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 9
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"Me, poor man !- my library, Is dukedom large enough for me."
THE WEIGHELL RESIDENCE
Is another beautiful model of an American home. It is most eligibly located, midway be- tween the two stations, on the south-east cor- ner of Park and south Cresent avenues, and kept in perfect order from sidewalk to founda- tion stones, from foundation stones to turret. No expense has been spared to make it so. It has a curvilinear front of 220 feet on Park by 600 feet on Cresent avenues, and encloses about three acres of the choicest ground in the village. It commands splendid views in every
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direction. The lot is embellished with choice plants and flowers, and young forest trees, and a lawn as smooth as nature's floor can be made.
The interior of the house is its chief and most valuable feature. It is imposing. The spacious double parlor, wide, extended hall, library, and reception and dining rooms, and the concomitant pantries, the area of cellar and its appointments, all tend to make it a superbly convenient dwelling place. And then the en- tire furnishment with which those floors are carpeted, those walls beautified, those rooms filled with elegant furniture and paintings !
" A charm from the skies seems to hallow us here, Which seek through the world, Is ne'r meet with elsewhere."
Such is the home of MR. and MRS. M. V. B. WEIGHELL, member of the village council.
THE BARBER MANSION,
Now occupied by MR. AND MRS. JOHN C. MCORE, is a beautiful type of suburban home, and is the property of Mr. J. W. Barber. The lot is undulatory and sweeps like a green wave from Woodbine to Ohio avenue on the
m
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THEODORE MARSH'S RESIDENCE.
west. The grounds have been graded and embellished at great expense. The pleasures of home are evidenced in the varied plants and shrubs-the walks, the summer houses, the cool embankments of ferns, and the old over- shadowing trees. The judgment of a con_ noisseur selected the pictures that adorn the interior walls, and the artistic hand of a daughter has found therein an atelier.
Looking at "Moses," as painted by that artiste, we realized the truth of these words :
" Painting is a noble and expressive lan- guage, and invaluable as a vehicle of thought. Its excellences are what rhyme, melody, pre- cision and force are in the words of the orator and poet."
THE HON. THEODORE MARSH'S RESIDENCE
Is a noble type of the village mansion, it bears the name of "The Lone Oak." The house, half unseen amid the trees that em- bower it, seems almost smothered by the' trellised honeysuckle and the latticed colum- bine.
The " Lone Oak "-that king of the juvenile forest, stands like a sentinel between "that loved home and the storm's desolation."
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The sward, so level and so green, looks as if it had never yielded to the sickle, nor re- sounded to the ploughman's tread.
Byron had in his mind such a home as this when he wrote :
"'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark, Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home ;
'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark Our coming, and will look brighter when we come.
MRS. MARGARET KNIGHT'S RESIDENCE
Has an air of retiracy and repose indispen- sable to a suburban home. The stately man- sion-like house stands back on a splendid lot, with a sweeping frontage curving gracefully to the South to conform to the boundaries of the village park, which is in its immediate front. From its hearthstone may be heard, perhaps too distinctly, the hum and roar of passing trains, or the ceaseless march and counter-march of humanity over the stoneless streets of the village. A pebbled carriage way sweeps as a semi-circle in front of the house, along which flowers breathe their per- fume, and rare plants and shrubbery are taste- fully disposed so as to relieve the green sward of its seeming monotony. Without it com-
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THE LOWES RESIDENCE.
mands admiration, while within it is fault- lessly arranged and elaborately furnished.
Certainly a quiet retreat for its venerable resident owner, from which to watch the set- ting sun and dawning stars, so typical of the evening of life and the coming of a brighter and better to-morrow.
THE LOWES RESIDENCE
Is a splendid home, located on the south side of Mystic avenue. The natural elevation of the ground above this avenue is a valuable feature. This house is conspicuously seen from the eastern hills and from passing trains, and is admired for its pleasing architecture. Beneath that drooping willow may be obtained as cool and invigorating well-water as ever quenched human thirst. Recent additions have been made to the house by way of piaz- zas, bay-windows, summer-houses, etc., the whole constituting the home of MR. AND MRS. JAMES A. LOWES.
MR. JAMES R. WILLIAMS' RESIDENCE.
This is an ornamental cottage with a South- ern front on Park and Mystic avenues. When
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approached from Mystic avenue, the lot rises to an eminence, and has a gentle elevation when viewed from Park avenue.
Mr. Thomas Gibson, of Cincinnati, owns this property, and it is occupied by MR. AND MRS. JAMES R. WILLIAMS.
" When the day goes away and the shadows of the evening are stretched out," the steeple of the Methodist church throws its shadow across this wide-spreading lawn, so near is the chosen place of worship to the denizens of this pretty country home.
