Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1929-08-22

TIE wheel, IHel 10 dHOJHSI SH6dVc
at the other end of the boat, then
back to the carriage; thus connect
ed, by turning the wheel you could
head the boat up to. any angle re-
quired, with respect to the current
thus strung up; the boat would
travel automatically back and for
ward, according to the angle the
gunwale was to the current.
Early Amusements
The early amusementS were. not
so many as at present. The county
fair was looked forward to with
great interest, and was the family
reunion, instead of having them
singly. The first county fair was
held where the water works park is
located, which was an entirely va
cant space. l think that must have
been in the early SOS. After that
except one, 1853, if | remember cor
rectly, and this was on account OF
high water as on the third of Sep
tember that year, the river came
within 3 1a feet of reaching the then
famous flood of April 13, 1860. We
had some dramatic companies visit
us at intervals and they usually
played for one or two weeks, but we
had many balls, usually in Conner's
hall, which was also where the thea
ire companies held forth. This hall
was located in the third story and
was over Hills grocery. An or
chestra rostrum, permanent, was
built in and there was a spacious
floor for dancing. | have spent many
nights as country fiddler. on this
rostrum.
The Churches
The churches of my early recol-
lection and their location: The
Methodist Episcopal church was a
stone building with basement. An
outside stairway or steps on the
south side led to the main room.
The present building was built in
1850. Soon after it's completion
conference was held in the new
church, and in attendance was 4
man by the name of Lock, with a
small machine on which he printed
the daily doings of the gathering.
1t happened that while the confer
ence was in session oil was found on
the Epping Brown farm. This well
was within 100 feet of the Dover
slaughter house, and was but %
feet deep. Intense excitement pre-
vailed, and a steady stream of Wis
itors could be seen for many days
going to and from the well. Among
them was the editor of the daily,
who prepared the report of the con-
ference, but the oil business occu-
pied fully as much space as did the
church business. The Baptist
church stood on the lot where r. l..
Mendel's furniture store is, and
joined a two story brick which
stood on the location of the present
wholesale grocery building. This
church burned in 1853. 1t was be-
ing heated for the funeral services
of Samuel HALEY, who had operated
store at Roxbury for Jas. A. Nc
Connell of this place. 1t took fire
before time for the funeral, and the
church was entirely destroyed. The
Universalist church was used by the
Baptists for some time. The church
now occupied by the Methodist Prot
estants was Congregational
church. and abandoned The Bap-
tist congregation occupied this
church for some time. The Congre-
gational church having gone under
the building was sold to the Metho-
dist Protestant congregation, who
occupy it at the present time. Later
the Baptists used the second story
of the town hall, which stood where
the armory now stands. 1t was in
the year 1870 that the new Baptist
church was built, and where they
continued to worship for many
years, and which was recently sold,
it now being the church home of the
Seventh Street Church of Christ
The Universalist church building
which is now used as a garage, had
, quite fair sized congregation for a
time, that gradually failed, and the
building was sold several years ago.
The Presbyterian church, built in
1882, is probably the oldest. This is
fine building. The Main Street
Church of Christ lost their church
building by the flood of 1913 This
building was where the Standard
filling station now stands; since
their loss they have built fine new
building which is on Main street.
one block east and on the north
side of the street. The Catholic
denomination had no church until
the present grade school house was
built in 1868, and the various
school houses in town were aban-
doned as school houses and sold.
The one on the north side of Bell
avenue was purchased by the Cath
olics and makes a fine church build.
ing. There were two schools in this
building. There was a duplicate
building in which two schools were
accommodated, on Liberty street,
between Third and Fourth streets,
and when sold it was first used for
a wagon and paint shop.
Later, in 1898, it was again sold
to the McConnelsyille & Malta Elec-
trio Co, and our first electric cur
rent came from this building, and
was furnished by steam power, and
continued for ten years, when the
plant was moved to the west end of
the dam, and current furnished by
water power, except at such times
when high water reduced the pow
er; then steam was used as auxil.
AIRY power for a time, when gas en-
sines took the place of steam, and
now the current comes from a high
power pla6t, since the Suburban
Power Co. has charge of the plant.
The plant at the west end of the
dam is lying idle, with machinery
still in place. While on this sub
ject | may say that our town was
not lighted in any manner until in
the early sixties, and then in a very
crude way, which was by oil lamps
on posts which were about eight
feet high and located on the street
corners, on Main street, and not SO