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FRANKLIN COUNTY was formed from Ross, April 30, 1803, and named from Benjamin FRANKLIN, who died April 17, 1790, aged eighty-four years, who was “at once philosopher, diplomatist, scientific discoverer, moralist, statesman, writer and wit, and in many respects the greatest of Americans, and one of the greatest men whose names are recorded in history.”  The prevailing character of the soil of the county is clay, and the surface is generally level.  It contains naturally much low wet land, and is best adapted to grain; but it has many finely cultivated farms, especially along the water courses.  In 1885 the acres cultivated were 151,102; in pasture, 55,100; woodland, 32,799; laying waste, 6,521; bushels wheat, 145,240; corn, 3,590,968 (being next to Pickaway the greatest amount of any county in the State); oats, 221,319; apples, 145,651.  School census 33,223; teachers, 520; area, 540 square miles.  It has 228 miles of railroad.

 

 

 

The population of Franklin in 1820 was 10,300; in 1830, 14,756; in 1840, 24,880; 1860, 50,361; 1880, 86,882, of whom 63,224 were Ohio-born; 2,916 Pennsylvania; 1,920 Virginia; 1,699 New York; 601 Kentucky; 521 Indiana; 6,098 Germany; 2,742 Ireland; England and Wales, 1,598; British America, 396; France, 266; Scotland, 156.

 

The tract comprised within the limits of the county was once the residence of the Wyandot Indians.  They had a large town on the site of the city of Columbus, and cultivated extensive fields of corn on the river bottoms opposite their town.  Mr. Jeremiah ARMSTRONG, who early kept a hotel at Columbus, was taken prisoner when a boy from the frontier of Pennsylvania, and brought captive to this place: after residing with them a number of years he was ransomed and returned to his friends.  Mr. Robert ARMSTRONG, also a native of Pennsylvania, being an orphan boy was bound to a trader, and while trapping and trading on the Alleghany, himself and employer were surprised by some Wyandots and Senecas.  The master was killed and ARMSTRONG brought to their town at Franklinton.  He was raised by the Indians, became a great favorite, lived, married and died among them.  He was occasionally an interpreter for the United States.  He left two sons who went with the Wyandots to the far west; both of them were educated, and one of them was admitted to the Ohio bar.

 

 

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Frank Henry Howe, Amateur Photo, 1888.

 

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The annexed anecdote, derived from J. W. VAN CLEVE, of Dayton, shows a pleasing feature in the character of the Indian.

 

A party, surveying on the Scioto, above the site of Columbus, in ‘97, had been reduced to three scanty meals for four days.  They came to the camp of a Wyandot Indian with his family, and he gave them all the provisions he had, which comprised only two rabbits and a small piece of venison.  This Wyandot’s father had been murdered by the whites in time of peace: the father of one of the surveyors had been killed by the Indians in time of war.  He concluded that the Indian had more reason to cherish hostility towards the white man than he toward the Indian.

 

In June, 1810, there was an old Wyandot chief, named LEATHERLIPS, executed in this county, and it is claimed for the sole reason that he was a friend of the white man and opposed to taking up armies against the whites.  We take the account of this event from “DRAKE’S Life of Tecumseh,” where it is abridged from an article by Otway CURRY, in the “Hesperian.”

 

Gen. HARRISON entertained the opinion that his death was the result of the prophet’s command, and that the party who acted as executioners went directly from Tippecanoe to the banks of the Scioto, where the tragedy was enacted.  LEATHERLIPS was found encamped upon that stream, twelve miles above Columbus.  The six Wyandots who put him to death were headed, it is supposed, by the chief ROUNDHEAD.   An effort was made by some white men, who were present, to save the life of the accused, but without success.  A council of two or three hours took place; the accusing party spoke with warmth and bitterness of feeling; LEATHERLIPS was calm and dispassionate in his replies.  The sentence of death, which had been previously passed upon him, was reaffirmed.  “The prisoner then walked slowly to his camp, partook of a dinner of jerked venison, washed and arrayed himself in his best apparel, and afterwards painted his face.  His dress was very rich–his hair gray, and his whole appearance graceful and commanding.”  When the hour for the execution had arrived, LEATHERLIPS shook hands in silence with the spectators.  “He then turned from his wigwam, and with a voice of surpassing strength and melody commenced the chant of the death song.  He was followed closely by the Wyandot warriors, all timing with their slow and measured march the music of his wild and melancholy dirge.  The white men were likewise all silent followers in that strange procession.  At the distance of seventy or eighty yards from the camp, they came to a shallow grave, which, unknown to the white men, had been previously prepared by the Indians.  Here the old man knelt down, and in an elevated but solemn tone of voice, addressed his prayer to the Great Spirit.  As soon as he had finished, the captain of the Indians knelt beside him and prayed in a similar manner.  Their prayers, of course, were spoken in the Wyandot tongue. . . .  After a few moments’ delay, the prisoner again sank down upon his knees and prayed, as he had done before.  When he had ceased, he still continued in a kneeling position.  All the rifles belonging to the party had been left at the wigwam.  There was not a weapon of any kind to be seen at the place of execution, and the spectators were consequently unable to form any conjecture as to the mode of procedure which the executioners had determined on for the fulfilment of their purpose.  Suddenly one of the warriors drew from beneath the skirts of his capote a keen, bright tomahawk–walked rapidly up behind the chieftain–brandished the weapon on high for a single moment, and then struck with his whole strength.  The blow descended directly upon the crown of the head, and the victim immediately fell prostrate.  After he had lain awhile in the agonies of death, the Indian captain directed the attention of the white men to the drops of sweat which were gathering upon his neck and face; remarked with much apparent exultation, that it was conclusive proof of the sufferer’s guilt.  Again the executioner advanced, and with the same weapon inflicted two or three additional and heavy blows.  As soon as life was entirely extinct, the body was hastily buried, with all its apparel and decorations, and the assemblage dispersed.”

