w Vl ::::.> o ::r:: f­ � ::::.> o u A BRIEF HISTORY

of LE ANON

A Centennial Sl1.etch

By JOSIAH }/fORROW

Chairman of the Lebanon Centennial Committee Author of the Life of ThomasCoruiin History of Warren County Centennial Sketch of Warren County 1876 Aboriginal Agriculture Etc

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,�' ' J >� LE���.Q?r· THE W,�T.:::RN STAR ptJBil�p,"�TrJ: C).'I\PAN'r 1902

Pioneers on Turtlecreek

HE beautitul valley of Turtlecreek � was seen by whitemen more than a ���� c� . �' dozen sears before any of the � T:': � white race 'settled in it. Three � � � � armies marched against the Indians � t\:': through this valley, and after John � :.:' Cleves Symmes purchased the land :':1�1'@�1'(j)_�� b.etween the two Mian�is for sixty­ ���""@./)(tV{!!) SIX cents per acre, h1S surveyors began the work of surveying the tract into sections in 1789. Judge Symmes in an early letter to hIS associate, Jonathan Dayton, wrote of the great fertility of the Military range in "which to-day are Lebanon, Union Vil­ lage and Hamilton. The eminent general, George Rogers Clark, led two expeditions against the Indians on the upper waters of the Miamis from the site of Cincinnati. The first of these was in August, 1780, when he passed along Turtlecreek and crossed to the east side of the Little Miami; the second was in 1782 when he passed west of the site of Lebanon and crossed Mad river near the site of Dayton. In each of these expeditions there were about one thousand men, chiefly Kentuckians. The last and largest of the armies which marched through the valley was led by General Josiah Harmar who was the successor of Wash­ ington and Knox as commander of the United States army, though his rank was lieutenant colonel and he was general-in-chief by brevet. He had under his command the whole of 4 the available force of the regular army which consisted, however, of only 320 troops; these were reenforced by Kentucky and Penn­ sylvania militia to the nnmber of 1,133 making an army of 1,453. General Harrnar ordered Colonel Hardin with six hundred of the Ken­ tucky troops to set. ont from Ft. Washington and advance along Clurks old trace about twenty-five miles and there to halt for further orders. Colonel Hardin moved 011 September 26, 1'190 and proceeded to - T.nrtlecl't'ek a short distance west of where Lebanon now is and en­ camped. General Harpiar commenced his march from Cincinnati on September :30, and on the morning of October 3, arrived at the camp of Colonel Hardin on 'I'urtlecreek. The two commands webe then united and marched eastward only about one mile and encamped at some point now within the limits of Lebanon. The next morning at half past nine the army moved in a northeast direction and after marching about eight miles, at three o'clock crossed the Little Miami about a mile below Caesar's creek. The route of this army from Cincinnati to the Little Miami was, for the most part, the same that General Clark had followed ten years before; it was known to the early settlers as Harmar's trace and was one of their principal roads. It passed along the south side of 'I'ur­ tlecreek and was distinctly traceable ten years after the army passed over it. Turtlecreek and Muddycreek had been named before the date of this expedition, and are both mentioned in the journal of Captain John Armstrong which gives a detailed account of Harmar's move­ ments. The men who served in these expeditions 5 and the explorers of the lands between the Miamis spread abroad a knowledge of the fer­ tility and the delightful character of the 'I'ur­ tlecreek valley but the hostility of tho Indians long deluved the settlement. On September 21, 1795 \Villitllll Beclle, from Ne\v Jersey, set out from one of the stations neal' Cincinnati with a wagon, tools and provisions and followed Har­ mar's trace to his lands where he built a block­ house as a protection against the Indians who might not respect Waynes treaty of peace made the preceding month. Bedle's station was five miles west of Lebanon and has usual­ ly been regarded as the first permanent settle­ ment in "Warren county. Here several families lived in much simplicity, their clothing being made largely of deer -ikin.. As soon as it was known that "Wayne had secured a permanent peace with the Indians, those who had purchased lands between the Miamis prepared to settle upon them. Cabins to the number of twenty-five had been built in Deerfield before February 1, 17gG. John Shaw erected the first cabin in the vicinity of Leba­ non in the autumn or winter of 1'i'95; it stood near where the water-works plant now stands. Henry Taylor and Samuel Gallaher were among the earliest settlers west of Lebanon. Gallaher was a rnill- wright and built for Mr. Taylor on Turtlecreek one of the first mills in Warren county. It stood a short distance west of the present boundary of Lehanon and was completed a year or two after the first settle­ ment. Francis Dunlevy settled west of Leba­ non in 1797. Among the early settlers east of Lebanon were Samuel Manning, John Osborne, DaniAl Banta. Jacob Trimble, "\Villiam Dill, Patrick Meloy and several brothers named Bone. 6

Ichabod Corwin, uncle of Governor Cor­ win, was the first settler on the ground on which Lebanon stands. He had resided for a short time in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and when pursuing Indians with a party of Ken­ tuckians, had first seen and admired the lands on Turtlecreek, and before the close of the In­ dian wars purchased the half section on which is now the northwest part of Lebanon. The exact site of his first cabin, the first habitation of white men in Lebanon, is known : it was on the ridge between the cemetery and the Dayton pike, about one hundred yards "vest of the bridge over the north branch of Tnrtlecreek. It was early in the spring of 1796 that he brought his family to their home in the wilder­ ness. Having cleared about twelve acres near his cabin, in the spring of 1796 he planted the first corn crop grown in Lebanon. Before it could be cultivated the Indians stole all his horses, and he returned to Kentucky and bought a yoke of oxen with which he culti­ vated his corn, which surprised him in the autumn by yielding one hundred bushels to the acre. Ichabod Corwin died in 1834 aged sixty­ seven years and on his tombstone we read: , 'The deceased w as the first settler on the place where Lebanon now stands, March A. D. 1796". Hon. Moses B. Corwin, of Urbana, was the eldest Ron of this pioneer, and at the time of the removal of the family he was six years old. Fifty years later he wrote: "I have a perfect recollection of how things looked at that time, of our suffering with the cold in the woods be­ low Bedle's station, and of the Indians stealing our horses soon after we arri ved, and of fath­ er's starting on foot to Cincinnati to buy oxen. These were my happiest days." 7

In 1798, Matthias Corwin, father of Thom­ as, settled on a farm northeast of Lebanon, his mother, brothers and sisters accompanying him from Kentucky. Thomas was at this time about four years old. During most of the winter and. spring of 1798-\:J a band of Indians were encamped on the hillside south of the Cincinnati pike and in the south-western part of Lebanon. They en­ camped for a short time for several succeeding springs in the vicinity for the purpose of mak­ ing sugar in the sugar-tree groves. Thomas Corwin in Congress said of the pioneers:

"The hardy race that has subdued the forests of the west, and in their green youth have constructed monuments of their enterprise that shall survive the pyramids, is not likely, from merely sordid mo­ tives, to join in inflicting a great evil on any portion of our common country. The fearless pioneers of the west, whose ears are as fa­ miliar with the sharp crack of the Indian's rifle and his wild war­ whoop at midnight as are those of your city dandies with the dulcet notes of the harp and piano, they, sir, are not the men to act upon selfish calculations and sinister inducements," Beginnings of Lebanon

Lebanon was laid out in September, 1802, the month preceding the election of delegates in the Northwest Territory to form a. constitution for a new state. The primevul forests cov­ ered nearly all the original plat ann grow­ ing luxuriantly in the deep, cool shade were thickets of spice bushes (benzoin odoriferum) almost as impencrrahle as the canebrakes of Kentuoky, and like the cane, this undergrowth has dis» ppeured f'rom our forests wifh the ad­ vance of civilization. The spice bushes were greut impediments in snrvoying and clearing the lund. 'I'boy wore l�1)Ul1c1tlnt ira Lebanon long af'tor it becn,�w ,1 county seat. Their yellow flowers UllPt'ared in the early spring, next came the 1t:.rge, hnl1(1:-011w leaves and last small clus­ ters of h'1_'�'ies 'xhioh ripened into a def'p red in September. The herrios were sometimes used ins teud of a 11:-'1'10e; a decoction from the leayes made a gently stlmulating chink used in low fevers, and the shrub was often called the fever bush. The plat contained only one hundred lots, and was bounded on the north by SHYer, on tb e south l!y Sorrth, on the west by 'Vater street, and on the east by the alley between Cherry and East streets. The plat extended four and one-hu If suuuros east and west, and three squares north- and south, and it would have formed a perfect parullelograrn had it not been that no lots were laid out on the low ground south of Main and west of Sycamore. As the east branch of Turtlecreek then ran 9 further north than it does now, this square left out-the original plat, \vas near the conflu­ ence of the two branches of 'I'urtleoreek. The only streets 'which had their names marked on the original plat "\Y01'8 Broadway and Main, and it seems probable that the projectors of the town expected these two would be the principal streets. which was at first the case. When the plat was made there were steep bluffs on the south, low lands on the west, and swamps in the centrul paris. It, is a tradition that the projectors desired to locate the town on the higher lands around the present court­ house, hut Samuel Manning, ,,110 owned this land, did not believe t.hut a town in tho woods would have bright prospects, and refused to al low any consideral-le portion of his land divid­ ed up into lots. Only a srnu Il portion of Mr. Manning's land was included in the original plat, but ill It;;\-;'', after the countv seat had been peruiuueutlv established at Lebanon, he laid out. an addition to the town, and the sale of the lots pl'O" ed profitable to him. The early additions to the town were made by Pe er Yau­ ger and Ephruim Hu.tha-vay, in 1.800; by Sam­ uel Manning, in 1807; by Levi Estell, in 1808; by Ichabod Corwin, in 18G9, by Matthias Ross, in 1814. The description and certificate attached to the original plat are here transcribed. An accurate plat of the town of Lebanon, as laid out in Septem­ ber, Anno Domini One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two, contain­ ing one hundred lots, each lot containing fifty square rods, except the four lots bearing the following- numbers: No.1, No. 97, No. 57 and No. 68, each of which four lots contain twenty-five square rods, the half of said lots being given to the pub lick by the proprietors. The street marked and named Broadway, being six poles wide, the re­ mainder of the streets are four poles wide. The alleys are twelve feet wide, all of which lots, streets, alleys, are due east, west, north and south. Surveyed by me. ICHABOD B. HALSEY. 10

