Manchester Was Early Town Here

After the Seneca Indians let the Cuyahoga River area on June 25, 1811 to join the British Army, (all Americans were taking up arms once more against England) the Stow settlers became concerned about their defenseless position. They were then living on the western frontier of the United States, which was now officially at war.

The terrors of frontier war sent shudders throughout the entire area and many settlers flocked to Fort McIntosh, near today's Beaver, Pa., the only established fort in the Northwest Territory.

Judge William Wetmore, on July 13, 1811, at the request of the area citizens, appealed to General Elijah Wadsworth head of the Ohio Militia, for protection. The Independent Ohio Rifle Company responded to duty on August 27, 1811, at Cleveland, O. They then moved down the Cuyahoga River to Old Portage, where they established their camp. Judge Wetmore was appointed commissioner to supply lumber for construction of the Army Post and Navy yard, along with supplying whiskey for the soldiers.

During the summer of 1811, with the Senecas gone, some settlers moved into the very desirable river frontage and built their cabins among the old Indian huts. Francis Kelsey and Isaac Wilcox (*my GGGG Grandfather) moved into this area and built a dam across the river near the present location of Bailey Road. They built a sawmill and supplied Judge Wetmore's needs for the government's construction of Fort Wadsworth and later for the Navy yard. That yard was later where the Portage and Porcupine were built as part of the fleet for Perry's victory over the British at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie September 10, 1813.

Kelsey and Wilcox also built a grist mill but, just when it was ready for operation, it burned to the ground. The area around the sawmill grew fast, so by the summer of 1812, the community had a population of 120. For identity, a name was picked and with many settlers having past connections and relationships with industrial Manchester, England, they called their new settlement Manchester. This community, at the intersection of today's Hudson Drive and Front Street, is often referred to as the Old Village by old timers. During the streetcar days it became known as Junction or Silver Lake Junction and to many, it is just North end.

Fort Wadsworth, upon its completion, became the center fro supplying all the northwestern armies as it was the last post on the western frontier. Supplies from the east came overland to Buffalo, N.Y. Then by boat to Cleveland and by barge down the Cuyahoga River to Fort Wadsworth.

To save travel time, the government established a military road from Fort Pitt to Beaver, Pa., where they picked up the old Mahoning Indian trail to Fort Wadsworth. The old trail crossed the Cuyahoga River at today's location of Portage Trail and, thus, it was necessary to build a stone bridge as they improved the old trail into a military supply road. This road today is known as Portage Trail from the river to Old Portage.

The only travel at this time was over old Indian trails and the government lumber from Kelsey and Wilcox's mill was hauled by ox-drawn carts along the west bank of the Cuyahoga River to the Mahoning military road.

Manchester, during the war and after, boomed and in 1822, Judge Wetmore, in conjunction with Joshua Stow, built a general store there. It was the first store of its kind in Stow Township. The nearest to it was Herman Oviatt's in Hudson. Henry Wetmore the judge's third son, was put in charge of operating the new store.

Kelsey and Wilcox as time permitted, rebuilt their burned out grist mill but just as they got it completed, a spring freshet washed out their damn. Wilcox, now fully discouraged, gave up and went back to farming. Kelsey went back up the river to where he owned land and built a new dam and grist mill. This location was known as Kelsey Mill until 1836, when the Boston boys bought him out and changed the name to Munroe Falls. 

Wetmore and Stow also operated a mill near the Kelsey and Wilcox mill and, when the dam went out, they moved to a new location just north of the stone bridge. They built a new dam and by 1825 were operating a grist mill, a sawmill, and oil mill and were making plans for a paper mill.

They also had built a very large store on the northwest corner of what today is Front and Portage Trail. They changed the store into an Inn later because of the demand of lodgers looking for a place to stay in this booming area. The building was remodeled many times and stood there until recent years when it was demolished for a more modern building.

The old inn had many names in its heydays, including first the Perry House, Marvin Hotel, Clifford Inn and Upson Hotel.

Judge William Wetmore died on October 27, 1827 at his old home on Wetmore Pond (now Silver Lake) at the age of 56. His sons, William Jr. and Henry carried out the business of the mills and store.

Judge Wetmore was always a very honorable, public spirited man and was highly respected, first by the Indians, whose faith in him set our destiny and next, by the settlers, who migrated to this area and established our heritage.

 - Eric Thompson

Published in the Falls News Press on Wednesday May 23, 1979