The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-31

Old mother Robbins lived well down into
Putnam. The town was an old place and
was first settled by hardy New Engianders
who named the place (after few years
under the name Of sprinsneld) after old
Gen. Israel Putnam. It was In 1905 that
this stone house. square and bleak. was
built 1t Is said that its strength was to
endure the assaults Of the Indian. and this
has some credence. as stone houses are not
common in that region. although there is
stone in plenty. From this, the house came
to have the name Of the Old Stone Fort.
This old house secures its prominence In
connection with Miss Robbins, not only
because of its being her home, but because
she has made It the scene of much of the
action in her latest book, 1.-THE Open Cues
ton" Occupying the place It does in the
story, It becomes Of interest to US and We
find several points In it's history that make
Interesting reading. Compared with mod.
ern styles of architecture, this solid old
house stands square and grim on Its slight
elevation. 1t Is a rather picturesque old
place, and compared with It's modern neigh.
bors looks the grandfather Of them all.
Built of square stone blocks, its walls have
stood its nearly century of heat and frost
without q break or crack: and It comes
down from the time Of the red man to the
busy hum of the industries that go on about
Of age and permanence.
There Is no well authenticated record Q.
its ever being used to Withstand an attack
Of the Indians, although such q possibility
might have been in the minds of its build
ers But Of this there can be no proof. as
the Indian had already turned his steps
westward in search OF home unmolested
by the white man, and the Muskingum VAL
ley was free from his stealthy tread.
fs rsooro y,vohn hlo that fhn hottuo w.oa
put up with the intention of using It for
the purpose to which II was given for sev-
eral years. And that was, as we might
expect of the New Highlander school
house. To quote Miss Robbins own words,
as she introduces the old stone house In the
second chapter of her novel;
1.-THE house that Mrs. Gano inherited from
her father had been built In times of Indisn
warfare for fortress and ammunition
center. With the retreat Of the Indians tc
the Western reservation the settlements
need Of q fort was less than the need Of q
school,, The solid and spacious rectangular
building of stone on the height above the
river was turned into an academy for boys.
A rival school Slapped Its prosperity in time;
1t declined into bankruptcy and came upan
the market"
Jonathan Zane buiided better for his state
than he knew when he founded the town
called upon to be the capital Of Ohio. lii
1909 what ia known as "the old court house.
was erected to be occupied by the legisla-
ture of the state and when the capital was
removed from the town 1t was to be used
as the county courthouse So Muskingum
county came to have the most handsome
courthouse west Of the Alleghanies. That
Is to say 1t was handsome for that day. In
1878 1t was demolished to make way for the
present handsome but gloomy structure,
now covered with the coal dirt Of twenty
five years.
When the time came for the legislature
of 1909 to meet it proved to be legislature
without a home, for the new. courthouse
was not yet finished. In this emergency
the citizens determined to turn over to the
assembled solons the boys school building
in Putnam, and SO the old stone fort be-
came by leap the capitol building Of the
state. Ninety years ago the capital Of the