X. Progress of Hamilton County
History of Hamilton County Ohio
pages 70-76
transcribed by Dorothy Wiland


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CHAPTER X
PROGRESS OF HAMILTON COUNTY

Sweet clime of my kindred, blest land of my birth--
The fairest, the dearest, the brightest on earth !
Where' I may roam, howe' blest I may be,
My spirit instinctively turns into thee.
--Anonymous
THE FIRST ELEVEN YEARS.

About two thousand people were in the Miami Country, which may be considered as practically identical with Hamilton county at this time, by 1790 although the first settler had pitched his camp at Columbia but thirteen months before. It was a humble and modest beginning that the infant county had, except in reach of fertile territory and the possibilities of the future. Had a census qualification been required for the erection of a county in that day, as now for the admission of a State to the Federal Union, it must needs have been a very moderate one, or the Northwest Territory would have waited longer for the birth of the county which has since become as great in wealth and population, in arts and arms, and in the higher arts of civilization, as it was then great in area and resources waiting to be developed. In a very few years, howeveras soon as the peace of Greenville gave assurance of safety to the immigrant against Indian massacre or the plunder of his propertythe country began to fill up with some rapidity. The census of 1800, the first taken in the county, although its enumerators probably missed many of the settlers in so wide and sparsely settled a tract, exhibited the goodly number of fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one persons as the white population of Hamilton county. It is interesting to note, in this early day, when the conditions of life were so different from those prevailing in the older communities, how this number was divided between the sexes, and also between the different ages of which the census makes record. There were, of children under ten years of age, three thousand two hundred and seventy-three males, three thousand and ninety females; young persons between ten and sixteen years, one thousand three hundred and thirty-five males, one thousand and sixty-five females; between sixteen and twenty-six, one thousand five hundred and two males, one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven females; adults between twenty-six and forty and forty-five years, one thousand two hundred and fifty-one males, nine hundred and fifty-four females; over forty-five, four hundred and eighty males, three hundred and forty-four females; total, fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one, of whom seven thousand eight hundred and forty-one were males, and six thousand eight hundred and fifty females.

The noticeable facts in this brief statement are:
1. The disparity of the sexes, which was particularly marked in this country when new. Usually, in a long-settled community, notably in the State of Massachusetts, as the census shows, the gentler sex is somewhat in the majority, and sometimes very much so; but here we find, at the end of the first eleven to twelve years of colonization, that the males led by the very nearly one thousand in less than fifteen thousand, or by about six and eight-tenths per cent of the whole. Or, to make the difference appear more striking, there were nearly one-sixth more males than females, or about fifteen per centa considerable and important difference. Even with young children, and through all the ages noted, the disparity is marked; but particularly so in the more vigorous working ages, from sixteen to twenty-six, and hence to forty-five, where the percentages of difference are over sixteen and nearly thirty-one, respectively. Still more striking is the inequality of numbers where we should least expect it, among adults over forty-five years of age, where it amount, in this case, to forty per cent advantage in point of numbers, in favor of the men. These facts argue well for the material foundations in Hamilton county, in the laying of which the male mind, in its maturity and strength, as well as the muscle of the man in his prime, were imperatively needed.

2. The comparative paucity of old persons, or of men and women distantly approaching old age, is to be noted. Of really aged persons there were probably very few; but as to this we have no exact data. The census figures show that, reckoning all down to the age of forty-five, there were but eight hundred and twenty-four, or only



~pg71~
five and six-tenths per cent of the whole; while of those in the hardier laboring ages there were over nineteen and fifteen percent respectively, leaving for the youngest children and the younger youth sixty percent of the whole.

3. The last statement offers a fact of considerable interest. Three of every five in the total population were children under sixteen years of age. This demonstrates how large a share of the early settlers brought their families with them, apparently coming to stay and aid in laying the foundations of stable communities, in which law and order should ever abide. Contrast with this the immigration at mining camps and settlements, which usually consists, with almost absolute exclusiveness, of men only. The beginnings were certainly well made in Hamilton county.
 
