USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 40
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The Pennsylvania Railway abated one nuisance by requiring that the weight of every separate box or package should be plainly marked with paint and be accountable only for its own charges. Additional improvement was made by Leech & Co., who established a line similar to the " Merchants' Despatch," with Clark & Co as superintendents of the transfer of freight at Pittsburgh. Never- theless, in the fall of 1863, Pittsburgh became literally blockaded with freight. The gauge of the Pennsylvania Railway was four feet eight and onehalf inches, while that of the connecting roads westward was four feet ten inches; conse- quently freight had to await its removal by the Western line. To remedy this, William Thaw of Pittsburgh proposed that several hundred cars should be built with a gange of four feet eight and a half inches and a wheel tread wide enough to run on a gauge of four feet ten inches. The company declined to build the cars but agreed to haul them for any party by which they might be furnished. Thereupon Mr. Thaw and Mr. Leech of Philadelphia organized the Star Union Line which owned its own cars and shipped goods from Philadelphia to any western point, collecting the freights and paying to the railway mileage for the use of its tracks. On July 1, 1873, the Pennsylvania Company bought the Star Union Line, which has since that time been one of that company's organized departments. It runs on all the lines of the Pennsylvania Company, its cars being loaded, locked and sealed at Boston, New York or Philadelphia, and for- warded without detention to western points as far as San Francisco. In proper season fruit trains are daily sent eastward from California at nearly passenger train speed and drop their cars at various points between the Pacific and the Atlantic.
In March, 1865, W. W. Chandler, general agent of the Star Union Line, obtained permission of the Pennsylvania Company to reconstruct thirty cars on a plan of his own for transportation of butter, eggs, cheese, dressed poultry and fresh meats to eastern markets. He took out no patent, but subsequent inventors pat-
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RAILWAYS.
ented improvements of this plan which have resulted in what is now know as the " refrigerator ear."
Express Companies. - Late in the year 1838, or during the spring of 1839, Wil- liam F. Harnden made an arrangement with the superintendent of the Boston & Providenee Railway for express facilities on that road. It was stipulated that he should have a through car from Boston to New York four times a week commenc- ing March 4, 1839. Such was the beginning of the express business in the United States. In May, 1840, Alvin Adams and P. B. Burke started an opposition to Harnden. During the first week or two, says an account of this business, " Adams could have stowed it all in his hat, nor did he carry anything more than a valise for several months from the commencement. . . . He was messenger, cashier, receipt clerk, labelboy and porter." His friends discouraged him by representing that there was not business enough for two such enterprises, but Adams kept on and after two years took as a partner William B. Dinsmore of New York. The business of the firm was then limited to New York, New London, Norwich, Woreester and Boston, and gave employment to two or three men and a boy. In 1850, Adams & Co. paid one thousand dollars per month for space in a car on the New York & New Haven Railway. In 1856, Alfred Gaither, and in 1860, C. Woodward became connected with them in their western business. In 1854, Adams & Co., Harnden & Co., Thompson & Co., and Knisely & Co. were consolidated and incorporated as the Adams Express Company, with Alvin Adams as president, William B. Dins- more as viee president, and a capital stock of 81,200,000. This company opened the first express office in Columbus in 1851. Isaae C. Aston was its agent, at a salary of four hundred dollars per year. The company's office was situated on the west side of High Street a few doors south of State. The Adams Company now runs its business on all the Pennsylvania & Panhandle lines and on a part of those of the Chicago, Milwauke & St. Paul. It now brings into this city from ten to sixteen western bound cars every afternoon and daily dispatches eastward about eight cars, mainly laden with poultry. Its business is distributed among from twenty to twentyfour trains in and out of the city daily. Its employés in Columbus number from twenty to twentyfive.
In 1841, Henry Wells, of Albany, New York, suggested an express from Albany to Buffalo. The suggestion was put into execution by Heury Wells and Crawford Livingston as Pomeroy & Co.'s Albany & Buffalo Express. Its carriage extended by railway to Auburn, thence by stagecoach to Geneva, thence by the Auburn & Rochester Railway to Rochester, thence by stagecoach to Lockport, and thence by private conveyance to Buffalo. The trip was made once a week and occupied four nights and three days. It is now made by " limited express " in seven hours and twenty minutes. At the beginning of the enterprise Mr. Wells himself served as messenger about eighteen months. In 1842, he carried all his valuable parcels in a earpetbag. The name of the company was changed to that of Livingston, Wells & Pomeroy. In April, 1845, William G. Fargo joined the firm and the Western Express from Buffalo to Cincinnati was started. The com- pany offered to carry the letter mail for five cents per letter in lieu of twentyfive
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
cents then charged by the Government, and actually carried single letters for six cents each. Congress was thus forced to reduce the rate of postage.
