Delaware County, Ohio - Chapter 11 (2 of 2 so headed), 1880 (part 1 of 2)

TO study the rise and growth of a city ; to note the accidents of time and place, of public measures and private character, that retard or swell the current of its progress ; to scan those " enterprises of great pith and moment " that irresistible power, is a matter that may well com mand the absorbed interest of the general public not less than that of the historian. But to the readers of these pages, who are part and parcel of the city of Delaware, there will be present a personal concern that will naturally demand an accuracy of research and a philosophical acumen that we cannot flatter ourselves we shall attain. In this chapter we leave behind those traditions that gild the transactions of the early time with the mellow glow of a novelty that is akin to romance, and step into the broad glare of a day of tabulated facts. And, in thus approaching the dry details of a later growth and development, it is hoped that the possession of an easily accessible compendium of facts, brief and imperfect as it may be, may be found a sufficient warrant for the introduction of much that may prove dull reading matter.

The preceding chapter brought the history of Delaware, in a general way, up to the end of 1823. Up to this time the village seems to have been in leading strings. The founder, while losing his hold on the public some years before, had so shaped its early course as to be really master of its destiny, and, though possibly actuated by personal motives, had planned not unwisely for the future of the town. With his death the emancipation was complete. The ruling power became less autocratic, and, with an infusion of new blood, Delaware has grown with succeeding years to become the object of jealousy to much larger and stronger corporations. There is little left now to mark the old era, save here and there about town, where some old dwelling shows a familiar face through its modern disguise.. On the southwest corner of Union and Williams streets stands the old brick house of Dr. Lamb. Age has touched it with a tender hand, but later owners, without changing its outlines, have suited it to a more modern taste. Facing it on the north side of Williams street stands the Cowles residence, a brick rectangular affair with eaves to the principal street. A little farther west, on the same side of the street, is the Messenger House, that, in its time, has played many parts. One of the earliest schools found accommodations here, and later it became famous as the birthplace of a President of the United States, In a biography of President Hayes, the author thus describes the house: "Though other buildings have somewhat crowded it, and some changes have been made in the front walls, it has the same outline and material with which it was at first constructed. The front or main part is built of hrick, two stories high, with a pitched roof, and stands with the side toward the street. The front door was in the middle of the front wall, with a room upon each side. There were four ordinary frame windows in the first story - two each side of the front door, and five windows in the front of the second story. The roof is shingled ; and the log L, or addition at the back side, is neatly covered with clapboards. The brick part of the house is about 20x30 feet, and the log L about 15x30 feet; the latter having had formerly a porch along the whole side, at the farther end of which was the well. Since the Hayes family left it, the hoUse has bei i> sold, and the brick front has been changed into a store, by tearing out the partitions between the front rooms and the front hall, and by uniting the two front windows on either side of the front door, so as to make two show windows. The store is now occupied by a dealer in furniture." Since this extract was originally penned, the house has again changed hands, and reverted to its old form, being now used as a dwelling. A house that was built on the southwest corner of Williams and Sandusky streets still remains, though moved to a distant part of the town, and another buOding that stood in 1823 on the corner of North and Sandusky streets still stands near the same spot, modernized, and shorn of its additions, and now known as the Central Hotel. This house was erected by Solomon Smith. The old Storm residence, on North Sandusky street ; the resident part of the old jail, which appears as a pleasant cottage on North Franklin street, and the old brick building on the corner of Franklin and Williams streets, that has served as church and schoolhouse, as council chamber and court-room, as lock-up, market and enginehouse are all relics of a bygone day.

The years immediately succeeding the date to which the previous chapter brought the history of Delaware were not marked by any special spirit of enterprise. The causes that had operated to check the development of the place during these years were still active, and the .town was chiefly noticeable on account of its dullness. By its rivals, it was hoped that this was an evidence that the forced manner of its early growth was about to re-act permanently, and doom the town to a dwarfed existence. Such a view, however, betrayed a superBcial examination of the situation and was destined to be disappointed. Delaware stood for years upon the verge of civilization, and the depressing effect of throwing upon the market a vast tract of cheap lands was consequently deeper and more lasting here than elsewhere. These lands were largely sold at the land office located in Delaware, a fact that brought the baleful influence of the sale right to the doors of the struggling town, and it was not until about 1830 that matters began to so far amend that the town put on any appearance of enterprise or growth. In 1824, Judge Baldwin presented the corporation with the sulphur-spring property and the parade ground, but this was the only. addition to the city until 1836. An eflFort had been made during a few years previous, to create an interest in the spring property, as an eligible site for a watering place, and this movement had been so far successtill as to attract considerable attention from abroad and revive a speculative interest in the place. Upder the influence of this state of affairs, the first addition to the town, on the south, was made by Judge T. W. Powell and Samuel Rheems, and included that part of the present corporation south of the run, between Sandusky and Liberty streets, extending south to Third. Beginning immediately' south of the Powell addition, M. D. Pettibone, in the same year, platted sixty-two lots occupying tbe territory included between, Sandusky and Liberty streets, and extending to a point just south of where the railroad crosses. Preceding these a month or so, an addition was made of all the unsold Baldwin lands that lay contiguous to the north part of the town, then in the hands of Bomford and Sweetser, through the middle of which they laid out Bomford street, which was changed in 1867 to Lincoln avenue. These additions opened up some two hundred and forty lots for sale, and glutted the market for a number of years. In 1843, Reuben Lamb platted the property which has since been absorbed by the southern extension of the University grounds, while William Little and Daniel Hubbard added twenty-five lots on Liberty street, and in the south part of town. A few years later, 1846, Ezra Griswold added twentysix lots between Franklin and Liberty streets, through the middle of which Griswold street passes. The growth of the town would not then warrant the wholesale fashion of making additions that has become so prevalent in later years, and in 1848 and 1850 there were" but single additions made, and but two in 1851.

In the following year, the owners of property lying on the east side of the river began to plat their lands and putthem in themarket.five additions being made, some of them of considerable extent. As a natural result of this activity, an agitation was at once begun to extend the corporation limits across the river, and an ordinance to that . effect was submitted by the Council to the people, which was indorsed by a vote of 270 for the measure, to 12 against it. The limits thus extended began at a point in the eastern line of the original corporation at the Olentangy River, where the same was intersected by the north line of farm lot 13, belonging to the heirs of Reuben Lamb, deceased ; thence east along said north line to northeast corner of said lot ; thence north along the line of lots to the northeast corner of that part of Lot No. 10, owned by Stiles Parker; thence west along the north line of said Parker's land to the northwest corner thereof; thence west to the eastern line of the corporation. These lines, it will be observed, include the territory within a line passing through Vine street to the Potter farm, thence due north, passing through the fair grounds, just west of the trotting track, to the present north boundary of the corporation, and thence to the river. The three succeeding years were busy times for landowners, seven additions being platted in each year, but this activity could not last, and from 1856 to 1867, inclusive, there were but eleven additions made. In 1868, there were four, and the Council submitted the question of a general extension of corporation limits to the people, at the October election of that year, which was supported by a vote of 556 to 14. This extension enlarged the corporation on all sides, and is described as follows : Beginning at the corner of Lots 5 and 6, in Section 3, Township 5, and Range 19, on the section line between Sections 3 and 4, thence west along the line between Lots 5 and 6, to the corner of said lots in the east line of Lot 18; thence south along the line of Lots 18 and 19, and west line of Lots 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, to the township line between Townships 4 and 5, United States Military Survey, to the southwest corner of Ifot No. 1, and the southeast corner of Lot No. 19, in said Section 3 ; thence east along the section line two rods and ten links, to the northeast corner of Subdivision No. 13, and a corner of Subdivision Lot No. 10, in Lot 4, Section 2, Township 4, Range 19; thence south along the east line of Subdivision Lots No. 13, and east line of alley to the center of the Bellepoint Road, and on the lot lines between lots 3 and 4, in said Section 2 ; thence east along this lot line to the center of the county road ; thence south along the section line to the division corner of the TuJler farm ; thence east to the center of the Olentangy River. From this point the line follows the river, to the north' line of Vine street, and passing east takes in the Potter farm, thence from the southeast corner of Subdivision Lot P, in the partition of the real estate of M. D. Pettibone (deceased), it proceeds north along the east line of said Subdivision Lots P and Q to the lot line between Lots 17 and 18 in aforesaid Section 4 ; thence west along the lot line between Lots 17 and 18 and Lots 9 and 10, to the center of the Olentangy River; thence up the center of the stream to the northeast corner of the farm formerly owned by David Worline, now deceased ; thence west along the north line of said farm to the section line between Lots 3 and 4 ; thence south along said section line to the place of beginning. In 1874, an extension of the city limits on the north took in the additions made by Dr. A. Blymyer and made the line between C. Potter's property and that of J. Trautman, the northern limit of the corporation. In the following year, Lot 13, on the east side of the river, to which reference has been made in the extensions of 1852 and 1868, was made a part of the corporation. The corporation thus exhibited presents an area of about three square miles, with its longest dimension, east and west, of a little more than two miles, and its extension from north to south about one and four-fifths miles.

