The Findlay Telephone Exchange was chartered Jan. 27, 1880, and a telephone line built in Findlay by Samuel D. Houpt, which was opened for business in the summer of that year.  Mr. Houpt put in eighty two "phones," and conducted the business until August, 1882, when he sold out to the Midland Telephone Company, Chicago, Ill.  Early in 1884 the latter company took out the instruments and abandoned the field.  Another telephone company has recently been chartered and a franchise granted, and a new line will probably be constructed in the village in the near future.
     The greater part of Findlay was originally very flat, wet and muddy, and the lack of proper drainage rendered it impossible to construct cellars of any utility within the village.  Ponds and mud-holes were numerous; streets and lots had to be filled up, and surface drainage proved insufficient to throw off the surplus water during the wet seasons.  The streets were, therefore, often in a deplorable condition, and though considerable macadamizing had been done through the passing years, yet very little improvement was discernible in many of them.  The town authorities at last resolved to put in sewers, and July 5, 1869, the council appointed James A. Bope, E. P. Jones and B. F. Kimmons, a board of improvement to prepare plans for a general system of sewerage.  Two weeks afterward the board submitted their report, which was adopted and the work ordered to be commenced at once.  The present sewerage system of the village dates from that time, and a wonderful improvement has been effected in every way.  From year to year new sewers were put in and old ones extended, until Findlay now possesses very good sewerage facilities, while her streets are much superior to the average town of the State.  The health and comfort of the people have accordingly increased, and that much dreaded malarial atmosphere once infesting the village has almost disappeared.
     Monumental Park is a small, well shaded plat of ground west of Main Street, between Main Cross and Front Streets, and was originally laid out as Broadway.  It has been said that the proprietors intended it for a marketplace, but there is nothing on record to sustain such a tradition, and it is laid down on the original plat as a street and so designated in the surveyor' s notes attached thereto.  The subject of converting this short street into a park first began to be agitated by the local press in the spring of 1864, but no definite action was taken on the matter for five years afterward.  In compliance with a petition of the citizens, the board of improvement, on the 19th of July, 1869, recommended that Broadway be graded, fenced and planted in trees, find on the same date the council ordered the improvement to be made.  The work was soon after commenced and carried to completion, a narrow roadway being left on each side of the park, extending from Main Cross to Front Street; but it has not yet been much used as a public resort and it is very doubtful that it ever will be.  The park received its present name upon the erection of the base and pedestal of the soldiers' monument in the fall of 1871.
     The Hancock Monumental Association had its inception on the 14th of April, 1865 - the date of President Lincoln's assassination.  On that day a large concourse of people were in town celebrating the fall of Richmond and the capture of Lee's army, and a meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church for the purpose of taking steps toward the erection of a monument in Findlay to the memory of the brave men from Hancock County who laid down their lives in defense of the Union.  C. A. Croninger was called to

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the chair, and D. R. Locke appointed secretary.  After a free interchange of opinion, Messrs. C. A. Croninger, W. H. Wheeler, J. S. Patterson, Milton Gray, D. W. Clark and D. R. Locke were appointed a committee to devise a plan for raising the necessary funds to build a monument, and report at a meeting to be held April 20.  The committee submitted their report at that meeting, recommending "Hancock Monumental Association" as the name of the society, and that the officers consist of an executive board embracing a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and five directors, also an advisory board of eighteen members, one from each township of the county.  They also recommended that the sum of $10,000 be raised, each township to pay in proportion to its taxable property.  The report was adopted and the following officers elected: C. A. Croninger, president; Milton Gray, vice-president; D. R. Locke, secretary; Hanks P. Gage, treasurer; W. H. Wheeler, George W. Galloway, J. S. Patterson.  Aaron Blackford and John Ruthrauff. directors; also one member of the advisory board in each township.  This mode of raising the money failed, and a lottery scheme was then got up, and an advertising sheet called the Soldiers' Memorial, started to help along the enterprise.  On the 4th of January, 1870, after about $2,000 had been raised, "The Soldiers' Monument Association of Hancock County" was incorporated, with the following board of directors: Stewart Sprague, president; Albert Langworthy. vice-president; Charles E. Niles, treasurer; E. T. Dunn, secretary; H. B. Green, William L. Davis and William McKinnis.  It is confidently claimed that about $6,000 were raised by this lottery scheme.  During this period considerable trouble came to the surface, and much wrangling was indulged in and bad feelings engendered between some of the parties engaged in raising and handling the funds.  Several sites for the monument were advocated, but in May, 1870, the members of the association decided by vote to locate it in the park.  In August, 1870, the building committee consisting of George W. Galloway, Milton Gray and William L. Davis, were instructed to contract for the erection of a monument on the site selected the previous spring.  They did not find sufficient funds in the treasurer's hands to carry out in full the proposed work, and therefore built a foundation, and contracted with W. D. McKean, of Cincinnati, to erect the Quincy granite bases and pedestal, which were completed in the fall of 1871, at a cost of $1,900.  The building committee soon afterward built an iron fence around the monument (which was subsequently taken down and sold), and thus it remained in an unfinished state for nearly five years.
     Early in the fall of 1874 the subject of completing the monument began to be talked of among the people of the town, and on the 14th of November a meeting was held in the court house for the purpose of effecting an organization, also to make such arrangements as would be deemed necessary to finish the work commenced more than nine years before.  Judge S. B. Huffman was chosen chairman, and after a few explanatory remarks and suggestions.  Col. James A. Bope, William H. Schuler and William Welsh were appointed a committee to further the objects of the meeting. On the 20th of November another meeting was held, and Col. James A. Bope, Gen. Moses B. Walker, William Welsh, James M. Byal and John W. Davis appointed an executive committee, and empowered to appoint a sub-committee of one citizen from each township.  Col. Bope was directed to ascertain the cost of a statue and get full information on the subject for the

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