Richland County, Ohio - Chapter 31: Railroads, 1880

Tue Maysriecp & New Haven ann Moyrorvitrs & Sanpesky Roaps - Firsr Train 1n May, 1846 - ARgivaL oF THE First TRAIN at MANSFIELD AND ITS APPEARANCE - THE Roav-Bep - Breaking GROUND AT Mansrietp - Tur Devor - Grain TRaDE - Oxrorp & Huron Roap - Tue Mansrietp & SanpusKy Roap - Tur Corvmsus & Lake Erte Roasp - SanpusKy, Mansrietp & Newark Roap - Battimore & OnIo

FONTAINE Roap - PitrspurGH, Fort Wayne & CHICAGO, oR, THE PENNSYLVANIA ROAD - THE ATLANTIC & Great Western (NAME CHANGED) - THE MAnsFietp, Corpwarer & Lake MicuigaAN Roap - TBE

The coach stands rusting in the yard, The horse has sought the plow; We have spanned the world with iron rails, The steam-king rules us now." | ICHLAND COUNTY contains a portion of | one of the oldest railroads in Ohio. The | history of the State, in preceding pages, gives an | account of the growth of early railways, men- | tioning the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark | (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad. That portion of this road lying in this county | was chartered March 12. 1836, as the Mansfield | & New Hayen Railroad, and extended from Mansfield to a point a short distance west of | the village of New Haven, in the southern part | of Huron County. Work began on both ends , of the line about the same time, working toward | the high ground near Plymouth. Prior to the building of this railroad, a charter, dated March | 9, 1835, had been granted to the Sandusky & Monroeville Railroad, running from one city to the other.* This road was in running order a | short time before the Mansfield & New Haven | road. When the latter was built, a gap between Monroeyille and New Haven, about fifteen miles

* When this road was first built, it was laid simply with wooden rails, and the cars were drawn by horses. Mr. Henry Newman says he has often hauled his wheat to Milan, where a water communication with the lake was maintained. After this wooden railway was built from Sandusky to Monroeville, he and his neighbors hauled their produce there. They could unload into the small cars, which | were drawn to the lake by the horses. This road, when first built, | made Monroeville a great point for the grain trade.

The part from New Haven south to Plymouth was also finished before the deep cut near the village was made, and, in fact, the gap between New Haven and Monroeyille filled before the cut was done. Mr.

' tember, the construction train brought salt and ' other merchandise to Plymouth. This train ' continued to run during that fall and winter, carrying back to Sandusky wheat in bags, and | produce in barrels, upon the little open cars

New Haven was completed before the train could come on down to Mansfield. Below the "deep cut,' as it is often termed, near Plymouth, the road was ready for the cars very probably the same autumn, but none but construction

"T shipped the first wheat in September, and enjoyed for that day a good trade. The deep cut was not finished so that cars passed through until spring ; but south of the deep cut, from Plymouth to Mansfield, on the McConnell & Leyman contract'' - the part wholly in this county - * the road was in a forward condition, and nearly ready for the cars, could they have

' been put on the track. The deep cut was completed, and a train passed over the road in May of the next spring [1846]. This," says Mr. Drennan, " was the first train over the road. It came on down to Mansfield in accordance with a previous arrangement with the Shelby and Plymouth people, to be taken to Mansfield to a war convention called to raise troops for the Mexican war.' By some curious arrangement, these two events, both of importance to the city and county, happened at the same time; but, what is stranger still, no one can be found who can tell what day in May they occurred. As near as can now be ascertained, they happened about the middle of the month.'"*

Considerable difficulty was experienced in the endeavor to solve this question. Judge Dirlam, when at one time engaged in a law-suit in which the question arose, found in the diary of E. P. Sturges, Sr., under date of May 16 he thinks, a reference to the advent of the first train of cars. They came, however, no nearer the city than the site of the present water-works buildings. This is doubtless correct, and coincides

* Mr. J. H. Cook states that he was conductor on one of the first trains that came to Mansfield, when the stopping-place was out by the water works. He says: 'As we came around the hill, the engineer allowed the train to come slowly down, An immense assemblage of citizens stood on the hillside next the tract, to view its approach. There must have been a thousand persons anxiously watching the train. Just as the engine came near the crowd, the engineer blew a shrilling blast upon the whistle - a loud and sharp one. The effect on the crowd was electric and amusing. They scampered up the hill like frightened sheep, greatly to the amusement of the train-men." This may have been the first train to coine to town.

