USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 20
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Upper Arlington is a highly organized community, due largely to the fact that every resident is a home owner. The first officers were: James T. Miller mayor, Edward D. Howard clerk, Warren A. Armstrong treasurer, Paul G. Spence, E. J. Crane, John J. Mor- gan, J. Edwin Haris, F. P. Rogers and W. G. Kern councilmen. On March 29, 1919, by unanimous vote the village adopted a charter by which its full government is vested in a commission of five members as follows: Cyrus Woodbury mayor, Wm. A. Gieves vice mayor, E. J. Crane, Lemuel D. Lilly and John J. Morgan. Edward D. Howard is clerk, treasurer and solicitor. Social and recreational activities are in charge of committees appointed by the village commission. The school building is a social center and is used by both children and adults, and there are summer playgrounds with a salaried instructor, and community basket picnics in Miller Park. A survey in 1918 disclosed a majority sentiment for a community church, but no organization has yet been effected.
East Columbus has three churches-Church of Christ, Methodist and Roman Catholic, and has approved a project for an indenpendent school. The present officers of the corpora- tion are: George A. Ross mayor, M. P. Devore clerk, Frank Stelzer, jr., treasurer, Joseph Gerstner marshal, George Cassidy, F. B. Jonces, Benj. Strausser, Herman Ehrenbach and Harvey Chrysler, councilmen; J. F. Daniels. Martin Stelzer, Benj. Mitchell, Norman Plank and George Mohler, board of education.
Hanford is smaller in area than it was when organized, a portion having been taken into the city, and the residents depend upon the latter for church and school facilities. Present officers: Walter Teters mayor, Robert S. Lowery clerk, Frank Reber treasurer, W. M. McCathran marshal, W. M. Ludwig, George Mckibben, Wm. Harris, W. A. Starkey and George B. Shazer, councilmen; W. M. Thompson health officer and road commissioner.
CHAPTER XV. PUBLIC UTILITIES. I.
Borough Streets and First Improvements-Nicholson Wooden Block-Improvements Under the State Law with Brick, Stone Block and Asphalt-First Water Works and the Pres- ent Improved Supply-Volunteer Fire Companies-Growth of the Department-Sete- ers and Sewage Disposal.
The streets which were marked out at the time of the founding of Columbus were for a long time ill cared for. In 1816 obstruction of the thoroughfares by lumber, firewood, stable refuse or otherwise was forbidden under penalty of a fine at the discretion of the Mayor. In May, 1818, John Kerr and Caleb Huston were authorized to gravel the center of High street, 75 feet wide, from the center of the capitol square to the south side of Town street, the gravel to be one foot thick in the center of the street and six inches on each side. By ordinance of June 26, 1820, the marshal was directed to remove all stumps and fallen logs from Broad street, west of Fourth. The same year, Henry Brown was allowed $21 for erecting two bridges on Fourth street; a graveled sidewalk was ordered, on Friend street from High to Front and thence on Scioto street to the Penitentiary, and a good bridge was ordered constructed on Rich street across Front. In 1827 the gutters on High street to Mound were ordered paved at the expense of the lot-owners. In 1832, the sidewalks on Broad from High to the river and on Front between Broad and Friend were ordered paved. The appointment of a street commissioner was provided for in 1835, and an ordinance for the protection of the capitol square was passed in 1836. On 1837 members of Council from the various wards were authorized to contraet for and superintend whatever publie improve- ments were found necessary. Council approved plans and furnished each councilman with the necessary funds. This authority seems to have been abused, for in 1840 Council forbade any member to spend more money than was specifically authorized. Scioto street was "ex- tended, laid out and established" in 1845; it was to be 70 feet wide and its northern extremity was to be the center of the present Penitentiary. In September of the same year there was complaint that a gutter at Fourth and Town streets was so constructed as not to drain "the flats in the eastern part of the city." In 1848 an ordinance directed that the streets, lanes and alleys be cleared of fences and other obstructions.
In 1852 Broad street from High street to the Insane Asylum at Lexington avenue was a mud road almost impassable in rainy weather. A resident, writing to the Journal, February 28, that year, says his vehiele stuck fast in the mud about Washington avenue. Farmers coming into town with produce had similar experiences. As a measure of economy in street improve- ment. the city purchased in that year 17 acres of gravel-bearing land on the north side of the Harrisburg road, west of the Scioto. In April, 1851, the city, according to a report, had about 10 miles of graveled street, 15,200 feet of paved gutters and graveled walks on the streets and 28,000 feet of paved gutters and graveled walks in the alleys; besides there was a plank road from Broad street to the railroad depot. Five plank roads led into the city from the north and five graveled turnpikes from the south.