THE SECOND DECADE

In 1810 the census exhibited a population for the county of but little more than the enumeration of 1800 had shownfifteen thousand two hundred and four, or but five hundred and thirteen more than were in the county ten years before. It must be borne in mid, however, that the Hamilton county of 1800 was still, for the most part, the great county of Governor St. Clair' second creationthat it might be said, indeed, in a general way, to be pretty nearly coterminous with the broad and long " country," since that was estimated to contain fifteen thousand white people at the beginning of the century, while the county itself was shown by official count to have fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one. Ten years later Hamilton had been shorn of its fair proportions, and reduced to be, as it is now, one of the smallest counties in the State in territorial dimensions, having, as we have seen, less than four hundred square miles. A population of fifteen thousand two hundred and four, or forty to the square mile, represented a very creditable growth for a county just coming of age in its twenty-first year. It is also noteworthy, when placed against the figures of 1800, which showed scarcely three white persons to the section in the vast county. In 1810 the Miami tract, formerly almost identical with Hamilton county, was estimated to contain seventy thousand civilized inhabitants, or about one-fourth of the entire white and colored population of the State, indicating that growth of settlement throughout this region was by no means confined to the Ohio valley, but extended far up the Miami valleys as well.

Within this decade were founded three of the oldest villages in the countyReading, in 1804; Montgomery, in 1805; and Springfield, in 1806.
 
THE THIRD DECADE

The map prefixed to DR. DRAKE' Picture of Cincinnati, published in 1815, shows the towns and villages of the county at the time to have been Cincinnati (three miles east of Mill Creek), Columbia, Cleves, Colerain, Crosby, Springfield, Reading, Montgomery, and Newtown, with roads running from Cincinnati to each of these points, and one other road making into Indiana. Four years later Cincinnati had become a chartered city, and Carthage and Miami were added to the list of villages. Nearly all places in the county were considered worthy of mention in the State Gazetteer of that year only as " towns," with their respective locations and distances from Cincinnati. The county had now twelve townshipsCincinnati, Crosby, Colerain, Springfield, Sycamore, Anderson, Columbia, Mill Creek, Delhi, Green, Miami, and Whitewater. The aggregate valuation of property in the county, for purposes of taxation, was five million six hundred and four thousand nine hundred and fifty-four dollars.

By 1815 the beginnings of the Miami and Erie canal had been projected; so far as an artificial water-way up the valley of Mill creek to Hamilton will go. The text of DR. DRAKE' Picture notes the mills on this stream as " but the loose and unstable composition of its bed renders the erection of permanent dams as difficult and expensive, in proportion to its width, as on the Miamis." Prices of land had greatly appreciated throughout the county. Judge Symmes and his associates, twenty-seven years before, had bought the Purchase for sixty-six and two-thirds cents per acre (really for sixteen cents per acre, in specie), and sold most of it, at a uniform price of two dollars, except at auction, when it often commanded higher rates. The reserved sections also formed an exception: they were at one time fixed to be sold at eight dollars per acres, but afterwards sold at four. In 1815 DR. DRAKE observes:

Within three miles of Cincinnati, at this time, the prices of good unimproved land are between fifty dollars and one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, varying according to the distance. >From this point to the extent of twelve miles, they decline from thirty dollars to ten dollars. Near the principal villages of the Miami country, it commands from twenty dollars to forty dollars: in the remaining situations it is from four to eight dollarsimprovements in all cases advancing the price from twenty-five to four hundred per cent. An average of the settled parts of the Miami country, still supposing the land fertile and uncultivated, may be stated at eight dollars; if cultivated, at twelve dollars . . These were not the prices in 1812, the war, by promoting immigration, having advanced the nominal value of land from twenty-five to fifty per cent.

MR. BURNET (not the judge) a traveler through this region two years afterwards, in a published account of his journeyings, supplies the following interesting note:
The land round Cincinnati is good. Price, a mile or two from the city, fifty, eighty, and one hundred dollars per acre, according to quality and other advantages. This same land, a few years ago, was bought for two and five dollars per acre. Farms with improvements ten miles from the town, sell for thirty and forty dollars per acre. Fifty, sixty, and one hundred miles up the country, good uncleared land may be bought for from two dollars to five dollars per acre. The farms are generally worked by the farmer and his family. Labor is dear, and not to be had under fourteen or sixteen dollars per month and board. They have but little machinery and no plaster or compost, but what is made by the farmer is used for manure. Taxes, in the country, are a mere nothing. Farmers, in any part of the State of Ohio, who have one hundred acres of their own, well stocked, do not pay above five to ten dollars per annum.

