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Read all about Butler County History below.
WCPO Visits BCHS to learn about Mosler Safe Company
In June 2025 WCPO visited the BCHS to learn more about The Mosler Safe Company and their tie to Hiroshima and the atomic bomb.
History of the Jefferson Theatre in Hamilton in early 1900s
Opening night audience at the Jefferson Theatre, March 31, 1903. L.C. OVERPECK
The city’s Globe Opera House, built in 1866 as the Dixon Opera House, had artificial gas theatre lighting and a stage too small to meet the production needs of even modest sized traveling theatrical companies. The Music Hall, erected in 1882, also had a small stage that was inadequate for most theatrical road companies. Even though the Globe and Music Hall had a spirited rivalry to offer popular productions to area residents, many people traveled to Cincinnati to attend top theatre entertainment.
Tom A. Smith was manager of the Globe Opera House. CONTRIBUTED
By 1898, Tom A. Smith, manager of the Globe Opera House, began an effort to get a new legitimate theatre for Hamilton. Smith also managed the new Lindenwald Amusement Park and its 2,000-seat open-air theatre which opened in 1898. Smith met with local citizens to discuss his idea and a committee was formed on April 18, 1901 to work toward making a new theatre a reality. Members of the committee included George P. Sohngen, as head, William M. Dingfelder, Samuel D. Fitton, Homer Gard, Charles E. Heiser, Calvin E. Hemp, O. V. Parrish, James W. See, and John C. Slayback.
On May 12, 1901, Smith began corresponding with George H. Johnson, a major theatre builder and promoter in St. Louis, Missouri. Johnson had experience building opera houses in small towns throughout the Midwest and South. During his lifetime, he built 79 theatres in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma.
George H. Johnson was a major theatre builder and promoter in St. Louis, Missouri. CONTRIBUTED
Johnson, proposed building a modern, up-to-date theatre to cost from $45,000 to $48,000 (equivalent to about $1,650,000 to $1,760,000 in 2024) with a seating capacity of at least 1,250. In exchange, the people of Hamilton had to purchase all seats for the first performance in the theatre at a cost of $10 each. The $12,500 would be paid to Johnson who also expected to sell the theatre to anyone making an acceptable offer. At first, the theatre was named “The Hamilton” but the citizen’s committee decided to change its name to “The Jefferson” in honor of Joseph Jefferson, the actor widely considered to be America’s greatest actor and comedian.
The Jefferson was a modern, state-of-the-art theatre. Its entrance featured an attractive 20 foot by 16 foot lobby with mosaic tile flooring and an adjacent carpeted foyer. The first floor included a lady’s parlor and toilet, a gentlemen’s smoking room and toilet, manager’s private office and a ticket office. The stage was 70 feet wide by 40 feet deep with a 32 foot high proscenium opening. There was a fly gallery 54 feet above the stage floor and the stage area was lit by 800 electric lights. The auditorium had a seating capacity of 1,593 with 500 seats on the first floor, 493 seats in the first balcony and 600 seats in the second balcony. All public areas were finished in blue, red, yellow and gold with red velvet draperies and carpeting.
Even though the architect of record was Hamilton’s Frederick Mueller, the original plans for the theatre presented by Johnson were designed by John Eberson, an architect working for Johnson’s Realty and Construction Company in St. Louis. After Johnson’s death in 1908, Eberson started his own architectural firm in Hamilton and designed the Jewel Theatre, a nickelodeon located on the corner of 2nd Street and Court Street. Eberson would go on to design more than 100 movie theatres in dozens of states and nearly 400 other structures during his life.
The Jefferson Theatre opened on March 31, 1903 with a performance of “The Emerald Isle,” a two-act comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and Edward German, and a libretto by Basil Hood. The opera had a 205 performance run in London, from April 27 through Nov. 9, 1901, at the Savoy Theatre. The show was then produced in New York City by Sam Shubert at the Herald Square Theatre for 50 performances, running from Sept. 1 through Oct. 18, 1902. That Broadway production featured Jefferson DeAngelis and his opera company.
DeAngelis took his entire New York production, including all of its scenery and cast of 70, on the road. The company performed the opera in states throughout the East, Midwest, South and Canada in 1902 and 1903. During the month before the company’s appearance at the Jefferson, DeAngelis and his troupe gave performances in Chicago (March 1-8); Freeport, Illinois (9th); Davenport, Iowa (12th); Rock Island, Illinois (13th); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (14th); South Bend, Indiana (19th); Marion, Indiana (20th); Muncie, Indiana (23rd); Lima, Ohio (24th); Sandusky, Ohio (26th) and Marion, Indiana again (28th).
