(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 100 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY lars or $15,000 of this worthless paper was in circulation and the holders appealed to the Legislature of Ohio, which on March 4, 1845, passed an act by which Ira Loomis and S. W. McClure were appointed as trustees for the creditors of this association, to collect these mortgages and to redeem the money. This act further provided that, should either of said trustees die or remove from the state, the Court of Common Pleas of Summit County could appoint a successor, on the application of any interested party. The remarkable feature of this act was, that it provided that it should be unlawful to claim that the indebtedness was void as against public policy. After the passage of this act, a suit was begun by Samuel McClure and Ira Loomis, trustees, against Robert McCaughy, the leading promoter of the scheme, to foreclose his own mortgage, and to make him pay his proportion of the expense of the organization. He contested this suit, and claimed that the special act of the Legislature was unconstitutional. It was so held in the lower courts ; but in 1853, the Supreme Court held that the law was constitutional in a remarkable opinion rendered by Allen T. Thurman. Judge Thurman held that this law was retroactive, but that the Legislature had a right to waive public policy. By this time the old creditors had mostly forgotten their losses, and nothing further was done. The writer has a $2 bill of this old association which he used a few years ago in a court proceeding to have a trustee appointed to cancel one of these old mortgages, and A. H. Engel, beck, an attorney of Akron, is now trustee for that purpose. What is now known as Silver Lake remained entirely undeveloped until about 1875, when R. H. Lodge acquired title to the lake, and also to the lands on the westerly side thereof. He immediately developed this into a pleasure resort, which became very popular. Before his death, the business and property were transferred to a corporation known as "The Silver Lake Park Company." About 1893, T. F. Walsh, E. L. Babcock and associates, who constructed what was known as the Rapid Transit Railway line from Akron to Ravenna, acquired title to a tract of land lying northerly from Silver Lake. They converted this tract into a pleasure resort known as "Randolph Park." A pavilion and a large theatre building were constructed at this resort, and many improvements were made. A street car line was constructed, around the east side of Silver Lake, by which street cars were run into this report. After the sale of the Rapid Transit lines to the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company, the Silver Lake Park Company acquired title to the Randolph Park resort, and it was operated, for several years, in connection with the Silver Lake resort, and was known as the Chautauqua grounds, the theatre building being used as a Chautauqua assembly hall. Afterwards the Chautauqua was abandoned, the pavilion building was moved across the ice of the lake and converted into a bath house, and the theatre building was torn down. About the year 1918, the Silver Lake Park Company sold out its holdings to a land company, and the pleasure resort was abandoned. The Village of Silver Lake was organized; a boulevard system was laid out AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 101 and paved and a number of very fine homes have been built on these grounds. Within the past five years, Silver Lake has gained a reputation, by reason of the activity of its officers in enforcing the prohibition law throughout the county. It is said that the bootleggers running from Pittsburgh to Akron and other places, learned to avoid passing through Silver Lake Village. In the easterly part of the Village of Silver Lake was a sign, which read, "Silver Lake Village." Some bootleggers desecrated this sign by painting over the word "Village" and inserting the word "Hell." Among the men, prominent in the early history of Cuyahoga Falls, should be mentioned Elisha N. Sill, who was prominent in building up the town, and had an active part in connection with that portion of Cuyahoga Falls which was taken from Tallmadge Township. The old Sill home, a large brown stone house, located on the west side of Front Street, is a monument to Elisha N. Sill ; and his daughter, Elizabeth Newberry Sill, now resides in this home. The old Newberry hqme, at the east end of Broad Street, which was afterwards known as the Cook home, and originally an extensive brown stone mansion, was, for a few years, operated as a "Keeley Cure," and in 1894, was converted into a sanitarium known as "Fair Oaks Villa," which is still operating. Taking up the town organization, Cuyahoga Falls was first organized as a corporation in 1836, known as the "Town of Cuyahoga Falls." A large part of the inlying lands were allotted at that time, and what is known as the public square, located on the northerly side of West Portage Street, was dedidated to the public for state, county and church purposes. Three churches are now located on this square. The town of Cuyahoga Falls was operated as a municipal corporation until about 1848, when the incorporation was abandoned, and by an act of the Legislature the Township of Cuyahoga Falls was organized, taken from the townships of Stow, Tallmadge, Portage and Northampton. This township organization was continued until 1868, when the Village of Cuyahoga Falls was incorporated covering the same territory. This village organization continued until the census of 1920, when the population had increased to a point where it automatically became a city. It is now the City of Cuyahoga Falls. During the years from 1910 to 1920, there was an extensive development in population, and this growth has continued. The first railway constructed through Cuyahoga Falls was known as the Akron Branch of the Cleveland-Pittsburgh Railway. It was constructed from Hudson to Akron in about 1852. This developed into the Cleveland & Mt. Vernon Railway Company and later into the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway Company, and is now part of the Pennsylvania System. About 1882, the Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Toledo Railway Company constructed a line, through Cuyahoga Falls, from New Castle to Akron, using the bed of the old Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal as a right of way. This railway is now a part of the B. & 0. system. 102 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY In 1852, soon after the construction of the railroad from Hudson to Akron, occurred what is commonly designated as the Parks-Beatson murder in Cuyahoga Falls. Beatson was a cattle buyer whose headquarters were in Cleveland. Parks was sort of a roustabout who would now be denominated a bandit. Parks met Beatson in Cleveland and they drank together heavily. Beatson intended to start, that afternoon, for Pittsburgh, to buy cattle. He had with him a considerable sum of money. Parks persuaded Beatson to take him along, and they took a train from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. When the train reached Hudson, Beatson was under the influence of liquor to such an extent that Parks got him off the Pittsburgh train, and they boarded a train which ran from Hudson south through Cuyahoga Falls. Before they reached Cuyahoga Falls, the conductor discovered that they were on the wrong train as their tickets were for Pittsburgh and they were put off the train at Cuyahoga Falls early in the evening. They wandered over to Front Street, into the hotel, and made inquiries about the way to get back to Hudson. They found that there was no way of getting back there by train until morning. Beatson wanted to stay all night, but Parks persuaded him that they could walk back to Hudson that night. They left the hotel, in the evening, on foot. They evidently followed the railroad track north. When they reached the point in the north end of the village, where the road goes under the railroad to cross the river at Gaylord's Grove, Parks killed Beatson, by throwing him from the railroad to the cut below, and dragged his body onto the bridge, .at which point the head was severed from the body, and the body thrown into the river. In the morning some one, crossing the bridge, noticed a trail of blood, and a place where a body had evidently been thrown into the river. A crowd congregated, dragged the river, and found Beatson's body except the head. The head never was found. Parks was trailed down the canal toward Akron, where he had hired a man to drive him to Cleveland. This rig was followed to Cleveland, and Parks was traced to Buffalo, where he was arrested. He had a woman with him in Buffalo, and on the person of this woman they found the money which had been stolen from Beatson. Parks was brought back to this county and tried for murder. He was convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but afterwards got a new trial. Some interesting testimony was offered at the trial. Parks, at the second trial, admitted that he threw the body into the river, but claimed that Beatson fell off the railroad and when he struck the road below, he broke his neck. Parks claimed that he was afraid they would accuse him of murdering Beatson, so he dragged the body out onto the bridge, and cut the head off, and threw the body into the river. He claimed he put the head into the canal. Physicians who examined the body after it was found, testified that the muscles of the neck showed that the head was cut off before death. Parks was hanged in Akron for this murder. The sheriff, S. A. Lane, had the money which was taken from Parks when he was arrested, and the woman who was arrested with Parks. brought AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 103 suit against Lane to recover the money. A full account of this crime is given in Lane's Fifty Years in Summit County. Among the prominent characters in the history of Cuyahoga Falls should be mentioned Almeda Booth, who was a Cuyahoga Falls girl, and a natural born teacher. In the early days she became a teacher in Hiram College. Among her pupils there was James A. Garfield, who was afterwards President of the United States. She continued to teach in this college until her health failed, after which she came back to Cuyahoga Falls. Her salary was such that she was poor. She was finally sent to Cleveland, to a hospital, through the generosity of her former pupils. She died in Cleveland during the time that Garfield was President of the United States. Her body was brought to Cuyahoga Falls for burial, and Garfield came from Washington to attend her funeral, at which he made a short address. He afterwards wrote a memorial to her, which was delivered at Hiram College. He said of her that she was the inspiration of his early college life. This memorial is contained in a book now in the Public Library at Cuyahoga Falls, entitled The Life and Work of Almeda Booth. The old Booth home was located on South Front Street, about where The Falls Engineering & Machine Company is now located. Edward Rowland Sill, the poet, was born in Windsor, Conn., in 1841. His parents died when he was young, and he came to Cuyahoga Falls and made his home with Elisha N. Sill, his uncle. He graduated at Yale College, and early developed poetical tastes. He married Elizabeth N. Sill, a daughter of Elisha N. Sill. He continued his writings, and for a time lived in California. He died in 1887 ; and his widow, Elizabeth N. Sill, is still living. The literary world did not recognize the value of Sill's writings during his lifetime but, as time passed on, his poems became the subject of many literary articles, and in 1915, his life work, written by William Belmont Parker, was published, and this book is also in the Cuyahoga Falls Public Library. To the generosity and thoughtfulness of William A. Taylor and his wife, and Mrs. Elizabeth N. Sill, Cuyahoga Falls is indebted for this public library which is a substantial brick building and contains many useful and interesting books. Among the early attorneys in Cuyahoga Falls were Samuel W. McClure, afterwards Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Virgil P. Kline, and Henry McKinney. McClure was the elder attorney ; and both McKinney and Kline read law with him. Kline was employed as superintendent of schools, and while acting as superintendent of the schools, he studied law. He afterwards moved to Cleveland, and was the personal attorney of John D. Rockefeller and of the Standard Oil Company. McKinney also moved to Cleveland later, and was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County. All three of these men were brilliant lawyers. An interesting story is told about Samuel W. McClure—That in the early days of his practice he had a client, a young fellow who had been arrested and whose bond for $300 he signed. The 104 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY young fellow had a tract of wild land in Michigan which he deeded to McClure to cover liability on the bond. The young fellow fled the country and died. McClure paid the bond, and paid taxes on this land for a number of years. Finally he received a letter from a party wanting to buy this land. He knew nothing about it, but thought if somebody wanted to buy it, he had better investigate. He went to Michigan, and found that two railroads had been constructed which crossed each other right at the corner of this land, and that a town was springing up at this point. McClure laid out this land into lots and put them on the market. It is said that the sale of those lots netted him a large sum. The old McClure home in Akron was located on East Market Street. During the Civil War, Cuyahoga Falls, sent a very large quota of men to the front. Battery D of the Ohio First Artillery was largely made up of men from Cuyahoga Falls and vicinity. In Ohio two members of this battery are living at this date: Dr. W. S. Hough and Josiah Brown. Among the soldiers from Cuyahoga Falls who became noted are the Eadie boys, both of whom lost their lives in the service. The G. A. R. Post of Cuyahoga Falls was named the Eadie Post after these two boys. The old Eadie home was located on Front Street, right where the Standard Oil filling station is now located. One of the old monuments of Cuyahoga Falls was what was called the "Big Spring," which was located on the east side of Front Street, just north of Wadsworth Street. This was a large spring of very fine soft water. It was enclosed with a wall with an opening about fifteen feet across; and in the old days, when wells and cisterns were depended upon for water, large quantities were hauled from the spring in barrels to supply domestic purposes. After the water works system was inaugurated, this spring was tapped as one of the sources of supply of water, and the old wall enclosure was destroyed. The building of the main sewer on Front Street, in front of this spring, tapped the veins of water, and carried off large quantities of it, and the spring is gone. Among the older buildings still standing at Cuyahoga Falls is the hotel on the corner of Portage and Front streets. This building has been remodeled, and the rear portion of it burned, a few years ago, but the main part of the building is still what was known as the "Old Tavern." Another old building is situated on the Tifft & Vogan property, on the east side of Front Street—a large old frame building which was formerly known as Mechanics' Exchange building. It is said that the Mechanics here, years ago, had an organization, which held meetings in the upper part of this building. The L. W. Loomis block, on the corner of Portage and Front streets, is among the oldest brick buildings, and the three-story Apollo block, on the opposite corner, constructed by Israel James, is one of the older buildings, which have been well preserved. Most of the very old buildings have disappeared within the last few years by reason of new construction. One of these old buildings was originally built as an insurance AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 105 company headquarters, and afterwards turned into a store on the ground floor and the upper floor was used for residence purposes. It was known as the Jones Block or Alhambra Building. Among the older residences are the E. N. Sill home on Front Street, and the old Newberry home on East Broad Street, both of which have been previously mentioned. Both of these homes were constructed of a reddish brown sandstone, of very fine quality, which was quarried on the bank of the Cuyahoga River, just where the "High Bridge Glens" was formerly located. When Summit County was organized in 1840, Cuyahoga Falls was first chosen as the location of the county seat and it was nearer the center of the county than Akron. A site for the court house was selected on Broad Street ; but Simon Perkins and some other Akron people offered to donate a site, with some other inducements, which resulted in the location of the county seat in Akron. There was an old stage route or trail, on which travel from Pittsburgh west came through Cuyahoga Falls, and continued west out what is now Northampton Avenue, and down to Old Portage, and from Old Portage west. This road from Old Portage west became known, and is now known, as the Smith Road. It is said that in early days General Smith passed over this route with a body of soldiers in some of the Indian wars. SECRET SOCIETIES Masonic Star Lodge No. 187—Meets the Monday on or before the full of the moon and two weeks thereafter in Apollo Block. Falls Chapter, Order Eastern Star, No. 245—Meets 1st and 3d Tuesday evenings in Apollo Block. Odd Fellows Howard Lodge No. 62—Meets every Tuesday evening at 27 W. Portage. Elm Rebekah Lodge No. 227—Meets 1st and 3d Friday evenings at 27 W. Portage. Roethig Encampment—Meets 2d and 4th Thursday evenings at 27 W. Portage. The Maccabees Patton Tent No. 120—Meets every Friday evening at 61 S. Front. Women's Benefit Association of The Maccabees Arbutus Review No. 69—Meets every Monday evening at 61 S. Front. Knights of Pythias Pavonia Lodge No. 301—Meets every Monday evening at 181/2 S. Front. Ivy Dale Temple No. 316, P. S.