A SKETCH, DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL, OF CHARLESTON, THE CAPITAL OF WEST VIRGINIA.
BY J. P. HALE.
Charleston is the commercial, legal, political, religious, financial, social and residential center of this portion of our State, and the mercantile and general distributing point for some fourteen or more tributary counties, as well as the radiating point of travel to and from all this portion of the State.
This beautiful and thriving little city is located on the north bank of the Great Kanawha river and on both sides of Elk river, at their confluence, fifty-eight miles from the Ohio river at Point Pleasant.
The site of the city is a large level plain or alluvial bottom with abundant room for growth and extension into quite a large city, which from its exceptionally advantageous location and favorable conditions and surroundings, it seems destined soon to become.
At present the public buildings and institutions of the city are as follows: The State Capitol and Annex, the Government Post office building, including the Federal Court-room and other Federal offices, the County Court-house and other county buildings, the City Hall, the Public School-houses, an elegant Opera-house, two large fine Hotels, and several others of less pretentions, ten Churches, an elegant Masonic Temple, and some other society halls, a City Hospital, five Newspapers, three Book Printing and Binding establishments, two Express Companies, a Telegraph Office, a Telephone Exchange, several brick yards, four Banks. Private Schools for Youths and Young Ladies, (Catholic and Protestant.) the Public Schools for white and colored children, Gas Works, Electric Light Works, Water Works, Ice Factory, Woolen Factory, Furniture Factory, two Flour Mills, several Saw Mills, two Wagon Factories, one Handle Factory, two Foundries, one Engine Building and General Machine works, two Boiler Works, a Race Track, Base Ball Ground, a City Wharf Boat, etc.
The legal, medical and theological professions are largely and ably represented and politicians of every grade, abound. The two prominent political parties are about evenly divided.
Most of our business houses and private residences are of modern architecture and elegant and substantial finish, while those of more modest pretensions are characterized by neatness and taste.
There is a profusion of shade trees in the city, which, together with the shrubs and flowers of the residential lawns give picturesque beauty to the place.
The principal streets are paved with hard brick, which is smooth, sightly, almost noiseless, cheap, durable and generally satisfactory. This pavement is being extended from year to year, as the city finances admit of it.
We have an electric street railway plant, and communication over three bridges across Elk, and one fine steel bridge and two local ferries across Kanawha.
There are eight steam packet boats running- to and from Charleston, three in the upper river, above Charleston, one to Winheld, two to Gallipolis, one to Cincinnati, and two to Pittsburg.
There are about fifteen tow-boats with their several fleets of barges, transporting coal, coke, lumber, salt, tan bark, staves, railroad ties, etc., from this valley to the Western markets.
The Chesapeake & Ohio and the Kanawha & Michigan railways each run three passenger trains, east and west daily, and the C C. & S. two trains.
Charleston is situated on the line of 38 1/2 degrees North latitude, which is very nearly on the line of Jeddo, Japan, San Francisco and Sacramento, Cal., St. Louis. Mo., Louisville and Lexington, Ky., between Washington City and Richmond, Va., between Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid, Spain, and on a line with Athens. Greece. This is the most delightful and healthful belt on the globe.
We enjoy here a comparatively mild, temperate climate, free alike from the extremes of cold and heat that prevail to the North and South of us, free from the protracted cold of the Northern winters, the depressings heats and dangerous epidemics of the Southern summers, and from the destructive tornadoes, blizzards, and cyclones of the West and Northwest. Our mean annual temperature is about 53 degrees Fahrenheit, and our mean annual rainfall is 40 inches.
Located in this favored zone and delightful climate, 600 feet above tide water, surrounded in the immediate neighborhood by hills rising 300 to 500 feet higher, and farther up the river, and up the side streams to 1,200 or 1.500 feet greater elevation, giving the whole region perfect drainage leaving no malarial bogs, marshes or morasses. With pure mountain air and pure soft water, there is probably no portion of Uncle Sam’s dominions offering better opportunities and facilities for personal comfort, health and longevity than Charleston and the Kanawha Valley.
Geographically. Charleston is nearer the center of the State than any other city within her borders, and the general topography of the country is such that no more centrally located city can ever be built up outside of the Kanawha Valley. Charleston, within its special territory has no rival and can have no competitor.
