Educational

            (page 369) In the story of its development from a cornfield set in a forest to a snug little city famed for its beauty and its industries, the capital of Shelby county derives no greater pride than that which comes from the contemplation of its public schools.

            As an older historian said, the first schools were "rude and feeble." Education at the beginning of settlement was regarded (page 370) as a luxury rather than as a necessity. The settlers had little time to indulge in luxury in any form, and necessity demanded the expenditure of nearly all their energy in other directions than that of learning. None the less, there were schools here, from the very earliest days. Charles Starrett, the original owner of the town plat of Sidney, had provided a half acre for the purpose of building a schoolhouse, and, prior to the opening of the newer town, a small log schoolhouse had been built at Hardin.

            The first schools were not free schools, although the schoolhouses were generally erected by public subscription, and a part of the expense of operating them was provided by public moneys or by private benevolences, the remainder being met by tuition fees from the pupils who attended. As stated in a very able sketch, written some years ago by Mrs. Jane Cummins Arbuckle, "the educational spirit was manifest among the citizens, and the object of the teacher was the diffusion of sound literary and moral instruction ;" yet "there was no concerted effort toward popular education for two decades after the establishment of the town of Sidney" Up to 1840 there were no free schools in the town, tough private schools had come and gone, and were still flourishing or languishing, if that be nearer the truth.

            The earliest school of all had been conducted in the little courthouse on the west side of Ohio avenue, opposite the public square, being taught by Mr. J. C. Calhoun. (Occasionally spelled in earlier works "Cahoon.")

            Mr. Shephard had taught an early school in the first little Methodist church, which stood on the southeast corner of Miami and North streets, where the Baptists reared their edifice in later years. On the northeast corner of the same streets, in the old Presbyterian church, Judge N. R. Wyman taught a school for a number of years, extending well into the forties, possibly longer. In a small frame building on South Main avenue, separated from the O. J. Taylor home site, by the alley on the north, Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Cleland, assisted by Mr. Armstrong, taught a school during six months each year. The home of the Business Girls' association occupies the same site, at present (1919). Also, in 1840, a school for girls was taught by Mrs. Dr. Johnson, in a building three doors above the northeast corner of Main and Poplar streets. Mr. Alexander Green taught a school on the second floor of the same building, and both teachers were noted for thoroughness in the matters of teaching and discipline. The next year, 1841, four free schools were established in the village, Alexander Green, Abraham Fulton, Mrs. McKinley and Elijah Lynch being retained as teachers at the modest salary of $75 each, per quarter, a public fund having been raised for the amount.

            At an earlier date, judge Patrick Goode had taught in the Buckeye schoolhouse, which stood on the lot given by Mr. Starrett for school purposes. Rev. Maltbie also taught school, in a frame house situated one door west of the Sidney house of recent years, from 1843 to 1845.

            The Sidney male and female academy was established about (page 371)   1843 by Rev. William McGookin,* in a brick house on Poplar street, the place serving the McGookins as a residence as well as schoolhouse. The building was afterward remodeled into a hotel the Union house-and is now the Hotel Metropole, operated by William Shine. The instructors in the academy were Mr. and Mrs. McGookin, Miss D. E. Bankroft, Miss M. R. Crowell, Miss M. A. Abbott, Mr. J. M. Lippincott and Mr. John Neal-the latter a teacher of vocal music. The young men's department provided an extended course of study where students might prepare to enter the junior year of any of the best colleges. The tuition was not exorbitant, and many pupils were enrolled, the figure of one hundred and fifty-four students being recorded in all departments, in 1849-50. This school, especially in its higher department, undoubtedly served an admirable purpose in the years that intervened between its establishment and the opening of the Sidney union school in 1857. We find no mention of the date of its close, however, and conclude that its patronage fell away when the high school privileges were made free; while several of its teachers had left it, previous to that event. Mrs. McGookin taught the primary classes in the institution, and was reputed to be severe to the point of cruelty in the discipline of young children; notwithstanding which, the McGookin academy had its defenders to the last, among its pupils. (This name is remembered also as McGoogan.)

            The Starrett school lot was "the east half of lot 105," and was destroyed or removed when the new Union school building was erected, the new and larger structure requiring the entire lot and also the contiguous lot on the north. The Buckeye school, as it had been called, was a free school, although some pupils paid tuition fees there. No child was refused admittance, and it was only because of insufficient school funds that tuition was accepted. During the period of building, from late in 1855 to January, 1857, the pupils formerly accommodated there were taken to the township school, which stood at the right of road near the point where Ohio avenue comes out on the Wapakoneta pike. The teachers there were Miss Crowell and Ben LeFevre-the latter very young, not more than seventeen. Mr. Hamlin Blake, who attended this school until the Union school was completed, remembers among his schoolmates there, Mary Nutt and Ed. Newton and H. John Nutt; the John Johnston children, the Allen Wells children, the Doering children, and, in fact, most of the town's children. Mr. Blake had previously attended a very select private school taught by Miss Jennie Murray, at the Murray family home on Miami avenue, at the north side of the alley, near the Presbyterian manse. The school was on the second floor of Miss Jennie's father's wood-turning plant, and though Miss Jennie sometimes had to go down and lubricate the machinery of the lathe to stop the creaking, the school was an excellent one, where not only the "three R's," but good morals and fine deportment were imparted. The Misses Murray were accomplished ladies, closely related to Gen. James Murray, one of Sidney's most talented sons.

            (page 372) Another school contemporary with the academy, though of later establishment, was taught at the corner of Ohio and North streets, in a brick building which is still in use as a coal office, the north end accommodating the Kraft blacksmith shop. Two rooms in the second story were fitted up, for school purposes, by Mr. Paumpelle,* a native of Paris, France, who taught in one room, while Miss Crowell, formerly connected with the McGookin academy, presided in the other. The first floor of the building was devoted to the manufacture of plows, t an industry which must have had quiet moments, else the sessions of the school were conducted under difficulties. Mr. Paumpelle was a cripple, as the result of injuries received in childhood, but was, nevertheless, a polished scholar and linguist, well trained in English, and an accomplished penman-also a very good teacher. Miss Crowell spent a long life as a local instructor, and is still remembered by the elder citizens of Sidney. There was great rivalry between the pupils of this school and those of the McGookin academy, and there are stories of oldtime contests between the factions, which were fought out after school distance settled.

            At the corner where the postoffice building was erected 1917-18, a stove foundry stood in that old day of the two schools, in which the youngsters found much entertainment, and where, doubtless, some of the Sidney boys imbibed a working knowledge of and a liking for metal manufacture.

            Dingmansburg and East Sidney maintained schools of their own until after the establishment of the Union school system in 1857. A small brick house at the foot of Orbison hill accommodated one of these, taught in 1848by Albert Wilson (afterward Dr. Wilson), and later by Martha Crowell, until the opening of the Union school. Miss Emma Kelsey, being a teacher there, also.  Miss Cromwell became Mrs. George Burgess, of Troy, Ohio, and Miss Kelsey married John Fry, of Bellfontaine.

            The Catholic church parish opened a school in 1855, and have maintained a parochial school ever since, developing, as the times demanded, into a regularly organized graded school which conforms to public educational standards.

            A state law passed in 1853 provided for the establishment of schools for colored children; but no separate school was built for them until 1878, and that was abandoned in 1895, as the "Black Laws" had been repealed in 1887.

            It will be seen that only partial data concerning any of the early schools has been preserved, but enough is told to establish the fact that they were practical, if primitive, and that a general and reasonably steady progress was made toward the standards of the present. Philanthropic encouragement to public education was given from time to time, beginning with the Starrett school lot reservation. William Covil, who came to Sidney from England, dying in (page 373) 1842, bequeathed to the common schools of the village a piece of land, which, being leased for ninety-nine years, has ever since augmented the public funds for the maintenance of schools. Gideon Wright, who died in 1860, also bequeathed $500, to be invested for educational ends, a condition of the bequest being the grant of "one perpetual scholarship in the schools of the district, to the descendants of the said Wright." This will must have been framed a number of years previous to the death of the testator, who could not have realized when he wrote it, that the day of universal educational privilege was so near at hand. For, after the passage of the school law of 1849, the graded free school system began to be agitated; and the first board of education, with six elected members, had built and opened the first Union school building while Mr. Wright was still living.

            All this did not become a fact in a day, however. Public opinion in Sidney was by no means united, and even after the election of the board, stormy sessions were experienced by that body before all was decided upon in connection with the radical new move. Not all at once could the standards of the older days be changed. We can only conjecture the corner store eloquence that supplemented the battles of the first board, and the arguments exchanged between self-elected leaders of public thought ; or imagine that the discussion pierced the locked doors of the lodges, and penetrated the gentle privacy of the ladies' sewing society meetings-while it is almost certain that it raged within the faculty of the academy, to whom the public high school spelled fnis.

