Where was Goldman's Grove and the Cave?

Few remember Goldman's Grove, but Middletown Historical Society member, Jack Hagan Jr., recalls it as being at the north end of the Alameda, where there was a woods, the circle being full of old trees. It was named for the Goldman family, Simon Goldman, the city's pioneer merchant, who was the first Jewish person to settle here. He purchased land in the east end as an investment, and laid out Superior, Stanley, and The Alameda, with his youngest son, Charles, handling the Goldman real estate. Charles built and lived in the house still standing at 301 The Alameda. Hagan remembers the Grove as being about 200 feet behind the Goldman home and extending southward on past Sherman. The trees formed an arch, Hagan noting that "sunlight could not penetrate, and in light rain you would not get wet." Others remember the Grove and many of the trees are still standing. A patch of it was found in the backyard of the late Mary Doty Dell, a longtime Middletown Historical Society member.

Many boys grew up in the Grove. In it, the Beck's had a tree house where Calvin and Charles Beck played, letting others also join them. Across the street, Lee and John Phillip dug a cave with many tunnels which made a good place to hide after playing Halloween pranks. Among the boys who played in the Grove and enjoyed hiding in the tunnel in addition to the Becks and Phillips were John and Bud Sebald, Chuck Harmon, Billy Price and Richard, and of course, Jack Hagan. Among the pranks played on Halloween back in those days were upsetting of outhouses, soaping windows, or worse, streaking them with paraffin, throwing corn and putting things on top of wires. Some of the neighborhood residents tried to bribe the boys to hold off on their mischievous projects by putting pies and cakes on the front porch, the beginning of "trick or treat."

A contributor to the Journal feature "Sound Off" stated that the word redskins meant "an Indian scalp which was sold for profit."

This is a reference to an unfortunate, and very rare event, which took place during the Indian Wars (1791-1794) in this very area. After several disastrous defeats at the hands of the Indians, one in which General Richard Butler, who gave his name to this county, and likely his scalp, as well as his life, the defending white men were desperate. Along with General Butler, 630 others had been killed, with the Indian loss at 150. Many of the white soldiers had been scalped, as had others living in primitive cabins on the frontier in the Miami Valley, which had become known as the "Miami Slaughterhouse." The settlers decided to retaliate by adopting the same practice as the Indians, but the government was not involved in the scheme which generated in the minds of a private committee of citizens - vigilantes at Columbia, now part of Cincinnati. With their own money, they put an advertisement in the Cincinnati newspaper, stating they had raised funds to give cash rewards of $136 "for every scalp," for the first ten scalps, and $100 for "the second ten" such scalps from Indians killed between April 1st and December 25, 1794. In no place is the term Redskins used. The original document of this indecent proposal can be found at the Cincinnati Historical Society Museum in the "Centinel of the Northwestern Territory" for June 14, 1794. No report was made of the project and it is not known if it was ever carried through. We do know that Daniel Doty, after being stalked and shot by an Indian, returned fire, killed the Indian and took out his hunting knife. But he couldn't bring himself to scalp an Indian, and went back to his cabin, picked up a shovel, and gave the man a decent burial.

In reality, and according to 7 modern dictionaries, the word "redskin" was defined as a "North American Indian" and was first used by the Indians themselves with pride. For over 20 years, Raymond Standafer, a former president of the Middletown Historical Society, worked to retain the term for Miami's teams, with the approval of the Miami tribe itself, but last December the name change took place in deference to political correctness.

What new history facts have been annexed to Middletown?

With the big annexation to Middletown last August of 553 acres in the Dicks Creek area, came a new section with its own history, now to be added to that of the city. One of the tracts annexed was the Bake Farm, just south of Dicks Creek along Yankee Road. Its history goes back to the Reed family, many members of whom have lived in Middletown. Sometime in 1794 David Reed and two sons who had settled on the farm went to Kentucky to purchase four good horses needed to work the farm. Successful in their search, they started home with the animals, putting them in a newly built barn.

It wasn't long until the Shawnees, living on the west side of the Great Miami River heard about the new horses. One night a cadre swam across the river and stole the horses. David, with two of his sons set out to recover their horses, picking up the Indians trail the next day. David Jr., Robert, and their father followed the Indians for two days, but could not catch them. Giving up, Robert and his father returned home, but David Jr. continued the search for three more days, then gave up. The county's first historian, James McBride, recorded the incident: ;quote; David, upon reaching the Miami River at night, on his return, having no skiff, took off his clothing, lashed his gun, powder horn, and clothes to his back and swam across the stream." Mc-Bride commented that after the incident, David "was not fond of the noble red man."

