USA > Illinois > Massac County > History of Massac County, Illinois > Part 8
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classes in the old Central School building. It did not last long. (10)
The entire Egypt area is known to have a low average level of schooling. In general the women have had more formal education than the men. More women than men have one to three years of college ; conversely, more men than women have four years or more. (3) Teaching conditions have improved since the days of the Great Depression. In 1928 the average salary of all county teachers was $909.78. Only three rural teachers in 1932 received $1000 or more. Two teachers received less than $400. Even in March 1941 almost one half of the teachers earned less than $100 per month. Ten teachers in 1932 had no training above high school. Twenty-three had two years. Only one had four or more years. There were 49 rural schools. The picture was brighter in the city schools. Twelve persons received above $1000 annually. In high school, salaries were be- tween $1200 and $1800. All but six had four or more years training above high school. The situation today is much better in regard to teacher training. salaries, school buildings and school equipment. (56)
Finance has always been a school problem. Ex- cept for city schools the tax rates do not seem exorbitant. The lowest rate for a county school is 46 cents on the $100 valuation at Belgrade. The new consolidated schools show an increase, still no more than $1.08 at 36-A, and they have large original building costs. Even the Metropolis rate (ele-
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mentary and high school) is under $2.15, less than many other Illinois school systems. There is con- solation also in the higher State aid being received. The 1954 claim is $416,589.99.
The estimated population of more than 15,000 for the county is made up of 1185 colored citizens. This is a decline from the 1705 of 1940. (3) Not until 1872 were the common schools of Illinois open and free to all, including Negroes. Theoretically, subord- ination had ceased, but in many places Negro chil- dren were forced to attend "Black Schools". It was not until the 1953-54 term that racial lines were erased in Metropolis schools. Some 52 are now in attendance at three schools. Even in mixed schools of the county there has never been a Negro teacher. The Negro has learned of the better opportunities to the north and he will continue to leave sedate, tradition-bound Egypt. Negro youth is reaching out for the greater opportunities which Du Bois, in a militant way, advised. Our local colored citizens are progressive, clean and energetic and have a strong desire to be successful.
Consolidation is a mark of the age, no less in education than in business and industry. In Novem- ber 1945, county school boards voted a county school survey. The 1947 Community Unit Law dissolved old districts. By 1948 the 12,000 school districts of the state had been reduced more than one-half. Con- solidation was voted for District 44-A, New Colum- bia, May 7, 1949. District 36-A, Unity School, was
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UNITY SCHOOL FIRST OF THE NEW CONSOLIDATED
voted in September 1951 by a 65 to 0 vote. District 5, Jefferson School, was voted in May 1952, followed closely by Districts 6 and 17 (which have begun construction), and District 7 (Franklin School) the same year. Of the most modern structure and de- sign, the new schools are well equipped, including heating and plumbing, and are a teacher's dream.
Under the leadersip of B. D. Fowler, County Superintendent of Schools, and his predecessor, L. W. Smith, Massac County schools have forged ahead. Much major school development has occurred during the past ten years. Massac County is pro- gressive. As an example, the county was one of only two counties in Illinois which had 100 per cent membership in the National Education Association the past year.
Much sickness prevailed in pioneer days. Fevers, chills, insect pests, poor diet, exposure, and a lack of
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health knowledge and doctors often made life less than romantic. Cholera was widespread in the 1830's. Swamp lands which harbored mosquitoes were a menace. Some progress in drainage was made for draining the Massac cypress swamps from 1912 to 1916 but much work still remained in 1924.
In 1877 the county had 16 doctors. The youngest was Jesse Orr, of Brookport. The oldest was Joseph Brown of Metropolis. Eight others were located in Metropolis, one each in Joppa and Samoth, two others in Brookport (Pellonia), and two in New Columbia. (10) Familiar names like Trovillion, Cummins, Dixon, Walbright, Ragsdale, Tucker, Fisher, Willis, Kerr, and Jacobs appear after 1900. Dr. Winfield Dixon was the oldest physician in the area at the time of his death in 1953. He was 83. Dr. T. W. Roberts is the oldest practicing doctor in the county today.
