USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 71
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A proposition to convert the fairgrounds of the Franklin County Agricultural Society, ou East Broad Street, into a park was broached by Francis C. Sessions in an address before the Columbus Horticultural Society in 1884. In accordance with this suggestion a bill was introduced in the General Assembly by Hon. Henry C. Taylor, and, on May 17, 1886, became a law, vesting the title to the grounds in Franklin County for use as a public park for all the people of the county. This act further provided that the park thus established should be placed under the supervision of a commission of five members, two of whom should be appointed from the county by the County Commissioners and two from the city by the Mayor. The present area of the park is about 112 acres, all of which, except a few fragmentary strips of ground, is owned by the county. At the suggestion of Mr. Sessions it was named Franklin Park. In 1887 plans for its improve- ment were prepared, but as yet it remains destitute of systematic embellish- ment.
Among other free spaces in the city which, to a greater or less extent, serve as public pleasure grounds, are those fronting the State institutions for mutes and the blind, the Capitol Square, and the enclosures of the United States Arsenal, the State Agricultural Society and the Ohio State University. The old graveyard, a
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STREETS, SEWERS AND PARKS.
tract of eleven acres, in the southeastern part of the city, is reserved for purposes of rcereation under the name of South Park. Elliptical spaces of about one acre each, now planted with shrubbery and susceptible of very attractive additional embellishment, beautify the East Park Place avenues bearing the names of Hamil- ton, Lexington and Jefferson.
NOTES.
1. The Ohio State Journal of July 18. 1867, stated editorially :
"There is a great deal of inquiry as to whether the contractor is doing his work in the most durable manner on High Street. It is claimed that the boards should be saturated with hot tar instead of being simply smeared with a mop ; that the blocks should be thoroughly saturated with boiling tar instead of receiving a hurried plunge in a vessel cold or lukewarm; and that the blocks should be firmly fastened in their place, instead of being placed so loosely that they may be lifted out without difficulty."
2. On February 15, a proposition to put down a wood pavement was tabled by one majority
3. Ohio State Journal.
4. . The roadway was paved with the Abbott concrete, consisting of ninety per cent. of distilled coal tar and ten per cent. of Trinidad aspbalt. The completion of the street was celebrated by an entertainment given to the contractors and other guests at Stevenson & Ruhl's, December 1.
5. The decision was rendered November 20, 1877. The State ex rel. the City of Col- umbus v. John G. Mitchell et al., Commissioners; 31 O. S. Reports, 592.
6. Further particulars in regard to this tunnel will be found in the chapter on rail- ways.
7. The condition of the street prior to this improvement had again become most deplorable, compelling a large part of its ordinary traffic to seek other thoroughfares.
8. Ohio State Journal.
9. To this day not even a map showing the extent and location of the sewers has been made. That is not true, it may mode tope
10. Ohio State Journal. enlution introduced by the
11. At a celebration of the Fourth of July, held on the grounds in 1867, the following resolutions offered by Colonel George W. Manypenny were adopted by the multitude there present :
" Whereas, The grounds upon which we now assemble have been purchased by the city authorities for a public park, therefore
"Resolved, That this meeting, in the name of the people of the City of Columbus, do accept and adopt the same as the City Park, and shall be gratified at the early improvement thereof ; and hereby return our thanks to the members of the City Council for their united action in securing the grounds."
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXXIII.
RECENT STREET PAVING.
BY CAPTAIN N. B. ABBOTT.
