Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

200 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIII

that number, and the flattering prospects of this infant city, we anticipate its being doubled in less than three years.

As we now take leave of this really illuminating little volume, it is only fitting that we take off our hats and send back over the sea of more than fourscore years a grateful salute to that enthusiastic local historian and able editor and compiler, Mr. Julius P. Bolivar MacCabe. Nor may we fail to vote our thanks to the Guardian Savings and Trust Company which, in 1908, had the public spirit that led them to reprint the work.

In this memorable year, 1837, the Cleveland city council adopted a resolution submitted by Alfred Hall and declaring that "for the erection of a market or markets, the purchase of grounds whereon to build school-houses and the erection of school-houses, it is expedient for the city to borrow on the good faith and credit thereof, the sum of fifty thousand dollars, for a term of years, at six per cent annual interest, by creating that amount of stock, provided said stock shall not be sold under par."

In April (1837), the Cleveland council appointed the second board of school managers, the members of which were Samuel Cowles, Samuel Williamson, and Philip Battell ; they continued the school authorized in 1836, which "was the only one that had any existence by authority; neither did the city own a school house or a foot of ground upon which to erect one.* Cleveland had then a population of about 5,000; and although no records are extant to show it, there must have been in attendance upon the schools, private and public, no less than eight hundred children. But the school maintained by the city had an enrollment of less than three hundred, so that the Academy and other private schools still furnished instruction to a very large majority of the youth of the city." But, in July, the council passed a school ordinance introduced by Horace Canfield. This step was of importance sufficient to justify the presentation of the document in full :

AN ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT of COMMON SCHOOLS

Section 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Cleveland, That the School Committee of the Council is hereby .au-

* The little school house on St. Clair Street, bought by the village in 1817, must have passed away or become unfit for use. The moneys that the village trustees then ordered refunded to individuals amounted to only $198.70, and had been subscribed "for the building of a school house;" there was no mention of the purchase of any land.

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thorized to procure, by lease, quitable buildings or rooms for the use of the city, to be occupied as school rooms, as hereinafter provided, under the authority of the city; provided, that such buildings or rooms shall be appropriated by the Board of Managers of Common Schools. The expense of the lease of the same shall not exceed one-half the amount which the City Council is authorized to appropriate annually for the construction of buildings for school purposes.

Sec. 2. The School Committee of the Council is further authorized and instructed to provide, at the expense of the city, the needful apparatus and furniture for the buildings or rooms thus provided, and the added expense of which shall not exceed the limits prescribed in the 'first section of this act.

Sec. 3. It is further ordained that the Board of Managers of Common Schools in the city is hereby authorized to establish, immediately, in the premises provided aforesaid, such schools of elementary education as to them shall seem necessary, and procure instructors for the same. The term or session of such schools shall commence on the 24th of July, instant, and continue four months, to-wit: till the 24th day of November next.

Sec. 4. It being provided that such. schools are to be supplied from the revenue of the city set

aside for said purposes, so that the' expense of tuition and fuel in said schools shall not be permitted to exceed said specified revenue.

Passed July 7th, 1837.

The public school system of Cleveland was thus begun; the story of its development into the great and beneficent institution that it is today is told in the article on the Public Schools, given in Chapter XXII of this volume.

ARRIVAL OF THE PANIC OF 1837

Among the important arrivals of 1837 was a great financial panic. President Jackson's famous specie circular, drafted by Senator Benton, had been issued by the secretary of the treasury in July, 1836. It directed that nothing but gold and silver should be received in payment for public lands—Jackson's last financial exploit. This sent a flood of almost worthless western paper to the eastern money centers and, in May, 1837, the. New York banks suspended specie payment and a widespread panic followed. It is said that it "brought to ruin nearly every business establishment in the Western Reserve"— doubtless something of an exaggeration, but it certainly hit hard the metropolis of that thriving region. "City lots owned by the land companies of Ohio City and Cleveland, which shortly before had been sold for prices enormously above their actual value, could no longer

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be disposed of on any terms. It was a period of purging and of sobering from which the city emerged to enter upon a career of substantial prosperity."

OHIO RAILROAD PUT TO REST

One of the fantastic schemes that received its quietus in that panic was the famous Ohio Railroad Company of unpropitious memory. In 1830, the United States had a railway trackage of twenty-three miles, but the fever for railway building soon set in and many wild forms of speculation caught unwise investors. At this time, when "the sparsely settled southern shore of Lake Erie was platted into city lots at every indentation of the coast and one speculator (just a little wilder than the others) predicted a continuous city from the Niagara to the Cuyahoga," came the Ohio Railroad project. In April, 1836, R. Harper, Eliphalet Austin, Heman Ely, John W. Allen, P. M. Weddell, Charles C. Paine, and others organized the company at Painesville; Nehemiah Allen of Willoughby a member of the state legislature, secured for them a liberal charter that granted banking powers as well as the usual rights to build a railroad. The banking privileges were used with enterprising freedom and the three or four hundred thousand dollars of currency that were issued could never truthfully say or sing, "I know that my redeemer liveth." By an act of March, 1837, the malodorous "plunder law," the legislature loaned its credit to the amount of one-third of the capital stock in railroads, turnpikes, and canals, when the other two-thirds had been subscribed ; the state issued its bond in payment for stock in the company. The company planned to build a trans-Ohio road with two great cities at its termini, Richmond on the Grand River and Manhattan on the Maumee. The track was to rest on a double line of piles or posts, with ties and stringers, and a light strap-iron rail, a flimsy structure that was estimated to cost $16,000 per mile. "The visionary scheme fitted into the financial fantasies of the day, but it vanished before the hot breath of the panic of 1837 ;" the road was not built. In 1840, the "plunder law" was repealed and the collapse of the Ohio Railroad was quick and complete. For many years after the collapse, remnants of the piles were visible out Lorain Avenue and along the ridge toward Elyria. In 1843, the state auditor reported that "the original subscriptions to the stock of the company were one million, nine hundred and ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars. Of this sum only thirteen thousand, nine hundred and eighty dollars had been paid in cash; eight thousand

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or ten thousand dollars in labor or material; and five hundred and thirty-three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six dollars in land and town lots. These have been reported as a basis for the credit of the state; also there has been added two hundred and ninety-three thousand, six hundred and sixty dollars in donations of lands for right of way, all of which of course are conditional to revert upon failure to complete the work. The lands received in payment for subscriptions were all taken at the most extravagant rates." The state had paid the company $249,000, and its return was "some sixty-three miles of wooden superstructure laid on piles, a considerable portion of which is already rotten and the remainder going rapidly to decay."

CHAPTER XIV

THE BEGINNING OF THE RAILWAY ERA.

In 1838, Joshua A. Mills was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Alfred Hall, Nicholas Dockstader, and Benjamin Harrington. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, George C. Dodge, Moses A. Eldridge, Herrick Childs, Leonard Case, Benjamin Andrews, Henry Blair, Thomas Colahan, Tom Lemen, and Melancthon Barnett. On the nineteenth of March, Mr. Dockstader was chosen as president of the council. At a later meeting, A. H. Curtis was chosen as city clerk. Samuel Williamson was treasurer, and George Kirk was marshal. Across the river, Norman C. Baldwin was elected mayor of Ohio City. The councilmen were H. N. Ward, C. E. Hill, Cyrus Williams, Charles Winslow, Needham M. Standart, William H. Hill, George C. Huntington, D. Barstow, E. Bronson, Josiah Barber, W. Burton, and S. W. Sayles. Mr. Bronson was chosen president of the council. Horace Foote was recorder, D. C. Van Tine was treasurer, and G. L. Chapman was marshal.

The state legislature having authorized such action, the Cleveland council adopted the following resolution, introduced by Mr. Dockstader :

Resolved—That the board of commissioners designated to execute the wishes and directions of the City Council and citizens of Cleveland in regard to the construction of the Cleveland, Warren & Pittsburgh Railroad., be respectfully requested to subscribe for and take up so much of the stock subscribed by our citizens, for the purpose of securing the charter of the railroad, as will amount to two hundred thousand dollars, and that, in conjunction with the directors of said railroad, immediately take measures to procure a suffi cient amount of subscription to construct said road from Cleveland to the Pennsylvania line, and then to borrow the aforesaid two hundred thousand dollars on the credit of the city.

This progressive step, in aid of the first railway project that had taken on definite shape shows that the city "had begun to emerge from the village influences that had hampered it in the first year of municipal rule." As to the cost of city maintenance at that time, a

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report of the finance committee of the council states that the amount that would probably be required for general purposes for the year was $16,745, exclusive of what would be needed for the support of the poor ; that the amount to be collected from licenses and debts due the city would be $4,500; thus leaving the sum of $12,265 to be raised by the tax levy.

DR. JARED P. KIRTLAND

Dr. Jared P. Kirtland was born in Wallingford, Connecticut. in 1795. In 1810, he visited the Reserve coming in company with Alfred Kelley and Joshua Stow as already stated; his father at that

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time was agent of the Connecticut Land Company at Poland in Trumbull County. He studied medicine in Philadelphia and, after twenty years' practice in Trumbull County, lectured for a year at a medical college in Cincinnati and, late in 1838, accepted a professorship in the newly organized medical college in Cleveland. His association with Colonel Whittlesey on the first geological survey of Ohio has already been noted. Soon after his coming to Cleveland, he bought an estate at East Rockport, near Rocky River. Here he established an experimental farm and originated many new varieties of fruit. Thence he drove daily to his classes in the city. He was

the first president of the Cleveland Academy of Natural Science which was organized in 1845 at his suggestion. He was one of Cleveland's pioneers in scientific work and equally distinguished as naturalist, teacher and physician. He died on the tenth of December, 1877.

MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS OF 1839-40

In 1839, Mr. Mills was reelected as mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Harvey Rice, Edward Baldwin, and Richard Hilliard. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, George Mendenhall, Timothy P. Spencer, Moses Ross, John A. Foote, Charles M. Giddings, Jefferson Thomas, Thomas Bolton, Tom Lemen, and John

208 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIV

A. Vincent. John A. Foote was chosen president of the council. Mr. Williamson was reelected treasurer, Isaac Taylor succeeded George Kirk as marshal, James B. Finney became city clerk, and Moses Kelley was appointed city attorney. A city market house was built on Michigan Street (Prospect Avenue, N. W.), and L. D. Johnson was chosen as market clerk. Improved school accommodations received proper and encouraging attention and an effort in aid of temperance reform led to a sharp parliamentary struggle over Mr. Barr's preamble and resolutions, a proposed "ordinance for the suppression of dram shops," another "ordinance for the suppression or the sale of ardent spirits in less quantity than one quart," together with futile attempts to amend the latter by striking out the words "one quart" and substituting therefor "one pint," "fifteen gallons," and "a pound of bread." The whole matter was then Sent back to committee and the "reform" made no further progress that year. In Ohio City, Mayor Baldwin was reelected. The councilmen were C. L. Russell, C. C. Waller, Francis A. Burrows, Samuel H. Fox, H. A. Hurlburt, Daniel Sanford, Needham M. Standart, H. N. Ward, Christopher E. Hill, W. H. Hill, Cyrus Williams, and Charles Winslow. Mr. Waller was chosen president of the council and Messrs. Foote, Van Tine, and Chapman were reelected to their several offices of the previous year.

In 1840, Nicholas Dockstader was elected mayor of Cleveland ; Timothy Ingraham, treasurer ; and Isaac Taylor, marshal. The aldermen were William Milford, William Lemen, and Josiah A. Harris. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, Ashbel W. Walworth, David Hersch, John Barr, David Allen, John A. Foote, Thomas M. Kelley, Stephen Clary, Charles Bradburn, and John A. Vincent. William Milford was chosen president of the council; J. B. Finney, city clerk; George A. Benedict, city attorney ; and Josiah A. Harris, city printer. In Ohio. City, Needham M. Standart was elected mayor. The councilmen were C. L. Russell, C. C. Waller, Francis A. Burrows, S. H. Fox, II. A. Hurlburt, Daniel Sanford, S. W. Sayles, Homer Strong, Andrew White, Benjamin Sheldon, B. F. Tyler, and Daniel Lamb. Mr. Waller was chosen president of the council. J. F. Taintor became recorder and Messrs. Van Tine and Chapman were again chosen to their respective positions.

CITY RECORD OF 1840-45

In this year (1840-41), the four sections of the Public Square were separately enclosed with fences and the street supervisor was instructed to "prepare and seed the southern half of the Public

1840-41] - THE CENSUS REPORT - 209

Square in a suitable and proper manner," to "procure some suitable person to sink the public wells, so that they will contain at least three and one-half feet of water, provided the expense will not exceed thirty-five dollars." The temperance question came up again in May and, after much discussion, "an ordinance to regulate taverns and to prohibit the sale of ardent spirits or other intoxicating liquors by a less quantity than one quart," and providing further that no licensed tavern keeper should give or sell ardent spirits to any child, apprentice, or servant without the consent of parent, guardian, or employer, or to any intoxicated person, was passed. Before the end of the official year, annual salaries of some of the city's servants were fixed as follows : Mayor, $100 ; marshal, $300; clerk, $400; street supervisor, $400; treasurer, $200; clerk of the market, $100. At the end of his term as mayor, Mr. Dockstader retired fom official life.

The federal census of this year (1840), in speaking of the manufacturing enterprises of Cuyahoga County, says that there were two cast-iron furnaces, producing 200 tons, consuming 1,310 tons of fuel, employing 102 men and using a capital of $130,000. The annual value of the stone product was $18,822; twenty-eight men were employed and $2,000 of capital invested. Of pot or pearl ashes, 113 tons were made during the year. The value of machinery made was $43,600; the value of hardware and cutlery $25,000; and of metals refined $31,500. In the manufacture of brick and lime $12,500 was invested; twenty-six men employed, and the value of the product $8,540. There were four woolen manufactories, with a capital of $12,400 and an annual product of $14,400, and eighteen men employed. In the thirteen tanneries twenty-one men were employed; capital, $6,800; 845. sides of sole leather and 3,680 sides of uppers were tanned. There were manufactured 113,000 pounds of soap and 82,000 pounds of tallow candles, ten men employed and $4,000 of capital. Two distilleries produced 80,000 gallons of whiskey, and one brewery 50,000 gallons of beer. There were six flour mills, fifteen grist mills, seventy sawmills, one oil mill, and all of these combined made $183,875 worth of product and employed 104 men. Athough the report is for the county, it is fair to assume that it is approximately correct for the city. The census of this year credited Cleveland with a population of 6,071.

In 1841, John W. Allen was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were William Milford, Thomas Bolton, and Newton E. Crittenden. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, Nelson Hayward, Herrick Childs, George B. Tibbets, Moses Kelley,

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210 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIV

W. J. Warner, M. C. Younglove, Philo Scovill, Benjamin Harrington, and Miller M. Spangler. Thomas Bolton was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Mr. Standart was reelected mayor. The councilmen were Daniel H. Lamb, Richard Lord, Albert Powell, C. A. Russell, C. L. Russell, Julius A. Sayles, S. W. Sayles, Benjamin Sheldon, Homer Strong, Benjamin F. Tyler, Andrew White, and Ephraim Wilson. Mr. Lord was chosen president of the council. Christopher E. Hill was recorder, H. N. Ward was treasurer, and Homer Strong was marshal. In this year, the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was completed, connecting the Ohio Canal at Akron with the Ohio River at Beaver and thus forming a water communication with Pittsburgh. On the twenty-first of September, a charter was granted for Cleveland City Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, the oldest Masonic body in the city. Its first meeting was held a week later and officers were chosen as follows: Clifford Belden, worshipful master; Andrew White, senior warden; Willard Crawford, junior. warden ; Edmund Clark, treasurer; and Erastus Smith, secretary.

In 1842, Joshua A. Mills was again elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Nelson Hayward, William Smyth, and Benjamin Harrington. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, William D. Nott, Robert Bailey, Henry Morgan, George Mendenhall, George Witherell, Jefferson Thomas, William T. Goodwin, George Kirk, and Levi Johnson. Benjamin Harrington was chosen president of the council. In Ohio City, Francis A. Burrows was chosen mayor. The councilmen were G. L. Chapman, David Griffith, Morris Hepburn, Richard Lord, Albert Powell, C. A. Russell, Julius A. Sayles, S. W. Sayles, Benjamin Sheldon, Horace G. Townsend, D. C. Van Tine, and Ephraim Wilson. Richard Lord was again chosen as president of the council. Christopher E. Hill, H. N. Ward, and Homer Strong became their own successors as recorder, treasurer, and marshal respectively.

In 1843, Nelson Hayward was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were William D. Nott, Samuel Cook, and Samuel Starkweather. The councilmen were, three from each ward in order, Robert Bailey, John B. Wigman, James Church, Jr., Stephen Clary, Alanson H. Lacy, George A. Benedict, William T. Goodwin, John Wills, and Alexander S. Cramer. Mr. Benedict was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Richard Lord became mayor. The councilmen were Thomas Armstrong, Peter Barker, G. L. Chapman, L. L. Davis, David Griffith, Morris Hepburn, Seth W. Johnson, Albert Powell, C. L. Russell, Julius A. Sayles, S. W. Sayles, and Benjamin Sheldon. S. W. Sayles was chosen president of the council, and Messrs. Hill,

1844-45] - CITY OFFICIALS - 211

Ward, and Strong again became their own successors as recorder, treasurer, and marshal respectively. George Osmun became street supervisor.

In 1844, Samuel Starkweather was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Leander M. Hubby, Stephen Clary and William T. Goodwin. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were Thomas Mell, George F. Marshall, E. St. John Bemis, Charles Stetson, Jacob Lowman, John Outhwaite, William F. Allen, Melancthon Barnett, and John F. Warner. Mr. Barnett was chosen as president of the council. The United States Marine Hospital, on the bank of the lake, was begun in this year, but it was not finished until 1852. In Ohio City, Daniel H. Lamb was chosen mayor. The councilmen were Peter Barker, E. R. Benton, L. L. Davis, Enoch Hunt, Seth W. Johnson, G. W. Jones, Richard Lord, Albert Powell, C. L. Russell, Julius A. Sayles, Benjamin Sheldon, and E. T. Sterling. Mr. Lord was chosen president of the council. S. W. Sayles was chosen recorder; Christopher E. Hill, treasurer ; Homer Strong, marshal; and George Osmun, street supervisor.

In 1845, Samuel Starkweather was again elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Charles W. Heard, George Witherell, and L. 0. Mathews. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were Flavel W. Bingham, Peter Caul, Samuel C. Ives, James Gardner, Ellery G. Williams, David L. Wood, Arthur Hughes, John A. Wheeler, and Orville Gurley. Mr. Bingham was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Mayor Lamb was again elected. The councilmen were Ambrose Anthony, E. R. Benton, L. L. Davis, Enoch Hunt, G. W. Jones, Richard Lord, Joseph B. Palmer, Albert Powell, Daniel Sanford, Julius A. Sayles, Benjamin Sheldon, and E. T. Sterling. Mr— Lord was chosen as president of the council. S. W. Sayles became recorder; Charles Winslow, treasurer; Edgar Slaght, marshal ; and George Osmun, street supervisor.

