CHAPTER IX: 1836-1840
MEASURES Proposed by Improving the Town in 1836 – Proceedings of Council – Public Meeting to Sustain Council – Cooper Park – Dayton Business Men in 1836 – Educational Convention in 1836 – Shinplasters – Thomas Morrison – Zoological Museum – William Jennison – First Railroad – Turnpikes – First Public-School Buildings – Opposition to Public Schools – Processions of School Children and Other Efforts to Excite and Interest in Public Schools – Samuel Forrer Takes Charge of Turnpikes – His Biography – Midnight Markets – Cooper Hydraulic – Change of Channel of Mad River – First County Fair – Morus Multicaulis Excitement – Dayton Carpet Manufactory – Number of Buildings Erected in 1839 – Log Cabin Newspaper – Harrison Convention – Numbers in Attendance – Hospitality of Dayton People – Banners Presented.
In April, 1836, Council appointed a committee, consisting of Messrs. Stone, Smith, and Winters, to effect a loan in behalf of the corporation of from one to ten thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent., and for a period of not less than five years, the interest to be paid annually. The money so obtained was to be used in improving the streets and the appearance of the town. The following proceedings of the next meeting of Council described the proposed improvements:
“The Common Council of the town of Dayton, at their meeting April 25, 1836, passed the following resolution: That they would appropriate and spend so much money (provided a loan can be obtained) as will make the following improvements, viz.: wharfing across the head of the State basin; improving the public commons as requested by D. Z. Cooper in consideration of his releasing a part thereof for the benefit of the corporation provided the balance be improved immediately; to extend the market-space to Jefferson Street; to grade the streets and walks throughout the town, and so soon as the grade is correctly ascertained, to raise and lower the walks in the different wards to the said grade; to finish the cisterns already commenced with lime cement, and to purchase five hundred more feet of hose for the Fire Department.”
As there was a difference of opinion in respect to the propriety of borrowing money and making the above improvements, it was resolved, on motion of the recorder, David Winters, “that all citizens interested in the above matter be requested to meet at the Court-house Wednesday evening next at early candle-lighting, and then and there express their approbation or disapprobation of the above measure.” Peter Aughinbaugh was chairman of the town meeting called by Council, and Daniel Roe secretary. Addresses were made by Messrs. Robert C. Schenck, Ralph P. Lowe, Henry Bacon, and Daniel Roe. There was some opposition to the proposed improvements on the ground that they were more for ornament than use, and that they would increase the taxes, while the advantages would be unequally distributed. Council proposed to borrow ten thousand dollars, three thousand of which were to be expended on the park and the remainder on other improvements. After a full discussion a majority of the meeting passed resolutions commending the improvements contemplated by Council and the loan by means of which they were to be accomplished. They recommended that Council should apply one-tenth of any amount to be expended during the year in filling up the ditch commonly called “Seely’s Basin.”
An act of the Legislature, passed February 17, 1808, empowered Daniel C. Cooper to amend the original plat of Dayton as to lots 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 141, 142, 143, and then set them apart as a common for the use of the citizens. To induce the citizens to convert the “commons” into a park that would be creditable, in December, 1836, David Zeigler Cooper, son of Daniel Cooper, executed a deed authorizing the city to lease lots 94, 95, and 96, and releasing any reversionary interest that might accrue to him. It was provided in the deed that the remaining ground should be enclosed, planted with trees, and forever kept as “a walk” for “the citizens of Dayton and its visitors.” It was manifestly the intention that the proceeds from the leases should be used to keep the park in perfect order. In 1838 the “public square,” as the park was then called was prepared for and planted with fine forest trees, which the Journal of that day says was “a fair beginning for a work which promises to be a credit, as well as an ornament, to the town.”
Major Daniel W. Wheelock, the efficient and public-spirited Mayor of Dayton during 1836, 1837, and 1838, suggested many of the new improvements, and energetically hastened the completion of those begun while he was in office. A number of new buildings were erected in 1836-37. Among the most important was the handsome brick Catholic church. Thomas Morrison, builder, as stated in the Dayton Journal, reported the number of buildings put up this year as forty-five of brick and thirty-five of frame.
It may be interesting to mention the names of some of the men whose advertisements appear in the Journal at this period. Numbers of them had been doing business in Dayton for many years. M. & G. A. Hatfield, chairmakers; T. & W. Parrott, merchants; John Bidleman, boot- and shoemaker; Swain & Demarest, produce dealers; Samuel Shoup, merchant; Simon Snyder and Samuel McPherson, tanners; Thomas Casad, hatmaker; Thomas Brown, builder; Richard Green, shoemaker; J. Burns, edge-tool manufacturer; H. Best, jeweler; James, Johnson V. & Henry V. Perrine, merchants; James McDaniel, merchant tailor; Aughinbaugh & Loomis, hardware; George W. Smith & Son, merchants; Samuel Dolly, coachmaker; E. Edmonson, tanner; Jacob Stutsman, coppersmith; Conover & Kincaid, merchants, T. Barrett and R. P. Brown, booksellers and bindery; E. Helfenstein & Co., hardware; Phillips, Green & Co., merchants; C. Koerner, druggist; Henry Herrman, merchant; Rench, Harshman & Co., produce dealers; D. Z. Peirce and W. B. Stone, grocers; C. & W. F. Spining, merchants; Brown & Hoglen, grocers; Daniel Roe & Sons, druggists; Estabrook & Phelps, grocers; Edwin Smith & Co., druggists; Morrison & Arnold, builders; Samuel Brady, merchant; R. A. Kerfoot, saddler; Abram Darst, grocer; J. O. Shoup, merchant.
This year a daily mail from Washington – through in fifty-six hours – was established.
A memorable convention was held in Dayton in August, 1836, in the interest of free schools. A committee of arrangements was appointed consisting of E. E. Barney, R. C. Carter, R. C. Schenck, George B. Holt, and Milo G. Williams. Delegates were present from Cincinnati and seven or eight other Ohio towns, and visitors from Belleville, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan. Rev. E. Allen was elected president, and Daniel A. Haynes secretary. The convention remained in session three days. Able addresses were made by Rev. W. H. McGuffrey, D.D., a man of remarkable ability as a speaker, and afterwards the compiler of the famous readers that bore his name, and Dr. Harrison, an eloquent and distinguished professor in the Cincinnati Medical College. The discussions took a wide range, and were participated in by some of the most distinguished educators in the State. What advanced views were held may be learned from the resolutions adopted, which favored the establishment of normal schools, that teaching might be a profession; the introduction in the schools of the studies of geology and physiology; and the publication of a periodical to be called the “Teachers’ Magazine. The convention was fully reported in the Dayton Journal. The editors, R. N. and W. F. Comly, warmly and ably advocated the cause of public schools, and freely opened the columns of the Journal to the discussion of the subject.
The wild speculations which preceded and culminated in 1837 resulted in a complete prostration of business, from which the country did not recover for many years. The failure of many banks, and the suspension of specie payments by the others, made money, and especially silver change, excessively scarce. As a substitute for small coin, “shinplasters,” or promises to pay fifty, twenty-five, or ten cents on demand, printed on ordinary paper, were issued by merchants, grocers, and others. Thomas Morrison, who was an extensive owner of real estate, which was a basis for credit, issued a large amount of these “shinplasters.” It was so easy and tempting to issue money which was current to be redeemed in the future, that is not surprising that an amount was put out much beyond the original intention. When the time came for redemption, the following advertisement in the Journal of June 26, 1838, shows the unpleasant position in which Mr. Morrison was placed:
“PUBLIC NOTICE – SHINPLASTERS IN DANGER”
“FELLOW-CITIZENS: I am compelled to leave town to fulfill a contract that I have undertaken - that is, to build a mill at the falls of Greenville Creek for G. W. Smith. I leave Dayton at this time with regret, because the law prohibiting the circulation of small notes or shinplasters is soon to take effect, and I wish to satisfy my fellow-citizens that I am not the man under any circumstances to take advantage of that law, by which the State allows me to act the rascal. No; it is vain to try to induce me to do so. I intended to redeem every noted I have put in circulation, and that as soon as I return, and will do it with pleasure and satisfaction. I desire my fellow-citizens and all who have confidence in my word of honor – and I trust there are some who believe I will do as I say – not to refuse to take them till my return, when every cent shall be paid, with the addition of six per cent. Interest for every day the notes are left unredeemed after the 1st of July. On my return I will give public notice, so that the holders of my notes may call. It has been an unprofitable business, but it shall end honestly.”
