USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 25
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number of plats. Small plats were continually being added or old plats modi- fied.
When in 1868 the territory west of the river as far west as King street was taken into the city of Dayton, renumbering, harmonizing and further ex- tensions became the order of the day. A part of Summit street started out as Barnet avenue. Later, a part of the street was called Willard street. The part of that street north of Third street was called Home street and then Sum- mit, which became the name of the entire street. Some plats were entirely rearranged and others might better have been. Looking west we notice the Mckinley plat, the Bish plat, the plats immediately about the Soldiers' Home, and, beyond the Soldiers' Home, the Crown Point and Kingville additions. An addition nearer and more recent is that of the large Shupe farm and ad- joining lands under the name of Westwood.
West Dayton, while having a number of manufacturing establishments, the largest of which is the Malleable Iron Works, is for the most part a residence district where a large proportion of the people own and take pride in their own homes.
DAYTON VIEW.
Dayton View is preeminently the residence suburb of Dayton. It is included chiefly in section 29 and fractional section 28, town 2, range 6, east, while frac- tional section 27 adjoining on the east is occupied by Riverdale. These sections were patented to Dr. James Welsh, pastor of the Presbyterian church, David Reid, Elizabeth Parker and William George, January 10, 1812, and were later divided out to these persons severally, Mr. Welsh receiving section 27 and section 28 as far west as the mouth of Wolf creek. About 1806, he estab- lished a ferry from the foot of First street to a point directly north to where Salem avenue now is.
March 13, 1816, he platted "North Dayton" in the vicinity of Salem avenue, intending it to be a rival town to Dayton. He advertised as an advantage that the people west of the Miami could do their trading at this town without having to cross the Miami river. But in 1817, he moved away from Dayton, and the next year filed a request to have the plat vacated and the same year sold his land to S. W. Davies and Thomas D. Carneal. With the building of the Bridge street bridge in 1819, it was thought that the time had come for starting a town beyond the Miami. Accordingly, the town of "Pearson" was laid out at the north end of the bridge. Later, permission was asked to vacate this plat. In 1821, all of fractional section 27, 4II acres, and the east part of section 28 passed to the heirs of Joseph Peirce, Sr., James Steele, through his wife re- ceiving a part interest. James Steele sold to his brother, Samuel, a part interest. We accordingly soon hear of Steele's dam and Steele's hill, the high ground around from the Bridge street bridge to Forest avenue.
In 1845, P. P. Lowe platted some land between the Salem Pike and Easton street into one, two and three acre lots, thus setting up a bar to right platting which was only partially removed by a replatting by J. O. Arnold in 1869. The ground was sometimes called Holt's garden lots.
March 27, 1847, John Steele platted a small triangular piece of ground reaching for a short distance on both sides of Central avenue and first used
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the name "Dayton View" in connection therewith. The plat was largely blotted out by subsequent plats.
In the spring of 1869, William A. Barnet and J. O. Arnold platted some land between Salem avenue and Central avenue and north of River street and other plats soon followed. When one of the men who afterward joined in the enter- prise to build up Dayton View, was asked to take an interest in the undertaking, his answer was that a poor man could not live over there and a rich man would not. A high rim ran along the south side of a good deal of the land, making the ground back of it swampy. It was necessary to cut channels through this. Much of the credit for the making of Dayton View belongs to J. O. Arnold, who bought and platted land or platted his own, and imposed strict conditions in making sales, usually sacrificing thereby any profits that otherwise might have come to himself.
Among the more recent additions, some of them veritable beauty spots, are Fairview, 1897 ; College Park, 1902, and later, University Heights, 1903; Mount Auburn, 1904; Fort McKinley, 1905. Vernon Place is one of the more recent additions. The Stoddard plat, sometimes called Bellmont, and occupying old Steele Hill, is generously laid out.
Dayton View does not aspire to be a business or factory section, indeed prides herself on the fact that she is neither, desires good schools in her midst and is perfectly willing to cross the splendid new Dayton View bridge to go to church.
RIVERDALE.
The section of Dayton now known as Riverdale, which lies east and west of Main street, and north of the Great Miami river, was originally known as McPherson Town. It covers the territory known technically as section 27 and parts of sections 21 and 28, town 2, range 6, east. The patent for sections 27 and 28 and also 29 was originally granted to James Welsh, David Reid, Eliza- beth Parker and William George on January 12th, 1812.
