: The History of Louisville from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 by Casseday Ben - Louisville (Ky.) History; Louisville (Ky.) Description and travel

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Position of Louisville--Falls of the Ohio 15 Advent of Captain Bullitt 16 Bullitt's Interview with the Indians 17 Campbell's and Conally's Patents 21 Advent of General Geo. R. Clark 22 Clark's Expedition to Virginia 23 " Secret orders from Patrick Henry 25 " Arrival at the Falls 28 Account of a social party in 1779 31 Account of life on the Frontier 32 The Hard Winter 43 Act for establishing the town 44 Early surveys of the town 47 Reminiscences of the Ponds 50 Advent of Colonel Geo. Slaughter 53 Incidents of the Indian Wars 54 Division of the State into Counties 58 Building of Fort Nelson 60 Battle of Blue Licks 61 Barge Navigation 62 The Boatwreckers--Colonel Plug 67 The Bargemen--Mike Fink 71 Peace declared 81 First Store in Louisville 83 Tom Paine's book 84 First Kentucky Convention 85 Clark's Treaty at Fort McIntosh 86 " Expedition to Vincennes 89 Mississippi Troubles 90 First newspaper in Kentucky 97 Act in relation to the Trustees--Major Quirey 98 Kentucky erected into a State 102 First Paper Mill--Tax list 103 Office of Falls Pilot created--Fire companies established 104 Acts of Assembly--1800 107 Anecdote 109 Jeffersonville--Shippingport 110 First Canal Company chartered 112 First newspaper in Louisville 115 Second tax list 116 Theater 117 Establishment of a Police 118 Courthouse built--Early Steam Navigation 119 Earthquakes, description of, and table 121 Western Courier established 126 List of Steamboats up to 1819 128 First Catholic Church 134 First Bank--Foundry 135 Paving the Streets 136 First Methodist Church--Portland laid out--New Albany 137 Manifest of Barges--Unhealthiness of Louisville 139 List of Stores &c. 140 Trip of the Enterprize--First boat built 141 Shinplaster currency 142 Hope Distillery 143 Fearon's account of Louisville 144 Branch Bank of the United States 146 First Presbyterian Church built--burned 147 Hospital Company incorporated 148 Dinner to Captain Shreve 150 Death of General Geo. R. Clark 151 Price Current--1818--Commercial Bank--Public Advertiser 152 Dr. McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville 153 J. J. Audubon--Visit of President 155 Purchase of Fire Engines 159 Tax list and Census for 1821 160 Commonwealth Bank established 162 Issue of Town Notes--Epidemic of 1822 163 First Episcopal Church--Lafayette's Visit 165 Building a Wharf--Louisville and Portland Canal 166 The Focus--Resolutions for a Charter 173 Louisville becomes a City 174 First City Officers 177 Bank Robbery--New Methodist Church--City School 179 Second Presbyterian Church--Daily Journal 182 Bank of Kentucky built--Louisville Lyceum 184 Flood of '32--Unitarian Church--Directory &c. 185 Bank of Louisville chartered--Museum 187 Government Deposites removed 188 Water Works 189 Comical Guards 190 Death of Lafayette 191 Tax List--Table of Exports &c. 1830 192 Bridge over the Ohio--Panic of '37 194 Notice of Amelia's Poems 195 Medical College 197 Portland Railroad 198 Newsletter--Historical Society--Provident Society 199 Visit of America Vespucci 200 Introduction of Gas 202 Great Fire 203 Statistics of '45 205 Opening of Louisville and Frankfort Railroad 206 New Charter 208 Louisville and its environs 209 Society of Louisville 210 Churches, Streets, &c. 216 Public Education 219 Health 225 Markets--Periodicals 227 Table of Occupations 228 Commercial Statistics 230 Louisville as a Market for Tobacco 234 " " " " Cotton 237 " " " " Pork 240 Manufacturing Statistics 241 Conclusion 247 Appendix

HISTORY OF LOUISVILLE.

The utility and profit of the local history of cities is no longer a matter of doubt. Whether considered solely as objects of interest or amusement, or as having the still wider utility of making known abroad the individuality of the places they describe, these records are worthy of high consideration. And although in a country like ours this department of history can claim to chronicle no great events, nor to relate any of those local traditions that make many of the cities of the Old World so famous in story and song, yet they can fulfil the equal use of directing the attention of those abroad to the rise, progress and present standing of places which may fairly claim, in the future, what has made others great in the past. And in an age when every energy of the whole brotherhood of man is directed to the future, and when mere utilitarianism has taken the place of romance, or of deeds of high renown, it is a matter of more than ordinary interest and value to all, to note the practical advancement, and so to calculate upon the basis of the past, the probable results of the future of those cities in the New World, which seem to present advantages, either social or pecuniary, to that large class of foreigners and others, who are constantly seeking for homes or means of occupation among us. Nor is it to these alone, that such local history is of value. The country is beginning already to possess much unemployed capital seeking for investment; while many, having already procured the means of living well, are seeking for homes more congenial to their tastes than the places where they have lived but for pecuniary profit. To both of these, the history of individual cities is an invaluable aid in helping the one to discover a means of advantageously employing his surplus money, and in aiding the other to find a home possessing those social advantages which will render him comfortable and happy.

