Corning In Fact & Fancy

By Jeff Ferguson

"Compiling a story about a town history brings out one sorrowful fact. Each of us as we live is living the next generation's history. What a pity we don't take time to record what we have seen and heard and lived. Failures, successes, tragedies and comedies run like a thread through all our lives. Forgotten, they are only dead memories. Recorded, they become a heritage of roots to feed the future."

In as much as Corning is a part of Perry County it is interesting first to know a little about the beginning of Perry County. Under the early discoverers what is now Perry County was once the territory of France. After the fall of Quebec the French claim was abandoned and the Ohio Territory became known as the county of Illinois of the state of Virginia. The Continental Congress of l875 passed a Land ordinance that allowed for the surveying of the territory and the eventual establishment of the State of Ohio, This also opened the way for the young American nation to repay some of its friends and sympathizers.

During the American struggle for independence there were in Canada and some British territories people who sympathized with the American cause. These sympathizers were punished in various ways for this sympathy. They lost their homes and their businesses and were forced to become refugees. The young American nation was now able to repay these people by allowing them to settle in this new area in what were to become known as the Refugee Lands. The northern boundary of Perry County is part of this tract. The earliest settlements in Perry County were across its northern border following somewhat the Zane Trace.

Monroe Township in which Corning lies was established in l823. Previous to this it had been a part of Bearfield township for political purposes. It was named for President James Monroe and it first two settlers were John McDonald and James Dew. This James Dew may very well be the Dew who built the brick house on Route 13 below Corning at the junction of Route 13 and the Irish Ridge Road. This house is shown in an old Perry County Atlas as one of the oldest houses in Monroe Township and the bricks used in the building of the house were made at the site.

Millertown, just west of Corning, is the oldest village in what is now the Southern Local School District. It was platted in l834 by Jacob Miller and during the Civil War was visited by General John Morgan of the Confederate Army. General Morgan, in an effort to carry the war to the north, crossed into Ohio with his troops and he came into this area from Nelsonville. He crossed the Sunday-Monday Creek divide coming into Coal Township near Hemlock . From there he passed through Buckingham possibly right through the area where our school now sits and reached Millertown sometime in the afternoon where he rested his men until six o'clock before passing on through Corning and Chapel Hill leaving the county in the vicinity of Portersville. At this time General Morgan's forces were struggling to get back across the river and he took fresh horses for himself and his troops wherever he could find them. A woman of the Millertown area, when accosted for her horse, is said to have given the General a piece of her mind. The Raiders simply lifted her from her saddle and took her horse. Dr. W.H. Holden of Millertown was also relieved of his horse but allowed to keep his medical bags. Morgan at this time was probably more interested in saving his own hide than anything else, but stories have been left behind telling that he was rustling horses for the southern troops. East of Corning in a hollow near the home of Dwight Brown is a cave known as Tinkers Cave. A man named Tinker is supposed to have stolen horses in the area and held them in this cave for Morgan as he came through.

Chapel Hill was one of the best known churches in the county. It was a Catholic Church organized in 1850. This was an Irish community and the cemetery across the road from the church was once mentioned in Ripley 'a Believe It or Not column as having a monument to the devil.

Before there was Corning there was Ferrara. A peculiar Italian name given to a small community that lay about where the row of houses that includes the house of Frank Standish now stands. Ferrara was laid out in 1871. Corning was laid out in 1878 by Joseph Rodgers. Rendville was platted a year later by Capt. T.J. Smith and W.P. Rend.

Essential to the development of this area was the discovery of coal. The man most responsible for the discovery of the coal fields and their development was Colonel James H. Taylor. Discovery of coal led to the opening of many mines in the area and as the mines were developed and the coal mined the railroads penetrated the area in search of this black gold.

The first railroads came into the area from the north. Best known among these were the Ohio Central which later became the T and O. C., or Toledo and Ohio Central. About this same time another railroad was approaching from the south. It is best known as the K&M, or Kanawha and Michigan, which line later combined with the T&OC to become part of the New York Central system. These two railroads met in Corning and it was their meeting that indirectly led to the discovery of oil in Perry County. The railroads needed plentiful water supplies so they decided to drill for water at the Corning Round House. In August 1891 the well was drilled. At 630 feet they struck salt water which was unusable. This water was cased off and they continued drilling down to 1507 feet and found no water. Work was stopped for a few days while the company pondered what to do now and when they returned to the site later they found that oil had been thrown on the top of the derrick. There is still a grade of oil on the market known as Corning grade.

An interesting side light to the discovery of coal is the influence this discovery had upon the population growth and variety . Soon after the development of the mines there was a strike due to the poor wages and dangerous working conditions. The mine owners and operators tried to break the strike by bringing in outside laborers. The high level of Slavic, Italian and German people in the area is directly traceable to this strike breaking effort. The development of Rendville as a predominately black community is also an after effect of this policy. Anxious to break the strike the mine owners imported workers from these foreign countries and from the south. They sent agents to these countries to sign up workers who would want to come to this worker's paradise. Everybody was rich. Everybody had work. Many of these immigrants came expecting to make a killing and to go back home rich. John and Gertrude Eickel, great great grandparents of Jeff and Sandy Ferguson, were among these imported immigrants.

