Delaware Bend - Its Path Through History - Part 2

 Delaware Bend - Part 2 - by Ethelyn Sexton, Defiance Crescent-News, 1927

"Johnny Appleseed - Familiar Figure

Dr. E. R. Snook, born in 1835, five years before the government removed the Indians from this part of Ohio, whose father, Honorable William H. Snook, was a member of the Ohio legislature, has written of the Indians which filled the dooryard of the little homes in the wilderness, waiting to trade coon and deerskin for corn, with his father, whose Indian name, 'Tohochimo' signified his fairness and kindness toward those first natives of the land.

Other outstanding names in the early history of the settlement are Montgomery Evans, Sam Hughes, James Shirley, Lewis and George Platter, Johnny Appleseed, remembered as the lavish planter of apple trees in the vicinity of the Bend, and among later settlers, the Speaker family.

Jacob Kintner, grandfather of Dan Kintner, Defiance, came to the community in the early forties, living on the farm later owned by Henry Slough, grandfather of Emmett Slough, Defiance. Mr. Kintner, in speaking of his boyhood experiences, said, 

'Delaware Bend was indeed a lively place then. Every store had a saloon in connection with it. And they had some great fights. When the railroad went through, it was livelier than ever for the railroad workers located there.'

Delaware Township was probably organized in 1824; the village was laid out by W. D. Hill & Co. in 1874 - a little group of 50 houses in the woods. A stave mill did a thriving business - barrel hoops were made in fourteen private families - two hotels, three grocery stores, two ?

'I remember the shoemaker,' said Mr. Kintner, 'And I remember Kate Breeno's hotel. There was a blacksmith's shop. And Abe Smith, father of Charles Smith of Defiance, was the township treasurer.  He kept a hotel, too.'

 

Mr. Kintner told stories of going to Delaware Bend from his home down the old grade which was laid out by the Cincinnati Northern, but which never felt the weight of rails.

'They considered Delaware Bend a coming industrial center then,' he said, ' for they planned to run a railroad down there from Bryan. But the road finally went around by Sherwood.'

It was Mr. Kintner's uncle, George Frederick, who build a church in Delaware Bend, later taken over by the Methodists. Though now deserted, it still stands a monument to the work and ideals of those early pioneers who, even before the Bend took on the name of a village, had determined that a place of worship should not be lacking in the little settlement.

St. Stephen Catholic Church c 1890 (photo from the St. Isadore website)

First Churches Are Built

The history of the Kintner family is closely associated with the religious life of the Bend.  The records of the community relative to the Dunkard denomination quaintly state taht Jacob Kintner, Jr, father of Dan Kintner, who later became a bishop in Northwest Ohio, 'was chosen in 1861 to the office of deacon and on the 17th day of October, 1864he was chosen to the ministry while Samuel Kentner became a deacon.'

Again we read that later, Jacob Kintner, Jr. was 'ordained to solemnize marriages and baptisms.' And in 1873, for the sum of $1,000, the church 'gave Jacob Kintner and David Shong the job of erecting a building 34 x 56 feet in size and 16.5 feet high.' This church was located in the Maumee district about one-half miles from the Bend.

Joe Sanders, now living at Delaware Bend, recollect the days when a little log church built by the Catholics stood across the river near the old cemetery, later to be replaced by the frame one now in use. 'All the houses were big ones,' he said, 'and my grandmother on y mother's side never cooked a meal on the stove. The school teacher got $16 a month and did her own janitor work.'

A big dance hall furnished amusement on many a winter's night in those days, and for miles around, the sturdy young folk of the time drove in over the poorly broken roads to step the tune of 'Turkey in the Straw' and 'The Arkansas Traveler' until the late stars vanished in the track of the sun.

Landmarks Fast Disappeared

Today but few landmarks suggest the village which once throbbed with industrial activity.  A few decaying shingles mark the site of the stave mill run by David Sharp. The old church and Kate Breeno's hotel still stand with gaping windows, like eyes that are blind, a few houses, a general store with a gasoline station - this is all that remains.

The railway station was discontinued a few years ago, and now the B & O trains stop only on 'flag.' Mail comes to the village by two routes, half the community being located on a Sherwood route, and the other half receiving their half from Defiance.

Delaware Bend of old will never again exist.  But to one who knows the history of the place and to him who has personal recollections of the roistering logging days, it has an interest which time cannot dispel, and it almost seems that on a windy December night when the moon rides restlessly on banks of clouds, that a phantom crowd is gathered about the old wagon shop and that blanket covered horses are hitched before Abe Smith's place..."