USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 1 > Part 52
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461
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.
LIGHTING THE STREETS.
The question of lighting the streets soon became a topic of interest, and a correspondent in the columns of the Western Pioneer, of date September 25, 1825, suggests a method which indicates the position of the community in this matter, and which method was deemed a great improvement over the existing con dition of the streets. The correspondent suggests large glass lamps with double reflectors. at à cost of about $25 each, and to be placed on posts at suitable points; a contingent fund of 123 cents to be raised from each house to pay for the oil and wick; the lamps to be lighted and taken care of free of charge by the persons before whose doors the posts should be placed.
SPRINGFIELD A TOWN.
The Legislature, on the 23d day of January, 1827, passed an act which in- corporated Springfield as a town. It became evident that, in the future, the place was destined to occupy a position of prominence. There were elements of prosperity in its material advantages, in its favorable site, and in the busy, bustling character of its citizens, which indicated steady growth. Although there was a scarcity of currency, trade was not impeded because of a lack of metal or paper medium. Wheat was received in exchange for many articles, was deposited in the mill, converted into flour, and sent by the merchant to Cin- cinnati, where it was taken, re-exchanged for merchandise, which was brought. back in the returning wagons. The lack of railroad facilities made the mer- chant and traveler rely upon horses, which were very cheap, and became a fre- quent subject of barter. Every other man was a horse-trader. Dr. John Lud- low. in his historical reminiscences, states he remembers of going to Cincinnati with a teamster when he was a boy fourteen years old, that the teamster "swapped" horses three times on the way, and the last horse died the same day he obtained it; but soon he had another from a farmer in exchange for his sil- ver watch. The horses used in the large, broad-tread wagons were generally stout animals. They were sometimes gaily caparisoned, and, with broad har- ness. jingling bells and six or eight to a wagon, were an attractive sight.
THE PAPER-MILL.
In August. 1827. an important branch of industry was established, which furnished employment to a number of people. Dr. Ambrose Blount, James Lowry and Jacob Kills, as partners, built a large paper-mill at the foot of Con- ter street, on Mill Run, not far from North street. The mill did not commence operations until the following June, 1828. The mill was very successful in the manufacture and sale of large quantities of paper, mostly printing paper of excellent quality. The same firm also, the same year, opened a store near the northwest corner of Main and Market streets, where rags were received in ex- change for goods, and where the employes were paid for their work. Four years later. Jacob Kills & Sons succeeded the original proprietors. They added extensive improvements in its machinery, increased its facilities and ex- tended its trade. They afterward added to the mill a first-class bindery. They worked up a fair custom by sending forth one of the sons, with a fine, two- horse peddler's wagon, which enabled him to exchange paper and stationery for rags. books to be bound, and blank books to be manufactured to order. The business was successfully prosecuted for twenty years, rendering a good profit on the capital invested.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
THE FIRST MAYOR.
After the elevation of the village to the dignity of a town, an election was had to fill the offices of Mayor, or President of the Board of Trustees. James L. Torbert was elected to this office. He had come to Springfield in 1824. and was an active young attorney. but, as there was not sufficient legal business to occupy all his attention. he also taught school. It was at his schoolhouse, on the northeast corner of Market and North streets, on the 25th day of June, A. D. 1827, that he, with several other members of the First Presbyterian Church, organized the first Sabbath school. He was afterward elected Prosecuting Attorney, to which office he brought a clear head and an earnest desire to faith- fully administer its duties. In 1848, he was editor of the Republic, and wrote many pungent arguments against the " Free-Soilers," whom he charged as recreant to their principles in not indorsing the Whig nominees for President. As an ardent Whig. he entered vigorously into the campaign, during which he gained the reputation of being one of the most effective stump speakers in the Con- gressional district of which his county was then a part. As Judge of the Com- inon Pleas. successor to Judge Swan, his able and impartial decisions were the subject of favorable comment.
