Dr. J. W. Greene
Dr. Jacob Wesley Greene was born in Indiana in 1839. Apparently he learned the trade of a cabinet maker but it didn't suit him. he then went on to teach school in Harrison County, Indiana for a year before joining the Army, the 36th Iowa Infantry, and served one year; he was honorably discharged due to health issues. He returned to Harrison County and married the teacher who had taken over his class, Miss Ann Pitt. They moved to Chillicothe in 1866 or 1867.
Dr. Greene established a dental office here in late January 1867 with Dr. J. H. Sherman. He lectured about dentistry all over the Eastern US in the late 1800s through about 1914. He was in favor of prohibition and belonged to the Greenback party. He was often quoted in the newspapers of his day. It is not clear if he was involved with a dental college in Chillicothe in the 1870s, Armstrong & Bennett Academy.
Dr. Greene established a dental office here in late January 1867 with Dr. J. H. Sherman. He lectured about dentistry all over the Eastern US in the late 1800s through about 1914. He was in favor of prohibition and belonged to the Greenback party. He was often quoted in the newspapers of his day. It is not clear if he was involved with a dental college in Chillicothe in the 1870s, Armstrong & Bennett Academy.
In the years between 1866 and 1914, the Square became a tangle of weeds with livestock running loose. In the 1870s the town made an ordinance to keep livestock fenced which helped. But Dentist Dr. Greene envisioned a city park in this location. The county court allowed him to remove half of the black locust trees to clean up the park. When he appeared before the county officials afterwards, he confessed to having cut down the wrong half of the trees “in a way that convulsed the court with laughter.” Not your typical dentist. He was then allowed to complete the cleanup of the park. Benjamin Smith was enlisted to help and picked up maple and elm tree saplings from the river bottoms; in later years the maples, which accounted for three-quarters of the trees, were removed. The trees were planted by Dr. Greene, Hiram F. Woodford, and Scipie “Sip” Davis. On April 21, 1877, the three vowed to protect these trees as long as they lived. This became known as Elm Park. From pictures and stories we know there were benches, walkways, and a fountain. The old maps show a Bandstand in the park, dubbed the Public Square, in various locations at different times. The first Chillicothe Band was formed in 1891 under Ed Strong and gave weekly concerts in the park, presumably seasonally. Other concerts were held here including the Barrows’ Brass Band and the Chillicothe Cornet Band in 1891 and the Dunbar Bell Ringers and the Chillicothe Concert Band in 1902.
When the new courthouse was built in 1913-1914, Dr. Greene “denounced as wicked folly” the removal of many of the trees.
Dr. Greene was also an inventor. He held two patents for plates for fake teeth. In 1911, he invented a set of aluminum impression trays to be used with modeling compound. He sold these patents to a firm in Boston and went on to lecture for them. He also invented a farming practice to raise grapes and corn using dust mulch, but someone stole the idea from from him.
He was also a writer and penned several "interesting books on dentistry."
Dr. Greene was also considered a horticulturalist, running Eden Green, an orchard near the Industrial Home for Girls on Third Street. In 1907 he tried to get Chillicothe to open a facility for orphaned boys at his farm. For some reason it was never built.
There is a claim that a Dr. J. W. Greene also helped start an Opera House in Chillicothe, with tickets at $10 for opening night. Afterwards a ball was held at the new Leeper Hotel. The source cited in Seiberling, however, is nowhere to be found now: the Progress of Chillicothe and Livingston County since 1932, compiled by W.L. Cox 1911. Perhaps Dr. Greene was an investor in the project, but Myers was clearly the one given credit for all of the work of having an opera house.
Dr. Greene was selling off acres of his Eden Farm to "suburban home-seekers" in 1911.
Dr. Greene passed in February 24, 1916 in Kansas City. It appears he had moved there recently to be close to his daughters. He had some kind of operation and appeared stable, but then suddenly passed. He is buried here in Edgewood.
A special thank you to Brenda Anderson O’Halloran for researching and writing part of this information above.