—Meets every Tuesday evening at 18 1/2 S. Front. U. R., K. of P.—Meets every Wednesday evening at 18 1/2 S. Front. Loyal Order of Moose Cuyahoga Lodge No. 918—Meets every Tuesday evening at 27 1/2 S. Front. Women of Mooseheart Legion No. 686—Meets 1st and 3d Thursday evenings of each month at 27 1/2 S. Front. Modern Woodmen of America Meets every Thursday evening at 19 S. Front—N. H. Rook, Clerk. Knights of Malta Palestine Commandery No. 467—Meets every Wednesday in Apollo Block. American Legion Charles Faust Post No. 281—Meets 2d and 4th Friday evenings of each month at 19 S. Front. 106 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Veterans of Foreign Wars Ralph Huff Post No. 1062—Meets 1st and 3d Friday evenings of each month at 15 S. Front. Ladies' Auxiliary—Meets 2d and 4th Friday evenings at 15% S. Front. Woman's Relief Corps Meets 1st and 3d Tuesday afternoons of each month at 61 S. Front. Knights of Columbus Meets every Monday evening at 63 1/2 S. Front. Daughters of America Meets every Thursday evening at 61 S. Front. Junior Order United American Mechanics Cuyahoga Falls Council No. 362—Meets every Tuesday evening at 61 S. Front. CHURCH DIRECTORY Church of Christ, N. Second cor. Stow, Rev. W. T. Fisher, pastor. First Congregational, 30 W. Broad, Rev. F. L. Hall, pastor. Methodist Episcopal, W. Portage, Rev. J. C. Smith, pastor. St. John Episcopal Church, W. Portage, Rev. Francis Mcllwain, rector. St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, S. 2d, Rev. J. J. Lillis, pastor, Rev. W. C. O'Laughlin, assistant. United Presbyterian Church, N. 4th, cor. Payne Avenue. Welsh Congregational, end Tallmadge Avenue. Lutheran Redeemer Church, S. 4th near Portage, Rev. T. E. Prinz, pastor. First Baptist Church, 140 Tallmadge Avenue, Rev. A. M. Dixon, pastor. Magnolia M. E. Church, Loomis Avenue. Christian Science Church, 37 1/2 S. Front. Full Gospel Tabernacle, 250 Williams, Rev. C. S. Bish, pastor. First Church of Christ, e. s. Hudson Road, Rev. P. D. McCallum, pastor (Stow). Stow Community Church, e. s. Elm Road, Rev. W. W. Dague, pastor (Stow). KENMORE Early history of the lands on which Kenmore now stands as recorded by early chroniclers is among the most interesting of any in Summit County. Coventry Township, from which Kenmore was separated, has an interesting history and much folk-lore connected with it. Kenmore is located favorably between Akron and Barberton and on the northwest corner of Coventry Township. Although the city was not settled early there are many interesting incidents which occurred on the land where the city now stands. The township was considered "The Garden of Eden" and supposed to have some of the best hunting and fishing in the state to the Indians long before the first white-faced man was seen in the forest. Both Summit and Nesmith lakes furnished ample fishing grounds for many years after the settlement by the white man. The territory was held before the advent of the white man by ferocious tribe of Indians which also held considerable portion of Northern Ohio, the Delawares. Many tales of bloodshed and killings are told occurring in and near Kenmore. Coventry was first in the County of Trumbull. It was settled somewhat before Middlebury was a village. Early settlers found the land rich and tenantable and quickly adaptable to the growth of most plants. Just where the first settlements in Kenmore took place is not deft- 108 - AKRON AND SUMMIT- COUNTY nitely known, but it is believed to have been in the east and north sections of the city, near Nesmith Lake and on the Ohio Canal. The organization of the -township occurred in 1808. At that time sawmills, grist mills and a glass factory were all in the township. The Tuscarawas River, at that time a considerable stream, has sent many boat loads of glassware to New Orleans. From this section have come some men highly recognized in the development of Akron. Among these are the Brewsters, Falors, Spicers, and Buchtels. The first settler was Daniel Haines, who came from Pennsylvania in 1806. He settled in the northeast corner of the township. Other settlers came soon afterwards and he later sold out and moved further into the forests. Within a few years the entire township became dotted with houses and for a time rivaled other neighboring townships in number of settlements and improvements. The first beginnings of a town where Kenmore now is was in the latter part of the last century. The first development in that direction was in 1893-4 when the Tom Walsh street railway was built from Akron to Barberton. New homes began to spring up along the route and real estate dealers began to invest in property along the line. William Johnson was among the first to purchase land looking for development in the section. He bought forty-five acres of land between the Erie Railroad and Foust Road from the late George R. Foust and Jacob T. Miller in about 1898. He later bought more land along the railway from the late Austin Triplett and William Sours. Probably the settlement at Halo was the more important of the two. It was there the first factory of the present city is located, the Colonial Salt Company. Later the Zimmerly Bros. Packing Company located there. Not until 1901 when W. A. Johnson with O. C. Barber and others interested in the development of Barberton got the N. O. T. and L. to lay a street railway to Barberton, did real estate men think seriously of the land lying between the two cities. Many of the present residents of Kenmore are members of families that lived in Coventry Township. Both the Sours and Watters families lived on farms where Kenmore now stands. In 1901 the Akron Realty Company and W. A. Johnson made plans to lay out Kenmore. The Akron-Barberton street car lines were then being laid out. Manchester Road had been established. Johnson with H. W. Alcorn, present city engineer of Barberton, had charge of laying out the streets. Lots were put on sale and 1,500 lots were sold that year. Cars began to run over the streets that fall. After the city was laid out the first person to move his family on the boulevard was M. C. Heminger, real estate dealer in Akron. He was at that time secretary of the Akron Realty Company. He moved the household goods from Clinton in a canal boat and AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 109 landed them near where the Colonial Salt Company now stands. His son, Richard Heminger, present councilman in Kenmore, came with the goods. He moved to his home on Kenmore Boulevard near where the city hall now stands. The house is still standing. Other settlers began to come in and soon other houses were scattered along the boulevard in many places. Among these early settlers were : D. M. Settle, J. H. Heckler, J. C. Enders, E. F. Crites, Walter Baughman, Joe Royer, Leman Baughman, H. G. Laudenslager, Sylvester Bolander and others. It was during Mayor Sam Goodman's administration that the new city hall was proposed. In connection with Kenmore's present water system it is interesting to many that the first system was installed by a two-inch pipe line from a walled spring in the north part of the city. This supplied several homes on the boulevard and water flowed by gravity. The present system was installed in 1911. Along with Kenmore's commercial growth the churches and schools grew rapidly. The first church of Kenmore was the Boulevard Evangelical. It was moved from Manchester to a point just within the city limits on Manchester Road. Later, the building was torn down and it was moved to the present site on Kenmore Boulevard. Although this was the first church in Kenmore, the Hope Evangelical Church was first located at its present site on Springfield Road. At that time, however, the section was not part of the city. Another church in this city and the second one here was moved from another village. It is the Goss Memorial Reformed Church now at Shadyside. It was moved from Marshallville. It was named in honor of the late Dr. Sebastian C. Goss. The Methodist Church was then organized and then the Baptist. The United Brethren Church was later temporarily organized but no building was erected. The Christian Church was organized and the First Church of the Nazarene was the last to be organized. Probably one of the most outstanding growths of any organization in Kenmore has been the schools. Kenmore has many young folks and there are many children here. Since the first annex was built to the old Central Grade School there have been others built in all sections of the city. Kenmore has a number of live secret societies and fraternal orders. Among those represented here are Masonic Order, Victory Lodge, 649 ; Modern Woodmen of America, Kenmore Camp, 13,523 ; Odd Fellows, Kenmore Lodge, 927 ; Knights of Pythias, Lodge 767 ; Pythian Sisters ; Jr. 0. U. A. M.; Kenmore Council 305, Royal Neighbors ; Success Camp, 8,248, W. B. A. of the Maccabees ; Kenmore Review, 87, and several auxiliary societies. A sewer program that will be adequate for the city for many years 110 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY to come is being planned. The system will be joined with Akron if the present plans materialize and the sewage will be disposed of on a rental basis. In the course of a few years it is expected that Springfield Road will be one of the most thickly populated sections of the city. Development is also going forward in the north side. Allotment owners there are planning an extensive building program. It has been estimated that there will be 30,000 persons in Kenmore within five years. The city has a modernly equipped waterworks plant which is fully adequate to supply the city with water. At no time has there been any danger of a water shortage. One of the things most needed by the city is a municipal park but financial conditions have not allowed the expenditure in that direction for several years. Kenmore has some pretty sites for municipal parks. Nesmith Lake on the southern border could be made into one of the prettiest recreation spots in Ohio. The lake was named for Arthur Nesmith, who came to Norton Township in 1760 from Louderry, N. H. It is well stocked with fish and furnishes amusement for many local sportsmen. CHURCH DIRECTORY First M. E. Church, N. 14th, Rev. J. A. Rutledge, pastor. Goss Memorial Reformed Church, S. 11th cor. Florida Avenue, Rev. W. S. Adams, pastor. Boulevard Evangelical Church, 620 Kenmore Boulevard, Rev. O. D. Swank, pastor. Hope Evangelical Church, Springfield Road, Rev. J. R. Dallas, pastor. Park United Brethren Church, N. 24th, Rev. G. B. Wetherbee, pastor. First Christian Church, 20 N. 17th, Rev. F. C. Lake, pastor. First Baptist Church, 26 S. 18th, Rev. G. E. Enterline, pastor. St. Paul's Baptist Church, 115 Harvey, Rev. R. S. Tatom, pastor. Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, 120-126 N. 16th, Rev. J. L. Waldeisen, pastor. Church of God (Slovak), 1112 Florida Avenue, Rev. Samuel Fabry, pastor. Church of The Nazarene, 2634 McIntosh Avenue. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 108 Wooster Road, Rev. M. S. Amstutz, pastor. House of Jacob, 34 N. 2d, Rev. E. T. Whiteside, pastor. SECRET SOCIETIES Masonic Victory Lodge No. 649, F. and A. M.—Meets 2d and 4th Friday evenings of each month at 1324 Kenmore Boulevard. Modern Woodmen of America Kenmore Camp No. 13,523—Meets 1st and 3d Thursday evenings of each month at 1320 Kenmore Boulevard. Odd Fellows Kenmore Lodge No. 927—Meets every Wednesday evening at 1320 Kenmore Boulevard. Halo Rebekah Lodge No. 734—Meets 1st and 3d Tuesday evenings of each month at 1320 Kenmore Boulevard. Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 767—Meets every Thursday evening at 1508 Kenmore Boulevard. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 111 Pythian Sisters Meets 2d and 4th Wednesday evenings of each month at 1508 Kenmore Boulevard. Junior Order of United American Mechanics Kenmore Council No. 305—Meets every Friday evening at 1510 Kenmore Boulevard. Royal Neighbors Success Camp No. 8248—Meets 2d and 4th Thursday evenings of each month at 1320 Kenmore Boulevard. Women's Benefit Association of The Maccabees Kenmore Review No. 87—Meets alternate Wednesday evenings at 1320 Kenmore Boulevard. Daughters of America Hope Council—Meets every Thursday evening at 1510 Kenmore Boulevard. American Legion Meets alternate Tuesday evenings at 1510 Kenmore Boulevard. CEMETERIES Lakewood Cemetery, Springfield Road. St. Augustine Cemetery, Springfield Road. BATH AND GHENT Several miles out of Akron at the beginning of the winding Brecksville Road to Cleveland, one passes first through the little village of Ghent and a few miles further on through the still smaller settlement of Bath. Both are diminutive hamlets, but both were settled some twenty years before Gen. Simon Perkins platted out the new metropolitan city of Akron. According to Samuel A. Lane's History of Summit County it is not definitely known just when the first white people took up their abode in what is now the Township of Bath. It was not ceded by the Indians until 1805 at the treaty of Fort Industry. The township was surveyed into lots by Col. Rial McArthur the same year. In his field book he gave it the name of "Wheatfield," which was not such an apt title as the topography of the township was anything but conducive to the growing of wheat. The eastern portion of the township overhanging and extending down into the valley of the Cuyahoga River is largely composed of precipitous hills and deep gullies. POWER FOR INDUSTRIES About one mile south of the center of the township, "Yellow Creek," a beautiful little stream, runs west to east. This stream, rising in the adjoining township of Granger on the west and having a number of tributaries, passes through the township with a rapid descent and has furnished a large amount of motive power for manufacturing operations both at and above and below the Village of Ghent. 