A record of a census taken by a citizen appears appears in the Western Pioneer of September 25, 1828. It gives an accurate statement of the popula- tion. the number of stores and manufacturing establishments. It shows that the people were industrious, and that the manufactories were diversified. We find from this enumeration that there were in the limits of the town at that time 935 souls. Of these, there were of male adults 285; of female adults, 225; males under eighteen, 218: females under sixteen. 207. There were fifty-four black- smith-shops. four coach and wagon shops. two common and fancy chair shops, four boot and shoe maker shops. three tanneries. and a currier-shop. twenty- seven house carpenters and joiners. There were six tailor-shops. three saddle and harness shops three bakeries. three cabinet-shops, one clock and watch maker, two hatters, one coppersmith-shop. one tin-shop, two millwrights. two extensive distilleries. fourteen general mercantile stores, four groceries, a new paper-mill, an extensive flour-mill. three good houses of entertainment, four pub- lic schools, 'wo for females and two for males, in one of which the higher branches of literature and the Greek and Latin languages were taught; four attorneys at law, five physicians, three slaughter houses. three brick-yards. two house and sign painters, one gun-shop, one portrait, miniature and fancy painter. engraver and gilder. two wheelwrights. one pottery. This enumerator also states that at that time they had a court house, which, in point of neatness and convenience. would not suffer in comparison with any court house in Ohio; a brick jail, two churches, and a third in building. a printing office. a post office, at which twenty-four mails are received weekly. in elegant four-horse coaches." In 1830, the population reached 1.080.
One of the prominent citizens, who. about this time. became identified with Springfield's fortunes, was Reuben Miller, who was the son of Rev. Robert Miller. a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born on the 19th day of January. 1797. in an old schoolhouse at the mouth of Pike Run. on the Monongahela River. near Brownsville. Penn .. where his father had stopped to spend the winter of 1796-97 while emigrating from Virginia to Kentucky. From this point the family journeyed by flat bout to Limestone (now Maysville). Ky .. and settled in Mason County, and afterward removed to Fleming County in that State.
In March. 1812. in order to escape the evils of slavery. his father removed his fmnily to Champaign County, Ohio, where he located upon a farm within
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CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.
the bounds of the present Moorefield Township, in Clark County. At this time, Reuben was but fifteen years of age. He worked upon the farm until he was twenty-two years of age. when he turned his attention to study, and. by close application, without a teacher, for three or four years (in the meantime occasion- ally teaching school), he acquired a pretty fair English education; as he, in his own- biography, relates, "became a very good arithmetician, learned to write a good hand, became a pretty good grammarian, studied geometry, trigonometry. surveying, navigation, and acquired some knowledge of astronomy; also com- menced the study of the Latin language, but failed for want of an instructor."
On the 27th of March, 1823, he married Mary Hedges, who was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, and was living at that time with a brother in Cham- paign County, Ohio, and in the month of December following, removed to a cabin which he had built on a farm given to him by his father, in Moorefield Township, where he resided, farming a little, teaching school. and occasionally making land surveys, until the 10th of April, 1828, when he removed to Spring- field; the occasion of the removal was his appointment, by the Court of Comnion Pleas, in the fall of 1827, as County Surveyor of Clark County. Springfield had then grown from a village of a few houses, as he first saw it in 1812, to be a town of about 800 to 900 inhabitants. At that time, there was little survey- ing to be done, and his first employment was in the County Clerk's office. Afterward, he taught a school for three or four years in Springfield. He was County Surveyor for nine years, during a part of which time he was also a Jus- tice of the Peace and Mayor, or rather, as it then was named, President of the Town Council of Springfield. During this time, he acquired some means, went into the dry-goods business with a man by the name of Carrick, who in two years succeeded in loading the concern down with debt, and then died, leaving his partner many thousand dollars minus, notwithstanding which his energies were not impaired, but he went diligently to work, and, after fourteen years of hard struggle, paid off all his indebtedness.
