Hudson City (part 6 of 6)

The prosperity of the college, which was obviously returning in all respects, received a seyere check at the breaking-out of the war in 1861. It was then the first thought of every one that all else must be sacrificed if need he, for the salvation of the country. Young men in college were among the first to feel the patriotic impulse. Several students entered the army at the first call for volunteers. During the summer term in 1361. all the students entered heartily into military drill under the instruction of Col. Hay ward. of Cleveland. At the beginning of the next term. the classes were very much diminished. a considerable number entering the service for the war. The soldiers. It is much to be regretted that no record was kept of the undergraduates who entered the army. The catalogue of 1862-03. at the end of the summary, adds the remark : = In addition to those named and enumerated above. there are in the army sixteen members of college classes. and twenty-seven members of the preparatory school." Of course there were many others before and atter that year who left to serve the country. In May. 1562. after the defeat of Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, Presi- serve three months. The students had a welldrilled military company and immediately of- Tod. They were accepted and repaired to Columbus. where they remained in charge of the military prison for three months, after which they were sent to Vicksburg in charge of a large body of prisoners for exchange. They were mustered out September 29. Commencement was held that year on the 15th day of October, and the first term of the new academic year began on the following day. This was the only interruption of the regular work of the college during the war, but of course the numbers were kept down and the financial progress was doubtless much retarded. Of those undergraduates who entered the army, quite a number lost their lives, and those who returned found themselves either as that which President Hitchcock took upon his shoulders. He maintained great vigor and . elasticity of health and constitution for several - years; but, in 1867, his health seemed to be rest or break down. He desired to be released from his connection with the college, but neither the Faculty nor the Trustees would consent to his resignation. The physicians ad- - vised at least six monthsof rest. Ata meeting of the prudential committee in September, leave of absence was given him for eight teaching and to supply the pulpit during his absence. Leaving home onthe 8th of October, he went to the southern part of France, where he spent the winter.

following June. very much recruited in health. But the old energy and power to work never fully returned. with some assistance in the pulpit, still improving the financial condition of the institution, and discharging his ordinary public duties.

there was nothing to indicate to any one that any change had occurred. Before 1872, the question so much discussed in some other colleges of the same type with this, in regard to the admission of women to equal privileges of study and instruction, had been often privately considered by the Faculty. Especially when some women asked to be admitted to Wabash College and were refused, the question was sprung, " What course should we take in like circumstances ?" It was unanimously agreed that it any woman thirsting for knowledge should seek it at their fountain she should not be refused merely because she was a woman. Neither the charter nor the laws of the college presented any obstacles to the admission of women, and, on inquiry, it was thought there would be no objection on the part of the Trustees. in his inaugural address, therefore, Mr. Cutler announced the fact that women would be admitted to all the privileges of the college on the same conditions with men. In several young ladies entered the preparatory school; in 1874, one entered the Freshman class. and, in 1875-76, there was one in the Senior class, one in the tor of the church and in care of the financial atfairs. He was really relieved only from the government of the college and from responsibility for home affairs. After the great improvement in the financial condition, it was the | responsibility for the government which had especially worn upon him. Dr. Hitchcock continued in the discharge of his' duties until the summer of 1873. when a few clays before commencement he was taken sick and died on the .6th of July in the sixtieth year of his age.

On the resignation of President Hitchcock. at commencement, in 1871, Prof. Carroll Cutler was elected to fill the vacaney. He entered on the duties of the office immediately, but was not inaugurated until commencement in 1872. The presence of Dr. Hitchcock and the responsible position which he still filled caused the affairs of the college to go on as before, and maintained an average grade of scholarship. During the existence of the Theological Department, its history was one with that of the college, and has been substantially recounted above. It really began operation when Mr. Green came here as Professor of Biblical Literature, in 1830, and continued until 1852. The time of its greatest prosperity was from 1842 to 1850. It was abandoned because there were not funds enough to support Professors. The necessity for a Seminary had ceased also, because two others had been planted since the opening of this, one in and another near the field which this was intended to occupy. The funds which were contributed as a permanent endowment of this department were very Mr. Heman Oviatt gave $10,000 in 1837 to endow the Chair of Sacred Rhetoric. In 1853, Mr. Oviatt, in writing, expressed his lars of this was given by 'sundry persons," through Moses Allen. of New York. and no , further record can now be found of it. Four | thousand six hundred dollars were given by | eighty-six persons in small sums, the largest | single donation being $212. All other funds | were for current use.

