It appears by census, prior to 1890, that in 1850 the total value of manufactures of Ohio was $62,692,279; in 1860 it was $121,000,000; in 1870 it was $269,713,610; in 1880 it was $348,298,300. In 1890 it was over $500,000,000. During the single year 1889 there were incorporated over 400 new companies with a capital stock of $25,584,500. Almost every article needed for use by the people is thus produced at home, and great quantities of machinery, especially of farming machines of every variety, are exported to every state of the Union and to many foreign countries. The manufacturing industry has thus become second only to that of agriculture, and it is believed that, under the great impetus given by our protective laws, the time is not far distant when the value of manufactured products will be equal to, or greater than, the productions of the farm.
The most striking result of the change in the industries of Ohio is the rapid increase of city population, compared with farming population. The following table will show the population of twenty cities, by the censuses of 1850 and 1890:
1850. 1890.
Akron . . . . . . . 3,266 27,601
Canton . . . . . . 2,603 26,189
Chillicothe . . . . 7,100 11,288
Cincinnati . . . . 115,435 296,908
Columbus . . . . . 17,882 88,150
Cleveland . . . . 17,034 261,353
Dayton . . . . . . 10,977 61,220
Findlay . . . . . 1,256 18,553
Hamilton . . . . . 3,210 17,565
Ironton . . . . . —— 10,939
Lima . . . . . . . 757 15,987
Mansfield . . . . 3,557 13,473
Newark . . . . . . 3,654 15,286
Portsmouth . . . . 4,011 12,394
Sandusky . . . . . 5,087 18,471
Springfield . . . 5,108 31,895
Steubenville . . . 6,140 13,394
Tiffin . . . . . . 2,718 10,801
Toledo . . . . . . 3,829 81,434
Zanesville . . . . 7,929 21,009
221,553 1,053,910
While the aggregate population of Ohio has increased 185 per cent. since 1850, that of the cities named has increased 475 per cent.
The growth of cities and manufactures has been accompanied by the discovery and development of a diversity of mineral resources of great and increasing value.
The mining of coal was insignificant in 1850, while the product of coal in 1890 is estimated at exceeding 12,000,000 tons.
Recently petroleum was discovered near Marietta and Lima, places in Ohio remote from each other, thus supplying a new element for commerce and a new agent for manufactures. Its properties and innumerable uses have already been tested in Pennsylvania. The annual supply by the census of 1890 was 12,471,466 barrels, second only to that of Pennsylvania, and has not yet reached its maximum.
About the same period came the discovery of natural gas at Findlay, in Hancock and surrounding counties. This subtle and mysterious creation of nature has been applied locally as fuel for manufacture, and as light and heat in many cities and towns. The duration of its supply, however, cannot be determined.
The lakes on the north and the river on the south secure to the people of Ohio cheap water transportation for the importation and exportation of raw materials and finished products, while the physical features of the country north and south of Ohio, in a measure, compelled the construction of the great routes of railway over its soil.
From the beginning Ohio has taken a leading part in furnishing facilities for education to the rising generation. In early days, when the population was sparse and scattered, day schools were established, by voluntary effort, in counties, towns and neighborhoods where the population was sufficient to justify it. At an early period the State of Ohio established the common-school system, by which every child between the ages of seven and fourteen years is furnished with the rudiments of a good education. Some of these schools have been so far advanced that in them any child showing proficiency can secure, without cost, an education fully equal to that furnished by the colleges of the country forty years ago. The amount expended in 1890 for the support of public schools was $11,407,499. The number of teachers employed was 19,526. The number of persons enrolled between the ages of six and twenty-one was 1,123,985. The number of scholars who attended was 797,439. The average attendance was 549,269. The excellence of the system of common schools in Ohio is admitted on all hands to be equal to that of any other state or section.