THE CINCINNATI NORTHERN.

In 1900 this road, which had been in process of construction for ten years, was finally completed to Jackson. It runs directly south from Jackson to Hudson, in this state, thence by a direct line to the city of Cincinnati, on the Ohio river. It is an important line and is doing an increasing busines. It connects at Cincinnati with the Chesepeake & Ohio system, making a direct line to Washington, Richmond and Newport News on the Atlantic ocean. In the not distant future it will be one of the most important roads in the country.

That much of the prosperity of Jackson has been brought about by the securing of these railroad connections goes without saying. As a railroad center no other city in

the state can excel it and few are its equals. It has direct connections with all the leading cities and points of the country. There are seventy or more passenger trains leaving the Union Depot daily, and over one hundred freight trains. Factories line its tracks and spurs and find ease and dispatch in shipping their products. In addition the extensive. repair shops and car plants cover hundreds of acres and employ upwards of two thousand workmen. The railroad works and employes make a city by themselves, and are constantly increasing, and the future promises still greater developments. So long as this interest continues to develop the city is certain of increased development. It is in this one direction that our capitalists have shown most wisdom and sagacity and reaped the largest profits.

It is not pleasant to write the history of the failures, especially when they embrace many things that reflect upon the enterprise and public spirit of the public. But we must, as truthful historians, trace their rise and decadence, and write the epitaphs of projects that affect the growth and the honor of our people. Conspicuous among them was the

JACKSON COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

This society was first organized in 1841. The society did not prosper and we believe never held a fair. The country was too new and public interest centered too much

in other and more profitable directions. It was revived in 1853 and the first fair was held in October, of that year. The display of cattle, hogs, horses and sheep was made on the public square, while the court house was utilized for exhibiting grain, vegetables and floral and fancy exhibitions. It was a crude affair, but it was a beginning. After this beginning fairs were held regularly down to 1880. In 1855 it was voted to purchase the fair ground at the north end of Jackson street, and it was purchased of John T. Durand for one thousand five hundred dollars. During the summer it was fenced and some buildings erected. E. J.

Connable, C. V. DeLand and J. E. Bribe raised one thousand two hundred dollars by subscription for buildings and improvements. The fair of 1856, on the new grounds, was a great success. The receipts amounted to three thousand four hundred dollars and the society cleared about nine hundred dollars. The fairs continued successful for several years, until 1874, when the state fair was held in Jackson. This necessitated the enlargement of the grounds, the erection of new buildings, etc. The city of Jackson advanced two thousand five hundred dollars, and the county some twelve thousand dollars for these purposes, taking liens on the grounds and property. The state fair was held here three years and then the county fairs were suspended. When the state association moved, the county organization found they had a "white elephant" on their hands. The next fall the big state buildings were almost vacant, the attendance was small and the receipts were meager. The people began to realize that the state fair had killed the local organization. It had left the county society about twenty thousand dollars in debt and the local managers were discouraged and disheartened. No fairs were held until 1890, when a few enterprising citizens determined to reorganize the society. John C. Sharp was chosen president, C. V. DeLand, secretary, A. M. Tinker, treasurer, and J. G. W. Dean, of Hanover, B. F. King, of Parma, Mark L. Ray, of Concord, A. H. Delamater, of Columbia, W. H. Adams, of Tompkins, A. L. Parsons, of Grass Lake, M. Meyers, of Levin, and M. Harmon and J. H. Boardman, of Jackson, directors. Energetic efforts were put forth, and three fairs held, but they were not successful financially and

the society was bankrupt and dissolved, the county closing out its property for the indebtedness.

This ended the life and usefulness of the Jackson County Agricultural Society. Several times there has been talk of reviving it, but it was too dead to come to life and hence we stand today the fourth county in population, wealth and agricultural resources and products in the state, too poor and too indolent to compete with sister and neighboring counties in holding an annual farmers' jubilee. We do not hesitate to say it is a shame to the people of both city and county, and will continue so until they repent of their selfishness and reform their shiftlessness in this respect.

"AND THERE ARE OTHERS."