Warren County. ss.: Personally appeared before me. one of the Justices. in and for said county. Samuel Manning. Ichabod Cor­ win. Silas Hurin and Ephraim Hathaway. proprietors of the town of Lebanon, and acknowledged this plat as surveyed by Ichabod B. Hal­ sey, to be their free act and deed for the purposes and uses herein mentioned. In testimony of which I hereunto set my hand this 18th day of October. Anno Domini 1803. MATTHIAS CORWIN. It will be observed from the dates that al­ though the town was surveyed in the North­ west Territory and is older than the state of Ohio, the plat was not aoknowlcdged before a justice of the peace until after Ohio had been organized into a state and the county of War­ ren formed. It was the seventh instrument recorded in the record of deeds of Warren county. There were but t.wo houses on the town plat when it was surveyed, though there were many others in the vicinity. The first of the two was a hewed log house built by Ichabod Corwin in the spring of 1800. He resided in it one or two years when he sold it with about fifteen acres to Ephraim Hathaway who made it the first tavern in Lebanon with the sign of a Black Horse. It stood north-east of the cor­ ner of Broacl way and Mulberry. In it the first store was kept and the first courts held, the act organizing Warren county making "the house of Ephraim Hathaway on Turtlecreek" the temporary seat of justice. This log house was 'Nell built and stood until about l826. The other house on the plat was the residence of Silas Hurin, south of the intersection of Main and Cherry. The first two white children born on the original town plat were born in these two hous­ es-Mrs. Katherine Skinner, wife of Richard Skinner and daughter of Silas Huriu, born 11

November 27, 1800, and Mrs. Lucinda Dun­ levy, wife of A. H. Dunlevy and daughter of Ichabod Corwin, born eleven days later. Mrs. Dunlevy died July 14, 1881, in her eighty-first year; Mrs. Skinner died at Ft. Wayne, Novem­ ber 7, 1901, aged nearly one hundred and one years. The new town did not grow rapidly before the question whether it was to be the perma­ nent county seat was settled. Isaiah Morris, afterward of Wilmington, sold the first goods in the place and he wrote that in June, 1803, the town which had already been made the temporary place of holding courts, had one tavern-keeper, Ephraim Hathaway, one law­ yer, Joshua Collett, one store-keeper, Isaiah Morris, and one or two other men and these constituted the entire mate population. Deerfield, Franklin, and Waynesville were older and more important places and all con­ tested for the seat of justice. Deerfield and Lebanon were the principal contestants. The contest was not settled until February 11, 1805 when the legislature passed a special act mak­ ing Lebanon the permanent county seat. The house of representatives was nearly equally di­ vided on the question, and a motion to reject the bill was lost by the casting vote of the speaker. The proprietors of the town had not only offered sites for the county buildings but had agreed to donate the proceeds of the sale of ev­ ery alternate lot for the erection of a court house and jail. On March 15, 1805 the pro­ prietors came before the county commission­ ers and delivered into their hands for the use of the county, notes and money aggregating $1,241. 80. 'I'he commissioners the next month 12 contracted "with Samuel McCray for the erec­ tion of the court house at a cost of $1,450. The building was completed and accepted from the contractor January 3, 180G. This first court house was one of the first brick buildings erected in the county. It stood 'where the western part. of the opera house now stands, was two stories high and thirty.six feet square. 'I'he 10\Y8r story was the court room and was 1m ved with brick tile twelve inches square and \Yl.;'S warmed with a fire.place five and a half feet wide, There was a fire place in each of the [,\YO rooms of the second fioor. There were hYenty.fuur �lasses in each \\ indow of the 10\'\01' story and twenty in the upper story. In 18CG Samuel 11cCray built immedi­ ately north of the conrt house the first brick residence in :-he to\YTI, which is still stu nding and tho oldest building in Lebanon. Before the erection of the court house a temporary jail had been buill, on the north­ west lot of the public square at a cost of $275.00. The wa.lls �md the floor were both con­ structed of logs hewed one foot sq uare and notched so as to lie close together. In 1807 a stone jail wus built on tho sout.h.west part of the public square at a cost of $�)90.00, and it was the connty jail for about twenty years. It contained two apart.ments, one for prisoners for debt and one for criminals, and underneath a dungeon. In 1809 efforts were made to secure the location of Miami University at Lebanon. Ichabod Corwin offered forty acres of land now in the Lebanon cemetery for a college campus and others agreed to make donations to the in­ stitution. The towns of Cincinnati, Hamilton, Dayton, Yellow Springs and Lebanon all 13 pressed their claims. The legislu.turo appoint­ ed three commissioners to meet, and select the most eligible situation within the bounds of Symmes's purchase. 'I'wo of the commission­ ers met, but the third, Rev. RoM. Wilson, was unable to attend. Dr. Alexander Campbell and James Kilbourn, a majorirv of the commission, reported in writing-e-and their original report is in the possession of the writer-e-than after examination they had chosen "a site in the county of Warren on the western side of the town of Lebanon, on the land of Ichabod Cor­ win, at a white oak tree marked M. U. V." This white oak tr-ee stood a little to the north of the fountain in the cemetery. The legisla­ ture took the view that, as only two of the commissioners had been present, their action was not legal, and the instrtution was finally located at Oxford on the college township. After the county-seat contest was settled Lebanon flourished ; it soon became the largest village in the county and was noted for the intelligence and good character of its citizens. It was incorporated as a village January 9, 1810 and in 1811 the Lebanon library society was chartered and soon there was a small but val­ uable collection of books for circulation. In 1817 Morris Birkheck, an Englishman of wealth and culture, passed through the little town and thus speaks of it in his volume of travels under the date of June 22, 1817: "As we approached the Little Miami river. the country becomes more broken and much more fertile, and better settled. After cross­ ing the clear and rapid stream we had a pleasant ride to Lebanon, which is not a mountain of cedars but a valley so beautifnl and fer­ tile that it seemed on its first opening to our view. as a region of fan­ cy rather than a real back-woods scene. Lebanon is itself one of those wonders which are the natural out-growth of these back-woods. In fourteen years, from two or three cabins of half-savage hunters, it 14

has grown to be the residence of a thousand persons, with habits and looks no way differing from their brethren of the east. Before we entered the town we heard the supper-bells of the taverns, and ar­ rived just in time to take our seats at the table, among just such a set as I would have expected to meet at the ordinary in Richmond­ travelers like ourselves, with a number of store-keepers, lawyers and doctors, men who board at the taverns and make up a standing com­ pany for the daily public table." Here we may quote the language of the distinguished journalist, E. D. Mansfield, writ­ ten just half a century later in describing his ride from his home at Morrow on the Little Miami to Franklin on the Great Miami:

"It was about eighteen miles through a country which in rich­ ness and beauty of nature is not surpassed. Finely cultivated farms, large and comfortable farm houses, good turnpike roads and beauti­ ful scenery, all gave evidence of a country where, in the old phrase, 'the people live at home.' Lebanon, the county-seat of Warren coun­ ty, lay on our way, and as the road wound up the western ridge we looked down and beheld it, like a dove upon its nest, nestling in the Eden-like vale of Turtlecreek, its houses and spires looking up quietly from that beautiful valley," Business in the New Town

Tavern-keeping was the first business in Lebanon, there being a log tavern in the place when the town was platted. Isaiah Morris, of Wilmington, is authority for the statement that John Huston was the first merchant of the town. In the spring of 1803, Huston descended the Ohio with a small stock of goods in a flat-boat, and landed at Co­ lumbia, where he opened a small store. After remaining there a fey" months, he carne to the new town of Lebanon and opened a store in a room of the tavern known as the Black Horse, kept by Ephraim Hathaway. Morris was a nephew of Huston, and the clerk in this, the first store in Lebanon. He had descended the Ohio in company with his uncle. Mr. Morris afterward, in 1811, moved from Leba­ non to Wilmington, cutting a road through the woods and in connection with \Villiam Fer­ guson, established the first store in Wilming. ton. The store of Huston in Lebanon was not long continued as the proprietor died soon after its establishment, leaving his clerk in des­ titute circumstances. There is no record of any licenses granted to merchants in Lebanon until 1805. In that year, we find that licenses were granted to Lawson & Taylor, Daniel F. Reeder and Will­ iam Ferguson. Among the other names which appear on the license record prior to 1810 are Joseph James, William Lowry, John Adams, Daniel Roe, Joseph and James Moore, Daniel Cushing, Holloway & Wright, McCray & Dill and Ebenezer Vowel. 16

In 1810, the following business establish­ ments were advertised in the oldest copies of a Lebanon newspaper in existence: Robert B. Coles and Silas Hurtn, under tne firm name of Coles & Co., manufacturers of boots and shoes. This p.n-t.nerslrip was dis­ solved in 1815, and the business was carried on by Coles. Jacob Clark, manufacturer of mi'll.wheels, chairs, brushes, washing machines, etc. Williaui Lowry & Co., dealers in groceries. notions, etc. Moore & Wilds, CCLbinet-makers. James & Joseph Moore, dealers in goods and whisky. William Ferguson, g+oceries, etc. Daniel Cushing, manufacturer of black salts, advertised that he would pay the highest price, in salts, cotton or cash, for good ashes. Lebanon Manufacturing Company, card­ ing, spinning of wool, weaving the same, and manufacture of broadcloth. Dr. Joseph Canby, new apothecary shop. B. & Alexander Crawford, general store. Barzilla Clark, cabinet-maker. The miscellaneous character of the early stores will appear from the following advertise­ ment in the Western Star in 1810:

