OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 11 [HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY Chicago, 1884) 
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                     Chapter XI.

     The City of Portsmouth-The Home of Beauty, Culture Refinement and Wealth.

                     Rank and Classification.
  Portsmouth, situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto rivers, is the 
largest city in the Lower Scioto country, and one of the most important in 
Southern Ohio. In the classification of cities it belongs to the third grade of 
the second class, ranking with Akron, Canton, Chillicothe, Hamilton, Sandusky, 
Steubenville, Youngstown and Zanesville, cities of the same grade, in Ohio.
  Its history dates properly from the year 1805, when its settlement was fairly 
begun. The locality has a history dating several years back of this, but it is a 
broken one. Evidences have been adduced, perhaps sufficient to establish its 
truth, that within two miles below Portsmouth a French fort was established as 
early as 1740. The story that four families came down the Ohio in 1785 from the 
Redstone settlement in Pennsylvania, and moored their boats for a time under the 
bank on which Portsmouth now stands, but were driven away by the Indians, is 
probably true; and that Alexandria was built, flourished and afterward died away 
is a well-known historical fact. It is true, also, that the land on which 
Portsmouth now stands had been partly cleared, and a plat was made in 1805, and 
upon that plat the town began its permanent growth.

                     Alexandria, 
The predecessor of Portsmouth, stood about a mile further down the Ohio on the 
west bank of the old mouth of the Scioto. As this was the first town in the 
county, and for a time the county seat, considerable pains has been taken to 
ascertain by whom it was settled and the more important facts in its early 
history. Mr. James Keyes, as a result of his researched, claims to "have very 
good authority for saying that James Munn moved up from the summer and fall of 
1796." In the same connection he concludes that Mr. Munn was the fourth arrival, 
he being preceded first by Stephen Cary and Stephen Smith, followed by John 
Collins and very soon by Joseph Feurt.
  These data begin correct, Alexandria was settled in the summer of 1796 by at 
least five families, those of Stephen Cary, Stephen Smith, John Collins, James 
Munn and Joseph Feurt. Just which of the two first named is entitled to the 
honor of priority cannot be determined. It is probable that they came together.
  The original proprietor was Colonel Thos. Parker. He had received from the 
Government by patent, signed by John Adams, President, a part of survey 508 in 
the military district, and on a part of this land he had the town plat surveyed. 
The patent bears date Feb. 15, 1798, and in the following year the town was laid 
out. The wisdom of its location seemed, for the time, apparent. Being at the 
mouth of the Scioto, it would be the natural port of a large and fertile valley, 
which was already being selected by pioneers on account of its agricultural 
advantages. But the nature of the Ohio and the extent of its floods were not 
understood as now. It was afterward discovered that the highest part of the town 
plat was but fifty feet above low-water mark, so that the town was subject to 
overflow almost every year.
  It seems that Mr. Parker never came to his new possession, at least did not 
live upon it. His brother, Alexander Parker, came to have it surveyed, and he 
was afterward represented by John Belli, a refined and intelligent Frenchman, as 
his agent. The plat bears upon its margin a notice by Mr. Belli that "the sale 
in Alexandria will commence at 12 o'clock, at the corner of Thomas street, on 
the river, on lot No. 19, dated June 4, 1799." A number of lots were doubtless 
sold on that day, although the earliest deeds are dated in 1802-'3, the 
purchasers paying a part down and receiving title bonds to secure the purchase 
until the final payment. Among the names that appear on the earliest deeds, as 
purchasers, are those of Wm. Russell, Phillip Dyer, David Gharky, John Belli, 
Christian Battleman, Thos. Walker, Thomas Collins, Conrad Thorne, Phillip Moore 
and Stephen Smith.
  John Collins, afterward Associate Judge, was a boatman, and established a sort 
of a warehouse and store on the bank of the river. David Gharky was a German of 
good education, cabinet-maker by trade, and subsequently Auditor of Scioto 
County. Thomas Waller was a physician, native of Virginia, and came here from 
Pennsylvania in 1801 with his wife and infant daughter.
  The first school in Alexandria was taught by Wm. Jones, in 1800. Alexandria 
flourished for a time, and became a port of considerable importance to the 
travel to and from the settlement at Maysville and Cincinnati. The people who 
settled it were not mere hunters and adventurers, but seem to have been persons 
of good business judgment and advanced ideas of civilization. Fine buildings 
were erected, some two-story stone houses which stood long after the village had 
been abandoned.

                     Portsmouth Platted.
  Henry Massie, a brother of Nathaniel, who laid out the town of Chillicothe, 
purchased in 1801, on the opening of the land-offices, several sections of land 
on the east side of the Scioto, and in 1803 made the first plat of Portsmouth, 
so called from Portsmouth, Va., the former home of Mr. Massie. In order to get 
it settled as soon as possible he made very liberal offers to the people of 
Alexandria, but only a few took advantage of the offer, most of them preferring 
to remain with their neighbors in the village, which had, up to this time, been 
a pleasant home, while the site of Portsmouth was a forest, swampy and dreary 
looking. It was not long, however, before a more than ordinary rise in the Ohio 
convinced them that Alexandria was not a safe place of residence and the 
migration began. This was probably in the spring of 1805, for the plat of 
Portsmouth was re-arranged in that year and prior to that time but two or three 
families occupied the place.
  Portsmouth's life was Alexandria's death. The circumstances which were a fatal 
foreboding to Alexandria, put Portsmouth into active preparation to receive her 
small possession. The older town, after losing its best citizens, steadily 
declined. People kept leaving, but none came; buildings rotted or fell down, but 
none were built in their places; and finally, as if smitten with an everlasting 
plague, Alexandria became abandoned entirely. Much of the bank on which it stood 
and some of its stone houses have since been undermined by the current and have 
fallen into the river. At the present time (July, 1883) scarcely a trace of the 
village is left to mark the spot.