The high character of the seminary is obvious from the ability of the men who filled its chairs of instruction, and also from the standing and usefulness of those who received their theological education here. One needs but to recall the names of President Storrs. Professors Green, Folsom. Long. Hickok. Barrows and Day to show that the instruction was nowhere abler. These names. also. as well as those of their pupils. clearly indicate the doctrinal views taught. Those who studied here have. many of them. occupied prominent positions. and all of them have been very useful in the ministry of the Presbyterian and Congrega- . tional Churches. in both the home and foreign fields. The seminary was linked to that ecclesiastical system which grew upon the Reserve, called the "Plan of Union." The Professors all entered heartily into it in good faith, as did

| most of the churches. until restless and grasping men on both sides drove forward the work of division. The seminary, however. and all the | Professors, continued their adhesion to the Plan.

A preparatory school was opened in connection with the college at the very first. Perhaps it would be better to say that the college | was first opened in connection with a preparatory school ; for the first Freshman class was | admitted and studied the first vear at Tallmadge, in the academy, under Mr. David L. Coe, who was Principal of the school, and college tutor pro tempore. When the college opened in the new building «. Hudson, in the | fall of 1827, the first catalogue shows that | there was a Sophomore and a Freshman class, | a preparatory class and a class pursuing a par- | tial course. There has been a preparatory | class ever since. The name " Preparament " was first used in 1838. In 1843. there was a |

Preparatory Department in two sections, classical and English. In 1850. this department ~ was first called a - Grammar School." a name © which it retained until 186U. since which date | it has been called a ~ Preparatory School." would be established and endowed on the Reserve as they had been in New England. At one time there were as many as twenty academies in successful operation. First and last there have been more than thirty academies on the Reserve. But nearly all of these schools were entirely unendowed. and as the public schools improved. the number of pupils in them abandoned. A number of them have been attached to the school system of the towns where they are as high schools. But they do not thus accomplish the object of endowed academies. The necessity for the preparatory school. therefore. continues to this day. and we can see no prospect that it will soon cease. This school has always been under the supervision of the college Faculty. and taught for the most part by some of the younger graduates. Occasionally some of the Professors have given instructions there for brief periods, and Professor Gregory was Principal and carried on the schoo] for five years, with the aid of a tutor. after he was made Adjunct Professor of Latin in college. The school has never been self-supporting. except for two years. 1850-52. under Mr. Turner. During the period when the great calamity and depression were upon the college. from 1832 to 1860, the teachers received only the tuition fees, but the college furnished for it a local habita-

The early catalogues show that there were from the beginning, students here in a partial - course. The precise nature and extent of that course is not indicated. As these men were not Bachelors of Arts, itis probable that they pursued the higher English studies with the college classes and received a certificate of proficiency, but not a degree. In 1855, when President Hitchcock entered on his office, a Scientific course was announced in the catalogue. * designed for those who desire a more complete education than is furnished by acada- mies and high schools, without pursuing the The course of study was : intended to be three years. In 1839, the cata- . logue contains the names of two resident grad- - uates, and in 1845. one besides those engaged They were pursuing osophical Department. In 1847, appear the names of eleven Bachelors and Masters of Arts. who were engaged here in such work, and in 1848 there were six names in the same class. The library has grown, but very slowly, to some 7,000 volumes, mostly by donations of was greatly inereased by Prof. Loomis when he entered upon his work here in 1837. He brought with him from Europe the most important instruments for investigation and instruction. to the value of $2.200. This apparatus has been well preserved. and since 1868. has been steadily increased by the addition of almost all those new instruments which the advance of science has made necessary or useful in a college in order that the instruction might keep pace with the times.