In the end Mr. Morrison redeemed in full all the “shinplasters” he issued. Mr. Morrison came to Dayton at an early day, and was for many years the leading contractor and builder of the town. His son, David H. Morrison, a skillful civil engineer and founder of the Columbia Bridge Works, married Harriet, the daughter of Robert J. Skinner, the pioneer newspaper publisher and editor. Mary Morrison married Dr. M. Garst, and Maria, Daniel Garst.
A number of citizens assembled on the 16th of September at the Court-house for the purpose of establishing a zoölogical museum. A committee, consisting of John W. Van Cleve, Dr. John Steele, William Jennison, and Thomas Brown, was appointed to ascertain whether a suitable room could be obtained, and funds for paying for it secured. A room was procured at the head of the basin, but the place was unsuitable and not attractive. The idea of establishing a public museum would not have the basin, but the place was unsuitable and not attractive. The idea of establishing a public museum would not have suggested itself to the citizens of Dayton at that early date but for the presence here of a very accomplished naturalist, William Jennison, who had been for a number of years engaged in such work in Germany, and being connected with foreign societies of naturalists, would be able to procure from abroad almost any specimens desired, merely by applying for them and paying the cost of transportation. He had a number of birds prepared by himself in the best manner, and handsomely arranged in glass cases; and also hundreds of insects classified and arranged in scientific order, and affording, by the variety of size and color, a most beautiful sight, though “the poor fellows were impaled with pins.” All these he offered to place in a public museum, and to devote part of his time to the work of increasing the collection. But the project was soon abandoned, and he removed his birds and butterflies to his residence, - then a short distance out of town, but now on Linden Avenue, within the corporation, - where he had a garden and greenhouse, in which he raised fine flowers for sale. He was an object of curiosity to the people when he went out, net in hand, to collect butterflies for his cabinet and natural-history specimens to exchange with his friends across the Atlantic. Mr. Jennison was an elegant and accomplished man, with the courtly manner of a gentleman of the old régime. He spoke English perfectly, which was probably due to the fact that his mother was an Englishwoman of rank, whom his father, Count Jennison, of Heidelberg, had married while minister of the Kingdom of Würtemberg to the Court of St. James. Washington Irving, in a letter published in the second volume of his biography, gives an interesting account of a visit which he paid in 1822 to Count Jennison and his amiable and agreeable family. He describes the Count as an elegant and hospital and highly cultivated man, who spoke English as perfectly as an Englishman.
A meeting was held on the evening of the 18th of November, 1837, at the Court-house for the purpose of exciting and interest in the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, incorporated in 1832 and organized in 1834. Since the election of officers of the company nothing further had been done. Jonathan Harshman, Robert C. Schenck, and Peter Odlin took a prominent part in the meeting, and resolutions were passed urging the raising of stock and the speedy commencement of the road. The law affording State aid to railroads had recently been passed by the Ohio Legislature.
An act was passed on the 24th of March, 1836, by the Legislature “to authorized a loan of credit by the State of Ohio to railroad companies, and to authorize subscriptions by the State to the capital stock of turnpike, canal, and slack-water navigation companies.” Dayton was one of the first towns to take advantage of the provisions of the act guaranteeing the aid of the State to works of this description, and before the repeal of the law in 1840 it had been the means of putting in the course of construction five turnpikes, the aggregate length of the five roads being one hundred and forty miles, and other turnpikes were in contemplation. To the abundance of gravel, which made the construction of turnpikes cheap and easy, are due our excellent turnpikes leading in every direction to the neighboring towns. By 1850 Dayton had fourteen turnpikes.
The subscription books of the Dayton & Springfield Company were opened January 19, 1838, and the contract made on the 12th of May. This turnpike, to induce travel through Dayton, was built in the same style as the national Road, especially at its junction with the latter, and with similar bridges, stone culverts, toll-gates, and mile-stones. Comfortable brick taverns were erected a few miles apart along the pike. It was a great disappointment to the people of Dayton that the National Road did not pass through here. Strenuous efforts were made to induce Congress to locate the road through Dayton, and, having failed, equally strenuous efforts were made to have the route changed. Many familiar names occur in connection with the turnpikes – Peter Odlin, R. C. Schenck, Horace Pease, H. G. Phillips, Joseph Barnett, Thomas Brown, Thomas Dover, J. W. Van Cleve, J. H. Crane, Jonathan Harshman, John Kneisley, V. Winters, Abram Darts, and David Z. Peirce.
On May 7, 1838, a public meeting was called at the Court-house to discuss the erection of public school-houses, and how much money should be raised by taxation for the purpose. Strenuous opposition was made to the levy of the tax by a few wealthy citizens; but, after a heated discussion, the measure was carried by a large majority. The amount to be raised was six thousand dollars, and two school-houses – one in the eastern and one in the western part of town – were to be built. The opposition did not end with the meeting. It was believed that it could not be proved that the law had been complied with in giving notice of the meeting. This had been anticipated by Mr. E. E. Barney, who had taken the precaution to post the notice in person, and, accompanied by a friend, had visited them from time to time to see that they were not removed. The houses – considered models in that day – were built. The majority of the children attended private schools, and all sorts of efforts were made by enlightened citizens to increase the popularity of the public schools.
On the Fourth of July, 1838, Mr. Elder’s school paraded on Main Street, escorted by the Blues and Grays, - the militia companies of the town, - and then gave a concert at the Methodist church. At a public meeting in 1839 it was resolved that the Fourth of July should be celebrated by a procession of the public, private, and Sunday schools of the town, with exercises at Cooper Park and a picnic-dinner for the children. Children and teachers marched on one side of the street, and parents and citizens on the other. In 1856 the school year closed with a procession and picnic across the river. The City Council and School Board headed the procession. Each school carried a beautiful silk banner. Two brass bands enlivened the procession. At the grove there were declamations and songs, and address by the president of the board, and delivery of diplomas to High School graduates. In 1859 there was a similar procession and picnic.
In 1839 Mr. Samuel Forrer, at the earnest solicitation of the directors, consented to take charge of the turnpikes as engineer and general superintendent. The roads placed under his supervision were the Dayton & Lebanon, Dayton & Springfield, and The Great Miami turnpikes. The Ohio Legislature, for partisan reasons, had just excluded Mr. Forrer from the Canal Board, this depriving the State of a faithful and competent officer. But as Dayton could now secure the constant aid of his invaluable talents and experience in the various public improvements in which the citizens were interested, and which, although of a local character, deeply concerned a large proportion of the people, there were some among us, the Journal says, selfish enough not to regret the change. For some years the county commissioners have had the supervision of the turnpikes. The toll-gates, which used to be encountered every few miles along the road, have been abolished by a law permitting the purchase of the pikes by the country from the companies.
Samuel Forrer was reappointed in the spring of 1837, by the Board of Public Works, principal engineer on the lines of the Wabash and Erie and Miami canals. This appointment, as the proper administration of the canal involved the prosperity of Dayton, was a matter of rejoicing here. A number of Dayton young men went out with Mr. Forrer to learn civil engineering. Howe’s “Historical Collections of Ohio” contains, in the chapter on “Pioneer Engineers of Ohio,” by Colonel Charles Whittlesey, the following interesting biographical sketch of Mr. Forrer:
“No engineer in Ohio spent as many years in the service of the State as did Mr. Forrer. He came from Pennsylvania in 1818, and in 1829 was deputy surveyor of Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1820 Mr. William Steele, a very enterprising citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, employed Mr. Forrer at his own expense to ascertain the elevation of the Sandusky and Scioto summit above Lake Erie. His report was sent to the Legislature by Governor Brown. This was the favorite route [for the Erie Canal], the shortest, lowest summit, and passed through a very rich country. The great question was a supply of water. It would have been located, and in fact was in part, when in the summer and fall of 1823 it was found by Judge D. S. Bates to be wholly inadequate. Of twenty-three engineers and assistants eight died of local diseases within six years. Mr. Forrer was the only one able to keep the field permanently and use the instruments in 1823. When Judge Bates needed their only level, Mr. Forrer invented and constructed one that would now be a curiosity among engineers. He named it the Pioneer. It was in form of a round bar of wrought iron, with a cross like a capital T. The top of the letter was a flat bar welded at right angles, to which a telescope was made fast by a solder, on which was a spirit-level. There was a projection drawn out from the cross-bar acting as a pendulum, a rude horizontal plane was obtained, which was of value at short range.
