HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY - 415

CHAPTER XXXII.

MIAMI TO TOWNSHIP.

INTERESTING HISTORIC ASSOCIATES - NORTH BEND - CLEVES - ADDYSTON - FERN BANK - CHURCHES

MIAMI TOWNSHIP is one of the smallest in the county and also one of the oldest, having_ been erected in 1791, at the same time as Cincinnati and Columbia. It then included parts of Delhi, Green, and Colerain in addition to its present area. The Great Miami separates it from the State of Indiana and from Whitewater township; it adjoins Colerain for a short distance on the north and Delhi on the south, while Green lies adjacent on the east. The township borders upon the Ohio river on the south.

The historic associations of the township are most interesting. Within its limits Fort Finney was built, at the mouth of a small creek, three-quarters of a mile above the mouth of the Miami. Here, too, John Cleves Symmes made his first. settlement, and projected what he designed to be the metropolis of the Miami country. The Judge left Maysville, Kentucky, January 29, 1789, and landed at the site of North Bond at three o'clock in the afternoon of February 2nd. The river was exceedingly high, which determined him in the rejection of the level lands at the mouth of the Miami, where he had originally designed to found his settlement. At North Bend, accordingly, he had a plat made for a village, comprising forty-eight lots, which were eagerly purchased and improved. Subsequently he had a plat surveyed for a city one mile square. This included the village site, and conflicting claims of ownership at once involved the embryo settlement in legal and social disputes and disagreements. Judge Symmes thus described the place in a letter written about the time it began to assume village proportions: " This large cabin is shingled with nails, has a very large and good stone chimney which extends from side to side of the house, for the more convenient accommodation of strangers. who are constantly coming and going, and never fail to make my house their home while they stay in the village. In this chimney is a large oven built of stone. Adjoining to this house I have built me a well-finished smokehouse, fourteen feet square, which brings you to a fortified gate of eight feet, for communication back. All the buildings, east of this gate, are set as close to each other as was possible. Adjoining to and west of the gate is a double cabin of forty-eight feet in length aud sixteen feet wide, with a well built stone chimney of two fire-places, one facing each room. This roof is covered with boatplank throughout, and double rows of clapboards in the same manner with the first described cabin. In these several cabins I have fourteen sash-windows of glass. My barn or fodder-house comes next, with a stable on one side for my horses, and on the other one for my cows. These entirely fill up the space of twelve poles. This string of cabins stands-poles from the bank of the river. and. quite free from and to the south of the front or Jersey street of the city. The buildings have cost rue more

416 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

than two hundred pounds specie, and I cannot afford to let them go to strangers for nothing--the mason work alone carrie to more than one hundred dollars. There is not another house on the ground that has either cellar, stone chimney, or glass window in it, nor of any value compared with mine.

"I have gone to considerable expense in erecting comfortable loghouses on the three lots which I had taken for myself and two nephews, young men who are with me. The lots in North Bend were four poles wide; we have therefore occupied twelve poles of ground on the banks of the Ohio. This front is covered with buildings from one end to the other, and too valuable a construction for me to think of losing them in the general wreck of the village. That the proprietors may be more sensible of the reasonableness of the request:, I will give you a description of them. The first. or most easterly one, is a good cabin, sixteen feet wide and twenty-two feet long, with a handsome stone chimney in it; the roof is composed of boat plank set endwise, obliquely, and answers a triple purpose of rafters, lath and an undercourse of shingle, on which lie double rows of clapboards which makes an exceedingly tight and good roof. The next is a cottage, sixteen feet by eighteen, and two and a half stories high; the roof is well shingled with nails. The third is a cabin, fifteen feet wide and sixteen feet long, one story high, with a good stone chimney in it; the roof shingled with nails. The fourth is a very handsome log house, eighteen feet by twenty-six, and two stories high, with two good cellars under the first in order to guard more effectually against beat and cold."

In 1791 a garrison of eighty soldiers was stationed here, and with their withdrawal and the establishment of the military post at Cincinnati, the place rapidly declined. The unsuccessful issue of St. Clair's campaign against the Indians hastened the dissolution of its fortunes. In 1795 the Judge wrote that the cabins were "deserted by dozens in a street." He did not despair of the future of the place, however, but continued to cherish the belief that it would yet become a great city. He continued to reside here until his death. His residence was one of the most commodious in the State. About a mile southeast of its former location is a cemetery in which his remains are interred. The inscription reads as follows: "Here rest the remains of John Cleves Symmes, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first settlement between the Miami rivers. Born on Long Island in the State of New York, July 21, A. D. 1742. Died at Cincinnati, February 26, A. D. 1814." President Harrison, who married the Judge's daughter Annie, also resided at North Bend, and is interred on a mound 'a short distance southwest of the village. Apart from its historic associations the village possesses few elements of interest or importance. It has a substantial school building and town hall and a fine Catholic church. It was incorporated in 1874, and included considerable territory to the east, but when Addyston came into existence this corporation was dissolved in order to permit that place to secure separate political autonomy.

