200 Years of Delaware County

in Story & Song

Delaware Community Chorus

Jim Keyes
November, 2007

Delaware’s story began long before its actual founding.  

The earliest traces of Delaware County inhabitants are those of the Mound Builders. Long ago, they came, but we do not know from where. Then they vanished, and we do not know to where.

When white settlers first came, they discovered Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes living here. The Natives hunted and grew corn. But soon there was conflict between Native Americans and white settlers from the east. When we reflect how the Native Americans’ hunting grounds had been wrested from them, we feel little disposition to censure or condemn them for contesting the pale-faces’ intentions to possess the lands of their ancestors.

 Nonetheless, the successful end of the Revolutionary War truly decided the ownership of this section of the country, perhaps, for all time to come.

In the decade of Delaware County’s beginning, John Adams was president, Congress convened in Washington DC for the first time. John Chapman – “Johnny Appleseed” – began his work. Lewis and Clark started their trek to the Northwest. Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson finalized the Louisiana Purchase, said to be the shrewdest real estate deal ever: fourteen cents per acre.

Moses Byxbe is recorded as the first settler in Berkshire Township. He owned 8,000 acres there, which he got from land warrants from Revolutionary War soldiers. He brought a group of settlers to the County from Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Many township settlements followed, lead by names such as Cowgill, Lewis, Eaton, Adams, Calkins, Pugh, Perry, Curtis, Newell, to name just a few.

Then in February, 1808, Moses Byxbe and Henry Baldwin laid out Delaware’s first section. Four months later, Byxbe made a sincere effort to have the infant community named state capital of Ohio. No luck, though: Zanesville won out.

Undaunted, the community set up shop – with flour mills, tanneries, a pottery, a hotel/tavern, a woolen mill, a planning mill and a firm that made barrels, staves and hoops. The first Masonic body, Hiram Free and Accepted Masonic Lodge, was organized in 1811.

In 1810, the third US census counted over 7,000,000 people in the US.  The War of 1812 was declared to stop British kidnapping of American sailors and blockading of American ports.

Ten inches of snow fell on New England in June, 1816.

Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Missouri were admitted to the Union.

The first steamboat sailed the Mississippi River.

Construction of the Erie Canal began in 1814.

In 1814 Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that would become the lyrics to our National Anthem. He set his poem to a British drinking song popular in America. Although used by various patriotic groups as early as 1889, Congress did not make it our national anthem until 1931. Then, as now, the low-note, high-note range of the song gave singers fits. The Chorus will sing the anthem in its original form. You will notice it is not quite the same as the version we sing today.

The Delaware area saw no action during the War of 1812. But one of its historic homes did serve as headquarters for General William Henry Harrison. In 1818, Delaware County’s oldest newspaper, the Delaware Gazette started. It originally was published weekly. St Peter’s Episcopal Church was founded in 1817.

In 1820, the US population grew to over 9 ½ million.

The Missouri Compromise balanced the number of slave and free states admitted to the Union.

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick was inspired by the true story of a whale attack on the whaling ship Essex.

1823: The Monroe Doctrine tolerated no European influence in Western Hemisphere,

1826:  The first American railroad was completed in Quincy Massachusetts.

1828: Noah Webster published Dictionary of English Language.

1829: the first steam-powered locomotive was built.

In Delaware, several significant houses of worship were built: the First Presbyterian Church, and the William Street Methodist Church. Rutherford B Hayes, later a US president, was a member of First Presbyterian Church..

Delaware’s earliest schools were held for the most part in private dwellings. With passage of the School Law in 1825, Delaware created its first public school.

Two stagecoach routes were developed through Delaware during the 1820’s.

The US population was nearly thirteen million in the 1830’s. Nat Turner lead the first of many slave revolts. Abolitionist writers were banned from South Carolina, and the New England Anti-Slavery Society was formed. In 1838, the Underground Railroad was organized.

