Ohio History Journal

THE MAP OF HAMILTON COUNTY*

 

 

BY JAMES A. GREEN

Dr. Nevin M. Fenneman of the University of Cin-

cinnati, and I took a canoe trip last summer for the

purpose of accurately mapping an unknown Canadian

Lake. This was Lake Ogoki with a shore line of

seventy-five miles. Of course, Dr. Fenneman did the

actual mapping but I shared in the reflected glory of the

achievement. This map was sent to Ottawa and we

duly received the thanks of the Canadian Government.

So we have added to the sum of exact scientific geo-

graphical knowledge. And I think Dr. Fenneman was

never more gratified in his life than when on our return

trip he showed his map to an old Indian who had all

his life lived on Lake Ogoki, but who was away when

we were there. This old Indian was a primitive savage.

He did not know a letter of the alphabet, nor did he

know any language but his native Cree. But with de-

light he read the map. Its lines stood for him for bold

headland or lovely island and finally he pointed out the

bay where the winter before he had his encampment.

That map needed no interpreter. It was a document

that even the savage found intelligible. It brought to

the Indian the sudden picture of the lake where he was

born and had lived his life long. Any other map would

have been lost on him, for maps grow in value with

knowledge and intelligence. Yet easily as intelligent

 

* A paper read before the Cincinnati Literary Club, February 6, 1926.

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men read the maps of the places that are unknown to

them they find a pleasure and satisfaction beyond words

in the maps of the places with which they are familiar.

Maps are vastly suggestive. They offer to the

thinking man an intellectual delight. And never before

was the world so rich in maps. Every civilized Govern-

ment makes maps of its own possessions and is con-

stantly engaged in improving the maps. Every Division

of the Government is doing the same thing. Every rail-

road and steamship line gives the traveler maps and

some of these maps are so attractive that you wish you

might take the wings of the morning and fly to the utter-

most parts of the earth.

Recently I read a critical study of the place names

on the map of France--some coming from the pre-

Roman era, some Roman and some fairly modern, but

most of them carrying an historical significance. And

the English delight in following to their beginning the

names to be found in Great Britain. The maps of North

America from the beginning to the last finished output

from Washington mark the growth of our geographic

knowledge and the evolution of our social structure.

The study of names on a map offers boundless possi-

bilities. Sometimes the names embody historical justice

as it were--sometimes they are naturally appropriate

--sometimes they are a tribute of respect, and some-

times they stand as a mark of vanity. One of the most

eminent examples of this last class I found in Lake

O'Sullivan in Northern Canada. It had a lovely Indian

name meaning "The Lake of a Hundred Isles" -- but a

map-maker by the name of O'Sullivan attached his

name to it and there it remains.

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Yet it is not necessary to take the map of a conti-

nent, or a country, to find a field for investigation. Take

any minor geographical division and study its names

and a world of history is revealed. For example -- there

is our own Hamilton County. Its names begin with Co-

lumbia. There the first settlers established themselves.

They had ventured farther into the unknown than any

other Americans. Beyond them to the West was the

boundless unknown and full of a high spirit of daring

and of love for their country they called their clearing

at the mouth of the Little Miami after the poetical name

of their land--Columbia. They realized that they had

made its extremest Western settlement. There was

meaning and purpose in the name. Like a banner float-

ing on the outmost battlements the name Columbia stood

for the past and gave a bright hope for the future.

What if there were only a few log huts in a mighty

forest--what if there were only a handful of men with

innumerable savages opposed to them -- what if those

brave men faced death at every turn -- Columbia was

at once their refuge and their strength.

Of course, Columbia had great hopes of being the

metropolis of the Middle West, although oddly enough,

for fifteen years Lexington, Ky., was the big town.

However, for several years, there was a lively rivalry

between North Bend, Cincinnati and Columbia. The

establishment of the Fort at Cincinnati settled the ques-

tion, and made that town the leader, first because it was

safe on account of military protection and later because

of its manifest superiority in location. Now Cincinnati

has grown so that it has swallowed up Columbia -- it is

all solidly built up to the eastward to the very point

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The Map of Hamilton County       295

where the low grounds on the little Miami Valley make

building impossible, and similarly, Cincinnati extends to

the westward clear to the bottom lands of the Big

Miami Valley.

At Columbia there is a pathetic pioneer graveyard.

It is jammed up against the tracks of the Pennsylvania

Railroad, and it is surrounded by the most unlovely

structures, yet in this graveyard repose the bones of the

men to whom Hamilton County owes a debt of grati-

tude which can never be repaid; the men who made the

present possible. It is a standing disgrace to the people

of Cincinnati that this graveyard is neglected. It should

be walled about; it should be carefully preserved -- it is

sacred ground.

Very recently, the State of Ohio took the grave of

William Henry Harrison and erected a stately monu-

ment over it and set aside the spot as a State Park or

rather a plot belonging to the State, and to be preserved

forever by the State. This pioneer graveyard, how-

ever, is not a State obligation -- it is an obligation that

should rest upon the conscience of the people of Cincin-

nati. It is very precious now but think how much more

precious as the centuries roll around, as every decade

adds new value to the past and makes the beginning of

things more important.