“Mr. Forrer was not quite medium height, but well formed and very attractive. He was a cheerful and pleasant companion. Judge Bates and the canal commissioners relied upon his skill under their instructions to test the water question in 1823. He ran a line for a feeder from the Sandusky summit westerly and north of the watershed, taking up the waters of the Auglaize and head of the Miami. Even with the addition, the supply was inadequate. Until his death in 1874 Mr. Forrer was nearly all the time in the employ of the State as engineer, canal commissioner, or member of the Board of Public Works. He was not only popular, but scrupulously honest and industrious. His life-long friends regarded his death as a personal loss greater than that of a faithful public officer. He was too unobtrusive to make personal enemies, not neglecting his duties, as a citizen zealous but just. He died at Dayton, Ohio, at 10 A.M., March 25, 1874, from the exhaustion of his physical powers, without pain. Like his life he passed away in peace at the age of eighty, his mind clear and conscious of the approaching end.”
In the winter of 1838 the experiment was tried of having market on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, and in the early morning on the other three days. But the people soon returned to what Curwen calls “our midnight markets,” the bell ringing at four o’clock in the depth of winter, and the people hurrying at the first tap to the market-house, a short delay would deprive them of their favorite cut of meat or first choice of vegetables and force them to fill their baskets with rejected articles. As in New York two hundred years ago, “such was the strife among the thrifty townsfolk to be on hand at the opening of the market, and thereby get the pick of the goods, that long before noon the bulk of the business was done.” This custom of market before daybreak, in spite of its discomfort, continued for many years.
In spite of the hard times, Dayton was prosperous in 1838. The following improvements were made that year: Council expended about six thousand dollars in improving and beautifying the town; the streets and pavements were graveled, guttered, and macadamized for the first time, though the work had been begun three years before; eighty-nine buildings, fifty-six of brick and thirty-three of frame, were erected, and more would have been put up if it had been possible to obtain sufficient brick and timber. The principal buildings erected were two brick district school-houses, the first that were built in Dayton, and the Third Street Presbyterian Church. This was also of brick, seventy-two by fifty-two feet in size, “of approved architectural beauty,” and cost fifteen thousand dollars. The dwellings in town were all occupied to their fullest capacity, and there were none for rent or for sale.
The most valuable improvement made this year was the Cooper Hydraulic, constructed by Edward W. Davies and Alexander Grimes, agents of the Cooper estate. “It is an enterprise,” and the Journal, “for the projection and completion of which all who have the prosperity of Dayton at heart will cheerfully accord to the gentlemen above names due credit for their public spirit.” The hydraulic was seven hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with twelve feet head, and was built between Third and Fifth streets, west of Wyandotte Street. “A bend in Mad River at the northeast corner of the town extended south from the aqueduct to First Street, and along that street, crossing what is now Keowee and Meigs Street, thence in a northwest direction, crossing Taylor Street south of Monument Avenue, and on and across Monument Avenue to and uniting with the Miami River at a point about four hundred feet south of the present mouth of Mad River.” In 1840 Mr. Davies and Mr. Grimes, as a further improvement to the Cooper estate, “caused a survey to be made for a new channel for Mad River from the aqueduct straight to the Miami River.” It was finished in the winter of 1842. Originally a bayou extended up Mad River from the Miami to Keowee Street.
Dayton Township was divided March 12, 1839, into two election precincts, the first precinct voting at the Court-house and the second at Houk’s Tavern on Market Street.
The Montgomery County Agricultural Society had been organized September 11, 1838, with Colonel Henry Protzman president, and Charles Anderson secretary. The first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was held in Dayton at Swaynie’s Hotel, at the head of the basin, October 17 and 18, 1839. At eleven in the morning on the 17th a procession of about three hundred persons interested in the society marched, headed by a band of music, through the principal streets to the hotel, where the anniversary address was delivered by D. A. Haynes. The display of horses, cattle, and farm products was fine. The committee on silk, Daniel Roe, C. S. Bryant, John Edgar, Peter Aughinbaugh, Charles G. Swain, W. B. Stone, and R. N. Comly, awarded a premium, a silver cup worth ten dollars, for the greatest amount of silk produced from the smallest number of multicaulis leaves. Other valuable premiums were awarded by the society, but the cup was offered by members of the Silk Company.
The mention of the Morus multicaulis three recalls to memory one of those strange manias that occasionally sweep over the country. The tree had recently been introduced from China, was of rapid growth, and furnished abundant food for silkworms. It was believed that the cultivation of this tree, and the use of its leaves to feed silkworms, would make the United States the great silk-producing country of the world. The most extravagant price was paid for young trees, and thousands of acres were planted. Wide-spread ruin was the result, and hundreds of persons lost their all in this wild speculation.
Swaynie’s Hotel, where the first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was held, was finished in April 1839. It was considered a first-class house, and regarded with pride by the people of Dayton. All the carpets in the hotel were manufactured by the Dayton Carpet Company, and were of such superior texture, designs, and colors that guests of the house could with difficulty be convinced that they were made west of the Alleghany Mountains. The Dayton carpets were sold in the stores at Cincinnati and other Western towns as imported carpets, and purchasers did not discover the deception.
The number of building erected in Dayton in 1839, as counted by Thomas Morrison, was one hundred and sixty-four of brick and thirty-six of wood, and twenty-six intended for business houses. A new First Presbyterian Church took the place of the old one built in 1817. A Baptist church was also built on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets, forty by sixty feet in size and seventy-five feet in height. The front presented a very neat specimen of the Grecian Doric architecture. The cost of the whole, including the lot, was six thousand dollars. A number of improvements were made along the hydraulic. Mr. Thomas Brown, after particular inquiry made at the request of the Journal, reported that four million five hundred thousand bricks were made in Dayton during 1839. The number on hand he computed at five hundred thousand, which gave four millions as the number of bricks laid during the year.
In February, 1839, the prospectus of the Log Cabin newspaper, published in Dayton by R. N. and W. F. Comly, appeared. The Log Cabin was continued during the Harrison campaign, and after enough subscribers were obtained to pay expenses, was gratuitously distributed as a campaign document. A large picture of a log cabin, with a barrel of hard cider at the door, occupied the first page of the paper. The illustrations were drawn and engraved by John W. Van Cleve. The price of the paper was fifty cents for thirteen numbers. Two files of the Log Cabin, which attained a national reputation, are on the shelves of the Dayton Public Library.
The population of Dayton was now six thousand and sixty-four.
Never in the history of the Northwest has there been a more exciting Presidential campaign that that which preceded the election of General W. H. Harrison, and the nowhere was the enthusiasm for the hero of Tippecanoe greater than in Dayton. A remarkable Harrison convention was held here on the date of Perry’s victory on Lake Eric, and tradition has preserved such extravagant accounts of the number present, the beauty of the emblems and decorations displayed, and the hospitality of the citizens and neighboring farmer, that the following prophecy with which the Journal began its account of the celebration may almost be said to have been literally fulfilled: “Memorable and ever to be remembered as is the glorious triumph achieved by the immortal Perry on the 10th of September, 1813, scarcely less conspicuous on the page of history will stand the noble commemoration of the event which has just passed before us.” Innumerable flags and Tippecanoe banners were stretched across the streets from roofs of stores and factories, or floated from private residences and from poles and trees. People began to arrive several days before the convention, and on the 9th crowds of carriages, wagons, and horsemen streamed into town. About six o’clock the Cincinnati delegation came in by the Centerville road. They were escorted from the edge of town by the Dayton Grays, Butler Guards, Dayton military band, and a number of citizens in carriages and on horseback. The procession of delegates was headed by eleven stage-coaches in line, with banners and music, followed by a long line of wagons and carriages. Each coach was enthusiastically cheered as it passed the crowds which thronged the streets, and the cheers were responded to by occupants of the coaches. Twelve canal-boats full of men arrived on the 10th, and every road which led to town poured in its thousands early in the morning.