When Dr. St. John came. in 1858. $2,500 was appropriated as an outfit for his department. some 3500 of which was probably expended in the purchase of chemical apparatus, and the $2.000 upon the cabinet. Accordingly, the cabinet seems to have grown and prospered for some time: but, during the period of | depression and disaster, it was almost entirely neglected. In 1858, it received a valuable procured a large fragment of a meteorite which fell within his field of labor February 28. 1857. and sent it to the college. This was broken up in consequence of many applications for specimens, and by exchanges the cabinet contains now a series of seventy-six different meteoric irons and stones. There are 1.450 named and labeled specimens of minerals in cases, 500 not labeled, 250 specimens of shells, with many duplicates, and a series of casts of typical fossils. 173 in number, which were added in 1874. There is also a small collection of archzeological specimens. | The chemical apparatus procured by Prof. St. John had almost wholly disappeared when President Hitchcock entered on his office. Very little was done in the way of repairing these | losses until Prof. Morley came, in 1869. Since | that date, this department has received its | proper share of attention. An admirable ap- | paratus for the purpose of analysis and research, as well as for use in instruction, has been procured. mostly purchased in Europe, at an expense of 32.500. There is a well-furnished laboratory for the use of students, where the class perform. under the guidance of the professor, all those experiments which are suitable for them. The departments of natural science. which. from the very first. seem to have attracted the enlightened attention of the - Trustees. have thus been well provided with | the means of instruction. At the present, an important change in the | history of the college is pending, which must | result in important consequences to the insti- | tution. At a meeting of the Trustees at Cleveland in 1876. the question was proposed © to the President as to how much money would cover the cost of removing the college from Hudson to Cleveland. After deliberation, the sum was placed at 3500.000 by President Cut- | ler, and an itemized statement to that effect was drawn up. Subsequently. Amasa Stone, Esq., of Cleveland, offered that amount if the © removal should be effected. A movement was , at once put in progress to secure this end, and | the success of this effort seems to be not far | from realization. There is, of course, a decid- « ed difference of opinion upon the wisdom of | this course, some of the Alumni believing with the great majority of the citizens of Hudson ' that it does great injustice to those who have sacrificed a great deal in its behalf, and at the | same time carries the youth right into the midst of temptations from which it is of the greatest importance to shield them. On the other hand, it is urged that Cleveland is destined to attract a university, which, if the Western Reserve College should neglect its present opportunity, would result disastrously to its interests. By removing to Cleveland, it is hoped that the scope of the college's influence will be enlarged, its prosperity enhanced, and that it will speedily assume that place which its founders hoped for in its inception.

Cuyahoga Falls who looks back upon the privations and labors which his predecessors went through, and sees how many comforts and advantages he has inherited, can hardly realize how short the time is since the work first begun. Those earliest laborers have all passed away except Henry Wetmore. He still resides in the town, at the age of over eighty years. He has seen every step of the progress of the place. from the first real emigration to the present time. He has been an active participant in worthy of conspicuous notice in the history of Summit County. It is situated on the Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Columbus Railroad, thirty-four miles from Cleveland and five miles

Incidents. Etc

There is probably no point in Ohio which offers more desirable manufacturing advantages ; and. as a place of residence, its elevated position freeing it trom miasmatic influences. its beautiful scenery. and accessibility to the larger cities of the State. renders it most desirable. It has become a favorite resort for pleasureseekers and excursionists during the summer months. where visitors can enjoy the beauties" of natural scenery unequaled in Ohio. For the last twenty years its growth has not been rapid. According to the Federal census of 1860, the village had 1.516 inhabitants; increased in 1870 to 1.859: in 1880 to 2.294.

As early as 1812. the water-power of the Cuyahoga River, at the place where the stream is now crossed by the railroad, having been improved by Kelsey & Wilcox. there sprang up in that immediate vicinity a number of houses. But the real founders of Cuyahoga Falls were Joshua Stow (nominally), William Wetmore and Henry Newberry.

ber 3, of Range 10, came into possession of Joshua Stow, of Middletown, Conn., and was named after him. The township of Tallmadge became the property of two companies, of one

Source changes here: from Centennial History of Summit County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, by Doyle, William B., B, published 1908; 1,825 words in this source stream.

Hudson Township

The original proprietors of Hudson township were Stephen Baldwin, Da\nd Hudson, Birdsey Norton, Nathaniel Norton, Benjamin Oviatt and Theodore Parmalee. It consisted of 16,000 acres, and, in the distribution of the lands of the Connecticut Land Company, it was sold to the above mentioned proprietors at 32 cents per acre. In 1799 David Hudson organized a party of eleven persons for the purpose of inspecting the new purchase. They started overland from Litchfield, Connecticut, and, with their wagons, oxen and cows, made a very respectable looking caravan. They were nearly two months in making the journey, reaching the present township about the latter part of June. The summer was spent in surveying; erecting a bark hut and a more substantial log-house; clearing land of timber; planting and sowing crops, and platting the village, now called Hudson, after its founder. Early in October the survey of the township was completed and David Hudson, with his son Ira and the two surveyors, started back to Connecticut, leaving the remainder of the party as a nucleus of the future settlement.