The commercial value of city property, while at times temporarily depressed, has, in the long run, steadily and healthily advanced. There has never been any spirit or opportunity for land speculation on any large scale, and the rise of value is due simply to the steady growth of the social and business interests of the place. The first deeds of the lots in the original plat are a curious and interesting record. The price of property seemed to depend quite as much upon the shrewdness of the buyer as upon the location of the lot. The land was for sale, there was no obvious way of cornering the mark»t, and the sale partook very much of the traditional character of the horse trade. Lot 67, an eligible site on Williams street, and Lot 91, with its only outlet on the river, were sold to Millen Robinson in 181 2 for $500. This was during the war, and at an " inflated " price, and, taking into consideration the real value of money at that time, as compared with the present, it will appear a good round price for the property. On the other hand, Lots 19 and 30, on Washington street, were sold to Jacob Drake, in 1811, for $100, and, in the following year, the Lots 3 and 14, adjoining on the north, for $60, the purchaser thus coming in o possession of the building sites on the east side of Washington street, between North and Winter streets, for $160. In 1813, Thomas Butler bought Ijpt 47, on Sandusky street, about the middle of the block between Williams and Winter streets, for $50. In 1817, Hosea Williams, it is said, bought a " sizable house, large barn, and a half-acre of land for $600 ; $25 in cash, the balance in trade, and 100 acres of land where the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis depot grounds are situated, for $200. But it must be remembered that property sufi'erec^everely from the financial stagnation which followed in the wake of the war. This depression had hardly spent its force when the " new purchase " came into market, and disastrously affected the price of property, and it was not until 1830 that it gained its former buoyancy. The earliest records to which we have had access are those of 1855, and we give below the appraisement of personal and realestate property in the city and township, by semidecades,, showing their financial development :

The growth of the population of the city is a matter more difiicult to determine. In the fall of 1808, thirty-two votes were polled, and, adopting the ordinary rule of counting five persons for each vote, the number of inhabitants in the whole township would reach 150. But, without invalidating this rule, it will be observed that the circumstances of the early settlement of Delaware were unusual, and that this number is an overestimate. A number of the voters are known to have been men without families, or whose families were not in the township (the law in this latter respect not being then in vogue, or not enforced as- now) ; otfters, as Dr. Lamb and Jacob Drake, had very small fiimilies ; and other families were so grown to maturity as to have more than their proportion of voters, as in case of the Byxbe family. These conditions were unusually prominent, and it is probable that there were not over one hundred inhabitants in the whole township. In the winter of 1816, a wood- chopper, standing on the hill where Monnett Hall now stands, on one of those clear, frosty mornings, when the smoke goes undisturbed straight up into ^ the air, looked over the valley and counted the evidences of thirty-two houses in the little town. In 18-0, we meet with an estimate that places the number of houses at fifty, and another by actual count places the number near sixty in 1S2H. Adopting the ordinary rule of five to a dwelling, we find the number of inhabitants in the town, in 1816, 151); in 18211, about 2.") 0, and in 1S23, nearly 300. In 18:!0, the census gave the population of the city at :y.'>i\ in 1840, 8'J8 ; in 1850, 2,074; in 18G0, :-:;.8S".); and in 1870, 6,000. The census in the present year, 1880, will probably bring the population of the city up to 8,000. For some years the interests of town and township were one, but on February 26, 1816, the town, having outgrown its surroundings in numbers and influence, a petition for incorjioration was granted by an act of Legislature. L^ntbrtunately there is no copy of this act at hand, but the powers conferred on the village were very different from what we have to-day. It gave the incorporated village power to sue and be sued, and to elect a Board of Trustees who were only restrained, save in the mattor of improvements and expenditures, by the clause which reffuired them to legislate in conformity with the laws of the State. The Board consisted of three members, one of whom was elected President. A Recorder was appointed outside of the JBoard. The Constables did police duty, and the Justices of the Peace were the only magistrates. The finances were in the hands of the Township Treasurer, and the roads were superintended by the Township Supervisor for that district. This mild form of continued until 1849. Early in this year, 31. D. Pettibone, who was a member of the Legislature from this county, introduced a bill enlarging the powers of the Town Council. There is a hint in the papers of that time that the old form of government had been captured and run in the interests of one man, and that the change, if resulting in no other good, would prove more democratic in its administration. Under the new act eight councilmen were elected, who chose from their number a Mayor, Recorder, Treasurer, and Assessor. A jMarshal was chosen by the Council outside of their own body, and three street committee men were chosen, two of whom were not members of the Council. The duties of these ofiicers were like those performed by similar officers now, save that the Marshal collected the tax laid on property by the Council. The earliest expression on the subject by the Council is in their proceedings of July 13, 1835, wherein they -

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Recorder, in addition to the duties prescribed in the' act of incorporation, to issue all orders upon the treasury, and keep a list of the same, with dates ; to make out the annual tax upon the assessment of the Assessor, and to deliver it to the Marshal for collection, by the 10th day of June of the same year, and keep a record of the reports of all committees of the corporation.

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to make and publish a full exhibit of the receipts and expenditures of the corporation, on the 1st day of May, annually, and file and keep all orders paid out of the treasury.

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Assessor to make his assessment of taxable property and to deliver it to the B*oorder between the 1st and 1.5th day of May, according to the directions of the County Assessor, except to assess cattle and horses owned on the 1st of May, and all other property, at its fair cash value.

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Marshal, in addition to the duties prescribed in the act of incorporation and ordinances, to report to the Mayor immediately all violations of the laws and ordinances which may come under his own observation, or of which he may be informed, and to the Street Committee all repairs needed in streets, lanes, ditches, culverts, etc., necessary to be made.

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Street Committee, upon observation or notice either from the ilarahal or any citizen, to make any repairs in streets, lanes, ditches, culverts, etc., should they deem it necessary, Provided, they shall not incur a greater expense for any one item, than $S, and in all other cases they shall report such necessary repairs to the next meeting of the Common Council.

Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Street Committee and all other committees of the corporation for letting jobs or making contracts, to report every item of their proceedings immediately to the Recorder, and shall report at what time the jobs were to be completed, whether so completed or not, and no order shall be issued upon the treasury when contracts are not ful filled in every respect, without special authority from the Common Council.

This continued to be the essential order of things until 1841. In January of that year, a committee of the Council, after examining the incorporating acts of a number of other towns, framed a petition, which was largely signed by the citizens, asking for an amendment to the act incorporating the town, so as to confer larger powers upon the Council, which was granted. Under the authority thus conferred, the Council abolished the Street Committee, and created the offiice of Street Commissioner, whose duties, as prescribed by the ordinance, were " to establish the grade of the streets.

gutters and pavements within the limits of said corporation, not heretofore established ;" and Francis Horr was elected to that position. This arrangement was maintained until 1845, when the Coun. cil changed back to the old Street Committee. In 1853, it was provided by ordinance that "three Commissioners," who should be " three judicious persons residing in the village," should be appointed to do the work of Commissioner, or Street Committee. Later in this year, the office of " Village Engineer " was created, the incumbent of which was to " perform the duties incident to said office," and was to be " allowed for his services a fair compensation, conforming as near as may be to the pay and fees of County Surveyors." P. D. Hillyer was the first appointee, and in the following year, refusing to act for $2 a day, the salary of $400 per year was affixed to the office. In 1852, the office of Recorder was made elective, with a fee of f 1 for each regular session of the Council, besides legal fees for any extra recording or copying, a clause which increased the compensation, at times, to an amount reaching on some occasions the sum of $225 in a year. Later, the salary per annum was fixed at $100. In the same year, an ordinance was passed paying members of the Council for attendance, which, in 1854, was amended so that each member received " $1 for attending every regular session, and 50 cents for each special session of the Council." In 1853, the Marshal, who heretofore had received $25 per year and such fees as came to him in the' regular discharge of his duties, was made a salaried officer, receiving $200 a year in lieu of his former pay. With the ' growth of the village, the Marshal became an important functionary. Besides representing the majesty of municipal law, he collected the taxes, cleaned the streets, served on occasion as Street Commissioner, had charge of the market, and served in a general way as the vis a tergo of the " Mayor and Commonalty." In 1857, this office, the salary of which had reached the sum of $500, was made elective, with a salary of $365, besides such fees as accrued to the office from the regular discharge of its duties. On the 20th of April, 1868, it was made the duty of the Council to appoint the Marshal, who should " devote his entire time to the duties of said office, and should receive in consideration for his services thus performed, the sum of $2 for a day and night, exclusive of his legal fees." The ordinance further provided for the appointment by the Council, of Deputy Marshals for such time and on such occasions as they deemed proper. The year previous, three policemen had been appointed, but the experiment proved unsatisfactory, and resort was had to the measure above referred to. Of late the appointment of police has been resorted to again, and five persons are now employed at $1.50 per day each. The office of Mayor was made elective between, the years 1847 and 1852 ; the records of that time having been lost, it is impossible to ascertain a more exact date. Up to 1857, the Mayor had served the village without pay, save such legal fees as he received as a magistrate. On the 22d of December, of this year, an ordinance was passed fixing the salary of this office at $200, besides legal fees as magistrate. In 1863, a fierce spirit of economy reduced this salary to $100. About 1840, the office of Corporation Assessor was abolished, and the tax levied by the Council since has been certified by the Recorder to the County Auditor. In 1856, the County Treasurer disbursed the funds of the corporation, but this was a short-lived arrangement, and a Corporation Treasurer has since been annually appointed by the Council.

