USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > History of the city of Cleveland : its settlement, rise and progress > Part 9
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About this time the Industrial School extended its field of usefulness by purchasing a farm. The history of this grand institution is too long and too full of interest to be treated properly here. An account of its foundation and development is given in another part of this work.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
CHAPTER XIV.
REVIVAL OF OUR LITERARY SPIRIT - ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, THE KIRTLAND SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE AND THE LAW LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - A BIT OF RAILROAD HIS- TORY - CITY ELECTIONS - CLEVELAND BECOMES THE "CITY OF NATIONAL CONVENTIONS" - INCORPORATION OF THE LAKE VIEW CEMETERY ASSOCIATION - EFFORTS TO SECURE PURER WATER - BUILDING OF THE LAKE TUNNEL - THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE MEDICAL COLLEGES.
U NDER the provision of an act of the Legislature appli- cable to cities containing a population of over twenty thousand, a tax of one-tenth of a mill was levied in 1867 to establish a free public library. A room eighty by twenty feet in dimensions was secured and fitted up under the supervision of Mr. L. M. Oviatt, the first librarian, in the third story of Northrup & Harrington's block, on the corner of Superior and Seneca streets. In February of 1869 this invaluable addition to Cleveland's advantages was opened to the public. It was small as yet, but under most flattering auspices. The fund up to that time ex- pended was six thousand dollars, being the result of two years' levy. The total number of volumes was five thou- sand eight hundred. Of these, two thousand two hun- dred belonged to the former public school library, and
Western Bingl, Pub. Co
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
three thousand six hundred were purchased anew. Four- teen hundred dollars were expended in furnishing the room. As the only condition of membership was respon- sibility, a large number of visitors pressed forward to enroll their names as members. The rules and regulations were so liberal that this library rapidly became a most important factor in the educational privileges of the city, and was soon compelled to seek more generous housing.
The Kirtland Society of Natural Science, organized in 1869, and reorganized in 1870 as a branch of the Cleve- land Library Association, is an important educational society. Its objects are "the promotion of the study of the natural sciences, and the collection and establishment of a museum of natural history as a means of popular instruction and amusement." It was named after Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland, whose collections in natural history have greatly enriched the museum. Others who have donated valuable collections of birds, insects, reptiles and fishes- are William Case, John Fitzpatrick and R. K. Winslow. The museum occupies rooms in the Case Library building, where valuble accessions are being constantly received.
In March of 1869, the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashta- bula Railroad Company and the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad Company were consolidated, pursuant to the laws of the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania, under the name of the Lake Shore Railroad Company. In May fur- ther consolidations with the Michigan Southern & North- ern Indiana Railroad Company resulted in the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, with an author- ized capital of fifty million dollars, and a line of one thou-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
sand and seventy-four miles of railroad. The net earnings of the new company in 1871 were $5,018,768.84.
Stephen Buhrer was elected mayor for a second term in the spring of 1869, by a majority of 2,680 votes. For the first time a temperance party was in the field, which cast 1,049 votes for its candidate for mayor, and elected one councilman. The new council remained Republican by a majority of four. In the fall Governor Hayes received in Cleveland a majority of 953 votes.
During the years that succeeded the war, Cleveland gained the name of the city of National conventions. She sheltered in turn, female suffragists, dentists, homœopath- ists, photographers, labor unions, teachers and spiritual- ists, from the entire Union, and greeted them all with such attention that many repeated their visits. One of the most remarkable of these conventions was the first Na- tional Convention of Woman's Suffrage advocates ever assembled in the world, which was held in Case Hall, November 25-26, 1869. Twenty-one States and territo- ries were represented, and many of the leading reformers of the day were present. After an interesting session at- tended by large numbers of citizens, a National constitu- tion was adopted under the name of the American Woman Suffrage Association. Henry Ward Beecher was elected first president, and plans were agreed upon for con- centrating the efforts of the advocates of woman suffrage in the United States. The impression made by the pro- ceedings of the assembly was highly favorable and is said to have won over many people to the cause who were dis- posed at first to deride the movement. One of its valuable
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
fruits was the formation, during the following week, of the Cuyahoga Woman's Suffrage Association, with Dr. St. John as its first president.