  At the lower end of the town plat the Scioto approached within sixteen or 
twenty rods of the Ohio and then by a broad sweep to the west receded and 
entered the Ohio a mile below, thus forming a narrow isthmus and a wide 
peninsula of comparatively low and heavily timbered land. From this isthmus the 
plat extends eastward along the Ohio bank to the old Chillicothe road (not 
Chillicothe street), and north to the present limit of the city; all were out-
lots, however, north of those bordering on what is now Second street.
  None of the streets, except Sciotoan Market, still bear their original name. 
Beginning with Scioto, the most western, the streets running north from the 
river where: Scioto, Second West (now Madison), West (now Jefferson), Market, 
East (now Court), First East (now Washington) and Second East (now Chillicothe). 
Those running east and west were Water street called Ohio west of Massie (now 
all Front) and First street (now Second). Reservations of a double lot on the 
corner of Second and Chillicothe, and entire out-lot north of Fourth for school 
purposes, and a large lot about the corner of Market and Second for public 
buildings were made by Mr. Massie and donated to the town. The streets run at 
right angles, but those running north and south vary 2 degrees 30" east. 
William Jones, who helped to lay out the town, was given a lot by Mr. Massie, 
which he sold for $5.

                     Early Reminiscences.
  Emanuel Traxler was the first settler on the site of Portsmouth. The next was 
undoubtedly Uriah Barber, who settled on the plat, the same year, 1796, building 
the log house which stood for many years just east of the National Hotel, 
afterward he and John Jones purchased the first lots sold, lots No. 146 and No. 
147. The daughter of Uriah Barber afterward Mrs. William Raynor, was the first 
white child born in Portsmouth. Another authority says that he lived across the 
Scioto, at Oldtown, till after the town was first laid out in 1802.
  The town was first built up in the extreme southwest corner near the isthmus 
where the surface rose fifteen or eighteen feet above the level of the 
peninsula. Here Elijah Glover built and kept the first tavern, in the east end 
of which Eli Glover kept a book store and printing office. Near by General 
William Kendall kept the first store. Court was held here for the first few 
years in a room of  a private house or later in a warehouse of John Brown or the 
cooper shop of David Gharky. In fact the principal business was transacted here, 
and when a few years later a business building was put up on the corner of 
Market and Front streets it was said to be too far away from the business part 
of town. Log cabins and frame dwellings soon became scattered here and there 
over the plat. Dr. Thomas Waller had gone up as far as Front street, above 
Court, and built a hewed-log house, afterward weatherboarded. Three different 
authorities name as many men to whom the distinction of building the first brick 
house should be attributed. They are Colonel McDonald, Jacob Clingman and Duncan 
McArthur. There seems to be no preponderance of evidence in favor of either, but 
it matters little. It was built in about 1808, before bricks were made in 
Portsmouth, they having been brought on a keel-boat, from Maysville, Ky. It 
stood on the corner of Jefferson and Front streets. People kept coming now and 
then, most of them down the river by boat from other settlements along the line 
or directly from the Eastern States. A few, however, came by way of Chillicothe, 
having traversed the forests of the interior of the State. Most of the business 
houses were on Front street near the western end, then called Ohio street. But 
very few brick houses were built during the first tow decades, nearly all being 
one story frames and hewed-log houses. A few of these old buildings, both frame 
and brick, still remain and are used. What is said to be the first frame stands 
on Front street next to the old postoffice building.
  The early settlers generally hailed from several of the older States, 
principally Virginia, Pennsylvania or New Jersey. They came from all the 
different walks of life; many of them were adventurers impelled westward by the 
general tide of emigration and the promise of new country with great riches.
  Up to 1810 the country was so little opened and the population generally so 
sparse that Portsmouth numbered but 300 or 400 inhabitants, and business for the 
most part was but an interchange of products and commodities incident to and 
necessary in all small communities.

                     City Officials, Etc.
  The town of Portsmouth was incorporated by an act of the State Legislature, 
passed Dec. 29, 1814. The first meeting of the President and Common Council took 
place in the county court-house, March 15, 1815. The council consisted of Thomas 
Waller, Nathan Glover, John Brown, David Gharky, Samuel B. Burt, Josiah 
Shackford, William Huston, William Kendall and Nathan K. Clough. Thomas Waller 
was elected President; N. K. Clough, Recorder, and David Gharky, Treasurer. The 
treasurer gave bond in the sum of $500. The length of term for each councilman 
was determined by lot, as provided by law, and resulted as follows: Thomas 
Waller, Josiah Shackford and Nathan Glover, one year; John Brown, William Huston 
and David Gharky, two years; S. B. Burt, William Kendall and Nathan K. Clough, 
three years. Although it is recorded that the meeting took place in the county 
court-house it must have been in an unfinished state, for that building was not 
made ready for occupation until the following year.
  The only business transacted at the first meeting was the appointment of a 
committee to draft a set of rules and regulations for the government of the 
council, a set to govern the incorporated town, and the election of a town 
marshal. The committee consisted of Thomas Waller, William Huston and N. K. 
Clough; the marshal elect, the first to hold the office in Portsmouth, was 
William Swords.
  At the second meeting, May 1, 1815, David Gharky and Nathan Glover were 
appointed to draft a bill levying a corporation tax; and S. B. Burt and Josiah 
Shackford to draft a bill regulating the tax on shows and theatrical 
performances. This second meeting was held in the house of Henry Sheely. Before 
the adjournment of this meeting, which lasted three days, the following bills 
were read a third time and became laws: To regulate streets and alleys; to 
regulate shows and theatrical performances; to restrain the conduct of boatmen 
and other persons; to designate the object of taxation and define the duties of 
the assessor; to create the office of assessor; to designate the duties of the 
marshal and regulate the fees of the president and marshal; to regulate 
executions; to regulate taxation; to remove nuisances. Many other bills were 
read either a first or second time.
