HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 125 seven miles below the Sells farm and four miles north of Franklinton. Henry Nevil offered one hundred and fifty acres of land on the high bank in the Pickaway Plains to be divided into lots and sold for the purpose of raising money for the erection of state buildings, or to superintend the sale of the lots himself and guarantee the sum of $35,000 for building expenses. Circleville, Pickaway County, presented a subscription signed by forty-one persons amounting to $5,095. Messrs. Lyne Starling, James Johnston, John Kerr and Alexander McLaughlin proposed to lay out a town on a twelve hundred acre tract of land located on the east bank of the Scioto River, nearly opposite the town of Franklinton, before the first day of July, 1812; to convey to the state a lot of ten acres for state buildings and a similar lot for a penitentiary ; to erect and complete the state house, offices and penitentiary and such other buildings as might be directed by the Legislature, the penitentiary to be completed on or before the first of January, 1815, and the state house and offices before the first Monday in December, 1817 ; the value of the buildings so to be erected to amount to $50,000. This proposal was accompanied by a bond in the sum of $100,000 conditioned for the faithful performance of the undertaking. This offer was made with the proviso that the "permanent" seat of government should be established on the site named, but the word "permanent" seeming to be something of a stumbling block in the pathway of legislation, the proposal was amended by "The Big Four" February 11, 1812, affirming the previous stipulations provided the Legislature should establish the capital as indicated, begin their sessions thereon or before the first Monday of December, 1817, and continue the same in the town to be laid off until the year 1840. This amended proposition was partially met by the proponents of other sites and there resulted much rolling of logs and pulling of wires. But General Foos, of Franklin County, was on the floor of the Senate and led the fight there with masterly strategy, while Lucas Sullivant, the Starling syndicate and the Neils brought to bear all the resources of their wide acquaintance and knowledge of practical 126 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY politics to achieve complete success on the 14th of February, 1812, by the passage of a bill accepting the Starling proposal as amended, providing for the appointment of a director who "shall view and examine the lands * * * superintend the surveying and laying out of the town * * * direct the width of streets and alleys, select the square for public buildings and the lot for the penitentiary," etc. On the 20th of February a resolution was adopted appointing Joel Wright, of Warren County, as director and on the same day the name "Columbus," suggested by General Foos, was officially given the capital city. The four proprietors were good business men and they proceeded at once with order and energy. They entered into an agreement of co-partnership by which it was stipulated that the Starling contribution in real estate should be half section 25, except ten acres previously sold to John Brickell ; that Johnson should contribute half section No. 9 and one-half of section No. 10 ; that McLaughlin and Kerr, who were already partners and considered together as the third member of the combination, should contribute half section No. 26 ; that each partner should individually warrant the title to the land contributed by him ; that the business of the partnership should be managed by an agent of its own choosing ; and that for five consecutive years each partner should pay to the agent the sum of $2,400, or such other sums as might be necessary to comply with the terms of the contract with the state to complete the public buildings. In order to complete the town plat as desired a tract of eighty acres from the south part of half section 11 was procured from Rev. James Hoge and twenty acres from the south part of half section 10 from Thomas Allen. In each case one-half of the land so obtained was merged in the partnership holdings while the other half was conveyed back to the original owners in the form of town lots. The McLaughlin and Kerr contribution covered all that part of the new town from Livingston Avenue north to State Street ; the Starling tract from State Street to Spring Street ; the Johnson contribution, with the Allen and Hoge donations, completing the plat to the north. Somewhat later the proprietors laid out an addition to the north containing forty two-acre lots and conveyed to the town a plot of HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 127 one and one-half acres for a cemetery, known as the North Graveyard. The first agent of the company was John Kerr, who acted in that capacity until June of 1815, when he was relieved by his own request and Henry Brown was chosen and continued the management until the business of the partnership was finished and its affairs wound up. Director Wright engaged the assistance of Joseph Vance, of Franklin County, and promptly began the work of laying out the streets and alleys and locating the public square and building lots of the capital. Broad Street was established at a width of 120 feet, High Street with a width of 100 feet and other principal streets at eighty-two and one-half feet. The north and south streets were surveyed on a line bearing twelve degrees west of due north and the east and west streets crossing at right-angles. The town lots were exempted from taxation for county purposes until January, 1816, but the director was authorized to collect an equivalent amount for the purpose of sinking a well in the state house lot and improving the road from Columbus to Granville. No sooner had the director finished his surveying and platting than the proprietors began the serious work of selling lots and preparing the way for the coming population. To this end they published the following advertisement : FOR SALE. On the premises, commencing on Thursday, the eighteenth day of June next, and to continue for three days, in- and out-lots in the town of Columbus, established by an act of the Legislature, as the permanent seat of government for the state of Ohio. Terms of Sale : One-fifth of the purchase money will be required in hand ; the residue to be paid in four equal annual installments. Interest will be required on the deferred payments from the day of sale, if they are not punctually made when due. Eight per cent will be discounted for prompt payment on the day of sale. The town of Columbus is situated on an elevated and beautiful site, on the east side of the Scioto River, immediately below the junction of the Whetstone branch, and opposite to Franklinton, the seat 128 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY of justice of Franklin County, in the center of an extensive tract of rich fertile