History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 70

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 70

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This noble and useful establishment is not yet finished, and

has already cost its owner, Mr. Tarascon, $150,000, and when completed it will manufacture five hundred barrels of flour per day. Immediately above is a line of mill-seats, extend- ing two thousand six hundred aud sixtv-two feet, affording sites for works of that description which, if erected, would be able jointly to produce two thousand barrels in the twenty- four hours. Some experiments are now making by the owner, in order to determine the possibility of having a series of undershot wheels placed in the race above, to be propelled by the force of the current only. Should he succeed, he in- tends extending his works and to employ this power for cot- ton-spinning, fulling, weaving, etc.

Mr. Faux, the " English Farmer " before men- tioned as here in 1819, says in his Memorable Days in America :

I rode in a hackney coach to Shippingport, a sort of ham- let of Louisville, standing on the margin of the river, oppo- site to a flourishing new town on the other side, called Albion [New Albany], in Indiana. Counted from twelve to sixteen elegant steamboats aground, waiting for water. .

The passage down from hence to Orleans is $75, a price which competition and the unnecessary number of boats built will greatly reduce. Entered a low (but the best) tavern in Shippingport, intending, if 1 liked it, to board and wait here for the troubling of the waters; but, owing to the mean- ness of the company and provisions, 1 soon left and returned to headquarters at Louisville. The traveler, who must necessarily often mix with the very dregs of society in this country, should be prepared with plain clothes or the dress of a mechanic, a gentlemanly appearance only exciting un- friendly or curious feelings, which defeat its object and make his superiority painful.

Mr. George W. Ogden, whose volume of Let- ters from the West has already been cited, gave the village this notice in the summer of 1821, when here:

A little below, on the Kentucky side, is a small place called Shippingport. Here boats bound down the river generally land for the purpose of leaving the pilot and of obtaining in- formation relative to the markets below. It is but a few years since Shippingport was a wilderness, but since its com- mencement its increase has been unparalleled, and it bids fair to rival even Louisville in commerce and manufactures. Be- low this town, for fifty miles, the river is truly beautiful. .

Near the rapids is situated Fort Steuben.

PORTLAŃD,

The site of this place was the property of Gen- eral William Lytle when, in 1814, it was surveyed and platted under his direction by Alexander Ralston. An addition was laid out in 1817, for the same proprietor, by Joel Wright. A peculiar division prevailed in the town-plat, the two parts being known as "Portland proper," and "the en- largement of Portland." The lots in the "proper" plat were of half-acre size, and sold readily for $200 each, increasing in price by 1819 to $500

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

to $1,000. The enlargement comprised lots fifty per cent. larger, or three-fourths of an acre in size, and the price at first corresponded, being $300 apiece. They did not appreciate, however, in the same ratio as those of the older Portland, as they were selling at $500 to $600 in 1819. During this year McMurtrie's Sketches said of Portland:

But a small portion of this extensive place is as yet occu- pied by houses. Some very handsome ones, however, are now erecting in Portland proper, and among them a very ex- tensive brick warehouse, belonging to Captain H. M. Shreve. The property in this place has lately attracted the attention of a number of wealthy men, who seem determined to improve to the utmost every advantage it possesses, and as it is not so subject to inundation as some of the adjoining places, its future destinies may be considered as those of a highly flourishing and important town.

In 1830 Portland had a population of 398, not quite three-fourths that of Shippingport. Thirty years later, however, it had forged far ahead of that ancient burg, and numbered 1, 706 inhabitants. Long before this, however, in 1837, the encroachments of growing Louisville de- manded the extinction of Portland as a separate municipality, and it has since shared the fortunes, for good or ill, of its larger and older sister. It had been incorporated only three years, or since 1834.

Mr. Casseday, writing his History of Louis- ville about 1851, said of this place :

It has fulfilled the office of a suburb to Louisville, but has never at any time held prominent importance among towns, and is chiefly worthy of notice now as a point of landing for the largest class of New Orleans boats at seasons when the stage of the river will not allow them to pass over the rapids. Although it was at one time predicted that "its future desti_ nies might be regarded as those of a highly flourishing and important town, ' it has never equalled the least sanguine hopes of its friends. It has no history of its own worthy of relation.