  At this meeting a resolution to build a market house in town was adopted. The 
house was afterward built by John Brown, on the public ground where the Massie 
Block now stands, and opened for use May 30, 1824. Measures were also taken at 
this meeting toward improving schools.

                     Improvements.
  Very early in the history of the town the site was not attractive. Much of the 
ground on the western part and north of what is now Second street was swampy in 
the wet season, and was filled with stagnant water and croaking frogs. The river 
bank was steep and muddy, and along the line of Second street was a second bank 
or bluffy ridge much steeper than now. But early steps were taken to secure 
neatness and health. Dogs were banished from the city limits entirely., by an 
ordinance passed in January, 1816. Hogs were prohibited from running at large by 
an ordinance of March, 1817. These ordinance were afterward both repealed. 
Repeated action was taken by the council during the first two years to have the 
town properly drained. In the fall of 1815 the supervisor of streets was 
instructed by the council to open all the ditches at the expense of the 
corporation if the regular corporation work was not sufficient.
  The court-house, which stood in the center of Market street, about half way 
between Front and Second, was finished in the year 1816. The wood work and brick 
work were done by John Young. The jail, which stood near the northeast corner of 
Market and Second, was built by Elijah Glover. Among other prominent buildings 
erected in the earlier days of Portsmouth was a three-story brick on the 
northeast corner of Front and Market. It was built by Mr. Smith, the father of 
L. P. N., Charles and Joseph Smith, afterward well known in the city. In the 
third story of this building was the first public amusement hall. A large frame 
was built on the present site of the Buckeye Block, on Front between Market and 
Court streets, by a Mr. Caldwell and Dr. Prescott. It was occupied by them for a 
while, but afterward converted into a hotel and run by John Peebles, father of 
John G. It was at this house, in the year 1827, that a public reception was 
given in honor of Henry Clay, who stopped over night while on his way to 
Washington. Portsmouth demonstrated her admiration for the great statesman by a 
torchlight procession and a general "pow pow." In the course of the procession 
John H. Thornton, one of the prominent men in his day, who was bearing a torch, 
fell into an excavation for a new cellar and received severe injuries.
  The first manufacturing establishment in Portsmouth of any consequence was the 
cotton spinning factory of David Gharky, started in 1815. It was propelled by 
horse-power and superintended by Ed. Cranston, a machinist. The first flour-mill 
was started in the same year by Josiah Shackford, Daniel Corwin and others.
  Mr. Gharky was a native of Germany, but came to America alone when a young 
man, and was among the first to settle in Alexandria. He was a man of honor and 
great industry but of a peculiar disposition. As well as among the first to 
settle Alexandria, he was one of the last to leave it, having moved up to 
Portsmouth in 1814. Immediately after coming to Portsmouth he established the 
first regular ferry across the Scioto River. He was a joiner by trade and worked 
in an old log shop with a large wood fireplace built with mud and sticks on the 
outside, as was customary in primitive days. He has a partner, Mr. John 
Simpson, and this is the firm that, after contracting with a farmer to build a 
windmill, built one in the shop down. They finally struck upon the idea of 
tearing the chimney away which allowed the machine to pass out. Mr. Gharky was a 
man of intelligence and industry, occupying several honorable positions in the 
early history of the town and county. He held the position of Town Treasurer, 
but resigned, in 1822, to accept the position of County Auditor, vice Wm. 
Kendall resigned. He strongly advocated, in 1822, the improvement of the river 
bank and the construction of a public wharf, but his motion was voted down. His 
foresight and business sagacity were not appreciated.
  Another early resident of striking character was Josiah Shackford. In early 
life he had been a sea captain, but for some unknown reason he abandoned his 
profession, he family, in fact everything related to his former life, and 
drifting down the Ohio River landed at and concluded to make Portsmouth his 
home. He had means and relatives in the East, but he chose to live alone. He 
made his own house, two stories high, or double decked as he called it, and 
instead of having stairs, had a ladder by which to reach the upper deck, making 
it resemble a gangway as much as possible. On retiring for the night in the 
upper apartment, the ladder was drawn up after him. He seems to have had no 
regular occupation, and spent much of his time in searching about the mounds and 
in various mysterious pursuits of which no one but himself knew. In the latter 
part of his life he might have been seen day after day, for long periods at a 
time, shut up in his house, earnestly working on a perpetual motion. While on 
the sea he is said to have crossed the Atlantic in a schooner with no companion 
by his New Foundland dog. He was given the honor of naming the first steamboat 
launched at this place, which he called Diana.
  Aaron Fuller probably built the first steamboat immediately in the town, he 
having obtained privilege from the town council to construct a steamboat "on the 
commons in front of town," in the year 1829.

                     Business and Banking.
  With her eight or ten establishments the business of Portsmouth had so far 
advanced by 1817 that the leading business men concluded that a banking 
establishment would be advantageous. According to the passage of an act of the 
Ohio Legislature was secured, 
Dec. 16, 1817, establishing the Commercial Bank of Scioto at Portsmouth. It was 
chartered as a joint stock corporation, to continue until Jan.1, 1843, with a 
capital stock of $100,000 to be divided into shares of $50 each. The following 
citizens were named as commissioners to control the bank until directors should 
be elected, viz.: Wm. Kendall, Wm. Lodwick, Thomas Waller, John Brown, Jr., 
Jacob Offnere, Joseph Waddle, Josiah Shackford, Nathan K. Clough, John H. 
Thornton, Wm. Daley and John R. Turner.