country, from whence there is an easy navigation to the Ohio River. Above the town the west branch of the Scioto affords a good navigation for about eighty miles, and the Whetstone branch as far as the town of Worthington. Sandusky Bay, the only harbor on the south shore of Lake Erie (except Presque Isle) for vessels of Burthen, is situate due north from Columbus, and about one hundred miles from it. An excellent road may be made with very little expense from the Lower Sandusky town to the mouth of the Little Scioto, a distance of about sixty miles. This will render the communication from the lakes to the Ohio River through the Scioto very easy by which route an immense trade must, at a day not very distant, be carried on which will make the country on the Scioto River rich and populous. The proprietors of the town of Columbus will, by every means in their power, encourage industrious mechanics who wish to make a residence in the town. All such are invited to become purchasers. Dated at Franklinton, April 13, 1812, and signed by the four proprietors. The sale began as advertised and continued from day to day until the proprietors were justified in beginning the construction of the public buildings. Most of the lots sold at first were either on Broad or High Streets. The first sale was made to James Galloway, of Greene County, who bought the lot on the northeast corner of Broad and Front Streets for $200. The next buyer was Lucas Sullivant, who paid $302 for the second lot west of High Street on Broad. Amasa Delano, of Chillicothe bought the northeast corner of High and Broad for $651. The lot west of the Chamber of Commerce building brought $400, and the first lot east of the same building was sold for $300. These were the first five sales. Other early buyers were Reuben Wixom, Daniel Cozer, John Putnam, Daniel Ross, Robert McBratney, John Smith, John Baird, McFarland & Folsom, Ebenezer Duty, William Moore, Michael Fisher, Thomas McCollum, Townsend Nichols, Josephus Collett, John Shields and James Kilbourne. There were a number of buyers from Chillicothe and others from Lexington and Paris, Kentucky, probably friends of Lyne Starling, and at least one from Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the period from HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 129 January 12 to August 2, 1812, thirty lots were sold. During this period, or shortly thereafter, lots were acquired by Joseph Hare, Peter Putnam, George McCormick, George B. Harvey, Michael and Alexander Patton, William Altman, William McElvain, Christian Heyl, Jarvis, Benjamin and George Pike, William Long and Dr. John M. Edmiston. The sales attracted wide interest and there was a large attendance. Visitors came from all directions on horseback and by canoe and stopped at one or the other of the taverns in Franklinton where entertainment was designed to weaken "sales resistance" if and when manifested. The work of building the new town began at once and was prosecuted with pioneer energy. A number of more or less comfortable log dwellings were finished and occupied before the winter and during the year 1813 steady progress was made, so that by the end of that year the population of the new town numbered some three hundred. High Street, opposite the capitol square, was seized upon for business purposes and Front Street, from State to Gay, was chosen for residences by the upper ten. The Worthington Manufacturing Company, under the management of Joel Buttles, opened a general store in a brick building a short distance north of the present Neil House. They carried a full line of dry goods and groceries, hats, caps, boots and shoes, hardware, nails, glass and putty, and offered cash for hides, pelts, butter and eggs. McLene and Green also opened a general store on the south side of East Rich Street near High. Other early merchants were Henry Brown and Co., dry goods, groceries, liquors, iron, etc. ; Richard Courten & Co., hardware ; J. & R. W. McCoy, dry goods, groceries and liquors ; Samuel Culbertson, hatter ; Robert Russell, general store ; Samuel Barr, dry goods and general supplies ; Jeremiah Armstrong, tobacco and cigars ; L. Goodale & Co., dry goods, groceries and chinaware ; Starling & DeLashmutt, dry goods, china, glass, hardware, leather, whisky, gin and groceries ; D. L. Heaton, tailor ; Eli C. King, tanner ; John McCoy, brewer ; Joseph Grate and Nathaniel S. Smith, silversmiths. In the autumn of 1812 John Collett erected a two-story brick tavern on the west side of High Street south of State and this was opened for the convenience of the traveling public early in 1813. The 130 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Columbus Inn began business in 1815 in a frame building at the southwest corner of High and Town Streets, under the management of David S. Broderick. About the same time Isaiah Voris moved from Franklinton and opened the White Horse Tavern on the location now occupied by the Odd Fellow's Temple. Christian Heyl, in 1813, established an inn on the southeast corner of Rich and High Streets where he kept open house for two years, afterward buying a lot in the same square and building the Franklin House, where he conducted a prosperous hotel for twenty-eight years. In the spring of 1816 James B. Gardiner, of Franklinton, formerly editor of the Freeman's Chronicle, opened the Ohio Tavern in a frame building on Main Street, just west of High Street. Matthew Matthews, appointed postmaster in 1814, performed such duties as devolved on him in connection with his work as a clerk in the store managed by Joel Buttles. However, his tenure of office was short, he being succeeded the same year by Mr. Buttles himself, who continued in office until 1829. Courteny & Shields, in 1813, built a saw mill on the east bank of the Scioto near John Brickell's cabin, and contributed largely to the building activities of the period. Three years later Mr. Shields erected a flouring mill on West Main Street and brought to Columbus a profitable business that had been enjoyed by Worthington, Chillicothe and Lancaster. A market house was built in the middle of High Street, just south of Rich, in 1814, where it remained for three years. Then a new building, the first story of brick and the second of frame, was erected on State Street, immediately west of High Street under a contract with John Shields by which he was allowed to use or rent the upper rooms for his own purposes. One room was used as a printing office and the other for occasional religious and public meetings. Afterward Shields sold his interest to John Young, who installed the first billiard table and other aids to the gayer life and so continued to cater to the early sporting element for many years. The Western Intelligencer, Columbus' first newspaper, was moved to the capital city from Worthington in February, 1814, and published in a part of the building occupied by the City House Tavern on the southeast corner of High and Town