Delhi Township (part 2 of 2)

The public buildings and manufacturing establishments are quite creditable. Two large and handsome school-houses, recently erected, give evidence that the cause of education is prominent in the minds of the citizens. The one church is Episcopal, a blue limestone structure of quaint, old English style. It has quite a fair attendance, considering that many citizens of other denominations attend churches in the city, which they can so readily do on what is called the church train. A large, plain, two-story brick building, called Reeder's Hall, stands nearly opposite the church. It has in the second story a fair-sized public hall, capable of seating two hundred and fifty people, and is occasionally used for concerts, lectures, amateur dramatic entertainments, balls, etc. The lower story is divided up into different apartments, used as council-chamber, store and post office. The new rolling mill at ''Cullom's Ripple," recently gone into successful operation, is a very extensive and complete establishment of the kind, and will, no doubt, add to and accelerate the prosperity of the village in a marked degree. The large distillery of Goff, Fleischman & Company has been in operation for several years, and is a model in all its appointments and manner of conducting its business. A leading feature of this establishment is the manufacture of ''compressed yeast,'' in a building separate and specially adapted for the purpose, and gives employment to a large number of girls and boys in cutting up into cakes, wrapping in tinfoil and packing into boxes for shipment to the Northern, Southeastern and Western cities.

recently erected by the Cincinnati Cooperage company, on the site of the old factory lately destroyed by fire. The' new building is perhaps the most complete and extensive concern in the United States, and is fitted up with a vast amount of costly wood-working machinery, giving employment to several hundred men in the manufacture of all kinds of barrels, kegs, etc. The building is lighted by the Brush electric light, enabling the company to run at night as wellas by day, when necessary.

The certificate of incorporation of Riverside village was filed with the Secretary of State, August 20, 1867. The mayor for the first year was Peter Zinn, an old resident here and in Cincinnati, prominently connected with the rolling mill at Cullom's station, who died in the village in the early winter of 1880-1. In 1869, 1870 and 1871 the mayor was George A. Peter; 1872-4, Allen A. Reeder.

Within the limits of this corporation the railroads have a number of stations - as Riverside, the first beyond Sedamsville; Mineola, a plat laid out in 1873 by the Riverside Land association; SouthSide, a station on the Indianapolis railroad between the two; West Riverside, or Cullom's,"where the rolling-mill is situated; and just beyond Riverside, on the west, is the Anderson's Ferry station. Further west and northwest are Gilead; South Bend or Trautman's station, where Thompson & Company's extensive fertilizing establishment is located; Rapid Run; Industry, a village laid out in 1847 by Messrs. James and Samuel Goudin; Delhi, Home City, Riverdale, and other small stations, which are much used by surburban residents transacting business in the city.

At Home City, almost immediately adjoining Delhi, is a remarkably large mound, undoubtedly a genuine relic of the Mound Builders. Its regularity has been somewhat impaired by the blowing over of a tree that formerly stood upon it, making a large hole upon one side. Its base is oval - about two hundred by one hundred feet in its principal diameters - and its height nearly forty feet. It is now in the field of Mr. R. B. Price, a little way northeast of the railroad, but was once the property of Major Daniel Gano, the veteran clerk of Hamilton county, whose farm covered most of what is now Home City. It is said that the major had a miletrack laid out around this ancient work, upon which he was wont to exercise, train, and speed his numerous and famous horses. He once entertained the old hero of Lundy's Lane, General Winfield Scott, at dinner, and afterwards mounted the general on one of his finest horses, the well-remembered ''Wyandot," which moved as if it knew and took pride in his rider, and invited his guest to take his station upon or near the mound, and view the evolutions of the horses about the tracks, which the general did to much satisfaction. The farm here was one of three country estates then owned by Major Gano, the others being at Carthage (this one now occupied as the-county infirmary premises) and on Brush creek, in Champaign county. He was noted while here for his fine horses, among which were Wyandot, Arab,

Delphi was platted by Peter Zinn in 1866. It has a large population, numbering over two thousand. Here are-a number of notable Catholic institutions; as the church of Our Lady of Victories, in charge of the Rev. Father F. Schumacher; the parochial school attached to the same, with about seventy pupils; the principal novitiate of the Sisters of Charity; and the Boys' Protectory (formerly the residence of the Hon. George W. Skaats, of Cincinnati), in charge of the Brotherhood of St. Francis, with about two hundred boys for inmates. The last is described as ''a home for the education and maintenance of orphan and other destitute boys between the ages of five and seventeen years, who are taught the rudiments of an education and a useful trade.

A little over two miles north of the Southside station, and about half a mile west of the city limits, near the north line of the township, is the little village of Warsaw, on the turnpike which bears its name. A mile west of it, also upon the turnpike, and intersected by the headwaters of Rapid run, is an extensive cemetery, used by the inhabitants of the township.

