TOWN OF LONDON
Pg. 190

     The following is an article taken from the Woman’s Edition of the London Times of Apr. 30, 1914, and it is regarded as quite certain that no better article than this could be written as a preface to the history of that town:

LONDON: ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
By Sallie Dooris.

     The history of London is yet to be written.  Old times are becoming mere traditions. With the passing years things as they "used to be“ are vanishing in the mists of forgetfulness.
     London needs a historian who will wrest from the shadows of the past the life, manners and customs of the early settlers, giving to them concrete form, showing the true worth and work of the old pioneers, who lived in the beginning of Madison county and London history.
     To live, to work, to be happy, to suffer, to die and be forgotten, is bitterness indeed.  To the Christian there is bliss unspeakable in the hope of immortality.  There is a lesser, more earthly joy not alien to the heavenly; in the longing for remembrance in one‘s home county after this fitful life is over.  For this, records are kept, biographies writ ten, histories compiled.  Who will be London's historian?

THE ACCOMMODATING MR. M'LENE.

     The story is told that Patrick McLene, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was commissioned to lay out the village of London.  This he did in 1810.  Inheriting traits from across the sea, where it rains if you look up at the sky; or, in other words, rain falls twenty-nine out of the thirty days, he was determined that the inhabitants of the hamlet, named after the great English metropolis, should have, weather permitting, sunshine in every room of every house some part of the day, which accounts for our streets not running according to the point of the compass, due north and south, east and west.  Mr. McLene accomplished his purpose so well that strangers, first coming to the town, are at a loss to determine in what direction to look for-the rising and setting of the sun.  But all the same, the sun performs its glorious mission of dispelling microbes and malaria, and to him, a hundred years later, we take off our hats.
     In 1810 Ohio was included in the “Far West,’ ’a vague region, sparsely inhabited and full of possibilities for the seeker of adventure and the man of slim purse.  Land was cheap and plenty of the best could be bought for thirty-seven and one-half cents an acre; inferior as low as twelve and a half cents.  People came from the east and south in covered wagons that looked like schooners with a coarse dirty white sunbonnet drawn over them.  These wagons carried the entire worldly possessions and household goods. besides the parents and children.  A pair of horses. sometimes an ox team, drew them.  By 1812 London boasted six or eight families.  Life was on the most primitive lines.  Madison county is a high table land between the Miami and Scioto rivers.  London, according to the railroad survey, is three hundred and eighty-nine feet higher than Columbus.  When the early settlers came most of the land was under water.  Ponds were numerous, wild fowl abounded. ague and malaria as a matter of course.  The

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spirit of enterprise was strong.  The forests were cleaned, ponds and Swamps drained, the land reclaimed.

TRUNDLE-BED AND GREASE-LAMP TIME.

     Log cabins of one room were the first houses.  The family cooked, ate, slept in that one room and thanked God for a roof to cover them.  A four-post bed with a corded bottom supported a tick filled with straw; on top perhaps was a feather bed.  At night a child was tucked in at the foot; and if father and mother were long of limb, the poor youngster got many a prod.  The trundle-bed, kept beneath the larger one, was drawn out in the twilight and the larger children were sent to bed with the chickens.
     Nature was prodigal of her lights in these early times and babies were plentiful. 

OLDEST HOUSE IN LONDON.

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"UNCLE SAMMY" DAVIDSON.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, LONDON

LADIES' PARADE, CENTENNIAL HOME-COMING CELEBRATION, LONDON, 1911

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THE COAL OIL LAMP.

A POPULAR PICNIC GROUND.

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A VISION OF THE FUTURE.

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THE CHILDREN.

A MEMORIAL HALL.

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FIRST COUNTY SEAT OF JUSTICE.

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THE TOWN OF MADISON.

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INCORPORATION AND GROWTH OF LONDON.

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DOINGS OF COUNCIL IN DAYS GONE BY.
By A. T. Cordray.

COUNCIL'S FIRST ORDINANCES.

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MAIN STREET, LONDON

SCENE AT LONDON, DURING THE BIG SNOW, FEBRUARY 17, 1910

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EXCELLENT LANGUAGE USED.

INCENTIVE TO LOYALTY AND PATRIOTISM.

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in a greater loyalty and patriotism of he citizenship, a more generous and general commendation of the good things and less reason for criticism of the evil things.

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PRESENT CITY OFFICERS.

LONDON'S PUBLIC LIBRARY

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LONDON LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

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FREE CIRCULATING LIBRARY.

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THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY.

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THE FLORENCE AND OTHER GIFTS.

A WELL-EQUIPPED LIBRARY.

     The library is at present in a very prosperous condition.  It has six thousand six hundred and sixty-two volumes on its shelves, with twenty-five magazines and periodi-

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cals in the reading room.  It receives the Columbus dailies and teh local county papers.  It has a yearly circulation of about twelve thousand volumes and averages about three hundred readers a month in the reading room.  The building is very well equipped, consisting of a main floor and an unfinished basement.  Entrance is made into a small vestibule that opens into the delivery lobby.  On the right is the reading room, with its magazines; on the left is the reference room, lined with its steel shelves and their contents.  To the rear of the reference room is a small but well-equipped and well-arranged children's rom.  Behind the delivery desk are found the stacks.  The shelving throughout is of steel.  This library is very fortunate in its well-chosen book lists.  The present library board consists of J. B. Van Wagener, president; Mrs. Homer E. White, secretary; Robert W. Boyd, treasurer; Chester E. Bryan, Mrs. Sarah K. Robison and Mrs. Gideon T. Clark  Miss Hattie Smith is the present librarian.

LONDON PRODUCE COMPANY.

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MEASURES AGAINST INFECTION.

LONDON CREAMERY COMPANY.

VIEWS IN LONDON.
High School Building            Public School Building
Oak Street Looking South            Main Street Looking South

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HOW BUTTER IS MADE.

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LONDON GRAVE VAULT COMPANY.

THE FINISHING PROCESS.

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THE THOMAS  & ARMSTRONG COMPANY.

"PUSH LONDON AND PROSPER."

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PROGRESS OF THE BOARD.

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SECURED STATE REFORMATORY.

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LONDON'S BUSINESS INTERESTS.

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THE LONDON WATERWORKS.

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CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLANT.

OLD ACADEMY

PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING, LONDON, BEFORE REMODELING.

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pipe.  In case of fire, the pressure can be increased to two hundred pounds per square inch by means of the steam pumps if necessary.

FAILURE OF MUNICIPALIZATION PLAN.

LONDON'S ELECTRIC-LIGHT PLANT.

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MUNICIPAL LIGHTING PLANT.

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LONDON'S SEWER SYSTEM.

LONDON POSTOFFICE.

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Page 222 - CHAPTER XX. - ROADS AND TRANSPORTATION