The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 51

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081

USA > Ohio > Warren County > The History of Warren County, Ohio > Part 51

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The stage is large enough for all ordinary plays and show performances. It is 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The front is 4 feet high, and the floor rises slightly from the front to the rear. The proscenium opening is 28x26 feet. The stage is lighted by fifty-six gas-burners.

There are four sets of grooves and four entrances on each side, and there may be ready for use at one time on the grooves twelve scenes and twenty wings. The scenery was all painted by De Witt C. Waugh, and consists of the following pieces:

Street, garden, wood, rocky pass and six good wings; horizon and two wings; plain chamber and four wings; parlor, palace-arch and four wings; prison and four wings; kitchen and four wings; four set rocks, rustic bridge, set cot- tage, set waters, balustrade, mantelpiece, set parlor door, set kitchen door, two drapery and three sky borders, proscenium wings and drop curtain.

The total cost of the edifice was about $36,000. The hall, which has re- ceived the popular name of Lebanon Opera House, was dedicated with a series of Shakespearean plays and modern comedies on the evenings of the week be- ginning Monday, September 2, 1878, by a full and efficient dramatic company, which included such actors as W. H. Power, Selden Irwin, E. R. Dalton, Julia A. Hunt and others.

THE LECTURE SYSTEM.

In the earlier days of the town, lectures and other evening entertainments were usually free, and given by the literary persons of the community. The lawyers, ministers, physicians, teachers, and ambitious students of the learned professions responded to the call of their fellow-citizens for an occasional liter- ary address or lecture on a scientific topic. Before the close of the civil war. it was rare indeed that a public speaker of national fame appeared before a Lebanon audience as a paid lecturer.

The lyceum or lecture system may be said to have originated in New En- gland about 1838. Horace Mann was one of its earliest friends, and Wendell Phillips one of its most popular speakers. This system has grown and extended from New England over the whole country. It has given rural communities the opportunity of hearing the must eminent lecturers of this country and of Great Britain. As a means of popular instruction and entertainment, the lect- ure is not to be despised. In a great city, it is of less importance, but in an inland town the assembling of the people in a bright, comfortable hall, filled with neighbors and friends, to listen for an hour to one who tells of a great discovery, explains the newest science, gives the results of foreign travel, or points out the beautiful in art and literature, is pleasing, inspiring and instruct- ive.

Since 1874, regular courses of lectures and other entertainments grouped

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with lectures have been sustained. Lectures have been given by John B. Gough, Bayard Taylor, Wendell Phillips, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. Eliza- beth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Joseph Cook, Dr. A. A. Willitts, Prof. R. A. Proctor, Hon. William Parsons and others; readings and musical enter- tainments by Mrs. Scott-Siddons, Helen Potter, Mendelssohns of Boston, Rem- enyi, Anna Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg and others. The most success- ful public entertainment ever given in the town was the lecture of Henry Ward Beecher in the public hall, May 9, 1879, on " The Reign of the Common Peo- ple," which was attended by 1,200 persons, and the proceeds of which were over $800.

CELEBRATIONS OF THE FOURTH OF JULY.

The anniversary of American independence was celebrated much more gen- erally in the earlier history of Lebanon than in later years. The oration was generally delivered at the earlier celebrations in one of the churches or in a grove north of the town. After the oration, there was almost always a dinner at one of the hotels, or some other public place, and after the dinner, toasts were read. The oration was in most cases published in the local newspaper at the request of the Committee of Arrangements. We are able to give a brief account of the celebrations at Lebanon from the year 1821 up to recent times:

1821-The oration this year was delivered by George J. Smith, Esq., at the Presbyterian Church, after which the procession moved to the court house, where as many as thought proper partook of a dinner prepared by Col. D. F. Reeder, and a number of appropriate toasts were drank. The oration of Judge, then Mr. Smith, was afterward published in the Star.

