300 - THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMILTON, O. GWINNER DOWREY, & CO. FURNITURE CASTERS MR. GWINNER had been for three years Superintendent of the Phenix Caster Co., and in 1887 he patented the Gwinner common-sense caster and during that year the firm of Gwinner, Dowery & Co. was formed, composed of L. Gwinner, T. Dowrey and W. R. Eiber, to manufacture these casters. Shop room was rented of P. Burns on Water Street, between Market and Dayton. In 1890 Mr. Gwinner patented the common-sense stove truck used by stove dealers to hold sample stoves, and in 1891 he patented the Hercules caster. A full line of the casters is manufactured, adapted for all purposes for which furniture casters are used, and they have met with a very flattering reception by the trade and the business is constantly growing. The stove trucks have been especially well received and difficulty has been found in keeping up with the orders for them. Mr. Gwinner gives personal attention to the business. ANDERSON and SHAFFER HAMILTON MILLS IN 1854 the firm of Tanquary & Anderson built a mill at Second and Mill Streets, operated by water power. Tanquary was a miller and gave personal attention to the mill. It had a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels per day. In 1864 this mill burned, with a loss of thirty-one thousand dollars. About 1860 Corwin & Falconer had built a mill at Water and Dayton Streets and later L D. Campbell had bought it. On the morning of Tanquary & Anderson's fire, the firm arranged for the renting of Campbell's mill which was then called the Minnehaha Mill. It was rented and run six months by Tanquary & Anderson and was then purchased by them. But it had so run clown and the water power was in such bad shape that the capacity was little more than thirty barrels per day. The Hamilton & Rossville Hydraulic Company was paid sixty five hundred dollars for the privilege of putting in an overshoot wheel to spill into the river and the mill was otherwise improved and the capacity brought up to about one hundred and fifty barrels per day. The name of the mill was changed to The Hamilton Mill. About 1866 William Shaffer bought out Mr. Tanquary and the firm became William Anderson & Co. About 1880 George K. Shaffer bought out William Shaffer and the firm became Anderson & Shaffer. About 1882 the mill was entirely remodeled, everything being torn out and new and improved machinery substituted on the modern roller mill plan, and the capacity of the mill was brought up to three hundred barrels on which it is now running full. The output of this mill is shipped principally to the South. THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMILTON, O. - 301 SEMLER and CO. EAGLE MILLS. IN 1875 John and C. M. Semler, tinder the name of Semler & Co., built the Semler Mill on North B Street. The mill was run by water power and had a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day. In 1884 the mill was burned and was a total loss. In the same year, 1884, the mill was rebuilt upon strictly modern principles, and was operated by steam with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day. In 1890 the mill was further remodeled and its capacity increased to two hundred barrels per day. The flour made by this mill is sold mostly in the East and in Europe, where the well known "May Flower" brand is in high repute. Both of the owners give personal attention to the business. 302 - THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMILTON, O. THE HAMILTON TILE WORKS CO. ARTISTIC HEARTH and FACING TILES. MR. ADOLPH METZNER, a druggist in Indianapolis, was also a talented artist and had for many years been an enthusiastic amateur in pottery and tile making. In his back yard he had quite an institution in the way of a pottery, with a fair sized kiln and he kept a potter or two at work. He made a little of everything that was handsome and interesting, but never to sell. He made the things because he liked it, and he and his friends used them. He probably made the first floor tiles made in this country as there were then no tile works in the United States. He finally thought that tile making would not be a bad sort of a business and he began looking around for a location. Martin Mason, and the Reutti's of Hamilton were relatives of his and informed him that the pottery belonging to the Royal Pottery Co. in Hamilton could probably be gotten. Metzner took into partnership with him Mr. Hatt, of Indianapolis, and under the name of Metzner, Hatt & Co. they bought the Royal Pottery in Hamilton, Only the real estate and kiln was available for tile work. They started to making tiles, or tried to, but had no luck either in makking good tiles or in finding a market. Hatt retired and was succeeded by J. L. Bieler of Indianapolis, not an experienced tile man, and the firm name was changed to Metzner & Bieler. The concern had the same hard old luck and they soon employed Robert Minton Taylor, a practical tile man, to manage the institution and it was incorporated as the Robert Minton Taylor Ceramic Co.. Taylor however having no interesf in the