Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

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After two years labor in this position, some gentlemen connected with the
property on University Heights, requested him to engage in the enterprise
of a school on the Heights, in the building erected for a college under
president Mahan, but which now lay unfinished and unoccupied, the college
scheme having failed. They offered rent and grounds free, but he refused,
until they agreed to sell him the whole property for a nominal sum, if he
could acquire a clear title, the ownership having become badly involved by
the failure of the college. This he eventually accomplished after much
labor, and took possession of the property in 1856.

The task was a gigantic one to a man like Mr. Humiston, with limited funds
and uncertain health. The building was unfinished and needed considerable
expenditure to put it in shape for occupation. The location though very
promising in the distant future, was then very inconvenient of access,
and was therefore objectionable. But Mr. Humiston possessed a determined
will and he set to work without delay. He borrowed money, fitted up a
portion of the building, and opened the Cleveland Institute with strong
hopes for the future, but gloomy prospects in the present.

About the middle of the second year the building took fire and a large
portion of the interior was destroyed. The school was closed for six
months, and with characteristic energy Mr. Humiston went to work to repair
damages, enlarging the building, and again involving himself in debt to
meet the expense. Success crowned his enterprise. The number of scholars
increased rapidly, and again the building had to be enlarged and improved.

The institute was continued ten years, and the gross income in its later
years ranged from $20,000 to $31,000 per year. During nearly the whole
time Mr. Humiston taught himself, and usually five hours out of the six
devoted to studies. At the same time he gave medical lectures at the
Western Homoeopathic College, and managed all the affairs of the
institute, keeping no agent or steward. He purchased and fitted up in
the institute a fine chemical and philosophical apparatus, collected a
good library and several valuable cabinets of specimens in natural
history, geology, and mineralogy. The corps of teachers was large and of
superior talents.

In 1868, Mr. Humiston, considering that he had earned a respite from his
arduous and unremitting labors, accepted an offer from some gentlemen
desirous of establishing a Homoeopathic Hospital, and sold his building'
with half the adjoining grounds for $35,000. He then accepted the tender
of the agency of the American Missionary Association in Great Britain,
and early in 1869 left for Europe, having previously visited the South in
order to acquaint himself with the condition of the freedmen, whose cause
he designed especially to present. After a year or more spent in this
work he designs visiting the remainder of Europe, North Africa, and the
Holy Land.

Mr. Humiston has, since 1859, held the position of Professor of Chemistry
and Toxicology in the Western Homoeopathic College, and has given ten
courses of lectures in that institution. Each year he insisted on
resigning, but the resignation has always been refused. On closing his
educational career he again resigned, but the college again refused to
accept his resignation, promising to supply his place temporarily during
his absence in Europe.

The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Humiston is his strong will, and
this is well exemplified in the fact that although born with a
constitutional fierce thirst for liquor, he has been able to continue in
right habits of temperance through all temptation, though at the cost of
many powerful struggles with his inordinate cravings. He is a man of
strong religions convictions, and has been so from his youth up. For many
years he was connected with the Methodist church on University Heights. As
an educator he ranks among the best in the State, and was held in
deservedly high esteem by those who had themselves been taught by him, or
whose children had been brought up under his tuition.

Railroading

First of the railroads of any description chartered in connection with
Cleveland were the Cleveland and Newburgh and Cleveland and Bedford
Railroad Companies. The first named was incorporated in 1835, built soon
after, and for some time run by horse power, hauling stone and timber, and
occasionally passengers. It was eventually abandoned. The Cleveland and
Bedford was never built. Another local road, run by horse power, with
wooden rails, was, about the same time, constructed between the city and
East Cleveland, passing up Euclid street.

