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Ohio
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Springfield, Ohio - Circa 1940 Springfield (980 alt., 70,712 pop.) lies in west-central Ohio, along the rolling slopes of Buck Creek, a small stream that enters Mad River at the western edge of the city. The Buck Creek Valley is just deep enough to take away the monotony of the landscape and to act as a gentle barrier against crowding of the town. Springfield was rescued from the wilderness in 1838 by the National Pike, and to this day it is a National Pike town. The pike, now US 40, follows narrow Main Street through the crowded business district with its century of square, solid buildings packed on the narrow strip between Columbia Street on the north and the railroad yards on the south. Some of the compact rows of brick and stone structures have Romanesque touches of the 1880's, with heavy tall towers that look like obelisks on the Springfield skyline. Below the shopping district on North Limestone Street, in what was once swampy bottom land, is a handsome group of buildings erected in the last few years. It includes the new post office, the Covenant Presbyterian Church, the News-Sun building, and the county courthouse. To the northwest, across the creek, shaded residential streets come to a pleasant bluff crowned with Wittenberg College. Although Springfield has become a big city of many manufactures, it still has a rural atmosphere lingering from the day when farmers and their wives hitched their horses on the Esplanade and alighted to sell firewood and trade chickens, eggs, and country butter for calico, buttons, and lace. The farmer in overalls busy with his produce near the markethouse, or loafing at the corner of Limestone and Main, is today as much a part of Springfield as the shop worker from the International Harvester Plant and the girl and pressman from the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. This is the center of one of the richest valleys in Ohio, where corn grows as long as a man's forearm, the loamy soil is black and deep, and the price of hogs is watched as closely as the weather forecast. Many of the city's homes are on the slopes; the lawns are terraced, and landscaped with spirea and roses. The houses among the elms along aristocratic old East High Street are among the city's finest, but along the unpaved streets near the outskirts to the southwest they become nondescript. The cheerful Negro section of 7,000 population is in the southwest, where the women loll in doorways of little cottages that smell of beans and jowl, and close-cropped Negro boys sit along the curbs of deeply rutted dirt streets. Springfield was James Demint's town. This adventurous Kentuckian came in 1799 and handed out drinks to some rootless Indians for help in 'h'isting up' his log cabin on the north bank of Buck Creek. For a while he ran a still and tried to live off the Indians' thirst. But they could drink better than they could pay, and when John Daugherty, surveyor, knocked on Demint's door in March 1801 with the idea of platting a town, Demint jumped at the opportunity. Griffith Foos and a group of Kentuckians arrived on the scene almost before the ink on the survey sheets was dry, liked the place, and bought land. By 1802 the settlement had eight cabins. In the meantime Simon Kenton had come from the Kenton homestead at Washington, Kentucky, to claim a large domain in the Mad River Valley west and north of Springfield. He selected a home site in what is now the Lagonda section of West Springfield, and Mrs. Kenton immediately decided to christen Demint's nameless village Springfield, because of the spring water coming down the cliffs that bordered the little valley of Buck Creek. To Kentuckians, fellow-statesman Simon Kenton was as good a judge of land as he was an Indian scout, and they followed him to Springfield. |
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Fat harvests were soon being taken from the valley. Shrewd Simon Kenton set up a grist mill and sawmill on the present site of the International Harvester plant, others followed, and soon mill wheels creaked a lively tune along Buck Creek. Since they had no good way of transporting their products, Springfield's industries marked time for the years between 1815 and 1830, supplying only a small, but moderately prosperous, local market, while the leading citizens got Clark County created with this town as county seat (1818). The National Road (1838), however, put Springfield on the route of the great Ohio Stage Company, and the frontier town became known to Cumberland, Maryland, as the “town at the end of the National Pike.” Although the Miami and Erie Canal missed Springfield, it was only a few miles away, and prosperity in the countryside meant prosperity in Springfield. Tracks for a 'steam wagon' were laid