But a more interesting tid-bit is that besides die, sons mentioned in the story, David Reed Sr. was to have other children, having nine in all. A younger son, Thomas C. Reed, was born later on September 3, 1797 on the Bake farm, making him the first boy born in what is now the present city of Middletown. But he wasn't the first baby to be born in the town, he was the second. Jane Potter, who later married a Sutphin, was the first child to be born here on April 2, 1797. Because she was the first child born in Middletown, her picture is on the Museum's Wall of Fame.

Can you describe the city flag?

In the autumn of 1995, the City of Middletown participated in a flag display at the Cincinnati main library. It was described as the largest display of Ohio flags ever assembled. The flags flew from balcony railings rising to 5 stories. The colorful display consisted of 55 flags from 53 cities. They are all now included in a collection maintained by the North America Vexillological Association of Oakland, California.

Middletown's flag contains the city's emblem, also used as its official seal. It was designed by R. Paul Christiansen and the Department of Community Development staff. It represents major activities of the city. The basic design is that of a circle divided into three parts. The top left portion contains the Steelmark, a symbol of the steel industry, the town's major employer. At the top right is a tree, depicting the paper industry and at the bottom, a globe taken from the Miami University seal, representing the campus here. The jagged edge symbolizes the city's past as a manufacturer of machinery from farm implements to paper machinery.

How long were the Miami Indians in this area?

A part of the Illinois Division of the Algonquin group finally became known as the Miami Tribe, first noted as living around Green Bay, Wisconsin and then settling along the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers in the late 1600's. Around 1712, one band had drifted south to the Maumee Valley, and by 1725 were in the Scioto Valley and soon wandered westward to the Miami river valley and a site that would become Middletown. In 1763 after the French and Indian wars, the Miamis abandoned their stronghold on the Great Miami at Piqua and moved back to the Maumee Valley and then ended up in Indiana. Thus the Miami Indians actually lived in the Miami Valley only a short time, and the white man has lived here far longer.

What kind of bridges spanned the Miami-Erie Canal?

The first bridges built over the canal were called camel-back bridges, for their shape resembled that of the back of one of these animals, with the hump taking one over the canal with room for boats to pass under. Such bridges required a gradual approach from the road, leaving the property adjoining the canal with a road rising in front of houses or a store. To provide a more normal approach, especially in the towns, the swing bridge was devised. They were pivoted on one bank where there was a circular track on which caster-like wheels moved in turning the bridge from one side to the other. On the track side the bridge was weighted down with heavy rocks to provide the proper pitch in swinging around. Most of these bridges were only 10 to 12 feet above the water, thus the oft-sounded warning to those on top the boat, "Low bridge, everybody down. " As a youth, John Erb and Francis Burk recall that when the bow of the boat humped the bridge it would open. Upon seeing a boat coming, the boys would rush to get on the bridge to enjoy the free ride.

The last type of canal bridge was of the lift type in which an elaborate mechanism lifted its roadbed vertically, permitting boats to pass under. With its pulley and chain mechanism the bridge was lifted into the air high enough for a boat to pass under. In its two towers were counterweights. Such was the bridge over the canal at Main and Tytus, in front of the present site of the Canal Museum. Part of the ironwork in this bridge was used in building the present one from Smith Park to the Museum. It was constructed by the Stevens Sand and Gravel operation where it was located at Smith Park. The late Russell Stevens Jr. once recalled the building of the bridge by his father.

What were the three names of the canal through Middletown?

In Studying the history of the canal that ran through Middletown, one is confronted with 3 names, used at different eras of history. The canal began in 1825 as the Miami Canal, and was to run from Cincinnati to Dayton, which it did. Then the state decided to extend the canal as settlement progressed northward in Ohio. The next section was therefore known as the Miami Extension. In 18-45 when the entire canal opened to navigation from Cincinnati to Toledo, the State of Ohio, in order to avoid all this confusion of names for the 250-mile waterway decided to officially name it the Miami and Eric Canal, which included the Wabash-Erie from the junction to the Lake, The Indiana Canal went all the way to Evansville, a long, wandering canal. In all, this really produced a waterway over 700 miles long. It was the longest canal ever built in the United States.

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When did the last railroad passenger car leave the Middletown Depot?

For 120 years, passenger trains provided daily transportation in and out of Middletown. The peak of service came in the early 1900's, for in 1905 the city was being served by five different railroads which ran 52 passenger trains through it daily, with direct service to many of the nation's major cities without change of cars. At the time some 75 railroad workers lived here. By 1957, Middletown was down to 10 passenger cars a day and in 1965, service was cut to 4. The last full length train, number 321, pulled out of the Charles Street depot on November 4, 1967. It was replaced by a bus-car, a single self-propelled coach with a diesel engine, car number 78. It served few passengers, and on April 30, 1971, it took on a lone passenger, leaving the city for the last time, headed north to Dayton at 5:02 p.m. Historian Roger Miller, realizing the importance of the event, recorded pictures of this last car out of Middletown with his camera. His pictures are framed for display at the Canal Museum.