At the 2008 induction of the Chester Hall of Fame, Matt Cashdollar told of his father's (Roy Cashdollar's) many visits with C. A. Smith. Matt explained that Roy loved to listen to Mr. Smith's stories regarding the founding of Chester and Rock Springs Park.
Here is an excerpt from
The History of Chester by Roy C. Cashdollar that tells of C.A. Smith's many exploits:
Mr. Charles A. Smith was born April 14, 1867, in Wellsville, a son of Alexander and Margaret Smith. He was the last of eight children. When about seventeen, he began to work in the gas and oil business first as a water boy and then for a crew laying pipeline in the district.
He later began drilling operations in the McDonald, Pennsylvania area. Constantly expanding his interests, he eventually acquired the Ohio Valley Gas Company which he sold in 1898. His interest in gas and oil was mostly in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Hancock County, West Virginia, and in nearby Columbiana and Jefferson County in Ohio. He once said he had made very little money at times and often would be befriended by acquaintances near his job who would permit him to sleep in their hay lofts when his funds were low. He turned to the Chester area, being attracted by the campaign of Mr. McDonald and the persuasion of his brother W.L. Smith who was a member of the original bridge company. He soon became the leading figure in the development of the new town after 1899, having seen the potential needs of the community very quickly. His influence was also felt in the Beaver, Pennsylvania to Steubenville, Ohio areas.
Smith was an energetic and out spoken man who set goals for himself and worked until they were achieved. An example of his ambition was told by a fellow worker of his, on a gas line job. Mr. Smith was a very young boy at the time and was serving as the water boy on the job and undergoing quite a lot of kidding. One day he got angry and told the fellows off in the tone and language he later became famous for. He told them some day they would be working for him as he would own the line. Within a few years his boast became fact and two of these fellows worked for him for years.
He used similar methods of advertising Chester to get people to purchase lots and build homes here. He improved over the type of posters used by J. E. McDonald in as much as he used many pictures to show the advantages and opportunities found here. Several of these posters are still in the possession of residents today. With his abundance of energy and his constant drive he was an immediate success. He was the type of individual who kept constantly on the move and demanded perfection in all his ventures.
Smith's was truly a success story in the true American tradition. "Blunt and out spoken, he never minced words and always got to the point quickly" friends recalled in tribute, termin him one of the few remaining self-made men whose business acumen and vision at the turn of the century helped so much in the development of the upper Ohio Valley.
He owned traction operations, first known as the Ohio Valley Scenic Route, between Beaver and Steubenville, having purchased the lines in 1907, and later in 1914 named the Steubenville, East Liverpool, and Beaver Valley Traction Company. He also had interest in two potteries, Rock Springs Park, the Chester Bridge and Land Company, The Southside Water Works which he constructed for $100,000. The Chester Sewer Company and the vast Hillcrest Farms with its enormous apple harvest and prize Herefords.
He was connected with the American Vitrified Products Company in East End. He died October 13, 1953, at his home on Pyramus Street. He was eighty-six years old when he died. The Smiths had five children, two daughters and three sons.
Mr. Smith did more in his lifetime to bring fame to Chester than all the other developers of the city combined. His Hillcrest Farms were known the world over and brought thousands of people to the area. Mr. Smith served as president of the Hereford Association of America. His sale of Herefords set world records both for a single sale and for the total amount at the last sale held at the famous farm. Many also claim that he named Chester after his uncle Chester Mahon.
Picturesque Hillcrest Farms, which was Smith's principal interest the last ten years of his life, took form in 1917. He went into the Hereford cattle business in 1918 and began producing the championship stock. The herd at one time numbered seven hundred head.
From Hillcrest came a grand champion bull of the Chicago International Livestock Exposition in 1947, 1949, and 1951 and the grand champion finale at Chicago in 1950 and 1951. Grand champions also paraded before judges at the Baltimore and Kansas City shows and others. Smith had the "best ten head" at Chicago in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951.
In 1950, Smith sold one of his prize bulls to Henry Sears of Chestertown, Maryland for $70,500, a record price at that time. In January of 1951, a worlds record was set when a half interest in his main breeding bull - HC Larry Domino 12th, was sold for $105,000, to E. C. McCormick, Jr. of Akron. Mr. Smith also had one thousand acres set aside for apple growing.
Mr. Smith as stated previously, constructed the water system to supply Chester. Prior to this the water and sewerage system was rather haphazard until 1900, when the first method of obtaining water was tried. This was to pipe the water from the Hillcrest Farm area, as the need arose, three compaines owned and operated water systems. They were the Chester Rolling Mill Company, South Side Land Company, and a company of private owners operating east of Fifth Street. A merger of such an important commodity was inevitable. The South Side Land Company under Mr. C. A. Smith absorbed the cities water and sewerage systems. Mr. Smith controlled this company as the South Side Water Works until October 3, 1946, when Mayer DeMar Miller and City Clerk, James Paisley, signed for the City of Chester, when they purchased the company for $253,000. Mr. Thomas L. Young, Superintendent of the South Side Water Works for nearly forty years was retained a superintendent for the City.
