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 5
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A PIONEER'S POEM.
Beneath the green sward in the old church-yard, Are silently lying at rest The dearest of friends, whose pale, spectral hands, Wave back through the shadowy mist.
All passing away, my locks they are gray, - And life is now ebbing with me, Yet remember dear stream, in the land of my dream I'll be singing bright peans to thee.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
CHAPTER XI.
BRIDGES.
U TPON this subject Dr. Drake* said : "Some enthusiastic persons already speak of building a bridge across the Ohio, at Cincinnati, but the period at which this great project can be accomplished is certainly re- mote," and
" There was a bridge over Mill creek, near its confluence with the Ohio ; but in consequence of a high flood in that river it was destroyed."
It is an astonishing fact, with which we are too familiar to fully realize it, that two immense iron railroad bridges, and one of the finest suspension bridges in the world, connect the States of Ohio and Kentucky, and beneath which the wrinkled river seems at times to crawl.
Many-some of them costly and beautiful- are the bridges that now span the Mill creek.
* Pictures of Cincinnati, 1815.
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THE CALDWELL HOMESTEAD.
But the most suggestive sight of the kind is afforded at what was known in early days as " The third crossing of Mill creek." just above Carthage.
These five bridges have been constructed since the nineteenth day of October, 1793, when Mrs. Andrew Pryor, regardless even of the old ford, sprang into the water up to her waist and escaped with her child across Mill creek to avoid captivity and murder by the Indians, as stated under the head of " White's station."
We have at first an old rude bridge on the Hamilton pike ; then the aqueduct for the canal ; then the bridge on the C. H. & D. R. R. ; 'then that on the Dayton Short Line; and finally the new iron bridge on Wayne avenue. These have been necessitated by the ever widen- ing stream of population, and the ever increas- ing volume of trade and traffic through this valley-the richest and most populous in Ohio -in the west.
THE CALDWELL HOMESTEAD.
This valuable landed estate belongs at pres- ent to Col. James N. Caldwell, U. S. A. upon which he resides with his family. His title is
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
derived from the last will and testament of his uncle, Major James Caldwell, who purchased and obtained a deed in 1796 directly from Judge Symmes for the 446 acres of which it consists.
Major Caldwell was one of the earliest pioneers of this valley. He was commissioned major by General Wayne and commanded a regiment upon Wayne's expedition against the Indians and was at the battle of Fallen Tim- bers. He was a distinguished continental soldier, served his country faithfully and con- tinuously until peace was declared with the In- dians, when he purchased this body of land out of his earnings-a monument as well to his frugality as to his loyalty.
Mill creek passes almost through the center of it from north to south, the eastern portion being in the corporation of Carthage, the west- ern consisting of a natural forest.
Griffin's station was located near this farm at an early day, an account of which appears on page 41 .
Soon after this purchase, the Caldwells built a saw and grist-mill on the creek just west of the station. This was the first mill built on Mill creek, and it is asserted upon good author- ity, was the first in the Miami valley. Judge
THE CALDWELL HOMESTEAD.
Symmes built a house at North Bend out of timber sawed in this mill, which was hauled by ox-teams over the old road still leading west from Carthage and known as the North Bend road.
A distillery was also built and put in opera- tion on the west bank of Mill creek at the mouth of one of the ravines on this farm. What its spirit producing capacity was, is not known. It is known, however, that it was the beginning of that vast distilling interest from which the Government derives at present a yearly revenue of nearly $12,000,000 from this valley. A sudden storm swept it out of exist- ence in 1806.
The copper still-doubtless the first brought to this valley from Philadelphia-was subse- quently found among drift wood and came, somehow, into the possession of a criminal ac- cused of stealing a horse. The head of a now wealthy and distinguished family -then a lawyer-defended and acquitted the man and for his fee took the copper still. The lawyer traded it subsequently for ninety acres of ground, which was the beginning of the larg- est and richest landed estate in Hamilton County.
The Caldwells are direct descendants of
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
Robert Caldwell a compatriot of Judge Symmes, and grandfather to Col. Caldwell of Carthage, and the Hon. John W. Caldwell, of the Cin- cinnati Bar, formerly U. S. Minister to Bogota.