Dana's Geographical Sketches of the Western Country, in 1819, had said of this village:

It is a flourishing plice, A street ninety-nine feet wide, having a communication with Louisville, extends along the highest bank above the whole length of the town. It con- tains three warehouses, several stores, and one good tavern.

It may be added that the lower part of Port- land, that lying along the river, suffered with un- usual severity during the flood of February. 1882. Many buildings on the street next the river were severely injured and some totally wrecked, while the street itself was filled with floatage and debrise and much damage was done in other ways. The great distilleries just below were

thoroughly flooded, and many cattle drowned, while more suffered untold agonies, while stand- ing for many hours in water up to their heads.

CHAPTER XV.

RELIGION IN LOUISVILLE.

Introductory-Methodism Earliest to Organize here-The First Methodist Episcopal Church-Methodist Reformed Church-Trinity Chapel-First German Methodist Epis- copal Church-Division of the Churches North and South -West Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church-St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church-Biographical Notices of Bascom, Holman, Crouch, Stevenson, Kavanaugh, Parsons, and Sehon. Roman Catholicism-The Diocese of Louisville-Its Bishop-Removal from Bardstown to Louisville-The Sisters of Charity-The Jesuits-First Catholic Church in Louisville-Local Development of Catholicism-Its Congregations, Convents, Schools, Etc .- Church and Convent of St. Louis Bertrand-St. Xavier's Institute-Notices of Bishops Spalding and McCloskey, and Father Abell. The Baptists- The First (Walnut- street) Church-East Church-Jefferson-street Church- Hope Church Broadway Church-Southern Baptist The- ological Seminary-Notices of Manly, Warder, Arnold, J. L. and J. C. Waller, Burrows, and Pratt. Presby- terianism-The First Church-The Second-The Portland Avenue-Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church-The Mutual Assurance Fund-Notices of Smith, Brecken- ridge, Humphrey, Jones, and Lowry. The Christian Church-The First-The Second-Notice of Tyler. The Episcopalians-Christ Church-St. Paul's-St. Stephen's Mission-Biography of Rev. Dr. Norton, and Notices of Drs. Crouch, Peers, and Perkins. Unitarianism-The Church of the Messiah-Notice of the Rev. Dr. Hey- wood. Judaism-Notice of Rabbi Kleeberg. Notes of 1847-Religion in Louisville in 1852-The Women's Chris- tian Association.

The topic of this chapter must needs deal mainly with religion as organized in Louisville. But it is obviously impossible to treat adequately, within the limits of a single chapter, the history of each of the many religious societies now in the city; and we are necessarily confined to a few representative churches, and almost exclusively to those whose pastors or officers have shown a practical spirit of co-operation with the compilers of this work.

The annals of organized religion in Louisville began with

METHODISM.

The first society of the Methodist Episcopal church in Louisville is reputed to have been or- ganized in 1805, and to have been embraced in

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

the Salt River and Shelby circuit. Earlier than that, the few Methodists in the village had their membership in the church at or near Utica, on the Indiana shore, where Methodism found a lodgment very early. The Louisville society worshipped at first in a small log school-house, near where the court-house now stands, while the prayer- and class-meetings were commonly held at Thomas Biscourt's dwelling. But by 1809 the denomination had so strengthened locally as to be able to purchase a small lot on the north side of Market street, between Seventh and Eighth, upon which a church of moderate size was built. It, with the town, is thus noticed in Bishop Asbury's Journal, under date of Oc- tober 21, 1812:

I preached in Louisville at 11 o'clock, in our neat brick house 34x 38 feet. I had a sickly, serious congregation. This is a growing town and a handsome place, but the floods or ponds make it unhealthy. We lodge at Farquar's.

This church was sold in 1816, but the building remained for nearly three-quarters of a century an interesting relic of religious and material his- tory in this place. A lot was then purchased on Fourth street, between Market and Jefferson, where the New York store now stands, and oc- cupied by a church. In the same year the Ohio Conference, which then included most of the Kentucky churches, met in Louisville; and the Rev. Andrew Monroe, appointed by it to the Jefferson circuit, wrote: "The society in Louis- ville was small-good class-meetings and a good class of people." Two years afterwards the church here was made a station, and the elo- quent Henry B. Bascom given his first pastorate in charge of it. He wrought a successful work in connection with it. At the close of his first year he reported a membership of eighty-seven whites and thirty colored persons, which at the close of his second and last year had increased to one hundred whites and forty-five blacks, comprising then (1820) about one twenty-eighth of the entire population of the place.

