History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 46

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 46

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detrimental effect npon the public schools in one respect. Although they furnished them good teachers, they were necessarily rivals. Most of the better scholars were drawn to the private schools until only the poorer scholars and the children of those who were unable or unwilling to pay the bills in the private schools were left in the district schools. Thus the circumstances which made the select schools and the acade- mies better, made the district schools poorer, and at the same time fostered a spirit of caste. This state of things could not continue. The needs of the public soou devised a remedy, and those teachers who were most successful in the private schools, became leaders in a movement which ruined the select schools and academies. This revolution was not effected at once, and these higher private schools were continued with some interruptions for a num- ber of years. Prominent among the teachers in this class of schools in the county, were Samuel W. MeClure, E. H. Fairchild, William P. Clark, S. G. Barnard, C. F. Hudson, Charles A. Foster, A. R. Whiteside, W. W. Ross, L. C. Cotton, E. W. Reynolds, HI. H. Mack, Alvin Dinsmore and Q. M. Bosworth.

At length, the subject of graded schools was agitated with more determination on the part of those who desired their establisliment. Me- dina Village took the lead. A large school building was erected, but not without consider- ble opposition. The strange inconsistency and the remarkable blindness of people to the best interests of their families, was seen iu men having children to educate who had not a dol- lar of property to be taxed, voting with the cne- mies of free schools against the building of more commodious schoolhouses, because the taxes would thereby be increased. After much effort, the progressive party seemed to succeed. The provisions ofthe Akron school law were so far complied with as to obtain the requisite number of names of legal voters to a petition to the proper authorities to order the inaugura-

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tion of a graded school in Medina Village. The Medina Select School was discontinued ; its school building and grounds were sold and con- verted to other uses; but the papers which were to set in motion the machinery of the new schools, were either never presented to the au- thorities or were never acted upon. Thus the matter rested.

After the discontinuance of the Medina Select School, since there were no graded schools, there was need of additional school facilities in Medina Village, and Mr. S. G. Bar- nard, a member of the Board of School Exam- iners, opened a select school there. One of the characteristic features of it was its normal department. To this school, a large number of teachers and persons desiring to become teach- ers came, aud were greatly aided in their preparation for their chosen work. Peuman- ship and book-keeping were also made special- ties ; and an extended commercial course, limited only by the desires or time of the stu- dents, was added. But the agitation of the subject of graded schools did not cease; and, eventually, the plan went into operation under the general school law. The schools were carefully graded, and are accomplishing even more than the most sanguine of the friends of the measure dared to promise for them. The graded or uniou school system has been adopted also in Wadsworth, Seville, Wey- mouth, Le Roy and Lodi Townships. High schools have been established in Hinckley, Granger, Sharon, Chatham aud perhaps Litch- field. These high schools are supplying a need in the townships where they are located, and are rendering efficient aid in perfecting the public school system. The Academical Asso- ciation of Lodi bore the palm for excelling all others in the beauty, amplitude and conven- ience of its school building, and the extent of its school grounds. Although Messrs. Has- kins, Miller and Grannis did good work there, the organization came too late to succeed with-

out an endowment. The building and grounds have passed into the possession of the village Board of Education, and, under the new man- agement, the school has a bright future.

Since the adoption of the present school law, teachers' institutes have been held regu- larly iu various parts of the county, under the direction of a County Teachers' Association, and are believed to be a profitable way of ap- propriating the funds. Many teachers and others attend them, and there is no doubt but they are making known to teachers of less ex- perience the better methods of instruction pursued by instructors of larger experience. They are also making kuown to teachers of the ungraded schools the superior methods of graded schools. Thus they are manifestly con- tributing to raise the standard of education in the county. Although the credit of originat- ing the plans of graded and union schools, and securing the adoption of these plans, is usually given to the managers of these institutes, and although these schools are largely indebted to them, there was a graded school in Medina County before any institutes had been held in the West, if not in New York or New England. The honor of originating the plan and success- fully carrying it out belongs to Hon. John Codding, Silas Swan, Ulysses Young and Burt Codding, of Coddingville. The school con- sisted of two departments-high school and primary. The high school was first taught by Rev. William Johnson, aud afterward in suc- cession by William H. Barnard, William P. Clark, F. D. Kimball, Stephen B. Woodward, and others. Although lacking iu couveniences and funds, being taught in a plain house of only two rooms, and supported in part by a tax on those who seut to it, the school did good work in training the youth of that part of Granger and Sharon.

