The centennial celebration of Springfield, Ohio, held August 4th to 10th, 1901, Part 7

Author: Springfield (Ohio); Prince, Benjamin F., 1840- ed
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: [Springfield, Springfield Publishing Co.]
Number of Pages: 590


USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > The centennial celebration of Springfield, Ohio, held August 4th to 10th, 1901 > Part 7


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


In addition, the census showed 3 brickyards, 27 carpenters, I clockmaker, 3 butcheries, 2 distilleries, 4 attorneys, 5 physicians, 2 sign and I portrait painter, and I extensive flour mill. Incident" ally, they mention 4 schools, a courthouse, brick jail, 3 churches, their own printshop and "a postoffice at which. 24 mails are re- ceived weekly in elegant four-horse coaches."


During the period of our village life we grew from 935 in- habitants in .1828 to 5.109. reaching the latter figure in 1850, when the city charter was granted. Compared with the rapid growth of large cities in the far West. this increase, covering a period of twenty-two years, is not startling. Manufacturing, however, that was to prove the keynote of our prosperity, was just beginning to assert its influence. We are in reality celebrating a half-cen- tury of preparation and a half-century of real progress. Having


-


91


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


ratified the city charter, one of the first steps toward metropolitan manners was the abolishing of the oil street lamps and the adop- tion of gas light-on the evening of April 4, 1850, the city was first lighted with gas. The price was $6 per thousand cubic feet. Fifty years later the same gas company supplies us at ȘI per thou- sand. The needs of the city now require a gross output of nearly sixty million cubic feet annually among 2,172 consumers. In addition, 2,600 consumers use natural gas for fuel at 25 cents per thousand. The supply coming originally from Mercer County, but latterly from the Fairfield County gas fields, seventy-five miles distant.


ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANTS.


With characteristic energy, Springfield was among the first cities to adopt electric light. To William A. Scott, Esq., Theo. Troupe, Charles H. Pierce and others may be attributed the first effort in this direction. Two thousand dollars were raised in $100 shares, when, in 1882, the plant was established in the Driscol Carriage Factory. The original price of $150 per year for street arc lights of 2,000 candlepower has been reduced more than half. In the city streets 306 such lights are now used, in addition to 600 gas posts. Upwards of 8,000 incandescent lights are used in stores and residences, 230 miles of wire being necessary for this service. The Kelly light and heating plant is recently established. with additional capacity for commercial electric lighting and steam heating.


TRANSPORTATION.


"Still from the hurrying train of life Fly backward far and fast, The milestones of the fathers- The landmarks of the past."


As a means of developing our own resources, and marketing them upon the world, transportation is a most important factor. Clark County has well developed roadways. They were not al- ways so. When Griffith Foos and his small party, in 1801, blazed their way through forest and over stream, they made the first wag-


.


92


CENTENNIAL OF


on tracks leading into Springfield from the east. About the same year, Mr. Foos assisted Daniel Lowry and John Daugherty in surveying the first road out of Springfield. It led to Dayton, and was possibly over the trail cut by General Goerge Rogers Clark some twenty years earlier, when he led his brave band of Ken- tuckians in the destruction of the Indian village of Pigna. Of material benefit, from a commercial standpoint, was the comple- tion in 1832 of the National Road, which event was duly cele- brated at the time. This brought Springfield prominently before the State and country, as a stopping point on that great channel of early commerce and travel. Crossing the 412 square miles in Clark County to-day are 312 miles of county turnpikes. In addi- tion are the township and county roads, aggregating 498 miles, making a grand total of 810 miles of improved roadways in the county. The measurements have been supplied after much effort through the courtesy of the various township clerks and trustees and the County Commissioners, and now appear for the first time. They tell their own story as a feature of internal improvements being a wise means of developing our own resources: Bethel Township, 39 miles ; German Township, 33 miles ; Green Town- ship, 55 miles ; Harmony Township, 50 miles; Madriver Town- ship; 47 miles ; Moorefield Township, 49 miles; Madison Township, 66 miles ; Pike Township, 30 miles : Pleasant Town- ship, 45 miles ; Springfield Township. 84 miles.


