John W. Erwin
Four men deserve much of the credit for transforming HamiltonJohn W. Erwin, John C. Skinner, Henry S. Earhart and John S. Earhart helped shape infrastructure in city, county and region in mid 19th century.
John W. Erwin, John C. Skinner, Henry S. Earhart and John S. Earhart helped shape the City of Hamilton, surrounding Butler County and the region in the mid 19th century. These four men were responsible for much of the infrastructure that enabled Hamilton and Middletown to become part of the nation's industrial belt.
Their legacies include building roads, bridges, canals, railroads, hydraulic power systems, industries, a cemetery and turning a swamp into fertile farm land.
Erwin, Skinner and Henry S. Earhart deserve much of the credit for transforming Hamilton from a village into an industrial city that served national and international markets.
The Civil War shortened the career of John S. Earhart, Henry's son, but not before he made a significant contribution, a landmark structure that's still part of an important transportation system.
* * * * *
"No man perhaps was more prominently identified with the history of this city for over half a century than John W. Erwin," said the Hamilton Daily News in 1889. The rival Hamilton Democrat agreed, noting that Erwin's name "was synonymous with works of progress and advancement" in Hamilton.
John C. Skinner "assisted in laying the foundation of the mercantile and manufacturing industries of Hamilton," observed the Hamilton Democrat in reporting his death in 1889.
Henry S. Earhart -- a 60-year Hamilton resident -- is credited with envisioning the Hamilton Hydraulic and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, two 1840s projects that shaped the city's future and character. With John W. Erwin and John C. Skinner, he was part of a three-man team that developed much of the region's transportation systems.
John S. Earhart's legacy is a highly-visible one -- the stone arches which have carried the railroad over the low land and into the steep hill immediately west of the Great Miami River for more than 160 years.
* * * * *
John W. Erwin was instrumental in bringing the first railroad to Hamilton and establishing the paper industry in Hamilton and Middletown. Those accomplishments were in addition to his roles in building roads in Butler County, hydraulic systems in Hamilton and Middletown, creating Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton and maintaining the Miami-Erie Canal in the region.
He also converted a health hazard into productive farm land by reclaiming the Big Swamp in Fairfield and West Chester townships, south of Hamilton.
There's hardly a part of Butler County that didn't benefit from Erwin's varied career. Projects with which he was associated were completed about 150 to 175 years ago, and most ventures remain vital to the region's transportation system and economy.
Erwin was born Sept. 8, 1808, in New Castle County, Delaware. In 1828 he moved with his family to Richmond, Ind.
His career began there with five years as an assistant engineer on the National Road, helping to build the segment between the Ohio border and Indianapolis. Construction on the National Road (also called the Cumberland Road) had started in 1811 at Cumberland, Md. The road (later U. S. 40) reached Vandalia, Ill., in 1850.
Erwin didn't attend college. Instead, his work on the National Road provided his engineering education. He did whatever was required, "laboring in subordinate positions, wielding the ax or carrying the chain, as occasion demanded."
While working on the National Road, Erwin married Anna Eliza Chadwick of New Jersey May 12, 1833. They were the parents of five children who grew up in the family home on North Third Street in Hamilton.
* * * * *
In the winter of 1835-1836, Erwin came to Hamilton to work as a surveyor on the Hamilton, Rossville and Eaton Turnpike. In 1838, he was hired to locate and build the route for the Hamilton, Rossville, Darrtown, Oxford and Fairhaven Turnpike. He was paid $125 a month, including expenses, completing the 20-mile road within two years.
He participated in selecting the routes for several other roads, including the Venice and Scipio Turnpike. In these and other projects, Erwin often teamed with two Hamilton colleagues, John C. Skinner and Henry S. Earhart, in the engineering and construction work.
From 1837 to 1839, Erwin was the resident engineer on the portion of the Miami-Erie Canal that flowed through Hamilton. In 1842, he advanced to resident engineer for the entire canal between Toledo and Cincinnati, holding that post for nearly 40 years.
