>From the book Nine Communities of Monroe Co., Oh: A History JERUSALEM NOT THE HOLY CITY; BUT JERUSALEM, MONORE COUNTY, OHIO, A PLACE THAT GREW TO BE A BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE WITHOUT INTENDING IT ______________________ WHERE IT IS, WHAT IT IS LIKE, WHAT BUSINESS IS DONE BY ITS INHABITANTS, ETC., ETC. Few towns or cities but have had a founder. the proprietor in most cases has hired a surveyor, and while he was laying off the streets, avenues and building lots, the owner of the ground has leaned listlessly against a tree, or other support and mentally calculated the amount of the fortune to accumulate in his pockets, by the sale of corner lots. His imagination pictures smoking factories, palatial residences and gorgeous stores arising from the ground on which he is even now planting the seeds of a great city. In most cases these dreams prove to be dreams only, but are none the less pleasant, no doubt, to the ambitious dreamer. No such visionary presided at the birth of Jerusalem. It was never born. Its existence was never formally inaugurated. No one seems to have designed its existence. It is a clear case of spontaneous generation. When Wm KENNARD entered the gound on which it stands, it is not likely he ever even thought it would be the site of a thriving and beautiful village. When he paid his debt for labor done by James VERNON by deeding him the forty acres on which Jerusalem stands, it never occured to him that here was to be a town. When in 1825 James VERNON married the love of his youth, and built a house in the woods on his small farm, it had not yet been spoken of as Jerusalem. The house he then built is still standing, and is the residence of Mr. R. L. MORRIS, one of the oldest citizens of the place. But the people of the neighborhood were Friends and they were not all orthodox. The orthodox portion of them built a church in what is now the north-east part of the town, and the Hixites built a church near what is now Ozark. Then John POWELL called one Jerusalem and the other Jericho; and so it got its name. Still there was no promise of a town, but in about 1838 Noah STEVENS, still living in Beallsville, built the second house. Then the land passed into the hands of Elihu TIPTON, who built a blacksmith shop at the junction of the two roads where Moore's store now stands. He subsequently moved the shop across to near the other corner and built the tobacco house. Meantime, however, Isaac BROWN built, in about 1846, the small house opposite the end of Church Street, and opened the first store in the place. Mr. Robert GATCHELL took up his residence here in 1847, when there were but three houses in the place. He shortly afterward began a grocer's business on Church street. In 1849 a postoffice was established, and the place has since been officially known as Jerusalem. TIPTON continued for some years to be the leading spirit of the place, and thuogh he nor any other person ever formally laid out a town, little by little, it continued to grow. People who desired to locate here could easily procure ground on which to build. The main street of the town was at that time one of the leading roads to Powhatan Point where all produce had to be hauled and stock driven from the surrounding country. Droves of cattle and hogs trudged over it from points farther west and north-west on their way to the river. A blacksmith shop and a store together, made a sort of halting place for teamsters and drovesters. The Quakers moved away in time and their church was moved from its site, remodeled and additions made to it till now it serves as a hote. However, as late as 1854, there were not more than five or six houses in the place. The uses of the Quaker church were changed about 1860. School was taught in a log huse about a mile from the hamlet, and this house does not seem to have been built till abut 1857. TIPTON continued for some time to be the leading man at the forks of the road but was finally succeeded by Geo. BECKET, who remained in business but a short time. Since his departure several firms have occupied the building on the corner. J.C. GATCHELL buying out Mr. A. WILEY fifteen years ago and four years later taking as a partner, its present occupant and owner, W. J. MOORE. In 1860 the village contained twelve or fourteen huses and a population of about sixty. When the war came it found the people of the little hamlet ready to meet the issue and fight the battles of constitutional liberty. Several persons from the town entered the army, and among them Levi LUPTON who held a commission as first Lieutenant in the 116th Ohio Infantry. He had been promoted to a Captaincy when he was taken prisoner and perished in a Southern prison. The Friends of the vicinity having removed, they were gradually replaced by Methodists and Presbyterians. In 1852 the following twelve persons were organized into a class at the residence of Jacob LAWRENCE, near the village, by Rev. J. J. McKILLIER. John W. LAWRENCE, Jacob LAWRENCE, Rebecca LAWRENCE, Catharine LAWRENCE, Levi LUPTON, Elizabeth LUPTON, Isaac GARRISON, Sophia GARRISON, Catharine PREBSCO, John NEPTUNE, and a Miss SWAN. For eight years services were regularly held at the house of Jacob LAWRENCE, and additions were made to the society. The wilderness had been subdued and the population became more dense, so that by 1860 the society had gained sufficient strength to build a church and Jerusalem had become a sufficient center of population to determine its location. In that year, the church on Church street was begun, and completed in 1861, when it was dedicated by Rev. John MOFFETT. For many years there has been a sprinkling of Presbyterians in and about the village, but they have never built a church. Now they feel their need of a place of worship and their ability to build it, so that the preliminary arrangements are making to farther adorn the town by adding to it a new church. From the building of the blacksmith shop by TIPTON, and the opening