Weston Township (part 10 of 15)

| "A second answer, and the one to which, as I ! have stated, all properly qualified students come, i is that petroleum is the result of the decomposition of living matter, either vegetable or animal. The arguments in support of this view are convincing and unanswerable. Organic substances,

1 both in nature and under artificial conditions, pass readily into the hydro-carbon series in which I petroleum belongs. Vegetable matter, wood and leaves, for example, when decaying, out of the reach of air at the bottom of ponds or lakes, or buried in the earth, give rise, as every one knows, to fire damp, or light carbureted hydrogen. Also organic substances, when subjected in closed ves- sels to high temperature, generate gaseous and liquid products closely allied to petroleum in its | derivatives. Fish oil can be made to pass, by very slight modifications, induced by heat, into petroleum proper. The manufacture of coal gas is one of the most familiar illustrations of the possibilities in this line. Seeing that the materials for this production are so abundant in nature, and that the processes for generating at least some member of the series, are so readily brought into play, there is no necessity whatever for abandoning these explanations and inventing a far-fetched and unverifiable theory to account for the origin of gas and oil. But while all geologists accept ; this view of the derivation of petroleum and gas from organic substances, they entertain different notions, to some extent, upon the important question whether the change is effected by chemical decomposition at ordinary temperature, or at high temperature, arising from the invasion of sedimentary beds by dikes of molten matter from the interior of the earth, or from the mechanical strain to which strata have been subjected while being bent into mountains."

History. - The Drake well of Pennsylvania, drilled in 1859, must be considered the beginning of the petroleum industry, as it is known to-day. Nevins& McKeown were the first to drill expressly for oil in Pennsylvania; Colonel Drake was the first to drill for it successfully. A few years later, farmers examined every creek and well for signs of the black grease, and, from the Susquehanna to the Maumee, echoes of oil discoveries were heard. In April, 1861, J. L. Russell brought to Perrysburg, from Rocky Ford, in Bloom township, samples of petroleum. He reported to the editor of the Journal that an eastern company was drilling in that vicinity. Similar reports were brought in from Middleton township; but the whole business resulted in failure, as the Pennsylvanians could not find the oil sands with which they were familiar, and had no idea of the Trenton being an oil reservoir. Excitement was not altogether quieted, for a preacher named Miller, residing where Hatton village now is, mortgaged his farm in 1862 or 1863, and moved to Pennsylvania to invest in oil lands.

Early in 1865 new ventures were made, leases recorded, and some work accomplished with the drill; but the workers did not yet comprehend the value of the Trenton, and surrendered their ideas to circumstances.

The lease of the N. \ of the N. W. J of the east part of Sec. 30, T. 3, R. 11, was made January 16, 1865, to Andrew Klingensinith by David Wiley. That of the undivided one-half of the S. W. i of the S. E. J- of the N. E. i of Sec. 19, T. 3, R. 11, was made January 16, 1865, by Samuel Bartlett to Klingensmith, and, on the same date, the S. E. £ of the N. E. Sec. 30, T. 3, R. 11, was leased by the same from John M. Wiley. Reason Whitacre states that a well was drilled on this lease, and a little gas found. Wiley placed an old gun barrel in the hole, from which gas flowed for a few years.

. One of the first oil leases recorded in this county was that from Julian Bartlett to Andrew Klingensmith, on January 18, 1865. The territory leased was in Sec. 19, T. 3, R. 11, known as eighteen acres set off as a dowry to the grantor, except the house, garden and orchard thereon. On this tract, Klingensmith was empowered to explore, mine, dig, drill, or bore, for oil, saltwater and minerals until January 18, 1945, the word "minerals" meaning coal, iron, lead and every mineral of value, as an article of use or trade. Mrs. Julian Bartlett required of the grantee exact account of the products of mines or wells, but what her share of the profits or royalty was to be is not specifically given. The record shows, however, that she bound Klingensmith to be diligent in his work, the penalty for negligence or unnecessary delays being the cancellation of the lease. Before the close of January. 1865, Klingensmith assigned these leases to Michael Sarvcr, and, for almost twenty years, the enterprise of the oil men slept, so far as the Ohio field was concerned.

The lease made by Henry Carrel to Parley Carlin and W. H. Ijams, January 28, 1865, concerning the S. E. J of the S. W. Sec. 35, T. 3, R. 10; the S. E. J of the S. E. .} of Sec. 34; the W. .} of the S. W. J, Sec. 35; and the N. E. J -of the S. W. J, Sec. 35, provided that the lessees should mine and excavate for petroleum, coal, rock or carbon oil or other valuable mineral or volatile substance, giving to the -first party one-eighth of minerals found.

members: W. V. Way, F. R Miller, Jonathan Perrin, John A. Shannon, A. G. Williams, Asher Cook, Edwin Tuller, George N. Parsons, J. W. Ross and E. D. Peck. The object of the company was 1 ' to bore and dig for oil, salt and other vegetable, medicinal and mineral fluids in the earth, and for refining and purifying the same.'' In later years, another company was organized to develop the gas field, references to which are made in the chapter on Perrysburg village.

In the eastern part of the county a few of the j more enterprising men of Freeport thought they j would brave the cynics of the village by drilling i for oil, and, with Austin Beck as president, J.

! B. Lockhart, Richard Angus, Louis Riley, David 1 Phister and Younker, directors, and Henry Carey, driller, did explore the earth down 1 50 feet. Carey having gone so deep without finding oil, his partners considered further work useless and withdrew.

An editorial notice of oil development, in j Wood county, appears in the Perrysburg Journal of June 7, 1865, in the following words: "The oil fever in this vicinity seems to be reviving, and is again in its ascendant. We are reliably informed that the lands at the mouth of Grassy creek have been leased to parties from Pennsylvania, who propose boring for oil." In I July following, N. L. Besanson, of Portage, while j sinking a well for his steam sawmill at Milton center, discovered oil at seventy feet. This oil burned readily, and had all the characteristics of ' petroleum. In October, the Journal warned its readers against the oil fever, in this manner:

"To every poor man we say, stand from under this humbug, it will soon fall and illustrate the old adage of ' fools and their money are soon parted.' A word to the wise'is sufficient. " Hall, Worman & Co. then had 400 acres in Troy, and a large acreage round Perrysburg; but the idea of dines and anti-clines, of oil channels and gas reservoirs, was not possessed by the master drillers. Below Waterville, on Ballou's farm, wells were drilled and a show of oil found.

In July, 1875, some persons discovered, in the northwestern sections of Bloom township, quantities of crude petroleum floating on the waters of a spring, and, reporting this, a number of the fanners agreed to "bore" 100 feet until the "oil spring would be struck." The result of their strong resolutions was zero; for a full decade elapsed before the true oil men drilled to the true sand. -

The Bradner Natural Gas Co. was incorporated later, and drilled a well on the stave factory lot. A show of oil was found, but, like other early ventures in the field, the enterprise fell through. Messrs. Edmonds, Wise, Bort, ct al. formed the B. &. O. Refining Co. , and to them the factory lot and equipment of the Bradner Gas Co. were donated; but the enterprise of the partners did not meet with success.

Gas was discovered at a depth of 242 feet, while the well at the infirmary was being drilled, in August, 1884. Enough gas was supplied for one stove, and continues down to the present time. The drillers were Andrew Byers and M. O. Ladd. Before sunrise one morning they heard the water bubbling in the well, and ran to inform Edwin Farmer of the fact. When daylight arrived, Farmer visited the well and declared it was gas, and shortly after they succeeded in lighting it and pumping from it one barrel of oil. In December, 1884, the Bowling Green Natural Gas Company was formally organized, and on January 5, 1885, organized with S. Case, J. O. Troup, R. W. McMahan, W. M. Tuller, G. C. Phelps, Earl W. Merry and C. W. Evers, directors. The last named was chosen president, with S. Case, secretary. Martin and Brownyear. who completed the Findlay well, were present, and a week or two afterward contracted for drilling, on a lot west side of Summit, and ten rods south of Clough, street, the well to be commenced by February 5. On February 9 a depth of ninety feet was reached, on the night of the 10th, 105 feet, and on the 25th, 270 feet. The Sentinel, noticing the gas produced at that depth, declared the smell of it would stop a clock. On Friday, March 6, 1885, the gas reservoir was struck at a depth of 1, 130 j feet. The well was shot at 1,250 feet on March 21, when a flow of about 400,000 feet was ob- : served. On April 23, the second well was drilledin, and, onMay 12, shot at 1,192 feet, but con- ' sumed itself. On July 16, 1885, while Superintendent D. E. Sanger was packing the cap of ; well No. 1, he struck the cap (then pressed by 375 pounds of gas to the square inch), when splinters of it struck his face, tearing away the flesh and causing his death. The company issued j an address to the citizens April 2, 1885, in which | reference is made to the first well, then produc- | ing about 400,000 feet of gas at 400 pounds J pressure, and to the new well at the north end of town, then drilling on a lot of Earl W. Merry. On March 31 gas was brought, through 475 feet of pipe, to the furnace of Hankey's planing mill, and proved its value as fuel. Later it was conducted to C. W. Evers' house, and on April 1 introduced into the mill office, where it proved its value as a heating and lighting quantity. That evening of April 1, 1885, the people of Bowling Green knew that they had entered upon a new era; but did not dream then that extravagance or waste would be punished by want, or that the natural reservoirs would be exhausted.

In the North Baltimore field, from Bairdstown to Hoytville and northward, oil men were busy leasing and drilling for oil and gas in June, 1886. On July 26, the well at Bairdstown was drilled-in, and proved a paying one.