Among the other institutions that have. flourished and died, and which we shall not attempt to write up in detail are the Jackson Horse Breeders' Association, the Jackson Horticultural Society, the Cattle Breeders' Association and several sheep breeders' associations and the Grange and Patrons of Industry. At present there are a number of farmers' clubs and four granges in the county, that represent the energy and engage the attention of the agricultural population.

We might fill dozens of pages with the obituaries of societies and associations which have "been born to die" in the city, such as young men's associations, musical organizations, lecture associations and the like. But public opinion is ever changeable, and social organizations take constantly new forms. There are many such in the city now, a few of the most important of which we shall try to mention on other pages. As the city grows the tendency to group into sets and

classes increases and there is little chance of success of any large general organization. As those of the past have dissolved and gone, so will most of those of the present be obsolete, out of date and dead. To cumber

history with them will serve no good purpose, for the most of them, if mentioned, would only provoke the inquiry

"Since I am so early done for
I wonder what I was begun for."

MASONRY IN JACKSON COUNTY.

The history of Jackson county would not be complete unless it was accompanied by an account of the birth and growth of an institution that is as closely interwoven with the progress of the past and present of society as its educational or religious institutions. Dating as far back as the oldest, it has left its mark on the history of every people and state that has made a history that has survived to the present time. While it does not claim to be a system of education or a religion, it embraces within its scope what is worthy in both. As an educator it teaches what is practical in our common life and in religion, without sectarianism, it embodies the morale of all Christianity, and it has practiced its rites at nearly all points in Jackson county where are now found, in lieu of the forests of years ago, the clustering habitations of men.

The early history of Masonry in this county is of necessity somewhat obscure, the primal actors having, it is believed, all passed away. From what we have been able to gather (and at the outset we find that statements conflict), the first lodge was or

ganized in the village of Brooklyn in the summer of 1838, and worked under a dispensation issued by the grand master of the state of New York, under the name of St. John's Lodge, their place of meeting being in a chamber over Tiffany's store. The following were the officers: William Jones, worshipful master; Mason W. Southworth, senior warden: Abram S. Bolton, junior warden. Among its founders were George Stranahan, Samuel Selden, William S. Brown, Ebenezer Farnham, James Ganson and Elijah Spenser. The first work done in the lodge, and consequently in the county, was the initiation of James A. Dyer, and with him Wright Chittock, father of Dr. Chittock, of Jackson.

After operating for a few years in Brooklyn, the lodge was moved to the new stone tavern at Napoleon, built by Colonel Bolton, where it remained until about 1843 or 1844, when A. P. Cook erected his store in Brooklyn, and rooms for the accommodation of the Masons were obtained in its second story. The order continued its workings here until 1845, when the grand lodge of Michigan granted a charter to St. John's Lodge No. 3, in Jackson village, and soon after the

son.

The charter was dated June 5, 1845. St. John's Lodge No. 3 began active operations in their hall in the old Merriman block, north side of Main street. In the summer of 1847, by vote of the members, the charter and property was surrendered to the grand lodge.

In this lodge were made many of the Masons who have since figured prominently in the order in this county, but in the then mixed condition of society it was impossible to guard against the discordant elements where dissatisfactions finally resulted in the dissolution of the lodge. After a few weeks' quiet a number of the fraternity, whose successful policy had secured the surrender of the original charter, petitioned for and obtained of acting Grand Master E. Smith Lee a dispensation for a new lodge, with Paul B. Ring as master, Czar Jones as senior warden, and William N. Choate as junior warden. At the session of the grand lodge, January 4, 1848, a charter was granted to this organization under the title of Jackson Lodge No. 17. Meanwhile those who had been unexpectedly disconnected with the order by the surrender of the charter as stated, were not idle, and in 1849 they obtained a dispensation for a lodge, of which Dr. Moses A. McNaughton was named master, but the existence of this organization. was of brief duration, as it failed to obtain a charter from the grand lodge. Jackson Lodge No. 17 has at present the following board of officers, viz.: A. E. Huntley, worshipful master; Alfred Daines, senior warden; F. A. Traynor, junior warden; A. H. Traver, treasurer; Frank H. Newkirk, secretary. The present membership is two

CONCORD LODGE NO. 30.

