Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/532

 ,^

��520

��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��and a complete list of the Mayors who followed Lindley. with their terms of service, cannot be found ; such as can be found are given below. The list commences with 1846 ; from 1828 up to that time the records are lost, but some of the distinguished gentlemen who were called to the helm during those years were, besides Lindley, Joseph Hildreth, Henr}^ Huffman and Simeon Bowman.

Joseph Lindley 1846

T. H. Ford 1846

Frederick Cook 1847

S. J. Kirkwood 1848

P. P. Hull 1849

Hubbard Colby 1850

N. D. McMillen 1851

Perkins Bigelow 1852

Perkins Bigelow 1853

Andrew Poe 1854

Isaac Gass 1 855

George F. Carpenter 1856

Stephen B. Sturges 1857

Wilson M. Patterson 1857

Isaac W. Littler 1858

William A. Moore 1860

B. S. Runyon 1861

James Cobean 1862

Darius Dirlam 1864

Abner Slutz* 1866

A. C. Cummings 1870

John B. Netscher* 1872

Isaac Gassf 1875

J. R. Richardson* 1875

James G. Craighead 1879

Dr. Bushnell and Charles T. Sherman were members of the first Council, and almost the first act of that body was the passing of a resolution, introduced by Dr. Bushnell, that the members of the Council should accept no pay for their services. Mansfield did not exhibit an}' marked signs of future greatness until the Mansfield & Sandusky Railroad came, in 1846. This gave a start to the development of its al- most limitless resources. It began to be a grain market, a wood market and a market for


 * Two terms.

fDied while in office.

��everything that the soil could produce. Stur- ges & Tracy built the warehouse at the foot of Walnut street, about this time.

The Mansfield Ilerahl sa3'S, of the city ten years later (1857): "The population is nearl}- 6,000 ; the annual exports exceed $1,000,000. There are twenty merchants in the cit}' ; three hardware establishment selling an aggregate of $80,000 per annum ; six manufactories ; three fire companies ; twenty-seven lawj^ers ; ten doctors ; two banks ; seven hotels ; eleven churches, ancl gas works aliout completed." The Herald is mistaken about the 6,000, but there was something over 5,000, for this year an enumeration was taken, and Mansfield made a city of the second class.

At a called meeting of the Council, June, 1855, H. P. Piatt, of Cleveland, asked, for himself and associates, the right of wa}', for twenty j-ears, to la}- gas pipes. The Coun- cil granted the right, upon certain speci- fied terms ; this was the first positive action regarding gas. Two j^ears were given the con- tractors in which to finish the woyk, but the company was slow, and finally failed to com- plete their work within the specified time. Mr. James Purdy says that he, with others, " ad- vanced the money to establish gas works, and when the contractors failed, he, with seven oth- ers, paid the debts due, organized a gas-light company, laid main pipes, put up lamp posts, aud lighted the streets." This was in 1857, and the price of gas was $3 per thousand feet. About 1849, the town received another "boost" toward her present greatness, by the arrival of cars on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway. These railways receive full attention in another chapter. In 1856, ground was bro- ken for the Atlantic & Great Western Railway. Mansfield subscribed $100,000. Ground was first broken liy John Wiler, followed b}' Jabez Cook and Robert Carter. Judge Bartley de- livered the address. This road was fianlly declared finished, at 3:15 P. M., December 27,

��'Hv

�� �