112 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY These consisted of grist and merchant flouring mills, sawmills, woolen, planing, turning and bending mills ; hub, spoke and felloe factories. The first two permanent settlers in the township were Jonathan Hale of Glastonbury and Jason Hammond of Bolton, Conn. Mr. Lane states, however, that it is probable that they were preceded to Bath Township by Moses Latta, Aaron Miller, Hezekiah Burdit, Gibson Gates and Moses and Aaron Decker, who had located themselves in the township as squatters the previous year. Miller built a cabin upon the purchase of Mr. Hale and Moses Latta squatted on a lot upon the Smith Road a short distance east of what was afterward known for many years as Latta's Corners and is now called Montrose. ORGANIZED IN 1818 Though not so rapidly settled as many of the neighboring townships, "Wheatfield," or as it had then come to be called, "Hammondsburgh," is said to have furnished many soldiers for the defense of the frontier against the combined forces of the Indians and British in the War of 1812. The township was not organized until 1818, eight years after the first regular settlement was made. It was previously attached to Norton. Dr. Henry Hutson was elected justice of peace and Eleazer Rice was named constable. At the first regular town meeting, the question of deciding on a per- manent name for the township was considered. After much controversy Jonathan Hale got out of patience and called out: "Oh, call it Jerusalem, Jericho, Bath, or anything but Hammondsburgh." A motion was thereupon immediately made to call it Bath which was carried by a large majority and it has remained Bath until the pre ent day. Some of the prominent early settlers of Bath were Peter Boris, R land O. Hammond, John McFarlin, Alvin C. Voris, Grenville Thorp Hiram H. Mack, J. Park Alexander, Sumner Nash, Othello W. Hale an Charles Oviatt Hale. ORGANIZED RAILROAD In 1853 the Clinton Line Extension Railroad from Hudson to Tiffin was organized with Professor Henry N. Day of Hudson, president. From Hudson the line extended southwesterly through Northampton and Bath, crossing the Cuyahoga Valley near the residence of James R. Brown in Northampton and running up Yellow Creek Valley throug the Township of Bath. About $70,000 was expended in grading the road between Hudso and Ghent. A large quantity of stone for bridging the creek flowin into Yellow Creek from the north was hauled to the ground. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 113 Quite a business boom was created in and about Ghent ; manufactures were stimulated, stores multiplied and hotels flourished. The northern hotel was rechristened the "Railroad House." In 1856 the bottom fell out of the Clinton Line Extension and the various other lines were to form a great thru line between Philadelphia and Council Bluffs, and the work was never completed. RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT During the first twenty-five or thirty years after Bath was first settled, its growth in population was steady and comparatively rapid so that in 1840 it had reached 1425. Regarding the religious development of Bath, Mr. Lane writes in part : "In religious matters the Presbyterians for many years maintained a house of worship at the center of the town, and the Methodists at Hammond's Corners, her people also having ready access to the United Brethren Centennial Church on the Richfield line upon the north ; the Disciple Church on the Granger line on the west, and the United Brethren Church at Montrose on the south. Her people at the present time are among the most intelligent and moral on the Western Reserve maintaining also a most flourishing Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, now such a potent factor in promoting the intellectual, social and material interests of the people of the rural districts of the country." COUNTRY STORE The greatest distinction of Bath, today, is being the home of the second largest country store in the state of Ohio. The largest country store is located in Strasburg, 0. The 'Bath Store, which does a $100,000 annual business, was founded by the father of S. B. Whitcraft and has been carried on by him for the past half century. Whitcraft first came to Ohio at the age of 14 years in 1877 with his father. His father died in 1887 and the son has run the store ever since. On June 10, 1912, the old building was burned down and the present modern store building was erected. The store has a state-wide reputation and carries a stock of almost every conceivable kind of merchandise. Mrs. W. W. Dague conducts services in both the Congregational Church at Bath and the Disciple Church in Ghent. The Bath Township School, a large, modern, red brick building, is situated midway between the two villages. Roy Pugh is superintendent. During the past school year there was an attendance of about 300 students. OLDEST RESIDENT Ellsworth Halderman is justice of peace of Bath township and Charley Jagger and Ray Baumgartner are the constables. The only businesses outside of the Whitcraft store in Bath are a gas 5-VOL. 1 114 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY station operated by A. A. Saxe and son, and a blacksmithy, run by Howard Young. Milt Miller, who is eighty-one years old, is the oldest resident in the village. He was born on a farm. in Bath township and has lived there ever since. There are several interesting old buildings at the center of Bath. One of these is the residence of Jim Harpley, which was formerly a hotel in the old stage coach days. The other is the home of James McKonklin, a beautiful white Colonial structure, which was built in the early thirties by Peter Voris. William Baker, seventy-two, is the oldest resident of Ghent. There are several small barbecues located there ; a garage operated by Ed Sprankle and Beachler's general store. One of the interesting old buildings is the residence of Henry Freeman, which was once known as the Chester Purdy machine shop. It is located on the bank of Yellow Creek. LOYAL OAK About seven or eight miles west of Akron on the Wadsworth road lies the little village of Loyal Oak, the name of which has come to be almost synonymous with the clear, sparkling amber of apple cider and the delicious spread of apple butter. For outside of one or two stores and a garage, Loyal Oak has no industry or business save that of the famed Loyal Oak Cider Press to which thousands of persons from all sections of Northern Ohio trek every fall. Most of the residents of the little settlement are either retired farmers or engaged in some small store business of their own. The remainder commute to Akron to work in the various factories. The Loyal Oak Cider Press was founded over half a century ago by John J. Knecht, the oldest resident of the village, who lives with his son, William Knecht, present operator of the mill. John Knecht, who is eighty years old, has lived in Loyal Oak and vicinity all of his life save for six years which he spent in the western part of the state. He came to Ohio from Northampton, Pa., when he was seventeen years old. First he founded a lumber and sawmill. Later he built and started the Loyal Oak Cider Press. LARGE CAPACITY The cider season starts in August and continues for about three months thru October. During the peak of the season, the Loyal Oak press turns out more than 100 barrels of cider and 100 gallons of apple butter a day. There were only a few homes in Loyal Oak when John Knecht came to the village sixty-two years ago. "Streets paved, huh !" he snorted. ."Say, the roads were paved with AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 115 logs to prevent the buggy wheels from sinking in completely out of sight in those days," he reminisced. Thomas Hartzell, a harness repairman, whose tiny, cottage-like white shop borders the road on the left on the way into Loyal Oak, is another old-time resident who has a lot of choice memories of the early days. Hartzell came to Loyal Oak from Windcap, Pa., in 1879. He has lived in the village forty-eight years and is going on eighty yeas s old. He has been in the harness and shoe repairing business all of his life. There was a time many years ago when he made boots and shoes, too, but that is only a dim memory now. The machine processes made it unprofitable for him to keep up this line of business so he stopped cobbling to go into the repair end of the game exclusively. He is still in good health and works in his shop and garden every day. VILLAGE NOT INCORPORATED Loyal Oak is still an unincorporated village with about 100 inhabitants. It is governed by township officials. The justice of peace is Martin Miller who resides at Johnson's Corners. Among the businessmen in the village are L. V. Bowers who operates a general merchandise store and also carries automobile supplies ; Russell Miller, who has a garage ; and Adam Pinter who operates a hotel and soft drink place. The village is equipped with a new red, brick school building which was built last year at a cost of about $50,000. It is comprised of four rooms. William Minick is head of the school. There are two churches, the Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Loyal Oak is situated at the intersection of the Akron-Wadsworth road and the U. S. Route 21 which runs from Massillon to Cleveland. The Lincoln Country Club golf course is located about half a mile west of Loyal Oak. The little settlement also has had another claim to fame in addition to the cider press. Near it are located a number of Indian mounds which were discovered by Robert Hemphill, a local resident interested in archaeology. Mr. Hemphill did considerable excavation work at the mounds during which he discovered many interesting evidences of former Indian inhabitants and their activities. NAME WAS CHANGED Loyal Oak has had an interesting early history. It was originally called Bates' Corners because of the numerous members of the Bates family who were residents. It was also frequently called Allentown because of the many settlers ere who came from Allen, Conn. In the early days according to Lane's History of Summit County, the 116 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY settlement's activities consisted of a hotel, store, two fine churches, schoolhouse and such industries as blacksmith, tanning, milling, tin smithing, and harness making. For many years Clark's mill located one mile east of Loyal Oak on Wolf Creek and built by Carlos Clark in the early '30s did a thriving business. It was destroyed by fire in 1879. ARGUE ABOUT FIRST SETTLER Loyal Oak is situated in Norton Township, the first settler of which is said to have been James Robinson of Oswego County, N. Y. In 1810, he located on lot nineteen on Wolf Creek in the northeast portion of the township. Others claim that John Cahow, a native of Maryland, was Norton's first settler. His cabin was also erected in 1810. During the war of 1812 he established the first tavern west of Middlebury in Summit County. In 1814 James Robinson was married to Lois Bates by Simeon Prior, Esq., of Northampton. A year later he moved there but soon afterwards returned to Norton Township, and settled near New Portage where he subsequently died. Very little progress was made in the settlement of the township until after the close of the War of 1812 in 1815 when there was a rush. The getting a later start than most of its neighbors, Norton was, in point of topography and soil, so desirable a location that it soon caught up with the most, and surpassed some of the townships in the vicinity, in point of population, enterprise and wealth. Among the early settlers were James Robinson and John Cahow, already mentioned, Henry and Abraham Van Hyning, Joseph Holmes, Elisha Hinsdale, who held the office of coroner of Summit County for several years, Ezra Way, Joseph D. Humphrey, Charles Lyon, Philemon Kirkum, Seth Lucas, Charles Miller, John O'Brien and Nathan and Lyman Bates. FIRST WEDDING Henry Van Hyning died Dec. 25, 1839, at the age of 102 years. The first marriage in the township was that of James Robinson and Lois Bates. The first birth was a child born to Mrs. Lyman Bates. The first death was a daughter of John O'Brien. At the first election held April, 1818, Abraham Van Hyning, Charles Lyon and Ezra Way were chosen trustees ; Joseph D. Humphrey, township clerk ; Joseph Holmes, Elisha Hinsdale and John Cahow, supervisors ; and Henry Van Hyning Sr., justice of peace. The Indians had nearly all vacated the township before white settlement fairly began, so that very little traditionary lore in regard to encounters with redskins has been handed down. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 117 The forests of the township particularly the jungles of Wolf Creek were infested with wolves, bears and similar game, however. It is related that Henry Van Hyning Jr., and the Bates brothers once killed a bear a short distance southeast of Loyal Oak which when dressed weighed over 500 pounds. TWINSBURG In one corner of the beautiful little cemetery in the village of Twinsburg, 0., about twenty miles due north of Akron, is a lot with five old-fashioned tombstones lying flat down over the graves. Yellowed and broken with age but with the inscription surprisingly intact they are all that remains of one of the most colorful families in early pioneer history. On the largest of these ancient markers is the following epitaph : "In Memory of Moses and Aaron Wilcox Who Died Sept. 24 and 25, 1827, Age 55. The former of them was born seven minutes before the latter and survived him nineteen hours and thirty-five minutes. They married sisters and always continued together in business and for the last twenty-five years were members of the Congregational Church. In 1812 they visited this town, selected and purchased 1000 acres of it. At their request it was named Twinsburg. Their remains now lie deposited in one grave beneath this stone." Thus tersely told is the career of the Wilcox twins for whom Twinsburg was named and whose wives and children lie buried beside them in the village cemetery. WERE MERCHANTS IN CONNECTICUT At the time Moses and Aaron Wilcox became proprietors of land in the Western Reserve, they were merchants in Killingworth, Conn. They had been educated in the same school, had engaged in business together, married sisters, Huldah and Mabel Lord also of Killingworth, at the same time and held their property in common. Altho they did not personally visit their Ohio property until 1823, they made an arrangement with the settlers to name the town four years earlier. For this privilege, a centennial history of Twinsburg by Lena M. Carter states, they donated six acres of land for a public square and $20 toward a public schoolhouse. As they did not own the land covering the exact center of the township they set aside six acres adjacent to it. In naming the town they evidenced their oneness of feeling in calling it Twinsburg. In the spring of 1820 they sent Elijah W. Bronson to Twinsburg to act as their "agent," the Centennial history goes on. 118 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ERECTED A LOG HOUSE "On the east side of the square he erected a log house which was the first building at the center, or what is now Twinsburg proper. "In 1823 the Wilcox twins came to Twinsburg. For a time they lived by themselves in a blacksmith shop that had belonged to Oliver Clark. It stood on the lot where the bank now stands. This was a temporary arrangement as that year they built on the same lot the first frame house erected at the center. "Instead of holding their lots about the square at speculative prices the Wilcox brothers sold them at very low figures and as an inducement to tradesmen and mechanics to settle there actually gave them lots for homes and shops. "As a consequence of this wise policy within five or six years there were from twelve to fifteen families living near the square. "In 1823 a postoffice was established with Moses Wilcox as postmaster. "In September, 1827, the Wilcox twins died within a few hours of each other of the same disease and were buried in the same grave. Their death at this time when money was becoming exceedingly scarce caused a cessation of improvements in the northern part of the town and this condition continued several years but was finally relieved." WERE MARRIED THE SAME DAY In commenting on the death of the Wilcox brothers the Cleveland Herald of Oct. 5, 1827, said : "They were twins, born in Connecticut. Were married the same day, and to sisters. Experienced religion the same day, united in the same church the same day, were partners in trade in Middleton, Conn., and failed together, removed together and settled in the township, which from them derived the name, 'Twinsburg.' "Were taken sick the same day, continued sick alike, and died the same day and were buried in the same grave, and left to their families the same unsullied Christian character." Today they lie in the same grave in which they were placed over a century ago. At the right is buried Huldah, wife of Moses, who died in 1854, and at the left is Mabel, wife of Aaron, who died three years earlier in 1851. The children buried in the same lot are Fanny, Louisa, Mabel, Mary, Moses and the Rev. Martin Wilcox. In the summer of 1796 General Moses Cleaveland on an exploring voyage up the Cuyahoga River discovered a large creek which he named Tinker's Creek in honor of his boatman, Joseph Tinker, who was drowned in Lake Erie. Twinsburg is situated in the little valley made by this creek and is surrounded on all sides by hills. It was the last township to be settled in what is now Summit County. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 119 Settlements in the Connecticut Western Reserve, however, were largely a matter of chance, as departures from the established lines of travel were attended with great hazards. One of the most unusual features in the early history of the township was the fact that the first settlement was made by Ethan Alling, a boy of only sixteen years. On March 3, 1817, he started from North Millford, Conn., with three hired men for Ohio, arriving at the home of Liman Post in Hudson on the last day of March, having made the trip in twenty-eight days. On the first day of April, 1817, they arrived at Twinsburg, and ate their dinner in the southeast corner of what is today the village park. On April 15 they took possession taking with them as supplies purchased from Captain Heman Oviatt one barrel of pork at $25; one barrel of flour, $8 ; ten bushels of potatoes, $5 ; one gallon of whisky, $1.50. The entire outfit of kitchen utensils consisted of one bailless bake-kettle, two tin bakepans, one case knife, one iron spoon and a board 2x6 intended for a door but temporarily used for a table, individual jack knives being pressed into service at meal times with sharpened sticks for forks and a clean broad chip for a plate. Alling commenced a mercantile business in 1828 in a room 6x8 with two articles, tobacco and Scotch snuff. In 1835 he built a store. In 1839 Odell and Taylor erected a frame building on the present site of the stone store. It burned later and A. L. Nelson built the stone store where he continued in business until his death in 1897. Luman Lane was the first, or one of the first, to erect a dwelling on the Wilcox tract. Maria Stanley, the first child was born Nov. 23, 1819. The first marriage was performed March 19, 1821, when Emery W. Agler was married to Eliza Dodge, Lewis Alling, Esq., performing the ceremony. A log school house was built upon the square at the center in 1822, the first public building of any character in the township. It was used for a school, town hall and church. The first teacher, Miss Lorina Miream, afterward became the wife of Junia North. Religious meetings held in the township prior to 1820 were conducted by Rev. John Seward of Aurora and William Hanford of Hudson. A Congregational society was organized Aug. 23, 1822. On April 30, 1828, the Rev. Samuel Bissell was given charge of this society. Mr. Bissell made known his wish to teach the youth of the neighborhood and a school was opened without any charge for tuition, except for those disposed to pay, in which case the tuition for the term was to be $2. About forty students attended the first winter. In 1821 a combined church and school house was erected in which Mr. Bissell taught and preached until 1835 when he went to Portage County. He returned in 1837, built a house 20x35 in which he taught for 120 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY twenty-nine consecutive years, afterwards enlarging the building. Even later he taught in the stone house owned by J. Lewis. Mr. Bissell's school was known as "Twinsburg Institute." It was simply a private enterprise, with no charter or donations but solely the outgrowth of the persevering energy of its liberal-hearted, self-sacrificing founder, and wholly maintained on the basis of the meager tuition fee of $2 to $4 per term and the still more meager charge of from $1.12 1/2 to $1.50 per week for board and lodging. It is now a century since Rev. Samuel Bissell came from Aurora to Twinsburg and the old Institute building is torn down, but his memory and teachings are still preserved in the heart of Twinsburg residents. The township of Twinsburg today has a population of about 1000, of whom 300 live in the village. Where there were formerly four churches, there is now only one, the Congregational or Community Church of which the Rev. J. M. Allison is pastor. E. P. Evans is principal of the Twinsburg school, a modern red brick building, which has an enrollment of around 200 students. Mrs. Ora Elliott is postmistress of the village and Mrs. Gregg is librarian. The executive officials of Twinsburg consist of two justices of peace—A. J. McFarland and Sterling Doubrava, and Luther Prentiss, a constable. VOLUNTEER FIREMEN A volunteer fire department equipped with one fire engine is maintained with Earl Bowen in charge. Twinsburg boasts of a number of businesses. There are two general merchandise stores operated by W. R. Rylander and A. E. Bishop. A hardware store run by Charles Richner ; a blacksmith shop operated by Mr. Marovich; and three restaurants operated by E. D. Bowen, Fred Miller and Mr.. Gardner. One of the most interesting citizens of Twinsburg is A. J. Brown, the oldest resident of the village in point of years which he has lived there and next to the oldest in point of years of age. Mr. Brown who is eighty-two years old, was born a mile and a half southeast of Twinsburg on the Streetsboro Road. He was brought up on a farm and taught school for five years in the Twinsburg district. For thirty-three years he was a justice of peace in Twinsburg Township and for fifteen years he was secretary and director of the Twinsburg Banking Co. Due to defective hearing he was forced to give up most of his activities. MEMORY IS REMARKABLE He now lives alone in a large white house a block from the ,square, which he purchased seventeen years ago. Save for his hearing he is in comparatively good health. Mr. Brown has a remarkable memory and is able to recall many inci- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 121 dents in the pioneer history of the village. He remembers Ethan Ailing, the founder of Twinsburg, whom he knew as a child. "Mr. Alling was a thin, quiet, serious-minded little man," he recalls. "I remember he used to attend the Methodist Church. He was baldheaded and when he would take off his hat in church he would cover his head with a red bandana handkerchief which he always carried. It was either to keep the flies off or to keep his head protected from the cold. "Mr. Alling became a merchant and his sons followed in his footsteps. He built the store which W. R. Rylander now occupies and he also built the house which Dr. R. B. Chamberlain now lives in." TALLMADGE Not quite one hundred twenty years ago a young, zealous missionary by the name of David Bacon set out from Connecticut for the unexplored wilderness of the West with the cherished dream of establishing a sort of religious Utopia. It was his idea to found a community which would be in full sympathy with his own unswering orthodox religious notions to be conducted upon and governed by a strictly moral and spiritual code of ethics. He selected as a site for his proposed ecclesiastical paradise the then unnamed and unsettled township in Northern Ohio now known as Tallmadge. When he arrived he found that the land had already been laid out by Gen. Simon Perkins of Warren, who had acted as an agent for the Connecticut Land Company, into twenty-five sections of one mile square each with east, west, north, and south roads crossing at right angles. This, however, did not coincide with his own ideas for a religious settlement and accordingly he had the township redivided into sixteen great lots 1 1/4 miles square with eight diverging roads. Thus originated the famous Tallmadge Circle with its many outlets of today. WANTED TO PROVIDE A PUBLIC SQUARE Bacon's idea in rearranging the layout of the township was to provide a commodious public square of seven and one-half acres around which was to be built the church, schoolhouse, store, tavern, various mechanic's shops, and private residences that were to form the future business emporium of the township. In June, 1808, the settlers met at his home to determine upon a name for the township and it was decided to name it in honor of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, the largest individual land owner. On November 11, 1812, the township was duly organized under its own name. The first town clerk was Elizur Wright and the first justice of peace Nathaniel Champman. Through the early efforts of its pious and devoted founder, the township was peopled with an exceptionally worthy class of inhabitants. But 122 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY despite this and the admirable adjustment of roads and lots he failed to realize his ambitions. It had been his desire to conform the entire township to the support of the church to which he himself belonged. To this end he caused to be inserted in the contracts and deeds of conveyance a clause binding each 100 acres sold to the annual payment of $2 for support of the "Gospel Ministry of the Calvinistic Faith of the Congregational Order Forever." And also in the deeds to reserve the right and power to distrain for the annuity in case it should not be paid. FIRST PLAN WAS FAILURE The first plan although lived up to for several years finally proved to be a failure. Several persons although they were good and pious persons, refused to subscribe to the Calvinistic faith and to pay the annuity. Edmund Strong, one of the leading non-conformers, was sued by Mr. Bacon in 1811 for the amount levied upon his land as a test case for the legality of the contracts. In addition to the $2 tax on land, the Congregational Society when organized in 1809 adopted a voluntary schedule of taxation for its support fixing the valuation of property as a basis. Timber land was taxed at $4 per acre, girdled and underbrushed land at $10; cleared land at $15; horses, three-years-old or over at $30 ; oxen, four-years-old or over at $20; steers and cows at $15; and buildings to be valued by the listers. Upon being brought to trial Mr. Strong's case was decided in his favor. Thus ended the perpetual land tax scheme devised by Mr. Bacon for the support of the gospel in Tallmadge, though the maintenance of the gospel and the Congregational Church there was by no means a failure. Realizing the failure of his pet scheme and deploring the unexpected opposition to his general plans, both temporal and spiritual, Mr. Bacon left early in 1812 with his family for Connecticut, a brokenhearted man. EFFORT WAS A FAILURE Though the cherished plan of its founder was to make the township purely and exclusively Congregational in religious sentiment and government the effort was a failure. Not only believers in other forms of faith but many non-believers even to downright atheists found a lodgement within the township according to Samuel Lane in his History of Summit County. The over-whelming sentiment, however, remained uncompromisingly orthodox with Congregationlism in the lead. The first sermon was preached by Mr. Bacon in his own house. The first church organization was effected in his cabin January 22, 1809. The first and only house of worship of the Congregational Society of Tallmadge stands upon the north side of the public square on the same site occupied by the old Academy Building. 124 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY It was erected in 1822 and is now 105 years old. It was the fifth steeple church built in the Western Reserve and was considered the very best thing in churches at the time of its erection. The Rev. William Henry Morton is the present pastor. The Methodist Society was first organized in Tallmadge in 1825 through the efforts of the Rev. Billings O. Plympton. Meetings were held in schoolhouse and private residences until 1832 when a plain house of worship costing about $1,500 was erected some 200 rods from the public square on the northeast diagonal road. NEW BUILDING BUILT IN 1874 The modest structure served the purposes of the gradually increasing congregation until 1874 when a larger and more attractive building was put up on the south side of the square at a cost of $8,000. This same building is still used as the Methodist Church. Rev. O. H. Pennell is the present pastor. In building the Congregational Church a prize of a keg of whiskey was offered by Reuben Beach, building superintendent, to the first person who would draw a stick of timber on the ground. So great was the competition that before 1 o'clock in the morning of the date set timber had been brought in from all the eight roads leading to the square. Daniel Beach won the prize. Despite this incident it was not long before the people of the township began to manifest a strong interest in temperance. Tallmadge in its early days was quite an industrial center. A number of coal and iron mines were in operation in the township. In 1844 a Welsh gentleman from Pittsburgh erected a blast furnace at the chutes of the Tallmadge Coal Company known as the Vinton, Lewis Reese and Company. The township was also for many years the center of extensive carriage manufacturing. It had a sewerpipe works and two or three establishments for the manufacture of stoneware. TALLMADGE HAS ONE INDUSTRY Today the only industry in Tallmadge is an old tile manufacturing plant which has been idle for some time and is now being remodeled for use by the U. S. Stoneware Company of Akron. Some of the other firms in Tallmadge are two grocery stores operated by Bruce Krammer and W. P. Hine, a general store owned by Carl Krammer, a coal and feed store operated by Henry Bierce ; a confectionary store and gas station owned by A. Miller, a service station and garage operated by William & Karg; the Oliver Fenn garage and gas station, the R. P. Johnson gas station and the A. McKolghan gas station. Most of the residents of the town, which is a pretty little place with its massive shade trees and old-fashioned homes, are either retired or farmers. Then, too, a number of persons commute to nearby towns to work. Some of the descendants of pioneer settlers still living in Tallmadge AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 125 are Mrs. Charles Wright, Henry Sperry, Henry Bierce, Frank Wright, Frank and C. C. Sackett, Mrs. Walter Sackett, George Treat, Mrs. Bryan Wolcott and Mrs. Nelson Fenn. Another point of interest in Tallmadge is a boulder erected in honor of the Rev. David Bacon on the side of his first cabin in a field at the edge of the wood between East Akron and Tallmadge Center. Tallmadge is centrally located from a number of other towns and cities. It is five miles East of Akron, five miles North of Mogadore, six miles Southwest of Kent, 20 miles North of Canton, 40 miles West of Youngstown and three miles Southeast of Cuyahoga Falls. One of the most painstaking and reliable historians of Summit County was Charles C. Bronson of Tallmadge. A number of his original manuscripts pertaining to the early history of that township have very fortunately been preserved. Mrs. George Wright, whose grandfather was Jonathan Hale, the first settler of Bath Township, and who is also a descendant of Jesse Allen, has some of Mr. Bronson's original manuscripts. Some of the interesting highlights on the early religious life of the township which she has gleaned from Mr. Bronson's accounts are given here below: OLD CHURCH RECORDS OF TALLMADGE By Mrs. George Wright In considering the early history of our church, one must