The Louisville church was first, as before noted, in the Salt River and Shelby Circuit. It was transferred to the Shelby Circuit in due time, and then to the Jefferson Circuit upon its formation in 1811, when Louisville was first made a regular meeting-place.

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Louisville had by 1820 so largely increased in numbers as

to be nearly or quite ready to colonize another society. The secession occurred this year, and numbered about fifty members. For some rea- son, they did not choose to form another society of the same faith and order, but instead organ- ized a " Methodist Reformed " Church. A modest building was erected for it at the north- west corner of Fourth and Green streets, which, when abandoned by the Reformers, was used for a time by the First Presbyterian people, and finally by a congregation of negroes. The site has been occupied for the last thirty years by the huge Masonic Building.

The Trinity Chapel, at the corner of Third and Guthrie streets, was originally built for the Methodists, and took the name of Sehon Chapel. The Episcopalians afterwards bought, and changed its name to Calvary Church. A number of the members of Trinity did not re- move from their place of worship, but removed their membership to the incoming society. When the Calvary congregation went to their present location on Fourth Avenue, the chapel building was again sold to the Methodists, and took its present name of Trinity Chapel.

In the fall of 1840 the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church sent to this city the Rev. Peter Schmucker as a missionary among the Germans. He began his work under rather embarrassing circumstances, preaching and organizing Sabbath-schools in school-houses, private dwellings, and the market places, until in the spring of 1841 the Presbyterian church on Hancock street, between Main and Market, then a small frame building, was kindly tendered him in which to hold services. In January of this year the society had been formally organized, and by the Ist of October reached a membership of ninety-three. In the spring of the following year, 1842, a small one-story brick church was erected on Clay street, between Market and Jef- ferson. To this a parsonage was added in 1845; and in 1849, under the pastorate of Rev. P. B. Becker, both church and parsonage were made two-story. In 1871 the society organized a branch mission, procured a lot on the corner of Clay and Breckenridge streets, and erected thereon a frame chapel and parsonage at a cost of $3,500. Notwithstanding the fact that the church on Clay street had been very materially enlarged by

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the additional story and that a branch society had been formed, the constant growth of the parent society made it necessary to procure a place of vorship more adequate to its numbers ; accordingly, in the spring of 1879, under the pastorate of Rev. G. Trefz, a lot on the corner of Market and Hancock streets was secured and the erection of the present very excellent build- ings-a magnificent two-story brick church and a two-and-a-half-story parsonage-at a cost of $28,000, were begun, and by the fall of 1880 completed free of debt. The society at present, with a membership of three hundred, two churches, two parsonages, and two Sabbath- schools, with an attendance of three hundred and twenty-five, is in a prosperous condition. The Rev. H. G. Lick is pastor in charge, with the Rev. C. E. Ploch as assistant. The lat- ter furnishes us the above sketch.

A notable ecclesiastical convention was held here in May, 1845, composed of delegates from the Methodist Episcopal churches of the South and Southwest. After a deliberation of nineteen days, lasting from the ist to the 19th of the month, during which many animated discussions and much difference of sentiment were evoked, it was resolved that the annual conferences represented in the convention should be or- ganized into a separate body, to be known as the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and that it would hold its first General Conference in Petersburg, Virginia, the next May. This divis- ion of the Methodist church of the country was cansed, as is pretty generally known, by the in- creasing agitation of the slavery question, and has been thus far maintained, notwithstanding the downfall of the institution upon which it was based.

The West Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, South, in its present organized form, with something over one hundred members on its register, and located on Thirteenth and Broad- way streets, is the outgrowth of a mission Sun- day-school established by a faithful committee, which was appointed by the Walnut street Meth- odist church, A. D. 1867. This committe was composed of J. A. Hinkle, J. S. Byars, J. D. Brown, C. F. Harvey, Sr., John L. Wheat, and H. B. Bridenthal. The Sunday-school was first organized and taught in the residence of Mrs.

