Miss
Fulwiler Has Interesting Paper On Ironton History
Ironton Evening Tribune, 9 April 1949
Saturday, Page 3.
Miss Mary Fulwiler, 181 south Sixth street, a
former teacher in the Ironton school system and well known in
educational circles has submitted to The Tribune the following article
for publication in connection with the Centennial celebration which
will be held next October.
Miss Fulwiler wrote the paper on "Ironton" several
years ago and presented it before an organization of which she was a
member. Miss Fulwiler knew the men who were active in Ironton's
founding and the growth and development of this city. Her paper
contains a great deal of her personal knowledge, also other material
gathered in preparation of the paper, which follows:
The Ohio Iron and Coal Company was
incorporated in March 1849 and on the third day of May 1849 its
directors resolved that John Campbell, Caleb Briggs and W. D. Kelly be
authorized to lay out a town on the land of the company above the
mouth of Storms Creek for the purpose of encouraging and causing the
erection of manufacturing establishment and other buildings connected
with the operators of the Company; the said town shall be called
Ironton; that suitable ground shall be appropriated for the laying off
of said town for a market, a courthouse and offices; and for public
buildings of the said town.
First Lot Sale
Ironton was platted and the first sale of lots on the town site was
in June 1849.
Then, as now, when lots are sold there are some boasting as to why
this was a fine location for a new town called Ironton, situated at
the terminus of the Iron railroad on the Ohio River, three miles above
Hanging Rock, Lawrence county, situated above floods of 1832 and 1847,
in a beautiful bottom that is about three-quarters of a mile wide and
three miles long; dry and healthy. the landing is good the whole
length of the town for the largest boat.
There were upward of thirty iron furnaces within twenty five miles
of it, yielding about 50,000 tons per year of as good iron as the
world affords, nine of which were bringing their iron to that point as
soon as the Ironton railroad was completed.
Were these not good reasons for a town at this location, but how
sad! Not one of these old furnaces, at present, is in operation.
When the ground was surveyed the briars were so thick that Mr. John
Campbell carried a scythe most of the time to cut a way to pull the
measure through and Mr. Kelly was a good second with an axe. It was
John, Bill and George Davidson and Smith who carried the chain most of
the time. I had known John Campbell since I was a girl and he a young
man. I now think he was one of the wisest, if not the wisest man I
ever knew. Will Kelly, like me, believed in John’s ability and we
profited by it.
City Was Named
Now, as to how our city received its name. Charles Campbell, son of
John Campbell, said he had heard his father say, “I want the name to
have the words iron and ton”. He would repeat “a ton of iron, and
iron-ton”. In 1901 George F. Walton of Burden, Kansas wrote to the
Ironton Register that it might be interesting for you to know how our
city got its name. He wrote: “My father made a topographic survey of
the land above Storms Creek under the direction of John Campbell and
W. D. Kelly. I made a rough plat of the ground and soon there was a
meeting of the directors of the town company at the offices of
Campbell, Ellison and Company at Hanging Rock. The plat I had drawn
was accepted with some modification.
“The name of the town was then discussed and several names were
suggested. I sat listening and conjuring up names. We wanted a name
that would suggest a business of the city, to be, I thought as the
original of my family name was Wall-Town, why not name the new city
Iron Town, abbreviated as my name had been? I wrote the name Ironton
on a piece of paper and handed it to John Campbell. He jumped up as
quick as thought and said in his emphatic way, ‘That is it, George;
that’s the name, Ironton. Yes, Ironton is the name. Write it on the
map, George.’
“No vote was taken, no question was asked. The first time that word
was written, I wrote it. It must have pleased Mr. Kelly for in a few
days he named his new boy Ironton Austin Kelly.
The brightest days for Hanging Rock as an industrial center, and
for Burlington as a shipping point and as the county seat has passed.
Pass Petition
John Campbell, W. K. Kemp and William Lambert, the three most
energetic capitalists of the town, circulated a petition for the
removal of the county seat from Burlington to Ironton.
