Middletown City (part 3 of 4)

I Ndu St Rial M Iddletow N.

Steven Vail came to Middletown in the year 1800. He was a man of great foresight and enterprise, which was backed by the highest character and probity. He was a man who could initiate measures and execute them as well. Before he obtained his patent from the general government for the lands located by him in section 28, on the east bank of the Great Miami, and before he platted and laid off the original town site of Middletown in 1802, he began to lay the foundation of industrial Middletown, by the location and erection of a dam across the Miami river about a mile north of the site of Middletown. The brush dam here and then erected by the energy and skill of himself and his sons, held back the waters for the first industries of Middletown. This dam was so built and while in use was so preserved that it is still to be seen by any one who will walk along the banks of the river at this day. From this dam water was led by artificial raceways down the river on both the east and west sides. The race on the east side was brought down to Steven Vail's flour mill and saw mills; on the west the waters turned the wheels of Aaron

Vail's grist mill, later known as Mumma's mill. Aaron was a son of Steven Vail. Steven Vail's mills were located at what is now the west end of Third street, at the east end of the iron bridge across Old river. These were the first industries of this now busy city of Middletown; they were successfully and profitably operated for many years.

But we have another wide-awake, enterprising man to reckon with in the industrial progress of this part of the Miami country in the person of Abner Enoch. He too had great powers of initiation and when the ideal was projected he had great energy in execution. Indeed he was one of the most remarkable of all the pioneer settlers of this vicinity. Mr. Enoch secured large land holdings from the general government very early in the last century; a large acreage was entered in section 24, on the east bank of the Miami and about two and a half miles north of the site of Middletown: here he too erected mills, known as Enoch's mills for many miles around, and here he ground wheat, sawed lumber, dressed wool and distilled whiskey. Mr. Enoch built his own dam across the river, about six hundred feet north of the present state dam.

In 1827, after the state had built its first dam for the operation of the Miami canal, he secured from the state the right to use the water remaining after the canal was supplied with all it required. This surplus water he led away by races to the point where his grist mill was located. Here he laid ' out a town, for manufactures, and called it Manchester, after the great English city. The plat of this to-be-manufacturingcenter is found in book N, page 274, deed records of Butler county, and is dated April

10, 1827. There are ninety-one lots, fronting on streets, fifty feet wide; the alleys are sixteen feet wide and were all designed to be mill-races, leading from the main race to the river; over these, bridges were planned at the street crossings.

The plat is very unique and original, but the project never reached the full fruition of its projector, but here he had his mills and subsequently added a distillery ; the mills are gone. Water was here taken out on the west side of the river for Banker's mill, situated on the land of Mr. Banker, near to the present bridge near Posttown. The Banker dam was located about six hundred feet south of the present state dam.

Mr. Enoch erected a number of {louses for his employes at Manchester, which, with his mills, offices and shops, made quite a village. He lived in a large frame house farther down toward Middletown. This stood on the farm now owned by Mrs. Martin Robison. In one room of this house he kept a general store, where goods were sold to his employes and his neighbors.

The settlement at Middletown, as originated by Mr. Vail, grew apace and attracted the new comers. It took the lead and when the state dam was builded and the canal was put in operation other men began to initiate and project measures for the industrial advance of this new town. These had an eye for the commercial side of things ; these were men of brains and powers of execution as well, and they cast their eyes towards the neglected site of Mr. Enoch's town of Manchester, with the important water concessions and power privileges held bv Mr. Enoch in his grant from the state of Ohio, whereby he secured the right to use all surplus water not needed by the state for its canal. This water privilege was coming to be the real holding of Mr. Enoch and was every year becoming more important and more necessary for the advance of the Vail settlement at Middletown.

Mr. Enoch had not lost that keen insight which led him to grasp this privilege at first hands from the state, and he saw what was needed as well as any man in this locality, and because factories did not flock to Manchester was no reason, as he saw things, for giving up the water grant.

We find that when Mr. Enoch began to sell and transfer parcels of his large land holdings north of Middletown, that he made reservations for the flowing of water over them for hydraulic purposes; he grasped the importance of the situation firmly and was not to be trifled with in the coming race for this water privilege. When he sold and transferred five hundred and fortytwo acres to F. J. Tytus and George L. Wrenn, by deed recorded in book 13, page 619, it is recited that he received twenty thousand dollars therefor, but he reserved "the right of way through said tract of land to convey all his power from his present head race to the town of Middletown for hydraulic purposes, and the right to construct through the same the necessary races and waterways."

It will be noticed that Mr. Enoch's reservation was general and he did not confine this valuable reservation to any particular route through the land.

In 1848, by deed of general warranty, found in book 15, page 343, Butler county, Ohio, deed records, Abner Enoch sells and transfers to William Young, for fifteen thousand dollars, twenty-six and sixty-seven one hundredths acres in section 24, with all the mills, distilleries, houses and buildings thereon and the machinery, appurtenances and fixtures of the same in any wise pertaining, and all the water power of said Enoch and his right to take the water power from the state dam across the Miami river, and the right of taking the same from the state dam to the tract of land aforesaid, and also the right which said Enoch reserved in his conveyance to Tytus and Wrenn, to convey water through said lands to the town of Middletown and also a tract of about onehalf acre, situated on the Miami canal near the bridge, at the crossing of the turnpike."

This valuable property, so conveyed to William Young, was by him conveyed, by deed recorded in book 21, page 17, Butler county, Ohio, deed records, to Joseph Cooper, John W. Erwin and Richard H. Henderson. These men thereby acquired the twenty-six and sixtv-seven hundredths acres, with all the rights and water privileges of Mr. Enoch at the dam and through the Tytus and Wrem tracts of five hundred and forty-two acres.

The men who were thus acquiring the title to this valued water power privilege were giants and saw the great commercial value of the same. By deeds, transfers and conveyances the land and the water privileges were acquired in the following proportions by John W. Erwin, 14-4&' Joseph Cooper. 12-48; Charles Thomas, 1 1-48 ; Thomas Sherlock, 1 1-48. These men formed a partnership in August, 1854? known as the Middletown Hydraulic Company, and a committee of two was named at a meeting held August 14, 1854, to prepare articles of association, and steps were taken at this meeting to secure from Tytus and Wren other lands and privileges needed for the projected hydraulic race, and negotiations were then made to secure lands from Martin Robison, who owned lands adjoining the north corporation line of Middletown.

At a meeting held September 9, 1854. at the Waverly House in Cincinnati, articles of association were adopted and John W. Erwin was made 'the general agent of the company, with power to grant leases, make collections and represent the company.

Mr. Erwin's time became so much engaged that on January 23. 1855, William B. Oglesby was made agent of the company, who maintained this relation with great ability and honor until his death, in 1885. at which time he held a very large part of the stock of the hydraulic company. In 1857 this partnership was merged into a corporation under the laws of Ohio.

On April 3, 1852, the hydraulic company, bv Cooper, Erwin and Hendrickson, entered into an agreement with the village of Middletown touching the use of Water street for an hydraulic race, and on April 13, 1852. this was legalized and confirmed by an ordinance duly and legally passed by the village council.

The old Vail dam and the water privileges asserted by its owners, on the grounds of priority in the use of the water from the river, began to confront the hydraulic company very early in these negotiations. It can l>e readily seen that if there was a surplus of water after the canal was supplied that the owners of the Vail dam and races had a strong claim to it on account of the early construction of this dam, they claiming that the state could only use by reason of its sovereignty what it needed for the canal and no more, and that the residue belonged to Vail and his assigns. Serious litigation intervened, but finally the hydraulic company acquired all these water privileges and the whole was merged into its holdings.

These races, the hydraulic and the power developed at the several locks on the canal, furnished the needed water power for Middletown and her industrial career began in earnest. From these primitive flour mills and saw mills of the first years of the last century, the industries have steadily grown until the name of the city is known around the world, and Middletown is made famous by her paper, tobacco, agricultural implements, bicycles, ordnance, steel sheets and billets and other valued products.

Transportation

It were useless to plan for power for industrial development and agricultural advancement without means to transport the products so produced, and bring in things needed from other places.

The Miami river furnished the earliest, and for a time the only, means for the transfer of heavy masses of freight. This was managed on large flat boats, poled, paddled and "cooned" along by man power. On these were loaded, at Middletown, cargoes of flour, pork, corn and wheat; these were piloted down the stream at great risk on account of shallow water and storms to Cincinnati and even to New Orleans. During these earlier days the "bell team wagons ' and the "prairie schooners" were common means for the transportation of freight and produce. Thousands of bushels of wheat were so brought to the mills at Middletown, even within the recollection of men active in the city today. Scores of these mammoth wagons, drawn by six or eight horses, were seen trundling along the road to Cincinnati and returning therefrom.

And for passengers the energetic men of those days provided relays of stage coaches and large omnibuses, which were drawn over the highways on schedule time by six or eight horses. These horses were changed for fresh ones every few miles, so that the transit from Dayton to Cincinnati, via Middletown, or Germantown and Jacksonboro, was made with great rapidity and dispatch. These wagons and stages made necessary new and improved roadways on the great routes of travel, and soon the macadam roads were built on the main lines of travel and so the county grew and waxed strong and wealthy.

