aass__P'fM- 
 
O F T » E \\ * N^cs^O)/^ 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DAYTON. 
 
 BY M A S K E I. L E . CUR W E N 
 
 SBCON;D EDITION. 
 
 n A Y r ON: 
 
 PLBLISUKD BY J.UIES 0D;ELL, JR. 
 18dO. 
 
F^Q^ 
 
 By tr»iisft« 
 
 ;3T 7 19« 
 
 N. Sl'LLlVAN: Bv/UK S: JOB I'RI.N'JER: WA MAIN STREET. 
 
A I) \ E R T I S E M E X T 
 
 i'lii-" liitle vuluinc urijrinally appeared, in July last, a> an in- 
 tn»(luctiijii to Odell's Dayton Directory &. Business Advkrti- 
 .-^i!;. The gentleman, on whom the Publisher depended tor wri- 
 tiiijj the History of D.iyton, h.aving been prevented by other 
 eni^agenients from fiilliUing his desi'jn, application was made to 
 me a few ilaysbefore ihat work w as put to pre,ss,to I'urnii-h if. 1 had 
 not iheicfoie leisure to write such a history as I could have 
 wishe-.-!. but I thought that this sketch mi?ht be of service to 
 ^ome future local historian. I consulted the AVcstcrn Spy 
 of Cincinnati, 1799—1804: IJurnel's Notes; Perkins's ^^'e!^tern 
 Annals; Atwater's History of Oliio; Howe's Ohio Historical Col- 
 lections; the newspapers generally; tombstones; advertisemen is; 
 rfcitals in deeds and wills; the public records; CiiTvseV Sketch of 
 the History of Ohio; the local and general laws; the City Ordi- 
 nances: Pul)lic Documents; the American Pioneor;Inday's Trav- 
 ••!>: Carver's Travels, &.C. &.C. I also dei ived much inforu^aiiou 
 Iroin the testimony of eyewitnesses, Mhich I wrote down imuie- 
 diately. 
 
 The publisher wi>hed to issue a second edition of this part ot 
 iliat volume, and though it was so hastily written that the prin- 
 ters were at work on the fust sheets of the manuscript, before ! 
 h.\d collected the materials for the last. I thousrht it was of too 
 
IV. 
 
 little importance to induce me to withhold my consent. The 
 modesty of its pretensions will disarm any rigorous criticism on 
 its obvious defects, which no one, I am sure, sees more plainly 
 than I do. The occasion called for something of the kind, and 
 [ did the best I could, under the circumstances. 
 
 51. E. C. 
 Steele's Buildings, Main Street, 
 August, 1850x 
 
SKETCH OF THE IIIST^cE^OF DAYTON 
 
 At the commenceinent of the present century, a few log cabins, 
 on the south bank of the Miami, hemmed in on all sides by the 
 I)rimeval forests, where Indian hunters pursued their game as 
 free as do the Camanches on the plains of New Mexico, alone 
 showed the spot, where now stands one of the most beaut ifu^ 
 cities of Ohio. Its rapid growth, in the midst of profound peace 
 and almost unbroken prosperity, is marked by few of those inci- 
 dents which the dignity of history thinks worthy of notice. I 
 propose therefore only, in this very hasty sketch, to rescue from 
 oblivion the memory of a few former incidents, which may in- 
 terest our {»wn citizens, and which, with those who witnessed 
 them, are rapidly being lost to us. 
 
 A few of those witnesses yet remain, and it was not found too 
 late to collect from them, authentic testimony concerning the 
 earliest settlement. Many of the details will undoubtedly ap- 
 pear quite trivial to strangers; but, like the mementoes ot those 
 wh(»m we have lost, or the records of our family history, when 
 1 ho.-:e who traced their lines are gone, these little things connect- 
 ed with the history of our Mother City, may still, without undue 
 weakness, be interesting to us. And though the successive gen- 
 erations of mankinil have generally profited but little by the ex- 
 perience of the pa>t. tiiere may perhaps be something in our histo- 
 ry, whicii may furnish some guide for our future course ; unless, 
 indeed, our knowledge of it shall serve only, like the stern lights 
 ofa ship, to illumine our past career. 
 
 The local annalist, when detailing the little things of his im- 
 mediate neighborhood, may safely presume that his readers are 
 familiar with the general histtuy of the country, t)ie minuti.T of 
 
b HISTORY OF 
 
 which he thinks worth recording. It will be sufticient, there- 
 fore, to state, in very general terms, that the first English set- 
 tlement, within the limits of Ohio, was a trading liouse called 
 Pickawillany, at the mouth of Lorimie's Creek, in Shelby Coun- 
 ty, sixteen miles north-west of Sidney. It was destroyed by 
 the French and Indians, in 1752. From that period, down to as 
 late as 1782, the Indian tribes, roaming through the Miami val- 
 ley, were complete masters of the country. They made frequent 
 incursions into Kentucky, and were not entirely checked, till 
 they suffered their great defeat by Wayne, on the banks of the 
 Maumee, August 20th, 1794. The Delawares, Miamies, Shaw- 
 anese, Tawas, and Wyandots, brought from 1,500 to 1,600 war- 
 riors into that engagement; and though the treaty of Greenville, 
 August 3d, 1795, relieved the settlers fi'om apprehensions of im- 
 meiliate danger, numerous bodies of Indians still remained with- 
 in a few marches of their settlements. After the peace of 1763, 
 the Miamies moved northward and westward from the Great 
 Miami River, and a body of about 4,000 Shawanese, who, in less 
 than a century, had migrated from the Atlantic shores of Florida 
 to this vicinity, established themselves at Piqua, and made that 
 point their great head quarters in Ohio. A thousand Kentucki- 
 ans, under Gen. Clark, in 1782, surprised and destroyed their 
 village on the site of West Boston, Clark County, upon which 
 they removed to the neighborhood of St. Marys and Wapaugh- 
 koneta, where they were residing when Dayton was settled.— 
 The Delawares were in the same vicinity. Fort St. Clair, near 
 Eaton, was the military post on the west, in the immediate vicin- 
 ity of which, a bloody battle took place between our troops un- 
 der Major Adair, and a large body of Indians, on the 6th of 
 November, 1792. In 1793, Wayne represented the enemy as 
 numerous, determined, and desperate. The country was then a 
 dense wilderness, containing ravines, thickets, morasses and 
 watercourses, Vvhich greatly impeded the movements of an army. 
 When marching from Cincinnati to Greenville, in October. 1793, 
 in addition to the usual videttes, he ordered a strong guard to 
 precede the army, which was so arranged that the line might be 
 quickly formed, by a single manoeuvre. 
 
 As late as 1799, the movementsof these tribes were watched 
 with anxious interest at Cincinnati, and exaggerated reports of 
 their warlike preparations alarmed the inhabitants. At that pe- 
 
DAYTOW. 7 
 
 riod, the country west of liorc bad generally hern deserted by the 
 Indians, excei)t l)y occasional hunters, and Dayton wa» thenth« 
 frontier. Old Chillicoihe, a Shawnee town, three miles north of 
 Xenia, on the J^ittle Miami, was the nearest settlement in that 
 direction. To the n. k. was Chribb'jsi Station, in the forks of 
 Mad River, built in the spring of ITOd; Mercer's Station, near 
 the present site of Fairfield, Clark County; Demint's Station, 
 now Sprin^rJield; and McPherson's Station, in the vicinity ot 
 Urbana. Northward were a scttlementof two or three families 
 at Livingston, a towM laid out probably by J. C. Symmes, at tlie 
 mouth of Honey Creek, Miami County; Staunton, a small set- 
 tlement near Troy; a few people at Piqua, and Lorimie's Store, 
 Ifi miles N. w. from Sidney — the extreme frontier in that di- 
 rection. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Franklin, were small villa- 
 ges. In 1804, the whole population between Dayton and Frank- 
 lin did not ex'ceed six or eight tamilies, and the only house upon 
 the road between the two points, was a log cabin, about 12 by 14 
 feet square, on the site of Miamisburg. When a cabin w\is built, 
 the fii-St care was to cut down every tree within rifle shot, that 
 was large enough to aftbrd shelter for an Indian to fire upon the 
 inmates — a practice wliich gave rise to the prevailing habit of this 
 country of destroying all those forest trees near dwellings, which 
 in older settled countries are carefull-y preserved from the wood- 
 man's axe. 
 
 Clark's expedition against Piqua made the Miami country! 
 known to the Kentuckians. The army had forded Mad River 
 near its mouth, and undoubtedly oarri<^'{ home exaggerated ac- 
 counts of the fertility of its rich bottom lands. Six years after, 
 the point at which Dayton stands was selected by some gentlemen, 
 who designed laying out a town by the name of Venice. The 
 Indian troubles, however, frustrated the plan, and we escaped 
 being Venitians. Wayne's Treaty, at Greenville, promised se- 
 curity against the barbarians, and seventeen days after it wa» 
 signed, A.igust i20th, 1795. Arthur St, Clair, then Clovernor of 
 the Territory, Jonathan Dayton, late a Senator from New Jersey, 
 General James Wilkinson, then in Wayne'sarmy, and Col. Israel 
 Ludlow from Long Hill, Morris County, N. J., contracted with 
 John Cleve Symmes for the purchase and settlement of the 
 sevenih and eighth ranges between Mad River and the Little 
 Miami. 
 
8 HISTORY or • 
 
 Two parties of surveyors, consisting, among others, of Daniel 
 C. Cooper, also of Long Hill, N. J., John Dunlap and Benjamin 
 Van Cleve, left Cincinnati on Monday, the 2lst of September, 
 1795, to run the boundary of the new purchase. Their horses 
 were stolen by Indians, in the night, but they reached the mouth 
 of Mad River on Sunday the 27th, and found six Wyandot In- 
 dians In camp there. Both parties were at first alarmed at meet- 
 ing, but they soon exchanged presents, and parted on friendly 
 terms. A party of Kentuckians accompanied Cooper, to view 
 the country. On Monday they met up the Miami bottom a mile 
 or two above the mouth of Mad River, but found the vines 8o 
 thick and the weeds so high, that they could not see the land, and 
 became discouraged and returned to Kentucky. Dunlap's party 
 remained till the 4th of October, and then returned to Cincin- 
 nati, Mr. Cooper having preceded them. 
 
 On the first of November, the party went again to Mad River, 
 for the purpose of laying out the town, which was done on 
 Wednesday, November 4th, by Israel liudlow. It was called 
 Dayton, from the name of one of the proprietors. Arrangements 
 were made for its settlement in the ensuing spring, and donation 
 lota, distributed by lot, with other privileges, were offered to 
 actual settlers. Forty-six persons entered into engagements to 
 remeve from Cincinnati to Dayton, but only nineteen fulfilled 
 their engagements. Two or three settlers arrived in the course 
 of the winter. Those from Cincinnati left that place on JSIonday, 
 March 21st, 1796. Mrs. McClure, a widow, and the family of 
 Samuel Thompson, were taken up the Miami, in a large perogue, 
 by William Gahagan, a young Irishman, who was one of the par- 
 ty, and Benjamin Van Cleve, then about four or five-and-twenty, 
 son of Mrs. Thompson, by a former marriage, and father of our 
 townsman, J. W. Van Cleve. They reached Dayton on Friday, 
 April 1st. 
 
 Some sketch of the history of these families may be interest- 
 ing. 
 
 Samdel Thompson was originally from western Pennsylvania. 
 He removed at an early day, to Cincinnati, where he married 
 Mrs. Van Cleve, the mother of Benjamin and William, whose 
 father was killed in that town, by Indians, June 1, 1791. The 
 issue of this marriage was a daughter, who married Robert Steele 
 and who is still living.- 
 
OaYTOJC. 9 
 
 Hkx/amin Van Clk.vr. wa.^, at that time, about 25 years of 
 agi'. He was educated lor a surveyor. On the orsrani/.ation of 
 the Court here, he was appaiiited clerk and held that ollice for 
 many years. He was the iirst post-master in Dayton, and was 
 till his death one of the most prominent citi/.ens of the place. 
 His "Memoranda," some of which have been published in the 
 Ajneri:.aT» Pioneer, embody almost all the documentary history 
 of tlic early settlement, that is now in existence. He married 
 Mary NN'hitinjr, by whom he had several children. She die<l 
 December i28th, KSIO; and on the 10th of March, 181:2, he was 
 united to Mary Templeton of Champaign County. There were 
 no children of this marriage. He died in 1821. 
 
 William Van Cleve, who was a few years younger than Ben- 
 jamin, was a farmer. In the war of 181'2, he commanded the 
 Dayton Riflemen, who marched in June of that year, from this 
 place, fur the protection of the frontier, with the title of Cap- 
 tain. His first wife was Etlie "NVestfall, who was the mothcrof 
 all his children. By his second and third wives, he had no chil- 
 dren. He died in 1826. 
 
 James McChre, John McCli'Re, and Thomas McClure, were 
 l)rothers, the eldest of whom was not then orer twenty-five y«arB 
 of age. They are believed to have been from western Pennsyl- 
 vania. Their father was among the killed at St. Clair's defeat; 
 and his widow, their mother, came with her sons to Dayton, 
 They afterwards moveil to Honey Creek, Miami County, O. 
 Thomas is now residing in Dayton. 
 
 Damkt. Ferkim.l was from western Virginia. He was then a 
 married man. over fifty years of age. He left a daughter, whosMj 
 descendants now reside near Honey Creek. 
 
 William Hamer's place of nativity is unknown. He was prob- 
 ably from Maryland ; as he is known to have had relatives in 
 that state. At the time of his removal to D.iytoti, he was between 
 forty and fifty yeais of age, and married. He resided on the 
 farm now owned by iheTait family, on the Spriiiglield Turnpike, 
 three miles fiom town. He was well known as the local preach- 
 er of the Methodist |)ersua9ion. The principal settlements of 
 those attached to that form of worship being upon Mad River, 
 service was usually held at this house. His descendants were 
 Solomon, then a lad of fifteen or sixteen, who left this vicinity in 
 IHl;! ; ThoiiuDi, who married here, and died November 30, 18'20, 
 
10 Klf5T0RY OF 
 
 at the age of SO; yancy, who married William Uahagan, by 
 whom she had several children; Murp, who married William 
 Loury, who resides three miles north of Dayton ; and Sarah, 
 who married Loury, who lived upoii Mad River. 
 
 William Gah-a-can was of Irish parentage, and came to Cin- 
 cinnati from Pittsburgh, where he had last resided. He was, at 
 that time, a young- unmarried man. ?Ie first married Nancy 
 Hamer, and after her death, Mrs. Tennery, by whom he had no 
 children. He died at Troy, O., about 1845. 
 
 Of SoLOMox Goss and Joii\ Davis, no information could be 
 collected. They were not residing here in 1799. 
 
 Thomas Davis was a native of Wales, but removed to Dayton 
 Iroin Pennsylvania. He was married when he came here, and a 
 numerous family survived him, Ths eldest son now resides at 
 New Paris, Preble County, (). Thomas Davis lived at the bluffs, 
 on the Shroy(5r farm, two miles south of town, where he died more 
 iiian thirty years since. 
 
 Abraham Gkassmirk was a weaver, of German descent, be- 
 tween 20 and 30 years of age, and unmarried. He removed from 
 Dayton to Honey Creek about 1802-S. 
 
 The local authorities d) nr)t agree whither Doroiig-Ji's christian 
 name was John or .(Imos. He was a married man, between twen- 
 ty and thirty years of age, and by occupation a miller. He own- 
 ed the property at Kneisley's Mill, on Mad River, five miles x. 
 K. of Dayton. He left a family, which is now thought to be ex- 
 tinct. 
 
 William Chenoweth was probably from Kentucky. He was 
 married and had a fiimily. At the time of his settlement here, 
 he was about thirty-five years of age. By trade, he was a black- 
 «mith, bat does not seem to have followed his business ; for in 
 September, 1799, there was no blacksmith v.-ithin twenty miles 
 of Dayton, though, to use the language of that time, " the coun- 
 try was thickly settled and emigration to it rapid! " Chenoweth 
 removed to (ireen County about 1803, or perhaps earlier. 
 
 Jamks Morris was from Pennsylvania. He came as a soldier, 
 under Hamer, to Ohio, where he turned his attention to farming. 
 He was twice married, but died childless. 
 
 George Newcom, the only survivor of the original settlers of 
 Dayton, is a native of Ireland. He removed to America in 1775, 
 and settled in Delaware, whence he removed to western Pent}- 
 
DAYTOK. 11 
 
 sylrania, where he married Mary Henderson, by whom he had 
 two children. Jane, the widow of the Kite Nathaniel Wilson of" 
 this city. aTid wlio. it is helii'ved, was the fust child born in Day 
 t«)n ; and ./(>/?n, who died about ten years since, leavinjr descend- 
 ants. C(»l. Newconi, as he is usually called, was SherilV of the 
 county, State Senator, niember of the Assembly, and enjoys the 
 respect of the whole conununity. 
 
 WiLMAM Newcom, his younger brother, was at that time about 
 twenty years of age. He afterwards married a Kentucky lady, 
 Charlotte Nolan, who bore him a son, Robert, now living. After 
 his death, she married John Baker, whom she survived. Sh« i» 
 now the wife of Henry Row. 
 
 Horses and cattle were brought by the first settlers, and they 
 raised a fine crop of corn that year. Pigs were first raised by 
 I). C. Cooper, in 1799. There were, at that time, no !«heep 
 her<? ; but they were introduced soon after. Flour was obtained 
 in (Cincinnati, at $9,0(') per barrel, and the transportation cost 
 !3»5,0() more. 
 