The Marks land, a one hundred seventy acre tract that had been bought by McDonald in 1890, for the Alfred Marks estate for $17,000, was purchased by Smith in 1900 with about eleven acres slated for use as part of the Rock Spring Park which Smith also took over at this time. The land was then promoted by Smith and his Southside Land Company. In the spring of 1905, Mr. Smith moved into his beautiful new home on Pyramus Avenue, overlooking Rock Springs Park. In the 1930's, he had an addition built to his home. The home is now occupied by the William A. Watson family. Mr. Watson is a descendent from one of the first pioneer families in Hancock County.
Mr. Smith after purchasing the bridge in 1901, later for a brief time sold it to the S.E.L. & B.V. Traction Company of which he was president. He soon (1914) assumed full ownership again and kept the bridge until 1938 when the State of Ohio purchased it for $2,185,000. Mr. Smith made Ripley's Believe It Or Not in 1935 when the bridge was rebuilt without stopping traffic. Under Smith the bridge was very prosperous with it being a vital part of the highway system known as the Lincoln Highway - U.S. Route 30 with thousands of autos traveling it.
It was reported that it brought an approximate $360,000 proceeds the last year of private ownership. The state of Ohio continued it as a toll bridge until June of 1951, when passage between Chester and East Liverpool became free. In 1969, it was closed by the State of Ohio as it was considered unsafe for use. As the bicentennial year arrives we are awaiting the opening of a new Chester-East Liverpool bridge.
You can't write about the Chester bridge without mentioning another bridge that was located within Chester for a short time in 1896-97. Although little is known of this, a wooden structure was once situated at First Street, where we now have a concrete bridge crossing the tracks. A five cent charge was levied to all passengers. Since this was the only road to the bridge spanning the Ohio River, it proved quite profitable until the bridge was constructed at Third Street, then Second Street, and the toll was removed and later the bridge was removed.
Mr. Smith eliminated the street car system in 1939 and converted to buses forming the Valley Motor Transit Company which he operated until his death.
Many of the old residents of the town can remember C. A. Smith and what he meant to the City of Chester and have related stories about him. They tell of how he used to drive his first car across the river when the water was low. He owned the first automobile in town, a Stanley Steamer and had made a wager with an associate of his, Thomas Young, that he could drive it across the river.
He succeeded in his second attempt. I have heard this story from several people and even how the people could walk across it at times during the summer months. They would travel down the road, under the trestle, and follow the road along side Marks Run to the river. The Wells homestead was down beside the trestle. This was one of the first ten homes in Chester and Wells was the Father of Logan Wells who lived hi lifetime in Chester. During flood times, the Wells home was almost covered. This hollow land was a fine baseball field before it was filled in by the mill on one site and T.S.&T. on the other. Many a game was played down there next to the river. The river was crossed just west of Babbs Island. This is the same area where the new bridge will cross and now has water up to fifty-eight feet deep.
Mr. Smith was mostly responsible for the paving of old Route No. 2 from Chester to New Cumberland. At that time a decisionof whether to pave Route 2 or Route 66 had to be reached and it is reported he used his influence in the decision. He owned Hillcrest Farms located along Route 2. Route 2 is now State Route 8, and old 66 is the new relocated Route 2.
Another story is that Mr. Smith was stopped by a State trooper on his way to New Cumberland, and Mr. Smith liked to travel fast as he was always in a hurry. He told the officer to make two citations as he would soon be coming back and traveling just as fast.
It is known that Mr. Smith did more good with his money than he wanted people to believe. He helped a lot of families and charities in the area but did not want any publicity. Many of his employees spent their lifetime with him and several members of these families worked for him. The one thing he hated most in life was having to pay taxes.
While the people long associated apple production with Mr. Smith, he was also once in the peach business. At one time he had a large peach orchard in the Tinsonville area of the city and shipped them throughout the east.
Yes, Mr. C.A. Smith arrived in Chester, was very successful and leaves a mark that will never be erased and a name that will never be forgotten.
A lot of folks who grew up along the Lincoln Highway are not really aware of just what it is. They know Route 30, and they've seen those red, white, and blue "L" signs and markers, but the history of it eludes them. That may soon change when a new PBS documentary on the first transcontinental road airs in October.
I met Brian Butko for the first time when he signed a copy of his original Lincoln Highway book at the now defunct Greengate Mall in Greensburg, PA. I bought the book as a Father's Day gift for my dad. It contained a postcard picture of my dad's family drugstore in Chester, WV.
The Lincoln Highway 
