John R. Hankey was probably Bowling Green's most
prominent citizen during the 1880s and 1890s. Active in state
politics and numerous fraternal organizations, Hankey was directly
involved in much of the cities downtown development. In addition to
his real-estate holdings that included the Opera House and the
"Hankey Block" on Main Street,Hankey was a co-founder and
vice-president of Bowling Green's First National Bank. An astute
capitalist, Hankey's varied business interests included a
Planing-mill, two glass works, a foundry and machine shop, and
speculations in natural gas and oil.
Hankey was born in Wayne county Ohio on March 16,
1843. The son of farmers, he was educated in Marshallville, then at
age fifteen moved to Wooster, Ohio where he worked as a clerk in a
clothing store. During the Civil War, Hankey experienced an active
tour of duty fighting in numerous campaigns including the second
battle of Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Although
occasionally wounded and eventually stricken with typhoid, Hankey
avoided severe injury and returned to Wooster.
In June 1867 Hankey began a ten year career as a
traveling representative for a Philadelphia woolen-goods house.
During this period he became a co-owner of a clothing store in
Finally, Ohio (1869-71) and later established a similar business with
different partners in Bowling Green (1874-77).
In April 1877 Hankey moved his family to Bowling
Green. He began to deal in real estate and rapidly expanded into
other financial opportunities available at the time. Throughout the
1890s Hankey served as the township treasurer, was a member of the
school board and a trustee of the State Blind Asylum. In1895 Hankey
was elected state senator for the thirty-third district.
A successful attorney working in Bowling Green
throughout the 1890s, Ira C. Taber was periodically involved in real
estate investment. The son of Nelson D. and Samantha M. Taber, Ira
was born in New Rochester, Freedom township, Ohio on October 6, 1860.
He attended the district schools of Freedom until 1877 when he
entered the newly established Bowling Green Public Schools. In 1882
Taber began to study law in the office of local attorney Frank A.
Baldwin. Subsequently, he attended the Cincinnati Law School,
graduating in 1885. Taber returned to Bowling Green to establish a
practice specualizing in civil law.
In 1895 he entered into a partnership with C.R. Painter and became
council to National Supply Company of Toledo, a corporation connected
to the oil industry.
An important member of Bowling Green's late
nineteenth century financial community, Murray Chidester was born on
a farm in Crawford County, Pennsylvania on March 14, 1859. In May
1887 Chidester married Agnetta Dell Brown. Three years later, the
couple migrated to Bays, Ohio where Murray began to work in the oil
fields. Chidester soon noticed that the impatience of well-owners
resulted in their abandoning property when the wells began to fill
with salt water.
He suspected such situations could be transformed
into paying wells simply through investing the extra time to pump
away the water. Chidester purchased such a well outside of Bays and
devoted several days to continous mechanical pumping. This
perseverance paid off; Chidester's well proved extremely successful
and provided him with the capital to expand into real-estate
investments in Bowling Green.
The Chidesters had one child, Murray Brown
Chidester, born in 1899. Murray Banks Chidester died on March 9,
1906.