USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 12
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erected by Mr. McCullum in 1805, some say in 1807. For a time before the first courthouse was finished in the fall of 1807, rooms in McCullum's brick tavern may have been used for county purposes. The rent paid by the county to Mc- Cullum was twenty-five dollars a year for the first two years, thirty-seven dollars and sixty-four cents for the next and ten dollars for the following fraction of a year.
FIRST JAIL.
The first county building erected was a temporary jail contracted for and completed in 1804 at a cost of three hundred and ninety-nine dollars. The build- ing was to be of "good straight round logs, thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide, the logs to be at least twelve inches in diameter at the smallest end and the walls of the house to be raised twelve feet in height with a partition of iogs of the same description * the least room to be ten feet in width for the safekeeping of persons charged with or convicted with crimes." This part was to have one window with four eight by ten inch glass. The larger apartment was for debtors and was to have two windows each with twelve lights of glass eight by ten inch. and was also to have a fireplace. Each apartment had a loft. Every provision was made for complete security. The jail stood on the rear of the court house lot next to Third street, and answered all purposes for a half dozen years. In 1800, for a debtor who "broke jail," the county paid to Daniel Williams, the plaintiff, nine dollars, the amount of the debt.
FIRST COURT HOUSE.
In June, 1805, advertisements were placed in Cincinnati and Lexington pa- pers for bids for the building of a brick court house. The contract was let to Benjamin Archer, one of the associate judges, for four thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars. The structure was forty-two by thirty-eight feet, two stories and placed exactly on the corner of Main and Third. While it was in process of building, the roof was changed to a hip roof and made strong enough to support a cupola and bell to be supplied later. The cupola was a Ided in 1815, and the bell was supplied in 1816. The building was not ready for occupancy till the fall of 1807, and was then incomplete.
SOME EVENTS IN 1805.
As if Dayton had not had enough difficulties and discouragements to overcome, a great flood swept over the town in 1805. Mr. Cooper proposed that the plat on the lower ground be vacated and a new plat laid out on the high ground to the east of the old plat. Two of the property holders declined to make the change unless compensation should be made to them for their improvements. Later, con- fidence began to return and the population of the town began to increase, regaining pace with the increasing population of the surrounding country. In 1805, the Presbyterians, finding their log meeting house not worth completing or repair- ing, sold the same for twenty-two dollars and held their meetings first, it is
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said, in Newcom's tavern, and then in the McCullum building, occupied by the courts, and in 1807, in the court house, where they continued to hold their meet- ings till 1817, when their new church at the corner of Second and Ludlow streets was completed. Also, in 1805, the burying ground about the Presby- terian church at the northeast corner of Third and Main streets was declared not a permanent burying ground and location was provided south of Fifth street and west of Wilkinson. The development of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, both of which, in some sense, were coeval with the founding of the Dayton settlement, may best be described in the special chapter on the Dayton churches.
About 1805, the gully five or six feet deep at the corner of Third and Main streets was filled with logs and covered over with earth. Likewise in 1805, the county commissioners, in compliance with their contract with Cooper, sold at auction a number of lots received from him, the same to be built on within one year. The prices bid ranged from fifty-five dollars and twenty-five cents to one thousand, six hundred dollars per lot. Some lots had previously sold for as low a price as fourteen cents.
In 1805, the "Dayton Library Society" was incorporated by an act of the Ohio legislature, the officers till the next annual meeting being Rev. William Robert- son, Dr. John Elliott and William Miller, directors; Benjamin Van Cleve, librarian ; and John Folkerth, treasurer.
TOWN CHARTER.
To make the year 1805 entirely full, the town of Dayton was incorporated by an act of the Ohio legislature bearing date February 22, 1805. Mr. Cooper, who was a member of the legislature, was doubtless entitled to the credit for the acts affecting Dayton. The boundary of the town as stated in the charter is as follows: "Beginning on the bank of the Great Miami where the sectional line between the second and third sections, first township and seventh range inter- sects the same thence east with the same to the middle of section thirty-three, second township, seventh range, thence north two miles, thence west to the Miami river, thence down the same to the point of beginning." The area included was thus two miles from north to south, beginning approximately at the north line of the Cash Register grounds, and extending to about a quarter of a mile north of Mad river at its mouth and a mile and a half in average breadth, extending from a line a little east of where Wayne avenue passes the east line of Woodland cemetery to the Miami river. The growth of the village and city for a period of seventy- five years scarcely overtook these ample bounds, only a fringe of extensions being called for, chiefly west of the Miami river.
