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Harvey Owens; butcher, Jacob Cultice; building and loan association, Andrew Jackson, secretary ; cement worker, Arthur Townsley, J. H. McMillan; cigars, Sherman Jones ; churches, Reformed Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterians (Old Style), Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, Colored Baptist; clothing store, G. H. Hartman; coal dealers, D. S. Ervin, Andrews Brothers, Kerr & Hastings Brothers; cream stations, Houstonia Creamery Company, J. W. Long Company, West Jefferson Creamery Company; contractors, Iliff Brothers; college, Cedarville College; draymen, Harvey Myers, Fred Kennon; dry goods, J. C. Barber ; dry cleaning, J. Herndon ; drug store, A. E. Richards, C. N. Ridgeway ; electrician, E. G. Lowry, Fred Milton; elevator, Kerr & Hastings Brothers; feed and grain, Kerr & Hastings Brothers, Andrews Brothers ; furniture, J. H. McMillan, J. A. Barr; general stores, Kerr & Hastings Brothers; Robert Bird & Sons Company ; groceries, B. H. Little, J. E. Post, W. W. Trout, L. H. Sullenberger, M. C. Nagley ; hardware, R. M. McKee, G. A. Shrodes, C. N. Stuckey & Son ; harness, Kerr & Hastings Brothers; hotel, Cedar Inn, Mrs. George Smith, proprietor ; house mover, Arthur Townsley ; ice dealer, D. S. Ervin; insurance, W. L. Clemans; jewelry, J. W. Johnson; junk dealer, William Bose; livery stable, George Boyd ; lime and stone, Cedarville Lime & Stone Company ; lodges, Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias ; mayor, D. H. McFarland; meat markets, Mrs. C. C. Weimer & Son, Hayes Bates; moving pictures, Ralph Murdock ; music teachers, George Siegler, Helen Oglesbee; newspaper, Cedarvville Herald, Karlh Bull, owner and editor ; notion store, Mrs. Anna Boyd; painters, Thomas N. Tarbox; paperhangers, Calvin Ewry, Foster Banks, Charles Spencer ; paper mill, Hagar Strawboard & Paper Company ; photographer, J. Victor Tarr ; physicians, E. C. Oglesbee, Myron I. Marsh, John O. Stewart ; pool rooms, George Boyd, Charles Spencer ; postoffice, William A. Turnbull, postmaster ; plumber, John Steele; railroad agent, Whitington ; real estate, Cedarville Realty Company, W. L. Clemans, George Smith ; restaurant, Mrs. George Smith, J. A. Hinton, Charles Spencer ; saw-mill, Tarbox Lumber Company ; schools, public, L. D. Parker, principal; seminary, theological, Reformed Presbyterian; shoe shining, Sherman Jones; shoe repairer, Edward Richards ; Standard Oil Company, George Marshall, local manager; stock buyer, Frank Townsley; stone crusher, Cedarville Lime & Stone Company ; telephone, Cedarville Telephone Company; telegraph operators, J. R. Wells, Charles Payne, Hugh Grindle; tile, Andrews Brothers, Kerr & Hastings Brothers ; undertaker, J. H. McMillan, J. A. Barr, Nagley Brothers ; veterinarian, Leo Anderson.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE CITY OF YELLOW SPRINGS.

The city of Yellow Springs has had an interesting and eventful history. Though it was only a collection of a few houses until the establishment of Antioch College here in 1852, yet it has a history which goes back nearly a half century prior to that year. The name of the city is suggestive of the wonderful spring of water which still gushes forth on the old Neff farm. It was this spring that attracted the Indians to the site and was also responsible for the early settling of the place by white men. This spring has been the means during the past century of attracting to the place thousands of people who came to try its healing qualities. Here came the families of some of the best-known generals of the Civil War during the days when that struggle was being waged. The composition of the waters of this celebrated spring show its main constituents to be as follows : Carbonate of lime, 92.97 per cent.; carbonate of magnesia, 2.42 ; iron and alumina, 3.80; silicous matter, .80.

Lewis Davis, a son of Owen Davis, the old miller, was undoubtedly the first settler on the site of the present city, but it seems that he made only a short stay in the township. The first settler is mentioned at length in the history of Miami township. The township was not organized until June 8, 1808, but the postoffice at Yellow Springs has an unbroken record from May 10, 1805, down to the present time. This fact makes it certain that there was at least a tavern or store at the place continuously for the first half of the town's history. It is not possible to trace the growth of the place year by year prior to 1852. It is stated that when the railroad reached the place in the summer of 1846 there was only the Methodist church building and two or three small houses on the site. Therefore, the history of the town from 1803 to 1846 is practically nil. But there have been a few events chronicled during these years which are worth setting forth.

FIRST CABIN ON THE TOWNSITE.

It seems that Thomas Fream must have succeeded Lewis Davis as the second settler on the site, or at least, Fream was some place in the immediate vicinity. He was granted a license in 1805 to conduct a tavern on the site. Unfortunately, the exact location of this tavern of Fream is not known, but the official record shows that he was succeeded as postmaster by James Miller

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on October 1, 1810. This may mean that he sold his tavern, and he probably had some sort of a store in connection, to Miller. Another authority is responsible for the statement that the first log cabin on the present site of Yellow Springs was built by Elisha Mills, also mentioned elsewhere, this cabin becoming a part of the Yellow Springs hotel in after years. Mills became postmaster of the village, if it may be so called, by an appointment dated July 15, 1823, continuing in the office for the next ten years.

The facts of the situation are that with no records other than those of the postoffice it is impossible to establish a sequence for the various business enterprises which were in the town prior to 1846. Some of these business men of this period were the following : Oliver Farnsworth, who started the first newspaper in 1830, Benjamin Deaver, who opened the first tanyard in 1834; Abner and Betsey Morton, the first colored people, located in the village in 1835; George Confer, who started the first cider mill in 1836, this same year bringing John Hammond, the first carpenter, into the village ; the Methodists built a church in 1840 on the site of the present post-office, their building being the first one west of the railroad which came in 1846; Israel Baker opened the first shoeshop in 1842; the year 1842 brought Frank Hafner, the first baker, and Andrew Modie, the first painter ; the first school house within the present limits of the corporation was erected in 1845, the same building being later used as an Episcopal church, the building being used for school purposes in 1918; the year 1846 brought the railroad to the struggling village, and here begins a new epoch in the history of the town.