The Cleveland Law Library Association was incorpo- rated December 29, 1869, as a stock company of lawyers, with about one thousand volumes contributed by the dif- ferent members who took stock of the association in return. The first officers were Hon. S. O. Griswold, presi- dent; W. J. Boardman, vice-president; Samuel E. William- son, secretary ; George A. Galloway, librarian. Funds are secured by the sales of stock and by annual assessments of ten dollars on each of the members. In 1873 a special act of the Legislature granted to the association five hun- ·dred dollars per year from the police court fund for the purchase of books, and required the county to pay the sal- ary of a librarian. The county commissioners furnish in addition the commodious room built especially for the library on the fifth floor of the old court-house. The membership of the association at present is about one hundred and forty. The library ranks next to the State Law Library at Columbus and contains eight thousand volumes, many of them rare and expensive. The present officers are Hon. G. M. Barber, president; Hon. Darius Cadwell, vice-president; A. J. Marvin, secretary and treas- urer ; A. A. Bemis, librarian.
The Lake View Cemetery Association was incorporated July 6, 1869, when it had become evident that the city in its rapid growth was crowding out and desecrating the old and contracted cemeteries. The new association determined to select a spot of easy and pleasant access, of
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
large dimensions, and one not likely to be disturbed. Three hundred acres of land were secured by different pur- chases, in the beautiful tract five miles east of the Public Square, where the natural advantages, the range of hills, the altitude, the soil and timber, offered an unequaled The scope for the highest variety of ornamentation. association is not a stock company for profit, but all the receipts from sale of lots or otherwise, are appropriated to the perpetual adornment of the grounds. So magnifi- cently has this work been done and so prompt was the erection of costly monuments, that Lake View has become one of the famous cemeteries of the United States, a place that no stranger in visiting the city fails to see. Some of the most elegant monuments are those of T. P. Handy, J. H. Wade, George B. Ely, Hiram Garretson, H. B. Hurlbut, Selah Chamberlain, Joseph Perkins, H. B. Payne, and the lofty National tribute to James A. Garfield. The first offi- cers of the association were : J. H. Wade, president; C. W. Lepper, treasurer ; J. J. Holden, clerk. Thefirst ground was broken November 1, 1869, and the first interment took place August 24, 1870. The present officers are J. H. Wade, president; William Edwards, vice-president; C. D. Foote, secretary ; and W. S. Jones, treasurer.
Since the first construction of the water-works in 1856, no complaint was ever heard about the unfitness of the water supply for domestic purposes, until in February, 1866, when a yellowish tint and a strong scent and taste of petroleum became painfully evident. Investigation showed that this taint affected the water about the old inlet, which was only 450 feet from the shore, and for 1000 feet further
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
north. It disappeared upon the breaking up of the ice in the spring, but returned again each winter, and was found as far as 3800 feet north of the inlet. To get beyond such dangerous limits it was found necessary to take the water from a point at least one and a quarter miles from the shore. Preliminary surveys were made in 1867 with a view of sinking a shaft on the shore near the old aqueduct and another shaft at the proper distance in the lake, the two to be connected by a tunnel under the bed of the lake. In 1869 work was commenced on the shore shaft. It was sunk to a depth of 671/2 feet below the sur- face of the lake, and a tunnel 5 feet in diameter run out under the lake. A large protection crib, pentagonal in shape, each side 55 feet in length, and having a mean diameter of 871/2 feet, was built for the lake shaft. It was launched on August 5, 1870, towed out to a point 6,600 feet from the shore and made fast to five large anchors previously placed in position. It was sunk in 36 feet of water and loaded down with a thousand tons of stone. Four hundred tons of stone were thrown into the lake against the exposed sides. A lake shaft was then sunk below the crib to a depth of 90 feet below the surface of the water and the lake tunnel projected to meet its comple- ment from the shore shaft. The construction of the tun- nel was hindered by many obstacles. Several hundred feet of finished tunnel had to be abandoned and a détour made because of the sinking in of the clay. But after success- fully overcoming this difficulty and others that arose from quicksand and gas, the whole work was finally completed on March 2, 1874, and on the following day water was
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
drawn through it for supplying the city. The total cost of the work, including crib, tunnel and connections, was $320,351.72. The building on the crib was fitted up for a light-keeper and surmounted by a light-house 50 feet above the water. Comparisons made by Professor Morley, of the Cleveland Medical College, of the amount of solid matter dissolved and suspended in the water before and after the completion of the lake tunnel, showed that the quality of the water was greatly improved. In November, 1873, the permanganate test revealed in five minutes the presence of organic impurity ; but in November, 1874, after the sup- ply began to be drawn at a greater distance from the mouth of the river, the same test failed to show as dis- tinctly even in two hours, the presence of easily oxidizable organic matter Though the water may at times be clouded during long-continued storms, this is of minor im- portance and harmless, being caused by pure clay ; but freedom from all organic impurities is of the greatest im- portance to the public health, and this was thoroughly secured by the new improvement.