remember the circumstances surrounding those living in the early 1800's. We must remember that Tallmadge was then a very young settlement, on the frontier in the wilderness. Middlebury or East Akron, as it is now known, was a very small settlement, but Akron did not then exist. Then take into consideration the life and character of the Rev. David Bacon, and the ancestry and religious beliefs of the early settlers he had persuaded to come here from New England. As most of you know, the original intentions of Rev. Bacon was to establish a community composed entirely of Congregationalists, and only church members were to own the land. It was intended to be a model settlement and Mr. Bacon threw all his energies into the work, his only thought being for the good of the people, and to establish a Christian community. But like many another dream of the future, it was found to be impractical, and after a more or less stormy time, Mr. Bacon left here, a very much hurt and misunderstood man. This, however, was but the beginning of a series of misunderstandings with other ministers and church members, for there was a large amount of human nature in these revered ancestors of ours, and they were a plain living and plain speaking people. Let me call your attention to the character of the men and women, for although the women were not allowed to speak in church meetings, they must have had as strong characteristics as the men and no doubt used 126 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY their influence and tongues at home. It took real grit to be a pioneer woman. These men and women, ancestors of many of the citizens of Tallmadge today, were a strong, viril,—exceedingly stubborn race, possessed of the courage of their convictions, and so not afraid to express themselves when need be. They were mostly young or middle-aged men and women not many past the prime of life, strong, energetic and capable. Ancestors one may well be proud to own ; and while we may consider some of their actions as peculiar it is in no spirit of criticism or disrespect we consider the past. The reading matter of those early days was far different from ours of the present. The Bible, of course being the one book read and studied most of all. There were not many books, and what there were, were of an intensely religious character. The Old English Reader was one that was read and quoted for years. I can remember hearing my father and Mr. I. P. Spreng quote whole poems that they had learned in their youth in the English Reader. The New England Primer containing the catechism was read and studied. "Drelincourt's Consolations on the Terms of Death" written in the old style when S's were all F's—and published in 1774 is another example of the books of a not very cheerful nature handed down to later generations. "The Farmers' Almanac," "New York Observer," tracts from the American Tract Society, and "Watts on the Mind" could be found in the different homes. Some secular newspapers had a page or two devoted to religious matters. These pages were carefully separated and set aside for Sunday reading and the rest of the paper was not be be looked at on the Sabbath. No doubt the early settlers obtained more real good from reading the few books and papers, than we, whose homes are filled with books and magazines, especially when we consider some of the authors and writings of the present day. MUCH OF INTEREST IN OLD RECORDS One finds, in poring over these old records, much of great interest and much that is amusing, as well as interesting. There are many volumes, and we are struck with the good penmanship and the good ink of many of the pages. Then in other places, the ink is so faded one can scarcely read the words, and the penmanship so poor it is almost illegible. It is well worth one's while to pore over these church records just to see the names so familiar to us all—and to judge from their contents what our ancestors did and their personal characteristics. Our Tallmadge historian, the late Mr. C. C. Bronson, copied a great deal from the records and in his quaint way gives us many glimpses of the character and actions of the early settlers. One gathers from the number of deaths of infants recorded in the early days the pioneer life was rather hard on babies. There is carved on one of the tombstones in our cemetery, the record of the death of six infants AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 127 between 1813 and 1820, belonging to the Asoph Whittlesy family, and also of the death of a little two-year-old son soon after. Infant baptism was compulsory and the baptisms were carefully recorded. The names and dates of those uniting with the church—and whether by profession or letter, the marriages and deaths from the early days of the church to the present are to be found. I was much interested to find the record of the marriage of my own parents—though they did not live in Tallmadge but attended church here. Our church, you know, was organized in the home of Rev. David Bacon in 1809. The site of this home is marked by a monument, suitably inscribed, and it is located just off from the South crossroad near the southern boundary of the township. Church meetings were held in different homes and in the old Academy Building which stood on the Public Square just north of the southwest corner, up to the time of the new meeting house built in 1822 to 1825. Business meetings of the church were frequent, every month at least, and often within a week or two, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and it was considered as essential for every male member of the church to be present as upon the Sabbath day meetings. Votes were taken by roll call, so every member voted. One can but wonder how those busy men could find time to attend so many meetings, but we must remember that there were few outside attractions, the dancing and card playing and other forms of worldly amusements were frowned down upon and that all took a vital interest in the church, and also, if I may be allowed to say it, in the affairs and opinions of their neighbors. There was, in later years, a strong feeling against strong drink, and in 1831 the church voted that "only such persons as adopted the principles of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, except as medicine, should receive fellowship into the church." BOYS WERE MISCHIEVOUS In 1849 it was voted "that no meetings except those of a strictly religious character be allowed in the meeting house unless by the unanimous consent of the trustees." Evidently the boys were as full of mischief then as their decendants of the present day—for on February. 1, 1844, it was voted that "a committee of three be appointed to sit in the gallery and keep order among the boys." These men of the olden times believed most devoutly in the doctrines of the church and they were very liberal in their construction of the Bible. The 15th verse of the 18th chapter of Matthew was quoted often and literally carried out. "Moreover if thy brother offend thee, go and tell him of his fault—between thee and him alone." . . . "If he will not hear thee take one or two more." . . . "and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." If a member did not attend church regularly, neglected the communion service, did not have family prayers, did not pay his annual dues, traveled or worked on the Sabbath, some kind neighbor was sure to find it out- 128 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY and after calling upon him to remonstrate and without avail, he would then call in one or two more brethern to help. If this did no good the case was brought before the church. Often the case dragged its weary length for more than a year, before the erring brother admitted what was called his "sin" and confessed repentance—and was forgiven, or otherwise, excommunicated from the church. Members of the presbytery from a distance frequently were appealed to and came miles to help settle some stubborn cases. COMPLAINTS WERE MADE One case was against a brother in which complaints were entered by two deacons, because he used profanity and also because he used the Sabbath to travel, and also a complaint was entered against his wife for the "same crime." This case lasted from June 17, 1817, to August 28, 1818, when the brother in question "made due confession and he was restored to full membership of the church." At one time, Mr. Jotham Blakelee—a prominent man of that time, a man of strong character, and sterling worth, made a confession for absenting himself from the Lord's Supper, on a particular Sabbath, which was "satisfactory on the ground that it was not known outside the church." Mr. Blakelee's daughter told me the following story of her father. At a prayer meeting the hymn "O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, My Great Redeemer's Praise," was sung, and was immediately followed by one of those long pauses that kill the life of a prayer meeting. Mr. Blakelee stood it as long as he could then he arose and said: "You sing : '0, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing My Great Redeemer's Praise,' and then you do not sing it with the one tongue he has given you." One Man, it was Mr. Calvin Treat, grandfather of Mr. Charles. Wright —refused to pay his church dues, because the minister bought a ticket for a concert to be held in the church, which "he thought was wrong, making the house of God a home of merchandise." He was perfectly willing to support the church, but did not wish to help support a minister who would encourage anything of the kind. After a long discussion where Mr. Treat gave his reasons for feeling as he did, the church decided that they couldn't accept his reason as being justifiable, as he had violated his covenant and the pastor was instructed to admonish him, which he did in a few well chosen words. In another case one of the deacons of the church was tried by the church for what was termed a "Breach of promise and a denial of it," in relation to the deacon's turning over a cow to a brother member in payment for labor. In this case there was a most ingeniously worded Scotch verdict. All of these business meetings were carried on with the greatest earnestness, and no matter how hot the discussion or how indignant the members grew, invariably opened and closed with prayer. When a minister was formally and solemnly installed as pastor of the church, the relations of pastor and flock were considered to be perpetual AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 129 and for an indefinite period. But in the early times there was much discontent among the members at times, and efforts were made either to force a minister to resign or to have the church make a request for such resignation, if the preaching of the minister did not fully conform to the ideas of a few dissatisfied members. I have found in Mr. Bronson's records, one of the finest letters, I ever read, in which reasons were given why one member could not conscientiously give his vote to have the minister dismissed and this letter was written by Elizur Wright. There is a tale—oft' times repeated that this church once dismissed a minister because he kissed his intended wife on the church steps on Sunday, upon returning after an absence. While there was no dismissal of a minister for any such reason no doubt the legend referred to is based upon the following facts, I quote from Mr. Bronson's book : "A building had been designed for a place of public worship for the church and congregation, and the. Academy School incorporated by act of legislature, in 1815. The lower room was designed for district school. "In the spring of 1817 Miss Mary Granger was employed to teach the Academy, and Miss Martha Foster, sister of Mrs. Alpha Wright, was employed to teach the district school. "Very soon Rev. Wm. Woodruff (who was the first regular minister) began to pay very marked attention to Miss Granger. A very large amount of gossip was put in circulation. Mr. Woodruff would go to Mr. A. Hines', where Miss Granger was boarding, and walked with her to her school, and also walked home with her after school. We can say that such attention in public was thought very much out of place in that day, when it would be a subject of remark if husband and wife should kiss in public. We can say that both were indiscreet in their attentions to each other, and whatever remarks were made it was sure not to lose anything in passing from one to another. "One time he went to her school room to escort her home. She had dismissed her school and left her room at the same time he entered the building. They met on the stairs. He embraced and kissed her. There were several of Miss Foster's scholars that saw it, or said they did. Matters became lively in July. Considerable excitement prevailed. Mr. Woodruff prepared a sermon which he delivered August 16, 1817." So far I have given these incidents in the language of Mr. Bronson. Now, in order to understand the construction which the congregation naturally placed upon Mr. Woodruff's sermon, it should be remembered that the name of Miss Granger, the minister's fiancee, was Mary, and that Miss Foster's name was Martha. The text of this noted sermon was : "The One Thing Needful." "And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things ; but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her,' Luke 10, 41-42." It is further recorded that this sermon did not lessen the unpleasant feelings already existing between the minister and some of the church members. 130 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY On September 29, 1817, within a month after preaching the sermon referred to, Mr. Woodruff married Miss Granger, who was a very fine and estimable lady, and they continued to live here for several years after the incidents just related,—he officiating most successfully as the minister of the church, and his wife being most highly respected. PENINSULA Some twenty years previous to the founding of the noble Village of Akron, the postmaster of Warren, Ohio, who also served as a special agent for the government in establishing boundaries, obtained the services of a surveyor from Trumbull County. The postmaster was Gen. Simon Perkins, who later laid out Akron, and the surveyor was Alfred Wolcott, Sr., whose work took him to Boston Township, giving him the distinction of being its first settler. Early in the spring of the following year Wolcott married Hannah Craig of Youngstown and erected a log cabin on 115 acres of land in the northeast part of the township, so that its first settlement is dated as being in 1806. Wolcott had originally selected a site in the valley for his home but gave it up at the injunction of his wife who thought that it would be unhealthy because of its low position. In 1807 James Stanford, Adam and William Vance and Abner Robinson came to Boston Township to settle. Stanford settled upon the tract of land in the valley which had been rejected by Wolcott and which proved to be one of the most fertile farms in the township. Clayton Stanford, a descendant of James Stanford, now lives on the farm, which is comprised of about 380 acres and has remained in the same family for several generations through a lapse of 120 years. SETTLEMENT WAS RAPID From this time on the settlement of the neighborhood was quite rapid. The three present townships of Boston, Richfield and Northfield were then one, so that there were about 30 voters present at the first election of township officials held at the home of Timothy Bishop. After some discussion as to whether the township should be named Wolcottsburg in honor of Mr. Wolcott or Ewartsville for Samuel Ewart, another early settler, a compromise was finally effected with the name of Boston. The initial election was only a temporary affair, the officers only holding office until the regular election the first Monday of the ensuing April. Alfred Wolcott and Moses Cunningham were chosen as justices of peace ; William Beers, clerk ; Aaron Miller, Andrew Johnson and Timothy Bishop, trustees ; Launcelot Mays, constable ; Jonathan Iddings and Isaac Bacon, overseers of the poor. At the April election many were reelected and additional offices filled