The history of the financial management of the early City Fathers is chiefly a matter of speculation. The records previous to 1834 are gone, and those that remain, except of a comparatively recent date, are of but little service on this point. After 1829, a Corporation Treasurer was. regularly appointed by the Council, and it is probable that he made satisfactory statements to the ruling body, but they must have been confidential communications, as the records betray no hint of what they contained. In 1834, was passed an ordinance requiring the Treasurer to make an annual exhibit of the receipts and expenditures of the corporation on the 1st day of May, but these exhibits failed to find a permanent record. Under the original act of incorporation, the Board of Trustees possessed very limited powers in the matter of public improvement, and^there was consequently no demand for money, save to maintain the simple governmental machinery. We find record in 1840, of a levy of two mills on a dollar upon all personal and real property in the village, the receipts of which amounted to $293.08, $10 of this amount proving uncollectible. This was probably an average duplicate. Fines and market rents brought in considerable sums and added to the available funds of the corporation, but it was found difficult to bring the moderate demands of the little town within such restricted bounds, and the Council from time to time was forced to borrow various sums of money, occasionally as trifling in amount as 810. From the nature of the records, it has been found impracticable to undertake an investigation of the various loans negotiated, and the indebtedness of the village, but a report of the Mayor to the Council on this subject, February 22, 1859, gives the financial status at that time. The report proceeds, after a few prefatory remarks, as follows: "On the 1st of April, 1858, the debt was about $7,000, as near as could be ascertained, of which there was on bonds bearing 10 per cent, the sum of $4,150, the remainder in orders. A tax of five mills was levied last year, amounting to $6,100. Of that amount about $2,900 was collected in December last. Over $1,500 of that amount was paid in orders, leaving about $1,000 in orders issued heretofore, and about $1,400 in the Treasurer's hands. The Council this year have issued orders for about $2,900, including the bond of $517 for the hose. After paying that bond and the orders for the cisterns, the Treasurer has about $600 on hand. The Treasurer has receiyed and paid out, per balance and contingent fund, during the year, about $500. Supposing all the money in the treasury to be paid out in orders, there would be left about $2,500 in orders to be met by the June collection, which in all probability will not exceed that amount, leaving nothing to apply on the bonds. A balance on one bond of $105 has been paid, leaving a bond debt of $4,050, at 10 per cent, to be provided for by the taxes to be assessed in 1859, unless a loan can be aflFected. Depend upon taxes, and the same burdensome tax of five mills must be levied. The latest bond was issued in 1856, some of them in 1853. To show how it operate^ take the past two years. Each year orders have been issued for lOper cent on $4,150, or $415. These orders have been presented, not paid, for want of funds, and then they have borne 6 per cent interest, so that the corporation has been paying interest on interest, and on $4,150 has paid, instead of $415, the sum of $439.99. There have been about $2,500 in orders at 6 per cent - $150 - which with the interest on bonds of $439.99 makes $589.99 in interest each year, or $1,179.90 for the past two years on about $6,500, less than two-thirds of which originally bore 6 per cent.

" We propose to borrow $5,000 for ten years at 6 or 7 per cent interest, pay off these bonded debts now bearing 10 per cent, and leave the orders to be paid by the taxes to be collected in June. In 1856, three and one-half mills were assessed ; in 1857, five mills, and in 1858 the same, upon the supposition that it would pay the debts ; rely upon taxes, and the same must be again assessed. Taxes are now oppressive, town property is a burden. The present high rate is a perfect clog to sales and exchange of town property. It drives off investments and makes high rents. Adopt this plan, and the taxes can be reduced one-half Three thousand dollars will pay the current expenses of the corporation, the inter est on $5,000, and should leave $500 as a sinking fund toward paying the debt. Let $500 be set apart each year, sacred to this purpose ; let it be invested each year at, say, 6 per cent, and at the end of ten years, the corporation will receive interest to the amount of $1,650, and pay on the $5,000, $3,500 at 7 per cent, or it will pay a difference of $1,850 in ten years, or $185 a year. This plan would give immediate relief. The debt in such a shape would be no disadvantage, but rather an advantage, in operating as a check upon extravagant expenditure. Another advantage would be that those who hereafter reap the benefit of the improvements that have been made, will have to bear a portion of the burden of paying for them."

. At the time of this report the financial affairs of the village were in a bad state. Orders were discounted on all hands, laborers netting but little more than one-half of their nominal wages. It was this state of affairs that led to the investigation and ihe report, the recommendations of which were at once adopted by the Council. A shorter method, however, was afterward found, and the indebtedness cleared off. The data for making an exhibit of the receipts and expenditures for a series of years, are only obtained at a considerable expense of time and trouble, and, from the character of the records, must, even then, . prove incomplete. We have, however, been at great pains to make as complete a showing as the material at command would afford, in the table on the following page.