business. Affairs began to be still worse if possible and Taylor left. Metzner and his son Otto still pegged away trying to make tiles. There was no money to work with and things looked blue indeed. The tile making was a constant series of hard experiments and the Metzner's stood by it nobly. They would work away and get out a batch of tiles and get them in the kiln and would then skirmish around and scare up money enough to buy a load of coal and fire up the kiln and then with anxious hearts they would watch around that kiln hoping for respectable results. When the kiln was opened out would come another failure. And this thing repeated itself time and again. A less hopeful man than Metzner would have quickly given it up. But he worked along with his two sons, Otto and Max, and finally success crowned their persistent efforts and they produced enameled tiles the like of which had not been seen in this country, a splendid clay body, handsome designs, a magnificent glaze, and the true and long sought for beauty of color. They now had the tile but they had absolutely no money and no office or business help. The tiles would probably sell on sight if put before the trade but THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMILTON, O. - 303 there was not money enough to buy even a railroad ticket to Cincinnati But the tide seemed to have turned and they managed to live. Dr. Wild, of Chicago, was an old army comrade of Metzner's and he bought out Mr. Beiler. Mr. Julius Bunsen of Cincinnati, a nephew of the celebrated Professor Carl Bunsen, of Heidelburg University, the inventor of the celebrated Bunsen flame, was much taken with the work of the Metzner's. He saw artistic merit in it, and further than that, he saw commercial merit in it. He joined in the business and in 1884, on petition to the Court, the name of the establishmert was changed to the Hamilton Tile Works Co. Mr. Wild became President, Mr. Metzner Vice President, Mr. Bunsen Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. Otto Metzner Superintendent. The market for the new goods had not yet been opened and the concern saw some hard times, but the haven had been really reached and the ship finally sailed grandly in. Business went up and up until nothing remained to be desired and now the magnificent tiles of this establishment are the standard in the trade. Orders are unlimited, most .always in excess of the capacity of the factory, and the highest market prices are received, for this concern makes no low grade goods. The tiles are sold from ocean to ocean and are chosen by the most critical buyers. It would be impossible with any kind of a picture which could be here produced to exhibit the beauty of these artistic tiles. The modeled designs and the range of colors is constantly fresh, and a view of the work of the Metzner's is always a delight to the artist. The special merit found in the tiles made by this establishment consists in the richness of color, great range of colors, originality and beauty of modeling, superior freedom from craze of surface, and that perfection of body mixture of clays which gives extreme hardness. KRAUTH & BENNINGHOFEN. MANUFACTURERS OF LIGHT MACHINERY. ALBERT KRAUTH was a workman in the Niles Works and possessed a high order of mechanical skill and, in addition to that, he possessed the talents of the ingenious constructor. About 1883 he and Chris. Benninghofen formed a partnership under the mame of Krauth & Benninghofen and rented shop room at Fourth and Market Streets and began the manufacture of portable music stands, mechanical contrivances tor the use of musicians, and adapted to fold up into small compass when not in use. Mr. Benninghofen gave no attention to the mechanical parts of the business which was left entirely in the hands of Krauth. 304 - THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMILTON, O. About 1886 the new shop was built on Third Street, near Black Street, and it was thoroughly equipped with machinery and tools adapted for the manufacture of various small machines and mechanical contrivances, the intention being to do such work on contract where business concerns deemed it better policy to have their goods made than to start their own factories. A complete nickle-plating outfit was also put in. About this time the National Autographic Register was being largely introduced throughout the country and the machines were being manufactured in New York. The firm of Krauth & Benninghofen took the machine in hand and greatly improved its details of construction, and its methods of manufacture, and ultimately became the sole manufacturers for the United States of these machines. They do not market the machines, but simply manufacture them for the New York Company. In addition to the autographic registers the firm also makes cash-carriers and parcel-carriers for the New York Company. The shop is managed by Mr. Krauth who gives it his entire attention. FRANK SCHANTZ. MATTRESSES, ETC. MR. FRANK SCHANTZ, quite a young man, was teaching school near Woodsdale and his home was on his father's farm. A neighboring farmer had lately