And Cincinnati -- Governor Arthur St. Clair named

the new town after the Order of Revolutionary Soldiers,

membership in which he prized. Tradition is to the ef-

fect that Governor St. Clair had never heard the name

Losantiville until he stepped from his boat and landed

here. The name so annoyed him that without further

ado he would have none of it. From henceforth

the place was to be Cincinnati. This is a noble and dis-

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tinctive name. And it is also a beautiful and harmonious

one. We might have been called Fort Washington,

which would have been quite acceptable. Certainly we

are to congratulate ourselves that we escaped such a

name as Smithville, or Tompkinstown. We have

enough to answer for in Cumminsville and Corryville

and Sedamsville, and Plainville and Sharonville -- but

only old residents add the ville to Sharon -- the present

generation is content with plain Sharon -- and Miami-

ville and a few others.

On this first visit Governor St. Clair complimented

John Cleves Symmes by permitting him to give a name

to the new County and he gave it the name of Hamilton.

By the way, John Cleves Symmes used to spell Cincin-

nati with a final a.

Before I go farther I might say that all I am doing

is to discuss the names on our county map. But there

are other kinds of maps than what might be called the

plain garden or geographical variety. There is the

map of the insurance agent which is bound up in bulky

folios and goes into immense detail, with every building

in the city and county marked with its degree of fire

hazard. There is a topographical map which has to do

with the lay of the land. And the geological map which

carries the mind back to the time when the world was

a-making.

Either of these maps, as Dr. Fenneman has shown

in his valuable scientific monograph, can be studied with

immense profit and interest. Here in Hamilton County

we find works of the Mound Builders. So we know that

men were here long before the arrival of our great-

grandfathers. But the Silurian rocks with their fossils

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The Map of Hamilton County       297

tell of life here so long ago that time as we know it

means nothing. It is evident that once there were no

valleys -- that Hamilton County was practically a plain.

What ages it has taken to carve the land into the sur-

faces we now see.

But all these things are beyond my scope. There

was a time when Hamilton County was half as big as

the State of Ohio. Other counties in the course of its

early history were cut off of its too ample proportions

until at last its limits were as we know them. This devo-

lution, if I may use the word, is also beyond my scope.

North Bend is a purely geographic name. It marks

the last great northern bend in the Ohio -- its course

afterwards being always westward and southward. Be-

yond North Bend on the most westerly point in the

County is Fort Hill, named because of an extensive for-

tification made by the mound builders. This is the finest

and most extensive work of the kind remaining in this

vicinity. While not so large as Fort Ancient, it evi-

dently was the work of the same builders. And let me

digress to state that General William Henry Harrison

left an admirable account of Fort Hill. He says it was

constructed with great engineering skill. And he adds

that he did not believe the Mound Builders were the an-

cestors of the Indians. He thought they were the Aztecs

who had extended their empire beyond the Ohio and who

were gradually driven back by the Indians. Until lately

this theory received scant consideration by students of

archaeology. But now General Harrison's theory is

being vindicated. Students today are of the opinion that

the Mayas of Yucatan were responsible for the Serpent

Mound and for the other great memorials of the van-

ished past which are to be found in the Middle West.

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Cleves and Symmes come from the original proprie-

tor, John Cleves Symmes -- that enterprising lawyer

from New Jersey who if he could have managed to hold

his 1,000,000 acres until today would easily be the rich-

est man in the world -- that is, his descendants would

outrival the Vanderbilts. Cleves was his Mother's name,

so the town stands as a mark of filial love and duty.

Fort Washington has disappeared. That was a real

American name but Camp Washington and Mt. Wash-

ington remain. Camp Washington was the scene of one

of the camps of General Wayne's Army, and though

more than 125 years have passed, the name remains.

Mt. Adams was named in honor of the venerable Ex-

President, John Quincy Adams, who came to lay the

cornerstone of the old Cincinnati Observatory, now re-

moved to Mt. Lookout -- an illuminating name of de-

scription.

Fulton was at one time a village between Columbia

and Cincinnati, a long straggling town of one street be-

tween the river and the hill. There were dry docks and

ship yards there and the whole life of the place depended

on this industry. Very appropriately it was named Ful-

ton in honor of the inventor of the steamboat.

Between Columbia and Fulton there was a district

formerly called Pendleton and still commemorated by

the Pendleton Shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Eighty years ago that entire district was owned by Mr.

Pendleton, grandfather of Elliot H. Pendleton, and

Jacob Strader. They subdivided it and sold what was

salable. Most of the land there is of the perpendicular

kind. And quite a large acreage came down to the pres-

ent Pendletons who paid taxes on it until they grew

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The Map of Hamilton County       299

weary. Then an enterprising Councilman who believed

in improvements for his own ward, put through a lot

of streets. The best price the property would bring was

$4.00 a foot and the street assessments were $6.00 a

foot, so the Pendleton heirs abandoned the property.