In 1848 Grand Master E. Smith Lee issued on petition of the following master Masons, Reed B. Loomis, Edwin Perry, William S. Collins, Moses Benedict, Henry Cross, Warner J. Hodge, William O. Cross and Charles Cross, a dispensation for a new lodge, to be located in the village of Concord, and named Reed B. Loomis as worshipful master; Edwin Perry, senior warden, and William S. Collins, junior warden. At the next annual communication of the grand lodge, January 10, 1849, a charter was issued to Concord Lodge No. 30, since which time it has made a glorious Masonic record, having added to its members over four hundred, with a present active membership of one hundred and twenty-five. In the winter of 1878 this lodge lost by fire its furniture, charter, and nearly all its records, but it soon recovered and is now more prosperous than ever. Its sessions are held Tuesday on or before the full moon of each month.

MICHIGAN LODGE NO. 50, JACKSON.

From January, 1849, when Concord Lodge was chartered, until January, 1852, that and Jackson Lodge were the only sources of Masonic light in the county, except the short term of St. John's Lodge, U. D. At that date, inspired by love of the order and desire for its increase, Fidus Livermore, Michael Shoemaker, James C. Wood, Leander Chapman, Dr. Ira C. Backus, Frederic M. Foster, Jerome B. Eaton, Henry Foster, Henry O. Bronson, and Reu

ben S. Cheney applied directly to the grand lodge for a charter, which was granted January 15, 1852, and the first meeting, when the lodge was instituted and the officers installed, was held at the hall of Lodge No. 17, in the village of Jackson, February 3, 1852. During the spring and early summer of 1852 this lodge held its meetings in the rooms of No. 17, but this continued only until they had furnished a lodge-room of their own. In 1853, with the other Masonic bodies of Jackson, they removed to a new hall on the corner of Main and Jackson streets. In 1870 they took up their quarters in the Keystone block, at the intersection of Mill and Liberty streets. The accretion of members made their hall too small, for convenience, and in December, 1877, all the Masonic bodies established themselves in a commodious suite of rooms in the Bennett block, on the southwest corner of Main and Jackson streets. Since the organization of the lodge in 1852, it has had fifteen successful masters, about three hundred initiations, with more than that number raised and admitted by demit. The nights of meetings are the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

EXCELSIOR LODGE NO. 117, GRASS LAKE.

Excelsior Lodge dates its origin from a dispensation granted by Grand Master William M. Fenton, November 12, 1858, on petition of the following: Dr. O. L. Rider, John M. Allen, O. R. Dibble, Oscar F. Pease, William D. Pease, Samuel Jaynes, John Mark, James B. Watson, O. C. Williams, E. F. Gay, James E. Thomas, and named the following as first officers: O. L. Ryder, worshipful master; O. R. Dibble, senior warden ; W. D. Pease, junior warden; James B. Wat

son, treasurer; O. C. Williams, secretary. The first meeting of lodge was held on 16th of the same month, and the working was continued under a dispensation until chartered by the grand lodge January 13, 1860, with the following officers: O. R. Dibble, worshipful master; W. D. Pease, senior warden; Samuel Bunker, junior warden. This lodge first erected its altar in a room over the furniture store of C. Colley, where they remained temporarily until they filled up rooms in the Lord & Fargo block. As soon as practicable, they built for themselves a hall over the brick store of Curtis, McDonald & Company. The extent of their room is eighty feet by twenty-six. The hall proper includes a space fifty feet by twenty-six. It is beautifully frescoed with Masonic emblems, handsomely furnished and well ventilated. A fine reading-room and library is attached, amply provided with newspapers and periodicals and over one hundred volumes of standard Masonic and general reading. The hall was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies by Grand Master Hugh McCurdy, December 22, 1873, assisted by members of the fraternity from Jackson, Clinton and other lodges. After the dedication, the grand master gave an eloquent address, which was followed by a banquet in the town hall. This lodge during its chartered life has been prosperous to a marked degree, and very harmonious in work, dispensing charity in large measure to the unfortunate, both in and outside of the brotherhood. The lodge sessions. occur on Friday on or before the full moon in each month.

BROOKLYN LODGE NO. 169, BROOKLYN.

On the 13th of January, 1865, the grand lodge of the state granted a charter to Brook