1917 History

DELPHOS HISTORY 1917

DELPHOS: Delphos has the distinction of being situated in two counties. The Miami and Erie Canal divides it into two quite equal portions. The part east of this canal lies in Allen County, and the part west is within Van Wert County. In 1840, when the first vote was taken in Washington Township, only ten votes were cast, and Thomas W. Bowdle was elected justice of the peace. The first plat of the town was made by Ferdinand Bredeick, on the west side of the canal, and the Rev. John Otto Bredeick, coming a couple of years later, laid out the addition on the east side of the canal. He was a Roman Catholic priest, and reserved a large plat of ground for church purposes. He gave this as a free gift. For a number of years, this settlement was known as East Bredeick and West Bredeick, and then there were a couple of other little settlements, which were known respectively as Section Ten and Howard Town, the two former being settled by Germans and other two by English speaking people. It was finally decided to adopt one name for the four settlements and, after a meeting called for that purpose, the name Delphos was suggested by Father Bredeick, and it was adopted. From that time all jealousy ceased, and all citizens began to work for the common good. To this harmonious action may be credited the growth of the settlement.

Delphos was incorporated in 1851, and the first election was held on March 3^rd, of that year, at which Col. Lester Bliss was elected mayor, and Smith Talbott, recorder. N. White, J. P. Cowan, J. P. Murphy, and Theodore Wrocklage were chosen the first councilmen. Much of the growth may also be attributed to the liberal views held by Father Bredeick. Although brought up under the narrow, old country standards, he adopted in the broadest and most liberal manner American views, and encouraged those of all nationalities and all faiths to settle there. He was ready to assist one as another, and gave a lot to the Presbyterians on which to build a church. He said he did not want a Catholic town, as that would make the people selfish and narrow. He wanted all classes and all creeds to commingle.

The post office occupied a small room built on a platform of the lock between the gates of the canal, on the Van Wert County side. Amos Clutter was the postmaster in 1847. The first hotel was opened in the spring of 1845. It was built by Morgan Savage, and was named Traveler’s Rest. The second was built by James Graver, in the same year, and was called the Ohio House.

One of the interesting incidents of early history is told about a pioneer druggist: "Joseph Hunt owned a drug Store, and made a contract with a firm of chemists to take all the slippery elm bark he could furnish in a given time. He bought all he could contract for, and, as all the ridges had an abundance of red elm, he soon had many tons. When he commenced shipping carload after carload, the firm saw they were swamped and called a halt, while he still had many carloads on hand. The matter was finally settled by the contract being cancelled, with full payment to Mr. Hunt for the bark on hand."

The first newspaper in Delphos was issued by Benjamin Metcalf, in 1849, and was called the Section Ten Budget. It existed for about one year, and was followed by the Delphos Oracle, edited by Noah Huber. This expired in 1854, but the Northwestern Republican, with S. E. Brown as editor, was established in the same year. This paper lived only about a year, and the settlement was without a paper until 1869, when the Herald made its appearance, with D. H. Tolan as editor. In 1877 the Courant was established, with E. B. Walkup as editor. It was first started as a weekly, but was later made a tri-weekly, and finally became a semi-weekly.

When the Ohio & Indiana Railroad, now a part of the Pennsylvania Company’s main line, was built in 1854, much of the iron for its construction was brought down by the canal from Toledo. Two boats, the "Seneca Chief" and "Damsel," transported the greater part of it. A locomotive, called the "Lima," was also brought down by the canal and used in the construction work. The Delphos & Indianapolis Railroad was opened in 1875, and was completed to Toledo three years later. It is now known as the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad. This was at first a narrow gauge railroad, but the track was afterward standardized.

To Father Bredeick was due the building up of the first Roman Catholic congregation. He gave to it the splendid site now occupied by the church edifice. A log chapel first served the small town, but a more pretentious church was begun in 1846. The second pastor of the congregation was Rev. F. Westerholt. In that same year the Methodists held their first services, in the cabin of R. M. Petticord, at which five persons were present. Rev John Graham officiated as minister. When E. N. Marlen, an ordained minister, came to Section Ten in 1848, he agitated the building of the church. A couple of years later the foundation stone was laid. The Presbyterian Church was organized about the same time by Rev. Richard Graham. The congregation was very small, and a church edifice was not begun for almost a score of years, as the congregation had been decimated, first by a scourge of cholera and afterward by the Civil War.

Information from A HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO, A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress and Development from the First European Exploration of the Maumee and Sandusky Valleys and the Adjacent Shores of Lake Erie, down to Present Time, by Nevin O. Winter, Litt. D. The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1917.

.Submitted by Ronald Kunz, rkunz@woh.rr.com