Charleston is about half way between the Ohio river and the foot of the Alleghenies: say about 50 miles from each, as the crow flies; it is about half way between the Big Sandy and the Little Kanawha rivers, say 50 miles from each; it is nearly equal-distant and about 140 miles from Columbus, Staunton and Lynchburg; nearly equal-distant and about 175 miles from Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Danville, Va.; nearly equal-distant and about 260 miles from Toledo. Indianapolis, and Washington City; nearly equal-distant and about 350 miles from Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Nashville: nearly equal-distant and about 450 miles from New York, Chicago, Springfield, 111., Birmingham, Ala., Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S. C.
An inspection of the map shows a remarkable general centrality of Charleston and the Kanawha Valley. We are almost exactly in the geographical center of that great and rich portion of our country lying between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, the center of the homes of 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 of one of the most advanced, and the most progressive people on the globe.
A radial line drawn around Charleston at 450 miles includes almost every city of importance east of the Mississippi except the New England cities in the extreme Northeast, and, say Mobile and New Orleans in the extreme South; and yet these somewhat remote cities occupying the extreme north and south are cheaply accessible to Kanawha products. The New England States by rail to tide water and thence by sea, and New Orleans by cheap water carriage down the Kanawha, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers.
If air line railroads were practicable we would be within 10 hours travel, by fast trains, of every city within the 450 miles radius; and even as it is, we are within twenty-four hours’ travel of all, or nearly all, of these many cities, and these many millions of people, say nearly half the entire population of the United States.
The morning papers of New York and other cities reach us the following morning. Cincinnati, Louisville, and other morning papers reach us the same evening, and the Washington, Cincinnati and Richmond evening papers reach us the following morning. Travel between Charleston and these cities is, of course, accomplished within corresponding time.
Within an inner circle described by a radius of 150 miles around Charleston as a center, is an “embarrassment of riches,” which in variety, extent and value are hardly equaled in any other locality of equal area on the continent. To enumerate: we have the Great Kanawha coal fields, the immense water power of the Kanawha and New Rivers, vast forests of timber, the great iron deposits of the Alleghenies and others, the prolific manganese mines of the Valley of Virginia, the rich tin and zinc lodes of Southwest Virginia, the historic lead mines of upper New river, the gold and copper belt of south West Virginia, the salt brines of Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio, the vast plaster beds of south West Virginia, the petroleum fields of West Virginia and Ohio, the natural gas fields of West Virginia and Ohio, the great abundance of brick and tile clays, pottery clays, fire clays, building stones, etc., the rich alluvial bottom lands of Ohio and Kanawha rivers, the fine blue grass grazing lands and rich agricultural lands of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.
In wildness and grandeur the natural scenery of the New River canyon is probably not surpassed by anything this side of the Rocky Mountains, while for picturesque beauty the Kanawha Valley is hardly equaled. The elevation of this charmed circle – this veritable “treasure island,” – varies from 500 to 4,000 feet above sea level; the mountains affording delightful summer resorts for health and pleasure, while the medicinal mineral springs in number, value and variety, are probably not equaled in any equal area in America. All these treasures and blessings we have within this charmed circle of 150 miles radius around our highly favored and beautiful little Capital City, and with them we have inland water navigation connecting us with eighteen of the forty-five States of the Union, the railway connection from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the gulf.
With all these enumerated advantages, riches and blessings, we have that which is more inestimably valuable than all – superior health.
With pure air, pure water, and generally favorable climatic and hygienic conditions, our opportunities for health, happiness, and personal comfort are among the very best; our average annual death rate is among the very lowest, and our longevity record among the very highest.
Cities, like individuals and families as they advance in age, and develop in wealth and importance, feel more and more inclined to look back to the “beginnings of things,” and trace their origin, growth and progress: to meet this want, I have gathered together many facts, incidents and dates relating to the settlement and subsequent history and progress of Charleston, which, though unimportant singly, may, in the aggregate, be worth recording and preserving.
PRIMITIVE CHARLESTON.
Probably the first white persons ever on the site where Charleston now stands, were Mrs. Mary Ingles and Mrs. Bettie Draper, prisoners among the Indians in 1755.
In July of that year the Shawnees made a raid on the border settlements of Virginia, and, having captured and destroyed the Ingles-Draper settlement at Draper Meadows, on upper New river (the first family settlement west of the Alleghenies), now in Montgomery county, Virginia, and murdered most of the settlers, took these women prisoners to their homes on the Scioto.
In 1764, Mathew Arbuckle, an enterprising frontiersman of the Greenbrier settlement, passed down this valley to the mouth of Kanawha River and returned; he was probably the first white man on the site of Charleston.