 

One of Mr. HECKEWELDER’S correspondents, as quoted in his historical account of the Indian nations, makes TARHE, better known by the name of CRANE, the leader of this party.  This has been denied; and the letter of Gen. HARRISON on the subject proves quite conclusively that this celebrated chief had nothing to do with the execution of LEATHERLIPS.  Mr. HECKEWELDER’S correspondent concurs in the pinion that the original order for the death of this old man was issued from the head-quarters of the prophet and his brother TECUMSEH.

 

 

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memory of LEATHERLIPS, by the erection of a monument on the place of his execution and burial, which is about fourteen miles north of Columbus near the Delaware county line.

 

Steps were taken for this purpose at their annual reunion, September 18, 1887.  This took place in a noble forest named “Wyandot Grove” on the west bank of the Scioto about eight miles northwest of the city, with about 150 invited guests, where under a spreading tent they sat down to a sumptuous repast gathered from the farm, garden, river, and tropics, amid which the florist made a gorgeous display.

 

This feast had been preceded by a speech by Col. Samuel THOMPSON, in which he gave a sketch of the noble Wyandot tribe, the most humane of all the Indian tribes, and largely opposed to the torture of prisoners.  He paid a tribute to one of their great chiefs, TARHE, or Chief CRANE, so wise in council, and so renowned in war, and who had interposed in vain to save the ill-fated Col. CRAWFORD from the stake.  “I learned,” said he, “from our venerable friend, the late Abraham SELLS, former proprietor of this beautiful grove, rightly named by him Wyandot Grove, near yon crystal spring once stood the cabin of this noted chief.  It was here that the Wyandots halted to rest and refresh themselves when on their way to the white settlements at Chillicothe and subsequently at Franklinton, this county.”

 

The Colonel then told the story of LEATHERLIPS, who was executed “for political reasons,” substantially as already given.  He was followed by Capt. E. L. TAYLOR, who spoke in a very interesting manner, after which a committee was appointed to take measures for the erection of the monument.

 

The first settlement of this county was commenced in 1797.  Some of the early settlers were Robert ARMSTRONG, George SKIDMORE, Lucas SULLIVANT, Wm. DOMIGAN, the DEARDORFS, the M’ELVAINS, the SELLSES, James MARSHALL, John DILI, Jacob GRUBB, Jacob OVERDIER, Arthur O’HARRA, Colonel CULBERTSON and John BRICKELL.  This last-named gentleman was taken prisoner when a boy, in Pennsylvania, brought into Ohio and held captive four and a half years among the Delawares.  He was liberated at Fort Defiance, shortly after the treaty of Greenville, the details of which will be found under the head of Defiance county.

 

In the month of August, 1797, Franklinton was laid out by Lucas SULLIVANT.  The settlement at that place was the first in the county.  Mr. SULLIVANT was a self-made man and noted as a surveyor.  He had often encountered great peril from the attacks of Indians while making his surveys.

 

The following items of local history are from a “A Brief History and Description of Franklin County” which accompanied WHEELER’S map.

 

 

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yet, on the return of health, the prospective advantages of the country, the luxuriant crops, and abundance of game of all kinds, together with the gradual improvement in the health of the country generally, induced them to remain.  The principal disease of the country being fever and ague, deaths were comparatively seldom.

 

FRANKLINTON IN 1846.–Franklinton lies on the west side of the Scioto, opposite Columbus.  It was the first town laid off in the Scioto valley north of Chillicothe.  From the formation of the county, in 1803, it remained its seat of justice until 1824, when it was removed to Columbus.  During the late war, it was a place of general rendezvous for the northwestern army, and sometimes from one to three thousand troops were stationed there.  In those days, it was a place of considerable note; it is now a small village, containing, by the census of 1840, 394 inhabitants.–Old Edition.