gotten a machine to shell corn in the husk and the husks were thrown away. Young Mr. Schantz, in nosing around Cincinnati, ascertained that corn husks had quite a market value as a material for matresses. He thereupon began, in a small way, to speculate in husks. He finally determined that he might as well make the matresses and sell them as to sell the husks and let some one else make that profit. So he started a small mattress factory in Hamilton. He felt his way very cautiously, buying a couple of bolts of ticking at a time and making two matresses a day. Everything worked out nicely and in 1888 he built a large two story brick factory on the corner of Seventh and Walnnt streets and equipped it with all the latest machinery and he went into the mattress business in earnest, and has kept at it and the results are everything that he could desire. He now makes over one hundred and fifty mattresses per day, some of husks and others of excelsior, mixed fiber, and cotton. In addition he makes the torsion braided wire mattresses. These mattresses have special merits. In the opinion of many they are better than the best hair, being more comfortable, more cleanly, more easily handled, and harder to wear out. Hotels and hospitals use them to a great extent and they are highly commanded for their hygenic qualities. To test their strength they have been pressed flat by machinery sixty thousand times in quick succession, which is equivalent to hard use for twenty or thirty years, without the slightest apparent change. THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF HAMLLTON, O. - 305 J. JACOB BRONNERT. TURNED WOOD WORK. MR. BRONNERT was a skilled and ingenious wood-turner from France, and in 1871 he established in Cincinnati the business of general wood-turning for the trade. In 1891 he moved his business to Hamilton, building a new factory on Safe Avenue, South of Lincoln Avenue, where he occupies an acre of land. The factory is of brick and well adapted for the work. The articles produced includes balusters, newels, cabinet spindles, furniture-stretchers, ornamental work, and turned articles generally as called for by the furniture and building trades. Such matters as this show to what extremes specialties in manufacture have been carried. A large furniture factory may be well equipped with turning lathes and may have men skilled in their operation, but still it is found good policy to buy turned work from establishments devoted exclusively to its production, the result of the policy being that finer work is secured and at lower prices. THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 307 CORRESPONDENCE. A great many letters were received in response to invitations to attend the Centennial celebration most of which were not intended for publication. Among the number the following have been selected for place in the Souvenir: The following pleasant reminder of Hamilton as it was '' in the fifties," written by Laura B. Palmer, will be read with interest by all whose memory goes back to those days. Those who have no such recollections will be repaid for its perusal as much by the vividness and truth of the picture as by the grace and feeling with which the writer touches the canvas of memory. - ED.. Letter of Laura B. Palmer. St. Louis, Mo., September 5, 1891. To Thomas Millikin, Esq., Dr. Cyrus Falconer, and others, of the Historical and Literary Committee: GENTLEMAN:The regret of my inability to attend the Centennial celebration, is magnified by the knowledge, that an invitation to attend the next one, will not be extended to me. But,"howsoever these things be," I never propose to forget that the beautiful city of Hamilton was my home from infancy to a riper age; or to suppress the sweet memories of that long ago period; and I rejoice today, that the recollections associated with it are as vivid now as when, a little child, I sat in wonder and rapture, for the first time, on the banks of the river, and looked on the clear, swift stream, and out on the city of that day. I can now readily recall the new, strange and novel emotions, with which i looked upon the Great Miami, singing on its way to the sea; the wonderful water-way that stretched up to Basin street; the old bridge; the hydraulic; the mills; the railway; the green slopes, and miles of corn and grain, out to the east, and south, and west and north ; and the orchards and forests that stretched away beyond the town, on every side. The pictures and impressions of that day press upon me for recognition. They are novel, and many, and picturesque. To some, they may THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 309 appear commonplace, to me, they are all of absorbing interest, bristling with unforgotten memories. I cannot conceive how the memory of that arum of water that extended up from the main stem of the great canal into the town, could ever be effaced, or how I could forget the amazement I experienced, when I looked for the first time upon the floating barges, bearing merchandise to and fro on its bosom. In my eyes as I now recall the memory, trade, at the head of the