No other school in Medina County has fur- nished so many men for the performauce of public work as this. The prominence which

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

the township of Granger has had in furnishing public men is believed to be owing largely to the superior facilities she gave for preparation in this and other schools.

Any history of educational progress in Me- dina County which omits to mention the work of John McGregor, Principal of both the academies of Sharon and Wadsworth, and that of Rev. Harvey Lyon, of Medina, and subse- quently of Richfield Academy, is wanting in an essential feature. These men, in their capacity of teachers and examiners, labored earnestly and arduonsly to elevate the stand- ard of education. Many teachers of that day owe their efficiency and usefulness to them. To them, also, many who never engaged in the work of common-sehool instruetion, owe much of their success in life. Before teachers' insti- tutes were known, meetings of teachers for the purpose of mutual consultation and aid were held and addressed in various parts of the county by these veterans.

There is no more important feature of the history of the county's social development, or one which more accurately measures it, than the newspaper. A public servant in the truest sense, it lives only by the voluntary support of the people, and, as a matter of necessity, in the main, reflects the average sentiment, enterprise, and moral development of the community in which it appears. The people who settled Me- dina County were a thinking and a reading people, and for a number of years depended upon the Cleveland Herald for their politieal news and to air their opinions. This close re- latiou with Cleveland, rendered easy by the means of direct communication, delayed the establishment of a home paper until 1832, since when it has grown and improved with the county until its legitimate successor stands among the weeklies of the State, with few equals in point of influence and eirculation.

The first newspaper published in Medina Vil- lage, and the first in the county, was a weekly

Democrat and Anti-Masonic journal, called the Ohio Free Press and. Medina County Advertiser. This was a five-column folio, 19x26 inches, and was established by Joseph W. White, in May or June of 1832. His " terms" were as fol- lows : "The Free Press is printed on Tuesday morning, on Court street, fourth door north of Oviatt & Bronson's store, at the rate of $2 per annum, paid half-yearly in advance, or $2.50 at the elose of the year. Most kinds of country produce will be taken, delivered at market price. No subscription will be taken for less than six months, and no subscriber will be at liberty to withdraw (except at the option of the pub- lisher) until all arrearages are paid. A failure to notify a discontinuanee, at least three weeks previous to the end of the term subscribed for, will always be considered a new engagement. All subscriptions, unless otherwise designated, will be considered for one year."

These terms do not indicate very much con- fidence on the part of the proprietor in the actual demand for his paper, and exhibit in a striking manner the origin of a business practice that has been the bane of all country newspapers. The practice of seeking support for a newspa- per enterprise in a way that would be considered disreputable to any other business, has done much to bring the profession of journalism into contempt, in the country, and has retarded its development here, until the practice was dis- carded. Time was, when " produce pay " and a credit basis may have been necessary ; but the newspaper, in most cases, has continued it long after every other branch of business had reject- ed this effete practice. The Free Press did not meet with any great degree of success. The Anti-Masonic sentiment, though cherished to some extent in the county, did not gain publie expression in party formation, and the Whig sentiment grew, notwithstanding the presence of this Democratie journal. A fire which de- stroyed the office in 1837, was the crowning stroke of its misfortune, and it was never re-

