USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 56
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CHAPTER XXIII.
TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
Aside from the city of Wooster, the chief metropolis of Wayne county, there are several good-sized towns and villages which have been mentioned incidentally in the various township histories, but in this chapter a more ex- tended account will be given of them.
DOYLESTOWN VILLAGE.
This prosperous village was laid out by William Doyle, after whom it was named, on December 9, 1827, and it was incorporated August 6, 1867. The first house was erected in the village on a vacant lot standing between what was afterwards Mrs. Diebel's and Mr. Shondel's grocery. It was a log house, built by William Doyle, who occupied it as a tavern, sold whisky and allowed dancing. The first doctor was a Mr. Pierpont, who stole a horse while on a visit in the East and was sentenced to the penitentiary. The first election was held in December, 1866, for municipal officers.
The mayors who have served this incorporation are as follows: 1866-8, A. H. Purcell; 1869, Moses Bugher: 1870, J. B. Weaver; 1871, J. B. Weaver ; 1872, A. H. Purcell; 1873, A. H. Purcell ; 1874, W. J. Bigelow ; 1875 to 1877, W. J. Bigelow ; * * * 1886 to 1890, Allen Hassing; 1890 to 1902, G. W. Barkhamer ; 1902 to 1903, John Whitman ; 1903 to 1905, G. W. Barkhamer; 1906 to 1910, B. R. Tagg.
The present officers are. Mayor, B. R. Tagg; clerk, O. B. Heffleman ; treasurer, N. R. Zimmerman ; marshal, Levi Whitman; fire chief, Henry Roth; health officer, E. Dannemiller; Councilmen, A. Gantes, J. A. Myers, William Jenior, A. Flath, M. S. Fleck, David Beal.
The village owns a large two-story town hall, and at present the public schools are in session in it, while the new school building is being completed.
The present physicians of the town are Dr. A. E. Stepfield, homeopathic ; Dr. E. R. Spencer, Dr. E. H. Mckinney, allopathic ; W. A. Pursell, dentist.
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THE POSTOFFICE.
The following have served as postmasters at Doylestown: William G. Foster, from 1828 to 1847 ; Angus McIntire, 1848 to 1852; Samuel Rouston, 1853 to 1856; Orrin G. Franks, 1857 to 1859; Samuel Blocker, 1860 to 1867; H. A. Soliday, 1868 to 1872 ; Henry S. Deisem, 1873 to 1877. The list from 1877 is as follows: H. S. Diersem; 1883, E. S. Nichols ; 1885, C. D. Gardner; 1889, George Jackson ; 1893, J. V. Hartel; 1897, George Jack- son, who is still serving in an acceptable manner. The present office is kept in a new building erected by the postmaster and it was first occupied on the morning of June 5, 1909.
The first rural free delivery route was established out from Doylestown in December, 1904, and the second route started in May, 1905. The length of the former is twenty-three and one-half miles, while the latter is twenty- four miles in length. At first the office was at Chippewa, south of town, and was removed in 1874.
CHURCHES OF DOYLESTOWN.
That Doylestown is a worshiping people is seen by the presence of four neat church edifices-the Methodist Episcopal, built in 1885; the Evangelical Lutheran, built in 1867; the Catholic, built in 1877, and the Presbyterian, a frame building, and the oldest of all edifices in the town. For more in detail concerning these churches, the reader is referred to the chapter on Churches of the county, elsewhere in this volume.
LODGES AND SOCIETIES.
Doylestown is the home of the following fraternities : The Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, instituted about 1880, the Royal Arcanum, Macca- bees, Foresters, Sons of Herman. The Odd Fellows own a fine block and lease to the Knights of Pythias order. Odd Fellowship was first established here in August, 1854. The lodge now numbers one hundred and twelve members. At one time there existed a flourishing Grand Army of the Re- public post, known as J. Galehouse Post, No. 227, but owing to the death of all but four or five comrades of the Civil war who belonged. the post was abandoned in 1904.
INDUSTRIES AT DOYLESTOWN.
From an early day, for a town of its size, Doylestown has ever been a lively manufacturing place. It still holds good that early-day reputation. Among the institutions worth mentioning here, may be named the Empire
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Mower and Reaper Works, established in the fifties. Its present condition seems flourishing for a small factory. Its president is Samuel Miller.
