Ohio History Journal

598     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Zane, by W. O. McCluskey; Unveiling of Monument, by

Mrs. Catherine Long, granddaughter of Elizabeth Zane;

followed by addresses by Howard F. Sedgwick and Ma-

jor H. A. Dargue, both of Washington, D. C. The pro-

gram concluded with the singing of "America."

 

 

CELEBRATION AT CAMPUS MARTIUS

In 1917, the General Assembly of Ohio passed an act

authorizing the purchase, from Miss Minerva Tupper

Nye, of the portion of the old Campus Martius site in

Marietta on which the Rufus Putnam house is still

standing. By the terms of this act this lot was to pass

into the custody of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. Later the provisions of the act were

complied with and the property passed into the posses-

sion of the state.

The Putnam House has recently been repaired. A

new roof has been provided and the framework has been

substantially strengthened. The walls of the rooms have

been papered, electric lights and plumbing for city water

have been installed. The permanent preservation of

this historical building on its original site is now as-

sured.

The state acquired a part only of the original site in

the purchase from Miss Nye. Recently an additional

plot of ground lying within the site and bordering on

the portion already owned by the state was offered for

sale. It was about to pass into private hands to be im-

proved for residence purpose. No money was available

for its purchase by the state and the opportunity to ac-

quire and add it to the lot on which the Putnam House

stands seemed about to be lost.

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Reviews, Notes and Comments            599

In this emergency the public-spirited women of

Marietta came to the rescue. The Marietta Local Circle

of Colonial Dames in the State of Ohio, The Washing-

ton County Pioneer Association, The Woman's Centen-

nial Association of Washington County and the Mari-

etta Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters

of the American Revolution, organized under the leader-

ship of Mrs. C. K. Sloan, Mrs. Arthur G. Beach, Miss

Willia D. Cotton and others, inaugurated a cam-

paign to raise money by subscriptions to purchase the

lot offered for sale. This campaign was successful, the

money was promptly raised, the lot was purchased and

conveyed to the State in the custody of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society.

The celebration, on June 12, 1928, was incident to the

formal transfer of the deed to the Director of that So-

ciety. The following excellent account of the celebra-

tion is copied from the Marietta Times of June 13:

Pomp and ceremony befitting an occasion of state, yet tem-

pered with those primary elements that make for democracy upon

which the race has builded an empire, attended the Campus Mar-

tius celebration in Marietta on Tuesday. It was a most success-

ful affair, and historians will give it recognition along with other

notable events that have occurred in the "City of the Pioneers."

Hundreds of sons and daughters of the Northwest Territory par-

ticipated.

The occasion centered about the passing to the state of title

to additional lands on which the pioneers centered their activities

more than a century ago, and upon which and in the midst of

which there will be built a historical museum. In this building,

for which Tuesday's ceremonial brought the turning of the first

soil, will be housed a priceless array of relics of the original set-

tlers, heirlooms of the families that launched civil government in

the wilderness of the Northwest, and its time-resisting roof and

protecting walls will preserve to posterity the Rufus Putnam

House, a shrine for coming generations.

A dual celebration was held on Tuesday, starting on the site

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600       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

of Campus Martius and concluding at the Betsey Mills Club,

Putnam Street. It brought together men and women who have

won fame in the community, the state and the nation, and a pro-

gram replete with patriotic reverence and historical lore was pre-

sented.

The Rufus Putnam House has been restored and a portion at

least of its original furnishings are back within its walls. Its

doors were thrown open to the public on Tuesday afternoon and

at 2 o'clock a public reception was held. In the receiving line

were representatives of Marietta historical and patriotic societies,

among them descendants of a number of the pioneers including

several who trace their lineage back to General Putnam himself.

While this reception was in progress, the patriotic, fraternal

and civic organizations of the city were massing in City Park and

from there at 3:30 o'clock a parade moved to Campus Martius

State Park at Washington and Second Streets. The open air cere-

monies attending the transfer of title to the state took place on

the Second Street front of Campus Martius Park and began at

4 o'clock. Musical numbers appropriate to the occasion featured

the program.

