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INTRODUCTION THE BEGINNINGS Nothing challenges the historical imagination more than trying to recapture the landscape of the past. To imagine Springdale without the sounds of the automobile, the smells of gasoline and rubber, the hardness of the cement, the glare of street lights and the bright signs of the shopping malls seems almost impossible. Yet there was a time when the modern urban community that is today's Springdale was little more than a lush forest full of abundant natural resources undisturbed by human settlement. Along with the low rush of the wind, common sounds would have been the chirping of quail, parakeet and the passenger pigeon, the honk of wild geese and turkey, and the grunt of boars rooting the earth for acorns underneath the sturdy stands of oak. The odor of the virgin soil and the mushiness of vegetation slowly decaying in the perpetual forest gloom naturally complimented the contours of the gentle and rolling land, broken occasionally by natural ravines and small creeks. Over time humans, first Native Americans and then Europeans, altered the terrain. Yet essentially the contour remains as it was when the Miami Indian felt the lilt of the land beneath his feet as he made his way across it in search of game. He trod a well- beaten path or trace. From time immemorial, long before the first white explorer intruded, Springdale's destiny was shaped by its location on a key transportation route. The end of the American Revolution signaled a period of discovery and prolonged movement and settlement of the wilderness that is now the United States. Vast frontiers of new territory boasting of thick forests, fertile lands and seemingly unlimited natural resources beckoned adventurers who dared to dream of owning their own farm or even founding a city. The creation of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 heralded America's newest frontier between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River. The presence of unsettled 2 land along the western edge of "civilization" excited many Americans with a hope of economic betterment and a chance for adventure. The next two decades saw continuous movement of settlers from crowded eastern states into the Miami Country of Southwest Ohio, between the Great and Little Miami Rivers to the east and west, and the Ohio River to the south. On August 23, 1806 John Baldwin platted the village which would grow to become Springdale astride a major transportation route called the Miami Trace. By that time the wilderness had been disturbed by Native American groups who hunted the land, and by white men who hunted and later moved with their families to settle the land. As more families traveled by flatboat down the Ohio River and began clearing the land for farming, tensions with Native American groups escalated. Responding to demands from settlers for more protection from the Indians, the federal government constructed Fort Washington in Cincinnati and sent more troops to defend the area. By the 1790s, block houses and stations, like the Pleasant Valley station near Woodlawn, dotted the landscape. General "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his army marched north over the Miami Trace in the fall of 1793 on their way to confront Little Turtle, a Miami chief and leader of a confederation of Indian forces. Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794 ended the Indian menace, freeing settlers to clear the forests seized from native Americans without fear of reprisal. One year later, Springfield Township was created. By the time Baldwin, an enterprising blacksmith, scythe maker and hotel keeper, decided to add real estate investment to his list of accomplishments, a number of families had already established substantial farms in the area. After 1801, a Presbyterian meeting house stood at the southern edge of the proposed village. Until then, the church, established in 1792, had met in a stockade at Pleasant Valley Station. While Baldwin had evident entrepreneurial abilities, he sadly lacked imagination, at least when it came to place-names. If the township was named Springfield and the 2 3 church was the Springfield Presbyterian Church, then the village would also be Springfield. Thanks to proprietor Baldwin's logic, village residents sometimes waited as long as six months for letters that had been delivered mistakenly to the Springfield, Ohio post office near Dayton. Finally, in the early 1850s, the Postal Department, tired of the confusion, forced a name change on Springfield. Villagers who had been referring to their home as Springdale in their diaries and letters for several years, required little adjustment to the new designation.1 Place-name not withstanding, Baldwin chose his village site well. Local farmers used the Miami trace, which was now called the Great Road, to transport produce to the markets in Cincinnati. Mule trains carried military supplies over it from Cincinnati to Fort Hamilton.2 By 1805, a stage coach operated over the Great Road. Eventually it would be improved and turned into the Hamilton, Springfield, and Carthage Turnpike, reportedly the most successful turnpike in the state. Travelers along the trace were served by John Brownson's hotel on Lot 18 of the Baldwin subdivision.3 When Brownson died intestate in the 1830s, George Wilmuth purchased the property,4 which remained in the Wilmuth family for many years. In time the columned two-story hotel acquired an imposing brick facade which helped to give Springfield an appearance of respectability.5 During much of its early history the village was a rough, primitive place. At Turner's Tavern, loud, swearing, tobacco-chewing, whiskey-drinking mule-train drivers mingled in with foul-smelling hog drovers who stopped on their way to market. Numerous other travelers passed through to unknown destinations making for a sometimes volatile mix.6 As the years passed and the village grew and prospered, respectability spread through every part of village life. Pious church elders condemned the drinking and gambling that so often ended in violence. At the same time, hard-working farmers 3 4 denounced the taverns that lured young farmhands from the fields making them unfit for the next day's work. While prosperity tended to soften rough edges, it took time. Legend has it that Squire William Woolley, who owned a tavern across the Butler County line, was the first man in Springfield to wear boots. Until that time, men and women wore a type of hand- made moccasin.7 For many early residents, boots and shoes were an expensive luxury. Still, by 1816, Springfield was one of the wealthiest villages in Hamilton County.8 William Chamberlain and Ichabod Crane platted additions.9 The village even incor- porated on March 16, 1839 although no evidence has been uncovered that an actual village government existed.10 None of the letters and diaries of the period mentions it al- though participation in church and township activities is noted frequently. Indeed, the amount of control exercised by Springfield Township in the 1840s makes the existence of village government unlikely. The township collected taxes from Springfield, maintained the roads, raised the militia, operated the district schools, administered poor relief, held elections and kept law and order. Village government, if it did exist, would have been superfluous. As early as 1791, when General Arthur St. Clair appointed Henry Weaver a territorial justice of the peace, Springfield residents filled many township offices.11 In 1839, George Breaden was township supervisor and James McLean was constable. In 1840, the trustees elected Breaden constable, Samuel Ledman one of three judges, and John McGilliard, by then Springfield postmaster, the treasurer. George Wilmuth, the innkeeper, lost an election in 1849 for justice of the peace held in the Springfield "schoolroom." The trustees appointed John Cain their constable for that year. The minutes of the township trustees show that these and many other Springfield residents took an active role in township government.12 By 1850, residents referred affectionately to the village as "old Springfield." Rows of stately trees lined the portion of the Great Road, or Springfield Pike, which ran 4 5 through Springfield and was called Main Street, illustrating the village's growing stability. Most of the houses had little or no front yards and were built close to the street with a single step up to the front door.13 Despite an abundance of open space surrounding the village, the houses sat on small lots, harkening back to a time of Indian troubles and a feeling that physical closeness ensured security. A few houses had been built on Hickory and Walnut streets and along what came to be known as Springdale Road.14 Most of the vacant lots were owned by people who lived on the Pike and used them for garden plots or for their stables. Community life clearly centered around traffic generated by the turnpike. Perhaps because of the noise and dirt from Springfield Pike, many of the homes had porches running alongside rather than in front of the house.15 Shutters on the windows facing the street offered a bit of privacy. The trees along the Pike provided something of a buffer from the busy road. The haphazard placement of flagstones offered the pedestrian little protection from the dirt and mud but an attractive white picket fence gave the street cohesion. Rambling roses, dahlias and sunflowers added an occasional splash of color. Sometimes a particular flower acquired great sentimental value. The Peterson family carefully tended a large sunflower in