basin, exceeded in volume all commerce on the piers of New York, on the quays of Venice, or the waterfront of Liverpool. But they tell nee it is no more, and that o'er its had the busy multitude surges to and fro. And the old wooden bridge is gone, and with it many a pleasant reminiscence. Far be it from me to stay the hand of Progress; for tea who have, for so many years, viewed its weather stained sides, and traversed its dust covered floors, I can conceive how, with feelings of pride, you saw the old structure replaced by the new. But ah! quite sadly do I lament its going_ Oft has memory recalled the dear old town, and dwelt long and lovingly o'er the picture, and ever in the panoramic view was the wooden bridge. On one side of its entrance, the tollgate keeper sitting astride a chair, resting his head upon its back; on the other, the old mill, with its busy wheel ever dashing the pacific waters of the Great Miami into angry, turbulent waves, that in my mind rivaled in grandeur the great Niagara Falls. Surely lovers sigh, as they recall the quiet walks within its walls, secure from the eyes and ears of the multitude; and the laborer, as he thinks of its kindly shelter from the ruder elements without. I had thought sometime in the future I would again stroll through its familiar aisles, and listen to the measured tread of horses' feet, as their owners, obeying the injunction of the ordinance, guided them slowly through, and, for the once, be a child again, hurrying with a band of lighthearted girls over to school; for hark l the mellow tones of the clear old town clock, even now, strike the hour. But, on the wings of Time, come to me tales that the old Court House, too, is gone; and that hushed is the tongue of the dear old bell, whose musical cadences for years so faithfully proclaimed the hour. The old Court House, so big with events of historic interest; so big with mein- 310 - THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON. O. ories of forensic triumphs; the witness of human victories and defeats. Who does not recall the old chamber, where gifted minds met in peaceful encounters and won victories more renowned than those of war? Gone—and a new edifice has arisen from the ashes of the old but is it in the emerald setting that surrounded the old structure, and 'do the honeysuckles and sweet syringas still send forth rich aromas from their shady corners into the dusty streets ? Yes; one by one the old landmarks that identified the past with the present, are drifting away. Even the old fort is gone; nor has decay's effacing fingers left scarce a trace behind. What a transformation from the old to the new from the simplicity of the past to the splendors of the present Wonderful, indeed, has been the material progress; a marvelous stride in the arts; in wealth; in intelligence; in fact, in all that gives dignity, and fame, and honor to a city. When this city first claimed my childish admiration, about three thousand slept within its gates; today, they are twenty thousand strong. Then, the landscape eastward was flecked with Gelds of waving corn ; and the goldenrod, and flowering shrubs bordered the dusty roadside, where little huts, rude and primitive in architecture, were stretched in straggling abandon, even to the gates of the mushroom suburb of Debbysville. In those early days—not so long ago either—I saw flocks of quail on Fourth street, and witnessed, with pitying eye, the frightened hare fleeing before a pack of clogs and wild urchins in frill chase. Long before this the bear and deer had abandoned the hills and sunny slopes, and sought refuge in deeper forests, as civilization pressed onward toward the setting sun. Some among you, recollect how the waters of the river were seduced into a vast hydraulic, and enticed into sluices and chutes; and how the tamed element was utilized to set thousands of pulleys revolving, hammers. beating, and wheels going round." And I remember how, in later years, I viewed with childish wonder these innovations, and joined with my elders in the boast that our rapidly growing city was distancing all others, in its race for supremacy. The æsthetical was not then as now a leading factor in the city's progress. Those busy people had no time to hear metaphysical disquisitions, to fly balloons, or to play croquet. The boat, and plow, and contrivance for saving labor, were articles of real, practical utility ; and it was deemed THE CENTENNIAL OF CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 311 profitable to let genius and mechanical talent spend their energies in this direction, for there were "millions in it." This, to the empirical reasoning of that epoch, was as plain as a pike-staff; but to chip statues from blocks of marble, write epics or pastorals, or be rapturous over polemical chaff, was not in accordance with backwoods notions; it was not their style. They had no Boston jubilees, nor musical soirees; nor did they think it requisite to have an organ accompaniment to the yell of an Indian warrior, or a piano solo to a country corn-shucking. They erected a cabin in a day, without the