In 1839, he was hired by the state to supervise land reclamation in the Big Swamp in Fairfield and West Chester townships. He succeeded in converting the health hazard into productive farm land.
In the summer of 1840, Erwin surveyed and mapped the route for the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic. He also prepared cost estimates for the hydraulic, an improvement largely responsible for Hamilton becoming a major industrial city.
Erwin collaborated with John C. Skinner -- a frequent associate, a close friend and neighbor -- as engineers in building the Hamilton water-power system. Erwin also took part in building successful hydraulic canals in Middletown, Franklin and Troy in Ohio; Goshen, Elkhart and Bristol in Indiana; and Constantine, Mich.
The self-educated engineer built a paper mill and a flour mill along the Hamilton hydraulic, and two paper mills beside the Middletown hydraulic. When the Erwin brothers paper mill opened in 1852, it was the first in Middletown. Brothers Samuel and Edwin combined with John Erwin in the venture that eventually became part of the Sorg Paper Company.
* * * * *
Among John Erwin's many public service projects was Greenwood Cemetery. In 1847, Erwin took the lead in the movement to create a new cemetery in Hamilton. Erwin, John M. Millikin and Gov. William Bebb examined potential sites and recommended the Bigham property as the location for Greenwood Cemetery in March 1848.
The first burial in the cemetery was in October 1848 -- 168 years ago. Sadly, an Erwin daughter was among the first burials.
He was an original trustee and served Greenwood until shortly before his death, but most of his varied contributions were related to transportation and industrial development.
Erwin was also a pivotal figure in bringing the first railroad to Hamilton. He was one of the original incorporators of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. Other local investors in 1846 included Gov. William Bebb, Lewis D. Campbell, O. S. Campbell, Charles K. Smith, Samuel Snively, S. Wurmser, William Hunter, James McBride, E. R. Ruder, John Woods and Alex P. Miller.
Erwin joined Bebb, Woods and Lewis D. Campbell in donating 16 acres for a depot and other railroad buildings in Hamilton.
He participated in surveying the CH&D route between Cincinnati and Hamilton.
Except for some track relocation in Hamilton in the 1980s associated with the building of the High Street Underpass, the CH&D route remains as Erwin laid it out in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
The CH&D -- which opened in September 1851 -- was later acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Chessie System, and is now the CSX mainline between Cincinnati and Toledo.
Erwin, with assistance from Henry S. Earhart, also laid out a second CH&D line. This one extended from Hamilton northwest through Seven Mile, Collinsville, Somerville, Eaton and Richmond to connect with other companies that eventually provided rail service to Chicago.
It was built as the Eaton & Hamilton Railroad, headed by John Woods. Later, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail, Norfolk & Western and most recently the Norfolk Southern.
Because of his opposition to slavery, Erwin also ventured into journalism. He was editor of the Free Soil Banner, a local abolitionist newspaper, during the 1848 presidential election.
Erwin -- a lifelong student of astronomy, navigation and other sciences -- died April 17, 1889, at the age of 80. He is buried in Greenwood, the cemetery he helped to found and design. In reporting Erwin's death, the Hamilton Democrat said "there is scarcely a work of a public nature" in Hamilton "which does not bear the imprint of his brain tissue and handiwork upon it."
* * * * *
In many endeavors, John C. Skinner cooperated with John W. Erwin, who was his friend and neighbor on North Third Street for more than 40 years. Erwin, a founder and designer of Greenwood Cemetery, and Skinner, a cemetery trustee in the 1850s, died only two days apart. They are buried side by side in the cemetery they helped create.
With Henry S. Earhart and others, Skinner and Erwin transformed Hamilton into a manufacturing stronghold. Their efforts provided power for new factories and transportation systems to reach national and international markets
* * * * *
Skinner, the oldest of five children, was born Nov. 9, 1816, in Lebanon, Ohio. As a boy, he assisted his father, who was a weaver.
According to an obituary, Skinner paid his way through school by sweeping and taking care of the building, and eventually earned enough money to enroll in Hanover College in Madison, Ind. He remained at Hanover for three years, majoring in math and engineering. He supported himself by working in the print shop that published the Presbyterian Standard.
