USA > Ohio > Ohio early state and local history > Part 7
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First Brick Building-Built in 1824
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around the end of the dam. This let the water all out and Spencer's mill could not be operated. He therefore brought suit against Hedges who lost, because at the time the dam was constructed, the property on the Hedges' side belonged to the Government. The costs were $26.75; and thus ended the first jury trial in the county. This mill was a clumsy affair and the dam clumsier. Both lasted but a short time. The lowest layer of brush was laid parallel with the stream, the next layer the opposite direction, and so on until the desired height was reached. Then on top of the whole affair was heaped stones and dirt. Every freshet took the dam with it and then it would have to be rebuilt.
In 1823, Dr. Eli Dresbach from Circleville, a graduate of Ohio Medical College, settled in the new town and in 1824 built the first brick structure in the county. This building stood just north of the present McNeal Block (N. W. corner Sandusky and Miami streets) and was razed in 1911. "Drs. Dresbach and Cary carried these brick from the place where they were made by an old German settler, and helped lay the brick themselves." (From Miss Virginia Dresbach, niece of the doctor). Mrs. Lucy McNeal Gibson recently presented the Dolly Todd Madison Chapter, D. A. R., with a gavel made from one of the sills of this old building which "first served as the office of these pioneer doctors." It was after- wards occupied by Abel Rawson as a law-office, and, at one time served also as the post office, when Mr. Rawson acted in the capacity of post-master. It is related, too, of this small but important building, that it was at one time the seat of the local court and lawyers from many neighboring counties argued their cases within its walls. Frequently, too, it was the scene of special social functions." (Lucy McNeal Gibson).
The gavel bears a plate with this inscription:
1824-1912. DOLLY TODD MADISON CHAPTER N. S. D. A. R.
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In the year 1824 the town was again surveyed by David Risden, and the name of Oakley changed to Fort Ball. During the same year, John Souder and Richard Sneath entered the county in search of this place. Seeing a man standing in the road, Mr. Sneath jokingly asked him how far it was to Fort Ball. The man replied "You are right in the midst of it." This man was Milton McNeal, the merchant. So as late as 1824 Fort Ball was not very pretentious.
Development of Tiffin.
In 1821, Josiah Hedges entered at the Delaware Land Office, the land upon which Tiffin stands. He gave lots to different people with the understanding that they were to erect cabins and bring on their families. The first log heap burned on the Tiffin side was where the Commercial Bank now stands (N. E. Corner Court and Washington streets.) The first cabin erected in Tiffin stood where the Stalter Block now stands (about midway between River street and the next alley south on Washington street). Charles Kelley was the owner of this cabin. Before the present Stalter Block was erected, the old frame house occupied by the Yingst family stood on the exact site of this first cabin.
The first plat of Tiffin, made in 1821, had three streets running east and west: Perry, Market, and Madison, starting at Rock Creek on the east, and ending at the river on the west.
There were also three streets running north and south: Jefferson, Washington, and Monroe, starting at the river on the north and ending at an alley 180 feet south of Madison street on the south. The east end of this alley is now Tiffin street, and leads from Jefferson street to Hedges Park.
There were only three cabins :- the cabin of a cobbler, where the gas office now stands on the north-west creek bank on Perry street, the cabin of Charles Kelley where the Stalter Block now stands, and a cabin a little south of the present Crobaugh hardware store on Washington street. All the rest was forest. In the principal thoroughfare were the remains of the stumps where the road had been cleared through the woods.
First Court House-Built in 1822
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"After the first few cabins in Tiffin were put up, the place seemed to be dead for several years. The damp climate was conducive to sickness. The moneyed people gathered around Fort Ball and Tiffin was the home of the poor man. They had the best store over there, the post office was there too, and McNeal's corner was the hub of civilization" (Lang). Mr. Spencer and Mr. Hedges quarreled not only about the brush dam, but also concerning the location of the county seat. Each proprietor naturally wanted the county seat located on his own private territory. Mr. Hedges erected the first frame building in Tiffin in 1822, which was designed for a court house. It stood where the Advertiser office now stands (N. W. corner of Court and Jefferson streets). * This building is still stand- ing, having been moved to the river bank at the foot of Jefferson street. Mr. Spencer had reserved the open square south of McNeal's corner where Miami street School now stands. A court house was also to be built there. Finally the day arrived when the great trouble was to come to an end. The legislature had appointed three commissioners to locate the county seat for Seneca county. These gentlemen arrived here on the 25th of March, 1822, and located the seat of justice for Seneca county at Tiffin, where it has ever since remained.
