NOTE—This list shows the dates of election, not those of entering upon duty.
*Pro tern.
† H. W. Church, additional Judge, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862.
216 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.*
EARLY CHURCH HISTORY—PIONEER MINISTERS—SCHOOLS—EARLY SCHOOLHOUSES—
STATISTICS
—RAILROADS AND CANALS—THEIR EARLY CONSTRUCTION—PERFECT RAIL-
ROAD SYSTEM OF THE COUNTY—PROJECTED ROADS.
FOR the first ten or twenty years after settlements began in what is now Stark County, society
was but little divided by sectional lines. In church, politics and social matters, neighborhoods for
miles about were closely allied by the necessities of the situation, and the people in the spirit of
true democracy inquired only into the moral worth of the newcomer. The majority of the adults
among the early settlers of the county had been members of some one of the Christian churches
of their native States or countries, and at the first opportunity arrangements of more or less
permanent character were made for Christian worship. Sectarian feelings, under the exigencies of
the occasion, were lost sight of, or kept strictly in abeyance, and the different religious sects and
denominations united to establish and continue religious worship on the Sabbath. Exercises were
held in the cabins of the settlers, new and unoccupied buildings, barns, or in any place suited to
the convenience of the time. Services commenced with the " singing of a hymn, in which all took
part, and were able to keep time and sing in unison without the aid of organ or musical
instrument," as we were informed by an aged pioneer. After the singing, a prayer was offered,
when a sermon would be read by some one, and exhortations made, after which another hymn
was sung, and the congregation dismissed. Says our informant : " Many of those who witnessed
these religious exercises in the then wilderness cannot have forgotten the zeal, the good, feeling,
the solemnity, that was apparent. God smiled graciously on the first settlers and conferred upon
them many and rich blessings while employed in rearing homes in these wilds. At the Sabbath
prayer-meetings there was a marked reverence, and not a few can date back to those times and
places their first and lasting religious impressions."
The churches of Stark County have passed
*Contributed by W. H. Perrin.
through great changes since the days of their early organization. Many have died out, some have,
as an organization, changed their creed, and others have sprung up and supplanted the older
established ones. Religion itself, we almost fear sometimes, is like everything else we have at the
present day—slightly adulterated; and wholly unlike the old genuine article proclaimed in the
sermon upon the Mount. It may be, however, that we entertain some old fogy ideas on the
subject, now obsolete, and not in keeping with the age in which we live. We will, therefore, leave
criticism to those who are more dissatisfied with church management than we are, and will
devote our attention t the organization of churches and church societies in this county.
The early settlers of the county were morally inclined, and religious meetings were held almost as
soon as actual settlements were made. Just when and upon what precise spot the first church
society was organized, we are unable to say. In Plain Township we have an account of religious
meetings by Rev. Mr. Stough as early as 1806, and of the erection of a church there in 1809. A
church was built in Jackson Township in 1814, by all religious denominations at that time
represented in the township. It was of hewed logs and called " Zion's Church." The first
preaching in Osnaburg Township, of which we have reliable information, was by Rev. William
Mitchell, a Methodist circuit-rider. He was also the first preacher in Sugar Creek Township. Rev.
Edward Otis was one of the pioneer Baptist preachers of the county. The first church in Sandy
Township was built by the Presbyterians and Lutherans, of which denominations Rev. Joshua
Beer (Presbyterian) and Rev. Mr. Wagenholtz (Lutheran) were the first preachers in this section.
St. John's Catholic Church was organized in Canton in 1818, and the Presbyterian Church in
1821. A Methodist Church was organized in Lexington Township in 1819,
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 217
and a church built in 1827. Revs. Weir and Faust, Lutheran and German Reformed ministers,
were pioneers in Stark County. The Dunkards were the first religious sect in Nimishillen
Township. The Quakers built the first church in Marlborough Township, and Rev. Richard S.
Goe, a Swedenborgian, was the first preacher in Bethlehem.
Thus the different sections of the county were brought under religious influence, by the
organization of churches, and the erection of temples of worship, until at the present writing,
there are in the county over 130 church buildings, costing from $1,500 to $80,000 and upward
each. This showing is pretty good evidence that the people have not retrograded from their early
religious training.
