| Home | About | Community | Membership | Events | Site Map |
| History | Milford City | Miami Twp. | Education | Emergency | Links |
| The History of Milford - Miami Township, Ohio Page 2 Back to History Page 1 |
 |
John Kugler raised pigs on his farm south of the village and he operated a pork packing plant on Water Street where the Masonic Temple now stands. At Kuglers death in 1868 all operations except the mill ceased. Thomas and John Cook were among the early settlers of Milford. The former was a man of prodigious strength, and once accomplished the feat of pulling off a greased gander's head, the goose being suspended just low enough to admit of being reached while galloping by on horseback. From this circumstance Milford was sometimes called "Gandertown" by the inhabitants of rival villages, but soon outgrew this nickname. |
| Milford was incorporated as a village in Miami Township by an act of the General Assembly, passed Jan. 23, 1836, and on the 26th of March of the same year the first election of the village officers was held at the public-house of Emanuel Hawn, with the following result: Mayor, William Williams; recorder, Thomas M. Brown; Trustees, John Kugler; John Ray Britton Loming, Emanuel Hawn, and Simon Ramsety; Treasurer Edward Hughes; Marshal, James Dennisse; Street Commissioner, William Conklin. |
| The marshal was also appointed Nuisance-master at the salary of $5.00 a year. A tax of five mills on the dollar for all purposes was levied, and brought into the village treasurer $113.20; as license fees there were received $5.00, and as road tax $82.00 more, making the total receipts of $200.20. Of this amount there were paid out to defray the current expensed of the village government $104.24, leaving a neat balance in the treasury. For fire protection the trustees provided eight ladders, which were to be placed in pairs at John Kuglers, William Conklin's E. Hawn's and William Riggs. |  |
| The first and, for a
time, only telephone in town was in Adams Bakery at Main and
Garfield. When general service was installed in town, the telephones
were wall-mounted hand-cranked, party-line type.
In 1906, the C.M. & L. Traction Co. laid tracks up the middle of Main Street of Milford and through Miami Township. The company provided transportation from Cincinnati to Blanchester. |
 |
The town bought electricity from the
traction company's powerhouse on Wooster Pike. An interesting fact
about that is that the electricity was turned off about midnight
when the last car returned to the car barn for the night and was
resumed when the first car went into the service the next day. With
electricity available, houses were wired right and left.
The following year, streetlights were installed. A large celebration was held with the town band marching from light to light while they played. |
| The first Milford village
owned fire-fighting equipment, other than ladders, was a pumper,
which operated like a railroad handcar. It was stored at the town
hall. An alarm sounded, someone ran to the livery stable near the
bridge, got a horse, ran back to the hall, hitched the horse to the
pumper and took off for the fire. Prior to that, the bucket brigade
was the only fire protection.
Until the early 1900's, road and streets in and about town simply were dust in summer and mud in winter. Until 1910, sidewalks were do-it-yourself propositions. They were made of cinders, gravel, planks, or what-ever-you have. The new sidewalks were made of a relatively new material called artificial stone cement. The devastating flood of 1913 struck Milford destroying the funeral parlor and livery stable at the bridge and washing our a pier of the traction company's trestle in the river. In 1916, Chris Ernst built the Family Theater on Garfield between Main and Water Streets. Admission was 10 cents for adults and 5 cents for children. The "roaring 20's" roared into Milford on New Year's Day 1920, when fire completely destroyed Scott's Mill. It was never rebuilt. So ended Milford's more than 100 years as a mill town. In 1922 the inauguration of home mail delivery began in the village. A new steel bridge was the occasion for a large celebration in 1925. In 1939, the building we call the "Millcroft Inn" was first opened as a tea room and was called the "Millcroft" thus ending the building's long history as a private home. In 1956, Gallensteins opened the first Milford Shopping Center. In 1961, a new sanitary sewer system came into operation: 1971 was the year the village government was voted changed to a charter form with a city manager. In the 1980 census, Milford