those who formed it, and which was looked upon with suspicion and jealousy by the powers of Europe; but after weathering the storm which beset it during the first few years of its existence, it entered upon a period of growth and development truly wonderful, until to-day the experiment of 1787 has proven a "world power" and an American citizen is respected in foreign countries as was the Roman citizen in the palmy days of Rome. Ohio was the fourth state to be added to the original thirteen and the first to be carved out of the Northwest territory, and as the inscription on the tablet just unveiled recites, "On this site stood the first state house of Ohio, wherein was adopted the original constitution of the commonwealth, November 29th, 1802."

From the time Ohio became a state her growth and progress has been a factor in the growth and development of the nation. In times of war her people have shown their patriotism by their readiness to respond to the call to arms; and among the military heroes she is proud to number among her sons such national idols as Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Custer.

In times of peace she has contributed her full quota to the ranks of the nation's statesmen, and the nation has honored Ohio by elevating five of her sons to the Presidency, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison and McKinley.

Chillicothe claims many of Ohio's distinguished sons, among whom may be mentioned Massie, Tiffin, Worthington, McArthur, Allen and Thurman; she has furnished to the commonwealth four governors, and to the nation four senators and nine representatives in Congress, and the wife of one of its chief executives.

We are fortunate in having with us to-day in the person of the eloquent gentleman who has presented this tablet on behalf of its donors, a lineal descendent of our first governor, Edward Tiffin; and in the person of the young lady who unveiled it a great-granddaughter of Governor McArthur and a granddaughter of William Allen the last of Ross county's citizens to occupy the governor's chair.

I have the honor to represent the people of this city and county, and to accept for them, and in their name, this tablet,

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donated and erected by the Century Club, the Daughters of the Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution and numerous citizens, in commemoration of the adoption of the first constitution of the state of Ohio, and on the one hundredth anniversary thereof.

May it remain in its place to relate its historic story to all who may pause to read so long as Ohio remains a state and retains her proud position in the union of states.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS.

After an invitation extended by Mr. H. H. Bennett to the people to attend the afternoon ceremonials at Memorial hall, an informal reception was held in the court house. The strangers were introduced to Col. Wm. N. King, of Columbus, great grandson of Gov. Worthington, Mrs. Mary Manly, Miss Diathea Cook, Mrs. Frank Gilmore and Miss Eleanor Cook, grandchildren of Gov. Tiffin, Miss Eleanor Tower, of Detroit, and the Misses Cook, great granddaughters of Gov. Tiffin; Col. Matthews and sister, Mrs. Blackburn, of Cleveland, great grandchildren of Gov. Huntington; Dr. Walter S. Scott, W. Allen Scott, descendants of Gov. McArthur and Gov. William Allen; Miss Dorothy W. McArthur and Mrs. Allen W. McArthur, relatives of Gov. McArthur, and Mr. C. E. Kirker, of Manchester, great grandson and Mrs C. E. Bedwell, of Columbus, great granddaughter of Speaker Kirker of the first Ohio House of Representatives, and also governor of of the state. Gen. J. Warren Keifer, of Springfield, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Chairman of the State centennial commissioners and Historical Society Executive committee. Mr. S. S. Knabenshue, editor of the Toledo Blade, and a noted archæologist; Judge Rush R. Sloane, Sandusky, President of the Fire Lands Historical society. Mr. E. O. Randall, Secretary of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, Fred. J. Heer, State Printer and Publisher of the Ohio State Historical Society publications.

MEMORIAL HALL EXERCISES.

The afternoon exercises at Memorial hall were of a most interesting character and the attendance was large. Judge J. C.

Douglas presided and after a patriotic chorus by the Euterpean club, Mr. William T. McClintick, of Chillicothe, was introduced and spoke as follows:

Fellow Countrymen:

I bid you a hearty welcome on this, the day which marks the one hundredth year since the adoption of the First Constitution of the State of Ohio.

WILLIAM T. MCCLINTICK.

It is fit that one who was born in Ohio as early as February, 1819, should bid you such a welcome, for such a one may well serve as a connecting link between the past and the present, -the past of one hundred years ago, when Ohio was almost a wilderness, and the present, when it is almost a garden full of the fruits and flowers of the highest cultivation, and when the wilderness has literally been made to bloom and blossom as the rose.

