Springfield Township (part 50 of 69)

When Mr. Weaver entertained the Springfield Rotary Club at a luncheon at the plant of the Springfield Light, Heat and Power Company, instead of a staid, formal address on some foreign subject, he reviewed its history, saying that the factories are utilizing more and more current, and the plant is a real factor in the development of the community. Since local electricians and scientists have solved the electrolysis problem, a number of business men have visited Springfield investigating the subject. The candle burning in the Demint cabin window when Griffith Foos was prospecting in this vicinity attracted him, and since that time many visitors have been induced to locate because of unusual advantages, and again the statement that the gas and electric advantages are real factors in the development of Sprin^ield.

Chapter Xliii Out-Of-Door Pleasure In Springfield Parks

It is related that as early as June, 1803 - only two years after the original survey of Springfield - Griffith Foos and Archibald Lowry, with their wives, had grown tired of the density of civilization and they made a pilgrimage to Yellow Springs. It was no doubt the first recreation jaunt - the first excursion party out of Springfield. Looking back over the lapse of years, many citizens have acted upon their suggestion and have gone "far from the madding crowd," and thus a pioneer custom - but that was a fault with most pioneers - they did not take "Little Journeys in the World."

The Foos-Lowry party went prepared with provisions to spend two or three days - there were no Wayside Inns - and leaving Springfield on horseback the excursionists directed their course toward Dayton until they reached Knob Prairie, when they turned southeast and followed an Indian trail until they came to the springs. They remained two days, unmolested and unseen by tfie Indians, enjoying the picturesque scenery which was then in its wild and uninterrupted state. They describe the site known then only to the Indians as magnificently grand, and while wandering among the beautiful evergreens and the dense shrubbery they discovered two wells in a ravine only a short distance from the river. These wells were three feet in diameter and they had been sunk several feet in the rock ; they seemed to be artificial, and writing about them in 1852 R. C. Woodward said they were still visible. The Springfield tourists were the first white party to visit the spot, but since then a train of visitors have gone from Springfield. While they went on horseback, following a trail, the beaten paths now lead to Yellow Springs.

Writing about love of nature some one anticipates the present-day public pleasure resort, saying: "You need not own the land - you probably will not, in the commercial sense. But the true lover of nature owns the world, and his use of it takes nothing from the ownership or use of any other person," and that is true of Springfield parks. When Clark County was covered with timber, there were saw mills scattered about and Mad River was lined with them. The rapid flow of the water afforded power and centered the mills along the stream until steam was utilized, and while the country lying north from Springfield was covered with timber before it finally became cleared land, when the settlers came it is said there was "not a sufficient number of poles to make a meat cart" growing on what was later heavily timbered land - a strong argument in support of reforestation.

A Washington newspaper headline reads: "Timber in the United States is being consumed four times as rapidly as it is being grown," said W. B. Greeley, chief of the Forest Service, before the House Agricultural Committee in urging Federal legislation designed to conserve the forests. Sixty-one per cent of the timber now standing in the United States is west of the Rocky Mountains, and at some distance from the markets. Before the white man wrought destruction, America had 22,000,000 acres of forest, but due to fires, clearing and lumbering fivesixths of it is already gone ; the country is cutting 26,000,000,000 cubic feet of timber a year and only producing 6,000,000,000 cubic feet, and the forest preserve idea is being promoted to keep some of the timber, and in a small way the parks are forest reserves. While Aborfelda is an unused private tract, there is little scenery more beautiful and the owner will be a philanthropist when it is attached to Springfield's chain of parks. It has a natural amphitheater that would seat 100,000 people, and such a place for pageantry; however, a cloudburst and Rocky Creek would spoil the picture - sweeping the pageant under the Golden Arch and depopulating the amphitheater.

Throughout Ohio and the whole country there is an organized effort along the lines of city beautification and the reservation of rural beauty spots for public playgrounds; it has developed in Ohio to the point of seeking the necessary legislation, and when carried it will empower county commissioners to use funds arising from bond issues in the purchase and maintenance of suitable reservations. Through this plan it is possible that Fort Tecumseh - now a military leased reservation - may become the property of Clark County. Snyder Park, embracing 21/ acres adjacent to Springfield, is recognized as the Clark County playground, and John and David L. Snyder could not have perpetuated the family name in any way more acceptable to the community. It was acquired by the Snyder family in 1827, at the pre-emption price of $1.25 an acre, and through inheritance it remained in the family until it had advanced in value with the general progress of civilization, and it was a worth-while gift to the community.

The gift of Snyder Park was accompanied by the transfer of a $200,- 000 government bond as an endowment, the income to be used in the upkeep, and the Snyder Brothers also placed $25,000 at the disposal of the Park Board for the construction of a Snyder Memorial Bridge across the stream midway of the park. The Snyder Memorial Arch at the entrance to the park, dedicated July 4, 1905, was erected at an expense of $8,000 by the City of Springfield. As Superintendent of Parks, and in harmony with the general attitude of the community, A. K. Mclntire has beautified some of the old burial plots long since abandoned for that purpose and for which the city does not hold undisputed title, the ownership vested in some defunct cemetery association. While the Park Board does not hold title to such property it has the approval of the community in improving it - showing both respect for the dead and consideration for those who live near such burial plots.

Columbia Street and Greenmount are landmark burial plots, but with only a little attention they are divested of their gruesonleness and many persons spend leisure hours in them; the gravestones are imperishable, but the bodies have long since moldered back to earth. Those buried there were pioneer citizens and there is a feeling against appropriating the burial spots with which they were familiar to purposes that would disturb the quiet and beauty - let them sleep through the ages, in lowly beds that are theirs 'till the end of time. When mothers and children while away a few hours among the gravestones and in the shade of the trees, it is not desecration ; it would be their wish in the matter, a resting place for the living and for the dead, and the Park Board has performed a community service.

The Clark County Fair Grounds is a forty-nine acre tract also open to the public as a breathing spot ; the people walk and drive as they like, and it is of easy access. The old water works property at Lagonda is a forty-acre tract used by people in that locality as a playground, and under the Kessler plan it is included in the system of Springfield parks. In 1907 George Kessler, who is a landscape engineer, was brought to Springfield and he suggested some possibilities unnoticed by citizens. He planned to beautify the whole course of Buck Creek from the city water works to Mad River - at least from city's edge to city's edge - and he also suggested certain street improvements that require time; city planning demands attention. The City Planning Commission is separate from the park board which pays its bills from taxation, but it may work out ideas of the commission, however, the board and planning commission do not always recognize the same possibilities.

Along with the abandoned cemeteries the standpipe square has been taken care of by the park board, and bordering Buck or Lagonda Creek is Cliff Park, Wittenberg Campus, Ferncliff Cemetery and Snyder Park, and Aborfelda, which means beautiful field, is only separated by a mile from this chain of nature parks - the campus and cemetery controlled by other agencies - and along the railroad tracks in the heart of Springfield is a park, restful to the eye, and a place to while away an hour. When the park board improves the boulevard that may in time supplant the race now supplying local industrial water power, it will have to acquire some acreage from Ferncliff Cemetery, or improve land not controlled by it as in the case of the abandoned cemeteries ; with a cement bottom through Buck Creek, this may become an automobile thoroughfare of great beauty.

The grade leading to Wittenberg bridge obstructs the view along Buck Creek, but a driveway under the bridge connects Cliff Park with the acreage along the stream now owned by the city connecting it with

Snyder Park, except for the holdings of the Cemetery Association. The abandonment of Wittenberg bridge and the removal of the grade would be one generation undoing the work of another, but a roadway tunneled through the grade and away from the edge of the stream is among the future possibilities. This bridge was secured as a result of continued effort, and it is a fixture in Springfield. While Snyder Park is a bequest, Cliff Park was acquired by purchase, although there was a time when it was proffered to the city.

While serving as a member of the City Council in the old form of government in Springfield, it was George W. Billow who suggested the possibility of developing the waste land along Buck Creek, and when the Frey quarry was abandoned George H. Frey who had no further use for the hole in the ground from which building stone had been obtained for many years thought to rid himself of an incumbrance, but at that time the council did not recognize its opportunity. It would have been a bequest, although it was a purchase finally. When the Freys operated the quarry, there were shacks in the low ground occupied by the workmen. When they were blasting, pedestrians and nearby residents were warned of the danger, the debris would be thrown for some distance and sometimes windows were broken by the explosion. At one time the bank now traversed by Ferncliff Place extended to the edge of the stream, and it was blasting that rendered Cliff Park a possibility.

The promontory still standing well west in Cliff Park may yet be utilized as a band stand. It is solid rock with but little earth covering it, although trees and shrubs grow out of it. With but little effort the ledges may be converted into stairways, and a shelter may be placed over it. There were lime kilns in the quarry, the shale being burned that was found in stratas in the building stone, and it seems that nature takes care of its own needs. When there was building stone available, and before the days of the universal use of cement, man was busy preparing this breathing spot in the heart of Springfield. There is the same outcropping of limestone from Cliff Park through Wittenberg and Ferncliff to Snyder Park - rugged scenery all the distance - and in acquiring it condemnation proceedings were necessary, the city paying full price for much of the property, and the chain is unbroken except for about four acres included in Ferncliff.