The petition said, “Ironton is and will be the commercial business
center of the county. It is the chief town for trade and manufactures,
consequently, the principal market to which the citizens will come to
transact their business will be Ironton. It is nearer the center than
any other point on the Ohio River. It is nearer to the center of
population of the county than any other along the river. Ironton
contains nearly one-half the population of the county.” This petition
was signed by nearly 100 citizens. Prior to the time of voting on this
question $1200 had been subscribed for the building of the courthouse
and $400 for the building of the jail. Quite a number of
specifications as to location of the building, as to how it should be
placed and as to entrances accompanied the petition. The whole to be
completed by 1852. This building was used until 1906.
John Campbell authorized W. D. Kelly to purchase the farms in this
neighborhood for the site of Ironton.
The names of the farmers who sold their farms and how much each
farmer received is recorded.
Ironton was divided into 350 lots and later on into seven wards for
school purposes.
City, Railroad
Ironton and the Iron Railroad were twins and children of the
furnaces. Before Ironton was laid out there had been eleven furnaces
built in Lawrence county, namely; Union, Buckhorn, Etna, Center, Mt.
Vernon, Olive, LaGrange, Vesuvius, Lawrence, Pine Grove and Hecla.
In 1851 a lot was donated to the Ironton Rolling Mill Company. Next
came the Lawrence Rolling Mill, then the Star Mill and the Olive
Machine Shop; all within two or three years after the town was laid
out. The Ironton Register came into existence about the same time. Its
name has been changed to the Ironton Evening Tribune. The old Register
did its boosting for Ironton in its early years and is continuing to
do so.
One thing it brought to the attention of the readers at home and
abroad was that the nearness of Ironton to the natural resources
enabled her to manufacture iron cheaper than other places along the
Ohio river.
In later years Ironton had what was called Big Etna, Lawrence and
Ironton Iron Furnace. Col. H. A. Marting was president of all three.
Bank Founded
Next came the founding of the Iron Bank in 1851 with a capital
stock of $40,300. The first president was James O. Willard and the
first cashier was James. O. Rodgers.
The first National Bank succeeded the Iron Bank in 1863 and the
same year the Second National Bank was organized. The Citizens
National Bank was organized in May 1890.
The Iron City Savings Bank was organized in July 1905.
A place for a public market, where the Memorial Hall is now located
was used for that purpose a number of years.
A body of laws was promulgated under the authority of a legislative
act on May 3, 1852. It was not incorporated until 1865. In 1859 the
postoffice was moved to the Union Hall. Prior to this time it had been
in four different places. After to occupation of Union Hall, it was
located on Third street in Masonic Temple, it was then moved to the
corner room of the Odd Fellows Temple on Fourth and Center street and
then to its present home.
In 1858 there were two fire companies organized.
A new water works was constructed at the end of Vernon
street. This
system was put in and repaired and improved from year to year. At
present we have a modern filtration plant which has been in operation
23 years or more.
Now as to our first school. In 1850 a small, frame building at the
corner of Fourth and Center street. The money for this building was
contributed by private parties. The list was headed by John Campbell
giving $100 others giving smaller sums until they had $444. This
building was enlarged in 1854. At this time Dr. N. K. Moxley was
president of the school board.
First Superintendent
There were three school examiners and five visitors all of whom
were ministers. First superintendent was John Beach. There was only
three weeks vacation during the year. School was closed at 5 o’clock
in the evening from Jan. 15 until Nov. 15, then two months of the year
school closed at 4:30.
One of the visitors wrote to Mr. Campbell and made some suggestions
about the superintendent and the teachers. The superintendent was
removed and Mr. Charles Kingsbury was appointed in his place, which
position he occupied until 1865.
The first brick school house erected was called Central. It was
located where Kingsbury now stands.
It may be interesting to hear the names of the first graduating
class. They are Julius Anderson, Mrs. Harriet Kingsbury Burr,
Mrs. Clara Crawford Davidson, S. B.
Steece, James Bull, Mrs. (Dr.) O. Ellison and Mr. E. S. Wilson all of
them active and prominent citizens.