In 1857 the names of streets were posted at a cost of $528.87, and Broad street was made the dividing line north and south, and High street the dividing line east and west. In the same year, the first trees were planted in Broad street under the direction of a committee consisting of Wm. G. Deshler, John Noble and Alfred Kelley. Two years later, the plan of a double line of trees on each side was adopted. The suggestion came from Wm. G. Deshler who had just returned from Havana where he admired the sylvan beauty of the streets.
The first escape from the old graveled roadway was in 1867, when Robert McClelland. of Chicago, entered into a contract with the city to pave High street with Nicholson wooden block from Naghten street to Friend. The job was completed October 15, 1867, at a cost of $82.955.99, or $10.88 a foot front. The next year the Nieholson pavement was extended to South Public Lane, and in 1869 a portion of Town street was similarly paved. In 1873 Broad street was surfaced with gravel and broken stone at $3 per foot front. At that time the Nicholson block pavement on High street had been broken down and worn out, and it
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was resurfaced with what was called Parisen asphalt, and the completion of the job, Sep- tember 3, 1873, was celebrated with a promenade concert in front of the capitol. In 1875 Town street was repaved with concrete in the center, the Nicholson block being allowed to remain at the sides. In 1877, Colonel N. B. Abbott laid an experimental piece of Trini- dad asphalt on State street from High to Third-the first use of the material in this city. High street was resurfaced in 1876 and the city engineer in his 1884 report estimated that the wooden and asphalt pavements and their repair had cost a quarter of a million dollars -enough to put down a granite block pavement which would have lasted 30 years. In 1885 the paving of High street with Ligonier and Medina stone blocks and Georgia granite began, Colonel Abbott executing two-thirds of the contract. In 1876 North High street, from Naghten to the north corporation line, 33 miles, was paved by Colonel Abbott with a mixture of coal tar and Trinidad asphalt at a cost of $226,253, the city issuing its bonds as the work progressed. A dispute as to the levying of the assessments resulted in an appeal to the courts which found that the Penn act, under which the street had been constructed, was unconstitutional. Suits followed to enjoin the collection of some of the assessments and in some cases were successful. These assessments fell on the city at large, and the assess- ments for the others at the end of the litigation had increased through interest from $7.15 to about $12 a foot front.
Under a street improvement law of 1886, amended the following year, many streets and alleys were permanently improved at the expense of the owners of property, the city issuing bonds on its own credit and collecting in installments with interest from the property-owners. In 1886 the cost of street improvements was about $65,000; in 1887, $186,000; in 1888, nearly $454,000 and so on up to nearly $1,000,000 in 1892. There was a revel in street im- provements, the main purpose sometimes being the sale of land which had been platted and added to the city.
In 1915 High street was repaved with asphalt and stone block gutters and the cost by ordinance of Council, March 27, 1917, was assessed on the abutting property owners. Asphalt had returned to high favor as material and methods had been improved. Broad and other streets had been successfully paved with it and there had been ample proof of its durabil- ity under the new traffic that had come with the introduction of the automobiles. A munici- pally owned asphalt repair plant had also been used for some years to prolong the life of these pavements. Counting interest and depreciation, it was estimated that the repair in 1916 cost: For asphaltic concrete, 91 cents a square yard, sheet asphalt, $1,22, which "while consider- ably less than it would cost to make these repairs by contract, would be materially reduced if the plant were running at its full capacity and for a full season."
In 1917 there were 312.38 miles of street that had been improved since 1886. Of this, 71.4 miles were some form of asphalt, 196.7 miles, miscellaneous brick and block, 36 miles granite and stone and the remainder was macadam, tarviated concrete, etc. Brick was for a considerable period in high favor as a street paving material, due largely to the case of manufacture here and at points nearby, but its popularity soon began to decline, while that of asphalt began to increase and since 1916 has been increasingly greater.
High street north of the Union Station has long been too narrow for the traffic it had to carry. In 1914 a plan was adopted for widening it from Spruce street to the north corpora- tion line. By this plan 10 feet was to be added on the east side between Spruce street and Buttles avenue, and 10 fect to be added on cach side between Buttles avenue and Fifth avenue. The property owners were to donate the extra 10 fect and the city was to pay the cost of moving the buildings and repaving the street and sidewalk. This work is now in progress, and it is estimated that the cost to the city will approximate half a million dollars. When it is completed High street will be for the greater part of its length 76 feet wide.
Water Supply.