For a long time after the founding of Dayton, this territory on the north side of the river lay dormant, it being very low and overflown by every freshet of the river. There were no bridge facilities for this part of the town until the year 1836, when the covered bridge was built at Main street. Previous to this time the only method of crossing the river was at the ford at First street running across to the Salem road, or the bridge at Bridge street.
The first attempt at subdividing this land north of the river was in October, 1844, when J. H. Peirce made a subdivision of 26.39 acres in large out-lots varying in size from 1.53 to 7 acres. This plat was located south of and ad- joining the Tate or Steele mill race, now filled in and forming the Great Miami boulevard, and extending east of Main street to the river, and as far south as the bend in Main street at Shaw avenue and the bend in the river at Herman avenue.
On February Ist, 1845, Samuel McPherson filed his plat of the town of Mc- Pherson, which formed the nucleus about which Riverdale developed. This plat consisted of a tier of lots on each side of what is now known as McPherson
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street, running from Main street to Linwood street, also a tier of lots fronting on Main street on the west opposite McPherson street.
Almost coincident with McPherson's plat was the addition to the town of McPherson of Robert W. Steele which was also received for record in Feb- ruary, 1845. This plat was south of McPherson's plat and covered territory which by the lengthening of the Main street bridge and the construction of the levee is now partly absorbed by the river channel. It lay west of Main street and north of the old river road, which ran west from the old Main street bridge along the water's edge.
Another small addition of six lots fronting on Main street on both sides of Emmet street was made by Samuel McPherson in November, 1845.
The next move was made north of the hydraulic, or Tate's mill race as it was then called, Henry Herman in October, 1851, platting into large lots the terri- tory between Tate's mill road (now Forest ave.) and Main street - extending from the hydraulic north as far as Plant street. Geyer street which is one of the oldest streets in Riverdale received its existence from this plat.
By this time McPherson Town had developed into a pretty thriving suburb of Dayton, and in June, 1868, it was duly annexed and made a part of the city of Dayton, the corporate limits being set at the north line of section 28, and the west line of Tate's mill road ( Forest ave.)
Shortly after this, in April, 1871, the largest subdivision on record up to this time in this section was made by Herman and Davies. It covered all the territory lying between Main street and the hydraulic race, from Lehman street to the alley north of Herman avenue.
In July, 1888, a slight extension of the corporation line was made so as to include Mumma's plat, which plat the corporation line at this time following as it did the north line of section 28 intersected diagonally. This extension placed the city limits at the alley north of Bond street.
From this time on the growth of Riverdale was steady and rapid. The large lots into which the sections were at first divided were re-subdivided, and additional plats constantly attached themselves to the outskirts. In 1891 Main street was paved from the river bridge to Bond street, and the corporation line was again extended northwardly as far as Mary avenue and westwardly to what is now Old Orchard avenue. In 1896 the paving of Main street was extended to Reuben avenue. After the disastrous flood of 1897, during which all Riverdale was flooded, the levees were enlarged and strengthened, insuring the territory against further danger from freshets of the river.
In 1900 an efficient sanitary sewer system was constructed. In August, 1902, another extension of the corporate limits of the city, brought the corporation line as far north as Norman Avenue, and in 1903 the imposing concrete-steel struc- ture which at present crosses the river took the place of the old iron bridge. In the past few years a pumping station has been installed to take care of the rain- fall during flood periods of the river, when the sewer flood gates must be closed. and the old hydraulic race has been converted into a beautiful boulevard. Plat- ting has not ceased, the more important plats added during late years being the Mumma plats, the Roney plat, the Wolf plat of Elmwood and the Rost
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plat. The corporation line has once more been extended in this year (1909), fixing the northern boundary of the city at the alley north of Highland avenue.
NORTH DAYTON.
Though North Dayton has had its chief growth in recent years its beginnings reach back to a very early period. The designation as now used applies to all of that part of the city north of Mad river and east of the Miami. The land preempted by D. C. Cooper extended about one-fourth of a mile north of the mouth of Mad river. Beyond Cooper's line the land was owned by John Cleves Short. It was on this land that the first platting was done.
