USA > Ohio > Highland County > The County of Highland : a history of Highland County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapters on the bench and bar, medical profession educational development, industry and agriculture and biographical sketches > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
Prof. Isaac Sams in reviewing the history of the progress of edu- cation during his residence in the county says: "To one who has closely watched the progress of education in the county of Highland and the village of Hillsboro for over forty years the vast amelioration in the attainments, the demeanor and moral status of the youth, seems almost miraculous. And in general, it may be affirmed of the educational condition of Highland county and of Hillsboro, the county town, that no agricultural county of an equal population can be found to excel it either in method or effect."
Since the year of the National Centennial great advances have been made in education. The Washington school building on the corner of East and Beech streets has been added, as the increase of population and the growing extent of the city made the Walnut street building too small to accommodate the rapidly growing number of pupils. The Walnut street school house contains twelve rooms, which were crowded to overflowing, and as a matter of necessity better facilities for this class was demanded. The Washington building was erected at a cost of some forty thousand dollars and is a marvel in beauty and convenience, having all the modern improvements in school furniture, with large assembly hall, office of superintendent, with apparatus for lighting, heating and ventilation conducing to
216
THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
the welfare and comfort of those who attend. No expense has been spared to make this school an ideal one, and the schools of Hillsboro, under the control and direction of Superintendent Connard and his able assistants, will take rank and be unequaled by any in the state.
The schools in the various neighborhoods of the county, in the days of settlement, were few and far between. There was, for instance, a little log cabin on Clear creek, spoken of before, where James Dan- iels, a young man from Virginia, taught a mixed school of the boys and girls, big and little, for miles around. Young men, in buckskin breeches, hunting shirt and heavy brogans, took lessons in spelling and reading, while the smaller ones were busy with primer and pot- hooks, beginning the tiresome task of learning their ab abs and ib ibs, and with cramped fingers slowly making the hooked marks, then supposed to be the first and essential elements of good penmanship. The girls from six to eighteen wore linsey dresses, without hoops or stays, nothing to impede or interfere with the free action of hands or feet, and in their noon games of "prisoner's base" were as fleet of foot as the wild deer. This school was kept up every winter for many years, and many of the boys and girls that attended that humble cabin school have left the impress of their personality upon our county history and have been heard from in the halls of Congress, on the fields of battle, and in the highest circles of political and social distinction. From these schools have come the lawyers, doctors, preachers, statesmen of the county, and the mothers that have made the county great by impressing upon the mind and heart of their boys and girls, that virtue, courage, morality, honesty and religion were the security of their persons and the safeguards of social state.
The first schools at Greenfield have already been mentioned. Higher education was supplied by the Greenfield seminary, a famous institution for both sexes, founded in 1845 by Rev. J. G. Blair, who had taught a select school some time before that date. The trustees of the seminary, Hugh Smart, Claybourn Lea, John Surber, Milton Dunlap, John Boyd, Andrew Kerns and Josiah Bell, bought a lot on Jefferson street in 1845, and built a substantial stone building. Blair had charge of the seminary for about five years, assisted part of the time by Rev. Robert W. McFarland, afterward a professor in the State university, and W. D. Henkle, Ph. D., who in later years was State commissioner of public schools and widely known as an educational author. Dr. Blair was succeeded by J. C. Thomp- son, but the prosperity of the seminary began to decline, and in 1854 it was practically converted into a public school, under the Union school system. Thompson was principal, under this arrangement, until his death in 1856, when he was succeeded by John E. Chamber- lain, who remained until 1860. Thomas H. Herdman was principal until 1864. Notable among the subsequent heads of the schools were Rev. J. G. Blair, a graduate of Yale, and afterward president
.
217
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
of the normal school at Fairmont, Va. ; Charles W. Cole, afterward an attorney at Cincinnati; C. W. Bennett, who became a professor in Indiana university and Samuel Major, who was reared in High- land county and graduated at Wesleyan university. He served for a number of years as superintendent of the Greenfield schools, and under his administration the high school was well developed. The old academy building is now in use by one of the manufacturing establishments of the town, and the schools are housed in elegant and commodious buildings which are a credit to the town and county. A first class high school course is provided, as well as the preparatory studies, the school grounds are handsomely planted and well kept, and everything testifies to the enterprise and intelligence of the peo- ple of Greenfield. Twenty-one teachers are employed, and the aver- age number of pupils is eight hundred and fifty. The superintend- ent of this admirable system at the present time is James L. Cadwallader.