John Ricketts, in a communication to the writer of the history on this subject, states that the train came into the town the 19th day of June, 1846. His son George, now a policeman in the city, was born about +4 o'clock on the afternoon of that day, and Mr. Ricketts states he well remembers the coincidence of these two events. Dr. Teegarden was his family physician at the time, and was so excited over the arrival of the train, hourly expected, as to forget his patient for a time, and rush to the window to get a glimpse of the cars as they came up to the foot of Walnut street. An immense crowd was there to meet them, and' a second hour of rejoicing passed, as one more step in the extension of the road had now been made.

Mr. Ricketts says that the construction engine-was called the " Vigilant,' and that, while used, it was run by Samuel Idler, who, he thinks, also ran the engine " Empire,' used to draw the first regular trains. He says he and many others often walked up the track as far as Spring Mills, where they would willingly assist to load and unload railroad supplies for a ride on the flat-cars. His first ride on a train, as well as that of many other citizens, was obtained in this manner.

The advent of the cars was the greatest event of the day to most people. War and its attendant parades were more common affairs. Militia musters had familiarized the people with such scenes ; but few of them had ever seen an engine and cars. A great crowd assembled at both places where the train stopped to see the novel sight. The train would, indeed, be a novel sight now. The locomotive, the * Empire,' was of less devoid of a cow-catcher, and, mayhap, with only one drive-wheel on each side. The cars were small, square, open box cars, on which the first merchandise was brought that was unloaded at the depot in Plymouth, in this county.

The construction of the road-bed was solid. if a multiplicity of timbers could make it so. First a" mud-sill" was laid down, lengthwise of the road; strong cross-ties were then spiked on this " mud-sill :" into these ~ gains." as they were called. were cut, which received the wooden rails, sawed to fit the» gains." These rails were about five inches wide, broadening out as they entered the ~ gains." and were about seven

On them, the was spiked, being a strip of hardwood, about two and a half inches wide. by one inch thick, and on this the strap-iron rail was laid. Spikes were driven through the strap-rail and the ribbon into the large wooden rail underneath. The heads of the spikes were sunken into "eyes" in the strap-rails, leaving a smooth surface for the wheels. This superstructure required fully three times as much timber as the present system of ties and iron rails.

That portion of the road in this county, almost the entire part of the Mansfield & New Haven road, lying south of Plymouth, was built mainly by Matthew McConnell and Henry Leyman. They were then living in the county and engaged in business. In building the road, they were known by the firm name, * McConnell & Leyman," and the contract commonly went under the name, " McConnell & Leyman contract." This part of the road was built after considerable effort had been expended on the part of its friends and principal supporters in Mansfield and vicinity. Railroading was a new enterprise then to most people, whose ideas concerning such thoroughfares were rather meager.

The principal abettors to the enterprise were KE. P. and Edward Sturges. James and Ellzey Hedges. Jabez Cook. Benjamin Johns (the original proprietor of it received its name), William Patterson, Charles T. Sherman, Robert Bentley. Dr. William Bushnell and a few others. They were the foremost men in the enterprise. and, when the time for their money and time into the work. When the day came to throw the first shovelful of earth, a great concourse of people assembled at the place of beginning, and made the day a memorable one in the history of the town. The work had been presaged by meetings in schoolhouses all over the county, and earnest efforts made to get the people to understand the im- - port of the work, the benefits that would accrue from its completion, and the necessity for them to assist in the enterprise with subscriptions for stock and other material aid. The Legislature had been for some time in the habit of - cranting charters to every corporation that desired one, until the evils of this unquestioned granting became so apparent that a re-action set in, and that body began to refuse any charters whatever, unless the citizens or those interested could show some substantial reasons for the privilege of the charter! This required earnest work on the part of the promoters of the railroad; hence the meetings held in all parts of the county to awaken. an interest and secure subscriptions to the stock of the road. Once or twice it failed, but rallied under the lead of others. Finally, the best business men of Mansfield took hold of the work, and, by their money and personal efforts, carried it through.

As has been stated, the road was completed in the spring of 1846, and a train of cars, drawn by the " Empire," came triumphantly into the city over the old strap-bar tracks, the forerunner of that countless number of trains that have entered and passed out of Mansfield.