Of the more modern factories, may be mentioned the Buckeye Alumi- num Company, established in 1903, coming from Quincy, Massachusetts. Their specialty is making communion sets, which are of a rare and beautiful design and find a ready sale in various parts of this country. W. H. Huff- man is the president ; W. R. Miller, secretary and treasurer, with Leon Ward as its manager. They employ about twenty-five men.
Another aluminum industry here is the comb factory, in which a num- ber of skilled workmen are employed and they produce a fine grade of combs for the hair. This was established by home capital in 1903-4. J. A. Myers is the manager of the stock company.
A new concern, starting up in the fall of 1909, is the second comb fac- tory, which produces from a Doylestown invention a superior article in way of a fibre comb. It is dark, like rubber, but very tough and flexible. It is operated with home capital and is incorporated for twenty-five thousand dollars. Its president is Bert Myers.
BANKING.
The banking business is well taken care of here by the Doylestown Banking Company, with D. J. McDaniel, president; J. W. Zimmerman, vice-president; George Landis, cashier. The capital of this banking company is fifteen thousand dollars, while its deposits were, in 1909, three hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
TOWN OF CRESTON.
This was formerly known and platted in 1865 as Saville, but when the railway company established a town by that name elsewhere-over the county line-this place was, for a time, called Pike Station, it being situated on the old Cleveland pike road. But in 1881 it was changed to Creston. It is situated in Canaan township, near the north line of Wayne county, and now has a population of about twelve hundred. It has the following transporta- tion lines : The Wheeling & Lake Erie line: the Erie, Baltimore & Oliio line and the Cleveland and Southwestern, which is the electric interurban road, built about 1901, from Wooster to Cleveland.
The present professional men of Creston are Doctors T. D. Hollings-, worth. J. W. Irvin. A. C. Kenestick. William Orr, Van I. Allen, R. J.
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Baird and G. H. Smith, dentist ; Price Russell, attorney ; J. E. Elliott, real estate, loans and notary public.
The present-day industries here flourishing are The Buckeye Concrete Company, manufacturing, in the largest plant in Wayne county, fence posts, hitching posts, arbor posts, porch posts, water troughs, building blocks, etc .; Pickle and Preserving works, which is doing a good business, the owners being Messrs. Lutz & Schramm; Creston Hoop and Stave Company, the most extensive works of the town ; the Creston Wood Handle Company, who make all sorts of tool handles from the native timber of the immediate vicinity ; the White Rose Creamery ; D. G. Hay's roller flouring mills, etc.
The hotels of the town are the Arcade and the Hotel Creston.
The newspaper of the place is the newsy, independent paper known as the Creston Journal, est, blished in 1880 and now edited and printed by its owner, F. M. Sulliger.
The schools of the town are held in a fine two-story frame school building.
There are the following civic societies represented in this place: The Masonic, Odd Fellows and Maccabees orders.
The churches are the Methodist Episcopal and the Presbyterian. of which mention is made fully in the church chapter.
POSTOFFICE.
At an early day the postoffice was kept at old Jackson, but in about 1864-5 it was established at what is now Creston. The postmasters from the first have been as follows: Elmer St. John, serving at least eight years; Phillip Baum, serving four years; G. W. Littel, four years: J. T. Miller, four years ; C. P. Smith, four years; N. I. McGlenn. from 1893 to 1897. and John McGuff, from 1897 to the present time. There are now two free rural delivery routes out from this town.
INCORPORATION.
Creston was incorporated June 2, 1899; the following have served as mayors : The first mayor was Warden Wheeler, who served until April 10. 1900, when he was followed by Price Russell, who served until April 9. 1902. Mr. Russell was succeeded by William B. Jordan, serving until Jan- uary 31, 1906, and he was killed on the Wheeling & Lake Erie railway. February II, 1907. W. H. Peters took Mr. Jordan's place and is the present (1909) mayor.
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Two great farming industries must not be omitted in the history of this place. The onion farm of one hundred and thirty acres, near the town limits, the property of Wean, Tenney & Company, where immense quantities of best grade onions have been produced for many seasons in succession, and where are employed scores of men and women in planting, cultivating and harvesting, crating and shipping onions to far and near markets.
Then the Jordan Brothers immense celery farm, embracing one hundred and fifteen acres and on which land is produced the finest variety of table celery, which also gives employment for many persons and has come to be sought after at far distant points, and is very profitable.
BANKING.
Creston has a good banking house, known as the Stebbins Banking Company. Its president is W. P. Stebbins : the cashier is C. A. Stebbins, and assistant cashier, E. D. Arthur. Its capital is ten thousand dollars, while the deposits are sixty-five thousand dollars. The bank occupies a fine, mod- ern-style banking house, constructed of stone and brick.