The Simon well, four miles northeast of North Baltimore, on the Simon heirs farm, eight feet beyond Levi Simon's line, answered the drill of the Parmer Oil Company on July 30, 1886, when a strong flow of gas was struck at a depth of 1,010 feet, or twenty feet in the Trenton. The drill was kept at work some time longer, when the gas, being fired, formed a blaze seventy-five feet in height above the well's mouth. The roar : of the escaping gas could be heard five miles away. Prof. Orton measured the well on August 6. 1886, and declared it to be producing 12,451,- 968 feet a day, or 341,968 feet more than the Findlay or Karg well. The "Godsend," in Perry, was then yielding 2,500,000, the Bairdstown 3,000,000, and the Bloomdale about 3,000,000 cubic feet a day. Think of it, 12,451,968 cubic feet of gas a day, or 275 tons weight of fuel!

On August 26, 1885, gas well No. 3, at Bowling Green, was completed, and by October, well No. 4, was finished. By the beginning of February, 1886, there were five gas wells and a sixth drilling, the five in operation yielding about 1,500,000 feet a day. The Weston well reached a depth of 1,571 feet on March 6, 18S6, when a supply of oil and gas answered the drill. It was reported that the well yielded from 50 to 80 barrels of oil, and a great quantity of gas, but in a little while it became an artesian well, producing excellent water. The K. W. McMahan well at Portage was completed March 10, 1886, when the supply was estimated at 2,000,000 cubic feet a day. The Tom Brandeberry was credited with 8,640,000 feet. The pioneer gas well on the Walter DeWitt farm, just north of Mermill, three miles from Bowling Green, was the tenth great gasser of the field. On April 7, 1887, this well was yielding about ten million cubic feet per diem, the gas reservoir being opened by the drill at a depth of 1,130 feet.

The ten-million-feet gas well, on the Johnson Campbell farm, three miles northeast of North Baltimore, was completed December 27, 1887. The burning Vandergrift well at Cygnet, on the Tank farm, was under control on December 1,

1887. It was drilled-in on November 24, and promised to be a 4,000-barrel gusher. That evening the gas caught fire from the engine of a north-bound passenger train. Three explosions followed, the engineer of the train received some burns, the derrick was quickly reduced to cinders and the flames from the well-mouth made summer in the neighborhood for a week. This well ceased to be a producer of oil at once, became a great gasser and is yet one.

Oil Wells. - The North Baltimore, or Henry township oil field, was the first to be developed. On December 1, 1886, the drill penetrated the Trenton rock on David Fulton's farm, on Section 14, to a depth below the mouth, of 1,194 feet. The drillers, and the Vandergrifts, who owned it, never opened a more discouraging hole, and were about abandoning work, when a resolution to go down another hundred or two hundred feet was adopted. When, at last, oil answered the drill, on December 13, the wily owners plugged the hole and let the 1,800-pound drill rest upon the plug, but the oil, like Banquo's ghost, would not down, and thus their only hope of acquiring more land, by making this well a " mystery," was defeated. On December 14 preparations were made for piping the product to Findlay, but, before this could be accomplished, thousands of barrels flowed over the land. The Fulton was recognized as a 600-barrel well, and maintained its production for a considerable time.

The Peters well was drilled-in at 1,210 feet, February 9, 1887. and, February 25, that year, Milton Taylor & Co.'s well on the Henning farm, nine hundred feet north of the Fulton well, was completed. On the 26th, when about deciding to abandon the enterprise as a dry hole, the drill penetrated the crust, the rumbling of gas and oil was heard, the fires extinguished, and presently the oil rushed through the pipes into the tanks. Forty barrels poured in in eight minutes, 200 barrels the first hour and 2,500 barrels the first twelve hours. The owners - A. E. Royce, Jesse Carothers, W. H. Smith, J. H. Sands and W. S. Coon - drilled this hole north of the great F'ulton well, and were fully rewarded for their enterprise and perseverance. The Davis well, owned by the Vandergrifts, came in on February 26, and the fame of the field was heralded throughout the country. The Slaughterback, completed April 30, 1887, for Hankey Brothers, proved a 1,000- barrel producer, while Slaughterback No. 3, was drilled-in on June 28, to prove itself the peer of its great predecessor. It was said to have yielded

8.000 barrels the first day, but the official statement credits it with 4,800 barrels in twenty-two hours without being torpedoed. At the end of sixty days it was producing between 2,000 and

3.000 barrels, and down to October 1, 1887, yielded r 00, 000 barrels. The Taylor well, completed May 2, 1887, for Biddle & Ramsey, may be called the duplicate of the Slaughterback. The Bealer, drilled-in on May 4, yielded 1.500 barrels a day as a reward for its owners - Carothers & Snyder. The Nolan & Kennedy well, on the Eberly farm, drilled-in May 25, flowed 200 barrels, and, before the summer set in, a number of wells were reported as fair producers. The well on the Johnson Campbell farm, two and a half miles from North Baltimore, was yielding 13.000 barrels a month at the close of August, 1 887. The well was drilled-in about the middle of August, but its power was not fully manifested until the tenth day, when the force of the gas sprayed the oil over the forest. Pliny Parker's well, on the Abe Fultz farm, was drilled-in August 29, 1887, and shot on August 30 with forty quarts of glycerine. The oil rose forty feet above the derrick for three hours before it was turned into the tanks, when 1,250 barrels were saved in two hours and fifteen minutes. On September 20, the Parker well No. 1, on the Fultz farm, caught fire, fatally burning Robert Johnson, the pumper. The Crocker well also caught fire, sending up a blaze to a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and destroying much property.

with an extraordinary production, fell to 3.000 , barrels a day by January 1, 1888, and continued to decline. Toward the close of 1 888, the well on the Solether farm, near Jerry City, was drilled. The Sutherland followed, and a great field was opened. Toward the close of 1887, the pipe lines refused to accept more than one-third of the daily -production of Wood county oil, and, as a result, the gassy wells, which could not be shut in by the casing process, produced thousands of barrels of oil, which, in the absence of tanks, flowed into the streams and thence to the lake. The wells mentioned are only a few of the pioneer greasers of this county. The Franks, drilledin at 1,077 feet for the Vandergrifts, on August 27, 1886, showed only 100 barrels, but fifty or sixty similar ventures with a like production added to the popularity of the field, and removed the work of drilling from the region of speculation. Many companies were organized in 1887. The Wood County Oil & Gas Co., of which J. R. Hankey, J. H. Sands, L. Black, J. O. Troup,

S. Case, W. T. Reese and Dr. William Tuller were incorporators, was one of the leading industrial associations of the time. The field was not wanting in surprises, either. A phenomenon of the field was noticed in August, 1888, when the old Stockwell hole, drilled in August, 1887, was producing 125 barrels of red oil. It was purchased by Laney, who plugged the hole with iron I siftings and next day found a clear crude, free I from the red substance.

Progress did not cease here. On May 12, ; 1889, it was reported that Barnd No. 1, at North j Baltimore, struck an ocean of oil which poured out at the rate of 10,000 barrels a day. The showing would certainly favor such a report, but the catch was many thousand barrels below the number stated. It was enough, however, to reattract attention to the old field, and win back many operators who had left to seek new and less productive pastures.

The Ducat well on the N. E. .} Sec. 27, Liberty township, was completed May 20, 1888, for Collins and Potter. Being unprepared for anything extraordinary, they saw a production , estimated at 5,000 barrels per diem going to 1 waste, nor was the flow controlled for several days. Early in July, it was said that no less than 10,000 barrels of oil, mostly from the Ducat well, floated on the waters of the Portage. On June 4th or 5th, the oil was fired, and soon a stream of fire four miles long and thirty feet high presented itself to the sightseers. In October, the Pernot Brothers struck a 3,000-barrel producer in Liberty township, south of the Big Ducat, and down to the present time the Liberty fields offers surprises to the lucky or plucky drillers.

The seventy-four wells in Liberty township, on July 1, 1888, were producing 20,000 barrels a day. The great Slaughterback well in Henry township, produced 75,000 barrels down to July 1, 1888, when it fell to a small well, having earned about $15,000. The Amazon Oil Co. leased lands on the McCrory farm, and in April, 1888, finished No. 1 on that farm as a 500-barrel well, which it continued about a year, and is now a five-barrel well.

In July. 1888, oil was pumped from Cygnet to South Chicago, a distance of 306 miles, at the rate of little over twenty-six miles a day, or about a mile an hour for a nine-days' trip. Cygnet is 330 feet above the level of South Chicago. The 8-inch line of the National Transit Co. holds

1.000 acres in Webster and Center at the close of 1888, when their great oil well on the Saylor farm, in Liberty township, came in, which was first reported to be a 6.000-barrel producer. Since that time other great companies have acquired immense tracts, large areas of which are held for future development. Down to August 10, 1888, the Standard Oil Co. had forty-three 35,000-barrel tanks in Wood county, and others building at the rate of two a week. It was then the purpose of the company to locate no less than seventy-five of such tanks between Cygnet and Oil Center on what is known as "Tank Farm."