The first plat of North Dayton was made by John Cleves Short and was recorded June 7, 1814. The land lay north of what is now Ohio street. The Harker plat, likewise north of Ohio street, was laid out in 1841. The name North Dayton as applied to this part of the city first appeared in connection with this plat. Later, a part of this plat, though not all, was vacated. The lands included are now occupied by he Platt Iron Works.
March, 17, 1845, Shively and Trader's plat under the name of Texas was recorded. Emanuel Thienpont's addition to Texas was recorded later in the same year. This plat comprised the land near the junction of the Brandt and Valley pikes. Joseph Bimm platted an addition to the town of Texas in 1848. It lay south of Valley street, opposite Shively and Trader's plat. Huesman and Smith's plat recorded in 1850 included grounds on Troy, Valley and Air streets.
Henry Brown platted the town of Palma in 1851. The land included lies north of Valley street and west of the canal. In 1856 Kenney and Sheets platted land north of Ohio street between Troy and Koewee streets. The same year William Huffman platted land in the vicinity of Troy, Light, Dell and Valley streets. In 1863 and 1869, the L. C. Backus estate platted additions along Valley street.
In general, the name North Dayton was applied to that part of the city now known by that name north of Ohio street. The name, Palma, belonged to that part between Troy street and the canal, and the name, Texas, belonged to that part east of the canal and north of Mad river. The appellation for all this part of Dayton as "North Dayton" dates back to about 1890, about the same time that South Park made Slidertown a thing of the past.
The platting of North Dayton was largely influenced by the course of the original pikes-the Troy pike, formerly called the Montgomery and Miami turnpike, the Brandt pike, formerly called the Bellfontaine pike, and the Valley pike, formerly called the Mad river valley pike.
In 1897 and 1898 North Dayton was visited by disastrous floods. The changing of the channel of the Miami river north of this part of the city and the strengthening of levees add greatly to the security of this part of the city against a recurrence of like calamities. This suburb is noted alike for its numerous factories and its attractive residence parts. Its schools, churches and rapid transit service make it an eligible part of the city.
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EDGEMONT.
Edgemont is mainly built up on sections 3 and 4 of town 2, range 6, east, patented to Robert Patterson and William Lindsay in 1803. By the marriage of Henry Brown to the daughter of Robert Patterson and through the large financial resources of Mr. Brown we have the key to the early history of Edge- mont. Henry Patterson Brown, the son of Henry Brown, came into possession of a considerable part of the land patented to Robert Patterson and William Lindsay. He made a plat of outlots in October, 1853, giving to the same the name Patterson, but the people generally not caring much for genealogy, gave the place the name, Brownton, which name it continued to bear till the people, be- ginning to take pride in their suburb and having great expectations of its growth began to cast about for a suitable name. An informal vote of the people de- clared for Edgemont. The locating of the St. Elizabeth Hospital in that part of the city and the establishment of a number of factories along the railroad lines and at various points drew a great many people to Edgemont. The build- ing of the Washington street bridge in 1867, and the importance of Washington street and the Cincinnati pike as highways, at first determined the lines of ex- tension. At the present time there is a succession of plats, much of the territory being well covered with buildings, extending beyond the Miami Chapel road. A few years ago beautiful and luxuriant market gardens covered the area now occupied by this growing manufacturing and residence suburb.
EXTENSION TO THE EAST AND SOUTH.
As early as the time of the war of 1812, lots were being sold along Mad river. In 1836 D. Z. Cooper platted "buck pasture," a tract of thirty-seven acres lying immediately east of the original plat. The lots sold at nearly ten times the expected amount. Large plats in what came to be called Oregon, were made by the Cooper estate and by various persons. "Slidertown" in- cluded the territory in the vicinity of Brown and Patterson streets.
By far the largest single addition made to Dayton was included in the Findlay plat made by the heirs of General James B. Findlay in 1854. It con- sisted of about one thousand acres, one hundred and twenty of which lay north of Mad river and the remainder south of Mad river, all within the section line that is now the approximate eastern boundary of the city. The name town of Findlay was applied to it. Much of the land, though not all, has since been replatted. Some of the land was included in the large plats made by William P. Huffman.