Cyrus McCormack patented a horse-drawn grain reaper. Samuel Clemens was born in 1835. He was destined to become one of America’s greatest writers: Mark Twain.

Delaware’s population reached 532 in 1830. The Mansion House Hotel opened in 1833. People came from great distances to take advantage of the medicinal qualities of those waters. Next year, the city had its first fire truck and a fire department of four men.

Delaware’s first private school held classes at 15 North Franklin Street. Among its students: the young Rutherford B. Hayes.

17 million people now lived in the US, helping fuel an immense westward migration. Manifest Destiny, as described by John L. O’Sullivan assured Americans: “… our destiny to overspread the continent is allotted by Providence.”

Gold was discovered in California in 1848.

The first American women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

Harriet Tubman began her work on the Underground Railroad.

In the 1840’s the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was founded. Delaware’s first bank was opened and plans were made for the first plank road to Columbus. The American Hotel gained popularity.

Topping everything else during the decade though was the founding of Ohio Wesleyan University. Adam Poe spearheaded a fund drive that brought in $10,000. That was enough.

In the 1850’s the US population reached 23 million.

John Soule and Horace Greely gave this advice: “Go west, young man, go west.”

U.S Senator Charles Sumner attacked on Senate floor following an anti-slavery speech.

The Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott Case that Scott never ceased to be a slave even though his owner had brought him to free territory

On February 6, 1852, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railroad first arrived in Delaware.

Several cigar-making companies were started.

St. Paul’s Methodist Church, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and First Baptist Church opened their doors for worship.

The city began furnishing natural gas to its residents.

Delaware earned distinction for its cultivation of grapes. In 1853, George Campbell and Frederick Vergon developed the Delaware Grape.

Since no ladies were permitted at Ohio Wesleyan, the Delaware Female College was founded.

Also in 1850’s, Oak Grove Cemetery was opened.

In 1860, 31 million people lived in America.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president.

The American Civil War began.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

The Thirteenth Amendment was abolished slavery in the country.

Lincoln was assassinated.

Secretary of State Seward purchased Alaska for $7 million. Some called it Seward’s Folly.

The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.

In 1859 Delaware population reached 3829 people.

Grace United Methodist church completed its first building.

New companies included the Flax Mill of the Delaware Manufacturing Company and the Delaware Fence Company.

The Williams Opera House was opened as well as Old North School.

Two Civil War training camps were in Delaware: one for white soldiers and one for soldiers of African descent.

When Congress convened in 1870, all states in the Union were represented – the first time since 1860.

Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act to stop southern resistance to the growing influence of African Americans.

The Chicago Fire nearly destroyed the city. Most everyone is pretty sure Mrs. O’Leary’s cow did not survive either.

Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man in which he traced man’s relationship to apes.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in a highly controversial election.

Thomas Edison patents the phonograph. Then he gave us the light bulb.

On December 20, 1870, Delaware’s new steam fire engine showed off by shooting water over the Goddess of Justice statue atop the Courthouse.

In 1873 the “Village” achieved city status.

The Delaware Chair Company gave the world the Delaware Chair. By 1877 the company was making 30,000 chairs per year.

Riddell, Graff and Company grew to be the third largest cigar maker in Ohio.

In 1877 Ohio Wesleyan admitted women.

By the 1880’s over 50 million people were in the US.

George Eastman patented flexible camera film. Thereafter people were saying “cheese” a lot.

President Garfield was assassinated.

Wyatt Earp and his brothers got in the famous gunfight at OK Corral.

The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883.

Chicago boasted having the world’s first “sky-scraper”. It was ten stories high.

New York harbor welcomed the Statue of Liberty in 1886.

7,000 people now lived in Delaware. In 1881, they could talk to one another without leaving their homes because The Central Ohio Telephone Company located an exchange in the city.

The Opera House brought famous performers to Delaware.

Delaware High School was built in 1884.

Joining the Delaware religious community were St. John’s Lutheran, Asbury Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic.

