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Salmon Portland Chase, a renowned lawyer and statesman, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 13, 1808. He came to Ohio in 1820 and attended Cincinnati College (1822-23). Chase returned to New Hampshire and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826. He studied law under U.S. Attorney General William Wirt in Washington D.C. and was admitted to the bar in December 1829. He then moved back to Cincinnati and in September 1830 established his law office and residence on the first floor of a brick building that stood at the northeast corner of 3rd and Main Streets. Chase gained national recognition as an anti-slavery attorney and politician and by aiding in the organization of the Liberty, Free-Soil, and Republican parties. He served as a Cincinnati city councilman (1840-41), U.S. senator from Ohio (1849-55), and was the first Republican governor of Ohio (1856-60). (continued on other side)
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Founded by Saint Elizabeth Bayley Seton in Maryland in 1809, the Sisters of Charity arrived in Cincinnati in 1829 to open a school and an orphanage, becoming the first permanent establishment of Catholic sisters in Ohio. In 1852 the group separated from its Maryland roots to form a diocesan community and called themselves the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. The sisters later served as nurses in the Civil War as well as operated and staffed a number of Catholic elementary and secondary schools. As membership grew, their ministries and educational, health care, and social service institutions expanded in Cincinnati and elsewhere, including out of state. They include the Good Samaritan Hospital, College of Mount St. Joseph, St. Joseph Infant and Maternity Home, Santa Maria Social Service Agency, and Seton High School in Cincinnati and Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. Mount St. Joseph has served as the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity since 1884.
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In 1866, Gaines High School (grades 7-12), one of the first high schools for African Americans in Ohio, opened just west of this site in the same building as the Western District Elementary School, completed in 1859 and enlarged in 1866 and 1868. The school was named for John I. Gaines, whose leadership was responsible for securing passage of the Ohio law authorizing public schools for African Americans. Gaines was clerk and chief administrator of the African American school board when he died in 1859 at age 38. Gaines High School’s Normal Department trained almost all of the African American teachers for southwest Ohio; schools in other states hired many of the students before they had even completed their studies. From 1866-1886, Gaines High School and its principal Peter H. Clark were nationally recognized for their excellence.
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Three hundred yards east of this location on Oak Road, overlooking the Miami & Erie Canal, was the house of abolitionist John Van Zandt (1791-1847). For years this house was known as one of the most active “stations” on the Underground Railroad. In 1842, two bounty hunters from Sharonville caught Van Zandt helping eight runaway slaves who had escaped from owner Wharton Jones of Kentucky. Defended in court by Salmon P. Chase, who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1864-1873, Van Zandt was convicted and fined. Chase appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he tested the constitutionality of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law. When writing her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe used Van Zandt as the abolitionist character John Van Trompe. Van Zandt’s house became associated with the book and was known as “The Eliza House,” named for one of the novel’s main characters.
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This spring fed watering trough was erected by Giles Richards (1792-1876) in 1867 and has provided water to travelers and livestock ever since. Richards owned and operated a number of enterprises in Colerain Township starting in the early 1800s. Upon the marble slab just above the iron trough is engraved: Stranger and traveler Drink freely and bestow A kindly thought on him Who bade this fountain flow Yet hath no other claim Than as the minister Of blessings in God’s name Drink and in peace go
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Population growth in the newly settled communities of Cincinnati (1788) and Hamilton (1791) led to a call to improve the early Native American and military foot trail that connected the two settlements. The Cincinnati and Hamilton Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1817 to construct a turnpike between the two communities. With a capital-stock value of $100,000, the company set about to markedly reduce the thirty mile trip to two days travel time. From this turnpike emerged a tollgate at this site to collect tolls to pay for maintenance of the road. Blacksmith shops to tend to vehicle and horse needs and several inns to house weary travelers were also established at this site. One inn, “The Century Inn,” established in 1806, continues to operate as one of Ohio’s oldest.
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The first in a succession of schools that eventually gave College Hill its name was CARY’S ACADEMY FOR BOYS. Freeman Cary opened this school in his home on Hamilton Avenue in 1832. Success necessitated larger quarters and in 1833 PLEASANT HILL ACADEMY was built at the corner of Hamilton and Colerain (now Belmont) Avenues. Continuing growth and a distinguished faculty led to formation of a college. Money was raised by selling shares, mostly bought by local farmers. FARMERS COLLEGE OF HAMILTON COUNTY was chartered on February 23, 1846 and Cary Hall was built on this Belmont Avenue site in 1847. Future President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, attended the college from 1848 to 1850. During the 1860s Cary Hall served as a station on the Underground Railroad. (Continued on other side)
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In 1801, the Springdale Presbyterian Church acquired these two and a half acres to construct a church and cemetery. Although the church moved to a new location in 1833, the cemetery remained and continued to receive regular internments until the mid 1950s. Because of a continued decline in church membership, the Presbyterian Church was eventually unable to care for the cemetery. The church felt it was in the best interest of the community to turn ownership over to the City of Springdale. In 1987, the city received ownership of the cemetery and immediately began a maintenance and restoration project. Many forgotten graves were uncovered and broken gravestones were restored and reset. The cemetery contains seven hundred and thirty nine graves and is the final resting place for nine Revolutionary War veterans, thirteen veterans of the Civil War, and one each from the War of 1812 and World War I.
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