When they arrived in Corning they found the people were sullen and unfriendly, leaning against the building or sitting on the upraised wooden sidewalks looking with great suspicion upon these strike breakers. Somehow this group of immigrants were able to learn about the strike and why they had been brought to this country. Germany as you know is the home of trade unionism and this group was not about to do any strike breaking so they joined the strikers and went on strike before they ever did a day's work in this new country. At the same time Negro slaves who had been freed by the Civil War had also in many instances been left completely homeless and destitute and they too were imported to break the strike. The first black strike breakers were brought into the New Straitsville area where the people met them with force. Using guns, pitch forks, axes whatever they could find with which to arm themselves, the striking coal miners

chased these people out of their area into the Shawnee area. The people at Shawnee did the same thing driving them into the Corning area. The people of Corning then chased them up the Sunday Creek Valley where they were met by the Ohio Militia which had been called out by the governor of the state. A camp was set up there to protect and shelter these people and after the strike was settled they too found work in the mines and many of them made their homes in Rendville.

Among the other industries in the Corning area were two stone quarries, one at what is now called Fifteen Reservoir and one at Twenty Six Reservoir, south of Corning. There was a brick plant up in number Eight Hollow and for a time a man by the name of Richardson ran a small foundry where he smelted out a low grade iron metal from the ore in the area, near the home of Andy and Garnet Perine. Perry County has been called a county that could build a fence around itself and have everything it needed to sustain life. The rich farming country of our northern county compares favorably to farm land anywhere in the United States and our mineral rich southern area with its hills and woods, furnish wood for houses and grazing for sheep that furnishes wool for clothing. Even tobacco can be raised in Perry County.

Corning has spawned many stories of hard work and success. One of our most prominent citizens was Samuel Eichenbaum. As a Jewish immigrant Mr. Eichenbaum, which name incidentally means oak tree, came into the area carrying a pack on his back. He walked from door to door selling the small notions and necessities he could carry in his pack. Eventually he was able to open his dry goods store and go on to become one of our community's most responsible citizens. He was best known for his work on the local school board. During the depression years when school funds were a little slow in arriving he personally bankrolled the teacher's salaries. During World War II, though Mr. Eichenbaum himself was no longer with us, the people of Corning were still able to benefit from his business association with a well known New York dry goods supply house with which he had done business for so long that he was one of its oldest customers. His seniority extended to his store even though it now was the property of his daughter and son-in-law. They had kept his old business name and incidentally his old business connections and were in many cases able to acquire scarce items for their customers.

Corning of old had mud streets and raised board sidewalks and gas lights that were tended morning and night by the town lamp lighter. The lamp lighter carried a ladder and extra mantels for replacing broken mantels. Every evening the lamplighter made his rounds lighting the lamps and every morning he made the rounds turning the lamps out. One of these lamplighters was Harry Wolfe who became town lamp lighter after graduating from school. Mr. Wolfe went on in life to become editor and owner of the Columbus Dispatch. He was a life long member of the Corning High School Alumni Association. This same Mr. Wolfe had a brother whose name I was unable to learn, who ran afoul of the law and was imprisoned. In prison this Mr. Wolfe determined to do better when he was released and he studied the construction of shoes. After being released from prison he established The Wolfe Bros Shoe Co.

Drs. Bob and Jim Miller for whom this school has been named had a very interesting history. Children of Scottish parents, the father does not play as big a part in this story as the mother. Perhaps she had been widowed but the mother ran a boarding house and the two boys had jobs in the mines. It was common for boys as young as ten years old to work in the mines, but the Miller boys mother was determined her sons would have an education. When the mines worked, the boys worked in the mines. On the days when the mines did not work the boys went to school. Upon finishing high school one of the boys continued to work in the mine while he helped pay the other boys expenses at college. When the first boy finished college and was a doctor, he then helped the other brother through college.

Corning also spawned two very successful attorneys. Maurice Donahue, who lived east of Corning and for whose family there is a branch of Fisher's Creek that bears their name, Donahue Run, and George Marshall. In those days lawyers did not need to go to law school. They could read for the law. Then they would take the state bar examination and if they passed they were lawyers. Mr. Marshall had been to law school and he went to Columbus to take the examination the same day Mr. Donahue did. When they left the train at Columbus Mr. Marshall ingratiatingly told Mr. Donahue he wouldn't tell anyone that Mr. Donahue had taken the test. Like so many people of superior education, Mr. Marshall thought Mr. Donahue wouldn't pass the test. When the test was over Mr. Donahue had passed and Mr. Marshall had failed and had to take the test over. (Editor's Note: Another Corning attorney from this era was Tom M. Potter and later Leon Levion who now practices in Zanesville.)