TOWN OF ORRVILLE.
Orrville is located in Green and Baughman townships and has a popula- tion of something over three thousand. The town owns its own water plant and electric light plant and has recently put in a sanitary system of sewerage. The place was incorporated in 1864 and the following have served as its may- ors : William Gailey, 1865; William M. Orr, Alexander Moncrief, Dr. A. C. Miller, Mahlon Rouch, J. F. Seas, S. D. Tanner, G. W. Barrett, N. L. Royer, Warren Ramsey, Levi Neiswanger, J. M. Fiscus, Dr. Faber, George Starn, D. F. Griffith. The present town officials are : D. F. Griffith, mayor, Charles Arnold, marshal; A. L. Reed, clerk ; E. M. Tanner, treasurer ; board of public service, Frank Reichenbach, E. C. Bowman and Ralph Kinney; councilmen, John Kropf, Adam Fogel, H. P. Shantz, E. E. Schrantz, E. P. Willaman, H. P. Leickheim.
Orrville was named in honor of Hon. Smith Orr. The town has an ex- cellent town hall, a brick building, of two stories, with town offices and engine rooms attached.
The accompanying reminiscences will give the reader a fair compre- hension of the way this place was started and will prove interesting, as well.
There are four churches in Orrville and the Catholics expect to build soon. The present churches are the Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Reformed and English Lutheran denominations (see church chapter elsewhere for this and other towns in Wayne county ).
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The fraternal societies of the town are the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Royal Arcanum, Knights of Honor, National Union and Maccabees orders.
The physicians are Doctors Blankenhous, Brooks, Campbell. Grady, Irvin and Shie.
A postoffice was established at this point in 1863-64 and the postmasters who have served came in the following order: Alexander E. Clark, J. F. Seas, David L. Moncrief, Henry Shriber, J. W. Hostetter, Proctor Seas, Henry E. Taylor, G. D. McIntyre.
In 1902 there were two free rural delivery routes established out from Orrville, and in 1905 two more.
There are two excellent school buildings-one erected in 1860 and one dedicated in 1908, a fine structure.
The town has the distinction of owning its excellent equipped electric lighting plant and its water works, which were installed in the nineties. The water works were put in in 1897 and derive the best quality of drinking water in Ohio from four tubular wells sunk to the great depth of eight hundred feet. Drinking fountains for man and beast are found on the principal streets. With paved streets and good sewers, electric lights and an abundant supply of the purest water, the place is fast putting on "city airs."
The town is well advertised and is served with the latest news by two good local newspapers, spoken of in the Press chapter-the Crescent and Courier.
The attorneys of Orrville at this date are S. N. Coe and Ryer & Starn.
The commercial hotel of the place is an excellent one and is styled The Hurd.
A Board of Industry keeps seeking out additional business firms and fac- tories for Orrville. Its secretary is now Charles Craft.
The railroad interests are very extensive at Orrville. The companies here represented are the Pennsylvania lines ; the Wabash ; the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus of the Pennsylvania system. The latter road has its division and machine shops at this point and it is rumored that soon a great enlarge- ment of the Pennsylvania, Pittsburg. Ft. Wayne & Chicago, will be made here, in way of shops and division interests.
ORRVILLE'S INDUSTRIES.
Orrville is the home of the following factories and industrial interests : The Orrville Milling Company's roller mill, in which the daily capacity is about eight hundred barrels. This was established in the early seventies as a buhr- stone mill, but was later changed to a full roller-process flouring-mill. Other
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industries are the mattress factory ; the Champion thresher factory; Cottage Creamery, a branch of the Sugarcreek Creamery, established here in 1909; the Cyclone Drill Company, that manufactures many kinds of drills and coal mining and well machinery and employs more than forty men; the C. C. Haff- ner harness factory ; Orrville Bed Spring Company ; the Iron Hand and Power Pump factory, a new concern that promises much in the near future to Orr- ville; the Gemill phonograph factory, making an invention of the place a profitable industry, and many lesser factories.
The first move toward putting in electric lights was by the ordinance passed February 1, 1892, when the scheme of providing for light, heat and power was inaugurated.
The Orrville board of water-works trustees was organized April 16, 1894, as follows: D. F. Griffith, A. H. Postlewait and C. C. Davidson.