in 1846, and when the first train panted into town, all Springfield jammed at the station, standing 20 feet from the tracks to avoid being 'sucked under,' and shouting warnings to excited boys to “mind the undertow.” Other significant milestones marked the 1840s and 1850s. Wittenberg College was founded by the Lutherans in 1845, and the puffing steam trains brought a sprinkling of students to Springfield the next fall. In 1850, when Springfield acquired a city charter, its first free public schools were opened, and new gas lamps flickered on downtown streets. The same year Warder and Brokaw began the manufacture of agricultural machinery, and Springfield had found its main source of future growth. William Whiteley invented a practical binder in 1855, in the following year organized the Champion Binder Company, and two other farm-machinery plants were established a few months later. The Champion factory became the largest producer of farm machinery in the world, turning out more than 12,000 binders in a peak year of the i88o's. Springfield became widely known as 'the Champion city.' Farm boys left the plow in growing numbers, tramping to town to work in the factories. While Whiteley was concentrating on his Champion reaper, P.P. Mast was developing and exploiting the cultivator. He reached prospective customers through the little house organ, Farm and Fireside, published in a cubbyhole room of the Mast cultivator plant. From Farm and Fireside stemmed the '20-million-a-month' Crowell publications. The farm journal was scarcely noticed in Springfield at first; attention was focused on Whiteley's Champion reaper and the new East Street shops, completed in the early 1880s. Springfield looked to Whiteley for industrial leadership and employment, and it was a terrific jolt for the town when the Champion organization suddenly collapsed in 1886. Springfield was slow to recover from the blow, but, following a disastrous fire at the East Street shops in 1902, the McCormick interests bought the Champion plants and patents, which were subsequently acquired by the International Harvester Company. Since 1900 Springfield's plants have tended to shift away from the farm-implement and farm-magazine field. The International manufactures motor trucks, and while the little farm city of the nineteenth century today publishes four national magazines with a combined circulation of 20,000,000 copies monthly, only one of the publications is slanted especially for the farmer. Springfield's present output of more than $100,000,000 worth of merchandise, derived chiefly from machine shops and foundries, includes automobile bumpers, water turbines, gas engines, road rollers, steel boilers, piano plates, and metal caskets, besides agricultural machinery, motor trucks, and magazines. Contrasting with the 'heavy' items are the more than 5,000,000 rose plants grown annually in Springfield's 30 greenhouses. The city also has cultural aspirations. Besides its interest in Wittenberg College, it has acquired an appreciation of drama, encouraged by student productions at Wittenberg, occasional road shows at the Fairbanks, and a little theater. Wittenberg's glee clubs, orchestra, and band give music programs; and during the winter season Springfield music lovers hear and see nationally known artists and symphony orchestras. Only a scant century ago the last wild deer was killed in Buck Creek bottoms, and six-horse stages and ponderous Pennsylvania wagons unloaded tired passengers before the hospitable Pennsylvania House. Springfield was a “jumping off place” on the frontier. Three-quarters of a century ago the railroads took the glamor from the National Pike. But today the National highway is reliving the excitement of the days when it was the prime carrier of people and freight. Motor cars, transcontinental buses, and freighter trucks roar over US 40 and roll into town. Springfield is more significantly than ever before the last big Ohio town through which the National Pike streaks on its way to Indianapolis and the West. Points of Interest Snyder Park, W. along Buck Creek and Mad River, is a 225-acre wooded park with trails, drives, streams and lagoons for boating, facilities for tennis, golf, and horseshoe pitching, and a playground. Band concerts are presented in the park during the summer months. Wittenberg College, end of N. Wittenberg Ave., is a coeducational institution founded in 1845 by the Lutheran Church. Occupying a 40-acre landscaped campus overlooking the city, the Gothic, Classic, and Renaissance college buildings rise around an oval. The college has an enrollment of more than 1,300 and gives training in the liberal arts, divinity, and music. The Ohio State I.O.O.F. Home (open), N. side of McCreight Ave., 2 blocks E. of Limestone St., gives lodging and board to members and their wives, and widows and orphans of Odd Fellows. It also maintains a 300-acre farm south of Springfield. The International Harvester Company Plant (conducted lours, Mon.