NEW STORE-The subscribers have just opened a new store in the town of Lebanon, in the house formerly occupied by Daniel Roe, Esq. Their assortment is extensive and complete, consisting in part of the following: Dry Goods, Groceries, Ironrnongery, Cutlery, Stationery. Medi­ cines, Queen's and Glasswares, Tin-ware Assorted, Dorsey's Iron, Castings assorted, Paints and Oils, American Blister Steel, German Crowley, do. Salt, Cotton, etc. All the above Roods will be sold on very reasonable terms for cash or good merchantable wheat, at fifty cents per bushel. Also good rye whisky will be taken in exchange for goods at for- ty cents per gallon. EBENEZER VOWEL & CO. o "0 m ;;0 »- :t c c:: (/) rn t:O c:: r -l »­ (/) »­ "0 c:: t:O c () :t »­ r r'

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After the war of 1812, the business of the town began to increase. Manufactories of var­ ious kinds were established, and the place could boast of woolen-mills, a cotton factory, nail factories, cabinet factories, copper manu­ factory, tobacco manufactory, and other itn­ per tallt branches 01 manufuctures. Wi'lliam Russell's woolen-mill was an im­ portant feature of the manufacturing interests of the town. There were a nnmber of tanneries in the town and its vicinity. In 1823 there were over thirty women and girls engaged in the town making stra\V bats and bonnets. On the 4th of July, 1823, Nathaniel Me, Lean, in an oration delivered at a celebration in Lebanon, referred to the recently establish­ ed home manufactories. In addressing "the Daughters of Columbia," be said : "We ,,"it­ ness every day the evidences of our independ­ ence in the workmanship of your hands. How many manufactories have recently been estab, lisbed and produce a sufficient supply of arti­ cles for home consumption, for which, a few years ago, we were indebted to an eastern market. Let your town be a witness on this subject. " For many years, George Hardy was the leading and most successful merchant of Leb­ anon. He came to this country from the Coun­ ty Tyrone, in North Ireland, in 1815, and, in the spring of the year following, he arrived at where for Lebanon, he clerked Robert Woods .. In 1817, he, in partnership with Joseph Hender­ son, bought the store of Matthias Ross, on the northeast corner of Broadway and Mulberry streets. In 1831, Mr. Henderson retired from 18

the firm, and Hardy continned the business alone until his death. He usually purchased his goods in Philadelphia, and visited that place annuatly, making the journey on horse­ back. Respected for his integrity, as well as for his business abilities, he was largely in­ trusted with the funds of customers. and did a considera "Ole hanking business in his store. Bcgmni cg life in Lebanou a poor man, he died lea v ing au estate estimated at 880,000. He died ';lmn�u'Y 1, 184:2. aged flf'ty-four years. Tho :; U":__'l'-l'oom oi this successtul merchant was �-lh' 0 In (i,'.:; t he nor+h.eusr corner of Broad­ \yay and o'hlln::,l'l'Y in the building which still bel.. ;6''; ;C.J lris descendants. Three or four steps L'o'l) the iM yemen t, then led 11 p 1'0 it, and it is not. tuo .nuch to say that a single mer­ chant in L,,1),l:lOIl today has more floor space than IldE (\, do'I.' '!J "tore keepers then had, \"";1;01;'.::, 'llil,:�iI:.g \','a;.;; t'(�:r]y onguged in and extr-n.si v.Iv c:�'L'ri('ll on. -Ieremiuh Pinneo com­ in: lwl'll this ').l�iIw::-;s previous to 18113. Sam­ uel Ch«. ,'hTli:1 opened 1.t shop not long after .i,'lll 1,newspapers within their limits, and their advertisements often appeared in the Lebanon paper. In the sunnuer of 1806 John McLean, afterward a justice of the supreme court of the United States, brought a printing press from Cincinnati to Lebanon and in July 1807 com­ menced the publication of the Western Star, a newspaper which supported. the adruiuistration of Thomas Jefferson. These dates are given on the authority of Wm, H. P. Denny, who con­ sulted Justice Mel.can himself on the subject. The first printing press at Lebanon was of the Ramage pattern with a frame of oak and a bed of stone and there is reason to believe, al­ though it is not certainly known, that it was the first printing-press brought to Cincinnati, in 1703, and which was used in printing the Liberty Hall, and a.bout 1806, was superseded by a Stanhope press, imported to Cincinnati from England. The old wooden press purchas­ ed by John McLean remained in the Star office long after it had ceased to be used but finally it was sold, near the close of the civil war, and removed to a western state, and its wherea­ bouts are now unknown. This press was worked with a bar, and it WU8 a hard day's labor to work oft' with it three hundred copies of a small-sized newspaper. Thin splits of wood, similar to those used for the seats of chairs, were used in place of leads to separate the lines, and the type was inked with pelt­ balls in place of the modern rollers., was a and Not only newspaper published bills and circulars printed but the type.setting, press work and binding of books were all done III the village at a very early day. As early as 20

June 15, 1808, John McLean contracted with the Shakers to print on his press a considerable volume, entitled "Christ's Second Appear­ ing," the press work of which was completed by the close of the year, and some of the copies bound. An almanac for the year 1812, with cal­ culations by Matthias Corwin, jun., was print­ ed at the office of the Western Star. "The Ohio or Western Spelling Book," was printed, it is believed, by A. Van Vleet in Leba non in 1814, but I have seen no copy of the work. "The Ohio Justice and Township Officers' Assistant" by A. Van Vleet was printed and published by the author at Lebanon in 1821. "The Ohio Miscellaneous Museum" was a monthly periodical of forty-eight pages, print­ ed at Lebanon. It was begun in January, 1822, and consisted entirely of selected articles of no great literary value. How long it was contin­ ued is not known. The first four numbers were bound into a volume by James Martin, bookbinder, Main street, Lebanon, a copy of which is now in the Iibrary of the Mechanics' Institute of Lebanon. After the wooden press was superseded, newspapers in the town were printed. for half a century on the iron lever press, with which two men could print a thousand copies of a folio newspaper in a day. About 1870 the first cylinder press in Lebanon was placed in the Star office; it was first turned by hand, after­ ward by a gasoline engine, and with it one man in a few hours could do the work two men did in a day with the lever press. At the pre­ sent time there are four cylinder presses in Lebanon, three turned by gasoline engines, one by a water motor. The type of this his- 21 torical sketch is set with the first type-setting machine brought to Lebanon which was placed in the Star office in May, 1902. Although the city daily papers are now read much more extensively than formerly, the circulation of the Lebanon weeklies has in­ creased and not diminished, and the three weekly newspapers, now published in Leba­ non, all have a good circulation. Fifteen or twenty persons are now employed in printing offices in Lebanon, while formerly, with the population of the county as large as it now is, there were only five or six. There are now nine newspapers printed in Warren county, while at the close of the civil war there were but two or three. The Public Square--Its History

The four half-lots on the corners of Broad­ way and Main streets were designated on the original plat of the town as "public ground," and have been popularly known as the public square. These lots have an interesting his­ tory. Tt is believed that it was the intention of the proprietors of Lebanon to vest the use of these lots in the county for the purposes of a court house, jail and other county buildings, but they were unfortunate in the use of the proper words on the plat to designate the pur­ pose intended. The plat "was executed under the law of the Northwest Territory, passed December 6, 1800, which provided that lots and parcels of land designated on town plats for special purposes should forever be held for the uses and purposes therein named, and for no other use or purpose whatever. After the erection of county buildings on two of these lots, in order to remove all doubts as to the right 0; the county to their use for county purposes, the original proprietors, Icha­ bod Corwin, Silas Hurin, Ephraim Hathaway, and their wives, on May 24, 1809, executed deeds, conveying to the commissioners of the county and their successors in office the four lots designated as public ground for the use of the county forever. These lots, one or more of them, contin­ ued to be used for county purposes for about 23 thirty years. After the erection 0 the court house in the eastern part of the town, about 1834, they ceased to be used for any county public purpose, yet the county commissioners still assumed the right to control und louse bot-h the old court house and all the four lots of the public ground. Alrhough t.hey were advised that the lots were dedicnJed to the public as public ground. and could not be used for pri­ vate purposes, the oomurissiouers per-sisted in their COl1l',";8, eli dded the zrounds into srna.ll lots, and }('�t:�e{l thC':H to Yariom\ p0-�'�'�ons for long periods of time. After �;Hhlg ad vcrtised, the old court 110Il:-'(:'. un Jl})l-i i j �2, lS;) 1, was leased, the tOYOl of Le lihl1l)l1 1 ,ee-)n, ing lessee for twenty years. at un annual L'nta\ of �;si).r)OI the lease commencing to run i n ,T�I'�P, l/);q, 'I'ho less-ees of t be srnull lots en'rT('(l l.uitd. ings north uud east d Ow c.ld ooru-t h: "'�\(', 'mel business vvu � c.ll'l'iee, ,,[I in them f( ,1' ; everal years before. any complaiut was 1\�'llle. At length legal proceedings v, e1'0 c.umnenced in the supreme court held in Le"1,��1Gjl, -( ,) � liel.\' the erection of new structures, a r«l to reuiovo all obstructions from the;.-1p grounds. A. H. Dun­ levy and Thomas Corwin ",'ere t h« solicitors for the town ; George ..T. Smith and -Iulm Pro­ basco, .Jr., for the oo:n missiou e1':.I. Lpga 1 pro­ ceedings were begun .Ianuary 3, 1 f.:;W. Two years elapsed hefore the cause was finally de­ cided. The comrnisioners claimed tho lots to be the property of the county bv v irf ue of the original intention of the pruprietcrs in their dedication, the deeds of conveyance to the county, and the constant and continued use and appropriation of the property by the county for thirty years, without any objection on the part of the authorities of the town. 24