The Delaney well, on the Mercer farm, produced 100,000 barrels during the fourteen months ending December 1, 1888, and continued, for some time, a 200-barrel producer. This well was yielding forty barrels in June, 1895, for its first owners. In 1889 a well drilled in the town of North Baltimore by B. A. Lawrence, started with a production of 400 barrels a day, and led to wholesale drilling until the council prohibited further work. The oil men then sought a field in its development, has shown wonderful staying for their enterprise on Sections 27 and 28, and qualities. The field presents some strange phewere fully rewarded with great producers. nomena, its direct line, as if following a river of

The Bradner Oil Co. took the lead in the de- oil, being not the least remarkable, velopment of the Freeport field, making leases The Jerry City field came in during 1895 as on a cash royalty of four cents on a barrel. The one of the most progressive in the county. Front ery township, may be considered the first heavy the small boy, in hundreds of instances, could producer. Drilled late in 1889, it responded as climb from the window of his sleeping room to a fifty-barrel hole, and led the way to the drilling dizzy derrick heights.

of twelve more before May 1, 1890, in Sections The Ohio Oil Co.'s well, on the Reese farm, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 15 - all of which became a mile northwest of the great Kirkbride, was at from fifteen to thirty, feet in it, or about 500 fifty barrels a day; but the drillers, re-starting feet below sea level, and from fifty to seventy- the tools, drilled fifty-two feet below, when the feet above the dead line. The Paragon Co. well gave 100 barrels an hour. On the next day drilled on the Risingsun farm for the corporation, it settled down to 50 barrels an hour. Whether to a depth of 1,218 feet, but found neithergas it will fall as suddenly as did its predecessors - nor oil, though later and more fortunate drillers the Hollister, McMurray, Kirkbride, Baker and were successful in that field. Delaware, in the Woodvilie field, has yet to be

The Palmer Oil Company's well in Section ascertained. The Corning Oil Co. 's well on the 21, Portage township, yielded 250,000 barrels Philip Hartman farm. Sec. 12, Troy township, prior to the close of 1890, and was then flowing which flowed 220 barrels in the first halfday,

The Brown Oil Co. struck a 7, ooo-bairel well farm, in Sec. 25; the Westerman well on the on the South of the Northwest \ , Section 23, Kohring farm, in Sec. 35; Plummer's well, in Plain, in 1892, flowed for three or four months, Sec. 25; the wells on Foster and Baker farms, in running 250 barrels in twenty-seven minutes at Secs. 12 and 13, Troy, and the Rock Oil Co's the beginning, and settling down gradually until w'ells, in Sec. 2, Lake, with the ventures in Ross it became known as a seventy-barrel well in 1895. j township, show the advance of the field.

In July of this year, it was drilled deeper, tor- j In the Haskins or Sucker-rod field, the Marschpedoed and improved. ka & Brannigan well No. 12. on the Emerick

1889, and particularly in the spring of 1890, the while Barnes, Wittmer & Watt's well, No. 7, stampede to Freeport was in progress, and, on on Sec. 27, Hoag farm, came in as a 1 50-barevery side of Montgomery township, and even j rel well. Later, in June, the Pennell, Pitcher, north of the township line, the country was in I Camp and Hodge well, on the Shadd farm, 2.500 the hands of the oil operator and driller. The | feet west of Haskins village, struck oil rock at completion of a well near Freeport, in March, ! 1,198.^ feet, oil at 1.223.^ feet, and further pay-

1890, which flowed 210 barrels in two hours, j rock at i,268J feet. This extension was calcucaused the great stampede, and, before the close lated on the ground that the pay channel passed pleted, and many more commenced within the Waterville. The drilled declared in favor of this boundaries of Montgomery. Within the town of calculation, and a great well resulted.

Freeport, 1 20 derricks were raised, and for some Early in June, 1895, Munn's No. 1, on the time the place was an oil city of considerable Eberly farm. Sec. 7, Portage, and Fowler

In the old sections of the oil field, new sur- The North Baltimore field was holding its prises were appearing, and operators returned to reputation in June, 1895, when the Carrothers, their earlier hunting grounds. t on the Lewis farm. Sec. 34; the L D. Lang- and Wallace & Coon's No. 6, Henning farm, Sec. 14, Henry township, with the Ohio Oil Company's No. 7, on the Welton farm. Sec. I 35, and W. H. Milliken's No. 1 1 , on the McKee ! farm. Sec. 28, Liberty township, came in as good producers.

The year 1895 was a memorable one in oil j circles generally, and particularly in those of Wood county. The Sun Oil Company struck two great wells in the Risingsun field, while westward to Haskins large wells were reported weekly. From the report dated December 27, 1895, it is learned that there were 1,786 new wells completed in Wood county, 568 in Hancock, 189 in Allen, 749 in Auglaize, 1,132 in Sandusky, 41 in Lucas, 648 in Mercer, and Ottawa, Hardin, Wyandot, Logan, Van Wert, Henry, Paulding, Williams, Putnam, Defiance, Fulton, Shelby and Darke. Of these numbers there were 200 dry holes in Wood county, 98 in Hancock, 48 in Allen, 104 in Auglaize, 99 in Sandusky, 18 in Lucas, 76 in Mercer, and 187 in the miscellaneous counties. The new production for the year credits Wood county with 39,840 barrels daily; Hancock, 10,778; Allen, 2,512; Auglaize, 12,730; Sandusky, 27,268; Lucas, 715; Mercer, 9.422; miscellaneous counties, 5,010.

In the counties named 22,960 wells have been ! completed (down to December, 1 895), at an average cost of $2,000 each, or a total of $45,920,- 000, to say nothing of the millions of dollars invested in pipe lines, pumping stations and buildings of all sorts. This number of wells is proportioned as follows: Wood, 7,897; Hancock, j

The extraordinary development of 1895 will 1 compare favorably with the best days of the field. From a point below Haskins to the extremes of the old fields, the driller was at work day and night, and derricks appeared everywhere even as j far east as the Krotzer farm in Freedom, and north through Troy and Lake townships into Ross township. The increase in the value of oil must be credited with this extraordinary activity, for, at the price ruling in 1894, there was little prospect for profit, even where a venture to turn out a fair producer. The increased value of Wood county oil gave drilling a fair commercial chance in which a good well on one lease would compensate for the water well or dry hole en- , countered in the search on another lease. It led many men to enter dangerous territory and win success therein; others it led beyond the boundaries described by the oil man's instinct, to lose money, time and labor which they invested in the prospect.

"Recurring to the oil business, its magnitude in Wood county is shown by the following figures, which, though given in ' round numbers, ' are substantially correct. There have been drilled in the county for oil and gas 9,000 wells. There are now in operation 5,500 oil wells. The production of thecounty up to thisdate(September, 1896) is 50,000,000 barrels. The present daily production is 30,000 barrels. In searching for and producing oil within the county there hive been expended $18,000,000. The capital at present invested in the business of producing is from $ n ,000,000 to $12,000,000. The writers have been unable to ascertain the exact number of employes in the business within the county, but it is in excess of 2, 500, and the average wages paid to them is about $75 per month. The average royalty paid to the land owner is about one-seventh of the gross production. This, at the present rate of production, and the present price of oil, means a monthly payment to landowners of $72,000. Add to this a monthly pay roll of $20,000, and we have from the oil-producing business alone $92,000 paid out monthly, or $1,093,000 annually, and finding its way among the people of the county.

- ' Thus far we have said nothing about the business of transporting and marketing the oil. The transportation of crude oil is a distinct and important industry. It is carried on in this field by means of railway tank cars, and by means of pipe lines. We shall speak only of the latter. There are several pipe-line companies in this field, the Buckeye Pipe Li*ie Company doing far the largest business. For that reason, its method of transportation will be briefly described, as an illustration of how the business is carried on. It is not, as is often supposed, a purchaser or dealer in oil, but only a common carrier, storing and transporting oil, and charging a certain price per barrel for storage and pipeage.

" It has in this county a central pumping station located on the T. &O. C. railway about 10 miles south of Bowling Green. It has also 25 district stations located at different points in the county, with pipe lines extending from these to the tanks at the various wells in the respective dis- tricts, and to storage tanks hereafter described. When a tank is filled and steamed, if steaming be necessary, the owner notifies the company's gauger for the district. If the gauger finds the oil in a condition for marketing, he gauges the tank, and the oil is run into the company's line. When the run is made he again gauges the tank, which is never entirely emptied. By this means he ascertains the exact quantity of oil run into the line, even to the t-iooth part of a barrel, and reports the run at the company's office. The royalty interest is entered upon the company's books to the credit of the land o\\;ner, and the remainder, called the ' working interest, ' is entered to the credit of the well owner. Either party may sell his oil at once, or hold so long as he is willing to pay storage. Whenever a partydesires to sell his oil he sends to the company's office a sale order, and receives in return a check for the market price, less charges for storage and pipeage. The ease, convenience and safety to the owner, of this method of marketing his oil, are obvious. From the district pumping station the oil is pumped to the company's storage tanks, of which it has over 300 in this county. All but six of these are located in the neighborhood of the central pumping station. These tanks are cylindrical in form, made of boiler iron or steel, and have an average capacity of 30,000 barrels. A dyke is thrown up around each tank. The object is to confine the oil in the space between the tank and the dyke in case of accident to the tank.

- * That portion of the county covered by the oil field is a network of district pipe lines. Those of the Buckeye Pipe Line Company amount to over 500 miles, being more than sufficient to lay a continuous line from Nashville to Detroit. The main pumping station is said to be one of the largest in the world. By means of it the oil is

I pumped from the storage tanks above inenj tioned, westward to Chicago, and eastward to the seaboard. The oil flows west through two 5- inch lines and one 6-inch line as far as Lima, and thence to Chicago through two 8-inch lines. Those who visited Machinery Hall at the World's Fair, and observed its immense battery of boilers, will be interested to know that the oil used under them for fuel came through these lines. Eastward the oil is forced through two 8-inch lines via Cleveland to Olean, N. Y. , and thence, by different lines, to New York city and Philadelphia. On these lines, both east and west, there are relay pumping stations at necessary intervals. The capacity of the western line is 32,000 bar- 1 rels, and that of the eastern line 35,000 barrels daily. The amount run dailyat the present time is about 1 5.000 barrels west, and 30,000 barrels east. As the total is 15,000 barrels more than the daily production of Wood county, it is necessary to state that the production of Hancock, Sandusky and Wyandot counties is collected into the storage tanks in this county. The rate of the current in' these lines depends, of course, upon the amount of oil forced through them and upon the diameter of the line. Ordinarily the speed in the 8-inch line is two miles per hour, increasing in the smaller lines to five miles per hour. The pressure upon the lines is enormous, ami varies inversely with the diameter of the line. In the 8-inch line, and at the speed above given, the pressure is about 1,000 pounds to the square inch. The company has its private telegraph stations and telegraph lines throughout the field, and extending from the field to its principal offices both east and west.

