450 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Since then, under his son Lucius G. McKelvey, and his nephew Emery L. McKelvey, the business has grown until it rivals any in this part of the country. The Strouss-Hirshberg Company was founded by Isaac Strouss and B. Hirshberg in 1875. It has grown in size and excellence ever since. Both the original partners are now dead, but the property remains in the possession of their descendants. These two firms, in friendly rivalry, have set the pace which has been followed by others, with the result that Youngstown's shopping district draws patronage from a wide area. Youngstown's business men have not always devoted their attention to business pursuits. The writer recalls the name of Mr. George L. Fordyce, who for many years conducted a successful department store on Federal Street. Mr. Fordyce found time to -become our foremost authority on bird life. His work along this line was of permanent value. He did more perhaps than any other man of the region to preserve the birds of this part of Ohio. It was purely a work of love on his part, as he never derived any profit from his study. Youngstown's banking system weathered the depression period against great odds. The old First National Bank, founded in 1863, and presided over for many years by Robert McCurdy, who was perhaps Youngstown's greatest bankers, was combined with the Commercial National Bank to form the new Union National Bank after the period of bank suspension in 1930. The Dollar Savings and Trust Company and the City Trust and Savings Bank, after a short suspension, are operating on an unlimited basis. The Mahoning National Bank never found it necessary to close its doors. The Home Savings and Loan Company, Youngstown's lead- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 451 ing loan association, has continued to operate, in spite of the fact that few people have had money to deposit for several years. Youngstown looks forward to better days in financial circles. It would not be fair to omit mention of Youngstown's hospital system. The first building of the Youngstown Hospital Association was built in 1882, on Oak Hill Avenue. This property has since been greatly enlarged, but as its facilities even then proved inadequate, shortly after the World War a new hospital was planned. The result of this was the construction of the North Side Hospital, located just north of Gypsy Lane, at the northern extremity of the city. This hospital is as finely constructed and equipped as any in the United States. The writer can testify that if one has to be ill there is no better place to be. The Mahoning County Medical Association has among its number many leading physicians, whose fame goes far beyond the limits of the county. St. Elizabeth's Hospital, an institution under charge of Catholic Sisters, on Belmont Avenue, is the third of the city's hospital units, and also combines service with efficiency. These three units provide hospital service equal to any ordinary emergency. Youngstown has been served by two excellent newspapers for many years. The Youngstown Vindicator, founded in 1869 by J. H. Odell as the Mahoning Vindicator, after various changes of management, came into the possession of William F. Maag. The paper has been conducted by the Maag family ever since, and has served the interests of the community well. While nominally Democratic in politics, the Vindicator has never allowed party domination to control its opinions, and in the case of local affairs has been practically independent. It issues the only Sunday paper of the community. The Arc Engraving Company, under the management of 452 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO William J. Gutkneckt, is located in the Vindicator building, and conducts an excellent establishment for the making of engravings of all kinds. The Youngstown Telegram was the successor of the old Mahoning Register, which had succeeded the Free Democrat, a paper founded in 1852 to support the doctrines of the Republican Party at the time of its birth. After various vicissitudes the first issue of the Youngstown Telegram came in 1885. Since that time the Telegram has continued. It remained Republican in politics until it was purchased a few years ago by the Scripps-Howard combination, and became one of that great chain of newspapers. The independent political position of the Scripps-Howard chain is of course maintained by the Telegram. The public library system in Youngstown got an early start, due to the generosity of Reuben McMillen. Mr. McMillen was Youngstown's superintendent of schools for many years. He took the little nucleus of a library which had been started by two faithful teachers in 1870, and by various methods of collection of books and money gradually increased the supply of books from the original 168 volumes. Slowly the library grew, until in 1897 the idea of acquiring a building for its permanent housing was taken up by a group of representative citizens, headed by Robert McCurdy and John C. Wick. The Richard Brown home, standing at the corner of Market and Front streets, almost the only one of the old aristocratic residences in the down town district to remain to the end of the century, was purchased, and the library was renamed "The Reuben McMillen Free Library Association." This building was occupied until it was necessary to abandon it to the county, on the occasion of the building of the new courthouse. The property at Wick and Rayen avenues was then purchased, and the present main library building constructed. It was opened for business in 1910. