USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 50
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378
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Young adds a bathhouse - probably the first one in the city - to his coffeehonse on High Street; John A. Lazell advertises the "Columbus Horticultural Garden," situated northeast of the city ; Ellis, Winslow & Co., establish a new hardware store at the corner of High and Rich streets; Meacham & Gill buy out Monroe Bell's bookstore, two doors south of the National Hotel ; George S. B. Lazell and Chester Mattoon, bookbinders, dissolve partnership; Henry Wharton announces a forward- ing and commission business in the Buck warehouse, lately occupied by B. Com- stock & Co .; John N. Champion succeeds himself and H. Lathrop in drygoods; William Aston announces a business in soap and candles ; H. II. Kimball advertises a leather store at the corner of High and Friend streets; L. D. & C. Humphrey are succeeded by L. Humphrey & Co .; G. W. & E. N. Slocum advertise the manufac- ture of saddles, harness and trunks; Mrs. E. Benjamin opens a millinery and fancy store in the Commercial Row; Wray Thomas engages in the purchase of Virginia Military land warrants.
1839-G M. Herancourt, musie and musical instruments : Buttles & Runyan, hardware, sign of the golden padlock ; William Wise, hatter; Robinson Acheson, general store, Goodale's Row ; National Hotel, P. H. Olmsted ; Eagle Coffeehouse, Basil Riddle; Columbus "Tattersalls"- livery and boarding - A. L. Olmsted ; Fletcher's Double Reflecting Lamps, J. M. Kerr & Co., Exchange Buildings ; Mills & Augur, new shoestore, near the Commercial Row ; P. Hayden & Co., carriages, barouches and chariotees ; Gwynne & Baldwin dissolve partnership; Adams & Free, merchant tailors; Matthias Martin, house and sign painter ; Fay, Kilbourn & Co., furs and hatters' trimmings. William A. Platt removes his " watch and jewelry shop" to the Neil House.
1840-Adam Lehman, optician ; Casey & Field (William L. Casey and John Field) dissolve partnership in the lumber business; James W. Ward, chemist and druggist, one door south of the National Hotel ; S. Brainerd, musical instruments, Buckeye Block ; James Kilbourn, Junior, & Co., bookstore, directly opposite the Statchouse ; George A. B. Lazell removes his bookstore to " Deshler's Buildings, between Broad Street and the Theatre;" Engraving and copperplate printing, Henry F. Wheeler, Old Courthouse ; D. F. Heffner succeeds S. T. Heffner in dry- goods ; W. M. Savage, watchand clockmaker and jeweler, opposite Russell's Tavern.
1841 - Trescott, Jones & Co., boots and shoes; Sherwood, Miller & Co. (O. W. Sherwood, John Miller and J. N. Champion) dissolve partnership; Alexander Backus, silversmith, " shop on High Street, between Broad Street and the Theatre ;" G. W. Penney & Co. succeed Ellis, Winslow & Co .; John Miller, seedstore, Armstrong's Block; J. Eldridge, tailoring, Neil House; H. Daniels, architect and contractor ; Henry W. Derby, bookstore, opposite the Statehouse; John Williard, grocer, Franklin Buildings.
1842 - William Kelsey, American House, succeeds Pike & Kelsey ; P. Ambos, confectioner, removes to his new building on High Street, opposite the State Of- fices ; W. A. Platt, jeweler, succeeds himselfand Cyrus Platt ; H. W. Cowdrey, tailor ; Miller & Brown (John Miller), grocers, South High Street ; F. Bentz & Co., confec- tioners, Neil House ; John Westwater & Sons, china, glass and queensware, " new building on High Street, opposite the State Buildings, between the Neil House and the American Hotel;" R. B. Cowles, lessee of the Neil House ; Franklin House,
379
BEGINNINGS OF BUSINESS.
