CITY OF TOLEDO - 225 sibly some of the ladies of Toledo who. when children, attended Miss Alice Jenks' school, may remember a May-day picnic, given to the scholars on May 1, 1844. It was held in the woods, out of sight and hearing of the town, in a secluded spot, a few rods beyond the present Oliver House. A small frame house was standing on the point near the site of the Wabash railroad car shops. This belonged to John Baldwin. and was the only dwelling on the shore between Swan creek and John and George Knaggs. What was formerly known as the "Middle Ground" was a wild rice swamp. commencing 'about opposite the foot of Monroe street. The lower end was under water during the fore part of the season, till the long grass began to show itself, becoming quite thick by autumn. It became shoaler till near the railroad bridge, where there was land barely aboye water, and a little further south were two fishing stations. used in the spring and autumn. But what soil there was above water was too low and wet for any attempt at cultiyation. Eyen then it was foreseen, by some of the residents of Toledo. that this middle ground would proye to be the right place for railroad purposes ; but eyen the sanguine expectations of that day of wild speculation did not anticipate the present business importance of the location. Eyen later, when it was brought before the managers of the Michigan Southern railroad, there was strong opposition to the plan before its adoption. It was feared that the expense would be too great, and it was confidently urged that the whole could never be wanted. In 1837 Andrew Palmer & Company put up a warehouse, some 120 feet northeast from Monroe street, and carried on forwarding business in it for some years, the firm being a part of the time Palmer, Bush Company. This warehouse passed into other hands and was burned in 1853. Andrew Palmer left Toledo in 1845 for Wisconsin, Peter Palmer remoyed to Lockport, and the other partner, William H. Bush. returned to New York. Two other and larger warehouses were nut up in 1838, each of them haying three stories, one the rear of Finsterwald's clothing store. This was burned in 1840. The other, then belonging to Hezekiah D. Mason, became known as the Godard warehouse and was owned by Young & Backus. In 1840, the old red warehouse was built at the corner of Monroe and Water streets, originally forty foot front, but another forty feet were added in 1842. the site now being occupied by the Manufacturers' Railway Company freight station. The Daniels warehouse, at the foot of Jefferson street. was built in 1843. Four store buildings, on the northeast corner of Summit and Monroe streets, were begun in 1842 and finished during the next Year. The bluff at this place was twenty feet high and had to be dug away to make room for the block. It is said there was a small military post (Fort Industry) on this bluff—a blockhouse—probably as far back as the time when the British government held possession on the river, which they did as late as 1796. Soon after the digging was commenced, two skeletons were found. which. from remnants of shoes and buttons, were supposed to have been of soldiers belonging to the little garrison. 226 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY In the spring of 1811, the corner store was opened by A. Ralston & Co. (Alex. Ralston and Solomon Linsley) as a drug store. Ralston did not remain long, when the firm became Solomon Linsley & Co., which firm was succeeded by West & Van Stone, and the stand was used in one line for the same business during a long period. The present Fort Industry block was rebuilt in 1907. Another one of the stores was leased by Charles O'Hara for a wholesale grocery. Afterward, it was taken by V. H. Ketcham & Co. for their business, which was continued there for some years by their successors, Secor & Berdan. The Poag block, on the corner of Madison street, was put up in 1849, and the. Deuel block about the same time. As early as 1832, attention was turned toward the place where the Wabash & Erie canal and the Miami canal would probably enter Lake Erie, or the Maumee river. Not long afterward, some of the more enterprising men of Buffalo, who were engaged in the forwarding business on the Erie canal, and owning large vessel and steamboat interests on the lake, looking to the further extension of their business, became interested near the mouth of the river, where later grew up the yillage of Manhattan. Among these parties who had planned to make Manhattan the business point was Isaac S. Smith, of the then firm of Smith & Macy, of Buffalo. He had never seen the proposed location till, in the year 1834, he came up to look at the prospects generally, and then, for the first time, visited the rival sites, from Maumee to Manhattan. He was not long in perceiying the generally superior adyantages of Vistula and Port Lawrence and advised his associates to look to these places as the more advisable for their purposes. Under his adyice, Smith & Macy and Pratt & Taylor agreed to join in the purchase of property there. Henry W. Hicks, of New York. also, was joined with them equally in the project. Smith, acting for the others, sought out Edward Bissell, whose sagacity at once grasped the adyantages of having such parties for coadjutors. They arranged for a purchase from Oliver & Williams of a large interest in the Port Lawrence tracts, also, and then it was agreed to unite the two opposition yillages of Vistula and Port Lawrence, as one town, under the name of Toledo. From this time the growth of the place was encouraging. It was then all a forest from near Locust street to Jefferson street, the original settlements having been on and near Lagrange street, in Vistula, and about the mouth of Swan creek, in Port Lawrence. These woods were cut away, opening the space between the two places. The next year, 1835, the forest was cut on the low ground, back of Port Lawrence, and along the sides of Mud creek. This low ground was apparently a swamp, difficult to reclaim, and it remained much in that condition till 1846, when a partially successful attempt was made to drain it by a sewer along the line of Jackson street, where is the present enlarged sewer. Mr. Hicks had active capital and it was used freely in buildings and various improvements, and in giving a start generally. The steamboats on the lakes,_ owned and controlled by the two Buffalo firms—Smith & Macy and Pratt & Taylor—commenced to stop on the way to Detroit, that being as fir as they were regularly run, An occasional CITY OF TOLEDO - 227 trip. however. would be made to Green Bay and Chicago—once, perhaps, by each boat during the season. These boats, on their returns from the "Upper Lakes"—as Lakes Huron and Michigan were called —were always decked out with evergreens, tied to flag-staff, masthead and bowsprit, as an indication of the far-off regions they had yisited. Notwithstanding the adhesion of these firms to Toledo, there was still a strong Buffalo interest, backed by capital, that favored Manhattan, and considerable improyement .was made there, in building, wharfing, etc. This influence was kept up for some years for Manhattan, and did not fully die out till 1844 or 1845. One of the Toledo forwarders ( Morgan L. Collins) was given the use of a large warehouse in Manhattan, rent free, in 1843, and several canal boats were sent up from the Erie canal to form a line for him to run there. These boats made one trip from Manhattan to Lafayette and back. Their second trip was from Manhattan and back to Toledo. They then went by river to Manhattan. for the third start. After that, Mr. Collins quit his free-rent warehouse and returned to Toledo, with his entire line. One of the objections operating strongly against Manhattan was the fact that the channel of the river ran along near the opposite bank. So. to obyiate this objection, some of the belieyers in the theory that great cities, like New York, grew up near the entrance of rivers, made a map of Lucas City, supposed to haye stood where the Manhattan Iron Works were afterward located—the said map being the only existence it ever knew. Yet, here, too. many lots were sold, the purchasers doubtless indulging in the Micawber-like hope that something might turn up from them. In the struggle between the riyal towns it became necessary for Toledo and Manhattan to make a common cause, to prevent the stopping of the canal at Maumee. Some of the later prominent citizens of Toledo had originally cast their fortunes at Maumee—among them. Gen. John E. Hunt. Jessup W. Scott. Samuel M. Young, Morrison R. Waite and others. It is easy to understand how powerful were the influences which men of so much ability and energy could bring to bear in favor of their own location. Notwithstanding this formidable array for ending the canal at the foot of the rapids, the clown-river parties preyailed, resulting in a sort of triple compromise, locking the water in at all three of the places—Maumee, Toledo and Manhattan—and bringing it to the last two named on what was called the high leyel, that they could have the advantage of the water power for milling and manufacturing purposes. By this plan, the nominal terminus of the canal was at Manhattan, locking into the river by side cuts at Maumee City and at Toledo. The Toledo men were rather satisfied at this arrangement. believing that the superiority of their location would eventually absorb the whole business, and their faith in this respect has been fully justified by the working result. It was believed by mans- at the time that money was used by the down-river parties in this matter—that "ring," perhaps, bringing to bear more potent arguments than the up-river "ring" produced but this may be placed in the category of the 228 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY many charges of corruption that are often made in the midst of political and sectional conflicts. The foregoing reminiscences of the early days in Toledo have been given substantially as written by Mr. Mott, the text being changed only by giving the present status of the old land-marks, thus enabling the reader more readily to locate the