General Harrison came as far as Jonathan Harshman’s five miles from town, on the 9th and passed the night there. Early in the morning his escort, which had been encamped at Fairview, marched to Mr. Harshman’s and halted there till seven o’clock, when it got in motion under command of Joseph Barnett, of Dayton, and other marshals from Clark County. A procession from town, five miles long, under direction of Charles Anderson, chief marshal, met the General and his escort at the junction of Troy and Springfield roads. The battalion of militia, commanded by Captain Bomberger, of the Dayton Grays, and consisting of the Grays and Washington Artillery, of Dayton; the Citizens’ Guards, from Cincinnati; Butler Guards, of Hamilton, and Piqua Light Infantry, were formed in a hollow square, and General Harrison, mounted on a white horse, his staff, and Governor Metcalf and staff, of Kentucky, were placed in the center. “Every foot of the road between town and the place where General Harrison was to meet the Dayton escort was literally choked up with people.”
The immense procession, carrying banners and flags, and accompanied by canoes, log cabins furnished in pioneer style, and trappers’ lodges, all on wheels, and filled with men, girls, and boys, the latter dressed in hunting-shirts and blue caps, made a magnificent display. One of the wagons contained a live wolf enveloped in a sheepskin, representing the “hypocritical professions” of the opponents of the Whigs. All sorts of designs were carried by the delegations. One of the most striking was an immense ball, representing the Harris States, which was rolled through the streets. The length of the procession was about two miles. Carriages were usually three abreast, and there were more than one thousand in line. The day was bright and beautiful, and the wildest enthusiasm swayed the mighty mass of people who formed the most imposing part of “this grandest spectacle of time,” as Colonel Todd, an eye-witness, termed by the procession. The following description of the scene, quoted by Curwen from a contemporary newspaper, partakes of the excitement and extravagance of the occasion:
“The huzzas from gray-headed patriots, as the banners borne in the procession passed their dwellings, or the balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and blessings and waving kerchiefs of the thousands of fair women, who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heartfelt acknowledgements of the marked courtesy and generous hospitality by the different delegations, sometimes rising the same instant from the whole line; the glimpses at every turn of the eye of the fluttering folds of some one or more of the six hundred and forty-four flags which displayed their glorious stars and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street, the soul-stirring music, the smiling heavens, the ever-gleaming banners, the emblems and mottoes, added to the intensity of the excitement. Every eminence, housetop, and windows was thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to rend the heavens. Second Street at that time led through a prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity of which few but Westerners can appreciate, likened the excitement around them to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its surface, “gathering, and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heavens.””
After marching through the principal streets the procession was disbanded by General Harrison at the National Hotel on Third Street. At one o’clock the procession was reformed and moved to the stand erected for the speeches “upon a spacious plain” east of Front Street and north of Third. Mr. Samuel Forrer, an experienced civil engineer, made an estimate of the space occupied by this meeting and of the number present at it. He says: “An exact measurement of the lines gave for one side of the square (oblong) one hundred and thirty yards and the other one hundred and fifty yards, including an area of nineteen thousand five hundred square yards, which, multiplied by four, would give seventy-eight thousand. Let no one who was present be startled by this result or reject this estimate till he compares the data assumed with the facts presented to his own view while on the ground. It is easy for any one to satisfy himself that six, or even a greater number of individuals, may stand on a square yard of ground. Four is the number assumed in the present instance; the area measured is less than four and one-half acres. Every farmer who noticed the ground could readily perceive that a much larger space was covered with people, though not so closely as the portion measured. All will admit that an oblong square of one hundred and thirty yards by one hundred and fifty did not at any time during the first hour include near all that were on the east side of the canal. The time of observation was the commencement of General Harrison’s speech. Before making this particular estimate I had made one by comparing this assemblage with my recollection of the 25th of February convention at Columbus, and came to the conclusion that it was at least four times as great as that.” Two other competent engineers measured the ground, and the lowest estimate of the number of people at the meeting was seventy-eight thousand, and as thousands were still in town it was estimated that as many as one hundred thousand were here on the 10th of September.
Places of entertainment were assigned delegates by the committee appointed for that purpose, but it was also announced in the Journal that no one need hesitate “to enter any house for dinner where he may see a flag flying. Every Whig’s latch-string will be out, and the flag will signify as much to all who are hungry or athirst.” A public table, where dinner was furnished, as at the private houses, without charge, was also announced as follows by the Journal: “We wish to give our visitors log-cabin fare and plenty of it, and we want our friends in the country to help us.” A committee was appointed to take charge of the baskets of the farmers, who responded liberally to this appeal.
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, a narrow path between each row, on the floors of rooms and halls in both stories of dwellings, and in this way accommodation was furnished for many guests. The making of the ticks for these beds before the days of sewing-machines, required many days of labor, often principally done by the hostess. As late as 1853, when the first State fair was held in Dayton, public-spirited citizens who could afford the expense exercised this generous but somewhat primitive hospitality. When a meeting was of a religious character, the different denominations assisted in entertaining the guests. During the 1840 convention the hot dinner, which was served if possible on such occasions, was supplemented by large quantities of cold roast and boiled meats, poultry, cakes, pies, and bread that had been prepared beforehand. A few wealthy housekeepers employed men cooks and other additional assistance during the convention. But there were not caterers or confectioners in those days, and good domestic help was rare, so that a great part of the labor of preparing for their hungry crowd of guests was performed by Dayton ladies with their own hands.
All the houses in Dayton occupied by Whigs were crowded to their fullest capacity during the Harrison convention, and again at the Clay convention in 1842. One family, according to a letter from its mistress written at the time, entertained three hundred persons at dinner one day in 1842, and the same night lodged nearly one hundred guests. Thirty Kentuckians left that afternoon, or there would have been over one hundred lodgers. The writer states that the houses of all her friends and relatives were as crowded as her own, and says that this lavish hospitality was a repetition of what occurred in 1840. The letter contains an interesting description of a morning reception for ladies during the convention of 1842 at the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, where Mr. Clay was staying. A crowd of women of all ranks and conditions – some in silk and some in calico – were present. Mr. Clay shook hands with them all, afterwards making a complimentary little speech, saying, among other graceful things, that the soft touch of the ladies’ hands had healed his fingers, bruised by the rough grasp of the men, whom he had received the day before.
Among other interesting occurrences during the Harrison convention was the presentation, on the 9th of September, of a beautiful banner to the Tippecanoe Club of the town by the married ladies of Dayton. The banner was accompanied by an eloquent address written for the occasion by Mrs. D. K. Este, and was presented in the name of the ladies to the club, who were drawn up in front of the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, by Judge J. H. Crane. It was decorated on one side with an embroidered wreath, with a view of General Harrison’s house in the center, and on the other side with a painting of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, executed by Charles Soule “with the skill and taste for which he is so distinguished.”
On the 11th of September the young ladies of Dayton presented a banner, wrought by their own hands, to General Harrison. Daniel A. Haynes made the presentation speech. The convention was addressed by many noted men. General Harrison was a forcible speaker, and his voice, while not sonorous, was clear and penetrating, and reached the utmost limits of the immense crowd. Governor Metcalfe, of Kentucky, was a favorite with the people. A stonemason in early life, he was called “Stone-Hammer” to indicate the crushing blows inflicted by his logic and his sarcasm. The inimitable Thomas Corwin held his audience spellbound with his eloquence and humor, and R. C. Schenck added greatly to his reputation by his incisive and witty speeches. Joseph H. Crane, R. S. Hart, and other Daytonians spoke.