1822-Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by Thomas Corwin, Esq. Dec- laration read by A. H. Dunlevy, Esq. Dinner at the court house.

1823-Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by Nathaniel McLean, Esq. Declaration read by Phineas Ross, Esq.

1824-At the Presbyterian Church. Declaration read by George J. Smith, Esq. Oration by Jacob D. Miller, Esq. 1825-Oration in the grove north of town, by William J. Minshall, Esq. Declaration read by Thomas Corwin, Esq.

1826-Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by William V. H. Cushing, Esq. Declaration read by Milton Brown, Esq. Dinner at the Golden Lamb. 1827-No formal celebration of the day. A congregation, however, as- sembled at the Methodist Church, where a discourse was delivered by Bishop Soule, from Psalm cxliv, 15-" Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." In the morning, a salute of twenty-four guns was fired.

1828 -- Address by Bishop Soule.

1829-At a celebration this year, the Declaration was read by Phineas Ross, Esq, but the name of the orator is not given in the report before us.

1830 -- The Fourth came on Sunday. Collections were taken in the churches of the village in aid of the Colonization Society.

1831-Celebrations by the Temperance Society and Sunday schools.

1832-Orator, J. Milton Williams, Esq. Reader, Courtland Cushing, Esq.

1833-Orator, Sam. W. Probasco, Esq. Reader, Dr. A. Dickey.

1834-Orator, J. Milton Williams, Esq. Reader, William R. Collett, Esq. Judge McLean, who was present, also addressed the meeting, being called out by a toast. This speech of the Judge was ridiculed in letters writ- ten from Lebanon to Jackson papers in Cincinnati and Columbus, and the cele- bration was said by these letter-writers to have originated in a concerted plan of the Whig partisans for the purpose of making a demonstration in favor of McLean for President. One of these letters said: "The Judge, being toasted

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with fulsome adulation, made an electioneering speech of nearly an hour in length." The Star replied by saying that the presence of Judge McLean was entirely accidental and unexpected, and that his remarks did not occupy more than twenty minutes.

1835-Two celebrations. One party assembled at the Presbyterian Church, where an oration was delivered by John Probasco, Esq., and the Declaration read by Dr. I. L. Drake. Dinner at the grove north of the church. The other party met at the Baptist Church, with Hervey Brown for orator, and L. F. Wright, reader. Washington's farewell address was read by Franklin Corwin, Esq. Dinner at the Henry Clay House. Hon. Thomas Corwin, then our Rep- resentative in Congress, was drawn out by a toast, and addressed the company for about half an hour, chiefly on the dispute then existing between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan concerning the boundary between them. He deprecated any appeal to arms for obtaining our rights.

1836 -- Orator, Allen Pierse, Esq. Reader, Phineas Ross, Esq. No din- ner nor toasts.

1837-Sunday-school celebration. Address by Rev. F. G. Black, and public dinner.

1838-Address to the Sunday schools by A. H. Dunlevy, Esq. Declara- tion read by William H. P. Denny. Fireworks in the evening under the direc- tion of Mr. Dolant, a practical pyrotechnist, among which the line rocket at- tracted particular attention. A beautiful balloon was also prepared, but failed of success.

1839 and 1840-No reports of any celebrations.

1841-Declaration read at the Presbyterian Church by Judge Smith, and an oration delivered by J. Milton Williams, Esq. After the exercises at the church, the citizens marched to the public square, where, under an awning, a dinner was prepared by William N. Schaffer, of the Mansion House. After the cloth was removed, toasts were read.

1842-Oration by William Bebb, of Hamilton, afterward Governor of Ohio. J. C. Sabin, reader. "A dinner prepared on temperance principles" was an- nounced to be served at Mr. Schaffer's hotel.

1843-Orator, John Probasco, Esq. Reader, A. G. McBurney, Esq. Din- ner at the Bradley House.