 Symmes being unable to complete his payments, the land re- 
 verted to the government; but Daniel C. Cooper, partly by the 
 acquisition of pre-eini)tion rights, and partly by agreement with 
 the settlers, became the titular proprietor of the town. He laid 
 it out again upon the same plan originally adopted by St. Claii- 
 and his associates, in 1795. It was bounded on the north by 
 Water Street; east by Mill Street to Third; thence west to St. 
 Clair Street ; thence south to Fifth Street; thence west to Jeft'er- 
 son; thence south to South, or as it has since been called. Sixth 
 Street; thence along South Street to Ludlow; thence north to 
 Fifth; thence west to Wilkinson; and thence north to Water 
 Street. The streets running northward are 16^ W. of N., and 
 are crossed by those ruiming eastward at right angles. The 
 l)lat was divided into 280 building lots, lt)0 feet wide and CtX) 
 feet deep; and ample reservations were made for markets, 
 schools, churches, and burial grounds. The streets were named 
 after the original proprietors. Dayton being a Federalist, a kind 
 of compromise was made, and one street was named Jefl'erson. 
 At the same time he laid out fifly-four out-lots, of ten acre* 
 each, which lie east of the Canal Basin, from Third Street to 
 beyond Richard Street, and extend from ^^'ayne. Vnnce. .lark- 
 
12 HISTORY OF 
 
 son Streets and Maiden Lane, to the present line of the Corpo- 
 ration. 
 
 Let us now go back and view Dayton as it was half a century 
 ago. 
 
 Approaching from the south, the last cabin has been left ten 
 miles behind us. A long and fatiguing journey on horseback, 
 over a bad road cut through the woods, has brought us to the 
 close of day. As we descend the hill the woods open. A basin, 
 nearly circular in form, lies in full view, the eastern rim of 
 which is crowned with a dense forest, shutting out the view in 
 that direction, while the light mist of a summer evening, rising 
 slowly from the water,, extending from the extreme north-east 
 and sweeping round to the west and south, in a semicircle, 
 shows 
 
 '' Where dark Miami rolls its waves along." 
 
 The ground in front, except where to the right, a narrow strip 
 of prairie sweeps round the foot ot the hills, is thickly covered 
 with hazle bushes, above which a. few scattered and stunted oaks 
 spread their scraggy arms in the evening sun. Immediately in 
 front, a narrow wagon road, cut out of the bushes, extends 
 northward to the river, now about a mile distant. Advancing 
 three-quarters of a mile, we come to a log cabin on the road- 
 side, where, as did General Fielding Lowry a few years after, 
 we enquire the distance to Dayton. The owner, John Welsh, 
 a substantial farmer, directs us down the road, about a quarter 
 of a mile, to " Newcom's Tavern," on the river bank, the cen- 
 tre of Dayton. Welsh's house was on the south-east corner of 
 Main and Fifth streets. Passing it, the traveller came, at the 
 distance of two squares, to a gully, nearly five feet deep, cross- 
 ing the road diagonally, and hiddt'n from view, on either side, 
 by tJiick copses of hazle bushes. It extended from near the 
 corner of First and Wilkinson streets, crossing Main at Third 
 street, and was lost in the prairie near Lowry street. It served 
 as a natural drain for the ground on which the town was laid 
 out, but at that season of the year was dry, and crossed 
 witliout difficulty. 
 
 Could we have then looked down the vista of coming years to 
 1850, we should have seen ourselves as we rose from the bottom 
 of the ravine to the level of the road, in the midst of a busy city. 
 
DAYTON. 13 
 
 On the left rises a majestic pile of Dayton marble, the most ele- 
 gant and costly Court House in Ohio; while on the right, the stir 
 of the arrival antl departure of coaches, the Dayton Bank, the 
 Telegraph office, three printing offices, gas lights, and the rich 
 display of goods, indicate the extent of travel and of business, 
 the progress of the arts, and the comforts and luxury of the cit- 
 izens. Could such a virion have been then before us, we should 
 have wakened to the reality of the scene around, with as broad 
 a stare, and as incredulous of our identity as did Rip Van Win- 
 kle, after his slumber of twenty years in the mountains ; or aa 
 did Abon Hasson,the Wag, when on waking, he found himself in 
 the bed chamber, and attended with the honors due only to the 
 sacred person of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid. Dayton is 
 found to be a scattered settlement of half a ddzen houses, ex- 
 tending along the river bank from Jeft'erson to Wilkinson 
 streets. 
 
 The Great Miami, which here flows nearly due west, sweeps 
 along the northern bouiulary of the village. In the imagination 
 ot those beyond the mountains, its dark and sullcii waters were 
 only rendered more hideous by the war canoes of cannibals, who 
 scented their prey like bloodhounds, and from whose merciless 
 cruelty death was a happy escape. We smile to read in Camp- 
 bell's verse, that palm trees flourish and tigers prowl along the 
 shores of Lake Erie ; but not more strangely has a poet of our 
 own, blending in his fancy the features of the country with the 
 character of the race that possessed it, darkened our bright and 
 lucid stream with the hues of almost Stygian blackness. 
 
 The following diagram gives a correct representation of the 
 topography of the place, on the first of April, 1799, three years 
 after its settlement. The outline represents the limits of the 
 town plat as originally laid out, and above detailed. A nar- 
 row wagon road was cut out the whole length of Main Street, 
 and Water Street was openetl to its present width. From 
 the eastern end of this street, namely, at Mill v^treet, a wag- 
 on road extended up Mad River l)y Ilamei's farm to De- 
 nunt's and Mercer's Stations. Into this road, a little beyoml 
 the east line of the town, came a road running from Arnett's 
 house [viii] along where First Street now is. Another road, 
 cros sing Mad River where the channel is now almost filled up, 
 nearly opposite Webster Street, led to Livingston, Staunton, 
 
 8 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Vf 
 
 and Piqua. The Cincinnati road, through Franklin and Hamil- 
 ton, coming into Main Street, has been mentioned. These 
 were the only roads at that period. 
 
 Topography of Daytou-April, 1799. 
 
 On the diagram, [i] rep- 
 resents Col. Newcom's 
 Tavern, Avhich i s still 
 standing, on the s. w. 
 corner of Main and Wa- 
 ter streets. It was built 
 of hewn logs, but has 
 since been weather-board- 
 ed. 
 
 II. George Westfall's 
 cabin, on the s. e. corner 
 of Main St. and the alley 
 between First and Water 
 Streets. 
 
 III. Paul D. Butler's, 
 on Water St., near Main, 
 on the present foundation 
 of the Old Brewery, 
 
 IV. This cabin, on the s.e . corner of Water and Jefferson 
 Streets, had been occupied by D, C Cooper and Jacob Brown, 
 afterwards the celebrated General Brown, who distinguished 
 himself in the war of 1812, who kept bachelor's hall there. Jt 
 was unoccupied in April, 1799, 
 
 V. Samuel Thompson's, on Water Street, where stands Sinesy 
 Johnson's, the second house west of St, Clair Street, 
 
 VI. Mrs. McClure, mother of James McClure, lived ^n this 
 cabin, on the s. w . corner of Water and Mill Streets. 
 
 VII. John Williams, a farmer, occupied the cabin on the s. e. 
 corner of Water and Wilkinson Streets. [Marked vi by mis- 
 take of the engraver on the diagram.] 
 
 viii. Thomas Arnett, a shoemaker, on the n, w. corner of 
 First and Ludlow Streets. 
 
 IX. John Welsh, s. e. corner of Fifth and Main Streets. 
 These log cabins constituted Davton. All the rest of the 
 
 iX 
 
DAYTON. 16 
 
 town plat was covered with hazlc bushes, and occasional wild 
 cherry arid scrub oak trees. On the east, the forest extended 
 down to the present Dayton Company's Hydraulic Basin; to the 
 south-east, as far as Lowry Street; aiul on the south, they 
 crowned the summits of the hills. Down to as late as 1822, 
 there was no dwelling or clearing- east of Mill Street, except a 
 log cabin, on the north side of Third Street, between Beckel 
 and High Streets. North of the Miami, the forests were thick 
 and reached to tlic river bank. Deer and game of all kinds 
 were abundant. The cry of wolves was frequently heard in the 
 evening, and panthers were occasionally seen, and committed 
 depredations on the property of the settlers. The tangled maze 
 of weeds and vines, which covered the rich bottom lands north 
 of olil Mad River, has been already alluded to. West of Wil- 
 kinson St., was a huge corn field, within one common inclosure, 
 where, as in that golilcn age of the world, when men lodged un- 
 der trees and fed upsn acorns, every man was at liberty to till 
 as much of the soil as he chose. 
 
 Captain Imlay, in his Travels, in 1782, described the Arca- 
 dian blessedness of the first settlements, in the most glowing 
 language. The metaphors of oriental poetry, which seem so ex- 
 travagant to us baibarians of the western wilderness, arc cold 
 and tame to the high wrought descriptions, which allured the 
 young and ardent to brave its dangers and its hardships. One 
 would think he was depicting those "dear, lovely bowers of in- 
 nocence and ease," whose decay Goldsmith so pathetically la- 
 mented in the Deserted Village: 
 
 ""The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, 
 
 For talking age, and whispering lovers made. 
 
 How often have I bless'd the cnming day, 
 
 Wheti toil remitting lent its aid to jilay; 
 
 And all the vilhige train. iVoin labor free. 
 
 Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree; 
 
 While many a pastime circled in the >ha«le. 
 
 The young contending as tin- old siirvey'd; 
 
 And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground. 
 
 And sleights of art and feats of strength went round." 
 
 Fire hunting, as it was called, was, at that day, a favorite 
 amusement. The deer came down to the river bank, in the 
 evening, to drink, and sheltered themselves, for the night, under 
 
16 HISTORY or 
 
 the bushes, which grew along the shore. As soon as they were 
 quiet, the hunters in pirogues, paddled slowly up the stream, the 
 steersman holding aloft a burning torch of dried hickory bark, 
 by the light of which the deer were discovered and fired upon. — 
 If the shot was successful, the party landed, skinned the animal, 
 hung the carcass upon a tree, to be brought home in the morning, 
 and then proceeded to hunt more game. 
 
 Little squads of Indians, in parties of about half a dozen, 
 from the vicinity of Wapaughkoneta, usually came every season, 
 till about J805-6, to the banks of the Miami, to hunt and trade 
 with the white men. They generally encamped on the north 
 bank of the river, above Main Street. They were a drunken, 
 worthless set, and, wheain liquor, were often noisy and trouble- 
 some. The high spirit of an Indian could not brook the lash. 
 It was a degredation his sullen and vindicative spirit never for- 
 gave. But he submitted to bonds with a good grace ; and when 
 Col. Newcom found them troublesome, he sometimes seized, 
 bound and confined them in his corn crib. 
 
 In the case of white culprits, before the erection of the log jail 
 in the rear of the present Court House, in the summer of 1803, 
 a mode of incarceration quite primitive and oriental — a mode 
 which the histories of Joseph and Jeremiah have rendered classic, 
 and from which the sweet Psalmist of Israel has drawn many of 
 his illustrations— was occasionally resorted to. The Colonel, wiio 
 enjoyed t!ie honors and emoluments of theshrievality,had an old, 
 unwalled well ; "and the pit was empty, there was no water in 
 it. " Into this, he " let down " those who broke the peace of the 
 State, and there they remained till brought up for trial. 
 
 The navigation of the Miami to Cincinnati, at low stages of 
 the water, was then considered dangerous, and it was, in a few 
 years, frequently interrupted by mill dams and fish traps. The 
 only mode of travelling, off of the water courses, was on horse- 
 back. In 1799, a party left Newark, N. J., about the middle of 
 November, passed through Reading, Harrisburg and Chambers- 
 burgh, Fcnna., to Wheeling, where they embarked on a flat- 
 boat, on the Oliio, and reached Cincinnati on New Year's Day. 
 More than ten years after, a Dayton merchant, who travelled on 
 horseback, accompanied by his wife, a pack horse carrying their 
 luggage, and he having their infant child swung round hi» neck 
 
DAYTOW. IT 
 
 in a nef, and resting ii}M>n a pillow, on the pomm**l b^foro him, 
 was a month in going fioni Dayton to Philadelphia. 
 
 From Cincinnati, the early Daytonians hrou2;ht all their flour, 
 groceries, store goods, and whisky. Transportation, in 1799, 
 which was principally on horseback, was S2.50 per hundred 
 weight. The journey took several days. And here it may bo 
 interesting to state the Cincinnati prices. In November, 1799, 
 Imperial tea was ^'J shillings 6 pence ; Hyson 16."*. lOp.; loaf su- 
 gar 4?.; flour 18*. 9/>. per 100 lbs.; wheat 5s.; rye 33.; corn 1». 
 \0p. per 100 lbs.; pork 18». 9p.; beef 2'2s. 6p. 
 
 The state of the roads was not the only difliculty attending the 
 transportation. The journey often produced emergencies, which 
 gave occasion for the exercise of that ready invention, that neces- 
 sity proverbially brings forth. On one»occasion, Col. Newc:)m 
 was returning alone from Cincinnati, with a load of whisky, 
 consisting of two ten gallon kegs, swung across a horse. Night 
 overtaking him, he was compelled to camp out. He unloaded 
 and tethered the animal, and laid himself down to rest under a 
 tree. In the morning when he arose to resume his journey, a se- 
 rious difficulty presented itself. To unload had been easy, but 
 the weight of the kegs now defied his utmost exertions to laden 
 his beast. After repeated failures, a plan suggested itself to 
 him, which nothing but the ready wit of an Irishman would have 
 discf)vered. The Ncivcomian theorj/, by which one man ic ena- 
 ble<l to load two ten-gallon kegs of whisky upon a horse, is to 
 take the halter, cast the animal with it, roll the load on him, and 
 then assist him to rise. 
 
 Whisky, however, though the solace and elixir of life, was too 
 dear, when !Bi'2.50 per 100 lbs. was added to the prinie cost ; and 
 hence it soon became an article of home manufacture. The corn, 
 that was not wasted in bread stuRs, soon found its way into the 
 alembic. In August, 1799, Cooper advertised in the Western 
 Spy, at Cincinnati, ottering good encouragement to an experien- 
 ced distiller; and, in the fall of that year, he established a dis- 
 tillery at tlie Patterson farm, two miles south of Dayton. About 
 the samn time, he erected a sawmill and ^'corn-cracker," which 
 obtained «// the custom of town, and took toll lron> the Tn»jans 
 and Piquods. Cooper at that time, live<l upon the Patterson 
 tann, and resided there till 1804. 
 
 As late as 1817, there were but two pleasure carriage** in Day- 
 
18 HISTORY or 
 
 ton. One was owned by Mr. Cooper, and the other by Mr. H. 
 G. Phillips. Everybody who travelled, went on horseback. 
 There were, at the close of 1849, ^fifteen hundred pleasure car- 
 riages in the county, which were valued for taxation — and hence 
 of course below their real value— at $94,000. 
 
 Col. Nevvcom's Tavern, alluded to above, was built in 1798-9. 
 The tavern was on the first floor ; and the second was used for 
 a store, and, after erection of the county, for a Court Room. It 
 was considered a very fine house, at that period. 
 
 In 1800, a general meeting house built of logs, was put up, on 
 the north side of Third Street, a little east of Main. It was sur- 
 rounde<l by a grave yard, which extended back to the alley, half 
 way between Third and Second Streets. Here the bones of such 
 of the " forefathers of the hamlet," as escaped the exhuming 
 spade of cellar-diggers, repose. The ground — as is the usual fate 
 of urban sepulchres, when the rest of the dead interferes with the 
 restless activity of the living — is now built over; and perhaps 
 some moulder beneath the very spotwhere this sketch, recording 
 their fate, is written. 
 
 — "Earth, that nourish'd them, now claims 
 Their growth, to be resolved to earth again. " 
 
 The first clergyman, who preached here, was Rev. John 
 Thompson of Kentucky, father of the Rev. W. Thompson, the 
 distinguished missionary to Palestine, who is now resident near 
 Beirout. He was never settled here, but preached several 
 times during 1800, and continued to have occasional appoint- 
 ments in Dayton, till about 1820. A frame Methodist Meeting 
 house, on the site of Wesley Chapel, Third Street near Main, 
 was built a few years after. As early as 1799, William Hamer, 
 who has been already mentioned, was a local preacher of the 
 Methodist persuasion, and he continued to hold meetings at his 
 house, on the present Tait farm, for five or six years after that 
 period. 
 
 After tlic first proof of this sheet was taken, and just as it was 
 ready for the press, I accidently learned that there was informa- 
 tion relative (o the early history of the Methodist Church here, 
 in the Life of Rev. John Collins, written by Mr. Justice McLean; 
 but I was unable to procure a copy. After making many enqui- 
 ries about our churches, I. found that no defi»iit<i information 
 
DAT? ION. ^9 
 
 fould be obtained, without a previous personal examination of 
 their records, which I had not the leisure to make. 
 
 In 1800, the first Hat boat that ever navig^ated the Miami from 
 Dayton to the Ohio, was built and navigated by David Loury. 
 Tlje flat boat trade was carried on from that period till the open- 
 ing of the canal in 1829, and in later years became important. 
 In April, 1818, 1,700 barrels of flour were shipped from this vi- 
 cinity, in that way, for New Orleans. Boats were built and 
 launched with the spring flood, and loaded with flour, bacon, and 
 whisky, the staple products of the country. The trip to the Ohio 
 usually occupied five or six days. In consequence of the river 
 having made a new channel, about 1808-9, below Hamilton, 
 some care was required, at the Hilling stage of water, to navigate 
 through it, and in the spring of 1809, the river was represented 
 as dangerous ; but this idea was removed by a successful trip of 
 a flat boat belonging to John Compton, which was dispatched 
 from Dayton, May 23d, ISOS*^ and arrived safely in the Ohio, a 
 few days after. 
 