An audience of almost 1,800 attended the Jefferson’s opening night performance, each paying $10 per seat (equivalent to about $358 in 2024). Nearly all patrons wore full evening dress, formal wear, costly gowns or their finest clothes for the event. It was truly the gala social event of the year. A second performance of the opera was given April 1 when the ticket prices ranged from $0.25 for gallery seats to $1.50 for first floor seats.
The Hamilton Evening Democrat (April 1, 1903), reported that nearly all theatre-goers expressed great admiration for the beauty, comfort and high quality of the materials used in the theatre’s construction. The paper reported that “the superb stage setting, scenery, light effects, size of the stage, all were such that the audience clapped their hands in pleasure. The Hamilton Evening Sun (April 1, 1903) said the production of “The Emerald Isle” was “a musical treat” and that it was “a high class stage attraction and well chosen for the inaugural night.” L. C. Overpeck, a Hamilton photographer, took a souvenir photo of the audience to commemorate the occasion.
On May 9, about six weeks after the Jefferson opened, Tom A. Smith purchased the theatre for $35,000 (equivalent to about $1,250,000 today) and renamed it “Smith’s Theatre.” During the first year of his ownership of the theatre, Smith booked productions provided by several traveling stock companies, small road companies that specialized in “one-night stand” cities, lecturers, local talent shows, club presentations and graduation ceremonies of Hamilton High School’s Class of 1903. A surprising variety of minstrel shows, dramas, vaudeville shows, comedies, plays, musicals, operas, melodramas, and star-centered productions appeared at the theatre.
A little more than a year after the Jefferson had opened, Joseph Jefferson played the theatre named after him on April 23, 1904. Jefferson, at the age of 76, acted two of his most famous roles: Rip Van Winkle during a matinee and Bob Acres in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comedy of manners play The Rivals in the evening. Sheridan’s play, written in 1775, was thought to be George Washington’s favorite play. Jefferson had adapted Washington Irving’s story into a play in 1859 and had played the Van Winkle character for more than 40 years. He had performed the role in Hamilton’s Miami Hall in February 1864 and returned to play the role at Dixon’s Opera House in October 1874 and again in February 1876. His Hamilton performance in 1904 was among the last performances of his acting career which he ended on May 7, 1904.
The Hamilton Evening Democrat (April 25, 1904) reported that Jefferson “gave the best performance, from an artistic standpoint, ever seen in Hamilton. Mr. Jefferson was superb. From the viewpoint of high art, the Jefferson engagements have never been surpassed in Hamilton and those persons who attended were more than repaid.”
Several other major well-known stars played Smith’s Theatre between 1904 and 1914 including George M. Cohan and the Four Cohans, Minnie Maddern Fiske, Richard Mansfield, and many others under contract with the Klaw and Erlanger Theatrical Syndicate prior to 1910 and with the Shubert Brothers booking agency from 1911 onwards. A steady stream of top-notch theatrical talent and popular productions appeared on the Smith’s Theatre’s stage.
The theatre remained known as Smith’s Theatre until Smith sold it on Feb. 14, 1914, to John H. Broomhall and John A. Schwalm, owners of Hamilton’s Jewel Theatre nickelodeon. Smith, who had three toes amputated due to gangrene poisoning related to his diabetes mellitus, died on May 22, 1914, about three months after selling the theatre. Broomhall and Schwalm changed the theatre’s name back to the Jefferson Theatre and pledged to show “the latest photo-plays, the pick of American and European productions, and the latest and best four, five and six reel, all-star productions.” (Hamilton Journal News, February 18, 1914).
Jefferson’s new owners offered the public a variety of traveling road company productions created by the theatrical syndicate, the Schubert Brothers and other independent booking agents. Silent movies were shown when traveling stock companies were unavailable for booking. In 1918, Broomhall and Schwalm acquired the Grand Theatre and converted it from a vaudeville house to a silent movie theatre. They contracted with Hollywood studios to show the films of major stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Billie Burke and films directed by D. W. Griffith. In 1920, the two men opened another movie house, the Rialto Theatre, in the remodeled St. Charles Hotel on High Street.
Early in the morning of Jan. 4, 1928, an explosion of undetermined origin rocked the Jefferson Theatre and started a fire that completely destroyed the building. Multiple alarms were raised between 6:40 a.m. and 7 a.m. and the city’s fire fighters were immediately mobilized. When they arrived, the building was completely engulfed in flames. The theatre’s rear wall collapsed at 7:15 a.m. and a second wall fell at 7:30 a.m. The fire occurred when the temperature was near zero degrees, causing the firemen to be covered in ice as they fought the blaze.
There were no fatalities caused by the fire but more than 50 renters of rooms in the building were made homeless. A parrot named Pollyanna, owned by James Blount, the father of long-time Journal News editor Jim Blount, died in the fire. The bird had appeared in the previous week’s production of The Mystery Ship.