flourish of a speech, or putting copper coins in a corner stone; and if a church was to be built, they did not improvise a lottery to raise funds, or an oration to move men to contribute, or a poem to he read, or a lyric sung, to " raise the wind." But, in time, true culture began, and grew apace, so that the censors and Eastern Magi looked in blank amazement, and marveled at the rich promise of these children of the West. * * * * * Nature, too, was generous in her gifts, and they were scattered, thick as leaves, on every side of this enchanted ground. Sycamore Grove was then a somewhat tangled paradise, a beautiful shade, where the nymphs and fairies must have carnivaled long before the white man rudely broke the spell of privacy, or before the Indian made his debut upon the scene. Who knows what weird figures floated in the shades of this Arcadian grove, or what types of dark-hued maidens kept time, with flying feet, to the music of the rude cymbal and castanet? One can readily conceive how the red man, in the days long gone, wooed his dusky mate in the soft light of noonday, and the speech of Indian brave fired the hearts of his followers, in the light of the dying camp fire. What child did not then know that Sycamore Grove was the home of elves and fairies, and the trysting ground of the gentle and the brave, in times long gone ? And Delorac's Island Why, what Hamiltonian has forgotten the romance and mystery that hovered o'er that spot; the whispers that filled the air at twilight, and the echoes that drifted, like incense on the summer air? “Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver Thro' the wave that runs forever By the island in the river.'' THE CENTENNIAL, CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 313 Connected with its history, I listened in childish awe, to tales as wild as Robinson Crusoe's sojourn on the island in the sea.    * * * * And so, the pen never wearies with recitals of romance, and reminiscence, flung around the home where childhood's happy days ran on, and on. The old, it is true, has been replaced by the new. Beautiful edifices have arisen like exhalations, and the dawn of a new life, and a greater prosperity is apparent to all; but the outlines of the old are there; the hills on the east and west are there; it is the same, in a new garb, with the sun shining as of old ; with the spring rains and dews refreshing the land. The old fort, too, is there, in the memory of many, with its stockades and gallant defenders, looking out on the river, the beautiful river, that laves the feet of the city, and sings, in an unknown tongue, on its journey to the sea. The hills, and dells, and groves away off from the river, are now drifting before my eyes—a panorama of beauty. Fields of corn, and the trophies of the husbandmen lying beyond the suburbs, tell of affluence and the gifts of peace; while busy hands and brains, within the gates, evidence thrift, industry, wealth and wisdom. I see, too, the river; the site of the old fort; the goodly city; the orchards and harns in the distance the sun shining upon the windows and housetops, painting the landscape with a saffron hue. I hear the roar of a thousand hammers, and the whirl of many thousand spindles; the noise of the mills; the rumbling wheels, that bear away the handiwork of the busy toiler and artizan. I see it, and hear it, as I did when last 1 drifted by the clear old city at sunset ; the city With the glinting sunbeams on its steeples, Its windows robed in flaming red, The clouds above it, fringed with silver, The groves with tints of gold o'erspread. Very respectfully, LAURA. B. PALMER. 314 - THE CENTENNIALT, CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. The following communication from Mrs. Mary Ann heck, for many years a resident of Hamilton, contains an authentic account of the death and burial of General Arthur St. Clair: Letter of Mrs. Mary Ann Keck KENTLAND, Ind., September 7th, 1891. Israel Williams anothersws, Centennial Committee, Hamilton, Ohio: DEAR Sirs: I thank your committee for the kind invitation to be present at the Centennial Celebration, of the location of Fort Hamilton and the first settlement of our city, of which I was so many years a resident. I shall be present at the celebration, but cannot promise much active participation in the exercises, as I am now in the 88th year of nay age. I very well remember in my girlhood days to have seen Gen. St. Clair at my grandfather, Thomas Fisher's, hotel in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The circumstances that particularly impress my recollection were these : That great attention and deference were paid to the old General, and the fact that I found one of the glasses lie lost out of his spectacles, and that 1 found it and gave it to him and received his generous and most sincere thanks. At that time lie wore a cue tied with a black ribbon. When his death occurred I was living in Greensburg, I was married June thth, and in August of the same year Gen. St. Clair died. They buried his remains in the Presbyterian Cemetery not far from Greensburg. I understood