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 453 Since that time branch buildings have been constructed in various parts of the city, and the present librarian, Mr. C. W. Sumner, has been for years working on a plan to extend the service to other parts of the county. He expects soon to have branches established in Struthers, Campbell, Lowell-\Tulle and Canfield. A branch is already in operation in Poland, and a board of library trustees has been created in Struthers. Mr. Sumner is very much in earnest in his endeavor to provide Mahoning County with the service it deserves. The library is now open for withdrawal of books to all residents of Mahoning County. Three attempts have been made to revise the system of government in Youngstown, since the adoption of the constitutional amendment in Ohio which permitted municipalities to make their own charters. The first charter commission, chosen in 1913, submitted a charter which was defeated by the voters at the polls. The second charter commission was elected in 1922, and submitted a charter to be voted on in May, 1923. This commission was headed by W. J. Williams, with the following members: Max E. Brunswick, Mrs. J. F. W. Ritter, Judge George H. Gessner, Judge William P. Barnum, James Kennedy, Warren Williams, Mrs. J. E. Fitzgerald, Mrs. U. F. Kistler, Henry F. Kaercher, Mrs. Alfred M. Williams, Miss Kate King, Ralph E. Ohl, Charles Deibel and Frank B. Medbury. Under the city government controlled by this charter the city has been governed ever since. There have been three mayors and six council bodies elected, Mayor Scheible, the first to be elected, being succeeded by Judge Joseph Heffernan, and he in turn by the present mayor, Mark Moore, whose term expires December 31, 1935. Under the present charter the mayor serves a four year term and is not eligible to succeed himself. General dissatisfaction with some of the terms of the city charter led to the formation of a commission of revision, 454 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO in 1930, headed by Mr. Franklin Powers. They prepared an amendment which changed the original charter in many ways, but the amendment was defeated at the polls, and Youngstown continues to be governed by the original charter, with little or no change. The other municipalities of Mahoning County have prospered with Youngstown. The City of Campbell is now almost entirely surrounded by other municipal corporations. The extension of Youngstown's city limits to the center of Coitsville Township has closed the boundary of Campbell on the north, and further annexations have closed the western and southern boundaries, while Struthers borders Campbell for part of its eastern boundary. Within these limits Campbell has a population of nearly 15,000, and a difficult governmental problem due to the cosmopolitan nature of its population. Struthers has grown and prospered, extending its city limits to the Youngstown boundaries on the west, and to Poland on the south. Most of the inhabitants are employed either by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company or the Sharon Steel Hoop Company. With a population of about 12,000, Struthers prides itself on the quality of its citizens, its government and its schools. In Yellow Creek Park the city has a playground in its very heart which rivals Mill Creek in beauty, and has historic associations of great importance. The metropolitan growth has now reached the edge of Poland Village. Poland, however, retains its original charm. New residents have come in but they have built in such a fashion as to preserve the beauty of the village. The village has insisted on retaining its colonial atmosphere. The school buildings and the town hall are built along traditional lines. Poland will remain the beauty spot of Mahoning County. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 455 Lowellville, since the erection of the Sharon Steel Hoop Company's plant, has also begun to grow, and is taking its place among the industrial settlements of the valley. It will be only a short time until the gap between Struthers and Lowellville will be closed, thus making one continuous municipal district to the limits of Girard. Warren, in 1900 had a population of only 8,529. This figure, however, was no indication of the importance of the town. As the county seat of Trumbull County the little city drew a large patronage from the fine farming country which surrounded it, while the county offices and common pleas court made it the center of political business. The third court house of the county burned in 1895, and as a result the present fine building was erected. The court house stands on the public square, which is covered with fine shade trees, while the west side of the square with the river beyond is extended on the opposite side of the street by the small but beautiful monumental park, on which stands the monument erected in memory of the Trumbull County soldiers of the Civil War. By 1900, Mahoning Avenue, stretching in a long diagonal northwest from the square, had become completely arched over by a row of stately elms, which had been growing since the early days of the settlement. The fine old mansions behind the elms, mostly mid-Victorian, completed the avenue, which had a stately elegance unrivaled in this part of the world. It is a tribute to the good taste of Warren and its inhabitants to say that during the growth of the city since 1900 there has never been any attempt to change the form of Mahoning Avenue. The old houses still stand; the elms have grown a little taller; the arch is more nearly complete; the avenue remains a perfect example of the style of our forefathers at their best. Behind the mansions on the west side is the old graveyard, while below it along the river bank 456 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO may be found traces of the channel of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. At the upper end of Mahoning Avenue, between it and the river, has been developed Packard Park, a beautiful public