Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-06-24
OGDEN NBuRG.
The Mt. Vernon of the Maeyars, For
merIy a Roman Colony.

merIy a Roman Colony.
"Oedenburg, scene Of bloody peas
ant revolts against the rule of the
Reds is thriving city Of some 10000
inhabitants in normal times, situated
in a productive valley near the Rosa
lien and Leitha mountain ridges which
form the slender chain that binds the
Carpathians to the Alps" says bull
letin from Washington headquarters
of the National Geographic society.
Foothills Of the former mountains
almost surround Oedenburg, while the
Leitha mountains are some twelve
miles to the north. One Of the many
smaller towns in the vicinity is Kis
marion, famous for an historic and
magnificent castle OF the Esterhazy
family. Reputed to have descended
from Attila, the scions Of that line
have been conspicuous in Magyar af-
fairs from the sixteenth century to a
period within the memory of living
men.
1T was at Oedenburg, or Sopron, as
the Magyars cal. it, that the first Es-
terhazy of renown, Nicholas, was
chosen for palatine Of Hungary, five
yeas after the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth Rock. Paul Esterhazy, son
of Nicholas, was conmander-in-chief
of the south Hungarian army, also
was elected pa1atine, helped consoli-
date the Hapsburg dominion, and
wrote religious and scientific works.
Nicholas Joseph, in the eighteenth Gen.
tury. fought, acted as privy council,
and founded an orchestra Of which
Haydn was a member. Nicholas ~
declined the Hungarian crown from
the hands Of Napoleon, while his son,
successively ambassador at Dresden,
Rome and London. and Count Nor
itz, an EsterhaZy. loomed large in
craftsmanship and diplomacy Of the
nineteenth century.
with Oedenbnrg, too. is associated
another famous Hungarian name, that
Of Count Stephen Szechenyi, called
them by a patriot the greatest Mag
var of them ALL He was a composite
hero, at once the Paul Revere, the Har-
riman, and the Harry Payne Whitney
of Hungary. For it was he who rode
through enemy lines to inform Berna-
dotte and Blucher of their part in the
battle Of Leipsig; who introduced the
first steamboats, on the Danube, built
bridges further to encourage transpor-
tation, and launched what might now
be teamed Great Budapest move
ment which made that city q world
capital Of prestige and beauty; and
who was q patron of horse racing no
less than of literature and art. But
his name looms largest in politics be-
cause of his determined opposition to
the more radical reforms proposed by
Kossuth, and his subsequent espousal
of a conservative policy even as a
member Of the Kossuth ministry.
with plenty If fuel to be had from
the Brennberg mines nearby, Oeden-
burg manufactured machinery and bell
foundries. Soap factories, sugar re-
fineries, and vinegar vats were num-
bered among it's other industries, while
it traded in products Of the grain and
vines grown in the vicinity and was an
important cattle market. Famous wine
came from the little town of Balf, less
than 10 miles away, on the banks Of the
from the little town of BALI, less than
Neusiedler Lake, a shallow, salty body
Of water with a wooded swamp in the
southeast where game was plentiful.
Originally Oedenburg was Scar
bantia, a Roman colony. German set
tiers came, and by the eleventh CEN
tury it was a free town.
Franz LISTS father was employed
on the Esterhazy estates and the fam
Gus musician was born at Reiding, near
Oedenburg. List recalls the older ira
dition,, reincarnate in Paderewsh. that
virtuosity and politics may be joint
interests of a genius mind. For List,
as a young man, went to Paris and
took keen interest in the embryo So
cialist movement as preached by such
pioneers as Saint Simon"