Related posts:

1. June 17 Lincoln Highway Convention Goers

Related posts:

1. Admiral Byrd’s Snow Cruiser and the Lincoln Highway

No related posts.

1921 National Cash Register

The local hot spot in Dayton in the 1870’s was a saloon called The Pony House.  James Ritty, owner of the saloon, was tired of the dishonesty of his bartenders who were pocketing some of his profits and had an idea of a way to solve the problem.  In 1879 after many trials and errors, he was satisfied with his product and applied for a patent.  The result was  “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier” which became the prototype for the cash registers used  today.  In fact, the National Cash Register Company of Dayton bought the rights to the patent and became the largest manufacturer of cash registers in the world.

The Canal Commission Museum has a National Cash Register electric model made in 1921 and used locally by Lion Clothing, one of the oldest continuing businesses in Delphos.  It was donated by Ralph and Ruth Fetter, one-time owners of the store. The outside shell is made of oak and an oak-veneered metal and there are 4 drawers to accommodate 4 different sales clerks.   The cash register is located on the second floor as part of our General Store.  We also have later model cash registers used by the Delphos Herald and Stallkamp Drugs.

Published in the Delphos Herald May 12, 2012

No related posts.

By 1870, Delphos had been incorporated for 20 years and had a population of almost 2000 people.  The soldiers had returned home from the “War Between the States,” a new 3-story brick school building had been built on North Jefferson Street . and  the Bredeick-Lang house stood as a fine example of modern architecture.  Delphos was thriving.

At that same time, when most of the land around Delphos was still either forest or swamp, Dominick Gengler cleared some land ½ mile east of Landeck and built a large 2 story log house.  His son, Thomas E Gengler,  was born in that log house in 1883 and lived there for 7 years before the family built another home, this time a brick one. Thomas lived in the brick home most of his life, but he never forgot the log house of his earlier years; and many years later, he built a replica as he remembered it.  The roof opens on hinges to reveal the interior which includes some furniture he made of walnut, just like the original furniture.

The canal museum is fortunate to have this fine example of early architecture and invites you to stop in and see it as well as the reconstructed log cabin located on the second floor.  The museum is open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon. 

Printed in the Delphos Herald April 14, 2012

Related posts:

1. Ricker Brothers
2. The Weger Painting

In 1844, about the time Delphos was being settled, Samuel Morse’s famous message, “What hath God wrought” was being telegraphed from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles.  It was the official opening of the first telegraph line.  Within a few years, the line had grown to include Philadelphia and New York City and by 1865, the telegraph had over 83,000 miles of wire in the United States, making it the greatest means of communication up to that time.

In Delphos, the first telegraph office was in Helmkamp’s Meat Market at 326 N Main Street.  The meat market was established there in 1878, so Delphos was a little slow getting a telegraph line, maybe because the lines ran along railroad tracks and the canal was still Delphos’ main mode of transportation.

Telegrams cost a penny a word when they first came out, but were up to a nickel per word by World War II in the early 1940’s when many soldiers telegraphed home.

Western Union was located at 310 N Main Street in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and the Lima Telephone and Telegraph and the Postal Telegraph were in the telephone building on the southwest corner of 3^rd and Canal around the same time. 

The sight of a Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years.   Locally, Mike Grone recalls using his bicycle to deliver Western Union telegrams that came to the Pioneer Drug Store during the late 1960’s.  He noted that the worst telegrams were those informing families that their boys had been wounded in Viet Nam.  

Today there are no messenger boys and very few telegrams.  The era of the telegram is history.

The Canal Museum is open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon.  The final work on our elevator is in progress and we hope to be totally handicapped accessible by April.

Printed in the Delphos Herald March 10, 2012

Related posts:

1. That Horn

At the time Delphos came into existence, most families didn’t have money to spend on store-bought clothing and linens, but had to depend on their own expertise with a needle and some thread to make such items for their households. It was a very tedious and time-consuming chore.   But that all changed with the invention of the sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846. Right on his heels was Isaac Singer, who developed a sewing machine for home use; but it was a little-known third inventor, Allen Wilson, who fine-tuned it into the smooth-working machine such as we know today.  Wilson was an inventor, but he was no businessman, so he teamed up with Nathaniel Wheeler, and during the 1850’s and 1860’s, The Wheeler & Wilson Company was the most successful sewing machine producer in the world.  Theirs was the best sewing machine money could buy, but their glory did not last.

Although sewing-machine prices dropped after the Civil War, a machine was still a sizeable investment. Sometimes neighboring families pooled their money to share a machine.  To increase the market, Singer began making cheaper models and came up with the “hire-purchase plan”, which was the prototype for making installment payments. With this  plan, the Singer sewing machine was made available to just about anyone—even those with very limited incomes.  Also, by the late 1870′s all the patents had been extended and exhausted and Wheeler & Wilson production fell dramatically as competition from new manufacturers increased. In 1904 they were bought out by Singer.

The canal museum is very fortunate to have one of the first Wheeler and Wilson models made during that prosperous time. It is very unusual because the material feeds from left to right rather than front to back.  The machine pictured here was made around 1867 and donated by Arthur and Gayle Ladd.

Locally, an 1899 Delphos Herald had ads for sewing machines at  Mueller’s Emporium on South Main Street just before the railroad tracks, and  at H.B. Schwartzengraber & Company Hardware Store at 320 N. Main Street.  The 1931 City Directory lists sewing machines at F.J. Mersman’s, 529 N. Main and in 1957 John Wilson carried Necchi-Elna sewing machines at 318 N. Main.  It is not known if Wheeler & Wilson machines were ever sold in Delphos.

