Editing Xenia, Ohio (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Xenia Station Ohio (3592317717).jpg|thumb|[[Xenia Station]] is a replica building based on the original Xenia Station]]
[[File:Ohio - Xenia - NARA - 68147020 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Downtown Xenia in 1930]]
Xenia was founded in 1803, the same year Ohio was admitted to the Union. In that year, Hollander-American pioneer [[John Paul (pioneer)|John Paul]] bought {{convert|2,000|acre|km2}} of land from Thomas and Elizabeth Richardson of [[Hanover County, Virginia]], for "1050 pounds current moneys of Virginia." Paul influenced county commissioners to locate the county seat on this land at the forks of the Shawnee creeks, stimulating development of the settlement here.

Joseph C. Vance was named to survey the site and lay out the town. The following year, he bought the town site of {{convert|257|acre|km2}} from John Paul for $250. The name of the new village was chosen in typically democratic fashion. Vance called a town meeting to discuss possible names. The committee had considered several suggestions without reaching any decision. Then the Rev. Robert Armstrong proposed the name ''"Xenia,"'' meaning "hospitality" in Greek, because of the fine hospitality extended to him in this friendly community. When a tie vote occurred, Laticia Davis, wife of Owen Davis, was invited to cast the deciding ballot. She voted for "Xenia."

The first session of the [[Ohio General Assembly]] created [[Greene County, Ohio|Greene County]] from the [[Northwest Territory]]. It took in the homeland of the [[Shawnee|Shawnee Indians]]. Their chief tribal village was north of Xenia at Old Chillicothe, now called Old Town. The Shawnee war chief [[Tecumseh]] was born there in 1768. The [[Catawba people|Catawba]] also lived in and around Xenia, many of their descendants, such as the Jeffries family, intermarried with the local free Black community and the White community as well.

William Beattie was Xenia's first businessman. In 1804, he opened a tavern which became a center of community affairs. In 1804, John Marshall built Xenia's first house. The first log school house was constructed in 1805, and, that same year, the Rev. James Towler became the town's first postmaster. The growing community soon attracted many pioneer industries - flour mills, sawmills, woolen mills, pork packing plants, oil mills, and tow mills.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.ci.xenia.oh.us/317/History |website=Explore Xenia |publisher=City of Xenia, Ohio |access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref>

A petition for incorporation, dated March 24, 1817, was circulated among the 88 households of Xenia, and on July 21, 1817, that petition, containing 66 signatures, was filed with the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County.<ref>Wright State University Libraries, Special Collections & Archives, SC-51</ref>  On October 27, 1817, the petition for incorporation was granted by the Court and Xenia became a municipal corporation.<ref>Greene County Court of Common Pleas, 1817 Common Pleas Court Record C, pp. 61-63</ref>

The arrival of the [[Little Miami Railroad]] (now the site of the [[Little Miami Scenic Trail]], which passed through [[Xenia Station]]) in 1843, stimulated the development of additional industries and connected the city to other markets. On March 2, 1850, the Ohio General Assembly rode from [[Columbus, Ohio]] to Xenia and back on the newly completed [[Columbus and Xenia Railroad]].

From the summer of 1851, tourists would come from [[Cincinnati]], as well as plantations from the South, to visit the nearby Xenia Springs and Tawawa House, a hotel and health spa about three miles away. It was established as a summer resort to draw on interest in the medicinal properties of the springs. Skin specialist Dr. Samuel Spilsbee from Cincinnati served as Superintendent of the hotel. It was three stories high, and the grounds of the complex also included separate cottages. After it went out of business, the complex was purchased for use as [[Wilberforce University|Wilberforce College]], a [[historically black college]] founded by a collaboration between the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] (AME) and the Cincinnati Conference of the [[Methodist Church]]. By 1860 most of the 200 students were mixed-race children of wealthy white fathers from the South, planters and businessmen who were prevented from getting them educated there. In the early years of the war, the college closed briefly after Southerners withdrew their children. The AME Church took it over, and continued to operate it.<ref name="Talbert">{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/talbert/talbert.html#p263|first=Horace|last=Talbert|title=The Sons of Allen: Together with a Sketch of the Rise and Progress of Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio 1906|pages=264–268, 273|work=Documenting the South|year=2000|publisher=University of North Carolina|access-date=July 25, 2008}}</ref>

On Wednesday morning, February 13, 1861, President-Elect [[Abraham Lincoln]] made a brief appearance in the city as his inaugural train traveled from [[Cincinnati]] east to Columbus. He gave a short speech; the traveling reporter from the ''New York Times'' did not record it as Lincoln expressed sentiments that he had repeated in previous stops. According to the ''Times'' writer, "a very large crowd assembled, and amid the firing of a cannon and enthusiasm, Mr. Lincoln addressed them from the rear car, reiterating what he had said before.".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=New York Times|date= February 14, 1861|page= 1|title=The Incoming Administration; Progress Of President-Elect Towards Washington}}</ref>

The town progressed rapidly during the mid-19th century. Artificial gas was provided in the 1840s and continued in use until [[natural gas]] was made available in 1905. The first fire engine house was built in 1831; the telephone came to Xenia in 1879; electricity in 1881 and a water works system in 1886. Xenia opened its first free [[public library]] in 1899. By 1900, the city was operating its own [[sewage system]].