It has been very difficult to obtain correct data for the early history of Lynchburg schools. As near as we can ascertain about 1820 the first schoolhouse was built. It was a log structure differing in no way from others described in this volume. Fire place in one end, windows made by cutting out a log and putting oiled paper over the aperture ; seats made of hewn puncheons with sticks for legs; high desk on a high platform marked the seat of authority and terror, while a well dried bundle of birch switches, near the teacher's desk, marked the instrument of torture for the unruly or indolent. Read- ing, writing, spelling, were the branches taught. To reach the double rule of three, was considered high mathematical attainment. The custom of treating in some manner became a law in those early schools, and at stated times the teacher was compelled to treat the scholars under the punishment of being locked out if he refused. In 1855 this small building was made to accommodate over one hundred pupils. Mr. Richards, the teacher at that time, says: "The ad- vancement of these pupils, seated in their box-seats, or mangers, was thought to depend on the number of lessons said." But few of the names of the earliest teachers can be obtained. In 1833 one Robert Graham taught in the old log house. He received a salary of $15.00 per month, and taught three months in the year. Those following Graham were Jacob George, Mr. Robinson, Samuel Morris, Houston Hair and others up to 1844, when Jonah Cadwallader took charge of the school. As the years went by the school grew in numbers and character of studies, until at present the schools of Lynchburg, under the management of Superintendent C. A. Puckett, are the pride and glory of the town. The growth in school building is thus told by Prof. Henry G. Williams, superintendent, in 1895: "About 1853 the schools were organized as a village district and a new building was found to be necessary. As many as one hundred pupils were
218
THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
enrolled at one time in the little frame building. In 1854 a two- room brick building was completed where the present town hall now stands. By 1863 it was found necessary to add a second story to this building. The third teacher had already been added to the corps, and Miss Lou Brockman taught in an old frame building that stood opposite the Ferris residence on Pearl street. In 1874 it was necessary to enlarge again and an L was built for an entrance to the building, and a fourth room fitted up on the second floor, all at an expense of about $1,250. By 1888 these quarters were too cramped and a two-acre lot east of the old school ground was purchased of G. Bayless and an elegant and modern school building was completed in 1889 at a cost of about $10,500. At the time of opening it only four rooms were occupied. January, 1890, the fifth was added. The schools gradually grew until it was found necessary to complete and furnish the only remaining room in the building. In January, 1895, it was found necessary to employ an assistant teacher for the high school, making a junior high school and a senior high school, and latter taught by the superintendent. The present school build- ing is one of modern architecture, and is furnished throughout with elegant and substantial equipments. Few school rooms in Ohio pre- sent a more attractive appearance and have better appliances. A beau- tiful grove surrounds each building, the old schoolhouse now being occupied as a town hall and mayor's office. The grove about the old building forms a most beautiful park, where many public gatherings are held every year. May 16, 1877, the board of education decided to plant two hundred trees in the schoolhouse yard and bids were asked for trees not less than twelve feet high of the following vari- eties : Hickory, ash, elm, locust, maple, sycamore, wild cherry, sugar and hackberry. The contract was let to M. B. Pulse, who found that only one hundred and eighty-six trees could be put on the lot, for which he received $16.74, at nine cents a tree. When the school board sold the old building to the city it wisely reserved the beautiful park as a play-ground for the children, in addition to the two acres in the new grounds, just joining the park."
The first purchase of books for a public library was made in 1891 by the students of the high school, and in a little time quite a re- spectable collection was formed of the following character: Books of reference, 116 volumes ; history and civics, 53 volumes ; biography, 49 volumes ; natural science, 20 volumes ; supplementary and common branches, 19 volumes; literature, 14 volumes ; poetry, 9 volumes ; essays and miscellaneous, 17 volumes ; supplementary readers, 30 vol- umes, with others not purchased but donated, amounting to 450 vol- umes in all. The school does not expect to stop here but with the generous aid of the board will make a library second to none in the character and quality of the books selected. The library is being
219
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
added to every year by donations and purchase and will soon become an exhaustless source of information and reference.