Mary Cochran on Delaware street, near Thir- teenth. Faithful work in the Sunday-school and cottage prayer meetings which were held in that section of the city resulted in the conversion of some souls. In 1868 a church was organized by Rev. J. S. Wools, city missionary, and Rev. George W. Brush, presiding elder of the Louis- ville District, with about fifteen members as a nucleus. It was known as Thirteenth Street Mission, and met for worship in a cottage on Thirteenth street, between Delaware and Ken- tucky. In 1872 it moved to Twelfth street, be- tween Lexington and Delaware, and was known as McKendree Church. In 1875 it moved to Broadway, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, in a cottage, and was known as West Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, South. In 1878 a new church was built on Thirteenth near Broad- way, on leased ground, and still known as West Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, South. This church is more thrifty at present than at any preceding time. It is proper to state that during its serions struggle for existence in its infancy, when many thought it could not be sustained, the fidelity and untiring energies of J. A. Hinkle kept it alive. For the past two years, under the judicious management of an official Board, chosen from its own members, and supplimented by J. S. Byars, of the Walnut street, Professor S. T. Scott, of the Chestnut street, and T. H. Lyon, of the Broadway churches, it has been progressing well, and now gives promise of be- coming self-sustaining in a very few years. The Board has recently raised something over $3,000 with which to purchase more desirable property. The present society, therefore, will soon be pos- sessed of a neat and comfortable church.

This church has been served by the following named ministers, the term of their pastorate be- ginning with the date annexed: J. S. Wools, October, 1869; J. W Mitchell, October, 1871; Silas Newton, October, 1872 ; J. S. McDaniel, October, 1873 ; John R. Strange, October, 1874 ; J. F. Redford, October, 1875; G. W. Crum- baugh, October, 1876; J. M. Crow, October, 1877 ; J. S. Scobee, October, 1878 ; S. L. Lee, October, 1879 ; E. R. Harrison, October, 1880 ; R. W. Browder, October, 1881. The presiding elders have been G. W. Brush, E. W. Sehon, N. H. Lee, and David Morton .*

* Contributed by the Rev. R. W. Browder.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The society known as St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, now worshiping on Green street, near Ninth, is the result of a secession from Ashbury Chapel, Ninth street, near Walnut. The split occurred in September, 1878. Asbury Chapel was destroyed by fire in 1877; part of the congregation wanted to build on the same site, and part somewhere else ; so the latter withdrew, and took to themselves the name of St. James Church. The first pastor was Rev. John Coleman, of Ohio; second, Rev. A. A. Whitman, of Kentucky ; third, Rev. D. S. Bentley, of Kentucky; present pastor, J. C. Fields, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1815 the Methodist church of Louisville received as its pastor the eloquent young preacher, now but twenty-two years old, but already five years a licensed preacher-Henry Bidleman Bascom. He remained here two years, the first pastor appointed exclusively to the Louisville church. His popularity was very great, and a large number of citizens not in the Methodist connection and unfamiliar with the rigid law of the discipline then prohibiting the return of a minister for three consecutive years, sent a petition to the next Conference, asking his return for a third year. Three years after- wards, through the influence of Henry Clay, he became Chaplain of the Federal House of Rep- resentatives, and then a noted revivalist in East- ern cities and at camp meetings, enjoying for some time a reputation as the first pulpit orator in the world. In 1827-28 he was President of Madison College, in Pennsylvania, and after- wards occupied other prominent positions in ed- ucational work. A volume of his sermons was printed in Louisville in 1850, and had a rapid and large sale. The same year he was elected Bishop, at the General Conference in St. Louis. He died September 8, 1850, aged only fifty-tour years.

William Holman, popularly known as "Father Holman," was one of the most effective and memorable preachers that the M. E. Church ever had in Louisville. He was a native Kentuckian, born April 20, 1790, near Shelbyville. At the age of eighteen he held a commission as captain in a militia company raised for the defense of the border against the Indians. His marriage in his twentieth year to Miss Ruah Meek led to his

