Hartwell, Ohio

a book called The Past and Present of the Mill Creek Valley (1882), from which most of this history is derived, author Henry Teetor tells us that when Jacob White came to build his settlement, he found, just north of his land, "...Indian bones were thickly scattered over the ground, intermingled with battle axes, arrows and other implements of savage warfare. About four thousand were believed to have been engaged." The place where Captain White settled was known as the third crossing of the Mill Creek. White's "Station," as all local first settlements were called, was just off an old Miami Indian Trail that was traveled by General Anthony Wayne on his way from Fort Washington (now downtown Cincinnati) to Greenville, Ohio, where he eventually fought the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795. Captain Jacob White and his family were originally from Redstone, Pennsylvania. They came up this "Wayne's Road," as it was called, and built a blockhouse in the year 1790. David Flinn and Andrew Goebel also built cabins here. Two years later, Andrew Pryor, Lewis Winans and John Wallace built their cabins on the opposite bank of the creek. Moses Pryor and John Reily settled on a tract of land just south of White's Station. In October of 1793, the pioneers at White's Station were warned by a messenger of General Wayne's that Indians had attacked a wagon train near Fort St. At this time the male population at White's Station consisted of seven men and one boy. The settlers' dogs began barking at about 5 PM. Captain White forbade anyone to leave the confine of the station's fenced-in area. Andrew Goebel thought the dogs may have treed a c**n, so he left to check it out. The Indians emerged from their cover and fired upon Goebel, killing him. There were about thirty red men in the war party, and they were determined to defend the land they had lived on and loved. When it was all over, the widow of Moses Pryor and two of her children were killed as well. Captain White killed one red man, who seemed to him to be the chief of the group. In the skirmish, the Indians had also entered the cabins, ripped open feather beds and filled the mattresses with clothing, blankets and other household goods, and ran off, never to be caught. Nearly a century later, the author Henry Teetor searched for the graves of Andrew Goebel and Mrs. Pryor's children because he had heard they were buried near where they died. Teetor says this location "...no doubt formed the burial place for the dead of that neighborhood for many years afterwards. A number of tombstones may yet be seen there on the elevated piece of ground east of the canal..." Captain White went on to build, in 1795, a successful saw and grist mill on the Mill Creek, in use until about 1827, then overtaken by the building of the canal. He was also the first Overseer of Highways in Springfield Township. The United States Bank eventually took away Captain White's properties when a neighbor had defaulted on a loan that White had endorsed. He then moved to Gallatin County, Kentucky in 1838. He lived until the age of 93, dying on July 20, 1849. Captain White's son, whose name was Providence, was 10 years old at the time of the attack on White's Station. Providence eventually built a double log cabin near where Ridgeway Avenue is now located. His daughter, Nancy White Culbertson, told Mr. Teetor that the first apple orchard between the two Miami Rivers was planted around that cabin. The foundations of the cabin were destroyed when Ridgeway was built. It should be noted there was another group of people who settled about a half mile directly west of White's Station in 1793. Called "Griffin's Station, it was home to Lieutenant Daniel Griffin, Robert Griffin, Daniel and Jacob Voorhees, Daniel Seward, James McCashen and Robert Caldwell and his two sons. No Indians attacked Griffin's Station. Here's another interesting tidbit of history: Jacob White's brother, Edward, platted the village of Carthage in the year 1815. The Canal, the Farms, the Railroads: As the population grew, so did the need for a safe and speedy way to deliver goods from Cincinnati to outlying areas. The Miami Canal in the Mill Creek Valley was excavated and opened in 1827. The Miami Canal was linked to the Erie Canal in 1849. Here in what was once known as Section One of Springfield Township, where Captain Jacob White had purchased land and settled, the canal ran up through the middle of the township, sandwiched between Wayne's Road and the Mill Creek. Large farms and fruit orchards were maintained in this area during that time. The Greenham family owned about 200 acres in the center of Section One. Built around 1828, their original brick home (with additions), still stands today on Parkway Avenue. Judge Jonathan Cilley owned quite a bit of land next to the Greenhams; his land extended to include the land that Drake Center now sits upon. (We got the name "Cilley Creek" for the stream that runs by the ball fields below Drake from Judge