OUR RAILWAY SYSTEMS.


Assisting in our development, at the beginning of the last half-century, was the opening of the railroad era. On August 6, 1846, the engine "Ohio" whistled its greeting to Springfield, ar- riving on the tracks of the "Little Miami" Railroad, the first train following on August 11. Two years later the "Mad River" road was completed, connecting Springfield with Lake Erie. In 1850 the Springfield and Dayton road was finished. Later the Spring- field and London, also the Springfield and Pittsburg. The last line completed was the road to the coal fields, originally the Springfield. Jackson and Pomeroy, now, with northern exten- sions, known as the Detroit Southern. Springfield capital was largely instrumental in its building.


93


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


STREET CAR TRAFFIC.


Our adventure in street car traffic began in 1871. The orig- inal line was built from Limestone street west on High to Dayton road. P. P. Mast. George Spence, Esq., and others were its chief backers. The road was a bonanza when the State Fair was held in Springfield, but the patronage thereafter did not pay "horse feed." Three years later Mr. Charles A. Harris bought the entire outfit -- roadway, three cars and "gondola," also the motor power, consist- ing of nine familiar mules and two horses, at sheriff's sale, for the sum of $2,200. Street car traffic began in earnest when the Citizen Company was organized in 1882. The lines were ex- tended and a fair service rendered. In 1891. Mr. I. Ward Frey successfully inaugurated the first electric street railway, having received a franchise to the North Side. The line was later merged into the Citizens' Line, and the whole system became electric in 1892. The stock of the present company is controlled largely by Eastern capital, yet the management have been fortunate thus far in reducing loss of life and property to a minimum. The result may further be accounted for in the faithful service given by com- petent employees. The company employs 100 men with an equip- ment of thirty cars and twenty-nine miles of track. They carried during 1900 an average of 12,427 persons daily, transferring to any part of the city upon a single five-cent fare.


The latest development in transportation lies in the inter- urban electric lines. By this system Springfield has added facili- ties in reaching hourly and cheaply the surrounding cities of Day- ton. Urbana and Xenia. The latter line is under construction as well as a branch to London and Columbus, with other lines in project. The Dayton. Springfield & Urbana, completed in 1900. has general offices in Springfield, under competent management.


SPRINGFIELD A RAILWAY CENTER. .


With the development of our manufacturing and commercial interest came the need of a proper railway outlet for our products. By the consolidation of various roads, we also became a junction point on the Big Four (C. C. C. & St. L.) system. From the small showing at the start, when our freight cars were shifted


94


CENTENNIAL OF


about by horsepower, and the vigorous voice of the driver, the returns this year show more than forty miles of yard and siding track in use, in addition to 121 miles of main tracks crossing the county. The service of eleven yard or switch engines is required to handle our shipping.


The total number of trains arriving and departing daily. by the various lines are thirty-six passenger and forty freight. While an accurate record of passengers carried by the various lines for the period of a year is not easily ascertained, yet from the best data obtainable, by careful computation, one hundred and thirty-four thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight passengers were carried out of Springfield during the year 1900. This covers the Big Four, Pennsylvania and Detroit Southern roads. In point of revenue, Springfield is the fifth city on the entire Big Four system, being exceeded only bv Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis. In passing, it may be well to state as a matter of current history, that the stations supplied by all of the roads enter- ing Springfield, for the use of their patrons, would, if placed on public sale. scarcely bring a sufficient price to pay for their tearing down and hauling away.


WHAT WE SAY TO THE WORLD, AND HOW WE SAY IT. -


When the Springfield postoffice was established in 1804, "mail day" came but once a week. Couriers from Cincinnati car- ried the mail into the great Northwest. In 1823, when the horse and saddle bags were supplanted in the mail service by a four- horse coach and a daily mail. the inhabitants were filled with par- donable pride. Perhaps there is no more certain indication of business conditions than the postal service. The appended record, secured through the courtesy of our splendid postmaster, Mr. James H. Rabbitts, would indicate a healthy business relation be- tween Springfield and the outer world. We receive and dispatch daily ninety-two mails. This demands the service of seventy-two 'employees, about equally divided as to carriers and clerks. Fol- lowing is the postoffice record for the year ending June 30, 1901 : Total mail, first class, handled during year, about 11,650.000. This would indicate an average of about 300 letters per year for every man, woman and child in Springfield. In second-class mail


95


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


nearly two thousand tons were sent, our office on this class rank- ing sixteenth in the United States. Following is the financial showing :


POSTAL RECORDS CURRENT YEAR.


