Friday, January 01, 1999
Town a powerful contrast
Cinergy plant, Amish settlement define Woodsdale
BY RANDY McNUTT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WOODSDALE - Woodsdale Road winds past rich brown fields and isolated homes until it arrives in the most powerful tiny community in Butler County.
Duke Energy Co. wants to build a 640-megawatt electric generating plant near Cinergy's existing 462-megawatt plant in old Woodsdale.
The electric boom is ironic, for in the early 1800s, Woodsdale was the home of what some consider America's then western-most Amish-Mennonite settlement.
Christian Augspurger led immigrants from Alsace to the Great Miami River, near here. In 1829, they bought land in Madison Township and built a stone farmhouse named Chrisholm. Amish families on their way west stopped there to rest.
Today, Woodsdale isn't much more than the Cinergy plant and the Amish farm, which creates a jarring contrast: 200-foot smokestacks rise near a 19th century farm that still uses horse power and antique farm machinery.
“There's a lot of history here for a little town,” said Kevin Clements of Metro Parks of Butler County, which operates Chrisholm Farmstead at 2070 Woodsdale Road.
Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. (now Cinergy) bought the property in 1989, and in 1992 built the Woodsdale Power Station near a brick farmhouse and huge bank barn built about 1900.
Duke proposes to build its $200 million plant on 36 acres that adjoin Cinergy's property. The company, based in Charlotte, N.C., operates merchant plants — electric generating plants that produce power for the wholesale market.
“If the plant does go in there,” spokesman Danny Gibbs said, “it would be because of the ready interconnection to the electricity grid that Cinergy offers. The demand for electricity goes up with summer usage because of air-conditioner loads.”
At Chrisholm, visitors won't find any high-tech conveniences. The park is maintained with the help of the Butler County Antique Machinery Club, which stores old farm equipment on the grounds. Club member Earl Alsdorf said the group and park district are fortunate to have found each other.
“Renovation continues on both the barn and the house,” said Mr. Clements, MetroParks' special properties coordinator. “Luckily, club members take care of the barn and the facilities. They're just finishing a permanent sawmill. Once we have it operating, we'll be able to mill our own lumber — for restoration of the barn and for demonstration purposes.”
In 1999, the park district expects to receive $280,000 in grants to improve the farm — $180,000 for restoring the Italianate-style house, built in 1874 on the foundation of the original house, which burned in the 1830s.
The town, named for early county leader Thomas Woods, was built by Beckett Paper Co. and Samuel Augspurger in the 1860s. The family built a paper mill there.
“The Amish-Mennonites were responsible for bringing the paper industry into the area,” Mr. Clements said.
Industry helped the town of 100 people acquire a post office, school, grocery and a dry goods store.
Summer visitors came to Woodsdale Island, described by Middletown historian George C. Crout as about 33 acres with a large dance hall, which burned in 1898.
The “island,” between the Miami-Erie Canal and the Great Miami River, featured amusement rides and a river steamboat.
From the 1880s until about 1900, he said, the island was an important resort.
“That was before LeSourdsville Lake opened,” Mr. Crout said. “Woodsdale had a tent city for the people who wanted to live there in the summer. But the place deteriorated as the canal slowed down. In later years, there was some gambling there, and the place slowly disappeared into nothingness.”
FROM ANOTHER TIME
Since 1970, the combined populations of Butler and Warren counties have grown by 147,000 residents to almost 460,000 people, making them two of Ohio's fastest-growing counties.
Each of these counties has a rich past — people and places being overshadowed by new subdivisions and shopping centers.
That's why The Cincinnati Enquirer will be publish stories about a chapter in the history of Butler and Warren counties. The series — From Another Time — is an opportunity to tell new and old residents alike of the area's colorful and forgotten past.
Series writer Randy McNutt has covered Butler and Warren counties for the Enquirer for almost 20 years. He has also written a book, Ghosts: Ohio's Haunted Landscapes, Lost Arts and Forgotten Places.
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