Early .in 1850, Wells & Co., Livingston & Fargo, and Butterfield, Wasson & Co. were jointly incorporated as the American Express Company with an aggre- gate capital of 8100,000. The United States Express Company, started in 1854, was absorbed by the American which thereupon increased its stock to 8750,000. In 1860, the company was reorganized and its stock increased to $1,000,000. In 1856, the Merchants' Union Express Company was organized as a competitor to the American and Adams, and its stock was largely taken by the merchants of the country. It had a nominal capital of twenty millions, but in 1868, after hav- ing spent more than 87,000,000, it was consolidated with the American, which for a time thereafter was known as the American Merchants' Uuion, but in 1873 resumed its old name as the American Express Company. At this time (Decem- ber, 1891) this company distributes its daily business among thirteen trains each way on the Big Four route and four trains each way on the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo. It covers more miles of distance than any other existing cor- poration of the kind. Its money order business has amounted to more the 82,000,000 in six months.
Up to the year 1877, the Adams Express Company covered all the Baltimore & Ohio lines except the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark division, but on Septem- ber 1, 1877, the Baltimore & Ohio Company established an express bearing its own name, to cover its own lines. This enterprise, after an experience of ten years, sold its business to the United States Express Company, which now covers all the lines of the Baltimore & Ohio system. It now, in 1891, distributes its business among thirteen trains in and out of Columbus and has twentyone local employés on its pay roll.
NOTES.
1. Ohio State Journal.
2. The public deemed this an outrage upon its rights. That every person who crossed the State of New Jersey should pay a toll of ten or fifteen cents on every ton of freight was an arrangement, it was said, not to be endured. The State was therefore obliged to make other terms with the railway company.
3. Ohio State Journal, May 27, 1847.
4. Correspondence of the Ohio State Journal.
5. Ohio State Journal. General Phineas B. Pease, of Columbus, was conductor of the excursion train on this occasion.
6. Ohio State Journal.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Mr. Graves acted as engineer, although Mr. Greene had the title until the completion of the road to Lancaster, when William H. Jennings, who had been his assistant, was appointed engineer and held the position until after the sale of the road.
10. The reason why the price of the Ohio & West Virginia stock was put so much higher, compared with its market priee, tban the rest, was explained in a letter written by
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Mr. Greene to Mr. Burke. July 9, 1881, in which he said he proposed to put Ohio & West Virginia stock " up and the others down so as to make it for the interest of all to sell their stock."
11. In a letter to Mr. Greene date June 11, 1881, he said : "We might be willing to exchange for stock on a fair basis," and rate the land at $250 per acre. At the organization of the Hocking Coal & Railroad Company, composed of the owners of these lands, they were valued at $150 per acre.
12. Ellis testified that one share of stock was assigned to him, but that he never paid for it, and that he never received a stock certificate.
RAILWAYS MAKING COLUMBUS A POINT, INCORPORATED SINCE 1852.
Atlantic & Ohio, June 18, 1853; Columbus, Bellefontaine & Chicago, May 26, 1853; Columbus, Dublin & Marysville, June 20, 1853; Columbus & Hocking, July 11, 1853; Colum- bus & Mineral Valley, June 9, 1874 ; Athe: s, Ferrara & Columbus, January 30, 1875; Shawnee, Hocking Valley & Columbus, February 24, 1879; Cincinnati, Columbus & Hocking Valley, November 7, 1881 ; Shawnee, Hocking Valley & Columbus, December 5, 1881 ; Columbus & Eastern, February 20, 1882; Hocking Valley, Coal & Iron, February 3, 1882; (this com- pany proposed to lease the Columbus Feeder and the Hocking Canal for use in building a railway, but a bill which was introduced in the General Assembly consenting to the lease did not pass) ; Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking, October 24, 1889; Findlay & Hocking Valley, January 7, 1886; Marietta & Columbus, April 9, 1889; Scioto Valley, September 21, 1853; Columbus, Chillicothe & Portsmouth, March 24, 1863; Mineral, April 14, 1864 ; Lake Shore, Columbus & Ohio River, July 23, 1870; Columbus & Circleville, February 8, 1871; Colum- bus, Ferrara & Mineral, August 22, 1871 ; Columbus & Millersport, August 9, 1871 ; Michigan & Ohio, April 1, 1874 ; Scioto Valley, February 23, 1875; Columbus & Indianapolis, October 22, 1857 ; Columbus, Bellefontaine & Michigan, February 21. 