as follows : Alfred Wolcott and James Stanford, fence viewers ; Moses AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 131 Cunningham and William Beers, listers ; Aaron Miller, John Cunningham and James Stanford, supervisors and Robert Donaldson as an additional constable. BROKEN UP BY HILLS AND GULLIES The first male child born in the township was Andrew J., son of James Stanford, born on March 27, 1806; the first girl baby was Melinda Wolcott, daughter of Alfred Wolcott born April 14, 1807. The township of Boston, like most of the regions along the line of the Cuyahoga River through Summit County, is broken up into precipitous hills and deep gullies, though there are also some fine farming lands and fertile and tillable areas along the river bottom. The two villages in the township are Peninsula, and Boston. It is mainly with the former settlement, so named because of an eccentric circuit of the river forming a peninsula-like projection of land, that our story is concerned. With the construction of a railroad through Peninsula, the course of the river was changed to go through the narrow neck of land instead of around it thus giving excellent water power for several saw and flour mills. A large variety of other goods including broom handles and cheese boxes were also manufactured in the village during its early palmy days when a large boat yard and dry docks for building and repairing boats were located there. At the present time, however, there is no industry in Peninsula save the Moody and Thomas Mills of which C. L. Moody of Cleveland is the owner. About ten men are employed by the mills. FIFTY EMPLOYED AT PAPER MILLS About fifty men and women of Peninsula are employed at the Jaite Paper Mills located at Jaite, a short distance away. The remainder of the 500 inhabitants are either retired or for the most part engaged in the business of dairy farming. The Village of Peninsula extends about two miles east and west and one-half mile north and south. It is incorporated with Elmer Conger serving as mayor, a position which he has held since 1899 with the exception of one term. Conger is a descendant of John Conger who came to Peninsula in the year 1816. He was one of three brothers the other two being Arthur, who settled in Akron, and Sidney, who settled in Boston. During the Civil War Peninsula achieved the distinction of sending second largest quota of volunteer soldiers in the state. In recognition of this Col. Arthur Conger of Akron presented the village with a handsome granite monument bearing aloft the figure of a Union soldier. Other officers of the village are Mrs. Martha Morris, clerk; Alva Morris, Marshal, Mrs. Florence Harrington, Mrs. Mable Jolley, James Morris, Charles Truxel and Lafayette Gustafson, members of the council. 132 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Mrs. Sylvia Sovacool is postmistress and Glenn Harshbarger is principal of the school which has an enrollment of about 200 students. MR. AND MRS. BRONSON WERE EARLY SETTLERS Among the earliest settlers of Peninsula were Mr. and Mrs. Herman Bronson, natives of Connecticut. Mr. Bronson moved to Cleveland in 1801. In 1812 he enlisted in the army and his wife returned to her native state. At the close of the war they returned to Ohio settling in Lorain County. where they engaged in farming. In 1821 they moved to Cleveland and three years later to Peninsula. Here Mr. Bronson became a large landowner. He built the pioneer saw and grist mills in the village and liberally promoted various other industrial and business enterprises. In 1835 he organized the Protestant Episcopal Church, putting up a building at his own expense which was dedicated by Bishop Mcllvanie in 1839 as "Bethel Episcopal Church." Although it was remodeled by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Ruth Ranney Bronson and the name changed to the "Bronson Memorial Church" in 1889, the original building still stands. The church was given an endowment by Mr. Bronson to last as long as religious services were held in it. Although the original Episcopalians in the community have since swindled to a mere handful a half-dozen of the faith still carry on their meetings. Rev. W. O. Buxton of Northfield came to Peninsula to conduct the services. TWO OTHER CHURCHES ARE MAINTAINED Rev. B. L. Ryan is pastor of the Methodist Church of Peninsula while the Rev. Father Albert Kaiser of Cleveland, conducts the services for the Catholic Church. The executive offices of the Village of Peninsula are located in an old-fashioned square brick building which bears the date 1857, which originally was erected as a schoolhouse. Various entertainments of the village are staged in the G. A. R. hall, where a movie is held once a week on Wednesday evenings. The business section of Peninsula is comprised of three confectionery stores, a barber shop, two groceries and a meat market and hardware store. Similar to other villages of the same size Peninsula has an active social life. There are any number of clubs and social activities. Some of these are the Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist Church of which Mrs. Mabel Jolly is president ; the Dorcas Class of which Mrs. Florence Harrington is president ; the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society headed by Mrs. Elmer Conger ; the Win-One Class instructed by Mrs. Har- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 133 rington and the Parent-Teacher Association of which Mrs. Minnie Payne is the president. There is a joint chapter of the W. C. T. U. for the women of Peninsula and Boston of which Mrs. Florence Jaite is the head. M. S. Paine is head of Union Grange at Peninsula. MANCHESTER About ten miles southwest of Akron on the paved road leading to Canal Fulton and Massillon is located one of the most unusual towns in Ohio. This is the little unincorporated Village of Manchester, a town of about 350 inhabitants without a telephone or physician and up until the last election without executive officers of any kind. But this is not all that makes the settlement different from the average small town. There is an enduring permanency about Manchester—a permanency which, despite its lack of activity and industrial opportunities and the lure of more pretentious and thriving cities located nearby has kept the little group of inhabitants banded together faithful and loyal to their settlement. Most all of the residents of Manchester—they're only a few hundred to be sure, are descendents of the original corps of pioneers who first settled there. Those who are not retired commute to Akron and other neighboring towns to work, but they all retain their real homes in Manchester. LITTLE VILLAGE HOLDS ITS OWN Thus it is that the little village comprised of two general stores, a meat market, barber shop, three churches, a garage, and confectionery store, has held its own, neither gaining or losing population for over a century. In the very beginning, however, Manchester like many other villages in Summit County, was of rapid growth. This was the result of a careful survey and the high ambitions on the part of its pioneer settlers—Aaron and Mahlon Stewart. In 1815 the Stewarts laid out the village on the main road from Akron to Canal Fulton and Massillon. For years it was a thriving little place, constantly bidding with Clinton for county supremacy. Then when the canal which passed through Franklin Township, finally was located three miles west of the village, it seemed that Manchester must surely die a quiet and natural death. Here first appeared the spirit of loyalty and permanency which still characterizes the village today. Although a number of citizens did move to points of advantage along the "highway of water," there were still a few who stuck by the original settlement. This relapse in numbers of the citizenry was rebuilt in subsequent years 134 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY with the discovery of coal in and near the village so that the loyal ones were more than repaid for their allegiance. Since then the coal mines have been closed—the last one within the past few weeks—to become a thing of the past. But with the passing of the coal mines there have come hopes of the citizens that the community is situated above a great gas and oil reserve. That these hopes have not been wholly in vain is seen from the fact that derricks of oil drillers are fast being erected in the vicinity of the community. Perhaps some day after years of comparative obscurity, Manchester will be born anew, a great industrial town. Early records show no date for the erection of a church in the village but it is supposed to have been between 1815 and 1817 that the first house of worship was built. A history of Summit County, printed in 1854 states that Joseph Mishler from Lancaster, Pa., started a school at Manchester in 1817, the first taught in Franklin Township. Sessions were held in a log house built for a church standing where the steeple house now does, west of the corners. Here all the young ideas of the township were collected, about fifteen in number, according to the Rev. Ira W. Frantz, in a history of the Trinity Reformed Church of which he is pastor. "Records give no data as to the form of services held in the church and it is supposed the church represented the common 'meeting-house' where the community unitedly and harmoniously worshipped their God in pioneer simplicity and freedom," he goes on to state. MANY BELIEFS BROUGHT TO TOWN "Subsequent settlers brought into the community different denominational tendencies and beliefs." Although no authentic records are producable it is to be supposed small groups of citizens early met in private dwellings to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences, consciences greatly altered, sometimes at least, by denominational teachings and precepts. "In union and harmony we must conclude, however, the villagers worshipped for several years. "The Steeple House was erected about 1830 as a community enterprise. At about that time a union congregation of Lutheran and German Reformed people was organized. "Preaching was in either German or English. An early preacher was the Rev. J. W. Hamm, a German of the old Reformed School. He preached in the language suiting the predominating element at church each Sunday. "This union of Reformed and Lutheran people existed in close harmony for practically half a century quite strong and doing much good in the community. "With the coming of new settlers, however, there was a demand for AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 135 English sermons. This demand caused a division in the German Reformed congregation. ENGLISH SERMONS WERE DISCUSSED "About 1865 John Stump, Levi Stump, Jeremiah Dice, Abram Dickerhoff and Henry W. Daily met in the 'Old Stone House' on the Stump farm to discuss the possibility of the organization of a new congregation where only English sermons would be preached. "They voted favorably to organize the present Trinity Reformed congregation of the Reformed Church. "For a few months worship was held in homes of the members of the new congregation. "This dissenting group being rather large in numbers, arrangements were made to worship in union with the Evangelical Church in the village on North Street. "For approximately six years these two congregations worshipped together. "The German Reformed group still adhered to the old plan of worship in union with the Lutheran congregation. But dwindling numbers soon caused disintegration of both congregations even after the Steeple House had been torn down and a new brick church erected. "Most of the members of the older congregation of Reformed people merged with the English congregation now termed the Trinity Reformed congregation. "Having purchased the property and lot of the Evangelical Church in 1872, the Trinity congregation worshipped alone for five years. "In 1881 a new and larger church was erected and dedicated to the worship of God. The congregation even today worships in the same building. "At present the structure is not in the best state of repair and a great deal of effort is being expended by the members to encourage the erection of a new and still larger church adapted to the needs of a growing, modern community." The founding of the Church of Christ of Manchester dates back to 1853 when a group of 24 gathered together to form a religious organization. Included in the list of charter members were the names of the Hay family, Sisler, Grubb, Sorrick, Bear, Asper, Holler, Dailey, and Bechtel. John Hay and William Sisler were chosen by the newly formed organization as elders and John Grubb and Rudolph Rex as the first deacons. The congregation met every Sunday in a barn back of what is now the Acme store and there planned for a new church building which was finally erected and completed in 1857. A. B. Green of Norton was one of the first ministers, traveling to Manchester every Sunday on horseback. 136 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY During his pastorate and the first ten years of the life of the church the membership grew to 200. Benjamin Lockhart, holding a successful meeting in October, 1859, added to its number and it was not many years later that the congregation boasted 400. At present the church has only half-time preaching, the minister, the Rev. Lake L. Walker, also serving at Greensburg, "Number Four," and Clinton. The Rev. Ira Frantz of the Trinity Reformed Church. Although Manchester at present is without telephone service there was a period about twelve years ago when for a time the village was given telephone service out of Clinton. Several citizens bought stock in the telephone company with its headquarters in the neighboring city but the situation did not work out satisfactorily. The service was poor and due to insufficient funds the lines were gradually allowed to deteriorate until they were finally taken down altogether. Only thirty residents in the entire village made use of the phone service. The neighbors of these thirty ran in to use their telephones. A few rural residents put phones in and talked for hours at a time over them. WANTED TO CHOP DOWN TELEPHONES "It used to make some of us so mad that we felt like taking a hatchet and chopping the phone right out of the house," one resident explained. Without telephones or a doctor in Manchester now, when any local citizens become ill although it might be in the middle of a cold, winter night, some member of the family must crank up the flivver and drive to the nearest physician who lives in Clinton three miles away. When ordering provisions from either of the two stores, the housewife must trudge to the grocery with the basket on her arm, or, if she lives any distance out in the country, she must hitch up and drive in. Deliveries of groceries are made to the stores from Akron and nearby towns once a day. But if, after the morning delivery is gone, the proprietor of the store discovers he is out of soda or molasses, he, too, must crank up the flivver and drive into town after it. Telegrams containing important news regarding beloved ones in other parts of the country are wired to Clinton where they are sent out by rural free delivery No. 36 or No. 37. If the carrier left early in the morning before the wire arrived it does not reach destination until two days later. In case of a fire a bucket brigade of neighbor volunteers can only be aroused by a house-to-house canvass while the flames make their way unhindered. Up until the last election Manchester was without executive officers. The new officers who were just elected are Ford Dickerhoff, justice of peace and Walter Hammer, constable. Although Manchester has a large high school now the educational AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 137 facilities of the village are to be increased this spring when a new $100,000 high school building will be erected on the site of the present one. Mr. Brice is superintendent of the school. Around 150 children attend. The business men who work in Manchester are limited to Horace Traxler, who owns and runs a general store, Joe Williams, manager of the Acme store, the Hammer Bros. confectionery store, Orris Miller, who has a meat market and Tod Weaver, who runs a garage. Among the interesting old time residents are Horace Traxler and Lou and John Dailey. Traxler, who is sixty years of age, has resided in Manchester all of his life. Daileys' father, Henry Dailey, was born in Manchester in 1820. He ran a hotel, the building of which stands, for a number of years and also drove the stage coach which ran between Massillon, Canal Fulton and Akron passing through Manchester. Judge John, Hoy, grandfather of Dailey, also resided in Manchester where he ran a hotel for some time. Dailey is able to recollect stories of the time when President McKinley passed through Manchester enroute to Akron from Canton on the stage and stopped at his father's hotel. President Garfield also is said to have made frequent trips to Manchester to talk in the Church of Christ, of which he was a member. John Dailey, the great-great-grandfather of Lou and John Dailey now residing in Manchester, is the only soldier who participated in the Revolutionary War who is buried in the Union cemetery at Manchester. MOGADORE In 1807 Ariel Bradley entered the dense forests of what is known today as Springfield Township, and located a wooded home where now stands the historical village of Mogadore. Ariel Bradley was born in Salisbury, Connnecticut, in 1767. A noteworthy incident in connection with him is narrated by General Bierce in his historical sketches. In 1776 at the age of nine years, Bradley was engaged by Gen. George Washington, just before the battle of White Plains, to enter the British camp as a spy. It was arranged that he, .with the aid of an old horse and a bag of grain, was to boldly pass the enemy's lines under the pretense of going to the mill. He was arrested and while being taken to the British headquarters for examination he gathered all the information required. Ariel returned to the camp of General Washington and proudly presented the much desired document to General Washington. During the next few years that followed we find nothing of particular note to relate until June 14, 1801, when Bradley, in the company of Belden and Simeon Crane, left Salisbury for Ohio. The following year they arrived at Canfield, where they remained until 1805. 