Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/538

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��masters always keep one eye on tbe financial barometer, their sails trimmed, and plenty sea- room— weathered the storm in safety.

It is not pretended that Mansfield has been followed closely, in her journey from her birth in the forest to her present proud position among the cities of the State. It was a long, weary journey, and full of quagmires and winding ways, that would be wearisome to fol- low ; but it is hoped enough has been given to stamp the picture of her gi-owth and development on the mind of the reader. For five years she floundered among the ruins of financial disaster and hard times, but in 1878, began again to see daylight, and travel the solid, open, macadamized road to prosperity. Resumption and good times have given her a new lease of life, and during the year 1879, she has been again taking iimnense strides in growth and prosperity-, and it may be safe to say that hun- dreds of new dwellings and business houses, many of them elegant and costly, have been erected. The old frame build- ings, on the east side of Main, between the park and Third street, have been torn down, during the last summer, and an elegant brick and stone block erected by Messrs. Swigart, Jenner & Scattergood ; and jNIain street now, for the first time, presents an unbroken front of brick and stone, on both sides, from Fourth street to the North American.

The new directory, for 1880, just issued, gives a good idea of the present condition of the busi- ness of the citj'. The director}' for 1 867 contained 1,715 names; that of 1876, about 2,700, and that of 1880, 3,500. There are forty-one at-

���SWIGART BLOCK, MAIN STKKET

��torneys at law ; ten barber-shops ; nine drug stores (of which that of P. Bigelow is the old- est, and it is safe to place this gentleman among the oldest, if not the oldest man in con- tinuous business in the city, without failure) ; nine dry-goods houses, six bakers ; three banks, of which the Farmers' is the oldest ; five bill- iard rooms ; eleven blacksmith-shops ; sixteen advertised boarding-houses ; one boiler works ; one book-bindery ; three book- stores, all retail — the wholesale house of J. H. Reed & Bro. having failed and gone out of existence ; one wholesale boot and shoe house, that of H. M. Weaver & Co., John G. Spencer having gone into the retail business ; six retail boot and shoe stores ; fourteen boot and shoe manufactories ; one box- maker; one brass foundry ; two breweries; two brick^'ards ; one broom-shop ; one butter and egg packer ; nine cabinet and furniture stores ; two candy factories ; ten carpenters and builders ; five carpet weavers ; nine carriage and wagon works ; ten cigar manufactories and tobacconists; nine clothiers and merchant tailors, none ex- clusively wholesale ; six coal

' dealers ; four coopers ; one

cracker bakery, which receives notice in another chapter ; two crockery stores, one retail and one (Harroun & Hammond) wholesale and retail. This firm came into existence in 1873, purchas- ing the stock of Markward & Harroun. The business had been established by Sturges, Wood & Witter, in connection with their dry- goods business. Harroun & Hammond trans- ferred the stock to Hedges Block, corner of East Diamond street and the Public Square, in 1873, where they yet remain. They employ

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