The court decided that the lots' were dedi­ cated by the proprietors to the use of the in­ habitants of the town of Lebanon. as a com­ mon or public square and that t hey were only beld by the county in trust for that use. The court enjoined the commissioners from leasing. selling, incumbering or in any way interfering with the grounds, and ordered that "all struc­ tures, erections and obstructions 011 said publio ground, now held by either party, shall, within ninety day-s, be removed by the party now 'holding the same, and at the party's own cost, and on failure. a writ of assistance be directed " to the sheriff to remove such 0 bstructions. The language of this decree was so sweep­ ing that it was feared that the old court house would have '0 be torn down. This was not de­ sired by (lither party to the suit. The citizens of the town especially were anxious that the old building should be preserved, as it had long been used as the only town hall in the village. The solicitors of the town, therefore, filed their petition for a re-hearing of the cause and a modification of the decree of the court, which was allowed. and a final decree was made, May 4, 1842, under which all buildings for private purposes were removed, but the old court house was allowed to remain to be used for public purposes only. It was declared by the court that the lots belong beneficially to the town of 1..1e banon for .the use of the town, and that they should not be appropriated to any purpose not of a puhlio nature and for the com­ mon or general use of the village. Thus was secured to the town authorities 'the right of controlling the four lots of the 'public square. The northeast lot was dedica­ ted to public purposes by Ephraim Hathaway; EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY, LOOKING SOUTH.

WEST SIDE OF BROADWAY, LOOKING SOUTH.

25 the northwest lot, by Ichabod Corwin; and the two lots south of Main street by Silas Hurin. In August 1847 the Western Star urged the improvement of the pubhc square by the plant­ ing of shade trees to fit it for a promenade and public meetings. "'l'he square is now," said the editor, "appropriated exclusively to the growth of a stunted grass and dogfennel, " and is a very convenient s wine and flea range. The three vacant lots are now improved in ap­ pearance by some shade trees planted along the sidewalks and by grass on the lots, but there is still room here for the promotion of civic beauty by some village improvement society. Public Halls and Enter­ tainments

The first court house, which stood on the site of the opera house, was for many years the only place in Lebanon for indoor public meetings. There are accounts of sermons in early times preached in the court, room, some­ times by candle light. Political meetings were held here, and in the winter of 1827-8 the Adams and Jackson parties both held here their first county' conventions. After the completion of the second court house the olel one became known as the town hall. About 1844, a third story was added to the building by the Masonic order of Lebanon, and used as a lodge for many years. The Mechanics' Institute held its lectures and dis­ cussions, at first in the lower, and afterward in the second, story. As the first court house of Warren county, the first town hall, the first library and reading room of Lebanon, the memories clustering around the quaint old building make the spot on which it stood his­ toric ground. There Francis Dunlevy, Joshua Collett and George J. Smith sat as president judges under the first constitution of Ohio. There John McLean and Thomas Corwin made their earliest efforts at the bar There, in the court of justice, the town meeting and the in­ stitute, were often heard the voices of men whose names have given the people of Leba­ non a just pride in its early history. The old building was destroyed by fire on the morning of September 1, 1874. 27

The first assembly room in Lebanon built as a public hall was called Washington Hall. In 1855 the council resolved to build a new market house with quarters for the fire depart­ ment. The old market house stood in the mid­ dle of Sliver, at the intersection of Mechanic street The site selected for the new structure was the south west corner, at the intersection of the same streets. The old town hall being inadequate to t're wants of the village, the plan was devised of building a new public hall, as a second story of the new market house. The council were favorahly disposed to­ ward the proposition, but great opposition to it was soon manifested among a considerable portion of the citizens. The question being hotly contested, the council ordered the matter to be submitted to a vote of the electors of the town. The election was held September 8, 1855, and resulted in the following vote: Hall, yes, 118; hall ,no, 129; blank, 3; total,250. The friends of the proposed hall then formed a stock company, and raised the money for building the hall in connection WI th the new market and engine house. The town became a stockholder in this company to the amount of $1,500, or one-half of the estimated cost of completing the hall. This action of the coun­ cil in making the town a stockholder in a joint was in of no stock company violation law , but effort was made to prevent this union of pub­ ho and private money, and thus was completed a hall, belonging in part to the town and in part to private citizens. The new hall was dedicated with a festival, given on the evening of Decem bel' 24, 1856, by the Franklin Inde­ pendent Fire Company. On the 10th of the following month, the stockholders met and 28

.christened the hall Washington Hall, and agreed upon rates of charge- for its use, varying from $3 to $20 per night. The first lecture in the hall was delivered Friday even­ ing, January 23, 1857, by Rev. C. Giles, of the New Jerusalem Church, then a resident of Cincinnati, on "Humanity in the Nineteenth " Century. . This hall would seat about five hundred persons and served the purpose for which it was erected un til it was leased as an assembly room of the normal school. After the comple­ tion of the Opera House and University Hall, it became the head <:]_1.larters of the Granville Thurston Post, G. A. R. The Lebanon Opera House was built as a public hall. On the morning of September 1, 1874, occurred the most disastrous fire in the history of Lebanon, destroying the town hall, Congregational church, Ross hotel and other buildings. Two months later, the council authorized an election to decide the question of levying a tax of three and one-half mills for eight years, aggregating about $45,000, for the purpose of erecting a public hall, corporation offices, etc. The election was held Novembel' 16, 1874. It attracted but little attention, and resulted in a vote of 197 yeas and 33 nays. Bonds were sold and the stone work for the foundation was begun July 16, 1877, and the building was completed the next year. The edifice is the finest public building in Warren county. Though not built on high ground, it presents a fine appearance on ap­ proaching the town, especially from the west and south, looming up above surrounding buildings, and is the most conspicuous and imposing structure in Lebanon. It is built of 29

Lebanon brick, the south and west fronts pre­ senting a variety of ornaments of freestone, galvanized iron and saw-tooth brick work. On the Broadway front is a stone tablet with a representation of the seal of the village, a cedar tree in the center, surrounded by the words, "The Corporation of Lebanon, Ohio." The seating capacity of the mam hall is over 1200. The stage is large enough tor all ordinary dramatic performances. The fresco­ ing was done by Pedretti; the scenery by D. W. C. Waugh, The total cost of the building was about $36,000. The hall, which has re­ ceived the popular name of Lebanon Opera House, was dedicated with a series of Shake­ sperean plays and modern comedies on the evenings of the week beginning Monday, Sep­ tember 2, 1878, by a full and efficient dramatic company, which included such actors as \V. H. Power, Selden Irwin, E. R. Dalton, Julia A. Hunt and others. Judge George R. Sage was a resident of Lebanon at the time of the erection of this building and he much admired its architecture. He once expressed to the writer his regret that it had received the name of opera house; town hall, he thought, would be a better and more appropriate name. He had observed, in look­ ing over views of public buildings, that some of the finest edifices in Europe are called town halls. Durbin Ward, in an address at the dedi­ cation, had proposed that it be called Corwin hall, and the proscenium is ornamented with a portrait of Corwin. But newspapers and popu­ lar usage had so fastened the name of Opera House upon it, that it is the only one applied to it and is found in the village ordinances. In the earlier days of the town, lectures 30

and other evening entertainments were usually free, and given by the literary persons of the community. 'I'he lawyers, ministers, physi­ cians, teachers, and ambitious students of the learned professions responded to the call of their fellow-citizens for an occasional literary address or lecture on a scientific topic. Before

the clise of the cvil war , it was rare indeed that a, public speaker of nationul fame appear­ eel 1)efure 11 Le buuon audience as a paid lec­ turer. The lyceum 01' lect ure system may be said to have oiiginatcd in New England about 1838. Horuce nI�mn was one of its earliest friends, anti Wendell Phillips one of its most popular speakers, and both of them lectured in Leba­ non. This f'ystem has grown and extended from No rv E':.1g1and over the whole ocnntry. It has gi "-Ol11'U1'<.1.1 counn .nities the opportunity of neuriug the .nost emiuent lecturers of this country and of Grel1t Britain. As a meuns of popular rust .. ucrion and entertainment, the lecture is not to be despised. In a great city it is of less importance, but in an inland town the assembliug of the people in a bright, com­ fortable hall, filled. with neighbors and friends, to listen for an hour to one who tells of a. great discovet-y, explains the newest science, gives the results of foreign travel, or points out the beautiful in art and litera.ture, is pleasing, inspiring and. insti-uctive. In 1059 a course of four lectures was given in Washington Hall, the first being by Thomas Corwin on "the Duties of an Amercan Oiti. zen," a lecture which he repeated in Beecher's church in Brooklyn. After the civil war, courses of lectures and other evening enter­ tainments became more common and were well 31 sustained, and the people of Lebanon had the opportunity of hear-ing some of tho most eminent platform speakers of the nation. Lee­ hues have been giyen by John B. Gough, Bayard Taylor, \Vendell Philips, :Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Joseph Cook, Dr. A. A. \Villihs, Prof, R. A. Proctor, HOll. \Villiam Parsons, Schuyler Colfax, Prof. David Swing, Genera.l John B. Gordon, Henry ",Yard Beecher, Robt. G. Lngersoll and others; readings and musical entertainments by James E. Murdoch, Mrs, Scot t Siddons, Helen Potter, :vIendelssohns of Boston, Remenyi, Anna Louise Gary, Clara Louise Kellogg and others. The most success­ ful public entertainment ever given in the tmvn was the lecture of Henry Ward Beecher in the Opera Honse, May 9, 18'79, en "The Reign of the Common People," \\. hich was attended by 1. 200 persons, and the pro­ ceeds of which were �3742. 7;'). The next spring, at a lecture by Joseph Cook, the receipts 'were $5�5.00. Since the ereotion of the Opera House, plays have been the most common public amusement. The bookings of the Opera Honse from 18 i'S to 1898 were for 309 plays, 71 concerts, 0f) lectures, 31 minstrel performances, 19 operas and operettas, 13 readings, 5 presti­ digitations, and !18 unclassified exbibitions,-a total of 5"71 public entertainments to which an acl'l'ission was charged in twenty years. It will be seen that the plays exceed in number all the others taken together. There were in the same period anumber of lectures and concerts in other halts and in the churches, yet if the figures for all these could be obtained, it would .still be found, without doubt, that the num- 32