return with him into the wilderness and assist in the pioneer work of settling the new township. In this party were Heman Oviatt, Joel and Allen Gaylord, Joseph and George Darrow, Moses Thompson, Samuel Bishop and others. After enduring the usual perils and deprivations incident to pioneer journey.-;, they arrived safely in Hudson in May, 1800. Their first act was a public meeting to conduct services of thanksgiving for their safe journey and deliverance from the perils of the way in the wilderness. On October 28, 1800, there was born to David Hudson and his wife, Anna (Norton) Hudson, a daughter, whom they named Anner Mary Hudson. She was born in Hudson and was the first white child born in what is now Summit County.

Early in 1802 the county commis-sioners of Trumbull County, of which this locality was then a part, organized Hudson township and arranged for the first election in April, 1802. There were elected at that time. Heman Oviatt, Ebenezer Sheldon and Abraham Thompson, tmstees; Thadeus Laeey, clerk; Rufus Edwards, Ebenezer Lester and Aaron Norton, constables, etc., etc.

On September 4, 1802, the first church organization in what is now Summit County was made by David Hudson, with twelve of his fellow-colonists, who were members of Congregational Churches back in Connecticut. The first church thus established was a Congregational Church, and, from that day to this, not a single Sabbath has passed T\'ithout public worship being held by the Congregational Church of Hudson. In 1820 the society completed a fine church edifice on the site of the present Town Hall, which was used continuou.ely until the splendid brick church on Aurora Street, next to the "Pentagon," was built in 1865. This has proved sufficient for the needs of the Congregational Society until the present day.

In 1828 Moses Draper, Daniel Gaylord and Perley Mansur organized a Methodist Episcopal Church, the history of which is not a record of unvarving success.

And Representative Citizens

Brewster, Henry O'Brien, Arthur Sadler and others. It is called the "Parish of Christ Church, of Hudson, Ohio." Its membership has never been large and, at time.s, the organization has been maintained with difficulty.

From the very beginning Hudson led the intellectual life of the AVestern Reserve. What the influence of Western Reserve College has been has been told elsewhere in this work by Dr. Findley. The spirit of which that institution is a product manifested itself the year after the founding of the first settleiuent. George Pease, of Enfield, Connecticut, established the first school in a log-house, about where the present Town Hall stands. The growth of the schools kept pace with that of the population. In 1868 the fine brick High School building was erected. In addition to the public schools many private schools have been conducted at various times. The first was the Nutting School for young ladies, established in 1827. Then followed the Hudson Academy for boys and girls in 1834; Hudson Female Seminary in 1845; the Gro.svenor Seminary and the Phelps "Seminary for Ladies," established a few years later ; the J. W. Smith school in 1853 ; the Emily Metcalf school in 1860, and the Hudson Academy, revived in 1874 by Rev. H. B. Hosford.

In the decade of the '50's Hudson was badly smitten with the railroad fever. There was scarcely one of her citizens of means who did not invest everv- penny he could possibly raise in one or more of the railroad enterprises undertaken at that time. Profe.ssor Henry N. Day. of Western Reserve College, seems to have been the moving spirit in all these schemes. The investors lost every cent they put in and the depreciation in Hudson business has been constant since that time. The town never rallied from the great financial losses brought about by the failures of these railroad projects. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was completed from Cleveland to Hudson in 1852. The "Akron Branch" was built soon after. These were successful and improved business conditions in Hudson so much that when subsequent projects were broached no difficulty was encountered in getting the support of every Hudson citizen. In 1852 Prof. Day and his associates "promoted" "the Clinton Line Railroad." which was to be part of a great transcontinental railroad. In 1853 the same parties organized a bankruptcy club, the members of which were allowed to contribute to "the Clinton Line Extension," to run from Hudson to Tiffin. In the .same year Hudson citizens were asked to contribute toward defraying the expenses of another dream, iridescent and alluring, called the "Hudson and Painesville Railroad," designed as an extension of the "Akron Branch Railroad." The work on all these railroads was started and carried on to various extents. Much of the old grading, fills and culverts may yet be seen in the woods and pastures near Hudson. At least one of the roads was nearly half completed, when, in 1856, the bubble burst. The dream was over, but the lapse from consciousness had cost the village every available nickel in it. These roads remain today just as they were left when work stopped in 1856. As a promoter. Prof. Day was a very great failure. Besides his railroad enterprises, which ended in disaster, might be mentioned his "Pentagon" scheme and his book-publishing company, both of which were wound up by assignees.