Educational.—Nothing is more characteristic of the settlement of Ohio than the prominence
which educational effort early attained in its social development. The settlements were sparse,
and money or other means to secure teachers were obtained with great difficulty, but parents and
children alike seemed to ap- preciate the great advantage which knowledge bestowed, and made
endless sacrifices to gain this coveted gift. In many cases in Stark County, schools were begun
and carried on without much hope of reward, and principally as a labor of love. Houses were
built for school purposes, before there were children enough in the neighborhood to form a very
full school.
These early schoolhouses were rude in construction, and partook much of the same general plan.
Logs were cut sixteen, eighteen or twenty feet, according to the population of the district, and of
these logs the walls were composed. When raised, " shakes " or clapboards covered the building.
A rude fire-place, clapboard door, puncheon floor, the cracks filled with chinks, and daubed over
with mud, completed the primitive schoolhouse of the pioneer period. The window, if any, was
made by cutting out a log the full length of the building, and over the opening in winter was
placed a well greased paper, that served to keep out the storm and admit the light. Just under this
window, two or three strong pins were driven into the log in a slanting direction, and on these
pins, a long puncheon was fastened, thus forming the desk upon which the writing was done. For
seats, they used benches made from small trees, cut in lengths of ten or twelve feet, split open,
and, in the round side, two large holes were bored at each end, which received the supporting
legs, and house and furniture was complete. The books used by the pupils were as primitive as
the house. The most popular reader was the New Testament, when it could be obtained, though
occasionally a copy of the old " English Reader " was found, and very rarely, the " Columbian
Orator " was in the family ; Pike's and Smiley's Arithmetics ; " Webster's Speller " was first used,
and after awhile the " Elementary Speller " came in. Grammar was seldom taught ; when it was,
the text books were Murray's or Kirk-ham's grammars. The primitive schoolhouses were in
keeping with the homes of the pupils. They were warm, if nothing more, as it was only necessary
to make a bee and re-mud the spaces between the logs each fall before cold weather came on.
Children who were barefooted till the school commenced, and sometimes till the snows covered
the hills and ice the streams, were not so sensitive to cold as pupils of these latter days. "I have
often," said an old gentleman to us, " seen boys sliding down hill, and upon the ice with bare feet
till mid-winter."
It was easier to build the houses and warm them, however, than to obtain money to pay teachers,
small as the wages were—often but $1 a week for women, and $2 or $3 for men. and board with
the pupils. Books cost money. and money was a commodity that was scarce in the country, so the
books were not easy to obtain. There was no changing of readers then every session, as some
gassy representative of a publishing house got the " weather-gauge " of a school board, and
convinced them that the old readers in use were already obsolete, as at the present day. The
instructors of those early times would make a poor show beside our present highly accomplished
teachers, so far as knowledge of text books is concerned. It is no slander to say that teachers who
could not master square-root, or who had not seen the inside of a grammar, were more numerous
than those who dared to make pretensions to such qualifications. There was first no public fund
available, and in a later period the fund for the payment of teachers was quite small, and what
was lacking was made up by assessment pro rata on those who
218 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
attended the school ; hence the teacher was often compelled to wait for a part of the small sum
promised him, till it could be collected. But let it not be supposed that there was no good work
done in these schools. The reading, the spelling, the writing and the ciphering, so far as the
teacher could go, need not have been ashamed to stand beside that of these days of high culture
and extended literary attainment. The seeds sown broadcast in the forests have germinated and
grown during these many years, and now we behold the magnificent harvest.
" Culture's hand
Has scatter'd verdure o'er the land ;
And smiles and fragrance rule serene,
Where barren wild usurp'd the scene."
Prominent among the teachers of an early day in the common schools—and they were very
common schools in those days—may be mentioned the following persons, viz., William Lee,
Andrew Murray, John Laughlin, Andrew Johnson, Alpheus Brown, Lewis Probst, a Mr. Stevens,
James Grounds, Cyrus Spink, Thomas Carmichael, Dr. B. Michener, David Lawson and others,
whose names are forgotten. The first schoolhouse in the county is supposed to have been built in
Sandy Township, about the year 1807, and the first built in Canton Township in the fall of 1808.