CHAPTER IX: 1836-1840
MEASURES Proposed by Improving the Town in 1836 – Proceedings of Council – Public Meeting to Sustain Council – Cooper Park – Dayton Business Men in 1836 – Educational Convention in 1836 – Shinplasters – Thomas Morrison – Zoological Museum – William Jennison – First Railroad – Turnpikes – First Public-School Buildings – Opposition to Public Schools – Processions of School Children and Other Efforts to Excite and Interest in Public Schools – Samuel Forrer Takes Charge of Turnpikes – His Biography – Midnight Markets – Cooper Hydraulic – Change of Channel of Mad River – First County Fair – Morus Multicaulis Excitement – Dayton Carpet Manufactory – Number of Buildings Erected in 1839 – Log Cabin Newspaper – Harrison Convention – Numbers in Attendance – Hospitality of Dayton People – Banners Presented.
In April, 1836, Council appointed a committee, consisting of Messrs. Stone, Smith, and Winters, to effect a loan in behalf of the corporation of from one to ten thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent., and for a period of not less than five years, the interest to be paid annually. The money so obtained was to be used in improving the streets and the appearance of the town. The following proceedings of the next meeting of Council described the proposed improvements:
“The Common Council of the town of Dayton, at their meeting April 25, 1836, passed the following resolution: That they would appropriate and spend so much money (provided a loan can be obtained) as will make the following improvements, viz.: wharfing across the head of the State basin; improving the public commons as requested by D. Z. Cooper in consideration of his releasing a part thereof for the benefit of the corporation provided the balance be improved immediately; to extend the market-space to Jefferson Street; to grade the streets and walks throughout the town, and so soon as the grade is correctly ascertained, to raise and lower the walks in the different wards to the said grade; to finish the cisterns already commenced with lime cement, and to purchase five hundred more feet of hose for the Fire Department.”
As there was a difference of opinion in respect to the propriety of borrowing money and making the above improvements, it was resolved, on motion of the recorder, David Winters, “that all citizens interested in the above matter be requested to meet at the Court-house Wednesday evening next at early candle-lighting, and then and there express their approbation or disapprobation of the above measure.” Peter Aughinbaugh was chairman of the town meeting called by Council, and Daniel Roe secretary. Addresses were made by Messrs. Robert C. Schenck, Ralph P. Lowe, Henry Bacon, and Daniel Roe. There was some opposition to the proposed improvements on the ground that they were more for ornament than use, and that they would increase the taxes, while the advantages would be unequally distributed. Council proposed to borrow ten thousand dollars, three thousand of which were to be expended on the park and the remainder on other improvements. After a full discussion a majority of the meeting passed resolutions commending the improvements contemplated by Council and the loan by means of which they were to be accomplished. They recommended that Council should apply one-tenth of any amount to be expended during the year in filling up the ditch commonly called “Seely’s Basin.”
An act of the Legislature, passed February 17, 1808, empowered Daniel C. Cooper to amend the original plat of Dayton as to lots 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 141, 142, 143, and then set them apart as a common for the use of the citizens. To induce the citizens to convert the “commons” into a park that would be creditable, in December, 1836, David Zeigler Cooper, son of Daniel Cooper, executed a deed authorizing the city to lease lots 94, 95, and 96, and releasing any reversionary interest that might accrue to him. It was provided in the deed that the remaining ground should be enclosed, planted with trees, and forever kept as “a walk” for “the citizens of Dayton and its visitors.” It was manifestly the intention that the proceeds from the leases should be used to keep the park in perfect order. In 1838 the “public square,” as the park was then called was prepared for and planted with fine forest trees, which the Journal of that day says was “a fair beginning for a work which promises to be a credit, as well as an ornament, to the town.”
Major Daniel W. Wheelock, the efficient and public-spirited Mayor of Dayton during 1836, 1837, and 1838, suggested many of the new improvements, and energetically hastened the completion of those begun while he was in office. A number of new buildings were erected in 1836-37. Among the most important was the handsome brick Catholic church. Thomas Morrison, builder, as stated in the Dayton Journal, reported the number of buildings put up this year as forty-five of brick and thirty-five of frame.
It may be interesting to mention the names of some of the men whose advertisements appear in the Journal at this period. Numbers of them had been doing business in Dayton for many years. M. & G. A. Hatfield, chairmakers; T. & W. Parrott, merchants; John Bidleman, boot- and shoemaker; Swain & Demarest, produce dealers; Samuel Shoup, merchant; Simon Snyder and Samuel McPherson, tanners; Thomas Casad, hatmaker; Thomas Brown, builder; Richard Green, shoemaker; J. Burns, edge-tool manufacturer; H. Best, jeweler; James, Johnson V. & Henry V. Perrine, merchants; James McDaniel, merchant tailor; Aughinbaugh & Loomis, hardware; George W. Smith & Son, merchants; Samuel Dolly, coachmaker; E. Edmonson, tanner; Jacob Stutsman, coppersmith; Conover & Kincaid, merchants, T. Barrett and R. P. Brown, booksellers and bindery; E. Helfenstein & Co., hardware; Phillips, Green & Co., merchants; C. Koerner, druggist; Henry Herrman, merchant; Rench, Harshman & Co., produce dealers; D. Z. Peirce and W. B. Stone, grocers; C. & W. F. Spining, merchants; Brown & Hoglen, grocers; Daniel Roe & Sons, druggists; Estabrook & Phelps, grocers; Edwin Smith & Co., druggists; Morrison & Arnold, builders; Samuel Brady, merchant; R. A. Kerfoot, saddler; Abram Darst, grocer; J. O. Shoup, merchant.
This year a daily mail from Washington – through in fifty-six hours – was established.
A memorable convention was held in Dayton in August, 1836, in the interest of free schools. A committee of arrangements was appointed consisting of E. E. Barney, R. C. Carter, R. C. Schenck, George B. Holt, and Milo G. Williams. Delegates were present from Cincinnati and seven or eight other Ohio towns, and visitors from Belleville, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan. Rev. E. Allen was elected president, and Daniel A. Haynes secretary. The convention remained in session three days. Able addresses were made by Rev. W. H. McGuffrey, D.D., a man of remarkable ability as a speaker, and afterwards the compiler of the famous readers that bore his name, and Dr. Harrison, an eloquent and distinguished professor in the Cincinnati Medical College. The discussions took a wide range, and were participated in by some of the most distinguished educators in the State. What advanced views were held may be learned from the resolutions adopted, which favored the establishment of normal schools, that teaching might be a profession; the introduction in the schools of the studies of geology and physiology; and the publication of a periodical to be called the “Teachers’ Magazine. The convention was fully reported in the Dayton Journal. The editors, R. N. and W. F. Comly, warmly and ably advocated the cause of public schools, and freely opened the columns of the Journal to the discussion of the subject.
The wild speculations which preceded and culminated in 1837 resulted in a complete prostration of business, from which the country did not recover for many years. The failure of many banks, and the suspension of specie payments by the others, made money, and especially silver change, excessively scarce. As a substitute for small coin, “shinplasters,” or promises to pay fifty, twenty-five, or ten cents on demand, printed on ordinary paper, were issued by merchants, grocers, and others. Thomas Morrison, who was an extensive owner of real estate, which was a basis for credit, issued a large amount of these “shinplasters.” It was so easy and tempting to issue money which was current to be redeemed in the future, that is not surprising that an amount was put out much beyond the original intention. When the time came for redemption, the following advertisement in the Journal of June 26, 1838, shows the unpleasant position in which Mr. Morrison was placed:
“PUBLIC NOTICE – SHINPLASTERS IN DANGER”
“FELLOW-CITIZENS: I am compelled to leave town to fulfill a contract that I have undertaken - that is, to build a mill at the falls of Greenville Creek for G. W. Smith. I leave Dayton at this time with regret, because the law prohibiting the circulation of small notes or shinplasters is soon to take effect, and I wish to satisfy my fellow-citizens that I am not the man under any circumstances to take advantage of that law, by which the State allows me to act the rascal. No; it is vain to try to induce me to do so. I intended to redeem every noted I have put in circulation, and that as soon as I return, and will do it with pleasure and satisfaction. I desire my fellow-citizens and all who have confidence in my word of honor – and I trust there are some who believe I will do as I say – not to refuse to take them till my return, when every cent shall be paid, with the addition of six per cent. Interest for every day the notes are left unredeemed after the 1st of July. On my return I will give public notice, so that the holders of my notes may call. It has been an unprofitable business, but it shall end honestly.”