There were but six cabins in Tiffin at this time. The Fort Ballites accused Mr. Hedges of bribery, and predicted all sorts of evils. Mr. Hedges having a relative in the legislature at that time who was a special friend of Ex-Governor Tiffin, will probably account in a measure for the location of the county seat at Tiffin. From this time on, the history of Tiffin includes the history of Fort Ball, although the bitter feeling did not cease to exist for many years.
Tiffin was named after Governor Edward Tiffin, the first Governor of Ohio, who was a particular friend of Mr. Hedges. Strange to say, the county-seat was established two years before the county was organized. The county had been formed, however, from old Indian territory, April 1, 1820. The records of the establishment of the county-seat of Seneca county are found in the archives of Sandusky county. Not until January
*It was swept away during the great flood of March, 1913.
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22, 1824, was Seneca county made into a distinct county by an act of the legislature, and the following April the first county election took place. Scarcely no progress was made on the Tiffin side, however, until after 1828, when Mr. Hedges secured the removal of the land office from Delaware to Tiffin.
History of the Court House.
When the Hedges court house became too small, the county commissioners made arrangements with the officers of the Methodist Episcopal church to have the courts held in their church, the largest assembly room in Tiffin at that time. For the use of the church, they paid from $9. to $12. a session as rent.
In the year 1836 the second court house of Seneca county was completed on the square where the present court house stands. The public square at that time, however, occupied just half the space it does now and extended east from Wash- ington street to where the alley would cross from Market street to Court street. In May 1841, this second court house burned and nothing but the walls remained. When the fire was first discovered at the north-east cornice, a couple bucket- fulls of water would have put it out, but there was no way to reach it. The people stood watching it burn, helpless as chil- dren. There were no hooks, no ladders, no fire engine, no fire company. All that could be done was to save the records, some of the furniture and the neighboring buildings. "This court house was considered fire proof. Oak logs hewed one foot square were laid close together over the whole lower story. These were covered with sand eighteen inches deep, so that if the upper story should ever burn, the sand on these logs would arrest the further progress of the fire, and save the records on the first floor. But the stair-way communicated the fire to the logs below and the sand came pouring down." (Lang). "The story is told that at the time this court house burned, a trial was going on against a man who had committed some crime. He set fire to the building thinking all records of the court proceedings would be burned and he could not be convicted."
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(Mrs. T. H. Bagby). Court again went back to the Methodist church until the court house could be rebuilt. The recent court house was built in 1884. When the old court house was torn down, the bell was placed in a neighboring cellar. When the new court house was built, the old bell was not needed, for a new one was purchased with the clock.
History of the Jail.
July 4, 1825, the County Commissioners contracted for $450.00 to build a jail. It was made of hewed logs fitted tight- ly on top of each other, with hewed logs for the ceiling, and heavy oak planks for the floor. The doors were made of double planks with wagon tires bolted across them for hinges and a large padlock on the door. There were two rooms in this log jail-one on the east side and the other on the west side. The windows were cross-barred with heavy tire iron. To the south end of the jail was attached a frame building as wide as the jail (about twenty feet), with a narrow stairway to the garret, and two small rooms below. This frame part was intended as a residence for the sheriff, but was never occupied for that purpose. The jailor lived there occasionally, and finally, and until it was torn down in 1840-1841, John Fiege occupied this frame part for a cabinet shop. It was situated at the south-east corner of the west half of the court house square, and was the first public building put up in Seneca county. It served its purpose, but not very well, for the prisoners very often escaped. They would loosen the logs and crawl out, and there was a usual Sunday morning excursion to the jail to see who had escaped.