It may be well to give a list of some of the more important factories that have from time to time been located here-in fact the citizens here have al- ways tried to keep a line of paying industries going. Many have long since dropped from the list, moved elsewhere or gone out of business entirely.
January, 1877, a patent was granted to Mr. Askins for a glass coffin ; a joint stock company was formed to make the same and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was subscribed. Five men were employed. The presi- dent of the company was William M. Orr, D. G. Horst, treasurer, and Jacob L. Askins, superintendent.
The Orrville Planing Company was organized in 1867 with a joint-stock of twenty thousand dollars ; it finally passed to Joseph Snively.
A hand-rake and fork manufactory was established here by Boydston & Ramsey, in 1871, and did a splendid business.
The Orrville Pottery was established in 1862 by Amos Hall and Robert Cochran, who sold it in 1877 to Eckert and Flickenger, who made immense quantities of crocks, jugs, fruit jars, etc.
The Orrville Tannery was established in 1864, by Ludwick Pontius, and was the first industry of its kind in Orrville.
BANKING.
The Exchange Bank was established here in 1868, by Jacob Brenneman and-David Horst. It was later styled Brenneman & Horst's Bank.
The Orrville National Bank was organized with forty thousand dollars capital, and now has deposits amounting to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Its present officers are H. H. Strauss, president ; Isaac Pontius, vice- president : F. L. Strauss, cashier.
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ORVILLE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR.
[Note-In the year 1890 two citizens, J. F. Seas and D. G. Evans, were conferring on the matter of holding a reunion of those who were residents of Orrville in 1860. W. S. Evans happened to drop in from Michigan, enroute to Tennessee, while the matter was being considered, and was asked to pre- pare a paper on his recollections to be read at the proposed meeting. The re- union did not materialize, but the paper was later published (Courier, July 22, 1890) and reads as follows :]
The spring of 1860 found Orrville a small unincorporated village with a population of probably five hundred inhabitants. As nearly as I can recollect the business interests of the place were represented as follows: Fischer Bros. and M. Whitmyer, groceries; Bailey & Evans, drugs and groceries; David Mast, dry goods; Reaser, Skelton & Burkholder, dry goods ; J. F. Seas, post- master and hardware; D. L. Moncrief, drugs; Fletcher Brothers, harness ; Philip Krick, shoemaker; Mr. Hart, shoemaker ; Reaser Brothers, blacksmiths ; Munn & Lefever, cabinetmakers and furniture; Kirk Johnson, miller ; Jerome Ammann, cooper; S. K. Kramer, grain dealer; Gailey & Herr, grain dealers ; George Brown, tailor: James Postlewait, wagonmaker: Joel Levers, cabinet- maker: J. B. Heffleman, tinner ; Hy Smith, tinner: Joseph Snavely, saw-mill ; J. C. Speicher, American House, with the characteristic Joseph Wiley as chief clerk and guest solicitor at all passenger trains; A. E. Clark, physician
At that time we had two railroads, the Pittsburg & Ft. Wayne and the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati, now the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus. John McGill was the agent for the Adams Express Company, as also for the Union Express on the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati railroad. C. N. Storrs was agent for the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati road, with Patrick Quinlan as baggage master. Henry McGill was baggage master for the Ft. Wayne road, with Thomas McGill as night watch. The switch engine for transferring cars from one road to another in those busy days was a yoke of large oxen engineered by "old Kennedy." whose highly musically toned voice could be heard incessantly, "Git up Buck, go on Berry." One day one of the oxen became sick and John McGill telegraphed to the master of transportation at AAlliance that there would be some delay in handling cars, because the switch engine burst a flue and wanted a man sent down at once to repair it. Mr. Kennedy also controlled the draying business and car- ried the mail. John D. McNulty was telegraph operator in the office opened by the Ft. Wayne railway during the latter part of the year 1859, and W. S. Evans was a student and messenger boy about the office. it that time Orr-
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ville enjoyed a train service on its two roads which was exceedingly con- venient and accommodating to the citizens of the place, and in one respect more seasonable in hours than at any other station point on the road between Pitts- burg and Chicago, in the fact that at any other station on the road there were no more passenger trains earlier than 7 A. M., nor later than 9 P. M., afford- ing good opportunities to go to Wooster and return twice or three times a day, and to Cleveland and return between 7 A. M. and 7 P. M. The whistle of a locomotive engine on Sunday would have been as much of an innovation as the opening of business houses on that day would at present. The American House was the only hotel in the place, and in consequence enjoyed a pros- perous patronage under the management of mine host. Jacob Speicher, who frequently entertained his guests with vivid tales of valorous deeds and sin- gular experiences in good old Pennsylvania style, amongst which was the un- paralleled feat of taking up a well and moving it across the road. The Amer- ican was a popular house. In 1860 there were but three brick buildings in the embryonic city of Wayne, and they were the residences of John McGill, Brenneman & Horst's store building and the residence of C. N. Storrs, south of the town hall. There were no buildings south of the Ft. Wayne tracks except a few Irish shanties and an old warehouse, and the residence of Kin- ney Harris, a small opening in the woods, about where the fine residence of Mrs. Jacob Brenneman now stands. East of Main street was a body of woodland, which came up as near the village as the present location of the coffin factory. West of that street and south from where the tracks and depot of the Wheeling railroad now are, was a stumpy pasture field so swampy in the spring time that a cow could not pass through it without becoming mired. From Church street north and east of Main street, the only buildings between the first-named street and the C. Z. & C. railroad were the school house be- tween the present site of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches and the residence of Mr. Postlewait on the hill. In the spring of 1860 there was not a foot of stone or brick sidewalk in the entire village, D. G. Evans putting down the first stone walk in front of the present Boiling bakery building ( now the Orrville National Bank ).