The Ohio Railroad was of a different character. It was intended to run
along the lake shore from the Pennsylvania line to Toledo, mostly to be
built on piles. Considerable work was done, though no iron laid, when the
financial crisis overwhelmed it and its kindred schemes. The piles driven
for the track are yet visible in places between Cleveland and Sandusky.
The rights of the company, as far as they existed, afterwards became the
property of the Junction Railroad Company, now the Cleveland and Toledo.
Of the same period, was the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh. This was
chartered in 1836, the act of incorporation authorizing the construction
of a railroad from Cleveland, in the direction of Pittsburgh, to the
State line of Pennsylvania. At the point of intersection with the State
line, the charter provided for the union of the road with any other road
which the State of Pennsylvania might authorize from Pittsburgh, or any
other point below the Ohio river, running in the direction of Cleveland,
in order that a continuous route might be perfected from Cleveland to
Pittsburgh, under the authority of both States. The charter was very
loose in its provisions, allowing the president and directors to create
and sell stock as in their judgement occasion might require, without
limit as to the amount issued, except that it should not exceed the
needs of the company. Plenary powers were granted to the company in the
selection of a route, the condemnation of land, and like "full and
discretionary power" was granted to the company in "the use and occupancy
of the road, in the transportation of persons or property, either by the
force and power of steam, or animals, or any mechanical or other power,
or any combination of them, which the company may think proper to
employ." The cost of the line was estimated to be less than $7,000 per
mile. The road was to be an extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
a branch of which was to extend to Pittsburgh, and thus would "give the
whole vast region of the western lakes an opportunity of marketing their
products in, and receiving their foreign produce from Philadelphia and
Baltimore, at least rive weeks earlier in the season, and at much less
expense," than was accomplished at New York.

In the same year a charter was obtained for the Cleveland, Columbus
and Cincinnati Railroad, connecting Cleveland and Cincinnati by the
way of Columbus.

None of the roads were built under these charters. The financial panic of
1837 swept them all into oblivion, together with a multitude of other
roads projected throughout the country. Some of them were heard of no
more, and others were revived in after years, the charters greatly
amended, and the roads eventually built. The design of the Cleveland,
Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company was eventually carried out to the
extent of building a line to Columbus and there connecting with railroads
extending to Cincinnati. The Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh charter was
dug up, amended, and made authority for organization of the Cleveland and
Pittsburgh Railroad, whilst the original route was mainly occupied by the
new Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad.

The Cleveland and Bedford was at last rendered unnecessary by the
Cleveland and Pittsburgh passing over its route, whilst the Cleveland and
Newburgh reap-pears as a street railroad, for passengers only, the
original design of a local railroad for freight being abandoned thirty odd
years ago.

In 1845, the lapsed charter of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati
Railroad Company was revived, revised, and a new company organized, with
John W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, Jolin M. Woolsey and H. B. Payne as
Cleveland directors, and John W. Allen as president. Between the
organization of the company and the construction of the road there was a
wide gulf of difficulties, jealousies and enmities, bridged over at last
by untiring perseverance and unwavering faith in the final success of the
undertaking. The story of the struggle is told incidentally in the
biographical sketches of those connected with the enterprise. All that we
have to do here is, to briefly sketch the leading features in the
narrative as it has been already told, after a careful examination of the
documentary history of the company. That account says the incorporation
of the company had been obtained in the year 1845, with a proviso
authorizing the city of Cleveland to subscribe two millions of dollars to
the stock. The bonds of the city were promptly given, but before any money
could be obtained upon these bonds it was necessary that a further
subscription should be made by the citizens, not only to meet the current
expenses, but to give assurance to capitalists abroad that the people here
were really in earnest, and would not suffer the undertaking to fall
through. After a thorough canvass of the city, by two well known and
respected citizens, it was found that not more than twenty-five thousand
dollars could be obtained. There was both a scarcity of cash and a lack of
faith in the enterprise.