 In the fall of 1800, Mr. McDougle, of Detroit, brought some 
 store goods to Dayton, and opened the first store, in the second 
 .story of Col. Newcom's Tavern. 
 
 In 1801, tlie total free male population, over twenty-one years 
 !)ld, between the two Miamics, from the present southern line of 
 Montgomery and Greene counties, and extending probably as far 
 north as Vienna, Springfield, New Carlisle, and the mouth of 
 Honey Creek, was three hundred and eighty-two. Calculating 
 on the data which the election rctians now furnish, this would 
 make the total white population of that district not far from 
 1,800 souls. It may now be safely estimated at from 45.000 io 
 50,000. West of the Great Miami, there were twenty-eight 
 adult males, and east of the Little Miami, less than twenty. 
 The very mode oT enumeration, regarding, as it did, only those 
 who were capable of bearing arms, shows the state Oi the coun- 
 try. 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1803, the legislature erected the territo- 
 ry north of the present^imits of Warren and Cutler counties, 
 into a new county, which they called Monl^ommj. It included 
 the wjiole of the present countioa of Preble, Miami, Darke, 
 •Shelby, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance, and, with the 
 exception of their eastern range <»f townships, Allen, Putnanif 
 
so HISTORY OF 
 
 and Henry, and nearly half of Lake County. This cowiprisea a 
 territory of about 6,300 square miles— nearly equal in extent t© 
 the kingdom of Saxony, and only 1000 square miles less than 
 the whole state of New Jersy. Tiie temporary seat of justice 
 for this territory was fixed, by law, '* at the house of George 
 Newcuin, in the town of Dayton." This act weit into force on 
 the first of May, 1803. (3 Chase's Statutes, 2100.; 
 
 The first court held in the new county, was '"at the house of 
 George Newcum," on the n. e. corner of Main and Water 
 Streets, which, as has been stated, is still standing. The Court 
 commenced on the morning of July 27, 1803, and adjourned on 
 the evening of the same day, there being no business to transact 
 before it. There were present in that upper room, representing 
 the dignity of the state of Ohio, the Honorable Francis Dunlevy, 
 President of the First Judicial Circuit, then in the prime of 
 manhood; Benjamin Archer of Centreville, Isaac Spinning, who 
 resided on the fiirm four miles east of Dayton, where his son 
 Charles now lives, and John Evving of Washington township, 
 late from Pennsylvania, Esquires, Associate Judges; Benjamin 
 Van Cleve, who acted as Clerk pro tempore; G3orge Newcom, 
 Sheriff'; James Miller, Coroner; Daniel Symmes of Cincinnati, 
 Prosecutor pro tempore for the State ; and about the whole white 
 male population of the county, out-siders, who came to have a 
 frolic and enjoy the fun. 
 
 The seco.id session of the Court was held on Tuesday, Novem- 
 ber 22d 1803, when the first case was tried. It was an indict- 
 ment against Peter Sunderland, for an assault and battery on Ben- 
 jamin Scott, "then being in the peace of God, and of our State." 
 The defendant pleaded guilty, and was fined $6 and the costs. — 
 At the san»e term, were two criminal cases, which were tried, 
 and four civil suits, which were all discontinued; and the Court 
 adjourned the next day. 
 
 In 1804, Cornelias Westfall, who was afterwards for many 
 years Clerk of the Miami Common Pleas, a Kentuckian, estab- 
 lished the first school in Dayton. He was succeeded in 1805, by 
 Swansey Whiting, a Pennsylvanian from the vicinity of Pitts- 
 burgli, who had been well educated and who afterwards became 
 a physician. In the sameyear, 1804, Mr. Cooper built an '*ele- 
 i'ant mansion" of hewn logs, lined inside, instead of plastering, 
 with cherry boards, after the manner of the ancient oriental 
 
DAYTON. 
 
 31 
 
 monarchs, on the s. w. corner of Ludlow and First Streets, on 
 the site of the present residence of J. D. Phillips. 
 
 Though in ihe midst of a lin\cstone country, lime was little 
 used in building. Col. Newcom was perhaps the first who used 
 mortar fnr chinking. A country lad happened to be in town 
 while they were fixing his cabin, and on his return home, he told 
 his folks that Col. N. was plastering his house inside w'lih Jlour. 
 The incident .shows how little lime was used. When it was 
 needed, stones were collected from the river bed, a huge pile of 
 logs was built, the st(»nes piled upon it, and a fire being placed 
 beneath, it answered the purpose of a kiln. 
 
 In March, 1805, there was a great flood upon the Miami. The 
 water covered the floors of houses on the west side of Main 
 Street, between First and Second, which are now a little above 
 the curbing. In consequence of this flood, Mr. Cooper propos- 
 ed to vacate the town plat, and lay outanew town upon the same 
 plan on the hill to the eastward, where every citizen should have 
 a lot of the same dimensions, and in the same relative situation, 
 as he owned in the town. This plan would most probably have 
 been adopted, but for the opposition of two prominent citizens, 
 who insisted that Cooper should pay them for their improve- 
 ments, which they would abandon by a removal. This he was 
 neither willing, nor able to do. 
 
 A post oftice was established in Dayton, in 1804 or 5, and B. 
 Van Cleve appointed Post Master. He held the place until his 
 death, in 1821. The ottice was at the s. e. corner of First and 
 St. Clair Streets, where Mr. Van Cleve resided. No more ap- 
 propriate place will occur than this, tor information relative to 
 the Post Onice in this place. On the death of Mr. Van Cleve, 
 George S Houston was appointed Post Master, and he also held 
 the oflice till his death. This estimable man was a son of Wil- 
 liam Churchill Houston, who was formerly Professor of Mathe- 
 matics in Princeton College, and tluring the revolutionary war a 
 distinguished cili/.en of New Jersey. His eldest sister having 
 married in Dayton, George came here about 1810. In 1820, he 
 was electetl Recorder of Diyton, and in December of that year 
 became the editor and proprietor of the Ohio Watchman, of 
 which the Dayton Journal is a continuation, at which post he con 
 tinued till November, 182G. He died after a long illness, April 
 89, 1831, leaving two children, who are both living. The sub 
 sequent post masters were 
 
23 HISTORY OF 
 
 David Cathcart, from 1831 to 1843. 
 
 James Brooks, (executive appointment,) 6 montlis, 
 
 Thomas Blair, from 1843 to 1845. 
 
 J. W. McCorkle, from 1845 to 1849. 
 
 Adam Speice, from 1849, till the present time. 
 
 Dayton, in 1804, was on the mail route from Cincinnati to De- 
 troit, by the way of Urbana. The mail Avas carried through 
 here by a post rider once in two weeks going, and as often return- 
 ing. In 18'20, the eastern mail by way of Chillicothe, arrived 
 and departed every Sunday evening ; that by way of Columbus 
 arrived every Sunday evening and departed every Thursday at 
 noon. The Cincinnati mail arrived on Wednesday even- 
 ing and departed on Saturday evening. The northern mail 
 by Piqua connected with it, at this point, and its arrival 
 and departure were regulated accordingly. The western mail 
 went by way of Salisbury, arriving every Tuesday evening and 
 departing every Sunday evening. The present arrangement 
 will be found under its proper head in this volume. 
 
 On the 12th of February, 1805, the town of Dayton was incor- 
 porated by the legislature. 
 
 In the same month was established the Dayton Library Socie- 
 ty, a joint stock company, of which Rev. William Robertson, 
 Dr. John Elliot, and William Miller were appointed directors; 
 B, Van Cleve, librarian; and John Folkerth, treasurer. Though 
 frequent appeals were made to the liberality of the citizeas to 
 support so creditable an institution, the library was very limited, 
 and in a few years the Society gi-adually dissolved. 
 
 In 1804, or 5, the " Old Saw Mill, " so frequently referred to 
 in the earlier conveyances, on First Street, (marked d on J. W. 
 Van Cleve's Map, 1839,) was built by D. C. Cooper. A grist 
 mill was soon after erected near the head of Mill Street, and in 
 July, 1809, a carding machine was added to the establishment. — 
 These latter mills were destroyed by fire, June 20th, 1820; and, 
 on their site. Cooper's executors erected the old mill now stand- 
 ing there, and which JMcCreight has lately transferred to his 
 glowing canvass. 
 
 The first brick building erected in Dayton was a store built in 
 1806 by D. C. Cooper and John Compton, who were then part- 
 ners, on lot No. 38, on the n. e. corner of Main and First 
 Streets. It was one story high. The second brick store, built 
 
DAYTON. 't3 
 
 the same year, was that of Jamos Steele and Joseph Pierce, on 
 
 the 8. E. corner of Main and First Streets, which is still stand- 
 in g as originally built. 
 
 The old brick court house, which was removed about three 
 years since from the n. w. corner of Main and Third Streets, 
 was erected one story high, in the summer of 1806. It was the 
 usual place for holding all public meetings, and until the build- 
 ing of the First Presbyterian Church, public worship was fre- 
 quently held (here. 
 
 In July. 1806, Mr. Crane, from Lebanon, O., the father of the 
 present clerk of Auglaize Common Pleas, commenced a news- 
 paper in Dayton and issued a few numbers ; but being attacked 
 by fever and ague, he determined to return to Lebanon, and the 
 newspaper was abandoned. There are no files of it in town, and 
 even its name has been forgotten. The limits, which the pub- 
 lisher allows to this sketch, forbid any detailed history of the 
 press of this city. I therefore draw merely an outline, and refer 
 those who wish to go into' the details to my "Sketch of the Day- 
 ton Newspapers," in the Dayton BuUetin of March 8th, IStli. 
 April 3(1, 5lh, 12th, and ITth, 1850, which may be found in the 
 Dayton Tiibrary. 
 
 Newspapers in Dayton. 
 
 7'Af Dayton Repertory — size 8 by \2h inches, published by 
 William M'Clure and George Smith; weekly, at $2 a year: con- 
 tinued from September 18, 1808 to December 4th, 1809. 
 
 The Ohio Centinel—%VLQ 11 by 19 inches, published by Isaac 
 fJ. linrnet ; weekly, at $2 a year; continued from May 3. 1810. 
 to May 19, 1813. 
 
 Thr. Ohio /irpublican, a continuation of the Centinel — pub- 
 lished by Isaac G. Burnet and James Lodge, from October 3, 
 1814, to November 20, 1816; and by James Lodge alone from 
 that time till October 9, 1816, when it was discontinued : week- 
 ly, a( $2 a year. 
 
 Thr Ohio f fate h man— sv/.o 12 by 20 inches; published by 
 Ilob.M-t J. Skinner; weekly, at $2 a year, till December 18, 1820. 
 December 25, 1820 (he name was changed to the Dayton frnUh- 
 tnan and Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal. From (hat date till 
 November 21st, 1826, it was principally edited by George 8. 
 Houston, and owned successively by IIous(ou and Skinner, 
 
34 HISTORY OF 
 
 Houston and Hays, and Hays and Lindsly, till it was purchased 
 
 by William Campbell, in April, 1826. 
 
 The Miami Republican and Dayton Advertiser — size 11 by 
 21 inches; edited and published by George B. Holt; weekly, at 
 $2 a year; continued from September 2, 1823, till September 7, 
 1826. 
 
 In April, 1826, William Campbell purchased the Watchman 
 and Repnblican, and in November, 1826, united them under the 
 title of tlie Ohio National Journal and Montgomery and Bay- 
 ton Advertiser, which in January, 1828, was contracted into the 
 Dayton Journal and Advertiser, the title which it now bears. 
 The Editors have been Messrs. Jeplha Regans, P. P. Lowe, 
 John W. Van Cleve, \V. F. Comly, D. W. hidings; Mr. Com- 
 ly is the present editor. The Journal is now a daily and a week- 
 ly paper, and at present is the organ of the Whig party. 
 
 The Dayton Fepublican— edited by William L. Helfenstein, 
 published by E. Lindsley ; weekly, at $2 a year; published from 
 January 5tli, 1830, till, I believe, 1834. 
 
 77ie Dayton IVhig and Miami Democrat — published in 1833 
 and 1834, by Dutton & Maloy. 
 
 Ths Democratic Herald. 
 
 The Western Empire — a continuation of the Herald — from 
 1842 till the present time; published successively by Smith & 
 Munn, Vallandigham & Munn, and Fitch & Ramsey. It is the 
 organ of the Democratic party, and is well conducted. It is a 
 daily. 
 
 The Journal had attempted a daily paper about 184 — , but had 
 not found it successful ; and in 1846, N. M. Guild & Co. started 
 the Daily Daytonian, which was edited by John A. Collins. It 
 lived only about a year. 
 
 The Dayton Transcript — established in January, 1841. It is 
 now a daily, triweekly, and weekly paper, conducted by Wm. 
 C. Howells & Co. 
 
 The Dayton Tri-Weekly Bulletin— svaq 15 by 21 inches; 
 published successively by Wilson & Decker, J. C. Decker, 
 Decker & Thomas, and J. C. Decker— edited by M E. Cur- 
 wen; continued from September 1,1848, to April 17, 1850. — 
 Tri-weekly, at $3 a year. 
 
 Das Detitche /owrnrt/— published by John Bittman; a weekly 
 Democratic paper, established in 1849. 
 
DAYTON. 25 
 
 We return now from this digression to resume our narra- 
 tive. 
 
 In 1807, Hugh McCollom built the first brick tavern in Day- 
 ton, on the s. w. corner of Main and Second Streets, which is 
 still standing (July, 1850.) 
 
 On the first of March, in the same year, the counties of Miami 
 and Darke were created tvithin the limits of Montgomery, the 
 latter still extending, beyond them, to the northern line of the 
 State, and continuing to do so till 1812. In the following year, 
 Preble County was erected out of the s. w. corner of Mont- 
 gomery, and Eaton made the county seat. The first private 
 brick residence here, was built the same year (1808,) by Henry 
 Brown, father of Henry L. and of Judge R. P. Brown, on the 
 N. w. corner of Main Street and the alley between Second and 
 Third Streets. It is now the residence of Judge Brown. The 
 Dayton Academy was incorporated the same year. They sub- 
 sequently erected the building on the rear of lot 140, en St. 
 Clair Street, where the Academy was held till 1831, when the 
 property was sold, and the institution removed to the s. w. 
 corner of Fourth and Wilkinson Streets, where it now is. 
 
 In 1809, the manufacture of sickles was commenced in Day- 
 ton ; a dye-house and a nail factory established ; the town Coun- 
 cil passed an ordinance requiring all adult males to work two 
 days each year upon the streets ; and the contract for carrying 
 the mail 07ice a week from Dayton to Urbana, by a post-rider, 
 was let out to bidders upon proposals. That was then the only 
 mail north or east. 
 
 During the winter and spring which followed, the Miami was 
 lower than had ever before been known, and flat boats were 
 from from two to three weeks in reaching the Ohio. At this 
 time, there were two ferries, with regular ferrymen in attend- 
 ance, across the Miami — one at the foot of First Street, on the 
 road leading to Rench's Mill, on the site of Salem, and which 
 continued to be used till January, 1819, when the bridge at 
 Bridge Street was finished, — and the othor^ at the present ford- 
 ing at the foot of Fourth Street, on the road leading to Gunck- 
 le's Mill, now Germantown. 
 
 During the summer of 1810, tlie Indians were encamped at 
 Greenville; many had migrated westward, but in 1820 they still 
 numbered 2,400 souls in Ohio; and 559 dwelt at Wapaughko- 
 
26 HISTORY OF 
 
 neta. The population of the State was 230,849; of Dayton, 583. 
 Cincinnati contained 388 houses, 2,320 inliabitants, had 31 
 looms and 230 spinning wheels, and manufactured 6,480 yards 
 of cloth annually. The revenue of Montgomery County for 
 1809-10 was, 
 From permits and licences, $ 110 64 
 
 From State and County Taxes, 1,533 51 
 
 1,644 15 
 The expenditures amounted to 1,338 26 
 
 Leaving in the Treasury $ 305 89 
 
 The population of the County was 7,722. 
 
 The income, arising from taxation 4}lone, now (1850) amounts 
 to more than ninety thousand dollars. 
 
 In November of this year, Col. R. Patterson established a 
 fulling mill, on his farm, two miles south of Dayton. It was 
 destroyed by fire, in 182 — . 
 
 The ordinance requiring pavings to be made, at this time, 
 shows that the town laid along Water Street, from Main to Mill 
 Street, on the south side of First Street from Ludlow to St. 
 Clair, and on Main from Water to Third Streets. 
 
 The year 1811 was rendered memorable by two events not 
 likely soon to be forgotten. In October, the " New Orleans," 
 the first steamboat on the western waters, left Pittsburgh ; and 
 in Decembier, New Madrid was destroyed by an earthquake, the 
 shocks of which were felt in Dayton, and kept the inhabitants 
 in constant alarm for several days. The first, on the morning 
 of the 16th, between two and three o'clock, was so severe as to 
 arouse almost every person in town. Some left their houses in 
 affright, and all were terrified at the unusual phenomenon. The 
 horses and cattle were equally alarmed, and the fowls left their 
 roosts in great consternation. There were more than forty 
 shocks between the morning of the 16th and the evening of the 
 21st. Perkins has noticed it in the Western Annals (519) and 
 it is described in the American Pioneer, (I, 129,) but the best 
 description I have seen, is in the Cincinnati Liberty Hall, a 
 newspaper of that period, and in the Ohio Centinel of January 
 23, 1812, a file of which is in the Dayton Library. Severe 
 shocks were also felt on the 23d and 27th of January, 1812. — 
 They agitated the houses considerably, and articles suspended 
 in stores were kept in motion about a minute. 
 