YOUNG MEN'S LITERARY ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED

In this year, the Young Men's Literary Association was organized; it was incorporated in 1848 as the Cleveland Library Association. From this organization was developed the Case Library of today. Three banks were also incorporated, the " Commercial" with a capital stock of $150,000; the "Merchants' " with a capital stock of $100,000 ; and the " City Bank" with a capital stock of $150,000. In March, the state renewed the charter of the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad Company. The new charter authorized the

212 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIV

building of a road from Lake Erie to Columbus, where it might unite with any road that should afterwards be built leading from the capital to the southern boundary of the state. On the board of directors, Cleveland was represented by John. W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, John M. Woolsey, and Henry B. Payne. The city voted its credit to the extent of $200,000, but there was difficulty in negotiating the city's bonds. In 1847, and after prolonged personal effort on the part of the directors, the amount of subscriptions were brought up to about $70,000 and the work of construction was immediately begun under the presidential supervision of Alfred Kelley, now of Columbus. In the same month (March, 1845), the legislature passed an act reviving the charter of the Cleveland, Warren, and Pittsburgh Company to which, in 1838, the city had voted a subscription of $200,000. By the first of November, the line had been completed to Hanover, seventy-five miles from Cleveland. In this year, the Franklin House that Philo Scovill had built on the north side of Superior Street in 1825 was rebuilt and Dan P. Rhodes and David Tod opened the Briar Hill coal mine near Youngstown.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS, 1846-48

In 1846, George Hoadley was elected. mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Leander M. Hubby, John H. Gorham, and Josiah A. Harris. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were E. St. John Bemis, John F. Chamberlain, John Gill, William Case, William Bingham, John A. Wheeler, William K. Adams, Marshall Carson, and Liakim L. Lyon. Mr. Hubby was chosen as president of the council. This William Case was a son of the Leonard Case who came from Warren to Cleveland to act as cashier of the first bank in the city. As we shall see, William Case played a prominent part in the development of Cleveland and was twice elected as its mayor. In Ohio City, Daniel H. Lamb was for the third time elected as mayor. The councilmen chosen were Ambrose Anthony, John Beverlin, G. L. Chapman, L. L. Davis, Gilman Folsom, S. W. Johnson, Joseph B. Palmer, Albert Powell, Daniel Sanford, Julius A. Sayles, Benjamin Sheldon, and S. W. Turner. Mr. Sheldon was elected as president of the council and Messrs. S. W. Sayles and Winslow were continued in office as recorder and treasurer respectively. George Osmun became marshal, and William H. Newton, street supervisor.

In March of this year, the state legislature incorporated the Junction Railroad. "This act, together with amendments subsequently passed, provided for railway construction from Cleveland

1846-48] - CITY OFFICIALS - 213

to the west line of the state, the choice of routes and other details, according to the liberal fashion of that time, being left to the discretion of the directors." Another charter was issued creating the Toledo, Norwalk, and Cleveland road. In 1853, these companies were consolidated under the name of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad with a capital stock of $5,000,000. In this year (1846), the Cleveland Gas Light and Coke Company was incorporated; it supplied gas for street illumination three years later. The board of Fire Underwriters of Cleveland was organized in June; J. L. Weatherly was its president ; C. C. Carleton was vice president ; H. F. Brayton was treasurer ; and George May was secretary. The activities of the board were suspended during the civil war, but a reorganization was effected in 1866.

In 1847, Josiah A. Harris was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Flavel W. Bingham, William Case, and Pierre A. Mathivet. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were David Clark Doan, Henry Everett, John Gill, John Erwin, Charles 'Hickox, Henry B. Payne, Alexander Seymour, Alexander S. Cramer, and Orville Gurley. Flavel W. Bingham was chosen as president of the council. In the summer of this year, the Lake Erie Telegraph Company was authorized to extend its line through the city and the first telegram was received. In Ohio City, David Griffith was elected mayor. The councilmen were John Beverlin, G. L. Chapman, L. L. Davis, Gilman Folsom, S. W. Johnson, Irvine U. Masters, Philo Moses, C. L. Russell, R. L. Russell, Benjamin Sheldon, Homer Strong, and S. W. Turner. Mr. Sheldon was chosen as president of the council. Christopher E. Hill was elected recorder; S. J. Lewis, treasurer; N. D. White, marshal; and William Hartness, street supervisor.

In 1848, Lorenzo A. Kelsey was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were Flavel W. Bingham, William Case, and Alexander Seymour. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were Richard Norton, Jahn Gill, Charles M. Read, Henry B. Payne, Leander M. Hubby, Thomas C. Floyd, Samuel Starkweather, Robert Parks, and William J. Gordon. Mr. Bingham was again chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, John Beverlin was elected mayor. The councilmen were H. N. Bissett, L. L. Davis, D. S. Degroate, James Kirby, William S. Levake, Thomas Lindsay, Irvine TT. Masters, Philo Moses, F. B. Pratt, C. L. Russell, R. L. Russell, and Homer Strong. Mr. Strong was chosen as president of the council. Christopher E. Hill was elected recorder ; Charles Winslow, treasurer ; Lyman Whitney, marshal ; and William H. Newton, street supervisor.

214 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIV

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION

By this time, railway lines had been built from Chicago to Toledo, from Toledo to Cleveland, and from Erie to Buffalo. The important connecting link of a through route, the Cleveland-Erie line, had not yet been forged, but in this year, under the push and enterprise of Alfred Kelley and William Case as prime movers, a charter was secured for the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad. This corporation was to build a road eastward from Cleveland to the state line and the city pledged its credit for the loan of $100,000 in aid thereof. But the outlay that was necessary for construction was so great that "for some time hope of a successful outcome was abandoned. In this emergency recourse was had to Mr. Alfred Kelley, who was accorded unlimited authority as general agent for the company. It is needless to add that Mr. Kelley's marvelous executive ability, with the tradition of success which had come to be associated with his name, secured for the enterprise a new prosperity." On the seventh of July, there was a large meeting of merchants at the Weddell House, at which meeting the Board of Trade was organized.

In 1849, Flavel W. Bingham was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were William Case, Alexander Seymour, and John Gill. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were David W. Cross, Richard Norton, Henry Everett, Alexander McIntosh, John G. Mack, James Calyer, Arthur Hughes, Abner C. Brownell, and Christopher Mollen. William Case was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Thomas Burnham was elected mayor, and J. Beanson, H. N. Bisett, S. C. Degroate, Mark Harrison, James Kirby, Thomas Lindsay, A. W. Merrick, E. M. Peck, F. B. Pratt, Edgar Slaght, Martin Smith, and Uriah Taylor were elected councilmen. Mr. Pratt was chosen president of the council. J. A. Redington was elected recorder; Charles Winslow, treasurer ; A. P. Turner, marshal; and William H. Newton, street supervisor.

WATER WORKS SUGGESTED

In this year (1849), Mr. Hughes introduced in the Cleveland city council the following resolution, which was adopted :

Resolved. That the committee on fire and water be and are hereby directed to ascertain the cost of bringing the water from the opposite side of the river, or from any other point, to some convenient place upon the summit in this city, where a general reservoir may be located ; the cost of said reservoir, and the expense per rod for feed-

1849-50] - WATER, GAS, FAIRS AND PIER - 215

ing it. Further, that the chief engineer of the fire department be associated with said committee, and that they may call to their assistance a competent person to assist them, and report to the council as soon as possible.

This action probably had its effect in educating the voters up to the level necessary, but definite action for the establishing of municipal water works was not taken until 1853. In this year (1849), the Cuyahoga Agricultural Society was formed. For several years, it held fairs on Kinsman Street (now Woodland Avenue). In later years, its fairs were held at Newburg and Chagrin Falls. Gas works were built and the city first provided with illuminating gas in this year. About this time, John G. Stockly built, at the foot of Bank (West Sixth) Street, a pier that extended 924 feet into the lake and broke the monotony of "a continuous sand beach, strewn with driftwood" that had existed since the destruction of the fragile and short-lived structure built by the Cleveland Pier Company in 1816.

In 1850, William Case was elected mayor of Cleveland. The alder, men were Alexander Seymour, John Gill, and Leander M. Hubby. The councilmen, three from each ward in order, were William Given, George Whitelaw, Buckley Stedman, Alexander McIntosh, William Bingham, Samuel Williamson, Arthur Hughes, Abner C. Brownell, and Levi Johnson. Alexander Seymour was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Thomas Burnham was again elected mayor, and J. Beanson, E. C. Blish, M. L. Hooker, John Kirkpatrick, Thomas Lindsay, A. W. Merrick, E. M. Peck, F. B. Pratt, C. L. Russell, Edgar

216 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XIV

Slaght, Martin Smith, and Uriah Taylor were elected councilmen. Mr. Pratt was chosen as president of the council. J. A. Redington was elected recorder; Gilman Folsom, treasurer; George Osmun, marshal; and William H. Newton, street supervisor.

PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

In March, the third Presbyterian church was organized with thirty members. Two years later, the church changed its policy and became known as the "Plymouth Congregational Church of Cleveland." Before the end of the official year, the council adopted (January, 1851) a resolution, introduced by William Bingham, constituting the mayor and three others to be appointed by him as a committee to make further investigation concerning a municipal water supply and authorized them to employ an engineer. Mayor Case appointed William J. Warner, Dr. J. P. Kirtland, snd Colonel Charles Whittlesey as his associates on said committee. At this time, Cleveland had a population of 17,034 and Ohio City one of 3,950. The enumeration "indicated a steady and healthful growth for the ten preceding years. It was a period of present prosperity, and of promise for the future. The lake fleet was at its summit of popularity, and of service as a means of passage, as the railroads had not yet begun to make the destructive inroads of a later day. The stage coaches were kept busy, carrying loads of travelers to and from Cleveland, manufacturers were reach: ing out and extending, the municipality was in a progressive mood, and Cleveland had earned the right to be called a city in fact, as in name."

In 1851, William Case was again elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were John Gill, Leander M. Hubby, Abner C. Brownell, and Buckner Stedman, four instead of three, as formerly. The councilmen, two from each of four wards instead of three from each of three wards, as formerly, were Jabez W. Fitch, George Whitelaw, Alexander McIntosh, Thomas C. Floyd, Stoughton Bliss, :Miller M. Spangler, Marshall S. Castle, and James B. Wilbur. AS authorized by the third section of the city charter, already quoted, the council had added a fourth ward to Cleveland. John Gill was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Benjamin Sheldon was elected mayor, and Ambrose Anthony, E. C. Blish, Thomas Burnham, William B. Guyles, M. L. Hooker, John Kirkpatrick, Thomas Lindsay, William IT. Newton, F. B. Pratt, Daniel P. Rhodes, C. L. Russell, and Daniel Sanford were elected councilmen. C. L. Russell was chosen president of the council. Christopher E. Hill was chosen recorder; Gilman Folsom,

1851] - HOW TO HOLD A CHARTER - 217

treasurer; E. H. Lewis, marshal; and George Osmun, street supervisor.

