USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 8
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These old scenes which you no longer behold, which you imagine you may never again behold, and whose memory you cherish, take on a melancholy charm : they rise up like an apparition ; all that is restful, pleasant, enchantingly visible to your longing mind. You love it, you call up things as they were, you cannot tolerate any change in them, for you were attached to them. They are woven in the warp and woof of the boy who received his first impression of things in his most plastic, susceptible state of mind, and you cannot eradicate them or offer a satisfactory substitute for those things that filled the mind in those far-off days of happy childhood and youth. You cannot erase the indelible im- pressions produced upon the heart of man by the place where he was born. No matter how many long years have intervened since you left your native place, no matter if all your property interests are centered in some other place. no matter how pleasantly you may be situated or how good your health may have been, you may be one of the leading citizens of your adopted home. ad- vising all to come and profit by its wonderful advantages and invest their money as the best place in the world ; yet, in the heart of that man the pleasant- est memories of all his life cluster around the old original home. It might not have been the best place in the world, but it is the best to think about.
I long to see it again, to roam around and examine it, just to see how much damage you have done to it by your improvements.
I would like to ride down to the lake on your electric cars. I used to go down to Huron on foot, or rather on two feet-and both of them bare at that.
Yes, there are lots of things I should miss, but above all. I should miss the forms and faces and pleasant voices of so very many of my old companions and acquaintances. Some of them are left, and I would like to meet them, and will if I can. I see your name on the reception committee, and others that I recollect so well, but there are so many that I do not know ; sure they are
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PRESBYTERMAN CHURCH
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all right or they wouldn't be there, and if I cannot be with you I hereby send my heartiest greetings. If I come I will bring them with me. Remember me to all old friends, and most sincerely to you and yours.
J. O. PATTERSON.
MAKE REUNION STEADY THING CITIZEN SAYS HE CANNOT WAIT ANOTHER HUNDRED YEARS TO MEET HIS FRIENDS.
Why wait a hundred years?
Maybe we'll all be dead then.
There is considerable pith in the suggestion made to the Herald today that the present glorious home-coming be made an annual event instead of an oc- casion observed only at cach centennial.
"There is no reason for thinking," said a prominent citizen, "that love of the old city burns but once in a hundred years or that it requires the stimulus of a centennial to warm the friendly hand-clasp. The flower of love is not a century plant, nor should the 'cup of kindness' be put on the stove to simmer for a dozen generations before it is quaffed.
"Those who came to the centennial and home-coming were glad to be here and we were glad to see them. Will they not be just as glad next year and the year after, and every year until the end of time?
"This home-coming spirit is a great thing and should be encouraged. It is just the right procedure to implant in the young mind a love of his native city, which is only patriotism in a narrower form, and teach him that after he has flown the home nest there is someone always waiting to hear good things of him.
"So let us have the home-coming every year. It need not be elaborate, may be nothing more than the hand-shake and the 'God bless you,' spoken from the heart but let it become an established institution so that all will know that Norwalk welcomes its wandering sons.
"If we wished to go into it on an elaborate scale we might have a pageant typifying the settlement of the Firelands and the Western Reserve. Redskins scooting down the main street, and pioneers roughly attired going to church with a gun slung on their shoulders would be a sight to make the youngsters of today open their eyes, I'll warrant.
"A pageant of this sort could be prepared without a great deal of expense and people would come miles to see it. It would become a sort of Mardi Gras of the north and if made an annual event would do more to advertise Norwalk than one could imagine."
THE CHURCHES OF NORWALK.
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
BY MR. L. L. DOUD.
In 1823 the First Methodist Society was organized with seven members. Preaching services and Sunday school were held in Joseph Wilson's house, which stood on the southwest corner of East Main and Prospect streets.
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The first church building was erected in 1833-34, on Seminary street, and is still used for church services by the Evangelical Lutheran Society. The second church building was erected in 1855-56, on the corner of West Main street and Benedict avenue, and was occupied until May 1, 1893, when this property was sold to the C. F. Jackson Co., who built what is now known as the Glass Block on the site.
The society then held its church services in Whittlesey Hall, across the street, until the Sunday school room of the present church building was ready for occu- pancy, February 14, 1807. Here the services were held until the main auditorium was completed and the church finally dedicated, June 22, 1902.