In the fall of 1838, he was elected County Auditor of Clark County, and was re-elected to eight successive terms, serving in that position eighteen years. from March, 1839, to March, 1857. In the fall of 1856, during his last term as Auditor, he was elected Justice of the Peace of Springfield Township, and was re-elected five successive terms, serving in that position eighteen years, until the fall of 1874. He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in September, 1812, and. in the year 1835, was ordained a Local Deacon. and afterward a Local Elder in the same church. and held that relation to the church until he died. On the 2d of January, 1875, his wife died. and then, at the earnest solicitation of his only living daughter, he went to reside with her at Keokuk, Iowa, where he died on the 3d day of October, 1880, from a gradual failing of the bodily powers, at the ripe old age of nearly eighty-three years, and was subsequently buried in Fern Cliff Cemetery, in this city. He left five living children-Dr. D. B. Miller, of Covington, Ky .; John C. Miller, of Springfield, Ohio, present Probate Judge; Commander Joseph N. Miller. United States Navy; and Henry R. Miller and Mrs. R. B. Ogden of Keokuk, Iowa.
He was a man of correct character and habits, peculiar and almost eccentric in some of his ways: he had a keen sense of the humorous, and was almost in- variably sunny and jocular in his moods. He had a more than ordinary share of natural ability, but was hampered by his imperfect chances for education and his business misfortunes, so that he himself felt, notwithstanding that he was a prominent and honored citizen, that he never attained to the full measure of his strength. He was much given to humorous versification, and as a specimen of his peculiar modes of thought, we append in conclusion of this sketch his epi- taph, written by himself many years before his death:
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
·· Here lies a man-a curious one, No one can tell what good he's done, Nor yet how much of evil: Where now his soul is, who can tell? In heaven above, or low in hell? With God or with the devil?
" While living here he oft would say That he must shortly turn to clay. And quickly rot- This thought would sometimes cross his brain. That he perhaps might live again, And maybe not.
"As sure as he in dust doth lie, He died because he had to die, But much against his will; Had he got all that he desired, This man would never have expired, He had been living still."
A DAILY MAIL.
The diffusion of intelligence from the seat of Government and the East had bitherto depended upon a weekly mail, which was carried on horseback. The arrival of this mail was the day of the week, and was called "mail-day." An innovation was made in 1828 in this arrangement, which was gladly welcomed. It provided for a daily mail. carried by a four-horse coach. The current news was thus brought here from Washington and the Eastern cities within five days after its publication in those places.
SOCIETIES.
The benevolent and literary societies which had been formed from time to time lacked elements of stability. Feeble attempts to resuscitate and re-organ- ize repeated failures were made, but, judging from an article from the caustic pen of Rev. Saul Henkle. then editor of the Western Pioneer, dated February 14, 1829. all these efforts had been unsuccessful. This article, here given, details, in very sarcastic language. the birth and death of the different literary, musical, religious and colonization societies:
"A sort of fatality seems to attend the benevolent and literary societies which have been gotten up in this good town of Springfield. We leave it with our readers to determine the cause of their failure; or. if thought more appro- priate, we would refer the subject to a council of physicians, to report the nature and causes of the distemper to which this general mortality is attributed.
"1. A Literary Society. formed in December, 1815, of about thirty-five respectable members, died, say May, 1816, from want of attention on the part of its parents, aged about six months.
"2. A Library Society, formed in 1816, was soon threatened with death by starvation, and. by the overseers of the poor, was sold out, but soon after died, in a state of feeble childhood.
"3. A Library Society, brother and successor to the above. formed, say 1820 or 1821. It has been nearly frozen to death in an empty case, but of late has got into trousers, but is still very delicate.
"4. A Bible Society. formed September. 1622, for awhile promised to be strong and healthy. but, having been dieted for several years chiefly on Annual Reports,' grew very sickly; of late, however, it has gained a little strength, and may possibly live to years of maturity, though efforts are now making to effect its death by poison.
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CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.
"5. A Missionary Society, formed in November. 1826, has disappeared in a mysterious way, and has not since been heard of. Some suppose it has been Morganized.
"6. . A Tyro's Club,' formed in July, 1856, was very sprightly and active for a few months, but, in the absence of its parents, was taken suddenly ill, and died-for want of suitable attendance, at the age of about five months.
"7. A Colonization Society, formed November 1, 1826, is still living. but, from neglect and abuse, has been kept so feeble that it has not been seen abroad more than two or three times.
"8. In the same year, a Society for the Encouragement of Instrumental Music was formed, but, from the miserable condition of the instruments, the exertion of blowing brought on a decay of the lungs, by which it was carried off in a few months.
