A local connection to Arthur St. Clair

By Dick Phillips

Special to The Vindicator

If you’ve ever driven down St. Clair Avenue in downtown Cleveland and wondered who St. Clair was, or wondered what he did to have a prominent street named for him, this may prove interesting, if not surprising. There’s a special interest for Trumbull County in the street’s namesake.

St. Clair Avenue is named for Arthur St. Clair, who served for 14 years as the first governor of the Northwest Territory, which today includes Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. Before that he served as major general in the Revolutionary War and as the congressional delegate from Pennsylvania in 1785-86. Elected president of the United States in Congress Assembled — a position held by 13 other men, including John Hancock and John Jay — St. Clair presided over the 1787 Congress’s passage and signing of both the U. S. Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance.

Arthur St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland on this date in 1734 and could easily be considered the man most singularly responsible for the early development of Ohio. He founded Ohio’s first nine counties and its territorial court system from 1788 to 1802. During that time he also governed a territory the size of the original 13 colonies.

Perhaps most interesting to northeastern Ohioans is that Trumbull County was the seventh of nine Ohio counties St. Clair established, also naming Warren its county seat and David Abbot as sheriff. Abbott settled at a ford on the Chagrin River and built the Western Reserve’s first grist mill, which he named Chagrin Mill and later became known as Chagrin.

Much larger than it is today, in 1800 Trumbull County extended from almost the Ohio River to the Cuyahoga River, where Cleaveland would become the county’s first community to be developed by the Connecticut Development Company.

Western Reserve

Trumbull County encompassed most of the Western Reserve, purchased by Connecticut in 1796 to replace community homelands decimated by the Revolutionary War. Today, Cuyahoga, Trumbull, Mahoning and 10 other counties make up what was once the original Trumbull County. It is named for Jonathon Trumbull, the second governor of Connecticut, whose son, John Trumbull, became the Revolutionary artist famous for preserving the birth of a new nation on canvas for America. The Trumbulls and the St. Clairs both trace their Scottish family heritage back to the 1300s and the reign of Scotland’s King Robert the Bruce.

The Connecticut Development Company sent the surveyor and lawyer, Moses Cleaveland, to select a suitable land area for their first development in the Western Reserve. In 1796 he chose and surveyed the land bordered by Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. After he returned home to pursue other interests, the land was developed as the first town and named Cleaveland in his honor. Within 10 years, Congress had named Columbus as Ohio’s permanent state capital. The year 1810 also saw Cuyahoga established as a county with Cleveland named its county seat. Cleaveland was incorporated in 1814. The name was shortened in 1831.

St. Clair came to North America as a British officer and helped drive the French and Indians from Canada in the Seven Years War. After 12 years retirement in Pennsylvania’s Ligonier Valley, he became one of Westmoreland County’s most wealthy and influential people.

The king’s excessive taxation and brutal treatment of the Colonists prompted St. Clair to join America’s cause for freedom, accepting a commission as colonel in the Continental Army. This decision was even more difficult because of his British background. He first raised an army which helped turn a British massacre at Quebec into an organized retreat, saving over one thousand Americans. Promoted to brigadier, he next raised an army to assist Gen. Washington who had lost many battles in New Jersey. For his exemplary service in the victories at Trenton and Princeton, Washington promoted St. Clair to major general.

Territory’s president

After the war, his service in Congress and as its president, St. Clair was elected the first governor of the Northwest Territory, a position in which he served 14 years in office. Unfortunately, although he was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Congressional Investigation, St. Clair’s bitter defeat by the Tribal Confederation of Indians at the Wabash in 1791 weighed heavily on him for the rest of his life. After retiring from the military again, the ailing, 57 year-old general served 10 more years as governor.

Known for his honesty and integrity, St. Clair was also known for his courage and loyalty. He died in poverty at Greensburgh, Pa., in 1818, having sacrificed everything he had for his adopted country.

Phillips is a national press agent who headed public relations agencies in his native Cleveland and in Phoenix. He now writes and speaks about 18th and 19th Century Ohio pioneers and patriots. Reach him at phillphx@aol.com.