Hartville Ohio

[Jim]

Hartville, Ohio

While more than 60 men are listed as Lake Township landowners in the 1820 Stark County Tax Duplicate, many of those landowners were wealthy men who simply invested in western land and actually lived back east in the more civilized states Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York.

Local tradition says that the name “Hartville” came from the combination of the names of two early settlers to the area: John Morehart and John Willis. (Ville is the “Pennsylvania Dutch” version of Willis.)

Morehart, who settled here around 1818, built a log hotel on the north side of the square in 1829, which became the Hartville Hotel and is now the Pantry Restaurant. The building is the oldest standing structure in Hartville. It as constructed primarily of logs cut down from forests surrounding Hartville. It is reputed to have been an important stop for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad before and during the Civil War.

 

Willis was a trader who became the first postmaster in Hartville in November 1837. Willis was also an early storeowner in Hartville.

 

Conrad Brumbaugh, came from Maryland in 1811 with his wife Catherine and settled down at a farm two miles north of Middlebranch. The land was located north of East Nimishillen Church Road and west of Middlebranch Rd. He hunted through the woods and swampland that is now Hartville with a tomahawk to forge a trail. On one of those hunting trips, he selected another home-site on the land where Quail Hollow State Park is currently located. Brumbaugh moved into his new home in 1820.

 

Jacob and Elizabeth Fouse of Hunington County, Pa., were also early Hartville residents, settling on the west side of Congress Lake in 1811. Their descendant, W.E. Fouse, became secretary of the General Tire Company of Akron.

 

Jacob’s younger brother, John, purchased 160 acres of land around Rt. 619 and King Church Road and moved there with his young wife Christina, in the fall of 1818.

 

Jacob and Mary Brown settled on a farm in 1818 neat the intersection of Rt. 43 and Smith-Kramer Road. Their farm was conveniently located on an Indian trail that passed through Hartville. This soon became a major through-fare from Hartville to points south. So in 1820, Brown built a log cabin tavern house named, “The Wild Boar.” The tavern became a popular stagecoach stop for changing horses and yet another legendary stop on the famous Underground Railroad.

 

The Browns had 10 children. Their daughter, Emma Brown, was one of the earliest teachers in the log school house built in the 1820’s on the southeast corner of Congress Lake on Randolph Road.

 

George Machamer, Sr. of Pennsylvania arrived in Hartville in 1821 riding in an oxcart. He purchased 80 acres in an area southwest of Hartville and began farming.

 

George Austin, who lived to be 106 years old, became Hartville’s mailman in December 1829. He made two deliveries a week on horseback and was paid $20 per month. Until the 1830’s, the post office was located in the general store.

 

Sawmills became important for early Hartville due to the great amount of barn and house building going on as more settlers moved into the area. One early resident, George Creighbaum, opened his sawmill in 1830 by Nimishillen Creek just south of Hartville and did a booming business.

 

John Houghton began Hartville’s first general store in 1830. An attorney, Houghton was elected Justice of the Peace in 1835, where he served for 18 years, earning him the nickname “Squire.” He also served as Hartville’s postmaster, being appointed to the position in 1840 and again in 1861.

 

S.S. Geib came to Stark County from Lancaster, Pa., in 1836 at the age of 9 with his parents. He worked as an apprentice carpenter for 15 years and taught school in Hartville after that for several years. Geib married the former Susanna Brown in 1848. Then in 1853, he became Justice of the Peace, succeeding John Houghton. Geib settled on a farm 1 ½ miles south of Hartville in 1863. Geib was admitted to the Stark County Bar in 1878 and went on to become treasurer of Stark County.

 

Geib had seven children with his first wife, Susanna, before she died in 1869. Then he married Catherine Wise and the couple had eight children.

 

Other prominent early businessmen in Hartville were: W.C. Lautner, general merchandise retailer; John E. Morter, blacksmith; P. Shollenberger, horse trader; D. Wearstler, tanner; George Machamer, general store and post office; Henry Grosenbaugh, merchant; Dr. L.E. Moulton, physician and surgeon; William Wagner, teacher; G.W. Morter, mechanic inventor of Morter & Berry’s improved adjustable plow; H. Goetz, carpenter shop; and Neidich, cabinet shop.

 

Although a settled community by 1830, Hartville was the last town in Lake Township to be officially laid out. The first eight lots, laid out by Joseph Shollenberger on April 1, 1852, were located on the southeast side of the Hartville town square and went south, They were officially recorded in Canton on April 1, 1852. Joseph Brown  and Joseph Sollenberger laid out a second set of 12 lots in Hartville on October 31, 1853. These lots were located on the southwest side of the town square and went south.

 

Hartville began to grow rapidly, however, when the Connotton Valley Railroad was built through Hartville in 1882. Construction of the railroad, however, was difficult particularly through the numerous swamps and marshes that still surrounded Hartville. Hundreds of logs were cut and burned for ballast for the tracks. And at least one mule team died when it got stuck in quicksand.

 

Crews of hard-working Italians and Irishmen worked for two years (1881-1881) to construct the narrow gauge railroad tracks. Because the crews were fairly isolated while working in Hartville, five saloons opened up to fill the worker’s demand for whiskey. And many Saturday night battles took place in the saloons and streets of Hartville.

 

[Jim]

The Hartville Banking Company, the village’s first financial institution, was forced to close during the depression. The bank had been started by a group of Cleveland financiers in November 1907. The bank was robbed in the fall of 1931 by two men, who were later arrested. Even though the two thieves were caught, the bank went into liquidation in March 1933.

[Jim]

Schoner Chevrolet began in 1932 when Mrs. Clay Wagner asked Earl Schoner to operate the Buick and Chevrolet dealership that her deceased husband had. Schoner agreed, and added an Oldsmobile dealership in 1948.

[Jim]

The Amish/Mennonite Influence in Hartville

 

The Amish arrived during the early 1900’s, while the Mennonites settled in the 1940’s.

[Jim]

Telephone service came to Hartville in 1910 when Tri-County Telephone Company of Uniontown, a subsidiary of the Central Union Telephone Company, extended its lines into Hartville. Telephone service was between 6 am and 9 pm, with all calls limited to five minutes. Ohio Bell Telephone Company purchased the Tri-County business in 1926, but operators still handled all calls until 1936 when Hartville’s telephone service was upgraded to a dial system.

[Jim]

Hartville’s first two auto dealerships both opened in 1911. The Hartville Motor Car Ciompany, a Chevrolet dealership, was started ny Clayton C. Schoner in a building on West Maple Street. The Service Motor Car Company, a Ford dealership, was started by Hiram Carpenter on East Maple Street right on the edge of the railroad tracks.

[Jim]

 A local body, however, headed by F. E. Schumacher soon took over the operation and reorganized it in 1910. Schumacher; Clayton C. Schoner, Isaac Brumbaugh made up the opriginal Hartville stockholders.

[Jim]

[Lawrence Wise]

Was F. E. Schumacher related to our Wm Schumacher and where might
Isaac Brumbaugh fit in?