It is now thought expedient to build a second tunnel, as the draft or consumption of water sometimes nearly reaches the capacity for supply, and at the present rate of increase will soon exceed it. It is to be hoped that an appropriation sufficient to construct this needed aque- duct will be made. One of the best advantages a city can possess is an abundant supply of pure, healthy water, and with Lake Erie stretching out before us there is no reason why we should be stinted in our allowance of this article.
In 1870 the Charity Hospital Medical College, which
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
had been organized in 1863, was incorporated with the University of Wooster and has since that time been known as the Medical Department of the University of Wooster. Since 1885 the institution has had control of a University Hospital adjoining the college building on Brownell street, which is of the greatest practical value to its students, affording superior advantages for actual clinical instruc- tion. Students are taken to the bedside of patients in the free wards, and the senior class are invited by the profes- sors to be present at their private operations. In 1881 a division took place in which a majority of the faculty for- sook their school and united with the Medical Faculty of the Western Reserve, but the organization of the college remained unchanged and the vacancies were soon filled. During the past year the college has changed its calendar to the "one session a year " plan, beginning the course on the first day of March and continuing for twenty-one weeks. It is believed that this change will greatly extend the facilities of the college to a class of students to whom the opportunities of a winter's term are limited. The winter course is substituted by a "Recitation Term."*
* The faculty of the college comprises Rev. Sylvester F. Scovel, D. D., president of the university, Wooster, Ohio; Leander Firestone, Wooster, Ohio; Akin C. Miller (deceased), Frank J. Weed, Charles C. Arms, Rev. Charles S. Pomeroy, Andrew Squire, Esq., John R. Smith, C. F. Dutton, Alvin Eyer, F. O. Nodine, O. F. Gordon, B. B. Brashear, G. C. Ashmun, John C. Gehring, J. M. Fraser.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
CHAPTER XV.
CLEVELAND'S GROWTH-INCREASE IN THE COAL TRADE-AN EVOLUTION IN IRON - PETROLEUM AND ITS INFLUENCE IN THE COMMERCE OF CLEVELAND-THE PRESSING NECESSITY FOR BETTER TRANSPORTA- TION FACILITIES-HISTORY OF THREE IMPORTANT RAILROADS-THE COLORED PEOPLE'S CELEBRATION- ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTH- ERN OHIO FAIR ASSOCIATION-INCIDENTS OF A YEAR.
T HE population of Cleveland in the year 1870, was, ac- cording to the census reports, 93,718, or 7,000 more than double that of 1860. This estimate, however, does not include the population of East Cleveland and New- burg, which were soon annexed to the city. The true population for 1870 should be put at nearly 100,000. Only one city in the Union surpassed Cleveland in the growth of population during this decade. This rapid growth was mainly sustained by the increased foreign immigration. The number of residents of foreign birth in 1870 was 38,815, or 41 per cent. of the entire population. Of this number Germany had furnished 15,856, and Great Britain, including Ireland, 15,452. Bohemia had 786 rep- resentatives.
