History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 51

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 51

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The Akron Daily Tribune .- This paper, a seven-column folio, was started on the 26th day of July, 1879, by Paul E. Werner and Benja- min F. Nelson, who also issued a weekly edi- tion in connection therewith. It was Demo- cratic in politics, and ably conducted, under the editorial management of Mr. Nelson, but, by reason of having another longer-established Democratic organ. the City Times, and the firmly planted Daily Beacon, to compete with, and from other causes, the enterprise was found to be unremunerative, and both the Daily and Weekly Tribune were discontinued on the 2d day of February, 1880.

The Advance .- A daily paper under the above title, as an organ of the National Greenback Labor party, was started in Cleveland June 6, 1877, by Robert Schilling, a weekly edition also being issned. In May, 1880, the daily was dis- continued, and the weekly was transferred to Salem, Columbiana County, an Akron edition also being published, and mailed direct from the office in Salem to its subscribers in Akron. August 4, 1880, Mr. John P. Burns assumed the business and editorial control of the Advance, and January 1, 1881, removed the office to Ak- ron. It is a five-column quarto, edited with ability ; bids fair to become one of the perma- nent periodicals of Summit County.

A large number of other periodicals have from time to time been published in Akron during the half-century we have passed over, that we have no space to notice in detail, even if we could recall them all to mind. Among them were the Rose of the Valley, a literary monthly, by Allison & Marriner ; Akron Offer- ing, by Callista Cummings ; the True Kindred, by a Mrs. Sanford ; the Flail, a Democratic campaign paper, by L. L. Howard, in 1840 ; the Flower of the West, by Allison & Rumrix, in 1840 ; the Free-Soil Platform, a campaign paper in 1848, by Hiram Bowen ; the Sentinel of Liberty, a campaign paper, in 1855, by an association of " Young Republicans ; " the Wide Awake, a Republican campaign paper, in 1860, by D. C. Carr, S. A. Lane and others ; the Summitonian, a literary monthly, by H. G. Canfield & Co., in 1873 ; the Beacon Magazine, a literary monthly, in 1873, by the Beacon Pub- lishing Co., as a premium to subscribers to the Weekly Beacon ; and others remembered by name only, such as the Casket, the Sockdola- ger, the Whip, the School-Mistress, the Sunny Side, the Church Journal, etc.

It will thus be seen that Summit County, if not the very center of the newspaper universe, has been untiring in its efforts to become such. There is no room and no need for comments, except, perhaps, to add that while compara- tively few of these ventures have proved re- munerative to those who have made them, their influence for good upon the community admits of not a doubt. For where would Summit County have been to-day but for its newspa- pers, in advertising to the world its manifold advantages ; in their advocacy of canals, rail- roads and other public improvements ; in their

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

encouragement to manufactures, and in the in- numerable ways in which the liberal use of printer's ink benefits both individuals and com- munities.

Railroads .*- The railway-wholly unknown to the commercial world three-fourths of a cen- tury ago-has become the greatest single factor in the development of the material and social progress, not only of the United States and of the other civilized nations of the earth, but its inestimable blessings are being rapidly extended into the hitherto semi-civilized and barbarous portions of the globe. Though some rude tram- ways had previously been used in the mining regions of England, the first attempt at railroad building in the United States was in 1807-a line of a few hundred yards in length-for trans- porting gravel from the top of Beacon Hill down into Charles street, in the city of Boston, the rails being entirely of wood, and the propelling power the momentum of the loaded cars, which, in descending, by means of a rope attachment, pulled the empty cars up, a double track, of course, being necessary to the proper working of the road. As late as 1827, the then longest railroad in the United States was from the Mauch Chunk coal mines to the Lehigh River, in Pennsylvania, a distance of nine miles. The loaded cars were run from the mines to the river by their own gravity, and, on being emptied, were drawn back to the mines by mules. From this time on, the American people became deeply interested in railroad enterprises, and, from 1827 to 1830, several short lines, run by horse- power, were constructed, the first locomotive, propelled by steam, to turn a wheel upon the American continent, being a clumsy, uncouth importation from England, called the " Stour- bridge Lion," landed in New York in 1829. So slow, however, was the development, that in the winter of 1833-34, it was the privilege of the writer, then a mere boy, to ride over the then longest railroad in the world, running from Charleston, S. C., to Augusta, Ga., a distance of 130 miles, only ; the first hundred miles west from Charleston being performed by steam- power. the last thirty miles by negro-power, owing to a sharp incline that the modern engine driver would langh at, the supposition being that a stationary engine, with the proper hoist- ing apparatus only, could overcome so heavy a grade. The first locomotive ever built in

* Written by Samuel A. Lane.