In the end Mr. Morrison redeemed in full all the “shinplasters” he issued. Mr. Morrison came to Dayton at an early day, and was for many years the leading contractor and builder of the town. His son, David H. Morrison, a skillful civil engineer and founder of the Columbia Bridge Works, married Harriet, the daughter of Robert J. Skinner, the pioneer newspaper publisher and editor. Mary Morrison married Dr. M. Garst, and Maria, Daniel Garst.
A number of citizens assembled on the 16th of September at the Court-house for the purpose of establishing a zoölogical museum. A committee, consisting of John W. Van Cleve, Dr. John Steele, William Jennison, and Thomas Brown, was appointed to ascertain whether a suitable room could be obtained, and funds for paying for it secured. A room was procured at the head of the basin, but the place was unsuitable and not attractive. The idea of establishing a public museum would not have the basin, but the place was unsuitable and not attractive. The idea of establishing a public museum would not have suggested itself to the citizens of Dayton at that early date but for the presence here of a very accomplished naturalist, William Jennison, who had been for a number of years engaged in such work in Germany, and being connected with foreign societies of naturalists, would be able to procure from abroad almost any specimens desired, merely by applying for them and paying the cost of transportation. He had a number of birds prepared by himself in the best manner, and handsomely arranged in glass cases; and also hundreds of insects classified and arranged in scientific order, and affording, by the variety of size and color, a most beautiful sight, though “the poor fellows were impaled with pins.” All these he offered to place in a public museum, and to devote part of his time to the work of increasing the collection. But the project was soon abandoned, and he removed his birds and butterflies to his residence, - then a short distance out of town, but now on Linden Avenue, within the corporation, - where he had a garden and greenhouse, in which he raised fine flowers for sale. He was an object of curiosity to the people when he went out, net in hand, to collect butterflies for his cabinet and natural-history specimens to exchange with his friends across the Atlantic. Mr. Jennison was an elegant and accomplished man, with the courtly manner of a gentleman of the old régime. He spoke English perfectly, which was probably due to the fact that his mother was an Englishwoman of rank, whom his father, Count Jennison, of Heidelberg, had married while minister of the Kingdom of Würtemberg to the Court of St. James. Washington Irving, in a letter published in the second volume of his biography, gives an interesting account of a visit which he paid in 1822 to Count Jennison and his amiable and agreeable family. He describes the Count as an elegant and hospital and highly cultivated man, who spoke English as perfectly as an Englishman.
A meeting was held on the evening of the 18th of November, 1837, at the Court-house for the purpose of exciting and interest in the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, incorporated in 1832 and organized in 1834. Since the election of officers of the company nothing further had been done. Jonathan Harshman, Robert C. Schenck, and Peter Odlin took a prominent part in the meeting, and resolutions were passed urging the raising of stock and the speedy commencement of the road. The law affording State aid to railroads had recently been passed by the Ohio Legislature.
An act was passed on the 24th of March, 1836, by the Legislature “to authorized a loan of credit by the State of Ohio to railroad companies, and to authorize subscriptions by the State to the capital stock of turnpike, canal, and slack-water navigation companies.” Dayton was one of the first towns to take advantage of the provisions of the act guaranteeing the aid of the State to works of this description, and before the repeal of the law in 1840 it had been the means of putting in the course of construction five turnpikes, the aggregate length of the five roads being one hundred and forty miles, and other turnpikes were in contemplation. To the abundance of gravel, which made the construction of turnpikes cheap and easy, are due our excellent turnpikes leading in every direction to the neighboring towns. By 1850 Dayton had fourteen turnpikes.
The subscription books of the Dayton & Springfield Company were opened January 19, 1838, and the contract made on the 12th of May. This turnpike, to induce travel through Dayton, was built in the same style as the national Road, especially at its junction with the latter, and with similar bridges, stone culverts, toll-gates, and mile-stones. Comfortable brick taverns were erected a few miles apart along the pike. It was a great disappointment to the people of Dayton that the National Road did not pass through here. Strenuous efforts were made to induce Congress to locate the road through Dayton, and, having failed, equally strenuous efforts were made to have the route changed. Many familiar names occur in connection with the turnpikes – Peter Odlin, R. C. Schenck, Horace Pease, H. G. Phillips, Joseph Barnett, Thomas Brown, Thomas Dover, J. W. Van Cleve, J. H. Crane, Jonathan Harshman, John Kneisley, V. Winters, Abram Darts, and David Z. Peirce.
On May 7, 1838, a public meeting was called at the Court-house to discuss the erection of public school-houses, and how much money should be raised by taxation for the purpose. Strenuous opposition was made to the levy of the tax by a few wealthy citizens; but, after a heated discussion, the measure was carried by a large majority. The amount to be raised was six thousand dollars, and two school-houses – one in the eastern and one in the western part of town – were to be built. The opposition did not end with the meeting. It was believed that it could not be proved that the law had been complied with in giving notice of the meeting. This had been anticipated by Mr. E. E. Barney, who had taken the precaution to post the notice in person, and, accompanied by a friend, had visited them from time to time to see that they were not removed. The houses – considered models in that day – were built. The majority of the children attended private schools, and all sorts of efforts were made by enlightened citizens to increase the popularity of the public schools.
On the Fourth of July, 1838, Mr. Elder’s school paraded on Main Street, escorted by the Blues and Grays, - the militia companies of the town, - and then gave a concert at the Methodist church. At a public meeting in 1839 it was resolved that the Fourth of July should be celebrated by a procession of the public, private, and Sunday schools of the town, with exercises at Cooper Park and a picnic-dinner for the children. Children and teachers marched on one side of the street, and parents and citizens on the other. In 1856 the school year closed with a procession and picnic across the river. The City Council and School Board headed the procession. Each school carried a beautiful silk banner. Two brass bands enlivened the procession. At the grove there were declamations and songs, and address by the president of the board, and delivery of diplomas to High School graduates. In 1859 there was a similar procession and picnic.
In 1839 Mr. Samuel Forrer, at the earnest solicitation of the directors, consented to take charge of the turnpikes as engineer and general superintendent. The roads placed under his supervision were the Dayton & Lebanon, Dayton & Springfield, and The Great Miami turnpikes. The Ohio Legislature, for partisan reasons, had just excluded Mr. Forrer from the Canal Board, this depriving the State of a faithful and competent officer. But as Dayton could now secure the constant aid of his invaluable talents and experience in the various public improvements in which the citizens were interested, and which, although of a local character, deeply concerned a large proportion of the people, there were some among us, the Journal says, selfish enough not to regret the change. For some years the county commissioners have had the supervision of the turnpikes. The toll-gates, which used to be encountered every few miles along the road, have been abolished by a law permitting the purchase of the pikes by the country from the companies.
Samuel Forrer was reappointed in the spring of 1837, by the Board of Public Works, principal engineer on the lines of the Wabash and Erie and Miami canals. This appointment, as the proper administration of the canal involved the prosperity of Dayton, was a matter of rejoicing here. A number of Dayton young men went out with Mr. Forrer to learn civil engineering. Howe’s “Historical Collections of Ohio” contains, in the chapter on “Pioneer Engineers of Ohio,” by Colonel Charles Whittlesey, the following interesting biographical sketch of Mr. Forrer:
“No engineer in Ohio spent as many years in the service of the State as did Mr. Forrer. He came from Pennsylvania in 1818, and in 1829 was deputy surveyor of Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1820 Mr. William Steele, a very enterprising citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, employed Mr. Forrer at his own expense to ascertain the elevation of the Sandusky and Scioto summit above Lake Erie. His report was sent to the Legislature by Governor Brown. This was the favorite route [for the Erie Canal], the shortest, lowest summit, and passed through a very rich country. The great question was a supply of water. It would have been located, and in fact was in part, when in the summer and fall of 1823 it was found by Judge D. S. Bates to be wholly inadequate. Of twenty-three engineers and assistants eight died of local diseases within six years. Mr. Forrer was the only one able to keep the field permanently and use the instruments in 1823. When Judge Bates needed their only level, Mr. Forrer invented and constructed one that would now be a curiosity among engineers. He named it the Pioneer. It was in form of a round bar of wrought iron, with a cross like a capital T. The top of the letter was a flat bar welded at right angles, to which a telescope was made fast by a solder, on which was a spirit-level. There was a projection drawn out from the cross-bar acting as a pendulum, a rude horizontal plane was obtained, which was of value at short range.