This growth in population was of course invited and determined by the enormous advance in trade and manu- facturing during the decade, and in this the development
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 139
of three huge industries gave character to the whole. Since the consumption of coal lies at the foundation of Cleveland's industries, a glance at the increase of this prod- uct might fairly indicate the increase of volume of the city's business. In 1870 the total receipts of coal were 1,060,244 tons, or more than three times those of 1857. The shipments had increased to 474,545 tons, indicating a total town consumption of 585,000 tons, nearly three times as much as in 1865. Owing to lack of transporta- tion facilities, the coal trade in 1869-70 had reached a point where the means of supply failed to keep pace with the rapidly growing demand. The only railroads by which . at that time coal was received were the Atlantic & Great Western and the Cleveland & Pittsburgh. All of the Massillon coals were brought by canal. These disadvan .- tages led to great energy in constructing new routes to the coal fields, which resulted in the completion of the Massillon & Cleveland railroad in 1870 and the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley railway in 1872. The ship- ments of coal by lake had been up to this time monopolized by two lake ports, Cleveland and Erie. But Toledo, San- dusky, Black River, Fairport and Ashtabula had roads in construction leading to the mines, and these soon began to share with Cleveland the handling of the product, with the result of greatly reducing its price.
The interests of Cleveland so closely depended upon the Lake Superior Iron Ore region that the development of the latter belongs to the city's industries. Practically the whole amount of iron ore and pig iron received in Cleve- land came from those regions. In 1870 the total produc-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
tion of the Lake Superior mines was 859,507 tons, or seven times that of 1860. Cleveland took considerably over half of the entire shipments. The most rapid develop ment of the use of these ores took place in the years suc- ceeding the war, after their superior quality began to be discovered. The following tests show how great is their preëminence over the best ores of the world :
Tenacity of best Swedes iron. 59 tons to square inch.
66
English cable bolt. 59
Russian. 76
.. .
Iron from Lake Superior ore ... .891/2 "
We quote the following from Mr. James F. Rhodes, in the Magazine of Western History :
The great revolution in the iron industry of our day of the substitu- tion of steel for iron, has only tended to enhance the value of the Lake Superior ore district as a whole, as more ore fit for Bessemer steel pur- poses is there produced than in any other region of the country. The Chicago, Joliet, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Wheeling Bessemer works depend largely on the Lake Superior ores for their raw material. These ores smelted with charcoal make not only the best, but almost the only pig metal for making malleable castings. Lake Superior charcoal pig for this purpose is used from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic ocean. The charcoal pig iron is likewise excelled by none for car wheel purposes, making in a suitable mixture with Salisbury or South- ern irons the very best of wheels. The quality of the ores is such that smelted with coke the very strongest foundry and forge irons are made, and they admit of a judicious admixture with mill cinder in the blast furnace without injuring materially the pig metal for ordinary foundry or rolling mill use. This last has been a point of very considerable im- portance in the development of the industries in and about Cleveland, as valuable material that elsewhere goes to waste is here utilized.
The petroleum business made gigantic advances during
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
this period. Each year brought about greater consolida- tions of capital, and, notwithstanding several disastrous fires, far more extensive facilities for receiving and handling the product. In addition to the Atlantic & Great West- ern railway, which had heretofore been the chief source of supply, the Lake Shore Railway Company opened a connection in 1869 with the oil regions. In 1867 the great bulk of crude oil was brought from the oil regions in tanks, two of which were placed upon one platform car. · This was found to be a decided improvement upon the old way of shipping in barrels. The growth of this business in Cleveland is shown by the following statement :
Date.
Received.
Forwarded.
1865
220,000
154,000
1866.
613,247
402,430
1867
693,100
496,600
1868
956,479
776,356
1869
1,121,700
923,933
1870.
2,000,700
1,459,500
In 1870 Cleveland had reached the head of the petro- leum industry, having received one-third of the entire product of the oil territory.
