The McArthur enquirer. (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1873-1884, 1873-07-16
ooMMUNIoATRp.
HAMDEN.
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

this county, was very much sur
\ priscd and pleased, too, to see, THE
7 metropolitan airs being put on by,
heretofore finished town,
As originally laid out, it contain
forty weight lots, containing .one-
pffonrthl of ali acre each. / have not
pfbeen able to learn. the date of the
Survey, nor the original proprietor
7 as' the plat and survey is still' in Che
/ Recorders office, Of Jackson coGhL
! ty, the town being within that
'~1county until this county was made,
and was known by the name Of
ICharleston. No dedication of
Hands for streets and alleys to and
for public uses were ever made in
the original plat, although the
~streets were marked and named.
But by common consent and pub
lie occupancy, the streetsand alleys
: are supposed to be established--no
legal decision is hereby intended,
! however, II VtiCQ 5agI h9&2E =
Various additions were 3 made
from time to time, up to 1854, when
I there were eighty-one lots-1Rob-
bins first addition was numbered,
beginning with number one, and,
ending with number fourteen.A
There are, therefore, two sets off
tpts, numbering fir ON n to- faH1-;
teen. Paine's Addition began att
forty-nine and ended at ffty-fouf,
with two additional ones, sixty
-four and sixty-five. H ollinghead's
fbegan at fifty-six, and ended at
siYty;three. Tarr's began at sixty.
six, ana ended at sixty-eight; and
[Dilfs began at sixty-nin e, and end
ed at seventy-three. There is no
lot numbered fifty-five. -.
In May, 1854, the whole town, as
it then stood, was re surveyed and
plated, and on the 18th day of Jan.
uary, 1855, the pl t was certified to
before George Graf g, Esq, by Sam
uel Tarr, Lemuel S. Paine, Benz.
FDill,yMahala Yeager, Nancy Tarr,
and Moses, Rosanna, Isabel, Mary,
aRdiJohn Holligshead. L'i'+ IL
Atthat time these lots, with the
exception of afew owned by NON
residents, and Bbram WILDER, we're
built upon; none of the buildings
were very costly, and built after The
old style; no cornices and small
windows, and scarcely any of them
were painted; they soon looked
bdilapi dated and prematurely old.
EEhe principal business was selling
Liquor drinking, fighting, and gam
bling. The growth ofithe place had
stopped-in fact, was finished, and
ready for fed cingg Such was Ham
den whe the Marietta and Gin.
cinnati Rail R DAD was projected.
About the same time the road from
Portsmouth to Newark was located,
and Hamden became the Junction.
On the strength of these loca-
tio ms, furnaces sprang up in that
region as if by magic. Nestlin g in
beautiful valley and surrounded
by hills full to repletion with min
g raj wealth, and at the crossing oil
tw Q Important Rail Roads, the en-,
Arsement and rapid growth of
Hamd en- seemed to be insured. But
Years passed and still no improve
ments, Society but little better.
The reason for this standstilled-
ness nothing is charged for the
new word soon became evident
they were hemmed in by a few rich
farmers whose meadows and pas
ture fields came quite up to and
surrounded the town,
3These gentlemen resblutely re-
fused to sen d foot Of land, and men
of capital for that reason failed to
invest. no.
81 The war broke out, and money
became plenty everywhere--some
of conrse stuck to the pockets Of the
people of the town, and having
no chance to spread out, began to
impro We that which they had. Real
Estate advanced, some sold out, a
new element of go-ah eadativeness
began to leaven up the old Jumps.
Rail Roads were created, and soci-
ETY. impro ved-but still those old
farmers, entrenchedi in land monop4
oily, sat as sentinels, imprisoning
and guarding the spirit of progress.
This state Of affairs continued
until within the last year or two
, The Rail Road Company built one
of the finest depots at this point
|. that can be found on the road, and
! the hotels did a thriving business.
, Our friend J. 7. Dinner, of the OH
mer Bros firm, who have so many
eating houses established along the