Temperance probably was never as much a polit- ical issue as one of health and morals. Several villages, including Metropolis, caught the contagion and experimented with prohibition in the 1850's. (46) In 1877 the Murphy Movement swept the area. A temperance society was organized in Joppa and held meetings for years in the old log Oak Grove School. (10) In 1906 Paducah and Joppa proposed locating all saloons on one side of a street. Metrop- olis, in 1909, voted a majority of 121 against saloons. In 1930 the county voted for repeal of State Pro- hibition but against the repeal of the Eighteenth
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Amendment. In 1947 the Metropolis Drys faced the Tax Payer's League, but local option was defeated by a 472 majority. (10) (11)
The birth rate in the 1920's for the county oscillated around 16 per 1000 population. The death rate in the same period was 13 or 14. The birth rate, of course, rose in the 1940's. (56)
In 1910 the county death rate per 100,000 persons was 80 for tuberculosis. It rose to 99.2 in 1930, but fell to 50 in 1936. (56) In 1934 Massac was the fourth worst county in TB and infant deaths in Illi- nois. Twenty-three died of TB in the county in a recent 5-year period. (11) The typhoid and diph- theria rates have dropped to almost nothing. The rate for malaria was still 21 in 1930. Cancer deaths have risen. The 1925 rate of 73.7 per 100,000 was below the State rate of 104.5. (56)
Later figures have just reached the author. Resi- dent deaths from all causes in 1940 were 182; in 1950, 177 ; in 1953, 182 deaths. The death rate per 1000 in 1940 was 12.2; in 1950, 13.0; in 1953, 13.9. The high year was 1951 with 204 deaths, or a rate of 15.1 per 1000 persons. In 1953 heart disease led with a resident death rate of 550 per 100,000. Cancer was second with 191. Vascular lesions affecting the cen- tral nervous system had a rate of 129.9. The pneu- monia and influenza rate was 61.1. The tuberculosis rate has fallen to 38.2. Motor accidents rose from a rate of 7.4 in 1950 to 45.8 in 1953 (per 100,000).
There was a rabies scare in 1953. Instead of
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trusting to a madstone, as was still common in 1906, a rabies quarantine was clamped down and anti- rabies immunization clinics were held over the county. Almost 600 dogs received the vaccine.
Unsafe water was a menace in 1949 perhaps through neglect. Only 21 of 46 rural schools had safe water. Equally dangerous as disease these days is the automobile hazard. The county had 12 traffic deaths in 1952, one of the worst in Illinois.
The Quadri-County Health Department, organ- ized in the last decade, has been a real force for better health. As a member, Massac has received many benefits. An especial fight is being made against tuberculosis, 2720 chest X-rays being made early in 1953.
Social aid to dependents, blind and disability as- sistance, and old age assistance are some of the means taken to alleviate handicaps and insure better health to this class. In February 1941, one out of every three in the county was receiving some sort of public aid. The State rate was one out of eight per- sons. Recipients and costs have shown a decline in the county since 1952.
The Metropolis Sanitarium was opened in 1899 with many patients. Dr. A. C. Ragsdale was the chief agitator and was in sole charge in 1906. The Walbright Hospital operated for some years after- ward. The Fisher Hospital was owned and operated by Dr. J. A. Fisher for many years. It came to be known as Memorial Hospital. In December 1949
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four Metropolis doctors formed a corporation called The Metropolis Doctor's Hospital. Since May 1953, when its doors were closed, there has been no real hospital. Patients are taken to Paducah, Carbon- dale, or even to St. Louis or Memphis.
Talk about a new hospital began as early as 1945. Two years later at the Court House a meeting was held, which resulted the next year in the ap- proval of a Massac County Hospital Authority by a good voting majority. There were set-backs in plans, and it was not until 1953 that a 9-member board of directors was appointed by the newly estab- lished Massac County Hospital District with Ralph Frazier as chairman. Plans then began to go for- ward. Charles Adkins, Sr., donated a six-acre plot in the northwest city limits. The cost was to be met by Federal aid, State aid, and local contributions. Under public relations chairman Mrs. George H. Moseley, contributions had reached more than $50,000 by February 1954. The remainder is to be raised through bonds. It will be a 40-bed, $800,000 structure. Massac Memorial Hospital-named in memory of the war dead-should be well under con- struction before the close of 1954.
CHAPTER XV
THE ECONOMY
AGRICULTURE-Agriculture, in its various forms, is a basic industry in Massac County. As the backbone of the economic structure, area farmers are keeping pace with the modern agriculture. The rural farm population is 3635 out of a county total of 13,594 (1950 figures). Rural non-farm adds another 3866. The proportion of the area in farms is 76.4 per cent or more than 130,000 acres. About 25 per cent of the county population is engaged in farming. (9)
There were 969 farms in 1950 with an average size of 124.2 acres. Ten years before the size was 115 acres. (3) In 1936 the average size was 109.5 acres. As Roger Babson says, the squeeze is on for the marginal farmer, and fewer but larger farms is the trend over the nation, which is made possible by mechanization, soil improvement, and other factors.