Streets. HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 131 The members of the medical profession during this period were Doctors John M. Edmiston, John Beall, Lincoln Goodale and Samuel Parsons. The lawyers locating in Columbus prior to 1815 were : David Smith, Orris Parrish, David Scott, Gustavus Swan and, within a short time, John R. Parrish, T. C. Flournoy, James K. Cory and William Doherty. A private subscription school was conducted during the winter of 1813-14 in a cabin on the public square, conducted by Uriah Case, succeeded by John Peoples and W. T. Martin. The first church, a log structure 25 by 30 feet, was built in the spring of 1814 on a lot donated by Rev. James Hoge near the corner of Spring and Third Streets. This was the beginning of the First Presbyterian Church. A Methodist society was organized in 1814 and they soon provided themselves with a hewed log building on the north side of Town Street one-half block east of High Street. In the spring of 1815 a local census showed a population of 700. With this growth as an incentive a fund of $200 was raised by private subscription for the purpose of removing the stumps from High Street. Director Wright made a report in December, 1812 to the General Assembly at Chillicothe, in which he detailed the work already accomplished by him, including the laying out of streets, selection of lands for state purposes, locating the sites for the state house, executive offices and the penitentiary and the collection of much information concerning the equipment and management of penal institutions in other states. He says : "It was contemplated to proceed, soon after the last harvest, in building the penitentiary, so as to have it under roof previous to the opening of the present session, a contract to that effect being made; but the unstable state of public affairs and the drafts of the military prevented. The foundation, however, is dug, and a large quantity of stone and upwards of three hundred thousand bricks are on the ground ready, prepared to proceed in the work early in the succeeding spring." By way of postscript he calls attention to the fact that no appropriation had been made for the salary and expenses of the director, and attempts to resign. Probably something was done about the "pecuniary compensation" as the Leg- 132 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY islature did not accept his resignation until in February, 1814, when William Ludlow was appointed and continued in office until the busi- ness of the directorship was finished. Under Ludlow's administration most of the actual work of constructing the public buildings was done. While he was neither an architect nor builder, he appears to have been a man of good common sense, business ability and undoubted honesty, and, considering the facilities at his command and the distractions of war times, he made more rapid progress than is usual on public work. The state house was located on the southwest corner of the public park (northeast corner of State and High Streets) and, according to the directions of the Legislature, was of two storys, seventy-five by fifty feet, built of brick on a stone foundation "according to the most approved models of modern architecture, so as to combine, as far as possible, elegance, convenience, strength and durability." The plainness of the brick walls was somewhat relieved by a stone course at the level of the second floor and other embellishments, including a pretentious tablet over the High Street entrance bearing an inscription of fourteen lines on equal rights from Barlow's Columbiad, then but lately published and generally considered as America's contribution to the quartet of greatest epics. The roof was of walnut shingles, sloping from all sides and surmounted by a cupola housing a bell. The north and south sides of the cupola were furnished with balconies from which visitors enjoyed a wide view of the winding Scioto River and its spreading valley. This building was devoted entirely to the legislative branch of the government. The Senate chamber, with two committee rooms, occupied the second floor and the House of Representatives, with two committee rooms and a gallery, occupied the first floor. A door on the High Street side afforded easy exit, while the door on the east side led to the wood yard. The main entrance, opening into the lobby and giving access to the stairways, was on the State Street side. While this building did not achieve the architectural ideals set up in the legislation providing for its erection, yet it was substantial, comfortable in its appointments and finally attained a degree of elegance when the leading ladies of Columbus, urged on by Governor Worthington, held a rag-sewing party in the hall of the house of HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 133 representatives and provided a carpet for that chamber just before the first session was held in 1816. During 1815 the building for the executive offices was constructed. It was located about sixty feet north of the "capitol" on High Street, and was one hundred and fifty feet long and thirty-five feet wide. It was also built of brick on a stone foundation, two stories high, but lacking somethnig of the architectural elegance of the capitol itself. This building contained the office of the secretary of state on the extreme north, next the office of the governor, then the state treasurer and the auditor on the south. The second floor was assigned to the state library, but the adjutant general was a co-tenant and other commonwealth activities, from time to time, were temporarily housed with the book cases. Five years later the United States court house was built on the state house lot, between the west entrance and Broad Street. This building neither aimed at nor achieved "architectural elegance," but it afforded offices for the clerk and United States marshal and the necessary chamber and jury rooms for the federal court. In 1828 another building was erected behind and east of the Federal Building for the accommodation of the county officials lately transferred from Franklinton. This was a long, low, one-story structure designed for temporary use and was occupied until the completion of the new court house at Mound and High Streets in 1840. This second building, after being partially destroyed by fire in 1879, was succeeded by the present court house completed in 1886. The penitentiary lot was located in the southwestern part of the town, lying between Main Street on the north and Livingstone Avenue on the south, and Scioto Lane (now Second Street) on the east and Short Lane on the west, and containing ten acres. The original prison was built of brick, two stories, sixty by thirty feet. It had a basement partly underground, divided into kitchen, dining room and dungeons. The second story was allotted to the warden for residence and office purposes and the third story was fitted with cells for the prisoners. The prison grounds were about one hundred feet square and surrounded by a stone wall fifteen to eighteen feet high. Later additions were made to care for the increased number of malefactors, a workshop was provided and the walls were strengthened. 