NEW EPOCH IN YELLOW SPRINGS.

The year 184.6 may very properly be taken as a turning point in the history of Yellow Springs, for with the coming of the railroad the town took on new life and began to assume the airs of a place of some importance. In this same year William Mills, a son of Elisha, one of the first settlers, began his merchandising career with A. B. Johnson as partner. They erected what was known as the Union House near where the railroad crossed Dayton street. The period between 1846 and 1853 was filled with building operations and by the latter year the place had assumed such an appearance of stability that William Mills had the courage to lay out three hundred acres into lots. It is an admitted fact that it was the coming 'of Antioch College which gave the place its sudden prosperity in the '50s. The famous educational institution was the means of attracting a number of families to the place in order that their children might avail themselves of its advantages. Scores of the professors and instructors of the college have been identified with the life of the town as well as the college. The famous col-

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lege and the celebrated spring may be cited as being two factors which have had more to do With the city's prosperity as it stands today than anything else that might be enumerated.

To revert to the period between 1846 and 1853. The large store of Mills & Johnson, the so called Union House, has already been mentioned. In the same year, 1846, Thomas Gilmore erected a frame store building east of the Mills & Johnson store, and opened a dry-goods establishment. The site of this store is now occupied by the elevator. Gilmore was succeeded in later years by his brother, William, in the same building. In 1847 James A. Brown erected a grain elevator along the tracks of the railroad and became the first grain merchant of the town. About the time the railroad was being built, Mills. & Johnson made a proposition to the Methodist church to buy their lot and not only give the church a new lot in a more favorable location, but even donate sufficient money to erect a new building. The church had erected their small frame building in 1840, six years before the railroad reached the town, and as it turned out, the right-of-way of the railroad passed close by the church. This first building was located on the northeast corner of what is now Dayton and Corry streets on the site of the present postoffice. Mills & Johnson owned the lots adjoining the church and wished to have the entire block for business purposes. The church accepted the offer of lot No. 47, corner of Dayton and Winter streets, built a new structure and turned over the old building to Mills and Johnson. The new owners converted the old church building into a dwelling house, which later burned.

In 1848 Col. Joseph E. Wilson began the burning of lime in the village, thereby establishing an industry which was for many years the most important in the place. It was not until 1852 that the first flour-mill opened for business, the owner and operator being John Lannen. In 1855 Stephen Kershner opened a tinshop and in the same year a machine shop of some description announced that it was ready for business. It can not be said that Yellow Springs has ever been a manufacturing center of much importance. Outside of the lime industry, a flour-mill and a saw-mill there have been no manufacturing enterprises of any importance in the city. Allen Jobe established a wagon shop in 1865. In 1887 C. A. Little opened a sawmill. In 1893 the lime kiln of Ervin & Company was put in operation. The following year the Little elevator was erected.

PLATTING OF THE TOWN.

It was the coming of the railroad in the '40s, followed by the coming of Antioch College a decade later, which was responsible for the sudden growth of the town in the fore part of the '50s. The big man in the town

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in that period was. William Mills, and it was his foresight and shrewdness that led to the platting of such an extensive tract for a townsite, and the subsequent extensive additions to the original site within a short time.

Mills had the idea that the college and the springs would draw people to the town by the hundreds, even by the thousands. The springs were already well known throughout the state, and also in adjoining states; the college was advertised in such a way as to make it one of the most talked of institutions in the West at the time. Horace Mann, its first president, was then the best and most widely known educator in the United States.

Therefore, taking everything into consideration, it is not to be won dered that Mills thought his town had a great future before it. He got his plans well in hand by 1853 and on November 23 of that year appeared before Samuel T. Owens, county surveyor and also a notary public, and received the following document, which is here introduced as the first .official record pertaining to the now flourishing town of Yellow Springs :

I do hereby certify that at the request of William Mills, Esq., the owner and proprietor, I laid off and surveyed Forest Village or Yellow Springs, as shown on the annexed map or plan, whereof the sizes of the lots, width of the streets and alleys (with very few exceptions) are all accurately marked on said map in feet and tenths ; likewise, the present magnetic bearing of said lots, streets and alleys are marked on said map. There are stones set at the places so marked and I also directed stones to be set at each of the crossings of the streets. Given under my hand and seal, this 23rd day of November, in the year of our Lord 1853.

SAMUEL T. OWENS, Surveyor G. C.

The appended map to which Owens referred shows the site to be laid out with a reckless disregard to the points of the compass. But it was a part of the general plan of Mills to avoid the regularity of the average town in the method of laying out streets. Mills was an original genius and nothing shows this more plainly than the original plat of his town. There were a total of four hundred thirty-six lots in the site, and they were of every conceivable shape and size.

ADDITIONS TO ORIGINAL PLAT.

It would have seemed that four hundred thirty-six lots would have been enough to have lasted for a while, but Mills was determined to have a town of some size, and he wanted it in a hurry. He advertised his lots far and wide throughout Ohio and in the adjoining states, in the East and West, in the staid papers of Boston and New York, and in the breezy sheets of Chicago and St. Louis. As a maker of towns this man Mills was the best the county has ever produced.

Mills had hardly offered his first group of lots for sale, before he decided that he needed a few hundred more. He added one hundred twelve lots

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in 1855 and one hundred eighty more in 1857. It seems that Mills really did have a more definite idea of what a town should be than some of his contemporaries were willing to grant him. When he had his original three hundred fifty acres surveyed into lots, he reserved a tract of twenty acres in about the center of the tract, which, it is apparent, he wanted to preserve as a park, although he does not say so in his record of the plat. He was equally liberal in setting aside lots for churches and schools.