-Fri. 8:30, 10:30, and 1:30), Buck Creek and Lagonda Ave., is a divisional plant manufacturing motor trucks and employing 4,000 people. It dates from the absorption of the former Champion Harvester Works in 1902. The Westcott House, NW. corner of E. High St. and Greenmount Ave., was built about 1905 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Characteristic of bis Prairie School are the horizontal lines, low-pitched roof, broad eaves, wide verandas, stuccoed walls with wood trim, trellis work, and elaborate use of shrubs, creating the impression that the structure is an integral part of its setting. St. Raphael Church, S. side of E. High St., E. of Spring St., is a Gothic building with a 184-foot tower and a smaller one holding an old 16,000-pound bell. The beautiful stained-glass windows, created by Mayer of Munich, are designed in the twelfth-century manner. The Arder Public Library, SW. corner of E. High and Spring Sts., the first noteworthy piece of architecture in Springfield, is a Richardson Romanesque rough gray limestone building with red sandstone trim. Built in 1890, it is said to have been designed by one of H.H. Richardson's associates. The Site of the Griffith Foos Tavern, SW. corner of Main and Spring Sts., first Tavern in Springfield, is marked by a bronze tablet. Here Simon Kenton and other Springfield settlers met with Tecumseh, Roundhead, and MacPherson, famous Indian chieftains, in the fall of 1807, and assured continued peace for the Clark County area at a time when hostilities threatened. The Covenant Presbyterian Church, NW. corner of North and Limestone Sts., designed by George D. Savage in fourteenth-century Gothic style, has the appearance of a medieval cathedral with its beamed ceilings, richly carved detail, high Gothic arches and transepts, stained-glass windows patterned after Old World cathedrals, and hand-wrought swinging chandeliers. It was completed in 1927. The Site of First White Settlement in Springfield, N. bank of Buck Creek, between Fountain and Limestone Sts., is marked by a large boulder bearing an inscription. Here James Demint, founder of the city, built his first long cabin in 1799. The Old Columbia Street Cemetery, N. side of Columbia St. between Wittenberg Ave. and Center St., contains the graves of the pioneers who founded Springfield. The tombstone over the grave of Elizabeth Foos, wife of Griffith Foos, early tavern keeper, reads: “Beloved Consort of Griffith Foos, Her Husband, Whom She Stood Beside with Loaded Gun, Guarding Against Indian Attacks When this Region was a Wilderness.” The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company Plant (Mon.-Fri. 8-11, 1-3; guides provided), W. High St. between Wittenberg and Lowry Aves., is one of the largest publishing houses in the world. Here are printed four nationally known magazines, Collier's, Woman's Home Companion, American Magazine, and Country Home. Beginning in 1877 in a tiny one-room establishment with a simple hand press, the company has evolved into a mammoth eight-story plant covering an entire city block. The great color presses are especially worth seeing. The Clark County Historical Museum (open 0-12, 2-4:30 weekdays), 2nd floor of Memorial Hall at NW. corner of Main St. and Lowry Ave., houses a collection of mound builder, Indian, and pioneer relics. Points of Interest in the Environs Ohio Masonic Home, 2.9 miles; Madonna of the Trail Monument, 3 miles; Jacob Huffman House, 5-1 miles; George Rogers Clark Memorial State Park, 5.8 miles; Buena Vista Tavern, 8.7 miles (see Tour 13). Wilberforce University, 18 miles (see Tour 16). Hunt Tavern, 4.7 miles; Antioch College, 9.3 miles; John Bryan State Park, 12.1 miles; Horace Mann Memorial, 12.4 miles (see Tour 23). Railroad Stations: Washington St. opposite Spring St. for New York Central Lines; Limestone and Union St. for Pennsylvania R.R. Bus Stations: 109 W. High St.; 218 S. Center St; Fountain Ave. and Columbia St. Airport: Municipal Airport, on State 70,4 miles SE. of business section; taxi 75¢; no scheduled air service. Taxis: Fare 25¢ within city limits. Motor Coaches: Fare 7¢, 10 tokens for 50¢. Street Numbering: N. and S. from Main St.; E. and W. from Fountain Ave. Traffic Regulations: N. Market St. one-way E.; S. Market St., one-way W. Information Service: A.A.A., Shawnee Hotel, Main and Limestone Sts.; Chamber of Commerce, High and Spring Sts. Accommodations: 6 hotels. Theaters: 9 motion picture houses. Baseball: Municipal Stadium, Mitchell Blvd. and Lagonda Ave., Springfield Indians (Mid-Atlantic League). Golf: Snyder Park, along Mad River and Buck Creek, 18-holes, greens fee 60¢ -80¢. Annual Events: Founders' Day, Wittenberg College, Mar. |
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