Springs and wells supplied the earlier city with an ample supply of drinking water, but the burning of the Neil House in 1860 and of the Asylum for the Insane in 1868 gave im- pressive warning that something more was necessary to a growing city. Besides the water of the wells was becoming contaminated, with the growth of population. For ten years the matter was discussed officially and in the press Finally, February 15, 1870, an ordinance was passed by the Council providing that a "supply of water shall be provided for the city by the construction of water works upon the system known as the Holly waterworks. in accord-
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ance with the contract entered into by the city and the Holly Manufacturing Co., as ap- proved by the City Council on the 7th day of February, 1870, which contract is hereby ratified and confirmed." The ordinance also located the water works on eight acres of land at the mouth of the Olentangy, purchased from W. A. Neil for $8,000, and created a board of three water works trustees, one of whom should be elected annually for a term of three years, salary $100 a year. N. B. Kelley was appointed architect and superintendent, con- tracts were made for the trenching and piping and the necessary building. The laying of pipe began September 12. A huge well was sunk in the basin of the river and on Novem- ber 12 it was announced that the gauge in the water works showed a supply of 2,000,000 gallons a day. In February, 1871, a schedule of rates for domestic consumption was an- nounced; on March 6 the first water was turned into the pipes. Five miles of pipe had then been laid; about 70 miles more was laid in the ensuing season. The amount expended on the works up to November, 1871, was $149,700. In 1873 filtering galleries were excavated from the well, and the pumping equipment was inereased from time to time until the plant, as it existed in 1885, with pumping machinery, well, 7,000 feet of filtering gallery and an extended system of service pipe, represented an expenditure of $1,700,000. Still there was apprehension as to the supply for the growing city and accordingly in 1889 a second pumping station was established in the valley of Alum Creek on a seven-acre tract bought
Storage Dam.
of Wm. B. Hayden for $4,000. A well was sunk, a building erected and two large Holly engines were installed, the purpose being to supply the entire eastern section of the city with water from this plant. The forecast as to the supply of water from this source was justi- fied. In 1898 the pumps were driving 6,000,000 gallons daily into the pipes, while the pumps at the West Side station were produeing 9,000,000 gallons daily. But the growth of the city was rapid and as early as 1893 the service was again a source of anxiety, and numerous official recommendations were made to Council for its improvement.
In the summer of 1893 Wm. D. Brickell, proprietor of the Dispatch, on his own account, employed Rudolph Hering, an experienced engineer of New York, to make a brief examina- tion of the local water resources. The eity engineer heartily eo-operated, and Mr. Hering's re- port was not only accorded the highest respeet, but became the real basis for water supply im- provement. He reported that a storage reservoir in one of the river valleys would be neees- sary; that the Scioto would give the largest quantity of water and had less surface pollution than any other stream, but that, in any event, purification of such supply would be re- quired. Two years later, another engineer, Allen Hazen, recommended a storage reservoir in one of the four streams near the city. In 1896, definite plans were formulated for a storage dam in the valley of the Scioto, and after numerous soundings and measurements, a site near Wyandot Grove, midway between the Jones and Fishinger mill dams, was selected.
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For temporary purposes these two dams were bought for $10,000. But together they fur- nished but four days' pumping supply and in the unusually dry summer of 1897, there was further resort to low temporary dams of sandbags, brush and earth which stored at night water that was turned in the conduit the following day. The situation had now become acute, the Board of Trade and other bodies of citizens discussed the projeet, and out of it all eame a demand, whatever the necessary eost, for an abundant supply of pure water which should be sold to consumers at the lowest possible rates. Suggestions of a private company were thrust aside, and it was decided that the eity should eonstruet and own the system. The con- sulting engineers had recommended a 52-foot dam, but the people of the West Side were afraid of so large a body of water and, after mueh diseussion, it was decided to have a 30-foot dam, with an estimated capacity of 1,627,000,000 gallons and a surface area of 363.3 acres. Bonds in $175,000 were authorized at the election in the spring of 1898; the necessary land (438 aeres) was bought a little at a time, some by court procedure, at a cost of approxi- mately $80,000; bids for the construction of the dam were invited, and Samuel M. Gray was employed as an expert engineer. The construction of the Seioto river dam was begun in 1904. It is a eurved eonerete structure, 1,006 feet long, the overflow seetion 500 feet long, and its height is 30 feet above the former water level of the river. It creates a reservoir 5.8 miles long, with a surface area of 363 aeres, a mean depth of 11.5 feet and a capacity of 1,627,000,000 gallons. The drainage area above the dam is 1,032 square miles. The cost of the dam was $390,000; of 472 aeres of land, $150,000 and of roads, bridges, ete., $160,000. The water flows from the dam to filtration basins, where it is separated from mud and bacteria and softened by chemieal process, and from thenee to the pumping station and the service pipes. The work on the water purification plant was begun in 1905 and on the pump- ing station in 1906. Filtered water was first delivered to the eity in August, 1908, and one month later the operation for softening was begun. The effects of the new service were at onee noticeable. The number of deaths from typhoid fever dropped from 170 in 1908 to 31 in 1909; eisterns began to be abandoned, the water being soft enough for most household purposes, and the incrustation of boilers was checked. The cost of the dam, pumping station, purification works and mains was $2,010,000.
