Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-09-03
OH|O'S 'UNLUCK|EsT
VILLAGE MUST GO
Osborn Is to Be Wiped Out Of Existence
to Assure Safety of Dayton and
Whole Miami River Basin.


Osborn. = Osborn, Ohio's "unIucki-
est village" must go. Doing laz-
lily under the protecting brow of .
semi-circle of Greene county hills, the
little town was an innocent bystander
in the great flood of 1913. Now it is
to be wiped out of existence to assure
the safety of Dayton and the whole
Miami river basin.
Wherever the townspeople gather
they are discussing the news that the
Miami conservancy district is going to
buy out the town for S1,000,000 and
turn it into great flood reservoir.
They look at the bright little houses
set well back on well ordered lawns,
lined along full stretches with giant
trees throwing their shade on easy
going passersby, and they assume the
air that marked the last moments of
Roman gladiators:
I'VE, about to die, salute you"
Even the bright little houses and
the nodding trees insist on partaking
of this grim heroic. In fact, it's
happy funeral.
Some rainy days the waters Of
humble little Mad river, tossed back
by proposed conservancy dam, will
suddenly engulf the remnants of Os-
born village and make lake of the
pretty, fertile valley.
About 1850 the Old Bee Line rail-
road, a branch of the Big Four, was
built, and Osborne became a station.
For half a century Osborn logged
along at a leisurely pace, now and
then succumbing to few new
tangled fads. A municipal light and
water plant was established, and then
cement walks were laid on every vii
lage street. The families multiplied un-
til 900 people lived in the community.
Then the prosperous existence was
changed and the last few years have
witnessed a train of misfortunes that
brought the village to standstill and
prepared it for the last blow, the eli
max of the "unluckiest village"
The Osborn bank, an old home
made financial institution that had the
confidence of every townsman and
+ farmer for miles around, went smash.
due to unwise investments. Business
suffered body blow.
An epidemic of smallpox ravagea
the town for an entire winter and
sent buyers and sellers and many Of
the transient workmen scurrying te
other towns and cities
4 The whip factory, that had main
tanned close relations with the defuncs
bank, finally was forced to the wa1a
after years of haphazard existence.
An egg case factory and boiler
works that promised for while to
bring employment to a few people
found that they couldn't live.
Even a company which started te
build aeroplanes invented by the vii
lage marshal. Charles Snyder. wenl
up in the air when it was found thai
the machines wouldn't
The village owned light and powel
works proved an expensive venture
largely because of careless administra
tion, and the taxpayers were burdenes
with the recurrent Indebtedness.
So, except for the 25 retail concerns
and a fair sized milling industry
things we're on the decline But thl
people accept the situation more thai
philosophically; they say it's the bes
stroke of luck the town has ever had
Osborn people have been scarei
ever since IL e legislature three year
ago passed a flood prevention law.
was planned sken to build two dams
one on either side of Osborn, and TIL
township declared that the first freshe
would sweep their village from it
moorings.
The Erie and Big Four railroad
thought so, too, and a few days ag
they served an ultimatum that thei
stations wolld be moved away. Thi
would have left Osborn high and dr..
commercially.
1t was at this juncture that NJ. L
Finne1l, Osborn's first citizen, hal
owner of the quarter million dolla
milling interests, took hand and tol
the conservancy directors to try
new deal.
Finnen showed that with the trafh
lines moved property values would d.
preciate so per cent and hundreds c
people would be ruined. Then b
broached the idea of building singl
!, dam at Osborn instead of two elss
where and of buying out everythin
= in the town at fair valuation. Afte
the directors recovered their breat
!, they agreed that it was bully idea.