 

Franklinton now is included in the city of Columbus.  It has changed less than any part of the city so near the centre, and preserves to this day many of its old style village features.  It is a quiet spot, but cannot much longer so remain in the rapid progress of improvements.

 

WORTHINGTON IN 1846.–Worthington is a neat town, 9 miles north of Columbus, containing 3 churches, and by the census of 1840, 440 inhabitants.  At this place is a classical academy, in the old botanic college building, in fine repute, under the charge of the Rev. R. K. NASH; also a flourishing female seminary, under the patronage of the Ohio Methodist Conference, of which the Rev. Alexander NELSON is the principal.  The building is of brick, and stands in a pleasant green.–Old Edition.

 

Since 1840 to 1880 Worthington has increased from 440 to 459 inhabitants.  It is now on the line of the C. C. C. and I. Railway.  It has long been known as an educational point, and it was the attractions of this spot that first drew Bishop Philander CHASE to Ohio.  He came out and settled here in 1817, bought five village lots, and a farm of 150 acres just south of the place.  About 60 acres were cleared, and the total cost was two thousand and fifty dollars.  He was appointed principal of the academy and conducted services in the Episcopal church.  While residing here he was made in 1818 the first Bishop of Ohio.  Worthington was also honored by the early residence of Salmon P. CHASE.  Williams Bros.’ combined history of Franklin and Pickaway counties gives the following amusing items:

 

Boyhood Pranks of Salmon P. CHASE.–Salmon P. CHASE came to Ohio to live with his uncle, Bishop CHASE, in 1820, when but twelve years of age.  He did chores about the farm, drove the cows to pasture and home again, took grain to the mill, and was kept busy when not at school.  He once received instructions from his uncle to kill and dress a little young pig which was to be roasted for dinner.  He knew how to kill and scald him, but either the water was too hot, or he left the pig in too long, for when he expected to remove the bristles easily, he could hardly pull out even a single bristle at a time.  He was aware that the pig must be ready promptly for dinner, and bethought himself of his cousin Philander’s razor which he got and with which he neatly shaved the pig.  The job was well done and reflected credit on the barber, but about ruined the razor. 

 

Salmon was also accustomed to ride a horse belonging to Squire Charles E. BURR, the same animal being a favorite with the college professors and others.  He found that by sticking his heels in the sides of the horse that he resented the indignity by kicking.  He enjoyed the fun and continued it until the horse was completely ruined for the ordinary uses of a horse; it could not be used for any purpose whatsoever except to kick everything within the swing of his heels, which it ever after did, and with a gusto.

 

Salmon lived with his uncle about a year and a half.  Mr. Elias LEWIS, of Worthington, now in his eighty-third year, when a bricklayer had Salmon P. CHASE for a mortar carrier and speaks with pride of the fact that a man who afterward became a governor of Ohio and chief justice of the United States should have carried the hod for him.

 

 

 

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“The Scioto Company,” formed in Granby, Conn., in the winter of 1801-2, and consisting at first of eight associates.  They drew up articles of association, among which was one limiting their number to forty, each of whom must be unanimously chosen by ballot, a single negative being sufficient to prevent an election.  Col. James KILBOURNE was sent out the succeeding spring to explore the country, select and purchase a township for settlement.  He returned in the fall without making a purchase, through fear that the State Constitution, then about to be formed, should tolerate SLAVERY, in which case the project would have been abandoned.

 

It is here worthy of notice that Col. KILBOURNE on this visit constructed the FIRST MAP OF OHIO, which he compiled from maps of its different sections in the office of Col. WORTHINGTON (afterwards governor), then register of the United States land office at Chillicothe.  The part of delineating the Indian territory was from a map made by John FITCH, of steamboat memory, who had been a prisoner among the Indians, which, although in a measure conjectural, was the most accurate of that part of the Northwest Territory.

 

Immediately upon receiving information that the Constitution of Ohio prohibited slavery Col. KILBOURNE purchased this township, laying within the United States military land district, and in the spring of 1803 returned to Ohio and commenced improvements.  By the succeeding December 100 settlers, mainly from Hartford county, Conn., and Hampshire county, Mass., arrived at their new home.  Obeying to the letter the articles of association, the first cabin erected was used for a school-house and church of the Protestant Episcopal denomination; the first Sabbath after the arrival of the third family divine worship was held therein, and on the arrival of the eleventh family a school was commenced.  This early attention to religion and education has left its favorable impress upon the character of the people to the present day.  The succeeding 4th of July was appropriately celebrated.  Seventeen gigantic trees, emblematical of the seventeen States forming the federal union, were cut so that a few blows of the axe, at sunrise on the Fourth, prostrated each successively with a tremendous crash, forming a national salute novel in the world’s history.

