The following article
appeared in the newspaper, The Sentinel, on Thursday, May 23, 1907.
History
of Lewisville, Ohio.
Lewisville is located in Summit township,
seven miles West of Woodsfield, on the O.R.&W. railway. It is near the head waters of Wills creek,
Sunfish creek and Rich Fork. The
situation of the town is high and healthy, being 666 feet above the Ohio River
and 1250 feet above the sea level.
About 1/2 mile from Lewisville, on the George Feiock farm, is a hill
which is the second highest point in the state of Ohio, the highest being at
Bellefontaine. From this hill can be
seen the towns of Stafford, Lewisville, Graysville and Summerfield. Nine church spires can be counted on a clear
day and the outlines of the Blue Ridge mountains in West Virginia are
visible. When atmospheric conditions
are favorable the course of the Ohio river can be traced from Baresville to
Marietta. From the elevation the
township deserves its name, summit, being the highest township in the county.
It is somewhat a matter of speculation as
to why the town was located where it is.
Probably, because near a spring on Dr. Weber's farm was a mustering
point for the militia. The town was
laid out in 1837 by Barak Fisher and John Burton, the surveying being done by Michael
Atkinson. The town proper contains
forty-two lots besides a number of out lots which have been added to it
since. When surveyed a large part of
the town was yet in woods and the timber on the lots furnished fuel for the
residents. At this time wolves howled
through the surrounding forests. A saw
mill was built about 1837 by Ephraim Rucker and the first building in what is
now Lewisville was a small frame house owned by Barak Fisher and built on the
present site of Dr. Weber's residence.
Fisher seems to have been a strong character and an enterprising citizen
as the early history of the town bears several marks of his individuality. Most of the early building were log huts.
The first merchant in the town was a man by
the name of Reed who also kept hotel and dealt largely in tobacco the raising
of which was the early industry of the neighborhood.
As to the naming of the town one tradition
is that it was named from the famous hunter Lewis Wetzel who no doubt traversed
that neighborhood time and again.
Another version of it is that it was named after a son of Barak Fisher
who died in infancy, and whose grave is on the Dr. Weber farm 1/4 mile south of
town and formerly owned by Barak Fisher.
The grave is marked by a double head stone under a hickory tree well
preserved and for that date artistically carved. The stone is double as it marks the grave of twin children, Lewis
B. Fisher and Sarah J. Fisher, children of Barak and Jane Fisher and who died
June 26th, 1837, aged 13 months.
It will pay you to visit the spot and verify the above.
In view of the prominence of the man Fisher
and his misfortune happening just when the town was laid out and named, it
seems very probably and natural that he should have desired that the town be
named from his son and that his neighbors would respect his wish.
The town has enjoyed a steady growth and
prosperity. The population in 1880 was
120. At present it is about 300. In the early history of the town tobacco
raising was the chief industry reaching its height about 1865 when the crop for
that year was worth in the neighborhood of $50,000. This industry is still carried on to some extent but has given
way largely to general farming. As a
shipping point for country produce Lewisville is second to no town of it same
size on the O. R. & W. railroad if second to any. Considerable freight is received as it is a distributing point
for several other neighboring towns.
That the town enjoys a good patronage is
evidenced by the number of business men who are successfully engaged
there. There are three general stores,
three hardware stores, one grocery, two hotels, two barbershops, one millinery
store and one meat market. They are all
conducted by people who are up-to-date in their business methods and enjoy the
confidence of an increasing patronage.
Should you try to buy a home or a business
location in the town you will find that the present occupants are pretty well
satisfied with their home and business as real estate is as high and some say
higher than any other town in the county.
New buildings are being erected each year and we can truthfully say that
no town of the same size in the county has as many large and modern residences
as Lewisville.
The town supports two churches, one Methodist
Protestant and one Evangelical church, both having a membership of earnest men
and women whose influence has done much to mold public sentiment of the town in
the last few years.
One school building of two rooms
constitutes the town's institution of
learning. A new and larger one is
contemplated as the school has an enrollment of about 100 pupils. The teachers this year were Profs. C.W.
Young and C.D. Devoe. It might be
interesting to know that the first school in the township was taught near Lewisville
by Philip Cline in 1825. It was a
subscription school of thirty pupils at $1.50 each for three months, and was
paid mostly in corn at 18c per bushel.
That teacher's wages are raising slowly is evidenced by the fact that in
1881 the average wages for male teachers was $36 per month.
Several influences have combined to aid in
the progress of the town among which are the railroad and oil
developments. Before the advent of the
railroad farm products were hauled by wagon to Clarington in the summer time
and Barnesville in the winter. The oil
industry has aided more in an indirect than direct way by putting more money in
the immediate neighborhood. However,
the town may yet be the center of extensive oil developments. It has been proven by experiment that the
farms adjoining town have the very best grade of clay for tile, brick and
pottery. Should a broad gage railroad
be built the town may have a future as a manufacturing city.
The town was incorporated in 1890 and
manages its own affairs. The present
mayor is B.F. Bott. A commodious town
hall has been built in which to hold public meetings as well as court and
council proceedings &c.
Very few of the older residents remain and
among the present population probably no two men have spent more of their lives
in the town than Messrs. Edward Milligan and Henry J. Bender to whom we are
indebted for some of the most important parts of our information. May the future prosperity of the town and
its people far eclipse its past growth and advancement. F.L.W.
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The following is a
copy of the page from The Sentinel from which the above history was retyped.