The charter directed that the officers of the town should be seven trustees, an assessor, a collector, a supervisor and fire marshal, all to be freeholders and to be elected by the freeholders and householders, who should have resided six months in the town, together with a treasurer, who should be elected by the trustees. The trustees were to elect from their number a president and a recorder who were to exercise a small measure of executive authority. At the close of the first year three of the trustees were to be retired by lot and three persons elected to the
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vacancies, and the second year four were to be retired and replaced. The place of meeting of the trustees, known as the select council, was at the place of meeting of the courts. In case the town business interfered with the county business, the president or recorder was to direct where the meetings should be held. Every trustee or other officer was subject to a fine of not more than twenty dollars, or less than five dollars for refusal to accept the office to which he might be elected or for neglect of the duties of the same, except that no person could be com- pelled to serve for two successive terms.
The annual meeting of the inhabitants was to be at the place of holding courts on the first Monday of May annually when trustees and other officers should be elected and taxes for the expense of the town voted. Within two days after this election, the trustees were to elect the president and recorder for the year. The town was to be allowed the use of the county jail.
ACTS OF COUNCIL.
The first members of the select council were David Reid, Maxfield Ludlow, William Miller, D. C. Cooper, John Folkerth, Rev. James Welsh and Dr. John Elliott. David Reid was elected president and Maxfield Ludlow was elected recorder.
In January, 1806, William Miller, on account of removing from the town, resigned as a trustee and Benjamin Van Cleve was chosen by the select council to fill the vacancy.
Many laws were adopted in the first year which were to be put up at "the court house door."
SCHOOLS.
In March, 1806, James Welsh, D. C. Cooper and Benjamin Van Cleve, a committee previously appointed for the purpose, brought in an important report on schools and academies, the same being adopted by the council. It may be well to allow these framers of the educational policy of Dayton to be heard through their own words. They declared as follows: "Be it ordained by the select council of the town of Dayton, That on the first Monday of May next and on the first Monday of May annually forever hereafter immediately after the corporation election is over, the employers or persons immediately interested in the manage- ment of schools and who reside within the corporation shall elect five persons to manage the schools and seminaries of learning within the corporation for the ensuing year for the best interest and comfort of the inhabitants within the cor- poration. They shall be residents within the corporation and no member of the select council shall hold a seat in the committee for the management of the schools.
"SECTION 2. Be it further ordained that no schoolmaster, teacher or assistant shall be admitted to teach in any academy or school house belonging to the corpor- ation or the inhabitants thereof until he is first examined and approved of by the trustees, saving such as are engaged at the time of this ordinance taking effect. The committee, (any three of whom shall constitute a board capable of transact- ing the business), shall have full power to remove any teacher or other person
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for mal-conduct at any time. It shall be their duty to attend the schools at least once every quarter and individually, as often as is convenient to examine the progress, the mode of tuition and to consult with the teachers for the best interest of the schools. They shall attend and assist the teachers at all public recitals and shall cause all necessary buildings to be made or replaced; firewood to be provided, and everything that may be necessary for the schools at the expense of the subscribers or employers."
Putting different evidences together, it appears that a school house was built in 1805 on the rear of the two lots at the southwest corner of Main and Third streets, which lots were donated the same year as the site for an academy. At some time before August, 1807, three of the most prominent citizens of Dayton were indicted for rioting at the "public school house" and breaking ten panes of glass. Two of them plead guilty and. paid a fine of two dollars each, and the other at the time when court met had not been found. Years afterward, John Littell, on a visit to Dayton, stated that in 1805, he taught a school "in a log cabin in the brush near the corner of Main and Third streets." Swansey Whiting, an educated man from Pennsylvania, is also said to have taught school in Dayton in 1805. As probably but one school existed at this time, he might have taught one of the two terms into which the year was divided.
