On a dreary, misty Thursday morning, we entered the Brown-Pusey House for our first Leadership meeting and were greeted with chatting from new friendships and breakfast sweets and fruit and much needed caffeine. Promptly, the groups began huddling to review their presentations of the county’s history and to make last-minute preparations. Mr. Kent Bailey of the Chamber opened our day with greetings and an introduction of our guest speaker, Charlie Skees. Yes, THE Charlie Skees who has portrayed General George Armstrong Custer and Samuel Haycraft Jr. and various other roles from the Charles W. Logsdon Historic Downtown Walking Tour, a weekly informal portrayal of historic characters from Elizabethtown and Hardin County.
As Skees slipped in and out of character(s), he gave our group a wealth of facts, names, places and dates that he has retained from 25 years as a teacher of history and life long passion for this region and from his lengthy involvement with the Walking Tour. “We have to know where we’ve been to know where we’re going” is a quote from Charles Logsdon, who launched the Tour that bears his name, in 1988. Skees said that Logsdon’s love of the area’s history was evident in his early walking tours provided just for the Chamber Leadership classes.
Three written historical references were shown to the class by Skees, including The History of Elizabethtown, written by Samuel Haycraft Jr., who was court clerk for 48 years. The other two books were History of Elizabethtown, 1869 – 1921 by Harry H. Summers and Two Centuries in Elizabethtown and Hardin County, 1776 – 1976 compiled by Daniel McClure. The class was entertained by Skees’ accounts of characters and events from the past, like Aunt Beck Hill who ran the Hill House for boarders in the building now known as the Brown-Pusey House. General George A. Custer was one who stayed there when he was stationed in Elizabethtown and Jenny Lind sang from the front steps during a stay in the area. From shootouts to fist fights to murder trials to the feisty temperance leader Carrie Nation, to a list of presidents who passed through including our own Abe Lincoln who left the county as a young boy but had fond memories of spending time in E’town while his father shopped. Numerous fires that destroyed much of the downtown area were recounted and how the addition of waterworks and electric lights greatly reduced those events.
We learned how much the stagecoach route and railroad coming through E’town influenced it becoming the county seat and a regional industrial leader in later years. Tales were given of a Civil War battle, John Hunt Morgan, cannonballs fired on the downtown, the threat from Spanish influenza, mule markets, and much more. Skees also passed around some handwritten documents from clerical records signed by Haycraft and civil war quartermaster records kept by Skees’ grandfather’s uncle T R McBeth, as well as Indian artifacts from the region.
Skees then led the class out on a rainy and abbreviated walk with a few stops for a monologue on a certain building’s historical significance. After a rousing story of Philip Arnold, a local banker and diamond swindler, and his shootout in the alley which was demonstrated loudly with a cap pistol, we thanked Skees and headed to the nearby History Museum. Here, Elvin Smith and Paul Urbahns gave our group background of the museum building and the contents located on three floors. Smith reiterated some of the historical facts we’d heard from Skees and led us through themed areas of local schools and sports, the military, civil war, churches, a country store and of course, Abraham Lincoln. We also learned the museum has a room dedicated to the Ancestral Trails genealogy.
Having filled our heads all morning, our group made its way back to the Brown-Pusey House for lunch and to prepare for an afternoon of history presentations by our class groups. Special thanks to Bob Evans and lunch sponsor United Bank for a tasty lunch.
Group #1 started the afternoon off with a very entertaining rendition of the game show Jeopardy with facts from the 1175-1821 time period. Mehitable Gerrard (Tracee), Jane Davis (Dawne) and John Helm (Brandon) were contestants. Kayla provided commercial breaks and Squire Boone (Corey) played Host! The game was a close one for sure! One point in particular took the audience by surprise, did you know Kentucky became a state on June 1, 1972? No? We didn’t either…it was actually 1792. A few more facts, Elizabethtown was legally established and named in honor of Col. Andrew Haynes’ wife on July 4, 1797 and the first school house in Elizabethtown was built in 1806 by Walter Davison. On a sad note, citizens of Hardin County suffered from the Cold Plague in 1814.
