HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DAYTON (Part 2)
For many years the town was dependent entirely upon private schools for the instruction of the children. Among these schools was the Dayton Academy, incorporated in 1807 and continuing until 1850. Cooper Female Seminary was opened in 1845, in charge of E.E. Barney, and at once became known throughout Ohio as an attractive and scholarly institution. Mr. Barney was also principal of the Dayton Academy from 1834 till 1839, and in 1849 became one of the founders of the Dayton Car Works.
The first Dayton public school was opened December 5, 1831, by Sylvanus Hall, in a school room on Jefferson street, between Water and First streets. Public money was appropriated to support it, but the amount not being sufficient, each pupil paid a dollar per quarter for tuition. Three additional rooms were soon afterwards opened in different parts of the town. Before 1831 schools had been partly supported by taxation, but in this year the school district of Dayton was formally organized. In 1838 the first public-school buildings were erected on the sites now occupied by the old Second District and the Fourth District buildings. In 1850 the Central High School was opened in the present First District building, but was removed in the fall of that year to the old Academy building, located where the Central District building now stands. The present Steele High School was opened in the fall of 1893. The Normal School was opened in 1869, and the Manual-Training School January 2, 1896. There are now nineteen district schools, with twenty-nine buildings. The growth of the schools is shown by the following table:
1842 1857 1867 1875 1880 1890 1895
Pupils enrolled… 827 3,440 4,213 5,238 6.144 8,465 10,982
Av. Daily attend… 544 1,600 2,809 3,611 4,527 6,565 9,437
No. of teachers… 16 45 70 98 125 202 310
School fund… $2,483 $40,000 $60,000 $139,066 $189,261 $219,124 314,878
School property… $6,000 $75,000 $143,000 $210,000 $321,706 $600,000 $1,323,525
The interests of the public schools were under the control of a Board of Directors until 1842, and of a Board of Managers under direction of the City Council from 1842 to 1855. Since the latter date the schools have been in charge of a Board of Education.
Officers of the schools may be named as follows:
Presidents of the Board of Education: 1842, E.W. Davies; 1843, W. J. McKinney; 1844 E.W. Davies; 1845, Thomas Brown; 1846, Henry Stoddard, Sen.; 1847, R.W. Steele; 1848-49, H.L. Brown; 1850-61, R.W. Steele; 1861-63, H.L. Brown; 1869-73, E. Morgan Wood; 1873-75, Charles Wuichet; 1875-78, E.M. Thresher; 1878-79, C.L. Bauman; 1879-80 J.K. Webster; 1880-82, E.M. Thresher; 1882-83, S.W. Davies; 1883-87, R.M. Allen; 1887-90, C. H. Kumler; 1890-92, John E. Byrne; 1892-93, A.W. Gump; 1893-95, A.H. Iddings; 1895-96, 1895-96, A.W. Drury.
Superintendents of Instruction: 1855-59, James Campbell; 1866-68, Caleb Parker; 1873-74, Samuel C. Wilson; 1874-84, John Hancock; 1884-88, James J. Burns; 1888-96, W.J. White.
Principals of the High School: 1850-58, James Campbell; 1858-66, John W. Hall; 1866-72, William Smith; 1872-95, Charles B. Stivers; 1895-96, Malcolm Booth.
Principals of the Normal School: 1869-71, F.W. Parker; 1871-73, Miss Emma A.H. Brown; 1873-74, W. W. Watkins; 1874-83, Miss Jane W. Blackwood; 1883-90, Miss Mary F. Hall; 1890-94, Miss E. Kate Slaght; 1894-95, Mrs. Jane B. Marlay; 1895-96, Miss Grace A. Greene.
Principals of District schools in 1896: First District, James M. Craven; Central, Miss Margaret Burns; Third (Normal), Miss Grace A. Greene; Fourth, G. A. Lange; Fifth, S. A. Minnichl; Sixth, Sigmund Metzler; Seventh, W. J. Patterson; Eighth, J. T. Tuttle; Ninth, A. J. Willoughby; Tenth, Miss Ella Beistle; Eleventh, Miss Mary B. Westfall; Twelfth, Perry A. Winder; Thirteenth, C. C. Davidson; Fourteenth, Miss Leoti E. Clark; Fifteenth, J. R. Fenstermaker; Sixteenth, A. L. Girard; Seventeenth, Miss Mary E. Terry; Eighteenth, Harry Weidner; Nineteenth, J. M. Ebert.