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vived. In 1835, however, J. S. Carpenter, from New York, a young man of pronounced anti- slavery views, and an earnest Whig, established the Constitutionalist. This paper was a power in the county, and did much to foster and or- ganize the growing Whig sentiment, but, unfor- tunately for the success of the paper, Judge Carpenter was elected as representative in 1839, and continued in publie life for many years afterward. This paper then passed into the hands of Lowry & McClure, and subsequently into the ownership of Pardee & King, in 1841, and in January of the following year was con- solidated with the Medina County Whig, with Walter P. Jayne as publisher and proprietor. The latter journal had been established by Lowry, in 1837, and sold a little later to Jayne, when he embarked with S. C. McClure iu the Constitutionalist. The consolidated papers were knowu as the Constitutionalist and Whig until the early part of 1843, when the latter part of the title was dropped and a new series was be- gun with the old title. In September, 1843, Jayne sold the establishment to Speer & Ben- nett, who changed the name to the Democratie Whig, a name, however, which does not indicate any leaning toward the " Locofocoism" which it violently opposed. In 1848, the establishment was burned out, and the paper was at once re- established by John Speer alone. In 1853, the paper changed with the growth of publie senti- ment, caneeled its allegiance to the Whig party, and a little later followed the more progressive wing into the Republican ranks. With this change of principles, it changed its name to the Medina Gazette, and increased its size to a folio, 22x34 inches. In 1854, Mr. Speer sold the paper to Kirkland & Redway, who sold it in the follow- ing year to John Weeks. In 1860, he sold the es- tablishment to the Redway brothers, who pub- lished the paper five years. Hon. H. G. Blake, Hon. Franeis D. Kimball, Judge Charles Castle and Hermon Canfield were editors of the Gazette at various times during the proprietorship of

Speer, Wecks and the Redways-an array of editorial talent that marks in a striking way the transformation that was then taking place, and the important position which the newspa- per of that time occupied in politieal matters. In 1865, the office was bought by Dr. J. N Robinson, who published the paper until the close of 1868, having associated with him at different times, " PETRO CUNEO," R. W. Clark, - MeCabe and John Weeks. On January 1, 1869, the Gazette was purchased by J. H. Green, the present editor of the paper. Early in the previous year, the Medina Republican was started by John Weeks aud J. Jay Lemon, whieh, after continuing some eight or nine months, was merged into the Gazette.

On the 14th of April, 1870, the newspaper office was again visited by fire, destroying every- thing, eausing a loss of some $4,000, on which there was no insurance. On the 19th, the en- terprising proprietor issued a half-sheet, about twelve by fourteen inches, printed at the office of the Cleveland Leader. There was little iu it besides an account of the fire, and the editor announced his situation as follows : "The fire that desolated Medina Village last Friday, de- stroyed the Gazette office totally. We have noth- ing left. The offiee was temporarily in an old frame building, and no insurance company would insure it. It eost us $4,000-our all. We have no means to re-establish the paper ; but we rely upon the liberality of the people of Medina County, promptly expressed in the way of new subseriptions, advertising and job-work, to enable us to get on our feet again. We pro- pose getting a new office as soon as possible, and shall print the Gazette the same size and shape as before. Our new office will eost about $3,000." On the 29th, another "extra " was issued of similar proportions and from the same offiee. It contains the announcements of the business men burned out, and this in regard to the paper itself: "The Gazette still lives, but, 'owing to eireumstanees over which it has no

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control,' is forced again to appear in the shape of an extra." On the 13th of May, a little "dodger" with a rooster conspicuously dis- played, was sent about the county announcing the arrival of material and a " full paper next week." True to this promise, on the 20th day of May, 1870, the Gazette appeared in its old shape, a folio of twenty-five by thirty-six, with a complete new dress, looking much better for the fire. How this was accomplished, the fol- lowing editorial sets forth : "From the ashes of the conflagration that so nearly destroyed our village, the Medina County Gazette rises again. Its old friends and readers will, we know, cheerfully welcome its familiar face once more, and share with us the feelings of pride and joy which we do not try to conceal over its resurrection. To the many new friends whom it now for the first time visits, it expresses its sense of gratitude for the cordial promptness with which they have lent their aid, and in- dulges the hope that they may, one and all, be permanently reckoned aniong its readers and subscribers.

