committeemen chosen as spokesman told the story that Com- modore Garrison hadn't heard. He said, "You have said to Mr. Gardiner that all things being equal you will favor Norwalk. We propose to show you that as between Norwalk and the principal competitor things are not equal. Norwalk has subscribed and paid seventy-two thousand dollars for the construction of this railroad. You now ask us, we suppose, about twenty-three thousand dollars, and for that sum we have understood you would locate the shops at Norwalk. Wel- lington subscribed thirty thousand dollars for the construction of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Road and unbeknown to us obtained from the management of the road a reimbursement of that subscription in freight and passenger traffic certificates, and we consider that they are not in this contest with us." Commodore Garrison turned to the contractor. "Is this true, Mr. Griggs?" "Yes." "Do not let such a thing happen again." "It sha'n't." He turned to the committee, "Suppose I say to you you will have the shops if you make the subscription thirty thousand dollars, fifteen acres of land and free water." One of the committeemen said. "We can't give you free water, but we can furnish it to you at cost." "That is all right. When you can assure
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me of the fulfillment of these terms, you shall have the shops." These terms were telegraphed through to Mr. Gardiner. The answer came back, "Twenty-five gentlemen have guaranteed the subscription, thirty thousand dollars." That was carried to Commodore Garrison. He said, "That settles it, you shall have the shops. Mr. Griggs, you arrange the details of this." Ten o'clock the next morn- ing was set. Ten o'clock came. The servant at his house said, "Mr. Griggs has gone for the day." That committee camped on Mr. Griggs' door step all day. It began to rain. Finally Mr. Griggs came at seven o'clock p. m. He said. "Gentlemen, have you waited long?" "All day," they said. He said, "I have been spending the day at the grave of my wife. It is the anniversary of her death." The contract was put in black and white. That night the committee went back to Commodore Garrison's house and they were met at the door with a statement that he could not see the committee. A lady's voice came from above, "John, tell father it is those gentlemen from Ohio." Commodore Garrison came in a moment. He said. "I have got a whist party on my hands. What hotel do you stop at?" "At the Astor House." "What time do you get a train in the morning?" "At 10:20." "I will be at your hotel at ten in the morning." He was there. That contract in duplicate was read over. He signed it and the committee started for Norwalk. On the way they met S. S. Warner of Welling- ton coming from the train going to try and get the shops. That is what secured the shops. That is the kind of spirit that builds towns. That thirty thousand dollars was added to the seventy-two thousand dollars.
In 1901 a gentleman from Pittsburg proposed to us if we would buy five hundred city lots that they might lay out on some property, they would build a steel plant here that should employ hundreds and thousands of men. In side of two weeks, Norwalk had subscribed for every one of those five hundred lots. A hitch took place; that organization went to pieces. A year or two afterwards another organization brought the proposition to us. and we resubscribed one hun- dred and seventy-five thousand dollars in a very few days to purchase those lots. That spirit is the spirit that built the old paper mill, that built the old church. It was still existing, and that is the spirit that builds towns.
In 1004, The Sandusky, Norwalk & Mansfield Railroad knocked at our doors and wanted one hundred thousand dollars taken of their bonds. That was a pretty heavy load at that time, especially after putting so much into those steel plant lots, that really proved a white elephant. But Mr. Gardiner in negotiation with the head of another financial institution devolved this plan and one of the financial institutions made this proposition :- "We will put in two thousand dol- lars, if each one of the other five banks will put in two thousand dollars and it will give to this movement a financial standing that it hasn't got now." Mr. Gardiner saw every one of the banks and they all agreed to it. That subscrip- tion of twelve thousand dollars gave it a financial credit that put it i pon its feet and we have the railroad.
In 1893 Mr. McCrillis burned out in Milan, came and wanted a little help. In a little while, two thousand five hundred dollars of his bonds were subscribed for. He built his handle factory here and soon paid back the bonds, and the plant is running, one of our successful institutions.
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Last year, 1908, we had a calamity. The Wheeling & Lake Erie shops we had worked for so hard and paid so high for burned down. The receiver of the Wheeling road said, "If you will give us fifty thousand dollars we will rebuild here." Inside of ten days we had raised that, but when it came to the details of agreeing upon rebuilding here, we could never fasten them down to it, and we never paid the money, but it shows the spirit was here yet.
We have a little institution here called The Auto Bug Company. They asked for a stock subscription of fifteen thousand dollars. We raised it in a little while.
1 have cited these facts to show you how Norwalk has been built. I have tried to convey to you the thought that there is a spirit of brotherhood here that was implanted by the original settlers that has never left us, and until that leaves us, nobody is ever going to have a weak back in Norwalk.
There are four old gentlemen in Norwalk who have always been boosters and never kickers. They have always pushed and they have always pulled and they have always lifted and they have always been found when we wanted them. They are George M. Darling, ninety-seven years old, Charles W. Manahan, ninety- six years, John Gardiner, ninety-three years, Benjamin Nyman, eighty-nine years. Those four men have always been ready and willing to the extent of their ability to help us along.
All of those things lead me to say that nobody need worry about the future of Norwalk. So long as this spirit lives, so long will we progress. When that spirit becomes tired and lies down, then Norwalk is dying. The embodiment of that spirit is illustrated in these verses :
Trust no future, howe'er pleasant, Let the dead past bury its dead. Act, act in the living present, Heart within and God o'erhead.
Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.
THE NORWALK CENTENNIAL AND HOME-COMING.
The Norwalk centennial and home-coming week, July 18 to 24, was opened Sunday, July 18, by home-coming services in all the churches in the city. A sacred concert was given in the afternoon, in which all united.
Monday, July 19, was school day, with Professor J. E. Cole as chairman. At 9:30 a. m., reunion of alumni and for students of high school, Norwalk academy and Norwalk seminary, held in the high school yard, and was ad- dressed by the Hon. L. C. Laylin. Monday afternoon was taken up by amuse- ments of various kinds.
Large and patriotic was the crowd which was present Monday night at the entertainment held in the high school yard under the chairmanship of Rev. Arthur Dumper.
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PEARL STREET LOOKING WEST. CHICAGO, OHIO
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For this purpose a grand stand had been erected with seats in front suf- ficient to provide ample accommodations for the audience.
The program of the evening was opened with a selection by the orchestra after which Rev. Mr. Dumper in a happy speech told of the purpose of the meeting and introduced Mayor C. P. Venus who gave the address of welcome. The mayor said in part :
"It becomes my pleasant duty as Mayor of the city, in accordance with the general custom, to extend to you, as guests of Norwalk, such a welcome as seems fitting for the occasion. We feel we have a double claim on you, and you on us, not as guests and hosts alone, but as father meeting son, and brother meet- ing brother after years of separation."
Mayor Venus compared the home coming of former Norwalkians with the return of the Prodigal Son of scriptural times, claiming that the home coming of Norwalkians was even better in that there is no envious brother to complain at the merry making and no regret for misspent years.
"Although you have been away from this, your old home, for many years," said the mayor, "perhaps to every remote corners of the earth, yet we have known of you during all of these years, have felt the heart-glow of pride at hearing of your successes, and how well you have upheld the fame of Norwalk.
"That heart-glow is with our welcome of you back again, to hear from your lips and to read in your prosperous bearing the full measure of your suc- cesses, and to meet and greet the sturdy young sons and fair daughters you are bringing with you from your distant new homes to this your old home. The picture of the welcome coming of Santa Claus to a child, or a sister of mercy to a needy sufferer, can call up no greater response of joy than in the welcoming we have for you today.
"We have attired ourselves in our Sunday clothes to welcome you. We have matched the rich, verdant hues that nature has given this charmed home- spot with bright streamers and bunting; we have killed the fatted calf for the feasting, and provided all the diversion and entertainment to make more pleas- ant the all-too-brief hours of your stay in your old home; and if all we have done appeals to you as proof of the cordial, heart-felt welcoming we would give. I want you to know that it cannot express one iota of the true feeling of wel- come in our hearts. Just as all of the affection of a father to a son, hallowed by the years of companionship in the old home flowed out into the welcoming home to the Prodigal Son, so a thousand tender recollections; the drawing of sacred family ties ; of joys and sufferings of younger days; of familiar spots loved and treasured in the memory; incidents of childhood, too often the only heritage left us by departed friends ; all these sacred associations in which we are joint owners, and the loves and friendships of those good old days of our childhood, made fonder by the years of your absence, and fanned into new life by your presence here again, are all here speaking to you from us through this welcoming we are giving you."
"Norwalk of Yesterday," the topic assigned to Hon. S. A. Wildman was ably handled by that speaker. Mr. Wildman showed an interest in his subject and a scholarship of historic lore which carried his listeners back, willy nilly,
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to the days when the silent forests were tread by Indians, "single file, barefooted. like dervishes of old."
"The flight of time," said Mr. Wildman, "has interested mankind from time immemorial. The ancient Greeks and other nations have written of it, and their ponderings have found a prototype in Macbeth, wherein Shakespeare pictures the three witches at the cauldron scene."
Rapidly, but with surprising detail in a speech so short, Mr. Wildman sketched the various phases of Norwalk's early history. He told of the time when the present Main street was a trail for the Delaware Indians going down into the flats to make their maple sugar.
Gradually the town became settled. First one hardy pioneer came and then another till gradually the little log hut in the wilderness of Western Reserve had grown, he declared, until today as you stand at Court House square you per- haps cannot recognize one out of a score who pass you.
Those who came found a warm welcome and that spirit has survived, the spirit which has made Norwalk the city of which you are so proud.
The oldest house in Norwalk, the speaker said, is the residence now occupied by former councilman B. A. Blume, which was built in 1816. It is a yellow painted frame dwelling and is located on Whittlesey avenue.
Glowing optimism was the keynote of the address: "Norwalk of Tomor- row," by Ed. I .. Young. Mr. Young declared that Norwalk is the product of the spirit of enterprise of old New England. There is no room in the city, he said, for the croaker or knocker but all should help push.
"The city has had reverses," said Mr. Young. "but these reverses have puri- fied certain phases of business life and the standard was never higher than today. Norwalk's successes far outnumbers her failures.
"Norwalk," he declared, "wants boosters, it needs the spirit of those who will put their best foot forward. It is a splendid city, surrounded by fertile fields, it has good stores, solid banks, excellent churches, transportation facili- ties unexcelled, a municipality well officered, it is a town where law and order prevails.
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