Gross receipts for year $127,698 76


Expenses for year. 44,361 91


Net revenue for year $ 83,336 85


Money orders issued, 12,254; amount $ 83.774 93


Money orders paid, 164,618; amount 394,014 54


Special delivery le.ters received. 6,775.


Special delivery letters sent. 4,837


Total 11,612


Number of registered pieces received.


25,717


Number of registered pieces sent. 5,834


Total


31,55I


OUR TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE.


In addition to this enormous "mail" output, our business is sufficiently urgent at times as to require the handling during last year of 135,402 telegrams. together with 78.936 messages sent and received over the long-distance telepliones. Our foreign transac- tions require the use of 769 cable messages during the year. The office of the Atlantic, Lake and Mississippi telegraph was opened in Springfild in 1847. Our esteemed and useful citizens, George H. Frey, Sr. (now retired), and John W. Parsons, Superinten- dent of the Ohio Masonic Home, were early telegraph operators. From a report sheet of 1849. I estimate at about eight the average daily messages sent during that year. Upon that report. as pa- trons, appear the honored names Rodgers, Whitely, Buckingham. Mason, and Thompson.


Our telephone exchange dates from 1882. with fifty original subscribers. The same company under the "Bell" patent. have grown into their own new stone-front building, with the most modern equipment of any exchange in the country. Eighteen hundred and fifty subscribers make a daily average of 24.600 calls


96


CENTENNIAL OF


by day, and 6.400 night calls. From the crude service at the be- ginning, when communication could be had with outside points only with considerable effort and patience, the new copper line service of to-day renders conversation with New York or Chicago as plain and satisfactory as though in an adjacent room. The original price of $6 per month for stores, and $5 for residences, has been reduced one-half, while the service rendered has been brought to the highest standard of their time. Competing lines are now seeking franchises, and the universal use of the telephone seems but the question of a few years.


COMMERCE.


The beginning of our second century finds almost every branch of business thoroughly represented. There is scarcely anything necessary to modern human needs that cannot be sup- plied reasonably and well in Springfield. Our food supplies- largely the product of our own county-are usually as good as can be obtained on the face of the earth. In addition to a market house with tiled floor and clean apartments, more than two hun- dred grocers, bakers, milkmen, etc., find business employment in meeting the needs of table supplies. The bakers send out ten thousand loaves of bread daily. Eighty physicians stand ready to answer the calls of the afflicted from any over-indulgence in the good things of life, or the ailments to which the human flesh is heir ; also "Scientists," who are equally ready to dissolve the illusion that there are any bodily infirmities, save as they exist only in the mind. In building operations, the entire structure. from foundation to girder or roof, may be constructed with home products and labor. House furnishings, from furnace to fres- coes, with all the comforts of home, are easily available in our midst. The adornment of the body and bodily comforts, are very largely and earnestly cared for by competing houses, whose ap- peal for business often exhausts the vocabulary of self-praise. In . such unseemly strife, over seventy-six lawyers and eight under- takers seem content to ply their vocations after the busy actors of the stage of business life shall have closed their career and passed on to their reward.


The year 1900 was unquestionably the largest business year


97


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


of our existence-the output of merchants, artisans and trade- people generally, reaching into the millions. To reach an accurate estimate of moneys thus invested, is an undertaknig not easily solved. Personal interview with more than twelve hundred per- sons so engaged, seemed a hopeless and even unprofitable task. Returns to the County Auditor did not cover all, while reports to mercantile agencies might indicate a variance with taxation re- turns. From a careful review from each business interest, aside from manufacturing. the table appended gives a reasonably fair showing of moneys so invested. Where two or more lines of mer- chandise are sold in the same store, the business is listed under its principal item.


