The Father of Carroll County

Editor’s Note: Since today is Father’s Day, I figured it was altogether proper and fitting that a history of Isaac Atkinson should be told as he is considered the “Father of Carroll County.”

There are so many things in life that you take for granted; never considering the how or whys of it. Such as the luxuries found in your own hometown.  For example, you do not really consider the matter of when you have to do county business, like paying those dreadful taxes, that you do not need to travel thirty miles away or the fact that the town is large enough that if you get a fast food craving or want to go grocery shopping you can just cruise into town in mere minutes. You never consider the fact that had it not truly been for one man; that this might just be another crossroads nestled among some rolling hills. This is the story of Isaac Atkinson, “The Father of Carroll County,” who took the small crossroads, backwoods town of Centreville and turned it into Carrollton, Ohio the county seat of Carroll County.



Isaac Atkinson
"Father of Carroll County"



Isaac Atkinson was born July 1, 1797 to Stephen and Mary (McMahon) Atkinson in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Here he received his education in the classic one room school house, and soon obtained a solid sense of business by working in his father’s store. Around 1818, Isaac moved to Middleton in Columbiana County, Ohio and remained here for about four years before relocating to Centreville in southern Columbiana County.

When Isaac moved to Centreville, he came to a small town that less than seven years before had been carved out of the wooded rolling hills and platted by Peter Bohart.  Although the town had grown considerably since it was laid out on October 4, 1815, especially since it was located at the busy crossroads of the Steubenville-Canton and New Lisbon-Cadiz Pikes, its growth had plateaued as its all of its plots were close to being occupied. Isaac soon built a log store and home on the western edge of town (on present day South High Street between Main and 2^nd Street SW), and grew quite successful. When Peter Bohart passed away in April of 1825, Isaac saw the opportunity to grow his wealth and the village in which he lived and purchased the Bohart Estate.

The Story of the Park Hotel

On the east side of the square in the small town of Carrollton, Ohio, stood a modest white clapboard building, which for 190 years sat in the shadow of the county courthouse . It was the resting place for many a weary traveler and also a social gathering place for many in the town. Built as a modest home, and later turned into a marble works, and finally a hotel, it was known as The Park Hotel.

In 1815, as Peter Bohart was laying out the village of Centreville in the backwoods of Ohio (present day Carrollton); the Roberts family built a large farmhouse for their growing family on Lot 32 of Bohart's Original Plat. The house was a simple “L” shaped house with a large front porch overlooking the square. Here the family grew larger and older and finally in 1859 sold the property.



The Aldridge Marble Works
From an Engraving, 1874



Nicholas J. Aldridge of New Cumberland, Ohio, came to Carrollton in 1850s, and opened a wood mill with his brother, Joshua. In 1857, at the age of 23, Nicholas purchased the Roberts home to house his new family and built a small store on the north end of the building. In this store he opened The Aldridge Marble Works, a trade that Nicholas learned as an apprentice from Armstrong Bathwell of Carrollton, along with mastering woodworking. The Aldridge Marble Works dominated this niche, producing nearly all of the cut marble and sandstone in the area, as well as, many of the tombstones. However, by 1877 Nicholas decided to retire from the masonry business and open up a hotel, much like his father operated in New Cumberland.

Nicholas made several additions to the back of the building and built an area above his old marble works for additional rooms and completely renovated the structure, and opened the hotel as The Aldridge Hotel. This was at the time Carrollton’s fourth hotel, following the Indian Queen Hotel, Hoopes House, and The Van Horn Hotel.



The Aldridge Hotel
circa 1880



In 1892, Nicholas Aldridge leased the hotel to Elias and Rebecca Fisher. Elias was the janitor at the new courthouse and so left the hotel business to his wife.  Rebecca first changed the name of the Aldridge Hotel to the Commercial Hotel. Mrs. Fisher then had the dining room area renovated and began to offer meals to both hotel guests and the general public. Her culinary skills soon became well known in the area and the dining portion of the hotel began to thrive.  However, around the turn of the century Mrs. Fisher’s health began to fail with her advancement in age and the doors of the Commercial Hotel were closed, and would remain so for a few years.

In December 1906, Mr. Grant Gregory made a deal with the Aldridge family and reopened the hotel. Mr. Gregory was a successful butcher that saw an opportunity in the hotel business after the Van Horn Hotel closed its doors earlier in the year. Mr. Gregory had purchased many of the furnishings from the luxurious Van Horn Hotel, and had them brought up the street to his newly renovated hotel. At this time, Mr. Gregory changed the name of the hotel once again and began to operate under the New Aldridge Hotel. However, Mr. Gregory apparently soon realized the hotel business was too much of a change from the butcher shop, and transferred his lease to John S. Shull. 

The Case of Mistaken Identity and Murder: The Story of Jacob and Samuel Bushong

If you would visit Grand View Cemetery in Carrollton, Ohio, you will find the grave of the cemetery’s only Revolutionary War Veteran.  Underneath an impressive marble slab lies the body of a man who fought for this nation’s independence and blazed a trail into the frontier; building a solid foundation for his family and the newly formed village in which they lived. However, the name etched into the weathered marble headstone is not the name of the man buried beneath it.

Upon discovering the burial place for this Veteran of Independence, you will read will read carved into the tarnished marble: “Samuel Bushong Died 1829 Fought Under Baron Steuben in the Revolutionary War.” Not only is that the wrong name but also the wrong service record. The name of the true Revolutionary patriot is not Samuel Bushong, but his father Jacob Bushong.

In all of the early histories of Carrollton and Carroll County, the same oft-repeated mistake is made, and therefore, built upon and recognized as fact.  In the Carrollton Centennial published by the Free Press Standard it states, “Samuel Bushong – A native of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany; came to America with Baron Steuben and fought for the colonies in the Revolutionary War; he died here in 1835 and was buried in “the honors of war”; his unmarked grave is near that of Peter Bohart. He built the two story log house still standing east of Robert’s Park, in 1820.” This simple paragraph was repeated in many subsequent histories causing the truth to fall between the cracks. How and why this occurred is not clear, but it is finally time to right this wrong, and to do this all of the facts need to be looked at.  Since this is the story of two men it is only proper that both of their stories be told.

The Man of the Tavern, Who Built a Town - Peter Bohart

Peter Bohart (1777-1825)

In 1809, a German immigrant, moved from Washington County, Pennsylvania to a small cross road in the new state of Ohio.  He soon built a two story log tavern at the cross roads of the Steubenville to Canton and New Lisbon to Cadiz pikes.  In the following years he slowly acquired land and on October 4, 1815 he platted the village of Centerville, Ohio.  His name was Peter Bohart. 

Bohart’s dream of a town started with the profitability of the whiskey and distillery business in the “West.” He recognized that as a result of the proximity of the village two basic needs had to be met. First, since the nearest market was thirty miles away, over rough terrain and sometimes impassable roads, marred with dangers, a market had to be established to sell the local goods and products of the area. The second need was a tavern and lodging for the weary travelers along the pikes.  Thus with his German grit and his sense of pioneering he went to work at meeting both needs for the area.