The population of Hamilton county, in 1820, footed up thirty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, divided among the townships as follows: Cincinnati, nine thousand six hundred and forty-two; Columbia, two thousand eight hundred and fourteen; Mill Creek, two thousand one hundred and ninety-eight; Springfield, two thousand one hundred and ninety-seven (Springfield vil-



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lage two hundred and twenty); Sycamore three thousand four hundred and sixty-three; Whitewater, one thousand six hundred and sixty-one; Anderson, two thousand one hundred and twenty-two; Colerain, one thousand nine hundred and six; Crosby, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one; Delhi, one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight; Green, one thousand four hundred and fifty-six; Miami, one thousand four hundred and twenty-six. The population of Springfield and Sycamore townships this year, which appears larger than their respective populations by the census of 1830; but the formation of new townships from them sufficiently accounts for that, since they had then to part with a portion of their people, thenceforth to be enumerated in the new divisions.

This decade was signalized by the laying-off (or at least recording the plats) of an extraordinary number, for the period, of town and village sites. In 1813, by the date of record, Harrison was founded; in 1815, Carthage; 1816, New Burlington and Miamistown; 1817, Elizabethtown and "" 1818, New Haven, Cheviot, Sharon, and "" and, in 1819, New Baltimore. Most of these have survived, at least as local post offices and hamlets; but others, several in number, have made little more figure in history or in actual existence than the countless " towns" that studded the prairies and the banks of western rivers (in imagination and speculation description and platting) twenty years later.
 
THE FOURTH DECADE

The Ohio State Gazetteer of 1821 notes: " has been an uncommonly rapid increase of emigrants from other States into this county during several years past; and, the land being of a peculiarly good quality for the production of grain, one of the principal articles necessary for subsistence, this county has, therefore, become an important section of the state."

The thickening of population in parts of the county made the size of some of the old townships inconvenient for a part of the voters and residents therein; and the new townships of Fulton and Symmes were presently created. There were fourteen townships in 1826; Georgetown, Lockland, Lewistown, Madison, Nassau, and Prospect Hill, were added during the decade to the list of villages whose plats were recorded; and the suburb of " Liberties" was laid off adjacent to the city of Cincinnati. The population of the county was estimated that year at forty-four thousand, about one-eighteenth of all the inhabitants of the State, while the year before the aggregate value of taxable property in the county, assessed on the ad valorem system, was six million eight hundred and forty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-three dollars, or more than one-eighth of the entire valuation of the State. A very satisfactory and father remarkable increase in the wealth of the county, both absolute and relatively to population, as compared with other parts of the State, is thus shown.

The convictions for crime in Hamilton county during 1826 were: Murder in the first degree, one; rape, one; perjury, one; assault with intent to murder, one; assault with intent to commit mayhem, two; stabbing with intent to kill one; burglary, two; uttering counterfeit money, three; horse-stealing, three; grand larceny, four; petit larceny, four; total convictions, twenty-three. So the county was making progress, unhappily in the accumulation of a crime record, as well as in more reputable and honorable affairs.

The census of 1830 exhibited the handsome total of fifty-two thousand three hundred and eighty, an increase of twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixteen, or sixty-six per cent, upon the count of ten years before. Much of this increase, of course, was in the city, which had jumped from nine thousand six hundred and forty-two to twenty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-one increasing fifteen thousand one hundred and eighty-nine people during the decade, or one hundred and fifty-seven per cent. The remaining townships of the county had now population as follows: Anderson, two thousand four hundred and ten; Colerain, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight; Columbia, three thousand and fifty-one; Crosby, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five; Delhi, one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven; Fulton, one thousand and eighty-nine; Green, one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five; Miami, one thousand five hundred and forty-nine; Mill Creek, three thousand three hundred and fifty-six; Springfield, three thousand and twenty-five; Sycamore, two thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine; Symmes, one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight; Whitewater, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four; total in the townships, twenty-seven thousand four hundred and eighty-six. This was the last of the Federal censuses in Hamilton county in which the country population outnumbered the city, as it now did, but by only two thousand six hundred and fifty-five. At the next census Cincinnati was nearly thirteen thousand in advance of all the county besides. It had this year twenty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-one inhabitants. The total for the county was fifty-two thousand three hundred and seventeen.
 