 

James (sometimes called Colonel and sometimes Reverend, for he was both) KILBOURNE laid out the village of Worthington in May, 1804, into 162 lots, one of which was reserved for church and another for school purposes.  This eminent pioneer was born in New Britain, Conn., in 1770, and named the village from the parish of Worthington, which is near that of New Britain.  He was first apprenticed to a farmer, and learned mathematics and the classics from the farmer’s son.  He became a mechanic, subsequently acquired a competence as a merchant and manufacturer, and about the year 1800 took orders in the Episcopal church.  He organized the Episcopal church in Worthington, the first organized in Ohio.  In 1804 he retired from the ministry, and in 1805 was appointed by Congress surveyor of public lands.  In 1812 he was on the commission to settle the boundary between the public lands and the Virginia reservation, and was a colonel of a frontier regiment.  He was from 1813 to 1817 a member of Congress (sent by the Democrats), and had the distinguished merit of originating the measure to grant the public lands of the Northwest Territory to actual settlers, and was chairman of the select committee that drew up the bill for that purpose.  He died in Worthington in 1850.  A useful and most worthy citizen, he was of a strong social nature, and sometimes indulged in poetry, as will be seen in his “Song of Bucyrus,” two verses of which are under the head of Crawford county.

 

The grave of Col. KILBOURNE in the Worthington cemetery is marked by a stone, on which he had cut prior to his death the names of his family, including that of his second wife.  She took exception to the cutting of her name upon a tombstone before her death, and directed that her remains should not be interred there.  Her wish was observed, and her body now lies in Green Lawn cemetery, Columbus.

 

 

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cothe, 90 in the same direction from Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto river, 118 northwardly from Maysville, Ky., 110 northeast from Cincinnati, 68 easterly from Dayton, 104 southwardly from Lower Sandusky, and 175 due south from Detroit, Mich.; N. lat. 39E 57', W. long. 6E from Washington city, or 83E from London.  It is situated exactly on the same parallel of latitude with Zanesville and Philadelphia, from which latter place it is 450 miles distant; and on the same meridian with Detroit, Mich., and Milledgeville, Ga.  The National road passed through it east and west, and the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike extends from this point north to Lake Erie.  In all other directions roads are laid out, and many of them in good repair.  By the Columbus feeder water communication is opened with the Ohio canal, and thence to Lake Erie and the Ohio river.”  Columbus is beautifully situated on the east bank of the Scioto, about half a mile below its junction with the Olentangy.  The streets are spacious, the site level, and it has many elegant private dwellings.  Columbus has a few manufactories only; it does, however, a heavy mercantile business, there being many stores of various kinds.  It contains 17 churches, viz., 2 Methodist Episcopal, 1 German Methodist, 2 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German Evangelical Protestant, 1 German Reformed, 2 Episcopal, 1 Catholic, 1 Welsh Presbyterian, 1 United Brethren, 1 Universalist, and 1 Bethel, and 1 Baptist for colored persons.  The principal literary institutions in this city are the Columbus Institute, a flourishing classical institution for males, Mr. and Mrs. SCHENCK’S female seminary, and the German Theological Lutheran Seminary, which last has been established about seventeen years, Rev. William LEHMANN, professor of theology.  There are in Columbus 6 weekly, 2 tri-weekly, and 1 semi-monthly newspaper and several banks.  The great State institutions located at Columbus do honor to Ohio, give great interest to the city, and present strong attractions to strangers.  They are the Asylum for Lunatics, the Asylum for the Blind, the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Penitentiary, which last is the most imposing edifice in Columbus, and is situated on the east bank of the Scioto, about half a mile north of the State-house.  Its population in 1815 was about 700; in 1820, about 1,400; in 1830, 2,437; in 1840, 6,048, and in 1846, 10,016.–Old Edition.

 

 

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MONYPENY, president Theo. P. GORDON, cashier; Fourth National, W. S. IDE, president, W. STEWART, cashier; Merchants’ and Manufacturers’, G. M. PETERS, president, William D. PARK, cashier; National Exchange, W. G. DESHLER, president, Charles J. HARDY, cashier; South End, H. MITHOFF, president; BROOKS, BUTLER & Co., David W. BROOKS, president, Herbert BROOKS, cashier; P. HAYDEN & Co., E. K. STEWART, cashier; P. W. HUNTINGTON & Co.; MILLER, DONALDSON & Co.; REINHARD & Co.; Columbus Clearing House Association, T. P. GORDON, president John FIELD, manager.  Ohio State University, William H. SCOTT, president; 154 students.  Capital University, M. LOY, president; 43 students.