But, outside of the facts expressed in a formal array of figures, the village enjoyed a vigorous growth. Time was, within the memory of citizens now living, when Delaware rejoiced' in all the adjuncts of a frontier country town. The lots were spacious, houses did not stand in each other's light, and the domestic stock of the community picked up a generous living on the commons and in poorly protected gardens. Sidewalks were things only -dreamed of, and the pedestrian, lured out by pleasure or driven out by business into the dark night of the unclement season, was buoyed up, as he picked his way along the muddy path, by that faith in the future that supplies " the substance of things hoped for." The streets were simply regularly built bogs, over which, in certain seasons of the year, it was nearly impossible for the lightest vehicle then known to pass, and travelers on horseback were frequently obliged to dismount and make their way on foot to relieve the efforts of their animals. Society had outgrown the rustic pleasures ,of the husking and quilting parties and were now given to the seductive pleasures of teadrinking and dancing, and encouraged such literary pursuits as were supplied by a debating society, where such thrilling topics as the relative curse of war and intemperance engaged the unbridled eloquence of ambitious youths. This society had its inception in an article which appeared in the Patron of December 10, 1821, and before the end of the following year there was a thrifty organization known as the Delaware Literary Society, which held weekly meetings with a full attendance. Its discussions were announced in the papers, and occasionally the vanity of some speaker was tickled by one of the papers consenting to publish his speech in full. This society kept up its organization until 1825, when it was merged into the Delaware Public Library. This, latter project never attained any great degree of success, and gradualy passed from public interest. A year or two later, another society was formed, combining literary and histrionic features in its programme. It wa.s known as the Thespian Society, and during the year 1827 and 1828, gave a number of successful public exhibitions. A building was put up by M. D. Pettibone, on the court-house lot, near where now runs the alley north of the premises, and became known as the Thespian Building. The lower rooms were used for lawyers' offices, and the upper room furnished the only public hall that the town possessed for years. Here the society held sway until it lost its interest for the young people, and a school usurped its place. The teacher believed in light gymnastics, and the movements of the scholars as heard below sounded like dancing, and the exercise became known as " Methodist dancing." The singing school was a powerful rival of these more intellectual entertainments, and young and old used, to gather in the ball room of the old hotel, on the southeast corner of Sandusky and William streets, where Micah Spaulding and Carlos Curtis held the baton. Here the young folks found an attraction not set down in the bills, and the young men, as they settled their subscriptions for tuition, doubtless considered the chance of '' going home with the girls," alone worth the price they paid. The advancement of society showed itself in its demand for public improvements, not less than in its entertainments and home adornments. As the people built better houses, and put morfe care and expense upon their yards, it was natural that they should demand public surroundings in keeping with their improvements, and the first demand for redress was in relation to the unrestrained liberty of stock and fowls. It was quite as natural that this demand should develop a wide difference of opinion, based largely upon the interests affected. An ordinance was passed at an early date, making it unlawful for stock to run at large, but there was such an outcry against the measure, that it was suspended so far as it aiFected milch cows. These animals were the favored of all brute creation, being allowed, as late as 1860, to run at large from the 1st of May to the 1st of December. If tradition may be believed, hogs were the especial trial of the early townspeople. Of a half-wild nature, they found no difficulty in surmounting such obstacles as a low fence presented. It is related ' that one of this breed, owned by a townsman, roamed at will through the village, and metaphorically laughed at locks and bars. The garden '- sass," that proves so attractive to the degenerate hogs of this day, was beneath his notice. One day, while prowling about, he smelt corn, and like the fabulous giant, he would and must have some. He did not stop to consider that he was about to insult the dignity of the venerable founder of the town, but walking through the front doorway, ascended the stairs and began to eat the corn he found in an upper room. Mr. Byxbe heard him, and, aimed with a club, went to the scene of action. Hog like, the porcine intruder confronted the difficulty, and finding no better way out of the house, made a flying leap over his pursuer's head, taking his hat as he went down stairs, and out of the door. Such success made him foolhardy, and one day, taking advantage of the front and back doors being open, walked through the hall of his owner's house, which was situated on the southwest corner of Sandusky and Williams street, and reached the garden. This was a fatal indiscretion, and the owner enraged by such callous indiflference in his depredations, determined to visit upon his hogship all the reproaches the animal had brought upon his owner. Armed with a pitchfork, he closed every avenue of escape, and entered the arena of the garden. The hog finding that his master was taking the joke altogether too seriously, made a lunge for the back door, broke through it and nearly dislocated his snout, by forgetting which way the front door opened. Closely pursued, he tnade his way by a side door into a bedroom, leaped upon a bed, and thence through a closed window to the street. He was finally hunted down with dogs, and killed. With such an example of the possible development of that animal, it is not surprising that the people should seek some measure ibr self-preservation. What added a more serious feature to the question was the number that picked up a living within the village. A measure in the form of a tax levied on dogs and hogs, was devised in ] 842, but the friends of the hog were too powerful, and the tax partially collected was refunded. With the growth of the village, the opposition grew stronger, and the hog, shorn of his liberty, has become the portly fellow we now know him. But amid all this advancement, one relic of the past still held sway. The old town bell still rang out the people to business at 8, to dinner at 12, and to bed at 9 o'clock. It hung on the old court house, and served for a long time, but its voice became cracked and quavered with age, and then the bell on the Episcopal church took up the duty. A ringer was one of the regular officers *of the corporation, receiving $25 a year for his services, which were maintained for thirty years.

In 1824, Judge Henry Baldwin, one of the original proprietors of the town, came to Delaware, and was received by the citizens as an honored guest ; he was entertained at a public dinner on Saturday, July 3, when he presented to the town the sulphur spring, with four acres of ground, and the plat now known as the City Park, for a parade ground. His visit to Delaware at this time was, probably, necessitated by business matters connected with the final disposition of his property here. In the partnership Hbetween himself and Col. Byxbe, Mr. Baldwin represented, by power of attorney, the interests of other heirs that had not sold their share in the original property. A general division had been made some years before Mr. Byxbe's insanity, and in this last visit to the town. Judge Baldwin so arranged his affairs as to be relieved from all personal supervision of this property. Though possessing at one time very large interests in and about Delaware, he, from the first, delegated full control of it to Col. Byxbe, and, fully occupied by his professional and public duties, found no time for frequent visits to Ohio. In the general division of property, a considerable tract fell to Mr. Bomford, who appointed Mr. Sweetser his agent;, while M. D. Pettibone managed what remained to Mr. Baldwin.

Judge Baldwin came of a race of intellectual giants. He was born in New Haven in 1779, and graduated from Yale College in 1797. He afterward went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was a representative in Congress from that State from 1817 to 1822. He was a distinguished lawyer, and, for many years, by the appointment of President Jackson, was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a man of large wealth and dissipated habits - an almost inseparable concomitant of public position at that time - which finally made large inroads upon his

In presenting the spring property to the village, Judge Baldwin only carried out the plan that had been early formed by both founders of the place. In 1824, the ground now occupied by the university buildings was a barren knoll without sod. or trees. The gift was of doubtful value to the village, as there was no money to expend in improving -it and rendering its surroundings attractive. The waters had the indorsement of some of the best chemists, but there seemed no immediate way of making them available, and for years the stock that roamed at large disputed possession of the spring with the citizens. In 1833, C. W. Kent, a man of inconsiderate, but withal enterprising, turn of mind, proposed to the corporation to improve the spring and make arrangements to accommodate such as might desire to take adv?,ntage of the medicinal qualities of the water. The spring, and the property pertaining to it, was accordingly leased to him for ninety-nine years, renewable forever, with the provision that the use of the waters should be forever free for the use of the citizens of the place. But Mr. Kent's enterprise outran his financial ability, and, in looking about for a partner, after considerable effort, he prevailed upon Judge Powell to unite with him in completing the undertaking. Mr. Kent's intention was to build a hotel near where Merrick Hall now stands, being the most desirable location for that purpose in the leased property. Mr. Powell objected to this location, foreseeing that, in course of time, the building and spring would be shut off from communication with Sandusky street. Additional ground, fronts ing on Sandusky street, was accordingly purchased, and the new firm set about making the proposed improvements, Judge Powell drawing the plans and superintending the construction of the building. The work had scarcely been begun on the structure, when Mr. Kent, after furnishing a few boards and shingles, failed, and threw the whole burden upon Mr. Powell. The project was pushed through, however, and the hotel completed in 1834. About this time, Mr. Kent, whose residence was then in Columbus, went to New York, and, by representing himself as the owner of the spring and hotel, succeeded in getting $10,000 worth of goods on credit, intending to furnish the hotel therewith. Unfortunately, he brought the goods by way of Columbus, where his former creditors levied on them to satisfy old claims. This put an end to Mr. Kent's connection with the project, and. Judge Powell desiring to attend exclusively to his professional business, the building was left vacant until 1836, when it was leased to a Mr. Calvert, who did a thriving business. In making th<e improvements about the spring, the old Barber cabin was torn down, and bathinghouses constructed in convenient proximity to the waters, which were abundantly patronized by invalids who had learned of the enterprise. In the following year came the failure of the United States Bank, and the consequent financial crash, prostrating business everywhere. It was such enterprises as the Mansion House, as it was called, that, depending upon easy times for their highest success, felt the blow the most. From that time until 1840, the hotel did a varying business, never reaching any marked success. At the latter date, it was purchased by the citizens and presented to the Methodist Episcopal Church for school purposes. Judge Powell was not a man to do anything by halves, and, notwithstanding the pressing demands of an increasing law practice, he gave his personal attention to the improvement of the grounds about the hotel, and to his industry and taste are due the fine array of shade trees and the beautiful lawn which render the west front of the campus so attractive. It proved, however, a losing financial speculation to Mr. Powell, involving a loss of some $10,000. In transferring the spring to the college, the town did not lose its right to a free access and use of the waters, and various movements have been made to improve it. A stone bowl was let into the ground over the spring to form a reservoir, for the purpose of drinking, but it proved to be too low, and, in 1869, a petition on the part of a large number of citizens to the Council, on the subject, secured an appropriation of $1,000, to be increased by a subscription of $500 from the citizens. This proviso defeated the whole project. A few citizens contributed some money, and a new bowl was put in, but in some way the flow was interrupted, the stream escaping by a fissure below the bowl. Some fears were entertained that the damage was permanent, but a gentleman who had faith in a remedy, emptied a quantity of sawdust into the water, which, filling up the fissure, restored the stream to its former channel.

The parade ground, which was presented at the same time with the spring, has proved a burden to the corporation ever since. In the time of the " Peace Establishment," parade grounds were a necessity, and Delaware was full of martial spirit.