THE FIFTH DECADE

The enumeration of 1830 showed the population of each of four of the townshipsColumbia, Crosby, Delhi, and Symmesto be somewhat greater than it proved to be at the next censusa falling off to be accounted for in one case by the erection of a new township (Storrs), which took place in this decade. The country' growth in most parts continued hopefully and satisfactorily; and when the county of 1840 was made, it displayed an increase of twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, or nearly fifty per cent within ten years. Cincinnati had, as ever in this county since 1810, the lion' share of the spoils, all the new immigration and natural increase, so far as represented by the figures upon their face, going to the city, except six thousand three hundred and twenty-one. About three-fourths of the total grown of the county in population was claimed by the city, which now had forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight people. The townships were assigned the following numbers: Anderson, two thousand three hundred and eleven; Colerain. Two thousand two hundred and seventy



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two; Sycamore, three thousand two hundred and seven; Columbia, three thousand and forty-three; Fulton, one thousand five hundred and six, Mill Creek, six thousand .two hundred and forty-nine; Crosby, one thousand-eight hundred and seventy-six; Symmes, one thousand and thirty-four; Delhi, one thousand four hundred and sixty- six; Storrs, one thousand and thirty-four; Green, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine; Miami, two thousand one hundred and eighty-nine; Springfield, three thousand and ninety-two; Whitewater, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two. Nearly two-fifths of the increase in the county during this decade belongs to Mill Creek township, about one-sixth to Green, one-tenth to Miami, and the rest is pretty nearly divided between the townships which show any increase Mill Creek, being very favorably situated next the city, had, and retains, so much of it as is left from the annexations, special advantages for growth. It nearly doubled its population, as may be seen by comparison of previous summaries of the census, between 1820 and 1830, and again in the decade 1830-40. The entire population of the county was now eighty thousand one hundred and forty-five-an average of a little over two hundred and five to the square mile, or, leaving out the city's area and population, an average of nearly eighty-nine to the mile.

The assessed valuation of property in the county in 1836, as exhibited by the tax duplicate, was nine million, seven hundred and one thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven dollars, an increase of nearly fifty per cent since 1825. The tax paid the former year was one hundred and fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy- eight dollars.

During this decade were founded, according to recorded plats, the villages of Carrsville and Walnut Hills, Vernon Village, and the suburb of "Northern Liberties."
 
THE SIXTH DECADE

The increase in valuation during this period was very rapid. In 1841 the valuation of the county was ten million, seven hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred and ninety-four dollars, but one million and fifty-nine thousand, one hundred and seven dollars more than it had been for years before. For Cincinnati; however, now set in an era of great prosperity and growth in manufactures, trade, and commerce; and the valuation in- creased forty-five millions in nine years. In 1850 it was fifty-five million, six hundred and seventy thousand, six hundred and thirty-one dollars; and we may anticipate the course of this narrative a little by saying just here, while surprising figures are in hand, that the valuation of 1855 was one hundred and twelve million, nine hundred and forty-five-thousand, four hundred and forty-five dollars; that of 1860 was one hundred and nineteen million, five hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and seventy dollars; that of 1868, one hundred and sixty-six million, nine hundred and forty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety-seven. The increase in nine years (1841-50) was over four-fold, and was three-fold in the nineteen years 1850-69. From 1860 to '69 the increase was thirty-two per cent.

The increase of population in the city of Cincinnati was not less surprising. In the ten years 1840-50 the number of its inhabitants had jumped, from forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight-an absolute increase of sixty-nine thousand one hundred, or very nearly one hundred and fifty per cent.-an average of fifteen per cent., or six thousand nine hundred and ten persons every year. . Nineteen immigrants, on an average, arrived in this city every day, Sundays and all, during the ten years. The country, however --the town-ships--increased but four thousand six hundred and five, or less than fourteen per cent., during the decade. The population of the city, by the canvass of 1850, was One hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight; of the townships, forty-one thousand four hundred and twelve;--total, one hundred and fifty-six thousand eight hundred and fifty.

The Mexican war, which occurred during this decade, had no appreciable effect in retarding the growth and prosperity of Hamilton county.
 