But it is to the emigrant foreigner that local history is of the greatest benefit. Leaving a country with whose resources, social, moral, and political, he is intimately acquainted for one of which he knows almost nothing, such works, carefully and authentically written, are to him what the guide-books of the Old World are to the wonder-seeking traveler; they present him at once with a daguerreotype view of the land of his adoption and point out to him every advantage and disadvantage, every chance of profit or of pleasure, every means of gain, every hope of gratification that is anywhere to be afforded.

Impressed with these opinions, it is proposed to present the reader with an authentic and impartial history of Louisville; one which may be implicitly relied on in its calculations and statistical details and which shall present as accurate and faithful a historical survey as can be obtained from any data known to the writer or attainable by him.

Louisville lies on the Southern bank of the Ohio river at the falls or rapids of that stream, in longitude 85? 30' west of Greenwich, and latitude 38? 3' north. Its position is one of peculiar excellence, situated at a point where the navigation of the stream is naturally obstructed by the rapids, and where, for six miles above the site of the city, the river stretches out into a broad, smooth sheet of water a mile in width, almost without a current, and presents a safe and beautiful harbor for a great distance along the Kentucky shore; embracing too within its limits the debouchure of Beargrass Creek, which also affords a convenient and accessible resting place for barges, keel, and flatboats, sheltering them from all the dangers to which an open harbor would render them liable, it presents advantages which at once mark it to the sagacious eye as a proper location for a town of the greatest importance. Aside from all these advantages, the immense surface of level country which spreads out on either side of the rapids for so great a distance, is of itself worthy of consideration. The term "falls" which has been and is so commonly applied to the obstruction in the river at this point, is apt to produce an incorrect idea in the mind of one who does not know exactly how to apply the term. The falls are not a precipitous descent of water, but simply "an obstruction in the course of the river caused by a ledge of limestone rock running obliquely across its bed, with channels or chutes through the mound, produced or modified by the force of the water." This however is so serious an obstacle to the navigation of the stream as to create the necessity, which always exists, except at the highest stage of the water, for the debarkation and re-shipment of goods above and below this point, thus affording great commercial advantages to the city situated beside these rapids.

To show that Bullitt's plans had been well matured, and also to give some idea of the prudence and intelligence of the man, it is only necessary to cite, from Marshall's History of Kentucky, the following not uninteresting facts:

"On his way to Kentucky," says this historian, "Bullitt made a visit to Chillicothe, a Shawnee town, to hold a friendly talk with those Indians on the subject of his intended settlement; and for the particular purpose of obtaining their assent to the measure. He knew they claimed the right of hunting in the country--a right to them of the utmost importance, and which they had not relinquished. He also knew they were brave, and indefatigable; and that if they were so disposed, could greatly annoy the inhabitants of the intended settlement. It was, therefore, a primary object in his estimation to obtain their consent to his projected residence, and cultivation of the lands. To accomplish this, he left his party on the Ohio and traveled out to the town unattended, and without announcing his approach by a runner. He was not discovered until he got into the midst of Chillicothe, when he waved his white flag as a token of peace. The Indians saw with astonishment a stranger among them in the character of ambassador, for such he assumed by the flag, and without any intimation of his intended visit. Some of them collected about him, and asked him, What news? Was he from the Long Knife? and why, if he was an ambassador, he had not sent a runner?"

Bullitt, not in the least intimidated, replied that he had no bad news--he was from the Long Knife--and as the red men and white men were at peace, he had come among his brothers to have a friendly talk with them about living on the other side of the Ohio; that he had no runner swifter than himself, and that he was in haste and could not wait the return of a runner. 'Would you,' said he, 'if you were very hungry and had killed a deer, send your squaw to town to tell the news, and wait her return before you eat?' This put the bystanders in high good humor, and gave them a favorable opinion of their interlocutor. And upon his desiring that the warriors should be called together, they were forthwith convened, and he promptly addressed them in the following speech, extracted from his journal:

"BROTHERS:

"I am sent by my people, whom I left on the Ohio, to settle the country on the other side of that river, as low down as the falls. We come from Virginia. The king of my people has bought from the nations of red men both north and south all the land; and I am instructed to inform you and all the warriors of this great country, that the Virginians and the English are in friendship with you. This friendship is dear to them, and they intend to keep it sacred. The same friendship they expect from you, and from all the nations to the lakes. We know that the Shawnees and the Delawares are to be our nearest neighbors, and we wish them to be our best friends as we will be theirs.

"Brothers, you did not get any of the money or blankets given for the land which I and my people are going to settle. This was hard for you. But it is agreed by the great men who own the land, that they will make a present both to the Delawares and the Shawnees the next year and the year following that shall be as good.

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