sites where the pioneers laid the foundation of the "future great city." Whether or not they "builded greater than they knew" we are unable to say, but certain it is that among the pioneers of the Maumee valley there were men who, with seemingly prophetic vision, selected this point as the location for the metropolis of the region then being settled. A correspondent of The Ohio and Michigan Register and Emigrant's Guide, writing from Perrysburg, in 1832, had the following to say of the locality of the present city : "The new town Vistula; just being born, and mentioned in your last, makes a great noise, and attracts much attention from the numerous immigrants who are seeking the most eligible site for a town on the Maumee. A considerable number of lots, according to the information obtained from Maj. B. F. Stickney, one of the proprietors, had been sold in the course of the spring and summer, and improvements of a permanent character and on a large scale engaged to be made. This nascent village is handsomely situated on the left bank of the Maumee river, about three miles from its mouth, and immediately below the site of Port Lawrence. These places will probably some day grow together and become one, proyided my opinion shall turn out to be correct, that the great town of the Maumee shall be situated there." In that same year (1832) Jessup W. Scott, who at that time was the editor of the paper from which the above extract was taken, made his first purchase of real estate at this point. Of that investment he thus wrote in a letter some years before his death, in 1874 "The only possible chance (for purchase) that I found was a very wild and rude piece of ground, then possessed by Dr. Sutphen, being the southwest fractional quarter of Section 36, Township 9 south. Range 7 east, embracing a small piece of Section 35. Of this I bargained for seventy acres at twelve dollars per acre. I also wrote to Major Oliver, who resided in Cincinnati, offering to become part owner of his tracts, and to become agent for their management. When my letter reached the Major there was an applicant with him, having the same object in view—Dr. Daniel O. Comstock—who bought one-fourth of Tracts 1 and 2, and with his brother, Stephen B. Comstock, became the agent of what was called the Port Lawrence Company, owning. Tracts and 2. At the time I bought the seventy acres I could 'have bought the whole fractional quarter of eighty-six acres by giving fifteen dollars per acre for what remained, but, as I thought the part bought was worth more by the acre than what was left, I declined to buy. "Having, as I thought, got a fair chance to participate in the adyantage of the future rapid growth of the great city, I embarked with my horse on the steamboat Pioneer for Sandusky City, elated CITY OF TOLEDO - 229 with high hopes of future profits from my purchase. On the steamer I fell in with a man who had just come from the west shore of Lake Michigan, where he had pre-empted (or rather bought the preemption of) an eighty-acre lot at the mouth of the Milwaukee river. This was the first time I had heard that name. I think the land cost him six dollars per acre, and as he could hardly spare so much money, he offered to let me in as joint purchaser at, I think, the cost price. I declined, telling him he would do better to make the new town of Vistula the theater of speculations, as it might, and probably would, become a considerable city before settlements to any extent would reach as far west as Milwaukee." This purchase by Mr. Scott is mentioned again in a letter written by him in January, 187o, and in, which is found the following interesting facts touching values of real estate now in the very heart of Toledo : "In 1827 or 1828 the southwest fractional quarter of Section 36, embracing the ground on which M. A. Scott's block on Adams street [corner of Adams and Huron] and Judge Potter's house on Jefferson street [corner of Jefferson and Fourteenth], stand, and having its center near the high school building, and containing eighty-six acres. was entered as Congress land at $1.25 per acre by Judge John Hollister of Perrysburg. Within the next five years it was sold by him three times—the first two sales at three dollars per acre successively failed, because the purchasers were unable to pay, so the land was taken back by Hollister. The third sale was made to Dr. J. V. D. Sutphen at six dollars per acre, after the demonstration by Major Stickney and partners to start Vistula, at Lagrange street. In June; 1832, Dr. Sutphen sold to Jessup W. Scott seventy acres of this tract at twelye dollars per acre. In 1835 Scott sold to Edward Bissell, for himself and others, an undivided half of the seventy-acre piece for $6.000. "Dr. Sutphen changed his investment by purchasing the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 35, embracing the Swayne tract, the ten acres where Judge Fitch lives [Adams street and Woodruff avenue], and land of William H. Scott and others, bounded west by Collingwood avenue, for which eighty acres he was to pay $480. In 1835 Sutphen sold it to Scott & Wakeman for thirty or thirty-five dollars per acre. In 1838 J. W. Scott sold an undivided half to N. H. Swayne at $200 per acre. On division with William H. Scott, who then owned the other half, Scott took the north thirty-seven acres and Swayne the balance, a little less than forty-three acres, the sections being short measure. "In 1834 the lots on the corner of Monroe street and Market Space were offered for fifty dollars, and the north corner of Summit and Monroe for twenty-five dollars, conditioned that a two-story house painted white was to be put up thereon in a given time—say one or two -years. A half-acre piece about where White's Hall [Newhausel Brothers' Block] stands, with a log house on it, was offered the same year for fifty dollars to my brother, J. Austin Scott, who 230 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY was looking for good bargains, but failed to see one in that piece of ground." For the purpose of further comparison of real estate values between pioneer days and the Present time, it may be stated that the first lot in what is now Toledo's business district, but which was in 1832 the reorganization of the village of Port Lawrence, bounded by Jefferson avenue, Monroe and Superior streets and the Maumee river, was sold to John Baldwin in July, 1833, for twenty-five dollars. It was lot 11, next to the corner lot at the northeast corner of Summit and Monroe streets. Today that lot is worth $40,000 for the ground alone. The entire block, exclusive of the buildings, is valued at $720,000, the inside property being worth $1,000 a foot and the corner lots more. On St. Clair street, just west of that block, the inside property is valued at $500, but the owners would hardly accept double that sum. In 1854 it sold for thirty-five dollars a foot. On July I, 1831, John T. Baldwin paid the United States government $1.25 an acre for 79.11 acres which included what was then variously known as "Lower Island," "Grassy Point," or the "Middle Grounds," now the site of the famous New York Central terminal freight depot. On Oct. 21, 1832, he sold it to Marquis Baldwin for $150 and was glad to get rid of what was then mostly swamp and stagnant water. Four years later Marquis Baldwin unloaded the parcel on Emery D. Potter for $4.000, and today the little portion containing the freight terminal and railroad yards back to the Union Station could not be purchased for $1,000,000. The seventy acres, before mentioned as having been purchased by Jessup W. Scott, in June, 1832, was appraised in 1887 at $1,600,000, and it is easily worth double that amount today ; and the half-acre of ground, between Adams and Jackson streets, and which was offered to J. Austin Scott for fifty dollars, in 1834, is now worth, exclusive of buildings, conservatively half a million dollars. It is by such figures and comparisons as these that one is able to comprehend the wonderful development of the city of Toledo in three-quarters of a century. But in contemplating the marvelous advance in the value of the land the thoughtful reader will pause and reflect. He will very naturally seek for the cause of the increase in price, and in doing so will discover that it has been controlled entirely by the increase in population. He will awaken to a realization of the fact that, no matter how rich or productive land may be, it has no value whatever so long as only one individual desires its exclusive occupancy and use ; and, on the other hand, that the greater the number of people desiring to occupy land in any locality the greater will become its value or price. Then the fact will dawn upon his mind that the people who chose to establish their homes in Toledo collectively have created the values expressed by the figures heretofore given. And the voice of justice will no doubt whisper the query : If the people collectively have created this value, why has it not been given back to them in a common treasury, thus making unnecessary the taxes levied upon the things they produce and the necessaries of CITY OF TOLEDO - 231 life? There are those optimistic enough to believe that in due time such a plan will prevail. But, to return to the narratiye. Jessup Wakeman Scott, who figured so prominently in the early real estate transactions in Toledo, was born at Ridgefield, Conn., Feb. 25, 1799. So fully did he improve the advantages supplied by the district schools that at the age of sixteen years he became a teacher. Beginning at home, he continued such pursuit in New Jersey, Georgia and South Carolina, meeting with exceptional success. At eighteen he devoted some attention to the study of medicine, but soon changed to the profession of law, and was admitted to the bars of Georgia and South Carolina, in 1822. He was at one time a teacher in the State female college at Columbia. S. C. In consequence of the sharp issues then rising on the slavery question. in which Mr. Scott fully sympathized with the North. he concluded it better to return to that section, which he did in 1830. In the spring of 1831, he came west and located at