Here’s a Letter Endorsed by One of the Founders and Developers of Columbus, Ohio

WILLIAM “BILLY” NEIL

(1788 – 1870)

CO-FOUNDER and DEVELOPER OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO,

RAILROAD ENTREPRENEUR – INVOLVED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST RAILROAD TO XENIA, “THE COLUMBUS & XENIA RAILROAD,” and OPERATOR OF RAIL LINES TO CLEVELAND and INDIANA,

“STAGE COACH KING” OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, OWNING LINES TO WHEELING, CLEVELAND, SANDUSKY, MARIETTA AND INDIANAPOLIS, and AT ONE POINT HE OWNED ALL OF THE STAGE LINES FROM CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND TO ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,

BY 1853 OWNED ALL OF THE LAND FROM WEST OF HIGH STREET TO THE OLENTANGY RIVER, SOUTH TO FIRST AVENUE, AND NORTH TO LANE AVENUE BY THE YEAR 1853,

OWNER OF THE 300 ACRE ‘NEIL FARM’ WHICH LATER BECAME THE SITE FOR THE MAIN CAMPUS OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY (OSU),

FRIEND OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

-&-

HOTELIER – CONSTRUCTING THE FIRST OF THREE “NEIL HOUSE HOTELS” WHICH STOOD ACROSS FROM THE COLUMBUS, O. STATEHOUSE UNTIL 1974!

The Letter is also written and Signed by

DR. NATHANIEL M. MILLER

PROMINENT PHYSICIAN IN COLUMBUS, O.

HERE'S AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY MILLER and ENDORSED BY NEIL: “I fully concur in the above statements,” BEING A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FOR DR. LORENZO D. RUSH (1819-1870) AS A SURGEON IN THE U.S. NAVY, 1p., DATED AT COLUMBUS, OHIO, OCT. 4, 1841, and WRITTEN TO

ABEL P. UPSHUR

(1790 - 1844)

13^th UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 1841-1843, and 15^th UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE 1843-1844 APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT TYLER

The document measures 8” x 10” and is in very fine condition for its advanced age.

A Fine Relic of Mid-19^th Century American Naval History!

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF WILLIAM NEIL

William Neil

Birth 4 Dec 1788, Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, USA

Death 18 May 1870 (aged 81), Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio

Burial Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio

Plot Section O Lot 18

William was a large, outgoing, and ambitious man determined to make a fortune. His first successful business was a tavern on High Street, across from the Statehouse.

In 1827, William purchased 300 acres of farmland just north of downtown Columbus from Joseph Vance, and by 1853 owned all of the land from west of High Street to the Olentangy River, south to First Avenue, and north to Lane Avenue. He constructed a road on the property to reach his farm, which later became known as Neil Avenue.

In 1839, he began the construction of the first of three Neil House Hotels at a cost of $100,000, which stood across from the statehouse until 1974. He also ventured into the stage coach business, owning lines to Wheeling, Cleveland, Sandusky, Marietta and Indianapolis, and at one point it was said that he own all of the stage lines from Cumberland, Maryland to St. Louis.

By 1845 he had ventured into the railroad industry, the new transportation technology from that time. He was involved in the construction of the first rail to Xenia, and would operate rail lines to Cleveland and Indiana.

Mr. Neil was considered a leader in Ohio, although he was never a politician. He was friends with many national and state officials, including U.S. President William Henry Harrison, in which a cane Neil used was made from a buckeye tree given to him by Harrison.

Wiliam was married to Hannah Schwing, one of the city's most charitable characters and founder of the Columbus Female Benevolent Society, Hannah Neil Mission, and Home for the Friendless. William and his wife Hannah each played significant roles in the early development of Columbus.

Their children included Ohio First Lady Anne Neil Dennison, Elizabeth McMillen, wife of William McMillen, as well as four sons, William Jr., John, Robert E., and Col. Henry.

Bio by: Preserving the Past

William Neil arrived in Columbus in 1818 just a few years after Columbus was first formed. Before that, he had been a resident of Urbana, having moved there from Kentucky in 1815. It was at Urbana, as we shall later see, that he became acquainted with the Vance family. Mr. Neil was born in 1788 in Virginia. Several years after his birth, the Neil family moved to Kentucky. In the following years, William learned to be a stonemason.

