History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 67

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 67
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 67
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 67

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

He died in 1858, which greatly distressed his father and friends. After his marriage with Miss Seaton, Gen. Rawlings enlarged his business, and in a few years he had the largest wholesale and retail dry goods and grocery establishment in the southern part of the State. He seems to have dealt in any and everything. Parties came down from Louis- ville and agreed to pay him a certain price for all the pecans he could deliver to them

at Louisville by a mentioned time. The re- sult was the General loaded a steamboat with pecans, which resulted in the financial ruin of the company. A similar transaction oc- curred with salt. Gen. Rawlings was a large and powerful man, full six feet tall, and often weighed 300 pounds. He had great force of character; his energy and determi- nation never failed him, and whatever he en- gaged in brought into action all his intellect and energy. He had received no education in his youth, no free school to attend in his boyhood. He was strictly a self made man. He had a large amount of natural ability, and while employed in his active business life, he sought any moment he could spare to educating himself; while he did not excel in book learning, he did as the judge of char - acter of his fellow-man. He was always ex- ceedingly courteous, dignified and polite to ladies. No man living had greater respect or admiration for them. His kindness to little children was proverbial, and, while he was eccentric and irritable, and would often give vent to a whirlwind of words, not couched in Bible language upon slight provocation, yet the storm was soon over and he would be as calm as a May morning, but under all this worry and excitement, his heart was tender and yielded in sympathy and relief to distress wherever he found it. But his eccentricities got him into many episodes; while they were not injurious to any one or himself, they were at times a source of annoyance to his friends and even to himself. The anecdotes told of him and about him would fill a vol- ume. He suffered periodically with the gout. A friend one day very injudiciously asked him if gout was painful. After ex- hausting himself on the absurdity of the question, he wound up by saying, " My God, my friend, put your big toe in a vise, have an able-bodied man turn the crank until it

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seems he can turn it no more, but have him turn it again. That, my God, my friend, is gout." He married his second wife, Miss Henrietta B. Calmes, daughter of Gen. Calmes, who lived near Hopkinsville, Ky., in 1829. She died in 1833, leaving two children -Florida, who became the wife of Dr. N. R. Casey, and died in Mound City, August, 1878, and Carroll H. Rawlings, who never married, and died in Texas in 1877. Gen. Rawlings was one of the three Internal Im- provement Commissioners. In 1839, Col. Oakley, Gen. Rawlings, two of the Commis- sioners, in company with ex-Governor Rey- nolds, one of the Governor's agents, went to Europe to negotiate canal and improvement bonds, etc. Judge R. M. Young, also an agent of the Governor's, subsequently joined them in London, and while the internal im- provement system of that day, as viewed at this date, was not the thing to do, for nego- ciating bonds and for whatever success the Commissioners had financially, was admitted to be due to Gen. Rawlings. Among the many enterprises the General engaged in was that of steamboating. He owned at one time the side-wheel steamboat Tuskina, that ran between Louisville and New Orleans. He made one or more trips as her Captain, and when she made a landing and when she backed from a landing was invariably ac- companied with a storm of commands which kept the pilot busy ringing the bells and the engineers working their engines and the passengers apprehensive she was on fire. Gen. Rawlings moved from Shawneetown in 1840, purchasing a magnificent residence, surrounded by 200 acres of land, highly im- proved, four miles from Louisville, Ky. In 1832, he was appointed by Gov. Reynolds Major General of the State militia. In 1840, he married Miss Ann H. Simms, of Wash- ington City. She died in 1849, without

children. In 1846, he sold his country place and moved into Louisville. Gen. Rawlings never attached himself to any church, but was always ready and willing to aid in building churches, and for several years before hotels were built in Mound City, the ministers who visited the place found a welcome at his house. He read the Bible much, and was familiar with its teach- ings. He was baptized in the Catholic Church by Mother Angela, of the Holy Cross, a few hours before his death, which occurred January 11, 1863, aged seventy. Having an admiration for the State that had been his home for nearly forty years, had much to do in his location of Mound City in 1854.