DAYTON. -i' 
 
 It may here be mentioned, thougli somewhat out of its regular 
 order, that on the i2rth of June, 1815, the most violent tornado 
 ever known in Ohio, passed through this county, about eight 
 miles nordi of Dayton. 
 
 In February, 181'2, the First Presbyterian Church was incor- 
 porated. The congregation had previou-!y loaned $500 to the 
 county, in consideration of which the Commissioners allowed 
 them the use of the Court House as a place for public worship, 
 until they erected a small brick church on the site of their pres- 
 ent location. 
 
 The aggressions of Great Britiaa upon the neutral rights of 
 this country, and particularly tiieir encouragement of Indian 
 barbarities on our north-western frontier, are well known as 
 matters of public history. As early as December, 1811, it was 
 debated in the House of Representatives, whether it was not 
 necessary to invade Canada, in the following spring, before the 
 ice broke up, and, by seizing that province, secure the north- 
 western frontier against the hostility of the savages. Gov. Hull 
 of Michigan repeatedly pressed this subject upon the attention 
 of Government, but his suggestions were disregarded. Moved 
 probably by a private letter addressed by Gen. Armstrong to the 
 the Secretary of War, January 2, 1812, government early in the 
 spring, gave orders for raising troops in Ohio, to join the army 
 at Detroit. Gen. Edmund Munger of this county was accord- 
 ingly ordered, in April, 1812, to raise a company in Dayton. 
 Preble and Miami Counties being threatened by Indians, it was 
 thought unadvisable to draw men from that quarter. The bat- 
 talion met on Adam's Prairie, near the mouth of Hole's Creek, 
 five miles south of Dayton, on the 16th of April. 
 
 A company of United States Rangers, raised, 'in the vicinity, un- 
 der Capt. Perry, received, a few days after, orders to march, 
 and on the 2r'th left Dayton for Fort Larimie. On the 6th of 
 May, Gov. Meigs arrived in town, to superintend the organi/.a- 
 tion of the militia in person. The citizens welcomed him by a 
 salute of eighteen guns, and in the afternoon he reviewed the 
 troops; twelve companies being in camp here. Dayton was 
 made the rendc/.vous for the milidaof the State, destined for De- 
 troit. The Indians in the nieanwhile, were enraging the troops 
 by the occasional munlers whicli they committed in the vicinity 
 of Greenville, and along the line of the frontier. Soon after hi-. 
 
28 HISTORY OF 
 
 arrival, Gov. Meigs dispatched Gen. Munger, with a small num- 
 ber of the Dayton troop of horse, to enquire into the situation of 
 the frontier settlements. They returned on the 10th with infor- 
 mation that the Prophet was within seventy miles of Greenville, 
 and contemplated advancing. A company-of riflemen was im- 
 mediately ordered to march to Greenville, and another to Piqua, 
 to protect the frontier inhabitants, who were flying in all direc- 
 tions. It was supposed that not less than one hundred families 
 had fled from Miami and Darke Counties, on account of the hos- 
 tile conduct of the Indians. On the 8th the Shawanee Chiefs* 
 went over from Wapaughkoneta to Piqua, to hold a council with 
 Col . Johnson, in which they made great professions of friendship. 
 The Col. believed them; but the inhabitants generally did not. — 
 On the 14th, fourteen hundred troops, principally volunteers^ 
 were encamped in this place, under the command of Gen. Gano 
 and Gen. Lewis Cass. Meigs, in the meanwhile, was making* 
 every effort to furnish the army with suitable stores, and on the 
 7th, issued his proclamation, dated at Head Quarters, Day- 
 ton, appealing to the patriotism of the citizens of Ohio, and 
 asking each family to sell at least one blanket, as the army was 
 destitute, and none could be had in the stores. By the 20th, the 
 number of troops had increased to about 1,500, which were divi- 
 ded into three regiments, under the command of Cols. Cass^ 
 McArthur, and Findlay. On that day, Gov. Hull issued his 
 proclamation, dated at the head quarters of the army on the 
 northern frontier, to the chiefs, sachems and warriors of the na- 
 tions of Ottawas, Chipawas, Wiandots, Miamies, Delawares, 
 Munsees, and such of the Shawanese as resided in the state of 
 Ohio, and the territory of Michigan, declaring his determination; 
 to offer them war or peace, and threatening the severest punish- 
 ment his powerful hand could inflict, if they persisted in choos- 
 ing the former. A copy of this speecli was dispatched, with in- 
 terpreters, to each tribe ; and the army prepared to follow it up 
 with decided measures. On the 26th, the Governor ordered 
 ('apt. Wm. Van Cleve's company of Dayton Rifles to march to 
 the frontier, on the west of the Miami, under the direction of CoK 
 Jerome Holt. On the 25th, Brig. Gen, Hull assumed the com- 
 mand of the army, which was now stationed at Camp Meigs, on 
 the western bank ot Mad River, three miles from town. Cols, 
 Findlay and Cass, with their detachments, were encamped in 
 
DAYTON. 
 
 20 
 
 the prairie three miles from Dayton, and Col, McArthur's regi- 
 ment was placed in the rear of the town. On the following day. 
 Cieneral Hull took up his quarters at Camp Meigs and hoisted 
 the American standard. As it was raising, the troops formed a 
 hollow square round it and expressed their determination not to 
 surrender it, but with their lives. Col. Sloan, with a troop of 
 horse from Cincinnati, joined them on the Srth. The prepara- 
 tions being all completed, the army broke up their quarters at 
 Camp Meigs, on the first of June, and took up their line of 
 march to Detroit, by the way of Urbana, which place they left 
 on the 15th of the same month. They reached the banks of the 
 Maumee on the 30th of June, having marched, on their way, for 
 forty miles through a swamp, knee deep at every step. On 
 the 10th of July, Gov. Meigs, writing from Chillicothe, direct- 
 ed Gen. Munger .to discharge the militia in his brigade, as their 
 services were no longer needed. 
 
 Col. Johnson, early in the summer, called a grand council of 
 all the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi and north of the 
 Ohio, to meet at Piqua, on the 15th of August; but only some 
 250 Shawanese from Wapaughkoneta attended, and nothing im- 
 portant was done. 
 
 Hull surrendered Detroit on the 16th of August. The news 
 reached Dayton on Saturday the22d, and excited the utmost 
 astonishment and consternation. The Indians, who had assem- 
 bled at the council at Piqua, were still in that vicinity, and there 
 were public stores there amounting to upwards of $40,000. A 
 handbill was immediately issued calling on every able-bodied 
 man in the county, who could furnish a firelock, to meet at 
 Dayton, on the next day, for the purpose of marching immedi- 
 ately to the frontier. On Sunday morning by seven o'clock, a 
 company was raised, organi/.ed and completely equipped, under 
 the command of Capt. James Steele, consisting of seventy men, 
 who marched in a few hours to Piqua. During the course of the 
 <lay, seven other companies assembled from the country, and 
 Capt. Caldwell's troop of horse and Capt.. Johnston's rifle com- 
 pany arrived from Warren County. On Monday, the troop of 
 horse, and Major George Adams's battallion of o41 men left 
 town for the frontier. Two companies were left, subject to the 
 Governor's order. Several other c'ompanies passed through town 
 on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Gen. Whiteman, 
 
 3* 
 
30 HISTORY OF 
 
 of Greene County, had nearly the whole of his Brigade in motion, 
 at the same time. TheGoTernor, then at Urbana, entrusted the 
 defence of Piqua to Gen. Munger, and ordered the public stores 
 to be removed to Dayton. Capt. Steele's company advanced as 
 far as St. Marys, where they erected block houses for the de- 
 fence of that place. 
 
 The country was now thoroughly aroused, and troops were 
 rapidly pushed forward to resist the expected attack of the ene- 
 my. On the Slst of August, Col. Wells, with from 300 to 400 
 regulars, and Capt. Garrard, with a volunteer troop of horse, 
 from Bourbon County, Ky., reached town, and were joined on 
 the following day by Brig. Gen. Payne, with three regiments of 
 Kentucky militia, comprising a force of 1,800 men. Five other 
 Kentucky regiments were then on their march. Gov, W. H. 
 Harrison arrived on the 1st of September, and immediately pro- 
 ceeded to Piqua, where, on the 2d, he issued his proclamation, 
 calling for any number of volunteers who chose to follow his 
 standard. On the 9th, he marched from St. Marys, with his 
 army, nearly 40OO strong, to relieve Fort Wayne, then invested 
 by the Indians. He reached that fort on the 12th, the enemy 
 flying before him in all directions, without waiting the chances 
 of a battle. 
 
 After having relieved Fort Wayne and destroyed the Indian 
 villages in that vicinity. Gen. Harrison returned to St. Marys, 
 to make preparations for the campaign against Canada. While 
 there, on the 29th of September, he issued a card, presenting his 
 compliments to the Ladies of Dayton and its neighborhood, and 
 solicited their assistance in making shirts for his soldiers, many 
 of whom were almost destitute. With a zeal and promptitude 
 worthy of all honor, they replied by sending him, in less than 
 twenty days, eighteen hundred shirts for the use of the army, 
 the materials liaving been furnished from the Indian department. 
 
 In December, great exertions were made to forward provisions 
 to the army. Col. Patterson, the forage master, advertised for 
 fifty ox sleds and fifty horse sleds, for that purpose ; and the 
 deputy commissary general gave notice that the public stores 
 must be forwarded to Lorimie's at all risks, and advised the 
 proprietors of dams upon the river to open a passage for his 
 boats. 
 
 It was from volunteering, in an expedition ot this kind, td 
 
DAYTON. 31 
 
 drive an ox team with provisions for the army, in 1812, when 
 many shrank back, from (he danger to be encountered, that our 
 great orator, then a lad, afterwards acquired the subriquet ot the 
 Wagon Boy of Ohio. His bitterest opponents must concede 
 that he is tolerably expert in the use of the whip. 
 
 On the 11th of the same month, Lieut. Col. Campbell march- 
 ed from Dayton, with a force of about seven hundred strong, 
 against the Miami villages, near where Muncietown now is, on 
 the Mississinneway, a branch of the Wabash, which they took 
 by surprise on the morning of the 17th. A detailed statement 
 of this action may be found in the Ohio Centinel of December 
 30th, in the Dayton Library. 
 
 While the militia were encamped here awaiting orders, 
 Cooper employed them in digging a race from the old saw mill, 
 above mentioned, to Sixtli Street, at the intersection of which 
 street with the present line of the Basin, he erected a saw mill, 
 that stood there till 1847. 
 
 The revenue of the county for 1811-12 was $1748.87, and the 
 expenditures, $1968.66. 
 
 In the spring of 1813, immense falls of rain nearly inundated 
 thecountiy, and greatly impeded the progress of our troops, but 
 Dayti^i still continued to be a thoroughfare for soldiers marching 
 to the frontier. This year the Dayton Manufacturing Company 
 — the first banking institution in Dayton — was incorporated by 
 the Legislature. Joseph Peirce was President and George S. 
 Houston, Cashier. In 1831, its name was changed to that of the 
 Dayton Bank. Their banking house was in the stone building, 
 on the east side of Main street, near Waier. The nominal capi- 
 tal was $500,000, but its actual stock never exceeded $175,000. 
 
 The revenue of the county for 1813-14, was $2238.18. 
 
 In October, 1814, Philip Guuckle laid out Germantown. 
 
 In April, 1814, the Female Bible and Charitable Society of 
 Dayton was founded by Mrs. Henry Brown, Mrs. Col. Patter- 
 son, Mrs. Eliz.a Phillips, Mrs. Joseph II. Crane, Mrs. Henrietta 
 Peirce, Mrs. James Steele, and Mesdames Welsh, Cottam, 
 Reid, King, Hanna, and Spinning. 
 
 On the 4th of July, of this year, the first market house, on 
 Secontl Street between Main and Jefterson Streets, was opened; 
 and Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 4 to 10 A. M. appointed 
 the times for markets. Our present midnight markets, which 
 
3*^ HISTORY OF 
 
 tend to limit the supply of marketables to the immediate vicini- 
 ty, are the invention of a later period. 
 
 The steady increase of the County is shown by its increasing 
 revenue, which, for the year 1814-15, was $3,280.51. 
 
 On the second of June, 1818, the " Cincinnati and Dayton 
 Mail Stage," owned by John H. Piatt of C, and D. C. Cooper, 
 commenced running between these two points. Leaving the 
 Queen City on Tuesday at 5 A. M., and passing through 
 Springfield, Hamilton, Middletown and Franklin, passengers 
 arrived at Dayton on Wednesday evening. Returning, they 
 left Dayton on Friday, at 5 A. M., and reached Cincinnati on 
 Saturday evening. The fare was eight cents a mile, with an al- 
 lowance of 14 lbs. of baggage. 
 
 , In the summer of 1818, the Methodist Sunday School Society, 
 and the Dayton Sabbath School Association were formed. The 
 latter owed its origin to the exertions of Rev. Baekus Wilbur, 
 afterwards, for a few weeks, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
 Church. He died September 29th, 1818, and his remains now 
 lie in the n. w, corner of the old Grave Yard, on Sixth street, 
 w^here an inscription, written by Dr. Archibald Alexander of 
 Princeton, records his virtues. A sketch of his life may be 
 found in the Dayton Watchman of February 18, 1819.* His 
 widow, a daughter of Major Ferguson, who was slain while 
 gallantly attempting to rally his forces at St. Clair's defeat, af- 
 terwards , May 31st, 1825, married Rev. Dr. Matthew Brown, 
 President of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., by whom she 
 had a daughter, who is now married and resides in New York. 
 
 The commercial reverses, which disturbed the whole country, 
 soon after the close of the war of 1812,. seriously affected Day- 
 ton, and from 1820 to 1827, its growth was very trifling. At the 
 latter date, the commencement of the Canal to Cincinnati renew- 
 ed its prosperity, and its advance has been steady and rapid ever 
 since. 
 
 Though its increase and the importance which it has attained 
 as one ot the first inland cities of Ohio, are mainly owing to the 
 system of internal improvements, by means of canals, it is no 
 part of my design to go into any details upon that topic. The 
 siibject of canal improvements was first agitated in Ohio, in con- 
 sequence of the progress of the Eric Canal, in 1818; and on the 
 3d of January, 1822, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, as 
 
davton. 33 
 
 Chairman of (he Committee on Internal Improvements, made an 
 elaborate report upon the subject, in the Ohio House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and introduced a bill, which became a law on the 
 3lst of the same month, aufhori/.ing an examination into the 
 practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River by 
 means of a canal. The examination was commenced in the 
 spring of that year, by Hon. James Geddes, of Onondaga Coun- 
 ty, N. Y., and was continued till early in 1825, when the Com- 
 missioners determined on the route from Cleveland to Ports- 
 mouth, and from Dayton to Cincinnati. The ground was first 
 broken near Newark, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1825, in the pres- 
 ence of Gov. Morrow, Dk Witt Clinton, the invited guest of 
 the State, the executive officers, members of Congress and of the 
 Legislature, and an immense concourse of spectators, and amid 
 the roar of a hundred cannons. 
 
 From Newark, the Governors and their suit moved westward, 
 passing through Lancaster, Columbus, Springfield and Dayton. 
 On Saturday, the 9th of July, they were met at Fairfield by 
 Capt. Squier's troop of Dayton Horse and escorted to town, 
 where they were welcomed at Compton's Inn, on the south-west 
 corner of Main and Second Streets, by Hon. Joseph H. Crane, 
 who addressed them, in a neat and brief speech, on behalf of a 
 vast crowd of citi/.ens. At 4 o'clock, they sat down to an ele- 
 gant dinner prepared at Col. Reid's, on Main Street, between 
 First and Second, for the occasion, where the ladies and the 
 Canal divided the honor of the toasts between them. 
 
 The Dayton and Cincinnati Canal was put under contract 
 the same year, and progressed so rapidly that on the 25th of Jan- 
 uary, 1829, a canal boat arrived here from Cincinnati. The 
 locks at the latter i)lace were not, however, completed till 1834. 
 The estimated cost of the canal was S56r,0(X). It was violently 
 opposed as a ruinojs and useless expenditure. But the law au- 
 thorizing the work had scarcely been passed, before its benefi- 
 cial effects, upon this place, began to be seen. Unoccupied 
 houses were rented, log cabins were replaced by brick build- 
 ings, prices and wages rose, and the demand for laborers in- 
 creased. 
 
 Previous to April, 1825, the mail route lay through Chilli- 
 cothe. In that month, the route was changed ; and on the Gth 
 the first mail, carried in a coach, arrived by way of \Columbus. 
 
34 HlStOttY OF 
 
 On the 13th, a regular weekly line of stages was established be- 
 tween Dayton and Cincinnati, and Dayton and Columbus. — 
 Leaving Cincinnati on Monday, at 4 o'clock, A. M., passengers 
 arrived here on Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock. In June, stages 
 commenced running twice a week between the three places. 
 
 It is instructive occasionally to mark our progress by certain 
 data; and none is more sure, under a mild government, than that 
 of the revenue. The county revenue, in 1825, was $12'! ; in 
 1849, it was $90,000. That of the city, at the former period, 
 v.as one lunidred and seventy-tioo dollars — less than one-thirty- 
 fifth of the sum now usually expended every year, for tuition 
 alone, in four of our public schools. 
 
