Morris and Hina Grocery

Down town Marion was a busy place in the early 1900's.  Grocery stores were scattered all up and down main street.  

They often moved and changed hands several times and it is hard to track all the locations of them.  A new grocery store was being opened in 1910.

The new store was to be known as Morris and Hina Grocery.  Advertising their new store and its workers were: Left to right: Frank Morris, Charlie Hina, Audrey "Fatty" Clark, Fred Moore and Herbert Morris, son of Frank.  The location of this store was in the City Drug Store building on Main Street.

Here is an item from The Crittenden Press, March 17, 1910

Morris and Hina are worthy of patronage and their new store contains a full line of everything fresh and clean and is a marvel of beauty.  Opening day the entire day being devoted to the demonstration of Meyers Bros. coffee.  Many gallons of the enticing beverage were dispensed during the day and every one partaking prophesied success for the firm.

Forest Grove

Our county road signs help preserve our past history.  It might be the name of a family that once lived on the road, a cemetery, a church and several are named for the little one room schools that were located on or nearby the present roads.

One of these is the Forest Grove Rd.  It has one entrance on Hwy. 91 North, and the other end comes out on Fords Ferry Road.  The entrance from Hwy 91 North would be where the name originated from, for the one room school of Forest Grove sat here.  

The building was build about 1893 and was built on an acre lot that Rufus Terry donated.

Not only a school house, it was also used for school activities, community gatherings, and on Sunday the building was used for church services.  Revivals were also held here when a place was needed for the community services.

After the small school districts were consolidated in the 1950's the school  was used for family reunions and church gatherings.  The old school building was torn down in the 1980's, and only an empty lot is visible now.  Many good memories were made at the little community school house.

Levi Cook Jeweler

Henry Levi Cook, Marion's well-know jeweler came after Mr. Freeman.  Cook's jewelry was located in the Orme Drug Store that was located on Main Street in what would later be the Marion Cafe.  His business was on the left side of the building. 

Born on a farm near Fords Ferry, Mr. Cook removed to Marion with his parents when a youth of twelve.  He was the son of the late Henry M. and Mary Carter Cook, pioneer families of the county.

A graduate of the Marion High School and then a three year course at the Lebaon, Ohio Normal school, began his training for his strong liking for anything pertaining to machinery, which finally led him into the production of fine timekeepers.  Entering as an apprentice in the works at Morganfield, Mr. Cook, in due course of time became an expert jeweler and watchmaker.

He started his business in 1898 and remained in the business until his death in 1940.

His well-known advertisement piece was a large time-piece which hung near the street located in front the the Drug Store where his business was.

In this picture made in the early 1900's you can see Levi's clock sticking out from under the awning on the right of the picture.  It says Levi Cook.  (If you click on the picture is should enlarge it enough for you to see the clock better, perhaps Levi is one of the men standing close by.)

Antique Clock on Display

W. M. Freeman was a jeweler in Marion in 1894.  From an article in the Crittenden Press dated August 8, 1894 it tells a little about Mr. Freeman.  "His stock, which is varied and comprehensive, includes clocks and watches from the most celebrated makers, native and foreign.  He claims special expertness in repairing watches and jewelry and in engraving which claim, from general opinion, he has substantiated."

I am not familiar with the location of Mr. Freeman shop at that time, and sometimes jewelers didn't have a shop of their own and would have a section in a popular drug store where they displayed their wares and did their repairs.

This antique pendulum clock from Mr. Freeman's Jewerly Shop was located at the Crittenden County Board of  Education for many years, the earliest remembrance was in the 1970's when the Board office was located at the Court House.  The clock followed the Board when they moved to their present location on West Elm St.  Who owned it or where it was previously located is not known.

The clock's new residence in at the Historical Museum at 124 East Bellville St.  It is a handsome clock, standing over 4 feet tall with beautiful carved features on it.  You can see at the bottom of the clock, the name of W. M. Freeman, Marion, Ky.  This clock is about 117 years old. 