THE SEVENTH DECADE

At the expiration of this (in 1860) the population of the county had mounted to the high figure of two hundred and fifteen thousand six hundred and seventy-seven, of which Cincinnati, with its now seventeen wards, had nearly three-fourths, or one hundred and sixty-one thousand and forty-four. The remainder of the population was dispersed as follows: Columbia township, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-one;. Sycamore, three thousand four hundred and twenty-seven; Anderson, three thousand four hundred and thirty-nine; Green, four thousand four hundred and twenty-six; Mill Creek, thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-four; Springfield, four thousand eight hundred and forty; Colerain, three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three; Delhi, two thousand seven hundred; Miami, one thousand six hundred and eighty-three; Crosby, one thousand one hundred and eighty-two; (Reading village, one thousand two hundred and thirty); Whitewater, one thousand four hundred and twenty-one; Harrison, one. thousand three hundred and forty-three; Symmes, one thousand one hundred and seven; Storrs, three thousand eight hundred and sixty-two; Spencer, two thousand five hundred and fifty-two. Total, fifty-four thousand six hundred and thirty-three.

In this decade the village of College Hill was incorporated, and several other towns were surveyed and their plats recorded. The township of Harrison was also formed.
 
THE EIGHTH DECADE

In 1870 the population of the county was two hundred and sixty thousand three hundred and seventy. The chief productions of the year, according to the census, were one hundred and sixty-two thousand six hundred and seven bushels of wheat, one million two hundred and twenty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-six of Indian corn, two hundred and sixty-eight thousand and eighty-nine of oats, ninety-six thousand



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nine hundred and seventy-nine of barley, one hundred and sixty-two thousand five hundred and seventy-seven of potatoes, seven hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and eighty-seven pounds of butter, one hundred and twenty-six thousand four hundred of cheese, and twenty-five thousand three hundred and four tons of hay. The county possessed eight thousand five hundred and thirty-one horses, twelve thousand four hundred and thirteen milch cows, three thousand two hundred and fifty-four other cattle, three thousand six hundred and forty-seven sheep, and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-five swine. The manufactories of all kinds numbered two thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, with a total capital of forty-two million six hundred and forty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-two dollars, and an annual product of seventy-eight million nine hundred and five thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars. The value of real and personal property in the county in 1870 was three hundred and forty-one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Not withstanding the great civil was during nearly half of this decade, the grown of the county was very satisfactory. Lockland, Mt. Airy, Cumminsville, Woodburn, Avondale, Riverside, Mt. Washington, and Carthage, were incorporated and the foundations of other flourishing villages were laid.
 
THE NINTH DECADE

The earlier part of this was marked by numerous annexations to the city, which rapidly grew from seven to twenty-four square miles, and corresponding losses to the townships. The census of 1880, in consequence of the financial crisis and industrial prostration which characterized nearly all the years of this decade, did not exhibit surprising growths of population for either city or county. Still, the increase was healthy, and on the whole satisfactory, being fourteen thousand one hundred and thirty-one for the townships, or about thirty-two per cent for the decade; and in the city thirty-nine thousand three hundred and sixty-nine, or about eighteen per cent. The totals of population for the townships were fifty-eight thousand two hundred and sixty-two; for the city, two hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and eight; aggregate for the county, three hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and seventy. Most of the townships showed a good increase, and Columbia had nearly trebled its population.
 
THE CENSUS

A comparative statement or table of the censuses taken by the Federal officers since the first enumeration of the county was made will help to the rapid comprehension of its growth from year to year. For those of 1800 and 1810 we have the total footings for the county, from which the aggregate population of the townships is obtained by subtracting the known population of Cincinnati at the respective periods:

Townships 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880
Anderson     2,122 2,410 2,311 3,050 3,439 4,077 4,158
Colerain     1,906 1,928 2,272 3,125 3,933 3,689 3,721
Columbia     2,814 3,051 3,043 2,416 1,182 2,514 1,043
Crosby     1,721 1,895 1,876 2,488 1,182 2,514 1,043
Delhi     1,158 1,527 1,466 1,942 2,700 2,620 4,738
Fulton       1,089 1,506 3,323      
Green     1,456 1,985 2,939 3,951 4,426 4,358 4,854
Harrison             2,059 758 2,279
Miami     1,426 1,549 2,189 1,557 1,683 2,105 2,317
Mill Creek     2,198 3,356 6,249 6,287 13,844 3,291 11,235
Spencer         740 1,656 2,552 2,543 998
Springfield     2,197 3,025 3,092 3,632 4,840 6,548 7,979
Storrs         1,034 1,675 3,862    
Sycamore     3,463 2,779 3,207 3,731 3,427 5,460 6,374
Symmes       1,158 1,034 1,115 1,107 1,377 1,633
Whitewater     1,661 1,734 1,882 1,567 1,421 1,609 1,575










Total 13,942 12,938 22,122 27,486 34,840 41,515 53,406 44,133 67,005
Cincinnati 750 2,320 9,642 24,831 46,338 115,438 161,044 216,239 255,608










Total for the county 14,692 15,258 31,764 52,317 81,178 156,953 214,450 260,372 322,613



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The indebtedness of Hamilton county July, 1879, was but four hundred and two thousand five hundred and ninety-eight dollars, principally in court-house building bonds.