The Teachers' Institute, which has been in existence for years, holding its sessions each year at some central place in the county, has reached a degree of perfection in character and work which indi- cates progress and development along educational lines. The teachers as a class are compelled by the high standard fixed by the county ex- aminers, in qualifications and character, to reach high attainments before they are given authority to teach, and as a result, the teachers and schools of the county are in advance of the older methods by which force physical in place of force mental was the common school rule. The Institute session closing in August, 1902, was an ideal one in numbers and methods. Two hundred teachers were enrolled and the opera house was crowded for days with an interested and delighted audience.
The present day development of the public schools of Highland county is revealed in the figures of the statistical reports for the school year of 1899-1900. From these it appears that there are 145 schoolhouses in the townships, accommodating the township schools, besides nine houses for the separate or special town districts. All together contain 213 school rooms. The machinery of control pro- vides for 144 subdivisions of the seventeen township districts and eight separate districts, under the management of 174 members of the boards of education. The value of the school property in the township districts is $104,700, and in the separate districts the value of buildings for elementary schools is $94,500, and for high schools $44,000. The grand total of value of school property is put at $243,200.
The enumeration of children and youth of school age is 4,450 boys and 4,111 girls, total, 8,561, and of these 3,949 are enrolled in the township schools and 2,311 in the separate district schools, a total of 6,260 or something over eighty per cent. of the whole number in the county. To teach these six thousand and more, 232 teachers are employed, 176 of them in the township district schools, and the aver- age cost of tuition based on the enrollment is $8 in the, elementary township schools, $14.11 in the township high schools, $9.28 in the elementary schools of the separate districts, and $21.45 in the high schools of the towns. The total school revenue of the county in the year under report was $100,867, and the expenditures were, for teachers, $61,679, for other purposes, $22,503, total expense, $89,875.
In the separate districts which include high schools, namely : Greenfield, Hillsboro, Leesburg, Lynchburg, New Lexington and Rus- sell, about 2,000 pupils were enrolled in the elementary schools and 320 in the high schools. In that year the high schools graduated 47, and it appeared that Hillsboro high school, from its beginning, had graduated 276.
CHAPTER XV.
INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE.
S TATE statistics show 268,104 acres of land in Highland county, valued at $2,980,983. The surface of Highland, though diversified with much rolling land and some con- siderable elevations, includes a great deal of level land, and the country is generally adapted to agriculture. Wheat and corn are raised in large quantities, and fruits of almost every variety flourish. The soil of the county is adapted to quite a variety of products, and yields a fair increase to the industrious toiler. The crops in average years are, tobacco, 425,438 pounds; potatoes, 197,368 bushels ; butter, 487,982 pounds; corn, 1,941,549 bushels; wheat, 467,240 bushels ; oats, 364,156 bushels; hay, 82,641 tons. Other products are, sorghum molasses, 29,211 gallons ; maple sugar, 1,829 pounds ; maple syrup, 3,314 gallons; honey, 9,941 pounds ; eggs, 668,434 dozens ; apples, 5,000,000 bushels; peaches, 30,000 bushels ; pears, 8,000 bushels ; cherries, 4,000 bushels ; plums, 5,000 bushels ; wool, 80,000 pounds. The live stock of the county is much above the average in character and quality. It is well understood among the intelligent farmers that it costs no more to keep good stock than it does a poor class. There are about 8,000 milch cows in the county, and the standard of value is high. In the matter of horses the stock sales report prices higher, and stock better in Highland county than in any other county in the state. This demand for quality is evidenced from the fact that within the county there are something over one hundred fine blooded stallions. While the gen- eral conditions are favorable to all classes of industries, there are some branches to which the county is especially adapted. In those articles in the construction of which wood enters largely, the county is well adapted. The county abounds with a magnificent timber growth, oak, hickory, walnut and other varieties; ship timber has been shipped to Europe from Highland county. These timber advan- tages have been appreciated by quite a number of enterprising men, who have successful plants, such as bent wood factory, chair factory, carriage and wagon factories, saw mills, planing mills, broom fac-
221
INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE.
tories, lumber yards, and other signs of unmistakable thrift and pros- perity. The most essential conditions of life's success is a happy combination of "vocation and location," and in Highland county these conditions exist in unity. The beauty of the locality has lost none of its attractions that first caught the eye of the pioneer fore- fathers, whose descendants have been careful to preserve, with cul- ture and care. The hospitality of the county is proverbial, the invi- tation is extended to all to visit the county, get a deep full breath of God's pure air, stand in the presence of one hundred years of prog- ress and civilization and lift up your eyes to heaven and thank God that your "lines have fallen to you in pleasant places."
