A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

1998 during the construction of the new football stadium. In 1910 Orville built a factory at 1230Knowlton Street, Cumminsville and changed the name to the Orville Simpson Company. The businesswas continued by his son, Lowe, who designed the first flour sifter in 1912 for a customer. He wasfollowed in turn by his son, Jeremy, until 1988 when the first non-Simpson became its president. Thecompany produces screening machines and is in business today under the name of Rotex. 32 The siftersallow for sifting, grading and sorting raw materials - from wheat to plastics.Orville died in 1944. He originally built a house on land that extended from the end of Salvia to theCollege Hill Presbyterian Church. It was a white frame house facing Hamilton Avenue that set back fromthe street with a wide lawn. The family later moved and remodeled the house on Hillcrest.Frank H. Simpson’s son, Harold, built his house at 5675 Meryton Lane. Designed in 1891 by SamuelHannaford at the behest of Frank, the property was also known as the Simpson weaning house. Frank’sdaughter, Frances, married Charles Upson. Charles Upson had two brothers, Mark, who became asurgeon, and Herbert, who married Virginia Anderson, a relative of the Henshaw’s. James Bowman andhis daughter, Eleanor McKiney, also owned this house.George W. Smith 33 lived on Larch Avenue and was a plumber and heating contractor. Active in hiscommunity, he was one of the builders of the original swimming pool of Town Hall. Others aiding in theconstruction were Charles Eisen, Clarence Dutell-a carpenter that lived on Savannah Avenue, PeterDouglas, George Fox, R. J. Dessauer, Willis and Rae Strief, Harry Toepfer, Edward Schnier, Sam Jonesand Bill and Joe Hohmann. George Smith had three children: Ruth, Chester Arthur and Virginia. Ruthmarried William Hammelrath. Ruth has a vivid College Hill memory of W.W. I - that they picked oakum.During the school day, they picked the heavy fibers of the oily, smelly plants, which were brought to theschool by the Red Cross. Ruth and William had two children who grew up in College Hill: Smith andSusan.There also was a Thomson family in Northside, but NOT connected to the Thomson’s of College Hill.Another Peter Thomson had a son named Alexander. Alexander’s brother John married Janet Langlands.John’s estate, “Willowburn,” was in Northside to the rear of the Presbyterian church. The house was builtin the Greek Revival style and was built by a willow bordered stream. The street next to the property wasnamed Brookside. In 1870 Janet Thomson owned 49,250 acres of Northside.Janet’s father was Alexander Langlands, one of the original property owners in Northside. Alexanderbought 217 acres and built his home on a rise in 1822 at the corner of Blue Rock and Fergus streets. Laterthis home was owned by Ephraim Knowlton. Alexander and his wife were part of a group of seventeenpeople that immigrated from Campbellstown, Argylshire, Scotland in 1822 and settled in Ludlow’sStation. Others in this party were the Rev. Riske, who married Israel Ludlow’s widow, Rev. David Fergusand his wife Janet Black and their daughters, Mary and Janet, who was Alexander Langland’s wife. Theycrossed the ocean together and ...journeyed by teams to Fort Pitt. There they built rafts and floated downthe Ohio to Fort Washington. At Marietta the women were left, probably on account of the approach ofwinter and the security of the settlement. 34At the time of Ludlow’s Station, the land was heavily forested. Willow trees grew along the banks ofthe Mill Creek, which had catfish, bass, salmon and sunfish. Herons waded along the shallows. The landwas fertile and welcomed the settlers after a long journey.Paul Sterling Ward built the house at 1646 Cedar Avenue. He was an engineer and inventor, best known32 Rotex thrives with focus on handling raw materials, Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 19, 1988, page D-14,33 Oral history interview, Ruth Smith Hammelrath, Feb. 20, 1995.34 Souvenir History of Cumminsville, 1911.194