The Museum is very proud to be the new home of this beautiful and unique piece of Marion's past history.

Tolu Post Office

Another piece of Crittenden County history will be lost come August 31, 2011.  The familiar little post office at Tolu will close.  It has been in operation for 154 years, at different locations and different buildings.  It is now forced out of use in a downsizing by the U. S. Postal service.  It has been one of the smallest post offices still in operation for several years.  Tolu only has a population of about 90 or so residents, but losing their post office is still part of their town's history that will be no more.

It is sad to hear the Post Office has to close, for it was the last public building that was still being used, after their general store closed several years ago.  They still have their active Methodist Church and also their Community Center, which was once the Tolu Elementary School.  They are a hardy lot of Crittenden County citizens and they love and support their town.

Crittenden County will still have Post Offices at Crayne and Dycusburg, hopefully, for many more years to come.

In order to preserve for myself a piece of Tolu's last history, I had a friend mail me a letter mailed from the Tolu post office so I would have a post mark of the little historical post office.

Tobin Tourotel

Remember the old post cards that were available for tourists to buy to send back home to let everyone know what a great time they were having, or maybe to let them know what state they were in. 

Marion's own little Tourotel had their own post cards back in the 50's.  It's fortunate that some people saved these old cards and you can find them at antiques shops and on e-bay on the internet.  

Mr. and Mrs. William Tobin opened the Tobin Tourotel in November 1951.  It was located just a short distance from downtown on Hwy. 60 North.  When it was built it was completely modern and an outstanding and up-to-date Tourotels in this section of the state.  

The Tobin's built it to fill a void in town.  In the 1950's there was hardly any place for a traveler to spend the night.  The fluorspar industry was fading, but there were still lots of businessmen in and out of town.  At the time Shell Oil Co., was drilling around the county, looking for oil.  With geologists and drillers in and out of town for a lengthy period of time, they needed a nice place to stay.  So the Tobin's built the tourotel so that Marion would have a local place for visitors to stay.  

Mail Pouch Barns

This old historic barn is located on Highway 60 East about 12 miles from Marion.

Pictured at the right is Christopher Maher, from Carmel, NY.  He is Vice President of the Historical Society known as the Mail Pouch Barnstormers.

They travel the country side looking for old relics of the past and will try to document and restore as many of them as possible.  He and his son were on a RV trip traveling through this part of Kentucky last year and happen to spot this barn along the way.  He was excited to find this unlisted barn on their travels.  

Chris is now in the process of trying to make arrangements to possibly have this old barn, that was painted sometimes in the 1940's, repainted by their society's painter, who specializes in this kind of work.

I also told him of the barn on Hwy. 60 West that belongs to Alex and Stacy Summers.  I don't know if he went by to look at it on this trip or not.  It is very unusual to find two Mail Pouch Tobacco Sign barns in one County after all these years.

This picture was taken July 18, 2011, as Chris was back in the county finding out more information about the barns.

This is the Summer's barn on Highway 60 West about 10 miles from Marion.

Crittenden County Jail History

The jail in the picture at the right was Crittenden's 4th jail.  The first jail was built in 1844 soon after

Crittenden became a county.  Since they were made of logs and the only heating was wood fires, they were very prone to being destroyed by fires.

This fourth jail was built in 1901 from bricks from the Herrod Travis kiln here in Marion.   This old jail was used until 1973, when the county court decided that the repairs for it were going to be too costly, so they set forth with plans for a new more modern building.  Some local people interested in preserving the old building tried to save it, but as usual no funds were available for this and seemingly no way to raise enough to save the old jail.

 The old jail was torn down in 1975 and all it's history with it.  The lot were it sat was made available for a new Library and the new jail would be built in the next joining lot.

The picture at the left is the next jail that was finished in 1975 and it was first used in March of that year.  This jail served the county until 2007.

 A new multi-million dentition center was completed in December of 2007 and it's open house was held on Dec. 16, 2007.  Listed as one of a kind, with a unique design, and all the modern and up to date facilities and safety features.

This facility should last the county for many, many years.