registered 5,232 residents. Being over the threshold of 5,000 allowed Milford to attained city status on March 20, 1981. On September 25, 1982 the Clermont County Commissioners redrew the township lines, permitting Milford to withdraw from Miami Township and created their own township with the same boundaries as the city. Prior to this the history of Milford was the same as the history of Miami Township. So, we have recalled a few of the many events and changes of the past years. We look to the future with optimism engendered by the past. We've come a long way indeed from our beginning all those years ago... The Little Miami Railroad The Little Miami Railroad was chartered by the Ohio Legislature in 1835 to build a railroad between Cincinnati and Springfield Subscriptions for stock in the new venture were taken in all the towns on the route of the railroad. Mathias Kugler of New Germany (Camp Dennison) agreed to purchase $10,000 worth if the railroad would run within 80 rods of his mills. At the organization meeting of the stockholders, Mathis was elected director. Because of the countrywide depression, it was 1841 before the railroad was able to build the track through Miamiville and as far as Milford. The first passenger train arrived in Milford on Dec. 14, 1841 after a trip of 1- 1 1/2 hours from Cincinnati. The train consisted of the locomotive and 2 passenger cars. The wood-burning locomotive was named the Governor Morrow and cost $7,000. The locomotive was shipped by boat from New Orleans at the cost of $732.00. One passenger car was named James Madison. It had the capacity of 30 passengers; 16 on the inside and 14 on top. The second passenger car was named the Little Miami and carried 20 passengers, 10 on each side facing each other. The line also owned 8 freight cars. By 1842 the line was bankrupt. In 1842 John Kugler of Milford succeeded his father as a director of the railroad, and helped get the line back on its feet. The line reached Xenia in 1845 and Springfield on August 10, 1846. 1851 saw the beginning of through service to New York. A passenger could leave Cincinnati in the morning, arriving in Cleveland in the evening and take a night boat to Buffalo. Arriving at Buffalo you traveled by rail to Albany during the day reaching the city in the evening in time to get the night boat to New York City. When the railroad was completed to Xenia, there were 54 Flour Mills, 26 Saw Mills, and 3 Paper Mills served by the road. On December 1, 1869 the Pennsylvania Railroad leased the Little Miami Railroad for an annual rental of $300,590.80. No rent has been paid since 1970. Milford Seminary Education above the grade school level was first available in Milford in 1848 at the Milford Seminary. D.W. Stevens, M.A., who was principal and professor, ran the Seminary in general. The first classes were held on the second floor of the Masonic Hall at corner of Main and Cross Streets (now Garfield Ave.) in 1848. After a few years the school was moved to the second floor of the Kugler Store on Water Street. The school ran for 4 eleven-week quarters. It was divided into six departments. Primary, Common English, Intermediate, Higher, Classical, and Ornamental. Primary department taught reading, writing and mental arithmetic. The tuition was $2.50 for 11 weeks. Common English department tuition was $4.00 for eleven weeks. Intermediate department tuition was $5.00 with $1.00 extra if you took bookkeeping. Higher department taught Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, surveying, chemistry, geology, botany, theology, rhetoric, logic, domestic economy, anatomy, physiology, and legal rights of women. Tuition was $6.00 each quarter. Classical taught Latin and Greek equivalent to modern high schools fours years of each. Tuition was $6.00 per quarter. Ornamental department taught singing, piano and art. Piano lessons were $10.00 for each quarter while crayoning was $3.00, painting in watercolors was $2.50 and penciling for beginners was $2.00. The records for 1855-56 show an enrollment of 35 boys and 25 girls for the first session and 36 boys and 28 girls for the second session. The school was closed in 1870 with the opening of Milford's new Union School in East Milford D.W. Stevens was principal of the Union School starting in 1870. In reviewing, Milford's and Miami Township's past, two appropriate titles came to mind; the little town and how it grew; and you've come a long way, baby!! |
|
Milford
Miami Township |
Copyright © 2003-2008 Milford Miami Township Chamber of Commerce. All Rights Reserved. |
Designed and maintained by: |