1872; Columbus & Northwest- ern, January 12, 1872; Columbus & Bellefontaine, April 12, 1878; Columbus, Findlay & Northwestern, June 21, 1880; Obio & Western, November 13, 1880; Columbus, Wapakoneta & Northwestern, April 18, 1881; Chesapeake, Columbus & Chicago, August 8, 1881; Lima & Columbus, October 20, 1881 ; Chesapeake, Columbus & Michigan, February 21, 1882; Colum- bus & Fort Wayne, November 23, 1882; Columbus & Northwestern, October 19, 1877; Defin- ance & Columbus, March 2, 1882 ; Columbus & Chicage Air Line, May 22, 1890; Columbus & Michigan, July 15, 1872; Columbus, Hartford & Mount Vernon, January 21, 1867 ; Pitts- burgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & London, January 5 and May 11, 1869; Cleveland, Akron & Columbus, December 1, 1881 ; Columbus, Tiffin & Toledo, August 21, 1867; Toledo & Columbus, July 29, 1867 ; Toledo, Delaware & Columbus, March 21, 1872; Toledo, Columbus Cincinnati, May 28, 1889; Toledo & Columbus, October 5, 1872; Toledo, Columbus & Southern, March 25, 1885; Columbus & Toledo, May 28, 1872; Columbus & Coal Valley, November 23, 1877; Columbus, Scioto & Hocking Valley, December 5, 1878; Columbus & Ironton, January 15, 1870 ; Columbus & South Point, December 28, 1869; Gallipolis, McArthur & Columbus, March 3, 1890; Ohio & West Virginia, May 22, 1878; Columbus & Gallipolis, June 21, 1876; Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati, May 7, 1869; Springfield & Columbus, February 29, 1888; Columbus & Maysville, November 30, 1849; Columbus, Harrisburgh & Washington Courthouse, October 10, 1879; Columbus, Leesburgh & Kentucky, August 13, 1879; Columbus & Ohio River, March 4, 1882; Columbus & Cincinnati, April 13, 1882 ; Cin- cinnati Atlantic & Columbus. June 15, 1882; Columbus & Washington, March 15, 1876; Jeff- ersonville. Mount Sterling & Columbus, March 15, 1876 ; Waynesville, Port William & Jeffer- sonville, December 9, 1875; Columbus & Cincinnati, May 25, 1881; Franklin, Pickaway & Ross County ; Columbus & Mansfield.
CHAPTER XIX.
STREET TRANSPORTATION.
BY JOHN J. JANNEY.
Before the construction of railways there was little demand in Columbus for anything in the nature of an omnibus or hack. Stages ealled at the door to take up and discharge passengers. Upon the opening of the Columbus & Xenia Rail- way the omnibus made its first appearance, but only to carry passengers and baggage to and from the station. On March 9, 1853, B. O. Ream, agent, adver- tised an omnibus line to run to Franklinton, leaving the American House every hour in the day, beginning at 6:40 A. M. This was continued until the trains were run into the station on High Street; after that, the omnibuses ran to and fro between the station and all parts of the city. In 1867 the company had nine omnibuses in use; in 1892 the Transfer Company uses but six. In 1853 a tri- weekly omnibus line between Columbus and Canal Winchester was started ; there was also a line to Worthington which was reported to be " doing an excel- . lent business."
The first "express" wagon for light packages made its appearance on the streets in April, 1854. In March, 1855, Thomas Brockway introduced what was known as the " pigmy omnibus," a diminutive vehicle which carried four persons besides the driver. The newspapers said of these carriages : " The ladies find them convenient for shopping and the beaux will not use anything else for evening parties." But their popularity was shortlived. They were speedily and entirely superseded by the more stylish ' hack." Mr. Brockway, subsequently superinten- dent of stage lines and still later of street railways, died in April, 1870, at Mil- waukee.
The " hack " was introduced by W. B. Hawkes & Co., and during the rebel- lion this species of vehicle did a thriving business. Money was plenty, officers and soldiers were prodigal of their funds, and the haekmen got the benefit. A city ordinanee fixed their compensation at twentyfive cents per passenger, or one dollar per hour, yet one case came to the writer's knowledge in which a driver charged and was paid fifteen dollars for less than ninety minutes time. Since the close of the war the patronage of hacks has greatly diminished, but there are now
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on the streets, daily, about thirty such vehicles and coupes, part of which are owned by the Transfer Company, part by liverystable keepers, and part by the drivers. They appear on the streets in greatest number about eight o'clock A. M. and remain on duty until eight or ten P. M. when usually they are substituted by another set, which remains ready for call all night and until all early morning trains.