It should be stated that six out of the thirty-seven streets provided by the original Mills plat were more than a mile in length. Considering the natural advantages of the site, it is not surprising that the proprietor found a ready sale for hundreds of his lots at prices ranging from one hundred fifty to two hundred dollars a lot ; even prices as high as five hundred dollars were received for choice locations. Mills was a philanthropic sort of a man, the kind of a man who puts his philanthropy into practice. He hoped to build a city of ten thousand, and to this end he wanted the best citizens he could induce to settle in his town. He himself paid for the grading and graveling of the streets ; he was largely responsible for the railroad going through his town instead of through Clifton ; he was certainly responsible for the location of Antioch College here.

ADDITIONS TO ORIGINAL PLAT.

But the vision of Mills was not tempered by a sufficient knowledge of municipal affairs and the factors underlying city growth. He did not seem to realize that one can not build up a city of ten thousand anywhere he chooses. Scenery is a good and valuable asset ; likewise a good college is a valuable adjunct to the growth of a small city. But the great mass of the citizens of his proposed city of ten thousand could not make a living out of the scenery, and neither could they subsist on the college. As a result his municipal dream was only about one-tenth realized, but he should nevertheless be given credit for making the town what it is today.

The additions to the original plat of 1853, with the names of the respective proprietors, number of lots and the dates of the recording of the several plats are given in the appended table :

C. H. Ellis followed Birch in 1909 and served until Charles Hackett came in with the Wilson administration. According to the ruling of April 1, 1917, the present incumbent can not be removed except for cause.

THE STORY OF THE NEFF HOUSE.

The story of the Neff House, one of the most famous buildings ever erected in Greene county, and one which has undoubtedly housed more people than any other building in the county, reveals the varied and interesting history of this building from its erection in 1840 until its final disappearance in 1892. According to the statement of Charles H. Ellis, in the Centennial volume of 1908, the building was erected in. 1840 "on a bluff near the Yellow Spring and for years was crowded with visitors from all over the United States." The first building was erected by Judge William Mills, the founder of the town, and was a large structure, being two hundred fifty by sixty feet. This building was in to be insufficient to handle the crowds that came from far and near in the summer season, and consequently Judge Mills erected four cottages on the grounds adjoining the large building. Here gathered people from Columbus and Cincinnati and many adjoining states. There were four stages passing the place each day, and in the summer time they always carried passengers for the Springs. Many Southern people came driving up from Cincinnati in their own private coaches.

This was the situation when William Neff, of Cincinnati, appeared on the scene in December, 1841, and bought the buildings and a tract of ground. immediately surrounding them, the consideration being fifteen thousand dollars. He also bought from Elisha Mills one hundred and sixty acres adjoining. The new owner took possession on May 11, 1842, bringing with him from Cincinnati Frank Hafner, who, it appears, was to be his chef. At

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least, this same Hafner was later a baker in the town of Yellow Springs. The house was filled all during the summer and fall of 1842 and was a financial success for the new proprietor. Hafner managed it during the four or five months it was opened in the summer, Neff coming up at intervals from Cincinnati to see how things were getting along. Some time later, date not given, the building was closed to the public and Neff used it as his private residence, and died there in 1854. The property then passed into the hands of his son, William C. Neff, who decided to improve the buildings and open them again to the public as a summer resort. He leased the buildings to a Mrs. Gilbert and she had charge of the buildings during the summer seasons until they were destroyed by fire during the time of the Civil War.

The owner did not rebuild until after the war was over, but by the spring of 1870 he had a magnificent building ready to throw open to the public. It was four and a half stories high and contained three hundred rooms—more rooms than all the hotels of the county combined. The building and its furnishings represented an outlay of more than a hundred thousand dollars. For several seasons the hotel did a large business, but by the beginning of the '90s it was seen that it was not a paying investment. As a result in 1892 Neff had the building dismantled and shipped to Cincinnati—and thereby abruptly closed the story of the Neff House.

YELLOW SPRINGS IN 1880.

There has been preserved a complete directory of the business and professional interests of the city for the year 1880—thirty-eight years ago. This list of the business men of a generation ago will be interesting to the readers of this history of the city as it appears today, and is appended here in full :

Attorneys, S. W. Dakin, J. W. Hamilton ; bakery, Dickman Brothers; barbers, William Milton, Jefferson Williams; blacksmiths, S. & R. Cox, John Pennell, Albert Thompson; boots and shoes, John Cordingly ; butchers, Adam Holhut, George McCullough; cabinet-maker, William Large; carpenters, William and James Lytle; carriages, buggies, etc., T. B. Jobe; clock and watch makers, C. D. C. Hamilton, F. H. Weaver ; clothing, tinware, etc., J. J. Thornton ; coal, A. M. Wilder ; dentist, D. T. Jones; drugs, Hirst Brothers, Charles Ridgway; dry goods, W. D. Gilmore, J. D. Hawkins, Charles Shaw, J. Van Mater; grain dealer, J. H. Little; grocery, Charles Adams ; harness, Edward Thornton ; lime manufacturer, Washington Shroufe; livery, Leroy Green; lumber, S. K. Mitchell & Son ; merchant tailor, D. B. Low; millinery and dressmaking, Miss E. Reed, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. E. J. Price ; ninety-nine-cent store, Elizabeth K. Normandie; notions, toys, etc., Mrs. R. C. Crane; nursery, W. W. Carr; physicians, H. F. Baker, M. S. Dillman, J. M. Harris, Edward I. Thorn; shoemakers, John Cannon, M.

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McCann ; stationery, Mrs. M. E. McNair (Mrs. McNair also was postmaster) ; stoves, W. J. Stephenson & Son ; undertaker, Samuel McCulloch.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS.

A review of the business and professional men of Yellow Springs in 1880 discloses some interesting facts. While the most of the men of that year have died or have moved away, yet there are a few who are still remaining in the town and a still smaller number are following in 1918 the same vocation in which they were engaged in 1880. It is not known just who have died, and of those who have removed from the town, it is not known where they are now living, or even if they are still among the living.

Both the attorneys have long since been gathered to their fathers. The Dickman brothers are both living, but are no longer in the bakery business. The blacksmiths are all dead except Samuel Cox, who still resides in the town. The shoe dealer, John Cordingly, has passed away. George McCullough is still using his cleaver in the town, but his contemporary, Adam Holhut, is gone. Continuing down the above list of former business men, it is noted that the following are deceased : William Large, William and James Lytle, T. B. Jobe, C. D. C. Hamilton, F. H. Weaver, J. J. Thornton, A. M. Wilder, D. T. Jones and Charles Ridgway. Of the firm of Hirst Brothers, druggists. Thomas Hirst is still living in the town and bids fair to live for many years yet.