America, called the " Best Friend," was used upon this road during its construction. It was built at the " West Point Foundry Shops," in New York, and forwarded to Charleston by ship Niagara, in October, 1830. The first trial trip was made on a small portion of the road out of Charleston, November 2, 1830, running, accord- ing to the report of the excursion in the Charles- ton Courier, as " on the wings of the wind, at the varied speed of fifteen to twenty miles an hour ; annihilating time and space, and, like the renowned John Gilpin, 'leaving all the world behind.'" The "Best Friend" was daily in service, transporting workmen and materials used in the construction of the road, until the 17th day of June, 1831, when it became disabled by a singular accident, and the road was with- out a locomotive for several months. Of this disaster to the "Best Friend," the Charleston Courier of June 18, 1831, gave the follow- ing account : " The locomotive, 'Best Friend,' started yesterday morning to meet the lumber cars at the forks of the road, and while turning on the revolving platform, the steam was suf- fered to accumulate by the negligence of the fireman, a negro, who, pressing on the safety- valve, prevented the surplus steam from escap- ing, by which means the boiler burst at the bottom, was forced inward, and injured Mr. Darrell, the engineer, and two negrocs. The one had his thigh broken, and the other received a severe cut in the face, and a slight one in the flesh part of the breast. Mr. Darrell was scalded from the shoulder-blade down his back. The boiler was thrown to the distance of twenty-five feet. * * * The accident occurred in consequence of the negro holding down the safety-valve, while Mr. Darrell was assisting to arrange the lumber cars." It will seem strange, to the trained railroad operator of the present day, that such an accident, from such a cause, could have been possible ; but it must be re- membered that the engineer, himself almost wholly unskilled in locomotive driving, had to perform all the functions of conductor, brake- man, etc., in addition to his own proper duties, his only help being such as above indicated, com- mon unskilled laborers, unable to distinguish between the lever of a safety-valve and the crank of a grindstone. But without further tracing the growth of the railroad system of the United States, now forming a perfect net-work of iron and steel in every portion of the country, on

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

which daily and nightly and continuously run thousands of locomotives, and tens of thousands of freight and passenger cars, loaded with thou- sands of tons of the products of the country, with valuable merchandise from every part of the world, and with tens of thousands of precious human beings, dashing with lightning speed from city to city, and from State to State, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, representing a capital of at least $5,000,000,000, we will proceed at once to the subject matter of this chapter-" The Railroads of Summit County." The earliest freight and passenger railroad project, to include any por- tion of the territory now embraced in Summit County in its route, was the

Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad .- A char- ter was granted for this road by the Legislature of Ohio, on the 14th day of March, 1836. Work upon the road not being commenced within the three years designated in the law, the charter became dormant, and remained so for six years, when, by an act passed March 11, 1845-just nine years after the granting of the original charter-the project was revived and the charter amended. The promoters of the en- terprise, though the times were hard and money scarce, prosecuted the work as rapidly as sim- ilar enterprises were then built, though very slowly in comparison with more modern rail- road operations, the road not being completed on the Cleveland end as far as Hudson, even, until the latter part of the winter of 1851-52. The road enters Summit County on the east, near the southeast corner of the township of Hudson, and running in a northwesterly di- rection, passes through the village of Hudson, a small portion of the southwest corner of Twinsburg, and through the village of Mace- donia, in the eastern portion of Northfield Township, and thence through Bedford and Newburg, in Cuyahoga County, to Cleveland. From the very beginning, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh has been under an able and efficient management, and has never experienced any of those reverses and drawbacks so common to railroad corporations in their earlier days, and so disastrous and unprofitable to the original stockholders and builders.

