A Vist To Brown School

 

 

The old Brown School house, was located on the (today appropriately named), Brown School Road, off of the Fords Ferry Road. It was a school from 1881 until 1950 when it was closed and the students were bused to attend the Marion Schools. The community school house was a much loved center of activities in it's day.

Crittenden Press, Feb. 9, 1934 – Brown School Closes For Year With A Day Of Programs

Wednesday, January 31, was a red-letter day in the history of Brown School. Beginning at 10:30 the primary grades introduced the day's program with songs and dramas.

The speakers of the morning were: County School Superintendent, J. L. F. Paris, who spoke at length on the advantages of higher education, and presented diplomas to the following graduates: Jewell Agnes Vaughn, Mary Belle Fritts and Willa Bell Horning.

Second, Hollis C. Franklin, cashier of the Farmers Bank and Trust Company, delighted his audience with a beautiful reading and an impressive story.

The afternoon was given over to a community play “The Little Clodhopper” a comedy-drama in three acts. Between the first and second acts Mrs. Vernon Fritts gave a reading. At the close of the second act Lee Butler and Clifton Robinson gave a stunt program.

Miss Blondell Boucher taught the first five months of the school. Mrs. Fred Gilbert, substitute teacher, finished the term.

The house was filled to overflowing with practically a hundred percent attendance of the immediate community and a goodly number from the adjoining districts.

1927.  Front row: Teacher Edna Vivian Vaughn, Unknown, Mary Belle Fritts, Lucille Cloyd, Ruth Johnson, Annie Mae Conger, Jewel Agnes Faughan, Willa Belle Horning, Willie Perry Fritts, Barney Conger, Bruce Vaughan, Charles Cloyd.

Back row: Unknown, Gertrude Fritts, Wilma Conger, Clifton Robinson, Mable Johnson, George Vaughan, Allie Mae Vaughan, Alfred Hayes, Vada Myers, Carrie Jewel Conger, Gordon Fritts, Gilbert Cloyd.

  

Crittenden Press, Feb. 13, 1942 – Brown School Closes for Year

Brown School, instructor, Mrs. Fed Gilbert, closed for the year. Perfect attendance awards went to Berna Marie Gilbert, Betty Jo Fritts, Lois E. Fritts, Donald T. Fritts, Billy Gene Fritts, Delmar Myers and J. D. Myers.

Eight grade graduates are Charles Fritts, Harlan Gilbert, Wm. Myers, and Roe M. Pierson. Closing program was attended by patrons with morning program being under the supervision of Community Club and Mrs. Claude Pierson.

Veterans Memorial Park - Dedicated Oct. 26, 1974

 

Crittenden Press, Oct. 31, 1974.

Official dedication of Veterans Memorial Park on the corner of Travis and Weldon Streets in Marion.

The mini-park, was built through local funds and a matching federal grant.  Mrs. Allen Farley was instrumental in seeing the park become a reality.

Through her determined efforts, the city purchased the site and applied for the grant from the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation to construct the $6,700 playground.

Here is the text of Mrs. Farley's acceptance for the community.  "About three years ago, I had a dream.  Today, my dream has officially come true.  The effort and energy of many people has made this small project a reality and in its own way, I hope that this park, which has been constructed for the purpose of wholesome recreation, worthy use of leisure time and the channeling of physical exercise into a healthy body and mind, today will present the City of Marion with strong citizens in the future."

This park has been dedicated to the boys of Crittenden who have given their all for this community, this state and this nation.  As you play here and as we pass by, let us be mindful of their sacrifice, the sacrifice of their families.  let their sacrifice become our heritage and our heritage a bequeath to generations yet unborn.

Included in the mini park project are:  two basketball goals and court, sliding board, three play horses, merry-g-round, climbing bars, swing set bike rack, benches and water fountain.

Crittenden County Folks Featuring Mrs. Lottie Terry

An interesting part of our local history are the people and business places that once made up the town of Marion.

 

One of the more colorful people and unique stores that is still remembered today by a lot of people is Mrs. Lottie Terry and her store that used to be on West Bellville Street.

It was two buildings, but used as one. The two front lower rooms were used to sell clothes, hats, materials, all kind of notions and many other items. The two top floors facing the street were used to sell furniture. The back portions of both floors were living quarters for the Terry family.

 

Mrs. Terry died in 1955, but even today there are some folks that remember her and some of the things that made her ' a character.' 

 

She must have been well known for she was featured in the November 19, 1939 edition of the Evansville Sunday Courier and Press. It tells that Mrs. Lottie Terry didn't mind being called a "Town Character" and admitted that she was somewhat different for the run of the mill merchants. 

 

Mrs. Terry contended she was a born merchant. She was born in her father's general store at Kuttawa, Kentucky, and that her father, Henry Williams, was Kuttawa's railroad agent, postmaster, general store manager and proprietor of the Williams Hotel all at one time. Mrs. Terry, besides being a born merchant, says she was the first child born in the Kuttawa settlement. 

 

Lottie Terry married when she was unusually young. Her husband a well-to-do mining man, suffered a stroke and was an invalid for nine years. Due to Mr. Tinsley's illness she opened a hat shop in her home. 