134 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY The site of the first prison building is now occupied by the state arsenal. With the completion of these buildings the proprietors of the town had fulfilled their contract with the state and, on the 28th of January, 1817, the General Assembly passed an act authorizing the governor to take the steps necessary to value the work done by the proprietors and adjust their accounts with the state. A settlement satisfactory to all was made without the appointment of a commission or court action, and the four proprietors were paid $35,000 found to have been expended over and above the $50,000 donated by the terms of their proposal. Thus in a period of less than five years the Starling partnership, in spite of the distractions of war, the difficuties of transportation, shortage of labor and scarcity of materials, had completed the difficult contract with the state and had laid the foundations of a city destined to fulfill every purpose for which it had been designed. The business of the syndicate was closed in April, 1817. James Johnston afterward engaged in extensive land speculation, was caught by the depression following the War of 1812 and finally failed in 1820. He removed to Pittsburgh where he lived until 1842. Alexander McLaughlin had much the same experience as Johnston and failed at about the same time. He never recovered financially and spent the remainder of his active life teaching school. John Kerr lived until 1823. He left a fortune at the time of his death. Lyne Starling continued as a citizen of Columbus until his death in 1848. His character and accomplishments were such that he cannot be dismissed with a paragraph ; therefore, a more extended sketch of his life will appear in a later chapter. CHAPTER VII THE BUROUGH OF COLUMBUS, 1816-34. COLUMBUS INCORPORATED AS A BUROUGH-FIRST MAYOR AND COUNCIL-VISIT OF PRESIDENT MONROE-BUSINESS DEPRESSION AFTER THE WAR -LAND TITLES QUESTIONED-A PERIOD OF SICKNESS AND DISTRESS-MRS. DESHLER'S LETTERS-CENSUS OF 1830. According to the very highest authority, Satan brought about the downfall of the Garden of Eden by effecting entrance in the guise of a serpent and it is said that he wrought his havoc by introducing the Ben Davis apple as a substitute for such standard varieties as the Russet, Rambo and Roman Beauty. In the year 1816 he appears to have gained admission to the Utopian precincts of Columbus and loosed a swarm of "troubles, ills and weariness," rivaling the contents of Pandora's box, by persuading the innocent inhabitants to take up local self-government and thus becoming the victims of a plague of politics. On the tenth of February the General Assembly, then sitting at Chillicothe, passed an act by which the portion of Montgomery Township occupied by the capital city was "erected into a town corporate" to be known as the Burough of Columbus. It was provided that the qualified electors of six months residences hould meet at the Columbus Inn on the first Monday of the next ensuing May and choose "nine suitable persons, being citizens, freeholders or housekeepers and citizens of said town," to serve as mayor, recorder and common councilmen. The nine members of council so chosen were empowered to elect from their own number the mayor, recorder and treasurer, all of whom were to continue as councilmen, the mayor to act as president of that body. This "body corporate" was officially desig- - 135 - 136 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY nated as the "mayor and council of the Burough of Columbus." It was given power to enact laws and ordinances, levy taxes, erect public buildings, possess and convey real estate for the use of the burough and to appoint an assessor, a town marshal, a clerk of the market, a town surveyor and other subordinate officers deemed necessary. One-third of the members of the first council were to serve for one year, one-third for two years and one-third for three years, the tenure of office being determined by lot. Succeeding elections were for three year terms. The first election was held on May 6, 1816, at the Columbus Inn, and resulted in the selection of Jarvis Pike, John Cutler and Henry Brown, who drew one year terms ; Robert Armstrong, Michael Patton and Jeremiah Armstrong, who drew two year terms ; and Robert W. McCoy, Caleb Houston and John Kerr, who held the long straws. At the organization meeting on May 6th, Jarvis Pike was elected mayor, R. W. McCoy recorder and Robert Armstrong treasurer. Daniel Liggett was appointed assessor, Samuel King marshal and William Long clerk of the market. After ordering a supply of stationery, the common council adjourned. The act incorporating the burough provided for the filling of vacancies in the office of mayor, recorder or treasurer by and from the council and vacancies in the council itself by election from the qualified electors of the borough by the council. The form of government thus set up continued for eighteen years and might have lasted longer but for the great increase in population and a consequent demand for a change in the style so as to afford more offices. Some wise provisions were contained in the original charter, such as empowering the council to assess a fine against persons refusing to accept service as recorder or other corporation officer. One of the first acts of the new council was to provide for a fine of one dollar for non-attendance of its members. The town marshal was allowed eighty dollars a year for his services ; the clerk of the market, thirty-five dollars per year, the treasurer five per cent on all collections, the assessor a dollar and a half per day and the councilmen a dollar and a half each per day for time actually employed in transacting the public business. The first levy of taxes in July was computed to raise $1,000, including a tax on dogs of fifty cents each. A HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 137 corporation seal was adopted, bearing an effigy of an eagle surrounded by the words, "Seal of the Burough of Columbus." This was afterward changed to a device representing the front of the state house surrounded by the words, "Corporation of Columbus, Ohio." The record shows that these first officials, and their successors under the borough plan, discharged their duties with at least average intelligence and faithfulness. Some of the legislation may seem almost frivolous today, such as that providing a fine of from twenty-five cents to two dollars for the offense of "galluping" or running any horse, mare or gelding in any street west of Fourth Street, later amended to include drivers of "mules and asses ;" but possibly some of our traffic regulations may look equally strange a hundred years