" After vexatious but unavoidable delays- after the smoke of the burnt town has cleared off, and the extent of the damage and suffering can be only too painfully perceived-after much traveling and bargaining-we once more issue the Gazette from Medina. Printed on a new press with new type and a new office, it begins a new era in its existence. Our own means were swept away, and but for the promised sup- port of the people of the county, we could not have started again. That promise is being fnl- filled, and we do not and will not permit the doubt that the efforts of its friends to place the paper on a firm footing again, will be relaxed until the county has been thoroughly canvassed and every subscriber procured that can be. This we know, because on all sides and from all parties, we have met with encouraging words and practical sympathy-all the more valued, since the disaster that overtook us, involved so

many others in a common misfortune. Those good friends who stood by us in the darkest hours, and ' throughi evil as through good report,' have caused us to realize with keener zest than over that the uses of adversity are swect indeed when they can bring out such proofs of friend- ship ; and with full force we can adopt as our own the counsel of Polonius :

"' The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.'

"Personally, we have not been so anxious for help or so discouraged over our pecuniary loss as to despair-not by a long ways. With health and strength, a practical knowledge of work, and the world all before him where to choose, he would be a poor stick who couldn't earn a live- lihood for himself and family ; but as publisher of the county paper, we felt and still feel the importance of the position, and the necessity of sustaining the home journal ; of increasing its subscription list, and enlarging its business in all departments, so that its revival will not be attended with pressing debts and embarrass- ments, the constant effort to clear it of which will limit its ability and impair its usefulness. The county paper is about as much the property of the people of the county as it is of the pub- lisher, and it depends upon them-upon the measure of their support, counsel and encour- agement-whether it be first-class or merely a thing. We promise to faithfully perform our part in the future as we have tried in the past to make the Gazette a creditable newspaper ; and we again appeal, as earnestly and urgently as our necessities require, for help-not dona- tions or charity, but an increased subscription, list and orders for work.

" Here in the village we are all sufferers to- gether ; but we still live, and intend to recover all we have lost, and rebuild our town better than it was before. In this work, whether it be speedy or long delayed, the Gazette is here to help. It is here to urge foward improvements, to record tlic progress of affairs, and to stand

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up for the town, whatever happens. And now, having said this much, we hopefully, gladly and thankfully resume the round of labor and duty so suddenly interrupted."

How well this sentiment has been carried out, the present prosperous condition of the Gazette clearly tells. On February 4, 1876, its business having expanded beyond the limits of its old form, the paper was enlarged to a six- column quarto. In July of the same year, Mr. Greene took the Hon. F. R. Loomis into partnership, under the firm name of Greene & . Loomis. This arrangement continued until August, 1879, when, after proving himself an energetic, enterprising editor, he retired, and subsequently purchased the Norwalk Chronicle, which he is now editing. R. W. Clark and Jay Hills, gentlemen who had long been connected with the mechanical part of the office, took Mr. Loomis' share, and formed the partuership still existing under the firm name of J. H. Greene & Co. This is now the only paper published at the county seat.

The first distinctively Democratic paper pnb. lished in Medina County was the Watchtower, a six-column folio, 20x30, established in 1838 by H. Canfield. While it vigorously opposed everything emanating from the Whig party, it made such concessions to the Anti-slavery sen- timent that prevailed throughont the county, as to place it on that side of this absorbing question. It was neatly printed, and snch copics as are still extant show a liberal adver- tising patronage, but it was constantly in need of funds. There was seldom anything of an editorial nature in its columns, but the follow- ing, which appeared April 14, 1841, which seems to express the editor's views : " We have again suspended issuing our paper, and will not publish another until sufficient collections are made to continne it at least three or four weeks without another stoppage." The Watch- tower continued this intermittent sort of exist- ence until February 9, 1842, the last number of