In 1804, Cornelius Westfall taught two terms of school in some house not now known. George F. Tennery, the first attorney allowed on examination to practice in Montgomery county courts, subscribed for three children at two dol- lars each per term, two-thirds to be paid in cash and one-third in approved trade and, at the conclusion of these terms, September 18th and December 18th, 1804, refused to make payment, and action was brought in the common pleas court for twelve dollars, the amount claimed. The defendant alleged that the teacher neg- lected his business and was incompetent. Judgment for the amount claimed and costs, however, was rendered against him. The agreement on the part of the teacher ran, "The said Cornelius doth agree to teach and instruct the children of subscribers in the art of reading, writing and arithmetic in the speediest manner he is capable of for the term of one year, and to furnish himself with boarding at his own expense and to open school at 9 o'clock and continue till 12, then after an intermission of two hours, to open and continue till 6 o'clock or till such time as will allow his pupils sufficient time to return to their respective homes."
In 1807, William McClure, Jr., taught a three months' school beginning May IIth, he to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, to board himself, and receive two dollars per month for each scholar, the amount to be one dollar and seventy- five cents if the number of scholars should reach thirty, the subscribers to furnish a school house, benches, books, etc.
The subscribers, with the number of children subscribed for, were: B. Van Cleve, two; David V. D. Scott, one; John Compton, Jr., one; James Reyburn, one; H. G. Phillips, one; David Reid, one; William Patton, one; William Mc- Clure, one ; Hugh McCullum, two; John Bennet, one; David Squier, one; Rhoda Wood, one; Thomas Taylor, one; James Welsh, two; James Hanna, two; Aaron Baker, one; William Peyin, two; George F. Tennery, three. The above does not represent the entire school population but it is not likely that another school was in operation at the same time.
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February 15, 1808. the Dayton Academy was incorporated by James Welsh, D. C. Cooper, William McClure, Daniel Reid, John Folkerth, George F. Tennery, Benjamin Van Cleve and James Hanna. The same year, the two academy lots at the southwest corner of Main and Third streets were sold for eight hundred and twenty-five dollars, and two-thirds of the lot at the northwest corner of Third and St. Clair streets was donated by D. C. Cooper, being the rear part and facing St. Clair street. On this lot in November, 1808, was completed a brick two-story academy building, three hundred and forty dollars of the money being furnished by sixty-eight shareholders at five dollars each. An account of the school will be found in the chapter on education.
VILLAGE FUNDS.
We may now take notice of the initial steps of the select council and the peo- ple of Dayton in the securing and expenditure of money for public purposes. August 10th, 1805, the inhabitants were summoned to meet at the house of Hugh McCullum, the court house, for the purpose of voting a tax for the benefit of the corporation. The inhabitants, however, did not appear at that time. They were summoned to meet the 28th, but again they did not appear. January 2, 1806, the inhabitants met on summons. An estimate of eighty-five dollars was placed before them and approved. A question as to the legality of the procedure being raised, the matter was again brought before the people, January 11, 1806, and the estimate this time placed at seventy-two dollars. As giving the names, with a few exceptions, of the citizens of that time, the names of those voting are as follows: For the tax, David Reid, James Welsh, John Elliott, Matthew Pat- ton, Stephen Ludlow, Thomas McNutt, Henry Curtner, Maxfield Ludlow, Sam- uel Hopkins, David Squier, James Brown ; against the tax, George F. Tennery, Caleb Hunt, John Bennet, Bazil Williams, Henry Gullion, Christian Fritz, John Gullion, John Miller, Samuel Woods, Hugh McCullum, D. C. Cooper, Conklin Miller, Edward Page, Jerome Holt, James Thompson, John Wodeman, Robert Culbertson. The proposition was defeated by a negative vote of seventeen against an affirmative vote of eleven. In May, 1806, David Reid, Maxfield Ludlow and D. C. Cooper were retired from the select council. D. C. Cooper was reelected and the new members were Christopher Curtner and George F. Tennery. Caleb Hunt was elected in the place of William Miller, who had resigned. The select council elected D. C. Cooper president and John Folkerth recorder, also Hugh McCullum treasurer. David Reid, who had been elected supervisor, refused to serve and was fined five dollars. The business of the supervisor was to clear and improve the streets, and he was expected to do this with or without money at his disposal. During the preceding year the treasurer had received nine dollars, of which six dollars and twenty-five cents was paid out on the order of the president. In September, Horatio G. Phillips was elected a member of the council in place of John Folkerth, who moved beyond the limits of the town. September 25th, an ordinance was passed to prevent hogs running at large. This was later sus- pended for a time.