            It meant, practically, the end of the era when little people learned the rudiments at mother's knee to escape the rigors of school discipline, and the relegation of the old sledge-hammer methods, of forcing knowledge into young and tender brains, to the rubbish heaps of the past, along with the antiquated text-books which were chosen by parents and teachers according to their own tastes or prejudices, or were forced upon them by the exigencies of pioneer bookstores. In the system decided upon by the board of education, primary learning, it is true, still began with the alphabet, the most abstruse entrance possible to select ; but McGuffey's Series was a long cry from the gloomy shades of the "New England Primer," which had been a popular wedge into the realm of literature in earlier days. A mute relic of the pioneer infant's rocky road to learning has been preserved in a copy of the old book, edition of 1825. Surviving the difficulties of the alphabet and the dark valley of the "a, b, c's," the little student emerged into the half light of the old classic,

            "In Adam's Fall

            We sinned, All;"

            learned how

            "A Dog will Bite

            A Thief at night,"

            and that

            "The idle Fool

            Is whipt at School."

            (page 374) On through the pages the tiny thumb-nail woodcuts endeavored to beguile the infant with the assurance that

            "My Book and Heart

            Shall never part,"

            until the final fact,

            "Zaccheus, He

            Did climb a Tree

            His Lord to see."

            was mastered. After which was reached the well-earned diversion of the Westminster shorter catechism, the night of which is ameliorated by the insertion, on the final page, of Dr. Isaac Watts' cradle hymn. Poor babes ! Without that touch of human kindness at the end, what a dreary path it was up the Parnassus slope, even if the gentle hand of a mother guided the halting footsteps. The little thumbed and yellowed copy in question bears the inscription, in faded ink, "Eleanor I. Willson, Book bought in Xenia" ; and little Eleanor Isabel has added her own printed signature to the fly leaf. Her book and heart shall never part, indeed, for the fluttering, tender, time-stained leaves are still telling the story of little hands that turned them, and innocent eyes that conned their sober pages -long ago closed when the student grew old and tired in life's long school, and went home to rest in God's acre.

            What a great day it was in the village when the Union school, which had taken a full year to build, was finished at last, and dedicated to "the noblest service of the young." At a date when compulsory education had not been dreamed of, it spoke loudly for the esteem in which popular education was held by the majority, that a pioneer town should have been able to throw of the shackles of every-day drudgery necessary to make a town out of a wilderness, shake itself loose from prejudice, and plan and build a structure which then was far in advance of other towns of its size, and accounted one of the best in the state. There was equal eloquence in the fact that under these circumstances five hundred and twenty-nine pupils were on hand, eager to seize the enlarged educational advantages offered.

             The old building is still in constant use, filled to capacity with the grandchildren of the little lads and lasses of 1857, but showing small traces of the passage of seventy-two years. It seems likely to stand at the old familiar corner, Miami and Poplar, until it reaches the century mark, and is today an upright, strong and creditable building.

            There was not at first a regularly organized high school course, but advanced studies were introduced and taught as rapidly as students called for them, a four years' course being arranged within a few years.

            The school opened early in January, 1857, with seven working departments,* Rev. Joseph Shaw occupying the position of first (page  375) superintendent, at a salary of $800 a year. (An ambitious student had the opportunity for more advanced study then than now, particularly in the classics. History, Latin and English were pursued much further than in the present high school course.) The assisting teachers were : J. W. Driscoll, teacher of mathematics; Harriet H. Chapin, teacher of grammar department; Louise L. Knox, fifth department; Mary A. Nettleton, fourth department; Hettie W. Paxon, third department ; Mattie R. Crowell, second department ; Minerva F. Arnett, first department; M. Eva Shaw, teacher of music. Prof. Shaw served only two years, his unexpired time being filled by Ira W. Allen. W. H. Schuyler followed, being assisted by Mrs. Schuyler as teacher of Latin and German. The records of the school show that Jennie K. Cummins and John B. McPherson completed the schedule of advanced studies in 1862, and Prof. Schuyler suggested a form of diploma, and appealed to the board for a recognition of these pupils, but from a lack, either of funds or enthusiasm, no diplomas were provided, and as a consequence the first graduates of Sidney high school were turned out into the world minus credentials. Several succeeding classes met the same treatment. In 1863, Miss Clara Conklin and W. Judkins Conklin closed a creditable four years' record ; and close upon them in the next five or six years came Lucinda Frazier (Mrs. Lu Horr), Byron W. Joslin, Hamlin Blake, B. F. Martin, Mr. Turner, Mr. Fielding, Mary Elizabeth Clauson (Mrs. Rebstock), Mr. Hutton and others, none of whom received diplomas, yet who finished the course, attended college, took degrees and honors, and filled, with or without sheepskins, positions of honor and responsibility all their lives. Miss Cummins herself became a member of the board of education in after years, and had a part in conferring diplomas no more deserved than those denied to the first classes. Judge John McPherson's reputation has for many a year shed honor on his native town from his high position in Philadelphia. Clara Conklin graduated from Delaware university, taught in Cornell college, Iowa, in Detroit high school, and lastly in her own alma mater, Delaware, where she occupied the chair of English for years preceding her death. Mrs. Horr (Lucinda Frazier) became a college graduate, and afterward taught, as did also Hamlin Blake, and others of the same class, being granted certificates upon examination shortly after leaving school in 1864.

            B. S. McFarland had become superintendent in 1863, S. S. Taylor succeeding him for the ensuing two years, after which N. L. Hanson, an able instructor and executive, served until 1868. W. L. Catlin next filled the position for one year, being followed by a succession of trials, among whom were J. M. Allen, H. T. Wheeler and J. D. Critchfeld, of Mt. Vernon, A. S. Moore at last completing the year. Following this, Prof. Harper, George Turner and R. E. Page each served one year ; A. B. Cole, four years ; Van Baker, three years ; J. N. Bearnes, three years ; P. W. Search, five years ; M. A. Yarnell, four years ; J. L. Orr, one year ; and E. S. Cox, three years or more. Prof. Hard followed, being succeeded in 1902-3by Herbert R. McVay.

            Under Mr. Moore and Miss Clara Goldrick, in 1870, was graduated the first class sent out from Sidney high school with formal honors. A manuscript history, written in intimate fashion and read at the first reunion of the high school alumni society (page 376) held in Monumental hall in 1878, by Miss Florence Conklin, describes this notable event with vivid humor.

            The class consisted of eight members, whose aspirations were expressed in the sentiment,

            "Through the vistas hope is building

             The path of life is seen."

            The first number on the program was the class song, "Pulling hard against the stream," and the first heart to palpitate at being called to the ordeal of delivering a graduation essay was Miss Ella Carey (Mrs. John Henry, Indianapolis); the others being Miss Alice Conklin (Mrs. R. O. Bingham), Miss Anna Duncan (Mrs. John McCullough), Miss Kate Vogel (Mrs. Dr. Stipp), Edward A. Steeley (a practicing physician of Shelby county), and David Oldham, long known as one of the most astute lawyers of the Shelby county bar, and distinguished for his business sagacity. Mr. Oldham received the first diploma delivered by the president of the board. May 31, 1872, the high school graduated a rather remarkable class of twelve members, ten of whom became teachers within a very few years, and one of whom became a bride within a very few weeks. Several of them are still prominent members of Sidney society, and two or more are still counted among Sidney's best teachers. The commencement took place in Union hall, a large building similar to the Thompson building at the corner of Ohio and Poplar, which occupied the sites of the First National Exchange bank and the Deweese building, on the north side of the public square. The strength of the hall was so severely strained on the occasion that a second commencement was never held there. In 1873, under the superintendence of Prof. Page, the commencement exercises were held in the United Presbyterian church on the south side of the public square (an edifice afterward torn down to make way for the Daily News building.)

            The class of '75 was the first to make use of the Opera house (in the O. J. Taylor building at the corner of Main and Poplar) for the graduation. Subsequent to 1875-6-7, the commencements were held in Monumental hall until that location was permanently rented to the Odd Fellows, about 1897; since which the churches have been the scene of graduations until the new high school auditorium provided a better and more suitable place. So many of the classes following the first are still familiar figures in society and business, that it is impossible and needless to recite them all ; and it is sufficient to say that the output of the Sidney high school has been singularly creditable to the institution and to themselves. Not all of the high aspirations uttered on the platform by the graduates and echoed in the hearts of waiting underclass students, have been realized ; but, successful or no, the lives of them all have been better for the glowing hopes they cherished. The world's criterion of success is, for that matter, not final ; in the Higher Tribunal aspirations will be weighed.

            In 1880 was built the first of the ward schools, to relieve the over-crowded condition of the central building. The new school (page 377) house contained two rooms, which were first taught by Mrs. Lottie Throp and Miss Clara Epler (now Mrs. William A. Perry). The building, still in use, stands at the corner of South Main and Clay streets. In 1883 the increase of attendance called for additional teachers and the removal of the eleventh and twelfth grades from the Central school to rooms located respectively in the Piper building on the east side of the public square, and in the second floor of the Monumental building, where the east end was partitioned off from the apartments then devoted to the G. A. R. post. The building of the second and third ward schools relieved the conditions at the Central school after a few years, and the high school classes were again accommodated there for a term of years. The second ward school was first opened in a little white brick house, where Mrs. Lottie Throp taught for a year or two, moving temporarily to "the wigwam," a wooden shack thrown up to serve while a new building was erected on the site of the little white brick. Again the school system threatened to burst its jacket, and the fourth ward building, just completed, became for four or five years the headquarters of the Sidney high school, a temporary wooden structure, popularly called "the barn," being added to the accommodations.