There was an artillery company, a troop of lighthorse cavalry, a company of riflemen, besides a number of general officers and military men of lesser rank. For years, the land bounded by North, Franklin and Williams streets running back to the college grounds, was unoccupied, and used for parade purposes. But a regular parade ground was a part of the regular outfit of every enterprising viUage of that time, and so Delaware accepted the gift with becoming gratitude. Soon afterward, a bee, with the inevitable liquor accompaniment in the shape of a barrel of egg-nog, was made, and the whole male portion of the vOlage turned out to clear it up. Thorn-apples and scruboaks were the principal obstacles to clear off', and the boys pulled them over while the men grubbed them out. No pains were taken to fence it in, and, after the decay of the " Peace Establishment," its occupation gone, it served to pasture the cows that had the free run of the village. In 1856, the School Board having come in possession of the old buUding on the corner of Franklin and Williams streets, proposed to the Council to exchange property. This the Council was glad to do, reserving the right to erect an engine-house on the northeast corner of the lot. But, for some reason, this did not satisfy the Board, and, after pasturing the cows for six years, they came before the Council with a proposition to re-exchange. This the Council did not care to do, and later, the Board of Education made another proposition, reciting that, whereas, they " are owners of what is called and known as the parade ground in South Delaware, and cannot use the said parade ground to advantage for school purposes, therefore, the said Board of Education propose to sell the said parade ground to the incorporated village of Delaware, provided that the Council or Trustees of said village purchase for the use of said School Board, the college grounds and buildings." The buildings referred to were those once occupied by a female college in South Delaware. The Council finally agreed to this proposition, and issued five bonds of, $300 each for the property, and received a deed for the parade ground. Nothing more was done to make the ground presentable save grading it, until 1865, when the question of improving the park was agitated, and the Council appointed a special committee consisting of Prof Frederick Merrick and H. H. Husted to report a plan to make it attractive. The report was exhaustive and. complete, and the Council indorsed it so far as to underdrain the plat, put up a fence, and plant some trees at an expense of $397.65. Since then, it has acquired by common consent the title of City Park, but looks more like an ordinary pasture lot. The Board of Education, as late as 1869, again asked for a donation of the grounds, and the Council gladly acceded to the request, but after trading and selling it once or twice, it has been discovered that the gift was made for certain purposes and cannot be conveyed for any other, and the conundrum still remains to vex coming councils, What shall be done with it ?

The inauguration of the Mansion House proji ct was the realization of hopes long cherished by the community, and they believed, with that well established, the future was assured. It aroused the enterprise of the citizens, who were desirous of giving the undertaking every aid, and took steps t.j render the village surroundings as attract- . ive as possible. It was something of this spirit, together with some of that aristocratic feeling which remained an heirloom of the old era, thatsuggested the building of a market-house. There was some opposition to the proposition, and considerable difficulty in suiting all in the matter of its location, but these difficulties were surmounted, and the site fixed in the center of William street, twenty .feet from the west line of Sandusky street, on the west side. The building was 20x50 feet, with stalls on each side and ends, separated by white-oak posts, and was completed in the summer of 1835. The stalls were rented to the highest bidder, save that the two stalls on the east end were held at a minimum price of $5 each for a year's rent. The first sale of stalls was made on the 8th of August, and most of them disposed of, the Marshal " crying the sale," and acting afterward as clerk of the market. The first regulations were few, relating chiefly to the sale of butter in pound rolls, and that ' the building should be opened from Y until 9 o'clock in the morning. For a while the market-house was a favorite institution, and satisfied the expectations of its friends, but ten years wrought many changes in the building and in public opinion, and, in 1853, the Council began to look about for a more eligible sit# for the market. A proposition to move the business to the south side of the run, on what is now the university grounds, was strongly advocated ; and another, to occupy thb old building on the corner of Franklin and William streets was suggested, but neither seemed acceptable, and the old building was made to do service, with more stringent regulations. A year or two later, however, the old building had to give way before the combined weight of years aod public opinion, and the (Jowles House, which stood on the northeast corner of Williams and Sandusky streets, was fitted up to accommodate the business. In the meanwhile the corporation had come in possession of the old church building, and, in 1860, fitted it up i'or market, council-room and lock-up purposes. The pride of the people in a market-house was evidently on the wane, and scarcely a session of the Council was spared the infliction of a petition setting forth some complaint in relation to this topic. This feeling gathered force until a monster petition swept the whole thing away. The Council seemed to have a tender regard for the institution, and, as a sort of compromise, in 1865, suspended the action of the market ordinances for an -indefinite time, allowing, however, any who desired to use the house as beforfe. There seems to have been very little disposition to take advantage of this latter provision, inasmuch as it was used immediately after as a wagon warfehouse. In 1867, a ro-action set in, and, in response to a petition of . 124 citizens, the Council amended the former laws on the subject, and ordained "that Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays shall be the regular market days, and that, on said days, the regular market hours shall be between 4 o'clock A. M. and 8 o'clock A. M., from the 1st day of April to the 1st day of October. This re-action lasted but a short time, and, in 1870, the former place of worship was converted into an engine-house below, the upper part fitted up for the council chamber, and was used, temporarily, by the court. The iOok-up was situated in one corner of the upper floor, and, with the fire department, remains in the building yet.

Another institution of the early times, and one which appears to have been intended as a monopoly, was the public scales. Permission was granted by the Council, in an ordinance dated May 5, 1835, to erect a hay scale on North street, "between the southwest corner and the front gate of the court-house fence." This permission was extended to the citizens in general, but the enterprise took shape, finally, in the hands of a particular citizen, G-en. Moore, and was located east of the " front gate." The ordinance made it an ofi'ense to buy or sell hay in the village, without first obtaining a certificate of weight from the Weighmaster, which was subject to a fine of 50 cents for each ofi'ense. The charges were fixed at 12J cents for drafts under 1,000 pounds, not including the wagon; 18f cents for drafts of from 1,000 to 1,500, and over 1,500 pounds, 25 cents. This law became a dead letter on the book of ordinances, but was revived in 1857, when ordinances were passed requiring a license from the owners of scales, providing for the weighing of hay and coal and the measuring of wood. These ordinances have, long since, lost their vitality, and the people buy these articles at a guess, or take the dealer's assumption for the weight, save when some careful citizen revives this relic of a past decade, and insists on having them weighed.

The date of the first regularly built sidewalks and of the first improvements on the streets, by the corporation, are unsolved conundrums, even to the oldest inhabitant. Nor are the records any clearer on the subject. The first page of the earliest record now preserved notes the appointment of a committee to inquire into the pavement of North Sandusky street, and that dates August 9, 1834. Previous to 1829', the restricted powers of the Council precluded any such public improvements, and it is probable that the matter of sidewalks ran through all the stages incident to their growth in villages. The earliest ordinance at hand on the subject requires the walks to be graded, and covered with four inches of gravel or paved with brick, but it is not probable that such walks were required, save on the business portion of Sandusky street, before 1834. In this year the walks on Sandusky street, north of North street, and the east end of Williams and Winter streets, were improved. These improvements acoommo- -dated the more thickly settled portions of the village, and sufficed, with general repairs, until 1845, when thewest ends of these streets were taken in hand. The plan of improvement, in the case of all sidewalks built at that time, is substantially set forth in the ordinance in relation to Winter street, the substance of which we give. Prom Sandusky to Washington street, the walk on the south side of the street was to be twelve feet wide, and the remainder of the walk on both sides of the street was to be ten feet. Prom Sandusky to Washington street, on the south side, the walk was to be curbed with good stone and paved with brick, and on the north side, curbed with stone and paved with brick or " good, smooth and welllaid flagstone." Prom Washington to Liberty street, the walk was to be graded, curbed with stone or plank, and paved with brick, flagstone, or graveled only. Where the grounds were unimproved, and the owner intended to build on the premises within eighteen months, it was required simply to grade it, curb it with plank and gravel it, the gravel in all cases to be four inches thick. From that to the present state of the sidewalks is but a short step. The early diflfioulty of quarrying limestone rock made brick preferable as a material for paving, and in the extent of such walks Delaware may fairly be said to be without a rival among her equals in the State. Street improvement was a very much more difificult undertaking. The village, planted on Williams street, in a sort of basin, as it grew, spread out upon the hills that surrounded it on all sides, and presented a task in street engineering that might wl'U cause the corporation, with its limited resources, to hesitate to make the attempt. It was not until about 1842 that any comprehensive plan of grading was adopted, and this was repeatedly modified, as the disposition of the people and the natural obstacles demanded. The generation of to-day can hardly comprehend the topography of the city at that time. That portion of the city lying along the banks of the river, which was very low, has been raised at places to the extent of several feet, and the hill about the court house, with Sandusky street, north of Winter, has been cut down from five to twenty feet. Other changes quite as radical have been made elsewhere in the cit/, and the corporation is to be congratulated on the fact that this has been accomplished at comparatively trifling cost in the way of private claims for damage. The subject of sewerage was early taken up, but was opposed as tending to create the very evil it was intended to prevent. In 1844, large drains were constructed to carry oflF the surface water on Franklin street to the run, and that stream has been straightened and made to do more effective service by artificial means. A sewer, from the American House along Winter street to the river, was constructed in 1845, and is the only regular sewer in the city.