Back of Reading in a neglected field on a German

dairy farm is a fallen down tomb stone erected over the

grave of a man and his wife who, as the inscription

states, came from the town of Reading in England and

established themselves nearby. That explains the name

of Reading. I have written to the Village Council at

Reading telling it of this little graveyard where the

cows stand on the fallen; tomb stones in the shade of the

scraggly locusts -- and it is to be hoped that the town

will restore the place and protect it from the assaults of

time. If the Reading city fathers can realize what this

will mean a century hence they will certainly act on my

suggestion that the old graveyard be preserved.

The town of Sharon, of course, had its name from

the Bible Sharon where the roses bloomed.

Fern Bank, Fairmount, College Hill, Glendale, Elm-

wood, Mt. Healthy, Forestville, Fruit Hill, Cherry

Grove, Park Place, Maplewood, Woodlawn, Westwood,

Hazelwood, Pleasant Ridge, Avondale, Fairview, Love-

land, Riverside, Linwood, Mt. Airy, Valley View, Deer

Park, Wyoming -- these are names that embody fact

and fancy. You can't exactly quarrel with them but

oftentimes you flatter yourself that you could have

done better. Yet it is most difficult to make fitting

proper names and as a rule it is a good thing to let well

enough alone. How all these places were named I do

not know. Perhaps they received their names as Avon-

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dale was christened. When there were enough people

there to incorporate a village, Mrs. Burton, mother of

Stephen Burton, who was a lover of Shakespeare, sug-

gested Avondale in honor of the Bard of Avon -- and

her suggestion was adopted. However, even this is not

certain. It seems that in the early days Avondale was

served by an omnibus that went to the city in the morn-

ing and returned in the late afternoon. This bus was

named "The Avon" and from the bus to Avondale was

but a step. Glendale was the first of our purely real

estate developments. When the C. H. & D. became an

established fact a real estate speculator laid off a farm

in curving roads and twisting avenues, cut the property

up into building lots, gave it the alluring name of Glen-

dale. This name, however it may seem to be a combi-

nation of pretty words, came naturally. Glendale stands

on the old Glenn Farm and the name came from Mr.

Glenn, the original proprietor.

Wyoming was the choice of the people when they

incorporated their village. Mr. Reilly, after whom

Reilly Road is named, gave a party and called for sug-

gestions and Wyoming was the result.

Hartwell was named after John W. Hartwell, who

was a Director in the old C. H. & D. Railroad which

made the town possible. The stage coaches had built

up one set of towns and afterwards these towns de-

clined and the new towns built alongside the railroads

grew larger and larger.

The town of Montgomery is a good example of the

stage coach town. It was established very early in the

history of the county and was named not after the Rev-

olutionary General but after the town of Montgomery

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The Map of Hamilton County       301

in New York State, from which its founder came. It

was a place where the stages changed horses and where

the passengers in the coaches took a meal. But after the

coming of the railroads it was left high and dry and it

was a mere fossil of a town until the automobile age

began of late and quick and easy communication gave it

a new lease on life.

Harrison, of course, was named in honor of Gen-

eral William Henry Harrison. And the County took

its name from Alexander Hamilton. The first County

in the State was named Washington -- and the second

Hamilton -- and the third Adams, which was most fit-

ting. The County was so thoroughly settled by the time

of the Civil War that the heroes of that period were nec-

essarily left out. Otherwise we would have had Grant's

Hill, Lincolnville, Shermantown and the like. How-

ever, we have Lincoln Park and Garfield Place. Burnet

Woods is named after Judge Jacob Burnet, who in the

beginning of history here was the grandest Roman of

them all. Eden Park was originally "The Garden of

Eden" and is the most daring name to be found in our

map. The first Nicholas Longworth is responsible for

the name. It was his vineyard, and there he made ter-

races and grew grapes. He complained that the making

of the terraces had cost him as much as six hundred dol-

lars an acre, and later on he found that his labor was

wasted, since the grapes grew as well or better on land

that had not been prepared in any way. Ault Park is a

monument to the generosity of Mr. Lee A. Ault. And

Alms Park will similarly enshrine the memory of a gen-

erous giver. Lytle Park is named after General Wil-

liam H. Lytle whose residence stood where the Park

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was established, and who fell at the head of his troops

at the Battle of Chickamauga. Glorious as was his

death, his name will live not as a soldier but as the au-

thor of that poem, loved by school boys and girls --

 

I am dying, Egypt, dying,

Ebbs the crimson life blood fast.

Cumminsville, after an early settler by the name of

Cummins, is fixed, while its earlier and lovelier and bet-

ter name of Ludlow Station or Ludlow Grove has dis-

appeared. Israel Ludlow was one of the first Sur-

veyors in the Western County and a man of great force

and consequence. It is a pity his name has gone, though

it is to be found in a town on the south bank of the Ohio

opposite Cincinnati and we still have Ludlow Avenue.

