IRONTON, OHIO IN NINETEEN HUNDRED FIVE – Civic pride was soaring high in 1905…That was the year of the campaign to build a new courthouse in Ironton, Ohio…Voters are a special bond issue election voted a nice majority in favor…It took a year before ground was broken…H. D. Rapp of the Ironton Cement plant and Ernest F. Horschel drove the only automobiles in town, a White Steamer and a Cadillac…
The newspapers printed editorials about the need of a new railway depot…the names of E. B. Willard, James Hudson, T. J. Templeton, T. J. White, B. F. Daniel, Dave Halley, J.P. McDonnough, J. E. Kouns and L. Williams are engraved in the courthouse lobby as the nonpartisan building committee who did the magnificent job…
Today is an ideal time to recall what happened 61 years ago…A “Meet the press” of candidates for county commissioner at the November election for questions and answers about the old neglected courthouse will be featured at a civic club dinner tomorrow, and it is well to recall the civic spirit of the community, then and now.
HEAVE-HO – On this date in 1895, seven hundred citizens walked to the river at Front and Railroad streets to inspect the new city wharf boat, said to be the finest of any city along the river from Cincinnati to Wheeling…The boat was a two-decker with six big double doors to take aboard freight and passengers…Four of the doors were on the main deck, two were on the riverside, and two were on the on-shore side for the stevedores on the packets to carry on and off the freight…The doors on the top deck on the outside were for passengers to get from the wharf aboard the packet.
During the “Gay 90s” town folks, seeking amusement, went to the wharf boat to watch the passengers and see the pig iron and kegs of nails and Ironton-made stoves and wood mantels carried aboard the boats…The men doing the work were mostly Mississippi Negroes who sang songs as they worked…The wharf had a waiting room like the railway depot, an office, a ticket sales window, and a lunch stand where a number of businessmen went to eat at noon…Newspaper boys always found the boats a profitable place to sell extra copies and get tips from the passengers traveling or taking vacation trips.
Most of the boats had a bar and sold that famous beer advertised on Cincinnati radio and television today at the baseball games…When a boat en route between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh landed there was usually a rush of Irontonians to Texas deck to play the slot machines…Many an Irontonian got on a boat going upstream and paid a cash fare to Ashland and returned home on the streetcar from Coal Grove just to try their luck on the slot machines…Thus you see what an important place the wharf boat was when John Rist, Henry B. Goldcamp, and Tom Hudson were young men.
The boat about 150 feet long and 30 feet wide was decorated with advertising signs in letters large enough to be read in Russell…Among the firm names were J. W. Tulga, buggies, wagons, and harness; Lucas Drug Store, paints, and glass; W. A. Murdock, wholesale groceries; D. C. Davies, dry goods; Brumberg, clothing; Hicks for signs.
WANT TO EXPECT – As David says about Chet on the six o’clock news, the fingers that type Soliloquy are taking a few day’s annual leave and if you miss the column don’t report us AWOL to the police…We hope to make it back before a couple of sun-ups and then let you know where we have been.
THIS DATE YEARS AGO – Jacob Blessing started the first brewery in Ironton on August 13, 1857…That was four years before the Civil War and there was no radio at that time, but perhaps Jake did as good standing on a beer keg expounding the virtues of his “new tap” as Waite Hoyt does on television today…It was on this date in 1929 that Irontonians heard the first voice on the silent movie screen at the Marlow Theatre at Third and Park Ave…
Bob and the late Joe Stern were in charge of the popular theatre at that time…Also on this date in 1860, the first services were held at the new Tried Stone Baptist Church on Depot Square…It was the first Negro church in the city and the Civil War was brewing.
On this date, in 1936 Governor Martin L. Davey spoke at the cornerstone dedication at General Hospital, and in 1929 the late Dr. Charles Gallagher established his first office on South Fourth Street, and in 1963 groundbreaking program was held for the enlargement of a the First National Bank building at Second and Park Ave.
These mentions illustrate how fast time is moving on…August 14, 1928, the voters of the city voted almost 2 to 1 in favor of the City manager government for Ironton…Members of the citizen’s committee were J. F. Scherer, George P. Mahl, Henry F. Heider, Horace Rist, W. P. Lewis, John A. Mohr, E. S. Culbertson, Angeles G. Moore, George C. Hugger, Charles A. Smith, E. J. Merrill, John Daugherty, and Chas. Collett…Only 3 of the committee are still living.
Written by Charles Collettt
Huntington Newspaper – no date given
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