that lie was a mason. A band accompanied the remains to the cemetery, and my husband, who was a mason and a member of the band was present. The General died at his daughter's, Mrs. Robb, who lived on Chestnut Ridge, and as that was an out of the way place the funeral was small. No services were held in the church, but the procession moved directly from the house to the cemetery. The toll-gate near Greensburg was draped for the occasion with black muslin. The masons erected a monument over his grave and placed a suitable inscription on it. I might say much more, but as I suppose you desire brevity, I close by again thanking you for your kind invitation, and subscribe myself Very truly yours MARY ANN KECK. THE CENTENNIAL OF CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 315 The following agreeable expression of patriotic loyalty to his place of nativity is from the pen of Chief justice Elliott, of the Indiana Supreme Court, who was born in the city of Hamilton Letter of Judge Byron K. Elliott. INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 24th, 1891. Hon. Thomas Millikin, Dr. Cyrus Falconer, Rev. E. W. Abbey, James W. See, Esq,., Israel Williams, Esq., Committee: GENTLEMEN : I am profoundly grateful to you, and those you represent, for your cordial invitation to unite with you in celebrating "Hamilton's Centennial." It has given me a deeper and truer pleasure than words can express to know that I am not altogether forgotton in my dear old home. In my boyhood I was proud to be known as a “Hamilton Boy" and that pride has not died with manhood's years. It would give me heartfelt pleasure to meet my schoolmates and my early friends, and it is only stern and unrelenting duty that impels me to deny myself that pleasurc. It is with the keenest and bitterest regret that I yield to the imperious demands of duty, and decline your invitation. " Hamilton Boys'' in the history of a century have been conspicuous actors, for they have won fame in war, in the literary world, in political affairs, and in the world of law, medicine and mechanics. One who writes the biographies of '' Hamilton Boys " will have no lack of material nor will he write of men known only to a locality, for many of there are known to the nation, and some are known on the other side of the Atlantic. It grieves me sorely that I cannot join with you in celebrating the hundredth anniversary of my birthplace. Very truly yours, BYRON K. ELLIOTT The following letter is from the pen of a colored gentleman who for many years resided as a much respected citizen in the city of Hamilton. Although born in the domain of slavery, by studious industry lie acquired a liberal knowledge, especially of politics and history. His qualification was many years ago recognized by appointment to an important office in the government service at Washington, D. C., where he yet remains THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 317 Letter of Alfred J. Anderson. No. 1922, 11th St., N. W., WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 9th, '91. To Hon. Thos. Millikin, Dr. Cyrus Falconer, Rev. E. W. Abbey, Prof. J. W. See and Hon. Israel Williams, Committee. GENTLEMEN : I feel greatly honored by your kind invitation to be present and take part with you in celebrating the coming Centennial of the settlement of Hamilton. It would be particularly interesting for me to do so especially as my own personal recollections are associated with its history and growth for over a half century, beginning at a time when most of the participating pioneers were young and the streets of the village green with grass. In those sleepy old days no one ever dreamed of the spirit of the age that has since awoke into activity the new life and latent forces which are making Hamilton the Birmingham of the great Northwest. I regret to have to add that the state of my health will most likely prevent my attendance. With many thanks, I am with great respect, &c., ALFRED J. ANDERSON. Rev. J. G. Monfort, for many years a resident and minister in Hamilton has briefly added his recollection of the pioneer days of the people of Hamilton in the following communication: Letter of Rev. J. G. Monfort. CINCINNATl, Aug. 26, 1891. Thomas Millikin, Esq., Chairman Hamilton Centennial Committee: DEAR SIR : I received with great pleasure your invitation, and I hope to be able to be present. I went with my father, Rev. Francis Monfort, to Hamilton 71 years ago, and lived there 20 years. I knew a large proportion of the early settlers who were living in 182o at Hamilton, Rossville, Oxford, Miillville, Venice, Black Bottom, Chester, Princeton, Monroe, Middletown, Trenton, Elk Creek, Four Mile, Seven Mile, Darrtown, Paddy s Run, Jacksonsburg, Riley, &c. Nothing could give me more pleasure, now in my 81st year, than to meet friends I knew from 50 to 71 ears ago. 318 - THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. I am invited to attend the inauguration of the President of Miami University the same week, and I hope to compound the two occasions. I am in good health and hope to be able to carry out my purpose, but in these