MR. JACOB T. SPINNING'S RESIDENCE.
Surrounding the house is a remnant of the primeval forest just as the Indian, doubtless, saw it a century ago, save that the underbrush has been supplanted by flowering plants and shrubs. The trees remain. Dusky maidens no more wait for warrior lovers beneath that aged elm. "Pale faces" now read and re- cline there. Instead of " the sharp twang and the deadly whir of the loaded arrow, followed by the dull, drear echo of a bolt that smites its mark," the polished shafts of accomplished archers speed on their harmless way, as may be witnessed on a summer evening when Col.
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COL. T. E. M'NAMARA'S HOME.
W. P. Wiltsee, as a modern Cambyses with a Macrobian bow, and as chief of an Archery tribe, drills his braves and their maidens in the Sagittarian art on the green and level lawn.
* COL. T. E. M'NAMARA'S
Home in the center of Maplewood, deserves especial mention as a representative of this beautiful young suburb.
It is a square-built, substantial and hand- some structure, almost severe in the simplicity of its design, exhibiting in its construction a regard for comfort rather than showiness, and yet it is one of the few home spots in the vil- lage whose striking character and surround- ings, ample, well kept grounds, covered with shrubbery, and in their season, radiant and redolent with flowers, inevitably attract the at- tention of the passer-by.
To Col. McNamara belongs the distinction of being the pioneer of Maplewood. His was the first residence erected and occupied in the village, which was then a bare field without trees, graded streets or other improvement, and
* Mr. McNamara is at present serving as aid-de-camp with the rank of Colonel, upon the staff of GOVERNOR CHARLES FOSTER.
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it is worthy of remark that upon this very spot at one time stood the wigwam home of the Indians, as may be fairly presumed from the fact that when Williams avenue (in its front) was graded, ashes, shells, beads, arrow-heads, and mouldering bones, were exhumed, afford- ing almost indubitable evidence of the fact that this
" Lone and pleasant dell This valley in the west "
was an encampment, if not a burial place, for another and a departed race.
" The statesman, lawyer, merchant, man of trade, Pants for the refuge of some rural stade, Where, all his long anxieties forgot, He dwells midst charms of a sequestered spot."
DR. W. H. BUNKER
Has a splendid residence on the north side of Cilley avenue, built in the decorated suburban style, with vines festooning its porches and shrubbery ornamenting its lawn.
Upon such a porch, shaded by such vines and pleased with such views-Aurora Leigh
" Would gloriously forget herself And plunge, soul-forward, headlong, Into a book's profound."
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MR. S. B. KELLY'S RESIDENCE.
MR. L. B. EATON
Has just erected a new building on Ohio and Park avenues, intended for his residence and a public store. He is postmaster of the village.
MR. S. B. KELLY'S
Beautiful residence in Maplewood, so dis- tinctly 'seen from many a standpoint in this valley, should be mentioned in this connection as showing the development in house architec- ture in this vicinity. It is a noble specimen of a house in the Elizabethan villa style, being a two-story frame with porches, bay-windows and a tower. The lot is a spacious one, cov- ered with a choice variety of flowers and shrub- bery-the wild tulip being one of its most pleasing features. The interior of this mansion comports in every respect with its delightful exterior.
Its walls are all richly decorated with pic- tures and paintings, the whole suggesting com- fort and refinement.
The view from the tower of this house is re- markably pleasing. It illustrates the words of Tupper :
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" O blinded is the eye, if it see not just aptitude in all things, O frozen is the heart, if it glow not with gratitude for all things,
In the perfect circle of creation not an atom could be spared From earth's magnetic zone to the bind-weed 'round a hawthorne."
THE OLD GARES HOMESTEAD,
Now the remodeled residence of L. B. Cook, Esq., stands on a large and beautiful lot on Park avenue. It was once the center of a farm -now it is the center of a remnant acre. It stands amidst full grown trees, than which it is older. It was built by the Greenham family, more than sixty years ago, so that its complete history, there is probably none living to tell. He who laid its foundation stones, and he who moulded the brick out of which its old walls were constructed, have themselves doubtless fallen asleep in the slumber of death. But the old walls, and the new addition just com- pleted, still constitute a pleasant home ; and in and out of the old doorway generations may yet pass before it shall cease to turn upon its old fashioned hinges.
THE KOEHLER HOMESTEAD
Possesses the characteristics of a land mark.
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THE KOEHLER HOMESTEAD.