In 1771, the renowned pioneer, Simon Kenton, with two companions – Yeager and Strader – came down the Ohio, up the Kanawha over the site of Charleston, and made an encampment at the mouth of Two Mile creek of Elk river, where they hunted and trapped until the spring of 1773 when they were attacked by Indians. Strader was killed and Kenton and Yeager both wounded, but succeeded in making their way to a French trading post at the mouth of the Kanawha river, where they were taken care of.
In 1773 Col. Thomas Bullitt, for his military service in the Braddock and other wars of the northwest, came to this valley to locate lands, and “took up” the tract of bottom lands where Charleston now stands.
In 1774, Gen. Andrew Lewis, with his army, passed over the future site of Charleston, on his way to the ever memorable battle of Point Pleasant.
In 1787, Judge Cuthbert Bullitt, who had acquired this land from his brother. Col. Thomas Bullitt, sold it to George Clendenin, and on the 1st of May, (May day) 1788. a little band of colonists consisting- of George Clendenin, his brothers William, Robert and Alexander, their father, Charles Clendenin, Josiah Harrison” Francis Watkins, Shadrick Harriman, Charles McClung, John Edwards, Lewis Tackett, and perhaps a few others, felled the first trees and commenced to build the first house on the bottom where Charleston now stands. This was a hewed log house of two stories and four rooms, covered with rived clap-boards. It stood at the northeast corner of (now) Kanawha and Brooks streets. This was the mansion of George Clendenin, the leader of the colony and founder of the settlement which has become the city of Charleston. Just in front of this house, where Kanawha street now is, an upright picket fort was built. Both the house, which was bullet proof, and this picket-fort were used for the protection and safety of the colonists, until the end of the Indian troubles.
Following the erection of the Clendenin house, six others were at once built to accommodate the other members of the colony, and were located as follows: One at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Truslow streets: one at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Court streets; one at the northwest corner of Kanawha and Alderson streets: one at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Summers streets; one at the northwest corner of Kanawha and Capitol streets, and one at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Hale streets.
During the summer of 1788, George Clendenin had forty acres laid off as a town site, divided into forty lots of one acre each, and extending” from Elk river up to (now) Capitol street. The survey was made by Mr. Alexander Welch, surveyor of the count}-. (It was then Greenbrier county.) There were two streets laid off parallel to the river, and called Front and Main, now Kanawha and Virginia. The right angled streets were numbered, not named.
For several years the town had no distinctive name: it was called, indiscriminately, Clendenin’s Settlement, or the town at the mouth of Elk.
In 1789 Kanawha county was organized, with about 10.000 square miles of territory; and this settlement, with its seven log houses and about thirty inhabitants, was made the Capital and seat of government of this vast territory. The Clendenin mansion was used for a fort, for his private residence, for the entertainment of travelers, for a court-house, clerk’s office and voting precinct.
The year that Kanawha county was established (1789), was an eventful one. In this year the first United States Congress met, the United States Constitution became operative, and George Washington took his seat as first President of the United States.
At the first election held here this was the only voting precinct in the county; the polls were kept open three days, and the total number of votes cast was 13. The county being entitled to two members of the Legislature, George Clendenin, the founder of the town, and Andrew Donnally, the hero of Donnally’s Fort were elected by overwhelming majorities. At the next election in 1791, George Clendenin and Daniel Boone, the grand old pioneer, were elected.
There being’ no railroads, stage coaches or other vehicular modes of travel in those days, Boone footed it to Richmond, the seat of government, with his rifle on his shoulder and his butcher knife in his belt; but the uncomfortable restrictions of city life and uncongenial occupation of law making soon disgusted him, and he returned as he went.
The first jail erected here was a log cabin 12 by 12 by 7 feet on the bank near the Clendenin residence.
In 1796, the first court-house and clerk’s office were erected on the present court-house lot. It was a one-story log house 40 by 30 feet. This lot was acquired from George Aklerson for about $100 in settlement of an unpaid balance due the county from said Alderson.
In 1817 this building gave place to the brick court-house, which was recently demolished to make room for the new and elegant stone structure completed in 1894.
In 1817 a small stone clerk’s office was erected on the site of the present Hotel Ruffner.
In front of the court-house lot there stood a public market house, which remained until 1845.
At the southeast corner of the court-house stood a whipping post and pillory, which disappeared about 1850.
In the early history of the settlement money currency was very scarce, and tobacco became a legal tender. Property was bought and sold for tobacco, taxes were collected in tobacco, the courts gave judgment for debts payable in tobacco, and tobacco was a general medium of exchange for commodities.