Another schoolhouse known as the " Cameron Schoolhouse" was built in Sandy Township in
1815. The first school taught in Nimishillen Township was taught in 1814, in a schoolhouse built
upon the land of Ulrich Spenley. Lexington Township had a school in. 1820 ; Marlborough's first
schoolhouse was built in 1825. A German school was taught in Canton in a log barn in 1809, and
in Plain Township, we are told that a Mr. Stevens taught a school in the fall of 1808, and about
the same year Bethlehem Township had its first school. The first select school in Perry Township
was taught by the late Gen. Cyrus Spink. A log schoolhouse was built in Jackson Township very
early and was occupied by a school, taught by Thomas Carmichael. Dr. Michener was the next
teacher in Jackson, and is still remembered on account of his love for pure English. The first
school in Sugar Creek Township was taught on the McFerren farm, and the first in Tuscarawas
was taught in the winter of 1812-13, and was a night-school. Its first day school was taught some
rime latet These early schools were all " subscription schools ;" that is, each family subscribed so
many scholars, for which they paid so much per scholar for the session, as there were no public
funds then. In contrast to that period, we give the following statistics from the last report of the
State Commissioner of. Public Schools :
Balance on hand September 1, 1878 - $ 85,901 79
State tax - 30,909 00
Irreducible school fund - 4,573 06
Local tax for schools and schoolhouse purposes - 100,122 18
Amount received on sale of bonds - 32,104 02
From fines, licenses and other sources - 3,017 86.
Total receipts - $256,627 91
Amount paid teachers—
Primary - $73,160 84
High - 10,517 19
- $83,678 03
Managing, and superintending - 3,615 00
Sites and buildings - 38,417 16
Interest on redemption of bonds - 25,138 97
Fuel and other contingent expenses - 93.803 39
Total expenditures - $174,952 55
Balance on hand September 1, 1879 - $ 81,975 36
Receipts from counties - $32,472 79
Payments to counties - 30,909 00
Excess of receipts - $ 1,563 79
Youth between 6 and 21 years-
Boys - 10,405
Girls - 10,295
- 20,700
Colored—Boys - 48
Girls - 48
- 96
Total - 20,796
Number of schoolhouses—
Townships, primary - 149
Separate districts, primary - 32
High - 2
— 34
--183
Value of school property—
Townships, primary - $198,400 00
Separate districts, primary - $245,000 00;
high, $60,000 00 - $305,000 00
Total in county - $503,400 00
Different teachers employed—
Townships, primary, males - 177,
females - 125
-302
Separate districts, primary, males, 26; females, 86; high,- males, 13; females, 5 -130
Total - 432
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 219
Average wages paid teachers per month—
Townships, primary, males - $33 00
primary, females - 19 00
Separate districts, primary, males - 51 00
primary, females - 34 00
high, males - 64 00
high, females - 53 00
N umber of different pupils enrolled—
Townships, primary, males, 5,134; females, 4,318 - 9,452
Separate districts, primary, males, 2,873 females, 2,949; high, males, 347; females. 432 - 6,651
Total - 16,103
Average daily attendance—
Townships, primary, males, 2,254; females, 1,991 - 4,245
Separate districts, primary, males, 2,015; females, 2,029; high, males, 259; females, 318 - 4,621
Total - 8,866
In addition to the common and graded schools of the county, there is no lack of instruction of a
higher order. Academies, seminaries and colleges within the county limits, afford to the student
ample means of a complete, or even classical education. These institutions of learning will be
fully written up in other chapters of this work. Mount Union College, the Charity School of
Massillon, Canton Academy, and the defunct Alliance College will receive appropriate mention
in their respective chapters. It is our aim, in this chapter, to take but the merest glance at the
church and educational history, but to notice briefly the organization of schools and churches,
leaving their progress and advancement for other departments of this work. With these words of
explanation, we will turn to another subject.
