Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/653

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

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��chased the eight}' acres belonging to the negro family, pacing what was then a high price, $600, and immediately began laying out a town in the woods. The road, however, struck the farm of Butane, at the east end of jNIain street, where the company erected a little shant}' for a depot, and called it Vernon Station. Rutane sold his place to a man named Conwell, who erected the first house near the station. It was on Main street, west of the railroad. Con- well afterward sold it to Rensselaer R. Living- stone, who laid out a town around the station. Here, then, the present town had its beginning, and many houses were erected around Vernon Station before Crestline was thought of The Livingstone and Thomas Additions, as they are called (though really Crestline is the addition), are now the larger part of the town.

The Cleveland. Columbus & Cincinnati Rail- road has the honor of establishing Crestline. The charter for this road was granted in 1836, but it was not until February, 1851, that the road was opened for traffic. In 1850, however, trains wei'e running as far as Shelby and Crestline. At that time, the road was a wooden one, comparatively speaking, the improved "T" rail not having been invented. For three years, Vernon Station had an opportunity to spread itself before it was interfered with b}' another railroad. It grew to be something of a place. A post office was established there ; a hotel erected, called the Ohio House, kept by ^lichael Heflelflnger ; Messrs. Newman & Thoman started the first store, and kept a gen- eral stock, such as is usuall}' kept in a country store. A grocery and provision store was also established about the same time, by Thomas Hall, who was a conti'actor, and engaged in building a section of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, then l)eing rapidly pushed forward, and who established the pro- vision store partly for the purpose of supplying his employes. Thoman and Livingstone were busy during these years, selling their lots, ad-

��vertising the town, and erecting dwelling-houses for the accommodation of new residents and the numerous employes of the different con- tractors on the two roads.

On the 11th of April, 1853, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad was opened for traffic from Allegheny City to Crestline, a distance of 187 miles. LTnfortunately for Ver- non Station, it was for some reason ignored by this road, which crossed the Cleveland, Colum- bus & Indianapolis road a half a mile or more south of it, and immediately there was a rush for the junction. Thereafter Vernon Station was "left out in the cold."

Previous to this, a party of gentlemen con- cluded that money could be made out of this point on the road by laying out a new town. The names of these gentlemen were Jessie R. Strong, the chief engineer of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad ; Thomas W. Bartley, of Mansfield, and John and Joseph Larwill, of Wooster — the latter gentlemen being well known in the early history of Mansfield and this county, as surveyors. Whether these gen- tlemen exerted sufficient influence to change the direction of the road slightly so that it should strike the other road at a point so far from A^ernon Station as to give room to plat a new town, is not certainly known, but maj' be reasonably inferred, from the fact that the chief engineer was interested in the project, and that these gentlemen were connected with each other by marriage, if not by blood rela- tionship. Be this as it may, it was perfectly legitimate. They purchased the eighty acres of Harvey Aschbaugh, across which it was de- termined to run the Pittsliurgh. Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, and laid out a town at the junction, which they called Crestline, and there- upon Vernon Station was abandoned. It, how- ever, made little difference to the latter, as the two towns soon grew together and the line be- tween the two plats was obliterated. The two railroads built a frame union depot which stood

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