Agents- No.


Invested.


Insurance Brokers and Real Estate ... 62


$ 42,500


Merchants-


Agricultural


5


20,000


Bicycles, guns, etc.


8 21,000


Booksellers, etc


5 26,800


Boots and shoes


8 70,00C


China and queensware.


7


37,000


Cigars .


38


13,500


Clothing, etc.


12


148,000


Coal


3I


78,000


Commission


5


21,000


Confectionery


18


18,500


Druggists


94,000


Dry goods


6


300,000


Electrical supplies


3


1,500


Fish dealers


2


1,500


Flour and feed.


12


10.500


Furniture


8


74,800


Grocers ( wholesale )


3


250,000


Grocers (retail)


I33


206,250


Hats and caps


3 35,000


Grain


3


30,000


Hardware and builders' supplies


7


192,000


Jewelry and watches


IO


62.000


Meats ( wholesale )


I


12,000


Meat markets


38


10,000


Lumber, etc.


. 110,000


Milliners


IT


· 35,000


Oil dealers


7 30,000


98


CENTENNIAL OF


Merchants-


Paper and notions ( wholesale)


I


35,000


Paint stores


2


10,000


Pawnbrokers


3


3,000


Pianos and organs


2


11,000


Pumps


4


1,500


Plumbers


5 48,000


Plumbers' supplies


( wholesale )


I


20,000


Rags and junk


5


12,000


Second-hand


9


2,700


Sewing machines


4


3.000


Stoves and tinware.


5


4,000


Tailors


14


20,800


Tailor shops


IO


1,000


Tea and coffee


4


5,000


Totals


478


$2,126,850


Artisans and Other Business-


Architects


5


3,000


Artists


10


1,000


Barbers


55


14,000


Bakeries


27


39,500


Blacksmith and horse shoeing.


21


5,850


Business colleges


2


2,000


Boot and shoe repairers


34


1,700


Brick contractors


IO


10,000


Carpenter contractors


38


19,000


Carpet weavers


4


300


Painters


3I


16,000


Cooper shops


4


300


Dairies


9


9,000


Dentists


22


11,000


Draymen and transfer wagons


25


9,000


Dressmakers


123


5,000


Dyers


2


3.000


Feather renovaters


3


300


Laundries


7


26.000


Marble works


3


6.000


Pattern Makers


4


500


Photographers


7


. 7.000


Plasterers


9


4.500


Undertakers


S


25.000


Upholsterers


4


1.000


Totals


467 $ 219.950


99


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


Other Business Places-


Boarding houses


43


$ 1,200


Hotels


8


55,700


Liverv stables


91


51,000


Restaurants


18


7,000


Saloons


122


56,000


Liquor (wholesale)


5


25,000


Totals


212


$ 195,900


Summary of all Business Pursuits, Exclusive of Manufacturing-


Agents and brokers


62


$ 42,500


Artisans and tradesmen.


467


219.950


Merchants


478


2,126,850


Other business places


212


195.900


Totals


1219 $2,585,200


Without a special enumeration, the number of persons em- ployed in these various branches could not be ascertained.


WE ARE "SOUND" FINANCIALLY.


In the rise and fall of the business world, Springfield can take pardonable pride in her financial institutions. During the dark days of depression, our finances have been a Gibraltar of strength to the community.


On January 22, 1847, the Mad River Valley branch of the State Bank opened its doors for business. Levi Rinehart was president and J. T. Claypole, cashier. In 1851, "The Springfield Bank" was organized with Oliver Clark, president, and W. T. McMeans, cashier. Today we have five National Banks with an aggregated capital of one million dollars, and nearly five thousand depositors. Their published statements, as called for by the Comptroller of the Currency on July 15, 1901, show the following results :


Loans and


discounts.


Deposits subject to check.


$1, 135,200. First National. $1,020,900 504,900 . Mad River National 448,800


303,000. . Lagonda National.