John M. Woolsey was sent to Cincinnati to negotiate the city bonds with
the Ohio Life and Trust Company; to Pittsburgh to ascertain upon what
terms iron could be obtained; and to Philadelphia and New York to enlist
the sympathy and help of capitalists. The mission was a failure. The
common strap iron of that day could not be obtained without cash on
delivery, and the money could not be procured on any terms. Cleveland was
too far off, and entirely unknown to the moneyed men of the eastern
cities. Thus, in the Spring of 1847, one of the very darkest periods in
our history, it was determined to abandon the enterprise for the time, and
await a more favorable season.

In this desperate extremity Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Payne volunteered another
and last effort of three months personal labor to arouse their fellow
citizens to a proper sense of the importance and ultimate value of this
grand undertaking. By patient perseverance they succeeded in securing a
leading subscription of five thousand dollars from Leonard Case, who also
consented to become a director of the company. The ultimate result of the
solicitations was the subscription of about $40,000 additional to the
amount previously pledged. About the same time an accession of the utmost
importance was made when Alfred Kelley, of Columbus, accepted the
presidency of the road, contrary to his inclination to retire from further
public duties and to the strong remonstrances of his personal friends.
Through the influence of Mr. Dwight, of Springfield, Mass., the directors
secured the services of Captain Childs, well known among Eastern
capitalists as a skillful engineer, and his endorsement of the company did
much to advance its credit abroad. But it was still necessary to secure a
large disposal of stock at home, and to effect this, a liberal additional
assessment upon the friends of the road was made and accepted. Mr. Childs
finally recommended Mr. Harbeck, who, in company with Stillman Witt and
Amasa Stone, Jr., undertook and carried out the building of the road to
its completion.

In February, 1851, the first through train arrived from Columbus, bringing
the State authorities and the Legislature, to celebrate the union of the
two cities. Thus the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was the
pioneer of the series of the now enlarged, and most important enterprises
so clearly identified with the growth of the city. The chairman of the
building committee stated at the opening of the new depot, that during the
entire building of that road, there was not a dollar paid as a bribe to
either the Legislature or the City Council, to receive their favors.

The terminus of the road at Cleveland was originally intended to be on
Scranton's Flats, but it was afterwards determined to bring the road
across the river to the site of the old New England House. Appreciating
the importance of extending it to the lake shore, the contractors agreed
to grade the road free of charge from that point to the lake, and it was
accordingly carried forward to its present terminus.

In 1869, the road was consolidated with the Bellefontaine line, thus
placing its western terminus in Indianapolis. Its southern stem had
previously been extended by way of the Delaware Cut-Off to Springfield,
thus opening another connection with Cincinnati.

We have already said that the charter of the Cleveland, Warren and
Pittsburgh Railroad, after sleeping for several years, was dug up,
amended, and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company organized under
it. The resuscitation of the charter took place in March, 1845, when the
route was changed from "the most direct in the direction of Pittsburgh,"
to "the most direct, practicable, and least expensive route to the Ohio
river, at the most suitable point." The company organized at Ravenna, in
October of the same year, with James Stewart, of Wellsville, as president,
A. G. Cattell, as secretary, and Cyrus Prentiss, as treasurer. The route
was surveyed, meetings held in aid of the project, and in July, 1847, the
first contracts let from Wellsville northward, and the work of
construction commenced. The northern end dragged, owing to the slow coming
in of subscriptions, and the work was not fully let until 1849.

In February, 1851, the line was opened from Cleveland to Hudson, and the
General Assembly and State officers who had come to Cleveland to attend
the celebration of the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati
Railroad, accepted an invitation to ride over the new railroad to Hudson.
A short supply of provisions at Hudson, and the ditching of the train on
the return trip, made the weary and hungry legislators long remember their
pioneer trip over the unfinished Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. In
March following, the track was completed to Ravenna, in November to
Hanover, at which time free passes for "each stockholder and his lady,"
and "landholders through whose land the road passes, with their wives,"
were issued, good for one ride over the line and return, that they might
see the whole of the stupendous undertaking and admire it. In January
1852, connection was made with the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad at
Alliance, and a route thus opened to Pittsburgh, and in March, of the same
year, the line was opened to Wellsville, and connection with the Ohio
river perfected, thus completing the work laid out in the amended charter.