ber of dramatic performances is greater than that of all the others taken together. Preju­ dice against the drama has almost entirely disappeared and even pulpit denunciations of all plays, good and bad, are rarely heard. Min­ strels and farce comedies have usually drawn the best houses but some of the higher class dramas have met with liberal encouragement. Among others, Walker Whiteside, in tragedy, and Mr. and Mrs. Milton Nobles, in comedy, have been greeted, for successive seasons, with large and intelligent audiences. There have been more than a dozen presentations of Shakespere's dramas. o ;:0 n ::c )­ ;:0 e )­ < tTl Z C rn

r o o � z o � m (Fl -l

Public Enterprises and Utilities

One of the first state roads authorized by the Ohio Legislature passed through Lebanon and was described as "the state road leading from Chillicothe by the court house in 'Warren county to the center of the college township west of the Great Miami." One of the first turnpikes out of Cincinna­ ti was completed to Lebanon in 1837, and pikes from Dayton and Waynesville to Lebanon were completed within the next two years. Long before this, the road through Lebanon had become an important stage route from Cincin­ nati to the National Road at Columbus. In the twenty-five years succeeding the civil war one hundred free turnpikes were con­ structed in Warren county, and few villages of its size in America have been better favored with good graveled roads leading in all direc­ tions than Lebanon. Toll gates were long ago banished from the county. The unfortunate Warren County Canal was chartered in 1830 and completed for the navigation of boats between Lebanon and Mid­ dletown in 1840. After one or two years' op­ eratiun, it was abandoned on account of the difficulty of keeping that portion of it which passed through the Shaker swamp, clear for navigation. The first railroads out of Cincinnati passed up the two Miamis, and Lebanon, being be­ tween the two rivers, was long without a rail­ road. The ride in an omnibus for five miles to 34

the nearest railway station was long a marked feature of life in Lebanon. For more than a third of a century the people continued their efforts to secure either a branch, or a through railroad, and on February 17, 1881 they cele­ brated the anival in the town of the first loco­ motive on a road three feet wide between the rails. The' road was afterward changed to the standard gage.

The first bank was established in the town before it was a dozen years old, and was that of the Lebanon Miami Banking Oompany. The first board of directors was elected in April, 1814 and consisted of Dr. Joseph Canby, Joshua 001- lett, John Adams, Daniel F. Reeder, William Fergnson, \Yilliam Lowry, \Villiam Lytle.Alex­ orawford Thomas R. ander , Ross, and George Harnesbcrger. The first president was Daniel F. Reeder, and the first cashier, Phineas Ross. The bank issued its notes for circulation in de­ nominations of one, two, three, five and ten dollars, and" tickets" of 10 wer denomination than one dollar. Many of the leading men of Lebanon and vicinity were connected with its management. Profitu.blo dividends were frequently declared, but the company became involved in difficul­ ties, and ou February 2, 1819, the directors re­ solved "that it is expedient for this institution to close its business as soon as practicable. � 'I'hut it is not expedien that this resolution be " made pHblic. The banking business of the company 'was closed about 1822. This company was reorganized under the same name in 1841, and the bank again issued its notes for circulation, but its business was carried on for a short time only. Eorne notes 35 of the bank of the date of October, 1841, are in existence, signed by W. SeUers, president, and G. P. Williamson, cashier. Private banks were established before the civil war by the firms of Jaoob Egbert and Robert Boake, and William F. Parshall and Charles A. Smith. Within twelve years after tne war, two bank failures occurred, resulting in great loss to the depositors. The Warren County Bank, Charles A. Smith, proprietor, failed in 1873, and the bank of Boake & Hunt, in 1877. There are now two banks, the Lebanon National and the Citizens National, both on a solid financial basis. There is also a Building and Loan Association which has enabled many citizens to become owners of their homes.

The first provision for extinguishing fires in the village was the organization of the citi­ zens into a fire-bucket brigade and the pur­ chase of hooks and ladders. The town owned hooks and ladders previous to 1815. The first fire engine was purchased about 1828 and is described as of rude construction, consisting of a force pump for throwing water placed in a box about four feet long, three feet wide and two feet deep, mounted on four small wheels. The water was thrown into the box by a line of men, with their leather fire­ buckets, extending from the nearest supply. From the box the water was pumped by hand and thrown upon the fire. This little engine was more effective than might at first be sup­ posed. It could be drawn along the pavement, lifted over obstructions, and taken into door­ yards through gateways. The second fire engine was purchased 36

about 1835, and was called the "Whale." This was a side-bar suction engine, large and cumbersome. It was bought in Cincinnati and cost $1,400. The older and smaller engine " was called, in contradistinction, the" Minnow, and it was claimed by many that it was more useful than the larger and costlier one, as it usually arrived first at the fire and threw water first. Soon after, the Lebanon Fire Company, composed of property-holders of the village, was organized. The Franklin Fire Company was organized about 1849. The third engine " was called "The Franklin, a two-stream suc­ tion engine, with improved pumps and two sets of brakes, one above the other, the upper one worked by men standing on a platform. This engine was used until about the commence­ ment of the civil war, when it was sold to the village of Franklin. The hand engine, "Union, No.1," was bought of Button & Blake, the manufacturers, at Waterford, N. Y., in 1861, for $920. The first steam fire-engine was purchased in 1871 of the Silsby Manufacturing Company, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., at a cost of. $6,000 and was called the "Belle of the West." It was drawn to fires, not by horses, but by members of the fire company and citizens. Since 1897 the village has relied largely on its water-works for extinguishing fires.

The first telegraph office in the village was opened August 1, 1851 on a line from Cincin­ nati to Cleveland and messages were at first received by indentations of dots and dashes on long strips of paper. Montgomery Patton was the first operator and for some time the re, 37 oeipts of the office were barely sufficient to pay the salary of the operator. In 1856 James B. Graham assumed the management of the office which he continued for more than a gen­ eration, and in the latter years of his service he was almost the only telegrapher in the United States who continued the use of Morse's original method of receiving messages on pa­ per. In 1877 the telephone, that "marvel of marvels," was first put into public use, and in 1880 the first telephones were constructed in Lebanon, but none of them extended to a neighboring town. Telephone wires having connected Middletown and Franklin. and Leba­ non and Franklin, the first conversation be­ tween Lebanon and another town was carried on by Charles H. Bundy, at Middletown, and the writer, at Lebanon, on the evening of May 20, 1881.

For more than half of the nineteenth cen­ tury the streets of Lebanon were lighted at night only by the moon and the stars. The successive methods of lighting them by artifi­ ciallights have been by gasoline lamps, coal gas, incandescent electric lights and arc elec­ tric lights. An interval of nearly exactly ten years intervened between the different meth­ ods. On May 3, 1869, the council resolved as an experiment, to purchase ten gasoline lamps to be mounted on oak posts nine feet high. Ad. ditionallamps and posts were soon ordered and the streets were fairly well lighted. The town lamp lighter made his round in a one-horse wagon, beginning the work of filling and light­ ing long before sundown. It was not neces- 38 sary to make another round in the morning to­ turn off the lights, as was afterward necessary' with gas burners, for only enough gasoline was put in each lamp to burn through the night. In 1879, gas works having been put in op­ eration the streets were first lighted with coal gas. In 1889, an electric light plant having been established, the streets were lighted with in­ candescent electric lights, Lebanon being one of the first towns in Ohio to use incandescent electric lights for street lighting. In'�1898 arc lights on the streets took the place of incandescent lights, and on June 6, of this year, the town voted $20,000 in bonds for the purchase of the electric light plant. On January 21, 1895, the town by a vote of 398 ayes to 144 nays, authorized the issue of $50.000 in bonds to establish a system of waterworks. Two attempts to get water­ works on other plans had failed in 1890 and in 1893. The municipality owns and operates its water-works and electric light utilities, both being operated by the same steam power and engineers. Light and water are furnished to the citizens at lower rates than would be charged by incorporated. companies, and both utilities are practically self-sustaining. Schools and Churches