A wealthy gentleman named John D. Gettis built it for his private country residence about forty years ago. He was a Yankee adventurer and began his career in New Orleans as a dray- man ; subsequently acquired wealth, married a daughter of Mr. John D. Harris, a pioneer in this valley, and passed much of his time in this, then elegant home.
An artificial lake was in front of this house fed by an upland spring and the little rivulet that still flows at the foot of the hill.
The house now wears a mournful look. Magnificent old evergreens stands round it as if mantling its fading splendors, while the beautiful fields roll in green waves in all directions from it, as the billows of the sea sometimes roll away from a mastless and masterless ship
" Rocked in the cradle of the deep." -
This property (with the farm upon which it stands) now belongs to MRS. ELIZABETH KOEHLER.
A DEER STORY.
Mrs. Jane Wilmuth, (now a resident of Wy- oming, a sketch of whom appears in the chap-
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ter on that village) relates this story : Her father, William Evitt, who lived at the time (1813) in a log cabin where the Ruffner house now stands on Wayne avenue, just south of the Methodist church, shot at and wounded a deer in the vicinity of his cabin (then a dense woods). The deer bounded bleeding away, but was tracked by the dog and little Jane to the banks of Mill creek, near the present crossing of Wayne avenue in Hartwell, where it was found dead.
THE ST. CLAIR HOUSE.
In an early day (about 1832), Arthur St. Clair, Jr., occupied a small house on the north- eastern part of the Bogen farm. The building stood but a short time, when from some cause it took fire and burned down. The house was immediately rebuilt and some of the timber of the old was used in the construction of the new. This still stands and may be seen to the west of the pike a few hundred feet, and not far south of the Compton road.
A TRADITION.
In the south-east corner of Major G. W. Cormany's lot, on the west of Hartwell, once
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A TRADITION.
stood an old frame house. The location may be identified by a group of locust trees still standing there. This house was taken down at an early day and the frame work removed and rebuilt into a house upon the knoll to the west, still seen and occupying a position about the center of Rensselaer Park, formerly known as the Cilley farm. The walls were painted in a remarkable way. One side of the house represented a plantation scene-a Southern home, with a beautiful lady descending broad steps that led down to a lawn where lounged and waited slaves-a scene decidedly charac- teristic of the days of slavery.
Another wall represented a forest with In- dians lurking therein and the primeval cabin with its curling smoke and coonskin adorn- ments fastened against the outer wall.
These paintings were supposed to represent the savage and the civilized state of our people at that stage of American society.
There is a well authenticated tradition that Arthur St. Clair, son of Governor St. Clair, used to resort to this spot, and amuse himself in praying upon his violin.
RESIDENTS.
The following persons have likewise con-
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tributed to the development of the valley by providing themselves with pleasant homes in this village :
F. M. Whitelaw, Esq. L. B. Hancock, Esq. Jeremiah Faulkner. Herman Mohring. Mr. James J. Burgess. Col. James D. Welsh. William Leeper, Esq. Mr. A. B. Shumard. Mr. H. P. Pflume, Mrs. Helen Russell. Mr. John P. Mace.
Chas. S. Wiltsee, Esq. R. P. Thompson, Esq. Prof. Carl G. Huber. Mr. William Ewing. Joseph A. Reckner, Esq
Mr. Wm. F. Mitchell. Mr. Charles H. Rust.
Mr. Wm. Moffett. Mr. Philip Krug.
Mr. Henry A. Hills. Mr. O. E. Connor. Mr. A. Herbolshimer. A. J. DeCamp, Esq. John W. Friend, Esq. Mr. Lyman DeCamp. G. W. Crouse, Esq. D. W. Conrey, Esq. J. D. Burgess, Esq. E. G. Warman, Esq.
Benjamin Barton, Esq. P. Y. Brown, Esq. J. M. Marston, Esq. Mr. Frank Wilson. Frank Bloomer, Esq. Mrs. G. W. Kerr.
Capt. T. H. Marpe. John W. Hill, Esq. Mr. Theudas Hoge. Mrs. Caroline Healy. H. D. Blackburn, Esq. J. M. C. Gates, Esq. Mr. F. G. Gerwig. Mrs. Job. DeCamp. Maj. L. S. Cumback. Mr. John Skillman. Mr. A. E. Clark. Chas. W. Jones, Esq.
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ELMWOOD.
Robert Morrison, Esq. B. F. Wright, Esq.
Richard Hombrook. J. W. Barger, Esq.
Robert Keith, Esq.
L. B. Eaton, Esq. L. E. Brown, Esq.
Mr. W. C. Johnson.
Mr. A. Martin.
J. P. Harris, Esq.
Mrs. Joanna DeCamp.
ELMWOOD.