 The construction of the State canal led very soon after to that 
 of the " Basin" along Canal Street, and on the 4th of February, 
 1330, the Basin Extension Company was incorporated by the 
 Legislature. The object was to draw business through that part 
 of the town. The situation of the ground was favorable to the 
 work. Fx-om the head of Mill Street, a ravine, from fifteen to 
 twenty feet deep, extended to near Fifth Street; the ground fall- 
 ing rapidly towards the east from the brow of the hill, along 
 Mill Street to the corner of Piatt and Harris; thence to the cor- 
 ner of Second and v^t. Clair, and thence along St. Clair to Fifth. 
 Tlie old saw mill race, extending from the south-west corner ot 
 First and Madison Streets, in almost a direct line, to the inter- 
 section of the Basin and Fifth Street, marked the level, from 
 which the ground fell towards the west. Through this ravine-, 
 the waters of Mad River, breaking through the culvert, in the 
 levee near its mouth, in spite of the exertions of men working 
 night and day to prevent it, sought, at almost every flood, a 
 channel, near the line of the present canal, through which to 
 discharge themselves into the Miami below the town. 
 
 Upon President Jackson's election to his second term, a ba"^ 
 becue — an ox roasted wliole — was held on the open space east of 
 St. Clair Street, and it was then proposed to lay out a Public 
 Square there, which was afterwards done. The plat between 
 Pratt and Second Streets was laid out by the Council at the 
 same time, and the ground rents of it reserved for the improve- 
 ment of that Square, There is probably no public ground in the 
 country that has so large an income as this. 
 That simultaneoiis rising of the people, in 1840, which over- 
 
DAYTON. 35 
 
 V. helmed the adininistration of Mr. Van Burcn, found nowhere 
 in the country a more striking expression than in Dayton. Af- 
 ter the lapse often years, it is soberly aflinned by eye-witnesses 
 and competent judges, that at the Harrison Convention, held 
 here on the tenth of September, of that year, there were present 
 (/ hundred thousand people. So dense was the mass that, at an 
 early hour, before the head of the procession, ciglit abreast, and 
 several squares in length, conducted by Charles Anderson, as- 
 sisted by twenty-eight marshals, coidd leave town, hundreds 
 and thousands in wagons, on horseback, and afoot, passed on 
 ahead, filling the bridges and almost completely blocking up the 
 Springfield road, along which Harrison was expected to ap- 
 proach, for two miles into the country. So jammed together 
 was the mass, that, on reaching town, one could move only as 
 '.nother made way for him. The meeting was held on the hill 
 east of where the Dayton Hydraulic Company's Basin now is. 
 As they approached town along First Street, the scene is repre- 
 sented as having been indiscribably grand. Harrison and Met- 
 calf, both finely mounted, headed the procession, the dense 
 throng that lined the streets, leaving only a narrow space, 
 through W'hich they rode, and which closed immediately upon 
 their passing. "The hiizzas from grey-headed patriots, as the 
 banners borne in the pro«ession passed their dwellings, or the 
 balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and 
 blessings, and waving 'kerchiefs, of the thousands of fair women 
 who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heart- 
 t'elt acknowledgements of their marked courtesy and generous 
 hospitality, by the different delegations, sometimes rising the 
 same instant from the whole line ; the glimpses, at every turn of 
 the eye, of the fluttering folds of some one or more of the six 
 hundred and forty-four flags whicli displayed their glorious stars 
 and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street; 
 the soul-stirring music, the smiling heavens, the ever-gleaming 
 banners, the emblems and mottoes," added to the intensity of the 
 excitement. Every eminence, house top,' and window, was 
 thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to 
 rend the heavens. Second Street, at that time, led through a 
 prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity ot 
 which few but western men can appreciate, likened the excite- 
 ment around them, to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its sur- 
 
36 HISTORY OP 
 
 face, "gathering and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet 
 higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heav- 
 ens. " The wild enthusiasm that swayed the mighty mass beg- 
 gars all description. Men were too full for utterance, and many 
 with difficulty suppi'essed their tears. The shoutings of the con- 
 course at the Isthmian Games, when a Herald's voice aloud pro- 
 claimed THE LIBERTY OF GREECE; and the frantic joy of the 
 Hebrews, described by a sacred poet, when, after the oppres- 
 sions of seventy years in Babylon, "the Lord turned again the 
 captivity of Zion," may have equalled, but could not have sur- 
 passed it. " No one that witnessed it," said Col. Todd, " can 
 convey to the mind of another even a faint semblance of the 
 things he there beheld. The bright and glorious day— the beau- 
 tiful and hospitable city — the green-clad and heaven-blessed val- 
 ley—the thousand flags, fluttering in every breeze and waving 
 from every window — the ten thousand badges and banners, with 
 their appropriate devices and patriotic inscriptions — and, more 
 than all, the hundred thousand human hearts beating in that 
 dense and seething mass of people— are things which those alone 
 can properly feel and appreciate, who beheld this grandest spec- 
 tacle of Time."* 
 
 The Convention of 1842 was even more numerously attended 
 than that of 1840. It is not thought too extravagant to put down 
 the number present at 07ie hundred mid tiventy thousand. 
 
 The population of Dayton in 1840, was 6067. 
 
 About a mile south of the city, on the summits of two hills 
 overlooking the basin in which it lies, and commanding a fine 
 view of the town, is Woodland Cemetery^ the principal burial 
 ground of Dayton. The grounds were purchased in 1842, and 
 laid off under the direction of J. W. Van Cleve, a gentleman 
 to whose "^ taste, skill, and public spirit, our citizens are under 
 many obligations. The original forest was retained, and ever- 
 greens, and ornamental shrubbery have been carefully cultivated 
 to adorn this silent City of the Dead. At the entrance is a 
 handsome gateway, and a neat cottage for the porter's lodge. To 
 this Cemetery were removed the remains of many, who had been 
 buried in the city ; and it is to be hoped that the Council may 
 soon see that it is indispensable to the health of the citizens, to 
 
 * For details, see the Dayton Journal of September 15, 1840; 
 Cincinnati Gazette, Sept. 12 j National Intelligencer, Sept. 19. 
 
DAVTON'. 37 
 
 forbid all burials within the limits of the corporation. The 
 condition of the urban cemeteries of London has lately drawn the 
 attention of men of science to the fact, well known and exten- 
 sively practiced on by the secret poisoners of antiquity, that 
 there is no poison so insidious in its attack and so destructive of 
 life, as \i\ii eflluvia arising from places of interment. 
 
 It had been a favorite plan with Mr. Samuel Steele, in his 
 litetime, to extend Steele's race, on the north bank of the Miami, 
 across the river, by means of Bridge Street bridge, and by turn- 
 ing the whole of the Miami into that channel, obtain an immense 
 water power, on this side of the river below town. This was 
 talked of for ten years, but for want of capital was never carried 
 into execution. In 1845, however, a great accession was made lo 
 the water power within tiie limits of the city, by tapping Mad 
 River four miles above town, and bringing down its waters by 
 means of an iiydraulic canal. The work was executed by H. G. 
 Phillips, D. Beckel, J. D. Phillips, and Samuel F. Edgar, wlio 
 were, in that year, incorporated iflto a body politic, called the 
 Dayton Hydraulic Company. 
 
 On the 24th of June, of the same year, the first canal boat ar- 
 rived here from Lake Erie. The amount of business done upon 
 this canal may be seen in the following 
 
 Tabular Statement, 
 
 Showing the amount of tolls collected on the Miami Canal and 
 the Miami Extension Canal, at the port of Dayton, from IMI 
 to 1848, in dollars. 
 
 Miami fanal. 
 Miami Ex. f '1. 
 
 1841 . 184.-2 
 
 23,978 x!'2.03n 
 
 3,080 3.243 
 
 1843 1 1844 
 
 ■24,181^29,65: 
 4.094! 5,852 
 
 1845 1846 1 184r 1848 
 31,465j22,14r31,9r0l9,rGU 
 13.6.57110,183 9,07120.921 
 
 In October, 1845, the Cooper Female Academy was opened, 
 under the direction of E. E. Barney. The building is a sub- 
 stantial brick edifice, 80 feet by 54, and four stories high. It 
 has at present eight teachers and about a hundred and fifty pu- 
 pils. The educational statistics of the city arc given in the 
 following 
 
 Tabular Stutement. 
 
 Showing the principal schools of Dayton, the names of 'he 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Principals, the number of assistant teachers, the number of 
 scholars, and the average attendance. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Cooper Female Acad.,* 
 Dayton Academy, 
 
 Dayton Literary Inst.,t 
 Sisters of Notre-Dame, 
 
 Puhlic Schools. X 
 North-Western, 
 North-Eastern, 
 South-Eastern, 
 South- Western, 
 German. 
 
 Principal. 
 
 E. E. Barney, 
 M. G. Williams, 
 W. N. Edwards, t 
 Rob't. Stevenson, 5 
 
 No. 
 Ass'ts. 
 
 No. 
 Scholars 
 
 Av. 
 
 AU'd'ce 
 
 7 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 5 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 4 
 
 251 
 
 179 
 
 5 
 
 345 
 
 233 
 
 5 
 
 321 
 
 208 
 
 5 
 
 333 
 
 217 
 
 1 
 
 143 
 
 92 
 
 Wm. Butterfield, 
 
 James Campbell, 
 
 G. VV. Parkins, 
 
 Charles Rogers, 
 iVVm. Gemain, 
 * Opened October, 1845. t Instituted in 1848. J These schools 
 are maintained by the city, at an expense of from $5,500 to 
 $6,000 a year. Vocal music is taught in all as a branch of edu- 
 cation. The educational year commences in October, and, with 
 a short vacation at the holidays, continues for nine months. 
 
 The alacrity with which the citizens of Dayton volunteered 
 for the defence of the frontier in 1812, was almost equalled by 
 that which they evinced in the late contest with Mexico. Im- 
 mediately following the declaration of war, was a requisition for 
 thirty companies, three regiments, of infantry, made by the War 
 Department on Ohio. Gov. Bartley accordingly issued his proc- 
 lamation, on the 20th of May, appealing to the courage and pat- 
 riotism of the State to render promptly the required aid, and be- 
 seeching her sons to seize the opportunity of devoting them- 
 selves to the cause of their country. An intense excitement was 
 manifested upon the publication of that proclamation throughout 
 Ohio; and at no point was it greater than at Dayton. On the 
 day of its arrival, a public meeting was called by the military 
 gentlemen of the city, at the head of whom was Gen. Adam 
 Speice, the brigadier of the county. Long before the hour 
 arrived, an immense concourse of citizens, with drums, banners, 
 cheerings and songs, gathered round the City Hall, where they 
 were addressed by Major, then Captain, Giddings, Capts. 
 Walker and Hormel, and Lieuts. Tilton, Stout and Love. Two 
 companies, of one hundred and fifty men, were soon after organ- 
 
DAYTOX. 39 
 
 izeil, under the commaml of Capts. Giddings and Hormel, and 
 dispatched to the seat of war. During the progress of their en- 
 rollment, the business of the city was almost entirely suspended, 
 and nothing was thought or talked of but the army and the war- 
 Funds were collected for the support of the families of those 
 volunteers, whose absence in the service would cause suft'ering 
 and want at home. Hundreds of private individuals also gen- 
 erously contributeil those comforts to the soldiers, which the 
 government cither did not furnish, or was slow to supply. In 
 the course of the war, other companies were successively en- 
 rolled, until the whole number of volunteers and regulars sent by 
 Dayton to Mexico amounted to more than 600 men. The princi" 
 pal companies were at Monterey, at the capture of that city, and 
 upon Taylor's advancing upon Saltillo, were left to garrison the 
 town; where Major Giddings. in the exercise of both his pro- 
 fessions as a soldier and a lawyer, acted as military command- 
 ant of the place and as Chief Justice of Monterey. 
 
 At the conclusion of the war, the shattered remnants of these 
 companies, whose ranks had been greatly thinned by the ravages 
 of disease and the misfortunes of war, returned to Dayton, June 
 28th, 18-17, where they were warmly welcomed, nearly the whole 
 city turning out to receive them. 
 
 I have now to do an act of justice to Dayton, by stating tiie 
 extent of the Hood here, on the second of January, 1847. It has 
 been so grossly exaggerated, that I have thought it worth while 
 to give, in the accompanying diagram, an exact representation 
 of that portion of the town plat, west of the Canal Basin, which 
 was inundated. The submerged portions of it are inaiked in 
 black. From this it will be seen, that not one-fifth of tlw whole 
 town plat was overflowed; and from the levelness of the ground. 
 every one, who has seen Dayton, will observe, that on much of 
 that wlijch was covered, the water could not have been more 
 than a few inches in depth. 
 
 The river had been lisiiig for seveial days; and on the l>t. the 
 principal merchants, along the Canal liasin, thought it prudent 
 to raise their goods to the second story, in anticipation of any 
 accident that might happen to the levee, which was then new 
 and not yet settled. A few minutes after midnight, the insig- 
 nificant outer levee, that had for years been neglected and weak- 
 ened by earth being hauled from it to fill up house yards and 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 lood ul Davloii, Jan, i, l>il7, 
 
DAYTON. 4 1 
 
 roads, gave way, near Bridge Street, and the inner levee, being 
 insufficient to withstand the torrent suddenly rushing upon it. 
 and rising in a breast two feet above it, soon after fell in. A 
 breach once made, the waters rose rapidly, filling the cellars and 
 covering the ground floors of houses in the vicinity. At one 
 o'clock the church bells rang an alarm. A crowd of men with 
 boats and on horseback, promptly turned out to rescue those 
 who lived in the low grounds, west of Perry Street; while oth- 
 ers assembled on the levee, north of Mill Street, with shovels, 
 to check the leakage there. The water had by this time risen 
 nearly to tlie top of the bank ; and the work was soon abandoned 
 as hopeless. A small party passed dowti Kenton, St. Clair, and 
 Stone Streets, rousing the inhabitants along the line of the Ba- 
 sin, and advising them to move their valuables into the second 
 story of their houses. The levee gave way near the head of Mill 
 Street, about two o'clock, and the water, rushing down the 
 canal basin, gradually rose to the level exhibited on the dia- 
 gram, which is taken from a map, made by John AV. VanCleve, 
 from personal observation, at the time. 
 
 h\ the course of the night, all the principal citizens opened 
 their houses, lighted fires, and offered accommodations to those 
 whom the water had temporarily rendered houseless. The Coun- 
 cil, on the next day, voted a handsome appropriation to relieve 
 the wants ot the destitute. 
 
 It was a bright moonlight night, and the air was calm and mild. 
 There was not a life lost, nor endangered, nor did any accident 
 happen, during that night, nor afterwards. In striking contrast 
 with the truth, it was represented abroad that one hundred and 
 fifty persons, at least, were drowned ; that the poor shivering 
 survivors were huddled together on the high grounds, waiting 
 their fate in agony; that people were rescued in boats from the 
 third stories of some of the highest buildings in^own; and that 
 Dayton was literally in ruins! The damage was moderately es- 
 timated at a million and a half— a. sum, by the way, equal to half 
 of all t!»e personal properly in Montgomery County. 
 
 From the most accurate information that could be collected, 
 the loss sustained by private imlividuals in Dayton could not 
 have exceeded S5,000 ; and that was made up principally in the 
 inconvenience occasioned by the wetting of carpets, the spoil- 
 ing of such family stores as happened to be left in the cellars. 
 
 4* 
 
i'Z ifioTORV or 
 
 the damag-e to fences from floating drift vrood, and to yards by 
 being washed by the torrent, &c. If engineers had quietly 
 staked oft' the limits to which the waters rose, and slowly let 
 them in upon tiie town to that height, for some public design, it 
 is extremely doubtful whether it would have excited sufficient 
 attention to interrupt, for half a day, the usual course of busi- 
 ness. It i& not that which we see, but that which we apprehend 
 will come after — evils, bodied forth by the imagination, but 
 which never happen — that chiefly excite our terror. 
 
 A levee was soon after constructed, which will completely 
 secure the lower parts of town from any such catastrophe for the 
 future. 
 
 Among the institutions which reflect the most credit upon the 
 intelligence of a people, are its public libraries. They serve not 
 only for present amusement and instruction, but are valuable as 
 depositories of local information, which would otherwise speedi- 
 ly perish. Dayton has boasted of a number of these institutions; 
 but none of them attained any importance, or rested upon any 
 permanent basis, except the present Dayton Library^ which was 
 incorporated, January 21 st, 1847. The charter has provided 
 against its dissolution, by a clause vesting the ownership ot it, 
 in case of the failure of members, in the city council for the use 
 of the city. During two winters, a regular course of lectures, 
 one each week, has been delivered before it, at the city hall, in 
 the presence of very crowded audiences. Though the expenses 
 of these lectures were considerable, the Library has steadily in- 
 creased till it numbered in June, 1850, sixteen hundred volumes. 
 Actuated by the same liberal spirit which has made our public 
 schools the most efficient in the state, the Library Association 
 admit minors over the age of fourteen, to the privileges of the 
 Library, free of charge. 
 
 That the cralit of supporting this institution, may be hereaf- 
 ter given to those to whom it justly belongs, I refer to the list of 
 their names, in the Dayton Bulletin of January 2.5th, 1850, upon 
 file in the Library. 
 
 Dayton is the seat of justice for Montgomery County. This 
 county is 221 miles long from north to south, and 20 miles wifle 
 from east to west, including an area of four hundred and fifty 
 square miles, and divided into fifteen townships; the boundaries 
 tjf which are shown upon the following diagram. 
 
DAVTON. 
 
 43 
 
 It is ^vell watered anil abounds in null seats. 'I'iie Miami 
 flows through it. forming the western i)oundary of Wayne, Mad 
 River and Van Buren town.^hips. Mad River, after flowing 
 througii the middle of Mad River township, empties into the 
 Miami, at Dayton. On the west, the Miami receives three con- 
 siderable streams ; the Stillwater, the birundary between Ran- 
 dolph and Butler; Wolf Creek, which rises near the middle of 
 Clay: and Bear Creek, rising in the nortli western part of Per- 
 ry, and flowing through Jelferson. This latter stream is poured 
 into the Miami, about half a mile north of Miamisburg. 
 