THE MIAMI CANAL
Is an interesting and by no means unimpor- tant feature of this valley. It affords substan- · tial advantages to manufacturers ; cheap and safe transportation ; and pleasurable advan- tages by way of skating and piscatorial amuse- ment in their respective seasons. It provides a safe bathing beach for boys and dogs, for there need be no apprehension of the ebb and flow of the tides, or of counter currents, or sharks.
In its ceaseless flow it suggests the song of Tennyson's brook :
"By thirty mills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty thorps, a pretty town, And half a hundred bridges, And draw them all along and flow, To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever."
The Tiber rolls in splendor through Rome ;
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THE MIAMI CANAL.
this moves in majesty through Carthage.
Like the " Beautiful Blue Danube " it forms the boundaries of cities, and flows through a valley alike famous for its natural scenery and magnificent residences.
It resembles the Seine in that its placid waters reflect the domes and minarets of the Paris of America, although the ashes of Na- poleon do not sleep upon its banks.
It has a " Bridge of Sighs." Happy lovers have realized this fact while standing upon it in the deepening twilight and the brightening moonlight, as they listened to "the light drip of the suspended oar," or mused as the Lockland Packet passed along this Venetian avenue .-
" This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing To waft me from distraction ; once I loved Torn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuring Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved."
It might as well be subjoined as a practical, historical fact, that this Canal was excavated. and formally opened, A. D. 1827. A meeting was held at the Locks-from which Lockland derives its name-at which Gov. De Witt Clinton of New York, made the speech of dedication. Its construction was a marvelous event in its day. The time is believed to be
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
rapidly approaching, when its channel through the valley will be usurped by railroads.
SPRING GROVE CEMETERY.
The old White burying ground at Carthage, elsewhere mentioned, and other homely rest- ing places for our departed fore-fathers, have been supplanted, in the main, by this magnifi- cent city of the dead. And much of the wide- spread celebrity of Mill Creek valley is attribut- able to the fact that this Cemetery is located within it.
We find in Kenny's Illustrated Cincinnati, a description of it so complete and satisfactory, that by permission we here insert it.
" The organization of the owners of the Cem- etery of Spring Grove was begun on the 14th of April, 1844, when a number of the leading citizens of Cincinnati assembled, and appointed a committee to select a site. The old Garrad farm, of 160 acres, was chosen, and on the 21st of January following, the Society was incor- porated. To place it upon a firm basis, two hundred citizens subscribed one hundred dol- lars each, for which they were entitled to select a lot fifty feet square. In February, 1845, in memory of the springs and groves, the farm
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SPRING GROVE CEMETERY.
was named Spring Grove, and consecrated on the 28th day of August, in the same year. The original design for the improvement of the ground was prepared by the late Mr. John Notman, who also planned Laurel Hill Ceme- tery, near Philadelphia; but the chief, and most characteristic improvements have been made since 1855. It is from this period that the present lawn-landcape style date; and within all the hedges and iron and stone in- closures have been removed. Its green slopes and wooded levels, its stately avenues and beautiful monuments, shrubberies and flowers, now form component parts of one great whole, unobstructed by fences, and diversified by quiet lakes. To the original purchase, 434 acres have been added, at a cost of $330,000, thus forming at once a peaceful resting place for the dead, and a beautiful park for the living.
In the Old World two of the most famous and largest cemeteries are the Pere la Chaise, in France, and the Groves at Scutari, where the remains of tens of thousands of Mussulmans lie buried. These are now part and parcel of history, for they have entomed many genera- tions. The simple tomb so recently repaired, where Abelard and Eloise sleep together, is one of the shrines of Pere la Chaise. Upon
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
the anniversary of the funeral, thousands and thousands of Parisians flock to the spot to gar- land it with flowers and crowns of immortelles.
The curators of the grounds say that the grave of these lovers is almost the only one which has.been visited and mourned over and decorated with unvarying constancy during all the procession of years. Scores of Frenchman have told the tale of their endearments and their griefs, the learning of Abelard and the piety of Eloise, and English readers will find their memory embalmed in Alexander Pope's epistle from Eloise, as passionate and pathetic as any that Ovid ever wrote for his imaginary heroines.
There is a tomb similarly honored at Scutari. It is of the beautiful Fatima, the wife of a great and wealthy follower of Mohammed, who died in the sixteenth century. He was a warrior, as Abelard had been a monk; both, indeed, had fought ; the one with the cimeter and the lance, the other with the weapons of the fiercest and sharpest polemics.