The extent of street improvements in Columbus has been one of the surprises of the last decade. In 1880 the city resembled a country village in its unpaved and muddy streets. Up to the year 1886 no systematic plan of street improvements had been attempted on a lib- eral scale. The business part of High Street had been paved with wood, which had rotted and been replaced with concrete or socalled asphalt. This, in turn, had worn out and just been replaced with stone blocks of various kinds in a very unsystematic manner. Every property owner was allowed to make his own contract so long as he used some kind of stone. The result was a patchwork, about onehalf of which was first class Medina stone and granite block paving, both of which are in good condition now. The balance was an inferior Ligon- ier stone block, rough in shape, poorly laid and has always been in a bad condition. The result is, our finest business street presents in some parts the most shabby specimen of pave- ments of any street in the city. Town Street from High Street east one mile went through about the same experience as High Street, being paved first with wood, then with concrete, which failed and was resurfaced with Trinidad asphalt, which is in fair condition at the present time. In 1876 North High Street from Naghten Street to the city line, a distance of three and onehalf miles, was paved with coaltar concrete, which at that time was being extensively used in the East. This being the only paved street leading out of the city on the north. received immense wear, as the entire country travel came over it. It was kept in good condition for about ten years, when the roadway was widened from 36 to 42 feet, a double track replaced the single street railway track, and the concrete was surfaced with Trinidad asphalt.
The foregoing, a total of about five miles of street, comprised all that had been done up to 1886, in paving the streets of a city of 75,000 population. About this time the great need of street improvements was agitated in the Board of Trade, the final result of which was the passage in the State legislature of a law known as the Taylor Law. This act provided for the improvement of streets under a systematic plan, the city issuing its bonds to raise money with which to meet the cost. The total cost is assessed under this law on the property front- ing the improvement, the property owners having the option of paying annual instalments for eight or more years, or to pay the whole the first year. This law has been in operation until the present time and under its provisions about $4.000,000 have been expended. The total amount of paved streets in Columbus at the present time is about 1,600.000 square yards, or, counting all streets as thirty feet wide between curb lines, about eightyeight miles of roadway.
These eightyeight miles of paved streets are laid with a variety of paving material, about as follows: Hallwood paving block twentynine miles ; Hayden paving block fifteen miles ; red clay brick thirteen miles ; fire clay brick eleven miles; Trinidad asphalt eleven miles ; Medina stone and granite eight miles; Kentucky rock asphalt one mile.
A brief description of the several paving materials used and the manner in which they are laid may be of interest. At the beginning of work under the Taylor Law, a general specification was adoptel as follows: Grade to the required depth, foundation to be of broken stone eight inches deep, and rolled with a tentou steam roller ; on this foundation the stone block, Ilallwood or Hayden block, or paving brick are set on edge in two inches of
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RECENT STREET PAVING.
sand and thoroughly rammed by hand. A light sprinkling of fine sand is swept into the joints, and washed to the bottom. The joints are then filled with hot coaltar pitch, and the surface covered with sand. Asphalt pavements are laid with six inches of cement concrete, and surfaced with a two and onehalf inch coat of asphalt pavement. The entire eightyeight miles of pavements in the city have been laid practically according to these specifications, varied only in a few cases by substituting cement grout for coaltar cement filling in the brick or block pavements. There has been such a variety of material used here, and in such large quantities, within so short a space of time, that numerous inquiries from abroad are made as to what material has proved on the whole the best for city use. Without undertaking to answer that query it may not be out of place, in giving a correct history of street paving in the city, to state certain facts shown by experience.
The stone block pavements laid as described have been the most costly at the outset but it is admitted by all that so far as durability is concerned they are the cheapest in the end. A good stone pavement properly laid will be better when five years old than when newly laid. This cannot be truthfully said of 'any other pavement. The great objection to stone pavements is the roughness of surface, and noise produced by their use. In five years' wear the roughness largely disappears by reason of the wear. This is especially true with the Medina sandstone, which becomes even and true by wear, and thereby becomes less noisy. The high cost of a firstclass stone pavement, however, prevents its general use in this city. and it is confined to a few of the most heavily traveled business streets. The noise would also make it objectionable on residence streets. The average cost of our best stone pavements has been about $3.75 per square yard.