1844-Celebration by the Ohio Stand-Bya, under the command of Capt. J. P. Gilchrist. Wilfred Dey, Esq., reader, and Durbin Ward, Esq., orator. 1845-Temperance meeting in the forenoon at the Baptist Church. Dec- laration read by Judge Smith. Addresses by R. G. Corwin, Esq., and Rev. S. Newell. Colonization meeting in the afternoon. Declaration read by A. G. McBurney. Address by Rev. F. G. Black.

1846 -- No report at hand.

1847 -- Declaration read at the Baptist Church by J. W. White. Oration by G. W. Stokes.

1848-No celebration.

1849-Sunday-school meeting at Methodist Protestant Church in the morning. Exhibition by the students of the academy at the court house in the evening.

1850-Oration at the Baptist Church by Rev. S. Newell. Declaration read by A. P. Russell. "Fireman's Festival " at the court house in the evening. 1851 -- No celebration at Lebanon. Celebrations at Waynesville, Fort Ancient, Morrow, Deerfield, Mason, Franklin and Monroe.

1852-Celebrations by the Lebanon Sunday schools.

'1853 and 1854 --- No celebrations.

1855-Oration by Hon. M. B. Walker, of Dayton. Declaration read by George W. Frost, Esq.

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AARON STEPHENS (DECEASED)

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1856-No celebration.

1857-Oration by Hon. A. G. W. Carter, of Cincinnati. Declaration read by F. S. Van Harlingen, Esq.

1859-Corner-stone of the Masonic building laid. Oration by Hon. Bell- amy Storer. Corner-stone laid by Horace M. Stokes, Esq.

1876-The one hundredth anniversary of American independence was ap- propriately celebrated at Lebanon. The celebration was held at the fair- ground. Delegations from every township in the county were present. Music was furnished by the brass bands of Lebanon, Maineville, Waynesville and Clarksville, and the normal school choir, under the leadership of Prof. L. R. Marshall. Notwithstanding the unpropitious weather, several thousand persons attended. Owing to the rain, which continued throughout the forenoon, it was found inexpedient to proceed to the grounds before 1 o'clock. The principal streets of the town were appropriately decorated with flags, banners, pendants and pictures. At the fair ground, the speakers' stand was much admired. It was forty feet long and twelve feet wide. Three hundred feet of cedar wreath and six hundred small flags were used in its decoration. Festoons of cedar and harmonious arrangement of flags made a beautiful display. The roof of the stand was beech brush. On the roof near the center was a large oil painting of Washington, appropriately trimmed with cedar and flags. On each side of the picture, equally distant from the center and ends of the platform, were red- white-and-blue shields, one with 1776 and the other with 1876 painted on it. Surmounting the whole was a streamer bearing the legend. " In God We Trust." The portrait of Washington, which was so conspicuous a feature in the decora- tion, was painted by Marcus Mote when a resident of Lebanon, and was donated by him to the Mechanics' Institute.

The exercises at the fair-ground consisted of prayer by Rev. J. P. Sprowls; reading the Declaration of Independence, by Prof. James E. Murdoch, who also read Daniel Webster's Supposed Speech of John Adams in Support of the Dec- laration; oration by Hon. Aaron F. Perry, of Cincinnati, and the reading of an historical sketch of Warren County by the writer of this history. Judge George J. Smith was President of the Day.

INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.

Of the industries of Lebanon during the first few years of its existence, when it was a little village in the woods, little is known. They could not have been numerous or important. Isaiah Morris, of Wilmington, Ohio, is authority for the statement that John Huston was the first merchant of the town. In the spring of 1803, Huston descended the Ohio with a small stock of goods in a flat-boat, and landed at Columbia, where he opened a small store. After re- maining there a few months, he came to the new town of Lebanon and opened a store in a room of the tavern known as the Black Horse, kept by Ephraim Hathaway. Isaiah Morris was a nephew of Huston, and the clerk in this the first store in Lebanon. He had descended the Ohio in company with his uncle. Mr. Morris afterward, in 1811, moved from Lebanon to Wilmington, cutting a road through the woods, and, in connection with William Ferguson, established the first store in Wilmington. The store of Huston in Lebanon was not long continued, as the proprietor died soon after its establishment, leaving his clerk in destitute circumstances.

