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90  GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS  |  2020 – 2021 company with hundreds of millions in annual sales. One of the students, Ernest Morgan, was the son of Arthur Morgan, who became president of Antioch College, and a well-known engineer who had helped to construct the dam system in Dayton after the 1913 flood. While working in the Antioch print shop, Ernest found a creative use for the scraps of paper by refashioning them as decorative bookplates. In 1926, Ernest, along with classmate Walter Kahoe, founded the Antioch Book - plate Company. Ernest initially sold the bookplates as a trav- eling salesman. The company continued to grow, moving into the building at 220 Xenia Ave. in 1931. By 1959, they were producing 90% of the world’s bookplates. During the Depres- sion, Ernest and his father, Arthur, founded the Midwest Exchange in the building. The Midwest Exchange was a community-based organiza- tion where goods and ser - vices were offered on barter. Unfortunately, the exchange only lasted about a year due to federal regulations that prevented such a program. For a time, the Yellow Springs News offices were also in the building. Between 1942 and 1949, Ernest was the editor and co-publisher of the News (along with his wife, Eliza- beth), a co-founder of the Yellow Springs Community Credit Union and a founding member of the local commit- tee for racial equality. In 1974, Antioch Book - plate outgrew its facility and moved to 888 Dayton St.. Sales swelled to more than $340 million by 2003 with the success of a scrapbook- ing division. The company has since closed its Yellow Springs plant and gone out of business, while the scrap- booking division continues work in an industry closely linked to their major. Dayton Street/1895 fire Dayton Street was the hub of the retail establish- ments in Yellow Springs until a fire in May 1895 destroyed much of the area. According to the May 10, 1895, edition of the Yellow Springs Torch, “The great- est conflagration that ever visited Yellow Springs came in devastating fury ... leaving in its track a depleted mass of ruins, blackened chim- ney stacks, dismal ghosts of trees stripped of fresh tender foliage of Spring, and yawning holes filled with twisted scarred iron roofage and heaps of smoldering ashes to mark the place where a whole block of buildings once stood; wiping out in a brief space of time, historic landmarks of the town, as well as some build- ings which had stood as instruments of local enter- prise and progress; chang- ing in a twinkling and for all time, the whole appearance of the village as she used to be, but never will be again.” Around noon on May 5, 1895, a fire broke out in the grain elevator (near the current location of Peach’s Grill), which was owned by Jeremiah Little. At the time of the fire, Yellow Springs did not have a fire department to battle the blaze. Crews were called in from both Springfield and Xenia, but neither crew was sure if they could assist. The Springfield crew had just returned from fighting a fire in New Carlisle and had not had an opportunity to rest. The Xenia crew was not sure if they would be able to get their engine to run in order to make the trip. Luckily for Yellow Springs, both crews eventually made it to help battle the raging fire. Local under new ownership. Yellow Springs Post Office This building has been used as a post office since it was built in 1940. The post office contains a 1941 mural painted by New York artist Axel Horn, entitled “Yellow Springs: Preparation for Life Work.” This mural was part of a New Deal Treasury Department-funded program. Between 1933 and 1943, the government employed 10,000 artists. It was determined that the post office was a common link between individuals, communities and the federal government. Some 1,100 murals which were selected through regional competi - tions went up in post offices across the country. Each mural was to be a reflection of the local community. The Yellow Springs mural depicts a young man laboring at the edge of a field, having just cut down a large tree with the axe at his side. He is sitting on the tree reading a book, and wearing a hat and a sports coat. This mural was inspired by Antioch College, which had a well-known co-op program where stu- dents would take five years to graduate with a liberal arts education, but would alter - nate classroom study with PHOTO: ANTIOCHIANA, ANTIOCH COLLEGE Local photographer Axel Bahnsen took this photo of the Yellow Springs post office mid-century. PHOTO: YELLOW SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY A fire on May 5, 1895, devastated the Dayton Street and Corry Street business districts. Many businesses later rebuilt on Xenia Avenue.