The county still practices largely a self-sufficient, general type of farming that grew up in the early settlement. Natural factors of soil and rainfall have
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heretofore limited specialization. Less than 30 per cent of the land is level and sub-soil permeability is poor. (4) Despite certain disadvantages much change has occurred, which has been made possible by other balancing advantages (see Chapter I). The county has a long record of prizes taken at various agricul- tural shows. The best developed corn at the Colum- bia Exposition was from Massac. It came from a yield of 142 bushels per acre from the farm of H. D. Fry. (6) In 1953 Wayne Cockerel and Noah Koch won prizes in the DeKalb corn growing contest with 82 bushels per acre. Ira Giltner, in 1941, won a corn growing grand championship. The yield was 93.62 bushels per acre. Hunnerkoch Hybrid Seed Corn has won prizes at the Chicago grain show. Prizes for peaches have been won by W. P. Bunn and Chick Brothers. The Adkins won five out of eight prizes for their apples at the State Fair in 1936 (10)
The average value of land and buildings per farm is $7141 or twice what it was in 1936. Tenancy is only 11.5 per cent, which is much below the State proportion of 34.6 per cent. The total value of farm products sold in 1949 was $2,693,000. Crops consti- tuted $953,000, livestock $1,328,000, dairy products, $167,000, and poultry $235,000. (9)
There has been an increased standard of living for area farmers. Farms having electricity total 723 ; those with telephones 237. Automobiles num- ber 743, trucks 248, and tractors 590. The level-of- living index for 1940 was 64; for 1950 it was 109.
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Early farming followed the pioneer pattern. Lack of space prohibits even a mention of the many in- ventions and innovations relating to agriculture. Experiments, some successful, were made in Massac with cotton, flax, mulberry trees, tobacco, and hemp. Cotton and wool were processed at a gin in Metrop- olis. By 1940 hybrid corn had gained a sweeping popularity. In 1944 Paul Borman tried rice.
Corn-a mainstay of the Indian and pioneer- has continued the major crop in the county, occupy- ing around 20,000 acres annually with a varying yield of 568,000 bushels in 1922 and 887,913 bushels in 1949. Wheat, oats, rye and barley are the other grains. In 1949 threshed wheat production was 52,275 bushels. Hay of various kinds varies from 12,000 to 36,000 tons annually. The soybean has burgeoned into a major crop of 176,682 bushels in 1949. (3) (56) Truck farming has languished. The value of all vegetables sold is only $2,709. Fruits and nuts total $237,988, of which the greater part is peaches. (3) Peaches took a distinctive lead between 1926 and 1940 with 400,000 trees in 1931. There are only 14,000 now. Annual production has varied from 20 to 150 thousand bushels. (11) Many seasons of poor prices have discouraged peach growers. Apple and pear production has declined also.
Farmers have been alive to the opportunities in livestock. Herds of beef cattle fed on the various new types of grass and hay introduced in the past 20 years. The sales of all types of livestock and live-
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stock products in 1949 was more than a million and a quarter dollars. (3) There are about 7700 beef cattle, 2300 dairy cows, 1500 sheep, 2800 horses and mules, and 14,000 hogs. Milk production is about 1,200,000 gallons annually. (4) There is a livestock auction barn at Metropolis where packing plants, traders, and farmers may buy. In February 1946 the Massac County Locker Service officially opened. Poultry provides regular cash income. The value in 1949 was $235,094. The Helm Hatchery, starting in a small way in 1920, has become nation- ally famous. It has won many prizes both for itself and for its customers in egg-laying contests.
Drainage of the cypress swamps of the Big Bay and Cache Basins has meant much to agriculture. Attempts were made from 1852 onward, but not un- til 1911 was the Cache River Drainage District or- ganized. The total area in need of drainage was 183,550 acres. In 1923 one-fourth was still unclaimed. In 1939 there were 68,400 acres in the district. The land is very fertile.
The Farm Bureau has been a great factor in agricultural development. The list of accomplish- ments in the county since 1920 is lengthy. Conserva- tion has received great emphasis. There are 32,600 acres in the District Conservation Plan with 300 cooperators. In 1952 about 2400 soil samples from 293 farms were tested.