The Press.—There is no more important feature in the history of the county's social development,
or one which more accurately measures it, than the newspaper. A public servant in the truest
sense, it lives only by the voluntary support of the people, and as a matter of necessity, in the
main, reflects the average sentiment, enterprise and moral development of the community in
which it appears. The people who settled Stark County, though an intelligent people, were not so
great readers or close students as their neighbors, the Yankees of the " Reserve," but they, at an
early day, showed their appreciation of the local press in a substantial manner which led to the
establishment of the Canton Repository in the early part of 1815. This was the first newspaper
issued in the present boundary of Stark County Hitherto the people had been dependent for news
on papers published elsewhere, but now, they had a paper of their own, which gave them quite a
metropolitan air, and almost intoxicated them with their own importance. The files of the
Repository have been bound and carefully preserved, and from them we may learn, not only
much of the history of the county, but of the country at large. In the first volume one may read of
Napoleon at Waterloo, and nearly sixty years later of the misfortune of another Napoleon at
Sedan. It was established by John Saxton, and is still owned by the Saxtons, and is Republican in
its political views. The Stark County Democrat was started in 1833 by John Bernard. It is now
owned by A. McGregor & Son, and is the leading Democratic journal in this section of the State.
The press of the county can only receive a general mention in the present chapter, as it is fully
written up elsewhere in this work. As one of the chief matters of interest and importance in each
city and town, the press will be noticed with due attention in the history of those places. For
general reference, however, we give the following list of the papers published in the county at the
present time : Canton : Canton Repository ; Stark County Democrat ; Canton Republican Ohio
Folks Zeitung ; Canton Courier. Massillon : American ; Independent. Alliance : Review;
Standard. Canal Fulton : Fulton Signal. Minerva : Monitor. There have been a number of papers
established in the county, which flourished .for a brief season—swept over the scene " like
untamed meteors, flashed, darted and fizzled," and then went out. Their obituaries will appear in
the history of the towns where they lived and died.
Roads and Highways.—Among the great forces that develop the moral growth of a community
are the thoroughfares that connect it with the outside world. They are the arteries which carry, the
elements of the growth and vigor from the centers of church and school influence, and of
commercial activity, to remoter points ; and the great hindrance to the rapid growth, both moral
And material, in frontier communities in that early day, was this lack of easy communication
with the rest of the world. Information of all sorts was meager and generally inaccurate, and a
place ten miles
220 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
away was less known to the pioneers for the first fifteen or twenty years than Europe is to us
to-day. The papers were almost universally taken up too much with State and national affairs to
mention local matters, and there was nothing to incite the community to a generous rivalry, or to
awaken an enterprising enthusiasm.
One of the first roads in Stark County was known as the " Wooster Road," and passed through
the county east and west. It was on this road that " Buckwheat Bridge " was built, one of the first,
if not the first bridge in the county. The road passed through a large swamp near Canton, and into
this swamp large quantities of buckwheat straw were thrown, and covered with sand and gravel,
from which fact it received the name of Buckwheat Bridge. This was the commencement of
public roads, and other important highways followed in rapid succession. For several years after
settlements were made. the establishment of roads was un- settled. made, settler undertook to
make a-road to suit his own convenience. This, together with the uneven and hilly nature of the
ground, has been the means of roads running in almost any direction, except to the cardinal
points of the compass. It is proverbial that the roads of Stark County are about as zigzag as they
very well can be made. unless there were more hills to go around. 'Notwithstanding their
crookedness, however, they are about as good as are to be found in any community where there
are no pikes. Bridges span the streams, and the steepest of the hills are graded down, thus making
the roads as nearly level as circumstances will allow.
The next public thoroughfares to the wagon-roads were the canals. These artificial water
highways antedate the Christian era, and were employed as a means of irrigation and
communication by the Assyrians, Egyptians and Hindoos, and also by the Chinese, whose works
of this kind are unrivaled in extent. These canals, however, were uniformly level, and it, was not
until the fifteenth century that locks were invented, showing thus how canals might be
advantageously used for inland navigation. It was not until little.more than half a century ago,
that canals received much attention in the United States. The Ohio Canal was finished from
Cleveland to Akron in 1827, and through to Portsmouth, on the Ohio River, in 1830.