THE C. C. & C. ENTERS CLEVELAND

In 1845, Cleveland had voted $200,000 in aid of the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad, and now (1851) a train, gaily decked with flags and streamers, bore the executive and legislative officials of the state from Columbus to Cleveland.

And the people did laugh to see

Their rulers riding on a rail.

In illustration of the difficulties that had been overcome and of the pluck and perseverance that had brought success, I quote a passage from A Sketch of Early Times in Cleveland, written by Mr. George T. Marshall, a Cleveland pioneer whose pen and voice have given us many bright and humorous accounts of the early days:

In order to save the charter, which had lain dormant for a time, it was thought best to make a show of work on the line already surveyed. One bright autumn forenoon about a dozen men got themselves together near the ground now occupied by the A. & G. W. Railway depot with the noble purpose of inaugurating the work of building the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. Among the number was Alfred Kelley the President, T. P. Handy the Treasurer, J. H. Sargent the Engineer, James A. Briggs the Attorney, and H. B. Payne, Oliver Perry, John A. Foote and others besides your humble servant. On that memorable spot one could look upon those vast fields of bottom land and nothing could be seen but unbroken wide meadows; the brick residence of Joel Scranton on the north, and the ruins of an old mill in the ravine of Walworth Run on the south, were the only show of buildings in all that region round about. These gentlemen had assembled to inaugurate the work on the railway, yet there was a sadness about them that could be felt, there was some- thing that told them that it would be difficult to make much of a railroad without money and labor. Yet they came on purpose to make a show of a beginning. Alfred took a shovel and with his foot pressed it well into the soft and willing earth, placing a good chunk in the tranquil wheelbarrow close at hand, repeating the operation until a load was attained and dumping it a rod or so to the south. We all shouted a good sized shbut that the road was really inaugurated. Then Mr. Handy did a little of the same work as well as Sargent and Briggs, while I sat on the nearest log rejoicing to see the work going on so lively and in such able hands. The fact was demonstrated that the earth was willing if man would only keep the shovel, the pick and the wheelbarrow moving lively according to this beginning. All that fall and winter one man was kept at work on the great enterprise, simply to hold the charter with a hope that some thing would turn up to enable the directors to push things with a greater show

218 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS [Chap. XIV

for ultimate success. During the winter that followed any one passing up Pittsburgh street [Broadway] near the bluff could see day by day the progress this one man power was making in his work. Foot by foot each day the brown earth could be seen gaining on the white snow on the line towards Columbus, and hope remained lively in the breast of everyone that saw the progress, that if the physical powers of that solitary laborer held out long enough, he would some day be able to go to state's prison by rail. There was a serious hindrance in the progress of the work, which came in this wise. The laborer who had so great a job on his hands took a look and a thought of what he had to do—it was one hundred and forty miles to Columbus and it was best to hurry up or the road would not be ready for use for quite a spell to come; he set to work with renewed energy for a while, then threw himself quite out of breath on the ground for a brief rest when the rheumatism took hold of him and sciatica troubled his limbs so much that the great work was brought to a standstill ; he struck for his altars and his fires at home, while the next fall of snow obliterated the line of his progress towards the south, and the directors got together to devise ways and means to keep the work moving onward. It was said that the best thing they could do under this stress of circumstances was to devise a method for drying and warming• the ground so that a like calamity would not occur to their workman, -wishing to encourage every freak he had to work a little faster, provided he would do so at the same wages. Soon after this calamity befell the laborer and the road, a meeting was called at Empire Hall and it was a jam. Alfred Kelley discoursed on the subject of the railway and telling us that if we did not take hold of this opportunity to make an iron way to the center of the state Cleveland would only be known in the Gazeteers as a small town on Lake Erie about six miles from Newburgh where steamers sometimes stop to wood and water. By a sudden stroke of generalship the exit doors of the hall were locked and the audience were held until all were converted to the faith and pooled in enough to secure the road and add a few more men to the work, when, after a reasonable time, the solons of our legislature came up here on the 22d of February and celebrated the completion of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, and the birthday of Washington all at once.

CLEVELAND & MAHONING RAILROAD COMPLETED

The Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad was chartered in this year (1851). It was completed from Cleveland to Youngstown in 1857. This road was later known as the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. The completion of these railways produced great rejoicings, for "during the period of their construction the city had been almost daily adding to the number of its inhabitants, so that it had nearly doubled in the last six years, its population being now 21,140, and in the following year (1852) it added 87 persons per week to its numbers,

1851] - WOODLAND CEMETERY - 219

being then 25,670." In August of this year, on motion of Mr. Bliss, definite action was taken by the council toward securing a new cemetery. The resolution directed the mayor to buy a certain sixty acres of land and authorized him to "issue in payment for said land bonds of the City of Cleveland in sums of $1,000 . . . for the aggregate sum of $13,639." The cemetery thus secured was named "Woodland"; it is still used for the purposes for which it was bought.

CHAPTER XV

THE UNION OF CLEVELAND AND OHIO CITY

In 1852, Abner C. Brownell was elected mayor of Cleveland. The aldermen were John B. Wigman, Leander M. Hubby, Basil L. Spangler, and Buckley Stedman. The councilmen, two from each ward in order, were Henry Morgan, Aaron Merchant, William H. Sholl, Robert B. Bailey, Stoughton Bliss, John B. Smith, Admiral N. Gray, and Henry Howe. Mr. Hubby was chosen as president of the council. In Ohio City, Benjamin Sheldon was elected mayor, and Ambrose Anthony, E. C. Blish, Thomas Burnham, M. Crasper, William B. Guyles, James Kirby, William H. Newton, Daniel P. Rhodes, Daniel Sanford, Homer Strong, D. C. Taylor, and Charles Winslow were elected as councilmen. Mr. Winslow was chosen as president of the council. Christopher E. Hill was chosen recorder; Sanford J. Lewis, treasurer; Nathan K. McDole, marshal; and A. C. Beardsley, street supervisor.

MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY

As town and village, Cleveland had three sources of water supply, springs, wells, and the lake. "There was a fine spring on the hillside near Superior lane where Lorenzo Carter first built his cabin in 1797, and another near the foot of Maiden lane, where Bryant's distillery was built a few years later. It was easy to dig wells through the sandy loam into the gravel, and the town folks had no trouble in finding an abundance of water. A town pump was put up on the corner of Superior and Water streets and one on the Square, and deep cisterns were placed at numerous intervals for storing water to put out fires. A favorite drinking well was the spring near the barn of the Cleveland House, on the northwest corner of the Square. On the corner of Prospect street and Ontario, was a pump and a drinking tank or reservoir for horses." In the Annals of the Early Settlers' Association, Mrs. George B. Merwin has told us that "on the south side of Superior street, nearly opposite the City Hall, I should think, there was a spring of soft water, and near it a shelter was built of

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1851] - WATER AND ECONOMICS - 221

boughs of trees in summer, and here many of the women used to congregate for washing, hanging their clothes on the surrounding bushes. The wells, what few there were, containing only hard water. The only water carrier for a long time was Benhu Johnson, who with his sister, a Mrs. White, lived on Euclid street, about where the Vienna Coffee House is now [1880]. Benhu with his wooden leg, little wagon and old horse, was in great demand on Mondays, when he drew two barrels, of water at a time, covered with blankets, up the long, steep hill from the river, now known as Vineyard street, to parties requiring the element. In fancy I see him now, with his unpainted vehicle, old white horse, himself stumbling along keeping time to the tune of 'Roving Sailor' which he was fond of singing, occasionally starting 'Old Whitey' with a kick from the always ready leg, especially if he had been imbibing freely." In 1833, Philo Scovill and others received a charter for the Cleveland Water Company, as already recorded, and, in 1850, an extension of the charter rights was secured and a little of the stock was sold, but nothing more had come of the scheme. But now, the unsanitary condition of the city and the frequent fire losses urged the city to action. Water works had become a necessity and public meetings were held to consider the matter ; of course "there was considerable doubt whether the city or private parties 'should build the water works." In 1850, George A. Benedict and others petitioned the city council to employ an expert to study the various sources of water supply and the probable cost of city water works. In January, 1851, an able committee was appointed by the council with authority to employ a hydraulic engineer. On the twenty-ninth of October, 1852, and after nearly two years of investigation, the special committee that was appointed in January, 1851, made a report to the council concerning a municipal water supply. The committee had investigated the Chagrin River, Tinker's Creek, Mill Creek, and Shaker Run, and thought that any one of these might be adequate for the purpose, but their conclusion was that "Lake Erie is the only source to which we can resort for an unfailing supply of pure soft water." * As to control, they agreed that "all experience shows that such undertakings can be carried on more economically by individuals or companies than by municipal corporations and also better managed after construction," but that, for want of sufficient available capital, private construction of water works for Cleveland was not practicable. To this, was added the following chunk of wisdom : "One thing is clear to us, the city should by no means

* The pollution of the waters of the lake by the sewage of the cities on its borders was not then appreciable.

222 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XV

allow the power to pass from them of keeping the control, or assuming it at such times as they might think proper, upon certain stipulated terms." As to methods of operation, they recommended the use of powerful engines to pump the water from the lake, sufficient in quantity for the wants of seventy-five thousand persons, and that the water be stored in a reservoir at least a hundred and fifty feet above the lake for distribution over the city. They further recommended that the intake should be at least one mile east from the foot of Water (West Ninth) Street and that the suction pipe should extend "some one thousand feet into the lake to avoid the impurities of the shore." They estimated that the two Cornish engines contemplated, the adequate reservoir, distributing pipes, real estate .and labor would cost $353,335.95, urged the immediate employment of a competent engineer, and warmly commended Mr. Theodore R. Scowden of the Cincinnati water works as "a gentleman whose science and experience entitle him to great confidence in the planning and execution of such works, and we feel no hesitancy in suggesting his name to the council." This important and interesting report was accompanied by a not less interesting report of analyses of waters from various springs, wells, and other near-by sources. By way of illustration, it was stated that the water from a well between Superior and Center streets, the oldest part of the city, "is used for many purposes, but is not much used for drink. Its taste is unpleasant and color yellowish. The water is bad and contains much organic matter.