There is no record of any licenses granted to merchants in Lebanon until 1805. In that year, we find that licenses were granted to Lawson & Taylor, Daniel F. Reeder and William Ferguson. Among the other names which ap- pear on the license record prior to 1810 are Joseph James, William Lowry, N

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John Adams, Daniel Roe, Joseph and James Moore, Daniel Cushing, Holloway & Wright, McCray & Dill and Ebenezer Vowell.

In 1810, the following business establishments were advertised in the oldest copies of a Lebanon newspaper in existence:

Robert B. Coles and Silas Hurin, under the firm name of Coles & Co .. manufacturers of boots and shoes. This partnership was dissolved in 1815. and the business was carried on by Coles.

Jacob Clark, manufacturer of mill-wheels, chairs, brushes, washing ma- chines, etc.

William Lowry & Co., dealers in groceries, notions, etc.

Moore & Wilds, cabinet-makers.

James & Joseph Moore, dealers in goods and whisky.

William Ferguson, groceries, etc.

Daniel Cushing, manufacturer of black salts, advertised that he would pay the highest price, in salts, cotton or cash, for good ashes.

Lebanon Manufacturing Company, carding, spinning of wool, weaving the same, and manufacture of broadcloth. Dr. Joseph Canby, new apothecary shop. B. & Alexander Crawford, general store. Barzilla Clark, cabinet-maker.

The miscellaneous character of the early stores will appear from the fol- lowing advertisement in the Western Star in 1810:

NEW STORE.

The subscribers have just opened a new store in the town of Lebanon, in the house formerly occupied by Daniel Roe, Esq. Their assortment is extensive and complete, con- sisting in part of the following :

Dry Goods, Groceries, Ironmongery, Cutlery, Stationery, Medicines, Queen's and Glass- wares, Tin-ware Assorted, Dorsey's Iron, Castings assorted, Paints and Oils, American Blister Steel, German Crowley, do. Salt, Cotton, etc.

All the above goods will be sold on very reasonable terms for cash or good merchant- able wheat, at fifty cents per bushel.

Also good rye whisky will be taken in exchange for goods at forty cents per gallon. EBENEZER VOWELL & Co.

After the war of 1812, the business of the town began to increase. Man. ufactories of various kinds were established, and the town floated buoyantly on the waves of prosperity. She could boast of woolen-mills, a cotton factory, nail factories, cabinet factories, copper manufactory, printing-press manufactory. tobacco manufactory, and other smaller but important branches of manufactures

William Russell's woolen-mill was an important feature of the manufact- uring interests of the town. There were a number of tanneries in the town and vicinity.

On the 4th of July, 1823, Nathaniel McLean, in an oration delivered at a celebration in Lebanon, referred to the recently established home manufactories. In addressing " the Daughters of Columbia," he said: " We witness every day the evidences of our independence in the workmanship of your hands. How many manufactories have recently been established, and produce a sufficient supply of articles for home consumption, for which, a few years ago, we were indebted to an Eastern market. Let your town be a witness on this subject." An explanatory note by the editor of the Lebanon Star, in which the address was printed, is as follows: "For the information of our distant readers, we would remark that the orator here alludes to the number of straw bonnet and hat manufactories recently established in this place, some of which manufact- ure those articles of a superior quality, and in sufficient quantities to supply the market. There are exceeding thirty females engaged in that business in this town."