Hon. John W. Gray, mayor of Marietta, made a welcoming

address, and a response was given by Arthur C. Johnson, Sr.,

Columbus newspaper publisher, and president of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, which collaborated with

the following Marietta societies in the ceremonies of the day:

Marietta Local Circle of Colonial Dames in the State of Ohio,

The Washington County Pioneer Association, The Woman's Cen-

tennial Association of Washington County, and the Marietta

Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the Amer-

ican Revolution.

Masonry was represented in the ceremonies, and Rev. Ed-

ward B. Townsend, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, ap-

peared on behalf of Earl Stewart, grand master of the Grand

Lodge of Ohio.

A feature of the occasion was the appearance in tribal cos-

tume of Ralph W. Allen, of Oklahoma, a full-blooded Pawnee

Indian, who sang very beautifully and very appropriately a num-

ber of songs. He is a student at Ohio State University and was

selected recently to be the model for a life-size figure of the orig-

inal Moundbuilder, a work of art that the Archaeological Society

has completed in Columbus. His repertoire included a number of

Indian songs as well as numbers from some of the old masters.

Formal tendering to the State of Ohio, as a gift from certain

Marietta citizens, of a deed for that portion of Campus Martius

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Reviews, Notes and Comments             601

 

upon which Blockhouse No. 3 was located, was made on behalf

of the donors by Representative O. S. Creighton, and its accept-

ance on behalf of the state by Lieutenant Governor William G.

Pickrel, of Dayton, climaxed the afternoon ceremonies.

Lieutenant Governor Pickrel made his first visit to Marietta

and by his masterful historical address, splendidly delivered, won

admiration.

The ceremonial was fittingly concluded by the reading of an

original poem on "Campus Martius," by its author, Charles B.

Galbreath, secretary, librarian and editor of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society.

The evening program opened at the Betsey Mills Club at

6:30 o'clock and was attended by a representative audience of

Ohio people. It was sponsored by the Marietta societies that had

collaborated in the day's ceremonies, and no finer affair of the

kind ever has been held in the city.

The spacious auditorium of the club was in festive array

for the occasion. On the stage were miniature reproductions

of the Rufus Putnam House and the Ohio Company Land Of-

fice. American flags and summer flowers in rare profusion

rounded out the decorative scheme. A fine dinner was served by

the club organization.

Hon. George White, of Marietta, was master of ceremonies

and the invocation was by Dr. Edward S. Parsons, president of

Marietta College. A string trio, Mary Lou Hall, violinist, Mar-

garet Bourquard, 'cellist, and Mary Ward, pianist, presented a

delightful program of numbers during the serving of the dinner.

Thomas J. Summers, president of the Marietta Chamber of

Commerce, said Marietta is both a pioneer and an historical city,

and education, morality and religion were the basic principles

upon which it was founded nearly 150 years ago. Straight think-

ing and right acting are the cardinal principles of its modern

being, he said, and while he spoke as a business representative,

he welcomed the guests in the spirit of a society organization com-

mitted to giving the best that it has for the best that there is in

community development.

Telegrams of regret were read from Hon. Claude Meeker,

of Columbus, a trustee of the Archaeological Society, and from

United States Senator Cyrus Locher, who was detained by a

previous engagement at the annual commencement exercises of

Ohio Wesleyan University, where his class is observing its twen-

ty-fifth anniversary.

Arthur C. Johnson, Sr., president of the State Society, re-

plied to the welcome address and brought greetings from his or-

ganization. He paid fine tribute to the women who did such fine

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602       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

work in arranging the Marietta part of the celebration, and in

paving the way for a realization of the community interest in

Campus Martius Park. They are Mrs. Helen Hill Sloan, Mrs.

Arthur G. Beach, Miss Rowena Buell, Miss Kathryn Parr Nye,

Miss Willia D. Cotton and Mrs. Edward S. Parsons.

He enlarged somewhat upon the workings of the Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society, which is devoting its inter-

ests to the creation of state parks and memorials and the proper

marking of all historical points in Ohio. He advocated more

play grounds for the public and predicted the opening of a great

state park along the Muskingum valley in the future as part

of the system that will swing over other sections of the state.

Mrs. Walter L. Tobey, of Hamilton, D. A. R. state vice

regent, brought greetings from her association, and this led to

the singing of a group of songs by Ralph W. Allen. Miss Mary

Helen Stanley, of Marietta, was his accompanist and shared

honors with him.

