16 MEMOIR. 



Cleveland, on one of the evenings of the inaugural meet- 

 ings of the Cleveland Club in 1S71. The subject was in- 

 troduced at dinner, and as Mr. Powers remembers. Col. 

 Edwards started it. Col. Edwards' guests that evening 

 were John Tod. the president of the Cleveland Club, and 

 the Northern Ohio Fair Company ; E. A. Buck, who was 

 at that time the vice-president of Buffalo Park and the 

 wheel horse of the organization which that season gave 

 S50.000 for four days' racing (^Chandler J. Wells being 

 president i : and L. J. Powers, at that time the chairman 

 of the Executive Committee of the Springfield Club, which 

 had held meetings at Hampden Park in 1868 and 1869, 

 and which, when it secured control of the track, was re- 

 organized as the Hampden Park Trotting Association. 



As L. T. Powers sat in his home on Pearl street. 

 Springfield, and recalled the old days and reunions which 

 were held annually on his lawn, sloping off towards the 

 city, he said: "Billy Edwards and I were boys together 

 in this town. He was live years my senior, but as our 

 tastes were similar, especially on the horse question, we 

 traveled in the same set. About the first thing I can re- 

 member of him was a fondness for Connecticut river shad 

 and a desire to own a good horse to drive on the road. 

 As a starter we managed to save a few dollars to hire one 

 that could trot a little. I do not now remember that 

 either of us were particularly anxious to race with every- 

 one that we came to. but there was always the satisfac- 

 tion in knowing that we could if we wanted to. When 

 the time came for both of us to strike out for ourselves. 

 William Edwards started for the Western Reserve and 

 located in Cleveland, where he eventually engaged in the 

 grocery business. I remained here and established what 

 is now known as the Powers Paper Company. 



