In 1868, Harbine retired from his remaining business pursuits turning all the family business operations over to his sons Jacob, Daniel, and Frank. With John’s death in 1873 ownership of his large land holdings and businesses passed to his sons. Jacob Harbine eventually gained control of the Harbine Industrial Complex and lived with his widowed sister and her children in the Harbine House.

We'll be learning much more about John Harbine, his family, home and business ventures in the pages to come.  He was truly the 'Founding Father of Alpha' and had a hand in most of the businesses in town... and even laying out the plat map for the town as well!

In 1888, a fire consumed a large portion of the complex including the grist mill, two of the worker cottages, the corn cribs and part of the distillery.  The timber construction allowed the fire to spread quickly and fiercely.  Locals were running a bucket brigade as well dipping their carpeting into the mill race and placing them on the roofs to prevent embers from catching more buildings on fire. This was not only their town, but their livelihood.

Ironically (or not), there was a HUGE rally of the Prohibition Party that very day in Columbus... and then the distillery caught fire.  Since we love a 120+ year old conspiracy, we're looking into it!

Thelma Barth-Tindall wrote: "Mother always stopped when we took a walk to see Aunty Page, a dear old colored woman, who lived in the little cabin with the big willow tree in front of it.  One time she had some pies coolin in the window and Gus was driving cattle.  One cow got nosey and knocked a pie down and Aunty chased Gus up the road."

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