  The bank did not open for business until the following fall. In the Portsmouth 
Gazette a meeting for Sept. 3, 1818, stating that business would be opened 
immediately on the election of a Board of Directors and officers. The meeting 
and election resulted in the choice of Thos. Waller, Jacob Offnere, Wm. Kendall, 
Wm. Daily, Wm. Lodwick, N. K. Clough, John R. Turner, Nathaniel Whitmore, Wm. 
Collins, Nathan Wheeler, Joseph Waddle, Daniel Corwin and Nathan Kinney as 
Directors; Thomas Waller, President of the bank, and Elijah McKinne, Cashier. 
The bank was at first kept on Front street, on corner of first alley west of 
Biggs House. Thomas Waller remained President until his death, in 1823, when he 
was succeeded by John R. Turner. McKinney was soon succeeded by Jacob Clingman 
as Cashier. At the time the bank quit business, in 1843, 
Samuel M. Tracy was President and Henry Buchanan, Cashier. Buchanan had been in 
the position since 1833. The bank on closing reported a surplus of $279,620.33 
over its public liabilities. The capital stock had been raised to $275, 195.91.
  Feb. 27, 1820, the greatest fire yet known to Portsmouth came to make its 
effects felt by the new city. Fire broke out between two and three o'clock in 
the morning in the grocery of Mr. Bramble on Front street. It raged until four 
o'clock when it was put in check, after destroying eight buildings and a large 
amount of goods.
  The period between 1820 and 1827 witnessed no remarkable strides in the growth 
of Portsmouth. It was at best a straggling and rather an untidy village. The 
houses were widely scattered, and to nearly every one belonged a large garden, 
so that all were farmers to a small extent. It was for this reason, although the 
market-house stood ready to accommodate a busy-traffic on market day morning 
between the rural inhabitants and the residents of the city, that but little 
merchandise passed through its gates. Cattle ran at large in the street corners 
and commons; and often some unfortunate shopkeeper or mechanic would arise in 
the morning to find that a stray cow or horse that had been let go without his 
yoke had broken into and destroyed his corn patch during the night. It was 
during this period that the city records show the intelligence of a man having 
been hired by order of the council to move the dog fennel from the streets of 
Portsmouth, for which said man was to receive $7 from the city treasury.
  It was during these days of dog fennel and hog wallows that the town of 
Portsmouth rejoiced in the possession of what it called a "corporation bull." As 
this expedient of the old city fathers has ceased to be a public equipment, and 
it very name has long since passed into oblivion, the question might naturally 
arise to the reader, What was this corporation bull? It was not a power in the 
form of language such as used to issue from the pen of the Pope and be a terror 
to civil governments, nor was it a shining object such as the people of India 
fall down before and worship, but a veritable bovine, and belonged to the town 
as a body politic as much as the walls and battering ram of an ancient town or 
as your modern water-works. He was attended by his keeper like a wild beast at 
bay, served to inspire manly vigor and courage in the spectators when allowed to 
walk abroad in the streets.
  It was also in this heroic era that a literary institution, call the Franklin 
Institute, flourished, giving an opportunity for the giant minds to expand and 
the weaker ones to draw inspiration. Before this assembly, one of Portsmouth's 
young Ciceros said, in eulogizing the merits of George Washington, that "he 
fought, bled and died for his country, then retired to private life."
  On the 19th of May, 1823, a committee from the council having been appointed 
to report a plan for repairing the town well in front of the court-house, 
embodied in their report the following: "The committee further reports that from 
the best information they can obtain they are of the opinion that a pump thirty-
six feet long, painted red, with a wooden handle, curbed with plank or timber, 
can be obtained for the sum of seventeen dollars." During this period the severe 
sickness in and about Portsmouth gave the town an unpropitious aspect and did 
much to retard its growth.
  In 1827 it became known that this was to be the terminus of the Ohio Canal, 
and Portsmouth made one of those periodical starts which have characterized many 
parts of her history. The first start of this kind was immediately after the war 
of 1812. The growth continued until about 1820, after which, for a few years, a 
decided calm was experienced.
  In the year 1827 an inventory of Portsmouth would have shown the following 
business and manufacturing establishments: One bank, four grocery stores, four 
dry-goods stores, two nail factories (they were made by hand), one cotton 
factory, one carding and one fulling machine, four cabinet shops, two 
warehouses, three blacksmith shops, one silversmith, one saddle shop, five 
carpenters, two hatters, one wheelwright and two English schools. The population 
was 570.
  In the year 1827 the first attempt at establishing a seminary in Portsmouth 
was made by John C. Ashley and his wife. Ashley was a minister by profession and 
had lived in Portsmouth but a short time. The seminary proved unsuccessful.
  In 1829 the important event of the conveyance to the city of the boat-landing 
ground between Front street and the river took place. A misunderstanding as to 
Mr. Massie's intention regarding that property had arisen, and for several years 
the question was one of anxiety on the part of those interested in the welfare 
of the city. Considerable time was spent in corresponding on the subject, and in 
1827 James Lodwick was sent by council to Louisville, Ky., to confer in person 
with Mr. Massie. In July, 1829, Mr. Massie's proposition to convey to the town 
his estate here for the sum of $2,400 was accepted. The estate included, besides 
the strip of land and wharfage between Front street and the river, a tract of 
land west of the town limits, on the river bank. At the same time the council 
purchased lots No. 289 and No. 290 from Wm. Lodwick for $2,000. The description 
of the Massie property in front of the town was as follows: "The land east of 
Second East street and west of the lands owned by the heirs of Thomas Waller, 
and between the street contemplated to be run east and west along the second 
bank of the river and low-water mark."