Akron & Canton Railroad .- The second railroad enterprise to engage the attention of the people of Summit County, was the Akron & Canton Railroad, incorporated by act of the

Legislature February 21, 1845. Its capital stock was $200,000, to be divided into shares of $25 each ; but, by the provisions of the charter, it was not to commence operations till $100,000 was subscribed, the company being prohibited from contracting debts or lia- bilities to an amount greater than the stock subscribed and held by responsible parties and remaining unexpended, together with its means on hand and that which might reasonably be expected to accrue within three years from the time of the making of the contract. The company was also authorized to extend its road to some point on the Ohio River, if deemed advisable, and to increase its capital to an amount sufficient for that object. This charter, both liberal and illiberal in its provisions, was, through the stringency of the times and the indifference of the people along the route, per- mitted to lapse before anything definite was accomplished, and the Akron & Canton Rail- road, proper, was never built except on paper.

Akron Branch Railroad .- The approaching completion of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh road through one corner of Summit County, its near- est approach to the county seat being some fif- teen miles, aroused our people to the importance of having more direct and rapid communica- tion with the outer world than canals and mud roads afforded. Accordingly, a number of the enterprising citizens of Akron, Hudson and Cuyahoga Falls-one of the most active among them being Col. Simon Perkins, of Akron- took the matter in hand, and, in conjunction with the officers of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, obtained an amendment to its char- ter, by an act passed February 19, 1851, author- izing the construction, under said charter, of "a branch railroad from some convenient point on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, in Hud- son, Summit County, through Cuyahoga Falls and Akron to Wooster, or some other point on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, between Massillon and Wooster, and to connect with the said Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, or any other railroad running in the direction of Co- lumbus," and increasing the capital stock of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Company $1,000,000.

The bill also stipulated that the subscribers to the stock of this branch road might form a separate organization under the name of " The Akron Branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, entitled to all the privileges

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

and subject to all the restrictions and liabili- ties granted or imposed by the original charter and amendments thereto."

In the meantime, a railroad had been char- tered to run from Cleveland to Zanesville, by the way of Medina, Wooster, Millersburg, etc. This, our people at once saw, or thought, would. if completed, leave Summit County "out in the cold," at least, for many years, for railroad enterprises were not then as readily promoted as in later years. A delegation of the " Branch," headed by Col. Perkins, accordingly visited Wooster to endeavor to get them to make a diversion of their road from that point via Doylestown, Wadsworth, Akron and Cuyahoga Falls to Hudson, instead of going direct through to Cleveland, as contemplated. To these over- tures, however, the Woosterites turned a deaf ear, and "The Cleveland, Wooster & Zanes- ville Railroad " was never built. The failure of the Akron Branch to thus " pool " its inter- ests with the Wooster project was truly a god- send to the people of Summit County, as the present more convenient railroad system of the county most clearly demonstrates.

The organization of "The Akron Branch Railroad" was effected March 11, 1851, with Simon Perkins, Milton W. Henry and John W. McMillen, of Akron ; Horace A. Miller, of Cuya- hoga Falls ; James Butler and Henry N. Day, of Hudson, and John Carey, of Millersburg, as Directors. Simon Perkins was elected Presi- dent; Henry N. Day, Secretary, and John W. McMillen, Treasurer. George Robinson was appointed Chief Engineer, and Isaiah Linton, Assistant Engineer, by whom the original sur- vey and estimates from Hudson to Akron were made. Messrs. Robinson and Linton subse- quently withdrawing from the road, their places were filled by W. H. Grant, of the Hudson River Railroad, as Chief Engineer, and M. W. Kellogg, as Assistant. The contracts were awarded June 20, 1851, and the work com- menced immediately thereafter.

As the project was one which it was believed would largely benefit every property owner in the county, in addition to the amount raised along the line of the road by voluntary stock subscriptions, a special law was passed by the Legislature on the 24th day of March, 1851, authorizing and requiring the County Commis- sioners, with the consent of the legal voters of the county, to subscribe to the capital stock of

said company " any sum not exceeding $100,- 000, and to borrow the necessary amount of money for the payment of such stock subscrip- tion, bonds for the amount so subscribed to be issued in sums of not less than $100 each, bear- ing interest a rate not exceeding 7 per cent, payable annually, or semi-annually, redeemable at such time as may be deemed expedient," etc. This proposition was voted on at the special election for the adoption of the New Constitution of Ohio, June 21, 1851, the vote " for subscription " and " against subscription," in the several townships of the county, being as follows :

For Against Subscripti n. Subscription.