The original plat of Mound City was made by William J. Spence, Surveyor of Pulaski County, for Gen. Moses M. Rawlings' prop- erty, April, 1854. At that time, a log cabin stood on the banks of the river, and fifteen or twenty acres of land cleared was all the evidence of civilization to be seen. The General utilized the cabin as hotel, boarding house and residence. During rain-storms, it sheltered them, but when the days and nights were pleasant they staid and slept upon the Mound, on which had grown many locust trees, making a delightful shade, while the gentle south breeze from off the broad Ohio, from here to its mouth, only six miles away, made it a pleasant place of resort in the day time and delightful at night, and during the days and nights when the mosquitoes congregated, which they did in the early history of Mound City, the mound was about the only place of safety, or where you could stay and with any degree of confidence say your life was your own. It was upon this mound individuals met in consultation, and discussed and predicted the bright prospects of the future for the embryo city; upon this mound conventions

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were held; here political meetings were ad- dressed by young and by old politicians; here their voices were heard proclaiming the faith that was in them, and urging their fel- low-men to follow them or the country would be ruined. Upon this mound the late Gov- ernor, John Dougherty, in his elegant style and voice urged his hearers to vote for Breckenridge, and by doing so save the coun- try; here Hon. W. Josh Allen and Gen. John A. Logan, together in silvery tones, told the claims of Stephen A. Douglas, and occasion- ally came and talked upon the mound to the people, a travelling missionary, as it were, in favor of Mr. Lincoln. Upon this mound, while a few of the faithful rang the bells, Tom Green and others shook their locks and shouted for Bell and Everett; upon this mound the distinguished editor and poet, George D. Prentice, lectured upon the pres- ent and the future of the Mississippi Valley. Upon this mound, on Sabbath Days, came the ministers of the Gospel of all denominations and exhorted the inhabitants to flee from the wrath to come; and here at dewy eve the beaus and belles enjoyed the soft zephyrs and whispered promises and pledges of eternal love. While other mounds are scat- tered over the place, this one, upon the river bank, gave the name to the location and af- terward to the city. At what particular period of the world's history these mounds were made, tradition fails to tell. On dig- ging into them, the usual Indian relics are unearthed-pot metal, tomahawks made of stone, and many other things supposed to have been used in war and in peace by the aborigines.

The first sale of lots in Mound City took place in May, 1854. Thirty or forty were sold. The first lot sold brought $135; none less than $50, and none more than $200. The lots were all 50x200 feet. Gen. Raw-

lings built the first house in Mound City. It was a frame, two stories high. 25x100 feet. It was framed in Louisville, Ky., and brought to Mound City on steamboats; this was in 1854. He filled the lower story with dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc., and used the second story for a residence. The next house was built by Gilbert Boren. It was two stories high, and a frame. In the lower part he kept a saloon, and lived in the second story. He met with a tragic death a year afterward while on the little steamer Gazelle, plying between Cairo and Paducah, be- coming involved in a difficulty with the Steward of the boat, who stabbed him with a butcher knife. He died in a few minutes afterward. The third house was built by R. H. Warner-a two-story frame house. He kept a grocery store in the lower story and lived in the upper one. The fourth house was built by William Dougherty. He was born at America, four miles above Mound City, on the Ohio River, in 1828. He came to Mound City in a trading boat in 1854. At that time, it was not uncommon to see twenty or thirty trading boats tied up along the river bank at Mound City. After remaining a few months on his trading boat, he came ashore and built the fourth house in the city. It was also a frame and two-story house. The lower story was a storehouse, while he lived in the upper story. Mr. Dougherty was ap- pointed Postmaster in 1859, and resigned in 1861; he still resides in Mound City. The first brick house built in Mound City was F. M. Rawlings', in 1856; it was fifty feet square, two stories, with a thirty-foot ell- a very fine building, that succumbed to the great fire of 1879. Before Mound City had been platted, Gen. Rawlings had determined to build a railroad from the mounds to con- nect with the Illinois Central Railroad, three miles west and eight miles above Cairo, but

