USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > The past and present of Mill Creek Valley, being a collection of historical and descriptive sketches of that part of Hamilton County, Ohio > Part 10
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The property is now under the management of the Woodlawn House Building Company, with a capital stock of $200,000, offering special inducements to buyers.
The board of directors consists of Thomas T. and George S. Brown. Stephen Coles, Levi J. Workum, Wm. W. Kelsall, Smith Stimmel and John B. Schroeder.
There are now about thirty houses in the village and its precincts, and 200 inhabitants. Hon. Levi J. Workum of the firm of Freiburg & Workum, proposes soon to build an elegant home for himself here.
Hon. Louis Ballouf, State Senator from
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BEAUMONT PLACE.
Hamilton County, contemplates the erection of two fine residences.
BEAUMONT PLACE.
Standing upon the tower of the splendid resi- dence of Mrs. Oliver Lovell, situated on one of the commanding eminences in Woodlawn, a view of the entire length of the valley may be obtained.
A frameless and boundless picture is spread out before you.
The view widens and extends in its greatest loveliness to the south. Away over the emerald ocean may be seen the azure-robed hills that look down on the Ohio from both sides of that river. You can distinctly see the Probasco and Schoenberger palaces in Clifton,
" Where the castled crag of Drachenfels Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,"
To the east of which may be seen Burnet Woods Park, the twin spires of Calhoun street Cathedral towering above Mount Auburn and Avondale, and marking a place of descent into the "smoke-shut battle-field" of Cincinnati.
To the right and left rise the wooded hills that look eternal, and only seem to be bound- aries or shores to this sea of glory.
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Within this lot stands an aged pear tree, eight feet and one inch in circumference at its base, still hale with health, and putting forth leaves from bursting buds to provide fruit, per- haps for the hundreth time, to hungering and thirsting humanity.
In planting and cultivating the vineyard many relics have been found, to-wit : a coin 14I years old, old brass buttons, evidently from some old Continental's coat, bones, beads, etc.
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WYOMING.
CHAPTER XVII.
WYOMING.
H AMILTON County, with its Cincinnati, may not inappropriately be compared to Midlothian County, with its Edinburgh, in Scot- land. And this being permissible, Wyoming might, with eminent fitness, be called the " Heart of Midlothian," although the resemblance would be more striking were there an old " Tolboth " on any of its beautiful avenues as a source of internal revenue, or a " high, antique building with turrets and iron gates," to be used as a prison within its corporate limits.
The village embraces at present about eight hundred acres of land, rising to the west from the C. H. & D. Railroad, its western limits being indicated by a ridge crowned with the splendid residences elsewhere described .!
The following descriptive allusion to this lo- cation is from the pen of Captain James F. Clegg :
" If there is a lovelier stretch of country in the neighborhood of any populous American
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city than that portion of Mill Creek valley lying between Winton Place or Carthage and Glen- dale, no picturesque pencil has yet shown it ; and if the center and heart of all the loveliness of this landscape should be sought, the brush of the painter and the compass of the surveyor would unite agreeably upon the one point be- fore us. There are features of peculiar beauty about these little villages. Upon the hill-tops on the west tower some of the handsomest residences in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, while from each side of the lime-white turnpike below there are broad, green lawns and pretty terraces, and picturesque houses, and, more than all, the generous shade of great groups of old-time trees and grassy plats that even the vandal hands of business have spared. The bright, clean beeches, the maples, or sugar trees as they are more commonly called, seem exempt from the ravages of what is sup- posed to be a higher life. The dogwood, with its pretty blossoms, flourishes, and, later in the season, the sumach adds its luster."
THE NAME
Of Wyoming was selected at the residence. of Colonel Reily, April 2d, 1861, at a meeting of
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his neighbors convened in response to the following invitation :
* TWIN OAKS, April 2, 1861.
Sirs :- The neighbors propose a meeting at our house for the purpose of giving a name to our embryo village, on the 4th inst., upon which occasion we hope to have the pleasure of seeing yourselves and wives. Do not fail to come with names. Ladies will be expected to participate. Yours,
ROBERT REILY.
