DARIUS TALLMADGE was identified with Lancaster as early as 1833.
He was manager and part owner of the great stage lines of Neil, Moore & Co. which were operated between Wheeling, Va., and St. Louis, Mo., with numerous branches. Mr. Tallmadge was one of the most brainy men in the business circles of Lancaster. A man of wonderful energy and industry endowed with rare common sense and executive talent. It is hard to name a man to whom the early period of Lancaster is so much indebted as to Darius Tallmadge.
In 1833 the Union Hotel owned by Col. John Noble, and run by Gottlieb Steinman, was destroyed by fire. A company of citizens was soon formed and a new brick hotel arose from its ashes, and it was called the Phoenix. In a few years Tallmadge purchased this building, enlarged and improved it and named it the Tallmadge.
Mr. Tallmadge was president of the Hocking Valley Bank, the second bank established in Lancaster, and so continued until it was changed to the Hocking Valley National Bank.
At one time Mr. Tallmadge owned a splendid farm of several hundred acres adjoining town. This he greatly improved and stocked with thoroughbred horses and cattle.
During his active business career he was a very liberal man, contributing to every useful project for the good of the town, and liberally to the unfortunate. The career of but few men will be longer remembered in Lancaster than that of Darius Tallmadge.