In the latter part of 1852, a petition of the citizens for a general macadamizing of the principal streets, brought in response an ordinance providing for such improvement to be completed before the close of the fallowing year. This plan included Sandusky street, from the north line of the corporation to the south line thereof; Williams street, from its intersection with Liberty street to its intersection with the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad, and Winter street, from its west end to its intersection with the same railroad. The ordinance in the matter provided that the curb of the sidewalks on each side of the street should be, on Sandusky street, thirteen feet from the line of lots on the street, and twelve feet on the other streets. The gutters were to be paved with good sizable round stone on each side, six feet from the curbing toward the center of the street, the rest, of the street to be macadamized. It was also provided that the sidewalks for six feet from the curbing toward the lots should be paved with goo i durable brick, the rest of the sidewalk being left to be finished with pavement or grass-plat, as the wishes of the lot owners might suggest. In July, 1853, that part of Liberty street lying between a point eight rods north of North street and Winter street was included in the number of streets covered by the above plan of improvement, and later in the year other streets were taken in hand, involving improvements, however, of a less permanent and expensive character. This comprehensive undertaking proved a considerable burden even to willing citizens, and the Council afterward modified the original specifications so far as to allow the construction of wooden sidewalks and crossings in some places, and the graveling instead of macadamizing some parts of the streets. The contract for the principal part of the work was let to the firms of Brown & McCoy (R. 0. Brown and Janus McCoy), and Finch & Gallagher (Joshua Finch and Patrick Gallagher). The aggregate cost of these improvements it is difficult to ascertain, but the lot assessments varied from 25 cents to $1.25 per foot of lot frontage.

Th^re is no doubt but that the Olentangy River played a conspicuous part in fixing the original location of the village of Delaware, and it served its purpose well. In the early times, water-power, even of inferior advantages, was an important element in manufacturing enterprises ; and, while the advance of mechanical arts has long since wrought great changes in this regard, the early success of the place may be said to have been due to the advantages the river then aiforded. The fall of the river was too slight ever to have rendered it conspicuously advantageous as a power to move heavy machinery, yet in the early day, fed in the dry season from the accumulations of the swamps, it presented a respectable stream during a larger part of the year. But it had its unfavorable features as well. It needed only the slightest pretext of a heavy rain or a rapid melting of the snow to overrun its banks and drown the low portion of the village lying along its banks ; or, bearing on its surface large forest trees-^which the early settlers were wont to fall into the stream to be carried out of the way - come booming down stream, carrying away the bridges and cutting off the villagers from the eastern part of the county for weeks at a time. Until recently, this matter of bridges has been- a source of considerable agitation to the citizens of Delaware. For twenty years the only bridge that spanned the river within the limits of the town was the one originally erected by Col. Byxbe. It was a rude structure, made of such materials as could be secured at that time, log pens doing service as abutments, and was located on Williams street. This bridge served the public well, but it gradually decayed, and, about 1823, became unsafe for teams. It was still practicable for pedestrians and was used considerably in that way until 1828. The original location , of the bridge was dictated simply by the interests of the builder, and, as the' settlement was principally along Williams street, it served the community just as well. But in later years the settlement, spreading northward, would have been better accommodated by a bridge at North street, or, as a compromise, at Winter street. The natural outgrowth of this fact was a movement to place a bridge at one of these points. The people in the lower part of town saw at once that the success of this scheme would prevent the rebuilding of their structure, and set up a vigorous opposition. The result of this contest was to prevent the erection of any bridge for some years. At length M. D. Pettibone, a public-spirited, enterprising man, and Ezra Griswold, a man of considerable wealth and influence, who discharged the double duties of hotel-keejJer and editor, on the southwest corner of North and Sandusky streets, headed the faction for a North street bridge. The Commissioners, besieged on every hand, wavered between the more expensive site on the established highway of Williams street, and the cheaper site, but with no established road on the east side of the river, at North street. One night during the controversy, the planks of the old bridge were thrown into the stream and the bents racked over or burned, it was supposed, by factory hands, who were favorable to the upper , bridge. ' The Commissioners were finally won over to the North street site. The friends of the Williams street bridge rallied, and secured subscriptions of work and timber to build the bridge. Money was very scarce, and the project was likely to fail for the want of means to buy the necessary iron to be used in the construction. At this juncture, Jacob Drake contributed $100 in cash, and the work was pushed forward, the bridge completed and given to the Commissioners that fall. There had been some pledges of money made to the Commissioners in relation to the building of the North street bridge, and some preparations undertaken to put it up, but, when the other bridge was constructed, the Board refused to go further in the matter, and the upper part of town lost its thoroughfare over the river. In the winter of 1831-32, high water, with trees and ice, swept out the middle bent of the bridge, and for a time in the spring the river had to be crossed by swimming. This was at once repaired by the Commissioners, at a cost of $390. Two years later, the Board granted permission to E. Griswold, B. F. Allen, M. D. Pettibone, Charles Sweetser and others to construct a durable wooden bridge at North street, and the privilege of using the Commissioners' names to collect the suhscriptiods that had been made a few years before. This enterprise was carried on to completion by private subscription, and probably benefited the property of those engaged in it enough to repay their expenditure. In 1836, there was another remarkable freshet. The ice broke up and formed a gorge just above town, causing the water to fiood the lower part of the village, coming up to the west line of Henry street, and covering large areas of flats with ice to the depth of some three feet. This flood carried away the North street bridge almost bodily, and, lodging it against the lower bridge, carried away the west bench. In 1840, the upper bridge was restored at an expense of $449, Silas and Spenser Dunham taking the contract. Six years later, there was a remarkably open winter, with copious rains that filled the river to overflowing, inundating the lower part of town up to the line of Union street in places. One family was isolated by the flood, and had to be j*emoved from their floating tenement by boats. This freshet took away both bridges and raised havoc with similar structures all over the county. The water continued deep, with a rapid current, and teams were obliged to go to Stratford to cross the river, the bridge at that point having escaped the general destruction. Some attempts were made to swim the river in the village, but it was always attended with great danger. Jt is related that a traveler, on horseback, desiring to cross, secured passage for himself in a canoe and hired a man to ride his horse across. The canoe made the passage of the stream without special trouble, but the horse, taking the river just above North street, was carried down below Williams street before he reached the west bank. To accommodate travel through Delaware, J. C. Alexander built a ferry-boat, going to Cincinnati to get his irons and appurtenances made. It was propelled by the current acting upon the boat, held in a proper angle by lines stretched across from bank to bank, and did a thriving business during that spring; but, with the subsiding of the water, the occasion for its use passed ; it was sold, and travel managed to ford the stream. In 1848, the Williams street bridge was put up again, Cyrus Piatt taking the contract, a Mr. Carpenter doing the work, however. This bridge was an open one and stood but a year or two, when it went down. In 1854, the present structure was put up by a Mr. Sherman, for the Commissioners, at an expense of several thousand dollars. It was accepted by the Board, but, soon afterward, a drove of cattle, that had been driven across from the west and corraled just east of the bridge, broke loose during the night and made their way back across the bridge at a lively trot. This proved too much for the bridge, and, in the morning, it was found sagged to an alarming extent. It was propped up and additional braces supplied, making a structure which has stood until the present. When this bridge was about to be piit up, the village, desiring very much to have a bridge on North street, through the Council offered to pay one-half of the expense of building an iron bridge there, but the Commissioners refused to take so great a load on their hands. In 1853, I. and E. B. Gray built the wire suspension foot-bridge on Winter street, for which the Council paid $909. This was secured mainly through the enterprise of Judge Hosea Williams. In 1868, eight citizens petitioned the Council for permission to erect a free, open wooden bridge across the river at this street, which was granted, but the project never went further, probably from the large outlay which it would require, without the promise of any adequate return. In 1867, the North street project was again revived by the presentation of a monster petition signed by four hundred names. Mr. John Wolfley began, in 1860, to circulate a petition for a bridge there, but the beginning of the war discouraged the attempt, and he waited until affairs became more settled, and the petition of 1867 was the result of his persistent effort. The Commissioners responded by appropriating $5,000, if a sufficient sum could be procured elsewhere, to erect an iron bridge of the King pattern. This was readily accomplished,' and, in that year, a bridge of that pattern, with three spans, each seventy-five feet long, a roadway eighteen feet wide, and sidewalks on each side, four feet wide, guarded with an iron railing, was put up at a cost of $31.50 per linear foot.