As special attorney to assist the city part extension work, George S. Dial, as assistant to City Solicitor Howard McGregor, stated that $35,000 had been expended acquiring the forty acres connecting Cliff and Snyder parks, but only an approximation was made of how much was paid for the Cliff property. When Isaac Ward opened the limestone quarry it was in front of his home - now the I. Ward Frey place on Fountain Avenue - but in order to keep his lawn, which is underlaid with limestone, intact, he soon crossed Market Street, now Fountain Avenue, with the quarry developments. On August 22, 1839, Isaac Ward acquired 192 acres, known as the John Compton farm, paying $8,000 for it. The different Frey additions to Springfield have been carved out of the Ward farm, and the story is told that Isaac Ward had one daughter, Jane Quigley Ward, and by inheritance this property became hers after she had become the wife of George H. Frey. In 1839, it became the Ward property and in 1863 it became the Frey property, and I. Ward Frey, who now owns it, was born there.

Because this property is in the heart of Springfield its history is of interest in connection with the Cliff Park story. At one time G. H. Frey offered the tract lying west of Fountain Avenue and north of College Avenue to Wittenberg with a $12,000 consideration, but the college had no immediate funds and did not avail itself of the opportunity. It later paid half that amount for an outlet to Woodlawn Avenue, and the property included in that offer is now covered with beautiful homes. When the quarry property was offered to the city it was a personal matter, but when it was acquired it was an estate and the heirs sold it to the city. While it was once the policy of the city fathers to keep down taxes, they sometimes paid more in the end than if they had availed themselves of opportunities. Progress is never made while conservatism controls the situation, although following reckless expenditures is the final day of settlement.

While the Springfield Park System is a constant expense, it is a source of pleasure. The payroll is met by endowment and taxation, and the chain of parks is a splendid adjunct to Springfield, the old and the young enjoying outings there.

Chapter Xliv

In a Bible story of Creation is the line: "And the earth was without form and void," and that was the condition encountered by John Paul, David Lowry, Jonathan Donnel - by all the pioneers on Mad River - and by James Demint in Springfield. When the earth brought forth grass speculation began, and today the freeholder and householder make up the sum total in Springfield and throughout the county.

The settlers had their choice, but when civilization advanced they would not have known what influenced them. It was all good land in Clark County although its metes and bounds had not yet been established in conformity with present day outlines. While agriculture is the oldest occupation, trade in realty concerns many who never followed the plow, and its advance has created fortunes. Under the Henry James theory of single tax, the landowner would pay the running expenses of the Government, but those worst afflicted with accumulitis do not seem to fear the consequences. Accumulitis is the most contagious of all Clark County maladies, and when a man acquires one piece of property, he immediately plans to own something adjoining it.

Springfield and Clark County citizens who are well-to-do acquired their farms and city homes when they were cheaper, and they have benefited from the advance in values. Sometimes they become land poor by acquiring property from which there is no income, and when they die they do not take their broad acres with them. When the law takes hold of an estate, its division among heirs frequently results in smaller farms; the larger farms with acreage sufficient to designate them as estates are rapidly disappearing, and while many Clark County farms are still operated by the owners, smaller and better tilled farms result from breaking up the large holdings.' Men who acquire estates have no continuing city, nor do they hold perpetual leases and no matter how well they may enjoy possession, the time comes when they must surrender their stewardship, and like all other trades and professions, real estate has its rising and falling markets.

The increase in population has much to do with the advance in land values, and under the improved methods of agriculture even the waste places are being made to blossom as the rose; what was once seemingly worthless land has come on the market at fancy quotations. The up-tothe-minute real estate dealer is always a booster, helping to build up the -community. While little is said about the cemeteries, he always points -out the schools and churches as well as city blocks and improved farm lands. The intrinsic value of land is regulated by what it will produce, and along with other accomplishments the successful realtor understands soil chemistry. It takes attention to details to make both ends meet in land as well as other investments. Some successful men never would have accumulated had they not contracted debt on realty, and when one farm is paid for they buy another.

While a few generations ago Clark County farmers bought land for their sons and daughters, under prevailing prices it is easier to say: "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." While some prefer high-priced land in Clark County where it has been tested, others go into the far-country and would not. return under any consideration. While but few Clark County farms have never changed hands only by inheritance, there are some well known tracts that are held in the third and fourth generations. While Jonathan Pierce once owned 3,500 acres of land in Madison Township, there are still 500 acres that have been in the family name since 1812, and "Mohawk Farm" in Moorefield has been in the Clark family three generations, notwithstanding the ultimatum that fortunes run out in the third generation - that it is only three generations from "shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves."

Of the 15,190 homes in Springfield, according to the figures of the Ohio Building Association League, 6,795 are owned by their occupants while 8,392 are rented, although "for rent" signs are growing more numerous, housing costs having reached its peak and lower rentals being promised in future. While 6,798 homes are owned by their occupants, at least half of them are mortgaged, some citizens thinking it easier to pay interest than rent. When debt represents useful expenditure it becomes an investment, and in time title is acquired to property. The 1920 census report indicated that more than half of the 24,351,676 families in the United States were living in rented houses, showing the need of men of vision to advise them.

It is related of Ross Mitchell, who left an estate in Clark County, that he bought his first property with money borrowed on a life insurance policy ; when he came into the employ of B. H. Warder, the founder of the Warder fortune in Springfield, Mr. Warder recommended to him such an obligation. When one debt was liquidated he contracted another, and when he died he possessed eighteen farmsteads and much valuable Springfield property. He acquired the property while it was cheap, and his posterity is benefited from it. Through good investments he acquired a competency. He was a connoisseur in many lines, and had collected an excellent private library.

While the primitive American dwelling was built of logs, and the log house predominated for some years in Springfield, it is related that in 1807 Samuel Simonton erected the first frame house in town, and one account says that William Ross built the first brick house on the southeast corner of South and Market streets in 1814 - seven years later - but it seems to be an open question. It was known then as Murdock's Corner. Mr. Ross was a partner with David Lowry in shipping pork to the New Orleans market, but Dr. John Ludlow credits the first brick house in Springfield to John Ambler. In 1815 Ambler built a two-story brick house at the northeast corner of Market and Main streets, the site of the Lagonda Bank. It was at once a dwelling, a tavern and a store and a few years later when Mr. Ambler was county treasurer, before there was a courthouse in Clark County, his office was in it. In 1869 the building was taken down and there is no definite record of the Ross house.

When two Springfield real estate men were discussing the lack of business activity, one quoted: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," saying many were investigating but none were investing. They were waiting for the drop that seemed inevitable, citing the examples of men who had bought farms at inflated values, assuming mortgage indebtedness, and who were paying for them with lower prices for their products, and prices were being held up in an effort to protect them; the time to buy is on the decline of the market. It is related by Albert Reeder, in his booklet published in 1910, that the real estate now occupied by the Springfield Arcade was once offered in exchange for a cow, and another offer was made of the same plot" to cancel a small debt, but both offers were declined, and it is agreed that foresight is sometimes a minus quantity.

When the Ohio Realtors convened in Springfield, October 12, 1921, they were enthusiastic about local business conditions. The president of the association, who hailed from Yourigstown, described the live real estate dealer as a positive asset in the community; when he has the requisite vision to insure his own success, the community benefits from it. The realtors assembled were regarded as "the livest wires" in the state, and President O. E. Hawk, in leaving, commented thus: "In paved streets, public utilities, character and quality of stores, lighting system, police and fire protection and other things which go to make a city a desirable place in which to live, Springfield compares favorably to any 300,000 city. We were royally entertained, and I am sure that every delegate was made to feel at home by the Springfield realtors, who left nothing undone to make the convention a success." While Paul E. Nollen had served as chairman of the Springfield Realtors leading up to the convention, A. A. Helmuth was chosen president, and it was decided that men in other lines of business would be asked to become associate members, boosting Springfield along with the realtors. Mr. Nollen was given a silver pitcher in recognition of his activities in making a success of the convention.

As the cabin was followed by the frame house, and later the brick house had its day and the stucco was a happy way of remodeling all of the others, the builders' art makes beautiful homes a possibility. While there are some very old houses in Springfield, in the better residence sections they have been replaced with modern mansions. In Enon there are many attractive old-time homes that are still in an excellent state of preservation - perhaps more quaint houses in Enon for its population than in any other Clark County town. There are houses in Enon built low to the ground, and standing flush with the pavement that hark back to other days, and the casual visitor is impressed with them. When making the rounds of Clark County towns, no other town shows that marked architecture of other years like Enon.

There are old-time rural homes that have served their day and generation, and yet with Clark County families remaining on their farmsteads those old homes are not abandoned - and their quaint architecture renders them most attractive. Some one writes: "The rural fireside - the furnace-heated home - notwithstanding some of the political spellbinders seeking the vote of the factory men, is still the hope of the country." There are many rural homes perched high on natural building sites where drainage is not a problem; the dooryards and barnlots are dry because of natural conditions. While the pioneers lacked vision when clearing their farms, and only a few left any of the original forest to shade their dwellings, there is a civic spirit manifest today, and people are inclined to beautify their surroundings both in town and in the country.