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For many years, George Hardy was the leading and most successful mer- chant of Lebanon. He came to this country from the County Tyrone, in North Ireland, in 1815, and, in the spring of the year following, he arrived at Leb- anon, where he clerked for Robert Woods. In 1817, he, in partnership with Joseph Henderson, bought the store of Matthias Ross, on the northeast corner of Broadway and Mulberry streets. In 1831, Mr. Henderson retired from the firm, and Hardy continued the business alone until his death. He usually pur- chased his goods in Philadelphia, and visited that place annually, making the journey on horseback. Respected for his integrity, as well as for his business abilities, he was largely intrusted with the funds of customers, and did a con- siderable banking business in his store. Beginning life in Lebanon a poor man, he died leaving an estate estimated at $90,000. He died January 1, 1842, aged fifty-four years.

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING.

The printing business was carried on in Lebanon at an earlier period than in any other town of Southwestern Ohio, Cincinnati alone excepted. Not only was a newspaper published and bills and circulars printed, but the type-setting, press work and binding of books were all done in this little village at a very early day. As early as June 15, 1808, John McLean contracted with the Shak- ers to print on his press a considerable volume, entitled "Christ's Second Ap- pearing," the press work of which was completed by the close of the year. and some of the copies bound. " The Ohio or Western Spelling Book " is believed to have been printed by A. Van Vleet, in Lebanon, about 1814, but I have seen no copy of the work. About 1810, Matthias Corwin, Jr., made the calculations for an almanac, which, it is thought, was printed in Lebanon. In 1821, A. Van Vleet compiled a work entitled " The Justice and Township Officer's As- sistant, comprising a great variety of judicial forms and other necessary prece- dents for the use of Justices of the Peace, Constables and township officers in the State of Ohio. interspersed with useful information for the discharge of their official duties; also, matters relative to the duties of executors and ad- ministrators, etc. To which is added an appendix containing a variety of practical forms in conveyancing, by A. Van Vleet." The title page of this book shows that it was printed and published by the author at Lebanon. The Ohio Miscellaneous Museum was a monthly periodical of forty-eight pages, printed at Lebanon. It was begun in January, 1822, and consisted entirely of selected articles of no great literary value. How long it was continued is not known. The first four numbers were bound into a volume by James Martin. book-binder, Main street, Lebanon, a copy of which is now in the library of the Mechanics' Institute of Lebanon.

For a number of years, all the necessary printing of the towns of Hamil- ton, Dayton, Urbana, Xenia, Springfield and other places was done either at Cincinnati or Lebanon. Most of the counties adjoining Warren had no news- papers within their limits, and their official advertisements often appeared in the Lebanon paper.

The first printing-press was brought to Lebanon in the summer of 1806. This is the date given by A. H. Dunlevy and William H. P. Denny. The lat- ter obtained the date from Justice John McLean himself. The newspaper es- tablished by McLean at that time was not, in its earlier years, published every week, as is shown by the fact that a copy of the Western Star, given to Mr. Denny in 1857, was dated December 1, 1808. and numbered 29 of Volume 2. The volume and number of this paper, had it been issued without intermissions, would indicate that it had been established in the summer of 1807. But cold weather, high waters, lack of hands and printing paper, often interrupted the work of the early printer.

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William H. P. Denny says: "Even within our remembrance, in severe winters, it was not uncommon for publishers to suspend work for several weeks, when all hands would occupy the time in frolicking and gunning. The paper, when 'wet down'-a phrase printers understand -- would freeze as hard as an iceberg; the types in the form would be frozen solid; and the ' balls ' -- sheep- skins stuffed with wool and tacked to handles-would be incased in ice in the trough. As printers in those days sent to the paper-mill every few weeks for paper (they were too poor to buy more than a ream or two at a time), they fre- quently found the mill stopped with ice, and often, in the spring, when on this errand, they would be impeded by high waters. We have, when a boy, often swam the creeks and rivers on horseback after the budget of paper. It was usual then to pay 'in cash and rags,' the latter being bought by the printer and called for by the paper-maker every few months. The papers at that time, and up to about 1835, all contained standing advertisements like this: 'The highest price will be given at this office for any quantity of clean linen and cotton raga' Every printer had his steelyards to weigh the rags. Subscribers paid their subscription in that currency, the bills of the Miami Exporting Com- pany, fip, 'levenpence and 25-cent shinplasters, and cut money-seventeen pieces to the dollar. The printer often made change by cutting a fip out of a Spanish quarter, or with a bank-note of the same denomination issued by Truitt & Wiles, or some other mercantile firm. The printing office had its 'rag room' -- a most agreeable lounging-place for old 'jours' and ' the devil.' "

