Dearborn independent. [volume], March 06, 1920, Page 9, Image 9

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
THE BEA32IB01RH HHBEIPENMEKTCr
9
This Entire Village Is to Be Drowned
By HOWARD EGBERT
O shorn, Ohio, is to lose its
life, to be used as a dam site
for the protection of neigh
boring cities.
ma
SHL' SYsVtsftl
0- i RN, OHIO is to go out of existence. Count
less other communitiei have sunk into oblivion
through natural phenomena, or have been buried
by volcai k eruptions, or have been demolished by the
chtriot oi war but Osborn, Ohio, committed suicide.
The mark of the "deserted village" already is upon
the town. On all sides can be heard the rumblings of
oblivion; for the twenty million dollar flood project of
the Ifiimi Conservancy District has found it necessary
to uallov up the whole town. If necessary Osborn
will be buried under fifty feet of water, in order that
other thriving points in the great Miami valley may be
lived from inch a catastrophe as the one which came
near wrecking the most fertile section in southern Ohio.
Tin Miami ( onservancv District bought the village
of Ol horn outright. It cost a million dollars to swing
the transaction. It is the first instance in community
life in the United State s where a village has voluntarily
quit functioning.
Osborn lie northeast of the city of Dayton, and is
in the district originally designed as the site for the
Hoffman dry reservoir, which is one of the series of
such agencies designed to hold millions of gallons of
flood water. Its natural location made special appeal
to Chin Engineer Arthur K. Morgan. He took one look
at Osborn and reported the next day to the con
servant directors that the village would have to be
taken over. A check for one million dollars was forth
coming and in two weeks' time every farm house,
tbousai of cattle, sehoolhouses, banks, lodge rooms,
private residences and what not, passed into the hands
of the I onservancy District.
Another two months and Osborn will be to
modtn merica what Grand Pre was to the early
?ff.C KVhe.viM'ge i shnrn- hio' to He the site of an immense dam. During the p.st week
effort, h.ve heen m.de to save some ol the hu.ldintft but the whole site of the v.ll.e .. to he .uhmerged
nSu Tories will have tied and its village streets
will be deserted Late comers on their way home will
shudder as the hoofs of" their horses click against the
cobblestoned streets and travelers will breathe a sigh
when they have left the deserted village far in the
rearward.
Osborn is now a village of at least one thousand
uCU,)t!C' ,S ,Kar,' thrcc Quarters of a century old and
has been the center of a thriving, busy, prosperous and
wealthy agricultural district. It was no small task to
drive the village to suicide.
Traditions of many years had clustered about the
homes and public highways. Many had grown old and
died in Osborn and the little cemetery hard by the
hamlet marked the last resting place of the early settlers
In area the village and immediate environs covered
(, 180 acres. Three railroads, the Baltimore and Ohio,
the New York Central lines and the Ohio Electric Inter
urban lines all touched the community. It was in in
stant communication with the outside world.
By reason of plans of the Miami Conservancy Dis
trict all three traffic lines were obliged to remove their
tracks to the south, out of the dry reservoir district.
This occasioned an expense of no less than four mil
lion dollars.
Already the great dredging machines are approach
ing Osborn. The concrete dam to be built all around
the .site of the village is under way. All the residents
have to be out and away with their property and pos
sessions within the first half of the year.
The idea has been suggested that the village en masse
move to a new location about two miles away, where
a new community can be erected and life resumed as
before. But this will take time. It may be a quarter
of a century before affairs of the new hamlet will be in
order again. Thirty-five per cent of the inhabitants al
ready have gone elsewhere., Many have hoped to
die before they witnessed the utter demolition of the
town.
The Miami Conservancy District is making it as
easy a, possible for those who are obliged to move to
new Quarters. It is proposed to sell lots, lay out a
new town and assist in every way, with the big mod
ern machinery which the district possesses, to renew
life in a second village.
The buying of Osborn was a good business invest
ment for the Miami Conservancy District. If this had
not been possible it might have cost $3,000,000 to dis
cover another location for the dry reservoir which was
needed in this particular locality. The city of Spring
field, with its 80.000 inhabitants, together with nearly
$10,000,000 worth of farm land adjacent to Osborn,
will be completely protected against future floods, when
the Huffman dry reservoir is completed.
"The Deserted Village" is the name that will soon
apply to Osborn. "Sweet Osborn, loveliest village of
the plain" brings a suggestion of Goldsmith's poem of
the long ago. Memories, naturally, still cling to the
town's early history. Romance and industry have been
there for half a century. Lovers met beneath the
shade of the village trees and plighted their troth, and
Dbys and iris ascended into young manhood and young
womanhood as the village grew.
But the eternal principles of progress must be con
formed to Osborn goes out of existence that $250.
(KX).O(X) worth of property elsewhere in the great Miami
valley may be preserved and protected.
9 Ullltnw m W.-A-rfM
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The school house of Osborn.
Typical street scene in Osborn.
One of the churches of Osborn.
. t lWVtt T ' ''""'"",ti . ,,, wwptp .
water.
The darkened portion shows extent to which the village will be under water.
The dam.