February 24, 1807, the inhabitants met at the house of Hugh McCullum and voted a tax of three hundred dollars, but this action was later held to be illegal.
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Meanwhile, a dam was ordered built across a bayou at Mill street and a causeway at the south end of Main street. At the annual election in May, the vote stood against a tax twenty-nine to fourteen. William McClure, Benjamin Van Cleve, H. G. Phillips and James Welsh were elected to the select council. William McClure was made president and Benjamin Van Cleve recorder. Hugh Mc- Cullum was made treasurer. June 9, 1807, gravel walks were ordered made at the expense of property holders on Water street from Mill to Main street and part way on Main street. A fine of twenty-five cents was declared for all mem- bers who should be thirty minutes late at meetings. At the same meeting, a mo- tion to repeal the ordinance as to hogs was voted down, and from this time, the money from the sale of hogs gathered into the pound, many of them belonging to neighboring farmers, became the chief source of revenue. Later, at the com- plaint of farmers and by act of the Ohio legislature, this source of revenue was greatly reduced.
At the annual meeting in May, 1808, the proposition to validate the tax voted in 1807 was negatived. This year, William McClure and Benjamin Van Cleve were respectively reelected president and recorder.
May 21, 1808, after three years of unsuccessful effort, the inhabitants met and voted a tax of four hundred dollars by a vote of twenty-seven to eight.
In August, 1808, the following bills were allowed:
H. G. Phillips, plow irons $10.00
D. C. Cooper, woodwork for plow. 2.50
David Duncan, smithwork at same. 5.25
John Gullion, building of causeway 73.79
Benjamin Van Cleve, as recorder. 4.50
The supervisor was required "for the time being to take charge of the town plow and suffer it to be used for the benefit of the corporation, only that he be accountable for the same until his successor be qualified and that he shall then deliver the same to his said successor." The taxes collected were three hun- dred and ninety-nine dollars, forty-nine and three-fourths cents.
In 1809, Isaac G. Burnet was chosen president and James Steele recorder. In 1810, D. G. Cooper was chosen president and James Steele recorder.
VILLAGE GROWTH.
With the locating of the county seat at Dayton in 1803, business opportunities began to develop. George McDougal closed out his store at Newcom's tavern in 1803, as other uses demanded all available room.
The firm of Brown and Sutherland opened a general store on the east side of Main street near Water in 1804. Shortly after the Wayne treaty, Henry Brown and John Sutherland had become partners in business as Indian traders at Fort Hamilton. In 1798-99, Brown, with a portion of the goods, opened a branch store at Loramie: At Dayton, the firm dealt largely with the Indians, sending agents with goods into a wide adjoining territory. The firm was dis- solved in 1812, Mr. Brown continuing in business on Main street just north of the court house lots.
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In 1806, D. C. Cooper and John Compton entered into partnership, erected a one-story brick building and established a store at the northeast corner of Main and First streets. John Compton, who continued the business of Cooper and Compton, published the following notice in 1808: "Persons indebted to John Compton to pay by November. N. B. Wheat, rye, corn-fed pork or corn taken in payment."
In 1806, James Steele and Joseph Peirce erected a two-story brick building and opened a store at the southeast corner of Main and First streets. A third store, established in 1806, was that of Horatio G. Phillips, at the southwest corner of Jefferson and First streets. The house was a two-story log dwelling house, one room of which was used as a store. In 1812, Mr. Phillips built a two-story brick store-room on the southeast corner of Main and Second streets, his frame resi- dence adjoining on Main street. About the same time, William Eaker opened a store at the northeast corner of Main and Second streets. These stores, while dividing the business in the town, drew business from distant places and a wide territory.
In April, 1809, Dr. P. Wood opened in Reid's inn a drug store. Dr. James Welsh, in connection with his practice as a physician, kept on sale a supply of medicines.