Conservation is being practiced also by means of the Shawnee Forest. The county also has more
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than 40,000 acres of private forests. Construction of farm ponds is a current practice. The 2000-acre Mermet Lake will aid in conserving wild life.
In 1949 there were 202 farmers who thought it desirable to spend 100 or more days in off-farm work. (9) Marginal farmers need more production per acre and more acreage. (57) Unemployment in Egypt has been chronic for years, and part of the reason is the loose and simple relationship between agriculture and manufacturing. (11) There must be much less reliance upon agriculture as a source of employment and income. (58) Until then there can be no permanent improvement in economic welfare. (11)
MANUFACTURING-Early industry grew out of the natural resources readily available-timber, clay, grains, and water transportation. Manufacturing has been confined chiefly to Metropolis, and some of those now extinct will be noted first. The first
enterprise was the Brown Cooperage. There fol- lowed in succession the Kimball saw mills; Yost- Bigelow company which made hubs and spokes ; the Conner Spoke Works; the Edson and Loud Mill in 1875 ; the Towle Mill; the Rampendahl Stave Mill; and the Cutting shipyard. All these worked with wood. Pottery occupied a large place in the economy even past 1900. Kirkpatrick had a large pottery in 1867. It later became the Shick pottery of 1889. In 1899 Metropolis had two potteries and Round Knob had one. Some of the clay came from Joppa and
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THE ECONOMY
some from Choat. The Metropolis Pottery Company was still operating in 1906. Tom Richmond made the bricks for the old court house. Green Hodge had a hand-made brick kiln on the river front. John L. Turnbo later had a more modern brick business there. In 1885 the Massac Iron Company was es- tablished. It failed in the 1893 Panic and was a serious blow to local business. Iron pipes and stoves were made for a short time by other transitory concerns. (10)
Joe Bowker's cotton gin used locally raised cot- ton in the early 1880's. Klutz ran a woolen mill. It was in grain milling, however, that Massac was prominent. Wheat was King. In 1865 Rampendahl had a mill where the Church of Christ now stands. There was a smaller city mill. The Empire Mills was erected in 1868. The Riverside Mill, largest grain mill ever built in the county, was built by Quante Brothers about 1880. The capacity was 200 barrels of flour per day. Brookport once had a mill. J. P. Choate operated a mill at New Columbia. W. T. Cagle had a mill in Samoth. Fire frequently destroyed these mills. At the same time there were once four flour mills in Metropolis and four others in the county. There are none today. (10)
The cigar industry was important for many years. All were hand made. The following con- cerns operated at one time : Kurtz Brothers (1870), Henry Kraper (1885-1913), Corlis Cigars, Barbero- Toler (1907), Roy Cosby (the last), and other
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smaller ones. At the peak more than 100 were em- ployed. Plug tobacco was made by Corlis-Rankin Company until it burned in the early 1880's. (10)
As timber was basic to industry in the nineteenth century so it continued into the twentieth. Metrop- olis is one of the three outstanding woodworking centers of the State. Good rail and water transpor- tation facilities have also helped. As timber became depleted, new synthetic materials developed, such as plastic, and styles changed, manufacturers have had to diversify.
The C. C. Leonard Mill was formerly Towles' "Big Mill" and was built in the 1860's by Bailey. Wooden farm accessories were made. In 1937 more than 100 were employed. In the face of depression and a fire in 1931, Charles Leonard carried on. An- other fire hit in 1935. Between 1923 and 1931, every mill in east Metropolis burned except the box fac- tory. The Leonard Mill still operates. The Roberts- Liggett Company was established in Ohio in 1878 and moved to Metropolis in 1893. It made fruit and vegetable boxes, crates, and veneers. It employed 100 men in 1941. In 1948 it sold out to the newly- formed Metropolis Basket Company which went into receivership the next year. The Metropolis Bending Company was organized in 1903. At one time it could say that it was the world's largest bender, making wooden bows for buggies, auto- mobiles and airplanes. A subsidiary, the Fort Massac Chair Company, was formed about 1932.
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In 1937 another subsidiary was formed, the Babee- Tenda Company. The chair division was sold and moved away in 1948. The "Bender" has contributed immeasurably to the local economy. The products value $1,500,000 annually with 125 on the payroll. Artman Lumber and Planing Mill was established in 1912. It employed 100 in 1937. Operations have ceased. The Joyce-Watkins Tie Company began some time before 1918. It was bought in 1935 by the Wyoming Tie and Timber Company, which had been established in 1913. Ties and timber are treated with creosote to lengthen their life. The Good Luck Glove Company has been a great factor in the life of many a town and country youth. It came to Metropolis in 1916. Factory payroll in 1951 ex- ceeded $1,000,000. The career of the Wilson Stove Company has been erratic. Established in 1916, it once employed 300 men and prospered until 1932. It was reorganized in 1938, but finally was sold to a Memphis company in 1954. (10) (11)
Several smaller firms, among others, are: Miller Dairy (1923), Dr. Pepper Bottling (1930), Egyptian Concrete Pipe, Moss Tie Company, Double-Cola, and several grain elevators or mills.