Florence (then in Huron. now in Erie county), as the agent of Jessup Wakeman, his father-in-law, who owned a large tract of land in that yicinity. and chiefly in Wakeman township, Huron county. Here he commenced the publication of the monthly periodical before referred to. entitled the Ohio and Michigan Register and Emigrant's Guide, which was printed at Norwalk. As early as 1828, while yet in the South. his attention was called to the remarkable natural adyantages of the vicinity of the head of Lake Erie. as furnishing a future city of great importance : and in July of that year he addressed Gen. John E. Hunt. then postmaster at Maumee. a letter, in which he said : "I wish to obtain all the information in my power respecting your section of country with the yiew of making it my future residence." The result of his inyestigation was such that, after remaining about one year at Florence, he yisited Maumee and made the purchase of the seventy acres of land before mentioned. In 1833 lie removed his family to Perrysburg. where he resumed the practice of law and was chosen prosecuting attorney. Still bent on literary pursuits. in December of that year. in partnership with Henry Darling, a brother-in-law, he started the pioneer paper of the Maumee valley—the Miami of the Lake, that then being the appellation of the Maumee river. In 1836 he "retired on his fortune" to Bridgeport, Conn.: but by the crash of 1837 was called back to Maumee, where he remained for seyen years. In 1844 he first made Toledo his residence and at once became connected with the Blade, which he conducted for several years. In 1857 he remoyed to Castleton. below Albany, N. V.. where lie remained some years. and then returned to Toledo. In 1868, he prepared with much care and published a pamphlet setting forth fully his theory of the "Future Great City of the World." which, as he claimed. Toledo was to be. In October, 1872, sensible of the near approach of the end of life, and anxious to give effect to his deep interest in his fellow citizens and their posterity. Mr. Scott devised and formulated the scheme for the endowment of an institution of learning to be known as "The Toledo University of Arts and Trades," 232 - MEMOIRS OP LUCAS COUNTY which culminated in the Toledo Manual Training School. Mr. Scott died in January, 1874. Joseph Harmon Crane was the owner of one of the first ferry boats at Toledo, a flat scow capable of carrying teams. In the spring of 1836, when the freshet carried away the Swan creek bridge, he ran his ferry boat for the accommodation of pedestrians and teams in crossing that stream. Mr. Crane was of the old Connecticut stock and was born Sept. 24, 1793. In 1832 he removed with his family to Port Lawrence, and there he remained a useful citizen until his death, in July, 1849. Charles Augustus Crane, son of Joseph H., was born in Boardman, Trumbull county, Ohio, June 11, 187, and he attended the public schools of that place until he was fifteen years old, when the family removed to the present site of Toledo. Fancying the sailor's life, he secured a position on a lake vessel and continued there for two years. Satisfied with such experience, in 1834 lie was employed in a store in Toledo. Remaining there for two years, he entered the service of the Warehouse & Transportation Company, continuing with it until 1839. Then, with the late Lyman Wheeler, he formed the firm of 'Wheeler & Crane, rectifiers and grocers, whose store was on Monroe street. In 1841, selling his interest to Mr. Wheeler. he returned to the transportation business and continued therein until 1845. For two years thereafter lie was in the banking house of Prentice. Dow & Company. In 1847, he engaged as clerk with Thomas Watkins & Company, commission and transportation agents. Remaining there until 1853, he then remoyed to the east side of the river and for ten years was engaged in farming, subsequently dealing in real estate. For many years he was managing director of the Lucas County Infirmary, and he was for a long time a director in the First National Bank of Toledo. His residence continued in East Toledo until his death, May 25, 1884. In the year 1836, Valentine H. Ketcham commenced business in this city, in general merchandising, and he continued the same. part of the time in connection with a brother, S. S. Ketcham, until 1840, when he was joined by Joseph J. Secor, as a clerk, but who ere long became a partner, the firm name being Ketcham & Secor. Their business was general, including most classes of goods, and adapted to jobbing in a moderate way. They also dealt to some extent in produce. In 1854, Mr. Ketcham retired from the business and was succeeded by Peter F. Berdan, when the new firm of Secor, Berdan & Co. was formed, with George Secor, a former employe of the house, as a partner. Samuel B. Scott was born in Saratoga county, New York, in 1812, and in 1835 came to Toledo, where he first engaged in merchandise trade. About 1846, in connection with Richard Mott, he opened an office on the dock, as commission merchant, continuing there until 186o. He held various public offices, as member of the city council and board of education, city clerk, etc. He died at Toledo, Dec. 18, 1866. Daniel Segur was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1812. In 1815, the family removed to Oneida county, same State, the father CITY OF TOLEDO - 233 engaging in milling. In 1827 the father died, and then Daniel vent to Utica for employment, as clerk in a hotel. Thence he went to Buffalo for like employment, and in 1832, he and a brother became proprietors of the Mansion House at Cleveland. A year later he came to Toledo and opened the Mansion House, on Summit street, between Locust and Lagrange. Not long thereafter he became proprietor of the American Hotel, corner of Summit and Elm streets. and which was burned in 1861. Much of Mr. Segur's life was spent in public positions of yarious kinds. In 1838 he was elected to the city council, and his connection with the city government, with brief interyals, was continued to the time of his death. Sept. 5, 1876. In 1845 he was appointed collector of canal tolls. and in 1858 deputy collector of customs. Joseph R. Williams was born at Taunton, Mass., Nov. 14, 1808, his parents soon removing to New Bedford. At the age of eighteen he entered Sandwich Academy, for preparatory studies with reference to a collegiate course, and was graduated at Harvard in 1831. He at once began the study of law in the office of "Honest John Davis," at Worcester, and after completing the course he was admitted to practice and became a partner of John W. Clifford, of New Bedford. His health soon failing, requiring a relinquishment of his profession, lie came west as the agent of a New England company seeking inyestments in lands. In such capacity he arriyed at Toledo in 1835. and there lie remained until 1839, when he removed to Constantine. Mich., making large inyestments at that point, including the construction and operation of flouring mills. He there became actiyely identified with political matters : was a member of the State Constitutional Conyention of 185o : was twice the Whig, candidate for Congress, and twice the candidate of the same party for United States senator against General Cass and he was a delegate to the Chicago River and Harbor. Conyention in 1847. In May, 1853. lie purchased the Toledo Blade and resumed his residence in this city. In 185-6 lie had the contract for binding for Congress, and in the latter year sold the Blade to Clark Waggoner and G. T. Stewart. He then became the president of the Michigan Agricultural College, but after holding the position for three years was compelled on account of ill health to relinquish it. After spending a few months in the Bahamas he returned to Michigan in 186o, and was elected to the State Senate, of which body he was made the presiding officer, which position he held until the time of his death, June 15, 1861. Peter Frederick Berdan was born in Brunswick, Medina county, Ohio, Oct. 23, 1824, and was about eleven years old when, in September, 1835. the family removed to Toledo, arriving here amid the most intense of the excitement connected with the boundary dispute, or the "Toledo War." Peter entered upon his business life when thirteen years old, as a clerk in the store of Titus & Co.. Toledo, at a salary of seventy-five dollars per year, without board. He remained with this company, and with Gideon W. Weed, successor to that firm, until 1845, when he engaged in the same capacity with the firm of Ketcham & Secor (V. H. Ketcham and Joseph K. Secor), remaining there three years. In 1848, he and Salmon H. Keeler organized the firm of Berdan 234 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY & Keeler, dealers in general merchandise, the partners contributing to the capital stock of the firms respectively, the sums of $156 and $132, their savings from clerkships. They were associated in successful trade for six years, and until the firm of Secor, Berdan & Co. was organized, in 1854, with which firm Mr. Berdan was connected until his retirement from active business, in January, 1877. He was for many years a stockholder and long a director in the Second National Bank ; was a stockholder and for seven or eight years a director in the Toledo Gas Light and Coke Company ; was a heavy stockholder and for an equal period a director in the Wabash Elevator Company, and he was among those who organized and put in operation the Maumee Rolling Mill, in which company he was from the first and until his death a director. Mr. Berdan died Nov. 13, 1887. Frederick Bissell was born at East Windsor, Conn., Aug. 5, 1799. When young he learned the engraver's trade, but never followed it as a business. In 1827 he went to Lockport, N. Y., and engaged in the dry-goods trade. Coming to Toledo in 1836, he became the senior partner in the forwarding and commission firm of Bissell & Gardner. In 1844 he engaged in the dry-goods trade and continued the same until 1852, when he returned to the commission business, which he continued until his death, June 6, 1870. Mr. Bissell was a brother of Edward Bissell, and throughout