This, in his day, was a mere trail through the forest.

The road went round by way of Mill Creek Valley and

the trail over the hills was a short cut. Mr. Ludlow built

one of the first country houses in this neighborhood and

planted orchards and gardens in what is now Cummins-

ville. His widow wrote a book telling of their courtship

in Pennsylvania, and of their trip across the mountains

and down the river to Cincinnati and of the joys of their

home life on the farm that they had literally hewed out

of the forest. No one can read that simple and unaf-

fected story without a great swelling of the heart and a

vision of vastly more than is set down in print.

Of the names that combine fact and fancy Walnut

Hills is the most felicitous.  It is also perfectly de-

scriptive, calling the mind back to the early days when

the hills overlooking the city were adorned with giant

walnut trees -- than which no more stately and lovely

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The Map of Hamilton County         303 tree grows. Tradition is that the name was bestowed by the Rev. James Kemper, the first established minister in Cincinnati. Milford is an effort to tell a story -- it was a place where there was a Mill and a Ford. Newtown is complete itself.

Vernonville received its name from the late A. D. Bullock, father of our fellow member, James Wilson Bullock. Near what is now Oak and Burnet, was a florist who called his place the Vernon. Mr. Bullock suggested that the little settlement growing up there in 1859 be called Vernon Gardens and this in time, became Vernonville. We seem to have an irresistible fondness for the ville.

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Colerain is the name of a village in the northwest

part of the county as well as the name of one of the

main highways in the county. It was named by John

Dunlop, the friend and adviser of John Cleves Symmes,

who founded Dunlop's station, which for so long was

an outpost against the Indians. He was born in Coler-

ain, Ireland, and hence the name.

Madeira has a pleasant suggestion of a forbidden

delight but it was not named for the Madeira Isles nor

for their wine -- it bears the name of an early settler.

New Baltimore and New Burlington at once tell the

love of the new comers for their old towns and display

a sad lack of invention.

Sixteen Mile Stand and Twenty Mile Stand are ex-

actly and geographically descriptive. They hark back

to stage coach days and the traveler when he came to

them on his journey from the North knew how far he

had to go to reach Cincinnati.

These are very interesting names. The old Romans

used to name the Stations on their Military Roads in

just the same way. Three summers ago in coming up

the Kemogami and Pagwa Rivers I found the surveyors

had blazed the trees at intervals so as to mark the dis-

tance from the railroad and the Indians had learned

what the marks meant and referred to the "¹⁸ mile

tree" or "⁵ mile tree" as the case might be. It is not

inconceivable that a settlement may grow up around

some one of these blazed trees and be named accord-

ingly. This is what actually happened here. Seven

Mile, beyond Hamilton, was once Seven Mile Tree, and

was so marked by the engineers in General Wayne's

army. On his march from Fort Washington to Fort

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The Map of Hamilton County        305

Greenville and from there to the field of battle at Fallen

Timbers, Lieut. Boyer, who kept a diary, makes frequent

mention of trees which served as mile-posts.   Of

course, Sixteen Mile Stand had a blacksmith Shop

which is still there, only it is now a garage. And it

had a house of public entertainment which is only a

residence at present. And Twenty Mile Stand, which

is just beyond the Hamilton County line, was similarly

equipped. It is very easy to imagine the old stage

coaches lumbering up to these places, the passengers

getting out to stretch their legs or to have a dram. But

were these places named Tyre or Antioch they would

mean nothing. It is to be hoped that as the years go on

and they grow into little or big villages no foolish man

or sentimental lady will try to give them other names,

for Sixteen Mile Stand and Twenty Mile Stand really

mean just what they say and have historical signifi-

cance.

Evidently we had in the formative time few classical

scholars, for Carthage and Tusculum Heights -- if we

except Cincinnati -- are the only names borrowed from

the Ancient World.

Mt. Auburn evidently was taken from Goldsmith's

"Sweet Auburn, loveliest Village of the plain". But the

boys that went from there to Harvard soon learned not

to tell the Boston people that they came from Mt. Au-

burn -- to Boston folk Mt. Auburn conveys only the

idea that Spring Grove conveys to us. This reminds

me that one of my neighbors recently built in Michigan

a handsome summer cottage and his wife asked for sug-

gestions for a name. A friend from Chicago proposed

"Longview" as an appropriate name and could not un-

Vol. XXXV -- 20.

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derstand the mingled mirth and horror with which the

Cincinnati people received her suggestion.

Bond Hill is one of the few names deliberately meant

to deceive. The place of that name is in the midst of a

valley with high hills rising around it. But its found-

ers thought if they called their low ground a Hill it

would attract settlers. The name is grossly inappro-

priate but I understand the people of Bond Hill resent

any allusion to the fact that they have no hill in their

immediate vicinity and say that they are on high ground

as compared with the level of Bloody Run or Mill Creek.