When the canal reached Middletown in 1827, and was thronged with boats for freight and fast flying packets, propelled by mule power, the wagons and stages grew fewer, but these continued until the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad came thundering by in 1852. With this road, now associated with the great Pere Marquette system, the Big Four system, the Pennsylvania connections, the Erie system, the Jackson & Mackinaw road and the great Michigan Central facilities at hand, the days of the bell teams are forgotten, and the once famous canal can hardly survive.

These great facilities for travel and freight transportation at once set Middletown in the forefront of the cities of the Miami valley and the central West. The chief things which go to make up a prosperous town are here to be found.

The Miami Canal

In these days of steam and electric railways, automobiles and air-ships, there are but few in this city who realize that in 1825 there was inaugurated a system of transportation which was of greater importance to the people of Ohio than would be the installation of a line of air ships today. At the close of the first quarter of the last century Middletown was a scattered, straggling county village. There were few roads leading to this village, and most of these were unpassable the greater part of the winter and spring months. The farming community and the villagers were poor and unable to build roads or school houses by taxation. The people were very solicitous about better transportation. The speakers and the press throughout Ohio were pressing for a canal to connect the great lakes on the north with the Ohio river on the south. The name of Governor DeWitt Clinton was on everybody's tongue and his achievements on the Erie canal, in New > York, were everywhere lauded. Legislation in Ohio along these lines matured slowly, but it finally came about that an act authorizing canals was passed, and in 1825 Governor DeWitt Clinton became the guest of the governor of the Buckeye state and a trip was made by them through Ohio to open the canal routes decided upon. After visiting Dayton, Cincinnati and Hamilton, he came to Middletown, with a number of great and prominent men, including Governor Morrow, arriving here on July 21st. The company was treated to a public dinner provided by Hon. John P. Reynolds, a prominent and enterprising citizen of Middletown.

On that clay, and soon after dinner, Governor Clinton lifted the first spade full of earth from the Miami canal, just south of the village and close to lock No. 11, from which the large paper mill of the Wardlow- Thomas Paper Company now gets water for its turbine wheel. This was the greatest day Middletown ever saw - before or since that day.

Governor Clinton toured the state and was everywhere hailed as "The Father of Internal Improvements/' "The grave and the gay, the man of gray hairs and the ruddy-faced youth; matrons and maidens and even lisping infants joined to tell his worth and on his virtues to dwell ; to hail his approach and welcome his arrival."

Contracts for the work on this division of the canal had been let even before Governor Clinton's visit, and construction was immediately begun, but the work was retarded by trouble with the laborers over depreciated bank notes. The determined people of Ohio righted things and the work went on and this part of the canal was completed September 26, 1826.

Thus was opened to trade and commerce the fertile valley of the Miami, and the transportation of freight and passengers was made easy, certain and very rapid for those days. The boats, their crews and equipments were a wonder to the people. This great water-way then opened up at Middletown soon connected the Ohio and the lakes, and on Sunday, January 22, 1829, the people saw the swift packets "Governor Brown," the "Forrer," "General Marion" and "General Pike" go by. By 1832 not less than one thousand people per week passed through this city on the canal. These packets were the Pullman cars of those days : they were the "limited special," the "cannon ball trains," the "fast flying Virginians;" they were "diners," "sleepers," "parlor cars," "baggage and mail coaches," and "observation cars," all in one.

The Ohio canals were more efficiently financed, managed and controlled than those of any state other than New York. The canal for many years was the center of everything commercial in Middletown. Many men grew rich in the construction, management, operation and in the handling of the passengers and freight.

But the building of railroads gradually superseded the uses of the canal and its usefulness, like that of the stage coach and freight wagons, began to wane in the 'sixties and 'seventies, and today the former great internal water-way is but little used. Much talk is indulged in about its future, but no outlook is yet certain. The people of Ohio are determined that this great broad highway from the north to the south of the Buckeye state shall not be lost to the state, by gift or theft.

It is probable that steam or electric railways will finally, in some way, get the use of this land ; for be it known that all the land now used by the state is held by it in and by a title in fee simple forever, and the state can sell or lease it as the general assembly shall determine. The law under which the Miami canal was constructed provided for the payment of damages to landowners and it declares that "the fee simple title to the premises so appropriated shall be vested in the state." This was not the case in the Warren county canal.

was constructed under a special act of the legislature, granting a charter to the Warren County Canal Company, a private corporation, the right to build a canal. This act was passed February 22, 1830. The canal was budded as a "feeder" to the Miami canal, and was thought to be a good speculation, because it connected the rich farming districts lying between Middletown and Lebanon with the great Miami canal system. The company proceeded slowly with the construction of this short canal and were disheartened after much expense had been incurred. In February, 1836, the general assembly of Ohio authorized the purchase of this public work from the company, making it a part of the Miami system ; under this act the canal was bought by the state and by it completed by means of raceways from the state dam at Middletown. The life and usefulness of this branch was short, and it was allowed to go down many years ago. The right-of-way in the city is now co\ ered with beautiful homes and business houses. The locks which stood in the eastern part of the new village of Middletown were a source of valuable wFater power and here the Iglehart Brothers built a flour mill and a saw mill in the 'thirties; but these too are all gone, as is the Warren county canal. The great Miami system is now but a thin shadow of its former self. A great impetus was given along its course for many years by its construction and use.

roads. The railroad facilities of Middletcrwn will compare .favorably writh any city of its size in the state of Ohio, and with a large number of the larger cities. Let us compare it with a few of our neighboring cities. Hamilton has but three lines, the Pennsylvania, Erie and Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. Dayton has four lines, the Pennsylvania, Erie, Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton and Big Four. Springfield has four, the Pennsylvania. Erie, Detroit Southern and Big Four, while Middletown has five, the Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, Erie. Cincinnati Northern and Big Four. Middletown is also favored with good passenger service on these lines. If these roads were running in and out of a union depot there would be fifty-two passenger trains daily enter the station.

We have direct trains out of Middletowm to Toledo, Detroit, Cleveland. Buffalo. New' York. Boston and other large cities and our people can take cars out of here direct to these cities without any change of cars, which also puts us on an equal footing with other cities. By having such good passenger service, also helps our mail service, there being mail from all directions at all hours of the day.

Middletown also has the advantage of four express companies through having good railroad facilities. The United States Express Company, using the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton ; the Adams and Southern. using the Pennsylvania Company, and the American, using the Big Four and Cincinnati Northern. Our freight service is as good as any in the state of Ohio, and while this statement is liable to cause a dispute, anyone disagreeing with this statement should make inquiries among shippers at other points, after which he would probably fall in line with this opinion. There is much kicking against the railroads here, but that is the case everywhere, for it seems to be a satisfaction to get a chance to make a daily kick to the local agent, for, as has been said, "He is the only man to get at."

The railroads employ over seventy-five men here, which includes yard crews, station men, track men and others. The Big Four and C. L. & N. (or Pennsylvania) each have a yard engine, which does all switching for these roads.

Our industries receive better service than do industries in larger cities, for here the competition is keen and each fellow is after the business, and, as service counts, every effort is made to accommodate the people. In larger cities there are more people to look after and larger yards to handle, which makes it impossible to give shippers the attention that is given our people. There is a switching agreement between the various lines, and a car coming in on one line for an industry located on a competing line, tracks are placed at the plant of consignee without any cost to him, the same rule applying on out-going business. Bv this arrangement all our industries are practically located on all lines into Middletown.

The year 1903 was the best year in the history of Middletown for the Big Four road. During the year it received 93,276 tons and forwarded 41,680 tons, making a total of 134,956 tons. It handled on an average 900 loaded cars per month, which includes in and out-bound business.

Ticket sales for 1903 were $30,092.69. against $27,425.68 in 1902. The month of August, 1903. was the banner passenger month at this station, the sales running to

Middletown has the reputation of being the best city of its size on the Big Four system and the railroad fraternity in general all have a warm spot for Middletown.

Pork And Grain Tradic

Soon after the opening of the canals Middletown began to attract the attention of capitalists interested in the handling of pork and grain. No city on the continent in those days handled and cured so many hogs as Cincinnati. Middletown being in the center of a rich agricultural territory and within easy reach of the Queen City of the West by canal, soon became a real center of this line of trade.

Sumner Hudson and Gardner Phipps, of Boston, began to kill and cure hogs in Middletown in 1835 and '36. and were soon associated with F. J. Tytus, under the firm name of Phipps & Tytus.

In 1837 Edward Jones came to Middletown from a town nearby to Boston, a carpenter by trade. He soon found work with the local builders in the summer and fall months : in the winter months he entered the employ of these pork packers, and soon had charge of the "pork house ' and was given charge of the workmen by the firm. This continued until 1839 and '40, when he was given a fourth interest in the pack of that season. The year was an unfortunate one and he with the house lost money, but they recouped their holdings next vear. Mr. Jones mastered the business.