Derives its name from an old elm standing on the south line of the village-an elm so aged that it doubtless was a beautiful young tree one hundred years ago.
In looking at it, the words of James Russell Lowell, suggests themselves to the mind :
" A little of thy steadfastness, Rounded with leafy gracefulness, Old Elm give me ; That the world's blasts around me blow, And I yield gently to and fro, While my stout hearted trunk below And firm set roots unshaken be."
This village has had a marvellous growth -- pe. haps no part of the valley has more rapidly developed than this. The advance from 663 cents to $4,000 per acre, since the date of the Synes purchase, is an astonishing instance
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of increase in values. It stands upon historic ground. General Wayne and his soldiers en- camped almost upon this exact locality and marched across it in 1793.
The incident related under the title " Bloody Run" (page 61) occurred at the little stream just south of the village. It is but a remove from the north corporation line of Cincinnati, and soon may be absorbed within its limits. The facilities for reaching the city are great, and yet it is so located as to appear utterly re- moved from its contact, while its surrounding scenery, especially to the west, presents a beautiful landscape.
This sub-division has been under the ener- getic management of Mr. A. G. Bofinger and Lewis C. Hopkins, Esq.
The Dayton Short Line Railroad passes directly through it, and the C. H. & D. Rail- road immediately to the west. It is less than two miles from the north corporation line of the city, from the center of which it is nine miles by rail and five by the pike.
The ground was purchased directly from Franklin C. Whetstone and was originally the Anthony Cook farm. It was first laid out in town lots in April 1876. The first lots sold in the village were numbered 131 and 132 to Mr.
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ELMWOOD. 191
C. W. Withenbury, and 161 and 162 to Mr. C. E. Babbitt. The first house was built August 1876 by Mr. Isaac Cook at the corner of Town- ship and Elm avenues. In April 1878, seven- teen acres were added to this sub-division known as the Orchard property. The first marriage in the place was that of Mr. Frances Wenz to Miss Alice Russell, July 25, 1877. The first birth was that of Walter Elmwood Chapman, son of *C. Bart and Sarah B. Chap- man, which occurred October 6, 1877.
The Union Sabbath school was established in the Short Line Depot, June 2, 1878, with forty-one scholars and is still in a flourishing condition. In the same place regular weekly meetings have been held. During the present year a Union Chapel will be built. The post- office was established June 5, 1879, with Mrs. Mary A. Hund as postmistress, and the first mail received August 7, 1879.
*We are indebted to Mr. Chapman for these "first things " in Elmwood.
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CHAPTER XVI.
PARK PLACE.
Occupies a situation of great natural beauty on the C. H. & D. Railroad, about twelve miles from the city. It was laid out in 1876 by the Park Place Land Association of which Mr. Grant H. Burrows is the energetic president.
That it has grown to its attractive proportions and is so successful an enterprise, is mainly due to his acknowledged business enterprise and foresight. Park Place is a beautiful village -the offspring of Wyoming and yet looking towards Glendale as its alien mother and to Woodlawn as a sister. The avenues are loca- ted with reference to the contour of the ground. The plan of the village is unique. Its resi- dences are of a varied and superior order of architecture. The Springfield turnpike passes through the centre of it. The depot is a quaint specimen of architecture, but always admired. It rises almost upon the site of the old saw mill that passed away more than fifty years ago.
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CAMP JOHN M'LEAN.
The Allen homestead is the principal feature of this suburb. One hundred acres were ab- sorbed by the company, leaving eight acres for this homestead-the pleasant, hospitable home of MR. AND MRS. EDWARD P. ALLEN.
Mr. Edward E. Townley owns and occupies a conspicuous and tasteful home in the center of the village and upon its highest point.
We notice the residences also, of Col. J. H. Thornton, Mr. M. B. Farrin, Alfred Hess, Esq. Mr. Geo. R. Shafer, Lewis A. Zeiler, Esq. and Mr. J. F. Meyer.
CAMP JOHN M'LEAN.
The 75th Ohio Infantry was recruited on the farm of Edward P. Allen, Esq., (now Park Place) in the summer, of 1861. The encamp- ment was named in honor of Justice John Mc- Lean, of the United States Supreme Court, and father of Colonel N. C. McLean. It gathered into its ranks many of the noblest young men of this valley, and indeed, with this regard, it may be called the " Mill Creek Valley " Regiment, for it was largely recruited from this territory. Glendale was repre- sented by *Col. N. C. McLean and Capt. Elias
*Subsequently promoted to brigadier-general.