Bloody Run was so named because on it two of

Wayne's soldiers were killed by the Indians. A party

of four had stopped their horses to drink from its limpid

waters when the Indians from ambush fired upon them.

This tragedy occurred in what is now St. Bernard and

ever since that time the stream has been known as

Bloody Run. As a boy I swam in it. There was never

a more lovely woodland stream. Its giant syca-

mores, its groves of beech, its clear waters, are as dis-

tinct in my memory as though it were yesterday. But

the boy of today sees an open sewer, offensive beyond

words, and he can be pardoned for doubting the picture

of ideal beauty which I paint.

Yet Bloody Run's loveliness will return. A part of

its Valley has been made into a park through which runs

a magnificent boulevard. I dislike even by implication

to criticise the Cincinnati Park Commissioners who have

done such noble work that generations yet unborn will

rise up to call them blessed, yet when they changed the

perfectly proper and historic name of Bloody Run

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The Map of Hamilton County       307

Boulevard to Victory Boulevard they did not do well.

The old name has a local significance.

The name Carmargo is borne by a road and a ham-

let out near Madeira. There is a town in Mexico by

that name. There is also a town in Pennsylvania which

bears the name Carmargo. This little town was the

birthplace of our fellow townsman, Charles W. Brenne-

man. His father back in 1847 was the Post Master

there -- but then the town bore the name of Eden. He

read in the papers during the Mexican War about

Carmargo and was so taken with the name that he

petitioned the Post Office Department for permission to

change from Eden to Carmargo. This was granted.

And doubtless our Carmargo came from some Mexican

War association.

Evendale is a new name given to a big fertilizer

plant and a few houses midway between Glendale and

Sharon. I hazard the guess that as the land there is as

level as the top of a billiard table, Even was named

because of that.

Shawnee Run near Milford comes down from the

beginning of our history. The pioneers found a dead

Shawnee Indian standing upright in a hollow tree on

the banks of the Creek and the name Shawnee Run fol-

lowed as a matter of course.

In my own time -- that is, when I was a boy in the

eighteen seventies, I remember the great slaughter

houses which lined Reading Road near what is now

called Florence Avenue -- although it was then and

should be now the Montgomery Road. Duck Creek ran

beneath the immense structure which stood over it on

piles. And it literally was a stream of blood. That it

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must have been offensive as well as hideous is not within

my recollection. Perhaps it is just as well that time

obliterates and softens some of the memories of youth.

California is doubtless modern and probably dates

from somewhere about 1849.

Beyond California several hill streams empty into

the Ohio. To avoid taxing either the mind or the mem-

ory and perhaps to mark distance for the traveler these

are named Four Mile, Five Mile, Eight Mile, and so on

up to Ten Mile. Each Creek is just that far from the

mouth of the Little Miami.

Red Bank is a fine name of description. At that

place is exposed a great bank of reddish sand and gravel

A few miles farther on up the river is Terrace Park,

happily named because it stands on one of the great

post glacial terraces which on the Little Miami can be

studied to advantage -- a happy hunting ground, as it

were, of geologists.

Mt. Summit, in Anderson Township, is another

name that means exactly what it says. This township

is named after the Surveyor, General Anderson, sent out

from Virginia after the Revolution to survey her sol-

diers' land grants. And this distinguished man deserves

more than a mere passing reference. His full name was

Richard Clough Anderson and those of you who have

driven out the magnificently paved Clough Road, which

follows the meanderings of Clough Creek, will be

pleased to know from whence came the name. General

Anderson was a soldier of the Revolution and was

wounded at Trenton. He was the friend of Washing-

ton and also of LaFayette. In the Cincinnati Art Mu-

seum are letters from LaFayette to General Anderson

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The Map of Hamilton County        309

which tell of the high esteem in which the latter was

held. This General Anderson finally established himself

at Louisville. He was the father of Larz Anderson of

Cincinnati, the founder of our Anderson family which

still flourishes among us.

We are singularly poor in this region in Indian

names; though, of course, we have Miamiville, the two

Miami Rivers and the Ohio. The Indian name for Mill

Creek was early abandoned. But Mill Creek remains,

though for a century there has been no mill upon it. It

is a perfect example of the manner in which a name pre-

serves the past -- exactly like the fly imprisoned in the

amber. The first mill on the creek was constructed by

the Caldwells -- their descendants are still here. At

Carthage another mill was built near where is now the

County Infirmary.

Many of the village names it seems to me must have

been the suggestions of women -- that is, they do not

sound exactly like masculine productions. But one may

be mistaken. Loveland has a sentimental suggestion

that sounds feminine, yet it was named after a very

fine old soldier, Col. Loveland.

Washington Park was the first of the City Parks.

No one can question the appropriateness of the name.

The Civil War is best commemorated in Camp Den-

nison. That was a training camp during the rebellion

and was named for the Governor of Ohio.