To guard and conserve the morals of the community, the court fined persons for swearing on the streets, and fined sportsmen for “going hunting on Sunday.”
In 1794, December the 19th, the Legislature of Virginia “enacted that 40 acres of land, the property of George Clendenin, at the month of Elk river, in the county of Kanawha, as the same are already laid out into lots and streets, shall be established as a town, by the name of Charlestown; and Reuben Slaughter. Andrew Donnally, Sr., William Clendenin, John Morris. Sr., Leonard Morris. George Alderson, Abraham Baker, John Young, and William Morris, gentlemen, are appointed trustees.’ 7
The town was named after Charles Clendenin, the father of George, the founder; and Kanawha count}’, when formed, was called and spelled Kenhawa.
It is a curious fact that the spelling of Kenhawa and Charlestown as originally named and established should without legislative action, or municipal or public action, become gradually changed and finally crystalized into the present spelling and pronunciation of Kanawha and Charleston.
At the first court for Kanawha count}’, held at the Clendenin Fort. October 6th, 1789, the following “Gentlemen Justices” were severally sworn and qualified as members of the court: Thomas Lewis, Robert Clendenin, Frances Watkins, Charles McClung, Benjamin Strother, William Clendenin, David Robinson, George Alderson, Leonard Morris and James VanBibber.
Thomas Lewis was commissioned as sheriff and appointed John Lewis his deputy. William H. Cavendish was appointed clerk and Frances Watkins his deputy. Reuben Slaughter, county surveyor; David Robinson and John VanBibber were appointed commissioners of revenue, and William Drawdy and William Boggs, coroners.
In the militia organization of the county, George Clendenin was county lientenant; Thomas Lewis, colonel; Daniel Boone, lieutenant-colonel; William Clendenin. major; Leonard Cooper and John Morris, captains; James VanBibber and John Young, lieutenants; William Owens and Alexander Clendenin, ensigns.
On the first of April, 1801, the first post-office was established in Charleston, located at the corner of Kanawha and Hale streets. Its official name was “Kanawha Court House.” The first postmaster was Edward Graham. The only mail for ten years or more, was a fortnightly horse-back mail from the east, via Lewisburg.
Excepting a little corn cracker established by the Ruffners at the mouth of Campbell’s creek, in 1803, the first grist mill of the neighborhood was erected by Thomas Asbury at the falls of Coal river, using water power; and to this the citizens of Charleston sent their grists of wheat and corn.
No flour or meal was kept on sale here in those days.
The first sawed lumber used here was whip sawed by hand; the first saw mills, the old up and down saws, were erected on Two Mile creek of Elk, from 1815 to 1820 and run by water power.
The first sermon ever preached here was by Rev. William Steele, a Methodist minister, on January 1st, 1804, at the house of
Mr. William Williams, at the corner of Kanawha and Hale streets. Rev. Asa Shinn was the first minister appointed to this circuit a few months later.
The Rev. Henry B. Bascom – the afterwards distinguished and eloquent Bishop Bascom – preached here for some time in 1813. Rev. Henry Ruffner was the first Presbyterian preacher here, about 1816, and was the father of Presbyterianism in this valley. He organized the First Presbyterian congregation in Mercer Academy in March, 1819.
The first Episcopal minister here was Rev. Joseph Willard, in 1816, followed by Rev. Charles Page, in 1821. Their first church was built on Virginia street in 1834.
The first Catholic congregation and St. Mary’s Academy were organized in 1866 by Rev. Joseph W. Stenger; the church building was completed in 1869, and the convent in 1872. The new elegant stone church was completed in 1900.
The first Baptist church was organized by Rev. P. H. Murry, in 1869, and a church built on Donnally street.
The first Jewish congregation was organized in 1873. Rabbi Schedd being their first teacher, followed by Rabbi Strauss. Their synagogue was built on State street in 1876, and a more elegant one on Virginia street in 1894.
The Colored Methodists erected a church on Quarrier street in 1868. The Rev. Charles Fisher was their first minister.
The colored Baptists built a church on Washington street in 1872 with Rev. Frank James as their first pastor.
The first colored free school was established in 1867. Miss Lucy James being their first teacher.
The first attorney admitted to practice in the courts was Mr. Edward Graham, August 1st, 1796. He was appointed commonwealth attorney at a salary of $40 a year.
The first resident physician was Dr. Eoff, in 181 1; followed by Dr. N. W. Thompson.