 

Manufacturers and Employees.–The State Report of Inspector of Workshops and Factories for 1887 gave a list of 194 establishments, of which the following–in all 58–employed 40 hands and over: Columbus Sewer Pipe Company, 80 hands; B. B. ANDERSON, cigars, etc., 45; U. S. Carriage Company, 109; Scioto Buggy Company, 103; Hildreth & Martin, doors, sash, etc., 40; Columbus Cabinet Company, furniture, 72; C. EMRICH, stoves, 60; Halm, Bellows & Co., furniture, 127; Ohio Furniture Company, 65; Butler, Crawford & Co., coffee and spices, 80; Franklin Furnace, pig-iron, 75; R. C. SCHMERTZ & Co., window glass, 60; P. HAYDEN & Co., iron and hames, 178; F. R. WINGET, cigars, 120; Columbus Cigar Manufacturing Company, 95; Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing Company, wheelbarrows, road scrapers, etc., 430; Ohio Tool Company, 70; N. SCHLEE, beer and malt, 45; Born & Co., beer and malt, 40; L. HOSTER Brewing Company, beer and malt, 95; John IMMEL & Son, carriages, etc., 45; Columbus Bolt Works, 125; REED, JONES & Co., shoes, 75; Case Manufacturing Company, mill machinery, 150; J. W. DANN Manufacturing Company, bent wood-work, 50; Columbus Dash and Wagon Company, 78; M. T. GLEASON, brass foundry, 40; SCHEUWEKER Bros., leather, 50; Ohio Pipe Company, iron pipes, 175; Steel Skein Works, wagon skeins, 45; Buckeye Buggy Company, 139; Wassall Fire-Clay Company, fire-brick, sewer pipe, etc., 40; C. H. V. & T. R. R. Shops, railroad supplies, 400; Lechner Manufacturing Company, mining machinery, 50; Door, Sash, and Lumber Dompany, 133; E. D. & J. C. HOWARD, brooms, 55; Newark Machine Company, clover hullers, etc., 312; Columbus Machine Company, engines and castings, 80; Capital City Carriage Company, 75; Westbote Printing Company, 48; William ARMBRUSTER, hosiery, etc., 46; S. R. KLOTTS, stogies, 106; James OHLEN, saws, 75; Slade & Kelton, sash, 60; Inter-State Cigar Company, 44; Columbus Coffin Company, 52; Vulcan Iron Works, founders and machinists, 70; J. J. WOOD Starch Company, starch, 150; Columbus Watch Company, 220; William FISH & Son, building stone, 40; E. WOOD & Co., malleable iron, 65; W. D. BRICKELL & Co., newspaper, 60; SNYDER, CHAFFEE & Co., candies, 73; MUNSON & HAYDEN, malleable iron, 120; H. C. GODMAN, shoes, 46; MCMORROW & MILLER, shoes, 40; P. HAYDEN & Co., foundry and machine shop, 47; P. HAYDEN S. H.  Company, chains, 90; SENTER & LERCH, boxes, 43; The M. C. LILLEY & Co., regalia for Masons, Odd Fellows, etc., 420 employees, and said to be the largest establishment of the kind in the world.–State Report for 1887.  Population in 1880, 51,647; in 1888, estimated, 106,000.  School census in 1886, 22,404; Robert W. STEVENSON, superintendent.

 

The following article, “COLUMBUS, ITS PAST AND PRESENT,” was contributed for this work by Mr. E. O. RANDALL, ex-President of the Columbus Board of Trade.

 

 

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locating land warrants in the Virginia military district west of the Scioto; its settlement immediately ensued, and it became a white man’s village.

 

The county of Franklin, one of the first to be created by the new State legislature, was formed in 1803 with Franklinton as the seat of justice.  The first official building created was a log-cabin jail.  The first court-house was built in 1807, of brick pressed from the clay of a mound that had entombed the bones and beads of chiefs, squaws and pappooses.

 

The Ohio legislature first convened in 1803, and until 1816 it had no local habitation, but sojourned temporarily at Chillicothe, where it met until 1810, when it wandered to Zanesville for two sessions, thence returning to Chillicothe and there abiding until 1816.  In the winter of 1810, while the legislature was in Zanesville, four citizens of Franklinton (viz., Lyne STARLING, James JOHNSON, Alex. MCLAUGHLIN and John KERR, formed a company to establish the State capitol “on the high bank of the Scioto river opposite Franklinton.”  The villages of Dublin, Worthington and Delaware were competitors, but the geographical advantages of the Columbus site and the terms offered by them prevailed.  Their proposal was to give to the State two separate batches of land of ten acres each–one lot for the State House and one lot for the Penitentiary–the foresighted and impartial founders of the capitol realizing that equal and immediate quarters should be provided alike for the law makers and the law breakers.  In addition they agreed to build (at their expense) the capitol and penitentiary and “such other buildings as should be directed by the legislature to be built, not to exceed a total cost of $50,000.”

 

On St. Valentine’s Day, 1812, the legislature, then at Zanesville, accepted the proposition and passed a law establishing the capital of Ohio at Columbus.  On the 18^th of June following, 1812, the same day Congress declared war on Great Britain, Columbus, the site of which was then an unbroken forest, was laid out, and the primeval wilderness and native untrodden soil awoke to its initial real estate boom.