his residence in Toledo maintained an honorable position as a citizen and business man. John Poag was a native of Ohio and an adopted son of Francis Graham, a pioneer merchant of Huron county and subsequently in business at Ashland. While young Mr. Poag went to New York, where he rose to special prominence and success as a merchant, and at one time was a member of the well-known house of Kent, Poag & Co. About 1837 he invested in Toledo property, and subsequently built the "Poag Block," at the southeast corner of Summit and Madison streets. He died at Toledo, Dec. 17, 1867. James M. Comstock was another early settler of Toledo, having come here in 1836, and throughout the thirty-four years of his residence he maintained the character of an honorable and useful citizen in his private and public relations. He died at Toledo, July 7, 1870. Dr. J. V. D. Sutphen was a young physician from New Jersey. He was one of the earlier pioneers and became somewhat prominent in public matters as well as a physician, serving as a member of the Constitutional convention of Michigan which framed the Constitution of that State, in 1835. He was for a time in the mercantile business at Tremainesville. TOLEDO AS A CITY. The formative period of Toledo's history has now been treated of, and comprises the period extending from 1817 to 1837. After the consolidation of the rival villages both Vistula and Port Lawrence increased rapidly in wealth and population, and the need of a more  CITY OF TOLEDO - 235 complete organization came to be felt. Naturally the question of a city organization came to be agitated, and, the proper application having been made, the legislature passed an act of incorporation of the city of Toledo, in the winter of 1836-7, and the first election under this charter was held in the spring following. John Berdan received the distinguished honor of being elected the first mayor of the city, the other officers chosen being as follows : City clerk, George H. Rich ; treasurer. J. Baron Dayis ; attorney, Daniel 0. Morton ; fire engineer, Charles McLean : street commissioner, Ahira G. Hibbard ; marshal, Calyin Comstock ; assessors, Munson H. Daniels and Samuel Eddy. The members of the city council elected were : Northeast ward—Junius Flagg, James S. Way and Elijah Porter ; Southeast ward—George B. Way, Stephen B. Comstock and Samuel R. Bradley. John Berdan was born in New York City, Dec. 16, 1798. In early life he remoyed to Brunswick, Ohio, where he became a merchant, was elected justice of the peace, and was otherwise prominent in business as well as in social and religious circles. In September, 1835. he remoyed with his family to Toledo, where he soon engaged in the forwarding and commission business with B. H. Peckham (the firm name being Peckham & Co.), whose warehouse was at the foot of Lagrange street. As before stated, upon the organization of a city government for Toledo, in 1837, Mr. Berdan was chosen as its first mayor, being re-elected in 1838 and serving two years in that capacity. In 1839 he was elected by the State legislature an associate judge for Lucas county, and this position he filled with special credit until his death, Oct. 11, 1841. Ahira G. Hibbard, who served as the first street commissioner, came to Toledo in 1835, and soon thereafter engaged in trade, in the firm of A. G. Hibbard & Co. He gained a prominent and exceptionally honorable standing as a citizen and as a business man. In February preceding his death he was elected associate justice for Lucas county. Mr. Hibbard died in Toledo, March 8, 1842, aged forty years. As a comparison between the original and the present territory of the city. we insert here the boundaries as they were in 1837. The incorporating act or charter begins as follows : "An Act to incorporate the City of Toledo : "Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. as follows : So much of the county of Lucas, bounded by a line beginning at the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of section 34, in township 9, south of range 7 east, thence drawn through the southeast corner of sections 27 and 23, same township, same range. till it is intersected by a line drawn in a due northwest course from the southeast corner of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 3o, township 9 south, of range 8 east ; thence by said intersecting line to its place of beginning, thence by the northeast line of land now owned by Benjamin F. Stickney, on the east half of the southeast fractional quarter of section 3o, township 9 south, of range 8 east, thence by a line drawn in a southeast course to the center of the east channel of the Maumee river, thence up and 236 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY along the center of said channel in a southwesterly direction to that point which would be intersected by a continuation across said river of the south line of the land known and described as tract No. 6, in the Twelve-mile square Reservation, at the foot of the rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie, thence west to the southeast corner of the northwest quarter of section 1o, in township 3 in said Reservation ; thence by a line drawn in a direct course to the place of beginning, shall be and hereby is declared to be a city, and the inhabitants thereof are created a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of the `City of Toledo, and by that name shall be capable of contracting and being contracted with, of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded. answering and being answered unto, in all courts and places, and in all matters whatsoever ; with power o f purchasing, receiving, holding, occupying and conveying, real and personal estate, and may use a corporate seal, and change the same at pleasure." The city was divided into two wards "until the council see fit to increase or alter the same," the division line being the southwest side of Cherry street and the continuation of said line to the northwestern boundary line of the city. The charter provided for annual elections, to be held on the first Monday in March in each year, at which the officers to be elected were a mayor, aldermen (three from each ward), treasurer, and marshal, "who shall hold their respective offices for one year and until their successors are chosen and qualified." It was provided that the election should in all things be conducted agreeably to the laws regulating township elections, for the time being. Six months' residence in the city was required of voters. The trustees and clerk of the township of Port Lawrence were to determine the result of the first election under the new charter, and subsequent elections were to be determined by the city council. The mayor was made the chief executive officer, and the head of the police of the city. As a judicial officer he was given "exclusive original jurisdiction of all cases for the yiolation of any ordinance of said city," and in criminal cases he was vested with powers co-equal with justices of the peace within the county of Lucas. He was given power to exercise the same jurisdiction and authority in civil cases, within the limits of said corporation, and was entitled to the same fees as justices of the peace in all cases. The city council was empowered to grant to the mayor such compensation as shall be approved by the concurring vote of two-thirds of all the members. It was many years before a separate police department was found necessary. In addition to the officers already named power was conferred on the city council to appoint and at pleasure to remove a clerk, street commissioner, attorney for the city, one or more collectors, surveyors, and such other officers as the wants of the city may require ; and to prescribe their several duties and the compensation which each should receive. The most general grant of power was contained in the following section : "The city council may make, publish, ordain, amend and repeal all such ordinances, by-laws and police regulations not contrary to the CITY OF TOLEDO - 237 laws of this state, for the good government and order of said city and the trade and commerce thereof, and as may be necessary to carry into effect the powers given to said council by this act : and enforce observance to all rules, ordinances, by-laws. and police regulations. made in pursuance of this act, by imposing penalties on any person yiolating the same, not exceeding fifty dollars for any offense, to be recovered. with costs, in an action of debt before the mayor, or by indictment for misdemeanor, upon the complaint of the common council." The Act also contains an enumeration of a large number of subjects over which it was intended the powers of the city council should extend. In eyery modification or reyision of the city charter down to the present time this general grant of legislative power has been retained, but the enumeration of subjects intended to be covered by it has been extended as attention has been called to various eyils or abuses which seemed to require especial attention in the course of the growth of the city in territory and population. Summarized as concisely as possible, the original list included the power to prohibit the selling or giving away of any ardent spirits by any storekeeper, trader or grocer to be drank in the shop, store, grocery, outhouse, yard or garden. owned or occupied by the person selling-or giying away the same, except by innkeepers duly licensed ; to regulate or prohibit shows, circuses or theatrical performances ; the restraint and prohibition of gaming of all descriptions ; the prevention of riots and disorderly assemblages : the suppression and restraint of disorderly houses, shows, and exhibitions ; the abatement and regulation of trades and places which, though law ful in themselves, might be dangerous, unwholesome, or offensive in a city ; the prevention of improper incumbrances of streets, alleys and sidewalks, and of rapid driving in the streets to restrain and regulate the running at large of cattle, swine, sheep, goats, geese and dogs the establishment of public pumps, wells, cisterns and water works : to regulate the burial of