Several businesses on the ground floor of the structure including the Singer Sewing Machine Company, the Wurlitzer Company, Hollywood Beauty Shop, and the Underwood Typewriter Company had substantial losses. Samuel Broomhall, the Jefferson’s owner, indicated that his company’s loss was about $100,000. The total loss from the fire was estimated to be about $200,000 (equivalent to about $3,690,000 in 2024). Even though Broomhall and Schwalm said they would rebuild the theatre, they did not.
The Jefferson was the last legitimate theatre in Hamilton. Its 25-year history was marked by the appearance of high-quality theatre; well-known and revered stars of the stage and silent movies; and an enviable variety of entertainment. It was an artistic success, one which raised the cultural standards of the community.
1913 Flood Slide Show Lesson
American Heritage Chocolate available at BCHS Bookstore
American Heritage Chocolate is made with an authentic 17th century recipe.
The Butler County Historical Society is the only place in Ohio where you can taste and purchase American Heritage Chocolate, made exclusively for museums and living history sites with a focus on education.
As an official distributor of American Heritage Chocolates, the BCHS is in the company of select sites such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Old North Church in Boston, and the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia.
The chocolates are produced using small-scale equipment with much of the process and packaging done by hand, reminiscent of how it would have been done in the 1600-1700s. It is an authentic historic chocolate product that uses only ingredients available in the 17th Century.
American Heritage Chocolate was developed by MARS to “share the delicious transformation of chocolate’s flavor, texture and format through the ages.”
For more chocolate history, visit the American Heritage Chocolate Facebook page.
We offer at our bookstore:
- Single sticks, $1.50
- Individually Wrapped Chocolate Bites, $7
- Chocolate Baking Block, $12.00
- Canister of Chocolate Drink Mix, $22
1855 Map of Butler County
In 2005, the Butler County Historical Society was given a unique gift from an anonymous donor.
When staff members unfurled the gift to see exactly what it was, they were amazed. Before them was an original 1855 Map of Butler County, Ohio.
The significance of this map was immediately realized; only one other original is known to exist within Butler County.
Because of its rarity, the 1855 Map of Butler County, Ohio has never before been reproduced. The informational value of the Map is a prized attribute. The Map identifies land owners and acreages associated with each plot.
Hamilton Legend: John C. Elliott, U.S. Marshal
A few weeks ago, I was toasting the last episode of the television series “Justified,” based on characters by the crime writer Elmore Leonard. The hero is a federal marshal, Raylan Givens, and in the seven year run of the show, he became my favorite TV tough guy.
Not John C. Elliott, but Timothy Olyphant, who played U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the recently-completed series “Justified,” based on characters created by Elmore Leonard. FX Network promotional photo.
A day or two later, I was looking something up in Stephen D. Cone’s Biographical and Historical Sketches: A Narrative of Hamilton and Its Residents (1896) , and stumbled upon a passage reminding me that Hamilton had its own tough guy marshal back in the day, a slave chaser named John C. Elliott.
His earliest claim to fame was as the man who most likely killed the founding Mormon prophet Joseph Smith while his tribe was making its way West. Having been expelled from Ohio and Missouri, the Mormons founded the city of Nauvoo in Illinois in 1839. By 1844, the city had grown to over 15,000, bigger than Chicago at the time, and Smith’s popularity was such that he decided to make a run for the Presidency of the United States.
It’s not clear from Cone and other sources how Elliott got called into service. Some Mormon lore attributes the murder of Joseph Smith to the Masons. According to Junius and Joseph by Robert S. Wicks and Fred R. Foister, a book regarding Smith’s presidential aspirations and assassination, Elliott spent the early 1840s as a woodcutter, clearing land between Hamilton and Cincinnati. He helped Jacob Burnet, a U.S. Senator and prominent Mason, in a land dispute and was thus owed a favor. In 1843, he went to Warsaw, Illinois, near Nauvoo, posing as a school teacher but working undercover for the U.S. Marshal Service.
Another Masonic connection could be that William Chittendon, who was among a group of militiamen to assail the jail that held Joseph Smith that fateful night. Chittendon was from Oxford and his father, Abraham, was the founding master of the Oxford Masonic Lodge. He and Elliott were about the same age. But true to the oath of silence sworn by the assailants, Chittendon mentioned no names.
Cone said that “a secret national call was made for men in the adjoining states to come forward and expel the Mormons,” which may support the Masonic theory, and John C. Elliott of Hamilton answered the call.
Cone described Elliott as “bold, courageous and brave, a man perfectly devoid of fear.” Before he left for Illinois, he visited Rossville’s ax-maker William C. Stephenson, who lived on Boudinot Street, now Park Avenue, to borrow a rifle made by Jacob Neinmeyer of Trenton.”