The first taverns, or inns, were Buster’s, at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Court streets, and Griffin’s, at the northeast corner of Kanawha and Summers streets. The prices charged for food, lodging and drinks were regulated by law.
Breakfast, dinner and supper, each 25c.
Lodging, per night, 12 1/2c.
Horse at hay, per night, 25c.
Horse at pasture, per night, l2 1/2c.
Jamaica spirits. Cogniac brandy, and Mederia wine, per gal. 60c.
Whisky and Peach brandy, per gal, 200c.
Cherry bounce and country gin. per gallon, 300c.
Beer and cider, per gal., 50c.
Clearly they were not prohibitionists.
The first blacksmith here was John Greenlee, followed in 1804 by Jack Neal, colored, who had a very eventful history.
Among school teachers, Herbert P. Gaines, was the first, with Levi Welch a good second, followed by Jacob Rand, James A. Lewis, Lewis Ruffner, Ezra Walker, etc.
Mercer Academy was built in 1818. The first drug store was established by Dr. Henry Rogers in 1825.
The first newspapers established here, were: the “Kanawha Patriot,” by Herbert P. Gaines, in 1819, the “Western Courrier.” by Mason Campbell in 1820, and the “Western Register,” by Messrs. A. T. and J. M. Lindley in 182^.
The first bank established here was a branch of the Bank of Virginia, in 1832. J. C. McFarland, president; Samuel Hannah, cashier; and John M. Doddridge, teller.
The first ferry franchise was granted to George Clendenin by the Legislature in December, 1794, to run from the point of junction of Kanawha and Elk rivers across both rivers.
In 1809, John and Langston Ward started a ferry across the Kanawha at the mouth of Ferry Branch, but it was not legally established until 1812.
In 1820. Captain James Wilson and Air. Alexander Quarrier each established a ferry.
The first clock and watch maker to locate here was Thomas Matthews, in 1808. He was an ingenious and skillful workman, and made, by hand, many of the old eight foot, eight day clocks in vogue here in the early part of the century. He was eccentric as well as ingenious: he used to say that the primitive settlers here were as health.}-, peaceable, moral and happy a people as he ever saw until the doctors, lawyers, and preachers came in; then, lie said, they began to get sick, to quarrel and law each other, and to develop all sorts of meanness. I don’t know whether he claimed to have established the relation of cause and effect between these phenomena, or whether he regarded them as merely curious coincidences.
Fleming Cobb, of canoe memory, brought from Virginia the first fruit trees to the valley. The eccentric “Mad Anne” Bailey brought the first geese to the valley, and brought on horseback, the first worm still.
The first tan-yard was established by William Blaine, below Elk. “in an early day.” The first hearse and dray were brought here by Noah Colley, colored, in 1835. The first regular undertaker was S. A. Skees, in 1867. The first cabinet maker was James G. Taylor, in 1833.
The wire suspension bridge across Elk was built by a stock company in 1852, it was cut down by General Wise in 1861 , but repaired by the company.
The Keystone bridge was built by J. Brisben Walker in 1873; destroyed by ice in 1879. And rebuilt by the county in 1885, as a free bridge.
The first circuit court held here was by Judge Coulter, on the 29th of April, 1809. Of Judge Coulter the following anecdote is related: Having, at this first sitting, fined a transgressor for some infraction of the law, the victim, probably not a teetotaler, arose, and unabashed by the solemn dignity of his surroundings, addressed the court as follows: “See here. Mr. Judge, ain’t you a settin; of your Coulter a leetle too deep for new ground?” Judge James Allen followed Judge Coulter in September, 1811, and Judge Lewis Summers succeeded Judge Allen on the bench in 1819, and held the position until 1843.
The first steamboat ever in the Kanawha river, was the Rob’t Thompson, in 1819. She returned from Red House, not being able to stem the swift current to Charleston. The first steamer to reach Charleston was the Andrew Donnally, in January, 1821. The next was the Eliza, in 1823.
In 1833 there was a very exciting and long remembered steamboat-canoe race here, on which, it is said, several thousand dollars changed hands. The principal bet, was $500 between Mr. T. S. A. Matthews, on the canoe, and Capt. X. B. Coleman on his steamer, the Daniel Webster. The canoe was a long, slim and well proportioned “dugout,” highly polished and varnished to lessen the friction of the water, and was manned by six young, athletic rowers, full of pluck and confidence. The opinions of the public were about evenly divided; every one was willing to back his judgment, and betting ran high among all classes, ranging from a few dollars to several hundred, in amount. But the canoe soon came to grief, it was capsized by the passing steamer, and the confident rowers treated to an involuntary bath.