Cleves bad a population of 836 in 1880 and 1,227 in 1890. It was incorporated in 1875. The first mayor was W. B. Welsh; clerk, Joseph M. Balsley; council, W. A. Dick, H. L. Cooper, John Laird, Oliver Matson, Jacob Young, and J. M. Flinchpaugh. The succession of mayors has been as follows: 1875, W. B. Welsh; 1877, R. S. White; 1879, H. L. Cooper; 1881, James Carlin; 1883, W. A. Dick; 1885, William Argo; 1887, W. B. Welsh; 1889, Joseph S. Ingersoll; 1891, A. E. B. Stephens; 1893, J. S. Ingersoll.

The village was founded by Gen. Harrison in 1818, and, enjoying advantages of a location in one of the principal highways leading from Cincinnati to the West, it early enjoyed a fair degree of business prosperity. At the present time it ranks with the most important village communities of the county. Every line of business is represented. The public schools are well sustained. There are two churches, Presbyterian and Methodist.

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY. - 417

Addyston. was incorporated in 1891. The first mayor was Frank Nevitt; clerk, Frank M. Ware; treasurer, Enos F. Kelch; marshal, Sherman McDaniel; council, Charles Glover, Stephen W. Garrison, George Hay, Henry G. Carr, William Conley, and William Guyler. Mr. Nevitt was succeeded in 1892 by Frank M. Ware, the present mayor. The corporate limits of the village include the villages of Addyston and Sekitan, the respective designation of its two post offices and railway stations.

The site was originally owned by C. W. Short. Sekitan is the older of the two villages. The first impetus to improvement here was given by the construction of the Big Four coal elevator, which was removed to this point in 1881 from North Bend. Coal is brought here by water and transferred to the railroad for shipment westward. The Addyston Pipe & Steel Company established their works here several years ago, and employ several hundred men. This is the main industrial support of the village. The Cincinnati Paving Block Company manufactures vitrified brick and also constitutes an important local industrial feature. The village has four churches: Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal and Methodist and Baptist (colored).

Fern Bank is a delightful suburban village, situated partly in Miami and partly in Delhi township. It was founded by C. W. Short, to whose munificence it owes the handsome Episcopal church that constitutes its only place of worship. The village is incorporated, and has a most efficient local administration. It was incorporated March 27, 1888. The first officers were: Mayor, William G. Miner; clerk, William A. White; treasurer, Perrin G. March; marshal, John Wyatt; council, R. B. Beeson, George A. Fitch, Charles W. Short, George A. Snider, J. F. Thornton, George Tozzer. The succession of mayors has been as follows: 1889, William G. Minor; 1890. William A. White; 1891, William A. White; 1892, E. A. Hill; 1893, Charles W. Short.

CHURCHES.

Cleves Presbyterian Church was organized by Rev. J. Hall, a missionary of that. denomination in this section, November 22, 1830. The original constituent members were Stephen Wood, Catherine Wood, Robert Spence, Hannah Spence, Lewis. Morgan, Ann Morgan, Sarah Morgan, Andrew Porter, Eliza Porter, James Story, Ruth Story, James S. Ogden, Arthur Orr, James M. Martin, Pallas Young, Dorothy Allen, Alice Hodge and Sarah Hodge. The first elders, Stephen Wood, Robert Spence, and, James S. Ogden, were ordained March 27, 1831. The church edifice is a brick structure, and was erected in 1850. The present pastor is Rev. C. O. Hastings.

Cleves Methodist Episcopal Church was organized some years ago, the prominent early members being John McCullough, David Brown, William Rogers, William Bateman and Stephen Cooper. The first place of worship of the society was the Presbyterian church. The colored Methodists worship in the building first erected for its individual use. The present place of worship is a substantial frame building.

Zion United Brethren Church is an old organization. Its place of worship is situated in the northern part of the township.

Addyston Churches.-The Methodist and Episcopal churches of Addyston were built in 1891, the colored Baptist in 1890, and the colored Methodist in 1892. All are frame structures.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church, North Bend.-There was a small Catholic population here as early as 1860, and mass was celebrated at private houses by priests from the city. When Father Scholl assumed charge at Delhi in 1875 he included this point in his parish, and agitated the erection of a church building. The cornerstone was laid September 19, 1886, by Rev. Albrink, vicar general of the diocese„ and the dedication occurred July 31, 1887.