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HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

to do so it required a charter. The winter of 1854-55 found him at Springfield, urging its passage. Strange as it may seem, he met with stubborn opposition. The Representa- tives of the Cairo Company opposed the pas- sage of the charter with all their energy and with all the means at their command. The building of the Mound City Railroad, three miles long, seems to have caused some ap- prehension that it might in some way or at some time be injurious to the interest of Cairo. Gen. Rawlings met one objection after another only to find new ones devel- oped as old ones disappeared. It is a part of the history of the times, however, that many members of that Legislature who have since figured in politics, both State and national, found themselves owners of corner lots in Cairo. The charter passed, and the General set about building his road at once, without selling stock or bonds, but with his own in- dividual means. The Commissioners to con- demn it were Joseph Essex, Joel Lackey and Jefferson Parker. The Commissioners reported at the October term of court, 1855, that no damage would accrue to the land or owners by building the road. William Burk, an Irish gentleman, who had much experience in building railroads, and having just com- pleted a contract on the Illinois Central Railroad, was given the contract of building the Mound City Railroad. Gen. Rawlings in his lifetime claimed to have engineered it himself without instruments, determining the levels and grades with his eyes. The winter of 1855-56 was a disagreeable one, especially the spring of . 1856. The con- tractor met with delays from rains. The in- tention was to make the road on an air line from Mound City to the Central, but when about half way out from Mound City, they found water standing on the line of the road in such quantities as to interfere with the

progress of the work, and, desiring to com- plete it within a certain time, induced them to make a curve sufficient to avoid the water, hence the crook in the road that has so often been asked why it was done and why the road was not built straight. By the time the road bed was completed, the iron had ar- rived, via New Orleans per steamboat, and soon followed the locomotive, baggage and passenger coach, and in the spring of 1856 the whistle of the " Pilot" started the inhab- itants, alarmed the cattle that fed upon the cane along the line of the road, and put the owls and other birds of prey to flight for the first time. There was but five or six houses in Mound City when the road was finished. The building of the road was looked upon as an era, promising much in the near fut- ure for the city. Up to this time, the place was without a post office, the people receiv- ing their mail from Caledonia mostly, but in June, 1856, a post office was established, receiving two mails a day, with Gen. Raw- lings Postmaster, a position he had to take for the want of any other available man to fill it. In 1858, Gen. Rawlings resigned, much to his relief, and equally so to the pub- lic. He kept the office in his store room. While his clerks were deputies and attended to the office, there were times when persons would call for their mail, when the clerks were out and the General alone. We are sure he never opened or distributed a mail, neither did he ever find a letter or paper for any one. When he made the effort to do so, he never knew where to look for them, and after considerable worry, he would discharge the applicant with "Who would write you a letter, anyhow?" R. C. Daniel was ap- pointed Postmaster to fill the vacancy. He kept the office in the railroad depot until early in 1859; he resigned and William Dougherty was appointed, and in 1861 he

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resigned and George Mertz was appointed and has been and is still Postmaster.

In 1855,on the 25th of June- more than a year after Gen. Rawlings had laid off Mound City, and his first and only sale of lots had taken place -- Paul K. Wambaugh, John Fawcit Smith, and John R. Gabriel, who had conceived the idea of obtaining foothold in Mound City, formed a joint-stock associa- tion. under the name of Emporium Real Estate & Manufacturing Company, in the city of Cincinnati. It has never been record- ed that either of the above gentlemen had a dollar at the time, to gain a foothold any- where; however, they surrounded the organ- ization with the mystery of secrecy. They gave out that a secret city was to be built upon the banks of the Lower Ohio; sometimes saying on the high bluff banks. The city was to be grander than all the cities built since the downfall of ancient Rome. The imaginary golden streets of the New Jerusa- lem were to be duplicated in the Emporium City-the name given to this forty mile square city on paper. The room they occu- pied in Cincinnati, while they were forming this association, was kept locked and bolted, the keys and bolts only turned upon the de- mand of one of the original three, or an in- itiated member accompanied by friends. When once within the private precincts, the above gentlemen would proceed to explain, in a whispered voice, with an occasional mys- terious and fearful glance at the door, appre- hending an intruder might approach and over- hear the story of wealth and happiness that could only be vouchsa fed to those who offered to take so much stock in the grandest enterprise known to any century; but before they placed their names on paper, the result of which would yield them in the near future all the wealth man ought to have or ever desire, they must make a solemn promise never to reveal to the

