Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/584

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��Heath Brothers' mill, yet running, was erected about 1844, by McMillen & Lowery. It is pro- pelled by steam, and always did a large business and excellent work. Its capacity is two to three hundred bushels of wheat per day.

The " Junction Mill," one of the largest in Northern Ohio, was erected about 1870, and is located at the junction of the two raili-oads, about one-half mile north of the town. The mill was erected by Morse, Anderson & Co. It is now conducted by Messrs. Fish & Storer, and has a capacity of more than one thousand bush- els of wheat per day. The quality of flour pro- duced by this mill, is not, probably, excelled by any in the country, and the mill is continually run to its fullest capacity.

Hon. S. S. Bloom thus writes regarding the early history of Shelby, and of the public schools: " The town of Shelby was laid out by John Gamble, in June, 1834, as appears from the original plat on file. The lots laid out b}' him were all south of Main street — numl^er one being that on which the Mickey Block now stands. Afterward, Henry Whitney laid out that part of the town north of Main and south of Mill streets. Aliout twenty years later, Mr. Eli Wilson laid out " East Shelby " in part, to which additions were made until it reached its present proportions.

'• Mr. Whitne}', who was a ])lacksmith. had his shop in front of his residence or cabin, on the lot now occupied bj- the residence of Dr. William E. Bricker.

"A post office was established in 1828, and John Gamble was the first Postmaster. It was called at first Gamble's Mills. At what partic- ular time the name was changed to Slielln', the writer does not know. Imt not far from the year 1840. The town was called Shelby in honor of Gov. Shelby, of Kentuck}-, who had rendered valuable services in the Indian wars preceding the first settlement of the whites. It was sug- gested b}' Mr. Charles C. Post, who then resided within the villaoe.

��" The first building in Shelby, after it was laid out, was erected by a Dr. Byers, on Lot No. 1, where the Mickey Block now stands. It was a hewed-log cabin, about 16x24 feet, and was used b}- him as a doctor's office. The next was a schoolhouse, mentioned elsewhere, on the opposite side of the street, north ; while the next was on the east side of Gamble street, where the ' Union Block,' now stands, erected hj John A. Duncan, and was occupied as a ' tavern.' Thus were the west side ' Four Cor- ners ' first occupied. ' Four Corners,' was the name b}^ which the embr^'o village was known for miles around.

" A part of this old building is still stand- ing just east of the Union Block.

" During the three years succeeding the first settlement, the influx of new settlers continued, so that a school was needed. The schoolhouse was accordingly erected in 1821, over the run, as it was then called, and somewhere near the present residence of Mr. F. Dennis, in ' Texas.' It was a log-cabin schoolhouse, as were all the buildings then erected. Miss Debby Moyer, the grandmother of Hiram Marvin, now resid- ing in Shelby, was the teacher. The terms fixed were ' 9 shillings per week and board herself During the second term of the school, the cal)in was burned, and a new site was selected, on the northwest corner of Main and Gamble streets, opposite the Mickey Block. The Imilding erected here, like its predecessor, was a log calnn, and not a pretentious one either, liut it served the purpose until 1831, when it, too, became the victim of fire. The third and last one of the log-cabin series was on the spot Avhere now stands the barn of Mrs. Benjamin Arten. During those years, the Black Fork Settlement had taken the name of ' Gaml)le's Mills," after the name of the post office estab- lished in the mean time.

" Soon after Shelby was laid out, in 1834, it l)ecame appai'ent that a more commodious schoolhouse was necessary than that located

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