Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter 19, 1909

COSHOCTON NOTES - BANKING - COUNTY FAIR - WORK OF BRUSH AND PEN - OUR SUCCESSES ABROAD - "AND THE WITCHERY NE'ER LEAVES YOU ONCE YOU" CALE COSHOCTON HOMES

Half a century ago the sign of a bank marked a 5x16 room in Second Street, Coshocton, where notes were shaved by James M. Brown, afterward implicated in the county treasury robbery. The county's strong-box was endangered a subsequent time when entrance was effected through a basement window in the courthouse. Marks of the jimmy may be seen today on the hall door of the treasurer's office, and in the door of the vault is a hole made by a drill, but the cracksman became alarmed and fled.

The beginning of general banking here was by W. K. Johnson & Co. about 1852, and twenty years later the business was conducted by John G. Stewart. The assignment by the Stewart bank in 1885 caused serious losses.

The Farmers' Bank was started by J. P. and Alfred Peck and Samuel Irvine who later was succeeded by Charles E. Spangler. In 1897 the bank went into the hands of a receiver, George A. Hay, who was enabled to pay eighty-five per cent to creditors. The settlement of other accounts was in charge of Alfred Peck.

Thomas C. Ricketts established a banking house in Coshocton in 1855, and in 1872 organized the First National Bank in association with Houston, Jackson and F. C. Hay, and Henry C. Herbig, cashier. This institution, the Commercial National Bank of today, has reached a record of more than a million dollars in deposits. The present ofhcers include J. W. Cassingham, President; E. L. Lybarger, Vice- President; R. B. Caldwell, Cashier; W. J. Winters, Assistant Cashier. The first three are associated with the following as directors: George

In 1903 the People's Banking and Trust Company was established in Coshocton, and in the six years to date the deposits have been increasing toward the half-million mark. The officers consist of J. L. Rue, President; E. W. Adams, George M. Gray and T. H. Wheeler, Vice-Presidents; R. H. Mills, Cashier; L. E. Baughman, Assistant Cashier; C. H. Magruder, Teller. Besides the first four the directors include: L. P. Gallagher, F. M. Marshall, P. C. Shipps, M. T. Moorehead, W. B. Litten, O. P. McGinnis, A. P. Stewart, J. A. Hesket' James Scott, D. G. Whittemore, H. M. Ewing.

In Warsaw the Farmers and Merchants Bank Company was established 1901. The officers are Adam Strome, President; James L. Beck, Vice-President; Frank E. Whittemore, Cashier. The five directors include the first two officers and W. W. Frederick, Eugene Laughlin and James H. Elder.

In West Lafayette, 1902, the West Lafayette Bank Company began business. The officers include William Gorseline, President; T. J. Platt, Vice-President; H. A. Sicker, Cashier; E. A. Leighninger, Assistant Cashier. In addition to the president and vice-president the directory comprises J. L. Rogers, F. R. Klein, I. B. Mizer, Henry Rehard and Robert Porteus.

Among Coshocton's financial institutions are the Home Building, Loan and Savings Company, organized 1882. John C. Fisher is President; W. A. Himebaugh, Secretary; T. L. Montgomery, Treasurer.

The Citizens Building and Loan Association began operations in Coshocton 1892. The officers are W. A. Mizer, President; G. F. Schauweker, Vice-President; C. B. Hunt, Secretary and Treasurer.

From the first county fair held in 1850 at Plainfield and the subsequent fairs held in the Court Square, and in Hickory Street, with the racing on the Canal Lewisville road, and the fairs of the sixties held between Orange and Main streets and then along Chestnut Street' there has been much progress to the present annual October gatherings on the beautiful fairgrounds along South Seventh Street. The fine grove of oaks, the exhibit buildings, including the auditorium seating three thousand, where the annual Chautauqua is held, and the half-mile race track altogether constitute one of the best fairgrounds in the State.

The vast throng that attends is an impressive feature of the show. Sometimes thirty thousand people are there. They see the exhibits typical of the new era that came in with the harvesting machine and the newer day of the automobile that rolls by the mound of a perished race. The thousands today see greater speed and more pure-bred horses of various strains, and cattle and sheep of finer quality than the visitors of pioneer days saw.

The medley of the county fair is a Noah's ark of sights and sounds set in a surging sea of humanity. The stentorian notes of the popcorn vender ; the music of the merry-go-round; the cries of the balloon man; the bellowing of cattle; the strident ""Yip-ee!" of the driver leaning forward in his sulky and urging his horse to strain still harder; a medley of squeals, toots, bleats, whoops, and cackles - these are the sounds of the fair.