The project, with estimates of its cost, was brought to the notice of the Legislature in 1824, and
commissioners appointed. An act was passed in 1825, for interior improvement by a system of
canals. The Ohio Canal was chartered, and work begun on it between Akron, in Summit County,
and Cleveland. In December, 1825, the line was located between Akron and Massillon, and the
contract for its construction let in January, 1826. So rapidly was the work pushed forward that the
canal was completed, and, as we have said, opened through to Portsmouth in 1830. This
highway of communication was the inauguration of a new era. It revived all branches of business,
and, for the first time since the settlement of the county, merchants paid cash for wheat. Indeed
its effects were felt throughout the entire country.
The old Sandy & Beaver. Canal, which touches the southeast corner of the county, was built
many years ago, and was intended as a kind of feeder, both in water supply and commerce, to the
Ohio Canal. It extended from Glasgow, on the Ohio River, to Bolivar in Tuscarawas County, on
the Ohio Canal. From some cause, it was abandoned more than thirty years ago. It still remains,
as a means of irrigation and drainage to the district through which it passes. Its history, however,
has little to do with the history of Stark County, touching, as it does, a very small corner of the
county. But a measure, growing out of its construction, interested and excited the people of the
city of Canton, and of the county, considerably at one time, viz., the " Nimishillen & Sandy
Slackwater Navigation Company." " What's in a name ? " said Shakespeare, and really there
seemed in this case to be very little in this tremendous name, for the enterprise finally failed. It
was the design of this company to build a canal by way of the Nimishillen and Sandy Creeks to
the Sandy & Beaver Canal, some miles north of its junction with the Ohio Canal. It was to pass
through Canton, thus giving it water communication with the world, and hence all of her
business men of that day took an active interest in the project.. Ground was broken on Walnut
street with the most imposing ceremonies. A plow, drawn by ten yoke of oxen, and large enough
almost to make a canal at one furrow, was used to make the commencement on this new internal
improvement. The Sandy & Beaver Canal,
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 221
in the meantime, dragged slowly along, and this enterprise was contingent, in some measure,
upon the completion of that ; funds, too, became scarce, and railroads were beginning to attract
notice throughout the country, all of which, taken together, finally caused the abandonment of the
Nimishillen & Sandy Slack-water Navigation project. But the railroad has destroyed to a great
extent the value of canals, as a means of travel and transportation, except so far as carrying heavy
frieghts, which are in no hurry to reach their destination.
The railroads now claim our attention, and as public highways constitute perhaps the most
interesting chapter in the history of our country. The origin, progress and perfection of the
railroad system are modern wonders that must ever command our earnest admiration. Wholly
unknown to the commercial world three-fourths of a century ago, the railway has become the
greatest single factor in the development of the material and social progress of not only of the
United States and other civilized nations of the earth, but its inestimable blessings are being
rapidly extended into the hitherto semi-civilized and barbarous portions of the globe. Though
some rude tramways had previously been used in the mining regions of England, the first attempt
at railroad building in the United States was in 1807. It was but a few hundred yards in length,
and was built for the transporting of gravel from the top of Beacon Hill down into Charles street,
in the city of Boston, the rails being entirely of wood, and the propelling power, the momentum
of the loaded cars, which, in descending, by means of a rope attachment, pulled the empty cars
up, a double track, of course, being necessary to the proper working of the road. As late as 1827,
the then longest railroad in the United States was from the Mauch Chunk Coal Mines to the
Lehigh River, in Pennsylvania, a distance of nine miles. The loaded cars were run from the mines
to the river by their own gravity, and, on being emptied, were drawn back to the mines by mules.
The American people, from this time forward, became deeply interested in railroad enterprises,
and from 1827 to 1830, several short lines, run by horse-power, were constructed. The first
locomotive propelled by steam, to turn a wheel upon the American continent, being a clumsy,
uncouth importation from England, called the " Stourbridge Lion," landed in New York in 1829.
