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SKETCHES OF PARIS
CHAPTER VII.
Pages 41 - 45
Paris, the county-seat
of Bourbon county, the fourth in the ratio
of wealth in the grand old Commonwealth of
Kentucky, is worthy of mightier and abler
pens than ours. Covering over her 790
acres of land in the center of the "garden
spot" of the world, surrounded and inhabited
by as noble people as the continent
possesses, she is worthy of all we may say,
and while she is not growing and improving
with the rapidity that she was wont, she is
keeping pace with all of her neighboring
towns. It is true that she is not
teeming with the manufactories of the
Sam'l Pykes, Sam'l Williams, John Metcalfe,
Wm. Alexanders and others of the days of
yore, but this is no fault of her citizens.
Since the Fall of 1854, when the first
railroad train came lumbering in with its
cheap and quick transportation from
Cincinnati and other manufacturing cities,
supplying our markets at rates below which
our home manufactors could afford, this most
important life-giving soure has been taken
from her. Yet we are not totally
bereft. We hope, with the aid of a
railroad or so into the rich mines and
forests of our mountains, to become a city
of manufactories and enterprise of no mean
pretensions. Even now, many persons in
far-away countries look to our distillers
for the purest of Bourbon Whiskies, and we
know not how many happy housewives look upon
Wm. Shaw and his Paris Mills, as two of the
best gifts of a loving creator to dependent
beings. And who can deny that, some
day, Paris may make herself known and her
influence felt throughout the land.
It becomes us now, in closing up these brief sketches,
to note some of her characteristics a the
present time, and know of nothing better to
begin with than her educational
institutions. Besides her Public
Schools, which we have already mentioned
under the head of the Bourbon Academy, we
would refer our friends to the Bourbon
Female College, Profs. J. A. Brown
and W. S. Jones, proprietors and
principals; the Garth (Female) Institute,
Prof. C. E. Young, Principal; the Edgar
(Military) Institute, Col. Edgar,
principal. These institutions are
flourishing, and are monuments to the
enterprise of our people. We also
mention the private se-
Page 42 -
lect schools of Prof. W. L. Yerkes
and W. H. Lockhart, as well as the
St. Charles Academy and parochial school
maintained by our Catholic friends and
managed by the Sisters of Charity; thus
showing, that while many who regard the
people of Kentucky behind in the matter of
education, the charge can not be laid at the
doors of Paris and her surrounding vicinity.
Then we support three home papers, the
True Kentuckian, J. G. Craddock,
editor and publisher; the Western
Citizen, F. L. McChesney and
Wm. A. Johnson, editors and publishers;
and the Saturday Night. G.
R. Keller, editor and publisher; besides
giving substantial aid to many hundreds of
papers, periodicals, &c., printed elsewhere.
Our churches are as well supported and attended as in
any land, and the majority of our people as
moral as the same number anywhere, and our
community as peaceful and happy as the best.
Tis true our successors in 1976, to whom we
respectfully dedicate this little work, may
be pointed to the occasional blood-letting
of our day, but they will be charitable
enough to admit that such things are
exceptional, and are the reasonable
followings in the wake of war and is
attending demoralizations.
Paris has two railroads, viz: The Kentucky
Central, passing through from Covington to
Lexington, and the Maysville and Lexington,
running from Maysville to this city.
The former's business in managed here by
W. B. and Theo F. Erringer, while
the latter's interest is looked after by
W. F. Spears. Three banks furnish
our financial life. The Branch of the
Northern Bank of Kentucky, with Jos.
Mitchell, President; Charlton
Alexander, Cashier; E. W. Rankins,
Teller, and Allen Bashford and Jno.
R. Swiney, Bookkeepers. The
Citizens Bank, Chas. S. Brent, Sen.,
President; Jno. C. Brent, Cashier,
and Sam'l Richardson, Bookkeeper.
The Deposit Bank. C. V. Higgins,
Sen. President; H. M. Rucker,
Cashier; Wm. Rankins and Wm.
Rucker, Book-keepers.