138 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY SELECTED SITE FOR VILLAGE In 1807, after reviewing the surrounding forest for the most advantageous spot to locate a permanent settlement, he selected what is known in the original township as Lot No. 12, it being the site upon which now stands the residence property of H. P. Latimer and within a few paces of the present business district of the town. Bradley erected the first log cabin recorded not only in Mogadore, but in Springfield Township. He was the first Anglo-Saxon that ever claimed citizenship within its borders. The same year saw the arrival of John and Robert Hall from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. They located at what is still known as the Hall farm. Following the Hall brothers came Benjamin Baldwin, Nathan Moore and Ruben Tupper from Salisbury, Conn. These earliest settlers were followed by Rev. Thomas Beer, Thomas Metlin, Samuel Wood, Deacon Ewart, John Valandingham, James McKight, Capt. William Foster, Abraham Dehaven, Francis Dehaven, Francis Irvin, Joseph Scott, Jacob Winters, Samuel Hinson, James Wertz, Judge Robert Clark, George McGrew, Patrick and Arnold Christy, Deacon McWright, Robert Smith, James Smith and the Elliott and Baird brothers. In 1810 Benjamin Baldwin was elected first justice of the peace and during his administration was called upon to officiate at the first wedding ceremony performed in the township. The couple was John Hall, son of Robert, and Margaret Blair. The first white child born in this section was the daughter of Robert Hall, Jane. In 1812 Jesse Hart, grandfather of Ray Hart, located on what is still known as the Hart farm, south of the village, and upon which stands a well-preserved brick residence, built in 1822. Later Hart purchased a tract of land which he surveyed and set apart a section which he donated to the village to be used for park purposes, but for unknown reasons it has never been used for its intended purpose. It is jointly owned by Ezra Kriener and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. This township was surveyed by Simon Perkins in the summer of 1806. EARLY INDUSTRIES The erection of a flourishing mill was the first industrial plant in the settlement. It was built by a Mr. McCormick in 1817.  Following this industry the value of the water power provided by the Little Cuyahoga River was considered of too much importance to be wasted and was dammed. During the next five or six succeeding years the banks of this stream were dotted with many other industries. From 1820 to 1850 there were a carding mill, two sawmills, two barrel factories, a wheelwright and a millwright, a tannery and a blacksmith shop on the bank of the stream, while in the village itself tailors, shoemakers,  AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 139 weaving shops, millinery stores and dressmakers worked daily with a thriving business. The carding and fulling mill was conducted by Hugh K. Martin and was located on the site of the Mogadore Lumber and Supply Company planing mill. A few rods from here, the Kent brothers erected a distillery where they did a thriving business. It was said that many of the settlers considered the distillery as the next most necessary thing to the mill, so the distillery budded, bloomed and sent its fruit into the village. Another distillery was later built and Mogadore was known far and wide for its quality. The one distillery hired about twenty-five men. Some worked on the farm, others worked in the distillery. A barrel with a row of drinking cups on the top of it, stood in the front yard. The proprietor called all the men together and said : "Boys, you can drink all the whisky you want, but the first man among you who gets drunk will be discharged at once." Where the Nye Brothers' blacksmith shop used to be was a sawmill, and with great piles of huge logs and slabs marked the scene of busy days. POTTER'S CLAY DISCOVERED George Band, Sr., a blacksmith, is credited with being the discoverer of the rich beds of potter's clay that lay so abundantly in this section. The discovery was made on the old Hall farm two miles west of the village and from which thousands of tons of clay have been mined. During the year 1829 the first pottery was erected near the site of the old bed by Fisk and Smith, but was destroyed by fire in the early '40s. In 1840 Mills Mead purchased the house standing on Lot No. 9, adjoining the Lloyd, Pero and Wise pottery, and rebuilt it for manufacturing stoneware. For about thirty years Josiah Lee and various partners conducted this old factory. In 1842 the Hill shop at the north side of town was built by Julius Sumner and for half a century was one of the most successful among the list of early shops. The next year the old tannery that stood near the North Cleveland Avenue bridge was purchased by Caleb and James Brothers, who were numbered among the early settlers of 1810-12. Later the Martin brothers, Charles and John, bought the "old muck-shop." John Martin made the first paving brick ever used. They were laid on one of the streets in Cleveland in place of the cobblestones. Many other potteries were built. The best known of these were undoubtedly Myers & Hall, Fosbinders, and the old Red Shop. EARLY MERCHANTS For many years the settlers spun and wove the cloth which the good wives would convert, with skillful hands, into rude garments. They were 140 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY obliged to make sugar from the sap of the sugar maple tree, and if they wanted salt they were either compelled to go to Cleveland or to a "salt lick" situated near the Mahoning River, some distance east of this village. Here the water was boiled down to get a very meager amount of the precious salt. Later a flourishing settlement sprang up at Middlebury, now East Akron, where they purchased necessary supplies. It was said at that time all roads lead to Middlebury. Where the City of Akron now stands was all hazel brush and sand hills From a commercial standpoint Mogadore has perhaps suffered a greater loss from strong competition than have her sister towns. In 1836 Bowl Sawyer established the first store in Mogadore. In 1841 Dickerman moved a stock of merchandise to Mogadore from New Portage. On the even of Christmas of 1849 the store with its contents was completely destroyed by fire. Other merchants included Daniel Welsh and Henry Sax, when in 1885 Robert L. Atchison engaged in the business that was later owned by his son, Charles C., and a grandson, Burleigh C. Atwood. The latter owned it until it was destroyed by the "Big Fire," October 12, 1923. Robert L. will long be remembered as one of the village's most charitable and highly esteemed citizens. In 1841 he married Fanny Purdy, who was widely known as "Aunt Fanny " She wrote a paper on the early days of Mogadore, in 1897. At about 1855 Simon Laudenslager retired. He was an elder in the Church of Christ for thirty-five years, ending with his death. Some others engaged in the mercantile business were : Charles Ulmer, R. C. Gates, Ernest Wilcox, John Gerhold, John Shuman, Nye Bros., Frank Sweeney, John Shively and Mills and Hart. EARLY CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS It has been said that the settler of the Western Reserve built first his home, second his church and then his school. In 1832 the first church was organized in Mogadore. It was the Church of Christ. The first services were held in the schoolhouse which stood on the corner just south of the McAlpine home. The first preaching was done at the invitation of Conrad Turner, by E. B. Hubbard and C. P. Finch in the summer of 1828. Shortly after this William Hayden came and preached once a month. Seeing the interest he brought Walter Scott with him. They held a two-day meeting during the week in the new barn of Anson Bradley. The audiences were large and many joined the church. Hubbard returned later and with the aid of Brother Churchill of Randolph a church of thirteen members was organized. William Richards was chosen as the leader of this little group and Benjamin Green was selected as the first deacon. Opposition was violent. Many said it would be impossible to regulate a church without ecclesiastical rules and regulations. The church grew steadily. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 141 The story is told of a woman who lived in Mogadore about the year of 1844, and worked in the tailor shop of her brother. Every Sabbath morning she sang in the little choir of this church. Later she moved to Indiana where she and her brother established a tailor shop. One day a stranger came and ordered a vest made. After he received it he found a mistake in one of the pockets. He brought it back and, seeing the girl, fell in love with her. They eloped and went to New York where they were married by Henry Ward Beecher. They sailed around the Cape to California. The husband, Mr. Crocker, became one of the builders of the great railroad that crossed the continent, and when he died was worth $20,000,000. She gave the city of San Francisco $1,000,000 to establish a museum. In 1841 Jacob Warner felled and hewed the first trees for the Methodist Church. Later a beautiful new church was erected. Revs. B. C. Warner and Forrest Hill were products of the Methodist denomination in Mogadore. In the early days district schools were taught by the use of the strong, hand-made, twelve-inch rule. Rev. B. C. Warner relates the following of one teacher : "He came to school the first morning with a large ruler and a big bundle of whips. He banged them down on the desk and there they lay the entire term and so frightened the small boy that he did not learn a single thing that term. He was forever staring at that bundle and imagining the possibilities that lay behind them." The first school in the Mogadore district was taught by Ruben Upson in the winter of 1812 in a log cabin near the Case camping ground. Mr. Upson's salary was raised by subscription and was partly paid in board and room. In 1847-48 the old schoolhouse which until just recently stood at the entrance of Greenwood Cemetery was built. It was due to the efforts of a Mr. Jennings that a special law was passed granting Mogadore the privilege of a union school, the second of its kind in the state. In 1862-63 the Mogadore High School was almost depleted by its young men enlisting in the Civil War. In the summer of '63, ten young ladies left Mogadore early Monday morning to teach school in the little schoolhouses of the surrounding country. Their ages ranged from fourteen to eighteen years. They received $7 a month and "boarded 'round." MOGADORE'S PHYSICIANS In 1828 Doctor Pierce established a practice in Mogadore and after two years was succeeded by Doctor Googman. Doctor Jewett came to Mogadore in the spring of '39. He started a water cure sanitarium and was very successful. The building in which his sanitarium was located later turned into a pottery. Without a doubt the most interesting physician was Dr. James C. Ferguson. Doctor Ferguson was born in 1819 and his early life was 142 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY employed in working his way up to his chosen profession. He set up a practice in the early '40s. His skill as a physician spread throughout the entire section, and he was compelled to travel day and night in order to cover the territory. He was a very jolly man and his presence livened up an old-time dance. MUSSON MURDER In the village lived William Musson and his wife, Harriet, he being a wagonmaker by trade. There also lived in the same village a family by the name of Roof—consisting of the mother, Mrs. Henry Roof ; her son, Wilson Shannon Roof ; Hannah, a helpless cripple ; Hattie and Charlotte Roof. Near the Roof family lived at the time Milton Moore, a large landowner in Portage County and president of the City Bank of Akron. Young Roof, with the exception of a year which he had served in the army, had been employed in the pottery of M. C. Purdy. While in the pottery he heard infamous stories that were circulating concerning the chastity of his mother and sister. Musson, unconscious of the impending calamity, went to his shop on November 26, 1866. Mrs. Musson was busily and cheerfully engaged at her household duties, accompanied by her 4 1/2-year-old son only. About 10 o'clock in the forenoon Roof was seen going to the home of William Musson. A moment later he entered the house and two revolver shots were heard, followed by the piercing scream of a woman. Neighbors rushed to the scene and found Mrs. Musson lying on the floor, bleeding from a deep pistol wound, and the little boy crying : "He shot my mother ! He shot my mother!" OFFERED REWARD The murderer was escaping in a southeasterly direction. Immediately a thousand dollar reward was offered for the capture of the murderer of Harriet Musson. Messengers were sent to Akron to notify friends and head the fugitive off by telegraph. When last seen the murderer was some two miles and a half from the scene of the tragedy, though traced some distance further, and into and through a large swamp near Rootstown. On Wednesday Sheriff Burlison, Doctor Ferguson and the posse started out on horseback. They were rapidly gaining on him and would have undoubtedly overtaken him if it had not been for James Roath, a farmer living in the southern part of Portage County. Seeing a man pass his farm answering to the description of Roof, he followed and captured him singlehanded. He was taken to Ravenna and was tried. The trial lasted five days and was hotly contested on both sides. Roof through his counsel tendered a plea of guilty of the murder in the second degree and was sentenced by Judge Tuttle to imprisonment AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 143 for life in the Ohio State Penitentiary. About ten months later he was pardoned by Governor Young. He returned to Mogadore where he worked in the pottery for many years. MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT Mogadore has produced some very accomplished musicians. The first band was organized in or about 1840, with the following members : The three Kessler brothers, Austin Hale, John Baird, John Clemmer, Smith Baird, Josiah Lee, Fred Sheldon, Joseph Hall, Horace Adams, Alfred Henry Koon, Fitch Purdy and William Russel. The first concert by this band was in 1840 at Ravenna, Ohio. The second band was organized in 1873 with George Baird as conductor. The other members were : William Musson, George McKnight, Herbert Kent, Bent Adams, B. C. Atwood, Charles Atchison, Earl Lee, Oliver Denous, Albert Russell and Warren Russell, Kline Lake, Albert Hale, Oscar Ferguson, Tom Hale, Milton Harvey and Dallas Breckenridge. Singing school was conducted at various times by Professor Sherman of Kent and Professor Heath of Vermont. It was here that real old-fashioned music was sung. Charles Purdy of Mogadore went abroad to study organ music and was considered one of the best organists in the country. Miss Stella Musson also studied music abroad. She now has a studio in Akron and has a great number of students. Roy Whitmeyer, student of Katherine Bruot, has attained quite a reputation as a singer and has appeared on the concert stage. Evan Williams, the great American tenor, sang in Mogadore long before he went on the concert stage. His home was in Thomastown several miles west of here. HOME TALENT Many plays were put on by home talent in the old town hall. Such plays as "East Lynne," "Way Down East," "Ten Nights in a Barroom," "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Tony the Convict" were the old favorites. Road shows also came to the town and were well patronized. The well-known actor, John White, appeared at Mogadore in a tent show. Old timers will remember the Handy Wagon Company. Holidays were spent much differently then than now. One Fourth of July the entire populace went out to Bradley's Woods and celebrated. A picnic dinner was served by the ladies at the well known Bradley's Spring. Races and speaking filled the afternoon. Some time later Independence Day was celebrated in the orchard back of the Fenton home. The orchard and platform, built especially for dancing in the evening, were decorated with the national colors and evergreens. That evening the village danced in the open air pavilion. 