            It took some time to convince Sidney that a new high school building was imperatively needed, and the great street demonstration in which the entire school enrollment and their teachers took a part and which rather dramatically brought out the facts of the situation, should be a matter of historical record, for by that, as much as anything, all Sidney was awakened to a realization that it was growing up.

            Growth, however, is not signified alone by figures, in regard to Sidney schools, but to the development of modern educational methods and departments of study and division of courses in response to the general progress of education.

            The new Sidney high school building, which stands on the site of the old Presbyterian burying ground, east of the church, is exponent of the most modern ideas in school construction. It is ample; it is substantial ; it is fire-proof. If the new temple of learning is thought too utilitarian to appeal to the art sense of many observers, it is undeniably well set, the site, overlooking the Miami river, beyond the bottom levels, and the fine hills across the stream, being sufficiently elevated to relieve the otherwise "squat" effect of its architecture.

            There were many who objected to the use of this site, to which public attention was directed on account of the disuse of the cemetery and its contemplated removal to Graceland, upon the very reasonable ground that a high school should be placed away from the center of population of the town, and preferably far enough out to provide ample athletic fields and room for expansion of the building itself. However, these were overborne. The low river flats east of the cemetery, occupied up to a few years ago by a row of abject and depressing tenement houses, the old plow works, the long disused city gas reservoir, and the junk dump of Jacob Solomon, beckoned the school authorities with the promise of the athletic field without which critics could not be answered. There were the (page 378) usual difficulties in the way, but through the generosity of Mrs. Julia E. Lamb, the land whereon the tenements stood was purchased, her gift amounting to $7,500.00 in money, but also giving the impetus of hope and courage that raised enough more to complete the work, which has cost, to date, about fifteen thousand dollars. This additional money was raised in various ways-entertainments by the school children, penny offerings, public moneys to the extent of two thousand dollars, a gift of one thousand dollars from Mr. William E. Harmon, and several smaller gifts. It would be too much to expect that all this could be done without some criticism and some grumbling, and several pauses. But the object was accomplished at last, and has been performing its beneficent purpose for three or four years, each of which has seen some decided steps taken toward completion of the equipment of playground and athletic field. Two fine tennis courts are located at the rear of the building, as well as the ground especially allotted to the little people, which is equipped with all the attractive apparatus for children that can be accommodated, the spot furnishing an ideal place for safe amusement of children during the summer months, under the supervision of competent attendants.

            The athletic field, upon which so much work has been expended, to clear it from the waste and dangerous debris accumulated through a half century of dumping, affords a cinder running track of one quarter mile extent, tennis courts, a football gridiron, and a baseball diamond. The terraced slope from the upper level to the field provides a natural amphitheatre which may some day be developed into a concrete stadium. The river bed opposite the building has been reclaimed for a swimming ground, and the sum of five hundred dollars has been expended in clearing and improving it to make it safe and available for a bathing beach. It has the advantage of water uncontaminated by any sewage. The school building, a model for its capacity and cost, has a fine auditorium seating about eight hundred people, and is in frequent requisition for all sorts of public occasions, and for entertainments. On the wall hangs a bronze medallion portrait of Mrs. Lamb, executed by a well-known New York sculptor at merely nominal cost to the children of the public schools, who voluntarily provided the sum as a testimonial to their benefactress.

            The present superintendent, H. R. McVay, who has enthusiastically worked to perfect the playground, in addition to other strenuous duties, is about completing his seventeenth year in Sidney-by far the longest term of service ever given by one man. It has been, too, a period of sweeping changes, made in conformity to the modern educational trend. The junior high school was started in the Sidney schools in 1903, and was already in operation with only minor elaborations necessary, when, two years ago, it became the official order of the day in all the schools of Ohio. Manual training was inaugurated as a part of the school course down to and including the seventh grades, in 1907, domestic science for girls being adopted at the same time. A thorough business course is offered the boys and girls in the high school, of which many students take advantage. Including the class of 1917, the total number of Sidney high (page 379) school graduates, for its first sixty years, is 1,005, six hundred of whom have graduated since 1902. Forty-two per cent of all graduates prior to 1917 had entered colleges which grant degrees ; and of this 42 per cent, 51 per cent had graduated from such colleges. The Sidney high school is a member of the north central association of high schools, and, when they have properly selected their high school courses, its graduates may enter any western college and some eastern colleges, without examination. Lee A. Dollinger, the principal, entered upon his service in Sidney almost simultaneously with Mr. McVay, and shares the credit for the steady advance of the institution. The course includes advanced teaching in arithmetic and geography, and the usual high school branches, algebra and higher mathematics, chemistry, physics, history (United States and European), Latin, English, biology, music, dramatic art, domestic science and industrial art, manual training, modern languages, girls' athletics, gymnastics, and the commercial department. A corps of twenty teachers is employed.

            Twice since the opening of the twentieth century a reunion of the pupils of the first decade has been arranged, each occasion being one of great interest and enjoyment. At the semi-centennial in 1907 a group of the "old children" gave a program of the school songs in vogue in their childhood, including "Come, come away," "Little Schoolboy," and "Scotland's Burning !" Some characteristic incidents of the olden days were also reproduced on the stage.

            Copies of "Lucerna," a magazine published fitfully during Rev. Shaw's incumbency, were reprinted, calling to remembrance many amusing and some pathetic memories. An item in the first number remarks upon the crowded condition of the village, which even then was obliged to stow transient guests in the attics, and declares "the greatest need of Sidney is more houses"-which proves that "times don't change much, after all."

            Against the five hundred and twenty-nine pupils enrolled in 1857, the records of 1919 exhibit 1,176 names in the grade schools, and 303 in the high school, while a class of 41 students will graduate in June.

            Names are, perhaps, dry reading in themselves, but a glance at the list of presidents of the board of education may be interesting, as evidence that Sidney has always given of its best, for the guidance of its educational system: 1857-Rev. C. T. McCaughan. 1860-Joseph Cummins. 1863-Jason McVay. 1870-N. R. Wyman. 1874-W. P. Metcalf. 1875-Jason McVay. 1876-George Bush. 1877-E. E. Nutt. 1880-A. J. Robertson. 1881-Col. Harrison Wilson. 1884-E. E. Nutt. 1885-Charles McKee. 1887-Dr. B. M. Sharp. 1888-C. R. Benjamin. 1889-C. F. Hickok. 1890-G. A. Marshall. 1891-J. S. Laughlin. 1892-H. Gartley. 1893-G. A. Marshall. 1894-C. F. Hickok. 1895-W. S. Crozier. 1896-Dr. Edwin Lefevre. 1898-J. H. Taft. 1899-C. E. Johnson. (page 380) 1900-J. D. Geyer. 1901-W. J. Emmons. 1902-E. L. Hoskins. 1903-J. D. Geyer. 1904-R. O. Bingham. 1905-M. F. Hussey, M.D. 1910-Dr. B. M. Sharp. 1911-R. O. Bingham. 1912-Dr. J. F. Richeson. 1913-T. M. Miller. 1915-Dr. A. W. Reddish. 1916-Dr. J. F. Richeson. 1907-A. J. Hess.

            The county system of schools differs in scarcely any respect from the ordinary method followed during the past seventy-five years. The territory is dotted all over with the regulation small one room brick school house, with one teacher, the only feature which is not universal over the state is the "special school district," which grants to certain sections of the county an independent Board of Education consisting of five members, who manage the educational affairs of the district in the same manner as a village board. Forty-five boards corresponding to as many districts, are now existent in the county. Only at Kirkwood, Montra and Maplewood is the one room school varied (these each supporting two teachers), except in the larger villages, in which the schools are in keeping with the population.

            Six high schools are maintained in these village centers, two of them ranking in the first class, and the remaining four in the second. Consolidation of schools is making slow progress in Shelby county, the Special school districts acting, perhaps, as a deterrent. However, the leaven is working. Houston has the only real example of the modern consolidated country school, which is a model that will undoubtedly be followed. The various school boards are not all convinced yet, but it is reasonably certain that no more one room schools will be built, repaired nor replaced, in the future. The school at Houston district was erected in 1908, and was a decidedly forward step, considering the date. Greene township also has a high school built about the same time, which is centralized, pupils from all over the township attending its advanced classes. The building stands about a mile from Plattsville. Also, in Perry township a consolidation has been effected (but in an old building), to which all the children of the township, except in two districts, are transported in two motor trucks.