conversion to Methodism, and he joined the church in 1812. He felt called to the ministry at once, soon began to exercise his gifts as helper, in the fall of 1816, at the session of the Ohio Con- ference in Louisville, was admitted on trial as an itinerant, and assigned to the Limestone (Maysville) circuit. His services thereafter were continuous during a long ministerial career. His first appointment to Louisville was to the Fourth street charge, where now is the New York Store. He afterward organized here the "Upper Sta- tion," built up the Brook street, now the Broad- way Methodist church, and established a Bethel church for the river men. From 1833 to the end of his ministry, except in 1837-38, he served in Louisville, either as pastor or Presiding Elder; and was Post Chaplain in the city for a time during the war. The Rev. Dr. Linn, in an elab- orate notice comprised in Bedford's History of Methodism in Kentucky says of Father Holman: "He will be remembered asa faithful, indefatigable pastor, always at his work, always ready to give advice to the young, counsel to the aged, and off- ering sympathy to the poor and afflicted. There is very little doubt that Mr. Holman solemnized more marriages, baptized more children, visited more sick, attended more funerals than any minister that ever lived in Kentucky. As a preacher he was original and unique. . . But he will be remembered because he adorned, by his walk and conversation, the doctrines which he preached." His second wife was Mrs. Martha Martin. He died August 1, 1867, in Louisville, aged seventy-seven years, thirty-two of which had been passed in Louisville. An immense concourse attended his funeral.

Quite early in the history of Methodism here, the Fourth and Eighth Street Methodist churches enjoyed the ministrations of one of the most remarkable Kentuckians then in the ministry, å man of rare ability and eloquence, although almost wholly without formal education-the Rev. Benjamin T'. Crouch, who had John C. Har- rison for a colleague. Mr. Crouch was constitu- tionally spare, but the unwonted confinement and labors of a station sowore upon him that he became little better than a living skeleton. He wrote :

The labors of the city did not suit my state of health. I was wasting away, with a large frame of bones, one inch over six feet in stature; my weight during most of the year was only one hundred and twenty pounds.

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

A very comical incident, resulting from his appearance, is thus related in Redford's History of Methodism in Kentucky :

The office of a physician in the city was located on a principal street. He had in his office a human skeleton that was concealed in a case fastened to the wall. It was so ar- ranged with springs that, bv a person treading on a plank in front of it, the door of the case would fly open and the arms of the skeleton would encircle him. A young man, not ac- customed to such objects, early one morning entered the office of the physician, and before he was aware, found himself in the embrace of the skeleton. Violently tearing himself away, he rushed from the room in great alarm, and, reaching the street, ran off at full speed for several squares. Just as he imagined he was safe, he suddenly turned the corner of a square, when he was confronted by Mr. Crouch. Stopping for a moment, the horror-stricken youth looked upon the tall, pale stranger, and exclaimed : "O, ho! old fellow ! you can't fool me, if you have got clothes on !" Then, leav- ing the preacher equally surprised, he soon disappeared amid the passing crowd.

In May, 1840, he conducted with signal ability and success, a public controversy at Owensboro on questions of baptism with the Rev. John L. Waller, of Louisville, also a preacher of great power, and editor of the de- nominational organ here, the Western Recorder. He was in all eight years upon the Louisville District, and survived until April, 1858, after thirty-five years of service.

Rev. Edward Stevenson was born in Mason county, Kentucky, October 3, 1797. His edu- cation was limited, but he studied the usual Eng- lish branches, and made some advancement in Latin. While still young, he became a mem- ber of the Methodist Church and, not long after, decided to be a preacher of the gospel. As a speaker and singer, he had a large influ- ence, his fine appearance aiding greatly, but his poor education kept him out of the Conference until twenty-three years of age. In 1820, he was admitted on trial and appointed to the Lex- ington Circuit. Following this, he had a num- ber of charges, and finally was sent only to the most important stations, such as Lexington, Frankfort, Louisville, etc. At one time he be- came quite a controversialist, defending the doc- trines of the church against the new religious movement of which Alexander Campbell was the leader. In 1853, he was made Presiding Elder of the East Louisville district. At the General Conference he was elected Secretary of the Missionary Society, and also Assistant Book Agent, taking charge of the Book Concern of the West, then located in Louisville, and when

the Southern Methodist Publishing House was located in Nashville, he was chosen the principal agent. Uneducated to business habits, he yet managed the affairs of the agency with great tact and skill, but was relieved of the office at his own request, and in the same year received the Presidency of the Russellville Collegiate In- stitute, where he continued till the time of his death, July 6, 1864. He was long a member of the General Conference, and during the civil war gave his sympathy wholly to the South. Mr. Stevenson was twice married, and his second wife survived him.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 70

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