In 1854 Highland was platted and in 1856 Oakland was platted, both being partly included in the plat of St. Anthony made in 1902.
Oakwood, first known as Oak Wood was platted in 1872.
The Edgar and Van Cleve plats on Wayne avenue and Wyoming streets made large additions to the city. In 1889 Ohmer Park, a tract of one hundred and four acres was platted.
Along the railroads, the canal and the western part of the chief streets leading to the east and south, there are many factories. The greater part of
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this territory is occupied by residences, some of them being of a superior class, but the greater part of them owned and occupied by people of ordinary means.
Some of the factories in the east end are the car works, the Davis Sewing Machine works, the Joice-Cridland works, Hewitt Bros. Soap works, makers of the well-known Easy Task Soap, the Gem City Stove works, which heats a great number of homes in the country with the famous Gem City Stove, the Zwick & Greenwald Wheel factory, which furnishes wheels to the world, the Meeker Manufacturing Company, the Dayton Spice Mills, the Dayton Hydraulic Company, makers of hydraulic machinery, the Dayton Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of railroad castings, the Stiner Gas Engine Company, makers of the Stiner Gas Engine, and many other factories which help to make East Day- ton the home of the prosperous workingman.
East Dayton has a citizens' league with over seven hundred members. Such organizations in different parts of the city foster a local pride, unify sentiment and have a large influence in the affairs of the city.
To the south of the city are the large open areas of the fair grounds and Woodland cemetery, the Miami Valley Hospital and St. Mary's Institute. Then there are the unmatched Cash Register works under the influence of which Slidertown has been transformed into South Park.
By popular vote at the recent election, bonds to the amount of $450,000 were authorized for straightening the channel of the Miami river in the south part of the city, and also bonds to the amount of $170,000 for building a bridge across the Miami river at Stewart street. By the straightening of the river about four hundred and fifty acres of ground now lying idle because subject to the encroachment by the river or liable to be submerged when it is at flood tide, will be reclaimed and be made available for manufacturing or residence purposes. Of this amount two hundred and fifteen acres will lie on the east side of the river when its banks are rectified and two hundred and thirty-five upon the west side of the river, of which two hundred acres will lie between the river and Cincinnati street.
The placing of the bridge at Stewart street will make that street one of the longest in the city and will open up a direct way to the Soldiers' Home, which will certainly be largely used. In the plat of Carrmont the city gained the heights east of Calvary cemetery.
The first extension of the city limits to the east was in 1868. Beginning at the southeast corner of the original city limits a strip about one-half mile wide was added to the corporate limits on the east. In describing the northern boundary the account brings in a reference to a "public road known as Findlay street in the unincorporated village of Findlay."
Other general extensions in 1891 and in 1909 and two small extensions at other times have pushed far out to the east and south the boundaries of the city.
CHAPTER VIII.
MEDICAL AND DENTAL HISTORY.
SECTION I.
MEDICAL BEGINNINGS-JOHN HOLE-JOHN ELLIOTT-JAMES WELSH-WILLIAM MURPHY-JOHN STEELE-JOB HAINES-WILLIAM BLODGETT-MEDICAL SOCIE- TIES-MONTGOMERY COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-ACADEMY OF MEDICINE-HIB- BARD JEWETT-ADAMS JEWETT-OLIVER CROOK-SAMUEL G. ARMOR-CLARKE MCDERMONT-RICHARD GUNDRY-EARLY HOSPITALS-ST. ELIZABETH HOSPITAL -- JOHN DAVIS-E. PILATE-J. D. DAUGHERTY-W. H. NEGLY-S. B. ELLIS-P. N. ADAMS-RICHARD RALPH PETITT-MIAMI VALLEY HOSPITAL-PRIVATE HOSPITALS -TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL-BOARDS OF HEALTH-HOMEOPATHY-WILLIAM WEBSTER-F. W. THOMAS-DAYTON HOMEOPATHIC SOCIETY-DAYTON ECLECTIC SOCIETY.
MEDICAL MEN AND MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. BY W. J. CONKLIN, A. M., M. D.
