The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1869-09-08
a CITY ofIndustrx.

Twelve years ago the town of Canton,
in Stark county, numbered but two or three
thousand inhabitants, and it trade consisted
of nothing more than the usual business of
so small place, being chiefly the exchange
of the grain products of the fertile regions
surrounding it. 1t was q dull, dead old
town, and there was some talk of fenciug
1t in and roofing it over. It is now a city
Boosting of 1000 or 1900 inhabitants,
and growing so rapidly in population,
wealth, manufactures and every branch of
Industry, that promises, if its prosperity
continues, to be one of the foremost inte-
rior cities, not only of the State, but of the
West. No town in the State IS more ac-
lively engaged III public and private I'M
provements, and in the additions to and
enlargement of those industrial establish
ments which make place famous and
prosperous. On all sides there are signs of
thrift and industry. The vast agricultural
machine works, employing hundreds Of
ingenious Workmen at good wages, turn
out such numbers of mowers, reapers, sep
arators and other machines as would as
tonish even the extensive manufacturers of
this city. These agricultural machines,
and many other machines and instruments,
are generally the inveRtion of some inge-
nious citizen of the town, who adds to his
own fortune while increasing the number
OF contrivances by which labor is reduced
10 . mechanical system There are doz-
en- men in the town that deserve to rank
among the big inventive geniuses of the
age while there are scores of competent
mechanics who have contrived little coh-
yeniences and ornaments to their own
homes and purposes, that are striking for
their utility and ingenuity all showing the
drift of the thoughts of q wholesome and
intelligent laboring community. Among
the public Improvements going on are the
construction of q new Court House, water
works, public park and rink-the latter the
work Of our friend Louis Schaefer. the
constructor and proprietor of the Canton
Opera House bnilding which would do
credit to much larger cities The Court
House, soon to be completed, will be one
Of the finest, if not the very best, in Ohio,
costing more and being more advanta-
geOusly situated than the new City Hall of
| Columbus. The water works, now in
course of construction and to be completed
this fall, Are on the Holley system, and
/ they will be marvel in their way, unless
there should be some deficiency In the new
style of pipiRg the city is using. No town is
more conveniently and fortunately situated
to secure cheap and good water than Can
ton. Two miles west of the city, and six
/ ty feet above 1t, there is beautiful and
/ extensive lake, made by inexhaustible
springs of the purest and best of water.
To tap this limpid lake and use its abund-
ant waters in the city is q work of compar-
alive ease and economy. The Cantonians
are performing it with vim and vigor that
/ promises to make their water works sups-
| riur to those of any intoOiOr State in the
| west.
What we have alluded to Is but . small
portion of the Improvements actually going
on in this thriving little city. One of the
private citizens and manufacturers of the
place is building a private palace which
| viii probably cost 5000, 900; and this he Is
able to do out of the ample fortune made
in the manufacture of agricultural ma
chimes, he having literally hammered and
whitfield his fortune out of such works. We
allude to Canton, at such length only &c
contrast its prosperity and growth with the
comparative sloWness of our own beautiful
city. Columbus has hundred natural ad
Yantages over Canton, but Is behind her IN
the extent of manufactures. A doZeT
good and enterprising men, such as have
made their fortunes and made Canton
remarkable city, could do double as much
for Columbus, and make it the first manu-
featuring city in the State. Capital, judi
ciously invested in prOducsng something
the encouragement of mechanical geniu
and skill-industry, perseverance and en-
terprI3e-these are needed in Columbus
and should be supplied-especislly whel
there is so much money lying idle and rust
ing into the bone and sinew of the city
CoLUABUs CRISIS.