To continue the list. The deceased include W. D. Gilmore, J. D. Hawkins, Charles Shaw, J. Van Mater, J. H. Little and Charles Adams. Edward Thornton still owns and manages his harness shop in the town, a, veteran in the field of leather goods and allied lines. Washington Shroufe, Leroy Green, S. K. Mitchell, D. B. Low, John Cannon, Michael McCann and Elizabeth K. DeNormandie and Samuel McCulloch are deceased. W. W. Carr is still in the nursery business and has one of the most extensive nurseries in this section of the state. He makes a specialty of the propagating of cedar trees, shipping them by the thousands to markets in all parts of the country.

Dr. H. F. Baker is still practicing in town. Dr. Edward I. Thorn at last accounts was practicing in Salt Lake City. The whereabouts of Dr. Harris is not known. The later record of the many who have removed from the town within the past thirty-eight years is, of course, practically impossible to trace, but most of them are no doubt deceased.

YELLOW SPRINGS 1N 1918.

It is the business and professional life of a town which gives it whatever prosperity it may have. The study of the average American town will show that it always has a few business and professional men who have been

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connected with its life for a long period of years, while at the same time it will register a number who seem to come and go. Life changes from year to year ; business interests naturally seek those towns where they have the greatest opportunities for development. With no factories of any consequence and with no particular claim to becoming other than a small town, the people of Yellow Springs continue the even tenor of their way without making any pretensions for their town other than being a good trading center for the immediate vicinity. A saw-mill, stone crusher and a feed-mill constitute the sole industries of any importance in the town, although it has the usual complement of tradesmen and artisans found in towns of this size. In the following summary appears a list of the business and professional men of the town as they appeared in April, 1918 : Attorney, Charles Bogle; automobile dealers, Howard Corry, Edward Oster, Edward Carlisle; bakery, R. C. Adams ; bank, Miami Deposit Bank ; barbers, Thomas Brown, Sandy Pettiford; billiards, Oscar Day, William Glossinger, M. M. Murray ; blacksmith, Edward Hackett ; brick mason, Thomas Donley; canning factory, Yellow Springs Canning Company. C. F. Vandervort, manager; carriage shop, Albert Newsome; cement worker, Charles Cline ; churches, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Catholic, African Methodist Episcopal, Colored Christian; coal dealers, P. W. Drake, National Feed Mill Company ; college, Antioch; contractor, Drake & Son; cream stations, West Jefferson Creamery Company, Houston Creamery Company; dentist, Dr. Zellers; draymen, C. A. Brewer, Earl Drake ; drug store, A. H. Finley;' dry cleaning, W. H. Hughes ; elevators, National Feed Mill Company, Dewine Milling Company; feed and flour, Dewine Milling Company ; florist, Howard Brown; furniture,. Littleton & Sons; garage, see automobile dealers ; general stores, W. A. Alexander, Weiss & Wead; grocery stores, D. A. Brewer, John A. Oster, Ned Straus; harness shops, Edward Thornton, Weakley ; hotel, Comfort Inn, Mrs. Ella Allen, proprietor ; ice-cream parlor, David Fitz ; livery stable, Littleton & Son; lodges, Masons, Odd Fellows, American Mechanics ; mayor, 'Thomas A. Donly ; meat shops, Jacob Diehl; milliner, Mrs. Lulu Glazier; music teacher, Clara Hirst; newspaper, Yellow Springs News, J. N. Wolford, editor ; nursery, Wallace W. Carr ; physicians, H. F. Baker, L. L. Taylor, R. R. Richison, F. C. Adams, Jessie Bogle ; postmaster, Charles Hackett ; public library, Mrs. Charles Carr, librarian; mil estate and insurance, Charles Sheldon; restaurant, Willis Groves; saw-mill, Drake & VanKirk ; school, R. O. Wead, superintendent public schools; shoe repairer, James Johnson; stock buyers, Frank Hughes, Earl Oglesbee, John Young, Thomas Dewine; stone crusher, C. C. Beam; tin-shops, H. E. Dickman, Charles Hackett; telephone, Bell system, Citizens line; undertaker, Littleton & Son; veterinary, H. L. Davisson.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE CITY OF JAMESTOWN.

Jamestown is now in the second century of its career as a town and is now the second largest city in Greene county. Any effort to follow its career during the past hundred years involves the historian in difficulty because of the fact that no records are available to trace its development year by year. There are certain outstanding facts that are well established, while there are other so-called facts which have been associated with the town that may or may not be true. The same may be said of every town. As the years pass by there collects a large fund of incidents which may have originally been based on actual occurrences, but in the course of time they become so distorted that they bear little resemblance to the original incident from which they started. And so it is with Jamestown. No effort is made in this history of the city to write a romance, but rather to state simply and concisely the salient facts concerned with the city's growth from May 31, 1816, when the first official notice of the place finds, a record' in the archives of the court house at Xenia.

The original plat of Jamestown is on file in the county recorder's office, a time-worn document showing forty-eight in-lots and nine out-lots, and. bearing the date of May 31, 1816. Accompanying this century-old plat is the following statement, which, being the first authentic historical document of the now flourishing city, is here reproduced verbatim :

State of Ohio

Greene County

Before me the subscriber, a justice of peace for the said county, personally appeared Thomas Browder who did acknowledge that he did voluntarily lay off and appropriate all the lots, Streets and Alleys in Jamestown to the .north of the street leading from Xenia to Washington situated in Silver Creek Township, county and state aforesaid for the use of said town, accept outlot No. 5, which he says never was intended by him to be laid out or sold as a town lot. Also personally appeared before 'me, Martin Mendenhall, who did acknowledge that he had laid off and appropriated all the lots, streets and alleys on the south side of the Street leading from Xenia to Washington through Jamestown in Silver Creek Township, county and state aforesaid, accept the outlot No. 9 which he says never was intended to be laid off or sold as a town lot. Given under my hand and seal the first day of June, 1816.