Dr. E. LeFever, of Glouster, state senator, who has had a

prominent part, along with Representative O. S. Creighton, in

getting through the Legislature the acts that have made possible

the Campus Martius improvement, was signally honored by his

many friends.

He spoke briefly but to the point, enlarging a bit upon the

growth of organized government that has sprung from the

Campus Martius group of nearly a century and a half ago. He

promised further effort on behalf of Ohio recognition and pre-

dicted that other states will join in making Campus Martius a

shrine for all of the Northwest Territory.

Herbert B. Briggs, state architect, who designed the pro-

posed building, spoke at some length on the memorial to be

built here, detailing the plans for same. He said that the build-

ing will be of colonial design and announced that Attorney

General Turner had only this week given final approval to the

contract awarded for building the historical museum section of

the memorial so that actual building operations can start at once.

Miss Rowena Buell, representing the Colonial Dames of

America, responded to a toast and presented as her "jewels" Mrs.

E. H. Matthews and Mrs. Alter of Cincinnati, detailed here as

official representatives of the society at the meeting.

Miss Buell told briefly of the collection of relics and heir-

looms, officially begun during the centennial year, 1888, and

pledged united efforts to accomplish their final transfer into the

new memorial. She pleaded for further community interest.

Mrs. William McGee Wilson, of Xenia, past state regent

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Reviews, Notes and Comments              603

 

and ex-national vice-regent of the Daughters of the American

Revolution, responded in happy vein to the toast, "Beautiful

Ohio."  Our lives are made up of pictures, she said, and Ma-

rietta affords a wonderful volume of them. She told of previous

visits to Marietta and declared this to be the shrine of all that

vast territory that has grown from the pioneer settlement on the

banks of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers.

Frank Ford, of Waterford, president of the Pioneer Society

of Washington County, represented his organization and spoke

of the purpose that animates its being. He urged more concen-

tration on keeping alive the memories of the past; a more gen-

erous tribute to those that made today possible.

Prof. Charles B. Galbreath, of Columbus, reviewed the pur-

chase by the State of the Rufus Putnam House and grounds,

which made possible the restoration of Campus Martius. He

paid tribute to Miss Cotton, G. E. Hayward and B. B. Putnam

and others. He warmly praised Senator LeFever and Representa-

tive Creighton.

Mrs. Lewis C. Laylin, one of the distinguished guests present

for the celebration, gave one of the most interesting talks of the

evening. She referred to the efforts of her late husband, Sec-

retary of State Lewis C. Laylin, who helped to get through the

bill for the purchase of Campus Martius, and told briefly of

her associations with different people who have been actively in

the work now so happily culminating.

Mrs. Laylin came here first in 1888, when she and Mr.

Laylin were members of the Ohio Centennial Commission and

were quartered here for a week as members of the Governor

Foraker official party. Then on numerous occasions since, she

has enjoyed the hospitality of the Mrs. Lucy Nye Davis home,

Fourth Street, where she is a guest this week, and she compli-

mented Mrs. Davis in her talk. She concluded with a fine

eulogy of Mrs. Helen Hill Sloan, to whose tireless efforts the

major portion of the success of this celebration is attributed.

Mrs. Laylin, whose reminiscent talk on Tuesday evening

stirred feelings of patriotic pride in all who heard her, has de-

voted many years of her active effort to the welfare of the Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society. She long has been chair-

man of the legislative committee of that association*, and has

done much to make the name Laylin a household term in the

state.

* Mrs. Laylin has been chairman of the legislative committee of the

Daughters of the American Revolution for Ohio.

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604      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications Mrs. Sloan was presented at the conclusion of Mrs. Laylin's address and modestly appeared to recognize the outburst of ap- plause that greeted her introduction by Chairman White. Miss Willia D. Cotton spoke briefly, announcing that she was substituting for the Hon. Beman G. Dawes, who is chairman of the Campus Martius Committee. She announced that the committee has to date expended $2700 in rehabilitating the Rufus Putnam House. Miss Kathryn Parr Nye told in brief the story of the Campus Martius House which was owned for many years by her late cousin, Miss Minerva Tupper Nye, and her recital of the latter's efforts to have it made a permanent shrine in the  Northwest Territory was most interesting.

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