History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 106

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 106

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Theodore L. Burnett was born November 14, 1829, in Spencer county. His father had been a prominent young lawyer, but died at the age of thirty-four. The son received a superior edu- cation, ending at Transylvania University, studied law with Mark E. Houston at Taylorsville, was graduated from the Law Department of Tran- sylvania University in 1846, opened an office in

516

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Taylorsville, was elected County Attorney in 1847, entered the Southern army in 1861, but was soon sent to the Confederate Congress, in which he served till the close of the war ; re- moved to Louisville in 1866 and recommenced law practice ; was elected City Attorney in 1870, and has been continued in the place for several years by successive re-elections. He was mar- ried January 29, 1852, in Spencer county, to Elizabeth S., daughter of Stephen Gilbert.

Judge John E. Newman was born in 1819 in Spencer county, Kentucky. He graduated at St. Mary's College, and afterward studied law at Taylorsville with Martin McHenry. His prac- tice began in 1842 at Smithfield. Fifteen years after this date, in partnership with his brother-in- law, William R. Grigsby, he removed his prac- tice to Bardstown. In 1862 he was elected Judge of the Fifth Judicial District, and served one term. Coming to Louisville in 1867, he be- came a partner with John M. Harlan and B. H. Bristow. In 1847 he was married to Miss Marian Olin, and became the father of four sons and two daughters. His death occurred in Louisville in 1873. In religion he was a Cath- olic, earnest and consistent. Socially he ranked high, being able intellectually, and upright in all his dealings with others. He was the author of a book of some value in the law-Pleading and Practice. All during the civil war he stood firm in his loyalty to the Government, and suffered both personally and pecuniarily for his deter- mined zeal and unflinching devotion.

Hon. Samuel McKee was born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, November 4, 1833. His maternal grandmother came to this State from North Carolina with Daniel Boone and others. His mother was, before marriage, Miss Sallie Wilkerson, of Montgomery county. James Mc- Kee, his father, was a native of that county also. He was at different times colonel of the militia, member of the lower House of the Legislature and of the State Senate, dying while a member of the last-named body in the year 1860. The paternal grandfather, Samuel McKee, was a Rev- olutionary soldier. From Virginia he came to Kentucky about 1783. The early years of Samuel McKee, the younger, were spent on the farm till he entered Miami University. He graduated in 1857, and at once entered the Cin- cinnati Law School. Following the completion

of his course here, he began the practice of law at Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Entering the army in 1862 as captain in the Kentucky Four- teenth Union Cavalry, he was captured at Mount Sterling and taken to the Libby prison, where he remained until exchanged in 1864. His time for enlistment then having expired, he returned home and resumed his law practice. Following this date he was consecutively Assistant Elector for the Ninth Judicial District on the Republican ticket, twice Congressman from the same district, and, finally, by President Grant's appointment, United States Pension Agent at Louisville, whence he removed in 1869. Two years after this date he began again his practice in the law, and has since resided in the same city. A staunch Union man, he is yet unpretending and unaggressive. As a lawyer he is able and indus- trious. Since a mere boy, Colonel McKee has been a member of the Christian Church. In 1859, October 5th, he was married to Miss Sophia Brainard, the daughter of a prominent clergyman of Ohio. They have four children.

Hon. Thomas E. Bramlette, the war Governor of Kentucky, was born in Cumberland county, January 3, 1817, and died in Louisville, January 12, 1875. He was well trained in general edu- cation and law, was admitted to the bar in 1837, soon won reputation and success, was elected to the Legislature in 1841, and for nearly a quarter of a century thereafter was almost constantly in public life. For two years, 1849-51, he was Commonwealth's Attorney; in 1852 began prac- tice at Columbia, Adair county, where he was presently made Judge of the Sixth Judicial Dis- trict, and filled the place for six years. It is re- marked that his decisions were very seldom re- versed in the Court of Appeals. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he became a Colonel in the Federal army, and raised the Third Kentucky Infantry, which he commanded, but resigned in 1862, to accept the post of United States Dis- trict Attorney for Kentucky, when he removed to Louisville; the next year was commissioned Major-General, and was also elected Governor of the State by a large majority, as a Union candi- date. The Kentucky delegation to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1874 was instructed to vote for him as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. After the close of the guberna- torial term he became a lawyer in Louisville, and

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

spent this last years chiefly in the effort to found the Public Library of Kentucky, now the Poly- technic Library.

