BIO; LILLIE 1925 GEAUGA COUNTY OHIO
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History of Ohio
The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume IV, page 143

	FRANCIS M. LILLIE.  A modern city like 
Youngstown reflects the technical 
skill of the engineer on every hand. So far as 
the public engineering 
problems are concerned, those dealing with water, 
sewerage, the laying out 
of the streets and other public ground, the one 
individual who has had more 
to do with the development of these features of 
the modern city than any 
other is Francis M. Lillie, who for nearly thirty 
years was city engineer. 
he was designated the official to handle such problems 
when Youngstown was 
a comparatively small city, with only about eighteen 
miles of sewerage 
system and twelve miles of paved street. 
Before he resigned his office the 
street paving alone had extended to fully 
160 miles in aggregate and the 
sewerage system had attained a total 
length of 180 miles.
	Mr. Lillie was born in Geauga 
County, Ohio, February 15, 1855, son of 
William A. and Laura A. (Roberts) Lillie. 
His mother was born in New York 
State, and died in 1864. William A. Lillie, 
a native of Connecticut, and of 
a family established in New England as early 
as 1640, studied for the law 
but eventually became a minister of the Church 
of the Disciples. For about 
fifteen years he lived on a farm in Mentor 
Township of Geauga County, and 
his last years were spent at Willoughby, in 
Lake County, where he died in 1887.
	Francis M. Lillie was educated in 
district schools in Lake County, and 
finished his liberal education in Oberlin 
College in 1880. The following 
year he moved to Youngstown, where he has 
been a citizen for over forty 
years. After a year and a half of employment 
as assistant to the city 
engineer he served two years in railroad 
construction on the Pittsburgh and 
Western, now a part of the Ohio and Baltimore 
system, and for four years 
was in the maintenance of way department 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
	On January 1, 1893, Mr. Lillie 
assumed the office of  city engineer, and 
served in that position continuously until 
March, 1920, a period over 
twenty-seven years. Since he left the office 
of city engineer he has been 
engaged in general practice as a consulting 
engineer, being well known as a 
specialist in all lines of municipal 
engineering. The city engineer's 
office increased in importance in proportion 
to the rapid growth of 
Youngstown, and of the vast amount of 
work accomplished during Mr. Lillie's 
administration only a few outstanding 
points may be mentioned. One of the 
improvements on which his attention was 
first concentrated was making 
efficient the sewerage system in the North 
Hill district of the city, an 
improvement carried through by Mr. Lillie, 
supported by the State Board of 
Health, and against considerable opposition. 
He and several public spirited 
citizens also developed Wick Park from a 
site of weeds and bushes into a 
beauty spot, and he had much to do with 
planning and carrying out the 
practical work of acquiring and improving 
what is known as Lincoln Park.
	Another improvement demanded early 
in his administration was a filter 
plant to purify the city water supply, 
which had previously been taken 
unchanged from the river direct. he 
prepared the plans which were adopted 
by the Council and approved by the State 
Board of Health, the plant being 
constructed by Thomas Lighbody and Mr. 
Henderson. The distinctive feature 
of the filtering plant is that it was designed 
by local men without 
payments to the filter manufactures for the 
use of patents.
	One of the most important municipal 
engineering plants around Youngstown 
is the Milton dam and reservoir, to provide 
an adequate supply of water for 
industrial and manufacturing purposes during 
the dry season of the year. 
This dam was planned and constructed under the 
direction of Mr. Lillie, the 
cost of the land and the dam altogether being 
about $1,250,000.
	Mr. Lillie served several years as a 
trustee of the Unitarian Church, is 
an independent democrat in politics, and is 
affiliated with the Masonic 
Order, Youngstown Lodge No. 55, Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks, 
Loyal Order of Moose and Saint David's Society.
	In 1900 he married Miss Mary Whitehead, 
who was born near Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, daughter of William Whitehead. 
They have three daughters, all 
at home, Laura, Annabelle and Eleanor.




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