Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 22 January 2005

The History of Warren County Ohio
Part IV Township Histories
Franklin Township by W. C. Reeder
(Chicago, IL: W. H. Beers Co, 1882; reprint, Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publications, 1992)

Page
535

In 1825, the Miami & Erie Canal was built from Cincinnati to Dayton, and this gave an impetus to trade. Several lines of canal boats were in operation at once, vast quantities of produce of all kinds were brought to the Franklin markets. In the years 1836 and 1837, we find that Earhart & Kinder, Mooney & Rogers, Britton, Schenck & Co. and M. W. & A .R. Earhart were engaged in shipping grain, etc., by canal. The article of pork became prominent, and S. R & J. H. Burrowes, Caldwell, McTaggert & Campbell, Britton, Schenck & Co. and L. Pugh were all engaged in buying pork In those days, the hogs were slaughtered and the pork packed in barrels, and then shipped by canal. The cooper business, supported by the whisky and pork dealers, was brisk. In order to facilitate shipping, two basins were excavated, one on the east side of the canal, on the south side of Sixth street, the other, just across the canal from it, and on each of them was a pork and commission house. The canal business continued good until after the building of the C., H. & D. R. R., when it decreased, and has now almost ceased. The canal, however, furnishes water to some of our factories.

In 1872, the Dayton Short Line, a branch of the C., C., C. & I. R. R., was completed. As early as 1850, the originators of the C., H. & D. had requested the right of way through the corporation. Several surveys had been made, and one of them was almost precisely the line followed when this road was constructed, the only deviations being at the entrance to Dayton and Cincinnati. Trains commenced running regularly on July 1, 1872, and the road has been of an incalculable value to the town, bringing coal and materials for the factories and mills and carrying away their products. A depot building was erected during the summer, and the company have since placed here the water-tank, coal-bins and supply shops, this being the point midway between Delaware and Cincinnati. The facilities for loading and unloading freight are not excelled anywhere on the line; there is more track room, and, besides this, three spurs have been constructed for the convenience of business men. The company employ about fifty men from this place in various capacities. The station does a large freight business.