Centennial

and made money for himself and his associates He became allied with Mr. Dupee, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Tytus and later with Geo. L Wren, S. A. Wren, W. B. Oglesby, S. V. Curtiss and others. The pork handled and hogs slaughtered in Middletown from i»35 to 1875 was enormous, and increased rapidly until the time of the war. Thousands of hogs were handled every year, being hauled and driven to the village m droves made up often of a hundred head owned by one farmer and weighing from four hundred to five hundred pounds each. The 'town was simply alive with hogs. Mr. Jones became a most skillful packer, and this business centered about him. Jones hams" were found in every home and m all the hotels of the land. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid out to the local farmers; at no point was a larger trade done than at Middletown and during these years Middletown was famous for her pork.

This demand stimulated the breeding and rearing of hogs by the farmer and in these vears originated at or near Middletown, in the Shaker and Harkrader settlements, the celebrated breed of hogs known the world over as the Poland China hog. This famous breed has been found at the front in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and all Western states from that day to this.

The largest hogs known in history were bred here during those years. Hogs of this stock were known to weigh, when three and four years old, seven hundred to twelve hundred pounds; one enormous ani-

This wide and profitable interest in hogs stimulated the farmers not only along this line, but brought them to raise more corn, wheat, barley and like crops.

The grist mill builded by Sutphin & Martin at or near the site of the old Vail mill and later on owned by Joseph Sutphin ecame the center of an enormous trade in wheat. This grain was brought here in great wagons drawn by six and eight horses from points twenty and thirty miles away. Long rows of wagons waited in the streets for a chance to unload, for there were no elevators then as now. The wagon master often slept at night in his wagon, and ted the horses from boxes at the rear o great wagon, unloading the next dav.

The handling of corn by James H. Cunningham and others was also a larbe u. ness in those days. These were great days for the farmers and did much to deveop

Railroads, elevators, combinations an centralization have taken this trade to tne great cities of the Northwest to t e mours, the Swifts and the Pillsburys.

mal raised by Daniel Leibec, of this town, reached the enormous weight of sixteen hundred and fifty pounds, and was taken on a canal boat in 1844 by David Bowman, with a large shipment of other hogs, from Middletown to Cincinnati, and to other river points ably never disclose. Columbus found the natives using tobacco when he discovered America. When Pizarro overthrew the Incas of Peru, and plundered their palaces, he found the use of tobacco to be prevalent among those fated people. The mammoth mounds that have been found in many parts of the United States, especially in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, all yielded many articles that bear evidence of having been used in the consumption of tobacco in some form. When it is remembered that these mute mounds were not the work of Indians, but of a different race of people, upon whose fate the seal of centuries has long been set, it will be seen that the origin of the use of tobacco is locked with jealous care in the silent bosom of the past. Although the fact has been controverted, there can be no doubt that the knowledge of tobacco and its uses came to the rest of the world from America, the original natives of both North and South America being producers and consumers of this commodity, which was destined, at a later date, to extend its sway, to a greater or less extent, over all the inhabitants of the earth. Savages have made it their choicest offering to the Great Spirit. Barbarians have invested it with sacred functions. Sages have proclaimed its benefactions.

But not alone in the realms of religion, diplomacy and philosophy has the divine weed received grateful recognition; in the arena of commerce it plays its most important and conspicuous part, and it is in this capacity that it will command our attention at greater length. In the year 1615, or. about that time, the colonists were encouraged to grow tobacco for profit. The colony at Jamestown was in the depths of poverty and despair. At this critical juncture a foreign demand for tobacco arose, the supplying of which gave to the despairing colonists new hope and enabled them to procure in exchange for it the necessities of life. The market places and even the streets of Jamestown were planted in tobacco, and it became the currency of the colony.

The tobacco industry, like the plant itself, from small beginnings has developed into proportions of vast magnitude and has become a source of wealth unprecedented in agricultural history. But limitation of time forces us to come abruptly to a brief consideration of the commercial aspects of the tobacco industry as it exists in Middletown.

The first persons to enter into the manufacture of tobacco in Middletown were John G. Clark and J. B. Cecil. This was about the year 1859. Their place of business was located on West Third street, between the river bridge and what is now the Palmer mill. Their venture was probably not a success, as it was abandoned in a few years, owing, no doubt, to the conditions preceding the Civil war and the panic among all industries and manufacturing concerns of that period.

The next firm to engage in the manufacture of tobacco in this city consisted of our well-known townsmen, Capt. Robert Wilson, Hon. P. J. Sorg, deceased, John Auer and James H. Jacoby, these gentlemen moving their factories from Cincinnati in 1869 and occupied the three-story brick building located on the comer of Canal and Sixth streets, doing business under the name of Wilson, Sorg & Company. Mr. Jacoby remained in the firm only a short time after coming to Middletown. The remaining members continued the business until 1877,

The establishment of this new factor)' as a general competitor in the tobacco business called forth the full powers of our home industries, and with renewed efforts they forged ahead, making large increases in the output of their product from year to year. The ever increasing demand for the "weed made it necessary to enlarge their factories and increase their facilities for manufacturing, which they continued to do until Middletown was rated as the third city in the United States in the output of plug tobacco, and it still holds this record. Some of the brands made by these firms have become commercial household words from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

In T898 the Continental Tobacco Company, in looking for available factories, recognized our home industries as among the most desirable to acquire. Negotiations were entered into which resulted in their purchasing the P. J. Sorg Company s plant, and three years later in acquiring the Wilson & McCallay factory. During the same year. 1901. the business of the Luhrman & Wilbern Tobacco Company, manufacturers of the "Polar Bear" brand, was moved from Cincinnati to Middletown, occupying a part of the buildings of the P. J. Sorg branch. The following year, 1902, the Wilson & McCallay business was also transferred to the Sorg branch, thus centralizing all the plug tobacco interests in Middletown in one plant, with G. H. Shafor as resident man-

Besides the chewing tobacco interests in our city, we have the warehouse and rehandling establishment of Cullom Bros., under the able management of Col. Isaac Hale, pioneer in the cigar leaf business in Middletown. From a very small beginning in 1876. this firm now occupies the extensive plant originally built by the American Twine Company.

Recognizing the central location of our city in the cigat leaf growing district o. the Miami valley, the American Cigar Company in 1900. seeking a suitable place to locate a branch leaf house, chose Mi ddletowm They erected commodious buildings, wit all the latest improvements for the handling and stemming of this class of leaf, and at once began operations, under the efficient management of H. P. Buell. In 1903 this firm leased from the Continental Tobacco Company what was formerly the Wilson & McCallay factory, with their three large warehouses, to meet the demands of their increasing business.

Having given a brief history of the t - bacco interests in our city, we pow proceed to give a few statistics as to the volume of business done in I9°3- _

During the past year the P. J- ^org branch, Luhrman & Wilbern Tobacco Company and Sorg leaf department employe weekly one thousand hands, paid m wages $9,000 per week, and shipped during year about 17,000,000 pounds of nia factured tobacco. We have every assurance that the output for 1904 was greater tian and adjoining counties during the year 1903 about 14,500.000 pounds of cigar leaf tobacco, at an approximate cost of $1,500,000. They employed 550 persons weekly, and paid in wages $3,500 per week.

To summarize, during the year 1903 seventeen million pounds of manufactured tobacco were shipped out from our city; fourteen and a half million pounds of cigar leaf bought (at a cost of $1,500,000) ; $12,500 paid out weekly for wages, of which amount a large proportion is deposited Monday and Tuesday nights of each week in our two building associations, and the greater part of the remainder finds its way into the channels of the retail trade of our city.

It will be seen from the few facts and figures herein given that the tobacco business is by no means one of the least of the many industries for which Middletown has achieved a world-wide reputation as a manufacturing center, and that the prosperity and substantial growth of our city may be attributed largely to this very important factor in the commerce of our nation.

The Paper Industry

The \V. B. Oglesby Paper Company's mill was the parent plant of the paper industry in Middletown and was originally built by the Erwin Bros, in 1852, as indicated on the tablet above the door of their present office. The original mill was organized for the manufacturing of roofing and wrapping paper under the superintendency of A. E. Harding and was located in the present building on the northwest comer of First and Water streets. About 1854 the concern was reorganized, taking in Messrs. W. B. Oglesby, George C. Bamitz, F. J.

Tytus, George W. Erwin. William Moore and A. E. Harding, which constituted the firm of Oglesby, Barnitz, Tytus, Erwin & Company. They soon thereafter proceeded to enlarge and added a mill for the manufacturing of book, blotting and news print. The concern was very successful and continued under the above firm name until about 1865, when Messrs. George W. Erwin and A. E. Harding sold their interests and the firm became known as Oglesby, Moore & Company, comprising the following named members : W. B. Oglesby, F.

J. Tytus, George C. Barnitz and William Moore. With some changes among the above holders the firm continued under the same name until T887. when it was incorporated and changed to its present name, The W. B. Oglesby Paper Company is now owned and successfully operated by the United States Playing Card Company, which company has recently added a large new building and made many substantial improvements, at a large outlay of money. The company makes board for playing cards exclusively.