The Pennsylvania plan of building a good barn and allowing it to help pay for a better house has spread to Clark County; with a good barn, farm products are cared for better and a saving effected, while the house is more in the luxury class. When motherhood was more popular and there were larger rural families the larger house was provided about the time they were through with it. In 1826 James Todd built a brick house in Greene Township that is not much altered; it was built when the country was thinly settled and was considered a mansion. In the days before community welfare had become an organized charity, it was almost always the home of some one who could lay claim to no other home. It was literally a refuge for the lame, the halt and the blind, and in this way the family was fortunate - here the children were born and lived until they reached maturity, and went out from choice into their own home - a privilege not often vouchsafed to families today. Since walls have ears, there is a wealth of family history in those old rooms. In the Todd family genealogy there is a description of this house.

Since 1917 there has been a different ruling with regard to the sale of delinquent tax title land in Ohio, and in Clark County the result is beneficial. When tax titles were sold as soon as the property was listed as delinquent, the land sharks were attracted to the sale, but under present conditions the delinquent is given four years in which to redeem his property - save himself. The changed law benefits struggling land owners, land certified in 1918 not being available to land sharks until 1922, and Auditor W. C. 'Mills notified the delinquents of their opportunity until finally only about one dozen properties were open to shark investors ; it was the first opportunity of observing the effect of the law.

The ninety-nine year lease is now incorporated into Springfield real estate history. The Springfield Building and Loan Association, which owns part of the realty on which its building stands, obtained the first ninety-nine year lease on the other side, the owners not caring to dispose of it. The Bancroft Hotel improvements were made under provisions of the second ninety-nine year lease operative in Clark County. In speaking of the growing popularity of this system of leasing, H. S. Kissell said that a lease secured in 1921 would expire in 2020, and such leases require careful planning in order not to complicate affairs; they must provide against changed money values within the century; to provide against changes in currency, it is incorporated into the lease that the money of the standard weight and fineness fixed by the United States mints at the time the lease is drawn, and it requires prophetic vision to safeguard an estate for so long a period. Such a lease provides an annuity, and relieves the owner of the oversight of such property. There are now a number of such leases in Springfield.

While the family planning a new domicile once consulted the carpenter, and he constructed the house, the modern house requires the careful supervision of an architect - it is more complicated than the house once built by the carpenter; it requires the blueprints and relief maps, and the carpenter is not usually a draftsman. While the building code controls the style of building, and the modern house in the downtown section must be fireproof in order to reduce the rate of insurance, there is a great deal of latitude - both in material and in architecture. All four-story business houses must be fireproof, and while Springfield has frame buildings in its residence districts, it has been singularly free from conflagration.

In speaking of native materials, Robert C. Gotwald said that the glacial region afforded sand, gravel and limestone. While Springfield is underlaid with limestone which used to be regarded as building stone, this is the age of concrete and crushed stone used in cement still provides a market for the product of the quarries along Mad River. While Springfield has few brick residences, stucco is a compromise and is coming into popularity as a finish ; while not entirely fireproof it offers some advantages over the frame house. There are not many bungalows - only properties built to sell - that style of building has never been a craze in Springfield. The bungalow is principally roof and foundation, and Springfield is not a bungalow town.

While Springfield is a city of commodious residences, there are some outstanding homes and they are in different localities. When the P. P. Mast home on West High Street was built in the '80s, he thought to establish a trend in that direction for the better home in Springfield; while the house cost $225,000, nothing else in its class was built in that locality. The Mast home was built in the style of the period when house building was changing from the plans submitted by the carpenter to those drawn by an architect. Labor was employed by the day, and there is some expensive built-in-furniture, the sideboard in the dining room being spoken of as unusual for the period. Mr. Mast was his own building superintendent. When the house went on the market, it was bought for $15,000 by the Knights of Pythias and is now utilized as a home for aged Pythians. It is separate from the K. of P. Children's State Institution, although controlled by the same lodge. Mr. Mast even built a street railway past his home, but he was unable to attract expensive residences to that part of town.

to attract expensive homes Lagonda way, as that he might live near his own business interests. While it is not in the strictly fine residential section, it always has been an outstanding residence property. The Warders were connoisseurs and this home was a social mecca. It is commodious still although no longer a Warder possession. In the *90s came the A. S. Bushnell home of Romanesque architecture, and with its spacious grounds and wall surrounding it, the picture lingers. While the property represented an expenditure of $350,000, the time came when it went on the market for the last five figures in its initial cost - a sacrifice to an estate, but a benediction to the community.

In 1900, the end of the century period, carqe the J. S. Crowell home - Colonial or Georgian - of English type, and while built as a cost of $200,000, the time came when it went to another and at about one-fourth the original investment. In 1920 came the J. L. Bushnell home of Italian Villa architecture, and built at an expenditure of $400,000, and occupied by the builder - an attractive spot - and all over Springfield and in some of the other Clark County towns, are beautiful and expensive homes. The Dutch Colonial type of architecture is in favor, and in Ridgewood some oversight of the class of building holds the residence district to distinctive architecture. The extremes are seen on East High Street - Skibo Castle and Italian Villa. The modern house must have the mirror and powder puff accessories in the kitchen, or the servant girl difficulty becomes a problem, and society has enough perplexities. It is an old proverb: "Know thyself," and the modern version includes a knowledge of the habitation.

While there are wide streets and commodious homes in South Charleston and New Carlisle, they do not reflect definite periods. There are some outstanding rural homes as Whitehall and White Oaks, and innumerable comfortable farm homes as there are spacious city residences that are not departures from custom. While the city has its sewer system, the drainage is a consideration at the rural homestead. While the ideal rural condition is reflected in the lines:

Whitehall, the home of E. S. Kelly, is described as the old-time commodious mansion modernized, and a replica of the farm shows it to be unusual in its appointments. While Whitehall proper is in Greene County, the estate extends across the Greene-Clark County line, and the business interests of its owner are in Springfield. While Whitehall was built in the '50s, it was built for the future.

White Oaks, in Bethel Township, the home af W. N. Scarff, is distinctive as a farmhouse, and it is not often duplicated anywhere in its style of architecture. At White Oaks every room is in front, the house elongated and the view of the road is unobstructed from the kitchen in one end to the music room in the other, the dining room, living rooms and parlor in their order, with chambers above, and isolation is not a feature - the house is not built four-square, with some of the rooms cut off from the changing world. There is a spacious front porch, and the rear, with western exposure and sleeping porch arrangement, is protected its entire length with a porch, the approaches bringing the indoor and out-of-door advantages together - an ideal summer living condition. The shade at White Oaks renders the lawn inviting, and it is an outstanding country house.

While the modern apartment building has its distinctive appeal with no snow to shovel, no furnace to tend and nothing to do in connection with the housing problem but to mail the monthly remittance, Springfield families have adhered to the family residence idea until on Washington's Birthday, 1922, The Southern Apartment Building on South Limestone Street was opened for ipspection. It is the only fireproof apartment, and is billed: "The latest and greatest step in Springfield's progress." It provides for twenty-four families, claiming that a three-room apartment in The Southern is equal in point of convenience to the average five and six-room house; the kitchenettes are provided with cooking range, fireless cooker, refrigerator and built-in cabinets, but colony life leads away from the American idea of the separate family home, and oldfashioned hospitality is lost sight of when the family no longer has its separate and distinctive home environment, the restaurant in the building relieving the housewife from domestic drudgery.

Some one writing on architecture says : "The dweller in an apartment imagines there is an advantage in a house, and to satisfy the craving for two stories the builders have made duplex apartments," and in Springfield some of the old-fashioned commodious homes have been made duplex in order to accommodate tenants. While bungalows are not popular in Springfield, the house-dweller desiring simplification has sometimes resorted to the bungalow rather than the duplex or apartment. The woman who keeps house on two floors knows she consumes considerable time and strength on stairways, and while six rooms may be had with less expense three rooms down and three rooms up, the modern housewife favors more roof and basement foundation thus eliminating stairways.

Whatever the house, it should harmonize with its surroundings and those who build houses should understand landscape gardening. The modern idea is to study inside arrangement leaving outside appearance as a secondary consideration as applied specially to windows. The furniture was once relegated to the corner, but now the bed is placed between windows and the sleeper has the out-of-door pure air at all times. While the bathtub was once a luxury, it is now regarded as a necessity, and furnace heat, gas or electric light, telephones, the automobile - the modern house contemplates all of them - and while the wealthy leisure class introduce such things in time they are commonplace, and families in ordinary circumstances enjoy all of the advantages. When commodities become common, they are a benefit to society and advance civilization.