At the 21st anniversary, duly observed by the citizens, the Hon. Judson Harmon (Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati and a resi- dent of this village), delivered a thoughtful ad- dress, from which we take the following ex- tract :
" There are thousands of villages in the land whose history is like the history of our own, from most of which ours differs only in its sub- urban situation and charter so happily blending city and country that while we have not all the advantages of either, we avoid most of the discomforts of both, and from some of which we differ in true democratic spirit, which has
#The name given by Col. Reily to his residence, now the property of Mr. E. P. Stout. See page 115.
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always prevailed among us. Wealth is enjoyed without arrogance or vain display, and honest poverty is no disgrace.
What expectations may we have of the growth of our village except that her houses may multiply, her lawns extend, her flowers and trees increase and flourish, that no rude sound of misery or war may ever drown the singing of her birds-that it may never be sung of her,
"Sweet smiling village loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn, Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen And desolation saddens all thy green."
But while the little towns and hamlets which dot the map of our country present to the casual observer only this simple picture of in- dividual and social life, is there not a silent grandeur about them to one who looks deeper and considers them in their relations to the nation ? Less than one-fifth of the American
More than people live in the large cities. forty millions of them live in these small places and the country surrounding them of which they are the social capitals. These are real centers of national life. They are the ganglia of the great national nerves. From
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them the tidings of great events, through them the throbs of popular feeling, the currents of popular thought, the impulses of popular will, are sent thrilling to the very tips of the nation's life, and back through them again come surg- ing the responsive movements of popular action. The men, by whom the places in. which the force is applied to its object, are called famous ; but they are only trustees of a glory which is the common property of all.
Was it Concord and Lexington, with their few scores of men, that shook the world, or was it thousands of other places behind them waiting only the occasion? Was it Springfield and Mentor, those pretty places, which gave to the Republic her martyr Presidents, or did the vine whose roots pervade the land merely happen to put forth there the blossoms with which Columbia adorned her brow?
What Concord and Lexington did, the men Springfield and Mentor furnished, would have been impossible then, and would be valueless now, if every place in the land had not been then and were not now ready to become a Con- cord or a Lexington, liable to become a Spring- field or a Mentor.
And later in our history was it not in the hamlet and the school district, not in Washing-
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ton and New York, that the spirit rose ; was it not from them that the power went forth, which saved and preserved us a nation ?"
THE PENDERY FAMILY.
Among the earliest of these families who followed the pioneers and settled permanently in our neighborhood was the well-known one of Pendery. Their grandfather and father immigrated to the tract still owned by their descendants, in 1805, coming down the Ohio in keel boats lashed together with log-chains. It is worthy of mention that Mrs. Pendery. mother of Israel and Goodloe, was the first fe- male white child born in the present limits of Cincinnati. They settled on a farm of 140 acres of which forty acres were given to Mr. Thomas Wilmuth.
MRS. JANE EVATT WILMUTH, the oldest pio- neer of Wyoming, was born August 28, 1798, in Maryland. Her father's name was William Evatt. He immigrated to Ohio in 1805, and settled in the valley in the same year, building a log cabin on the old Hamilton road, (now Wayne avenue) near where the Ruffner house now stands and south of the Methodist church (Lockland). Her father died there in 1813.
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THE PENDERY FAMILY.
The following year her widowed mother built a log cabin upon the exact site where now stands the Friend homestead in Wyoming. The mother cleared three acres around her cabin, in the raising of the same and clearing the ground, being assisted by such pioneer neigh- bors as were then in this settlement. This was about the first, probably the second, cabin in Wyoming.
In 1815 (September 17), Jane Evatt married Thomas Wilmuth, a widower then living in a log cabin near the present residence of Mrs. Wilmuth where the old well may still be seen. This cabin was subsequently torn down and a frame erected where her house now stands, In 1860 her husband died, aged 100 years. Three years afterwards, one cold snowy day, her house took fire and burned to the ground. The sincere sympathy of her neighbors found practical expression in a fund being immedi- ately raised with which a better house was built for her in a very short time. This sub- scription was started upon the ground while the house was burning, the list being headed by Mr. John C. Thorpe, Esq., John H. Tange- man, R. H. Andrews, Esq., and other friends.