            W. E. Partington, the present county superintendent of schools, gives the school census outside of Sidney, as about three thousand, four hundred and seventy-three, of which six hundred belong in villages ; however, many country children attend the village schools. Anna and Jackson Centre both have first grade high schools, while Botkins, Houston, and Greene and Perry townships are classed as second. The problem of educational progress in the rural districts must always wait upon good roads to some extent, and Shelby county still has roads to build. However, the natural centralization of population should to some extent control the development of highways, and the consolidated school, to be effective, ought to be located with respect to natural centers rather than conform to arbitrary township limits, which were originally fixed for the convenient polling of voters, and are often a mere complication in social or (page 381) community life. Shelby, like other progressive counties, must work out its own salvation in the consolidation of schools.

The Press

            The year 1832 appears to have been popular all over the great northwest territory for the inauguration of provincial newspapers. It was, in fact, the seed-time of the great political parties, when the public mind, scattered over the new settlements of Ohio and Indiana, was struggling out of its net of slumber into a conscious view of things and the formation of opinions upon matters pertaining to the national welfare. Having hewn himself out of the woods, the pioneer was ready to receive instructions concerning what lay beyond the confines of his enlarging horizon, and to listen with open mind to leaders of thought from the eastern political centers, who came-or were sent-generally as the forerunners of a national or state campaign. The fact that so many of them remained fixtures in the settlements where they were established, is eloquent evidence of the quality of the editors who came to crystallize into definite shapes the chaos of new and but half-formed issues in which the country was at that time submerged.

            The first Sidney editor was Thomas Smith, and his paper was the germ from which grew the Sidney journal-whether or no that title was the one first used by Mr. Smith. The pioneer editor is said by some authorities to have been an eccentric, who indulged in the whimsical practice of walking to Cincinnati for his paper supply, returning with the roll on his back. Milder tradition, however, discredits this extreme, admitting only that Mr. Smith may have performed this feat once, under the pressure of necessity; but that a man with the ability to establish a permanent publication, and to maintain it, single-handed, for nearly a decade, should have made a customary pilgrimage to Cincinnati when there was already a paper mill at Dayton, is deemed too absurd for credence. The gentleman lived on North Lane, about midway between Miami and Main avenues, in a little house which existed, in part, until a rather recent date. He also died there, a good many years after his retirement from the editorial desk and the type case-for he was his own type setter. He was a lonely soul, and latterly, quite a recluse. In August, 1839, the paper had passed out of his management into that of Henry D. Stout, editor and proprietor, who published it under the expansive and inclusive title, The Ohio Argus and Sidney Aurora-from which it might be inferred that the editor brought with him to Sidney the memory and perhaps some of the properties of a newspaper published in some former home. The change was undoubtedly made in the interest of the approaching presidential campaign, and the paper was avowedly "devoted to the interests of the Whig party," whose candidates it supported in the following year (1840).

            At the head of the editorial column, in an old copy, dated March 24th, 1840, appears the motto: "The union of the Whigs for the sake of the Union"; and below it is the ticket, already in the field, (page 382) "For president, William Henry Harrison ; for vice-president, John Tyler; for governor, Thomas Corwin, of Warren county."

            An editorial item quotes from the St. Louis Republican of contemporary date, news to the effect that a vagrant white man had been arrested in that city, and had been sold to a livery stable keeper for the sum of one dollar, under the authority of a law passed by the Missouri legislature when that body was in the control of the "Locofoco" party-the same party, the reader is called to note, which was at that moment attacking the candidacy of William Henry Harrison on the ground that, some twenty years before, in Ohio, Harrison had advocated the sale of criminals, as a penal measure, under certain economic conditions. Another item contains the news just received from London, of the marriage of the young queen Victoria, of England, to Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, celebrated February the tenth, "with utmost magnificence."

            The paper is well edited and carefully printed, typographical errs being quite undiscernible upon close scrutiny of the copy, which is newsy, dignified in editorial tone, and with nothing of the backwoods in its manner or appeal. It contains, perhaps, a larger proportion of patent medicine advertising than the average modern newspaper, but the phraseology used in them is not very different from that of today. Throughout the whole sheet, the absence of slang is, possibly, the most noticeable particular. Three large lotteries, the "Virginia State," the "Louisiana," and a Kentucky affair, are prominently spread upon the pages. Some local items are here transcribed which afford a glimpse of the life in Sidney at that date, not otherwise preserved.

            Among the professional cards published are noted those of Dr. H. C. Mann, and attorneys J. S. Conklin and Patrick G. Goode. Hugh Wilson; dealer in drygoods, publishes an advertisement in which he not only sets forth the merits of his stock of goods, but replies, to a current report that he "is selling certain damaged goods," that the cases of goods in question "are insured separately, and that they are now in the hands of the insurance company's agents, three responsible business men of Sidney, Messrs. Hugh Thompson, Hugh McElroy and John Neal." A grist and sawmill situated on the Great Miami river three and one-half miles from Sidney is offered for sale by Jeremiah Evans of Port Jefferson. E. McGrew calls the attention of the local and traveling public to the fact that, having about completed his term of office as county treasurer, he will resume the personal conduct of his tavern, "The Sign of the Mail Coach, the large brick building at the northwest corner of the public square," and states that both his table and his bar will, as ever, have the interests of his patrons at heart. (Elisha McGrew is still remembered by the elder citizens of Sidney, a slight deformity of one limb, requiring the use of a cane, and a very thick boot sole, having rendered him a marked figure in their childhood.) He was associated in many business enterprises of his time. One more detail serves to impress, upon the mind of today, the youth of the pioneer citizens, who else might perhaps appear a galaxy of greybeards, in their top hats and frock coats. A prominent Sidney society woman recalls the circumstances that "Old Joel (page 383) Frankeburger" was the term used to designate that dignified gentleman, upon whose tombstone is inscribed "aged forty-two." Who today dares call "old" the man of forty-two?

            Between the Harrison campaign (when the paper was printed "in the new brick building on North Main street, over Gen. Taylor's store,") and 1842, the publication appears to have changed names at least once, tradition claiming that The Bugle Blast of Freedom William Armstrong, editor, was one title. But The Aurora came into its own once more, in 1842, although in 1846 (Howe's Historical Collections, edition 1846) it is referred to as The Herald, "an excellent paper," published by Clinton Edwards.

            Again, within a few years, it is referred to as The Sidney Banner. But in 1854, when Samuel Mathers came to Sidney from Pennsylvania, he purchased the establishment, and permanently renamed the sheet The Sidney Journal.

            Mr. Mathers published the journal until 1861, when he sold out to P. A. Ogden, he, in turn, disposing of it to J. H. McElroy, from whom it passed to J. Dubois, and later to Bliss and Adgate. Mr. McElroy went to Washington, D. C., and engaged in journalism there.

            In 1869, Messrs. Trego and Binkley purchased the paper from Bliss and Adgate, and thereafter for thirty-six years owned and controlled it, a period during which it was characterized by the ablest editing of any Sidney publication, and exerted a powerful influence for public betterment and uplift. Mr. Trego was the business head of the establishment, and Mr. Binkley the sole editor. Republican in politics, these gentlemen conducted their efforts, in behalf of the town they had chosen for a home, without regard to politics, and Sidney should hold them both in honor for the public benefits which they fearlessly championed and obtained. Public opinion will not always be led; it must sometimes be driven. It was necessary, often, to lash and sting the slumberous civic sentiment of old Sidney into wakefulness upon many a subject which would now be taken for granted; and it may be said with truth that there is not a single public utility or advantage originating between 1869 and 1905, which was not first trumpeted into the ears of the Sidney public by William Binkley, through the columns of the journal-oftener than not at the expense of personal popularity, even when it was not attended by the penalty of bitter animosity. Mr. Binkley was a thorough rhetorician and a virile writer, with abundant editorial initiative, and courage.

            If assertion needs the backing of evidence, the annals of the village council show that the changes in Sidney prosperity and conditions began with the advent of Trego and Binkley in 1869, at which date there was no pretense of pavement in the town except the first crude rough stone deposited around the public square to keep the wagons from sinking in the mud, where the country teams were parked on market days ; sidewalks were of tanbark or cinders, except where the more well-to-do citizens indulged in the luxury of flagstone or brick in front of their properties ; water was still drawn entirely from wells in the door yards, or from the few surviving springs ; a bucket brigade was still the chief fire protection of (page 384) the village, and the only street lamp known to the entire community was the lantern which hung fitfully, as the weather permitted, from a hook in a post in front of the old Ackerly tavern at the Monumental corner. Verily, the times had changed by 1905! The headquarters of the journal were not a fixture, various situations being occupied from time to time. For several years following 1869, the establishment was located in the second story of the old building on the east side of the Carey or Thompson Block on the north side of the square. From there it was moved to Main avenue over Piper's grocery, thence to a building which stood on West Court street where now is a garage, opposite the Monumental building. In the journal office under Trego and Binkley was installed the first gas engine used in a printing office in Ohio outside of the city of Cleveland-the next office to follow being the Bellefontaine Republican.

            In 1890 a stock company was formed by J. H. Williams and E. J. Griffs, and a second Republican paper was established under the title The Sidney Gazette, with Jesse L. Dickensheets as editor.