Richard H. Collins, editor, lawyer, and his- torian, was born May 4, 1824, at Maysville, Kentucky. His father was Judge Lewis Collins, also an editor and historian. His paternal grand- father was Richard Collins, a soldier in the Rev- olutionary War from Virginia, and his maternal grandfather, Major Valentine Peers, was likewise a Virginian soldier in the same war. The latter was a competent officer on the staff of General Wheedon, and was with General Washington at Valley Forge. Richard Collins. obtained his early education at Maysville Seminary, entered Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky, in 1840, when sixteen years of age, and graduated two years later. In 1845, he received the title of A. M., and has since been honored with that of LL. D. The study of law next engaged his attention, and he was graduated from the Tran- sylvania Law School at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1846. Between 1845 and 1857 he was nearly all the time engaged in editorial work upon the Maysville "Eagle," and was at a later date the founder and publisher of the Danville "Review." Between 1851 and 1871 he was also engaged, more or less, in the practice of his profession, at Maysville and at Cincinnati, while residing in Covington, Kentucky. The great work of his life, however, was his History of Kentucky, a production of one thousand six hundred pages in two large volumes, published in 1874. This was an enlargement of his father's history of the State, published, twenty-seven years be- fore this date. The older history was but the beginning of the work, being but a single volume of five hundred and sixty pages. The large work is considered accurate and comprehensive, and much praise is everywhere bestowed upon the indefatigable worker who sacrificed so much to put into lasting shape the fullest and most com- prehensive history thus far compiled of any State in the Union. It is complimentary to the in- dustrious author that the State Legislature con- tracted with him, before the work was finished, for some five thousand copies of the work, for the use of the common schools. Mr. Collins is at the present date an esteemed citizen of Louis- ville.

THE LAW SCHOOL

of the University of Louisville was opened in the fall of 1846, and has been steadily main- tained for now thirty-six years. The pioneer graduating class received their diplomas as Bach- elors of Laws at the nrst commencement, held on the first Monday of March, 1847, and con- sisted of the following-named gentlemen: B. Ap- plewhite, Carroll county, Mississippi; J. P. Cham- bers, Louisville; Joseph Collins, Columbia, Penn- sylvania; H. C. Hicks, Brandenburg, Kentucky; R. A. Maupin, Louisville; W. P. Monroe, Frank- fort, Kentucky; Benjamin W. Pollard, Louis- ville; F. M. Rawlings, Shawneetown, Illinois; W. P. Robinson, Liberty, Mississippi; R. P. Trabue, Columbia, Kentucky; John W. Tyler, Louisville; S. D. Ward, Flemingsburg, Ken- tucky. Many distinguished men have since been graduated from this school. In the class of 1849 were B. Gratz Brown and R. J. Oglesby. With them graduated Patrick Joyes, Esq, of Louisville. The class of 1850 included Milton P. Dunham, since Congressman, and R. T. Durrett; that of 1851, John A. Logan and James S. Robinson, of Illinois; that of 1861, Con- gressman Lashley F. Wood, of Mississippi ; and others might be named.

THE LOUISVILLE LAW LIBRARY

is kept in suitable rooms in the county Court- house, and is composed of six thousand vol- umes, mostly reports. It is owned by a cor- poration chartered February 8, 1839. The act of incorporation authorized the establishment of a law school, a law library, and a miscellaneous library. When the corporation was organized in 1841 an attempt was made to establish law lec- tures and a law school, but it fell through. In 1844 a room was obtained in the basement of the Court-house, and six book-cases made. No librarian seems to have been chosen until 1847, when John W. Tyler was elected.

In 1853 a contract was made between the Library company and the University of Louis- ville, by which law students of the University were to have the use of the library during the terni, and their matriculation fees ($5 each) were to be paid to the library and invested in books. From time to time books were given to the library, and books were bought as fast as could be done with the scanty income.

518

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

In 1864 William Atwood was chosen treasurer of the society, and until his death remained an officer of the same. To his energy and attention the library owes much. At first the shares of stock were $100 each, and annual dues $10. In IS70 there was a membership of about forty; $75 had been paid in on each share. There was thus an income of $400 per annum, which was much less than was needed. At Mr. At- wood's instance the price of shares of stock was reduced to $25, and each holder of the old stock was treated as holding three shares. In conse- quence of this arrangement, thirty eight persons purchased shares of stock from the library, and the extra shares of many of the old members were sold or given away, so that the membership soon rose to above hundred. This arrange- ment gave the library a much greater income, and put it upon a solid basis.