When a child ( 1807), she attended school at the old log school-house that stood on the west
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side of the pike (now Park Place), her path- way being blazed by her father through the thick forest that stood between the old Wayne road and what is now the pike in Wyoming. She speaks of her teacher being "cruel and one who whipped hard," but adds, " he never whipped me." This venerable lady attended the meeting at the residence of Col. Reily when Wyoming was selected as the name of the village, and heard Col. R. express his preference for that name as it had seven letters in it.
She has seen Indians pass up and down the very road upon which her quiet home now stands, seen old Capt. Jacob White, the fore- most pioneer of this valley and the block- houses that stood in this now peaceful valley ; seen many a pioneer laid away in the now neg- lected grave-yard ; heard many a sermon, song and prayer in meeting houses long since torn down; seen the old log school house up the pike developed into the new and costly build- ing just erected in Wyoming ; seen the old for- est trees fall one by one around her, field after field cleared, road after road laid out, house after house built, church spire after church spire rise. She seems to stand alone-as one left behind in the march of humanity, as one
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COL. ROBERT REILY.
who would join the "innumerable caravan" that has passed on to "God's great town in the unknown land," leaving her standing amid kind neighbors and friends, but as one taking no part and but little interest in the great drama of human life, upon whose stage she claims to lag as a superfluous player. May every falter- ing step be guarded until the sable curtain shall fall upon the
" Last scene of all That ends this strange, eventful history."
COLONEL ROBERT REILY.
A historical reference to Wyoming at once suggests this name. Indeed it connects the annals of this village with the history of our country. Wyoming and Chancellorsville are thus associated in the minds of many now living, as they will be in the memory of suc- ceeding generations. Who was Robert Reily ? He was the youngest son of Mr. John Reily, born June 1, 1820. It was almost distinction enough to have had such a father-a Revo- lutionary soldier and a pioneer of this valley ! He entered the Continental army at the age of seventeen, and after eighteen months of valorous service leaving the army, bearing an
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honorable discharge, over the hand and seal of General Washington.
He adventured to Kentucky at the age of twenty-one, and in December, 1789, came to the locality now occupied by Carthage, being subsequently driven therefrom by the Indians. He died June 7, 1850, at his home in Hamilton. He was a member of the convention that formed the first constitution of Ohio. The fol- lowing resolution was passed by the conven- tion assembled at Columbus to revise the constitution of 1802, in session at the time. of his death.
Resolved, " That this convention has heard with deep sensibility the announcement of the death of John Reily, Esq., late of the county of Butler, a soldier of the Revolution, one of the early pioneers of the West, one who filled important trusts under the territorial govern- ment, and one of the framers of the present constitutions of Ohio."*
Thus was Col. Reily's blood " fetched from fathers of war-proof;" and it is not strange that when the war for the Union broke out, he should be among the bravest to fight, and the noblest to fall, in his country's defense.
*McBride's Pioneer Biography.
2II
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
He assisted Col. N. C. McLean in recruiting the celebrated 75th Ohio Infantry, and at its organization was commissioned major. He fought his first battle at Monterey Court House, in Western Virginia, April 12, 1862. His soldiery bearing and ability brought him into notice at once. At Cedar Mountain he was in the thickest of the fight, also at Graveton, near the field of Bull Run. August 30, 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and January, 1863, was made colonel ; and closed his brief but glorious career at Chancellorsville, where he was mortally wounded and died May 5, 1863.
" Oh ! there was mourning when ye fell, In your own vales a deep-toned knell, An agony, a wild farewell :- Rest with your still and solemn fame ; The hills keep record of your name, And never can a touch of shame Darken the buried brow."
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Stands upon a large lot, amply shaded and carpeted with living green, upon the north-west corner of Burns and Wyoming avenues.
It represents an expenditure on the part of
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the community of nearly $12,000 in an endeavor to conserve their highest and best interests, and is an index to the high moral and Christian character of this village.
Its location has yet a reservation or removal from the residences clustered about it, and the secular confusions that indicate the rapid march of humanity past it and onward into that future of which its spire and deep-toned bell seem ever to forewarn it.
This church marks an important stage in the religious growth of this valley.
From a historical discourse delivered July, 2, 1876,* we gather some facts relating to its origin.
A Presbyterian church was first organized in Reading, August 29, 1823. Rev. Benjamin Graves was it first minister.
Lockland was then beginning its career as a village.