The church records now, in 1909, show a membership of six hundred and thirty enrolled, with about five hundred in the Sunday school. The records on high alone can tell how many souls have been saved through this church, and finally garnered in heaven, during the past eighty-six years.
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. BY MR. BYRON HAN FORD.
On September 20, 1818, four men and one woman joined in a conference that January, 1819, became the present Baptist church of Norwalk. It numbered fourteen members. A Scotch minister preached from the words, "Fear not little flock," etc.
Asahel Morse was first clerk, and Lemuel Raymond the first deacon, and the carliest settled pastor in 1821 to 1824 was John Rigdon. Services were first held in a log schoolhouse on land now owned by heirs of Sidney Brown, Ridgefield town- ship. The present location was contracted for January, 1835, and the first edi- fice dedicated June. 1836, while the present one was dedicated March, 1880. The organization has had twenty-two pastors in its ninety years' existence. The late Otis G. Carter was the earliest Sunday school superintendent and the present church membership is about four hundred.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
BY MR. F. C. WICKHAM.
Of Norwalk was organized in 1830, nearly cighty years ago. In this time it has had but eight pastors. The first person to be ordained as its regular pastor was Rev. Alfred Newton, D. D., who served his church for thirty-five years with a steadfast purpose that during his time and in after years brought forth rich fruitage. Retiring from service on account of the infirmity of years, he was made pastor emeritus carrying with him to his grave the love and esteem of not only his own church people but of the entire community in which he so long resided. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry H. Rice, a young and zealous pastor, and he by the following named pastors: Rev. James D. Williamson, Rev. J. M. Seymour, Rev. Dr. W. A. Broadhurst, Rev. W. D. Atkinson, Rev. H. S. Forrer and Rev. A. J. Funnell, the latter having been called in the spring of 1909.
The church has a live, working membership of three hundred or more and with it a prosperous and growing Sabbath school.
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ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. BY REV. ARTHUR DUMPER.
The earliest record of this parish, a little faded bit of paper now preserved in the Firelands Historical Rooms, is dated January 20, 1821, at Norwalk. It de- clares that a meeting for organizing an Episcopal church was presided over by Platt Benedict, Esq., and that William Gardner was elected clerk. The following gentlemen thereupon enrolled themselves as members and friends of the Protestant Episcopal church: Platt Benedict, Luke Keeler, Amos Woodward, William Gard- ner, Ami Keelet, William Woodward, Gurdon Woodward, Ezra Sprague, Enos Gilbert, John Keeler, John Boalt, Samuel Sparrow, Asa Sanford, Henry Hurlbut, E. Lane, William Gallup, D. Gibbs and Moses Sowers. The parish was organized under the name, St. Paul's.
In the year 1818 the first public religious service in Norwalk was conducted in the log shanty of Platt Benedict. It consisted of the service of the Episcopal church together with the reading of a sermon by a layman. Two years later this congregation was holding services regularly every Lord's day in the court house.
The old church building now standing in the rear of the new church was erected in 1835; and enlarged first in the rectorship of E. Winthrop and again, in the incumbency of the late Rev. Royal Balcom. The first service of the holy communion was celebrated by the Rev. Roger Searle, February 17, 1822. The first annual parish meeting was Held on Easter Monday, 1821. The first Episco- pal visitation was that of Bishop Philander Chase, the founder of Kenyon Col- lege, on Sunday, August 14, 1825.
The succession of ministers who have served the parish is as follows: The Rev. Roger Searle, the Rev. C. P. Bronson, the Rev. John P. Bausman, the Rev. Ephraim Punderson, the Rev. Anson Clarke, the Rev. J. J. Okill, the Rev. Alvon Guion, the Rev. Sabin Hongh, the Rev. Edward Winthrop, the Rev. George W. Watson, the Rev. Henry Tullidge, the Rev. William Newton, the Rev. H. H. Morrell, the Rev. Royal B. Balcom, the Rev. Charles S. Aves and the Rev. Arthur Dumper.
Splendid laymen and women, an illustrious line beginning with Platt Bene- dict, have been and still are identified with St. Paul's church : names prominent and influential in the founding and upbuilding of the city : men and women whose labors and virtues live fruitfully after them.