Asphalt comes next to stone in cost, the average price being about $2.75 per square yard. Of asphalt in this city there have been two kinds, the Trinidad and the Kentucky rock. Of the latter little need be said, as only one mile has been laid. and so far it is not generally con- sidered a success. Trinidad asphalt pavements, constructed in the best manner, furnish. under favorable conditions, the most perfect pavement for travel that can be made. All such pavements laid in Columbus during the last six years have done good service. There are conditions under which they are objectionable, namely, when covered with a thin coating of ice or snow, they become dangerously slipperv. They also require especial care in cleaning and being kept free from a pasty mud caused by too much sprinkling and too little sweeping. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of asphalt as a whole, there is no doubt that a reasonable proportion of city streets can safely be paved with this material.
The Hayden block comes next in order as to cost, the price having averaged here abont $2.20 per square yard. This block, named after its inventor, William B. Hayden, of this city, is peculiar in its formation, being made hollow on the under side, requiring a filling of sand before it is laid. When filled, the block is turned hollow side down and the process of ram- ming compresses the sand so as to make a solid filling. The block is made of fine ground plastic fireclay of a quality that will require extreme heat to burn sufficiently to vitrify. It has stood the test of use in this city well and is now considered as one of the standard pave- ments.
The Hallwood paving block is another manufactured block which takes its name from its inventor, H. S. Hallwood, of Columbus. The material used in this block is practically the same as that used in the Hayden block. In some localities shale clay is used, in others plas- tic clay. The best results appear in a mixture of the two. Unlike the Hayden, this block is made solid, which somewhat modifies the cost of both manufacture and laying, accounting for the lower average cost, which has been in this city about $2.10 per square yard. The large amount of Hallwood block laid in the city, twentynine miles in all, indicates the esteem in which it is held.
Brick pavements mean in Columbus any of the various socalled street paving brick offered in the market and so largely used throughout the country. Of the twentythree miles of fireclay brick and red brick pavements in this city, at least onethird show extreme wear, quite disproportionate to the expense of their construction. This is doubtless due to the difficulty in producing a large quantity of brick by ordinary methods, of a uniform durable quality. There has been sufficient defectiveness apparent in the brick pavements laid here to warrant the present discontinuance of their use The average cost of these pavements has been about $1.90 per square yard. It has proved to be money well invested to pay the addi- tional twenty cents or thirty cents per square yard required to construct a Hallwood or Hay- den block pavement.
These improved blocks are made of carefully selected, finely ground clays, pressed with heavy presses and repressed into uniform shape and compactness. Clays are selected that require an extreme heat for burning, and kilns are so constructed as to burn the blocks to extraordinary hardness, vitrifying them thoroughly. Economy lies in making sure of a thoroughly good paving material, as it costs no more to lay than a poor material. These con-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
siderations have resulted in substituting a better and more expensive block for the inferior ordinary paving brick.
As street assessments are made by the foot front of property on streets improved, the following table is given of cost per foot front of the several pavements described This cost includes the entire improvement, comprising grading, curbing, paving and catchbasins for a thirty foot roadway, adding ten per cent. as estimated additional cost of street intersections :
Stone block pavement, $3 75 per square yard, $7 37 per foot front.
Asphalt pavement, 2 75 per square yard. 5 53 per foot front.
Hayden block pavement,
2 20 per square yard. 4 53 per foot front.
Hallwood block pavement,
2 10 per square yard. 4 35 per foot front.
Brick pavement,
1 90 per square yard. 4 00 per foot front.
A liberal sized city lot in Columbus has a frontage of fifty feet, It will be seen from the foregoing table that the assessment on a fiftyfoot lot for the highestpriced pavement named would be $368.50. and that on the lowestpriced pavement $200. As the assessments under the Taylor Law are divided into from eight to twenty annual payments, it is readily seen that the burden on property owners is not heavy compared with the benefits gained.
The curb nsed in Columbus is the bluish gray sandstone known as Berea grit, from quarries at Fulton and Berea, Ohio. The size commonly used is five inches thick by eigh- teen inches deep, dressed to a bevel on top, corners rounded, and set in six in ches of gravel. The curb lines in this city are good, and the general effect of our finely paved streets bordered by straight curb lines, with easy circle corners at all street intersections, is neat and har- monious.