Chapter Xxvi

THE chapters devoted to political and educational affairs contain very complete statistics relating to voters and school children, while that on the Transactions of the Commissioners deals more or less exten- sively with tax levies anil financial affairs. Here, the assessed value of property, at stated periods, and the tax levied thereon are given, with figures on the products of the farm. The most important section of the chapter is that which deals with the population. It differs from the assessment and agricultural statistics, in the fact of its authenticity. Though the former ligurcs are summarized from State reports, they do not agree with true values or quantities, while it is known that the Census returns cover, practically, the number of inhabitants found in the county at the close of each decade, beginning with that ending in June, 1820.

The Act of April 26, 1872, authorized a onemill tax, for township purposes, where the valuation does not exceed $200,000, eight-tenths of a mill, where not in excess of $300,000. one-half a mill, where the valuation does not exceed $500,000, and one-fourth of a mill, where the assessed value is above the half-million mark.

According to the State reports, there were 385,970 acres of land assessed in 1893, at $9,- 486,130, with real estate in towns and villages assessed at $2,655,250, and personal property in townships and towns at $7, 125,410, or a total of $19,266,790, being about the ninety-first part of the assessed value of the State, $1,752,990,930. The true total for Wood county, on a marketable basis, might he ascertained by multiplying the given assessed value by four. The total State tax levied in 1893, on a basis of 2;{ mills, amounted to $52,983.67; the county and local taxes amounted to $385,775.89; the dog tax to $3,388; and delinquent taxes of 1893 and former years, $117, 146.88, bringing the total up to $559,- 294.44.

The assessment, which is the only official or legal document upon which to base the value of property, may he said to be only 25 per centum of the true value, so that, in times of ordinary prosperity. Wood county is valued for about seventy-seven million dollars.

The assessed value of live stock is given as follows: In 1893, there were 12,349 horses valued at $486,270; 15,328 cattle, valued at $198,- 220; 196 mules, at $6,380; 31,917 sheep, at $66,- 180, and 17,005 hogs, at $63,180. The figures for 1894 and 1895 will not vary very much from these just given. While the county has not really felt the effects of the financial depression of 1893-95, s0 prevalent outside the oil fields, the shadow of that depression was visible, darkening enterprise, and postponing, to a certain extent, private and public improvements.

The tax levy authorized by the commissioners in June, 1894, shows 2 mills for current expenses of the county, 2.05 mills for county bridge purposes, 2 mills for building court house, and . 10 of a mill for relief of indigent soldiers. The finances for the year ending September 3, 1894, so far as the funds which the commissioners control are concerned, are given as follows: Current expense fund, $47,365.73; county bridge fund, $20,080; county building fund, $1,840; recorder's fee fund, $689. 20; new court house fund, $101,290.67; special dog fund, $4, 183. 15; county infirmary fund, $18,245.20; and soldiers' relief fund, $4,019.20. Of the total sum, the expenditures amounted to $140,145.44. The township, ditch and school taxes are not considered in the commissioners' report, but it may be said that they exceed the total of the general taxes. The county has a good deal to show for its annual expenditures - good roads, great drainage canals, a magnificent new court house, valuable infirmary property, and well-kept records.

county, between the ages of five and twenty years, was 7,851, of females, 7, 359; and of males, twenty-one years and over, 10,528, or very nearly one-fourth of the total population. The distribution of population is 74. 2 to the square mile, or one inhabitant for every 8.62 acres. The capacity of the county for sustaining a population bears about the same relation as its assessed value does to its true value. With four persons to 8. 62 acres, or 296. 8 to every square mile, the country would not be overtaxed, though, in the light of latter-day wants, many of the inhabitants would have to forget luxuries, which they now enjoy, and all would have to give more labor and more attention to agriculture. With manufacturing industries in number, the farming community of Wood county, increased to the maximum given, would become the wealthiest in Ohio.

Decennial Census. - The population of the original county, in 1820, was 733, but as the territory embraced a large part of northwestern Ohio, not more than one-third that number of white persons resided within its present limits. In 1830, before Lucas was detached, the population was 1,102; in 1840, within the present limits, 5,357; in 1850, 9,157; in i860, 17,886; in 1870, 24,596; in 1880, 34,022; and in 1890, 44,392.

Chapter Xxvii Bowling Green

Preamble - Settlement and Nomenclature [from the pen of C. W. Evers] - Early Traders - Reminiscences of Mrs. J. A. Shannon - Business Circles, 1866-1876 - Schools - Modern Buildings - Municipal Affairs - Fire Department - Gas Company - An Explosion - Bowling Green's Pioneer Railroad - Churches - Cemeteries - Miscellaneous Societies.

THE seat of justice of Wood county, near its geographical center, is admirably located for the purposes of trade and commerce, as well as for the administration of county affairs. Two railroad lines, with their branches, bring the town within forty minutes' ride of the southern and northern townships, while a stone road, running east, insures to the people of Center and adjoining townships a good thoroughfare at all seasons, and easy access to this central trading place.

Prior to 1870, the present busy town was a quiet hamlet. In that year the Census enumerator found 906 inhabitants there. Ten years after there were 1 , 5 39 inhabitants credited to the corporation, while in 1890, no less than 3,467 residents were reported. The population in the fall of 1895 was alleged to exceed 4,000. Basing the number of inhabitants on the number of voters (91 1 votes cast for candidates for commissioner) in November, 1895, the population, at that date, must have been a little above the 4,000 mark. In 1890 there were 786 dwelling houses in the town for the 79 7 families reported. Within the past six years many modern houses have been built, bringing the total up to 1 ,000 dwellings, few, if any, of which are tenantless. The construction of business houses has been carried on, until now the business center extends from Mt. Ararat northward to a point near the last location of John M. Hannon's pioneer tavern.

A reference to the chapters on Plain and Center townships will show the order in which the Martindales, Thurstins, Moores, Hollingtons, Shivelys, Walkers, Stauffers, Richards, Tracys, Hartmans, Booths, Mackies, Manvilles, St. Johns, and other pioneer families settled on or near the site of the present town of Bowling Green. The chapters named will also present to the reader the story of pioneer days in this vicinity, the names of the men and women who ventured down from Mt. Ararat to clear the wilderness and make it ready for their children; of the men who converted it into the most favored land in Ohio, and of the stern, honest fellows who governed the two little republics from which the town of Bowling Green was detached in 1855.

In this chapter it is proposed to deal with the settlement as well as with the social and commercial development of the area within the limits of the corporation. Legends and records have been compelled to enter the service of the chroniclers, and every measure that care could suggest has been taken to insure accuracy; so that this pleasant and prosperous town may be given a chapter complete in historical details and authentic in every particular. The introductory to the story of the village, written by C. W. Evers, in September, 1895, and published in the Tribune , tells of settlement and nomenclature.

The first time white men came to disturb the forest solitudes where Bowling Green now stands, was in June, 1812, when Hull's army passed here, marching from Dayton to Detroit. That column of troops, preceded by guides, scouts and axemen, followed in turn by the cavalry battalion, with its gaudy pennons, escorting the commanding general, with his gaily uniformed staff retinue; then the infantry, field bands, artillery and trains formed a pageant which even today would attract all Bowling Green to the east side of town, about where the T. & O.C. railway track lies. That is about on the line the troops held, until near Ridge street, when they turned a little to the west, coming out on the Maumee nearly opposite Waterville. That was the first wagon trail through the interior of Wood county, and the only one for the two succeeding decades. The land was then owned by the Indians. After the war, in 1817, at a treaty at the Foot of the Maumee Rapids, described elsewhere in these pages, the United States bought the land, at a price slightly less than four cents an acre, and in 1819 sent surveyors here, which was the second appearance of white men on official business. In 1821 the final surveys w-ere completed, and the plats made, when the lands were ready for market.

Unfortunately the Black-Swamp country, after the war of 1812, had a worse reputation, if possible, than ever; the soldiers and others who had been here told horrible stories about it. Few buyers of land came none to the interior of 1 the county. Those who stopped invariably located on or near the river; su that, aside from roving parties of Indian hunters and occasional white fur-traders, or the weekly trips of the old Bellefontaine mail carrier, the interior of the county was practically unknown, and shunned by settlers for more than a decade after its survey. Prior to the year 1828, Collister Haskins, at Portage, was the only settler between Findlay and the Maumee settlement. Some few entries were made in Plain and Center in 1831. as noticed in the histories of those townships, but the pioneer entry in the present corporation was made October 29. 1832, by Elisha Martindale; the tract, forty acres, in the northwest part of the town, described as the S. K. J+ of N. \V. '+ , Bee. 24, Plain, lying on both sides of Haskins road or street, is known now as the Clinton Fay place. Martindale litter bought 120 acres more; he built his cabin, where the present " Fay House " stands, near the great willow tree, just west of the road, the following spring, 18:i3. Careful inquiry has failed to discover evidence of any cabin here prior to that date; Lee Moore, Henry Walker, Jacob Stauffer and others came and built in the summer and fall of 183.'!. Alfred Thurstin began his cabin in November, 1833, as did Joseph Hollington, Sr.; but so far as known the Martindale cabin was the first, and stood on the first land entry, in what is now Bowling Green.