A brief mention of early industries of the county will be of inter- est, and it is to be noted that conditions then were different. The immense changes in industrial conditions in the past hundred years have reduced to a humble rank some of the industries that were then, in a community of pioneers, very important occupations, command- ing the respect of every one. The pioneer shoemaker at Lynchburg, for instance, was John Duvall, who also was one of the early associate judges of the court of common pleas. Other changes in conditions should be considered also in reading these and other pages, for exam- ple, the vast revolution in sentiment that has taken place since it was quite a matter of course for a pioneer to set up a still and manufac- ture corn whisky for the use of himself and neighbors.
Hatmaking was one of the earliest industries of Hillsboro, being started in 1808 by John Smith, the pioneer merchant and twenty years county treasurer. Wool hats were cheap, and fine fur hats were worn by many. The "Woodrow hats," manufactured by Joshua Woodrow, a partner in mercantile business with Joseph Woodrow, were widely known through southern Ohio after 1810. Francis Shinn, John Hibben and Philip Stone were other notable hatters of the early days, and among the journeymen hatters of the county was William Russell, afterward a member of congress.
Textile manufacturing at Hillsboro had its pioneers in Allen Trimble and John M. Nelson, who established a cotton carding and spinning factory on the south side of Beech street east of High, early in 1814, using machinery which had been brought by wagon from North Carolina. The raw cotton was bought at Maysville, Ky., whither it had been hauled from Tennessee by wagon, and after the yarn was made at Hillsboro it readily commanded forty or fifty cents per pound. About five years later Henry Davis, a graduate of Dartmouth college, came to the settlement and established a nail fac- tory, using rolled iron from Pittsburg. He made the work profit- able and was able to support four sons at Kenyon college, who became eminent in the professions. About the same time George and Jacob Shaffer started a wool carding machine and later John Baskin carried on the same sort of work, also making linseed oil from the flax seed
222
THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
that the farmers accumulated from the flax that they grew for the home industry of manufacturing linen. The making of spinning wheels to supply this industry was a very important industry from the earliest days. Thomas Patterson established the Hillsboro woolen mills on the Ripley pike as early as 1835, and this institu- tion was the basis of a large and flourishing business of modern times. Nathan Baker and Llewellyn Griffith started wagon making about 1820. Tanyards had been established much earlier, and car- ried on by John Campton, George Shinn and Joseph Woodrow. R. D. Lilly and Isaac Rhoades were afterward successful in this indus- try. John White, Robert Stewart, and Armistead Doggett were pio- neer harness and saddle makers, at a time when almost all the travel was on horse back, and Jacob Butcher, William Doggett and Jacob Bishir manufactured barrels for the Ripley and Cincinnati markets. The first blacksmith was Belzer, a sturdy German, who had as his helper negro Tom, brought to the land of freedom by his former master, Capt. James Trimble. Joseph Dryden was also a famous village blacksmith at a time when that trade was one of the most con- spicuous of industries. Col. William Keys, the first auditor of the county, commander of a regiment in the war of 1812, and a devout Presbyterian elder and radical abolitionist, lived by cabinet making, and Newton Doggett and his sons were experts in the same impor- tant village industry. P. and C. C. Arthur were notable builders. John Timberlake and L. L. Daniels established the first carriage factory about 1840. The iron foundry of C. S. Bell was established in 1855, and became the foundation of an industry that is one of the most prominent in the history of Hillsboro. J. F. Bell founded the Highland flouring mills in 1866, and for a few years after 1874 an organ factory was operated by Cluxton and Murphy. Brickmak- ing, lime burning and lumbering and planing have been important industries at Hillsboro as well as in other parts of the county. The Richards flouring mill, of Hillsboro, is among the most substantial industries of the county, affording a ready market for the wheat and corn of the county and the headquarters for the feed supply of the community.