Dr. Briggs left Ironton in 1867 for his home in Massachusetts. The
talk of a public library was begun. It is interesting to read the
correspondence that took place between Dr. Caleb Briggs, John Campbell
and W. W. Johnson. Others especially interested at this time were
Charles Kingsbury and Rev. Creighton. All of these men were interested
in everything that pertained to the welfare of the community. Their
efforts at this time culminated in what they called “The Briggs
Library Association”. In 1881, Dr. Briggs donated $25,000 for a free
public library also a large number of books.
Memorial Hall
Through lawful proceedings, Market Square became the site for
Memorial Hall. The hall was built and dedicated in October, 1892. J.
K. Richards, a prominent lawyer of that time made the dedicatory
speech. Memorial Hall was partially destroyed by fire in 1905. Second
time for the loss of books by fire.
The hall was rebuilt and in February, 1910, the Briggs Free Public
Library was thrown open to the city that year, also. The foundation
fund at this time was $67,000. Mrs. Winifred Morton Fell was
librarian.
Prior to 1852, Dr. Briggs had helped to organize a library society
which was then in operation with a small, but well selected lot of
books for circulation among its members. In 1852-54 a new association
was formed, into which the existing library was merged and to which
its books were transferred. The membership embraced nearly all the
heads of families in Ironton with annual membership fee of $3.00. This
association opened the public reading room and library and 300 new
books and other reading material were placed there. Owing to the
financial depression which lasted six years and the Civil War, the
library suspended operation. These books were boxed to await more
favorable times and in 1865 were destroyed by fire. The names of men
connected with the library organization were; Dr. Briggs, John
Campbell, Rev. Joseph Chester, J. O. Willard, Edward Jordan, H. S.
Neal, C. G. Hawley, Ralph Leete and Dr. Sloan. Then before the Briggs
Library was started another attempt was made for a public library or
as we called it, a reading room. That was along in the 90’s.
Miss Nettie Anderson, an Ohio Wesleyan graduate, came home one
summer and was enthused with the idea or organizing a YWCA. It was
organized with a fair number of members and one of the main objectives
was to have a reading room. We met in a room on Second street where
the Bunn furniture store now stands. Ed Wilson was in charge of the
books, which Mr. Briggs had left for the library stored in the
Register office. Mrs. Mayme Batham Bothwell and I were appointed to go
over these books and select those we thought the public in general
would read. To this collection we gathered books from all parts of
town.
Mrs. Hattie Kingsbury Burr left her residence, corner of Sixth and
Jefferson streets for the library and it was moved there in 1910.
Church Histories
Some forty years before the founding of Ironton, the Baptists had
held services in a log church built just below the mouth of Storms
Creek on the river side of the road. Rev. John Lee and family, his
wife and five daughters had bought a farm near by. In 1820 the banks
of the river washed away to such an extent that the log cabin had to
be abandoned. A frame church was built across the road from the old
church, and around this church was a graveyard.
In 1854 the present brick church was built. This church was very
strict in the observance of its discipline.
The Methodist was the next church organization. In 1850 this church
developed into Spencer Chapel.
In 1872 forty members withdrew and formed Wesley Chapel. In 1913
Wesley was partially destroyed by fire and then instead of rebuilding,
the Spencer and Wesley churches united and it was called First
Methodist Episcopal Church. Since the union of all Methodist churches,
the word Episcopal has been dropped.
The same year 1850, the Presbyterian Church was organized and the
present church is in the same location as the original church.
The first Catholic Church, built in 1853, stood at the corner of
Seventh and Center. Now it is located at Sixth and Center.
Christ Episcopal Church was organized in 1854, located at Park and
Fifth. These churches were the first churches to be organized, all
located centrally. At present there are in the neighborhood of 25
churches in Ironton.
Hospitals
We have three hospitals, the Charles Gray Deaconess, the Marting
Hospital and the General Hospital.
Lodges
The first and secret and benevolent society to organize was
Lawrence Lodge No. 198. It was begun in Hanging Rock and moved to
Ironton October 18, 1850. There are a number of women organizations of
long standing, as well as men’s groups.
Ironton is noted for its beautiful shaded streets,
its beautiful churches, fine swimming pool, stadium. Ironton is noted
for its hospitality.
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