The dead of Spring Grove, sleep under a landscape of equal beauty with either of these. Their names are not so world-wide as those of Eloise and Fatima, but they, too, have fought their fight. There are among them the bones of soldiers who fell for their country, and the
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THE ACQUEDUCT.
dust of the leaders in the mighty army of those who have led the vanguard of peaceful pro- gress. The broad and beautiful avenue, with its magnificent trees, brings the living and the · dead alike to the final abode of rest and release from strife and contention, where there are laurels and roses for the blue, lilies and myrtles for the gray. After generations have passed away, the massy granite, embedded in green turf, shaded by trees then venerable with age, and embosomed in flowers, may look down up- on the graves of many whose lives have been as romantic, if not so sad, as Eloise's -- as deeply loved as Fatima's. Then some poet, like Pope, or some noble romancer like Scott, will . arise, and in another Epistle, or another ' Old Mortality,' tell the tale of those who are gone."
THE AQUEDUCT.
Rome had fourteen aqueducts-Carthage has but one. They cost the Empire millions of dol- lars-this, Carthage nothing. They brought water to Rome-this conveys it to Carthage. They had a " substruction of solid masonery" -this of wood. They had no cascade or minne- haha-this has. They were built upon the old Latin principle in hydrostatics :
" Subit alitudinem exortus sui."-
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
so is this. Aqua Nova, one of the most magnifi- cent, was 59 miles long and 109 feet high-this is 200 feet long and 20 high. Roman architec- ture had some of its noblest exemplifications in the construction and endowment of her ancient artificial rivers-this is a simple speci- men of modern wood work. They long since yielded "to the tooth of time and razure of oblivion "-this remains.
THE HAMILTON COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS. 97
CHAPTER XII.
THE HAMILTON COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS.
W ITHIN the last three years, about $25,000 have been expended in enlarg- ing and improving these grounds. Forty-two acres are now within the enclosures.
Forty years ago, William Henry Harrison -for thirty days President of the United States -was the first President of this society. From that time down to the present, with few ex- ceptions, have been held these feasts of the Wheat harvest, and First fruits and the Ingath- erings-these autumnal convocations where men joyfully and gratefully commingle to com- pare as to how the earth has yielded her in- crease in response to the demands of the hus- bandman ; as to the improved methods of its culture by which labor is lightened and digni- fied ind the more amply rewarded.
Within a hundred yards of this locality,* it is
* White's Station.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
definitely known that a battle was fought with Indians for the control of this grand valley. Then the question was finally settled whether the tall, dark forests were to remain the home of the savage, or be felled by the axe of the · frontiersman, in order that the rich unsunned soil might be opened to the sunshine and fur- rowed by the ploughman.
The wave set in motion by an Infinite hand for an infinite purpose rolled on, while upon its crest sat civilization sanctified by christian- ity. It waved a magical wand, and a wilder- ness became an Eden. The waste of woods, within three generations, has become a popu- lous and powerful realm. And this is its highest evidence. It is an unspoken eulogy in praise of human progress. It is an unsung anthem, giving nature's God the glory for painting the rainbow upon the clouds, and saying : " While the earth remaineth, seed- time and harvest, and cold and heat, and sum- mer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."
That this institution stands so high to-day in popular esteem, is in the main attributable -aided by the intelligent and hearty co-oper- ation of the Board of Directors-to the energy and executive ability and personal popularity fo its president, Col. W. H. Hill, of Sharon.
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A LAND MARK.
A LAND MARK
Is the old Sturgis homestead on Wayne avenue in Maplewood. Generations have come and gone since it was built. From its com- manding site it has looked, approaching a century, towards the East, recalling the stead- fast gaze of the Egytian Sphynx through the blinding sands of the desert and the sun- shine and storms of passing ages. It has wit- nessed the flowing tide of population working its channel up the vailey from the great civic- centre on the Ohio. It has seen the old Hamilton road widen into a thoroughfare ; seen two iron highways constructed to the east
and west. When its walls were reared, it was comparatively alone in its rural splendor. The farm upon which it stood, with its orchard and meadows and woodlands, spread away in every direction from it. It has looked unen- viously upon the beautiful houses that have sprung up around it. as if children, who have clothed themselves with finer architectural raiment, in mild disregard, but with no dis- dain for her old fashioned habiliments.