 

The town was platted with streets running at right angles and nearly due north and south, or east and west.  High street was made 100 feet wide; Broad, 120, all others 82 ½, and all alleys 33.  The town lots were 62 ½ feet by 187 ½ feet deep.  At the time of the first sale of lots there was but one cleared spot, that on the corner of Front and State.  Naturally after the platting of the town and its establishment as the capital, improvements and growth advanced rapidly; immigrants came and business began to bustle.  Among the first settlers, or as early as 1813, were George M’CORMICK, Geo. B. HARVEY, Jno. SHIELDS, Michael PATTON, Alex. PATTON, Wm. ALTMAN, John COLLETT, Wm. M’ELWAIN, Daniel KOOSER, Peter PUTNAM, Jacob HARE, Christian KEYL, Jarvis, Geo. And Benj. PIKE, Wm. LONG and Dr. John M. EDMISTON.

 

The association, or as we should now term it “the syndicate,” more than fulfilled their obligations.  In 1813 a penitentiary was erected, and the north graveyard, for which one and a half acres were set apart, began to receive tenants.  The following year, 1814, the first church was built, the first school opened and the first newspaper was issued.  The first church was a cabin, on Spring street, on a lot of Dr. HOGE’S, which was used by the Presbyterians.  Rev. Dr. HOGE was its pastor.  It was not long occupied for that purpose; that denomination then worshiped in the Franklinton meeting-house until 1818, when the first Presbyterian church was organized in Columbus, and a frame meeting-house erected on Front street, where Dr. HOGE preached until the erection of “the 1^st Presbyterian church,” about 1825.  In 1814 the Methodist church of Columbus was organized; and the same year they erected a small, hewed log-house, which served the double purpose of school-house and church until about 1824, when a permanent building was erected on the same site.

 

 

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became known as the Western Intelligencer & Columbus Gazette.  From it sprung the present widely known and influential Ohio State Journal.  It continued to be published weekly, however, as the Columbus Gazette until 1884, when its future fell into the hands of the writer of these lines, who after a praiseworthy effort to revive its pristine glory and power, transferred it to the party led by the apostles of temperance; it then soon disappeared entirely.

 

The State-house was erected in 1814; the brick of this edifice was partly made from a beautiful mound near by, which has given the name to a street.  It stood until destroyed by fire on Sunday morning, April 1, 1852.  On the 10^th of February, 1816, the town was incorporated as “the borough of Columbus.”  The first board of councilmen elected were Henry BROWN, Michael PATTON, Jarvis PIKE, Robt. And Jeremiah ARMSTRONG, John KERR, John CUTLER, Caleb HOUSTON and Robt. M’COY.  About the year 1819 the United States or old court-house was erected.

 

In 1815 was taken the first census, enumerating the population at 700, with 6 stores, 1 printing office and 4 lawyers.  In 1816 a subscription of $200 was raised to remove the stumps from High Street, and the town was incorporated as the borough of Columbus with nine prominent citizens as the first board of councilmen.  One of the first acts of the council was to authorize the corporation to issue money in the shape of small bills to the amount of $555.75 in the following quantities and denominations: 120 bills of 75 cents, 464 of 50 cents, 464 of 25 cents, 836 of 12 ½ cents, 212 of 6 1/4 cents.  In December, 1816, the legislature arrived in Columbus and took up its quarters in the old, red brick State-house and began that continuous and monotonous grind of passing laws one winter and remodeling and repealing them te next.  In two respects Columbus doth resemble Rome.  The Scioto is as muddy and majestic as the time-honored Tiber, and Ohio’s capital “was not built in a day.”  But the little city grew apace until 1819, when the enterprise and energy that had founded it and made it flourish succumbed to the check of business reaction.  A year or two of depression and failure set in.  Real estate shrunk and fell, and full city lots were forced on the market as low as eight and ten dollars.  In 1824 Columbus was made the county-seat of Franklin county, and ten years later, in 1834, it was incorporated as a city, having at the time 4,000 inhabitants, who elected the first mayor, one John BROOKS, there being five candidates and 449 voters.  From this time on Columbus rapidly advanced and the era of public improvements began.  The canal and national turn-pikes and State plank-roads came along, opening Columbus to the leading cities of this and other States.

 

On July 4, 1825, was commenced the Ohio canal, 307 miles long, from Cleveland to Portsmouth, connecting the Lake Erie with the Ohio river.  It was finished in 1838.  The Columbus outlet known as the “feeder,” leading from Columbus to Lockbourne, a distance of eleven miles, was opened in September, 1831, when the first canal boat, Gov. Brown, arrived from Circleville and was received with peals of artillery, martial music and the huzzas of the delighted citizens.