 Salem, in Randolph township; liittle York and Chamber-i- 
 burg, in Butler; Farmersville, in Jackson; Liberty, in J eflci- 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 son ; Sutibury, in German ; Bridgeport, on the western bank of 
 the Miami, opposite Miamisburg, Alexandersville, on the south- 
 ern bank of the same river, and Carroll ton, a mile westward, on 
 the Miami, in Miami township; and Woodbourn and Centreville, 
 in Washington: are small villages. Germantown, in German 
 township, contains five churches, anacademy, a brewery, a wool- 
 en factory, and about 1,200 inhabitants. The TVestern Emporhan 
 is a weekly gazette, published in this place. Miamisburg, on the 
 west bank of the Miami, near the centre of Miami township, 
 contains three churches, two of which worship in the German 
 language; a high school, twelve stores, a woolen and a cotton 
 factory, a grist mill and a foundery. The population is about 
 1,100. About a mile and a quarter south east of this town, is the 
 next largest Indian mound in all the northern states, being eight 
 hundred feet in circumference at the base and sixty-seven feet 
 high. 
 
 A comprehensive view of the extent, population, and wealth of 
 ^he several townships may be seen from the following 
 Tabular Statemeut, 
 
 Showing (1.) the area of the several townships in Montgome- 
 ry County in square miles ; (2.) the number of acres assessed for 
 taxation; (3.) the average value of land per acre; (4.) the 
 amount of personal property assessed on the grand levy; (5.) 
 the estimated population ; (6.) the number of persons to the square 
 mi ! e ; and! (7.) the politics of the townships. 
 
 II- 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 
 Clay, 
 
 Randolph 
 
 Biitler, 
 
 Wayne, 
 
 Perry, 
 
 Madison, 
 
 Harrison, 
 
 Dayton, 
 
 Mad Riv 
 
 Jackson, 
 
 Jefterson, 
 
 Van Bu. 
 
 German, 
 
 Miami, 
 
 Washing. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 36 
 
 22,740 
 
 $13,09 
 
 28 
 
 17,866 
 
 20.96 
 
 36 
 
 22.873 
 
 20. 
 
 21 
 
 14.204 
 
 23. 
 
 SQ 
 
 22,908 
 
 15.20 
 
 36 
 
 22,574 
 
 23.46 
 
 27,^ 
 
 18,522 
 
 0,7. 
 
 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 22.1 
 
 14,597 
 
 — 
 
 36 
 
 23,175 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 19,918 
 
 25.70 
 
 25.1 
 
 16,416 
 
 30. 
 
 36 
 
 23,621 
 
 24. 
 
 40 
 
 25,837 
 
 26.37 
 
 S5 
 
 20,402 
 
 22.32 
 
 4. 
 
 $78,016 
 
 112,359 
 
 94,318 
 
 74,429 
 
 97,000 
 
 123,041 
 
 147,252 
 
 1032,737 
 
 132.757 
 
 75,165 
 
 67,565 
 
 81,828 
 
 199,625 
 
 199,767 
 
 139,351 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 1,800 
 
 50 
 
 2,000 
 
 74 
 
 2.200 
 
 62 
 
 1,300 
 
 62 
 
 2,200 
 
 64 
 
 2,000 
 
 55 
 
 2,200 
 
 * 
 
 98 
 
 1,700 
 
 75 
 
 2,000 
 
 61 
 
 2,000 
 
 61 
 
 1,700 
 
 Q5 
 
 3,900 
 
 108 
 
 5,200 
 
 144 
 
 2,600 
 
 74 
 
 7. 
 
 W\ 
 
 D. 
 
 AV. 
 
 W. 
 
 D. 
 
 D. 
 
 I). 
 
 W. 
 
 W. 
 
 D. 
 
 D. 
 
 D. 
 
 W. 
 
 1). 
 
 W. 
 
 *Rofpiring to the Diao^ram. *Estimatod at 14.000. 
 
OAVTOy. 45 
 
 A full description of the townsiiips is g^iven in the Dayton 
 Bulletin of October 31, 1849, from which the above is condensed. 
 
 It may perhaps be necessary here to remark that the statements 
 of value given in all these lables, are based upon the estimates 
 made for the purpose of taxation, and thougli property is by law 
 required to be listed according to its true value, some allowance 
 must be made for the natural depreciation, where every man 
 states the value of his own personal property. It is probably not 
 too much to say, that from twenty to thirty per cent ought to be 
 added to that amount, without at all impeaching the fairness of 
 the assessorial estimates. An equal amount, at least, must be 
 added for property exempt from taxation; namely, for all cat- 
 tle and horses under two years old, all sheep and hogs under six 
 months old, all mules under a year and a half old, all other ani- 
 mals, poultry, all farming implements, wearing apparel, family 
 stores and provisions, state and bank stocks ; household furniture 
 and mechanics' tools, not exceeding each $100 in value, besides 
 saddles, looms, bees, cash, firearms, cows, sheep, hogs, &c. &.c — 
 exemptions whicli will enable any man with a family, to live 
 comfortably, freed from all the burdens of the state, and from 
 all fear of execution by process of law. If the per centage 
 above stated is not too high, it will authorize us to add from a 
 million to a million and a third, to the actual value of personal 
 property given in these tables. The real estate bcingappraiscd by 
 public ofticers, it is assumed that it is put atabout its fair market 
 value. 
 
 To the details above given, relative to the several townships, 'a 
 brief summary of the chiel items, which constitute the wealth 
 of the county, and the increase of that wealth, as indicated by 
 the increase of revenue, may here be added. 
 
 The increase df seven millions in the value of taxable proper- 
 ly from 1816 to 1847 is merely appareiu. It arose from the 
 new mode of taxing property, "according to its real value." This* 
 the only true basis of taxation, was esfabli-shetl by the tax law of 
 1845. undei- the beneficial operation of which a large amount ot 
 property, principally in the hands of those most able, from their 
 abundant means, to bear the burdens of the state, and which had 
 before escaped taxation, was assessed u])on the grand levy. Thi-. 
 strict justice, and wise policy, probably saved the state treasury 
 irom, at least, a temporary bankruptcy. 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Tabular Statement, 
 Showino' the number of acres, the value of land, the value of 
 towns, the value of personal property, money and credits, the 
 total value of taxable property, and the total amount of taxes, in 
 Montgomery County, from 1845 to 1849, as assessed on the grand 
 levy for taxation. 
 
 Year 
 1845 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 1848 
 1849 
 
 Acres of 
 Laud. 
 
 282,418 
 282,533 
 285,017 
 286,105 
 
 Value of 
 Land. 
 
 2,431,394 
 2,431,796 
 6,749,118 
 6,833,802 
 6,884,000 
 
 Value of Per. Pro. Mo. 
 Towns, and Credits. 
 
 1,094,438 
 
 l,252,80l'l,290,985 
 2,860, 053'2,567,947 
 2,966,922|2,603,249 
 1 2,636,000 
 
 Total Taxa- 
 ble Pro. 
 
 4,434,762 
 4,975,582 
 12,177,118 
 12,403,973 
 
 Total 
 Tax. 
 
 $68,780 
 71,610 
 80,900 
 83,175 
 90,000 
 
 Some of the principal items of the personal properly making 
 up the sum of $2,636,000 given above, are specified in the fol- 
 lowing Tabular Statement, 
 
 Showing the number of horses over two years old, the number 
 of neat cattle over two years old, the number of sheep over six 
 months old, the number of swine over six months old, the amount 
 of merchants' stock and of manufacturers' stock, as assessed on- 
 ihe grand levy in Montgomery County, from 1846 to 1849. 
 
 
 l\0. Of 
 
 No of Cat- 
 
 No of Slieep. 
 
 No. of Swiup. 
 
 Merchants' 
 
 Mauufr. 
 
 Year 
 
 Horses. 
 
 tle. 
 
 
 
 Stock. 
 
 Stock. 
 
 iftifi 
 
 10,201 
 10,342 
 
 14,605 
 13,796 
 
 26,911 
 
 27,389 
 
 
 $296,070* 
 432,071 
 
 
 1847 
 
 37,581 
 
 172,148 
 
 1848 
 
 10,177 
 
 13,863 
 
 25,721 
 
 40,099 
 
 474,824 
 
 157,454 
 
 1849 
 
 9,935 
 
 13,996 
 
 29,010 
 
 34,343 
 
 452,933 
 
 200,604 
 
 *Tliis amount includes manufacturers' stock. 
 
 These statistics may not, at first glance, exhiuit to an inatten- 
 tive reader, the actual condition of the county; but if they are 
 looked int), it will be seen, that, if the property owned here 
 were equally divided among every man, woman and child, with, 
 in its limits, each would have more than two hundred ami fifty 
 dollars: every family of five persons would have a horse to ride, 
 besides a cow, three sheep, with the lambs, and several hogs; 
 and that, in addition to these, every thirtieth person would own 
 a pleasure carriage. It is well known how just and equitable is 
 
DAYTOS. At 
 
 the division of estates, under the operation of our law of descents 
 and distribution; so (hat the division wliich we have supposed, 
 znay not be greatly variant from the trutli. Can anything show 
 more forcibly the easy condition of our population, to whom the 
 wants that pinch the poor, and plagues that haunt the rich man's 
 door, are almost entirely unknown? 
 
 The "dignity of history " thiiiks itself compromised by de- 
 scending to minute and apparently trivial details. The reader 
 has already seen that no such scruple* Iiavc entered into the 
 composition of these pages. Whatever tends to show the condi- 
 tion of a people, is a legitimate topic in their history. The num. 
 her of marriages, therefore, in the county, may not be uninterest- 
 ing. There were in 1842, 318; 1843, 299; in 1844, 360; in 1845, 
 340; in 1846, (^0,7; in 1847, 369; in 1848, 435; in 1849, 479. To- 
 tal in eight years, 2.958. In 1849, the average number of per" 
 sons married to the whole population was one m forty-nine* 
 
 In the spring of 1847, were laid the foundations of the Day- 
 ton Court House — the most elegant and costly building of the 
 kind in the State of Ohio. It is constructed of a species of com- 
 pact, white limestone, which abounds in the vicinity, and which 
 is well known from its extensive use, in the building of Canal 
 iock»«, the Cincinnati Catholic Cathedral and other buildings, as 
 the Dayton Marble. The building is fire proof throughout, and 
 is covered with a marble roof. The only wood used in its con- 
 struction, is for the inner doors, furniture, and window sashes. 
 Rising by a flight of eight marble steps, you reach the broad ter- 
 race on which the building is erected, and advancing about six 
 paces, you rise, by another fliglit of steps, to the floor of the por- 
 tico, nearly on a level with the windows of the second story of 
 the buildings on the opposite side of the street. The entrance 
 into the main hall, which is thirty-eight feet long and eleven 
 wide, is by two massy, ornamented doors of iron, each of which 
 is more than two thousand pounds in weight. On the right of 
 the Hall, are three rooms, with groined ceilings, \\luch are used 
 as the Clerk's OHice — the middle one being the principle biisi- 
 ness room. On the left, are the Sherifl[''s and Recorder's Offices. 
 The hall leads to the Rotunda, twenty feet in diameter and forty 
 two feet high, ornamented by a dome, the eye of which lights tin* 
 liall below. Around this rotunda, a circular flight of geomrfri- 
 cal stone stairs leads to the gallery of the Court Room, f)n omp 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 side, and to the offices of the Treasurer and Auditor of the Coun- 
 ty, on the other. 
 
 Immediately in front of the principal entrance, at the west of 
 the rotunda, is the Court Room. It is one of the striking effects 
 of perfect proportion in architecture to diminish the apparent 
 size of a building. For this reason, the stupendous magnitude 
 of the grand altar of St. Peter's at Rome, loses half of its effect 
 and seems to the casual visitor, too small for the building, until 
 he reflects that it is of the same height as the Capitol at Wash- 
 ington. Spectators, therefore, who enter the Dayton Court 
 Room, for the first time, often remark how small it seems. Yet 
 the gallery alone is spacious enough to afford seat for more than 
 two hundred persons. 
 
 The room is in an elliptical form, the shorter diaineter being 
 forty-two, and the longer fifty-two feet in length. A light gal- 
 lery of iron, at the height of sixteen feet from the floor, support- 
 ed by brackets and surmounted by an iron railing, surrounds the 
 room. The whole is lighted by a handsome dome, the eye of 
 which is forty-three feet from the floor. 
 
 The Court Room is ventilated by openings, invisible from 
 below, around the eye of the dome. While it was building, 
 great fears were entertained that, as in the dome of the Capitol 
 at Washington, the reverberation would be so great, that the 
 room would be useless for the purpose of a Court. These fears 
 were however unfounded. The utility of the building has not 
 been sacrificed to a showy appearance, and no room could have 
 been constructed, better adapted to the purpose for which this was 
 designed. 
 
 The Court House is 127 feet in length by 62 in width, and 
 from the terrace to the top of the crowning mould is 44 feet IQ 
 
 inches in height. 
 
 The accompanying fig- 
 ure is a correct represen- 
 tation of the Court House, 
 with the exception of the 
 ornamental wall 'of the 
 terrace, which has been 
 subsequently added. The 
 view is taken from the n. 
 w. corner of Main autl 
 'I'hird Streets. 
 
DAYTON. 
 
 49 
 
 The estimated cost of this buiUling was $63,000. The actual 
 cost has not yet been ascertained; but it will not probably fall 
 short of SlOO.tHX). It was finished in the spring of 1850, and 
 court was held there, for the fust time, on the 13th of April, in 
 the presence of a very crowded audience. 
 
 From the roof, to whicli there is easy access, is a fine view o\ 
 the city and environs. 
 
 Radiating from Dayton in every direction go numerous gravel- 
 led or macadamised turnpikes, by which the wealth and produce 
 of -this rich valley are poured into the city. Some details respect- 
 ing them are exhibited in the following 
 Tabular Statement, 
 
 Showing the principal turnpikes leading from Dayton, to what 
 places, their length, the time of their construction, the cost, and 
 the amount of stock owned by the state and by individuals. 
 
 Dayton & Spngfi'd. 
 Dayton & Cov'ton. 
 Dayton Cen. & Leb 
 Dayton Western. 
 Great Miami, 
 Dayton & Ger'twn. 
 Wolf Creek. 
 Dayton & Xenia. 
 Dayton & Wilni'ton 
 Miami & Montgom. 
 Mad River Valley. 
 Dayton &. Salem.* 
 
 Springfi'd 
 
 (/ovingt'n 
 
 Lebanon. 
 
 Eaton. 
 
 Sharon. 
 
 German'n 
 
 Libty C's 
 
 Xenia. 
 
 Wilm'ton 
 
 Troy. 
 
 Springfi'd 22 
 
 Salem. , 12 
 
 Ltngth orCoDsl'd. 
 
 liU'S. 
 
 22 
 
 26 
 23 
 18 
 38 
 14 
 14 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 1838 
 '1837 
 
 1838 
 1847 
 1849 
 1849 
 1849 
 1842 
 
 118,000 
 85,000 
 
 202.000 
 lS,0OOt 
 
 34,000 
 
 Stock. 
 I luJiviilua! 
 
 $55,450 
 31.4€0 
 49,557 
 66.900 
 82,835 
 
 55,450 
 39,137 
 49.557 
 58,106 
 57,190 
 10,000 
 
 "Chartered ; not yet constructed. tThe stock was sunk before 
 the completion of the road, and it was leased to D. Beckel for 
 sixteen years in consideration of his finishing it. The Dayton 
 and Brant Turnpike to Brant, in Miami County, twelve miles, is 
 in progress. 
 
 The distances from Dayton, over these roads, to the principal 
 towns along the route, and to Cincinnati, Toledo, and Lafay- 
 ette, Indiana, by canal, and to Sandusky by railroad, are given 
 in the subjoined table. 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 The distances from Dayton, over the roads, and by way of 
 Canal, is shown in the following : — 
 Irora Dayton to Cincinnati { Dayton to Toledo by Canal 
 
 via Lebanon. \_Miles. 
 
 Centreville, 9 
 
 Lebanon, 13 
 
 Mason, 8 
 
 Sharon, ' 10 
 
 Reading, 3 
 
 Cincinnati, 9 
 
 Packet. 
 
 St. Marys, 
 
 Deep Cut, 
 
 Section Ten, 
 40 Junction, 
 ^'^ 'Detiance, 
 
 Florida, 
 
 Napoleon, 
 
 Damascus, 
 
 Providence, 
 
 .Waterville, 
 1" ^Maumee, 
 
 Toledo, 
 
 22 
 30 
 
 52 
 
 IMiles. 
 8 66 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 79 
 91 
 
 (Junction, 
 
 ilton. 
 
 Dayton to Cincinnati^ 
 via Franklin. 
 
 Miamisburg, 10 
 
 Franklin, 6 
 
 Monroe, 8 
 
 Bethany, 4 
 
 West Chester, 4 
 
 Sharon, 6 
 
 Cincinnati, 12 
 
 Dayton to Cincinnati Via -^^^^gta^te'^Line 
 
 (New Haven, 
 ^Fort Wayne 
 )Port Mahon, 
 (Huntingdon, 
 \Lagro 
 
 Dayton to Cincinnati by C'ana/)j^^" 
 
 Packet. 
 
 Carrollton, 9 
 
 Miamisburg, 3 
 
 Franklin, 6 
 
 Middletown, 6 
 
 Hamilton, 13 
 
 Lockland, 17 
 
 Cincinnati, 12 
 
 Germantown, 
 Middletown, 
 Hamilton, 
 Cincinnati, 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 28 
 32 
 38 
 50 
 
 21 
 60 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 24 
 37 
 54 
 66 
 
 24 115 
 
 ' 9 124 
 9 133 
 8 141 
 
 8 149 
 6 155 
 
 11 166 
 6 172 
 
 9 181 
 
 Dayton to Lafayette^ Ind. 
 via Canal Packet. 
 