360,900


243,700. . Springfield National 208,800


361.700. Citizens' National. 121.200


$2,548,500


$2,460,600


:


100


CENTENNIAL OF


In addition to the five thousand citizens using the National Banks, as depositors, our Springfield Savings Bank appeals more strongly to the masses, by reason of the payment of interest on deposits-at present. 3 per cent. Organized in 1873, the Savings Bank, under the safe and splendid management that has always marked its career, has become a public benefactor. From 730 de- positors at the end of the first year, their records show 9,808 de- positors at the beginning of the current year. Since its organiza- tion, more than three-quarters of a million dollars in interest has been paid to their customers. During 1900, their deposits in- creased a quarter-million dollars, indicating a comfortable finan- cial growth among the wise and prudent.


BUILDING AND LOAN.


Next to the Savings Bank in popularity are the Building and Loan Associations-"The Springfield," organized in 1884, and "Merchants' and Mechanics'," organized in 1892. During the years of their career, hundreds of homes have been built by the proceeds of careful savings fostered by their managements.


An aggregate showing of the several depositories is a most convincing argument that our citizens who so desire are more thrifty, and laboring classes under happier conditions than the toilers of continental Europe. The appended list tells the old story: "Take care of the dimes, and the dollars will take care of themselves":


Number depositors in National Banks 5,000 Number depositors in Savings Bank 9,808 Number depositors in Building and Loans 6,100


Total depositors 20.908


Our total wealth, as shown by the tax returns


for 1901, is: City. $18.045.280


That of the county for the same time. 14.997.236


Total, city and county, for 1901. $33.042.522


,


101


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


A general summary of the investments in Springfield com- . mercial life in 1901-aside from manufacturing-may be conser- vatively stated as follows :


Banks $2,460,600


Building and Loan. 1,025,000


*Gas Plant and Natural Gas System 800,000


*Electric Light Plants 300,000


*Telegraph Company 50,000


*Telephone Company 100,000


*Express Companies 5,000


*Street Railway Companies (in county) 500,000


*Steam Railways (in county) 3,750,000


Merchants, artisans, etc. 2,585,200


*Owned in part or entirely by outside capital.


Evidences are not wanting that we are sharing materially in the general prosperity that has followed the economic, as well as patriotic policies, of President Mckinley. An abstract secured from the County Recorder shows that during 1901 the county made a net gain in cancelled mortgages of $2,388,027.


What Springfield has wrought as a business city has been achieved amid the trials of a busy century. We have had to confront the Indian question. We have had to stop the wheels of progress for wars at home and abroad. Be it said to the lasting fame of our city and county, that the sordid spirit of com- mercial gain has never yet suffered her people to falter at their country's call. We have passed through the fires of financial panic. We have suffered the furies of the tornado and cyclone ; yet Springfield greets the dawning of her second century, proud of her past, happy in her present. and hopeful for the future.


1


1


102


CENTENNIAL OF


TABLE SHOWING CITY AND COUNTY TAXES.


YEAR


CITY TAX RATE.


CITY TAX.


COUNTY TAX.


TOTAL.


1830


.64


$ 6,166 91


1840


90


16,072 6%


1850


1.23


11,009 86


1860


1.75


$ 54.410 81


$106,046 53


160.457 34.


1870


2.40


150.698 54


166,098 79


316,797 33


1880


1.92


195,515 53


190,627 90


386,143 43


1890


2.09


369,784 00


232,248 56


602,032 56


1900


2 31


416,019 75


206,766 81


622,786 56


1901


2.31


422,255 77


227,320 52


649,576 29


TABLE SHOWING THE RISE IN POPULATION ALSO SUB-DIVISION OF CITY AND COUNTY REALTY AND CHATTEL.


POPULATION.


VALUATION CITY PROPERTY


VAL. COUNTY PROPERTY.


YEAR


CITY.


COUNTY


REAL.


CHATTELS.


REAL.


CHATTELS.


