AN EXCITING DAY – One hundred and three years ago this date, July 12, 1863, was an exciting day in this town, according to the story in the weekly newspaper…The town was alarmed over the spreading of news that Morgan’s Rebel Raiders were marching this way…
The steamer Victor landed at the wharf, coming down the river from Guyandotte, W. Va., and gave the alarm…Business houses were closed and everybody went home to hide their valuables and food, and to be ready to protect the women and children…The war had been going on for more than two years and very few young men were not somewhere in uniform.
A company of home guards was quickly organized…Mayor Thomas A. Brattan named Alexander Brawley, the village marshal, in charge of placing guards on the river bank, as the Rebels were expected to come in boats…
The big story on the front page that week was the capture of Vicksburg by the Union Army…An emergency committee was quickly organized that afternoon with John Campbell, captain; Ralph Leete, Judge W. W. Johnson, Thomas McCarthy, and Benjamin F. Cory…They were all men over the draft age…That night the ladies of the Presbyterian Church prepared lunch tables on the sidewalk at Fifth and Railroad streets to serve food for the all-night guards at the First National Bank and Courthouse.
Sheriff Joshua Hambleton and J.B. Kimble, county treasurer, took the gold and silver money from the vault at the county treasurer’s office at the courthouse and buried it on the hill near where later Dr. Cory dug the Park Ave. highway tunnel…They were prepared to burn the currency had the Rebels stormed the courthouse…At midnight the home guard shouted 12 o’clock and all it well along the river bank…The same cheerful report rang out at one, two, or three o’clock, and the early sunrise news came via horseback that the Raiders were seen near Jackson…For six days the town of Ironton was alerted, until word was received that a gang of Rebel soldiers had crossed the river near Greenupsburg, into Kentucky.
That’s as near as the Civil War came to Ironton in 1863…The next year (1864) on July 18, Rebels crossed the river from Guyandotte, eight in one skiff, and looted the store of L. D. Russell, near Chesapeake, where young George W. Bay was clerk…Capt Bay was shot in the foot, but drove the men away with an old horse pistol and mortally wounded two of them…At that time, according to the newspaper, the two Ironton national banks had more than $2 million in their vaults from the sale of iron, but there was no alarm as the news of the raid upriver did not reach this city until two days after it occurred.
NINETEEN HUNDRED – The year that is, Second and Center was the main business corner of the town in 1900…Frank L. McCauley who owned a furniture store on Second north of Railroad now as Ashland service station location with Richard Mittendorf in charge moved his store to the purchased and remodeled with an elevator to occupy all three floors…The building was destroyed by fire in 1949.
The Enterprise building had been owned by the Hecla Iron and Mining Co….John Campbell, founder of the city was president of the company…Charles Campbell was secretary…Their offices were on the second floor…The ground floor in 1900 was occupied by Hill’s book and wallpaper store and L. J. Hoffman shoe store…
Others in the building were Henry S. Neal’s law office, B. V. Hicks, and a sign shop…Mr. Neal has been a congressman from this district…The third floor had been a picture gallery studio during the years photographers had to have lots of sunlight to get good pictures…Two photographers had been Thornton Barrette and H. F. Heaton…Many of their photos are still of the city.
When Mel Hill and his brother started the bookstore in 1870, the post office was in the building…All mail then arrived in the town via boats at the wharf near Center street…Thus, in 1900 Second and Center was a very important corner as retail business was starting to move south from Second and Lawrence where it was first established when the town was laid out 50 years previous…Mrs. Charlotte Hill Lewis, 602 S. Fifth street is the sole survivor of the Hill family in the city.
A baseball game was played for the benefit of the new Charles S. Gray Deaconess hospital…The Gentlemen of the Press challenged the Blue Coats…C. E. Berridge wrote the story in the morning Irontonian…Young “String” Brice, who became a famous circus detective had just been appointed to the police force was the pitcher for the Blue Coats…Charley Feil, a printer was the pitcher for the press…He was chosen for his speed but sports writer Berridge said John B. Corns could write better curves…His Honor, Albert M. Collett the mayor, played first base and shouted each time the ball was hit, “throw ‘em up, I can’t stop.”
Deaconess Hospital
Every member of the police wore a mustache…The newspaper named them Charles Brownstead, Edward “Pa” Rafferty, George Mayne, Frank Smith, Jeff Scott, and Wm. George, the fire chief…The Press made 18 runs and the fire department was needed to get ‘em out…The final score after two innings was 18-12…Gate receipts were $17 at a two-bit admission…Harry Paul played short-stop for the Press with a perfect record – No hits, No runs, No errors, No putouts, No assists, and was arrested by the police for trying to steal first base…Jim Gorman was a catcher for the Press and his brother John was backstop.
Written by Charles Collettt
Huntington Newspaper July 12, 1966
0 Comments