The medical men who, with "empires on their brains," followed the tide of immigration into the Ohio country after the close of the war of the Revolution were men of heroic mold. In a general way it is known that "there were giants in the earth in those days," but the story of their lives must now be builded largely on faded traditions, newspaper clippings, and incidental mention in contemporary records.
It is worthy of note that when Dayton was founded there were only three med- ical schools in the United States. The mere certificate of a preceptor enabled one legally to "set up shop" as went the quaint phrase of the day. This system of medical apprenticeship was necessarily uncertain and irregular in results, depend- ing as much upon the attainments and teaching ability of the master as upon the industry and capacity of the student.
A marked change was wrought by the war for independence, which was a great clinical school for American doctors. It was the good fortune of most pioneer settlements in the Ohio valley to be first served in a medical way by ex- army surgeons. The little colony on the banks of the Miami was no exception and was singularly fortunate in the character and attainments of its early physi- cians.
JOHN HOLE (1755-1813).
Doctor John Hole, who in 1799 entered land in Washington township, about 8 miles south of Dayton, was the first physician to locate in this valley, and for five
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years was the only one from whom the scattered settlers could obtain medical . assistance.
Doctor Hole was born in Virginia (1755), and read medicine with Doctor Fullerton. Responding to the first call for troops in the Revolutionary war he went with a battalion of Virginia militia to the general camp near Boston, was commissioned surgeon's mate in the Continental army, and continued in active service until the close of the war. He fought at Bunker Hill, and was present when Washington assumed command of the army as chief.
Doctor Hole was on the medical staff of General Montgomery, in memory of whom this county was named, when he fell mortally wounded at the storming of Quebec in 1775. It is said that the old doctor was proud of his record on the plains of Montmorency, and enjoyed retelling the story of the battle and how he cared for the wounded by the flashlight of cannon. After the war he returned to Virginia, but ultimately located in New Jersey, where he had already married (1778).
He came west early in 1796 and opened an office in Cincinnati, where he intro- duced the practice of inoculation for smallpox, which had just made its appear- ance in the little settlement.
In the spring of 1797, after thoroughly prospecting the neighboring valleys, he purchased 1,440 acres of land on Silver creek, in Washington township, paying for it with Revolutionary land-warrants, built a cabin and removed his family to the new home in the wilderness, where he reared to maturity eight of the eleven children born to him.
Doctor and Mrs. Hole were Baptists in faith and he was the first person im- mersed in Silver creek, the name of which was, in honor of him, changed. to Hole's creek, by which it is still known.
About a year later Doctor Hole's father entered land and settled in Miami township, opposite the mouth of Bear creek. In 1799 the settlers, fearing an out- break of the Indians, built a stockade and blockhouse on his farm, which soon became known throughout the valley as Hole's station and was the beginning of Miamisburg.
In those days everything was more plentiful than money, and country produce of all kinds, in granary or on hoof, was accepted in payment for medical services, as shown by the following due bills :
I owe Dr. John Hole one pair of leather shoes for a boy child. BENJ. ROBBINS.
Nov. 1, 1801, I agree to deliver to Dr. J. Hole a winter's smoking of tobacco or five venison hams. G. ADAMS.
The statement of Drake that Doctor Hole was not a man of much education or social rank is evidently an error. His long and varied army service indicates very positively that he was the peer of his contemporaries in professional attainments, and the traditions of the neighborhood testify that the pretentious log cabin on Hole's creek was long the center of pioneer hospitality and culture.
Doctor Hole's energy is fully attested in the fact that, in addition to his profes- sional duties, which were attended with all of the hardships of frontier practice
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and extended over an unusually large district, he had time to build and manage sawmills and to engage in the diversified activities of pioneer life. At the outset of the war of 1812 he was tendered a position on the medical staff of the army, which failing health compelled him to decline. Doctor Hole died January 6, 1813, and is buried in the old cemetery near Centerville in this county.
JOHN ELLIOTT.
Doctor John Elliott, a New Yorker by birth and an army surgeon of large ex- perience, was the second physician to locate in this vicinity and the first in Dayton proper. He came in 1802, three years before the village was incorporated and shortly before it was designated as the seat of government for a territory large enough to include in its boundaries the whole of the present counties of Preble, Miami, Darke, Shelby, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance, and parts of Allen, Putnam and Henry.
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