  In 1830 Portsmouth had a population of 1,378. She had three churches which had 
been established several years; the Masonic fraternity had made a strong footing 
and the public schools were being improved every year. Several manufactuuries of 
small magnitude werein operation, and in the following year the rolling mill, 
long known as the Gaylord Mill, was established here, the first to be 
constructed west of Wheeling. From this time on Portsmouth was identified as the 
metropolis of the iron region in Southern Ohio. The iron manufacturing industry, 
as many others, has constantly grown in proportion to the growth of the town to 
the present day.

                     From 1830 To 1840.
  The decade from 1830 to 1840 witnessed considerable advancement in the town, 
the population having just doubled. The casual business, which grew rapidly 
during this period, doubtless added greatly to the activity.
  As yet the manufacturing interests had not grown to any importance, the old 
rolling-millbeing the only establishment of magnitude.  
  A fire swept over the block in which the Biggs House now stands in 1835.
  In 1838, by an ordinance passed on May 4, the streets were re-named, and were 
given the names they now bear.
  The Portsmouth Insurance Company was started in 1838.
  In 1839 the project of building the Portsmouth and Columbus turnpike was fully 
set on foot. By an ordinance of the council of Portsmouth, passed Aug. 2, 1839, 
they provided for a loan of $20,000 to pay their subscription of that amount to 
the turnpike company. Certificates of loan were issued by the proper authorities 
on the part of the town in sums of $5 and $10, naming seven per cent as the 
interest paid.
  In 1840 the population was 2,550.
  In the year 1842 the Damorin & Henking Flouring Mill was established, and in 
the same year a linseed oil mill and a lard oil manufactory were started. The 
two latter were of short life.
  In 1849 another big fire visited Portsmouth. On the 30th of April fire broke 
out in the tin shops of Joseph Tritsch, on Front street, near the corner of 
Madison. The weather was windy, and before it could be stopped one third of a 
square was burned over, consuming twenty buildings. Sixteen families were left 
without homes. The total loss amounted to between $10,000 and $12,000. Mr. 
Tritsch, the heaviest loser, lost besides all of his property $300 in money, 
which was in his house.
  By an ordinance passed April 6, 1849, the town subscribed $100,000 to capital 
stock of the Scioto & Hocking Valley Railroad. This road was completed to 
Jackson in 1852, and put in running order to Hamden by 1856, which, by its 
connection with the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, gave Portsmouth railroad 
connection with the East and West.
  In 1850 the population had reached 3,867.
  For the ten years following 1850 Portsmouth made several important steps 
toward advancement.
  In the year 1851 an act was passed by the State Legislature, incorporating 
Portsmouth as a city.
  In an ordinance passed in March, 1852, providing for the election of the 
corporate officers of the "city of Portsmouth," the following officers were 
named as constituting the city government: Mayor, treasurer, marshal, city 
clerk, city surveyor, wharfmaster, street commissioner, clerk of the market, 
inspector of domestic spirits, inspector of flour, measurer of wood and coal, 
and weigher of hay. Under the head of Ward officers were councilmen, trustees of 
public instruction, watchman and health officer.
  The office of surveyor of the town was established in April, 1848; that of 
wharfmaster in January, 1852; that of city clerk in February, 1852; the city 
watch was established in December, 1852; the offices of wood and coal measure 
and board measurer were established in 1852, and the office of sexton of the 
city cemetery in May, 1852.
  In 1856 the following manufactories, with the date of their establishment as 
far as known, were in operation: Portsmouth Iron Works, 1831; Portsmouth 
Manufacturing Establishment, 1840; Portsmouth Brewery, 1840; Portsmouth Woolen 
Mill, 1847; Fuller & Cary's Sash Factory, 1847; Rhodes's Planing Mill, 1850; 
Scioto Foundry, 1853; Portsmouth Ax Factory, 1854; Scioto Rolling Mille, 1855; 
Portsmouth Gas Light Company, 1855; Purdom's Door, Sash & Blind Factory, 1855; 
Washington Foundry and Machine Shops, 1856; People's Foundry, Heggie & Lewis's 
Wheelbarrow Factory, Hall's Wheelbarrow Factory, Soap & Candle Factory and a 
Mineral Water Factory.

                     Portsmouth Dry Dock and Steamboat Basin Company.
  In 1851 a map was gotten out showing the property of the above-named company, 
hich consisted of 5,630 lots on the west side of the mouth of the Scioto and a 
canal basin connected with the State canal by a branch running directly south 
from a little above the third lock. At the foot of the title of the map in one 
corner was the announcement: "2,000 lots selected from this parcel to be sold on 
the 15th May, 1851, in this city by A. H. Muller, Auctioneer."
  This was one of the visionary schemes which imaginative minds delight to dwell 
upon, and of which Portsmouth has had no little experience. The great silver 
shaft of Indian tradition, within five miles of the city, presented a Utopia 
scarcely less charming than this one.
  The plat was made for a magnificent city on the wide bottom west of the mouth 
of the Scioto, extending back to the hills. Seventy-seven streets were laid out 
and named, and generous reservations for parks were made. Had this magnificent 
project been fulfilled, and the imagined city taken shape, Portsmouth would now 
have been the rival of, or probably superior to, Cincinnati.
  The company of men who conceived and took the initial steps of this project 
were from New York City. They were attracted to this point by the termination of 
the Ohio Canal, which many thought would make this a shipping and transfer point 
of great magnitude, since through it would pass all the trade between the North, 
East and the great West, which was now being rapidly settled.
  The first representative of the company here was a Mr. Stockwell, who, after 
the failure of the scheme, went to Wisconsin, from which he afterward 
represented a district in Congress. About the same time, or perhaps after Mr. 
Stockwell had left, Mr. Stillwell, resident of Brooklyn, represented the company 
here. Their resident agent, who purchased 
the land (between 500 and 600 acres) and surveyed and platted the city, was 
Captain Francis Cleveland, an old resident of this city.