Cheviot comes naturally -- or it seems so -- from

some Scotchman who remembered the Cheviot Hills.

Lockland is a very excellent name. When the

Miami Canal was built, there were locks there and the

town that grew up around them took its name from the

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locks which called it into existence. By the way, Nich-

olas Longworth was the promoter of the town. It was

at these locks in 1825 that the Miami Canal was for-

mally inaugurated -- Governor DeWitt Clinton being

the speaker. The Locks have disappeared with the

disappearance of the Canal but the name will be an

enduring memorial to a method of transportation which

belonged to the past.

Anderson's Ferry is a similar name. The ferry is

still there. The Anderson who began it is long gone

but his name will endure.

There are some very recent names, such as Addys-

ton, named after Matthew Addy, who established a

great manufacturing plant in what had been a corn field

and built up a town around it.

Ivorydale is another name of business. But its name

is not taken from the founder of the industry but from

the main product of the industry. Similarly in Eng-

land, Port Sunshine is the place where Sunshine Soap

is made.

Marimont is named after its founder, Mrs. Mary

J. Emery, though it really is a monument to the far-

seeing purposes of her man of business, Mr. Charles

J. Livingood.

Monterey must date from the Mexican War.

Price Hill was once Prices' Hill and was named for

the family that owned most of the land there.

Kennedy is not a very pretty name but natural

enough too as the Kennedy family once owned the

ground on which the suburb is built.

Silverton was Silverton long before the Bryan

campaign. The middle name of the engineer who laid

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The Map of Hamilton County       311

out the original narrow gauge railroad -- now the C.

L. & N. -- was Silver and out of compliment to him a

stop was named Silverton -- now quite a town.

Hyde Park is borrowed bodily from London. Rose

Hill is a bit of poetry. Avon Hills and Beechmont are

the same.

It is singular that Hamilton County has so few Bible

names -- Clermont County on the East abounds with

them -- it has Bethel, New    Palestine, Mt. Carmel,

Goshen, Mt. Pisgah, Mt. Olive and a host of others.

New Palestine is not wholly fitting -- that name would

better suit Avondale.

Elizabethtown was named by settlers who came

from the New Jersey town of Elizabeth.

Lick Run is a memorial of the wild forest when there

was a Salt Lick to which the deer and the buffalo came.

And in this connection the old State Road which runs

from Cheviot to Cleves was originally a buffalo trail.

They doubtless used it on the trip to Lick Run. In this

neighborhood are to be found Blue Lick and Elk Lick.

The latter is beyond Batavia some six miles up the East

Fork of the Little Miami. According to local tradition

there was, when white men came there, half an acre or

more of a salty incrustation and the animals came in

droves to enjoy it. But no trace remains.

I was not even able to find a spring with a salty

flavor, whose waters might have crystallized. Yet the

name itself is testimony of great weight and the tradi-

tion of the neighborhood must be considered as trust-

worthy. These Lick names are excellent. It has not

been given to many men of this generation to see the

pathless forest. That has been my good fortune. In

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312     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the far North I have seen the forest which stretches

from Lake Superior to the uttermost places where snow

and ice dispute its growth. Poets speak of the pathless

forest. That shows they do not know what they are

talking about, for there is no pathless forest. Every-

where the forest primeval is crossed and criss-crossed

by the paths which the wild animals have made. Some-

times these trails so resemble the path men would make

that the illusion is perfect. Once on the Ogoki River I

followed such a path for several miles and was confident

it would lead to an Indian Camp. I was undeceived only

when it abruptly terminated in a swamp and I saw the

hoof marks of the moose and the, deer on the soft

ground. And these Licks tell their own tale of the paths

through the forest which once led to them -- paths

which made the way of the pioneer easy.

Norwood was originally Sharpsburg. A charming

young woman when the village was in its infancy did

not like the name and she called it Norwood, which was

the name of her husband. It is now a marvellous city,

yet within the memory of men now living Sharpsburg

contained only two houses.

Sweet Wine has a delightful sound. It is difficult to

quite get the straight of this name. As far as I can

make out there was there a Road House where wine was

sold -- the wine being made on the premises from

grapes grown on the neighboring hill.

Just beyond Glendale is Springdale. This town was

established almost as soon as Cincinnati. It was a place

where the stage coaches changed and it exactly dupli-

cated the history of Montgomery. Up to 1840 it was

the largest and most flourishing village in the county --

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The Map of Hamilton County       313

then it abruptly fossilized and even declined in popula-

tion until recently the automobile has brought it new

life.

The Dugan Gap Road in the far west-end of the

county sounds interesting. But it is prosaic enough in

reality. In 1816 there was a poor farmer out there

named Dugan. He lost his wife and being unable to

care for his daughter, Polly, bound her to Mrs. William

Henry Harrison. The girl had no ambition beyond the

kitchen and in the kitchen of the Harrison family she

remained until she died at the age of sixty.