In 1874 it was decided to issue certificates of stock and to open a transfer book. Up to that time no formal records had been kept, and the lists held by Mr. Atwood were not found after his death. The corporation has power to issue new shares of stock without limit, upon receipt of their face value in cash. The annual dues are $10. For many years no text-books have been bought; the net income has been invested in reports, digests, and statutes. Since 1865 the library has occupied rooms on the second floor of the Court-house.

The present officers are: Byron Bacon, presi- dent; C. B. Seymour, secretary; E. W. C. Hum- phrey, treasurer; W. O. Harris and James A. Beattie, managers. The same officers have been annually elected ever since 1874, except Mr. Beattie, who has been a manager since 1880.

For many years the successive librarians had been students of the law school, but in 1874 it was deemed necessary to have a librarian who could devote his entire attention to the library. Mr. S. F. Johnson was then elected librarian, and still holds that position.

The annual increase of the library is about one hundred and thirty volumes.

THE LOUISVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION

was organized June 10, 1878, with Professor James S. Pirtle as President.

THE KENTUCKY LAW JOURNAL

is a monthly publication of a high order, started

in this city in July, 1881, by George Baber, Esq., its present able and accomplished editor.

CHAPTER XXII.

GENERAL BUSINESS.

Introductory-Manufacturing-The Statistics of 1880 Show- ing the Situation-The Tobacco Trade-Finances and Banking- History of the Banks-Insurance-Street Rail- ways-Miscellaneous Statistics-The Board of Trade- The Industrial Exposition-Biographical Sketches of E. D. Standiford, James Bridgeford, Charles Tilden, Thomas L. Jefferson, Joseph J. Fischer, E. P. Alexander, H. Victor Newcomb, Charles E. Kincaid, Captain Joseph Swagar, A. A. Quarrier, George W. Morris, Benjamin F. Avery, James S. Lithgow, Dennis Long, James S. Phelps, James Anderson, Jr., James Brown, Richard A. Robinson, Robert J. Ward, Samuel Casseday, Joseph Danforth, H. Verhoeff, Jr., Levi Tyler, Alexander Harbison, George H. Moore, and Samuel Coggeshall.

This chapter will not recapitulate the historical facts given in the annals of Louisville, con- cerning the progress of industry, trade, and finance in this city, nor attempt to give a chrono- logical account of their development. It will be sufficient if, in the brief space which can be given to these subjects, the position which Louis- ville has attained in a material point of view, be measurably indicated.

MANUFACTURING.

An account of the leading local industries in 1832 has been detailed in our annals of that year. It may here be further noted that the Cotton Factory employed eighty hands, moved one thousand and fifty-six spindles, and had a yearly consumption of five hundred bales of cotton. The Directory of that year says: " The yarns from this factory are esteemed pref- erable to those sent to this city for sale." The Woolen Factory had steam for its motive power, employed thirty hands, and used twenty-five thousand pounds of wool annually. The Fulton Foundry consumed seven hundred tons of iron per annum, and employed eighty men ; the Jef- ferson five hundred and seventy-five, respectively. Keats & Co.'s planing-mill had two machines and two circular saws, with a capacity of planing, tonguing, and grooving four thousand feet of boards per day. The Barclay Lead Factory used up three hundred tons of pig lead a year,

SADDLERY?

SCHALLT. LEAF

VIEW OF MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

519

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and the rope-walks and bagging factories six hun- dred tons of hemp.

The rapid rise of the manufacturing interest here was graphically sketched by Mr. John E. Green, President of the Board of Trade, at the opening of the Louisville Industrial Exposition in the fall of 1881, in an address during which he said :

The number of manufacturing establishments has grown from 620 in 1860 to 1, 191 in 1880; the capital invested therein from $10,000,000 to $21,000,000; the number of hands em- ployed from 10,000 to over 20,000, and the value of the product from $18,800,000 to $36,000,000. These figures for 1880 do not include the product of our iron and steel works, the man- ufacture of worsted or woolen goods, coke, glass, ship-build- ing, distilleries, breweries, etc., which, being taken by special agents of the Government, are not yet obtainable, but will, when reported, swell the aggregate for 1880 at least twenty- five per cent.

This progress has been exhibited more in de- tail in the United States census returns, which are thus tabulated in the Report of the Board of Trade for 1881 :

1860.

1870.

1880.

No. of establishments.

436

801

1, 19I

No. hands employed .. Pop. of Louisville ..