breathing spot in which full advantage has been taken of the wide sweep of the river, here near to its most northerly point. Other streets, Park Avenue and High Street especially, also preserve the character of the old town. Just off the square on Park Avenue is Dana's Musical Institute, a seminary for the purpose of giving instruction in every branch of the musical art. Under the direction of Lynn B. Dana this institution has gained a reputation for excellence of instruction far beyond the limits of the valley. The growth of business has caused the encroach of office and store buildings on both Park Avenue and High Street, but both still retain their charm. Some of the old houses have been taken over by clubs and semi-public institutions, notably the home of Clarence Hyde Post of the American Legion, which has occupied one of the fine old residences, adding to the rear an auditorium, thus retaining the architectural unity and adding a needed hall for their own and civic uses. But to return to the story of Warren's Twentieth Century development. It was shortly after the beginning of the century that the progressive business men of the city began to think of expansion in a manufacturing way. It was their opinion that a city whose charm and beauty had always been the envy of the rest of the valley might attract business enterprises without doing harm to the architectural unity of the city. Some old residents, who had grown up on the soil, objected to the ingress of the necessary working population who would accompany manufacturing developments; they complained that the town would become dirty, and their fine old social intercourse would be ruined; but the younger people, in years and ideas, overruled these objections, and the HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 457 result has justified their position. Warren in 1935 is as beautiful and attractive as ever, and has done much more good for the world than it did during the period of its exclusiveness. One or two of the enterprises which began operations in Warren moved on later. It is not remembered by many people, for instance, but the famous Packard automobile was first manufactured in Warren, and the Packard family were old residents of the place. Another Packard factory for the manufacture of incandescent lamps remains and prospers, although now absorbed in a larger combination of capital. But the history of Warren in the years since 1900 has been one of steady growth. The Board of Trade, which, by offering factory sites, and promoting real estate developments attracted most of the new business, accomplished far more than they hoped for. Even the financial troubles of the Trumbull Steel Company and the years of depression which followed after have not daunted the spirit of Warren. The population figures since 1900 tell the story as well as anything else : 1900 - 8,529 1910 - 11,081 1920 - 27,050 1930 - 41,062 Warren has now fine office buildings, facing the square; its residential district has been extended and further beautified, it has new churches and old, of dignity and form, and a good government, due to the quality of its citizens. Trumbull County generally is setting an example to other Ohio counties in the way of honest and intelligent administration of public affairs. Niles, the second city of Trumbull County in size and importance, has been an iron town since the days of James Heaton. After the Civil War a too ambitious attempt at 458 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO expansion on the part of the iron men of Niles resulted in nearly ten years of financial trouble. From this period Niles succeeded in recovering, and shared in the prosperity which came to the valley during the McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administration. We have already described the development of the iron and steel business of Niles during this period. The city is now returning to prosperity after the depression. The population of Niles is to a great extent composed of the descendants of those English, Welsh and Irish immigrants who came into the iron country in the post Civil War period. They show the character which is to be expected of such a group. Niles is justly proud to be classed as a workingman's town, with little aristocracy, but a fine substantial citizenry. One institution in Niles has brought fame to the city: the McKinley Birthplace Memorial Building. The original promoter and chief contributor to this magnificent structure was Joseph G. Butler, Jr., whose beautiful gift to Youngstown, the Art Institute, has been mentioned earlier in the chapter. The cornerstone of the McKinley Memorial was laid on November 20th, 1915, and the building was dedicated on October 5th, 1917. The building stands in a spacious park on Main Street, between Park Avenue and Church Street. It is in form a semi-circular court, bordered by a colonnade of twenty-eight monolithic columns, flanked on the two sides by wings, the right of which, facing the building, is the assembly hall, with a seating capacity of 1,000, looking toward a semi-circular stage. Here have been held each year since the dedication, the annual McKinley birthday banquet, which has been attended by the notable statesmen and business men of the nation. On the left flank is the Niles public library, and a group of rooms in which are a collection of relics of the early days of the Reserve, with a group of bronze busts and medal- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 459 lion portraits of the leaders of the iron and steel business of America, and of a number of citizens of Ohio famous in other ways. The walk which borders the court is linked with statues of distinguished Americans : Governor David Tod, Cornelius N. Bliss of McKinley's cabinet, Justice William R. Day of the United States