In 1888 the Delaware Edison Electric Light and Power House Company started operation.

In 1889 the Delaware Water Company began service. Most cisterns and wells were replaced with treated water from the Olentangy River.

The Ohio Chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union started its work in Delaware.

Telephone service between New York and Chicago offered for the first time in 1892.

For the first time ever, x-rays were used to treat breast cancer.

In 1898 the battleship Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor. The tensions between America and Spain lead to the Spanish American War.

Delaware boasted of four hostelries including the Hotel Blee, which opened in 1890.

The Sarah Moore Nursing Home began its services in 1892.

In the same year, streetcars began operating in town.

The Perkins Observatory was completed on OWU’s West Campus.

Intermission

In the 1900’s, Carrie Nation began her anti-alcohol campaign using an ax.

In 1902 the US Postal Service offered free rural mail delivery.

The Wright Brothers flew their first airplane at Kittyhawk, North Carolina.

In 1908 Henry Ford sold his first Model T.

After just two years, the Cook Motor Company closed.

However, Delaware gained its first sewage treatment plant.

The Sunray Stove Company was established.

In 1902, the first interurban arrived on the Columbus, Delaware and Marion Railroad.

City Council decreed that the speed limit for both animals and autos be eight milers per hour.

In 1906, the Carnegie Library was built.

In 1912, the unsinkable RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk.

A year later, the Panama Canal opened.

World War One began in 1914. It ended four years later at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year.

And, in 1919, prohibition, a stunningly ill-advised social experiment, was passed into law. It took effect in 1920.

9,076 people now lived in Delaware.

The Delaware Red Cross came along in 1917.

Two years later, the Delaware Farmer’s Exchange was founded.

The School Board felt that German ought not be taught in the public schools.

In 1913 eighteen citizens drowned in the 1913 flood.

In the decade also, the Rev Eugene Rush formed a group of boys he called the East Side Gang. Some say this was the start of the Boy Scouts of America.

Many called the 1920’s The Jazz Age.

Women won the right to vote.

In 1925, Clarence Darrow defended John T Scopes for teaching the theory of evolution in Tennessee. The event was dubbed “The Monkey Trial”.

In 1927 Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop to Paris.

Henry Ford’s Model A made a lady out of the Model T.

Black Tuesday, October 24, 1929, ended The Jazz Age and ushered in The Great Depression.

Hoffman’s bakery expanded into what would be called Bun’s. That was in 1922.

Jane Case Hospital relocated from downtown to the west of town.

Ohio Wesleyan built a second Perkins Observatory just south of town.

From 1910 to 1922, The Ohio Basketball Tournament brought considerable notoriety to the college and the town.

In the 30’s –

Adolf Hitler was elected president of Germany.

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.

America was in the grip of The Great Depression.

Hunger strikes, farmers’ revolts, Communist rallies and Hoover’s attempts to deal with the Depression dominated the news.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered the presidential race. He adopted “Happy Days Are Here” Again as his campaign song.

The banking crisis was the topic of the first Fireside Chat.

Beer became legal once again in 1933.

Americans first heard about The New Deal.

Americans wanted no part of the war in Europe or the Pacific.

Willis Junior and Senior High dedicated.

The band won several state championships.

The Columbus, Delaware and Marion railroad ceased operation.

Delaware adopted the petunia as its city flower.

The question remains to this day: what happened to the fountain that used to stand at the intersection of Sandusky and Winter streets?

11,804 people lived in the city when the fountain disappeared.

In the 1940’s –

Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941.

D Day: in France, June, 1945.

US dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The United Nations was formed.

Bell Labs invented the transistor.

Ohio Wesleyan celebrated its 100^th anniversary.

Delaware built an airport in 1945.

In 1946, Joe Neville, Henry Thompson and Curly Smart collaborated to create the Little Brown Jug.

In 1948 industrial giant Ranco came to town.

Edward Teller tested the hydrogen bomb.

There was a post-war economic boom.