In manufacturing, the first necessities were mills for grinding grain and saw- ing wood. Reference has already been made to the tub-mill said to have been built by William Hamer, and to the mills built by Cooper in Dayton and on his farm south of Dayton. In 1809, Mr. Cooper installed a carding machine. In 1810, James Bennet had two carding machines in operation, one of them having been established the year before. In 1809, Robert Patterson established a fulling- mill. A little earlier, David Duncan was running a blacksmith shop. Thomas Arnett continued to work in his shoemaker's shop till after 1805. Matthew Pat- ton was the village carpenter. James Hanna, whose farm was west of the Miami river, had a weaving establishment at the lower end of Main street. In 1808, John and Archibald Burns were operating a sickle factory. John Strain and Company had a nail factory on Main street between Water and First streets. At Henry Disbrow's there was another nail factory. James Beck was conducting a blue-dyeing establishment-cotton dyed at seventy-five cents per pound, linen or woolen at sixty-two and one-half cents. David Steele had a cooper shop on First street near St. Clair. Thomas McNutt carried on a tailoring business.
TAVERNS.
In a pioneer town, the taverns were an important factor and a characteristic feature. The original tavern continued under the name and management of Colonel George Newcom till about 1811, when Robert Graham seems to have taken charge, retaining the same till the close of 1816. In 1803, it served as courthouse and jail as well as a tavern, and later at times also as a place for religi- ous meetings. It was a tarrying point for prospectors and a stopping place for judges and attorneys as they passed to and from Detroit. As the house never had more than four large rooms and a kitchen, it is probable that when large parties ap- plied for lodging, they were accommodated in a rear room called the movers' room.
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Mr. Newcom was host, hostler, bar-keeper and hunter as well as a farmer. Before the roaring fire in the spacious fire-place, the people of the village and passing strangers were wont to gather and narrate the happenings of the day and to recall the adventures of the days just past. It is said that Mr. Newcom built in close' connection with his tavern in 1809 or 1810 the first brewery in the county. This was probably in 1810, as in that year he bought the lot immediately ad- joining on the west.
Colonel John Grimes, an officer in the War of the Revolution, built his one- story-and-a-half log tavern on the east side of Main street south of the alley be- tween Water and First streets. It was a popular place for parties and town meetings.
Reid's inn stood on the west side of Main street where the First Baptist church now stands. Many public meetings in which Colonel Reid was a leading spirit were held here. Colonel Reid received his military titile in the War of 1812. The name of the tavern was changed to "Reid's Inn," the house being made a place of entertainment for the people of the community instead of the traveling public. It is said that the change was made to escape liability for the ten-dollar license fee required of keepers of taverns. The house was a two-story frame with a belfry for a dinner bell. After the War of 1812, there was placed in front of the house on a tall post a portrait of Commodore Lawrence with a scroll bear- ing the words, "Don't give up the ship." In 1825, at the time of agitation for canals when Governor De Witt Clinton with others visited Dayton, though lodg- ing was taken at McCullum's tavern, then under the management of John Comp- ton, the banquet, so to speak, was served at Reid's, one hundred and thirty-four guests being present. Colonel and Mrs. Reid were very dignified. He would open the door and say, "Gentlemen, dinner is ready." The ladies were always seated first.
The first brick tavern in Dayton was a two-story structure built by Hugh Mc- Cullum on the southwest corner of Main and Second streets. It was surmounted by a belfry containing a bell. After the War of 1812, a picture of the capture of the British frigate "Guerrier," by the American frigate "Constitution" was painted on the hotel sign, which was held aloft on a tall post at the edge of the sidewalk. The building was used as a hotel till 1870, and then, after certain alterations, continued to be used for business purposes till 1880. Another house for lodging or boarding existing before 1810, was that of Henry Disbrow, which he offered for sale in 1809, describing it as "an elegant two-story frame house, forty-five feet front and twenty-four feet back, a good kitchen adjoining ; good well of water at the door, good nail factory and stable ; situation good for either tavern or store, post-and-rail fence." At this house, after the Fourth of July celebration in 1809, an elegant dinner was served, tickets costing fifty cents.
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