JOHN WATSON, J. P.

I hereby certify that the outlets No. 5 and 9 on the plan of Jamestown were never laid down by consent of the proprietors for no other purpose than to compleat the form and not intended for any public use. May 31, 1816.

JOSIAH GROVER, Recorder G. C.

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The above record gives the names of the two proprietors, Thomas Browder and Martin Mendenhall, but is evidently not the first record of the town. It is known that it was surveyed by Thomas P. Moorman and a man by the name of Thomas, then surveyor of Clinton county, but it is not certain just when they did the work. It is probable that it was done in 1815, although no documentary evidence of the fact has been seen.

The name given to the new town was the suggestion of Browder, who had been born in Jamestown, Virginia. It will be noticed that the two proprietors contributed about equally to the townsite—one hundred and fifty acres each—Browder being the owner of the north side of the street and Mendenhall of the south side. The original plat shows Silver creek cutting across out-lot No. 9, and Middle Fork, a branch of Caesars creek, cutting across out-lots Nos. 4 and 5, the plat being laid out between the two streams. Whether these streams had anything to do with the origin of the above quoted records is not known, but it is altogether possible that they did.

ADDITIONS TO THE TOWN SINCE 1816.

Since the original plat of 1816 was placed on record, there have been a number of additions made to it, a summary of which are set forth in the following table :

THE TOWN 1N EARLY DAYS.

The best source of information concerning the early history of Jamestown is found in the reminiscences of Sylvester Strong, which are given in full in the history of Silvercreek township. Another source of interesting data, covering the town as it appeared in the '30s, was compiled in 1880 from data furnished by Mrs. Eliza McDowney at that time, Mrs. McDowney having been a continuous resident of the town from 1831. The best informed man on the history of the town now living is W. A. Paxon, an attorney of the place, who has been a resident for more than forty years. Other sources

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of information are the official records, the files of the newspapers and numerous genealogical records which have been preserved.

As far as known there was no building on the site when it was platted, and it is impossible to determine the year in which Thomas Watson built the log cabin on the site which became the first tavern. The late historian of the county, George F. Robinson, states that Watson located in Silver-creek township in 1807 and that he opened his tavern on the site of Jamestown in 1815. He died in 1888 and is buried at Xenia. His tavern later became known as the Parker House, and was the first of a long series of taverns, inns, caravansaries and hotels which have come and gone during the past hundred years. It does not appear that either of the two proprietors of the townsite, Browder or Mendenhall, built a house in their town.

The site did not apparently appeal to the incoming settlers, and it was several years before the second house made its appearance. The best authority states that the second resident of the infant village was Dr. Mathias Winans and that he arrived on the site in 1820. He proceeded to build a house which served the triple function of a dwelling, a doctor shop and a store. Doctor Winans also bought a farm in the township, but he devoted his time to his large medical practice and for years was one of the leading physicians of the county. He died in Cincinnati, where he was located temporarily, on July 7, 1849, and is buried at Jamestown. It can truthfully be stated that he was probably the town's most influential resident in the years that he lived in it.

The third resident of whom any definite record has been preserved was Zina B. Adams, who arrived in 1824 and took charge of the tavern which had been started by Watson. The Adams family became prominent factors in the town and their descendants are still living in the city. Zina B. Adams, the first of the family to locate in the town, died in Jamestown on May 22, 1844, having been connected with the tavern during practically all of his years of residence in the place. After his death his widow married James McDowney, March 20, 1849, and the Adams tavern continued to remain under the same management, the family being connected with it for about forty years. Zina B. and Elia (Sharpe) Adams had four sons : Morgan O.,- Samuel, John Q. and Thomas H. Samuel died on February 8, 1854, but the other sons lived to rear families and become leaders in the town. John and Morgan were merchants. John had a store from 186o to 1876 and then sold his business to his brother, Morgan, who sold to Thomas H. and his son, John Q. Thomas H. Adams & Son built the present Masonic building. They later sold the store to William Cole, who is still in business.

The village grew slowly during the '20S and by the end of the decade

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numbered probably about ten families. Sylvester Strong states that the village early had a hatter by the name of Cultice and a tailor, one Ephraim Munthaw, but when they arrived, how long they remained, or what became of either is not known. The year 1831 forms a turning point in the history of the town as far as definite information as to what it contained at that time. As previously stated, Mrs. Eliza McDowney assisted in preparing a sketch of the town in 1880 as it appeared to her when she first saw it on her arrival in the place on February 5, 1831. Mrs. McDowney was fortunately possessed of a wonderfully retentive memory and although half a century had elapsed since she first saw the town, yet she was able to recall distinctly the names of the various families living in the place in 1831, their location in the town, and the occupations of the chief men of affairs in the place. Her description of the Jamestown of 1831 was prepared for the history of the county which appeared in 1881, and is here reproduced as it was there published :

JAMESTOWN IN 1831.

The town proper was composed of two roads or streets, one extending east and west from Washington C. H. to Xenia, called the Chillicothe Road ; the other running north and south from Maysville to Urbana, and called the Limestone Road. At the crossing of these roads, on the southeast corner, and where a store is now kept by Charles Dingess [it must be borne in mind that Mrs. McDowney was describing this in 1880], was located the old Baker tavern, with a stable a short distance to the rear. Going south of the left-hand side of the street, lived Fielder Pendulum—the site is now owned by John G. Adams. Still further south, on the same side of the street, was a tan-yard, owned by one John Dawson, Sr., who owned a tract of land in the vicinity ; his residence was located about half way between the Pendulum residence and the tannery.

Returning to the crossing of the roads, on the opposite side, we come to a small cabin owned by William BlakeHocated on the land just opposite to the present Adams residence. The next house, near the present location of Mrs. McDowney's residence, was .owned by "Grandma" Griffy. The site where is now located Jenkins' building, corner of Main and Limestone streets, was occupied by one Adair, who conducted a wheelwright shop; his residence stood where now stands the St. Cloud Hotel. The next building on the south side of West Main street was the so-called Parker Hotel property, which still stands [1880], and is fulfilling the purpose for which it was built—a country tavern. Proceeding a short distance westward, we arrive at a small building on the corner of a cornfield, owned by Dearduff. At or near where is now the residence of Dr. C. H. Spahr, lived Martin Mendenhall, the original owner of all the above located lands.