Dropping now the order of dates of entry, we will begin in the south part of town, west side, and note the names of early Main street owners. Next north of what is called the Joseph Bender road, S. E. of Sec. .'{!), a quarter section was entered by Joseph Hollington, Sr., August 5,1833; later called the Tooker farm. The S'. E. corner of this tract is on Main street, opposite the Napoleon road, which latter is on half section line instead of section line, as believed by many. The next entry was by Benjamin Reed, the N. E. \ of Sec. 30. Plain, extending north to Pearl street. This tract was afterward sold to Samuel and J. M. Lamb. Still north, between Pearl and Wooster streets, the half of S. E. '4 , Sec. 24, Plain, cornering at Gaghan's block, was purchased in the name of Stephen Ward, April 18. 1833, and afterward sold to Thomas Tracy; it is the second oldest entry in the corporation. North of Main street, still in Sec. 24. Plain, Henry Walker entered forty acres, November 25, 18:i3, and in June following all the balance of the Main-street frontage, to the Poe road, which is the section line. Thus. Tracy after a time became owner of the south part of this purchase of Walker's. Just north of the Poe road Andrew Race entered the corner forty in Sec. 13, Plain, now in name of Culver and Carl.

Across the street in Sec. 18, Center, Jonathan Fay. October 3, 18!!3, entered eighty acres cornering on Main street and Poe road. Starting south from that road, Henry Walker, on August 5, 1833. entered the whole Main-street front to Ridge street, being W. Pt. of N. W. 'J, Sec. 19, Center. In 1835, Walker sold this tract, about 109 acres, to Robert Barr, who afterward deeded the north twenty acres to his daughter, who was the wife of John M. Hannon. From Ridge street south to the section line at Pearl is the Main-street frontage of Alfred Thurstin's entry, 109 acres and over, made November 2. 1833, being W. Pt. S. W. q of Sec. 19, Center. Joining Thurstin on the south. Lee Moore, September 10, 1833, entered the whole Main-street frontage of Sec. 30. Center, south to the Bender road, except that of the forty-acre tract lying south of the Napoleon road, which was booked to George Wickham. This latter tract has since been in tinname of Charles Petford, James Smith and others.

These few notes from the land entry books, though not including all entries embraced in the present corporation of Bowling Green, neither the names of all purchasers, are yet sufficient to afford the reader some idea of the pioneer realestate men of the town, and when they tirst came. Some, lerhaps only one or two, of all those named, bought merely or speculation. Most came in quest of homes. Some tried life here, got tired of it and lelt. t )f those faithful ones who remained to buffet with adversity and light the battle that was eventually to make a town here, of which they never even dreamed, perhaps, most, alas!, have passed from this stage of action; their toils and trials have ceased. Thev did their part bravely and well; their work of subduing the wilderness, more than hall a century ago, and its results, are

' If the story of their humble start in the race, and their faithful stewardship to the end, shall inspire us with the ambition to do our part as well, then this story will not have been told in vain. A glance at the land entry books shows ' the rapid influx of settlers from 18: {3 to I83f> or '37. That was an era of speculation. Everyone had a mania to buy land; but the money panic and business crash of 1837 brought it to a sudden end. That was a paralytic stroke from which the western country did not entirely recover until the California gold discovery, more than a decade later. Wood county was especially prostrated. There was nothing I here that the people could sell, not even their homes, but i there was most everything in the way of necessities, even, to I buy. There was in those gloomy years little to inspire hope; ! there was much to thwart and discourage effort.

I* By the middle of the year 18:S4 the ridges and higher spots, within a radius of three miles of this place, were mostly patented from the government, and in many instances tinowner had built and occupied his cabin on his new purchase. This brought the population largely to the west and north, where the most ridges lay. The mail carrier between Perrysburg and Bellefontaine" passed on the old army trail once each week, at tirst every two weeks, and this group of seti tiers petitioned for a post office in their midst; they were a little distrustful, however, that Collister Haskins, of Portage, I might not approve of the move, and went about it a little cautiously. The story of this enterprise incidentally reveals how the village was given its name.

The civil history of a town is but the biography of its founders and their successors, in which every incident, some- times the most trivial, has an interest to the dwellers therein. Not only the name of a town, but what or who suggested that name, often becomes of interest. Since Bowling Green has become the thriving seat of justice of one of the most prosj perous counties in Ohio, inquiry is often made how it hap- ' pened that it was so named. For the tirst time in history the story is here related, with the incidents that led to the naming, as told to the writer by two of the pioneers who had a part in it at the time, and several others who knew all the circumstances. Bowling Green was christened after or for the capital town of Warren county, Ky., by Joseph Gordon, a veteran mail carrier of pioneer days. Of one who performed so important a part in our infantile state, we naturally ask, who was he? In his paper, the Findlay Courirr, January. 1S47, William Mungen wrote editorially of Gordon as follows:

"Joseph (Chauncev) Gordon was born in Allegheny countv, l'enn., January 29, 1784. In the year 1891 he commenced earn ing the mail on horseback, from Russellville, Ky., rin Bowling Green, to Glasgow, a distance of eighty-five miles, once in two weeks, for which he received twelve dollars a month. In 1892 he took the contract to carry the mail from Shelby ville, Ky., to Nashville, Tenn. In consequence of the route being changed, he carried the mail only two months. From that time till < fetober, 1894, he carried it from Shelby ville to Russellville, Ky. In October, 1894, he commenced carrying the mail on horseback from Wheeling, Va., to George Bevmers,' in Ohio, a distance of fifty miles, with a led horse and a heavy mail on each. In 1895-1! he carried the mail from Wheeling, through St. Clairsville, Zanesville, and New Lancaster, to Chillicothe. In February, 1823, he commenced on the route between Bellefontaine and Perrysburg, a distance of cightv-one miles, through a wilderness, there being but one family residing in Hardin county, and but one post office on the route, at Findlay. Mr. Gordon was the only contractor on this route from February 7. 1823. to I tecomber 31, 1839. Since 1839 he has carried the mail semiweekly from Bellefontaine to this place, fifty-five miles."

Jacob Stauffer's cabin here was the central point of tinnew post office movement. Henry Walker, son-in-law of Stauffer, was tube the postmaster. The Walkers and Stauffers occupied the same cabin; it stood on the high ridge just east of Main street, not far north of Merry avenue, close to where Dr. E. P. Thomas' house is to-day. Gordon, on one of Hit northward trips, had stopped at Stauffer's, as was Ins usual custom, in passing; the petition for the new office was ready, ] except that the movers, two or three of whom were present, ' had not yet agreed upon a name. The old mail carrier, who stood on the cabin steps listening to the discussion, said to Stauffer, half jestingly: "If you will give me a tumbler of ' cider I'll give you just the name." Stauffer, who had brought j out a keg of cider from Columbiana county, tilled a glass | and handed it to Gordon; the latter, briefly explaining how j appropriate the name he would suggest was to the landscape about them, said, with a sweep of his arm, "Here's to the new post office of Howling Green," swallowed the cider and was in the act of mounting his horse w hen those present detained him a moment while they could write a name in the petition, which was the one he had suggested. The papers were soon folded, and on their way to Perrysburg for some additional endorsements, after which they were sent to j Washington. The office was established March 12, 1834. In 188ft, when Walker sold his place, he and the Stauffers moved over to the west side of Main street, where the office was kept for a time, since when it has had many different \ locations and masters. Afterward, in 18ftft, when the village ; was incorporated, there seemed no good reason why it should ' not take the same name as the postoffice.

Aside from school and church work Howling Green had but little history prior to the time she was incorporated that does not properly come within the purview of the histories of Plain and Center townships. Robert Mackie's store enterprise at the Napoleon road, in the south part of town, intended as the nucleus of the village of Mt. Ararat, never, under its various proprietors, met expectations. John Hannon in the north end, with his tavern and blacksmith shop, did not attract village neighbors about him. When, in 1K4(> or 1847, Dr. K. D. Peck sent 1.. C. l.ocke out here to start a mercantile enterprise, most of tin- settlers were sure it would be a failure; the proprietors did not feel sanguine; for tinstock was opened on a very small scale in a little room in one corner of a tavern, called "White Hall," on the west side of Main street, just north of where a hotel called the "American House" has since stood. A man named Gossett kept the hotel then. L.ocke soon felt encouraged to call on his j lartner for larger quarters. Then was Mt. Ararat's chance [ or resurrection. l.ocke tried to buy out Simeon baton & i Co., who were sort of successors to Mackie, though in a bet- | ter building and on the east side of Main street. The own- j ers declined to sell, and the star of Mt. Ararat sank to rise no more, l.ocke bought an acre of Alfred Thurstin, including that part of the east side of Main street from the First ! National Hank, south, and taking in the opera house, and there built a store and residence under one r<x>f; his trade j was prosperous, and not long after he was appointed postmaster, and a little later built and operated an asherv, the first manufacturing enterprise begun in the village, if we except Caleb Ford's cabinet shop. l.ocke, by his enterprise, had practically determined where the center of the village would be. Any one who came in after that, and wanted to go into business, located as near Focke's store as he could get.

George Wickham sold to Robert Mackie one acre on the X. W. corner of the N. W. \ of the S. W. j of Sec. 30, Center; while, on June 25, 1836, Joseph Hollington sold to Louisa M. Mackie, a small tract in the S. E. J of Sec. 25, Plain, thus giving the Mackies a location on each side of the State road. Lee Moore deeded to Mrs. Mackie, on June 30, 1836, a tract of 41.70 acres in the S. W. J of the S. W. j of Sec. 31, Center township, with frontage on the Stateroad. Mackie built, on the Wickham tract, a log barn in 1835, and. about the same time, a log house on the east line of Sec. 25, Plain, in the extreme N. E. corner of the S. E. , almost opposite the point where the Napoleon road leaves Main street. On November 5, 1836, the Mackies deeded to Dr. Eli Manville, in consideration of $200 paid, the tract beginning on the S. W. corner of the N. W. \ of Sec. 30, in Center township, except the lots previously sold by Mackie to Jacob Hartman and Neptune Nearing, and the lots deeded to the township trustees for a school building site. At the same time, Mackie sold to Manville one acre in Sec. 25, Plain township, commencing at a stake on the State road, extending forty-six links nearly S. E. from the S. E. corner of the frame house built by the grantor. On November 5, 1836, he conveyed to Manville one acre in the extreme N. W. corner of the S. W. J of Sec. 30, and accepted in payment for these tracts, In-lots Nos. 9 and 46 in the town of Miltonville, the price named being $1,000. These transactions, with the fact that Mackie was licensed in 1835 and 1836 to sell goods, leave no doubt whatever regarding Mackie's ownership of lands on Mt. Ararat, the establishment of a store and the erection of a frame house at that point bv him. His sale of all real estate to Dr. Manville, late in 1836, is also of record; while the fact that he w'as the first merchant is authenticated by many pioneers.