William C. Piper; D. H. Taft & Co. (D. H. Taft & D. W. Deshler), drygoods, dis- solve partnership; G. Hammond, stovestore, Neil Honse; G. S. Deming & Co. (G. S. & J. C. Deming) dissolve partnership; " Gen. Samuel Perkins," barber, corner of High and State; " Gentlemen's Dressing Saloon," Joseph Bennett; A. W. Reader, cabinetmaker; Fay, Kilbourn & Co. (L. Goodale, C. Fay & L. Kilbourn) dissolve partnership; Gwynne & Lamson, drygoods; Wing, Richards & Co. (C. H. Wing, W. Richards and A. Lee) dissolve partnership; C. B. Ford, tombstones, mantels and hearths; R. H. Hubbell sells the "City Livery Stable and Tattersalls" to William Neil. P. Hayden & Co. advertise that they will sell " tanner's oil and Missouri hides."
This brings the record of changes down to the year 1843, when the first busi- ness directory of the city which appeared in book form was printed by Samuel Medary and published by J. R. Armstrong. No pretense is made that this rec- ord is complete ; it contains only such memoranda of the successive stages of bus- iness incipiency as may be gleaned from the newspapers, which are almost the only remaining sources of information on the subject Of banking, manufacturing and the professions little mention has been made, as they will be separately treated.
NOTES.
1. Watson's establishment was afterwards known as the National Hotel, kept by John Noble.
2. Board of Trade Address, July 24, 1859.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ohio State Journal, July 29, 1837.
CHAPTER XXV.
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
The development of trade bears such an intimate relation to public finance, that the one cannot be comprehensively considered without taking some account of the other. A clear understanding of the general financial conditions which prevailed is therefore essential to a correct interpretation of the local business events of the period which has now been reached.
Prior to the year 1838 and for the most part down to the legislation incident to the Civil War, local banking was regulated by the States, and was practically free. Under prescribed rules, any individual or corporation might issue notes on a pledge that they would be redeemed when presented. In the abuse of this privi- lege, during the first two decades of the present century, the country was flooded with inconsiderate and insecure issues of paper currency, the depreciation and col- lapse of which produced universal disaster and ruin. Nearly two hundred bank- ing institutions, scattered through all parts of the Union, failed between 1811 and 1820, and for a period of ten years, ending in 1825, trade and industry were al- most completely prostrated Speculators and brokers were for a time enriched, but labor was impoverished, and business, particularly on the frontier, degenerated into a condition little better than that of the barter of nomads and savages.
After this bitter experience followed ten years of tolerable though fluctuating prosperity, due almost entirely to the unlimited resources of the country, and the equally unlimited industrial energy and enterprise of the American people. Had the artinicial conditions been equally as favorable as the natural, all might have been well, but they were unfortunately not so. Another sudden and enormous in- flation of the paper currency took place, increasing the amount in circulation from $66,628,898 in 1830 to $149,185,890 in 1837. The speculative fever, which is the invariable accompaniment of such inflation, again raged, and again culminated in the collapse, bankruptcy and ruin which are its inevitable consequences. The crises of 1837 and 1839 were currency crises absolutely, and were affected in no way whatever by the economic measures and discussions of the period.
The amount of bank paper in circulation diminished from $149,185,890 in 1837 to $83,734,000 in 1842, and $58,563,000 in 1843. This enormous shrinkage measures the extent of the reaction. In 1837 payments were stopped by every single bank in the Union. As an enormous amount of small notes had been issued, and these had mainly passed into the hands of the laboring classes, they were, as usual in such cases, the chief sufferers.
[380]
381
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
The banks resumed briefly in 1838, but another crash followed in 1840, when about one hundred and eighty banks, including that of the United States, were annihilated. Then followed a cataclysm of " wildcat" and " shinplaster " eur- reney. the character of which may be ju Iged by the following specimens copied from the cirenlation of 1841 :
RECEIVABLE FOR COUNTY TAXES
No 783. June 9, 1841.
AUDITOR'S OFFICE, CHILLICOTHE, OHIO,
50 C.T. S.
The Treasurer of Ross County
Fifty
Will Pay D. Collins, or Bearer
C'ents. Fifty Cents on demand out of any funds in the Treasury. C.
WM. B. FRANKLIN, Auditor.
No. 476
614.
REISSUED JUNE 1, 1841.
WILLIAM KINNEY
Will pay the Bearer
Six and a Fourth Cents
in current bank notes
WHEN THE AMOUNT OF ONE DOLLAR IS PRESENTED.