. . Water from the Cuyahoga River, taken at the time of low water, in August, at a depth of ten feet. at the railroad bridge so as to avoid the impirities of the surface and the slime of the bottom," was found to be "clear and soft and almost limpid and, by standing some days, became entirely limpid with a scarcely perceptible, light, flocculent sediment" [ !], while water taken "in the calm, sultry evening in August" from the lake, half a mile off shore and a mile east of the lighthouse, was "limpid, cool, and pleasant to the taste." The report of the committee and that of the analyst were referred by the council to a special committee that they authorized to employ competent engineers and instructed to "make the necessary survey and draw plans for the work to be submitted to the council at an early date." Mr. Scowden got the appointment as recommended by the committee.

THE CLEVELAND OF 1853

In accordance with the provisions of a new state constitution, the state legislature passed a law repealing all the municipal charters then

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in force and providing new regulations for the organization and government of such corporations. In Cleveland, aldermen were dispensed with; a police court, the duties of which had previously been performed by the mayor, was established, and the number of elected officials was increased. In 1853, Abner C. Brownell was again elected mayor of Cleveland, and two trustees from each of the four wards were elected, viz., John B. Wigman, George F. Marshall, William H. Sholl, James Gardner, William J. Gordon, Robert Reilley, Henry Everett, and Richard C. Parsons. Mr. Sholl was chosen as president of the council. John Barr was elected police judge; Orlando J. Hodge, clerk of the police court; Bushnell White, prosecuting attorney ; James Barnett, Orson Spencer, and Alexander W. Walter, directors of the infirmary ; Alexander McIntosh, J. M. Hughes, and J. B. Wheeler, commissioners of streets; Michael Gallagher, marshal ; J. B. Bartlet, auditor; William Hart, treasurer; James Fitch, solicitor ; William Cowan, chief engineer of the fire department; C. Stillman, harbor master; James A. Craw, sexton ; W. A. Morton, superin- tendent of markets ; David Shut, sealer of weights and measures ; A. Wheeler, weigher ; J. W. Pillsbury, civil engineer ; W. R. Simmons, John Odell, Barney Mooney, and James Hill, constables; James Whitaker, William Redhead, David Schub, and James Proudfoot, assessors. In spite of the economic folly of such a scattering of administrative responsibility, serious mistakes in the choice of men seem to have been generally avoided. If any such mistakes were made, the account was evened up by the choice that the electors made for members of the city's first board of water works commissioners or trustees, Henry B. Payne, B. L. Spangler, and Richard Hilliard. Upon this trio devolved the duty of building Cleveland's first municipal water works. Late in the preceding official year (February 28, 1853), Mr. Scowden, the water works engineer, submitted a preliminary report to the city council. In the following April, the electors voted on a proposition to issue water works bonds, with the following result:

Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

At this time the municipal government of Ohio City was organized as follows: William B. Castle, mayor; Plimmon C. Bennett, Irvine U. Masters, A. C. Messenger, Charles W. Palmer, Wells Porter, Albert Powell, Edward Russell and Frederick Silberg, trustees; Mr. Powell, president of the council; Christopher E. Hill, recorder; Sanford J. Lewis, treasurer ; Nathan K. McDole, marshal; and David Griffith, street supervisor. As Mayor Brownell had been elected for a term of two years, there was no canvass for mayor of Cleveland at this time, but there was an understanding that the next mayor should be taken from the west side of the river. The commissioners appointed to draft the terms of union were, on the part of Cleveland, W. A. Otis, H. V. Willson, and Franklin T. Backus; those chosen by Ohio City were William B. Castle, Needham M. Standart, and C. S. Rhodes. The report of the commissioners was adopted on the fifth of June, and provided, among other things, "that the territory now constituted the City of Ohio shall be annexed to, and constitute a part of, the city of Cleveland, and the First, Second, Third and Fourth wards of the former city as now established shall constitute the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh wards respectively of the last named city ; and the present trustees of said wards . . . shall hold their offices . . . for the terms for which they have been severally elected." In accordance with this provision, the local legislature was constituted as follows: Mayor, Abner C. Brownell. Trustees, two from each ward in order, John B. Wigman, Charles Bradburn, William H. Sholl, James Gardner, Christopher Mollen, Robert Reilley, Henry Everett, Richard C. Parsons, Chauncey Tice, Mathew S. Cotterell, Bolivar Butts, John A. Bishop, W. C. B. Richardson, George W. Morrill, A. C. Messenger, Charles W. Palmer, Wells Porter, Albert Powell, Plimmon C. Bennett, Irvine U. Masters, Edward Russell and Frederick Silberg. At the first meeting of the council after the annexation (June 10, 1854), Richard C. Parsons was chosen as president, and "the venerable J. B. Bartlett" was, for the third or fourth time, elected as clerk and auditor. The Daily Express and the Waechter am Erie were made the official papers and,

228 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XV

in August, proceedings were begun to appropriate land for the West Side reservoir.

At this time, there was "not a square yard of stone paving on either side of the river, except on Superior street hill from Water street to the public landing on the river. Soon followed, however, the paving of Union street, from River street, to its intersection with Superior street hill, while Superior street from the public square to Water street was a slushing, twisted and rotten plank road, and every other street in the city was a mud road of almost unfathomable depth in the rainy season." Anything like a system of sewers was nonexistent and hardly contemplated ; the records of the city show that when, as a sanitary measure to prevent the ravages of cholera, an ordinance was passed prohibiting the throwing of dirty water into the streets and alleys, the citizens protested and urged that temporary drains be cut to answer as sewers.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES

In this year (1854), Cleveland suffered serious losses by fire. In April, an incendiary fire on Seneca (West Third) Street near Superior, destroyed an engine house, a drug store, and two or three other houses ; the sparks set fire to a planing mill on Michigan Street; a paint shop, a cooper shop, a brewery and dwelling house; the total loss was estimated at $18,000. On the seventh of October, a fire broke out at noon and destroyed more than a score of buildings, nearly all

1854] - FIRE AND FAILURE - 229

that there were on the south side of the square; the old courthouse caught fire but the flames were put out, and the old Baptist church, at the corner of Seneca and Champlain streets, dedicated in 1836, narrowly escaped the flames. Twenty days later (October 27), a livery stable was set on fire and the flames spread disastrously. The New England House, at the corner of Superior and Merwin streets, the Commercial Exchange, a three-story brick building, and the St. Charles Hotel, were burned. Nearly every building on Merwin Street and the entire block enclosed by Superior Lane, James Street, and the railroad were destroyed, and Oviatt's three-story brick block on the north side of Superior Street was gutted. It was the greatest fire that Cleveland had ever experienced ; the losses were estimated at $215,000. In the following month, the Episcopal church at the corner of Seneca and St. Clair streets, the oldest church building in the city, suffered. The experiences of the year emphasized the need of better fire protection and especially a more ample water supply.

THE CANAL BANK CLOSES ITS DOORS

But the great fires were not the only disasters that had of late huddled on the back of the city. In 1845, the Canal Bank of Cleveland had been organized as an independent bank. Early in November, 1854, the Canal Bank closed its doors, "exploded into thin air" is the phrase of. Mr. Kennedy, who tells us further that "those were exciting times to men who held the paper money then afloat, and who made haste to get rid of it in fear that it might turn to worthless paper in their hands." During the day there was a crowd about the door of the bank where a force of police was stationed to prevent any disturbance. The Plain Dealer of the ninth of November records the fact that "the billholders who got the gold for their notes were arrayed in smiles, and contrasted most vigorously with the grim-visaged depositors who got nothing." But not every depositor was willing to let his loss go by with nothing more than sour looks and empty pockets. "On the day preceding the failure, a freshwater captain named Gummage had deposited one thousand dollars, the result of the season's labor and danger on the great lakes. When told that his cash was swallowed up, he became desperate, and proceeded to a desperate remedy. Arming himself, he entered the bank and demanded his money. When it was refused, he said : 'It is all the money I own in the world, and I will have it or I will kill you!' He meant what he said and looked his meaning, and his cash was handed over without parley. No one ever proceeded against

230 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XV

him, in law or otherwise." Then, too, we have the story of Doctor Ackley's raid on the outer and the inner walls of the bank vault. "Dr. H. C. Ackley, who was as determined as he was eccentric, had a personal deposit in the Canal Bank, but laid no claim to it in preference over the other victims. He was, however, one of the trustees of the State Insane Asylum at Newburg, and had placed in the bank nine thousand dollars of the public funds. On the announcement of the suspension, he demanded this sum, which he did not get. He hurried to the sheriff's office and swore out a writ of attachment. Sheriff M. M. Spangler proceeded to the bank, which was located on Superior street, near the American House." When the sheriff's demand for the keys of the vault was refused, he proceeded to break open the vault. According to the Herald, "the excitement, both inside and outside the bank, was intense while the work proceeded ; but, to the credit of our Citizens, no signs of riot were displayed. Dr. Ackley has a heavy deposit of his own, but has procured an attachment only on behalf of the State, claiming that unless its money is procured, the asylum at Newburg cannot be opened for more than a year, and that during that time one hundred insane patients will be deprived of treatment." When Sheriff Spangler found that "brick walls and iron doors opposed the entrance of the law, he summoned several stalwart deputies, and, under the guardianship of Dr. Ackley, who is said by ancient rumor to have threatened to shoot the first man who interfered, laid down such lusty blows as had not been heard since Richard of the Lion Heart drove his battle-axe against the castle gates of Front-de-Boeuf. Sledge-hammers swung in the air, and came down on the brick work with a crash ; clouds of lime and mortar filled the room. The population of Cleveland could almost have been enumerated from those who crowded on the scene. The officers and clerks of the bank looked on, helpless to prevent, and in no position to aid. F. T. Backus, a part owner of the building and the attorney of the bank, rushed in and ordered a halt, on the grounds of trespass. The sheriff ,replied that he had come for the money, and that it was a part of his official oath to get it. The blows still fell, and at one o'clock the outer wall of the vault was broken, and measures set on foot to break into the burglar-proof safe. Truces were held, from time to time, lawyers rushed here and there, with messages, advice, and papers; but the sheriff knew no law but that of his writ, and had but one purpose, which was to get at the cash. Finally, late at night, to save the safe from damage, the assignees gave up the keys, and the hard-earned money was carried away by the sheriff. There were $400 in gold and $1,460 in bills." The liabilities of the