On April 4, 1855, a newspaper card stated that the omnibus of the stage com- pany "ealls at any place in the city, at all hours, day or night ; the conductor takes the baggage from the houses to the omnibus and the cars for twenty cents." On May 15, 1855, the Ohio Stage Company gave notice that it had removed its office to the City Bank building-southeast corner of High and State - and reduced the fare to fifteen cents, or ten tickets for one dollar if purchased at the company's office. On September 18, 1855, announcement was made that six or seven omnibuses had been sent here to ply between the city and the Fairgrounds. This was a common practice at the time of the State Fair, on which occasion all sorts of passenger-carrying vehicles came in from the neighboring country. On March 23, 1859, E. Lewis, who had started and run a line to Worthington, sold it to E. L. Passmore, of Ashland, and on January 31, 1860, it was purchased by Miles Pinney, of Worthington. On June 4, 1860, the State Journal said : " The five cent omnibus line of W. B. Hawkes & Co. has become a fixed institu - tion, and we are glad to learn is doing a good business." The running of omni- buses for accommodation of business men and ladies in shopping had long been needed. On July 16, 1860, it was stated that Hawkes & Co. had begun running a regular line from the corner of High and State streets up High to Broad and eastward on Broad to Tallmadge's Addition, near the corporation line; fare, five eents.
The Council had fixed the fare for hacks at twentyfive cents for a single per- son to any part of the city. To this the hackmen objected and asked to be allowed to charge fifty cents for night service. This being refused, they struck and refused to go on the street, but the strike was of brief duration. The ordinance fixing the fare also required every driver to post conspicuously inside of his hack a card, with certain regulations of the Council printed on it, but this requirement has never been generally complied with.
A line of chariots was established in 1878 and met with much favor. On April 13, 1881, a chariot company was organized with C. C. Corner as president. Its vehicles were ruu on Broad and Town streets. The Columbus Transfer Com- pany was incorporated September 17, 1881, with E. Denmead, T. J. Janney, R. E. Sheldon, Edwin A. Dawson and W. A. Harrison as stockholders ; capital stoek, $50,000, which, on May 6, 1884, was increased to $100,000. On December 30, 1881, announcement was made that the company had purchased the property of W. B. Hawkes & Co., including their omnibuses, horses and other equipments. In 1882 the Transfer Company erected large stables and wareroomson Naghten Street, between High and Third. At the present time (1892) the company owns a large number of vehicles and one hundred horses, and employs fortyfive men. In 1886
20*
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
the Palace Livery Stable introduced the Hansom cab, which was said to be the first of its kind in use in Ohio, and, so far as the writer knows, it was also the last. These vehicles did not prove to be popular. The hackney-coach, or as it is com- monly known, the hack, and the coupe have superseded all other street convey- ances, except private carriages, drawn by horses.
A city ordinance passed July 31, 1882, required all carriages or vehicles for hire to be licensed, for which a fee of fifty cents should be paid to the mayor, all licenses to expire July 1 ; the number of the license to be plainly exhibited on the vehicle in letters not less than 13 inches long; the owner and driver to be liable for all violations of the ordinance, all omnibus and accommodation coaches, hack ney- coaches and carriages with two horses to pay five dollars per annum ; cabs or other other vehicles with one horse to pay $2.50; all baggage, express and furniture carts or wagons running for hire to pay five dollars if drawu by two horses and 82.50 if drawn by one horse; the ordinance not to apply to teams working by the day. After prescribing a detailed schedule of rates this ordinance provided that every driver of a licensed vehicle should keep this schedule, accompanied by the names of the owners and driver, posted in his vehicle in such a way that anyone desiring to do so could conveniently read it. Violations of the ordinance were punishable with fine and cancellation of the license.
Street Railways,-The Columbus Street Railroad Company, first of its kind, was incorporated by Joseph H. Riley, Theodore Comstock, Thomas Sparrow, P. Ambos, C. P. L. Butler, John S. Hall and William B. Thrall in pursuance of an ordinance passed June 10, 1854. The name of Seneca W. Ely, of Chillicothe, appears among the incorporators in the charter as printed in the newspapers, but it is not in the ordinance as it was passed by the Council. The company was authorized to construct a railroad, 1. From at or near the first turnpike gate on the Chillicothe Road, thence on High Street to a point about one mile north of the corporation line (Naghten Street, or North Public Lane). 2. From a point about one mile east of the city limits on the Newark Road, thence in said road to and along Broad Street and the National Road to Washington Street, iu Franklinton ; thence south to the Harrisburg Turnpike; thence in said pike to a point a short distance southwest of Green Lawn Cemetery. 3. From High Street, on Town Street, to East Public Lane (Parson's Avenue), thence to Friend Street, thence on the National Road to a point about one mile east of the corporation line. 4. Else- where in Columbus as deemed expedient. Capital stock, $250,000.