Cilley.) The 100-acre Sturgis farm was located in the northern part of Section One of the township. The James Zerbe family built their house on the old Sturgis farm in the 1840s. No longer standing, it was located on what we know today to be the southwest corner of Anthony Wayne and Sheehan. It was a 33-room red brick structure "...with gabled roofs and numerous balconies and verandas. The wooden carriage porch served many years as a protection for celebrated guests in gala attire. The house was famed for its hospitality...", says The WPA Guide To Cincinnati (1943). The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton (C H & D) Railroad lay down its tracks through here in 1851. By the year 1888, sixty passenger and freight trains ran daily over these tracks. The area was further opened up for businessmen who wanted to commute to Cincinnati, yet live in a country-like atmosphere. The C C C and St. L Railroad was squeezed between the canal and Anthony Wayne Ave. (then called Eastern Ave.) Sixteen passenger trains ran daily on these tracks in 1888. There were depots at either end of what is Parkway Avenue today. John W. Hartwell, Daniel DeCamp, Subdivisions and Original Street Names:
Daniel DeCamp, the president of the Hamilton County House Building Association, enthusiastically promoted living in this area. The original Greenham farm was now known as "Hartwell," and it was platted in 1869. Named after John Wesley Hartwell, the popular vice president of the C H & D Railroad, Mr. Hartwell liked DeCamp's enterprise so well that he offered a year's free commuter ticket to anyone who bought land and built their home in the village that bore his name. Daniel DeCamp himself built his own dwelling in 1877 on a piece of pie-shaped property between what are now Woodbine and Avalon, where it still proudly stands today. DeCamp's wife Joanna, suggested that a circular section of Hartwell, affectionately called "the bowl," be set aside for at least 2 places of worship. It was decided that this circle would be a center-point, with streets that would arc from it, styling it much like the village of Glendale to the north. Charles M. Steele was the first mayor. (The house he lived in is still there at the southwest corner of present-day Hillsdale and Burns.) The large farms to the north of Hartwell were divided into subdivisions, with "Maplewood," once the Sturgis farm, being platted in 1871. When Colonel T. McNamara built the first home in this new subdivision, he found remnants of a wigwam and other Indian artifacts. (McNamara's house is still there today at the southwest corner of Wiswell and Sheehan.) In Maplewood there used to be an Opera House on what we know today as Wiswell Ave., and a jail on Burns, where "Halls of Montezuma" is today. The Town Hall was a one-room wooden structure on present day Ferndale and Burns. (This structure was later turned into a community meeting place for teens in the 1960s, and then torn down in the 1970s. There is a "tot lot" there today.) The "Bell and Steele" subdivision was located just west of Maplewood, and the "Oxley" lay to the east. When the streets were laid out and named, most were not known by the names we know them today. From north to south, here are the old names, with the current ones in parentheses. (See if you can find the old name of your street!) Mills (Millsdale), Highland (Hillsdale), Bellevue (Hereford), Maplewood (Hereford Ct.), Sheehan (Sheehan from Vine to Burns), Central (Sheehan from Burns to Wayne), North Ln. (Sheehan from Wayne to Dixie), Oxley (Oxley), Dixie (Dixie), Williams (Wiswell), Sturgis (Curzon), Wayne (Wayne from Mills to Hartwell Ave.), Woodbine (Woodbine from Millsdale to Hunsford), Mace (Mace), Woodlawn (Woodsdale), Fairview (Ferndale), Lawn (Hunsford), Burns (Burns from Millsdale, across Galbraith to Glendale), Section (Galbraith from Vine to Burns and then including all of Hartwell Ave.), Cilley (Parkway from Vine to Monon), Ohio (Monon), N. Crescent (Kearney), Mystic (Mystic), Park (Parkway from Monon to Wayne), Willow (Wildwood), Oak (Oakmont), S. Crescent (Avalon), Central (DeCamp), Rural (Woodbine from the circle to Wayne), Eastern (Wayne from Hartwell Ave. to lower Woodbine), and Hamilton-Carthage Turnpike (Vine Street). If your street is not included in this list, it may not have existed in 1880! The reason the names were different back then was because Hartwell had not yet been annexed to the city of Cincinnati. When it was, in 1912, the city already had these street names elsewhere in other parts of town, so ours had to be changed. Schools, past and present:
"The first settlers in Hartwell were included in the Lockland School District," so says the editor of an early Hartwell newspaper called "The Olio" (1888). The editor continues: "In 1870 when the town had grown to about one dozen families measures were taken to secure better school facilities." The first school in Hartwell was built on a shady lot on North Crescent Avenue, now known as Kearney. The Hamilton County House Building Association donated the lot. The Springfield Township School Board gave half of the money necessary to build the new school; the citizens of Hartwell gave the other half. A Mrs. Curran was the first teacher; she started with 25 pupils in a two-room facility. Two more teachers were hired in 1876, and in 1879, a third room was added to the building. Enrollment eventually increased to 114. In 1882, Professor J. Harry Lowe was the Principal. Yet another building was erected and occupied that same year. The Hartwell Village School District was organized in 1885. The teaching staff was now five in number, and Professor Trisler was the Principal. Pupils were graded by the same scale as those who were enrolled in Cincinnati schools. In just three short years, the number of students increased from 120 to 300, so that a new, three-storied brick school was built on the corner of what is now Hartwell and Woodbine Avenues in the Spring of 1888. It boasted eight large school rooms, a hall that could seat 500, a double room basement for play rooms in bad weather, and a tower. The exterior was made of Zanesville brick and trimmed with white stone. Considered outdated less than 40 years later, yet another school was built on the corner of Galbraith and Vine in 1925. The "old school Building" at Woodbine and Hartwell was bought by a private owner and turned into apartments. In the summer of 1969, a tornado tore through the Valley, and the old school's tower collapsed inside the stairwell killing a young mother and her 2 sons. The Hartwell School that stands today at Galbraith and Vine is still in great shape. It is considered to be an excellent example of the Georgian Colonial style. Until the late 1940s, it took care of grades K-12. Now, grades K-8 attend there. Many of the graduates from the 1940s are still involved in the upkeep of the school and still have great school spirit. Their organization is known as the Hartwell Alumni Association. This and That...Other Interesting Tidbits about Hartwell's History:
The Hamilton County Fairground, although it has been claimed by Carthage on the south and called the "Carthage Fair" for many years, should be noted in a history of Hartwell. The present grounds between Vine and Wayne were acquired by the Ohio Agricultural Society in 1847. The Fair actually originated the year before and was held on nearby farm owned by Ezekiel Hutchinson. Hartwellians have been fortunate to be able to walk to the Fair, which is held for 5 straight days every August. It's an old-fashioned event with blue-ribbon contests of all kinds, a demolition derby, animal demonstrations and funnel cakes. There are a few older buildings still standing on this 68-acre site, which also includes a race track and bleachers. Horses are boarded there year-round. Up until the 1980s there was an old farm house near the Wayne entrance gate, but in its place now are a few mobile homes. Since the Fairground is owned by the county, and not the city, the horses and the mobile homes are permitted there. At the Vine Street entrance, there is a special "sculpture" on display; it is made entirely of twisted beams that were found in the wreckage of the tornado that came through the Valley in 1969. The beams were supports from a highway billboard sign and are exactly as the artist found them. When Hartwell was annexed into the city of Cincinnati in the year 1912, the boundaries of Springfield Township were changed. Since Hartwell was originally part of the township, and after 1912 was not, that meant that Edgemont Terrace, which is located on the other side of the expressway and still part of the township, was cut off from the larger portion of Springfield Township, which is west of Vine. Electric trolley tracks were extended into Hartwell in 1898. Charles Kilgour financed the building of a new bridge over the Mill Creek at Wayne, and "Route 78" was born, going through Hartwell to Lockland. A powerhouse with a carbarn was erected on what is now DeCamp Avenue in 1901. That square brick building still stands today behind Metropolitan Harvest Church of God. In 1932, the tracks that ran from the powerhouse into Wyoming were paved over. Tracks for Route 78 to Lockland via Wayne lasted until 1951. "Route 78" is still alive today thanks to the Metro bus service. In 1959, Interstate 75 was laid down just to the east of Hartwell. Known for many years around here as the "Millcreek Expressway," it overtook cornfields and basically cut Hartwell off from Arlington Heights and the hills of Edgemont Terrace. In the 1990s the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway worked its way into our landscape and in the process, Woodbine Avenue no longer runs all the way through the neighborhood to Wayne; there is now a well-kept little cul-de-sac that is left to itself in the shadow of an overpass. There is no doubt more of Hartwell's history that could be shared! These are the highlights. Every effort has been made to link the past with the present.

*Compiled by Peggy Jones