The completion of this road gave the city and towns along its route an extra advantage over all other towns and cities in this part of Ohio. Mansfield now became a great center for buying and selling grain and produce, which were sent forward to the lake. A depot was erected at what was then the foot of North Walnut street in Mansfield, to which point the road was brought; another depot or two were soon added by the merchants, who found the grain trade an exceptionally good one. The first grain depot is now the flouring-mill of Gilbert Waugh & Company, while the others serve in various capacities. The fall of 1846, and, indeed, two or three succeeding years, saw an immense grain trade here. Wagons came in from all parts of the country, often blocking the streets while waiting their turn to be unloaded.

The warehouse in Plymouth was built on the deep cut, over the track, in the fall of 1846, and was completed in time for the wheat crop, which, Mr. Drennan says, was very large, and was the first crop of wheat shipped in bulk, not in bags or barrels, from this county. This was in the latter part of August. The price was 45 cents per bushel, the same price paid at Milan, and said to be the lowest price paid for, wheat since the opening of the Erie Canal. Owing to the European demand, the price advanced, before all the crop was sold, $1.50 per bushel in Plymouth and Mansfield.

The cars used then were square box cars, covered with canvass or tarpaulin, and would hold about one hundred and forty bushels. They were the only kind used for three or four years after the road was put in operation. Time wrought improvements here as well as elsewhere. Mr. Drennan, in speaking of the feelings of many persons regarding a railroad then, states that there were in Plymouth Township a good many citizens who, because they were not compensated liberally for the land used in the construction of the road, and not realizing the advance sure to follow when the road was opened, determined to resist, and, when the laying of the iron rails was all that remained to complete the track, they armed themselves and

The road was in tolerably good running order by 1847 and 1848. A branch, extending from Oxford to Huron, eight miles, was built about this time, but, proving unremunerative, as other roads were constructed in the State, was, in after years, abandoned. It was chartered February 27, 1846.

The purchase of the Monroeville & Sandusky City Road by the Mansfield & New Haven Road, gave the latter corporation, which had received its charter March 12, 1836 - one year after tlie former - direct control of a line from Mansfield to the lake. The road, as consolidated, was fifty-four miles in length, and hada busy traffic. All along this line, at convenient distances, stations for receiving produce and discharging merchandise were established, and, until 1853, the road enjoyed the monopoly of the grain trade of this partof Ohio.

An extension farther south than Mansfield began to be agitatedbefore the road:was put in running order. Considerable opposition was, | however, exhibited among many classes of citizens, who firmly maintained the opinion that a prosperous railroad town must be a terminal point. A charter for a road, known as the Columbus & Lake Erie Railroad, was granted March 12, 1845, and, five or six years | after, a road was built between Mansfield and Newark, where it could connect with a road to Columbus, known then as the Ohio Central Railroad, now part of the Baltimore & Ohio, and which was completed in 1854, so that transportation was begun. That part of this road running through this county, south from Mansfield, was mainly built by Mr. Frederick M. Fitting, now a resident of Jefferson Township. He began the work in January, 1850, at Mansfield, doing the grading, furnishing the ties, and laying the iron. By August, he had the road in running order. and had his construction train He went on south in the construction of the road, doing the entire work from Mansfield to a point about six miles south of Bellville. The part through Knox and Licking Counties was being built at the same time, so that, by 1852, the cars went on down to Newark. This gave this county a river communication. The two roads - the Mansfield & Sandusky City and the Columbus & Lake Erie - continued under separate organizations (as was also the case with the Huron & Oxford branch), until November 23, 1853, when they were all consolidated and took the name of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad. The consolidation of these roads did not bring the finaicial aid desired. Each corporation was burdened with debts and judgments, and had hoped, by uniting, to establish a road that would meet the past liabilities and maintain itself in the future. This did not prove to be the case, and under an act of the Legislature, passed April 8, 1856, the road and property were sold and the company re-organized. Soon after this the Huron & Oxford Branch was abandoned and the rails removed. The re-organized company put the road in a better condition, and materially increased its traffic. Owing to various delays, the deed of conveyance from the old to the new company was not made until March 29, 1865, several years after the sale had been made, and after the new company had taken charge of the road.

This organization remained the same until February 13, 1869, when a contract was entered into by and between the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark, the Ohio Central and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroads, whereby the first named came under the control of the last named, and is now operated by that extensive corporation.