William
HIS x
Kinney.
MARK
Bournville, Aug. 7. 1837
382
Receivable for Taxes and all City Dues.
Treasurer of the No. 684A 614
CITY OF MONROE
Pay to f. Frost or bearer SIX 14 CENTS VI
VI
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
By order of the Common Council.
ALLEN A. ROBINSON, Clerk.
Monroe, Oct. 24, 1840.
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
383
12%
Twelve and a Half
Twelve and a Half
12%
IMAGE OF A 1216 CENT PIECE
IMAGE OF A 12%% CENT PIECE.
Cents
Vignette of horses and a harrow. A man sow- ing seed A mill in the background
Cents.
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
A
Treasurer
A
female
TOWN OF PUTNAM
Cupid.
bust.
Pay Twelve and a Half Cents to the bearer, Putnam, May Ist, 1841. Redeemable in Sums of Five Dollars in Current Bank Notes.
Cents.
S. C. HAY'ER, Recor.
T. M. CHANDLER, Mayor.
Cents.
384
This Ticket
FOR
X
CENTS
Will be received at the Urbana Bank.
W. RAINHARD, Cashier.
JOHN H. JAMES.
No.
2
This ticket will be re- ceived for two cents in payment of bills on the Colerain, Oxford and Brookville Turnpike. Sept., 184 . Sec'y.
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Louis Lindemann
385
CENTS.
State of Ohio.
No. 2238.
CENTS.
12%
AN OWL SITTING ON A TREE.
12%
Twelve and a Half
Twelve and a Half
IMAGE OF A 12% CENT PIECE.
IMAGE OF A 12% CENT
PIECE.
Cents.
THE TOWN COUNCIL OF NEWARK Will pay twelve and a half cents to the bearer in Current Bills in sums of not less than five dollars.
Cents.
Newark, 1st July, 1841.
CENTS.
J. M. SMITH, Recor.
G. M. YOUNG, Mayor.
CENTS.
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
25
386
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
The passion for games of chance was a natural accompaniment, if not result, of such a currency as this, and accordingly we find that the sale of lottery tickets was extensively carried on during the inflation period. The institutions of this class most extensively advertised in the Columbus newspapers were those of Mary- land, Delaware and Virginia.
But the condition of things indicated by this lottery vice and its twin rag- money rage, could not fail to produce heroic efforts to mitigate its evils The leader of such efforts in the General Assembly of Ohio. was the Hon. Alfred Kelley of Columbus. To prepare the way for an intelligible statement of what Mr. Kelley undertook and accomplished in this emergency, mention should be made of his an- tecedent services as a member of the Board of Canal Fund Commissioners, to which, in March, 1841, he was appointed as successor to the Hon. Gustavns Swan.1 When the financial tempests of 1837 and 1840 broke upon the country the State of Ohio was engaged in the extension of ber canal system, and had in- curred, chiefly in the construction and enlargement of that system, a debt ap- proaching the sum of $15,000,000. Owing to the depression and distrust produced by the crisis, great difficulty was found in raising money on the credit of the State to meet current demands, and pay the interest on this debt, amounting to nearly $900,000 per annum. Tempted by a stress of less comparative magnitude, some other States had repudiated their obligations, and Ohio, for the first and only time in her history, was in serious danger of committing the same stupendous folly. Efforts to negotiate a loan in England were made in 1840, but substantially failed, and at the close of the fiscal year ended November 15, 1841, the Canal Fund Com- missioners had just $1,393.33} with which to meet about $700,000 of maturing" debts. This money Mr. Kelley succeeded in raising in New York by pledging his personal credit. The details of the legislation by which these obligations were met will not here be entered into; they belong rather to the history of the State than to that of its capital.
In the autumn of 1844 Mr. Kelley was elected from the Columbus district to the Ohio Senate, in which body, as chairman of its Finance Committee, he intro- duced, January 7, 1845, a bill " to incorporate the State Bank of Ohio and other banking companies." This bill, without material change, became a law on the twentyfourth of the following February, and thus, for the first time, was the bank- ing business of Ohio organized as a system, and placed upon a substantial, safe and solvent basis. The local relations of the system to the trade and industrial devel- opment of Columbus need be cited here only in a general way; their details belong to the chapter on Banks and Banking.