In writing on the subject, Mrs. Lida Keck Wiggins of Springfield says: "Perhaps nothing about the modern steam-heated or furnaceheated house is more deplorable than the lack of an open fireplace. Many of the finer houses have chimneys and fireplaces, and order firewood each autumn, the owners being able to provide themselves with this luxury. * * * Nothing is more soul-inspiring and heart-warming than a fire of backlogs piled high, and burning merrily. A wood fire is one of the things the majority of mankind has lost out of the real comforts; what wonderful dreams have arisen from the contemplation of the open, roaring fireplace. To sit before such a blaze not only produces inspiration and beautiful dreams, but it is conducive to a greater friendliness among those who form the circle about it. * * * The fire-place presupposes comradeship - community spirit, and 'the cares that infest the way' melt in the warmth of the open fire. * * * The doings of the day, its pleasures, its successes, its sorrows and even its defeats are more easily talked over in such a genial half circle of understanding than in a bleak room without a spark of living fire in evidence. * * * The open fire! The open road! The open heart!" but why not add: "Backward, turn backward, O Time in your flight, and make me a child again."

While some have returned to the customs and comforts of the past, and the open fire and the candlestick are again in favor, a recent writer exclaimed: "Our apartments and homes are snug, upholdstered and as childless as possible. * * * We lounge in overstuffed automobiles instead of using our God-given legs ; we prefer a pale-pink drapery-hung feather-bed existence, and we scorn the activities in which the house apron and the cotton shirt are donned; we keep the Victrola playing sweet or violent music in order to escape thinking about realities. * * * Our craving for the comfortable, upholstered life is causing the eugenists to sound the alarm ; they fear for the future of America," and yet Springfield thinks of itself as a conservative, progressive American city. So much for the home life of the community.

In the way of its community and public buildings, Springfield's architecture is in keeping with the advance apparent in the study of its private homes. While the Lutherans outnumber other denominations, as yet they have no expensive church edifices. Both the Lutherans and Presbyterians are planning modern downtown church edifices with something of the institutional ideas incorporated as well as utility; they are to be community centers with athletic and sport advantages. The Catholic churches display a distinctive type of architecture, inclining to the perpendicular Gothic.

The High Street M. E. Church is of rural English type with a particularly fine setting, and it has been heralded abroad in postcards. It is said the Central M. E. is the most expensive church in Springfield. It is modern Gothic with the turret emphasized, and the church marked by a spire today belongs to the past in the history of architecture. It used to be said that spires pointed heavenward, but more detail is now worked out in windows and built-in organs. The one-room church auditorium is replaced by the modern building with facilities for accommodating all phases in community development, and the sixty Springfield churches, as the rural and smaller town edifices, are the center of energetic groups of community workers.

The Springfield City Hall, built in the '90s, is the Romanesque type of public building, and in its day it was a creditable structure. The West County Office Buildigg is Romanesque, and the remodeled courthouse shows a changed style of architecture, and speaking of the rooms occupied by the Clark County Historical Society, some one said that if Dr. B. F. Prince lived long enough a modern art building would grace that corner, while the soldier monument will always teach its lesson of patriotism on the other quarter-square - the military square designed by James Demint as the business center of Springfield.

Among fireproof office builders are the Bushnell, M. & M., Mitchell, and the two of more modern construction - Arcue and Fairbanks - and the Boston and Kauffman stores occupy modern fireproof structures. The Springfield High School, patterned after the Congressional Library, is a fireproof structure, and owing to the "Million Dollar Bond Issue of 1921," Warder Park, Northern Heights and the Highland schools are promised fireproof 'buildings. The State Benevolent Homes located in Springfield are architectural models, the Knights of Pythias Children's Home and the I. O. O. F. Home, each costing $500,000, while the Masonic Home was built at an exepnse of $1,000,000, and thus Springfield is highly favored ; its institutional life is an asset to the community.

Chapter Xlv

While it did not leave extensive record of its activities, it is known that in 1870 an organization was effected calling itself The Mad River Valley Pioneer and Historical Association, and its president, the Rev. A. H. Bassett, said: "To rescue from oblivion interesting facts and important information would seem a duty which we owe to those who come after us. The present is indebted to the past, and so the present should provide for the future. Today has the benefit of yesterday's observations and experiences; so should today preserve and carry forward its accumulated information for the benefit of tomorrow," and while there is record of but one meeting after the organization of the society, it was worth while because in January, 1871, Dr. John Ludlow read a paper: "The Early Settlement of Springfield," which by many is regarded as a classic - a comprehensive resume of the past at that time in Clark County history.

However, while under the spell of the Mad River Valley Pioneer and Historical Association, the Hon. Thomas F. McGraw prepared a review of the Shawnee Indian overthrow at the battle of Piqua Village which was in readiness ten years later when the Clark County Veteran Memorial Association sponsored the centennial and sham battle there. The anniversary was planned by the following named committee: Captain Alden P. Steele, Col. Howard D. John, Andrew Watt, D. C. Ballentine and William H. Grant, who were empowered to appoint sub-committees, and the McGrew paper was the feature of the anniversary meeting, August 8, 1880, and held at the site of the battle between Gen. George Rogers Clark and the Shawnee Indians.

When appearing before the Mad River Valley Pioneer and Historical Association in January, 1871, just half a century before this summary in 1921, Doctor Ludlow said: "While generations follow generations like the waves of the sea follow each other, the great business of life still goes on, and the age in which we are now living is truly a progressive one. It would seem that the Lord is leading us as his chosen people. Refinement and civilization are rapidly advancing, and the comforts of life are multiplying to a wonderful degree. It now seems that the genius of the American people has reached its consummation.

"We see the toilsome sickle and scythe laid aside and the harvest being gathered like pastime. The toil and the fatigue we used to endure in working the transformation have been turned into the business of pleasure and recreation. We fly in gilded palaces in every direction with the swiftness of the flight of birds. We are reclining and sleeping on cushioned seats and spring beds. Steam propels our ships on the ocean and it has brought the distant nations of the earth to our doors. The heathen nations are learning to imitate the progress of our civilization. We have added the use of the wonderful telegraph, and time and space are annihilated. We talk with people beyond the seas with tongues of lightning with the same ease as we speak to them face to face. The useful and curious art of photography has been invented in our day, wherein the shadow of substance is made to leave its likeness as types upon paper," and with that facile pen wielded in the beginning of so many things, what would such a man have written with radio demonstrations about him?

The Mad River Valley Pioneer and Historical Association accomplished two things - inspired the Ludlow and McGrew papers, thus taking care of the historical development leading to the Clark County Centennial, in 1880, and it no doubt fostered the Fourth of July demonstration in Springfield in 1876, in connection with the first American Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. However, the community seems to have husbanded its vital forces to be expended in connection with the centennial observance of its own beginning in history. Another centennial was drawing near, and in 1897 the Clark County Historical Society was organized and in readiness for the anniversary of the settlement of Springfield, which celebration it fostered and carried through successfully, enlisting the whole community in it.

There was a Grand Army of the Republic Art Loan and Midwinter Fair in Springfield, opening December 2, 1895, and closing the first of January, 1896, and penciled on the margin of a program is the statement: "The organization of the Clark County Historical Society grew out of this fair," signed R. - perhaps W. H. Rayner. Almost two years later a folder was issued, dated Springfield, December 15, 1897, bearing the following statement : "The Clark County Historical Society has for its object the collection and preservation of information relative to the history of Clark County and the State of Ohio, and accumulating objects, relics and art collections of historic value, with such books, papers and documents of information as may relate thereto," and in its existence of more than twenty years the Society has collected relics rather than manuscripts.

For a time the Clark County Historical Society held quarterly meetings, and when interest dwindled it changed to the annual meeting basis and still a few of the faithful assemble to perpetuate the traditions and the facts in local history. On December 6, 1921, W. W. Keifer and Henry L. Schaeffer both addressed the meeting and neither left on file any manuscript containing the address. Sometimes papers are read and withdrawn, the writers promising to do further work and file them with the Society. However, some papers are available for reference and historical newspaper clippings are oh file there. Almost from the beginning the society has occupied rooms in the east county building where it has a valuable collection of relics, a clause in its constitution reading: "In order to concentrate and preserve relics of other days many of which are scattered throughout the county, it is deemed proper to provide a suitable room or rooms with proper care for the relics of historic value and open to the general public," and the rooms are kept open from 9 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

For a time the curio collection was housed in an unoccupied room on the second floor of the Clark County Courthouse but it rapidly outgrew the space allotted and the entire east county building was set apart for it. Mitchell Post G. A. R. with headquarters in Memorial Hall was active in assembling the relics now in custody of the Historical Society, the original relics committee being : Ira W. Wallace, O. N. Bartholomew and Silas Crowell. Dr. B. F. Prince was the first president and has served continuously. Silas Crowell was the first secretary and T. J. Caspar was the first treasurer. In its recent working organization it has been Doctor Prince as president; George W. Winger, treasurer, and W. H. Rayner has been more than secretary. He has been curator, spending his time from 9 :00 till 4 :00 in the rooms and explaining curios to the many visitors. When his health forced him to remain away, many persons called who were unable to see the collection until a substitute in the person of E. E. Shuirr was secured, who was very familiar with it. Mr. Rayner was active in adding to the collection, always soliciting visitors to bring things. In the event of the dissolution of the Historical Society, some of the relics would revert t9 the donors, but an effort would be made to house all of them in some public place as the collection has a distinctive educational value - it connects the present with the past in Clark County.