Cincinnati, familiarly called the "three ('s." It was chartered March 14, 1836, two days after the Mansfield & New Haven, and was. intended, as the charter expresses it, "for the purpose of constructing a railroad from the city of Cleveland, through the city of Columbus and the town of Wilmington to the city of Cincinnati." Various amendments were made to the original charter prior to the commencement of the work, one relieving the company from any obligation to construct its road "to or through any particular place." 4 Had this road been constructed on a direct line between its terminal points, Mansfield would now be one of its stations. The company desired to bring it through on such a route, but the refusal of the city to aid in its construction caused it to be built on its present route as far as this county is concerned.

The original charter of 1836 became dormant, and was not revived for active work until March 12,1845. A few years of delay now occurred again, and not until 1848 was work begun. It was, however, rapidly pushed forward, and in two years the work had so far progressed that the cars ran as far south as Shelby, and then shortly to' Crestline. By the next year (1851), the entire line was open from Cleveland to Columbus. One year before, that part of the road south of Columbus was finished, and the first direct line between the lakes and the river was in operation. From the first, a very large traffic has been enjoyed by this road. The road controls a line from Delaware to Cincin-. nati, fifty miles in length, which, when commenced, was expected to run from Springfield to Mansfield. It was chartered as the Springfield & Mansfield Railroad March 21, 1850, but the next year it was allowed to change its eastern terminus, and the next year the name was changed to the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburgh Railroad. The road, however, failed in the construction, and, in 1860, was sold for the benefit of its creditors. In Janae uary. 1862. that part extending from Springfield to Delaware, then in an operating condition, was sold by the Trustees to the Cleveland, | Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and has since

This railroad has since been incorporated and consolidated with the Bellefontaine Railroad Company, which in turn is the consolidation of two companies, the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh & Cleveland Railroad, and Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad Company. The last-named road was chartered February 25, 1848, with power to construct a railroad from Marion to the west line of the State, in Darke County. An

19, 1849, allowing the corporators to extend the road eastwardly from Marion to or near Mansfield. In 1856, the Company affected an arrangement with the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh & Cleveland Railroad, whereby both companies acted in unison until December 26, 1864, when they were consolidated under the name of the Bellefontaine Railroad Company. May 18, 1868, this Company was consolidated with the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and the present name, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Company, adopted.

The third railroad built in Richland County is the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, now one of the grand trunk lines between the Hast and the West. It, like all other roads, is the consolidation of several small lines whose interests demand they should be united. The to Chicago, a distance of 468 miles. of which distance 251 miles are in this State. The road is the consolidation of the Pennsylvania, Ohio & Indiana and Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad Companies August 1, 1856. The first-mentioned road was chartered February 24, 1848, eastwardly, by way of the towns of Wooster, Massillon, Canton, to some point on the eastern boundary of the State; thence to the city of Pittsburgh." The road was also to extend "from the town of Mansfield westwardly, by way of Bucyrus, Crawford County, until it intersects the west line of the State of Ohio at such point as may be most eligible." The Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an act of April 11 of the same year, concurrently made the Company a corporation of that State. Amendments were made to the charter afterward in both States as well as in Indiana and Illinois, which States had chartered the Ft. Wayne & Chicago road - authorizing and requiring counties and towns along the route to "subscribe stock to aid in building the road, upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified voters of the same."

It will be observed by the above, that Mansfield was made the central starting-point on this line. The county and city, by a popular vote, subscribed in all about $90,000 for stock - the city taking one-third, the county two-thirds. The stock was not. subscribed, however, until the early part of 1850, after work had begun. The 4th day of July, 1849, was the day on' which work on the line east of Mansfield began. It was vigorously pushed forward and the road opened for traffic between Allegheny City and Crestline, 187,miles, April 11, 1853. The road' was extended across the Alleghany River in September, 1857, and connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh. The charter for that part of the Ohio & Pennsylvania road, from Mansfield west to the State line, was amended, and a new company, called the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Company, was chartered to build a road from some point on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati road, westward over a new route, instead of over the designated one for the road as originally chartered. " This point," says the charter, " was to be selected by the company near Selzer's Tavern, in the county of Richland." This tavern occupied a position cast of Crestline, on the old Mansfield" and Leesville wagon road. It is now in Crestline, and the name of the crossing was designated Crestline. The route from Crestline west i was to be * to Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky, and on such a route as the Directors may select to work of construction with so much energy, that on the Ist of November, 1854, the line was opened to Fort Wayne, a distance of 131 miles. That part of the road, running from Fort Wayne

The Atlantic & Great Western, the third railway built through the county, is, like the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago road, one of the great through lines of railway connecting the East and the West. It was intended, when built, to connect New York and St. Louis by a continuous gauge of six feet. lowed was by the Krie Railway to Salamanca, thence, in a southwesterly direction, through Pennsylvania to Dayton, Ohio; thence to Cincimnati, over the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton road - then a broad gauge - at which city it connected with the Ohio & Mississippi, and over that road to the city of St. Louis.