During the year 1855 Messrs. Richardson, Jacoby & Company built what was known for many years as the Globe Mill, situated on the river bank between Third and Fourth streets. After operating it a few years it passed into the hands of George C. and C. S. Bamitz, who operated it for many years. During the early period of the Rebellion they made great quantities of roofing paper and sold it to the government, the paper being transported on wagons to Fort Dennison, located on the Little Miami river near Loveland. Later on, the property was acquired by the Tytus Paper Company and was operated by them under the name of the Gardner Paper Company until destroyed by fire in 1900. At that time Colin Gardner purchased the mill site and organized what is known now as the Colin Gardner Paper Company, and immediately erected an up-to-date box board mill, operating under the management of Colin Gardner, George Harvey and E. T. Gardner. This mill has been added to in new buildings and machinery until it is now the largest and best equipped mill in the West used for the manufacture of tag or box board papers.

During the same year, 1855, the third mill was built by J. B. Cecil, J. L. Martin and Joseph Sutphen and commenced the manufacture of news-print and continued under the above firm's management until 1858, when Smith Wrenn became a partner, Messrs. Cecil and Martin retiring and the firm's name changed to Sutphen & Wrenn, who operated the mill for many years. Later the firm's name was changed to the Wrenn Paper Company and still continues operating under the same name. This mill manufactures blotting and check paper.

Alex. Hill, Sr., and sons, Alex, and James, arrived in our city in 1854 and immediately started the erection of a mill at the corner of Second and Water streets for the manufacturing of jute papers. After many years of prosperity and quite a few changes in ownership and management this property passed into the hands of P. J. Sorg, who enlarged the plant and thoroughly overhauled it at a great expense and organized it as the Paul A. Sorg Paper Company and it is at present as one of the Sorg interests, under the direction of Judge William L. Dechant, managed by M T Hartley and T. C. Calvert. The output of this factory is rope manilla specialties and waxed papers.

In 1872 George W. Irwin & Company erected a mill on the corner of Third and Water streets for the manufacture of jute papers and after about one year of operation sold their interests to the Tytus Paper Company. From 1873 until 1893 d was successfully operated and enlarged under the management of F. J. Tytus, J. B. Tytus. C. Gardner and John Shartle, Sr. During that period it was enlarged several times over its original capacity and at one time was the largest mill west of the Alleghanies. In 1893 the Tytus Paper Company, the Gardner Paper Company and the Ohio Bag Company consolidated under the name of the Tytus-Gardner Paper & Manufacturing Company and operated successfully under the same management until 1900. when it passed into the hands of different parties. This mill has given employment to a large force of men and was a great advantage to the growth and prosperity of this city.

April i, 1867, the firm of Bachlor Thomas & Company, composed of S. H. Bachlor, C. H. Wardlow and J. K Thomas, purchased from Marmaduke Dodsworth a saw mill, flour mill and water power on the canal, near lock No. it. where their present mill is now located. The saw mill on the south side of the head race was immediately torn down and a paper mill erected and began operations during June, 1868. In September, 1872. the paper mill, flour mill and all outbuildings were destroyed by fire. In the meantime A. C. Thomas purchased the interest of S. H. Bachlor and the firm's name was changed to Wardlow. Thomas & Company. A new mill was immediately built on the site of the one destroyed and started in 1873. During the winter of 1881 and spring of 1882 the mill was enlarged and its capacity doubled. The plant was operated under the same firm until 1885. when the company was incorporated under the name of the Wardlow-Thomas Paper Company and has been practically under the same management since then, with some few changes in the company's holdings.

The Sabin Robbins Paper Company, of which Sabin Robbins, Sr., is president, was incorporated in 1890 and capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1902 the capital was increased to fifty thousand dollars. The sales for 1900 of one and a half million pounds of paper have been increased to nine million. Their warehouse facilities are being continually enlarged to accommodate their rapidly increasing business. The company expend annually ten thousand dollars for wages and furnish employment for twenty-five people.

The Advance Bag Company, of which M. W. Renick is president, consumed in T9°3 and one-half million pounds of paper in the manufacture of paper bags. This company was incorporated in 1900. The original equipment consisted of four bag-making machines, which has since been increased to twenty-one machines. Two hundred and thirty-five million bags were produced in 1903. The company last year expended over twenty thousand dollars in wages and have furnished emplovment for fifty people. Recently the capital was raised from fifty thousand dollars to two hundred thousand dollars, with the view of building and increasing their general equipment. This improvement has now been made, at an outlay of fifty thousand dollars, and will give the company a building double in size and equipped with forty machines, with a capacity of four hundred and seventy-five million bags a year.

It may be of interest to know that these several mills have a yearly output in round numbers of about fifty million pounds of paper. They use about eighty-five million pounds of raw material and consume about sixty-five thousand tons of coal. Besides this they distribute to their employees about two hundred thousand dollars annually, the most of which finds its way to our' local merchants who indirectly reap the fruits of the harvest.

In the fall of 1899 the good people of Middletown determined that they would expend one hundred thousand dollars to invite, encourage and promote new industries, and to this end Capt. Robert Wilson, E. H. Mc- Knight and Capt. Jacob Schaffer were made a commission to take charge of this fund and secure new industries for the city. These commissioners met Octobers 20. 1899, and organized by electing Captain Wilson, president. W. H. Todhunter. secretary. and Henrv Erb, treasurer.

In January, 1900, this commission entered into an arrangement with the Decatur Buggy Company, of Greensburg, Indiana, a property was secured and the plant installed within a few days thereafter. It has been here since that date, and is now doing a flourishing trade.

The commission determined to invite an iron worker of some kind to consider our city, and negotiations began between the commission and Messrs. Verity & Taylor, of Cincinnati. This resulted in the formation of The American Rolling Mill Company, with which company the commission made arrangements whereby a rolling mill was located in the city, on a plat of ground entered bv the first white settler, Daniel Doty, in the beginning of the last century. The corner stone of this new plant was laid on July 12, 1900, on which day the people of Middletown were in holiday attire. 1 e business houses, shops and mills were closed and the afternoon of that day was given to the laying of the corner stone of this new plant.' It was a glorious event ; the opening of a new era of prosperity. Out of it the city renewed its energies and emerged from the dark clouds that had hung over the city from the panic and pressure of 1893-5- The buildings were pushed, the machinery secured as rapidlv as wise counsels and matured plans would allow. The business, once set going, developed speedily and successfully and shortly new buildings and the enlargement of old ones was demanded, and they came in due course. Today the mills are double the beginnings, and are in constant operation, employing four hundred to five hundred people. George Verity is the president and R. C. Phillips secretary. At this time the venture of promoting industries in this public way seems to be a success. What the future may unfold must be but a surmise.

Electric Lighting

In 1882 the Middletown Electric Light Company came knocking at the gates of the village, asking a grant to erect towers, poles, stays, and to suspend wires for the purpose of lighting the village of Middletown with electricity. This was a new departure, and if it came it meant that gas would have an active competitor for public lighting. Electric lighting was in its infancy and the tower system was thought to be the right thing.

on May 26, 1882, and an electric plant installed. An iron tower two hundred and ten feet high was erected at the corner of Third street and the canal (this tower still stands firm and strong). A contract was made with the village for a term and the great arc lights - Brush pattern - began to glow in the heavens. The people were delighted; the great lights stood as a beacon, to be seen far out in the county. Since the installation of this light gas has been unused for street lighting.

The Brush system very shortly had a stout competitor in the Edison light, which came to the city by public license in 1883, and for a brief term lighted the streets.

Ten years ago the Middletown Electric Light and Power Company, by permission of council, installed a plant here to light the city by arc lights suspended over the streets, but a short distance above the ground. This was a newer method than the tower lighting. In April, 1894, a contract was made with the city for a term of ten years. This company has just made a new contract covering a period of ten years, from April. 1905, at sixty dollars per lamp per year. So popular was the old tower light that the new contract provides for a tower, notwithstanding towers have been taken down in most cities.

One of the most important acts of a public nature ever taken by the city was the vote had April 25, 1873, on the matter of the establishment of a system of public water works by the then village of Middletown. Much opposition was manifested and a spirited meeting was had before the state legislature and at the election, but good sense and wisdom prevailed and the people registered their verdict in favor of the proposition and sanctioned the issue of bonds to the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars for the installation of the plant. William B. Oglesby, Daniel Bowman and Aretas Doty were made the first trustees to carry out this splendid idea. The water system has been extended and enlarged several times since and steam pumps added to the original power, privileges acquired from the Middletown hydraulic. The city now has twenty-three miles of water pipes and mains, with Holly pumps and large steam pumps to supplement the original Holly machines. This season a new well has been dug near the original one, whereby an increased supply of water is secured and the city will now have an ample supply of the best water for fire, domestic and manufacturing purposes. These works and the splendid water supply are the pride of the city. This excellent and extended system is the property of the city and more than pays its own way.