A mercantile license was issued to Eli Manville in 1837, which was renewed in 1838. He was a popular physician, druggist and general merchant, and the successor of the pioneer dealer. Wolverton, the Indian doctor, was here then, as he had been prior to 1837, w'hile northward a distinct settlement existed in the neighborhood of the post office.

The old " Mackie House " became the property of Simeon Eaton, of Maumee. Simeon Eaton, w'ho married the widow' of Jonathan Fay, in September, 1844, built the square-roofed house nearly on the opposite side of the street, after- I ward known as the " Gilmour House," to which ' he removed his stock of goods in 1 843, and which store was kept until some time in 1856, the last proprietor being the late Alex. Selkirk. As shown : in the record of old merchants of the county,

1 Eaton was licensed to keep store in 1 844. The last public purpose for which the Mackie place was used was when G. Z. Avery kept a tavern there in 1852 53, and the 4th of July "doings" there that year was a shooting match for a bear. The Underwoods used it in 1 85 5 as a dwellinghouse; then Drake, the blacksmith. It was torn down in 1804. John M. Hannon kept the first tavern. lie afterward lived on and owned what has since been known as the Huff place, in the north part of town, later owned by F. Renz. Hannon was a "character " in that day, and no one who knew him can forget him for his outlandish eccentricity. He was a thick-set, roundheaded, compact man, with short curly hair and piercing black eyes. He seldom wore a hat or coat, and was often without shoes. He lived at home more like an Arab than a white man. A part of his humble habitation was windowless, and was shared with the chickens for a roost. He seemed to prefer this mode of life, though it ill suited his wife. If there were an old, crookedlegged, ill-shapen horse in the country, Hannon was sure to get it, and his gear of ropes, strings, straps and hickory bark, with wagon to correspond, would shame a Florida cracker. It was said of him derisively that he could tie on a horse's shoe with a dry elder withe.

Jacob Eberly %vas the first blacksmith in Center, and consequently the first in the Bowling Green district; but Jacob Whitmore was undoubtedly the first regular one in the village; though Hannon gave some attention to his trade before Whitmore appeared. John Whitehead, of Plain township, made tables and chairs for many years, and may be called the cabinet maker of the settlement; though Caleb Lord and his partner, Bailey, opened the first regular cabinet shop on or near the site of the Commercial Bank building of the present day. John Drake, the third blacksmith, worked near the Mackie store for some years, and in 1848 purchased Jacob Whitmore's shop for $1 50. Being unable to pay $100 of the purchase money, he migrated to Fort Leavenworth, in 18 50, earned a fair sum of money there, and returning the same year carried on business "at the old stand" for a long period, and became a famous maker of plow shares. E. I. Carr's wagon-shop was the next industry. He erected a shop north of the old Burns house of later days, in 1848 or 1849, but moved to California that year or in 1850.

Ed. Gossett, a painter by trade, and an instructor in band music, was the next landlord, and kept house in a little frame building on the corner where the old "American " stood, in the north part of town. It went by the name of "White Hall," and burned down some years ago. It was in a corner room of that building that L. C. Locke opened out a little stock of goods in (846, some say '47, where he remained until the Hood building was completed for use. To show how accidental the location of the town at this particular place was, it may be here stated that Locke tried to buy land for his store, of Jacob Hartman, opposite the "Gilmour House" (north of it j, nearly or quite three-fourths of a mile south of the corners at the "Lease House." During the early part of Fillmore's Presidency, Locke was appointed postmaster, and his store soon became general headquarters in the settlement. Locke occupied a part of the building for a residence. The building, though since much improved in extent and appearance, was considered quite an extravagant affair here in those days. Judge C look, who was then a young man, a plasterer by trade, came out from Pcrrysburg and plastered the walls for Locke.

The records of deeds throw a light on realestate transactions, at and round the "corners" in 1837, 1846 and 1848. On August 12. 1837, Joseph Wade sold to Theron Pike two acres, Sec. 18, T. 5, R. 11, situate in the S. E. of N. W. and N. E. of S. W. j , except a small piece in the extreme N. W. of S. E. |. Locke & Peck bought an acre from Alfred Thurstin on east side of Main street. September 14, 1846, where is now the First National Bank, and one-half acre in 1847. William G. Lamb sold for $70, on January 25, 1848, to Theron and Thomas M. Pike, a tract of one acre and thirty-two rods of the N. E. corner of S. E. } of S. E. j , Sec. 24, Plain, and they also bought twelve rods on the west side of Main street, south of Wooster, and sixteen rods back. On February 25. 1852, William Lewis bought the present Milliken corner from Alfred Thurstin, for $50, which he sold the same d.iy to Thomas M. Pike.

The Locke store rose above prnniliveness «. fore the close of 1848, and drew custom from the traders of Portage, New Rochester and other trading points outside Perrysburg. He eslab lished an ashery on a large scale, and thus provid ed profitable employment for a number of men. He exchanged general merchandise for farm prod nets, and became a forwarding agent as well as a merchant. To his enterprise and business ability the importance of the little hamlet known as Bowling Green, of 1848, must be credited, and it is not a matter for surprise to hear old settlers say that were it not for Locke there would be no town between Portage and Perrysburg. The Pikes, Theron and Thomas M., purchased the land known as " Gaghan's Corner," and "Younk cr's Drug Store," early in 1848, and, the same year, Thomas M. Pike built a little frame house, in which he installed a small stock of goods; the same which Mrs. Maria Pike carried on in later days.

said, "in the summer of 1853 and '54, but was not the first teacher in the old school house. It was well adorned with ink stains and knife marks when I began my work there. Mrs. Maria Pike kept a small store on Gaghan's Corner, and there were no houses going west until you reached the brick one where Mrs. Gorrill now lives. It was then occupied by the widow Tracy and her son-in-law, Isaiah Norton. Mrs. T. was the mother of J. R. Tracy, of Toledo. Going east from Alfred Thurstin's corner, now Lincoln & Son's drug store, was a little stone house occupied by a Frenchman named Donzey (now the Criin place), and the next house was where Mrs. 1). Noyes now lives. From the old Lamb place, now Ordway. there was no house until you reached Lee Moore's. James Lamb then lived in a log house on the high knoll opposite Moore's. l)r. Limb lived in a log house just north of Mrs. Laura Smith's; and in a log house, standing near where A. F. Royce once lived. David Lee then lived. Capt. Locke then kept the store and post office in the 'Hood House. ' Mr. George Thomas was then building the hotel on the corner, while he fed and housed the tired and hungry in what in the 'eighties ' was the 'Commercial House,' in the north part of the town. Dr. Rogers lived where J. V . Owens now does, and the widow Lowell occupied a log house nearly opposite. I think there was no house between A. Thurstin's and Mrs. Lowell's on the east side of the road. The children from the families of Messrs. Poe, George Williams, J. H. Thurstin and Peter Richards, came to that old 'school house. The next year ( 1854), Mr. Thomas occupied his new hotel - later the ' Lease House' - and G. Z. Avery the one in the north part of town. "

During the ensuing decade very few changes took place in the commercial or business circle. From 1861 to 1865 a few new men became identified with the village. After Appomattox a few more located here, and in 1866 began to make their presence felt. Ordway & Truesdalc established a saw- and tlouring-mill in January, 1862, and placed Perry Thomas in charge. In the tlouring-mill were one run of stone for buckwheat and two for wheat. There were no demands in those days for patent Hour; the people lived to work and cat, to be strong and healthy, so that the coarse products of the buhrs suited the appetites of 1862, as well as that of the roller-mil) does the appetites of 1896, if not better.

The business circle in 1 806 comprised S. L. Houghton (merchant and P. M. , G. F. Hutton, William Hood and A. A. Thurstin, general merchants; Dr. George W. Vail, or Vail & Fookes, clothing dealers; Reed & Rodgers and L. H. Burns, grocers; George W. Scovill, dealer in sewing machines; Addison Fay (later Gring & Fay), dealer in boots and shoes; Owens & Getman, dealers in dry goods, boots and shoes and hardware (dissolved partnership in 1867, J. V. Owens continuing the business); Rogers & Manville, druggists; S. S. Thomas, photographer; Miss Stove, milliner; Lee and Joseph Klopfenstein and Samuel G. Hopkins, lime-kiln operators; Charles Noyes and Caleb Lord, furniture dealers; Luce & Stearns, jewelers; Curren & Sares, meat market; Clippinger's tannery; D. H. Richards succeeded Richards & Cooley; G. Z. Avery carried on the Howling Green and Tontogany and the Bowling Green cS: Findlay stage lines, while J. Ames owned the Howling Green & Haskins hack line, with headquarters at the "Prairie House," Haskins. In 1867, Rudulph & Sons occupied William Hood's old store; H. Huffman established himself in the hardware business; A. Selkirk in the boot and shoe trade: Kitchen, Yonker & Lindsay carried on the planing-mill and sash and door factory, and Isaac Clay, to whom G. Z. Avery sold his hotel in November, 1 866, became a factor in the life of the village. In 1868, Aaron Coggeshall established his butcher shop, and Simeon Pierce his barber shop. Lewis H. Cass, of Cass' Corners, offered his stock of merchandise for sale in February, 1868; I. B. Banks advertised his Weston store, and Feagles & Cunning their Haskins store.