Another public improvement which marked the growth of enterprise in the community, was the introduction of gaslight into the town. Several attempts were made by different parties to establish works for the manufacture of gas, but they never got beyond the preliminary steps. As early as 1856, Harvey P. Piatt made a proposal to the Council, and they granted him the ijse of the city, restricting the price of gas to the corporation to $3 per 1,000 cubic feet, and the price to citizens to $4. In the latter part of the succeeding year, Piatt having failed to fulfill his part of the contract, Israel I. Richardson and J. C. Evans were granted like privileges for the same purpose, the price of gas being made to city and citizens alike, , at $4. These gentlemen were given to 1860 to complete their project, but they failed, and the rights granted were revoked. During 1859, however, the present company was organized by William Stephenson, Joseph Atkinson, Jacob Riblet and others. These gentlemen were from Mansfield, Gallon and elsewhere, and were granted the usual privileges on April 21, 1860, the price of gas being fixed at $2 per 1,000 cubic feet to the city, and $3 to private consumers. This company organized under the name of the Delaware Gaslight and Coal Oil Company, with Jacob Riblet, President ; A. S. Caton, Secretary ; J. Atkinson, Superintendent, and Charles Wottring, Treasurer, and at once set about erecting their works where they now stand, on Estella street. The first pipes put down were of wood, but in 1870 these were replaced by iron pipes, and the whole establishment enlarged. A new purifying house was built, a gasometer with a capacity of 18,000 feet replaced the old one, and a new bench of five retorts added, making an effective force of eleven retorts. The Company have about seven miles of pipe laid, reaching from the north line of the corporation south to the cemetery, and 400 meters in use. The street lighting has grown from twenty-three lamps in 1866, to 160 at the present time. The Company propose during the current year to enlarge their works, adding new castings throughout and putting in larger mains. The paid-up capital is about $65,000.

progress which was a marked feature in the revival of the town's enterprise in 1830. The great hindrance to the activity of the communities in the early day, especially in frontier towns, was the lack of ready coinmunication with the rest of the world. Information of all sorts was meager and generally inaccurate, and a place ten miles away was more of a stranger to the pioneers for the first fifteen or twenty years, than Europe is to us of to-day. The papers almost universally were too much taken up with State affairs to mention local matters, and there was nothing to incite the community to a generous rivalry, or tci awaken an enterprising enthusiasm. In the case of Delaware, the establishment of the Ohio Stage. Company's line through the village, about 1826, brought the relief so sorely needed. Their route was from Cincinnati to Sandusky, and by Suubury to Mount Vernon and Cleveland. The vehicles were the regular Troy coaches, hung on thoroughbraces, drawn by four horses, and would accomodate from nine to twelve persons inside. Their route through Delaware was along the road which followed the west bank of the river, passing through Liberty Township, where they changed horses at the old tavern of David Thomas. About 1830, Otho Hinton, a resident of Dela^^are, became connected with the Company, first as agent, and finally as sole proprietor, not only of this line, but of large stage interests throughout the West, and for years was reputed to be the wealthiest man in this part of the State. Mr. Hinton came to Delaware with his father from Virginia about 1810, and is remembered as a boy in 1812, peddling walnuts to the tro(5ps that were encamped here for a short time. He learned the carpenter's trade, and made an enterprising and skillful mechanic. He joined the militia, and was a member of a company of dragoons, from which he rose by popular elections to the position of Brigadier General in the " Peace Establishment.'' He was a man of ready tongue, slight education and great assurance, and his public speeches, though often ridiculed by his opponents on account of the grammatical inaccuracies they displayed, were generally effective and well received. His lack of '' book-learning " did not seem to interfere with his stage business, and, until the winter of 1846, he s 'emed to enjoy an uninterrupted course of success. In the fall of 1845, he laid the foundatinns of the large hotel which stands on the corner of Winter and Sandusky streets, then known as the " Hinton House," and of which in his " Historical Collections of Ohio " in 1848, Mr. Howe says it was " one of the largest and best-constructed hotels in Ohio." The building remains unchanged to-day, but is known as the American House. The winter of 1846 proved a disastrous one to stage interests, and bankrupted Mr. Hinton. The roads were flooded, bridges carried off, and the highways became impassable, causing ruinous delays and large and unprofitable expenditures. Added to this, was the matter of fines which the Government imposed upon him for the non-fulfillment of his mail contracts, proving in the aggre- - gate a financial burden which crushed him. The stage line passed into the hands of Neil, Moore & Co., of Columbus, who originally owned it, and Mr. Hinton left the scene of his greatness, not to return.

There is no feature in the city's history which possesses so much of interest, or which measures the progress of its social development so accurately as the press. The newspaper in Delaware began its history with the beginning of the village as a separate organization, and has grown and improved with the city until its legitimate successor stands among the weeklies of the State, with few equals in point of influence and circulation. The first paper published in the village was the Delaware Gazette, established, in 1818, by Rev. Joseph Hughs and Rev. Jacob Drake, early ministers in the Presbyterian and Baptist churches. But little accurate knowledge is possessed in regard to this paper. It was printed on coarse, yellowish paper that was common at that day, and about eighteen by twenty-four inches in size. It continued, with decreasing patronage, until about 1825, wheij it died a natural death. Two years later, however, it was revived under the name of the People's Advocate, but it was short-lived and soon ceased, not to revive again. In the meanwhile, Ezra Griswold had established a paper in Worthington, Franklin County, and removed it to Columbus, which became the origin of the Ohio State Journal. After continuing' it two years, he sold the establishment, and, in connection with Judge Smith, established the Monitor. He sold his share in this soon afterward to his partner, and worked at the case in this office for some time, when he returned to Worthington, and started the Columbian Advocate and Franklin Chronicle, the first issue of which appeared January 7, 1820. This paper was published at Worthington until after the issue of September 24, 1821, when it was removed to Delaware, and appeared, in its next issue, .October 10, as the Delaware Patron and Franklin Chronicle. " The reasons," says the editor, " whicli have induced us to remove, are many ; but the most important one is the fact that our business in this place has been so small that we do not realize money enough from it to purchase the paper on which we print, and have been compelled to draw from other sources a considerable portion of the expenses of the establishment. We expect, by blending it with other business, to proceed with less embarrassment in Delaware." The establishment came, as has been noted, and was established in the old hotel that stood where the Bank of Deposit now is, where Mr. Griswold edited his paper and kept hotel. He moved across the street in 1822, and, in April of 1824, the office was removed into " the large brick house, belonging to Messrs Drake & Smith, near the court house." This building stood on the southwest corner of North and Sandusky streets, where it was erected for a hotel, and was used for that purpose for years by Mr. Griswold. The paper at first was a four-column paper, eighteen by iwenty-four inches. Soon after coming to Delaware, it was enlarged by the addition of another column, and, in later years, grew to the size of a six-column paper. A very noticeable feature in the literary part of the paper was the prominence given to State affairs and the almost total lack of local news. The summary of legislative proceedings, and the liberal review of Congressional proceedings usurped the first and second pages, while the fourth page was devoted to selected miscellany. The third page was usually occupied by long communications upon subjects that would prove anything but interesting to the modern subscriber, save a half-column or so, where the editor made some apologetic allusion to some local matters. So important a local event as the dinner given to Judge Baldwin, and his gift of the spring property and the parade ground to the corporation, is passed over witha three-line statement of the fact, and the expression of the belief that the Judge had '' presented the spring to the corporation," while the toasts at a Fourth of July gathering in Sandusky or at Worthington, are printed in full, taking up about a column of the paper. This singular style of editing was probably satisfactory to the patrons of the paper, and arose from the fact that no other paper, or means of general information, was accessible to the people. The local news they knew, or got from their neighbors, while the foreign news was furnished only by their home paper, and it will sound queer in these days of telegraphs and ocean cables to read in an issue of the Patron of