hence. In August, 1817, James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, visited the capital city of Ohio on his return from a journey through the Northwest, ostensibly to inspect the frontier defenses, but with the scarcely veiled, if incidental, object of strengthening his political defenses in the portion of the country traversed and impressing the nation at large with the genius of their chief executive in the manner of finding facts for himself. Be it remembered that this was the same James Monroe who made a tour of the Northwest in 1787 and reported to Thomas Jefferson. "A great part of the country is miserably poor, especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie; and that upon the Mississippi and Illinois consists of extensive plains which have not had, from appearances, and will not have, a single bush on them for ages. The districts, therefore, within which these fall, will, perhaps, never contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle them to membership in the confederacy, and in the meantime the people who settle within them will be governed by the resolutions of Congress in which they will not be represented." At the time of the President's second visit Ohio and Indiana had already been admitted to the Union and had representation in Congress, and Illinois was preparing for statehood, in fact was admitted in time to participate in Mr. Monroe's second election. Every principle of statesmanship and policy dictated that the author of the above report to Mr. Jefferson should do something to dispel the feel- 138 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY ing of antipathy that might be entertained by those powerful inch viduals and organizations interested in the upbuilding of this same Northwest. At all events, the President of the United States, wearing a cocked hat, mounted on horseback, with his staff of military aides and secretaries, appeared in the public square of Worthington and was greeted by Colonel James Kilbourne, on behalf of the citizens of that village. Here the Franklin Dragoons, commanded by Captain Vance, met the presidential party, and escorted them to Columbus, where a formal reception was held in the new state house. The Citizens' Committee, having charge of the arrangements for the occasion, consisted of Lucas Sullivant, chairman ; Abner Lorde, Thomas Backus, Senator Joseph Foos, A. I. McDowell, Gustavus Swan, Ralph Osborn, Christian Heyl, Robert W. McCoy, Joel Buttles, Hiram M. Curry, John Kerr, Henry Brown and William Doherty. Hiram M. Curry, the treasurer of state, delivered the address of welcome, and the President responded with compliments and statistics to the entire satisfaction of everybody. The period covered by the War of 1812 was one of prosperity for Franklin County. The capital city in the building enjoyed something of a boom and other settlements were thriving. Franklinton was the camp ground of sometimes two or three thousand soldiers at a time, government expenditures were on a large scale, at least they seemed so at the time, and money was plentiful, even if inflated. Oats and corn sold at from seventy-five cents to a dollar, hay at twenty dollars the ton and other products of the farm at corresponding prices. With the close of the war there came a sudden change. Business in Franklinton fell flat and many of her prominent citizens moved across the river to Columbus only to find, after the completion of the state office buildings, conditions no better. The banks suspended specie payment and the currency, having no government guarantee back of it, fell into disrepute and in this vicinity almost vanished. The prices of all commodities went down and what little business remained was transacted on an exchange basis. Labor when employed took its pay in trade. Thus the only boom Columbus ever had collapsed before it got fairly started. The failure of two of the proprietors of the town added to the confusion. There were no newcomers buying lots and many of those who had bought on time found themselves unable HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 139 to meet their obligations and their holdings were thrown on the market without buyers or sold by the sheriff for what they would bring. Lots around the Capitol Square were offered at $300 each with no takers. To make matters still worse, the title to Starling's half-section, in which the best part of the town was located, was challenged in 1822. The original grant had been made to an American refugee named Allen, who had deeded it to his son. The son had mortgaged the tract and it had been sold to Starling at sheriff's sale. The heirs of the original owner brought suit in ejectment against some of the holders of lots, attacking the validity of the sale by Allen to his son in the first instance and also the sheriff's sale to Starling on a supposed technical defect. Starling defended the suits as warrantor of the titles and employed Henry Clay, who was frequently appearing in the United States Court here, as his attorney. However, before the cases came to final trial, Clay was obliged to leave the details of the litigation to others by reasons of being a candidate for the presidency in 1824 and he withdrew entirely when appointed secretary of state under John Quincy Adams. Henry Baldwin, of Pittsburgh, succeeded Clay as chief counsel and carried the cases through the Supreme Court of the United States, completely clearing the Starling title in 1826. Following on the heels of this suit another was brought contesting the title of the half section contributed by Kerr and McLaughlin, and this was not settled until 1827, the title being quieted at last but only after great damage had been done to the community. To add to the general distress the period from 1821 to 1826 was one of sickness and death. All of the writers of that time make reference to the numerous marshes, quagmires and ponds. A great morass covered the ground now occupied by the Fourth Street Market House, extended west and north beyond Third and Broad Streets and east as far as Washington Avenue. This was fed by numerous springs as well as by surface water, but there was no outlet and the water was usually stagnant and covered with a green scum. Spring Street took its name from the natural water supplies of a stream that crossed High Street at its intersection with Spring, after passing through and but partially draining several slimy bogs to the east. With these adverse natural conditions and human carelessness and 140 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY ignorance in the matter of disposing of sewage and waste, it is little wonder that a scourge of fevers fell upon the unlucky residents and, as one of them wrote in September, 1822, "burying has averaged ten new graves a week for a number of weeks past." It would appear that only the hardiest survived and they were compelled to protect themselves at last by the necessity of draining some of the worst of