One of the most important industries of Highland county is quar- rying, which is carried on extensively both at Greenfield and Hills- boro. The oldest rock in the county, exposed to view, is along Paint creek. Here is found the Niagara limestone, of the Devonian age of geology. Overlaying this is the Helderberg limestone. This rock was laid down in an ocean of considerable depth. It is a mag- nesian limestone, and has been quarried from the early days of set- tlement. The stone is regular in its bedding, and slabs three or four inches thick, with a superficial area of four feet, can be obtained with surfaces as smooth and regular as if sawed. In fact the slabs can be used for doorsteps without dressing. They are in good
223
INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE.
demand for curbing and crosswalk stone, and used to a less extent for building. The stone is exceedingly strong, two-inch cubes stand- ing a pressure of over 50,000 pounds before crushing. The color is drab at first, and darkens to a yellowish brown. Occasionally some fossil corals are found in it, some zinc blende, and streaks of iron oxide, and bituminous matter that gives a strong fetid ordor to the stone when worked. A quarry near Greenfield has forty-two feet of stone, in layers, capped by only ten feet of drift, and is prac- tically inexhaustible. The spoils are burned into lime in kilns that are kept continually going, and the product has hydraulic qualities that make it specially adapted to outside work.
Quarrying was carried on at Greenfield from an early day, but not extensively until the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad was opened, when, in 1854, G. F. Rucker embarked in the industry, coming for that purpose from Cincinnati. He acquired considerable land favor- ably situated and at once began the production of a large output for the Cincinnati market. The Rucker Stone Company now operates quarries in Greenfield and Hillsboro and a gravel bank at Loveland. The officers are G. W. Rucker, president; G. F. Potter, vice presi- dent and George A. Love, secretary and treasurer. The Greenfield quarries are situated on the east bank of Paint creek just outside the city limits. Steam drills, stone crushers, lime kilns, elevated tracks, shifting cables, derricks and hoisting apparatus diversify the scene, and on working days the industrious activity is cheering to behold. Great improvements have been made in the lifting and car- rying appliances, among which is an ingenious system of elevated tracks and cables, of Mr. Rucker's own devising, by which the mate- rial for the lime kilns and crusher is carried where desired in cars by force of gravitation and automatically dumped, and the heavier stone is carried by cables to the railroad track and deposited on train. The company employs from 100 to 125 men in the Green- field quarries and about the same number in Hillsboro. The busi- ness done is enormous, the average yearly shipments aggregate 4,700 carloads valued at $200,000. Another profitable quarry near Green- field is operated by Almond G. Frazier.
Other industries at Greenfield are highly deserving of mention. Long ago a noted citizen, David Bonner, contributed materially to the establishment of the town by starting a wool carding factory. This was in about 1815. In 1822 he built a factory for handling both wool and cotton. In 1834 he introduced steam power and added grist milling to his industries, but his establishment was burned out in 1837. After that he built the large stone building, for his factory, which later became the Odd Fellows hall. Charles and James Robinson also operated a wool carding factory for a con- siderable time after 1835. The first grist mill in the town was a log structure, built by John Kingery, about a hundred years ago, on
.
224
THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.
the site of the later Greenfield mills. Samuel Smith became the owner in 1830, and in 1854, when the railroad came, Daniel Leib began the building of a new and modern mill, and lost his life by falling from a beam of the unfinished structure. David Wels- heimer, who was the owner from 1871, made many improvements and greatly increased the business. Now, under the ownership of Charles A. Welsheimer, it is known far and wide as the Island Grove flouring mill, and an extensive business is done in grain and flour. The Model milling company; conducting another important industry, had its origin in a flouring mill built south of the village in 1849 by Robert Knox. Isaiah Case acquired the plant about twenty years later, and his sons are now in charge and important fac- tors in the business of Greenfield. Hugh Boden many years ago founded a milling business, and the Boden Milling company, com- posed of his sons, is now a successful concern. Another early miller of note was John F. Cowman. The E. L. McClain manufactur- over two hundred people. The fact that this concern consumes over five milliom yards of cotton drilling annually is one of the indica- tions of the magnitude of its operations. In 1895 Mr. McClain was making over three-fourths of the sweat collars that are sold in the United States, and also managing the Sun novelty works. The Columbian manufacturing company produces incubators, and the wooden ware works founded by John M. Waddel employs many peo- ple. The hardwood lumber mills of W. I. Barr and Ferneau & Simpson and W. J. York's brick yard, and various machine and carriage shops are other important factors in Greenfield's prosperity.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.