 

As Mrs. Terry recalls the story, she had two things she could actually call her own property, a diamond ring and a piano, after her husband died, she sold them and started up in business, the same business she is in today, clothing, furniture and a little bit of everything. She became the first woman to go into business on her own in Marion. This was the year 1904. 

 

And how did the business fare? Mrs. Terry declared she had never touched a dime of her first husband's estate and she further stated that she would buy most anything, if the price was right. 

 

When Mrs. Terry went to the large cities on buying trips, she referred to them as her "biting off trips." Sometimes these trips ended up somewhat differently from the way she had planned it.

To business firms both far and near, Lottie Terry's store in Marion, Kentucky was known as a clearinghouse. If the price was right they could be sure Lottie would take a carload of stock. 

 

On October 27, 1910, Mrs. Lottie Tinsley was married to James Markham Terry. She made her own wedding dress, a lovely black velvet gown. They had one son, James Markham, Jr. When James married and had a family they lived in the upstairs of the store and he and his wife, Anna Laura, worked in the business with his mother.

 

When Mrs. Lottie died July 24, 1955, her son James, and daughter-in-law Anna Laura, continued on with the family store. After a while, they stopped selling the clothing and only kept several of the clothing items that were the fashion during the flapper and Depression eras. They sold antiques and beautiful cut glass and crystal. Mrs. Anna Terry died in 1968, and James continued with the store.

 

In 1976 when the 1920's style came back into style, James sold his vintage clothing, that he has saved, to an outlet in Nashville. A Mrs. Stoup that operated Betty Boop's Nostalgic Fashions in Nashville came to Marion and purchased many of the Terry's items. These old clothes were still structurally sound. Made from natural fibers of cotton, wool or silk, they had not deteriorated over the years.

 

James Markham Terry died Dec. 4, 1980 and his daughter, Anna and son, James III, inherited the store. They sold the Terry Store in 1981 to Harold Martin. In 1983, the wonderful old store had gotten in such bad condition, Mr. Martin had the Terry building torn down for the public's safety.

History Of The Former Alexander Stone Company

 Beginning Of Alexander Stone Company

This is an interesting article written in October 1954 and it appeared in The Marion Reporter. It tells how the Alexander Stone Company Quarry located on Hwy. 60 East, got started and some of its history. 

 

 Few people, speeding by in their cars, realize the extent of the operation nor the dramatic sidelights of the Alexander Stone Co. quarry, which is located on the crest of a hill about eight miles North of Marion.

Visible from the highway are cone-shaped mountains of crushed limestone, building gray-colored from the incessant dust, and trucks busily hauling rock or returning for loads.

 

Not seen are the expansive areas behind the quarry building, where hills are steadily being leveled by huge bulldozers, by dynamite and by power shovels. The giant jaws of the rock crushers in the main quarry building gulps tons of raw rock at a bite... requiring a constant flow of rock-laden trucks from the quarrying area.

 

For 18 years operations have continued at the present site, constantly changing the landscape and leveling hills in quest of high grade limestone from which the finished product is made.

Vintage photo of the Alexander Rock Quarry in its earlier days.  The King Cemetery Hill in the background was excavated around and left standing alone in the middle of the gravel pits.
 

History of Company

Back in 1936, J. B. Alexander, then in the road-building business, sought a site for quarrying from which he could obtain a high grade limestone for roadbeds. His choice of the present site was a good one, for after 18 years of steady operation, there sill remains a virtually inexhaustible supple of good limestone. (1954)

When Camp Breckenridge construction began in 1941, Alexander leased his quarrying operation to the Gorman Construction Co., who operated there for several years while constructing roads and building for the new army post.

 

During those years, a second quarry started operations west of the present site. This company, operated by Berry and Radcliff excavated a quarry pit running at right angles to the present east-west pit operation of the Alexander Stone Co. The old quarry pit is being used by the Alexander company as a "dumping pit" into which useless surface earth is presently being bulldozed. 

 

After termination of the Camp Breckenridge construction, J. B. Alexander then formed a corporation in 1946. Alexander became president, W. D. Peyton, Vice-president, and R. R. Holland, secretary-treasurer and general manager. The company has continued to operate under the same corporate management since that time.

 

Eugene Hughes, office manager of the Alexander Stone Co., who graciously gave much of his time in assisting to prepare this article, explained that in 1948, a special problem was faced in the continually expanding operations of the quarry. 

 

A hill in back of the presently located buildings was to be quarried, as other surrounding areas had become exhausted. The difficulty, however, was that the crest of the hill contained an old graveyard, which could not be disturbed.

 

By careful dynamiting and excavating, the graveyard was saved. Today its flat summit stands like an Arizona mesa, its sides gouged out and accessible only by foot. With its former adjoining hill removed and disintegrated in the crushing mill, the graveyard crest commands an expansive view of all the diverse activities and of the quarrying operation.

 

Expanding further westward, bulldozers shoved loose earth, shale and poor quality rock out of the way in widespread stripping operations. A wide roadway was created with a 'bedrock surface, suitable for the longer and longer trip necessary by trucks from the quarrying sites to the crushing mill.

***

Alexander Stone operated the business until its last president, Gaines Wilson, died and his heirs sold the quarry to Kentucky Stone Company in 1973. Over the last 35 years, the quarry has passed through several owners including Koppers, Basier, Hanson and current owner Rogers Group.