The present rector of the parish is the Rev. Arthur Dumper who began his labors here in 1903. In the last few years Benedict Chapel has been enlarged and its interior remodeled for parish house purposes. The cornerstone of the new church, a stately Gothic structure of stone, was laid on the fifteenth of Novem- ber, 1908. It will have a seating capacity of four hundred and fifty, and ex- clusive of furnishings and memorial gifts will cost about fifty thousand dollars. The church is in a flourishing condition with bright prospects for the future.
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. BY MR. L. L. SNOOK.
The First Congregational church of Norwalk, Ohio, was organized at the court house in Norwalk, December 19. 1867, under the labors of Rev. A. S. Walsh.
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The number of original members was fifty-four, mostly drawn from the old Congregational church of Bronson township, which was thereby disbanded.
For more than three years the infant church was without a sanctuary. A part of this time it worshiped in the court house, and during the remainder was the guest of its sisters, the Protestant Episcopal and Baptist churches, whose hospitality deserves kind remembrance. In 1868 the old hotel known as the Gauff House (standing where the church now stands), was purchased, and thither the prayer meeting, previously held at private houses, was removed. Many a hallowed hour, now tenderly remembered, was passed in those rooms, formerly the scene of drunken revels. Here also the Sunday school was or- ganized.
The new church was completed early in 1871 and dedicated February 2nd of that year. The cost of the building and lot was about sixteen thousand dollars. Several thousand dollars' debt remained after the dedication, which proved a heavy and almost insupportable burden for many years. At last, in October, 1878, with the aid of Mr. Edward Kimball, the entire amount was subscribed. and by May 1, 1880, the last dollar was paid and the church has since been free from debt.
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH. BY MR. 1I. S. CLAPP.
The Universalist church of Norwalk, Ohio, was organized on the third Sun- day in January, 1869, with twenty-seven members. A little more than a year before this time, Dr. H. L. Canfield, who was then preaching in Peru, began holding services in Norwalk, where he thought there was an opportunity to estab- lish a church. From such beginnings, small in every way except the faith and courage of Dr. Canfield, has grown the Universalist church of Norwalk. In April, 1868, a Sunday school was organized with four scholars which was increased to fifty in less than a year.
Among the twenty-seven charter members of the church are the names of such well known old time residents of Norwalk as William A. Mack, Frederick Sears, Samuel Wilkinson, Aro D. Clapp, George Gauff, Sterry Cole, Addison Sigourney. Sarah E. Dunbar and Catherine E. Rose. The first officers of the church were Frederick Sears, William A. Mack, A. D. Clapp, D. A. Baker and Frederick Wickham, trustees. Rev. H. L. Canfield, moderator. A. B. Hanna- ford, clerk. Mrs. Hiram Rose, treasurer. W. A. Mack and S. Wilkinson, deacons.
When the church was fairly established, steps were taken to build a church edifice but it was not until December, 1872, that the church was completed. On Sunday, December 8th, it was formally dedicated. Since that time, we will let the work of the church speak for itself.
ST. PETER'S ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH. BY REV. H. G. SUTTER.
Congregation organized in January, 1901, by Rev. W. F. Rose, and served by him until Easter, 1902. From then until Easter, 1907, it was served by Rev. O. T. F. Tressel. From December, 1907, until now, by Rev. H. G. Sutter. Church property purchased and remodeled in 1902.
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ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. BY REV. P. J. QUINN.
St. Mary's congregation was organized in the summer of 1856 and its first pastor was Rev. Narcissus Ponchell. Prior to Easter Sunday, 1859, when mass was said for the first time in the newly completed church of St. Mary's, corner of Milan and St. Mary streets, the English speaking Catholics of Norwalk and vicinity chose to worship in St. Alphonsus church of Peru, and later in old St. Peter's Norwalk. The founding of St. Mary's was a great help to Catholics in Norwalk. It put the faith and practices of Catholics in a clearer light. The language of the country was spoken from its pulpit and those outside its fold, whom chance or impulse brought to attend the services, usually went away with a clearer conception of the motives and practices of his fellow Catholic citizens.
The congregation grew and prospered until it became necessary to build a larger edifice. A new site was chosen at the corner of State and League streets, which is today graced by one of the most beautiful church edifices in Norwalk. Adjacent to the church stands the new stone parsonage, a type of Norwalk's recent handsome and substantial residences. A parochial school and sisters' house also adorn the property.