That part of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, in Ohio, was chartered March 10, 1851, as the Franklin & Warren Railroad Company, and authorized to build a_ railroad from Franklin, Portage County, via Warren, Trumbull County. to the east line of the State. with power "to continue the same from its place of beginning, in a westerly or southwesterly direction, to connect with any other railroad within this State, which the Directors may deem advisable." Under this authority the line was constructed from a point on the State line, in Trumbull County, to Dayton, a distance of 246 miles. Preliminary surveys, to construct this part of the road, began in October, 1852, and active operations in July, 1853. In Sep- September, 1854, the name was changed to the Delay and embarrassment intervened, causing a temporary stoppage of the work ; but the work was finally month following; to Akron, 17 miles, in May following; to Galion, 82 miles, in February, 1864, and to Dayton, 104 miles, in June of the same year. The above statement shows that the road came through this county early in 1864. Work had been done on the road here the year before, and, in some places, a year or more before that; but delays of one kind and | another kept the work back, sometimes almost threatening its permanent abandonment. It was finally finished, and became much more important than its projectors anticipated. By its important connections with the Krie in the east, and the Ohio & Mississippi, west of Cincinnati, it became a great trunk line from New York to St. Louis, taking in on its way many large and important commercial cities. Its broad gauge - six feet - was supposed at first to be the strongest argument in its favor, and would make it, in time, the leading road in America; but experience has demonstrated the fallacy of this, the broad gauge operating adversely to the general expectation. It has demonstrated the fact that a railroad can be built too wide, as well as too narrow. to pay; the best results having been obtained from a medium width of track. A law seems to govern these things, which cannot be violated with impunity. A common vehicle on the road cannot be made wider or narrower than that in common use, without detracting from its usefulness. Ever since the Atlantic & Great Western has been in operation, there has been continual talk of reducing the gauge to the ordinary width, and over a great portion of the road between New York and St. Louis, this has been accomplished. All the new cars and machinery manufactured for the road are, and have been for years, made with a view to this narrowing of the track. That portion of the track now in Ohio still retains the broad gauge, with slight exceptions, and upon this part, therefore, are concentrated that part of the material and machinery first constructed for the broad garge. A few years more will, without doubt, see the road cut down to the ordinary width, from New York to St. Louis. From Dayton to Cincinnati it is already cut down. When the passenger on the Atlantic arrives at Dayton, he finds the car in which he is seated being hoisted by machinery. using steam power; the trucks are quickly changed. and the train proceeds on its way with the loss of but a few minutes' time. The road was sold at the instance of the foreign bondholders, January 6, 1880, and the name changed to the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad. Under the new regime. the entire track is to be narrowed to the standard gauge. A large amount of foreign capital was used in the construction of this road, and much of its stock is yet held by London capitalists.

The Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railroad Company, the fourth and last, to date, of the railroads passing through or entering Mansfield, filed its certificate of incorporation with the Secretary of State May 20, 1870, to build a railroad from Mansfield to a point on the State line between Ohio and Michigan, eighteen miles from the northwest corner of Ohio, 123 miles in length.

By articles bearing date December 28, 1870, ratified and taking effect May 19, 1871, the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan, and the Ohio & Michigan Railroad Companies were consolidated, taking the name of the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railroad Company. Capital stock, $4,000,000; road to extend from Mansfield, Ohio, via Tiffin, to Allegan, Mich., 223 miles.

This railroad was projected and pushed through principally by citizens of Mansfield, who thought to advance the interest of the city by connecting themselves with the rich country northwest, which seemed to lack railroad facilities. The road was built, but not as at first intended, and the result was a disappointment.

A contract was entered into (unfortunately, perhaps) July 20, 1871, by which the Pennsylvania Company was, after the road-bed was graded, bridged and tied, to tron the same; build all depots, machine-shops and everything necessary to a first-class road; and to receive for the same, $4,460,000 of 7 per cent, firstmortgage gold bonds and $5,000 of common stock in excess of all stock issued to all other parties - the subscription stock to be preferred, and to receive a dividend equal to 7 per <ent, after expenses and interest on bonds are paid, and a reasonable amount reserved as a sinking fund for the redemption of said bonds, prior to any dividends on common stock ; the Pennsylvania to equip the road, but to pay the cost from the earnings.