Supreme Court, John Hay, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Elihu Root, Philander C. Knox and Marcus A. Hanna. In the rear center of the court, and dominating the whole, is a heroic bronze statue of McKinley. Of the public buildings of Northeastern Ohio no one excels in architectural excellence, grandeur of conception, beauty and charm, this building, which commemorates the most illustrious son of Niles. It is well worth a visit from any tourist who finds himself in the neighborhood. Niles in 1920 had a population of 13,080, in 1930, 16,314. The city has had no phenomenal growth at any time, but has built itself a foundation of solid worth. Between Niles and Youngstown the intervening space is now nearly closed by the City of Girard. This thriving little city has also a solid and progressive citizenry. Girard has not only been in the iron business, but in the Ohio Leather Company and the Ohio Oil Cloth Company, now a part of the Standard Textile Products Company, has departed from the traditional steel atmosphere of the valley. Girard, with a population of 6,556 in 1920, and of 9,859 in 1930, has continued to develop. The city is now separated from Youngstown only by the Mahoning-Trumbull County line, and is really a part of Youngstown's metropolitan district. Hubbard, northeast of Youngstown, near the eastern edge of Trumbull County, has shown recent development which places it among the coming towns of the Youngstown district. The two blast furnaces of Hubbard are now the property of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. In addition to 460 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO these the plant of the American Sintering Company has added to the prosperity of the village. A fine public park, Harding Park, has recently been developed. The 1930 census gave Hubbard 4,080 inhabitants, and the next census will undoubtedly find within the corporate limits more than the 5,000 necessary to place it in the city class. On both sides of the valley, in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, the farming communities remain little changed in population figures, but progressive in their agricultural pursuits. The age of specialization in which we live has greatly affected the farming industry in our part of the state. The old system of crop rotation is fast disappearing, and instead our farmers are devoting most of their time and land to two highly specialized lines, dairy farming and market gardening. The demand for dairy products has vastly increased with the increase in population. The farmers of this part of the state are developing fine breeds of dairy cattle, Holstein, Ayrshire and other, and supply milk for the entire urban population. The network of fine paved roads which has been laid since the World War makes it possible to reach nearly every farm in the territory with motor truck transportation, and as a result these vehicles crowd the roads in the early morning. The recent increase in the number of fruit orchards, and the quality of the fruit grown, is also a noticeable development in agriculture in Mahoning and Trumbull. As the years go on, moreover, more and more of the leading professional and business leaders of the valley are moving out into the country and building fine homes on large country estates. Liberty Township in Trumbull County and Boardman Township in Mahoning, one lying due north, and the other south of Youngstown, are fast filling with these, and with country clubs. The valley is looking forward to further development of the rural districts which border it, with the return to prosperity. CHAPTER VI THE MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAKE SETTLEMENTS. The cities and villages along the border of Lake Erie, as we have seen, were set back from the lake shore some three or four miles, in order to gain the protection of the forest. This is the reason why this line of beautiful towns remains a little distance from the lake. Since the Civil War there has been a threefold development of Lake County and the northern portion of Ashtabula County. The three cities which have harbor facilities have grown in importance on this account, especially Ashtabula and Conneaut. At the same time, the agricultural development of this area has taken a definite form, the growing of vineyards and the planting of nurseries and seed growing establishments. The third development came when the inhabitants of Northeastern Ohio discovered that the lake shore was especially adapted, on account of its beauty and its numerous inviting beaches, to the construction of summer colonies. The development of harbors began early, but little real industrial progress came from it until the opening of the Lake Superior iron mines, and the use of this ore by the Youngstown and Pittsburgh furnaces, made it necessary to develop the harbors of Lake Erie sufficiently to take care of this shipping. As a necessary consequence railroad connections followed. During the years following the Civil War both the Pennsylvania railroad system and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern made railroad connections between - 461 - 462 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Ashtabula and Youngstown. The Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula branch of the Pennsylvania was built primarily as an ore hauling road. The road has had little passenger business at any time, but the amount of its freighting has been enormous. The branch of the Lake Shore system from Ashtabula to Youngstown, by making connection at the latter point with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, not only built up a freight business rivaling the Pennsylvania, but also established passenger connection for Buffalo and points east of there. The consolidation of all these lines in the New York