So slow, however, was the development, that the railroad running from Charleston, S. C., to
Augusta, Ga., a distance of 130 miles, and then the longest railroad in the world, was, in 1833,
operated by steam power for only the first 100 miles, the last thirty being by negropower. This
was owing to a sharp incline that the modern engine-driver would laugh at, but which it was then
supposed only a stationary engine, with the proper hoisting apparatus, could overcome. But this
was before such achievements in the railroad era as bridging the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and
the crossing of the Rocky Mountains with trains. The first locomotive ever built in America,
called the " Best Friend," was used upon this road during its construction. It was built at the "
West Point Foundry Shops," in New York, and for-, warded to Charleston by the ship Niagara, in
October, 1830. The first trial trip was made on a small portion of the road out of Charleston,
November 2, 1830, running, according to the report of the excursion in the Charleston Courier,
as " on the wings of the wind, at the rapid speed of fifteen to twenty miles an hour ; annihilating
time and space, and, like the renowned John Gilpin, leaving all the world behind.' " The " Best
Friend " was daily in service, transporting workmen and •materials used in the construction of the
road, until the 17th day of June, 1831, when it became disabled by a singular accident, and the
road was without a locomotive for several months. Of this disaster to the " Best Friend," the
Charleston Courier of June 18, 1831, gave the following account : " The locomotive, Best
Friend,' started yesterday morning to meet the lumber cars at the forks of the road, and while
turning on the revolving platform, the steam was suffered to accumulate by the negligence of the
fireman, a negro, who, pressing on the safety valve, prevented the surplus steam from escaping,
by which means the boiler burst at the bottom, was forced inward, and injured Mr. Darrell, the
engineer, and two negroes. The one had his thigh broken, and the other received a severe cut in
the face, and a slight one in the fleshy part of the breast. Mr. Darrell was scalded from the
shoulder-blade down his back. The boiler was thrown to the distance of twenty-five feet. * * * *
* * The accident occurred in consequence of the negro holding
222 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
down the safety-valve while Mr. Darrell was assisting to arrange the lumber cars."
It will seem strange to the trained railroad operator of the present day that such an accident from
such a cause could have been possible but it must be remembered that the engineer, himself
almost wholly unskilled in locomotive driving, had to perform all the functions of conductor,
brakeman, etc., in addition to his own proper duties, his only help being such as above indicated,
common, unskilled laborers, unable to distinguish between the lever of a safety-valve and the
crank of a grindstone. .But without further tracing the growth of the railroad system of the United
States, now forming a perfect net-work of iron and steel in every portion of the country, which
daily and nightly and continuously run thousands of locomotives and tens of thousands of freight
and passenger cars loaded with thousands of tons of the products of the country, with valuable
merchandise from any and every part of the world, and with tens of thousands of precious human
beings, dashing with light' ning speed from city to city, and from State to State, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, we will, with a few statistics of some interest, turn
our attention to the sketching of the different railroads in Stark County. In January, 1832, it was
reported that there were nineteen railroads, either completed or in course of construction in the
United States, and that their aggregate length was nearly 1,400 miles. Though Congress afforded
no material aid in this new era of internal improvements, yet this same year it exempted from
duty the iron imported for railways and inclined planes, and actually used for their construction.
In 1840, it has been estimated that our yearly average of railroad construction was about 500
miles. In 1850, this average had increased to 1,500 miles. In 1860, it was nearly 10,000 miles,
and in 1871 it was stated that enterprises requiring an expenditure of $800,000,000 and involving
the construction of 20,000 miles of railroad were in actual process of accomplishment. In 1872,
the aggregate capital of the railroads of the United States, which were estimated to embrace
one-half the railroads of the world, was stated to amount to the enormous sum of
$3,159,423,057, their gross revenue being $473,241,055. At the present time their estimated
capital is over $5,000,000,000, an amount almost bankrupting the science of numbers to
comprehend.
The first railroad touching Stark County, and which was carried to a successful termination, was
the present Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. Prior to this, however, railroad enterprises had been
strongly agitated in the county. In 183041, a road was chartered to run from Pittsburgh to some
eligible point on the Ohio Canal. Another early survey was for a road on the present line of the.
Valley Railroad. The people of Stark County took considerable interest in these projected roads,
and for a time there seemed to be a strong probability of the county getting a railroad. But the
time had not yet come, and the projects were abandoned, on account, it is said, of the supposed
impracticability of the routes. It was not until nearly twenty years later that a road was built from
Pittsburgh through Stark County, upon a less advantageous route as to heavy grades. The
Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad which, as we have said, was the first road in the county, passing
through a corner of Lexington Township and the town of Alliance, gives Stark but a few miles of
track. A charter was granted for this road by the Legislature of Ohio on the 14th day of March,
1836.:, Work upon the road not being commenced within the three years designated in the law,
the charter became dormant, and remained so for six years, when, by an act passed March 11,
1845—just nine years after the granting of the original charter—the project was revived and the
charter amended. The promoters of the enterprise, though the times were hard and money scarce,
prosecuted the work as rapidly as similar enterprises were then built, though very slowly in
comparison with more modern railroad operations, the road not being completed on the
Cleveland end as far as Hudson, in Summit County, until the latter part of the winter of 1851-52.