Television thrived. Radio turned to music.

Russia launched Sputnik.

US Supreme Court ordered school desegregation.

In the 50’s –

the Delaware Gazette moved to its new two-story building next to City Hall.

Worly Plumbing opened for business to serve the plumbing trade.

Methodist Theological School was built next to Perkins Observatory.

Toward the end of the decade, Delaware was designated a Refugee Center if Columbus were to become a nuclear bomb threat.

In the 1960’s . . .

President John F Kennedy was assassinated.

The Viet Nam War generated riots in American streets and on American campuses.

The Hippie Movement attracted attention and many followers.

The first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was fired.

America was tested by the Cuban missile crisis. The US prevailed.

Bob Dylan and The Beatles dominated American popular music.

Delaware’s population reached 13,280 in the 60’s.

Ohio Wesleyan’s GE College Bowl team was the undefeated national champion.

Thanks to the American Can Company, Delaware was sending 400 million beer cans into the world every year.

Rutherford B Hayes High School was built. Willis became an intermediate school.

The Delaware Industrial Park was created.

Vincente Minelli won an Academy Award for Gigi. He also was nominated for An American In Paris.

The mirror at Perkins Observatory had to be moved when air pollution became a threat. Later, though, Perkins got back in the game when Big Ear, a radio telescope, was installed.

In the 70’s –

President Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal.

The Environmental Protection Agency was established to protect clean air.

Feminism and ecology won small battles.

South Viet Nam surrendered to the North Vietnamese.

DDT was banned.

Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority.

The personal computer was made available to America.

Americans were held hostage during a revolution in Iran.

In Delaware . . .

William Street Methodist Church was destroyed by fire. Members quickly rebuilt.

Chappelear Drama Center opened on the OWU campus.

Jane Case changed its name to Grady Memorial Hospital.

Mildred Gillars, better known as “Axis Sally” – her counterpart in the Pacific was Toyko Rose – graduated from Ohio Wesleyan.

SETA was inaugurated at Big Ear. SETA stands for Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Signals.

Leroy Jenkins gained considerable attention at Holy Hill Cathedral.

The Blizzard of 1978 brought the city and the state to a standstill.

President Ronald Reagan proposed Star Wars and the “trickle down” theory of  domestic economic development.

The War on illegal drugs began. It continues today.

CD’s, VCR’s and the cable became commonplace.

On ozone “hole” was found over Antarctica.

The Cold War ended.

Ranco and World Wide Games moved away from Delaware.

In 1985, the Delaware County Cultural Arts Center was created. Its home was in George Campbell’s house – affectionately known as The Castle.

In 1988 Austin Hall became the only intergenerational dormitory in the country.

In the 90’s . . . .

Japan became the world’s largest automaker.

The Internet expanded into the World Wide Web.

The first Gulf War was fought.

A robust American economy creates great wealth for some. In 1999 there was a federal budget surplus.

NASA landed a spacecraft on Mars.

In 1995, Frank Sherwood Roland won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He helped discover how chlorofluorocarbons were destroying the ozone.

And so far in the 21^st century, there was a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the Iraq War started, China has emerged as an economic giant. Oceans became warmer and higher. The International Space Station was constructed. Television became increasingly morbid and mindless.

The ownership of Bun’s changed. Grady began its Occupational Health Programs. The Little Brown Jug drew a record-setting 56,609 people to Delaware. The County library moved to its 33,000 square foot facility. Preservation and restoration of scores of Delaware’s homes increased. Among them is Seven Oaks, Delaware’s only known safehouse on The Underground Railroad. Today’s population exceeds 33,000. The county is the fastest growing area of the state.

For 200 years, we have survived. For at least that long in the future, we will continue to do the same. And we will be just fine.

So, to Delaware County, this verse from folksinger John McCutcheon:

200 years,

there’ll be many, many more;

of health and wealth and friends by the score.

So cut up some cake and eat some more.

Happy Birthday to you.

(04/30/2008)