He left college to become an assistant engineer on the Whitewater Canal in Indiana, a job he held for about two years.
Skinner -- who was civil engineer for the town of Hamilton for three years -- laid out several turnpikes in the area, and assisted John W. Erwin in fixing the route for the Hamilton & Eaton Railroad.
He also assisted Erwin in planning the Hamilton Hydraulic in the 1840s. When Erwin withdrew as construction started, Skinner remained as engineer at a salary of $400 a year.
The hydraulic -- which borrowed water from the Great Miami River north of Hamilton and returned to the river at the west end of Market Street -- provided an inexpensive, reliable source of water power that enabled Hamilton to develop as an industrial center.
Skinner was treasurer of the Free Soil Jeffersonian Club, which in 1848 started the anti-slavery Free Soil Banner, an abolitionist newspaper. It was edited by his friend, Erwin.
Also in 1848, Skinner began 10 years in the grocery and hardware business while continuing his public service. He was a Butler County deputy sheriff for two years, starting in 1849, and at the same time a member of Hamilton City Council.
In 1861, he purchased a paper mill on the Hamilton Hydraulic. He operated the Skinner & Tweedale mill, built by John Erwin, until 1884.
May 3, 1842, Skinner married Jane H. Gregg. They were the parents of 10 children.
Skinner died April 19, 1889, the night before the funeral of his friend and frequent colleague, John W. Erwin.
* * * * *
Henry S. Earhart was born Feb. 17, 1800, east of Franklin, Ohio, in what later became Warren County. He moved to Butler County in 1822 when he and an uncle, John L. C. Schenck, established a store in Jacksonburg in Wayne Township.
March 10, 1823, he married Elizabeth Tapscott. They were parents of four sons and a daughter. The family moved to Hamilton in 1826.
Earhart became a volunteer fireman in 1828 and remained active in Hamilton fire companies for many years. His work was related to those duties. As a representative of the Protective Insurance Company of Cincinnati, he is regarded as Hamilton's first insurance agent.
He was one of the Hamilton trustees before a brief Hamilton and Rossville merger failed in 1831. Later, he was a Hamilton city council member (1854 to 1859) when a permanent merger became effective in 1855. He also served the city as an engineer.
In the 1840s, he was one of the original trustees of Greenwood Cemetery and assisted John W. Erwin in its planning and layout.
* * * * *
Earhart's major interest was civil engineering, a profession for which he had no formal training. It was in that role that he left his mark on the area. In the 1830s, he was involved in building turnpikes in the area, including the Hamilton, Rossville, Darrtown, Oxford and Fairhaven Turnpike (now Main Street and Ohio 177 northwest of Hamilton to the Indiana border).
The idea for the hydraulic came to Earhart while he searched for a lost cow north of Hamilton. As he walked, he noted that the countryside there was higher than the land in downtown Hamilton. He surmised that the dramatic fall in the river -- with some of its water diverted into a canal -- could provide power for mills and factories not yet built within the city.
The Republican-News -- in its July 18, 1902, edition -- described Earhart's revelation this way: "In July 1840, Henry S. Earhart took his gun for a possible shot at game which was very plentiful in those days and went up the river two or three miles in search of a lost cow. Lying down to rest under a sycamore tree, and while indulging in dreamy speculations, his attention was attracted by a boat horn. The packet [canal boat] was just passing on the canal and he noticed that it was considerably above him in point of land elevation. The idea instantly flashed upon his mind that the river could be utilized for power in Hamilton, and he immediately made a rough estimate of the proportionate height of the water in the canal and the river."
At Earhart's urging, the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic Company was formed. Water started flowing through the Hamilton hydraulic system in 1845. Earhart was treasurer of the company, a private venture, and involved in its construction.
Completion of the hydraulic -- with the water falling 29 feet over its course -- attracted industries looking for an affordable, reliable power source. It complemented cheap transportation provided by the Miami-Erie Canal that had been serving the city for about 17 years.