We have now arrived at the western limits of Jamestown, and will return on the opposite side of the street. About half way between the limits and the public square lived Dr. Winans ; the site of his residence is now the property of Mrs. Peter Harness. On the northwest corner was a small store kept by a man by the name of Thorp. On the west side of North Limestone street, one square from the corner, was the abode of Samuel Zortman, Sr. At some distance still further north was located the Nathaniel Hodges dwelling. North of him, on the Browder lands, a carding-machine did good service ; west of this lived James Browder, the original proprietor of the north side of the town.

We again return to the place of beginning, corner of Main and Limestone streets. After proceeding a short distance, we arrive at a tan-yard on a lot owned by Samuel T. Baker. South of this, and at some distance east of the road, was located the house

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of Rev. Benjamin Tressenrider, a noted Methodist preacher. Where is now located the Adams building was an unpretending little structure containing three rooms, about seventeen by twenty-two feet each. The north room was used as a dwelling by one Bently, who kept a store in the middle room. The south room was occupied by a man by the name of Hollingsworth as a store.

Upon arriving at the corner now occupied by the Wickersham Hotel, we find a vacant lot wherein a well has been dug, which is used by the general public, and the weary traveler, who, perchance may pass through Jamestown. We stop to partake of its cool and refreshing waters, and taking an eastward course, we proceed a short distance, when we reach the house of Joseph Davis, a double-frame, and the only habitation on this side of the road.

Returning on the opposite side, we reach the Adams Hotel, located on the site of the present residence of L. L. Syphers, and thus we have seen Jamestown as it was in 1831, the day Mrs. McDowney came to the youthful village as a young bride.

Summing up the town as it appeared to the young bride on that eventful day in February, 1831, when she first saw it, the following residents are enumerated as then living in or immediately adjoining it : John Dawson, Sr., Fielder Pendulum, William Baker, Zina B. Baker (the first husband. of Mrs. Downey),______ Adair, Martin Mendenhall, Dr. Mathias Winans, Samuel Zortman, Sr., Nathaniel Hodges, Thomas Browder, Samuel T. Baker, Benjamin Fessenrider, _______ Bently, Israel Hollingsworth and John Davis. William Baker was a nephew of Doctor Winans, and had located in Jamestown in 1830 or 1831 and opened a harness shop.

SUMMARY OF BUSINESS INTERESTS.

A number of the earliest business men of Jamestown have already been mentioned. No effort has been made in this connection to list every man who has had a business connection With the city, but to indicate some of the more prominent of the men who have contributed in some way to the growth of the city. The Adams brothers have been mentioned, as have all those who were in the village up to the '30s. The firm of Thorp & Ballard is said to have had the first store on the northwest corner of Limestone and Main streets. They were followed in the same room by James Hibben, who, in turn was succeeded in business in the same place by Thorp. The ownership of the store on this corner was evidently not conducive to the rapid accumulation of wealth if rapid changes in proprietorship may mean anything. Thorp gave way to Edward Wickersham, who soon moved out in favor of the firm of Syfers & Butler. Butler retired from the firm and Syfers took his son into partnership, and the new firm of Syfers & Son removed the old building and erected a substantial brick building on the corner.

REMINISCENCES OF W. A. PAXON.

Continuing the history of the business men of Jamestown, W. A. Paxon gives in his interesting way some additional facts : "It would seem that the Syfers concluded that the -corner was hoodooed and they were going .to

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remove the hoodoo by building a new building, which it would appear, completely allayed the hoodoo. Here the Syfers began to lay the foundation of two fortunes, which have since then exceeded those of any persons who ever lived in Jamestown. L. L. Syfers quit business in 1867 to start the Farmers and Traders Bank, and was its president until the day of his death. His son, Rufus K. Syfers, went to Indianapolis and acquired a fortune estimated at near a million dollars. Thus the Syfers demonstrated that there is really no such thing as a hoodoo. The building was purchased from the Syfers by one Henry Dean, who started a grocery which afterward developed into a groggery, and again invited the return of the hoodoo, for about that time the people began to wake up to the enormity of the crime and disgrace of having the best corner of the town occupied by a rum shop. Dean was prosecuted under the newly enacted laws and ordinances until he was compelled to sell out and quit business. The old law of "quick changes" again took hold of the corner and within the space of a few years it was owned by John J. Davis, Dan Zartman, Stinson, Davis & Carpenter, and finally it became the property of G. O. Carpenter, some twenty-five years or more ago, who has occupied the store as a drug store with a good degree of success.

"The first mill in the town of Jamestown was erected some time between 1835 and 1840, and, queer as it may seem, it was a sort of a combined sawmill and distillery. It is not recorded whether or not the proprietor used the sawdust in the manufacture of his whiskey, but' sawdust has been used in later years in the making of alcohol. The mill was built and operated by the firm of Merrick & McBride, and was the first mill in the township to be operated .by steam. After running it several years, the original owners disposed of it to a man by the name of Kendall, who proceeded to convert it into a flour-mill. It passed into the hands of J. W. McMillen about the time of the opening of the Civil War and he continued to operate it until in the '80s. McMillen put in extensive improvements and made it one of the best mills in the county at that time.

