Centennial History of Columbus and Franklin County. William Alexander Taylor
elected state printer for three years. He died in April, 1837, aged forty-eight years.
The First Incorporated Bank.
The Franklin Bank of Columbus was incorporated by the act of the legislature February 3, 1816, and on the first Monday of September, 1816, the first election of directors was held, the following being elected: Lucas Sullivant, James Kilbourne, John Kerr, Alexander Morrison, Abram I. McDowell, Joel Buttles, Robert Massie, Samuel Barr, Samuel Parsons, John Cutler, Robert W. McCoy, Joseph Miller and Henry Brown.
Lucas Sullivant was chosen the first president, and his immediate successors were: Benjamin Gardiner, John Kerr, Gustavus Sevan. The charter of the institution expired January 1, 1843.
First Big Sensation.
The first big sensation in banking, social and political circles occurred shortly after in the sudden disappearance of Benjamin Gardiner, the second president of the Franklin Bank, although it does not appear that he misapplied or carried off the money of others. This gentleman, whose true name was Barzillai Gannett, had left his home and family in one of the eastern states under unfavorable circumstances and obtained an appointment by the name of Benjamin Gardiner as quartermaster in the army, and was stationed at Franklinton during the war. He was grave and dignified in his appearance and manners and obtained a high reputation in the church and society generally, and married into a respectable connection in this county. But, unfortunately for him, his history followed him, and to avoid a prosecution for bigamy he left clandestinely and was never heard of, except perhaps by a few confidential friends.
The First Cotton Yarn Mill.
Colonel Jewett and Judge Hines erected a mill for spinning cotton yarns in 1821, run by horse power, on Front street, between Rich and Friend (Main) streets. Later it was run by water power, and it continued for some years, but was never very successful.
First Woolen Factory.
Ebenezer Thomas and others erected a woolen factory for carding, spinning and weaving at the corner of High and Noble streets. This venture, too, was not a great success.
First Steam Sawmill.
The first steam sawmill was erected in 1831-1832 by John McIlvain at the head of the Columbus branch of the Ohio canal. It was only comparatively successful in a business sense.
The First Plow Factory.
The first manufactory which was a success from the start was a plow factory and foundry established by Joseph Ridgeway in 1822. This being the heart of a great agricultural district, this establishment possessed signal advantages.
The First Addition.
The town was originally laid out in 1812 and the plat regularly made and laid down. The first addition was made to the original plat in 1814 by John McGown and called by him "South Columbus." The surveyor and platter was John Shields.
The First Insurance Company.
The Columbus Insurance Company was chartered by the legislature of 1832-33 and was known as the Columbus Insurance Company. It continued in business less than a score of years, and went upon the shoals of failure in 1851.
First a City.
Columbus was incorporated as a city by the act of February, 1834, and entered upon a vigorous growth and began to expand its boundaries in all directions, as well as to take on the air and appearance of solidity.
The First Theater.
In the fall of 1835 the first public play house or theater was opened. It was a large frame building and was erected on the west side of High street, between Broad and Gay, and w:as opened "by a corps of dramatic performers under the management of Messrs. Dean & McKinney," says the original chronicler.
The First Balloon Ascension.
The first balloon ascension to be witnessed at Columbus was made on the 4th of July, 1842, from the state house grounds, in the presence of a great concourse of people, gathered from a radius of thirty or forty miles, who came on horseback, in vehicles and on foot. A Mr. Clayton of Cincinnati was the aeronaut.
The First State Bank Law.
In February, 1845, what was known as the state banking law was passed by the legislature, and three banks were organized under it in the city during that year.
The First Railway Passenger Train.
The first railway passenger train entered Columbus, coming in over what was then called the Columbus & Xenia Railroad, now a part of the Panhandle System of the Pennsylvania Railway Company. It arrived on the 28th of February, 1850.
The First Museum.
Mr. William T. Martin, writing of this interesting event, says: "In July, 1851, Captain Walcutt first opened his Museum in Columbus. It then consisted of only six or seven wax figures and a few paintings. It for a time attracted as much attention and patronage as could be expected from so small a collection.
He has been since then constantly adding to it, until it now comprises over twenty good wax figures, two or three hundred specimens of beasts, birds, fossils and other curiosities and about one hundred fine oil paintings, presenting quite a respectable collection. But those of our citizens who saw it or heard of it in its infancy are not aware of its improvements and do not seem to fully appreciate it."
With 1858-1860 the "firsts" of the ancient era and regime ceased and determined, and the present forms are but the outgrowth and improvements upon those which have gone before, and in none more conspicuously than those forms appertaining to transportation, trade and travel, which appeared in its original forms in the Columbus & Xenia, Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati and the Ohio Central Railways of over fifty years ago.
The present great system, more elaborately presented elsewhere, including the electric street railways, evolving from the earlier tramways or horse cars, and the great web of traction and interurban lines, is but the advanced growth from the earlier forms, some of them remoter than the middle of the nineteenth century.
Instead of one steam railroad alone, as in 1850, bringing annually from eight thousand to twelve thousand visitors into the city, it now has eighteen steam roads in operation, and others in contemplation for the near future, with an average of one hundred and fifty passenger trains entering and leaving daily, and in touch with all the trunk lines more than three million two hundred and fifty thousand visitors enter the city annually.
Ten electric lines in operation, radiating in every direction, bring in and carry out more passengers daily than arrive and depart over the steam roads, so that the passengers in and out annually by both systems reach eight million or ten million.
CHAPTER III. FROM TOWN TO BOROUGH; FROM BOROUGH TO CITY.
Village Sidelights—Contemporaneous Incidents.
There is something akin to classic glamour hanging over the near-village and village days of Columbus, and during its evolution; and some of the incidents in connection with its early and village history had much to do with the making of history, not only for the state, but the Ohio and lower Mississippi valleys.
How great their influence it is not easy to estimate, since the things prevented, as well as the things accomplished, are not readily differentiated and estimated. The accomplished things may be readily compared, analyzed and weighed, but the things that did not occur, because of these almost primal negotiations between two opposing civilizations carried on here, on the verge of the unbroken wilderness itself, may neither be analyzed nor weighed, save in the delicate balance of an optimistic philosophy which has faith in mankind regardless of race, tradition, civilization or so-called education.
One of these belongs to the opening