St. Mary’s Institute was founded in 1850.
Union Biblical Seminary was founded in 1871, and this year celebrates its quarter-centennial.
In 1805 the citizens of Dayton obtained from the legislature the first act of incorporation for a public library granted by the State of Ohio. This library existed until 1835, when it was sold at an auction. In 1832 the Dayton Lyceum was established, and in connection with it a library. About 1833 there were no less than six public libraries in Dayton. The Dayton Library Association was formed in 1846, and soon collected an excellent library. After a few years it was removed to an elegantly furnished room in the Phillips building, on the southeast corner of Main and Second streets. It is said of it that at that day there was no library- room in Ohio, outside of Cincinnati, that would compare with it in beauty and convenience. A reading- room was connected with the library. In the fall of 1855 the Public School Library was opened in a room on the second floor of the United Brethren Publishing House. W. H. Butterfield was the first librarian. In 1858 the library was removed to the Central High School Building. In 1860 the library of the Library Association was united with it, and it came into possession of the elegant rooms of the Association. In 1867 the library was removed to the City Hall. In 1876 it occupied temporarily a room in the building next north of the Court- house. When the new City Hall was completed, it was given excellent quarters in the second story, at the Main Street end, where it remained until its removal to the elegant library building in Cooper Park in 1888. Miss Minta I. Dryden is the present librarian.
The first newspaper was published in 1806. Only a few numbers were issued, and its name is now unknown. Its editor was a Mr. Crane, from Lebanon, Ohio. In 1808 the Repertory was published, and was succeeded in 1810 by the Ohio Centennial. Since that time Dayton has never been long without a newspaper. The Dayton Journal is the oldest of those now in existence, and traces its history back to the period preceding 1826. The city now has six daily papers, and forty-nine periodicals of all kinds are now published.
Daytonians have always been generous toward all philanthropic movements. The Young Men’s Christian Association, the Woman’s Christian Association, the Young Women’s League, the Young Men’s Institute, St. Joseph’s Institute, the St. Elizabeth Hospital, the Deaconess Hospital, are all examples of what has been done for the good of the city. The many literary, musical, and social societies prove that Dayton people are interested in whatever cultivates the mind.
The first member of the Dayton bar, Judge Crane, with his well-trained mind, legal learning, courteous and commanding bearing, simple life, and kind and helpful friendliness, had unconsciously done much to mold the character and ambitions of the young lawyers who were his companions and successors, so that the spirit of integrity came to be a characteristic of the early Dayton bar. Of the members of this early bar, Charles Anderson became Governor of Ohio, four were judges, two members of Congress, and ten members of the Ohio Legislature. Several of the later attorneys have been members of Congress, and some of them are known throughout the country.
The medical profession has been represented in Dayton by many excellent physicians. Early in the history of the city medical societies were formed, and some of the later physicians have acquired more than local reputation.
Dayton’s most distinguished citizen was General Robert C. Schenk. He came to Dayton in 1831 and began the practice of law. He afterwards became a member of Congress, United States Minister to Brazil, a general in the Civil War, Minister to Great Britain, and a member of the Joint High Commission providing for the Geneva Conference. He was said by President Lincoln to have been the first man who in a public address named him for Presidency.
The first male child born in Dayton was John W. Van Cleve, the son of Benjamin and Mary Whitten Van Cleve, born June 27, 1801. He had a very tender feeling for this corner of the earth, which his father had helped to hew out of the wilderness. Original in character, odd in appearance, the jolly band of children who followed his burly figure through many holiday excursions grew wiser, happier, and healthier. Men and women found in him an intelligent, cultivated, and agreeable companion, and a very true and loyal friend. As a citizen he was advanced, enterprising; and of unbending integrity. He was a graduate of Ohio University, at Athens, and was especially distinguished for his fine scholarship. He was a lawyer, editor, musician, painter, engraver, engineer, and botanist, and served at different times as Mayor, city engineer, and chief of the Fire Department. In 1839 he made a map of the city. To him more than to any other we are indebted for our beautiful Woodland Cemetery. He made the suggestion of a rural cemetery, and from the organization of the Woodland Cemetery Association, in 1842, to the time of his death in 1858, served as its president and gave to its affairs an amount of labor and watchful supervision which money could not have purchased. In June, 1843, the cemetery was opened, being the third rural cemetery of any importance established in the United States.
