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A complete history of the mercantile
interests of the place would embrace a sketch of all the leading
merchants, both past and present, that have ever done business here
in any department of trade. We regret that we have no space
for such a history, but must content ourselves with little more than
a bare enumeration of the individuals and firms now engaged in three
of the principal branches of merchandise. I. DRY
GOODS.
Those engaged at present in
this business are the following: Wolfley & Hartmeyer,
Delaplaine & Doane, J. Darst, W. S. Jacobson & Co., D. Peirce,
Wallace & Bro., J. Weill, Wallace & Schleyer, and L. ABt. &
Co. Of these, Wolfley & Hartmeyer represent the
oldest establishment, dating back to about the year 1829. The
name of Darst has been prominent in the mercantile history of
Circleville for many years. The first who bore it in that
capacity were two brothers - Isaac and William P. Darst
- who established themselves here, in the dry goods trade, in 1832,
both having previously been clerks for Bradshaw & Turney,
pioneer merchants of Circleville, as early as 1816. They were
brotehrs of Joseph Darst, for many years a shoe merchant in
this place. The present J. Darst is the survivor of two
cousins of the same name - Jacob Darst - who were in
partnership here for a long time, having become successors to
Darst & Hedges. The elder of the two cousins (now
deceased) was the father of Miss Lillie C. Darst, editor and
proprietor of the Circleville Herald.
II. HARDWARE
The only ones doing a
general hardware business at present in Circleville are the
following: Cyrus Benford, W. A. Ensworth & Co., and
B. H. Moore. Of these, Benford had the oldest
store, having been established about the year 1845.
III. DRUGS.
The druggists now doing
business here are the following: A. H. Fickardt, W. W.
Ballard, Evans & Krimmel, and H. E. Grand-Girard. Mr.
Fickhardt came here in 1839, and his establishment dates back to
1830, being the oldest drug store in the city. He is the
proprietor of an excellent tonic medicine called "Angelica Bitters,"
from the principal ingredient, and "Poor Man's Tonic," from the
low price at which it is sold.
BANKS.
Of these, there have been
six of a public character. The first, known as the Bank of
Circleville, was organized in the fall of 1834, under a special act
of the legislature, passed March 3d, of the same year, with a
capital of $200,000, having for its commissioners Joseph Olds,
Samuel Rogers, N. S. Gregg, Andrew Huston, William
Renick, sr., William Renick, jr., Elias Florence and Samuel Lybrand,
who, on the first Monday in June, opened the books for subscriptions
to the stock. During the twenty years it did business, it had
three presidents, viz.: Joseph Olds, N. S. Gregg and
Joel Franklin; and two cashiers, of whom Hoel Lawrence
was the first, and his son, Hoel K. Lawrence, the second.
For a period of about seventeen years, the bank was under the able
direction, and advanced to a high degree of prosperity. At
length, in 1853, the elder Lawrence died, an event which was
soon followed by a negotiation for the transfer of a controlling
interest to some new parties, and the consequent resignation of its
judicious president, N. S. Gregg. Thenceforward its
welfare waned, and, in one of the months of 1854, it failed.
On sixteenth of August, 1839, books were opened by
John Barr, Joseph Shoemaker and John Renick, three of the
twelve commissioners, for subscriptions to the stock of the second
bank, whose act of incorporation reached back to Jan. 14, 1818, also
entitled the Bank of Circleville, having an authorized capital of
$300,000, with right to commenced between when $150,000 were
subscribed and fifteen percent, thereof in, and the governor's
certificate procured. It would appear that
there was not much readiness on the part of more than a few of the
citizens of the county to become shareholders, and only after
non-residents of the county and State entered their names for the
deficient sum, was the organization perfected. A Mr. Brown,
whose given name can not be recalled, a resident of New York, was
elected the president, and one Charles Cornwell, the cashier.
For reasons, which seem not to have been made public, the governor
of Ohio declined to certify that the bank had complied with the
provisions of the statutes, and, it being deemed important that this
official declaration by the bank should have a verification by
disinterested parties, the board appointed E. B. Olds and
P. N. White to make examination of the books and to count the
funds. They, having complied with the request, reported that
they found the institution in possession of $23,000, gold and
silver, a sum $500 in excess of the fifteen per cent, necessary to
have before operations could be begun legally. There may be
now no one living who knows just how long the said $23,000 was held
as a real basis for a two-fold, or more, circulation, but two or
three individuals yet survive who have always believed that another
bank were creditors therefor, and that the loan was of short
duration. However that may be, on the sixth of April, 1840,
business with the public began; whether in sin, to bring forth
iniquity, or in honesty, to bear good fruit, the current sentiment
of the day got into no controversy. Suffice it to say, that
not twelve months elapsed before president number one gave place to
number two, and the first cashier to the second. Seymour G.
Renick becoming the successor of the one, and William
McCulloch that of the other. But the ebb and flow of
affairs did not improve. The notes of the bank were a source
of annoyance. As children, they had too warm affection for
their parents, and back to them they would continually go. At
length an hour of paralysis came, and on the morning of the
fourteenth of April, 1842, after an asthmatic existence of two years
and eight days, it expired. Its worthy incumbent cashier was
humiliated, and, for a little while, became a recluse. It
happened that some of the directors were small depositors, and felt
that their balances needed attention. The dejected officials
who held the keys of the vault was visited, and importuned therefor,
and on the plea of a desire to take an inventory of the contents of
the safe, the keys were surrendered. The repository was soon
opened, and the ledger examined. A found himself a creditor
for one hundred dollars, B for two hundred dollars, and C for three
hundred dollars. There must be no loss to them. The
trunks were found to be replete with the bills of the corporation,
but to contain no other. "What per cent, of their face will
they probably bring in the open market?" was the query. Fifty
cents on the dollar became the estimate. "Then," said they,
"let us take enough of them, at those figures, to square accounts."
So doing, the Bnak of Circleville, ear-marked "the old," was left to
dance on the sea of public opinion as best she could; and on she
went, drifting for twenty-nine years, until, at length, by the
weight of the last judicial determination, she went down to join the
kindred dead.
CANAL BUSINESS.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
These, for a town of seven thousand inhabitants, are very well
represented in Circleville. We begin with
THE SCIOTO MACHINE WORKS.
CIRCLEVILLE TANNERY.
PORK PACKING HOUSES.
THE SWEET-CORN CANNING AND DRYING ESTABLISHMENT.
THE GAS WORKS.
THE BROOM-CORN INTEREST.
THE PLOW MANUFACTORY.
OTHER FACTORIES ENUMERATED.
DEFUNCT MANUFACTORIES.
MASONRY.* |