In 1919 a bond issue of $3,000,000 was authorized for a further extension of the water supply system. An engineering foree was organized, C. B. Hoover resident engineer and John H. Gregory consulting engineer, and work was begun in the summer of 1920.
Until 1890 the water works department was managed by a board of three trustees. Wm. B. Hayden served continuously on the board until 1885. E. B. Armstrong served until the same year, with the exception of one term when Daniel H. Rovee served. Richard Nevins served continuously till 1883, when Isaac B. Potts took his place and served a term. Other members of the board were, C. T. Pfaff, Robert Curtis, John Kilroy, L. W. Sher- wood, R. B. Collier and Peter Monroe. The superintendents have been: Frank Doherty till 1884, W. Royce till 1887, A. H. McAlpine till 1895, Jerry O'Shaughnessy now serving The secretaries have been E. B. Armstrong, J. R. Armstrong, S. P. Axtell, Dudley A. Filler. The plant is now a division of the publie service department and is managed by the director of the department and the superintendent of the division.
According to a recent report, the amount of water pumped and delivered to the eity shows a daily average of 19,000,000 gallons. There is 350 miles of water main, with 36,000 aetive taps, and 96% of the consumption is metered. The annual receipts are ap- proximately $550,000 and the cost of operation abont $400,000. The earnings are applied to extensions and the payment of interest on a bonded indebtedness of $3,671,000.
Fire Department.
The first fire of consequence in Columbus occurred in the spring of 1822. Eight buildings were consumed-a dwelling and seven small shops. It was probably this fire which led the Couneil to provide on February 21, 1822, by enrollment in the Mayor's office for "one hook and ax company consisting of 15 men, one ladder company consisting of 12 men and one company consisting of 12 men, as a gnard to property." The ordinance empowered the Mayor to draft men for these companies, if necessary, and made it the duty of all men from 15 to 50 years to serve as bucket men; called for the appointment of one supreme director at all fires and required the marshal, on the first alarm of fire, to ring the bell or eause it to be rung. An inspection of the borough for fire dangers four times a year was required, and
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the Mayor was directed to procure at public expense "two long ladders, four axes, four short ladders and two hooks" and required each owner or occupant of a dwelling, store or shop to furnish as many "water buckets of good jacked leather, each to contain 10 quarts," as the committee of safety should direct. In 1825 the existence of 247 of these fire-buckets was reported, and in the following year their possessors were made responsible for their care and keeping them in condition under penalty of a fine. The General Assembly was asked to make an appropriation for an engine, and it seems that the State bought one. It was a force pump worked by moving levers up and down, and was called "The Tub." In 1831 Council provided a reward of $5 for the first man to reach the engine house after an alarm of fire, and $3 for the second. The house that sheltered "The Tub" was on the capitol square east of the State House.
In 1835 the city bought two of the primitive engines, erected an engine house at the cost of $1,000 and provided for five fire cisterns, each to cost $130 and having a capacity of 6,000 gallons, at the intersections of High street with Broad, State, Town, Rich and Friend ( Main) streets. An ordinance created a company of fire wardens, another of fire guards, a hook and ladder company, an engine and hose company and a protection society, each of these com-
Old Gay Street Engine House, which stood on the site of Ruggery Building and was the first to have a paid crew.
panies to be composed of volunteer members, exempt from military duty and holding their places at the pleasure of Council. Membership was for a time attractive, but the service lost its novelty and within two years after their organization there was talk of disbanding them. They were continued, and various efforts were made to stimulate interest. The force was divided into two brigades, the engines of one being located on the State House square and those of the other near the corner of High and Mound. Rewards were offered to the com- pany which should first arrive at the scene of a fire, and a sharp rivalry was thus created, as also at the time of the election of chief engineer. John Miller, Alexander McCoy, William McCoy, William Westwater, G. M. Swan and John Weaver were among those who at various times occupied this post, and there is the testimony of the newspapers of the time that they commanded as efficient a force of volunteer firemen as ever operated.