The valuations of personal property in Hamilton county for 1879 and 1880, exclusive of Cincinnati, which will be found hereafter, as returned for taxation to the county auditor' office last June are as follows:
 
TOWNSHIPS AND COPORATIONS PERSON-
ALTY
BONDS,
ETC., 
PERSON-
ALITY,
BONDS,
ETC. ,
  1880 1880 1879 1879
Anderson Tp., Northern Pt.  $141,335 $ $152,750 $
Anderson Tp., Central Pt. * 100,632 7,876 100,929 930
Anderson Tp., Southern Pt. 92,139 4,515 90,988 1,850
Mt. Washington Cor.,* Anderson Tp. 58,720 19,940 45,586 25,778
Colerain Tp., Northeaster Pt. 283,543 16,900 288,034 10,686
Colerain Tp., Southwestern Pt. 77,225 1,100 77,350 5,000
Columbia Tp., Eastern Pt. 85,822 9,420 80,288 4,000
Columbia Tp., Western Pt. 247,863 35,750 225,688 32,505
Columbia Tp., Central Pt. 122,925 36,060 122,456 28,200
Columbia, Oakley Pt. 133,856 12,700 317,709 8,800
Madisonville Cor., Columbia Tp. 80,211 49,450 91,309 54,935
Crosby Tp. 205,882 1,195 204,498 3,196
Delhi Tp., Eastern Pt. 170,557 9,600 160,008 14,600
Delhi Tp., Western Pt. 91,822 5,650 133,923 5,600
Riverside Cor., Delhi Tp. 57,806   55,767  
Home City, Delhi Tp. 36,850 3,150    
Green Tp., Northeastern Pt. 30,637 4,450 61,161 4,250
Green Tp., Northwestern Pt. 68,486 5,090 62,942 8,000
Green Tp., Southeastern Pt. 112,366 47,750 118,732 11,000
Green Tp., Southwestern Pt. 67,003 1,000 67,056  
Mt. Airy Cor., Green Tp. 14,733 30,400 15,286 29,000
Westwood Cor., Green Tp. 105,722 4,750 93,508  
Harrison Tp. 105,173 9,500 112,283 500
Harrison Cor., Harrison Tp. 188,268 6,680 193,822 9,050
Miami Tp. 65,792 1,500 62,874 3,900
Cleves Cor., Miami Tp. 20,825   20,207  
North Bend Cor., Miami Tp. 202,490 300 147,490  
Millcreek Tp., Bond Hill Pt. 54,533   58,150  
Millcreek Tp., Northeastern Pt. 30,580   6,628  
Millcreek Tp., St. Bernard Pt. 32,210   20,044  
Millcreek Tp., Winton Pt. 160,917   143,138  
Avondale Cor., Millcreek Tp. 525,114 11,000 580,182  
Carthage Cor., Millcreek Tp. 27,065 11,950 25,863 9,500
Clifton Cor., Millcreek Tp. 548,753   484,254  
College Hill Cor., Millcreek Tp. 347,614 73,900 76,614 59,627
Mt. Airy Cor., Millcreek Tp. 13,693   14,712  
St. Bernard Cor., Millcreek Tp. 119,953 3,500 103,074 4,500
Western Pt. Millcreek Tp. 46,026   46,386  
College Hill Pt. Millcreek Tp. 9,005   13,583  
Spencer Tp., Southern Pt. 11,582 651 15,072 2,500
Linwood Cor., Spencer Tp. 43,847 4,300 39,527 400
Springfield Tp., Eastern Pt. 28,132 2,100 29,691 3,000
Springfield Tp., Western Pt. 320,433 55,050 315,242 42,050
Springfield Tp., Northeastern Pt. 257,493 1,200 256,558 5,400
Springfield Tp., Southeastern Pt. 32,474 14,300 37,760 22,200
Carthage Cor., Springfield Tp. 9,188   5,987  
Glendale Cor., Springfield Tp. 136,306   1,430,089 17,550
Hartwell Cor., Springfield Tp. 47,567 8,600 50,455  
Lockland Cor., Springfield Tp. 68,433 47,100 54,557 7,800
Wyoming Cor., Springfield Tp. 183,967 6,000 165,361 6,100
Sycamore Tp., Eastern Pt. 165,794 5,435 146,777 2,500
Sycamore Tp., Sharonville Pt. 186,373 7,605 158,078 10,165
Sycamore Tp., Reading Pt. 95,898 700 88,000  
Lockland Cor., Sycamore Pt. 68,997   70,146  
Reading Cor., Sycamore Tp. 70,819 2,550 69,137  
Symmes Tp. Northern Pt. 81,008 12,600 100,113  
Symmes Tp., Camp Dennison Pt. 26,107 4,000 14,454  
Loveland Cor., Symmes Tp. 17,433   13,179  
West Loveland Pt. , Symmes Tp. 19,961      
Riverside, Storrs Tp. 76,385   92,698  
Whitewater Tp., Northern Pt. 68,175   68,669 1,450
Whitewater Tp., Southern Pt. 53,530 20,450 70,968 18,000
*Precinct-Corporation