It is a pleasure to turn from these business failures to some other enterprises which were built upon a more substantial ba=is and thus became successes. The mo.st conspicuous is the immense business built up by S. Straight & Co., established in 1867. ' Their business was the manufacture of butter and cheese and at one time they operated fourteen factories. In 1870 E. A. 0.sborne erected his butter-tub and cheese-box factory. Other mills were those of Era.«tus Crov, built in

1878; E. B. Shields, 1890; E. J. Tobdell; the Oviatt Manufacturing Company, in 1878, and the G. H. Grimm Manufacturing Company. Hudson's mercantile status is better today, perhaps, than at any time in the past. The great fire of a few years ago, which wiped out the entire western portion of the business part of town, has been the means of bringing about a great change for the better. Fine brick blocks have taken the place of the antiquated frame buildings in which business was formerly done and merchants have filled these modern rooms with larger stocks of finer goods. The Cleveland Bank failure, which brought so much loss upon Hudson merchants, through its Hudson branch, has been largely forgotten. After the fire above mentioned, Hudson possessed but one hotel, "The Delta," located near the depot, the old "Mansion House," located on the west side of Main Street, having been destroyed in that conflagration. In 1907 a fine, new hotel was opened up in the old Beebe Mansion, on the north side of the square, and called the "Park Hotel." Among the prominent merchants of the past and present should be mentioned Charles H. Buss, Edwin S. Bentley, John Whedon, George V. Miller, Dennis J. Joyce, R. H. Grimm, Seba.stian Miller, James A. Jacobs, Henry Wehner, John G. Mead, C. A. Campbell, C. H. Farwell, J. N. Farrar, P. N. Shively, J. L. Doncaster, W. M. Beebe, Charles Kilbourn and others.

Hudson village was incorporated April 1, 1837. At the first election, held that year, Heman Oviatt was chosen mayor; Lyman W. Hall, recorder; Frederick Baldwin] Harvey Baldwin, John B. Clark, Jesse Dickinson and Daniel C. Gaylord, trustees.

Hudson M'as one of the centers of anti-slavery sentiment in Ohio. Like Oberlin and Tallmadge, her citizens took an open and active part in attacking the great evil and arousing public opinion against it. Many fugitive slaves found an asykmi here. When the Civil War broke out Hudson did her full duty and furnished more than one hundred and fifty men for the Union Armv. Todav,

At the present time E. E. Rogers is township clerk and also justice of the peace. The census of 1890 gave Hudson a population of 1,143; the last census (1900) showed a decrease to 982.

In the drawing of lands of the Connecticut Land Company the present township of Northampton fell to W. Billings, David King, Ebenezer King, Jr., F. King, John Leavitt, Jr., 0. P. Holden, Luther Loomis, Joseph Pratt, Timothy Phelps, Solomon Stoddard and Daniel Wright. It was first settled in 1802 when Simeon Prior, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, brought his wife and ten children overland from the beautiful village of Northampton, on the Connecticut River, in the green hills of Hampshire Coimty, Massachusetts. Other early settlers were Justus Remington, David Parker and Samuel King. Later came Rial McArihur, David Norton, Nathaniel Hardy, Sr., Daniel Turner. Northampton Township was very slow in being settled. The Indians remained here longer than in any other part of the country. It was not until the American forces began to assemble here for the war of 1812 that the last of the red men departed. Many of their village sites, mounds, etc., may be seen at the present time. Here was a rendezvous for militia during the second war with England, and three vessels of Commodore Perry's fleet were built in Northampton and floated down the Cuyahoga to Lake Erie.

in 1886 the village of Niles, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, was platted. It never grew to anything more substantial than a vision in the minds of its projectors, Peter Voris and his associates. The site is now called Botzum. Other hamleis are Northampton Center, Steele's Corners, McArthur's Corners and French's Mill. Northampton did far more than her share in fumishins men for the

Union Army in 1861-65. More than one hundred and forty of her citizens responded to the call of the nation. In 1907 W. E. Voss is township clerk, and P. D. Hardy and L. A. Hart are justices of the peace.