Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone (1767–1852) was an American lawyer, banker, politician, and philanthropist from Cincinnati, Ohio.

[2] His considerable wealth at the time of his death produced the first elections open to local women as part of the longest trust case in state history.

[6] In 1810, Stone used his political clout to convince the Ohio General Assembly to lease to him Section 29 of Cincinnati Township, which he would then sublet.

He spent the next 20 years making his contract good, erecting a more elaborate stone and wood structure, which the commissioners purchased and made a free bridge.

A flood in 1832 carried the wooden portion down to an island above Louisville, Kentucky, where it was dismantled and shipped back to Cincinnati by flatboat.

[10] Around 1823, Stone helped Dr. John Locke establish the Cincinnati Female Academy, a nonsectarian school for the city's elite.

[3] After Cincinnati largely annexed Storrs Township in 1869, the city failed to carry out the trust until 1881, when the Hamilton County Probate Court stepped in.

[14] In 1893, the Probate Court ordered that trust funds be disbursed to a church chosen in an election every ten years.