At different times, subsequently, authority was granted by the General
Assembly for the extension of the line and the construction of branches.
In this way the River Division was built, connecting the Wellsville end
with Pittsburgh by a junction with the Ohio and Pennsylvania at Rochester,
and with the Baltimore and Ohio and Central Ohio, by a line to Bellair.
The Tuscarawas Branch was built to New Philadelphia, and there stopped,
though its original purpose was to form a connection with the Steubenville
and Indiana Railroad. Authority was also given to build a branch from
Hudson towards the Ohio and Pennsylvania and any line running in the
direction of Columbus. A separate company afterwards constructed this
"Akron Branch," or Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad, so far
as Millersburgh. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad has had a serious
financial struggle to go through, but it has come out as an important and
prosperous line. It is now working under a consolidation of earnings with
the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, formerly known as the Ohio and
Pennsylvania.

The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company, now, after
several consolidations and changes of title, forming part of the Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, was part of the general
plan of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, was built under
much of the same influence, and has always been intimately connected
with it in its working. The charter was obtained by special act in 1848,
and empowered the corporators to build a line by way of Painesville,
through Ashtabula county, to the Pennsylvania State line, and to
continue their line into that State to any point authorized by the
Pennsylvania Legislature. That part of the road extending to Erie, in
the State of Pennsylvania, was constructed under the charter of the
Franklin Canal Company, passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, the
21st day of May, 1846, and amended April 9th, 1849, giving it authority
to construct a railroad.

The company was organized August 1st, 1849, by the selection of Alfred
Kelley, Samuel L. Seldin, Heman B. Ely, George E. Gillett, David R. Paige,
Laphnor Lake and Peleg P. Sanford as directors, and Heman B. Ely as
president, and the surveys from Cleveland were made under the
superintendence of Frederick Harbeck as chief engineer, and from the State
line to Erie he acted as consulting engineer, filling both situations
until his death, which occurred in the month of February, 1851. A contract
for the construction of the road from Cleveland to the State line of
Pennsylvania was made with Frederick Harbeck, A. Stone, Jr., and Stillman
Witt, on the 26th day of July, 1850, but the work progressed slowly for
six months after the contract was concluded, principally for the reason
that there was no confidence in the ability of a railroad from Cleveland
to Erie or Buffalo to compete with the lake in the transportation of
persons and property, and the contractors expended more than $100,000 of
their means before a like amount could be raised through all other
sources. In the month of January, 1851, the Hon. Alfred Kelley was
appointed general agent of the company with unlimited authority to raise
funds and press forward the work of completion. He entered upon his duties
with his usual indomitable perseverance and energy, fully seconded by the
directors and contractors, and they had the satisfaction of passing a
locomotive over its entire length late in the autumn of the year 1852.

The act conferring authority on the Franklin Canal Company to construct a
railroad from the State line of Ohio to the city of Erie, being regarded
by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania as doubtful, they
repealed it on the 28th day of January, 1854. On the 5th day of May,
1856, the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania passed an act
authorizing the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company to
purchase the road as constructed from the State line to Erie, and to
operate it under the general law of the State of Pennsylvania, passed the
19th day of February, 1849. The history of the Pennsylvania portion of
the line reflects no credit on that State. The petty and vexations "Erie
War" in 1854, by which a portion of the people of Erie attempted to
prevent a through connection of the road at that place, and the
unjustifiable expenses to which the company were subjected by the
Legislature, are blots on the record of that State.

The road was operated jointly with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati
Railroad until April 1st, 1855, when the management was divided. In 1869,
it was consolidated, first with the Cleveland and Toledo and then with the
Michigan Southern and Buffalo and Erie Railroads. The Cleveland,
Painesville and Ashtabula has been one of the most profitable railroads in
the country.