its third volume. In this issue appeared an article in black-faced type, headed " A Loud Letter-Third and Last Call." Following this portentons heading came the annonncement : "The publication of this paper will be sus- pended for a time, in order to collect the debts due the office." Something more was added in regard to the collcetion of bills, and the situa- tion summed np in vigorous language. In reference to the announcement, the editor puts the matter to his readers as follows : "Some of our patrons may think the above call rather too lond. Let such try our situation a few months, and they will change their opinion. The diffi- culty, and the only difficulty, in snstaining a Democratic paper here, is the negligenee and backwardness of subscribers in paying up. We have on our books the names of a nnm- ber of subscribers who have not paid the first cent. They read the paper, and would not like to have it stop. Oh, no-the paper must not stop ! What do they do toward sustaining it ?" With more to the same effect. From other evidence, it appears that this temporary suspension was made perpetual, and, some time in January or February of the following year, notwithstanding the forbidding character of the enterprise, Michael Hayes embarked in journalism by establishing the Democratic Watchman. This paper survived the negli- genee or impecuniosity of the native Democrat until after the successful campaign of 1844, when, contrary to the natural order of things, its light began to flicker, and finally went ont. One reason may have been that John McGregor, who had been a teacher at Sharon, having served very acceptably as editor during the campaign, left the Watchman after the clection, to assume the duties of a teacher at Wads- worth. It is probable, however, that the county was not found eongenial for the development of such a literary exotic.

In 1849, the Medina Democrat was started by Isaae Hill. It would seem the extremity of

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temerity for an intelligent man to start a Dem- ocratic organ, with a full knowledge of the ex- perience of its predecessors, but the time seemed propitious and the man by his political opinions admirably adapted to succeed. It was the year when the Democratic party of the county, under the influence of its young blood, formed the coalition with the Free-Soil element, The Democrat heartily aided in bringing about this consummation, and received the support of the whole coalition, some of the " Liberty men " even, taking it-probably their first Democratic journal since 1821. Its success was doomed to be short-lived. The coalition fell to pieces the following year, and, though the Democratic party remained in the ascendancy for a few years, alternating victory with defeat, the cause declined, and after passing into the hands of Elias S. Ellis, F. Harry and F. McElhinny, the paper was suspended, or was changed to the Mirror, in 1855, which subsequently ceased to reflect. In 1860, the Medina Herald was es- tablished by John Weeks, in the political inter- est of Stephen A. Douglas, then candidate for the Presidency, but it was removed to Mahon- ing County in the following year, leaving Me- dina once more without an expositor of Demo- cratic principles. This state of things continued until 1874. In the meanwhile, leading Demo- crats began to urge the necessity of an organ for the party, and in the fall of 1874, R. W. Clark and A. J. Baughman rented the material of a job office in which the former was interested, and commenced publishing the Medina Demo- crat. Baughman soon bought Clark out, con- tinuing the paper until June, 1875, when the office was closed by a foreclosure. C. C. Day, who had been acting as foreman for Baughman, continued the publication of the paper subse- quently for about a year, the members of the party contributing to the expenses as they felt disposcd. In the meantime, a subscription paper was circulated among the members of the Democratic organization, for funds to pur-

chase an outfit for the paper. Two or three hundred dollars were secured, and Donn Ev- erett, of Akron, went to Cincinnati and pur- chased the material. It was his intention to take the office and eventually pay tlie subscrib- ers, but other matters intervened and he gave up the project. At this juncture, J. B. McCormick, formerly connected with the Cincinnati En- quirer, attempted to guide this political craft, but after two montlis' experience, he found it unmanageable, and resigned. The material was only partially paid for, and the creditors were pressing for their pay. To avoid a complete wreck of their hopes, several leading Democrats advanced the money needed to satisfy the claims against the office, and secured T. T. Hud- son as editor, giving him free use of the office. S. N. Preston was associated with Mr. Hudson, as foreman, and succeeded him as editor in August 1877, continuing it until June of 1878, when he was succeeded by Robert Coffey. This editor conducted the paper until October 1880, when he " stepped down and out." This office is still in possession of the few who ad- vanced the money for its purchase, and the ex- pectation is that it will resume operations as soon as the proper man and time are found.

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 46

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014