* * * * *
While still working out kinks in the new hydraulic, Earhart promoted the idea of a railroad to provide faster passenger and freight service to Hamilton. The railroad promised to become a link in a developing national transportation system.
Earhart broached his railroad plan to John Woods, who, in addition to contributing his political and financial leadership, also interested other local leaders in the project.
After the railroad was chartered and financed, Earhart initiated the original survey south from Hamilton toward Cincinnati. When the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad opened into Hamilton Sept. 19, 1851, Henry S. Earhart sold the first ticket. He remained as the CH&D's Hamilton agent for 25 years.
Henry S. Earhart -- who remained a Hamilton civic leader until slowed by poor health -- died Dec. 4, 1886, at age 86. He is buried in the cemetery he helped design and form.
* * * * *
John S. Earhart was born March 10, 1824, in Jacksonburg in northern Butler County, one of five children of Henry S. and Elizabeth Tapscott Earhart, who moved their family to Hamilton in 1826.
Following in his father's footsteps, John S. Earhart studied civil engineering at Ohio Farmer's College in College Hill (now a Cincinnati suburb), and assisted his father in several projects, including the building and maintenance of turnpikes, hydraulic canals and railroads.
The Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad -- the first to enter Hamilton (1851) -- was more than three years from completion when another rail line was planned, this one extending west from Hamilton.
The Junction Railroad was incorporated Feb. 15, 1848, by the Indiana legislature to connect Hamilton, Oxford, College Corner, Connersville, Rushville and Indianapolis. Similar action was taken March 8, 1849, by the Ohio General Assembly.
The Junction Railroad faced several obstacles, including rival railroads that planned to capture a portion of the promising Cincinnati-Indianapolis freight and passenger business.
The Junction's original plan was to approach Oxford via Darrtown, a more gradual grade than the route eventually chosen. The scheme was thwarted when a rival, the Four Mile Valley Railroad, gained the right-of-way through Darrtown. The Four Mile never materialized.
Major tasks included bridging the Great Miami River and climbing the steep Rossville hill (between present South C and South D streets).
Planners and investors realized that building the Junction Railroad directly west from Hamilton (elevation 601 feet) to Oxford (elevation about 1,000 feet) posed some engineering challenges. The upward grade from the CH&D depot in Hamilton for four miles west to the summit averaged 65 feet to the mile.
Earhart decided to overcome the Rossville incline by building a gradual approach from Hamilton on the east side of the river.
This would include (1) embankments on the east side of river, (2) a high bridge of about 700 feet in length over the Great Miami River, (3) a stone viaduct over the low area in Rossville and (4) cutting the railroad into the hillside below ground level for several hundred yards to a point near present Millville Avenue.
A key to Earhart's plan was the 665-foot, 17-arch viaduct through what is now Hamilton's West Side.
The coping and heading stones for the viaduct were purchased from Dayton quarries, but the bulk of the stone was taken from what then was the farm of C. K. Smith on then the Eaton Turnpike, near the mouth of Four Mile Creek.
Work on the 98-mile Junction Railroad began in September 1853 -- two years after the CH&D started operations into Hamilton. Thanks to Earhart's engineering skill and the financial and political leadership of John Woods, the new president of the railroad, the Junction opened to Oxford June 4, 1859. The railroad reached the Ohio-Indiana line at College Corner in November 1859.
Earhart's 17 stone arches -- 158 years later -- carry CSX freight and Amtrak passenger trains above South B and South C streets.
* * * * *
When the Civil War started in April 1861, Earhart was chief engineer on the middle section of the Miami-Erie Canal connecting Cincinnati on the Ohio River and Toledo on Lake Erie, via Hamilton and Middletown.
He left that job to take command of Company C of the 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, known as "the Butler Boys" because of the predominance of men from the county.
In the spring of 1863, Earhart was appointed a topographical engineer, service that appropriately capitalized on his civilian training and experience.