 

In 1836 the famous National Road–the Via Appia of our capital–a magnificent piece of engineering and construction, a graded surface, with a stone bed, reaching from Wheeling, W. Va., to Indianapolis, Ind., passed in its construction through Columbus.  In 1840 the population was 6,000, with five ministers to prepare the good people for the finishing touches of twelve distinctive doctors.  Then came the age of railways and telegraphs, the latter opening an office in August, 1846.  The first railroad begun in Ohio was in 1841, and on February 20, 1850, the first passenger train steamed into Columbus on the Columbus & Xenia.  True to its immutable instincts, the legislature without delay got passes and took an excursion.

 

 

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January, 1857, was celebrated the opening of the present capitol building, representing fifteen years work, and a cost of $1,359,121.  It was a stupendous festival, in which every inch of interior was packed with a seething, panicky, perspiring mass of humanity squeezed almost to speechlessness.  The music could not be heard, and the elaborate menu invariably spilled upon the dress suits of the beaux and the decollate shoulders of the belles.  However, it was the greatest ball of the season, inaugurating the greatest State capitol building then in the United States.  It occupies just two acres, and is the centre of an area of ten acres.  It was built of limestone from Sullivant hill by convict labor.

 

Thus much in the way of a retrospect of the past.  Of Columbus at this writing we speak with pardonable pride.  The population in 1850 was 18,000;

 

Frank Henry Howe, Photo, 1888.

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

 

 

 

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it is now rated as the wealthiest city in the Union, per capita of population.  The tax duplicate for this year (1888) will show about $30,000,000 in realty and some $12,000,000 in personalty.  This return indicates an actual city wealth upwards of $100,000,000.  The amount of business done in 1887 aggregated $60,000,000.  Its location, as before indicated, makes Columbus a great lumber, coal and iron market.  In the year 1887 2,000,000 tons of the 9,000,000 mined in Ohio were consumed in the city.

 

It is estimated that the capital invested in business and in manufacturing in Columbus is near two hundred millions of dollars.  The three greatest interests are coal, iron and the building of buggies.  The greatest is coal; the capital invested in the business is $20,000,000 and that in iron $18,000,000.  Twenty-one firms and corporations are in the city engaged as miners and shippers of coal and acting as wholesale dealers, which give employment to at least 10,000 men.  It is claimed that coal, iron and lumber can nowhere else be obtained more cheaply than in this city.  In the manufacture of buggies and carriages are 18 establishments, employing about 2,500 men and 300 women, and the number sold in the past year amounted to over 20,000, or one for every nine minutes, counting the working hours daily ten in number.  But tempering the enterprise, energy and magnitude of the business interests of Columbus is a sort of old-time conservatism.  In no city is capital so cautious and so steady.  The speculative element is almost entirely eliminated from all transactions.  There are no gamblings on “margins” and no bubble real estate “booms” with subsequent shrinkages; and the city has from foundation to the last finishing touches pursued the even tenor of a moderate way.  But it has always progressed, and has safely survived the storm of panics and shocks of depressions better than any city of its magnitude.  It is a pleasant reflection that the working people of the city are thrifty and largely own their homes, which are mostly cottages built of brick made from Columbus clay.

 

Columbus in a marked degree represents the commercial “push” of the progressive West and the culture and refinement of the East.  Its public schools are second to none; indeed, it is a school city.  The census of 1887 gave 23,440 children within the school age of six to twenty-one; 11,000 of these are registered in the public schools, for which twenty-two spacious and modern-equipped buildings, representing $1,260,550 in value, are provided.  The Roman Catholics, who are numerous, aggressive, influential, and indeed liberal and public-spirited, support a number of parochial schools, colleges, and seminaries, in which they educate their own children.  Among their institutions is the “Academy of St. Mary’s of the Springs” for the education of young ladies.  It was incorporated in 1868, and is in the midst of pleasant surroundings, about two miles east of the city limits; it is under the direction of the Dominican Sisters.

 

ST. JOSPEH’S CATHEDRAL, on Broad street, in its vastness and splendor reflects great credit upon the enterprise and devotion of the Catholic population.  In a vault beneath rests the remains of its founder, Bishop ROSECRANS.

 

The STATE UNIVERSITY, two and one-half miles north of the State-house, with its handsome grounds of 325 acres and commodious buildings, and excellent equipment and efficient faculty, affords the best opportunity for higher academic and scientific education.  The Lutherans maintain a flourishing college–CAPITAL UNIVERSITY–with theological annex.  Two medical colleges–the STARLING and the COLUMBUS–mould medical proficients, and each year send at large some fifty each of the devotees of Æsculapius.  In connection with these institutions are two well-conducted hospitals.  Then there is the usual quota of commercial colleges, kindergartens, private schools, etc.

 

 

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crammed Boston.  The interesting and instructive reports of the city librarian reveal that of the books drawn and read, over sixty per cent, are biography, science, and history, while only thirty-four per cent, are novels and fiction.  This is the best intellectual average reported by any miscellaneous circulating library in the country.  In Boston, where the cranial gray matter is claimed to be at the highest state of cultivation, the issue of the library shows seventy-four per cent, of fiction.