"Old Curiosity Shop" describes the museum collection accumulated in the rooms of the Society, and articles now treasured as relics were once utility things and necessary in every household. There are candlesticks, lamps and lanterns; there are lamps for grease or lard oil - tin lamps ordered from the tinner and no longer on the market, and the tin lanterns with punctures for the light - a mere flicker, but when coal oil was first on the market the price was prohibitive - $1.40 a gallon - and thus candle molds, spinning wheels, innumerabl articles in the collection reflect methods of living in the log cabin days of Clark County history. Many things treasured in the rodms of the historical society were brought across the Alleghenies when the settlers were coming into the Old Northwest. While the society does not encourage temporary loans - does not care to assume responsibility for the property of others - it has many things of intrinsic value from the homesteads of the pioneers - the Spinning piano, the first one in Springfield being in the collection. The membership dues are $1 a year and there are incidental expenses.

The Clark County Historical Society cooperates with the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society and more attention has been given to the museum than history. However, when Mr. Rayner has shown a visitor the collection, he knows its history. The society holds title to a quarter of an acre of land upon which it is planned to construct a Clark-Tecumseh monument, the bequest of Leander J. M. Baker, a son of F. M. Baker, who, by marriage with a daughter of Daniel Hertzler, came into the ownership of the battlefield. The tract is without definite boundary, occupying a knoll west of the Hertzler mansion now called Fort Tecumseh because of its military occupation by Springfield companies of the Ohio National Guard. This knoll overlooks the Valley pike, railroad and traction lines. To the gift of Mr. Baker W. W. Keifer, who owns the farm, has donated a half acre to make the approach and the landscape about it. This tract was the peaceful abode of a people gone from the land of their fathers never to return, and when a monument is erected it will show to the world what the wilderness patriots did for humanity.

Few communities have more centennial occasions than have been vouchsafed to Springfield and Clark County, the community joining in the celebration of the first American centennial July 4, 1876, conducting a Clark County centennial four years later and in 1901 the cen- tennial of the organization of Springfield was observed with a program continuing one entire week, the historical society cooperating with the entire community. Since then two centennial dates have been passed but without demonstration, the admission and the name of the county, Christmastide, 1917, and the establishment of local government a week later, January 1, 1918, making five centenary milestones along the highway of civic progress.

In 1900 action was taken in the Clark County Historical Society, and its president, Doctor Prince, conferred with Mayor C. J. Bowlus, Joseph Spangenberger, president of the Springfield City Council ; John W. Burk, president of the Board of Trade, and W. H. Schaus, president of the Commercial Club, and March 13, 1900, the citizens met in the Council Chamber and organized, naming Judge F. M. Hagan, Doctor Prince, Dr. John H. Rodgers, Capt. E. L. Buchwalter, John Foos, W. H. Schaus and D. Q. Fox as a general centennial committee. The committee then organized, naming Judge Hagan as its president, Doctor Prince, secretary, and Mr. Fox, treasurer. The deliberations of the committee resulted in a decision to recognize all lines of business and the professions, as : City government, the bar, the medical profession, religious organizations, the press, education, commercial interests, manufactures, labor organizations, agriculture, fraternal organizations, the military and women's work and organizations, with competent committees in charge of the different interests.

On December 3, 1900, all subcommittees were called to meet with the general centennial committee, when the special duties of each committee were outlined, and the centennial program was discussed, and at an adjourned meeting, December 18, the committees reported progress; a number of people were considering the celebration, desirous of making it worthy of the city. While the survey of Springfield was made in March, the celebration was planned for the first week in September, but the conflict .with Labor Day caused an earlier date to be chosen, the program beginning August 4 with the Religious Day features. The Clark County Fair Ground was the place of the celebration, and with Governor A. S. Bushnell at the head of a finance committee, and I. Ward Frey named as director, the whole celebration was a success. An interesting feature of the celebration was the building of a log cabin as a replica of the Demint cabin, the' first human habitation in Springfield. While the community built the cabin, its custody was given to Lagonda Chapter D. A. R., who furnished it in quaint and ancient fashion, and Skibo Castle, now the property of C. F. Jackson, is the reconstructed cabin built in the fair grounds at the time of the Springfield centennial.

The colored woman living in Skibo Castle has many visitors, who are influenced by curiosity in their investigation, and many have erroneous ideas concerning it. While it is not in conformity with the style of architecture on East High Street, Skibo Castle stands as a reminder of other days in Clark County history. This cabin was removed from 'the fair grounds by Gustave and William Foos, who then owned High Street property, and it was a matter of sentiment. While Mr. Jackson does not regard it is a good investment because it frequently needs repair, community sentiment seems to be in favor of it - a page from the history of the past, and the present owner will either discard it or spend a little money improving it.

In the book, "Centennial of Springfield," is a resume of the activities centering at the cabin at the time of the celebration, written by Miss Mary Cassilly, who was then historian of Lagonda Chapter D. A. R., and she mentions the cradle brought to the cabin, in which Mrs. A. S. Bushnell, who organized the chapter, had been rocked, saying many mothers laid their babies in it because of its history. "The fireplace with the cooking utensils of a century ago was complete in every detail, in fact, nothing was omitted in the cabin, even strings of dried apples, peppers and herbs were hanging on the rafters, and there were red wolf skins on the walls. The cabin looked comfortable and home-like, and in the evening, when the candles were lighted, it was very quaint and attractive." On Military Day, when more than 10,000 people were in attendance, a present, past and a candidate for Ohio governor, Bushnell, Nash and Kilbourne, visited the cabin, and Governor A. S. Bushnell, who was in the past tense, said it was the first time such a thing had occurred in the history of the state. Mrs, James Kilbourne, regent of the Columbus Chapter D. A. R., accompanied the party, and a reception was held for her in the cabin, the local daughters wearing caps, kerchiefs and aprons.

The weather was favorable the week of the celebration, the exercises were unhindered by storm or rain, and many people enjoyed the program. There was a balance in the treasury when all obligations had been met, and it was turned over to the Clark County Historical Society. The project originated, with the Historical Society, and $202.89 was the amount it received after the successful celebration ended, and surplus is better than deficit in any enterprise. Springfield had its beginning before Ohio was admitted as a state, and in 1903 there was a state- wide centennial again, the program ending with Admission Day, February 9, 1903, the activities centering in Chilhcothe.

Chapter Xlvi

While the Clark County Historical Society has investigated many phases of local development, as yet it has not given detailed attention to its foreign population: If the present influx of outsiders to Ohio continues, said a local newspaper, it will not be many decades until native sons will actually be in the minority. The last Saturdays in the months of March, June, September and December of each year are fixed as the days upon which final action may be had on petitions for naturalization.

According to the Interchurch Survey, the foregn-born population of the United States is about 17,000,000 with 20,000,000 others of immediate foreign extraction, and since the birth rate among the foreign-born is higher than that of the native-born, about one-fourth of all the children in the United States are of foreign parentage. There are about 1,500 foreign language publications, and that explains why foreigners do not learn to speak English. Mrs. Lillian Russell Moore, once an American stage beauty, was commissioned by the United States Government to investigate conditions among possible emigrants before they come to American, and she recommended more care on the part of the United States in admitting them. Once the immigrants were from northern Europe, but recently they are from southern and eastern Europe, and instead of sending foreign missionaries there is a field in this country.

It has been discovered that about 5,000,000 foreigners in the United States have refused to take out citizenship papers, and it is difficult to understand why any one should want to live in this country who does not want to become a citizen. While many immigrants want to become Americans, few of them abandon their own language ; they live in groups and converse among themselves in their native tongues. While many Clark County citizens are only a few generations from the emigrant, perhaps the first influx of new blood among the settlers was the Irish, but they are so identified with community affairs that their alien birth is no longer considered, although the local Irish population has been much interested in the advance of Irish independence from England.

When asked who was the first Jew, and when he came to Springfield, Gen. J. Warren Keifer said : "The* Jews were here early, I want to tell you ; they have been here pretty continually/' and then he had mental concept of the first pne, although the name was elusive; it was Michael Kauffman - an Irish name given to a Jew. However, further investigation showed that Michael Kauffman followed Israel Wolfson, although Kauffman is remembered better. He was a clothier in Springfield, but little is known about Wolfson. Jacob Wolff, born March 31, 1846, in Germany, is the last of the original Jewish colony in Springfield. He has been in Springfield since 1866, and is the only living charter member of Temple Ohev Zedukah, organized in 1869 by Reformed Jews. Mr. Wolff was once an Orthodox Jew, but long residence in this country has

There are about 125 Jewish families in Springfield both Reformed and Orthodox - about fifty-fifty, say representatives of both factions, and conforming to the census report on average American families, they number four and five persons to the household. Among early Jews in Springfield were: Abram Aron, who came in 1853, perhaps not long after the arrival of Wolfson and Kauffman, and soon after came M. D. Levy, Louis Stern, Samuel Altschel, Sr., all of them Orthodox until after a time they became more liberal and affiliated with the Reformed Jews. While Ohev Zedukah congregation was organized in 1869, the temple now occupied by it was built in 1917, and it is strictly modern. It has a pipe organ, and excellent music is furnished by a mixed quartet of singers, the regular service being held Friday evening.