On the 16th of May, 1843, the second county jail and sheriff's house were planned by the commissioners, the former to be of hewn stone, and the latter of brick, both under one roof. This building is still standing at the east end of Madison street, opposite the Convent. The building has not been changed, the original bars are on the windows and doors. It is now used by J. J. Fleck as a manufacturing plant.
In 1877 the present jail and sheriff's house were erected on the south side of the court house square, just a short distance east of where the old log jail stood.
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Development of the Churches.
The first brick-yards were started in 1830, one on the Fort Ball side, corner of Miami and Jackson streets, and one in Tiffin, at the south-west corner of the present Hedges Park, or rather between Hedges Park and Main street. The first con- tract from the Tiffin yard furnished brick for the first Catholic church, which stood opposite the stone jail on Madison street. So this first St. Mary's church, the fourth Catholic chapel in Ohio, must have been the first church building erected in Tiffin. This little edifice had a steeple and the first bell in the county. It was told at that time, that the high-toned little bell had been taken from a pirate ship, and brought across the Alleghanies to grace this steeple. After St. Mary's con- gregation built the second church on Miami street, the little chapel was used as a school house. Through carelessness with the stove, the building caught fire, burned, and the little bell melted.
In 1831 the first Methodist Episcopal church was erected. It stood where Klopp Brothers have their repair shop, (midway between Market street bridge and Monroe street, on the south side of the street. This building has quite a history. It was the largest building in town at that time and was used for church, court house, assembly hall, etc. When the second M. E. church was built on the South-east corner of Market and Monroe streets, this first church building was sold to Luther A. Hall, who converted it into the first Tiffin theatre. It was afterward used as a planing mill and sash factory. It burned when the Van Nest carriage shop and the covered wooden bridge were consumed. It was soon rebuilt, however, and later, the frame front added. Part of the original brick walls are still standing. The second M. E. church is now used as a meat market. The present church is a fine edifice on the south side of Madison street, midway between Monroe and Wash- ington streets. (A detailed account of the development of the different churches can be found in Lang's history of Seneca county.)
First Protestant Church-Built in 1831
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The first Presbyterian church is still standing and it is the double residence of F. K. Holderman and Dr. B. R. Miller, 22-24 Miami street. The first Methodist Protestant church is now the home of Walter Holt, 46 Monroe street. The first Baptist church remodeled, is the block on the south side of Perry street just across the alley from the Tiffin Savings Bank, Nos. 98 and 100. The first Ebenezer Evangelical church, condemned as unsafe a few years since, has been remodeled for a dwelling, No .. South Sandusky street, so the Ger- man and English congregations united and all attend the English church. (South-west corner of Washington and Hall streets). The first German Lutheran church was built of logs on the site of the present church in 1852. It now stands remodeled at 74 Coe street. The present German Lutheran church, built in 1857, is about to be razed to make room for a grand new structure (South-west corner of Main and Jefferson streets.) The first St. Joseph's church (Catholic) was on the site of the present church, with a burial ground on the east side. The bodies were removed to the present cemetery on South Washington street, when the present structure was built. The first Trinity Episcopal church stood on the site of the present church (North-west corner of Market and Jefferson streets). * The First Christian Science church is being built at present midway between Perry and Monroe streets bridges on the river bank on the west side of the river. Although no church buildings were erected in Tiffin until after 1830, nevertheless regular services were held at private residences and in various halls.
CHURCH DIRECTORY, 1912.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL, South side of Madison street, midway between Washington and Monroe streets.
METHODIST PROTESTANT, South side of Market street, midway between Washington and Jefferson streets.
PRESBYTERIAN, South-west corner of Monroe and Market streets.
BAPTIST, South-east corner of Jefferson and Perry streets.
ENGLISH LUTHERAN, North-east corner of Jefferson and Madison streets.
*Swept away during the great flood of March, 1913.
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GERMAN LUTHERAN, South-west corner of Jefferson and Main streets.