  Many lots were sold at the sale above referred to and a block of three-story 
brick buildings was erected near the basin between the Ohio and the old bed of 
the Scioto, used for warerooms. Considerable business was done for a time in the 
transfer of good, and with the attractions for other branches of business which 
were being drawn around it the anticipations of the projectors seemed to be on 
the way to realization. But the high water of the rivers overflowed the land, 
which was an interference not bargained for. At the same time business began to 
be taken away from the canal by the railroads, and the embryo city gradually 
passed out of existence. No trace of the buildings erected there are now to be 
found. The city plat has long since been cancelled.
  In December, 1853, Tracy Square was accepted by the council, in which to 
establish the city park.
  To show the material growth of the city for the period of ten years preceding 
1857, the following figures, showing the taxable valuation, are given: Valuation 
in 1847, $553,200; in 1853, $1,259, 187; in 1857, $2,447, 624.
  Since 1837 the town had been spreading back from the river and covering that 
portion north of Fourth street which prior to that date was covered with forest 
trees. A general system of wharfage was established in 1852 and extensive 
improvements were made at the boat-landing, while the public schools, churches, 
merchandising establishments, both wholesale and retail, and industries 
generally were all rapidly growing in importance. The first business directory 
of Portsmouth was published in the year 1856, compiled by Samuel P. Drake. It 
was a meager affair of eighty pages, bound only with a paper cover and much 
resembling an old school primer; but it served its purpose, being in keeping 
with the city at that time, and we hereby acknowledge our indebtedness to it and 
its author for a knowledge of the city at that time.
  By 1860 the population had reached 6,055, nearly double that of 1850. Not only 
in name but in reality this decade saw Portsmouth transformed from a town into a 
city.
  During the decade following 1860 the growth was steady, although the per cent 
of increase was smaller than in the preceding decade. The city constantly 
extended its limits, and by 1867 the lots most sought were those in the 
northeastern part of the city, north of Seventh and east of Chillicothe streets. 
This tract had been but a short time before an open common-the home of vagrant 
geese and browsing cows. To give an idea of the growth of the city during this 
period, which seemed to be another of those periodical starts, the following 
building statistics for the year 1869 are given: Number of bricks laid in the 
city, 6,437, 508 (during the year 1868 about 4,000,000 had been laid); number of 
bricks made in the city, 5,425,000; brick buildings erected, 48; frame buildings 
erected, 128; buildings remodeled, 32; estimated cost of all, $482, 070.
  A seminary called the Portsmouth Female Seminary was established here by an 
incorporated company Aug. 2, 1867. The capital stock was $50,000, taken by the 
following gentlemen, who composed the company: B. B. Gaylord, President; J. F. 
Towle, Secretary; L. C. Damarin, Treasurer; W. H. Lampton, J. L. Watkins and 
Wells A. Hutchins. A building and large lot were secured at the head of Second 
street at a cost of $30,000, and the seminary entered upon its career. It was 
continued quite successfully for about six years, when, for want of patronage, 
it began gradually to decline. The property is still held by the company and the 
charter retained, but no attempt has been made to conduct a school for several 
years.
  In 1870 the population was 10,592; in 1875, according to a local census, it 
was 13,731, and in 1880 brought the street railway, the water-works, the public 
reading rooms and the free library in the way of public improvements. Many new 
buildings, some of the finest in the city, were constructed during this period. 
In business circles a growing interest set in, and in society a spirit of 
refinement began to prevail. Within the last ten years a large proportion of the 
manufacturing establishments have started, and as a manufacturing city it has 
few superiors of its size. The shipping advantages of the river and the two 
railroads from the north have given Portsmouth excellent communication with the 
outer world.
  The aggregate sales of merchandise in Portsmouth in 1880 amounted to 
$4,896,000, while her 184 manufacturing establishments turned out, in the same 
time, goods to the amount of $4,683,700.				
  Portsmouth has long enjoyed the reputation of being the handsomest town oon 
the Ohio River. It being the metropolis of an important mining region and itself 
filled with smoking furnaces and various manufacturies, a stranger might 
reasonably picture to himself a dreary city filled with impenetrable smoke and 
the streets filled with rattling coal carts and iron wagons. But nothing is 
farther from the truth. The city is clean and well shaded with trees. Many 
master-pieces of architecture deck different parts of the city, and her numerous 
lawns and flower-gardens make Portsmouth attractive and pleasant as a place of 
residence.
  In the near vicinity are several points from which a beautiful view is 
commanded, notably on the Kentucky side of the river, where the hills rise 
abruptly from the water's edge to a height of nearly 600 feet; from one point a 
clear view of more than twelve miles each was is had. The Scioto Valley extended 
to the north-a broad and level plain with the winding river down its center-is a 
scene of magnificence. The Ohio bottom, all of which is north of the river at 
this place, is a broad expanse extending to the east and west. Back from the 
rivers where the hills begin the rise is abrupt, making an environment 
resembling a huge wall.
		
                     The Accession of Wayne Township.