Schools and churches were established in the Turtlecreek valley some years before the town of Lebanon was projected. The first school houses were built of round logs and sometimes put up by the pioneers in a single day with no tool but the ax, but the first churches were !I ; are pretentious and were made of logs hewed inside and out. The first school in the county. of which we have a record, was opened in 1798 in a low, rough log cabin, just west of the site of Leba­ non by Francis Dunlevy, who had taught at Columbia the first classical school in the Miami valley. Mr. Dunlevy's school was attended by youth from four or five miles around, and among them was a little, dark complexioned boy, a little over four years of age, who gave his name as Thomas Corwin, and who walked over a mile from his home. About two years later this school was moved to the uorrhwest about two miles, and in 1801 the teacher became a membel' of the territorial legislature, and after­ ward, president judge. Enos Wi'lliams taught the first school in Lebanon after it became a town, About 1804, Elder .Jacob Grigg, a Baptist clergyman, who had recei ved a good education in England, came to Lebanon and established in the little hamlet a school of a high order which was continued two or three years. He taught the ancient lan­ guages and the higher mathematics as well as the common branches. Ezra Ferris and Rev. William Robinson were also teachers in Leba- 40 non previous to the war of 1812. All the early schools were subscription schools, there being no public school fund. Public schools were organized under the school law about 1830, hut no public school house was built bv taxation for more than twenty years. In 18-17, Editor Denny wrote: "To the shame of Lebanon (and we announce the fact with sorrow), there is not a public scbool house within the limits of the corpora­ tion. For ten years we have been violating the school law by renting uncomfortable and inconvenient rooms in the basement stories of the churches. Money enough has been spent in this wav to have built at least two good school houses. " On September 8, 1847, the taxpayers of the school district resolved to levy a tax of $7,000 for a school house, and a two-story brick build­ ing of five rooms, the first public school house in Lebanon erected by taxation, "was completed in 1851. The Lebanon union school, with Jo­ siah Hurty as the first superintendent, was or­ ganized in this building which stood for eleven years, when it was destroyed by fire on the night of April 8, 1862, with all the library, text-books, furniture and apparatus. A new building was promptly constructed on the same site, to which in 1880 an addition of two rooms was made. This school house. in which "ten teachers taught, was deemed sufficient for 'the wants of the distriot for thirty years, when the people voted to erect a new building on the same site, which was completed in 1893, at a cost of $46,000. This is the most magnificent building in the county, and the fact should be noted that .th« costliest edifice erected in Lebanon in a

41

hundred years, is not a court house, a univer­ sity, an opera house, a church, or a rich man's residence, but a common-school house for the common education of the children of the rich and the poor. The salary of the superintend­ ent has risen from $650.00 in 1851 to a maxi­ mum of $1600.00 in 1873. The list of the Su­ perintendents is here given: Josiah Hurty 1851-54 S. F. Anderson 1870-71

.. Charles W. Kimball.,; 1854-59 Thomas N. Wells. .. _._ 1871-73

_ Collin Ford___ 1860-62 G. N. Carruthers __ . __ ._ .. 1873-74

William D. Henkle _1862-64 James C. Murray _ .. 1874-78

.. Charles W. Kirnball..; 1864-67 Joseph F. Lukens. __ .. 1878-94

Louisa Jurey Wrig-hL,1867-68 Geo. W. Lewis __ .1894-99

William H. Pabodie..... 1868-70 John M. Hamilton 1899-

The Lebanon Academy was erected in 1844; the first principal of the school was C. C. Giles, afterward a distinguished minister of the Swedenborgian church. Among those who taught in this institution, as principals or as asistants, were William N. Edwards, John Nor­ ton Pomeroy, afterward distingutshed as a law writer, John A. Smith, Lycurgus Mat­ hews, George R. Sage and L. N. Bonham. In 1854, John Locke, �. D., who had been profes­ sor of chemistry in the Ohio Medical College, removed from Cincinnati to Lebanon for the purpose of establishi r- g in the academy a school of science, including a department of scientific agriculture. Dr. Locke was at that time far advanced in years, and his enterprise was not successful. The South Western Normal School began its first session in the Lebanon Academy build­ ing on November 24, 1855, with about ninety pupils from Lebanon, and three or four from other localities. Alfred Holbrook was the principal and he had three assistant teachers 42

under him. Under President Holbrook's man­ agement the institution met with a large meas­ ure' of success and became the largest normal school in Ohio. A feature of the president's management was long maintained, namely" dormitories for rooms and clubs or boarding houses largely under his personal control, which enabled students to live at a very small cost, and made Lebanon a town noted for its oheap boarding houses. The attendance con­ tinued to increase and new buildings were erected. In 1870 the name of the institution was changed to National Normal School, and in 1881 to National Normal University, by which it is still known. President Holbrook resigned his position in 1897, and was succeed­ ed by Prof. J. 'V. Withers, who served until 1901. J. Oscar Creager is the present head of the school. In the old Baptist grave-yard is one of the­ first monuments erected over a grave at Leba­ non, bearing thi.s inscription:

In Memory of REV. DANIEL CLARK First Pastor of th e Baptist Church, Lebanon. from 1798 to 1830: who died

Dec. 11, 1834, aged 90 years. The First Pastor Ordained in the Limits of Ohio.

The ordination of this pioneer pastor, which is accepted by competent authorities as the first northwest of the Ohio. took place at Columbia, under the shade of large trees on the bank of the Ohio, September 21, 1792. Though Rev. is prefixed to his name on the monument, in his life-time he was known as Elder Clark. The Miami Baptist Association 43 met at Turtlecreek in 1800 and adopted the fol­ lowing: "Resolved, That in future, the title of Reverend as applied to ministers be laid aside, and that Elder be substituted in its place." The Baptists on Turtlecreek built their first meeting-house one mile east of the center of Lebanon in 1798. At that time they formed a branch of the Clearcreek church and, on Saturday December 11, 1802, they were or­ ganized into an independent church called Turtlecreek. In 1811 they erected the first church in Lebanon and their church-yard be­ came what is now known as the Old Baptist graveyard. It was at a meeting at Lebanon in 1835 that the historic Miami Baptist Association divided into two bodies, and since 1836 there have been two Baptists churches at Lebanon, both of which can celebrate their. centenary in 1902. The most prominent of the pioneers of Leb­ anon were Baptists. Judge Francis Dunlevy, Matthias and lchabod Corwin, and Judge Josh­ ua Collett were members of that church and were buried in the Baptist grave-yard. But in other parts of the county, many prominent men were members of the Presbyterian church. Colonel John Bigger and General William C. Schenck were Presbyterians. Gov­ ernor Morrow was a member of the Associate­ Reformed Presbyterian church. Judge Me­ Lean was a Methodist, but his father was a Presbyterian and his mother a Baptist. The first Presbyterian church in the 'I'ur­ tlecreek valley, five miles west of Lebanon, was destroyed by the New Light revival at the beginning of the nineteenth century and most of its members became Shakers. The Lebanon 44

Presbyterian church was organized about 1805 and for some years held its meetings in groves and in the court house. Its first meet­ ing house was completed about 1817. The first Methodist Episcopal society in Lebanon was organized in 1805 and was com­ posed of only four members. The church con­ tinued small until a great revival in 1811 and 1812 made it the largest in the town. Its first church edifice was completed in 1813. Bishop Asbury, who presided at a conference in Leba­ non in 1815, is reported to have said that this church was the strongest Methodist church, intellectually, morally and financially, in the Mississippi valley. The Cumberland Presbyterian church of Lebanon was organized March 20, 1836 and built its first meeting-house on Mechanic street the next year. The Catholics have a church with a large membership, and a parsonage; their church is called St. Francis de Sales. A Methodist Protestant church was organ­ ized in 1830 from a secession from the Metho­ dist Episcopal church, and in 1847 completed their meeting-house on Mulberry street, upon which was placed in that year the town clock. The congregation ceased to exist in 1886 and sold its building to the Odd Fellows. A Congregational church was organized in 1857; it grew out of the trial for heresy of Rev. .Simeon Brown, pastor of the Presbyterian church. The society continued its existence until the destruction of its church edifice on Main street by fire in 1874. A German Reformed church was organized in 1866 and erected a brick edifice on Cherry street; in 1874 it became an Evangelical Luth- 45 eran church. Services in this church were us­ ually conducted in the German language and. some years ago were discontinued. The Disciples of Christ maintained an or­ ganization in Lebanon for many years and a few years ago erected a small frame church. There are now in Lebanon eleven churches, three of which are for the colored people. Civic Itnprovetnents