“Interior of Carthage Jail” by C.C.A. Christensen, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, public domain
The Nauvoo Neighbor, cited by Wick and Foister, said that when he arrived in Nauvoo, Elliot “looked to be a man of some twenty six or eight years; nearly five feet eight inches tall; stoutly built and athletic. He had on a jeans coat with large pearl buttons, which was untied at the upper part of his breast in a careless manner. The pants … were considerably tattered. This dress was covered by an overcoat, cut from a green Mackinaw blanket. When he doffed his white nutria hat, it disclosed a prominent forehead and a rather disordered head of black hair. His countenance was dark; his eyes were hazel and sunk to a considerable depth in his head, over which jutted out his heavy dark eyebrows, which a continual scowl knit closely together, giving him at once a savage and heartless look… he flourished a pearl-handled dirk knife, which he plied with considerable dexterity in the cavity of his ample mouth, which filled the office of a toothpick.”
Before the raid on the jail, Elliott ran into some trouble trying to serve a warrant on a man named Avery and was arrested, charged with kidnapping. He escaped custody and was apparently not pursued.
Cone wrote, “On his arrival he found that Joe and Hyrum Smith and members of the Nauvoo council had been committed to jail on the charge of treason. The jail was a large two-story stone building, a portion of which was occupied by the jailer, and the remainder of the interior, consisting of cells for the confinement of prisoners and one large room. The Smiths were confined in the cells, but were finally transferred to the large room. Governor Ford ordered a guard placed around the jail for protection of the prisoners.
Carthage Jail today, Deseret News, Creative Commons
“The Carthage Grays, a military company one hundred strong, was stationed in the court house square for the purpose of repelling an attack on the jail and the prisoners confined therein. The conspirators, who numbered two hundred brave and determined men, communicated with the Carthage Grays, and it was arranged that the jail guard should have their guns charged with blank cartridges and fire at the attacking party as it neared the jail.
“For his cool and daring bravery, John C. Elliott was selected as one of the advance assailants. The attacking party came up and scaled the picket fence around the jail; were fired upon by the guard, which was immediately overpowered, and the assailants opened the jail. The jail door was battered down, and as it burst open, Joe Smith shot three of his assailants. At this time a number of shots were fired into the room, Smith attempted to escape by jumping from the second story window and fell against the curb of an old fashioned well. The fall stunned him; he was unable to rise, and while in a sitting position, the conspirators dispatched him with four rifle balls through the body. The rifle that John C. Elliott carried ran forty-four to the pound, which was the largest bore in the attacking party. Upon examination of Smith’s body, it was found that John C. Elliot had fired the fatal shot.
“After the assassination of Joe Smith the excitement at Nauvoo was at fever heat. John C. Elliott and his confederates in the shooting were arrested. Nauvoo was not deemed a safe place for their incarceration, owing to the bitter Mormon feeling against the Gentiles. Accordingly, they were spirited to Jacksonville, where they were liberated by a mob. No effort was ever made to apprehend them, and John C. Elliott returned to Hamilton, where he played an important part in the drama of passing events. He was a terror to evil doers, and in the performance of his duties as United States Marshal and City marshal of Hamilton made enemies by the score, and enemies of a most dangerous class.”
Elliott went on to be a slave chaser, and suffered many close calls and even assassination attempts. One of his more famous cases was that of the escaped salve Addison White, detailed in an article “The Rescue Case of 1857” in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, (January 1907).
Addison White portrait wikipedia.org, Creative Commons
Elliott and his posse tracked White to a house in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. The escapee hid in the attic, accessible by one small hole in the ceiling in the room below. Since his escape, he had learned how to shoot a pistol, and sat in the attic with his gun pointed at the entrance. Undaunted, Marshall Elliott climbed the ladder and poked his head through the opening. Fortunately, he held his rifle in front of him, and White’s bullet glanced off its barrel and grazed Elliott’s cheek and took a small piece of his ear.
By that time, the people of Mechanicsburg gathered outside the house, vastly outnumbering the federal posse, and the arrest of Addison White was abandoned for a time. Before the issue was settled, Elliott faced charges of assault with intent to kill against a county sheriff, but the charges were eventually dropped.
On another occasion, he chased a runaway slave to the house of a Cincinnati newspaper editor. That man, too, barricaded himself inside. Elliott managed to gain admission through a transom, but received two good stab wounds from the slave’s Spanish dirk. They were serious wounds, but Elliott recovered.
He also served as Hamilton’s town marshal in the days before there was a proper police department, and when the Civil War broke out, Elliott enlisted in Company F, Third Ohio. It was during this service that the marshal reached a rather inauspicious end.
“While his company was encamped near Tuscumbia, Ala., in the fall of 1864,” Cone wrote, “he was engaged in a friendly wrestling match with one of his comrades. He was thrown violently to the ground, rupturing a blood vessel and dying almost instantly.”