            Not long after, a third Republican paper, this one called the Republican, was started by J. M. Leight, which became an incorporated company under the name the Republican Publishing company with David Oldham as the leading stockholder, and a daily edition was started, of which Mr. Light (or Leight) was the first editor.

            In 1905 Trego and Binkley sold out the journal to Griffs and Williams, who continued for three years with the title of The Journal-Gazette. The following year, 1909, the Republican Publishing Company bought out the journal-Gazette and the daily became permanent, Mr. Light being the first editor, while Mr. Griffs edited the weekly. The name of The Sidney journal was about this time again established, and will probably be maintained for the future.

            Mr. Binkley removed to New York and engaged in journalism there, for several years, but has returned to Sidney where he is now in mercantile business. Mr. Trego entered the banking business in Sidney, and is a director in the People's Savings and Loan association.

            J. M. Light was succeeded in the editorship of the Daily Journal by Howard B. Sohn, and he by Harry M. Gill, a rather gifted writer, but an erratic and irresponsible youth who was retired after a few stormy years, and was followed by Claude C. Waltemeyer for a month or two, after which Harry W. Oldham undertook the editorship and is still at the head of the paper. A large job-printing business is done by the Oldham company.

            Like the Whig organ started in the thirties, the first Democratic newspaper established in Sidney was destined to be permanent, although ten years elapsed after the first number was issued, in January, 1848, before the publication became stable. Its title was frank, and its appeal wide. The first editor of The Democratic Yeoman was William Ramsey, who was succeeded by S. A. Lecky. No one, however, remained long in the editorial chair (page 385)  during the precarious childhood of the paper, the name of which was changed to 1851 to The Shelby County Democrat; and perhaps a dozen editors took a turn at piloting the little craft among the local shoals and whirlpools until 1860, when A. Kaga (of Tiffin, Ohio) came to Sidney and assumed the conduct of the enterprise for a year, leaving it in April, 1861, to organize a company with which he entered the war.

            For a few months a "Democratic Committee" formed for the purpose, ran the publication, finally securing the services of Thomas K. Young as editor. Mr. Young was apparently unconvinced of the propriety or necessity of the Civil war, and presently astonished the town by publishing a violent anti-war editorial, leaving town simultaneously with the appearance of the sheet-to sojourn in Cincinnati, perhaps, until the storm should die down. But the storm aroused in Sidney by the editorial became so threatening that the editor decided it were wiser never to return, and the paper was once more abandoned to the Committee. Incidentally, the editor soon afterward experienced a change of mind (proving that the heart had not been misplaced after all), entered the army himself, and rising by meritorious service to the rank of brevet brigadiergeneral at the close of the war, afterward serving successively as member of the Ohio senate, and of the national congress, then as lieutenant-governor, and later, governor of Ohio.

            In 1863, Joseph McGonigal was brought to the rescue of the Democrat Publishing Committee, editing and managing the paper with such ability that it presently became a self-supporting institution into which Mr. McGonigal took his son-in-law, Dr. Lewis, the firm of McGonigal & Lewis publishing until 1872, when Lewis sold out his interest to Hubbard Hume. The firm of McGonigal & Hume lasted until 1874, when they sold out to James Van Valkenburg, who became editor and manager until his death in December, 1875. James O. Amos, having purchased the establishment, then became its editor and proprietor, taking charge January 25, 1876. Six years later, in 1882, the Democrat was moved from its two-room headquarters in the little brick building next to the alley on North Ohio street (now occupied by James Way as a law office) to its own new home on South Ohio, adjacent to the People's Savings and Loan building (then the Robertson corner), where the Democrat was doubled in size; where the immense and profitable job printing business was developed, which has become so notable a feature in Sidney's industrial aspect; and where, in 1891, The Sidney Daily News, the first permanent daily paper to be established in the town, was inaugurated at the request of many citizens. In 1892, Mr. Amos purchased the old United Presbyterian church edifice on the south side of the public square, and tore it down, replacing it with a second business block to which the newspapers, weekly and daily, and the printing establishment were all removed in 1893, and where they are permanently located. Miss Delia Amos, now Mrs. Horace Holbrook, of Warren, Ohio, was managing editor of The Daily News from its inception in 1891 until November, 1905, at which date she, with her husband, left Sidney for Los Angeles, California, where they entered the (page 386) field of journalism for a time before settling in Warren. Mrs. Holbrook is now joint owner and manager of the Western Reserve Democrat in that city.

            Mrs. Holbrook is a brilliant woman, much traveled and with wide experience in different fields of journalistic effort, for several years president of the Ohio Women's Press association, and a familiar figure on its convention platforms.

            The whole Amos establishment was incorporated in 1903 as The Sidney Printing & Publishing company, with the personnel including James O. Amos ; his three sons, W. T., E. C. and Howard Amos; and his daughter, Miss Delia Amos. A younger daughter, Miss Kate Amos, a graduate of the Cincinnati School of Art and a thoroughly trained artist and teacher, succeeded to Mrs. Holbrook's post and duties upon the retirement of the latter from the office, and has sustained her reputation. She has become as extensively traveled as her sister, besides developing the same business and executive talent. The travel letters of both sisters have been a feature of prominence in the weekly and daily issues of the past, until the world war made much travel a difficulty.

            James O. Amos died in the early part of 1919. He was a man of varied talent and abilities, beginning life as a farmer lad, and making his mark successively as school teacher, lawyer, prosecuting attorney (in Monroe county), school examiner, member of Ohio senate by election, and adjutant-general of Ohio by appointment, after the war-all before he came to Sidney in 1876. Mr. Amos' sons all have received thorough training for their life work, Col. W. T. Amos and E. C. Amos both graduating from Wooster university, while Howard Amos had the advantage of practical experience in the Sidney establishment, with subsequent training in the Chicago Legal News Record office.

            A democratic paper was started in Sidney in 1880, by J. T. Hearn, which had for five or six years a very successful existence under the title "The Valley Sentinel." It was for the first three years a weekly, well received, and a wide-awake sheet. In 1883 a daily edition was begun, giving to this paper and its editor the honor of having published the first daily paper in Sidney. No copy of it is obtainable, but it is indistinctly remembered as having passed as "The City Sentinel," to distinguish it from the weekly. The date of discontinuance is unknown, but within a few years after the first issue of the daily, the paper was no more in Sidney.

            About 1892, a German newspaper, The Anteater, was established in Sidney by Frank Severing of Botkins, and until the entry of the United States into the world war, the paper had a large circulation among the German settlements of Shelby county, also supporting a job printing department. It has now been abandoned. The Jackson Center News, independent, was first established in July, 1896, by C. N. Shook, now of Lima, Ohio. The publication was hampered by antiquated equipment, but exhibited vitality and ability, and had a steady growth of circulation from the outset, becoming quite popular. In 1905, A. J. Lush came to Jackson Center from Kansas, bought out the office, improved the equipment, and then in 1911, sold out the subscription list and goodwill to the (page 387) Carter brothers from Greenup, Illinois, transferring the improved plant to Oakfield, New York. The Carters printed the News for ten months, then sold their plant to the Socialists of St. Marys, Ohio, leaving Jackson Center bereft of its paper. At this juncture J. G. Saylor, then mayor of the village, came to the rescue and purchased the plant of the Quincy Inland Press, and re-established the News.

            September, 1917, Mr. Saylor sold to the Yale Newspaper syndicate, of Waynesfield, and E. Benjamin Yale is now editor of this and other papers, while Mr. Saylor is its local editor.

            Botkins also has a paper, The Herald, independent, started in 1899 by Adam Blakeley, who is remembered for newspaper work previously done in Sidney. After Mr. Blakely's death in 1911, his son, Lowell E. Blakeley, succeeded to the editorship, and the paper enjoys a good local circulation. The office is equipped with modern cylinder press and up-to-date apparatus.

            The original Amos building on South Ohio avenue was put to various uses for about ten years after the removal of the Amos printing business to the Court street property, but in 1903 E. V. Moore opened a small printing establishment in part of it, which two years later was bought in by Charles Wrest, who has enlarged it until it has become second in importance to no institution of its kind in a large radius. It not only practically occupies the original three-story building, which is leased from the Amos estate, but fills an addition on the east from which leads a traffic entrance to the alley on the south, to facilitate its increasing business. Poster and folder work is done in immense quantities for manufacturers all over the state.

            The Postoffice was established at Sidney soon after the adoption of the site as the county seat of justice, but no mention is to be found of the local mail service*previous to the transference of James Wells, the postmaster at Hardin, to Sidney, where, it is clear, the postoffice was accommodated in the little temporary courthouse.