Earhart became ill while serving at Camp Thomas, near Winchester, Tenn. He died Aug. 10, 1863, at age 39. The designer of the enduring railroad arches is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton.
John W. Erwin, John C. Skinner, Henry S. Earhart and John S. Earhart helped shape the City of Hamilton, surrounding Butler County and the region in the mid 19th century. These four men were responsible for much of the infrastructure that enabled Hamilton and Middletown to become part of the nation's industrial belt.
Their legacies include building roads, bridges, canals, railroads, hydraulic power systems, industries, a cemetery and turning a swamp into fertile farm land.
Erwin, Skinner and Henry S. Earhart deserve much of the credit for transforming Hamilton from a village into an industrial city that served national and international markets.
The Civil War shortened the career of John S. Earhart, Henry's son, but not before he made a significant contribution, a landmark structure that's still part of an important transportation system.
* * * * *
"No man perhaps was more prominently identified with the history of this city for over half a century than John W. Erwin," said the Hamilton Daily News in 1889. The rival Hamilton Democrat agreed, noting that Erwin's name "was synonymous with works of progress and advancement" in Hamilton.
John C. Skinner "assisted in laying the foundation of the mercantile and manufacturing industries of Hamilton," observed the Hamilton Democrat in reporting his death in 1889.
Henry S. Earhart -- a 60-year Hamilton resident -- is credited with envisioning the Hamilton Hydraulic and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, two 1840s projects that shaped the city's future and character. With John W. Erwin and John C. Skinner, he was part of a three-man team that developed much of the region's transportation systems.
John S. Earhart's legacy is a highly-visible one -- the stone arches which have carried the railroad over the low land and into the steep hill immediately west of the Great Miami River for more than 160 years.
* * * * *
John W. Erwin was instrumental in bringing the first railroad to Hamilton and establishing the paper industry in Hamilton and Middletown. Those accomplishments were in addition to his roles in building roads in Butler County, hydraulic systems in Hamilton and Middletown, creating Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton and maintaining the Miami-Erie Canal in the region.
He also converted a health hazard into productive farm land by reclaiming the Big Swamp in Fairfield and West Chester townships, south of Hamilton.
There's hardly a part of Butler County that didn't benefit from Erwin's varied career. Projects with which he was associated were completed about 150 to 175 years ago, and most ventures remain vital to the region's transportation system and economy.
Erwin was born Sept. 8, 1808, in New Castle County, Delaware. In 1828 he moved with his family to Richmond, Ind.
His career began there with five years as an assistant engineer on the National Road, helping to build the segment between the Ohio border and Indianapolis. Construction on the National Road (also called the Cumberland Road) had started in 1811 at Cumberland, Md. The road (later U. S. 40) reached Vandalia, Ill., in 1850.
Erwin didn't attend college. Instead, his work on the National Road provided his engineering education. He did whatever was required, "laboring in subordinate positions, wielding the ax or carrying the chain, as occasion demanded."
While working on the National Road, Erwin married Anna Eliza Chadwick of New Jersey May 12, 1833. They were the parents of five children who grew up in the family home on North Third Street in Hamilton.
* * * * *
In the winter of 1835-1836, Erwin came to Hamilton to work as a surveyor on the Hamilton, Rossville and Eaton Turnpike. In 1838, he was hired to locate and build the route for the Hamilton, Rossville, Darrtown, Oxford and Fairhaven Turnpike. He was paid $125 a month, including expenses, completing the 20-mile road within two years.
He participated in selecting the routes for several other roads, including the Venice and Scipio Turnpike. In these and other projects, Erwin often teamed with two Hamilton colleagues, John C. Skinner and Henry S. Earhart, in the engineering and construction work.
From 1837 to 1839, Erwin was the resident engineer on the portion of the Miami-Erie Canal that flowed through Hamilton. In 1842, he advanced to resident engineer for the entire canal between Toledo and Cincinnati, holding that post for nearly 40 years.
In 1839, he was hired by the state to supervise land reclamation in the Big Swamp in Fairfield and West Chester townships. He succeeded in converting the health hazard into productive farm land.