From the beginning the Cleveland & Pittsburgh has been under an able and efficient
management, and has never experienced any of those reverses and drawbacks so common to
railroad corporations in their earlier days, and so disastrous and unprofitable to the original
stockholders and builders. So small a part, however, of this road is in this county, that an
extended notice of it can be of no great interest to our readers. It was duly finished, and it gave to
Stark County two sta-
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 223
tions, Alliance and Limaville, which was better than no railroad.
The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway was the next railroad built through the county.
From the most reliable facts to be obtained, the history of this road may be thus briefly given : In
February, 1848, the Legislature of Ohio passed an act incorporating the " Ohio & Pennsylvania
Railroad Company." On the 11th of April following, the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a
similar act, making the company a corporation of that State. The act of incorporation of the Ohio
Legislature gave the company power to construct a railroad from Mansfield, in Richland County,
eastward by way of Wooster, Massillon and Canton, to some point on the east line of the State,
within the county of Columbiana, and thence to the city of Pittsburgh ; and from Mansfield
westwardly to the west line of the State. The work on this road was commenced in July, 1849,
and the entire track was laid and the road was opened for travel from Pittsburgh to Crestline on
the 11th of April, 1853. The Board of Directors had determined, in 1850, to make Crestline the
terminus of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad. This made further action necessary by the people
west of this place, and the subject was warmly discussed for some time by the counties through
which it must pass, west of Crestline—efforts that were eventually successful.
On the 20th of March, 1851, the Ohio Legislature granted a charter to the " Ohio & Indiana
Railroad Company," for the purpose of building a road from some point on the Cleveland &
Columbus Railroad, through Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky to the west line of the State, and
thence to Fort Wayne, in Indiana. The organization of the company was completed at Bucyrus on
the 4th of July, and officers elected. On the 10th of the same month J. R. Straughn was elected
Chief Engineer, and work at once commenced in making surveys for the road. In September
following, the Directors fixed the eastern terminus of the road at Crestline, to connect with the
Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad. In January, 1852, the contract was let for the entire distance
between Crestline and Fort Wayne, and prosecuted with so much vigor that on the 1st of
November, 1854, it was ready thr the passage of trains. The people in the counties between Fort
Wayne and Chicago, determined to make a strong effort to build the last link in the chain
between Philadelphia and Chicago. A convention was called at Warsaw, Ind., in September,
1852, for devising ways and means for accomplishing the object. This meeting was largely
attended, and the object in view was finally accomplished. In 1856, the work was so nearly
completed on this new line, that by using a portion of the Cincinnati, Pennsylvania & Chicago
Railroad, a continuous line was opened on the 10th of November, 1856, from Pittsburgh to
Chicago. On the 1st of August, 1856, the three corporations—the " Ohio & Pennsylvania," the "
Ohio & Indiana," and the " Fort Wayne & Chicago "—were consolidated under the name and
title of the " Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway," by which name it has ever since been
known. Stark County took stock in the original Ohio & Pennsylvania road to the amount of
$105,000. This was increased up to 1854, by the issue of stock dividends, to $127,000. When the
consolidation of the three companies took place, the Ohio & Pennsylvania stock was considered
more valuable than that of the other companies, and in the new issue of stock certificates, the
amount held by Stark County became, in round numbers, $172,000, which was subsequently sold
by the commissioners to pay off the bonds issued by the county for the payment of the original
stock. Such is a synopsis of the facts pertaining to the building of this, one of the best railroads in
the United States, and the first to lay its lines through the full length or width of Stark County.