uninformed what their eyes saw or their ears heard. Wambaugh sat at the head of the table, grave and dignified. Jere Griswold, who had been one of the first initiated, and who afterward was the company's Secretary, sat with pen in hand and another behind his ear, with his bland smiles, could be heard to say, "Please sign your name on this line. Take $5,000 or $10,000 of stock?" " You may put me down for $10,000. Should trade and deals develop as I anticipate they will, I will take $10,000 more later." And so, from day to day, new members were added to the association, while J. Fawcit Smith, with a brilliant imagination, which constituted his principal stock-in-trade. ex- tended, each day, the width and length of the streets of the secret city; while John R. Gabriel blew his trumpet in its softest notes in the corners of the room to the hesitating. Thus, in 1855, the Emporium Real Estate & Manufacturing Company was formed, and when the members met in June, 1856, they had over a thousand members. Ohio, In- diana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Illinois each had large representation, and at that time they represented a million and a half in money and real estate. A per- manent organization was made by electing Hartzell Hiner, of Ohio, President, and J. W. Cochran, G. W. Hite, W. H. Stokes, H. K. Linsey, of Kentucky, John Jorriam, of Indiana, and M. M. Rawlings and Dr. Arter, of Illinois, Directors, with J. Griswold, Secretary. In the meantime, the company had purchased a strip of ground of Gen. Rawlings, lying north and running east and west along the line of his platted city. Joining this strip, they had purchasd land from the Bichtel heirs,* all of which they

*The land upon which Emporium City was located was Sec- tions 19 and 30, Town 16, Range 1 east, also the southeast quarter of Section 25 and the north part of Section 36, Town 16, Range 1 west.

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HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

laid out into streets and lots (including Wash- ington Park, donated for court house, jail, etc., the ground where the jail now stands). Gen. Rawlings, in platting Mound City, made it with the river, but when the Empo- rium Company laid off Emporium City (more than a year later), they laid it off east and west, north and south, hence the streets in Emporium City strike Mound City at Walnut street, that divided the then city in the mid- dle of the block.

The first sale of lots in Emporium City took place in July, 1856. The sale amounted to $100.000. In the same year, the 'Shelton House was built. It was three stories high, an imposing building, framed in Cincinnati and brought to Mound City on steamboats; and at the same time came mechanics, and in just sixty days from the time the frame was landed at Mound City, the hotel was completed, accommodating boarders and the traveling public. Sixty men were employed during its construction. Of all the me- chanics who came to work upon the build- ing, but one now resides in Mound City- Mr. James Holmes. J. C. Worthington was among the number, to do the painting; after living several years in Mound City he moved to a farm four miles northwest of Mound City. N. L. Wickmire, carpenter, remained in Mound City several years, then moved to Cairo, and from there to St. Louis, where he is now doing an extensive business as an architect. The rest have gone, we don't know where. James Holmes and J. C. Worthington were two of the incorporated Councilmen. The second sale of lots was in November, 1856. The terms of sale were one- quarter cash, the balance in three install- ments, with 6 per cent interest. The sale was a great success. Four or five hundred persons attended the sale. They were here from many of the States. Ninety-five lots

were sold, bringing, in the aggregate, $92, - 800; the price per front foot varying from $90 to $14. At the third sale of lots, June, 1857, 137 lots were sold, averaging $761.40 each, and averaging $26,99 per front foot. The sale amounted to $104,968. At the Not vember sale following, ninety-seven lots were sold, averaging $957. At this sale a vacant lot in the neighborhood of where the Union Block now stands sold for $113 per front foot. It began to look as if Wam- baugh's dignity, Fawcit Smith's imagina- tion and Gabriel's whisperings had not been all in vain. Hartzell Hiner was still President of the company, and J. Griswold, Secretary; but it required several Assistant Secretaries to keep the books posted during the interregnums between the public sales. The President and Secretary were daily sell- ing lots at private sale. Hiner, the Pres- ident, looked and walked the Major General. Money flowed into the coffers; newer and larger safes were bought, to hold it; every- thing seemed to pale and grow dim outside of the Emporium Company. They built a house for their office, in which they had reception rooms, consultation rooms, clerks' rooms, president's room, private secretaries . and porters. A tingling bell was the signal that one of the high contracting parties de- sired to be waited on.

