Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/593

 HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��places around Shelby, thus drawing awaj' the business of that place.

The town was incorporated aliout 1853, and its gi'owth has been stead}', the population lieing now about two thousand. Regarding the busi- ness, there are at present three drug stores, four dry-goods, seven gi'ocer}', two hardware, four clothing, three boot and shoe, two jewelr}', two furniture and three stove and tin stores ; one bank, (The First National), two newspapers, one woolen-mill, one sash and blind factory, two hotels, two carriage factories, one wholesale liquor store, nine milliners and dressmakers, one furniture factory, one foundry and one tannery, beside a host of lesser industries.

Shelby has the reputation of lieing a good business town, and much wealth has been ac-

��cumulated there. The society is excellent, and it is generally enjoying the advantages of a high state of what is called " civiliza- tion."

The only town in the township besides Shelbj* is Yernon, a small station at the junction of the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan, and the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianap- olis Railways. It can hardl}' be called a town, as no plat of it appears on record. It was started soon after the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan road was completed, Mr. Sager, of Shelby, erecting a very good hotel there. In addition to this, there are two small stores, four or five dwellings and the depot building. A post office is established and is kept in the hotel.

��CHAPTER LVIII.

��SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.

��Location — Obganization — Name — Springs — Limits —

tlees and settlements tlie flnney and roe

AND Sabbath Schools — Schools — Saw-mills a

THIS was originally' part of ^Madison Town- ship, and now lies directl}' west of and joins it. It was organized in 1816, at which time it was twelve miles long from east to west, and six miles wide, and included what is now Sandusk}' Township, and part of Polk and Jack- son Townships in Crawford County. In Febru- ary, 1818, it was cut in two in the center, leaving it in its present shape — six miles square. Its name was suggested b}' INIrs. Coflrtnl)erry. one of earliest settlers, on account of the numerous the springs within its limits, some of which are very beautiful and valuable. Perhaps the most noted of these is the Palmer Spring, one and a half miles north of the village of Ontario. It produces a large volume of pure water, and supplies the little cit}' of Crestline, being con- veyed to that place in pipes. The spring is

��Physical Features — Agriculture and Timber — Set- Families AND THE Underground Railway — Churches ND Grist-mills — Villages — Population.

al)out one hundred and twenty-three feet higher than Crestline. The Sandusky River has its source here. One mile east of the Palmer Spring is the Preston Spring, near which one of the first grist-mills in the township was built. It was known as the Purdy Mill, and was built 1 )y the filther of 31r. James Purdy, of Mansfield. This spring furnished the water for this mill many years. Further east is the Condon Spring, which, in connection with another at Spring Mills, has for more than sixty years furnished water for a mill at that place.

Originally the entire township was covered with a dense growth of timber, and the hardy ])i<)neers who first came to it followed up the Indian traces, located their farms, and literalh' hewed their homes out of the woods. No prominent landmarks exist in the township-

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