April 6, 1850, was the natal day of the Lockland Presbyterian church, an outgrowth of the Reading church. The union of the old and new School churches, in 1870, greatly enlarged the Lockland church congregation. About the same time the Rev. Silas Hawley (who had been pastor of the church from
* By the Rev. W. A. Hutchinson, late pastor of the Lock- land church.
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1866) was dismissed with sixty-one members to form the Presbyterian church at Wyoming.
There are about one hundred and twenty-five members enrolled at present. The Rev. W. W. Houston is pastor in charge.
"' Farewell ! farewell ! base world, farewell !' In touching tones exclaimed a bell; ' Life is a boon to mortals given, To fit the soul for bliss in heaven ; Do not invoke th' avenging rod, Come here and learn the way to God; Say to the world, Farewell ! farewell! ' Pealed forth the Presbyterian bell."
EARLY SCHOOLS .*
"We find that in this immediate neighborhood were also two of the early schools, one on Huntsman's place and another on the Paddack road. 3 Of this last school we have obtained some valuable and interesting information. In the days of sixty-five years ago, it was kept by an aged female, named Betsy Chase. It was a log-house, heated by an immense fire-place, with a hole knocked out of one side for a win- dow, which hole was in winter time covered with a greased paper to keep out the cold, but to admit the light. Long before the days of public free schools, it was supported by a tui-
* From Mayor Bromwell's Anniversary address.
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tion at so much a quarter; and the teacher probably boarded from house to house, and took part pay in country produce."
THE SCHOOL BUILDING,
Just completed this year, cost about $20,000, and is the largest and most commodious in our valley. It is a shining exponent of the intelligence of this community, and of the pro- gress of our people generally in perfecting our school system. This is the growth from seed sown seventy-five years ago (1807), when Mrs. Wilmuth learned to spell in the old log school-house up the pike.
We may not name all who have nurtured this seed to its apparent maturity and fruit- bearing ; but there are names which will always be associated with its culture-Edward P. Allen, Alexander Mayhew, John Martin, John H. Tangeman, Caleb B. Evans, and George S. Stearns were so much identified with its rise and growth as to be deserving of especial mention in this connection.
It stands upon a lot, of three acres, facing north on Wyoming and south on Worthington avenues, and is the costliest temple dedicated to learning in Mill Creek valley ; and, in this
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respect, has its counterpart in the Wayne Ave- nue church, the costliest of its kind, and, virtu- ally situated between the same avenues, and distant from each other less than one-half mile.
These two splendid structures constitute the high water-mark of religious and educational interests in point of expenditure in construction in our valley.
The present attendance is about two hun- dred scholars. The popularity of this school and its thorough efficiency is due to the super- intendence of Prof. Chas. S. Fay, who for the last eight years has had charge.
In this valley, the days of the perambulatory school teacher are fast passing away-the days when he used to board around, whose experi- ence elicited such expressions of sympathy from Mark Twain as the following :.
" But there is one man in this world to whom I alwuz take oph my hat, and remain uncovered until he gets safely by, and that is the distrikt skoolmaster.
When I meet him I look upon him az a mar- tyr just returning from the stake, or on his way there tew be cooked.
A distrikt skoolmaster, who duz a square job, and takes his codfish bawls reverently, iz a
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better man to-day, tew hav lieing around loose, than Solomon would be, arrayed in all ov hiz glory.
Solomon wuz better at writing proverbs and managing a large family than he would be tew navigate a distrikt skoolhous.
Enny man who has kept a distrikt skool for ten years, and boarded around the naberhood, ought to be made a mager gineral and have a penshun for the rest ov his nat'ral days, and a hoss and waggin tew do his going around in."
THE DEPOT.
As a railroad village, Wyoming has risen rapidly in importance. It is at present the northern terminus of the double track from Cincinnati on the C. H. & D. Railroad.
One of the most commodious depots on the road is here located.
A beautiful park is built around it. Mr. Josiah Dwight is the agent in charge.
LANDMARKS.
One of the relics of the Riddle farm was standing only a few years ago in the shape of a log-house on the front of the lot now owned by Dr. Taylor, and the old well and three
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THE HOMES OF WYOMING.
evergreen trees near his front fence still mark the site of the former building.