The prosperity of Cleveland had always depended upon her railroad connections with the great coal regions. That these roads should be operated primarily in the interests of Cleveland as against competing cities was felt to be of supreme importance. Several companies were incorpo- rated with this object, but lived no further than the pre- liminary survey. The first road to offer relief to the strained coal market was the Cleveland & Massillon rail-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
road, whose history reaches back to an amendment to the charter of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, made on the nineteenth day of February, 1851, authorizing the latter company to construct a branch road from Hudson 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 Ohio & Pennsylvania railroad and any other railroad running in the direction of Columbus. Subscribers to the stock of the branch were authorized to organize a company under the name of the "Akron Branch of the Cleveland & Pitts- burgh Railroad Company." On March 16, 1853, the name of the company was changed by order of the Court of Common Pleas of Summit County, to the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad Company. Work was commenced on the branch in June, 1851; a part of the line was opened in May, 1854, and finally built to Millersburgh, Holmes county, sixty miles from Hudson. Under the finan- cial panic of 1857 the road became embarrassed and was placed in the hands of a receiver until it was sold on the sec- ond of November, 1864, by order of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and purchased by George W. Cass and John J. Mar- vin at three hundred thousand dollars. The indebtedness at the time of sale, including stock, was over one and a half million dollars. On July 1, 1865, the purchasers deeded the property to the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chi- cago Railway Company, which in turn leased it along with their own property to the Pennsylvania Company. On November 4, 1869, it was again sold, this time to the Pittsburgh, Mt. Vernon, Columbus & London Rail-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
road Company, which had been incorporated May 11 of the same year. The latter company had purchased three days earlier that part of therailroad formerly belong- ing to the Springfield, Mt. Vernon & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, lying east of Delaware, and after these acces- sions its name was changed, on December 22, 1869, to the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Delaware Railroad Company.
The Massillon & Cleveland Railroad Company was incorporated October 3, 1868, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars, and authorized to construct a road from Clinton on the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincin- nati railroad, to a point on the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago railway, namely Massillon, thirteen miles. This final connecting link between Cleveland and Massillon was completed in the spring of 1870. It was leased to the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railway Company, and went with this company's property on November 4, 1869, 'into the hands of the Pittsburgh, Mt. Vernon, Columbus & London Railroad Company. This company under its new name of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Dela- ware Raiload Company completed its road to Columbus in 1873, and in 1886 its name was changed to the Cleve- land, Akron & Columbus Railway Company. General G. A. Jones, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was appointed receiver of the road in 1880, and George D. Walker receiver in 1885, but it is now operated by the company with the gen- eral offices at Akron, Ohio.
While the Cleveland & Massillon railroad was in con- struction, the people of Cleveland were actively discussing another road into the same regions. The Lake Shore &
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
Tuscarawas Valley Railway Company filed its certificate on July 2, 1870, to build a road from Berea to a point in Tuscarawas county on the line of the Pittsburgh, Cincin- nati & St. Louis railway, with a branch from Elyria on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway to a con- venient point on the main line in Medina county. The road was completed in August, 1873, from Elyria through Grafton to Urichsville. The first officers of the road were : W. S. Streator, president ; W. H. Grout, secretary, auditor, cashier, general ticket and general passenger agent; S. T. Everett, treasurer; H. M. Townsend, superintendent; Robert Moore, engineer. On October 31, 1872, the com- pany purchased from the Elyria & Black River Railway Company eight miles of road extending northward from Elyria to Black River Harbor. In 1874 the road was placed in the hands of Mr. E. B. Thomas as receiver, and after varying fortunes was finally reorganized in 1883 under the name of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Rail- way Company.
The Valley Railway Company was incorporated August 31, 1871, to construct a railroad from Cleveland to Bow- erston, Harrison county, via Akron and Canton. In Janu- ary, 1873, the proposition to make the city a subscriber to the company's stock in the sum of one million dollars, was submitted to the voters of Cleveland, but failed to secure the two-thirds vote necessary for such astep. The business men of Cleveland, however, raised five hundred thousand dollars in stock subscriptions, and work upon the road was commenced the same year. But the panic which speedily followed stopped active proceedings until the
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
year 1878, when it was again revived, and in 1880 pushed through to Canton. Two years later it was extended to Valley Junction, its present terminus. In 1875 an ar- rangement was made with the city by which the latter, after securing from the State so much of the Ohio canal as was included within the city limits and building a weigh- lock at the new junction of the canal and the Cuyahoga river, leased the old canal bed to the Valley Railway Com- pany for ninety-nine years and received in payment two hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars in the road's first mortgage bonds. Those gentlemen who were most energetic in opening up this substantial ally to Cleveland's prosperity were: J. H. Wade, James Farmer, N. P. Payne, S. T. Everett and L. M. Coe of Cleveland, and D. L. King of Akron.
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