The new era of street improvement has brought with it many other things that have added to the attractiveness of Columbus. No sooner is a street paved than a general improvement follows in other respects. Houses are remodeled, lawns are beautified, trees are planted and pride in general appearance stimulated. The entire character of the architec- ture of our buildings has changed since street improvement began. Formerly the houses were distinguished for their plainness and sameness. Now every variety of style can be seen on our streets and the improvement in architectural beauty is constantly increasing. With good pavements have also come fine horses and carriages. Formerly there was no comfort in driving over the mud-burdened streets and pleasure driving was rare. Now every family that can afford it keeps its turnout, and the city is gay with equipages of all kinds. All of these things have had an exhilarating effect on the general business of the city. Some of the more conservative citizens complain that street improvements are overdone, and that the expense will cause financial distress and strain the credit of the city. The facts do not war- rant any croaking of this nature. In round numbers the street improvements have cost four million dollars and honds have been sold to that amount. Over onequarter of these bonds have already been paid off, which is considerably faster than bond purchasers had supposed would be the case. This proves that the people are promptly and cheerfully paying their
street assessments, which would not be the case if financial distress was to be the result. As to straining the credit of the city, the truth is our bonds are in great demand, and on some late sales three per cent. premium has been paid on six per cent. improvement bonds, with a maximum of only eight years to run. The bonds issued for improvements under the Taylor Law are a loan of the credit of the city to the property owners, enabling them easily to pay for street improvements by distributing the payment over a term of years. This results in great increase in the value of the property, without immediate strain on the property hold- er's ability to pay large assessments. The street improvement makes houses rent more read- ily and at better prices, and thonsands of vacant lots have found a market by reason of the streets being paved, while otherwise the lots would have been in no demand. The rapidity with which the property owners are repaying these loans shows that the plan is a wise one.
In conclusion, it can be confidently stated that the Capital City of Ohio leads the cities of this country in the beauty, uniformity and utility of its paved streets, as well as in the mileage of the same in proportion to its population. Some other cities have more miles of some special kind of pavement, but Columbus is ahead of all other cities in giving a variety of paved streets to suit the varied character of neighborhoods and in the general perfection of all the street work that has been done. One of the surest signs of a high state of civiliza- tion and general intelligence of a community is a liberal expenditure in a variety of public improvements. Chief of these should always be wellpaved streets, and the citizens of Columbus may well be proud of what they have accomplished in this direction in the last six years.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
WATER SUPPLY, FIRE PROTECTION AND STREET LIGHTING.
The inhabitants of the borough and carlier city of Columbus derived their water for domestic use entirely from wells and natural springs. Of the latter, as has been described elsewhere, there were many, and in some instances the discharge of these natural fountains was copious and constant. An abundant supply was also reached by shafting to a moderate depth, and it is fair to presume that mneh of the water earliest in use was of a surface character, exposed in greater or less degree to vegetable contamination. The frequent prevalence of febrile and diarrheal disorders corroborates this theory. As the town grew in years and in population, the water veins and deposits in the earth beneath it became more and more liable to the infiltration of poison from animal as well as vegetable decay, until the purity of no ordinary well could be implicitly trusted. To this sanitary necessity for new and safer sources of supply was coupled that for a readier and more copious one for protection against fire.
Directly after the meridian of the century was passed, these united demands for cleaner and more plentiful water gained sufficient force to compel action. Accordingly, on April 18, 1853, Hon. William Dennison, then a member of the City Council, offered a resolution, which was adopted, instrueting the committee on General Improvements to report on the practicability of establishing water- works for the city. Relative to this action we find the following contemporary comment :1
About a year ago we discussed the subject [of water supply] at some length, and urged the propriety of a survey of the Whetstone branch of the Seioto for the purpose of ascertain- ing how far up it was necessary to go to get head enough to bring the water to all parts of the city. We are satisfied that that point would be reached somewhere this side of Worthington.
