Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 1 February 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
546

Franklin has, since the construction of the canal, been a good market for grain, but the building of the C., H. & D. R. R. had a visible effect on the amount of grain delivered at this point. The business was, however, of some magnitude, and, on the building of the C., C., C. & I. to Cincinnati, was increased greatly. It is conducted mainly by two firms—Levi Croll & Son and L. G. Anderson & Son, Mr. Levi Croll, the senior member of the first-named house, learned the milling business with Mr. George Balentine, and, after the death of Mr. Balentine, was with Mr. H. J. Death, proprietor of the flouring-mill. About 1870, he withdrew from the firm, and purchased the farm known as the Derrick Barkalow farm, and, in 1872, engaged with Mr. P. T. Dickey in the sale of lumber and the grain trade. After the death of the latter, he obtained possession of the old graveyard, on the east of the canal, and through which the railroad had been built, the Council giving Mr. Croll the ground provided he would remove the dead to some spot designated by their relatives. This he did, and there constructed on the banks of the canal, between it and the railroad, a large elevator and mill. This establishment has a storage capacity of about 300,000 bushels of grain. Mr. Croll has at one time shipped a train of twenty-four cars of shelled corn in twenty-four hours.

Mr. Anderson succeeded Mr. Croll at the Dickey property, enlarged the grain-house, put in elevators, and handles yearly a vast quantity of grain. He has the advantage of a special side-track, and he, as well as Mr. Croll, deals in lumber and coal, both selling lumber and buying grain from men who reside in the extreme eastern part of the county, being attracted to this market by the higher prices paid.