Bath.

102

Boston.

Copley

160

Coventry

104

Cuyahoga Falls

275

Franklin

170

Green.

177

Hudson

258

Middlebury

Northfield.

165

Northampton

Norton

175

Portage

737

Richfield.

Springfield

167

Stow ..

Tallmadge

114

Twinsburg

156

Total vote ..

2,433

1,605

Majority for subscription, 827.

In accordance with the authority thus given them, the County Commissioners, Messrs. Ed- win Wetmore, of Stow, James W. Weld, of Richfield, and Hiram Weston, of Middlebury, proceeded, " For and in the name of Summit County," to subscribe for $100,000 of the stock of said railroad, issuing therefor 100 bonds of $1,000 each, payable to the order of John W. McMillen, in fifteen years, with thirty interest coupons attached, at the rate of 7 per cent, payable semi-annually. The Commissioners, at the same time, in accordance with the pro- visions of the aet authorizing such stock sub- scription, added to the rate of taxation an amount sufficient not only to meet the interest as it should fall due, but to also gradually cre- ate a sinking fund for the final payment of the bonds themselves.

The aid thus furnished, together with the prompt payment of individual stock subscrip-

291

HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

tions along the line, enabled the Board of Di- rectors to push the work forward so vigorously that, on the 1st day of January, 1852-less than ten months after the organization of the company, and only about six months after the contracts were awarded-the completion of the road to that village was celebrated by the peo- ple of Cuyahoga Falls, its completion to Akron, five miles further, being celebrated on the 4th of July of the same year. The work south from Akron was also pushed vigorously for- ward, and the line speedily completed to Mil- lersburg, in Holmes County, thus forming a connection with the Ohio & Pennsylvania (now the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago) Rail- road at Orrville, in Wayne County, and giving us an outlet in the direction of Columbus. Cin- cinnati, and the Western and Southern States.

Although so heavy a vote was polled against the subscription to the stock of this road by the county, and though there was very much grumbling by a portion of the tax-payers of the county from year to year, while the in- terest was being paid and the fund provided for the payment of the bonds themselves, all now admit that it was the best investment of money ever made by the property owners of Summit County, there not being a single foot of land within the limits of the county that was not enhanced in value from ten to twenty fold the amount of special tax thus paid upon it, while an impetus was given to the trade, man- ufactures and agricultural operations of the county that could have been attained in no other way.

The Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati Rail- road .- With the view of extending the road south from Millersburg to Zanesville, to form a connection with Cincinnati via the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville Railroad, application was made to the Court of Common Pleas of Summit County, at the March term, 1853, for a change of name to the " Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad." which was accordingly done. Embarrassments subsequently falling upon the road, the contemplated extension was indefinitely postponed. On the 22d day of August, 1861, suit was brought, in the Com- mon Pleas Court of Summit County, by the creditors of the road, for foreclosure of mort- gage and sale of the road, Col. Simon Perkins being appointed Receiver by the court, to run the road pending litigation. By decree of

court, the road and its franchises were sold by the Receiver at public auction at the door of the court house, in Akron, on the 2d day of November, 1864, George W. Cass and John J. Marvin, of Pittsburgh, being the purchasers, Col. Simon Perkins being appointed Superin- tendent of the road by the new owners. ()n the 1st day of July, 1865, George W. Cass and John J. Marvin, by deed, conveyed the road and property pertaining thereto to the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Com- pany. July 1, 1869, the road passed, with the lease of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, into the hands of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. November 4, 1869, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Com- pany sold and transferred, by deed, to the Pitts- burgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & London Rail- road Company, the entire Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad, extending from Hudson, in Summit County, to the coal mines southwest of Millersburg, in Holmes County-a distance of sixty-five miles-with all its rolling stock, machinery and fixtures, for the consideration of 22,000 shares of fully paid-up capital stock of said Pittsburgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & London Railroad Company, the par value of the same being $1,100,000. December 1, 1869, Gen. Goshorn A. Jones, of Mount Vernon, was appointed Superintendent of the road, Col. Si- mon Perkins retiring. On the 20th day of De- cember, 1869, by a decree of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of Knox County, the name of the Pittsburgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & Lon- don Railroad Company was changed to Cleve- land, Mount Vernon & Delaware Railroad Com- pany. Under the new management, measures were immediately taken, and vigorously prose- cuted, to build the road through to its final destination, Delaware, but soon so far modified as to make Columbus, instead of Delaware, the southern terminus. The road was completed and the first passenger train from Hudson to Mount Vernon was run June 25, 1872, and. on the 23d day of November, 1873, the road was opened through to Columbus, regular trains commencing at that day and continuing to the present. Various causes having combined to prevent the road, though doing a fair business, from meeting its liabilities, the owners of the first mortgage bonds of the road, at the Sep- tember term, 1880, of the Court of Common

HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

292

Pleas of Summit County, commenced a suit for foreclosure and sale, Gen. G. A. Jones, by order of court, being appointed and qualified as Re- ceiver September 27, 1880. At the present writing (April, 1881), there are strong hopes that the Receiver may be able to relieve the road of its embarrassments, the court having already ordered the building of about three miles of additional track to Fox Lake Coal Mines, the purchase of four new locomotives, four new passenger coaches and six miles of steel rails. The officers of the road, at the time of its transfer to the present company, were as follows : Directors, R. C. Hurd, Charles Cooper, S. Israel, Mount Vernon ; M. White, of Gambier; I. Harpster, of Millersburg ; Will- iam M. Orr, of Orrville ; and Thomas D. Mess- ler, of Pittsburgh, Penn .; President, R. C. Hurd ; Secretary, J. S. Davis ; Treasurer, J. D. Thompson ; Auditor, E. Mize ; Superintendent, G. A. Jones ; Master Machinist, J. W. Hollo- way. Present officers of the road are as fol- lows : Directors, Thomas D. Messler and Will- iam Shaw, of Pittsburgh ; George B. Roberts, of Philadelphia ; Hon. J. R. Swan, of Columbus ; S. Israel and Charles Cooper, of Mount Ver- non ; William M. Orr, of Orrville ; I. Harpster, of Millersburg; M. White, of Gambier ; Pres- ident, Thomas D. Messler ; Superintendent, G. A. Jones ; Auditor, E. Mize ; Treasurer, J. D. Thompson; Secretary, J. S. Davis ; Master Machinist, J. W. Holloway ; General Freight and Ticket Agent, J. A. Tilton ; Messrs. Mize, Thompson, Holloway and Tilton also acting in their respective positions, under the appoint- ment of Receiver Jones ; Messrs. Mize and Hol- loway having been connected with the road nearly. if not quite, from its first completion as the " Akron Branch."

The Massillon Branch .- As an adjunct to the Cleveland, Columbus & Delaware road, the Massillon & Cleveland Railroad (commonly called the Massillon Branch) was built by the Massillon & Cleveland Railroad Company, and runs from Clinton, in Summit County, to Mas- sillon, in Stark County, a distance of some eiglit or ten miles, only. This road was leased to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company June 22, 1869; lease assigned by that company to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company July 1, 1869 ; and by that company and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Rail- way Company lease assigned to the Pittsburgh,

Mount Vernon, Columbus & London Railway Company (now Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Del- aware Railroad Company), November 4, 1869. The road is owned by the Massillon & Cleve- land Railroad Company, and is now (1881) operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, operating the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway. Both the Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Delaware, and the "Massillon Branch " run through some of the most prolific coal regions of the State, large shipments of coal and other minerals daily passing over their tracks.

Other Early Railroad Projects .- About the the time the Cleveland & Pittsburgh and the Akron Branch were being projected and built, three other lines, centering in Hudson, were chartered and a commendable degree of prog- ress made in their construction, viz .: The "Clinton Line," the " Clinton Line Extension," and the " Hudson & Painesville." As early as 1830, Col. De Witt Clinton, Jr., then of the United States Topographical Engineers, recon- noitered and recommended the construction of a railway from the Atlantic to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River, on a route that would bring the territory now embraced in Summit County upon its line. To this end, a number of charters had been secured, companies organ- ized and work commenced in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, from 1840 to 1853, the several links, when completed, to be consolidated into one " grand continental line," to be designated "The Amer- iean Central Railway," with the further plan in view of ultimately continuing the line through to the Pacific Coast.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 51

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104