In the summer of 1840, Erwin surveyed and mapped the route for the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic. He also prepared cost estimates for the hydraulic, an improvement largely responsible for Hamilton becoming a major industrial city.
Erwin collaborated with John C. Skinner -- a frequent associate, a close friend and neighbor -- as engineers in building the Hamilton water-power system. Erwin also took part in building successful hydraulic canals in Middletown, Franklin and Troy in Ohio; Goshen, Elkhart and Bristol in Indiana; and Constantine, Mich.
The self-educated engineer built a paper mill and a flour mill along the Hamilton hydraulic, and two paper mills beside the Middletown hydraulic. When the Erwin brothers paper mill opened in 1852, it was the first in Middletown. Brothers Samuel and Edwin combined with John Erwin in the venture that eventually became part of the Sorg Paper Company.
* * * * *
Among John Erwin's many public service projects was Greenwood Cemetery. In 1847, Erwin took the lead in the movement to create a new cemetery in Hamilton. Erwin, John M. Millikin and Gov. William Bebb examined potential sites and recommended the Bigham property as the location for Greenwood Cemetery in March 1848.
The first burial in the cemetery was in October 1848 -- 168 years ago. Sadly, an Erwin daughter was among the first burials.
He was an original trustee and served Greenwood until shortly before his death, but most of his varied contributions were related to transportation and industrial development.
Erwin was also a pivotal figure in bringing the first railroad to Hamilton. He was one of the original incorporators of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. Other local investors in 1846 included Gov. William Bebb, Lewis D. Campbell, O. S. Campbell, Charles K. Smith, Samuel Snively, S. Wurmser, William Hunter, James McBride, E. R. Ruder, John Woods and Alex P. Miller.
Erwin joined Bebb, Woods and Lewis D. Campbell in donating 16 acres for a depot and other railroad buildings in Hamilton.
He participated in surveying the CH&D route between Cincinnati and Hamilton.
Except for some track relocation in Hamilton in the 1980s associated with the building of the High Street Underpass, the CH&D route remains as Erwin laid it out in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
The CH&D -- which opened in September 1851 -- was later acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Chessie System, and is now the CSX mainline between Cincinnati and Toledo.
Erwin, with assistance from Henry S. Earhart, also laid out a second CH&D line. This one extended from Hamilton northwest through Seven Mile, Collinsville, Somerville, Eaton and Richmond to connect with other companies that eventually provided rail service to Chicago.
It was built as the Eaton & Hamilton Railroad, headed by John Woods. Later, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail, Norfolk & Western and most recently the Norfolk Southern.
Because of his opposition to slavery, Erwin also ventured into journalism. He was editor of the Free Soil Banner, a local abolitionist newspaper, during the 1848 presidential election.
Erwin -- a lifelong student of astronomy, navigation and other sciences -- died April 17, 1889, at the age of 80. He is buried in Greenwood, the cemetery he helped to found and design. In reporting Erwin's death, the Hamilton Democrat said "there is scarcely a work of a public nature" in Hamilton "which does not bear the imprint of his brain tissue and handiwork upon it."
* * * * *
In many endeavors, John C. Skinner cooperated with John W. Erwin, who was his friend and neighbor on North Third Street for more than 40 years. Erwin, a founder and designer of Greenwood Cemetery, and Skinner, a cemetery trustee in the 1850s, died only two days apart. They are buried side by side in the cemetery they helped create.
With Henry S. Earhart and others, Skinner and Erwin transformed Hamilton into a manufacturing stronghold. Their efforts provided power for new factories and transportation systems to reach national and international markets
* * * * *
Skinner, the oldest of five children, was born Nov. 9, 1816, in Lebanon, Ohio. As a boy, he assisted his father, who was a weaver.
According to an obituary, Skinner paid his way through school by sweeping and taking care of the building, and eventually earned enough money to enroll in Hanover College in Madison, Ind. He remained at Hanover for three years, majoring in math and engineering. He supported himself by working in the print shop that published the Presbyterian Standard.