7,396

11,589 100,753

21,937

126,566

$5,023,491 00 $11, 129,291 00

$20,864,449 00

Capital invested. . Am't of wages paid ..

2,120,179 00

4,464,040 00

5,705,387 00

Value of material.

7,896,891 00

19,369, 556 00

22,362,704 00

Value of products

14,135,517 00

20,364,650 00

35,908,338 00

Upon this Report we shall now mainly rely for the facts enabling us to make a rapid exhibit, in alphabetical order rather than the order of im- portance, of the industries of Louisville. It is by Major J. M. Wright, superintendent of the Louisville Board of Trade, for 1881-82, which we use at times in his own words, or nearly so. When no other date is specified, it will be under- stood that the statistics are for 1880.

The manufacture of axes and hatchets began here about 1876, and has grown from sales of $1,000 to $1,200 a year to $40,000 to $50,000. Value of material used per year, $25,000 ; annual product, $45,000.

Making artificial limbs is also comparatively new in Louisville. About $1,000 worth of material is used up per year.

Awning- and tent making, like the latter above, has started up within ten years, but has an annual product of $58,000.

Axle-grease has one establishment opened within a decade, and using $1,ooo worth of material a year.

The manufacture of agricultural implements

is noted as "one of the oldest and largest in- dustries connected with Louisville's productive commerce. Between the years 1850 and 1860 it grew up to such an extent that, with the excep- tion of plows, the product at that time was alinost as large as at the present date. The panic of 1873 was exceedingly calamitous to this industry, but it has since bravely recovered itself. Louis- ville is thought to be the largest producer of plows in the world, some of the establishments for their manufacture being simply gigantic. As may be seen below, about 100,000 plows and cultivators are turned out per annum, nearly the whole of which go to the Southern States. The following are the statistics for 1880:

Establishments, 7; capital invested, $1,915,- 100; greatest number of hands employed, 911; value of lumber used, $49,000; value of iron and steel, $367,000; other materials, $222,600; total value of materials, $64c,600. Product-corn- planters, 530; cotton-planters, 500; grain-drills, 45; cultivators, 19,000; harrows, 13,100; dozen hoes, 9,700; plows, 80,000; corn shellers, 1,500; fanning-mills, 250; separators, 15; threshers, 50; cane-mills, 400; cider-mills, 1, 100; straw-cutters, 350; hay-presses, 3; cotton-presses, 50; horse-pow- ers, 275; saw-mills, 40; evaporators, 200; steam elevators, 8; hydraulic elevators, 10; agricultural engines, 2; churns, 300; value of all other prod- ucts, $280,000; total value of products, $1,- 220,700.

The bagging industry has fallen off in ten years, there being but one establishment where formerly were two or three. It is a pretty large factory, however, employing one hundred and seventy-five hands, with $150,000 capital, and using a like value of material in 1880.

The manufacture of leather belting and hose commanded a capital of $19,000 and the labor of seven hands in 1880.

The boot and shoe industry was begun in Louisville less than twenty years ago. At first only women's shoes were made, then men's wear to the extent of about five hundred pairs a week, a production now multiplied by twenty at least. There are ten factories, with $188,800 invested capital, employing 527 hands and 152 sewing machines, using up $345,473 worth of material a year, and turning out a product of $584,832, besides $252,705 from the small shops and cus- tom work, etc. Besides boots and shoes, shoe

68,033

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

uppers were produced in ISSo to the value of $39,700; and for leather slippers, $480 worth of material was used.

Paper boxes were produced $5,500 worth the same year. Packing boxes employ 118 hands and a capital of $90,172, with an annual product of $107,000.

The bread and other bakeries have 230 hands, $218,000 capital, and $625,000 product. The steam bakeries alone use $172,000 worth of ma- terial.

Brick-yards and tile-works exhibit 414 hands, $127,350 capital, $45,680 materials used, and 20,500,000 common brick produced, and 600,- ooo pressed brick, with a total value of $150,- 175.

As to bridge-building, Major Wright's Report says:

This industry started in 1866 as the outgrowth of the de- mand for a bridge over the Ohio at Louisville, which struc- ture was the first job undertaken. Since then the single es- tablishment at Louisville has been doing a steady and healthy business. It is the only large iron-bridge manufacturing es- tablishment south of the Ohio river. In 1870 capital invest- ed was $150,000. The product has been largely marketed West and South, some of it, however, crossing the Ohio, and all of it standing the tests of comparison and usage by the side of any Northern or Eastern-made work. Competition from Pittsburgh and vicinity and Chicago. In 1880 annual value of product, $175,000.