  A petition had been presented to the city council, to annex to the city of 
Portsmouth all that part of Wayne Township not already included within its 
limits. The council of Jan. 17, 1868, passed an ordinance submitting the matter 
to a vote of the people April 6, 1868, when it was carried by a vote of 1,370 
for the annexation and only twenty-two against it. As the vote was almost 
unanimous, the council at its session, held July 22, 1868, made the following 
order on the petition to carry out the affirmative expression of the vote of the 
people: "For the purpose of hearing and considering the above petition of the 
city of Portsmouth by its common council, it was ordered, after due 
deliberation, that as the evidence showed that the laws of the State had been 
compiled with by said petitioning city, that from this date all that part of 
Wayne Township heretofore lying east of the present corporation line, and also 
north of said line and east of a line commencing at a point in the line between 
Wayne and Clay townships north 87 ½ degrees west 43 Poles and 17 links of the 
center of the Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike; thence south 12 ½ degrees east 
24 poles to a stake; thence along foot of high bank with the meanders thereof 
south 22 degrees east 20 poles to a stake; thence south 12 ½ degrees east 24 
poles to a stake; thence south 20 degrees west 52 poles to a stake in the south 
line of lot No. 9, of the Kinney division in Wayne Township, and in the north 
line of said present corporation of the city of Portsmouth, shall be annexed to 
and become part of said city of Portsmouth, and by consent of the city council 
of the city of Portsmouth duly and legally certified the remaining part of Wayne 
Township lying west of the last above described line, shall be annexed to and 
become part of Clay Township, as per petition of S. W. Cole and J. R. Richardson 
on file with plat and original papers.
         "John McDowell,     Com. of
         "C. F. Bradford,     Scioto
         "Isaac H. Wheeler,   County."
  Politically speaking Portsmouth is Republican in politics. The First and Third 
wards are Democratic, and the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth are Republican.
  The assessed valuation of Portsmouth in the year 1880 was $1,978,914.
  To a truly philosophical mind it matters little what the name of a place or 
person may be so far as proper history is concerned, but since there is another 
theory as to the origin of the name Portsmouth than the one given in the early 
part of this sketch, grounds for a nice controversy are presented.
  In January, 1874, the mayor received from the mayor of Portsmouth, N. H., two 
views of that city accompanied with a statement of their desire to cultivate 
friendly relations with "its namesake, " in Ohio. The views were accepted, 
framed and hung up in the council chamber as a memento from the "mother city." 
This is in conflict with the theory that Henry Massie, the founder, gave it the 
name of Portsmouth in honor of his former home, a town of the same name in 
Virginia. The arguments in favor of the New Hampshire town are all confined to 
Josiah Shackford, an early resident of this place. In a lecture delivered by E. 
Glover, Esq., in 1873, an explanation of the name is given, which is probably 
the one which determined the action of the council in acknowledging the New 
Hampshire town as the true mother city. In this address Mr. Glover after 
relating quite a romantic history of Captain Shackford, his marriage to his 
step-sister in Portsmouth, N. H., where he himself lived but a few days, his 
wife's refusal to go and live at New York as he desired, his roving life on the 
waters and his voyage from France to South America alone, his return to his wife 
to take tea and leave her immediately never to return, his travel to and 
location in Ohio, imagines he sees him approaching the site of Portsmouth as its 
first white settler. He imagines he sees him alone "standing on the prow of his 
boat as he rounded the eastern bend, and with his keen eye took in the brilliant 
autumn foliage of the towering forest that then clothed the site of our 
beautiful city, framed in and adorned all around by the lofty and gracefully 
curved mountains, kindling with enthusiasm; and hear him exclaim 'Eureka! Land 
here!'"  "He did land," says the author "went up the valley, found a tract of 
land three or four miles from here that pleased him and secured it, and with his 
native energy prepared to make it his home. But learning that General Massie had 
secured a large body of land bordering upon the two rivers, he sought his 
acquaintance, was told that he intended soon to lay out a town upon the bank of 
the Ohio, and determined to take a part in the movement. He was undoubtedly 
present at the first steps, even to the suggesting of the name of the town."
  In his solution the author totally ignores the existence of Alexandria, the 
story of whose first settlement many now living in Portsmouth have heard from 
their parents, and the General moved from that town to this several years later, 
as remembered and related by persons now living. In all this the name of 
Shackford does not appear.
  May 8, 1807 (as the records show), lot No. 17 on Front street, east of Market, 
was deeded to Josiah Shackford by Henry Massie for the sum of $50. If Mr. 
Shackford was a shrewd and talented business man and had so much to do with the 
laying out and early history of Portsmouth, "even to suggesting of the name," he 
should have availed himself of the opportunity and bought lots in the western 
and more desirable part of town, many of which had been sold the year before for 
$1 each, but so advanced in value that, in less than four months after its 
purchase for $1, one of them was sold for $220.
  The tract of land three or four miles up the valley that Mr. Glover says 
Captain Shackford secured and began to prepare for his home before learning of 
"General" Massie's intentions to lay out a town, was not secured by him until 
1812, just five years later his purchase of lot No. 17, in the town of 
Portsmouth. As stated by Mr. Glover, the land lies about four miles up the 
valley, being the northwest quarter of section 32, town 2, range 21, conveyed by 
the United States to Josiah Shackford, Dec. 11, 1812.
  No purchase could have been made by Mr. Shackford prior to the dates given 
because his name does not appear anywhere on the official records,  which 
contain scores of landtransfers all along back to the year 1802.
  The story of Captain Shackford's having come from Portsmouth, N. H., and being 
identified with the earliest history of this place as one of its most 
enterprising and liberal founders, and even suggesting the name, though vague 
and indefinite, has been repeated for years back and believed in by many, and 
finally found a culmination in being recited from a public lecture platform by 
the Hon. E. Glove, lately deceased. No other evidence of the claim of the New 
Hampshire town has been discovered.
  As before stated, the original plat bears date of June 23, 1803, the plan of 
the town being signed by Henry Massie, and is thereon called the "Town of 
Portsmouth." Nothing is more natural, therefore, than that Henry Massie, the 
founder of the town, named it without the aid of anyone, and called it 
"Portsmouth" after his former home, Portsmouth, Va.

                     Additions to the City of Portsmouth.
  It is not intended here to give a description of all the additions made to the 
city or to notice the subtractions of lots and tracts already belonging to the 
city; but to give the location of the more important additions as near as 
possible without going into the minutiae of a surveyor's language, and to give 
the dates of their annexation, thereby presenting an idea of the growth of the 
city by the extension of its borders.