Calvary Cemetery and the Hebrew Cemetery are also beautifully situated on the bluffs below the city.
Cooper’s Mills were burned on the 20th of June, 1820, and four thousand bushels of wheat and two thousand pounds of wool destroyed. This was the first fire of any importance that occurred in Dayton, and let to the organization of the first fire-company.. Council provided ladders, which were hung on the outside wall of the market-house on Second Street, and also passed an ordinance requiring each householder to provide two long, black, leather buckets, with his name painted thereon in white letters, and keep them in some place easily accessible in case of an alarm of fire. Before this no public provision for putting out fires had been made.
In 1827 a fire-engine was purchased, and the first volunteer fire-company was organized. At the same time a hook-and-ladder company was formed. The church bells sounded the fire-alarm, and fifty cents were paid to each sexton when the fire happened after nine in the evening. The one who rang his bell first received a dollar. The engine was a small affair, filled with the leather buckets, and the water was thrown by turning a crank in its side.
An alarm of fire brought out the whole population of the town, and the greatest excitement and confusion prevailed. Double lines were formed to the nearest pump, one line passing down the full buckets and the other returning the empty ones. Women were often efficient workers in these lines. The water in a well would soon be exhausted, and a move had to be made to one more remote. It was hopeless to contend with a fire of any magnitude, and efforts in such cases were only made to prevent the spreading of the flames.
In 1863 the first steam fire-engine was purchased, and our present splendidly equipped and perfectly ordered paid department inaugurated.
In 1869 the citizens voted to introduce water-works, and the present admirable water works system was established in 1870.
January 3, 1834, an ordinance was passed by Council for the appointment of one or more watchmen. The marshal and these watchmen constituted the police of Dayton. After 1841 two constables were elected each year in addition to the marshal and deputy. In 1850 sixty men were added to this body. In 1873 the metropolitan police force was organized. The city had no prison before 1858, its few offenders being confined in the county jail.
The first market-house was opened July 4, 1815. The markets were held from four to ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The house was a frame building, and stood on Second Street, between Main and Jefferson. In 1829 a new market-house was built on Main Street, between Third and Fourth streets. In 1836 this was extended to Jefferson Street. In 1876 the present market- house was built.
In 1812 Dayton furnished a company of soldiers for the war with England. It was also an important camping-place for the soldiers of this region, and was honored with visits from Governor Meigs, General Harrison, General Hull, and other men prominent in the war. Among the citizens of Dayton in command of troops were Colonel Robert Patterson, Captain William Van Cleve, Captain James Steele, Captain A. Edwards, and Sergeant-Major Joseph H. Crane. A military hospital was located on the Court house corner, in charge of Dr. John Steele. The business of the town was very much increased by the war, as Dayton furnished large quantities of supplies for the army.
In 1846-48 occurred the Mexican War. Several companies were organized in Dayton and fought in numerous battles.
The city of Dayton did loyal service in the War of the Rebellion. The great majority of its citizens were on the side of the Union, and many of them laid down their lives for their country. The city furnished for the United States service 2,699 soldiers; under special calls of the state, 965; or a grand total of 3,664. Prominent among these were General Robert C Schenck, General T. J. Wood, Admiral James F. Schenck, and Rear-Admiral Greer.
C. L. Vallandigham, one of Dayton’s most talented citizens, and the Representative of the Third Ohio District in Congress at the opening of the War, was opposed to the War. He was arrested at his residence in Dayton May 5, 1863, on a charge of “declaring sympathy for the enemy.” His arrest was followed the next night by an attack on the Journal office, which was burned by a mob composed of men who sympathized with the South. In 1864 the Empire office was mobbed by a small number of Union soldiers.
Citizens who could not enlist in the army helped to support the families of those who became soldiers; societies of ladies were formed, who made clothing and prepared hospital supplies; and in various ways assistance was rendered to the Union.