In point of durability it completely symbo- lizes the true idea of a home. No "contract gothic sham" is this. Its superstructure was
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reared in the hope and with the design that it should be an enduring earthly home, as well for him who planned and built it in the love of wife and children, as for all who should come after him, whether consanguineous or strangers to the ancestral blood.
Soon upon these old walls will be built a mansard roof and a tower, while within they are being decorated with Marston's choicest styles of Anglo-Japanese papers, as if it were to be a human habitation for generations to come.
This property was originally the home of the parents of Mrs. Joseph F. Mills ; but now is owned and occupied by MR. JAMES S. ZERBE, Editor of the American Inventor.
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AN OPERA HOUSE,
Centrally located in the suburb of Maple- wood, at one time calied Pille's but now known as " Mill's Opera house, is hardly of that style of architecture designated as the "Oriental Romanesque," but because of its severe sim- plicity it may be said to suggest that " chaste elegance peculiar to Italian architecture."
It is unlike the Pantheon ; that was circular in form, this, rectangular. That consisted of
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AN OPERA HOUSE.
a " Rotunda, with a noble corinthian octa- style portico attached to it,". this does not. That was approached by seven steps which elevated it above the level of ancient Rome ; this, but by two. The Pantheon was dedicated to the worship of all the gods; this, for a . while, was set apart for the worship of the only true God. The splendor of the one has de- parted, that of this remains.
It is unlike the Coliseum. That was pro- jected by the Emperor Vespasian ; this, by the Emperor JOSEPH. That was built 1,900 years ago ; this, within the last decade. That was an ellipse, this, a parallelogram. Gaudentis was the architect of that ; Mace of this. Gauden- tis suffered martyrdom for his christian belief within the very theatre he had planned; the architect of this still builds. The one reverbe- rated to the groan of the dying Gladiator ; this to " The Lay of the Last Minstrels."
Itis unlike the Athenæum. There only poets, philosophers and literary men met in the dis- cussion of literary subjects. But this is not exclusively an intellectual arena, although
" We, we have seen the intellectual giants stand, Like Titans, face to face, Athos and Ida, With a dashing sea of eloquence between."
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But it is like the old FORUM ROMANUM in that the length of it exceedeth the breadth by one- third ; and in that here, too, justice is admin- istered ; here, too, fair women and brave men have commingled in the convivial assembly
" To sweeten talk and heel the high lavolt."
Here, too, the Village Amphictyonic Council statedly convenes to deliberate upon municipal affairs.
It is unlike Springer Music Hall. That is dedicated to Minerva, the goddess of Art and Industry ; this, rather, to Orpheus as having " established social relations and inaugurated civilization." That resounded to the music of the Thomas Orchestra ; this, to the resonant instruments of the Village Band. That vibrated to the songs of Gerster and Valleria ; this, to the voice of a Carey. That is the civic arena of inter-state art expositions ; this, of church fairs and festivals.
Finally, a comparison is justifiable between it and the old Athenian Academy-it being at present used as a department preparatory to entrance to the Public Schools.
" From that best academe
A mother's knee"
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AN OPERA HOUSE
to this, and the first step is taken up the hill of Science.
Through all these changes and vicissitudes, like the old Flavian Amphitheatre, it remains -
" Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime, - Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus."
ميديك عـ
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
CHAPTER. XIII.
THE BOGEN HOMESTEAD.
H AS for its eastern boundery the western corporate line of Hartwell, along which it extends about 1,000 feet, and thence sweeps upward and westward until it embraces about ·275 acres, and constitutes what is known as "Hartwell Heights." Its contour is diversi- fied with meadow, brook, rolling and wooded tracts, orchards and vineyards. The man- sion is back three-quarters of a mile from Glendale avenue, and is approached by a beautiful drive, lined with 260 fruit-trees, whose branches almost touch over head.
The house is a wonderful old home. It is built of stone, dug from the adjoining hill side. Its cellar is thirty feet deep and 160 feet long.
While in this darksome place methought the castle walls of Chillon must be overhead and that another Bonnivard was chained to a "column stone" as its desolate prisoner. And yet we mused the while,-
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MAJOR G. W. CORMANY'S PLACE.
