J. T. Elder's Residence at Marion - 1892

 Built in 1892. 

Crittenden Press, June 30, 1892.  J. T. Elder is building a handsome residence on the new street to be opened, North College St.  The Elder's moved to Kansas soon after and Mr. Robert F. Haynes purchased the fine new home.

In 1903 the Robert F. Haynes family purchased the house and lived here for many years.

Later the J. C. Lilly family lived here.   The present of this historic old home is Cindy Davidson.

 

  This picture was made in 1999

 

Thomas Thomas used to love to tell the story about when his Uncle and Aunt, Robert Fulton Haynes, Jr. and Stella Tucker Haynes, lived in the big two story house.  

 

On March 28, 1905, on the night of the big fire that destroyed all of Marion's down town business district, the Haynes were having a reception for the Circuit Court members, which included lawyers, and attorney's from Marion and the surrounding area.  

 

They were just getting ready to set down and eat when they heard about the fire and by then the flames had started jumping from house to house on the wooden shingles.  

 

Some of the guests at the reception went up in the attic and cut a hole in the roof, and they started getting quilts off the beds and soaking them in tubs of water and putting the wet quilts on the roof to keep the house from catching fire.

 

They also started carrying the furniture out to the house to save it in case the house did catch fire.

 

The house was saved and the only damage done was the hole in the roof that had to be repaired and the cleaning and drying of the wet quilts.

 

Thomas and Ethel had keep all these years, up until Mrs. Tucker's estate sale a few years back, the china dishes that were being used that night.  Although some of them got broken in the hurry to get things out of the house.  They were Thomas's favorite of all their china.  White with pink rosebuds.

It is a shame the house hasn't been able to be restored to it's former beauty and glory.  Really a part of Marion's past history.

Crowell Cemetery - Some history about the old cemetery

 

Crowell cemetery is located in the North Eastern part of the county, between the areas known as Cave Springs and Nunn Switch. It's at the top of a hill off of Nunn Switch Road.

 There are several rows of large sandstone rocks that mark the resting place of unknown persons. Some of the stones are large and others not so large, but they were set in straight rows.

Who are these unknown people that were buried here many, many years ago. Someone cared enough about them to transport these heavy stones to the cemetery and mark their grave.

The earliest engraved monuments belong to two infants of Nathaniel and Angelina Brantley. The death dates show March 13, 1838 and March 1844. The earliest stones are of the Crowell, Brantley and Travis families.

We know from Crowell family research that several of the early Crowell family members are also buried here in unmarked graves. These would account for some of the unidentified sandstone rocks.

The first Crowell pioneer to come to this area about 1818 was Benjamin Crowell. He died Dec. 13, 1852 and is also buried here, but he has a marked monument.

The cemetery for many years was known as the Hugh Crowell cemetery, but over the years it was shortened to Crowell Cemetery.   Hugh and his wife, Eliza Ann, are both buried here, but they have no monuments to mark their grave.

The late Mr. J. D. Orr shared this story about the cemetery. His great, great grandfather, Hugh B. Crowell, told the story of a family in a covered wagon that was on their way west from Pennsylvania. They had a very sick child, so they stopped at Hugh Crowell's farm so the little girl could rest and hopefully get better. The little girl didn't get better and she died while they were there. Mr. Crowell told them to go up on the hill by the farm, pick out a spot and bury the little girl. To this day, in the middle of the cemetery, by a huge old cedar tree is a small stone at the base of it. This is believed to be the grave site of the little girl and the first burial in the graveyard.

Older residents of the area, who have now passed away, told of several members of the early Brantley family that first came to Crittenden County (then Livingston County) who are buried here, but have no stones to mark their graves, other than the sandstone rocks.

It is believed that James Brantley the ancestor of most of the Brantley's in Crittenden and Webster County's is buried here under one of these unmarked stones. The story was told that for many years his grave was covered with a large flat stone, but it came the nesting place of some snakes so the ones cleaning the cemetery thought best to get rid of the large stone.

The cemetery is lined with Crowell, Brantley, Orr, and Travis stones with many of their descendants and family members also buried here.

Years ago at the west end of the cemetery sat a small white church like building. Here funeral services would be conducted. It had a pulpit and wooden benches for the family and friends to sit on during the service.

Sometime between the time period of 1956-1960 the building burnt. The building wasn't rebuilt, perhaps because it wasn't needed as much now, since funerals were held in the more modern funeral homes at Marion. The building was replaced with a wooden shed with some benches to be used every year for the annual Crowell Cemetery cleaning day.

The shed was used for the dinners that were held during the annual Crowell cemetery cleaning day, which was always the 3^rd Saturday in August. On this day people from all around that had family and friends buried in the cemetery would bring dinner in a basket and work tools and they would spend the day cleaning the cemetery, visiting with people they may not have seen since the last cleaning day, and then they would rest in the shade of the shed, having a large meal at noontime. 