of the store by BROWN, the place has had a steady growth. It has never enjoied any pronounced boom. No artifical means have ever been employed to attract population, still it has gone steadily increasing in size. Men like Joseph McCRACKEN who have retired, find it a pleasant place of residence. Mr. McCRACKEN is a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania. He came here in 1854, buying a farm in the suburbs of the village. Here he continued to reside till 1884 when he sold his farm and took up his residence on Church street. He owns a farm in Belmont county, besides land in the west. He finds the village a pleasant place of residence and is devoted to its interests. Additions to the popluation like this and Mr. W. J. WILEY, who is a wealthy dealer in real estate, have brought the population up to more than two hundred at this time. The village whose growth has thus been briefly sketched is situated on the divide between Captina and Sunfish creeks, in Malaga twp, Monroe county, Ohio. The streams that head near the town, north and east, find their way into Captina, Death's or Dearth's fork heading west of the village, empties into Sunfish creek, while south, or south-east, the broad ridge that divides the waters of the two creeks stretches in gentle undulations, whose surface is highly cultivated farms, adorned with good houses, barns and fences, while the fields are flecked with fine sheep or cattle. The main street of the town wasmany years ago, before the days of the railroads, the thoroughfare that led to the river, passing south-east through Beallsville. Where the village stands it runs north, deflecting to the east at the point where church street turns to the west. This street runs up a gentle slope, at the top of which stands the school house, the most conspicuous building in the place. Along this street, lined by a good sidewalk, stand handsome frame residences, bright with new paint. The ample grounds surrounding these are enclosed with neat picket fences. The lawns are adorned with evregreens and shrubbery and the grass is kept short. The Methodist church occupies a conspicuous place on this street. It is a well proportioned frame building thirty by forty feet, comfortably seated, the seats being arranged in the old fashioned way, with a single aisle running up the center. A low platform occupies the end opposite the door. This is covered with a bright carpet, wheile on the walls are hung various mottoes and texts for the use of the Sabbath School. Since the church was dedicated in 1861, the congregation has been regularly supplied with some of the best ministers of the church. The Sunday school has always been regularly attended and is a means of much good both to tht old and young. The membership of the society has steadily increased, with the growth of the village till now it numbers over one hundred. A year ago the a successful revival add several to the membership. The present minister, Rev. R. W. GARDINER has just closed a successful series of meetings, the net result of which was an addition of seveteen names to the list. Rev. GARDINER is a very young, boyish looking individual, small of stature, but quick and energetic. He is a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, and graduated at Scio college, in 1880. He entered the ministry in 1886 and was given care of this place, along with the churches at Malaga, Miltonsburg, and Calais. His ministry has been successful and his excellent social qualities makes him a general favorite. Along the other street of the town the general appearance of Church street is maintained. Bright houses, planted well back from the street, have green lawns in front, adorned with a profusion of ever greens and shrubbery. The town having never been laid out on the precise rules that usually govern as to the size of building lots, location of alleys, etc., more scope for taste was possible and variety of surroundings to the buildings is the result, with the general result of more ample grounds and more freedom of location. The outcome is the most picturesque and beautiful village in the county. Standing on any of the elevations that overlook the place, a general view of the masses of pines, cedars, arborvitae and other evergreens, out of which peepsthe bright cottages presents a landscape unique in its characteristic features, there being no town that resemble it in this part of the state. Up to the time of the building of the B. Z. & C. railroad, which passes the place about a half mile south of the center of the village, it was confined to the cluster of houses about the forks of the street, or showed a tendency to expand in the direction of Church street. Since the building of the railroad there is a tendency to build towards the depot. Two stores and a blacksmith shop have been built near the station while dwellings and the mill straggle along the whole distance between the original town and the railroad. The visitor to almost any small town, if he keeps his eyes ipen, sees some red noses. Indeed he cannot avoid blundering on two or three specimens of this sort hanging listlessly about, utterly devoid of occupation, dirty and ragged, their noses, the color of a parboiled lobster, their eyes bleared and glassy, and only showing signs of intelligence when there is an apparent chance of being treated to a drink of the favorite poison. These landmarks of most towns are brought into bold relief by the sight of squalled, dirty faced starved looking children whose food has for years gone down the throats of wretched fathers in the form of bad whiskey. Jerusalem is almost alone in not having such an exhibition. There has never been a chance to develop purple noses and rags here. No saloon ever took root here and the beautiful aspect of the town, it wide reputation for morality, its thrifty business and its well dressed men, women, and childre, five the lie to the oft repeated saying that "a saloon or two is a help to any town." Part # 2 to follow