The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-02-12
When Dayton Had
Company

Like Olu MOtneT Hubba10s WITCH
her guests had left there, Dayton
/ looked in her cupboard and found
the place bare. 1t was lot years
ago-the evening of September 10,
184O, and Dayton had had company.
Lots of company-there had been
| $4,000 persons there for dinner.
All were invited guests. 1t had
| been one of those "come over and
bring everybody along' affairs but
Dayton had not expected the family
to be so big. 1t was a rather siz-
able crowd Of visitors for the per-
iod-especially for city so dimin-
utive as Dayton at the time.
| Dayton then had but 6,067 popu-
lation. It had taken it 40 years to
grow that big from its original five
families. However, nine turnpikes
entered the town and it was on the
Miami and Erie Canal. There yet
were no railroads.
Second Largest City in Ohio
The little city also had the equiv
alent of what now would be termed
a pretty active chamber of COM
merce. It footed the town horn
loudly and clamored far and wide
about the city's few industries.
DAYTON then was the second city in
Ohio. Only Cincinnati, So miles
south, had it topped.
Taking note of the many torch
| light parades; log cabin and hard
cider barrel floats; "Tippecanoe and
TYLER Too" banners; and seemingly
statewide fervor of that years
William Henry Harrison for Presi-
9ent campaign, little Dayton's ener-
getic body of civic leaders decided
it would be a nice thing to land
the political convention for their
fiourishing town They got it.
Days before the convention people
began to flock into Dayton and on
September 9 crowded tangles Of
carriages, wagons and horsemen
streamed into town. At six o'clock
that evening, headed by II stage
coaches, the long line Of wagons
and carriages from Cincinnati, with
banners and band music, came in
by the Centerville road. They were
met and escorted into town by the
Dayton Grays, Butler Guards, Day
ton Military Band and citizens on
horseback. Crowds cheered as each
coach unloaded and people thronged
the streets.
IL BOatloads of Visitors
Twelve crowded canal boats ar
rived next day and every road into
Dayton poured its thousands onto
the streets.
General Harrison had come only
as far as Jonathan Harshman's farm
house and spent the night of Sep
tember 8 there-five miles from Day
ton. Next morning a pretentious es-
cort, comprising the Dayton Grays,
the Washington Artillery (Dayton); ;
Citizens Guard (Cincinnati); Butler
! Guards (Hamilton); and Piqua Light
Infantry, went out to bring him in.
Harrison, on a white horse, and the
few members of his party headed the
procession back into Dayton.
Dayton was crowded. In all, 644
flags fluttered from the tops of it's
houses and buildings on every street.
Band music, emblems, banners and
political notices were everywhere.
Housetops, windows and the roofs
and openings in business blocks all
were jammed with spectators. And
still the crowd increased as new
throngs streamed into town.
Here Comes the Parade
Second Street, which then led
through a prairie, was lined on either
side by dense, surging sea of people
which continued and grew greater as
it reached the middle of town. 1t
was down this street the big process
sion was to come-and here it is!
First there was General Harrison
on the white horse, and accompany
ing him, his staff. Then came the
military battalion, already mentioned,
from Dayton, Hamilton, Piqua and
Cincinnati; marehers and horsemen;
all carrying flags or banners; bands,
interspersed everywhere; great,
horse-drawn floats carrying canoes,
log cabins furnished in pioneer style,
trappers' lodges, pioneer block
houses; and in the doorway of each
the political cider barrel.
Every float was filled with men,
women, girls and boys-the latter
in hunting shirts and blue caps. One
float carried live wolf wrapped in
sheep-skin, representing the "hypo-
critical professions" Of the opponents
of the Wings. A giant ball, represent
ing the Harrison States, was rolled
through the streets. The carriages
were three abreast and there were
more than 1000 of them in the line.
The great parade was two miles long.
The procession moved to the
National Hotel, Third Street, where
it was disbanded by Harrison. At one
o'clock that afternoon it again got
under way and marched to the stand
built east Of Fourth and north of
Third street where the speeches were
II, do -@------