1820


*935


9,353


1830


1,030


13,114


+41,300


$ 667,832


$ 268,962


1840


2,094


16,882


+73,599


1,304,749


411,105


1850


5,108


22,178


$


436,919


4,665,791


1,222,218


1860


7,002


25,300


1,972,697


1,110,878


7,450,760


3,269,628


1870


12.652


32,070


2,958.635


3,320,471


7,859,838


5,323.550


1880


20,730


41.948


6,004,920


4,178,190


11,996,940


5,797.433


1890


31,895


52,277


10,430.550


6,100,007


11,355,170


5,317,500


1900


38,253


58,939


11,653,580


6,240,515


9,083,760


5,245,831


1901


11,940,020


6,105,266


9,658,690


5,338,546


1


In 1828


+ Merchants' Capital.


FROM CLARK COUNTY TAX DUPLICATE.


VALUATION REAL ESTATE.


VALUATION CHATTELS.


Year


City


County


TOTAL


City


County


TOTAL


Grand Total Wealth City and County


1830


667,832


$ 667.832


$ 268,962


268,962


936,794


1840


1,304.749


1.304.749


411,105


411,105


1.715,854


1850


644,555


4.665,791


5.310.846


$ 436 919


1,222,218


1,659,137


6,969.483


1860


1,972.697


7,450,760


9.423.457


1,110,878


3,269,628


4,380,506


13,803,963


1870


2.958.635


7.859.838


10.815.473


3,320,471


5,823,550


8,644,021


19,462,494


1880


6.004,920


11,996,940


18.001.860


4,178,190


5,797,433


9,975.613


27,977,473


1890


10,430,550


11,355,170


21.785.720


6,100.007


5,317,500


11,417,507


33,203,227


1900


11,653,580


9.0-3,760


20.747.340


6,240,515


5.245,831


11,486,346


82 233,686


1901


11,940,020


9,658,690


21,598,710


6,105,266


5,338,546


11,443,812


33,042,522


.


·


$ 644.555


103


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.


D. Z. GARDNER, ESQ.


THE CITY GOVERNMENT AND ITS DEPARTMENTS.


BY D. Z. GARDNER, ESQ.


Municipalities have become the study of the day. Histor- ically treated. their study cannot but be interesting; their chief interest, however, at this day, lies in their political influence. By the term "municipalities" here is meant cities.


In the first ages of the world, the population was agrarian. Cities grew up and were formed by tribes or nations as the best means of defense against other tribes or nations. But population has always had the tendency to centralize. Although there is evidence of reaction periods in this centralization. the ruins of great cities prove that at times the city population bocame very great. It appears that during the last few decades population has been centralizing into cities at a more rapid rate than ever before, until. I presume, at the present time, a larger per cent of people live in cities than ever before. And what is true in this respect of population, is true, to even a greater degree, of wealth. These facts give special interest to the study of cities, their government and departments. While it is interesting to study the ancient cities and their ruins, they cannot throw much light on the prob-


104


CENTENNIAL OF


lems of modern municipalities. The study of our own city is cer- tainly of more interest and vastly more importance. The recent agitation on the subject of government and forms of government for cities might lead one to think that it was a matter of recent origin and importance. This, however, would be a mistake, but it is true, that on account of increasing population and new prob- lems constantly being presented, the study of city government has assumed new character and importance. It is generally agreed that old forms and methods will not answer any longer, and that new ones must be devised. The cities of the more remote past were mostly merely scattered communities rather than compact cities ; houses within a stone's throw of each other, rather than. crowded together and twenty-six stories high.


And here let me ask, have you ever stopped to consider how little attention you pay to your municipal government affairs, and yet how much more important they are to you than National or State affairs, to which you devote so much of your time and. thought? The management of city affairs touches you in a hun- dred places where State and National affairs combined touch you once. The security of person and property depends almost wholly on your police and fire departments. You pay $7.00 taxes to be administered by your municipal officers to one dollar expended by State and National officers combined. While the security of your person and property and the expenditure of taxes paid by you are almost wholly in the hands of your municipal officers, is it not true that you interest yourself, in about inverse proportion to their im- portance, in municipal affairs and officers? It is probably true that not too much interest is taken in National and State affairs, but it is surely true that too little interest is taken by those most interested in municipal affairs and officers.




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.