The pastors who served St. Mary's have been deservedly popular with all classes in Norwalk, being held in high esteem for their piety, prudence, and ability. The following clergymen served at the altar of St. Mary's: Rev. Narcissus Ponchell, 1860; Rev. John Quinn, 1864; Rt. Rev. T. P. Thorp, 1868; Rev. T. F. Hally, 1884; Rev. C. V. Cheveraux, 1897; Rev. Jas. J. Quinn, 1900; Rev. Francis Malloy, 1903; Rev. P. J. Quinn, present pastor.
ST. PAUL'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. BY REV. JOHN A. SCHAFFELD.
The pioneers in the religious field in the territory now called Huron county, Ohio, of which our beautiful city, Norwalk, is the county seat, were the early French missionary priests. These men, well versed not only in the science of religion, but also of the difficult art of topography, thoroughly explored the im- mense regions of the Great Lakes.
The Huron Indians had attracted the attention of the French priests at Quebec. This tribe was then located a few miles below the site of the present city of Detroit. From Quebec, missionaries were sent out to them, but effected little owing to the roving disposition of this tribe. This roving disposition ac- counts for the name of our county. For, dissatisfied with their hunting grounds at Detroit, a large part of the tribe pushed along the southern shore of Lake Erie and located at Sandusky Bay, which name owes its origin to the Huron Indian word, "Ootsandooske," meaning. "there the water is pure." From the bay they spread to the south into what now constitutes our county-hence the name, Huron county.
The French missionaries followed the Indians in this migration, and worked zealously among them. Their journals state that this particular tribe was of very unsteady habits, being much inclined to intemperance and other excesses. The Rev. Father Potier and the Rev. Father De la Richardie took charge of the
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Huron mission. Both of these priests labored in what is now Huron county, and where Norwalk now stands. The first Christian religious service held in this territory was held by Father Potier, in 1749, who in that year began his regular visits to the Indians of this county.
From this decidedly humble beginning, the present large and prosperous St. Paul's church and congregation have gradually developed. Three churches they built, only in turn to find them too small for their ever increasing numbers. Old St. Peter's, at the west end of Main street, built 1840; New St. Peter's, on Hester street, built 1868; Old St. Paul's, at the corner of Wooster and Monroe streets, built in 1876. Finding that even their third building would no longer answer the demands made upon it by the ever growing congregation, it was decided to build a monumental building amply large for the future. The result of that de- termination is the new St. Paul's, the noble, beautiful structure of white lime- stone and I ake Superior red stone that now graces the corner of Main and Wooster streets. Nor is this all. Urged on by the conviction that education can never be real education unless it educates the heart as well as the mind; that education, divorced from religion, is incomplete; that the child must be trained in his duties towards God, his country, his parents and his neighbors as thoroughly and as well as in the three R's, this congregation has from the very beginning, built and maintained splendid parochial schools, ever since the year 1858. The present school is the pride of the parish. From it, many of Nor- walk's noblest men and grandest women have graduated. Not only are all the ordinary common school branches taught, but thorough, practical instruction is also given in the commercial branches, bookkeeping, shorthand and typewriting. Added to this, there is an art department, in which drawing. painting in oil and water colors, crayon and pastel work are taught. A complete course in needle- work, plain and ornamental, has been established for the girls. The Sisters of Notre Dame, who enjoy a very high reputation as teachers, have charge of St. l'aul's school. The art exhibitions of this school, held annually, are noted for their lavish display of truly artistic work. The number of pupils is three hundred and twenty-five.
IL'KON COUNTY HOME FOR THE AGED AND INFIRM. BY GEORGE MORDOFF, EX-SUPERINTENDENT.
The old title "Poor House" would seem altogether ridiculous if applied to the modern "County Home" buildings pictured above.
At the State Conference of Charities and Corrections, the Huron county in- stitution is looked upon as a model, a fact of which every citizen should feel proud. The modern methods, employed by the management of county institu- tions, seck to make better men and women of the inmates, and they are in no sense a retreat for criminals and dissipated characters, as they were once looked upon as being. Sixty or more citizens of Huron county are given a real home- at least as real as institutional methods will permit. Respects for "The Rights of Others" is the governing rule.