He left college to become an assistant engineer on the Whitewater Canal in Indiana, a job he held for about two years.
Skinner -- who was civil engineer for the town of Hamilton for three years -- laid out several turnpikes in the area, and assisted John W. Erwin in fixing the route for the Hamilton & Eaton Railroad.
He also assisted Erwin in planning the Hamilton Hydraulic in the 1840s. When Erwin withdrew as construction started, Skinner remained as engineer at a salary of $400 a year.
The hydraulic -- which borrowed water from the Great Miami River north of Hamilton and returned to the river at the west end of Market Street -- provided an inexpensive, reliable source of water power that enabled Hamilton to develop as an industrial center.
Skinner was treasurer of the Free Soil Jeffersonian Club, which in 1848 started the anti-slavery Free Soil Banner, an abolitionist newspaper. It was edited by his friend, Erwin.
Also in 1848, Skinner began 10 years in the grocery and hardware business while continuing his public service. He was a Butler County deputy sheriff for two years, starting in 1849, and at the same time a member of Hamilton City Council.
In 1861, he purchased a paper mill on the Hamilton Hydraulic. He operated the Skinner & Tweedale mill, built by John Erwin, until 1884.
May 3, 1842, Skinner married Jane H. Gregg. They were the parents of 10 children.
Skinner died April 19, 1889, the night before the funeral of his friend and frequent colleague, John W. Erwin.
* * * * *
Henry S. Earhart was born Feb. 17, 1800, east of Franklin, Ohio, in what later became Warren County. He moved to Butler County in 1822 when he and an uncle, John L. C. Schenck, established a store in Jacksonburg in Wayne Township.
March 10, 1823, he married Elizabeth Tapscott. They were parents of four sons and a daughter. The family moved to Hamilton in 1826.
Earhart became a volunteer fireman in 1828 and remained active in Hamilton fire companies for many years. His work was related to those duties. As a representative of the Protective Insurance Company of Cincinnati, he is regarded as Hamilton's first insurance agent.
He was one of the Hamilton trustees before a brief Hamilton and Rossville merger failed in 1831. Later, he was a Hamilton city council member (1854 to 1859) when a permanent merger became effective in 1855. He also served the city as an engineer.
In the 1840s, he was one of the original trustees of Greenwood Cemetery and assisted John W. Erwin in its planning and layout.
* * * * *
Earhart's major interest was civil engineering, a profession for which he had no formal training. It was in that role that he left his mark on the area. In the 1830s, he was involved in building turnpikes in the area, including the Hamilton, Rossville, Darrtown, Oxford and Fairhaven Turnpike (now Main Street and Ohio 177 northwest of Hamilton to the Indiana border).
The idea for the hydraulic came to Earhart while he searched for a lost cow north of Hamilton. As he walked, he noted that the countryside there was higher than the land in downtown Hamilton. He surmised that the dramatic fall in the river -- with some of its water diverted into a canal -- could provide power for mills and factories not yet built within the city.
The Republican-News -- in its July 18, 1902, edition -- described Earhart's revelation this way: "In July 1840, Henry S. Earhart took his gun for a possible shot at game which was very plentiful in those days and went up the river two or three miles in search of a lost cow. Lying down to rest under a sycamore tree, and while indulging in dreamy speculations, his attention was attracted by a boat horn. The packet [canal boat] was just passing on the canal and he noticed that it was considerably above him in point of land elevation. The idea instantly flashed upon his mind that the river could be utilized for power in Hamilton, and he immediately made a rough estimate of the proportionate height of the water in the canal and the river."
At Earhart's urging, the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic Company was formed. Water started flowing through the Hamilton hydraulic system in 1845. Earhart was treasurer of the company, a private venture, and involved in its construction.
Completion of the hydraulic -- with the water falling 29 feet over its course -- attracted industries looking for an affordable, reliable power source. It complemented cheap transportation provided by the Miami-Erie Canal that had been serving the city for about 17 years.