Flourishing lodges of the Masonic, Odd
Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Good Templar
Orders are sustained. The Masons can
trace their establishment back to the year
1792, and the Odd Fellows to 1846, with
J. V. Lovely, J. T. Davis, W. W. Fothergill
and Edward Myall as Charter Members;
The Knights of Pythias were organized in
1870; and the Good Templars have several
times disbanded and re-organized; the last
time in the Fall of 1875. The Odd
Fellows is the only Order that own a
building, and their three-story brick, on
the corner of Main and Mulberry streets, is
in honor to its enterprising membership.
It was built in 1854.
Page 43 -
Paris was incorporated as a city in 1862, and the first
Mayor and Board of Councilmen were elected
on Saturday, April 5th, of that year, and
were sworn into office on Monday, April 7th,
in the law office of Williams & Prall,
on Broadway, by W. M. Samuel, then
County Judge. Mayor, Geo. W.
Williams; Councilmen in first ward;
W. W. Mitchell, B. F. Pullen, H. T.
Brent; second ward; J. D. Hearne, W.
A. Thurston, R. H. Hanson; Treasurer, R. J.
Brown; Assessor, Jas. T. Davis;
Marshall, Wm. (Bob) Buckner.
R. F. Pullen wsa the second Mayor, and was
re-elected five times, holding the office
ten years. In 1874, Roger W.
O'Connor was elected to the office of
Mayor, and is the present incumbent.
He now presides over the following Board of
Councilmen: First ward -
B. F. Pullen, J. T. Hinton, Jos. Neely;
second ward - D. E. Turney, Jas. K. Ford,
Jno. R. Swiney, while James Paton,
the old reliable clerk, keeps the city
records. W. I. Ranson,
Treasurer; A. S. Stout, City
Collector; A. T. forsyth, City
Marshal. Mayor O'Conor is also
President of the Rescue Fire Company, an
organization composed of the best citizens
of the place, and officered as follows:
R. W. O'Connor, President; Jas. A.
Stewart, Captain; N. Kreiner,
Ass't Captain; Jno. Isbell, First
Engine Director; Wm. Ficklin, Second
Engine Director; Jno. Holliday, First
Pipesman; J. T. Wigginton, Second
Pipesman; D. C. Parish, R. J. Neely,
Jas. McClintock, Line Directors;
A. J. Lovely, Secretary and Collector;
O. A. Gilman, Treasurer.
In olden times, Paris did not support a fire
organization, or own a fire engine with
hooks and ladders as she does to-day, but
when emergency demanded, the grown people,
male and female, turned out en masse,
and arranging themselves in a line, would
pass buckets of water from one to another,
thus keeping up a continuous supply, while
the children, arranged in like manner, would
pass the empty buckets back to be refilled.
In 1810, however, there was an organization,
as the following list of firemen (kindly
furnished by Edward Owings, grandson
of the Captain) will show:
Edward C. Owings,
Captain;
Willis Young, John G.
Martin, Thos. McCutchen, Robert
Dykes, Directors;
Robert Trimble,
Thos, Hughes,
Hugh Brent,
Wm. Kelly,
Alex, McNeil,
David Todd,
Little Will Scott.