the dead : the regulation of "quality of bread and weight for the public market :" the regulation of the mooring of steamboats and other yessels. and the keeping of fires thereon ; the restraint and regulation of' runners for boats and stages ; the appointment of watchmen and to prescribe their powers and duties : the regulation of the police of the city ; the establishment and regulation of public markets : compelling the remoyal by the owner or occupant of buildings or grounds. from sidewalks, streets and alleys. of snow, dirt and rubbish. and from any part of his premises all such substances as would be detrimental to health. The city council was giyen power to lay out, make, open, grade, paye, alter, or otherwise improve any road, street, lane, alley, highway, square. market-place, wharf, or slip, within said city, paying damages to be assessed by three disinterested, judicious freeholders. The council was authorized to levy aunually on all property, real and personal, such percentage as, by the concurring yote of two-thirds of all the members, should be deemed necessary. The assessment roll for each ward was to be made out by the assessor of the ward, and returned by him to the clerk of the city, "at such time and in such 238 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY form as the council shall by ordinance direct," and the clerk was to lay it before the common council. That body was to consider, revise and equalize the assessments, after which the taxes were to be levied. This being done, the clerk was to make out a duplicate of the assessment roll, with the amount of taxes therein specified to be paid by each individual. The warrant of the common council to collect the taxes being attached to the list, the whole was to be delivered to the city collector, who was to execute it. The tax upon real estate was enforced by public sales of the several parcels thereof by the collector, `'as is prescribed by the several acts regulating the mode .of taxation in this State," and from which sale the owner might redeem in the same manner as "proyided in said State laws regulating the mode of taxation." The tax was a lien on the land, charged from the time of levy of the tax, and a deed might be claimed on it by the purchaser of the tax sale after the period of redemption expired. Personal property was placed in a separate part of the tax list, and the tax thereon was collected by distress and sale at auction, as is prescribed by law. The council was authorized to impose penalties for violations of ordinances in the shape of fines, not exceeding fifty dollars in any one case, to be recovered with costs, in an action of debt before the mayor. The above is a summary of the original charter of the city- of Toledo, stated as briefly as possible. Changes in it were made from time to time, and in 1852 the city passed substantially under a new charter, when the legislature passed a general measure under the title of "An Act to Provide for the Organization of Cities and Incorporated Villages." Under this act municipal corporations were divided into cities of the first class, cities of the second class, and incorporated villages. A population of not less than 5.000 and not more than 20,000 was considered of the second class, and in this class Toledo was placed. The new legislation left the boundaries of the city as before the change and the number of wards was not increased, but the date of the spring elections was changed from the first Monday in March- to the first Monday in April. The elective officers were mayor, treasurer, marshal, and city solicitor, elected from the city at large, and from each ward there were two trustees. The term of office of the city solicitor was two years. Two trustees were to be elected at the first election in each ward, and by lot they were to decide which should serve one and which two years thereafter one Was to be elected annually in each ward for the term of two years. The terms of the other officers mentioned were to be annual, but in 1853 an amendment to this general grant of power was passed by the legislature, in which, among other changes, the term of the mayor in cities of the second class was made two years instead of one. The qualifications for suffrage were made to consist of an actual residence in the corporation or ward, in addition to the qualifications required under the general laws of the State of persons voting for State and county officers. The common council was authorized to elect a president, who should preside in the absence of the mayor, and a president pro tempore in the absence of the other two. A clerk was to be CITY OF TOLEDO - 239 chosen by the council. The duties of the city solicitor, treasurer, and marshal were defined. The council was to have the general control of the public funds. but its authority was limited by provisions intended as a safeguard against extravagance in expenditures and in taxation. Taxes might be levied as follows : A general city tax on all property subject to taxation, to defray general and incidental expenses, not to exceed three mills on the dollar ; for the pay and support of the city police, not to exceed one mill, and for the maintenance of a fire department, not to exceed one mill. The city council was giyen the care, supervision and control of all public highways, bridges, streets, alleys, public squares, and commons, within the city, and it was made the duty of that body to see that the same were kept open and in repair, and free from nuisances. The council was given power to establish and organize fire companies, and each and every person haying membership in such company was exempt in time of peace from the performance of military duty under the laws of the State. By act of the legislature. passed in March. 1874, the city council was constituted of two branches—a board of aldermen and a board of councilmen—the former consisting of one and the latter of two members from each ward. By further enactment of the State legislature, passed in the session of 1883-81. a system of Metropolitan Police was provided for Toledo. The commissioners constituting the police board, selected by the governor, were given full powers for the management of the police department. and its administration was successful in giving the city a more efficient seryice. The plan. however, was not permitted to continue long. and was soon succeeded by the system, consisting of one commissioner elected from each ward of the city, who, with the mayor, constituted the police board. The present organization of the city government is in accordance with the Paine revision of the municipal code of Ohio. The management of all municipal affairs is yested in a board of control, whose head is the mayor, assisted by the director of public service and the director of public safety, appointees of the mayor. The director of public seryice has supervision over the various sub-departments engineering, streets, water-works, harbors and bridges, cemeteries, workhouse, markets, sidewalks. The director of public safety has superyision over the police and fire departments. The mayor is president of the board of health. which is composed of five members. The other city officers are president of the council, city clerk, city solicitor, city auditor. city treasurer, building inspector, smoke inspector and sealer of weights and measures. The sinking fund department, appointed by the mayor. is composed of four members. The city council, the legislative body of the city, is made up of one councilman from each of the thirteen wards and three councilmen-at-large. The police court, presided over by an elective judge. is furnished with a prosecutor from the city solicitor's office. The clerk of the police court is elected. The following. is a list of all who have held the office of mayor of the city since its incorporation, in 1837, the year given being the time of the election of each, and the term of service extending to the 240 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY year given as the time of the election of his successor : 1837, John Berdan ; 1839, Hezekiah D. Mason ; 1840. Myron H. Tilden ; 1843, James Myers ; 1844, George B. Way ; 1845, Richard Mott ; 1846, Emery D. Potter ; 1849, Daniel O. Morton ; 1850, Caleb F. Abbott : 1851, Charles M. Dorr ; 1852, Daniel McBain ; 1852, Egbert B. Brown ; 1852, Ira L. Clark ; 1852, Mayor Brigham ; 1853. Charles M. Dorr : 1857, Alexander B. Brownlee 186o, Alexander H. Newcomb ; 1861, John J. Manor ; 1863, Charles M. Dorr ; 1867, Charles A. King ; 1869, William Kraus ; 1871, William W. Jones ; 1875, Guido Marx ; 1877. William W. Jones ; 1879, Jacob Romeis 1885. Samuel F. Forbes ; 1887, J. Kent Hamilton ; 1891, V. J. Emmick : 1893, Guy G. Major ; 1897. Samuel M. Jones ; 1904, Robert H. Finch : 1905, Brand Whitlock. the present incumbent. Many of these gentlemen have been given appropriate mention on other pages of this work. Mayor Brigham immigrated with his family from Oneida county. New York, to Toledo in May, 1835. He had learned the carpentry trade in his youth and after coming west he followed the business of building and contracting for many years. Later he conducted a hardware business in which he was engaged for a considerable period. He labored diligently and expended freely of time and money in organizing and establishing the First .Congregational Church of Toledo. which now forms so important a part of the religious element of the city. He held several public positions in the township and city governments and faithfully discharged the duties of all. Mr. Brigham died Jan. 8, 1897. Alexander Bruce Brownlee was born in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1806 ; came to the United States in 1832. locating at Maumee City. and engaging in the grocery and proyision trade as partner in the firm of Pratt & Brownlee. In 1847, the firm of Brownlee & Pendleton commenced business in the canal eleyators, then just built on the river at the foot of Madison street, in Toledo. and which were afterward owned by C. A. King & Company. That was the first steam elevator warehouse on the river, if not the pioneer of the lakes. After yarying experience in trade, Mr. Brownlee retired, and in 1857 was chosen as mayor of Toledo by a remarkable majority : was re-elected in 1859. and resigned during that term to become the secretary of the Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which position he held at the time of his death, March 17, 1872. He always sustained the character of an honest man, and enjoyed in full measure the confidence of his fellow citizens. Alexander Huntington Newcomb was born at Waterloo, Seneca county. New York, Aug. 6. 