In the fifties a sprightly and charming young lady from one of the Northern cities, who had been reared amid the conveniences and luxuries of city life, came to Charleston to visit one of her “country cousins;” upon returning home she reported to her friends that the Charlestonians were a charmingly simple-minded and worthy sort of people. But oh, such primitive ways! “Would you believe it, 7 ‘ said she, “that they still preach hell-fire down there, and haul their water in barrels.”
The first frame house built in Charleston was on Kanawha street, just below the court-house lot in 1813.
The next was on the south side of Kanawha street, above Alderson in 1814. The first brick house was on the bank between Truslow and Clendenin streets in 1815 and is still standing.
The first general merchants here were Kenning & McFarland; in 1813, followed by Bureau, Summers & Scales, at the corner of Kanawha and Summers streets.
In 1871 the street nomenclature, hitherto much confused, was reconstructed and recorded. In the same year the city was first lighted with gas. In the same year the Spring Hill cemetery was established. In the same year the first steam ferry across Kanawha river was established. In 1872 the West Virginia Legislature first met in Charleston. In 1873 the Chesapeake & Ohio railway was opened to travel, and the United States Government commenced the improvement of the navigation of the Kanawha river. Completed in 1898.
In 1815 the first natural gas well in America was struck within the present city limits, by Capt. James Wilson, while boring for salt water. It is on the river bank, nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Frank Woodman.
The first tailor established here was James Truslow in 181 5. The first shoemaker was George Mitchell in 181 K. The first hatter was Gabriel Garrou in 1816. The first pottery ware maker was Stephen Sheppard in 1818.
The first wharf boat here was established by H. W. Goodwin in 1865. The first public school building was erected in 1870. The first brick pavement (roadway) was laid by John P. Hale on Capitol street in 1870. Summers street was paved with brick in 1873 and is still in use and in fair condition.
In 1872 the temporary Capitol building was completed, in 1875 the “State Capitol on wheels” was removed to Wheeling. In 1884 the permanent Capitol building was completed and in 1885 the State government was returned to Charleston, its now “permanent seat;” its location having been settled by a vote of the State.
In 1884 the government building was completed and occupied. In the same year the O. C. now the Kanawha & Michigan R. R. was completed to Charleston. In 1893 the C. C. & S. R. R. was put in operation.
The first wholesale grocery was established by Ruby & Hale in 1872. The first wholesale dry goods house was by Jelenko Bros., in 1874. The first wholesale hardware dealers were W. F. & J. H. Goshorn in 1875. The first wholesale liquor dealers were Sanrl. Strauss & Co., in 1876. The first wholesale shoe house was by Jelenko & Loeb in 1877.
The highest water ever known in the Kanawha river was in September, 1861, when it was 46 feet, 10 1/2 inches above low water mark and submerged a large portion of the city. The next highest water was in September, 1878, when it was 41 feet, 7 inches above low r water.
In 1884 the city hall was built.
In 1885; ice machinery was introduced by Lieutenant .Staunton.
In 1886 the Charleston Water Works Co. commenced the service of water,
In 1887 electric lights were introduced by O. H. Michaelson.
In 1890 the Charleston Street railroad commenced funning and in 1894 changed from mule to electric power.
In 1891 the elegant steel bridge over the Kanawha was opened.
In 1892 the Burlew Opera House was opened.
In 1894 the fine stone court-house was completed.
The approximate population of Charleston at the several dates given below has been about as follows:
1778 to 1790 35
1708 to 1800 60
1805 to 1810 100
1820 500
1830 750
1840 1200
1850 1500
1860 1800
1870 4000
1880 4500
1890 11099
About one-fifth, or 20 per cent, of the population is colored.
The early settlers of a new country are generally an enterprising, wide-awake and progressive people. It is such people who have the pluck and energy to sever their connections with an old community and go to a new; to “go west and grow up with the country,” or go west and build up the country.
From all the accounts we have of them, the earlier settlers of Charleston and vicinity were no exception to this rule; on the contrary these characteristics were probably exceptionally pronounced in their cases; and for racy, sprightly wit and fresh originality, in addition to their general intellectual development, I doubt if they were excelled by the builders of any other town.
There is still afloat here, handed down traditionally, a fund of humorous and racy anecdotes in relation to the smart sayings, doings and practical jokings of these old worthies that would rill a volume if gathered together.
“They were such men, take them for all in all. We shall not look upon their like again.”
About The Author