1854] - A NON-SECTARIAN AGENCY - 231

bank were $308,000 and its assets $282,000. In that day, such a failure was a momentous financial event.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED

It is pleasant to turn for a moment from the consideration of tire losses and bank failures to that of an enterprise that has been productive of increasing good through all the years that have since passed. On the evening of Monday, the sixth of February, 1854, a meeting was held for the purpose of organizing a Young Men's Christian Association. The Rev. S. C. Aiken was chairman ; Samuel B. Shaw was secretary ; and, "on motion, S. H. Mather, Presbyterian ; Loren Prentiss, Baptist; L. M. H. Battey, Congregational; E. W. Roby, Episcopal; and E. F. Young, Methodist," were appointed as a committee to draft a plan of operations, a constitution, and bylaws, and to report at as early a date as possible. On the twenty-eighth of February, a second meeting was held in the lecture room of the First Baptist Church on Seneca (West Third) Street. Sixty names were included in a list of members, the constitution and by-laws were adopted, and officers were chosen: John S. Newberry, president ; E. W. Roby, vice-president; Samuel B. Shaw, recording secretary ; Loren Prentiss, corresponding secretary; A. W. Brockway, treasurer ; Dan P. Eel's, R. F. Humiston, James M. Hoyt, J. J. Low, and H. Montgomery, directors; S. W. Adams, G. W. Whitney, F. T. Brown, F. B. Culver, E. F. Young, D. C. Hoffman, T. G. Cleveland, Henry Childs, L. M. II. Battey, M. C. Sturtevant, S. L. Severance, and S. P. Churchill, board of managers. The first rooms of the association were in the Northrup and Spangler Block, on the southeast corner of Superior and Seneca (West Third) streets. In 1858, the Associa-

232 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XV

tion was housed in the Strickland Block fronting on the Public Square. In 1871, it was in its own building (the gift of James F. Clark) on the north side of the Public Square. Ten years later, the five-story building on the southwest corner of Euclid Avenue and Sheriff (East Fourth) Street was bought. At the end of another decade (1891), more adequate accommodations were provided in the beautiful building erected especially for it on the southeast corner of Prospect Avenue and East Ninth Street. But Cleveland and its Young Men's Christian Association would not stop growing. In half of February, 1910, the members of the Association pushed their campaign for half a million dollars and secured more than 17,000 subscribers, and an oversubscription of more than forty thousand dollars. The building at the corner of Prospect and East Ninth was sold and the present building at No. 2200 Prospect 'Avenue was built. A more extended account of the association will be given in a later chapter.

CHAPTER XVI

ON THE WAY TO CIVIL WAR

When the City of Cleveland was incorporated, its offices were first established in the Commercial Building on lower Superior Street. For many years they had no fixed abode but were moved "from pillar to post ;" they were not housed in the same building and sometimes not even in the same neighborhood. In 1855, John Jones built a three-story brick block on the south side of the Public Square and near the southwest corner thereof ; the building is still there. The city leased the two upper stories of the building and established its various offices on the second floor; the third floor was used for the meetings of the city council. The council first met in its new quarters on the fourteenth of November, 1855. Here the municipal government was housed for two decades.

THE MAYORS OF CLEVELAND

As stated in the preceding chapter, there was an informal understanding that the first mayor of Cleveland elected after the annexation of Ohio City should be selected from the citizens of the West Side. This "gentleman's agreement" was made good by the election of William B. Castle. Thus the last mayor of the City of Ohio became the first mayor of the amplified City of Cleveland. The mayoralty lists of both cities complete to the date of the annexation has been given. The mayors of the City of Cleveland since that date are named in the following list:

1855-57—William B. Castle

1857-59—Samuel Starkweather

1859-61—George B. Senter

1861-63—Edward S. Flint

1863-65—Irvine U. Masters George B. Senter

1865-67—Herman M. Chapin

1867-71—Stephen Buhrer

1871-73—Frederick W. Pelton

1873-75—Charles A. Otis

1875-77—Nathan P. Payne

1877-79—William G. Rose

1879-83—R. R. Herrick

1883-85—John H. Farley

1885-87—George W. Gardner

1887-89—Brenton D. Babcock

1889-91—George W. Gardner

1891-93—William G. Rose

1893-95—Robert Blee

1895-99—Robert E. McKisson

1899-01—John H. Farley

1901-10—Tom L. Johnson (Four terms, ending January 1, 1910)

1910-12—Herman C. Baehr

1912-16—Newton D. Baker

1916- —Harry L. Davis.

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MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS

On the twenty-fourth of September, 1856, the Cornish engines in the municipal pumping station "down by the old river bed sent the welcome waters of the lake dancing more than a hundred feet into the air and filled the little lake on the Kentucky Street mound [i. e., the West Side reservoir], and from thence bent on its mission of joy, health, comfort and luxury to the homes of the people. From henceforth, the wells of hard and milky mineral waters were abandoned, pumps were no longer jerked, cisterns of black and stagnant rain water were closed, and even the pure little spring down in the bottom of some far off deep ravine soon became forgotten even by children." At this time, much of the marketing was on the streets, principally on Ontario Street and along the south side of the Public Square. In December, 1856, the commissioners previously appointed by the city council reported in favor of the junction of Pittsburgh (now Broadway) and Bolivar streets as the site for a public market and there the still standing Central Market was begun in the spring of 1857.

THE COURT-HOUSE OF 1885

With the rapid growth of Cleveland augmented by the annexation of Ohio City, as described in the preceding chapter, came a corresponding growth of Cuyahoga County and an increase of its executive, administrative, and legal business. The court-house built in 1828

1857] - A NEW COUNTY BUILDING - 235

was inadequate for the necessities of the new era and it was decided to build a new structure on a new site. One of the earlier histories of Cleveland states that about this time, the city council "instructed the city clerk to notify the county commissioners to remove the old court-house from the public square as soon as possible. It had been abandoned as a place for holding courts, and none of its former official tenants remained within its walls but the county recorder. The new court-house on the north side of the square was not yet constructed, and the ancient Baptist church on the corner of Seneca and Champlain streets had been fitted up and was used for court purposes. The commissioners took umbrage at the civil and courteous notification, and were not very diplomatic in their answer when they reminded the council that they had better confide their labors to their own legitimate business." Land on the north side of Rockwell Street, just across the narrow street at the northwest corner of the Public Square was secured, and a contract was let (November 10, 1857) for a three-story stone building thereon at a cost of $152,500. This building (now called "the Old Court House") was supplemented in 1875,

236 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

by an additional building extending from it westward to Seneca (West Third) Street. This somewhat stately addition housed the probate court and some other appendages of county government and cost $250,000. In 1884, the old building received two additional stories at a cost of $100,000. The accommodations thus provided gradually were outgrown and, in 1902, the need for something better had become imperative, and the opportune campaign for "The Group. Plan" for the civic structures of city and county (elsewhere described) determined the site for the court-house of today. This fine building was completed in 1911, at a cost of $950,000 for land, and of $4,706,343.44 for the building.

In 1857, came another panic with consequent refusal of many persons to make new investments and a general stagnation of business. But the Cleveland banks stood the strain without any failures and the storm went by without causing general wreckage like that of 1837. Another unhappy incident of that year (March 8) was the burning of the "Old Stone Church" on the Public Square. The fact that the Western Reserve was earnestly antagonistic to the institution of negro slavery, one of "the hot-beds of abolitionism," is pretty well known ; Joshua R. Giddings and rare "Old Ben Wade" made "benighted Ashtabula" famous. As already recorded, Cleveland had an antislavery society as early as 1810 and, in the fourth decade of that century (1833-37), such organizations were noteworthily energized.

OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE CASES

In 1858, events in Kansas aroused the North to feverish excitement and, on the twelfth of March, the anti-Lecompton Democrats of Cleveland held in Melodeon Hall a meeting that was addressed by Frederick P. Stanton, lately the secretary and acting-governor of "Bleeding Kansas." Mr. Stanton had resigned his office on account of the presidential policy, especially as it related to the fraudulent returns of the vote by which the notorious Lecompton state constitution had been "adopted." James M. Coffinberry was chairman of the meeting, and Dan P. Rhodes, Jabez W. Fitch, and John H. Farley were among the vice-presidents. One of the resolutions adopted declared "That the Lecompton constitution, in view of its parentage and history, is unworthy of the consideration of the president and congress." It is not on record that President Buchanan enjoyed this practical repudiation by these honest Democrats who had lately voted for him. The iniquities of the fugitive-slave law also piled their burden on the conscience of New Connecticut and paved the way for stir-

1858] - THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE - 237

ring events in Cleveland and its environs. In 1859, the trial of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue cases in the United States court in Cleveland created great excitement in the city and elsewhere. At that time, Oberlin, Ohio, had a population of about three thousand, exclusive of the twelve hundred or more students at the college which drew no restrictions on the line of color, sex, or creed. The collegiate advantages thus offered brought to the town many free negroes, and the public sentiment thus announced made Oberlin a haven of refuge for enterprising runaway slaves, some of whom had the courage to remain. Here, in September, 1858, a slave-catcher found John Price who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky. John was decoyed from the town, seized, and taken to Wellington nine miles away and on the railway between Cleveland and Columbus. The slave-catcher was intending to take John before the United States commissioner at Columbus. News of the abduction floated into Oberlin, and "was all over town in a flash." From shops, stores, and offices, men rushed into the streets, took the first vehicles found, and drove rapidly toward Wellington. Some of the students started on foot and had a lively race to beat their professors who went by any transportation that could be obtained. The minute men increased in numbers on the way and were further reinforced at Wellington. The four kidnappers with their victim were behind the closed door of an upper room of the village hotel, awaiting the arrival of the train to take them to Columbus. The excited crowd surrounded the hotel ; the train came and went. While the prudent were parleying and the calm were discussing plans, the door was forced, John was taken down to the street, and driven out into the country before many of the rescuers understood what was being done. The citizens of Oberlin, having made good their boast that a slave should never be taken from their town, quietly returned to their homes. For several days, John was secreted in the house of James H. Fairchild, professor of moral philosophy and theology, and, subsequently, the president of the college. John was finally shipped in safety to the free land across Lake Erie.