these cess pools to permit the building of streets for their own convenience and roads for communication with the outside world. The "visitation of diseases" finally passed and, with the exception of an epidemic of cholera from July to October, 1833, the health of the burough became normal. These gloomy times of the city's burough days but serve to contrast the accomplishments of those who survived the test. A dearly bought victory is more precious to the survivors than one gained at little cost. So the pioneers pressed on. While only the strong among the residents were able to weather the storms of financial panic and physical ills, none but those of tough fibre seem to have been attracted from abroad. A type of the latter was David W. Deshler, who, with his wife Betsy Green, came to Columbus from Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1817. They bought a lot on the north side of Broad Street, now a part of the Deshler Hotel site, at the top price of $1,000, on which Mr. Deshler built a house and carpenter shop. They passed through a season of perils and bore their full share of all the suffering of the town, but that lot was finally paid for and is today a part of the estate left by their grandson. At one time Mr. Deshler obtained employment as a carpenter making shelves for the library in the old state office building. Years afterward, when the old library equipment was abandoned and stored in a basement, his son, William G. Deshler, bought one of these cases and presented it to the City Library with a fund sufficient to found and maintain the Deshler Alcove, now containing several thousand volumes. David W. Deshler not only came through the difficult periods "that try men's souls," but he continued for many years to contribute to the upbuilding of the young city. He founded one of the most substantial banks in Columbus and at his death was one of its wealthiest citizens, leaving a fortune that has been used to good advantage for both private and public ends. William G. Deshler carried on the work started by his HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 141 father and of him further mention will be made in the chapter on "The Upbuilders." Betsy Green Deshler made a place of her own in the annals of Columbus. Although she did not survive the hardships already mentioned, dying in 1827, she was a full partner of her hardworking husband and entitled to credit for at least half of his success. In addition to performing all of the household duties peculiar to the time and taking an unusual interest in church and social affairs, Mrs. Deshler became the chronicler of her times through a series of letters written to the folks back home and afterward collected. To these letters we are indebted for some word pictures impossible to obtain from any other source. In October, 1817, she wrote to her brother : "Everything is cheap except salt and coffee, and a few grocery articles which come high, owing to the distance they are transported, which is from Philadelphia or Baltimore. Sugar is cheaper here than at Easton ; we get it in the spring of the year for twelve and one-half cents a pound, owing to its being a production of our own state. * * * We cannot boast of as many luxuries as you can, but we have some which you have not ; one in particular is peaches. Such fruit I never saw before. One of the neighbors sent me in a basketfull, several of which measured a full quarter of a yard in circumference. * * * Venison is sold here at four shillings (the shilling was sixteen and two-thirds cents) for a whole deer, and turkeys for twenty-five -cents." In another letter of December, 1817, she says: "Property all sells very high in Columbus ; a lot on the corner opposite ours was sold for eighteen hundred dollars, and the owner has since been offered twenty-five hundred, which he thought proper to refuse, knowing that in a short time it would be worth considerably more. * * * Carpenters do their work by the piece ; journeymen's wages one dollar per day and found ; bricklayers four dollars per thousand including lime, sand and tenders. Land unimproved from a dollar and a half to four dollars per acre ; improved from eight to sixteen dollars. Two-thirds of the land in this section of the country will average thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. The risk of transportation to New Orleans exceeds the cost of carriage. 142 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY The market for western products in two or three years will be New York by way of Lower Sandusky and Lake Erie." In January, 1818: "We have but one meeting house here, and that a Methodist * * * We (the Presbyterians) have meetings very often this winter in the state house, which is a very large and commodious building for that purpose." June, 1818 : "The best wheat flour sells here for two dollars and fifty cents per hundred, butter, by thousands, at twelve and a half cents, eggs six and seven cents per dozen, and beef, uncommonly high, at six and seven cents per pound." August, 1818, she reports : "We have at length got a meeting house up, and the seats have been sold out to defray the expense of building. We have bought one, the price of which was thirty-seven and a half cents." Letters in the spring of 1820 quote lower prices on almost everything produced at home or brought in from abroad. "Produce of every kind has become low ; beef three dollars, pork ditto, butter twelve and a half cents per pound, venison fifty cents per saddle. * * * I believe the price of freight from Philadelphia is reduced to ten dollars per hundred weight. Wheat fifty cents per bushel, rye, forty, oats twelve and a half, barley sixty-two and a half, chickens eight cents apiece, pigeons eighteen and three-quarters to twenty-five cents per dozen. Tea and coffee we scarcely pretend to think of, must less taste. When coffee ran out we drank rye, and instead of tea, hot water." February, 1821. "Columbus has been very lively this winter. The Legislature sat two months, and the circuit court sitting here at the same time. Besides we have had most excellent sleighing nearly all winter. The court house is to be placed on the public square, near our lot. We have had a number of conspicuous characters in Columbus this winter, among whom was Henry Clay, of Kentucky, a very genteel man in appearance, but very plain. * * * If you recollect Uncle Ben's old-fashioned drab colored cloth coat, with buttons as big as HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 143 a dollar, you will have some idea of Mr. Clay's coat which he wore all the time he was here." The letters during the remainder of 1821-2 give a graphic account of the general depression and the scourge of sickness already mentioned. Indeed there is but little of good cheer until October, 1826, when she writes to her brother, after returning from a visit to her former home : "You can't imagine how much handsomer it looks in Ohio than at Easton." And