The good effects of this legislation were soon felt. Similar financial reforms were adopted in other States, and the entire country soon entered upon a season of prosperity which has not been surpassed in its history. This continued until 1857, when the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company on the twentyfourth of August in that year precipitated another crash, and all the banks in the Union again suspended payments. This crisis was also brought on mainly by currency disorders. The bank paper in circulation had again been greatly inflated, and much of it was based on stocks which proved to be unsalable and insecure. From
Insurance
387
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
1851 until 1857 bank discounts were excessive, speculation was rampant and trad- ing was overdone. A violent reaction naturally followe 1, but after the storm had passed by, and the speculative fever begotten by a redundant and practically irredeemable currency had collapsed, the country again became prosperous, and continued so until the breaking out of the Civil War.
Columbus, like every other considerable town in the State, was materially affected, for good or for ill, by these ups and downs of state and national finance. Indications of the condition of trade during the course of these vicissitudes may be found in the following memoranda of contemporary prices :
1831-W. S. Sullivant pays fifty cents per bushel for wheat, delivered at his mill "one mile west of Columbus."
1833-The June prices current in the Columbus market were thus quoted : Wheat 56}c., rye 373c., corn 25c., oats 25c., timothyseed 81.50, common wool 20 to 25c., Saxony wool 31 to 40c., dairy butter 10 to 12gc., firkin butter 7c., hams 5c., beans per bushel 75c., flour per bbl. $3.50, country sugar 6c., whisky per bbl. 86.75 to $7.
1835-July prices : Wheat 75c., oats 25 to 31}c., corn 37 to 45c., cornmeal 44 to 50c., potatoes 75c., eggs 8 to 10c., cheese 63c., hams 7} to 9c., middlings 6}c., flour per bbl. 85.50 to $5.75.
1837-April prices: Wheat 81, corn 373 to 50c., oats 28 to 31}c., potatoes 25 to 31}c., timothyseed $1.50 to 82, cornmeal per bushel 40 to 50c., superfine flour 86.75 to $7, sugar 7 to 8c., eggs 6 to Se., apples 25 to 75c., butter 12} to 16c., hams 10 to 12gc.
1839-The October price of wheat was 623e. at Columbus, and 50 to 70c. at Roscoe and Massillon, with a downward tendency. As to the pork market we find the following current comment under date of November 292:
The staple article of Southern Ohio appears to be going a begging this fall. . .. Drovers cannot make sales or get offers. Three dollars per hundred has been named, but purchasers cannot be found to offer that price, or drovers to take it. . . . Some demonstrations have been made by the pork inerchants of Columbus towards the business this fall, but en a very limited scale compared with former seasons.
1841-Columbus wholesale prices in May : Wheat fortyfive cents, rye 31c., un- shelled corn 15c., shelled do. 17c., oats 12}c. white beans 50c., hops 30c., country sugar 6 to 7c., New Orleans sugar six to nine cents, salt per bbl. 83, raw whisky per gallon 15c., rectified do. 16 to 20c., geese feathers 31c.
In reference to the wheat market of July, 1841, the following comment was made3:
The price of wheat at Sandusky during the last week was $1.06 to 1 10 c., per bushel. At Massillon on July 14, from $1 to 1.07 was paid, though the Gazette considers this as the effect of competition among buyers, and as being altogether too much. It is observable that nearly the same price has been paid for wheat for two or three weeks past, all along the Lake Shore, at Buffalo, Rochester, and as far east as Syracuse. We do not know how to ac- count for this unless it is caused by the export to Canada.
The "export to Canada " was doubtless the true explanation, As the market was expanded, better prices were obtained.
388
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
A few days later the newspaper just quoted from makes the following addi- tional statements:
Corn was selling freely at Sandusky last week for forty cents, and as high as fortytwo cents had been paid. . . . Flour has advanced to $6.50 in New York. From $1.12 to 1.14 has been paid for wheat at the lake ports for a week past. The price at Newark last Saturday was ninetythree cents. At Zanesville from ninety cents to one dollar was paid. We look for a further rise.