            It was a condition of his accommodation there, that the postmaster "not disturb the court in passing in and out." When the new courthouse was built, the postoffice was moved, temporarily, to West avenue, in the old building, which later became a blacksmith shop and plow works, occupied by several well remembered pioneers. The next home for the postoffice was found in a building which stood on Main avenue, east of the public square, at the site of the B. B. Amann jewelry store of the present. Subsequently it was moved to the location of the Springer grocery, in the block north of its second home. It probably remained here for a considerable period, for its next location, as far as may be readily ascertained, was in the old Carey bank building on North Ohio avenue, from which it was transferred to a building across the street in the rear of the Thompson building. (Carey's Hall.) (Dingmansburg was a station on the post road, and it is likely that Sidney received its mail from that point until the establishment of the postoffice in the courthouse.) After the completion of the Monumental building, the postoffice was quartered therein for a long term of years, moving from there to  (page 388) the Hotel Metropole building on West Poplar street, after which was again transferred to the newer building one door west (now the headquarters of the Knitting Mills company), where it tarried until the completion of the Federal Postoffice building at the corner of North and Ohio streets, into which, after a century of wandering, it settled in 1918.

            The new Federal building is up-to-date, fireproof, very simple in construction, but commodious and well lighted, and for the greater part, well arranged for efficient handling of the mails of the present day, and probably for some years to come. There are possibilities of enlargement, also, which will be necessary, if Sidney fulfills its present promise of growth. Much more attention, however, might and should, in justice to the city, have been given to architectural beauty and significance of the exterior, which conveys to a stranger no hint of its purpose, nor any idea of its actual substantiality of construction. In style it resembles the commonplace place city jail, and its outer walls, while undoubtedly strong, have so little salience as to appear almost flimsy, the fat simulated stone pillars against the front contributing to the same undesirable effect. The conduct of the postoffice, which is all that can be desired, is in the hands of Mr. Val Lee, postmaster, with Mr. Charles Neale, assistant, and Miss Emma Haslup, clerk.

            The Orphans' Home. Nothing in the county speaks so notably of its citizenship-as well as of the board of directors-and of the superintendent-as does the Shelby county Orphans' Home. Situated on the finest hill in the rim of the river basin at this point, the windows of the Home command a complete view of the entire bowl of the valley in which Sidney lies, including the extensions of the city on the west and north. There is no view to equal this in all Shelby county.

            The building itself is ideal in its "homeyness," its airy exposures to light and breeze,-wide porches, covered ways leading to the central Home, from the dormitory houses on either side, where the boys and girls are segregated for their special lines of training. These passages are wide, and glass sided, giving shelter in storm or cold weather, yet flooded with light and yielding on lovely outdoor prospects. In the main building are the dining rooms and kitchen departments, the storage rooms in the basement, and the cool room where the dairy products so essential to the health of the children are cared for. The boys and girls have their meals in the same dining room, also the little tots, who are seated at their own table, surrounded by attractive high chairs, and furnished with model tableware.

            Reading room and library are on the first floor, also the visitors' reception room, and parlor, office, etc., the dining rooms and the chapel-which was formerly set up in the room directly above it, the first floor room being originally a school room. The Barkdull Memorial school, given by Mrs. L. C. Barkdull, and built in 1903, relieved this downstairs apartment for chapel purposes, and the room above is now utilized as a much needed sewing department. The schoolhouse stands back and to the north of the home, on (page 389)      a slight knoll, and one teacher is retained for the entire class, which is not large, but of many grades, as children are here prepared for high school, if any remain so long in the institution. There is a well conducted manual training department in the building, in which the boys learn the art of handling wood-working tools, and the principles of cabinet making. A large number of attractive and well made articles are turned out by the youngsters every year, a great number being "spoken for" by visitors, and still more being sold at the annual exhibit at the fair grounds, where the display from the Orphans' home is always a chief attraction.

            Laundry, root cellar and heating plant are all separated from the house, and each is a piece of exceptionally good equipment. The power is supplied by electric current from the city, and Sidney water is also provided. There is a farm of good size and rich soil, which is efficiently gardened, the boys being taught agriculture as far as their age and strength will permit. A fine hillside orchard is another feature of the outdoor aspect, which abounds in trees and shrubbery, green stretches of playground and lawn, where only the unusual number of youngsters at play compels the visitor to remember the domestic tragedies by which this home is peopled. The oldest boy at the home is not past fifteen, and the average is from twelve years down to babyhood. Seldom is a child left in the institution past the age of first helpfulness, and babies are the quickest to be taken for adoption. Superintendent Meighem says that the great and terrible need for little ones is parent love, an element that no amount of institutional kindness can make up for. Yet there is happiness among the children. There is not a child on the place that does not appreciate and covet the ready smile, the merry word, the approving pat of the superintendent or teachers, who must treat all with equality, and try to give a modicum of the needed love to the sixty homeless children sheltered there. Often would they gather them all in their arms and satisfy the heart hunger they feel but only express in wistful eyes, but among so many that would be merely subversive of the absolutely necessary discipline, and cannot be indulged in. There are many attractive little ones now at the institution, some of them, happily, hoping to return to homes of their own, but now and then a little face leaves an ache in the visitor's heart. There is little "Harry Irish"-nobody knows how old he is-born in a gipsy wagon and deserted somewhere along the course of his (possibly) six years. Every child in the institution has somebody to write to, somebody to inquire after him-but Harry has nobody. He only "loves Miss Brown" and waits for her to come back to the home.

            As soon as a boy or girl leaves the institution, either for a home or to work, upon any of the plans by which they are permitted to leave before coming of age, a part of their wages, agreed upon, is remitted to the institution, which credits the amount to the boy or girl, and deposits it in the Shelby County Building and Loan association, where it accrues to their benefit, and is paid over to them at the age of twenty-one. "Indenture" money, inheritances or gifts are taken care of by the same method ; and to date, since this system was adopted, about $1,200.00 is already deposited in the names of (page 390) different ex-inmates of the home. One boy, just now of age, had his money, $360, invested in the Third Liberty Loan. A dairy of from fifteen to eighteen cows is maintained, with a well-equipped cement-floored stable and yard, the milk from an average of ten cows providing all the dairy product needed for the children, except, perhaps, in times like the influenza epidemic of 1918, when milk was so necessary that additional supplies had to be obtained from outside sources. The thorough sanitation which obtains everywhere throughout the premises is nowhere more to be appreciated than in the cooling plant and storage rooms in the basement, where all the products of the dairy, garden and orchard are cared for. It is a place of dainty cleanliness, appealing pleasantly to eye and nostril. The kitchen is well appointed, and here the children receive some instruction in domestic helpfulness, taking turns at assisting with the work. Many of the girls become quite expert cooks, and all enter into their appointed tasks with enthusiasm.

            Under the supervision of kind and capable teachers, even the urchins are taught to darn stockings and sew buttons on their blouses and trousers, while the girls are given instruction in every sort of needle-work and knitting.

            Epidemics cannot be prevented from attacking the home, although every precaution is taken. Only three deaths have occurred at the institution since 1912. A service flag with six stars hangs in the chapel, one of the stars to be changed to gold, in honor of the sixteen-year-old orphan boy who lost his life in France. He was but a short time out of the home, and enlisted in February, 1918, dying after reaching France, in April.

            The farm at the home includes about 60 acres of tilled land, the rest of 137 acres being in orchard, grounds, pasturage and the gravel pit lying southwest, which is a possession of great value. It is now more than twenty-one years since the building and opening of the home in October, 1897, when the first children, up to then accommodated at the Logan county home, were transferred to Shelby. The first superintendent was Dr. W. H. Shaw of Shelby county, who resigned in April, 1898, being succeeded by J. H. McClung, who was in charge until April, 1906. J. H. Kemp became superintendent in 1906, remaining until March, 1912, when he was succeeded by Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Meighem, who are still in charge. The efficiency of the whole institution reflects great credit upon the county, especially upon the board of trustees, whose liberal provision, and discretion in the choice of superintendents cannot be too highly commended. The present membership of the board is : James E. Way (fifteen years) ; George Hagelberger, of Anna; Fired Ludwig, of Anna ; Peter O. Stockstill, of Sidney. The board is strictly non-partisan.

            Auglaize county orphans are boarded at the home, as Auglaize has no home of its own, to date.

            The original purchasing committee appointed by the court for the purpose of establishing a suitable home at a desirable location, was composed of S. J. Hatfield, A. J. Hess and S. L. Wicoff, and the first board of trustees were S. L. Wicof, R. D. Mede, William A. (page 391) Graham, and Jeremiah Miller, who after several years of service have been followed from time to time by J. N. Dill, S. D. Voress, R. H. Trego, B. T. Bulle, J. W. A. Fridley, and the present board.

            The County Farm was established in 1866, by the purchase of the James Rollins farm of 158 acres, about three miles southwest of Sidney, at a cost of $8,500.00. The first board of infirmary directors was composed of Christian Kingseed, M. J. Winget and H. Guthrie, and the first superintendent of the farm was Jacob Lehman, who was very soon succeeded by Jesse B. Howe. The contracts for the building were let in February, 1869, and completed at a cost of about $54,000.

            The Infirmary is still an ample building for the county needs, and the farm, well-cultivated, is an excellent one, with attractive grounds and beautiful shade trees, making a pleasant situation for the unfortunates of the county. There are now 24 inmates, including men and women. Many of them are able to help, and all of these are glad to be of use. Eleven are "hospital cases," the hospital wards being taken care of by Mr. and Mrs. Herring from Maplewood. Imbecility is the chief difficulty contended with.