GERMAN REFORMED, South-west corner of Jefferson and Madison streets.
FIRST REFORMED, North-west corner of Monroe and Madison streets.
GRACE REFORMED, North-east corner of Jefferson and Perry streets. EBENEZER EVANGELICAL, South-west corner of Washington and Hall streets.
TRINITY EPISCOPAL, North-west corner of Market and Jefferson streets.
CHURCH OF CHRIST, Market street, east of Columbian High School.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, Water street, midway between Perry and Monroe streets.
ST. JOSEPH'S (Catholic), Corner of Washington and Melmore streets.
ST. MARY'S (Catholic), North-east corner of Sandusky and Clay streets. Old Church on Miami street, now used for social func. tions.
Development of Schools.
In 1828 Mr. Hedges executed a deed to the school directors for Lot 42 on which to erect a school house. It seems this building was not put up, however, until 1831, as that was the year the one story brick building was erected at that place, between the present Harter Block and Loomis' Foundry on Market street. This first school building accommodated sixty pupils. It was used for various purposes, besides school, until churches, orders, etc., could erect suitable edifices of their own. The building was torn down in 1844 and a two- story brick put up on the same site. The second school building had four rooms. When this became too crowded the German pupils were transferred to a small log building on Madi- son street, midway between Washington and Jefferson streets. The old building belonged to Philip Seewald, whose jewelry store was in a one story brick building on the corner of Madison and Washington streets. Between the brick building and the log house used as a school house, was a vacant space, and con- necting the two buildings was a high board fence made of
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lapped siding. This school was taught by Elizabeth Augs- berger, who paid the rent, furnished the room, and received the enormous salary of twenty dollars per month. Her bell was the tap of the ruler on the eave-trough. The High School was held in Webster Hall, South-east corner of Washington and Perry streets. These schools were all transferred to Monroe street school building when that edifice was completed.
The public school buildings were built in the following order:
1852: First Miami street building, which was the first Union school, a frame building which stood just west of St. Mary's old church on Miami street. It was afterwards sold to St. Mary's congregation for a parochial school. Later, it was cut in two parts and moved farther east on Miami street, where it now stands as two residences, Nos. 80 and 84 Miami street.
1855: Monroe street building, which has remained un- changed, at the North-west corner of Monroe and Union streets.
1871: College Hill building, which will soon be razed, the new one on the same site being in process of building, at the West corner of Perry and Market streets.
1871: Minerva street building, which has grown from a four room building to double that size, with spacious rooms and equipment, on the east side of Minerva street midway between Webster and Olive streets.
1878: Fishbaugh's building on West Perry street, at the North-east corner of Perry and Scott streets. This has been converted into a beautiful dwelling. The pupils were trans- ferred to the new Miami building.
1884: Miami street school, South-east corner of Sandusky and Miami streets.
1893: Columbian High School, at the South-east corner of Market and Jefferson streets, which is one of the finest in the State.
Besides the public schools, Tiffin has two parochial schools and Ursuline Convent, located as follows:
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St. Joseph's, on South Washington street, immediately south of St. Joseph's church.
St. Mary's the building immediately south of St. Mary's old church on Franklin street.
Ursuline Convent, on Jefferson, Madison, and Tiffin streets.
In connection with the Reformed Church, is our institution of learning, Heidelberg University. The development of the college from its foundation in 1850 to the publication of Lang's History in 1880, is graphically given by that his- torian. Suffice it to say that it started on the Third floor of a building called Commercial Row, which stood just north of the alley midway between Market and Perry streets, on the west side of Washington street. Holderman's dry goods store, and Selle & Grendon's furnishing store now occupy this site. The Institution now covers acres of land. The first college building is now used as a young men's dormitory. The present college building was erected in 1886. The first ladies' dormitory is now used as the Music Hall, and beautiful Williard Hall is the home of the girls. The President's resi- dence was erected in 1871. Since 1880, the college has grown gradually. The "Gynasium and Museum" was added in 1894; Williard Hall in 1906; and the Library and Science Buildings in 1912. These are all beautiful structures of which Tiffin may be very proud; and no tour of the city is complete without visiting the college buildings on the hill. In 1850 the Institution started with two professors and 149 students, which increased to 226 students during the next two years. The number decreased to 105 during the Civil War. Since that time the growth has been steady and the student body now numbers 400, with a faculty of 30 professors. In 1908 the Seminary Department was moved to Dayton, Ohio.
