New Waterford, OH - Bertha's Childhood Home and Resting Place

Bertha in New Waterford Grammar School in about 5th grade.  She is in second row from the bottom 4th from the right.

School teaches at New Waterford Grammar School.  Grandma used to tell me one of the ladies was her favorite teacher.

New Waterford was platted in 1851 by John and Robert Silliman in anticipation of the railroad.  John Taylor made two additions later. Their efforts were amply rewarded as the village grew from a population of 60 people in 1860 to 1347 by 1900. The railroad played no small part in the growth of the village. In July 1852 the first train of cars arrived at Bull Creek Station. A few years later the name was changed from Bull Creek to New Waterford. As the story 's told, the first Taylor's came from Waterford, Ireland, and thus the name 'New' Waterford was selected. The railroad business grew rapidly. A large passenger and freight station,  acquired from the world's fair in Chicago, was established amid landscape grounds. For many years seven trains stopped daily.

The first storehouse as built by John Silliman in 1851. Soon a variety of stores and businesses were established and all of them transacted a large volume of business. New Waterford gained an excellent reputation as a trading center. In 1867, James C. Scott purchased the mill property at Cass Ann. Scott's Tip-Top Mills became one of the leading mills in the country. Today the only reminders of this once flourishing business are the dam and the millrace in the park.

The Post Office in New Waterford was established in 1853 with George Coswell as the first post master. The first mail was carried to and from the railroad station and the post office by J. T. Taylor. The outgoing mail was hung on the mail pole beside the tracks and as the train came thundering by at full speed, an arm with a 'switch click' would extend and grab the mail pouch.

In 1874, New Waterford had two physicians who operated a drug store in connection with the practice of medicine. An occasional visitor of Dr. D. M. Bloom was his friend, William McKinley, who later became President of the United States.

The reputation for quality merchandise and reliable merchants brought dramatic changes to New Waterford beginning about 1875. Trade came into the village from an ever widening radius necessitating a sharp rise in business expansion. The coal and carriage industries provided jobs. New businesses mushroomed. And from 1880 through the early 1900's a population "explosion" occurred. New Waterford became a "boom town". Freight moving in and out of the village kept dray men and their teams busy. Three hotels provided for the needs of their guests.

The village was incorporated in 1900 with Jacob H. Koch elected it's first Mayor.

In 1883. the Koch Carriage Works, founded by George J. Kock was so successful his brother Jacob joined him. The sixty people they employed were kept busy manufacturing high grade carriages, wagons and surries. Throughout Ohio and it's bordering states, the name plate, "Koch Brothers, New Waterford, Ohio" on a vehicle was a badge of excellence. In 1921, after automobiles ended the carriage trade, the buildings were taken over by the New Waterford Furniture Co. which later changed their name to Franklin Furniture and moved to Columbiana in the late 1920's. The buildings were then acquired by F. C. Maurer who organized Kenmar Furniture and operated there until about 1940 when they moved to East Palestine.

It occurred to George Koch, as people came in increasing numbers to Carriage works to place money and valuables in his safe, that what the village needed was a financial institution. And so, after much thought and planning, the New Waterford Building and Loan Association was organized in 1904. Then , in order to further the banking needs of both savings and checking accounts, the organization of New Waterford Savings and Banking Company was established in 1906.

Cory Barnes Williams owned the first gas station in New Waterford. By 1905, he owned a livery stable which kept him busy delivering people to and from their destinations. In 1913 he bought a Model T Ford and began a taxi service. Gasoline had to be readily available, so he converted his livery stable into a Standard Oil one pump station.

In 1908, Ralph Papania bought twenty-six acres which he planted into truck crops and fruit trees. Over the years the acreage has been enlarged and the major portion of the total 250 acres is planted in a variety of fruit trees, primarily apples.

Bertha's father George worked here and was an expert at upholstery.

George Metze

George Metze with Car