- 1800 (January)
After just a little over three years of moving the Columbia
Presbyterian Church to Duck Creek (possibly at the edge of present
day Norwood), it was moved to near "McFarlan's Blockhouse"
(an area which was to later be called Pleasant Ridge). The church
had a cemetery in that area since 1795, probably when the McFarlan
settlement was started. The church building (a small log structure)
was dismantled and physically moved log-by-log to the new location.
In 1818, the church changed its name from Duck Creek to the Pleasant
Ridge Presbyterian Church.
This old log church, historic for both Pleasant Ridge and Norwood,
was replaced in 1825 with a one-room brick church.
Unfortunately, few records remain of the Duck Creek Church. The
records from that early time were lost in 1814 when the home of
Daniel Reeder, the church clerk since 1793, was destroyed in a fire.
The church records were burned in that blaze, according to "150
Years of Presbyterianisn in the Ohio Valley, 1790-1940,"
published in 1941).
- 1801
Peter Smith was chosen pastor of the Columbia Baptist Church. By
revival, he brought 150 members to the church within a few months.
At a meeting on December 5, 1801, it was voted to build a new
meeting-house on the lot of Mrs. Ginnings (Sarah
Jennings, widow ?) on the Duck Creek (at today's
Edmondson Road).
Maybe the move was done because Smith lived in that area. It has
been written that a record dated February 17, 1797, details his
purchase of 160 acres for $106, possibly near the Duck Creek site.
Also, he may have bought land on April 1803, a portion or all of
which he sold to his son Samuel on October 29, 1804 (possibly when
the elder Smith moved north). The Duck Creek church was completed in
1803, a year before Smith left. However, it wasn't permanently
occupied until 1808. It became known as the Duckcreek Baptist
Church.
Interestingly, one of Peter's daughters, Sally, was said to have
married a Henry Jennings in 1799. Could this man be related to the
Sarah Jennings from whom the church's Duck Creek land was purchased?
- 1803
The Columbia Baptist Church completes the new log cabin
meeting-house on the lot of Mrs. Ginnings, overlooking the Duck
Creek.
- 1807
On what was to become Norwood Heights (1869), on the site of the
future home of John W. Siebern (this name was indicated on maps of
1869 & 1884; John N. Siebern may
have been his son), and now across from Quatman Avenue on the east
side of Montgomery Road, was the cabin of the Daniel Wolverton
family. In a story told by John G. Olden, in his "Historical
Sketches and Early Reminiscences," and repeated by Henry and
Kate Ford in their 1881 book, "History of Hamilton County,
Ohio," two of the Wolverton children, Jemima, about six, and
John, nearly four, are lost in the woods for two days. Many
neighbors looked for them. Finally, with the help of a bloodhound,
the children were found on the hills east of Reading, near the later
site of Mount Notre Dame.
- 1808
The Columbia Baptist Church at Duck Creek was permanently occupied
after being built five years earlier. So many members left the
original Columbia Church (near what is now Lunken Airport) that it
eventually was abandoned and finally demolished in 1837. The current
Columbia Baptist Church was built later on Eastern Avenue.
- 1809 (summer)
Sam Bowman, after occupying his land tax free for several years, has
the land deeded to him. At the crossing of State and County Roads
(later named Montgomery Road and Smith Road/Carthage Avenue), he
built a tavern and coach stop).
At the opposite side of the intersection, John Sharp had a cabin and
small store. The area soon became known as Sharpsburg, after Mr.
Sharp. (It isn't known why it wasn't called
Bowmansville !)
- 1821 (January 21)
Joseph G. Langdon, Sharpsburg's only postmaster from 1867 to 1870,
is born in "The One-Mile House" on Gilbert Avenue. In
1870, the post office was renamed the Norwood Post Office, as was
the train station.
- 1828
David Mills (Abner's son) and his wife, Elizabeth, lease land
between what is now called Smith and Montgomery Roads to the
Sharpsburg School District for the Central School. At this time it
was a sub-district under control of the Columbia Township trustees.
- 1835
The Duckcreek Baptist Church's old log-cabin meeting-house is
replaced by a low brick structure. It remained until 1890, when the
church held its last annual meeting on June 21, 1890 to celebrate
the Columbia Baptist Church's 100th anniversary.
- 1838 (September)
John C. Weyer is born in Ohio. He later
moves to Cincinnati. He becomes the first mayor of the Village of
Norwood in 1888, serving from 1888 to 1891.
- 1840
Joseph G. Langdon takes up residence in Sharpsburg area after
marrying Joanne Lyon, daughter of farmers on the south side of what
would become Norwood.
- 1845 (March 8) The Belpre and Cincinnati Railroad Company
was chartered to build a railroad from a point opposite Parkersburg,
Virginia, to some point on the Little Miami Railroad. Because of
various changes, the name was changed to Marietta & Cincinnati
Railroad in 1851. Eventually, this railroad would extend itself into
Sharpsburg as the first tracks through the future Norwood.
- 1849
John Uri Lloyd was born in 1849 in West
Bloomfield, New York. After moving to East Norwood, he became one of
its leaders.
- 1852 (October 1)
The first(?) payment of the Cincinnati-Sharpsburg Road Bonds is
distributed. This may have been the Montgomery Road from Cincinnati
to, or through, Sharpsburg.
- 1856
The Duck Creek Baptist Church, Duck Creek and Edmondson Roads,
established a mission at Pleasant Ridge. By 1859, they had built a
meeting house there. By 1866, the mission became a new church, the
Pleasant Ridge Regular Baptist Church. In 1887, the church moved to
Norwood, meeting at the Norwood Town Hall. By 1892, the name was
changed to Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church of Norwood, Ohio. In the
summer of 1901, the name was changed again — this time to the
Norwood Baptist Church. While in Norwood, the church was first
located at Sherman and Station Avenues and then at Courtland Avenue,
its current location.
- 1857
The Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, from Harmar, Ohio, to
Loveland, Clermont County, a distance of 173 miles, was completed.
At Loveland it connected with the Little Miami Railroad and used
those tracks to enter Cincinnati. A decade later the M. & C.
would have its own tracks to Cincinnati, going through Norwood, the
first railroad to do so.
- 1859
Ren Mulford, Jr. was born, probably in Cincinnati. He co-authored
with Werter G. Betty, the 1894 book, "Norwood,
Her Homes and Her People." Mulford was a
sportswriter and editor, starting in 1879. In 1887, Mulford moved to
his new home on Beech Street in East Norwood, and began writing a
daily column, "THE NORWOODS,"
about the new suburbs he called home. He later worked in the
advertising field. He lived in Norwood for years, but eventually
moved to Kennedy Heights.
- 1859 The local Montgomery Pike tollhouse in front of the
Drake homestead (now the location of the Frisch's restaurant) was
destroyed by fire. Because of an injunction, it was not rebuilt on
its original site, but was placed at the junction of Smith Road and
the Pike, where it stood until 1864 (possibly when the railroad came
through and the Montgomery Pike bridge was built).
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