In 1871, mention is made of Hugh Cargo, the landlord of the "American House;" Cliffords hack line; Hull & Smith's boot and shoe store; A. E. Ebersole, druggist; Reed & Beverstock, bankers; F. R. Gafkey, manufacturer of doors, sash and blinds; and William A. Whitaker, postmaster. Two years later, J. I). W^hitaker advertised his drug store; Reed & Martin, their grocery, and wagon factory; Gedney & Gibbs, their drug store; L. Sader's drain-tile factory; Fred Eaton & Co.'s dry-goods house.

Needel, owner of flouring-mill; R. S. Lease, of the "Lease House; " Janies Blake, bakery and restaurant; A. H. Boardman, pump-maker; G. H. Ross, restaurant; English & Shuler, llouring-mill owners; J. W. Campbell, cider manufacturer; Alexander Shields, contractor and builder; Learning & Latshaw, druggists; Samuel Slocum, maker of picture frames; George Kirk , and W. H. Wood, surveyors; W. M. Wakefield and R. Bates, blacksmiths; and the newspaper publishers, physicians and lawyers named in other chapters.

Schools. - The reminiscences of the first school at Bowling Green, written by the late Joseph Hollington, and published in the Sentinel in 1884, drew attention to a most interesting subject, and brought the majority of the surviving pupils together, in July and August, 1895, to discuss the question fully. Alfred Thurstin, the owner of the house in which school was held, is the owner also of the house in which the old pupils assembled on July 3 1 , 1895. Nathan Moore, Samantha (Shively) Richards and Ambrose Hollington, with C. W. Evers and others, were present, and the following story of the pioneer school was declared correct:

The first Thurstin cabin was partially completed'in 1833. It was of the regulation size and style, being a log structure. 1 5 x 20 feet in fioor area, chinked with mud and covered with shakes held in place by weight-poles. The puncheon floor was down, and in this condition the builder left it, hoping to make the place his home when he would return in 1834 or 1835. During the summer of 1834 the residents of the locality determined to organize a school, and hiring a teacher (as some say, a female instructor; as others,

S. W. Hanson, of Maumee) they sent their children en masse to gather up the crumbs of wisdom which might fall from the tongue of the pedagogue. The pupils were: Eliza, Maria and Louisa Martindale, Henrietta and Phcebe Moore, Nathan and Albert Moore, Ambrose, Albert and Samantha Shively, Richard, Ambrose and Joseph Hollington, Mahalla and Henrietta Race, and Isaac Hixon. For six weeks the children attended school, while their teacher "boarded round," receiving at the close of the term a small sum in recognition of his services. The sport at noon and recess, was playing around in the brush, swinging on grape vines, picking wintergreen, killing snakes, of which there were plenty, and chasing squirrels. There was very little order or system in the school-room, and the pupils were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased; they went out when they wanted to, and came in when they got ready. It was fun for Joseph Hollington, for he had had a light taste of the rigid discipline of the schools in the Old Country. The books used were whatever the family happened to have; some brought a Testament, another a history, and another a spelling-book, and another the "Life of Marion." If there were an arithmetic in the school-room, no one recollects the fact. Iin route to school one morning, a massasauga attacked William Hollington, and the boy would have died had not the Indian doctor, Wolverton, shown the people a weed, the juice of which counteracts the poison of the rattlesnake. Willing hands picked and pressed the wild plant, and others applied the juice, so that in a short time the bov was able to resume attendance. At that time there was a three-acre swale on Main street, near the present "Hotel Brown," which had no outlet, and was a favorite rendezvous for snakes of all kinds.

The South school house, a log structure, which stood near the intersection of Main street and the Napoleon road, on the north side of the road, within the limits of Bowling Green, was built in 1835 by Adam Phillips, Lee Moore, Henry Shively, Joseph A. Sargent, Joseph Hollington, Sr.. David L. Hixon, Thomas R. Tracy and David DcWitt. W. G. Charles is said by some persons to have been the first teacher, and W. R. Peck, or "The Little Doctor," the last teacher in 1851. The building took the place of the Thurstin cabin, and in it some of the pupils, named as attending the first school in 1834, continued their lessons. The names of the children and adults, as remembered by William Phillips, are as follows: "The relator, John Lorenzo and

Daniel Thurstin. Isaac and Margaret Hixon, Peter F. Richards, Samantha Shively, Ambrose, Alfred and Albert Shively, Thomas, William, Abigail and Isaac Tracy, Washington, Joseph and John DeWitt, Nancy and Snowden L. Sargent, Amelia Crago, Ann Stauffer, Caleb Clark, Nathan and Albert Moore, Frank Maginnis, Henrietta and Phcebe Moore, Richard. Joseph, Ambrose and William Hollington, Mars Nearing, and John, Fred, and Josephine Hartman." William Bailey, a visitor from New York, was among the first, if not the first, to preside over that school. Master Simonds. from Cleveland, followed, then Morris Brown, and, next. Isaac VanTassel 2;. Mi<s Patty Burdick was an early teacher, and in 1841 Mrs. Richard presided over the institution.

Early in 1836 Alfred Thurstin, who had a t arn, was hired to g > to Pemlvrville for hoards to floor a log school house, erected at the inter- section, or, rather, N. E. corner of Ridge and Main streets. The lumber cost $8.00, and Thurstin's services $2; but the district permitted the bills to run until they were outlawed, and then voted against paying them.

For a period of thirty-five years there was little to indicate the present condition of the schools. Though there was a marked improvement in the methods of teaching prior to 1871, the science of pedagogics was scarcely understood, and little attention was paid to the sanitary condition of school houses.

1871, but in August, same year, the Seminary was discontinued. Since that time private schools have been the exception rather than the rule here.

The records of the board of education date back to April. 18, 1871, when S. W. St. John and A. S. Kims, members elect for three years, with Amherst Ordway, president, S. L. Boughton, secretary, and S. Case, treasurer (vice S. L. Boughton), met to transact business. The school tax levied was five and a half mills. The teachers employed were: Superintendent, at $65 a month, H. C. Norton. Libbie Hecox was employed for the intermediate school at a salary of $30. For the primary school Annie E. Poe was employed at $25. Mary Pope taught the winter school in Lease's building, her pay being one dollar per day and, in March,

1872, Elizabeth Blackwood took charge of the intermediate school, while Anna Poe and J. L. Gilpatrick were teachers in the other schools. In April, 1872, J. H. Reid was chosen clerk, and S. L. Boughton, treasurer. In June Mr. Gilpatrick was offered $100 a month as superintendent; later, Misses Poe, Van Tassel, and Husted were named as teachers, and, in July, the contract for building an annex to the school house was awarded to A. Ordway. on his bid of $470. The school examiners in April, 1873. were David Cargo, S. Case and John H. Reid. In May,

1873, the board offered to the village council a room in the school house, free of charge, in lieu of the room for which the council paid $60 annually.

In June, 1873, Superintendent Gilpatrick resigned; Gideon Ditto was offered the place, and Anna A. Shannon was employed as teacher in the secondary school. In January, 1874, Samuel Case was appointed superintendent, vice Ditto, and served until W. II. Wolf was appointed in February. Hugh Cargo was chosen a director in April, 1874, and with Messrs. Boughton, Case, Reid and Nims formed the board. In | August J. B. Cash was appointed superintendent. The election of 1875 resulted in the choice of P. S. Abbott, Joseph Hollington and A. S. Nims. vice J. R. Rudulph, while Boughton, Case and Cargo held over. P. S. Abbott succeeded Reid as clerk, but the latter succeeded Abbott in September, and at the same time L. I). Heller took charge of the schools as superintendent, M isses Minton, Van Tassel, Poe and the other old teachers named being still identified with the system, with Amelia Klopfenstein, Allie Lundy and Lillie Minton, new teachers. In April, 1876, there were thirty attendants in high school, thirtythree in grammar, thirty-four in intermediate, thirty-four in secondary and twenty-one in primary. M. P. Brewer was elected a director at this time, Kittie M. Smith was appointed teacher in June, and Eliza H. Webb, Florence Donaldson and Gertrude Foote in September. In April, 1877, Charles W. Evers and Andrew J. Manville were elected directors, and with Messrs. Brewer, Boughton, and Hollington formed the board. W. S. Haskell was employed as superintendent, and Charles St. John as a teacher in the grammar school, while M. P. Brewer was elected clerk. J. C. Lincoln was elected director in 1878, vice Reid; W. S. Haskell was offered the position of superintendent, and Lelia Swigart and Mrs. Richards added to the corps of teachers. The question of issuing $16, OOO bonds was discussed in January, 1879, submitted to vote in P'ebruary, but defeated, when a second proposition submitted to vote on April 7, 1879, asking for $13,000, was carried by a vote of 220 of the 319 votes cast. Messrs. Evers, Lincoln, Manville, Boughton. Brewer and Hollington formed the board at that time, and were, indeed, the spirits of improvement in school as in other matters.