Following the Civil War, the [[Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home]] was built in Xenia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Soldiers & Sailors Orphans Home |url=https://greenelibraryresource.info/osso.php |website=Greene County Public Library |access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lentz |first1=Edward R. |title=A Home of Their Own: The Story of Ohio's Greatest Orphanage |date=2010 |publisher=Orange Frazer Press |location=Wilmington, OH |isbn=978-1933197-722 |page=xiii |url=https://archive.org/details/homeoftheirownst0000lent/page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref> Some of its building remains in use by a Christian ministry organization.

Xenia elected Cornelius Clark as its first mayor in 1834. On January 1, 1918, the current city commission-manager plan succeeded the old form of municipal government.

===Tornadoes===
{{see also|1974 Xenia tornado|2000 Xenia tornado}}

Xenia has a history of severe storm activity. According to local legend, the Shawnee referred to the area as "the place of the devil wind" or "the land of the crazy winds" (depending upon the translation).<ref>Smith, Joanne Huist; "Devil Winds: City's Curse or Tall Tale?", ''Dayton Daily News'', Sept. 16, 2001, page 1B.</ref>

[[File:A tornado funnel is shown moving through Xenia.jpg|thumb|The 1974 Xenia F5 tornado tearing through the southeast Pinecrest Garden district.]]
On April 3, 1974, a verified F5 rated [[tornado]] on the [[Fujita scale]] cut a path directly through the middle of Xenia during the [[1974 Super Outbreak]], the second largest series of tornadoes in recorded history. The disaster killed 34 people (including two [[Air National Guard|Ohio National Guardsmen]] who died days later in a related fire), injured an additional 1,150, destroyed almost half of the city's buildings, and left 10,000 people homeless. Five schools, including Xenia High School, Central Junior High School, McKinley Elementary, Simon Kenton Elementary, and Saint Brigid Catholic School were destroyed, as were nine churches and 180 businesses. Ted Fujita himself rated the tornado an F6 in an essay he wrote, but the rating was never confirmed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/media/ohx/PDF/fujita_april31974.pdf|title=Jumbo Tornado Breakout of 3 April 1974|website=Weather.gov|access-date=December 2, 2021}}</ref>

The city's plight was featured in the national news, including a 1974 [[NBC]] television documentary, ''Tornado!'', hosted by [[Floyd Kalber]]. President [[Richard Nixon]] visited stricken areas of Xenia following the devastation. Comedian [[Bob Hope]] organized a benefit to raise funds for Xenia and, in appreciation, the new Xenia High School Auditorium was named the "Bob Hope Auditorium." In recognition of their coverage of this tornado, the staff of the ''[[Xenia Daily Gazette]]'' won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting|Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|title=1975 Winners|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1975|work=Pulitzer.org|access-date=June 12, 2012}}</ref>

Xenia was struck by an F2 tornado on April 25, 1989, and again by an F4 tornado on September 20, 2000. The 1989 tornado caused over $2 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=2000000|start_year=1989}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in damage, but no one was killed. The twister of 2000 killed one person, and injured 100 people. This tornado followed a path roughly parallel to that of the 1974 tornado.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tornadoes in Greene County, Ohio|url=http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Ohio/Greene/map|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121044846/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Ohio/Greene/map|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 21, 2013|publisher=Tornado History Project|access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Tornadoes in Greene County, Ohio in April 1989|url=http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Ohio/Greene/1989/April/map|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226033728/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Ohio/Greene/1989/April/map|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 26, 2014|publisher=Tornado History Project|access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref>

Xenia currently has a system of [[Civil defense siren|tornado sirens]]. After the [[1974 Super Outbreak|1974 tornado outbreak]], the city purchased a system of five [[Federal Signal Corporation|Federal Signal]] [[Thunderbolt (siren)|Thunderbolt]] sirens for warning. During the 2000 tornado strike, the lack of [[Emergency power system|backup power]] silenced the Thunderbolts during emergency, so the city purchased five [[Federal Signal Corporation|Federal Signal]] 2001-SRNB series sirens with battery backup to reinforce/replace the Thunderbolts.

===Railroads===
[[File:Little Miami Scenic Trail, Xenia, Ohio.jpg|thumb|right|A portion of the [[Little Miami Scenic Trail]] in Xenia]]
Several railroad lines owned by the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|Baltimore & Ohio]] (B&O) and [[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsylvania]] (PRR) railroads once served Xenia, for both freight and passenger service. Since restructuring of the railroad industry in the mid-twentieth century, all lines have since been abandoned, the last being dismantled by 1989.

The lines that previously served Xenia were:
* B&O [[Wellston, Ohio|Wellston]] subdivision, between [[Washington Court House, Ohio|Washington Court House]] and [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]].
* PRR [[Little Miami Railroad|Little Miami branch]], between [[Cincinnati]] and [[Springfield, Ohio|Springfield]]; a portion of the line ran down [[U.S. Route 68|Detroit Street]] and was the first section to be dismantled.
* PRR [[Main Line (Pittsburgh to St. Louis)|Pittsburgh-St. Louis mainline]]; [[Amtrak]] operated the ''[[National Limited (Amtrak train)|National Limited]]'' passenger service over this line until 1979.

The roadbeds of five of Xenia's six rail lines were converted for [[rail trail]] use. The one exception — the B&O line west of town — was not converted because it closely paralleled the PRR mainline for most of its length.

Xenia was served by two [[interurban]] railways until the 1940s:
* Dayton & Xenia Transit Company
* Springfield & Xenia Railway
In the postwar period, automobile ownership increased, and the federal government subsidized the construction of numerous interstate highways. Both changes influenced the decline of regional transit, such as the interurban railways.