For participation in this rescue, twenty-four residents of Oberlin and thirteen of Wellington were indicted (December 7, 1858) under the provisions of an act of 1850, and arraigned before the United States district court at Cleveland. No more respectable prisoners than these ever pleaded "not guilty." They were dismissed upon their own recognizance to appear for trial in the following March. In March, the trial was deferred another month. Four eminent attorneys, Rufus P. Spalding, Franklin T. Backus, Albert G. Riddle, and

238 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

Seneca O. Griswold, volunteered their services for the defense without fees. The district attorney, George W. Belden, was aided by an able associate and both sides put forth extraordinary efforts. The prosecution had the sympathy of the judge; the defense, that of the community. The first to be brought to trial (April 7, 1859) was Simeon Bushnell. The evidence was clear, the law was plain, and the verdict was "guilty." The prisoner was sentenced to pay a fine of six hundred dollars and costs and to be imprisoned in the county jail for sixty days. At the end of the Bushnell trial, the court made a ruling so unfair that the others who had been indicted refused to continue their words of honor to appear in court when wanted. The ruling was subsequently recalled and the prisoners notified that their recognizances would be accepted as before. Declining to renew their recognizances or to give bail, the indicted men became real prisoners. From the middle of April to July, the Cleveland jail was the center of an intense and wide-spread interest. "It was a self-imposed martyrdom; but the fact could not be ignored that these respectable people were in prison, and the preaching on Sunday of Professor Peck from the jail-yard produced a remarkable sensation."

The second person to be tried was Charles Langston, a colored man. He was found guilty. Before receiving sentence, Langston took advantage of the opportunity generally given and made an eloquent speech, a pathetic description of the negro's disabilities, and a claim that he had not been tried by his peers. When he took his seat, the court-room rang with applause and the court fixed the sentence—a hundred dollars fine and twenty days imprisonment. At the close of Langston's trial, and when the remaining cases were about to be continued from the middle of May to the July term, three of the Wellington prisoners entered a plea of 'nolo contendere and were sentenced each to pay a fine of twenty dollars and cost of prosecution and to remain in jail twenty-four hours. When "Father Gillette," an old man from Wellington, was entreated thus to leave the jail he replied : "Not until I have shrunk small enough to slip through that keyhole." Continuance in jail had become a point of honor.

In the recess of the United States court at Cleveland, Bushnell and Langston were taken, on a writ of habeas corpus, before the judges of the supreme court of Ohio. The case was ably argued for a week, the attorney-general of the state appearing as counsel for the prisoners. The court divided three against two, and the prisoners were remanded. The vote of one man had turned the scale; had it

1859] - ANTISLAVERY PROPAGANDA - 239

been turned the other way, Ohio might have been brought into armed conflict with the national government and in defense of state rights. "Had the party of freedom throughout the North then rallied, as seemed probable, the war might have come in 1859 instead of 1861, with a secession of the northern instead of the southern states." Dazzling speculation!

The interest excited by these trials was deep and wide-spread. Public meetings were held in all parts of the Western Reserve and an immense mass convention of the opponents of the fugitive-slave law was held (May 24, 1859) in Cleveland. Delegations came from many counties of northern Ohio; they came "by trainload and wagonload. There were multitudes of bands and banners. A vast parade formed and marched by the prison yard cheering the martyrs." A large platform was built in the Public Square so near to the high fence around the jail that speakers could address the crowd from one side of the fence or .the other as occasion required. From the inside of the fence, speeches that were free from any attempt to move the passions of the crowd were made by Langston, Professor Peck, Superintendent Fitch, and other prisoners. On the other side of the fence, there was more fire. Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky wrote : "Are you ready to fight'? If you have got your sentiments up to that manly pitch, I am with you through to the end. But if not, I'll have none of your conventions." Joshua R. Giddings, the president of the convention, was radical, almost revolutionary. Governor Salmon P. Chase advised patience and dependence upon legal and constitutional agencies, affirming, however, that when his time came and his duty was plain, the governor of Ohio would meet it as a man. Speeches were also made by Daniel R. Tilden, Rufus P. Spalding, and others. The resolutions that were adopted had something of the tone of a state-rights convention, but the crowds that had assembled to denounce one law were not there to break another.

Meantime, the men behind the walls of the Cuyahoga County jail were doing propaganda work, writing to the newspapers, issuing pamphlets, and advising the preachers of the North to make sermons on the case. The fire they started extended throughout all the states in the North. The railways carried relatives and friends to Cleveland at reduced rates and the prisoners were bountifully supplied with all the delicacies of the market by the sympathizing public. Sheriff Wightman and the jailor treated the prisoners as guests and friends rather than as criminals. Prisoner Fitch's Oberlin Sunday-school decided to pay a visit to the Cuyahoga jail to see their superintendent instead of having their usual picnic. When hopes of a

240 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

speedy release vanished, the prisoners secured the tools of their several callings, and soon the jail-yard was a busy hive of industry. The professors and students read Latin and Greek and metaphysics, keeping up with their class work at college, and sending to the outside world stirring antislavery epistles. A printing office was established and The Rescuer issued. Religious exercises formed a considerable part of the daily life of this remarkable penal colony.

In the meantime, the grand jury of Lorain County, in which were Oberlin and Wellington, indicted the four men who had abducted the negro in violation of the laws of Ohio against kidnappers. The penalty for this offense was imprisonment for three years in the penitentiary, "and if there was any one fact in the matter more certain than another, it was that if the indicted men should fall into the clutches of the Lorain County court they would serve the last hour allowed by the law." When, at the end of the second trial, counsel for the defense moved to take up the third case, the United States district attorney indignantly explained that his four witnesses were in the custody of the Lorain County court and that he was obliged to ask for a continuance to the sixth of July. After a skilful and amusing display of thrust and parry between the officials of the United States district court and those of the Lorain County court, in which the latter scored the more points, it became evident that the kidnappers must stand trial with a certainty of conviction, or leave the state and thus abandon the cases against the untried rescuers. The outcome appears in the following paragraph from the Cleveland Leader (July 7, 1859) :

Considerable excitement was created in this city by the announcement that a proposition had been made by the Kentucky kidnappers to have mutual nolles entered in their own case and the case of the Oberlin rescuers. The consequence was the most intense anxiety among men, both Black Republicans and Yellow Democrats, to learn the upshot of the whole matter. The negotiations between Judge Belden and the kidnappers on the one side, and the authorities of Lorain (holding the kidnappers) on the other (the Oberlinites refusJig to be parties), were consummated yesterday when Marshal Johnson called at the jail and announced to the rescue prisoners that they were free. The news spread rapidly that the government officials had caved. Hundreds immediately called on the rescuers to tender their congratulations at this signal triumph of the Higher Lawites. In the afternoon, about five o'clock, one hundred guns were fired, and several hundreds of our citizens gathered at the jail to escort the rescuers to the depot.

On the other side, the Cleveland Plain Dealer said : "So the government has been beaten at last, with law, justice and facts all on its

1859] - THE ADVENT OF THE STREET RAILWAY - 241

side ; and Oberlin, with its rebellious higher-law creed, is triumphant."

At Oberlin the whole community met the rescuers with music and cheers and prayers. A few days later, Bushnell, who had served out. his sentence, returned to Oberlin and was received as a conquering hero.

THE HANGING OF JOHN BROWN

Later in the year, John Brown was hanged. He had lived in northern Ohio and his picturesque career was familiar to the people of that section, many of whom sympathized with his purposes, condoned his illegal doings, and now were thoroughly aroused. On the twenty-ninth of November (1859), a meeting, presided over by Judge D. R. Tilden, was held to make preparation for a proper observance of the day of Brown's execution. It was recommended "that the bells of the churches in the city be tolled for half an hour from 2 p. m., Tuesday, December 2 ; that a general meeting be held at Melodeon Hall at 7 :00 o'clock p. m. on that day to give expression to public sentiment on the occasion of the sacrifice to the Moloch of. Slavery by the killing of the body of John Brown by the commonwealth of Virginia." On the day of the execution, the Herald was printed with black borders, flags were at half mast, and a white banner bordered with black was stretched across Superior Street quoting the famous declaration of "the martyr": "I do not think I can better serve the cause I love so much than to die for it ;" words that were made prophetic by the quick intensifying of antislavery sentiment, one result of which was the election of Abraham Lincoln.

In 1859, the East Cleveland Railway Company was organized and, in 1860, it was opened for business between Bank (West Sixth) Street and Willson Avenue (East Fifty-fifth Street). On the sixth of October, on that year (1860), ground was broken at the eastern terminus and the president of the company, Henry S. Stevens, "invited the stockholders and patrons present to meet at the other end of the route, near Water (West Ninth) Street, three weeks from that day to celebrate the completion of the first street railroad in Cleveland and in the state." The line was extended to Doan's Corners in 1863. In 1859, the Kinsman Street Railway Company was organized and part of the present Woodland Avenue line was built. In 1863, the West Side Railway Company was formed. These pioneer lines "had a great influence in developing Cleveland, and in placing her business and manufacturing districts in touch with the residence portions. To these lines more than to anything else, perhaps, is it the fact that

Vol. I-16

242 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

Cleveland is a city of homes and that somewhere within reach of daily business or employment can be found a location for home-owning and home-building that is not beyond the financial means of the most humble laborer. A city in which the great majority are their own landlords is built upon a rock of stability that nothing can shake." The detailed story of the development of Cleveland's street railway system, including the coming and the doings of the unique Tom L. Johnson, deserves a chapter by itself.

