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Subject: [OHCUYAHO-L] Western Reserve Centennial 1796-1896 - part two
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 22:09:31 EDT
A school, taught probably by one Perly Brush, was opened in a small log
house, about 1801. If there are any reasonable competitors for this first
honor, they are, in order, Vernon, Warren, and Youngstown, all of which
established schools about the same time.
A debating society met at the house of John Struthers, as early as 1803.
This, and similar ones, were kept up for many years.
The first store was opened by one Foster or Montgomery, in 1802. Prior to
and after this, Jas. E. Caldwell supplied the people along the Mahoning with
goods dispensed from a canoe.
A blast furnace was established by Daniel Eaton, in 1803.
The first gristmill, a sawmill connected, was built in the spring of 1799 by
W.W. Williams and Major Wyatt, near where the Asylum stands at Newburg.
To Cleveland belongs the honor of the first ball. It took place July 4th,
1801 in the log cabin of one Major Carter, and was attended by about 30
persons. How evenly the sexes were divided, history does not record. John
and Benj Wood and R. H. Blinn were managers, and "Sam" Jones, musician.
Though they scamper-downed, double shuffled and half-mooned on a puncheon
floor, and regaled themselves on whiskey sweetened with maple sugar, it is
doubtful if Forest Citiers ever entered into a more enjoyable dance.
The first mail route of the Reserve was established in 1803. Beginning at
Warren it ran, by way of Mesopotamia, Windsor, Rock Creek, Austinburg,
Harpersfield, and Painesville, to Cleveland, and thence back, by way of
settlements farther south, to Warren. Over this, about once a week the mail
carried by a man on foot. Later, the line was extended from Cleveland to
Detroit, the mail being carried on horseback. In 1808 a route was
established from Erie, to Pennsylvania, to Cleveland, over which one John
Metcalf carried the mail on foot, until 18ll. For some years after that it
was carried from Ashtabula to Buffalo on horseback, from twelve to fourteen
days being allowed for the trip.
Before these provisions, and even after their establishment, people often
waited weeks, and sometimes traveled many miles to get an opportunity to send
letter to or receive missives from their friends in the East, money being
scarce and postage twenty-five cents per letter. No such things as envelopes
were known. The letter being written, the sheet was then folded, tucked and
sealed with wax or "wafer."
The first training of which any account is obtainable, was a drill of about
fifty privates and a few officers at Doan's corners, now within the limits of
Cleveland. There was a large crowd of lookers-on as the "troops" went
through their evolutions to the airs of "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," and
"Who's Afeared," discoursed by Joseph Burke and Lewis Dill.
Triumph of Fame, the first newspaper, was issued at Warren, June 16th, 1812.
It ran under this pretentious name until October 4th, 1816 when it was
changed to Western Reserve Chronicle. Files of it are still In existence,
and it contrast strongly with the papers of today. It is a folio sheet, the
pages being about four times the size of one in this book, and is made up
mainly of extracts from other papers, those from Washington being at least a
week on the road.
The change of name was brought about in this wise: "uncle Ben" Stevens,
having recently settled in Warren, from Vermont, and meeting theeditor one
day in the post office, casually remarked: "I think a less high-sounding
name would be more appropriate for a paper in a new country, say, Western
Reserve Chronicle or Gazette." The editor, Mr. Bissell, though repudiating
the suggestion at the time, seems to have profited by the idea, for in about
four weeks the change was made as above, and with it quite an improvement in
the paper. For eighty years the chronicle has not failed to pay its welcome
weekly visits to hundreds of homes in "Old Trumbull" and it is to be hoped it
will not fail to do the same for a thousand years to come.
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