days of my physical vis inertia, I sometimes foreordain things that do not come to pass. I have had you under my eye with pleasure since 1831, nearly 60 years ago, when 1 began to teach you hic, heac, hoc, though I have seldom seen you. Yours very truly, J. G. MONFORT. Among the eminent authors of America is numbered W. D. Howells, who in his boyhood clays was a resident of Hamilton, and the scene of whose " Boy's Town" was laid in this city. The following characteristic letter is from Mr. Howells in answer to a request to attend the Centennial Celebration Letter of W. D. Howells. INTERVALE HOUSE, INTERVALE, N. H., Aug. 6, 1891. My Dear Mr. Millikin Your name was once very familiar to me, and I hope you are one of the boys whom I used to play with in Hamilton forty-odd years ago; for if you are 1 feel that 1 need not accuse you of any great regret that I cannot come to the Celebration of the town's Centennial. Any of the boys would know that I was sorry without being told. This is a doubly busy year with me, and I cannot even write a poem for the time, the good and great time, you are all going to have next month. I shall be with you in spirit, and in proud affection for the old place, which was the home of my happiest years, and which 1 have never ceased to revisit in the dreams of long exile. I am told the place is greatly changed; that it is a city, and all sorts of a centre ; and I ought not to be surprised that it should have a Centennial. But the fact does come to me with a shock of astonishment, for I knew it when the log-cabins still basked in the deep cornfields about it. I have tried to tell elsewhere what an incomparable town it was for a boy to be boy in ; and I shall ever think it the largest and most populous place of 3,000 inhabitants that ever was. THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 319 Its present merits and glories your orators and poets will sing and say for you; but I cling fondly to its past, and if I could trill a verse, it should be in praise of the Hamilton that flourished between 1840 and 1850. ;\t that period I am quite sure there were men ten feet high in Hamilton; there were boys who could whip those men, if they had a mind; the Justice on the Court House was so high above the earth that her head pressed the clouds; from the Big Reservoir to the Little Reservoir it was as far as it now is from the Big to the Little Dipper. Everything was on the grandest scale. The summer days were each a week long, and if a fellow was kept in after school his hair had a chance to turn gray between four and five o'clock. The modern citizens of Hamilton can readily have an idea of the magnificence of the place in that fairy decade, but if you were a boy there then, you can remember it. I can ; and now that I come to think of it, I only wonder that it is not rout town's millennial you are going to celebrate. For me, Hamilton was before Rome was and to tell you the truth, when I came to see it I found no comparison between the Tiber and the Miami except that they were both liable to freshets. Yours sincerely, W. D. HOWELLS. Mr. George I.. Andrew, a prominent citizen of Laporte, Indiana, is another native of Hamilton who retains a patriotic interest in the city's welfare, as shown in the following reminiscent communication Letter of George L. Andrew. LA PORTE:, Ind., Oct. 9, 1891. Thos. Millikin, Esq., Chairman, Etc.: DEAR SIR: I thank you for the request of the Historical Committee to Write something appropriate to the recent celebration of the Centennial of the erection of Fort Hamilton. I wish I could adequately express the throng of thoughts and memories that crowd upon me, but that cannot be. The celebration was a fitting ̊rounding up" of Hamilton's first hundred years. It as my good fortune to be born just across the river from the old fort when the town was a little more than thirty years old, and the first 23 years of my life were spent there and in Oxford. It was then my fate to become a citizen of another city and State, but my heart 320 - THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. has never ceased to turn to Hamilton as its home. And this I believe is the experience of all whose youth was spent there. Its peculiar situation, starting as two rival towns separated by a river and connected by a bridge, its varied feature of river, dam, tailrace, basin, canal with its far-off first lock and its Ultima 'Thule the second lock, its old river now the Reservoir, its wooded hills and beautiful scenery : all these and more, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the ̊ ̊ Boy's Town," and what is better, in the hearts of thousands scattered over this wide world ? Then hail to the dear old town-city now, as she enters with " strength renewed as the eagle's,'' upon her second century ! Thankful for her past, we look forward with hope and trust to the future that has in it vet greater things for her. God bless her Yours very sincerely, GEO. L. ANDREW. Two boys born in the city of Hamilton and educated at Miami University, upon attaining manhood in the early fifties immigrated to the Pacific Coast and there attained eminence in literature, and now stand in the front rank as authors of important and valuable publications. The following interesting reminiscent letters are from their pens: Letter of John S. Hittell. 