The Comparative statement for 1879-80 of the taxable value of new structures erected during those years, in all parts of the county, except Cincinnati, is as follows. The figures are presumed to represent the actual value added to the property by the improvements of those years:
 
TOWNSHIPS AND CORPORATIONS TAXABLE
VALUATION
NEW STRUCTURES
  1880 1879
Anderson Township, Northern Precinct $2,850 $
Anderson Township, Central Precinct 3,975 2,800
Anderson Township, Southern Precinct 825 900
Mt. Washington Corporation, Anderson Township 1,800 1,800
Colerain Township, Northeastern Precinct 2,100 5,900
Colerain Township, Southwestern Precinct 1,950 700
Columbia Township, Eastern Precinct 750 3,850
Columbia Township, Western Precinct 2,450 2,680
Columbia Township, Central Precinct 2,300 2,100
Columbia Township, Oakley Precinct 1,200 10,200
Madisnville Corporation, Columbia Township 7,100 3,370
Crosby Township 2,850 800
Delhi Township, Eastern Precinct 1,450 5,460
Delhi Township, Western Precinct 6,300 7,600
Riverside Corporation, Delhi Township 19,450 4,600
Home City, Delhi Township 1,700  
Green Township, Northeastern Precinct 1,650 3,940
Green Township, Northwestern Precinct 1,500 1,650
Green Township, Southeastern Precinct 6,900 3,100
Green Township, Southwestern Precinct 3,300 2,140
Mt. Airy Corporation, Green Township 350 1,400
Westwood Corporation, Green Township 10,600 3,520
Harrison Township 600 1,575
Harrison Corporation, Harrison Township 3,250 1,700
Miami Township 1,800  
Cleves Corporation, Miami Township   3,850
North Bend Corporation, Miami Township    
Millcreek Township, Bond Hill Precinct   3,650
Millcreek Township, Northeastern Precinct 7,500 10,650
Millcreek Township, St. Bernard Precinct 5,200  
Millcreek Township, Winton Precinct    
Avondale Corporation, Millcreek Township 6,050  
Carthage Corporation, Millcreek Township 2,500 250
Clifton Corporation, Millcreek Township 22,500 17,750
College Hill Corporation, Millcreek Township   9,100
Mt. Airy Corporation, Millcreek Township    
St. Bernard Corporation, Millcreek Township 13,300 4,375
Western Precinct, Millcreek Township 1,500 620
Spencer Township, Southern Precinct 1,050 200
Linwood Corporation, Spencer Township 2,100 900
Springfield Township, Eastern Precinct 1,800 4,000
Springfield Township, Western Precinct 3,100 2,550
Springfield Township, Northeastern Precinct 2,450 2,200
Springfield Township, Southeastern Precinct 1,500  
Carthage Corporation, Springfield Township 11,000 300
Glendale Corporation, Springfield Township 6,800 3,400
Hartwell Corporation, Springfield Township 10,380 4,780
Lockland Corporation, Springfield Township   1,200
Wyoming Corporation, Springfield Township   6,300
Sycamore Township, Eastern Precinct 2,275 2,750
Sycamore Township, Sharonville Precinct 6,500 800
Sycamore Township, Reading Precinct 2,100  
Lockland Corporation, Sycamore Precinct 2,600 1,250
Reading Corporation, Sycamore Township 900 2,420
Symmes Township, Northern Precinct 1,500 680
Symmes Township, Camp Dennison Precinct 500 1,300
Loveland Corporation, Symmes Township   1,050
Riverside, Storrs Township 1,700 1,700
Whitewater Township, Northern Precinct   930
Whitewater Township, Southern Precinct 1,750  

As a sort of a foot-note or appendix to these notes of progress, we here more appropriately, perhaps, than anywhere else in this division of the History, make mention of
 
SOME FIRST THINGS.