I have said that I feel myself to be a connecting link between the past and present, and so I am, for I have personally known all the Governors of the state from Edward Tiffin and Thomas Worthington down to our present Governor, George K. Nash, except Samuel Huntington, who died in 1817, before I was born; Return Jonathan Meigs, who died in 1825, when I was but six years old, and Ethan Allen Brown, who removed from the state at an early day.

I had the honor of having a tooth pulled by Dr. Edward Tiffin, in my childhood, and my recollection of Governor Worthington riding down High Street on Sunday morning on a gray horse, with his little son, William Drake, behind him, hitching his horse to a post and then mounting the stile into my father's front yard and making his way, with his little son, to a rear room in my father's house to attend a Methodist class meeting, of which my father was the leader, is as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. William Drake and myself were provided with small

stools on which we sat while the meeting progressed. I also followed the procession which carried Governor Worthington to his grave, at Adena, in 1827.

Nathaniel Massie, the early Northwestern surveyor and pioneer, and the founder of our town of Chillicothe in 1796, died before I was born, but I knew his widow and all his children, all his grandchildren and many of his great grandchildren. One of his grandsons, Hon. D. M. Massie is a resident of our city, and would gladly have participated with us in this celebration, did not his duties as a Commissioner in Cuba forbid his presence here.

I might name many other distinguished men of that early period with whom I have spoken and shaken hands, such as Jacob Burnet, that great lawyer and Judge, who came to Ohio in 1796, and remained here until his death in 1853; William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, whose history is identified with the Northwest territory, and the state of Ohio, from 1795 or earlier, until his death at the White House in Washington City in April, 1841, while President of the United States, Duncan McArthur, whose services in peace and war are known to us all, and who died at his Fruit Hill home, near this city, in 1840. Long will his memory be honored and revered; William Creighton, Jr., who passed through Chillicothe on his way to Kentucky in 1796, looking for a location, and after returning to Virginia, again came, in 1798, to Chillicothe, where he made his permanent home. After the admission of Ohio into the Union, he was our first Secretary of State; afterward U. S. Attorney for the District of Ohio; then a member of the Ohio Legislaure, and a member of the United States Congress in which office he served at intervals, for many years. He was president of the Branch bank of the United States in Chillicothe during its existence, and was appointed to the office of Unied States District Judge in 1828, which he held until March 4th, 1829. After his retirement from Congress in 1833 he was not again a candidate for any public office. He was, along with Col. Wm. Key Bond, my preceptor in law studies from 1837 to 1840, and afterward my partner in practice. I never knew a more genial and kindly man, a more sincere lover of the poor, or a stancher friend. He died October 2, 1851.

Did time permit, I might swell this list to a very large number of the eminent men of that early period with whom I was personally acquainted.

The change in the face of the country which has taken place in that part of the great West which constitutes the state of Ohio, since the adoption of the state Constitution in 1802, and the present time, might well challenge comment, as most extraordinary and wonderful. but we must hasten to consider the story of the old house memorable in the history of the state, as the first statehouse of Ohio.

My early recollection of the court house square, bounded east by Paint street, north by the alley between Second and Main streets, west by private property (now the Presbyterian church), and south by Main street, goes back to a period when there were but three houses on the lot. These were the court house proper, of stone, about sixty feet square, curving outwardly on the west side; another brick house of two stories of about the same size as the court house, which stood about ten feet south of it, fronting toward Main street, the upper story of which was connected with the upper story of the court house by an enclosed corridor, lighted by windows on either side. The third house was the jail, in the rear of the court house, in which William Rutledge, the jailer, resided with his family.

I was told in my childhood that the brick house fronting toward Main street had been a part of the state house prior to the removal of the capital from Chillicothe to Columbus, the lower story being occupied by the state offices, and the upper story by the Ohio Senate; while the upper story of the court house was occupied by the House of Representatives, the enclosed corridor being the means of communication between the two houses, through which a sergeant-at-arms could pass, or one body join the other when required to meet in joint session.

The lower room of the court house proper was used for the sittings of the United States District and Circuit courts, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the Court of Common Pleas of the county.

I do not remember the tearing down and removal of the building which had its frontage toward Main street. It was prob