Boat-building is carried on principally in the cities on the other side of the Falls, but is ac- counted as substantially a Louisville industry. The boat-yard at Jeffersonville is the largest in the West. Number of hands employed in 1868- 69, 275 ; capital, $350,000 ; yearly product, $425,000.

Brush- and broom-making has been a local industry only since the war, but produced in 1880 $35,480 worth of brooms, and $33,000 in brushes.

Of baking powder, the value of the product of 1880 was $18,000.

Blacksmithing and horse-shoeing, annual pro- duct, $147,455.

Baskets, annual product, $7,820.

Bitters, annual product, $40,000.

Blueing, materials used yearly worth $4,000.

The manufacture of carriages in Louisville is one of its oldest, though not one of its largest, industrial interests. Houses now in business are from twenty to forty years old. The manufac- ture of farm wagons at this city promises to be-

come quite an extensive industry. The location is favorable, materials are cheap and easy of ac- cess, and the demand for these goods is increas- ing with surprising rapidity in all portions of the South and West. Besides the smaller establish- ments which have been doing a healthy business for years, there has recently been organized an extensive wagon-making establishment at Louis- ville, started July 1, 1879. For baby buggies Louisville has had during a series of years a good and somewhat extended reputation. The · statistics of the trade are as follows: Capital, etc., invested in 1880, $390,000; hands em- ployed, 522; value of product, $818,415. This product is divided into carriages, $283,625; car- riages and wagons, $473,900; baby buggies, etc., $60,890.

Before the war there were but two hydraulic cement mills about the Falls, and the annual product was from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand barrels. Now the capacity of the mills existing around the Falls is about four thousand barrels per day, though as this amount is greater than the demand, none of the mills make full time. The production is to be much further in- creased, however, by the product of another mill now in progress of erection. For 1880 the showing of the two Louisville mills is as follows: Capital, real and personal, invested, $275,000; largest number of hands employed, 192; value of product, $145,000. The manufacture of ce- ment at Louisville dates back as early as 1829 (when some was made while excavating the Louisville and Portland canal), and its manufac- ture in greater or less quantities has continued ever since. Pipe and terracotta have had one or two establishments in operation ever since the war. Value of annual product, $32,500.

The clothing business is one of the older forms of Louisville industry, and one in which the trade of that city extends over a considerable area. Latest statistics: Capital, real and per- sonal, invested, $699,300; greatest number of hands at one time, 1,332; value annual prod- ucts, $1,308,718 ; manufactured clothing proper, $797,300 ; custom work, clothiers and tailors, $511,418.

The industry in coffins (metallic cases, etc.), but little over a decade in age, has grown into quite an extended trade, and has good prospec- tives for the future. In 1880 the capital, real

521

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

and personal, invested was $185,300 ; hands em- ployed, 156; value of product, $200,800.

The confectioneries in 1880 employed in cap- ital, real and personal, $95,800 ; hands, 74 ; value of product, $139,580.

Cooperage in 1880: Capital, real and per- sonal, invested, $361,300 ; hands employed, 582 ; value annual product, $762,800.

The manufactures of candles and soap in- dustry at Louisville is an old and established one, though as compared with some other cities is not so extensive. The business has always been vigorous and prosperous. The value an- nual product 1880, $401,925.

Chemical works in 1880: One establishment. Value of material used annually, $1,000.

There have been at Louisville ever since its infancy, a large number of concerns engaged in the cigar manufacture business, of moderate size, individually, but making in the aggregate an important feature in the business of the city. In 1880, the business employed a capital, real and personal, of $109,027; hands, 368; value an- nual product, $354,988.

Of the car-work industry may be said what will apply equally well to a large number of man- ufacturing establishments around the Falls out- side of the Louisville city limits, viz : that it is run by Louisville capital and is due for its exis- tence to Louisville energy. The interests of all manufacturers located around the Falls are closely identified with those of Louisville, and advantages or hindrances in the commercial world affect both alike. It is hence not only proper to include most of these enterprises in a report of Louisville manufactures, but manifestly unjust to Louisville to omit them in such a sum- mary. The car works are located in Jefferson- ville, and for that reason their statistics are not given for 1880. In 1870, as reported to Board of Trade : Capital invested, real and personal, $180,000; number of hands employed, 75 ; value annual product, $340,000.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 106

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814