The museum has a very good sampling of different brands of sewing machines.  We are open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon.

Printed in the Delphos Herald February 11, 2012.

Related posts:

1. The Fluoroscope
2. That Horn
3. Delphos Brewery

Introduced in the 1930’s, the units grew in popularity until  by the 1950’s there were 10,000 such devices in shoe stores in the United States.  At the same time scientists began to voice concern about the potential hazards of radiation,  and by 1970 shoe x-ray machines had been banned in 33 states.

The unit at our museum was donated by Bob McNamee who was the manager of Charles Company Shoes, 229 North Main Street, which is now Delphos Sporting Goods.  Sorry, the inside workings have been removed, so it’s not as much fun to stick your feet in as it was then, but you’re welcome to visit the museum for a bit of childhood nostalgia.  The museum is open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon.

Printed in the Delphos Herald January 14, 2012

Related posts:

1. High-Button Shoes
2. The Perfection Stove

Captain John Ross

This year marks the 150^th Anniversary of the Civil War.  Probably the most well-known local persons associated with the war were the young drummer boy Avery Brown and Captain Rudolph Ruel who organized a company made up entirely of Delphos men.   But there are many more names listed in local history books and many more who are not listed at all.

Recently we came across a pencil drawing of a Civil War soldier labeled “self portrait of Capt. J Ross.”  Immediately, a question  came to mind.  “Was he from Delphos?”  Several sources failed to give us the answer, but we finally found a John W. Ross on Ron Kunz’ Delphos History web page under cemetery listings.  He was born in 1826 and died in 1880 so he was the right age.  There was also a GAR after his name which means he was in the Grand Army of the Republic, the official name of the Union Army during the Civil War.  We were pretty sure we had our man.

Further searching lead again to Kunz’ site under Bob Holdgreve’s  “Window to the Past.”   An 1877 Delphos Herald article told of a Mr. John W. Ross, a hydraulic engineer for the Delphos Iron Works, who held a patent for the “Delphos Turbine” water wheel  which runs on a horizontal shaft.  He had recently traveled to a paper mill in  Massachusetts to install what was probably the most powerful water wheel in America at that time.  Another article told of a German visitor who, after looking at many different  turbine water wheels around the country, was most  impressed with the Delphos Turbine and ordered several  to be shipped back to Germany.  Our talented artist was also a very good engineer.

Of course, that led to another question.  “Where was the Delphos Iron Works located?”  We found our answer by using the Sanford Fire Insurance Maps which are available online if you have a library card.  The earliest maps were dated 1884 and they showed the location on the corner of Water (now 4^th) and Franklin streets, site of the present  Franklin Elementary School .  A further search of the 1888 maps showed a vacant lot there.   Hmm, what happened to the company between 1884 and 1888? John Ross died in 1880, so was that a factor?  The original Franklin School was built in 1889, so was that a factor?  

The museum has a nice display of Civil War items located in the second floor Military section.  We are open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon. 

Printed in the Delphos Herald November 12, 2011

Related posts:

1. From Cleaning Horses to Cleaning Cars
2. From Mill to Milk
3. That Horn

For many years, most of the artifacts that were a part of the Delphos Historical Society Museum on the second floor of the Old Commercial Bank Building remained unseen, the only access  to them being from  a Third Street  door.   But all that has changed.  As part of our recent  expansion/renovation, we put a door between that building and ours,  installed a stairway,  and soon will have an elevator for those who cannot manage the stairs.  With the inclusion of the old museum and the newly opened second floor of our building, we have more than doubled our display area.  Judging from all the “oohs” and “aahs” during Canal Days, people like our new look.

One of the artifacts that has been marking time in the old museum is a very large oil painting, and according to Jim Weger, there is a most interesting story associated with it.

A young woman, Elizabeth Dietzel, lived in Baltimore, Maryland, and was being courted by two gentlemen, Frank Weber and Adam Deupert, both of whom had asked to marry her.  One rainy day, Elizabeth was in church praying about this very important decision she had to make.  As she was leaving the church, young Frank Weger was there with an umbrella in his hand.  She took this as a sign and chose to marry him.

Mr. Weger was a barrel-maker, also known as a cooper.  As the timber was depleted in the Baltimore area, he and Elizabeth moved west and settled in Delphos to raise their 7 boys and 3 girls.

When Frank died at the age of 70, the news reached relatives in Baltimore and also reached  Adam Deupert who had become very prosperous.  He began a correspondance with the widow Weger, and as things progressed, Mr. Deupert, who had been the unsuccessful suitor of Elizabeth those many years ago, ultimately became the successful suitor.  Since some of Elizabeth’s family were still living at home with her, she requested that Mr. Deupert provide a suitable place for them to live in Delphos.  He obliged by having a new house built and happily  took his new bride back to Baltimore.

Elizabeth was Jim’s grandmother and she died before he was born, but he believes the painting came from Mr. Deupert’s collection in Baltimore. It hung in his childhood home on Third Street and was donated to the museum by his mother, Mrs. Anthony (Lucille) Weger.

The museum is open every Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and every Thursday from nine to noon.  We are located on the west side of Main St. between 2^nd and 3^rd St. and right along the Miami-Erie Canal.  Come see our new look.

Printed in the Delphos Herald October 8, 2011

No related posts.