in November of the same year : "Our town is quite healthy and very lively. Provisions are plenty and cheap." A census of the burough taken in April, 1829 shows a population of 2,014. The federal census of 1830 gives Columbus a total population of 2,438 and Franklin County, 14,741. At the end of the burough period the population of the "Capital City" was nearing four thousand. CHAPTER VIII THE NATIONAL ROAD AND THE OHIO CANAL. EARLY ROADS AND STAGE LINES-TURNPIKES AND PLANK ROADS BUILT BY COMPANIES-THE NATIONAL ROAD FROM CUMBERLAND TO WHEELING- EXTENDED TO COLUMBUS-THE BUSINESS OF THE ROAD AS SEEN BY CAPTAIN LEE-INFLUENCE ON FRANKLIN COUNTY-ITS DECLINE REVIVAL- INTRODUCTION OF THE CANAL QUESTION-PART PLAYED BY ALFRED KELLEY-THE FIRST EXCAVATION AT NEWARK-VISIT OF GOVERNOR DE WITT CLINTON-PRIVATELY BUILT CANALS-THE COLUMBUS FEEDER-THE FIRST BOATS AND THE PACKETS. Governor Ethan Allen Brown, in his message to the General Assembly January 8, 1819, said : "Roads and canals are veins and arteries to the body politic, that diffuse supplies, health, vigor and animation to the whole system," and again in December, 1819: "Your observation must have perceived that our principal obstruction to the removal of the commercial distress consists in the cost and difficulty of transporting to market those productions which constitute our great and almost only resource for regaining and preserving the balance of trade." The early settlers of Franklin County came on horseback through the uncharted wilderness bringing with them little in the way of personal property beyond the tools with which they converted the forest trees into places of habitation, but they came from sections of the country where certain luxuries had been deemed necessary to the comforts of life and they soon began to provide themselves with roads to permit the use of wheeled vehicles and the transportation of the various products of manufacture that could be obtained only in the east. As we have seen, some of the first acts of the county authorities in 1803 and 1804 were with reference to road projects - 144 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 145 designed to connect Franklinton with Worthington, Springfield, Lancaster and Granville. When Columbus was chosen as the location of the state capital there was no road worthy of the name by which it could be reached from any direction. This condition was soon changed. A number of roads were "established," that is to say they were located, the trees were felled, more or less of the stumps were removed and traffic was invited to stamp and roll the surface into such state of solidity as might be possible. Here and there logs were placed in the soft spots, covered with earth and served the purpose well enough to justify the later construction of entire roads of "corduroy." In 1816 Philip Zinn inaugurated a weekly mail and passenger service between Columbus and Chillicothe. The business quickly grew to such proportions as to justify a semi-weekly service, and in 1819 he ran a coach to Delaware. Three years later C. Barney opened a stage line to Mt. Vernon, and in 1824 there was a line of sorts to Lower Sandusky. In 1823 William Neil and Jarvis Pike took over Philip Zinn's business and inaugurated a regular stage line service between Columbus and Chillicothe, Zanesville, Springfield and Cincinnati. In 1826 William Neil and A. I. McDowell were associated in the stage business and announced that their line would make the run from Cincinnati, through Dayton and Columbus, to Lower Sandusky in four days—better than fifty miles a day. In the same year (1826) The Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike Company was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly for the purpose of constructing a first class road connecting the capital with Lake Erie. The National Government, in aid of this enterprise, and with a view to facilitating the transportation of mails and possible military uses, conveyed to the state of Ohio in trust some f ortynine sections of land along the road to be sold and the proceeds applied to the expenses of the project. This road was completed in the autumn of 1834, a distance of 106 miles, at a cost of $74,376. It had been generally understood that this road was to be finished with a surface of gravel, stone or other hard material, but nothing of the sort was done. It was graded with an arched center, built wholly of earth, much of it clay and loam, and in wet weather was described 146 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY as a "long line of mud." The dissatisfaction of the public was as general as it was natural. The company operated it with toll gates for nine years when its charter was repealed and the road made a public highway. Other roads built or projected by incorporated companies as private enterprises were: The Lancaster, Newark, Pickerington and National Turnpike Company, incorporated by John Noble, Christian Heyl and Jeremiah Armstrong, 1839, to build a road between Columbus and Lancaster. The Columbus and Worthington Plank Road or Turnpike, incorporated 1849, by Robert E. Neil and associates ; completed in 1850. Columbus and Portsmouth Turnpike, built in 1849 ; surfaced with gravel. The Columbus and Harrisburg Turnpike, built in 1848-9. The Columbus and Groveport Turnpike, built in 1850. The Columbus and Johnstown Turnpike and Plank Road, built to Central College in 1852. The Columbus and Granville Turnpike built in 1852. The Franklin and Jackson Turnpike built from the Harrisburg road down the river to the Cottage Mills pike, a distance of ten miles, in 1852. Columbus and Lockwins Plank Road, the old Harbor Road, beginning at its intersection with the Columbus and Johntown Pike, and extending north seven miles, was completed in 1853-54. It was surfaced with plank eight feet long and three inches thick, laid on two stringers four inches square. In 1849 D. Tallmadge established a daily stage line from Columbus to Pomeroy, by way of Lancaster, Logan and Athens, and the next year W. B. and J. A. Hawks were running a line to Portsmouth and carrying United States mails to numerous points within a circle of seventy miles radius. All of these roads and stage lines were of importance locally, but it was the National Road, from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois that really opened central Ohio to the business world in the east and marked the beginning of permanent prosperity in this and adjacent territory. The Allegheny mountains formed a natural barrier between the east and the west. They stood grim and forbid- HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 147 ding, halting commercial intercourse and threatening political separation. To Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, belongs the credit for the inception of this monumental undertaking as well as much of its earlier construction. Gallatin was born in Switzerland where, in his boyhood, he had seen splendid hard surfaced