"The McMillens, John W. and son, William F., continued the operation of the mill for several years, and then organized a corporation which conducted the business for several years under the name of the Jamestown Milling Company. The mill was finally sold to John Jenks, who dismantled the property entirely and removed it to the present location on the south side of the .railroad where it is now operated by George & Ervin Brothers. The large brick smokestack on the old mill site was an object of much interest. It stood for years, over one hundred feet high and was the tallest smoke stack in central Ohio. It could be seen for miles in every direction from Jamestown. When the mill was destroyed, the smoke stack began to decay

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and crumble at the bottom, and was considered a menace to children and was ordered destroyed. When it was finally undermined and thrown down by a charge of dynamite the noise of its fall was distinctly heard in Xenia. The McMiller's never operated the saw-mill, but sold that part of the machinery to Thomas H. Adams, who operated it in connection with a flax- or tow-mill for a few years, and sold the saw-mill part to James Ginn, who removed it to the north side of town, where he did quite a business sawing out ties and bridge timber for the narrow-gauge railroad. Ginn then removed his saw-mill, which was a portable mill, over to the lot south of the railroad and kept on improving and adding to its equipment until he had one of the best outfits in the county, to which he added a planing-mill and soft lumber. Ginn sold out to Adams & Thuma, being John Q. Adams, the son of Thomas H. Adams, and John Thuma, who is engaged in the lumber business at the present time at the same old stand south of the railroad. Timber became so scarce in this locality that Adams & Thuma sold the saw-mill, and now there is no saw-mill at Jamestown. When Ginn first started the saw-mill he used large bulls for oxen and had quite a number of that kind of ox-teams on the roads hauling logs and lumber every day, and hauled some immense loads with them. He bought large tracts of timber, and cut and sawed it up. When he first started, Jamestown was surrounded by a number of fine forests ; but the prices Ginn offered the farmers seemed so alluring that they sold them off. In 1884 some people said that that was what caused the cyclone to visit the village, because all the timber had been cut off and some still think that. was the cause of its appearance in thee community."

CYCLONE OF APRIL 27, 1884.

The most destructive cyclone that ever passed over Greene county occurred on Sunday afternoon, April 27, 1884. It also struck the southern portion of Montgomery county, but most of its vengeance was spent on the town of Jamestown. It also struck Bellbrook, but only unroofed about fifteen houses, no persons being killed. From Bellbrook it veered slightly to the north in its eastward path and approached Jamestown down the Xenia pike. It struck the town about five o'clock in the afternoon and in a very few minutes had killed five persons, injured many others and had done nearly a quarter of a million of dollars worth of damage. It first hit the grounds of the Union. Agricultural Society at the west edge of the town, and there completely demolished every building except a few small stalls. The cyclone then struck the town proper and leveled a path approximately one hundred yards wide through the town. There was scarcely a building that was not more or less damaged, while about half of the houses were completely demolished. Not a single one of the churches escaped damage, the buildings of

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the Methodists, Presbyterians, Christians, and Colored Methodists being practically destroyed. Nearly one hundred families were left homeless, five people were killed outright and about forty suffered more or less serious injuries. The fury of the cyclone was practically spent on Jamestown, there being little damage done by it as it passed on east into Fayette county. As may well be imagined the day marks a turning point in the history of the town, and for many years yet to come that fateful day will be recalled as the biggest single event in the history of the city. The population of the town at that time was about nine hundred, the census of 1880 giving it a population of eight hundred and seventy-seven. Those who lost their lives in the cyclone were Mrs. Ellen Carpenter, Mrs. T. H. Adams, Katherine Boteler, Homer Paul and Lela Jenkins. The latter two were children, aged two and seven years, respectively, the other three being adults.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES OF JAMESTOWN.

Jamestown has had three events in the course of its century of existence that may best be described as catastrophic. One of these was the cyclone of 1884 ; the other two were the destructive fires of 1878 and 1879. The three unfortunate events fell within a period of six years.

The fire which broke out at two o'clock on the morning of June 18, 1878, started in the hardware store of Stephenson & Smith on Limestone street. It was soon beyond control and by six o'clock in the morning the Adams block, J. F. Johnson's dwelling and the adjoining hotel building were burned to the ground. The total loss approximated eighteen thousand dollars, with about half that amount of insurance on the various buildings and their contents.

The second fire occurred ten months later, April 17, 1879. It broke out on the morning of that day in the store of James H. Glass, which, at the time, was used as a bakery and grocery store by Jonathan Bargdell. From this building, which was soon burned to the ground, the fire swept to the adjoining residence of Mrs. George Clark, then occupied by David McLain and his family, and Doctor Torrence. This house was a combined dwelling house, grocery and doctor's office. Most of the contents of both buildings were saved, the total loss being about four thousand dollars on the buildings. These buildings were in the same block with those destroyed ten months before, the second fire leaving nothing in the block but a blacksmith shop..

THE POSTOFFICE.

There is as much difference between the postoffice of Jamestown in the '20s, when it was established, and the same institution today as there is between the ox-team of that day and the modern automobile. It was not until the days of the Civil War that mail was received daily, and the town

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was on a star route until the railroad reached the town in the middle of the '70s.

Shortly after Dr. Mathias Winans located in the town in 1820 he circulated a petition for the establishment of a postoffice and secured a sufficient number of prospective patrons of the proposed office to induce the postoffice department to place the town on a star route. But before the good old doctor had been commissioned postmaster he had assumed charge of such mail for the people of that vicinity as might be brought by a carrier from Xenia twice a week, his store serving as a distributing center for a radius of several miles. Xenia was eleven miles distant, but it was the nearest office to the town. When Doctor Winans was finally commissioned postmaster, the mail continued to be brought from Xenia semi-weekly, but later it came from Dayton, the town being placed on a star route running between Dayton and Chillicothe, the mail then being received but once a week.

In the latter part of the '40s the route was again changed, the star route running from Washington Court House to Bellbrook by way of Jamestown. Under this arrangement Jamestown received mail three times each week. In 1861 the town began receiving mail from Xenia daily and this arrangement obtained until the Dayton & Southeastern railroad reached the town in the middle of the. '70s. since which time the town has received mail daily from each direction. The local office now receives five mails daily, four by way of the railroad and one by rural carriers from Sabina and Bowersville.