In 1842 two new engines-one named the "Franklin' and the other the "Scioto"-were bought and other cisterns were dug at the intersections of Third with State, Town and Friend, at the intersections of Front with Broad, State and Rich, at High and Gay and Mound and High. On August 11, 1851, the city bought three lots as engine house sites. One was on Third street near Town; another on Gay street east of High and the third on State street
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
between High and Front; and in the following year there was talk of an alarm bell which would save the firemen much effort by locating the fire for them. An ordinance in 1853 for- bidding the firemen to run their engines on the sidewalks gave them great offense, and several of the companies disbanded. The same year, Council fixed the salary of the chief engineer at $100. The engine house on Gay strect was completed in 1854 and the one on Third street in 1855. Council bought a steam fire engine and put it in the Third street house at a cost of $6,000. This gave still further offense, and two other companies disbanded and their hand machines were found to be disabled. The need to reorganize the fire department was apparent and Council acted to that end, but it, too, got into a foolish contention over the election of a chief engineer, and it was only on the 170th ballot that Charles M. Ridgway was chosen. However, it was not certain whether the chief engineer or the fire committee of the Council was in control, and a newspaper of the time remarked: "The Columbus Fire Department is composed of two unequal parts-the ornamental and the useful. The ornamental but by no manner of means useful part is called the committee of the Council on fire department. The useful, but not all ornamental, is composed of one chief engineer, one operator, five men, five horses, three wheels and a great squirt." In this erisis James Westwater organized a hand engine company March 15, 1856, and asked for the Franklin en- gine and the Niagara hose wagon. This company did good service at a fire on the west bank of the Scioto, the same year, but the steam engine was unable to reach the fire because its chimney was too high to pass through the bridge.
And so the story runs on through the years, the city gradually, but reluctantly, drift- ing to a paid department basis. Charles Ridgway resigned as chief engineer in 1856 and Mr. Trowbridge was elected, the Council committee having established its supremacy. The burning of the Neil House in 1860 showed the inadequacy of the department. Two rotary steam fire engines were purchased, and the department was put under the authority of the chief engineer, John Miller being appointed to that place at a salary of $600. One of the new engines was put in the Gay street house and the other in the Third street house, the first steam engine being sold. A third steamer was purchased a little later. John Miller resigned as chief engineer and was succeeded by Isaac H. Marrow, in November, 1863, who organized a system of fire alarms by church bells, the number of the stroke denoting the district in which the fire was located. The fire alarm telegraph was installed in 1868 at a cost of $1,500. Wm. S. Huffman became chief engineer in August, 1868, viee Marrow resigned. The equipment of the department in the following April consisted of one chief engineer, one superintendent of fire alarm telegraph, three steamer engines, three foremen, three engine-drivers, three horsemen, two truekmen, four steamers, four carriages, one hook and ladder apparatus, ten horses and a supply of hose, 54 wells and 72 cisterns. On April 12, 1869, Henry Heinmiller became chief engineer and served for 11 years, during which time the Flowers engine house and the South High street engine house were opened and the equipment of the department was inereased,, the fire insurance companies adding at their own expense a chemical engine and salvage wagon combined, provided the city would properly house and man it. On September 6, 1880, D. D. Tresenrider was appointed chief engineer. He was suspended from offiec March 2, 1882, hy the Mayor, on charges preferred by former employes; the Council refused to acquiesce, and the case was settled by a Supreme Court decision in favor of Tresenrider the following month. In 1886, Charles Bryson was nominated by the Mayor as chief engineer, but the Council refused to confirm. Bryson undertook to act anyway, and the Supreme Court, again appealed to, deciding adversely to Bryson, the Mayor appointed Joseph Grovenberry, who resigned soon after on account of an injury, when the Mayor appointed W. P. Callahan. Council rejected the nomination and reinstated Tresenrider who was suspended by the Mayor. The case was taken before Judge Bingham, of the Common Pleas Court, who enjoined the Mayor, Callahan and all others from interference with the department, and Tresenrider again took charge Dceem- ber 1, after a struggle extending over six months. Henry Heinmiller again became chief engineer, succeeding Tresenrider in 1890, and in the following April reported that the department then possessed, fully manned, six steam fire engine companies, seven hose com- panies, two hook and ladder companies, one engine supply wagon ane one telegraph wagon, with the following apparatus in reserve: Two second-class steam fire engines, three chemical engines and one four-wheeled hose carriage.
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