An artesian well for Statehouse supply was abont the same time suggested by a newspaper cardwriter. In Swan's Elevator of April 24, 1854, this suggestion was renewed, with the added remark : " The writer has long entertained the belief that our city may be supplied, and abundantly supplied, with pure and wholesome water by means of one or more of these wells." On June 9, 1856, Joseph Sullivant addressed the council, by request, and illustrated his remarks by diagrams and profiles. Mr. Sullivant's remarks were printed in pamphlet form, and an ordinance was introduced providing for taking a vote of the people on the question of bor- rowing money for the construction of waterworks, but further than this no action was then taken. Thus matters rested until July, 1859, when a document appeared in the Columbus Gazette memorializing the council to provide waterworks for the city. The facts on which this memorial was based, it was stated, had been fur- nished by M. J. Ball, of Jersey City, an expert in building " similar works." Mr.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Ball's plan was to pipe water sufficient for 60,000 people " from the falls of the Whetstone, a few miles north of the city." The estimated cost of this contrivance was 8275,000. The scheme contemplated the construction of a reservoir with an area of eight acres, to be filled by a pump driven by the current of the river. Besides supplying the city, it was proposed to run a fountain, eighty feet in diameter, on the Capitol Square. The work was to be guaranteed for two years. In the council the memorial was referred to a committee, which subsequently, we are told, made a vigorous investigation of the whole subject and presented plans for consideration, " together with specimens of the pipe used in various cities."
On November 6, 1860, the original Neil Honse took fire and failed to be saved, it was said, because of scant water in the public cisterns and insufficiency of hose to reach the river. This event revived, for a time, popular interest in the subject of water supply, and various new waterworks schemes were broached. One of these schemes, suggested in the council, proposed to place a five-thousand- gallon tank on top of a stone tower to be erected on the city lot on State Street, between High and Front, this tank to be filled by pumping, and the water to be piped thence to different parts of the city.
On May 18, 1863, Mr. E. B. Armstrong moved in the council the appoint- ment of a committee to "inquire into the practicability of supplying the city of Columbus with water." The motion was agreed to, and Messrs. E. B. Armstrong, John Graham, G. Douty and John G. Thompson were appointed to execute its instructions. In March, 1865, these gentlemen reported that they had, partly at their own expense, inspected the methods of water supply in many prominent cities, and had learned by surveys and analyses that the resources of the city were ample for an abundant supply of good water. The surveys for the com- mittee had been conducted by Philip D. Fisher, City Engineer. The analyses were executed by Professor T. G. Wormley. Much valuable information was acquired by these efforts, but in consequence of the Civil War then pending, and the uncertain condition of the iron market, definite action was postponed.
In November, 1867, the City Council, accompanied by various representatives of the local press, set out for an extended tour through the East for the alleged purpose of obtaining information on the waterworks question. Returning from this expedition, the council, on December 23, directed the City Engineer to make fresh surveys, plats and reports of cost. On the same date an ordinance was introduced by E. B. Armstrong providing for taking a vote of the people as to the issue of waterworks bonds to the amount of 8500,000. On February 10, 1868, this ordinance, so amended as to postpone the time of the election until the first Monday in May, was passed. About the same time a communication from Professor Wormley was published stating that numerous wells in the city were dangerously impregnated with organic matter. The professor recommended that the city take its water from the Whetstone River, which he deemed sufficiently pure for domestic use. Another writer stated that the steam boilers then in use looked " like honey combs," so encrusted were they hy the " limestone water."
During the night of November 18, 1868, the Central Asylum for the Insane took fire and was completely destroyed. The progress of the flames was not par- ticularly rapid, yet so insufficient was the water supply that the great building could not be saved, and several lives were lost. By this impressive disaster the waterworks movement was given an impetus which finally resulted in something decisive. On November 23, 1868, the couneil appointed a new committee, with instructions to visit Lockport and Auburn, New York, and there inspect the Holly Manufacturing Company's system of water supply. In December this committee, the members of which were L. Donaldson, J. Reinhard, William Naghten, E. B. Armstrong, James Patterson, H. W. Jaeger and C. P. L. Butler, reported recommending that the Holly system be a lopted for Columbus.
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