Gas Supply

In September, 1883, the city authorities granted the Middletown Gas Company the right to use the streets and alleys for the purpose of laying gas mains and introducing gas for public and domestic use. This was a great advance and when the works were ready and the lamps were lighted it was an occasion for a great public jubilation. The gas facilities have grown with the city and are now in the hands of a corporation that keeps them up-to-date and abreast of the demands of the people, meeting every requirement.

Street Railway

In March, 1879, the council, by ordinance, granted the Middletown & Madison Street Railway Company the right to operate a street car system along Third street, to be moved by horses. This was soon put in operation from the Cincinnati. Hamilton & Dayton Railroad depot, on the west, to the Big Four depot, on the east, being a line of about one and a quarter miles. This was a great help to the public in its day and cheapened transportation of passengers to and from the center of the city to the railroads. C. F. Gunckel was the leader of this enterprise. It is now out of date and an electric road, as a belt line, is desired. The people await the incoming of this new line of transportation.

House Numbering

In the spring of 1887 steps were taken, and ordinances were passed, requiring all houses and business places to be numbered. This was the first move in this direction and had become necessary by reason of the increase in population and the coming of free delivery of mails in the city. The system then inaugurated was, a year or two ago, superseded by the "block system," now so generally used, and is more satisfactory to the people.

With the growth of the city came the telephone. On March 13, 1885, the city government granted to C. H. Bendy and his assigns a right to use streets and alleys to erect a line for telephone service. Mr. Bendy and his associates soon established a small telephone exchange and the introduction was highlv appreciated and well patronized. Today ^ we have a Bell telephone systein. which has now installed and in use one thousand and fifty telephones. The New Home Telephone Company is now seeking a mi sion to the city and will doubtless soon be at the service of the people. This will con nect the city and country.

The necessity of a bank in the development of Middletown and the adjacent county began to be felt at a very' early day bv those who sold corn and other farm products and who often made banks of deposit of the millers and other buyers of produce and then drew their money as needed or as was convenient to the miller. T his \\ as hazardous: then, too, the transfer of money, to pay for goods shipped away by these ear y buyers, was slow, hazardous and inconvenient.

At an early day, William B. Oglesby and George C. Barnitz conducted a general store under the name of Oglesby & Barnitz This became the rendezvous for farmers and tradesmen for many miles around. These were men of business capacity and the highest integrity, and in reaching out for trade won their way by genial manners and accommodating spirit. The character of these men and the increased custom at the store invited their friends and customers to deposit money with them; this grew to such a place, in 1847. that Oglesby and Barnitz con eluded to open a bank of deposit and ex-, change. This conclusion was carried out that year, thereby giving to the business community the first bank in this vicinity This new addition to the business interests of Middletown occupied the corner room of the quaint old two-story building at the southwest comer of Third and Mam streets, a cut of which is herepresented. This structure, built in the solid, su tial stvle of the old-fashioned brick buildings. was typical of the solidity of the concern it housed. , as a private bank until the summer of 1889. when it was reorganized, and incorporated under the corporate name of The g es & Barnitz Company. Bankers. Up vear 1888 the bank continued to do business in the old room, with no other sign or a vertisement lo mark the place than the s.gnifi.ant work "Bank.- In that y«r the company erected, on the site o t e o c a new building in which the bank is house today. On this bit of ground the same & has continued to do business since Middle town was a small village. William MB

Oglesby continued to be the president unUl his death, in 1885. Our readers will be pleased to see pictures of Mr. C^,e"y d Mr. Barnitz, who have been so c ose y with the business of this city and vKinhy.

George C. Barnitz continued his _co nection with the bank until his death 1894, ^d now C. B. Oglesby, son of W, liam B. Oglesby, and William O. '

C. B. Oglesby is president, W. O. Bamitz, vice-president and manager, and J. W. Shafor is the cashier, which position he has filled with great credit for twenty years and Ed. Sebald is the bookkeeper and teller.

This old institution has stood through all the hard times, several panics and business depressions for more than a half century and has never suspended the payment t of currency over its counter for a single day. The founders of this institution were men of great prominence and their careers were closely interwoven with the history of the city. The bank does a very large business and enjoys the confidence of the people.

In 1858 or 1859 David Wolverton and John Dickey, two wealthy citizens, formed a partnership as Dickey & Wolverton and their association became known as the Dickey- Wolverton Bank. The office was in the second story of a building on Third street, owned by M. B. Hatch. The field of operation of this concern was that of brokerage, rather than that of regular banking. L. D. Doty, an attorney, was the cashier and manager of this institution.

The First National Bank is the oldest national bank in our city, and the second oldest in the county. It was chartered in July, 1865, soon after the close of the Civil war, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and with a list of stockholders made up of the best and most successful men in this vicinity.

The board of directors, at its beginning, was made up of nine members; they were Joseph Sutphin, F. J. Tytus, Tobias Lane, S. V. Curtis, Joseph C. Williamson, William Davidson, Christian Holly, John R. Shafor and Theodore Marston. These are all dead except Mr. Marston, who is living in this city, a respected and honored citizen ; he has been continuously a stockholder and director since July, 1865. At the organization Joseph Sutphin was made president and L. D. Doty was chosen cashier ; when he assumed this position the old house of Dickey & Wolverton closed its business. The following named persons have acted as president of this old and stable banking house: Joseph Sutphin, S. V. Curtis, Daniel Mc- Callay and Robert Wilson ; L. D. Doty, Daniel Helwig, W. M. Marshall, Simon Goldman, J. R. Allen, M. W. Rennick and F. A. Jones have been cashiers during the career of the bank. Capt. Robert Wilson is now president; F. A. Jones, cashier, and C. B. Johnson, vice-president and general manager. This excellent corps of officers is backed by a list of strong men as stockholders and a paid-up capital of one hundred thousand dollars, a surplus fund of fifty thousand dollars and undivided profits of thirty thousand dollars: the assets are five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The bank was rechartered in 1885 without a word of criticism, so well had the bank been managed during the twenty years of its existence. The directors, officers and stockholders are all wealthy and successful men and deserve and receive the confidence of the people. Its clientage is large. This bank is found in the corner room of Leihee's block. With every banking facility at hand for the easy, pleasant and safe transaction of its business, the bank is as solid as the building containing its offices, and it is shown in the accompanying cut.

In 1868 and '69 Charles F. Gunckel, F. P: Loehr and J. M. Loehr associated themselves together as a partnership, under the firm name of Gunckel, Loehr & Company, to do a general brokerage business. This enterprise was successfully continued until 1872, when it was merged into the Merchants' National Bank, with a directory consisting of C. F. Gunckel, J. M. Loehr, F. P. Loehr, L. D. Doty and James M. Johnston, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. C. F. Gunckel was chosen president, and F. P. Loehr, cashier. The bank opened for business at once in the east room of the building owned by Mrs. Mary Hilt, on Third street, next to Centre alley. Here it continued to do business until a new banking house was erected on the northeast corner of Third and Main streets. This is a handsome and attractive building, three stories high and built of Buena Vista sandstone. The ground floor was originally divided into two rooms, the bank occupying the corner room, but the business of the bank so developed that in a short while the whole ground floor was occupied by the bank. C. F. Gunckel was continued as the president of the bank up to 1891, when he sold his holdings to Paul J. Sorg. who was then made president, honorably and efficiently filling the position until his death, in May, 1902. At the death of Mr. Sorg his son, Paul A., was chosen president and holds that position at this time.

The following persons have filled the position of cashier: F. P. Loehr, J. M. Loehr, G. F. Stevens, E. YV. Gunckel, C. D. Wrem, J. M. Boyd and Charles Neiderlander, who is now filling this responsible position with great credit.

Among the vice-presidents have been T. C. Simpson, George Phipps, John M. Boyd, who is at this time actively engaged in the general management of the bank. The present directors are: Paul A. Sorg, William L.

Dechant, J. C. Holloway, J. F. Gallaher and J. W. Boyd. The bank was rechartered by the government in 1892. Its present capital is two hundred thousand dollars, with a surplus of one hundred thousand dollars and undivided profits of seventy-five thousand dollars; its assets are and have been for some years about one million dollars. This is the largest bank in the city, and its banking room is large and its fixtures are tasteful and modem. Every facility is afforded for the safe and quiet conduct of its large business. Its safes, vaults and safety deposit appliances were recently put in at a material outlay, and are the finest and best in the county. The list of stockholders represents a goodly number of wealthy people and the bank stands for all that makes a bank useful and helpful to a community and enjoys a large and profitable business.

The Gunckel Banking Company began to do business as general bankers in 1891-2, in a room in the Hyndman block, and secured a favorable line of deposits and commercial accounts, but its career was short, as in T903 its business came to a close and C. F. Gunckel died shortly afterward.

Biu I. Ding Associations

In the growth and development of Middletown the building associations have been very important factors. The money loaned through these institutions has been the medium by which the poor men and the men of moderate means have secured homes. It can be truthfully said that in but few towns, if any, do so many people own their own homes as in this city. This healthful state of affairs is due to the successful conduct of building associations. The first building associations incorporated in Middletown were The Middletown .Building and Savings Association and The Middletown Building and Savings Institution. It will be noted that the only difference in the name is that one is called ''Association" and the other "Institution." This led often to confusion. The application for a state charter for "The Association" is dated May 7. 1868. and for "The Institution" May 8, 1868. The first was incorporated May 9, 1868, the second May 26, 1868. These dates are almost together. The race evidently was one between two competing bankers, each anxious to be the depository of funds to be accumulated by these new institutions.