Moscow is an old village of Delhi, now extinct. The glass-works of Messrs. Pugh & Teater, of Cincinnati, the first in this part of the Ohio valley, were located here before 1826.

Population

Delhi township shows a satisfactory increase in the number of its inhabitants, as' the comparative figures in the census-table, in a previous part of this book exhibit. In 1830, for example, the township had 1,527 people; in 1870, 2,620; in 1880, 4,738.

Mt. St. Vincent academy, Cedar Grove, situated to the northwest of Cincinnati, and distant nearly two miles directly west from Price's Inclined Plane, is an old established boarding-school for girls and young ladies. The school is under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, who are a branch of the original order founded: in the beginning of this century at Emmettsburgh, Maryland, and who still follow the rules and retain the costume and venerable traditions of their foundress. The buildings are delightfully situated on an elevation remarkable for beauty and variety of scenery, and commanding a charming view of the surrounding country. The grounds, which are greatly undulating and tastefully laid out, include some fifty-four acres, in the centre of which, on a rising plateau, stands the main building of the academy, a brick structure, four stories high; erected in the year 1858. To the west, is the chapel, built in 1875, and adjoining this, the Sisters' convent, an old building, which, previous to the year 1857, had been the residence of Mr. Alderson. This venerable mansion has acquired a degree of literary celebrity, owing to its having been the home of "Our Cousins in Ohio,"* who are described in a story bearing that title, written by Mary Howett and published in England. The homestead, including thirtythree acres of land, was purchased by the Sisters March 3, 1857. From Mr. Alderson it had received the designation of "The Cedars," which the Sisters, on coming into possession of the place, changed into Cedar Grove. The academy, built in the following year, was called Mt. St. Vincent, but Cedar Grove is still the more familiar name, dear to the hearts of hundreds who have been educated within its walls and still lovingly cherish its memories.

The sisters having charge of the academy aim at giving young ladies a thorough education in all branches of useful and polite learning, with which they endeavor to combine the sympathetic care, the assiduous watchfulness, the comforts and the genial influences of home-life, so essential to the proper training of girls, and so greatly valued by parents and guardians.

While all branches necessary to the complete education of a young lady are taught (including vocal and instrumental music, Latin and the modern language, mathematics and the physical sciences), special attention is given to the study of English, and written compositions on subjects adapted to the capacities and acquirements of each pupil, are required throughout the entire course of studies. A long experience in the class-room has convinced the Sisters that ease and accuracy in the use of a language, can be gained in no way so rapidly and so satisfactorily as by assiduous practice in composition, under the guidance of efficient teachers. The drill is supplemented by the study of the most approved textbooks on grammar, rhetoric, and the history of English literature, and by the analysis of selections from English classics. 'To still further facilitate this study and render it attractive, the Sisters have collected a library of above four thousand volumes, selected with great care by competent persons, and embracing all the more valuable works of the language, to which the pupils have free access, and in the use of which they are encouraged and directed by their teachers.

There is also in the academy a philosophical and chemical apparatus of the most approved pattern and workmanship, sufficiently complete to illustrate all the important principles of these sciences, in the study of both of which theoretical teaching is accompanied by experiment. A rich collection of globes, maps, and charts, and a cabinet containing the most important minerals and geological formations, carefully classified and labelled for reference together with Indian relics and specimens illustrating the'religion, arts, ad domestic economy of foreign countries and ancient peoples, are a possession highly valued by the Sisters and of great advantage to the pupils in the prosecution of their studies.

Screened from the public gaze by groves of cedar, locust, and maple trees, the school enjoys a seclusion and privacy eminently favorable to study, while the picturesque lawns and. extensive play-grounds offer every facility for healthy recreation and pleasant exercise. At convenient intervals on the play-ground, and shaded by the. clustering vines, are summer-houses, cozy arbors, and secluded nooks, where the pupils gather of summer evenings to enjoy the fresh breezes of the western hills and the glories of the setting sun, or whither the more studious retire form noise and distraction, to be alone with their books

To the east of the academy, and entirely hidden from it by the dense foliage, stands a small frame building now called "Seton, cottage" but formerly the homestead of Mr. Hotchkiss. Seton cottage, together with ten acres of ground, now laid out in orchards of 'pear, apple, and cherry trees, a garden and a deer park, was purchased by the Sisters in the year 1868. To the west of the convent are the barn, poultry-yard, pastures, laundry, bakery, etc.

Previous'to 1869 the Mother house and Novitiate of the community were at Cedar Grove; but in the autumn of that year both were transferred to the Biggs' homestead, in Delhi township, now known as St. Joseph's Mother house, Novitiate and Training school. Here novices enjoy every facility for the acquisition of knowledge and receive full and thorough instruction in all the branches necessary to fit them to become efficient and competent teachers in parochial schools, above thirty of which the Sisters have at present under their direction in different States of the Union.