FIRST BANK.

The first bank in Lebanon was that of the Lebanon Miami Banking Com- pany, organized in 1814. The articles of association of this company began as follows: " We whose names are hereunto subscribed for the purpose of en- couraging trade, to promote a spirit of improvement in agriculture, manufact- ures, arts and sciences, to aid the efforts of honest industry, and to suppress the unlawful and pernicious practice of usury, do mutually covenant and agree with each other to establish a banking company, for the objects before men- tioned, at Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio, to be called and known by the name of the Lebanon Miami Banking Company, which shall continue for the term of twenty years from the commencement of its operations." The capital stock of the company consisted of 50,000 shares of $50 each.

The first Board of Directors were elected in April, 1814, and consisted of Joseph Canby, Joshua Collett, John Adams, Daniel F. Reeder, William Fer- guson, William Lowry, William Lytle, Alexander Crawford, Thomas R. Ross and George Harnesberger. The first President was Daniel F. Reeder, and the first Cashier, Phineas Ross. The bank soon began to issue its notes for circu- lation, of the denominations of $1, $3, $5 and $10, and "tickets " of lower de- nominations than $1. The lists of the names of Directors of this bank show that many of the leading business men of Lebanon and vicinity were connected with its management. Profitable dividends to the stockholders were frequently declared. But the company became involved in difficulties, and, on February 2, 1819, the Directors resolved "that it is expedient for this institution to close its business as soon as practicable. That it is not expedient that this resolution be now made public." The banking business of the company was closed about 1822.

This banking company was re-organized under the same name in 1841, when John S. Iglehart was elected President, and James H. Earl, Cashier. The bank again issued its notes for circulation as currency, but its business was carried on successfully for a short time only.

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WAGON AND CARRIAGE MAKING.

An important branch of business not yet noticed was wagon-making, which was carried on very extensiveiy at one time. This branch of manufacture was commenced by Jeremiah Pinneo some time previous to 1816, on Mechanic street, south of Silver, and carried on there by him until 1835. He employed from ten to fifteen workmen in the wood and iron shops. Samuel Chamberlain opened a shop almost as early as Pinneo. His works were on East street, be- tween Pleasant and Warren, where he worked from twelve to eighteen men. His productions were sold mostly in the South. His son, Lewis, succeeded him, and at his death, 1854, the shops were closed. William Alloway commenced the business in 1828-29, on the east side of East street, between Silver and Warren. He afterward moved to the west side of the street, one square south. He employed from fifteen to twenty men. In 1834, he sold his business to William Krewson, who carried it on until 1850, when he sold it to the present proprietor, Thomas J. Hutchinson. John P. March commenced business in 1834, in the place formerly occupied by Alloway. After losing his building by fire, he built a brick, which was torn down by the Commissioners of the county when they purchased the lot on which it stood for a court house yard. Mr. March employed about thirty-five men. He and Mr. Warwick also conducted a shop opposite Mr. Krewson for some years, commencing about 1838. In the year 1835, John and Joseph Simonton bought the factory of Pinneo and carried on the business for ten years, when Joseph assumed complete control. In 1850, he sold it to Hiram Simonton & Brother. J. R. Drake opened a factory on the northeast corner of Mechanic and Silver streets in 1856, where he has since continued. He employs eleven men in all the departments of his work.

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 51

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1081

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081