The Orthodox Jews in Springfield worship in Temple Chessel Shad Ames, and each congregation maintains a local rabbi. Temple Ohev Zedukah has Rabbi Simon Cohen, while Temple Chessel Shad Ames is served by Rabbi Samuel Shapiro. While synagogue is the old-time designation of the Jewish house of worship, Temple is now in common usage. The Reformed Jews use the Union Prayer Book for Jewish Worship, the Hebrew and English rituals being in parallel columns. Through the social order B'nai B'rith the Ohev Zedukah congregation keeps in touch with current questions, and in open meeting Rabbi Cohen discussed the Ku Klux Klan.

While it is said that the Jews constitute two per cent of the entire population of the United States, they are less than one per cent of the population in Springfield. The Reformed Jews are best known to the public, and through long years of residence they are Americanized ; they conform to local customs. The Orthodox Jews are a later acquisition, and they are still Oriental in their forms and ceremonies ; however, most religions are from the Orient, this country only laying claim to Mormonism, Dowieism and Christian Science. They require the kosher to superintend their diet, but since it is a matter of education as the Orthodox Jews become Americanized they are less dogmatic, as in the instance of Jacob Wolff, who changed his adherence* Most Springfield Jews are naturalized citizens.

While "Rich as a Jew" is a common expression, and the Jews are agreed that interest is a great invention, the Jews are not in control of the finances of the world. While there are occasional outbreaks of anti- Semitism, the merest propaganda, these attacks are not of religious inspiration; they arise from the fallacy. of charging the Jew with an ambition to rule the world. The Springfield Jews cooperate in all community movements; they were active in all war measures, and they bought their share of Liberty bonds; they do not hold themselves aloof from community requirements. The Jews take care of their own unfortunates, contributing to the National Tuberculosis Hospital in Denver, and to the Jewish Orphans' Home in Cleveland.

When the nation-wide campaign was announced to raise $14,000,000 for the relief of the starving Jews in Russia growing out of war conditions, the Springfield quota was $11,000, and the Jews immediately set about raising the amount among themselves. Springfield Jews celebrate the different feast days and holidays, and they always are represented in Jewish conventions. Their numbers are overestimated because they are in business and come into direct contact with the public. There are some octogenarian Jews in Springfield. The Jewish burial plot is Section G in Ferncliff Cemetery, centrally located and kept in splendid condition. Many Jews who die in other cities are brought back to Ferncliff.

It is estimated that ninety per cent of the Jews in the United States live in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, Missouri, Connecticut, California, Maryland, Michigan and Indiana, and they are watching developments in Palestine under British and Jewish occupation, and in studying sacred history local Jews say that Jesus was crucified by order of a Roman Governor - that crucifixion was unknown among the Jews, and yet - well, the record before Pilate, who was a Roman, is available to those who wish to know for themselves. Springfield Jews are interested in Hebrew Union College which has graduated 250 rabbis, and, under the leadership of Mrs. Simon Cohen, the women of Temple Ohev Zedukah are raising funds for it.

The word citizen seldom applies to a Chinaman ; he is less inclined to secure naturalization papers than other foreigners. When H. G. Marshall opened a laundry in Springfield many years ago, people advised him against it ; they said it would be a losing venture. At that time the Jews and Chinese were the only foreigners in Springfield. There were fortythree Chinese in town then, but recently they are fewer in numbers. While the Japanese open restaurants, the Chinese adhere to laundries. However, local Chinamen no longer use the old-time "Chinese Laundry" hieroglyphics; they use pencil and paper, allowing patrons to write their own names when leaving parcels.

While no statistics are at hand, it seems that Anthony Papania was the first Italian to locate in Springfield. He came in the '80s, according to the "best recollections" of local Italians. Among the early families are Papania, Rosselli and Riggio, and there are perhaps seventy-five Italian families in Springfield. While Amato, Bosco and Longo are well known Italian names, they are later acquisitions to the community. Many are venders of fruit and confections, and while many of them speak English, let a little inquiry be made among them, as this interview, and they immediately discuss the situation among themselves in Italian. The Stroller writing for a newspaper told of Joseph Panania, who for twenty years had been a shoe cobbler, sitting on the bench in one shop until he used enough wooden pegs to make a tree, and enough metal tacks to make a railroad iron; he had used miles of shoemaker's thread, and broken hundreds of needles.

Upon a basis of 300 working days in one year, Papania had averaged handling five pairs of shoes in a day, and in twenty years he repaired 30,000 pairs of shoes. In that time he had seen hundreds of patrons come and go, and still people come to his shop who came there twenty years ago. The little boy with copper-toed boots now brings in his number ten shoes for repairs, and the little girl who brought her tiny slipper was bringing a French heeled shoe, and thus not all the Italians are fruit venders. While most Italian families affiliate with Catholic churches and schools, some have intermarried with Americans and have educated their children in the public schools. Anthony Cerisi was the first Italian in Springfield to volunteer in the World war, and the Italians bought Liberty bonds along with other citizens. Springfield Italians are musical, and Edward Papania sings in grand opera. He has had special training in Italy.

A recent survey of the Greeks in Springfield developed the fact that the first Greeks in the community were three Lagos brothers, but in 1905, when the Vlahos brothers arrived, they had gone from the community. There is now a "live wire" community of Greeks, and Jerome Courlas, who is a leader among them, estimates their number at 250, with very few Greek women among them. Through the Hellenic Union Club, Mr. Courlas had accurate knowledge of most Greeks in Springfield. Because they all belong to the Greek Orthodox Church - a form of Catholicism - the Greeks mingle more or less with the Bulgarians, Roumanians, Servians, Prussians and Armenians, worshipping together in Columbus and Dayton ; they have no church in Springfield. It is religious rather than social recognition, and young Greeks begin the naturalization process as soon as they are located in America.

Many Springfield Greeks have already acquired full citizenship. They were the only group of foreigners who marched in the war chest parade when Springfield Red Cross activities were claiming attention. Twentyseven Springfield Greeks entered the service in the World war. There are fifty-seven Greek business establishments in Springfield, ranging from shining stands to theater management, with confectionery and restaurant enterprises leading among them. It has come to the time when the Greeks feed the community. Greece is a small, but populous, empire, and the ambitious Grecians find better advantages in the New World. While they enter mercantile pursuits in their own country, the Greeks in Springfield do not become clothiers or dry-goods merchants. While Athens is a center of learning, many of the young Greeks secure an English education at night school in Springfield.

Chapter Xlvii

The hospital is a sort of an auxiliary to the medical doctor, and the surgeon frequently makes of it a life-saving station. It was Florence Nightingale, born May 12, 1820, who gave to the world the idea of scientific nursing; she is. the mother of hospitals. The names of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton, the Red Cross army nurse, cannot be too highly honored in any community. The popular understanding of the word hospital is different from the dictionary definition. Webster says it is a building appropriated for the reception of sick, infirm and helpless paupers who are supported and nursed by charity, but that phase of life is not emphasized in Clark County hospitals. While there are public and private charities, the hospital is not necessarily a charity. It is a place where those in need of medicine and nursing receive attention. The Christian Science practitioner, the osteopath and chiropractic "doctors" alike recognize the advantages of good nursing, and the hospital serves an excellent purpose in the community.

While it costs money to have appendicitis, or to be a victim of the surgeon's blade, nevertheless the hospital is the helping hand held out to, for and by society. While enterprising citizens sometimes operate hospitals on a basis of profit, the idea is an outgrowth of the Christian religion, and under present working conditions both doctors of divinity and doctors of medicine pay professional visits to Clark County hospitals, and sometimes the lawyer is consulted there. While the true meaning of the hospital - its primary mission - is first aid to the injured, excellent nursing is available and sometimes the homes are unable to supply it. Physicians recommend efficient nurses, and they get their training at the hospital. It is only public spirited men who take of enterprises that do not pay dividends, and the Springfield hospital is operated on a humanitarian basis, rather than as a profit-sharing institution; the trend of popular thought on the subject of disease renders the hospital a necessity.

Although it is a homely adage: "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure," it is truthful and people are learning to anticipate and prevent diseases - whether of the will, or of the flesh. There is a growing appreciation of the hospital, and recognition of its value in the community. The modern hospital building is X-shaped, giving outside exposure to all of the rooms ; men and women now turn to the hospital with confidence and gratitude because of the service it performs for humanity. The foremost philanthropists in the community foster and promote the hospitals.

The Springfield hospital story begins in 1886, with John H. Thomas, who was a prominent manufacturer and a leading philanthropist. The scheme advocated by Mr. Thomas appealed to Ross Mitchell, who wished to do something of a community nature, and they collaborated in establishing the Mitchell and Thomas Hospital. In 1887 Mr. Mitchell donated a site on East Main Street known as the Chandler Robbins school property valued at $14,000, there being the college building and residence, and the Thomas Hospital was open for the reception and care of patients. It affording increased hospital advantages. December 1, 1887, the Mitchell-

Thomas Hospital was open for the reception and care of patients. It was the first hospital in Springfield, and it was not long until more accommodations were required for the increasing number of patients.