1824, being the eighth of a family of nine children. When he was about a year old, his parents remoyed to Rochester, N. Y., where they remained eight years. After a short residence in Buffalo and at Detroit, the family, in the fall of 1835, came to Toledo, then a young yillage just struggling for life and recognition. The limited school prryilege of Alexander's childhood greatly circumscribed his educational acquirements. he attending for but three months after lie was twelye years old, when he set out upon life's activity. His first work was that of carrier for the Blade in its CITY OF TOLEDO - 241 earliest days. When twelve years old, he became a clerk in a store, where he remained for two years, subsequently occupying a like position in a drug and hardware store. When eighteen years old, he began an apprenticeship at the painter's trade, and after mastering its details he opened a shop on the southwest corner of Summit and Adams streets, and for more than a quarter of a century was successfully and extensively engaged in house, sign and ornamental_ painting, graining, etc. During a portion of the year 1856, he was engaged in the hardware trade on the corner of Monroe and St. Clair streets. He was among the earliest members of the independent fire department of the city, being connected with old "No. 1," and he remained actively in that relation until the organization of the paid department. He was one of the organizers of the first hook and ladder company of Toledo, in 1847. With a love for the military, he joined the Toledo Guards in 1844, and while a member of the gun squad lost his left arm in firing a salute at a Democratic meeting, Sept. 24, 1856. He remained with the company until it was disbanded, in 186r. In 1857 he was elected justice of the peace, serving with credit three years. In 186o, he was chosen mayor of Toledo, in which office he was earnest and efficient in the maintenance of law and order and sound morals, in which he was supported by the better element of the city, although frequently brought in collision with the vicious and the lawless, whose combined action, irrespective of political affrliations, was sufficient to defeat him when a candidate for re-election, in 1861. In 1865 he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue, serving until 1869. Samuel Milton Jones was a native of Wales, born Aug. 3, 1846, and came to America with his parents when he was three years old. The family settled in Lewis county, Central New York. reached by way of the Erie canal. At the age of eighteen, the future Mayor journeyed to Titusville, Pa., haying heard of the opportunities in the oil regions for money-making. There he found work, and in the course of time, from a poor boy, laboring for days' wages in other men's interests, he himself engaged in producing crude petroleum from the earth, becoming an oil producer in 1870. In 1886 he came to the Ohio oil fields and began producing oil at Lima. Subsequently he followed the business in Ohio and Indiana, and to some extent in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 1893 he invented some important improvements in appliances for producing oil, and, finding manufacturers unwilling to 'make the articles — fearing a financral loss—he concluded to manufacture them himself. and in 1894 started his business in Toledo under the name of the Acme Sucker Rod Company. In the spring of 1897, he purchased a lot adjoining his factory and proceeded to equip it with everything necessary for an outing ground for the public, naming it Golden Rule Park. He was elected chief executive of Toledo, by the combined vote of the laboring class and church-going element, rn 1897, and he was successively re-elected, standing alone as an independent candidate, in 1899, 1901, and 1903. He died while serving his fourth term, July 12, 1904. 242 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY The present limits of the city of Toledo may he defined as follows : Beginning on the shore of Lake Erie where it is intersected by the line between sections 16 and 21, township 9, south of range 8 east ; running thence west to the Ottawa river ; thence with that stream to West Central avenue ; thence west on the line of West Central avenue to the line between sections 27 and 28, township 9 south of range 7 east ; thence south on that section line to the most southern boundary of Washington township ; thence west to the quarter-section line ; thence south to the line between sections 4 and 9, township 3, of the Twelve-mile square Reservation ; thence west to the half-section line in township 9, and southwest to the northwest corner of section 16, all in the same township ; thence south to the south line of section 16 ; thence east to the east line of same section ; thence south to the main channel of the Maumee river ; thence down the Maumee river to the Wood county line ; thence east to the line between sections 17 and 18, township 10 south of range 8 east ; thence north to the southwest corner of section K, same township ; thence northeast to the center of section 33, in township 9 south, of range 8 east ; thence nOrth to Duck creek ; thence northeast along Duck creek to its mouth ; and thence across Maumee river to the place of beginning. The actual territory embraced within these limits is a little less than twenty-eight square miles. The estimated population of the city in 1910 was 178,863. LABOR TROUBLES. All cities have riots, at some time in their history, and Toledo had her share in 1877, when general and widespread restlessness prevailed throughout the country and the demands of organized labor for better wages and shorter hours were attended with scenes of yiolence and collisions with the civil authorities in many States. It has been well said that "this was the period of strikes and boycotts," and it marked the beginning of an era of low prices, occasioned by a diminution of the supply of primary money—by which all values are measured—from which there was little permanent relief until the mines of South Africa and Alaska turned their golden streams into the channels of commerce and industry, in 1898. At the period of which we write, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsylvania, and the New York Central and Lake Shore systems of railway lines were affected and freight traffic on all lines was at a standstill in the large centers of population, particularly at Pittsburg, which was the scene of the deadly contest between the riotous strikers and their emplovers and the civil authorities. And it could not be expected that a city like Toledo, with its importance as a railroad center, should escape. The Air Line Junction car shops was the first local concern to feel the effects of the strike, when, at 1 o'clock p.m., on July 23, under the lead of parties from Cleveland, about one hundred men entered the shops, shut down the engine and ordered the workmen to quit, which they did. Very soon the employes in the warehouses, yards, and freight-houses joined the movement, and operations in every department were suspended. A large meeting of strikers and sym- CITY OF TOLEDO - 243 pathizers was held in the old Fifth ward, the same day, and those present were addressed by different persons in spirit and terms calculated to justify the movement and inflame passion to greater lawlessness. The main result of the meeting was the adoption of a resolution requesting every laboring man to abstain from working until he received $1.50 per day, and providing for the appointment of a committee of three laboring men from each ward, to call upon the proprietors and managers of all factories, lumber yards and firms, and request them to pay their hands $1.50 per day." In accordance with this resolution, a committee of twenty-four was appointed, and the next morning a large crowd assembled at the United States Hotel, a leader was selected. and the committee started to make the proposed visits. The procession, embracing about two hundred men, proceeded from Perry down Water street to the Pennsylvania railroad depot. stopping on the way to call upon all whom they found at work to fall into line, and many complied with the request. The crowd passed from street to street, meeting no resistance at any point, but the air was full of rumors that the leaders of the movement intended to do violence. The march continued from To a. m. until about 3 p. m., when it was suspended for the reason that there was "no more worlds to conquer," as all places were found closed after that hour. Upon the call of Mayor William W. Jones, a large meeting was held at Market Space on the evening of July 25, when brief addresses were made. A resolution was adopted requesting the mayor to appoint a Committee of Safety, to consist of not less than twenty from each ward. whose duty it was made to enroll the law-abiding citizens for the purpose of assisting the authorities in sustaining order. Upon the call of Sheriff Moore. a meeting was held at the court house on the morning of July 26, for more thorough organization in support of the committee which the mayor had appointed in compliance with the resolution of the meeting of the night previous. To this end, a force of citizen soldiery was raised for the common defense and seyen companies were organized for regular military drill and patrol, being composed largely of ex-soldiers. This force was at once armed and took the field. and the spirit of disorder was checked in time to preyent further and more serious trouble. PUBLIC WORKS, BUILDINGS, ETC. The origin of the present water-works system of Toledo is of comparatively recent date, though from the earliest