Central system made this line one of great importance. As a result of these railroad connections, by the end of the Nineteenth Century Ashtabula assumed a leading place as a railroad center. The harbor, originally almost impassable at times, because of the shifting bar at its mouth, was deepened and improved, stone piers ended the hazard of the bar, and Ashtabula Harbor became one of the most important, as to the volume of business handled, in the United States. Great loading and unloading cranes took the place of the crude hand work of the early times. Long, ugly but efficient ore boats docked at the harbor in an endless procession, to unload their cargoes into waiting freight cars, which proceeded in another endless line to unload their freight at the ore yards of the blast furnaces of the Mahoning Valley and the Pittsburgh district. This business as a matter of course brought enduring prosperity to Ashtabula. The city grew and prospered. One event of Ashtabula's history remains indelibly fixed in the memory of the city, although it happened so long ago that only old people have personal recollection of it : The so-called Ashtabula railroad disaster. The circumstances were so tragic, the results so dreadful, that it made a lasting impression on all in any way connected with it. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 463 It was on December 29th, 1876, that the Pacific Express on the Lake Shore Railroad was approaching Ashtabula, a little after seven o'clock, P. M. The train was nearly two hours late, and was rushing at high speed for those days, in order to make up time. There were eleven heavily loaded coaches, drawn by two engines. There had been a heavy snowfall for days; it was bitter cold, and a gale of wind blew across the track from the northwest, with all the vindictiveness of the wintry lake behind it. It was a night to make any one happy to remain behind the protection of strong walls and a solid roof. Across the Ashtabula River, just east of the city, was an iron bridge seventy feet in air from the bottom of the chasm. Across this bridge the speeding train started. When the entire train was on the bridge it suddenly gave way. The foremost engine gained the western side. The rest of the train crashed into the abyss or hung to the sides. The situation was dreadful. Dead, dying, injured and a few who had almost miraculously escaped injury lay or struggled in the utmost confusion in every one of the passenger cars. In the midst of the confusion fire broke out. The nearest fire equipment was more than a mile away. By the time it was dragged to the scene through the snow and lowered into the chasm, the tragedy was nearly complete. The few uninjured had managed to escape, the wounded who could be reached were being removed, and few but the dead remained in the wreck. In point of the proportion of dead or injured out of the whole number who were on the train, the disaster is almost the greatest in the history of railroading. The figures available showed 156 people altogether on board, counting passengers and crew. Of these eighty, more than half, died before they were removed from the wreck. Sixty-three were 464 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO injured, of whom five died later in the hospital. Only thirteen emerged from the train uninjured. The inhabitants of Ashtabula did their best for the survivors and the mourners for the dead. Some of the dead were sent to their homes. Most of them were buried in Ashtabula cemetery. A coroner's jury placed the blame on the railroad company, mainly due to defects in the bridge. The local records of the time, however, indicate that the railroad company did all within its power to recompense the sufferers and make compensation to the relatives of the dead. So passed the most tragic event in Ashtabula's history. Ashtabula was one of the first towns in Ohio to adopt a home rule charter under the constitutional amendment of 1912. The new government originally provided for a council of seven elected by the proportional representation plan. This council in turn were to choose a city manager subject to removal by the council at their will. The experiment of the proportional representation plan in Ashtabula was watched with interest all over the country. The little city was regarded as an ideal spot in which to try out a new system. The character of the inhabitants was uniformly good, the city was not too large to give the voter opportunity to inform himself on the quality of all the candidates, and the financial condition of the community generally was good. The fact that Ashtabula, after several years of trial, abandoned the system, while retaining the city manager form, has been regarded as a set-back to those who thought that proportional representation would go a long way toward solving many problems of city government. Ashtabula has adopted a nonpartisan run-off primary system now, but still retains the city manager plan. Ashtabula had a population in 1920 of 22,082; in 1930, of 23,301. This small increase in population is not an indication of decline, but rather of stabilization. The business HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 465 of the Ashtabula docks should be again on the increase, as business takes an upturn in the iron country. Conneaut, although the place where the first settlers in the Reserve landed, and although it had as fine a harbor as any on the shore, never saw much advancement until the beginning of the 20th Century. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, seeking an outlet to the lake, finally made connections with the harbor at Conneaut. This connection, which practically amounted to a reopening of the harbor, may be said to have made Conneaut. The city now has a population of 9,691, is prosperous and contented, and has fine prospects for the future. The village of Jefferson remains the county seat of Ashtabula County. With little change in population, and no increase in business since the Civil War, this pleasant place retains all of its early charm. The New England atmosphere is more evident here, perhaps, than in any of the other towns of this part of the Reserve. Jefferson has furnished its quota of the great men of the United States; we have already told the story of the lives of Giddings and Wade; Robert G. Ingersoll, an orator of an entirely different type, spent his boyhood here, and the Howells brothers, Joseph A. and William Dean, came here with their father in their early youth. William Dean Howells, after a boyhood spent in Ohio, rose to the first rank in America as a novelist, essayist, historian and literary critic. He may be said to have founded the modern school of American realism. While his works have covered most of the field of American life east of the Mississippi, some are peculiarly interesting as having a setting in the country he knew as a boy. One of these, which the student of Ohio history cannot afford to overlook, is "The Leatherwood God," a story founded on the facts concerning one of those extraordinary religious pretenders who found Ohio such a futile field of endeavor in the middle years of 466 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO the Nineteenth Century. Howells died in 1920, at the advanced age of 83, with an international reputation. The older brother, Joseph A. Howells, was content to succeed his father as the editor of a country newspaper in Jefferson. While his fame was local, in his own territory he was as beloved as his more distinguished brother. He made the Ashtabula Sentinel a model which other country editors strove to follow and to imitate. It came nearly to the ideal among newspapers of the type. On his death, in 1912, his brother wrote the following epitaph, to be engraved on the composing stone of his beloved newspaper, and placed at the head of his grave: "Stone, upon which with hands of boy and man He framed the history of his time until, Week after week the varying record ran To its half-centuried tale of well and ill; "Remember now how true through all those days He was: friend, brother, husband, father, son; Fill the whole limit of your space with praise; There needs no room for blame : blame there was none." Jefferson is a pleasant backwater of civilization. The town is not unprogressive, but it is willing to remain at peace. The shipping business at Painesville never has reached the proportions of Ashtabula and Conneaut. Fairport Harbor, a separate corporation at the mouth of the Grand River, has grown up around the harbor there, and the Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, originally intended to compete with the other railroads along the shore, but actually never extended beyond Painesville, still makes connections with the Mahoning Valley. But this railroad, which is now HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 467 a part of the Baltimore and Ohio system, has never been a large factor in the competition for the ore-hauling business. Painesville, with the advantage which accrues to it as the county seat of Lake County, has grown to prosperity in recent years through the development of a very different but also very interesting business : that of nurseries and seed growing. The old Storrs Harrison Company plant, founded before the Civil War, still prospers, on a large acreage just east of Painesville. But rivals in the business have sprung up, until the nurseries in Lake County number into the hundreds. A ride along the great highway known as U. S. Route No. 20 in the summer time is most delightful. All the way from the eastern boundary of Lake County, at Madison, through Painesville and Mentor to Willoughby on the western boundary, the road is lined with gardens; roses, perennial plants, evergreens, annual flowers, grown for their seed, the road is in continuous bloom from early spring until the fall frosts come. This business, which has become most important now that the growth of garden clubs, and the general tendency to beautify the yards around the homes of northeastern Ohio have created a large demand for shrubbery, trees, perennial and annual plants, has given a tremendous impetus toward increased prosperity in the country of which Painesville is the center. The business has two great advantages : first, that it is a work unqualifiedly for good, as no one can argue that the beautifying of a community is not a most beneficial, nay, necessary work if civilization is to endure; second, it is a business which continues in spite of depression, since the individual outlay need not be large, and the man who is suffering from a slackness of employment is very likely to spend his enforced leisure in beautifying his home. That this is true is shown by the fact that during the four years of depression more has been done toward beautifying the Ohio 468 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO landscape than ever before. From this fact Painesville, Mentor and the other parts of Lake County have profited. Painesville and Mentor are the sort of towns in which a resident of the iron country hopes to live sometime. Free from dirt and smoke, quiet yet prosperous; with an intelligent and prosperous citizenry, most of whom are the descendants for several generations of the native born, they have an attraction which makes the iron worker look toward them as a sort of little heaven. Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, an institution for the higher education of women, and one which has a deservedly high reputation. In the space we have to devote to it perhaps the brief history told in the bulletin of the college is better than any other : "Lake Erie College traces its history to that impulse for the higher education of women which resulted in the establishment of Mount Holyoke College by Mary Lyon in 1837. Ten years later, with the same general purposes, Willoughby Seminary was begun at Willoughby, Ohio, and in its sixth year had reached an enrollment of two hundred, including non-resident students. In 1856 the building was burned, and it was decided to rebuild in Painesville, with the hope of larger financial support. Lake Erie Seminary was incorporated in June, 1856, and opened in 1859 under the direction of teachers from Mount Holyoke and Willoughby, and with a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. "During the subsequent forty years a vigorous institutional life was developed and through a gradually extending course of study, with steady increase in equipment and in teaching force, a college standard was reached. "In 1898 a charter was granted to Lake Erie Seminary, and in the following year the first baccalaureate degrees were given. In 1908 the Seminary course was discontinued and the name legally changed to Lake Erie College." HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 469 The President of Lake Erie College at present is Vivian Blanche Small. The faculty numbers thirty-seven. The college offers courses leading to the degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of music. The tone of Lake Erie is conservative, they maintaining a pleasant classical atmosphere most attractive to those women to whom culture is a primary object in education. The college has always maintained friendly relations with Mount Holyoke, its parent institution. The venerable and distinguished president of Mount Holyoke, Miss Mary E. Woolley, serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Lake Erie. In 1933 there were 133 students enrolled, coming from eleven states, Ohio leading with eighty-seven, Pennsylvania second with twenty-one. It is, as will be seen, a small college, but educational institutions are not to be judged by size. The graduates of Lake Erie College have filled high positions in the social, professional and business world. The summer residents of the Lake Erie shore are increasing year by year. From Erie to Toledo there is an almost continuous row of summer cottages, except where metropolitan centers or more pretentious homes occur. There is a summer colony at Conneaut Harbor, another at Ashtabula, then in order come Geneva, Madison on the Lake, Fairport, Mentor on the Lake, and Willoughby on the Lake. These summer residents are to a great extent people from the Mahoning Valley, who are glad to get away from the smoke for a few weeks. It is common for the husband of the family to move his family to one of these colonies for the summer, while he attends to his business, and by way of one of our fine roads travels to the lake for each week-end. This is an arrangement which builds up the business of the lake towns and improves the health and prolongs the life of the valley resident. CHAPTER VII THE WORLD WAR On April sixth, 1917, the United States entered the war. The good old American custom of making preparation after the declaration of war was carried out faithfully in this case. One advantage we had, that for nearly three years our iron mills and munition factories had been turning out material for the Allied forces, and it was easy to turn these mills and factories to making our own. But the man power, without which no war can be fought, was almost entirely a potential, not an actual strength. A regular army exceptionally excellent both in quality of personnel and in training was yet so insignificant in size as to furnish but the nucleus of the army needed. The National Guard, never recruited to full strength, was in most states poorly trained; a social rather than a military organization. A Secretary of State in the President's Cabinet had made the statement little more than a year before that in the event of war "a million men would spring to arms overnight." He was correct in that statement, but "springing to arms" does not make a soldier. In discussing this period in our history the writer is speaking from the inside and feels it proper to devote a few paragraphs to a discussion of the way in which we made an army in Ohio. It was possible, in the account of the Civil War, to narrate the story of various military units which were recruited largely from Northeastern Ohio. In the World War this is not possible. Some few units, to be sure, came from our ter- - 470 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 471 ritory almost entirely, and will receive some especial consideration, but the vast bulk of the northeastern Ohio soldiers were distributed through the rank and file and officers of the two great Ohio divisions in such a way that scarcely any in. dividual company or battery even could be spoken of as representing a particular section of the state. The Thirty-seventh Division of the National Guard and the Eighty-third of the National Army were, however, almost entirely composed of Ohio men, and shall have some record here. There were in the Ohio National Guard at the time the United States entered the war some seven regiments of infantry, three of artillery, and scattered groups of engineers and other skeleton organizations. Out of these the Thirty-seventh Division was built. Five of the infantry regiments and three batteries of the First Ohio Field Artillery had this preliminary advantage, that they had for nearly a year previous been on duty on the Mexican border. This actual service was of immense value in training them for the greater conflict, so that Ohio sent into the war a considerable body of fairly efficient troops at the beginning. The total number of troops thus trained was less than half the strength of the division