The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1903-03-10
VALUES
THEN AND NOW
RGw Property Which Was Once Farm
Land Nov Lies II Canton's
Business Center.
"reminiscences OF 50 YEARS AGO.

tWTllteu lOT thc w
John Danner.)
Seventy years ago Canton was o1ly
n small village OF town, with about
1000 to 1900 inhabitants. 1t was Of
course the county seat and that was
about all that could be said to give
II any prominence over other small
villages In the county The customs
and habits Of the people were quite
simple and plain to what we have
them today. The old corporate limits
were from Saxton street on the east
to Wells street on the west, and from
North street on the north and South
street on the south, and many va
want lots inside of these that could
have been bought at very low prices,
while all outside of the bounds de-
|scribed was farm land. ] we'll remem-
Der the large field lying south OF
Seventh street and west of Wells
street, known for many years as the
"Stidger field" containing ten to
twelve acres of ground, on which
wheat and other farm products were
raised; and very often before cad
field was cut up into town lots, mill
tary trainings were held there.
PROPERTY CHEAP.
Even so years ago our town was
small and property cheap. AS an L.
1ustration will mention that about
that time / bought two whole lots
al ha h
east corner of Tenth street and Nc
Kinley avenue, where A. j. Dumo1t
now resides and has his grocery. The
lots were &C 200 feet each, the same
as all the original town lots, and pay
ing SIS each for said beautiful lots.
They were fine lots. l kept them sew
eral years and in the meantime hal
some shade trees planted in front CT
the lots, both on Tenth street aid Nc
Kinley avenue. After few year
sold the lots to the late Samuel Bard
for $3.50 each, just double what had
paid for them, thinking I had done
well, and in one sense did, but would
have done better to have kept them
a few years longer. . .E
AN ENTERPRISING CITIZEN.
Samuel Bard, while he lived in
Canton, showed much enterprise in
building houses and selling them. He
was a carpenter and contractor by
trade, and was constantly putting up
houses and selling them. We lost
good enterprising citizen when he l:fi
us. He located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana
afterwards, where he conducted the
same kind of work until his death
Cn III
wife, was a daughter of the late Rev.
Neisz, who lived few miles south
OF Canton. She was an excellent
woman, and to the best of my knowl-
edge is still residing in Ft. Wayne.
From the time above referred to,
which was about the time the Pitts
burg, Ft. Wayne G. Chicago railroad
was opened through Canton, new cit
liens began to settle among us, such
as Ephriam Ball, C. Aultman, Lewis
Miller, George Cook and othe-s who
were looking for a good manufacture
ing point; and that was the time our
town began to be known as an inlard
manufacturing town, and the growth in
the past so years has been marvellous
so that we now have about 100 diff
ferent lines of manufacturing estab-
lishments in Canton. embracing a
great variety of articles from Dueber-
Hampden watches to the ponderous
and popular Diebold safes.
FACTORIES ON FARM SITES.
The farms that for many years lay
east, west and south OF the original
possession Of by various kinds OF
o. ~ ltaI,v~
homes, while north OF the corporation
has been built up by beautiful and
comfortable houses. The north part
of the city Is not likely ever to be in
truded upon by steam cars. as that part
Of the city lies much higher than the
other parts and is therefore not de-
sirable place to build steam car roads.
The electric city cars reach those high
points which accommodate the people
living there. bat beyond that there Ia
no probability of any other kind Ct
cars ever being run. East. west and
south of the city great trains Of
steam cars are constantly passing, but
the north side is limited to the cleo
tric street cars, and of them we have
as good service and as handsome cars
as most cities OF hundreds of thou
sands Of inhabitants.
BY the time the Stark Electric rail-
way Is opened up to Alliance. Salem.
and beyond and the Csnton-Akron
railway get their line finished to Ca
nal Dover and New Philadelphia, and
we get the direct line built from Can
ton to North Industry and on to
|'Sandyville. Canal Dover and New
Philadelphia. we shall begin to realize
that we are favored beyond most
cities In having fine electric interur-
ban railways from all points OF the
compass. which with the natural
richness of our soil and the wealth
Of our farmers, will make us realize
more than ever that we have good
ly Inheritance, and 1t becomes US TO
use these blessings to make our cit,-
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