            Electric power is provided by a Delco plant, which, however, is scarcely adequate. Water is pumped into the building by a gasoline engine. A good dairy provides plenty of milk, and butter, also buttermilk, for the institution,-and sometimes more than is needed, the surplus being sold.

            In the beginning the equipment of the establishment was considered far in advance of the times, and it undoubtedly was ; but the times have changed, and there are needed improvements now, which will without question receive the attention of the commissioners. Fifty years will wreak havoc on the best of buildings and equipment, as will be admitted, even when given the best of care, and the infirmary board have always retained the most efficient and reliable of superintendents and matrons. Superintendent Howe served until February, 1875, William Widener, Harvey Guthrie and son William, until 1899, Emanuel Needles until 1903, and Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Showers until January, 1919, when Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Miller succeeded them.

            Cemeteries. The burial plots provided by Charles Starrett, in the original seventy-acre tract, were in use until 1867, the Catholic congregation having established separate burial grounds in East Sidney, making room in the smaller plots in the town plat for all the village dead up to the date mentioned. Following the Civil war, however, a general sentiment demanded a larger and more removed burial spot than the crowded little cemeteries of the village, and a tract of land lying south of Sidney was purchased by the town from the estate of Hardesty Walker, possessor from pioneer times. In 1867 the new cemetery was opened to the public, and lots sold, according to the usual plan of procedure, the business being in the hands of a cemetery board, which is now, since Sidney has become an incorporated city, identical with the City Civil Service commission. The village council, in 1867, passed an ordinance forbidding further burials to take place within the village limits. (page 392) This was a necessity, since the little plots were already crowded, and even at that date the necessity of extending streets to the southward was foreseen. The Starrett burying grounds were, however, not disturbed for many years following the establishment of the new cemetery, which was christened "Graceland," and is as beautiful a situation as could have been chosen anywhere within reach of the town, occupying the extremity of the spur of hill lands which undulates southward toward the bend of the Miami river, west of the valley in which Sidney lies.

            Entering the cemetery from the Main avenue extension, south of the bridge, a handsome receiving vault stands at the right of the drive, and farther on, at the left, is situated the Goode family mausoleum. The natural grounds have been developed with judgment, and the native trees are supplemented with shrubbery and flowers ; and many beautiful monuments are to be seen, as well as many survivals of pioneer stone work. Additional land was secured a few years ago from the Hardesty Walker estate, on the south of the original tract, providing room for the separate grounds desired by the Catholic congregation of Holy Angels church, and for all the needs of many years to come. From the new section, the triple arch of the new Baltimore & Ohio railroad bridge forms a distant item of the very lovely view, and looking southward the hills are traversed by the Dixie highway (Sulphur Springs Hill road), winding out of sight between the heights.

            The extensive street grading and paving which began in 1900 has so altered the appearance of the south end of the town that it may easily be forgotten that the old Starrett cemetery of that locality occupied a knoll of solid gravel which was left high above Main street on either side, when the grading was accomplished. The inevitable disturbance of many graves made the removal of all desirable, and the cemetery in which further burials had been forbidden in 1898, rapidly become a thing of the past. Those who had friends and relatives buried there, removed them to Graceland ; while those whose relatives had departed this life or at least Sidney, were removed by contract, the crowded condition of the grounds being evidenced by the fact that the Edgar brothers alone transferred five hundred and seventy-five graves to Graceland. (The transfer of            graves from the Catholic cemeteries in East Sidney to Graceland is taking place more slowly, during the present year.) After the soil was vacated, the gravel deposit was found of great value to the city in the paving campaign which was already under way, and for twelve years these south end deposits furnished all the paving gravel used, excavation going so far as to make a great pit along the Miami river near the Orphans' home bridge, that filled with the overflow during high water. Systematic disposition of the city's ashes and general dumpage has, however, reclaimed the parts of the burial ground gravel banks thus robbed, and they have gradually been converted into pretty little plazas occupying the angles formed where the diagonal streets converge, in the vicinity of the bridge, and are a part of the park scheme which will include the river bank south of the city.

            The little Starrett cemetery used so long by the Presbyterians, (page 393) was transferred much later to Graceland, not being disturbed until the land was needed as a site for the new high school.

            The first superintendent of Graceland was Samuel Mathers, and the second W. P. Stowell, who after several years was succeeded by G. C. Anderson, who served for over forty years, only quitting when death called him to occupy his own long home in the cemetery he had guarded so many seasons. He was succeeded in the winter of 1918-19 by J. L. Dickensheets, The present Cemetery or Public Service board is R. H. Trego, president; E. W. Stowell, secretary; Oscar Stockstill.

            The Monumental Building is an aggressive feature of the architecture surrounding the public square in Sidney. The corner stone of this structure was laid forty-four years ago, in June, 1875, with Masonic ceremonies, the Hon. J. Frank McKinney, of Piqua, delivering a Masonic address of dedication. Not to Masonic uses, however, was the building dedicated, but, as was generally understood, to the memory of Shelby county heroes of the Civil war, other purposes being recognized as hovering in the background. The building was the outgrowth of a fund started in Sidney immediately after the close of the war, by the surviving soldiers and their friends, among whom were some of the best of Sidney's good men. The community at that time was not the well-to-do population of today, and funds came in very slowly. The parties interested conceived a lottery scheme whereby the sum of $11,473.97 was amassed toward the purpose of buying a lot and erecting thereon a suitable and permanent monument to the county's fallen heroes. The lottery was conducted under the direction of three reliable citizens of the day, Messrs. Vandegrift, Carey and Frazier; and the fund realized was held by a board of trustees consisting of Levi Barkdull, Nathan R. Wyman, Hugh Thompson, H. S. Gillespie, Joseph C. Haines and R. R. Lytle. In May, 1873, the old Ackerly tavern corner was purchased by the trustees as a site for the proposed monument, the consideration being $4,500, which was drawn from the fund. About this times Messrs. Lytle and Gillespie removed from the county, and their places on the board of trustees were filled by A. J. Robertson and Col. Harrison Wilson. The old corner tavern was rented for one year to John Mather, for the sum of fifty dollars, pending consideration of the next move. During the following year, the then new idea was evolved, from some source, of erecting, not a monument, but a monumental building, a memorial which should, at the same time, be an honor to the dead and benefit to the living. It was a worthy idea. Public and legislative approval of it was immediate and cordial. Citizens of town and township submitted quite cheerfully to special tax levies for the necessary funds, and forty-one thousand dollars were added to the money held in trust by the board. In the meantime, the idea was discovered to have grown by added ideas, superimposed upon it by the multiple necessities of old Sidney, and combined with the most genuine good intent. A public library was a need that could not be gainsaid. A place of public entertainment was even more demanded. The library would need support, therefore part of the building must be arranged to pay the maintenance (page 394) of the rest. The town needed a fire department, a city hall, courtroom and offices.

            But the grafting of many strange scions on one good parent stock, while it has been accomplished many times, is usually unsymmetrical if not freakish in result. Something of this nature must be felt by the close observer, new to Sidney, in the aspect of the Monumental Building as it was built and as it still stands after forty-five years of varying wear and tear.

            The architect was Samuel Lane, of Cleveland. The building was erected honestly, without even the suspicion of graft. It is so substantial that, barring fire and earthquake, it may easily stand on its corner for a hundred years more. But it must be admitted, with regret, that it does not now represent the Great Idea with which the enthusiasm of the town and township was aroused so long ago. It is, in fact, now known frankly for what it was in reality from the first-a public utilities building, not devoid of glaring faults even in that capacity.

            Viewed from the east, the stranger in Sidney may perhaps wonder what the building means. It suggests vaguely-or might in any other locality-a mammoth mausoleum, or possibly a cathedral whereon the apostolic figure has been replaced by a soldier of the Civil War, who rusts in his lonely niche far above the pavement. The stone masonry is of good craftsmanship, but clumsy in design and totally unconvincing. The court street elevation is heterogeneous in manner, but altogether commercial, a violent change from the front. The city hall and fire department are tacked on like afterthoughts. Unbeautiful as it is, we may not wholly blame the architect for all this, nor may we withhold forgiveness from the citizens of the older day, who stood by and held the hats of Art and. Architecture while the two disfigured one another. All were under the influence of a malign spirit of Utilitarianism that stalked the whole country for a few decades and held older, wiser and wealthier towns than little Sidney in its fell clutches. The economy of cutting its whole wardrobe from one short web of cloth, had led Sidney to require of the architect to plan under one roof all the utilities mentioned, and at the same time to honor its soldier dead as best he might. Hence the cumbrously imposing but funereal front, and the pathetic little rusting sentinel. Incidentally, the marble tablet set in the north wall of the public library, on the second floor of the building, is all that is left to mark the fact that the old soldiers, as represented by the Neal Post, G. A. R., were ever vouchsafed a headquarters within the memorial building, which they vacated, more than twenty years ago, to give the long awaited public library a habitation. And the "opera house" in the third floor was leased at the same time for the exclusive use of the I. O. O. F. The dark and cavernous business room on the ground floor front is occupied by a grocery, and the corer is leased to the Western Ohio Electric railway as a local depot. The basement, reached by a stairway let into the court street sidewalk after the abandoned practice of a bygone day, houses a shoe-repairing establishment, while the room once occupied by the postoffice now accommodates one of the express companies.