There was only one church building in the place. The present Reformed church was known as the Union church, and was used on alternate Sundays by the Methodists and Presbyterians, the ministers coming from Dalton to conduct the services. There was no resident minister in the place during that year, although there had been one or more previous to that time. The school was about the same as any ordinary district school. There was no bakery,
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planing-mill or factory of any kind, no dentist, lawyer or photographer, no regular saloon, no mayor, council, marshal, yet there was very little rowdyism or unlawful disturbance in the absence of these minions of the law. We had no bank to take care of our money for us, and in fact none of us were very much burdened with the safe-keeping of the filthy lucre !
Neither did we have the advantage of that great leverage which booms the wonderful future of a western town before an astonished public. and to- day proclaims a prosperous city, where yesterday stood and howled the coyote and prairie wolf-the printing press and newspaper. If we wished to make our greatness known, it had to be done by word of mouth from stumps or housetops, and the stumps were more plentiful than housetops in those days.
In the summer of 1860 we had the memorable campaign which preceded the great Rebellion and made Abraham Lincoln President. Our Republican Wide-awakes, under the command of Captain Gift, with their torches and oil cloth capes, with a spread eagle painted on the back (humorously dubbed a mad goose by Father Seas), divided the honors of displaying their patriotism with a singularly uniformed company of Democratic sprouts who marched as proudly and shrieked as loudly for their candidate, Stephen A. Douglas, the little giant of the West. Although the campaign was an unusually hot one. it was passed through without much bitterness or personal animosity. One day during a Republican meeting, a bombastic telegraph repairer from Mans- field was brought up from the station by McNulty and Henry McGill, given a few drinks, and urged by them to deliver an opposition speech. He accepted the invitation with alacrity, rolled a drygoods box into the street, mounted it and began his harangue. Engineer Brown coming along at that moment, listened a minute to what the spouter was saying, concluded that his utterances were not in strict accord with the spirit of Republican meetings, calmly walked up and knocked the fellow off the box, which seemed to put a decided damper on whatever aspirations the embryonic political speaker had previously enter- tained. The occurrence amused the Democratic people as much as it did the Republicans.
Thirty years ago there was not a pound of coal burned in Orrville except that used by the blacksmiths. Even the engines on the railroads burned wood, and Orrville was one of the most important points on the line for supplying fuel.
Thirty years has wrought many changes in our town and its people. Many of our friends and acquaintances have scattered to various portions of this and other countries, and many, yea, very many, have been called to
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their last resting place and final reward. What the next thirty years will bring to probably a majority of us is not a matter of conjecture, and it be- hooves us to prepare for that greater and final reunion where there will be nothing but pleasant reminiscences to recount.
AN ORRVILLE REMINISCENCE.
The following was extracted from the Orrville local newspaper at the time Father James Taggart had just passed his ninetieth birthday, in 1907 :
James Taggart passed his ninetieth birthday Tuesday, October 1, 1907. He is no doubt the oldest resident born within the sound of the workshops of Orrville. His father, Samuel Taggart, located on the quarter section of land now occupied by the southeast part of Orrville, April 9, 1815, where James Taggart was born in a log cabin October 1, 1817.
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