On the corner, west of the pike, and next to Mr. Baldwin's, years ago stood an old tannery ; but the only evidence of the industry once car- ried on there is found in the two wells still existing upon the lot.
A log-house was standing there when Mr. Woodruff bought this property, in 1864, which was soon after disposed of by Mr. W. to Jerry Meyers, who transferred it to Greenwood, where it still subserves the purposes of a home.
THE HOMES OF WYOMING.
" The stately homes of England, How beautiful they stand ! Amidst their tall ancestral trees, O'er all the pleasant land."
-Mrs. Hemans.
These words will apply with peculiar empha- sis and propriety to this wealthy and flourish- ing suburb.
As a retreat from yonder city, it affords pre-eminent advantages, and is a distinguished instance of the rapid and wonderful growth of this valley.
Elsewhere we have mentioned the homes of Mr. John Carlisle, Mr. E. P. Stout, and Mr.
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George S. Stearns-all situated in this village. We here allude to a few more residences for the purpose of further illustrating its develop- ment.
THE FRIEND HOMESTEAD
Is the central landmark of Wyoming. Widow Evatt first built a log cabin upon this site in 1814. Isaac B. Riddle, subsequently acquiring title to this and the adjoining ground known as the Riddle farm, tore down the cabin and built a brick house in its stead. This was in 1832. Col. C. W. Friend, then fifteen years old, helped make the brick out of which it was built. The orchard around it, fruitful and abounding with shade, was planted by Mr. Riddle. In 1858 Col. Friend bought eighteen acres, including this house, of Mr. Riddle ; sub- sequently enlarged it and made it his home- stead, where he lived until his death. It has an antiquated look, suggesting repose and com- fort within its thick-built and venerable walls.
The old well, dug by Mrs. Evatt in 1814, is still there, affording an exhaustless supply of sparkling cold water.
This homestead now belongs to Miss Nettie M., youngest daughter of the late Col. Friend.
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THE BARNEY RESIDENCE.
THE EVANS MANSION
Is an emblematic country seat. It comprises about eight acres-a superb little manor con- stituting the cultivated home of MR. AND MRS. C. B. EVANS.
It is a splendid gothic structure, facing east, : and from its proud summit looks down, almost disdainfully, upon the valley beneath.
A magnificent panorama is spread out before you as you stand upon its vine-covered porches ; and as you contemplate this landscape, painted by the oldest of masters, you will recall the words of Madame Michilet :-
" Nature is immovable and yet mobile. That is her eternal charm. Her unwearied activity, her ever-shifting phantasmagoria do not weary, do not disturb ; the harmonious motion bears in itself a profound repose."
THE BARNEY RESIDENCE.
One September day the writer stood on the broad steps that lead up to the home of MR. AND MRS. R. D. BARNEY. The elevated site, the superb structure, the natural scenery, recalled at once the site of Macbeth's castle in the high- lands of Scotland :-
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DUNCAN .- This castle has a pleasant seat, The air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto your gentle senses.
BANQUO .- This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress, Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made His pendant bed and procreant cradle,- Where they do haunt, I have observed, The air most delicate.
Mr. Barney and his brother Howard, are sons of the late Hon. H. H. Barney, who was long identified with the public school system of Ohio, at one time being State School Com- missioner.
They are also members of the great publish- ing house of Robert Clarke & Co., and as such, should be classed with the younger literary pioneers of this valley.
THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD
Stands in the midst of a sixty-acre tract, on an eminence shaded by old forest trees. This frame building was raised on the afternoon of March 4th, 1861, the contractor deferring the work until the afternoon of that day in order that it might not occur during the Buchanan
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THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD.
administration, but rather signalize the incoming of President Lincoln's.
It is worth the while to climb that hill, and then look from its summit up into the clear, pure air, and then away to the cloud-canopied city in the distance.
The home stands upon a point projecting from the ridge of hills, of which it is a part, into the valley. It thus affords a most advan- tageous view of the valley. The cars on the C. H. & D. can be seen from the time they leave the depot in Glendale until they pass Longview, six miles south. All the villages of the plain may be seen. Away to the south-east rises the Cincinnati Observatory. Numberless church- spires, school-houses, depots, and public insti- tutions are features of this living landscape.
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