OLD FORT INDUSTRY.
BY S. S. KNABENSHUE.
[Editorial in Toledo Blade, January 24,
1903.- E. O. R.]
Fort Industry existed: that is, there
are men still living
who can recall its remains. But that is
all we know about it.
In boyhood, they saw the clay bluff,
afterward cut down, which
occupied the site of the block bounded
by Summit, Water, Mon-
roe and Jefferson streets. On its
summit, some six or eight doors
north of Monroe street, was an
excavation which had apparently
been a cellar under a cabin, and at
least one citizen recalls that
a few of the old uprights of the
stockade remained in his boyish
days.
The date of its erection, by whom,- and
for what purpose,
have never been determined. The tablet
on the Monroe street
side of Fort Industry block recites the
popular legend; but no
historic proof of the statements has
ever been found. One of
the most persistent searchers for the
truth of history in the
Maumee Valley is Dr. Charles E. Slocum,
of Defiance. Else-
where in this issue of The Blade, we
give a communication from
him which recites all the proved
historic facts regarding Fort In-
dustry. It is a valuable contribution to
local history, which we
are glad to present to the people of
this city and of Northwesern
Ohio.
The conclusion of Dr. Slocum as to the
date of and motive
for its erection is hypothetical, of
course: but it is the only hypoth-
esis yet advanced which fits in with the
negative evidence against
the popular tradition and the assertions
of historical compilers
- not investigators - regarding the
matter, like Howe and
Knapp. Unless a statement can be proved,
it should not be
written up as a fact, and both these
historians committed this
error. Legend is not history.
Another fact, to which Dr. Slocum does
not refer, is that
no authoritative picture of Fort
Industry exists. Several years
ago the writer endeavored to find out
all that he could concern-
(126)