“Mr. Forrer was not quite medium height, but well formed and very attractive. He was a cheerful and pleasant companion. Judge Bates and the canal commissioners relied upon his skill under their instructions to test the water question in 1823. He ran a line for a feeder from the Sandusky summit westerly and north of the watershed, taking up the waters of the Auglaize and head of the Miami. Even with the addition, the supply was inadequate. Until his death in 1874 Mr. Forrer was nearly all the time in the employ of the State as engineer, canal commissioner, or member of the Board of Public Works. He was not only popular, but scrupulously honest and industrious. His life-long friends regarded his death as a personal loss greater than that of a faithful public officer. He was too unobtrusive to make personal enemies, not neglecting his duties, as a citizen zealous but just. He died at Dayton, Ohio, at 10 A.M., March 25, 1874, from the exhaustion of his physical powers, without pain. Like his life he passed away in peace at the age of eighty, his mind clear and conscious of the approaching end.”
In the winter of 1838 the experiment was tried of having market on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, and in the early morning on the other three days. But the people soon returned to what Curwen calls “our midnight markets,” the bell ringing at four o’clock in the depth of winter, and the people hurrying at the first tap to the market-house, a short delay would deprive them of their favorite cut of meat or first choice of vegetables and force them to fill their baskets with rejected articles. As in New York two hundred years ago, “such was the strife among the thrifty townsfolk to be on hand at the opening of the market, and thereby get the pick of the goods, that long before noon the bulk of the business was done.” This custom of market before daybreak, in spite of its discomfort, continued for many years.
In spite of the hard times, Dayton was prosperous in 1838. The following improvements were made that year: Council expended about six thousand dollars in improving and beautifying the town; the streets and pavements were graveled, guttered, and macadamized for the first time, though the work had been begun three years before; eighty-nine buildings, fifty-six of brick and thirty-three of frame, were erected, and more would have been put up if it had been possible to obtain sufficient brick and timber. The principal buildings erected were two brick district school-houses, the first that were built in Dayton, and the Third Street Presbyterian Church. This was also of brick, seventy-two by fifty-two feet in size, “of approved architectural beauty,” and cost fifteen thousand dollars. The dwellings in town were all occupied to their fullest capacity, and there were none for rent or for sale.
The most valuable improvement made this year was the Cooper Hydraulic, constructed by Edward W. Davies and Alexander Grimes, agents of the Cooper estate. “It is an enterprise,” and the Journal, “for the projection and completion of which all who have the prosperity of Dayton at heart will cheerfully accord to the gentlemen above names due credit for their public spirit.” The hydraulic was seven hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with twelve feet head, and was built between Third and Fifth streets, west of Wyandotte Street. “A bend in Mad River at the northeast corner of the town extended south from the aqueduct to First Street, and along that street, crossing what is now Keowee and Meigs Street, thence in a northwest direction, crossing Taylor Street south of Monument Avenue, and on and across Monument Avenue to and uniting with the Miami River at a point about four hundred feet south of the present mouth of Mad River.” In 1840 Mr. Davies and Mr. Grimes, as a further improvement to the Cooper estate, “caused a survey to be made for a new channel for Mad River from the aqueduct straight to the Miami River.” It was finished in the winter of 1842. Originally a bayou extended up Mad River from the Miami to Keowee Street.
Dayton Township was divided March 12, 1839, into two election precincts, the first precinct voting at the Court-house and the second at Houk’s Tavern on Market Street.
The Montgomery County Agricultural Society had been organized September 11, 1838, with Colonel Henry Protzman president, and Charles Anderson secretary. The first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was held in Dayton at Swaynie’s Hotel, at the head of the basin, October 17 and 18, 1839. At eleven in the morning on the 17th a procession of about three hundred persons interested in the society marched, headed by a band of music, through the principal streets to the hotel, where the anniversary address was delivered by D. A. Haynes. The display of horses, cattle, and farm products was fine. The committee on silk, Daniel Roe, C. S. Bryant, John Edgar, Peter Aughinbaugh, Charles G. Swain, W. B. Stone, and R. N. Comly, awarded a premium, a silver cup worth ten dollars, for the greatest amount of silk produced from the smallest number of multicaulis leaves. Other valuable premiums were awarded by the society, but the cup was offered by members of the Silk Company.
The mention of the Morus multicaulis three recalls to memory one of those strange manias that occasionally sweep over the country. The tree had recently been introduced from China, was of rapid growth, and furnished abundant food for silkworms. It was believed that the cultivation of this tree, and the use of its leaves to feed silkworms, would make the United States the great silk-producing country of the world. The most extravagant price was paid for young trees, and thousands of acres were planted. Wide-spread ruin was the result, and hundreds of persons lost their all in this wild speculation.
Swaynie’s Hotel, where the first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was held, was finished in April 1839. It was considered a first-class house, and regarded with pride by the people of Dayton. All the carpets in the hotel were manufactured by the Dayton Carpet Company, and were of such superior texture, designs, and colors that guests of the house could with difficulty be convinced that they were made west of the Alleghany Mountains. The Dayton carpets were sold in the stores at Cincinnati and other Western towns as imported carpets, and purchasers did not discover the deception.
The number of building erected in Dayton in 1839, as counted by Thomas Morrison, was one hundred and sixty-four of brick and thirty-six of wood, and twenty-six intended for business houses. A new First Presbyterian Church took the place of the old one built in 1817. A Baptist church was also built on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets, forty by sixty feet in size and seventy-five feet in height. The front presented a very neat specimen of the Grecian Doric architecture. The cost of the whole, including the lot, was six thousand dollars. A number of improvements were made along the hydraulic. Mr. Thomas Brown, after particular inquiry made at the request of the Journal, reported that four million five hundred thousand bricks were made in Dayton during 1839. The number on hand he computed at five hundred thousand, which gave four millions as the number of bricks laid during the year.
In February, 1839, the prospectus of the Log Cabin newspaper, published in Dayton by R. N. and W. F. Comly, appeared. The Log Cabin was continued during the Harrison campaign, and after enough subscribers were obtained to pay expenses, was gratuitously distributed as a campaign document. A large picture of a log cabin, with a barrel of hard cider at the door, occupied the first page of the paper. The illustrations were drawn and engraved by John W. Van Cleve. The price of the paper was fifty cents for thirteen numbers. Two files of the Log Cabin, which attained a national reputation, are on the shelves of the Dayton Public Library.
The population of Dayton was now six thousand and sixty-four.
Never in the history of the Northwest has there been a more exciting Presidential campaign that that which preceded the election of General W. H. Harrison, and the nowhere was the enthusiasm for the hero of Tippecanoe greater than in Dayton. A remarkable Harrison convention was held here on the date of Perry’s victory on Lake Eric, and tradition has preserved such extravagant accounts of the number present, the beauty of the emblems and decorations displayed, and the hospitality of the citizens and neighboring farmer, that the following prophecy with which the Journal began its account of the celebration may almost be said to have been literally fulfilled: “Memorable and ever to be remembered as is the glorious triumph achieved by the immortal Perry on the 10th of September, 1813, scarcely less conspicuous on the page of history will stand the noble commemoration of the event which has just passed before us.” Innumerable flags and Tippecanoe banners were stretched across the streets from roofs of stores and factories, or floated from private residences and from poles and trees. People began to arrive several days before the convention, and on the 9th crowds of carriages, wagons, and horsemen streamed into town. About six o’clock the Cincinnati delegation came in by the Centerville road. They were escorted from the edge of town by the Dayton Grays, Butler Guards, Dayton military band, and a number of citizens in carriages and on horseback. The procession of delegates was headed by eleven stage-coaches in line, with banners and music, followed by a long line of wagons and carriages. Each coach was enthusiastically cheered as it passed the crowds which thronged the streets, and the cheers were responded to by occupants of the coaches. Twelve canal-boats full of men arrived on the 10th, and every road which led to town poured in its thousands early in the morning.