settlement the matter of a proper supply of acceptable water for beverage and domestic purposes was a consideration of serious concern. The nature of soil and topography of the locality plainly showed that whatever might temporarily be done m that direction, measures would ere long become necessary for securing a supply better in quality and more ample in quantity than any to be furnished by excavated wells. The general presence of clay soil clearly -forbade dependence on what could be little more than the accumulation of surface drainage, which from the first was made unfit by the annual decay of heavy vegetable 244 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY growth, and must become yearly more unfit by the offal of increasing population. With n0thing better than theory to act upon, steps were taken by different individuals looking to a test of the faith that under- lying Toledo was an abundant supply of pure, healthy water, which was accessible by boring through the rock by which it was covered. Among those entertaining such faith was the late Lyman Wheeler, who commenced boring for water at his store, corner of Monroe and St. Clair streets (now the site of the Wheeler Block). In June, 185o, at the depth of fifty-five feet, water was reached, and it rose to within six feet of the surface. The water was found to be pure and clear, but was not as "soft" as had been hoped for, which fact was a source of serious disappointment. The second well of this kind was sunk on Jefferson street, between Summit and St. Clair, and was bored about 1853. The increase of population in the city and the growing importance of her thriving industries made imperative the demand for an ample water supply and led to much discussion and many proposed plans. So long as the demand for fire-quenching purposes could be met fr0m the river and the canal, no inconvenience existed which could not be overcome by efforts of the firemen ; but in the course of time improvements got beyond such sources of supply, and other provision was found indispensable. On June 9, 1853, the city council provided for four public wells, one to be located near the corner of Summit and Lagrange, another near the corner of Summit and Cherry, another near the corner of Summit and Adams, and the fourth near the corner of St. Clair and Washington. In connection with these wells reservoirs were to be provided for the use of the fire department. But notwithstanding the early and continued agitation of the question, actual progress toward establishing an efficient waterworks system was not made until 1873, various causes interfering to delay the project. In that year a site was selected on the west bank of the Maumee river and on those parts of lots 16 and 17, River Tract 9, lying between Broadway and the river, and buildings were erected. Such was the energetic prosecution of the work that on Dec. 29, 1873, water was delivered in the city. The idea of a city filtration plant took tangible form in 1902, when the board of water-works commissioners—Henry Keller, William Kuhlman and W. T. Davies—appointed a water purification commission to make a complete investigation of the subject as it would apply to Toledo, and to report a plan best adapted to its needs. Noah H. Swavne, Dr. "W. C. Chapman and W. S. Brainard acted as advisory board. That commission was composed 0f Allen Hazen of Milwaukee, G. H. Benzenburg of Cincinnati, and William G. Clark 0f Toledo. It reported in favor of using the Maumee river as a supply, rather than the canal, artificial ponds, etc., and that the site be some place on upriver property. The mechanical system' of filtration, i. e., through the use of chemicals, rather than the slow sand process, was also favored. Toledo's first board of public service appointed Charles L. Parmelee, of New York, to advise the engineers in the development of the plan recommended by the board of experts, and the State board of health approved the plans. The site of the plant is between the Country CITY OF TOLEDO - 245 Club and the Remmel property, on both sides of Broadway, where the land was purchased of Judge John H. Doyle and John Kumler. The first work was done in December, 1905, the project having been tied up in the courts for a while. The main contracts were let in May, 1907, and, through a change in administration, William G. Clark replaced Charles Parmelee as consulting engineer. The plant as it stands consists of two large buildings, with equipment—the filtration building and the pumping plant—both of brick, two concrete settling beds of a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons each ; beneath the surface a pure water reservoir of 5,000,000 gallons. and beneath the surface and built of concrete, the great conduit leading from the filtration plant down Broadway to the pumping station. The plant is so planned that additions to the capacity up to 60,000,00o gallons may be obtained by the addition of other units. It is to have an ultimate capacity of 60.000,00o gallons a day, more than four times that which it is now called upon to deliver, the capacity at the present time being 20,000,000 gallons. The water consumption of the city at this time is about 13,000,000 gallons daily. The main contract for this work was let to the Norwood Engineering Company, of Florence, Mass., for $483,000. It included the filter plant itself, the clear water basin, the grading of the grounds. the lighting, the roadways, about 1,000 feet of conduit, and the main from the pumping station to the filter plant. The company sublet $306,000 worth of this work to the A. Bentley Sons Company, of Toledo. This is the only plant in the country using gas producers to supply the motive power, and these and the engines and generators were installed by the Rathbun-Jones Company, of Toledo, at a contract price of $71,000. The W. G. Nagel Company installed the switchboards and electrical apparatus to the extent of $1,000. The A. Bentley Sons Company got the contract for building the pumping station through which the raw water is lifted from the river and pumped into the filters, the price of this work being $41.000. James Rooney put in the intake for $22,000.; Wicks Boiler Company, of Saginaw, were paid $11,000 for steel pipe, etc. the four sections of conduit were put in by Watters & Tansey for $43,000, M. Rabbitt & Company for $18.000, McKinney Brothers for $49,000, and by Walters & Tansev for $52,000. Roe, Stebbins & Company, of Detroit, supplied the valyes for $12,000 ; the Norwood Engineering Company supplied special steel castings for $5,000, and the United States Pipe & Foundry Company, pipe, for $25.000. It is estimated by the city officials that the expense of operating the plant annually will be between $30,000 and $35,000. this paying the cost of the chemicals used in softening the water, for filtration, and the salaries of the sixteen men employed. After being pumped from the river the water goes through the sedimentation beds, then through the sand filters, then into the clear water basin or pumped directly into the conduit. through which it flows by gravitation down Broadway beneath the ground and under Delaware creek to the Broadway pumping plant, from which it is forced by the big pumps there to every section of the city. The cost of the filtration plant complete was about $900,000, and in its construction, with hundreds of men employed at times, there 246 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY was but one fatality, when a rope broke and a beam struck a workman, crushing his skull. Labor troubles were few. The city was first given the benefit of pure filtered water Feb.. 24, 1910, and the plant is in every respect a model municipal utility. It has the great advantage of municipal ownership, and its mains reach nearly every corner of the city and beyond the corporation limits in some instances. Probably no department of the city government is now developed to such a high state of efficiency as the water department. Closely allied to Toledo's water-works system, and quite as essential, is the sewerage system, than which no city can boast a more perfect one, and few equally complete and satisfactory. The first sewer constructed in Toledo was placed in Monroe street, in 1848. It extended from the river 1,700 feet on Monroe, and then east 300 feet to the lagoon between that street and Jefferson. The second was in Jackson street and extended from the river to St. Clair street-85o feet—with an open drain from St. Clair to the canal, a distance of 1,400 feet. Since the construction of the two sewers named, that branch of improvement has gone forward with more or less of regularity until the city now possesses one of the best systems of drainage in the country. Each year witnesses an extension of the sewerage system to meet the growing demands, and it is a matter of civic pride that this, like Toledo's water-supply system, is equaled in completeness and utility by few and surpassed by none. The first government office established at Toledo was the post-office. As elsewhere stated, the first postoffice in Port Lawrence township was located at Tremainesville and bore the name Port Lawrence, with Cyrus Fisher as postmaster. When the villages of Vistula and Port Lawrence were started, in 1832, each had a postoffice—Theodore Bissell and Junius Flagg acting as postmaster for the former place and Stephen B. Comstock for the latter. Upon the consolidation of the two villages, in 1833, the postoffice took the name of Toledo, with Stephen B. Comstock as postmaster, and his term of service continued until 1836. His successors have been : 1836 to 1839, Emery D. Potter ; 1839 to 1841, Joseph B. Gardner ; 1841 to 1845, Andrew Palmer ; 1845 to 1849, Truman C. Everts ; 1849 to 1853, Hezekiah D. Mason.; 1853 to 1861, John E. Hunt ; 1861 (until his death a few weeks after his appointment), George Walbridge ; 1861 to 1865, Edward P. Bassett ; 1865 to 1866, Dennison Steele ; 1866 (not confirmed by the U. S. Senate), Albert G. Clark ; 1866 to 1870, Alexander Reed ; 1870 to 1874, Ezekiel V. McMaken ; 1874 to 1878, Patrick H. Dowling; 1878 to 1882, Charles H. Eddy ; 1882 to 1887, Patrick