* * * * *
While still working out kinks in the new hydraulic, Earhart promoted the idea of a railroad to provide faster passenger and freight service to Hamilton. The railroad promised to become a link in a developing national transportation system.
Earhart broached his railroad plan to John Woods, who, in addition to contributing his political and financial leadership, also interested other local leaders in the project.
After the railroad was chartered and financed, Earhart initiated the original survey south from Hamilton toward Cincinnati. When the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad opened into Hamilton Sept. 19, 1851, Henry S. Earhart sold the first ticket. He remained as the CH&D's Hamilton agent for 25 years.
Henry S. Earhart -- who remained a Hamilton civic leader until slowed by poor health -- died Dec. 4, 1886, at age 86. He is buried in the cemetery he helped design and form.
* * * * *
John S. Earhart was born March 10, 1824, in Jacksonburg in northern Butler County, one of five children of Henry S. and Elizabeth Tapscott Earhart, who moved their family to Hamilton in 1826.
Following in his father's footsteps, John S. Earhart studied civil engineering at Ohio Farmer's College in College Hill (now a Cincinnati suburb), and assisted his father in several projects, including the building and maintenance of turnpikes, hydraulic canals and railroads.
The Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad -- the first to enter Hamilton (1851) -- was more than three years from completion when another rail line was planned, this one extending west from Hamilton.
The Junction Railroad was incorporated Feb. 15, 1848, by the Indiana legislature to connect Hamilton, Oxford, College Corner, Connersville, Rushville and Indianapolis. Similar action was taken March 8, 1849, by the Ohio General Assembly.
The Junction Railroad faced several obstacles, including rival railroads that planned to capture a portion of the promising Cincinnati-Indianapolis freight and passenger business.
The Junction's original plan was to approach Oxford via Darrtown, a more gradual grade than the route eventually chosen. The scheme was thwarted when a rival, the Four Mile Valley Railroad, gained the right-of-way through Darrtown. The Four Mile never materialized.
Major tasks included bridging the Great Miami River and climbing the steep Rossville hill (between present South C and South D streets).
Planners and investors realized that building the Junction Railroad directly west from Hamilton (elevation 601 feet) to Oxford (elevation about 1,000 feet) posed some engineering challenges. The upward grade from the CH&D depot in Hamilton for four miles west to the summit averaged 65 feet to the mile.
Earhart decided to overcome the Rossville incline by building a gradual approach from Hamilton on the east side of the river.
This would include (1) embankments on the east side of river, (2) a high bridge of about 700 feet in length over the Great Miami River, (3) a stone viaduct over the low area in Rossville and (4) cutting the railroad into the hillside below ground level for several hundred yards to a point near present Millville Avenue.
A key to Earhart's plan was the 665-foot, 17-arch viaduct through what is now Hamilton's West Side.
The coping and heading stones for the viaduct were purchased from Dayton quarries, but the bulk of the stone was taken from what then was the farm of C. K. Smith on then the Eaton Turnpike, near the mouth of Four Mile Creek.
Work on the 98-mile Junction Railroad began in September 1853 -- two years after the CH&D started operations into Hamilton. Thanks to Earhart's engineering skill and the financial and political leadership of John Woods, the new president of the railroad, the Junction opened to Oxford June 4, 1859. The railroad reached the Ohio-Indiana line at College Corner in November 1859.
Earhart's 17 stone arches -- 158 years later -- carry CSX freight and Amtrak passenger trains above South B and South C streets.
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When the Civil War started in April 1861, Earhart was chief engineer on the middle section of the Miami-Erie Canal connecting Cincinnati on the Ohio River and Toledo on Lake Erie, via Hamilton and Middletown.
He left that job to take command of Company C of the 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, known as "the Butler Boys" because of the predominance of men from the county.
In the spring of 1863, Earhart was appointed a topographical engineer, service that appropriately capitalized on his civilian training and experience.
Earhart became ill while serving at Camp Thomas, near Winchester, Tenn. He died Aug. 10, 1863, at age 39. The designer of the enduring railroad arches is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton.