The following observation, under date of October 25, 1841, obtains special significance from the business depression then prevailing :
It is gratifying to know that in the eastern cities Columbus credit stands as high as any of the cities of the West. This speaks well for our metropolis, and is evidence of promptness and a determination to keep up a good credit abroad.4
1842 - June priees at Columbus: Wheat $1, rye 33c., oats 15c., shelled corn 16 to 18c., hay $4.50 to $6 per ton, wool 20 to 31e., rectified whisky 14 to 16c., barley 37c., hams 3 to 5c., butter 6 and 10 cents, flour per bbl. $4.00 to $4.50, hops 25e., eggs 5c., potatoes 75c. to $1, cloverseed $4.00 to $4.50, timothyseed $1.50, flax- seed 65c., turnips 98c. to $1, wood 25 to 75c. per cord.
1843-The June and July prices of wheat in Ohio this year were 90 to 95c. 1844 - The April price of wheat in Baltimore was $1.00 to $1.12 : in Cleveland 85c. As to wool we find, under date of August 17, 1844, the following statement :
The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser of the third instant notices the fact that the Lowell Manufacturing Company paid Messrs. Perkins and Brown, of Akron, for their wool from fif- teen hundred sheep, for one sample eightyfive cents per pound, and for another ninety cents per pound. The whole clip was sold at from fifty to ninety cents.
The same paper, August 22: " Pittsburgh prices current for August 14, show sales as high as fortyfive cents per pound, to wit: Lamb's wool 28 to 30c .; com- mon and quarter blood 28 to 30c .; halfblood 33 to 35c .; threequarters blood 38c ; fullblood 40c. ; Saxony 45c. The purchases in this market will come up to a million and a half pounds this season."
1845 - June prices in Ohio: Wheat 75c., corn 40c., oats 35 to 40c., prime wool 35c., fullblood do. 33c., threequarter blood 29e., halfblood do. 26e., onequarter blood do. 23c , common do. 18 to 20c., flour $4 50 to $4.75 per bbl., old potatoes 75c.
1847 - February prices current in Columbus: Wheat 55e., rye 40e., corn 16 to 20c , oats 16 to 18c., flour per bbl. $4, hay per ton 84.50 to $5, country sugar 7 to 8c., New Orleans do. 8 to 10c., rice 5} to 6c., ham 6 to 7c., butter 8 to 12c. cheese 5 to 6c., Rio coffee 8} to 91c .; Java coffee 15c., Hocking salt per bbl. $1.75, country molasses 50c. per gallon, New Orleans do. 37} to 40c.
These were low prices, but with the opening of spring a great advance took place, and in May, wheat was quoted in New York at two dollars per bushel, corn at $1.05, and flour at $8 to $9 per bbl. This advance was well sustained during the remainder of the year, and in August we find wheat quoted as follows: New York $1.18 to $1.25; Baltimore, white $1.24, red $1.12 to $1.20; Pittsburgh, prime red, 84 to 88c. The following November quotations of wheat in New York were announced : Genesee $1.36, Ohio $1.35, Wisconsin $1.30. Corn was quoted at 72 to 73c. The Cincinnati price of prime red wheat November 17, was $1.02.
389
BUSINESS EVOLUTION.
1848 -- In March of this year wheat was quoted in New York at $1.10. In January the Philadelphia price of wool was 33 to 38c. The April price of wheat in New York was 81.12}.
1849 - In New York the June prices of wheat were 75 to 80c., and of wool as follows: Saxony 38 to 40c., merino fleece 35 to 37c., onehalf and threequarter blood 30 to 32c., common 27 to 29c., pulled number one 30 to 32c.
1850 - August quotations in Columbus: Wheat 70c., unshelled corn 30c., oats 30c., eggs 8 to 10c., potatoes 81 to $1.25, hay $6 to 88 per ton.