No action seems to have been taken under this charter. The State Journal said : "As we understand it, the corporators do not expect to realize much of an income for two or three hundred years, but are willing to wait and hope." On August 15, 1859, a charter to incorporate another company with the same title was introduced in the Council. This ordinance was not finally passed until April 15, 1861. The Columbus Gazette of July 13, 1859, said: " The cost of the track on the High Street route, one and three-eighths miles, with two conductors and cars and eight horses or mules, is estimated by interested parties at $13,400." The editors of the Gazette thought the investment would certainly be profitable. On November 11, 1862, an ordinance was passed incorporating the Columbus Street
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Railroad Company, with John F. Bartlit, P. Ambos, A. C. Headley, Theodore Comstock, Joseph Ridgway, John Miller and Oren Backus as corporators. The company had authority to build a street railway from North Public Lane to South Public Lane, on High Street; also on State Avenue from the Ohio Penitentiary to Broad Street, thence to High, Street, thence to Town, and thence to Fourth ; cap- ital stock, $30,000. On January 16, 1863, the stockholders met for organization at the office of Bartlit & Smith. They were Peter Ambos, J. F. Barthit, Henry Miller, C. P. L. Butler, E. H. Butler, B. E. Smith, Theodore Comstock, Lewis Mills, Mrs. Celia Mills, Joseph H. Riley, Headley, Eberly & Co., J. M. Trinble, E. Hall, E. F. Bingham, J. L. Green, J. Morrison, O. II. Lattimer, P. Corzilins, Marcus Childs, L. Donaldson and John Miller. The ordinance required that the High Street line should be completed Sepember 1, 1863; the State Avenue, Broad, High and Town Street line by January 1, 1864. The company was anthorized to lay a double track on High Street. The fare was limited to seven cents for single tickets and five cents for tickets in packages of five or more. In March, 1863, a contract for 175,000 feet of lumber for the road was awarded to Samuel McClel- land. On June 10, 1863, the following newspaper announcement was made :
Yesterday, at a few minutes before noon, the first car passed over the street railroad, and of course it was the observed of the observable. In the afternoon and evening a large number of passengers from the dépot availed themselves of this easy mode of reaching the hotels. Today the remaining cars will be placed on the track and regular trips will be com. menced.1
On July 4, 1863, cars were running between the railway station and Mound Street, leaving each end of the line every six minutes. On December 24, 1863, the company's cars were crossing the railway track and running as far north as the Exchange Hotel ; it was announced that they would soon run as far as Tod Bar- raeks. On May 1, 1864, the track was being extended southward to Stewart's Grove, and on May 13, the cars were running north ward past Tod Barraeks to University Street. About this time a discussion arose as to whether it would be proper to run cars on Sunday, and on June 19, 1864, Sunday cars were run for the first time. By ordinance of February 18, 1864, the consolidation of the Columbus Railroad Company and the Columbus Street Railroad Company was authorized. The consolidated companies took the name of Columbus Street Railroad Com- pany ; capital stock, $130,000 ; directors, Theodore Comstock, J. F. Bartlit, Henry Miller, P. Amos, C. P. L. Butler, Theodore H. Butler and A. C. Headley, B. E. Smith, L. Donaldson, Isaac Eberly and Samuel McClelland. On September 12, 1864, two open cars, the first of the kind in the city, were run to the State Fair. W. H. H. Shinn, superintendent, resigned October 14, 1864. On February 27, 1865, authority was given by ordinance to charge seven cents fare, or to sell ten tickets for fifty cents, but on March 15, 1866, the company again reduced the fare to five cents. On July 23, 1866, the following directors were elected : P. Ambos, J. F. Bartlit, Theodore Comstock, Henry Miller, Isaac Eberly, A. J. Ryan and George M. Parsons. Theodore Comstock was chosen president, William Ferson secretary and Thomas Brockway superintendent. The use of passes was dis- continued and all outstanding ones were recalled. On April 23, 1867, the fare was
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
again raised by ordinance to seven cents for a single ticket and five cents for tick- ets in packages of five or more.
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