Doctor Winans remained the village postmaster for a number of years, and was followed by Peter Dingess. The latter was in turn succeeded by his son, Charles Dingess, who was in charge until the opening of Lincoln's administration in 1861. Since that year, and up to April 1, 1917, when the office was placed under civil service regulations, the office has been a political plum. J. L. Quinn became postmaster in 1861 and filled the office With entire satisfaction until he gave way in 1874 to W. J. Galvin. Galvin served until September, 1885, when J. B. Christopher took charge of the office. Since that year the succession has been as follows : Capt. John R. Crain, Dr. Charles Clark, George W. McLaughlin, who only served a few days, until he was killed, accidentally, by Edward Ginn, one of his best friends; then Capt. John R. Crain was again commissioned and served until W. O. Custis was appointed, and served until the present incumbent, Henry J. Lierance, was appointed. The location of the postoffice has been quite a "bone of contention" in the village for many years. When Johnny Quinn had it, he took it to his home, down where the Hellriggle carriage factory was located for so many years, about three blocks from the center of town. When W. J. Galvin had it, it was like a Methodist preacher's location, in several places, and folks • coming to town one week would find the office in some other part of the town than it was the week before. When Charles

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Dingess first had it, it was in his store, in a small room built especially for that purpose, on the lot known for over a half century as the Dingess lot and where Samuel Brown and Arch McFarland now (1918) have built their elegant new home. Samuel T. Baker built a room especially for the office on East Main street, now occupied by W. G. Watson's tailor shop. When rural free delivery came into use, this room proved too small and it having no rear entrance, which the postoffice regulations required, the office was then moved to the opera house corner at Limestone and Xenia streets, where it was thought to be a fixture. It was soon ascertained that the law under which the opera house or city building had been built specifically provided that the building should never be used for other than village and township offices; then again, the distance from the railroad being more than four hundred feet threw the cost of carrying the mail upon the government, which was quite an item. About 1902 W. A. Paxson contracted with the government for the erection of a special building, in accordance with plans and specifications furnished by the government, to be used for a postoffice for the village, on a lease for ten years. Mr. Paxson then sold his lot, with the contract to W. O. Custis, who owned the adjoining property, and he built the present postoffice building. It is heated with a furnace and lighted by electricity, and especially well lighted in day time, and is one of the most commodious postoffice buildings in a town of this size to be found anywhere.

The office now employs two clerks in addition to the rural carriers. Rural free delivery was established in 1902 and there are now five carriers making daily trips from the office. There are no other postoffices in Silver-creek township, the establishment of rural delivery being followed by the discontinuance of the offices at New Jasper, Paintersville, Grape Grove, Luttrell and Edeville, the latter two being in Fayette county. J. O. Flax was the last postmaster at Grape Grove and George Slusher was officiating at New Jasper when the office there was discontinued.

When rural free delivery was established from the Jamestown office in 1902 there were five carriers appointed and four of them are still in the service : W. Denman Turner, Ottis Brown, Walter Shigley and Albert Glass. Mac Miller was appointed in 1902, but was killed in a railroad accident in 1917, his route now being in charge of Carl Robinson. All of the carriers but Shigley use automobiles when the roads will permit.

TOWN HALL.

Jamestown has a fine public building for the officials of the town and township. This building also contains a good-sized auditorium, fitted with a stage and the necessary stage equipment for producing plays, the building being usually referred to locally as the opera house.

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TOWN OFFICIALS IN 1918.

The officials of the town for the year 1918 are as follows : Albert Mercer, mayor ; A. D. Walker, clerk ; George H. Spahr, treasurer ; Albert Zeiner, marshal; C. N. Smith, assessor ; Daniel Adsit, Granville Bramlett, S. A. Brown, J. D. King, L. C. Walker and W. G. Watson, councilmen.

BUSINESS DIRECTORY FOR 1918.

Jamestown's business directory for the year 1918 carries the following names of firms and individuals : D. E. Adsit, florist ; W. E. Barnett, hardware; G. 0. Carpenter, drugs ; Carpenter & Frager furniture ; J. G. Clark, shoemaker; W. H. Cole, department store; A. Dwyer, grain elevator; Farmers and Traders Bank; L. A. Farquahar Company, dry goods; George & Ervin Brothers Company, fuel ; Glass & Son, groceries ; W. F. Harper, drugs ; C. G. Hatch, plumber ; H. F. Heifner hotel ; I. H. Hilton, grocery and bakery ; Hopkins & Gerard, cigars and pool room; Jenkins & Turnbull, groceries and hardware; F. W. Jewell, groceries and bakery ; W. W. Johnson, groceries; M. H. Klatt, meats; Bert Long, agricultural implements ; C. C. Mauck, hotel and restaurant ; Charles J. Mayo, photographer ; M. T. McCreight, dry goods ; J. O. McDorman, men's furnishings; A. McFarland, cigars ; Lawrence Miller, blacksmith; W. A. Paxon, attorney ; Peoples Bank ; Perry & Thompson, clothing and furnishings; W. P. Shafer, blacksmith ; Howard Shane, meats; J. S. Stryker, groceries ; W. C. Thomas, hotel and restaurant ; Mrs. M. F. Titus, millinery ; B. B. Vandewort, nursery ; J. Waddell, groceries; W. G. Watson, tailor; A. Whittington, groceries; Wilson & Baker, marble; Wickersham Hardware Company, hardware, and Zeiner Brothers, undertaking and furniture.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE DOOMED TOWN OF OSBORN.

The thriving town of Osborn will soon be no more. The year of 1918 will see the beginning of the end of a town which has had an interesting history since its beginning in 1851 —sixty-seven years ago. There are several citizens of Bath township who were living the year it was born, and, if subsequent events turn out as they now appear scheduled, these same citizens will see the death of the same place. But this story is concerned with the life of the town as nearly as it can be traced from 1851 down to the present time. The next historian of the county may have to tell of the complete disappearance of the town, although its fate is not yet definitely decided.

The plat of the town was recorded on May 20, 1851, by its two proprietors, John Cox and Samuel Stafford, Cox owning most of the tract, which was divided into ninety-five lots, the lots being platted on either side of the recently completed Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad, which had run its first train through Bath township on January 1, 1850. The village was named in honor of E. F. Osborn, then superintendent of the railroad. The site of the original plat was in the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 28, township 3, range 8; the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of section 34, of the same township and range. The proprietors set aside a tract for the railroad, 852 by 130 feet. .The total amount of land within the original plat was 42.22 acres, of which 28.4 acres belonged to Cox and 13.82 acres belonged to Stafford.

ADDITIONS TO ORIGINAL PLAT.

The first addition to the site was made by Cox and recorded on June 23, 1858. It included lots 96 to 109, inclusive. It is not profitable to follow the many additions in detail since that year, but they may be briefly summed un as follows :