General Harrison came as far as Jonathan Harshman’s five miles from town, on the 9th and passed the night there. Early in the morning his escort, which had been encamped at Fairview, marched to Mr. Harshman’s and halted there till seven o’clock, when it got in motion under command of Joseph Barnett, of Dayton, and other marshals from Clark County. A procession from town, five miles long, under direction of Charles Anderson, chief marshal, met the General and his escort at the junction of Troy and Springfield roads. The battalion of militia, commanded by Captain Bomberger, of the Dayton Grays, and consisting of the Grays and Washington Artillery, of Dayton; the Citizens’ Guards, from Cincinnati; Butler Guards, of Hamilton, and Piqua Light Infantry, were formed in a hollow square, and General Harrison, mounted on a white horse, his staff, and Governor Metcalf and staff, of Kentucky, were placed in the center. “Every foot of the road between town and the place where General Harrison was to meet the Dayton escort was literally choked up with people.”
The immense procession, carrying banners and flags, and accompanied by canoes, log cabins furnished in pioneer style, and trappers’ lodges, all on wheels, and filled with men, girls, and boys, the latter dressed in hunting-shirts and blue caps, made a magnificent display. One of the wagons contained a live wolf enveloped in a sheepskin, representing the “hypocritical professions” of the opponents of the Whigs. All sorts of designs were carried by the delegations. One of the most striking was an immense ball, representing the Harris States, which was rolled through the streets. The length of the procession was about two miles. Carriages were usually three abreast, and there were more than one thousand in line. The day was bright and beautiful, and the wildest enthusiasm swayed the mighty mass of people who formed the most imposing part of “this grandest spectacle of time,” as Colonel Todd, an eye-witness, termed by the procession. The following description of the scene, quoted by Curwen from a contemporary newspaper, partakes of the excitement and extravagance of the occasion:
“The huzzas from gray-headed patriots, as the banners borne in the procession passed their dwellings, or the balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and blessings and waving kerchiefs of the thousands of fair women, who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heartfelt acknowledgements of the marked courtesy and generous hospitality by the different delegations, sometimes rising the same instant from the whole line; the glimpses at every turn of the eye of the fluttering folds of some one or more of the six hundred and forty-four flags which displayed their glorious stars and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street, the soul-stirring music, the smiling heavens, the ever-gleaming banners, the emblems and mottoes, added to the intensity of the excitement. Every eminence, housetop, and windows was thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to rend the heavens. Second Street at that time led through a prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity of which few but Westerners can appreciate, likened the excitement around them to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its surface, “gathering, and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heavens.””
After marching through the principal streets the procession was disbanded by General Harrison at the National Hotel on Third Street. At one o’clock the procession was reformed and moved to the stand erected for the speeches “upon a spacious plain” east of Front Street and north of Third. Mr. Samuel Forrer, an experienced civil engineer, made an estimate of the space occupied by this meeting and of the number present at it. He says: “An exact measurement of the lines gave for one side of the square (oblong) one hundred and thirty yards and the other one hundred and fifty yards, including an area of nineteen thousand five hundred square yards, which, multiplied by four, would give seventy-eight thousand. Let no one who was present be startled by this result or reject this estimate till he compares the data assumed with the facts presented to his own view while on the ground. It is easy for any one to satisfy himself that six, or even a greater number of individuals, may stand on a square yard of ground. Four is the number assumed in the present instance; the area measured is less than four and one-half acres. Every farmer who noticed the ground could readily perceive that a much larger space was covered with people, though not so closely as the portion measured. All will admit that an oblong square of one hundred and thirty yards by one hundred and fifty did not at any time during the first hour include near all that were on the east side of the canal. The time of observation was the commencement of General Harrison’s speech. Before making this particular estimate I had made one by comparing this assemblage with my recollection of the 25th of February convention at Columbus, and came to the conclusion that it was at least four times as great as that.” Two other competent engineers measured the ground, and the lowest estimate of the number of people at the meeting was seventy-eight thousand, and as thousands were still in town it was estimated that as many as one hundred thousand were here on the 10th of September.
Places of entertainment were assigned delegates by the committee appointed for that purpose, but it was also announced in the Journal that no one need hesitate “to enter any house for dinner where he may see a flag flying. Every Whig’s latch-string will be out, and the flag will signify as much to all who are hungry or athirst.” A public table, where dinner was furnished, as at the private houses, without charge, was also announced as follows by the Journal: “We wish to give our visitors log-cabin fare and plenty of it, and we want our friends in the country to help us.” A committee was appointed to take charge of the baskets of the farmers, who responded liberally to this appeal.
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, a narrow path between each row, on the floors of rooms and halls in both stories of dwellings, and in this way accommodation was furnished for many guests. The making of the ticks for these beds before the days of sewing-machines, required many days of labor, often principally done by the hostess. As late as 1853, when the first State fair was held in Dayton, public-spirited citizens who could afford the expense exercised this generous but somewhat primitive hospitality. When a meeting was of a religious character, the different denominations assisted in entertaining the guests. During the 1840 convention the hot dinner, which was served if possible on such occasions, was supplemented by large quantities of cold roast and boiled meats, poultry, cakes, pies, and bread that had been prepared beforehand. A few wealthy housekeepers employed men cooks and other additional assistance during the convention. But there were not caterers or confectioners in those days, and good domestic help was rare, so that a great part of the labor of preparing for their hungry crowd of guests was performed by Dayton ladies with their own hands.
All the houses in Dayton occupied by Whigs were crowded to their fullest capacity during the Harrison convention, and again at the Clay convention in 1842. One family, according to a letter from its mistress written at the time, entertained three hundred persons at dinner one day in 1842, and the same night lodged nearly one hundred guests. Thirty Kentuckians left that afternoon, or there would have been over one hundred lodgers. The writer states that the houses of all her friends and relatives were as crowded as her own, and says that this lavish hospitality was a repetition of what occurred in 1840. The letter contains an interesting description of a morning reception for ladies during the convention of 1842 at the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, where Mr. Clay was staying. A crowd of women of all ranks and conditions – some in silk and some in calico – were present. Mr. Clay shook hands with them all, afterwards making a complimentary little speech, saying, among other graceful things, that the soft touch of the ladies’ hands had healed his fingers, bruised by the rough grasp of the men, whom he had received the day before.
Among other interesting occurrences during the Harrison convention was the presentation, on the 9th of September, of a beautiful banner to the Tippecanoe Club of the town by the married ladies of Dayton. The banner was accompanied by an eloquent address written for the occasion by Mrs. D. K. Este, and was presented in the name of the ladies to the club, who were drawn up in front of the residence of Mr. J. D. Phillips, by Judge J. H. Crane. It was decorated on one side with an embroidered wreath, with a view of General Harrison’s house in the center, and on the other side with a painting of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, executed by Charles Soule “with the skill and taste for which he is so distinguished.”
On the 11th of September the young ladies of Dayton presented a banner, wrought by their own hands, to General Harrison. Daniel A. Haynes made the presentation speech. The convention was addressed by many noted men. General Harrison was a forcible speaker, and his voice, while not sonorous, was clear and penetrating, and reached the utmost limits of the immense crowd. Governor Metcalfe, of Kentucky, was a favorite with the people. A stonemason in early life, he was called “Stone-Hammer” to indicate the crushing blows inflicted by his logic and his sarcasm. The inimitable Thomas Corwin held his audience spellbound with his eloquence and humor, and R. C. Schenck added greatly to his reputation by his incisive and witty speeches. Joseph H. Crane, R. S. Hart, and other Daytonians spoke.
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