The land value of Huron county's home is twenty-five thousand, five hundred dollars, consisting of two hundred and four acres. The building value, forty-
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ST MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
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three thousand dollars. Live stock value, three thousand, one hundred and forty- six dollars, and other items of inventory bring the total value to seventy-four thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine dollars.
The farm produces as follows: Consumed by inmates, produce valued at four thousand, eight hundred and twenty-one dollars. Live stock sold, value, three hundred and ninety-eight dollars. Produce sold, eight hundred and eighty- five dollars. Total value of farm products, six thousand and four dollars.
NORWALK ACADEMY.
In October, 1826, an association of individuals was organized under the name of "The President, Trustees, etc., of the Norwalk Academy." A three- story brick building was erected on the site of our present high school. In October, 1829, the academy was consolidated with the district schools with John Kennan as principal.
In the museum of the Firelands Historical Society may be seen a catalogue of the officers and students of Norwalk academy under date of March 17, 1829. Trustees: Platt Benedict, president, Timothy Baker, Deverett Bradley, William Gallup, Henry Buckingham, Thaddeus B. Sturgess, Obadiah Jenney. John Ken- nan, principal. Nathan G. Sherman, Levina Lindsey, assistants.
NORWALK SEMINARY.
On the eleventh of November, 1833, the Norwalk seminary was opened in the Academy building under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church, with Rev. Jonathan E. Chaplin as principal. The seminary burned February 26, 1836; was rebuilt in 1838, and closed in January, 1846, and the whole property sold under execution in favor of the builders. Reopened as Norwalk Institute in August, 1846, under the auspices of the Baptists of Norwalk.
NORWALK INSTITUTE.
Rev. Jeremiah Hall was the first principal of the "Institute," and was suc- ceeded by A. S. Hutchins, who continued as principal until 1855, when the in- stitute ceased to exist by reason of the Akron School Law providing for graded public schools.
NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL.
In March, 1855. the school board purchased the brick building occupied by the Norwalk institute, to be used as a central and high school building for the district. The purchase price was three thousand, five hundred dollars, which embraced the entire square occupied by the present beautiful high school building, a small library and some apparatus. In 1884 the central school building was erected at a cost of about sixty thousand dollars. The first graduate of the high school was Sarah E. Wilkinson in 1861. The largest class graduated is the class of 1905, numbering eighteen young men and sixteen young women. In all two
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hundred and thirty-one young men and three hundred and ninety-five young women have been graduated from the Norwalk high school.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF HURON COUNTY.
BY F. O. RONK, COUNTY AUDITOR.
Huron county, Ohio, was organized in 1815 and embraced all the territory now included in Huron and Erie counties, having an area of five hundred thou- sand acres. The first session of the county commissioners was held August I, 1815, at David Abbott's, the county seat then being at Avery or in Wheatbor- ough township near Milan. The first county commissioners were Caleb Palmer, Charles Parker and Eli S. Barnum. The first county treasurer was Abijah Comstock.
Previous to 1816 the nearest postoffice was Huron. In that year Dr. Joseph Pierce was appointed postmaster and a postoffice established at Norwalk in the Benjamin Newcome house located on what is now known as the Asher Cole farm south of the old waterworks. The county seat was transferred to Norwalk in 1818. The voting population in 1818 was fifty-six. The first tax duplicate which included the territory now embraced by Huron and Erie counties was one hun- dred ninety-two dollars and forty cents. Huron county was divided into Huron and Erie counties in 1838. From this primitive beginning, Huron county has grown to be one of the wealthiest and most progressive counties of the state. Her present population is now about thirty-five thousand with a tax duplicate of five hundred forty-six thousand, five hundred and seventy-two dollars.
Sixty miles of modern stone and gravel roads have been constructed and this mileage is being added to rapidly. Nine steam railroads cross the county. several of them having large shops located in this county, bringing their taxable value up to two million, five hundred and forty-eight thousand, one hundred and thirty-seven dollars. Three electric railroads come within the county, with a taxable value of one hundred ninety-one thousand, six hundred and thirty-two dollars. Sixteen substantial banks enjoy the confidence of our citizens who have deposits therein amounting to five million dollars.
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