Daniel Duncan,
William Mitchell,
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John Harcourt,
Capt. Will Scott,
Elijah Barton,
Henry Timberlake,
Frederick Loring,
Thos. Phillips,
John Curry,
John Dudley,
Thos. Arnold,
William S. Bryan,
Richard Turner,
Aaron Griffing,
Aaron Smedley, |
Page 44 -
John Trimble,
Benj. Mills,
Val. Peers,
Sam'l. D. Jackson,
Sam'l. McClung,
Joel R. Lyle,
Sam'l. Williams,
Stephen Hall,l
Will. Anderson,
Morgan Francis,
Thos. Jones,
Thos. Shelton,
John Grossjean,
Alex. R. Depew,
John Smith,
Thos. Eastin,
Jacob Allentharp,
David M. Hickman,
William Hickman,
John B. Raine,
Wilham Garrard,
Richard Brent,
Joseph Deereet,
William Burr,
Armstrong McAdams,
Wm. Pumroy,
Thos. Reese,
James Hyrons,
Boon Ingels,
Joel Prewitt,
Conrad Shrader,
James Henry,
Elijah Webb,
John McCann,
John Lyle,
Wm. Haywood,
John Purcell,
Daniel Baldwin,
Jas. C. Barnes,
John Peers,
Ezra Howe,
William Alexander,
Aquilla albott,
Simon Stahl,
Sam'l. Nesbitt,
Andrew Todd,
Ezekiel Palmer,
Thomas G. Barlow,
Eli Hughes,
Abraham Kawell,
Wm. Sheald, Jr.,
Sam'l. Yelton,
John McKee,
Robt. Taylor,
George Purcell, |
Adam Hall,
Israel Jackson,
Jesse Budley,
Barney Huffstutter,
Peter Schwartzwelder,
Jno. A. Knight,
Basil Trundle,
George Ray,
John Ray,
Hugh McNeill,
Andrew H. Wright,
Junius G. Payne,
Richd. P. Dawson,
John Cummins,
Rufus Gordn,
Zedekiah Moore,
Horatio Moore,
John L. Martin,
Jas. Keiser,
Reuben Dawson,
John Shafford,
Jacob Kean,
James Clark,
John White,
Ezekiel Burbridge,
Thos. McClanahan,
Noah Clark,
Shadrack Barkley,
George Kern,
Jesse Bledsoe,
Dan'l. Smedley,
Joseph Kennedy,
Thos. P. Smith,
Philip Riggs,
Reuben Riggs,
Humphrey Davis,
Jonathan Massie,
Absolam Massie,
Lewis Dowthitt,
Alex. Morrow,
Godfrey Plane,
Daniel Cline,
Andrew Fadlock,
Sebastian Durr,
John McPheeters,
Hugh McPheer,
Thos. Mitchell,
Miles Gallagher,
Wm. Mitchell, Jr.,
Wm. Bryan,
George Snyder,
Jas. McCormick,
Benj. Keinningham,
John Smith,
Alexander Scott. |
The
gas works, that so brilliantly light our
streets and illuminate our residences and
business houses were established in 1868,
and were the result of the energy and
industry of S. Salomon. Although he
met with the most persistent opposition in
getting up the enterprise, he lives to see
the day in which his work is looked upon
with pride by all his fellow-citizens.
B. F. Pullen is President of the Gas
Company, with Jas. Paton,
Secretary and Treasurer.
The Adams
Express Company, while not strictly a Paris
institution, yet its convenience to our
people and the general utility of its
business, demands a space in these sketches.
Its business, which at first was small, has
grown to such proportions as to demand the
attention of Jas. H. Short, Agnt,
Geo. W. Nippert, Clerk, and a colored
porter and driver. Its wagon is always
going, and our
Page 45 -
merchants and others receive a large share
of their freight through its hands.
The post-office was established in 1795; and the letter
given below will throw some light on the
early history of this place. While
this letter says that Hopewell nowhere
appears on the books at Washington and the
post-office was known as Bourbonton until
1826, we have to say that the name of
Bourbonton now here appears on the records
here, but Hopewell does from the beginning.
The following is the official letter from
the Auditor of the Treasury:
WASHINGTON, January 18th, 1876
SIR: - In compliance with your request of December 22d,
1875, I inclose the following information
from the books of this office:
BOURBONTON, KY. - Thomas Eades, first P. M.,
appointed January 1st, 1895; Wm. Paton,
second, appointed July 1st, 1800;
Name Changed from Bourbonton to Paris, April 28, 1826;
James Paton, Jr., third appointed Apr. 28, 1826;
Ortho Hughes, fourth, appointed March
14th, 1837; Joseph H. Holt, fifth, appointed
Mar. 10, 1848; H. H. Rankin, sixth,
appointed Oct. 24, 1849; John V. Lovely,
seventh, appointed Feb. 4, 1853; Selby
Lilleston, eighth, appointed June 5,
1861; Will. H. Polk, ninth, appointed
July 25, 1868; Elliott Kelly, tenth,
appointed Dec. 16th, 1875.
The name of Hopewell does not appear on the books of
this office.
Respectfully
F. B. LILLEY, Acting Auditor.
END OF CHAPTER VII -
NEXT CHAPTER VIII
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