From Portage to Village: the Story of Morral
04-02-2002
News:
The 2002 edition of the Marion County Township Heritage Project focuses on Big Island, Salt Rock, and Grand Prairie Townships. An exhibition, "Harvesting the Prairie: Big Island, Salt Rock, and Grand Prairie Townships," will open at the MCHS Museum in June. A free public program, "Our Woodland Heritage," will be presented by Regional Forester Harold Bower at the Heritage Hall Auditorium on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:30 PM. This topic fits well with the 2002 Township Heritage Project, which will include natural history as one of its major themes.
My guest columnist this month is Annalisha Fragmin, a senior at Heidelberg College majoring in history. She is currently serving as an intern at The Marion County Historical Society. One of her primary responsibilities has been to conduct preliminary research for Year Four of the Township Heritage Project. This column is a product of her research.
From Portage to Village: the Story of Morral
When Native Americans would travel from Canada to Tennessee for fighting and hunting purposes, they would travel up the Little Sandusky River to a place which is estimated to be at or near present day Morral village. This place was called the Portage, or carrying place. From the Portage, they would head back to the Little Scioto, heading east to the Scioto River. From there they would go down the Scioto to the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers where "dark and bloody battlegrounds" were awaiting them.
While settlers certainly existed in the Morral area, the village did not become official until the railroad came to town. Essentially, Morral village owes its existence to the railroad. Prior to the railroad's introduction, the area had been all agriculture, primarily wheat, oats, corn, and hay. However, agriculture brought to Morral the same problem it brought many of the county villages. A lack of transportation was a main concern of these early agriculturists. When talk of a railroad through Marion County began to surface, some of the earliest supporters were the small gatherings of farmers, such as existed in Morral. These farmers realized the advantages additional transportation would have for their farming businesses.
In Morral's case, two of the biggest supporters of the railroad were farmer/auctioneer Samuel Morral and his friend, Jacob Neff. When the promoters of the Columbus and Toledo Railroad announced it would include Salt Rock Township as part of its route, Morral and Neff began to sell commercial and residential lots. They in turn transferred these lots to Thomas E. Berry. As a result, the new village was filed with the county recorder on September 1, 1875. The main street in the village, Neff Street, was named after Jacob Neff. The village name, of course, came from Samuel Morral, perhaps fittingly. Samuel Morral's father, Captain William Morral, was a War of 1812 veteran. Captain Morral had traveled through Marion County during the war and the Virginia native was so impressed by the unsettled land that he brought his family, including 18 year-old Samuel, to settle in Marion County in 1818, some of the county's earliest settlers.
Thanks to Samuel Morral and Jacob Neff, the railroad company chose Morral as the route through Salt Rock Township. It took almost two years, beginning in 1875, and the last spike driven on January 10, 1877. The changes the railroad brought with it to the village were drastic. With the railroad came the first grain elevator and stock loading pens. Interestingly enough, one of the owners of an early elevator was Samuel Morral's son, Samuel II, born in 1829. Another one of the owners of the elevator was John Wasburn, who along with Ezekiel Browne, would donate the nine acres of the Wasburn-Browne park in 1911.
Also owing its existence to the railroad in Morral was the Morral Lumber and Elevator Company. Formed almost immediately after the railroad's introduction, this company's name literally described its purpose. Years later, the company would add the sale and distribution of petroleum to its functions and become the Morral Supply Company. Their name would undergo yet another change in the 1970s, when they dissolved to become the Morral Oil Company.
The railroad also brought the first official postal service. The first postal office was located at the train depot with the first postmaster being J.P. Barnum. The post office in Morral would change locations often during its history. Its various locations would include the depot, R.O. Richards' store, and a small unnamed building on the north side of Neff Street. A permanent post office would not come to Morral until 1961. On November 18 of that year, a new building was erected specifically to house the post office.
Besides the obvious necessities, the railroad in Morral also brought more superfluous luxuries. By 1878, Sam Lilley maintained and advertised a hotel which he described as "first class accommodations with good stables attached."
All of these businesses brought with them the need to be manned. This in turn brought perhaps the most important of the railroad's influences. The need for labor helped to populate the area. The additional populace, of course, brought the houses closer together, and was the final step in Morral's transition from a cluster of loosely gathered farmers to a full village.
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