By this contract, the road practically passed into the hands of the Pennsylvania Company, and the original object for which the road was projected was ignored. By this contract, Mansfield lost the road she intended to build and received another in its stead. To obtain stock subscriptions from the people of Mansfield, it was announced that the Pennsylvania Company had agreed to locate the shops of the railroad at Mansfield. With this understanding, a large amount of stock was subscribed, and, when payment was demanded, these subscribers refused to pay until the shops should be located according to agreement. This was not done, and litigation ensued in consequence.

Under provisions of the act of May 4, 1869, the city of Toledo contracted with this and the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern Railroad Company, to build the Toledo & Woodville Railroad, and, March 18, 1873, leased the same to the said companies fot the term of 999 years. The Pennsylvania Company, having secured a lease of this line, came into possession of a line directly from Mansfield to Toledo, and have since operated this line as a feeder to their great trunk road. The road was completed to Tiffin in June, 1873; beyond Tiffin it was also graded, tied and the rails laid for ten or twelve miles, but was never used, the labor and expenditure of money beyond Tiffin being thrown away.

Much litigation and trouble for a few citizens of Mansfield, who were prominently connected with this road, has ensued; and the benefits to the city, if they have been anything, are far behind the popular expectation.

Mansfield has now a system of railroads that places her among the most important of the cities of the State for manufacturing and wholesaling purposes.

erally short, and often experimental; were occasionally used. Not until after the railroad had become a fixed fact, however, did any permanent results appear.

The first telegraph office in Mansfield was opened November 30, 1849. Mr. Samuel Hoyt, now an operator in Crestline, was in charge of the office. There was but one wire, and that, he says, was built along the mud road. from Cleveland to Cincinnati. was known wealthy citizen of Cleveland, and a man long and intimately associated with the early days of telegraphy, was President of the Company, and was one of its chief originators. The route of the line was from Cleveland through Medina, Wooster, Ashland, Mansfield, Bellville, Mount Vernon, Granville, Newark (a branch went from Newark to Zanesville), Hebron, Columbus, Washington and Wilmington to Cincinnati. These places were the only offices on the line.

In 1851, the same Company built a line along the Cleveland, Columbus, & Cincinnati | Railroad, and also along the railroad from Newark through Mansfield to Sandusky City. This last-named line was the second in this county, and. was opened, Mr. Wade writes, for business early in 1852. Mr. Hoyt thinks it was not opened till 1853. Prior to the erection of any of the lines running north and south across the State, a line from Buffalo, N. Y., to. Detroit, Mich., had been opened (in 1847) as far as Cleveland, and the next spring extended to Detroit. At Sandusky City a junction was made, in 1852, with the line along the Sandusky & Newark Railway, and the citizens of Mansfield could send Eastern dispatches by that line (which soon came to be the important one) instead of the old Cleveland & Cincinnati line, that followed the common highway to Cleveland.

When the first line was built through this county, Mr. Wade came to Mansfield, and, by dint of personal efforts, secured several subscribers to the stock of the Company. Hach share was valued at $50. Hugh McFall, Chas. | Sherman, and other influential citizens took stock in the enterprise, none of them having very sanguine hopes of realizing anything from the investment. They desired to aid any enterprise that favored the advancement of the town.

The office in Mansfield was located up-stairs in Mr. James Purdy's building, one door south of the bank corner. Mr. Hoyt was placed in charge of the office, and, on the day mentioned (Novemi.) ies) ber 30th), the office was opened for business. The receiving and sending of messages was a mystery then to most people, some of whom advanced curious and crude ideas regarding "how the thing was done." Their curiosity was not always gratified by the operators who not often sent them away confident they knew the whole matter, when, in fact, they had listened to some grandly devised scheme, the invention of the operator's brain, who immensely enjoyed the joke.

At that date, operators who could read by sound were few. Dispatches were received on an old-fashioned Morse register, and run off on paper by the yard. Mr. Hoyt says, if his memory serves him right, the receipts were $60 or $70 per month for the first months. As the business continued, and men saw the practical value of the telegraph, the revenue increased.