The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway belongs to the Pennsylvania system, and is the
direct source of its communication with the great West. Says a local writer, dilating upon the
subject : " Where was once an isolated wilderness is now a thriving garden, connected with all
parts of the continent. Less than a generation ago, the necessary supplies of life could be secured
only by tedious journeys through almost trackless forests ; now we take the cars and speed away
to the best market in the world in less time than the pioneers went forty miles to mill on
horseback, with a bushel of grain divided between the two ends of the sack."
A railroad operated at present by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, or rather by the
Pennsylvania Company, known
224 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
as the " Massillon & Cleveland Railroad," deserves some mention in this connection, as a part of
the Stark County system. The Massillon & Cleveland Railroad (commonly called the Massillon
Branch) was built by the Massillon & Cleveland Railroad Company, and runs from Clinton, in
Summit County, to Massillon, in this county, a distance of some eight or ten miles, only. This
road was leased to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company June 22, 1869 ;
lease assigned by that company to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company July 1, 1869 ; and by that
company and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Company lease assigned to the
Pittsburgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & London Railway Company (now Cleveland, Mount
Vernon & Delaware Railroad Company), November 4, 1869. The road is owned by the
Massillon. & Cleveland Railroad Company, and is now (1881) operated by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company operating the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway.
The Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley & Wheeling Railway is the next road claiming our attention.
It enters Stark County at the northwest corner, passes through Canal. FuCanal-Massillon, bearing
southwest through Sugar Creek Township, and leaving the county near the southwest corner. It
was originally chartered as the " Cleveland, Medina & Tuscarawas Railroad," and work begun on
the northern end of it as early as 1852, and a considerable amount of grading done between
Grafton and Seville. The main interest in this road centered in Medina County, which at that time
was without railroad communication. Bonds were issued, stock subscribed, and great energy
displayed by the people of that county. But the enterprise met with many reverses and
misfortunes. The bonds which had been issued and placed in the hands of a broker in New York
for negotiation, were squandered by him and ultimately lost to the company. This misadventure
prostrated the whole enterprise, and work on the road stopped at once, leaving large liabilities to
be borne by those who had taken an active part in the project. Though greatly disappointed, the
people of the sections to be most benefited by it, were by no means discourage or dispirited by
the unfortunate termination of their enterprise, and ways and means of reviving the Tuscarawas
road were constantly discussed. Many propositions were made, and routes suggested, when, on
the 31st of March, 1871, the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Railroad Company was organized.
The company went to work, solicited subscriptions along the route, Massillon responding with
$25,000 and Navarre $17,000. Under the new organization work was begun on the southern end
of the road at Grafton on the 3d of November, 1873, much of the old road-bed being used. The
title was finally changed to the " Elyria & Black River Railroad ''Company," and under this
organization completed. The subsequent history of this road has not been completely satisfactory,
though quite in keeping with the general history of railroads. Becoming involved, a receiver was
appointed in 1874, and on the 26th of January, 1875, it was sold, and the name and title again
changed, this time to the " Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley & Wheeling Railway " (which title it
still bears) and a new company formed to operate it. In 1879, the road was extended from
Urichsville to Wheeling by the way of Flushing. It has twenty-three and eighty-seven hundredths
miles of main track in Stark County, with sidings at Massillon and Canal Fulton, and is of
considerable value to the county.
The Valley Railway, extending from Cleveland to Canton, is another railroad that is of material
benefit to Stark County, and at the same time, of the utmost advantage to Canton, as giving it
more direct communication with Cleveland. As early as 1869, a charter was obtained for the
Akron & Canton Railway, which afterward developed into the larger and more important
enterprise, the Valley Railway, duly incorporated on the 21st of August, 1,871. The authorized
capital stock of the company was $3,000,000, the road to run from Cleveland, in Cuyahoga
County, via Akron, in Summit County, Canton, in Stark County, through Tuscarawas and Carroll
Counties to Bowerston, in Harrison County, on the Pan Handle Railroad. The first great
movement for the promotion of the enterprise was made at a meeting held at the Academy of
Music, in Akron, on the 4th day of January, 1872. Representatives from Cleveland, Canton,
Wheeling and intermediate points on the contemplated route were in attendance. The meeting
was presided over by James A. Saxton, Esq., of Canton, with Mr. H. Cochran, of Wheeling, as
Secretary, and Hon. Ste-
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