1851 - The following statement as to the local wool market bears date July 19:
Mr. Sessions bas purchased over 300,000 pounds this season. . . . The highest price be paid was fiftyseven cents per pound for a lot in Lieking County. He has paid fifty cents per pound for several lots. He goes to the farmers, and buys directly of them.6
1852 - August quotations, Columbus market: Old wheat 58 to 60c., new 56 to 57c., corn 35c., oats 20 to 23c., potatoes 40 to 45c., apples 25 to 30c., butter 12 to 15c., eggs &c., beeves 82.25 per hundred pounds; live hogs 84.25 do. As other supplies were proportionately low, these prices were considered fairly re- munerative. The Angust prices of wool in New York were 36 to 40c."
1853 - The prices of wool were much higher than in 1852, the average in Ohio being 45 to 50c. The following New York quotations were announced March 31 : American Saxony fleece 56 to 62c., fullblood merino 50 to 56c., onehalf and three- quarter blood 46 to 50c., native and onequarter blood 41 to 46c., superfine pulled 45 to 59c., number one pulled 39 to 44c. During the winter of 1852-3 about 50,000 hogs were slaughtered in Columbus for the New York market.
1854- On April 8, corn sold in the Columbus market at 40c., oats at 37 /2c., and potatoes at 60c., per bushel. The Ohio State Journal of May 20 contains this statement : " Four hundred bushels of wheat were sold last Tuesday in this city at one dollar and eighty cents per bushel - the highest price ever paid in this mar- ket." The Ohio Statesman of the same date says: " Flour is now brought to this market from Cincinnati, and is selling at nine dollars per barrel." In the middle of June new potatoes were sold in Columbus at four dollars per bushel ; in July at one dollar and sixty cents. The June price of wool ranged from twentyfive to thirtyseven ceuts, and of hay from six to eight dollars per ton. The Ohio States- man of August 17 made this suggestive statement : " Farmers and others selling in the city market refuse to change bills, in order to accumulate silver, for which they get a small premium by selling it to merchants and others." A similar state of facts is thus noted September 26 by the Ohio State Journal : " The troubles of the people in the market places this morning, owing to the scarcity of small change, were almost beyond endurance. The country people refused to change any foreign bank bills, and as many of the buyers didn't have anything else, it may be well imagined there was a time." The same paper of December 11 says : " Our drovers who have driven their hogs to the East to market are returning with their pockets lined with gold. Three gentlemen returned last week, bringing with them four- teen thousand dollars mostly in twenty-dollar gold pieces "- the product, doubtless, of the recent California discoveries.
390
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
The following Columbus market quotations bear date December 9, 1854: Oats 37c., corn 50c , turnips 75c., flour per bbl. $8 50, timothyseed $3, cloverseed $6.50, hay per ton $10, potatoes $1.40, butter 20c., hams 121/2c., rice 8c., Rio coffee 14c., Java do. 163c., New Orleans sugar 6 to 7c., wood per cord $2.50.
1855- On April 7 potatoes sold in the Columbus market at $2 per bushel, butter at 25c. per pound, eggs at 15c. per dozen, and other things in proportion. Hay sold on the streets in May at $15 per ton. Early in the same month a whole- sale dealer in the city offered seventythree cents per bushel for ten thousand bushels of corn, but the offer was refused. Wheat was steady at $1.25, and corn sold at fifty cents, in August. The average price of wheat from April 1, 1854, to April 1, 1855, was $1.55, and from April 1, 1855, to April 1, 1856, about the same. Some sales were made during the latter period at as high as $2.05.
A contributor to the Ohio Statesman of August 5, 1857, writes:
The highest price that flour has reached during a period of sixty years was in 1796, when it sold at sixteen dollars a barrel. . .. In 1847, the period of the Irish famine, flour never exceeded ten dollars. The prices of breadstuffs were higher in 1855 than for sixty years, if we except the seasons of 1796 and 1817. From the minutes kept at the Van Ren- selaer Mansion, at Albany, for sixtyone years, where large amounts of rents are payable in wheat as a cash equivalent, on the first of January each year, the fact is ascertained that wheat has only five times been $2, or upwards a bushel, while it was seventeen times at one dollar, and twice at seventyfive cents. The average price for the whole period was $1.38, and for the last thirty years $1 25.
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