About this time, they conceived the idea that they needed more territory; they did not have lots enough; they must extend their borders; at the same time, enlarge their sphere of usefuluess to their fellow-men. The Cairo Company owned forty acres of land in the woods northwest of the Empo- rium Company's plat. If it had not been bought of the Government by Holbrook, or other Cairo agents, in an early day, for $1.25 per acre without ever having seen it, we are sure, under the fit act, it would have

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been the last forty acres purchased. After becoming satisfied they must have it, they began negotiating for it with Col. S. Staats Taylor, the Cairo Company's Agent. Final- ly; after much going and coming, Col. Tay- lor agreed (being it was them) to take $38,- 000 for the forty acres. President Hiner thought it was reasonable, and fully con- fident no other person living could have secured so favorable an offer from the Colonel as he had; but just at that particular time the President of the Emporium Com- pany had only $30,000, but would have more very soon, and as they were needing the forty acres at once, he would pay Col. Tay- lor the $30,000 and give a mortgage on the entire forty acres to secure the payment of the remaining $8,000. Col. Taylor pretended not to hear the proposition distinctly the first time, but after Hiner had repeated it several times, the Colonel said he hated to part with the land-it was a forty acres he had always regarded as very valuable, but owing to friend- ship, etc., he would take it. The $30,000 was paid to the Colonel, the mortgage was given, which some years after was foreclosed, and the Cairo Company still own the forty acres. In 1856. the Emporium Company purchased the steamboat " Buckeye Belle." She was a side-wheel boat, and was employed in towing barges of rock from up the Tennessee River, and from about Golconda, for foundations for houses and for cellars. She was often used for excursions, and for a short time run as a packet between Mound City and Hickman. Early in 1857, Mr. Alexander Kirkpatrick completed his pottery. In 1867, the Emporium Company bought of Gen. Rawlings the Mound City Railroad, and from that time operated it. When the crash came upon that company (the beginning of which might be dated from the time they gave the Cairo Company $30,000), they sold

locomotive and passenger cars and ran the road with mules attached to a caboose. Less than a year ago it was sold to satisfy claims, and has since then been bought by the Illi- nois Central Railroad, with the understand- ing that they will shortly re-organize it by putting it in good condition, and make it a valuable feeder to this end of their road. The land purchased by the Emporium Com- pany, and laid out into streets and lots, was covered with heavy timber, and when the trees were cut down and brush piled the ground looked to be covered ten feet deep, but logs and brush were finally burnt up, leaving the stumps of the trees, thick enough to nearly walk on them. That part of Em- porium City was soon called " stump town," and while the stumps have long since disap . peared, the name " Stump Town " still clings to that locality. Failing to have Gen. Raw- lings change Mound City to Emporium City, an act of incororpation of Mound City, and to change the name of Emporium City to that of Mound City, passed January 29, 1857. In this act of incorporation, Moses B. Harrell was constituted Mayor, and Francis M. Raw- lings, John Given, A. J. Miller, J. Griswold, James Holmes and Joseph C. Worthington, Councilmen. Moses B. Harrell continued Mayor until 1859, when Dr. N. R. Casey was elected, and was Mavor from that time until 1874, a period of fifteen years, when Capt. Romeo Friganza was elected, who was Mayor until 1883, when George Mertz, pres- ent Mayor, was elected. Mound City has been an incorporated City twenty-six years, but has had but four Mayors.

In 1856, James Goodlow, of Cincinnati, Ohio, under the auspices of the Emporium Company, commenced and completed, in 1857, a large three-story brick foundry on the river front, in the upper portion of the city. It fronted the river 180 feet; it was

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complete and extensive in all its departments. Mr. Goodlow was an elegant old gentleman, and had much experience in foundries. He cast, in 1857, the heavy machinery for the marine ways of this place. When the civil war broke out, he closed the foundry, but con - tinted to live in Mound City until he died, which was in 1865, at the age of sixty-eight. His widow still resides in Mound City. Notwithstanding she is eighty-two years old, she is active, and does much of the work about the house. George Mertz was fore- man of the foundry when building, and while it was in operation; still lives in Mound City. He has been Justice of the Peace, Police Magistrate, City Councilman, County Commissioner, Postmaster since 1861, and the present Mayor of the city. The foundry building was taken by the Government for the storage of shell and shot in 1863. Soon after it was thus occupied some sailors were handling loaded shells, when three ex- ploded with a terrific noise, breaking down a part of the building, and in- stantly killing one sailor and frightfully mntilating two others. They died in a few hours in great agony, and thus the great foundry that promised so much for Mound City in her early days of prosperity, passed away. You can scarcely find the place upon which it stood. The Emporium Company, in 1856-57, built a number of houses to rent. At that time, many who came to locate, un- able to get houses, went away.

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 67

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948