Henderson history: The old courthouse bell has rung out triumphs, tragedies

Chances are, you’ve often passed by a centerpiece of local history − one that sounded the death knell of President Abraham Lincoln − without realizing its significance.

I’m talking, of course, about the bell that topped the Henderson County Courthouse for nearly 120 years and is now mounted at the north basement door of the current courthouse. The 1843 courthouse was a Greek Revival structure that opened that October, according to E.L. Starling’s “History of Henderson County.” It was razed beginning in December 1963.

Henderson County Court – forerunner to fiscal court – appointed a committee in April 1840 to begin looking into building a new courthouse and that October it determined to proceed with the project. In February 1842 a committee was appointed to draft plans for the structure and during the April term the court decided that it be advertised for bids and cost no more than $10,000.

Littleberry Weaver was the low bidder at $9,400 and Magistrate Edmund H. Hopkins was appointed to supervise the work. Between June and October 1843 county government was housed in the leased Baptist church.

The earliest mention of the bell I could find is on page 269 of Country Court Order Book E, which is dated Dec. 22, 1845. County Court ordered that $160 be paid to James Marlatt for the bell and that Phillip Van Bussum be paid $16 to hang it in the courthouse cupola.

“That same bell still hangs and for the last sixteen years has struck the hours to the great comfort and convenience of the people,” Starling wrote in his 1887 book.

You’re wondering, no doubt, about Starling’s arithmetic, because 1887 minus 16 equals 1871. I can’t explain that.

The best I can do is further confuse you with a sentence fragment from an April 4, 1905, article in the Twice-a-Week Gleaner, which provided a brief history of the courthouse: “The bell now in the cupola costing $160 was placed there in the year 1871….”

The bell probably was installed sometime in 1846, however, considering it was bought in late December 1845. There is primary source documentation to support that conclusion.

Henderson County Court Order Book E, on page 303, gave the town trustees permission July 27, 1846, to ring the bell “every night at any hour they may think proper.” The trustees took them up on that offer a few days later.

Henderson’s first curfew apparently was drafted to control prostitution, slaves and “disorderly persons.” The town trustee minutes from July 30, 1846, initially made 10 p.m. the curfew but on Aug. 15 the trustees came back and set the curfew at 9 p.m.

“Ordered that the town sergeant ring the courthouse bell every night at 10 o’clock or cause same to be done. It is further ordered that all slaves, night walkers and disorderly persons who are found strolling about in the night 15 minutes after the ringing of the bell be arrested and dealt with according to law.”

Starling added, “At the ringing of the bell, but few persons were to be seen on the streets, and those who were out made haste to avoid the town watch.”

Furthermore, page 349 of Order Book E says, “The frame upon which the courthouse bell is placed has gotten out of fix” and the bell “will not ring conveniently.” County Court authorized William D. Allison to oversee the repairs.

That bell rang out on numerous occasions, to mark the hours, the convening of court, and the time for all good people to be indoors, Starling reports.

What apparently was Henderson’s first bank robbery began with a mounted troop of 21 guerrillas riding up to the Farmers Bank at Second and Elm Streets at 11 a.m. Sept. 10, 1864. They emerged carrying a sack into which they had stuffed $8,430. The guerrillas also robbed four stores of nearly $400 worth of goods.

“Having plundered to their hearts’ content, they retired with their ill-gotten gain and the ill will of every citizen. Shortly after their departure, squads of men collected on the street, and many of them gave vent to their displeasure in forcible language. The Court House bell was rung, and rich and poor, large and small, collected in the building, and every man and boy who could find a musket, shotgun or pistol brought them forward” to participate in the town’s protection.

A tragedy caused the bell to be sounded the following year, Starling writes.

“On Saturday, April 16 (1865), the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received, and thereupon Mayor (David) Banks issued his proclamation directing all stores to be closed from 10 o’clock for the remainder of the day, and at 10 o’clock for all of the bells of the city to be tolled, in respect to the memory of the departed president. Many merchants, although strongly opposed to Mr. Lincoln politically, draped their store fronts in mourning.”

Happier occasions for hearing the bell included the celebrations at the end of World Wars I and II.

Let’s now take a closer look at the bell itself. There is an inscription on it that reads:“A. Fulton“PittsburghFor Doctr Kean”

I checked with sources in Pittsburgh and am unable to identify Doctor Kean, except to note Pittsburgh experienced a huge fire April 10, 1845. Nor am I able to provide the hometown of James Marlatt, the man who sold the bell to Henderson County. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say Henderson County bought a second-hand bell in 1846 from a junk man.

But I found quite a bit of information about A. Fulton – probably much more than you want to know, so I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version.

An 1879 book by Richard Edwards called “Industries of Pittsburgh” has this to say: “The business was originated in 1832 by Andrew Fulton Sr. with a capital so small that his operations were confined to one room, his only employee being himself…. The bells that are cast at this foundry vibrate over the entire United States and peal across the remotest waters of the globe” on steamboats.

The company grew, was destroyed in the 1845 fire, but was rebuilt and lasted three generations. It is credited with casting the first bell manufactured west of the Alleghenies and in 1866 cast a 3,000-pound behemoth for the city of Pittsburgh.

I’ll end by returning to the Henderson County bell, which was mounted in its current position the first week of November 1967, according to a photo caption in The Gleaner of Nov. 8, 1967. The photo depicts Sue Knight of the Chamber of Commerce testing the clapper to see if it still works.It does.

100 YEARS AGO

Friends and supporters of U.S. Sen. Augustus O. Stanley were organizing an effort to put him forth as a favorite son nominee for the Democratic presidential ticket, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 28, 1924.The resolution they drafted said, in part, “He has distinguished himself in the state and in the nation by his pleas … for a ‘square deal’ and fair dealing and justice for the downtrodden and depressed….”

75 YEARS AGO

The Henderson City Commission passed first reading of three ordinances aimed at increasing the city’s revenues, according to The Gleaner of March 1, 1949.

They included raising power rates for industrial users from 1.5 cents to 2 cents per kilowatt hour and raising meter deposit rates for the Gas Department. There were also plans for increasing business license fees.

The city ran a $5,000 deficit in 1948 and as of spring 1949 was $73,000 in the red. Other revenue increases included raising fees at cemeteries, using more efficient generators at the power plant, and increasing assessments for city property taxes.

50 YEARS AGO

Henderson County’s green box system of solid waste collection had been admired across the state as the first rural system in Kentucky since it began operations in the fall of 1973 – but problems were beginning to crop up, according to The Gleaner of March 5, 1974.

Garbage was being strewn around the bins on Old Madisonville Road – but county officials were hesitant to start citing people.

“We know we’ve got a problem and we’re not quite ready to get tough,” said County Judge A.G. Pritchett. “We’re going to try to work the bugs out with the people who use it. Then we’ll take a tough stance.”

Similar problems plagued the county for years. At the beginning of 2004 Henderson Fiscal Court passed a pair of ordinances abolishing the green box system and instead set up franchised private haulers. Green boxes were pulled beginning March 1 and were gone by March 15.

25 YEARS AGO

The city of Henderson received only one proposal in its search for a site for a new police station, according to The Gleaner of March 2, 1999.

City Manager Jeff Broughton declined to provide specifics about the proposal.

The Henderson City Commission agreed in mid-January 2000 to spend $2.2 million to buy half of the former Peabody Coal Co. headquarters. Two years later the Henderson Police Department and the Henderson City-County Planning Commission began moving into the renovated building.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at fboyett@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Old courthouse bell has rung out triumphs, tragedies