JOURNEYS OF THE PERRY MONUMENT

In 1860, came the erection and dedication of the Perry Monument, commemorative of the naval victory on Lake Erie in 1813. The idea of such a material tribute to him who wrote the laconic dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours,." seems to have originated in 1857 with Harvey Rice, then a member of the city council. The council appointed a select committee of five, of which Harvey Rice was chairman, with authority to solicit contributions from the citizens to meet the expenses of the project. The committee entered into contract for the work with T. Jones and Sons of Cleveland, the contractors taking on themselves the risk of obtaining the required amount. The five thousand dollars raised by public subscription was supplemented by a little more than three thousand dollars appropriated by the city council to make up the deficiency. William Walcutt designed the statue, the marble was brought from Italy, and the work was done in Cleveland. The pedestal was of granite from Rhode Island, Perry's native state. The city council ordered that the monument should be placed in the Public Square, at the intersection of the middle lines of Superior and Ontario streets, and there it was originally placed. On the forty-seventh anniversary of Perry's victory, with elaborate formalities and in the presence of assembled thousands including the governors of Rhode Island and of Ohio, the monument was unveiled by the sculptor (September 10, 1860), presented in an address by Harvey Rice, and accepted on behalf of the city by Mayor Senter. A formal oration was delivered by the eminent historian, George Bancroft, after which the monument was dedicated according to the ritual of the Masonic fraternity. The monument was subsequently moved to the southeast section of the Square where the Soldiers' Monument now stands. It was taken thence years later to Wade Park where it stood between Euclid Avenue and the site of the Art Museum, proudly pointing to the waters of the mimic pond that were occasionally plowed by the prows of skiffs and canoes and smoothed

1860] - A MONUMENT AT REST - 243

by the flat bottoms of gondolas manned by the maidens of the near-by Women's College of the Western Reserve University. Finally, the monument was given a more fitting site in Gordon Park on the bank of Lake Erie.

In the last decade, 1850-60, the population of Cleveland had increased from 17,034 (plus about 3,950 in Ohio City) to 43,838 and every loyal Clevelander "pointed with pride" to the United States census records.

CAPTURE AND RETURN OF THE SLAVE LUCY

A few months after the conclusion of the trials of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue eases and close on the heels of the election of

244 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

Abraham Lincoln and in continuation of the barrage fire that went before the fatal "drive" that the slaveocracy launched at Fort Sumter, came the capture in Cleveland of a runaway slave named Lucy and her return to her "owner" at Wheeling in Virginia. Early in the morning of the nineteenth of January, 1861, a deputy United States marshal, Seth A. Abbey, supported by a posse of federal officials, forcibly entered the residence of L. A. Benton on Prospect Street and carried away the young mulatto girl who was there employed as a servant. Lucy was at once confined in the county jail around which a great mob of angry and excited citizens quickly gathered with threats to burn the building and, by force, to set Lucy at liberty. Rufus P. Spalding, A. G. Riddle, and C. W. Palmer promptly offered to act as counsel for the prisoner and made application for a writ of habeas corpus. The application for the writ was acted upon (January 21) by Judge D. R. Tilden who held that the sheriff, a county officer, had no right to hold the prisoner and ordered her release. The girl was, however, immediately taken into custody by the United States marshal and transferred from the court-house to the federal building for a hearing before United States Commissioner White. The excitement of the populace was so great that but little would have been needed to. precipitate a bloody riot, to prevent which the marshal employed a hundred and fifty special deputies to guard the unfortunate prisoner in transitu. It was said that some of the special deputies were men "who have often honored the records of the police court." The hearing before Commissioner White was held on the twenty-third. But the law was plain, the identity and ownership of the property were beyond question, and, in a fervid plea, Judge Spalding surrendered the girl to the law, the tender mercies of which are cruelties. Recognizing the return of the girl to her owner as inevitable, he said :

I am constrained to say that, according to the law of slavery, the colored girl Lucy does owe service to William S. Goshorn, of Virginia. Nothing now remains that may impede the performance of your painful duty, sir, unless I may be permitted to trespass a little further upon your indulgence, and say to this assemblage, we are this day offering to the majesty of constitutional law, a homage that takes with it a virtual surrender of the finest feelings of our nature ; the vanquishing of many of our strictest resolutions ; the mortification of a free man's pride, and, I almost said, the contraventions of a Christian's duty to his God. While we do this, in the City of Cleveland, in the Connecticut Western Reserve, and permit. this poor piece of humanity to be taken, peaceably, through our streets, and upon our railways, back to the land of bondage, will not the frantic South

1861] - LINCOLN IN CLEVELAND - 245

stay its parricidal hand ? Will not our compromising Legislature cry : Hold, enough !

Although offered double her market value for the freedom of the girl, Mr. Goshorn refused to sell. Lucy was escorted to the train by an armed guard and safely carried back to Wheeling—the last. slave ever returned to the South under the fugitive-slave law. But war soon drew with the sword its drop of blood for every drop that had been drawn with the lash, and the Great Emancipator's

. . . iron pen

Freed a race of slaves to be a race of men.

After the war, Lucy went to Pittsburgh where she was married. Later, she came back to Cleveland and, in September, 1904, was introduced to the audience at a meeting of the Early Settlers' Association.

LINCOLN VISITS CLEVELAND

A few days after the enforced return of Lucy to bondage, Abraham Lincoln, president-elect, visited Cleveland (February 15, 1861), on his way to Washington. On the fourth of March, he was inaugurated as president of the United States from which several of the states had seceded. On the twelfth of April, came the first fiery kiss of war at Fort Sumter, followed soon by the call to arms. How Cleveland promptly answered that and subsequent calls and faithfully served the cause of the Union to the end of the civil war is a story that may not be told in detail here. Mass meetings were held, troops were hastened toward the front, military and hospital camps and a soldiers' home were established, home guards were organized, and the city took on a truly martial air. The women were as patriotic and self-sacrificing then as they are today and the ministrations of the Soldiers' Aid Society and other agencies that they created and administered still awaken grateful memories in the souls of the still surviving "Boys who wore the Blue." New Connecticut did her full duty, Cuyahoga neither failed nor flinched in the day of trial and, in the days of piping peace that came after, testified to her reverent regard for those who came not back in a monument * in the Public Square, built with the proceeds of a county tax that was levied and collected without authority of law but was not resisted by any tax payer. Within the monument, cut in stone tablets, are the names of ten thousand Cuyahoga volunteers. Of course, there were alarms, and sorrows, and tears, but the war brought no disaster to the city and business was carried on as of old. The end of the war brought to Cleveland a

* See picture on page 284.

246 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVI

great joy and a great sorrow, wild rejoicing over the accomplished preservation of the Union quickly followed by deep sorrow for the tragic death of President Lincoln. When on its last journey, the body of the martyred president lay in state in Cleveland's Public Square, the city was draped in mourning and all classes united to do honor to his memory. Of necessity, we now hasten on, leaving word for the searcher for further facts of Cleveland's war history to consult Col. J. F. Herrick's chapters in Mr. Orth 's History of Cleveland, or to examine the shelves of the Western Reserve Historical Society, where may be found the most extensive collection of material relating to the civil war that has been made—thanks to the zeal and liberality of Mr. W. P. Palmer, the president of the society.

CHAPTER XVII

AN ERA OF REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT

About this time (1861), the discovery of petroleum in western Pennsylvania attracted attention and several oil refineries began operation in Cleveland. Among these enterprising adventurers were John D. ,Rockefeller and Henry M. Flagler who, in 1861, began the business that, in 1870, developed into the Standard Oil Company, the wonderful story of which is given in a later chapter of this volume. The old volunteer fire system of the city had been outgrown and, in January, 1863, the city council constituted J. D. Palmer, J. J. Benton, and William Meyer as a committee on fire and water. In the April following, the council passed an ordinance creating a paid fire department with a force of fifty-three men. From this beginning, has been developed the extensive and efficient department as it exists today. In 1918, George A. Wallace was chief of the municipal divisions of fire, with secretaries, assistant chiefs, battalion chiefs, etc., fire hydrants, fire alarm telegraph, fire boats, high pressure pumping-stations and lines, three dozen engine companies, a "baker's dozen" of hook and ladder companies, a few additional hose companies, etc. The need of an increased force and additional equipment is, of course, perennial and always will be while the city continues to grow, but the efficiency of what is above outlined has commanded nation-wide commendation.

CLEVELAND'S TRADE, COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES, 1865

In 1866, the Cleveland Board of Trade issued its first "Annual Statement of the Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures of the City of Cleveland," the report covering the transactions of the year 1865. According to that report, the amount of coal shipped to Cleveland in the five preceding years varied from 400,000 to 900,000 tons, the total for 1865 being 465,550 tons. The iron-ore trade aggregated $1,179,200 ; pig-iron and scrap, $1,051,000. The aggregate sales of manufactured wrought iron, a large part of which was manufactured in Cleveland,

- 247 -

248 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII

was more than $6,000,000. The blast furnaces, rolling mills, forges, foundries, etc., employed three thousand men and a capital of three million dollars, and turned out 20,510 tons of railroad iron ; 7,925 tons of merchant iron ; 2,250 tons of forgings; 705 tons of boiler and tank iron ; and 4,627 tons of bolts, nuts, washers, rivets, nails, etc. The receipts of lumber were 84,038,160 feet; of shingles, 54,744,850; of lath, 14,153,000; and of cedar posts, 50,000. The hide and leather trade was about $1,500,000. There were thirty refineries of crude petroleum with an aggregate capital of more than $1,500,000, and turning out products worth not less than $4,500,000. The boot and shoe sales were put down at $1,250,000 ; clothing at $2,500,000 or more; and dry-goods "in millions" not numerically stated; banking capital, $2,250,000; deposits, $3,700,000. Some of the other items were :