 

Columbus is afflicted with the great American contagion and nuisance–the base-ball nine; but the “muses nine” circulate freely in the “best society.”  Art and music flourish in no mediocre manner.  The work accomplished in the art department of the public schools in two late annual national exhibits was accorded a rank second only to the incomparable modern Athens.  The Art School, with its ten years of age and experience and success, and its 200 pupils, is one of the best in the West.  Professional art is not enormously profitable as yet, but a goodly number of painters haunt the halls of the public buildings, and at times frighten or delight the passer-by with the display in the shop windows of their glowing colors upon the canvas backs.  Music, too, indulges copiously in its “voluptuous swells,” and has its clubs and societies and concerts to make the welkin ring, and soothe with its charms the unstrung nerves of the busy burgesses.

 

As cities go, Columbus, though owing to the character of its population, which is one-third foreign, can hardly be set down as Puritanic, is nevertheless peaceful and religious.  It numbers some fifty churches having buildings of their own, embracing a total membership of 35,000, including Catholics, who reckon by families.  The aggregate property owned by these church organizations reaches easily a value of $2,000,000.  To offset the religious influences, “the world, the flesh, and the devil” offer some 600 saloons and places where internal fires and eternal damnation are dispensed.

 

In the matter of public charity the city makes a noble showing.  It has a numerous category of benevolent associations, missions, homes, and asylums.  In no city is this kind of work better organized, better equipped or executed.

 

Washington City alone takes precedence of Columbus in the size and number of public institutions, all of which present architecturally attractive buildings that make the State capital the Mecca of thousands of sight-seeing visitors.  The State Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb, the Feeble-Minded, the Blind, and the Insane are all vast edifices, palatial in appearance, and models of the best forms of construction for the purposes to which they are devoted.

 

The INSANE ASYLUM, the largest in the world, cost $2,000,000, and accommodates 1,300 patients.  The ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE-MINDED YOUTH employs 150 persons, cares for 800 inmates, at an annual cost to the State of $125,000.  The BLIND ASYLUM was erected at a cost of $600,000, and shelters some 300 pupils, who require the care of about 70 attendants.  It costs $50,000 a year to maintain this institution.  The DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM cost $800,000, cares for 500 pupils, and expends $80,000 a year.  The Ohio Penitentiary, built by convict labor, at a cost of $800,000, entertains about 1,400 persons, at an annual expense of $250,000.  Most of these buildings have picturesque grounds, that add beauty and fresh air to the localities in which they are situated.

 

 

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The BARRACKS,” as the place is called, is the favorite resort of the citizens, who, of evenings, drive or walk thither to listen to the military music and witness the evolutions of the soldiers, who are mostly beardless recruits in their teens and newly donned trappings.

 

The other “grateful breathing spots” of the city are the FRANKLIN PARK of ninety acres, the GOODALE of forty-four, and the CITY of twenty-three, all well cared for and much enjoyed by the nature-loving people.  The COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, completed in 1887, at a cost of $400,000, is one of the most magnificent buildings of its kind in any State.  In architecture, elegance of finish, and

 

THE FRANKLIN COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, COLUMBUS

 

 

spaciousness, in convenience and perfection for the admission of light and ventilation it would be difficult to find its superior.  It is justly the pride of the city and county.  It was dedicated July 13, 1887, the dedicatory address being by Hon. Henry C. NOBLE, President of the Court-House Commission.  The CITY-HALL BUILDING, in which the municipal offices are quartered, is a massive, striking structure, to say the least.  The CITY JAIL, a lately built and a large, Bastile-appearing structure, with all the modern conveniences, is highly spoken of by those who have stopped there.  The rooms are airy, the bill-of-fare, if not containing all the delicacies of the season, is wholesome and inexpensive to the guests.  The hotel is complete; for though there are no liquors allowed on the premises, there are excellent “bar attachments.”  The UNION DEPOT is one of the largest and best arranged in the West, and 100 passenger trains come and go each day.  The railroads, of course, run their tracks where they please–across streets and thoroughfares, without regard to the comfort or cost to the city; but, as railroads go, they are considerate, and when they run over a street-car, a cab, or a citizen they usually express regret.  The new BOARD OF TRADE BUILDING, now in process of erection, will be one of the architectural features of the city, and one of the chief adornments of the Capitol Square.  It is built by the leading organization of the city–the Board of Trade, organized a few years ago, and comprising in its membership over 500 of its leading business-men of the city.  It is the avowed mission of the Board of Trade to stimulate the motive and suggest the means for the development and improvement of Columbus; and much of the progress and growth made by the city in the past few years is due to the weight and wisdom of this organization.  The Board of Trade does not deal in wheat and corn that never grew, nor in stocks that are floated in water.