In April, 1879, George C. Phelps and John A. Shannon, with Messrs. Evers, Hollington, Manville and Lincoln, were the directors; Charles ! W. F'vers was elected clerk, vice Brewer, and i George C. Phelps, treasurer, vice Boughton. In May, the bonds for $13,000 were sold to O. S. j Bond at par and one per cent, premium, and the ! battle over a school site commenced. The motion ! to purchase 1.90 acres of Mrs. Lease, adopted May 21, met with a strong protest, and was sub- I sequently expunged from the record. On June 11, an offer of $500 was made to Button cV Smith, for 200 x 2 50 feet in Block No. 14, Button's addition, and $300 to George W. Smith for the south 200 feet of the west half of Lot 1 10, in : Block 12. The offers were refused, and condem- nation proceedings instituted. By this means the property was acquired. Architect E. O. Fallis prepared plans for the building, and the work of constructing the first large house (other than the court house and jail) at Bowling Green was entered upon. The directors and officers named in 1879 were re-elected in 1880, and in August of that year purchased from S. L. Boughton three-quarters of an acre in the southwest part of Lot 326, Block B, of his addition, for $300. Earl W. Merry took Director Hollington's place in December, 1880, and in April, 1881, he and John R. Hankey were elected directors, and, with Messrs. Evers, Phelps, Manville and Shannon, formed the board. C. W. Evers resigned the office of clerk in April, 1881, and John R. Hankey was elected to fill that position. In 1882, S. Case was chosen clerk, and A. J. Manville treasurer, to succeed Judge Phelps, while in 1884 W. M. Tullerwas elected clerk and E. W. Merry treasurer.

In May, 1884, the board appears to have taken, for the first time, a part in commencement exercises (though the first class graduated in 1882), for on the 20th of that month the members adopted a programme and ordered that the exercises be held in the court-room. J. W. Sleppey was superintendent and principal in 1883. S. Case succeeded Dr. Tuller as clerk in May, 1884, and in April, 1885, W. S. Haskell was appointed. In July, 1885, the Ruttan Heating & Ventilating Co. contracted to heat the Central building with steam at a cost of $1,950. In 1885, I). E. Niver was appointed superintendent of the village schools.' On April ;, 1886, the proposition to issue $6,000 bonds, to meet the expense of erecting a school house on Ridge street, was submitted to the people, when 343 votes were cast for and twenty-six against it. In April, 1886, the \\ of an acre in Lot 326, Block B, Boughton's addition, was added to the school lot, and on May 18 bids for building were accepted. Another school house was authorized by the electors, April 1, 1889. when bonds for $14,000 were authorized. D. A. Haylor was appointed superintendent in 1888. On May 7, 1 889, the board proceeded to condemn Lots 1 348 to 1356, inclusive; but later it was ascertained that Lots 1348 to 1352 could be purchased at $400 each, and the other lots at $350 each, and authority was given the committee to purchase them. On June 28 the contract for building was awarded to Ducomb & Brown, on their bid of $8,480, and the beginning of the third large school house was made soon after. In May, 1891, the contract with S. P. Stewart to build an addition to the Central school house for $4» 353 was accepted. On November 7, 1893, the question of issuing bonds for $6,000 to aid in building a $13,000 addition to the main school house was submitted to the people, when 602 votes were recorded for and 188 against it. This opposition came mainly from the Fourth ward, the residents of which desired the building located there. In January, 1894, A. Graham signed the building contract, on his bid of $8,873.60, and the latest monument, in brick and stone, to the advancement of the school interests of Bowling Green, was soon completed. The election of directors in April, 1895, brought 516 women to the polls, and resulted in placing two female members on the board of education. At the spring elections, 1S96, C. S. St. John and J. N. Baker were chosen members of the school board.

Modern Buildings . - The large buildings of this city may be said to have been erected within the last seven years. The first brick house, built long ago by Thomas Tracy (the same occupied by Mrs. William Gorrill in recent years), remained the sole representative of brick construction for some years. Then a residence was erected on North Main street, one or two business houses in the vicinity of Main and Wooster streets, and, by degrees, a few brick dwellings appeared east and west of Main street. When Bowling Green became the county seat, the public buildings were added, but, even in 1870, the brick house was the exception, the gabled frame store and dwelling the rule. During the ensuing sixteen years, a good deal was accomplished by the residents to raise their village above the hamlet state. Prior to 1883, Bowling Green fought two county-seat wars successfully, built a $20,000 court house, a $20,000 school house, four church buildings costing at least $20,000, purchased Fair grounds, park and a town hall, constructed two main sewers, and built a branch railroad to Tontogany. Of course, the Ohio Central road was built, a few stores and dwellings were added to the buildings of the town, the gas reservoir was explored, and newspapers were established prior to 1887, but, with all this quiet progress, the present city, with its broad streets, large business houses and elegant homes, was not outlined in the imagination of the citizens.

The spring of 1887 may be called the first summer of enterprise here. The transfer of real estate was carried forward with all the spirit of a new Western town, and the construction of buildings gave proof of the substantial character of the transactions. A lot on the corner of Clay and Main streets was sold for $2,000, the Massillon Rolling Mill Co. paid $45 a foot for sixtyseven feet on South Main street; while eighty feet in the same neighborhood brought $ 5, 500. Sixty-six acres of the Barton farm sold for $9,000; ten acres of the Ralston farm, for $5,000; five acres of the Watson tract, on North Main street, for $2,500; nineteen lots in the Lay addition, $6,000; a tract on South Main street at $600 an acre; one lot in Boughton's addition for $375; two lots on Morton avenue, for $925; twelve and one-half acres in the south part of the town for $500 an acre; the Wakefield property on South Main street, $5,600; thirty-four acres west of town, for $7,000; sixty acres on North Main street, bought by J. J. Gaghan, for $24,000, and twenty-four feet on Court street, for $1,000. Many other transfers were made before the summer of 1887 was passed, and the village cast aside its old pastoral ways to become an important business town. Enterprise was carried to such an extent that a document was presented to property owners, setting forth that, when fifty of them agreed to build, all would begin work, and give from fifty to one hundred new buildings to the city.

As a municipality the people were also " up and doing," for, as shown in the pages devoted to the transactions of the council, Bowling Green offered aid to manufacturers who would locate within its limits, and otherwise encouraged inanuufacturing enterprise. In April, 18X7, the question of issuing $10,000 bonds to encourage manufactures. was presented to the citizens, when 209 votes were recorded for the measure and three votes against it. That of expending $25,000 on gas wells was also carried. By the 1> 'ginning of December of that year, there was a muni ip.il gas-plant, furnishing the new glass-works and other industries with fuel and light, without price. The contract for constructing a system of water works was signed that month; the Canastota glass-works were in operation and, in all directions the searchers for oil or gas went forth from the busy town. Lots and farms sold for fabulous prices, and owners, who for lorty years were content with little, saw their patience rewarded in a day, and years of labor paid for in an hour. The gas wells, described in the chapter on the Oil and Gas Fields, were the prompters of the metamorphosis, while the enterprise of the business men of the town was responsible for seizing the opportunity and turning it to account.

One-fourth of the newly built business district was destroyed by fire on August 4, 1887. The fire originated in a saloon or bakery, and spread until property valued at $34,250 was destroyed. The value of the property destroyed appears trivial to the moderns, but to the town of that time the loss was a severe blow. Without wailing, the men of enterprise cleared away the ruins and built on a better scale. Little over a year passed away, when a second fire came to destroy the work <?f the builders. On October 51, 1888, a fire swept away many business houses, including C. W. livers' "Sentinel block;" M. F. Brewer's Soitim/ office; Rudulph Bros.' (uizittc office; G. C. Ross' hotel; F. N. Griffith's store; Mrs. James Smith's opera house; Emerine A McCauley's hotel and livery, and several smaller concerns. A week later, McCauley & Emerine, W. R. Mowery, J. R. Rudulph. C. W. Evers and others began the work of rebuilding. On April 19, 1889, the Canastota Glass Works Co. lost heavily by fire, and during the last seven years several houses, stores, homes and barns have been wiped out by fire. The ruins of the glass works remain as reminders of the fires. Enterprise has covered the other fire-swept lots with substantial houses, filled up vacant places on Main street with good business buildings, and transformed a hamlet into a business-like city.

The principal buildings on the west side of Main street, beginning at the south, arc the Disciples church, erected in 1 890; the Elder block, by J. C. H. Elder and Menrv Culler, in 1889; the Marschka block, erected in 1888; the Phenix & Helfrich block, in 1889; the Tribune building in 1895; the Royce block in 1889; the Commercial Bank building, erected bv A. E. Royce in 1885; the Union block, by Chris. Lehman and Bolles A Mumble in 1877; 1 lie Lehman block in 1886; tile Gaghan block, by Leo. W, Gaghan, in 1S88, the Exchange Bank building, by J. R. Hankey, in 1871; the Kabig building, in 1885; the Cunning & Whitehead block, in 1893; the Slauson block, in 1893; the Heffelfinger building, by Reed & Merry, in 1871, remodelled in 1887; Rogers block, built in 1872. The Reed block, the first brick business block here, was erected in 1867 by Norton and Edwin Reed. Reed, Rogers & Manville are credited with building on the west side, in 1867, a mercantile and opera house. Kabig & McKenzie block, erected in 1892, by Frank Kabig and Allen McKenzie, the Ormc block, in 1892, and the Cooley block, in 1893. South of the Disciples church (with the exception of Dauterman's livery stable), and north of the Cooley j block, on this side, are the residences of many of Bowling Green's leading citizens.

The business houses on the east side of Main street, going north, omitting the flouring-mill, are the two-storv stone carriage and blacksmith shop, built in 1859-60; the opera house, erected in 1889, by Ira C. Taber and John R. Hankey; the Hankey block, built in [892; the Froney block of 1892, and the large house erected by him in 1895; the First National Bank block, in 1889; the Buckeye block, for J. R. Ruduiph and Kramer & Chancy, in 1889; the Mowery building, erected in 1887, the Trichler block, for Mrs. Theodosia Trichler, in 1889; the Sargent block, in 1 893; the four-story stone hotel and mercantile building, erected in 1895-96 on the southeast corner of Main and Wooster streets, for W. HMilliken; the Lincoln block, built in 1874, bv Alfred Thurstin, remodelled in 1889 for Dr. J. C. Lincoln; the Eagle block, built in 1889 for F. H. Boughton and Mrs. James Smith; the Thurstin building, in 1867, for A. A. Thurstin, remodelled in 1889; the Reed & Mcrrv block, erected in