"Chillon thy prison is a holy place,
And thy sad floor an altar-for 'twas trod Until his very steps have left a trace Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, By Bonnivard :- May none those marks efface ! For they appeal from tyranny to God."
Above this subterranean vault rises the stony superstructure into massive proportions, re- sembling a castle in spaciousness within and solidity without.
One summer night we visited that home and looked upon the pictured walls and heard music and happy voices. And when the evening had closed it was to go away from a bright place and count as passed one more "green and sunny glade " in the journey of life at the old fashioned hospitable homestead of MR. AND MRS. GEORGE BOGEN.
MAJOR G. W. CORMANY'S PLACE.
The traveler, in passing along Glendale ave- nue or over the C. H. & D. railroad never fails . to observe this attractive residence and its grounds. It has an exclusive location, being in the north-east corner of Rensselaer Park, fronting 304 feet on the pike and extending back to a line enclosing 74 acres of ground.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
The handsome residence of Doctor Bunker is just across the corporation line, and the depot is within two squares. This splendid property is on the western margin of the village of Hartwell, hanging thereas an ornament upon her outskirts, near enough to be benefited by the municipal rule that regulates the affairs of the village and far enough to justify the plea of quo warranto should the city fathers seek to impose a tax as quid pro quo. You enter this villa through a gate that has always been admired for its symmetrical proportions. The avenue up to the house is wide and smooth and hard, sweeping around the house in a graceful curve. The ground set apart for lawn and shrubbery are highly ornamented, and kept in perfect order. The house is a two story frame, and, with the improvements completed, already designed, will command admiration, with its porches, mansard roof and tower. The stable is large, commodious and proportionate. The little farm then extends westward through which a pretty rivulet passes, singing-
" I come from haunts of coot and hern I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern To bicker down a valley."
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THE W. R. MORRIS HOMESTEAD.
In the green pasture beside that running brook may be seen at times the favorite family horse and the "lowing herd ;" the ruminant goat and web-footed water-fowl of the order anseres including the palatable canvass-back ; the clarion voiced peacock and omnivorous swine, so fat, that like Falstaff, they " lard the lean earth as they walk along." Around and over all the faithful dog keeps watch ; mean- while, "the harmless, necessary cat" is asleep in the sunshine.
This home, together with all the rights, priv- ileges and appurtenances thereunto apper- taining and belonging, corporeal and incor- poreal, was the objective point of a marital campaign entered upon in the year 1867 by MAJOR AND MRS. GEORGE W. CORMANY.
THE W. R. MORRIS HOMESTEAD.
We have read somewhere of somebody's an- cestral home built upon a cliff that frowned
" O'er old Conway's foaming flood ; "
And this passage, floating in the mind since childhood, was recalled to memory by a visit to this venerable mansion, built forty years ago
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by the departed father of William R. Morris, Esq., the present owner.
This house is on an acclivitous bluff at whose base Mill creek at times foams and roars like a furious flood, resembling
" The tumbling surf, that buries The Orkneyan skerries Answering the hoarse Hebrides."
This old fashioned homestead is one of the most interesting and beautiful of the many noble places in this valley. It is interesting because of historical reminiscences. It was doubtless selected as a place of residence be- cause of the natural beauty of its site and sur- roundings. Storm after storm has over-swept it. It lifts its walls but one story high at the front, but its foundations are broad and deep and its am- plitied rooms compensate for the want of ad- ditional stories. The farm upon which it stands, once belonged to old Captain Jacob White. White's station was at the foot of this hill distant not more than one thousand feet. The Indians haunted this lovely spot. From it they made the assault on the little stockade, and when repulsed retreated over the same spot. The big Indian chief, killed while in the . act of scaling the fort, was buried at last in a
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THE W. R. MORRIS HOMESTEAD.
corner of the lot where the house now stands. His long bones, enormous skull, and glistening teeth still imbedded in the massive jaws, his battle axe and some trinkets were afterwards exhumed when the lot was being graded.
The present owner might have been seen with that grinning skull in his hands musing like another Hamlet : ·
" Here's fine revolution, and we had the trick to see it! That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel? Where be your gibes now, your gambol, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the camp in a roar? not one now to mock your own grinning?"
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