"9. In 1827, a Vocal Music Society was formed, but, soon taking the in- fluenza, lingered awhile and died.
" 10. A Literary Society. formed in November. 1828, gave hopeful promise of a better fate, but was found dead a few evenings since, in the Brick Acad- emy. Some attributed its death to strangulation, but the Coroner's inquest seemed to think it occasioned by dropsy on the brain.
"11. A Reading Room Society, formed a few evenings since, is only kept from freezing by having some eight or ten newspapers wrapped about it. If it can be gotten through this winter, we hope to see it in a more growing and prosperous state.
"12. A Temperance Society. just formed. will hardly live through the win- ter without the application of active stimulants.
" 13. To these may be added a society proposed to be formed for the pro- motion of Christian charity. This cannot be organized at all. in our opinion, as it requires a commodity (charity) very rarely to be met with in this market. and, besides this, no man here has any idea that he stands in need of the article in question, each supposing himself abundantly supplied."
THE MARKET HOUSE.
A long, wooden structure, with two rows of stalls, side tables, and a pave ment walk between, for the building of which proposals had been received by the Town Council July 1, 1829, was finished in 1830. and dignified with the title of Market House. The Council. by ordinance, provided that the Market House. now erected on West street and South street, be and the same is de- clared a public market. The same ordinance also provided that Wednesday and Saturday of each week should be market days, from the 20th of March to the 20th of September.
A VISIT FROM HENRY CLAY.
The eloquent "Harry" Clay, the pet and pride of the West. honored the town with a visit on the 24th day of July, 1830. He was en route for Colum- bus. and, due notice of his approach from Yellow Springs having been given, a large concourse of citizens. on horseback and in carriages, met him about six miles from town, and. with enthusiastic hurrahs. escorted him to Col. Hunt's tav- ern, where he took dinner and made a short speech in reply to a flattering toast.
THE FIRST BOOK STORE -- NICHOLS.
The culture of the intellectual faculty was but of little moment among the hardy pioneers. but. as the forests began to dwindle and the comforts of civil- ized life to appear. men began to read and study. The multiplication of books by the improvements in the printing-press brought them to the fireside of every
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
family. A taste for intellectual pursuits began to be developed. A copy of "Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress," or that cheerful work, "Fox's Book of Martyrs," a volume of sermons, or of the "Spectator," no longer supplied the increasing want. The demand must be supplied. To John D. Nichols, a native of the Bay State, is due the credit of inaugurating the book trade. In the winter of 1830- . 31, Mr. Nichols brought a stock of books and stationery from Cincinnati, ship- ping by canal to Dayton, thence by wagon here. His store became the center of news, and a great attraction. It proved a successful venture, and an indication that the people were keeping up to the age. Mr. Nichols had, in the fall of 1825, been a book agent, soliciting subscriptions to the "History of All Relig- ions" and "Butler's Universal History," making a tour on foot from Columbus to Worthington, thence to Urbana, Bellefontaine, Sidney, Dayton, returning by Springfield and London; and, in the spring of 1S26, making the same trip in a one-horse wagon, delivering the books and receiving pay for the same. He was thus probably the first book agent in this part of the State. Mr. Nichols, in 1827 and 182S, was engaged in publishing several books at Cincinnati, Ohio, among them a "Life of Gen. Jackson" and the "Western Medical Journal," both of which, in mechanical execution and ability of its contents, would com- pare favorably with similar publications of a much later date. In 1828 and 1829, Mr. Nichols published the Saturday Evening Chronicle, in Cincinnati, a literary journal, of which E. D. Mansfield, Esq., was editor.
THE CHOLERA.
The vigilance of the early authorities of the town might be a lesson to those in power at this later day. It was by the adoption of effective sanitary measures Springfield escaped the visitation of that terrible scourge which, during the year 1832, and also the year following, desolated so many homes in the cities and towns of the West. The approach of the dreaded visitor induced the citizens to take prompt action at once. So a meeting of citizens was called for the 13th of July, 1832, for the purpose of adopting measures to cleanse the town of all filth and nuisances. They passed resolutions requesting the Council of the town to enforce all ordinances and regulations which would purify the streets and alleys. They divided the town into four districts, and appointed a committee of three for each district, whose duty it was to aid the municipal authorities in thus en- forcing all resolutions and ordinances of the Council. A committee of three persons was also appointed to solicit funds to pay the necessary expenses. The danger was, by these precautionary efforts, happily averted from the town. But the county was nos as fortunate, as the village of New Carlisle lost thirty-three of its inhabitants by the scourge.