Of the total 4565 persons employed in 1950 about 23 per cent were employed in manufacturing. (9) In 1923 Massac had 37 establishments with 703 workers earning $671,507. The value of products was $3,414,973. (56) The average annual wage in 1939 was $600, below the Illinois average of $1258
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HISTORY OF MASSAC COUNTY
and the Egypt average of $754. (58) In 1950 there were 21 establishments with products valued at $3,222,000. Wages paid were $1,731,000. (9) Manu- facturers across the nation decreased 7.5% from 1947 but those of Southern Illinois increased 20 per cent. (3) Employment has been at a high level in Massac County recently and the outlook continues bright.
The Atomic Energy Commission and its Joppa power station, Electric Energy Incorporated, came quite suddenly upon the scene to change the aspira- tions of the area. The $73,000,000 plant was defi- nitely assured in January 1951. While it is too early to know the full potentialities of this new power source-whether extra power will be available for private industry, or whether such industry can be induced to locate in the area-the impact upon Massac County, and particularly upon Joppa and Metropolis, has been great. High employment has led to more money in local circulation, and stimu- lated trade and home construction.
The present economy will not support a large population. There must be more industry for an even prosperity-and to retain our youth, our most precious asset. Many factors combine to make the area a desirable location. Industries for which it offers the best prospects must be informed of the details of the opportunities. (3) Any industry or homeseeker contemplating coming to Massac would
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do well to read either one or both of the references numbered 3 and 58.
Several other industries merit a few lines. Lum- bering, mining and fisheries provide a livelihood for less than 50 persons. Many small sawmills once existed. The first one was near Seven Mile Creek and was operated by water power. Several trees are native to Illinois only along the Ohio River. The cypress was particularly of great commercial value. Timber became depleted, sawmills disappeared, and additional timber has had to be brought in from Kentucky and Tennessee. Shawnee National Forest, established in 1933, comprises 800,000 acres of which only 2978 acres in Massac is government owned. Total county forest is 36,390 acres of which there are 100,799 board feet of saw timber. (58)
As has been noted materials for pottery and brick making are abundant. There is no stone coal and hope is futile. The copperas springs are of no value. What iron ore exists is mixed with conglomerate and Smilex, which prevents the ore from being smelted. The Metropolis Sand and Gravel Com- pany, under Rampendahl and Fritts, began in 1910. It ceased about 1928. The Western Indiana Sand and Gravel Company, on Massac Creek, quit in the 1920's. The Federal Sand and Gravel Company has been operating since about 1935. Production in 1928 was 140,000 tons ; in 1937 it was 35,000 tons; and in 1946 it was 16,613 tons with a value of $11,543. In 1950 the Mermet Stone Company and Massac Stone
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Company were in operation. Good limestone is quarried. In 1946 there were 26,347 tons quarried. The per capita value of all minerals was only $3. (58) A rich vein of phosphate was discovered in 1938.
Oil was first reported in 1909 near Round Knob. Nothing was done until 1933. Perhaps the philos- ophy was that of the old Illinoisian who in 1879 said, "The Government ought to interfere at once, and put a stop to further pumping and boring for oil". He was "quite certain the oil is drawn through these wells from the bearing on the earth's axis, and that the earth will cease to turn when the lubrication ceases". (59) Glen Kahle had put a well down to 3000 feet by January 1938, at Mermet, and high hopes were held. This and later drilling on the McGhee farm, near Brookport, has failed to reach paying oil.
Many species of fish are found in the Ohio River and the lakes. Fish up to 100 pounds have been caught. Mussels are obtained also and from the shells buttons, poultry grit, and fertilizer are made. The McKee Button Factory, of Metropolis, has em- ployed as many as 100 workers, and annual capacity passed 776,000 gross in 1940.
Labor organization came late to Massac indus- try. The open-shop prevailed. There was a 30- minute fist fight in Joppa in July 1917 between union and non-union workers at the tie plant. Artman Milling Company employees struck briefly in June
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