William Neil was an entrepreneur at heart with plenty of drive, but this drive would cost him until he learned how to be a businessman. His first business venture failed. Along with another partner, the pair constructed a keel boat and floated a cargo of wheat down the Scioto River, onto the Ohio and then into the Mississippi to New Orleans. The business, however, turned out unsuccessfully and Mr. Neil and his partner found themselves $6,000 in debt after the misadventure.

In 1827, William Neil purchased some 300-acres north of Columbus from Joseph Vance, who would later become the 13th Governor of Ohio. It was Vance that first introduced Neil to Columbus in 1818. This land would ultimately become the site of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, now Ohio State University, after William donated the land to the state in 1870. By 1853, Neil had purchased almost all the land west of High Street to the Olentangy River, north to Lane Avenue and south to around First Avenue. His house was located just south of where Union Hall is located today. To get to his farm, Neil built a road from the downtown to his farm. This road is known today as Neil Avenue.

Just to the east of William Neil's property on what is today OSU, Neil built a house in 1856 for his oldest son Robert on a ridge just east of North High Street. The house was constructed on top of an Indian mound. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Robert Neil was one of the first to volunteer from Columbus. A year later in the Battle of Iuka in Indianola, MIssissippi, Robert was wounded 3 times. After returning from the war, Robert began calling his large brick house Indianola, and the long circular road leading up to the house he referred to it as Iuka Drive. When the Neil's farm house burned down, William Neil moved into the Indianola property with Robert. Today that house is still standing and is home to Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

At some point William Neil acquired a mistrust of banks. Perhaps it was the time he spent working as a bank cashier in Urbana and again at the Franklin Bank in Columbus. Whatever the reason, he chose to invest what money he had into either more business ventures or land. One of his first purchases was a stage coach line that operated between Columbus and Granville. This became a success that bred additional successes in the stage coaching business. In time he would become known as the "Stage King."

William Neil soon acquired other stage lines including one to Wheeling, one to Cleveland and one from Cleveland to Buffalo. He also owned a line to Sandusky from Columbus that ran through Delaware and Marion, another line that ran to Marietta, one to Cincinnati, and one leading towards Indianapolis. At one time, Mr. Neil was reputed to own all the stage lines from Cumberland, Md., to St. Louis, Missouri. He became associated with David W. Deshler, a prominent Columbus leader, whose name also was associated with a famous hotel in the capital city later on.

Neil was not just about stage coaches. He was more about serving what the people needed to get from one place to another. He was in his own way, a transportation mogul. When new technology came along like the invention of the railroad, he got involved with that.

In the late 1840s, perhaps sensing that times were changing, Neil moved most of his stage coaches further west where the railroad had not yet made a major impact. Shortly after that move, he sold off his interests in the stage coach lines. It was time for Neil to invest in new technology.

Railroad building became a factor in Ohio's development the company owned by Neil, Deshler, and Alfred Kelley, built the first railroad to Xenia, Ohio, completing the line in 1845. The company also built and operated railroads between Columbus and Cleveland, Columbus and Indiana. The Pennsylvania Railroad later took over most of these rail lines, which are still operating today, largely as freight systems. Mr. Neil at one time was associated with practically every line leading out of Columbus.

Neil later also owned a large cattle yard just to the west and north of where the old Ohio State Prison stood over to the Olentangy River. These stockyards provided much of the meat and leather for Central Ohio.

About 10 years before his death, William divided among his children property worth over a million dollars.

William Neil was an energetic character, who commanded large resources. It was said that William Neil worked 15 or 16 hours a day. Even at the age of 75, he was still able to take long horseback rides for business. Although not a politician, William Neil proved a leader in not only Columbus, but also the Ohio. He was friends with presidents, in fact, he carried a cane throughout his life, made out of a buckeye tree that William Henry Harrison gave to him in 1840. Neil was results oriented and who laid much of the foundation upon which the Columbus of today is built. William Neil died in 1870.

From "The Old Pike" by Thomas Searight about William Neil:

It is said his manners were not of the suave order, but he was noted for energy and shrewdness. One who knew him says of him, that "he was honest in his dealings, somewhat rough in his ways, but an energetic, pushing man, who made things move.

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