This tradition of cemetery cleaning day is gone now, as cemeteries that are fortunate enough, have a fund to have them taken care of during the summer months.

There are several pioneer families of Crittenden County buried in this cemetery as well as several Civil War Veterans.

Lock and Dam 50 Being Constructed - 1926

 

June 27, 1924 - Construction Work Started At Dam At Fords Ferry

Work has begun on Dam. No. 50 on the Ohio River, just above Fords Ferry in this county. The work of clearing off the land on which to erect the camp buildings was begun last week, and actual construction will begin as soon as lumber and other materials can be secured, which will be in the course of a few days.

This dam is being built by the United States Government, as are the tree other dams located on the lower Ohio at Uniontown, Golconda and Brookport. The purpose of the dams is to ensure a nine-foot boating state in the river at all seasons of the year. This work will give employment to hundreds of men, and four or five years time will be required for its completion. Mr. R. B. Tinsley is the superintendent in charge at Fords Ferry.

 

This picture shows the inside of the cofferdam as the work is going on.  You can see the river being held back by the coffer dam to the left.

 

May 14, 1926 – Construction Work Begins For Season At Dam

Construction work at Dam 50 has been resumed and has been in progress for nearly two weeks. Work on the dam was ceased during the winter months because of the high water.

Captain H. R. Dumont, United States Assistant in charge, says: "Work for the season at Dam 50 was definitely started on May 2 with the commencement of pumping down the water within the coffer-dam. "Two 15-inch and one 12-inch centrifugal pumps were employed in the process of unwatering the work. (I did not know what a cofferdam was, the short definition for cofferdam is a temporary watertight enclosure that is pumped dry to expose the bottom of a body of water so that construction, such as piers, may be constructed.)

Something in the neighborhood of 13k000 cubic yards of solid rock were blasted from the cliff above Cave-In-Rock on May 6 for use in the cribs to be placed below the Dam. 7,400 pounds of dynamite were used. No damage was done to anything except the rock.

Actual work on the project at Dam 50 is now in its second year and several more years will probably be required for its completion.

***

May 28, 1926 – Now Have Full Quota Of Tow Boats, School Closed

The following statement has been given to the Press by Capt. H. R. Dumont, engineer in charge of construction at Dam 50, in regard to progress being made there:

Due to difficulties in unwatering cofferdam, work up on the foundation of the dam at Dam 50, has been delayed several days, it being necessary to install additional pumps and to build a small coffer within the large one to cut off the worst leakage.

At present writing, May 19^th, two 8-inch, two 10-inch, one 12-inch and two 15-inch pumps are being run night and day. Work should commence on the rock foundation Friday or Saturday. Advantage was taken of the slowly receding water in the main cofferdam to drive piling for that part of the dam to be built on this type of foundation so that the time is not being lost.

***

May 6, 1927 – Lock and Dam 50 News

The Ohio River has come to a stand following a fall of 11 feet since the 19^th of April. It is hoped that the end of May will find the water low enough to allow work in the river, where an attempt will be made to complete the dam this season.

Thomas E. Sublett of Owensboro has been awarded the contract for building the permanent power house, a three story structure of brick and concrete, which furnishes the power for operating the lock gates and lighting the various building on the reservation.

***

Dec. 7, 1928 – Work Done on Lock and Dam

Since the completion of Lock and Dam 50 near Fords Ferry, work has been in progress on clearing off the reservation. Sylvester Allen is now in charge of operations at the dam, Paul McGinnis is lock manager.

Ten government employees are to be retained. Most of the small dwellings have been removed. The residences are to be left on the grounds in addition to the powerhouse and the warehouse. There is also 100,000 cubic yards of permanent concrete work.

H. R. Dumont was in charge for the first two years and the work was completed under the supervision of Alfred Sorg, who now has charge of the construction of dams on Green and Barren Rivers.

A total of $3,500,000 was spent by the government in the construction of Lock and Dam 50. Material used included 1000,000 cubic yards of stone, 3,000,000 feet of lumber and 400 tons of steel. During the three years about 3,000 carloads of material for use in building the dam were unloaded at Sturgis, six miles above the dam, and floated down on barges.

Lock and Dam 50 is one of a series being constructed on the Ohio and other waterways. Dam 49 is located at Uniontown and Dam 51 at Golconda.

***

This historic dam, a vital part of Crittenden County history, which was started in 1924, would become an impediment to river traffic after 68 years of service. The old wicket type dam, regarded as spectacular when it was being built, was now considered old and worn out. It would be demolished one section at a time to clear the section of the river pool maintained by high-lift dams at Uniontown and Smithland.

On November 3, 1980 the first explosive charges were detonated to demolish Dam 50 on the Ohio River, and a part of Crittenden County history went up in smoke. Dam crews went out to lower the wickets one last time to allow free navigation of the river again. All clean-up of the destruction site was scheduled to be completed by Nov. 1980.

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.