as finally organized, and it was necessary for the whole to undergo a further period of training, but they were ready to go overseas as a division in May and June, 1918. Of the 37th Division individual units, the ones that were recruited almost entirely in northeastern Ohio, were the following: THIRD ARTILLERY Headquarters Company, Youngstown; Supply Company, Youngstown ; FIFTH INFANTRY Company D, Warren; Company E, Ashtabula; 472 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Company L, Conneaut; Company M, Painesville; EIGHTH INFANTRY Company C, Canton; Company K, Alliance; TENTH INFANTRY Headquarters Company, Youngstown; Supply Company, Youngstown; Machine Gun Company, Youngstown; Company A, Youngstown; Company B, Youngstown; Company C, Youngstown ; Company D, Salem ; Company E, East Liverpool; Company K, Massillon; Company M, Ravenna; Sanitary Detachment, Youngstown. This regiment was, as can be seen, recruited almost entirely from the eastern border of the state, and a majority of its personnel came from our territory, including all the field officers. Its commanding officer, Colonel Charles C. Weybrecht, lived in Alliance. Lieutenant Colonel William P. Love, Chaplain Abner A. Fraser, Major Wade A. Christy and Major John A. Logan came from Youngstown, and Major Harry F. Hazlett from Canton. In July, 1917, the 37th Division was ordered to Camp Sheridan at Montgomery, Alabama, for training. At that time the camp was in process of construction. The first Ohio troops arrived on August 25th, and from that time on they kept coming, until October 28th, when the last unit, Company K, 14th Infantry, arrived. The first work of the early regiments was the finishing of the camp. Their training HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 473 continued throughout the winter. They had in many respects a pleasanter time than their brothers of the 83rd Division in snowbound Chillicothe. As above stated, the 37th was ready to go overseas in May, 1918. Before relating any of the story of their overseas service we shall return to Ohio to discuss the organization of the National Army Division. The one great advance in war preparation in the United States at the time of our entrance into the World War, a change in national policy so great as to seem revolutionary, was the National Draft Act. The listing for possible service of all young Americans between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one, the universal examination of these for service, and the placing of their numbers for drawing by lot, for the first time in American history gave all eligible men an equal standing under the law. It is to be said for the quality of American manhood that those who entered the army under draft law were a body of men of whom any nation might well be vastly proud. The writer served in a drafted regiment during his entire military career, after his period of training in an officers' training camp. He would ask no better company with whom to go anywhere in the universe. It was early decided that one of the National Army cantonments should be located in Ohio. In casting about for a place, the merits of Chillicothe, the original capital, were found to be such that the old city was almost immediately chosen. Just west of the corporate limits, lying beside the curve of the Scioto, and near the remains of those relics of prehistoric Indian life which had been named "Mound City," was a broad expanse of level ground amounting to several hundred acres. On this plain grew up Camp Sherman, which was to be the home of the 83rd Division from September, 1917, until June, 1918. The site was magnificent. At our feet lay the charming little city, with her little hills around her, while across the beautiful Scioto rose that range of hills 474 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO which was thought worthy to be made the background of the scene depicted on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio. The draft filled the quotas of the National Army divisions quickly and efficiently. The providing of officers was a different matter. For this purpose officers' training camps were organized. The writer can describe these, as he personally went through this mill. As soon as the Universal Draft Act was passed, invitations were given, by personal letter and by newspaper publicity, to such as felt themselves qualified, to make application for training for a period of three months, at the end of which those who had passed the course were to be commissioned as officers of the National Army, and in other organizations where additional officers were needed. In addition to those who were accepted from civil life a number were chosen from the enlisted men of the regular army and National Guard. The first training camps, which were organized in May, and from which the writer was rejected, for minor physical defects, mainly dental, turned out their quota toward the end of August. The second camps began training in the last week in August. After getting the needed dental repairs made the writer succeeded in gaining admission to this camp, and arrived at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, on August 27th, 1917. For three months we worked from 5:30 A. M. until 9:00 P. M., with only Saturday afternoon and Sunday as free time. In that time we learned all we could of army drill, military tactics, army regulations, artillery practice, the care of the army horse, the articles of war, the science of ballistics, the care of material, the calculation of firing data, the manual of arms. At the end of the training period the lucky ones among us were commissioned, having in theory acquired what they teach in four years about army affairs at West Point. We were then assigned to various regiments in various cantonments and placed in command of men.