On March 15, 1886, Henry Howe came to Lebanon on his tour of the state to collect ma­ terials for the second edition of his Historical Collections of Ohio. Forty years before he had visited the town when preparing the first edition of that work, and he then made a sketch of Broadway. On his second visit, in conversation with the writer, he recalled the appearance of the to wn in 1846 and said, "I can tell you, your town has wonderfully im­ " proved in forty years. In the sixteen years which have passed since that conversation, the change for the better in the appearance of the streets and homes has perhaps been still more marked. When the town was over forty years old, its houses were generally frame, without paint or white-wash; its streets had few shade trees; its sidewalks were roughly paved with un­ dressed flag-stones. On August 6, 1847, Wil. liam H. P. Denny, in a ringing editorial, stated the great wants of the town, as (1) a public school-house, (2) a public �circulating library, (3) well paved streets, shade trees and the im­ provement of the public square, (4) a public cemetery, (5) the banks of the reservoir plant­ ed with the white-willow. Before the lapse of many years, the to wn had all these improve­ ments except the last, and the reservoir itself has ceased to exist. The progress of civic betterment has been but Good slow steady. smooth streets, con- 47 structed by the town authorities, brought about better side-walks, constructed by the property owners; these improvements aroused civic pride. and led to clean usage of the thor­ oughfares and the removalof rubbish and old papers; neatness and order on the streets en­ couraged improvements in business houses, homes and dooryards. Editor Denny's appeals for shade trees bore fruit, and since he urged their planting, there has been a succession of street trees of differ­ ent kinds. The locust first predominated; next came the ailantus ; then the silver or white poplar; these last soon attained a great size and have now nea.rly all disappeared. Now we have lining the same street a variety of our native forest trees, maple, elm, poplar, tulip and others. Shady streets characterize the town; the residences are frequently embower. ed. The tree-planting spirit was not aroused until a generation after the pioneers. The old grave-yards, one of which is older than the town, have remained almost entirely des­ titute of trees; the cemetery is a forest. The public school lot, which is an entire square, was long ill-kept and without trees, now it has many beautiful trees, and its walks are lined with bright flowers. To the pioneer the tree stood as an enemy to be slaughtered by his steel; the clearing which let in the sunshine was his "improvement;" now the dooryard and the street are made attractive by the planting of the forest trees the first settlers cut down and burned. A few trees, however, were planted by the early inhabitants. The most venerable tree, and the one with the largest trunk, now 48 growing on our streets, is the sycamore at the northeast corner of Mulberry and Cherry, which is said to have been planted by Dr. David Morris in 1816. Several years ago it lost one of its largest branches which extended over the street and was cut off. Its trunk now meas­ ures 10 feet, 6X inches in circumference, and it has grown 2X inches in circumference in the last sixteen years. At the close of the civil war the state law requiring the owners of domestic animals to keep them within enclosures began to be en­ forced, but not without much opposition. Hogs and cattle were no longer allowed the free range of the streets. Fences in the town, which were often shabbily kept, now became unnecessary, but for a generation new fences continued to be built, and in this way thous­ ands of dollars were unwisely expended. Thomas F. Thompson, a prominent lawyer re� siding on Columbus avenue, was the first to remove his fence and leave his dooryard unen­ closed; this he did about 1875, but years passed before his example was followed by his fellow­ citizens. Not until the last decade did fences generally disappear and the open dooryard be­ come the rule. In the same decade many long lines of smooth cement walks were constructed, and in the residential parts the green sward now ex­ tends from the house to the walk. and there is a border of grass between the walk and the gutter. One of the purposes of societies for oivic improvement, as they exist today, is the es­ tablishment of public libraries in villages. A public library with a free reading room was established in Lebanon in 1862, chiefly through -e c: to C () (J'J () ::t: o o r- ::t: o c: (/) m

() o s: " t"'" rn '"":l tTl o Z

I-' 00 -o W

49 the energy of William D. Henkle, then a teach­ er in the town. The council gave the free use of the second floor of the old town hall i the library was kept up by the old Mechanics+In. stitute, an organization of which Corwin and other famous men had long been members. After the destruction of the town hall by fire and the erection of the new public hall, the library was given comfortable quarters on the first floor of the new building. Some of the first books purchased by the Lebanon library society, chartered in 1811, as well as the most valuable portions of the old library of the Me­ chanics' Institute, are here to be found. The library now contains over five thousand vol­ umes. The town authorities grant the use of the room, warm and light it. The other expenses are defrayed by a membership fee of one dol­ lar a year. The use of the reading room is free and there is free access to the shelves. The pupils of the public schools here learn the proper use of works of reference and obtain books and periodicals for home reading, and. to them the library and reading room is of, priceless value. Distinguished Men

Whitelaw Reid, in his Ohio in the War, said the village of Lebanon had been singular­ ly prolific in distinguished men. This is par­ ticulurly true of the town in its ear-lier history. III 18;)0, when Hie town was still small and tho mem�,.'ers of the bar only eleven in nun: �)(':;_" 11101'(' members of that 1mI' had be­ come L:mur:.3 than of anv other in the state, the city Ld,1'8 not excepted. In that year Tho-uas Corwin. a Lebanon lawver, was first elected i () CO:1gl'es.;;; and soon became the most di:::,t!:og�-:.it-:i_lE'li and popular man in the state; ano.Ler or the eleven, .Y0h11 II:cLean, was a, j-r:c1g,e of the supreme court. of the United ShL-:-f�,' n :�d th« :G_l'�3t Ohio lawver to be elevated to thut hi.gh position; another, Joshua Collett, wU::: n j-,J:gf: of tIle supreuie court of Ohio; an­ other. Comge J. Smit.h, 'i\ as president judge of tIl(' C01.;::_.t 0::: COm1l1Cl1 pleas for a judicial circuit enl1mlci:ug severu l connties, there be­ ing un.lr i t be first con-titu.Ion of state, but om, pre--idcnt jl1dge in each oircuit; and still anci·IJC'i', 'I" l'.01l:l�S REI"'". ,C;',S, 1<1(1

of this account was made by C. W. Butterfield in his history of Crawford's campaign. It is said of this pioneer who was success­ ively, a soldier, a student, a teacher, a legisla­ tor, a judge, and a practicing lawyer, that he read and wrote Latin with ease. His son, An­ thony Howard, wrote of him: "In 1829 he lost by accident all his notes on the early set­ tlement of the west. These were in Latin which he preferred as being shorter. These notes fell into the hands of a man to whom he sold his place, and who, being unable to make anything out ot them, threw them away as useless. He greatly regretted the loss. His memory was so remarkably good that he might have reproduced most of them, had not the la­ bor been too great for his advanced years." Not only did Lebanon and its vicinity fur­ nish the first president judge of the first cir­ cuit, but also the first representative to con­ gress from the new state. In June, 1803, the people of the whole state were called on to choose a single representative to congress, and they elected Jeremiah Morrow, a pioneer, who resided on the Little Miami, south of Lebanon, and for ten years he served as the representative-at-large from Ohio, and after­ ward as senator and governor. It is the distinction of Warren county that she furnished the member of the Ohio legisla , tnre of greatest longevity in legislative service under both the first and the second state con­ stitutions. Under the constitution of 1802, Colonel John Bigger, a farmer of the vicinity of Lebanon, served the longest period in the general assembly-thirteen terms in the sen­ ate, and eight terms in the house, or thirty­ four years in all. Colonel Bigger was also 53

speaker of the house in 1821. Under the con­ stitution of 1851, Dr. James Scott, of Lebanon, served in the legislature the greatest number of terms=-erg ht terms in the house, or sixteen years in all.

Another prominent man of Lebanon, among its pioneers, was Matthias Corwin, father of the distinguished orator. He was a member of the first board of county commis­ sioners, a representative in the legislature for ten years, twice speaker of the Ohio house of representatives, and an associate judge. For tihirty years he was the principal and most ac­ tive deacon of the Baptist church at J... ebanon, and in a period of thirty years his name occurs more frequently in the minutes of that body than that of any other layman. Judge John McLean continued his resi­ dence in Lebanon for some years after he be­ came an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States. In his last years his home was at Oincinnati, where he died in 1861. He was buried in Spring Grove cemetery. Durbin Ward was the first man in the county to sign an enrollment paper for troops in the civil war. When the president's proc­ lamation reached Lebanon, he was trying a case at the court house. He hastily drew up a paper containing something like the following: , , We the undersigned, hereby tender our ser­ vices to the president of the United States to protect our national flag." He signed it, and proceeded with his case. He went into the ar­ my as a private, declining a captaincy; he came out a brigadier general. He was a Dem­ ocrat and a decided opponent of the election of Lincoln, yet, when the national flag was 54

fired upon, he at once offered his services to support an administration whose elevation to power he had opposed. His example and in­ fluence did much to unite all parties in the sup­ port of armed measures for the supression of the rebellion. After the war General Ward was until his death the most popular political orator of the Democratic party in Ohio. His life and speeches were published by A. H. Smythe at Columbus, in 1888. The people of Lebanon will ever take pride in the name of Thomas Corwin. This illustrious man has been pronounced by those whose opinion is of weight, the greatest of American orators. Robert G. Ingersoll, him­ self a gifted orator, and who was introduced to a large audience by Henry Ward Beecher. as "a man who, and I say it not flatteringly, speaks the English language most brilliantly of all men on this globe," repeatedly expressed the opinion that Corwin was preeminent among American orators. Colonel Ingersoll prefaced his only lecture in Lebanon, March 4, 1899, with the following tribute to the gen­ ius of Corwin:

"Being for the first time where Thomas Corwin lived and where his ashes rest. I cannot refrain from saying something of what I feel. Thomas Corwin was a natural orator-armed with the sword of attack and the shield of defence. Nature filled his quiver with perfect arrows. He was the lord of logic. and laughter. He had the presence, the pose, the voice, the face that mirrored thoughts, the unconscious gesture of the orator. He had intelligence-a wide horizon-logic as unerring as mathematics-humor as rich as autumn when the and vines bend with the boughs weight of ripened frult , while the forests flame with scarlet, brown and gold. He had wit as quick and sharp as lightning and like the lightning it filled the heavens with sudden light. "In his laughter there was logic, in his wit wisdom and in his humor philosophy and philanthropy. He was a supreme artist. He 55 painted pictures with words. He knew the strength, the velocity ot verbs, the color. the light and shade of adjectives. He was a sculp­ tor in speech-changing stones to statues. He had in his heart the sacred something that we call sympathy. He pitied the unfortunate, the oppressed and the outcast. His words were often wet with tears­ tears that in a moment after were glorified by the light of smiles. All moods were his. He knew the heart, its tides and currents, its calms and storms, and like a skillful pilot he sailed emotion's troubled sea. "He was neither solemn nor dignified because he was neither stupid nor egotistic. He was natural, and had the spontaneity of winds and waves.