1226 HYDE Street, SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 1891. Messrs. Thomas Millikin, Dr. Cyrus Falconer, Rev. E. W. Abbey, James W. See and Israel Williams. Historical and Literary Committee: GENTLEMEN : I regret my inability to attend the celebration of the Centennial anniversary of the settlement of the city of Hamilton. The occasion is worthy of commemoration, and I congratulate you on this demonstration of your public spirit. After thousands of years, it will be recounted to your credit. After a hundred generations, your successors will read with interest what you are about to do, as you read what Gen. St. Clair did. Your city is a permanent possession of civilization. It will flourish till that improbable time when the globe changes its axis, or the Miami Valley disappears in some convulsion of nature. So long as men take pride in their ancestry and love their country, so long—that is to say to the re- THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O. - 321 motest ages--it will be the duty and the pleasure of intelligent men to cherish their local history, as you are now cluing. Your kind invitation, for which I thank you, revives manyrectollec tions. It suggests to me my boyhood and youth spent in your city; my attendance in your schools my collegiate education in the neighboring town of Oxford; my friendships with old residents, still dear to me; and my acquaintance with John Riley, "Taylor Webster, James McBride. John Woods, and other distinguished pioneers of Butler county. It recalls to me that while studying law in the office of John Woods, I attended court in your city and frequently heard and saw Torn Corwin there; that I often heard John B. Weller, Lewis U. Campbell and Win.Bebb" in political speeches; and that I went to a mass meeting at Dayton in 1840 to hear Gen. Harrison and again in 1842 to hear Henry Clay. These are noted names, but I doubt not that the proportion of able and learned men in Ohio is as large now as it was then. Your invitation suggests to me the beautiful Miami Valley, which in fertility of soil is not surpassed by anything seen by me in long travels on this continent and in Europe; and it also suggests those magnificent forests of white oak, hickory, ash and black walnut, precious species of trees found only on the eastern part of the United States, and nowhere more luxuriant than in your vicinity. It reminds me of may frequent walks to the Mound Builders' ruins, so numerous and interesting in your county. In the forty-three years that have elapsed since I made my home in Ohio, I have revisited Hamilton with pleasure, several times; and my interest in Butler county has been kept alive by meeting here some of its native sons, who became residents of San Francisco. Among these were Gov. John B. Weller and Gov. Wm. Irwin. Your county is the only one that has furnished two Governor's to California, and Charles L. Weller, all of whom have crossed over to the majority; and B. J. Baldwin, a pron]inent millionaire, and Dr. L. C. Lane, an eminent surgeon, who is my intimate friend. By becoming a pioneer of California in 1849 and a permanent resident of San Francisco subsequently, my strongest local affections were fixed on the Golden State; but I shall never cease to cherish the associations connected with Ohio. I consider it fortunate for me that I spent my early 322 - THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF HAMILTON, O, years in Hamilton, and I feel honored by my connection with you, even at a distance of more than two thousand miles, in your celebration. Yours truly, JOHN S. HITTELLL. Letter of Theodore H. Hittell. SAN FRANCISCO, August 21, 189l. Messrs. Thomas Millikin, Dr, Chas Falconer and others, Historical and Literary Committee: GENTLEMEN: I desire to express my thanks for your cordial invitation to be present at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the building of Fort Hamilton. It would give me great pleasure to attend, but circumstances prevent. My recollections of Hamilton are very vivid and very pleasant. The old fort and the old military roads through the woods, which were traveled by Arthur St. Clair and Anthony Wayne, were always objects of exceeding interest to me ; and their history, together with the history of the aborigenes and of the old settlers, has always been and is still a favorite subject of contemplation and study. It was my destiny in 1855, after a life of twenty-three years in Ohio, to change my residence to California; and I have ever since been and am now a Californian. But I do not forget that Hamilton and the Miami and its great and glorious valley are the only scenes of my childhood to which I can recur; and I assure you that no one can prize them more highly, honor them more sincerely, or be more interested in their progress and prosperity than Your obliged friend and well-wisher, THEODORE H. HITTELL.