The Mitchell and Thomas Hospital was near the railroad, and in a noisy location, and in 1902 activities were begun looking toward its removal, and in 1903 the cornerstone of the Springfield City Hospital was laid, the site bounded by York, Clifton and East streets. It has the morning sun, and crowns a hill away from noise and confusion - an ideal location. For many years it had been the Sharp family homestead, and when the property was acquired the buildings were wrecked and a community hospital now graces that elevation. While charity patients are received, that fact is not accentuated and the visitor would be unable to tell a charity patient from one paying for his treatment ; some are in wards at less expense, while others have private rooms and private nurses when they request it. The hospital has ambulance service, and it conducts a free dispensary.

It was December 19, 1904, that the Mitchell and Thomas Hospital was vacated, and the Springfield City Hospital was opened. On that date the superintendent, James Adams, transferred a corps of nurses and eighteen patients to the new building. When the transfer was made and the name was changed, Miss Dorothy Neer, who is now superintendent, was operating room supervisor, and Miss May B. Miller, who is assistant superintendent, was then a student nurse. There was a nurse's training school in connection with the Mitchell and Thomas Hospital, and Miss Leila V. Jones was the teacher. Miss Miller entered the training in July and was removed with the hospital in December. She entered in 1904, and in 1907 she graduated in a class of five members ; however, she is the only one who remained in the hospital.

While Miss Neer was moved with the hospital and remained for ten years in charge of the operating room, she went away for a time and June 1, 1919, she returned and since then has been hospital superintendent. She is now the instructor in the nurse's training course which extends over a period of three years. It is affiliated with the Springfield High School in the Department of Chemistry. It was founded in 1904, and since then it has graduated 120 trained nurses. On the days of the inquiry, there were forty-five student nurses living in the cottages and assisting in the hospital. There are three cottages for nurses, and frequently graduated nurses return with private patients to the hospital. It has capacity for 120 patients, and often it is unable to accommodate all who seek admission.

Springfield is committed to the use of tablets in commemorating individuals as witnessed at the Warder Public Library, Wittenberg College and in many churches, and in the hospital corridor is the following information: "This tablet is erected in grateful recognition of contributors to the endowment fund of the Springfield City Hospital," and chiseled in stone are the following names: Ross Mitchell, John H. Thomas, John Snyder, Anson E. Moore, Lydia P. Steele, Peter Butzer and Robert Johnson. While Mitchell and Thomas were honored with the name of the old hospital, in 1896 John Snyder bequeathed $100,000 in four per cent Government Bonds, and under the terms of the will it is held as an investment, lesser amounts coming from other donors, and since April 25, 1898, there has been a board of hospital trustees, some

At its December meeting, 1921, of the hospital board Miss Neer reported 2,445 days' treatment, 1,009 being free and 1,436 being pay treatments, in all 267 persons treated. Within the month 191 patients were discharged and 227 treatments were given at the public dispensary. The cost of treating the whole number of patients was $10,558.31, which was an average of $4.31 a day per patient, and the business of one month is much the same in other months. Dr. V. G. A. Tressler, who is a divinity rather than a medical doctor, is president of the board, and while the annual elections bring frequent changes the trustees are men interested in the success of the Springfield City Hospital. It has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons, and by the American Medical Association, and Miss Neer feels that this recognition enables the Springfield City Hospital to secure the services of the best internes from any of the colleges, there being three on duty.

As superintendent of the Springfield City Hospital, Miss Neer affiliates with the community council which correlates all welfare movements. While there are free beds in the municipal section of the hospital, the crying need is for more room in which to accommodate patients. While contagious diseases are not admitted, the city hospital is the helping hand held out to society. Under the present system of household economics, the maternity demands upon the hospital are increasing and the time is coming when the man will not speak of the house in which he was born, but will refer to the hospital. In 1920 the hospital had 310 maternity cases and in 1921 there was an increase of seventy-two births, 382 babies born at the hospital, and "safety first" is the motto. The babies are kept in a nursery, and to avoid mistake an adhesive tape bearing the name of the child is placed on its ankle, and the room number of the mother is on this tape. The name &nd number is also placed on the child's bed, and the system has been necessary in keeping tally with so many children there at one time.

When the Springfield City Hospital was completed in 1905 it represented an investment of $150,000, and there have been frequent additional expenses. In his annual report, Fire Chief Samuel F. Hunter recommends that an automatic sprinkler system be installed at the hospital, and especially in the main building where the patients are quartered. It is on a hill about forty feet above the street level and in winter when it is icy, it is difficult to get heavy motor-driven apparatus up the hill, the report reading: "For this reason I believe it is very important to protect this building with automatic sprinklers." The chief recommends the same precaution in the public school buildings. With an automatic sprinkler the hospital would have protection when the fire-fighters were unable to make the grades with their heavy motors.

It is related that in the '90s the Pennsylvania House, which had been a landmark since the tavern days along the National Road, was remodeled by Dr. S. E. Adams and used as a hospital for medical and electrical treatment of patients, and in connection witfi the American Red Cross (Springfield Chapter) mention already has been made of three emergency hospitals operated in Springfield in connection with the flu epidemic. When the epidemic subsided they were closed, and it is against the policy of the hospital to receive patients with contagious diseases. An isolation hospital is a necessity, and the State Fraternal Homes all maintain their own hospitals and isolation department. Where so many aged persons and so many children are assembled, the hospital is a necessary feature, and the Ohio Masonic Home is adding an extensive hospital - the Ricker Memorial Hospital - at an approximate expense of $500,000, and with capacity for 150 patients. All the modern ideas are incorporated in the plans of this building.

While more people die of tuberculosis than from any other one disease, the Clark County Medical Society and all progressive physicians are united in a campaign of education, and there are popular lectures on how to combat the ravages of the white plague. In the old days when tuberculosis was called consumption, its victims had no ray of hope until fresh air enthusiasts brought it to them. In 1909, the Ohio Assembly provided for tubercular hospitals, and the Second District, located at Springfield, embraces four counties: Clark, Madison, Champaign and Greene, although in the beginning Greene did not accept the offer. Each county sends its tubercular patients, and has its doctor looking after its interests.

The Second District Tubercular Hospital embraces fifty-two acres along the National Road east and just outside the City of Springfield ; it was once the Kinnane homestead While the farmhouse was not adapted to the needs of the hospital the location and the topography are ideal. It is 1,100 feet above the sea level which means pure air, and that is the necessary feature of a tubercular hospital. There are fourteen cottages built to accommodate one or two patients, and with the farmhouse converted into a hospital there is room for fifty patients. There is also a home for nurses and for hospital employees. Unless patients have reached an advanced stage before entering, isolation is possible and cures are effected, but the sad thing - they frequently do not come in time for permanent relief. In the beginning tubercular patients were transferred from the county infirmaries, but that no longer happens. They are sent at once to the hospital instead of to the infirmary.

While each county has its medical staff to look after patients consigned to the Second District Tubecular Hospital, the superintendent has usually been a physician who resided there. In their turn the superintendents have been : Dr. Henry Baldwin, Dr. R. R. Richison and Dr. Elwood Miller. Since Miss Anna Shepard, who is a graduate nurse, has been superintendent, Dr. C. E. M. Finney is the medical attendant, although he does not live at the hospital. Miss Shepard is both superintendent and matron, having full management of the hospital. Miss Mary Cove has been installed as head of the open air school, and the fifteen children will wear Eskimo Suits while attending school, the girls of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company generously providing them. It is the first attempt at an open air school, but it will allow of mental training and avoid bad air in a schoolroom. The Baby Camp Fund was drawn upon for funds to supply the desks, and funds were donated by the National Woman's League and by the Springfield Kiwanis Club with which to pay the teachers.

Because of the greater population of Clark County, it secured the Second District Tubercular Hospital. There would naturally be more unfortunates in a large center, and the criticism on the management is directed from other counties. Because of the contagious nature of tuberculosis strict sanitation is necessary, and ventilation is the keynote of the treatment, fresh air a part of the cure. The supervision of diet is another thing in favor of the patient. Many tubercular patients come from homes where no attention is given to diet at all, and corrective measures sometimes work cures; it requires intelligence to overcome tuberculosis. The sleeping porch built into modern homes, and added to others is doing much to relieve the difficulty.

People who were afraid of the night air have learned its life-giving properties, and no longer breathe impoverished air; those who take the necessary precaution at home need not live in a tubercular hospital. The open porch is a benefaction to any family. The State of Ohio has been conducting free clinics in different localities, and when the gospel of fresh air reaches every household there will be fewer cases of the white plague. The expense of maintaining the Second District Tubercular Hospital is shared pro rata by the counties entitled to its benefits, many indigent persons being saved by the opportunity of living there and learning how to take care of themselves. Out-of-door life is urged, and the campus there affords the opportunity.