The first church built in Hamilton county was that at Columbia, for the Baptist society, organized in that settlement March 24, 1790. It was, further, the first meeting-house erected in the territory now covered by the state of Ohio, except the church building of the Moravian missionaries at Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten, in the valley of the Tuscarawas.

The first ordination of a clergyman in the Miami country was that of the REV. Daniel Clark, a young Baptist minister at Columbia, by the REV. MESSRS. GANO AND SMITH in a grove of elms near that place, September 23, 1793.



~pg76~
The first school in the county was opened July 2 1, 1790, also in Columbia, by JOHN REILY, afterwards a distinguished citizen of Butler and Hamilton counties. The next. year FRANCIS DUNLAVY was joined in the instruction of the school, taking a classical department, while MR. REILY -confined his labors to the English studies. The first regular school-house was probably there.

The first ferry from the front of Hamilton county on the river to the Kentucky shore at the present site of Covington was run. In 1790 ROBERT and THOMAS KENNEDY, one of whom lived at each end of the line. The first to Newport was run by CAPTAIN ROBERT BENHAM, under a license from the Territorial government, granted -September 24, 1792, from Cincinnati to the opposite bank, the present Newport, on the east side of the Licking.

The first mill run in Hamilton county was started by MR. NEAIAD COLEMAN, a citizen of Columbia, soon after the planting of the colony. It was a very simple affair, quite, like that known at Marietta in the early day, and figured in DR. S. P HILDRETH'S Pioneer History. The flat boats were moored side by side near the shore, but in the current, and with sufficient space between them for the movement of a water-wheel The grindstones, with the grain and floor or meal handled, were in one boat, and the machinery in another. This rude mill, kept going by the cultivation 'of the rich soil at or near Columbia, was the chief source of supply for the soldiers of Fort Washington and the citizens of Cincinnati for one or two years. Without it, there would at one time, at least, have been danger of, abandonment of the fort, if not of the settlements. Before its construction, settlers who had no access to hand-mills or who wished to economize their labor, went far into Kentucky to get their grinding done. At one time NOAH BADGELEY and three other Cincinnati settlers went up the Licking to Paris, for a supply of breadstuff, and on their return were caught in a flood, their boat overturned, BADGELEY drowned, and the others exposed to peril and privation upon branches of trees in the raging waters for two or three days. It is possible that COLEMAN'S mill is identical with that mentioned in early annals as the property of one WICKERSIHAM (WICKERHAM he is called in SPENCER'S Indian Captivity, probably by error of the types), which is sometimes referred to as the first mill, and was situated at a rapid of the Little Miami, a little below the Union bridge, where PHILIP TURPIN'S mill was afterwards erected.

Soon after COLEMAN started his gristmill, another, but of different character, was built on Mill creek, near Cincinnati. A horse-mill existed in that town at a very early day, near the site of the First Presbyterian church, and some of the meetings of that society were held in it.

The first cases of capital punishment in the county occurred at the southeast end of Fort Washington in 1789--the execution of two soldiers, JOHN AYERS and MATTHEW RATMORE, for desertion. The first execution by the civil authorities was that of JOHN MAY, in Cincinnati, near the close of the century, by hanging, under sentence for the murder of his friend, WAT SULLIVAN, whom he stabbed with a hunting-knife during a drunken brawl at a party given in a log cabin then standing near the corner of Sixth and Main streets. He was hanged by SHERIFF LUDLOW, at the spot on the south side of Fifth street, east of Walnut, where B. CAVAGNA now has his grocery store, and where the first jail stood. The country for fifty miles around turned out its population to see the execution.

Other "first things" will be recorded in connection with the special histories of Cincinnati and other parts of the county, where full notes will be made of these to which we have given rapid mention.


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