 (Logansport, 
 
 sLockport, 
 
 )Carrolton, 
 
 /Delphi, 
 
 (Lafayette, 
 
 115 
 
 10 125 
 
 8 133 
 
 14 147 
 
 6 153 
 
 17 160 
 8 168 
 
 13 171 
 21 192 
 
 18 200 
 13.213 
 
 6 219 
 
 4 223 
 
 18 241 
 
 Dayton to Wheeling^ Va.^ 
 via Columbus. 
 
 Dayton to Toledo by Canal 
 Packet. 
 
 Tippecanoe, 15 
 
 Troy, 6 2: 
 
 Piqua, 8 2< 
 
 Lockport, 5 3' 
 
 Newport, 12 
 
 Berlin, 6 
 
 Minster, 3 
 
 Bremen, 3 
 
 Fairfield, 9 
 
 Enon, 7 16. 
 
 Springfield, 7 25 
 
 Vienna, 10 33 
 
 Lafayette, 11 44 
 
 Jefferson, 8 52 
 
 Columbus, 14 66 
 
 -.v., .Zanesville, 54 120 
 
 52 ('-Cambridge, 22 142 
 
 55 <St. Clairsville, 39 181 
 
 58 ^Wheeling, 12 193 
 
Dayton. 
 
 51 
 
 Dayton to Indianapolis, Ind.^ ; 
 
 ) Dayton to Gi 
 
 reenvii 
 
 lie. 
 
 
 
 Miles. ) 
 
 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Johnsville, 
 
 
 \2 
 
 
 Greenville, 
 
 
 15 39 
 
 West Alexandria, 
 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 Eaton. 
 
 
 / 
 
 25 
 
 Dayton to Sandi 
 
 tsky via JRail- 
 
 New Wostvillo, 
 
 
 10 
 
 35 ( 
 
 ' ' road. 
 
 
 
 Richmond. Ind., 
 
 
 6 
 
 41 ( 
 
 Springfield, 
 
 
 23 
 
 Centoiville, 
 
 
 6 
 
 47 < 
 
 (Urbana, 
 
 
 14 37 
 
 Canibiidge, 
 
 
 10 
 
 57 i 
 
 •West Liberty, 
 
 
 10 47 
 
 Dublin, 
 
 
 3 
 
 60 ( 
 
 iBellelontaine, 
 
 
 8 55 
 
 Lcwisville, 
 
 
 8 
 
 68 \ 
 
 iKenton, 
 
 
 20 75 
 
 Knightstown, 
 
 
 9 
 
 77 ( 
 
 Carev. 
 
 
 22 97 
 
 Chariot tiJville, 
 
 
 5 
 
 82 < 
 
 ;Tiffin, 
 
 
 16 113 
 
 Greenfield. 
 
 
 8 
 
 90 < 
 
 Republic, 
 Be levue. 
 
 
 9 122 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 
 5 
 
 95 1 
 
 
 17 139 
 
 Cumberland, 
 
 
 5 
 
 100 ( 
 
 ;Sandusky, 
 
 
 15 144 
 
 Indianapolis, 
 
 
 10 110 i 
 
 
 
 
 Dayton to G\ 
 
 reenvi 
 
 llle. 
 
 \ 
 
 1 Dayton to 
 
 Sidney, 
 
 Ha^•i^burg■, 
 
 
 10 
 
 { 
 
 )V'andalia, 
 
 
 10 
 
 West Union, 
 
 
 S 
 
 12 j 
 
 (Troy, 
 
 
 9 19 
 
 Milton, 
 
 
 5 
 
 17 < 
 
 JPiqua, 
 
 
 7 26 
 
 Covington, 
 
 
 7 
 
 24 < 
 
 •Sitlney, 
 
 
 12 38 
 
 Post Offices in Montgomery County, 
 
 Showing the townships in which they are situated, the names 
 <»f the post masters, and the time of the arrival and departure 
 of the mails from Dayton. Where the name of the oflice dif- 
 fers from that of the town in which it is situated, the latter is 
 added in italics. 
 
 Post-Masters. Time of Arrival 
 
 M. M. Dodds, 10 p. m 
 Israel Harris, 5 p. m 
 Edm. Green, 5 p. m. 
 
 Wash. 
 C. 
 
 Offices. Townships 
 Alcxand'v. Mi 
 Centre'lle. 
 Corwin, 
 ^irlington. 
 Centre. '• 
 
 PhilUpsburg, 
 Chambersb. IJ. 
 Dayton, 
 Farmers'lle, Jac. 
 German - 
 town, G. 
 
 Harshman- 
 ville. M. R. 
 
 Henby, V. B. 
 jBeavertoicn, 
 Johnsville, P. 
 Liberty, Jef. 
 Little York, B. 
 Miamisbur^ M. 
 
 . (I. 
 . d. 
 Fri. 
 
 Time of Dep. 
 
 li p. m. d. 
 7 a. m. 
 7 a. m. 
 
 d. 
 
 J. A. Randa 
 A- Speice, 
 S. Harry, 
 
 11, 1. 
 
 m. 
 
 d. 
 d. 
 
 5 p. 
 7 a. 
 
 m. d. 
 
 Jacob Bruner, 
 
 J. Simmons, 
 Alex. Dean, 
 
 J. VV. Bee her, 
 J. Kuhns, 
 P. Opvdyke, 
 Geo. Perry, 
 
 8 a. m. d. 
 10 p m ex. 
 
 5 p. m 
 S. 12 m ex, 
 
 d. 
 
 S. 
 
 5 " 7 a. ni. 
 
 5," Tu t. s.7pinTu t.s 
 5 '' Tu Fri. 7am w. s. 
 10 p. m, d. n p. m. d. 
 
52 HISTORY O? 
 
 N. Lebanon P. Henry Grub, 5 p, m. d, 7 a. m. d. 
 
 Pyrmont, " ^ Geo. Reed, '• '• " " 
 
 TaylorsyilleW. S.Sullivan, U p. m. d. 5 p. m. d. 
 
 Marysvilk., 
 
 Union, R. D. Sheets, 5 " Tu F. 7a.m. w.s. 
 
 Vandaha, B. W. Bac^got, H " d. 5 p. m. d. 
 
 W. Baltimore, C. A.Robinson, 5 " Fri, 7 a. ni, \V 
 
 The Western mail arrives at 5 P. M. and departs at 7 A. M. d. 
 
 The Eastern " " " 8 A. M. " " '' 5 P. M. " 
 
 The Northern " " " U P. M. " " " 5 P. M. " 
 
 The Southern, via Lebanon at 5 P. M. " ^' " 8 A. M. " 
 
 " " Franklin at 10 A. M. " " " U P. M. " 
 
 " " Hamilton at 3 P. M. " " ''8A.M. exS 
 
 Xeiiia Mail 9 A. M. " " " 6 P. M. d. 
 
 Montgomery County, during the last ten years, has been the 
 
 scene of the most closely contested elections in Ohio. It has 
 
 for some years been whig, but it remains so only by force of the 
 
 most active electioneering and thorough party organization. 
 
 •T"! - f^,n • „^„ii„>-^"- K^--^ ..^^-o ^-' :t :.^ •*'- - d < ' -.*, 
 
 X nc luiiuvYiiig gciiii^.ncii iiavc icjJtcociii.ci.i ii, tu iii— Olltie leglS* 
 
 lature, during twenty years past. The names of the whigs 
 are in small capiials and those of the democrats in Roman. 
 The Daytonians are distinguished by an asterisk, [*.] 
 
 1830, Alexander Grimes,* )1838, Peter P. Lowe,* 
 William M. Smith,* 1839, Edwin Smith,* 
 Died and was succeeded(1840, David Lamme. 
 
 Dec. 7, by J1841, Robert C. Schenck,* 
 
 Henry Stoddard,* ; Silas H. Smith, 
 
 1831, Henry Sheidler, h842, Robert C. Schenck,* 
 C. G. Swain,* \1843, Henry S. Gunckle, 
 
 1832, Henry Sheidler, )1844, Henry S. Gunckel, 
 William Sawyer, \ W. J. McKinney,* 
 
 1833, George C. Davis,* (1845, Thomas Brown,* 
 William Sawyer, ) James F. Hibberd, 
 
 1834, Horace Pease,* (1847, Daniel A. Haynes,* 
 William Sawyer, ( Thomas Dodds, 
 
 1835, Fielding Ijowry,* )1848, Luther Giddings,* 
 
 1836, Robert^. Thruston,* / Richard Green,* 
 
 1837, Robert A. Thruston,* (1849, Richard Green,* 
 
 1838, Edwin Smith,* \ John Furnas. 
 
 The political complexion of the several townships of the coun- 
 ty and of the wards of the city, during the past ten years, is 
 exhibited in the Table of Majorities, on the next page. That 
 table, except the last column for 1849, was prepared by J. W. 
 Van Cleve, and was originally published in the Dayton Bulletin 
 of November 1st, 1848. 
 
DAYTON. 
 
 53 
 
 
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54 HISTORY OF 
 
 The President Judges of the First Judicial Circuit have gener- 
 ally been selected from among the members of the Dayton Bar. 
 The honorable Francis Dunlevy, of Warren County, has alrea- 
 dy been mentioned as the first President Judge. He was suc- 
 ceeded by the honorable Joseph H. Crane, of this city, who 
 remained upon the bench till elected to Congress, February 1, 
 1829. From that period to 1836, the office was held by honora- 
 ble George B. Holt, also of Dayton, who, upon the expiration 
 of Hon. William L. Helfenstein's term in 1843, was again elected, 
 and remained in office till 1850, when he was succeeded by Hon. 
 John Beers of Darke County, the present incumbent. 
 
 Tlie city was first lighted by Cruchett's gas, on the 5th of 
 February, 1849. 
 
 Nothing, in modern times, has so nearly equalled the horrors 
 of that appalling visitation of Heaven, prefigured by the scene, 
 upon the opening of the fourth seal in the Revelations of St. 
 John, where he saw a pale horse, and his name that sat on him 
 was Death, and the Grave followed with him, that desolated ev- 
 ery province, every city, and almost every family, of the Roman 
 Empire, in the days of Justinian, till, in less than thirty years, 
 war, famine, and pestilence had destroyed one-half of the hu- 
 man race — as the wide-spread desolation of the Asiatic Chol- 
 era. Its ravages through all Asia, Africa, Polynesia, Europe, 
 and America, during 1830 — *31, and '32, had not been forgot- 
 ten, when the nations heard with deep and visible awe, that it 
 was again ragging along the waters of the Nile, and steadily ad- 
 vancing through Asia Minor to Europe. During the latter part 
 of the summer of 1848, spreading from Cairo to St, Petersburg, 
 it desolated the eastern parts of Europe, lingered a few weeks 
 in Hamburg, and was thence carried, early in October, to Lon- 
 don. The disease made its appearance, as it had done in 1831, 
 almost contemporaneously in Sunderland, and in the low lying 
 districts below London Bridge. On Saturaay, the 7th, the 
 Register General reported that, up to that day, there had been 
 thirteen cases. Before the close of the next week, twenty 
 deaths from Cholera occurred in Edinburgh, On the first of 
 December the Havre Packet, New York., introduced it into 
 New York City. It appeared soon after in New Orleans, from 
 which place it slowly travelled up the Mississippi. On the 3d 
 of January, 1849, some cases were reported in Cincinnati; but 
 
DAYTON. 5j 
 
 on the 12th, it was thought to be extinct. New York appeareii 
 almost entirely to have escaped ; but on the 6th of March, thf 
 disease was again introduced into that city, by the ship Liver- 
 pool, of Liverpool ; frou\ which time it slowly, but steadily, in- 
 creased till August, v^ hen (he deaths numbered ai)out 1,400 a 
 week. Towards the last of May, it again appeared in Cincin- 
 nati. On the lltii of June, twenty-eight deaths were reported. 
 The number of deaths, in that city, during the first week in 
 July, was eight hundred. It appeared in Dayton, in the mid- 
 dle of June, and continued till about the first of September. 
 During that period, business was almost entirely suspended ; 
 the markets were deserted, except by a few wagons; and the 
 streets almost whitened by the quantity of lime, scattered in 
 the gutters. The number of deaths, as near as could be ascer- 
 tained, was two hundred and twenty-five. During its contin- 
 uance, a board of health, at the head of whom was Hon. George 
 B. Holt, and a cholera hospital, under the management of Dr. 
 Edmund Smith, were established, and every attention shown to 
 the sick and dead that humanity demanded. The report which 
 obtained extensively through the country by being copied from 
 a Cincinnati paper into the National Intelligencer, that the 
 panic occasioned by the disease here had destroyed all the ties 
 of social sympathy and family aftection, was altogether untrue, 
 and was publicly refuted by the Mayor and the city authorities. 
 The most liberal contributions were made in all the churches, 
 and from the public treasury, to relieve distress. This fund 
 was not exhausted, though liberally disbursed, and the surplus 
 was devoted to charitable purpose-?, through the medium of the 
 Relief Union of Dayton, which was organized at that time for 
 that purpose. 
 
 A similar charity — the Orphan Asylum — has for five or six 
 years been struggling into existence, and has now some pro> 
 pect of a permanent foundation. A neat brick building, on tin' 
 brow of the hill, about a mile south of the C'ourt House, is de 
 voted to that purpose. It was used in 1849 for the ciiolera hos- 
 pital. 
 
 Dayton is on the natural route of the great chain of railroad-; 
 that are destined at an early day to connect the extreme west 
 with the Atlantic cities. A glance at the maj) will show tliat 
 the nearest way tor western men to those cities is through Terre 
 
56 HISTORY or 
 
 Haute, Imlianapolis, Dayton, and Columbus; and the comple- 
 tion of the several lines of railroads now in progress of con- 
 struction and contemplated, will aftbrd a continuous chain from 
 St. Louis to all the great commercial cities of the east. The 
 surface of the country, level as the palm of one's hand ; the 
 plentiful supply of wood and stone for building roads and 
 bridges; the large towns upon the line, whose local travel will 
 be so lucrative ; and the rich and populous country seeking an 
 outlet for its overflowing produce, through which it will pass ; 
 all indicate this as the natural and preferable route. 
 
 What has been already done may be briefly stated. The 
 Lake Erie and Mad River Railroad terminates here. Over 
 this road, there passed during the last year, notwithstanding 
 the great decrease of travel occasioned by the cholera, one hun- 
 dred and eight thousand people. Much of that travel will, no 
 doubt, in future pass through Dayton. By this route, we will 
 be, in November, 1850, ten hours from Lake Erie. The road 
 follows the beautiful valley of Mad River to Springfield, twen- 
 ty-three miles, and thence to Urbana, Tiffin and Sandusky. 
 
 The Dayton and Western Railroad crosses the Miami at Day- 
 ton, and proceeds thence, in a straight line, fifteen tiiiles, to the 
 Junction^ in the north-western part of Montgomery County. 
 From that point, it runs due west to the Indiana State line, 
 near Richmond, a distance of twenty-one miles. The portion 
 of the road from the Junction west, is nearly a straight line, and 
 the whole of it is on a very low grade. When completed in the 
 manner contemplated by the Board of Directors, it will be one 
 of the best roads ixi the country. A company has been charter- 
 ed, by the legislature of Indiana, to construct a road from Terre 
 Haute, through Indianapolis, Centreville, and Richmond, Indi- 
 ana, to connect with the Dayton and Western Railroad, at the 
 State line ; and more than forty miles of that road is now under 
 contract for construction, as is also the whole line of the Dayton 
 and Western Road ; and the work has so far progressed, that, 
 on the first of July, 1850, that portion of it from Dayton to the 
 Junction was nearly ready for the superstructure. This road con- 
 necting, at this city, with the Lake Erieand Mad River Railroad, 
 forms an important link in the groat chain of roads connecting 
 St, Louis with the Atlantic cities, extending thus far from the 
 western boundary of Indiana to Springfield, Ohio ; at which 
 
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 "Hliwroi int Bill MIIH l(l\MKI(ltD L\0 H Pi«r;i!l> 
 
 -2", avLJci,j 
 
 I*t hivn (nd lJiniilt.,n portion of llji Dajlon. lltmillM ; 
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56 
 
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DAYTOV. 57 
 
 latter point, measures have lately been taken, by the subscription 
 of stock, and the organization of a company, to extend it to the 
 Capital of Ohio, by a road direct from that place to Columbus. 
 The Central R;iilroad of Ohio from Columl)us, througii Newark 
 and Zanesville, will connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road at Wheeling. Twenty miles of this last link, between 
 Newark and Zanesville, are now under contract, and prepara- 
 tions arc being made for letting the remainder ot it. And there 
 is no doubt that it will be pushed forward with the zeal which its 
 importance demands. These several roads from Terre Haute to 
 Wheeling are indentical in interest and purpose, and by their 
 harmonious and united action, warrant the confident belief that, 
 at no very distant day, the "centre" of the States of Ohio and 
 Indiana will enjoy the benefits of a Road, which may emphati- 
 cally be denominated the " Central Railroad, " passing, as it 
 will, from Wheeling, through Zanesville, Newark, Columbus, 
 Springfield, and Dayton, in Ohio, and through Richmond, Cen- 
 treville, and Indianapolis, to Terre Haute, on the east bank of 
 the Wabash, near the western boundary of Indiana, and embra- 
 cing in its route the most populous and wealthy portions of the 
 two states. It passes through the Capitals of both of those 
 States, and from at least ten points along its line, more than 
 that number of roads radiate from, anil cross, it. 
 
