Note 87 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
The island at the point is still called Cole’s, or Vienna, Island. For sketch of the Little Kanawha, see Croghan’s Journals, vol. i of this series, p. 130, note 98.
Belpré (contraction of Belle Prairie) was the site chosen for the second separate community of the Ohio Company of Associates, being laid out 1789-90. The first town meeting was held in 1802. Belpré’s chief title to fame is the fact that there was established (about 1795) the first circulating library in the Northwest Territory. The son of Israel Putnam brought out a portion of his father’s library, and formed a stock company in which shares were sold at ten dollars each. The company was dissolved (1815 or 1816), and among the stockholders were distributed the books, some of which are still to be found in the neighboring farmhouses.—Ed.