College Hill received its name because there was a

college there. Originally this was Farmers' College --

started back in the forties by the farmers in this vicin-

ity. Each contributor was given a perpetual scholarship

and he expected not only his sons but his descendants to

the latest generation to enjoy the privilege of an educa-

tion without further cost. Murat Halstead was gradu-

ated from this college. Benjamin Harrison was a stu-

dent there for two years, but graduated from Oxford

-- whither as I was told he had followed a favorite

teacher, Professor Bishop.

During the War every student in the college joined

the Union Army and like the Literary Club it was

forced to close for lack of attendance. But unlike the

Literary Club it did not fully recover. Later on in the

nineties some of its Trustees thought the name Farmers'

College was against it and so it was changed to Belmont

Academy and it is now the Ohio Military Institute.

I have often wondered why this Farmers' College

did not grow. Did it lack teachers of inspiration ? Did

it lack men of wealth to properly endow it? Perhaps

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314     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

one might as well ask why some seeds grow and some

do not. But the name College Hill will always remain

to tell future generations that once the place possessed

a college.

Here, too, was a famous school for girls -- it should

have been another Vassar. Alas! it was privately

owned and the heirs of the founder finally sold the fine

building and grounds to the Cincinnati Sanitarium -- in

other words, it is a private Hospital for the Insane.

Clifton was incorporated by a special act of the Leg-

islature in 1849. Its name came from an old farm or

estate known as the Clifton Farms which covered a

good part of the present suburb.  In some way the

owner became embarrassed and the property was taken

over by the LaFayette Bank-and LaFayette Avenue

is named directly for the Bank -- and not for the illustrious

French patriot. It was the Bank which subdivided the

property and began the actual settlement. In the very

early days communication because of bad roads was

difficult. Mr. Gazzam Gano's father was one of the first

men to go to Clifton and he and his neighbors reached

the city by horseback -- riding on the towpath of the

Canal. However, there was a road long before the

Canal was built. It followed the valley through Clifton

and recently when Mr. Balch was making an excavation

on his place he dug up a section of this old pioneer high-

way. It was corduroy and the logs were fairly well pre-

served.

The settlement of Clifton was by the very rich, men

who bought large tracts of ground, built houses that

were often more like castles than ordinary residences,

who kept many servants and had fine equipages. So it

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The Map of Hamilton County        315

well deserved its nickname of "Home of the Barons".

In the past quarter of a century these extensive places

have been cut up into small building lots, many new

streets have been opened and Clifton is as democratic

as any other suburb. One of the finest of the old places,

Mt. Storm, has been acquired by the city and is a Park.

Another one has been turned into a Hospital and not

one remains in its pristine glory.

In the course of time many names have disappeared.

Nearly all of the first settlements in the back country

were called Stations, such as Dunlop Station in Colerain

Township -- and White's Station in Carthage -- not

one of these has survived -- and I think no one will re-

gret the fact. John Cleves Symmes called the place

which we call Riverside "South Bend" -- it seemed to

geographically balance his own North Bend. That name

has gone. There was once a little suburb called Mohawk

-- Madam Trollope lived there -- and the name was

kept alive by the old Mohawk Bridge on the Canal. But

the bridge is gone and the name will soon vanish.

Then Mt. Adams before it was rechristened bore the

classic name of Mt. Ida. Ida Street on Mt. Adams is

a reminder of the old name. And Storrs down in the

West End while still used is on the way to oblivion.

That name came from Storrs Township but annexation

to the city has obliterated the township.

Industry many years ago was a little village to the

east of Delhi. Its name has gone. And Home City has

disappeared, giving way to Sayler Park. Sedamsville,

Riverside and Woodburn were once incorporated vil-

lages and the names seem destined to remain.

No name in the County has a more honorable and

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316     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

worthy significance than Wayne Avenue in Hartwell.

When General Wayne marched his army to victory in

1794 he left Cincinnati by way of what we call Spring

Grove Avenue and marching out the Valley he left that

road at the Gas Hall in Carthage and went due north

over the present Wayne Avenue -- up the hill back of

Woodlawn and so on to Ft. Hamilton. As a matter of

fact St. Clair had cut out a road, following an Indian

trail that led from the Lakes to the Ohio, so this is our

first and most historic highway. St. Clair's route was

straight north over the hills by way of what is now the

road that runs through College Hill and Mt. Healthy.

This was a shorter but much more difficult road than

that by the Valley taken by Wayne. And it was in very

truth our first Victory Boulevard. In this age of im-

proved highways with their surfaces of brick, asphalt

and concrete, it is difficult to imagine the dreadful roads

of the early period. Wet weather turned them into im-

passable quagmires. It was not until so late a period

as 1848 that Reading Road was macadamized. And

this alone is excellent evidence that for the first half

century of Hamilton County's existence mud roads --

or perhaps I had better say dirt roads -- were the rule.