The organization of a lyceum, or literary society, for the intellectual im- provement of its members, was accomplished in November, 1832. On the 22d of that month, at a meeting of citizens called for the purpose, E. H. Cumming presided, with John A. Warder as Secretary. Messrs. Charles Anthony, E. H. Cumming and M. M. Henkle were appointed a committee to prepare and report a constitution and a code of by-laws; on the 29th of the same month, at au adjourned meeting, the report of this committee was presented, and, after full consideration and amendment, it was adopted.
The first regular meeting of the Springfield Lyceum was held on the 11th day of December, in the Presbyterian Church. An introductory lecture was delivered by Samuel Ells, a young man of fine talent, who was a graduate of Hamilton College, New York. He was then teaching what was called the Springfield Classical School, and was much interested in forwarding and sustain- ing the lyceum. At the same meeting, there was a debate upon the question, "Is the reading of novels beneficial?" John M. Gallagher was Secretary of this
your, Harrison Rice
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CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.
meeting. This society was well sustained, its meetings being held principally during the winter season. In 1849, it was re-organized. A large and conven- ient reading room was added, at which access could be had to the library, and to the current newspapers, received from different parts of the Union. In December of the same year, Horace Greeley delivered the opening lecture of a course which had been previously arranged. These lectures were continued for several years.
The town was continually adding to its dimensions and numbers. It now (1832) contained a population of 1,250, of whom there were sixty-one colored. There were 180 dwelling houses, a court house, Clerk's office and jail, four churches, all of which were well attended, one paper, one grist and one carding and fulling mill, one brewery and one distillery, sixteen dry-goods stores and one book store, five groceries and three taverns, one printing office, which issued a weekly paper. There were also six practicing physicians and five lawyers, at- tending to the physical and legal demands of the people. There had been erected and completed, during the twelve months previous, fifty-one buildings, of which three were of brick, seven one-story, sixteen two-story, one three-story; of frame, eleven one-story and sixteen two-story.
The great national thoroughfare known as the National Road was opened in the year 1832 through Springfield. The excellence of the work on this im- provement, and the durability of the structures on it, have made it a lasting mon- ument to the Government which prosecuted it. It became necessary to place a culvert over Mill Run on South street, which aided greatly in improving that locality. This road at once placed Springfield on the great thoroughfare. a principal point of stoppage for all travelers East and West, and brought it into notice among the enterprising and growing places of the State. In the decade of years closing with 1840, there was but little which the historian notes of sufficient moment for record. There was a steady increase of population from 1,080 to 2,094, an extension of the limits of the town, an encroachment of busi- ness houses upon the suburbs, a change in the style and character of the new buildings, and an improvement of the old. A corresponding change is also observable in the habits and character of the people. The primitive modes of life, the uncouth. uncultured manners of the pioneers, disappear with the forests. There is a higher regard for morals and a stricter observance of the Sabbath, while daily brawls have grown less frequent. The dress of the citizen, his inter- course with his fellows, and social relations, are toned with a higher culture, and correspond to the civilization to which they have attained. An appreciation of learning and literature has awakened an interest in the outside world. Men began to read and think more, and the prosperity of the future city began to be assured.
The anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence was celebrated in the village of Springfield July 4, 1832. The citizens formed in procession, under the lead of Maj. Charles Anthony, preceded by the Springfield Band, and es- corted by Capt. Cook's cavalry. They marched to the Presbyterian Church, where an oration was delivered by Rev. M. M. Henkle. A dinner was prepared by Col. Hunt in the grove south of the village. Among the toasts responded to on this occasion were the following, by Dr. Isaac Hendershott: "Nullification and the non-protective system, the hemlock and night shade of Southern culture, exotics of baneful tendency, which can never be engrafted on true American stock."
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