144 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY MILLERITES IN MOGADORE William Miller, founder of the religious sect known as the Millerites or Second Adventists, was born in Pittsfield, Mass. He served as a captain in the War of 1812, but soon after its close became deeply interested in religion and devoted himself to the study of the Bible. As early as 1818 he came to the conclusion that Christ's second advent had been prophesied for the year of 1843, and the succeeding years he became the author of a creed founded on this basis. The doctrine of this cult worked its way into the village of Mogadore, where it rapidly was accepted. Members from both the Christian and Methodist churches, who were very prominent in their respective denominations, left the church to join the Millerites. As the year drew near to an end Miller's followers awaited prayerfully with intensity for the end of the world and the advent of the King. When the year ended with the old world as it was in the beginning, he wrote to his faithful followers confessing his error and acknowledging his disappointment. He said he made a mistake in the date and set the date for October 22, 1844. The Mogadore Millerites donned their white robes and mounted the high Mogadore Hill and on their knees prayed all day. George Bennage, who was not known to shut down his grist mill, did so on this day. Waiting until about seven o'clock for the end but of no avail, Bennage took off his robe and said : "Let the d        n world come to an end, I'm going to go back to work!" GOLD RUSH In January, 1848, gold was discovered in California. As the news of the richness of the deposits spread, a wild rush for California began. Merchants, farmers, physicians, lawyers and artisans abandoned their businesses to stake out claims in the new gold valleys. The "gold fever" extended to the Atlantic coast. Men started for the nine months' voyage around Cape Horn, while others went "overland," making their way slowly across the western prairies and mountains in their unwieldy "prairie schooners." The "Forty-niners," as these gold seekers were called, organized a band of twenty-five members in Mogadore immediately after the news reached the villagers. Among these were : George Kent, Henry Roof, Barnabas Green, Caleb Smith, William Jones, Bird Bradley, Nathan May and Doctor Jewett. A story has been told of Nathan May, who was a worthless fellow. His father, hoping to keep him from utter disgrace, borrowed $300 to send him to California with the gold seekers. Nathan was guilty of many quarrels and acts of misdemeanor and before they reached the Ohio River, he had accidentally shot his uncle, George Kent, captain of the company. After this act of extreme carelessness he was deprived of all weapons and was given a severe lecture. Afterward young May improved in his conduct. Arriving at the gold AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 145 fields, he borrowed money to purchase tools and commenced to prospect for gold. He was very successful and it is said that on one occasion he sent his father $30,000 as a mere gift. HUDSON In the history of Summit County, "Hudson" and "education" are almost synonymous, for since two years after its founding, the Village of Hudson has been one of the centers of learning in northern Ohio. Early in 1799, David Hudson, Nathaniel Norton and Birdseye Norton purchased Township 4, Range 10, from the Connecticut Land Company at an average cost of 34 cents an acre. Deciding to take possession of his property, Hudson and his party left Goshen, Conn., in April, 1799, and after a trip filled with hardships of all kinds, reached his property in August of the same year. The following two years saw Hudson grow into a thriving little settlement of several hundred people. It was at this time that the village fathers decided that something should be done about the education of their children. So the first school in Summit County came into being. It was a log structure and was built just north of the present center of the village, on the east side of what is now known as Main Street. George Pease was made schoolmaster. WESTERN RESERVE IS ESTABLISHED But the most important event, and the event with which this article concerns itself, occurred in 1826, a quarter of a century after the village was founded, and 102 years ago this. year. It was the establishment of Western Reserve College at Hudson. Hudson had worked for twenty-five years to get a college. As early as 1801, Rev. Joseph Badger of Cleveland and David Hudson headed a list of sixteen prominent settlers in petitioning the Territorial Legislature for a college in the Western Reserve. For some reason, not now apparent, the petition was denied, but the petitioners did not give up hope. Finally, in February, 1826, the bill was passed and a charter was granted to David Hudson, Elizur Wright, Joshua Bradford Sherwood, Caleb Pitkin, George Swift and several others authorizing them to establish a college in the Western Reserve. The question then arose, where to establish the school. Hudson finally won by raising $12,000 in cash. This was more money than was raised for the establishment of Yale University at New Haven, and considering that Hudson was only a tiny village of twenty-five years' existence, it is one of the most remarkable instances of public spiritedness in the history of Ohio. 6-VOL. 1 146 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY CORNERSTONE WAS PLACED APRIL 26 So elated were the citizens of Hudson, work started immediately. Capt. Herman Oviatt won the contract and the cornerstone was laid April 26, 1826, in the presence of a large crowd, including representatives from practically every village and township in the Western Reserve. Rev. Caleb Pitkin, who was the great grandfather of the present Stephen Pitkin of Akron, was elected president of the board of trustees, and delivered the principal oration of the day. Rev. Pitkin gave his address in Latin, as was the custom in those early days. Many papers, documents, and a metal slab were all placed in the cornerstone. These were stolen, however, during the night and have never since been seen. The contents had little or no monetary value, so that the theft has always been a mystery. Until it was moved to Cleveland in 1882, Western Reserve College was known as the Yale of the West. The buildings were modeled after those of the famous New Haven institution, and most of the early professors were brought from Yale. And until the removal to Cleveland, Western Reserve maintained a scholarship standard very similar to Yale's. Although Western Reserve is not the oldest college in Ohio, it is one of the most interesting historically. For many years it was the farthest west institution in the nation. At that time, the,western boundary of the United States was the Cuyahoga River, the Portage Trail and the Tuscarawas River. Consequently, the college was only about four miles from Indian Territory. The school went along quietly enough for several years with Rev. Charles Backus Storrs as president, and the faculty almost entirely made up of Yale men. But in the early '30s the question of slavery came up. The faculty was divided into two camps, and it was only through the effort of President Storrs that there was not an open break. But in 1833 Storrs died, and almost immediately half of the faculty resigned. The college remained in a chaotic condition for a year, but finally Rev. George Pierce was elected president, and Western Reserve again settled down to the business at hand—education. Rev. Pierce held the position for twenty-one years and was succeeded by Rev. Henry L. Hitchcock. When Hitchcock resigned, owing, to ill health, Carroll Cutler took the chair and held it until after the college moved to Cleveland. In 1882 Amasa Stone of Cleveland offered to endow Western Reserve College with $600,000 with the condition that the school be moved to Cleveland and renamed Adelbert College, after his deceased son. The school was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, so the offer was accepted. Thus ended the Hudson history of Western Reserve College. The names of many noted men are connected with Western Reserve. In 1837 Elias Loomis came to Hudson to take the chair of mathematics .and astronomy. Loomis was the outstanding American mathematician of his day. His textbooks on trigonometry, algebra, geometry and astronomy 148 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY can still be found in college libraries and some of his theories are still used in modern textbooks. It was Loomis who built the famous observatory that still stands on the campus of Western Reserve Academy. It was the first observatory to be built West of the Allegheny Mountains and the third to be built in this country. The observatory has never been changed, and for that matter, the original instruments are still on display. It is planned to make a museum of part of the observatory, still retaining room, however, for study. Loomis was the American originator of a weather map. His theories on weather forecasting are still used by the government. Loomis was succeeded by Charles Young, another astronomer, who was considered for many years to be an authority in his field. Many schools still use Young's textbooks. Another famous instructor at Western Reserve College was Nathaniel Seymour, who joined the faculty in 1840 as head of the Greek Department. A remarkably brilliant man, Seymour could speak practically all the dead languages and most of the modern. But his fame was not as a linguist so much as a student of literature. He was an accepted authority on Shakespeare. Seymour spent most of his summers delivering lectures on literature in all parts of the country. His custom was to prepare a series of lectures during the winter. Then just before summer, he would try them out on the citizens of Hudson. All he asked was that they furnish a hall and listen to him. Professor Seymour's lectures were the most anticipated entertainments of the year, and old residents of Hudson still cherish their Memory. SUCCEEDED BY HIS SON Seymour's son, Thomas, took up his father's calling and for many years headed the department of Greek at Yale. Still another famous Reserve professor was Edward Morley, chemist and physicist. Morley's first fame came through his making a complete analysis of air. His work on air and other gases brought him nationwide fame, but at the same time he was working with Dr. A. A. Michel. son on a theory which later formed the basis for Einstein's experiments. One of Reserve's most illustrious graduates was George A. Hoadley, who became governor of Ohio in later years. Hoadley is regarded as the "best and cleanest Democrat ever raised in Ohio." And John C. Lee, for two terms lieutenant governor of Ohio, was another son of Reserve. Other names of local and national reputation are : Calvin P. Humphrey, Judge Stewart, John Strong Newberry, William Elroy Curtis, Judge C. R. Grant, of Akron ; Judge Clark and Dr. Babcock, famous blind physician of Chicago. Incidentally, John Strong Newberry is considered one of the finest geologists the country has even known, and for many years was a member of the Columbia University faculty. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 149 ACADEMY ESTABLISHED After Western Reserve College moved to Cleveland, the Academy was established on the old campus. The college guaranteed an endowment of $2,500 a year, and the students were charged about $150 for tuition. But it was a hard struggle. The buildings could not be kept up, and at times it was even difficult to find enough money to pay the instructors. Finally in 1900, James W. Ellsworth said that if the school could raise $50,000 he would match it with a similar sum. A campaign was started, but only half the required sum was raised, so the proposition was given up as hopeless. Things went from bad to worse until 1903 when the equipment was sold and the buildings closed up. Western Reserve Academy went out of existence. About that time James Ellsworth became interested in the. Village of Hudson. He spent a fortune in improving the streets and in putting in sewers and lights. He paid no attention to the academy, however. But about 1913 Ellsworth suddenly lost interest in the village, and decided to renew the academy. Accordingly, he remodeled the old buildings, had new ones built, and in 1916 the academy came to life again after 13 years. Today Western Reserve Academy is one of the highest endowed boys' schools in the country. When Ellsworth died in 1925 he left $4,000,000 to the school with no restrictions. All that he asked was that the school maintain a high scholastic standard, and that it strive toward building character in boys. HUDSON BOYS ALL ATTENDED For several years Hudson High School was abandoned and Hudson boys and girls attended the academy. The policy was objectionable to many who did not believe in co-education and so in 1922 the Hudson High School started again. It started with a freshman class, and the second year had both freshmen and sophomores. In the meantime, the academy graduated all those who attended in 1922, so the year 1925-26 had been the first time in many years that Western Reserve Academy has been purely a boys' school. The academy has graduated its full share of noted men. Among the graduates are Rupert Hughes, famous writer ; William Hopkins, Cleveland City Manager ; Ben Hopkins, who organized the Cleveland Belt Line Railroad ; Arthur Hopkins, theatrical producer and many others of local and national fame. So Hudson has been one of the most important educational centers in Northern Ohio in the past century. Hudson wants to retain an academic atmosphere, and for that reason, industries have not been encouraged. So today, although many improvements have been made, Hudson is at heart the same little college village it was 100 years ago.