The Steamboat era will live forever in that admir-

able name "The Public Landing". The early maps

show that the open space on the river front was origi-

nally called "The Commons". The Ohio River has

now been improved with locks and dams which give it

a nine foot channel the year round -- that is, except

when ice shuts off navigation. Transportation experts

say that history will repeat itself -- that the river will

again be crowded with steam boats and the old glories

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The Map of Hamilton County        317

of the Public Landing will be repeated. It was there

that our first two Western Presidents, Jackson and Har-

rison, were given great receptions. There it was that

General Winfield Scott, after the Mexican War, was

met by all Cincinnati. Mr. James M. Glenn told me that

General Scott, dressed in full regimentals, came march-

ing through the great throng on the Landing towering

like Saul head and shoulders above the crowd -- the

finest figure of a man he ever saw. And so late a time

as the Civil War the soldiers who conquered at Donelson

under Grant embarked on steamboats at the Landing.

And the boats went from there in fleets to take men and

supplies to Grant when he was before Vicksburg -- the

time when the fall of that city let the Mississippi flow

unvexed to the sea.

It was very recently that the late President Harding

went up the Ohio to General Grant's birthplace at Pt.

Pleasant and Cincinnati gave him a tremendous recep-

tion on the Public Landing. Yet the great scenes on the

Public Landing are four -- scenes that can never come

back again -- that time in the very early days when

General LaFayette rode in a magnificent barge from

the Kentucky shore and was received amidst the boom-

ing of guns and the plaudits of a multitude by the Gov-

ernor of Ohio on our shore. And when General Jack-

son came and declined to enter the carriage prepared

for him and walked bare-headed up the hill while the

crowd parted to make way for him standing silent with

admiration and respect.

And the two other scenes are really one -- when

General Harrison left Cincinnati on his journey to the

White House amidst such enthusiasm as had never been

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318     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

duplicated here -- when men's hearts fairly surged

within them with the hope of a new day and all the glory

of the present, the past and the future like an intoxi-

cating dream before their eyes -- and then his return

when amidst a hushed and awed stillness -- a great pro-

cession of all the shipping on the river that bore him

to his last resting place at North Bend -- the hopes and

the enthusiasm of the people buried with him.

The most recent name to be put on the map is that

of Columbia Park. A public utility company has spent

millions there in building a plant for the making of elec-

tric power. Apart from the great improvement which

is one of the industrial features of the middle West

there is already a large resident population and this is

certain to increase. Columbia Park is situated at the

extremest southwest tip of the State of Ohio and occu-

pies the farm that once was part of the 600 acres that

General William Henry Harrison cut off from his 2800-

acre farm and gave to his son John Scott Harrison,

whose residence still remains but a stone's throw from

this tremendous modern power plant. As there is a

Columbia in the county, a Columbia with nearly a cen-

tury and a half of associations connected with it, this

name of Columbia Park is not particularly happy. One

does not like to criticise a patriotic effort, as it were, but

Fort Hill would have been an admirable name. Or

some great inventor such as Edison who made the place

possible, might have been honored by giving the place

his name.

Just west of this new Columbia Park the conductor

on the Baltimore and Ohio local trains as they come to a

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The Map of Hamilton County        319 stop calls out "Finney". Only one or two poor houses are nearby and there is no station -- just a mere shed. Yet this is the first place in the county where white men really left their mark. In 1785 a military commission

came there with an ample Military Guard to make a treaty with the Indians. On the river bank they built a fort, a rude stockade with a few log huts which had stone chimneys and some piles of stone are all that re- main to mark the spot.

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320     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

There after much trouble and long delay a treaty

was made with the Indians, a treaty by the way that

was broken without trouble and without delay. Gen-

eral Butler, who was one of the Commissioners, has left

a fine account of the trip down the river. They caught

fish without number and when they wanted food they

tied the boats up to the bank and in an hour or two the

hunters returned laden with wild turkeys and deer.

Thus it was they stopped at what is now Covington and

killed seven buffalo. General Butler saw the beauty of

the land and predicted that in the future the Ohio would

be lined with great cities and prosperous villages and

that here in the West would rise an Empire which would

make Greece and Rome seem small in comparison. In

all our early literature there is nothing more readable

than General Butler's story of his voyage down the

Ohio.

You see how easy it is to let names suggest all sorts

of things.

I have just written as it were a few head-lines.

There is not time in a Literary Club paper to carry out

my topic to its full possibilities. But I hope I have

shown that even the Map of Hamilton County is

crowded with interest.

To me it is manifest destiny that the city of Cincin-

nati will expand until it includes all of Hamilton County.

It occupies now a very large part of it. This growth is

most recent, however. In 1870 the North Boundary of

Cincinnati was McMillan Street -- the West Boundary

was Mill Creek -- and the East Boundary was Pendle-

ton -- a mere fraction of its present extent. As a mat-

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The Map of Hamilton County       321

ter of fact the dual government of the city and county

is an economic blunder, a needless duplication of many

offices. And presently common sense will see to it that

either the city or the county government disappear and

the whole district is under one set of officials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. XXXV-21.

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