 The Greenville and Miami Railroad is now under contract 
 and rapidly progressing. Connecting with the Dayton and 
 Western Road, at the Junction, fifteen miles north-west from 
 Dayton, it proceeds in a straight line nineteen miles to Green- 
 ville, the seat of justice for Darke County, in the midst of a 
 great grain growing and grazing country, which finds its outlet 
 through Dayton. The road is now — July, 1850— graded and 
 ready for the superstructure The timber is prepared, and 
 measures are in progress for the purchase of the iron. From 
 Greenville to the Junction, the load is a perfectly straight line ; 
 and in no ])!ace does the grade exceed twenty leet to the mile. 
 When till* Dayton and Western Road shall have been finished 
 to the Junction, and the Greenville and Miami Road from that 
 point to Greenville, the two will present the fact — unprecedent- 
 ed, it is believed, in the history of rail-roads— of a continuous 
 line thirty-four miles long, with but one curve in i(s wht)le 
 length, and the entire line upon a graile not exceeding thirty 
 
58 HISTORY OF 
 
 feet to the mile, except a short distance where it is between 
 thirty-five and forty feet. From the present state of both roads, 
 and the zeal with which they are pushed forward, there is th e 
 strongest assurance that the road from Dayton to Greenville 
 will be in operation early in 1851. 
 
 The DaytOii, Hamilton, and Cincinnati Rail Road, will con- 
 nect, at this point, with the Lake Erie and Mad River Rail 
 road, the Greenville and Miami, and the Dayton and Western 
 Railroads. By this route, when completed, passengers will go 
 to Cincinnati, by way of Hatiiilton, in three hours. The road 
 lies along the Great Miami River. Engineers are now upon it, 
 but they have not yet determined which of three routes they 
 will adopt. 
 
 Since the above was in type, intelligence has been received 
 that measures are being agitated in Darke County and in In- 
 diana, to extend the Greenville and Miami Railroad from 
 Greenville to Winchester, Indiana, with a view of taking it 
 thence to Logansport, and ultimately to Chicago. 
 
 The Dayton Telegraph Office, at the north-east corner of 
 Main and Third Streets, is connected with two of O'Rieiiy's 
 lines. The Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville line, with of- 
 fices at Pittsburg, Steubenville, Wheeling, Zanesville, Colum- 
 bus, Springfield, Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg, Madison, and 
 Louisville, under the superintendence of J. D, Reid, was open- 
 ed at Dayton on the 10th of September, 1847". The Ohio, In- 
 diana and Illinois line opened their office at Dayton, on the 7th 
 of April, 1848. It connects with Cincinnati, Hamilton, Mid- 
 dletown, Germantown, Eaton, Troy, Piqua, the Canal Junction, 
 Defiance, Maumee, and Toledo, in Ohio; and with Richmond, 
 Cambridge City, Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Del- 
 phi, Logansport, Peru, Wabashtown, Huntington, Fort Wayne, 
 lia Porte, Michigan City, Attica, Covington, Perrysville, 
 Clinton, Montez.uma, Terre Haute, Vincennes, and Evansville, 
 in Indiana; and with Chicago, in Illinois. This line is under 
 the superintendence of William J. Delano, who resides in Day- 
 ton. At the Dayton office, J. D. Phillips is the local director, 
 Isaac H. Kiersted, the manager, and Chester Griswold, the as- 
 sistant. Both lines are in successful operation, and afford to 
 the city telegraphic facilities equal to those of any other place 
 
DAYTON. 59 
 
 in ihc west. The rates from Dayton to any of the above named 
 places, range from twenty to forty cents for a message of ten 
 words, according to the distance. 
 
 For some years previous to November 27, 1848, Dayton had 
 been divided into five wards. Upon that day, the Council re- 
 districted the city, altering the boundaries of the old wards, 
 and erecting a sixth. Accordingto this division, the boundaries 
 of the several wards are as follow : 
 
 Tlie First TVard commences on the western bank of the 
 Miami, opposite the middle of the Dayton Basin Extension 
 Canal ; thence south, along that Canal, to its intersection with 
 Third Street; thence east, along the middle of Third Street, to 
 tlie corporation line ; thence, with that line, northward to the 
 north-east corner of the city limits; thence, with those limits, 
 to the place of beginning. 
 
 The Second JVard comprises all that part of the city, which 
 lies west of the middle of the Basni Extension Canal, and north 
 of tiie middle of Second Street. 
 
 The Third JVard extends from the middle of Second to the 
 middle of Fourth Street; and from the middle of the Basin 
 Extension Canal, to the west bank of the Miami. 
 
 The Fourth Ward is bounded on the east by the Basin Ex- 
 tension Canal from the middle of Fourth Street to its intersec- 
 tion with Jefferson Street, and from thence southward, to the 
 corporation line, by the middle of Jefferson Street; and includ- 
 ing the whole of the south-western portion of the city, west of 
 Jefferson and south of Fourth Street. 
 
 The Fifth Ward lies immediately east of the Fourth, between 
 Third Street, Wayne Street, and the southern line of the city 
 limits. 
 
 The Sixth Jl'ard emhracas that portion of the city south of 
 Third Street and East of Wayne. 
 
 Many inquiries were made for the purpose of obtaining in- 
 formation, relative to the extent of the manufactures of the city; 
 but the data obtained are so unsatisfactory that it is not thought 
 necessary to present the results. A few prominent items may 
 serve as samples. 
 
 The Oil Mills are the most extensive of any in the West, 
 Cincinnati not excepted. They consumed, in 1849, 100,000 
 bushels of flax seed, and produced 200,000 gallons of oil, and 
 
60 HISTORY OF 
 
 2,200 tons of oil cakes. The cakes are shipped to Europe, 
 where they are used as feed for cattle. In these mills, are in- 
 vested $100,000. They employ forty men, and are capable of 
 crushing 200,000 bushels of seed annually, and of producing 
 from 375,000 to 400,000 gallons of oil, and 2,400 tons of cake. 
 The Cincinnati mills produce only 186,000 gallons of oil, and 
 2,000 tons of cake. 
 
 The Dayton Breweries are also extensive. 
 
 The paper mills, with a capital of about $80,000, employ from 
 thirty to forty-five hands, in the manufacture of printing, writ- 
 ing, and wrapping paper. They consume about five hundred 
 tons of rags a year. Their paper is in good repute in the mar- 
 ket, and extensively used by publishers. 
 
 About $88,000 are invested in founderies, which give employ- 
 ment to about one hundred and twenty men. A shoe last 
 and peg factory, with a capital of about $12,000, and employing 
 from twenty to thirty men, does an extensive business. The 
 manufacture of flax has lately been commenced and promises to 
 be successful. These mills, with a present capital of about 
 $14,000, are capable of consuming a thousand tons of flax straw 
 annually. They give employment to more than twenty men. 
 In addition to five machine shops now in operation, there is one 
 being erected, which, together with the car manufactory attach- 
 ed, will employ a capital of from twenty to thirty thousand dol- 
 lars. Of the flour mills, cotton and woolen factories, flooring 
 machines, saw mills, gun barrel factory, turning lathes, bobbin 
 factory, file making, portable horse powers, burr mill stones, 
 capital invested and hands employed by several carriage ma- 
 kers, who do a considerable business; and of many other branch- 
 es of mechanical industry, no accurate information could be 
 collected. 
 
 The amount invested in banking, in the city, is as follows : 
 
 From the report of the Auditor of State, in November, 1849, 
 it appears that the Dayton Bank, an independent bank under 
 the law of 1845, had notes and bills discounted to the amount 
 of $255,253; specie on hand, $89,763; notes of other banks, $29,- 
 766; bonds deposited with vhe Treasurer of State, $178,192; 
 and that its resources amounted to $603,282. The capital paid 
 in was $91,300, and the circulation, $159,952. 
 
 The Dayton Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, had, at the 
 
DAVTON. 61 
 
 same time, notes and bills discounted to the amount of $298,- 
 346; specie on hand, 73.839; notes of other banks, $28,668 ; 
 safety fund deposited with the Board of Control, 830,599; and 
 resources amounting to $484,457. The capital paid in was 
 $180,920, and the circulation, $199,325. 
 
 The principal water power of Dayton is upon the Cooper Hy- 
 draulic Basin and the Dayton Hydraulic Company's Basin. The 
 former was constructed at iliftcrent periods from 1835 to 1840, 
 It is fed by the Miami Canal, and has a fall of twelve feet. — 
 With this head, three hundred cubic feet of water per minute 
 are suflicient to propel one run of stones. The power in use 
 along this basin is equal to twenty-five runs of stones; that at 
 the mill of K Thresher &. Co., four permanent, and several 
 temporary powers; ;ind that at the South-Western Basin, two 
 powers. This latter Basin discliarges 3,600 cubic feet of water 
 per minute, under a head of eight feet. At this point, four 
 hundred and fifty cubic feet per minute make a power. 
 
 The Dayton Hydraulic Company, by their canal, can com- 
 mand the whole of the water of Mad River, with a fall of six- 
 teen feet. During two-thirds of the year, this is equal to about 
 one hundred powers. Until the actual quantity shall, however, 
 have been tested by a year of severe drought, which has not oc- 
 curred since the works have been constructexl. they are cautious 
 about leasing sucii an amount. Two hundred antl twenty-five 
 cubic feet per minute, with a head wf sixteen feet, make a pow- 
 er. Thirty of these have been already leased, for the whole 
 year, on leases for ninety-nine years, renewable forever. Ten 
 more permanent powers could safely be let; and temporary pow- 
 ers equal to sixty runs of stones might be furnijhed for two- 
 thirds of the year. Beside the power furnished by these Basins, 
 there are numerous steam engines employed fur driving ma- 
 chiner}'. 
 
 The population of the city is estimated at fourteen thousand. 
 In November, 1848, the number of dwellings was 1,887, of 
 which 962 were of brick, and 925 frame buildings. 
 
 On page 44, the population «if the sexcral townships of the 
 county was estimated in round numbers. 'riie aggregate 
 amounts to 46,800. For the piirp(tscs of that table, this is suf- 
 ficiently a.'curale ; it boin.'T dilRcult to apportion the fractio'is 
 amotu' (lu- fiftciii distiicis I think, however, that the census 
 
62 HISTORY OF 
 
 of this year will show that that is a little above the actual num- 
 bers. I estimate it at 46,400; others at 46,550, which is an av- 
 erage of more than one hundred and three persons to the square 
 mile. 
 
 Dayton is in latitude 39° 47\ and in longitude west from 
 Washington, 7° 6\ This parallel of latitude passes through the 
 centre of Spain, southern Italy, northern Greece, and Asia Mi 
 nor. In regard to climatology, there are j'et no sufficient data 
 upon which to form a correct estimate. The mean temperature 
 of the year may, however, be set down as not far from 53.78 
 Fahrenheit. The mean temperature of spring at 54.14; of sum- 
 mer, at 72.86; of autumn, 54.86; and of winter, at 32.90. The 
 mean temperature of the warmest months does not probably ex- 
 ceed 74.30, nor does that of the coldest months fall below 30.20. 
 This corresponds very nearly with the climate of the Lombardo- 
 Venetian Kingdom. 
 
 Some attempt has been already made to show the wealth of 
 the county, by estimates based on the assessorial returns; and 
 it has been stated, that at least a million of dollars should be 
 added to that amount. No more accurate data than those re- 
 turns could be obtained. It may be interesting tp contrast them 
 with the fuller statistics afforded by the census of 1840. The 
 census now being taken will certainly show that those estimates 
 are very moderate, and, it is believed, in most cases, fall short 
 of the actual amounts. Ten years ago, the census showed that, 
 in that year there was raised in Montgomery County, 365,938 
 bushels of wheat, 4,727 of barley, 374,481 of oats, 54,227 of rye, 
 3,359 of buckwheat, 814,707 of Indian corn, and 34,098 of pota- 
 toes ; total, 1,651,537 bushels. The other agricultural products 
 were 53,867 pounds of wool, 237 of hops,, 122,394 of sugar, 1,977 
 of waK, 130 of silk cocoons ; 15,734 tons of hay, 57 tons of hemp 
 and flax ; and 9,648 cords of wood sold. The value of the pro- 
 ducts of the dairy was $27,156, of the orchard, $1,062, of home 
 made goods, $22,238; of market gardens, $4,003; and of nurse- 
 ries and florists, $1,125. The live stock consisted of 8,896 
 horses and mules, 16,245 neat cattle, 29,631 sheep, 39,298 swine, 
 and poultry to the value of $9,743. The principal items of the 
 domestic commerce were 130 retail stores, with a capital of 
 *426.800; two lumber yards, with a capital of g65.000; and 
 $78J)00 invested in butchering and packinr;. 
 
63 
 
 The items ol tin- inanutacturino" iateiest ait' moie numerous 
 I'hev are a-; fullow : 
 
 .irticle.s Manitf'd, 
 Macliiiiery, 
 Marble ami stone, 
 firick>^ and lime, 
 Woolen cloths, 
 Ciirton >.'Ooils, 
 Tobacco, 
 Hats anil caps. 
 Tanneries, sides t'd 
 Leather, \ 
 
 Soap, 
 
 Tallow Candles, 
 Distilled liquors, 
 Rrewed liquors, 
 I'ottery ware, S 
 
 MuNJifvl iiistV, 
 
 Value. 
 
 !»i64.000 
 
 47,000 
 
 55,23t; 
 
 5.700 
 
 b22.r>78 
 
 5.500 
 
 ly.ooo 
 
 8.93-2- 
 I -48,360 
 75,000 lbs. 
 55,0001b 
 472,406 irals 
 261.190 
 1.800 
 3,200 
 
 als> 
 
 Cap. lav'd 
 
 Men 
 
 Emp'd 
 55 
 12 
 79 
 
 S 1.500 
 
 
 17 
 
 92,500 
 
 
 204 
 
 2.000 
 
 
 4 
 
 7,300 
 
 
 16 
 
 21,500 
 
 
 31 
 
 21,900 
 
 
 
 5,500 
 
 
 
 109,900 
 
 
 90 
 
 3,000 
 
 5 
 4 
 69 
 
 J>$567,590 
 
 Carriacres & wagons, 28.437 num'r 35,980 
 Barrels of Hour, 70.622 
 
 34 flonritDj mills, j 
 11 grist mills, 
 56 saw mills, 
 2 oil mills, J 
 
 These may serve as sampii's ol die bulk. FerleLt accuracy i.s 
 indeed out of the question ; and ev(Mi il it were attainable, the 
 ink would scarce be drj' on the censor's liotiks befKre our in 
 crease would make a new census necessary. 
 
 A hundred years since, no white man had ever rositled in 
 Ohio; and the Shawane(' warrior, as ho paddled his canoe along 
 the Miami, half a century a^o, little dreamed that, in fifty 
 \ r^ars, this basin would contain the most beautiful city of a p-reat 
 • 'ate — the residence ot fifteen thousand people — the seat of a 
 idunty more densely populated than Swit/.erland, over whose 
 [lastures roamed fourleerj thousand cattle, thirty thousand sliecp. 
 .md thirty-five thousand swine. His aiithmetic could not num 
 her up the ten millions of dollars which express the value <»f its 
 kiiidcd estates; and the hundred and eight thousand peoj)Ii'. 
 who, in a year when a terrible pestilence was scoii<.nnir the 
 whole country, passed over the I-ake Krie and Mad River I\aM 
 lioad. he could have compared to nothiiic^ hot the stars ol tin- 
 ^Vy fiM ii\ultilude. or thi' countless leaves fd" his native forest. 
 And ht'n-, at the termiinis (d" that mad, he woidd have looked 
 
64 HISTORY OF DAYTON. 
 
 with horror on that terrible engine — that pillar of cloud by day, 
 and of fire by night — that flies screaming over the prairies and 
 through the woods, in whose solitudes he once stealthily crept 
 upon the deer. The wilderness and the solitary place have be- 
 come glad in the sunshine of peaceful homes; children play in 
 the streets, where the wolf once ravened his prey; and the desert 
 rejoices and blossoms as the roce. The Shawnee no longer tells 
 of the ancient home of his tribe among the everglades of Flori- 
 da. The memory of it has perished, and they are forgotten on 
 the banks of the Auglaize. The swelling tide of civilization 
 has borne the miserable remnants of that once powerful race be- 
 yond the Missouri. Could the future have been unfolded to 
 him, and he have seen and heard the dense' smoke of fouaderies 
 and breweries; the ringing of anvils and the clangor of machin 
 ists ; the hum of flour and of oil mills ; the whirring of planing 
 mills and turning lathes; the flying of shuttles in cotton and 
 woolen factories; the piles of straw and rags being converted 
 into wrapping, printing, and writing paper; the manufactories 
 ot ploughs and wagons, horse-powers and railroad cars, pleas- 
 ure carriages and threshing machines, and all the endless bustle 
 of a manufacturing town — he woiild have been filled with over- 
 whelming astonishment. A river turned out of its course by 
 the hand of the white man, its bed filled up and overlaid by a 
 railroad, might well lead him to despair of checking the progress 
 of that race, before which his own has melted away like the 
 Spring snow upon the prairies. Standing alone, on the hill at 
 Woodland Cemetery, and stretching his view over the city, 
 lying in the bosom of a valley, fair "as the garden of the Lord," 
 he could find no consolation in beholding prosperity of which he 
 <-ould not partake, which was at war with all his modes of 
 thought anfl habits of life, and which only boded the total ex- 
 titictinn of his people, but in the melancholy reflection, suggest- 
 «?d by the dead that lie around him, that in one event the white 
 man and the red were alike the victims of an e\orable destiny, 
 nvhich seither the refii\einents of civilized life, nor the wilder 
 freedom of his wwn. can^^JjiGpn or delay - 
 
 "On;' rointrfffiyliid o'e^S^ikr^ life's idh' dreaming ; 
 
 LBU 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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