In the faster pace of modern Coshocton life has come the new fire protection succeeding the old hose-cart volunteer days and the older bucket brigade. A combination truck - hose, chemical and ladder - is installed in the Fire Department building in the heart of the city, at Walnut and Eighth streets. Harry Fink is chief; J. I. Tracewell, captain; Isaac Ralston, driver; Thomas McDermott, assistant; these firemen work in conjunction with the volunteer service of forty members of whom Frank Lightell is the Chief. There are three horses. An improved alarm system has been installed with electric call-boxes 'distributed over the city. This is tested daily.

The speed in starting to a fire is shown by the test when, on the stroke of the gong, the men upstairs slide down on the pole and jump to their places on the truck, while the horses, already released by the alarm which has automatically opened the stall doors, place themselves under the harness which drops on them with a snap, and the street doors fly open, ready for the start - and all this in ten seconds. A mile run in the summer uphill through Cambridge Street to the city limits was covered in three minutes and forty seconds from the moment the alarm was turned in.

With the development of pictorial advertising in the metal-sign industry of Coshocton the city has welcomed the advent of decorat:ve artists, painters and lithographers. That there is talent here in other than the commercial field is shown in beautiful studies that belong to pure art, which after all is in nowise different from the experience of Royal Academy painters whose work has been used to advertise soap, illustrate books and magazines, and for wall-paper designing.

The mural painting by Arthur Wm. Woelfle in the courthouse perpetuates the historic scene of Bouquet's treaty with the Indians. In this oil the painter lives permanently in Coshocton memory. He has chosen his subject - a primeval expression of justice in this region - with a fine instinct for its historical value and fitness in the modern temple of justice. The work is a departure from the familiar style of decorative design wherein an artist's motive is traced in fair women and diaphanous draperies.

In the list of Coshocton men who have won distinction elsewhere are names widely known over the country. Three states have chosen Coshocton governors - Governor Stone of Iowa, Governor Eaton of Colorado who attended the West Bedford school, and Governor Coe Crawford of South Dakota, now U.S. Senator, who taught school in Coshocton County

Iowa has honored several citizens from our county, including Josiah Given, Justice of the Supreme Court; James Matthews, Chancellor of the Iowa State University; Cato Sells, U. S. District Attorney.

Other Coshoctonians who have attained prominence include Joseph Burns Crowley, Congressman from Illinois; Lester Still, judge in the Superior Court, State of Washington; W. S. Crowell, consul to Amoy, China; the Rev. Dr. Ezra Fisk, lecturer and writer.

A year ago Charles F. La Serre was accredited United States Vice-Consul General to the Kingdom of Portugal, an appointment purely on merit, in keeping with the principle of the State Department to lift this branch of the government above politics. Mr. La Serre is a representative of a distinguished family that traces its ancestry back to the eighth century, through genealogical history of the peers of France, and thirteen hundred years ago to Spanish ancestry associated with the fortunes of the Princes of the House of Anjou. Erman J. Ridgway, publisher of Everybody's Magazine, New York, is from this section, and holds a Coshocton County teacher's certificate. Throughout the land Coshocton is heard from. Her representatives are on the bench, the rostrum, the stage, in the music world - prominent in the professions and in the business affairs of larger fields. In Columbus a Coshocton County Society organized a few years ago, and in Pittsburg a Coshocton colony has assembled in social functions at the home of Vice-President Marsh of the Standard Underground Cable Company who came to this county for his bride. Among these is cherished the "ola nome feeling' for Coshocton, the sentiment that endures in loyal hearts, as expressed in the lines of C. D. Brooke whose ability to furnish gems does not stop at his jewelry COUNTIES: Where the rivers meet and mingle In a long and fond embrace, And the rugged hills are wrinkled Like an ancient warrior's face, Looking out upon fair valleys With their yellow tasseled corn, Here in days agone and misty Was an infant city born.

In the silent leafy forest Rang the ax notes loud and clear; From the willows by the river Peeps the wond'ring startled deer, As the crashing forest monarchs Strike the earth with sullen roar; And the Red Man turns with sorrow From the land he'll know no more.

Silent, swiftly, as the river, Years glide on with steady pace, And a village named Coshocton, Christened by an alien race In the-language of that other Vanished toward the setting sun, Leaving but this foster mother To the stronger, mightier one.

Old the settlers grew and feeble, Drooping forms and hair snow-white, One by one laid down their burden, Passed from twilight into night, Leaving sturdy sons and daughters To perpetuate the name Of the city founded by them, And to bring Coshocton fame.

And the witchery never leaves you Once you call Coshocton home; Ever there remains a longing Clinging closely while you roam, To her absent sons and daughters Seems to whisper "Come to me;" And while memory doth linger Hearts will ever turn to thee.