The incorporators for the Middletown Building and Savings Association were Charles A. Bapst, Jacob Schaffer, George Jacoby, Nicholas Graff, Fred Seibert and William Sebald. This was always known as the German Association.

The incorporators of the other were F. B. Irwin. J. J. Newman, Charles F. Gunckel, Daniel Helwig and William S. Marshall. These associations were organ ized very soon after the passage of the building association law, and were among the earliest in the state.

They enjoyed very successful careers and ran out in the regular way under the true building association system. James E. Campbell, then beginning his career at the bar, was the attorney for both societies.

These associations were succeeded by the Union Loan and Building Association, incorporated May 6, 1875; P. P. La Tourrette, David Newman. James H. Jacoby. I- N. McFadden, Jacob Schaffer, I. N. boote. Fredrick Seibert, Robert Johnson and W. H. Todhunter were its first board of directors. Its authorized capital stock was one million dollars, divided into five hundred shares of two hundred dollars each. This capital stock was, on July 1, 1882, increased to two million dollars. This association did a large and profitable business, and was conducted on a plan far less complex than the one used for those organized in t868. It was a great factor in the growth of the city. This association honorably closed up its affairs and its business was absorbed by The Middletown Building and Deposit Association, incorporated May 6, 1886, with a capital stock of three million dollars, divided into fifteen thousand shares of two hundred dollars each. The incorporators were Robert E. Johnson. R. Corson, M. B. Hatch. S. P. Crane and John Wolverton. The present directors are James Lawrence, William Ling, J. C. Holloway. Lvlburn Palmer, J. C. Russell, I. P. Crane, William Smith, G. A. Wilmer, with William Ling, president, G. H. Wilmer. vicepresident, George R. Edson, secretary. Lvlburn Palmer, treasurer and assistant secretary.

The nineteenth annual report of this association shows assets of six hundred and seventy-six thousand four hundred and eighty-seven dollars and eighty-two cents, and a reserve fund of forty-one thousand dollars, with two thousand twenty-eight shareholders, six hundred and thirty-eight borrowers and two hundred and sixty-one special depositors, making two thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven as the total number of active accounts open on the books of the association. This association owns no real estate and has no foreclosure suits on hand and is among the largest in the state.

the Union Loan and Building Association from 1875 until 1886, when it wound up its honorable career, and he has been the attorney of the Deposit Association since its organization, in 1886.

This association occupies a choice room on the ground floor, is open every day in the week, and two evenings; has its own vault and other equipments. Its depository is the Merchants' National Bank. Its last annual dividend was six per cent, and it has never passed a dividend period and none have been below six per cent.

The German Building and Loan Company is an active association in the city, incorporated in April, 1889; capital stock, one million five hundred thousand dollars; M. B. Hatch, president; Joseph L. Shaffor, secretary ; LeRoy Kemp, treasurer. The directors are M. B. Hatch, Joseph Shaffor, Joseph Isamyer, Robert A. Hensey, William Conklin, F. M. Kemp and Edward Sebald; Ben Harwitz, attorney.

It has 450 members and assets of two hundred thousand dollars. It is propserous and declares dividends of five per cent, to its stockholders and has been a great help in the city.

The Press

The newspapers in the Western country usually come early in the history of a town, but it is very certain that no newspaper was published in Middletown until 1839. Tins is probably due to the fact that the sparse population was supplied very efficientlv from Hamilton, the county seat of Butler county, where newspapers were published at an early day.

was called the Middletown Mail. It was owned and published by John M. Gallaher and the first issue was dated April 20, 1839. Mr. Gallaher had previously edited the Columbus Journal and was later on associated with the Cincinnati Gazette. His pioneer poems attracted considerable attention, and his writings are referred to in W. H. Venable's "Footprints of the Ohio Valley."

The Mail was devoted to "general intelligence, trade improvements, literature and morals." It was "delivered to subscribers at two dollars a year in advance." The Mail was neutral in politics. The editor says "The party man has already discovered that we have assigned him no space nor shall we. Against all matters of a party nature the Mail will be strictly closed. It enters not into our plans to cater for the peculiar taste of' Democrat or Whig, yet political tables and authentic returns of all elections will be given."

When General Harrison spoke in Middletown, during the great campaign of 1840, Mr. Gallaher made a very complete report of the meeting and the speech. This was a great achievement for a newspaper in the then small hamlet of Middletown. The meeting was immense and the General's great voice could be easily and distinctly heard two blocks away.

The publication of the Mail was not long continued, as the venture was not largely profitable, and Mr. Gallaher, possessed of real newspaper talent, found other and more profitable fields for the exercise of his powers.

Nothing reliable can be given until the spring of 1851, when F. J. Oblinger, now of Toledo, Ohio, established The Emblem, the first number making its appearance

April 26, 1851, and was continued under his management for two years. Mr. Oblinger now has all these numbers at his home. Rev. J. B. Morton and David Heaton, two influential citizens, assisted Mr. Oblinger in the editorial work of the Emblem.

David Heaton subsequently moved to North Carolina and was elected to congress. Both he and Rev. Morton, the pastor of the First Presbyterian church, are dead. Mr. Oblinger sold the Emblem to James D. Jackson, who changed the name to the Middletown Herald.

Mr. Oblinger threw all his energies personally and by means of the Emblem to secure the location of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad in the town of Middletown, but it was of no avail, for the road was located on the west side of the Miami about a half mile west of the city.

No trace of Mr. Jackson can now be found, but by the fortune of change Rev. M. Harlan, a Methodist minister, became the owner of a newspaper in Middletown in T^55'^ an(l called it the Middletown Engine. Mr. Harlan was a talented man and his wife was a gifted woman and wrote a very attractive novel, entitled "Helen, or the Chained Mother," which bore upon the slavery question, then becoming the burning issue of the times.

About this time, or perhaps a few years prior, a magazine was published in Middletown known as the Hesperides. by a man named J. J. Pete, but its life was very short. The mazes settle down on us in the newspaper craft for a few years, and we again reach certain footing in 1857, when we find that C. H. and A. C. Brock succeeded Mr. Harlan and changed the name of the paper to The Western Journal and issued the first number January 12, 1857. The editors say on the title page, "Independent in tone and character; devoted to literature, science, agriculture, general and local news; open to all parties. Published every Thursday morning; Odd Fellows Building, Main street." C. H. and A. C. Brock were brothers and were associated together in newspaper work for a year or two, and in 1859 or i860 the name of the paper was changed to the Middletown Journal and Joseph Brock took the place of A. C. Brock and the paper continued under their management until 1871. when it was sold to E. T. Harkrader. From Harkrader it passed in quick succession to several owners, and in 1879 was bought by James L. Raymond, of Cincinnati, and by him, in 1879, was leased for a term to W. H. Todhunter and W. H. Tucker. These gentlemen made it a Republican paper in politics; during its history it had occupied neutral position in politics. In 1880 the paper and presses were sold to the American Color Printing Company, who after a few years transferred its plant, with the paper, to W. H. Todhunter & Company, which firm controlled the property for twelve years, and in 1890 they began the publication of the Daily Journal, in addition to the weekly issue. The daily was from the beginning an advocate of the principles of the Republican party. These two journals are now published by the Journal Printing Company, and are regularly issued from the company's plant on Canal street, with which is now connected a large job office for general printing of all kinds. W. M. Sullivan is the sole owner.

dletown known as the Butler County Democrat, which lasted but one year and was devoted largely to the political interests of C. L. Vallandigham. The enterprise was abandoned and the equipment sold to the type foundry.

In 1874 L. F. Bowman, now of Cincinnati, opened a dry goods store in Middletown, known everywhere as the "cheap store." He believed in advertising and the better and more cheaply to secure the advantages of thorough advertisement he began, in 1876, the publication of a small paper called The Given Away. This was for sometime issued without cost, as its name would indicate. Soon, to secure the advantage of low postal rates, he secured, nominally at least, a small subscription price and. in 1878, changed the name to The Middletown Signal and a new weekly newspaper was born. In 1 880 Mr. Bowman sold his outfit to Thomas G. Word, who enlarged it and published it up to 1887. when it passed to Charles E. Bundy and others, as The Signal Printing Company. In 1888 J. O. Baker secured the property and began the publication of The Daily Signal, the first daily issued in Middletown. These papers are now the property of The Signal Printing Company, Charles E. Gaunter manager. Mr. Baker having sold out in June, 1901. C. E. Gaunter is the editor and manager, with Janies Landis as city reporter and editor.

The enterprising papers have a good foundation and bid fair to stand the test of the years and work out profits for their owners and good for the city, unless they are crippled in their sweep by the new paper soon to be launched by the Middletown Printing and News Company.