Chapter Xlviii

From the dawn of human history people have been interested in the forum, the stage, the athletic field. Some form of amusement or recreation has been regarded as a necessity. In the dim history of the past man had a desire to amuse himself. He demands more relaxation than the day affords and his pleasures sometime^ extend far into the night. The theater is a welcome diversion at the end of the day. "Jack" objects to "all work and no play" and the playhouse affords respite. It causes him to forget the "cares that infest the day."

Theatergoers who like good plays usually like other good things and their field for pleasure is not limited to the stage. When the theater fails to offer what they like they soon give- up the habit. High class attractions always bring playgoers from other communities and Springfield's theater population does not conform to the number of citizens in Clark County. It is sufficiently distant from Dayton and Columbus to eliminate competition in high class performances and when meritorious plays are given in Springfield the box office receipts usually warrant the enterprise; when the theater does not offer what they want there is little effort to reform the drama other than exercising the prerogative of remaining away from it. When the theater becomes a physical effort because of its want of appeal they have recourse to literature and to music.

An English actress said: "Good drama is as necessary as a bath and a bath it is for the mind," and the wag added that a "bath" should not be enjoyed in public, but melodrama allows of variations. Since the scandal of today becomes the convention of tomorrow, people adjust themselves to conditions and the high-brow drama is above the heads of those most in need of a "bath." "The people have minds and hearts which need food and unless they are given food there is going to be trouble in the community," and that reverts to the Bible injunction about feeding the sheep and the lambs - that they have different mental abilities. While Springfield and contiguous territory ranks as high class theater patronage, there had to be a beginning and in antebellum Clark County when the population was scant and the means of travel limited, people were thrown upon their own resources for amusement.

In those early days simple home talent entertainments and school house exhibitions always attracted them. At frequent intervals there were wandering Thespians, but as the forest and native conditions were overcome by the settlers there was demand for better things and halls, stages and scenic accessories were the natural sequence. When the first market house was built in Springfield, it had a hall above for public meetings and shows, often home talent productions, the Buckeye singers among whom was Oliver Kelly drawing crowds. There were panoramas, Frankenstein's Niagara Falls being shown, the people always turning to such entertainments. The first theater in South Charleston was the dining room of the Johnson tavern. The tables were removed and it became a hall and was utilized until Isaac Paist provided another, and

When Andrew C. Black was building an opera house in connection with his business in 1868, he was under approbrium. He was a Presbyterian, but a little in advance of the minister and congregation, and one day he left the service under a scathing denunciation from the pulpit. In his sermon the minister was condemning wrong-doing in high places, but since then there has been change of opinion in Springfield society, and Presbyterians are patrons of the opera. The holdings of Mr. Black were on the site of the Fairbanks Building, and at that time the realty cost him $20,500, and he expended $80,000 for the improvements on it - meaning $100,000 invested. It was a five-story structure with 110 feet frontage, and the hall or opera house was 90 by 110 feet in dimensions, and it was a forward stride in the way of Springfield development. However, when it was ready to be dedicated as a theater, Thomas F. McGrew, then cashier of the Mad River National Bank, issued the ultimatum in church that it must be spoken of as Black's Music Hall ; it should never be designated as an opera house or theater, names that flavored of evil, although Shakespeare had said the rose would smell the same whatever he called it.

Black's Music Hall, alias Black's Opera House, was opened February 4, 1869, with the play, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." The play was an attraction so soon after the Civil war, and it drew a capacity house. The hall had a seating capacity of 1,000, and for many years it was the play house of Springfield. Since 1847 Mr. Black had been a Springfield merchant, and the opera house coupled with his business career keeps alive his. name in Springfield. It was a five-story building, and when there were no elevators there were not so many corpulent people, stairclimbing still being recommended as a reducing process. Instead of a five-story climb, people now reach the ninth floor of the Fairbanks by the elevator route, and they "get thin to music," when they might reduce by climbing the stairs from basement to attic.

In 1881 the Grand Opera House was built on Limestone Street, on the site of the old LefFel Water Wheel industry. It was built by John W. Bookwalter, with a seating capacity of 1,200, and the advantage of a ground floor and other up-to-date improvements, and from that time the Black Opera House was a second-class theater. People would not climb a stairway when there was a ground floor theater in town. In 1903 the Black theater and business block burned, and a short time later the Fairbanks Building arose from its ashes. In 1906 the Fairbanks Theater opened, and today Springfield has no lack of theater advantages. The Black Theater had been a play house thirty-four years, and many firstclass shows were staged in it. When it burned it was a "Young Chicago Fire," a whole row of business houses being destroyed, and the Y. M. C. A. adjacent was scorched. The property did not lie idle long until N. H. Fairbanks secured it, and the Fairbanks is a ground floor theater. It was opened Thanksgiving Day, 1906, and Ben Hur was the attraction.

building of the City Hall with an auditorium designed for such meetings, but the flight of time - the City Hall is now an abandoned theater, a waste place in the heart of Springfield. The hall has been condemned, and as yet no plan has been devised for utilizing the space occupied by it. What one generation constructs another destroys, and the age-old question is still being debated about the morals of the stage, most people admitting that it has its place in the world. While not all stage productions are first-class, the same criticism is offered in other fields. The stage has the double function, amusement and instruction, and sometimes it shows the best way to acquire happiness. It is not pitted against the church, and in the main it is an uplifting influence.

In the days of the legitimate drama, some of the foremost actors and actresses visited Springfield, notwithstanding the crudities of some of the early theaters, some of the best known players in the United States trod the boards in Black's Opera House and the Grand, and they still come on rare occasions to the Fairbanks. Shakespeare once exclaimed : "All the world is a stage," although he is silent on the question of dressing room facilities. When Uncle Tom's Cabin used to visit Springfield, the people turned out to see it, and straight-laced male citizens remember the annual visits of the female minstrels and burlesque shows, when it required just a little more courage to be seen in attendance, when they used to talk about "reserved seats for the bald heads," but the popular conception of things is changed whether or not the moral aspect, and the little travesty about "bald heads" is no longer emphasized in the community. Be it said to the credit of the community, that some of the old-time stage favorites played to good audiences in Springfield.

While there were street lights in 1850, people used to carry lanterns when attending performances in the different halls before the advent of Black's Opera House, and while the American Indian was once frequently featured in legitimate, when the forest no longer sheltered him he humbled himself to be reflected from the screen, and Buffalo Bill, with his canvas theater, always attracted the community. There was a time in Springfield - the penny arcade epoch - when people turned a crank and watched the moving life through an aperture, would witness the entire series, but like everything else it only filled an interim while the processes were being perfected, and now the best actors in the country are seen in the picture films, however, the movie called the silent drama does not describe the situation when those about one discuss it and thus spoil it - destroy the charm of the unfolding drama.

The lexicographer says that a theater is a building appropriated to the presentation of dramatic spectacles, it is a room, hall, or other place provided with a platform, and in Springfield are the following theaters and places of amusements : Fairbanks Theater, playing legitimate attractions with seating capacity of 1,400; Regent, high-class pictures with 1,600 capacity; Sun, playing high-class vaudeville, 750, and tiow that everybody attends the moving picture shows, it is difficult to think of the traveling troupes of other days, and the hardships encountered by them. There were one night attractions, and there were one week stands, and there were "barn-stormers" who never played at all on Broadway. Gus Sun, local authority on theaters states that in 1905, when he located in Springfield, the only amusement house was the Grand and all community meetings, conventions, etc., were held in it. However, there was a stage in the City Hall where shows and political meetings were one time held, and Union Hall accommodated some audiences. Since that time Springfield has Memorial Hall, with seating capacity of 3,000, and the high school auditorium accommodates about 1,200 perspns, and local affairs are held in both places, besides a number of lodge rooms which accommodate fraternal conventions.

Many who once enjoyed the drama as presented in Springfield theaters now enjoy the moving pictures as seen in the Majestic, Liberty, Princess, Hippodrome, Colonial, Strand and other Clark County towns have movie houses, the custodian of the opera house in New Carlisle saying : "We have the swing on the movies." The moving picture theaters flourished in France in 1898, and early in the twentieth century moving pictures were introduced into the United States, and Springfield was not slow in conforming to the changed custom. When the industry was in its infancy there were predictions of ultimate success, while insanity charges were also laid at the door of picture actors; now the foremost actors are seen in films.

Reverting to the days of the legitimate drama, a theater manager said: "It is interesting to listen to the tales of some of the old performers, as they relate their own experiences in the long ago. In the '60s and 70s Sol Smith Russell, Alf Burnett and the Swiss Family Bell Ringers played in what was known as 'Variety Houses' throughout the West, and in the 70s prices were reduced until popular was the term used in describing them," and Springfield was on their itinerary. The roller-skating craze which swept the country many years ago was followed by the moving picture shows, and today people sit complacently in front of the most wonderful productions - the rich who have traveled may see the Alps again, and the stay-at-homes see the world in pictures. The film has become an educational agency, even the circulation of the blood being shown before the physiology section in the Springfield High School, and the developments in the realm of agriculture before the members of the Clark County Farm Bureau in the Fairbanks Theater.