"He was the greatest orator of his time, the grandest that stood beneath our flag. "Reverently I lay thi s leaf upon his grave." There was no post O:'HC9 withrn the limits of 'T"r"rr

William Ferguson. 180S-0R Ira Watts . __ . __ _ .. __ _1859-61

Jeremiah Lawson 1803-10 Hiram Yeo __ , 1861-66 Matthias Ross 1810-11 Mrs. Belle E. Parshall.1866-78

Daniel F. Reeder __ 1811-16 Thomas H. Blake. __ 1878-87 George Harnesberger 1816-25 John W. Lingo _.1887-91

John Reeves.. 1825-31 Thomas Starry '_.'_".' 1891-95

George Kesling 1831-41 Mrs. Mary V. Proctor.. 1895-97 Thomas F. Brodie 18-n-S.1 Owen S. Higgins 1897-01 Elijah Dynes 18S3-59 William H. Antram 1901- 'I'he first physician in the Turtlecreek val­ ley and, for four years prior to 1801, the first in the vicinity of Lebanon, puhlished his pro­ fessional c.ird in The Western S���l, of Cincin­ nati, for seven weeks, beginning in February, .1801. It is here transcribed: z o ;0 3: >­ r c:: Z < m ;0 (/1 -l --< o:l c:: r " Z c

57

John C. arrived Winans, lately from Elizabethtown, N. J .• with a general assortment of medicines. respecttulty tenders his ser­ vices to the public in the line of his profession as physician and surgeon, Those who may have occasion and are disposed to call on him, may find him at the Rev. Mr. Kemper's, on Turtle creek, where he has opened his shop and is now in a capacity to serve them. The following somewhat incorrect account of Lebanon is taken from" A 'I'opography of Ohio: by a. Late Officer of the United States Army, Boston, 1812:"

"Further up the Miami is Lebanon. situated on the bank, and the largest town on the river. It contains about an hundred houses and is inhabited by the people called Sbaklng Quakers. They are

. emigrants from Kentucky, who were first formed into a regular so­ ciety by a Mr. Macnamara who still continues their h ead : they have acquired much credit as a frugal and indu strtou s peonle ." Among the most eccentrio characters of the early history of Lebanon WlLS William M. 'Viles, merchant, hotol.keeeper and local po­ litician' who died in 183i', aged about fifty years. His strange and ofttimes unintelligi­ ble advertisements frequently attracted the attention of readers of the LAbanon newspa­ pers two generations a.go. 'I'he following in­ cident is related by A. H. Dunlevy: "During the warm canvass of 1832,Gen.Ea­ ton, secretary of war under Gen. .Jackson, called at Wiles's hotel on his way to Cincinna­ ti and the south, and remained over night. Anxious to know how Ohio was going to vote, Gen. Eaton asked Wiles how the friends of Jackson and Clay stood in this part of the state, and expressed the hope that he was in favor of Old Hickory. 'Viles, who was too po­ lite to his guests to raise any dispute, did not give any definite answer, but replied: 'Gen. Eaton, our watchword is ever the sword of the Lord and Gideon,' and, when pressed still fur- 58

ther, he added, with vehemence: 'As soon as we hear the sound of a gong in the mulberry tops, we will arise, and, with the cry, Irro your tents, oh, Israel! will gather the hosts from Dan to Beersheba, and then will be seen such a slaughter of the Almalekites as has never been witnessed since the days of Joshua.' "About this time, Thomas Corwin, then a member of congress, and acquainted with Gen. Eaton, called on him, and Wile-s left the room. Soon Gen. Eaton gave Corwin an account of Wiles's strange conduct, and said to him: 'Your landlord is certainly crazy.' 'No,' said Cor­ win, 'he was only too polite to tell you, so dis­ tinguished a guest of his, that he was the sup­ porter of Clay against Jackson. That is all.' Eaton laughed heartily at the explanation, and did not again press Wiles for his opinions about, the approaching election." Tho first, centennial celebation at Lebanon was that of the one hundredth anniversary of American independence, -Iuly 4, 187G. It was a county cel-Lrution, held in accordance with a recommendation of congress, and the exercis­ es were at the fair grounds. Delegations from every township in the county were present. Music was furnished by the brass bands of Leb­ anon, Maineville, Waynesville and Clarksville, and the normal school choir, under the leader­ ship of Prof. L. R. Marshall. Notwithstanding the unpropitiou-r weather, several thousand persons attended. Owing to the rain, which continued throughout the forenoon, it was not found expedient to proceed to the grounds be­ fore 1 o'clock. The principal streets of the town were appropriately decorated with flags, banners, pendan ts and pictures. At the rair ground, the speaker's stand 59 was much admired. It was forty feet long and twelve feet wide. Three hundred feet of cedar wreath and six hundred small flags were used in its decoration. Festoons of cedar and a happy arrangement of flags made a beau­ tiful display. The roof of the stand was beech brush. On the roof near the center was a large oil painting of Washington, appropriately trimmed with cedar and flags. On each side of the picture, equally distant from the center and ends of the platform, were red-white-and­ blue shields, one with 1776 and the other with 1876 painted on it. Surmounting the whole was a streamer bearing the legend, "In God We Trust." The portrait of Washington, which was so conspicuous a feature in the dec­ oration, was painted by Marcus Mote when a resident of Lebanon. and was donated by him to the Mechanics' Institute. The exercises at the fair-ground consisted of prayer by Rev. J. P. Sprowls; reading the declaration of Independence, by Prof. James E. Murdoch, who also read Daniel Webster's Sup­ posed Speech of John Adams in Support of the Declaration; oration by Hon. Aaron F. Perry, of Cincinnati, and the reading of an historical sketch of Warren county by Josiah Morrow. Judge George J. Smith was president of the day. Several presidents of the United States have been in Lebanon. Willfam Henry Harri­ son spoke here in the campaign of 1840; Ex­ President Van Buren passed through the town in 1842, and Ex-President J. Q. Adams in 1843, and both were given public receptions; R. B. Hayes opened his first campaign for governor in Washington Hall, August 5, 1867; General Garfield and William McKinley each made 60

more than one political speech in the town; and Benjamin Harrison addressed a soldiers' reunion at the fair ground. The largest number of distinguished men ever in the town at the same time was at a pub- 1ic dinner in honor of Governor De ·Witt Clin­ ton, July 22, 1825, when there were present De Wit.t Clinton, Henry Clay, William Henry Harrison, Governor Morrow and Ex-Governor E. A. Brown, all of whom made after-dinner speeches. The Present

That Lebanon enters on its second century a better town, and a more desirable place to live in than it was at any period in the past can scarcely be doubted by those who have known it longest and are most familiar with its history.. The population, it is true, has remained nearly stationary for four decades as has that of Warren county. 'I'he striking fact in our modern censuses is the growth of cities, while the merely agricultural districts and the vil­ lages in them remain stationary, or suffer a loss to supply the cities. But while the popu­ lation has remained nearly stationary for forty years, the town itself has grown in size. The eoporate limits have been extended again and again; additions have been made, new streets laid out, new buildings have been erected on vacant lots, and larger and better ones taken the place of those torn down. There are more owners of property and more families now than ever before, but the families are smaller. Manufacturing industries, of which there were many in the earlier history of the town, have largely ceased to exist, but business, in some lines, is carried on more extensively and profitably than at any time in the past. We have enterprising merchants and larger and better stores. Perhaps no other village of its size in Ohio has as large or as fine mer­ cantile establishments. Two grain dealers make the town a good market for the agricul­ tural products of the surrounding fertile 62

farms. The first steam elevator in the place was built in 1900. A larger number of hogs is shipped from Lebanon than from any other railroad station in the region about Cincinnati. In 1898 the largest creamery in Ohio was established here by the French Brothers, and it already has branches in twelve towns from eight to twenty miles distant. It receives milk from over 1900 Ia.rms, the milk received daily in the summer season amounting to 130,- 000 pounds, from which there is a daily pro­ duct of from four to five thousand pounds of butter. 'I'he central establishment employs forty horses and over fifty men, and its dis­ bursernents average a thousand dollars a day. The town L� <1 quiet and orderly one. Street scenes of dr-unken disorder, and of rude and brutal amusements, remembered by men still Irving, are no longer witnessed. There has been a grutifying progress in the last gen­ eration in the cause of temperance. This was not brought about by the force of legal enact­ ments, for the few prohibition ordinances passed. in the last thirty years were all of short life. The increased means of culture and in. tellectual improvement, and the higher order of public amusements have worked together for sobriety and the common good. Lebanon has ill ost reason to be proud of its homes. It is a place where people can live, rather than amass wealth. With its attractive residences, and their beautiful surr-oundings, its schools and churches, its library and reading room, its Iitorary and musical clubs, its lecture courses and other high-class public entertain­ ments, it is a town to minister to the higher necessities of the soul. 63

Bishop Joshua Soule pronounced the val­ ley of Turtlecreek the garden spot of the world. With some civic improvements easily made, and projected trolley lines completed, Lebanon will worthily crown that fertile and beautiful valley. LEBANON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION/" September 251" 26 end 271" 1902.

FIRST DAY-THURSDAY.

Forenoon (10 o'c1ock)-Meeting in opera house. Orchestral mu­ sic. Opening address by John E. Smith, president of the meeting Centennial oration by William Henry Venable. LL. D. Afternoon-Band concerts. Addresses by Senator Hanna, Gover­ nor Nash and Secretary of State Laylin. Evening-Centennial Musicale in the opera house. Laura Bellini and other eminent artists Lebanon has given to the world of music have kindly consented to assist. SECOND DAY-FRIDAY.

Forenoon (9:30 o'c1ock)-Meeting in the opera house. Orchestral music. Brief addresses by citizens and visitors. Judge J. A. Runyan, president of the meeting. Afternoon-Band concerts. Industrial and flower parade, Evening-Band concerts. Reception of citizens and visitors in the opera house by the ladies of Lebanon. THIRD DAY-SATURDAY.

Forenoon-Educational exhibit at the public school. Exhibition of ladies' driving on Broadway. Afternoon (2 o'c1ock)-Parade of schools, fraternal societies and G. A. R. posts. Evening-Finale of fireworks. RELIC ROOM.

The centennial relic room, under the charge of the Federated Clubs, will be open during the three days of the celebration for the exblbltlon of pioneer and historical relics, antiques and curios.