In the spring of 1848, the office was moved to North Main street, and put in an upper room, on the McFall corner. "That spring," writes Mr. Hoyt, "Mr. Wade sent me a list of the stockholders in Mansfield, and enough money to pay a 2 per cent dividend on the stock. Mr. McFall held one share. I handed him $1, and asked him to receipt for it. He replied 'there must be some mistake about it.' I assured him there was not. He took the dollar, handed it to his son Gaylord, requesting him to have it framed, and to hang it up in his office, as it was the first cent of dividend he had ever received from any stock he ever held. The bill, on a Plainfield (N. J.) bank, was framed, and hung in the designated place. The next day, word came that the bank had failed, and the dividend was worth only the paper upon which it was written." spring of 1853, Mr. Hoyt went to the Cleveland office, and was succeeded by Thomas Beer, of Ashland, now deceased, a cousin of Judge Thomas Beer, of Crawford County. Not long after, the office was moved from the McFall corner to a room in the Wiler House, near its north end, at the alley. By this time, the lines on the railroads were in operation, and began rapidly to supersede all highway telegraphs and to do a business commensurate with the times.

The Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad was completed as far as Crestline in April, 1853 ; a year or two after, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then on to Chicago. Such a road used the telegraph from its incipiency. Soon after the road was built, Mr. Thomas T. Eckert, then the Superintendent of the Wade lines, removed to/Mansfield from Wooster, and his brother, W. H. Eckert, was placed in charge of the office. He resided here until 1858. During his residence here the Wade lines were made a part of the present Western Union lines. Mr. Eckert became, in after years, a widely known man. He was of a positive nature, and well calculated to manage men. He removed to North Carolina in 1859, but on the commencement of the war returned North and offered his services to the Federal Government. He was given prominent and responsible positions in the service of the Military Telegraph, and was for atime also Assistant Secretary of War under Edwin M. Stanton. When President Lincoln and Secretary Seward met the emissaries | of the Confederacy, in February, 1865, to see if a peaceful solution of the great conflict could not be brought about, Mr. Eckert was one of the party, and was intrusted with an important mission. His trust was carried out with courteous dignity and delicacy, and to the entire satisfaction of the Federal Government. After the war closed, Mr. Eckert moved to New 'York, and assumed the responsible position of General Superintendent of the Hastern division of the Western Union Telegraph Company, a position he occupied several years. He afterward became President of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company, and is

Mr. Eckert was succeeded in Mansfield, as Superintendent of the Telegraph, by Mr. O. H. Booth, who now holds that position. He came here as an employe of the office, and has risen office from the room in the Wiler House to the southwest corner of Fourth and Main streets, in Stocking's building, where it is now located.

It lacks but a little of forty years since the first telegraph office was opened in this county. This lapse of time has brought great changes, none more strikingly exhibited than in the telegraph business. Now Mr. Booth superintends a telegraph interest extending over nearly three thousand miles of railroads, on many of which are double or triple lines of wire, aggregating over ten thousand miles of line.

The opening of the war gave the telegraph, then languishing, an impetus that soon sent it to the front as one of the leading business interests. Every telegraph office in the land was the center of intense interest when a battle occurred. Often crowds would block the streets in front of an office, waiting for the latest dispatches. The same scenes were again seen during the late Franco-German war. The Mansfield oftice was often crowded all night with eager citizens, hanging over the clicking of the instruments, waiting news of a pending battle.

Since the war at home, telegraph facilities have greatly increased. Twenty telegraph circuits now traverse the county, connecting Mansfield with all the leading cities of the

»country. The new American Union Company, which is now making such an earnest and persistent effort to obtain business, comes through the county on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

There are fourteen telegraph offices in Richland County, viz.: five in Mansfield: one in Bellville; one in Independence; one in Lexington; one in Shelby ; one in Plymouth ; one at Toledo Junction; one at Lucas; one in Windsor, and one in Ontario.

Another discovery is now awakening a geneneral interest in all parts of the country - the telephone. It is largely being used by business firms, and by many private parties, who thus connect, by word of mouth, their dwellings and places of business. Over forty business offices and residences are now connected, in Mansfield, and are enabled to communicate with each other at a moment's call, obviating the necessity of employing a special messenger.

One of the largest churches in the city, the Congregationalist, has adopted its use, and, by means of its aid, several members who are too feeble to leave their residences hear every part of the service, almost as distinctly as if-in the church.

Quite a number of persons who graduated in the Mansfield telegraph office have attained positions of influence in the business world. Among these may be mentioned William Hunt-