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R. Monfort ; Hamilton, by Henry L. Morey now a Member of Congress from that District ; Wyoming, by Col. Robert Reily and Col. C. W. Friend ; Lockland, by Major Geo. B. Fox and Lieut. W. H. H. Dumont- besides having gallant representatives in many non-commissioned officers and privates.
A summary of the distinguished services of this regiment is given as pertaining to the his- tory of this valley. From that camp went forth about one thousand men in bright uniforms, with flags and drums; with heavy but brave hearts ; with many a tear dimming the eyes ; but not of remorse : - they went away- how many hearts ached in the bosoms of those who said " good bye " as the sound of the distant drum told that they were indeed gone? How many hearts ache to-day for those who never, never will return? Is it any marvel that now and then a wife or a mother or sweet-heart, waited and watched for the return, until reason fled, and madness came which never went away? How thrilling the story of the Drummer's Bride-
" Hollow-eyed and pale, at the window of a jail,
Through her soft disheveled hair a maniac did stare, stare, stare !
At a distance down the street, making music with their feet,
الب الحدود
الجداول
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CAMP JOHN M'LEAN.
Came the soldiers from the wars, all embellished with their scars,
To the tapping of a drum, of a drum ;
To the pounding and the sounding of a drum !
Of a drum, of a drum, of a drum, drum, drum, drum ! sis Now she sees them in the street, march along with dusty feet. And she looks through the spaces gazing madly in their faces ;
And she reaches out her hand screaming wildly to the band ; But her words, like her lover, are lost beyond recover,
' Mid the beating of a drum, of a drum,
' Mid the clanging and the banging of a drum,
Of a drum, of a drum, of a drum, drum, drum, drum."
In January, 1862, the regiment was ordered into Western Virginia. It was in the battle of Monterey Court House, April 12, 1862, Stone- wall Jackson confronted the brigade of which it was a part near Staunton, and in this severe battle it lost ninety killed and wounded. Was at Cedar Mountain ; and at Graveton, near Bull Run, April 30, it bore the whole weight of Longstreet's corps and lost heavily in officers and men, the colors receiving ninety shots. At Chancellorsville the most dis- tinguished coolness and bravery were mani- fested by officers and men, and in one-half hour, one hundred and fifty were killed and wounded. This is but an epitome of their glorious services. Is it not enough ?
Lin
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WOODLAWN.
Midway between Wyoming and Glendale, and on the eastern side of Mill creek, Wood- lawn occupies as elevated and eligible a site as either of the above-named suburbs.
This eminence was doubtless an important point of observation in early days, both for the Indians and the pioneers. From the point now occupied by the Lovell residence, especi- ally from its tower, no grander or more ex- tended view can be had of the surrounding country.
The railroad hugs its western base while the western fork of Mill creek sweeps along its southern and western sides.
Over its summit passed General Wayne's army. Wayne avenue is extended through this beautiful village, thus being a continuous thoroughfare from Hartwell, through Lock- land, to Woodlawn.
Years ago Jonathan Spillman's Tavern stood on the present site of the Lovell home- stead, a great resort in past times.
The arrival and departure of the old stage coach on its pilgrimages to and from Hamilton to Cincinnati is superseded by lightning ex- press trains over an iron highway.
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WOODLAWN.
The old Baptist meeting-house on this hill, having served its day and generation, has been transformed into a stable.
In this vicinity, Tucker's station stood during the winter of 1792-3.
The block-house stood on the east side of the old Wayne war-trace, immediately opposite the late residence of Manning Tucker, Esq., son of Henry Tucker, the pioneer. Mr. Hor- ace Bugher now owns the highly improved farm upon which it stood within the precincts of this village.
During the Rebellion, when Morgan's Rebel cavalry were fleeing through Glendale, a por- tion of his command becoming separated from it, sent up rockets from this point to indicate their whereabouts.
Upon this historic ground Woodlawn was laid out in 1876, by Thomas T. and George S. Brown, two enterprising brothers of the firm of T. T. Brown & Co., of Cincinnati.
Their first purchase and that which constitutes the village proper-the center of this extensive and wealthy neighborhood-comprises one hundred and fifteen acres of the Tucker farm.
The C. II. & D. Railroad passes directly through it, and these gentlemen have erected. at their own expense, one of the most beautiful
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depots on the railroad. Much taste is mani- fested in the style of houses erected. Thev have expended altogether in improvements about $35,000.
A new school-house has just been completed at the expense of the township, costing $4,500.
The private residences of Mr. Thomas T. and George S. Brown, in point of archi- tecture, interior finish, and art decorations, spacious and cultivated grounds, will compare favorably with the most beautiful places in Glendale or Wyoming. The stately home- stead of Mrs. Oliver S. Lovell stands perhaps upon the highest point in this suburb.
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