A few sporadic attempts to establish a third paper in the city have been made since 1882, but they were shortlived, wanting in force and character and were so shortened as to make no noticeable impression.

Education And Schools

The early fathers were not satisfied with industrial plantings, the employment of the people, and church privileges, but, true to the principles of the great Ordinance of 1787. they began to cast about for some way to educate the young of those stirring times. In 1803 a small pay school was opened in one of the rooms of the Vail mills, situated at the west end of Third street on the bank of the river. These mills were the center of every movement of these early times. This school was conducted by a Mr. Beers, who. a little later, moved to Darke county and became one of the associate judges of the county court. The freshets in the later months of 1805 destroyed some parts of the mill and interrupted this pay-school.

T11 t8o6 another pay-school was opened in a log cabin which stood on what was known as the "Smoothing Iron." a triangular tract at the junction of the Yankee road and Main street, as it is today. This tract is now owned and occupied by J. K. Thomas. Esq. Here Marsha Wilson taught in t8o6: Ephraim Gray occupied the same house as a teacher, as did Joseph Worth ; still later Mr. Ward. Mr. Piper and Mr. Perry conducted small schools in a house located on the south side of Third street, just south of the Vail mills.

In 1815 the first house used solely for school purposes was built. It was of brick and stood on the east end of lot No. 11 on Vail's plat. This lot was dedicated by Stephen Vail for school purposes and it has been so used since its dedication. Lot No. 10, just north of it. was set apart by Mr. Vail for a court house and other county buildings: he expected that Middletown would become a county seat when this territory was separated from Hamilton county, of which it was then a part. In this he and his children were disappointed, as the county seat was located at Fort Hamilton. This school house was twenty by thirty feet and one story high and when built had a huge fire-place in each end for burning wood. In later years one of these fire-places was removed and the door was taken from the side to the back end of the house, and a big stove was introduced. In this house school was taught, singing schools conducted. spelling bees enjoyed and religious services held. This house was for many years called "The Old Brick." The first teacher to be named with certainty, who taught in the "Old Brick." was Jeremiah Marston, who led the boys and girls from 1821 to 1824. This house was paid for in part by private subscription, with some aid from taxes paid by the people.

In 1827 things educational began to move along a little and we find that school district No. 3 appears on the county records. This district included Middletown and the adjacent county. During some of the years from 1815 to 1850 the funds raised by taxation were insufficient to meet all the necessary outlays and in these years the schools were in part supported by tuition fees contributed by the patrons of the school in such sums as they could afford, or their lil^eralitv suggested.

The first entirely free school in Middletown was taught bv Joseph Gailbreath in 1837. This state of affairs did not last very long for the panic of that year caused by the retirement of the United States Bank and the speculations engendered by the "pet banks." as they were called, and the financial strains of subsequent years, curtailed the public revenues so that the schools were, for some time, part free and part pay.

Before 1839 and 1840 the younger pupils were taught by Joseph Elliott in the one-story brick house, situated on Third street just west of the Oglesby & Barnitz bank and known as "The Juniata Lon Store." built by William Young and in which he kept an iron store. This building stood almost as it then was until the 'eighties, when it was torn away for new brick business structures. In this house Miss Josephine Anderson (later Mrs. James Mitchell) and Miss May Gibson taught the boys and girls. These classes were subsequently taught in the "Barracks, a two-story frame, built at a very early day. and occupying the site of the present Odd Fellows temple, by Mrs. Mitchell. Miss Gibson, Miss Alice Ketcham (now Mrs. Lewis Lambright), Miss Virginia Howland and Miss Susan McOuity.

''birch" were James Pennell, James C. Waldo, Zachariah Brown, John McClellan, William S. Young, William Bamaby, Isaac Robison, George Goble and Josiah

Men now in Middletown and who were pupils under Mr. Bridge, speak highly of him and enjoy telling how they pestered him with tricks, even going so far as to tear out the bricks at one corner of the "Old Brick" so as to gain entrance to the house for mischievous purposes. These ends were often rough, meriting and receiving from the hands of Mr. Bridge severe punishment. The readers will notice such an opening, in the corner of the house shown in the picture given of the "Old Brick" and it will be seen too that the door is in the rear of the house - an odd thing.

The "Old Brick" was used until 1854. when it was torn away and a substantial brick building of four spacious rooms erected, ample for all the needs of the times in which it was builded. This was a new era in the school days of Middletown.

school becam^ known as a Union school under the "Akron law," as it was then known. The first board under this regime consisted of \V. B. Oglesby, S. E. Giflfen, Edward Jones, Joseph Sutphin and W. M. Marshall.

About 1864 the board of education was compelled to rent rooms for classes in German. colored pupils and other classes. These colonies so quartered were not easily managed or successfully taught. The matter of a new and larger house began to be talked of and was soon brought to the attention of the people. T11 a year or two the legislature authorized the purchase of a new site and the erection of a new house, provided the people approved it at an election. Twice the appropriation of sixty thousand dollars in bonds was refused by the electors, who stoutly proclaimed that the sum was too great. Finally, the authority came and six acres of land were bought fronting on Main, Yankee road and Seventh street, from the estate of Arthur Lefferson. and a large three-story brick house, of twelve large rooms and an assembly room, was builded in 1871. This large house is known as the South building and here were accommodated all the pupils of the town for a num- ber of years, the four-room brick being given up to clubs and the colored pupils, who were for a time taught separately from the white children; but in 1875 they were allowed to take their places in the regular graded schools with the white pupils.

Soon the four rooms of the building of 1854 were filled with the pupils and the demand for a new house came and the board of education moved forward and secured grounds, with the endorsement of the electors. from Gardner Phipps and in 1885 erected a handsome modern brick house of eight beautiful, well lighted, efficiently equipped rooms known as the Central building. To this splendid building have been added four other rooms on the same general plan, thus securing a house of twelve rooms.

But Middletown grew, and then came the tearing away of the house of 1853-4, the purchase of additional grounds south of lot No. 11, and in T892 a striking brick house of eight rooms, with the most modern appliances, was furnished and made ready for the young folks of Middletown.

This was not enough, and a frame of four rooms were soon supplied in the Fourth ward, known as the East building. This served for a few years, when, in 1904, a splendid brick of eight rooms took its place on a beautiful lot on Sherman street. This house was opened and dedicated in November, 1904, and is now full of bright boys and girls under talented teachers.

, From a school enumeration in 1843 °f three hundred and fifty-two pupils in the district, the schools have come to have two thousand seven hundred pupils of school age. and from a revenue of six hundred dollars in 1850, the schools now receive from the people a revenue of forty-nine thousand dollars for salaries and contingent expenses. From a teaching corps of three or four teachers in 1854, the schools have come to be conducted by a corps of forty-seven teachers and principals, who are supervised and encouraged by Superintendent Arthur Powell. The daily attendance is one thousand four hundred and fifty, with an enrollment of one thousand six hundred and thirty-two. These teachers and pupils are splendidly accommodated in four beautiful and well equipped houses, excelled by few in Ohio. 'File contrast between the ''Old twenty pupils this year who are taught by six efficient teachers, who are paid from sixty-five to one hundred and ten dollars per month for their services. The grade teachers receive from thirty-five to sixty dollars per month. The schools provide training in music, German, ornamental and industrial drawing, and a good commercial course is furnished. The sum of twentyeight thousand dollars in paid out each year for the services of the teachers and proper supervision. This is in striking contrast with the past.

The Private Schools

A history of the educational development of Middletown would be incomplete without some reference to the private schools and their teachers. This feature of the educational work was a very important matter during the earlier years of the last century, when the public schools were part pay and part free.

The private school conducted by Prof. Nathaniel Furman was the most important. He came at the earnest solicitation of the citizens in 1833 and held his school in the house now occupied by Dr. O. M. Corson, at the southwest corner of Fourth and Main streets. Here he was assisted by his wife and Miss Lucretia Williamson (since Mrs. Gard ) .

Mr. Furman subsequently moved his school to the two-story frame building on lot No. 78, now used as a hotel and known as the Trontvine property; here he taught the youth of the vicinity and many from other states. Some of the men and women taught by him are now living in this city. He was one of the most prominent educators of his day. He was a man austere in his administration and sometimes severe in his methods and punishments. Boys with soiled hands, when so found in school, were treated to a cleaning by the Professor, who used water and soap, and corn-cob for a scrubbrush ; oftentimes the blood came with the dirt, but the lad came with clean hands thereafter. Mr. Furman went to Hamilton in 1848. The boys at the "Old Brick" and those in the Furman school had it "nip and tuck" very often, and tales are told of these "mix-ups" that are rare and racy.

Rev. Mr. Pentzer taught a private school in the "Old Brick" meeting house of the Methodists, on Second street, in 1849; he was succeeded by Rev. J. B. Morton, who moved from this house to the old Presbyterian church ; then to his own home just across the street from this church. He was a ripe scholar, and much in love with his work as an educator and a preacher ; his influence was very marked. The feeling existing between the boys in the "Old Brick and those in Mr. Morton s school is clearU indicated by the names exchanged, as "Morton's cats" and "Bridge's rats.'