            (page 395) The really efficient and up-to-date fire department does honor to its position at the west end of the structure, but the city hall has never been very popular as a public meeting place, and only the municipal offices are in active service on the second floor of the city division. Altogether, the building does not inspire the reverence and admiration its original purpose once called forth, and exterior neglect is permitting an appearance of deterioration. The Public Library. Sidney's first public library was not a municipal affair, nor maintained by public funds. It was organized in 1869, by a group of leading citizens whose names as far as may be learned were : W. P. Metcalf, N. R. Wyman, Harrison Wilson, W. P. Stowell, James Allen Wells, and others whose names are not obtainable.

            A fund of $1500 was created for the purpose of books, and the library was opened for public patronage in 1870, in a little office building belonging to W. P. Stowell, which stood then in a space between the Mathers' residence and that of Dr. H. S. Conklin, on North Ohio avenue, and was dignified by the title of Lyceum. (The building may still be seen, having been moved to a lot in the rear of the original, which is now a part of the Federal property on which the new postoffice stands.)

            In the diminutive Lyceum the library was maintained until 1879, when, growth being impossible, and the investment inevitably a losing one, to a private corporation, the property, books and franchise, were turned over to the board of trustees of the Monumental building, under a contract whereby the latter agreed to place the books in safety in the Monumental building, and, "as soon as the debt of the building should be paid, to maintain the same as a public library out of the rents derived from the building, devoting what was known as Memorial Hall to the purposes of a public library and reading room forever."

            The books were, accordingly, stored until 1886, but, while safe, were not accessible to the public. In 1886 the village council made a small levy for library purposes, and with the consent of the Monumental board of trustees, maintained a librarian who distributed the books, to Sidney citizens only, from the smaller room at the left front of the present library floor, until 1897.

            The bonded indebtedness of the Monumental building having been removed by 1897, and a surplus derived from rents accumulated to the amount of $2500, the trustees of the building (who are appointed for life), organized as a library association, and, beginning with the twelve hundred volumes still possible to catalogue, assumed the administration and responsibilities of the public library, and the establishment of modern methods and standards of efficiency. The immediate control of the library management is in the hands of a committee of three (or four), selected: one from the board of trustees of the Monumental building; one from the Sidney board of school trustees ; and one (or more, at discretion of the board), from the city at large. In 1899 Miss Emma Graham was chosen as librarian, succeeding Miss Belle Haines, village librarian since 1886; and the room thus far occupied by the members of Neat Post, (page 396) G. A. R., as a Memorial Hall, was converted to library purposes according to pre-arranged intention.

            Under Miss Graham's capable direction all the new systems were set in running order and the efficacy of the library as an educational factor in the community has advanced steadily, year by year. A few figures, taken from the annual reports, show that from an average monthly issue of 343 books in 1897, the record for 1898 had risen to 1094; for 1899, to 1729; and for 1900, to 2635 volumes monthly. Also, in 1897 the books taken out were 857 fiction ; in 1898, 817o fiction; in 1899, only 727 fiction ; and this improvement may be seen from year to year, a late report showing practically 3000 volumes issued per month, to about 4000 card holders. The number of volumes in the library at this date (1919) is 13,550, exclusive of public documents and pamphlets. Between 85 and 100 periodicals (including subscriptions which are donated), are to be found on he reading tables and files. There are thousands of public documents in the stack room, of great value for reference and consultation, former congressman Ben. LeFevre having been instrumental in making the Sidney library a government depository for this congressional district.

            Citizens of all parts of Shelby county are evincing a desire to benefit by the use of the library, and it is hoped to extend the field to include every township before long.

The board of trustees, under which the public library of today was established, was composed of : Judge Harrison Wilson, W. A. Graham, H. S. Ailes, J. K. Cummins, 0. S. Marshall, J. C. Haines and John Heiser; and the first library committee appointed was : S. L. Wicof, W. A. Graham and E. L. Hoskins. The library committee in 1919 is : S. L. Wicoff, W. A. Graham, J. F. Richeson, and W. D. -Snyder. Miss Emma Graham is still chief librarian, with Miss Miriam Ginn and Miss Zelma Virick, assistants. It must be admitted that, while the accommodation of a public library was a part of the original scheme of the Monumental building, the quarters devoted to the purpose on the second floor are not ideally planned for a library. However, the most and best has been made of it, and in it has been developed an institution which has become the intellectual center of a collegeless town. Here young and old, students and teachers, business men and persons of literary habit find pleasure and benefit. The future undoubtedly holds a more ideal housing for the public library than the Monumental building affords, but that history is yet to make. Hospitals in Sidney are almost a negligible quantity, but never quite so, as long as the little emergency hospital on East Court street holds the fort. The story of the useful institution is short but very pleasant. Six years ago in the spring of 1913, a project took shape in the minds of two young people of Sidney, members of the Blue Bird social club. Like many another happy thought, less useful, this one was carried to the club by its originators, Dr. and Mrs. Hugh Beebe, with the proposition that the club give a charity ball, the proceeds of which should be devoted to the establishment of an emergency hospital, where the victims of accidents, or the suddenly ill at hotels, or other cases of emergency nature (page 397) might be taken, and- lives saved that would be sacrificed by the delay of removal to Lima or other cities.

            The Blue Birds took up the proposition with much ardor, and the ball was given with great success, a fund approaching $305 being raised, of which Mrs. Harry Rice was the enthusiastic custodian. Mrs. Rice alone sold 101 tickets, and Mr. W. R. Carothers disposed of 98. With this fund in hand the committee approached the City Council and asked for co-operation, which was granted to the extent of giving for the purpose the free use of the vacant room in the front part of the city heating plant, with free light and heat. This space, already floored with cement, was arranged and equipped in approved sanitary manner, two rooms with hospitals beds, an operating room, and bath room, being set off from the corridor. The operation of the hospital, which has many times in the last six years demonstrated the need of its presence in Sidney, is now supported by voluntary benevolence, the visiting nurse association bearing a part of the burden, and in return the visiting nurse-at present Miss Gertrude Williams-having her office in the building, where she may receive messages or calls for service, and where the mothers of the city bring their babies to be weighed, and ask for practical advice.

            There is at last a prospect of a regulation hospital for Sidney, unless it fails to seize the offer made in the will of the late Mrs. Harriet Stephenson, of Logan county. Mrs. Stephenson, who, as Harriet Scoby, was born and reared in Sidney, bequeathed to her native city, in December, 1918, the sum of ten thousand dollars toward the building of a hospital, provided that the city of Sidney raise an equal amount within the period of two years after the date mentioned. With so splendid a beginning Sidney cannot, it seems, fail to meet the terms of the bequest, which are quite reasonable, while the hospital itself cannot fail to meet a long felt want of both physicians and public.

            The Shelby County Agricultural Association. On the twenty-first day of August, 1839, immediately following the legislative act governing the formation of agricultural associations, for the holding of county fairs, the first attempt at organization of such an association in Shelby county, was made at the courthouse in Sidney, in response to a call sent out by William Murphy, then county auditor. Officers were elected and a constitution drafted and adopted. During the ensuing year financial matters were adjusted, and after the second annual election, a fair was arranged and held October 17, 1840. A second fair was held in September, 1841, but this seems to have been the last for ten years, when, after one or more attempts at re-organization, fairs were held successfully in the October of five consecutive years, the place of exhibition varying each year, as no permanent grounds had been purchased. The fair of 1853 was held on the Jordan land (then owned by Dr. H. S. Conklin), and lying west of the village of Sidney; in 1854, on the Maxwell grounds east of the Miami river, and in 1855, on the property of I. T. Fulton.

            From October, 1860, the association and the annual fair became fixed institutions, and with the exception of one year, when (page 398) conditions were unusual, the fair has been an annual event of great importance in the county. The fairground now in use was purchased in 1860 from the William Thirkield estate, through W. P. Reed and J. L. Thirkield, and in twenty acres in extent, and finely situated, both in regard to topography and accessibility, the highways being excellent, and the electric railroad passing the entrance. The officers of the original agricultural society were, for the first year, Hugh Thompson, Luke Fish, William Fielding, M. D., W. A. Carey, John Shaw, with G. D. Lecky, William Fielding and J. S. UpDeGraff forming the constitutional committee. These were replaced the second year by Stephen Wilkin, James McLean, Samuel Mathers, Dr. H. S. Conklin, and Hugh Thompson. Under the reorganization of 1851, the officers were Irwin Nutt, H. Walker, J. P. Haggott and Thomas Stephenson ; Dr. Conklin, J. W. Carey, Hug