The most historical point about the buildings is the bell. If this bell could talk, what a story it would tell. It would tell of fires, of mustering of troops, of jollifications, of warnings, of death knells and what not. It would tell, too, that it had never been paid for; that it is on the borrowed list. When the present college building was completed it needed a bell. The board of trustees asked the county commissioners to give them the old
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Court House bell, which we left a few pages back hidden in a cellar, but the commissioners refused, saying that they had no right to give away the county's property, but that they would loan them the bell for the dedication of the college building. The historic bell was brought from its resting place and lifted to the belfry of Heidelberg, where it has ever since remained, borrowed property.
The Museum holds another relic in the old gong which was at one time stolen by members of the Class of 1896. In 1900, during Commencement week, the gong was presented in a glass case to the Museum, having gone around the world with dif- ferent graduates of the Institution. In the meantime, electric bells took the place of the old gong.
Building of Mills.
As early as 1822, Mr. Hedges erected a grist mill one half mile north of the present Washington street bridge, along the east side of the river, and in 1833 a saw mill on the west side opposite. The same dam operated both mills. This first mill is now owned and operated by Frank Bacon, and is the pioneer mill of the city. It is on the same site of the first mill erected in 1822. Having burned in 1874, it had to be rebuilt in 1875. The mill on the west side of the river has been razed and no vestige of it remains.
Mr. Hedges also built a saw mill one-fourth mile east of Tiffin on Rock Creek, about 1823. It stood a little north of where Main street crosses the creek.
In 1826 he built the city mill, which stood on the North-west corner of Perry street and Clinton avenue. This mill was run night and day to supply flour for the enterprising community. The same dam and race supplied both these mills. The saw mill burned in 1833, but the city mill was operated until the 1870's; later converted into a cider press, and finally torn down. No vestige of the dam and race remain.
All these mills were a great necessity, for the people from this county were compelled to take their grain to Upper San- dusky, or other distant towns, to be ground. The roads were
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almost impassable and the trip took the best part of a week, for some times one would have to wait a couple of days at the mill for his turn.
John Keller built his first mill in 1828, two and one-half miles north on the east side of the river. It is now known as Beckley's Mill.
In 1846, Shumaker and Riffle built the mill on the west side of the river near the bridge which leads to Riverview Park. This mill is operated by water power, and the large water wheel turns in the same place it turned nearly fifty years ago. The building has not been changed, but a few years ago a fine new dam was built. It is now known as Speck's Mill.
On the South-west corner of Water and Washington streets stands an old building which has been operated as a grist mill by various parties. It is now used for the manufacture of stock food.
Development of the Bridges.
Before any bridges existed in Tiffin, people crossed the river in a dug-out ferry-boat, the fare being two cents a trip. George Park had charge of the Bowe Tavern at that time and also ran the ferry boat. Those on the Tiffin side had to go to Fort Ball for mail, and the ferry-boat started from the tri- angular space on the south side of the river midway between Washington and Monroe street bridges. This spot was used as a city dump for years, so that the low bank has been filled up. The place has always been an eye-sore, until the club women of Tiffin recently took the matter in hand and have been trying to beautify it.
The first Washington street bridge was a wooden one, built by Josiah Hedges, and completed just so that planks could be laid across for foot passengers, when it was taken away by a flood. Mr. Hedges then built a better bridge and collected toll. The bridge was a great convenience, but the idea of pay- ing toll was very annoying, so a subscription list was started, and when it reached the desired amount, a free bridge was built on Market street, in 1857. Mr. Hedges' bridge necessarily became a free bridge also. This Market street bridge was a
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