Soon after the close of the War, the Central National Military Home was located near Dayton, and there the Government is providing for the soldiers who, having imperiled their lives for their country, are so disabled that they can no longer care for themselves.
In 1884 a soldiers’ monument was erected by the county, at the head of Main Street, in memory of the brave men who went forth to battle never to return.
Numerous floods have caused damage to property in the city. The most destructive was that of September, 1886, which cost, in losses to individuals and to public property, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In 1832 there were a number of deaths in the town caused by cholera. The first Board of Health was appointed in that year. In 1849, by a cholera epidemic, Dayton lost more than two hundred of her people.
Houses were first lighted by gas in 1849, but street-lighting came a little later. At present the city is well supplied with both gas and electric light.
In 1889 natural gas was introduced in Dayton for fuel purposes. Although not sufficiently plenty to supply many factories, it has proved a great convenience to housekeepers.
The manufacturing interests of Dayton have long been prominent. There has been a steady and substantial growth in the number and size of manufacturing establishments, until 1894, according to the report of the State Labor Statistician, the city ranked as the third in the State in number of industries, capital invested, and wages paid, and fourth in the value of its manufactured products. Many of its establishments are very large, some employing from one to two thousand persons, and a number of them are known in almost every part of the globe.
The stores, banks, building-associations, insurance companies, and other branches of trade conduct a large amount of business, and rank high in the commercial world.
On the 22d of October, 1892, the Columbian Centennial was appropriately celebrated in Dayton by an immense procession of school-children with historical floats exemplifying the discovery and the growth and prosperity of the nation, and of military and civil societies and industrial exhibits, followed by appropriate addresses and music in Cooper Park.
The fourth of July was a grand occasion in Dayton in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It was often celebrated with processions, speeches, and dinners, and many of the prominent citizens served on the committees. The first “jubilee of the United States” commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was celebrated July 4, 1826, by a procession from the Court-house, services at the brick church,--First Presbyterian,-- a dinner at Mr. Rollman’s tavern,-- formerly Newcom’s,-and a picnic at the medical spring near the present buildings of St. Mary’s Institute, on Brown Street. The Declaration was read by J. W. Van Cleve, and an oration was delivered by Peter P. Lowe.
Never in the History of the Northwest has there been a more exciting Presidential campaign than that which preceded the election of General W. H. Harrison in 1840, and nowhere was the enthusiasm for the hero of Tippecanoe greater than in Dayton. A remarkable Harrison convention was held here on the 10th of September, the date of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, and tradition has preserved extravagant accounts of the number present, the beauty of the emblems and decorations displayed, and the hospitality of the citizens and neighboring farmers.
A procession five miles long met General Harrison at the junction of the Troy and Springfield roads, and escorted him into the city.
In early times, when hotel and boarding-house accommodations in Dayton were very limited, it was the custom, whenever there was a political or religious convention, or any other large public meeting here, for the citizens to freely entertain the delegates at their homes. At night straw-beds were laid in rows, with a narrow path between rows, on the floors of rooms and halls in both stories of dwellings, and in this way accommodation was furnished for many guests. When a meeting was of a religious character, the different denominations assisted in entertaining the guests. A great part of the labor of preparing for the hungry crowd of guests was performed by Dayton ladies with their own hands.
Among the men prominent in the early history of the city may be mentioned D. C. Cooper, Benjamin Van Cleve, Colonel George Newcom, Robert Edgar, Henry Brown, Judge Isaac Spinning, William King, John H. Williams. Cyrus Osborn, Colonel Robert Patterson, George S. Houston, Joseph Peirce, Judge Joseph H. Crane, Charles Russell Greene, Judge James Steele, Dr. John Steele, Matthew Patton, Abram Darst, Dr. H. Jewett, Rev. James Welsh, M. D., Dr. john Elliott, Alexander Grimes, Henry Bacon, Luther Bruen, Jonathon Harshman, William Eaker, George W. Smith, William Huffman, Horatio G. Phillips, J. D. Phillips, Thomas Brown, Obadiah B Conover, Samuel Forrer, Colonel Jerome Holt, Judge George Holt, Dr. Job Haines, James Perrine, Henry Stoddard, John W. Van Cleve, Collins Wight, Milo G. Williams, E. E. Barney, James Hanna, John Folkerth, Aaron Baker.
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