Part II: Town Founding and Early Growth (1891-1911)

In January of 1890, O.C. Barber and three Akron associates purchased the 550 acres of farmland to the west of the Tuscarawas River with the intention of establishing a new manufacturing city. The three associates were attorney Charles Baird, Akron hardware merchant Albert T. Paige, and Diamond Match associate John K. Robinson. Barber had become familiar with the work of M.J. Alexander, a Pennsylvania man who had developed what was called a "magic formula" for turning farm land into thriving industrial communities. Alexander had successfully "boomed" the Pennsylvania towns of Jeannette and Charleroi in the 1880s by establishing industries on the land first, thereby creating a demand for housing and services. Purchasers of land in these new towns saw their property values greatly appreciate as the community developed and new industries came to town.

The Barberton Land and Improvement Company was organized in the Fall of 1890 with O.C. Barber at its head. Very shortly, Barber and Alexander brought another Pennsylvanian, William A. Johnston, to Norton Township to survey and lay out the new town. Johnston was the architect of Barberton's original plan, designing the layout of the community from the ground up. Fortunately for Johnston, the land held many attractions, not the least of which was the spring-fed lake located in the center of the tract.

The 550 acres were laid out as the new town of Barberton during the Fall and Winter of 1890 and 1891. Johnston reserved Lake Anna, which was named for Barber's daughter, as a 20-acre park in the center of the town. The surrounding 203 acres were subdivided into building lots, spreading back evenly from the lake on all sides, with a small extension to the north to connect the town with the State Road (Norton Avenue). The town's residential and business districts were to be located here, within the pleasant environment created by the lake. The streets fronting the lake were residential, while the second tier of streets (Tuscarawas Avenue, Second Street, Hopocan Avenue, and Seventh Street) had smaller lots designed for a more commercial orientation.

Encircling this land was the Barberton Belt Line, a rail line designed to provide access to the railroads and canal which bordered Barberton on the north and east. Beyond the Belt Line were 327 acres reserved for manufacturing sites, located at the city's outskirts but connected to all points via the railroad and canal. Ample land was set aside for industrial purposes, an indication of Barber's intention to make the community a manufacturing center of some note. As summit County historian Samuel Lane remarked in 1892, "With the Ohio Canal, the C A & C, and the B & O Railways on the east; and the NY, Penna & Ohio Railway on the west and the fully equipped Belt Line traversing its entire circumference, the transportation facilities for the new city are simply perfect."

Central to the plan for Barberton was the balance that was desired between thriving industry, healthy commerce and quiet residential districts. Obviously, Barber and his associates were driven by a need to make the community profitable, by providing abundant land and transportation advantages for industry. Yet, they also were seeking to improve the quality of life found in manufacturing centers of the day. By the late 19th century, many industrial cities had frown in a disorganized fashion, with industry crowding out former residential or commercial neighborhoods. Industries in the new town of Barberton would have room to expand at the outskirts without encroaching upon the central part of the city, which would become the location of a pleasant residential and commercial district. It was not long, however, before the residential areas of Barberton needed room to grow and that space had to be found beyond the industrial circle.

Even as Johnston was laying out the town, O.C. Barber was beginning to build the industries which would place the community on a solid economic footing. The first to break ground in the new town was Barber's National Sewer Pipe Company, located where Magic city Shopping Center is today. Thought to be the largest manufacturer of its kind, the company was producing 200 tons of sewer pipe and employing 150 people by the end of 1891. Barber organized several other industries in the Fall of 1890 as well, serving as president of each. These included the Creedmore Cartridge Co., a manufacturer of ammunition and metallic cartridges; Barberton Whiteware Co., makers of granite whiteware; American Alumina Co., a producer of sulphate of alumina and aluminous cake; and the Stirling Boiler Co., a company which was relocated here from New Castle, Pennsylvania.

As these industries were building, the initial sale of lots in the new town of Barberton was being planned for May, 1891. Before a single lot was sold, evidence already pointed to the success of the new town. By April, 1891, two important industries were already in production (National Sewer Pipe and Stirling Boiler), the Belt Line Railroad was under construction, and Barber had organized the town's first bank, the Barberton Savings Bank Company. Already, the success of the plants was creating a demand for local accommodations. National Sewer Pipe constructed 30 small cottages to house some of its workers to the north of its plant, and the Stirling Boiler Co. built 10 houses off Stirling Avenue. (Neither group of worker houses has survived.) Hotel accommodations at New Portage proved insufficient to meet local demand, with the result that the National Hotel was built by the Sewer Pipe company in April, and the Cahow farmhouse, located across the street on today's Wooster Road, N., was converted to a boarding house.

Alexander and Johnston considered the five-day land sale a success, with nearly half of the 1,100 available building lots sold, totaling $165,000 worth of real estate. Among the buyers was attorney Edward A. Huene, who opted to take a change on the new town, as yet unformed. Huene later described what he saw upon arriving a Barberton for the sale of lots on May 6, 1891: "...a beautiful, level tract of lately farm land nestling in a plateau between low hills, with a small, crystal clear lake of symmetrical form in its center. The smell of last year's crops was hardly out of the air; the wheat stubble covering the blocks of lots on every hand had not yet lost its green and gold..."

Just six months after the land sale, in November of 1891, the town of Barberton was beginning to take shape. Industries were operating, streets were being graded, and homes and businesses were being built. Added to the industries already in production or under construction were two new concerns, bringing the total to eight. Early industrial buildings in Barberton were typically two stories in height, constructed of brick, with gabled slate roofs and numerous tall windows. Architectural ornamentation was simple, but usually included corbelled brick at the roofline and raised piers. Probably the earliest remaining of the town's first industrial buildings is the former Creedmore Cartridge factory building, a nice example of this treatment.

As expected, the functioning industries brought residents to live in both New Portage and Barberton. By November, 1891, as many as 300 new homes had already been built, with a price ranging from $700 to $4,000. Many of these were built on speculation, with the intent of selling or renting the home to a factory worker and his family. These homes were typically built with balloon frame construction, allowing them to be put up fairly quickly. Many were 2 1/2 stories, with gable roofs, and vernacular Italianate features. More substantial homes were built for the emerging population of business men, managers and merchants who set up business in the town. These residences were located on the streets immediately fronting Lake Anna, seen as the most desirable residential location in the new community. Built of balloon frame or brick construction, these homes display elements of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles popular during the 1890s and early 1900s.

The industries and emerging population in Barberton created a demand for businesses to locate in the new community. While the industries and homes were being built and occupied, Tuscarawas Avenue and Second Street began to develop as an L-shaped commercial district to the south and east of the lake.

Barberton's early downtown businesses were somewhat scattered, favoring corner locations in the nine-block-long district. Among the first to build was Benjamin F. Tracy, a straw buyer for the Strawboard factory, who constructed the three-story Tracy Block on Tuscarawas Avenue in 1891. Also built by November of that year was the three-story Moor & St. John Block (demolished), and six two-story brick commercial buildings. These first business blocks were substantial; constructed of brick and two or three stories in height, they provide an illustration of their builder's confidence in the future of the the new town (as opposed to traditional "boom town" buildings which were constructed quickly to capture fleeting business). Designed in a similar vein to the industrial buildings of the period, these business blocks typically featured simple facades with decorative corbelled brickwork at the roofline. Two notable examples in addition to the Tracy Block are the buildings on the north corners of Second street and Lake Avenue, built in 1891 to house a tailor (219 Second Street, NW) and druggist (220 Second Street, NW).

Continue Part II: Town Founding and Early Growth (1891-1911)