October 16, 1820, that the editor is "in possession of a New York paper of the 29th ult., which contains a mass of very interesting foreign intelligence, including London dates to August 19th." A very serious obstacle in the way of success to newspapers of that time was the inefficiency and cost of mails. Even for the circulation of this little paper, a private mail had occasionally to be supported, and papers, by the Government service, often were a week old before they gained their destination within the county. In relation to the transmission of subscription money, a New York paper contains the following : " We do not complain of paying from 2 to 5 per cent discount on bank notes, which we have done on almost every dollar that has traveled more than 100 miles. But as to specie, several times have we received a dollar in silver by .mail, and paid three-fourths for postage. On' Tuesday last, we received a letter from one of our agents in South Carolina, covering $1 in quarters, with the postage of one hundred cents charged on the back of it. This would, indeed, have struck a balance, had not the letter-carrier required the addition of two cents for his trouble " The contrast between that and this day of free delivery, postal orders, and a once " lightning mail," is wonderful enough for a fairy tale. There is little wonder that Mr. Griswold, at the end of the fourth volume, writes : " The duties of an editor are arduous and often perplexing ; and the printing business is so overdone, in this State, as to render it embarrassing in most situations, and it is seldom undertaken in any of our small towns with any prospect of profit. A mere subsistence is all that an editor can promise himself, if his dues are punctually remitted to him ; and, if not, Ihe closing of his business in a state of bankruptcy is most likely to be the consequence." As the " new purchase " began to be settled up, the name of the paper was changed to the Delaware Patron and Sandusky Advertiser, and continued under this caption until May 13, 1830, when it was changed to Ohio State Gazette and Delaware County Journal. In January of the next year, Mr. Griswold sold the paper to William Milliken & Co., who changed the name of the paper to Delaware Journal, and retained the old proprietor as editor. The new firm evidently failed to complete the sale, as we find Mr. Griswold as proprietor right along after that period. On December 27, 1834, however, he sells the paper to G. W. Sharpe, and Mr. Griswold takes leave of journalistic pursuits forever in a closing editorial in which he says : " The experiment I have tried for fourteen years * * * has fallen short, far short, of affording an adequate reward for that constant application and incessant toil, which, in most other honorable pursuits, would have produced a competency for declining life." Politically, there was no division of opinion in the community until 1827, and after that time, for years, the sentiment was so entirely in favor of the Whigs that there was no call for any other organ. When there were two papers, the difference was not political, and the Gazette was supplanted by its rival simply because it failed to cater successfully to the public taste. Mr. Grriswold was a native of Connecticut, and came with his father to Worthington in 1803. Ke was a pioneer in the editorial profession, and was, in his life, connected with the most important papers of the State. He died in 18S3, at the age of seventy-one years.

The new proprietor, with a view to giving it a local designation, changed the name of the paper to the Olentangy Gazette, and, in the fall of 1835, associated Mr. Abraham Thomson with him in the business. In the latter part of the year, Mr. David T. Fuller bought out Mr. Sharpe, and later sold an interest to Mr. Thomson. The firm of Fuller & Thomson continued the publication until 1837, when Mr. Thomson purchased Judge Fuller's interest, and adopted the name of Drake's original paper, the Delaware Gazette. In 1864, he took his son, Henry C., into partnership, and the firm name became A. Thomson & Son, till August 17, 1866, when Lee & Thomson succeeded to the proprietorship. December 2, 1870, H. 0. Thomson was succeeded by G. H. Thomson, and, in 1874, A. Thomson bought out Mr. Lee. The firm has since been A. Thomson & Son, save about a year, while George H. retained an interest. The present proprietors are A. Thomson and his son, Frank G. Thomson. It has been an advocate of the Whig, and, in later years, the Republican, principles. Ten hands are em- ,ployed, and a cylinder press prints its edition. In the issue of March 25, 1880, the editor says: " With the present number, the Gazette enters upon its sixty-third volume. We are glad to say that at no period of its existence has it enjoyed so large a subscription list as at this time, and no previous six months has equaled the last in accessions of new names. Our regular edition is now nearly two thousand, and, at the present rate of increase, we shall in a few months exceed that number ; and, not only is our list as large as is often attained by country papers, but it is also first-class in character, there being but few of the substantial families of the county in which it is not regularly received, many of its most warm and steadfast friends being those who have read it from their childhood."

The first Democratic paper, called the Ohio Eagle, was estabhshedin Delaware about the year 1840, by John Converse, who afterward went to Congress from this district, and was later Postmaster in the town. There was but little support for such a paper in Delaware at that time, and, after continuing it for two years, he closed up the business for want of patronage. In October, 1845, George F. Stay man started a paper of similar political faith, and called it the Locofoco, from the popular name which then attached to the party - a name that originated in an incident which occurred in a Democratic caucus held in New York abo^t that time. The lights suddenly went out and left the assembled sages groping in the dark, until one of the members sang out, " I've got a locofoco ! " the name applied to a match then of recent invention, and light was restored. This name caught the public ear, and became the popular designation of the party now known as Democratic. This name soon degenerated into slang, and, becoming distasteful to the members of that organization in Delaware, Mr. Staymaa, in 1847, changed the name to the Democratic Standard. Its first office was in a building which stood where Riddle & Graff's building stands. It continued till the fall of 1865, when he sold to T. P. Reed, who changed the name to the Delaware County News. This was a time when pronounced Democratic views found little support in Delaware, and the paper was conducted as an " independent " organ for about one year, when a number of representative Democrats formed a stock company and established the Delaware Herald upon the remains of the News. _In 1867, E. F. Poppleton assumed proprietorship, and soon after sold to John Cone, and from him the paper passed into the hands of R. F. Hurlbut. In January, 1879, a firm, consisting of Daniel Flanagan, Alfred Matthews and T. J. Flanagan, bought the establishment, and have continued its publication since. It is a nine-column folio, printed on a sheet 28x54 inches. The principal editor, Mr. Daniel Flanagan, was editor of the Kenton Democrat for eight years, and of the Union Democrat of Urbana for something over two years before coming here.

The Delaware Signal, the organ of the Prohibition party, was started by a joint-stock com- 'pany on September 23, 1873. The principal movers in .the matter were Dr. L. Barnes, Col. Lindsay, J. W. Sharpe and Thomas Evans, Jr., who formed a company known as the Delaware Printing and Publishing Association. About one year previous to the starting of the Signal, a small paper called the Delaware Prohibitionist had been established by Milton R. Scott, and the association published this fur a month or so, until arrangements could be effected to publish a paper more suitable to their purpose. The Signal was then started as a large-sized nine-column folio, with Messrs. Sharpe, Barnes and Lindsay as editors, and Mr. Evans as Treasurer and manager. Under tliis arrangement, the paper was published at a loss until 1876, when Mr. Evans took it off the associa- I ion's hands to pay the debts of the concern. Since then, he has given up his business elsewhere, and devoted his whole time and attention to the paper. He reduced the size to eight columns, and, by rigid economy, has succeeded in making it pay the fall expenses of the oflB^ce. Its circulation is becoming of a more satisfactory character ; it is accepted as the State organ of the party, and is the oldest and one of two papers of its kind in the State. Although so far it has paid nothing for the time and labor bestowed upon it by the proprietor, he considers it a labor of love, and cherishes complete confidence in the ultimate success of the cause.

The News is a weekly six-column folio, printed on a sheet 21x30 inches. It formerly had an existence at Ashley, in this county, wbere it was known as the Enterprise, and appeared semi-monthly. It was brought here by Broderick and Lattin in 1877, and is now owned and conducted by M. C. Broderick.

The Delaware Daily Reporter is the only representative of the daily press in the city. It was started in April, 1879, as the daily edition of the Herald, but, in the following August, the Browning Brothers bought it and gave it its present title. January 1, 1880, G. R. Browning bought out his brother's interest, and has since been publishing it alone. Since December last, the Reporter has rented office room and use of material of the News, and, though together in office, are separate in business.

The beginning of the war of the rebellion found Delaware busy with enterprises looking for their fnlfillment-in the future, but, with the first sound of the war,toesin, the citizens laid down their work, and girding on the sword, went ouf to fight their country's battles. What they achieved and suffered has been given in detail elsewhere, and we can but briefly note here some of the activities of those whom duty called to stay at home. One of the earliest organizations in the State for providing comforts for the able-bodied, and delicacies for the sick, among the soldiers, the " Ladies' Soldier's Aid Society," found a ready response among the ladies of the city and county. An auxiliary society was formed in the city, with branches in each township, which joined in those ministrations of loyal affection that nerved the heart and upheld the hands of those who bore " the burden and heat of the day." Abler pens have paid a fitting tribute to woman, whose sacrificing labor of love proved sul5h a powerful aid in the great struggle, and -

" Freely let her wear The wreath which merit wove and planted there ; Foe though I were, should envy tear it down, Myself would labor to replace the crown."

Volunteers were easily secured, and the city, realizing that many were illy prepared to leave their families, did all in its power to relieve their necessities. On May 3, 1861, the Council appropriated $5,000 for this purpose, and at other times various sums, as occasion demanded. The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad donated $10,000 to the various counties through which the road passes, for this purpose, aad Delaware's share, $789.20, was distributed by the Commissioners. There was a company of " Home G-uards " in thp city, that has failed to find a place in any permanent record, that was more remarkable in its composition than in its service. Many of the members were men who were noted for anything save military pursuits, and comprised teachers, professors, lawyers, county officers, etc. The regiment to which it belonged was commanded by Prof. Harris, then of the Ohio Wesleyan University, and now a Bishop in the Methodist Church. It is related that when called out for service, on the occasion of the Morgan raid, quite a number were placed hors du combat by the fi'rst march - not to give it a less dignified title - and the picture given of the appearance of the company, the Colonel marching with fan in hand, is a far more laughable affair than such a stern array is usually found to be.