Absalom Deuth, Miss Susan McQuiltv, Mrs. Blackleach and others had private schools in Middletown prior to 1855- Since that period the most notable private schools were the Mercantile School, taught by Prof. S. S. Robinson from 1865 to 1870, and the Middletown Seminary, conducted by Mrs. E. B. Nason from 1865 to 1870. This was a school for young ladies and was quite popular. Since 1874, when Rev. G. E. Bercholtz conducted a (jerman school, no attempt has been made to carry on any private classes.

The Teachers. Morals And Religion

Some of the teachers in the "Old Brick" will be recalled. Among them were Josiah Bridge, from 1848 to 1852; then came C. R. Galloway, John McClellan, William Ballard and our fellow townsman, N. B. Cooley, who was the last instructor in the "Old Brick." Mr. Cooley is still living here at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Hie teachers who led the educational forces in the four-room house of 1853-4 were Thomas Wallace, L. B. Hatch, Lyman J. Fisher, J. B. Finch and W. H. Wynn, N. T. Curran, the first teacher to be given supervision and known as the superintendent, G. C. Woolard, T. C. Mendenhall, D. W. Hanna and William Witkins.

In 1872 the schools were moved to the South building and A. G. Wilson was the first superintendent: in turn came A. C. Tyler, F. T. Barnard, B. B. Harlan, James L. Orr, J. H. Rowland, J. W. Mackinnon, J. E. McKean, C. FI. Minnich and the present superintendent, Arthur Powell.

The Parochial Schools

T hese are carefully and efficiently supervised by the pastors of the several churches and are taught by the wise and well-educated Sisters. The elementary studies are carefully regarded by these schools and special instruction is given in music, stenography and drawing. Some four hundred boys and girls receive splendid instruction in these u ell-managed schools. These are a feature in the educational work of the city.

The men who planned in the early times at Middletown were not only thoughtful and active along industrial lines, hut they realized that unless the morals of the people were guarded and the religious life of the settlers promoted, no permanent advance could be made, and just as soon as the cabins were up they sought for those who could preach and teach the people in moral and religious things.

It is said that Daniel Doty was instrumental in bringing Rev. Daniel Clark, a Baptist preacher of the "old school," to this part of the Miami country as early as 179 1-2. From this early visitation doubtless came little groups of worshipers, who soon budded small brick churches at Trenton, Posttown and at "Little Prairie," just north of Middletown, where a small frame house of worship was budded in 1808.

The voice of the earnest and fiery Methodist exhorter was heard in this part of the valley several years before the nineteenth century opened on the world. At a very early day Rev. James Grimes and others began to organize "class-meetings," which were always the first pioneer services of this aggressive church. Mr. Grimes was soon followed by Rev. J. B. Finley, Arthur Elliott and others.

The Presbyterian element of this growing community began to make its influence felt at a date but little later than did the promoters of the two societies just named. This body of workers has been a very potential moral factor in this part of the Miami valley since 1815. These three communions were first on the ground to care for the

The Methodist church was the first to pass from the log cabin to the brick era, and the first to enjoy a stone house of worship; then came the Presbyterians with a handsome stone structure, then Holy Trinity Catholic church, and the Baptists will soon move to an elegant stone house. To these primitive churches have been added, as the years have moved by, the German Catholics, the United Presbyterians, the United Brethren, the Lutherans, the Evangelical Presbyterians, the Methodist Protestants and two churches for the colored brethren. With some twelve or more churches, the morals of the community should be well cared for.

The Methodist Episcopal Church

The first Methodist society in this community held its sessions and class meetings in the log cabin of James Grimes, who laid the foundation of his home on a tract of land, school section 16, just east of Middletown and now owned by Mrs. L. D. Doty.

Father Grimes, as he was always known, was born in Virginia in 1760, and moved to this locality in 1805. He came here bearing license from the quarterly conference of his home church as a local preacher, and as soon as his home was budded he began to assemble the people of the settlement together for class meetings and preaching services. In those pioneer days these classes, as assembled, were not known as churches but as "Methodist societies" and the buildings where they met as "meeting houses."

Mr. Grimes was possessed of a good education, for those times, and had a high and just appreciation of the advantages of -education and Christian teaching, and he

He was a man gifted with far more than ordinary intellectual powers, rare common sense, and executive force; these were all backed by great firmness and courage, all of which qualities were necessary in the experiences of pioneer life. He was a devout, earnest Cliristian, as was his wife, and, filled with a burning desire to help men to a better life, began both to teach in his cabin as early as 1805 and 1806.

Mr. Grimes was of medium height, robust and muscular, and a carpenter by trade he erected a number of substantial buildings in this neighborhood. Mr. Grimes and other Methodist ministers in their wide and earnest sweep over these western lands, continued to hold divine services in his cabin, in those of the neighbors, and in the little one-story school house at the corner of Second and Third streets, for a number of years. In 1815 Mr. Grimes was ordained and licensed as a local deacon by Bishop Asbury, at Lebanon, Ohio, where the session of the Ohio conference was then held. The original certificate, signed by the bishop, is now in the possession of the writer. Under the leadership of Father Grimes and other devout preachers, Mrs. John Sutphin, Joseph Lummis, John Lummis, George Grimes, Benjamin King, Rebecca Bridge, Sarah Lummis, Mary Green, Susan Grimes, Mrs. James Heaton, Sarah Bowman, J. W. Leadman, Vina Pete, Israel and J. T. Gibson, James Heath and Hugh McTigert became members of the church at the great religious awakenings that took place under the leadership of the preachers of that day.

In 1829 the society bought a piece of ground on Second street, being a part of lot 71, in this city, and in May of that year a deed was made by John Wiley to James Grimes, Benjamin King, Eli Green, George Grimes and John Lummis, trustees, in consideration of fifty dollars ; hereon the society erected a small brick meeting house of which the following is a correct picture.

ley, George W. Maley, Alfred Lorain, Charles Swayne, Samuel Brown, James Mc- Dowell, Dr. Latta, George Whitcome, Arthur Eliott, John Collins, Asa B. Stroud, John Sale, William Herr, Russell Bigelow, Moses Crume, William Raper, Joseph Hill, Thomas Collett and other fervent ministers were pastors and preachers in this brick church.

a bishop, was a preacher on the circuit, then known as the Franklin circuit. To the above names of the log cabin era we add those of Samuel McQuity, Stephen Vail and wife, Joseph Barrett and Jonathan Pettit, who figured with those of earlier days in this, the Miram Jewell, Mary Vail, George and Charles Starr, David and George Pittman, Dr. Waldo, Nancy Ketcham, David and George Leebee, John Sutphin, Mary Deardorff, Joseph Barrett and Jonathan Pettit, who figured with those of early days in this, the brick era of the society.

Revs. Thomas A. Morris, James B. Finlot 74, which building is still standing, as is the first brick church on Second street. This two-story church was dedicated by Rev. George W. Walker, a man of great eloquence and power. In this house the congregation grew and was ministered to by Rev. A. Meharry, J. B. Ellsworth, M. G. Baker, M. Dustin, J. W. Weakly, T. S. Cowden, W. L. Hypes, D. C. Ridgeway, Michael Kauffman, F. M. Clemens, D. J. Starr, George H. Dart, W. H. Sutherland, J. R. Shannon, D. C. Vance and other good men.

and Sunday school became too large and plans began to be made for a new house of worship. The new project was made certain by a generous proposal from C. F.

Gunckel, dated in May, 1889, in which he said that he would add ten thousand dollars to the new church funds, as soon as the congregation raised an additional ten thousand dollars. This, under the lead of Pastor D. C. Vance, was made good in ninety days, and a building committee, made up of Thomas Collett, C. F. Gunckel, M. B. Hatch and W. H. Todhunter, was named, and in the fall of 1889 Samuel Hanneford & Son, architects, were employed and on March 1, 1890, ground was broken on lot 84 for the new stone church. On May 31, 1890, the corner-stone was laid, and May 3, 1891, the church was dedicated by Bishop J. W. Joyce. This was a memorable day; some twelve hundred people were present. The church is of native blue limestone, except the fronts, which are of Berea sandstone. The enterprise has cost the society fifty thousand dollars, which has all been paid. The congregation is now served by Rev. W. E. Hamnaker as pastor, with a membership of six hundred and fifty-seven and a Sunday school of four hundred.

First Baptist Church

On August 9, 1808, the Salem Baptist church was organized in the home of James Heaton and the following year was admitted to the Miami association. At the first business meeting James DeWise was made deacon and Nathaniel Canfield clerk. For three years services were held in the homes of the several members.

In October, 1811, a small one-story frame house was erected on an acre of ground located on the east side of the Franklin pike, and about one mile north of Middletown. The school house in the Tytus district stands near the spot occupied by this humble house of worship.

This frame house was used for fifteen years or more, when the congregation bebegan to hold services in Middletown, at the homes of Thomas Royal and others and in the little brick school house at the corner of Main and Second streets, where it held its meetings alternately with the Methodists and Presbyterians.