roads winding over mountains that dwarfed the Alleghenies into hillocks. He knew they could be surmounted, and they were. As far back as the time of Braddock there were roads from the Valley of Virginia and along the natural grade of the Potomac river to Cumberland, Maryland. From there west the only practicable trail followed the path broken through the brush by the horny heads and beaten by the hard heels of the buffalo. In 1811 the first contract was let for the construction of ten miles of the road west of Cumberland on this route. In 1818 the road was opened to the Ohio river at Wheeling. Almost over night the great thoroughfare was crowded with two long lines of heavy travel. From the east there were caravans of wagons, many of them drawn by four and six horses, conveying the products of the shops and mills to the frontier, and from the west they were transporting the products of the field and farm, while droves and herds of livestock toiled slowly along through both lines of travel to the eastern market. At intervals the freight trains were pulled aside to allow the passage of a quartet of trotting or galloping horses, harnessed in metal mounted trappings, drawing a flashing, bright-colored stage coach carrying impatient passengers and the no less urgent United States mails. In the year 1822 one of the five commission houses at Wheeling unloaded 1081 wagons, averaging 3,500 pounds, and paid for the transportation of goods the sum of $90,000.00. West of Wheeling there was already much travel over the road laid out by Ebenezer Zane in 1796, and afterward improved, through St. Clairsville, Cambridge, Zanesville, Lancaster, Chillicothe and on to Maysville, Kentucky. Thus Columbus had access to the east by way of Lancaster. But, the National Road was being built by the Federal Government and it was designed to continue to the Mississippi river ; some of the expenses of construction were being paid out of the proceeds of the sale of government lands in Ohio, and the people of Ohio were demanding their share of the benefits. However, there were 148 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY giants in the way. There were those who contended that sufficient had been accomplished by providing easy crossing of the mountains and that the western country could be amply served by boats on the Ohio river and its tributaries. Then there were constitutional questions raised; but Ohioans even then were skilled in matters political and were able to procure the passage of a bill in Congress in March, 1825, appropriating $150,000 for the building of the road from Wheeling to Zanesville and two years later an additional $170,000 was appropriated for its completion. From Zanesville to Columbus the extension of the road was begun in 1829 and fully completed by 1833. Before its completion into Columbus contracts had been let for some of the work to the west and during the next five years it was pushed well on to the Indiana line. Captain Alfred E. Lee, the distinguished local historian, was raised along the line of this great road in eastern Ohio, and has given his personal recollection as follows : "The National Road when completed, appeared like a white riband meandering over the green hills and valleys. It was surfaced with broken limestone, which, when compacted by the pressure of heavy wagons, became smooth as a floor, and after a rain almost as clean. Wagons, stages, pedestrians and vast droves of cattle, sheep, horses and hogs crowded it constantly, all pressing eagerly by the great arterial thoroughfare—for there were no railways then—to the markets of the east. Westwardly, on foot and in wagons, traveled an interminable caravan of emigrants, or 'movers' as they were commonly called, whose gipsy fires illuminated at night the roadside woods and meadows. For the heavy transportation both east and west huge covered wagons were used, built with massive axles and broad tires, and usually drawn by from four to six, and sometimes eight horses. The teamsters who conducted these 'mountain ships,' as they were known in the Alleghenies, were a peculiar class of men, rough, hearty, whiskered and sunburned, fond of grog, voluble in their stories of adventure, and shockingly profane. Their horses were sturdy roadsters, well shod, fed and curried, and heavily harnessed as became the enormous burdens they had to draw. When on duty, each of the animals in the larger teams bore upon its hames a chime of from three to six small bells, which jingled musically, and no doubt HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 149 cheered the sweating toilers at their task, while the groaning wain rolled slowly but steadily up hill and down. Should one of these teams encounter another of its kind stalled in the road the teamster latest come was entitled by custom to attach an equal number of his horses to the stalled wagon, and should he be able to draw it out of its difficulty, he had the right to appropriate as trophies as many of the bells of the balked team as he pleased. Thus the jingling of the champion was sometimes so prodigious, from the multiplicity of its bells, as to herald its coming from afar. "The road was frequented by traders, hucksters, peddlers, traveling musicians, small showmen, sharpers, tramps, beggars and odd characters, some of whom made periodical pilgrimages and were familiar to the wayside dwellers from Columbus to Cumberland." This description by one who knew the times justifies the comment that the National Road in the heydey of its prosperity was a traveling street fair seven hundred miles in length. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of the National Road to the country as a whole and almost impossible to over-state its service to Ohio in general and to Columbus and Franklin county in particular. Its building gave profitable employment to large numbers of people and conferred an immediate benefit upon the owners of property along the way. As fast as it was put in operation the daily necessities of the throngs of travelers induced the opening of countless inns and taverns along the road, and of the immigrants, pushing westward with the course of empire, a percentage were ever tiring of the journey or finding the ideal of their dreams and settling where they were. Franklin county profited especially by this fact. Its numerous streams, crossed by the highway, flowed through valleys promising rich returns to those seeking lands, and many who stopped in Columbus to rest before resuming a long journey into the uncertainties beyond, sought no further. In the decade from 1830 to 1840 the population of Franklin County grew from 14,741 to 25,049, an increase of almost seventy percent. By the time the road was built to Columbus, completed portions of it were being turned over by the National government to the states in order to provide for its maintenance and repair, on the theory that while the general government could not exact tolls for the upkeep of