The story of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company--one of
persistent struggle against apparently insurmountable difficulties, is
told in great part in the sketch of the life of Jacob Perkins, to whose
labors and sacrifices the success of the undertaking is in great measure
due. The road was projected to develope more fully the mineral and
agricultural resource of Trumbull and Mahoning counties, and to find a
market for their products in Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Unlike many
projected railroads, the first object of this line was a local trade; the
through business anticipated was a secondary consideration. The Company
was incorporated in 1851, and the first meeting of stockholders held at,
Warren, Trumbull county, in June, 1852, when $300,000 local subscriptions
were reported and it was determined to survey and prepare estimates for
the road. The directors under whom this work was commenced were Jacob
Perkins, Frederick Kinsman and Charles Smith, of Warren, David Tod, of
Youngstown, Dudley Baldwin of Cleveland, Robert Cunningham, of New
Castle, and James Magee, of Philadelphia. In order to aid the enterprise
by securing connections, they opened negotiations with the Pennsylvania
and Ohio Railroad, and the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad, but without
success. About the same time a contract was made with the Junction
Railroad, afterwards merged in the Cleveland and Toledo Road, for
purchase of ground near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, on the west
side, and the right of way obtained through a portion of Ohio City, and
through Scranton's Hill to the west end of the Columbus street bridge,
near which the freight depot was afterwards established. In 1853, the
principal office of the Company was removed to Cleveland, which was made
the head quarters of the Company.

After surveying different routes and hesitating over the choice between
them, it was decided to build the road from Cleveland, on the West Side,
and running through Scranton's hill to Newburgh, Bedford, Aurora, Mantua
and Warren, fifty-three miles, and thence down the Mahoning Valley to
Youngstown and Poland, to the east line of the State.

Repeated attempts were made to induce the Legislature of Pennsylvania to
authorize an extension of the road in that State, but owing to the
opposition of the Pittsburgh and Erie Bailroad, and especially of the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the desired permission was
finally refused. The estimated aggregate cost of the road was about one
and three-quarter millions of dollars, and when the principal contracts
for labor and iron were made, there was a very fair prospect of disposing
of the bonds of the company to advantage, and thus, in addition to the
loans effected in Philadelphia, New York and at home, the means to
complete the work were reasonably anticipated. In the Directors' Report of
1854, they were obliged to announce unlooked for embarrassments, growing
out of the altered condition of the money market. The story of the
seemingly hopeless, but finally successful, struggle that followed is told
in another part of this work. At length, in 1857, after five or six years
of persevering efforts, and most perplexing difficulties, the road was
opened through to Youngstown; substantial machine shops were built at
Cleveland, station houses erected along the route, and the coal and iron
of the Mahoning Valley were made accessible by a quick and easy route.

In October, 1863, the road was leased for ninety-nine years to the
Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which had already laid a broad gauge
upon the track, That company now controls the main line to Youngstown,
with the several branches to Hubbard and the coal mines. The narrow gauge
is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and passenger,
while the broad gauge is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through
trains. The track has been extended to the shore of the old river bed, an
extensive wharfage established, and large facilities obtained for
connecting the traffic of the road with the lake commerce.

The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation
of two rival and nearly parallel lines. One of the companies thus united,
was incorporated as the Junction Railroad Company, and the other by the
name of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company. The former was
incorporated by an act of the legislature of Ohio, passed on the second
day of March, 1846; and the latter, by an act of the seventh of March,
1850. The Junction Railroad Company, by its original charter and two
amendments, in 1861, was authorized to construct a railroad from the city
of Cleveland to the west line of the State by such route as the directors
might determine, with power to construct branches to any points within the
counties through which the main line might pass. The charter of the
Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company, authorized the
construction of a railroad from Toledo, by the way of Norwalk, in the
county of Huron, to a connection with the Cleveland, Columbus, and
Cincinnati Railroad, at some point in the counties of Huron or Lorain. The
authorized capital stock of the Junction Company was three millions, and
that of the other company, two millions of dollars.