by Paul W. Schanher, III
Frontier days of the early 1800's did not serve Springfield well as our community's state of mind was one that was “not fit for man nor beast”. However, that soon changed with the advent of several men and their families who began to change the face of our All-American city.
In 1812, the man who would eventually be known as “the Merchant Prince” came from New Jersey quite by accident according to some reports. Pierson Spining’s [noted local historian Ann Benston insists that the spelling should be Spinning] father owned a dry goods in Dayton and would send his wares via flatboat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati where the merchandise was eventually loaded onto wagons and brought to Dayton. One day one of Spining's flatboats overturned with most of the goods on board and everything was lost except for some calico that was retrieved from the river. Someone mentioned to them to take the soiled material to the backwoods town of Springfield to sell there. He did. He sold. He stayed. After establishing his own successful business, Spining built a fine three-story hotel with an open courtyard in the middle on the NW corner of Main and Limestone Streets called the "Buckeye House" which is a parking lot today. He soon became a very wealthy man. But he entered into a guaranteed contract with the federal government to continue building the National Road as it came through Springfield only to lose nearly his entire fortune. He returned to his hotel and served as Justice of the Peace for the remaining years of his life.
Maddox Fisher, a southern aristocrat from Kentucky, arrived in Springfield in 1813 with an abundance of energy and ability bringing a new attitude to our frontier town. With his fortune he purchased 25 lots located near the public square from James Demint, the founder of Springfield. He built a cotton mill along Buck Creek which he later turned into a flour mill which served him well until a fire destroyed it twenty years later. It has been said that Fisher’s early enterprise of the mills represented the turning point in the business history of Springfield. Others joined in as a result of his early pioneering enterprises.
Springfield once was a part of Greene County. Maddox Fisher changed that. He believed in Springfield so much to the point that he would routinely travel on horseback to Chillicothe, the state capital at the time, with the thought of convincing the lawmakers to forge a new county with Springfield as the county seat. Eventually, he convinced the powers to be to follow through with his recommendations; however, New Boston wanted to be the county seat as well. So Fisher made more trips in order to plead Springfield’s case. Springfield was a mainstay for the Whig Party while New Boston consisted mainly of Democrats. With Ohio mainly of the Whig persuasion, Springfield won the vote to be the county seat of the newly formed Clark County. This was 1818. He later became postmaster and also devised plans for the building of a new courthouse on Demint’s public square. He indeed was a “true gentleman” to all that knew him.
In 1819, the colorful Col. William “Uncle Billy” Werden arrived in town from the state of Delaware. He soon became know far and wide as the most famous innkeeper in the west. In 1820, he bought property located on the NW corner of present day Main and Spring Streets for the purpose of eventually building a hotel. Anticipating the coming of the National Road through Springfield, he built the Werden House, better known as the National Hotel. In 1829, it soon became the most favorite stopping point along the well-traveled National Road as travelers headed westward. Uncle Billy was a pleasant host meeting every stranger with an outstretched hand along with taking the weary traveler into the hotel only to have a servant remove his muddy boots for cleaning, and then place a seat before him in front of the fireplace with a clean pair of slippers. Mrs. Werden cooked a hearty meal and made certain that each guest had a comfortable bed and clean linens. Some even paid fifty cents for the privilege of sleeping on the floor. He later served as postmaster. Werden strongly supported education and religion as he gave his support to the founding of the high school and also helped to organize the Episcopal Church in town in 1834.
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