H. Dowling; 1887 to 1891, George E. Lorenz ; 1891 to 1895, J. M. Brown ; 1895 to 1899, C. Rudolph Brand ; 1899 and present incumbent, William H. Tucker. Theodore W. Bissell left Livingston county, New York, in 1824, and went to Tecumseh, Mich., or rather to the place which subsequently became Tecumseh, and there he took up government land and was married to Miss Cynthia M. Spofford, daughter of Abner Spofford, who with his family, was among the first settlers at that point—that being the first marriage of white persons in what is now CITY OF TOLEDO - 247 Lenawee county, there then being no clergyman west of Detroit and Monroe. In 1828 Mr. Bissell returned to Lockport, N. Y., where he remained a short time and then came to Toledo, where his brother Edward had become interested. Not many years thereafter he went to Texas and died there. Mrs. Bissell subsequently was married to \V. W. Tilton, who settled at Tecumseh in 1825. Truman C. Everts commenced his residence in Toledo as a clerk in the Toledo postoffice, in 1835. Under the administration of Mr. Polk. he was postmaster, and his service in the office embraced altogether a period of eighteen years, affording general satisfaction to the public. Some time after retiring from the postmastership he was appointed United States assessor for Montana and removed to that Territory, where he resided a number of years. He was one of the Langdon party that explored the upper valley of the Yellowstone river, in the months of August and September, 1870. Unfortunately, he became separated from his companions and was lost for a period of thirty-seyen days, with out any of the ordinary means of subsistence. He wandered for days and weeks in a famishing condition, and the narratiye of his terrible experience furnishes a chapter in the history of human endurance, exposure, and escape as incredible as it is painfully instructive and entertaining. His adventures and suffering are graphically described in Scribner's Monthly, for November, 1871. Mount Everts was named in his honor, and it was in the vicinity of that mountain that his suffering and privation were experienced. Ezekiel V. McMaken was a native of Butler county, Ohio, born in 182o. When he was thirteen years old the family removed to Fort Wayne, Ind. In early manhood he went to New York City, where he was engaged in business for twenty-two years, and thence, in 1864, he remoyed to Toledo. Here he embarked in the mercantile business, and also, under the administration of President Grant, served as postmaster from 1870 to 1874. He continued to make his home in Toledo until his death, in November, 1889. Shortly after the villages of Port Lawrence and Vistula were consolidated under the name of Toledo, the postoffice was located near the east corner of Oak street (now Jackson street), on the river side of Summit street. Oak street being the line between the two villages. It was moved later across the street, in a building next to White's Hall, now the Neuhausel Brothers' place of business. It was again moyed further up, on the river side of the street, into what was then known as the Blade Building, now the Waldorf, near the corner of Madison ayenue, where it remained until the government building, at the corner of Madison and St. Clair streets, was finished and taken possession of, in 1853. This building gave ample accommodations for transacting the business necessary at that time, but with the phenomenal growth of the city and the enlargement of the demands upon the post-office, to meet the urgent need the United States government decided upon a new building.. The old building was demolished in 1882 and the one now in use was completed in 1888. The postoffice was conducted during the interim in the old Masonic building, on the corner of Superior and Adams streets. It was contemplated that this would answer all 248 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY purposes for fifty years to come, but the business got beyond the capacity of the building in about ten years. The new postoffice, now being constructed, covers almost two and one-half acres of ground, and, in addition to the several sub-stations, will require a staff of 305 men to handle the business, that being the number now employed. The building throughout will be finished and furnished after the most approved style, and it will give the government's postal service and other offices in Toledo a home commensurate with their importance and dignity, and it will also be worthy of the city. The site of the building is the block bounded by Jefferson, Madison, Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. PUBLIC PARKS. Toledo has a park system of which the citizens may well be proud. It consists of 920 acres, scattered throughout the different wards of the city, and there is not a man, woman or child living in any part of Toledo who cannot reach an open space of grass and fresh air in a five minutes' walk from home. And most of the park lands haye been purchased by the city within the last quarter century. In fact, although Toledo has some of the most beautiful natural parks in the country, it is only within the last few years that work of an extensiye character has been attempted to improve them. And the 920 acres of park land, as the result, now presents some of the finest breathing places and recreation grounds to be found in any large city in the United States. A chain of boulevards is now laid out about the city to the extent of nearly twenty miles. About one-third of this chain has been placed in a fine surfaced condition for use, while nearly half of the remainder has been graded and made ready for the paving. What is left will be rushed to completion at the earliest date at the cost of about $1,500,000. One large boulevard extends entirely around the larger or western portion of the city, beginning at Walbridge Park, sweeping through some of the most beautiful natural scenery on the outskirts, and along Ottawa river to Bay View Park. The East Toledo boulevard, which will eventually encircle East Toledo, now extends from Collins to Navarre Park. Walbridge, at the southern end of Broadway, has long been a favorite resort for citizens and visitors, situated as it is on the bank of the Maumee river at its widest expanse, with well paved driveways and broad walks amid stately trees and delightful shrubbery. The Zoo, in Walbridge Park, contains one of the best collections of animals, fowls and reptiles to be found in the Middle West. Ottawa Park is by far the largest in the city, embracing 28o acres on the western border, the beautiful Ottawa river flowing, through it. Bay View Park, at the mouth of the Maumee river, containing 202 acres, is at present partially undeveloped, but will one day make one of the finest parks in the country. Central Grove Park, containing 100 acres, intersected by the Ottawa river, is another scenic breathing place upon which much time and money has lately been spent by the park department with most satisfactory results. Lake Erie CITY OF TOLEDO - 249 Park and the Casino, on Maumee bay, is one of the most famous resorts in this part of the country. Sixteen miles north, on the lake shore, is Toledo Beach, noted for being the finest fresh water bathing beach on the Great Lakes. Collins and Navarre parks are two beautiful parks on the East Side. There are numerous small parks scattered about within the city, the finest of which is Court House Square, seven acres in extent, encircling the county court-house, brilliantly lighted with several hundred electric lamps at night. Situated in the heart of the city, it is one of the most popular resting places in Toledo. Sway ne Field, out Monroe street, contains the base-ball ground of the American Association. The Fair Grounds, out Dorr street, have been placed in excellent condition. The site of the new water purification plant, up the Maumee river, will soon be made into a beautiful park with paved drives and walks. The parks and boulevards of the city are supervised' by a park commission, the members of which are Cornelius J. Nolan, Charles M. Nordhoff, and William Beatty, with Milton L. Moore as secretary and superintendent. To the energy and skill of Superintendent Moore is due largely the development of Toledo's parks. CHARITIES, HOSPITALS, ETC. "The poor ye always have with you." This indictment of social conditions which existed nineteen hundred years ago is equally applicable to those of the Twentieth century, and Toledo is no exception to the universal rule in these later days. But the benevolence of the city's more prosperous residents in the support of the great number of charitable organizations for the aid of the unfortunate ones who are unable to keep the wolf from the door, is one of the things of which the Future Great may well be proud. Nearly all the churches of Toledo haye auxiliary societies, composed mostly of the women of the church, which deal more or less with charitable work, and there are numerous asylums and homes within the city. The municipality and the county, with poor departments, contribute largely to the succor of the poor, and besides there are 'charitable organizations which contribute to the relief of the financially distressed. Among the most notable charitable institutions where destitute people are cared for in the city are : The Flower Industrial Home for Girls, conducted by Rev. Samuel Bartlett at 1324 Superior ; Home for the Aged, 1616 Starr avenue ; Lutheran Home for the Old People, Seeman near Wheeling, Rev. F. J. Schmeltz superintendent ; Lutheran Orphans' Home, Seeman third west of Wheeling, Rev. F. J. Schmeltz superintendent ; Old Ladies' Home, northwest corner of Collingwood and West Central avenues, matron Mrs. Minnie Lambert ; St. Anthony's Orphanage, southeast corner of Frederick and Cherry, conducted by the Sisters of Charity (Gray Nuns); Salvation Army Industrial Home, Michigan and Illinois, Ad- jutant Malcom Salmond in charge ; Thalian Tuberculosis Dispensary, 118 Michigan, under the management of the Thalian Club ; Toledo Day Nursery, I I Twelfth street, Isabel Booklass matron ; Toledo Boys' Home, 20 Eleventh street, Cora Obert matron ; Toledo