  The tract of land on which the city is built was deeded to Henry Massie by the 
Government in February, 1801. The tract contained 125 acres, a part of the 
military warrant No. 4,615. The first plat for a town was made in June, 1803, by 
Henry Massie, but it was replatted in 1805. Market street was laid out six rods 
wide. Water street, (now Front), five rods, and all the rest four rods wide. The 
alleys were each one rod wide by eight rods deep. The extent of the town then as 
laid out reached east to Chillicothe street and north to the first alley above 
Second. The plat of 1803 extended east only to the first alley east of Jefferson 
street.
  The first addition was made in 1826 by Elijah Glover. It consisted of a tract 
embodying nine lots south of Fourth street and east of Court. Three of the lots 
were south of and bordering on Third street.
  Jacob Offnere's Addition (1829) lies east of Jefferson street between the 
northern limit of the old plat and Fourth street.
  Canal Addition, made also in 1829, was one of very large dimensions and has 
since constituted a valuable portion of the city. It extended from Madisonstreet 
to Chillicothe, and from the old plat north to Fifth street, on the west side, 
out to Sixth, on the east side of Market street. The several persons owning this 
land and making the addition were John F. Barr, John McDowell, Wm. Kendall, 
Jacob Clingman, Isaac Noel, Henry Brush, W. Lodwick, N. W. Andrews and Wm. 
Oldfield.
  Wm. Oldfield's Addition (1830) lies between Washington and Chillicothe 
streets, and between the first alley below Sixth, and Seventh street.
  John F. Barr's Addition (1833) is all east of Chillicothe street, and north of 
the first alley below Sixth. Part of it extends past Bond street, on the east, 
and to Ninth street, on the north. The greater part of this addition lies 
between Chillicothe and Gay streets.
  G. Lord's Addition, laid out in 1833, was west of the mouth of the Scioto, 
along the bank of the Ohio. It was never built up.
  Moses Thompson's Addition, laid out in 1833, occupies the extreme eastern part 
of the city. It extends north from the Ohio, on both sides of Thompson street, 
nearly to Gallia street.
  McConnell's Addition (1834) consists of a square bounded by Third, Gay, Second 
and Chillicothe streets.
  J. L. Martin's Addition (1839) was an addition of out-lots east of Chillicothe 
and north of Mill street.
  Corwine and Offnere's Addition (1843) was made by George Corwine and Jacob 
Offnere. It consists of four lots on the northeast corner of Mill and 
Chillicothe streets.
  David Jones's Addition (1843) lies between Second and Third streets, on each 
side of Court street, extending half-way to the adjoining streets.
  E. Waller's Addition (1846) consists of a row of blocks on the east side of 
Waller street, extending from the river north to Second street.
  Peck, Bond and Linton's Addition was made in 1847, by William V. Peck, Wm. K. 
Bond and David Linton. It lies between the Ohio River and Gallia street, and 
extends from Gay street east to about half way between Linton and Waller 
streets. A neck on the eastern part runs north of Gallia.
  John F. Barr's Addition was made in 1848. It embraces a large tract in the 
shape of a cross extending from Court to Waller street in its greatest width 
from east to west, and from Gallia to Thirteenth from south to north. Tracy 
Square, the City Park, is near the center of this addition.
  George Ball's Addition (1868) is a small tract on the northeast corner of 
Gallia and Offnere streets.
  Wells A Hutchins's Addition (1868) lies between the first alley below Ninth 
and the first alley above Tenth, extending about thirty rods of and ten rods 
west of Waller street.
  Annexation of Wayne Township (1868). – After a vote taken in the city on April 
6, 1868, in which there were 1,337 votes cast for and 22 votes cast against the 
annexation, the corporation was made to cover the entire township of Wayne.
  F. C. Searl's Addition (1869) embraces a portion of the Morgan tract in the 
northeastern part of the city, lying between Eleventh and Twelfth streets.
  Daniel McFarland's Addition (1870) lies west of Offnere street, north and 
south of Twelfth street.
  Noel and McElhany's Addition (1870) lies immediately north of Ball's Addition, 
extending to Tenth street.
  C. C. Cole's Addition (1879) lies west of Chillicothe street, in the extreme 
northern part of the city.
  Richard Lloyd's Addition (1872) consists of a row of lots extending west from 
Cemetery street along the south side of Ninth street.
  C. A. Barton and F. C. Gibbs's Addition (1872) consists of a row of lots on 
the east side of Waller street, extending from Fourth to Gallia.
  H. R. Kinney's Addition (1873) is a suburban addition of twelve acres lying 
north of the old corporation line.
  Portsmouth Real Estate Co.'s Addition (1878) consists of a row of blocks on 
the east side of Campbell avenue, running from Jackson to Gallia street.
  Peter Kinney's Addition (1878) lies between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, 
and extends from Chillicothe street east beyond Waller street.
  Green's Addition (1879) lies between Fourth and Gallia, and extends east from 
Linton about 160 rods. It was laid out by the county sheriff, and sold to 
satisfy a legal claim against the owner, Chas. S. Green.
  W. L. Adams Addition (1882) comprises that part o the city bounded by Adams, 
Campbell, Seventh and Eighth streets.
  Glover's Addition (1882), by Sarah J. Glover, embraces the tract bounded by 
Gallia, Offnere Fourth and Union streets.
  What are known as Gaylord's, Poyntz's, Johnson's, King's, Albert & Campbell's, 
Bell's, Clingman's, etc., were only subdivisions of lands already in the city 
limits, and covered by the foregoing additions. Perhaps the most important of 
these were Albert & Campbell's Addition, which was a subdivision of eighty-four 
acres in the northeastern part of the city, lying east of Union street.