Group #2 was our very own live, “No Budget News” program! After some live television technical difficulties, the show was on. Dayna and James were the new anchors reporting on the happenings from 1822 – 1868. The news station used a special time machine to transport field reporters Ginny and Debbie to the past. All action was captured by the dashing camera operator, Michael. At one point, we didn’t think Ginny and Michael were going to make it back from the Bethlehem Academy girls’ school! What a full news program! Ginny and Debbie had to be dizzy from all their time travel. Ginny took the audience to a newly built church and Debbie reported the dish on what was going on Cow Street. They reported news about war, gold in California, the L&N Railroad and Swedish singer Jenny Lind visiting. At this point, we’ve lost count of Churchill’s wives and daughters. Ginny interviewed Abe Lincoln after his election, then he was assassinated. Robert E Lee surrendered, ending the Civil War.
Group #3 lost their team leader during the project. Whitney took over as lead. Whitney, Jeanne, Krista and Laurie gave a wonder presentation covering 1869-1915, the Victorian/Edwardian era. This era included the circus days of Barnum & Bailey and Annie Oakley along with multiple fires, growth of churches and newspapers and building of a court house. We learned about Philip Arnold, the swindler that sold diamond fields and later became a banker. In 1871, a battalion of the Seventh Cavalry arrived in Elizabethtown. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer assumed command of the battalion of the 4th Infantry upon his arrival. Other significant events included the L & N passenger train crash on Muldraugh Hill in 1903 along with Camp Young in West Point becoming a temporary army training ground. In 1904, Carrie Nation came to town waiving her hatchet. The number of historical facts that came from this presentation were too numerous to list! After the presentation, we received an 1896 map of Elizabethtown. We were given the task to locate the Brown Pusey House.
Group #4 included, Lindsey, Lori Ann, Michelle, Mike and Erika. The class was given a timeline activity to work in small groups covering the time frame of 1916-1962. The winners were promised a grand prize! Then the presentation began…we learned about the War Department looking near West Point to establish a permanent artillery camp, Camp Henry Knox. The Brown Pusey House was operated as a boarding house until 1919 by Alex D McCann. At that time, it was sold to J.M. Smith who operated it as an annex to his hotel on the square. It was then purchased by Dr. William A. & Brown Pusey in 1922 and given to the community as a community house and free library. The City of Radcliff was founded, the Coca- Cola Bottling works opened, and the first newspaper from The Hardin County Enterprise rolled off a hand fed press. A few more events included…Fort Knox becoming a permanent installation, the Fort Knox Bullion was completed, the Elizabethtown – Hardin County Chamber of Commerce was organized and West Point suffered a devastating flood in 1941. World War II ended, Hardin Memorial Hospital opened its doors, Articles of Incorporation of the Elizabethtown Industrial & Development Foundation were filed. 1961 the North Central Kentucky Education Corporation deeded 60 acres to the University of Kentucky, giving us our Elizabethtown Community College!
Group #5 started out asking for a volunteer from the audience! The team comprised of Penny, Rebecca, Troy, Kera, Chris and Ron. They had a timeline activity for the whole group to work on together. Each team member had two cards with a fact and a date each. We had to instruct our volunteer, Whitney, to arrange them in the proper, chronological order. Facts included the Carrollton Bus Crash, establishing John Hardin High School, the Hardin County Museum opening, the HRC Building and the opening of the Elizabethtown Sports Park. Anthony wrapped up our History Day by asking us what each group learned and also gave us some pointers for our next trip on October 12th, our Economic Development Session.
Jeanne Sheroan
AVP, Loan Production/ Servicing Manager
W: 270-982-7741
E: jeanne.sheroan@southcentralbank.com
South Central Bank
1000 North Dixie
Elizabethtown, KY 42701
Michelle Yourvaich
Customer Service Representative/ Products Career Specialist
W: 270-737-3750
E: myouravich@cecilianbank.com
The Cecilian Bank
3460 Leitchfield Road
Elizabethtown, KY 42701