Corning was once a town of many businesses. Old time stores often specialized. The butcher shop sold only meat, the bake shop baked and sold only baked goods, and so on. There was a wealth of saloons, a jewelry store, tailor shops, dress makers, ice cream parlors, a nickelodeon and an opera house. In Corning the tailor was also the undertaker, Mr. Potter.

The Opera House was a special treat. Traveling play groups would appear and put on shows once a month, at least. The opera house had a dining room downstairs and a large mahogany bar. The second floor held the stage , the main floor seating and to each side there were balconies. Along the side of the auditorium was a hall and sleeping rooms. Every year Corning used to have a minstrel put on by local talent. The biggest claim to fame for the opera house is that one of our nations presidents once bent his elbow at the opera house's magnificent bar. My informant could only surmise that this president would have been Warren G. Harding.

President Harding was once the guest at a party in Corning. At this time he had not yet reached the presidency. This was during the oil boom years in Corning. Oil speculators flocked into Corning trying to make a killing and many of them were doing very well for themselves. Several of them were bachelors and they fell into the practice of having parties for themselves in the rooms over the old Miles Joyce Grocery Store. The parties were largely drinking and gambling parties. On this occasion they had invited Mr. Harding who at that time was a senator from Ohio. Most of these oil men were Republicans like Mr. Harding. Samuel Eichenbaum had also been invited to the party and he reported after the party he was the only Democrat there and the only sober person at the party.

An interesting side light to the Corning story concerns the gasoline buggy. Sunday Creek, which runs through Corning, used to meander about the valley and when the railroad was put in the channel was straightened to run parallel to the tracks. The old channel had swung around somewhere in the area near the Aluminum Window plant. At this location during the horse and buggy era there had been a livery stable there. Later the Hermey Brothers were to open one of the first garages at this site, operating one of the first Ford Dealerships in the area. When gasoline was first sold out of underground tanks, the Hermey Brothers installed such a tank. The hole for the tank was dug and the tank was put in place. Before the cement could be mixed and poured the tank would raise up out of the ground. The hole for the tank had been dug in or near to the old creek bed and the hole would fill up with water and float the tank out. They finally had to fill the tank with water to hold it down to get the concrete poured.

Margaret Holcomb was the daughter of one of Corning's doctors. Her brother William had married a girl out west and Margaret would often go out to visit her brother and his family. On one of her trips she became acquainted with a fellow passenger and learned that he too had been from Corning. While they were talking Old Home Week style the porter on the train begged their pardon and asked, "Could that Corning you are talking about be the one close to Rendville?" Far out in the western United States three neighbors met accidentally.

The railroad was the lifeblood of Corning. Passenger trains from Charleston, West Virginia to Columbus passed through Corning two trips a day. Shoppers from Corning could leave on the morning train, get off at a station in south Columbus, shop their way up High Street and arrive at Union Station in time to catch the evening train home.

Route 13 north from the intersection on Main Street would run right through the old Buckeye pipe line supply house that used to sit there. Farmers came into town on Fridays to do their door to door peddling. The farmer's wives made butter and saved eggs to peddle to special customers. Many farmers sold meat door to door out of the back end of their farm wagons. In the fall apples were brought into town from farm orchards. Bushels of apples were dumped onto the potatoes in their bins where they tended to complement each others keeping qualities. The apples usually went first and today there is no treat to compare to the thrill of finding one last apple that had worked its way down among the potatoes only to be found when you were sure all the apples were gone.

Corning has two churches with some historical value. St. Bernard's Catholic Church is a monument to a long forgotten priest and many long dead fellow Catholics. The building they built both inside and out needs not take a back seat to any church anywhere for sheer beauty.

The Old Methodist Church, before the consolidation with the United Brethren, had an interesting history. It was first organized in a feed store that stood where the James Wilson home (above O J's Bait Store) now stands at the foot of East Hill. Here a few hardy Methodist souls first got together and organized a church. Their first real church building was the former Mason home that stood on the lot next to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Charlton. From there they moved to a church building on the lot directly below the former home of Morgan Walters (now Paul Wohrle). This later became a hotel. There was dissension among the members at this site and the congregation divided and both groups built new churches on North Valley Street even though while they were all members of one church. They were so poor that if the roof leaked, as some of the members have said, all you could do was get up and move over. They couldn't afford to fix the roof.

Even comedy is part of our history. For example, take old Peter Saltsak (pronounced salt sack), an old German bachelor, hard drinker and disillusioned with life. Peter decided to put an end to it all. He loaded his pistol, stood before his mirror, and in bleary eyed drunkenness took as careful aim as he could under the circumstances and shot his mirror all to smithereens.

Compiling a story about a town history brings out one sorrowful fact. Each of us as we live is living the next generation's history. What a pity we don't take time to record what we have seen and heard and lived. Failures, successes, tragedies and comedies run like a thread through all our lives. Forgotten, they are only dead memories. Recorded, they become a heritage of roots to feed the future.